The examiner revealed their next phase would be taking place in a forest about four hours' worth flight from the burning hotel, and that was all the information they got before they were ushered into a private airship.

The five entered the ship together, chatting about nothing and everything almost like old friends and breaking their formation only when they had a door to go through. Occasionally Zushi lingered and meandered down various hallways in wonder, but not for long before someone pulled him along.

They flowed into the break room, and got down to their own needs—Rein grabbed a box of slightly stale crackers, Zepile grabbed a few books off of the shelves, Zushi bought a box of orange juice from the vending machine, Killua grabbed a nearby yo-yo and started to perform jaw-dropping spins and twirls, and Lucky snatched a few pillows, blankets, and bean bags before wandering off in search of coffee—before claiming a corner and settling down to relax. Rein even offered Killua and Lucky two new shirts she'd acquired, and they'd happily changed.

It was nice, sitting there and slouching amidst pillows and carpet, shoving your feet into someone's face while they shoved you away, drinking whatever drink you had and warming your middle with soft beanbags.

Lucky left a few minutes later with an excuse of searching for the bathroom, and with a small breath, Killua stood right after. "Guess it's time for us to talk now. You wanted to know, right?" he asked Rein.

It was finally time to get answers she wanted. She nodded, taking more bites of semi-stale cracker.

"You two are leaving as well?" Zushi asked, taking a sip from his orange juice, eyeing them.

"Yeah." When Rein made no effort to move, Killua grasped her upper arm and dragged her off, but not before Rein grabbed the entire cracker box and waved back at the remaining two as she was hauled through the break room doors.

"Well then," Zepile said as the doors swung shut. He looked down at Zushi, and their hazel eyes met. In such a short amount of time, they'd been abandoned. The space seemed bare without people occupying it. "I guess... You want to go to the outside deck or something?"

His eyes shone, sparkling at the prospect of seeing even more of the airship. "Osu!"

* * *

Killua was strangely quiet as they stood in the empty corridor. Shadows whizzed by as chopper blades on the side of the ship, but in the darkness, everything seemed still. "There are things I want to know too. Can we ask questions in turn, like before? I feel that'd be easier for the both of us."

"As long as I get to go first," she stated, and he chuckled dryly at her to go right ahead. She cleared her throat, but her mind was blank. "What's he doing now? The Chain, I mean, Kurapika."

He shrugged. "Who knows? I've been in Greed Island this entire time, and reception doesn't work there with the outside world. As soon as I left I tried contacting him, but he isn't responding. It's been the same way with Leorio too. He's probably in the underworld trying to get the eyes of his clan back, though, since that's what he mentioned before."

A shiver ran up her spine, and she attempted to cover it up. Eyes, of his clan. "What do you mean?"

"It's my turn for a question now. You get to ask later." Killua gnawed at the inside of his cheek, pondering over what to say and hesitant. "Do you... What do you think of the Phantom Troupe now that you know what really happened?"

"Oh." She still liked them, didn't she? But now that he mentioned it, she'd noticed the thin membrane of hesitance she'd built up around them. They hadn't changed, and she hadn't changed, but the circumstances had. The Spiders had all done what society deemed as bad, and even before, she had been all right with that. Now, thinking about the idea of what they'd done felt personal, private. She thought of them as family, but what about her former one, the one with the Chain User and the others she didn't remember? She would have loved them, surely, if her demeanor now was anything to go off of. The what-ifs, the maybes, the potential friends, parents, cousins, siblings—Rein had always wanted siblings, a brother or a sister her age in a group where everyone had been older than her and didn't have time for fun, meaningless things.

The Spiders had attacked the Kurta, she and Kurapika its only survivors. People she would have loved were now pushing up daisies. But she didn't remember, that's right, she didn't. She should have cared, but all she could feel was pity at a blank slate. She shouldn't be thinking about this. She didn't want to. 

Now, could she even prefer anyone over who she had now? "If you're asking if my loyalties have changed, you're wrong. We've been together for so long and that's all I can remember." Why did her reasoning sound so weak?

Killua nodded faintly, and she was grateful he left it at that, seeming to have accepted it. He jutted his chin out. "Your turn."

It took a while for her to register ("Oh, right.") and even longer for her to remember. "What do you mean by when you said the Chain User is looking for the eyes of his clan?"

"Gon said before, but the Kurta were harvested for their Scarlet Eyes."

Somehow, that sentence struck her more painfully than anything she'd thought, and it was difficult to swallow.

"The eyes are sold in the underground, and because they're so rare with no more sources to fall back on, they're extremely expensive. Kurapika is saving money and making connections so he can get them all back. He's..." Killua's voice shook, and he pulled a hand through his hair. "He's doing it all himself, Rein."

"Killua?"

"That stupid idiot thinks he can do it all himself, but he can't," he said bitterly. "I couldn't get in touch with Kurapika, but Senritsu. She's working in the underground with him, but he isn't even talking to her now." He gulped down a dry breath. "He's been trying to distance himself from her. She said that one time, he got his hands on a pair, he didn't even look at anyone. She said he was crying. He was crying alone in his room and when he found out she was listening, he grabbed her arm so hard it bruised and threatened her not to tell us. He doesn't want help," he spat, and hunched his shoulders so the girl wouldn't see his face.

Rein stepped closer and set a firm hand on his shoulder, waiting until he calmed down. "You good?" she asked when he had stilled.

"I'm not telling you to forgive Kurapika. Even I know that's way too much. You don't even have to like him at all. But it would be easier for all of us if you understand where he's coming from."

Rein blinked before slowly shaking her head, letting stray strands swing to and fro. "You know the answer."

"Yeah," Killua shifted, "I figured as much."

"Although," she sat, tugging on his arm so he would follow, "maybe I'll be a bit more sympathetic. No promises, though." She could never forgive him for what he'd done. But contrary to what she'd told Killua, she was able to follow along with how the Chain User felt. She understood the situation completely, but Rein didn't know how to feel about all of this, really. It was all muddled in inky, oily, black tar in the pit of her stomach and she couldn't rub free of it, traces of uneasiness still lining her insides.

The weight on his shoulders seemed to have eased. "Promise."

She stuck out her tongue. "I am a thief. Deals are made to be broken and if you decide to trust me, you've made a horrible decision."

He suddenly laughed, bursting from his middle. When he stopped, he looked at her, expression softer than before. The tension in his figure had all but drifted away, but she hadn't noticed it had been there until it was all gone, leaving a relaxed and almost happy Killua that she preferred to see over the other stressed boy from before.

"My turn," she said, ignoring when he insisted that she'd just gone and it was his turn now. When he didn't shut up after she'd shushed him, she bounced forward and covered his mouth. "You're in Greed Island?"

He stopped trying to protest and pried her hand off his face. "You know of it?"

"Know of it, I've been there ever since Yorknew!"

His eyes were wide. "Wait, so have we."

Their expressions were comedy gold as they tried to shout over the other at the same time, which didn't turn out very well, as one can easily imagine.

* * *

Zushi marveled at the airship in awe, expression wide and glimmering. "It's amazing," he breathed as he stared up at the symbol of the Hunter Association dyed into the fabric that billowed beneath the sky. He rushed to the edge of the railing to catch a glimpse of the whirring propellers, shaking from excitement as he watched them move from afar. The only reason he didn't scramble off the deck to climb even closer to the engines was because Zepile was there, actively holding him back.

Holding onto the scrambling kid, the man set him down from a bench farthest from the edge, finally able to calm down when it became obvious Zushi wouldn't jump right off entirely. Instead, he sat with his hands under his thighs, giddy.

"You like ships, then?" An understatement.

"Osu!" he said brightly. "This is my first time on an airship! I always wanted to ride one, but my master hardly ever travels, and if we do, it's usually within driving distance. To think that once I came to the Hunter Exam I would have the honor of getting on one! And from the Hunter Association!" Zushi's face positively melted. "I can die happy."

"You're, uh, not planning to die on me now, are you?"

"That was a speech mannerism I picked up while living and training with Lucky-san for the past months."

"Good," Zepile chuckled, pulling out a lighter and lighting his cigarette. Leaning back, he blew out a puff of smoke into the wind, balancing the cigarette between two loose fingers. "You live and train with Lucky?"

"He showed up at our doorstep one morning, and my master took him in until the Hunter Exam," Zushi explained, trying to keep his breathing as shallow as possible as the man next to him continued to smoke. He was grateful he wasn't downwind.

Zepile looked down at him curiously. "You live with your martial arts instructor?"

A curt nod. "Shingen-Ryu. Ever since I've been under his care, my goal was to become strong enough to compete in Heaven's Arena. I reached that goal a few months back, so my new objective is to become a floor master, a top fighter."

He took another drag, breathing out slowly. "Is that your dream?"

"It is my aim."

"But... is it your dream."

Zushi seemed taken aback, his eyes had widened and as time passed, his thick eyebrows furrowed. "I... Forgive me, I fail to find the difference."

Ashes fell from the cigarette as he shook his head. "It's nothing." Reaching over, he dumped the rest of the ashes into a stone tray. "By the way, I never really caught your name, kid. Mine's Zepile."

"Osu! I am Zushi."

He laughed at the formality of this young boy. Living with his instructor had certainly drilled his fighting lifestyle into his character. On such a small boy though, it came off as more comical than strong or threatening. "Well then, Zushi, how old are you?"

"I'm turning ten next month."

Zepile couldn't help a small frown from making its way across his lips, and he took another drag to cover it up. Kid was only nine, but he trained with his instructor for such a looming task, living with him for it. He didn't know much about Heaven's Arena, but he'd heard enough to know that as you passed levels, the rewards became higher, but so did the danger of fighting there. "When did your instructor first take you in?"

"It was..." Zushi paused, and the tightening of his fists didn't go unnoticed. "It was long ago. Wing"—it was a long time since he'd called his master by name, and the first where he'd been too absorbed in his thoughts to add a proper honorific to it—"doesn't like to talk about it. He says that lingering on the past will obscure my vision for the future. I started to house with him when I was around four, so I don't have many other memories other than my life with him."

"Four?" Realizing that he'd just shouted, Zepile ran a quick finger over his mouth and muttered a  quick apology. But only at four? "Where are your parents?"

"My mother was an acquaintance of my master"—the use of titles were back now—"and it seemed she didn't know many others. When she gave me up, she said she had nowhere else to go and left me under his care."

"Oh." He took one glance at his cigarette before putting it out completely, grinding it into the ashtray to give the kid his full attention. "Do you know why?"

"I... I suspect my master has a hunch of the circumstances as to why," he admitted, "but my mother didn't say anything else when she left. We haven't heard of her since. He kept careful watch of the news for quite some time, but it seems he was wrong, so any suspicions he might have had also have the possibility of being inaccurate. We just don't know."

His face softened for this kid, and he slid a bit closer to him on the bench. He felt for the boy and what he'd gone through. Zepile may have lived alone, but he still had a family, someone to fall back on if he ever failed or needed support. What Zushi said next surprised him, though.

"I don't hate my mother." The boy scuffed his shoe against the floor, as if to look anywhere else. "My master doesn't hold the highest opinion of her, but I believe she must have had some circumstances. I'm sure she thought leaving me with someone else was the best choice. And even if  that's not the case, she is my mother. I could never hate her on what little information I have, and I don't hold the right."

This kid... he was really nice, wasn't he? Zepile smiled at him, even if he wasn't looking up at him at the moment. "What about your dad?"

"I don't have a father."

"Oh. I see." Zepile cursed himself as that should have been the obvious conclusion to draw off of what he'd said before. He resisted the urge to smoke again and instead sat on his hands to stop his hands from subconsciously reaching for the pack in his coat pocket. They sat side by side, their hands under their thighs.

"I have Wing-san, but that's not the same thing, is it."

He shrugged. "If you see him as a father figure, you're already done and set. You don't need to be biologically related."

Zushi only shook his head. "I understand, but I don't see him that way. He is my teacher, and someone I look up to. He cares for my needs, but he's not my father."

They sat on the deck, the smell of tobacco smoke completely wiped away from the outside gales of flying in the sky. It was a sky blue, a pearly, perfect blue with faint cotton-candy-like wisps of clouds stretched and floating past. The airship passed through a thicker, larger cloud, and the air became white for a while before breaking out once more.

"I always wanted siblings," Zushi said, tilting his head to the expanse above. "Or friends. The area I live in doesn't have a lot of children, and it's shady. The only person I knew well enough to trust was Wing-san. Sometimes he would train people, but they would usually be gone pretty quickly. I made friends with Killua and his friend Gon recently when they came to train, but they left. Meeting Killua here was by chance. But then there's Lucky. He's going away after he passes the Hunter Exam, but he promised to come back and send emails and visit."

"Lucky? Well, he's a bit odd, but he seems like a good person."

Zushi nodded. "He even arranged for me to take the Exam with him. I was really happy when he did that, and I got to see more of the world and even take this airship..." he sounded nearly breathless, but he continued. "I'm grateful to see the world before going back to Heaven's Arena."

"That Arena place. Do you like it?"

"It is the ideal place for me to grow stronger."

"But do you like it." Zepile blinked before sighing. This déjà vu was not for nothing; they'd had an eerily similar exchange before, in the same conversation no less. "Look, kid," he said, leaning forward to bring his hands together. "You seem like someone who has set goals. Those are good to have. But exploring the world and yourself is a part of growing up, which you're doing right now, and, you know, good job on that," he was getting off track. He cleared his throat. "But you're going to change, especially at your age. Every so often, check if what you're doing is what you want to do. I learned that the hard way."

Zushi was silent and Zepile wondered if he'd said too much until the boy responded loudly: "Osu! I will humbly take that into consideration!"

This kid. He shook his head with a light smile on his face.

Zushi's next question was sudden. "Zepile-san. Will you be my friend?"

His eyes widened a bit, but he grinned. "We both have 'Z' names. We have to be friends."

Zepile and Zushi sat next to each other feeling the wind on the ship deck, the breeze so strong it was nearly impossible to tell apart where each of their russet hairs started and the other's began.

* * *

Later, somewhere private on the airship, a text was being sent. From who, one could only speculate, but the receiver was no stranger.

Unentered number
Apologies for the late response. Transition to fourth phase: Aira is passing easily.

Kurapika
Excellent job.

Kurapika
I trust you will look to it that it will stay that way.

* * *

They stepped off the airship and were met with the smell of pine, sharp mountain air greeting them as the airship flew off and finally, finally they were left in peace. They were left there for a few minutes and the applicants took this opportunity to stretch, meditate, and prepare, to double check their weapons and straighten their badges. Soon, the scene turned from preparing examinees to those anxiously waiting, tapping their feet to the invisible ticking of time.

"Where's the examiner?" a few people complained, and the few that had wristwatches checked them constantly. No one dared take out their phone, lest the next examiner come out last second.

It was by complete chance that someone saw it approaching.

A figure swooped through the foliage, a dark shadow speedily making its way towards them. Drawing closer, they could see it was a man. The man swiftly maneuvered through the think branches and the twigs, batting and dodging as he barreled through the leaves to the applicants, miraculously making no noise as he went. When he finally stopped and perched himself atop a strong bough, it was clear to see there wasn't a single scratch on him. "Greetings." He dropped down from the trees, his long white hair flowing perfectly with his actions.

"I apologize for the wait," he said, brushing himself off lightly. The man tipped his hat, its shadow rimming his eyes like a thick mask of layered kohl. "I am Kite, your examiner for the fourth phase."

This chapter was supposed to be short and centered on Lucky and Rein and instead became eaten up by Zushi backstory and development.

Oh yes and now we gotta play mindgames on who's texting Kurapika. Huzzah. (I don't sound excited because my eyes feel dead.)

Share, support, and comment!