Chapter Seventeen
The Price of a Head
"You bastard!" Bonolenov hauls Kurapika up by his collar.
"Wait," Kurapika mumbles, but he can barely talk through his hoarseness. Kurapika is too sick to fight back; instead, he swings in Bonolenov's arms.
"You fucking –" Bonolenov holds a nen spear to Kurapika's throat.
Kurapika's Scarlet Eyes fade. He's too scared to keep Emperor Time running. Then again, perhaps this is the end. Perhaps Emperor Time has taken his death unto this point.
Bonolenov shakes his head as he hurls Kurapika to the slick stairs. He wants to kill the vengeful beast pathetically sliding towards the lapping waves. He does.
But.
As Bonolenov looms over this pathetic kid, he releases the small portion of his heart that has always wept over the Kurta massacre.
After all, he knows the life in a small clan. He escaped the Gyudondond when modern infrastructure finally imploded not only their land, but their culture.
He'd been glad. He'd wanted to escape.
Yet…if he had escaped and modernity had never come, if the Gyudondond had been slaughtered instead of merely scattered, would he have turned out so different from this kid?
"Get out of here, brat," he says stiffly, kicking him in the side.
Kurapika is not too dizzy to realize the mercy he's being shown by someone he hates. Once again. And, to make things worse, it's mercy over a misunderstanding.
"Wait…" God damn him, why can't Kurapika think of more words?
Chrollo's breath breaks through Kurapika's moan. "Bono, you are soft."
"Danchou." Bonolenov's eyes are wide. He kneels besides his friend. "You're awake."
"I'm glad," Chrollo whispers, his eyes roaming to Kurapika's exhausted form. "He … rescued us."
"What?!" Bonolenov turns back to Kurapika.
"Failed," Kurapika manages, inciting Chrollo's indignation.
"Looks like you kept everyone from drowning to me," Bonolenov says.
"He's a masochist," Chrollo mutters. His eyes smile at Kurapika, even if his mouth is too tired.
"So. How are we gonna do this?" Bonolenov scans the three bodies at his feet. "I can't carry all of you."
"Carry Shizuku," Chrollo commands. "She was…exposed the longest."
"Done." Bonolenov lifts the small woman with ease. "Danchou, lean on me. Kurta, the other side of me. Maybe between the two of you I'll be balanced."
Kurapika frowns as he climbs to his feet, clutching the bandaged man. He tugs one of the cloth strips loose and sees a distinctive hole. "You're Gyudondond."
How did he not know this?
"I am," Bonolenov says quietly.
"I always…wanted…the holes…I was jealous." Kurapika laughs weakly. A Gyudondond had married into their village when Kurapika was five. Her name as Ashkalinov. She told him and Pairo that when they grew up, she'd show them how to put holes in themselves.
"Ha. We used to say the Kurta were devils," Bonolenov admits. "Now I think we were, instead."
Chrollo says nothing, though the sadness in his eyes speaks for itself.
"Okay, let's go. One step at a time." Bonolenov shuffles towards the stairs, with three full-grown adults clinging to him for life, just one step ahead of the advancing flood.
You don't know what you've done? Is Nanika trying to deceive him with her pretty fears?
"I saved us, Thing. That's what I did." Illumi hoists Machi into his arms. "Kalluto, get our bro – I mean, our sister."
Kalluto is mildly impressed as he grabs Alluka. Sister. So Illumi is trying.
"Get up." Illumi points Hisoka towards Feitan. "Carry him."
"Can I carry Machi instead?" Hisoka doesn't move.
"Do you want to die?" Machi mumbles.
"I already have, dear." Hisoka forces a chuckle as he briskly throws Feitan over his shoulders. "You're so small, Feitan."
"I don't like you." Feitan forces himself to speak.
"It's mutual." Hisoka frowns. He smells Machi's perfume on Feitan…well, they were just searching for Kalluto and Alluka together. Surely that's it.
"Everyone off until we can see how far it's going to sink," Hisoka instructs the First Officer.
"Need I remind you how many people are aboard? Or the dangers of the continent?"
"Need I remind you that we don't know how far we'll sinking, and people are ill?" Hisoka shoots back.
"How far will we sink?" Illumi turns back to Alluka, who begins to cry.
"I can't tell you."
"Make Nanika –"
"Nanika's scared." Alluka stomps her foot.
"Of what?" Illumi can't fathom. "You have endless power."
"Of them," Nanika says suddenly. Her voice is flat.
"Who?"
"Excuse me," says the First Mate, "but it's time to head to the deck, expose the sick to fresh air, and explain what the blazes is happening."
The deck and upper tier are crowded with hundreds of people. Panicked, crying, vomiting.
Hisoka, unable to don his disguise without Nen, isn't sure he feels relieved that no one will mistake him for Baha.
Illumi pauses once they reach the top tier to look over the rail.
They're beached upon long, slender sandbar that snakes towards a larger peninsula. An outcropping of the continent, Illumi assumes.
He gazes at the jungle beyond the beach. Trees soar higher than he's ever seen, excepting the World Tree. Vines are draped like shawls around their curvaceous, knotted trunks. Jagged boulders peek out from behind their tree guardians. Aside from buzzing insects, no life forms are to be seen despite the fact that he can sense a higher concentration of nen here than anywhere he's ever been.
It feels dreadful.
Hisoka swears behind him.
Illumi turns his attention back to the deck and promptly feels ill. Bodies lie about, ashen and bloated, as if they've choked to death on the gas.
There's nothing to be done for them. Not even Nanika could restore these lumps of matter to their families.
Cheadle and other medics rush about, with only enough time to feel the empty pulse, shake her head, and leave before the family screams.
Hisoka looks frantically towards Feitan. "You're doing okay?"
"Fine," grumbles the small man.
Hisoka, however, is not fine. He may not have breathed in much gas, but if there's this many dead on the top tier, there's probably hundreds dead below deck. And he – he was the captain.
This is different than the spectators' deaths during his fight with Chrollo. Different than the hunter exam.
Because Hisoka had never volunteered to take charge of those people. Here, though, he was – is – their captain.
And he's going to pretend he's fine, like nothing is the matter. He already knows this. Because he wont let them hunt him down for some nonsense justice. Captain Baha must die.
If only he'd not killed Kortopi. He'd just never foreseen a use for the mopman before this moment. How inconvenient.
"It's another calamity!" wails a woman. She shoves the man next to her, presumably her husband. "You've brought us here to die!"
"Mom!" a child shrieks, clawing at the face of a dead woman.
"This is chaos," says Killua. Oito presses her hand to her mouth, and Gon fights the urge to scream alongside the miserable citizens.
"We need to hide," Melody says suddenly. A chill filters into her heart.
"From what?" Oito's voice breaks. "We don't even know what caused this."
"Um. We do." Gon whispers, pushing Oito into Melody's grasp. Because he sees what Melody sees: ahead, at the bow of the ship, stands Prince Tseriednich. Surrounded by armed bodyguards.
Oito lets out a strangled gasp. She clamps her hand on her daughter's mouth as her bodyguards shove her away as fast as they can move.
Prince Tserriednich steps forward. He eagerly accepts the wires a scarred woman hands him, wires to the ship's intercom. "Citizens of the Great Kakin Empire. I'm sure you're all wondering the reason for this destruction."
Killua gestures for them to hide in the nearest stairwell. He closes the door, just partly, so that they can listen.
Tserriednich's voice breaks, though he struggles to hide his smile. "No doubt many of you know of my imprisonment on false charges. It appears, from what my guards have pieced together, that it was all a part of the plot to destroy our Empire, to steal our treasure and glory."
"You've got to be kidding me," Oito mutters, ducking her head.
He pauses. "King Nasubi has been assassinated."
Oito's mouth falls open.
"The royal vaults desecrated."
"Are those really equivalent?" Gon asks.
Tserriednich's slick voice rises. "And now, our ship attacked with nen. Innocent people injured. All thanks to the Phantom Troupe of Meteor City."
Gon and Killua exchange looks.
We're about to be screwed, Killua realizes.
"They'll never possess half the riches we do, and so they've sought to destroy us. They," he says, with a dramatic pause, "helped by Princess Camilla."
"Oh?" At the forefront of the stern, where she belongs by royal birth, Camilla raises her eyebrow.
"Oh, indeed." Tserriednich points at her. "There is our traitor."
Morena waves a hand, and green smoke emits from Camilla's mouth.
"No – what?!" Camilla exclaims, coughing and dizzy. "This is nonsense!"
Can't they all see she's poisoned, too? Why is it coming from her?
For the first time in her short life, Camilla feels panic.
"Citizens of Kakin. We together can stop this. By ending these Phantom Spiders and those who aid them. Carry forth justice," suggests Tserriednich.
"No – stop." Camilla is too ill to fight. "He's lying…"
"Shouldn't there be a trial first?" Prince Halkenburg speaks up, throwing Tserriednich a pleading glance. He loves his brother, and he cannot allow him to commit another atrocity.
"I agree," says Prince Zhang Lei.
"Oh? Is this a challenge?" Tserriednich smiles. "In the middle of decisive evidence?"
"If you mean to kill your sister, it is absolutely a challenge," says Zhang Lei.
"Is it not true, Camilla, that you allied yourself with the Phantom Troupe?" Tserriednich snaps his fingers, and Morena's henchmen drag forth the bearded man that Illumi, from his position to the side, recalls Chrollo using for information, back when he was hunting Hisoka and Kurapika.
"You are a bodyguard of Prince Camilla. You also contacted the Phantom Troupe, did you not?" purrs the Prince.
"Yes, but not –" The man is not given a chance to explain himself. His head is splattered across the deck. Those nearest cry out, though Illumi must wonder if they are more disgusted by the blood splattered across them than the death that caused its splattering.
"Bring Camilla forth." Tserriednich spreads his arms wide. A ruthless grin adorns his face.
"Get your hands off me!" Prince Camilla thrashes lamely.
"You put us in grave danger in this wild continent. You most likely killed our father, all over wealth! Do you have anything to say?" Tserriednich shakes with excitement disguised as righteous fury.
Camilla narrows her eyes. She will not be defeated by her slimy brother. She is destined to rule.
Before she can summon her guardian spirit beast, her head begins to melt.
More smoke emits from her as she shrieks. Her voice trembles with the anguish of someone who's been reduced to the trash humans should never be reduced to. Someone whose future was suddenly ripped away.
When his sister is nothing but a smoldering puddle before him, Tserrriednich turns once more to the crowd.
"We stand on a continent teeming with danger. Before we embark, we must ensure that only the noble, only those of us who care for others, continue. My father's quest for greed will not be carried forth." His voice even trembles with faux sincerity.
"Now, go forth and hunt the Phantom Troupe. Whoever brings me their heads will be appointed as a noble house on this fertile continent."
"What just happened?" Gon asks dully as Killua closes the door.
"Let's go." Melody grabs Oito.
"No, we can't –" Oito looks around the stairwell wildly. "Where can we go? If we stay - maybe we can help –"
"We're going anywhere but here," Killua says gruffly.
"But where?" Oito cries. "Where else do I have to go? Should I just leave my family?"
Kakin has been her entire life. Her gross husband, whom she considered an honor to marry, is deceased. All she's ever had is Woble, and she knows this, but it still hurts to lose more.
"You'll go with us," Killua says softly, dragging her backwards.
The door is yanked open by a frantic, gangly man. He wails, with a tattoo of a spider on his wrist, as he is wrenched backwards.
"Inspect his tattoo!" screams a woman, as the man howls with indignation.
"Hold onto me." Killua grabs Gon, Oito, and Melody. His Godspeed will work for now.
"You're fine, Illumi. You haven't been with the troupe long. I doubt they know you as a member." Hisoka snorts. "Though you were dumb enough to put a real tattoo over your heart."
Illumi doesn't do things halfway. Just the tip would never work for him. It's why Hisoka loves his husband. Partially.
"People saw us," Illumi says tightly, watching the crowds vandalize each other. "But I'm not worried about me."
"I can take care of myself," Kalluto demands.
"And if you're protecting Alluka?" Illumi counters.
Alluka stands slightly behind Kalluto. It's all he's ever wanted, but not like this. "Um."
"Um, you're a liability." Illumi wags his index finger. "Alluka, please go find Killua. He can keep you safer than we can."
He's doing the right thing, right? Why won't he look for Hisoka's approval? His husband is right there. Next to him. And Illumi won't look.
"Okay." Alluka looks chastened.
"No, stay." Kalluto clutches her hands. "We just became friends."
"She is not your friend, she's your sister," Illumi says instantly. Or can she be both? He's never really considered that.
"I think she's both," Kalluto hisses, confirming Illumi's suspicions.
"Let go, Kalluto. I'll be okay." Alluka kisses his cheek, and flees.
Illumi touches the spot by his cheek, as if missing the kiss he didn't receive.
"What is happening?" Kurapika's head is just beginning to clear. Shizuku remains unconscious, and Chrollo is ghastly pale. The steps have required more exertion than he currently has strength.
"My foul deeds have caught me," Chrollo suggests with a sober expression.
"You don't believe that," Kurapika says, prompting a weak smirk from his lover.
"He's far too recognizable." Bonolenov removes the wrappings on his head. "Help me."
Kurapika uses his still-clumsy fingers to wrap the cloth around Chrollo's forehead.
"You're sure you don't want to turn me in?" Chrollo can't help asking. He does, however, like the feeling of Kura's fingers on his forehead. It's the only sensation he really likes right now. This poison is eating him alive.
"People are coming." Bonolenov listens to the footsteps on the staircase. "They're sweeping the ship. Fuckers."
"It's amazing how stupid people can be," Kurapika agrees, despite hating himself for agreeing. Their odds of escaping aren't high, short of drastic action. And Kurapika admits he has always been one for drastic action. "Here."
He uses a chain to smash the glass to a window. "Let's go."
"Out? Into the Dark Continent?" Bonolenov gapes at him.
"Do you have a better idea? At least to lie low, near the ship, lest we be reduced to atoms or whatever the hell the Prince has planned." Kurapika shoves Bonolenov towards the window. "Put your hand in mine, Chrollo."
He's often had nightmares about the need to escape from a narrow window while an enemy encloses upon him. But now, as the vigilantes hurtle towards them, Kurapika's heart stings with anxiety.
He doesn't want Chrollo to die.
Or Bonolenov, or even Shizuku. Hell, they didn't even do this.
"I recognize him!" A woman points down the stairwell, towards Chrollo. "That coat. I'd recognize it anywhere. He killed my husband in Heaven's Arena just last month! It's him!"
Kurapika hisses towards Bonolenov and shoves Chrollo behind him. The man crumples onto Kurapika's shoulders. "Don't fall."
"I did it," Chrollo admits. He coughs into Kurapika's ear.
"I know," Kurapika replies, watching the people descend upon them. "Was there a doubt?"
Chrollo swallows. No, of course Kurapika shouldn't doubt his sins.
A boy, perhaps Gon and Killua's age, with wide green eyes, glares at Kurapika, who tenses. "Do you know how many people lie dead upstairs?!"
"Are you defending them, kid?" interrupts an older man, with straw-colored hair and grey eyebrows.
"I'm not a kid anymore," Kurapika says fiercely, igniting his scarlet eyes. A distraction, perhaps, but the truth is he just wants to frighten them. And to stop hiding.
"The Devil!" shouts a plump woman with cherry red lips. "He's probably another spider."
"He's not," Chrollo croaks. Is it to spare Kurapika? Or to give him another out, another chance to deliver him up to justice and death?
Reason isn't going to work on panicked people. Kurapika's skin crawls at the mere fact that he's been mistaken for a Spider.
He's not one of them. He can't be.
His voice is weak. And he's going to echo Chrollo and try reason, even if his brain knows it's futile. "If you know I am a Kurta, then you know that I of all people would never absolve the Phantom Troupe of blame they deserve. The Spiders truly aren't the cause of whatever happened tonight."
"Oh, and how do you know, angel of mercy?" mocks the Straw Man.
"I have no more mercy left to give." Kurapika shakes as he draws himself up, because he's not letting them take Chrollo from him, to be torn apart by vigilante justice. The irony tingles his senses, but now is not the time to consider the implications. "The spiders don't act without their leader's approval, and he never gave them an order. I'm telling the truth."
Kurapika steps backwards. "I was with him all evening."
Bonolenov gapes at him. Kurapika's feels his accusatory eyes roaming up and down him, focusing on the way he holds Chrollo's hand in his sweating palm.
"Perhaps he gave the order before you saw him," snaps the kid.
"He didn't." Kurapika glances behind him, into Chrollo's shadowed eyes. "I believe him."
And, somehow, he truly does.
Chrollo looks stunned. This is the first time Kurapika has ever assumed – not good – but not evil – of him.
"What are you, his whore?" spits the man.
"I'm the devil. You said it yourself." Kurapika edges back again. The windowsill presses into his spine. "If you think the Phantom Troupe is frightening, you should fight one of us devils."
Kurapika yanks Chrollo after him. They flip into the shallow water below. Her feels Bonolenov and Shizuku splash behind him as he drags his lover towards the shore.
"There are trees not far beyond. For now, we won't go far." Kurapika has no intention of looking into Bonolenov's face after his confession. Tribes are always the most judgmental, even when you're not sleeping with your family's killer.
Alluka stumbles through the frenzied crowds on the deck. She's sure she looks like another innocent little girl. Not the creature that's about to bring more calamity upon them.
Help me, Nanika whines.
Help me, Alluka retorts. We've got to find Killua with Oito.
But if I use my power, they'll find us. Nanika gasps.
They're already going to find us, Alluka says. Illumi ruined that.
Even if we run, they'll still come here, says Nanika. We're hopeless.
Killua says we're not. Alluka is thrown down to the ground. A woman trips on her hem as she tries to stand, and a towering man shoves her into the wall.
The world is unkind.
The world doesn't care about the Zoldyck daughter huddled and helpless in the corner of the ship deck.
She's tired of people rescuing her.
She's tired of running.
She wishes she knew what to do. What will earn her the most love?
Even with Nanika, why is she always alone?
