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“Pull!” Kurapika grunted as he pushed against the large glider lodged in the crumbled brick and stone of the wall. Outside, below the castle, Kortopi, Turnip-head, and now their small canine companion tugged on the rope tied to the glider. HIs arms quivered and Kurapika wondered not for the first time if his older cursed form could hold up to the labor he put it through some days.
The machine stuck in the wall barely budged, the only sound of movement coming from the scraping of his shoes on the floor and the groaning metal of the castle’s mouth as Leorio stretched it wider. “Come on you hunk of junk,” Kurapika growled as a sharp ache started in his shoulders and his sweaty palms started to slip. Exhaling a huff of frustration, Kurapika leaned up and kicked the enraging contraption.
Not a moment later, the wing-propellers suddenly kicked on, whirring with fervor and disrupting and loosening the stone around itself. Kurapika quickly jumped away from the destruction as it slid backward. “Look out!” Kurapika shouted while taking cover, though he doubted the others could hear his voice over the roar of the gliders engine and screech of metal scraping stone. Suddenly, the contraption was unlodged, falling and swinging dangerously to the ground below. A startled shout from Kortopi and a yelp from their new dog was followed by a resonating crash. Kurapika scrambled as fast as he could to the hole in the wall.
Relief flooded him as he took in the now truly and thoroughly broken glider resting against a boulder on the ground while Kortopi and the others hid behind a larger one further away. His relief quickly soured to bitterness as he took in the damage of the wall of debris swung about in all directions. “This is gonna take forever to clean,” Kurapika muttered as he surveyed the damage, eyes settling a moment on the sham that was once Hisoka, Wizard of the Waste, staring at him blankly. “And you’ll be no help,” Kurapika snipped. The lower door suddenly burst open with Kortopi and the dog rushing in.
“Uh, Kurapika…,” Kortopi ran over and looked the cursed man over in concern. Kurapika smiled softly and patted the young boy on his head.
“Good job, why don’t we eat breakfast before we begin cleaning this mess up. Why not pancakes today?” Kortopi’s eyes widened with glee and nodded excitedly. “Alright, go wash up, then, and I’ll get started.” Kortopi took off with more haste than Kurapika usually saw the quiet boy have. Once the younger was gone, though, Kurapika rolled up his sleeves and headed to the kitchen nook to dig out pans, bowls, and ingredients. He quietly prepared a bowl of batter and oddly felt more than one pair of eyes. He glanced up into the window.
Sure enough, not only was Hisoka’s blank stare boring into his back but so was Leorio's, who was slumped low in his tender and ash pile but staring suspiciously at him. Kurapika didn’t comment on it. He simply got back to work before gathering a flat skillet and a freshly sliced plate of bacon and walking over to the animated flame. Without a word, Leorio sunk into his wood as Kurapika laid the skillet on top of him. He laid out each of the thick slices of bacon methodically side by side. He left them there for a moment before he approached Hisoka, who was sitting contently in his wooden rocking chair. He scooted the other closer to the dining table, turning him so he could have a decent view of the room as a whole. Almost immediately, the disheveled wizard focuses his attention on Leorio and the frying bacon.
Kurapika relaxed, not honestly realizing how unnerved the other’s stare had him until it was finally directed elsewhere. Kurapika was able to go back to his task of cleaning without the apprehensive feeling of needing to look over his shoulder every other second. Kortopi came sprinting down the steps a few minutes later, his small shoes tapping eagerly against the wooden planks. Together they finished cooking a small feast’s worth of pancakes, eggs, bacon, and a bowl of porridge for Hisoka once they realized the nearly brain-dead wizard had trouble chewing his food. It felt weird, to not only have the infamous wizard just eating peacefully with them, but Kurapika was also caring for him. Despite the curse and all the trouble the wizard had put Kurapika through. Leorio was the first one to comment, breaking the silence apart from his crackling.
“Kurapika?”
“Hm,” Kurapika hummed as he fed another spoonful of food to Hisoka.
“You realize he’s the Wizard of the Waste right? Why are you hand feeding him?” Leorio whisper yelled. Kurapika tilted his head, a strand of faded white-blonde hair falling into his face as he stared at the wizard across from him.
Looking at him, it was as if the curse he’d given Kurapika had been reversed back to him almost tenfold. At least in Kurapika’s case, he still had his mind; it was simply his body that was aged and turned fragile before its time. The Wizard of the Waste now sat dumbly across from him. Once vivid, luscious red hair now a faded pink, and sharp golden eyes wide but empty as they stared entranced at Leorio’s flickering flames.
“Quite a fire,” he mumbled, dripping porridge down his chin in the process. Kurapika wrinkled his nose and snatched a napkin off the table to wipe it away.
“He can’t hurt anyone anymore,” was all Kurapika said to Leorio’s concern. There was no menace left to this wizard anymore. His face had fallen to a deformed mass and his body sagged with loose skin, no longer hidden by his various charms and glamors.
“Hmph,” Leorio scoffed. “He keeps staring at me and it’s freaking me out.” Kurapika rolls his eyes, but before he could respond, heavy footsteps trotted down the staircase as Chrollo bounced into the kitchen with a much too pleased with himself look.
After the unsettling dream Kurapika had about the man the night before, as well as Leorio’s offhanded statement of Chrollo’s worsening state, the dark-haired man’s joyful smirk seemed strikingly out of place.
“Good morning everyone,” he greeted as his eyes surveyed the area and the new faces in it. Still struggling to catch up to the mood change from dream Chrollo to the one standing before them, Kurapika muttered out a simple ‘welcome home’ as Kortopi excitedly greeted his teacher.
“Good morning Master Chrollo! Kurapika brought a dog back with him yesterday, we can keep him can’t we?” Chrollo’s eyes caught Kurapika’s briefly before flicking over to the old canine Kortopi had seated at the table with a bowl of scraps next to his own seat.
Kurapika thought he saw Chrollo’s eyes sharpen suspiciously but in a blink, it was gone. If Kurapika didn’t know the young wizard well enough, he’d write it off as a trick of the light. He suddenly realizes that bring in the familiar of a witch set to imprison him and an enemy wizard into Chrollo’s home was probably not the smartest idea even if it was a kind one.
“Pakunoda’s dog and the Wizard of the Waste at my table,” he hummed with a playful droll, lazily turning his head to the fire demon on his right. “Leorio! Just what have you let into our home?”
“Don’t look at me,” Leorio griped, flames rising high in petulance. “They came in with Kurapika when he crashed a glider into my face!”
Chrollo laughed, turning and looking at the damaged wall and numerous piles of brick, stone, and metals from Kurapika’s flying escapade. In spite of the evidence to suggest the opposite, Chrollo proclaimed, “I knew he’d be a good pilot!”
Kurapika himself scoffed as he watched Chrollo investigate the rubble closer, as well as Turnip-Head who hovered just outside but next to the hole in the wall. “And it looks like our family is just getting bigger and bigger,” Chrollo mused as he sized up the magical scarecrow. “My, my, you have quite the nasty curse on you as well. Seems like everyone in our family has problems.”
Kurapika watched the wizard inspect his scarecrow friend warily. Beside him, Hisoka mumbled something and spilled more porridge down his chin. Chrollo suddenly spun around and raised his hands. “We have a lot of work to do today,” he announced. “We’re moving!”
“Moving?” Kurapika questioned eyes wide.
“That’s good,” Kortopi hummed softly. “There’s not really much to do in the middle of nowhere…”
“Pakunoda is hot on our trail, so we have to be quick,” Chrollo explained. He turned back to Turnip-head who was still hovering outside the destroyed wall. “Your spell is too strong for you to travel with us so you’ll have to wait outside I’m afraid.”
A few hours later, everyone gathered in the center of the kitchen facing Leorio’s hearth as Chrollo drew a magical circle across the wood floor. All the furniture had been pushed aside with the exception of the dining table which was bolted to the floor. The mismatched crew of strangers sat together there expectantly. Kurapika silently thought that the circle almost looked like an eye as Chrollo stood upright with a satisfied look. “That should do it then,” he stated, dropping the chalk he used into his pocket and grabbing a small iron shovel to scoop Leorio up from his hearth.
“Careful, careful,” Leorio cautioned with a bit of panic in his voice. Quietly, and without fanfare Chrollo strolled back to the circle and stood straight.
“On my mark,” he instructed Leorio. Chrollo stared at Leorio with stone-faced concentration as he lifts an arm up with his steady stance. A wind circled around the room, fluttering Chrollo’s hair and clothes. Dishes and decorations rattled and Kurapika’s grip tightened on the table in a mock attempt to ground himself. The distinct and stinging smell of ozone bloomed with the steadily increasing wind. Kurapika wrinkled his nose at the unpleasantness but didn’t dare look away from Chrollo as Leorio’s flames suddenly started flicking higher and stronger.
The flames grew tall fast and their color turned from his normal warm, orange glow to scorching hot blue. Leorio roared, vocally and like an inferno as his flames shot toward the ceiling and the heat engulfed them. He glowed brightly and cast varied shadows and light across everything. Chrollo himself never flinched, even as the flames flicked dangerously close to his cheeks.
Suddenly the circle at Chrollo’s feet began to glow as bright as Leorio. As it glowed, the whole room suddenly creaked and Kurapika tore his eyes away from Chrollo for the first time to stare in awe as the walls stretched and the ceiling twisted. The walls’ colors faded from stoney-white to a soft patterned green. The wood of the whole castle began to shine like it had all been freshly polished. Furniture sank into the floor or was absorbed into the wall as new pieces fell from the ceiling with a ruckus. New walls grew out of old ones and doors dotted through them in certain sections. The broken wall Kurapika had crashed through the night before repaired itself and grew a curtained window. Brass oil lamps sprouted from the walls with pictures in ornate wood frames. A couch fell in front of the hearth, clawed feet bouncing as lush embroidered pillows fell after it. Rugs swirled into existence through the cracks in the wood stretching their tassels out before settling underneath tables and by the new entryway.
The building’s movement began to slow as objects and furniture settled. Leorio’s light dulled as diminished back to his usual form and the wind left a warm crispness to everything left in its wake. Stillness and silence suddenly rained over the room, leaving everyone to focus on the new changes created there. Kurapika glanced over to the kitchen nook, now expanded with the iron pans hung neatly underneath shelves of porcelain dishes and cups. Books and tomes that he’d mostly just tucked away in cabinets now sat neatly stacked on tall, heavy wooden bookcases in a corner next to a smaller table. A set of chairs sat with the table near another window that overlooked a busy street.
Kortopi jumped off the table his small companion in tow as he sprung around the castle and up the stairs to take in all the new changes. Kurapika himself was still struggling to take in the sudden difference. Everything had either changed or been brought back to a newness that no cleaning or polishing could have done. In the back of his head, a little voice told him he should feel ticked off that Chrollo made him, in his nearly 80-year-old form, the housekeeper and forced him to clean the hellish mess it had been before with no help when he could have done that and more with little effort all on his own.
Hm. Later.
For now, Kurapika was exuberantly and thoroughly awed. Everything had a lot more homey and charming presence to it from the now green floral wallpaper to hand-made floral arrangements and rugs. It would probably be called quaint by most, but Kurapika couldn’t find a word other than perfect for it. Judging by the pleased-with-himself look Chrollo had on his face once again, Kurapika realized the other must have noticed his awestruck expression.
The dark-haired wizard gently grasped Kurapika’s hand and dragged him along the first floor of their new home. He excitedly explained each new edition and change he made. “And here I added an extra bathroom. Since our little family seems to just be getting bigger it’s probably for the best. Over here I decided would make a comfortable reading nook, don’t you agree?” Kurapika could scarcely get a word out before the wizard forcibly dragged him somewhere else and it was all Kurapika could do to not trip over his own feet and fall face first.
Chrollo began to slow though and gently tugged Kurapika over to the foot of the stairs where a new door stood. “I added a new room as well,” he hummed. He let go of Kurapika’s hand to place on the middle of the older-looking male’s back as he opened the new door and guided Kurapika inside. Kurapika’s eyes widened and he felt a tremor shake him as he took in a small out of the way room.
It was small by all circumstances but it had a comfy looking bed with what looked like hand-stitched quilts and bedding on it and a long table lade in front of an equally long window that overlooked the city. A small bookshelf was set near the bed to double as a nightstand and was already filled with different books he didn’t recognize and boxes upon boxes were stacked up on all surfaces with unknown contents.
The room was nostalgic and almost perfectly mirrored his office in his workshop. It took him a beat too long as he looked out the window and see a familiar landscape that that was exactly why it looked familiar. “Why,” Kurapika started and swallowed when his voice came out thicker with emotion than he intended. For a moment in the reflection of the glass, he thought he could see himself, and not his older form. He turned to Chrollo and continued, “Why did you do this?”
“I thought you should have a room that suits you,” Chrollo explained simply.
“I suppose,” Kurapika said, as his fingers grazed the wood of the carved bed frame. “It does suit a simple housekeeper.”
“I got you some new clothes,” Chrollo said as he stepped in and gestured to the pile of boxes. He grasped Kurapika’s hand once more and this time pulled him more gently out of the room. “But that’s not all.”
Chrollo led him to the door as Kortopi ran out with childish glee to play in the new courtyard area they had in their new home. Chrollo closed the door behind him. “Notice the new color on the dial?” Chrollo asked and Kurapika looked up to see that the color dial indeed had the new color of red on it. Kurapika nodded and Chrollo smirked. “It’s a new portal.” Once again, Chrollo led Kurapika through. Kurapika felt his heart stop in his chest and his breath clogged his throat.
A meadow, much like the ones he’d played in as a child, stretched in front of him with abundant flowers and little lakes and ponds glistening like glass. Where his home meadows had been small and no longer looked like this anymore thanks to their destruction, this one seemed endless and even more peaceful. Almost as if it wasn’t even in their world to begin with. Kurapika briefly wondered if it was, in fact, an entire otherworld Chrollo had made a door to. A peaceful, beautiful one.
A striking glee overcame Kurapika as an excitement of seeing a field like one from his home overtook him. Kurapika wandered ahead of Chrollo stepping into the grass as he heard birds chirp and felt a breeze graze by shift the grass to move like a wave in the ocean. They walked, this time lead by a simply wandering Kurapika through flowers and over bubbling brooks. They were approaching the large lake when Chrollo began to speak again.
“This is my secret garden.”
“It’s gorgeous,” Kurapika responded honestly. “Did you use your magic to make it?”
“Only to make the flowers grow,” Chrollo confessed. “Do you like it?”
Kurapika looked at Chrollo and felt a sudden dread begin to eat at him. He didn’t know why, but he felt like there was something Chrollo wasn’t telling him. His actions felt like he was preparing something but Kurapika couldn’t figure what it was. Part of him didn’t want to. Chrollo stared at him expectantly though and all Kurapika could bring himself to say was “I love it.”