Killua had been taught many things as a child growing up in the house of Dragonite Valkyries. How to kill. How to keep from being killed. The proper way to remove someone's bones without damaging the flavor. But the most important lesson had been to keep a distance from other people.
Friends were a nuisance that a Valkyrie could not afford, especially a Valkyrie of his caliber. Zoldycks did not dwell over petty emotional bonds.
Killua's childhood had been one of cold stone floors, icey mountain tops, and lonely days. Cold gazes had followed him around, and brutal training had been endured without rest. All to prepare him for his "destiny." Killua was to be the next head of the Dragonite Valkyrie clan. He had been the only of the five Zoldyck children to inherit the white hair trait, all the others had come out with hair pitch as a starless night.
Not allowed to have friends, Killua had spent his spare time killing and training to kill. Rarely leaving the mountain, and whenever he did it was with his father and brothers. Whenever he had seen another person it had been to fight, kill, and eat.
When he had finally snapped and left the mountain for real…
It had been the greatest shock of his life.
Killua had wandered aimlessly for a long and lonely 3 months. Until he stumbled across this tiny, random town in the middle of nowhere. He had entered the Clawthorne from a pouring rain, freezing and soaked to the bone. Rather than turning Killua away like all others had at the sight of a masked halfbreed, Knov had helped him… only after Killua had promised to work off his newly acquired debt, of course.
Killua worked off the debt and stayed around to wrack up some pocket money. He lived in a cozy little room nestled inside the cliff face, worked by night, and explored the town by day. Each day, Killua would tell himself "just one more week." Until eventually Killua had decided to stay. Knov, Morel, and Palm (to some extent in Palm's case) had accepted him like it was nothing. It had been so refreshing, to have people just… accept him. Without anything expected of him in return.
Still… Killua had kept, and kept, his distance from them. They were mild acquaintances, nothing more. He was on casual terms with all three of them… but he wouldn't call them close. He kept them all at an arm's length. He was lonely, he had to admit. But such was the life of a Valkyrie! He didn't need anyone else! He was a trained assassin and warrior! He could snuff out every single life in the building in the most savage way imaginable at any given time in under 10 minutes! He didn't need people! Nor did people need him…
So why…
Why did he want to get to know Gon better?
He had felt a certain feeling, while standing at his side. He had lept from behind the bar and approached the other boy, lining up beside him. Gon hadn't reacted in the slightest, had just accepted Killua's presence as if it were the most natural thing in the world, as if they had known each other their entire lives. It had felt so… right.
But why? Why was that?
And why couldn't he get that boy out of his head?
Why did he want to talk to him?
Meet him?
Be in his presence?
These were the thoughts that prowled the young Zoldyck's mind like a whirlwind.
He sat at his favorite table, hunched over his breakfast like some sort of old warlock. His breakfast consisted of scrambled griffin-lizard eggs, thick sliced bacon from a tri-horned boar, and some sort of sweet melon fruit. A chocolate ice cream sundae was pushed off to the side, waiting for him to finish his breakfast (Palm wouldn't let him have ice cream for breakfast like he wanted to unless he ate a "proper meal" first). He swirled his wine glass filled with blood like a professional wine taster.
He could feel the prickling gazes of the waitresses on duty, they were eyeing him and his brooding form up. So annoying. Occasionally they would giggle, he could hear them pushing each other around deciding which of them would refill his glass.
Meal time was the only time he ever had his mask down, and the girls particularly enjoyed that part of the day.
Stupid hags.
Killua groaned in frustration, dragging his hands in violent circles through his hair. He then released a yell of frustration and chugged down the glass of blood, slamming the empty glass down on the table like a shot.
He then shoveled the food into his mouth, the only thing that could cheer him up right now was ice cream. Once the "healthy" food was cleared, Killua spooned bite after bite of chocolatey goodness down. The girls came to refill his glass every couple of minutes, and he ended up drinking three glasses of blood before Palm intervened as they were refilling and they returned with a glass of water rather than blood.
Stupid selkie-hag. Can't she mind her own damn business?
Killua looked over at her where she stood behind the bar cleaning the counter and stuck out his tongue. She rolled her eyes and ignored him.
No fun, as usual.
Killua pushed his empty ice cream bowl away and leaned back in his chair to continue brooding. The girls came for his dishes, sneaking glances at his unmasked face from under their lashes. The silver haired Valkyrie pretended they did not exist. Unfortunately, that only furthered their infatuations.
Sick of all the attention, Killua pulled his mask back up over his nose. He heard sighs of disappointment from behind the nearest pillar and his ear flicked as he listened to the patter of their feet as they left to continue their work.
Killua's skin prickled with the urge to swish his tail back and forth, he settled for bouncing his leg instead. He didn't want anyone seeing any more of his Valkyrie features than necessary. He tightened his tail around his waist and self-consciously pulled at the collar of his turtleneck.
He was back in his casual clothes: a deep maroon long sleeved turtle neck shirt with a loose white t-shirt over it, paired with a pair of baggy black pants. His shoes were sandals, with bandages wrapped around the arches of his feet, ankles, and the hems of his pants. Sort of like a ninja. They made sneaking easy. Besides, the shoe stores around these parts sucked ass. There were no good clothing stores either.
Truly disappointing. A disgrace to humanoidkind.
Killua felt a menacing chill run up his spine.
Just like yesterday when-
"Killua!"
The boy in question stiffened, his shoulders raising up. That voice was so incessantly BRIGHT. He turned to look over his shoulder, and sure enough. Gon was all but frolicking over to him. He ended his journey across the tavern with a little jump, landing beside Killua.
"Good morning!"
"Yeah, good morning to you too." Killua put his hands behind his head in a sign of nonchalance, in a feeble attempt to cover up the light, fluffy feeling spreading through his very soul.
What the fuck is wrong with me?
"I already ate breakfast, I had some dried fish left over from my journey over here, I was just coming in here to explore! I sure am glad I found you though!"
"Oh yeah? Why's that?"
"I dunno, just wanted to say hi," he said with a shrug.
"You're weird."
Gon laughed, the sound was like the twinkling of dozens of tiny silver bells. "I could say the same to you!"
"Hey!-" Killua started as he jumped from his chair aggressively.
Gon cackled as he ran backwards towards the door. He made a little salute with his fingers in parting, and darted out into the early morning breeze.
Killua stood in a cloud of confusion.
"The hell?"
What had that exchange even been? Killua wasn't familiar with how other kids his age interacted, but this couldn't be normal… right? The Valkyrie male shook his head and walked to the front of the tavern. He exited just as Gon had a moment ago.
Killua stepped outside and was immediately assaulted with a chilling breeze. The atmosphere was chilly, but with that slight hint of warmth that Killua had learned to associate with a summer morning. Dew sparkled across the patchwork brick road, and the lamp posts were in the process of being blown out by the lamplighters. The other buildings lining the street were all done up in various rocks and woods, matching the patchwork aesthetic the outside of the Clawthorne held and giving the street a whimsical appeal.
Killua looked up and down the street. This area was on the very outskirts of the town, backing up to the cliff face and the forest surrounding the area. The trees were huge, shooting up into the sky like mountain tops in their own right. They were thick trunked with vibrant blue-green leaves. They shaded the street from the sun, throwing the area into a blueish overlay. Sunlight softly lit the scenery from above, where it timidly began its journey across the sky.
The sky was a bright, cornflower blue, with the slightest hint of lavender purple left over from sunrise. To Killua's left the street ended in a cul de sac, a parabola shape of quaint little shops sporting apartments above them. To Killua's right, the street continued at an uphill angle, before jutting off to the left at the top of the hill, where the Valkyrie knew the sprawling town fully extended its wings. Halfway up the incline the blueish shadow of the early morning ended and as full daylight extended its claws throughout all the little nooks and corners of the maze-like streets of the town.
Gon was nowhere to be seen. Killua shrugged, the town wasn't that impressive in size, but had an unreal amount of detail shoved inside. There were hundreds of little shops and markets, the buildings jutted into the sky, high in their own right but not even half as high as the surrounding trees. The green haired boy could quite literally be anywhere. The cliff-side town was winding like a maze, and so intricate that even Killua hadn't yet managed to fully map it out in his mind.
With so many different places to explore, there was never a dull moment in the cliff side town. Killua headed to the right, up the incline and into the light of the sun, leaving the comfortable chill of early morning shadow behind him. Various different trees grew from cracks in the sidewalk, and vines of every shape and size twisted up the walls of the buildings. The color palate was vibrant, but all natural colors at the same time. Lots of earthy hues, cool blues, healthy greens, with bright pinks and purples sprinkled in every now and again.
Killua reached the top of the incline and gazed out over the sprawling expanse of the cliff side town. Nestled in a bed of trees, this densely populated location seemed to live in a reality of its own, so far out and hard to find that it was as if the rest of the world simply didn't exist. Killua smiled good naturedly. The town didn't even have a name. It was just referred to as "town." It all just furthered along the whimsical and isolated nature of this urban oasis.
Killua pulled his mask down off his nose and inhaled deeply, indulging in the aromas of the atmosphere around him. He inhaled the crisp scent of morning due, the earthy scent of the rocks and stones that built this town, the warm scent of fresh-baked bread, the sweet scent of the flowers that grew at random everywhere he thought to look.
With a grin he slipped the fabric back over his nose, and with a skip in his step Killua went off to wander. Just wander, that was it. The light and sunny feeling of just existing painted Killua in such a euphoria that he never wanted to leave. This was why he had left Kukuroo Mountain, to find a place like this.
He felt so free.
Killua was on cloud nine, just like always when he went out for his morning wander. But still, that darkness edged on the outskirts of his consciousness. He was happy, sure, but lonely all the same.
The Valkyrie shook the cobwebs from his mind and focused on enjoying his freedom, today would be a great day! Tightening his tail around his waist, Killua sauntered down the other side of the hill with a spring in his step.
