Chapter Text
The sun beat down on the dusty highway.
Two police cars were in pursuit of another smaller, faster car. It was red, and smeared with grime, and not far from being on its last legs. With a final rev and a cloud of dust, it ran itself right off the highway, down into the ravine below. There was a crash and a sickening sound of twisting metal.
In a few hours, three other cars would come upon it.
. . .
“Gon!” Killua shouted, over the noise of the road and of the whooshing wind. “Did you see that?”
“See what?”
“That car down there! It must’ve gone clean over the side.” Gon threw his nature magazine down and stood up out of his seat. “Wait, I do see it! Pull over, Killua.”
Killua threw him a skeptical glance. “I think we should let the police deal with it, Gon. Or probably the morgue at this point.”
Gon huffed. “C’mon. What if we’re just in time? He could be dying down there!”
“Alright, alright.”
One car back, a blond young man and his friend were engaged in a heated debate.
“We took this vacation to relax, can’t you put that aside for a bit?”
“Actually, I can’t, Leorio. This is due tonight.”
Leorio groaned. He turned to survey the landscape in front of them, and gasped.
“What is it?”
“There’s a man down there! He looks like he’s in trouble.”
Kurapika leaned over to look. “Can you help him?”
“Worth a shot.”
A ways back on the road, an entirely different conversation was taking place.
“Oh, my.”
“What is it now? Your hairspray go on sale?”
“It looks to me like that man down there is in an awful jam.”
Ging turned to look. As they rounded the curve he got a very clear view of the smoking wreckage down below. “Give me those binoculars.”
“Please, he said.” Ging ignored Pariston and peered down through the binoculars. An elderly man lay prone a few yards from the wreck.
“Damn.” He passed the binoculars back to Pariston. “I’d say he’s done for.”
“What, we’re not going to go down there and help him?”
Ging paused. Pariston raised his eyebrows at him.
“Do you know something?”
Pariston just smiled and gestured to the valley. “Let’s just see what our poor friend down there has to say.”
. . .
The six of them descended into the valley. Gon and Killua were the first down. Gon sprinted over the rough terrain like it was nothing and seized the old man’s hands.
“Hey! Are you alright? What can I do?”
The old man coughed and regarded Gon with bleary eyes. “I don’t think…I’m going to make it.” Gon’s eyes welled up with tears. Killua stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder.
The old man regarded the gathered crowd. Ging stood off to the side. Pariston shook his head sadly and let a few crocodile tears fall. Gasping, Leorio made it to the bottom and ran to the old man’s side, Kurapika trailing warily behind him.
“Hey. I’m a doctor. I’m just going to-“
“It’s no use,” wheezed the old man. “Just..be quiet and listen to me. There’s….a treasure.”
Everyone’s eyes went wide.
“That’s right…so much dough….$350,000 dollars of it. And it’s all buried…under the big W in Santa Rosita State Park.”
“The big W,” Kurapika echoed. Leorio turned to see him furrowing his brow. Pariston’s eyes were still suspiciously wide, and Ging gave him a sideways glance.
“It’s all yours…all of it…if you can get to it.”
“Hey, don’t talk,” Gon cut in. He turned to Leorio. “Mister, you said you were a doctor. Can you-“
Leorio shook his head. “I’m sorry, kid.”
The old man turned to Gon. “I had a good run…all that’s left is to…get rid of the money. If the cops come asking about it… don’t-“ he wheezed. Killua put his arms around Gon and pulled him back. The old man coughed again, and lay still.
Gon lowered his head. Killua reached forward and closed the old man’s eyes. Then he turned to the others with an unreadable expression. “Well, you heard the old man. $350,000…and he wanted us to have it. I think-“
Pariston cleared his throat. Everyone turned to him. “I…for one…on this tragic occasion…to honor his memory, will say nothing to any inquiring authorities.”
Ging snorted. “Same for me.”
Kurapika stepped forward and cast a disapproving look at them. “Are we sure that what he said was true? Often, before they pass...people have been known to talk nonsense.”
“He seemed lucid, “ Leorio cut in. He scowled at the ground. “Don’t know why he’d choose a bunch of greedy strangers to give his money to, but that’s what it is.”
“Guys,” Killua said quietly. Everyone looked to where he pointed. At the top of the valley, three police cars had pulled over. A man in a black and white suit was making his way down to them.
“Alright everyone,” said Pariston cheerfully. “Not a word about the money.”
. . .
Aside from a nearly disastrous slip on Gon’s part, the six witnesses went away confident that the police knew nothing about the money. Whether it was real at all, however, was a different story.
“Do you think it’s real?” Gon asked Killua. Everyone was back in their cars, making a distinct effort to appear as though the money was the last thing on their minds.
Killua frowned. “Hard to say it’s not.”
“Couldn’t it have been some kind of.. practical joke?”
Killua huffed out a laugh. “A practical joke? That guy was laying there with every bone in his body broken. Don’t think he’d want to play a practical joke on complete strangers.”
“Hmm.”
Killua glanced over at Gon. He still seemed a bit shaken by the old man’s death.
“Hey,” Killua started. “That’s really a ton of money. With that we could-“
“I know,” Gon sighed. He reached forward and peered into the rearview mirror. “Uh, Killua?”
“Mmm?”
“You might want to speed up a little.”
. . .
“I don’t know about you, Peeks, but that sort of money could make my life a whole lot easier.”
“Mm.”
“I’d be willing to make a fair split with the others…but I don’t know that those other guys would be. Well, the kids are probably willing. It’s more the…”
“The suspiciously well dressed man and his friend?”
“Yeah.” Leorio studied Kurapika. The corner of his mouth had pulled up into a little smirk.
“Don’t worry. I’ll make sure there’s a fair split. And if all else fails, well…”
“Well what?”
Kurapika shrugged. “I’ll just have to take matters into my own hands.”
Leorio gulped. The last time Kurapika had said that, they had woken up in jail.
“Hey, it'd be nice, but let’s not get carried away here.”
“Oh, I don’t think we’re the ones getting carried away at the moment.”
Leorio turned around in his seat. The glittery man and his friend were gaining on them.
. . .
The three cars traced each other around the bend. It was really a beautiful day: clear blue skies, seventy degrees, a long view of the horizon and into the valley. It was a little hard to focus on the beauty when you were rapidly accelerating to unreasonable speeds around a curve, however.
“What the hell are they trying to pull?” Killua muttered. “We can’t keep this up forever.”
Gon glanced over worriedly. Killua had a firm grip on the wheel, and Gon knew that he could manage a car at well over the legal limit with ease. He didn’t know if the others could.
“Well, I suppose if the others lose control and die in a fiery wreck, the money’s ours.”
“Killua!”
“Hey, I’m just telling it like it is. I’m not the one pushing two other cars to 90 miles an hour over a rumor of treasure.”
Gon turned around in his seat. If anyone still thought the money was fake, they weren’t showing it. It was them in the lead, the doctor and his friend behind them, and finally the man in the suit and his companion, gradually speeding up. No one was letting the others overtake them.
“What should we do?” Gon muttered.
Then, suddenly, the car in the rear began to slow.
“Oh, what’re they doing now?” Killua’s eyes flicked to the rearview mirror.
“Should we go talk to them?”
Killua sighed. “Might as well, unless we want to worry about them all the way to Santa Rosita.”
. . .
All three cars pulled off the road, into a dusty, abandoned lot. The roaring of traffic from the road was the only sound.
Pariston flung open the door and stumbled out, laughing. Gon and Killua walked side by side to the center of the lot, cautiously. Ging slammed the passenger side door and muttered something about how he was perfectly fine with managing a car at high speeds. Kurapika and Leorio were the last to reach the center of the lot. Once they were all assembled, Pariston stepped forward and spread his hands apologetically.
“Well, friends, that certainly got a little crazy! I thought my dear friend Ging and I-”
“-not your friend-“
“were going to die at one point! So I said to myself, ‘we’re all reasonable people. Why don’t we just stop for a little while and discuss?’ The floor is yours.”
No one said a word. Killua kicked at a rock with his expensive shoes. Leorio looked around like he’d been left on Mars. At length Kurapika stepped forward.
“The thing to do, obviously, is to split the money evenly. If that’s amenable to you all-“ he looked pointedly at Pariston, “we should agree, drive down there at legal speeds, and each get an equal share.”
“That’s a wonderful plan, Mr.-“
“Kurapika.”
“Mr. Kurapika,” Pariston started.
“Kurapika is my first name.”
“Well what’s your last name, then?”
Kurapika didn’t say anything. Pariston shrugged and continued.
“Anyway, there’s only one problem with it, that I can see. Two of the assembled witnesses look to be… well… children.”
“You little-” Killua muttered.
“I’m not sure they'd even know what to do with the money, or who it would pass to if they acquired it. Frankly, I’m not even sure how they’re driving, but I’m not one to pry. I propose, therefore, that we split the money unequally. The smallest share for the two little children, a slightly larger share for you two teens, and the largest share for Ging and I, who are reasonable adults.”
Kurapika started forward with a murderous look in his eyes, but Leorio put an arm in front of him.
“If that’s not amenable to you all-“ Pariston said with a grin, “I do have an alternate proposal.”
“Yes?” Kurapika’s voice was almost inaudibly strained.
Pariston smiled. “And that is simply every man for himself!”
“Alright, alright!” Leorio stepped into the center of the circle. “Hold on, everybody.”
Killua, standing in the corner with Gon, sighed in defeat. This was going to be interesting.
“If everyone would just calm down,” Leorio continued. Killua raised his eyebrows, elbowed Gon in the side. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” he whispered.
Gon didn’t turn or reply, but Killua thought he felt him tense ever so slightly. He was ready to bolt.
“There’s enough for all of us,” Leorio continued, seemingly oblivious to Kurapika leaning down to pick up his bag and pull it over his shoulder, or to the manic glee that Pariston couldn’t quite keep from spreading slowly across his face.
“There’s enough for you-“
Killua braced himself.
“And you,”
They were all backing away from each other.
“And him, and me, and-“
“Run, Gon!” Killua shouted.
“Oh, screw it!” Leorio exclaimed.
And then they were all sprinting, Killua vaulting over the passenger side door of their car and landing in the driver’s seat, engines roaring to life, tearing away down the dusty road.