Lucilfer (ChrolloxReader)

Chapter 48

*Chrollo POV*

(Y/n)'s entire body was unmoving, still and almost lifeless, and if I hadn't known any better, I wouldn't have even hardly paid mind to the minuscule, shallow rising and falling of her shoulders. I blinked slowly, my eyes weighted and pleading for a night of restful sleep, half-opened, gazing only with adoration at her sex-exhausted form. Her arm around my waist twitched slightly, pulling away—I shifted to allow her room and looked down at her close position, her hands pressed lightly to my chest and her head gently tucked into my collar. She was so enchanting.

Being away from her had taken more of a toll on me than I'd originally thought, but I suppose that had more to do with how she handled it than how it genuinely affected me. I didn't like leaving her alone and with no immediate way to contact me if her mind spun out of control, if she allowed memories to drift to the surface—I'd stayed awake every single night of my departure in case she snapped back to consciousness from a nightmare and needed to call me.

In reality, there was no effort or dragging procedure on my end to keep my body or my brain wired—I simply never felt the sensation of exhaustion, or the need for slumber. In fact, I was sure that even if I'd tried, I wouldn't have been able to fall asleep. Even during the evenings that I couldn't call her, I felt no peace, and no desire to risk the one time when she might need me with sleep. As a result, it had been a week and a half since I'd last been able to engage in a restful night, but it was worth it to finally return and come back to a sense of purpose again, to the other half of my despondent soul, and hold her safely in my arms before relenting to the built-up weariness in my bones.

But even as I felt my eyes closing, I couldn't pause the torrent of persistent thoughts concerning Hisoka, and his arrival in York New City, as well as the chain user. Hisoka's intentions to meet with Machi were a ploy, a farce—I wasn't a fool. He could use this as a believable excuse because of his former attraction to her and her Nen ability, and perhaps he was still intrigued by the thought of eventually fighting her, but even if I hadn't received confirmation from Nobunaga about the chain user's recent whereabouts, I wasn't naive enough to assume Hisoka and the chain user weren't still working together, or at least exchanging information.

But there was another reason why I was absolutely sure the two of them were still partners of sorts—I had sent word to Hisoka before I left that I would be at Heaven's Arena in the Republic of Padokea reclaiming my title as Floor Master in preparation for my future challenge to him, to which he was completely elated. My rationalization for doing so was simple, now that I understood how his pleasure-seeking mind worked. If he were to immediately travel from wherever he had been to Heaven's Arena, it was safe to assume that he and the chain user were no longer in direct contact with one another, most likely being due to a decision Kurapika might've made; if he didn't, however, immediately make his way to my location, and left to somewhere else instead, I could be entirely sure that wherever he went was in the direction of the chain user, and that the two of them were still exchanging information and bargaining on who would exact their plan of attack on me first.

Of course, there was still a chance that if Hisoka had come to Heaven's Arena to watch me fight—or to challenge me right then and there—he would still be working with the chain user. But the odds of him giving up that chance just to go visit Machi were too slim, and perhaps obviously so. Hisoka had always maintained a strange habit of "helping" those he wished to destroy, and maybe this was his way of sending a message, hidden in plain sight, that Kurapika was still in York New, especially since he would've known Machi would carry the information of his visit on to me. And, just as well, he knew I was analytical enough to see it as a faux move, to uncover his true intentions of meeting with the chain user and perhaps reasoning with Kurapika about earning the opportunity to fight me before I was met with another Judgement Chain.