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

Lucian's Story Part 7

LESSER EVIL

When Madame Sforza first encountered Kuroro, it was years ago when her dear little prince (who wasn't so little anymore) pranced around the gypsy camp introducing his 'best friend' to everyone. Madame Sforza had been vastly amused to see the annoyed exasperation on the youth's expression, and yet there was also that fond resignation on his countenance. She liked the boy.

So she had dived into the boy's fate, prying the threads of fate apart and reading them with glee. Madame Sforza was greatly amused especially when she found out that the boy had been the Lady Ishtar's adopted son. She had been able to feel the blood thrumming in him, calling out to her blood.

Kin, her blood had whispered to her. Descendant of a Solomonar. Kin. Brother. Nephew. Cousin.

Madame Sforza also noted that the Kuroro boy had that look that gave him the impression of a casual observer standing on the sideline. As if he was observing the working of the world, trying to figure out how it worked. Lost and unsure on how to proceed. Clearly this was the first time the boy had stepped out of his comfort zone that was protected by the Lady Ishtar within the wall of Ryuusei-gai. Young and inexperienced.

So she had taunted him. Pushed and prodded him. Made him bolder.

Madame Sforza thought that her darling young prince would turn the boy into his tovarăş (Companion). He was so attached to him, clingy and inseparable. They behaved like tovarăş did, and she could see that it did young Lucian plenty of good. The lad had always been so lonely. She certainly would have approved of his choice. Imagine her disappointment when she discovered that the Kuroro boy could never be Lucian's tovarăş because of the twisted nature of his blood. Tainted with the blood of the Lady Ishtar. Impure. Inhuman.

Pity. Kuroro Lucifer was such a perfect tovarăş candidate for Lucian.

But then, perhaps Kuroro Lucifer could still give Lucian a tovarăş, after all. How fortunate that he had adopted a human girl-child who bore none of his tainted blood. Even more fortunate that there was already an instant bond between Lucian and the child because of that whole Bensalem stint.

Even more curious was the fact that said girl had already had Lucian's blood in her.

She knew. She knew exactly what happened during the incident with the Crusaders; about how his blood had dripped into her mouth when he tried to save her from certain death. She had seen everything by absorbing Radu's memories.

"Curious…" She hummed contemplatively as she stared at the pitiful figure of the dying human child on the floor.

Very curious, indeed, as the human girl who had consumed Lucian's blood lived still. His and his kin's blood was extremely arsenic for normal human. It was less lethal for the likes of Kuroro Lucifer whose blood was impure, but people like Kuroro Lucifer was very rare in the human world—there were more of them in the Dark Continent. Granted that the girl did exhibit signs of catatonia followed by feverish delirium within few hours of receiving Lucian's blood to the point that Kuroro Lucifer had to sedate her with high dose of tranquiliser to stop her madness, but this long duration of survival was an unusual case.

She also recalled how Bia had screamed her throat bloody raw and clawed at the floor like a rabid beast as she tried to get away from Kuroro's restraining grip, trying to go back to Lucian. However, Madame Sforza wondered if that was Lucian's blood calling out to her, or simply the shock rendering her catatonic and her guilt spurring her into action. She suspected that it was more of the former than the latter, but it could be a bit of both…

"WHO THE HELL ARE YOU?!"

"Hm?"

Madame Sforza averted her gaze slightly to calmly regard the incandescent boy who had raised his fists and had his Nen flared out in intimidation—which didn't work on her at all. The other two younger children had also taken up arms, their weapons in hands. Well, she certainly had to give it to Kuroro Lucifer; he had drilled the perfect combat form into his children. Their forms were flawless.

She had been so focused on Bia that she had completely forgotten about the other children. Well, they weren't important to her. Insignificant. She was more interested in keeping the white-haired girl alive for a little while longer. And much to her annoyance, the children had blocked her way by standing between her and her main quandary. The boy's giant cat daemon was behind them, fur bristling and fangs bared in utmost hostility.

"Your father's acquaintance." Madame Sforza said dismissively.

"And you expect us to believe that?" The boy snarled.

"I speak the truth but I care not whether you believe me or not." Madame Sforza said flatly as she took another step in their direction. "My business is with your sister. Do not get in my way, child."

"What do you want with her?!"

Madame Sforza narrowed her eyes. The girl's life was draining away as seconds ticked by. She had no time for this game.

"Step. Aside." She hissed as she raised a glowing clawed hand.

When Kurapika reached the quarantine chamber, Kuroro was already on his feet and facing her. He had felt the sudden spike of anxiety in Kurapika through their Nen bond, and he was ready to receive whatever bad news—judging from her pale ashen expression—she brought. So he was rather taken aback when she immediately shot him with a question all of the sudden.

"Vampire blood is poisonous for humans, yes?"

"Very." Kuroro replied with a frown.

"How to cure it?"

"How to cure poisoning by vampire blood?" Kuroro was dumbfounded. Where did these questions come from? At Kurapika's vigorous nods, he replied: "The only serum is the very same vampire's blood. Why?"

He watched curiously as she paled even more.

"Has anyone survived it?" She asked oh so quietly.

"Very few." Kuroro narrowed his eyes. "What are you getting at, Kurapika?"

"Bia. She ingested Lucian's blood by accident when he saved her from the Crusaders. Meta's daemon couldn't save her. My Healing Chain can't heal her." Kurapika grabbed Kuroro's arms and stared right into his obsidian eyes. Pleading. Desperate. "What do we do now?"

It was obvious that Kurapika was clinging to Kuroro's arms for support. Everything around her was crumbling apart. Both Lucian and Bia were dying because of each other, and Kurapika didn't know what to do. She hated it. She hated being powerless and helpless in critical situations.

After hearing Kurapika's words, Kuroro turned his head to sharply gaze at Lucian. The latter was still twitching and frothing in the mouth, fangs bared and visage twisted into a demonic snarl. The gears in Kuroro's mind worked rapidly as he weighed the situation.

"Kurapika." He said at length, and with deliberate slowness and with eyes still glued to Lucian. "There is a way to save both of them."

Kurapika's stomach churned when she heard Kuroro's tone. Whenever Kuroro was being deliberately slow, that usually meant he was trying to break some nasty news to her as gently as possible. It was a habit he had acquired over the years since they started living together and, for the life of her, Kurapika didn't know why he bothered with it at all. It wasn't like she couldn't handle bad news. Perhaps this was a good indicator of circumstances, but still she never liked it whenever he used this tone; it filled her with dreadful anxiety.

"…but?" She asked in a barely audible whisper.

"…an exchange of blood between a vampire and a human is tantamount to the prelude of the tovarăş(Companion) ritual."

Kurapika froze when her brain had finished processing the implication of Kuroro's words. Mimicking Kuroro's gesture, Kurapika turned to stare at Lucian.

"What…" She swallowed the lump in her throat and tried again, "what comes to becoming a tovarăş?"

"They don't become vampires." Kuroro softly said, relieving some of Kurapika's concerns. "They are still humans. But it is an endless existence. Tovarăş lives as long as the vampire companion lives."

"That's all?" Kurapika was surprised. She thought there would be more dire consequences to it.

"…I said they don't become vampires, but I meant that in the most literal sense. In some ways, perhaps tovarăş is another type of vampires themselves."

"What do you mean?"

"Humans are not meant to live forever. Tovarăş is an unnatural existence; a human existence frozen in time. Death will never claim them and Time cannot touch them, but illness and pain are human conditions that still apply to them. The only thing that sustains their existence is their vampire companion's aura. Their Nen. Tovarăş lives by feeding on the vampire's Nen, so to say."

"Another form of vampirism."

"Exactly. When separated for too long from each other, the tovarăş will die and the vampire will be considerably weakened." Kuroro's voice dipped lower into a murmur. "…Lucian loathes this dependency."

Kurapika gripped Kuroro's arm tighter. Kuroro looked down and saw Kurapika's conflicted expression as she gazed at Lucian's more-demonic-than-anything-else form.

"Will you give her to him?" He asked her softly.

"Will you?" She asked him back.

"If doing so will allow them both to live, I have no objection. That's what matters for me." He said with conviction.

Kurapika made a humourless laugh.

"Well, it's not like they hate each other's guts." She said weakly. "She looks up to him the most after you and he adores her so much it's almost stupid."

Despite the direness of the situation, Kuroro still managed to chuckle at her words.

"She's still so young." Kurapika whined, exactly like a mother who was reluctant to give away her daughter to marriage. Who could blame her? After all, the whole tovarăş business meant staying with him until death did them apart.

"She will have all the time she needs to mature and grow into the role and circumstances." He reassured her. "But there is one problem."

"What now?!" She groaned.

"I don't know the details of the tovarăş ritual."

"WHAT?!!"

Kurapika barely finished her scream of indignation when a huge explosion shook the entire compound.

Author's Note: Between "let Bia die and Lucian go insane" and "give Bia to Lucian to be his Companion without their consent", I'm pretty sure the second option is the lesser of two evils at any given time.

Another cliff-hanger! Review please, my dearies!