Hi, guess what I just published :). It's titled "The Stranger in the Garden" and it's a GonKillu story. If you're enjoying Asphyxiation, you might like that one too. I worked really hard on it, and I'd really appreciate it if you could check it out some time! Anyway, enjoy this chapter! It's kinda scary but enjoy!!!

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When I came around, I thought I was dead. In fact, I was quite confused as I slowly regained consciousness, because I knew I should be dead. I had been suffocating, my lungs so full of flowers there was almost no room left for oxygen. I had eventually passed out from my inability to breathe, and I honestly thought I'd never wake up. I thought that was it.

But nope, it seemed the universe was hellbent on keeping me alive so it could torment me as long as possible.

"Killua! You're awake!" the moment I managed to crack one eye open, Gon was all up in my face. "Are you okay? Can you hear me? What hurts?" he started asking a whole bunch of questions way faster than my brain could process any of them.

I winced and tried to push him away, but I still couldn't feel my hands. My movements were sluggish and inaccurate. "Slow down," I tried to tell him, but my throat was so dry and sore that my voice came out as a pathetic little croak.

"Killua?" Gon called out, as I started trying to sit up. I propped myself up on my forearms, grimacing as a horrible ache spread throughout my entire body. His large brown eyes widened so much I feared they would pop right out of their sockets. "Hey, hey, stop! You're not supposed to move around, baka! Lie down and stay put." he took hold of my shoulders and made me lie flat on my back once again.

My head connected with something soft, probably a pillow. That meant I was back in my room at the hotel. Gon had carried my unconscious body the entire way back... Again. It was humiliating.

"W-Water." I finally managed to choke out, fighting past the burning agony in my throat.

"Oh, you need water? Okay, I'll go get you some. Don't go anywhere." Gon slid off the bed and rushed out of the room, not bothering to close the door behind him. I could hear his shuffling movements outside the room as he set about fulfilling the current task at hand. A couple moments passed before he returned with a full glass of water in his hand. "I'm back!" he announced, setting the glass down on the nightstand before reclaiming his seat on the edge of my bed.

I made an attempt to sit up on my own again, but he scolded me thoroughly and helped me reach a sitting position himself. My guess was that he didn't want me moving too fast, lest I hurt myself even worse.

I was extremely disappointed to find that I couldn't even hold a glass of water on my own. When I tried to, my hands were shaking so badly that I accidentally spilled it. I tried to let out a growl of frustration, but thanks to the lack of moisture in my body, it came out as more of a tiny, helpless whimper.

"That's okay." Gon smiled gently and reached out, cupping both my hands between his to steady them, allowing me to lift the glass to my lips and take a sip. The cold water felt extremely good sliding down my parched throat, but it didn't soothe the pain at all. Gon waited patiently as I continued to take little sips of water, before I nodded to him and he took the glass away from me. "How are you feeling now? Any better?"

"I-I think I can speak legibly now, at least..." I rubbed my sore chest with one hand, wincing as another wave of agony rolled through me. "What happened? Where are the others?"

"They're still working on finding Shenka. In other words, they're seated at the table, stressing over clues and what not." a playful smile crossed Gon's face, but his expression melted into a look of concern. "You were hardly breathing when I made it here, Killua. I was so scared because I thought you were either dead or dying. Leorio had a look at you and said you'll be lucky if you manage to live through tomorrow."

I dropped my gaze to the blankets, even as Gon made me lie back down again. "So... Tomorrow's the day I die, then. That's... Good to know."

My best friend sighed and made a point to lay down beside me. He hooked an arm around my waist and pulled me close, cuddling me tightly. Under different circumstances, I would have been flustered. But now, I just let him hold me. If I was dying soon, that meant we only had a very limited amount of time left together, and I wouldn't waste it by trying to push him away. Instead, I wrapped my arms around him in return and tipped my head forward, resting it against his collarbone and listening to the soft sounds of his breathing.

"Killua, look at me." Gon suddenly said.

"What is it?" I asked, as I raised my gaze to meet his. The moment our eyes met, he suddenly cupped my face between his hands and leaned closer. For a heart-stopping second I thought he was actually about to kiss me, but that delusion shattered when he touched the tip of one finger to the bridge of my nose and slowly traced downward. "G-Gon?"

"Shush, I'm trying to memorize your face." was Gon's harried reply. "You won't be around much longer, so I wanna make sure I never forget exactly what you look like as long as I live."

I stared at him for a moment, taking in his glassy brown eyes and soft, resigned facial expression. He looked... Sad. Sadder than anyone I'd ever seen in my life. But there was also a strange sense of calm surrounding him, as if he'd come to terms with the fact he wouldn't be able to save me. He understood he'd have to make it through life without me.

"Can you promise me something?" I asked, softly.

"Yeah, of course. Anything." Gon began moving again, tracing the outline of my jaw with his fingertips. His touch was so gentle, so tentative, as if I were made of glass and he was afraid of shattering me.

"Promise me you'll keep on living. Promise me you won't do anything stupid, that you'll do your absolute best to live out the rest of your life and be happy. You've got so much potential, Gon. I don't want my death to be the thing that ruins you. So please don't let that happen." I closed my eyes and leaned into his hand, letting him thumb the swell of my cheek. "I know it'll be really hard. I know you'll be hurt for awhile, but please don't ever give up. Don't stop being yourself. Keep being the wonderful ray of sunshine you are."

"I-I don't know... I don't know what I'll do without Killua... You're so very important to me..." Gon suddenly tipped his head forward, burying his face in my hair. He was trembling. Sobbing. "But I'll do my best, okay? I promise."

I sniffled pitifully and pressed my forehead against his shoulder, clutching the soft fabric of his shirt tightly as if it were the only thing keeping him there. I felt warm tears sliding down my face, leaving tracks on my pale skin. I wished I could hold him tighter, pull him closer, because this might very well be the last time we could share a moment like this. Before long, the only thing he'd be holding would be a lifeless corpse that used to be me.

"I'll miss you." Gon whispered, his voice strained from crying. "I'll miss you so much."

"I know. I'll miss you too. If there's a such thing as the afterlife, it'll be extremely lonely and boring without you." I nuzzled his shoulder affectionately, letting him cry into my hair.

"When I die I'm coming to find you. No matter where you go, no matter how far away you manage to get, I'll find you. Even if we are reborn in different bodies, I'll still come looking for you. There's no way in hell this is our last night together. I won't let it be that way." Gon promised, playing with an unruly lock of white hair at the nape of my neck.

I nodded. Even though I didn't really believe in that sort of thing, it was still nice to let myself pretend I'd see him again. Maybe, just maybe, this wouldn't be the end.

Or I can just tell him how I'm feeling. Then, I won't have to die. It'll be okay... Right?

I shook those thoughts out of my head and sighed, reaching up to wipe the tears off my face with the back of my hand. I'd rather die with him as my best friend than die because he rejected me and hates me for wanting more than what we already have. What we have now is perfect. I'm selfish and stupid. I shouldn't expect so much from him.

"Killua should get some sleep." Gon said, nosing at my hair. "You must be exhausted."

"Mmh..." I nodded my head yes, realizing for the first time how absolutely tired I was. "But promise you'll stay with me? I don't wanna be alone, even while I'm asleep..."

"Shhh, I'm not going anywhere. Sleep." Gon hummed, sliding one hand up to caress the back of my head. "I might fall asleep too, just so you know, but it's not like I'm gonna get up just so I can pass out in another room or whatever."

"Stupid." I swatted his arm weakly and he laughed at me.

Those beautiful, lilting tones of laughter were the last thing I heard before settling into a deep sleep.

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"Killua..." a soft voice whispered.

I slowly opened my eyes, only to realize I wasn't tucked up in bed like I had been when I fell asleep. Instead, I was standing in a field of soft pink tulips dotted with large, rounded stones with flat faces placed in symmetrical patterns, each one an equal distance apart from the others. The skies were grey and the air was chilly. Freezing cold droplets of rain fell from the dense clouds over my head.

Oh, what a nasty place to wake up in! How the hell did I get here?

I wrapped my arms around myself and shivered. This was perhaps the most unpleasant thing ever.

"Killua."

There it was again. That faint, hollow whisper. I glanced around and nearly jumped out of my skin when I realized Gon was here, too. He was crouched in front of one of the odd stones nearby, clutching a dead tulip flower to his chest. The withered, blackened petals appeared to be stained with something. Was it blood?

"Gon? What're you doing here?" I called out, curiously.

My friend didn't seem to hear me. He just kept staring down at the ground, trembling all over. From the way his shoulders heaved, I could tell even from a distance that he was sobbing. What was wrong? Did someone hurt him?

I started to walk towards him, calling out his name a couple times. He never replied, even though I was sure I was close enough to be heard.

He laid the palm of his hand across the top of the stone he knelt in front of, almost reverently.

"Oh, Killua..." he said, and I stopped dead in my tracks at the sound of my name. "Why didn't you just tell me? Are you really so selfish that you couldn't have opened your mouth and told me what was going on?"

"What are you talking about?" I took a couple steps closer. "I'm right here! Why are you so upset with me?"

Again, no response. Gon just kept talking to the stone as if it were me.

"Why'd you have to go and die like that, huh? All you had to do was tell me how you felt and this would've never happened."

For the second time, I froze.

Dead? Gon thought I was dead? Impossible, I was standing right behind him!

"I just want him back." Gon sighed, turning over the dead flower in his hands.

Only then did I realize that the symmetrically placed stones all around me were graves. I was standing in a graveyard. I knew now, even without being close enough to tell, that the stone Gon knelt in front of had my name on it. I was dead. He couldn't hear me because I was dead. The disease plaguing my body had finally gotten the better of me and killed me.

Suddenly the world around me began to crumble and fade away. Everything was going dark.

The last thing I heard before everything disappeared was Gon's voice.

"I would give anything to see him one last time..."

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"Killua!" suddenly I was back in the hotel room and Gon was shaking me awake. "Killua, please wake up!"

That's when the most intense pain I had ever felt in my life hit me like a freight train. My eyes went wide and I sat bolt upright, choking on flowers and blood as they surged past my throat and spilled out of my mouth.

Gon screamed and jumped back, startled.

A moment later, Kurapika ran into the room with his chains in hand, ready to fend off any sort of danger. "What happened? What's wrong?"

"I-I don't know! Killua started coughing up blood in his sleep so I tried to wake him up and now he's vomiting flowers all over the place!" Gon cried, in a panicked frenzy.

I gasped for breaths I couldn't pull into my lungs. My lungs felt unbelievably heavy, and so full. There was hardly any room for oxygen left within them. It was so hard to breathe that I immediately began to feel dizzy. Had it seriously gotten this bad while I was sleeping?

I didn't have much time to ponder it, because a split second later, I was doubling over and clutching at my throat as more bloody petals gushed from my mouth.

The agony was indescribable. It was a thousand times worse than any of the hellish torture training my own family had put me through. It was bad enough that I actually let out a strangled cry of pain as blood trickled from the corner of my mouth and dripped off my jaw, staining the sheets crimson.

I don't think I'm gonna be alive much longer...

To be continued...

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A/N: HAHA more cliffhangers!!! (I'm so sorry please forgive me for doing this to you). Just a reminder: I uploaded a new story to my profile! It's titled "A Stranger in the Garden" and it's a GonKillu story I spent several days working on. If you're enjoying this story, I think you'll like that one too. Check it out sometime, please!

Anyway, I guess y'all will have to wait til next chapter to find out if Killua lives or dies. Hold on to your socks, folks, this ain't gonna be easy!

Thanks so much for reading! Please remember to leave a review on your way out, I'd love to hear what you think of this story so far! Love y'all, see you next chapter!

-UltimatexAdmin