"I can't believe you're eating that shit," Killua grumbled.

"What, tHiS?" Gon taunted, sticking his tongue out and showing Killua his mouth full of

half chewed squid.

"Nasty ass!" Killua screamed, shoving Gon away by his face. "Honestly, who eats squid? Let alone raw squid?! It's still moving!"

"That makes it better!" Gon chirped, biting one of the tentacles in half.

The Valkyrie shuddered.

"I thought you were a carnivorous humanoid, Killua?~"

"Yeah, that means I eat YOU, not squid."

Gon was this close.

THIS CLOSE to making a suggestive joke after that statement.

But he stopped himself.

Barely.

The two of them were walking down one of the winding streets of Nesting and Sky. It was noon, and they'd been back and forth from the port all day. No sign of Ging yet. Gon was starting to get extremely anxious, but luckily he had Killua here with him to keep his head out of the clouds.

Nesting and Sky was a pretty intimidating place. The buildings were all made of the wood from the pine forest, stained black from the constant wetness of the snow. The roads were cobblestone, flooded with murky slush and ice. Giant ice cycles hung from the eves of every building, and humanoids shuffled up and down the streets, smothered in layers upon layers of clothing.

The air smelled like smoke from the forges mixed with the bite of salt from the sea. This place was almost like an alternate form of Whale Island, just cold and uninviting rather than warm and homey. Gon hadn't seen any Unseelie yet, but he had seen a couple intimidating looking dudes that might have been Unseelie.

But he didn't pry.

You didn't mess with the Faeries, not this close to the homeland anyway.

Gon and Killua had dropped by the stands for food, Gon getting squid while Killua settled for dried fish wrapped in more dried fish. All of it was either dried or raw, Killua should have picked raw! Raw was always better when it came to dock-food!

Killua watched in horror as Gon slurped the final still-alive squid tentacle into his mouth.

"I can't believe I associate with you," the assassin grumbled.

"No getting out now, bestie! You're in it for life now!" Gon chirped, trapping Killua against his side and breathing his fish-breath directly into the poor Valkyrie's face. Just to be a jackass.

The silver haired assassin hissed and ducked out of Gon's embrace. The hybrid gave chase, and soon the two of them were horsing up and down the streets, chasing each other about and making quite the scene. The only other lively folks around here were the sailors waiting to return home, but they were always passed out by day after drinking all night.

That's why it would be easy to spot Ging… or at least that's what the guys on the docks had told Gon and Killua. You could always tell travelers from the locals, cause the travelers hadn't been whittled away by the opposing tides of the unforgiving Arctic Sea and the even more unforgiving Unseelie.

Gon squealed when Killua shoved him into an enormous snow bank. The Valkyrie cackled in his victory, only further amused by Gon's snow-covered pout.

"Wanna go check the docks again?" Gon asked as he brushed the snow off of him.

"Yeah! Maybe he'll actually be here this time," Killua grumbled.

"That's what I'm thinking. It was exactly six months ago today when Neon gave us the fortune, right? But it was also right at 12:30 something when I got the actual fortune read and stuff. So maybe that's the time Ging will be there?"

"Huh. That actually makes sense!" Killua exclaimed. "Look at you, using your head!"

"Hey! I can be smart when I apply myself!"

"Keep on telling yourself that~"

"Why you! Get back here!"

Gon chased Killua all the way to the docks, running into Killua's back when the Valkyrie suddenly stopped running.

"Ow! Hey, what was that for?" Gon whined, rubbing his aching nose.

"That's the biggest freaking ship I've ever seen in my life!" Killua all but yelled. He wasn't one to yell at random. What was this about–

"Holy shit!" Gon gasped. And he wasn't one to curse at random.

There, sitting innocently against the dock, sat the more enormous ship Gon had ever seen. How was that thing even floating! It was huge! It definitely hadn't been here just an hour earlier, it hadn't even been out on the sea! Gon would have noticed something this large!

It was sleek, its hull a shimmering black. Was that wood? Or was it some sort of metal? Gon couldn't see any texture on it at all. Had this been made in Yorknew City or something? That was the only explanation, Yorknew City was the only place that had metal ships… even though Gon had never seen any Yorknew City ship anywhere near as wild as this one.

"It looks like a knife… in a way," Killua murmured.

"A really fat, lopsided knife," Gon snorted, earning a slap in the arm.

"Let's go look closer!" Killua ordered, tugging Gon along by the wrist. The two of them wormed in and out of the crowd, ducking under boxes the sailors carried and shoving through the crowd of locals gathering to gawk at the big-ass ship.

"Damn," Killua whistled once they were standing at the edge of the crowd. Any closer and they wouldn't be able to crane their necks enough to see the top. "Does that thing even have windows?"

"It's gotta have windows!" Gon exclaimed. "How else would the captain see where he's going?"

"Maybe he uses echolocation?" Killua joked.

"Definitely, he sits up there and just screams!" Gon added with a snicker. The two boys jostled each other, earning annoyed frowns from their fellow bystanders.

"Hm. But, ya know? Since Ging's allegedly coming here, and this ship is suddenly here, do you think it has something to do with him?"

Gon's eyebrows drew together. "...It definitely does. I can feel it in my bones."

"Come on, let's go somewhere so we can get a better view of the area around the ship," Killua offered, tugging Gon along. They climbed to the top of a stack of wooden shipping containers, hanging their legs over the edge as they waited for a sign of… well, they didn't know.

"How are we gonna know who's Ging?" Killua asked.

"Well… he is my dad, so I figured we'd just look for somebody who looks like me. I'm pretty recognizable in a crowd, right?"

"Well yeah," Killua snorted. "But aside from that, what do you think he's like?"

"I'm not sure. I mean… I get the feeling that he isn't the nicest guy around. Considering how he dumped me on Mito like he did. Also, he hasn't reached out to either me or Mito once… so… he's probably really tough."

"Hard headed. A little selfish. Probably a total idiot too–"

"-Would you cut that out?" Gon said with a laugh, shoving Killua. "It's not like he'll be just like me."

"He is your dad though~ I bet he's a carbon copy~"

Gon frowned. "Well… I really hope that's not how it is."

"How come?" Killua asked, pulling the last box of chocolate robots out of the pouch on his belt.

"I mean… Why would I wanna be like Ging? He's awful! He just does whatever he wants without ever thinking about the consequences! Maybe I looked up to him as a kid and envied his freedom, but now I see that being a guy like that in a world like this just isn't… acceptable, I guess. I don't wanna be like him… and if he's just like me then… I guess that means I've failed as a person."

"Oh, Gon," Killua murmured around a mouthful of chocolate. "It's not like that."

"Isn't it though?" Gon mumbled, fiddling with the hem of his hooded cape.

"No, it isn't," Killua argued, punching Gon in the arm so he met that sapphire gaze. "Listen, you're nothing like Ging. There's nothing for you to worry about. I was just messing with you. You're your own person, Gon. And a really good person at that."

"You mean that?" Gon asked softly.

"No. I was lying," Killua drawled sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. "Now eat this and forget about your problems," he ordered, shoving a handful of chocolate into Gon's mouth. The hybrid startled, he really hadn't expected his mouth to be full. Killua never shared his chocolate. And it was the last box, too!

Gon stared at Killua, who was trying to hide his reddened cheeks under his bangs. Bisky had given him a haircut before she left, no more hiding for him. Gon swallowed the chocolate down, and smiled. Killua was so adorable.

"You're so adorable," Gon cooed after a little bit of thought. Well, if he was trying to get Killua to fall for him then he might as well start flirting.

"Oh, shut up!" Killua snarled, pulling his hood up over his eyes. "You're an embarrassing idiot with a pea for a brain!"

Gon cackled, "Love you too, Killua." The Valkyrie hunched his shoulders, spitefully eating his chocolate in silence.

Gon inwardly sighed, if only he knew I wasn't joking about the love thing…

"Gon."

"Killua?"

"No. Seriously!"

Gon just about jumped out of his skin. "What?"

Killua moved into a crouch. "There," he breathed, pointing out over the crowd.

Gon almost threw up on the spot.

Sure enough, strutting through the crowd like everyone and everything was a nuisance, was a man. A man bundled up in baggy clothing, with wild, spikey black-green hair.

"Ging," Gon choked out.

It was obvious.

There was no denying it.

Even though Gon couldn't see his face… he just knew.

That was his father.

Ging Freecss.


AN: :o tea-