DISCLAIMER : Following the word itself "fanfiction", I do not own anything in this fiction and credits belong to the rightful creators of the manga: TOGASHI YOSHIHIRO, the publisher, the broadcasting companies of the anime both 1999 original version and 2011 remake - Nippon Animation and Madhouse, respectively and etc.
!ATTENTION!
IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE PREQUEL "A WAY BACK HOME",
PLEASE READ IT FIRST BEFORE PROCEEDING TO THIS ONE.
FINALLY...
*** drumrolls ***
The awaited sequeeeel!
Yup. It's here... xD
Admittedly, compared to most romance fics, this did not garner a lot of appreciation... but I'd still conitnue posting anyways for those who loved it!
I extend my utmost gratitude for the continous patronage and take this sequel as my sign of token of gratitude and appreciation for everything.
Special mentions to : SakuraPetal91, Milye6 and all of the rest who followed, reviewed and faved my story.
Thank you guys!
If you were into the rather darker and sadder stuff in The first book, this might slightly disappoint you since this has some hints of adult humour, more characters, more POV's and maybe a little ROMANCE?! (it's completely one sided all for the sake of humour xD)
And this might be a looot longer than the first book so we're gonna have a loong read hehe
FOR THOSE WHO DID NOT UNDERSTAND THE FIRST BOOK'S ENDING:
We got it covered here!
So just stand back and read! We've still got another book to read after this * wink * (yep. There's still a book three hehe!)
But that still depends on the feedbacks i get for this tho... xD
CHAPTER 1
-REALIZATION-
I walked along an alley surrounded by huge, dense trees. It was another uphill climb. Like the usual route I took the past few days.
Or rather, weeks.
I don't feel like coming back.
My legs still felt numb. My body was still sore.
I slowly opened my eyes to find myself lying unconscious in another room.
I turned my head to the side and looked around trying to figure out where the hell am I and what disaster is awaiting me again after the last glimpse I had of Illumi telling me that I can never escape him again anymore...
I felt like he just ate my soul away after he gave me the stare I have always dreaded right through my eyes, piercing through my bodiless soul...
I sat up to realize I was lying in a bed. I carefully felt for my face, my neck and my body to check for injuries and found none except for some gadget attached to my head.
Is this for real that I finally have a body now? Or is this another premonition for an upcoming disaster?
The door creaked open.
"KILLUAAAA!"
It was Gon. He was running excitedly towards me. Is this real? I gave him a wary look.
"KILLUA! You're finally awake!"
It seems real. He sees me. I have a body now and he is acting normal.
"Gon..." I smiled.
"You were asleep so I had to keep the awesome stories to myself until you wake up!" He sat on a chair besides my bed.
"How long have I been asleep?" I asked lethargically.
"Not too long... Maybe around 7 hours? I just woke up too a couple of hours before you did. An error occured so we did not reach the 1 month goal and we had to be ejected immediately otherwise we'd get stuck in the time period we were in... Ging told me to tell you to go to him when you wake up."
So that explains it.
"I see..." I nodded. "Where are the rest?"
"Well..." Gon's cheerful expression changed to a more subtle one. "Kurapika left at once... and Leorio too even before I could tell them anything... they were probably still grieving about what they have left behind...
"Yeah..." I spoke lowly, being under the same situation. The feeling that you were there and must do something but can't do shit about it. "I understand..."
"Killua? Are you okay?"
"Huh? Ah... yeah... I am..." I smiled wryly and apparently I can't hide the grief and sorrow reflecting through my eyes.
"EVEN YOU?!" Gon wailed and bawled at me like a little child. "I THOUGHT WE CAME HERE TO ENJOY!? Why are you all giving me those long, sad faces like thaaaatt...! Why is it like I'm the only one who seem to have enjoyed my trip!? This is so unfaaair!" He sobbed, drooping his head down in guilt.
"Hehehehe..." I gave him an awkward chuckle patting him in the shoulder. "Heeey! Don't feel bad about it!"
It felt like forever.
After everything that has happened, I don't think I can actually have the nerve to come back.
I don't know if I still could face him. What to tell him, how to act casually upon him.
"We meet again..." He spoke as he slowly advanced towards me. His stare of despair piercing right through my eyes, towards my soul...!
"The tables turned around. What goes up must come down. You can't leave me again anymore..."
"But Aniki... You don't have an Aniki like you who trained you to be as strong as you are now... Who trained you?"
He looked right through my eyes as he reached to grab my little bruised hand after I asked him the last question. Silence ensued as he remained speechless. He just stared at me blankly like he was actually having a lot of debates running into his head. I gave him back a confused look, feeling awkward with his heavy, mysterious gaze. He ran his eyes from my eyes, to the corners of my face, to my hair before finally letting go of my hand.
"Who else?" He finally spoke, changing his usual monotone into a livelier one. "Of course Dad and Gramps trained me. There aren't anyone else qualified to do so..."
"To be honest, aniki just wanted to control me and turn me into his puppet... that's the whole sad truth..."
"Why would he do that?"
"Who knows?" I shrugged. "As long as I'm not under his clutches anymore, there's no need to know why."
I betrayed him.
I started all of these.
After all of the things I did, I was still wrong. I was wrong for thinking that going back to the past to fix everything will start the change. That it would save both of us.
I never knew that it was the biggest mistake that I did. It was an inevitable fate. That I was the one who caused my own misery and I was the one who betrayed him first.
And now it all makes sense why. Why did Dad choose me as an heir indisputably. Why is Illumi treating me like this...
It was all my fault.
Illumi is getting back at me for betraying him. He was making my life miserable upon believing that I lied to him and have left him. That I was nothing different from the rest of the people who have left him for something or someone else. That the last person he trusted and have opened his stone heart for was the last one who actually betrayed him. I was the last straw. His sanity fell after I broke the narrow, brittle thread it was hanging on to. Because of that, he was finally deprived of the right to feel and sad to say it was the only thing to do to prevent him from doing anything further dangerous.
Since then, trying to manipulate me and hold me by the neck would compensate the scars I inflicted him. That the more people he holds by the neck, the happier he would get. And why? Simply because I had everything. I was pushing everything away from me while he was already locked up in his own dungeon, free but unfree. He was always the compromise and the sacrifice while I lived in luxury and pleasure as he manipulates people cathartically including me to appease his tormented and damaged soul.
I unknowingly made my own life miserable. Even dragging along Alluka with me. How can I be so selfish? How can I be so ignorant? How can I be so dense?! I was only thinking of my own welfare and my freedom that I neglected the significant things that have been happening around me. I was struggling to free myself from the chains that bound me while all along he has already had his freedom taken away completely, and have accepted such fate. All just for me despite what I did.
And after all of these...
I am still left unable to undo everything as always.
I knew that turning my back away from this once again like the usual coward I am would do nothing well. I have a reason to live. I have my friends and people who believed in me. And I now understand everything.
Even so... I still can't face him.
I figured out that it would cause chaos if I remind him everything and inform him that I finally knew.
I halted as I finally made it to my destination. I dodged the sun rays with my palm as I took sight of what's ahead of me.
At the moment, I might be staying here for a while. Gon went back to Whale Island after we parted ways without even being able to share each other's stories.
"Hehehehe..." I gave him an awkward chuckle patting him in the shoulder. "Heeey! Don't feel bad about it! You should be happy that you did not have any traumatic past to go back to!" I scolded him playfully.
"BUT?!"
"Alright! ENOUGH!" I crossed my arms staring sternly at him. "You said you had a lot of awesome stories to tell right? Start telling them now!" I nudged him, narrowing my eyes at him.
"NO!" He pouted, scoffing at me. "I ain't gonna tell you anything until you have told me what happened to your trip! BLEEEEH!"
He was most likely upset because I refused to tell him mine. He told me, he will be waiting until I'm ready to tell him everything and that's when he'll tell me his story. He believes he must share the pain I've went through and that he feels bad I have to go through all of it alone while he was having a good time.
I looked behind me and gazed upon the breath taking scenery of the deep, shimmering blue sea below the cliff where I am standing right now as a flock of small-billed swans flew above it. I eventually then turned my back and resumed to moving forward to where I'm supposed to head to.
I must calm down. I must keep the grief and negative vibe within me. They're happy to see me again so I must not show traces of negativity.
I knocked thrice on the door. I can hear their rambling and bantering from the outside before I finally heard footsteps towards the door to get me.
The door creaked open.
"Who possibly would be visiting...?! Oh, HEY! KILLUA!"
END OF CHAPTER 1