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

Lucian's Story Part 16

A MEETING

Kuroro and Kurapika had many ingrained instinct in their selves. Basic instinct, survival instinct, warrior instinct, killer instinct, parental instinct. Hence, it wasn't surprising that, in the face of the combination of the aforementioned instincts, Kuroro and Kurapika could detect the slightest shift in the air-more precisely, in time and space. To them, it was like an almost miniscule vibration in the air. They could feel the tingle on their skin and the drop in their gut as the space continuum shifted.

It was also unsurprising that both would immediately flare up their En to scan the immediate surroundings of the inn, where their children were sleeping in.

"Who?" Kurapika asked in a murmur when she failed to recognise the new presence that had just so suddenly invaded their place. But what made her pale was not only that. "In the basement—!"

She turned around and was about to, quite literally, break down the door to the basement, but a hand grabbed her forearm and held her in place.

"Kuroro! What's—" Kurapika hissed, but she stopped when she saw Kuroro's face.

No, Kuroro wasn't smiling, but nor was he deathly pale with dread. His face simply had a mix between bemusement and curiosity as his eyebrows were furrowed in concentration.

"You recognise it?" Kurapika asked, tone hopeful.

"Not exactly. I've felt it in a passing before, but I have never met it face to face." Kuroro closed his eyes as he tried to remember. "It was long ago..."

And he remembered. He remembered it as the time when he and Lucian were in a real trouble, getting lost somewhere in the outskirts of the Dark Continent when they were much younger and (in Kuroro's case) inexperienced. It was one of the few times that Kuroro had morbidly wondered if he would die there and then. And he had felt it then, the very same one coming from the basement where Lucian and Bia were resting in right now. In the past it had stayed, silent and observing like a sentinel, as Kuroro and Lucian fought their way out of their deadly predicament. And when they had reached safer ground, it had simply vanished.

So Kuroro smiled. A reassuring smile to Kurapika.

"I don't know exactly who, but I am quite certain that 'it' is quite harmless."

Kurapika narrowed her eyes, slightly skeptical, but she relented. After all, while Kuroro wasn't a worrywart and tended to sit back and watch the ensuing chaos, Kurapika knew how ruthless he was in exterminating potential threats. So Kurapika trusted his judgement, as Kuroro trusted her judgement in situations that she understood better than him.

"And I think I should meet whoever this person is." Kuroro added, looking quite intrigued by the prospect.

It was near impossible to sneak up on Lucian (unless you were The Count of Wallachia), and it was absolutely impossible to sneak up on The Count because of the nature of his Nen. Lucian only allowed himself to get surprised by the children because they were Kuroro Lucifer's children. He wanted to have fun with them.

Therefore, it wasn't surprising when he spoke up about the presence that was coming toward the underground room.

"Lucifer is coming down here." He stated while giving his Sire a questioning look.

"So I notice." The Count said casually and still unmoving from his spot.

"…You aren't going away?" Lucian asked curiously.

"Why should I?"

"You usually don't like meeting humans." Lucian stated.

It was not that The Count despised humans, but neither did he love them. He simply tolerated them, as long as they didn't harm anything that fell under his jurisdiction. Perhaps if the Order had known this and hadn't tortured Lucian to the extreme, they wouldn't have perished.

"To my knowledge, Kuroro Lucifer is not exactly human." The Count said with a very small smirk. "And besides, these people are the ones who are now your second family. I should like to meet them."

"My second family?" Lucian parroted dumbly. Sure he considered Kuroro Lucifer's family as his own family too (in the deepest recess of his heart), but for his Sire to say it out loud and declare it like a fact was just…strange. Not to mention that it made him feel guilty.

The Count gave Lucian an indulgent smile.

"Come, Lucian. Let us not play the fool. That girl is now your tovarăș, and you are the godfather of the children of her family. And Kuroro Lucifer is a brother to you."

Lucian's eyes dropped to Bia again.

"I do feel a sense of kinship with Lucifer." He murmured, and his voice betrayed his feelings that he himself didn't understand why he felt such connection with Kuroro Lucifer.

But The Count understood why Lucian felt such kinship with Kuroro Lucifer. Kuroro Lucifer, in many ways, was the same as Lucian. They both lost their family at such tender age, they both were raised by inhuman creatures, and both were turned into something unnatural by their adopted parents—Kuroro Lucifer less so than Lucian.

The Count sometimes wondered if Lucian remembered his deceased human brother or not—the sad emaciated little boy who lay sick and starved to his death in that pitiful little hut at the outskirt of town. He never brought up the subject, and Lucian never talked about it. He had never heard nor seen Lucian making visits to the cliff where they had overlooked the ship funeral of the boy either, as he had always done annually during his human life. It seemed that the price of his revival had been the existence of his mother and his brother.

"I'm sorry…" Lucian suddenly whispered.

The Count raised an eyebrow.

"Whatever for?"

"I…I haven't been very nice to you for the past years…centuries…" Lucian said with mortification at the last word.

"Your anger and resentment towards me isn't groundless, pui. We have established that." The Count said, still bemused.

Lucian went quiet for a while, and he looked quite torn with himself. The Count waited with anticipation, curious on what Lucian was trying to say. Usually Lucian was quite outspoken and brutally honest with him about what he felt and wanted.

"They…" Lucian continued slowly. "These people… They are like family to me."

"I know." And The Count accepted that. These people were Lucian's anchor. He accepted that, although he sometimes wished that he could be Lucian's anchor instead. But he had resigned himself that it would never happen. It was his curse from the Council of the Dead, the price for having Lucian back in his life.

"But you…I..." Lucian's head dipped low until his chin touched his collarbone and he bent low in a semblance of a seated bow. "Tati, îmi pare rău (Dad, I'm so sorry)…"

Lucian's voice cracked as he whispered the last sentence and his shoulders shook in a silent sob. The Count was stunned. He hadn't expected this to happen. He had expected resignation, but not this kind of apology.

And he never expected that Lucian would ever call him that again. Tati… It was from so long ago… He thought he would never hear that again.

"Lucian…" He approached the boy—his boy—and touched the crown of his head.

The reaction was instant. Lucian's hand shot up and grabbed The Count's hand, and he pressed the back of The Count's hand to his forehead.

"Tati, iartă-mă (Dad, forgive me)…" Lucian whispered, voice choking. "N-am știut (I didn't know)..."

The Count was focused on Lucian, and Lucian was preoccupied with his emotions. None of them noticed the one drop of tear trailing down Bia's cheek.

Kuroro leaned against the door to the room and stared up into...darkness. The staircase leading down to Lucian's room was pitch black, with not even a speck of light illuminating the lonely staircase. This basement was so well-concealed that even no light penetrated the trapdoor. He really needed to do some research on Fino's family history. Or perhaps Shalnark had already done that. He should ask Shalnark.

Kuroro closed his eyes. Lucian's room was soundproof, but Kuroro knew that if he entered the room now, he would be intruding on a private moment. Usually he wouldn't care, but this was Lucian. Just as much as Lucian owed him a lot, Kuroro acknowledged that he owed Lucian a lot as well. The least he could do was to respect his privacy.

So he stood there, alone in the darkness. He waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Until he finally felt the shift from inside the room. The diffusing tension. Only then he allowed himself to stand upright and open the door.

He wasn't surprised to find a completely neutral scene inside the room. Bia was still sleeping—or rather, unconscious—on the bed, while Lucian was sitting upright on the bed facing the door toward Kuroro himself. There, on the other side of the room, on the side of the wall closer to Lucian, was a man that Kuroro had never seen before. Kuroro inextricably found himself observing this strange man.

Even when he said 'man', Kuroro felt him to be more than that. For all appearance, the 'man' looked simply like Lucian; tall and thin, pale skin and grey eyes, hair of a lighter shade of brunette than Lucian's, decked in dark clothes. There was no otherworldly glow around him. If anything, the 'man' seemed to blend so well with the darkness and shadow in the room, as if he was half there and half not. But there was something about that 'man' that made Kuroro's skin tingle. Like he could feel the dormant power lurking underneath the 'man' skin, calm yet poised for action.

And he could feel the Solomon Ring—looped around a chain necklace, hidden underneath his shirt—grew colder.

From the corner of his eyes, Kuroro could see how Lucian's eyes widened slightly and how his position shifted imperceptibly; legs ready to spring and torso covering Bia. Kuroro narrowed his eyes and closed the door behind him with a quiet click. He then turned to fully face the 'man'. Kuroro and the 'man' stared at each other for a while, assessing each other with critical eyes.

"Lucian." The 'man' suddenly said, eyes never leaving Kuroro's. "Where are your manners?"

Kuroro raised an eyebrow but Lucian responded without missing a beat.

"I would forget my manners when the two of you feel like ready to go after each other's throat…" Lucian murmured under his breath. "Lucifer, this is my Sire, The Count of Wallachia. Old man, meet Kuroro Lucifer."

"Pleasure to finally meet you." The Count said to Kuroro amicably with a small smile.

"Likewise." Kuroro said politely. "Although this is not the first time you have seen me, I assume."

The Count's smile grew to an almost grin; that it almost gave Lucian a heart attack.

"Very good." The Count said with applauding tone, and Kuroro felt like he had just passed an important test. "And you have questions, I believe."

Kuroro immediately took the opportunity offered.

"The Solomon Ring is wary of you. Almost afraid, even." He narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

"Oh?" Kuroro almost felt a shiver when The Count's icy grey eyes shifted to look right to where the Solomon Ring was resting on his chest, underneath his clothes. "Fickle as ever, is it not?"

Then, The Count's black cape—one that Kuroro had failed to notice because it blended so well with the darkness—started to move on its own. It spread like an unfurling black wings, much like how he had seen Lucian's sentient black cape did multiple times in battle. Although while Lucian's black cape gave the impression of a black bird's wings, The Count's cape was more like a bat's wings.

"This is what the Solomon Ring is most likely afraid of." The Count said while caressing the edge of the cape. "My familiar demon."

Lucian, who had been observing the proceeding, almost fell out of the bed when he saw The Count's cape.

"Why did you bring Zirnitra here?!"

"It wishes to see you. I see no harm in it."

"I'm pretty sure it's seen me when you were spying on me all the time…" Lucian sulked unhappily.

"Oh, come, pui. Cease with the feeble excuses. You are too old for that." The Count said, actually sounding genuinely amused. "You know as well as I do that seeing through a scrying medium is different from seeing the real thing."

"Pui?" Kuroro turned to look at Lucian with incredulous expression. Incredulous because Lucian was still called that by his Sire, despite being a few centuries old. Kuroro knew Lucian's mother tongue enough to know that the word was almost an equivalent of calling him 'puppy'.

Lucian opened his mouth to protest, but wisely decided to shut his mouth and just ended up with a furious blushing on his face. He didn't want to dig his grave further.

"But I'm curious." Kuroro turned back to The Count. "Why would the 72 demons of the Solomon Ring be afraid of one familiar demon?"

"That is because the power of the 72 demons corresponds to that of the Master. The more powerful the Master is, the more the demons can utilise their potentials. When The Solomon Ring was in the hands of the late Lady Ishtar, it was such a nuisance because the Solomon Ring demons and my familiar kept trying to fight each other. But now, the Solomon Ring demons recognise that in their current strength they will lose to my familiar."

"Because the Master is weaker than the previous one?"

Kuroro's voice was neutral when he posed that question and his face stoic, but Lucian knew better.

"You are derived from a human. The late Lady Ishtar was not. You have her blood in you, but you are still ultimately a human. A human Master can never exceed a Master of the late Lady Ishtar's nature of being." The Count said as-a-matter-of-factly.

"And you are of the same nature as her?"

The Count gave Kuroro an indulgent smile.

"I was derived from a human as well. But the long years I have lived through have eroded what remained of my human self. None of me is human anymore, except for this appearance." The Count said as he gestured to his whole body.

The Count then looked right into Kuroro's eyes, and for the first time since the moment of their introduction, Kuroro could feel the difference between him and The Count—in age, in experience, in wisdom, in sheer power. Those cold steely icy grey eyes that had seen civilizations born and destroyed, the ones that had seen many births and deaths, the ones that could see right through you.

"Do you think you are weak, Kuroro Lucifer?" The Count asked, voice neutral and betraying none of what he might be feeling.

"I almost never use the Solomon Ring. Does that make me weak?" Kuroro countered.

The Count didn't reply verbally, and his expression and his body language were unreadable. Instead, he changed the topic.

"I have met your youngest." The Count said with a knowing look.

"I know. Noah told us." Kuroro said with a nod, and with an eye that told The Count that he understood the meaning behind that knowing look. As if as an afterthought, Kuroro added: "He was quite happy to have met you."

Lucian turned to his Sire with wide eyes.

"You met Noah? When and where?!"

The Count and Kuroro exchanged a quick glance, both of amusement.

"He ran away from home on Bara with the intention of attacking the Order for payback. Right now Kurapika is lambasting Bara for going along with a little boy's whims like that. And Noah is grounded." Kuroro informed Lucian, and watched with interest as Lucian made a choking sound and started pulling his hair.

"That brat!" Lucian groaned.

"Nothing happened, much to the boy's disappointment, I believe." The Count supplied with mirth.

"Nothing happened? How could nothing—" Lucian turned a sharp glance at the Count. "What did you do?"

"I simply had an interesting chat with the Holy Saint, and we both agreed that it would be best for the place to be burned down."

"You had a civil conversation with the Holy Saint." Lucian deadpanned with obvious scepticism.

"There was no blood spilled between he and I, I can assure you that."

"What about threats?"

"One or two, perhaps." The corner of The Count's lips twitched up slightly.

"Goodness…" Lucian buried his face in his hands. "So I assume the Order won't be rallying other countries to declare war on us or something?"

"There is no more of the Order, pui."

"WHAT?!"

"This Holy Saint is remarkably different from the previous ones. It is a refreshing change." The Count said with a pleasant hum in his voice, completely ignoring Lucian's almost-hyperventilation.

And, before neither Kuroro nor Lucian could respond to The Count's statement, there was a HUGE crash from above, followed by whiny voice that obviously belonged to one impatient Meta.

"I wanna go down!"

"No, Meta. You aren't allowed down there." That was Fino, who by the sound of it was quite exasperated.

"Why not?! Dad is down there! I wanna see Lucian and Bia!"

"They are resting, Meta. Don't disturb them."

"But Lucian is up! I can feel it! Shalnark, open the hatch!"

"Is that an order?" For once, Shalnark's voice was actually firm—due to Kurapika's commandment on Shalnark that he MUST discipline Meta when he started giving people attitude. Or she would discipline Shalnark, with Kuroro's permission.

"...Please?"

"Still no. Danchou's order."

"Whaaaaaaat?! Fino!"

"Meta, quiet down before I get your mother from the forest."

There was an instant hush from aboveground.

"I will...babysit Sherry…?"

"Oh, thank you, sweetie. But I'm still not letting you down there. Bribery doesn't work on me, dear."

"It's not bribery! It's called...negotiation."

"Mmhm."

"Wait wait wait! Don't call Mom! Okay, I'll just… go away."

"Why don't you help Sarai train Bibi?"

"Ew no! Bibi always tries to bite my butt!"

"Sucks for you, short stuff."

"I won't be short for long! Just you wait and see, I'll grow up and—"

And the exchange of playful insults faded away along with the footsteps. Before long, peace returns to the surrounding.

"Very lively." The Count said at length, the corners of his lips quirked up in amusement and wistfulness. It reminded him of the time long ago when Lucian was still a little noisy human child with sticky fingers and determination to elude his tutors.

"All the time." Kuroro agreed. At length, Kuroro added: "Would you like to meet them? They have always wanted to meet you in person."

"God, Lucifer. Those demonii mici (little demons) will kill him." Lucian looked at Kuroro like he had lost his mind.

"Oh?" The Count raised an eyebrow. "Pui, have some faith in me. I have dealt with you when you were a child. I should survive another three."

"I wasn't as crazy as them!"

"I highly doubt that, after all you had done to my Solomonarii and my high-security laboratories as a human child."

Lucian didn't really talk about his life as a human because he didn't exactly remember and Kuroro didn't really care to ask, but Kuroro felt that he should find out more about this. Perhaps another private meeting with The Count was in order. These Lucian's childhood stories sounded really interesting. But that was for another time. This time, Lucian's bright red face was more interesting. Even his ears were also blushing.

"...Fine. Don't blame me if they run over you."

The Count merely chuckled.

"Then I shall come back when the time is more suitable."

"Suit yourself." Kuroro simply shrugged. He understood that The Count meant that he was going to come back later in the night.

"You have my gratitude, Kuroro Lucifer." The Count said with meaningful tone as he looked at Kuroor in the eyes, steely cold grey to abyssal black eyes.

"...Likewise." Kuroro returned at length.

The Count gave Kuroro a polite nod, before he stepped back and seemingly melted into the darkness. Kuroro felt the same tingling as before, as the fabric of Space rippled. For a while, he stared at the spot where The Count had been standing, before he turned around to Lucian.

"Interesting father you have there."

"I was more of the opinion that he's rather creepy…" Lucian muttered.

Kuroro didn't say it out loud, but he noticed the use of past tense in Lucian's words regarding his opinion of his father. Kuroro simply assumed that Lucian had reconciled things with his father, and left it there. If Lucian wanted to talk about it, he would tell him.

Instead, Kuroro shifted his attention to Bia.

"When will she wake up?"

Lucian turned to stare at Bia's still form for a while, observing her expression.

"...Tomorrow, maybe. I don't know. But she will wake up."

"Of course."

There was a pause in the air, before Lucian spoke up again.

"Lucifer... I'm sorry..."

"About?"

"Bia... I almost killed her."

"And she almost killed you with her stupidity. You both almost killed each other, and you both saved each other. That sounds even to me." Kuroro said casually as he shoved his hands into his pockets and leaned back on the door facing Lucian.

"But you—"

"I took you out of that place for my own sake. Not for hers. Bia is old enough to take responsibility over her own actions. I wasn't acting as a parent..." Kuroro hesitated; years and years of being a parent and he still hadn't gotten used to the idea of him—of all people—being one. "...who was trying to take responsibility over his child's mistake."

Kuroro paused as he observed Lucian stroking Bia's white hair for a little while, before adding:

"The same way as you saved the kids from the Crusaders not for me, but for your own sake, I presume."

"I'd kill myself first before I let anything happen to them when I'm around." Lucian murmured.

"Of course." Kuroro gave him a lopsided smirk. "You are their most favourite uncle, after all."

Author's Note: Kuroro and The Count just HAVE to meet. I was in Lucian's shoes before, resenting my father for something he's done for and never knowing the suffering he's endured behind it. When I found out, I felt like the lowest shit on earth. Sorry I missed an update last week, but I was in Indonesia and for some reasons I couldn't open the website. So...no update.