The doors to their bedroom flung open, and Isolde and her two lackeys stormed in, "They're gone again-" Isolde began, and then stopped short when she found Gon and Killua quietly playing cards before the fireplace.

Killua gave Isolde an innocent smile, "Isolde! Good Morning, it's such a kind surprise to see you this early." Out of the Valkyrie's eye he watched Gon join in his display.

"Pr-Prince Killua! Master Gon! What are you- I mean, you're here!" Isolde sputtered, for the first time in their stay here showing surprise. It gave Killua such a wicked joy, being able to get under her skin for once.

"Where else would we be?" Gon asked sweetly as he drew a card from Killua's hand.

Isolde struggled to compose herself, "Out and about in the city."

Killua forced a jolly laugh, "Out in the city? Now why would we be there?" He met Gon's gaze in his mirth, and then met Isolde's. He gave her a warm smile, but with eyes cold as ice. "We aren't permitted to go anywhere without your supervision, why would we do that? We've been here the whole time."

The Valkyrie watched victoriously as a storm of emotions wrestled across Isolde's pale face. Her green eyes burned, and her ear twitched in frustration.

We're acting like we never snuck out at all the past two days. How's it feel, ya old hag? Enjoying a taste of your own medicine?

With a shuddering sigh, Isolde composed herself. "Yes, of course!" She said in her usual, saccharine tone. "Please follow us to breakfast, we've prepared pancakes for you." Killua met Gon's eyes in amusement, and the two boys lay down their cards to follow the three women.

As I suspected. They cannot act against us, just as we cannot act against them. The game they've set up is one of intrigue and manipulation. Unfortunately for them, I grew up around shit worse than this happening constantly. They won't beat us, especially not with Gon around to back me up.

That afternoon, Gon and Killua followed Circe through the winding streets of the Neko-Village. They had gotten an outing approved: a visit to the Grand Library. The outing request they had submitted consisted of Circe showing them around the Grand Library, because she had worked there as a child and knew her way around better than anyone (this was true). However, they had not asked to be tailed by Isolde, Nix, and Zephyr.

Which was exactly what was happening.

Killua could feel their presence like a chill on the back of his neck.

It was faint, but still there.

They were good, but not good enough.

He knew Gon could sense them too, and - shockingly - Circe could as well.

They knew they were being followed, and the wordless agreement was to lose them in the shelves once they arrived, so that the three would not be able to tell what they were really doing at the Grand Library. Which was researching the incident 8 years ago. There had to be history books on the subject, as well as books listing the characteristics of the monster.

Circe has been working to solve this mystery for the past five years. She joined the High Priestess's personal maid force in order to get more information. She did get more information, however in doing so she was trapped in a position in which she was unable to act on that information. Quite the paradoxical situation. Now that Gon and I are here though, she is able to get around that paradox and continue investigating.

"Here we are," Circe announced.

The two boys looked up in wonder at the Grand Library. It had a fitting name, the structure was incredible. It reminded Killua of some sort of cathedral, with piercing spires, arches, and gargoyles galore.

Gon and Killua followed Circe up the front stairs, and into the building.

As usual, the inside was just as grand as the outside. The walls were made of deep, tan stone and more of that sacred dark oak wood. Classical paintings lined the ceilings, and grand, cast iron chandeliers lit by hundreds of candles lit the space. Bookshelves lined every wall, shooting from the floor all the way to the ceiling, with what had to be 10,000 books in the foyer alone.

"Allow me to give you a tour," Circe said with a certain glint in her eye.

As they walked Killua bumped Gon's shoulder with his own, and Gon bumped back.

Good, he's keeping up with what's going on. This tour's gonna be super confusing, Circe will make sure to lose those hags along the way.

As they turned a corner, Killua looked back over his shoulder. He met Isolde's sharp green eyes for a fraction of a second before she leapt out of sight. The Valkyrie smirked, baring his fangs. Isolde was attempting to play against masters at a mere novice level. She may have possessed an impressive skill level, but that was nothing compared to Killua's Dragonite expertise.

Gon was getting dizzy, and that was really saying something considering that they were mainly walking in straight lines. It was just that the path they were taking was so long and windy! He was so lost. They had gone up tons of staircases, turned a million corners, and Gon swore he had seen that fountain 15 - make that 16 - times already!

Why do the Neko-Girls have to build all their stuff like a maze? It's so confusing.

The hybrid perked up, however, when his sixth sense stopped prickling up his spine. They had officially lost Isolde, Nix, and Zephyr. With a snicker he shoved Killua, and the Valkyrie shoved back.

"Good," Circe spoke up, "Now that that's done, we must act quickly. Those three aren't stupid, and will find us soon if we don't hurry and reach our destination. Come along."

The dark skinned woman picked up the pace, and once again Gon's sense of direction was turned to scrap. They passed intricate shelves, fancy parlors, comfy looking chairs, and fountains. Until finally, Circe ducked through a low hanging doorway and came to a stop.

The room was small, but very high. There were several different levels connected by various ladders, it was like those indoor tracks that were above basketball courts. Unlike most of the rooms they had passed through, this one had several circular, frosted glass windows rising up to the ceiling. They filled the room with a bright, icey light.

"This is one of the history rooms. It possesses all of the most recently acquired knowledge, and is smaller than the others because it holds only information on the past 50 years. If we are to find any information on the subject, we will find it here," Circe explained.

"Cool," Killua said as he glanced around the room, taking in the countless volumes. "Gon and I will start at the top, and you start at the bottom. We'll work our way to the middle. Hopefully we find something useful."

"Sounds good," Circe agreed with a nod.

Once again Gon was feeling like a third wheel to Killua and Circe's time together. It was a weird sensation, and Gon didn't like it. It wasn't like Killua and Circe were best friends, Killua and Gon were already best friends! He wasn't jealous or anything, no! That would be stupid! Killua could have his own life and it didn't matter if he talked to girls sometimes and-

"Gon! Race you to the top!"

The silver haired boy's words made Gon's heart leap, and joy cascaded over him like water from a golden waterfall. "You're on!" He declared, and the two boys darted up towards the top. Gon lept from bookshelf to bookshelf, and Killua used his tail to help propel himself up the ladders at neck breaking speeds.

See, Gon had nothing to worry about! Killua still liked him the best, and they were still racing like everything was normal. Besides, it was only Circe that was treating Gon strangely. If she didn't like him then she could just continue feeling that way. Gon didn't wanna dislike her, but if she was gonna be difficult then that's her choice. It didn't matter!

But still… why does she like Killua more than me? Will Killua start liking her more than me?

Gon shook his head, clearing such thoughts from his mind. It was stupid to obsess over stuff like that! Killua was his best friend, and that was all that mattered. Besides, they had a mystery to solve and a village to save.

"Yes!" Gon exclaimed in victory as he beat Killua to the top by a hair's breadth.

"You just got lucky," Killua gloated, never one to lose with dignity. "I just wasn't warmed up, I'd have beaten you if I'd taken the time to stretch out first."

"Yeah, yeah, keep on telling yourself that. Anything to make you feel better," Gon teased with a smirk, while patting Killua on his fluffy white crown.

The Valkyrie flicked him in the nose, "Idiot. Anyways, let's get to searching. We're looking for anything that talks about a fight eight years ago, or some sort of race of monsters."

"Sounds good! I'll do my best!"

"My brain is getting full."

Gon rocked back and forth, mind straining and steam pouring from his ears.

Killua looked over at the other boy in surprise, but his face quickly melted into one of affection. The two of them had made it a fourth of the way down, and were halfway to the center, where they would meet Circe in the middle.

Gon sat criss-cross on the floor with a slew of books surrounding him like the rays that surrounded the sun. His fingers were smudged with ink from the pages, and his earthy scent had been overridden by one of paper and neatly bound leather.

Killua hummed a laugh.

"Lost focus so soon?" he asked in what he had intended to come across as a mocking tone, but came out as soft and endearing.

Gon suddenly fell backwards into the sea of books and loose pages. Little scraps of paper fluttered up into the air around him, and floated down to land around and across him like autumn leaves.

"We've been searching for hours now, we're real lucky that Isolde and the others haven't found us yet," Gon grumbled.

Killua closed his book and picked up another one, it had a worn cover and no title.

"Yeah, Isolde and the hags from hell just must not be quite as skilled as they like to think. Circe clearly outsmarted them. We circled around so much that our scent trail leads in a thousand different directions. I'd estimate that we have two more hours at the least."

The tan boy's brow furrowed slightly, and he puffed out his cheeks.

"You know what that means," Killua taunted with a cat-like expression on his face.

Gon peaked at him out of the corner of his eye.

"You're gonna have to pick up the pace," the Valkyrie finished with a wicked snicker.

The hybrid continued to release the most dramatic and prolonged groan Killua had ever heard.

"Life is the worst, the universe hates meeeeeeeeee," Gon moaned.

Killua laughed, "Since when are you the one to be negative?"

"Since BOOKS became involved." With a pout on his face, Gon grabbed a random book from his stack, and opened it to the first page. Killua shook his head with a soft smile, and was about to return to his search, when he heard Gon gasp. The Valkyrie turned his attention back to the spiky haired boy, and found a look of surprise bordering on horror contorting his usually happy face.

"Killua! Look!" he exclaimed, eyes still trained on the pages.

The silver haired boy deftly darted in and out of the stacks of books they had left all over the place, and knelt next to Gon, balancing with his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"The hell?"

What the actual fuck?

"Circe!" Killua called. "You've gotta see this!"

"I'm coming!" the Neko-Girl called, and Killua heard her scamper up the shelves. Circe hopped up and over the wooden railing, and sat back on her heels on Gon's other side. The three of them sat and stared at the pages of the book.

The inside cover was titled: "The Icy-Peak Mountain Monster."

Exactly the information they were looking for.

However…

"The pages are completely destroyed!" Circe exclaimed in frustration.

It was true, the pages had all been completely singed, the hand-written characters were blacked out and illegible. The title was left as if to taunt whoever happened to pick up the book, saying: "you tried, but I am always a step ahead of you."

"Which shelf did you get this one from, Gon?" Killua asked in a frantic tone.

"That one!" Gon declared, pointing at the shelf to his left.

The three rushed over to the shelf and yanked book after book off of it.

But to no avail, each and every book that held information on the monsters and their relationship to the village had singed pages and destroyed information.

"Who would have done this?" Gon asked in a tight voice.

"High Priestess Camilla," Circe answered.

The trio stood in silence, processing.

"So…" the tan boy started. "All the information on the monster is destroyed, should we just keep looking and hope that any information on the battle is still intact?"

"No," Killua answered. "If the information on the monsters themselves is destroyed, then any information on events concerning them would have been destroyed as well."

"You're right. High Priestess Camilla would never leave a job such as this incomplete," Circe confirmed.

"This is so annoying!" Killua growled as he kicked a singed book across the floor. "Right when we thought we had gotten a little close. In the grand scheme of things, we know nothing at all. Camilla holds all the cards. And as it stands, there is no way to gain the upper hand, not with her vetting public information like this. And especially not with Isolde and those damned whores of hers controlling our every move."

"What do we do now?" Circe asked with a furrowed brow, eyes trained on Killua.

"We keep fighting."

Two pairs of eyes turned to Gon.

"We can't just give up," the hybrid clarified, amber eyes burning with determination. "So we didn't find anything here. We can't just give up entirely. Clearly subtle methods will not work given the current situation, I say we move to something more… flashy."

Killua's heart started to race.

He hadn't seen Gon like this since their fight with the skinwalker.

The green haired boy turned into an entirely different person whenever there was a war to be waged.

It was incredible, and a little bit scary.

But that didn't stop Killua's heart from racing, it didn't stop him from getting excited.

And it certainly didn't stop him from wanting to follow Gon even more whenever he got like this.

"What are you suggesting?" Circe asked with a dubious tone.

"I say we burn down the Inn."

Circe choked on air, "What? I must have heard you wrong-"

Killua was bent over in hysterics, "Gon? What the FUCK? How the fucking HELL will burning the goddamn Inn help in any way?"

Gon wasn't discouraged at all by Killua's laughter or Circe's disbelieving response.

His eyes burned with a determined fire, he was completely serious.

"Killua and I learned this morning that the only way to catch Isolde and the others off guard is by interrupting their rhythm. Sure, we could do that using more subtle methods, but I say we go for the nuclear option. Why should we hold out? The High Priestess is a powerful and incredibly manipulative woman. If this is the game she wants to play, then I say we go all in."

Killua snorted, "That makes sense… in its own… warped logic."

"We- We-," Circe struggled to find the words. "We can't just go in and burn down the inn! That's insane!"

Gon looked pinned Circe with those intense eyes of his, "Then what do you suggest?"

Circe visibly reacted to Gon's gaze. She shuddered, and her tail puffed out. Killua was having a similar reaction, though he was hiding it seamlessly. No amount of exposure to Gon would lessen the effect of this aura. It was imposing, strong, and communicated danger and dominance. Killua was trained to hide his reaction to opposing aura, so he didn't show any reaction. He was also trained to resist its effects, so dominance-aura never worked on him.

He watched as Circe swallowed her instinctual fear and looked Gon dead in the eye.

"I don't suggest anything, I have no specific plan in mind. But we can't just burn the inn down!"

Well, that was badass. She fought her way through Gon's intimidation-aura and gave a non-answer as to why we should drop his plan.

"Well we can't just sit and do nothing either!" Gon declared stubbornly.

Killua sighed, it looked like it was time for him to step in. "Hey, how about we just step back and think for a little while? We'll sleep on it, and decide on our next move tomorrow."

Circe blinked at Killua in relief, and then agreed.

"Yeah, alright," Gon said, starting to calm down after all his hype about committing arson.

"Sorry, Gon," Killua teased as he slapped the other boy across the back. "No arson today."

The tan boy snickered, effectively pulled out of his grim mood. Gon proceeded to shove Killua, and soon they dissolved into a shoving match.

"Alright, alright," Circe said with a smile in her voice. "Let's clean all this up and then go back to the inn. Isolde hasn't found us yet and it has been two hours, if we don't reveal ourselves then she will either find us or report us to the High Priestess."

Killua gave Gon one last shove, and then jumped up and grabbed onto a high bookshelf out of Gon's reach. The Valkyrie laughed, "Shorty!"

"I'm only like a couple millimeters shorter than you!"

"Please, it's two inches. Run along and clean now, shorty, or else I'll have you beat at cleaning as well as height!" Now that Killua had turned cleaning into a competition (well, he turned everything into a competition) they would have the mess cleaned up faster than ever.

"You're on!"