Prologue

They had worked overnight reviewing the dates, kills, commissions and the sizeable number of assets that Illumi had amassed over the very productive years of his career. Milluki was the guru of devouring a ton of paperwork and producing legible reports and Illumi trusted none other to do it right.

No one in the gargantuan mountain and surrounds that comprised the Zaoldyeck grounds had the faintest idea what trouble the two brothers had been concocting in his room and they were largely left alone except when a butler wheeled in food to fuel that flexing muscle in Milluki's skull.

When Milluki abused the printer and made it spit out the final ream of paper, the sun was just climbing over the horizon and the light veil of fog was retreating under then onslaught of spears of light and warmth. Despite the decades of horrors that had been committed behind the impassive steel walls that ringed the extinct volcano, Kukuru Mountain was beautiful, particularly as the morning dew caught the sun's rays, twinkled, and the forest lay at Illumi's feet like an endless glittering verdant carpet.

There were few memories that Illumi cared to cherish, but he would burn this image into his mind and keep it until the day he died.

Milluki rubbed dry and bloodshot eyes and thrust the last folder of spreadsheets into his waiting arms. "It doesn't have to be this way," he grunted.

"Of course it does," he said not unkindly. When he laid a hand on Milluki's shoulder, the younger man sagged as if he had placed the weight and burden of the world onto him. The pulpy flesh quivered beneath his touch and Milluki didn't bother hiding a great big wet sniff.

"There's still another year to go," he managed to spit out before his voice cracked.

"There is," Illumi agreed. "And if you were in my position, you'd do the same."

That sparked an old flame of defiance in his younger brother. "If I were you, I'd have left a decade ago." He sighed. "So this is the end then." He took in a shuddering breath and squared his shoulders. "At least you go out on a high. You've had a dream run these past four years – the ten godfathers job three years ago was huge, and the last recon you did for Odannon in East Goruto - "

Illumi knew his brother was trying to comfort him. As productive and lucrative as his business had been for the past four years, he couldn't ignore the fact that his finances during his earlier teenage years were pathetic at best, and a liability at worst. It wasn't until he turned eighteen that he 'found his feet', so to speak, and started to generate profit.

"It's a modest sum," he cut short Milluki's optimistic commentary, causing his brother to withdraw into a sullen silence again. "If I don't live extravagantly, I will have a roof over my head, warm clothes to wear and three square meals a day until I'm a very old man."

Illumi steeled his resolve, hefted the duffel bag that he had packed earlier that night onto his shoulder and picked up the folders containing his life's achievements and final pay cheque. "Let's do this."

Suffice it to say, breakfast was ruined, the elders were blindsided by his announcement and reacted with varying degrees of displeasure. Zeno muttered and frowned as he flicked through the papers. His mother wrung her hands and nagged at Milluki to dissuade him from this silliness. And the person that concerned Illumi most of all, had always given Illumi the most concern, pointedly ignored the schedules and summaries and opted to glare Illumi down.

As inconspicuously as he could, Illumi tried to swallow the lump in his throat that wouldn't go away. He gritted his teeth and balled his hands into fists by his side as a bead of cold sweat slid down the back of his neck. He was standing closest to the exit, and if his nerve held, he had enough of a head start to leave with all his limbs intact.

Finally, Silva stirred, and he repeated what Milluki had pointed out earlier. "Killua doesn't turn sixteen until next year."

"I am well aware of the conditions. I am also aware that there is nothing in those conditions preventing me from leaving before either of those events occurred."

"And may I ask what…prompted this sudden decision to retire early?"

"Sudden?" Illumi's eyebrow twitched. The acrid, baiting reply gushed out before he had a chance to bite his tongue. "Surely you didn't expect me to put my life on hold while you, or Killu, took your sweet time deciding how to run your business and live your lives. This is my new account number. The bank is on standby to receive the transfer. Let's get this over and done with."

Whereas the father tried intimidation, the mother tried to cajole. "Illumi, dear, if there's anything you're dissatisfied with, let's talk about it. Administration, logistics, division of assignments…"

There were a great number of things Illumi was dissatisfied with, first and foremost how his parents had fucked him over and ruined his life when he was twelve. But he was going to play the bigger man, and he wanted to move on, so there was no choice but to let go of that grudge. "I have said all that needs to be said. I have a blimp to catch. I'm just here for my buy-out."

"Your mother is right," Zeno spoke up. To Illumi's surprise, his grandfather appeared genuinely concerned. "You can't make a hasty decision like this. The conditions of your contract say you cannot kill – "

They were dragging this out, each taking a turn to try to erode his resolve until he was nothing more their snivelling, obedient killing machine. His gaze darted around the breakfast hall to make sure that the butlers weren't lurking in the shadows. "Grandfather, the conditions of my contract are something that no one can know better than I do. Once I leave Kukuru Mountain, I am not allowed to kill for direct or indirect financial reward. I know. Father has made quite sure that I know."

Deep, dark lines of a frown furrowed like trenches across the old man's weathered skin. "Then what are you going to do to support yourself out there? You'll be alone with no family to turn to."

"Once I am no longer a Zaoldyeck, it won't matter to you how I live or die. Millu is primed to spread the rumour this afternoon that I have been killed in action. I will disappear. You will never see me again. Hasn't this been what was always intended?"

"I can think of other ways how you might disappear," Silva said, stone cold and ruthless, eyes chips of ice from the oldest iceberg. Illumi checked again – no butlers. Just the silver lord of nightmares confident in his abilities to snuff out his existence. Milluki started to babble, and bless his fat rolls and love handles, tried to put himself between him and the head Zaoldyeck.

"He can do it. He will do it. Please, aniki, just leave it."

A fissure rent through the solid ironwood breakfast table, loud and violent, as if a giant invisible hand was trying to tear the wood apart with brute strength. It split asunder into an explosion of splinters.

"Stop it!" Kikyou shrieked. "Just stop it! We are family! Illumi! Stand down this instant."

Illumi felt an ugly smile not his own twist his lips. "Has this always been your plan, Silva? Has this always been how you'd imagined things to end?" He shook off Milluki's ongoing pleas, too far gone in this last gamble, not when he could almost touch the finish line. "You owe me, and you damn well know it. Pay me my dues, let me walk out of here, and for the first time in fifteen years you will have done something right by me."

Things could have gone bloody then and there. Illumi's guts could have adorned the stone walls and given the butlers a hell of a week scrubbing the blood out of the cracks and crevices. Or, his great grandfather could suddenly make an appearance and give a jolly, good-natured "Ho? What's this?" as if he had happened on some squabbling toddlers whose feeble punches amused him.

Maha never involved himself in family affairs, and there was no telling what he would do. Illumi held himself rigid, ready to bolt if the next person so much as breathed funny. He didn't trust his voice not to waiver when he said, "I'm retiring".

"Are you now?" he hummed with interest as he padded into the room, limited edition sneakers still new and squeaking. "Well, I suppose you are a big boy and you should do what you want. Have you decided what you are going to do?"

"Yes, I have." And that was all he would say. The point was to let no one know where he was going.

Maha's expression drooped with a touch of disappointment, and he sighed. "Well then good luck to you, young man. I wish you all the best. Have you packed all your belongings?"

"Everything except for my redundancy package – fifteen percent of every dime that I have generated in the past fifteen years. Silva and I had an agreement. Now he's stalling."

"We certainly can't have that. I will make sure we honour the bargain and complete the transaction. How much are you owed?"

Milluki scrambled to retrieve the paperwork which had scattered all around the floor and did the sums and calculations. In less than a minute, Illumi watched his bank account bloat and realized that he had taken yet another step towards the tantalizing finishing line.

"Now that's done and I've said my goodbyes, I think I will go and enjoy a morning stroll." Maha stretched, displaying his utter obliviousness to the conflict between Illumi and his father during the whole time, and gave Illumi a gap-toothed smile. "Take care."

All Illumi could manage was a weak nod.

"In that case," Zeno said, studying the mess made of the dining hall, "I will go and order the servants to clean up. I won't be seeing you out, Illumi. I acknowledge your service to this family, and whatever you choose to do out there, I wish you well."

As his mother moaned and nagged and went after grandpa to Do Something, Illumi impressed himself with the speed that saw him leaving the heart of the mountain and onto the beaten tracks leading out to the front door. Milluki huffed and puffed after him but was determined to push past the pain and see him to the Gates of Trial.

Most of the butlers they passed on the way had no idea of the seismic shift in family politics that had just taken place. He waved at Tsubone and smiled when she shot him a barely concealed glare of suspicion.

"Bro…aniki…" Milluki called out as he began to fall back.

Illumi stopped and considered Milluki for a long time. There was so much to be said, and so little time. "I'm sorry for everything, Millu, so incredibly sorry that I screwed you up too."

Milluki scowled hard. He screwed his eye shut in pain as the stitch caught up to him that he doubled over. "It was never your damn fault. I couldn't cope, and they didn't care."

Illumi shook his head. "I was so absorbed with my own problems that I failed to look out for yours. I was the aniki. I should have been there for you – "

"Bullshit. No one was there for you and I could do shit fuck all. And now you're leaving without even spitting in dad's eye to settle the score!"

Illumi laughed and started walking again, much slower this time. "And who was holding me back before telling me to drop it?"

Milluki's jaw nearly unhinged. He opened and closed it a few times before he could articulate the words. "He was going to kill you. I saved your scrawny ass back there, you blockhead!"

"Sure you did, sure you did," Illumi chuckled. "You know, I think great-great grandpa knew all along, and maybe even grandfather suspected something."

"I'm more surprised they didn't catch on sooner. A blind drunk in a blackout on planet without a fucking sun could have seen it coming from a mile away. They were complete idiots if they thought they could make you sign that contract and ask you remain loyal at the same time. Fuck 'em all."

"Careful. You are still here and rely on their goodwill."

They had reached the imposing Gates of Trial and stood in its ominous shadow, and despite the pain and ache in Milluki's knees, Illumi knew his brother would endure a million more times the suffering to undo this reality and his imminent departure. Illumi wouldn't put it past his brilliant genius hacker of a brother to infiltrate the airline ticketing system and change the time and date of his ticket.

"Stop crying, Millu. With your skills, you can find me if you tried hard enough."

"Aniki – "

Without warning, Illumi hugged him tight. "You were my best friend, Millu. You are my best friend. Better than anything I deserved. Never doubt it."

"Never."

"You are the aniki now. Take care of yourself."

"Damnit, I don't care what you say, you'll always be the aniki."

"Live well, Millu, live long and prosper."

Milluki punched him in the arm. "Fuck you. Just because I'm a geek doesn't make me a Star Trek fanboy."

Their final separation was graced by laughter and jest, and Illumi could not think of a better ending.

I-I-I-I

Milluki spent the next hour after Illumi left sitting in the shade of a tree just a little wayward of the beaten track, staring off into space, patiently waiting for his tear ducts to clam up again.

"Master Milluki, is everything all right?"

Aniki's gone. Aniki's never coming back. What's done is done. Milluki stood up to his full height and stretched. "Tsubone, there's been a change in management," he informed the butler in a brusque tone. "I'm the eldest Zaoldyeck child now, and starting today, I will be reviewing all call logs and assisting father with the finances."

Later, Milluki would laugh at the way the whites of Tsubone's eyes widened beyond the rim of her monocle. "What about Master Illumi?"

"Aniki is officially dead, you got that? I'm in charge now. Have the kitchens prepare me lunch."

Let her make old dad explain what's happening, Milluki viciously thought to himself. He was about to order a ten litre tub of chocolate ice cream to accompany lunch, but no longer shied away from the fact he been unable to see or touch his own toes for the past fifteen years. "Tell the kitchen staff that I am going on a diet. Put together low calorie meals for me from now on. I can't be aniki if I am rolling around Kukuru Mountain like this."

I-I-I-I

Illumi knew the streets of Sumenca like the lines and scars on the back of his hand. Tracing through roads he had walked over hundreds of times, he finally stopped at a modest double-storey brick home and let himself through the gates.

As soon as he opened the front door, a spray of confetti showered him from head to toe and it was accompanied by a boisterous heart-warming cheer from the half dozen occupants within.

A strong pair of arms wrapped themselves around him, and he was only too glad to return the warm embrace.

"Welcome home!"