Chapter Text
Gon always felt like there was something missing. He couldn’t put a word to it. It was so foreign that it transcended definition. Yet he could feel it deep within himself all the same. A hole, like an empty space on a puzzle, which could only be filled by whatever specific something it was that his heart ached for so much.
When he was little, he brushed it off as his missing father. As he grew older, though, he was less convinced. It might have been because of his aunt insisting that he did not need his father. That his father had abandoned him. That his father - Ging - hadn’t cared to stay and, therefore, had no stake in Gon’s heart. But the more he thought about it, the more he whispered Ging’s name to the stars in the middle of the night, the less likely it seemed that Ging could fill that empty space.
Sometimes, Gon would spend hours staring at the night sky, thinking about that void inside of him. He tried to memorize its shape, to put some tangible understanding to it. Some nights, it was easy. It was as though he could feel each edge of it. As though he could make out the exact shape and taste and smell. The stars would have answers on those nights. Most nights, however, it remained an uncertainty. At those times, he would almost write it off as something entirely unimportant. A distraction, maybe. Or a figment of his imagination, birthed from a deep desire for adventure and the unknown.
But even then, the feeling would persist, making his mind trace its maybe-shape in the stars. A new constellation, like something out of a dream - nothing more or less than a breathtaking view.
***
Killua woke up feeling hot. He cursed to himself silently. Did he have a fever again? He tried to remember what he’d eaten last night, to puzzle out which dish had been poisoned. Nothing had tasted funny in the way that poison usually did. The salad, maybe, but that only tasted funny to him due to the presence of a few yellow peppers he’d accidentally consumed. But he was surprised to find, as he sat up on the pillows, that he didn’t really feel as much pain as usual. He felt incredibly light. Had he died? Surely he had died.
Shifting his attention from his person to his surroundings, he was disappointed to find no answers but, rather, more questions. He was in a small twin-sized bed that was not his own. A large double-window was halfway open on his right. A breeze carried between there and a cracked door on the left side of the room. The air was warm and fresh and entirely unfamiliar. The smell of eggs and bacon wafted in, causing Killua’s stomach to growl.
It felt like a trap. Anxiety gnawed at the space between his eyes and he gritted his teeth at the onset of another headache. This was definitely a test…
But it was odd for his family to test him like this. The Zoldycks were nothing if not extra, but this…? Whatever ‘this’ was, it was awfully elaborate, even for them.
Closing his eyes, Killua took a long, deep breath. Placing a hand over his heart, he confirmed that he was, in fact, still alive.
One more, he thought to himself, repeating the same mantra he relied on to survive his worst days. I just have to make it through one more day.
***
Gon awoke to the smell of Aunt Mito’s pancakes. He’d had a pretty awful dream, although he couldn’t remember the details. Perhaps it was best if he didn’t.
Shaking off the lingering feeling of unease that usually follows a nightmare, Gon jumped out of bed and stretched his arms above his head. He breathed out one big yawn, then felt awake enough to prepare for his day. Throwing on his favorite pair of green shorts, a clean tank top, and his jacket, he rushed out to help Mito with breakfast.
“Well you’re up early,” called Mito as she heard his bedroom door swing shut with a light thud. As he entered the kitchen, he didn’t miss the troubled look that drew a subtle furrow between her eyes. Mito had never been very good at hiding her concern, especially when it came to Gon. “Are you feeling okay, sweetie?”
He blinked once, then twice, as he processed the question. “Um…” he began, not entirely sure what to say that would put his aunt’s mind at ease. “I feel fine. Just had a bad dream is all, but I feel great today!” He threw in one of his signature grins for good measure, smiling so wide it physically strained his face muscles. That seemed to do the trick because Mito had returned her focus to the food on the stove with a relieved sigh. “Aunt Mito, can I help you make breakfast?”
Her eyes glanced from the two pans on the stove to the sink to the dining room table, taking stock in what might need cleaning or preparing. “I don’t think so, dear,” she prodded thoughtfully at some sausages in one of the pans. “Can you go make sure you have your homework all ready to go?”
Gon frowned. Homework was… not his strong suit. He didn’t remember doing any of it - maybe it hadn’t been assigned. (He knew that was unlikely but he really liked the thought of it.) Usually, he showed up to school and asked Kurapika to help him with it. He shuffled back into his room and panicked for only a moment as he searched for his backpack, which was usually tossed onto the floor after school near the foot of his bed. He lifted his head to call for his aunt, wondering if maybe she had moved it, before he noticed it hanging neatly on the hook on his door. When did he start leaving it there? Maybe Mito had moved it after all.
He pulled out his green homework folder, which he had covered in frog stickers Mito had found at the store last year, and laid it open on his bed. To his surprise, he had been assigned several worksheets, but they were tucked neatly into the folder with an answer written neatly on every space. He flipped through the papers, looking for some evidence of who had done this. As he got to the last of the completed homeworks, he noticed an aggressively written note on a blank sheet of paper: “Who are you?”
His brain nearly short-circuited trying to figure out who could have written this note or what it could mean. The handwriting wasn’t familiar to him. Though clearly written in frustration, the cursive was immaculate. He’d never seen a ‘w’ written so beautifully, with thin lines and practiced serifs. No one he knew wrote like that. His brain stewed over it until Mito called him from the kitchen, announcing that breakfast was ready. He closed the folder and slipped it back into his backpack. He could figure out what it all meant later.
***
“You feeling okay, Gon?”
Gon flinched, suddenly realizing he was walking with Leorio and Kurapika. “Sorry, what?” He scratched the back of his head in embarrassment, sticking out his tongue apologetically.
“What Leorio means,” Kurapika began, shooting Leorio a warning glance, “is that you’ve been acting strangely and we just want to make sure everything is okay.”
“Oh. Thanks for looking out for me, but I’m fine. Maybe I’m just a little tired. Wait… Did either of you leave a note in my homework folder?” Leorio and Kurapika exchanged concerned looks, so Gon was quick to change the topic. “Never mind. It’s just… I’ve been having weird dreams lately. Kind of like nightmares, I guess. They just… feel really real.”
Leorio’s eyes widened comically. “I read about this on a blog once!” he exclaimed, stopping in his tracks. Kurapika and Gon took a few more steps before turning to give Leorio a shared quizzical glance. “Maybe,” he whispered conspiratorially, “you were possessed by a past life!”
Kurapika’s eyes rolled so far back into his head that Gon worried for a brief moment that they might not come back. “Enough with the supernatural stuff, already. You’re going to give Gon weird ideas.”
Gon and Leorio protested in unison.
“You can’t deny that he wasn’t himself at all yesterday.” Leorio glared at Kurapika before offering Gon a quick apologetic glance.
“You two keep saying that. What does that even mean?” demanded Gon. He couldn’t help but feel a little hurt. It was no secret that others at the school thought he was pretty strange - he’d never quite been able to feel like he really fit in - but to have his two closest friends discuss his antics so vaguely was frustrating.
“Well,” began Leorio, his expression turning serious, “for one thing, you dressed-” He paused here, taking a quick second to appraise Gon’s appearance. “Differently,” he finished with a click of his tongue. What was Gon supposed to do with that? What did that even mean? Gon opened his mouth to ask but Kurapika cut in next.
“More importantly, you fought with Bisky.”
The group went silent. The words sunk in slowly, like a broken wave disappearing into the sandy shore, bubbly foam fizzling out at its own pace. When the weight of the words finally settled, Gon’s mouth dropped and his eyes widened to the size of saucers.
“I- I did what?!” It was unlike Gon to panic. But Bisky had been the teacher of their small composite class for over a year now. She was tough and Gon was certainly not her top student, but he respected her and she had even tutored him on several evenings to help him figure out the math lessons.
“Don’t worry,” Leorio offered a reassuring hand on Gon’s shoulder. “You know Bisky isn’t one to hold a grudge.”
Gon had his doubts and those doubts were confirmed as they approached the school. Bisky stood outside of their classroom with her arms crossed and her face wearing a rather sour expression as Gon and his friends approached.
“Good morning, Bisky,” Gon offered. Her pink eyes narrowed into slits. This couldn’t be good. At some point, Leorio and Kurapika had slipped away and Gon was instantly aware that he was alone in handling this. (Whatever this was…)
“Well, Mr. Freecss, I see you’ve dropped the act for today. Seems like adopting city fashion really brings out the brat in you.”
Gon felt all of the color leave his face. He bowed as low as he could, his torso parallel to the ground beneath them. “I’m so sorry, Bisky. I wasn’t myself yesterday. I’ll do whatever I need to make it up to you.”
She let out a long sigh. “I’ll let you off just this once. But next time you call me an old hag, you’ll be staying after school to write equations for a week.”
Old hag? Gon couldn’t stop his eyes from widening. That was a term he’d never used before. Why would he have said that? As Bisky walked away, he straightened up and tried to imagine what had happened. It couldn’t have been a dream - otherwise he’d have remembered it and everyone else would not. Instead, he had absolutely no recollection of the previous day, whereas everyone else did. A reverse dream? His head started steaming as thoughts jumbled and stretched around his brain.
A hand surprised him by clapping him on the back. “I see you survived Bisky, kid,” Leorio grinned widely at him. Kurapika was at his heels, anxious to get to his seat before class began.
A pout formed on Gon’s lips. “You two ditched me! Where did you go?”
Kurapika’s face turned bright red, though he tried (and failed) miserably to hide it with his hand. Leorio glanced back at him with a strange expression. Gon noticed a few small details - Kurapika’s hair slightly more mussed than usual, Leorio’s lips a bit redder than was normal, and something heavy and emotional hanging in the air.
“Y’know,” drawled Gon, pushing past Leorio through the classroom door, “you two will make such a great couple someday.”
Kurapika choked. Leorio’s eyes bulged. Both tried to speak at once, but Gon didn’t stick around to listen. The bell was ringing and class was going to start. He gave his friends the cheesiest grin he could and strode into the classroom. That would teach them to ditch him next time.
***
Class was harder to pay attention to than usual. It wasn’t that Gon wasn’t interested in Bisky’s lecture; History and Culture was one of the less difficult classes for him to engage in, unlike Mathematics or Language Arts.
“Today’s chapter is on the history and relevance of golden hour,” Bisky underlined the word on the blackboard for emphasis. Gon’s eyes trailed after the chalk dust that scattered like fallen stars with the force Bisky put into her writing. “Golden hour was believed by our ancestors in these islands to be a period in which the doors between the human realm and the magical realm were opened. It was believed that fishermen who were not back to the shore with their catch by the time the sky turned golden could be transported to another world, possibly never to return.”
That caught his interest. Magic was captivating to Gon. Maybe it was magic that caused him to act so strange yesterday. That would be more of an explanation than anything else, really. If magic existed, Gon wondered what other strange or amazing things could be possible. His mind followed his eyes to the world outside the window. He let his thoughts roam as he took a deep breath.
“Gon… Gon!”
Gon jumped in his seat. Bisky was glaring at him from the front of the room. He was having a streak of bad luck with her - at this rate, he’d be spending more time in the classroom than out of it for the next week. He forced his attention back to the front of the classroom and sat up straight.
Bisky closed her eyes, sighed, and tried to focus on subduing the twitch under her eye. “Well at least you remember your name today.” A few students snickered but were immediately silenced by a glare from their teacher. “But Gon, will you please at least try to listen to the lecture?”
Gon offered a curt nod and Bisky proceeded with her lesson, explaining why the legends of the magic realm ensured everyone stayed in their proper societal roles. Gon opened his notebook with a sigh to write down the notes Bisky had so kindly left on the board. It was then that he remembered the note he’d found just that morning.
Careful to avoid drawing any more attention to himself from Bisky, he slid the note out of his homework folder and looked it over again. Who could have written it? He wondered if it was someone from a magical realm, lost at sea while searching for something during the golden hour.