An Amusing Interlude: Part 15: Cavalry – in which rescue is
underway.
By
Deborah (Kosagi) Brown
Hunter X Hunter is copyright Yoshihiro Togashi. Quoll and Kurapika aren't mine more's the pity.
QUOLL:
"I hope you'll understand when I say that I would have done
better to have killed you?" Arissen's eyes avoid mine, as if fearing to see my
thoughts in my face. Not that he would, I think. At my chuckle, he starts,
turning to look at me, eyebrows raised. I've seen that expression in a mirror,
have seen it occasionally on my friend – oh, wait, my baby
brother's - face. The look of a man not quite sure how to react and
covering it.
"I hope you'll understand when I say that I'm glad you did not?" I would shrug but my shoulders are hurting – we've been hanging by our wrists for some time now. "Not that I'm glad, or even proud, of what resulted. It just happened. We deal with it or we don't. Either way, the world keeps turning."
A soft chuckle escapes Arissen's lips. "Well, yes. True enough." He eyes me, examining my face. "Why all the reversed crosses?"
I can't help but grin. "Kurapika wonders the same thing," I tell him, "Though he's much too polite to ask." This, however, is our father. A man who, no doubt, is finding himself faced with a child he never meant to father and is trying to work out how to deal with. "They're a look. An expression of my alliances. Why? Going to ground me if I don't wear something more reasonable?" I grin to take the sting off my last words. I know how far I can tease Kurapika. I'm not so sure about this man. He resembles me, the same pointed chin, shaggy black hair and huge eyes – though his are blue – but he is Kurota by upbringing and I'm not sure what sort of sense of humor he has.
He considers that for a long moment, then smiles wryly. "I'm not in a position to question your dress sense, Lucifer. Or your choice in names. I waived that right when I left you with Johan."
There is regret in his tone, a regret I find a bit hard to understand. He left me safe and alive, which was more than some would have done and I say as much. "I have to wonder what I would have done. You were forced to father me. You owed me nothing." Is it the Kurota upbringing that makes them take so much responsibility onto themselves, I wonder?
A bright red flush crosses Arissen's cheeks. "Strictly speaking, no. I didn't father you. Not the way you think. They did to me what I believe they'll be doing with you." He glances over my shoulder, towards our captor. The old man is busy with something at a console but I have a feeling he can hear our conversation. "Clausen and the others hired me as a bodyguard – I thought – and one time, while I was unconscious from a fight I'd been in protecting him, they took." The flush gets brighter. "It wasn't until later that I found out what they really were up to."
I'm only mildly surprised. It probably simplified matters immensely to take what they needed and do all the combination work in the lab. Besides, it would surely have been even more complicated to handle thirteen different pregnancies. "I'm a test tube baby, then."
"You're still my son genetically," Arissen reassures me. Oddly, I rather appreciate his doing so. I keep finding things out about myself that leave me standing alone among many. My 'brothers' and 'sisters' are all gone – having failed to survive either their Eyes or their training. Possibly both. "You're of my blood. I owed you something. Owed you, and failed to pay that debt."
KURAPIKA:
I have felt this anger before. The anger of knowing the
innocent have suffered. The rage of understanding that a great evil, a terrible
wrong, has been done. A wrong that could, surely, have no justification. Before
I felt that rage for the people I stand before. Before I felt this fury for the
slayers of my people. Not now, not when I understand what happened, that there
were reasons and causes behind what was done. I wonder if I will be able to
feel the same, if I learn the truth behind what they tell me now?
Yet how can there be any similarities? These people killed mine to protect themselves. To protect someone who mattered to them. There was no intent to cause harm initially. The ones whose throats I want now, however, are those behind this game, this terrible, cruel game called Greed Island. A game that uses human lives as its counters. Surely such a thing cannot possibly be forgiven?
"No one is dying over it, aside from the players," Feitan points out dryly. "It's infuriating, unfair and unforgivable, but it's also not nearly so bad as you're making it out to be." He glances at his fellows. "As far as we can tell, our people are being used as templates for the game characters. They, themselves, aren't put into danger."
Shalnark nods. "It seems the chosen ones were hired. No one expected the game to last for so very long, though. No one thought it would be so impossible to win. No one thought there'd be such a rivalry among the players as to make everything all the harder to complete. I don't think anyone thought the players would rob and murder each other in order to win."
"It gets pretty nasty," Phinx remarks. "Some of the players seem to be playing just so they can kill people." He grins reminiscently, as if particularly amused about something, then shrugs. "Doesn't buy them much, but human nature is what it is." He eyes me. "It's more our business than yours. I suppose we'd take your help if Danchou was here but"
I sigh. "And that's the important point, isn't it? He isn't and somehow we have to get him out and you still need to see about getting your people out of that game."
Feitan coughs softly, "Not to mention keeping a certain traitorous clown from finding out about the Danchou before Quoll is good and ready." He eyes me curiously. "So, what do you propose we do?"
I only wish I had a good plan. There are good reasons for the Ryodan to keep doing what they're doing. Other – just as good ones – to go after Quoll. "All right. Some of you have to stay with Greed Island, then. Are you trying to win the game so that it can be finished?"
Shalnark shakes his head. "We could, maybe, but there's at least two teams too close to winning to make it not worth the effort. On the other hand, we might be able to get some of our people out without finishing the game. We just have to find out where they're being kept."
Between that, and keeping Hisoka from finding out what's really going on, I figure at least half the remaining Spiders need to be on Greed Island. "Borenulf has the ability to search for things. You'll want him."
"Coltopi, to help us identify copies," Feitan agrees. "And Shalnark, to help us figure out the rules so we can avoid getting caught. Shizuka to help clean up if we do."
I try very hard not to think about that aspect. I'd already promised myself I wasn't going to. It's hard not to get upset. I've seen why these people think the way they do. I have to acknowledge that they have reasons for doing the things they do. Yet everything in me says that what they do is as wrong as the things that have been done to them. Something in my expression must show my feelings, for Feitan shrugs, as if to say, 'what do you expect?'
I expect the world to be a better place. I expect its people to treat each other with respect. I don't expect the cruelties I keep running into. My upbringing has left me unprepared to deal, unprepared to accept the reality of a world that creates such people. All of which brings us no closer to rescuing Quoll. I force myself to focus on the situation at hand. "All right. What of Nobunaga and Franklin? Can you spare them?"
"Them and myself." Feitan agrees and I see Phinx's lips tighten. "I'm going and you're not. That's final."
"No, it isn't." Phinx glares at his compatriot and I can see an argument brewing. Before I manage another blink the two men are growling at each other. I open my mouth to speak but the argument has grown too loud. Much of it is in Star City dialect and at the speed at which they talk it's impossible for me to pick up more than a few phrases. What I do understand is that they've almost always been teamed, that Phinx is unwilling to permit his partner in mayhem to take a risk that he won't be taking himself.
Trouble is, they can't both go and Feitan has an edge over Phinx in subtlety. Where we're going we're going to need that. On the other hand, they could use Feitan on Greed Island, too. The decision is impossible to make and for a brief moment I'm flummoxed. Only a sudden memory of an earlier argument gives me the solution. "STOP THAT!" I yell, just loud enough to get their attention. Startled, angry at me now for interrupting, the two men glare and open their mouths to yell at me instead. Before they can I pull out a coin and toss it at the nearer of the two. "You know how to settle it. The one who wins the toss goes with me."
QUOLL:
I'm dreaming again, this time deliberately letting myself
drift, my mind flickering through various thoughts but holding onto none of
them. Images move past my closed eyes, confused and near impossible to
decipher. Cold metal and warm arms. A soft voice whispering a lullaby in my
ear. A bewildering welter of sensations that I both want and fear.
::Kurapika.::
I'm walking a minefield, traveling past memories and places and things that are not part of my own Self. These are what my mind stole from those who should have been my people. Not their souls, please whatever god I don't worship, not, not, not their souls. They are judgment upon me for what I have done, my own personal jury. Even if Kurapika and I weren't linked I think I would always have to face them, here in the depths of my dreams.
It is always an effort to ignore their silent accusation, the cold memories of the past. An effort but one I must make, else what dregs of sanity I have left will drain away into nothingness. I have to pass them, however, to find the one memory that is not truly memory but one end of the link between myself and Kurapika.
::Quoll?:: The faintest touch on in my mind and I feel better already. There is something, I think, about the Kurota that makes us need each other. If there is anything I could blame Arissen for, it would be for not realizing that, for not understanding that by leaving me – even in the safekeeping of a good friend – he had left me unable to do anything but seek him and the other Kurota out. I could blame him, but I will not. By his lights he did his best for me.
::I have news:: I tell Kurapika through our link.
::So do I.::
The two of us are silent. I, because I have no idea how to tell him what I've learned. ::You first.:: we both say and I can't help laughing at our foolishness. Especially when, neither sure who should speak first, we both say, ::We're brothers.::
There's a long moment of silence. At last Kurapika asks, ::Johan told me but how could you know?::
It's all the harder to say what has to be said. I know it's only going to upset him more. Nor can I hide the truth from him. He deserves that much. At last I answer. ::Our father, Arissen, is here with me. He was the Nen user Johan sent for to shield us. He was captured.::
An even longer silence and I can feel the fear and worry flowing through our link. The emotion is quickly suppressed. ::Is he well?::
::Considering that we're both chained up by our wrists, trapped among a bunch of monsters called Chimera Ants and headed for certain death? Oh, just peachy keen.:: My answer is an attempt to put as light as possible a slant onto the situation, to keep Kurapika from realizing just how scared I really am. He goes silent and thoughtful. ::Kurapika?::
::Yes?::
::If you can't get us out of here then you need to make sure the Chimera Ants don't get hold of our remains.:: There is puzzlement in his response and I explain, ::They're part of the same kind of experiments that created me, but I think they may be infinitely worse. They evolve.:: I show him images of what I'd read in my books, then images of what surround me and I can feel his horror. ::Give them Kurota blood and they'll have the Eye as well.::
::I can't leave you two to die.:: His dream image has a terrified look on its face. Terrified and determined. I can understand his worry. He knows I'm right but he also can't bear the thought of losing his only blood-kin left. Even if one of those kin is the reason there are no others.
I manage a smile. ::Kura-cha, little brother, I have no wish to die. I do not intend to die without a fight. But face the facts. If Arissen and I become part of the brood's feeding schedule it will be a disaster beyond what I did to our people. I readily admit to being without much in the way of conscience but there are some things that can't be permitted.::
He takes a deep breath. ::How long do you think you have?::
::They want to take samples from me, probably from Arissen as well. At least a day to make sure they get enough. If it looks to me like there's no other way I'll do what I have to.::
::Then I have to hurry.:: The link starts to fade, then strengthens. ::Quoll will you give our father my regards and tell him:: The thought breaks off, a small choking sound behind it. ::Tell him I love him.::
KURAPIKA:
"What's up?" Feitan looks at me worriedly as I open my
eyes. I glance over at Franklin, whose big hands are piloting the small plane
with a delicate touch. He nods, confirming that we're on the course I pointed
out to him. "You zoned out."
"The link," I explain. "Quoll had to tell me something." I want nothing so much as to curl up into a ball and hide from what I've learned. I have all the more to lose now, a father who I haven't seen in years, a brother whom I hadn't even known was my brother and who was now my friend. At the same time I know Quoll's right. I don't understand what Chimera Ants are, nor how they breed, but I do understand that letting them have Kurota abilities on top of everything else they can do is more than can be allowed.
Feitan is still watching me, eyes narrowed now, waiting for a further explanation. I sigh. There isn't much choice. He has to understand the risks. "Those things we fought. The creatures that stole Quoll, are called Chimera Ants. They're a kind of insect. They use the genetic material of their victims to take on their victim's characteristics. We can't let them have Kurota genes. They're already too dangerous as it is."
"Then we have to get the Danchou free."
I nod. "Or make sure nothing of him remains to feed their queen."
Behind me Nobunaga makes a sharp, angry, sound. "What? WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?"
"What Quoll himself has told me." I look at Nobunaga as levelly as possible. "He's my brother, Nobunaga. Worse, they have our father too. There's nothing in this world I want to do less than I want to destroy the two of them. But if they fall, if we fail to rescue them, we have to destroy the Ants before they can breed the Eye into themselves."
Feitan considers that with the coldness that I sense he uses when a hard decision has to be made. "Nobunaga, if it gets to that point, the Danchou will be dead anyway. What's left won't care what we do to him." He looks at me. "How long do we have?"
"A day at most. I think we can get to the laboratory before they're finished with Quoll." I focus my thoughts, feeling along the link, feeling Quoll's presence as it grows nearer. "Franklin, shift our course a bit further south. Nobunaga, get the map out. Let's see if we can figure out where they're headed."
Feitan raises an eyebrow at me but says nothing as the map is pulled out and the three of us examine it. "The Baltos archipelago. Near NGL, if not directly on it." At my confused expression, Feitan explains, "Neo Green Life. It's a place where technology is forbidden. They've had people executed for bringing even so much as a camera in. There are rumors they have something to do with a drug ring but that's about all I know about it. Shalnark might have seen more in his research."
I nod. "If technology is forbidden, though, then they can't be headed there." A thought occurs to me. "Unless they're using that as a cover." As Feitan nods consideringly, I focus on my link with Quoll. We're no closer than we were before but neither are we losing ground. "All right. Whether or not it's NGL the plan remains the same. We parachute in as close to the lab as possible, break Quoll and my father out somehow and escape. Also somehow." I shake my head. "This is madness, isn't it? We haven't got a clue what we're doing."
"Not the Danchou's style," Feitan agrees wryly, "But all things considered, we don't have time for planning. So we make it up as we go along."
"In which case," Nobunaga says dryly, "I'm taking a nap. Wake me when we're there."
QUOLL:
So. This must be the place. I wince as one of the
Chimera Ants throws me over his shoulder and carts me through a stone
passageway, the pressure of his exoskeleton pinching into my bared chest. The
flickering red of torchlight gleams on the walls and I have to wonder why
they're using such old-fashioned lighting. Even in Star City we have electric
power.
Behind my captor another Chimera Ant carries Arrisen, his legs and rear about all I can see of him. He's hanging limp, though I think he is simply conserving energy. He knows as well as I do what we will have to do if we cannot escape. Don't really want to die at all but definitely don't want to become part of a breeding program via digestive process either. I'm planning, trying to decide what to do and how. I could pull my Skill-book right now but with this many Ants and my wrists chained, I wouldn't have time to act before they can. No, it's necessary to wait a bit longer. To find the most opportune moment because if I screw up that's going to be it.
My captor carries me into a cell formed from thick iron bars. The flickering light casts dark shadows dancing against the walls and the scent is too familiar for words. Back into the frying pan, little fishie, I think wryly. To be eaten up, this time.
The old man looks in as Arrisen is dropped on the floor beside me. As the gate closes a faint humming starts and I feel a headache forming behind my eyes. He nods at my expression. "Exactly. This cell contains a projection unit that continuously sends a signal to interfere with your Eyes and Arrissen's. So if you have thoughts of escape using its power, you may as well forget them."
He smiles assuredly. "Nor can your Nen save you. Your stolen skills are an unknown factor but with your arms pulled behind your back like that there's no way you can use an ability that requires you to read a book. And Arrissen's shielding Nen is equally useless. Even if we cannot see you in this room we will know by other methods whether or not the cell door has opened." He bows to us and, along with his Ants, leaves us to ourselves.
"Damn him." Arrissen grumbles. "I should never have let him find out so much about me."
I shrug, twisting a bit in my chains so that I'm able to stand up and examine the cell and the area outside. Then I consider the way I'm chained. Wrists cuffed above the opposite elbow behind my back, no way to work my arms down enough to pull them around, no way to see my Skill Book even if I materialize it. All right. I know what to do. Going to hurt a bit though. Moving to my father's side, I kneel and whisper. "Shield us from sound and view."
"Eh?" He focuses his thoughts and I can see him bringing his Nen into play. There's a shimmering in the air around us. "I don't suppose you have a reason for this?" he says louder.
"Would I ask, otherwise?" I turn my back to him, materializing my Skill Book. "I'm going to start flipping pages, Arrissen. Please tell me when you see one that says something about hair." The pages slide from one side to the other, my thoughts shifting them.
"Now. Should I take it that Clausen was mistaken about your conditions?"
I don't ordinarily discuss my abilities, but right now I don't have a choice about revealing something of their nature. "Something like that," I agree. "Read it for me, please?" I have to know what's on the page but nothing in the condition requires me to read it.
Once he's done so, I sigh, feeling the shift in my Nen. Feeling the ability form in my thoughts. "Now, turn around so I can reach your cuffs. I'll need you to put them as close to my hair as possible."
One thing I appreciate about my father is his quick thought. He may not entirely understand what I'm going to do, but he's willing to give me the chance to do it. I can feel his wrists behind me and focusing on the ability that I've selected, cause my hair to become narrow threads that move according to my will. Very carefully I work them into the keyhole of Arrissen's cuffs and pick the lock.
"Now comes the painful part," I say. "Help me pull my arms up far enough for my hair to reach the cuffs." Arrissen does so, even as I regret that I'd not let my hair grow out a bit more. It's longer than some men's, but the man I stole this skill from had had a long mane that could reach over a yard from his body. It's almost impossible to hold onto my Book, have my arms pulled up so high behind me and work the lock through the pain. Only determination sees me through and I'm left gasping on the floor once my hands are freed.
"Lucifer. I don't want to rush you, but the sooner we're out of here the better. We don't know how long we have." Arrissen's tone reminds me, oddly, of that Kal tribesman, Karrick. Reproving, yet strangely comforting.
I nod, forcing myself to sit back up, to rub life back into my aching shoulders. Once more I pull out my Skill Book, but this time I don't need help to find the right page or to learn what it says. Putting a hand on my father's shoulder, I teleport us out of the cage.
As I do, there's an explosion somewhere above us that rocks the building. Arrissen looks at me and we raise our brows simultaneously. The cavalry has arrived.
To Be Continued
Author's Comments:
Yeesh. It's hard to find the brains needed to write. Once I start everything's okay, but kicking myself into gear is the problem. In any case, next episode will be the rescue. Probably not until after the Con whose Art Show I run is over. Going to have to think of a good C word for it. *sigh* I'm running out.
Yukitsu: Arrissen would like to note that he did not bear Quoll, but that, aside from that, you've got the timeline right.//Dad is alive because they (the evile nasties behind everything) still have a use for him. Breeding material. Besides, if they kill him too soon he won't be a tasty treat for the Queen Ant.//When I get to the end, be sure to pass me a list of grammar, spelling etc. errors. I'll be doing an update and clean up when I'm done.
Lynlyn: (blushes embarassedly) Well, deep dark secret is that there is an unpostable Yaoi fic I wrote that well got sent off to an Alternate Alternate Universe owing to the relationship. I'm not sure that I can write a serious Shonen Ai take on Quoll and Kurapika, though. I tend to be rigid about the way a universe I'm writing goes. We'll see.//The movie was a Tom Cruise whose name is escaping me at the moment.//The spiked bracelets come from a doujinshi retelling Snow White and the 7 dwarves, with Quoll as the princess. There's a point where the outfit turns to Chun Li's.//Johan's injury was a removed skull with some pins to the nerve endings. Some small damage, but nothing beyond Kurapika's Red Eye enhanced healing chain.//I think I have a fair amount of timeline mix-ups going on in the story I didn't have a full set of translation at the time but I'll probably just say it's an AU thing and leave it at that. But yes, the Greed Island and Chimera Ants stuff is pretty much what's going on in the last two arcs. No surprise that you're thinking of using them. They're there in Togashi's stuff, after all.//And I'm afraid Quoll probably is the cause of the Ants wanting names.//I can't remember which spelling to use to save my life. Another thing for the final edit.
Kasugai Gummie: Oh, no problem. I just laugh because real wibbling is such a hilarious sound. Sort of a warbling whining wail. (I'm such a mean old mommy, laughing at my little boy's wibbles.)//BL fangirl?//(Pats Kaugai's Kurapika-muse on the head.)
