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When the creature reached them there had been wide spread panic with people darting everywhere, desperate to escape the monstrous thing. It had been a gigantic gelatinous blob silently gliding forward, seemingly without intelligence. While the vegetation passed through the glob unscathed they noticed that no animal did. Anything that didn’t escape fast enough were caught and suspended in the gel of the thing’s body as it slid forward and didn’t get to struggle too much before dissolving. As the thing gave off no presence or sound and they only noticed the absolute silence once it got too close.
Cheadle did her best to organize an attack on it, to divert it if nothing else. But damn, how do you do anything to an entity that all physical attacks just passed through and absorbed nen? In the end, Kurapika and Ginta somehow managed to attract its attention and the two of them bolted inland with the creature trailing behind them. When Ginta faltered a day in, Kurapika flung him as far as he could with dosing chain and hoped for the best. And after 2 days of hard running Kurapika had to acknowledge his limits and started the laborious process of shaking the thing off before heading back to camp. All in all he was gone a week and the camp, while full of unawakened, had the Association’s best in it along with many other powerful nen users.
It should not have been deserted ruins.
Kurapika walked amongst the debris, looking for clues as to what happened. It was like a hurricane had blown through and ripped everything out of the ground and strewn them about. There were no bodies and yet, no signs of any survivors either. He clenched his fists and tried to keep his bile down, refusing to see Lukso. Without smoke, without decay, without eyeless corpses, this was NOT Lukso. But when the first human he’d seen in over a week of returning to camp turned out to be Chrollo Lucilfer, Kurapika felt like he should be forgiven for losing his absolute mind.
Chain jail had immediately shot out into the underbrush before the man had even fully emerged to wrap tightly around him. Chrollo gave a pause and then continued to step out of the tree line before stopping to regard Kurapika with his large dark eyes.
“You.” Kurapika spat.
“Glad to see you survived that oversized jello.”
“What. Did. You. Do.” Chain jail tightened with every word, as though to squeeze the very truths from Chrollo’s bones.
Chrollo stared at him, then glanced around before his eyebrows lifted slightly. “I’m flattered that you think I did this… though I see how you might draw some parallels.”
Kurapika gritted his teeth and yanked his chain lose angrily. Sitting back down at his fire he retuned to his dinner all the while tracking Chrollo as the man rifled through the stash he’s salvaged over the past few days and helped himself to a few canned goods. The man didn’t even bother heating them up or finding utensils, just prying open the cans and dumping the contents directly in his mouth.
At Kurapika’s glower, Chrollo gestured with his half empty can, “Thank you for your hospitality and generosity, as I am rather… disinclined, to fend for myself, if you can understand.” And he went back to eating.
Kurapika finally took a good look at the man, noting that even in the darkening evening light he could see that the Spider head was fairly worse for wear. He was dirty and gaunt, the deep shadows under his eyes gave him a haunted look, and his movements were jerky and wild without a hint of the controlled grace from York Shin. Kurapika waited until Chrollo finished his cans before flinging him a bottle of water with his chain. The man caught it and looked back expectantly.
“What happened?”
Chrollo sighed, cracked open the bottle and drank it all. After some time he sighed again, “I don’t know.”
“Don’t bullshit m-“
“I really don’t know,” Chrollo repeated softly.
Kurapika stared, mouth open and eyes bulging, trying to parse what Chrollo could be saying.
“After you and that Zodiac took off with the… jello,” Chrollo’s mouth twitched in exhausted amusement, “we had a couple days of setting things back to sorts before noticing that people were just… gone. Disappeared.”
“No one noticed anything earlier?!”
“Well, people were all over the place and I didn’t particularly care to keep track of anything,” Chrollo looked down, eyes and mind distant. “Until mine were gone.”
“Your spiders?”
Chrollo hummed, and gestured for another bottle of water which Kurapika gave. “It was the fog. It comes out of the ocean and the next morning, people would be gone and no one would know what happened.” Chrollo drank deeply then, like a desperate man with a bottle of whisky.
“I don’t understand, it-“ Kurapika fought to find logic in this, “we had so many nen users, not even weak ones mind you, and everyone’s just gone because of fog?!”
“Nen didn’t work on the blob, is it so hard to believe it didn’t work on fog?”
“But, but for everyone to be taken over! And for no one to know anything!” Kurapika could feel the hysteria building and anchored himself with the sight of Chrollo’s defeated form in front of him. Hunched over and limp, blank eyes staring at the fire. “Did everyone get taken over? There must’ve been people left behind? You implied it happened in batches…”
“I don’t know.”
Kurapika drew a sharp breath. “You… you were…”
“I heard the sounds and saw the fog. Then I was out there,” Chrollo tipped his gaze inland. “I don’t know how long it’s been but I was a fair ways in. Didn’t see anyone on the way back… I looked.”
There wasn't much Kurapika could say to that, especially since he had looked as well. Looked and looked and found nothing. Even the main ship anchored far off in deep water was gone.
“It’s been more than 2… close to 3 weeks since Ginta and I led the thing away,” Kurapika supplied gently and Chrollo nodded in thanks.
After that the two of them sat at the crackling fire until the stars came out and the night grew cold. Abruptly Kurapika stood up and fed more logs to the fire and stiffly walked up to Chrollo with a blanket.
“You can continue the overthinking tomorrow.”
Chrollo didn’t look up. The man only took the blanket with another nod before curling up on the ground with his back to the fire. Kurapika watched him and hated. Hated the misery and loss that painted Chrollo’s form. Hated that his enemy, this monster of a man, has been reduced to a shell not by his hands. Hated that Chrollo brought him hope, hope that others were alive and will return.
Together, they waited another two weeks for anyone to return but no one ever did. They passed the time by hunting for food and taking turns to venture out in all directions to look for things they know they won't find. They've only started to discuss the merits of leaving altogether and searching much further inland when the decision was taken out of their hands.
Kurapika woke to a strange bubbling, gurgling sound that was almost drowned out by the swishing of the waves. He was about to sit up when a heavy warm weight threw itself across his chest, holding him down. It said something to his comfort level around the man when he didn't immediately attack with his chains and instead just laid stunned as Chrollo spoke into his ear.
"Stay down, this is the fog."
Kurapika looked towards the sea and saw very little in the dark of the night, but if he focused enough, he could see something darker blanketing the ground. In fact, it was faintly on top and around them too, blurring out the stars above.
"It's dense but doesn't fully touch the ground," Chrollo continued, keeping his voice low due to their proximity. Kurapika could feel the rumbling of his chest vibrate against his own ribcage. "Stay low and move."
The two of them crept into the underbrush then further inland until they found a suitably high tree to scale and spent the rest of the night dozing lightly on its upper branches. When the night faded with the rising of the sun, so did any trace of the fog.
It was too dangerous to stay, so Kurapika left Chrollo to pack their supplies and went about to leave a message in the event someone does make it back here. Then with one last look of their doomed camp, looking almost paradisaical under the clear blue sky, the two of them set off deeper into the Continent following the small river that had been their fresh water supply all this time.
"...Rat?"
Kurapika's head snapped up and met Chrollo's curious gaze.
"I'm a Zodiac too."
"Ah. Congratulations."
"...Thank you."
They settled on a sweeping pattern perpendicular to the river and parallel to the shore, only travelling along it as far as their water supply could accommodate before turning back and moving progressively deeper inland. Kurapika didn't know if this was a fool's errand of desperate men but with nothing else to hold on to they let the search consume them. It was a strange numbing experience that he hadn't felt since he was young, fresh from his loss and grasping at the only purpose his fragile mind could see, albeit with less rage and not alone.
He glanced sideways at Chrollo, whose big dark eyes remained passive and unlit. The exhaustion had gone after a few days of rest but a weariness remained. Kurapika wondered if this was only the result of the fog taking away his companions or if he was already broken when he set foot on these shores. He wondered what his life would've been like if his tribe had been taken away by a nameless, formless disaster instead of flesh and bone entities that he could pin his hatred on. Would his spirit be as drained as well? And what was he doing now? Travelling almost amicably with the murderer of his people feeling almost sorry for the man.
"Did..." Kurapika cleared his throat, hoarse after many days of silence, "did all your Spiders come with you?" Did you lose them all?
At first Kurapika thought Chrollo wouldn't reply, having shown no indication to have noticed that he spoke at all, but when they stopped for lunch Chrollo's quiet voice drifted in the lush heat of the afternoon.
"Two were already lost when we came aboard."
Kurapika thought for a moment.
"Is that why you were after Hisoka?"
"Yes."
"Were you able to get the revenge you wanted?"
Chrollo met his eyes. "Yes."
"Was it sweet?"
Chrollo sucked in a breath, held it, and slowly deflated. Kurapika pressed on.
"Did you pay a price?"
"Yes."
After dinner as they laid on the ground staring at the canopies above Chrollo told him more, words pouring out like a flood even if the only pair of ears to hear them were the unsympathetic ones of his enemy. In return, Kurapika haltingly shared his own journey with the Kakin and his current mission with the Association on the Continent.
As Kurapika coasted on the edge of consciousness, he heard Chrollo whisper.
"I understand now why you did it."
"Hmm?" Kurapika sleepily questioned.
"Why you chose your friends over..." Chrollo sighed. Revenge. Yourself. Me. "It wasn't worth it. It's not worth it at all."
Kurapika's not sure why he did it, the lack of inhibitions after a night of truths and confessions perhaps, but he snaked a chain across the fire and wrapped it around Chrollo's wrist, weighted and firm. Like holding hands. Chrollo's face looked almost peaceful in the firelight, eyes closed, breathing deep. Kurapika fell asleep looking at that face.
On and on they pressed, deep and deeper they went. Until the days blurred and Kurapika no longer knew how long they’ve been searching. The Continent grew tangibly more dangerous with fauna and flora to kill them aplenty. They fought and ran and ran and fought until even calamity-levelled threats became rote, until the world was just the two of them.
Chrollo reached for him then.
Kurapika startled when Chrollo just suddenly collapsed onto him as they stood panting for breath after a particularly harrowing escape from something or the other. It took him a while to realize the man was embracing him, or at least holding on to him from the side. Chrollo’s hands were more claws hooked onto his clothes, his face pressed into the side of his head, and his mouth shakily drawing air right next to his ear. After their hearts and breaths calmed Chrollo let go only to press their mouths together. Alarmed, Kurapika shoved at him.
“Please,” Chrollo pleaded against his lips, “please. You can punch me later just, please.”
It was not a decision but white noise that had Kurapika tip his face up to allow him, to receive him. Their mouths worked together for a while and Chrollo let out a gasping half-sob before backing him against a tree and pressing against him, into him, the line of his body feverish. That night they slept curled into each other and this time Kurapika was close enough to see the wetness beneath the lashes and the eyes twitching beneath their lids in the thralls of a nightmare. This time, Kurapika held Chrollo’s hand with his own.
Where did his rage go? Where is the fire? Kurapika looked deep inside him and found the embers smouldering. He tried fanning it but it would not rise. He looked around and saw the foundations that was laid from it, saw the columns and beams borne from the fire and tempered by his friends, his search for the eyes, Oito and Wobble, and the Association. He saw himself whole and strong.
Kurapika looked at the ghost he walked beside, was Chrollo on a different path then? Has he reached ruin with no way back, no way forward?
“Let’s turn back,” Kurapika found himself saying apropos nothing one day. “We don’t know if anyone will be this far in so we should go and see if anyone’s made it back.”
Chrollo said nothing, just nodded.
Fresh water and food seemed relatively easy to come by so they took a risk and broke their pattern to travel down a section they haven’t been. And miracles upon miracles, Chrollo froze one day staring hard at a branch. Kurapika looked as well but didn't see anything until Chrollo reached for what caught his attention. A few strands of hair, human hair. Curled up on Chrollo’s palm they looked a bit pink.
“Machi,” Chrollo breathed in awe. “Machi.”
Chrollo let out a sudden blast of nen then sprinted out in a random direction. Kurapika immediately threw out chain jail after him, locked him in zetsu and yanked him back.
“Let me go!” Chrollo snarled at him, but didn’t fight back. “I need to find her.”
“We will. Carefully. We can’t help her if we’re dead or injured.” Kurapika felt crazy to be the calm one while Chrollo growled at him. “We’ll look, together.”
He used dosing chain on the hair and followed its direction with Chrollo’s anticipation simmering away at his back. Kurapika supposed he underestimated the Spiders when they noticed that the hair on a branch was actually a trail, growing more frequent as they got closer. And they didn’t find her so much as she found them, dropping from the treetop with a soft “dancho”.
The two of them stood like awkward teenagers before Chrollo crushed her in a tight embrace. Machi buried her face in his chest and clenched her fingers in his coat. After a moment she stepped back.
“Shizuku is here too.”
Chrollo’s eyes slowly lit up. “Is she…”
“Sleeping. We take turns.”
Chrollo nodded. The two of them turned to look at him and Kurapika breathed slowly, waiting. Whatever Machi saw she doesn’t show, only turned down a path without a word.
The girls were sequestered in an abandoned den. Shizuku blearily woke when Chrollo grabbed her from the ground to hug her. She hugged back, murmuring a litany of "dancho"s and "there there"s and petting Chrollo’s back.
The two of them woke up not far from here, Machi told them. They wandered around a bit before deciding to bunker down and search in a radial pattern.
“We were turned around,” Machi said. “We didn’t know which way was back so we decided to establish a base and look for anyone else.”
“We didn’t find anyone.” Shizuku added. Chrollo patted her head.
Surprisingly that night Chrollo chose to continue to sleep curled around Kurapika, arm draped across his chest and leg wrapped around his. Kurapika turned to see the girls’ reaction but Shizuku had very impressively already fallen asleep and Machi just bade him good night.
‘So everyone is numb then.’ Kurapika thought, pushing Chrollo’s head down and further into the crook of his neck so his hair wouldn’t be on his face.
Choosing again to head down in a path the girls hadn’t reached was a good idea. Along the way to back to shore they collected a handful of others more. No one else they knew but from the camp nevertheless. Chrollo had taken to walking with a hand on him at all times now, sometimes on his arm, most of the time at his back, and every night Chrollo slept practically on top of him. For some reason the more people they had in their group the clingier Chrollo got, refusing to let go of Kurapika for long. It wasn’t until they met up with the rest of their friends and it was time to separate that Kurapika understood what happened.
He’d become Chrollo’s anchor.
And Chrollo didn’t want him to go.
But that wouldn’t do. They were enemies that only supported each other out there, where there was nothing else. Now that they were back to reality it was time to put their masks back on and play their parts as always.
“Go.” Kurapika tried to make his voice stern but it came out soft instead. “You’re a nuisance, go.”
Chrollo didn’t go peacefully. Kurapika would find the man broken into his room waiting for him to come to bed. He never pushed him away, always allowing the sad, limp creature to curl around him. But he would leave for his work in the morning without a word or backward glance. The frequency gradually dwindled until by the time they all left that hellscape behind and came back to their comfortable little world, it’d been months since Kurapika last saw him.
By the time that changed to years, Kurapika no longer thought about Chrollo or the Spiders.
So it came as a surprise when one day coming back from the Association he found Chrollo waiting in his apartment. He didn’t greet him so much as slammed him against the wall and kissed him like a starving man. Chrollo clawed hard at his body while Kurapika pushed and shoved him to back off. Neither of them used nen as they wrestled. Though when Kurapika felt the hot line of Chrollo’s erection rolling against his thigh he punched him across the jaw and Chrollo finally let go.
“Absolutely not.” Kurapika pushed out between the panting and the shock.
“Why not.” Chrollo stood his ground. Kurapika could see that the man had regained much of his swagger, distantly recalling hearing that the Spider had grew new legs and was still scuttling about. But through the cracks in the facade Kurapika saw Chrollo was till broken, broken, broken.
“Because that’s not what we are. We’re enemies. We hate each other.”
“You don’t hate me anymore. And I’ve never hated you.”
Kurapika blinked in surprise. So the man could read him as well. Was this why he clung to Kurapika so tightly then? Because he saw salvation in him? Kurapika didn’t care for the work.
“Still no. You needed it then, something to hold on to.”
“And I need it now.”
“Find someone else.” Kurapika snapped, patience wearing thin.
“But I want you. Only you.”
Kurapika drew in a deep breath and pressed the heel of his hand to his forehead, eyes squeezed shut. “No.”
He heard two little thuds and opened his eyes to find that Chrollo had dropped to his knees, looking at him plaintively.
“What must I do?”
“Nothing. You’ve taken enough from me.”
“I’m not taking, not stealing, I’m begging.” Chrollo swallowed hard, “I’ll pay, whatever price you want. Please.”
’Please’. Chrollo’s said that word a lot to him. A number greater than zero was not what he’d ever expected to hear from him and yet here they were. Kurapika rubbed between his eyes again.
“Would you pay with your Spiders then? Your friends? Would I be worth it?”
Chrollo’s jaw worked silently, miserably hoping Kurapika wouldn’t force him to answer. Kurapika sighed.
“Don’t worry, I don’t want them. There’s no price to pay because I will not give.”
Kurapika turned for the kitchen, mind set on dinner preparations and dismissal clear. But Chrollo would not give up. He knelt there the whole time Kurapika cooked. Knelt there when he took pity on him and placed a full plate in front of him on the floor. Was still there when Kurapika came out of the shower but at least the plate was empty. Kurapika sighed again and grabbed some blankets for the couch before going to bed.
Chrollo made him breakfast in the morning. His large doe eyes turned to him when he came into the kitchen. They didn’t eat together though, Chrollo set the table for him then retreated with a plate to the sofa, behaving like a kicked dog. Just like before, Kurapika didn’t bother to throw him out, just allowed the man to orbit around him, eking out scraps of comfort through long, yearning looks.
Occasionally he’d leave. Then come back again. And Kurapika would hear about the Spider’s feats in the news some days later. Still a savage protector of Meteor City but less unprovoked cruelty. And other people would come by and find him there too. Leorio helped him with some large bags of groceries and his jaw dropped at the sight of Chrollo wiping dust from behind the TV.
“Ignore him he’s just there.” Kurapika heard himself saying.
Shizuku came by several times with sweets. Kurapika would eat his share on his balcony while the two ate silently at his table.
One day he opened the door to a beautiful doll, and behind it stood Killua, Gon, and Alluka.
“Kurapika!” Gon called happily, and him and Alluka gave him a hug.
“Wow he really IS here,” said Killua. Kurapika was just about to ask why he wouldn’t be at his own home when he saw Killua was looking past him at Chrollo. Chrollo, who has grown more and more domesticated and who was making tea and sandwiches for him.
“Dancho is always here,” said the doll.
The four of them pushed into his apartment and made themselves comfortable. Chrollo set down the tea and sandwiches and a fruit platter and junk food that Kurapika definitely did not buy and had never see in his apartment before. At his frown Chrollo sheepishly ducked his head. The young ones chattered and chattered and the doll was the youngest of the Zoldycks and the Spiders. Kurapika mused that he’s met all but one of the siblings now.
“Eh, Millu-nii’s not bad, but there’s no reason to meet him.” Killua flapped his hand dismissively.
“You are welcome to come to the house anytime,” said Kalluto solemnly. “Though Killu-nii and Allu-ne will not be there, I would be happy to be your host. Dancho too.”
Kurapika blinked, and glanced at Chrollo, who only smiled and said “thank you”, so he did as well.
“So…” Killua started with a sly, cat-like look. “Are you two…?”
“No,” replied Chrollo and,
“Yes,” said Kurapika. “Yes we are.”
There was a long silence where he felt Chrollo stare at him in shock, but Kurapika just held Killua’s gaze steadily. Alluka deftly changed the topic and they chattered on. After the group left they cleaned up and Chrollo puttered about and started to take out things for dinner.
“I’m not hungry,” Kurapika said with his fists on his hips. “Junk food ruins my appetite.”
“I’m sorry,” Chrollo said, slowly disappearing the chips into the dark recess of the bottom cabinet behind the pots. As though if he moved slow enough the action would not be noticeable.
“No, now that you’ve brought it out you have to share,” Kurapika huffed. “I will not give but I will share, so you must too.”
Chrollo looked hopefully at him.
“I will not give but I will share. You must do the same,” Kurapika repeated.
“I will. I will I will I will,” Chrollo babbled, surging up to grab Kurapika and run them both to his bedroom. “Thank you,” he kissed to his lips. “Thank you,” he kissed to his jaw. “Thank you,” he kissed to his throat, and all the way down until he couldn’t say it anymore with Kurapika’s cock in his mouth.
It was a tiny bit of a white lie, not that Kurapika minded it too much, as Chrollo gave and gave until he screamed with pleasure. He had to kick Chrollo away from his over sensitivity but the man only pushed back to nose along the joint of his thigh and lay feathery kisses all over his stomach. Annoyed, Kurapika pulled Chrollo up by his hair.
“C’mere,” he groused, hand reaching down along Chrollo’s body to tug at his belt. “We’ll have to get lube tomorrow but for now take this all off.”
It was easier said than done since the man would not separate from him again. Faces pressed together they panted into each other’s mouths as Chrollo wiggled this way and that to shed his clothes like a snake shedding skin. Kurapika had to punch him in the ribs to get him to back up enough to take his shirt off.
“Stop that, this is my house I’m not going anywhere,” kiss, kiss. “And you’re not leaving either.”
Kurapika shoved him hard onto his back and climbed on top. Chrollo instantly stilled and looked up at him all quivery.
‘Should’ve done this sooner,’ thought Kurapika.
Mindful of his still sensitive self Kurapika eased down and trapped Chrollo’s hardness between their stomachs. He rolled his body a few times and watched Chrollo draw tight, careful breaths each time. Then he slowly slithered down, rubbing against Chrollo’s cock with his belly, chest, throat, and cheek. It felt good and he kissed Chrollo softly a few times before taking as much as he could in his mouth.
Chrollo squeezed his eyes shut and dug his fingers into his own thighs to keep himself from grabbing Kurapika. When an involuntary jerk of his hips choked Kurapika, his eyes flew open and apologies spilled from his tongue. Kurapika would have none of it though, and just pressed forward more, breathing through the pain and tears and holding eye contact until Chrollo stilled again, groaning. It didn’t take much to reach the end.
They curled up into each other again in the afterglow. This time Kurapika looked up and saw that Chrollo was looking back. They held hands, and slept.