Beyond the Grave [ILLUMI X CHROLLO]

[ 10 ] Be Not Afraid

When Killua returned with their drinks, he sat across from Wrath who recovered his earlier blunder by coherently and definitely without stuttering the way humans reacted to Sin. When he was done, Wrath took a swig from the vodka bottle Killua had toted with him.

"But that did happen," Killua said, glancing at Gon as he did. "On the sidewalk. Everyone froze. I could barely speak."

"Gon did mention that Pride told you to be quiet," his brother said, voice thick with concern.

Killua rolled his eyes. "Not so kindly, but yes."

"I can see that now," Wrath said, leaning the bottle against his hip. "And this corroborates the theory that Illumi's the source of the anomaly."

Killua's brother then explained his theory for the Rave RSP event:

"I think Illumi is the opposite of Sin right now. Either that, or he's deflecting it, and he can't deflect Sin if it's affecting the people around him and they're interacting with him. You see why that might impact the crowd Pride and Illumi were in?"

"I guess," Killua shrugged, leaning back with his arms folded. "But riddle me this: what's the opposite of sin?"

"Celestial?" his brother said.

"No, not the Big Bad Capital Sin," Killua said, voice mocking. "I'm talking sin sin. Classic catholic school bullshit sin."

"A Saint," Wrath breathed. "I've never met a Saint before."

"They're just human, aren't they?" Not Killua said. "Being a saint shouldn't make a difference."

"It doesn't normally. Sainthood isn't canonized strictly by human standards. Some saints canonized by humans aren't recognized by celestials," Wrath said. "Miracles are an important factor... but it's hit or miss. Some saints are just favored disciples of God, and Saints never return to Earth after Death..."

"So you'd have no way of knowing whether or not a Saint deflects Sin this way," Killua accused.

"That isn't to say it's never ever happened," Wrath insisted, a hand to his heart. "I'm sure it has. Everything ever to happen has existed and will exist, but just not to my knowledge. I would imagine Pride is aware, if it has happened."

"What would Pride do with a Saint, if he knew one existed and owned their soul?" his brother asked, softly.

Gon watched Killua's eyes drift to the table. Tension had wrung Gon's innards tight, and it only worsened at the look on Wrath's face.

"I... don't think it's possible for a Saint's soul to thrive in a Sin's domain," Wrath confessed. "It's one thing for Illumi to be on Earth where the antithesis of sin is everywhere. Space to breathe. But to my knowledge, celestials have inherent custody over Saints. I imagine he'd lose his Sainthood, given time and exposure to Pride."

"He would have lost it anyway being with Chrollo," Killua said what Gon dreaded to mention. "It doesn't matter. He never would have gone to his own afterlife or whatever anyway."

"Would a celestial be able to take Pride to court?" Not Killua asked.

"Oh, that's a good question," Gon whispered.

"No," Wrath said, immediately deflating them all. "Death and Nature were in attendance. I don't think they knew Illumi would be a Saint, though, otherwise they might have had other ideas for his soul."

"How could they not know?"

"Dying is the ultimate judgement," Wrath confessed, shrugging. "Deals and worship make it easier to define the outcome, but ultimately, there's energy at play that I can't even perceive as an ex-angel. Without my wings, I couldn't fathom some of it."