ꕥ

Finally arriving in the Dentora region, the four stared out the window and they were in a daze of the beauty surrounding them. Valentine had never seen so many green and large hills in her life, it was absolutely breathtaking and Valentine found herself gaping at the sight in front of her.

'Look, you can almost see it over there!',Leorio said,'So that's where the assassins base is, huh?'

Staring at the base, Leorio shivered at the creepy atmosphere around it.

'It looks kind of creepy..'

'Yeah..',Kurapika responded to Leorio,'Once we arrive, we should gather information'

'Yeah'

The four had finally arrived at the foot of Kukuroo Mountain by bus, where it was full of tourists taking pictures in front of the humongous gates known as the Gate of Hades. The gate could possibly be a mountain of it's own and was built with incredibly strong and thick steel.

The gate was surrounded by a huge, brick wall that covered the entire forest shrouded area.

'Look at the size of that thing!',Leorio exclaimed.

ꕥ

'I see, so the four of you are young Master Killua's friends. I'm happy to hear that, you see I've worked here for twenty years but this is the first time any friends have come to visit',The security guard placed a cup of tea in front of Valentine.

Perking up, the blonde kindly thanked the older man and raised the cup to her lips, gently blowing the steam away.

Sitting down, the older man observed the four in front of him and noticed the small bird on Valentine's shoulder, causing his eyes to widen in surprise.

'Is that a Ferruginous hawk?',The older man questioned.

Blinking in shock, Valentine slowly placed her mug down and stared at the older man.

"Um.. yes, he is",Valentine said and slowly reached up her hand, feeling as Zeus jumped into it causing her to slowly lower him onto the table,"His name is Zeus"

Watching as the small bird walked on the table towards him, the older man gaped in awe and shook himself from his thoughts, getting back to the subject at hand after he had caressed that young bird's soft feathers.

'Since I work here, I really shouldn't be saying this, but the place is rather lonely. No one ever visits'

Pointing his thumb to the trashcan filled with skeletons, the older man sighed.

'Though we get a lot of those occurrences.. well, a family of assassins is pretty unusual. So, I suppose that's the price they have to pay. Anyway, I'm glad you're here',The man bowed his head,'Thank you'

Lifting his hand, Leorio waved off the older man and smiled lightly.

'Don't mention it..'

Then, the older man looked up with a challenging smile on his face.

'However.. I cannot let you inside',He said,'Didn't you see the large arm of the creature? It's name is Mike. It serves as the Zoldyck family watchdog. It only obeys family and will attack anyone else. The beast still follows the order it's master gave ten years ago. To kill every single intruder'

The security guard brought a hand to the back of his head and lightly itched it.

'But technically, he isn't really following the order because he keeps eating them',The man laughed and picked up his cup,'Anyways, I cannot let you go inside. I wouldn't want to reduce young master Killua's friends to skeletons'

Lifting his mug to his lips, the older man slowly drank the liquid from the cup.

'Sir, how is it that you're safe?',Kurapika questioned, making the older man look over at him,'You go inside, correct? If you never needed to enter, you wouldn't have a key on you'

The man in question slightly smiled.

'Quite perceptive of you. But, you're only half right',He said and reached into his blazer, pulling out a key,'I require no key to get inside, the key is for intruders'

'A key for intruders?',Leorio questioned.

'For some reason, eighty to ninety percent of intruders will attempt to use the front gate',He explained,'If I don't open the gate for them, they'll try to break it down. Such troublemakers. So we added a locked door to one side. The intruders would take the key from the helpless guard and then, Mike eats them'

Kurapika's eyes widened.

'That's it!',The blonde exclaimed.

'As you just realized, I'm no ordinary guard. I'm merely a janitor that cleans up after Mike'

'So, the front gate isn't locked after all'

'Exactly',The older man said.

Tilting her head, Valentine was rather confused and blinked as she tried to process what the man was saying, placing Zeus back atop of her shoulder when he had waddled back towards her.

It wasn't locked?

'What?!'

The four turned their heads towards the window and gazed at the abnormally large gate.

The next thing the blonde knew, was that nighttime had approached rather quickly.

The group of friends were now standing in front of the enormous, metal front gates and watched as fruitlessly attempted to open the gate; but to no avail.

'I tried pushing and pulling, but the doors won't budge!',Leorio panted heavily, sweating profusely,'Are you sure the doors aren't locked?!'

'You just aren't strong enough',The elderly man blatantly pointed out to the teenager.

'That's absurd!',Leorio shouted, growing irritated,'I'm using up all my strength!'

'Just watch', The man sighed.

Preparing himself, he stripped himself of his jacket and made his way towards the gates.

'The official name for the gates is the Testing Gate. Anyone who unable to pass the gates is unqualified to enter the Zoldyck estate',The man said and pushed the first gate open.

The gate opened and eventually closed after a few minutes.

The group's eyes dilated; impressed by the old man's strength.

'As you can see, the door closed automatically, so you'll need to run in the second you open it, you might as well run to go through',He informed them with a smile,'You don't need to worry about Mike, he has orders to not attack anyone who passes the testing gate'

Wiping the sweat that fell down his forehead, the older man sighed in exhaustion.

'But, this is getting tougher as I age',He said,'But they'll fire me if I can't open the gate, so I need to keep in shape. I also need to mention that gate one weighs at lease two tons'

'Two tons!',Leorio shrieked,'There's no possible way we could open that!'

Stopping, Leorio realized what the man had said.

'Wait.. you said gate one'

'Yeah',The elderly man nodded,'There are seven gates in total. Each one doubles in weight. The gates open depending on how much strength you use. Incidentally, when you master Killua returned, he opened gates one to three'

With her mouth dropping in awe, Valentine's eyes momentarily widened.

'Gate three?',Gon asked,'That would be twelve tons!'

Sweat dropping in unison, Valentine and Kurapika glanced at each other.

"Sixteen tons, Gon",The two corrected in unison, causing Gon to blush with embarrassment.

Scratching the back of his head, Gon laughed bashfully and a small drop of sweat dripped down his forehead.

Gon had kindly demanded for the elderly keeper to hand him the key and he didn't want to go through the Testing Gate because he believed that friends didn't need to be tested. If he wasn't given the key, he would climb the wall.

'Unfortunately I still can not give you the key. I will can not feed Mike, young master Killua's friends. Well, please stay here a moment',He said, walking towards the office.

Following after him, the four walked into his office and found him dialing a number on the telephone.

'Hello? Sorry to disturb you this is Zebro. Actually, four of young master Killua's friends are here to see him',Zebro said.

Peeking through the doorway; alongside everyone else, Valentine was unable to hear the conversation on the other side of the line.

But she could tell that it wasn't going very well though as she heard Zebro apologize over and over.

'Yes. Yes. I understand. Yes, I'm sorry. I'm very sorry, sorry to disturb you',Letting out a sight, Zebro walked back towards them,'As expected I got into trouble'

'You called the mansion?',Gon asked as they entered the guardhouse once more.

'No, I was speaking with the Zoldyck family butler'

Turning her head, Valentine was surprised by his statement.

'Then could you get him on the phone again?',Gon offered, making his way towards the telephone,'I'd like to talk to him this time'

The moment he picked it up, Gon was greeted the head butler formally and the phone call ended within seconds.

It puzzled Valentine greatly and she figured that the head butler was quite strict and cold.

Leaning forward, Leorio, Kurapika and Valentine leaned closer to Gon as he re-entered the number.

Watching as he inhaled sharply, Zeus quickly flew from Valentine's shoulder towards the window and landed, putting his wings over his body.

'WHAT DO YOU MEAN?! PUT KILLUA ON THE PHONE RIGHT NOW!'

His outburst took the people closely listening aback.

The second phone call lasted longer than the previous one, but Gon still look furious.

An irked mark appeared on Gon's forehead as the call ended and he turned around, heading towards the door.

Gently clasping his hand around Valentine's wrist, Gon dragged the girl behind him and she looked towards her friend's, her eyes pleading for their help as they only watched the scene with surprised looks.

Whining slightly, Valentine dramatically fell backwards onto the dirt and just let Gon continue to drag her after him.

Besides, once Gon was dead set on something, there was no changing his mind.

But, he could've at least let her walk on her own.

ꕥ

Soon enough, Zebro hospitably opened the Testing Gate for them, allowing them to temporarily go through.

The place beyond the gate dark in more ways than sight and a chilling breeze felt eerie.

'Is it really okay for us to be here?',Leorio whispered, fear evident in his tone.

'Yeah. Since we went through the Testing Gate, Mike shouldn't attack us',Zebro reassured, calling out to the watchdog,'Mike! Come here!'

His voice echoed throughout the woods and bounced off of the bark of the trees. Valentine waited for something to appear and soon heated ghastly noises coming from beside them.

At first, the noises started off as soft grunts, but as it started to grow louder, giant-sounding footsteps were heard accompanying it.

The silhouette of a large wolf-like dog slowly approached them until it was fully clear to their eyes and as Gon, Kurapika and Leorio stared at the beast in horror, young Valentine had a bit of a different reaction.

To the young blonde, it's crimson fur looked like a soft cloud and it's softness reminded her of Killua's hair. Most people would see it's crimson fur would be from the cause of the blood it's shed from many intruders, but to Valentine, it reminded her of a beautiful field of cotton.

Even Mike's eyes were mesmerizingly beautiful, rather than soulless and empty like her companions thought.

'You see what I mean, Gon?',Zebro asked, glancing at the boy's terrified expression,'Mike is a trained weapon. Right now, there's nothing going on in his mind but mesmerizing the appearance and scent of the newcomers'

He wanted to prove to young master Killua's friends that the dog was impossible to go soft.

The dog could not be tamed.

The dog simply could not show affection.

Continuing to stare at the beast in wonder, Valentine briefly glanced at the older man and then, her eyes looked back towards the magnificent creature in front of her.

"Can I pet him?",Valentine questioned, her voice barely above a whisper as her mouth was agape in awe.

Taking aback, Zebro was quite surprised that the young girl wasn't afraid at all.

'Pet him?',The older man questioned in shock, blinking in surprise,'But Valentine, Mike—'

Before the man could even finish his sentence, the blonde was already approaching the enormous dog and everyone held their breath, watching as the guard dog's eyes followed her every move.

Feeling her lips tug up into a soft smile, Valentine stopped walking and gently held out her hand, trying to signal to the giant dog that she meant no harm.

She was quite familiar with this breed of animal for she had only seen one other in her entire life.

But that one had been a bit smaller than Mike.

And probably younger as well.

But then again, it was ages ago.

Standing still in place, Mike stared at the blonde with nothing in it's eyes and eventually, as her gentle touch stretched closer, the large hunting beast hesitantly allowed her to come in contact with his forehead.

Analyzing her features and her smell, the beast could detect a rather familiar smell to his own and slowly; but hesitantly, bent down in order to make it possible for her to do so.

Monochromatic, marble eyes clashed with molten gold and the temperature from their surroundings no longer felt like it was skyrocketing; calming down slightly.

"Your fur.. it's so soft",Valentine whispered, staring into the beasts eyes and felt as if she was looking into the young pups she had met ages ago,"It reminds me of a young beast pup I had met when I was little"

In return, Valentine heard a low rumble of satisfaction leave Mike's muzzle and it took the people behind her aback in surprise.

'This should be impossible. Mike has never let anyone besides Master Silva touch him',Zebro thought in shock,'..This girl. Just who exactly is she?'

Gazing at the young blonde, Zebro couldn't help but wonder who Valentine was completely.

She had never revealed her full name to him and it was quite possible, the way Mike was acting, could be due to her heritage.

So the question remained in his head.

Who was Valentine?

ꕥ

ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴀs ᴛʜᴀᴛ?! ᴍɪᴋᴇ ʟᴇᴛ ᴠᴀʟᴇɴᴛɪɴᴇ ᴘᴇᴛ ʜɪᴍ?!

ᴡʜᴀᴛ ᴅᴏ ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴜʏs ᴛʜɪɴᴋ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴡᴀs ᴀʙᴏᴜᴛ?

ᴡʜʏ ᴅᴏᴇs ʜᴇ ʀᴇᴍɪɴᴅ ᴠᴀʟᴇɴᴛɪɴᴇ ᴏғ sᴏᴍᴇᴏɴᴇ ғʀᴏᴍ ʜᴇʀ ᴘᴀsᴛ?

ᴡʜʏ ʜᴀᴅ ʜᴇ ʟᴇᴛ ʜᴇʀ ᴘᴇᴛ ʜɪᴍ?

ᴛᴇʟʟ ᴍᴇ ᴡʜᴀᴛ ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴜʏs ᴛʜɪɴᴋ!

ɴᴏᴡ, ɪ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ᴛʜᴀᴛ sᴏᴍᴇ ᴏғ ʏᴏᴜ ᴍᴀʏ sᴀʏ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴍɪᴋᴇ ᴡᴏᴜʟᴅ ɴᴇᴠᴇʀ ʟᴇᴛ ᴀɴʏᴏɴᴇ ᴛᴏᴜᴄʜ ʜɪᴍ ᴀɴᴅ ɪ ᴄᴏᴍᴘʟᴇᴛᴇʟʏ ᴜɴᴅᴇʀsᴛᴀɴᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ, ʙᴜᴛ ɪ ᴘʀᴏᴍɪsᴇ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴛʜᴇʀᴇ ɪs ᴀ ʀᴇᴀsᴏɴɪɴɢ ʙᴇʜɪɴᴅ ɪᴛ ᴀɴᴅ ɪᴛ ᴡɪʟʟ ʙᴇ ʀᴇᴠᴇᴀʟᴇᴅ ɪɴ ʟᴀᴛᴇʀ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs