Phantom Girl

Chapter 23

Lucy POV

‚Wait those kids, aren't they...?'

„Gon? Killua?," I call out to them, after recognising these familiar faces. Why would the troupe use two innocent children as hostages? Don't these people know any limits?

„You know them?" Phinks asks suspiciously, his eyes narrowed. He always seems so suspicious of me, like I'm some sort of dangerous double agent. „Um... Yeah, I ran into them by conscience before," I answer hesitantly, avoiding his piercing gaze.

„Alright, we can sort that out later. We need a plan now," Shal comes to my help, his hands resting on my shoulders in comfort. Phinks is still glaring at me, but before he can ask anymore questions I am saved by the ringtone of his phone.

„Are you the chain user?" he aks the person at the other end of the line phone a dirty grin. „May I ask you something about the second advancement. The hostages fought back, so we had to break a few of their bones..."

Phink's stupid grin freezes as the person on the other end of the line hangs up on him. Hastily he presses the redial: „Sorry, that was a lie. They're both fine."

After listening for a few seconds, he hesitantly
hands the phone to Pakunoda, his eyes narrowed. At the very same second, Machi and Nabunaga both hit him. „Are you stupid?" They yell out at the same time. I giggle quietly, as I watch them. In spite of everything, these people are pretty amiable.

Suddenly, I can feel a hand on my waist. When I turn around, I can see Feitans face right infront of mine. „Stay close to me, it might be dangerous," he commands, before turning away with a strange look on his face.

Is it just me, or have his features become softer? His strong arm still wraps around my body like a shield, and somehow it feels comforting. Somehow, I still want to be mad at him, for what he said earlier, but feeling the warmth of his body so close to me, makes me feel save and nervous at the same time. My head tells my not to trust him, but I just feel myself being drawn to him.

„Lucy? I Know you're a good Person." Gon suddenly speaks up to me with puppy eyes. "You are not like these people at all, so why are you with them?" Hesitantly, I look away, unsure what to answer the boy. „Are you stupid?," Killua answers instead of me. „Can't you tell how familiar she is with them? She definitely belongs to them." Gons eyes widen in disbelief. „No that can't be true. Lucy, you're not a member of the Phantom Troupe, right?"

„No, I'm not," I hesitately answer the kid. It's not a lie after all, since I don't really belong to them, but somehow this doesn't feel quite right. After all, I'm just temporary forced to come along with them, so why does it feel like a lie? I'm just a normal college student, so after fulfilling Chrollo's expectations I will go home and life my life like nothing happened, right?

„Shut the fuck up you two." Phinks growls, while twisting Gons arm. I don't want him to hurt the boy, but before I can reach out stop him, he is distracted by Pakunoda. The blonde has returned, after ending her call but instead of talking to us, she walks straight to the door.

"Hey Paku! Wait up, where do you think you're going?" he yells, while trying to stop her. „Wait, let Paku go alone. We return to the shelter. Orders from Chain User," Nobunaga cuts in while getting infront of the blonde.

„Orders? And what about them?" Phinks snorts angrily, unable to believe his friend would follow someone else's orders. Nobunag draws his sword while Panunoda leaves the lobby behind him. „If we don't follow orders, he will kill the boss."

Foaming with rage, Phinks clenches his fists. The two men look like they are about to attack each other any second now. „Are you an idiot? If he does that, we just kill the Chain User and that's it." - „Yeah, that would also be what the boss would order us. Nobunaga you insult the spider," Feitan cuts in, with his usual sharp gaze. So can feel his body tensing up behind me, ready to fight.

Gently, I touch his ellbow, before cutting into their fight: „Are you guys stupid? Isn't Chrollo your friend? You can't just let him die like that." I feel Feitans body relax a little, but then Phinks intervenes again: "Discussing just wastes unnecessary time. We have to follow Pakunoda. That's what counts now." Shalnark nods at his friend ernesty. „I agree.There's no point in letting Paku go alone."

Machi Shakes her head. „I agree with Nobunaga and Lucy. We should obey his orders for the time being. Chrollos life is more important." - „Yeah, me too," Kortupi agreed as well, with his quiet voice.

Phinks still doesn't seem to be convinced by that. „For the time being? How long do we plan to listen to him? Until half of us are dead? Shizuku what do you think?," he asks the black haired girl, who had remained quiet till now. After thinking about it for a few seconds, she shrugs her shoulders. „If we disagree we flip a coin," she finally answers.

‚Well, they really make important decisions this way...'

„Besides, I think Lucy is right. I don't want Chrollo to die either." Now, all eyes are on Feitan, waiting for him to make a decision. Without realising it, I gently take is hand and squeeze it. Feitan nods, while squeezing my hand back, gently. „Alright. Let's go back."