Seeing through the Flames (Killua x OC) (Kurapika x OC)

Chapter 14

WARNING: If you are uncomfortable with arguments, unstable behavior, and/or anger, then please skip this chapter or skim through it quickly. Thank you.

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Each time she smiled, it felt like a stab.

Each time she smiled, it felt like a stab, and yet within the haze of her mind, it was all pushed aside. All thoughts and emotions were pushed away, away from the frontals of her consciousness.

Anything Ai said, or any smiles she shared with Arla during the ride back were forgotten as she opened the door to her room. As Ai entered her own room, slowly, the smile she paraded around vanished.

She did not even bother looking at Kit Two who was sleeping on one of her large hotel beds, instead attempting to walk to her bed. Her legs gave out just as she reached the end, her hands grabbing onto the foot of the bed.

With lethargic, sluggish movements, Ai fished out her phone and automatically began dialing the only number she had memorized.

'Please, please answer.' She wished desperately as her lips began quivering again, her first conscious thought since she fell into that helpless and listless trance.

There was a click. "Ai?"

'Ah, he picked up,' she thought, tears welling up in her eyes. Her throat tightened up, making it hard for words to leave her mouth as sounds, even though her mouth moved.

"Ai?" He repeated her name, this time with more confusion and slight worry. "Are you there? Are you okay?"

Clutching her phone with one hand and the bedsheets with the other, Ai buried her face into the bed, despite no one being there to see it. "Thank you, Kurapika," she whispered, her voice as fragile as the early flower buds of spring. "Thank you for picking up."

There was a pause from the line. "Did something happen? Ai, are you okay?"

"I... I'm..." Her throat tightened up again. She could not lie to him. She felt that if she lied to him after already lying to Arla, it would be like a double sin. "I just wanted to talk to you, even if it's just for five minutes. Please, just talk to me about anything."

There was another pause from the line. "Okay."

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Kurapika stared at the phone in his hand after ending the call. 'Ai... Something definitely happened,' he thought, frowning slightly as he clutched the phone.

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'Help me!'

A girl walked into the forest in confusion. "Where is this voice coming from...? They sound like they're in pain..." She paused before entering further. "But grandma told me not to go any further..."

'It hurts-! Save me!'

"But... But I can't ignore someone who is in pain..." The girl looked back at her town. She hardened her resolve and dashed further into the forest. "Excuse me! Where are you?! How are you hurt?!"

'I... I can't...move...' The voice came from inside of a cave. 'Stuck... It hurts-!'

The girl stood outside of the cave hesitantly. "Maybe I should get grandma..."

The voice started to scream louder at her suggestion, screeching as if it was being tortured relentlessly. 'IT HURTS! SAVE-! HELP ME!'

"There's no time for hesitating!" The girl braced herself as she ran into the cave bravely. "Where...?" She then saw at the other end of the cave - a green glowing rock. "What is this?" She gently touched the strangely warm rock. "Why is it warm?"