Hello! So, as promised, here's a Killua-centric chapter.
Important Note: if anyone feels that Alluka is anything but a girl, then GTFO. Its cannon. If you don't understand, then please read into it (and not on the super transphobic wiki page thank you), because I'm not having any shit over this. (Asking is fine, so long as you're genuinely not being an ass.)
This chapter contains violence, so be warned. (I will not be putting warnings throughout, so please heed the rating.)

Disclaimer: I do not own HxH. Clearly (see below) I have some issues with Killua and Gon's relationship.

"Nii-chan!" She only reverted to using "chan" when she was in a teasing mood or terrified. It was clear, as fire fell from the sky, that it was the latter.

He tackled her as a fiery rock fell from the sky, leaving a crater the size of a small house where she had been standing. He turned as he went, moving just in time so that his back smashed into the tree that was standing in his trajectory, shielding the smaller girl as it exploded on impact, wood and fire raining over them. There was a whirling sound, something whipping past him as he tried to spot the safest path out. He turned, seeing too late. There was no other option as he pushed the younger one out of his arms, her small frame tumbling into the hole in the ground as something slammed into his stomach, sending him flying back.

"Killua!"

The other voice made his eyes snap open, his attention turning to its owner. A scream sounded on his other side, high and feminine, and he shifted his gaze. The world around him was fuzzing, the impact too hard, the blood loss too much. He was so torn, two voices calling out to him, helpless and needy. Standing, despite the blood clouding half of his vision, he lunged toward the pit.

"I can't help with what's to come."

Leorio gave him a curious look, one that was trying to read the teen. Killua was too tired to hide anything, his face blank because there was nothing for it to show. The doctor seemed to hear both what he was saying and what he wasn't, nodding in response.

"I'll tell him you were here." Killua's eyes thanked him, wide and emotional for a short moment, before he went back to his worn expression. Leorio watched as he walked away, the muscles in his back tight, before disappearing back into the small room that held his friend. He knew he'd find the other waiting there, a determination written on his face. The doctor sighed, wondering if his words would have any effect if he tried.

"Get down!"

His voice was hoarse as he screamed, the other moving at the command but not quickly enough, his arm getting scorched. He screamed at the sight, watching as the boy stood, clutching himself in an angry pain. Killua held the shaking bundle in his arms as he stared, captivated by the sight.

Gon stood, drenched in fire, his eyes reminiscent of a past the other though he would never have to see again.

He snapped out of it as a small hand clawed at his arm, and ran toward the other boy at top speed. He was there in a flash, the boy blinking at him as he tried to drag him away, searching frantically for safety.

"You have to run!" He didn't have time for talking. They were closing in, he was almost there. They had to move quickly if they wanted to survive, if he wanted to save them from-

"No, let me help you! We can do this together!" He'd punched Gon then, not hard, but enough to send the teen backward. He glared, his teeth set hard.

"We need to move! Now! This isn't a fight!" He wasn't hearing, wasn't understanding. Something burst into flames nearby, another impact, and the girl buried her face into his chest. Shaking. Crying.

"Damn it, Gon, run!"

He knew he was being followed, of course. The other wasn't doing a very good job of it, or of hiding it for that matter, but then again he didn't know why he would hide that fact. The way out of the city was more difficult to navigate than the way in: he had traveled mostly downhill to get there. It was no wonder that the old traveler had never managed to get back out, with the way the jungled forest seemed to want to destroy everything it enveloped. Devour it.

He moved slower than he would have otherwise, extremely aware of the aura that followed him. It'd be easy to lose Gon once they reached the edges of the mountains, once they were in a safer place. As much as he wanted to leave him behind, let him find his own way out and just be done with it, he found it impossible. After everything they had been through, after that, leaving him behind wasn't something he was prepared to do.

Without his Nen, Gon was like a helpless child compared to Killua. He needed protecting. He needed someone to watch over him, whether he knew it or not. These were all the justifications that spun around the white haired teen's head, whispering justification as he took the longer, but safer path against his instincts just so the other could trail behind.

Once they were out, he'd disappear. He had a talent for not being found if he didn't want to be.

"Take her," he shouted over the noise, depositing the girl into Gon's injured arms. The other boy held her close, but wasn't about to give up.

"Killua- "

"Get her out of here, Gon. Please!" He was begging, blood dripping down his face as he saw the figure descending from the burning woods out of the corner of his eye, stalking towards them like a predatory cat. He turned to face him, but there was a hand on his arm, grabbing him painfully.

"Stop it Killua! Let me help you, I know I can do this!" He pushed off the hand, shooting the boy a look he'd never worn before. His eyes were hard, but tears were leaking down his face, mixing with the blood staining his cheeks. There were no words to argue with, nothing to be said that could change the utter despair and burning of hate that they spoke of silently.

"Get out. Keep her safe." He was gone in a second, charging toward the figure with full speed. Gon didn't want to watch, his hands shielding the young girl from the screams that sounded.

They were nearing the edge. It had been four days of hiding in trees, four days of killing the small, poisonous animals that tried to sneak up on the other in his sleep, four days of watching and waiting as he guided him through the thick.

Darkness was falling. During the daytime hours, sunlight had begun to penetrate through the trees, signaling how close they were to the border. He itched to make a break for it, so close to freedom, but he was going to see him through until the end. Gon had built a fire, a foolish thing in Killua's opinion, but it was enough to keep him visibly lit among the seemingly never ending black that was falling as night came down upon them. Killua was watching him closely, not twenty meters away, trying to gauge the other. There was little he could tell, in part because of his angle in the trees, but he did notice the tension that gathered in the other's shoulders after he'd disappeared for a short while to find himself something to eat.

Gon was stalling.

He figured that when he got this close to the other Gon pick up on it. He'd only done it because their time together was so short: maybe there was something he could learn about this new Gon, about why he seemed so desperate to follow him. What he hadn't expected was for Gon to act oblivious, to let himself be tracked while he was tracking Killua –everything was a circle between them-, to pretend he wasn't there instead of pursuing him all the more vigorously.

The difference was not something Killua liked.

After their initial parting, after he had laid his priorities out and open, Gon had begun to change. At first, he'd blamed Killua: if he hadn't left in the first place then there wouldn't have been any need for things to be different. Somewhere, deep down, the white haired teen was sure that they both knew better, whether Gon was willing to admit it or not. No matter how they wanted it, things would never be the same after they parted. Even if they hadn't been angry (which they had), even if they hadn't been broken (in different ways, but equally), even if Gon hadn't chosen his own path (which he did) and Killua hadn't been responsible for another human life (which he was), nothing would have been the same. It was then, when they came across each other again and were travelling, the three of them together, that Killua saw how Gon was growing up.

This was age without the wisdom, growth without maturity. Though they were still children, they were also so very not anymore that sometimes he couldn't stand the way Gon would fake his ignorance. He'd pretend, force blindness, until he eventually believed the pretense for himself. It was his naivety gone entirely wrong.

Killua knew that he was hanging back, watching from the treetops because he wasn't trying to throw Gon off his trail. He was hunting him, his goal the same as Gon's. Confrontation. Even though he hated himself for what he was about to do, he knew how much it needed to be done. For both of them.

Silently, he slid from the branches, his feet hitting the floor of the jungled forest.

His hands were like daggers, but they were nothing compared to his father's.

He'd managed to land a hit, a single blow to the face, nearly gouging the man's eye out before he was served one himself. It was out of pure foreknowledge of his techniques and teachings that the teen was able to maneuver so that he only lost a chunk of his upper arm instead of the whole thing. He was certainly faster, with electricity coming off of him in waves with each movement, but Silva's attacks were each a careful move, a game of chess with flesh as forfeit.

He'd thought that the next hit would be a killing blow, for one of them at least, but he didn't expect the distraction. Neither did the older man, it seemed, as a rock flying through the air at him nearly took off his head, moving just in time for it to miss by a fraction of an inch. Killua whipped his head around, seeing Gon standing close by, looking ready for action.

Alluka was nowhere in sight.

"Gon!" Killua screamed, panic and agony ripping through his voice as he forgot where he was standing, searching frantically for his sister. The other teen ran towards him, throwing his arm off to the side as a signal of direction. Killua followed the motion, seeing a shaky heap beside a larger tree, one that had not caught fire yet. He'd left her, left her there, all alone and without anyone to protect her and-

He wasn't in the fight, not any longer. All he could see was her, all he knew was that he had to get her out before hell swallowed her whole. He moved, fast as lightning, the old assassin making no move to stop him. He didn't have to.

"No, onii-san." There was a figure in his way, shrouded in his dark kimono, hair so much longer than the last time he had seen him. Something inside Killua died as he was halted, the intruder standing between him and his sister.

Kalluto.

The rest was nothing but a blur. He'd turned back, facing his father, lighting up the woods with his electricity. It happened too quickly, the impulses moving directly from his brain to his hands and legs through his aura, nervous system bypassed as he moved, intent on destruction. The pain, the claws that dug into him, the teeth, was intensified a thousand fold with the singing of his nerves, the direct transmutation amplifying everything. Gon was nowhere in his view. He remembered screaming, he couldn't stop screaming. He remembered ripping through the man in front of him like a rabid animal, not caring the consequences, taking all the punishment he could handle before death.

He remembered Kalluto, doing nothing but staring, his eyes completely dead.

Killua had laid down after that, eyes completely open but unseeing, as the figure in front of him shuffled away, alive but only barely. He wasn't sure if he'd even make it out of the woods, but his brain was too damaged by the shocks for it to register completely. He was equally as unaware of his brother's retreat: for all he knew, Kalluto could have collected his father on his way out. All that remained when he woke up was a lingering memory, a look on his face that he would see in his dreams.

Gon had carried him out of that place, taking Alluka with them. He'd brought them to the safety of an inn, tended to Killua's wounds as best he could, made sure that his sister was watched over while he slept. It was days before Killua had woken, his body repairing him in his sleep. It was another week before he was able to see again, the blue of his eyes having faded to a milky white.

When he'd woken up, he'd told Gon that if he ever saw him again, he'd kill him on the spot.

Gon made no sign that he'd noticed when Killua came up behind him. He sat, perfectly still, focused on the fire in front of him. It gave the other a moment of silence to circle around the flames, settling on a spot directly across from the pit, demanding attention. Though Gon looked up at him when he spoke, he kept his eyes trained down, intent on not being interrupted by questioning eyes.

"I was only fourteen then, when I had my heart broken. That was the first time. I didn't even know what it meant to be in love, but you taught me rejection. You taught me true pain, despite what the whips and knives and poisons had tried to school me in. You taught me what it meant to be left behind. The wound was still raw when you dug in again. You betrayed me, you nearly let everything I love die. And still, I loved you."

You tore me apart.

He left, moving toward civilization and into the night. Unlike last time, he did not look back.

Gon waited until he was done. He listened and watched, silent, with deadened features as Killua bared himself to the older boy. He took it in as his friend broke down through the words, tears streaming down his face, blood seeping from the wounds his nails had caused in his own palms. He waited until Killua was done, choking and heaving under the weight of his suffering, before watching the boy turn his back to him and walk away.

Only then did he fall to his knees, as broken as the boy he had destroyed, to bury his head in his hands and scream.

Thanks for reading: hope this shed some light on what's going on between these boys. This was actually the idea that got me writing this to begin with, so I hope you all liked it. Next up is the Leopika side; so don't be expecting fluff bunnies quite just yet.

Also, thanks for the reviews guys! It means a lot that you drop me a line (especially for those of you who don't like angst-youknowwho-). I'm so happy to see good feedback from you all! 3