Sorry for the late update guys, this chapter was complicated to type.
Kurapika's head was spinning when he regained consciousness precisely two hours, six minutes and thirty-seven seconds after he had initially fallen unconscious. Kurapika's vision was blurred and in the darkness, Kurapika could make out even less than he could before. He hissed as his head began to sting with the beat of his heartbeat but he knew there was nothing he could do about it. He was still bound by his hands.
"Kurapika!" Senritsu exclaimed, alarmed the Kurta had regained consciousness so quickly. Last time, it had taken days before he regained consciousness after he had fought the Spiders. Maybe it was because he now only had one eye. Kurapika blinked at the mention of his name but that was the only reaction he had. He felt too weak thanks to the fever to do much.
Resting his head against the stone wall, Kurapika murmured a reply. "Hello, Senritsu," He said in a weak voice. That is when he remembered something... "Where are Gon, Leorio and Killua?" He asked urgently, his heart beginning to beat faster which resulted in his headache to become even more painful. He groaned in pain and shut his eye tightly. "Where are they?"
Senritsu could only frown at her friend's panicked heartbeat and tone. It was an odd thought but she often wondered how Kurapika's heart could take so many painful emotions all the time. His emotions constantly strained on his heart-strings and caused much stress to the organ. If it was possible to die from emotion itself, Kurapika would certainly be dead.
Footsteps echoed in the hallway and Senritsu listened out for the sound of a whistle. The signal that the Kurta's friends were near. However, as time began to pass, there was no whistle... something was wrong. Senritsu placed her hands behind her ears and closed her eyes in concentration. The feet didn't belong to Gon, Leorio and Killua, she quickly realised. There were too many footsteps and they were too heavy to belong to those three. Must be the Spiders.
As if on que, the barred door at the front of the cell opened, the light flicked on, and in came Chrollo, Machi, Phinks; Nobunaga, Franklin, Feitan and Shalnark. The founding members of the Spiders. Chrollo glanced at Kurapika who was focussed on preventing his eyes becoming scarlet and grinned slyly. "You look weak, chain user," Feitan commented as he walked over to the chained down Kurta, his face as expressionless as ever.
"Maybe your torturing has left him feeling pretty broken?" Phinks said smugly. He really didn't like the blonde for all the trouble he had caused within the Troupe. In his mind, Kurapika would be better off dead.
Nobunaga kneeled in front of Kurapika and grabbed him roughly by the chin so Kurapika's head tilted up to face the Phantom Troupe member. Kurapika shut his eye tightly. He couldn't let his eye go scarlet again. He didn't even want to think how much worse his condition would become if he did that. "Boss!" Nobunaga directed at Chrollo. "Are we going to kill him now? You know as well as I, Uvogin and Pakunoda are waiting in the afterlife for the end of the chain user."
The leader of the Spiders shook his head. "I want his eye to glow a deep scarlet before he dies. Remember how much money we got for the eyes of his kin when we sold them?"
"They were worth millions," Shalnark exclaimed.
Chrollo smiled. "His eye when I removed it was a deep scarlet but I want to see how scarlet his eyes will turn," He turned to Machi and gave her a curt nod. She nodded back and exited the room. Kurapika opened his eye in interest as Nobunaga let go of his chin and stepped backwards. A few moments later, Machi returned with three figures who were bound by their hands and feet. Kurapika instantly knew who they were.
Machi threw Gon, Killua and Leorio on to the floor in front of Senritsu and Kurapika. They landed with a thud. Kurapika could see that they weren't injured from the fight that must have happened between them and the Phantom Troupe, but they were clearly aggravated. Probably from the fact they'd lost.
'The idiots,' Kurapika thought angrily. Why did they ignore every word he said? He had said it pretty clearly, 'Leave,' But no, they had ignored his warnings and gotten themselves captured. Why must they insist on helping him? "Kurapika!" Gon exclaimed happily, not seeming to notice the dangerous situation he was now in. He glanced at his friend's empty eye socket and frowned, but he didn't say anything about it. Kurapika was grateful for that.
Kurapika clenched his fists in an attempt to keep his eye grey. "I told you to leave," He stated weakly. His head was really pounding now from his fever and he hissed in pain. What was he going to do? He was in no state to think up escape plans and right now, he, his friends, and the other bodyguards needed to escape pretty sheepish. "Why didn't you listen?" He asked as he looked down at the floor. His fists remained clenched.
Gon, Killua and Leorio exchanged guilty glances. Their friend was weak and all they did was make things worse. They were such a burden to their friend. "We couldn't just leave you here," Leorio said softly, turning back to his friend. Kurapika's head jerked up at those words.
"You never can!" Kurapika said bitterly. "You never fucking can!" His eye bore into his friends so much that even Killua flinched beneath it.
"Calm down, Kurapika," Senritsu warned. Kurapika shot a glance at the music hunter who glanced back at him with a look of shock. That glance... that heartbeat... that aura... It wasn't filled with rage at all. It was filled with worry. Kurapika was worried about his friend's welfare and was getting desperate. He was starting to believe there was nothing he could do to help and even Gon, Killua and Leorio had sensed his worried aura.
The Spiders watched this little exchange with amusement. They could all sense the desperate emotions radiating off the Kurta and Chrollo took his chance to really make Kurapika's eye glow. He kneeled besides the Kurta and smiled. "Hello, Kurapika."
Kurapika shut his eye. He was already mere inches off his eye going scarlet; this would be a brilliant time to really test his emotions. Kurapika knew this. Chrollo snorted at the Kurta before reaching into his pocket and pulling out a knife. He placed this over Kurapika's closed eye lid who immediately tensed. Gon looked alarmed while Leorio and Killua glared. "Don't ignore me! You are in no position to act stubborn."
"Bastard," Kurapika muttered in a voice loud enough for everyone on the cell to hear. Shalnark 'ohhh' ed in response, only to get a sharp kick directed to his calf. "Going to be like that are we?" Chrollo questioned. He shifted the knife from Kurapika eye to his throat and dug the knife forward slightly. Blood drizzled down the blonde's neck and down his chest. Stinging, the Kurta reluclantly opened his eye.
"Damn you!" He hissed, trying to free his bound hands. He knew that if he wasn't injured and with a fever, he would probably be able to break the chains that bound him. Also now, his eye wanted to become scarlet and it was taking everything Kurapika had to keep it grey. The Kurtian took in a deep breath to calm himself. "Just tell me what you want. I will do anything you ask."
Chrollo raised a brow at that. "Anything?"
Kurapika suddenly had a worried feeling. "What are you hinting at?" Chrollo removed the knife from Kurapika's neck before turning around to glance at the other Spiders. A moment later, each of the Spiders walked over to a different individual, Feitan walking over to both Gon and Killua, and sheathed a knife before they each placed the knife against their chosen person's throat. Kurapika looked forward with alarm.
"Chain user," Chrollo began as Kurapika stared at each captive person in the cell. "You may say that but there is a limit to what you would do. What you could offer to do would be less valuable than the price of you eye."
Kurapika glared at Chrollo and that is when he finally lost control of his negative emotions and his eyes turned scarlet. Damn. He would have to keep it glowing now unless he wanted to fall unconscious. His head was pounding in his skull as he spoke, "You underestimate what I could offer?"
Chrollo looked admirably at the Kurtian's eye. "No, I am saying that what you could offer wouldn't meet with what we want."
"Then what do you want?"
Chrollo smiled. "I think that would be self-explanatory." He pressed his knife against Kurapika's eye again and the blonde's breath hitched. "Judging from your abilities, you have something bounding your Nen so you can only use it against us," He referenced to the Troupe. "So, you can only fight us. Is that correct?"
"Yes, that's correct."
"So, in exchange for everyone's lives in here, I want you to use whichever method you used to restrain yourself to only using your Nen on us to restrain yourself from using you Nen on us, so, in effect, you will no longer be able to use Nen." He pressed the knife further into Kurapika's eye. "I also want your eye. Those are the conditions."
"So, you want me to forbid usage of Nen on myself and let you take my eye?" Kurapika asked.
"Precisely." Kurapika's heart rate quickened. The conditions were horribly cruel. For his friends and colleagues lives, he would be giving up on his revenge and his treasured Kurtian eye to forever live blind and with his desire for revenge still bubbling inside of him with no way to act upon it. In other words, his whole reason to live would be gone.
It was a difficult choice to make. His friends or his revenge. However, there was really only one choice he could make. "Fine," Kurapika agreed finally with a sigh. "I agree to your terms but you must swear never to harm my friends and fellow bodyguards."
Chrollo understood what the boy was hinting at. "You want to place a chain on my heart?"
"That is correct." Chrollo smiled but that is when Kurapika continued. "And if you or anyone else seeks a Exorcist to remove it, you will die. Those are my own conditions." The Phantom Troupe looked a little more uncertain but he still made his decision pretty quickly.
"You have a deal."