And so the day of reckoning had finally arrived.
All this mess in this Village had led up to this moment.
Killua glanced at Gon, and they shared a glance. Oito motioned for them to enter the doorway, the coast was clear… for now at least. But they needed to enter now before Isolde caught back up.
The glance between the two boys communicated one thing: hope. A prayer that they would make it in and out of the cavern before Camilla got too suspicious and destroyed the final key.
With a shared nod, they ducked into the opening, and Oito closed the marble door - carved out of the walls of the palace - behind them. A deciding boom rattled through Killua's ribcage. The tunnel was dark, lit only by the faint turquoise light of a few scattered glow crystals. The two boys sighed in relief, their morning had been pure chaos.
Losing Isolde had proven quite the task.
"You ready?" Gon asked Killua, that damned look in his eyes.
Killua swished his tail, chest warming. "Yeah!"
The two boys began their journey, based on Momoze's calculations, it would take all day to make the round trip in and out. They needed to get started as soon as possible, because the faster they left the faster they would return.
Hours of walking passed and the two boys spent that time talking amongst themselves. The tunnel was peaceful, one could even call it romantic. Whenever Killua began to process the implications of this romantic scene a spike of pain would shoot through his head, but Gon quickly distracted him from that mental barrier. The air between them felt more relaxed than usual, Killua had the creeping feeling that this was the calm before the storm, but he didn't care. The light from the glow crystals reflected in Gon's eyes and bathed him in a mellow light.
He looked like an angel.
Killua would make a sarcastic comment relating to their situation, and Gon would laugh… like an angel.
The way each passing graze of his arm against the Valkyries filled him with such pleasant bubbles, the way his mere presence calmed him and made him so happy, was angelic.
I'm beginning to notice a pattern here…
"I have a fun idea!" Gon declared all of a sudden.
"What is it?" Killua asked, cheeks warm from that sappy train of thought.
"Let's play a game!"
"Okay, what game?"
Gon's eyes sparkled like stars, and Killua's heart raced in that unpleasant yet pleasant way for the hundredth time since they'd been traveling through this tunnel. "Let's say the last thought we had in our mind! Like, what was the very last thing you were thinking just now?"
The silver haired boy flushed, of all the times to come up with this damn game-
"Uh, why would we do that?" he grumbled, turning his head so Gon couldn't see his heated cheeks.
"I thought it sounded fun! Killua always has such amusing thoughts, I thought it would be fun to hear them without a filter!"
"So you're extorting me for your own entertainment."
The hybrid snickered, "Yeah! And what you said just now is a perfect example of why this game will be so fun~~"
"Do we have too-" Killua said in one meager attempt to shoot this idea down.
"I'll go first!" Gon exclaimed, leaving no room for argument. And even if you did, I could never say no to you. I'd do anything you asked of me, no matter what. "I was thinking about my neurotoxin, and new exercises to do with it. What were you thinking just now?"
Well of course he'd be thinking something so normal and cool. Damn it! Why am I like this?!
"I was thinking that…" Killua mumbled the rest so low that he himself couldn't hear it.
"What was that?"
The Valkyrie's face was on fire, and even his bangs did nothing to conceal that fact. "I was just thinking about angels."
"What about them?" Gon asked, the epitome of ignorance.
"Just… about them."
The tan boy placed his finger on his chin and turned his eyes upward in thought. "Why are you blushing like that if you were just thinking about angels?"
That comment right there threw an arrow straight through Killua's chest. He sputtered and choked on air, face somehow getting even redder.
"Oh!" Gon's eyes lit up. "Do you have a thing for angels or something?"
"Wh-What?! What do you mean by that?!" Killua demanded, heart floundering and waves of pain shooting through his head.
"Do you like angels? Like, are you attracted to them?"
Killua's brain malfunctioned, there was so much pain, but he couldn't focus on the pain over his own mortification. The only angel here is yOU! Stop talking like this! The Valkyrie sputtered, unable to find the words.
And Gon just fucking laughed at him! "Ki-llu-a! You don't have to be so embarrassed! It's okay to have a thing for angels!"
Killua finally broke out of his stupor, awoken by the fiery pain in his head. "Idiot! Why are we talking about this? Since when did I say I was attracted to angels!" He punctuated by shoving Gon off balance. The hybrid giggled and righted himself with ease.
Agile bastard. You could have at least given me the satisfaction of seeing you fall.
The two of them dissolved into bickering, but Killua was only half-focused on it.
Attraction. And Gon. And this pain. Damn it! It hurts so bad! I can't find the connection between attraction and Gon, it hurts too much. It's a good thing I'm so good at concealing my pain, otherwise he'd have noticed by now and it would make this SO much worse.. Though I can't figure out why that would be.
Attraction.
A flaming wave.
Gon.
Like having his nails ripped out.
Killua inwardly sighed, and gave up. At least he had discovered a word associated with whatever was behind the mental wall, that was a victory. Though a small one.
In the midst of their bickering, the two boys finally arrived at the doorway. Though they didn't notice it until it was right in front of them, for they were too focused on each other. The Valkyrie and the hybrid stopped short in front of the door, a door to the secret they had been searching for all these days.
Gon pulled the key from his pocket, and turned it in the lock. The two young men entered the cavern, and the inscriptions on the wall brought light to everything, and it all finally made sense.