Chapter Text
The first time the Phantom Troupe saw the mysterious boy was on a cool summer night, amidst the bustling streets of a city located next to the coast. It was Feitan, Phinks, Shalnark, and Machi that first witnessed the boy. The second the group felt a pair of eyes on them, they turned around and found nothing more than a young boy, seeming to be between the ages of seven and ten years old, quietly assessing them from afar. This wasn’t the first time that they’d been a spectacle of interest for random people, but the owner of the eyes had a clear intensity to them and was an obvious Nen-user. The boy had amber colored eyes, long knee-length jet black hair, he wore black shorts, a black cropped jacket with long sleeves extending to his knees, and a pair of black wedge thigh high boots. Standing amongst the crowd of passing bystanders, their forms lit by the street lights and their shadows casting along the brick walls and concrete ground, the boy seemed to absorb the light and could easily be confused for nothing more than a shadowy silhouette. His figure was mysterious in every way, from his long dark hair and sleeves flowing in the soft breeze like ebony flags, to the gentle glow of his eyes lit by the pale yellow lights of the street lamps and appearing like dying embers.
Although he was young, they were still wary of the boy. The child was obviously sizing them up, but not in a challenging way, his gaze was closer to that of curiosity than anything. However, after a while of staring, the boy eventually turned around and walked away without a single word. The group found the exchange to be rather strange, perhaps the boy knew who they were, or maybe he had sensed them and was watching them from afar to be cautious. Regardless, the night continued without incident and the boy was eventually forgotten.
However, several months later, Chrollo, the leader of the Phantom Troupe, met the boy for the first time. They had already noticed each other from a mile away, but neither made any drastic movement, so they each remained calm and continued about their own business. When Chrollo passed by, he wasn’t expecting to find the owner of the strong aura to be so young, he noticed that the boy was peacefully sitting next to a pond tossing small handfuls of bread crumbs from a bag into the water, feeding the fishes below and the swans floating nearby. He was small in size and wore black from head to toe, and his dark hair laid splayed behind him like a dark cape settling into a black pool around him. The boy didn't seem to pay him any mind and simply continued feeding the animals quietly. Chrollo soon found himself approaching the boy, finding some need within himself to find out more about him. As the spider leader approached, the boy continued on and didn't show any signs of being hostile nor off-put by him. The boy allowed the man to continue toward him to the point where the man was now standing behind him, and yet he still didn't seem to care. As Chrollo opened his mouth to say something, the boy beat him to it and asked,
"Did you want to feed them too? I brought an extra bag of bread crumbs."
He then grabbed the extra bag next to himself and turned around to hand it to the troupe leader. Chrollo looked at the bag, a slight bit confused at the sudden and strange reaction of kindness from the boy, and he reflexively used Gyo.
"Don't worry, I didn't do anything to the bag. Here, I'll open it for you."
The boy then opened the bag and gestured for the man to take it. Chrollo, still bewildered at the fact that the boy could be so defenseless despite clearly being a powerful Nen-user, took the bag, sat next to the boy, and began feeding the animals as well.
"Your name?" He asked simply.
"Gon Freecss, and yours?"
"Chrollo Lucilfer."
With a small handful of crumbs, he gently tossed it into the water, staring at the fishes and birds having their fill before continuing.
"Your aura is very impressive." He stated in a deferential tone. Gon giggled a bit, tossing another handful of crumbs into the water after the previous portion had finished.
"Thank you, yours too. Did you come to talk to me about my Nen?" Gon asked without looking at the man.
"I was more or less drawn to it, I only know a few people with an aura like yours."
The troupe leader answered honestly, glancing at Gon briefly and seeing no shift in Gon’s demeanor, at least on the outside. Gon snickered, and with a black gloved hand, pushed back the edges of his hair behind his ear like dark curtains to reveal soft, unblemished and lightly tanned skin.
"If you want to fight, I'll have to pass. I'm not really in the mood for fighting." The boy said in a casual and slightly amused voice. Chrollo’s eyes widened a bit at this, but closed them and chuckled to himself. Perhaps it was Gon’s age that caused him to let down his guard; however, it was clear now from his response that he was clearly much smarter and more perceptive than he had originally thought. Truly, he should have known from Gon’s aura alone that he shouldn’t have underestimated him, and it was likely that Gon knew from the very beginning as well.
"You knew I wanted to fight you?"
After having said that, Chrollo did not expect the first reaction to him confirming that his original intention was to fight… was a chortle, and when the leader looked over, he could see a small smile on the child’s face.
"Someone strong like you wouldn't approach someone else with a strong aura just to talk. Plus, your eyes are saying that they want to fight me as well."
"You're smarter than you look."
At that, Gon pouted cutely and huffily threw a handful of crumbs into the water, surprising the swans and causing them to flap their wings slightly and paddle backwards a bit. "Rude."
"I didn't mean it that way. Besides, I really did also just want to know more about you, fighting and observing a person's nen can tell you a lot about them."
The man stated, still hinting that he wanted to fight Gon. The child huffed and pulled his knees closer to his chest, "I still won't fight you, if you attack me, I'm just going to run away. I don’t necessarily hate fighting, it can actually be quite fun, so maybe I'll fight you the next time we meet."
The response from Gon had taken him aback a bit and he looked over at him, while at this point, absentmindedly tossing another handful into the water.
"You believe that there will be a next time?"
Gon simply shrugged at the question.
"Well, it's a big, but also small, world. Strong people seem to naturally find their way to each other. It's strange."
Although Gon may have said it as an offhand comment, Chrollo found it to be an all too true statement, which further proved that the child was more than he appeared to be. The troupe leader smiled as he side-eyed Gon.
"I have no doubt that we will meet each other again in the future. As enemies or as allies, we have yet to see."
"As allies would be nice, fighting you would probably be pretty tiring, and… having a friend would be nice…"
Chrollo does not need to look hard to see the hidden pain following those words behind Gon’s gentle smile and his distant and lonely eyes. To him, it was a nostalgic expression, and he can only distantly recall feeling the same emotions himself. Rather than a long foregone memory, it was closer to that of a faraway dream from childhood, the kind where you could never quite recall if it was real or nothing more than an illusion.
"Friends, huh. A normal child your age should have plenty of friends." Said the man without much intent. Gon scoffed softly as he stared into the water's surface with glassy eyes.
"Well, I'm not really normal, and I don't have any friends. I wasn't allowed to have friends."
This piqued the troupe leader’s interest and he pushed the subject while disguising it as nothing more than pure, genuine curiosity.
"Did your parents or guardians not allow you to?"
Gon idly fiddled with the crumbs in his gloved hand, absentmindedly crushing the small pieces between his fingers and repeating the process all over again.
"I don't have parents... Well, my father is still alive, but he left when I was really young, and I don't know what happened to my mother either. But, I remember my auntie, she was like a mother to me…"
"Was?"
Chrollo noticed that Gon dodged the question of why he wasn’t allowed to have companions, but ushered on nonetheless. Gon’s brows furrowed and a deep frown fell upon his lips, his face now contorting into a look of anger, frustration, despair, and many other emotions all at once. It was clear to the leader that this was a very sensitive topic to the child.
"She was taken away by bad people, so I'm looking for her right now, but… it hasn't been very easy. I'm at a dead end right now, so I've just been following rumors of black markets and going city after city raiding them to look for her…"
"How long has it been?"
At this, Gon fidgeted, his eyes darting around, clearly conveying that he was trying to calculate or recall the time, which Chrollo found to be a slight bit odd. Perhaps, this had some connection to why he couldn’t have any companions.
"Um, about four or five years now, I think…"
Chrollo hummed thoughtfully to himself, considering the idea of giving Gon some information that could prove to be valuable. Until, he came to a conclusion, which led him to deciding to tell Gon.
"Well, if they haven't already killed her and harvested her organs, you might want to try going to Kalyka city down south. Quite a bit of human trafficking occurs there."
At that, Gon sprang up like a spring blossom, his body and expression immediately becoming more full of life, energy, and urgency.
"Really?! Are you sure?!" He asked hurriedly, his once seemingly dull eyes now taking on new life. This sudden change in demeanor certainly caught the troupe leader off guard a bit as he saw a fire burning in Gon's eyes.
"Indeed, lots of underground goods pass through there, even if she isn't there, you will at least be able to obtain valuable information there. Of course, you'd need to interrogate the right people to get it."
At the reassurance, a big and bright smile appeared on Gon's face, truly showing Gon's age.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you! If she really is there, I'll be sure to let her know that you helped me!" The boy thanked the man vigorously and he even began hopping around a little; however, due to Gon's excitement, he missed the barely noticeable sly smirk on the man's lips.
"That doesn't really do much for me. How about this, if I am right and you do find her there, then the next time we meet, you will do one thing I say."
Gon stopped to think for a moment before agreeing to the man's terms.
"Hmm, only if it doesn't involve me killing people, then I don’t mind.”
“Hm, very well, until then.”
“Until then!”
And with that, they both finished tossing the rest of the bread crumbs and went about their separate ways, knowing that they would no doubt meet again. Under what circumstances, they had yet to see.