Chapter Twenty-Three

Interception and Interlude

Content note: discussion of sexual assault.

A delicate breeze bristles across the ocean. Rays of gently press their fingers along the sand. And a body stabbed straight through the heart sends blood trickling into this otherwise serene scene.

The Phantom Troupe and their cohort, however, are too busy talking about Machi's pregnancy to notice.

Woble, however, suddenly cackles. She peers behind her mother.

"What?" Oito spins around to see nothing – only to be thrown into a tree.

"Your Majesty!" Phinks and Kurapika dive forward. Kurapika catches Woble before she tumbles to the ground, and Phinks holds the queen, who bleeds from a wound on her forehead.

"She's breathing," he says quickly, placing his large fingers against her nostrils.

"What happened?" Leorio cries.

Kurapika looks sharply at Chrollo. "An invisible creature."

"A Guardian Beast," Chrollo says, motioning for the Troupe to stay put.

Because Melody's face is horrified. She can now hear heartbeats closing in on them. Dozens of heartbeats, in fact. She pats her own heart as the snapping of twigs and bristles of branches grow nearer.

"Guardians can't attack their Princes. They must have been ordered after her mother instead," Beyond says.

Kurapika hisses as he wraps his arms tighter around the sniffling Woble. Both he and Phinks are on their knees, towards the edge of their group. To make any sudden movements could spell their death.

"Don't move," he mutters to Phinks, who regards him with surprise.

"Why can't we see it?" Nobunaga draws his sword.

"Nobunaga!" Chollo says sharply.

"Calm yourselves, and I shan't murder any of you," says a gravelly voice.

The hulking figure of Prince Benjamin, the notoriously violent and ill-tempered firstborn son of King Nasubi, emerges from the forest. He stands over Kurapika, who finds himself wishing once more to expand Chain Jail beyond the Troupe.

Why, oh why, did he place such a restriction on a goal he doesn't even want to accomplish any more?

"Don't touch the prince!" Phinks shoots Kurapika a frantic look. Woble is just a baby, after all.

To his relief, the Chain Bastard leans over Woble, protecting her with his own body.

"If you wished to negotiate, Benjamin, perhaps you should not have started by hurting one in our protection," Chrollo says icily. He's not one for the formalities of titles when this man has just placed Phinks and Kurapika in a vulnerable position.

"It was a precaution. I'm here to declare I know you had nothing to do with our ship's troubles," says Benjamin smugly.

"That's nice," Feitan replies, inching in front of Machi, who glowers at him.

She can defend herself, dammit. She's not crippled.

"Though, Beyond, I'm not surprised to see you in the thick of chaos." The prince laughs, but Beyond remains sober.

Beyond clears his throat. "Let us through, Benjamin. We are on a rescue mission, nothing more."

"You'll soon need to be rescued. Prince Halkenburg is about to lead a hundred or more soldiers to sweep the continent for you." Benjamin points to Oito. "No matter what that whore thinks, it's better if Woble returns to the ship than be found with the troupe."

"Halkenburg? That goody-two-shoes is coming to kill us?" Hisoka scoffs. "Unlikely."

"Don't call the Queen a whore," Kurapika growls, and Phinks finds himself grateful for the second time in a minute.

"Good or not, he's an ally of his brother. They share a mother. They can't help it." Benjamin shrugs.

Illumi blanches. Well, he knows it can be helped. Killua could help it if he were the one in danger. He taught Killua to leave him if necessary, even though he knows he couldn't leave Killua if the tables turned.

"I think you're lying," Killua says, filling in Illumi's own words before he can speak.

Illumi's heart rises. Killua – he's as sharp as ever. Is there hope for him?

"Perhaps you're not aware, but we're one family of assassins, another family of thieves, and another of hunters." Kalluto glares at him. "Did you really think we would not notice your guards sneaking up on us?"

"You're smart." Benjamin's eyes glint.

Killua muffles a scream. They're delayed again. Alluka could be gone forever. She could already be dead.

No, no, that's his training, to expect the worst –

Chrollo counts silently in his head. The three Zoldycks must escape, and Machi. Hisoka and Feitan should accompany them. Kurapika and Woble, and, given Machi's condition and the mysteries of the continent, at least one doctor.

"Do you know what the numbers one, five, seven, eight, and ten mean?" Chrollo muses.

Melody doesn't, but she hears the heartbeats of five Spiders begin to accelerate. Cheadle eyes the leader, and Kurapika seems to suspect something.

"Numbers an infant could count?" asks Benjamin.

"They stay around. Dogs run off even with chains and princes, clowns run after their kids, but those numbers don't," Chrollo says seriously.

Kurapika catches his breath. Across the gathering, he sees Cheadle poised to move, though Leorio just looks baffled. Franklin tenses his arms, just slightly.

"What fresh nonsense are you talking about?"

"Merely deciding the people who will and will not kill you," Chrollo says, his voice smooth as silk.

Kurapika springs to his feet, Woble tight in his arms, as Franklin opens fire.

"Move!" Killua grabs Gon and dashes into the forest. Nobunaga slashes the man blocking their path.

"Keep going, kids!" He whirls in a circle, decapitating three guards at once.

"But – people –" Gon hesitates.

"Gon, we don't have time to question!" Killua drags his friend forward as Kurapika races towards them.

Beyond hurls Cheadle towards the four youths; Machi and Feitan knock more guards down. "Let's go."

Bonolenov whirls around Benjamin, as Phinks knocks down man after man who would dare approach the unconscious queen.

"Danchou, go," Phinks hollers.

Chrollo turns around in surprise as he wraps another man in Fun Fun Cloth.

"Make sure that bastard keeps the best prince alive!" Phinks breaks another neck, and turns around to see a horrific sight.

Beyond the shrubs, on the beach, lies Prince Halkenburg's lifeless body.

They really are here to kill us. Chrollo inhales sharply. The spider must survive.

"Your own brother?!" Bonolenov shakes his head.

"I didn't hate him," says Benjamin, watching Bonolenov with amusement. "It was politics. It's Tserriednich I hate."

"So you'd use our capture to gain favor until you could usurp the throne?" Leorio calls. His remote punch sends another guard flying. "All of you royals – you are more fucked up than the orphans and assassins and abandoned children we all are!"

"Not bad, nerd," Franklin says, standing cover around him.

Shizuku slams Blinky atop the head of a woman who stabs wildly at Melody. Funny, isn't it, that she killed Melody's fellow bodyguards in Yorknew, and now she is defending her. Life is weird like that.

But still, there are many guards, almost too many.

"There's nowhere to run," Benjamin says.

"We aren't planning on it." Nobunaga grins. Danchou has managed to get away during Benjamin's distraction, leaving the five Troupe members, Beyond, Melody, Leorio, and Oito.

"Indeed." Franklin snorts.

Beyond, however, has other plans. He's not about to watch either the Kakin guards or these talented thieves slaughtered.

A single punch sends Leorio flying into Franklin. Both tumble to the ground, as helpless as Oito. "We surrender."


"This is ridiculous," Cheadle complains once they're certain they've put enough distance between them and the guards. "We're venturing into the Dark Continent to face a Calamity with half of us as kids!"

"Zoldycks aren't ordinary children," Illumi says, glancing around them. All he sees is green leaves and vines, the sort he's never seen before.

Woble whimpers.

"Keep the kid quiet, Kurapika. Please." Chrollo swallows from his position at the front. He trusts his Troupe to prevail; but he also trusted Uvogin to prevail against Kurapika. He trusted Hisoka to never betray the Spider in Yorknew.

Does he trust too much? He, a thief?

"You could always hand her to Machi and Feitan for practice, should you get tired," Hisoka suggests.

"I hate you." Machi's arms are crossed. She's dehydrated and dizzy, so she can only hope a stream or river lies ahead. And soon.

Feitan holds onto her arm to steady her.

"We left Leorio." Gon licks his lips.

"He would want us to go," Killua declares. He can't – he can't regret this right now.

"If my intern is hurt, I will personally hunt all of you down. I might not be strong, but I'm crafty," Cheadle adds.

Gon nods fervently. He's still mad he had to rely on the Phantom Troupe's murderous skills. "I might not have Nen anymore, but I'll join you."

"You don't?" Machi gapes at him.

"Nobunaga be devastated," Feitan says dryly.

Killua bites the inside of his cheeks. He needs – he needs everyone to survive. Including Alluka. He can't lose her.

"You'll recover it. Somehow." Chrollo glances towards Gon.

"How?"

"I don't know. I just think you will." Chrollo offers him a brief smile. When he turns his head back, he catches Kurapika looking at him with gratitude.


By nightfall, they have yet to reach the den of Ai. Or whatever it is. Village, Kurapika calls it. Hoarde, says Machi. Origin, says Cheadle.

However, they have finally encountered a clearing with a wide stream. Machi falls to her knees, gulping it up.

"Killua, you know we have to sleep soon," Gon says, kneeling besides Kurapika.

Killua's throat is scratchy from thirst. For the first time, he realizes Gon is worried because he sees himself in him.

"I do," he says slowly.

"We should sleep near the stream, but not beside it. We're too open here," Kurapika says, cupping his hand to give a very cranky Woble a drink.

"Animals will probably approach it at night. Whoever guards should also be responsible for hunting food," Cheadle says as her stomach growls. She prefers vegetarianism, but they're in a bit of a desperate situation.

"I'll take the first shift," Illumi says, his eyes raking Killua for approval.

None is given.

"Me too!" Hisoka announces brightly.

Illumi, however, is focused on Killua. He's desperate for any sign of acknowledgment.

Instead, as their party retires to the edge of the clearing, Killua slips his hand in Gon's.

Kurapika pulls off his tunic to wrap around Woble and Chrollo, in turn, wraps his coat around his lover.

Kurapika scowls and pulls the coat off. "We'll share. We'll just have to lie close."

He blushes when he realizes what he's said. Chrollo bats his eyelashes, but out of respect for their fellow companions, only delivers Kurapika a kiss on his cheek.

Kalluto snuggles between Machi and Feitan. Gon and Killua lie side-by-side, still holding hands.

Chrollo points subtly towards them.

Kurapika elbows him, but he too wears a smile.

Cheadle rests her head on a mossy root and within seconds begins to snore.


Back in the clearing, Hisoka kisses Illumi's neck. "Now we're finally alone."

"Not now," says Illumi, stunned that Hisoka would think of sex at a time like this.

"Look, Illumi," Hisoka says, deciding now is the time. At any rate, Illumi won't be sleepy with this conversation. He withdraws his hug with a sigh. "I saw your texts."

"I messaged the wrong person," Illumi says, looking back towards the trees that hide Killua from his view.

"You can't handle alcohol well, despite your training?" Hisoka raises an eyebrow.

"It wasn't alcohol. To be honest, I didn't care enough to check whom I texted." Illumi squints up at the stars, which seem so much brighter here. "Don't you ever just want to die?"

"No. I think it sounds boring." Hisoka winks. "And I would know, I suppose."

"True," Illumi acknowledges. He pauses. "That prince killed his own brother."

"I imagine," Hisoka says slowly, "he did not think of him as a brother."

Illumi opens his mouth, not missing the point. Alluka. He's done the same.

Hisoka pushes Illumi's chin shut.

"When you betrayed the Troupe, how did you live with yourself?"
"I never wasn't betraying them, remember." Hisoka boops Illumi's nose. "Trust and loyalty are more fun when they're not absolute. Like, you know, with you."

"You trust me?" Illumi has been disloyal to his family. He's unworthy.
"We're married, aren't we?" Hisoka chortles as he stops to sip the water again. "Ah, this is good."

Illumi taps his foot to exorcise his thoughts. "Then why did you marry me?"

"Because you're damn sexy." Hisoka laughs to cover his next sentence. "And we understand each other."

"We always have, haven't we?" Illumi says.

"And yet, you don't need me to love you," Hisoka says, citing his earlier text.

Illumi hardly recognizes the words that leave his mouth. "Do you?"

Has anyone, ever, told him that they love him?

lllumi is promptly drenched. "Did you just use your bungee gum to splash me?"

Hisoka smirks. "You're sexier wet."

And he's rather not answer that question yet. Hisoka, too, is guarded, despite his antics.

Illumi pouts for a moment before heaving water Hisoka's way. As expected, his husband dodges, and Illumi seizes the opportunity, like the flawless assassin he is, to dive in for a kiss.

Hisoka chokes, and not just because water comes out his nose.

Illumi pushes Hisoka underwater, until he rests on the shallow sand. He keeps his eyes open – he's always found the sting of water on his eyes pleasant for pain – and keeps his lips pressed against Hisoka.

Hisoka grins through their kiss. Illumi floats over him. His raven hair surrounds his head like an exceptionally large demon halo that blocks out the sunlight.

Hisoka finally loses the fight for oxygen, and bubbles soar upwards. Illumi thrusts him above the surface.

"This must be what resurrection feels like," Hisoka cracks. His immaculately gelled hair falls loose around his forehead, and Illumi brushes back every strand, every drop of water that could invade his golden eyes.

"Come here." Hisoka wiggles his hips against Illumi's very-obviously aroused trousers. "Do you know how long I've been waiting for this?"

"You could have had me anytime," Illumi reminds him.

"But the delay was so fun," Hisoka teases. He lifts Illumi out of the water and lays him on the muddy shore. It will be messy and undignified, just as he likes it. They'll have to be quiet, and then they can say they've achieved something Kurapika and Chrollo failed just the night before.

Illumi pulls at Hisoka's pants.

"How eager." Hisoka licks his lips. "I want to savor this, husband."

"I like that word," Illumi admits.

"Good. Get used to it, husband." Hisoka whispers. "Though the thrill of fornication shall be missed."

And then he and Illumi are spread over each other, their every moist breath shared, their every squeeze and tug shared.

But when Illumi pushes Hisoka further, he notices a glaze on his husband's eyes.

Illumi wonders if this is how Needlemen feel. He's upwards, facing a clown he adores, not suffocating against a bedspread. But he feels as though his brain has been hijacked by memories, and he's slowly losing his grip, even though he desperately wants to remain here, in this moment with Hisoka.

"Jesus," Hisoka curses. He frees himself from Illumi.

"What's wrong?" Illumi asks.

"What's wrong with me? No, what's wrong with you? You're somewhere else." Hisoka sits up. "Did I hurt you?"

"No, though pain is nothing," Illumi reminds him. "I just haven't done this in a while. We can continue whenever you like."

Hisoka looks wary. "Memories?"

"Yes, I suppose it's natural, isn't it?" Illumi shrugs.

"What happened with your first time?" Hisoka asks quietly.

Illumi stares up at his husband, the man he should trust, but his body won't let him. His eyes look wide and innocent, and a little afraid.

"Illumi, it's okay." Hisoka nuzzles his forehead. "I won't judge you."

"He was a member of the mafia. I'd killed quite a few by then." Illumi rolls over on his side, away from Hisoka's face, but he forces himself to keep speaking. "I didn't know it would be different."

He recalls the man's cold fingers on his neck, combing through his short hair. No, those are Hisoka's fingers now, warm and calloused and gentle. "He said I was pretty, almost like a doll."

"I had been instructed to kill him in his room. So I let him lead me there." Illumi closes his eyes. "He asked me if I was a virgin."

His shoulders tighten. He can't…he can't tell the rest. How the man pushed him face-down on the bed which smelled like mothballs, dug into him like he was a prize to be pierced and torn in two, how there was blood and Illumi panicked not because he was being raped, but because there he'd finally lost blood on a mission and he never had before.

"I let him until he was done. Vulnerable then." Panting like a pig, still lying inside him. "It was part of the mission, I think. I let him. It wasn't pleasant, but it wasn't rape or anything."

"Yes, it was." Hisoka sits up. He feels ill.

"No, of course not." Illumi had limped home to his parents' and Zeno's prying expressions. Father had come into his room later.

Do you know why we had you do this?

"I know why they did it. So sex couldn't be used as a weapon against me. It was for my own good. They did it to Milluki, too, a few years later."

"Your parents had someone rape you?" Hisoka spits. His eyes burn yellow fire.

"It wasn't rape." Illumi turns back to him. His eyes are even wider than normal. "It wasn't."

"Illumi." Hisoka is livid. He would like to kill the Zoldyck parents. Slowly. Painfully. Flay their flesh. Hire Chrollo's Indoor Fish. "Parents are supposed to care about their offspring."

Do you know why we had you do this?

No, Father, Illumi admits at last. He doesn't know.

"They did it because they cared." His voice sounds hollow. He isn't sure he believes it anymore. But to choose his own will over his parents – he'd be a failure – and he'd have been raped. And Illumi, the dangerous Zoldyck assassin, doesn't want to have been raped.

"Illumi, you can tell me that all you want, but your body's response betrays the truth." Hisoka shakes his head. "It wasn't your fault."

"I chose it!" Illumi's voice trembles. "Forget I told you, please."

"Sure, and what will happen if we have sex again? You'll space out again and see me as the man who raped you?" Hisoka crosses his arms. "Now he understands why Illumi responded violently when he asked if he could do Killua. Granted, he'd been trying to provoke Illumi to save Gon, but he hadn't expected that severe a response. "Sex should be fun, Illumi. I hate your parents for taking that from you."

"You can't hate them!" Illumi looks apoplectic. "Please."

Hisoka has always wondered what heartbreak feels like. Well, now he might just know. It hurts worse than death, and he would know.

Hisoka wraps his arms around his husband.

"Are you crying?" Illumi catches his breath.

"You won't. One of us has to." Hisoka breathes in his husband's ear. He wants to drown out the noise between his ears, insisting that he's the worst hypocrite. Because he wants Illumi to face the truth internally, but he can't speak his own truth externally.

"Do you think it would help to do me?" Hisoka asks instead. He grants Illumi a toothy grin.

"Mmm? I thought you liked control," Illumi says.

"We both know that you've never surrendered control to me," Hisoka teases.

Illumi looks astounded, but he nods. Hisoka pulls him closer, and he smirks at Illumi's growing hardness.

"God, you're magnificent." Hisoka's fingernails dig into Illumi's back. He moans as Illumi joins their bodies. "You know you're the only one I'd ever let do this, right?"

"Well," Illumi grunts, looking partially excited and partially terrified, "I am your husband, so I would hope so."

Hisoka laughs, and to his delight, Illumi changes to look like himself. Perhaps even more than himself. He looks happy, and excited, and eager, as his hips grind against Hisoka.

"God, you are so sexy," Hisoka says. "You could kill with looks alone."

"That's not my nen power," Illumi says. He stops. "Oh. You were complimenting me."

"Yeah," Hisoka says with a little laugh.

Illumi bends over to kiss him fiercely before resuming.

When they're both reduced to tangled limbs and free souls caught in each others' arms, Hisoka decides to break the contentment. As he always does.

"Illumi." Hisoka holds his husband. "I was wrong."

"Say that again."

"I was wrong." Hisoka makes a sour face before dropping his eyes. "I…about your first time."

"I don't want to talk about it." Illumi is happy right now. He wants to stay happy.

"I need to." Hisoka clenches his fists, and a real tear shimmers above that teal teardrop on his cheek. "Because I went through the same thing."

Illumi is awash in shock. "What?"

Hisoka? Hisoka, with his impressive physique, with his massive strength? Hisoka, with his ravenous sexuality and irrepressible sadism? Hisoka?

"I was rather neglected as a child. The opposite of you, as it were." So he ran with the streets, snuck into circuses, stole candy and paid it back with coins from the card tricks he learned.

So he followed the illusionist, his only adult friend, into the back of the bar, all of seven.

All he'd really wanted was candy.

And he'd gone back, over and over, to learn more, to buy himself candy and magic tricks as consolation. It hurt, but it kind of felt good at times, too, and at least there was something to swallow even if it didn't taste pleasant.

Hisoka's face is as red as his hair. He hadn't even known. He'd thought he was in love and going to marry the man twenty years his senior.

"Hisoka." Illumi's bloodlust explodes. "Where is he?"

"You don't think I let him live, do you?" Hisoka laughs uneasily.

Illumi doesn't back down. "I know you did."

Hisoka bows his head. "That man supported my mother. I…left rather than tell her. I let her keep her illusions. My one act of kindness towards her, for the zero kindnesses she gave to me. "

Illumi grabs Hisoka and jerks him to his chest.

"Is this your idea of a hug?" Hisoka asks dryly.

"Well," says Illumi thickly, "now that we've made love, we might as well hug."