Chapter 3

"Byleth-chan! Please marry me!" The young 21 year old Zeno knelt down in front of her, holding up a disfigured, severed head.

"…" Byleth's eyes went back and forth from the head that was still dripping with warm blood and to Zeno's excited and hopeful grin. "Zeno… what is this?" She asked with a concerned expression.

"It's the guy who tried to grope you earlier! Gramps told me that he proposed to grandma like this. He said all girls love this stuff! And even Zebro also said that you'll like this."

The azure haired woman facepalmed and sighed.

"What did I expect when I dated a Zoldyck…" She sighed. "I'm sorry Zeno, but the answer is no."

Zeno's eyes shot up and he looked so heartbroken.

"Wha… why? I love you Byleth-chan! Please, I'll do anything!"

"Zeno, I can't marry you because I'm barren. As the heir of the house, you have to marry someone that can give you kids."

"I don't care about kids or the family! If I can just marry you, then I will abandon my family."

Byleth groaned.

"Please don't do that Zeno. I'm serious. You wouldn't want to marry me. How old do you think I am?"

"I'm guessing around 25? I know you're older than me but I don't care!"

The woman crinkled her brows together, her face turning conflicted

"…. When Maha introduced us five years ago, that wasn't the first time we met."

"What do you mean?"

"I didn't want to tell you this… because it's kind of embarrassing… but..."

The silver-haired assassin looked at his lover with a confused expression.

"What is it?" He pressed her to continue.

"I changed your diapers when you were a baby, Zeno."

The Zoldyck froze and the severed head dropped from his fingers.

And his face turned bright red.

"MITO-SAN!"

Gon slammed open the door, only to be greeted by three females instead of two.

"Gon, what did I say about slamming the door?" Mito chastised Gon sternly. She sat up from the dining table that was occupied by Gon's grandmother and another guest.

"Hehe," Gon scratched his head abashedly. "Sorry. I was just too excited to see you. And grandma. And Byleth-san! I can't believe you're here!"

Byleth took another sip of her warm green tea and then set it down. "Yes, well, I was waiting for you three here for a very long time."

"She's lying. She only arrived about fifteen minutes ago." Bereto said behind Gon, rolling his eyes.

"Why do you never let me have my fun?" Byleth mirrored Bereto's exasperated expression.

"Ugh, you're here too, woman? I thought we wouldn't see each other till September at least."

Killua's annoyed frown was greeted with a smirk from the blue-haired woman.

"Mito-san! This is my friend Killua and Bereto-san!" Gon ushered in his companions. "Killua is my age and Bereto-san is my friend and chaperone."

Mito looked at the two men who accompanied her nephew.

"Killua-kun, Bereto-san. It's great to finally meet you! I have read letters from Gon telling me about you."

Killua blushed a little, saying hello while Byleth gave a small smile with his greetings.

"And yes, Byleth-san has arrived a few minutes ago. Imagine my surprise when you come in just moments later!" Mito said as she hugged Gon.

Gon looked so happy to be home and in his aunt's warm hug.

But Byleth felt a ping of jealousy.

.

"So why are you here? I thought you were traveling with Kurapika." Killua asked/demanded answers.

"Yes, well I was done with teaching Kurapika the basics plus more. So I thought I should come and relieve Bereto."

"What! Are you going to make Bereto-san disappear?" Gon exclaimed with a hint of sadness. "He has been a great companion. It was fun to be around. He's so strong! How can I develop such a Hatsu like you, Byleth-san?"

Byleth's smirk softened into a genuine smile.

"That's what I'm here for, Gon. I will be teaching you what you haven't learned from your previous teacher. If what Bereto has seen was correct, you have not learned all of Nen yet."

"What are you talking about? All we need to do is figure out our Hatsu and we'll be good." Killua asked with a confused tone. "We just need to train more."

Byleth looked at Killua with an impassive stare.

"You have learned Nen for less than six months. Do you really think that you will be actually able to beat someone like your brother without more instructions and training? Training by yourself can only take you so far."

"Tch," Killua clicked his tongue and pouted. "Yeah yeah, whatever woman."

"And don't worry Gon. I'm sure Bereto will love to travel with you again, but he doesn't like the form he's in currently."

Bereto huffed and made a barely audible grumble of that's right.

Byleth held up her arms, almost as if she was asking for a hug.

Bereto stepped forward into her arm while closing his eyes. As soon as his forehead touched Byleth's own, he started to disintegrate and the particle of lights he turned into was absorbed by Byleth.

After he was gone, Byleth dropped her arms and smiled at the two boys who stared at the scene before them with wide eyes.

"So when are we starting?" Killua asked, still grumbling a little.

"We'll start training in a few days. First, go out, play, and relax. You two are growing kids."

Both Gon and Killua's expressions brightened up.

They definitely were still kids.

.

The boys were camping in the woods, enjoying and exploring the island together.

Byleth looked out from the window to see the serene moonlight forest from Gon's house.

"Byleth-san. Please have some more tea." Mito called to them from the dining room.

The azure haired woman left the window to sit down at the dining table.

"Once again, thank you very much for hosting me, Mito-san. I really appreciate it." Byleth said as she gave a grateful smile.

"You're welcome! I am very thankful that you used your power to accompany Gon as a chaperone and companion." Mito smiled back and handed them steaming cups of tea. "It's quite fortunate that Gon was able to make friends like you and Killua. He has also written to me about his other friends Kurapika and Leorio."

"Ah yes. Gon has that power too, doesn't he? People naturally gravitate towards him.'

"Too?" Mito asked. "What do you mean?"

Byleth blinked at her slip up.

And she gripped her teacup tighter.

Should she say it?

Byleth bit her lip and then released it.

"Ging. He's much like Ging."

"Wait, Byleth-san. You know Ging?!"

Instead of an audible answer, the azure haired woman just nodded her head, her face dark with a serious expression.

"Do… you know where he is?" The concerned aunt asked.

Byleth's dark expression turned into a frown.

"I don't, but it's probably best for him if I don't know. I would most likely kill him the next time I see him."

Mito jumped up and the chair she was sitting on clattered loudly on the ground.

"W… why would you do that?! I'm sorry." She gulped, afraid of the woman that seemed to be so kind and caring of her nephew. "Maybe it's best that you stay away from Gon."

Byleth sighed.

"Don't worry I will never hurt Gon. But that's the thing. The last time I met Ging, he promised me something."

The azure-haired woman paused, unsure of how to exactly articulate her inner turmoil.

"He promised me that he would never abandon Gon."

"…Gon? But why would he promise to you…" Mito stopped her audible train of thoughts as her eyes widened. "There's no way."

"No, I'm sure what you are thinking is exactly right. There's not much resemblance, right?" Byleth tried to quirk her lip into a smile but it didn't make her wavering tone any more lighthearted.

Mito stared at the woman in front of her.

"But Gon is my son."

A pause.

"He… he doesn't know, does he?" Mito's voice wavered.

Byleth shook her head no.

Mito trembled in anger.

"How could you make Ging promise to not abandon Gon when you abandoned Gon even before him?!" She yelled, unable to control her emotions. "Do you know how terrible Gon will feel if he finds out that you abandoned him? He might rather like to keep thinking his mother passed away!"

"I know. I know I abandoned him!" Byleth cried out, her face scrunched up in anger and sadness. "But I had to!"

"There's no reason for you to abandon him!"

"Mito-san. You're a human who only found out about the existence of Nen today. I assure you, there was a reason I had to abandon him." Byleth grit her teeth.

The azure haired woman wasn't mad at Mito.

No, she was angry at herself.

Mito's angry expression challenged Byleth's own, demanding her to try and explain the reason for abandoning Gon.

"I physically cannot have children. But my powers mixed unnaturally and unknowingly with Ging's to create Gon. Gon's body was made of my power and parts of my body. My body is not exactly human. When Gon was born, he would have disappeared back into Nen the moment he was born. He needed to be as far away from me as possible to grow up and develop into a full human that isn't connected to my powers."

Mito's angered expression twisted to horrified shock.

Byleth abandoned her now cold teacup and clutched her hands together.

"When I met Gon, I didn't even realize that he was my son. I didn't think of speaking with him much. I mean, there was no way that my twelve-year-old boy would take the exams, right? But I was stuck in a tower with him for 72 hours and after I found out that he was my son, I was constantly afraid. I was afraid that Gon would disappear. But he didn't."

The orange-haired aunt's expression softened to sadness.

"I… I'm sorry. That was so selfish of me to yell at you like that. You're the one who is sadder that you were unable to stay with Gon. And I said some untrue things in the heat of the moment. There is no way Gon would rather like to have you dead. I didn't even understand. You didn't abandon him. You should tell him, Byleth-san. He will understand."

"He would, but that doesn't change the fact that I did abandon him. There's no other way to say that. I gave him up because I couldn't control my powers. So I couldn't tell him. I know deep in my heart that he will try to forgive me. But rather than having Gon work on forgiving me, I would rather have him think of me as a teacher and friend."

Byleth looked up to face Mito.

"And I will never abandon him ever again."

.

"Um… Byleth-san."

Mito's brows furrowed and her expression turned to a worried one. She wasn't sure if she should ask this kind of question but she was so worried about this woman who was sitting in front of her.

"You look like you are at most 25. If you had Gon twelve years ago then you must have been..." Mito's words made Byleth don an equally shocked and horrified expression. "Did Ging—"

Byleth stopped her by holding up a hand.

"Please, don't worry Mito-san. I assure you that I am much, much older than I look. Much older than Ging too."