They were born roughly four years apart, but as far back as he could remember she had always been in his life in the Kurta Clan. Not next to him as a best friend, as Pairo had been, though she had been close. And not family. No, simply... near.

The sight of her tousled brown hair and brown eyes were nothing new. Those had always been bobbing up and down somewhere around him, either at his sides or Pairo's. They weren't as dark and rich as Pairo's own, of course; that came from his father's side of the family. Aira's were much lighter, of Pairo's mother.

He'd known her for a long time, he realized. He would come over and he and Pairo would both lean over a carved crib, putting their pinkies in her tiny palm and comment over and over on whose hand she'd held first or how squishy she was. They would continue to do so until someone came in and begged them to let the poor baby sleep already, and shooed them outside, after which he and Pairo would go take a peek at some of the riding birds instead. (Days without schedule or commitment, he missed that.)

Time passed, and soon baby became toddler. As soon as she'd been able to stand on her own two feet, it seemed as if she never left them alone, always following after them with her tiny arms outstretched. Kurapika put up with it at first, but it grew tiring. He found it annoying. He wanted to spend time with Pairo alone, running through the forest without a needy toddler clinging to them or tripping over herself. He found increasingly innovative ways to get her out of the way and took it upon himself to do so because Pairo was too nice to. Yet even toddlers could learn, and soon his childish lies about girl-eating-monsters had no effect.

But whether he'd been trying to pry himself and Pairo away from her or she'd come waddling back with short arms raised and tugging at the hems of their clothes, she had always been a part of his life. As a voice leaking in through a crack in the doorway, as an off-beat rhythm amid the other drummers during festivals, as a sight of a poorly cut mushroom when she tried to help in the kitchen. She had always been there.

Present, that's what it was. Even when he hadn't been with her, she had always been one face among dozens in the village, a person they wouldn't be the same without. She was a Kurta; she was part of his clan and one of them, one of him.

And yet, when he finally opened his eyes and realized just what he was doing, he looked at the one entangled in his conjured chains—Chain Jail, the one where he would die if he used it on anyone other than a Spider—he was surprised it wasn't Aira. He knew he'd lost control and aimed it at Lucky, that much he could vaguely comprehend in hindsight. But everything after wasn't something he could understand. With the flow of things, he'd just somehow assumed that...

That the one in his prison for Spiders should have been Rein.

The young boy's arms were pinned tightly to his sides, the silken fabric of his sleeves twisted between the links of the chains. But the wooden ridges of his sandaled feet dug firmly into the floor, grounding him with an unwavering determination as his grimace became a proud badge. Able to stay standing, he slowly raised his gaze. "The only person here I'm going to let you even think about hurting," Kalluto said, "is me."

* * *

Kalluto—with breaking, cracking sounds tearing from his chest as he wondered whether he would tear in half himself—now understood why the pumping of the heart was called a beat. At times it could be violent, and the beating of his heart now was the most frantic as it had ever been.

A simple flick, a fleeting will, any single steel inch forward could do him in for good. And he was near helpless to do anything about it.

Kalluto tried to reel in his heavy breathing and quickly shot a look off to the side. Rein's teeth were shut, gritting together as she glared at Kurapika just coming to his senses. Her knees were slightly bent and hidden by the folds of her skirt, but with the situation, he knew Rein had been more than ready to attack or spring forward and take Lucky's place as the target of the chain. Kalluto was only grateful he'd been a step ahead of her.

"Kallu—!" His ivory hair stood on edge, but Killua took no further steps forward as a light of realization sparked in Kurapika's dazed eyes.

"You're a Spider." He observed the boy caught in his Hatsu and himself, intact. "And," Kurapika said the next part slowly, "you're a Zoldyck?"

"You remembered." Kalluto felt like his heart would leap right from his throat. "Now let me go before Rein does anything stupid."

"You heard," she said when a moment passed in silence. "Let him free. He hasn't done anything."

It took time, but after a pause Kurapika withdrew his chain from Kalluto, who was quickly tackled by Zushi and led to Lucky behind the safe shadow of Gon and Killua. "I lost control. I apologize," Kurapika said.

At those words, she snapped. "It's always 'I apologize' this and that! But I don't seem to actually remember you doing it. I don't remember you saying 'sorry'."

"You reasoned I should let Killua's brother go because he hasn't done anything. Those were your exact words."

The realization hurt. "You're ignoring me."

"Which implies you think his innocence is basis for his release. What then, of the Phantom Troupe? Do you insist they're innocent or I let them go?"

"How about you listen to me for once? Leave us alone. You leave me alone and I'll leave you alone. This is my offer. Last chance."

Kurapika glanced around her outstretched hand, which she hadn't realized she'd extended. She quickly snatched it back, but not before she heard a heavy sigh and a small, "Aira."

She glowered. "Don't call me that." A small thump sounded when he took a step forward, and a closer look through the dimming light in the room revealed an unusual shape at his hip, hard to pick out and black just as his clothes were. It couldn't have been his chains, it was too uniform and stiff. Rein's eyes widened. She searched for a clasp and wrung out out a hand behind her back, loosening her fingers as he approached.

"I understand. I do." He came forward. "Your memory has been forcibly wiped and you live with memories of the Phantom Troupe only. You've forgotten all your happiness, you past, and your real family. It must be hard to accept." Another step. "But this is the past, written in stone. You can't change it. All the happiness you lost remains in you and in others." Another step forward, the last as he tried to reach out, for her, for sympathy and any sense of the warmth he'd been deprived of. "You can't replace it with the feigned care of murderers and thie-!"

A blur of color brushed by his ear, and a soft breeze caused by it followed soon after.

Rein cushioned her landing with a slide into a crouch a distance away from Kurapika, behind him before anyone had time to comprehend what just happened. She started to stand, tilting her head back with something akin to a grin as she raised her arm and a sharp inhale rose from everyone watching. She cocked the gun. "Thieves, right?"

Kurapika's gaze whipped to his side, and his empty holster.

"Rein, you absolute moron!" Killua yelled from the side as he tried to keep everyone else from rashly leaping out to grab it from her hands or get in the pistol's path. "Are you trying to die?"

"Aira." Kurapika did his best to appear calm and reached out, palm flat and facing upward. "Rein, give it back. You well know that if you shoot, the chain in your heart will act before I can."

Rein knew. But it put her and Kurapika on equal standing, acting as a deterrent and forcing him to incline his ear to her reasoning. If nothing worked... If she was going down, he would go down with her. The cold weight cemented itself in her hands, foreign but not uncomfortable. She rather liked its polished silver shine. "I don't think I'm going to miss."

"Did I get something wrong about your feelings? I apologize." At her scowl at his words, Kurapika almost winced. He didn't understand. Or maybe he did, and didn't want to. He brought his voice low. "Why do you always defend them?" She couldn't possibly love the Spiders, could she? "They took everything away from you."

"Then..." Rein sniffed, and suddenly she was struggling to hold everything back. Hot tears were leaking from the scrunched corners of her eyes as she attempted to keep the frown on her face, trying to keep her lips from trembling at the mere thought of scenes burned into her memory that she didn't want to remember. Her voice broke. "Do you have to do it a second time?"

* * *

Machi ran through the wood, retracing their steps from the time they'd saved Lucky and following the signs suggesting the group came this way. It was difficult, but she could manage. She'd been an expert at tracking for years, and her experience would not fail her now. Her feet pounded the moist soil as she went, silent.

Those kids were crazy, all of them. She only hoped Lucky had a firm grip on the situation. As helpless as he was, he understood people the best and was often the mediator when no one else was around. But in this matter, Lucky was no longer neutral, and that aspect worried her. If he or anyone let their emotions get the better of them, there was no telling what outcome would be ahead. There was a thin line between a future you could twist and a fate set in stone, and crossing that line was something to be avoided at all costs. 'Too late' was a reality, one she knew all too well.

Empty air caught in her throat painfully, pressing against the contracted walls of her esophagus and choking her. Machi nearly stumbled, but she was able to keep steady.

It was unnecessary to think of loss. She was a Spider. She didn't need dwell on such things, and it would only weigh her down.

But there was the bracelet on her wrist, the one Lucky had made with her, and although looking at it nearly made her want to puke, she kept staring at it. Gradually, her breathing slowed.

The ones who'd gone ahead all had rage to fuel them, but so did Kurapika. The only ones close to neutral in the matter were Gon and Killua, and she didn't trust them to hold their stance or to use it accordingly. The strongest one out of their allies was Kalluto, but he was a Spider, one whom the chain user was groomed to restrain and kill if necessary.

Machi didn't know whether her appearance would do anything to help the situation, and this new uncertainty felt uncomfortable to her. But no matter what would come from it, she had to go. She would go with this endless pit in her middle and deal with it from there.

* * *

Rein didn't like dead bodies. She disliked the way they hung wet and limp and bloody and broken, as how she often ended seeing them during her time with the Phantom Troupe. It had been fearsome at first, then simply uncomfortable, then a bit intriguing. It looked horrid, but little by little her curious eyes started to draw to the destructed sight, a scene that was wrong and sickening but fascinating.

That fascination disappeared rather quickly when the Chain User had shown up.

It didn't belong on people she knew and she hated him for it. And as the standstill stretched out and her arms began to quiver and her sight blurred beyond comprehension and Kurapika acted like he knew how she felt and was calm about it, her hate intensified.

Die, she wanted to shout, her grip on the gun tightening. Just hurry up and die. She wanted curse him, to pound her fists against his chest and scream at him to just die, to go away and disappear from her life and just leave her alone. But the words caught painfully in her throat.

She wanted this, didn't she?

(But did she hate him more than bodies? Enough to wish him to become one?)

(She wished the answer was yes.)

"Aira-"

"My name is Rein!" she screamed.

Kurapika only blinked.

"My name," she repeated slowly, "is Rein." She pulled back a shaky hand and swept a lock of hair out of her vision. She kept the gun trained on him. "With pressure, perhaps you'll reconsider. You can't bring back the Kurta just like I can't reverse what you've done. That's the reality. Drop it and leave me alone. Leave us alone."

"But it's only due to Lucky's own inadequacies, correct? If I have his power, if I take it, I can do something about it. I can make it work." Before anyone could comprehend, a different sort of chain had materialized in his hands. "It's what my Hatsu is for. This is what I'm supposed to do. If I can't do this..." A small metal syringe gleamed at the end of his chain, its point sharp.

Rein froze. She didn't recognize this one.

The human wall protecting Lucky strengthened when he tried to step forward to try and reason. For the better of everyone, they wouldn't let Kurapika have an opening. But though they were all shielding Lucky, he was head and shoulders taller than all of them. So even when he was forced to speak from behind them, he could clearly see Kurapika's face. And yet, as Lucky watched, it was clear Kurapika wasn't looking at him, wasn't seeing him.

"My Nen is destructive. If you try to control all of it at once, with no other targets, it's going to turn on you. It won't go the way to want it to. You don't know it. Even I don't know it well enough to go try my hand at something as rash as what you want to. It could kill people." His eyes lowered, softening with pain. "Stop before you lose something you can't get back."

"If you don't take risks, you'll never accomplish anything great."

Lucky tried to push forward with his jaw set, to no avail. "You can't. My Nen is too crazy, too hectic."

"Then," Kurapika's words came with straightforward simplicity, a tone that chilled him to the bone. His fingers flicked up, and the rattling of his chains followed a split second after. "Let's see which is stronger. My grudge, or your aura."

He was serious, and the chain that shot through the air this time was something he'd sent forward himself instead of his emotions taking over and seizing control of his chains. This advancing metal syringe was a carefully pondered weapon of choice for the situation, and its placement couldn't have been more pinpoint accurate, unwavering in its path. This skill was polished, and all his movements had been executed cleanly.

Kurapika was rational, and that was scary.

Electricity pulsed through Killua as he prepared to block any attacks with his reflexes. After learning he could use his power to advance his reaction time, he'd worked hard on that. His hand moved quicker than his eyes, zipping to the right in an attempt to grab the chain midair, but metal knocked coldly against his fingertips, a sense of defeat not unlike the time Milluki had first taken him to the dungeons. Its sharp end slipped right past.

Killua had been the quickest to act, but Zushi's instincts kicked in soon after. He pushed Kalluto out of the chain's path and with a single glance at Gon, the two headstrong boys knew what to do. Zushi, already in the air, twisted and made contact with Gon's interlocked fingers, propelling him forward as the latter was pushed back, green boots skidding across the floor.

Zushi collided with Kurapika at rapid speed and delivered a blow to his chest, using his momentum given him to move in the direction he pushed Kurapika and grab hold of his shoulder. He slid to a stop and jerked his body back, locking his arms around Kurapika's in the short time it took Gon to stand up on the other side of the room and start moving toward them.

The chains wavered in their path, and Killua's hand reached out to grab it again, but his speed was nothing compared to the strength that came from the willingness to sell your life for Nen. The chain simply dodged his hold, and a zap crackled at his fingertips at just how close he had been.

Unable to run, Lucky concentrated his aura and met the end of the chain head on. Creaking noises filled the air from the amount of force he was using, but his technique was not perfect. Though slowed, the chain found a weakness and easily plunged through his shield and stuck itself into Lucky's skin.

A guttural scream rang out, alerting a certain Spider at the gates about what was going on inside.

Lucky's aura pulsed around him, lashing out and fighting against the chain, but it was slowly and surely being sucked away. A murky, black haze enveloped him and struck out repeatedly despite his attempts to tame it amidst his pain. His teeth clenched together to keep from crying out, but his Nen resisted desperately, roaring in his place.

Zushi shifted his weight expertly when Kurapika's attention was taken by his syringe chain, sending them both to the ground with Zushi as the victor as he pinned down the Kurta. "What are you doing?"

His eyes were a controlled scarlet, a destroying star. "I wouldn't advise touching the chain. I'm in the process of taking his Nen. If you interfere, you could lose your own as well."

Lucky couldn't hold back another scream, panting as his legs started to go weak. A part of the ceiling collapsed as his dark Nen surged, giving another cry. He was short of breath and already breaking into a sweat. His aura was still fighting, draining his own energy along with his Nen in the process.

Killua glowered. He didn't care what Kurapika was going on about. He was quick. He might not have been as strong as Kurapika, but if he manipulated his muscles he could yank that chain out in half a second. He was wringing his wrist when he heard a shrill "Zushi, move!" followed with the crack of a gunshot.

Right after, the pistol fell with a clatter from her limp fingers and Rein crumpled to the ground.

* * *

When Machi burst in, it was difficult to make head or tails of the situation. But there were clues to help her out. Naturally, she was initially worried about Lucky laying off to the side, muscles tensed, quivering and unable to move. He always had a tendency to acquire the worst injuries. Yet his eyes were fixated elsewhere, on the group of people huddled on the ground on the other side of the room. As one of them looked up, piercing eyes met her from behind blond bangs, and her breath hitched. But rather than attack, the chain user accepted her presence as soon as he'd acknowledged it.

And, it seemed, for good reason.

"Aira, you'll be alright. I promise. The woman is here. Machi is here. Aira, hang in there."

When Kurapika stood up, Rein's body was revealed, curled up in itself. Her pale brown hair was strewn on the ground, a stark contrast between the darker pool of blood beneath her. "You've fixed Leorio before. I trust you." His words, though curt, failed to keep their usually calm undertone. "Heal her."

Machi didn't hesitate, and the others moved out the way to let her work. "Explain what happened," she ordered, bringing out a clean needle and summoning her threads.

"She... she shot at me with a restriction still on her heart." For the first time, she noticed an entry wound on his arm. If she recalled correctly, the chain user was supposed to have access to full Enhancer abilities. She deduced he was refraining from healing himself out of a sense of guilt. "Aira gave some sort of verbal warning first, so while I was occupied in a physical struggle, I was able to pull the chain back before it ran through her heart entirely." He quieted. "It must have stayed materialized or the wound wouldn't have gone external. My chains aren't capable of going against each other, so I can't fix..." His eyes were regretful. "I could have executed that far more efficiently. I should have foreseen this and taken out the chain beforehand. But this wouldn't have happened if you all... if she..."

Zushi's fist tightened, and he practically spit out his next sentence. "Look at the situation and finish that sentence."

Silent accusations ran amok, but none dared to bring it aloud.

Machi warned them all with a glance to back away as she treated Rein's wound. Swiftly cutting the cloth around her chest obscuring her wound from view, Machi got to work.

Rein's heart wasn't run all the way through; it seemed even through all the chaos, the chain user had been able to pull back barely in time. A split second later, and Machi didn't know whether Rein would have been in a condition where she could fix her. The wound was shallow compared to what could have been, and although the blood loss was rapid, it was not too dire for her to mend. Machi set about on healing the girl, her movements swift yet precise.

When she was done sewing back together Rein's heart tissue and individual blood vessels, she took a moment to stretch her hands and check back on her work. No anomalies. "Kalluto," she called.

He trotted over, averting his eyes casually off to the side.

"You wanted to say something," she stated, voice low.

Kalluto seemed surprised she'd noticed, but the expression left him quickly. "Use Gyo and look at Lucky."

When she did as he ordered, she did her utmost to conceal a sharp intake of breath. Lucky was lying on the ground with In-coated chains in an inordinate number of loops tightly around his body. His aura was weak now, small, and it seemed, snapped in half. Only a scant amount remained around him while the rest was spread sparsely in wisps around the trail of metal links, with a clean divide in opacity and color separating the two. He had been trembling since roughly a minute ago, but Machi now noticed it was because he was trying to spur enough energy in himself to stand—and he was failing. Her eyes followed along a crack in the side wall leading to the caved ceiling, and with straining, saw the faded bits of his remaining aura fizzling away into the dark sky.

"A hole in his Nen." She glanced around Lucky, who failed in his attempts to stand once more. "One he doesn't have enough strength to close, or the ability to produce aura to make up for it."

The chain user could not use his Chain Jail on people who were not Spiders. There were two possibilities. Either Kurapika viewed him as a member of the Phantom Troupe, or, the most likely, the chain holding Lucky down was not the Jail chain.

From the scarce information Machi had earned in her few minutes on the scene, it was not difficult to deduce what had occurred. The hole in Lucky's Nen had to have been caused by the intrusion of the chain, one likely intended to take his aura away from him. The gunshot had come from Rein judging from shining pistol that had been hidden under the folds of her skirt, forgotten by all. That shot had been the catalyst to send the blade around her heart into action, and also the thing to cause Kurapika to briefly forget about Lucky in the middle of taking his Nen. It was probably then or soon after that the chain he'd been previously using on Lucky was rapidly pulled out and used to restrain him instead.

Without the intended use of the chain in play, it wasn't as strong as the one she imagined had held Uvogin, but against Lucky, weakened, it was more than enough. The botched effort to steal his power left his aura in horrible shape, draining him even further as the chain continued to entrap him.

He was in pain, again.

Machi wanted to... stop that.

A shaky plan in mind, she sewed Rein's shirt back up as Kalluto cast his look off elsewhere. "Kalluto," she ordered, "retreat." It was a quiet demand to move to safety.

In a way that wouldn't place pressure on Rein's wound, she held the girl up abruptly. Calling up her Nen threads, she willed them to glow the brightest they could as she slipped her threads around the pistol. As everyone watched, she gave a sharp tug and the handgun fell into cleanly split chunks, clinking to the ground with their new razor-sharp edges. After the demonstration was over, she quickly wrapped those same threads around Rein before anyone could react.

Machi tilted her head. "Retract your chains from Lucky or I cut the girl to pieces."

The room went dead silent.

"You want this girl alive, don't you? Pull back your chains. It seems disrupting the process separated his Nen, rendering them both weak and useless. It no longer has the power to do what you want." Machi minded her wording and the conviction she displayed in her tone. "It's an ideal scenario for you despite the circumstances. Your friends are alive, and you've dealt heavy blows to our side. If you wish to keep that victory and have Aira alive, pull back your chain."

"You." Kurapika seethed before exhaling a hot breath. "I knew you lot didn't care for her." And yet, as he said it a flicker of doubt lightened his face.

He observed the new Nen floating around his chains and tried to manipulate it. It fizzled into the air, and though it was supposed to be destructive, nothing happened when he brushed his hand over it. It seemed nothing more than mist anymore. It blatantly paled in comparison to what Lucky's aura had been like before, massive and dark, a rabid fighter when he was desperate.

Kurapika hated losing, and he despised the Phantom Troupe tenfold that. But his cause was dead, and Aira was being held captive. "Are you really willing to kill her?"

"The death of one girl is nothing. There are plenty of others in the world." Machi shifted her threads around Rein to display indifference.

"Then one other question." Kurapika gestured to Lucky. "Why threaten me, why care for him, if you don't care about the death of any other?"

"That's..." The question caught Machi off guard, but an honest answer came to her quickly. "It's no exaggeration to say I've been close to his bare chest multiple times."

Kurapika was devoid of emotion as he simply nodded, accepting the excuse as believable. "You two have that kind of relationship?" The rattle of steel filled the air as he pulled his chain back. Scraps of half of Lucky's aura drifted and faded into nothing as he let go of it, done with its possible use.

With a shudder and sigh, Lucky stopped trying to stand and lay on the ground. As he predicted, the woman left Rein safe, with not even a scratch on the girl as she rushed to Lucky to assist in building up his energy to seal the hole in his aura. Without his chain thrust through it, it would close on its own. On the side, everyone had been unconsciously protecting the little Spider, Killua's brother. As both Rein and Lucky started to regain consciousness bit by bit, the four off to the side approached and interacted as friends did. Amid it all, Gon offered a concerned glance back him, and Kurapika smiled gently back. He accepted Gon's sun-like grin as he watched from afar.

In the end, he had failed.

Kurapika slipped to the ground slowly as he offered up silent apologies to his dead men. Legs sprawled out to his sides and his arms free of tension, he tilted back his head and stared into the nighttime expanse above, lone stars reflecting in his swimming eyes.

This chapter took me forever and I am so sorry— but thank you all for waiting so patiently! (I was all set to write this climax chapter and I sat down trying to think of plot and I just BLANKED I'm sorry...) So here's a long chapter for your wait!!

Please take note of when Kurapika said "Let's see which is stronger, my grudge or your aura" and the time when Uvo said something very very similar during his fight with Kurapika— I'm sorry. The idea was tempting so I put it in.

Zushi: Kalluto, what did he mean when he said "that kind of rela-"?
Kalluto: Machi just lied to get Kurapika to think she was serious about killing Rein. It was a strategy to ensure they both would make it out of it and there would be no more casualties.
Zushi: Yes, but what did he mean?
Killua: haha I'm going to tell him.
Kalluto: *pushes Killua off a cliff and refuses to answer the question as Gon and Zushi trail after him, confused*

Lucky, when he regains his health and hears about what Machi said: YOU SAID WHAT
Machi: Yes.
Lucky: BUT NOW KURAPIKA THINKS THAT WE'RE...WHY ARE YOU SO CALM ABOUT THIS

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