Chapter Thirty-Four

Of Trash and Shooting Stars

"Master Killua?" A willowy butler meets the three youngest Zoldycks on the path towards the Zoldyck mansion. She steps beyond the stone wall with a confidence she doesn't feel.

Killua's lips curl. "Amane."

She shakes her head and tiptoes closer. She glances around them before deciding they're safe. "Canary sent me. If she met you, your parents might suspect."

"Where's Illumi?" Alluka peers up at her.

The fear that crosses Amane's face when Alluka speaks to her – it's unmistakable. Killua's heart cracks, and Kalluto scowls.

"He's in the isolation room, isn't he? Fancy word for a dungeon." Kalluto sniffs.

Amane's shoulders slump. "Yes, Master Kalluto." She bites her lip.

"We're here to rescue him," Killua says.

"I figured as much. You won't rest until all of your siblings are rescued, will you, Master Killua?" Amane sighs.

"No, I won't. I…they're my friends, too." Killua searches her eyes for understanding. "Please, help us."

"But Amane could die if she does," Kalluto interjects.

"But she loves Canary," Alluka announces. "So she will."

"Huh?!" Amane, Kalluto, and Killua all turn to the beaming clairvoyant.

Except Nanika isn't here. Alluka doesn't even know why she spoke, or how she knows. She just does.

Alluka holds up her finger. "Maybe…maybe I remembered how Nanika did it. Or…maybe…"

Maybe it's nen. Maybe…Alluka does have talent on her own.

But then Nanika's vengeance on loved ones was because Alluka knew them all on her own. Alluka trembles – if she wants special power, does she want special responsibility, like that quote Killua used to tell her?

"Good job," Kalluto says, kissing her cheek.

"What?" Amane's mouth hangs open.

"What?" Killua repeats. "You and Canary?"

"We're not allowed relationships," Amane snaps.

"I'm not convinced," Killua says coolly.

"They are." Alluka's eyes widen. "I think it's sweet. The people you care most about are Tsubone and Canary."

"I see. Nanika could figure out how close people are – or maybe that was Alluka this whole time. Or maybe both." Killua whistles. "You're something, sis."

He doesn't hate her? He doesn't hate her for Nanika's destruction? Or hate Nanika, right, because Alluka loves her? Will she ever stop questioning her siblings' love?

"Maybe Amane can help us and we can help her and Canary?"

"Where is Nanika?" Amane looks petrified. "Wait – no – I'm not –"

"Nanika is outside the gate. She's Alluka's twin now and a badass." Kalluto smirks.

"What?" Amane repeats.

Alluka pouts. She wants to be a badass too.

"So are you," Kalluto adds quickly. He knows what it's like to be lost in a sibling's shadow, after all.

Alluka smiles back at him.

"So what do you say, Amane? Wanna help?" Killua grins. "After all, without men being allowed to marry, my parents sure won't approve of women marrying."

"I told you already –"

"We need you guys to make a distraction," Killua interrupts.


Crows circle the smoggy sky above, as the sun beats down on Kurapika with a brutality he didn't realize nature could possess. The smell is rancid, and dust settles against his immediately sticky skin. Piles of trash and bones – some animal, some human – form a sea of mountains and ravines. Rusted automobiles collapse among the trash, stained with blood. A rotten tooth lies by Kurapika's foot; its owner is long gone.

And through all the rubbish, through all the muck, hundred of eyes watch the new arrivals.

Kurapika suddenly loses the ability to breathe. This – this is where Chrollo grew up.

While he was running among lush greenery, dreaming of an outside world with wonder, Chrollo had been searching for food amongst garbage and dreaming of an outside world that was simply separate from trash.

"Not what you expected?" Nobunaga raises an eyebrow.

The Kurta kid is pale. But he doesn't look ill – he looks angry.

"People live here," Kurapika whispers, and it feels so wrong to simply state that fact.

"We all did," Phinks says quietly, cradling Woble against his chest.

Oito steps forward and beckons towards a shed of infested wood, which sits precariously to their right.

Kurapika opens his mouth to ask what she sees, but then a child peeks out, and Oito's offering him the gold chain around her neck. She's kissing the top of his lice-riddled head as if she has no fear.

Phinks' face turns red with pride. Pride that this woman loves him. Pride that he loves her. Shame on him for thinking she might reject him once she saw the city he, like most inhabitants, is strangely proud of.

Machi's hands, meanwhile, rest on her stomach. Her face looks thoughtful.

You're not gonna grow up here, kid, she promises her unborn child. You'll be loved and have a home and Daddy and I will always be there for you.

She wishes someone had told her that, so she'll tell it to her child, as many times as they need.

"You! You're the Phantom Troupe!" croaks a man so thin his ribs protrude from his side.

He staggers towards the Troupe. Melody and Cheadle grab him and help him sit down.

"What of it?" Franklin asks with a grin.

"You…you saved us when that ant bitch came," wheezes the man.

"Breathe deep," Cheadle tells him, offering him her water canteen.

He takes a hacking breath, and Cheadle winces at the crackle of his lungs. An infection; likely too late to cure.

"But you left all the people," mumbles the man. Fleck of blood stain is chapped lips.

"What people?" Shizuku asks.

"The half-ants." He coughs again.

Kurapika's eyes flit to Cheadle's resigned face, and then to Oito, who is talking to more children.

They need to find Chrollo.

But there is someone right now who needs him.

Kurapika's heart shudders to think of how much money the Troupe might have sent back to Meteor City. He doesn't want to think of their actions as morally grey as they likely were.

Because if the mafia treated the Kurtas like this, he might have orchestrated their massacre, too.

And he'd have been wrong. But he still might have done it, because Kurapika isn't that good a person.

He can be good now, though. He steps forward and presses Holy Chain against the man's chest.

"You'll be okay," he promises him.

Nobunaga squirms. Ugh. The bastard's being kind. To someone who is undoubtedly a murderer and a thief. Everyone here is.

"Are you…looking for the ants," mumbles the man. He closes his eyes, embracing his first pain-free breath in a long time.

"I thought the only ones left were the people transformed; they were already from here," Shizuku says.

"They were." The man wipes his mouth.

"They're all going away," says one of the kids hanging onto Oito's skirts. "They keep going."

"What do you mean?" Leorio asks.

"My daughter…" The man winces. "She got caught. She was so pretty, even as a hybrid. And then she was gone."

"People disappear in Meteor City all the time," Cheadle says.

"That's why if a citizen says it's different, it's different," Franklin replies.

"It's only ants…it's all the same. They meet a girlfriend. And then they're gone." The man looks at Kurapika. "My desire has never been to to be healed. I just want to see my little girl again."

"Don't say it," Leorio warns.

"He's gonna say it," Melody says.

"We'll help you," Kurapika says. He looks back at the Phantom Troupe. "That's what you all do, right? Help the people here?"

"Something like that," Feitan says with a sigh. His eyes remain on the sky, which remains free of all airships, free of everything except dust and scalding sun.


"What –" Tsubone has barely turned around before Amane enters her room.

Tears shine in Amane's eyes. "Grandmother, I'm – I cannot – I'm, uh, I mean, very distressed by the situation with Master Illumi."

"It's tragic," Tsubone agrees, eying Amane. Her granddaughter has never been skilled at guile; she is scheming something.

And Tsubone would rather focus on Amane than what the Zoldycks might have done tot their children. If she even heard correctly.

"But is it really wrong for two people to love each other?" Amane presses. "If they're the same gender, I mean."

"Why do you ask?"

"The other day, I, um, I kissed Canary." Amane tugs on her hair.

"Amane." Tsubone prays to God that the Zoldycks aren't listening in through her monocle. "Love is forbidden regardless of gender. Your loyalties are to the Zoldycks, and the Zoldycks alone."

"Then how did you have my mother?" Amane's face is now scarlet. "B – b – because I think I love Canary, and I can't stop, and –"

Tsubone understands suddenly. "Why are you telling me this?"

"Because I wanted advice," Amane says lamely.

"Amane." Tsubone glowers at her.

Amane's phone buzzes. She opens it to a thumbs-up from Canary.

"Oh, is it your plan working?" Tsubone asks. What is wrong with her? Why is her loyalty to the Zoldycks so strong she won't crush this monocle or support her own granddaughter? Why, when these assassins may have raped their children?

The door flies open, sooner than Tsubone expected, sooner than she had time to decide.

But to Tsubone's surprise, a simpering red-haired clown stands there. "Your guard has arrived."

"You!" Amane shouts, overcome with fury.


Kalluto races after his mother. She storms out of the house, towards the butler's quarters. No doubt to arrest Amane.

"Stupid girl – I knew – I knew Canary was trouble!" she fumes to herself. "First Illumi, now those girls!"

Ah, Kikyo, for all her outspoken behavior, taught him stealth. She taught all the children the art of trailing an opponent. And Kalluto is grateful, as he trails his mother.

He hopes Hisoka has reached Amane first. He hopes that Palm and the ants have made it through the gates, after Beyond overpowered Zebro. And that Beyond will keep the still-exhausted Nanika safe and away from Zoldyck property while the ants distract his grandparents and Milluki.


"Go find the key while I distract Father," Killua orders Alluka and Canary.

"What if you need help?" Canary asks anxiously, watching him, a kid her age, stride towards the room of Silva Zoldyck.

"I've got it." Killua grins and holds up his phone. "Gon'll be here in a few minutes."

Canary opens her mouth to protest, but Alluka is already dragging her away to the armory. Where the keys to far too many devices are held, but Alluka doesn't notice that. She just notices that she is here, saving her brother. Doing something that matters.

Canary frantically scans the keys. "They're missing."

"What?" Alluka asks sharply. She knows what it's like to be locked up, alone. Though at least she had Nanika then; Illumi doesn't even have that. She needs to go to him.

"The keys to Illumi's chains – they're a set of three brass keys, I remember watching them lock him in them." Canary frowns.

Alluka's impatience wins. She can't leave Illumi alone any longer. "Can you keep searching? I – I am going to find my brother."


"You killed Gotoh, didn't you?!" Amane's face twists. She balls her fists and glares down the clown.

"Oh, was that his name? I forgot to ask." Hisoka frowns. The glasses-clad man with the coins. Right. Oops.

God, he can't feel bad about that. If he feels bad about every bad thing he's done, he'll never feel good again. "Perhaps I should have at least done him that courtesy."

"Why you –" Amane freezes.

The two butlers know who has come from the shrill shriek that pierces the air before the door even opens.

Hisoka, however, spins around to see one of the people he's been daydreaming of killing.

Kikyo Zoldyck.


"Go, you two. I can take her." Milluki waves to Zeno and Maha. He just – he just wants them gone, wants this interrogation over. How is it that the worst interrogation of his life has consisted of gentle questions posed in a garden?

He glares down the otherworldly woman smirking at him. She's accompanied by an octopus and a chameleon – this situation is so ridiculous, he must laugh.

Zeno leaves, but to Milluki's disappointment, Maha stays. Silent. Ready for their attack. Working with Milluki.

I'm ugly and ungrateful. Leave, he wants to yell. Don't you dare love me.

You'll just be disappointed.

"We don't intend to kill you." The woman's hair begins to grow, winding around and around her slender body. "But that doesn't mean we'll take it easy on you."


The blood has dried and cracked over Illumi's wounds. It smells foul, and Illumi almost hopes his parents return to draw more blood that will at least wash the flaking rust off his skin.

He wants them to return and say Chrollo has escaped.

He wants them to return and say he's forgiven.

Illumi remembers the day he first learned he wasn't perfect, the day he heard his parents confirm the inferiority his feelings always suggested.

"He's too emotional."

"Illu never shows emotion!" Mother protested.

"And we do. His suppression means he's far too emotional," Father said firmly. "And unable to control it."

Thirteen-year-old Illumi pressed himself against the door, begging Father to compliment him, to please, please like him. Not to hate him like he hated Milluki.

"We can't have an emotionally weak runt as our heir. He'll taint the family name – both our brats will," Father said.

I'll prove you wrong, Illumi thought as he shook. I'll be unemotional, and it will be my strength, you'll see, Father.

And then he'd slapped himself for thinking ill of Father.

"But Killua…" Father's voice warmed, and Illumi saw his chance.

Illumi had fled towards the mountain base and buried his face in Mike's soft fur. If I help Kil, he'll love me. I'll help Killua be the best heir, and then I'll be loved, I'll be loved, I'll be very loved by Killua, the one who matters most.

Illumi heaves a sigh, forcing the lump down his throat. No tears, not yet.

Now he's loved not just by Killua, but by Kalluto and Alluka and Nanika and even Milluki – and by Hisoka. Maybe even by the Troupe.

But still not Mother and Father.

"Big brother!"

Illumi jerks his head to the side. Is he hallucinating?

Because the dungeon door has been rolled aside, and a smiling girl with a green skirt and pink top stands there.

Alluka may be smiling, but tears run down her cheeks. "I'm going to save you."

"You're here." Illumi could kill Killua for endangering her.

"I'd never leave you. You're my biggest brother." Alluka closes herself in with Illumi. She hurries over to him and curls up at his side.

"Alluka…You're in danger here." Illumi pushes her back as far as he can move his chained hands. "Go, little sister."

She throws her arms around him, and Illumi feels as if he's been knifed in his heart. "I won't leave."

"Alluka, you don't have the skills," Illumi begs.

"Then I'm gonna keep you company, at least, until someone with the skills to save you comes!" Alluka stomps her foot. "I have a nen power, too."

Illumi waits. This is news to him.

"I…was able to see relationships. The people Amane loves most." Alluka's eyes water. "That wasn't Nanika. I can tell if people love each other, even if I'm weaker, even if I'm weaker than all of you, even if that means Nanika could use that to kill people back when we weren't in control. That's me. And I see and feel that I love my Big Brother, and I don't want to leave him."

Illumi hesitates. "Alluka, you're not the one chained right now."

"I think big brother Illumi is very strong," she says seriously.

"And I think little sister Alluka is stronger. You were rejected and abused long before me. By me, in part. And you still smile and embrace life and – and me." Illumi can't hold it back any longer. Tears spill down his face. "Alluka, I love you."

"I love you, too, Big Brother." She kisses his cheek and leans closer. Her whispers tickle his ear. "They're coming. All of them."

"It's dangerous – that's one of the first things I should have taught you. Don't take on a fight you can't win." Illumi shakes his head wildly.

"Big Brother Hisoka did."

"And he died."

"But he's back!" Alluka sits next to Illumi. "You're worth losing for."

Illumi opens his mouth to scold her, but a sob cuts him off, and he realizes only after a moment that the tears are his own.