Chapter 14
Ser_Serendipity
Building Character
Chapter 14
Certainty. The setting sun. Hinata watched it with tired eyes, a month's worth of stress piling up inside her body, making her feel thick and heavy. The sun would always set, no matter where they were. That much was sure.
Uncertainty. Everything else.
The shinobi had retreated to seclusion at the top of the nest; there was a small platform there, an observation point the Ants had used. It had been a long day, beginning with the King's birth and rushed along by the Ant's surrender, Gon's outburst, and the messy business of determining the remaining Chimera's fates. It had gone by too fast, but in bursts of impossible slowness. Looking back, Hinata felt as though she'd only been awake for four or five hours, but that each of those hours had been a day unto their own.
Kiba sighed, leaning back. "Fuck," he groaned. "What now?"
Good question, Hinata tried to say, her throat sealed up by weariness. She settled for a nod, sure Kiba would understand her.
"We've accomplished the mission," Shino said. He was the only one of them who was standing, his back to Hinata. His profile against the setting sun took Hinata's breath away: not because of the natural beauty of the amber and gold light creeping around his figure, but because of the absence it highlighted on his right side. "The Queen is dead, but I have more than enough of her corpse, including a portion of her primary parthogenisis organ. That's what we came for."
Hinata frowned, taking a deep breath. "But it's not why we stayed."
"Definitely not," Kiba said, leaning forward. "But I don't think any of us thought we were going to get this messed up."
"It was always a risk," Shino said. "And a necessary one."
"And now?" Kiba said. "Now that you got your Ant-dick or whatever; what now?"
Hinata couldn't keep a grunt of amusement from escaping her, but Kiba's question was what they were all thinking. He hadn't made it explicit, but there was really only one choice to make. Stay or go.
This wasn't their home; from a purely rational perspective, with their mission fulfilled, they had no reason to stick around. The troubles of the Mitene Union, and the world beyond it, weren't their own. At most, they were a situational concern of a Shinobi Union trade partner, which was none of their business.
But being a shinobi was never about making purely rational decisions. It hadn't been for some time. Hinata and her teammates had forged a hard-earned connection with the Hunters assailing the Ants; they'd bled alongside them. And now even beyond that, the Hunter Association and every human on the continent had a deadlier enemy than ever.
Morel had told them that in the days to come, more Hunters would be flooding the Union, responding to the Chairman's call for assistance now that the situation had escalated. It didn't take a genius to figure out that was the inevitable result of their mission to kill the Queen failing. It also didn't take much to assume the worst about the capabilities of the King; as the culmination of the Ant's genetic optimization, it was possibly as far beyond its own Royal Guard as the Guard were the normal Ants.
An absolutely horrifying prospect.
Meruem. That was what the Queen had named him, according to Morel. Useless information, since the creature would never learn it. But despite the pointlessness of the name, a dying mother taking time to name the child that had murdered it had chilled Hinata to the core.
"What was it that Colt said?" Kiba piped up. They'd passed nearly a minute in silence. "The King was hungry?"
"'His hunger was overwhelming,'" Shino answered, quoting the Ant. "It was likely an issue of genetic loyalty; the Ants felt the King's hunger, and were determined to fix it as quickly as possible." He shifted, turning to glance at Hinata and Kiba. "Hence, the autocannibalism. They are extremely fortunate the King did not decide to eat any of them before the Royal Guard arrived."
"So he's probably already eaten a bunch of people, wherever he went," Kiba said. The revelation that the bite marks on Colt's hand had been self-inflicted had been one of the drawn out hours, after Gon's breakdown at Kite's death. The King's hunger driving his servants to going after their own limbs in sympathetic starvation was beyond anything Hinata had seen out of the Ants before. Monsters eating humans was expected; eating themselves was a different story.
"Certainly," Shino said. "And he'll consume many more, if he's not stopped. Perhaps everyone on the continent."
KIba squinted, the setting sun painting his black hair with streaks of dull red. "Implying something, Shino?"
"Stating the obvious," Shino said. He nodded at Hinata. "Hinata knows. You know. We all know. That Chimera King, Meruem, he's a walking threat of extinction for mankind in this world. We've seen nothing in their capabilities that would allow the Hunters to safely destroy him; if they had some great weapon, they would have used it on the nest. That we are in this situation denotes its absence."
He turned back around, facing the vanishing sun. "I was the one who set us on this mission. If you'll forgive a bit of hubris, I'm going to expand the parameters."
Kiba scoffed, but Hinata saw the ghost of a smile. He glanced at her, and she closed her eyes.
Uncertainty. Bubbling hate, fear, rage, love, homesickness.
But above all that, ringing in her head and drowning out the emotions stirred up by her children, her husband, the Ants, the Hunters, the sunset…
'Right place. Right time.'
'You cannot turn away.'
Was it the cold passion of her ancestor, or her own hatred of suffering that provided that clarity? Hinata didn't know, but she was thankful for it all the same.
"So that's it?" she asked, as much to herself as her team. "We stay? Do what good we can?"
"Unless a better option presents itself," Shino affirmed. "Kiba?"
The Inuzuka tapped the ground. "What the hell. I gotta pay back that thing for breaking my nose anyway," he grunted.
The quiet enormity of their decision pushed them down, but Hinata felt lighter. Making any decision, even a dangerous one, had cleared her head. Her chest ached, the vision of her children receding.
The decision hurt, but at the same time, it almost made her glad. She wasn't so selfish, she thought, that she'd put seeing her children sooner ahead of hundreds, thousands, of other lives. Lives that she could save, in the right place, at the right time. When they were older, they would understand.
She was sure of that.
"Would we have done this twenty years ago?" Kiba wondered. Hinata let out a soft laugh.
"Naruto did," she said, the thought of her husband bringing a smile to her face. Kiba groaned, mumbling 'Naruto' in a simpering tone with a good-natured smile of his own.
"I've taught that in the Academy, you know," Shino said, turning his back on the nearly disappeared sun and sitting with them. "That mission to Wave."
"Of course you have," Kiba said. "It's a good example for the kids. Being a shinobi's about more than being paid.
"That," Shino said, "and that sometimes clients lie. And that no matter what, you will face unexpected challenges."
"So it's become a story." Hinata was used to that. Somehow, without them noticing, so much of her and her classmate's life had become a story for the next generation. "What do you tell them the moral is?"
"It's a good story," Shino said with a small smile of his own. They were all smiling now, seated above a monument to human misery, united in their trust and camaraderie. "An underdog story; they're always popular, even if most children can't picture the Hokage as ever being in a position of weakness."
"And the moral?" Kiba asked, leaning forward like a student himself.
"Trust your team," Shino said gravely, "and take all challenges head on, with everything you have." He leaned back. "And maybe you'll get a bridge named after you."
"Pfft," Kiba slapped his knee once, lightly. "Maybe we'll get a country with our names slapped on it at this rate, going above and beyond." He scratched his beard. "Could charge an extermination rate by now, I bet."
"Shinobi as high-priced exterminators," Shino said dourly.
"Not the strangest thing I've heard," Hinata admitted. It wasn't unusual for shinobi to take very un-ninja jobs nowadays, after all.
"Maybe," Kiba muttered. He cocked his head south. "We gonna do anything about him?" he subvocalized, the words an inaudible murmur.
"No point," Hinata said, not bothering to muffle her words. "It's not a problem."
She stood up, her feet steady under her. "We should head down. Check with the others. There's definitely some planning to do." Her team rose with her.
Their eavesdropper scuttled away as the sun gave up, finally sinking behind the mountains. Hinata was sure it was the last they would see in the NGL.
###
Killua realized that the shinobi knew he was listening in about a minute before their conversation ended. The realization sent a chill up his spine; not because it was sudden, but because of its creeping, gradual nature. They had detected him, and he hadn't realized it. How long ago had it been? One minute? Two? Since the beginning?
He'd considered approaching them then. It would have been honest, but changed nothing. They knew that he knew and he knew that they knew; all that revealing himself would accomplish was some embarrassment, a child emerging for an admonishment. He wasn't in the mood for that.
So when the conversation ended, he left. They were all headed the same way. There was no point in going together.
Killua chastised himself, his nails digging into his palm. Gon had distracted him; he'd been shaky since his only friend's breakdown, haunted by the chilling sharpness that had washed over him. Gon's despair and rage had hurt Killua worse than any injury.
`Thanks.' The doubt that had dragged Killua down after their first foray into the NGL had returned, nipping at his heels. Gon had thanked him for knocking him out a month ago. 'I would have gotten in Kite's way.'
'He wouldn't ever let that thing beat him.'
Gon had said it with such unbelievable conviction, such unbreakable certainty, that Killua had had no choice but to believe him. He's always respected and admired his first friend, but there, in that room with the light streaming in from the window and Gon's face devoid of fear or blame, his soul filled with nothing but faith and a promise, Killua had seen something more. He'd felt something akin to a spiritual lightening, like he was in the presence of something both pure and anathema to people.
People like him, or people in general? Killua had struggled with that question. He couldn't figure out where Gon's faith came from, or why it had made his heart jump.
Now, the cynicism his family had filled his bones with since he was old enough to speak had an answer.
Denial.
It wasn't an answer he agreed with–there was more to Gon than naivety–but it haunted him nonetheless. The outpouring of emotion Gon had nearly cut him with, down in the depths of the nest, had been born at least partly by that denial shattering. The reality of Kite's death had done more damage to Gon than anyone else ever had; it had been his first true defeat.
Killua's hands slipped into his pockets, his pace slowing as he strode through the nest. He'd gained a little distance.
An unexpected thought came from the other side of him, the one that had been awakened, awestruck, by Gon's light.
Maybe it's better this way, Killua thought.
It was a callous idea, and it surprised him coming from what he considered his better half, the side of him that Gon's trust and friendship had brought out. The apparent callousness of it was what let him truly consider it; it baited his cynical heart in and brutally brought it to the ground.
Gon's painful and hate-filled outpouring had been the product of a month of expectations brought to a sudden, crushing demise. He'd had no time to adjust; Kite's corpse had been shoved right in his face, and his world had flipped in a moment. Killua's pace slowed yet more as he sunk deeper into thought, the smells and sights of the abandoned nest falling into the background.
Maybe it was better this way. What if the Ants had brought Kite's corpse with them, or the King had been born and abandoned the nest another month from now, 'on schedule?' Would Gon's outburst have been the same, or twice as bad, another thirty days of feeling like a failure, of surety that Kite was just waiting to be rescued?
Twice as bad? Three times? Four? Emotions were unpredictable, and so was Gon. What would more time under pressure have produced when he came to the inevitable revelation?
Killua shivered, remembering the cold Nen. He tried to picture Gon in a state beyond that murderous despair, and could not. It was like trying to visualize the a new, unique color, or a sun without light. Impossible.
Maybe it was better to face a harsh reality, Killua thought, the two minds he carried with him everywhere–Gon's friend, and the Zoldyck killer–speaking as one. Better to face a harsh reality than hold onto a deceptive dream.
Gon would recover. He always did. He'd carry the scar Neferpitou had given for the rest of his life, but he was strong. He would bounce back.
He had to.
Pitou was the lynchpin, Killua realized. Whether Gon would come back from this, and how whole and unmarred he would be when he did, revolved around the Ant that had taken Kite from him.
If Gon was to recover, Pitou had to die. The simple solution of a killer, Killua thought with a grimacing grin.
He couldn't take Pitou. That was self-evident. Neither could Gon. The Royal Guard had defeated Kite on its own, and Kite had been easily beyond both of them.
The only person he knew who had managed to injure Neferpitou, he realized, was Hinata Hyuuga. She'd had help, and come away covered in cuts and broken bones, but she'd accomplished what Kite had not.
Hinata Hyuuga, who a month ago had followed him all the way out of the NGL out of nothing more than concern. Hinata Hyuuga, who had consoled Gon aside Kite's cooling body without a moment's hesitation. Hinata Hyuuga, who had children of her own, and could see with perfect acuity for fourteen miles in any direction.
If he and Gon stuck themselves to Hinata Hyuuga, who had just decided to remain with her comrades and do 'what good they could,' they would have the best chance of destroying Neferpitou and avenging Kite. It was simple and obvious.
The phone in Killua's pocket buzzed, and he mindlessly withdrew it and answered without checking the number.
"We're having a meeting." Knov sounded as tired as Killua felt. "Near the entrance. Get there as soon as you can."
Killua flipped the phone closed without a word, altering his path to head for the nest's entrance. His opportunity may have arrived sooner than he'd thought.
###
"We've got no idea where the King's gone," Morel said, leaning on his pipe and slouching in his seat. The semi-formal meeting was being conducted at the base of the nest in a loose circle; Knov had produced some folding chairs from Hide and Seek, and everyone present had seated themselves with the exception of Knuckle, who restlessly paced on the outside of the circle, to Morel's left. "It's a problem, but we've got other concerns right now."
"The other Ants?" Shoot asked, and Morel nodded.
"Of course," he confirmed. "Hundreds of Ants have already left the NGL, and are scattering across the continent. We've already got reports of them wandering into cities and wreaking havoc. Until we can locate the King, our main priority has to be hunting down the surviving Ants."
"So what's the plan, then?" Knuckle asked, kicking a tuft of dirt out of his way as he continued pacing. "We just chase them down one by one?"
"If I may interrupt?"
The Hunters and shinobi weren't the only ones present at the meeting. Two of the Chimera Ants had stayed behind with them; Colt, and the penguin-looking Squadron Leader who went by Peggy. It had only been a short time, but Morel had been won over by Colt's earnestness, and the humility and love he had shown the Queen and the quarter-sized offspring she'd birthed in her death throes. The kindness of the Ant clashed with its murderous acts over the last month, but Morel knew that things were not always so black and white; the Ants had considered them livestock, and Colt hadn't been driven by malice like some of the other Ants Morel had encountered. He'd simply been serving his Queen.
It was a different kind of evil, he thought, but one he could understand, and work with. Maybe even admire, if he was honest with himself.
It was Peggy who had spoken up, his croaky voice slipping past Knuckle's rough one. Knov, who was seated across from Morel, nodded to him, and the penguin straightened up. It's left arm came to an abrupt end: it had gnawed off the end of it after the King's birth.
"With the Queen's death," he said, his voice wavering, "our former comrades will all shift their focus to becoming Kings and Queens of their own."
"Meaning?" Palm asked. Morel couldn't get over how healthy she looked compared to the last time he'd seen her: like a barren tree covering itself in blossoms in the spring.
"Meaning they will seek out population centers, with a preference for humans," Peggy said. "Some will have already left the island, but not many. They will attempt to create nests of their own. If they're met with too much resistance or fail to find a fruitful hunting ground, they'll slink away to a more successful group, and abase themselves before the most powerful Ant there." It sighed. "It's pathetic, but it's our instinct."
Colt followed up, supporting his fellow Ant. "There are about four hundred and fifty survivors, give or take. In this manner, they will initially scatter but rapidly consolidate, and become much more dangerous." He looked every human in the eye, ending with Morel, and carefully articulated his next words. "The first week will be the most critical."
Morel did his best to return the Ants confidence. He was telling them how best to kill his peers, after all. "The Hunter Association is sending reinforcements as we speak: dozens of Hunters will be entering the Union in the coming days." He fiddled with his pipe, rotating it against his palm. "We'll have more than enough manpower to hunt down the various Ant groups."
'After all, the Association can't afford to lose any face here.' It was a grim thought, but an honest one. The governments of the Mitene Union had hired the Hunters to deal with the Ant threat: if they failed to uphold that contract, there'd be hell to pay.
"Combined with our informants, we should be able to keep track of various Ants across the island without too much trouble," he continued. "We'll rapidly deploy to take care of problems as they arise."
"As one team?" Killua asked. He was seated between Gon and Kiba. Both the younger Hunter and the shinobi had remained mostly silent since they'd arrived. "It would be more efficient if we split into groups of our own."
"Of course," Morel said. "We were already considering that." The air was growing colder with the sun having set; more than that, he wanted to get started as soon as possible. "Smaller teams, but each will have to be powerful enough to take on several Ants at a time."
"That would be ideal," Colt murmured.
"So what would be the best division?" Knov asked, and Morel turned to him.
"Knuckle and I would be one," he said. "We're confident the two of us would be handle anything, and our abilities work well together." He glanced at Palm. The woman was staring at Gon, who didn't return the look. The boy, who had been silent since discovering Kite's body that morning, stared resolutely ahead at something only he could see.
"I would suggest you and Palm would be another team, Knov. You'd be an ideal support group for other Hunters," Morel said quietly. Palm looked torn, but only for a moment. She nodded, along with Knov.
"Which leaves," Knov said, with a glance at Killua, "Gon, Killua, and Shoot."
"And us," Kiba said. "We're staying till this is finished."
Knov blinked. Morel was less surprised than him, but he didn't let it show. He'd had a feeling, somehow, that this had been coming.
"Really?" Knov asked. "You got what you came for."
"We did," Shino said. "But we all thought it would be irresponsible to leave now, when the situations become even more dangerous. We're staying alongside you until the situation is resolved." He raised an eyebrow behind his visor. "If you'll permit us."
Morel wondered if it was as cut and dried as that. If the shinobi really were competitors with the Ants, visitors from the Dark Continent, then it would only make sense for them to continue to "assist" the Hunters until their mutual enemy was wiped out.
"Gladly," Knov said. Morel knew it was the truth. Even if it was a ploy, wiping out the Ants took priority. "So you three, then-"
"Actually," Killua cut in. Knov shot him a look. "I've been thinking; Kiba, Shino, and Hinata are all still injured." He was right: Hinata was still covered in injuries from her brief battle with Pitou, along with her barely healed leg, while Kiba was battered. Shino's injury went without saying. "It may be better to split them up amongst us."
Morel cocked his head; it was a good plan in several ways, maybe without Killua even knowing why. If the shinobi were eventual enemies, keeping them seperate was a smart decision: if they agreed to it, it would mark them as either genuine in their intentions, or overconfident.
"If they agree, of course," Killua appended with a glance at Hinata. It was obvious she was the one he was focused on. His normal cool had been disrupted by his friend's silence, and with it his obfuscative ability. Morel was reasonably sure of the reason behind his focus. The Hyuuga was the only person to walk away after facing Neferpitou, after all.
"What were you thinking, Killua?" she asked. Morel felt she already knew the answer.
"You and Kiba both have tracking capabilities far outside any of our own," Killua said. He wasn't absolutely correct, though he didn't know it: Knuckle's Hatsu could technically track a single target farther than Hinata's Byakugan or Kiba's nose ever could. "In addition, Kiba and Shino are less injured than yourself. I'd propose the two of them teaming up with Shoot, and you going with Gon and myself. That way, they'll be an even spread of combat and recon capability across the teams."
The shinobi looked at each other, silently communicating. Kiba rolled his eyes. Shino shrugged. Hinata's lips pursed, and she looked back to Killua.
"It sounds fine to us," she said, inclining her head. "I'm looking forward to working with you, Killua, Gon."
It was ideal beyond the pragmatic parameters Killua had set out, Morel thought. He sent his own approving look to Shoot, who'd become a color somewhere between a cloudy sky and a bank of fresh snow. Working with total strangers was a necessary step in tackling Shoot's timidness; that Shino was a teacher himself was an additional unexpected boon. He was a calm and patient man, the perfect pairing for Shoot, especially when Kiba would be there pushing him far out of his comfort zone. Morel might have proposed it himself if Killua hadn't gotten there first.
Behind him, Knuckle chuckled under his breath. He was clearly thinking the same thing. Morel felt a grin tug at his mouth.
"That's settled then," he said, standing up and hefting his pipe. "We'll get started tomorrow: the Association will keep us updated on where the Ants have the most presence, but we'll likely be doing some hunting without their help. Everyone should be ready by then." The others followed him to his feet.
"And the King?" Knuckle asked. "What're we gonna do about him?"
"When he appears, we'll know," Knov said. "He's hardly a subtle creature."
Morel nodded, but below his confident facade, he wasn't so sure of the truth behind Knov's words. He just hoped his friend was right.
The longer the King remained out of sight, the worse it would be.
###
I'd definitely call this a weaker transition chapter, but I'm in no mood to sit on it for weeks to try and make it stronger. Myrmidon has reached its unofficial halfway point here: hope you enjoyed it!
Obligations
Certainty. The setting sun. Hinata watched it with tired eyes, a month's worth of stress piling up inside her body, making her feel thick and heavy. The sun would always set, no matter where they were. That much was sure.
Uncertainty. Everything else.
The shinobi had retreated to seclusion at the top of the nest; there was a small platform there, an observation point the Ants had used. It had been a long day, beginning with the King's birth and rushed along by the Ant's surrender, Gon's outburst, and the messy business of determining the remaining Chimera's fates. It had gone by too fast, but in bursts of impossible slowness. Looking back, Hinata felt as though she'd only been awake for four or five hours, but that each of those hours had been a day unto their own.
Kiba sighed, leaning back. "Fuck," he groaned. "What now?"
Good question, Hinata tried to say, her throat sealed up by weariness. She settled for a nod, sure Kiba would understand her.
"We've accomplished the mission," Shino said. He was the only one of them who was standing, his back to Hinata. His profile against the setting sun took Hinata's breath away: not because of the natural beauty of the amber and gold light creeping around his figure, but because of the absence it highlighted on his right side. "The Queen is dead, but I have more than enough of her corpse, including a portion of her primary parthogenisis organ. That's what we came for."
Hinata frowned, taking a deep breath. "But it's not why we stayed."
"Definitely not," Kiba said, leaning forward. "But I don't think any of us thought we were going to get this messed up."
"It was always a risk," Shino said. "And a necessary one."
"And now?" Kiba said. "Now that you got your Ant-dick or whatever; what now?"
Hinata couldn't keep a grunt of amusement from escaping her, but Kiba's question was what they were all thinking. He hadn't made it explicit, but there was really only one choice to make. Stay or go.
This wasn't their home; from a purely rational perspective, with their mission fulfilled, they had no reason to stick around. The troubles of the Mitene Union, and the world beyond it, weren't their own. At most, they were a situational concern of a Shinobi Union trade partner, which was none of their business.
But being a shinobi was never about making purely rational decisions. It hadn't been for some time. Hinata and her teammates had forged a hard-earned connection with the Hunters assailing the Ants; they'd bled alongside them. And now even beyond that, the Hunter Association and every human on the continent had a deadlier enemy than ever.
Morel had told them that in the days to come, more Hunters would be flooding the Union, responding to the Chairman's call for assistance now that the situation had escalated. It didn't take a genius to figure out that was the inevitable result of their mission to kill the Queen failing. It also didn't take much to assume the worst about the capabilities of the King; as the culmination of the Ant's genetic optimization, it was possibly as far beyond its own Royal Guard as the Guard were the normal Ants.
An absolutely horrifying prospect.
Meruem. That was what the Queen had named him, according to Morel. Useless information, since the creature would never learn it. But despite the pointlessness of the name, a dying mother taking time to name the child that had murdered it had chilled Hinata to the core.
"What was it that Colt said?" Kiba piped up. They'd passed nearly a minute in silence. "The King was hungry?"
"'His hunger was overwhelming,'" Shino answered, quoting the Ant. "It was likely an issue of genetic loyalty; the Ants felt the King's hunger, and were determined to fix it as quickly as possible." He shifted, turning to glance at Hinata and Kiba. "Hence, the autocannibalism. They are extremely fortunate the King did not decide to eat any of them before the Royal Guard arrived."
"So he's probably already eaten a bunch of people, wherever he went," Kiba said. The revelation that the bite marks on Colt's hand had been self-inflicted had been one of the drawn out hours, after Gon's breakdown at Kite's death. The King's hunger driving his servants to going after their own limbs in sympathetic starvation was beyond anything Hinata had seen out of the Ants before. Monsters eating humans was expected; eating themselves was a different story.
"Certainly," Shino said. "And he'll consume many more, if he's not stopped. Perhaps everyone on the continent."
KIba squinted, the setting sun painting his black hair with streaks of dull red. "Implying something, Shino?"
"Stating the obvious," Shino said. He nodded at Hinata. "Hinata knows. You know. We all know. That Chimera King, Meruem, he's a walking threat of extinction for mankind in this world. We've seen nothing in their capabilities that would allow the Hunters to safely destroy him; if they had some great weapon, they would have used it on the nest. That we are in this situation denotes its absence."
He turned back around, facing the vanishing sun. "I was the one who set us on this mission. If you'll forgive a bit of hubris, I'm going to expand the parameters."
Kiba scoffed, but Hinata saw the ghost of a smile. He glanced at her, and she closed her eyes.
Uncertainty. Bubbling hate, fear, rage, love, homesickness.
But above all that, ringing in her head and drowning out the emotions stirred up by her children, her husband, the Ants, the Hunters, the sunset…
'Right place. Right time.'
'You cannot turn away.'
Was it the cold passion of her ancestor, or her own hatred of suffering that provided that clarity? Hinata didn't know, but she was thankful for it all the same.
"So that's it?" she asked, as much to herself as her team. "We stay? Do what good we can?"
"Unless a better option presents itself," Shino affirmed. "Kiba?"
The Inuzuka tapped the ground. "What the hell. I gotta pay back that thing for breaking my nose anyway," he grunted.
The quiet enormity of their decision pushed them down, but Hinata felt lighter. Making any decision, even a dangerous one, had cleared her head. Her chest ached, the vision of her children receding.
The decision hurt, but at the same time, it almost made her glad. She wasn't so selfish, she thought, that she'd put seeing her children sooner ahead of hundreds, thousands, of other lives. Lives that she could save, in the right place, at the right time. When they were older, they would understand.
She was sure of that.
"Would we have done this twenty years ago?" Kiba wondered. Hinata let out a soft laugh.
"Naruto did," she said, the thought of her husband bringing a smile to her face. Kiba groaned, mumbling 'Naruto' in a simpering tone with a good-natured smile of his own.
"I've taught that in the Academy, you know," Shino said, turning his back on the nearly disappeared sun and sitting with them. "That mission to Wave."
"Of course you have," Kiba said. "It's a good example for the kids. Being a shinobi's about more than being paid.
"That," Shino said, "and that sometimes clients lie. And that no matter what, you will face unexpected challenges."
"So it's become a story." Hinata was used to that. Somehow, without them noticing, so much of her and her classmate's life had become a story for the next generation. "What do you tell them the moral is?"
"It's a good story," Shino said with a small smile of his own. They were all smiling now, seated above a monument to human misery, united in their trust and camaraderie. "An underdog story; they're always popular, even if most children can't picture the Hokage as ever being in a position of weakness."
"And the moral?" Kiba asked, leaning forward like a student himself.
"Trust your team," Shino said gravely, "and take all challenges head on, with everything you have." He leaned back. "And maybe you'll get a bridge named after you."
"Pfft," Kiba slapped his knee once, lightly. "Maybe we'll get a country with our names slapped on it at this rate, going above and beyond." He scratched his beard. "Could charge an extermination rate by now, I bet."
"Shinobi as high-priced exterminators," Shino said dourly.
"Not the strangest thing I've heard," Hinata admitted. It wasn't unusual for shinobi to take very un-ninja jobs nowadays, after all.
"Maybe," Kiba muttered. He cocked his head south. "We gonna do anything about him?" he subvocalized, the words an inaudible murmur.
"No point," Hinata said, not bothering to muffle her words. "It's not a problem."
She stood up, her feet steady under her. "We should head down. Check with the others. There's definitely some planning to do." Her team rose with her.
Their eavesdropper scuttled away as the sun gave up, finally sinking behind the mountains. Hinata was sure it was the last they would see in the NGL.
###
Killua realized that the shinobi knew he was listening in about a minute before their conversation ended. The realization sent a chill up his spine; not because it was sudden, but because of its creeping, gradual nature. They had detected him, and he hadn't realized it. How long ago had it been? One minute? Two? Since the beginning?
He'd considered approaching them then. It would have been honest, but changed nothing. They knew that he knew and he knew that they knew; all that revealing himself would accomplish was some embarrassment, a child emerging for an admonishment. He wasn't in the mood for that.
So when the conversation ended, he left. They were all headed the same way. There was no point in going together.
Killua chastised himself, his nails digging into his palm. Gon had distracted him; he'd been shaky since his only friend's breakdown, haunted by the chilling sharpness that had washed over him. Gon's despair and rage had hurt Killua worse than any injury.
`Thanks.' The doubt that had dragged Killua down after their first foray into the NGL had returned, nipping at his heels. Gon had thanked him for knocking him out a month ago. 'I would have gotten in Kite's way.'
'He wouldn't ever let that thing beat him.'
Gon had said it with such unbelievable conviction, such unbreakable certainty, that Killua had had no choice but to believe him. He's always respected and admired his first friend, but there, in that room with the light streaming in from the window and Gon's face devoid of fear or blame, his soul filled with nothing but faith and a promise, Killua had seen something more. He'd felt something akin to a spiritual lightening, like he was in the presence of something both pure and anathema to people.
People like him, or people in general? Killua had struggled with that question. He couldn't figure out where Gon's faith came from, or why it had made his heart jump.
Now, the cynicism his family had filled his bones with since he was old enough to speak had an answer.
Denial.
It wasn't an answer he agreed with–there was more to Gon than naivety–but it haunted him nonetheless. The outpouring of emotion Gon had nearly cut him with, down in the depths of the nest, had been born at least partly by that denial shattering. The reality of Kite's death had done more damage to Gon than anyone else ever had; it had been his first true defeat.
Killua's hands slipped into his pockets, his pace slowing as he strode through the nest. He'd gained a little distance.
An unexpected thought came from the other side of him, the one that had been awakened, awestruck, by Gon's light.
Maybe it's better this way, Killua thought.
It was a callous idea, and it surprised him coming from what he considered his better half, the side of him that Gon's trust and friendship had brought out. The apparent callousness of it was what let him truly consider it; it baited his cynical heart in and brutally brought it to the ground.
Gon's painful and hate-filled outpouring had been the product of a month of expectations brought to a sudden, crushing demise. He'd had no time to adjust; Kite's corpse had been shoved right in his face, and his world had flipped in a moment. Killua's pace slowed yet more as he sunk deeper into thought, the smells and sights of the abandoned nest falling into the background.
Maybe it was better this way. What if the Ants had brought Kite's corpse with them, or the King had been born and abandoned the nest another month from now, 'on schedule?' Would Gon's outburst have been the same, or twice as bad, another thirty days of feeling like a failure, of surety that Kite was just waiting to be rescued?
Twice as bad? Three times? Four? Emotions were unpredictable, and so was Gon. What would more time under pressure have produced when he came to the inevitable revelation?
Killua shivered, remembering the cold Nen. He tried to picture Gon in a state beyond that murderous despair, and could not. It was like trying to visualize the a new, unique color, or a sun without light. Impossible.
Maybe it was better to face a harsh reality, Killua thought, the two minds he carried with him everywhere–Gon's friend, and the Zoldyck killer–speaking as one. Better to face a harsh reality than hold onto a deceptive dream.
Gon would recover. He always did. He'd carry the scar Neferpitou had given for the rest of his life, but he was strong. He would bounce back.
He had to.
Pitou was the lynchpin, Killua realized. Whether Gon would come back from this, and how whole and unmarred he would be when he did, revolved around the Ant that had taken Kite from him.
If Gon was to recover, Pitou had to die. The simple solution of a killer, Killua thought with a grimacing grin.
He couldn't take Pitou. That was self-evident. Neither could Gon. The Royal Guard had defeated Kite on its own, and Kite had been easily beyond both of them.
The only person he knew who had managed to injure Neferpitou, he realized, was Hinata Hyuuga. She'd had help, and come away covered in cuts and broken bones, but she'd accomplished what Kite had not.
Hinata Hyuuga, who a month ago had followed him all the way out of the NGL out of nothing more than concern. Hinata Hyuuga, who had consoled Gon aside Kite's cooling body without a moment's hesitation. Hinata Hyuuga, who had children of her own, and could see with perfect acuity for fourteen miles in any direction.
If he and Gon stuck themselves to Hinata Hyuuga, who had just decided to remain with her comrades and do 'what good they could,' they would have the best chance of destroying Neferpitou and avenging Kite. It was simple and obvious.
The phone in Killua's pocket buzzed, and he mindlessly withdrew it and answered without checking the number.
"We're having a meeting." Knov sounded as tired as Killua felt. "Near the entrance. Get there as soon as you can."
Killua flipped the phone closed without a word, altering his path to head for the nest's entrance. His opportunity may have arrived sooner than he'd thought.
###
"We've got no idea where the King's gone," Morel said, leaning on his pipe and slouching in his seat. The semi-formal meeting was being conducted at the base of the nest in a loose circle; Knov had produced some folding chairs from Hide and Seek, and everyone present had seated themselves with the exception of Knuckle, who restlessly paced on the outside of the circle, to Morel's left. "It's a problem, but we've got other concerns right now."
"The other Ants?" Shoot asked, and Morel nodded.
"Of course," he confirmed. "Hundreds of Ants have already left the NGL, and are scattering across the continent. We've already got reports of them wandering into cities and wreaking havoc. Until we can locate the King, our main priority has to be hunting down the surviving Ants."
"So what's the plan, then?" Knuckle asked, kicking a tuft of dirt out of his way as he continued pacing. "We just chase them down one by one?"
"If I may interrupt?"
The Hunters and shinobi weren't the only ones present at the meeting. Two of the Chimera Ants had stayed behind with them; Colt, and the penguin-looking Squadron Leader who went by Peggy. It had only been a short time, but Morel had been won over by Colt's earnestness, and the humility and love he had shown the Queen and the quarter-sized offspring she'd birthed in her death throes. The kindness of the Ant clashed with its murderous acts over the last month, but Morel knew that things were not always so black and white; the Ants had considered them livestock, and Colt hadn't been driven by malice like some of the other Ants Morel had encountered. He'd simply been serving his Queen.
It was a different kind of evil, he thought, but one he could understand, and work with. Maybe even admire, if he was honest with himself.
It was Peggy who had spoken up, his croaky voice slipping past Knuckle's rough one. Knov, who was seated across from Morel, nodded to him, and the penguin straightened up. It's left arm came to an abrupt end: it had gnawed off the end of it after the King's birth.
"With the Queen's death," he said, his voice wavering, "our former comrades will all shift their focus to becoming Kings and Queens of their own."
"Meaning?" Palm asked. Morel couldn't get over how healthy she looked compared to the last time he'd seen her: like a barren tree covering itself in blossoms in the spring.
"Meaning they will seek out population centers, with a preference for humans," Peggy said. "Some will have already left the island, but not many. They will attempt to create nests of their own. If they're met with too much resistance or fail to find a fruitful hunting ground, they'll slink away to a more successful group, and abase themselves before the most powerful Ant there." It sighed. "It's pathetic, but it's our instinct."
Colt followed up, supporting his fellow Ant. "There are about four hundred and fifty survivors, give or take. In this manner, they will initially scatter but rapidly consolidate, and become much more dangerous." He looked every human in the eye, ending with Morel, and carefully articulated his next words. "The first week will be the most critical."
Morel did his best to return the Ants confidence. He was telling them how best to kill his peers, after all. "The Hunter Association is sending reinforcements as we speak: dozens of Hunters will be entering the Union in the coming days." He fiddled with his pipe, rotating it against his palm. "We'll have more than enough manpower to hunt down the various Ant groups."
'After all, the Association can't afford to lose any face here.' It was a grim thought, but an honest one. The governments of the Mitene Union had hired the Hunters to deal with the Ant threat: if they failed to uphold that contract, there'd be hell to pay.
"Combined with our informants, we should be able to keep track of various Ants across the island without too much trouble," he continued. "We'll rapidly deploy to take care of problems as they arise."
"As one team?" Killua asked. He was seated between Gon and Kiba. Both the younger Hunter and the shinobi had remained mostly silent since they'd arrived. "It would be more efficient if we split into groups of our own."
"Of course," Morel said. "We were already considering that." The air was growing colder with the sun having set; more than that, he wanted to get started as soon as possible. "Smaller teams, but each will have to be powerful enough to take on several Ants at a time."
"That would be ideal," Colt murmured.
"So what would be the best division?" Knov asked, and Morel turned to him.
"Knuckle and I would be one," he said. "We're confident the two of us would be handle anything, and our abilities work well together." He glanced at Palm. The woman was staring at Gon, who didn't return the look. The boy, who had been silent since discovering Kite's body that morning, stared resolutely ahead at something only he could see.
"I would suggest you and Palm would be another team, Knov. You'd be an ideal support group for other Hunters," Morel said quietly. Palm looked torn, but only for a moment. She nodded, along with Knov.
"Which leaves," Knov said, with a glance at Killua, "Gon, Killua, and Shoot."
"And us," Kiba said. "We're staying till this is finished."
Knov blinked. Morel was less surprised than him, but he didn't let it show. He'd had a feeling, somehow, that this had been coming.
"Really?" Knov asked. "You got what you came for."
"We did," Shino said. "But we all thought it would be irresponsible to leave now, when the situations become even more dangerous. We're staying alongside you until the situation is resolved." He raised an eyebrow behind his visor. "If you'll permit us."
Morel wondered if it was as cut and dried as that. If the shinobi really were competitors with the Ants, visitors from the Dark Continent, then it would only make sense for them to continue to "assist" the Hunters until their mutual enemy was wiped out.
"Gladly," Knov said. Morel knew it was the truth. Even if it was a ploy, wiping out the Ants took priority. "So you three, then-"
"Actually," Killua cut in. Knov shot him a look. "I've been thinking; Kiba, Shino, and Hinata are all still injured." He was right: Hinata was still covered in injuries from her brief battle with Pitou, along with her barely healed leg, while Kiba was battered. Shino's injury went without saying. "It may be better to split them up amongst us."
Morel cocked his head; it was a good plan in several ways, maybe without Killua even knowing why. If the shinobi were eventual enemies, keeping them seperate was a smart decision: if they agreed to it, it would mark them as either genuine in their intentions, or overconfident.
"If they agree, of course," Killua appended with a glance at Hinata. It was obvious she was the one he was focused on. His normal cool had been disrupted by his friend's silence, and with it his obfuscative ability. Morel was reasonably sure of the reason behind his focus. The Hyuuga was the only person to walk away after facing Neferpitou, after all.
"What were you thinking, Killua?" she asked. Morel felt she already knew the answer.
"You and Kiba both have tracking capabilities far outside any of our own," Killua said. He wasn't absolutely correct, though he didn't know it: Knuckle's Hatsu could technically track a single target farther than Hinata's Byakugan or Kiba's nose ever could. "In addition, Kiba and Shino are less injured than yourself. I'd propose the two of them teaming up with Shoot, and you going with Gon and myself. That way, they'll be an even spread of combat and recon capability across the teams."
The shinobi looked at each other, silently communicating. Kiba rolled his eyes. Shino shrugged. Hinata's lips pursed, and she looked back to Killua.
"It sounds fine to us," she said, inclining her head. "I'm looking forward to working with you, Killua, Gon."
It was ideal beyond the pragmatic parameters Killua had set out, Morel thought. He sent his own approving look to Shoot, who'd become a color somewhere between a cloudy sky and a bank of fresh snow. Working with total strangers was a necessary step in tackling Shoot's timidness; that Shino was a teacher himself was an additional unexpected boon. He was a calm and patient man, the perfect pairing for Shoot, especially when Kiba would be there pushing him far out of his comfort zone. Morel might have proposed it himself if Killua hadn't gotten there first.
Behind him, Knuckle chuckled under his breath. He was clearly thinking the same thing. Morel felt a grin tug at his mouth.
"That's settled then," he said, standing up and hefting his pipe. "We'll get started tomorrow: the Association will keep us updated on where the Ants have the most presence, but we'll likely be doing some hunting without their help. Everyone should be ready by then." The others followed him to his feet.
"And the King?" Knuckle asked. "What're we gonna do about him?"
"When he appears, we'll know," Knov said. "He's hardly a subtle creature."
Morel nodded, but below his confident facade, he wasn't so sure of the truth behind Knov's words. He just hoped his friend was right.
The longer the King remained out of sight, the worse it would be.
###
I'd definitely call this a weaker transition chapter, but I'm in no mood to sit on it for weeks to try and make it stronger. Myrmidon has reached its unofficial halfway point here: hope you enjoyed it!
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