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

6.

Shalnark outstretched his hand to the woman before him, who blinked owlishly in his direction. Her surprise made it obvious that her first meeting with Uvo and Phinks was probably not so polite. Of course, Shalnark knew he didn't have to be kind either, but in this instance, he decided to operate under the belief that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar. If he could get this girl to trust him as soon as possible, life would be simpler for everyone involved: they could benefit from an increased Nen without worrying about her escaping or messing up any of their plans. 

The phantom thieves weren't a sentimental crowd, so finding their soulmate wasn't always a goal. Only when Shalnark encountered the unreliable rumor about the effect of soulmate proximity on Nen did Chrollo, and for that matter, the rest of the Phantom Thieves, become interested in obtaining her. After much research, mostly on his part, Shalnark determined that finding her would likely increase their Nen power by next to twenty percent, give or take. However, another lesser-known aspect of the soulbond piqued his curiosity. If their soulmate were to die, their Nen output would decrease by anywhere from ten to thirty percent of their original output. It made sense when Shalnark really thought about it; if there was this one person who was tied to them by a soulbond, of course, their life energies would feed off of each other in some way or another. So the point of obtaining her became dual: increasing their power and protecting their Nen ability. Those ideas became an appeal that no member of the Troupe could pass up, so while their soulmate was a huge liability, the reward was definitely worth the trouble. 

Your (e/c) eyes lifted slowly to meet his green ones, but you made no move to reach back and shake his hand. It occurred to you that you never told him your name, so how the hell did he know who you were? You weren't sure what it was, stubbornness or fear, that made you so hesitant, but you knew one thing: you did not want anything to do with this guy. His hand remained outstretched even in the face of your rejection, and his smile never faltered.

"Well? Don't make me wait; I deserve at least this much for untying you." He spoke expectantly.

You had encountered enough manipulators in your life to know that Shalnark was one. Both in the sense of Nen and life. He was definitely the kind of guy who would hold the door open for you once and bring it up forever, especially to make you feel guilty about not doing what he wanted. The kind of guy who kept you around for as long as he had something to gain from you. The kind of guy who saw kindness and human decency as currency to leverage against you. 

"I don't actually have a choice, do I?" You asked after a long silence, slowly outstretching your hand to him.

"Nope!" Shalnark responded, quickly grabbing it.

A now familiar heat trickled up your arms. It felt overwhelming but unexpectedly good, like a warmth flooding your chest cavity and setting your entire body aflame. Your skin prickled at the feeling of air, cold against your heated form. 

Shalnark was thrilled; his work was paying off, and the feeling of his nen growing in power was everything he wanted. He felt powerful as he looked down at the girl before him, more powerful than when he used his ability to make people do what he wanted. No, this was so much better. He felt her try to pull her own hand out of his grasp, but he wasn't going to let her go. Instead, Shalnark yanked her forward, the sudden movement making the woman lose her balance and fall against him. This gave Shalnark the perfect opportunity to wrap an arm firmly around the woman's shoulders. 

"How about a tour? I'm sure you're about ready to turn in for the night." Shalnark spoke still as cheerful as ever.

His body felt firm against you, and you could feel the lean muscles underneath his lavender suit. Reeling from the sudden movement, you couldn't help but lean into the blond man. Phinks and Uvogin also startled by the sudden removal of your presence, quickly got up on their feet. Shalnark has already started walking, and his harsh grip on you meant that, willing or not, you were coming with him. Phinks and Uvogin stalked behind you, following you deeper into the building, Machi trailing behind the group as well.

Machi wasn't ever too keen on the whole soulmate thing, but observing the powerups her compatriots experienced she understood why Chrollo made it their mission to obtain the girl. Still, Machi liked to think herself more levelheaded than Phinks and Uvo, so she settled on silently observing the girl for a while. 'She's nothing special on the outside: pretty but not particularly strong.' Machi thought as her blue eyes glided over the girl's figure for the hundredth time that day. Still, there was something strange about her that Machi couldn't put her finger on: there was a magnetism about the girl.  

Shalnark was much stronger than he looked, and his grip on you felt like a death sentence as he led you further and further into the spider's layer. He walked quickly, and you struggled to keep up with his pace. Your thoughts drowned out Shalnark's voice, which was telling you something about the building you were in, as you became aware of three more presences following behind you. 'Wait... Three? Uvogin and Phinks make two... So who's the third?' You thought. Swiftly turning your head behind you, your eyes once again met with the cold blue eyes of the woman who had been observing you ceaselessly since you got there. She was a woman of small stature, with pink hair and glacier-like eyes. She was walking behind the entire group, keeping pace but making no attempt to catch up with you, and kept staring at you. 'What the hell is her deal?' You thought. Her sharp gaze made you feel uneasy.

"And here's where you'll be for the time being." Shalnark's voice interrupted your internal monologue as he stopped abruptly beside a room.

Well, calling it a room was probably a stretch; it was more like a dungeon or a prison cell. Technically, since you were here against your will, it was a prison cell. A large, thick metal sheet stood before an opening in the walls like a makeshift door. It looked so heavy that you doubted you could move it even if you tried. However, Uvogin removed it without so much as breaking a sweat, the scraping of metal against stone producing a loud screech that echoed across the empty halls. The sound reminded you far too much of the yells of a dying animal. The hole in the wall opened into a room as derelict as the rest of the building. Maybe even worse because the lack of windows meant that every surface was caked thickly in dust. There was a small cot in one far corner, piled high with rags meant to serve as blankets. You never considered yourself too picky about where you stayed; heaven knows that in the past four years of being on the road, you have slept in skeevy places, but even to you, the greyish color and clear stains on the cot didn't feel beckoning. 

Shalnark ushered you into your new domicile, pushing you to sit on the ramshackle cot, which groaned under your weight. 

"Now, get situated. Goodnight!" Shalnark said as he walked back to his companions, who still stood at the entrance to the room, staring you down. Then, before you knew it, Uvogin pushed the metal sheet back into place, leaving you alone. The ancient, trapped air stuck to your lungs as you breathed in, making you feel sick to your stomach. You waited until you felt four presences get farther and farther from you. Once you couldn't feel them anymore, you finally let your head fall into your hands powerlessly as, for the first time today, hot, angry tears ran down your cheeks. 

You had failed.