Chapter Text
“Do you think this will work?” Killua glanced over to Illumi who observed the stone in his fingers with great interest.
“It all seems a little wild to me, but I’ve seen enough to believe it. If that thing is trying to merge dimensions to steal your powers, you could use that to your advantage. Once your-…what was it called again?”
“Nen.”
“Once your Nen returns to you, you can use that momentum to take on that creature. It might not expect you to fight back, it seemed rather full of itself during the last encounter.” Illumi muttered and returned the stone to his brother. “I’m not sure what to do with that little rock though.”
“Me neither.” Killua replied and put the stone into his right pocket. He had decided to not tell his brother about the times he snooped around in his memories. It was for the best. None of what he had seen was relevant to the task at hand, which in turn wasn’t clear either.
“So we wait until that thing shows up and roll with whatever happens? Sounds like a plan.” Illumi muttered with a clear sarcastic undertone while twisting a lock of his hair. “I’m not happy about the whole situation, but at the same time I cannot wait to get this over with. You know, before all this, I had enough problems of my own.” He sighed and turned to Killua with a smile. “But if it’s for your sake, I’ll do what I can to help out. I’m not much of a fighter, but I would make a good human shield.”
Killua suppressed a giggle and instead smacked his brother’s arm with a pout. “Don’t talk like that. What is wrong with you?” he asked while Illumi grinned and shook his head “So much, but let’s not get into that. When is your little friend coming over? Was that tonight?”
“Huh?”
“You said Gon was coming over. I’m just wondering if that was tonight.”
Killua’s jaw dropped in the moment of realization. “Shit, you’re right. This is bad, I don’t want to drag him into this!”
Illumi tilted his head while playing with his hair and muttered “Look on the bright side. If everything goes wrong, you can give him one last goodbye kiss. Isn’t that nice?” Moments later he gasped when one of their mother’s decorative pillows landed in his face.
“Don’t even joke about that! Can’t you be more serious about this?” Killua hissed.
“This is how I deal with stressful situations! If I took everything seriously, I would be in a mental institution by now.” Illumi replied and clapped his hands together while getting up from his seat. “Well, I’m going to pretend everything is okay until that thing shows up again. You better clean your room before Gon comes over.”
Killua threw his head back and groaned. “Are you joking? You’re starting to sound like mom.”
“That is what happens when you grow up, Kil. It will happen to you.”
Killua watched his brother leave the room and leaned back against the sofa with a sigh. The room did not matter, but he knew his brother brought it up to distract from the feeling of impending doom. Neither of them had a proper plan for dealing with the demon, the entity or whatever it was.
He felt almost betrayed that none of the things he thought would help were of any relevance in the end. That stupid stone was good for stopping time and invading people’s memories, but that was it. “What a rip-off.”
Gon had been dropped off by his father, who, to Killua’s surprise, was currently on vacation and at home. It had been fun to spend the evening with his best friend, they had laughed, had been stupid together. But the time had passed too fast and soon they went to sleep.
It was in the middle of the night when roaring thunder ripped Killua from his sleep. Outside, up in the sky, could not be a simple thunder storm. The ground shook as crack of thunder echoed through the air.
He heard his brother curse from another room and finally dared to look outside.
Gon muttered something as he rose from the spare bed next too Killua’s and yawned. “What was that?” He jerked up when Killua turned to him with a terrified expression. “Killua? What’s going on?”
“Uh, see for yourself.”
Bright auroras illuminated the night sky outside. Green dancing lights hovering above their heads. Beyond them, a round object that increased in size had appeared. It could have been the moon, if not for the fact that hovering lights surrounded the object itself. As it grew bigger, the realization dawned on Killua. “Is that another planet?”
The outlines of continents and a wide ocean became visible. Killua recognized them from a world map he had seen as a child… back home.
He snapped back to reality when he heard his oldest brother curse from another room. “What the hell.”
Thunder roared through the sky again, a bang so loud, the ground shook. A large stairwell appeared on the little hill in the garden. It led to a greenish glowing veil, which resembled a portal. The dancing lights seemed to almost draw him in, calling to him.
A few minutes must have passed before Killua noticed he had wandered outside towards the veil.
“Killua? Where are you going? You don’t plan to touch that thing, I hope.” His brother’s voice echoed through his head before Gon shook him awake.
“Hey, at least answer. Killua, what’s happening?”
Killua turned around and looked at Gon, Illumi and Alluka who had followed him into the garden. “I think it’s waiting for me. In there.”
Illumi grimanced. “Do you really want to jump into weird glowing lights while another planet is about to collide with ours?” and placed a hand on Alluka’s head, while their sister hid behind her oldest brother.
“This is a weird dream. I would like to wake up now.” She muttered and glanced at Killua.
Gon grabbed his hands and grasped them with force. “You’re not going alone! I’m coming with you and you can’t change my mind.”
“This is between me and that thing, you’re not coming with me.” Killua replied but was quickly proven wrong by not only Gon, but his brother and sister as well. He did not have the time to object before they entered the veil atop the staircase.
A veil between worlds. This situation seemed familiar, but Killua could not remember in what sense. But he had once crossed through these kinds of portals, although not by choice. He stood on a platform in empty space, one planet beneath it while the another floated above him. It was cold.
“Kind of you to accept my invitation. Now return what is mine, child.”
Killua recognized the voice immediately, as did his older brother apparently. “You have some nerve to show up again after our last meeting.” Illumi muttered and gently pushed Alluka behind him.
Hovering lights appeared in front of them and formed a shape which turned into a beast of flesh. It barely qualified as a creature. It did not resemble anything Killua would have been able to imagine. But it was ugly.
“Take a good look at your friend and family, soon they’ll be back to resenting and tormenting you.” The creature snarled and flashed it’s sharp teeth from it’s multiple mouths. “It’s a shame your little sister is just a blob of flesh in this world. She’s the one thing that could have made this difficult for me if she had been at her full potential. It’s almost pitiful how weak you are. But soon things will get more interesting before everything falls apart. Two merged worlds cannot sustain themselves for too long.”
Killua huffed “Leave my sister alone. You won’t succeed and you will never get away with this.“ It was an empty threat, but he meant it regardless. In that moment Illumi exhaled sharply and held his head. “I don’t feel too good, something is wrong.”
Killua swung around in horror as he saw the two planets had begun to collide. After a glance at his older brother, he knew it would not be long until he became a bigger threat than the creature. Waiting for his own Nen to return was not a good plan after all. Killua cursed. He needed a better solution, and fast.
The creature laughed an inhuman laugh. “You could defeat me with your Nen, but is it worth it when you have lost everything else?”
Gritting his teeth, Killua clenched his fists to the point it hurt. His original world was the way it was. But he could not bear the thought of his other self losing this happiness and quiet life. Things seemed hopeless.
A bright light flashed, clearly taking even the creature by surprise. Another portal opened to their right, and a futuristic looking figure emerged. The person raised a device, and shot a beam at the creature, which in turn dissolved into a moss colored goo.
“What in the world…” Killua muttered and his jaw dropped when the person removed their helmet. Before he had the chance to react, the stone, the memory vault to be exact, was snatched from his hands.
“Interdimensional travel should be avoided when one doesn’t know what they’re doing.”
Killua stared at his empty hands, then back at the man in front of him. “Hisoka? What is going on?” The last time he had seen the man, he had worn his amber hair down. But the person in front of him had blue dyed hair and a scar across his face.
“Hisoka Morow from dimension D-224. Your Something from there-“ he motioned at the planet above them, which was now retracting from it’s downward flight. “- send me here to fix this mess. Which Killua are you? If you identify yourself, I’ll send you back and retrieve the Killua from this dimension in one turn.” He declared and Killua decided to accept that maybe it was him who was going mad at this point. There are only so many strange events a person can handle. Perhaps this was a dream after all.
“From the universe-“
“Dimension, you mean.” The other Hisoka corrected him without taking his eyes of the device on his arm.
“Or dimension, whatever, where people use Nen.” He replied in hopes of that being enough. He received a nod which was followed by the man entering the information into the device. “Could you at least explain what just happened? Because obviously you know a lot that I don’t. What happened to the demon?”
The other Hisoka raised an eyebrow in a mocking manner, before he explained “Not a demon, but an interdimensional parasite, trying to take over worlds and devour them – which is just something their kind does. But there is little to no extraordinary energy in this dimension. That's why it tried to use your Nen and the memory vault to travel elsewhere. The Something from my dimension sent me here to prevent that. Is that enough of an explanation to you?”
Killua shrugged. “Not exactly, but it will do for now.” He tried to accept that interdimensional travel was a thing and there were more dimensions that the one he came from and where he had landed. It did make more sense than what he had believed until a few moments ago, but at the same time it was a bit much to handle.
“Alright, we’re set and ready to go.” The other Hisoka looked up and extended his arm with the device on it. He glanced over to Illumi, Alluka and Gon, frozen in their motions, still holding their heads. “It’s nice you still have your Illumi. Before you ask, mine is dead. And so is the other version of you for the matter, but don’t break your head over that. You will forget most of what happened anyway the moment the veil closes again. Use this when you feel ready to switch places again. Take care.” He handed Killua the memory vault and a second later he disappeared into another portal.
“Now I’ve seen everything…” Killua muttered and clutched the luminous stone in his hand. He wondered if staying was a good idea, although he felt things had to be made right again. Everyone has their place, he thought. He squinted his eyes to catch a glimpse of the world he came from through the opened portal. A feeling of gloom overcame him. But he had grown tired of feeling this powerless and like an impostor.
A small, soft hand grasped his own, and he turned around to look at Alluka who gazed up to him with bright eyes. “I don’t understand what happened, but something told me you should do what’s right. Is it normal to hear voices? Maybe I’m still dreaming…” she muttered and Killua patted her head with a faint laugh.
“If this is a dream, then I’m ready to wake up.” Illumi muttered and massaged his temples. “Killua, what happened?”
Killua sighed and faced Alluka, Illumi and Gon with a smile.
“It’s time to go home.”
They made it out of the veil in time before it collapsed. When it did, the skies cleared into a cool autumn night.
Alluka grimaced and held onto her oldest brother’s arm. “Illumi, I don’t think I can fall asleep again now! My head still feels funny… and it’s cold! Why did we come outside anyway?”
She has already forgotten, Killua thought and glanced over to Gon who shuddered. “Let’s get back inside.”
Illumi motioned Gon and Alluka to head back inside. “Come on, you can prepare some tea. Grab a blanket too, while you’re at it.” Their sister’s eyes lit up and she dragged Gon back into the house with a smile, while chanting the word tea repeatedly.
As Gon and Alluka drank their tea in the living room, Killua stumbled into his brother in the hallway. Both looked at each other for a moment before opening their mouths to speak at the same time.
“Killua-“
“I met you. Over there. But you might know what that guy is like already.” Killua said and watched his brother freeze for a moment.
“Yeah… I saw.” He replied after a sharp exhale. His eyes sprang from Killua, to Gon and Alluka in the living room, and finally back to his brother. “How can you even look at me right now-“
“I can tell the difference. I’m not some stupid child, Illumi.” Killua answered, but it did not change his brother’s dark expression. And Killua sighed, before looking at him with a grin. “Remember when you ate my fries and I said I hated you? I’m taking that back now.”
A frown formed on Illumi’s lips, before he muttered “That barely compares to what the other me does.” He said with a sigh. “I hope you- the other Killua is fine.”
Killua nodded. “If I could handle it, the other me can handle it much better. That guy is amazing… he’s so strong, he actually has an eight pack!”
Illumi stared at him in disbelief “He has a what?” and Killua snorted.
“It was cool while it lasted, but it felt impossible to keep up with. I could have died a couple of times, but… Illumi?” He stopped when he noticed his brother’s horrified expression. “Eh, it’s for the best if we all forget what happened. It can’t take too long, in a few days things should be back to normal.”
“So, you don’t want to talk about anything?”
Killua shook his head. “There’s no need. Everything that needs to be said, has been said already.”
Illumi nodded along in silence before he hummed “You know. If I recall, there is still an essay you need to hand in by next Tuesdays.”
Killua’s jaw dropped and he wheezed. “That guy is just going to drop all that on me now? I missed half of the school year! Unbelievable.”
“Maybe Gon will let you copy his-“
“No way, do you know how bad he is at writing essays? I’m going to die.” He sighed and let himself drop to the floor.
“Hmm looks like it.” Illumi replied and left Killua sulking on the floor.
“You’re not helping!” He sighed and rubbed his temples
“That guy has some nerve.”