A Worthy Enemy (HunterxHunter)

Chapter 18: A Hymn for the Dead

Darnell and Machi both tensed at Feral's warning, and once the room darkened to a single spotlight on stage, sharp goosebumps prickled his skin. However, Illumi had not moved. Red had not moved.

He locked eyes with Machi. If Corrin was out, they would be too but Red's judgment was also keen to consider. What should he do? The draining seconds ticked in his head as loudly as the woman's steps, tapping on the stage's wooden floors.

Every member of the Troupe was welcome to lean on their own instincts. But at what cost could they disband into separate paths. Abandon their plan?

While the woman's face was pale of porcelain glass, her eyes sank to that of a cobra's. Elegance stiffened her posture above supremacy as she raised the microphone and parted her lips. At the peak of tension, Darnell made his final decision. Continue the plan. But to his disappointment, when he faced Machi, her eyes pierced him with nothing but cold urgency, shaking her head to leave. She had decided the opposite.

Here...they would have to part ways. "Go," Darnell mouthed and he would continue on.

Machi stood up. The women sang.

"Come throw your heart into the waves."

All of Darnell's thoughts ceased. It was a voice so enchanting—so alluring it disrupted his senses. He didn't think her voice would be that good, nor the song as it started as a soft lullaby instead of jazz. Machi hesitantly gripped the table, staring at the singing woman in awe.

"Machi?" he whispered.

"Your soul is lost, and still it saves."

"Nevermind," she finally said, eyes glued to the stage. "I think it will be fine. I'll stay."

Darnell also found himself gripping the cloth of the table and forced his head not to look at the woman because in the shadow of Machi's eyes, something he never thought he'd see in her, was something like sheer desperation.

Just that look was enough to resume his thoughts and logic, realizing something was already off. He skimmed the room while his ears swooned at the woman's voice. His body was in heaven, and he'd sell his soul to keep listening. Wait. What were they doing just now? And why did everyone's eyes look the same? There was another shade of dullness in the eyes of the man next to him as if they were in a sleepwalking haze.

"Drink me in and come undone."

Darnell instinctively squeezed his glass of water under the smothering music. He could finish the mission later. He could use his power after. That, he was sure of.

"Trade a thousand lives for one."

All was calm. The room continued to sway with haunted stares...until there was a scratch in his throat. Darnell's tongue lapsed in his mouth, dry as sandpaper. He was suddenly thirsty. At the same time he felt that tick, he downed his glass of water in one gulp. It was delicious.

"Come away and drink it in....drink and sink and let it in."

More. He needed more. He had never in his life felt so dehydrated. Others began to stand up around him, searching around. Water. They needed water as well.

Machi was already using her threads to slice open a barrel, letting water thrash out like tidal waves. They were flooding. Every barrel in the room, flooding. Infinitely. Like pipes connected from the sea. Darnell's legs moved on their own, his desire pulsing to be quenched until sounds sprinkled in his ear to his right. The sink burst on with people stepping on each other just to reach it. Clatters in the kitchen smashed on the floors. Chairs knocked over. Water flooding to the brink. They were all smiling.