Midnight Resolve [Kurapika x Kurta!Reader]

[18] Sapphire Memories, Part II

That morning you had woken up early, too excited to properly sleep. Hastily scrawling down your last diary entry and signing it at the bottom (so if you went down in history books as a hero to the common people, they could see your journey!), you did a last glance around your room.

You were going to miss it here.

Hiding your backpack underneath your bed for the time being, you rushed down to eat breakfast in high spirits with your family. It was quick to go down, and you were just as quick to leave as you bolted to go see Pairo — you had told him about the outsider friend and passed on your stories to him. He was the only friend that knew you were leaving and why you were leaving, and while he supported you....

Well, you were going to miss him terribly.

Thankfully, the brunet was more mischievous than you were, and gave you tips about sneaking out, helping you make sure that you had everything packed. Giving him one last hug, you glanced at the watch you were wearing, bouncing on your feet.

"It's time, it's time! I promise I'll come back to visit, Pairo!"

Kissing your friend on the cheek, you ran back off to your house, grabbing your backpack before leaving there. You would be quite a bit early, but that was okay! Far used to it by now, you deftly snuck out of the village for what would be the last time. Putting a hand into your pocket, you went to go pull out the spider coin, only to freeze in your tracks.

"Oh fuddles...."

Patting your front and back pockets, you bit down on your lower lip. You must have left it in your room — shoot! It's a good thing you had left early — perhaps you should go tell Chrollo you had left it, and go grab it before you leave for good.

Remember to meet at the grotto noon tomorrow — not even a second too late, or a second too soon.

Remembering Chrollo's words, you milled about in the forest, trying to debate on what to do. After a moment, your more mischievous side won out. It was better to be earlier than later, right? And as long as you were just giving Chrollo the heads up that you had to go back to your village, it should be good, right?

Besides, you wanted to sneak up on Chrollo and scare him! No matter how good you were at zetsu by now, you had not once been able to startle him. Maybe today he'd have his guard lowered!

With your mind resolved, you set back off, continuing to the grotto at a more leisure pace. When you had gotten closer, you immediately went into zetsu, sneaking forward and crawling through the log like normal.

Now that you thought about it, you had never seen Pakunoda or Nobunaga use the log. How did they get into the grotto? Pakunoda might be able to fit, but no way could Nobunaga squeeze through here.

Pausing halfway through, you noted how there were more auras in the grotto, a voice speaking above them all. You recognized that voice — it was Chrollo's, controlled and even as always.

"— be here in half an hour. Once she arrives, that's the signal to start."

A new voice spoke up, unfamiliar to you. "Only those who are pure Kurtan will have the scarlet eyes, but there are a lot of half-Kurtans living on the compound."

"As Shalnark said," Chrollo spoke back up, "Only the pure Kurta are worth anything. Attack the half-Kurtans first, enough to aggravate those with the scarlet eyes. Torture, brutalize, do whatever it takes."

What . . ?

"When the scarlet eyes appear, behead them to keep the scarlet glow, and we'll pluck the eyeballs after. Kortopi already has the jars and formaldehyde to preserve them."