Lucilfer (ChrolloxReader)

Chapter 6

TW: MEMORIES OF SEXUAL, PHYSICAL, AND MENTAL ABUSE.

Dappled orange hues flashed behind the lids of my closed eyes occasionally as I rested in the passenger seat of Chrollo's sleek black car. The darkness outside was obscured by the few thinning city lights sprinkled here and there. We were on the outskirts of the city, taking an exit onto some major highway I wasn't familiar with. Then again, I wasn't familiar with anything at all in the city when we'd been passing through it.

I hadn't realized that we'd need to get through the entirety of York New to get wherever Chrollo was taking me, but it was now past midnight and we still had another hour before we would arrive. I was utterly exhausted, physically unable to even keep my eyes open, but my mind felt too awake to shut off long enough for me to be able to sleep. Our walk up that cliffside wasn't exactly rough in and off itself, and I'd been forced to go much longer periods of time without food before, but the combination of that and the sheer amount of time it took to walk from those canyons to a bus station required endurance I didn't even know I possessed.

We'd made it to the bus station around three in the afternoon, and it was about an hour wait until the next bus to York New City. In the meantime, Chrollo bought me new clothes and a pair of shoes from a gift shop, as well as some food. I'd felt bad, but Chrollo had assured me that money was never an issue for him and that if I needed anything, I should always ask him. Of course, I didn't argue with him; I was very grateful.

I'd thrown away my old clothes and shoes in a large dumpster outside the station after I'd changed into the casual travel outfit he'd bought. They were dirty and worn, anyway.

The bus ride had been long and uncomfortable. I decided I didn't like bus seats at all after that. It was around six in the evening when we'd finally arrived at a station in the city, and even though it'd felt like the journey was finally coming to an end, everything still took forever. I suppose I hadn't realized or even known or expected how packed everything would be. Chrollo mentioned something about evening times being a "rush hour" because everyone was getting home from work.

One thing I had taken note of was how out of place Chrollo looked among the ordinary people of York New City. Of course, there were always those who marked their individuality with the way that they dressed. I tended to like those types of people more, anyway—their energy felt much more genuine. Chrollo, however, stuck out even more than them. He'd buttoned up his long jacket back at the bus station so his bare abdomen wasn't exposed, and even before we arrived at the first bus station, he'd taken out a sort of fabric headband from his pocket and wrapped it around his forehead to conceal his tattoo. After all that, though, he still looked strange next to all of the humdrum citizens of York New, almost as if someone had plucked him from another time period and placed him in the present. I couldn't decide if that time period would have been past or future.

He had ordered something called an Uber for us. We needed to get through major parts of the city to some back-roads abandoned sector for Chrollo's car. The driver, Cadence, was nice enough to him, since he was the one who did all the talking and the paying, but I could tell she was slightly put off—or was that intrigue in her eyes?—by his appearance. It might have helped that I was with him, and that he had me dressed so regularly, but I couldn't tell for sure. Cadence hardly even acknowledged me; she was too busy batting her eyelashes at Chrollo.

It had surprised me, the strange feeling that grew in my chest when she asked him if he wanted to sit up front with her. It was an indignant feeling, an irksome emotional reaction that made me feel like I was being wronged for some reason. I wanted him to sit by me. Perhaps it was just because of how safe I felt next to Chrollo in such a foreign sprawling city, but either way, I didn't like the feeling of jealousy. I'd never met Cadence before in my life, and I realized I already hated her. Her voice was high-pitched and squeaky and made my ears ring.