༺♥༻

Being led into a room with all of the troupe members, eyes of swept across the room and anxiety swept through her veins like a wildfire.

But locking onto a familiar face, Valentine's eyes widened and a small gasp left her lips.

Hisoka.

Watching as eyes of molten gold turned their way, before turning away, the blonde quickly caught on and figured out that they were playing dumb.

As if they didn't know him.

She figured that since he seemed to like Gon, that he'd probably help them out a bit.

But Gon didn't catch on and a small gasp left his lips as he looked towards Hisoka.

'Hey!'

Tensing at Gon's acknowledge, Hisoka pursed his lips and continued to look away from them.

Feeling Zeus tense up on her shoulder, Valentine felt a drop of sweat fall down the side of her face and she refrained herself from hitting her head on a wall.

He hadn't caught on.

Feeling a drop of sweat fall down the side of his face in realization, Gon's eyes widened for a moment at his mistake and he looked away from Hisoka.

'What?',The man with the sword questioned and looked down at Gon,'Do you know someone here?'

Rubbing the back of his head, Killua looked towards the man and felt a small drop of sweat fall down the side of his face.

'Ughh— No',Killua stated, before spotting the girl from before and pointed her out,'It's that girl we met!'

Turning towards where he was pointing, Valentine saw the girl with glasses from before and tilted her head.

That was the girl Gon had arm-wrestled.

'Is that true, Shizuku?',The other blonde in the room asked,'You know these guys?'

Looking up from her book, Shizuku studied their faces for a moment and shook her head.

'No, I sure don't',She answered.

Valentine's eyes widened as she looked at the girl and wondered just how short of a memory she had.

She didn't blame her, she was bad at remembering some things as well and once she forgot it, someone would have to remind her or else it'd be gone forever.

A man wearing all black and a mask suddenly perked up, letting out a small hum.

'Ohh, I remember now',He spoke up from next to her,'The kid who arm wrestles'

'Refresh my memory',Shizuku requested and stared at the three, blankly.

A huge man with many scars on his face pointed towards Gon and turned his head, looking towards the woman.

'That kid, you lost to him in an arm-wrestling contest two days ago',The man explained.

'I did? He beat me? That's a lie!',The woman exclaimed,'I'm not the strongest, but I wouldn't lose to a kid'

Looking between them as they argued back and forth, Valentine was reminded of how her siblings fought, her eyes wide as she looked between them.

It was like Akari and Faith all over again.

'It's because you were using your right hand',The man with scars explained.

Leaning forward in confusion, the woman's eyes widened and she closed her book slightly.

'I did?',Shizuku questioned, baffled,'But why? I'm left handed'

The man in the mask sighed and closed his eyes, tilting his head slightly to the side.

'Don't bother',He said,'Once she has forgotten something, it's gone for good'

Dropping the subject, the man with the scars told the woman that he must've been mistaken and she looked back down at her book.

'Thought so'

Suddenly, Nobunaga looked down at Gon and furrowed his eyebrows.

Letting out a sigh of relief, a small drop of sweat fell down Killua's temple and his posture deflated slightly.

'Hold on, is that right?',Nobunaga questioned,'You really beat Shizuku?'

Looking towards the man, Gon nodded and watched as Valentine looked between them, her eyes narrowed.

'Yeah'

She had a bad feeling all of a sudden and she knew, that something was going to happen.

'I never would've imagined that she was a Phantom Troupe member'

And it wasn't going to be good.

Looking towards Gon, Nobunaga pulled his hair back and put it up, his eyes narrowed.

'Okay, then show me what you've got'

༺♥༻

It had been quite a while since Gon and Nobunaga had begun to arm-wrestle.

The man had beaten him every time and now, Gon's hand was beginning to bleed from being repeatedly slammed against the large rock.

If it kept going on like this, the man was going to break Gon's hand.

Suddenly, the man began to talk about this man named Uvogin and how he was most likely killed by the chain user.

Tears began to stream down the man's face as he began to talk about his friend and for a moment, Valentine felt sorry for the man.

It was hard to lose a best friend.

'Uvogin was an Enhancer. He was simple-minded, straightforward and he loved a good fight. And punctual. A real stickler about time. Whenever Franklin and I were late, he'd always start something. He beat the crap out of me more than once, I can tell ya! I've known him sense before the Troupe was founded. I know him better than anyone'

Feeling Zeus shift slightly on her shoulder, Valentine looked at him out of the corner of her eye and saw this his eyes were narrowed as he watched Nobunaga.

'He would never.. I mean never, lose in a fair fight, do you hear me? Not unless he was caught in some dirty trap! I'll make his killer pay. I'll find
him, no matter who I have to kill'

Blinking slowly, Valentine pursed her lips and continued to watch the arm wrestle, her hands clenched by her sides at the sight of her friend struggling.

But, how did he know the chain user was a guy, they could've been a girl.

'The chain user hold some kind of grudge against us, a strong one. The Mafia's Nostrade family hired him recently'

Hearing this, Valentine's eyebrows furrowed and she slowly looked at the ground for a moment.

Had a grudge against the Troupe.

And was recently hired.

Who..

Feeling her heart stop in realization, Valentine kept her face blank and her eyes shone with shock at what she had discovered.

Kurapika.

The chain user that had killed their friend was Kurapika.

As she had come to this realization, Gon had beaten the man and the man in the mask grabbed Gon, pushing him down on the rock.

He held his arm behind his back and glared down at him.

"Gon!"

As a screech of fury filled the air, Zeus spread his wings taking off towards the two and Valentine went to follow, but as soon as she did, a strong aura washed over her causing the girl to freeze in her place.

The pink haired woman from before stood directly behind her and her hand was hovered over her arm, stopping her in place.

But, everything in Valentine's eyes went in slow motion as her eyes glowed and she watched as Zeus descended towards the man, his talons outstretched.

She watched as a card was slowly making it's way towards him and her body moved on it's own as a high pitched ring filled the air, everyone wincing in pain as the young girl disappeared.

Wrapping her arms around her feathered companion, Valentine felt a harsh sting slice across her cheek and as she landed on the ground, her feet dragged across the floor, her body hunched over as she protected her friend.

'Val!',Killua yelled.

Slowly looking up, Valentine panted harshly and her eyes glowed a dangerous, magma-like golden hue as she glared into the clown's soul.

A whistle filled the air and an impressed look was on Shalnark's face.

'Feitan, stop it'

Now standing beside Shalnark, Valentine held Zeus close to her chest as he struggled against her and his chest harshly rose and fell with each breath.

'Stop what?'

Rubbing his wrist, Nobunaga turned towards Feitan and looked between him and Gon.

'Stop doing what you're just about to do'

'Oh? You think you know what I'm about to do?'

'You're going to break his arm, aren't you?'

Hearing this, Valentine tensed up and held her breath, her eyes widened.

He was going to break Gon's arm?

'I'd start with a finger, peel off a nail'

Now staring down at Gon, a strange aura filled the room and admitted off of Feitan.

'Doesn't matter, I told you to stop it',Nobunaga demanded.

'You're giving me orders?',Feitan questioned,'I don't have to obey'

Suddenly, Nobunaga slammed his foot against the stone that Gon was pinned against and he glowered at the raven-haired man.

As they glared at one another, it looked as if they were about to fight.

'Hey, quit it, Nobunaga',The man with scars interjected.

'Have you already forgotten the rules?',The woman with pink hair questioned, a small scoff leaving her lips.

Wait.

Rules?

'There's no physical fighting between the Troupe Members',Shizuku explained.

With a small sigh, Nobunaga reached into his pocket and pulled out a coin.

'I know, I know. Disputes are decided by a coin toss'

Flipping it into the air, he caught it on his arm and looked up at Feitan.

'Tails',Feitan decided and stared at Nobunaga's hand.

'Then I'm heads',Nobunaga said.

Slowly taking his hand off of the coin, it was revealed that it was heads and that Nobunaga had won.

'It's heads, so let him go'

As Feitan let go of Gon, he immediately jumped back away from the man and glared his way.

Slowly, Valentine made her way towards the boy's and passed Zeus to Gon, who immediately took him in his arms, gently petting the hawks head.

Since Gon was the one he was trying to protect, he was the only one who'd be able to calm him down.

'So, what do we do with them?',Shizuku questioned,'They haven't told us anything about the chain user'

'If they don't know anything, then just let them go',The man with scars stated and looked towards Pokunoda.

'I checked on the trip here',The woman stated and came to a stop before the three children,'It's true, they really don't know anything'

Eyeing the three, Machi questioned if she was sure and Pokunoda nodded.

It was clear that they all had faith in the woman's words and hearing as she said that she checked them on the ride there, Valentine's eyebrows furrowed for a moment.

'Looks like your hunch was a little off so far'

'That's bizarre',Machi stated and shrugged her shoulders,'Oh well, if Pokunoda says so, then it must be true'

As Hisoka let go of Killua, he immediately went towards the two and narrowed his eyes, looking between them.

'Did they do anything weird to you guys on the way here?',Killua questioned.

Slowly shaking his head, Gon thought it over for a moment and told the silverette that they had only asked him some questions.

Just when Killua was about to ask Valentine, he noticed the blood trailing down her cheek and his eyes widened, slowly stepping closer to her.

'Val, your cheek!'

Eyes widening slightly, Gon began to freak out over his sister-figures wound and looked around for something to clean it with, causing Valentine's eyes to widen.

Wide eyes looked between the boy and she slowly began to calm them down, a small drop of sweat falling down the side of her face.

"Guys.. I'm fine, really. I'll clean it up later"

As she was telling them this, Valentine also began to try and figure out how to not let the woman know that she now knew who the chain user was.

..She had touched them.

If she could scan their memories by a simple touch, then she'd have to try as hard as she could to keep away from the woman now more than ever.

If she was checked again, then they'd find out that the chain user was Kurapika and they'd be in big trouble.

'They don't know the chain user, so can't we just let them go now'

'Yeah, I really don't see the point in keeping them here',Shalnark explained.

Walking forward, a man looked between them with narrowed eyes.

'No. We can't be sure that they're completely unrelated, it's possible they're being used. The chain user is discrete, he usually keeps his chains hidden. If that's the case, maybe they don't realize he's who were talking about. We shouldn't release them. Not until they tell us who they're working for'

Furrowing his eyebrows, Shalnark turned towards the man and shook his head.

'If they are working for someone, it isn't the chain user',Shalnark determined,'He prefers to work all by himself'

Asking if he agreed with Nobunaga, the pink haired woman tilted her head to the side.

'We can get whatever information we need from the Nostrade family. We don't really need these kids for that',Shalnark explained,'After all, we know the chain user is a member'

Almost the whole group agreed with the decision of letting them go and the hostile aura surrounding them faded away into nothing.

But not everyone had agreed.

'There you go, you got off lucky',Feitan said, looking at the three.

With a frown on his face, Gon stuck his tongue out as their captor and let go of Zeus; who immediately flew to Valentine and rested on her shoulder, a worried chirp leaving his lips as he observed the blood running down her cheek.

'No, not just yet',Nobunaga declared and looked towards the three, mostly looking between Gon and Valentine; they had shown that they had an amazing set of skills,'I'm not letting the green-haired boy and that blonde girl go. You wanna join the Spiders?'

Hearing this question, Valentine's eyes narrowed and she thought about Kurapika for a moment.

They were the reason his whole clan had died.

They were the reason he was alone all of those years. They had taken away his family and his friends.

That's something she could never forgive.

'No, we'd rather die than team up with you guys!',Gon explained, his eyes fierce and he watched as Valentine stared them down; the same fierce look in her eyes,'So, it's never gonna happen'

Much to either of their surprise, the samurai chuckled lightly and uncontrollably, leaning against the pillar behind him.

'They really hate us, don't they?',Nobunaga questioned,'What are you two? You're an Enhancer and she's a Manipulator, right?'

With his eyes narrowing, Killua moved forward slightly and so, Nobunaga's view of the girl was cut off slightly.

'Yeah.. and what if we are?',Gon questioned.

A loud laugh burst through his lips and the rest of the Troupe members watched in confusion, before they all looked towards one another.

'Hey! We're keeping them here until the boss gets back',Nobunaga stated,'I'm nominating them'

With a shocked look on his face, the other blonde looked towards Nobunaga and his eyes widened in surprise.

'Are you serious?'

'The boss will never agree to that',Feitan stated.

Standing to his feet, Nobunaga smiled and Machi let out a small sigh, rolling her eyes for a moment.

It was clear that he wasn't going to drop the subject.

'Fine. Whatever',Machi agreed,'But you've got to babysit them. It's on you if they escape'

Gulping slightly, the three looked towards one another and their eyes glistened as the Troupe decided on their fate.