Chapter Text
CLASS 1A
that morning…
Eraserhead breathed deeply before walking into his homeroom class. The bell rang to signify that there was five minutes until eight o’clock. He really had to go in; it was school rules that he be prepared to start class at eight. He pushed the huge door open, and as he expected, the whole class was there to bombard him.
All heads turned towards the sound, and bodies leapt out of chairs. “What happened with those kids?” “Who were those kids?” “What did they do to those kids?” “Did you get injured, professor? That was a nasty fall back there.” How dare that last kid allude to his easy defeat two days ago! He couldn’t even tell which one of them it was, since everyone was speaking over one another.
“All right! All right!” He commanded, “I will tell you everything, if you sit down and stop shouting. I’ve got a headache!”
The class complied quicker than ever before. They knew what happened when their teacher got a headache.
What had Nezu said earlier? Aizawa asked himself. Oh, right: “Those kids were involved in a quirk accident. I don’t know all the details. They are from Toronto, and will be sent back on the next flight out.”
The class erupted into disagreement and chatter. Mina was vehement. “You can’t expect us to believe that!” she shouted and waved her arms.
Aoyama was overjoyed to have something to add to the class discussion. “I know French! I know French! They definitely weren’t speaking that.”
After a while, they quieted down. Aizawa had a chance to speak again: “I don’t care if you don’t like the truth, because that is all you are getting. Now, get out the Heroes’ Mandate Book. We have to review the law of enclosure.”
----^----
KILLUA
After they’d calmed them down, Ms. Chiyo pulled the blood samples she’d taken earlier out of the testing machine, and threw them into the disposing receptacle. A burst of flame swallowed the glass and biological material quickly. All four of them moved to the computer, where data collected by the machine was loading on the screen.
Ms. Chiyo chuckled, though it was a little breathy since she was still getting over the huge fright from earlier. “You know, after all the incredible things I have seen today involving you two, I am expecting to be really blown away at this one.”
Gon laughed along with her. “We’ll try to not disappoint.” When he finished speaking, the data completed being loaded onto the screen. Nezu and Chiyo squeezed even closer to the machine, and let out synchronized gasps. Then they were silent, intent on the screen for a long while.
Killua got impatient, and questioned, “What is it? What’s so interesting?”
Nezu stepped back and rubbed his eyes. “Your blood, its…. Otherworldly, for lack of a better word.”
Ms. Chiyo agreed, “If I wasn’t already desensitized, I would be in shock,” and let out another breathless chuckle. “I expected it from your blood oxygenation reading, but both of you kids have a number of red blood cells that is off the charts. It seems like your body creates less plasma to make up for it, so the amount of nutrients carried around your body is very minimal….” She rubbed her hands together. “And the number of free radicals in your body! I am surprised your hair hasn’t fallen out yet. And the platelets! You two could probably get stabbed and not spill a drop of blood…” She dropped off.
Nezu picked up from where she ended. “But that’s not all. Somehow, your bodies have already adapted to our environment? I don’t even know how? Did you two chug mud when you were babies?” He laughed, “there has never been an immune system response like this.”
Gon had started to feel like a zoo animal by how much he was being stared at. “What can I say? We are pretty cool.” He said in an attempt to lighten the mood.
Killua shoved him in the arm because of having to suffer through that embarrassment. “I am really cool. You are only a suckerfish, along for my ride.” He got a raspberry in his face from Gon because of that.
“Could you sit down here for me please?” Nezu patted the boring, white table in the corner and suddenly became very still, with a ramrod-straight back.
Killua looked sideways at Gon with a questioning look. Gon shrugged. Killua rolled his eyes, and they sat down.
“Purely just for my curiosity….” Nezu started. Ms. Chiyo twiddled her thumbs besides him. “Are all people in your world alike to you?”
Killua looked sidelong at Gon, sitting next to him. Gon shrugged. Killua rolled his eyes. Of course, Gon would leave the answers to him.
“Everyone is like us.” His answer climbed into a slightly higher pitch at the end.
Nezu raised his furry eyebrow, “All people, or all Hunters?” Nezu stretched his arms out and gazed around the room theatrically. “Is there really anything I could do with this information? Its not like I could jump in a taxi and go to this place.”
Killua’s eyes turned to Gon, who’s face was bunched up. Gon shrugged. Killua rolled his eyes, and admonished: “Stop shrugging, it is literally driving me insane.”
“Sorry, man.” Gon then addressed Nezu. “And yes, all Hunter’s, but not all people, are like us.” Gon stated. Killua hit him in the shoulder a beat later. “OW. What was that for?”
“Don’t call me ‘man’. That was so weird!” Gon shrugged, smirking. Killua rolled his eyes and leaned back in his chair.
Nezu cleared his throat, and they refocused on him. He sported a very troubled expression. “So, there is something that they do to you, to become Hunters, that changes your body?”
Gon moved both hands in a so-so gesture. “We do it to ourselves. We even have to figure it out ourselves, too!”
“And did this process hurt?”
“I suppose?” Gon said.
“Did you feel safe doing this? Did a parent consent?”
“Uh….? Not really?” These questions were getting a little weird.
Suddenly, Ms. Chiyo let out a big sniff. “Oh, My Dear Sweet Boys!” and rushed around the table, flinging her stubby arms around their shoulders from behind. Killua could feel his shirt start to get wet from tears. Gon was trying to pet Ms. Chiyo’s hair.
Of course. This is why they seemed so out of touch with school! Why they disrespected authority! Why the Hunters seemed so unreal and unstable! Nezu thought, getting a little teary himself. They have been misused! Abused! Conditioned! And now that he thinks about it, their reactions towards being confined in that room were completely off! All the marks of an unfortunate childhood. Nezu could fix this. He empathetically told them, “We are not going to do anything like what other adults in your life have done to you…. I hope, in time, that you two will be able to trust us; allow us to help you through what I am assuming i-”
“No! No!” The two boys shouted, shaking their hands in a warding gesture in front of them. Ms. Chiyo was still clutching their shoulders from behind, so they couldn’t move much; she has a surprisingly strong grip! “You are reading this all wrong!” Gon explained, “We weren’t mistreated, or anything… or well, we weren’t mistreated by the Hunters Association.”
Killua snarled a little bit. “Yeah, stop treating us like little kids, and start finding us a way back home! Or we’ll go find someone and someplace else.”
Ms. Chiyo looked up, her eyes swimming in dew, and spoke to Nezu over the boys’ heads, “Not trusting guardian figures: number one sign in How to Spot an Underprivileged Teen in Dr. Aleberry’s book!” By the end, she got a little chocked up and it was hard to tell who exactly wrote How to Spot an Underprivileged Teen.
Killua shook himself out of the Nurse’s grip, and dragged Gon along behind him. “Come on,” he said, while ripping off the translator fish and speaker attached to the ear and hip respectively. “I can’t stand these people.” He ripped out Gon’s tech for him.
Nezu made a move to follow them out the door, but Ms. Chiyo held him back, because she believed they should, quoting from Dr. Aleberry’s book, “give [them] some time to sort through [their] complex feelings and come back.”
Killua led Gon out the school doors at around 1:45. They walked around campus, and then trudged into the forested area that seemed to never be used. They sat on a thick bough of an Oak tree, swinging their legs, and Killua ranted about these strange adults in this place, and about wanting to go home. He ran out of things to say pretty quickly, and they hopped out of the tree.
They meandered about the forest, overturning rocks and pocking at centipedes with sticks. Gon started making bird calls to amuse them both. He would cup his hands in differing ways, or alter the shape of his lips and cheeks, and a multitude of sounds could be made. He was mimicking a particularly beautiful call that rebounded all around them. It was a long descending note, followed by a couple sharp jabs of pitch. It took Gon a lot of tries to get it right. After about half an hour, Gon finally got a bird to float down from the trees and land on his palm. It’s a rather boring looking, small, puke-green colored bird. It hopped about on Gon’s palms like they were made of lava. Its feathers were very ruffled; it made the bird look peeved. It cocked its head to stare at them both with a suspicious eye.
Killua sighed, discontent. “I thought it would be cooler. All that effort for not a very cool bird.” After he finished complaining, the puke-green bird attacked his face. Like, seriously, attacked it. Feathers buffeted his eyes, and talons tried to scratch his cheeks (of course, they couldn’t do that). “Oh, you stupid bird!” The attacks got worse, “All right! All right! I am sorry I said you weren’t cool!” The little bird went and sat on Gon’s head. They were both laughing at Killua; of course, birds can’t laugh, but – to him – this one could.
Gon almost fell over from his hysteria, he couldn’t even speak. The bird got off Gon’s head and started bobbing around him, twittering softly. Once Gon regained his sanity, the bird occupied the crown of his head again. “Oh, heeheehee. This’ll teach him to not complain, won’t it, Bisk.” He wiped his eyes.
Killua was so embarrassed that he could feel the heat radiating off his own cheeks. He decided to push through it anyway, and asked, “Bisk? Who’s that?” He rubbed his cheeks to get rid of the access bird-dust; you know, this skin doesn’t just happen without effort. He was going to have pimples from the bird’s dirtiness.
Gon pointed at his head, where the bird lied snuggly in the mess of wavy strands. “I decided to name him after Ms. Bisky.”
“You named it! It’s a bird!” Killua pre-emptively covered his face with his hands in case Bisk – sorry, the crazy bird – decided to attack him again. He was safe, though. The bird didn’t move.
“Yeah, but Bisk did a really good thing for me today, already.” Gon stepped closer to Killua, invading his space.
“What?” He could feel his cheeks get a little warm again. His hands twitched.
Gon raised one eyebrow, and lowered another, while peering upwards. It made him look really ugly. “I got to see you flustered.” His face broke into a sadistic grin.
“Shut Up!” He ordered, and started walking the other direction. Best to change the topic, he decided. “Let’s go back to that clearing we saw a while back. I want to ask you something important.”
Gon trotted up to his side, happily. “Alright.” The accursed bird, Bisk, was still on his head.
“Why isn’t he flying away?” Killua brought up a hand over Gon’s head and tried to shoo it away. The bird tried to peck at his fingers in a rude fashion. Killua gave up.
“Bisk must like my hair. You’ve gotta admit, it’s gorgeous.” Gon shot finger guns at invisible targets.
“The seed of beauty is in humility.” He quoted.
“Hell Yeah, it is- wait…” That is when the made it to the clearing. It was a disgruntled oval shape with blots of clover and dark blue flowers. Lengthwise, it was North and South, with its width being East and West. Killua lied down in the center of it on the surprisingly clean, fresh, and soft grass and looked at the clouds. The sky was sparse, yet the clouds that were hanging about on the world’s ceiling were fluffy and solid. The sun was slightly off the center of the sky; it kind of hurt his eyes.
Gon dropped and lied down next to him. Bisk winged off, and he waved goodbye to the bird’s butt sadly until it was lost to the trees. Killua refrained from a joyous shout. “What did you want to ask me about?” Gon asked.
“Your Nen.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.” Killua turned to Gon, who was already looking at him. “Like, what have you done so far, and why you keep letting it go.”
Gon frowned. “Letting it go? What do you mean?”
Killua waved his hand over Gon’s body, disturbing the little tendrils of foggy life force that curled upwards and then dissipated into the air. “Your Nen? What did you think I meant, your bladder or something?” He snickered a little.
Gon’s mouth fell open. “You can see my Nen right now!?!?”
“……Yes? Can’t you feel it?” Killua waved his hand over Gon again. The tendrils became stranger the longer he sat still and studied them. They have been kind of tossed around the past couple days, so he hadn’t the opportunity. They were sluggish and thin, like a trail of ants with heavy burdens. Why did it seem so different than he remembered? He recalled Gon’s aura resembling the eye of the hurricane, or a safe room in a burning house: Scooch a centimeter right outside this little space, and there would be chaos. At that moment, though, the aura felt secure and old, like it had all the time in the world. Maybe it’s just because they haven’t seen each other in a while, Killua concluded.
“I can’t feel it at all! I have been trying and trying for so long, every single day, and nothing!”
“What are you doing?” Killua was deep in thought.
“I pick a new spot every day, that’s quiet, and breathe, and listen to the wildlife or the ocean. Once I feel I’m ready, I try to reach for that familiar feeling, but it’s never there!” Gon flopped onto his back, and flung his arms to the sky like he was berating the world. “Sometimes I feel like I get a twinge or a spark, but once I try to track it, it disappears. It’s really annoying. I can’t believe I took so much advantage over my Nen, you know, when I had it and everything.” Gon crossed his arms over his stomach. “It feels really weird. I feel normal and complete, but I know there is something missing, since I can’t feel my Nen at all.”
“Maybe there isn’t something missing?” Killua struggled to his feet, and offered his friend a hand up. They were both standing across from one another. Killua set his hand on Gon’s chest, feeling his heartbeat. It was a little quick. “Close your eyes and breathe with my counting. Inhale: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Hold: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Exhale: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Hold: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.” And so, this pattern continued until Gon’s heartbeat contracted along with the counting: sixty beats per minute. The breaths were so long and soft that no sound at all was made by his body’s bellows or the moving air. The only sign he was not a statue was the almost indiscernible movement of his chest, and the strong thumping on Killua’s palm. The sun dipped behind the tree line. “Contain it: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Contain it: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Contain it: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Contain it: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.” A couple rounds of this later, and the Nen falling upwards started to condense around Gon’s head. Around his shoulders, he started to get a thick layer of murkiness. His bare feet – Gon didn’t wear shoes in the forest – were sandaled in a dusting of nothing. Killua got uplifted! All this boring counting was working! He watched with wonderous eyes as his friend contained his Nen that he couldn’t feel. Killua stretched out his own Nen and wrapped it around the other, to help in any way he could.
He suddenly had an idea. “I’m sorry, this might hurt.” Gon’s eyes flashed open in response. Without thinking, Killua transmuted the other’s Nen into lightning.
Gon screamed, and then let out an “OW! That hurt!” He looked down at his body, shook his head, and started screaming again, this time with joy, “I can see it, Killua! I can feel it again!” He hopped around in circles, waving his arms around. The electricity dimmed quickly after Killua stopped transmuting it. Now, the life-force, in its normal state, was gushing out of him like a waterfall, instead of the earlier rivulets. This could mean trouble.
“Gon! Settle down!” Killua grabbed his friend around the middle from behind, locking his hands to his side. “You have to contain it again!”
Gon had started breathing hard. “I can’t! I don’t know how!” the Nen continued to be let out to the air in a huge waterfall. Gon got noticeably weaker after a couple moments.
Killua was starting to perspire nervously along his forehead, and his eyes – with blown out pupils – were stretched wide in fear. He was supporting a lot of Gon’s weight by now. The gush of Nen wasn’t slowing down. Think! He shouted to himself. He did the only thing his brain could conjure up that could help. “Contain it: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.” And he repeated it and repeated it, while moving his right hand back to its position above his friend’s heart.
Gon’s breathing got less hurried after a while, and a little film of energy, like an umbrella, reclaimed its spot over his head. “That’s good: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14.” Killua said it over and over again.
Things grew calm again. They hadn’t noticed, but the trees were watching them, and they had gotten anxious for a while there. Bisk, too, was peering from an Elm. The trees believed good in them both; more so the green-haired one, though.
Killua stepped back and let Gon support his own weight after a while. He staggered a little, but regained balance pretty quickly. Killua walked around to see Gon’s face. It was pinched; his eyes were shut tight enough to withstand a sandstorm, and his mouth was in a straight line. His Nen was gentle, regular, and plodding along, like a cow. “You’re all right. You can open your eyes.”
Gon opened one eye slowly, then shut it again in an instant. Then he opened the other one, and shut it again. A second later, he opened both of them, and looked down at himself. “Woah.” He twisted his arms around, moving slowly. “This is strange.”
“Yeah, it is.” For it was strange. Everything was different.
Gon smiled. “Well, I guess this explains why this was hard. I was searching for something that was long gone.”
Killua nodded. “I am just impressed you had your nodes opened, but not containing your Nen, for so long.”
“I have been really tired I guess, after what happened, but I thought it was, ‘cause, you know, near death experience and everything. Aunt Mito kept saying it was because of puberty.”
Killua laughed.
----^----
AIZAWA
School let out at 3:30. Aizawa scrambled to Nezu’s office, and was in front of the door there one minute and four seconds after the bell. He crashed through it. “My class is driving me insane. We have to release a statement about….” He trailed off at the end. Ms. Chiyo and Nezu were both sitting on the big and important principal’s desk, with cherry spritzers in hand and their legs dangling from the edge. A couple books were lying about them or on their laps. How to Spot an Underprivileged Teen was sitting under Aizawa’s shoe, with a couple pages torn out. “Why’s this book on the floor?” He picked it up with his pointer and thumb. Dr. Aleberry stared at him from the cover.
Nezu looked up from the book he was browsing through. “It’s a bad book; you can throw it out.” He took a sip of his drink.
Ms. Chiyo disagreed. “It’s not that it’s bad. It doesn’t fit our uses, and is a little outdated.”
“You just say that since you think the author is attractive.”
“Maybe I do, yet it wouldn’t matter, since it doesn’t affect my judgement at all.”
Aizawa stumbled across the room and sat in one of the armchairs, momentarily forgetting why he was there. Oh, right, he remembered. “I need you to think up a better story for those two ‘Canadian’ kids. My problem-children aren’t buying it.”
Nezu handed him a glass of spritzer, which discombobulated Aizawa. He hadn’t seen his boss stir it. “Were finding out what to do with those boys now, actually. Care to join?”
“What are you doing? And what does…” He paused to read the title of one of the books. “Childhood Psychological Development have to do with them?”
Ms. Chiyo moved off the desk and tugged Aizawa’s sleeve, which at her height was the only thing she could reach. “These poor children. They have had no one to take care of them. As an educator, I must help and provide a support for them.”
“We are talking about Zoldyck and Freecs, right? The two that Mr. Nezu called, not even two days ago, a danger to UA’s safety and someone we must apprehend?” Ms. Chiyo assented. “I don’t understand.”
“They revealed some things about there past, to us today…. And aren’t there reactions and demeanor evidence enough that they have been mistreated? We must try harder.” He went back to reading.
Aizawa set down his spritzer, even though he wanted to chuck it across the wall and watch as the crystal shattered to a thousand pieces. “I think you are going senile, and ignoring the possibility that they are playing you for a, a, a fool!” He stood up and paced around in the room. The other two adults were silent. He realized his mistake quickly, and walked over to the man who signs his paycheck every month. “I’m sorry. I am just very high-strung right now…. For some reason, everything that I see reminds me of the USJ incident.”
Nezu condescendingly patted his rough cheek with his claw. It made Aizawa feel not yet ten years of age. “It’s okay, Shota. I’ll let it pass if you go check on them – in quadrant six of the woods – to see if they are okay. Don’t bother them, though.”
“All right.”