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

Lucian's Story Part 18

TOGETHER

He walked through the dusty corridors, unlived and abandoned for centuries. The state of the corridors was exactly like the state of his memories of this place; dusty and dark and forgotten. He hadn't been to this place for…since…since he became a strigoi (vampire).

You were made to forget…

What had he forgotten?

Lucian stopped walking. He stopped walking right in front of a door. One particular door. He had walked past countless doors, but this particular door… He opened it. He opened the door and stepped into the room. Unlike the corridors, the air inside the room wasn't stale. The window—the only window inside the room—was open. It looked like it had always been open—left open—for centuries. Air from outside came and went, as did rainwater and leaves. The carpet around the window was a mess; ruined. But…

What did he still remember?

He remembered… He remembered this room as the place where he had first met The Count for the first time. He remembered visiting this room multiple times. He was…leaving things here? Was that what he did? Leaving things here… On the nightstand. By the candlestick. Ah. That's right. The golden candlestick that he tried to steal for money. He had been a poor human orphan then.

He looked to the side, and saw a rusted candlestick on the nightstand by the bed. He crossed the room and picked it up. It seemed much smaller than he remembered—he had been a small child when he had first held it. The candlestick had seemed so much bigger and worth so much money.

Something caught Lucian's attention from the corner of his eyes, and he looked down only to see a flower lying on the nightstand, right where he usually placed his offerings like this flower; the first flower of spring. And the next time he came here again, the things he had left before would have been gone. Replaced by other things. Things for him. Things like…

Huh.

The first flower of spring? Why would he leave such things for The Count? He was pretty sure his five-year-old human self wasn't that dumb enough to leave flowers for the vampire lord who was clearly a man.

And…Why was he shedding tears?

She stood at the edge of a cliff, a safe distance from the slippery edge. She stared across the distance, to the vast sea that touched the sky at the horizon. She then knelt so that she could be at the eye level of a child. Was this Lucian's point of view when he watched the ship burial of his human older brother? The Count said the landscape hadn't changed much since that time. If Lucian was to look at the scenery from this point of view again, would he remember?

Bia sighed, her breath coming out as wispy smoke in the crisp morning. It was beginning of spring, and the weather was still cold. He watched her white breath dissipating as she recalled the conversation she had with The Count.

"You have visited Lucian's past, I presume." The Count's voice was even and dispassionate, but Bia found that she didn't mind. The Count's tone kind of reminded her of Daddy, when he was out in the public.

"Yes, Sir."

An eyebrow was raised in amusement.

"There is no need to be so formal. You are Lucian's tovarăş."

"How do I address you, then?"

"However you wish. Your siblings have no qualms in assigning me with…interesting nicknames."

Bia resisted the urge to snort, although she couldn't quite restrain the twitch at the corner of her eyes. Meta and Sarai had taken to call The Count as 'Lucian's Dad' or—to Lucian's horror and Kurapika's mortification and The Count's and Kuroro's amusement—'GrandUncle'. At least Noah respectfully called him 'Lord Count', though the way he said it made it sound like it was THE proper way of addressing The Count. Although, Bia had the feeling that it was a privilege allowed only for Noah. The familiarity in the way Noah addressed The Count—which was reciprocated by The Count himself—was rather…strange, yet endearing.

"I apologise for my siblings' disrespectful behaviour. Especially Meta's." She said with a slight bow and an inner scowl directed at the one brother that was both older and younger for her.

"They are children." The Count said, waving off the apology. "And I do enjoy their company. It has been too long since the last time I have been in the company of human children."

Memories of Lucian's human childhood flashed in her mind, and Bia struggled to keep a straight face. She completely missed the observing look on The Count's face.

"Treasure those memories." The Count said with soft voice, eyes half-lidded and with a distant look in those grey eyes. "Lucian has the misfortune of losing them. Keep them for him."

"I want him to have them back." Bia said with rather petulant note leaking into her words.

The Count gave her a soft smile.

"So do I, Little Lady."

And so that was why she was here, in Lucian's hometown. She wanted him to remember. She knew this might sound naïve, but she hoped that if she made him visit his human childhood home; the important key places in his life, Lucian might remember something. Anything.

She knew how it felt to not remember one's past. It was part of her life too. After she found out that she was adopted, her blank past had always haunted her. She had tried asking Heen; her biological brother and the only connection to his past, but Heen knew very little of their past prior to Bensalem. He had lost his memories too when Bensalem had Reprogrammed him into their slave. He only knew that they had a grandmother called Ellie; who had died when trying to get them out of Bensalem. Even that information had been given by Lucian.

And through the tovarăş ritual, Lucian had known all about her past too. He even offered to tell her all that he knew if she wanted to know. But she had declined.

"It's not fair." She had whined. "It's not fair if I can know and you can't. I don't want to remember mine until you can remember yours."

It was true. Bia couldn't remember her past as much as Lucian couldn't remember his mother. The memories of their pasts were completely erased from their brain. But what Bia was making a fuss about was the fact that Bia could retain the knowledge of her past if Lucian was to tell her about it, while Lucian simply couldn't. He would forget it all over again. It was as if his brain was programmed to auto-delete any memories related to his mother. She had seen it happening first-hand.

"Both of you have lost some part of your memories from your past, and now you both have seen each other's past." Scheherazade said, sometime after Bia had woken up from her coma-like sleep.

"When you put it like that, it sounds too good a coincidence." Lucian said, expression morphing into that of suspicion.

Scheherazade merely shot him an amused smirk.

"There is no coincidence in this world, Lucian dear. Only inevitability."

"You mean…destiny?" Lucian's tone clearly expressed the degree of scepticism with which he regarded said notion.

"In a more corny way of putting it, yes."

"I…chose this…" Bia said, voice slightly gravelly due to years of un-use. Her harsh tone, however, suggested that she felt rather affronted by Scheherazade's admission.

Scheherazade gave her a benevolent smile. "Indeed you did."

Lucian, meanwhile, looked between Scheherazade and Bia with confused face.

"What choice?" He asked Scheherazade.

"Ask her, Lucian." Scheherazade said, without taking her eyes off Bia. "It's her choice. Ask her."

Lucian turned to Bia slowly, and gave her a questioning yet patient look.

"When I was…dying…" Yes, Bia was aware that she had been dying when she met that woman in that strange black realm. "I was approached by her… She gave me options… I chose this."

"Her? Who?"

Bia didn't answer for a while, but her hand slowly went up to her throat, her fingers tracing the faint line that stretched across her throat. She vaguely recalled the sensation; of blade slicing through flesh and tendons like butter.

"She…The woman… The woman who cut my throat…"

"...Who?"

At Lucian's bemused response, Bia froze. Immediately, she could hear those voices again. The voice that spoke of willingness of being forgotten for the sake of restoring his life. The voice that cried and wailed and mourned. The voice of the one who would not let go of her baby boy. Suddenly, Bia found herself feeling very very sad. For Lucian and for the woman who had offered Bia her redemption.

He forgot… The ache in her heart clenched her chest. He really forgot….

On the other side of the room, Scheherazade closed her eyes with a sorrowful sigh.

She recalled Lucian's face, and the desperation and frustration and grief behind those grey eyes. Lucian was aware of his curse, and seeing and feeling it happening while he was aware of it was…excruciating. She didn't like that face. She didn't like that expression. It was always troubling whenever she saw such burdened expression on Lucian's face. The Lucian that she and her siblings knew was always smiling and laughing, or screaming at them to behave. Sometimes she would see him with serious expression when discussing certain matters with Daddy or Mommy, but Lucian wasn't supposed to be somber.

"Bia."

She turned her head around, so she caught a glimpse of him walking up the hill towards her. She remained seated on her spot, waiting until he caught up and stood next to her. In his hands was a single flower that Bia had come to associate with longing and wistfulness since the day she saw Lucian's past. She observed the way Lucian delicately stroke the petals of the flowers, his grey eyes slightly puffy and bloodshot as he stared at the flower with wonder and grief. She didn't comment on the state of his eyes, and opted instead to gaze at the direction of the old mansion in town.

Bia didn't make any outward reaction, but it did surprise her. She hadn't expected The Lady to leave a 'note' behind for him. She knew that The Lady had been stalking Lucian as they visited the town. It happened every year, every single time without fail. Bia could always see the signs of her presence, because she knew what she was looking for. Lucian never noticed.

"Someone left this in the mansion. It was my mother, right?"

He always asked her. Whenever he was doubtful about things related to his past, he always asked her.

"Yes." Bia said solemnly.

Lucian spared a fleeting glance down at Bia, and averted his gaze back to the flower in his hand.

Lucian remembered when he heard Bia's voice for the first time. Lucian had always wondered how to restore Bia's voice. He had known, since the first day of him treating little Bia fresh out of Bensalem, that Bia's muteness was psychosomatic. It wasn't the problem of her vocal cord. He had tried many things to get her to speak again, but they were all useless attempts. Lucifer had said that it wasn't the tovarăş ritual that had fixed it—Bia's first words had been his name and a bloody scream, right after he had been taken by the Crusaders.

It had saddened him how Bia had seemed to loathe her own voice. The way Lucian saw it, Bia getting her voice back was a bonus in the grim situation that they had just gotten themselves out of. It took years to make that guilty shadow vanish from Bia's face and eyes.

"Hmm…" Lucian hummed as he twirled the flower in his long spindly fingers. At length he said: "We should plant this near our homes."

Lucian glanced down, and he saw a smile on Bia's lips. It was just a small upturn of the corner of her lips; not even a proper smile. But with that small smile, Bia looked ridiculously happy as she closed her eyes and felt the sea breeze blowing to her face.

"Yeah. That'll be nice…" She murmured contently.

For Bia, it was relieving that for once Lucian was doing something for his self. Lucian had the…tendency to overlook himself. She still remembered the first few days when Bia was still adjusting to life as tovarăş.

"Bia, there will be things that I won't be able to provide for you. Whatever you want, please, let me know. I'll find a way to solve it." He said earnestly as he held her hands in his much bigger ones.

Bia looked at him with bemused, sad eyes.

"I thought we are supposed to be Companions? Shouldn't we help and provide for each other? Together?"

For a moment, Lucian was stunned. But his visage soon softened and he held Bia's hands a little bit tighter.

"That's right."

"So you'll tell me to if you need anything?"

"Of course I will, Printesa."

With that faint smile still etched on her face, Bia stood up and dusted off her skirts and leggings. She gave one final glance to the stretch of sea ahead of her, before she turned around and tugged at Lucian's sleeve.

"Let's go home."

Lucian looked down at her and gave her a grin.

"Before that, a detour to your hometown first."

Bia rolled her eyes, but she let him lead the way as they climbed down the cliff together. Just as Bia had insisted on visiting Lucian's hometown every year, Lucian had insisted on visiting Bia's hometown (before she lost her memories in Bensalem). It was a fair trade-off, and it had done both of them good.

In companionable silence, they both walked side-by-side down the cliff.

He stood on top of a higher hill, so he could see Lucian and Bia standing on the cliff. It was the cliff where human Lucian had always visited every anniversary of his brother's death. It was also the cliff where Lucian had died as a human. In the safety of his own mind, The Count referred to that place as The Cliff of Remembrance. Too many turning points had happened on that cliff. It was a place that he would protect and make sure would remain untouched.

As he observed Lucian and Bia, his fingers almost absentmindedly played with the silver coin pendant that he usually kept hidden under his clothes. Now that the truth was out and the secret divulged, it felt less...difficult when he took out the silver coin pendant. It felt like he had reconciled something.

He probably did.

The Count stood there alone for a while, taking in the view of the setting sun. He hadn't seen sunset for years. Centuries. Even when Lucian had created the strange sunblock that allowed strigoi to walk under sunlight, The Count hardly ever used it. He simply genuinely wasn't fond of sunlight. However, he had to admit that the sunblock was extremely handy—sometimes it allowed him to stalk Lucian whenever he went off to some really dangerous zones when he was younger.

After a while, he spoke up.

"Your daughter is astonishingly dutiful and devoted."

"And Lucian is equally dutiful to her too." Came the response.

The Count simply turned his head sideways slightly, so he could spot Kuroro Lucifer emerging from the shadows of the forest from the corner of his eyes. He continued observing the man advancing until he stopped by The Count's side, slightly behind The Count—a sign of respect. When Kuroro Lucifer gave him a polite nod of greeting, The Count returned the gesture before he turned his attention back to the pair at the lower cliff.

"It's almost…hilarious. Seeing the two of them." The Count said amusedly.

Kuroro simply made a noise of agreement, but didn't say anything. That line of observation had been stated by almost everyone else that knew his wacky little family; it had lost its novelty. Fino especially had been so ecstatic about it, to the point that she started making couple-things for the two of them—which weren't really appreciated by both Lucian and Bia, and Kurapika had to talk her out of it.

Speaking of Kurapika… Kuroro wondered if she had discovered any significant findings in how to break the curse of The Council of the Dead.

"Why are you here, Kuroro Lucifer?" The Count suddenly asked, breaking Kuroro from his train of thought.

"…The kids want to explore your land."

"Oh? Are you here to request protection for the children?" The Count asked, slight amusement leaking into his flat voice.

"No, I'm here to—"

BOOMMM!

"—warn you of the collateral damage."

The Count shifted his line of vision and saw a pillar of smoke rising from the sea of forests at the distance. The birds were flying away, and The Count could hear the billows and screams of the scared animals fleeing the Ground Zero. His inhuman hearing also picked up some high-pitched screams and shouts that belonged to certain children. Children who were very insistent on getting to know him better, and had resorted to attempting to sneak into his castle on multiple times—children whom Lucian was trying very hard to prevent from entering the main castle and Lucian's private mansion.

"*&^*#%$%&^&(**!"

Both The Count and Kuroro looked down to the lower cliff just in time to see Lucian dashing off the cliff toward the general direction of the explosion while cussing up a storm, with Bia following close behind him and laughing.

Kuroro sighed, but he couldn't really help the amused smile creeping up his lips.

Some things just never change.

Author's Note: DONE! IT'S DONE! Lucian's Arc is finished! Tell me what you think of it. Do you think it still feels unresolved? Tell me!

In any case, I've started working so I won't have time to seriously write fanficiton anymore. Maybe some little extra chapters here and there, but no promises here. It's been good sharing my stories with you guys and thank you so much for your supports. Especially reviewers, thank you so much for the support and constructive inputs! Cheerio!