Consciousness showed its unwanted head in Killua's mind. He woke up feeling overheated and sweaty under the oppressive weight of all his collected blankets. With a small tickle of a growl in the back of his throat, the Valkyrie wiggled his way out of his cocoon of fleece and polyester. He poked his head out of the shadowy cave of the covers, squinting against the fluorescent lighting.

"Killua!"

The Valkyrie startled, jumping in shock when he came face to face with a bright pair of amber eyes. "Gon?"

"You're finally awake!" the hybrid cheered, grabbing the Valkyrie by the arms and tugging him out of the bed to place him on his feet.

Killua hissed when his bare feet hit the freezing metal floor. He shivered, bare skin sprinkling with gooseflesh as the relentless air conditioning slapped him right in the face, making him wish to retreat back to the suffocating warmth of the blankets.

"It's too early," the assassin complained, stumbling over his feet as Gon dragged him to the very back, where the spare clothes were stored.

"It's almost two in the afternoon!" exclaimed a voice from the Valkyrie's right. "What, were you trying to hide from something under all those damn blankets?" Killua blinked in surprise as Ryder appeared at his other elbow, teaming up with Gon to all but carry the half-awake Valkyrie to the back corner.

"Yeah, you slept the entire day!" Gon complained, "We're arriving at Hallah in like half an hour!"

"What?! I thought we had two days before we arrived!" Killua gasped.

Ryder darted in front of Killua, beginning to dig through their supply closet of apocalypse clothing. "Yeah, yesterday, and then today, which you slept through!"

"Ging wanted to wake you up," Gon said with a grin, "But we let you sleep!"

"We?" Killua sputtered.

What the hell?!

What was up with these two?! They were acting like–

Like–

"Heads up!" Ryder exclaimed, tossing a bundle of clothes into Gon's chest.

The hybrid unfolded them, then gagged and tossed them right back. "No! Pick something else!"

"Come on! What's wrong with that shirt?!" Ryder complained.

"Too tight! Killua likes loose clothes!"

The Alien-hybrid rolled his eyes, "And you'd pass up such a golden opportunity to put him in tight ones?"

Gon stuck out his tongue, hanging off Killua's shoulders. Ryder's tail flicked in response.

What the fuck is going on here?!

Ryder chucked a new bundle of clothes at Gon, which he deftly caught. "Perfect!" he nodded, unfolding a baggy looking sweater and popping it over Killua's head.

"Hey, hey!" the assassin hissed, pushing Gon off. The hybrid stumbled backwards into Ryder, who had been creeping over to assist him. "I can dress myself, dammit!"

Two pairs of eyes blinked, and the two hybrids shared a glance and then burst out laughing. Killua looked at them like they had two heads, what the hell was this?!

"Get out!" he ordered, glaring at their retreating forms as they slipped into the middle block and closed the door behind them.

The Valkyrie just stood and stared at the door for a second. Where had all that come from?! They'd been acting, dare he say, civil! More than civil, actually! They'd been behaving how Gon and Leorio would!

What the hell?! Killua had thought they hated each other! Just last night him and Gon had gotten into a fight about Ryder's very existence! Killua had been sleeping in to try and avoid the two of them and their constant bickering! So what the heck had changed in under twenty four hours?!

The Valkyrie shook his head, pulling on the clothes he'd been given.

It had to be a fluke.

Yeah.

There was no way all their problems had just evaporated overnight.

"Dammit! This isn't a fucking vacation, Zoldyck!" Ging snapped when Killua slipped into the cockpit. "Have a nice nap, did ya?!"

Pariston waved from where he was leaning against the wall.

"Yeah, yeah, don't blow a blood vessel," Killua drawled, walking tentatively up to his claimed space: the copilot seat. He slipped into the chair right as the slip vessel lurched out of its latest wormhole. With an anxiety inducing groan from the hull, the ship's worm-hole machine (or whatever the fuck it was) shut off, and Ryder took the yoke in his hands once the autopilot shut off.

"So that's Hallah?" Gon asked Ryder.

Gon asked… Ryder.

In a completely civilized tone–

Yeah. Killua was definitely still asleep. There was no way in hell this was actually fucking happening.

"Yup," Ryder responded, popping the p. "Beautiful, isn't she?"

"As beautiful as a lump of space rock can be," Ging snorted.

"You think that ship we were on will make it here?" Gon asked, tempting fate.

"No way! We killed all their pilots, as well as half their crew!" Ryder exclaimed. "They're nothing without their wimpy captain!"

"Well that's a relief. I don't know what I'd do if I had to see those bastards again."

Ryder barked a laugh, "Kill 'em, I bet– WHAT THE FUCK?! Stay in your lane, asshole!" he screamed, flipping off another small-sized ship.

Killua hissed, gripping the seat as Ryder flew like a total psycho. "Would you drive like a normal person?!" he snapped.

"I'll drive like a normal person when everyone else on the road stop being idiots!"

"I don't see any roads," Gon observed, looking out the glass with squinted eyes.

Ryder snorted, "There aren't any real roads, but there are allotted docking lanes. See the navigation screen?" he asked, leaning over Gon to point at the largest of the computers.

"Yeah."

"Well the lines mapped out on the grid aren't from the ship itself, their signals sent from Hallah's docking bays, telling us where we're allowed to go. We're in a small ship, and have to go to the docks meant for small ships. Large cruisers have different bays than we do. This place is WAY more organized than Thyrane!"

"That's confusing," Gon pouted.

"And that's why I fly the ship, and you kill the racist assholes!" Ryder chirped.

Killua gawked at the two of them. This was unreal.

The Valkyrie decided to ignore the two of them. Yeah. He'd wake up ANY minute now.

He looked forward to Hallah, inspecting their latest destination. The outpost was built into an enormous asteroid. While Thyrane had been a moon, Hallah was an asteroid orbiting WAY far out from its sun.

But while Thyrane had been a disorganized refueling station, Hallah was more of an actual pit stop. It was like an enormous trading town. It was even bigger than Thyrane, and the surface of the enormous rock had been completely deconstructed. All of Hallah had been dug out and built up, now it was an enormous sphere of metal docking bays, flashing neon lights, and different zones for species that breathed different types of air.

Hallah was enormous, it might as well have been its own planet… even though Killua was well aware that Overworld was easily 100 times its size. Likely more. With flashing lights and a million docking zones connected to a web of corridors, hotels, businesses, and restaurants, this place was a hub for people who wanted to get lost.

Because only crazy people would come this far out. This close to Chimera.

Killua watched silently as Ryder flew the slip vessel into one of the docking bays. This one was completely empty save for them. It wasn't every day that slip vessels made it this far out. Ging took a deep breath once the ship finally touched down, its feet extending and clanging against the floor of the bay when it was finally allowed to crap out.

"We made it!" Ryder cheered, stretching his arms high above his head. "Now what?"

"Now," Ging said, "We need to find a new ship. This vessel has been utterly exhausted. If we want to make it to the rendezvous, then we need to purchase a ship that can actually make it there."

"I'm going to list the ground rules!" Ging snapped, marching back and forth between the three younger males. Gon, Killua, and Ryder were all standing at attention before the steaming and now heavily used slip vessel.

The bay was enormous, a gaping maw of a metal cavern. Its mouth was enormous, covered by an invisible plasma shield that boasted a spectacular view of the vast expanse around them. The entire structure was made of metal, with various metal structures and machines dotting the bay floor. At the end of the bay was a staircase, leading to Hallah's inner core.

The core was a floating city. A rest stop for repairs, and in their case, purchasing cheap ships.

"While we're here we are ALL business, you understand?" Ging demanded. "Hallah is a breeding ground for shady shit. This is where all the pirate gangs and shady characters come to pick up jobs. There's drugs, illegal shit, and there will be Chimeras. Don't look at anyone wrong, hell, don't look at anyone at all. At least until we get out of this."

Ging gestured at their clothing. They were all dressed in their space suits from the Black Whale. Sleek and sparkling white, but stained with blood soot, ripped and battered from combat. Not to mention Ryder, whose suit was practically a gang uniform. It was a gang uniform.

"First order of business is to get some different clothes. Clothes make the man out here, and we don't need to be putting off any suspicious vibes, alright? So try to behave until we've gotten our proper disguises?"

Killua nodded along. Yeah. He got it. Covert missions were what he was bred for.

"Second order of business, we pick up supplies. We're going straight to Chimera after this. We're going to need the proper equipment. Gon, Killua, I know the two of you use your own blood for Hatsu. But that doesn't change the fact that we need to stock up on vials and backup stashes. We'll also be picking up weapons. Ryder's got his swords, but the two of you need to find something to fight with. Don't let yourselves be fooled into thinking that we'll be able to fight side by side with the Royal Guards with nothing but our fists."

Killua nodded. Fine. Looked like he was about to be in the market for his weapon of choice. It had been a long assed time since he'd been in a situation requiring actual combat equipment. For the sake of appearances, he wished he still had his armor on him. Speaking of which, what the hell had Ryder even done with his armor?

"Third order of business, we hunker down in a hotel. We make sure we have everything we need, and we take a breather. I'll get in contact with our guy, and once he confirms the rendezvous we'll cover our bases. Fourth order of business, we find a ship. That will take the longest amount of time, cause we'll have to get it up and running from scratch. While all this is happening, you three are to be on your best behavior, you hear me?!"

Gon sweatdropped, and Ryder scratched the back of his head.

"Yeah!" Ging barked. "I'm looking at you two! No infighting, and no starting shit! It'll be real tempting to get into trouble at a place like this, but you are forbidden to leave mine or Pariston's sight, ya hear?!"

The three of them nodded.

Ging scoffed, turning around and walking in the direction of the stairs, "Babysitting, I swear to the Gods."

Violin music echoed against the empty halls of the sandstone palace. Half destroyed, lying in a minefield of rubble, bodies and blood. The stars twinkled overhead, the fires in the Main City visible over the distant crests of the hills.

Torchbettles danced in the night, and the leaves of the forest swayed in the breeze.

Shaiapouf stood at the tip of the highest tower, lovingly stroking the bow across the silvery strings. Perched on the tip of the roof, he pulled the notes from the elegant throat of the violin. The music moaned against the silence of the night, straining and longing. Stroking along the staff, notes slid their way up and down and over again.

A heart wrenching melody, a caring and painful song far too beautiful and picturesque to be composed or even performed by a being of lesser stature.

Pouf shut his eyes, leaning into each stroke of the bow, feeling the music flow through his very being.

Yes. This truly was his only therapy. His only reprieve.

However, as always, the song ended all too quickly. The final note dissolving away against the chilly night air.

With a dramatic sigh, Pouf lowered the instrument.

Disgusting. How he detested guard duty.