"Wait what, you came back alone?!" Spinner demanded, before Monta relieved her of the phone.
"Well, not exactly…" Gon looked at the sleeping girl on his lap. His stomach weighed heavily with guilt. He should have left that village faster than he did.
After the call ended, Gon let out a sigh. In the embassy lobby, he watched the girl sleep until he nodded off himself.
By morning, the truck grinded to a halt before the border of NGL. Monta informed Gon that they had already alerted the Association. Reinforcements were on the way.
Banana raised an eyebrow at Gon's new companion. "Does she not talk?" she asked Gon, who shook his head. The red-haired girl shrunk further away.
"Do you have any food?" Gon asked. "She hasn't had anything to eat."
"Let me check," Stick said.
While he left for the truck, Spinner crouched down before Gon. She examined his arm and the discoloration in his fingertips. "Well shit, that looks bad." A pop of bubblegum. "Better come with us to a hospital."
Gon stuck out his tongue sheepishly. At the call of his name, he followed a patrol officer to the second floor, where rows of bins stored all the synthetic things not permitted inside NGL.
Gon gathered his possessions, his canvas shoes kicked off in favor of his boots. The rest of his clothes were as he had left them, neatly folded in squares. At the bottom of the bin was his Beatle 07. Quiet, Gon stared at another bin on the shelves. Inside was a cellphone identical to his, tossed haphazardly alongside a rumple of clothes and pair of beaten purple sneakers.
Killua... was really late.
Downstairs, the girl stared at the plastic bottle in her hands. Hesitantly, she brought the water to her lips. By the time Gon had rejoined them, water was dripping down her chin and wetting the collar of her dress. The emptied bottle fell to her feet, as she proceeded to sniff a granola bar.
"Ah!" Gon pulled the bar out from between her teeth. He tore off the wrapper before handing it back to her. "Here you go."
Banana watched the scene with a quirked eyebrow. "So what exactly do we do with her?"
"She can come with me," Gon said, straightening up. "It's too dangerous in NGL. I'll find her a hotel in the nearest town." By now, Gon had fully accepted the fact that she was his responsibility, that it was his duty to ensure her welfare. At least, until the whole ant problem had been dealt with and her homeland was safe again.
And once Gon had made up his mind on an issue, it became very hard to persuade him otherwise. Fortunately, Kite's group was more than cooperative. That just left border control, but their objections were quickly silenced by a display of Gon's Hunter License.
"When Killua comes back, can you let him know we left for town?" Gon asked the embassy worker. When the lady nodded, Gon smiled and waved goodbye. At the exit, he added, "Oh, and tell him he can call me!"
As the truck roared to life, both Gon and his new companion looked out at the two giant hydrophytic trees that marked the gateway to NGL. He looked away first; she kept looking long after it was out of sight.