#millune

The clear night sky above Kukuroo mountain is spotted with the scattering of countless glittering stars strewn across a black canvas. Below it, the world is nothing but jagged peaks. The air is thin this high up, sharp and cold in his lungs, with an unwavering scent of pine that clings stubbornly to the mountainside.

Millune lays on his back, the ground a grudge of uneven stone beneath him as small rocks press through the thin fabric of his clothes. 

Above him, the sky stretches endlessly. 

His eyes trace the unfamiliar shapes of the constellations that dot the world above; their stories, if any, and names fail to come to mind.

Beside him, Nellumi enthusiastically rambles:

“Nen has so many possibilities, Lune. It’s not just about fighting—though, yeah, that’s the part the old man obsesses over because it’s awesome—but it’s all about understanding yourself, shaping your aura into something that actually means something. Your Nen isn’t just something you use, it’s something you are. That’s something that our family just doesn’t understand! It’s not just a weapon. When you shape it, you’re basically taking all that invisible, messy stuff inside you and giving it form.”

He turns to him then.

Dark hair falls into Nellumi’s squinting blue eyes—a stark contrast to the pale moonlit skin that marked them both as Zoldycks—as he leans over his brother’s lounging form with a wide smile, “Isn’t that incredible? Think of all the things we could do!”

Millune exhales softly, his gaze never leaving the sky. “You make it sound simple.”

And needlessly complicated.

“It’s not simple,” Nellumi agrees with a grin, pure and hopeful in a way that doesn’t belong on this mountain. “That’s the point. Everyone’s Nen reflects who they are. Your fears, your habits, the way you think. And, if we are clever, we could totally go all out on all of the wack ass shit we could get up to! Imagine this: Naruto storage scrolls. We could totally wrack up a fortune selling those and I think that it would actually be super easy using Emission.”

A breeze slips down the mountainside, carrying the faint scent of pine and stone. Millune lifts a hand toward the stars, fingers splayed as if he could touch them.

“So what if you don’t know who you are yet?” he asks.

Nellumi pauses.

For once, he doesn’t have an immediate answer.

His usual energy softens, and he glances up at the same sky, his voice quieter now. “Then… I guess your Nen won’t know either. Not at first.”

Millune lets out a small laugh. “That’s reassuring.”

“I didn’t say it was a bad thing!” he nudges his brother’s shoulder. “It just means you get to figure it out. Experiment. Mess up. That’s how people grow. People are always evolving, right? So you’ll always learning new things about yourself and offering new ways that you can use your nen. Plus! You’re lucky; you’ve already awakened your nen and are, basically, a pro at Ten and Zetsu. I am so jealous!”

The corner of his mouth twitches, but Millune says nothing to the reassurances.

“I know that you don’t remember before like I do, but…” Nellumi continues, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial hum, “but it wasn't like this. There were no testing gates, no poison-tasting at dinner, no survival training in the forest. There was... music. It was… well, it was kind of boring, actually! No Nen, no magic. And the world was so bleak… But, here, there are countless possibilities on our horizon!”

Nellumi reaches out, snagging Millune’s hand with his own. His grip is warm, solid, and desperate.

“I remember the ocean, Lune. Not the stuff in the holding tanks or the streams on the mountain. The real thing. It goes on forever. There are birds that scream at the sun and the air smells like salt and the water will make your hair feel weird--but it’s totally worth it, believe me!” Striking blue eyes search his brother’s face, “In a year, once we've mastered the basics, I’m taking you there. I don’t care if we have to run through the gates or hop over them. For now, I’ll remember enough for the both of us. And then, one day, maybe we can find a way for you to remember before too. You know, if you still want to by then.” 

Millune looks at their joined hands. 

“The ocean,” Millune repeats, if only to say it out loud. He knows what an ocean is, has seen it in his textbooks. But, he also remembers white-sand beaches and craggy cliffheads. He thinks that he has been on a boat before, however, can’t pull the thread closer to conjure any further details. 

He looks at their joined hands. Identical, pale, knobby and littered with thin red scratches from their earlier endeavours in the mountain forests.

Nellumi’s grip, as always, is firm and steadfast.

“Okay." He smiles, faint but present. "A year, then.”