Note: Sorry, this chapter took longer than normal to write, but I hope you'll enjoy it!
The vision from outside seemed almost ethereal after all she had been through. Machi had been stuck in the cabin for almost a day now, still, it felt like weeks. Granted, she was still inside, but just looking through the open door felt like a whole different experience. Especially when the forest clearing in front of the cabins was stained with dry blood, pieces of corpses scattered liberally across the grass with small — some even cute — animals feasting on them. Not for long, however, for Hisoka's bloodlust was gradually scaring them away as it spread in waves from him. Her baby whimpered on the bed, disquieted, moving her arms and legs in discomfort. Machi felt the need to tend to her, but something else was more important right now.
She was ready to ask him who he felt was about to arrive when the animals started to run from the opposite side in a sudden panic. And her own eyes saw a man who shouldn't be there, walking calmly towards their cabin. Machi gasped.
It couldn't be.
Her first impulse was to go out and meet their visitor. Machi was used to thinking before acting, even before committing a mistake. She had to know where she would be stepping before moving her feet, and if it was a path of deviation, at least she would be aware of it. Now her feet moved forward before her thoughts, and she was ready to cross the door when Hisoka stopped her. She looked at his arm outstretched before her and then stared up at his face. Wide eyes showing how outraged she felt with his gesture but he didn't look back at her. His full attention was focused ahead. Even his breathing seemed tense in anticipation. He was not only ready for a fight, he was craving it, almost drooling with the thought of breaking someone with his bare hands. This vision made her feel sick.
A fight didn't feel right for Machi. But she didn't know yet what would be right under this circumstance.
"I'm not dumb, Hisoka," she protested, rightfully so, even knowing she was about to do something dumb. "I know there's a chance this is not real but-"
"So you know you don't have to go," his voice was deadly serious. It didn't prevent her from huffing, however. "There are no 'buts', Machi. You may be standing on your own, but your nen is not nearly as strong as it was." He looked briefly at her, his eyes amber and cold, still she felt a hint of worry in the way he regarded her. Or condescension. "Stay here."
She wanted to retort, but all she could think of were curses. As much as she loathed to admit it, Hisoka wasn't wrong.
As she watched the man walking leisurely outside, she realized her whim wasn't really the best one. She should understand what was happening first. Why Nobunaga was coming back when she knew that he wouldn't. By logic it was suspicious, but part of her wished desperately that it was true. If that image was real and her partner was returning alive after killing Nusumu, it meant she was free of that menace and of all the guilt she was carrying.
And she was free of Hisoka as well.
"I have the right to know what's going on," she said harshly between her teeth. "Don't you dare take that away from me, and if this is real..."
"If this is real he'll live and I'll be gone," he interrupted her with a matter-of-factly tone. "Now go take care of our daughter."
He smirked, so proud of himself for saying those words her nostrils flared. Machi wished she could break him with her bare hands.
"She's not your daughter."
"Nah, Machi. She is. We both know it."
Hisoka insisted before turning his back on her, making her blood boil. He was such a coward for doing this when she couldn't argue. All she could do was watch him walking away to meet her partner — or just the image of him. Machi couldn't take her eyes off of the scene, however. Her child's complaints would have to wait.
He could feel her stare at him as he walked to meet their visitor midway. Machi wouldn't go inside to tend to their baby, but he was glad he had finally declared his paternity. Not that it would be his last chance to say it, but the excitement for the imminent fight made him feel more open, more sensitive to his own emotions. Hisoka was sure that this wasn't Nobunaga, but a puppet. It was a realistic assumption given Nusumu's psychic abilities. She saw in Machi's mind how important the spider was to her and how she was feeling remorseful about his death. Maybe she was able to control his after-death nen somehow.
It meant Hisoka should get rid of Nobunaga before he could appeal to her emotions and lure her away.
"I don't know what you're doing here, Hisoka," Nobunaga growled when they got closer. He had only his short pants, his sheath, and his sword on him, a smattering of cuts and bruises, but he seemed deathly pale. Like a corpse. "But this time you won't leave alive."
Hisoka furrowed his brows. It sounded like Nobunaga, but the aura was different somehow. And the stronger it got, as the man assumed a high guard with his hand on his sword scabbard, the odder it felt. For some reason his mind compared it to a bad smell, taking over the air in a way you can't avoid if you want to keep breathing. He hoped Machi could feel it too.
"It's funny you should say that when you don't seem much alive yourself," Hisoka smirked, resting his hands on his hips. He didn't move any more than this. He didn't have to.
Not yet.
Nobunaga tutted to himself.
"You're delusional, Hisoka!" Nobunaga advanced, unsheathing his sword to strike against him in what would have been a hard blow.
If Hisoka hadn't dodged so easily.
He was sure he would be able to dodge any of his attacks. Not that Nobunaga was weak, he recognized his strength as much as he did with any of the Phantom Troupe members. But his mind was never clear enough to outsmart the magician. Especially now that he didn't seem to have a mind of his own, and if Nusumu was controlling him, there was no reason to believe she was a competent fighter. Accessing memories of fights wasn't enough.
"What interest can a hellish creature from this hellish place have in a baby?" Hisoka asked nonchalantly when they were face to face again.
"You can ask her in person in the afterlife after I kill you!"
Another attempted hit, another swift dodge. Hisoka was just casually dancing with him, hands still resting on his hips in the same position as they were when it all began. Eyes fixed on his every movement, and the fact that he could follow them was a bad sign to Nobunaga. He was too slow.
"I have a theory," the magician raised his right hand and gestured vaguely as he spoke. "See, the world we live in is surrounded by mysteries. Some of them are still completely unknown, others are just unproven, falling into the position of tales, fables, fanciful myths. This place we're in is proof of it. I'm not impressionable, and still, I have seen some extraordinary things here. Things I've never thought I would see." Hisoka darted a suspicious look at Nobunaga's eyes, he couldn't care less that he was foaming at the mouth while clutching at his sword's hilt. "Things like ghosts."
Nobunaga just snarled, that stench-like nen growing stronger, engulfing him as if it was a haze. Strange enough to make Hisoka wonder, but nothing that would scare him away as the spider dashed towards him. And this time he didn't dodge the blow. The sword was ready to cross his body when Bungee Gum covered his feet, attaching them to the ground to absorb the impact, and his hands so he could hold the sharp blade only a few inches away from his face.
The magician grinned like a beast before Nobunaga's angry stare.
"There are a lot of ruins in this place," Hisoka's voice sounded louder now, but still very calm as if holding his sword was nothing. "Which means there were human-like lives here once. And where there are humans, there are always unfulfilled wishes that remain after the bodies have long decomposed." The man in front of him grunted and the blade got stronger against his hands. "I know what it feels like, and you know what it feels like as well, don't you? To have your desires interrupted by death."
"You should have stayed dead, you freak!" Nobunaga's energy expanded like a blast, making Hisoka's feet slightly slither on the ground, but his aura could hold him stronger as well.
"What was it, Nusumu?" Hisoka yelled as if she was anywhere near them. "Did your baby die in your arms or did you die while giving birth so you've never seen your child?" His face split in a vicious grin. "Either way, you're not putting your hands on mine!"
The sword grew heavier against him, Nobunaga's eyes clouded with rage. Hisoka hummed satisfied. Sometimes he didn't need words to know if he was making the right decision. The reaction he got from the man was enough. Bungee Gum widened on his hands, making him push the sword some more inches away from him, gaining dominance.
And suddenly, breaking his blade in half with a loud crack.
Both were forced to rebalance, but only Hisoka took the opportunity to throw the loose part of the blade away while jumping forward, above Nobunaga, landing behind his back. He could have used the blade to cut his head off, but Machi's worries echoed in his mind. He didn't even know why. The image of her being let down again by him was unpleasant. So he knew he had to find any proof to show her he was right.
He was fighting a puppet, her friend was long gone.
Both men turned to face each other, but Nobunaga was a fraction of a second slower. It was enough for Hisoka to catch a glimpse of a trail of vivid, red blood beneath his hair, running down from his nape to his spine. He couldn't help but find it interesting.
It was from a mortal wound, he was certain of it.
"I'm gonna shut your mouth up for good!" Nobunaga spat and threw himself at Hisoka, charging his broken sword now ceaselessly, without letting any space for Hisoka to jump away.
The magician nimbly evaded each attack, retreating as the man advanced until he realized they were now among the trees, the clearing becoming more and more distant, soon vanishing from his sight. Hisoka didn't feel good about it. The situation seemed an awful lot like the last time he saw Nobunaga pushing Nusumu away from Machi. Maybe he wasn't changing to hit him, but to gain time.
So Hisoka concentrated his nen on his left hand and unpredictably held the broken blade with his right one, letting it cut deeply into his palm without care. Quickly, seizing the opportunity given by Nobunaga's shock, he punched his chest with the nen charged hand, sending his body across the forest back to the clearing in a straight line, smashing through the trees as he flew. The magician dashed after him, jumping over his crumpled body lay on the ground and pulling the part of the sword he threw away previously with his Bungee Gum.
He impaled his chest immediately as if he was in a hurry to trap him on the ground.
"Now, the question is," Hisoka pulled Nobunaga's head by his hair, ignoring his painful groans. "Will Nusumu's puppets stop when mortally wounded a second time? Or do I have to cut your head off?"
He looked at his nape, seeing a ragged, bloody hole at the base of his head, as if an animal took a bite of his skull, maybe even sucked his brain out given how light it felt on his hand. Still, the spider coughed blood on him.
"You're an abomination, but you're not as quick as you think you are," he chuckled, that strange energy of him weakening by the second.
Until Hisoka could feel Machi's aura beyond that haze he had created. And something else. Something so ominous. Golden eyes urgently searched for her at the door of the cabin, but she wasn't there.
He didn't have time to swear.
Machi gasped when Nobunaga's sword broke. It wasn't solely because she never thought she would see it happening — his blade was practically forged on his enhanced nen, it was supposed to be indestructible, unless his aura was disturbed —, but also because at that very moment she felt an eerie presence behind her. She had no doubt: she had to reach her baby quickly to protect her.
Her nen emanated from every pore of her body as she turned and dashed towards her child. Machi felt her tiny body on her hands when she threw herself on the floor beside the bed, arms stretched to hold her, but when she was supposed to clash on the floor, she felt nothing more. That sinister light engulfed her as it did when she was in labor. As it always did in her nightmares before, and whenever Nusumu was around now.
Cursing inwardly, she tried to keep her mind clear and hold on to reality. Machi knew her daughter was in her hands before, so for as much as she couldn't see or feel her anymore, she moved to grab her and bring her tightly against her chest with her left hand. Then she waited for the worst, threads ready to attack in her right hand. Would she have to watch her baby being tortured? Feel the pain herself? See Hisoka acting like a mindless monster towards them?
But she took a deep breath when the vision unfolded before her eyes.
It was a scene she had watched before, the Phantom Troupe gathered together in Meteor City, celebrating a successful mission they had accomplished in their homeland. Nothing special happened that night, it was nothing more than one of the few times all of the original members were reunited, drinking, laughing, simply enjoying themselves. It was a low blow to simply show her that. Her dear friends, alive and happy.
Her dear friends, now all dead.
Tears filled her eyes, but she had to stay strong. It was just a memory. The reality she was in now was just her and her daughter, who she tried to hold tighter. She wished she could feel her so badly, to at least hear her cries.
"Nobunaga could be with you now, but soon he'll have to join us," Chrollo said, making her look at his image. His voice was always so soft and soothing, as well as his beautiful, grey eyes and the tranquil smile on his face.
"Who knows, maybe he's already dead," Machi replied, not to Chrollo, but to Nusumu.
The chief chuckled quietly.
"I had always loved you for your wit. I've never thought someone like him would fool you so easily."
"Yeah, me neither," it was hard to address Danchou's image like this, but she had to keep in mind it wasn't him. "Now cut the crap, bitch, show me your face so I can rip it off of your body!"
Chrollo showed her an understanding smile and got up from his seat, walking towards her slowly and crouching down so their eyes were at the same level. His hand reached her face and Machi shivered. She felt that touch, tender and hot as he used to touch her. A single tear trailed down her cheek.
"Machi, stop worrying so much," he sounded like velvet. Like a hot espresso the morning after they've made love for the last time. The clear and sunny sky outside the windows of his floor on Heaven's Arena bathing everything in light. "I don't care where you've been or what you did. All I want from you is some faith," his fingers tucked her bangs for him to kiss her forehead. "Please, have faith in me."
This is what he told her that morning. She never thought it would hurt so badly to hear these words again. Especially when he took her in his arms, his smell so good, hitting her like a wave of comfort. Chrollo always smelled like home.
"I did! I did have faith in you!" She cried salty tears against his chest. "I am the unfaithful one, you shouldn't have trusted me so much! I'm sorry, Danchou!"
She held him in return, forgetting where she really was for a second.
"Now, where is Himiko?"
Her blood froze inside her veins. That name was suddenly so special and familiar to her. That was the name of her child, somehow she knew it. And where was she?
Machi failed to realize immediately when the vision faded and reality was unveiled inside the cabin. Bony arms covered in blue veins held her baby, rocked her carefully while a softly, motherly voice lulled her.
"You are such a sweet child, aren't you?" Ridged features smiled at her, baring many pointy teeth. "So mistreated, poor girl. You must be starving… and so am I. But let's take care of you first, right?"