KurapikaxMale!Reader | 𝐶𝐻𝐴𝐼𝑁 𝑂𝐹 𝑆𝑃𝐴𝑅𝑅𝑂𝑊𝑆

14, Trouble At Trick Tower

Y/n's fingers traced a straight rift on the ground, his hand catching the gritty sand as he trailed a brown finger down. He left only a mark on the ground as he frowned in frustration. His skull felt as if it pulsated from the heat, and beneath it, his mind was intent on deciphering what could possibly be beneath the surface-- survival or certain death?

He looked up to see the rest of the boys pondering the same thing, Leorio shaking his head and Gon and Killua discussing the matters within themselves. Those who had dared to climb down the tower had met an unsightly demise, and so the only option was to discover some other entrance to the tower. His eyes met Kurapika's sunlit ones and he sent a reassuring grin his way.

"Look!" Leorio exclaimed, butt high in the air, pushing on a tile on the flooring downwards with two fingers.

Y/n's head swiveled around as other participants began pouring into the Trick Tower itself, falling like pieces of an unseen puzzle. The heat prickled on his neck. It was the only available option. His Hunter License depended on it.

"Excellent discovery, Leorio!" Kurapika said as he pushed on a faulty tile.

"Mmm, you can't use these more than once..." Gon said. "But it's better than nothing!"

"Everyone, get a tile before there's none left."

Sinking into his thighs, Y/n placed an open palm on a moving floor piece and sighed deeply in anxiety.

Kurapika called out to him with a pleasant smile that made Y/n's heart melt. His rosy lips moved to speak and even in the sun, Y/n could see the love that swan in his warm eyes.

"This is not goodbye, only 'see you later'," he said and disappeared into an invisible abyss.

Y/n gasped as Kurapika's calm face was swallowed into the ground before him. He reached out, but only a dusty emptiness remained.

"Well, what the hell are you waiting for?" Killua said, startling him from the sudden feeling of loss.

He looked around to notice that of his group, only he and Killua remained.

"Well, um-"

"Well?"

His head cocked to the side and his hand rubbed at his shirt, but still, his eyes looked him up and down in a child's simple curiosity.

"Are you nervous?" A calm wind passed through them, Killua's hair responding by dancing in the air.

"Don't be."

Y/n sighed and nodded sullenly, ejecting a thumbs up into the air.

"Hurry up. There's probably a time limit." Killua said quietly before ducking into the floor tile.

Y/n stirred, the caw of distant giant man-eating birds and the incessant chatter of other participants and the white sun beating down his brow being the prominent physical stimuli. He closed his eyes. Inside, he was cold. Alone. Silent. He took a deep breath and calmed his heart as well as any well-trained Sparrow could, and pushed the bulk of his weight down forcefully.

For a moment, Y/n questioned if he had actually fallen in. He opened his eyes to realize it was the air around him that made him feel as if he were floating.

I must be falling... that means I'll land.

Y/n's striking eyes searched below him desperately as he felt a wave of cold air hit him from below. He stretched and formed his best diving position as rapidly as possible a millisecond before crashing into black, ice-cold water. As he sank like a bag of sand in the ocean, pain ran across his face from the beating the water had given him, although he luckily had avoided death or any serious injury from falling somewhat correctly, albeit at the very last moment. He held his breath and could feel his warm heart beating heavily against his ribcage in the freezing water. His eyes opened briefly and he could see the tile he had fallen through as it closed, encasing him in pitch blackness.