𝑩𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒂𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝑯𝒆𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒔 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑪𝒉𝒂𝒊𝒏𝒔-𝑲.𝑲𝒖𝒓𝒕𝒂

3| 𝑵𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒆𝒔 𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝑷𝒐𝒑 𝑸𝒖𝒊𝒛𝒛𝒆𝒔

 The air was heavy and hard to breathe as flames engulfed every corner of the village turning the bright starry skies a haunting blood red. Mothers clung to their children for what they knew would be the last time and as the chilling screams filled up the night's silence, all (Y/n) could bring herself to do was watch.

(Y/n) felt sick as the knot in her stomach tightened and a lump in her throat grew. The metallic tang of fresh, warm blood mingled with the acrid stench of engulfing flames, invading her senses and filling up her lungs, robbing them of any remaining oxygen. 

Just then a pair of hands found their way to her shoulders accompanied by a voice all too familiar to her... 

"This is the world we live in My dear little sister. We don't have time to sit around and make friends." 

His voice, cold, echoed with heartlessness and devoid of even the faintest trace of remorse.

Why didn't you do anything (Y/n)? 

Your fault 

It's all your fault...

(Y/n) suddenly jolted awake from her sleep. Her chest was pounding and hot tears streamed down her face. Air failed to enter her lungs as she gasped for it and the world around her became a blur. 

So many thoughts raced through her mind. 

She felt out of control. 

The darkness of the quiet ship started to close in on her, mercilessly suffocating her. 

It felt so real like she was living it all over again. All the screams, the agony, the pain and the fear, and the smell of blood. 

That damn smell of blood!  

But, just as she felt her throat closing in on her and the overwhelming sense of despair taking her in, a hand softly touched her back 

"Hey." 

The voice was soft and nurturing and handled with such sensitivity that it made (Y/n) want to break completely. 

"You're okay. Breathe." 

She slowly turned around to see none other than Kurapika beside her, his hand delicately placed on her back so as to not startle her more than she already was. His look was gentle. 

(Y/n) took a few minutes to compose herself then slowly took a few shaking breaths before finally taking a long deep breath, filling her lungs with new clean air, and then calmly exhaling. 

She looked at the boy next to her. He waited for the girl to entirely compose herself before slowly removing his hand from her back, and sitting next to her. 

"Are you okay?" He asked her, his voice was quiet so as not to disturb the others around but still loud enough for her to hear 

Lowering her head, (Y/n) took one final breath to shake off the leftover haze from the dream before awkwardly coming to the realization of what was going on. 

"Yeah. I'm very sorry, I had a nightmare."

this was embarrassing...

"It's okay. I get those too." Kurapika responded back. His response was kind and understanding. This caused (Y/n) to look back up at him with a small smile forming on her face.

(Y/n) from a young age was conditioned that showing emotions was showing weakness, weaknesses made us vulnerable and our vulnerability could be used against us. She learned to build a fortress around them, bottling up everything she felt and keeping it inside with a strong iron fist yet for some reason, she didn't feel the need to do that right now.