༺♥༻

The sun set in the sky as fresh colors brushed upon an artist's canvas, as if those rays were destined to fabricate a great work of art; one given to those open to capturing simple moments in the soul.

The citrus gold stretched far and wide, the color of fire hearths and tangerines. It is but the reflection of the dawn, the promise of the rising sun that comes after the velvety night has had it's say and the land has rested once more.

The three that were running through the forest were on their way to Masadora to try and buy some spell cards.

'Hey Bisky, how long do you think it'll take me to master my signature move?',Gon questioned.

Humming slightly, Valentine also began to wonder just how long it would take him to master it and even though she was thinking about it, she knew that Gon would be able to master it in no time.

'Well, you are just starting to develop your Nen',The teacher said,'Hard to say when your power and speed will peak'

'It is?'

'That said, I'd be more than a little bit surprised if it took you very long to get the form down',Biscuit stated.

Looking towards their teacher, the blonde girl and green-haired boy rose their eyebrows slightly, humming slightly.

A bright smile quickly spread across Gon's lips and his mouth fell open in an opened mouth smile.

'Let me see, you may even have it ready by the time Killua comes back and Valentine, if you keep at it, your special attack will be close to perfect. You could even try to stop yourself from losing too much blood from using your ability'

Hearing this, Valentine immediately perked up and a bright smile spread across her lips as her face brightened, her mystical eyes sparkling in the setting sun's soft rays.

'Alright!'

"That sounds great!"

'I can't wait to see the look on his face when he sees how strong we've become!'

༺♥༻

Making it to Masadora, the four made their way inside the store and began to look around, looking to buy some new cards.

At the request, the woman behind the counter gave the three a large smile and gestured around the store.

'You three are lucky, we just received a huge shipment of different spell cards',The woman told them.

Looking between the cards, Valentine figured that these were the spell cards people had been hoarding and then, they were killed.

After purchasing a few cards, the four were making their way down a random street and stopped for a second, looking over their cards.

A low chirp left Zeus's beak and he turned his head to the side, lifting his wing as he began to itch the top of it with his beak, before turning forward, leaning down to look at the cards in Valentine's binder.

'We bought sixty between us, so there are lots of different types here',Gon exclaimed.

Gasping slightly at the card in her binder, Biscuit quickly turned towards the two and called out for them.

'Gon, Valentine, look!'

Leaning towards their teacher, Valentine and Gon gasped in shock at the card that resided in Biscuit's binder, their eyes widening.

There behind a plastic, protective covering was an S rank card.

There were only ten of those cards in the entire game and they had gotten their hands on one.

'What do you think, save it or should we use it right now?'

Frantically running his hands hands through his hair, Gon squeezed his eyes shut and sweat dribbled down his face.

'Hey! Don't ask me, I don't know what to do'

Thinking quickly, Valentine hurriedly slapped her hand over Gon's mouth and the boy's eyes widened in surprise before looking towards Biscuit as she quickly shushed him.

She was glad that Valentine was at least aware to what could happen if someone found out they had an S rank card.

'Shh, be quiet!',Biscuit yelled in a whisper,'Do you want people getting suspicious?'

Sighing slightly, Gon's excited posture deflated and Valentine slowly took her hand away, prepared for him to excitedly yell again.

'If only Killua were still here..',Gon sighed.

With a frown on her face, Valentine's gaze softened and she, too, wished that their silver-haired friend were still there.

༺♥༻

Practicing Ken in a field, Gon and Valentine were hard at work as Biscuit watched them from the sidelines, a small smile on her face.

'You're making steady progress',Biscuit stated and the two deactivated their aura,'You're right on track to have your ultimate technique ready, Gon'

Turning around, the two looked towards where they were before and the sight of the green scenery sent a rush of security and serenity through them.

It was very calming.

'It helps that this is such a safe place to practice',Gon stated and a gentle breeze swept across the boy, causing his hair to gently sway in the wind,'With this view, we can spot anyone before they get close enough to use an attack spell. People are watching from Masadora, I felt it from the starting point and so did Valentine'

Turning towards each other with matching smiles that radiated light, the sibling-like duo turned towards their teacher and watched as she looked towards them with a smile of her own.

"But we have plenty of attack spells if anything does happen",Valentine stated.

Humming slightly, Biscuit nodded and crossed her arms over her chest, a precautious look on her face.

'Yes, but just in case, I already cast a Blackout Curtain card',Biscuit explained.

Since she was closer to the woman than Gon was, the bright look remained on her face and Valentine leaned over, wrapping her arms around the woman's shoulders, hugging her gently.

"You're so smart, Lady Bisky!"

Blinking slowly as she tried to register what happened, Biscuit hummed slightly and turned her head, seeing the gleaming girl's bright smile directed right up at her.

A warm feeling filled the woman's face and a teary eyed look formed as she slowly rose her arms, wrapping them around the young blonde.

She was so kind and precious.

She was like a gleaming Topaz.

'Still, there's no real point in worrying about spell cards',Biscuit began to explain as soon as Valentine had stepped away and that warm feeling still resided in her chest; appreciation,'You two just focus on training your hardest'

The two were now working on their transmuter techniques and to be honest, Valentine was having a harder time than Gon was.

Since she was a Manipulator and not a Enhancer or a Specialist, she was having a bit of difficulty doing any kind of transmuter abilities since her category was the furthest from the Transmutation category.

Seeing that she was having trouble, Biscuit began to walk towards her and as soon as Valentine had realized that she was beside her, the girl was already sitting next to her.

'So, your Nen is blood manipulation, correct?',Biscuit asked and watching as she nodded, the woman gave the girl a hint,'So Transmutation is turning one's aura into something.. so..-'

Understanding what the woman was saying, Valentine slowly turned her head towards her teacher and began to perk up.

"So, I could.. transform something into blood?"

But when she went to turn her head in question, Valentine noticed that the woman was already back at the rock and she blinked slowly in shock, before turning back to the task at hand, a confident look in her eyes.

༺♥༻

Having finally gotten a somewhat hang of things, Valentine was able to turn only smaller things into a bloody-like liquid and could kind of manipulate it, so she still need to practice some more.

But, at least she was making progress.

But now, they all stood at the building they had come out of when they entered the game and seeing a familiar hair of snow walking towards them, Valentine immediately perked up and a bright smile formed on her face.

'Welcome back, Killua',Gon greeted,'How was the exam?'

With his hands stuffed in his pockets, the silverette shrugged slightly and a grin spread across his lips.

'Well, I aced it in no time naturally',Killua stated.

Reaching up their arms, Gon and Killua knocked their fist against one another.

Racing forward looking like nothing but a blur, a force knocked into Killua and the silverette had only stumbled slightly in shock, before seeing a familiar head of blonde hair snuggled into his chest as arms tightly wrapped around his waist.

Just by the short figure in front of him, he could tell just who it was and a small smile slowly spread across his lips.

There was such a warm gentleness to her hugs that lit his soul on fire and set his heart ablaze with heat.

There was something so warm, something that felt right whenever she hugged him and in those moments, the silverette wished that time would stop all together just so that they could last a while longer.

He let his body sag, he became loose and he felt things from this hug that he hadn't felt since first beginning his journey with them.

Pure.

Unselfish.

Undemanding.

Free.

As soon as she had pulled away, the silverette almost began to wish for the security and serenity that filled him from her embrace, but instead, he gently smiled down at the girl as he slowly reached up, gently patting her head.

Letting her body relax, a small smile formed on Valentine's face and she let her eyes shut as she beamed up at the boy.

A loud screech filled the air and Killua looked up, only for his sapphire eyes to widen at the sight of a blue hawk speeding towards him, before he watched as Zeus landing on his shoulder.

But what had surprised him the most, was the way Zeus let out a purr-like noise as he rubbed his beak against his cheek and seemed to smile.

Even though she didn't want to break the moment, Biscuit walked towards them and looked between the four.

'I'm sorry to interrupt your celebration, but take a look at these spell cards',Biscuit said.

As soon as their teacher had taken out her binder, Killua looked through all of the new cards and his eyes widened in surprise.

'Wow! There's even an S rank card',The silverette observed,'So, how much do you think we could sell it for?'

'I'm not sure, but why don't we go and ask around',Biscuit suggesting.

Disagreeing with the two, Gon shook his head with a frown and looked between them.

'No, we should use it wisely',Gon stated and then, turned towards Valentine,'What do you think we should do, Valentine?'

Blinking in shock as the attention was turned towards her, Valentine looked between the pair of eyes that turned her way and she felt a drop of sweat slowly roll down the side of her face.

"Umm.. I think we should hold onto it.."

Relieved with her agreement, Gon looked towards Killua and wondered if is answer would be the same or different.

'What do you think, Killua?'

'Well, I guess it's safe to hold onto it',The silverette stated,'It's not gonna get stolen with all of these defensive spells. Have you guys tried any of these out yet?'

'Just the Blackout Curtain one'

Furrowing his eyebrows together, Killua looked up at the three and looked between them, paying no mind to the hawk that continuously nuzzled into his hair.

'Why even have them if you don't use them?',The silverette questioned and then, handed Gon a card from one of the slots,'Start by using this one. It lets you choose any player you've met and have a talk with them. First, let's look at who's available'

'Alright.. contact on'

A bright glow illuminated from the card and a list of players appeared in the binder, causing Killua to scroll through them.

'I didn't know there'd be so many..'

Suddenly, Killua stopped and stared at the screen with a shocked look on his face.

'Guys.. when did you run into them?'

Confused by what he was asking, the two stood up and walked towards the silverette, before scanning the list of names.

Seeing two familiar names, Valentine's eyes widened and a small gasp left her lips, fear rushing through her veins.

Chrollo Lucilfer

Akari Nitsune

'Chrollo!?'

"Akari!!"

Confused by the names, Biscuit slowly blinked in confusion and tilted her head to the side.

'Hold on, who's Chrollo and Akari?'

But alas, the blonde teacher was ignored as the three continued to talk and an irk mark appeared in her forehead.

'I haven't seen either of them. Not inside of the game anyway'

"Neither have I.."

Looking towards Gon and Valentine, eyes of ice sparkled with confusion and Killua pulled his eyebrows together, looking between the two.

'Does that mean you all passed each other without noticing?'

'What are you three talking about?'

Looking between the three, Biscuit was ignored once more and an irritated look formed on her face as she huffed angrily.

'But I don't get it, I'm pretty sure Kurapika sealed his Nen, didn't he?'

'He did and you have to use Nen to enter the game'

"The thing is, I don't even know how Akari could've possibly entered the game. As far as I was aware, she was locked in the house for not bringing me home"

'Who is this Kurapika!? And who is Akari!'

Once again, the woman was ignored and she let out a low growl of anger, a vein popping out of her skin.

'In that case, that means—'

Suddenly, the three were hit with such a force that it almost sent them flying through the air and puffs of smoke bellowed out of Biscuit's nose.

'What the hell are you guys talking about!'

༺♥༻

After they had explained the situation and told Biscuit who Chrollo and Akari are; also what had happened with Chrollo, the woman hummed lightly in understanding, slowly nodding her head.

'An exorcism?',Biscuit stated,'It's quite possible'

'It is?',Killua asked.

Nodding, Biscuit looked between her students and placed a hand on her hip.

'Of course',The blonde began,'If you're able to place Nen on others, then there has to be a way to remove it as well'

Looking between Gon and Valentine, a small frown tugged at Killua's lips.

'So, does that mean that Chrollo was able to remove Kurapika's Nen and then entered the game?',The silverette questioned.

Humming slightly in thought, Valentine looked off to the side and a small frown tugged at her lips as she stared off in deep thought.

'But why would he come here?'

'I have no idea, but we should probably let Kurapika know'

Biting down on her lower lips, the blonde's eyebrows pulled together and feeling as Zeus gently nudged her, Valentine looked up as her eyes gleamed brightly.

"I'll leave the game real quick"

Hearing the words that came out of her mouth, four pairs of eyes snapped towards the girl and as soon as she had noticed their eyes on her, a small drop of sweat fell down the side of Valentine's face.

Blinking slowly, Valentine turned back towards her teacher and watched as Biscuit gave her a small nod.

'Okay, so you can use a—'

'I'm going with her!'

Suddenly, a hand wrapped around her own and dragged her off, pretty much forcing her to run alongside them as soon as they had started moving, causing Valentine to let out a small shriek of shock.

"Wah—!"

Spotting a familiar head of hair, the blonde slowly blinked as her brain processed what had happened and as soon as it did, her eyes widened as a dark hue of blush covered her cheeks.

"Killua, what the—?"

'You can use a spell card to leave!',Gon shouted towards them.

Glancing behind them towards the green-haired boy, a smile spread across Killua's lips and he slowly shook his head.

'Hold onto it!',He called back,'We'll be back in four hours'

As they ran, silence slowly passed between the two and glancing towards the icy eyed boy, Valentine had a confused look in her eyes .

She was wondering what had caused him to want to come along with her.

"So.. why did you decide to come with me?",Valentine questioned.

Silence passed between them for a moment and as soon as she fully looked towards him, the blonde had caught the cherry coloring that coated his cheeks as he kept his eyes ahead of them.

Confused by his silence, a small hum left her lips and Valentine tilted her head to the side, blinking slowly as she began to wonder if he was going to answer her or not.

'Well.. it's because that, while I was taking the Hunters Exam, I... uhh..',Killua stuttered out and the clueless look that remained on her innocent face, caused the silverette to want to chuckle,'I missed having your presence beside me and I.. missed you, Val..'

Eyes widening in surprise, color graced her cheeks and her eyebrows rose only slightly as she froze up for a moment.

Suddenly, a wide smile spread across her lips as her eyes sparkled and letting out a small, gleeful chuckle, Valentine gave him a close-eyed smile.

"I missed you too, Killua"

Eyes of ice snapped towards the golden eyed beauty in shock and the silverette's lips parted in disbelief as he stared at the gleaming girl beside him.

Quickly, the boy tore his eyes away from her own and his bright blush darkened as he cleared throat.

But, even though he had looked away from her and stared ahead of them, Killua couldn't hide the red that coated his cheeks.