Disclaimer: I do not own HunterxHunter, nor do I profit commercially from these writings.

Lucian's Story: Part 5

DILEMMA

Radu was Lucian's most faithful familiar. He was born for the man, every last drop of his essence created for the sole purpose of serving the young vampire (for he was indeed young among his kin). His wish was his command, and Radu would do everything within his power to carry out those orders.

So when his master ordered him to take the children to safety, Radu faithfully carried out the order even as his heart broke at the thought of abandoning his master to those Crusaders. Immensely powerful as his master was, the Crusaders were no pushovers either. They were the 'berserkers' of the Order. Considering the power ration, his master was grossly outnumbered by the Crusaders. He would fall into their hands.

That was why, as soon as he had dropped off the shell-shocked Bia to the porch of her home, Radu had flown back to his master. He mustered all the speed he had, until his wings ached and the wind hurt him. But still he spurred himself to fly faster to his master.

Alas, he never reached him.

His master was his life. His master's health was his health. So when Radu felt the agony tearing him apart and the strength draining away rapidly from his body like evaporating steam, he knew that his master had fallen. Radu was still alive, so his master lived on still. Alive, but barely.

There was nothing that the bird familiar could do as he plunged into the Earth like a rock; flightless and deadweight. Even as he was falling down the sky, he could feel the change in his body. His feathers withered and molted, his beaks flaked, his bones deteriorated, his eyesight blurred, and his claws dulled. There was nothing he could do as his weakened body crashed into the earth; bones and wings breaking.

As he lay there on the cold hard ground, Radu despaired and prayed. Prayed that Kuroro Lucifer—the only being on earth that his master considered as his most trusted ally and, most importantly, the brother he never had—would rescue his master. He prayed and prayed and prayed, until the sound of footsteps awakened him from his feverish praying.

"Oh, Radu…" The owner of the footsteps whispered in a heartbroken tone. "Copilul meu (my child)…"

Radu soon felt gentle hands scooping his broken body from the ground and cradling him gently into warmth and safety. Radu remembered this sensation. Remembered these hands; the hands that created him.

Doamna mea (my lady)… He croaked with weak voice, and that was all he could manage.

His lady cradled him to her bosom; gently and lovingly, like a mother cradling her baby. A hand stroked his mangled feathers, and Radu found comfort in this gesture.

"Somn, copil (sleep, child)…" His Lady whispered. "Somn și odihnă (sleep and rest)…"

He was created for his master Lucian, but his master was not his creator. The lady was. Nestled in the safe cradle of his 'mother', Radu slept. With his spirit appeased, Radu's physical manifestation dissolved and he re-joined his master in spirit. The only thing left behind was the single withered grey feather in the lady's dainty hands.

The lady stroked the feather with great sorrow, before she looked up to the clear blue sky that seemed to mock her. With the feather cradled to her boom like a precious infant, the lady turned around and seemingly glided toward the dark forest. Before she disappeared into the darkness whence she came from, she whispered:

"You disappoint me, Little Magician."

He was still in the state as when they had spirited him away from Hiera Sedes; feral, bloodthirsty, and demonic, without a hint of humane intelligence in his eyes. The only thing preventing him from tearing the occupants of the room apart was the paralyzing Nen that Heen had set up to chain him to the bed.

Kuroro Lucifer did not like the sight.

"I could've just kidnapped a nobody from the street and fed him to Lucian." He muttered to Kurapika, who was standing just an arm's length behind him.

Kuroro had stayed by Lucian's bedside, a sterile (not treated with poison) Benz knife in his hand. The entire time that Lucian had been Nen-chained to the bed, Kuroro hadn't moved from that spot. His eyes kept focusing and un-focusing, but they were always trained to Lucian's spasmodic body.

"Then why don't you?" Kurapika asked in equally quiet voice.

They had enough common sense not to go back to their house in that quaint little town in the middle of the mountain. Nor did they go to Lucian's hometown. Too many humans. Too much temptation for the feral vampire. No. They had to isolate him. That was how they ended up in one of the safe houses that Lucian had set up; the one closest to Hiera Sedes. Lucian had established safe houses for his secret hideout and for self-isolation like this in some remote islands the size of Gon's Whale Island. Lucian had the forethought to make such places because he knew the need for such sanctuaries would arise in the future, and he made sure that Kuroro memorised the locations of all his safe houses by heart.

"He wouldn't like it. He'd hate himself for succumbing to his own demon." He said in a quiet voice, solemn and grave.

"You don't care if he hates you then?"

"If it was not for the promise he coaxed out of me years ago; the promise to prevent him from sucking living humans dry even when he's dying, I would've gladly done it."

There was a ruthless edge in his voice that Kurapika was sure that even now Kuroro was sorely tempted to just up and kidnap three dozen humans to feed to Lucian. But Kuroro respected Lucian. Even if it killed him to see his friend agonizing into madness, he still valiantly upheld his promise. Still, Kurapika was counting the minutes until Kuroro threw honour out of the window and did the wicked deed. Lucian was worth more than the aforementioned three dozen humans for Kuroro.

"He doesn't want to kill any humans to sustain himself. He's killed humans before, yes. But those rare exceptions are reserved only for special occasions, and not for feeding."

Kurapika didn't ask what those special occasions were. She didn't have to. She knew.

"You said he drinks animal blood to sustain himself." There was a very faint accusing undertone in her voice. That was because Kurapika had gone to collect animal blood from the local butchers of nearby islands and had fed the blood to Lucian but it had done little to fix him.

"He does. Animal blood works for regular nourishment, but not for large-scale healing like this. He needs something more potent." Kuroro began playing with his Benz knife again, twirling it deftly in his fingers.

Kurapika's eyes were glued to the knife, unconsciously mesmerized by the way the blade danced in the man's fingers and by how the light glinted across its deadly blade. Kuroro had a way in handling a blade like nobody else. Even the crudest makeshift blade could look beautiful when in his hands.

"What about blood from blood bank?"

"Not good enough. Fresh, Kurapika. He needs fresh." The blade moved faster. Deadlier.

Kurapika was reluctant to ask the next question, but she had to know.

"Your Spiders?"

The blade stopped. Kurapika flinched.

"The only solution that I'm aware of without human casualties…" Kuroro started, his voice eerily calm. "...is to provide him with a Companion."

"Companion?"

"In the legends, they are called the Brides. But the legends only speak of female Companions."

Sexist bastards, Kurapika groused.

"So male companions do exist." Kurapika asked again, just to make sure.

"Yes, they do."

Kurapika still didn't get where he was going with this conversation.

"So?"

"Kurapika, what do you know of the Brides of vampires?"

Kurapika quickly sorted through her knowledge of the ancient legends of the bloodsucking creatures. She had heard a lot of them, especially from Lucian himself since he thought it was important to educate the family of misfits into knowing what exactly he was. But Lucian never told her about the Brides. Kurapika could only assume that he wasn't exactly fond of the notion.

"Not much." She confessed. "Some legends said they are humans whose lives are tied to their vampire masters; so they live as long as their masters do. The legends also speak of them as either slaves to run errands during daylight, or food source, or….entertainment."

Kurapika spat the last word, showing expressively her opinion of said role of the Bride.

"Some vampires use the Brides as such, yes. They are extremely convenient as emergency food source, yes." Kuroro agreed. "But the original name for them is tovarăş. Comrade. Companion."

"They are...friends?"

"In a way. Companion to walk through their eternity. Immortality could be such a lonely existence, after all." Kuroro spoke it as if it was his own experience, but Kurapika had the feeling that it was because Lucian bitched about it very very frequently and passionately to Kuroro.

"Lucian doesn't have one?"

A shake of head.

"Why not?" Lucian seemed the type that craved for companionship all the time.

"He doesn't want to condemn another into his existence." Kuroro murmured, full of empathy toward Lucian's reasoning.

Kurapika could understand that. Despite all his cursing and bitching, Lucian was a softie at heart. Considering Kuroro was such a cold-hearted bastard in the past, Kurapika had a hard time imagining how the quirky vampire managed to befriend the Spider Head without losing a limb or two. Perhaps their miserable pasts were their common ground?

"None of my Spiders would be willing to be Lucian's Companion. Lucian might be their brother-in-arms on occasions, but ultimately he is not part of the Spiders. They are not willing to make such weighty sacrifice. Heen might be willing because he owed Lucian his continued existence and Bia's life, but he is technically a cyborg and no longer fully human, therefore unsuitable as either donor or Companion candidate."

As much as Kurapika disliked the Ryodan—she used to despise them, but they were so fond and protective of her children that she couldn't bring herself to hate them as much—Kurapika wouldn't judge their unwillingness to be Lucian's Companion. The weight of immortality was no walk in the park. And being stuck to one person to the rest of eternity? Definitely didn't suit any of the Spiders. They'd go mad. They were free spirits.

"Besides, the amount of blood required from a non-Companion to heal Lucian is beyond massive. It would kill my Spiders."

"What about donating a bit from everyone? Collectively it should be enough, yes?"

Kuroro turned to give her a sombre look.

"No."

"No?" She asked in horror.

"No." Kuroro shook his head. "Feral vampires, like in Lucian's state right now, are known to obliterate an entire village in a feeding frenzy. That's how much blood he needs. Only the vampire's Companion would survive such feeding frenzy, because that was what Companions were for. Non-Companions wouldn't survive it."

Kurapika felt like fainting.

Kuroro heaved a heavy sigh as he slumped in his seat. He raked his fingers through his hair in distress, and this alarmed Kurapika. The last time he showed this kind of obvious distress, he almost killed her in Ryuusei-gai forest. This time, it wouldn't be her who would end up deader than dead; it would be an entire settlement.

"If by sundown we still haven't fed him with enough fresh blood, this feral bloodthirstiness would shatter his psyche."

Kurapika inwardly cursed in ten languages that Buddha's ears would bleed if he heard it.

"He'll remain a mindless monster like this?" She asked in horror.

"...I will have no choice but to destroy him." Kuroro said with soft voice.

"But—!"

"That is his wish. He begged me to promise him that." Kuroro turned to give Kurapika a meaningful look.

Kurapika understood that look. That promise was identical in nature to the promise that Kurapika made to Kuroro; that she would hunt him down and kill him if he lost his sanity to the demons of the Solomon Ring. Kurapika understood the sentiment, so she said nothing.

"So what do we do now?" Kurapika asked helplessly. Lucian was family friend, Godfather to her children. She would be thrice-damned if she failed to save him.

"Giving him a Companion would be the lesser of two evils, but…" Kuroro hesitated.

"...Who?" Kurapika asked with small voice. Again with the sense of helplessness. She hated it.

"Neither of us, for obvious reason. None of the children either, for the same reason." Kuroro muttered, as his hand was back to toying with the Benz knife.

"Hmm…" Kurapika hummed forlornly, eyes back to the twirling Benz knife. "Anyone from his hometown?"

"None." Kuroro answered in a heartbeat.

"But he's quite close with his people…?"

"Exactly. He wouldn't want to condemn them to his fate."

"Shouldn't we ask his 'family' for help?"

"No. I know enough. Lucian made sure I know the lore of vampires in case of emergency." Kuroro paused, and then added, "He doesn't want to rely on his Sire and the Solomonarii. Doesn't want to be dependent on them."

"Why? They are his family, right?"

"…You should ask him yourself." Kuroro simply said, which meant that he knew why but respected Lucian's privacy enough.

"…I'll get more animal blood." She murmured as she turned around to exit the room.

Kuroro wanted to tell her that animal blood was useless. It wouldn't affect Lucian's health the slightest bit. But Kuroro also knew Kurapika enough to know that she was doing this to make herself feel better. To make her feel that she was doing something at least, instead of nothing. So Kuroro let her be.

Instead, Kuroro turned to observe the crazed look of his friend. His eyes; pupil, iris, and sclera, were completely swathed in crimson, an almost grotesque version of Scarlet Eyes. With the softest voice, he asked the mindless monster before him:

"Who would you choose, Lucian?"

Author's Note: I'm sorry Luciaaaaaaaan! *sobs* Cookies for those who can guess who The Lady was and what she is to Lucian! And did you notice that neither Kurapika nor Kuroro realised that Bia wasn't their child by blood?