Gon and Killua were both advanced to the 394th floor. Even when driven apart, they still managed to stick together, it seemed. They each had only one more battle. Only one more before they could finally challenge a floor master and bring this urban adventure to a close.

This urban adventure that had started cheerful and happy… and had ended up dark and depressing.

Their fights were both five days away, and there was no way either of them would lose.

No.

They were far too pissed off for that.

Kurapika stormed onto the arena, flashing lights dancing about in a frenzy. Izunavi was somewhere in the crowd, and the Elf could feel his master's (and now good friend's) eyes upon him. The past month had been exhausting, painful, and driven. But all of it was worth it. Every excruciating moment. He was now a fully trained Sorcerer, and his Chain Magic was fine tuned to a tee.

The blonde glared off into the stands. Chrollo was there also, he'd said as much. The Spider had promised to bring some "friends" along. Kurapika knew what that meant. The Phantom Troupe, they were watching.

That was good.

The only way for Kurapika to jump from the 325th floor all the way to the 401st would be impressing each and every Spider, and earning their bonus battle points.

Watch closely, Spiders. I'll give you the show you've been waiting for.

Kurapika's lips turned up in a snarl, and he fell into a fighting stance. Already itching to see his opponent. The announcer cried out excitedly, welcoming a tall and slender Selkie male onto the stage. He had teal colored scales, and an aquatic tail swished along behind him. He flicked a webbed ear, and gave Kurapika a needle-toothed grin.

"I've heard of you," he taunted in Kurapika's direction. "You're the blonde Elf dude who shot up the Arena in record time. Only to hit pause for a month after being advanced too far. I wonder what you've got in store for me?" He chuckled. "Though I doubt it's anything of value."

The Selkie got right down to business, ripping a wound open on his wrist using his teeth. He flung the blood onto the floor, and then activated his Ren. The Magical Energy combined with the blood, forming a set of shadowy puppets.

"Puppet Show!" he exclaimed egotistically.

Kurapika activated his Ren shield, which was denser than ever before thanks to all the sparring with Chrollo and Izunavi. The Selkie directed his puppets to attack, and Kurapika swiftly slit his wrist using his knife.

"Heavenly Chains."

The Elf held his right hand up, and the set of silvery chains materialized around his fingers and wrist.

The Selkie barked a laugh. "Seriously?! That's what you've been working on this whole month?! Ya know, I've seen you as a rival this whole time, but if this is what you have to offer then I'm not impressed anymore!"

Kurapika's frown darkened, and he pulled a vial of Dark Angel blood from his sleeve. The puppets were almost at him. He uncorked the blood, and it was absorbed into his Ren. He focused his mind, his rage, his determination.

"Ring Finger: Dowsing Chain."

With the grace of a serpent, the Dowsing Chain arched above Kurapika's head. He leapt gracefully into the air, and directed the chain at the onslaught of shadowy puppets. Kurapika flicked his wrist, and the heavy metal ball of the Dowsing Chain decapitated the puppets in one fell swoop.

The Selkie's face contorted into one of shock, then one of glee. "Hahaha! That's what I'm talkin about!" He slit his wrist again, this time drawing more blood. He cast the same spell, only this time the puppets were larger. More refined.

They descended upon Kurapika, and the Elf engaged in a graceful dance. He wove in and out of his crowd of opponents, easily eliminating each and every one. It only took a bit of Ren at the end of the Dowsing Chain to turn the already powerful spell into one of inescapable death.

Soon, each and every puppet was no more than a messy pile of goop on the arena floor.

The Selkie gritted his teeth, looking a little stressed. Clearly he had not expected a "puny little chain" to be so powerful. "Puppet Master!" he called out, roughly grabbing a giant vial of blood from his pocket.

The more blood that is required, the more powerful the spell. The more powerful, the harder to control. The harder to control, the more Magical Energy that will be drained, and the faster that will happen. I sincerely doubt that he will have enough Energy left to summon another large spell after this one. I hope he has something good lying in this spell.

The Selkie shattered the vial with his teeth, and the rotten stench of Valkyrie blood made Kurapika's nose wrinkle.

Well then. Things are about to get interesting.

The blood rushed out across his Ren, powerful and hungry for Energy. The spell formed, creating a suit of shadowy armor around the Selkie, turning him into another of his puppets. The spell flashed as its casting was completed, and it secreted a smokey purple aura.

This was a powerful move.

Luckily, Kurapika was well prepared for such an occasion.

The Selkie rushed the Elf, leaving glops of black gunk wherever he went. His grip on the Puppet Master spell was clearly loose, he did not have this spell refined all the way. That's why it was coming apart at the seams. But no matter how loose his hold on the power, Kurapika still needed to fight full out to combat this attack.

Kurapika dodged the first blood, a powerful punch from above. The Selkie left an enormous crater in the arena floor, and shards of rock were flung in every direction. Kurapika slung the Dowsing Chain directly for his head, only for it to bounce off and yank uncomfortably at his right arm.

"Hah! Nice try, but Puppet Master is the perfect blend of offense and defense!" the Selkie gloated, going in for another blow.

Kurapika gritted his teeth as he entered a fast paced and very Magic enhanced exchange of blows. The Puppet Master armor was hot to the touch, as Kurapika was soon to discover when he punched the Selkie in the gut. He did not land any damage, and only served to burn the skin on his knuckles.

Every swing from his opponent possessed the force of a freight train, and Kurapika's chains were useless in close combat. The Selkie had good battle sense, not giving Kurapika a chance to dart away and execute another attack.

"Try this one on for size!" the Selkie cried out. Kurapika gasped, he'd left his right side completely open! Shit!

"Those chains are nice and all, but you've trained that arm so much using them that you've gotten lazy with its defense!" the Selkie snickered, swinging hard at Kurapika's exposed right side. That Magic clad fist collided with Kurapika's ribs, sending him flying across the arena and bouncing like a skipping stone.

The blonde groaned when he finally stopped moving. He had several broken ribs after all that, and the skin on the left side of his chest was burnt and bloodied. The Selkie threw his head back and laughed victoriously. "Whatcha gonna do now, huh?!" He paced the other side of the arena, clearly waiting for a knock out to be called.

Kurapika growled at the ref when he tried to approach. The guy raised his arms up in surrender, and went back to his place in the corner of the arena. Kurapika forced himself to his feet, wincing in pain as his cracked ribs knocked around and poked at his insides.

The Elf released the Dowsing Chain, and pulled out another vial of Angel blood.

"Holy Chain," he ground out, barely able to stay on his feet. The chain extended from his thumb, a cross sparkling at the end. The Selkie's eyes widened as the cross came into contact with Kurapika's mangled chest, and a green glow encased the Elf. The ribs rearranged themselves, fusing into place like puzzle pieces. The skin laced together, and every burn on Kurapika's body was healed.

It was like the fight was starting all over. For Kurapika, at least.

The Selkie gritted his teeth in a snarl. "Smart, I'll give you that. But how much Energy does that Holy Chain of yours consume?"

Kurapika's lips turned up in the ghost of a smile. "Not as much as you'd think. Most healing spells sacrifice triple the amount of Energy required in order to eliminate the pain of the healing process. Holy Chain, however, doubles the amount of pain to cut the Energy sacrificed in half."

The Selkie took a step back in horror. "What the fuck?! You just healed all that shit! Broken ribs hurt the most to heal, how the hell are you just standing there?!"

Kurapika closed his eyes into the smile, and released the chain. "I suppose that some are just more determined than others. Pain is nothing when there is a goal to be met. If one does not experience pain along the way, then I say the journey was for naught."

"You're… psychotic," the Selkie shot back, falling into another fighting stance.

"Arbitrary Little Finger: Judgment Chain."

Kurapika didn't give the chain time to fully materialize before he'd slung it directly for the Selkie's chest. He tried to dodge, but there was no escaping the Stake of Retribution. The chain pierced him, and the scaly man gasped.

"What the hell was that?" he breathed. "There's a chain in me… but I can't feel a thing."

"You have been struck with the Stake of Retribution, my Judgment Chain," Kurapika announced, sounding bored. "How the chain works is this: the Stake of Retribution is positioned directly beside your heart. I will give you an order. If you refuse to comply, the Stake will pierce your heart and you will die." Kurapika pressed the tip of the Stake against the Selkie's heart as demonstration.

He gasped, and thrashed, clawing at his chest in horror. "What the– get it outta me!"

"Your order is this: forfeit the match."

"What?! Why the hell would I–"

Kurapika wiggled the chain, tightening it around his heart.

"Shit," the Selkie growled. "You can't– you can't just do this! This is cheating! Beat me fair and square!"

"We both know that you have me beat in physical strength. Even if your Magical Energy is not entirely efficient while using Puppet Master, there is no feasible way for me to continue fighting you. Holy Chain may be powerful, but as all healing spells are, it is draining. It's simple. My chains are not powerful enough to puncture your Puppet Master's armor, so I had to resort to other methods."

"You could have easily used Chain Jail," called an amused voice from the stands. Kurapika stiffened, feeling his eyes turn red.

"Stay out of this!" he commanded, not giving Chrollo the satisfaction of turning around to face him.

The Selkie balked, eyes now fixed on the Dark Angel. It wasn't every day that the head of the Spider dropped in for a match. Kurapika could see it in his eyes: he was done for. If Chrollo Lucilfer was watching and on Kurapika's side, then there was absolutely no way he could ever hope to win. And what was this Chain Jail? If it was truly strong enough to beat him but not in use, then what the hell were the other chains?! Was he really not strong enough to have this Chain Jail spell used on him?

The scaly humanoid narrowed his eyes. "The Spiders are watching this match. They clearly expect blondey over here to win. As it stands, I have no hope of getting out of the Judgment Chain spell. I have to forfeit… or I die. But I don't wanna go out like that. No, not me! I haven't come this far to lose a match to some super-powered bracelet! I'll forfeit, alright. But he never said I couldn't lie. If blondey's gonna use diary tactics, then I'll just have to do the same," he thought to himself.

The Selkie raised his hands in surrender. "Fine. You win. I forf–"

He gagged, and his body seized up.

The entire audience fell silent.

The Selkie fell backwards, droplets of blood on his lips and horror in his eyes.

He crashed to his back on the arena floor, and his spell melted away.

He was dead.

"What on earth?" the announcer squealed. "What happened? He was forfeiting! So why did the Judgment Chain pierce his heart?"

"He was not truly forfeiting," Kurapika explained calmly, retracting his chain and releasing the mother spell. "He had disobedience in his heart. He never intended to truly forfeit, and the Stake of Retribution sensed that. There is no working around my Judgment Chain. It holds one's heart in its grasp, he should have taken that into consideration."

"Well… uh, Kurapika is the winner!" the announcer called out.

The audience slowly dissolved into applause, but Kurapika was already walking down the victor's tunnel. In the shadows of the tunnel, Izunavi was leaned up against the wall. "Well done," he said. "It seems you truly have mastered Sorcery. I officially name you a Master Sorcerer. Your training is complete. Your Hatsu is commendable, and will be recorded in the Tomes of Magical Record."

Kurapika paused beside his former master. "Thanks."

The human snorted. "That's a lot, coming from you. Good luck from here on out. Show that Spider who's boss… but go easy on him, kay?"

Kurapika scoffed, and stalked away.

Izunavi shook his head and chuckled. For all Chrollo and Kurapika had been through together, that damn blonde was the most stubborn creature in existence. The Sorcerer drew a vial of blood, and activated a teleportation spell. He disappeared in a cloud of smoke, off to the Temple in the Sky to write his report, update Kurapika's file, and accept his next student.

"You have been advanced to the 401st floor," the receptionist murmured, her voice quiet and raspy. "With a grand total of 2,340 battle points, your winnings from this match are 9,000 trillion in gold."

Kurapika didn't even react to the number.

He had expected as much.

If anything it disgusted him that Chrollo had this much money to throw around.

"Now that your official Floor Master Challenge Match is in order, I ask that you select a Floor Master to– to–" the woman trailed off, eyes widening in shock. She shrunk back in her seat, eyes glassy and wide with fear.

Kurapika's mood darkened, and his eyes flashed scarlet.

He felt a certain presence behind him.

He turned around, and sure enough.

There at his back, stood the entirety of the Phantom Troupe.

"That was a lovely battle," the Angel at the front of the pack complimented. "Your chains are truly impressive."

"Even though the boss here's been tellin' us all about 'em for weeks now, it was still hella exciting to see 'em in action!" Uvogin boomed. Kurapika snarled at him, and the Titan chuckled and wiggled his fingers in a wave, leaning on Shalnark's head like it was a bar top.

Kurapika scrutinized the Spiders with his scarlet gaze. Chrollo, a Dark Angel. Uvogin, a Titan. Shalnark, a Mermaid. Nobunaga, a Shadow Creeper. Phinks, a Gargoyle. Feitan, a Blood Shadow Elf. Machi, a Seelie Fae. Shizuku, a Vampire. Pakunoda, a Serpentine-Cryptid. Kortopi, a Wraith. Franklin, a Titanian Goblin. Bonolenov, a Mummy. And… one was missing.

Kurapika's mood darkened even further. He prided himself in knowing the species and power level of every single Troupe Member. If one was gone then that either meant they had an empty slot or a new member that Kurapika had not met yet. That rubbed him the wrong way.

"Where's–"

"-She's dead," Chrollo interrupted, eyebrows drawing together. He didn't like talking about dead Troupe Members.

Kurapika blinked at him, waiting to be introduced to the new member.

Chrollo's expression didn't change.

Kurapika scoffed, fine then. He whipped around to face the receptionist, who was sitting rigid with fear. "I want to fight him," the Elf growled, pointing disrespectfully over his shoulder at Chrollo.

The Dark Angel smiled.

"Are you– are you sure?!" the poor woman squeaked.

Kurapika just waited, staring at her until she jerked into action and typed away at her keyboard. "Al-alright then. Your Floor Master Battle against Chrollo Lucilfer is four days away. I wish you the best."

Kurapika turned on his heel and stalked away. He'll win this damn battle.

Then he'll show all of them.

The Spiders watched him go until he turned the corner and disappeared.

"Well he's as cuddly as ever," Nobunaga grumbled. "Didn't even say hello."

Killua wandered the streets of Yorknew's underbelly. His mind was empty. His eyes were swollen from crying. His stomach growled, but he didn't feel motivated enough to kill someone for food. Five days.

Five days until he could feel something again.

His side felt… cold. He missed Gon with every fiber of his being. His heart ached to run back to his side, to weep and fling himself at the hybrid's feet in apology. But Gon had said it himself. He'd told Killua to go away.

He didn't want Killua anymore.

Killua was just an old toy, cast aside and thrown out into the rain.

Killua didn't deserve forgiveness anyways.

He didn't deserve Gon. He never had, and he never would.

He deserved… this. Cold city streets and an empty stomach.

The Valkyrie continued wandering, mind a dangerous cage of negativity and self-hate.

There was only one thing on his mind, completing the battle royale tower. Once that was done… and he earned his reading from Neon… he honestly had no idea what he'd do. This was all that was left.

Leorio fiddled with the blue throw blanket. Him and Gon were sitting on the couch watching some animated show about flying robot lions. Gon and Killua had been watching it together… it felt wrong watching it without the silver haired menace. Hell, everything felt wrong without Killua around. It had been bad when Kurapika had first left, but this was worse by far. Gon without Killua was like… the sun without the moon!

The Goblin snuck a glance at Gon, who still hadn't slept a wink. There were three days until his fight now… and he hadn't trained at all. He'd just laid on his bed staring at the ceiling… or walked the beach alone… or started at the already ended sunset long hours into the night.

He was so quiet… so withdrawn. He was everything Gon wasn't.

Where had that playful ball of energy gone? Where was the optimism? The blinding grin?

All those things had left when Killua had. It was almost as if… that with Killua gone now, Gon had forgotten who he was in a way. Especially now that he didn't have Benjamin to obsess over anymore.

Leorio watched Gon watch the screen. The guy with the black hair walked back into the lion castle after two years, and the blue-suit-guy rushed to happily greet him. But the black-hair-guy just ignored him… passing him by and completely brushing him off. The blue-suit-guy watched him shove his way through, a hurt expression on his face.

Leorio looked back at Gon, whose bottom lip was wobbling.

Yeah… Leorio saw the parallels, alright.

The grumpy guy pushing the happy guy away.

Just like Killua had done to Gon before he just up and disappeared.

Nope! Not anymore! Leorio snapped, snatching the remote and pressing pause. Gon blinked slowly, and then looked over at Leorio, confusion on his face.

The Goblin fixed him with a determined glare, and grabbed his shoulders, shaking him back and forth. "Gon! What the heck is going on with you?! Where the fuck is Killua?! What the fuck is going on?! You've been refusing to tell me, but I'm putting my foot down! Tell me, damn it! It's clearly eating you away from the inside!"

Gon lowered his head, hiding his eyes behind shafts of greasy hair. It seemed that even his hair was droopy over these past couple of days.

"Leorio, I…"

The Goblin relaxed his grip. Gon was… crying.

Desperate amber eyes locked onto Leorio, and Gon fisted his hands in the throw blanket. "Killua, he–" The hybrid paused, mouth open but no words coming out. "I… Killua was acting weird for a long time."

Leorio sat back, and nodded. "Yeah, I noticed that too," he said softly.

"Well… he was leaving every single night, and he'd come back and lock himself in the bathroom… and he'd just sit there and cry. The first time it happened I rushed to the bathroom door, but he wouldn't let me in," Gon's voice cracked. "It kept happening, and he kept pushing me away more and more. He'd just come home and cry all night… and if Killua is sad then I'm sad, so I'd cry with him… cause I wasn't– I wasn't strong enough for him to let me in."

"Oh, Gon."

"One night, I tried– I tried to follow him, but… I failed him again. I ran into some… er, guys, and they helped me out and stuff… and I… I stayed up for Killua in the living room even though I knew it was bad and he didn't want me to see. He came home all covered in blood! It was… it was horrible, but none of it was his."

"What?" Leorio gasped. "How long has this been happening?! Why didn't you tell me?!"

Gon shrunk into himself, clearly guilty. "I… ever since that day Killua ran off at the boardwalk… and lied and told us he thought he saw Kurapika."

"He was… lying?"

"Yeah… I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I just, Killua would act all normal in the morning, like it never happened! And I knew he wanted to ignore it and pretend whatever it was wasn't actually happening and… and I just let him do that!" Gon was sobbing by now.

Leorio whipped Gon's tears away with his thumbs, and handed him a tissue from the coffee table.

"And– and when I caught him coming back covered in blood we sort of had an argument, and we agreed to just leave it alone. And pretend nothing happened. But the next day you got hurt real bad and Killua just ran away! That's why he was gone when you woke up! He just ran away!"

"...What do you mean?" Leorio asked. He wasn't hurt by Killua running off, he was just concerned. Killua wasn't the type of guy to just abandon his friends by choice… what was going on with him?

"I… I went off to track him down once you were okay, and Hisoka showed up and led me to where Killua was."

"Hisoka?!"

"I know, I know. I was just… I was having a hard time."

Leorio sighed. "Yeah. I get it. Go on."

"And Hisoka he… he led me to this horrible place." Gon's eyes glazed over, and the tears drained away. There was this awful mixture of fear, disgust, and disbelief on his face. It gave Leorio chills… seeing these expressions from Gon of all people. "Leorio, they were dead. All of them."

"All of… who?" Leorio asked reluctantly, not liking where this was going.

"Kids! A bunch of children!" Gon was glaring now, shaking with rage and hurt.

"What?"

"Killua– Killua, he killed them all! Even… even the infant. And there was this lady there… and she… she told me not to fall for his tricks. She told me not to let him fool me! She said that Killua was evil and stuff, and Hisoka killed her."

"..." Leorio didn't know what to say. Was this actually real?!

"I… I wouldn't believe that Killua had done all that. So I brought the infant home. I waited up for him again, and I showed it to him. And he… he looked like he'd just seen a ghost. He looked like I had just… killed his most important person and held their head up on a stick."

Gon was staring off into space.

"We… had a really big argument. And I yelled at Killua a whole lot. He left you to die… so he could go kill children. I… I told him to go away. I told him that it must be easy for him… cause he never cared about you anyways. I kicked him out of the apartment… I called him a disgusting Valkyrie… and I… and I called him a bad friend."

Leorio sat in silence, watching Gon stare into nothingness. "What?!" Leorio demanded, finally shaking out of his stupor. "There's no way Killua would do any of that! There's no way! I don't believe it! You said Hisoka led you there?! You didn't stop to think that maybe he set it up like that to piss you off?! You told Killua to go away?! You know how he is! You know how he feels about himself, and you said he didn't care?! Gon, that's horrible! I…"

Leorio trailed off, "Listen, sorry." The Goblin rubbed at his face. He hadn't meant to go off on Gon like that… "I'm sorry I freaked out on you. It's just Killua is…"

"I know!" Gon suddenly yelled. He leaned forward, hanging off of Leorio's shirt like it was the only thing keeping him together. "I know! I– I freaked out! I said horrible things! And I don't believe it either but–" He gritted his teeth. "Killua definitely did all of that. I saw it with my own eyes. I smelled his scent all over them. That was Killua's work. He killed all those children and I–"

Gon broke down into tears once again. "I know he's bad, and I know what he did was outright evil. But… but it's Killua. And he's gone! I pushed him away! It's hard to believe, but he's definitely evil… I've been unable to accept it… even though I know it's true. And– and now that he's gone I–"

Leorio waited patiently for Gon to catch his breath.

"It hurts! Leorio, it hurts so bad!"

The Goblin felt tears slip down his cheeks. Seeing Gon like this… hearing the pain in his voice, the betrayal.

"I thought… I thought Killua was different."

"...I know this is all… horrible. And what he did was inexcusable… but we don't know the context off the situa–"

"-I can't forgive him!" Gon snarled, tears streaming down his face and snot dribbling down his chin. "He left you to die! I've lost enough friends in my lifetime, and I am not losing you! You mean too much to me, Leorio! Even though Killua is– Even though he's– I just can't do it!"

Leorio leaned forward and pulled Gon up against his chest. Hearing all these things… Leorio was horrified to say the least. He understood where Gon was coming from. He truly did. The poor guy was clearly traumatized from what Hisoka had shown him, and he clearly had some underlying trauma from something in the past… and this was just digging that up.

Leorio wasn't gonna go ask Gon to tell him about whatever horrific thing had happened to him to make him feel this way, but he wasn't gonna just jump on Killua either. Gon was having a lot of trouble right now… and he was unable to see past his own emotions to what Killua was thinking or feeling.

Killua was clearly in the same boat as Gon right now, and Leorio was so incredibly worried about him. Killua was… Killua had terrible self esteem issues. Gods only knew what he was thinking about himself right now… what he was doing to himself.

Leorio was incapable of leaving to hunt down Killua as he was now… but he really hoped the guy was okay. He wondered about what Killua's side of the story was. He wondered what had actually happened to Killua. Why he had been crying every night.

Killua was like… was like a brother to him. A son. Family.

Leorio wouldn't believe for a second that Killua had done this of his own accord. He understood where Gon was coming from, but at the same time he didn't agree with him one bit. Gon needed Leorio there for him, he needed Leorio there to help him process all this. But Killua needed him there just as much.

Leorio had no idea how, but he needed to get Gon and Killua back together.

And he needed to do it fast.

Their relationship was in tatters right now, and Leorio wouldn't be able to forgive himself if he just sat back and let them throw what they had away.