"The problem with surviving was that

You ended up with the ghosts of everyone you'd ever left behind riding on your shoulders."

- Paolo Bacigalupi -

CHAPTER 9: THE UNFORTUNATE ONES

Midnight.

Clandestia perched on the side of the bed, watching a certain pink-haired girl sleeping.

Sometimes, I really envy you, Neon.

You could at least sleep soundly after whatever havoc you wreak.

She gently wiped away the faint tear stain on the girl's face.

There were two dogs in the room, patiently guarding them. Another two were placed in Clandestia's room. Her mind was riveted as the clock was ticking away.

"Where's Dalzolene?" She turned to Eliza who was sitting close at the bedside.

"He's out with Scuwala for some business, Milady," Eliza replied, uneasiness filling her voice.

Clandestia's face darkened. Right, it is coming true for you, too, Dalzolene! A numbing pain crept into her heart. Her face gradually turned white.

"Are you perhaps not feeling well, Lady Clandestia?" Eliza asked, concerning her Lady's expression. "-Please go back and sleep. We'll keep guarding Lady Neon."

"I'm fine, give her the prescribed medicine if she's up." Clandestia said. "It'll help her calm down."

"Yes, Milady." Eliza bowed and promptly called some maids to escort Clandestia back to her quarter.

The night air was excessively chilling.

Clandestia walked absentmindedly in the hallway with two maids following behind her. There was no sound other than their footsteps and the squeaking noise of night insects echoing from the hotel-attached gardens.

Her eyes were fixed on the giant clock in the hallway.

1 A.M. They should be back by now.

Just as she anticipated, noises of frantic footsteps and banters were heard from downstairs. The Nostrade rented a Penthouse suite so their rooms were just above the bodyguards' quarter, connected by a grand stairway.

The Nostrades bodyguards gathered around the common living room. The extravagant chandelier hanging above them shone on their exhausted faces.

"Tu..tu..tu…" Melody broke out in cold sweats as the haunting sound on the other end of the line echoed into her sensitive ears. "Nobody picked up." She said gravely.

"It's obvious. He's been killed. I'm sure of it!" Scuwala exclaimed in terror.

"Well… What are we gonna do now?" Linssen murmured, anxiety filling his emaciated face. "He is probably dead and we haven't finished our mission."

"First we must inform the boss," Kurapika calmly said.

"The "boss" is nothing more than a name… It's only a young kid." Basho retorted.

"There's another Nostrade here." –They heard a female voice from right above them.

Their gazes promptly fell on the young girl calmly descending the stairs. She was in her nightgown. The soft fabric, though covered everything, showed a subtle hint of her developing curves. She approached them with a faint smile on her face and voiced out her inquiry: "So… Dalzolene and the others are dead?"

Her voice was as nonchalant as if talking about the weather, contradicting the current tension in the room. The bodyguards instantly exchanged a look.

Kurapika grimaced in utter disappointment. The girl in front of him had never seemed so distant.

"I'll help you contact my uncle." She added after a brief silence. "But I'm afraid we still have to wake Neon up because my uncle changed his number recently and I haven't got a chance to update." With that said, she turned on her heels, leading the restless bodyguards her to Neon's room.

"Neon, wake up!" Clandestia softly called.

The pink-haired girl slowly came to her senses. She slowly opened her eyes to see her cousin looming over her. She rubbed her eyes and sat up. "Hmm? Tia?" She looked around. Strangely, a lot of bodyguards were gathering around her. "What time is it?" She asked in a slightly annoyed tone.

"Two A.M." was her cousin's answer.

"What? And the auction?" She squeaked.

"They were canceled." Clandestia simply replied, fully expecting Neon's reaction.

"Cancelled? But why?" The pink-haired girl raised her voice.

"The auction was attacked by criminals," Kurapika explained patiently. "Baise, Iwancolef, Tochino, and probably Dalzolene passed away." At his words, all the other bodyguards fell into heavy silence as if mourning for their dead teammates.

"What? But then… the mummy?" The girl pouted.

Her eerie display of innocence had all the bodyguards grimaced in utter disbelief and shock.

"It has been stolen, too?" Neon asked in disappointment. "I really wanted it."

Clandestia silently clenched her fists but her expression remained unfazed.

"It seems the community put all the auctioning objects to a safe place." After a brief silence, Kurapika was the only one calm enough to enlighten Neon.

"Ah, that's good." Neon chirped. A bright smile crossed her face. "When is the next auction planned for?"

"We don't know yet." -Was Kurapika's brief reply.

But Neon was persistent. "Eh? Why?" She inquired, her big cerulean eyes looking at the blond bodyguard like an innocent child expecting a toy.

"Neon, enough!" Clandestia cut her off, at last, feeling extremely drained out. "Just give me uncle Light's number! We need to inform him of our situation."

Clandestia's words effectively stopped Neon from her endless rambling.

"Okay." The young fortune teller obediently pulled out her handphone and offered it to her cousin.

Clandestia gave a quick glance at the bodyguards gathering around but her eyes lingered on a certain blond bodyguard.

"I'm gonna call uncle." She said, "But one of you must take charge to report him the details."

After a brief discussion, they picked Kurapika. She nodded in understanding and started dialing the number.

"Uncle? It's Tia." She spoke. "The auction was attacked. Some of the bodyguards were dead and we lost contact with Dalzolene." She could hear the panic from the other end of the line.

"Yes, Neon and I are safe. Don't worry!" She reassured. "But since Dalzolene might be dead, I'm gonna give you the one who's replacing him now, alright? Hold on!"

Clandestia beckoned the blond bodyguard to come forward and promptly offered the phone to him. He nodded and grabbed the phone, walking out of the room.

The young professor's gaze soberly lingered on Kurapika's retreating back. Has this turned out favorable to your plan now? Getting close to my uncle, huh? She quietly thought to herself as she stood up and silently made her way back to her room.

As she was about to turn the doorknob to her room, she felt someone's intense gaze on her. Her expression briefly darkened as she pivoted her heels.

"You've got something to ask me?" She sighed, "Kurapika?"

"I do, Miss." He said. "And I hope you'd be frank with me." His tone was demanding.

"I've got a hunch that you knew what was going to happen at the auction." He stated. "-Was it Neon's fortune poems?"

"Something didn't make sense…" He elaborated. "If it's only Baise, Tochino, and Iwancolef, I would understand…"

"But for Dalzolene…" He continued, closing the steps between them. "There's no way he didn't read Lady Neon's predictions."

Unexpectedly, Clandestia smiled. "As expected, you're sharp." She said.

"But… you're also wrong. Neon's predictions were too vague for Dalzolene to foresee his fate."

"It was my prophecy dream." She admitted. "Whenever I dream of someone's death, it'll come true."

Kurapika flinched at her nonchalant confession. Her voice still had that same familiar lilt but it had never felt so foreign to his ears. Suddenly, he felt an obscure bitter taste in his mouth. If she had at least shown some signs of regret, he wouldn't be this disappointed.

"So you knew." He accused, his voice was dangerously hoarse. His blood temperature started to accelerate.

"You knew what's going to happen to them but you kept it to yourself!" He spat, making no effort to hide his disgust.

"Was that all for Neon's sake?" It wasn't a question, it was a statement.

To his utter dismay, she was calmly quiet as if to confirm his revelation.

"Ha…" He closed his eyes to calm himself down but when he looked at her again, his eyes were ice cold. "The nerve of you asking me to trust you!"

"We're just sacrifices for your cowardice anyway." His words stung with venom.

He whirled and was gone, not even sparing a glance back, leaving her dumbfounded in front of her room. When he was out of her sight, she turned the doorknob and walked inside.

The moment she was alone in her room, she crouched down, leaning against the closed door. The façade she put on show a moment ago came tumbling down.

Her amethyst eyes instantly misted.

"Cowardice, you say?" She repeated.

It'd be better this way. She'd go back to the way she'd been living all her life.

No hope. No expectation. Hence, no guilt.

Kurapika was returning to Neon's former room after taking care of the Nostrades' relocation. All of a sudden, a woman in a kimono approached him and humbly bowed her head.

"Eliza? Did you need something?" He asked, wondering if she did not get his instructions.

"No, Sir." She reassured the newly appointed head bodyguard. "I already moved Lady Clandestia and Lady Neon together with everyone else to the room you assigned."

"Good work." He said. "You'd better join them immediately. It's not safe here."

As he was about to enter the room, she unexpectedly moved to stand in his way.

"Please wait, Sir." She said, looking troubled as she struggled to find the words.

"I know it's not my place to say this but… I happened to hear your conversation with Lady Clandestia earlier." Her voice was above a whisper.

He looked at the maid inquiringly.

Steeling her resolve, she looked him in the eyes and said. "I'd rather Lady Clandestia clarify this herself since it's not good for someone like me to pry into her matters."

"But I can't stand seeing her being misunderstood every time." She sighed. Being misunderstood by someone we cared about is really painful.

Kurapika quietly listened to her words.

"You know, unlike Miss Neon, Lady Clandestia can't talk about her prophecy dream." She added.

Seeing the frown on the blond bodyguard's face, she quickly explained: "If she was to go against the victims' predicted fate, there would be terrible backlash happening randomly. So she had no choice but to keep it to herself to prevent this."

"Do you know anything about the backlash that might happen?" Kurapika inquired.

"I once overheard Sir Dalzolene talking to Sir Light about the lady's ability." She revealed, "It's apparent that the price for preventing someone's predicted fate would be the death of someone else unbeknownst to her."

In other words, it's a life for a life! Kurapika was completely taken aback by Eliza's words. Who could bring themselves to make such a choice? What a perturbing ability to possess.

"I don't know if you'd believe this or not but..." Eliza said. Her eyes filled with tenderness. "I've been working for the Nostrades for 10 years now. So I know a fair deal about the Lady."

"She might look as if she has no care in the world" She added, "-But she just has too much on her plate and she tends to take others' merits into consideration. So... she often ends up neglecting her own feelings."

Eliza smiled wistfully. The memories of a young Clandestia clinging to her feet, calling her sister Eliza almost every day was still vivid in her mind.

"So I hope you wouldn't hold hostility towards the Lady." She said, Her tone was surprisingly unkind to him. Like a parent standing up for her child.

"Please forgive my impertinence!" At last, she took a deep bow at him and promptly left.

Kurapika was sitting in Neon's former room, like a silent beast patiently waiting for his prey.

This was a chance that he waited for so long.

He had carefully selected the opponent for his first fight.

Tonight would be the perfect experiment for his scheme of vengeance!

He tried to gather all his senses. The blood circulating through his veins was pumping with adrenaline.

But somehow, his mind couldn't completely focus. The knowledge he learned from Eliza earlier actually bothered him more than he expected.

A sudden ringtone from his phone cut him off from his trailing thoughts.

He stared at the caller ID. It was Melody.

"Yes?"

"Kurapika, are you still in that room?" Melody asked, concern filling her voice. "Seriously, we're worried."

"It's alright. I'll be fine."

"I have someone waiting to talk to you!" Melody suddenly said. Then the line went muffled as she passed the phone to someone else.

There was a brief silence.

"Kurapika?" A girl's voice came on the other end of the line.

"Miss Clandestia?" He frowned but his voice was unexpectedly tender.

"Come back safe." She said. "We'll be waiting!"

The corners of his lips curled into a ghost of a smile. But unfortunately, he didn't have the answer that she was waiting to hear.

"I need to go now." His reply was filled with melancholy.

He got a fight that he had waited for his whole life. But he was uncertain of whether he would come out unscathed or not.

As they both fell silent, he brusquely switched off his phone.