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

Lucian's Story Part 13

RETRIEVAL

Kurapika didn't know what she was expecting when she looked down the hole exposing the chamber where Lucian and Bia were. She knew they were still alive, so she wasn't expecting two corpses staring back at her with empty eyes. But...She also wasn't expecting to see two figures curling around each other like kittens on the dusty floor.

"Kurapika."

She glanced sideways and saw Kuroro's hand extended toward her, his other hand holding his Nen book. Wordlessly, Kurapika took Kuroro's hands and they both teleported right into the egg-shaped Nen barrier surrounding Lucian and Bia. The moment they 'entered' the Nen barrier and landed on the cold ground, Kurapika and Kuroro could feel static electricity clinging unto them, like they have just passed through an electromagnetic storm. Although they did by-pass the physical form of the Nen barrier, it seemed that the Nen barrier was still a picky thing.

Kurapika surreptitiously shook her hands to get rid of the residual static electricity prickling her skin while she and Kuroro marched toward the figure lying on the floor. Without any cues, they both took their respective stations; Kuroro knelt next to Lucian while Kurapika took position by Bia's side.

There was blood all over Bia. On her white hair, on her white gown. Kurapika felt her throat thickened, and she forced herself to swallow. Ignoring the obscene amount of blood on Bia; both red and purplish red, Kurapika picked Bia's skinny wrist and checked for her pulse. When Kurapika felt the steady beat of pulse underneath, between the thin skin and the slender bone of the wrist, strong and healthy, Kurapika released the breath she hadn't realised that she had been holding.

"Alive and well… " She whispered to herself as her shoulders sagged in relief, as if a physical burden had been removed from her shoulders.

Meanwhile, Kuroro knelt next to Lucian. With cautious hands, Kuroro traced Lucian's exposed skin under the torn garments with gentle pressure, just enough to feel the condition of the skin that was caked with dried blood. To his amazement, Lucian's skin was unblemished underneath all those dried blood that coated him like a second skin. All of Lucian's scars on his body were gone.

With even more delicate movement of his fingers, Kuroro swapped the hair covering Lucian's face away. Where the ghastly disfigurement on half of Lucian's face had been, it was now replaced with smooth flawless skin. Just like how it had always been. His body was completely restored.

"Incredible…" He murmured in amazement.

The extent of disfigurement on Lucian's face had been terrible. The scars, the burns, the melting flesh and bones; they had all been beyond repair. Kuroro had almost resigned himself to see the disfigurement engraved onto Lucian's face forever; a reminder to his shameful failure to the person that was like the brother he had never had. But now, not a single trace of it was left behind. No scars, no burn marks. Lucian was….whole again. The tovarăş ritual had restored him into wholeness.

"Kuroro…"

He almost didn't hear Kurapika's soft words. He would have missed it if he hadn't picked up the slightest tinge of urgency that was mixed with….curiosity? Kuroro looked up from his inspection on Lucian, and was greeted with the sight of Kurapika leaning over Bia with a pale finger tracing a line along Bia's neck. It appeared that Kurapika had tried cleaning some of the dried blood that was coating Bia's neck, and had apparently discovered something.

"What is it?" He asked with equally soft voice.

"The….Her neck…" Kurapika looked up and her wide eyes met with Kuroro's dark ones. "There's only a scar. An old scar." There is no gaping wound across her neck.

Kurapika removed her finger from Bia's neck, and even in the dim light provided by the humming Nen barrier around them Kuroro could see the faint thin white line that stretched along Bia's small neck. It was almost like a thread, neat and tidy. But Kuroro remembered that the line was exactly where Madame Sforza had slit Bia's throat.

"Why does it look old?" Kurapika murmured as she turned to look back down to Bia. However, her eyes caught Lucian's uncovered face and she did a double take that would have been hilarious if the situation was half as dire as it was presently. Kuroro would have laughed at how Kurapika's mouth was looking like a pretty good imitation of a goldfish, but some things had higher priority.

"Looks like the tovarăş ritual restores the health of both parties." He said as he looked back down at Lucian's prone figure.

Vaguely, he heard Madame Sforza's Nen barrier humming as if in agreement.

"But evidently it's not completely…" Kuroro added as he purposefully searched Lucian's neck. He cleaned the dried blood and grime around Lucian's neck, and there it was. A thin neat line of scar stretching around Lucian's neck where he had been slit by the Crusaders, the vermillion line in stark contrast with his pale skin. The scar that, for all appearance, looked as if it was several years older than it actually was, much like the scar along Bia's neck.

"Why do they remain?" Kurapika asked as she began tenderly stroking Bia's hair.

"I don't know." Kuroro shrugged, and offered a hand to Kurapika. "But I reckon that Lucian should know."

"Hmm…" Kurapika hummed as she took Kuroro's hand with one hand and the other one kept its position on Bia's head. She glanced down to make sure that Lucian and Bia were in physical contact. "I guess we should ask him."

Kuroro summoned forth his Nen book.

"Indeed."

All four of them teleported out of the dismal ruin of the chamber. The moment they were out of the room, the Nen barrier hummed loudly and it pulsated like burning coals. Before long, the Nen barrier collapsed, and the magic circle on the ground evaporated. The structure around the chamber groaned in protest at the sudden absent of the support, and everything soon caved in, covering the room that was stained with blood.

Bara flew with his dark leathery wings stretched across the dark night sky, completely camouflaged by the darkness. His black mane was dancing wildly with the roaring wind as he flew with speed as great as the Hunter Association's blimps. To his pleasure, his little rider was unfazed by his billowing mane, unlike his prissy twin who always tried to braid his mane so it would stop bothering her.

Well, at least the little runt's getting her own steed soon. Bara thought with satisfaction. Sarai's little terror of a raptor was growing up nicely and she (yes, the damn raptor was a girl and Sarai always made sure everyone remembered that) would soon be strong enough to run with Sarai on her back.

Almost everyone in the family had their own steeds, or something like that. Bara was unofficially Kuroro's steed, while Una was Kurapika's most faithful steed. Meta had his daemon cat, and Sarai would soon have her own raptor steed. Well, Bia technically didn't need a steed because she had that crazy living machine called Aranha and she could now manipulate electromagnetic fields to the extent that it could manipulate gravity around her and she could literally float now. Sooner or later, she could master the art of flying with her Nen. Only Noah had no prospective steed yet.

"Steed?"

Yeah. Everyone in your family's got one. Except for Bia, but hey the princess is doing fine with her Nen electromagnetism-manipulates-gravity thingamajig, so 's not like she needs one.

"I don't need one, too."

Yeah? You ain't afraid you'll get left behind by your family?

"No. We leave behind no one. Besides, if I need a steed, the steed will find me."

Noah had said it with so much conviction that Bara couldn't find a comeback to that. In terms of appearance, Bia might be the different one in the family. But as a whole, Noah was the different one. As a person. As an entity.

Curious, Bara peered over his shoulders at his little rider. Noah's head was turned to a certain direction, and his eyes were cold and hard. Even Bara, psycho extraordinaire, found the hard cold eyes on Noah's young face—one that had yet to lose those cute baby fats—highly disturbing. A brief calculation told Bara that the boy was looking at the direction of Ryuusei-gai.

Want to make a quick detour? He asked the boy with carefree tone.

Noah didn't reply for a while, as if he hadn't heard Bara at all. His eyes narrowed ever so slightly, and his grip on his bisento was tightened until Bara could hear the squeak of the flesh of his palms against the cold metal of the bisento. Bara's black beady eyes dropped to the bisento.

Those were Ishtar's. Bara was sure of it, because he had been the one who had transported Kuroro to the last battlefield between Ishtar and Kuroro. He had witnessed Kuroro yanking the weapon off the hard ground, and had seen him bringing it to the Lady of the Lake to….cleanse? Purify? He didn't know. At any rate, it had looked cleaner after the Lady of the Lake was done with her stuff. Kuroro had then brought it back home, and presented the weapon to Noah as birthday gift, along with other weapons for the other children.

Why to Noah, of all the kids? Why not Meta? Brat spent his childhood with Ishtar in his 'head'. He knew her.

"It's not a matter of knowing her or not. It's a matter of birth right."

Oh-ho? And how is it Noah's birth right and not Meta's? They both your offspring, no?

"Who knows? I just feel that this is the right thing to do."

The creepy part was when Noah had embraced the weapon as if he had always had it for a long time and had lost it sometime in the past, and had just been reunited with it after so long.

Bara's eyes flicked back to Noah when he heard a sad sigh escaping the boy's pale lips. At length, Noah tore his eyes away from the darkness in the distant horizon and buried his face into Bara's wild billowing black mane.

"No. Let's go home."

One didn't need to be magical creature to notice the emphasis on the word 'home'. Noah spoke it with such a sigh that it was almost heart-breaking. What had the boy been thinking and feeling when he gazed at Ryuusei-gai in the darkness?

Well, Bara thought, it wasn't like he was going anywhere away from the family any time soon. This family was fun, and Noah intrigued him. Perhaps he should stick around to see how Noah would end up in the distant future.

Because Bara knew that Noah's life would be painfully and tragically long. Too long for someone of his birth.

They lay in tangled mess of blankets and limbs. Pale flesh on pale flesh, dark purplish hair intertwined with inky black hair. The air was balmy despite the absence of open windows, and there were soft whispers in the darkness.

"I told him not to get attached to anyone." He whispered, a murmur to her hair. "It will be more painful when those mortals finally succumb to old age and death. But he doesn't listen."

A soft giggle in the air.

"He never does, does he?" She hummed. "Ever since he was so little. Always disobeying. Always getting into troubles…"

"Indeed." He breathed.

"But being with Kuroro Lucifer has done him so much good." She whispered to the crook of his neck.

"And I believe the late Lady Ishtar once informed me that being with Lucian has done Kuroro Lucifer so much good as well."

"If only they were tovarăş…"

The Count could only hum, because he did not exactly share the same sentiment. Kuroro would be a good tovarăş because he was mature and could keep Lucian out of trouble. But perhaps… Perhaps in the end having that girl as tovarăş would do Lucian more good.

Perhaps what he needed was someone who would need to take the time to learn the rope of walking down the path of endless existence, because Lucian himself was slow to learn. Then they could both learn together, hand in hand as they walked down the rope of eternity. Kuroro Lucifer seemed like he was already halfway down the path of accepting eternity like a walk in the park.

Silence stretched between them as they enjoyed each other's presence after centuries of absence. Their flesh touching, their hair intertwined, their scent mingling.

"Pereche (mate)…." She whispered.

"Hm?"

"Will he… Can he remember…?"

"…Nu știu, iubită. Nu știu… (I don't know, beloved. I don't know.)"

Author's Note: Poor Madame Sforza… Care to make a guess what it is that Madame Sforza hoping that Lucian would remember?

I have been hospitalised, therefore the one week delay of the update. This chapter was written in the hospital XD Anyway, did you enjoy it?