Chapter 2: World Shattering Revelations

Killua kept himself on guard as his sudden accuser walked further into the alley.

On the surface, she didn't seem that unbecoming. At first glance she appeared to be only a few years older than Gon and himself, but her strange purple eyes and pointed ears made him wary.

Not to mention that she has the strangest feeling aura leaking out of her… It's almost like it feels… cold?

Either this girl was not a nen user, and merely possessed a large latent aura, or she was one, and was disregarding ten in order to appear as a non-user.

For the moment, it didn't matter. They had to figure out who she had confused them with, assuming Gon hadn't done something out of character before he ran into him.

"Return? Are you assuming we're thieves?"

"Yeah! I've never even seen you before!"

The look of confidence that was on the girl's face faltered, likely because she could sense their genuinity.

"Was it any of those guys on the ground? Did you try to take it from them?"

"These guys just wanted my money, and even after I told them I didn't have any, they tried to attack me, so I knocked 'em out."

It seemed the girl found it hard to believe that someone Gon's age had taken out three armed muggers without a scratch on him, yet there wasn't any other explanation.

"So neither of you took my insignia? Really?"

Gon simply shook his head, but then lit up with a surprised look on his face, clearly having realized something important.

"An insignia is like a little badge, right Killua?"

"Yeah, usually to represent status within an organization, what about it?"

Turning towards the back end of the alley, Gon pointed in the direction that the girl had escaped towards earlier.

"That girl who you were following, she had something in her hand when she ran through here!"

Of course! It wouldn't be a coincidence for this silver-haired girl to have come to this alley if she was chasing that girl too!

"It sounds like the culprit you're looking for is long gone, but what's so important about that insignia?"

Their accuser looked away, clearly in turmoil over how much she wanted to reveal about her predicament.

"It's something very important to me, something irreplaceable! If-if I can't get it back, there are many people I'll be letting down, people who I'm indebted to…"

Both Gon and Killua immediately understood how important this insignia was to her. They'd also been in that horrible position where people suffered because of their mistakes.

Kite… If only we hadn't been so reckless, and naive…

The boys had no reason to help the girl before them, arguably they had a reason not to, having already been falsely accused of theft.

But even as the calculative parts of Killua's mind were telling him to move on, he knew there would be no stopping the good heart of his friend.

"Don't worry, we can help you get your insignia back!"

Gon was beaming with a wide smile and thumbs up, and it was even enough to produce a smile on the face of the girl he'd promised to help.

"Really? I haven't done anything to indebt myself to you, I even accused you of stealing my insignia!"

Despite her perilous situation, the girl before them clearly had an issue with asking others for help.

"I should've asked the real thief to stop when they first ran through here, but I let myself get distracted by these guys. So technically, I have a reason to help you get it back!"

Gon obviously doesn't feel that way, but of course he would put it in terms that this girl would be willing to accept…

"There's no way you could've known she had stolen something, you really don't have to feel responsible…"

"Well, she was excited about whatever was in her hands, and with the way she was running, it was clearly in order to get away from something. If I hadn't been distracted, I would've asked her what she was doing."

Only someone like Gon would go to such lengths to make someone feel ok with receiving his help, let alone offering aid in a situation like this in the first place.

"Hey, I don't feel any malice from them. He really wants to help you."

This new voice startled both Gon and Killua, and they scanned around to find where it had come from, before settling their eyes on what was floating next to the girl.

"Is-is that a talking cat?!"

Gon had a look of amazement on his face as he examined the interesting creature, his childlike excitement plain as day.

What is that thing? Is it a nen construct? Something like what Kite could conjure? This doesn't feel like it's made of nen though, yet it's still materialized through some kind of energy supplied by the girl…

"Hello boys! My name is Puck, nice to meetcha!

Whatever this cat-like creature was, it made Killua even more interested in this girl's story.

"Puck, I was handling things fine on my own, and we really shouldn't accept their help."

Puck floated towards Gon and Killua, putting his hand to his face, as if he was thoroughly inspecting them.

"These two both seem like good eggs, although the one with the white hair gives off a mysterious aura, I can't really pin him down…"

"Wow Killua, this cat knows you as well as I do! Hahahaha!"

So it can sense my aura? I guess I did reflexively enter ten after dropping zetsu, but how can this thing decipher our intent? That seems like a very useful ability…

"I guess you guys really don't know what spirits are, but Puck is a spirit that I'm contracted with."

"Spirit?"

Both Gon and Killua said this at the same time. The idea of spirits was alien to them, let alone contracting them for their powers.

"Yup! That's me!"

Puck flew towards Gon's hand as he said this, grabbing on as Gon waved him around the air.

"It's rare for someone to be able to touch spirits so casually, where are you from?"

"I'm from Whale Island! My aunt Mito raised me there, I wonder what she'd think of where I am now…"

Killua wasn't surprised that the mention of his friend's home would bring up memories of his aunt. While Killua had Alluka alone to worry about, Gon still had a normal family out there.

Well, as normal as you can call Ging's style of child-rearing, I guess…

"It's a known saying that good hunters are well-liked by animals, if you can count Puck here as one."

The girl who had yet to introduce herself and her spirit Puck both looked confused by what Killua had said.

"Hunter? Like hunting wild game? Or magical beasts?"

"Doesn't sound like a profession that would make animals like you…"

Just like that random woman, even these two have no knowledge of professional hunters. That, combined with this cat supposedly being a spirit, makes me think we're a lot further from home than I thought…

"Some hunters do those things, but it's a super diverse job, you could do almost anything as a pro hunter!"

Gon's excitement over his lifelong dream job oozed from his expression, much to the delight of Puck.

"Doesn't that sound fun, we should be pro-hunters too, right?"

"Eh? It would be fun to explore the world and discover new things, but you know I have responsibilities to take care of, Puck."

It was interesting small talk, but Killua knew this girl and her spirit-cat wouldn't be attending a hunter exam any time soon.

Or probably ever, given the likely distance between this place and the mainland…

"Before we go any further, would you mind introducing yourself to us? If we're gonna go out of our way to help you, it's the least you could do."

Killua said this with obvious playful intent in his voice, but the question itself was genuine.

"My name? You can call me Satella. I have no family name, just Satella."

There was little reaction from the boys, but for a brief moment, Puck's eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his head.

Unlike the elder assassins in his family, Killua's ability to detect lies was far from perfect. However, given the simple nature of his question, the fact that the self-described Satella seemed unsure of herself in her answer gave it away to Killua.

"That's a nice name, Satella, unfortunately I don't believe it's yours."

There was a brief look of shock upon the girl's face, as well as an interested smile on Puck's.

"I may not be as adept as the rest of my family in this regard, but I've been trained to read people ever since I was a little kid. Feel free to correct me if I was off the mark, but that look on your face, as well as your cat's, tells me I'm right."

The girl's face changed from a look of concern to that of confusion, although not because Killua had managed to point out her lie.

"You're right, Satella isn't my name. But, why didn't either of you react to me calling myself by the name of the jealous witch?"

Once again, a clear informational gap made itself known.

"The jealous witch? Who's that?"

Killua wanted to stop Gon from asking such a question, but even he realized the cat was out of the bag when he called Satella a 'nice name'.

I have no idea who this 'jealous witch' Satella is, but there's obviously a negative connotation, one that's big enough that she expected us to recoil at the mere mention of the name…

"You two really must be from far away then… I didn't believe it at first, but there's no doubt about it now."

"Still, to not know of the witch of envy, you guys must be from the middle of nowhere!"

While the girl was more serious about the revelation, Puck maintained his jovial attitude.

"Is it someone we should know about? I don't remember learning about her in school, what about you Killua?"

"Nope. Never heard of her."

Clearly stunned by their lack of what she would consider common knowledge, the girl went on to explain the weight behind the name 'Satella'"

"She was the most terrible of the witches of sin, the witch of envy, Satella. The one who caused the great calamity four hundred years ago, and nearly ended the world. To even say her name in public is considered taboo, so I suggest you don't go around talking about it."

Gon almost looked a little frightened by what he'd heard, as if this girl was telling a ghost story around a campfire.

This sounds like a bedtime story parents would tell their kids to scare them… A being powerful enough to nearly end the world? Surely we would've learned about an event like that, even if it was four hundred years ago…

Maybe it's some kind of colloquialism, and it really was just something that affected this country and the surrounding ones…

The culture clash on a worldly scale continued to confuse Killua, yet all he could do was try and gather more information.

Although every time I learn something new, things make less and less sense…

"Thanks for the advice. Now, how about we get back to your name?"

Killua had assumed that her reasoning for her choice of alias was one, finding out if he and Gon knew about the witch of envy, and two, seeing if they would still offer their help after hearing that name, assuming they had knowledge of it.

"My real name is Emilia, just Emilia."

Finally, the mysterious girl had revealed her true name.

"My name is Gon! Gon Freecs! And this here is my friend Killua!"

Despite having called each other by their names earlier, Gon always found it necessary to give a proper introduction.

"Alright Emilia, how about we go find your insignia now?"

For a normal person, this task would require them to start from square one, searching the entire city and asking around if anyone knew the thief based on her appearance.

Not for Gon though… He really is useful in a cinch like this…

"Where would we even start? You said earlier that she was running along the rooftops, that means she could be anywhere in the city by now…"

"Don't worry, I caught a whiff of her scent when she ran past me! It'll be a little hard to track in a city like this, but it should be enough to get us on her tail."

Both Emilia and Puck tilted their heads in confusion at Gon's claim, rightfully so given its absurdity.

"No way you're able to track her scent just from a passing encounter, let alone differentiate it from all the other smells in the city."

"I agree Lia, I would put that outside the realm of the human senses, but let's see what he can do."

While Emilia and Puck were stating their disbelief, Gon was already attuning his nose and trying to pick up the trail of the thief.

"Gon's nose has saved me more times than I can remember, and I'd recommend you two have a little faith, Gon here is far from normal."

In only a few moments, Gon perked his head up and pointed down the alley.

"We already knew she took off this way, but I can track the direction she went after she jumped back up on the rooftops."

Killua nodded and took off behind his friend, before both of them hastily came to a stop and turned around.

"Um, Emilia..."

"Are you able to jump onto and run across rooftops like us?"

These obvious questions prompted a 'hmph' from Emilia, much to the delight of Puck.

"Of course I can! Don't think there's something you guys can do that I can't, especially since you're younger than me!"

If only she knew how inaccurate that was…

"Hey, we're both thirteen you know. You can't be more than a few years older than us, so don't discount our abilities so quickly."

"I… doubt that. I don't know if you realized, but I'm a half-elf."

This revelation was yet another thing Killua hadn't seen coming. The first to respond to it though, was Gon.

"Half-elf? What's that?"

Of course Gon wouldn't know, he grew up on an island spending all his time out in nature… He wouldn't know something that should be from a game or story…

Yet here's one right in front of me, clearly not just a fictitious fantasy…

"Gon, I know you never played any games or read any books growing up, but elves are a mythical species present only in the realm of fantasy. Or at least, that's what I thought until now."

"What does that have to do with her age though?"

"Typically, elves have lifespans much longer than those of humans. Even if she's just a half-elf, I imagine she still has a lifespan that far exceeds our own."

Emilia was surprised by their little intercession, but what was said next shocked her even more.

"Wow! That's so cool! That's probably why she's so pretty!"

Gon was giddy upon learning that the girl before him was right out of a fantasy book, and his natural flattering personality only made it more apparent.

"You-you think I'm pretty? I said I was a half-elf though…"

"That's exactly why! Your eyes have such a beautiful color, and your ears are really unique too!"

Leave it to Gon to turn what was an obvious insecurity for this girl into a compliment…

Silent up until this point, Puck suddenly broke out laughing, and flew towards Gon.

"You're weird, you know that? But you're a good weird, so take it as a compliment!"

Emilia was blushing slightly from the unexpected praise, but quickly regained her composure.

"Now then, you said you had the thief's scent? Let's get moving then!"

"Alright! Let's go!"

And with that, the unlikely group ran down the alley and took off onto the roof, Gon leading the way.

"Well guys, this is as far as my nose can take us."

The journey across the city had been brief, but where they ended up still left the exact location of the thief unknown.

"So whoever stole the insignia is hiding out in the slums? I guess that's not a terrible place to try and blend into."

However, Gon shook his head at Emilia's comment.

"She isn't hiding here, I'm pretty sure she lives here."

Emilia was surprised at Gon's deduction, but she imagined there was an explanation for his theory, so she waited for him to continue.

"The scent on her that I was able to follow was honestly kind of smelly, the same kind of smell that comes from a place like this."

Everyone else present quickly understood what Gon was getting at.

"So her scent has to be impossible to follow when everywhere around us smells the same, huh?"

"Exactly."

The group stood silently for a few moments, thinking through what would be the best course of action. The first to speak up was Killua.

"At this point, she could be anywhere in the slums, so I propose we split up to cover more ground."

"Are we really gonna comb all of the slums? It's still a decently large part of the city, I don't think we have enough daylight left to even get close to covering all of it."

Emilia brought up a good point, but Killua had thought of a way to speed up the process.

"Not exactly. This thief was exceptionally agile compared to a normal person, meaning they likely have a reputation around here. Thus, all we have to do is ask around and see if anyone knows where she lives."

Everyone else thought about what he had said for a moment, before all nodding their heads in agreement.

"Alright, Emilia and Puck can go North, Gon, you can go East, and I'll head West, that way we can cover an effective amount of the slums. We'll reconvene right here when the sun hits the horizon, sounds good?"

Once again, everyone agreed with Killua's plan. Emilia and Puck knew they could handle things as long as they were together, and Gon and Killua had had to work separately on many occasions.

For them, it was essentially business as usual, although the fact that the stakes were much lower eased them greatly.

With minimal goodbyes, everyone split off in their respective directions, ready to dig up any information they could find on the thief.

Now then, let's make this mission quick and easy… I can't let myself get too sidetracked in the long term, Alluka still needs me…

Unfortunately for Killua though, what should've been a routine job would quickly turn into a matter of life and death.

I'll be posting updates every few days, and please, reviews are much appreciated. I'd like some more reviews besides the one guy who only reads re zero fics that have subaru in them, and hates on any that don't.