Vastorie makes a discovery that threatens his past; however, Cheadle wants the truth. Killua, Daniel, Sakura and Iason finally discover the truth to Gon's past history.

Vastorie's expression turned solemn, eyes narrowing at a wall with no particular reason. He could put two and two together; it wasn't that hard once he looks back on his past with a critical eye. Scarlet lived here for a long time, so the voice over the phone reciting the name should have come as no shock.

He took a deep breath, his voice passive, "You're telling me… that this man… is a walking dead man?"

"Not necessarily, his body was never found. So when the estate was burning, someone must have gone in and searched the building while it was being attacked. He was a survivor of that massacre…"

Vastorie groaned at the news, a hand now being pressed against his forehead, "The last living heir of Baron Hinrick Von Delkofer…"

"Not necessarily, he had a daughter as well. If the son survived, the daughter must have done so too…"

"Please, tell me you haven't alerted the authorities…"

"The moment I discovered who he was, I already had people breathing down my neck for details. Any discoveries related to the Von Delkofer incident has become a private matter that the government wants to cover up. People would revolt if they learned that the truth being spread years ago… was the actual truth."

"Thank you, Hemlock… Although, Cheadle is going to skewer me alive, once-"

"VASTORIE!"

"Speaking of the devil, thanks for the assistance. Give them whatever they want; this is a very delicate matter."

"I already have…"

With a click, Cheadle stormed into the room alongside Kurapika, the man tired from being dragged all over the building, for a matter he already knew the details to. Vastorie wasn't the only one looking into the matter; Kurapika was secretly doing so too.

He wanted to be the one who did the grand reveal, showing off his talents without the need to drag Vastorie through the mud. As long as that man was involved, the man's family's, and Killua's life were in danger. He's not about to put two of his friends' lives in serious danger…

Cheadle pushing the man to be a part of this is going to lead to some serious damage control later on. So the longer Vastorie stays on this mission, having his name throw all over the place is going to risk Victor finding out sooner or later…

"I've had it up to here…" Cheadle gestured with her hand, Vastorie looking only bemused as she continued to explain away her dilemma, "First, we find a key clue about Victor's hand in an issue, and now, the International Permit Agency has gotten involved and taken this man's body… Now I want answers!"

Vastorie's lip curled upward, his smirk more obvious now, "So, you're telling everything below the neck is annoying to you. So… I'm still free to drive you insane with words, correct?"

Cheadle was shaking with anger, annoyed at what the man took from the situation, he was deflecting from the main issue, the reason she was up to here in the first place. Just as she was about to have a screaming match with Vastorie, Kurapika stopped her.

"Hold it!"

"What, why? This man lost a key clue in finding Victor and-"

"We already had this discussion… Leorio will pull out and then you'll lose your chance of being able to explore the Dark Continent. Vastorie's family is in danger, and by you dragging him along like this, their lives will be risked as well."

Cheadle took a deep breath, rubbing at her temples before continue, this time calmer "Who was that man…?"

"Well, I have nothing but bad news… His name is Adam Von Delkofer, I guess you could say Baron Adam Von Delkofer… he was the second child of Hinrick."

"Are you serious?! Then by extension…" Cheadle rubbed her chin, "Victor may have also known Hinrick… Is it possible he was the one who disposed of Hinrick and took Adam instead to repeat the cycle, only this time taking full control of the situation…?"

"It's possible…" Kurapika hummed, "but there's one major problem, you're looking at the real man who killed Hinrick."

"Wait, what…?"

Vastorie rolled his eyes, annoyed at the truth for coming to light with the current Chairwoman of the Association. The news was supposed to die with him, Nathanial, Netero and Scarlet, but then Kurapika just had to go find out and now tell Cheadle, "There is a reason why Netero chose to sweep the entire situation into a trap door hidden under the rug, which Pariston may or may not know about…"

"That doesn't explain why you killed the man!"

"Have you read: The Truth behind Baron Hinrick's demise?"

"Nothing but superstition…"

"Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but the truth hurts. Many people who helped carry out Hinrick's goal, will forever have the lives of the many children who lost their lives in that fire, now stained on their hands…"

Cheadle's eyes narrowed slightly, that was a curious remark to bring up, especially when children were never mentioned in the conversation, "The children are alive…"

"Not for long if you keep raving on about it."

"How on earth did you manage to hide all those lives from public danger?"

"If you keep speaking about it, those numbers will reduce to zero."

"How… many?"

"Not breathing a word about this. Their lives are under my protection, with the help of many skilled individuals who know how to wipe a slate so clean, not even a speck of dust can be used to find them."

"Is Scarlet alive…?!"

Vastorie's eyes narrowed slightly, not a word being uttered about the situation. The man instead redirected the conversation, "Adam-"

"I'm not asking about Adam, I'm talking about Scarlet!"

"Adam's body showed signs of an infection, something my contact couldn't figure out."

"Neither could mine…" Kurapika sighed at the news, "I was looking into this matter myself, to at least stop you from further involving Vastorie."

"Great… just great… everything keeps escalating downhill from here. Fine, you won't say anything about Scarlet, then tell me… what do you think Adam was infected with…?"

"The same thing that infects Victor… he may have used one of them somehow to control and manipulate Adam into believing he was an ally. None of us has a clue how these creatures work… So until we go to the Dark Continent, and look in the same area Victor discovered them, we have nothing…"

"Back to square one…" Cheadle sighed in annoyance, her arms crossing along her chest. Victor is somehow staying ahead of them, maybe even discovering a way to infect other hosts into believing in his cause. The problem now is how many people are infected, and how is he implementing these creatures? Is he choosing specific people, or has he already infected a large group of the population…?

This was turning into a living nightmare, and until they find a clue on how to pin Victor down, they're never going to get anywhere "Find us something to work with… Victor needs to be captured."

"Yes, your majesty…" Vastorie bowed in a joking manner. Cheadle left in disgust, her eyes diverted from the man who refuses to cooperate with her.

Kurapika tucked a strand of hair behind his ear, eyes now turning to Vastorie "Scarlet is alive…"

"That's quite a bold stamen coming from you, my friend…" The man hummed as he placed Victor's journal down, scattered papers being forced into a single pile.

"I looked into the matter further, and without a doubt, I've found her."

"Oh, where…?"

"Here…"

"You gonna have to be a little more specific than that…"

"Kakin Kingdom, specifically… Aswaqiya."

"Oh, and your line of reasoning…?"

"There are many towns within the area, but there's one town that has a key clue. The day Adam showed up dead, Clarets Sutton disappeared along with his child. The door handle had been scorched, and the house been ransacked in a manner, which shows signs of escape. Clarets, is actually Scarlet… but that's not all. I dug a little deeper into your background, there is a girl matching a similar name. Scarlet Sutton… she used to go to your orphanage or should I say the same one Nathaniel used to live at, the Swordcross Institution… You've been hiding her in plain sight all along, but there one question I don't understand… Why didn't you make her overthrow the Von Delkofer Estate by announcing she is alive, and then using her position of power to funnel all his assets into something else?"

"Like…?"

"Writing the wrongs, rebuilding the infrastructure that Hinrick destroyed with the help of many members of the government."

"Kurapika, do you know roughly how rich I am?"

"You're in the billions, touching trillions are this point of time."

"Exactly… all the pet projects I invested in, I still manage to retain a large sum of cash. Hinrick's Estate is easily worth ten times mine. Granted, it could help millions of people… but at what cost?"

"Cost…?"

"Kurapika, you're a smart fellow. What did Hinrick do behind closed doors? How did his wife die…?"

"Hinrick accessed the black market for a lot of corrupt reasons; murder, fake conspiracies to take out competing companies, and paedophilia… to name a few. As for his wife, she subjected herself to self-harm… which she was successful in taking her life decades ago."

"Now, connect the dots…"

"The wife not only knew about her underhand tactics she knew what… Scarlet was the first."

"Technically the wife, but yes… my reasoning for why Hinrick stooped that low, is because Victor was involved. Adam wasn't the first… and he certainly won't be the last. These insects might be pushing people to further their main goal. Adam, with getting in contact with his sister, Hinrick with amassing more power in the political world… and Victor… with the strength to overpower the strongest in the field… Silva, Zoldyck."

"Why Silva Zoldyck though…? Wouldn't he aim for someone stronger, like Netero, who was the strongest Nen user in the association?"

"He was, or should I say is… in fact stronger than Netero. It's possible… that the insects are thinking more primal, self-centred if you will. When I was growing up, Victor was training me to be an assassin, as you are aware. But now linking back to his journal, he wasn't anything like that… he was polishing his strength in order to save another at the risk of his own, much like Nathaniel…" Damn, I'm accidentally pointed out that I have some serious daddy issues, "But these creatures want to live, so his thought process was changed to save a life at the risk of others… until eventually, it became nobody but he and his genes, only deserve to live."

As he crossed his arms, Vastorie made his final point, bringing the topic to his conclusion, "Both Victor and Silva will see eye-to-eye. Victor sees his offsprings as an extension of himself; they consider family to come first, or well those you have similar genetics to the host. If I were to assume correctly, I'd say Victor is more leaning towards Silva's ideas, to train the family to be more like themselves. Although, in Victor's case he may have ulterior motives; the parasite might want to remain in the host, but also building the offspring as well, just in case there's ever an altercation when it needs to bail…"

"So if you and Victor were to fight, if it sees it's host on the losing side… it will force itself out and try to infect the nearest person with genetic traits to the host. You will become the next person to host these creatures."

Vastorie hummed in approval, eyes narrowing slightly at the troubling news Kurapika pointed out. If the creatures were able to wield the Nen abilities of the host, they might be able to use his ability to start plucking figures from history, and forcing them to make deals with him…

What if it figured out a way to control Netero's ghost to complete a task? Then this world as he knows it… will cease to exist. The man grit his teeth, his chance of getting revenge had been reduced to almost zero…

There was no way he could think of a plan where he could get rid of Victor, without risking the lives of many others. Netero, what would you do…?

With a sigh, the man felt as though he knew what the old man would say. If you can't figure it out on your own, ask for the help of others… and if others can't help you, then it's a mission you can't complete without risking a life. His own life wasn't that important, but the risk was far greater than the best case scenario. He'll have to depend on Kurapika and the others, hoping that all of them could come up with an outcome where Victor can harm nobody else…

If not… he may never be able to see his family again…

There will never be a moment of time where he could seek out forgiveness…

"~"

Daniel held onto Killua, the boy giggling as his partner's feather-like touches grazed lightly along his side. He knew he should be doing something else right now, but he couldn't, not while his partner was tickling his side. He was far from ticklish, but that wouldn't stop him from laughing at the failed attempts.

He knows why Daniel was doing this, in hopes of calming him down before the storm. He needed to alert Gon first of the situation change, and then as they're talking, he needed to send a mass text to everyone one else who now was involved very closely with their lives.

It was going to be a long evening, but some friendships are worth the time. A part of him still loves Gon, because at the end of the day, if he never met the boy, this life he built would've never happened.

A world rich of wonders is now what he's exploring for Alluka's sake.

Killua playfully shoved Daniel down onto the bed, smiling slyly as he pinned the boy's hands down. Seeing his partner like this was a huge turn on for him, but unfortunately, they had bigger fish to fry.

This was no time to get frisky, considering they did promise the moment they got settled down, they would have the talk with Gon, to see how stable he was when it came to the topic of sex.

He took in a deep breath, eyes lingering on Daniel for a moment. Maybe next time… "We promised Sakura that we'll message Gon, and let him know that everything is ok between us…" Killua let go of his boyfriend's hands, his own now resting against his thighs. Readjusting his posture, the boy sat comfortably on his partner's legs.

Daniel brought his hand up, his fingers curling along Killua's cheek. The boy's cheeks were dusted pink, a warm smile escaping as he allowed himself to feel comfortable within the moment. He was content, a content cat ready to purr at any given moment…

"Daniel…?"

"Yeah…"

Killua allowed Daniel's gaze to meet his own, the two welcoming the blissful silence. It's been so long since he has felt comfortable like this, enjoying the welcoming silence from just the two of them, the love for each other remaining unquestioned.

"As much as I would like to savour every second of this…" Well, technically… I wouldn't mind having sex with you right about now, but… "But… we really promised Sakura we'll help Gon. Don't you want to help Gon…?"

"I do, but promise me one thing…"

"Sure…"

Daniel pushed himself up, his arms wrapping around Killua's back "If you reach an uncomfortable situation, let me lead the conversation. I might not be as intelligent as you in these circumstances… but I do know how to divert uncomfortable scenarios. I'm willing to give you time to settle your feelings for Gon."

Killua felt his heart get caught in his throat; since when did Daniel pick up on his hidden feelings? He does love Gon to an extent, but these feelings were nothing in comparison to those with Daniel… because Daniel makes Alluka happy, the second part of his life that he could never live without, "Since…"

Daniel allowed a hand to rest against Killua's cheek as he pulled back. He ran a thumb across the side of boy's hair, the fluffy strands melding like silk along his thumb, "a while now. Feelings don't up and vanish, I know that…" I can feel it with myself, with every new fact I learn about Vastorie, I'm starting to resent him less and feel more, sorry for him. Daniel quietly brought his other hand to boop the boy's nose, "because I feel the same; caught in-between resentment and respect."

"Vastorie…?"

"Yes…" Daniel nod, his hand reaching into Killua's pocket to pull out his phone, handing it over to his partner.

Killua took the phone from the boy's hand, "As long as we can help Sakura obtain enough facts to where he can feel comfortable talking to Gon, I'm sure the boy will feel fine having the talk."

"Out of curiosity, do you think Sakura knows about sex?"

"Oh, God… I really hope so. It's going to weird if I have to talk about that too. To explain the intricacies of sex to the one who's still in love with me… and you!"

Daniel ran his thumb along Killua's cheek, "I don't mind him being in love with me… I'm more worried about you."

"Alright…" Killua sighed, if he lets his feelings linger any longer, he might end up wanting to mess around rather than dealing with Gon and Sakura, "Let's get this over with!" The sooner we get through this, the sooner I can ravage your body… a little.

Killua threw himself off Daniel, sitting by the boy's side as he typed out his message for everyone.

Hey everyone!

I've got some great news! Daniel has not only obtained all his memories back, but we managed to exorcise the Nen curse let by the man who removed his memories.

We aren't exactly out of the hot water just yet, but all three of us are in a safe location. We cannot be harmed by the guy who removed Daniel's memories.

Regards, Killua and Daniel

"Done, now to just select the first few people to get the message…" Killua thumbed through his contacts, selecting both Sakura and Gon. After quickly sending the message, Killua copied the message once more, going through his remaining contacts only to stop at the last one, Vastorie…

As he was contemplating on sending the message to the man, Gon's name flashed up on the screen. With a nod, the boy answered the call, expecting a barrage of praise and happiness to burst through the receiver the moment he opens his mouth.

"~"

The moment Gon's eyes flicked through the message, he couldn't stop the glee and happiness spilling fought from his heart. It ruptured like a volcano, bellowing across his features like a setting sun, bright and vibrant "He did it!"

Sakura and Iason looked up from the couch towards each other, equally confused at the situation. Then Sakura got a buzz from his phone, the boy pulling out the phone for both of them to see.

It was a message from Killua, the one that most likely caused Gon's exaggerated reaction. Sure, they are his closest friends and that he loves each of them equally. But the over-excitement, the screaming joy was just overkill, at this point.

They heard Gon's footsteps come closer, ready to give the news as if he was the only one on the planet who knew about this. He came skidding into the room like a rock star, a smile so bright it made Sakura instantly star struck.

Iason on the other hand, had his mouth opened slightly. He was almost about to admit they already knew, but that smile said the one thing he didn't want to crush. Gon was way too happy to have his reality shattered by two simple words… we know.

So rather than shattering the truth, he remained silent.

"Guess what Sakura?! Iason!"

"What…?" The two asked. Although, Sakura sounded more like he was in a dreamy state rather than actually listening.

"Daniel and Killua got back together! Well, they didn't really break up in the first place… Daniel had his memories of Killua removed, but Killua managed to help get them back with help…" The boy broke into a vibrant smile, now looking down at his phone with solemn joy, "I was worried about them because I knew how much they loved each other… So, after hearing that happiness got taken away from Killua, it hurt… it hurt having to pretend as though I never met Killua."

Iason got up, his hands holding Gon's within his own; he didn't expect such a simple gesture to break the boy, but it happened.

Gon bit his lip, tears welling up to rolling down his cheeks. He was being overwhelmed by his feelings for his friends, to see such a turn of events happen after a month of struggles.

Sakura got up from the tears, rushing to the boy's side to pull him into a hug. The boy accepted the gesture, his hands being pulled from Iason's to instead wrap them around Sakura, squeezing the boy tighter into his chest.

Killua had achieved his goal, to bring back the memories of one of the two he adores, "I need to ring them!" When Gon tried to use his phone, Sakura was stopping him from doing so. He wasn't doing that on purpose, it's just he was holding Gon tighter, making sure that he was aware that the two of them were here for him.

Gon almost broke down from the joy of having known that his two closest friends, the ones he explicitly stated that he was in love with, have finally overcome a huge hurdle.

Gon eventually got the picture, his smile softening as he nudged Sakura to look at him. Even with his reddened cheeks and tears still forming, to Sakura, he'd always have a beautiful, bubbly personality. It's just the tears make his heart swell with pain.

Gon held Sakura's face, the two looking at each other with love before the boy leaned forward. When Gon kisses him, his mind always turned to cotton, forgetting about time and the things that existed around him. He savoured every moment of intimacy, no matter how short…

Sakura was only embarrassed by how much he enjoyed kissing Gon.

Gon pulled back, his eyes shifted to the other in the room. Iason remained quiet during the whole ordeal. To Gon, he can't give one without giving the other attention. He wanted to show that he loves the other boy for being at his side too.

Like he did so with Sakura, the boy held Iason's cheek, pulling him in for a kiss before he could resist; although, he the boy noticed the subtle difference between the two immediately.

The moment he kissed Iason, he felt the boy lean into his touch, repeating some of the actions he had done so yesterday. Iason's kissing felt hungry, wanton… challenging. Gon was up for a challenge, especially when it comes to showing love and affection.

He wanted to match his partner's pace, to give them what they wanted. He could feel his body reacting, his body feeling hot, flush when compared Iason's skin. It wasn't until Sakura poked his side, drawing his attention out of the act, had he realised what he been doing…

At first, he felt confused. It wasn't until he saw Sakura smiling shyly at him, eyes diverted away from both boys until he realised what he had been doing. They had just performed a show for Sakura without anyone realising their feelings.

When Gon turned back to Iason, he saw the boy panting, almost breathless from the actions. For how long were the two of them kissing each other? Why didn't the other pull away if he was breathless? He had so many questions, but then reality pulled him back in, why he was so happy in the first place.

Gon awkwardly ran a hand through his hair, a few strands flicking back into place as he tried to regather his thoughts. He should call Killua because deep down he wanted to know. He wants to know if they are ok, happy, that nothing is really holding them back from being like they were with each other.

He'd be sad if Daniel was no longer his loving self; if Daniel was more distraught and unable to stop himself from ever accepting Killua's love after everything he has said to his partner during his time of loss of memories.

With a quick smile, Gon turned back to Iason, pulling the other in for a quick hug, to let him know that everything is alright. After what they just did, he wouldn't mind continuing. But really, he does want to know how his friends are going, "I'm sorry… we can continue later if you like."

Iason shook his head, his hands gripping his pants legs, trying to reign in his desires for the boy. He should really stop kissing him, just in case he does something he may regret. Something that would definitely destroy Gon's innocence… If he even is innocent in the first place. He's not exactly sure yet…

After unlocking his phone, he scrolled through his contacts, stopping at Killua's name. It's been a while since they talked, and even though their last talk was rushed, hopefully now, the boy should be willing to talk to his best friend.

Without waiting for the others to object, he pressed the call button, hoping that Killua would be willing to talk.