The Razor's Edge [[Feitan x Reader]]

21: The Library

Phinks's POV (occurring parallel to the previous chapter)

Shal clicked away at the library computer. He was combing through the Hunter database, trying to narrow down the location of Greed Island. He'd ask me a question and then spend twenty minutes re-analyzing his list.

I was starting to get pretty impatient, leaning back in my chair and watching him work. The whole thing was a reminder of why I hated intel so much—it was a longer, more grueling process. I preferred to solve my problems with my fists. It was faster, anyway.

"Hmm," Shalnark hummed. "You said it took weeks to travel from the start point to the outer boundaries?"

"If you didn't have cards to help you, then yeah, probably a week or two."

Shal rubbed his chin and went back to scanning his list.

"And it was an island, in case you forgot."

"Thanks, Phinks," Shal said without looking up. "I didn't get that from the title."

I chose to only hear the first part of what he'd said "You're welcome."

Bored, I let my gaze wander, scanning the spines of books that were sat on the shelves around us. From behind one of the book cases, I thought I glimpsed a set of eyes spying on us. I shot up from my chair, rushing to where I'd seen them, and caught a man trying to run off. He was small, maybe only a few inches taller than Feitan, and awkwardly scrawny. His glasses were crooked on his face, slipping to the end of his nose as if they were too big. He didn't look like much of a threat, but I wasn't about to let my guard down.

"P-please don't hurt me," he squeaky voice begged as I used one hand to lift him off of the ground by his shirt collar, the other was balled in a fist, poised to strike as soon as he made a wrong move.

"What are you doing watching us? Didn't anyone ever tell you that it isn't nice to stare?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to! I just—I need your help."

"You need my help? I'm not sure who you think I am, but I'm not someone that you come to asking for that sort of thing." I dropped my hold, letting him fall to the ground. He scrambled to get to his feet. "Do yourself a favor and scram before you really start to piss me off." I turned to walk back to Shalnark, resenting the fact that I'd gotten up from my chair just to threaten some shrimp.

"Wait," he called after me. "Were you at an auction in Yorknew a few days ago? One where they sold Greed Island?"

This was about the game? Was he trying to take it from us?

I decided to play dumb. "Greed Island? Is that some sort of painting or something?"

"Oh, that's not what I'm looking for," he said, pulling a folded up piece of paper from the pocket of his kakis and handing it to me. "I'm looking for this woman—my fiancée. She went missing a couple of months ago. I was at the auction I mentioned and could have sworn that I saw you there with her. I just hoped maybe you might know where she is?"

I was forced to contain my surprise as I opened up the paper to see a photograph of Y/n. Fiancée? She never mentioned anything like that—but then again, why would she? It's not like i'd given her my entire life story in the short amount of time that we'd known each other. Whether it was true of not, I didn't trust this guy for a second.

"A few days ago, you said? I'm sorry, but I've been out of town. Guess you've got me mixed up with someone else."

"Oh," the man replied, eyeing me suspiciously "My mistake. I'm sorry to bother you"

I nodded. "Yeah, just don't let it happen again."

Shal didn't look up when I came back to my seat, too focused on his research. "What was that about?" He asked.

I sat up to get a better look through the bookshelves, making sure the guy with the glasses was gone. "I'll tell you about it when we get back to base."

"You can't give me a hint? I'm not a very patient person, you know—especially when I feel like i'm being left out of things."

"Alright, let's just say that Fei might've been right not to trust our eleventh spider."

"Feitan doesn't trust anyone. Hey, what color sand did the beaches have?"

I didn't appreciate his lack of concern. "I dunno. They were whatever color beaches usually are."

"I guess that narrows it down a little more."

"Are you almost done?" I complained, sinking back into my chair. "I'm getting tired. I'm sure everyone else at base is asleep—lucky bastards."

"We can go in a bit."

"How long is a bit?"

"As long as it takes."

I lifted my head and shot him a look. "I don't like that answer."

"Relax. I think i've figured it out."

"You have?!"

He turned the screen of his computer to show me a world map. He zoomed into the image and pointed to a small cluster of islands not too far from the coast. "It takes place on one of these islands. We'll just need a boat to get to them."

"Easy enough." I slapped my legs as I stood up. "So are we good to go, then?"

Shal rolled his eyes. "Yeah, we are."

As we were heading back, I thought I caught a flash of the moonlight reflecting off of something behind the tree line, but found nothing upon closer inspection.

Still, I couldn't shake the feeling that we were being watched.

~~~~~
A/N: Just a short little update, but I hope you liked it! <3