"Shal!" Rein threw aside the mouth of the tent, eyes widening and slowly coming to soften when she saw him sitting there, blabbering away to Feitan. She let out a shaky breath of relief.

Shal looked her way and grinned at her all the same, even with the pain. "Rein, hey! Could you close the tent flap?"

It took her a bit to respond, but as soon as the words reached her ears, she did exactly as he said. Her fingers lingered on the fabric before she drew in a breath and approached him, lips pulled taut into a too-tight smile. She sat. "It's just an external injury, huh?" she asked, taking a closer look at his knee; the blood, red and seeping into his clothes. After a while, she tilted her head towards his face instead, trying not to let the injury anywhere near her line of sight.

His eyes crinkled, but there was no mistaking the worried way his eyebrows bunched. "I wish I could say that, but there was Nen in that. I could've probably handled a normal arrow, but... hey, Fei, wait!"

Feitan, who Rein had hardly noticed, stood up and went out. He'd already heard this spiel once, and once was enough. "I'm fast," he assured as the fabric fell back into place. "I won't be hit."

The shine in his green eyes dimmed as Fei left a single reassurance that wasn't actual affirmation. He clenched the pants on his uninjured leg, knuckles turning white as he let out a whisper of: "Be careful."

This reminded Rein of a similar instance not to long ago, and she didn't like this déjà vu feeling crawling up her throat, not a bit. Someone leaving, with a warning to be careful, a word of caution that had been futile.

"Well, it's Fei," Shalnark reasoned, the previous expression on his face gone. "He can handle it, no doubt."

She glanced back, at him, his smile, and the dripping, dripping red. Seeping, falling. Her hands dug around in her pocket, searching once again for something old. "We sensed something happened, so I came here and Kalluto went off to find Machi. They'll be he-"

"Brilliant!" he said, and leaned in, as if wanting something else. "Tell me how exactly you knew there was something amiss. Exactly."

Rein tried, and ultimately came up with, "It was just weird all of a sudden. How do I explain that? A random strand of aura hits us like a butterfly truck, of course something is off."

He sat back with his knowing grin, incredibly pleased before his face twisted into curiosity. "Did you say 'butterfly truck'?"

"Like very subtly being hit by a truck," she attempted.

Shalnark laughed, but recovered quickly, nodding as he did with tears in his eyes. "No, no, really, thanks, that was the last piece," he struggled to breathe, "and now I know my deductions are correct.

"The only worrying point about this Nen-user is that we don't know his identity or his whereabouts. But everything else, I have a pretty good grip on." If Shalnark had glasses, he certainly would have adjusted them at this point. "By the method he used to attack, he's an Emitter. And by the fact that an Emitter used a real arrow instead of aura means that's one of the restrictions: to make the arrow warp, it has to actually physically exist. And while it was successful in adding aura to hurt me further, it wasted too much energy. And all that on my knee, only once. Terrible use. That plus the fact that the method wasn't controlled means that..." He smiled. "He's not someone to worry too much about. He's nothing like before, alright, Rein? We'll be okay."

She merely set her jaw to alert him that she had listened, still stiff. Stars, the red in his knee and-

Taking her hands, he pressed something into her palm. He patted her hand over it, and said simply, "I found it when I went to go look for Uvo."

There was a familiar and long-missed calm that came with tracing over the white veins of quartz on her rock, warm from being in Shalnark's pocket for so long. Her grip felt so steady now, as if her fingers had been yearning for her lucky rock this entire time. She tucked it into her own pocket, but didn't let go.

Machi stepped inside. "Shal." She cast a single glance at his knee and immediately readied her threads. Rein stepped aside for her as she knelt down, needle glinting. "Can I remove all traces of the attacker's nen?"

"By all means!" said Shalnark, and allowed her to work her magic. His knee was back to normal, the mangled muscle and shards of bone set properly back into place. Rein was about to leave when he called back out to her. "Also! Another common restriction for any teleportation emitter-style is that they have to be able to see where they release their aura. So if I stay in this tent, he can't attack. An Emitter can't be that patient. I'll be out in a day or two."

Being out in the open again felt like a weight taken off Rein's chest. Kalluto was there, standing close to the tent flap, and the other two were sitting beside him in a neat row.

Zushi leaned forward, concerned. "Is he okay?"

"Completely recovered," she said. "Machi's ability comes in handy. She can sew up someone instantly, muscles and bone and all."

"That certainly is an incredible Hatsu!" he marveled, and she could nearly hear the gears turning in his head.

"It is. But it can't fix everything." Kalluto spoke from his angle. He'd been the one to get Machi, and the first to notice the graveness when they first felt the weak wave of hostile nen ripple through the air. "There are limitations to every sort of ability. Shalnark was lucky that this attacker wasn't anyone worth worrying about. If they were stronger, things could have gotten," he paused, and almost grinned, "out of hand."

"Motive, unknown. Identity, unknown. Gender, unknown, even though you're all assuming them to be male," said Lucky, a hand to his chin. "The key part is probably the motive. If we get one of the pieces, the others will eventually fall into place. There might be something bigger at hand."

Rein raised an eyebrow. "Were you guys eavesdropping?"

No one denied nor confirmed it, though Zushi's ears tinted pink.

It was then that Feitan approached the tent, with Phinks in tow. "Go play," said Fei begrudgingly in an attempt to get them to scram, not bothering to glace their way as he entered.

"Yo, Rein," Phinks greeted as he quickly ruffled her hair before she got a chance to stop him, as if they'd only seen each other minutes ago. He followed Fei into the tent where the other two Spiders were waiting for them, and the group outside went away to explore more of their vast base. Before closing the flap, Phinks watched their backs recede, paying careful attention to one with a white martial arts uniform. He squinted, and looked away.

Already cresting the hill, they were continuing to talk. "The camp seems pretty empty," Rein commented. She'd only seen four of the Spiders so far. They'd first come here with everyone, aside from Danchou, and the two they lost.

Kalluto nodded. "After I joined, a lot of them decided to go off on their own and meet again once Danchou ordered it. They're outside the game doing their own thing."

Of course. They did that often after a mission, either returning to their homeland or acting on their own goals and interests. "So who's here?"

"Just those four," he said at first, before reconsidering. "Well, five, if you include the one I replaced."

Her step faltered. She hadn't seen Hisoka since his betrayal, hadn't even thought much about him, to be honest. With his demeanor, the fact that he was a traitor wasn't surprising in the least. He'd tried to fight Danchou with the intention of making it life or death, but ultimately, he'd failed. There hadn't been anything to be concerned about, especially since Hisoka wouldn't try to come after Chrollo as a 'broken toy'. But if Hisoka had followed them here, all the way to Greed Island, so many new possibilities opened up, all of which she wanted to avoid.

"Hey, isn't that..."

They followed Lucky's eyes to the cliff, and as soon as they saw, the air stiffened. Rein clutched her rock tightly, as a warning. Though she couldn't see his reaction, it felt like he was mocking her, a scientist gazing warmly upon the rats of his illegal experiment.

There was no mistaking his vibrant hair, or that mischievous aura. It was him. Even though he was far, far away—only a speck, really—Lucky swore he saw Crop Top winking as he turned away and disappeared for good.

* * *

"That's right," Killua said in the middle of his stretch. "Hey, Gon."

"Hm?" Gon was stretching too, per Bisky's orders. They were about to test their abilities one last time before confronting Genthuru.

"I got an email from Senritsu when I was at the Exam. Remember her?"

"Ah, Kurapika's friend! Why? Did something happen?"

"Just kind of..." He eased up with a huff to look Gon in the eye. "Something came up. She was split off from Kurapika, but she's concerned for him for a bunch of reasons, and..." He trailed off again. "She found something out, and wants us to help."

He nodded understandingly. "Count me in," he stated. "We have to help a friend."

A friend, huh? Killua managed a devious grin, one of his many practiced charms. Gon seemed nauseated at this, and he gave up immediately. He should have known that hiding how he was feeling around his friend would ultimately be useless. "There's someone else here, and I think that someone's going to be critical for this."

Gon seemed delighted, and raised his fist. "Then we gotta beat Genthuru quick so we can contact them soon, huh?"

Killua bumped their fists together, and nodded. "Yeah."

* * *

Phinks' voice was low, almost a growl. "What's that kid doing here?"

Feitan ignored him.

"Oi, Fei," he snarled, and gripped his shoulder to make Feitan face his him, but he looked calmly away. "You know who I'm talking about. Why's he here?"

"Why does it bother you," Feitan said offhandedly, more a sly accusation than anything.

They stood there with their gazes fierce, neither yielding until Shalnark came up between them, pushing them both away. A hand on each of their chests, he silently urged them to not move as he stated slowly, "I'm going to make some tea." There was less tension in the tent now, but Phinks' unknown source of dissatisfaction clashed against Feitan's stubbornness. Shalnark started to sort out his tea leaves in the background, trying to ignore them.

Machi didn't interfere with the two. She knew they would work it out sooner or later, and she watched it happen when Phinks broke eye contact and sat down.

He leaned his elbow on one knee, avoiding their fixed gazes. "That puny midget," he started out quietly, tone the faintest hint of gruff, "and his weak-ol' aura. It's like a downgraded version of, no, it is a downgraded version of hers, isn't it."

One's Nen held as much character and quirks as a face would. Even if one's memory of it became vague and fuzzy from time, much like a face, it could become instantly recognizable. Feitan hadn't cared about it much in the first place, and hadn't realized the similarity on the spot, but once he had, it was impossible to unsee. Yet Phinks had seemed to recognize it immediately. Phinks, who forgot every single dead body and Meteor City inhabitant, had remembered all these years.

...curse number eight.

"I thought there was something familiar with him," Machi said. "So Temmi's son. That's what it was?"

Feitan's steady eyes gave his answer.

"I always thought he'd died or something." Phinks shifted his weight to his other side, trying and failing to get into a comfortable position.

"Me too," Shalnark called, already pouring hot water into a pot. He brought it over, along with four cups he was balancing in his other hand. "I thought that perhaps she'd jumped with her son. There are many cases of that, where a parent feels inadequate but believes no one else is qualified to care for their child, so..." He sat down, drew a line across his throat, and ended it at that.

"Nah, she wouldn't. I thought Hisoka did something with him or... something."

Shalnark cocked his head at Phinks' lack of eloquence, and his statement. "Why? It's more probable that Temmi would have taken her son's life. You have no evidence against that," he said, and tested the tea before starting to pour their cups, "their bodies were never found. It would be assumed that they disappeared together. But if her son is here, I suppose she handed him over to someone. We checked all her connections when she went missing, but I guess we didn't look hard enough." Shalnark finished pouring the tea and handed each of them a cup.

"He was at Heaven's Arena," Feitan stated, eyeing the cup and peering at its insides tentatively before placing it down. "Probably someone she didn't know well."

"But his guardian was a Nen-user, right?" Machi's hold was around the cup handle, but it hadn't gone near her mouth. "He could have changed his identity completely, in only a way she could have understood. Perhaps he was distant family, or a past lover. Maybe even the father."

Phinks' cup shattered in his grip. Their widening eyes turned to him, almost as large as the splotches of hot tea sizzling in the dirt. His sleeve was drenched now, and seething, he rolled it up as they stared. He popped his knuckles. "Problem?"

Feitan wiped off the tea that had splashed onto his clothes. "He had black hair, skinny eyes, and my skin. Not the father."

He watched as hair by hair, Phinks' bristling seemed to calm down. He cracked his knuckles again, but this time it relieved tension instead of adding it.

"So then? What's the plan of action?" Shalnark leaned forward, as if discussing something secret. "What do we do if he's here?"

"He doesn't know about his mother, or father. His morality will be difficult to get around," Feitan stated.

Shalnark cupped his chin in his hand, the teacup dangling daintily from his finger. "I mean, we have to let him know sometime, right? We must! He's been brought to us, after all. If Danchou were here, he would claim this as fate, and that fate isn't a force to be ignored."

Machi nodded in agreement. "It's what she would want too."

She was talking just like Rein, now, although actually composed, Feitan noticed. Absurd. "I didn't bring him here for nothing," he said, "do what you want."

Shalnark looked to Phinks for the final 'yes', but the Spider just sighed. He grabbed Feitan's cup and downed the hot tea, not caring that it burned at his throat. It helped to clear his mind. "Fine, sure, whatever. Go ahead, I don't care. He's her son after all, I guess."

Shalnark chirped his correction, as if only to see Phinks' reaction: "Her and another man's son."

Phinks' cup once again exploded to pieces in his hand, and Shalnark sipped away happily at his tea.

Fei kind of acts while considering Phinks' feelings and Shal literally doesn't care, the little devil.

I would like to take some time to appreciate:

they're adorable I'm sorry

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