Part 58: Days X Of X Recovery

It's over. The war against the Chimera Ants is finally over. The palace is now filled with silence, everyone cheers and everyone mourns. It was over, but no one actually won. Both sides have lost, the others have just more lost than the other.

Killua couldn't help but stare at his two unconscious friends as they were being carried towards the ambulance that came at the right moment after the war. Gon, now withered because of his fight against Neferpitou, and Secco, who was severely injured and a bloody mess, covering every inch of the wounds with bandages. Her arm was nowhere to be seen attached in her body, thus, making her not the same as before.

A tear fell from his eye and spaced out of his position, didn't want to move a single centimeter. The scene hurts him like he was being hit by a thousand needles. He promised to protect his friends, he promised to be by their side in their sad times. And yet... he couldn't even save them from themselves. He couldn't save them from their desperation to reach their risky goals.

Palm, who was just nearby, approached the standing silver boy but stopped in her tracks as she can clearly see in his eyes the sadness and guilt while staring at the two.

"Killua..." She just whispered, started to grow sympathy to the kid, so she stepped backward and walked away, not interrupting his peace of mind. She is always selfish and wanted to get everything that she desired, but right now is not the time to be like that. And he taught her that.

Meanwhile, the research team, along with Grenno, investigated every bit of the castle, trying to gather many pieces of evidence and clues about the strange creatures that attempted to invade the world and kill innocent people.

Until, they finally made it to the bottommost part of the place, the basement. They ended up in the chaotic room where the battle between uncontrollable monsters took place, but right now, everything was empty, and only cracked walls and bloody floor greeted them, along with the lifeless body of the Chimera Ant Manisty.

Grenno walked towards the scene and there, he found a small dagger with strange carvings on the holder. He picked it up and examined it using just his eyes, trying to figure out whose weapon he is holding. Then, he gasped at a sudden realization and surprised that he didn't recognize where it was from. His eyebrows raised and his eyes closed, full of grief and mourning to what he just knew.

"Pisacco..." He muttered as he holds the dagger tightly in his hands, trying to stop himself from increasing the melancholy that he was feeling inside his heart. He knew about his dagger, he knew about his Nen. If he swore an oath to the digger along with a risky restriction, then his Nen technique will become more powerful than ever, but his life will be taken in return. He didn't expect that he will go that far just to save a lonely little girl. He put the dagger in his pocket as a remembrance of his dead friend.

The war is finally over, but those who are being taken will not come back anymore.

Secco's POV

After long deep darkness for a very long time, I can finally insist my mind to unlock my eye. My vision was still unclear as I opened it for the first time in a while. I blinked repeatedly until the turbid sight I was having finally removed and gone back to normal.

I turned my head around to see the room I was in. The white paint in the walls made my blind along with the bright light on the ceiling. Hospital equipment and used cotton can be seen scattered around the wide space, and the smell of medicine was stuck in my nose all the time. I sat from the bed I was on until I realized that my whole body was wrapped in bandages, even my face.

I looked around myself, then there, I saw it and stared at it for a long time. The arm on my left side was gone. It was finally gone. After years of struggling and desperate to remove it from my body, it was finally gone. I wasn't used to not having another arm, but it's still better than that monster. It looks like Pisacco had removed it successfully.

"I'm glad you're awake." A familiar voice of a man echoed inside the room, making me jump on my bed. I turned my head to the only door in my arm and saw the face that I've never seen for a very long time.

"Leorio?" I called his name with surprised eyes, didn't expect him to come here. I thought he was busy becoming a doctor. Not to mention... where actually am I?

"It's supposed to be an old man!" He yelled as he approached me with his phone on the other side of his hand. Because of his unintentional shout, he immediately blushed out of embarrassment because of what he said. I just chuckled as I couldn't help but be glad that he wasn't forgetting me at all. I was usually teasing him as an old man before in the Hunter Exam. I guess he still remembered those moments. "A-Anyway, you're unconscious for five days. I thought you were dead."

I just pouted at his unexpected insult, but instantly shove it off. There are so many things that I wanted to know that I didn't have time to ask. I was unconscious since my battle in the palace had ended, so I don't know what happened after that.

"By the way..." I spoke, trying to ask him something. "How's Gon and Killua? Are they fine? Is the war over?"

He didn't answer for a short while and just stared at me, but still decided to talk. Somehow, this made me suspicious. "The war against the Chimera Ants is over. Killua went back to his home to do some business."

"And Gon?" I asked, thinking that he forgot about that slight information. I don't know but I can feel my heart beating so fast. It feels like there's something bad that happened, and I don't know what it is.

"Gon was..." He didn't answer my question all of a sudden, lowering his head to me, didn't want me to see his face. The beating heart became faster than before. The pauses between Leorio's sentences made me nervous. Did something happen to Gon?

***

"Secco!"

I ran as fast as I can in the long corridor of the hospital, eager to find the room he was in, never listening to Leorio, who was chasing me behind. I started to run out of breath because of the running and the fact that I wasn't recovered completely added to that, but I didn't care. I just want to find it. I just want to find Gon.

After minutes of running, I finally found the room, filled with different Hunters standing, waiting outside while they are staring at the wide glass window in front of them. There were Hanzo, Bisky, and other familiar people that I met since the time that I moved out of the ship.

"Gon!" I yelled at the glass that they were looking, deducing that he was behind that piece of the transparent wall. I approached it with immediate speed, didn't care about them looking at me.

The sight on the other side of the room widened my eyes. There, Gon was lying on the hospital bed filled with white blankets all over him and hospital equipment wrapped around his body. I couldn't see all of his, but his arm was popping out of the cloth. It was withered and slim like it was long rotten. My whole body was shaking at the scene that I was staring. Tears started to fall from my eyes as I couldn't accept what I was saying.

"N-No..." I stuttered at my sentence, trying to find the words, but I was too focused on my friend who was now struggling to live. I just want to enter and tried to restore him, but I knew that I'm not good at that. "Gon, n-no... Why...?"

I was just staring at Gon the whole time, but in my peripheral vision, I noticed Bisky walking towards me. "He faced Neferpitou with his maximum level of Nen... that even his body couldn't handle it."

"What...?" I turned around to see her, requesting more information about the matter. I wasn't able to see him and Killua during the war since I was busy fulfilling my secret mission.

"He defeated him, but at the same time, he lost." She answered with her eyes dead serious, not joking about what she said. My eyes widened because of what I heard, couldn't be able to cope up with what I learned. I couldn't believe that Gon would go that far just to defeat one of the Royal Guards.

I lowered my head and slowly dropping on the floor, didn't want to see him suffer anymore. I promised to protect them. I promised to protect them from anyone, from myself. But... I was blinded by my arm that I didn't even know that they're facing other threats. I didn't protect them from anyone at all. I was just a useless friend, couldn't think of anything better to protect them.

"You should rest too, Secco." I heard Leorio said on my back as he approached me and pulled my arm. I immediately shoved his hand off of my body and glared at him with intensity.

"No! I won't move!" I yelled with fresh tears flowing in my eyes. I don't want to leave him again. I don't want to leave him in this terrible condition again. I want to be beside him at all times. "I won't leave until Gon will be better!"

"Don't be stubborn. You have–"

"I'm not being stubborn!" I shouted again, closing my eyes since I couldn't be able to see him directly in the eye, didn't want to finish his nonsense statement about my condition. I've been selfish this whole time about my arm. I just don't want to be like that right now. "I don't want to ignore him, especially if he's in this state! I just don't want to!"

"Then what about Killua?!" He yelled back at me with an intense glare, couldn't be able to take all of my shouts. My eyes were widened at what he said, and what name he mentioned. I was too focused on Gon that I didn't even think of Killua. "Are you gonna ignore him?! Are you gonna ignore his feelings?!"

"Killua is doing his best right now to cure Gon. He almost lost him, and he doesn't want the same thing that happened to you." He added, causing me to think of everything that I have done. I've been worried about Gon the whole time, and yet, I didn't ask how Killua was doing right now. He must be doing his best for our friend to be better, while I was just here, standing like an idiot, doing nothing for both of them.

"Just think of other people's feelings, will you?"

He is always telling me that I'm so selfish, that I just wanted myself to be better, and I didn't consider other people's emotions and feelings if they see me in a bad state. I thought I was being selfless, but I was actually not. I just want to satisfy myself by seeing my friends being alright, but I didn't think about their feelings of seeing me the same.

I didn't have a choice but to follow their orders and went back to my room, trying to feel better for them. I couldn't do anything yet for Gon, but I knew that Killua won't just give up easily, especially for his friend. I knew that he still some ace up his sleeve, so I'll trust him in making Gon feel alright. All I have to do now was to feel better for them.

This lasted for several days and many people visited me during those times, trying to see me if I was alright. There's nothing much happened at those days, just me, lying on my bed, seeking entertainment and food every time, which Leorio willingly delivered to me each of his free time. I also heard that Chairman Netero died during the war, sacrificing himself for the better of humanity. So, the Hunter Association held an election for the next chairman. But what I didn't expect was for Leorio to be nominated just by punching a member of the association with his Nen. I didn't really know what happened, but I guess the whole crowd loved what he just did. People are really complicated.

While I was waiting for any random person to come to my room, someone knocked at my door. Curious about who came just to see me, I told them to come in. They opened the door and my eyes widened out of surprise, while my tears started to form in them. I couldn't help but feel happy and hopeful about what I have seen.

There he is, Gon, standing with a healthy body. No scratches or any wounds that would make him lose blood. No withered parts of his body can be seen anymore. He was completely fine and complete now. The tears that I've been stopping from pouring, didn't resist to fall on the white blanket that wrapped around me.

"Gon!" I cried and jumped towards him, embracing him with my one arm. He accepted my hug, and also did the same to me, letting this long moment to continue. I couldn't help but shout for cries after seeing him. "You're fine now! You're perfectly fine."

"You, too, Secco. I heard what happened to you." He said and pulled me out of our hug, trying to talk to me. I walked backward, giving him the space of comfort to start his conversation. "I'm sorry that I wasn't there for you. To stop you from the control..."

"It's fine.~" I said with a cheerful smile, making him feel better and not guilty of what happened before. He didn't do anything wrong to me at all. I choose for the arm to go wild and defeat the enemy in front of me. It was no one's fault. "Everything's fine now, right?"

"Yeah." He answered with the same smile as mine, satisfied that everything right now was alright. The war was finally over and there's nothing to be worried about for now.

While he was staying, we started to talk about the unfinished conversation we had before, back in the apartment when we promised to talk about our journeys after we got separated. I couldn't help but say everything to him, all the fun and difficult times I've spent with Grenno in the bunker, while he talked about the sports competition they were in with the game masters of the Greed Island and their fight with the Bomber.

I couldn't help but to miss these precious times where we were just laughing about our life, didn't care about anything that was happening around us. I want to go back to those times. Now that my arm was gone, I can finally go back and have fun again.

But unfortunately, he will be leaving to go to the nomination and see what Leorio had been doing with the chairman election. We bid farewell and the whole room was back in its silence atmosphere.

As I was about to sleep because of the boredom I was feeling, someone knocked at my door again. I know that many people had been visiting me, but I didn't expect that I will have two visitors in just one day.

"Come in," I spoke and just sat down on my bed, waiting for the person that was visiting me to come.

As he came in, my eyes widened again for the second time, didn't expect who has just visited me. His silver-haired is still messy and his blue eyes were still reflecting in the light, fresh from tears, telling me that he was just finished crying.

"K-Killua?!"