Skeleton Flower | kurokura time travel AU | chrollo x kurapika

Chapter 3

A flash of lightning, but no rain.

The sky grows dark and oppressive, encouraging civilians to close the doors and windows of their apartments without hesitation. Meteor City doesn't seem like a place that would see much rainfall, or any at all. The sight of lightning is more like an omen than anything.

The sudden change in humidity makes Kurapika's hair stick to his face. As if the heat could be more unbearable. The heaps of garbage rise several floors high next to the buildings, and the pungent scent seems to have magnified. No wind passes by as he moves through the vacant streets, keeping a measured distance behind Kuroro and Kortopi to remain undetected. It's fortunate that he can still conceal himself using Zetsu.

As he leaves behind old apartments, more decrepit dwellings come into view. Some makeshift houses seem more durable than others, constructed from planks of wood and cardboard, while many are only composed of ropes and tarpaulin. Although most of the civilians have retreated into their homes, barefooted children still mingle beneath low roofs made from tin sheets and plastics. Kurapika fears they will not hold should it rain.

Kuroro eventually stops at an open landscape, far from the homes of Meteor City's inhabitants. Finally, because Kurapika didn't exactly want to ambush him in public. Amidst the smoke and ascended dust, where something used to stand, only rubble and broken glass remain. The aftermath of destruction is thick in the air.

Kurapika presses his back against a slab of rock, not daring to make a sound. When the dust begins to clear, he can make out a massive figure approaching Kuroro and Kortopi. The sudden flood of aura melts away the scraps of the building at their feet, vaporizing them into nothing but air. Kurapika's breath seizes in his throat.

Silva Zoldyck emerges from the dust, holding a young woman by her long, black hair—but she isn't struggling, isn't even moving. Only her white dress billows with the breeze.

If Kuroro could grow even paler, he does. Kortopi hides behind his leg, trembling and grasping onto him without any intention of letting go.

"You've kept me waiting, Spider." Silva drops the woman, and her body strikes the ground with the sound of a crumpled doll being discarded like garbage. Her hair spills over in a pool of black, soaked with fresh blood. "Where's the rest of your subordinates?"

Kuroro sets his jaw, not breaking eye contact with his unwanted visitor. "Go, Kortopi."

Kortopi's head snaps up, looking at him with wide, fearful eyes. He shakes his head, grabbing onto Kuroro's clothes again.

"Did you not hear me?" Kuroro's tone is harsher now. "Go."

Kurapika knows faintly of their past together, of how Kuroro managed to hold his own in a fight against the Zoldycks twice, though he doesn't know who hired Silva. This is unfortunate timing on his part, because all he wants is his Hunter license back, not to get involved in a fight between these two.

Silva approaches with thunderous steps, and the smell of something burning is their only warning. Electricity crackles in his hands, spinning into an orb of vibrant purple light, and he hurls it towards their direction with terrifying strength.

Kurapika doesn't even have time to see the result, because Kuroro grabs Kortopi by his shirt and throws him across the landscape—back in Kurapika's direction. As Kortopi's body skids through the ground, landing at his feet, Kurapika doesn't even think, just picks him up and runs. He makes a sound of surprise, but Kurapika doesn't have the time to explain yet. Earth shatters, rocks flatten, and when Kurapika looks back, his heart racing like never before, Kuroro's figure has disappeared with the dust.