Heart Burn

To Revoke The Right To Breathe

~Chapter Three~
To Revoke The Right To Breathe

It's utterly dark at first. Not a single flicker of light to be seen. Everything's cold, too. And for a moment Killua's worried that he somehow ended up down in the cellar while he was asleep. It wasn't below his family to be so cruel... However, a flicker of light blurs those blue eyes all too suddenly,  flashing over the entire room and blinding Killua. This... definitely isn't the cellar.

As his vision comes into focus, Killua slowly realizes where he is. And it makes absolutely no sense to him. The long, colorfully tiled floors expand beyond his feet, and the large chandelier from above shines down brightly and coats the entire ballroom in a golden light.

This doesn't sit right with the prince. For his whole life, he's hated the ballroom more than he could ever imagine. So what the hell is he doing here? He could picture himself sleeping walking down this hall, but even then, he'd physically revolt rather than enter the room. Not even the depth of sleep can force him into this horror house.

Dreams don't come often to the young boy, though it isn't unlikely this entire experience could be one. It's always some heavy weight, when he does sleep. Never pleasant. Those black, endless eyes always haunting him. But this...  This feels different. Entirely different. Everything is just so light and fuzzy. 

Killua takes a step into the large, empty room, and only then does the shadow of another appear from thin air.  The prince shrinks in on himself rather quickly, arms preparing to raise in a pointless defense, but he pauses. This man's build is too firm to belong to the slender being that is Illumi. Too gentle and built, yet somehow perfectly bulky, curved. Almost as perfect as that man that Killua saw the other day, down by the docks. Veggie head.

Alleged Veggie head –Killua has got to find another title for the man— takes a few steps closer to Killua, all until he's directly in front of the other. A tan, calloused hand is held out to him. Gentle and welcoming, warmth almost radiating off of it.

Is he... offering a dance? The Zoldyck ponders to himself, staring at the hand with utter confusion. Though the face of that man is blurry and incoherent, Killua swears he can see a hint of that perfect, pearly smile he had caught glimpse of only once yesterday. With just a small notice of that grin, Killua melts, and he takes the stranger's hand without any remembrance of caution.

The man pulls Killua into his arms with too smooth of a twirl, the Zoldyck's back now pressed against his strong chest. It makes Killua's breath catch in his throat, and as he tenses up he can feel the ripple of the other's muscles. God, he was so close. The man's breath grazes Killua's neck, those lips perhaps too close to making direct contact with his skin.

"Relax," that deep voice whispers. A melody Killua's never heard in his entire life, yet with a strong feeling of nostalgia it strikes through him. Strong familiarity.

That stranger grasps Killua's hip with his other hand, giving him another twirl so that they were face to face. Though there's nothing to face but blurriness. 

What catches the Zoldyck further off guard is when music suddenly plays. Slow, soft music echoing off of the walls. It's so random and completely out of nowhere. Nobody else is in the ballroom but the two of them. Where is the source of the music?

Killua finds himself looking up again, as though a harder gaze might reveal just who this blurry face is. He holds Killua so gently, those hands cupping his waist and fitting perfectly in the dip of his hips. Like a perfect piece to Killua's puzzle that he didn't even know he was missing. They're so close together that it's getting Killua flustered. He's never really been embraced like this, let alone at all. So for this man, this man who looks so much like the one Killua fell for in a heartbeat, to hold him so close and so gently... Well, frankly, it's driving Killua feral.