#my AU padokea!

[solaarts]

More Seeking Petrichor info: Padokea! 

Read beneath the cut - long post!

Loosely based on ancient China, but with a more modern, steampunk-esque flair. Post-apocalyptic society *does* know all the old futuristic science, after all - it’s just that nobody can use it

The Padokean language is actually just Mandarin. (Killua is fluent in most languages)

Ritualistic, rigid social hierarchy (as follows)

Emperor/Empress

Emperor/Empress-Abdict (for retired rulers)

Imperial Highness (crown prince/princess)

Highness (prince/princess)

Emperor’s Hand – personal retinue of generals/assassins/advisors/noble allies/mages. Belonging to this group supersedes other statuses

Nobility (hereditary/granted titles)

Dukes (gong yi)

Marquis (hou si)

Vizcount (zi san)

Baron (nan er) 

Government Officials (appointed, civil service exam & combat exam, commoners welcome)

Nine grades (pin3), each divided into an upper (zheng4) and a lower (cong2)

Grades 4-9 are further divided into upper (shang4) and lower (xia4) as well (highest rank - 1a, lowest rank – 9b2)

Military (based off US rank system, commoners welcome)

Merchants/tradesmen/craftsmen

Working class/farmers

Serfs – those who farm a noble’s land. 

Sons are required to enlist in the military upon turning 18 (Padokean age of majority) and serve until they are 22. 

Women may choose to serve in the military or in the nobles’ home

Upon completion of their time they are required to return home (unless they received a promotion) and serve in the nobles’ militia while farming.

Nobles who abuse their powers over serfs may be stripped of their titles

Royals require no consultation to strip titles

Higher-ranked nobility who wish to strip titles must be at least two ranks higher and must have the consent of the Emperor’s Hand

Criminals

More ranks = higher social standing

Nobles, Government Officials, and Military officials can all possess simultaneous ranks in all three categories

To determine which person is socially higher, the highest nobility, then government position, then military rank is looked at in, that order. 

If a noble is outranked in BOTH government position and military rank, however, then they are of socially lower standing.

Exception to the social hierarchy!

Zhijiao – essentially platonic soulmate-marriage. People in romantic relationships are also occasionally each other’s Zhijiao, but it’s not a requirement.

You can only have one Zhijiao in your entire life - and it’s pretty rare

Both Zhijiao share the higher social status

Zhijiao are permitted to speak on each others’ behalf, spend each others’ money, and establish political relationships/goals in each others’ stead.

If one member of a Zhijiao pair commits a felony, both Zhijiao are charged for that felony. (lesser charges do not affect both individuals)

Forcefully separating a Zhijiao pair for any reason is illegal in Padokea, and is punishable by a minimum of ten years imprisonment

If someone murders your Zhijiao you’re legally allowed to exact revenge.

It’s caused blood feuds before because of chain-reactions of Zhijiao killing each other

The breaking of a Zhijiao bond is unheard of, and has only happened in cases of deep personal betrayal. 

Breaking a Zhijiao bond is cause for social ostracism for both parties, unless the fault very clearly lies with one of the pair

A Zhijiao bond between two people whose families oppose their marriage is commonly considered a marriage cheat, given that afterward it is illegal to separate them for any reason. 

(YOU ALL KNOW THIS FIC IS KILLUGON ALREADY)

The only formality required to cement a Zhijiao bond is for both people to either tattoo or brand the other person with their personal or family sigil

[sweetchup]

A Helping Hand 4: Ghosts of Pasts // Day 1

Type: Shalnark x reader

Au?: Savior Au

Word Count: 2,800+

Warnings: Reminsing of last chapter, Injury, Meteor City mentioned

Author Note: Ah! I’m glad to be back writing this series sorry for the long wait. I split chapter 4 up into multiple parts so it’s going to be looooong.

Also, I’ve started a Taglist for all of my series to make it easier for people to find out when the next installation is. So if you want the be added just sent me an ask thats not anonymous and I’ll add you.

<—(Pt.3) / (Pt.4.2)—>

A Helping Hand Masterlist

It was the eve of December 18th, when snow finally fell throughout the Republic of Padokea. However, there was no celebration or cheer by the citizens as all of the festive winter holidays had already passed by then. With most just deciding to bunker in for a quiet night at home. Even at the Hospital near the bloodthirsty Heaven’s Arena it was rather quiet, almost dull in a way.

Though, one specific doctor, Doctor (y/n) of the intensive care unit, had little to complain about the lack of patients and activity. It was rather refreshing actually, mostly due to the fact it was your last night on the job before you went on your week long holiday break, a break you had planned out with your supervisor months ahead of time.

Months before you had met a specific man. Much more specifically, a specific patient named Shalnark Ryuseih. A member of the infamous Phantom troupe who you had saved from his demise at the Heaven’s Arena.

…. As well as someone you might have developed a really really big crush on during your time taking care of him. But, that’s a story for another day and something you shouldn’t be worrying about right now. Especially since you still have plenty of time left on the clock before you go home.

As the seconds click a way, you find yourself letting out a groan. It was no use. You couldn’t get him out of your mind.

You just wished that it was the usual thoughts of Shalnark that festered in your mind during work. The ones that were caused from something as simple as him holding you in his arms tighter than usual while he slept one night or perhaps a teasing comment he shot at you while passing in the hall.

But that sadly wasn’t the case.

For the last couple of weeks, Shalnark had been acting…… weird.

Well he technically always acted weird—a man who actually enjoyed indulging in birthday cake flavored ice cream could not be considered normal in your book— but this time, he was actually acting quite strange.

Sometimes, when doing check ups or just visiting his room you could hear him sigh. It was quite unnoticeable at first, you had just thought he was frustrated with some new tech thing he got into, but as December went on the sigh only got heavier and more frequent. This was also when some of Shalnark’s other actions started to be strange as well, something as simple as,“What are you doing for the Holidays?” Or, actually now that you think about it, anything that was remotely related to the holidays would have the corner of his lips drop slightly. Something very strange for him, for he hardly faltered that smile of his.

And it wasn’t as if you weren’t trying to find out what was wrong. You had asked him plenty of times about his new habits. Though, in a Shalnark fashioned way, he would just brush you off with a grin and be confused as to what you were talking about.

So, if Shalnark isn’t going to tell you himself what was wrong. You were just going to have to take it upon yourself to make him feel better. Emotional health is just as important as physical health in your book.

“For the last time (y/n), I hope you know what you are getting yourself into.” Mal reminds you for the 15th time since you entered her office space.

“Yes, yes. I understand, don't worry about it.” You reassure the older woman as you continue to fill in the blanks to finish up the paperwork. All the while attempting to ignore her as she nags your ear off. “Okay I’m done. Thanks by the way Mal, I really owe you one”

As Mal takes the paperwork from your hands, she gives you one last warning of caution,

“I know Shalnark is under your care and all, and you have gotten pretty close to him during his stay…. but don’t you think having him leave with you for vacation is a little much? It’s legal, for some odd reason, but you should be careful. Not only is he a grown man that could try anything while you are alone with him but if any of the higher ups hear about this, you could get in a lot of trouble.”

“True, but I doubt that,” You hum out as you fumble with grabbing your winter coat off the rack, “The higher ups don’t exactly care much about paperwork unless one of the secretaries, like yourself, reports something. So unless you choose to report me, I don’t have much to worry about.”

“Fine. Just…. be careful. I swear you have been getting more and more reckless the more you spend with that man.”

“I will. Don’t worry, Mal. See you in a week!!”

“Okay, see you in a week.” Mal responds back, her wave goodbye immediately faltering as you close the door. Taking a deep breath to calm down the uneasy feeling in her gut, She just hoped you knew what you were doing.

Once Mal sends you off, you make your way in the direction of Shalnark’s room. You are excited to tell him about your little surprise but also quite scared because you did not exactly ask him… permission…. to sign him out.

“Come in.” Shalnark's voice rings out from behind the door as you knock. Coming into the room, you see that, as per normal, Shalnark was clicking away at his laptop. He seemed busy with something since even when you took the seat at his bedside he couldn’t seem to tear his eyes away from the screen.

After a couple more minutes of listening to the clicking of keys, Shalnark finally closes his laptop and turns his attention to you.

“Hello (y/n)! What brings you in here today?” He asks, resting his chin on one of his hands as he observes you. As Shalnark scans you up and down you can’t help but notice the mischievous look in those blue eyes of his. You kind of wondered what he was thinking, or possibly planning, but then again— knowing Shalnark —you didn’t want to know what was running through that brain of his.

“Can’t I just visit you?”

“I guess you could.” Shalnark comments halfheartedly as if you don’t already visit him for fun on the daily already, “I’m just surprised you haven’t gone home for your vacation. It’s your last shift tonight, right?”

Shalnark might have asked the last part as a question, but you already knew— from tons of experience with dealing with him —that he already formed his own answer in his head.

“Missed me that much huh?...” Shalnark whispers out, his eyes seeming to sparkle under the light as he leans back against the headboard of his bed.

“S-shut up.” You grumble out. Swiftly putting the paperwork in your hand up to your face as you could already feel your cheeks begin to flare up from flusteration. You swore this man had no sense of fear or dignity.

“Hmm?” You feel Shalnark grab at the paperwork wrinkled in your hand; recognizing his photo ID on the cover. “What’s this?”

“Paperwork.”

“What type of Paperwork?” Shalnark presses forward, already taking it from your hand to examine it. No matter how close you two have gotten during his stay, he has always been extremely thorough about looking at what you put down on his paperwork. Must be something he picked up while being in the troupe you guessed.

Suddenly, you see Shalnark’s gaze pause on a section of the paperwork. His body unintentionally freezing up in surprise as he rereads it again. However, instead of instantly asking or explaining his confusion, your eyes are trained to his lips, ever so slightly parted due to confusion.

Unconsciously, you run your fingers over your neck. Your mind flashing back to what happened when Shalnark was under the effect of the aphrodisiac drug. The tingly feeling of his lips raking up and down your neck. Kissing, sucking and biting at any possible skin he could—

“(Y/n), What is this?” He mumbles out, his eyes still trained to the paperwork.

“U-uh Well…” You pause for a second as you try to calm yourself down from your thoughts, thinking about what you should exactly say, “Recently, I’ve noticed you being quite down. Kind of depressed or miserable in a way—”

“Huh? I haven’t been depressed.” Shalnark exclaims, snapping out of the trance he was in as well as cutting off what you were saying.

“Let me finish idiot.” You grumble at Shalnark, flicking his forehead in anger. “Also even if you aren’t depressed—“

“Which I’m not.”

“...Do you want to get punched this time?” You threatened, watching as Shalnark suddenly broke out in a cold sweat. Memories flashing in his head of Lara pissing you off and facing your unwavering wrath. After one last glare, you continued what you were explaining, “As I was saying, Even if you aren’t depressed, it would be good for you to get out of the hospital. Hence why I decided to sign you out for my vacation week.”

It’s silent in the room as Shalnark just stares at you; an unreadable expression on his face. However, before you can figure out what expression it was, he quickly snaps out of it.

“Oh nice. That’s actually awesome.” Shalnark announces out, letting out a small giggle. “Just one question though… Is this even legal?”

“In a way…” You squeak out, watching as Shalnark looks at you with a knowing smile. Clearly understanding that you were pressing the line of legality and a possible felony in this situation.

“Well,” You watch as Shalnark shuffles out of bed; Planting his feet in front of yours before sending you a subtle wink, “Let’s get out of here before we get caught, okay?”

—.—.—.—.—.—

“So,” Shalnark starts, looking at the small white townhouse in front of him, “This is your house?”

“Um. Yeah?” You answer questioningly as you fiddle with your keys, “What about it?”

“Oh nothing.” You watch as Shalnark squats down in front of the garden gnome next to your tomato plant. Seeming to take in the plethora of plants covering your front patio. “It’s cute. I like it.”

“Thanks.” You mumble out bashfully as you unlock the front door, “I only rent the bottom floor of this place so it's quite small. But it's home.”

Before you enter, You offer a hand to help Shalnark up (He still has quite the injury in his legs after all) and watch as he walks inside your house; a limp still ever present as he walks. You just hope that he doesn’t push himself too far while with you. He might be a nen user but—

“Oh wow!” Shalnark’s voice calls out from inside the house, breaking your train of thoughts as you shut and lock the door. Confused yet curious at what he found interesting in your house, you slipped off your shoes—taking a small mental note that you should tell Shalnark to take off his as he forgot to— and walked over to his location. As you round the corner of the hall and gaze into your living room, you can’t help but let out a huff of a laugh. You can’t believe you totally forgot about Chloe.

There she stood, your 8 year old Sphynx cat that a college roommate had given you years ago, curled up in a fluffy blanket on top of her cat tree. Shalnark stood in front of the tree, looking up at the cat with an amused look as it glared down at him.

“Chloe.” You call out to your cat as you make your way next to Shalnark, “Come here baby.”

As you lift the cat off the tower, still wrapped in a blanket, and cradle her in your arms, you feel your breath hitch for a second. You turn your head as you feel a sudden pressure on your back and see Shalnark leaning over your shoulder. You stood there frozen and flustered, unable to move or look away from his face, from how close he was to you. However, Shalnark doesn’t notice how flustered you are; his attention focused on the cat in your arms. Eventually, he brings his hand down to pet her. Watching curiously as she sniffs his hand for a second before allowing him to touch her.

“They truly don’t have any fur…” Shalnark muses out as he rubs at Chloe’s ears, causing you to smile as you feel the rumbling of her purrs against your chest. “Hey (y/n)... did you know these guys are actually from Meteor city?”

“Wait… Really?” You shout out surprised, finally snapping out of the trance you were in.

“Yep!” Shalnark states rather proudly, “They were caused by accidental breeding by abandoned cats in the junkyards. …Though, the ones from Meteor city are quite rabid and terrifying so you can’t pet them like this. They would surely kill you.”

Startled, you give Shalnark a confused look, “No way…You're joking…”

“Nope.” He responds, popping the ‘p’ at the end as he walks away from you two and takes a seat on the couch. Your back suddenly feeling quite cold now that he was no longer next to you. “Even our toughest members like Phinks and Feitan were scared of those things.”

“Oh wow…“ You mumble out in amazement, placing Chloe back at the top level of the cat tree before taking a seat next to Shalnark. “...Meteor City sure sounds scary.”

“Eh, in a way.” Shalnark sighs out, stretching his back before suddenly resting his head on your lap. Startled at the act of affection, you freeze and stare down at him. Your mouth agape in shock. What… What was he doing?

“Oh.” Shalnark murmurs out as he takes note of your expression, already beginning to sit up, “Sorry, I stepped over a line didn’t I—”

“Ah! No!” You shout out, startling the both of you at how loud you were, “I mean… uh. I don’t mind, it just surprised me that’s all.”

“Oh. Okay?” Shalnark says, raising an eyebrow at you. As he sees your still worried expression looking down at him as he lays back down, he decides to flick at your forehead, surprising you. You two stare at each other for a couple of seconds before breaking out into light laughter at your stupid expression.

“W-what was that huh?”

As your laughter eventually stops, leaving you two in a comfortable silence, you stare down at Shalnark; his arms lazily crossed above his head with his eyes shut.

“You know…” You start, a stifle of a giggle sneaking up as a funny thought crosses your mind, “...You remind me of a cat right now.”

“Oh really?” Shalnark huffs out amused, popping one of his eyes open to gaze up at you.

“Yeah. All elongated on the couch, looking like you're about to fall fast asleep… Just like a little kitty cat.” You cooed out at him, taking two strands on the opposite sides of his head to form cat ears.

Shalnark sputters out a laugh before sending you a wink, “Go on. Give me a pet, Doc.”

You feel yourself freeze up as everything that has happened in these last couple of minutes hits you like a truck. Shit… You're his doctor, you idiot. This was what Mal was talking about about you getting too close with him. You have feeling for him but you can’t—

“Hey (y/n). You know…” Shalnark murmurs out, snapping you out of your thought, “One day…, I would like to take you to Meteor City.”

“R-really?” You answered, confused as where this was suddenly coming from.

“Yeah…” You watch as Shalnark eyes shift up towards the ceiling. His eyes unfocused and expression dazed as if he was off in a distant memory, “Not right now… But, In the spring…”

A smile slowly edges its way onto his face.

“Yeah… The spring,” He murmurs out again, sort of to himself, before looking at you, “You wouldn’t believe what it is like in Meteor City at the start of spring, (Y/n)... After a long hard rainy winter, seeds from rotten food, or hidden in garbage, come blooming out. It hardly lasts a month but… It’s gorgeous….”

As he stares up at you with those dazzling blue eyes of his, you can’t help but finally allow your hand to rest in his blonde locks. Wanting to understand more about that far off memory he had.

“I-I…” You murmur out, pausing as a small smile comes upon your face, “I can’t wait… Shal. Do… Do you think you could tell me more about your home while I wait?”

Just…

Just one more time, you’ll let your affections slide.

Allowing yourself to blur the lines of professionalism and wanting more.

Taglist: @meromelodi, @quartetstarheaven, @yumezai, @lvndrhwis, @writtenappreciation , @jojo-sinner, @pastelbear12, @aly-kurta, @bbunnycore, @feifood

[reeeyachi]

Title: Eight

Prompt: “I thought that it was worth it, to let myself just disappear.” Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Angst Setting: School AU Characters: Gon, Killua Requested by: @attack-on-bocchan

Words: 1,632

A/N: Mental health awareness month in here is coming up and I’ve been wanting to publish something to contribute to this. I’ve added trigger warnings in the tags, fyi. This piece holds so much meaning for me. I hope you’ll appreciate it. :’)

Disclaimer: I haven’t been reading killugon fics lately, so please don’t come at me if you think this is a rip-off of any existing killugon angst fic. (uwu)

–

He always found him at the rooftop after school.

The boy with an iridescent cloud as hair and insipid sapphires as eyes, gazing into the nearing sunset as his feet swayed midair, arms curled to the metal railing of the ledge where he had positioned himself to park. His usual spot. The spot where Gon had never seen anyone come near to, let alone loiter in, even at peak hours when it was empty.

Empty.

He wondered why, out of all the times he had visited that part of the building, he would only see the boy when his chest felt the most hollow, when his skull felt the most chaotic, when his limbs felt the most frail, and when his spirit felt the most insecure.

He wondered how, even as he looked the other way, or tiptoed to the other side, even as words dissolved in his throat, the constant need to end his turmoil by floating with the wind dissipates at the sight of him—serene, peaceful him, with airstream reeling between the strands of his hair and puffing it in all the right places. It felt like warm sand under Gon’s bare feet. It felt like home, comfortable, accepting of his weak self.

It would feel okay to fail.

It would feel right to cry.

Weak.

Why did he have to be one? Was he born with a feeble mind?

It wasn’t like this when he was younger. He wasn’t like this six months ago before he moved from Whale Island to Padokea to live with his dad. He was always precise. He always learned how to deliver, enthused about things he had no prior knowledge of, always moved by how bugs grow and how trees reproduce, always embarked on a commission with bloomed flesh and a sparkly-white beam. Wonder and imagination found a home above his head, lightbulb never running out of energy, bright and buoyant, excited and optimistic. Aunt Mito and Grandma Abe always smiled in his presence. Birds happily sung on his windowsill at dawn. Plants thrived with his touch.

It was magic—his gift, his talent. Gon always thought that he was born to discover the world and everything that lived in it. He found a reason to step forward, to understand and connect with nature, embodying the bliss it was feeding him with, and determined to share the same level of happiness he always felt, delighted to be able to shed his rays after a snowstorm. Happy. In awe. Skipping heartbeats.

Purpose.

How could he now reduce himself to a speck of dust? How could he not remember the last time someone greeted him a good morning in the hallways? How could he not paint his classmates’ canvasses the colors of the rainbow with his sunlit eyes? How could these people be so distant and opaque? How could he not feel like he didn’t belong in his father’s house? His bones had felt hollow; his drive entropic.

He wasn’t like this.

He never had this unending storm cloud hanging heavily from his shoulders.

He had never been in this limitless void inside his head.

Empty.

Weak.

Does anybody want him around? Does anybody even want to be his friend?

“Are you gonna jump?”

Friend.

Gon realized that he was spiraling into the deleterious cave that had inevitably formed in his core, for his head spun back into that afternoon reality when he heard an unfamiliar voice. Jump? He caught his breath and clutched the buttons of his uniform over his quavering chest. His heart did, he figured, up and down the trampoline until his glimmering russets met the sea.

It stopped.

“Why are you always crying?” the boy mumbled curiously, brows meeting at the bridge of his nose as he shifted his weight on the ledge to face Gon.

Eight—the number of times he saw him at that exact same spot, the number of times he had helplessly sprinted to the rooftop to clear his head and gasp for air. But not once did they speak. Not once did their eyes meet. Was Gon imagining things? Did he finally fall into the rabbit hole of pure murk, and now dreaming of what could have been?

In response to the question, Gon touched his own cheeks. Wet. He blinked. A sniffle. Was he crying? He turned around and wiped his eyes with his sleeve, flustered beyond comparison, embarrassed to be revealing his inner flaw to a stranger. “Sorry,” he said as he tried to line up his thoughts, pulses hammering in his temples. He shouldn’t be crying. No, he shouldn’t allow himself to. His dad said so himself.

Man up.

“What for?” The boy’s tone was casual and closer.

Gon reckoned he had walked towards him. Probably. He missed the scene, though, for he had to force composure onto himself before deciding to turn back around. He should appear presentable, at least, and offer an amicable greeting. That was the first time they would be introduced. That was the first time someone from school had approached him.

The first time someone initiated a conversation with him in that sad town.

Is he even worth this boy’s time?

“For bothering you, if I did,” Gon answered, gaze darting repeatedly from the floor to his face, bashfully, apologetically. He didn’t mean to disturb his silence. He didn’t mean to be a nuisance. He thought of retreating down the stairs to go home. Forcibly, he tugged the corners of his lips for a blank smile, a smile that disappeared in a millisecond. “Sorry, I—”

“I’ve been seeing you here a lot,” the boy interjected, shrugging, ushering. “Always crying, looking like you’re gonna jump. Just now, you almost did.”

Embarrassing.

“Why?”

Gon hesitated, ashamed. He didn’t even know what it was that he was doing. He didn’t even think of what he was going to do before he attempted to do it. All he knew was that he wanted to fly away—far, far away from that place. “I thought that it was worth it… to let myself just disappear.”

A pause.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

His eyes finally rested on his, reading it, searching for signs of pretense. It must be the way he blinked, or the way his pupils moved as the seconds ticked longer, because he couldn’t find any; he couldn’t determine if he was kidding. Since when did he start to question other people’s intentions?

Don’t trust anybody.

But he wanted to. He couldn’t understand why, but the stillness in the air offered warmth he somehow knew could only be possible with this boy’s company. He didn’t want it to end. He didn’t want him to go.

Should he?

Gon breathed in, bracing himself to speak before thinking of what he was going to say. Should he? “Why are you—” No. He stopped himself, scared of a negative reception that could feasibly be caused by his careless mind. He had to do it right the first time. It was a chance of a lifetime. “Sorry—”

“Stooop it,” the boy grumbled sternly, holding up a palm to Gon’s face before tucking it in his pocket. “Stop apologizing. You didn’t even do anything wrong.” He held on to the gaze for a few seconds—four, five, six—stepped backwards and propped himself on a nearby pipe chase—seven, eight—until his features softened and he let out a smile.

A smile.

Gon had to look around to check if there was anyone near, anyone that could possibly be the recipient of that smile. He had to blink a few times before he could assent to the moment.

When was the last time someone made him feel like he was deserving of such greeting? Could his dad’s sardonic smirks count? No, he never felt like smiling back at those. For one thing, he felt like pointing a loaded gun to his head, bullets in another, an endless barrage. But this boy’s smile felt different. It made him think of the clear blue sky and dancing Hummingbirds, of full-bloomed irises and white roses in a summer garden. These, he thought and realized, these made him want to smile in return. So, he did, and it was easily followed by laughter, warm, joyous and sanguine.

When was the last time he laughed like this?

Is this okay?

“There,” the boy said in between his own sweet cackles, harmonizing with Gon’s in perfect tune. “That’s better.”

They kept it in sync for a while, filling the air with music, and suddenly, it was bright and void of gloom. It felt like magic, and Gon was enjoying the thrill as an audience. For once, he didn’t have to rethink about his position. For once, he didn’t have to follow the noises in his head. For once, he wanted to continue existing and be someone’s friend.

His heart pleaded despite his newfound paradise.

Please.

“I have a feeling that you feel alone,” the boy began as he relaxed in his seat.

Yes. So, please be…

“And trust me, jumping off the rooftop is not a good solution.”

Please let me be your…

“Believe me, I’ve tried, and I’ve never felt so alone ever since.”

Let me be your friend.

“So, if you’re feeling alone, just come up here. Or call my name, and I’ll come to you. I’m Killua.”

Gon’s eyes glittered at this discovery. “Killua,” he repeated as it multiplied inside his head. He would remember it every waking day and keep it in his heart forever. He would incessantly hold on to it if he couldn’t hold on to anything anymore. “I’m Gon.”

“Gon,” Killua echoed, along with an easy smile that made the wind waltz smoothly in the spaces between them. “Don’t disappear.”

[xyliane]

wild blue yonder

summary: killua had plenty of better ideas for how to spend his eighteenth birthday. a cake a mile high, a day on the town with alluka, maybe even some peace and quiet for once. instead, he’s doing what all zoldycks do: assassination, murder, the works, all at the ass end of the ocean, all because it will tilt the scales of trade just enough in their favor to make a move. he doesn’t have to worry about a blood curse, no matter what his sister says.

notes: think of this less like a fic and more a...preview? I’ve written about 10,000 words of this off and on over the last year or so, and I would love to write more, but [gestures at the world] [pokes at the smoldering remnants of my dissertation]. yeah. so, as special thanks to @trashsketch and @thehuntyhunties, here’s a first draft of the first bit of cursed prince (which, knowing me, will get a wholesale rewrite of the first section at least cuz lol worldbuilding). T (blood and killua’s mouth), pre-killugon; ft: mito, the zoldycks, ikalgo, and did I mention the blood. 4900 words. (title is not the final title, but swiped hastily from the third track of “the horror and the wild”)

notes pt 2: @trashsketch DREW THIS FOR THIS AU aaaaaaa

---

Alluka’s eyes turn black over dinner three weeks before Killua’s eighteenth birthday, and he has to shove half a bread roll into his mouth to avoid making any noise. If he’s lucky, no one else will notice. If Alluka’s lucky, Nanika won’t say anything, will stare at Killua for a few minutes before slipping back into the recesses of his sister’s mind. If they’re both lucky, they can return to their meals and continue ignoring whatever Mom and Illumi are discussing about the southern trade routes, in tones just barely not argumentative. If Killua’s lucky, he won’t have to kill anyone in the next month.

Of course, the Zoldyck family has never owed its success to luck. They have skill, and intelligence, and a massive fortune. They have a town full of merchants and spies at the base of Kukuroo Mountain, centuries of debts of money and life tying the people to the family. They have, Silva Zoldyck is fond of noting, family. And family is paramount.

Even more than that, though, they have Nanika. They have information, dropped right into their minds. All it costs is a bit of death, the risk of death or curse or worse if they don’t do what she suggests. Just that, and Killua’s little sister.

The family thinks it’s worth the price, so they have to deal with it for now. Killua’s his father’s successor to their mountains of gold and death. He’ll change it. He’s promised Alluka.

“Mom, look,” Milluki says. Killua swallows a curse.

A smile stretches across Kikyo Zoldyck’s face, as full of empty pleasure as the black visor stretched over her eyes. “Well. This is convenient.” She turns to Illumi. “Shall we see what to do about our mercantile issues in the South Sea?”

Illumi frowns. “If you must,” he says, and looks expectantly at Killua. “Kil? Take care of it.”

“Alluka’s not an it. And it’s not my turn.”

Mom sighs melodramatically. “Kil,” she says. 

“Mom,” he says in the exact same tone.

Father, who’s spent most of dinner silent, snorts a chuckle. When Killua turns to him, he gets a firm nod, bright glimmer in his pale blue eyes. “Go on, Kil,” he says, voice rumbling. “Ask after the block in trade. Best do it now, before the thing in your sibling chooses otherwise.”

Killua nods once, and turns to his sister. She is still staring at him—Nanika is still staring, black eyes blank and a strange little smile on her face. 

“Nanika,” he says, voice steady. 

Her smile widens. Killua, she says, her voice an echo between his ears. No one else hears. I love Killua.

I love you too, he thinks back, and hopes that she can hear. “Nanika, how do we open up trade in the South Seas to benefit the Kingdom of Padokea?”

“And the Zoldycks,” Milluki says, a sneer in his voice.

“We are Padokea,” Mom says, and sneers right back. 

Nevertheless, Killua grits his teeth and adds, “And the Zoldyck family.”

Maybe this time will be different. Maybe she’ll give them a corporation, or an abandoned island full of pirates. Pirates would be fun. Or maybe nothing will happen, and Killua will be able to turn eighteen without being halfway across the world burying a sword into someone’s back. He can take Alluka to town, sneak her out the back while the butlers aren’t looking. It’ll only be for a day, and he’ll be with her. 

Nanika opens Alluka’s mouth.

Dammit, is all Killua manages to think, before the vision slams into him.

        red 

    is all he gets at first, and he thinks that maybe this time, he won’t be the center of this vision. Maybe Milluki will get one and have to get off the mountain for the first time all year. Maybe even Illumi will stop hovering, conspicuously leaving profiles of eligible bachelorettes for Mom to coo over and Killua to ignore. But the table turns red and Killua sees

                red ocean

    red hair green (brown) eyes

                red lips

            red stains on pale  skin

red flower in black (white) hair

red scars on dark stars  

                red waters overflowing

                           red death under red sails

        red blood

    red

red red

    red red red red red reD RED

The vision releases him, and Killua barely manages to catch himself before he pitches face-first into the soup. Even after the fact, his senses are swimming in blood, enough that he can practically taste it. One of these days, he’s going to learn how to live with it. The rest of his family does.

“Kil, where are you going?” Illumi asks.

So much for his birthday plans. “Where do you think,” he says. 

“Kil,” Mom says again, and he rolls his eyes.

“The ass end of the ocean, I think,” Killua says, and ignores his mother’s affronted gasp as he starts in on the rest of his dinner. It tastes chalky under the blood. “I’ve got a month to kill the queen of Whale Island.”

“Isn’t that the place with the magic storms and the cursed pirates?” Milluki says.

“You can’t use magic to control storms, idiot,” Kalluto mutters, just loud enough for Killua to hear.

“The cost?” Illumi asks.

Killua shrugs. “Blood curse. Nothing new.”

Nanika always exchanges her information for curses. Illumi and Kalluto have messed up before and come back with numb limbs or empty eyes, consequences for having failed within the time limit. But those curses are simpler things. Killua gets the blood curse, every single time.

He loves his sister, and he’s grown to love Nanika, in her own way. But he doesn’t need the extra pressure.

Father claps a hand on Killua’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Kil. We will celebrate your birthday when you get home from the ass end of the ocean.”

Mom makes a scandalized noise and Killua smiles, pride radiating out from where Father’s hand rests against his shoulder. It makes him stand taller, almost as tall as Illumi. Never as tall as Silva Zoldyck. No one is that tall.

Behind him, Alluka stirs listlessly, blue eyes foggy. Once Father’s grip lifts from him, Killua reaches over to grab her hand, squeezing in whatever comfort he can. She tries to smile back. No one else notices. “Be careful, Brother,” she mutters. “Blood stains.”

————————————

It takes the better part of three weeks to get to Whale Island. Killua could have taken a cabin in one of the spice merchant’s galleon and been there in half a month. But that would be easy. Zoldycks do their job well, and well doesn’t mean easy. The first ship out of Dentora was only a week, but from there it was a schooner to a sailboat to three days on a blasted fishing dinghy for the last few islands. The sailors had laughed at him when he’d said where he was going. At least the food’s been good, because he’s going to turn eighteen out here in the gods-forgotten nowhere. He’d hate to come home and tell Alluka there had been nothing good out here.

For all that they’re in the middle of nowhere, the Whale Island port is almost impressive. If a place could be valued solely on the number of colors, Whale Island would be the richest port on earth. The ships alone are every shade imaginable, the height of summer trade filling each dock to overflowing. Purple sails from Kakin, greens and yellows from Lukso, the ostentatiously huge gilded galleons out of Yorknew. Even austere blacks and whites from Padokea, sticking out of the rainbow forest like snow-blistered icebergs. It makes him feel like home, almost. He’ll catch one of them off the island as soon as he’s done. Father will make sure they’re fairly compensated for leaving ahead of schedule. And sprinkled throughout are the collection of Whale Island’s mercantile armada, with no set color or design other than a bright circle of orange-gold, open at one end.

The port itself bustles with life, as diverse as the ships in harbor. It lacks the size or height of trade centers on the mainland, or even other islands like Balsa’s landmass-spanning city. But it makes up for it in smells, and shapes, and the honest smiles on merchants’ faces even as they fleece their customers for every extra cent. Out here, there’s no option but the port. They smile at Killua all the same.

Killua’s assassinations usually take a little more finesse—a Zoldyck is a threat, and he’s dyed his hair more than once to vanish into a crowd. But here, Killua’s pale skin and travel-stained dark clothing doesn’t even stick out, so long as he keeps his white hair tucked under a thin hood. No one even looks twice at the sword on his hip or the knives weighing down his boots, not with how everyone else seems to be armed. It’s almost relaxing. He can drift into the forest, kill the queen, and drift back out again, catching a ship out of port before anyone is the wiser. 

Maybe this is a pirate nest, and no one thought to tell Killua…?

“Hey, traveler! You come in recently?”

Killua turns and is blasted in the face with the smell of fried fish. Behind a grill covered in pans and fish, a short round man with reddish skin and beady eyes waggles his thick eyebrows, a shock of black beneath a bald head. As he does, his arms dart back and forth between tasks, juggling fire and vegetables and pots as though he has extra arms. It’s kind of hilarious, and Killua doesn’t restrain a laugh.

The man grins back, obviously pleased. “Yeah, not exactly the easiest, getting all the way out here,” he says. “Sit down, look over the grill, tell me what you want.”

“That’s okay, I don’t—” Killua starts to protest, when another man reaches around the cook and drops an assortment of things off the grill and onto a plate. Well, a young man, not much older than Killua, with thick black hair woven back into a single braid trailing halfway down his back. Freckled brown skin is clearly visible beneath an open green vest woven through with gold thread. It would look almost princely, if it weren’t covered in oil and fish guts, and worn almost to the point of being transparent. 

The young man hands the plate to Killua with a conspiratorial light in his bright brown eyes. “You should eat,” he says, and his voice is tinged with Whale Island’s rich accent—thick vowels, rolling syllables. It’s musical, in a way Killua wouldn’t have expected.

He doesn’t realize he’s staring until the man pushes the plate more insistently at him. Killua shakes his head. He doesn’t want to stay any longer than he has to. He can’t get too close. “I’m not—”

“It’s on the house.”

“It is not!” the chef says, and thwaps the young man across the back of his head with a stack of napkins. “I have a business to run, and the shipping season don’t last all year.”

“Sorry, Ikalgo,” the young man says, an apologetic grin on his face. It doesn’t stop the chef’s rant, loud enough that it attracts the attention of the bread maker next door, who begins to cackle in amusement. The young man does his best to weather the shouting, only occasionally interjecting that he’s been working here for only a few days, that he’ll pay the difference, he promises. But when he catches Killua’s eye, he winks, as though this is all some great game and no one else has caught on yet.

Killua feels his cheeks heat up. Rather than worry about that, he shoves a skewer of fish into his mouth, and then he forgets about the rest because blessed gods that’s good. There’s spice in here he’s never even smelled before, mixed with something sweet that makes it even hotter than it should be.

The chef’s winding down by the time Killua’s finished, his assistant as apologetic as ever. They both notice Killua’s empty plate at the same time. The chef even seems impressed. “This ain’t your first time on the Islands, eh?”

Killua shrugs rather than answer. No wonder Mom is so invested in taking control of this route, if the spices pack this much of a punch. The investors in Padokea are probably salivating at the possibility of owning even a fraction of the trade. “The food’s really good,” he says instead, and the chef lights up.

“Ikalgo’s got the best seafood on Whale Island,” the young man says. “How long are you here for? Palm’s got great pastries, and she’s right next door.”

If the pastries are even close to as good as the fish, Killua might be convinced to stay here forever. But he can’t. This is why Illumi always tells him to never talk to anyone, not more than he needs to. It’s too easy to fall into conversation, to get attached. When his only job is to destroy the lodestone of a city, or a kingdom, or an island, he can’t afford any distractions. Not even cute boys offering him pastries with big brown eyes. 

The assistant seems to sense Killua’s hesitation, and his grin dims a little. But before either of them can say anything else, the chef yanks on his thick black braid and snaps, “You still have another three hours here!”

“But Ikalgo—”

“After last time, you owe me!”

“Even Palm didn’t ask,” the young man whines.

“Palm didn’t lose her entire storefront to a flashflood.”

Killua can’t stick around. He grabs his bag, heavy with travel supplies, and turns to face the edges of the market. The trail leads up and away into the jungle. Theoretically, the queen’s mansion should be somewhere up there. But where…

Well, maybe it can’t hurt to ask one more question.

“Do you know who might know where the queen of Whale Island lives?” he asks, not expecting commoners to know the answer. 

But the chef and his assistant shrug. “Ask anyone,” the young man says. “Anyone knows.”

“Anyone from the Island knows,” Ikalgo clarifies. “Her house is up at the end of the path, bout forty-five minutes into the jungle. Can’t miss it.”

Killua blinks. “Can anyone…go?”

The young man shrugs again. “Sure. If you wait a bit, I can—”

“What part of three hours do you not understand?”

“But he—”

“I’ll be fine,” Killua says, and nods politely. The chef and his assistant wave goodbye, and go back to bickering. Out of the corner of his eye, Killua can see the chef getting back to food prep, even as the young man grabs plates and napkins for other customers. He should feel bad that this is all going to ruin. Not immediately, sure. But without a ruler, most places fall apart. And if it falls apart, even for a little while, it’s long enough for Padokeans to set up shop, to reclaim the trade routes and caches of power that they want.

Maybe Whale Island will do okay in the end. Or maybe not. It’s not Killua’s problem.

Too bad, though. The food was good.

The queen’s house is indeed right up the road. Killua makes it within sight of the low walls outside the complex before ducking into the trees, not willing to risk a frontal assault on his own. As friendly as the Islanders seem to be, especially the assistant, the amount of armed fighters and sailors could be a problem. Once Killua finds a good rock, too heavy for a normal person to lift, he swaps his traveling clothes for proper Zoldyck gear: black trousers, an armored black jacket, silver-grey gloves. His sword is sheathed against his hip, and his boot knives are supplemented by another blade at the small of his back. He stashes all of his earrings but one, a sapphire stud Alluka had given him for his sixteenth birthday. She’d said it was for luck. But Zoldycks don’t have luck.

Killua keeps it anyways. Maybe he’ll be lucky this time.

Killua wants to finish this quick and quiet, on the small chance that the young man from the fish grill gets off work and comes up the path. By the time the chaos sets, he should be on the ship and halfway out to sea. Even the fastest ships won’t be able to catch him.

He climbs up the back wall, peering into what looks like a vegetable garden behind a modest two-story building. Killua recognizes about half of the herbs—most of them are useful as poisons, and a few are normally grown in the middle of a forest. None of them have any business being behind a queen’s home. Then again, the building would barely qualify as a merchant’s house in many kingdoms, well-constructed as it is. It’s the color of the sky and thatched neatly, signs of old storms and hard winter winds in the occasional cracked paint. The back door is a solid dark wood, and the window on the second floor is open to the sky. There’s no sign of any caretakers or guards, not even footsteps. The only sound is a quiet hum of a woman’s voice, wafting gently down from the open window.

It can’t be this easy. But part of Killua doesn’t mind. At least this time, the only person he’ll have to kill is the one he has to. No lying, no backstabbing. 

And he can go home without risking a blood curse, and celebrate his birthday in peace.

He still takes his time sneaking across the garden, boots falling silently as he steps through the shadows of the house. Taking a chance that nothing in this building is locked, he carefully presses open a window on the ground floor and drops into what looks like a large kitchen. A massive slab of wood serves as a table down the center of the room, with a collection of beautifully carved chairs arranged around it. The smell of herbs permeates the whole room, sinking into the wood and floors. 

There’s still no one in sight. 

There’s still only the woman’s humming filling the air with gentle wordless noise.

It’s too easy. It has to be.

Killua draws his sword as he creeps up the stairs, following the sound of the woman’s voice. He’ll know the queen when he sees her—Nanika’s visions have a habit of sticking, permanently, or at least until the job is done. Like how he knows the humming is the queen, even though he’s never heard her voice before today. How when he peers around the corner, he knows that the queen is the woman humming over a pile of papers. Her bright orange hair is swept back from her forehead, a simple braid circling her head where a ring made of silver and onyx rests on Silva Zoldyck’s. 

The humming stops. “You can stop creeping around my house and tell me why you’re here,” the queen says without looking up from her work. “If you want to petition for the Padokean spice merchants to stay another week, you’ll need to take it up with the portmaster.”

Killua doesn’t say anything. His grip on his hilt tightens for a moment, before relaxing. 

The queen flips over the page and starts on the next. “Also, no, I am not interested in selling port space, either. Tell your king he can rent like everyone else.”

Killua takes a final step into the doorway, and lunges, his sword lightning fast.

But the queen whirls, nearly as fast as Killua, and catches his strike on a short wavy blade of her own. Her snarl sparks with furious challenge. “And if you’re here to kill me,” she says, “you’d better try harder than that.”

Killua bounces back, narrowly avoiding the sweep of her knife. The queen is unarmored, but  holds the blade at her side, other arm lifted in well-practiced defense. Rather than wait for Killua to strike again, she darts forward, bare fist blurring in a fury as she tries to strike Killua’s solar plexus. But Killua is faster, and he catches her strike on his forearm, brushing it aside. She snarls even as she stumbles back, leaving herself open for Killua to strike again. This time, when she catches his blade on her knife, she almost doesn’t make it, only barely managing to slide out from beneath Killua’s strike. But her bare foot lashes out, catching him on the knee, and he feels the joint crumple.

She scoffs. “You’re not the first person to try to assassinate me,” she says. “Tell me who sent you, and I’ll send you home.”

Killua responds by punching her in the stomach with his hilted fist. 

To the queen’s credit, she keeps her knife up, enough that she manages to slash him across his forearm. The wavy blade cuts deep and sharp right through his jacket, leaving behind a wide erratic slice. Killua ignores the pain and raises his blade.

She glares up at him furiously, bright brown eyes wide and not scared at all. They look familiar. In fact, they look like—

They look like the young man from the market.

The chef, his assistant, everyone else, is going to lose their queen. 

Don’t get attached, Illumi commands in the back of his head, and Killua shakes the hesitation out of his limbs just in time to block the queen’s jab right at his heart. He catches her wrist with his bare hand, wrenching it out of place until she can’t hold on anymore. The wavy knife goes clattering away across the floorboards, out of sight and out of reach. 

She kicks him in the side again, shit, and Killua throws her to the ground. The back of her head thuds against the wood floor, and she crumples with a pained noise, trying and failing to get back up again.

If Killua moves now, he’ll kill her. 

This time, he won’t miss. 

The queen starts to move, and Killua brings the blade down in a single brutal strike.

Blood always smells the same—metallic and warm, life draining out in flows of red. Killua hadn’t realized he’d closed his eyes when he struck, but he feels the splash of blood across his face, sinking through the open slice on his sleeve and through the skin of his gloves. Messy. Father would be disappointed. It’s better if it’s quick, and clean, and no one fights back, and no one is gasping shakily on the floor—

He opens his eyes.

The queen lies at his feet, still alive. She has a hazy, almost drunken grin on her face, and her arm is still raised from where it connected with Killua’s sword, blood flowing freely from its stump. Her dismembered hand lies just out of reach. And she’s laughing.

“You should have killed me,” she says. A gust of wind blows up from the ocean, curling around her, almost as wild as her eyes. Outside, a massive storm darkens the sky, clouds near-black and crackling with energy. The air tastes of lightning, and thunder, and danger, and sudden fear jolts down Killua’s spine. 

What had Milluki said? Cursed storms and magic pirates?

Killua’s eyes widen. “What—”

“I said,” the queen says, and her voice reverberates in the stormwall. “You should have killed me when you had the chance.”

She lifts her hand and spits a word, and a wind like a hand bellows up the stairs and throws Killua out the window.

He lands heavily in the garden, nostrils filling with herbs, bouncing once and hitting the building’s wall. At least the ground’s soft. But he dropped his sword somewhere between the second story and the dirt, and he does not have time to look for it before the storm hits. It whirls around the sky, a cyclone of pitch-black clouds centered right over the house. If Killua didn’t know any better, he’d say that it was only on the house, dropping almost to the ground as though trapping him in the eye of a storm.

He clamors over the wall, bad knee jolting with pain and a little voice screaming at him to run, just in time for a wall of rain to come crashing down between him and the jungle.

Stepping out of the rain, as though made from stormclouds and landslides, is the young man from the seafood shop. But instead of a stack of plates, he holds a brutally sharp sabre, blade short and thick and slightly curved up from its guard.

He takes in Killua, waterlogged and covered in blood, and his bright brown eyes go wide. “You’re—” he starts, and then his expression narrows with fury. “It would have been easier if you’d tried to kill me in town.”

“Why would I do that?” Killua says. “I’m only here for the queen, not an assistant fish fry.”

The young man grins with all of his teeth, any amusement from earlier washed away by unrestrained anger. “I’m Gon Freecss,” he says. “You tried to kill my mom.”

He’s the prince. In about the stupidest response Killua could have, he tries to rub some of the queen’s blood out of his eyes. But it doesn’t budge. If anything, the rain is making it worse, seeping into his face and clothes in a bright red tattoo, making his skin crawl. 

Blood curse, Nanika had promised. It was always a blood curse.

Shit shit shit gods fucking shit. For all Killua knew, the blood was going to kill him from the inside out. 

“I don’t care about who’s next in line,” he says, and takes half a step towards the storm wall. He had to get out, had to get home, or else— 

“You should care,” the prince of Whale Island says. “Because if you’d killed me first, the storm wouldn’t have come for you.”

Killua barely has time to draw his knives before Freecss is on him.

Maybe it’s the panic worming its way out of Killua’s stomach, or the sharp pain in his knee, or the blood curse scratching at his face. Maybe it’s the resolute fury in Freecss’s eyes. Either way, the prince moves nearly as fast as Killua, hacking at the assassin with brutal short slashes. Killua manages to block all of them, barely, boots slipping in the torrential mud. The prince is good enough to make Killua work if he was in good condition, and between the rain and the blood and the knee, they’re all but equally matched. 

Killua finally blocks a blow and shoves Freecss back, the prince leaving himself open. Killua presses his advantage in height and speed by kneeing the other man in the chest. Freecss coughs out a pained curse, and he tumbles back, mud covering his skin and his long braid. Killua follows, slashing out half-blind with his knives, and he feels his blades connect as the prince bounces away. Another splash of blood, this time on a bare hand. This time, Killua feels it sink in, painting his pale skin the color of rust.

Freecss has a slash on his cheek and shoulder, Killua’s wild strike having gotten him on bare skin. The weight of the blade also caught the prince’s braid, which droops tangled and waterlogged across his brown face, half-covering his eyes. Freecss curses again, something foul, and simply slices his sword through his hair. The rest of his braid lands in the mud with a heavy thump.

The prince wipes a streak of blood off his face, not seeming to care that the wound continues to flow freely. “I’m going to kill you,” he says, voice low as thunder.

Killua has fought soldiers and mercenaries and assassins, from the weakest to the most skilled. He’s been tired, fought for hours in the snow and sleet, wherever Father has asked. He’s fought with half the bones in his hand broken, with his legs immobilized by ice. But then, he’d been ready. He’d known what to expect. He hadn’t been fighting a storm at the same time he was fighting a prince. Freecss presses ceaselessly, forcing Killua back until his foot hits the wall around the queen’s home. The prince’s home. He can’t go any further back.

The prince’s eyes glint in the storm, and he slashes the sabre across Killua’s front. 

And Killua’s leg slips out from under him.

The mud carries him stumbling out of range of the prince’s slash, but also costs him one of his knives. Killua staggers to his feet, trying in vain to rub the blood off his face. All he gets is mud, and rain, and more blood. A callous on his hand must have ripped in the fight.

Oh. And his jacket is cut open across his front. Distantly, he can feel blood dribbling down his chest, starting at the shoulder and cutting towards his side. That should hurt more than it does. Even his leg doesn’t hurt so much anymore, a dull throb beneath the rain.

He’s tired.

Freecss snarls—just like his aunt, a small part of Killua notices—and slices the sabre straight down through the air. 

Static gathers in the air, bright and sharp, and Killua realizes he’s going to die.

“Sorry, Alluka,” he says. The words are lost under the wind and rain.

Then Killua is struck by lightning.

And everything is white.

[knightzp]

Here’s my contribution to the Alluka | Nanika week 2020! @allukananikaweek

Day 2: fairy tale AU

Summary:

"Once upon a time, in the far kingdom of Padokea, a baby was born into the Zoldyck royal family.

The day she turned five, a powerful magical aura started emanating from her; and her parents, afraid of such a dangerous power, rapidly pushed her out of their lives, abandoning her in an old isolated castle and locking her forever inside with the use of an ancient magical spell.

Alluka was very afraid at first, but soon discovered she wasn't alone."

I loved writing this lil fic about these two precious girls. Hope you like it! ^^

[thehuntyhunties]

i’m finally in a place where I want to watch Star Trek: The Next Generation and Deep Space 9 again so I’m finally back on my bullshit with my TNG AU. It also just hit me that this is the only one of my mainline AUs i’ve never talked about here? huh. Anyways this got very long and took most of my allowed tumblr time to type up so enjoy!

First off everything takes place on a Federation starship called the Blue Planet, flying under Captain Biscuit Krueger. I’m thinking that the Blue Planet is a Nebula-class vessel that performs various research and scientific missions on the edges of Federation territory and explored space, which gives a lot of potential for shenanigans. Bisky herself is an allasomorph from Daled IV, unbeknownst to most of her crew (or most of Starfleet for that matter), and she is blatantly ignoring the civil war on her home planet because unlocking the mysteries of the universe is a lot more fun. 

Well that’s the scene set, so now let’s get on to the main four!

Kurapika is officially Bajoran. It’s been literally three years but I’m gonna commit. idk why I was resistant to it because it really does make the most sense. If you haven’t seen TNG, Bajor is a planet colonized by Cardassia and a running theme of the Bajor episodes are the way the Federation has failed the Bajoran people by maintaining neutrality (but also the tricky situation of negotiating around the Cardassian Union, which is a pretty major military force in the galaxy). Basically this is a complicated way of saying that Kurapika’s family is dead and they’re very angry at just about everything about it, including Starfleet sometimes, despite being a Starfleet officer. Is there a secret revenge plot afoot? Absolutely.

I just full-on made up an alien species for the Zoldycks to be. I remember it very clearly, i was walking to work one afternoon and all these ideas just unspooled before me, it was wild. So Padokea is now a planet, and Padokeans are more or less the apex predators of their planet. Time was, if you wanted someone in the galaxy assassinated, you wanted a Padokean to do it – traditionally they were the best assassins in the galaxy, and traditionally the Zoldycks were among the best of the best. I say “traditionally” because theoretically Padokea had to put a stop to the assassination thing in order to join the Federation, but like... the Zoldycks are totally still active and everyone knows it, even though the Padokean government formally denies that any of the old assassin families are still doing murders. Anyways! Killua is very tall and has sharp teeth and cool eyes and very sharp hands when he wants to, and he’s a pilot under the Navigation branch of command. He’s really not interested in his family’s business, he wants to see the universe and discover cool things and have adventures! Even though that can be tricky for his species sometimes, because of shenanigans involving Padokean neurology. I wonder what I mean by that.... hmmmm....

Gon is... nominally human. He never had any reason to believe he’s not! He grew up in a colony on Cetacea Delta II, which is pretty on the fringes – lots of untamed alien wilderness for a kid to explore, a lot of people from all over the galaxy stopping by, no one really examining Mito’s oddball kid that closely. But once he’s on the Blue Planet and starts getting into his various scraps and shenanigans, Chief Medical Officer Leorio (actually human, grew up off-Earth) starts looking closely enough to notice... anomalies... there’s nothing that stands out dramatically and says what else he could be but it’s driving Leorio bananas and he wants to chase Ging down across the galaxy and demand some answers. Leorio takes his job seriously and he loves a puzzle but GEEZ.

I’m about to get kicked off tumblr for the day so I’ll pick this up some other time! I’m looking forward to finally nailing down some of the finer details, and I want to flesh out who else is on the crew and exactly what they do. I know that Knuckle keeps filling Cargo Bay 3 with various creatures and Bisky has had just about enough of him.

[sunderedazem]

Seeking Petrichor, 1, 4, 7, 9, 13, 15

1: What inspired you to write the fic this way?

Hmmmmm....I think honestly I was just kinda....assigning cultural practices to Killua, Gon, Leorio, and Kurapika, kind of like a “what region of the world are they inspired by” sort of deal, and it kind of exploded from there? And then, of course, I also just got carried away with the idea of magic+technology+nuclear apocalypse+centuries ago = post-apocalyptic high fantasy AU

(For reference! Gon and Sahertan culture are going to have more of an ancient Celtic feel, whereas Killua and Padokea are heavily inspired by ancient China and Japan. And the other two you haven’t met yet, so XD)

4: What’s your favorite line of dialogue?

Ooh, okay, so my favorite line of dialogue is actually HELL of a spoiler, because it’s from an endscene that I wrote really out of order. So this one is actually my second choice of what I have currently written. Speaker is Killua, from Chapter 7!

“The Zoldycks kill barehanded,” he murmured[...]. “But we occasionally use blades on those opponents we respect, and you’re a coward.”

(some lines removed b/c they’re not dialogue though)

7: Where did the title come from?

Hmm. It’s sort of a spoiler, but not really....Long story short, it’s abundantly clear by now that Killua has some kind of power over storms and lightning, and this power can be incredibly destructive. However - and this is sort of a spoiler - elvish magic is not usually destructive, not in the way Killua’s can be. Furthermore, Killua’s in a very chaotic place right now - his throne has been hijacked, there’s an evil Necromancer that’s cursed his sister, and he can’t control his own magic. And now he’s drawn Gon into the mix, and Kite has also fallen victim.

So, the title ties in because “petrichor” means “the smell the world has after a fresh rainfall.” As in, the smell that comes after storms.

So, “Seeking Petrichor” - because the boys are looking for this storm to end - Gon is looking for closure with his father and Kite, and Killua is looking for the succession war, his sister’s cure, and a way to control his magic - so they can stop and smell the rain.

9: Were there any alternate versions of this fic?

Surprisingly, no. It kinda just...popped into my head fully formed. IDK how.

13: What music did you listen to, if any, to get in the mood for writing this story? Or if you didn’t listen to anything, what do you think readers should listen to to accompany us while reading?

LOTS of instrumentals off youtube that I don’t know the names of, and my Killua-themes, Gon-themes, and Killugon Spotify playlists. (mutuals can DM me for the links, if you’re interested)

15: What did you learn from writing this fic?

A) I’m an over-descriptive bitch and I love it

B) Gon. Is HARD. To write. So difficult oh my god.

C) I looked up the structure of the Chinese civil service examinations and possible ranks one could attain from them so I could construct Padokea’s ridiculously complex hierarchical system. (there are three types of ranks, and they all interplay differently ARG)

Thanks for the ask!!!! @subdee - here are the answers to yours too

[hxhbb18]

HxHbb18 summary list

Categories

Killugon (18)

Leopika (4)

Troupe misc (3)

General Misc (8)

Killugon  

Killugon 1

Warnings: Violence, language Rating: T Pairing: KilluGon [School AU]

The Zoldyck Family Company struck either fear or awe into the hearts of all who heard it. All except its heir. To Killua Zoldyck, his family business was nothing more than a burden he’d been saddled with. But he couldn’t get away. Not now. They were in the middle of a mafia war. That didn’t mean he couldn’t rebel just a little. Enter Gon Freecss: The perfect catalyst. Gon could help him break his shackles. Gon could be his friend. Gon could free - Gon didn’t deserve to be dragged into a war. Gon needed to be kept safe. Killua needed to stay away. Gon didn’t share his sympathies.

Killugon 2

Pairing: Gon Freecs/Killua Zoldyck; Kurapika and Leorio will make an appearance as a couple, briefly; Alluka Zoldyck/OC Rating: M Warnings: Post canon/canon compliant; Killua and Gon aged up to 19; some killugon angst (but a happy ending!); equal parts killigon fluff; probably some canon-typical violence; emotional abuse involving Illumi/Alluka, again canon-typical; some killugon sex It’s been five years since Gon and Killua said good-bye at the World Tree, with promises to write and meet again. But for the past two and a half of those years, Killua has dropped out of contact with Gon, without warning or explanation. A quietly heartbroken Gon has come to believe that he’ll never see his childhood friend again, and settled back into his quiet life on Whale Island: until the day when he opens the front door to find Killua on the doorstep, emotionally shattered and on the verge of physical collapse. Over the course of the next hour, Gon learns that Killua’s father is recently dead, leaving a power vacuum in the family business that his brother Illumi is all too willing to fill. Worse, his sister, Alluka, has been kidnapped from the home he’s been sharing with her in Lukso Province. He has evidence that Illumi is behind her disappearance, wanting to use her to cement his status as head of the family. Killua believes that Gon is the only person who can help him find her before this happens, and convinces him to leave his quiet life behind once again to help rescue her. This story is told in alternating sections, from Gon/Killua’s and Alluka’s points of view. It follows the former best friends across continents on their quest to save Alluka. But Gon and Killua also have both past hurt and betrayal and new feelings to come to terms with, plus the re-awakening of Gon’s lost nen. Alluka, meanwhile, is no longer a child, but a young woman growing into independence and impressive powers of her own. Illumi may have locked her in a tower, but this bad-ass Rapunzel might just be the one to save them all.

Killugon 3

Rating: M Warnings/Triggers: Emotional abuse and manipulation and mild to moderate physical abuse. All by Illumi against Killua. Mild nsfw, nothing explicit planned. Pairings: killugon with leopika on the side [Medieval, Aged Up AU. Gon and Killua are 20 and the rest of the characters are aged up respectively i.e. Kurapika is 25, Leorio is 27, etc.] King Killua and Sir Gon have known each other since childhood and are very close, some might say inappropriately so for two people of such widely different social standings. When things start to develop between them, Prince Illumi, chief advisor to the king, is determined to quash such nonsense, leaving Killua to feel he has no choice but to put his duties as king before his personal feelings. Illumi has Killua believing he’s isolated and powerless, but he’ll come to find he’s not alone.

Killugon 4 Pairing: Killugon (Killua Zoldyck/Gon Freecss)

Rated T Warnings: Swearing, some angst Killua Zoldyck doesn’t expect the world to give him very much. Being disowned and completely ridiculed by his family only seems a little much for one day. Now, though, he’s trying to find his little sister Alluka, who’s escaped the other Zoldycks to the otherworldly realm of Masadora, where time stands still. Masadora, the afterlife of this world. Masadora, the ultimate goal-the catch is that he has to break his curse in this life before passing on to the next one, and no witch doctor or soothsayer can do that for him. Killua needs another person who’s willing to stick with him not just in the remainder of his own life, but in Masadora as well. Gon Freecss is perfectly content in his own way. He’s a part of the Hunter Association, which defends and protects their corner of the world. He has a predictable way of life that he can count on. He doesn’t, however, count on a strange silver-haired man showing up and asking for his help grudgingly. He definitely doesn’t count on the rollercoaster that follows, nor the newfound feelings that come with it. A retelling of the Irish fairytale of Tír na nÓg.

Killugon 5

Pairing: Killugon Rating: T Notes: Not AU. Pre-canon leading into the events of the Hunter Exam. Warnings for torture but not overly explicit. On Whale Island: Gon chases a boy through the trees. They jump from branch to branch and he catches a glimpse of white hair before he blinks and then—nothing. On Kukuro Mountain: A boy who stepped out of Killua’s dreams. He has brown eyes, green clothing, and is very, very real. “I know you,” Killua whispers to the dark, to the emptiness, to the universe and anyone who is willing to listen, and feels the truth of his words skin deep, bone deep, heart deep.

Killugon 6

Rating: M or E Pairing: Killua Zoldyck/Gon Freecss (Aged-up - mid-twenties) Warnings: swearing, nudity, sex, violence, blood, canon-compliant transphobia (Illumi towards Alluka), likely character death (Illumi). Genre: Fantasy/Adventure/Romance with a happy ending. Killua Zoldyck has been cursed for helping his sister Alluka flee execution after his brother Illumi, the guardian mage of their village, found her guilty of forbidden magic. If Killua tries to cross the sea and join her, abandoning his people, the curse will raise a storm and he’ll drown. Disgusted by their treatment of her, Killua has left his village to live alone. That is, until he’s confronted by a shamelessly naked Gon Freecss, a handsome young warrior from a race who live beneath the ocean. Killua’s captivated by Gon’s amber-flecked eyes, beautiful trailing fins, long hair and decorations, and his playfulness, strength and bright smile. They fall in love and marry, though Gon can only spend half his life on land—as long as he never eats cooked food. For a time they build a happy life along the shore, sharing their evenings and nights. However, Killua’s family still have unfulfilled plans for their lost heir. One morning, Killua wakes to find Gon missing. He searches everywhere, but in the end finds only a cooked pipi shell that shouldn’t be inside their hut. He realises someone has tried to break the taboo and his lover is lost to him, returned to the ocean forever. Unwilling to contemplate a life without Gon, Killua continues to hunt for him on land and as far as he can reach out to sea. He doesn’t know if he can find a way for them to be together again and his only hope is in magic he doesn’t understand. He still has a promise to fulfill: to tear his brother Illumi down from his position as guardian mage and clear the way for Alluka’s return. He faces Nanika, the true guardian spirit of his people, in her sea-serpent form to plead for help. Finally he comes up with a desperate plan. He’ll travel beyond his limits at sea and face drowning to reunite with Gon and try to turn the cursed storm back on Illumi. If Killua can deliver his evil brother to Nanika, maybe he can create a balance so he and Gon can stay together. But even her magic isn’t as powerful as that which keeps him and Gon apart—the force of an entire ocean. (Note: Inspired by the Maori legend of Pania, a sea-maiden who lived half her life with her lover ashore until he secretly tried to feed her cooked food. She fled to the ocean and he never saw her again.)

Killugon 7

Pairing: Gon/ Killua, side Leorio/Kurapika Rating: T Warnings: Language, implied past child abuse Tags: Aged up characters, Magic College AU Padokea’s college for Wizardry is Killua’s first and only taste of the outside world without strict and constant supervision. No parents, no butlers, no giant locked house; just him and his freakishly large familiar Mike. In school, he would make his own name for himself. Not Killua Zoldyck, just Killua. He’d learn magic with methods that didn’t require torture, and maybe make friends along the way. They wouldn’t need to know where he came from, or what his family business consisted of. After all, the Zoldyck trade revolved around stealth and subtlety.   It wouldn’t be hard for him right? … Right?

Killugon 8

In x My x Dreams Pairing: Killugon, mild Leopika Rating: T (for violence, language, and Hisoka being a pervy creep- nothing nsfw) Soulmate AU Koibito no yume, Lover’s Dream- The phrase coined for the phenomenon where you are plagued with dreams from birth of a faceless individual who is your soulmate. You can dream of their lives, their family, their personality, but you will never see their face or know their name until the day that you see them in real life. For some who meet during childhood, the dreams are like second nature. They don’t even know that there’s anything significant about them because they were so young when their soulmate was faceless. For others, they’re haunted by those dreams for years.

For Killua Zoldyck and Gon Freecss, this was the case, the dreams lasted for eighteen years. Killua dreamed of a boy living with his aunt after his father left him, homeschooled and sheltered from the world. Gon dreamed of a boy raised in an abusive household who was forced to do things and forced to grow up too quickly. One has all the love in the world from only one person, the other lacks any genuine love while constantly surrounded by others. Neither has a clear goal in life. Neither having a friend. Both searching for love and acceptance. Both enrolling in the first semester of their freshman year at The University of Yorknew- as roommates. Then the dreams change.

Killugon 9

Pairing: Killua/Gon

Rated T Warnings: Angst, canon-typical violence Killua turns 18 and refuses to take up his role as head of the family. Silva wants him brought home for a reminder of his true nature, and orders Illumi to hunt him down. But Illumi believes Killua has been manipulated by outsiders, and is secretly in need of rescue. He scrambles Gon’s memory, freeing Killua to embrace his destiny. Gon awakens, confused and disorientated, to a wall between himself and his memories. Mito finds Gon and word finds Killua. When he visits, Gon doesn’t recognize him. They travel to Alluka with hope Nanika can help. Gon relearns the boy who seems to know everything about him, and Killua tries to keep from falling apart.

Killugon 10

Pairing: Killua/Gon Rating: T Notes: Canon world minus nen, aged up, post marriage, fluff (so much fluff), hurt and comfort, domesticity on whale island

Time passes and adventures end but that doesn’t mean a new one can’t take its place. Years go by but everyday is special when you spend it with someone you love. Killua and gon have been married for 19 years now but that doesn’t mean they don’t still play,  laugh and yell in the forests and ore the hills of whale island. Though it appears that even quaint life can’t seem to hold them down.

Killugon 11

Pairing: Killugon with some other pairings mentioned but not explored in detail

Rating: M

Warnings: aged-up characters; frequent swearing; frequent and explicit sexual references; mild internalised homophobia; casual homophobia and transphobia including slurs; toxic/dysfunctional family with reference to some abusive behaviours; mild violence

Other notes: modern AU; I’m taking certain liberties with Gon’s family set up for plot purposes, and with Ging’s character; the whole fic is from Killua’s point of view; Hisoka does stuff

As far as Killua is concerned, being the child of someone who is running for office definitely has major downsides, including but not limited to having to interact with his father’s sleazy campaign manager or being showcased at various public functions. Though it also means seeing his family finally accept his sister for who she is, if for all the wrong reasons. And publicity events are not always a total waste of time. One of them did result in meeting a sweet dreamboat of a teen wrestling champion, after all. Whom Killua can hang with and guiltily fantasise about… and hopelessly fall for. Wait.. how is that not a downside?

Killugon 12

Pairing: Gon & Killua (Flower shop au)

A few years after the main storyline, while Kurapika and Leorio are off to the Dark Continent, Killua and Gon have lost contact over the years due to their travels. Gon eventually decides to move away from Whale Island as a break from his studies, to open a flower shop right in Yorkshin City. Unbeknownst to Gon, Killua has found a woman he feels dearly for during his travels with Alluka, to one day be finding himself within Yorkshin City in search of an elegant bouquet as a symbol of his affection to his beloved. As they reunite, Gon invites Killua out to the local firework festival being held in the city’s center that weekend. Killua, confronted with the sudden meeting of his long lost childhood friend, incessant affectionate feelings arise within Killua causing doubt within Killua’s one-side relationship with his significant other. Tossing aside his inner conflictions, he decides to spend his evening with Gon only for his best friend to give flourishing hydrangea with an unexpected confession.

Killugon 13

Pairings: Gon Freecss/Killua Zoldyck Warnings: swearing, violence Rated T Gon Freecss, Summer-born Bounty Hunter, has always been known across the Summer Tropic for his prodigy and odd behavior. The bizarre Hunter becomes the center of Tropic gossip once more when he brings his too pale, blue-eyed, and silver-haired Winter-born fiancé, Killua Zoldyck, to the Summer Solstice Celebration.   It would be scandalous to invite a Winter-born to the Summer Solstice on any given year. But to completely ignore the increasingly tense political frictions between the Summer and Winter Tropics after the disappearance of Winter Tropic Prince is a new level of blind ignorance that only Ging Freecss’ son seems capable of bearing. Little do they know, faking an engagement to sneak a runway Prince into the Summer Tropic Palace and steal the kingdom’s legendary Looking Glass is exactly the kind of thing Gon would do. The arrangement would prove lucrative to Killua and Gon both if successful. And luckily for Gon, it shouldn’t be too difficult for him to pretend being engaged to someone he’s half in love with already. After all, what’s the worst that could happen?

Killugon 14

Pairing: Killua/Gon

Rating: T

Additional notes: as canon as I can make it, reunion au, about 4 years, aged up kiddos, light fluffy reunion fluff. Gon has a sporting scar down his eye. Fluff

Killua and Gon haven’t seen each other since the world tree. While they tried to keep up with each other in the first few months of separation, their communications teetered off until it was nonexistent.

Killua enjoyed being with Alluka and Nanika, it was amazing seeing the world with them. But every day without Gon weighed heavy on his heart. And maybe Killua was just ignoring how he really felt about it all.

Gon had been travelling the world with his fellow hunters, trying to relearn nen and getting into his usual trouble. But Gon knew it was at best a distraction; to run from his fears and worries- and most of all to distract himself from Killua.

Killua finally plucked the courage (through Alluka forcing him) to meet up with Gon again after almost 4 years. He’s nervous though; will Gon be upset they haven’t spoken in forever? Will Gon have new friends and be far gone from being Killua’s friend? He honestly didn’t know what to expect. He wasn’t expecting a scar on Gon’s eye, among other things.

Killugon 15

Pairing: Killua/Gon Rating: M Warnings: canon-typical violence and light gore, major character death, references to canonical child abuse and canonical csa (read: hisoka). Dark continent arc spoilers. Medieval fantasy AU. Aged up killugon. It’s a legend, told and retold through countless songs, countless stories: of how the humans and the faeries waged a war, great and terrible as all wars are; of how the noblest of knights slew both the Faerie King and himself with a rose of flame. And of how, on that night, a young hero lost himself to darkness. Swearing a terrible oath, he grew from a boy into a man in one night- and thence into a savage, tempestuous giant who stalks long-hidden forests, crushing all who dare oppose him. It’s only a legend- but when the rebellious young nobleman Killua Zoldyck is sentenced to kill that giant, he soon discovers that old legend is more real- and more human- than he could ever have dreamed.

Killugon 16 Pairing: Background KilluGon. Warnings: Canon typical violence, mentions blood, possible graphic depictions

Rated T Gon practices black magic in a city beyond time. Alluka is one of the best tennis players in the world.

Killua is… between jobs.

Gon kicks in their door and says hello by eating fistfuls of salt from their kitchen.

Things get weirder from there. Highlights include: The death of an Elder God, Alluka playing tennis with a demon, Killua going missing Alluka suffering because of her gay brother.

Killugon 17

Title: The Life of Death Pairings: Killugon Rating: T for Teen Tags: Major Character Death, Killugon, Fluff, Angst The life as death is a lonely one for the small nonamed spirit. Every moment spent with another; a fleeting last moment. One often filled with hopelessness and sorrow, but also comfort and release; all things death is used to. All things death has come to expect from those whose pain and life he’s come to take away.    

That is until death finds himself face to face with a village boy, named Gon, who appears at the edge of the forest. Surprised by the lack of fear and no trace of pain on that smile plastered face, death ventures closer and an unlikely friendship begins. With a new name and an energetic friend, Killua finds that maybe his life as death isn’t as lonely as he thought it would be. But all of that could fall apart with just a simple touch.

Killugon 18

Rating: G

Pairing: Gon/Killua

Warnings: brief depictions of violence/blood, disembodied pain

There are two types of magic, Aunt Mito tells Gon: the world magic, the things wizards and mages use to shape the world. It’s real, because it’s founded on laws and rationality. It builds bridges and creates cities, tears down walls and destroys mountains. It’s the sort of magic that makes sense.

The Freecss family doesn’t do sensible. Never has. Theirs is the second magic, magic made from dreams. Magicians pull from their imaginations and their dreams to spin stories and grow gardens, to give a moment’s peace to those who can’t sleep or inspire fire and fear in the hearts of the cruel. Dream magic can be quiet, or it can be as awe-inspiring as any rune. But dreams don’t make sense. As much as they can understand about the rules of dreams, there are so many more that defy even the most sensible worlds.

Maybe dreams are the key to understanding Ging. Something he left behind for his son before he vanished, something he understood better than anyone else, so much that he finally got lost in them. Gon’s not sure.

What he is sure of is the impossible boy that drops in his dreams, haunting his waking hours with magic that isn’t only of the world and isn’t only of dreams, a dreamwalker named Killua that claims he doesn’t dream at all.

And how can there be magic without dreams?

Leopika

Leopika 1

Rating: Mature/ Explicit

Warnings/Triggers: Violence, Explicit Sex/NSFW Content, Self-Destructive Tendencies

Pairings: Leopika, probably some mentioned killugon at some point in there

(Modern AU)

When push comes to shove and rumors come to an irritating boiling point, Kurapika makes an impulsive decision to hire Leorio, a broke college student moonlighting as an escort, to help him take care of them. That part of his plan works just fine. It’s just that Leorio never took into account actually liking the guy.

“So wait, you’re hiring me to-“

“You know exactly what I’m hiring you for,” Kurapika says, short and to the point. Leorio politely refrains from opening his mouth, even though it’s probably the second time he’s been polite in his whole life. “You are sexually experienced. I am not. I am tired of my competence being questioned for something I have little interest in, so I’m handling it.”

Handling it by hiring an escort? Leorio opens his mouth, closes it, unsure of how or even why he’s trying to argue with this guy. As long as Leorio gets paid, what does he care?

And then, clearly unimpressed with Leorio’s silence, Kurapika raises an eyebrow. Fuck, Leorio is done for. He’s a goner. The condescension alone could cut glass. “Your… agency told me you were professional. Are you going to be able to live up to that? Or should I leave now and save myself the inevitable disappointment?”

Well, Leorio does have to pay for college somehow.

Leopika 2

Pairing: leopika

Rating: M

Warnings: mentioning of sexual harassment and physical abuse (choking in particular), implied emotional abuse, potential adult themes

Becoming the stylist of one of America’s currently most discussed solo artists isn’t quite how Leorio hoped to start his own career in the music industry, but it will have to do. He has a foot in the door now, and he knows this job can earn him some sorely needed connections. And the work’s not so bad either, even if it sometimes leaves his head spinning and his body struggling to catch a breath. It has quiet moments like these, when it’s just them and their little inside jokes and Kurapika’s dark eyes settle on him with a twinkle of amusement.

In which Leorio is an aspiring singer and songwriter and Kurapika is a musical prodigy with the temper of a rockstar. Together they face the dark aspects of the business and an utter lack of privacy while they pine for each other fiercely, either man unaware of the feelings of the other. Yet, when their first tour comes up, their patience and restraint is put to a new test. A small shared living space. Drunk impromptu karaoke sessions. A childish lovesong, written years ago, that Kurapika rather wants to forget about and that might easily give him away.

One of them is bound to slip up.

Leopika 3

Pairings: Leorio/Kurapika

Rating: T

“I wish we had more time,” Leorio said, voice uncharacteristically fragile. “God, I wish we had more time.”

Kurapika couldn’t bear the pain in the other’s words; couldn’t bear the terrible truth. He felt his eyes close, and he took a shaky breath. Me too, me too.

OR

Kurapika’s mission to retrieve the Scarlet Eyes from the Fourth Prince is a success, but at a steep price. Instead of feeling accomplishment at his deeds, however, he only holds regret. So he is given another chance, a segment of borrowed time to right the wrongs and to actually live. Still, borrowed time is time that must run out, and Kurapika battles with the knowledge that everything that he does, everyone that he loves, are bound to be lost.

Leopika 4

Pairing(s): Leopika Warnings: swearing (kind of a lot), relationship angst. Rating: T Leorio is thinking too much. About Gon and Killua, their brushes with death. About how much they’ve overcome in their young lives. About how inadequate he feels next to his friends, who have both suffered and accomplished so much. Leorio is left alone with these thoughts eating away at him after the Chairman Election and Killua and Gon’s departure - that is until Kurapika calls, saying he wants to meet up with him. In his emotionally fragile state, Leorio agrees, in spite of the knowledge that his reunion with Kurapika will dredge up even more difficult feelings - ones that he’s been trying to ignore since they were last together in Yorkshin. When Kurapika finally arrives, he sees a more vulnerable side of Leorio than he ever has before, and he finds himself in the unusual position of comforting the friend who up until now has always played the support role.

Phantom troupe misc

Troupe misc 1

Pairing: phinkuro (Phinks/Chrollo) Rating: M Warnings: Violence, trauma, physical abuse, forced captivity, descriptions of injuries and body trauma. Minor character death. Bruised and broken and shackled liked a dog in a cage, Phinks lived his life as if every day might be his last. He had no reason to hope for better; he had nothing beyond the steel of the ring, the glare of the lights, the jeers of the hungry crowds eager for blood– And even then, he only had that until he lost. Angels didn’t fly in this place… But one still came regardless.

Troupe misc 2

Warnings: Mentions of Violence, Language

Rating: T

Pairing: Shizuku/Franklin, Mentions of Uvogin/Shalnark and Pakunoda/Machi  

In this world, romance is no mystery. Whatever is written on one individual will always appear on their soulmate’s skin, leaving no confusion as to who is destined to be together. It is a novel concept, a blessing meant to ensure that love is found and celebrated. To know you have a soulmate is to live knowing that some part of you is made for another.

Franklin, however, is not convinced that he has anything in common with whoever keeps scribbling constant, ridiculous reminders all over themself.

Troupe misc 3

Pairing: Kurokura

Warnings: swearing, violence, injuries, T rating There are a few perks to holding a grudge. Some enjoy the anger that boils under their skin, while others appreciate the fine art of vendettas. The best perk, however, are the clocks that seemingly appear out of thin air, as if they were tangible proof of one’s hatred. The clocks, simple in body and purpose, ranging from digital timers to hourglasses, have only one sole purpose: to show how long someone has to exact their revenge. Getting revenge within the time limit is top priority. Any action done within the time limit is overlooked by society and the law. Gossip has it that people call this the Grudge Rule, and that anything done out of spite past the time limit set is illegal. In this world, Kurapika was able to encounter and quickly befriend Chrollo. Though unbeknownst to the both of them, because of their meeting, the unfortunate of event of someone’s death was put into action, forcing them to deal with their pasts’ and relationships’, all while trying to find the person responsible for their suffering.

Misc fics

Misc 1

Pairing: meruemkomugi Warnings: (angst, violence)

Rated T

She was the owner of a small bar in the middle of a city that no one really knew. She was also one of the towns core protectors, guarding the streets from outsiders and embracing the fact she was a bit of a rebel at heart. He was a handsome traveller, and a collector of games, searching the world with nothing but a bag full of mysteries to his name. That, and the thought that he had to be somewhere, and meet someone, for a reason he just couldn’t recall. On a dreary, stormy afternoon, as the traveller enters her bar to escape the rain, he finds himself challenging her to a game. “My name is Meruem,” the traveller introduces, his smile one that could capture any heart in an instant. “My name is Komugi, and I hope you don’t think I’m going to let you stay here for free just because you might have a nice face. You’re still gonna have to pay for that drink if ya don’t want me to kick you out of this bar and back into that storm, because trust me, I will.” It’ll take some time, but star crossed lovers always manage to find their way back together again. Even if that means being in another city…both in slightly different, but very human forms…not able to remember who they were a lifetime ago.

[Merukumugi reincarnation au.]

Misc 2

Pairings: Killua and Kurapika Rating: M

Warnings: Graphic Violence, canon triggers from both Btoom! and HxH, angst, drama, implicated relations, slight time travel play.

Following a game ad developed by the Phantom Troupe, Kurapika finally has a lead on the monsters who took everything away from him. The game was called Btoom! The same one Kurapika was so disinterested in when he first saw it advertised. Now, however, he was going to hunt down the company and kill the developers. That was the plan, until he wakes the next night to discover himself trapped on an island. With only a pack of explosives and a sensor chip implanted in his hand to protect himself against people who wanted to kill each other! Shocking as that was, Kurapika quickly learns that he is in the game of Btoom! The same one that was taking up the crazed nation of his world, only this time it was undeniably real. As he continues to progress in the strange game of survival, his carefully cultivated hate over the years start to crack after he meets Gon, Killua, and Leorio, other survivors on the island, but so full of prospect for him that Kurapika began to develop feelings for them. But the game is more than trying for Kurapika, for he has to battle the demons inside his head as well, and figure out his ultimate decision: survive in this new place and win the game with his newfound friends, or risk everyone’s brittle safety to find a way to get off the island and defeat the troupe. Yet, what if he died in the game before getting his revenge? If he could get vengeance in the first place?

[Btoom! AU] a crossover *Btoom! is a manga/anime series about a survival game on a remote island. A supposedly harmless video game called Btoom! is recreated in real life. Known to the people in the anime as an rpg game where you take out players with bombs called bims and a tracking device in one’s hand, the recreation of the game to real life is kept secret from the public. So the players, random civilians disowned by their loved ones through the btoom developers, have to kill one another by a set of rules to win the game and go home without help from the outside world.

Misc 3

Pairings: Hisoka/Senritsu, Kurapika/Senritsu, Rating: Explicit

Warnings: Graphic violence, graphic sexual content, mentions of abuse, mentions of PTSD, mentions of survivor’s guilt, body horror, gore, horrorfest from hell taking place on a ship from hell

Additional notes: canon-compliant through Chimera Ant Arc. Dark Continent Expedition Arc AU. Not for the faint of heart. Spooky.

A scrap of paper with a single line of notes from the Dark Sonata has appeared deep within the treasure trove of the Kakin Royal Family. When Senritsu learns of the Dark Continent expedition, she realizes she has one more chance to make things right before it all falls to pieces. Compelled by its lure, she rejects Kurapika’s offer to join the expedition as a bodyguard, and instead sneaks into the ship under the guise of a peasant searching for a better life. Hidden in the subaltern, she shadows the princes as she pieces together the reasons behind the Royal Family’s possession of the notes. Meanwhile, a clown stalks a cluster of spiders, but catches a hint of a melody in the wind. Putting his initial quest on hold, he offers a helping hand to the woman with the wide-brimmed hat. Following close behind is Kurapika, who knows his friend is stalking the princes, but can’t bring himself to question her motives when the Kurta eyes beckon him towards them. Maybe it’s fate, or maybe it’s the evil seeping out of every corner of the ship, but either way, a song haunts the hallways. It’s a song Senritsu knows well. It may be the last song she ever hears- and the last song she ever plays.

Misc 4

Rating : T

Characters : Bisky, Feitan, Chrollo

The Opal and the Obsidian

No one can fool Bisky Krueger, and certainly not this young Nostrade man, an obscure stone trafficker that no one had ever heard about yet. But he surprised her when he vanished with the precious Moire, a gem of crystalised nen, extremely rare, expensive and powerful.

The motives of this mysterious man are unclear, and can’t be explained by greed only. But only greed pushed the two Nostrade mercenaries to try to rob her. Greed and stupidity : they are young, inexperienced and don’t even master their nen.

Their names are Chrollo and Feitan and it’s the very first time they go out of Meteor City. They have the informations she needs, but they won’t give ‘them away for free. They’ll help her take back the Moire if she trains them.

Her? A trainer? She is not a teacher and she hates kids anyway, but she has no choice. She has to earn their trust and respect. There’s a long way to go…

Misc 5

Rating: T Warnings: Violence, some mentions of gore Pairing: Gen

Up the mountain, surrounded by dense woods and an ever-looming fog, is a house known to all around. No one dares venture near it. No one human, that is — until Gon Freecs wanders into the gloom without a second thought. They say herbs that heal all illness grow under that strange moonlight… He’s sure the Zoldycks — kitsune, mischief-makers and purveyors of miracles — have something that can help his gravely ill great-grandmother. He crosses the boundary between the woods and the deeper forest — and fortunately, doesn’t meet the same fate others have suffered. A strange white-haired boy has found him instead.

Misc 6

Pairings: Mizai/Zepile, Leopika

Warnings: mild gore and horror associated with flesh collecting and mafia dealings, some violence

Rating: T

As the reputed “conscience of the Zodiacs”, the black-and-white print of Mizaistom’s daily ensemble reflects not only his bovine aesthetic, but also his judicial manner of thinking in painstakingly defined terms of right and wrong before taking action. Although he bears no special ill will towards prospective new Boar Leorio, when Cheadle assigns Mizaistom the mission to locate the nigh impossible to reach Kurapika and invite him to join the Zodiacs at Leorio’s personal request, Mizaistom finds himself tempted to conduct his own investigation into who Rookie Hunter Leorio really is in order to uncover the true nature of Leorio’s connection to a flesh collector’s lackey turned mafia boss.

In a serendipitous encounter that promises to accomplish both Cheadle’s mission as well as his own, Mizaistom meets Leorio’s friend Zepile, an auction-savvy antiques trader with aspirations of becoming a Hunter himself one day. Mizaistom employs Zepile to serve as his undercover agent within the flesh collectors’ market, where he hopes to attract the attention of Kurapika’s henchmen and secure a meeting with their elusive boss face-to-face. However, the case demands a high level of continuous cooperation between the moralistic Ox and ex-counterfeiter Zepile, and over time, Zepile’s criminal past and what Mizaistom considers an insufficient effort to redeem himself test Mizaistom’s strict sense of justice and his belief that no criminal has truly repented a crime if they haven’t allowed themselves to be tried and held accountable by the law.

Misc 7

Pairing: Cluck/Kanzai

Rating: T

Warnings: canon-typical violence

ORCHiDELiRiUM: the name given to a period of time where the acquisition and discovery of rare orchid plants reached a fever pitch among the collectors and enthusiasts of the wealthy and titled. None were prized more highly than the rare Black Orchid, native to a small republic whose only access point was severed by a tremendous rockslide during the plant’s last cyclic bloom nearly seven years ago. Professional Botanical Hunter Cluck is contracted to not only recover a specimen of the rare flower, but protect it from any and all intruders. She is more than up for the first task, but for the second, she enlists the help of her colleague Kanzai, and the two find themselves battling mafia legions, the strangely misanthropic people of the once-isolated nation, and a living forest in pursuit of their prize.

Misc 8

Rating: M

Pairing: (Slight)HisoIllu

“Caught in the midst of an impromptu fight, Hisoka’s phone slips from his pocket.

Gon and Killua, drawn in by the powerful bursts of Nen, are the first to pick it up.

Just what exactly does Hisoka have on his phone? How many snapchats can they send before they’re found out? How many bizarre texts can they flood Illumi and others with before they get angry?

And what will happen when Hisoka comes to get his phone back?”

[sweetchup]

A Helping Hand: Ghosts of Past // Day 3 ☀️

Type: Shalnark x reader

Au?: Savior Au

Word Count: 1,700+

Warnings: Angst, Previous Character death, this came out as a much sadder chapter than I meant

Author Note: This will hit all sorts of feels for many people, so I’m not sorry. But, I hope you guys like it anyways.

<—(Pt.4.2) / (Pt.4.3🌙)—>

A Helping Hand Masterlist

The loud sound of purring echoes throughout the room as you scratch and pet at Chloe. Laying in bed, with the sun seen slowly rising up through the windows, you reminisce about last night.

First, it was dancing in the grand ballroom. Well… attempting to dance, If it weren’t for Shalnark and his quick instincts, you surely would have fallen flat on your face and embarrassed yourself. Though, sadly, you two couldn’t dance for long due to his injuries but it wasn’t all that bad.

Instead, you two stood to the side, people watching and having a couple of drinks. Shalnark told you much about Meteor City and his childhood with some of the troupe members. Some were happy memories, others were sad but you were just glad he had told you something about him not many have heard.

Then when it started to get too crowded in the ballroom, Shalnark and you left to check out the many booths in the hallways. You two had great fun doing that; from gawking at the prices to imitating scenes from historical paintings, you just couldn’t stop laughing.

Finally, just when the theater show was about to start in the main auditorium, you were surprised when Shalnark was pushing you forward to another area. Taking you outside the building, he carefully looks over his shoulder before breaking out into a sprint. Racing after him, you are confused as to what is happening until Shalnark stops at a park, plenty away from the building.

—.—.—.—

Looking around as he giggles lightly, you watch curiously as Shalnark pulls a necklace out of his pocket.

“Shal! I swear if you—!”

“Shhh. Shhh” Shalnark hushes you, maneuvering behind you to put the necklace on. “Don’t give us away. I shut down the cameras at the place and on the way but you never know who is around.”

Huffing, you glare down at the necklace around your neck. Perfectly hanging over your bosom layed two sleek iron bats with them cradling a heart encrusted gem in their wings. The gemstone, an expensive pure rose quartz, almost seemed to glow under the bright city lights. You hated to admit it but the necklace was gorgeous.

You sigh to yourself, quickly shaking that thought out of your head, “Shal I can’t have this. You, of all people, should know how rare and expensive pure Rose Quartz is. I could— Hey are you even listening?”

You look appalled as Shalnark simply grabs your hand and begins walking off. Shaking a hand through his gelled back hair, he brushes his hair back into a messy version of its original form.

“What do you think we should grab for dinner (y/n)? I’m pretty hungry.” He asks, his blue eyes seeming to glow brightly even under the city lights.

“Shal I swear—“

—.—.—.—

Suddenly, you feel something warm and heavy lean on your back, snapping you out of your thoughts. You look over your shoulder and huff out a laugh.

“Good morning sleepyhead.” You coo out, reaching up and running one of your hands through Shalnark’s bed head.

“Mornin’” He grunts out, his voice deeper than normal due to just waking up. Shalnark attempts to open his eyes to see but after the sunlight nearly blinds him, he instead chooses to wrap his arms around your waist and nestle his face back into your shoulder. After a couple of more moments of enjoying each other’s presence, you suddenly feel the making of a smile etch it’s way onto Shalnark’s face.

“I see you are still wearing the necklace I gave you.” Shalnark mumbles out, bringing his hand up to play with the necklace in between his fingers.

“Oh shut up.”

Shalnark lets out a hefty chuckle, only to regret it when you start to get up. Letting out a whine, he lets go of the necklace to hold you tight to him as you continue to try to escape, “Don’t Leave! Come on (y/n), don’t you wanna be the Bonnie to my Clyde.”

“Nope.” You pop out, finally wiggling your way out of his grip and sitting up on the bed. Looking down at Shalnark, you can’t help but let out a giggle at his offended expression, “I’ll be the Bethany to your Clyde however.”

“The Bethany to my Clyde?” Shalnark repeats amused as he leans back on his forearms. The sheets falling down to reveal his shirtless chest in the process.

“Yep. Instead of approving and joining you on your risqué thefts like Bonnie…” You pause for a second as you sneakily grab the pillow next to you. “I’ll make sure to scold you real hard!”

With a loud thump, you jump on top of Shalnark and hit him square in the face with a pillow.

It’s quiet for a while not a sound is heard. That is until you eventually break and collapse onto Shalnark’s chest in a fit of giggles. As you are attempting to calm yourself down, Shalnark lifts the pillow off his face and chucks it to somewhere else in the room.

“Well, I would still fin—“ “Mew!”

Before Shalnark can even start his sentence, Chloe cuts him off with a loud call causing you to look over at her. Laying on her side, her tail twitches back and forth wistfully, showing how unhappy she was at the moment.

“Aww are you jealous I’m giving Shalnark more attention to you, Chloe? Come here Baby.” You coo out, getting off of Shalnark to press kisses all over Chloe’s face. All the while, Shalnark scowls as he looks on, clearly jealous that you had left him.

“Thief…” He grumbles out under his breath, already planning ways on stealing you back.

—.—.—.—.—.—.—

“I hope Chloe will get along with the other cats alright…” You sighed out, still worried even though it’s barely been over an hour since you dropped Chloe at a local pet day care center.

“It will be okay. It’s better than keeping her trapped in that hotel all day after all.” Shalnark answers with a smile as he swings an arm over your shoulder. He looks around at the area surrounding you two before mumbling under his breath, “Now where was it exactly…”

After walking a little while further down the street, Shalnark suddenly stops.

“Ah! This way.”

Still lost in your thoughts, you unconsciously follow where Shalnark was leading you, not noticing him taking you past a “No trespassing sign” and into a lot full of old abandoned buildings.

It wasn’t until he started to enter one of the buildings, that you even noticed where you were going. Uneasy, you look around you, pausing your search only as he stops in front of a large empty area in the building.

“(Y/n). I would like to introduce you to our troupe hideout.” Shalnark says grandly as he enters, “Well… one of them. We usually change it from place to place.”

Slowly, you take in the room around you, listening lightly as Shalnark talks your ear off. He tells you about where some of the members sat and all the arguments they got to around here.

However, his words soon fade out of your mind as you take notice of something in the corner of the room instead. Walking over carefully, you look down at the many dried up flower petals and burnt out candles. What was this?

“Oh. Damn it, I told Feitan to secure it more carefully.” Shalnark muttered out suddenly, scaring you lightly as you didn’t notice him next to you. You watch curiously as Shalnark fishes through the many flowers. “Ah. There it is.”

You can’t help but feel the breath knocked out of your lungs as you watch what Shalnark pulls up from the petals.

“A cross…” You mumble out agasped. You technically shouldn’t be surprised. After all, you knew one of Shalnark’s members was killed back in the republic of padokea so there could be more. But, at the same time, it felt… almost uncomfortable in a way, standing in front of a grave of someone you didn’t know.

“All… Set.” Shalnark grunts out, securing the cross back in place. It’s quiet for a couple of minutes before Shalnark speaks again. “You know… out of all the troupe members I think Pakunoda would have loved you the most.”

“P…Pardon?”

“Ah. Sorry sorry.” Shalnark mutters, taking a step back before taking a seat in front of the petals. It takes a couple of moments but hesitantly, still unsure if you should, you join him.

“Pakunoda was my designated partner on troupe missions. So, over the years, I got to know her more than most of the members.” Shalnark explains, twiddling one of the petals in his hand. “She was pretty serious about the troupe. Even being so cold at times it would even surprise me. Though… I think that surprise was due to the fact that I knew she had the biggest heart of the troupe…”

Shalnark falls backwards onto the ground, a confused yet also painful look on his face.

“I-I… still don’t understand why she sacrificed herself for the boss. I honestly don’t and not sure if I ever will.”

Sitting there you allow Shalnark’s words to slowly sink into you. You were unsure about what to say especially since you don’t know Pakunoda that well but, at the very least, you knew you had to be there for Shalnark.

Hesitantly, you lay yourself on the cold ground close to Shalnark; Allowing him to hide his face in the crook of your neck. As you begin to run your hand over his back, already feeling it slightly begin to shake under your soothing touch, you think to yourself.

“Shal…” You murmur out, pausing for a second as you stare at the broken stained glass window on the ceiling, “Let’s buy some new flowers for Pakunoda’s grave before we leave. I think… she would appreciate it if we clean it up for her.

You hear Shalnark let out a light chuckle, “Yeah… she would appreciate that a lot. She could be quite the clean freak at times…”

Taglist: @meromelodi, @quartetstarheaven , @yumezai , @lvndrhwis , @writtenappreciation , @jojo-sinner, @pastelbear12 , @aly-kurta , @bbunnycore , @feifood , @akobere7u7 , @aleksa784

[sunderedazem]

I like your writing style

ASKDJFAKJSDFHFURU :D I’m SUPER HAPPY you like my writing style like adasdkfasjkdgh half of my professors tell me I’m way too wordy which is like - really obnoxious -_- (ex*cuse* me sir, please read Tolkien sometime)

and OH! You’re the wings anon! Hello! I’m happy you like my crap doodles of the Killugon pair for Seeking Petrichor - I have plans for more doodles of them in the works, plus Leorio and Kurapika, who will be appearing…sometime. XD

Anyway, questions answered! In order!

1) Killua is a bit of an anomaly for the Zoldycks, but essentially, he’s the kid with the recessive genes. Long story short, before the apocalypse in this AU, an elf queen married into the Zoldyck family, and they became the rulers of Padokea following that. Killua just happens to display a lot of elven traits - a lot more than many of his predecessors. And yes. Him being half-elven is crucial to the storyline, though he doesn’t know it yet.

2) No. Toushiro cannot simultaneously use his Quirk and Reiatsu-based powers. Or, rather, he cannot use both powers simultaneously without ripping his spirit apart and starting Soul Suicide if he goes far enough. This is because his Quirk requires the physical manifestation of Hyourinmaru’s power - essentially pulling the Zanpakutou spirit out of his inner world. If you’ve seen some of the Bleach OVAs, I believe there’s one where a Shinigami merges fully with his Zanpakutou spirit - this is similar, but on a non-spiritual level, just physical.

Thank you for the lovely asks!!!

[sunderedazem]

Seeking Petrichor - Ch 1

The first chapter of my Hunter x Hunter AU is up! Here’s the A03 summary:

Gon Freecs is a young blacksmith from Whaleisle Town, a peaceful town in the far southern country of Saherta. But for years, his dream has been to leave and search for his Druid father, the enigmatic and absent Ging Freecs who abandoned him just after his birth. And then he finds an injured stranger collapsed in the mountains outside his valley, and his life takes an unexpected turn.

Killua Zoldyck isn't just any stranger - he's the deposed heir of Padokea, the northern, warlike nation that borders the Black Mountains and the Wastes inhabited only by Trolls, Imps, and the mysterious Necromancer. And he's in trouble. Not only was he overthrown by his eldest brother, but he carries a powerful magical artifact stolen from the Necromancer himself, and the Necromancer is hunting him.

But Killua knows Ging, so Gon knows that the exiled heir to the throne of the Zoldyck assassin-kings is his best chance - his only chance - at finding his father.

And so the journey begins.

You can find it here:

https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13074302/1/Seeking-Petrichor

https://archiveofourown.org/works/16083338/chapters/37559237

Please, enjoy!