Kurapikaxreader | 𝐶𝐻𝐴𝐼𝑁 𝑂𝐹 𝑆𝑃𝐴𝑅𝑅𝑂𝑊𝑆

Haunting Memories

"You should look to be more like your brother..."

That's what her parents, her mother, and father, used to tell her. It's what the whole village used to imply.

"Stupid Sparrow."

Flashbacks to a bloody nose and punches from outsiders encroaching on the village came to Y/n's mind, which was already throbbing in pain. Most of all, it had been ages since anyone referred to her as what she was: a Sparrow of the Emerald Tribe, The Emerald Kingdom.

"Okay, alright, focus, focus!" Y/n whispered to herself desperately.

"Calm down, you trained all your life for this shit!"

But the calming shackles of Peace Training had broken. Y/n was unable to tame the millions of thoughts- of flashes of memory swimming in her head. Images hit her like lightning in her mind's eye. The bright smile of a brother, the disgusted scorn of a mother, the gentle gaze of a teacher. More than any of this, however, what she could feel the best is the horrific pulling and tearing of her heartstrings. She could hear voices of people she once knew who were all now dead, leaving her with griefs and grudges she alone would have to bear.

"Why can't you be more like your brother?"

What had that man dressed in green, with long stringy black hair, done to her?

"You're not concentrating. You have so much anger inside you."

"Don't listen to them. They don't know what it's like out there. But I've seen it. You can see it too."

"You're a disgrace to this family. You are useless."

It was at this point that Y/n could not handle the pain any longer. A gagged cry came from her mouth as she sunk her head into her knees, holding the bulk of her brain in her hands. She knew she must not be loud, but she couldn't remember why.

There's something I must do. But none of it matters anymore. This pain is too heavy a burden to bear. She could no longer see or sense the real world. All she could see was black and sparks of rancid rainbow hues bouncing in different shapes in her vision. Now she really wanted to pray- to any and all 273 gods she had studied in the short time she wandered outside the village that had seemed like a dream. Her crazed mind through their names only briefly— Dunsava, Lindaguren, Koresh, Shelstar, Yeshta, Strangeson, The Holy Trinity of Ofhunja, Sayapokitle— when a new sensation hit her. She could feel dozens of hands rise from the swaying grass of bright purples and sickening greens aiming straight towards her. They pulled at her clothes, gripped at her ankles, and scratched at her clammy skin.

"More like your brother, you stupid Sparrow..." they seemed to groan.

Y/n stumbled forward, and before she knew what was occurring she turned to see a tall figure made of furious black smoke. She could clearly see the eyes of at first her mother, then her father, her brother, a sister, a teacher, the authority, who all jeered at her. When it began appearing closer to her, reaching out an ink-black claw at her, she bolted from her spot and ran for her life. A hand would reach out and grab her from the foot and she'd tumble. Rotting corpses hung from the ceiling of Y/n's hellish mindscape, brushing her cheeks as she flew by, scratching her with molding fingernails when they could. She managed to slip onto an elevated stone in the ground and held her breath as if that would keep the creatures of her past away. She held her breath in a horrified suspension, waiting for something to attack. She could see the forest now, dotted with hallucinations of piercing demon eyes and she could hear the drumming of hunting music.

"Y/n!"

She turned to the source of the voice.

Interrupting the hell-scape was a young man with bright blond hair and odd clothing. He had soft eyes and his face was drenched in sweat that had mixed with bits of forest debris and sticky pollen. Who was this guy?