A Proposal To Wed

Part Fourteen

Red.

If only it wasn't such a beautiful colour.

His eyes were squeezed tightly shut, and his head was covered by the hood of a cloak. The fabric was rough against his skin, but he hardly felt it.

Hardly felt anything at all.

Shalnark and Uvo were speaking in hushed whispers, but Kurapika wasn't paying any attention. He was being pulled along by a hand, his feet numbly carrying out the action of walking forward. He didn't even notice when he stumbled. He didn't care.

Dead.
His whole family.

All because of their eyes.

The cold dew of the grass chilled his bare feet. He couldn't grasp onto a single thought, although many flitted through his head. He wanted to rationalize things; wanted this to be a nightmare or a lie somehow.

Did Chrollo know?
Is that why he-

Kurapika clenched his fists, unable to stop the tears from flowing down his face. He didn't know he had it in him to cry any more.

The marriage arrangement made a lot of sense now.

His heard laid heavy and cold in his chest. His eyes burned, but he dared not open them. He hated the colour red.

Chrollo had stopped running once he reached the treeline. The estate was large, although it ended somewhere in the forest. It wasn't marked or anything, but he knew that wherever Uvo and Shalnark had taken Kurapika, it would be beyond his uncle's authority. They hadn't gotten much of a head start, but Uvo was large and strong, so surely he had carried the two Omegas for a distance.
He followed the trail, humming when Uvo's large boot prints were joined by other, fainter prints. He wondered if Kurapika had shoes on. He wondered if Kurapika was okay. He wondered.

His mind was so full of many thoughts all at once. He wanted to hold his Omega in his arms again. He wanted to kill his uncle for what he had done.
He kept alert, listening for any sounds of pursuit or footsteps ahead of him. His uncle had pursued before him, so he kept alert for a potential ambush.
Not alert enough.

Feitan moved through the shadows as if they were one and the same. He made not a single sound, the sounds of his breathing obscured by the cloth over his mouth and nose. Despite his quick movements, he left no footprints. When he arrived at his desired destination, he climbed a tree and waited.
The sound of Uvo and Shalnark's hushed whispers broke through the silence of the night, and Feitan watched as they passed below him, Kurapika in tow. His eyes lingered for a moment on Shalnark, his heart squeezing in his chest. He watched the spot long after they had passed, and had he been anyone else he would've moved on. But he knew his master's habits.
He knew both of their habits.

Chrollo stepped into a clearing, scanning the area before looking back down at the footprints in front of him. He was in the center of the clearing when something caught his eyes. A single footprint, too small to be Uvo's and too large to be Shalnark or Kurapika's. He tensed a moment before he heard the footstep behind him, wheeling out of the way just in time to avoid the dagger as it sliced a trail through the space he had once stood.
His uncle was quick to recover his stance, pivoting on his heel and moving towards Chrollo again. Chrollo had not brought a weapon, and he cursed himself for his stupidity. He channeled his Nen, but his uncle was also a very skilled user, so he wasn't sure what good it would do. He dodged while he could, a few scratches seeping blood along his arm where he had been accosted by the blade.
"Such a pretty one he is." His uncle said, grinning. "Maybe I'll keep him alive. If I remove the eyes carefully enough, I'm sure I can. His skin looks so soft, and I'm sure I can find some use for him."
Chrollo grit his teeth at his uncle's implication, growling. "Over my dead body."
"With pleasure." Kuroro said, lunging. Chrollo tensed, preparing to dodge left. But his uncle saw it coming.
The blade of the dagger sunk easily into the flesh beneath it. Blood pooled quickly, slicking the grass and the grip of the dagger.

Chrollo fell to his knees.

//740 words.
//another cliffhanger while I work on the next part! I didn't want to extend this chapter too much, but I'll surely be publishing more soon. For now, go ahead and speculate on the events of the chapter! What do y'all think?