DISCOVERY ➴ Chrollo x Reader

XX. A fire that burns unseen

"Oh? The Spider is polite enough to let me burn the car that has been my livelihood?" I slapped my chest with my hand with the theatricality of the moment. "What a gentleman."

He lit the match and handed it to me carefully. I barely grabbed it, I was already tossing it into the pooling gasoline before thinking about anything clearly.

"No hesitation." He observed, and I felt like rolling my eyes once more and say something like Oh really? Who hadn't noticed? But I took a deep breath and stared at the twinkling flame that spread around.

"We've had our days. I'm done with them now." That was barely poetic, or inspiring... But I was proud of my level voice and my body was too tired to think of something smarter to say. "Shouldn't we go? Is it going to explode or something?"

Panic seized my body, locking it in place as I saw the flames trickling close to the gas tank. Chrollo nodded and I started, ready to jump to the new car even though I was filthy and dead.

"I'll move us further along the way." He moved to the driver's side and I swallowed as I moved to the other side. I opened the door, and it just swung so smoothly. Oh- to ride a new vehicle. It was so clean and smelled of mint! I couldn't. I was too filthy, my pants were literally covered in dirt.

Chrollo was staring at me, car started and gear in. "Is this part of the madness?"

I looked behind me, to the old taxi, and without a thought, I pulled my trousers down, jumped inside the jeep and closed the door.

I started folding the filthy garments slowly, as to not dirty the carpet too much, and moved to grasp the seat belt. A loud noise echoed behind us, I looked back and saw the car engulfed in flames. It felt right. Quitting would've felt good but seeing that damned taxi burn to the ground... just felt sweeter...

Chrollo U-turned and parked the car facing the fire. It looked like a safe enough distance, and I was glad to be able to see it for longer. I leaned back, letting go of the seat belt I never got to put on, and somehow felt my lips quirk up as the flames swished to the will of the wind and a tree beside the car started fuming.

My head turned to face Chrollo, my eyes still on the car before they forced themselves to meet a piercing grey gaze. He wasn't watching the taxi. That was a surprise. "Why are you looking at me?"

"Waiting for my reply." He stated back, as if I had missed the elephant in the room.

"What was the question?" My mind was clear, and it felt so good. The voices had quieted down, the overthinking was to the minimum and I wanted to turn and watch my life as it burnt to the ground.

"Is this a part of the madness?" He pointed at me.

"Hm... The lack of trousers? My happiness at seeing that car burn? Simply my person or something else?" I sounded singsongy and I had to hold back a giggle.

"All of the above."

My eyes fixated on the swirls of red and the black smoke that erupted. "I find the lack of trousers to be logical, they were filthy, and the car is clean."

"Sure..." I waited for him to argue on that, he seemed to want to. He didn't though. Perhaps he wanted to know about the other things first.

"I'm happy to see it burn. It's an appropriate ending for that piece of scrap." And I truly was. I hadn't felt free in a long time. And there I was, sitting on a robbed car, wearing underpants and a simple shirt, watching my taxi burn, feeling free. Had the lack of water gotten to me? Was I hallucinating happiness?

"You think so? It was quaint."

I scoffed, "It was horrible. Oppressive. Hard to drive. The list could go on..." I swallowed dryly and rubbed my hands. "Give me water."

"Is it not too much to be true?" I peered at him, his lips were curled up as if it was something funny. The water had been too much to be true. If I had any strength left in me, I'd argue about that. He handed me a large bottle of water and started the engine.

I gulped it all down, feeling feverish and somehow floaty. The hum of a new car lulled me to sleep and before I could do anything about it, my consciousness was fading and my cheek had never found a pillow more comfortable than that window.

***

Slowing down to a full stop, my body lurched forward but was stopped by the seatbelt. When had I... Something fell over my body, something too warm, there was no need to cover myself... the sun on my skin was hot enough. Wait. I was wearing no trousers. My eyes flapped open, my face scrunched as I took in the light and patted down the fabric that was now covering my body.

"Wha-" I straightened up, a police car was parked just in front of us. I snapped my neck to look at Chrollo, whose fingers were tapping the buttons to lower the windows to talk to the tall policeman that stood outside. I audibly winced and patted my hair for a semblance of normality.

"Good morning, officer." He didn't seem to be concerned. I shouldn't be concerned. He had killed them not me. Right? I had buried them though. And I looked crazy. How would I justify that? Did he even have a driver's license to show?

This couldn't be happening. How was he so calm. My heart felt like it had been buried along with the owner of this fucking car and my breathing was picking up.

"Excuse my spouse here... I- er... We may have had... a fun time in the car just as we woke up this morning..."

> Author's Note: I felt bad with the last chapter, it was a bit boring so I decided to write this one before going to bed- <3 Kissies dears.