Ill-Fated (Phantom Troupe x Reader) [Soulmate AU]

1.

Your hair whipped in the wind behind you as you navigated the half-empty streets of a rainy York New City, its golden and silver lights shining up at you from the puddles. Due to the late hour, the city streets were sparsely populated, with an occasional passerby returning from a late shift or a very wild night out. Despite the city's emptiness, you were grateful for the extra cover the night afforded you as you returned from your last job. 

As a specialist, your ability to heal, especially your ability to exorcise a Nen curse, was highly sought after. This also meant you could earn a pretty penny by helping the right person. However, life wasn't as simple as going around fixing people left and right and getting a huge check after. Anybody you met had to be someone known and trusted because you have been on the run since you were eighteen. 

Your fate was sealed at sixteen. The sixteenth birthday was the day your friends counted down the days to, and you were admittedly the same. You had had (your birthday) date circled for months in advance in your calendar. After all, you would get your soul mark on your sixteenth birthday. The mark that was supposed to lead you to your perfect partner, someone who fit next to you like a missing puzzle piece. The night before the big day, you lay in bed, too wired to sleep; your head was full of fantasies. You had seen your friends come bounding into school excited to show off their marks; you had even witnessed one such friend find their soulmate. She later described the feeling as a "wave of warmth washing over you," accompanied by the burning of your soul mark. 

You were so excited to feel the same happiness. 

However, the day you looked forward to the most was when your problems started. Waking up that morning, you found seven marks of various sizes. Seven spider-shaped marks containing numbers "0", "2", "3", "5", "6", "9", and "11" littered your body. Now you have heard of people having multiple soulmates; while rare, it has happened before. Just like someone who was born with no soulmate, the prospect of having more than one seemed incredibly daunting. Little did you know, the situation would get even more complicated. Two years later, rumors began to reach you about a band of thieves who pillaged, murdered, and took all they wanted for themselves, all with one uniting characteristic: a mark of a spider located somewhere on their body. They were only rumors back then, but they were enough to give you pause nonetheless. It was then you began wrapping your markings in bandages, taking extra precautions to hide them underneath layers of cloth.

As the rumors turned into headlining news and the danger became more substantial, you knew you couldn't stay home anymore. Not without risking the life of your loved ones. If you had judged them right, the Phantom Troupe members would try to find you eventually, especially considering that finding your soul mate meant a substantial increase in your Nen output. You also knew that this group of individuals had essentially no moral compass, or at least a very misdirected moral compass, and would stop at nothing short of killing you to obtain you and keep you next to them if it meant they became more powerful. So it was at eighteen, with a few hundred Jenny, an underdeveloped specialist ability, and an overwhelming fear of the future, that you left your grandmother's home. Ever since then, you were very careful to keep tabs on the Phantom Troupe and avoid meeting any of them face to face. You have been successful at your one-sided game of cat and mouse for the last four years.

Stealing into a darkened alley, you slowed at a back entry to an apartment building and fished the keys out of your pocket. A friend of an associate offered up the small apartment that you had tucked yourself into in return for a small healing job, which you gladly took. Only thirty minutes of your time, and the place was yours for as long as you wanted. The apartment has definitely seen better days, but it beat staying in a cheap motel, and of course, you enjoyed the privacy the place provided. 

After showering and preparing a small dinner for yourself, you sat on your window sill. You took note of the small water droplets that made their way down your window before fishing your phone out of your pocket. After checking that the Jenny from your last employer had already been transferred to your account, you decided to check in on the news. As you scrolled through, your stomach dropped.

"Countless Articles Stolen from Museum of Hunter History in York New City: Phantom Thieves Responsible." 

The headline meant bad news for you. Bad, bad news. Whether it was completely true or shoddy journalism aiming to capitalize on the fear of the group, even the prospect of the Phantom Troupe's activity in the area meant that you had to get out of there and fast. Your abundance of caution was not unfounded either. Aside from the group being full of powerful and strong members, you were at another major disadvantage. Your Nen ability, while useful and rare in its own right, was not well-suited for offense. The best you could do was try to run and escape, or better yet, avoid meeting any of them entirely. Your mind was racing with fear, and adrenaline rushing through your veins urged you to leave as soon as possible. However, when the streets were empty and without any plan, it was a bad idea to leave your hideout. No, you needed time. Time to plan, time to organize your thoughts, and time to figure out how you were gonna get out of the predicament you were in.