They lingered in silence for a long time, until Pyro finally asked the question any ordinary person would.
"What's your name? I'm Pyro." A simple introduction yet sincere to the core.
"Frame. My name is Frame Nilhelham" he replied quietly, remaining in his half-spirit state.
"You're the first one who can see me. You really are a little different from the others." No one else could see spirits the way Pyro could. He was special but that kind of specialness always demanded a price.
Though Pyro could not see as ordinary people did, he could feel it the overwhelming, almost frightening strength radiating from the spirit before him.
As time passed, the small things the Kuruta child began to notice were these: the spirit wandering around the village was surprisingly kind. He secretly watered the plants, helped clothes dry faster…
So in truth, Frame was a good spirit after all.
Pyro was almost tempted to award him the Outstanding Spirit Badge of the Year.
"Tonight, tell everyone not to leave their homes," Frame said suddenly. To outsiders, it would look as though Pyro was talking to thin air. Even so, Frame chose to warn him his first friend since arriving in this place. That bond… was far too precious. He resolved to protect, at the very least, the small friend who was currently eating fruit Frame had gathered for him.
Pyro nodded, cheeks full, and hurried off to spread the warning throughout the village.
When the clan leader learned that Pyro could see what he himself could not, Frame was immediately granted the Sacred Spirit Badge.…He was tired of insisting that he wasn't a wandering spirit.
Fine. He would be one, then. What a wonderfully prosperous life this was overwhelming abilities paired with a frail shōta body. Completely unbalanced. Come to think of it, he still hadn't met young Kurapika yet.
What existed before his eyes was nothing like what had once appeared on a screen.
They were human the Kuruta clan not disposable characters anymore. Frame knew he wasn't a good person, but a place this warm, this close to home… letting it be destroyed would be such a waste. Besides, in Hunter, his favorite character happened to be Kurapika. That smile in Yorknew City bright, radiant, almost angelic.
"Pyro… this time, your clan won't disappear as long as I'm still alive."
He knew well that changing the flow of the story was the same as altering fate and consequences would surely follow.
The Spiders might turn their eyes toward him instead. But if they still insisted on slaughtering this clan, Frame wouldn't hesitate to tear off a leg or two from a spider.
No matter how cruelly life had cornered them, once they crossed a certain line, their purpose had already twisted attacking innocents, stealing from others. Sarasa may have been the beginning of the Spiders' revenge, but in the anime… where was that revenge, really? Theft, deception, killing for pleasure none of it was vengeance.
In the end, the Spiders acted only to satisfy themselves. That was their true meaning in the story.
"Spiders… truly dangerous creatures."
The murmur drifted away with the wind as Frame gazed off in a certain direction. It seemed the Spiders had finally gathered in full…