Chapter Text
Killua sighed loudly as he sat himself down on one of the booths in the restaurant he picked for lunch. Alluka was sitting next to him, just to his left and closest to the window, happily kicking her legs as she grabbed a kids menu. Across from them was Palm and Knuckle, the two had gotten here a fair bit earlier than the Zoldycks and were already eating cheap family restaurant food. Killua wasn’t really sure why he was dragged here, he had fully planned on skipping town the second his job was done, but of course when Palm invited him to lunch Alluka wouldn’t let him refuse. And as a great brother he had to set a good example of politely accepting invitations when given.
“So...why’re we here?” Killua asked, slightly annoyed, fiddling with a plastic straw on the table. He wasn’t one to beat around the bush, this was unusual, at least in his mind it was.
“What? Can’t we have lunch together before you take off? Don’t act like we’re strangers now!” Knuckle pointed a finger at the boy, his other hand holding a half eaten burger and making a bit of a mess.
“Eh? You mean you didn’t drag us all the way out here to drop some heavy information on me?” Killua said, rather doubtfully. He pointed the straw right back at Knuckle who batted it away. And soon the two got into a tiny straw fight. Alluka laughed at their fooling around while Palm paid them no mind, digging into a salad at a reasonable pace.
“Of course not! Who do you take us for!” Knuckle barked back, his volume getting a few stares from some of the other customers. None of them took note of it however.
“Actually I have news.” Palm interjected casually, taking a sip of her drink. Killua and Knuckle paused their kerfuffle to turn to her, both equally caught off guard.
“Eh?” They say in unison, causing another round of muffled giggles from Alluka who was fixated on them.
“Ah yeah, I figured you want to know how the Ant extermination finished up.” Palm spoke, gesturing with her cup normally. “So to speak it uh, didn’t.”
“It..didn’t?” Knuckle raised an eyebrow, “What’s that supposed to mean? We already knew some got away and are being hunted down right?”
Killua was just about to add on when a waiter came to the table to take his and Alluka’s order, leaving him to be distracted by that, but still listening to the conversation.
“Of course, but that’s not what I meant…” Palm sighed, resting her head on a propped up hand. “How do I put this...the King is still alive.” She stated rather bluntly. The reaction was instant, Knuckle choked on his burger which he had foolishly taken a bite out of at that moment, bits of pickle flying everywhere. And Killua nearly fell out of the entire booth in shock. Alluka was once again, amused by the extreme reactions of the tablemates.
“I’m sorry, what?” Killua yelped, recovering first while Knuckle was still hacking up burger bits all over the table. Palm gave him a good pat on the back while she carried on, acting as normal as ever.
“The King, the whole reason behind our operation, is still alive. I can see him walking about and everything.” She shrugs.
“How can you be so calm about that!?” Knuckle roared, unsettling more customers.
“To be honest I think it's a mix of shock, and the Ant dna inside me.” Palm answers smoothly. “It’s what makes the most sense to me anyway.”
“Oh my god…” Knuckle shuddered. Killua was a bit too distraught to speak his mind, looking at the table with a look of deep contemplation. Alluka made a noise of concern seeing her brother like that, not quite understanding what had him so upset nor what was on his mind currently. She had no idea that he was going over all the best and worst meanings of the King’s livelihood.
In Killua’s mind he was putting together all the factors of the situation. The King was stronger than Netero by a long shot so to speak...so physically insurmountable. And now even the most potent of poisons wasn’t going to do anything it seemed. Not only were the options for defeating or even immobilizing the beast extremely low, the King was also walking around freely as they spoke.
But then came the next question in his mind: was that a bad thing? Yes, the Chimera Ants had incredible power that he would consider a danger unlike any other, but also there was room to doubt that they were senseless killing machines. Though that all hinged that Pitou was an example, and not an exception. However, the sole fact that Komugi even existed was a good point in that category.
“Palm,” Killua finally spoke up, “When you saw the King-er, if you can still see him...did you see Pitou with them as well?” He felt uneasy asking, not sure if he wanted to know. It made total sense though, Pitou served the King and they were left alive when he last saw them. He wasn’t sure how Gon would react though…
“Yes.”
Ah hell, that made things complicated. Okay so new information: The King had his healer, but that healer also seems pro-human. In his mind, Killua weighed all the examples he could think of that’d determine if the King would return to his murderous ways. Quickly finding himself frustrated at the lack of information he had to make a solid guess.
“Everything we did...was it for nothing then?” Knuckle said, sounding uncharacteristically defeated. He hands clenched, destroying what remained of the burger. Not that anyone cared at that point. A brief moment of silence hung around the table, only the miscellaneous noise of other patrons going about their day filled the room, seeming much quieter since their particular table had gone quiet.
“I wouldn’t say that.” Killua said cautiously. “We gained a lot of information in our exchange…”
“Ehhhh?” Knuckle looked up at him confused, as did the rest of the table.
“For example, we know for a fact now that the King favors at least some humans right?” Killua pointed out, trying not to sound hopeful.
Knuckle grumbled, rubbing his chin as he thought about it. Palm spoke a single word of affirmation, being the one to personally see how far the King was willing to go for Komugi.
“And Pitou didn’t want to kill Gon either, even when he was trying his best to kill them.” Killua added, “So...I think we might be able to say then, that maybe their goals have changed? Or maybe at the least they won’t be outright vicious yet…” His brow furrowed as he hummed his thoughts out loud, still unsure how logical they were.
“That’s not...insane I suppose…” Knuckle muttered, “Hey Palm, can you see what the King’s up to right now? And uh, what has he been doing this whole time anyway?”
Palm nodded along, putting a hand over her eye and took a deep breath in. “The last time I saw him, he was just sitting on a rock...alone...let’s see if he’s moved…” And with that she activated her Nen. Her ability allowed her to glimpse at her target, and while no one else knew immediately what she saw, they all saw her expression twist from one of slight concern to disbelief and moderate horror.
“Palm? Palm what do you see?” Knuckle asked, voice growing urgent. Killua also leaned in, deeply worried by Palm’s reaction. But as the two got closer in anticipation, the weirdest thing happened.
Palm cracked a wry smile, her face seemed to struggle with which emotion to show between confusion, horror, and utter amusement. She even snorted, losing her concentration for a second.
“P-Palm? Seriously what’re you seeing right now? Is everything okay!?” Knuckle nearly knocked the table over as he tried angling himself to face Palm.
“I...I don’t know?” She admitted, holding her head in her hands as she held back from either crying or laughing, even she didn’t know which. “What...just what was that?”
“Well we have no way of seeing, so you’ll have to tell us.” Killua spoke seriously, incredibly hung up on what Palm must’ve seen, his mind already racing to come up with dozens of theories.
“I…” Palm inhaled deeply, catching her breath before putting only one hand over her eye again and attempting to re-activate her ability.
A solid thirty seconds passes, in which time Alluka’s meal comes along, and the boys stare intently at Palm as she focuses hard on her ability. Then she suddenly cracks up again, skipping over any fear and just barely holding back confused laughter.
“I...I think my Nen must be broken or something...I’m definitely not seeing the right thing.” She says just under her breath, fighting an awkward laughter. Killua looked at Knuckle in confusion as he returned the gesture, they both turned back to palm.
“Oi, seriously, what the hell are you seeing?” Knuckle asked, his voice deeply worried. Palm collected herself, taking deep breaths to compose her expression before talking. When she seemed ready, both Knuckle and Killua leaned uncomfortably close.
Palm’s face scrunched up, obviously having trouble speaking of what she had witnessed.
“I...I saw,” She makes a noise somewhere between a snort and giggle, it’s unsettling. “I saw the King...I presume...walking with Pitou and Komugi-”
Killua and Knuckle grew concerned.
“-But the King was wearing a full Barnaby Bunny Costume!” Palm wheezed, she wanted to cry at the miserable fact that their fiercest enemy was wearing the gaudiest get up that was usually reserved for a children's play place slash restaurant. But the other part of her just found it too funny.
Knuckle and Killua both just sat there, staring at her, completely miffed, having absolutely no idea how to react.
“A...Barnaby Bunny?” Knuckle spoke, “Costume?” Killua finished.
Alluka threw up her hands, “Barnaby!? Are we going to go see Barnaby? Please tell me yes big brother! I wanna go, I wanna go!”