Hey, guys! I hope you're doing alright!

Here's chapter seven and many of you who read Cataclysm in the past might find it weird that you don't remember this part, but there's no need to be worried about your memory. This is a chapter I decided to add to make the storyline more fluid and coherent. It won't change the main plot nor clash with the previous version of Cataclysm, and you can consider it as a bonus between the previous and the next chapter; I felt like writing this was the best option to fill the void about what happened during her recovery. I don't want the story to be too rushed.

I would like to thank you all for supporting Cataclysm! It's always heartwarming to know my readers are enjoying it. I hope you'll also like this chapter!

Without further ado, here's chapter seven.

See you,

—Cherry

"Your apologies do not affect me. Nor does you leaving this court." The woman said, smiling. She walked to him, eyes shining with the confidence that had brought warriors to their knees. "I'm marrying the prince. I shall be very happy, indeed."

Medea giggled.

"Tell him, El!"

The man stared at her. He seemed calm, but his clenched fists said otherwise.

"Will you be? Happy?"

"Why would I not be?" Elowen retorted. "Prince Lain is kind, and adoring, and he knows what he wants. He is a good man, and he will make a wonderful father."

"And he's hot. Gosh, he's so hot."

"And so you truly believe he is the best man for you?"

"Uh, yeah? You literally murdered one of her suitors on the last episode. I guess that kinda makes him a better option than you…"

That took her by surprise. The lady took a step back, leading her hand to her necklace, fingers twirling around the pendant.

"How dare you question my choices?" Her face was flushed, her breathing was irregular. "They're my choices to make, not yours! I… I do not question your choice to… To rake across the continent, forlorn and alone." She took a deep breath, passing her hands through her face. "I do not have to explain myself to you. I do not owe you anything. He is perfect for me. I am going to be a princess!" She yelled.

"Damn, girl, you're living the dream…" She took a strawberry to her mouth, chewing it slowly so her nose wouldn't hurt again. Medea sighed. "Gosh, I wish I could marry a hot prince."

When the man didn't respond, her face contorted with fury. "Are you going to say anything? If you are not, then leave!"

Still, he remained quiet. He didn't even move.

She groaned.

"Very well! I leave, then!"

"Elowen..." He called, but she walked away. "Elowen!"

She hurried down the staircase, heading towards the property's garden. Not even the dark would scare her rage away. Elowen just wanted to get away from him, from her responsabilities, from this stupid party… She wanted freedom!

A loud sigh escaped her once she heard the leaves rustling behind her. He didn't know when to stop, did he?

"Come back to the party." He said, which she promptly ignored. He grunted, struggling to keep up her pace. "Stop walking!"

"Stop following me!" She replied through gritted teeth.

"You're not safe out here."

Elowen scoffed. Who did this man think he was, bossing her around?

The young woman simply grabbed the long, flowy skirt of her silk dress and kept walking. Her ginger hair ondulated behind her back with each step she took, but she didn't mind. She wanted to get away from him.

"I forbid you to go any further!"

"You cannot tell me what to do! You're not my High Lord!"

"Elowen…" When she didn't react, he grabbed her forearm and stopped her in her tracks. "Will you not listen?"

They stared at each other, not one word in need to be exchanged. Their fogged breaths intertwined, almost as if made of the same substance. Almost as if it was… Meant to be.

Medea narrowed her eyes.

"You better not… If you even try to—"

The man pulled her to him, hand gripping her waist hard, and closed the distance. Their lips touched, briefly at first, until he decided that brief wasn't enough. He deepened the kiss, devouring her avidly.

"No! No! Elowen, kick his balls! What? Stop kissing him back, he's a murderer!" Medea groaned, tilting her head back against the soft pillow. "Fuck! I'm going to kill myself!"

"Could you shut the fuck up for two seconds?! I'm playing!" Killua told her, visibly annoyed.

"I don't give a shit! My ship is being sabotaged by this disgusting cockroach of a man!" She grabbed one of her pillows and threw it on the television. "Fuck you! And fuck you too, Elowen!"

"Blue is sus." Alluka said, all of a sudden.

"No, not the blue"haired one. The ginger one!" Medea explained and narrowed her eyes. "I hate gingers."

Killua rolled his eyes. "She's not talking about your boring Dungeons and Dragons wannabe soap opera, stupid. It's the game we're playing."

"You take that back! A Million Fallen Roses is not boring!"

"Whatever." He replied, not even blinking as he tapped his phone's screen frantically. The boy smirked. "I think I know who's the impostor."

"Really?" Asked Alluka, eyeing him briefly before focusing on the game again.

"It's obviously…"

"NO! Elowen, stop! You'll get caught with him by your family in the garden, you idiot!" Medea cried. "This is so bad, dude… You'll ruin the Spring Court because you can't control yourself!"

"Oh my Gosh! It's Cyan!" The girl gasped, furrowed brows.

"What?! I thought it was Yellow!" He squinted his eyes. "Fucking Cyan!"

"I just saw him murder Purple! Oh, no. Killua, he's coming after me!"

"Get away from him!"

"I'm running for my life, help me!" She begged. Her blue eyes widened. "NO!" Quietly, almost as if she couldn't believe what just happened, Alluka raised her face to her brother.

He chuckled. "Oops. Forgot to tell you I was one of them."

"You're dead to me."

"Oh, come on! Don't be such a sore loser!"

"You killed me! My own brother!" She threw the phone away, pouting, and crossed her arms. "Traitor."

Medea scoffed.

"Yeah, she is. How could she cheat on her fiancé? They're getting married in, what, a week?"

"Who's cheating?" A male voice suddenly asked.

"Guess."

"Hm… Keir's wife?"

She turned to the door, sighing.

"Nope. Elowen."

Leorio arched an eyebrow, mouth ajar.

"Are you kidding me?"

"I wish I were…"

"But… With who?" He inquired, heading for one of the seats next to Medea's hospital bed with his eyes glued to the TV screen. "Oh, hell no! The Autumn Court dude?" He made a disgusted face. "Isn't he the one who blackmailed her sister?"

Medea shook her head, platinum hair moving like seafoam crashing against the shore. "That was his brother. He killed him at the beginning of this episode, by the way. This one's the guy everyone hates."

"I can't even leave to eat something without losing important scenes. Unbelievable. And poor Prince Lain… Oh, Gosh, he's going to be so heartbroken to hear about her betrayal!" Leorio stated, visibly distressed. "He actually loves her, he just doesn't know how to express his feelings!"

"I know, right? And it makes everything ten times worse…" She agreed in a sorrowful tone. "They don't sit down and confess to each other at once, and she's too reckless to try to understand him… I just know it'll be a mess once he finds out."

"Why is she even kissing him? He's not even that especial!"

"Because she's thinking with her—"

Someone cleared their throat, capturing the attention of everyone in the room.

Medea blinked, surprised, and then smiled. "Gel. Kurapika. What are you guys doing here?"

"We apologize for showing up unannounced," Gel looked at her with those big amber eyes, which seemed especially sharp that morning. "But our presence here is truly necessary." She explained.

She turned her gaze to the entourage of men dressed in elegant suits that slowly entered the room. How suspicious.

First, Gel, the current Chairwoman's right hand woman, had come to visit her personally. If it had something to do with her health, she could've received news of Medea's condition by phone or email, so this hypothesis had already been ruled out. To increase her wariness, she had also shown up with unknown, expensive-dressed people.

This couldn't mean anything good.

"I'm sure it is."

"How have you been?" Kurapika asked, and she noticed the shadows under his gray eyes.

She shrugged. "Eh. The best I can be in a situation like this, I guess."

"Nah, she's doing great! She's watching one soap opera after the other!" Killua ratted her out, eyes gleaming mischievously. "And it's always the type of thing weird people watch, okay? Not to mention that she can't stop talking on the phone with her secret boyfriend! It's torture!"

"I'll shove this remote control down your throat if you don't shut up, you brat!" She threatened.

"I'd like to see you try!"

"Stop it, you two!" Intervened Leorio.

"Hey, don't scold me! He's the one spreading personal stuff about me," Medea said, defending herself. "And I'll make him stop once I slap that smirk off of his face!"

"Elowen, you are a disgrace to this court! Why do you never think about the consequences of your actions?"

"Oh, no! Her brother saw them!" Gasped the man, suddenly ignoring the issue. "She is so screwed!"

Medea stared at the television again. "Told you! Now she's going to get an ass whooping because of that ginger bastard!"

One of the men in the entourage purposely sighed loudly. "Can we solve the situation we came here for at once? We don't have all the time in the world, you know?" He declared, his voice heavy with arrogance and impatience.

Medea crossed her arms, analyzing him briefly.

"Who are you?"

"This is the Lasym Corporation's Representative Lawyer…"

"Mr. Maximillian Jones." He interrupted Gel, eyeing Medea from head to toe.

She scoffed, rolling her eyes.

Of course he had to be a lawyer. She knew that arrogance very well.

If there was one thing Medea Lanfort hated, it was lawyers. And businessmen. And politicians. And redheads (every time one appeared in her life, some misfortune happened — Evie Gargani was the living proof).

"Is there a problem, Miss Lanfort?"

"What do you want with me?" She sighed. "If you haven't noticed, we're in the middle of an important episode of A Million Fallen Roses…"

"Of course we noticed, we're not blind." Another lawyer remarked.

"Therefore you also understand that I'm busy."

"We're here to discuss Mr. Lasym's murder." Concluded Mr. Jones in his usual cold tone.

So that's what they wanted.

Medea squinted her eyes, but stopped slouching on the bed and sat up as best she could to look presentable. With all the bruises on her body, it was the least she could do. There was no need to look even more miserable.

With torturous slowness, she lifted the remote control and turned off the television. "What do you want to know?" Her voice was tired, a hint of veiled irritation making it sound sad.

Kurapika approached her bed, a small notebook and pen in his hands.

"I will conduct the interrogation, all right?"

"What are they doing here, then?"

"They represent Lasym Corp. and its interests, so they want to know everything that happened to Mr. Lasym in full, that's all. It's just to have transparency between the Hunter Association and them."

Medea remained silent.

She didn't like where things were headed to. Why couldn't everyone just accept Evanor's death and move on? So many people died every day; what was the difference between him and anyone else?

None.

Everyone bled. Everyone breathed. Everyone lived for a certain amount of time, and his was now over. The end.

A hand rested on her shoulder and she raised her eyes.

"If you're not ready yet, we can wait," He said gently.

"No, I... It's fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Medea pointed to an empty space at the edge of the bed, near her feet. "You can sit down if you want."

"Thank you, but that's not necessary. Can you start by telling us how you found Mr. Lasym?"

"As I told you at the ball, I found him still alive in the massage room. He was crouched in one of the corners, near the window, if I'm not mistaken," She explained, fingers rolling the last strawberries in the bowl between her fingers.

"Was the killer already there?" Kurapika asked, focused on the information he was writing down.

"Yes."

"And what was he doing?"

"Nothing. He was just standing there."

One of the lawyers frowned. "He was doing nothing?"

"He was doing nothing." She repeated.

"Why would an assassin just stand there doing nothing?"

Medea looked at him blankly and said: "Why don't you ask him?"

"Excuse me?"

"You heard me, I won't repeat myself. Don't try to play dumb now."

"I'm not playing dumb!" His face was as red as a tomato.

"Oh. Then you are dumb."

His eyes widened.

Alluka giggled, while her brother practically screeched. Across the room, Leorio watched the decoration on the wall attentively, one hand covering his mouth.

"You little—"

"Medea, can you tell me how you managed to find both of them?" Kurapika interrupted, the corner of his mouth curling upwards ever-so-slightly.

"When I was leaving the Self-Care floor, I heard a noise that was kind of… I can't explain it properly, but kind of muffled? It was weird and uncomfortable, and since there was no one else around, I went to investigate. I thought it was someone breaking in." She lied.

"But the corridor with the massage rooms is quite distant from the floor's main area, which is where you were, right?" asked Mr. Jones.

Oh, shit.

"Yes."

"Then how could you hear that noise? I doubt an assassin would be careless enough to give away his location like that."

Medea felt her hand break into a cold sweat.

Think, think, think!

She took one of the strawberries to her mouth, chewing it slowly. When she swallowed it, she faced the lawyer, calm as ever. "I'm a Sea Hunter. My ears are always keen for any coming storm or danger that might try to surround me and my crew. Do you really think I couldn't hear someone being attacked on an empty floor?"

He narrowed his eyes at her, skeptical, but shut up.

"And the fight?"

"What about it?"

"How did it begin?"

"It all happened very quickly. As soon as I noticed that he was getting closer to Mr. Lasym, I knew he'd kill him. I ran to attack his assassin, but that man's aura was... It was..." Her face contorted in a pained expression. Remembering what had happened between her and the assassin made her slightly uncomfortable. "It was suffocating. Heavy. Almost like it was going to squeeze me to death."

"I see."

"I was paralyzed." She continued..

"How did you attack him? You said you were unarmed, right?"

"I had a hair pin in my pocket, a kanzashi. That's what I attacked him with," She giggled. "It didn't work very well, obviously."

"Why not?"

"Because it's not a weapon, Kurapika."

"But you managed to hurt him at least a little, didn't you?"

"Well, yes."

"Then why didn't you mention the kanzashi before?"

"Because those damn claws of his destroyed everything!" The woman argued, eyes wide and nails piercing the palms of her hands, shocked at his vague implications. He was trying to corner her. "Don't you think that if I still had it on me, with the guy's DNA soaking it, I would have told the Association by now?!"

He was about to reply when Gel interrupted with a question: "There's no trace of his blood at the crime scene?" She crossed her arms and turned to Kurapika, who just shook his head.

"I searched that floor from top to bottom and found nothing. Only Evanor's and Medea's were there."

"Could it be some effect caused by his abilities?"

"I wouldn't doubt it at all. He managed to make the claws used in the crime vanish, it is likely that something like this also happened with the rest of the evidence," He sighed, annoyed. "Did Mr. Lasym give any indication that he might have known the killer or not?"

Medea scratched the tip of her nose, unfocusing her gaze as she feigned an effort to remember. She stared at Kurapika, who remained with a neutral expression as he wrote down some other details in his notebook.

"I'm sorry. I don't know."

He bit his lower lip, frowning. "What color did you say the assassin's hair was again?"

The woman almost smiled.

What a sly, cute little thing he was.

Kurapika was trying to catch some incoherence from her. Clever. Especially after the false information she had given about the kanzashi, which had contradicted her earlier affirmation.

She narrowed her eyes.

She would have to be careful with him. The last thing she wanted was for anyone to find out about her agreement with the assassin from Idyzanon.

"I didn't."

"I'm pretty sure you did."

"No, I didn't." She insisted. "What I did say was that his hair was short and light, but that I couldn't identify the color because it was too dark."

"Oh, that's right. I guess I was mistaken."

Medea smiled gently.

"That's ok! Everyone gets confused sometimes..." She assured him, holding his hand carefully.

The action startled him, gray eyes suddenly wide, staring into her relaxed ones. He swallowed hard and looked back down at his notebook. There was a slight blush on his cheeks.

Good.

Keeping anyone who might try to oppose her around was ideal. The more of his trust she gained, the safer she would be.

When she retracted her hand, he cleared his throat. Then he went on with his questions, as if nothing had happened.

I'm worried.

Why?

In less than a month, two people told me my aura was strong.

This isn't good.

It surely isn't.

Why don't you pay us a visit?

It'll be good for you. Also, we miss you! It's been more than six months since you've been here for the last time…

I wish I could.

I'm at the hospital right now. Work stuff.

I need the High Priestess' help.

I need to find out a way to keep this under control.

The usual procedure isn't working?

No.

Fine.

As soon as the purification week is over, I'll talk to her.

Don't worry .

Medea was typing when she heard someone knock on the door and turned around to face them.

"Good morning. I hope I'm not disturbing you."

"Oh, hi, Kurapika! No, not at all!" She smiled. " I didn't expect to see you again so soon. Have you come to ask more questions?"

He shook his head. "No, I came off duty."

She tilted her head to the side. "What do you mean?"

"I wanted to see how you were doing. Yesterday was a visit for association business, so I couldn't talk to you properly," He explained. "Also, Leorio had some personal business to attend to today and asked me to cover for him."

Medea rolled her eyes.

"Bullshit! He's watching the spinoff episodes of A Million Roses without me, I already know it! All because I told him that if he kept bugging me I would spoiler the entire story for him…" She clicked her tongue. "Jerk. By the way, this need of having someone with me is weird. I can take care of myself, you know?"

"You know neither the Association nor Lasym Corp. want the only witness of the murder to be completely alone. It's a safety measure."

She sighed, still discontent. "I suppose you're right, but it doesn't make it less annoying."

Kurapika smiled and walked over to the empty chair where Alluka used to sit. He nodded his head toward the space.

"May I?"

"Sure," She locked her phone's screen. "How are you?"

"Busy as usual. What about your nose? Is it better?"

"When I smile or laugh a lot, it hurts, and if I eat cold stuff too. Oh, and sleeping is a pain... But other than that, it's much better."

He smiled. "Good…" He blinked and widened his eyes, as if only then he remembered something. "By the way, I brought you something."

"Huh?"

"I brought you a gift."

Medea arched an eyebrow.

A gift? For her?

No one ever gifted her. Literally. Ever.

From his pocket, Kurapika pulled out a small metallic package and held it out to the woman, noticing her reluctance to touch it. He smiled again. "Go on, it's yours. Take it."

Medea opened her mouth to say something, but stopped herself. Instead, she took the silvery wrapping in her hands and tore it open. Slowly. As soon as there was nothing left, she opened her eyes.

And laughed.

Laughed so much that her stomach felt weird. And then she groaned in pain, because her nose was still sore from the surgery.

"Calm down, you'll get hurt again!"

"How did you know?" She asked, still laughing.

"A little bird told me that you had a collection of key chains."

"And you thought buying me this limited edition frog keychain was plausible?"

"Yes."

"Why? He is so ugly!"

"Medea, you can't judge others by their looks, you know." Kurapika said, although he could barely control his laughter either.

"Oh, but I can! He's horrible!"

"Come on, take a good look at this poor guy's face. Do it."

She turned the key chain from side to side.

It was a frog slightly bigger than her thumb, green in color, with the biggest eyes Medea had ever seen in her life. But they were not only big.

They were detailed like human eyes, with all the typical colors a human sclera had, and bulging out in a very strange way. There were eyelashes coming out of its eyelids, as thick and curved as the ones sold in cosmetic stores. Also, the porcelain that formed his skin looked mucousy.

He was horrendous.

But the little tie that hung around his neck kind of made him...

"Oddly cute…" She concluded.

"Hm?"

She rolled her eyes. "Okay, I admit it, he is oddly cute."

"See? I knew you'd like it!"

"No, no, thinking he's cute and liking him are completely different things!" Medea stated.

"If you don't want it, feel free to give it back!" His gray eyes twinkled with mischief.

"No! I... No." She sighed, smiling. "Thank you very much. He's ugly, but I'll take good care of him."

"Consider it a formal thank you for your help at Konneticot."

She nodded, patting the frog's green head with her forefinger. "You already know you'll have to watch A Million Fallen Roses with me, don't you?"

Kurapika smiled, running a hand through his golden hair as he leaned back in his seat. "I figured it."

"Good. Ok, the basics: Elowen is the main character, Prince Lain is her fiancé, everyone hates the ginger guy, and Enthrydal is her brother." She explained briefly. "Now, shush. The commercial break is over."

They both remained silent, staring at the television screen.

"You are going to marry me!" The man declared, completely furious. He looked unhinged. " I don't care if you love Lain. You are mine, Elowen. Whether you like it or not."

Medea's plan of covering up for the assassin and herself seems to be going pretty well. But what about him? Does he intend to keep his word or use this information to his advantage?
To find out these and other questions, stay tuned for the next chapters~