Gon awoke to the sound of birds chirping. He cracked his eyes, and winced at a horrid pain throughout his entire body. With a groan, he sat up and rubbed the sleep out of his eyes. Why does everything hurt-

"Welcome back to the land of the living, sleeping beauty."

Gon looked to his left at the sound of the lazy drawl.

"Killua!" he exclaimed with a grin.

The silver haired prince smiled back. They were in Gon's room, Gon was in the bed and Killua was sitting in a chair beside it. He had the chair turned around backwards and straddled the back of it. Killua had his arms rested on the back of the chair, and his head on his arms. He was sprinkled with bandages and bruises, and his fluffy hair was slightly damp. Gon could smell the slight hint of that lavender and vanilla soap he seemed to enjoy so much.

"What time is it? How long was I out?" Gon asked, remembering what had transpired.

"It's 2 in the afternoon, you slept a TON."

Gon giggled sheepishly, "Sorry for passing out like that! I don't know what came over me."

"There's nothing to apologize for," Killua reassured with a lazy wave of his hand. "You paralyzed the Serpent King! Knocked him out completely! That had to have taken an enormous amount of strain to produce the neurotoxin potent enough for that! You're crazy powerful Gon, this proves that. Your body just clearly wasn't ready for such a release of power, so you passed out."

Gon smiled victoriously as he remembered launching himself into the air and punching a bucketful of neurotoxin at the Serpent King. "Looks like all that training stuff I did paid off!"

"Looks like it," Killua agreed with a soft smile.

The two fell into a comfortable silence for a bit.

"...Gon."

"Hm?"

Killua gazed into his friend's sparkling amber eyes. The morning sun tickled their golden depths, setting them ablaze. They were so warm… compared to how dark they had gotten in the throne room with Camilla the previous night.

"I thought you… had died for a second there," Killua murmured.

Gon's eyebrows tilted up, and his expression softened. The silver haired boy practically melted at that soft look. Tears began to well in the Valkyrie's eyes, even though he had thought he had gotten over himself after sitting with Gon in his arms after he had passed out.

Rid yourself of your emotions, the conditioning snapped at him.

That was something he hadn't been able to dispel also…

It was a lot harder to get over. A lot harder than the instinct to run from any battle that looked like it might be risky had been to break.

I thought he died and I… I completely froze up. I couldn't see straight. I couldn't think straight. That dread, that pain. That incredible fear. I still feel it now, just thinking about it makes me so-

Killua hid his eyes behind his bangs, unable to look Gon in the eye like this.

He startled as a warm hand covered his own.

"Yeah, I was flung pretty far," Gon said, a little too cheerfully for comfort. "But… I'm okay. I'm a lot tougher than I look, ya know."

Killua glanced up. Gon's face was practically glowing.

"You must have been super worried about me," Gon said softly. "I would have been really upset too, if I saw you take a blow like that. But we always stick together, right?" The tan boy grinned. "I wouldn't die, not from something like that! So you don't have to worry, Killua. I'll stick with you no matter what!"

Gon…

Killua gazed at his friend in wonder. He was sheathed in bandages, braces lining his rib cage and a crown of gauze on his head. He had partaken in a waltz with death, yet here he sat happy as ever. He was grinning, with eyes radiating positivity and warmth. His entire existence was so iridescent and, and…

You're… light itself.

"That fight was pretty wild, wasn't it?" the cheerful boy asked with his usual air of curiosity and wonder. "The Serpent King was way larger than I thought he would be!"

"Yeah," Killua agreed as he hid his soft expression behind his silver bangs.

Sometimes you shine so bright, I can't even look at you.

Gon chattered on, never letting anything deter him from his joyous demeanor. He was always happy, no matter what. Sure, he got super pissed off sometimes… hell, he had committed arson more times than Killua could count. That dark aura that encompassed him struck fear into any passers by, he had such an imposing presence. He was incredibly strong, and not to mention dangerous… but none of that held any weight at all when compared to his sparkling personality and beautiful soul.

Here he was, a beacon of light and hope… while Killua was nothing more than a shadowy husk of a person. He still couldn't believe… that someone like Gon wanted to be around someone like him. The Valkyrie sometimes would get the feeling that he was holding his friend back. He would feel as if… he was dragging Gon's light down with his darkness.

But still. Can I… stay by your side?

"Hey, Killua?"

The assassin pushed his heartfelt thoughts away and gave his full attention to the hybrid. "Yeah?"

"I'm still kinda confused… what exactly was going through Domonique's head when she set all of this up? I know it all worked out in the end, but why would she make this incredibly intricate mystery and set up all these complicated steps?"

"Well, my take on it is this: when Domonique and her forces found the egg, they inspected it and used historical knowledge to figure out what was going on with the Serpent King. There were a ton of destroyed texts, so there's no way she didn't have preexisting knowledge about the monsters she was fighting. She must have considered the situation, deduced that the only way to effectively kill both the serpent royals was to kill the queen first, awaken the king, and then kill him last. Fighting the King is hard, but a whole lot easier than fighting an enraged Queen at the same time. We know that much for sure. However, when she and her forces returned to the battle, they were unable to even defeat the Queen with the dwindled resources that were left. The serpent army must have been more formidable than expected. We are very fortunate that Domonique was able to defeat that entire army… even if she couldn't take out the final bosses in the end. Anyways, her only option was to leave the final defeat to her remaining Warriors, calculating the need for them to retreat for the time being and regroup. However, she clearly knew that her mother would never stand for any of this, and decided that her mother could never find out the truth about the egg. Domonique left the leading position to Kerrin, and had the egg hidden away in order to press pause on the battle with the Queen. Domonique died in the battle, but she laid behind the tools necessary for her subordinates to finish the job. I'd say that she foresaw her mother finding that glass key. And how that factor would place the Warriors in an impossible situation, they wouldn't be able to ask for the key back or else they'd have to reveal information that they were sealed not to disclose. So she found a loophole in her mother's madness: us. It is in Neko-Culture to respect outsiders, though keep them at an arm's length. Domonique was smart enough to realize exactly what would have to be done, and think through every possible scenario to make sure every contingency was accounted for. She died knowing that one day, her village would be saved. Then we finally showed up eight years later, and thanks to Oito, Momoze, Kerrin, Circe, and the others, we were able to tie this up quickly and efficiently."

Killua peeked at Gon out of the corner of his eye. The other boy was smoking at the ears.

"Uh… that's super complicated, Killua!"

The Dragonite prince laughed, swishing his tail in amusement. "I figured as much. The simplified version is that Domonique needed to get someone else to finish the job, but knew that her mom was a bitch and that fancy precautions needed to be taken to ensure victory."

Gon snickered sheepishly, "Okay! That one makes a whole lot more sense!" He rested his chin on his hand, and peered at Killua with a certain look in his eyes. "You're so smart, Killua! I never would have been able to figure that out from the vague clues and fragments of Domonique's influence that we found. You're so amazing."

Killua blushed. "Oh, shut up," he mumbled.

Gon giggled mischievously.

"You did that on purpose!" Killua accused, wishing his cheeks would go back to their normal color.

"Compliment you? On purpose? No~ way~!"

Killua growled at him and punched his friend in the arm, though he wasn't able to keep his smile down. "Just go back to sleep, you shitface. We've been ordered to take a day of rest by the Neko-Girls. We saved them once and for all, so they want us to rest and recover while they clean up the mess."

"If we're supposed to be resting then why were you in here watching me sleep?~"

"I was not watching you sleep! I just wanted to make sure you were okay after passing out from overexertion!" Killua threw himself to his feet and marched decisively towards the door. Gon's cheerful laughter followed him all the way there. "I'm going back to my room to sleep!"

"Thanks for the update!~"

Killua grumpily shoved his head back around the corner and pointed his finger at Gon, "You are gonna sit back and rest! No neurotoxin training until you're fully recovered!"

The Valkyrie watched with an air of victory as Gon's face contorted into one of surprise and wonder. "How did you know I was gonna train!"

"Because I know you," Killua said with a smile. "Now seriously, get some rest. Allow your body to recover. I know you're in pain from using the biochemical so much. Get some more sleep."

Gon smiled back at him, and was that a blush dusting his cheeks? No way, couldn't be! Killua was just overthinking things. There was no reason Gon would be blushing! There was absolutely no way that Gon blushed like he did! No way at all that he felt the same way-

Killua winced at another wave of pain from that mental barrier.

Damned Illumi. I'd love to break this wall down right now, but I've gotta get some rest too. If Gon can't train, then I can't strain my mind to that degree.

The Valkyrie closed the door silently and walked back across the hall to his own room, feeling a phantom sense of loss, like a missing limb, now that he had left Gon's side again. With a sigh, he flung himself into the bed and buried himself in a nest of heavy blankets and pillows. He pretended that he wasn't doing it to make up for the absence of Gon's warmth by his side.