There he stood, blocking Kurapika's path out of the tunnel.
Chrollo Lucilfer.
Leader of the Phantom Troupe.
The worst of the Spiders.
Why was he here. Why was he here.
"What are you doing here," Kurapika said, voice blank and empty.
The man laughed, airy and light. "Isn't it obvious? I own this Arena. I watch fights when it interests me. And you always interest me."
Kurapika growled, looking Chrollo in the eye.
The man towered a head over him, with silky black hair and gray eyes. His skin was pale and he had a tattoo of a cross in the center of his forehead. His enormous blue pearl earrings hung from his lobes, and his hair was hanging down and around his face rather than slicked back to his head. Those black, feathery wings hung casually against his back.
He was an Angel, hailing from the Dark Angel clan, thus the black wings.
The irony kept Kurapika awake at night.
"That's beside the point. Why are you here in this hallway? Why are you talking to me? I thought I told you to stay out of my way," Kurapika snarled, unable to keep the rage from his voice. This was the man who had led the assault on his clan. This was the man who had orchestrated it all.
Chrollo blinked those deep gray eyes. "Why would I not stop by to see you? I am the one who disclosed the information about this place to you, after all."
That was true.
The unseemly man that had told Kurapika all about Heaven's Arena?
That had been Chrollo.
"And besides, why keep out of your way when I am, in fact, your way?"
Kurapika's frown deepened. That was also true. He was on a collision course with the Phantom Troupe, he always was.
"How has life been treating you?" the Spider asked, casually leaving against the wall of the hallway.
"Fine. Worse now that you're here. Get out of my way."
"So rude. Can't we just exchange small talk? I know you can be sociable when you try."
Kurapika felt his anger peaking. He hated running into this man. Detested it. Hell, he dreamt of these meetings, dreamt of ripping his head off with his bare hands. But as always when he came face to face with Chrollo Lucilfer, Kurapika was frozen on the spot.
His blood ranked higher, and now that Kurapika knew the truth of Sorcery, he was also aware that Chrollo had a larger amount of Energy to draw from. If he engaged in combat with the Spider, he would lose. It was inevitable.
And Chrollo had already made it clear that he held no interest in fighting Kurapika.
He'd tried, oh he'd tried.
Just how many times had he hunted down the Spiders?
Just how many times had he captured one of them or been captured himself?
And just how many times had he challenged Chrollo and been turned down?
Too many times to count.
Chasing the Phantom Troupe was like chasing a fever dream.
Always slipping through your fingers, never once able to predict or understand.
And that's what Kurapika had been doing for the past seven years.
"I can help you, you know," the Angel murmured. "I want to."
"Why would I ever seek help from you?"
"That's what you're here for, if I'm correct."
"I will not be accepting your charity. I will pry my information from your bloodied hands."
"Sounds kinky."
Kurapika swung a punch directly at his head. The Spider dodged with a laugh, and Kurapika made a crater in the wall instead of his stupid cocky skull. "Don't play with me, Lucilfer," Kurapika growled. But as usual, it was like he was talking to someone on a high. His words went in one ear and out the other.
Chrollo never listened to him.
He never had, and he never would.
But then again, Kurapika never listened to him, either.
Such was the nature of this little game of cat and mouse.
Of Elf and Angel.
Of avenger and target.
Chrollo enjoyed their little dance, Kurapika knew that well. He also knew that it annoyed the Spider to no end. Chrollo wanted this to be resolved just as much as Kurapika did, but they both wanted it done on their own terms.
Kurapika hated him with all of his heart.
And gods dammit he swore that was the case!
His rage was endless and true as ever… but whenever he ran into this stupid alluring man… it faltered.
All these years of chasing. And he had managed to drag one thing from Chrollo's lips:
It had been done on a job.
The Spiders had never wanted to kill the Kurta, they had been hired. They were bandits who worked for money, and you can't refuse a job from that sort of client once you're called upon. They had no choice. That didn't mean they were going to hold back, they had a job to do.
They killed the Kurta and stole the scarlet eyes.
They got their money.
They had not expected a martyr, though.
They had not planned for Kurapika's existence.
Kurapika remembered that night, that first night he had laid eyes on Chrollo Lucilfer with his ebony black wings and his 11 arachnid lackies.
Standing on a hill, haloed by the silvery light of the moon. Five years his senior, only 17. What was a kid like him doing in a life like this? Kurapika had expected a disgusting and horrible man, not one just like himself. Someone orphaned and beaten to a pulp by this awful and lawless world.
Twelve years old. That's when Kurapika had first laid eyes on the Phantom Troupe.
Only three months after his clan's massacre.
Now at nineteen and Chrollo at twenty-four, this dance still continued.
Seven years was a long time. They knew each other well, too well for comfort between a hero and a villain. Kurapika was always there, always following. He remembered the night he'd finally fought with Chrollo, yelling into his face as he was held by his throat over the edge of a cliff, bleeding out and within an inch of his life.
Dying at Chrollo's hands.
But the Angel didn't give him the death he deserved, oh no. He gave him compassion and pity. And what were those gifts if from the very scum Kurapika was trying to eradicate from this world? Kurapika had spat into those gray eyes as he screamed about a family lost and an eternal rage.
But rather than blank eyes and a death at the bottom of a jagged cliff, those dark brows had turned up and Chrollo's resolve had faltered.
…
"I know that pain."
Kurapika had gasped, sucking down air as that grip around his throat loosened just slightly.
What was this?! What the hell was this?! What was he saying?! He'd been chasing this bastard for five years, what the fuck was–
"You speak of family lost, bonds trampled upon and ripped away without warning."
What were these eloquent words coming from this horrid being?
Why did they touch Kurapika's soul? Why did they place tears in his eyes?
This was not how this was supposed to be!
"What are you saying?" Kurapika demanded, voice jagged and raw. He clung to Chrollo's wrist, the only thing preventing him from plummeting to his doom. He kicked his legs, struggling for purchase that simply did not exist.
"You've chased us for five years. And I've always wondered about you. Pondered over your situation. Hearing your words now, I finally understand." Gray eyes bored into Killua's. Messy half-greased back hair fluttered in a passing breeze. "You're just like me."
Kurapika had gasped, choking on air, suddenly overcome with such a blinding rage. Who was he to say they were the same?! He who had murdered his entire clan?! He who had stolen their eyes and lives from them?! He who had destroyed everything Kurapika had ever known?!
"How can you say that!" he shrieked, thrashing not forwards, but backwards. Chrollo gasped, losing his balance as Kurapika tipped them over the edge. They plummeted down towards the jagged rocks below, Kurapika not caring about his death. He clawed at Chrollo's hair and eyes, scratching savagely at his exposed chest.
The Angel struggled to extend his wings and save them, but Kurapika kept kicking him in the stomach and forcing the necessary muscles to contract. He finally grabbed the younger boy, crushing him against his chest. He snarled as he scratched and bit gouges into his bare chest, and extended his wings, freeing them from the claws of death and gliding them over to safety.
Flying with Kurapika it tow might as well have been Icarus flying up to the sun, for Chrollo barely managed to crash land them onto a different, lower rock formation. They rolled and tumbled across the rocky ledge, Chrollo hissing as black feathers were ripped away and fragile tendons bruised beneath their thin coat of down and fluff.
Kurapika screamed as he punched and kicked at him, blades long gone but hands very much still intact. Chrollo wrestled him about, not turning his Ren back on for fear of Awakening him. That would be a whole pile of shit that he did not want to deal with.
This elven boy was so much weaker than he was, yet here he was. Fighting tooth and nail against a far superior opponent. Chrollo couldn't help but admire his spirit. He always had, honestly.
He rolled them around, sitting on top of the blonde's waist and pinning his wrists above his head. Panting, he leaned over the violent Elf, who spat blood into his face. Chrollo squeezed his eyes closed to keep from being blinded, and opened them back up once Kurapika was done squirming.
Kurapika glared up into those stupid gray eyes. Why did they look like that?!
Why weren't they enraged?!
Hadn't he almost killed Pakunoda?! Hadn't he threatened Kortopi's life?! Hadn't he placed Uvogin in critical condition?! Where the hell was all that rage?! Why was there only solemness and despair?!
"What's wrong with you?" Kurapika demanded, voice cracking. "Fight me! Why won't you just kill me?! Why did you save me?!"
"I'm so sorry."
Kurapika gasped, those words like poison to his ears. He froze, staring up at this wretched Spider. Tears gathered in those gray eyes, slipping down those pale cheeks and falling onto Kurapika's face. Blood trickled from the gash on his head - the gash Kurapika had put there - and his har fell free and loose around his face.
He looked like a broken boy, a child just like Kurapika himself.
He was haloed by the light of the moon, and Kurapika found the image beautiful, though he hated to admit it.
"What are you saying?" the Elf breathed.
"I'm so, so sorry. I took your family from you, me who holds family so dear to my heart. I had my entire life ripped away from me, and I did not hesitate in the slightest to do the same to you."
Kurapika blinked up at the raven haired Angel, tears still falling from those gray eyes.
What?
How could he say that?!
"How can you say that?!" Kurapika screamed, making the older boy wince as his eardrums vibrated in pain. "You took everything from me! Don't act like we're the same!"
"But we are, believe me, it pains me just as much–"
"-Don't you dare compare yourself to me!"
"I grew up in Meteor City."
"So what?!"
"The place where the outcasts are dumped. My family was separated from the Clan during the 99th Seraph War. We were lost and starving, and the only place that we could ever hope to shelter us was Meteor City. We lived there in peace for two glorious years, but we were not safe from the Lightened Ones. They infiltrated our newfound safe haven, they destroyed our beloved and fleeting peace. They murdered my family while I watched, and they murdered everyone else in the City as well. I formed the Phantom Troupe from the ashes of that haven of light and peace. Every Spider is a victim of that attack. We vowed to spark chaos in this shattered and broken world. We stole and we killed, we took jobs and we plundered. We spread fear and chaos, never forgiving those who had cast us out. Those who had destroyed us. And those who turned the other way in our time of need."
"Why should I care? Who the fuck asked?!"
"I was blinded by my grief, so filled with rage that I failed to see when I became the ones who took everything from me," Chrollo sobbed. "I'm so incredibly sorry. I destroyed you just as they destroyed us. I have nothing to say for myself, other than my deepest apologies. Allow me to help you."
Kurapika sputtered over his words, disbelieving of this. They weren't the same! They weren't! How dare he make these false comparisons! How DARE he mock Kurapika and the Kurta by offering his filthy assistance?!
"How dare you–"
"-We killed them on a job. It wasn't our idea of a fun time. We were hired, and killed your Clan for money. The client was dangerous, we couldn't say no. I know who he is, I can tell you. We can help you avenge you Clan, we can steal back their eyes. We are thieves, after all–"
"-SHUT UP!"
Chrollo blinked down at Kurapika, still crying. "Look what I've done to you." He switched his grip on Kurapika's wrists, holding both in one hand as he laid the back of the other on Kurapika's bruised and bloodied cheek. "How did I fail to see our similarities? How did I fail to see my pains and sorrows reflected in your eyes?"
Kurapika squirmed under his weight, bucking his hips and struggling to get away, struggling to fight! This was not happening, he wouldn't accept it! He wouldn't accept that he was the same as his enemy! He would never accept his apology! He would never accept his regret!
The Elf thrashed and screamed, but Chrollo was stronger and didn't budge. He sat and waited patiently, brushing his fingers through Kurapika's golden hair as he waited for the younger boy to exhaust himself. Finally, Kurapika could scream no longer. He had no strength left to thrash and fight.
Chrollo leaned back, sitting back and moving off of Kurapika's waist.
The Elf choked on air as he forced himself to sit up, stomach muscles screaming at him to stop but he had to keep fighting–
Chrollo wrapped his arms around the Kurta and pressed him against his chest.
Kurapika gagged, both on air and bile. This was vulgar, this was detestable!
"How dare you touch me! Unhand me!" he croaked, throat bloodied from all his screaming.
"I'm sorry." The Spider mumbled against his shoulder. His arms looped around Kurapika, trapping him in his vile embrace, yet he leaned his forehead on Kurapika's shoulder as if he were the one being comforted. Even though comfort was not what was being given.
"It's too late to be sorry!"
"I'm sorry."
"Shut up!"
"I'm sorry."
"You should have been sorry when you ripped the eyes from my clan's skulls! Even the NEWBORNS!"
"I'm sorry."
"You think this is enough?!"
"...No. Never."
"Then why are you doing this?! What worth could your sorries possibly hold?!"
"Nothing at all."
"Then why?! Fight me! Kill me! Give me the revenge that I strive for!"
"I can't do that."
Kurapika screamed, blood coming up into his mouth. Chrollo didn't let go.
The Elf passed out in his arms, exhausted and on death's door.
…
That night he had patched Kurapika up. Healed him. Nursed him back to health. Pulled from the grips of death when he himself had been the one to put Kurapika there. From that day forward, Chrollo refused to fight.
The animosity returned from the Spiders disappeared, and Kurapika was the only one enraged, the only one chasing and threatening and fighting. Eventually, he calmed down. He followed them in silence, cornering Chrollo and demanding information whenever he saw fit.
Then Chrollo started cornering him as well.
Their relationship became so… strange.
Why couldn't they go back to mortal enemies that would stop at nothing to murder the other? What was this between them now? Why did they interact like this? It was simple. They really were the same, as much as Kurapika hated that fact.
He had to acknowledge it, just as he had to acknowledge that it wasn't truly the Spiders that he was after. He was after whoever their employer had been. That did not mean that he liked the Spiders, not by a long shot. No, he hated them. Yes. Hated. That was what this was.
He would never take Chrollo's charity. He would fight and win his approval, and take the information from him in combat.
This? Whatever this was? This was nothing.
This didn't matter.
It was only the Scarlet eyes and that past employer hovering on the horizon.
"I missed you, you know?" Chrollo mused, staring into Kurapika's eyes with a certain light that Kurapika refused to unpack.
"I can't say the same," the Elf grumbled, pulling his fist out of the destroyed wall and shaking it out.
"I bet that hurts," the Spider murmured, reaching for Kurapika's hand. The Elf slapped Chrollo's hands away, stepping back and glaring. He felt his eyes flash scarlet.
"Don't mock me."
"Your eyes are so beautiful like that, it's no wonder they are coveted so."
Kurapika glared, Chrollo was on thin ice with that topic and he knew it.
"Your contacts dissolved during the fight, they melted away when you broke Melody's spell."
"I'm glad that you're so incredibly perceptive," Kurapika said, voice laced with enough sarcasm to kill. He walked around Chrollo and towards the end of the hallway. The annoying pest followed him, as he liked to do for some godforsaken reason.
Here we are, both walking in darkness.
A Spider and an avenger.
Kurapika couldn't refute that they were two of a kind. He hated it more than he could put into words. It disgusted him to no end… that he just couldn't stay mad at this man. He just kept showing up. After that night on the cliff, Kurapika had started focusing on taking odd jobs, refusing to allow himself the time to think over what had transpired.
He had worked himself almost to death, and who had stepped in to save him when things got out of hand?
Chrollo.
It had been enraging.
But it had kept happening.
Chrollo would show up out of nowhere and just help him, like he had nothing better to do!
Occasionally - as Kurapika did always have tabs on the Troupe - Chrollo would get himself in over his head, and Kurapika would come mess up his plans. He'd ruin his jobs. Not to keep him out of too much danger, it was purely to fuck up his thieving hobbies.
Eventually, they started meeting up without the excuse of a job to crash or a fight to end. Chrollo would appear as he walked in the forest, Kurapika would drop down from the rooftops and lecture him on how bad of a person he was, and demand to fight.
Kurapika had lost Chrollo's trail for an entire month, and it had made him a little anxious. Where had he gotten off to? How was he going to challenge him now? Was he in trouble? That last question was stupid. Why would he care about that?
Then Chrollo had popped back up again at a bar in the Arabia Saudi desert. The two of them had chatted over dinner, and Chrollo had dropped information about Heaven's Arena right into Kurapika's lap.
If he made it to the top, he could fight Chrollo for the information he desired.
So here he was, seeing him once again. Walking down this dark hallway with a certain Dark Angel at his side. Chrollo was in no way good news, of course not! Whenever he showed up, no matter how innocent his intentions, something bad always happened.
Whether it be a group of bandits or a dangerous job destined to go haywire, chaos followed where Chrollo went. And Kurapika always received the brunt end of it. He knew that the Spider would continue causing problems for him. He wanted Kuraika to come crawling into his lap, begging for help and finally agreeing to let Chrollo help him avenge his clan. He wanted his consciousness clean, he wanted that scuff off his shoes and that shadow out of his mind.
And Kurapika would never allow that.
No.
It didn't matter how polite he was or how much the Spider had helped him over the past two or so years. They were not on good terms, their interactions were just as strained as ever.
"Your wing is healed," Kurapika commented offhandedly, glancing at the appendage out the corner of his eye.
The Spider smiled. "Indeed. I might have lost it, had you not stepped in."
"Don't start bar fights you can't win."
"He insulted you."
"People always insult me. I don't need you defending me. I can handle myself."
"I know that. But everyone needs someone to look after them. I want to watch you back."
Kurapika gave him an annoyed glance, which Chrollo met with a soft twinkle in his eye.
"You should watch your own back, lest it gets stabbed," the blonde retorted.
"My family is loyal to me. Just as yours is."
The two of them pinned each other with their gazes.
He's seen Leorio, Gon, and Killua. He's happy to see that I've found a group of my own.
Him, on the other hand. He must have a new member that he doesn't trust. I can sense it in the way he holds himself, the way his guard is slightly up.
"Watch yourself," Kurapika said as they exited the hallway.
"I have you to watch me."
Kurapika gave him another annoyed glare. They stood at the end of the hall for a moment, before parting ways. His side suddenly felt colder. He felt less safe. That darkness from earlier set back in without gray eyes to chase it away.
Kurapika approached the cash out desk with a dark cloud over him.
He had been moved to the…
Damned Spider.
The 325th floor.
And he had earned 2,000,000 in gold.
Chrollo's doing, obviously.
He should have moved to the 307th, the 309th if he was lucky. This was all Chrollo. After his struggle in that fight, he knew full well that there was absolutely no way he could win on the 325th floor. Here Chrollo went again, spreading trouble in Kurapika's life.
This was a test.
He wanted to see how fast Kurapika could master Hatsu.
For he'd need to finish his second stage training before even considering approaching the 325th floor.
Kurapika ignored the true implications, that Chrollo wanted to get him to the top as soon as possible. That he knew that this had been dragged on long enough, and that Kurapika was suffering after what he had just been forced to see. That he wanted to get Kurapika to the top so he could finally help him.
No, Kurapika would ignore that part.
This was not an invitation to Chrollo's world. This was a challenge. A nuisance.
Kurapika signed up for his next battle in a daze. He pushed it off for a month away. He'd use that time to figure things out. He needed to find a second stage master, and he needed to get this done.
A dark cloud fell over Kurapika.
He felt himself falling back into that state of obsessive rage again.
He was so close.
After two years of waiting, he was a month away from being able to fight Chrollo again.
He was a month away from finishing this once and for all.
