Posting this finally, a really fun piece I did for @softfuzzyships who was so nice to comm me. I'm so honored, seriously thank you so much dude ❤ literally everytime you ask me for writing I'm like YESS anyway I'm so glad and please enjoy ❤❤❤❤
Looking to the almost empty street in front of them, they realize the air is thick. Zach feels their throat sting with each gasp.
A hand reaches for them, shrouded in black and their head aches as they feel it touch their hand, instantly hissing in disgust they slap it's hand away--
The shadow retreats, no emotion on its blank face, their eyes stinging.
It's another one of the mishaps that always seem to happen. They just always have to happen. Have to come in the form of thoughts… to think of him… of all people.
But now, he's more smoke than anything else, he's a shadow that causes emotional distress. Anger, sadness… rage.
Tears spill from their eyes and they know they mean nothing, nothing more than frustration. They want to shove their hand into its stomach, pull out the innards, show it how they made them feel.
They wipe away the tears that formed and look to Kurapika at their side, this creature-- some sort of amalgamation of memory had spawned… but how?
Kurapika looked scared, he never looked scared. Zach feels the cold sweat of the night drip down the side of their face.
The faceless creature looks upon, emotionless and empty. Flinging a black substance at the ground that has them both jump back.
From here, the image of the creature is more clear, a blacked out smudge, it's dark outside, but the glowing empty sockets where eyes should be, are gone. The memory only hollows into a pit of nothingness.
Zach felt bile rise in their stomach.
The rustle of a chain stirs their thoughts and looking over to see red scarlet eyes overtake the hollow ones. The sound of a scream and fresh gravel underneath a shoe lunging forward is all the sounds before--
A piercing sting across their face and Zach groans as they come to, Kurapika is looking at them and he looks worried, his hands are covered in black sludge, the byproduct now leaving a blackened handprint across Zach's face.
"Oh, thank God-- I thought you were…" the rest is jumbled.
"Kura-- what..." touching the side of their face they hiss-- why was it so hot, what kind of nen…
Getting up, they look upon the man. He's misty, like clouded in smoke of some sort but the vague details Zach can figure out and they feel sick. Some sort of illusionist nen type, making them both see things.
Their hand comes away clean now, no pain as they shake their head and try to focus, just focus, that's all they need to do, focus.
"It's not him… it's just an illusio--"
As they say it Kurapika is suddenly gone, looking around they're in a white room, a man standing before them with a smile they had long forgotten, their chest ached and the man beckons with his hand.
Zach looks down to their hands, on one is a tattoo, it's smudged and streaked but its the word 'Again?' Question marks surrounding it in all shades of red. The other one a black stain, it was simple, a 'X'. They look up once they finish reading, the only thing they manage is to clench their fists and scream.
But, it was silent. No walls to bounce off of, the white room just grew more vast underneath their feet, and the apparition grew closer, every memory didn't make sense, all the colors were off, his mouth was open but no sound came out, footsteps only sounded like dull splashing, too far off.
Their memories were-- blank.
The voice was so familiar and looking up to the man it wasn't right coming from his lips, something was off something…
Opening their hand, the one with the 'X' was now a jagged piece of mirror, a shard. Cutting dull into their skin but upon positioning it towards him revealed--
Escaping their lips was two syllables as they gripped the shard harder and looked up, tears in their eyes and now the man looked scared. The name they spoke was audible, and the distortion went from something familiar and wanted, to one of reality, anger, anxiety--
Zach lunged forward and buried the shard of glass into his neck without remorse, blood and black veiled smoke escaping while screams around them enclosed. As they pulled back, they stabbed again, screaming their curses into the holes they reigned upon the man's chest.
Blood was pooling. The room wasn't white anymore, it was red, the body was limp against the hand against his collar and Zach stabbed once more,
"Hate..." the blow hits, right into his chest and the man coughs out blackened blood, "all this hate--!" Tears stream down their face, "Everything I loved!" They twist their knife,
"I'm taking it all back from you!"
The illusion breaks as Zach stabs hard enough into the man's heart, everything in the world going white.
They're in the middle of the street, only the dim lights illuminating the road. Soaked with blood and gore. Their knife was buried in the hunter's chest, buried in his heart.
It was not the man who they'd seen… but it…
The voice is strained, and they drop the corpse instantly. Zach doesn't even take the time to rip the knife out before something warm is against them, covering their eyes.
"Zach… please don't look."
It was a horrific scene, thinking about how many blows they'd dealt, the hunter probably didn't even look human anymore… but, Kurapika had his hands over their eyes, Zach shivering in the night air, biting the side of their mouth and shakily breathing out.
"Let's… let's go home, please."
Kurapika nodded, a small approving noise and slipped a hand around Zach's waist to support them. Only taking the hand off their eyes once they were far enough away.
Within five minutes of their apartment Zach finally made small talk, trying to ease the demons in their head and looking to Kurapika, it was the only thing getting them out of it. Any problem, they fixed by looking at him, even if he was covered in blood... and gore. The dried crimson flakes slowly off his features in the light breeze.
Neither of them talked about what they saw. Nobody wanted to bring up the conversation.
A late night walk turned into bounty hunting, realizing it now, as their memories started to come back, Zach remembered more.
The man said they wouldn't remember him, he was sent to capture them both, some kind of paid job. Then grinned, all teeth as black smoke surrounded them. Then, only one sentence as he laughed out,
"I think your nightmares want to talk."
Zach somehow managed to repress the emotion of complete disgust as it all came back, pushing down the feeling once more as they saw the lit doors of their apartment come into view.
By the time they'd made it up the elevator and through the door, both rinsed in the shower, they were both more than happy to just sleep.
It came quick, the moment their head hit the pillows.
Nothing is an inch out of place as Zach sits at a very well decorated table. The centerpiece is that of every flower imaginable and every color too. The wait staff are manning each dish on the table, placing plates with fancy gold cloches on top.
As Zach's dish is placed onto their plate the weight staff freeze in place as if from a movie. They're sitting on the farthest end, a man no younger or older is sitting across from them. The sound of a cloche unveiling the stranger's food rings through the air, and there's nothing besides a splatter of blood on his plate.
He eats it anyway. Fork and knife against the splatter, not making any means of a mess and bringing the stained fork tips to his lips, savoring the flavor.
He motions towards Zach, the cloche still sitting atop the fancy dish. Zach looks down and sees their reflection in it. It distorts within seconds and the man across suddenly looks displeased.
The unsettling atmosphere almost makes them choke, the man's unblinking eyes, all the waiters and waitresses are looking at them now. Their heads turned at unnatural angles to make sure they saw them.
Zach shakes as they go to reach for the cloche, the audience of the wait staff claps as they do and a thick black substance starts to spill from the plate as they slowly lift it. The clapping reduces to a ringing in their ears and the man across from them grins like a fox who had just caught it's dinner.
The cloche is gone, Zach doesn't want to look down, the lump in their throat is suffocating but they lock eyes with the grinning man and he laughs.
The table is gone, the room is deserted, blood pools at their feet and the man is beside them with a sharp clawed hand digging into their shoulder,
"You should have looked down."
They don't, they're forced to, and they're gripping something wet, bloody and spherical. No they don't want to look. They look towards the man but where he once was was only a familiar figure, a blade lodged in his heart, yellow strands of hair dyed red.
His hand out reaching for them.
They only manage to scream.
A gasp of air, and they're pinned to the bed by a familiar face. They feel themself crying and panting, only looking up to make sure they aren't hallucinating.
Coming to, they see the worry in Kurapika's eyes is unlike anything else they'd seen. As if he'd already been awake and waiting, he looked exhausted.
Zach nods, because at this point Kurapika knew him better than anyone else,
"What happened with the hunter… it must have carried over to a nightmare." They shake their head and sit up, Kurapika shifting to sit close beside them, lacing their fingers together in a very tight hold.
"I saw someone, from my past, who hurt me. A long story, but, I was so angry, so mad. He hurt me and this hunter, he knew that and got into my head." Zach sighs, "and I… I--"
Kurapika hushes the thought, "you did what you had to do, Zach… you, you saved me." Kurapika has a melancholic smile as he says it.
Zach stays silent but leans their head against his.
"I was stuck in a loop, my… my family, you know it all but. It was different, as if I was watching a movie and couldn't help, I was forced to see it. Over and over."
Zach swallows, and grips his hand tighter, looking at Kurapika and sighing out. "No wonder neither of us could sleep… even in my nightmare the guy… well, he's… he's dead. But-- he was there. Mocking me. Some fancy setup but, unnerving and awful. It's like I was being mocked… and then he… he…"
Kurapika was closer now, arms around Zach and hugging him like their lives depended on it, "If anything bad is going to come out of your mouth next. Listen-- I'm alive, and I'm not planning on going anywhere. I'm not going anywhere without you."
Kurapika holds them at arm's length and places a kiss to their forehead,
Zach felt tears tug at the corners of their eyes and they let themself cry, barely feeling them,
"Good… that's all I ever want to hear."
They wrap their arms around him and sigh in relief, the exhaustion once more, hitting them like a pound of brick. But, even so, they both stay there until Kurapika finally breaks the silence, hand slowly moving through their hair.
"Now lay down, I'll make sure you sleep well, I got a bit of rest so… relax, okay? I'm here."
They do, resting their head against Kurapika's lap and letting his fingers run through their hair. Exhaustion washed over them again, as well as the feeling of Kurapika's fingers slowly massaging their scalp, and a soft hum escaping his lips.
They yawned, nestling their head firmer against him, falling asleep to the beautiful tune.
They wake, and it's not a dream, no horrors awaiting, no confusing dreams to scare them. It wasn't any of those things since they could smell clearly fresh cooked pancakes and hear the sizzle of butter hitting a pan.
Blinking their eyes, they push themselves up and look out from the bedroom to the kitchen, Kurapika hearing, and looking over, beaming.
"You're awake!" He seemed joyful, happy and grinning as he strides to the bedroom and sat down beside them, "Yesterday... sucked, so, I'm making your favorites. Hopefully they're good."
Kurapika looked bashful, and in that moment, Zach just leaned over, crushing him in the strongest hug they could manage. Kurapika obviously returned the favor, a small gasp is all that escaped him.
"I love you, so, so much." they sighed out and buried their head against him.
"I love you too-- now," Kurapika pats their shoulder, pulling them onto their feet, "let's go eat… because I might have--" he looks over his shoulder and sighs, "yeah something is definitely burning."
A sigh, but Kurapika only shrugs it off, looking at Zach with a smile, pulling them into the kitchen for a well deserved meal.
