"Why are you staring at me like that?" Gon asked tentatively.
Ging narrowed his eyes, still staring at his son like he was some foreign enigma. The five of them were shoved inside a very small ship. It had somehow managed to be smaller than the slip vessel they'd stolen from the racist assholes, but Ging had said that they didn't need that big of a ship anyways, it needed to be able to fit inside their contact's ship when they met up. They'd mainly needed one that couldn't be tracked, just in case any Chimeras decided to monitor the ships leaving.
Gon didn't know how ship tracking worked, but he did know that there was some sort of thingy Ryder had done when he'd started the thing up that had prevented anyone from being able to track them through space.
The only downside of having such a small ship meant that all of them were stuffed inside a very cramped space. The ship was no more than a sleek little thing with a tightly packed cockpit and a bit of space in the back. All their packs and weapons were piled up in the corner, and taking up a considerable amount of room.
Ryder was in the cockpit, currently playing a game on a noisy little device that he'd purchased. The ship was on autopilot for now, but he needed to stay ready to take control if any Chimeras started following them. It didn't feel like they were in any sort of danger. Space was the same as it ever was, just an enormous sea of pitch black. They'd warp through a wormhole every so often, but nothing was out of the ordinary.
Well, except Ging. Gon, Killua, Pariston, and Ging were all squeezed into the little ship, standing in the meager amount of space between Ryder's pilot seat and all their stuff in the back corner.
They'd only been flying for a couple of hours now, and Ging had been staring on and off at Gon the whole time! It was very unsettling, and the hybrid had just coughed up the bile to confront him about it.
Ging was leaning against the wall opposite the space of Gon, with his arms crossed over his chest and a very judgy expression on his face. "Why do you smell like a Valkyrie scent marker?" he asked in distaste.
Killua, who was sitting on the floor and leaning against Gon's leg, stiffened up a little in embarrassment. Pariston chuckled into a hand, earning an elbow from Ging. Ryder just snorted.
"I don't think I smell weird," Gon protested. He didn't want to embarrass Killua! Besides, it wasn't that big of a deal. He'd thought he already had Killua's scent on him, since they'd been traveling together in such close proximity for almost two entire years.
Ging rolled his eyes, always one to make a mountain out of a molehill. "Don't play dumb, offspring, your entire scent's changed! You stink like a territorial marking, and it's making my skin crawl! Make your pheromones less deadly next time, huh Zoldyck?"
Killua hissed in distaste from his place on the floor. "Don't be such a little snowflake, you bitchy old geezer! It's not my fault you're the equivalent of a human! Maybe if you weren't so weak you wouldn't be so affected!"
"Don't bring my blood into this, young man!"
"Don't start arguments you can't win!" Killua shot back.
"Or, don't start arguments in the first place," Ryder chimed in.
"Oh! I have a good one," Ging said in an overly sarcastic tone, "Don't realign the chemical footprint of your colleagues! What are you trying to protect him from? Believe me when I say you're the only one in a 30 light year radius who's even remotely interested in whatever that is," Ging snorted, gesturing in Gon's general direction.
"Don't listen to him!" Ryder gasped, shooting up in his chair and leaning around to face Gon, "I'd fuck you in a heartbeat!"
Gon rolled his eyes. Ryder blew him a kiss, to which Killua flipped him off.
Pariston shook his head, chuckling to himself. "Mortals. There's truly never a dull moment."
"You know, that truly is your favorite word, isn't it?" Ging retorted. He was clearly attacking anything that drew breath this morning.
"Whatever do you mean?" Pariston said smoothly with a growing smirk. "I truly do not understand what the issue is."
"Truly, my mother's crusty ass crack, I think you should learn a few new words, Paris! There must be something else you can say, you're not a fucking politician! What are you trying to prove? Do you seriously have to go that out of your way to say that you aren't lying?"
"You insult me. Truly."
"I'M GONNA CUT YOUR TONGUE OUT OF YOUR MOUTH IF YOU DON'T–"
With an exasperated sigh, Gon slid down the wall to join Killua on the floor. The Valkyrie snickered and wrapped his tail around Gon's waist.
"Do we sound like that?" he asked.
"I don't think so," Gon responded.
"That's good," Killua chuckled. He leaned his head on Gon's shoulder with a contented sigh.
A warmth buzzed in Gon's chest, and he leaned his head against Killua's. He found himself grinning. This is perfect.
With Pariston and Ging partaking in their third hissy fit of the morning, Ryder narrating everything he was doing as he played his game, Killua curled up at his side, and hurtling through space towards the most dangerous situation of his life, Gon had never felt such a deep sense of belonging.
…
Ten hours after Killua laid his head on Gon's shoulder, Komugi bit her tongue fast, holding in her cry of pain as she was tossed roughly against a cold floor. It was an unfamiliar floor, and a hard one at that. She flinched when the ear rattling slam of a metal door burst from somewhere at her right.
A shiver ran up her spine when a sinister chuckle echoed from the other side of the door, which she assumed was made of metal bars based on the noise it had made.
"Now that we finally have you, you're even more laughable than the rumors say!" the voice taunted. It was a male voice. He sounded power crazed, and his presence made Komugi shiver with anxiety.
"I'd eat you if I could," the voice complained, "But you're too valuable for that."
The stomping of padded feet on the floor outside the cell. Komugi gasped and tried to scramble backwards, but to no avail. A strong arm reached between the bars, and a huge, and clawed hand grabbed Komugi around the neck.
She was lifted into the air, and gagged in pain as she clung helplessly to the furry arm of whoever this Chimera male was. Tears welled in the corners of her sightless eyes, and her neck felt swollen and tight as the circulation was cut off to her head. She coughed, feeling the tips of those claws digging into her neck and making blood trickle out.
"Just look at you," the Chimera snickered. "You're so frail and helpless! The only thing of any worth is your blood."
Komugi whimpered as she was slammed against the metal bars. The Chimera pressed her against the bars, still holding her up by her neck. He leaned forward, and Komugi could feel his damp breath against her face. A hot, slimy tongue brushed against her neck, right where he'd pulled those tiny droplets of blood.
The Chimera moaned and shivered with delight, it made Komugi's stomach turn with fear.
"The King is so wasteful," the Chimera moaned. "You're so helpless! I just wanna kill you right now! But I can't."
He threw Komugi back into the floor. Her head cracked painfully against the stone, but all she could do was gasp and cough and scratch at her neck as she was released mere seconds before passing out.
The Chimera laughed at her, splayed across the floor with trembling fingers feeling at the puncture wounds on her throat.
"Don't worry, little lamb," he chuckled darkly. "We'll make a feast out of you. Now that you're here, we'll have that traitorous King on his knees before the sun rises over the east tomorrow." The Chimera walked off, cackling as the pound of his feet on the ground faded off into the distance.
Komugi took deep breaths, doing her best to remain calm. Her hands were shaking so bad, and it was taking all of her willpower not to break down crying. She sniffed several times, trying to keep the snot from dripping down and across her lips.
"Where am I?" she whispered to herself.
She'd awoken in the middle of the night by two strange Ants. They'd gagged her and carried her out of her room. Komugi had tried to cry out to Pouf or Pitou for help, but her screams were suppressed and too tiny to hear.
Those two Ants had thrown Komugi into a sack, and then ran for hours. She'd been thrown into the back of a ship, flown somewhere, and then she'd been unloaded and dumped into this cell.
She had no idea where she was, and the only things she could hear were the pounding of her heart and the occasional drop of moisture onto the stone floor. The stone floor was cold and unforgiving, and the grout between the slabs was slimy with a mixture of dirt and likely spilt blood.
Her neck ached from where that Ant had grabbed it, and her skin was still crawling from where he'd licked her blood.
Komugi choked back a sob.
This was so terrifying. This entire situation was almost enough to make her frozen with dread and anxiety. The fighting had lasted for an entire year already, and Lord Meruem had told her that it was almost over… that once the Zodiac arrived they'd be able to leave this place behind and finally travel to Nirvana and be at peace.
Komugi wanted nothing more than for Meruem to be released from this horrible place.
He wasn't like the other Ants, he was different. He was kind, understanding, and just. He was the first Ant, no, first person to ever see Komugi for more than just her blood. Why did this have to happen? If Komugi weren't so weak, if she weren't so helpless then she wouldn't be captured like this. Now, the insurgents were going to hold her over Meruem's head, and he'd be put in an impossible situation.
She didn't want that for him. She didn't want to burden him like this.
"Dear Leader," she choked out, "I'm– I'm so sorry. I– I'm no better than I was back– back then, I– I'm causing you trouble, right when you most need things to stay the same."
Why had this happened? Why now of all times? Everything had worked out up until now… why did it have to be like this? So close to the end? What was Komugi going to do? If the insurgents had her as a hostage, then Meruem would lose. They'd capture them, and then they'd kill him. Him and all the other rebels.
Pitou. Pouf. Youpi. Ikalgo. All of them. Then the Ants would destroy Nirvana. Without the King alive to protect it, Nirvana would be destroyed. And all those incredible souls working for a peaceful world would be slaughtered.
Komugi pressed her hand against her mouth, stifling the sobs. No, she couldn't just sit here like this… there had to be something she could do! But what was there? She was blind, she couldn't see a thing. It had been like that her entire life, she'd be completely worthless if it weren't for her blood…
Back on Overworld, Komugi had always been a burden to her family. She'd grown up in a human village, and a poor one at that. They'd been at a terrible location, uncomfortably close to the Seelie's territory, and sandwiched between two warring clans of Elves. No other human civilizations had been willing to make the dangerous journey through the warzones to trade with them.
They'd been landlocked between the Seelie Fae, two vicious groups of Elves, and the endless expanse of the Midnight Sea.
Komugi had been told by her younger sister that their village looked like a circle of stones. Pale, whitewashed stones that were drained of all life by the sun and the salt from the ocean. The stones had little black caps for roofs, with tiny wisps of chimney smoke crawling to the heavens in an attempt to get away. Komugi's sister had told her that their village rested on a plain of golden grass, right against a cliff with jagged stones that broke against an ocean of pitch black.
The Midnight Sea was named for its color, and for the way it reflected the starry night sky like a mirror whenever midnight fell. Boxing in the village on the other side of the sea, Komugi's sister explained an ominous presence. Huge mountains that shot into the clouds. They were dark, and covered in snow. There were no trees anywhere in sight, and their peaks were veiled in a dense cloud cover. No one knew what lay in the depths of those mountains. Only that they held the infamous Court of the Seelie Fae. The most powerful presence in the entire universe.
Komugi's sister said that the sun never shone on their village. That the sky was always overcast and gray. She said that the Midnight Sea was a wild beast up against the cliff, but a silken blanket as it crawled off onto the horizon.
Whenever Komugi would go outside, she would smell nothing but salt. The air was always thick with the humidity of the sea, and wind constantly whipped across the plain. It howled eerily as it passed between the houses, it made the grasses hiss as they rubbed together, and it tied Komugi's hair into knots every time she stepped outside, without fail.
The seasons never changed on Komugi's seaside tundra. It never got cold, but it was never particularly warm either. The climate wasn't unpleasant, but the clouds and the constant wind made for billowing clothing and fires that constantly burned in their pits.
Komugi's people lived off the birds that they shot from the sky, and the scrawny root vegetables that grew from the tough, unforgiving earth. They fermented the grasses to make a bitter mead, for it rarely rained, and when it did it always meant trouble.
Whenever the rains would come, the Seelie Tax Master would descend from the mountains, and the entire village would be trapped beneath the oppressive blanket of their aura. Humans weren't supposed to be able to feel aura… but the bone chilling terror that overcome each and every human could not be described as anything but.
Any time Komugi felt the sprinkling of droplets against her nose, or heard the pattering of rain against the tin roof, she knew that it was coming. And she would sit, and she would dread. For every time the Tax Master crossed the tundra in their billowing black cloak, Komugi would be thrown into the mead cellar and locked up to hide until they left.
For hours, sometimes days at a time, Komugi would sit curled up with the barrels of thin and bitter mead. It was cold and wet in the cellar, and Komugi would have to set her jaw and stay awake and alert no matter what. For no matter what happened, she could not allow even a single ounce of her aura free. And she certainly could not block the Tax Master's aura.
This was because Komugi was what the Seelie called a Outling.
The Outlings were hybrids that held even a single drop of Seelie blood. They were outcasts, and considered lower than the Demons. Seelies absolutely despised hybrids, and went out of their way to slaughter any hybrid containing Seelie blood in the most brutal way possible. They believed that diluting the Seelie bloodline was the highest of sins, and that the existence of even a single Seelie-hybrid made the entire sub-species "impure."
Komugi's mother was a human from the village on the Midnight Sea, but her father was a Seelie nobleman who'd had his way with her. The nobleman had attempted to kill Komugi's mother once he had finished with her, but by some incredible stroke of luck she'd survived long enough to be stitched back together by the medicine woman.
When Komugi had been born, the entire village had come to watch her birth.
The village on the Midnight Sea was poor and on the verge of starvation. No human civilization would dare travel to their shores.
However.
There was one market, one trade for which merchants would travel to the depths of hell to stock their wares.
Blood. The selling and trading of blood.
The Fae were the most powerful beings in all existence, and their blood could give a Sorcerer the power of a God. Unfortunately, it was quite literally impossible to kill a Fae and take their blood, and even those that left their courts were unwilling to sell their blood.
Still though, Faerie blood was both the most delicious and the most powerful substance in all existence. And even if pure Fae blood was unattainable, diluted Fae blood had the most competitive and thirsty market in the blood trade. Diluted Seelie blood was the most rare of all, what with how rare a Seelie hybrid was.
When Komugi was born, she was seen as a gift from the heavens. For Komugi would hold at least 50% Seelie Fae blood, more depending on how much human blood had been overwritten. With Komugi, the village on the Midnight Sea would finally be able to trade for the supplies they needed to survive.
Komugi was blind, and according to the villagers, a complete waste of space. Therefore, the only way to make up for all the trouble she caused by wasting food and air was to drain her blood for the villagers to sell. Komugi's village turned her into a Blood Whore, and used her invaluable blood - which turned up 75% Seelie - as their means to a better life.
But humans would always be humans, and humanoids would always be humanoids. And even though Komugi's existence was the only reason the village was still alive, she was treated like dirt. Her blood was a trade item, and in time the villagers began to see her as nothing more than livestock.
Komugi was used to it. She was blind, and she was unable of doing anything on her own. She wasn't very smart either, and the only thing she was actually good at was gungi, an utterly useless pastime in a world that revolved around blood and surviving the next visit of the Tax Master. For if Komugi ever were to be discovered, and the village ousted as concealing an Outling, they would all be destroyed.
It was a precarious position, and with each visit of the Tax Master the villagers got more and more paranoid. If the Tax Master ever came while the blood merchants were in town, or vice versa, then everything would be lost.
When Komugi was eighteen years old, something happened that would change her life forever. Instead of the usual blood merchant, it was a Chimera Ant that arrived in the village on the Midnight Sea.
Komugi's sister whispered to her that he was tall and elegant, with hair like the surrounding grasses and skin a pale pink. He had the wings of a butterfly, and such a delicate demeanor that Komugi's sister wondered if he would shatter at the touch of a finger.
Shaiapouf, however, was not delicate in any way or form.
He all but secreted bloodlust, a terrible sensation that only Komugi was capable of feeling. She'd told her sister that their guest was not what he appeared, but to no avail. In the end, the villagers sold Komugi to the Chimera Ants for an unfathomable sum of gold and treasure. It would be enough to pay the Tax Master's bill for more than two centuries, far longer than Komugi would last. Not to mention the fact that they wouldn't have to live under the constant fear of her being discovered.
So the deal was done.
And Komugi had been taken away, shipped off to the stars to be eaten alive by the King of the Chimera Ants.
She'd been tossed into a cage, and completely ignored by Shaiapouf for the entire duration of the journey. She was fed scraps of alien meat by the soldiers that guarded her, and they'd rattle her cage to watch her cry out in fear. They weren't allowed to eat her, and found her blindness amusing.
Komugi had been brought to the Grand Palace of the Chimera Ant Queen, and was turned from a Blood Whore to Blood Bag, though there was not much of a difference. She was kept underground with dozens of other rare blooded humanoids, where she lived for weeks on a strange diet consisting of different blood-thickening foods. The food tasted strange, and made Komugi's stomach bloat and her cycle run heavy.
It was an uncomfortable time, knowing that she was being fattened up for a meal.
She'd been purchased as a gift for the King, for soon he would be formally introduced to the court.
His first meal as official King-to-be would be that of the highest quality.
On the day of reckoning, Komugi had been brought to a sweet smelling chamber. She'd been washed head to toe, and dressed in silken clothing. Her hair had been brushed out and pinned up, and her face had been dusted with a fine powder that tasted like sugar. Her lips had been glossed with honey, and her lashes slicked with wine.
It had felt so ironic. That had been the first day Komugi had ever truly felt beautiful, and it would be the day she'd be eaten alive.
When Komugi was ready, she'd sensed Shaiapouf's presence for the first time since she'd been purchased, and had been escorted on a long walk by the elegant man and an Ant whose steps pattered like a cat's.
Komugi had been brought before the King of the Ants, and though she knew that she was walking into her death she held her head high.
As an Outling, her only purpose in life was to be killed.
She might as well go out with pride.
Standing before the King, Komugi had realized that all the tales of him were true. This was the most powerful creature ever to breathe. More powerful than the Seelie, and infinitely more than Komugi. If anyone was an ant in this situation, it was her.
She had been walked up to the King, a death march through an empty darkness, the song of three pairs of footprints and the sweet scent of honey and wine the final taste of reality that Komugi would ever experience.
She'd been ready, finally ready. For once in her life, Komugi had been unafraid.
She was okay with this death.
She would die beautiful, and at the hands of the most powerful creature to ever live.
An honorable way to die, and a much more honorable death than what she'd have been given at the hands of the Seelie.
Komugi had taken one final breath, and turned her soul over to fate.
"You there, why do you keep your eyes shut? Are you blind?"
Those had been the words the King had spoken, and in that very moment, a little part of Komugi had known…
Even then. Even when the King had first spoken those words. She couldn't have possibly known that he'd choose to indulge in conversation with her rather than feast, and something about the gesture of it all - of this godlike being taking pause to exchange words with her of all things - felt like a nod from fate.
That day had not been her death day, but rather the day of her birth.
Komugi considered the day she'd met King Meruem the day she'd really started living.
And now… after they'd been so much, that precious person was about to be put through the greatest suffering. Komugi knew that he'd lay down his life, even if were to spare her from having even a single drop of her blood spilt… he'd said it himself. He'd proven it to her.
Komugi didn't want Meruem to suffer. She wanted him to win, she wanted him to live.
If she was here, sitting in this cage, then that meant that Meruem was in danger. So long as Komugi was in the hands of the insurgents, Meruem would never win. He would never allow himself too.
Komugi knew what he was thinking right now. She'd sat across a gungi board from him for hours, days, weeks! Komugi knew what Meruem would do, and she knew his exact thought process.
Right now, he's on the hill across from the Grand Palace. He has his soldiers at his back, and Colt's army at his front. If he leaves his position, Colt will storm the camp and end things once and for all. He's trapped, he can't move from his place.
He knows that I'm here. Pouf and Pitou would have noticed my absence and informed him hours ago.
He's likely sent Pouf and Pitou to meet up with the Zodiac and Ikalgo early. He's told them that there's been a change of plans. He'll send the Zodiac and Pitou to save me, and he himself will storm the palace all on his own.
But that plan will never work, and I'm sure he knows that too.
And even so, he's sending his two most powerful pieces away, all on this last ditch attempt to save my life. They'll never bust me out in time, there's just no way! No one is fast enough, not even Pitou. Dear Leader is relying only on hope… he's allowing himself to be fooled by impossibilities all because of me.
I can't let that happen.
Dear Leader - King Meruem - he has to win this battle.
I can't let this outcome stand.
As long as I'm alive and in the insurgent's hands, he will never see his precious Nirvana.
At first light tomorrow, I'll be flaunted on the battlefield like some helpless scapegoat. I was taken in the middle of the night, and it took hours for me to be delivered here. Dawn will arrive in one hour. And it will take half of that hour to fly me on a ship to the battlefield.
That's not enough time.
That's too small of a window.
There's absolutely now way Pitou can get to me in time, not even with the help of Pouf and the Zodiac.
There's only one way to assure the King's victory.
Komugi set her jaw, and lowered her hands from her face.
She grabbed onto the hem of her tattered dress, and ripped off a strip of fabric in one swift tug.
Komugi crawled to metal bars on the front of her cell, and tied one end of the strip tightly around one of them.
She then looped the other end around her neck, and tied a messy knot.
The only way to prevent myself from arriving on that battlefield, is for me to die.
Komugi's fingers trembled as she completed the final knot. Tears welled up in her eyes, and nausea roiled in her stomach. But it didn't matter. The only thing that mattered, was making sure the King was safe.
Her entire purpose in life was to die, right?
She'd die on her own terms, and she would never allow herself to be used as a pawn against her precious Meruem.
Komugi took a deep breath, steeling herself.
She felt a ghost of a smile dust her face.
"Lord Meruem," she whispered to the empty cell, "You showed me what it is like to truly be happy. You gave my life meaning, and freed me from the prison of my fate. Now I, will do the same for you."
With that, Komugi clenched her fists tight. Her nails bit into her palms, and her eyes squeezed shut tight. She jerked her body forward, and the makeshift noose slipped in a vice around her throat.
Her heart thundered in her chest, and her mind raged at her to stop, to live!
But through it all, a determined grin cracked across Komugi's features.
If the only way to defeat the insurgents was to take her own life, then she'd do it with a smile on her face.
My dear Meruem, I want you to live.