"One chance to remember your name, hold on to the words they told us"

༺♥༻

Once reuniting with the group, Valentine was immediately toppled over from a strong hug from her brother and Zeus flying at her face, screeches of happiness leaving the hawk's beak.

A small noise left the girl's lips as her back connected with the floor, her brother's arms strongly wrapped around her waist and he hugged her tightly; as if she'd disappear if he blinked.

"..Jaxon.. you're... suffocating me.."

A small smile graced the silverette's face as he stared at the siblings and noticed the soft look in Valentine's eyes; even though she was trying to rip away from the boy's grasp.

A gentle laugh left his lips once Valentine lifted her fist and punched her brother upside his head, causing Jaxon to let go of her with a cry of pain, staring down at her with a pout as he rubbed the top of his head.

Once introducing Ikalgo to the group, Gon turned towards Meleoron and introduced him to Killua and Valentine, watching as Zeus stared at the octopus-like chimera ant with a blank stare, causing Ikalgo to sweatdrop once he noticed the longer the hawk stared that the aura around him seemed to darken.

'Eight people will infiltrate the palace using Knov's Nen mansion. Shoot and me, Gon, Killua, Jaxon, Valentine, Meleoron, Ikalgo, and finally Morel. A few seconds after us, the Chairman will enter from outside Pitou's En. During that time, we all need to try to lure the Royal Guard as far from the King as we can. First up, Ikalgo, Killua, Valentine, Jaxon and Gon',Knuckle explained and listed, causing the five to look up at him,'When we suddenly appear in the middle of the palace, we all know exactly what their reaction is gonna be. Somebody say it'

'To protect the King with their lives'

'They'll be in a tight formation. Breaking it won't be easy'

A small hum left Meleoron and he lifted his hand, pointing to himself with a grin.

'And that's where I come into play'

Nodding in agreement, Gon let his gaze wonder over the group and his eyes stopped on Valentine once he noticed the faraway look in her eyes; alongside the way her eyebrows were furrowed in thought.

What was she thinking about?

Quite a bit of time had passed by, before Knuckle went into detail once more to remind everyone about their roles and Killua pointed to the main room on the map.

'Okay. You got any questions?'

'Uh, so about Palm..',Gon spoke up and everybody in the room turned his way,'Is there anything we can do to find out how she's doing?'

With his arms crossed over his chest, Jaxon shook his head from his corner of the wall and stared at Gon with hardened eyes, causing the boy to look towards him once he had spoken up.

'Not unless we want to jeopardize the mission or get one of us killed. For all we know, she could be dead or in hiding somewhere; which is unlikely',Jaxon stated in a harsh tone,'She would've contacted us by now if she had escaped and if she was discovered, then she'd have taken her life. Besides, Palm knew the risks before she agreed to take the mission'

'I'm almost certain that she would take it as an insult to her resolve'

Eyes softening, Gon looked down and a small sigh left his lips, his shoulders sagging low.

'Hey you two, take it easy, will you?'

"My brother doesn't know how to take it easy. I'm sorry, Jaxon, and I love you, but you don't have a filter when it comes to this kind of stuff"

With a sarcastic smile, Jaxon looked towards his sister and tilted his head slightly, a small hum leaving his lips as one of his eyebrows rose.

'Yeah, I love you too, but you can't give the kid hope that she's still alive and then have him find out she's not, crushing him later on. It's better to give him the brutal truth now then later on down the road'

'Gon's just concerned about her, Jaxon. That's all'

A small sigh left Valentine's lips and she closed her eyes for a moment as she tilted her head down slightly, before opening them as she looked at everyone.

"Even as brutally put as it was, my brother's not wrong and it would be a disastrous mistake. Assuming that she was captured alive, then it would be safe to assume that the enemy has probably learned about our plan by now from torturing it out of her"

'And that would make us just like moths... flying straight into the heart of a burning flame'

'Exactly'

Humming in agreement, Valentine nodded her head and crossed her arms over her chest, leaning to the side as her shoulder bumped against her brother's as he did the same thing; the two would look like the same person if it weren't for the different genders of the twins.

'We would be dead on arrival. But instead of worrying about a bunch of worst-case scenarios, let's trust Palm to do whatever she has to'

'All of that makes sense if you ask me',Meleoron started and held up a finger,'But I think what Gon is trying to say here is that if Palm really has met such a fate, we still have time to change the plan'

Having known Gon for long enough, Killua held up his hand and slowly shook his head.

'You're too soft. You know what he's gonna say, that we have to go in there and save Palm before we do anything else, but he's not going to offer any plans at all on how we should do that. Right?'

Looking towards Gon, Valentine let out a small chuckle at the way his eyes were dotted and a small drop of sweat fell down the side of his face, letting Killua know that he was spot on.

'Yeah..'

Lifting her hand, Valentine gently pat Gon on the shoulder and shook her head with a small chuckle, looking back towards the others.

'Yeah, okay, good point'

'Look, I realize you're worried right now, but when things start moving, you've gotta just forget about her'

Frowning slightly, Valentine looked towards the wall and thought about it for a moment, trying to see it from Gon's eyes.

If any of them had told Killua to forget about her if she was in Palm's place and he was in Gon's, then she knew that he'd tear through them just to make sure she was alright and somewhere safe.

So she understood where Gon was coming from but at the same time, Valentine would want them to forget about her and continue with the mission.

'If you get distracted, even for a fraction of a second, it might cause the entire operation to completely fall apart'

Walking forward, Killua picked up a stick and walked towards a section of carpet that was torn up; revealing dirt underneath with a sequence of number.

Bending down, the silverette crossed out the number three and glanced towards the group out of the corner of his eye.

'We still have two days, there's plenty of time for Palm to contact us'

Once there was only one day left, the four split off from the group once again and as they walked, Killua's eyes narrowed once he realized something wasn't right.

Glancing towards Valentine, he knew she felt it too and by the way her aura darkened, he immediately knew he was right.

A shadow of darkness seemed to seep from Valentine's body the longer they walked and her eyes seemed to darken the more she thought.

If she gave into the darkness brewing within her to help defeat the Ants, would she be able to bring herself back or would she be trapped within it like her Grandmother.

༺♥༻

The sun slowly began to rise and the birds chirped at the light of a new day, gradually lighting up Valentine's features as her breathingtaking golden eyes seemed to glisten in the rising rays of the sun.

The boy's had woken up not too long after her and they were currently stretching out to keep themselves limber; well, Jaxon and Gon were while Killua only sat on one of the boxes.

'Hey, good morning'

Hearing Gon speak up, Valentine turned her head and looked towards Ikalgo, her lips twitching up at the sight of his eyes blinking slowly with the clear sign that he had just woken up.

'You're all up already? It's kind of early'

Pulling out his phone, Killua glanced at the time and saw that it was 5:02, a small hum leaving his lips.

'Nineteen hours til midnight on sorting day',Killua stated and looked back up at the three.

'We make our move tonight then'

'But I still think we should do one final check'

'I agree with Jaxon'

Looking at the map on his phone, Valentine traced her finger along the lines and her eyes trailed over the rooms.

"Once we get in, Gon, Jaxon, Killua and I; we'll head up the central stairway that will lead us to the throne room",Valentine planned out,"Ikalgo; you'll take the elevator to the northeast and head down to the basement to search for Palm"

Glancing towards Ikalgo, Killua took in the ant's state and noticed the sweat slowly falling down the side of his face.

'If you find her, escape without us'

Raising up his arm, Ikalgo nodded and hummed in affirmation.

'You got it'

'If the King and his three Royal Guards are in the throne room together when we get there, then we proceed with the plan. But if they're not there, then I'm sure it's gonna be a problem'

Staring at Killua for a moment, Gon let his eyes wander towards the Nitsune Twins and watched as they conversed between themselves for a moment, before he looked back towards Killua.

'You're really hung up on that, aren't you?',Gon asked.

'Yeah, what are the chances? It's pretty unlikely'

'It is, but you've gotta admit unlikely things happen all the time'

Frowning slightly, Jaxon and Valentine turned towards the three, tilting their heads at the same time, their eyebrows furrowed before they looked back towards one another, continuing their conversation.

'That's true and you have to always be prepared for any outcome or consequence that could likely happen'

'Isn't that kind of a contradiction though?'

Glancing towards Valentine, Killua watched as a frown formed on her face and she closed her eyes, slowly shaking her head.

Watching as Jaxon placed his hand on her shoulder and frowned; saying something else, the silverette looked between and two and frowned, wondering what was going on.

If something was going on with her, Killua hoped that she would come to him and let him know what was bothering her so much.

However, he wasn't going to push her to tell him and wait for her to come to him whenever she was ready.

Looking back towards the others, Killua pushed back his thoughts for now and began to listen to the conversation once more.

'But the question is what to do if we don't sense Pitou's aura, because then it means they're not in the palace. Or it could mean, they are on the palace but they're not using En'

'Would there be a situation where they'd be in the palace, but not use their En to guard the King?'

'Yeah, like with Mr. Knov, that time when he infiltrated the palace'

Scrunching up her nose in thought, Valentine tilted her head to the side and hummed slightly, her eyebrows furrowing.

'Right. That's what I can't figure out. According to Colt, Knov saw a guy named Pouf's aura. The Royal Guard never leaves the King's side, so if Pouf was there, I'm positive the other two were in the palace with the King too'

"The only question is, why would Pitou abandon their post and stop using the puppets to leave security to Pouf?"

'And if Pouf's En isn't as wide or have the same boundaries as Pitou, why would they leave it up to him?'

Nodding lightly, Killua crossed his arms over his chest and looked towards Valentine, watching as she turned towards him with a calculating look in her eyes.

'I believe the reason has to do with how Pitou's ability works'

Standing to his feet, a smile graced Gon's lips and he looked between the four, watching as Jaxon looked between them as well.

'Well, then we should ask Colt himself'

Nodding in agreement, Killua stuffed his hands in his pockets and looked between everyone in their small group.

༺♥༻

Later that day, Gon had been on the phone with Morel and he had informed them that Knov had invaded the palace, not having encountered Pitou's En at all.

Hanging up the phone, Gon looked towards his friends and the twins glanced at one another, frowns tugging at their lips as they had a silent conversation amongst themselves.

They had waited and talked amongst themselves for a while, Jaxon talking about his concerns to his sister.

'I'm just worried, Val. What if something happens to one of us and you snap? We won't be able to calm you with one of us down in front of you'

With a small sigh leaving her lips, Valentine rubbed her forehead in stress and closed her eyes, pursing her lips together as she slowly shook her head.

She understood his concern, she really did, but she needed her brother to trust her just this once and understand that she knew what she was doing.

If her darkness did take over her mind, then she'd deal with it like she always did, find Killua's voice in her head and gain back control.

"Jaxon, I'll be fine, I promise. You don't need to worry about me"

With a frown on his face, Jaxon placed his hand on her shoulder and watched as his sister looked up at him with eyes that shine brighter than his own.

'I'll always worry about you, you're my other half, Valentine'

With her lips twitching up, Valentine placed her hand on her brothers and gave him a reassuring look as she smiled gently at him, lightly squeezing his hands.

"I know, Jax, I'll always worry about you too"

With a small smile on his face, Jaxon nodded his head and looked back towards the small group, seeing that they were already looking at them.

A frown pulled down at his smile as the Nitsune boy looked around at others and he crossed his arms over his chest, shrugging slightly as he rose an eyebrow.

'What?'

Soon to come in "Scars";

"Pick your side, Jaxon. Me? Or the bitch I'm gonna kill"