Ceratonia | kurokura time travel family AU | chrollo x kurapika

Chapter 2

Kuroro's head is reeling from the revelation.

It feels as though something has shifted several degrees on his axis. He focuses on the man before him who calls him father and names Kurapika as his partner with absolute truth and certainty—when Kuroro can't reconcile the two together.

Sol certainly resembles him, although his black hair is parted to the side rather than the center. Whereas his own eyes appear dark and unreadable, there's something warmer tinged in Sol's eyes that he can't identify. The shape is larger, sharper at the edges, lending a delicate aspect to his features. Beyond the volatility in his temperament, the image of Kurapika refuses to abate.

Machi and Nobunaga mirror each other with equal dubiousness. If Kuroro wasn't in more control of himself, surely he would react the same.

Nobunaga takes a step forward. "This is the most ridiculous thing I've heard. Danchou doesn't have any kids, let alone one that's as old as you. Even if he did, he'd never end up with the chain bastard—"

Sol's eyes narrow sharply. "You'll be proven wrong within the next year, when you're all throwing a baby shower because your Danchou is starting a family. You two, especially, put in more effort than anyone else!"

The visual is too absurd for him to conceptualize. Before Nobunaga can dispute his claims, Machi speaks up. "You talk as if you know us."

"I do," Sol affirms, as if that isn't clear from his knowledge of the Spiders' past. There are those in the world who can obtain any information they desire—the Ryodan, especially under torture—but as unthinkable as it seems, Kuroro has an increasing suspicion that he knows more about them than what any Hunter could.

"Because I'm your father," Kuroro eventually says, deceptively even, when the words feel too unfamiliar on his tongue. "And the chain user is your dad."

"That's what I said."

A myriad of thoughts pass through Kuroro's mind, too much for him to focus on only one, not least being that his alleged son clearly despises him.

"Prove it."

Kuroro seizes him by the throat, raising him from the floor with one hand and slamming him against the wall. A harsh sound tears from him. A wave of oppressive Nen surges in the narrow space between them, all of the bridled anger without any release following the months of loss after loss.

There are no chains this time to imprison his Nen. Sol doesn't meet his eyes and Kuroro's fingers wrap around tighter, wrenching another choked gasp from him. Trembling hands come to grasp at Kuroro's own, nails digging crescents over the sun tattoo imprinted on the back of his hand, and the absence of strength disappoints him.

Why doesn't he fight back?

Kuroro watches as he struggles to breathe, his eyes flickering between fog and fever, and when he lifts his gaze, that iridescent shade of scarlet blazes to the surface. The same eyes that revealed themselves to the world—ensnared Kuroro with power from a fabled bloodline—and paid the ultimate price.

Kuroro's throat constricts as if he's the one being restricted.

Vindictive rage bleeds into Sol's features, when only one man in this world has ever looked at him the way he does. But whereas Kurapika silences his grief, furious tears gather in his son's eyes. He contradicts himself entirely—one moment he wants him dead and the next he looks at Kuroro with so much disappointment as if Kuroro is the one betraying him.

Something twists inside him, forcing his grip to ease.

Sol falls at his feet, seized by a coughing fit.