Hunting for a way home - Shalnark x Reader

Chapter 20 - Well, Days always have a chance to change!

You knew this was coming and that you were going to have to face off with Hisoka in one way or another but it didn't feel real until that text earlier.

Ever since you got that message from Illumi it felt like a silent clock had started ticking down. You weren't sure when but you could feel your time running out and it left you feeling uneasy. What would happen when that invisible clock finally counted down to zero?

Phinks over the last few hours in the car had tried to provoke you into a conversation but the few times you'd actually manage to turn from your spot in the front seat to look at him ready to say something the words dried up before even reaching your tongue and you'd turn back to facing out the window of the car. Blankly cataloging all the trees.

Occasionally you'd feel Shalnarks or one of the others eyes on you but thankfully they hadn't decided to harass you.

It had been a while since this had happened, briefly a glimpse of this feeling was caught on Zevil Island but finding Killua helped push this emptiness you'd sometimes dissociate into away. The last real 'episode' happened a few weeks before you left for the Hunter Exam.

Mito, Gon, and even the grandmother spent the first few hours of the day trying to shake you out of your funk but they soon let you be after all their attempts failed. It wasn't the first time you'd slipped away in this fashion since arriving on the island and they learned pushing never really got them anywhere.

You had wanted to communicate but every time you tried the will to do so just drifted further and further away. During this particular episode you had spent the next two days blankly staring at the ocean.

The questions you never quite knew how to form never got answers but still you'd find yourself waiting.

What finally snapped you out of it was Gon running inside the house to where you sat beside the window with a fistful of exotic flowers in hand and smiled wide before saying. "My Aunt Mito says flowers can make girls happier! So I thought bringing you some might make you smile today!"

His happy expression cracked the ice in your heart that had been creeping in. Taking them a smile cracking the frown it had held you were able to thank him before putting them in a vase filled with water in your room.

When you emerged he was waiting for you eager to see you come back to life but you could sense him waiting for you to engage further, "Would you like to go look for shells by the shore today Gon?"

His cheerful smile before tugging you along through the house was answer enough. You couldn't help the small smile at the memory.

Seconds later a shove against your shoulder had you snapping your head to the side furrowing your brows frown now taking over the smile. "What." The single word that came out was hard and flat, lacking your normal heat.

Phinks forehead scrunched, "What the hell is wrong with you!" You glared at him, "Care to elaborate?" Even that sentence came out flat.

"You can't be serious!" He sounded angry but you just turned around sighing through your nose to look back out the window. You couldn't muster the energy to engage with him.

You blinked, realizing at some point the sun had actually begun to set. You felt a hard strike on your seat that knocked you forward into the window.

Slamming a finger down to press the seat belt lock to fully spin and face him baring your teeth you barely kept yourself from yelling. "What the fuck is wrong WITH YOU!"

Phinks didn't bother keeping his voice down, "You're not the one who should be asking that question here! You're the one that has literally sat there practically unmoving not saying a word ALL DAY!"