Disclaimer: I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings.
ABC Series
M is for Madness
By the time he reached town, the place had been consumed by the darkness of night and the quietness of dreamland. As the town drifted into sleepiness, he walked through the empty streets towards the outskirt of the town, where his home was. He passed the Prancing Pony Inn, briefly throwing a glance to the windows on the upper floors. They were all curtained and dark. He continued his walk unperturbed.
When he reached the small house he called home, he slipped into the building like the master thief he was; silent and undetected. Without any noise, he climbed up the staircase and headed towards one of the many bedrooms. Very carefully—almost delicately—he opened the door soundlessly and drifted into the room. He ghosted across the room silently, stopping just as he stood next to the bed of the twins.
Sarai was all over Noah as they slept, hugging him like a bolster with her hair all over the place like an explosion. Her arms were around his chest, while one of her legs was over his stomach. Noah, meanwhile, had his head tilted slightly towards his sister's head, almost as if he was resting his head against the crown of her head.
They were both blissfully unaware of being observed by their father, therefore unaware of the slight twitching of his fingers.
"Kuroro?"
He blinked. He didn't know how long he had been standing there like a gargoyle, his eyes fixated on the twins, until he heard that soft voice. The voice sounded unsure, almost uncertain. Wary.
He turned around to face her. He didn't miss the slight widening of her eyes, the slight dilation of her pupils that somehow he managed to catch even in the darkness of the room. He didn't miss the slight tensing of her shoulders, the miniscule tightening of her jaws. He didn't know how he managed to spot all those tiny little details that would have been lost in the darkness, but he just did.
"Kuroro?"
He was broken from his reverie, and refocused his eyes only to see her standing a few inches from him. One of her hand was hovering near his cheek while the other was hovering near his arm, as if afraid to touch him.
"What's wrong?"
She didn't ask whether he was okay or not. She knew he wasn't okay.
He leaned to her touch, resting his cold cheek on her warm little palm. He then felt her other hand coming to a rest on his forearm, squeezing gently as if for reassurance. He wondered whether it was reassurance for him or for herself.
"Why did you ask?" He asked in a whisper. He was curious.
She bit her lower lip; a habit that resurfaced whenever she was unsure and nervous. Why was she nervous?
"You feel…different. What's wrong?" There was urgency in her voice this time.
He observed her. Her eyes darted between his left and right eye, showing her uneasiness at being scrutinised by him. His right eye tingled, and he could see nothing else but worry in her. Anxiety. Fear. What was she afraid of?
He narrowed his eyes. Her eyes widened and her shoulders tensed; wary and anxious.
He raised his right hand, she didn't move. He rested his hand around her slim neck, she tried hard not to swallow.
And he squeezed.
In the ungodly hour of the night, she felt a presence entering her abode. Even in her half-asleep state, she could immediately tell that the Nen signature belonged to him. She relaxed and was about to sink back into slumber when something threw her mind off. She snapped open her eyes and sat up abruptly.
She concentrated her mind towards his Nen, trying to decipher what was off. It was unmistakably his, but there was something…wrong. Like his Nen wasn't stable. He was in the twins' bedroom. She thought that he was checking on the children before going to bed, before going to her. She would have to ask him what was wrong, but she would wait until he finished checking up on the children.
Only that he wasn't moving from the twins' room.
Kurapika was worried.
She got off the bed and hurried out of the room. Silently she padded across the corridor towards the twins' bedroom, and found the door slightly ajar. She pushed it open slightly more, and peeked into the room. She was greeted with the sight of him hovering next to the twins' bed, his head ducked down as he observed them.
She missed the slight twitching of his fingers.
"Kuroro?" She asked tentatively after a while. Something was unnatural about him, and it was bothering her.
His head snapped up, as if she had broken him out of some sort of a trance. She never caught him off guard like that before. Something was definitely off. He turned around to face her, and Kurapika stopped breathing.
Bright. His eyes. They were bright, unnaturally so. His usually abysmal black eyes—eyes that seemed to absorb everything—were bright, as if glowing. They were still black, but somehow they were simply bright.
Kurapika fought the urge to attack the man standing so near her children. For a moment, she wasn't seeing Kuroro Lucifer standing there. For a moment, she was seeing a stranger there. Even the way he looked at her seemed unnatural. She felt cornered, like a small animal being preyed by a predator. She suppressed a shudder, and willed her leg muscles to move her across the room. It was even harder to will her hand to reach out to him; one to his cheek and the other to his arm. In the end, she couldn't even touch him. Her hands simply hovered.
"Kuroro?" She asked again, willing her voice to be steady and not betraying her wariness. Her fear.
He blinked, and his eyes refocused on her. She fought the urge to cringe. He hadn't focused, his mind wasn't here. He was unstable.
"What's wrong?" She asked, hating the way she sounded almost timid. Afraid.
To her small relief, he leaned to her touch. He even seemed eager for the contact, his eyes softening slightly as her other hand gently squeezed his forearm. He would okay. He had to be okay. She needed him to be okay at the end.
The brightness of his eyes still frightened her, though.
"Why did you ask?"
Kurapika bit her lips. She wished he would just answer her question and stopped being so damn difficult, but this time it was his voice that disturbed her more. He sounded like he knew something was wrong with him and was trying to hide it, and therefore was curious on how she found out about it. She didn't like it. It made her feel unsafe.
"You feel…different." That was the only answer she could give him as of now. "What's wrong?"
She needed to know. She had never seen Kuroro behaving so strange like this before. He was a strange enigmatic man by nature, but not like this. This was creepy. This was unnerving. This was not him.
Then he started scrutinizing her; studying her and almost contemplative about it. It scared her, the way he looked at her. Many many years ago, when they were younger and were still mortal enemies, he had looked at her with the calculative, mocking gaze of a cold-hearted criminal. He had a contemplative look on him, as if weighing her worth. She had hated it, the way he made her feel small and boiling mad at the same time. But she hadn't been scared. Not to this extent.
He then narrowed his eyes, and this time Kurapika fought the urge to flee. Her muscles twitched almost uncontrollably, her instinct wanting nothing more than to snatch her children and run for the hills. Away from this…thing that was in the form of her man.
But she knew that this was him. This was Kuroro Lucifer, her 'husband' and the father of her children. This was no impostor.
She saw him raising his right hand, and Kurapika fought the urge to back away. When he wrapped his cold fingers around her neck, she fought the urge to retaliate.
But then he squeezed.
At first it was gentle, and Kurapika hoped that he was just playing. But she knew that she was just kidding herself. His eyes were unfocused, dilated and bright. He was not himself. His mind was lost somewhere out there.
In a display of faith, Kurapika did not to retaliate. She wanted to believe in him. Whatever was happening to him, possessing him, she wanted to believe that he would snap out of it himself. That his self-control was greater. That he would recognise her.
He squeezed harder and harder, his eyes becoming brighter and brighter that it almost hurt her eyes. She averted her eyes, and they landed on the twins. They were still sleeping, blissfully unaware of the horror taking place just by their bed.
She wanted to cry.
His grip had become so painful that she could feel her face turning blue. Her throat and neck muscles started to spasm so violently that she couldn't help but to choke out a strangled cry.
That seemed to break him out of the spell, as he blinked several times and his grip loosened up enough for her to tear herself away from him. She didn't want to flee from him, but she couldn't rein in her instinct anymore. She coughed and wheezed as loud as she dared without waking up the children. She had collapsed to the wooden floor, thankful that she was barefooted and that the children were deep-sleepers. She didn't want them to see their father assaulting their mother.
Her vision was filled with black dots, and everything seemed to be swimming. Her head pounded, and she felt nauseous. If she was any lesser human being, her neck would have shattered much earlier. She fought to retain her consciousness, but failed.
The last thing she felt before succumbing to the darkness was a pair of tremulous arms lifting her off the floor and spiriting her away from the children's room. She let out a grateful sigh before plunging into oblivion.
Tired…sore…for how long more…humans…so weak…so fragile…
The boy…the young master….so small….so frail…weak…
So much like the late mistress…the hair…the eyes…the skin…
The late mistress…mother…love…dead…scorned…you killed…ungrateful…undeserving happiness…
She died….dead…gone…life extinguished…so fleeting…transient…death…inevitable….
No…death…escapable…immortality…forever…
No more separation…no more goodbye…together forever…no more tears…no more sadness…no more death….forever….
Wish…make a wish…master…wish…we grant…anything…
Makeawish….master…anything…wish…
Mastermakeawishmakeawishnow…
MastermakeawishnownowMAKEAWISHNOWMASTERAWISHAWISHMAKEAWISHMASTER—
"Kuroro?"
Woman…wife…love…
Loyal...faithful…undaunted…
"What's wrong?"
Love…worried…concerned…
"You feel…different. What's wrong?"
Knowing…She knows…always…
Always…with you…stay…forever…loyal…faithful…stay…forever…alway s…
…really?...
"Kuroro?"
So small…so frail…fragile…the bones…neck…small…
Easily snapped…like a twig…really…
So fragile…so human…mortal…
Try…see it…test it…you'll see…
Human weakness…mortality…her mortality…her weakness…
Mortality…death…dying...immortality…
Wish…live…forever…master…wish…we grant…
A wish…master…make a wish…our command…
Mastermakeawish….yourwishourcommandwegrant…
Awishmastermakeawishyourwishisourcommandwegrantyou rwithanythingyouwishanythingMASTERMAKEAWISHWEGRANT ANYTHINGIMMORTALITYLIVEFOREVERNODEATHIMMORTALITYMAKEAWISHMASTERLIMMORTALITYFORYOUMAKEAW ISHMASTERFORHER—
She woke up in his arms. They were shaking, his whole body was shaking, uncontrollably so. The crown of her head felt wet. He had been crying.
With hazy eyes she looked around the room. Their bedroom. He had fled to their bedroom, away from the children. Good. His grip around her was tight, but there was gentleness to it. Yet he held her like she was a broken glass. Scared and tentative. It almost brought a smile to her lips.
Her eyes caught something lying on the floor across the room. She narrowed her eyes, and caught its silhouette. A ring.
She then understood. The madness. The evil. It was the Solomon Ring. It was the demons. It was their whispers, clawing at his mind. Eroding his sanity. He had warned her before, warned her of the danger of a mortal holding the Solomon Ring. Of the empty promises they whispered to the master. Of the corruption. Of the power bestowed on the bearer of the ring in exchange of their sanity.
He whimpered and buried his face to the crook of her neck. Her sore neck. She could feel the bruises there, the finger-shaped stripes of blue black purple and green. She would have to wear turtle-neck tomorrow. She just hoped the weather wouldn't be hot.
She threw a tearful glare at the ring lying on the floor, wishing that it would just combust and melt into nothingness. No doubt he had thrown it across the room in his rage and, dare she say it, fear. No doubt he had wished he wasn't the master of the damn thing. For Kuroro Lucifer, losing his sanity and his self-identity was worse than death.
What she didn't know that he was more deathly afraid of the fact that he had almost killed her…
And that the next victim of the Solomon Ring had been chosen.
That night, Noah lay awake in the bed he shared with his twin sister. She was sleeping herself to oblivion, unaware of the evil permeating their room, unheeding of the whispers that lingered in the air.
He wondered what those whispers were, and whose they were.
Author's Note: Kuroro's sanity was threatened by the Solomon Ring, Kurapika displayed her faith in Kuroro, and Noah started hearing the whispers of the demons of the Solomon Ring.
Some readers requested for angsty chapter for Kurapika and Kuroro. So here ya go. I'm not sure whether to categorise this chapter as angsty or plain creepy, though. Remember the chapter "I for Inheritance"? In that chapter, Noah wondered how his father could keep his sanity intact with the whispers of the Solomon Ring clawing at the edge of their mind. The fact is he didn't. His sanity is slipping, but he s good at hiding it. Scary, isn't it? That's why Kuroro brought Noah to The Lady of the Lake. But why would he be in such a hurry to bind Noah as the next Master of the Solomon Ring, knowing that becoming its master would erode his sanity? Perhaps that was part of his insanity, masked by a perceived sense of duty and responsibility.
…Gee, I'm the author and I'm afraid for Kuroro…
And did you notice that I kept repeating how Kuroro's fingers kept twitching slightly? That was cue for you readers that he wasn't entirely sane. Hands up for those who noticed!