Killua and Daniel have a talk amongst themselves about the few discoveries they had made along the way, the threat of the future now looming over the back of their mind.

The boys found themselves alone in another room, not in the privacy of their own, room, but one that had a simple table, a few pieces of paper and a pen for each of them. They got to work on their story about an idea that could cement their feelings for each other without giving away it was them in the photo.

Killua's family must never realise it's them…

As Daniel scratched at the paper, writing a jumbled mess of words and feelings, Killua broke the silence "We're going to have to talk about a few things…"

"Uh, oh…" Daniel murmured under his breath, his partner's words coming off as they were about to have a breakup, at least, what one would stereotypically think during a rom-com. He continued to write, not worried about the kind of conversation they were about to have…

"When I was talking to Annex, he mentioned he was almost done with the phones."

"That's good… we won't have to worry about your brother spying on any of us."

"There's one more thing…" Killua mentioned something his partner wasn't prepared for, something that made him stop writing "Your father is missing."

Daniel looked up "Nathaniel?"

"No, Vastorie…"

Daniel continued to write, "Don't care it's not like he was helpful to us."

"Daniel…"

"In fact, it's good he has gone missing… it means we won't have to worry about him at all."

"Daniel…"

"Annex was the one in-hiding watching Victor, helping make sure that the man was nowhere near-"

"Daniel!"

"What?!"

Killua pointed to the bond connecting between us "THIS… is a two-way connection. You're worried… I can feel it."

"I'm not…"

"Explain the tears…"

The teen brought a hand up to his eyes, touching the spot underneath it. It was wet, a sign that he was crying. He didn't understand, why he cared about the man who willingly tossed him aside to make a point… the man who wished he had never been born.

Killua moved, now standing in front of his lover. He leaned over to hug the boy, the silent tears now running down the back of his neck. It tingled, but it was such a minuet issue when compared to the overall situation.

The fact that Annex possibly has no way of getting in contact with Vastorie…

If Victor made a move, can they still be safe…?

Is Vastorie still somehow watching the man…

What was the reason for his disappearance?

So many questions, ones which Killua likely had no answer to. But still… he needed to ask "Are we still even safe?"

"Yes, for the time being. He hasn't found a way to remove the Nen Curse, so he's still under watch." The teen pulled back, running a thumb under his boyfriend's eye, wiping away the tears "We're still safe… I don't know the reason why he disappeared, but it is concerning to me, at least the circumstances behind it. I can… investigate it, you know."

"No, don't… not for now. If the reason is legitimate, we shouldn't investigate it. The reason for his disappearance might come knocking on our door."

"I understand… but if you change your mind."

"I'll ask…"

"Good… this wasn't the only thing I wanted to bring up. There're a few things I want to ask, to understand the situation better." Killua's hands lingered, coaxing his partner to try to calm down.

He was emotional, tears still falling from the circumstances...

As much as Vastorie didn't care about them, enough to disappear from the face of the planet while they were still, possibly in danger, Daniel did somewhat care about his father.

Way more… than Daniel believed, he cared about him…

The tears eventually dried up, Daniel now looked at his partner, a weak smile accompanying his words "Sorry…"

"It's okay, it's an understandable situation. Take as long, as you need…" The boy continued to rub his partner's back, comforting his saddened partner. He cares about how his partner feels, especially now that he can feel the feedback of emotions. Anxiety, fear… uncertainty.

Daniel was unsure of what their next move should be "No, I should be fine… for the moment. What's your question?"

"I wanted to delve deeper into something you said to us… I want to understand why you no longer found me attractive anymore after I had been dressed up to look like a different person?"

"You were attractive… I don't know why I said it like that…"

"No…" Killua playfully poked his partner, "you said the opposite. I want to delve deep into your psyche. This isn't a matter of your possibly being Killua-sexual, as much as I want to joke about the possibility. It's a little more than that… it's about why you felt like that, in that situation."

"Again, I don't know why I said it…"

"You do, it's just on the tip of your tongue. I just have to find an avenue on how you can voice it… So, let's start simple. We'll go from the realisation and work ourselves backwards until we find an answer. Easy?"

"Easy…"

"Good…" Killua ruffled his partner's hair, smiling before grabbing a seat. The two sat across from each other, their knees almost touching. Killua reached over to hold his partner's hands, stroking the back of his palm "When looking at me, while I was in a disguise, and you knew it was me… were you still attracted to me?"

"Yes… I was still attracted to you. I just wasn't attracted to the person in front of me."

"Okay… so if I removed everything, I'd suddenly be attractive?"

"Well, you don't need to get naked to prove a point…"

Killua turned bright red from the accusation. He wasn't implying he'll get completely naked to prove a point, just that the things that hid his common traits and features, would be the things he removes "N-Not everything, Baka!"

Daniel smiled, "I know not everything… maybe just the wig… the contacts. I feel like the contacts would be the only thing you'll have to remove. People, after all… say the eyes are the windows to the soul. So, I can confidently say you're beautiful, without the disguise…"

"Cheesy…" Killua hummed quietly, eyes now wandering over his partner's features, "So you're attracted to me, with the disguise… provided, you know it's me."

"Well, our connection is a dead giveaway that it's you."

Killua raised a finger, to counter the claim. But neither one looked at the situation, to see if, for the briefest moment, their connection had been accidentally severed "Did you look at it…?"

"Well, no…"

"Neither did I think about that possibility… I'll run two hypotheses. First, me being in disguise severs our link. The second is it doesn't. If it doesn't, it'll be a completely different reason… but if it had…"

"Our bond is brittle?"

"Not brittle, but definitely, breakable… or at least can be bypassed."

"So, we can still be manipulated…"

"I don't know… but for the moment, we'll have to assume. Although, I highly doubt someone throwing a burlap sack over my face is going to disrupt our connection. I think it must be something ingrained… like you must be able to see my face and your mind must have a mental attachment to my face…"

"I don't think it's that bad…"

"I mean it from a theoretical point of view. Putting on a basic disguise, contacts and wig should trigger it. One second…" Killua left, running back into the room. He grabbed the wig from earlier, putting it on his head before slipping the contacts in. He ran back into the room, finding Daniel hadn't moved.

Rounding the corner, Daniel looked at him in confusion "But I know it's you…"

"Are you attracted to me?"

"Not… really…"

"Do we still have the connection?"

Daniel's eyes flicked to the string of aura, seeing that they were still connected "It's still there… thrumming with power."

"So, it's not an imposter, kind of situation." Killua thought more about it. When he removed the wig and contacts, Daniel's expression hadn't changed. So, it wasn't disrupting their link… which means, it's only a mental kind of question, not a physical issue "So, you're physically attracted to my looks… but mentally, you're attracted to me, regardless of the situation. So, if my mind was stuffed into another body, you'll love me… you just won't be physically attracted to that new body."

"Okay… this helps us, how?"

"You said Hisoka was hot…"

"Until he opened his mouth."

"Of course…" Killua tried to pick apart comparisons, trying to think what he and Hisoka shared, in common, at least other than bloodlust at that time. Sharp features, perhaps… Then it hit him like a ton of bricks "We're both muscular twinks…"

There was a long pregnant pause between them, Daniel eventually approaching the random suggestion "What…?"

"We have the same body type…"

"Uh, huh… that helps us how?"

"Let's say… I swapped bodies with Hisoka."

"I'm already dreading the question, but ask away."

"My voice, his body… same eyes and hair colour. Still attracted?"

"Well, yeah… You just said, me but taller and older."

"Hisoka, but my voice and mannerisms…"

"Weird, but sure…"

"Everything is the same as Hisoka, his voice, etc, but my mannerisms only."

"I guess… it'll be weird adjusting to the new you, with his voice. But, provided I know it's you, I'll be fine…"

"As long as you know it's me…" Killua unconsciously murmured, his hand now resting against his chin, thinking about the situation. He was so close to understanding his partner now… he just needed the right words.

It was a vital clue to discovering why Daniel was attracted to only him.

"What did I say that was weird?"

"Nothing, I'm just narrowing down the possibilities… figuring out what makes this connection follow me around, as opposed to, following somebody else…"

"Besides saying you're special to me?"

Killua looked at his partner "Exactly, why am I special to you? You can't say because you are. That defeats the purpose of this questioning…"

"Why do you want a philosophical answer?" Daniel moved closer, "Why can't it be for a selfish reason… like because I only want you? Leave it at I'm Killua-sexual… don't even question the stupidity of that response."

Killua pressed a finger against his partner's head, "Because we're not dealing with a black and white answer… what if our connection is disrupted over a dumb reason? Like my mind is switched with another person's body, therefore invalidating your I'm Killua-sexual argument?"

"It won't…"

"And you know this, how?"

"Simple… The Hunter's exam…"

Killua raised an eyebrow "What do you mean?"

"I was drawn to you back then. Hell, before even that! Our first meeting… before Illumi and Zaikaria, tampered with our memories… I was drawn to you even then."

"As in what…? In a weird fated lovers' kind of manner…"

Daniel shrugged, "Perhaps… I think it's a little more than love at first sight. Something connected us…"

Killua's eyes widened, lips uttering the phrase before he could stop himself "Spider web memories…"

"Didn't my father say that to you?"

"What if there's a little more to Vastorie's ability than he might believe? He says removing a person disrupts the connections linked between that person and others, therefore resetting the world without that original link…" Killua's finger prodded his partner, "Yet, we still met… maybe, because we're still linked, uncle or not."

"Which means…?" Daniel's curiosity got the better of him. It sounds like his partner was going to go into conspiracy territory… but it was a rabbit hole he was willing to jump down into because it could hold some truth to their matter.

"The link got transferred from that world…"

"To this…? Sounds ridiculous…"

"Maybe it is, maybe it isn't… certain conditions must be met to perform the supposed reset. My uncle's existence being expunged… he brought our families together. So, seeing as he was removed… it should've completely severed the ties our family had. Besides that painting, your father still has a relationship with my father… sure, it's one filled with hatred, but that's beside the point. We also, have a relationship, which means…"

"Somehow, we created a bond in that world, that was brought to this…"

"Maybe not a bond exactly, like the one we're developing, but a connection of sorts…"

"Would we have even been aware of Nen in that world?"

"I highly doubt it… but it doesn't mean, we didn't do it unconsciously… In that world apparently, you begged your father to save me. What if… during that time you begged, we had a lingering connection?"

"Sure, but how did it get transferred? Wouldn't your uncle's lack of existence reset the possibility of that connection developing?"

"Not if… he had nothing to do with it."

"So, when we built it… Even after our original reason for the meeting was removed, that connection persisted… it remained intact? Wouldn't it be impossible for something like that to jump between worlds?" The teen didn't buy the situation. Something felt off… like a vital clue was missing. The reason why they even had that connection in the first place…

"Wouldn't it be impossible for him to be the only one to have a memory of another world?" Killua shifted his frame, his hand now lingering at his side. He stepped away from his partner, now looking at the wall as if all the clues were written on it "Unless he made up that whole situation as an excuse for his actions against you… if what happened is true, something like a connection jumping between worlds… is possible."

Killua turned back to face his partner, now smiling "It'll make sense in this scenario. To top things off, in that world he remembers Victor dying… but in this world, the man is alive. Someone with a revenge boner for his father wouldn't exactly forget he's alive…"

"So, let's say the connection did get transferred… how exactly did we tap into it…" Daniel closed the distance between them, now holding his partner's hand… "There are, some worrying feelings bubbling up inside me after your described scenario…"

"Like what?"

"Did these alternate versions of us force this relationship…?"

"If true… On a technicality, yes…"

"So, are we willingly in this relationship, or forced to be in it?"

Killua rubbed his thumbs across the back of his partner's hands "A better question would be, do we want to be in this relationship… knowing that we were bound to be together…"

"My answer is yes, only if you are freely saying yes…"

"Daniel…" Killua moved closer; lips almost touching "When have I ever displayed signs of being manipulated by you."

"I…" He hasn't…

"Besides once uttering Gon's name when we first made out, if I was truly being forced, wouldn't I have said your name instead? I wouldn't have been able to say his name if I had absolutely, no control over my feelings at that time."

"You're right… But then, after they, as in the, you and I, from the other cement their feelings for each other, how did we gain access, if we weren't the originators?"

Killua smirked, "But we were… They made the connection, but we solidified it. The web-connected us…" Killua's right hand squeezed his partner's "and all we had to do, was grasp each end."

"Sounds outrageous… outlandish, even"

"It does sound crazy…" Killua removed his right hand, instead opting to grasp one end of the aura string, "Yet it's here now… and we've yet to understand the full scope, the true limitations of said connection."

"Alright…" Daniel offered a smile, "let's say I believe this hypothetical. How does it link to my attraction to you…?"

"Simple…" Killua leaned in closer, "You had a major crush on me…"

"Killua…"

"I'm being serious… if you had a crush on me, what's stopping you from reaching out with your aura? Remember, we had a connection… not a bond at this point. The only reason it became a bond is… because we wanted it to be like that."

"Okay… so that makes sense. I did consider my feelings for you to be a possible crush. I still don't get how it's got anything to do with my attract-" Daniel stopped, his mind now realising where he thinks Killua is headed "Because it's you…"

"We went full circle, but bingo. Because it was me in that world, and now me in this world… You're attracted to me."

"So, if I'm not attracted to specifically your body, but rather… you. Isn't this a glorified way of saying I'm Killua-Sexual?"

"Well, yes and no… you see you're not attracted to me, per se… but rather from where my Nen flow originates from. Where we're connected from, that's who your feelings are being directed at. Think of it as… you love me to my core. The very thing, that sets me apart from somebody else… even if the Chimera Ant Queen gobbled me up, and recreated me as a new person… you'd fall in love with that recreation of me."

"Great… Not so great, because unless your memories lay intact… we'll have a repeat of Palm, although, I suppose the scenarios will be different. You wanted to keep Palm away from meeting Gon, whereas I in that situation would want you to remember who I am… I'd want to help your memories return to you."

"I suppose that's true." Killua hummed in agreement "Well, coming off that argument. I want to extend the situation to changes that can occur because of that rapid change. For one, the possibility of Chimera Ant me being… we'll say a Manipulator next time. Let's be honest besides Alluka… my family consists of Transmuters or Manipulators."

"That's… sadly true."

"Anyways, when we were training with Wing, he said we can train ourselves to create abilities that come from another category, kind of like your first ability… the scythe. It was created from a combination of the Emitter and Manipulator category, your aura and shadow. It was super taxing to your body if I remember correctly…"

"It was… it's why I passed out."

"Yes, another example Wing pointed out was with Kastro, the guy who was an Enhancer, that made an ability that stemmed from both the Manipulator and Conjuration category… while they're valid options, it is pointless in the grand scheme of things, when one is trying to be true to themselves. So, if Chimera Ant Killua is a Manipulator that… Hmm…"

"A kitty that controls balls of yarn, like a spider's web to bind opponents… minus the stickiness…"

Killua raised an eyebrow, "Oddly, specific…"

"You have cattish mannerisms… I'm surprised you don't purr when I stroke your hair."

"I do not-" Killua shot his partner a glare when he received a bemused smile, "fine… I Manipulate yarn. Let's say that…" The young teen sighed in defeat, unable to believe he was going to agree to such a statement. Sure, he can be cheeky like a cat at times… but purring… he can't vision himself 'purring' from such an act "If I was a cat that tried to re-train myself to re-learn my old Electricity abilities, they'd be far weaker than when I was a Transmuter, correct?"

"Yes…"

"Sure, it can be said the same for one Transmuter to learn another Transmuter's ability, as not only can their mannerisms, demeanour, personality, excreta, excreta be different, their style could contradict the reason why Transmuter B has such an ability, making Transmuter A learning their ability be utterly useless… But let's say, for argument's sake… that Transmuter A can pull it off. It'll NEVER be as good as the originator of said ability because of how different they are."

"I don't know how this is going to explain why I'm attracted to you… or as you point out have a crush on only you."

"I'm getting to that… don't worry. Our natural Nen growth… a single stone on our path, could completely change how our abilities work… alright, maybe not completely, but it could adjust the end, result. So, if my theory stands, and if my flow does get transferred, the very thing that makes me, me… into another body, even when the original owner of that body completely contradicts who I am to the core…"

"My love will flow to them, well you…"

"Exactly! Therefore, this discovery could also bring up another issue… the fact that if someone were to mimic the flow of my aura, it could, in theory, disrupt our connection."

"Why would someone do that…?"

"Well, obvious reason… to get us to break up."

"Is there anyone on this planet that could perform such a task…?"

"The one person who could answer that… is in hiding, the other…"

"Has access to my father's Nen book library."

"Bingo!" Killua smacked his hands together with a single clap, now smiling at the latest discovery, "If it is in theory, possible, we need to figure out how to combat it. This means that Victor, might, unfortunately, not be the only problem we must think about… there will be other people further down, who could screw this whole process up. We run the risk of bumping into someone, who could act like us…"

"But if that happens-"

"I know…" Killua smirked, "We'll beat them… just like we'll beat Victor."