𝐓𝐎 𝐇𝐄𝐋𝐋 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊 [Hisoka Morow]

PRICKLY x GUEST

Gittarackur eyed me warily, before slowly removing the pins from his face. Instantly, his features began to distort, remoulding themselves until his entire appearance changed. His jaw slimmed, nose refined, eyes widened and even his hair turned black, growing out in long, lustrous tresses.

I stared in astonishment at the man in front of me. How did a creepy puppet turn into... this? He had transformed into a completely different person.

"Ah, that feels better," he sighed, running a hand through his hair.

It appeared that this was his natural form. "Wait... you're actually attractive?" I blurted out in shock. My mind couldn't seem to comprehend it.

"You still find him attractive when you spend almost everyday with me?" Hisoka asked with an expression of betrayal.

"Keep in mind, I've only ever seen him in the form of... whatever he was before."

"Ah, that's right, you missed it during the Hunter Exam." He said, then gestured dramatically to his friend. "Allow me to introduce him. This fine gentleman is Illumi Zoldyck."

Zoldyck. Like Killua Zoldyck.

Illumi frowned. "Did I give you permission to reveal my name?"

"Does it matter?" Hisoka smiled and shrugged. "You're acting like you're not one of the most famous assassins in the world."

"There was no need to put a face to the name."

"You're Killua's brother." I said to Illumi, interrupting their little argument.

He turned towards me. "I am. Are you his friend?"

"Yes, how is he?" I asked. I hadn't seen the boy since the last phase of the exam and he had left without saying goodbye.

"He's fine," Illumi replied. "He has returned home to his family, as he should."

He went home? That didn't sound right. It had cost him an arm and a leg to get of there. Well, maybe not his own arm or leg. But nonetheless, he went through a lot to finally be free so I couldn't imagine why he would go back voluntarily.

"He returned of his own accord?"

"Of course. A little accident during the exam made him come to his senses."

So Killua had failed the exam. But then again, a hunter's license meant nothing to him, there was no reason for him to go home. "But what of his friends? He wouldn't just leave them behind."

"After losing control and killing that old man, it was only natural that he couldn't face his friends anymore." Illumi replied indifferently. "Now he is back where he belongs."

"He killed someone during the exam?" It didn't make sense. Killua wouldn't, not when he knew of the rules. What made him lose control? He was manipulated.

"He is a killing machine, it's what he was made for." He said it so naturally, his tone as cold as his unblinking eyes. It angered me.

"Stop speaking of him as if he is an object. Killua is a child, a living, breathing child." Sure, I was also raised as an assassin. But never once did my brother treat me as anything less than a human, even when the rest of the world saw me as a monster. "Do you not care for his happiness?"

"And I suppose you think his happiness lies in friendship? Those few days he had wasted with his 'friends' will soon be forgotten. Only family remains forever."

"Do you not see that you are suffocating him? He's bound to run away again." I thought about Killua, how adamant he was to escape his family and how happy he had looked when he was with his friends, as a child his age should be.