Kurapika/Reader: Twelve Steps

Chapter 16: Outmatched

"Where am I?" Where had you come from and how did you arrive at such a lovely place? It was a meadow, wasn't it? You couldn't be entirely sure but it was no time for your brain to puzzle itself with trivial things like that. Everything was much too perfect. There had definitely been something important you were doing before... but... that didn't really matter now, did it? For the time being you just wanted to lie down and shut your eyes, await the breeze... There didn't seem to be one now for some reason, but you were optimistically certain one would come soon. How relaxed you felt, content. You wished Kurapika were here. His presence was probably the only thing that could make you feel more comfortable.

Just as you thought this, as if the heavens aligned to suddenly answer your prayers, a flash of blonde came soaring in through the window, right in front of your eyes. 'Wait... how is there a window in this meadow? ...Oh well...'  The familiar jingle of chains made you want to smile, but Kurapika wore no such expression. His features were painted rancorous and hateful, which was further complemented by the red halos beaming from his irises. .

"F/N, move!" His loud voice pierced through the room, rumbling the tectonic plates of calmness, and it was then you noticed the meadow beneath your feet was shaking. Wait, why did the grass feel hard like stone? Your complacency started to trade itself for disruption, an uneven dissonance in your waking slumber, and you were feeling unsettled again.

"Whuh? Why would I- wah!" You lost your footing as the rumbling became more substantial, causing you to stumble onto your butt. When you looked up you observed Kurapika secure a chokehold around Camille with his dowsing chain, pulling him towards the ground. The momentum sent his golden hair flying backwards and it was now that you noticed something nestled in Kurapika's ears.

'Huh? Why would he want to block out this pleasant melody? ...Ah! Melody!' The small voice in your head reminded you of your docile comrade, and for a brief instance the meadow vanished from your vision.

Outside the window a violent thunderstorm had erupted, and the already black skies grew thicker, fading into an auburn red. Lightning struck the ground at the base of the compound again and again as Basho battled on with the enhancer. You could only imagine the spectacle you were missing; powerful blows of fire and flashy displays of strength, summoning catastrophe and sovereignty like gods among men.

Oh, right! Something of significance was happening right now! But even as you acknowledged this, even as your awareness grew, you were still having trouble finding the urge to act. The entrancing flute music had rendered you utterly malleable, and for a moment you wondered if this is how lobotomized patients in psych wards feel on a daily basis.

It had taken you far too long to regain some semblance of clarity, but fortunately Kurapika had the element of surprise on his side, and gained the upper hand on Camille. You were going to blindly combat your inner peace and follow your partner's command to run, but you found the device had still not vanished from your leg. Camille was fighting hard against Melody's powerful emission, keeping his hatsu flowing, which was a feat far beyond your comprehension. But Kurapika had ahold of him. All he had to do was keep him like this, leave him to fall into unconsciousness, and then you'd be free- or at least free enough to help Basho in his fight. The two males' strained grunts as they fought for dominance were drowned out by an increase in the atmosphere's quaking. That last mighty blow from Butcher definitely hit the side of the building. Beams and walls began to crumble, and tiny pebbles of cement were dropping from above, where the open sky in the meadow should've been.

The loudest explosion yet, and then the music ceased, snapping you back into reality.

"Uh? AHH!" The structure's foundation gave way beneath you and the floor bent at an extreme angle, causing the three of you to slide towards what had been a wall and a window before, but was now just open air and a view of the other two combatants. You helplessly grabbed at the floor as you slid, trying to gain a foothold on the traction-less floor. The wall to the adjacent room had collapsed as well, revealing a small human form on the floor. You saw a gleam of silver rolling down the incline, stopping just short of that person's limp unmoving fingers.