Killua Zoldyck stayed on the flat rooftop, sitting on his knees. As he wiped away the last of his tears, the sounds of sirens whined quieter, fires were being put out, and Pro Heroes stood still as they suddenly found no trace of the villain they had just been fighting.

Pro Heroes...

Where was he?

Pulling his head up, he looked all around him.

Hosu. The orange sky had darkened, allowing him to spot what little stars could be seen up above. In the streets were civilians fleeing the scene; some with mutant quirks, and others without. News reporters were being told to leave by the heroes. Japponese was written on shop signs, sale percentages ending in yen, rather than jenny. Pro Heroes fought against Villains. There were no Hunters.

And, the last thing he remembered before waking up was him walking back to the hotel he and Alluka stayed in, holding bags of food from the market he just shopped from. Before he reached the door, however... he blacked out.

Before continuing to rack his brain for answers on how all of this possibly makes sense, he clutched his palms and shut his eyes.

Breathe in...

Breathe out.

There's no point in trying to work without a clear mind.

Breathe in...

Breathe out.

I'm going back to Alluka. I'm sure of it.

Breathe in...

Thump.

Killua instantly jumped up, turning to the source of the sound with his fists in the air and his vision still blurred.

"Kid, wait, it's just me," the gruff voice said.

Breathe out.

Lowering his fists, he rubbed his eyes and looked closer at the approaching man. His yellow goggles settled on top of his forehead, sunken eyes beneath them.

"I got calls about the situation here, but when I saw you on the news..."

Killua stayed silent.

Sighing, Aizawa said, "The villain's gone. If they're still going after Manual, it's up to him and the heroes hiding him to fight them off. But, for me... I have a brat to take care of."

Killua didn't feel like joking around. Instead, he forced out a dry laugh, getting up off the ground and staring at the aftermath of the fight.

If I leave now, I might be able to catch up with Gon...

"You feeling okay?"

Whipping his head back to Aizawa, he nodded.

"Doesn't seem like it."

He didn't reply. Instead, he rotated his feet, toes pointing in the direction his best friend took off.

But, if we're both using Godspeed at the same time, is it still possible...?

Again, the raspy voice broke through his thoughts as it said, "You know, we should both stay here for questioning." A pause. "But... that can wait until tomorrow. Let's go home, kid."

...Home.

Against his own wishes, he turned right back around and started heading towards Aizawa's apartment along with him, clenching his fists. He wanted so badly to run after Gon. But, before he made any hasty moves, he knew he needed to get his head straight. He needed a plan; he couldn't just immediately rush into things when, for the past two years, he'd been so protective over Alluka, needing to ensure her safety wherever they wanted to go.

That meant, in the current situation, he had to face Aizawa. However, he wasn't entirely sure whether he wanted to tell him he got his memories back or not. Questions about his background would be inevitable, and Killua got the feeling that Pro Heroes—and most of this society in general—wouldn't take so kindly to an assassin; especially one who'd done worse things than the average villain.

The journey back to the apartment was filled with silence, but Killua somewhat appreciated it. It at least gave him more time to attempt to sort things in his head out; one of those things being his mere location. Where exactly was he? Every world map he'd seen had countries drawn upside-down, backwards, and reversed, and Lake Mobius wasn't something that existed, at all. Plus, he was right about globes looking stupid. Maybe he was somewhere like Greed Island? No one here seemed like NPCs, though, so maybe it's soley the location that's different from the rest of the world.

But, then, that brings up another obvious question; what the hell are quirks? People here had Nen. Killua knew that as a fact from occasionally using Gyo out of curiosity. But, every time someone referred to it (like Recovery Girl when she told him he had an abundance of it,) they called it life energy. Were quirks just something that replaced Nen in a practical sense, then? Did Nen users even exist?

Soon, the both of them arrived at the apartment. Killua noticed Aizawa'd been wary of him since they met in Hosu, but he didn't blame him. When he got his memories back, he already forgot who the memory-less version of him was, meaning he wouldn't act like his old "self" anymore. It wasn't surprising he'd start giving him the side eye.

Deeply exhaling, he walked over to the living room and let himself flop on top of his futon. "Tired" couldn't even begin to describe what he was feeling right now. He was more than physically exhausted; he was emotionally drained. His heavy eyelids started to droop, up until he heard Aizawa knock on the coffee table.

Peeking over at his guardian, he found the ragged man holding a cup of water and a pill bottle.

"Take two of these," he said. "It'll help you sleep better."

Shutting his eyes and resting his hands under his head, he countered with, "Drugs don't work on me."

Besides, Killua had already spent several sleepless nights in the apartment. It was a little funny looking back on himself, wondering why he could never sleep easy. He used to think it was because of his troubled, memory-less brain, asking himself questions all night long, but, while that fact did hold some truth, he was still way far off. Ending up a light sleeper had been due to his early assassin training, after all.

Aizawa raised an eyebrow. Glaring at him a bit, he proceeded to grudgingly set the cup and bottle down on the table, still leaving the option for Killua to take it or not open (which he won't be.) Before walking back to his own bedroom, however, he spoke with his back turned.

"Look, I don't know what happened between you and that villain, but, kid, if something's bothering you, tell me. Please."

A pause.

Then, he sighed, turned the knob, and disappeared behind the door.

Killua scratched his cheek. Tell him about his problems, huh?

Yeah, right. That was a whole can of worms he didn't want to open, especially with a Pro Hero. Even if he was his guardian. Even if Killua could easily tell that the man genuinely worried about him.

If he were still an amnesiac now, he'd probably consider Aizawa a friend, no matter the fact he'd never called him by his real name.

But he wasn't that Killua anymore. Now, he's back to his real self, and all he wants to do is figure out what the hell Gon's doing here and then get back to Alluka. The kinds of measures he'd take to fulfill those goals, however... he knew he couldn't form deep connections with these people. Not only would they condemn his being a past assassin, he couldn't let his emotions hold him back in a situation such as this. Not when his best friend he hasn't seen in two years is out there attacking random people, and not when he has no idea if his little sister is safe. As much as he'd like to make new friends, they would only be a hindrance, and he'd only cause them more harm.

Killua squeezed his eyes shut.

He had a goal, and he was going to stick to it.

No matter what it'll take.


"If you need someone to talk to, you can always talk to us."

Uraraka nodded.

"We're friends, after all..." Midoriya continued.

With a grin Killua easily recognized as forced, Iida quickly said, "Sure."

Damn deja vu...

Then, Iida stepped into the train, and Killua followed suit, dragging his suitcase with his brand new hero costume inside. He'd only recieved it from Power Loader just about an hour ago, so he hadn't yet bothered to look inside. However, something about the proud grin on the skinny man's face while he handed it over told him that it was going to be more than satisfactory.

Not that I really need it, though.

"Zoldyck?"

Killua looked up, noticing Iida's confused glare.

"Oh," he exclaimed, "did I not tell you I'm going to Manual's agency, too?"

Dark blue eyes widened from behind his glasses. "No. However, I assumed you had better choices to choose from."

"So did you."

No reply was made, and that was the end of the conversation. The last few passengers finished settling either in their seats or standing by a pole, and the train finally started moving on its way to Hosu once the usual updates heard through the speakers finished.

Everyone knew about Iida's brother, Ingenium, by now. They could easily figure out that he's the reason why he's choosing to intern in Hosu, but the same couldn't be said for Killua himself. Thankfully, no one questioned it, so he didn't need to come up with some lame lie about it.

Sighing, he rested his hands behind his head, staring outside the window. There wasn't a one-hundred percent chance that Gon was even going to be in Hosu, but it was a starting point. If only he had his freakish sense of smell, he could sniff his trail like a dog... probably. Maybe?

If Gon did happen to end up here, though, Killua needed a plan—which he had none. In fact, he didn't know if Gon would even be Gon the next time he'd see him. He could very well be the odd Nanika-faced... thing he was when he fought off all those Pro Heroes last week.

It couldn't be Nanika, right? It was impossible. But, then, that meant it had to be... No, that's impossible, too. But, admittedly, it's a little more plausible than his former thought. His Dark Continent knowledge obviously wasn't as vast as his dad's (who has actually been there in person,) but he did know that Nanika was suspected to be one of the Five Threats:

'Codependence of Desire... A Gaseuous Life-Form: Ai.'

He clicked his tongue.

And, now, here was Gon running around with the same exact holey-face Alluka got whenever Nanika took over. But, how would he even get involved with an Ai in the first place? And why did it act so differently from Nanika?

Maybe Ai all have unique qualities, which is why Nanika acts comparatively humane to the rest of them... But, speculating was useless. He needed to work with what he'd already seen the stranger Ai do, and that was copying other people's abilities. He wished he could only say quirks, but he obviously couldn't ignore how it instantly recreated the transmuter Nen skills he'd been perfecting for years, now. Especially how it manifested them through someone like Gon: an enhancer who gave up usage of his Nen.

If he tried to sneak up on Gon while he was in that Ai-state, he really wasn't sure he was going to win that battle if one were to start...

'When you face an opponent you perceive is stronger... you immediately get ready to bail! One day you'll let Gon down and leave him to die...!'

Killua shivered.

Years later, and that old hag's words still haven't left him... but, he was grateful for it. Even without Illumi's needle in his head anymore, he found himself gravitating towards Bisky's words to give himself a small boost of motivation every now and then. After all, he did make a promise to both himself and his dad.

"Never betray your friends," he softly whispered to himself.

The words rang clear as day in his head, and he let himself smile.

Regaining his memories may have caused him some emotional turmoil, but it was still the best thing that could've happened to him ever since he woke up next to Aizawa and Revovery Girl in the infirmary, confused and without a clue where or who he was. Now, it was what he did with those memories that mattered the most.

Still staring outside the window, he tightened his lips. He thought to himself, silently hoping the message would somehow get across.

I'll be back, Gon, Alluka. Just wait for me a little bit longer.


"You're awake."

"Ah... what... huh?"

Gon rubbed the crust out of his eyes, then tried to sit up. Tried, because he instantly flopped back down onto the soft surface, brain rattling as he bounced. A sharp pain pierced his stomach, later travelling to the rest of his body, forcing out a quiet groan from his mouth.

"Eat this. You must regain your strength."

Lifting his heavy eyelids, he found the face of the smoky yellow-eyed man in front of him. Glancing down, he noticed he held a bar of...

"Chocolate?"

"You used up a large amount of life energy, so you've been asleep for a while..."

"How long?" he croaked, reaching for the candy bar.

"Four days."

"Eh...?!"

It came out more as a loud whisper than an exclamation. Taking a weak bite out of the pre-unwrapped bar, he listened as Kurogiri tried explaining the situation.

"It surprised us, too. You've never even slept past thirty minutes after using your quirk, but, upon watching you on the news the other day... I can imagine why it took so long for you to wake up."

News? What else did I do?

"It appears Sonohoka went after another pinky on its own, targeting Manual using several other people's quirks."

Wait, I remember that happening...

Gon swallowed his bite, then dryly spoke, "It's 'cause Sonohoka cut off the wrong pinky tip the first time..."

A coughing fit then followed, which signaled Kurogiri to grab a cup of water for him, setting it on the end table.

The bartender paused for a moment, then spoke, "You're saying it can come out on its own once it realizes its command had not actually been fulfilled?"

Gon nodded, grabbing and slowly sipping his water.

Why do I feel so weak? He hadn't felt like this since... since...

Ugh. He really wished he had his memories. This new quirk was the best thing to come out of this situation, but, at the same time, he felt unsure if it was the right decision or not...

No. Of course it was. Sonohoka was super strong, and he's sure that he can eventually remember everything if he tried really hard.

Ah, if it weren't for that All Might guy...

A thought just occurred to him. He now needed to return two pinky tips back to Manual. How awkward...

BANG!

Both heads whipped around to the noise, finding Shigaraki barging in through the door with his nails scratching at his neck.

"When's he getting here...?" he rasped. However, once his gaze reached Gon's, his hand stopped itching, instead falling to his side.

"Should be a few minutes from now," Kurogiri answered. "Freecss just woke—"

"Yeah, I can tell," he interrupted, glaring at the boy. "Oi, can you move?"

Gon attempted getting up again, this time gritting through the pain. With a small nod, he answered, "Sure!"

The bartender huffed. "Shigaraki, he needs to heal before you do anything with him. What are you planning?"

"Nothing, nothing," he drawled. "What, I can't just check up on him? Geez."

With another sigh, he gestured towards the younger boy. "You can lie back down, Freecss. I cannot imagine how pained you are from all those injuries."

A toothy grin on his face, he chirped, "It's fine! I can heal fast, anyway." Slowly, the smile faded. "Actually, how did I even get these injuries? You saw me on the news, right?"

It was quite frustrating having to ask others about his own experiences (more like Sonohoka's experiences, but it was still through his body, so it counted.) He assumed that being unconscious was the simple price he had to pay for an essentially unrivaled quirk, so it wasn't all too bad.

"Well, yes..." Kurogiri stared, sharing glances with Shigaraki. "A lot of other Pro Heroes got involved in the situation, and Sonohoka was fighting past them."

"Was All Might there?"

Shigaraki noticeably cringed from the mention of the hated hero, but Kurogiri easily replied with a solid, "No."

Gon hummed, swinging his legs on the couch out of habit, only stopping when he realized it still ached. "I wanna meet him soon," he announced.

"Eh?" Shigaraki exclaimed.

"I just wanna ask why and how he took my memories... and why he tried to make me the bad guy for trying to stop a real bad guy."

"All Might wouldn't waste his time on brats like you," he spat. "Pro Heroes are hypocrites... all claiming they'll 'save the day' when they don't do shit."

Gon opened his mouth to speak, but quickly closed it in favor of mentally dissecting Shigaraki's words a little more. If he heard him right, it almost sounded like he was speaking from personal experience...

He was curious.

Then, a knock at the door sounded.

"That must be him," Kurogiri said. Turning his head to the still-healing boy, he continued, "Rest up. This will be a quick meeting."

Gon grudgingly complied, stubborn as he is about being totally fine. At least he could listen in on the conversation; he still had yet to find out who this mystery visitor is.

Back once again lying on the couch, he watched Shigaraki open the door, revealing a ragged, noseless, hunched-over man with a sword on his back.

More importantly, he looked strong. If he wasn't bedridden (couchridden?) at the moment, he'd almost ask to take a crack at sparring with him.

"League of Villains, huh?" the stranger said after closing the door behind him. His voice was almost playful, in the way that it felt as if he were visiting the zoo.

"Yeah," Shigaraki said, taking a seat at the bar.

"Good to see you again, Hero Killer," Kurogiri spoke from the bar.

Hero Killer...?

Gon recognized the name from the news; people were speculating that he himself and the Hero Killer were involved somehow since they both were taking action in Hosu. He also remembered when Shigaraki told him that Kurogiri was meeting with him about a week ago... Other than that, he really didn't know too much about the guest. Though, he assumed he could easily guess from his moniker.

"You too," he said. With a grin, he continued, "So, it was you bastards who broke into U.A.."

Shigaraki made a noise of acknowledgement.

"Now, you wanna add me to your little gang!" Looking around the room, his intense red eyes settled on Gon. "And what's he doing here? This isn't any place for a child."

The hand-ful man leaned against the counter. "If you wanna know why, it's 'cause we saved him when Pro Heroes couldn't."

"Ah..." he mumbled. "The situation demands for it, then. So. What is your goal?"

"First," he immediately began, "we wanna kill All Might. Then, we destroy everything we hate. Like..."

Out of nowhere, Shigaraki pulled out a picture of someone he didn't recognize. He looked to be about his age, though. Who was he? Was he related to All Might, somehow?

"This little brat. We'll get rid of all of them."

Gon never really understood Shigaraki's intentions. It seemed, however, the Hero Killer perfectly knew what he was dealing with.

And he didn't have the positive reaction they were looking for.

"I was ill-advised to be interested," he seethed, teeth clenched. "You... you're the type I hate the most!"

Uh oh. Gon moved to sit up again, noting how distracted Kurogiri was to miss him. Another pang of pain shocked his stomach, forcing him to hunch over.

But, between him clutching his stomach in pain and sitting back up again, things have already moved... fast. Very fast.

A loud thump, and the Hero Killer was on top of Shigaraki, wielding two daggers. It dug into his shoulder, and a pool of blood had began to form around it.

"...Weaklings—lacking both—are culled... is only natural. That is why you're gonna die."

...Die? He was trying to kill Shigaraki?

From the corner of his eye, Kurogiri yelled out, "My body won't move! This must be his quirk..."

Wow, what kind of quirk was that? He didn't appear to use it on Gon, though... was it because he thought he was too injured to do anything, too?

"Hey..." he started, planting his feet on the wooden floor. He pushed himself off the couch with his sore arms, still wincing as it ached.

"Freecss, stay out of this!" Kurogiri stressed. Huh, he'd never used that tone of voice with him, before.

But, of course, Gon still ignored him.

As he took a few steps further, he suddenly stopped right as he heard Shigaraki speak.

"All Might... This society where trash like that is put on a pedestal... I wanna burn it to the damn ground!"

Shigaraki crumbled one of the Hero Killer's daggers, and...

If Gon hadn't already stopped in his tracks, he definitely would have by now.

A wave of killing intent washed over the entire bar, coming from the man who had his back to the floor. At that, the Hero Killer immediately dashed away to the other side of the room—just before Shigaraki had been able to place all five fingers on his face.

It's never been that strong before, Gon thought. He'd only noticed just a little bit of it every now and then, but... their guest must have made Shigaraki really mad.

An actual conversation then began between them, but Gon was more focused on figuring out the right words for his question for the Hero Killer...

"Our business here is finished," he said, freakishly long (and bumpy) tongue hanging out. "Return me to Hosu! I've still got things to do!"

"Wait, Mr. Hero Killer," Gon called out.

The noseless man turned around to face him, then uttered, "Hm?"

"Gon..." Shigaraki scowled.

"...Why do you think killing people is the right thing to do? Isn't there any other way?"

For a while, he'd wanted to ask Shigaraki the same question about All Might. But, it never hurt to hear from two perspectives.

"Are you sure you wanna hang around this bunch, child?" he replied, eyes narrowed. "I've said it before—it is only natural. Violence breeds violence. What goes around, comes around. Do you get it?"

Gon scratched his ear. "Eh? Not really..." he trailed off. "Don't you think life is valuable?"

"You cannot attribute value to the lives of counterfeits."

At that, Kurogiri opened up a portal, while Gon's mouth gaped open.

"Huh..."

The Hero Killer stepped through and disappeared, leaving the League of Villains alone, once again.

Gon didn't necessarily agree with him. Still, he couldn't deny how interesting his mindset was. Now, he wondered what the vigilante possibly could have gone through to come to such a conclusion...

"Gon," Shigaraki called out.

But, more importantly, he wanted to know more about the man he woke up next to three weeks ago.

Turning around to the older boy, he noticed he was still badly bleeding...

"I'll get you some band-aids—"

"Shut up," he rasped, scratching at his neck. "Get back to the couch, you brat. You're no good if you can barely walk."

That... was something he reluctantly agreed with. His legs felt like they were burning, and all he was doing was standing up. It was still so odd. A bunch of Pro Heroes couldn't have possibly caused this much damage to himself... Did he use an extra powerful quirk during the fight? Kurogiri did say that his quirk was fueled on life energy, and, the stronger it was, the more it literally sucked the life out of him.

Lying back down, he once again spoke. "Shigaraki?"

"What?"

"Can you answer my question, too?" A silent beat passed, but Gon still pressed on. "Why do you wanna kill All Might?"

"Damn brat..." he started, but his words lost their ferocity towards the end. He stuck his hand in his pocket, grabbing at one of the severed hands inside. "He's hurt more than I have."

Something in Gon's brain clicked.

The hands being real or not was something he was never quite sure of, but, right now, he was leaning towards the former being the truth (even if it was weird to think he'd been wearing around a bunch of dead peoples' hands.) Shigaraki didn't look like he wanted to divulge into his past... but if heroes really were the reason for his tragedies...

He'd never been bothered by his name-calling. All they've really done together was play arcade games and train—two things Gon had been having lots of fun with, lately. And, in his own, twisted, villain-y way, it seemed Shigaraki cared for him. So... was it too much of a stretch to call him his friend for having spent the past whole month with him?

"I still don't know too much about heroes," Gon started, "but I'm with you."

"Eh?"

"That's what friends do, right?" he cocked his head. "Be there for each other?"

The bar went dead silent. Then, Shigaraki rapped his fingers on the bar counter.

"Yeah. Friends."

Then, Gon watched as Kurogiri tapped him on the shoulder and handed over a picture of sorts.

Shigaraki grinned.

"You're with me, huh?" he gibed.

The older boy walked over to Gon's spot on the couch, picture in his palm. Handing it over, Gon's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

It was a hero with a mask covering up his face.

"Then, can you do me a favor and kill the hero Light for me?"


"It is rare you'd want to meet here in your own lab, Garaki."

The old scientist softly smiled, flipping through his clipboard notes. "Of course. I've successfully cloned the quirk so you can use it, but I have... much to say about the original."

Walking over to a secluded door in the corner, All For One watched as Garaki unlocked it. Door swinging open, he found a short nomu aloofly standing in the center of the white tiled floor. A small couch was to the side, and he was gestured by the scientist currently clearing his throat to sit down with him.

"First," he started, "the quirk Inseparable Interdimensionals is nearly the exact same as Kurogiri's quirk. If it was meant for separate dimensions, I imagine the makeup would be completely different."

All For One rubbed his chin. So everyone Musubu teleported truly was from our own dimension...

"All I see is a teleportation quirk with strange conditions; the duo-teleport and memory loss, respectively. You don't happen to know where they possibly could have come from, do you?" he asked, staring at All For One from behind his glasses, anticipating an answer.

"Perhaps..." he trailed off, taking his time to come up with a proper reply. It was difficult to come up with any solid answers from what little evidence they've gathered. Breathing in, he continued, "Perhaps it's to do with Nen, or the Dark Continent Musubu rambled about. I may be wrong, but considering I highly doubt the first two teleports had dropped in beings from our... world, if you will, it seems the most plausible."

Nodding, Garaki said, "It's a start. Then, from there, I've managed to separate the conditions from the actual teleportation quirk. But, I found something quite... interesting."

"What is it?" he asked.

"Unlike Kurogiri's quirk, it doesn't require coordinates for teleportation; it's more random, than anything. But, since it was only possible to teleport others, it couldn't be used to its full extent. Until now."

All For One hummed. "So, now that the conditions are gone..."

Garaki failed to finish the sentence, instead glancing at the three foot tall nomu in the room. "If you were looking to properly speak with Musubu again, that is not possible anymore."

Standing up from the couch, All For One approached the nomu, watching as it stared blankly into space.

"To keep it balanced," Garaki spoke from behind, "I turned him into a nomu. It acts as a different sort of condition, but not one that will limit the quirk. However, I haven't tested the actual teleportation, yet. You should be able to order it to teleport somewhere, but I am unsure whether it understands exactly where you want to go or not," he finished.

A grin on his face, All For One patted its shoulder. A nomu that can hypothetically teleport anywhere in the world... Or, not even in the world. Anywhere in their dimension.

"I'll test it right now, then. Incredible work, Garaki," he praised.

"The pleasure is mine."

Attention settling back on the nomu, he called out its name and said, "Open a portal to the Dark Continent."

A purple haze filled the room. Then, in just a few seconds, Garaki stood alone.


A/N: woahhhh and there's chapter 11. i'm currently sleep deprived as i'm writing this so i hope there aren't any mistakes i'd have to fix later haha... anyway, thanks for reading and sticking around, everyone! again, your words are always greatly appreciated :) see you in the next chapter!

P.S. i've been trying to draw up what killua's costume looks like with the features izuku recommended, but, sadly, i'm not so talented in the area of hero costume making... so, until i figure that out, vague descriptors are solely gonna be used... yup