The Serpent's Chronicles - Cataclysm

x Courtship x

Medea's brain shut down.

A wave of horror crashed against her and settled in the pit of her gut. In her face, there was no longer the debauched smirk nor the daring gleam her eyes usually carried, instead, they were replaced with an expression she had never given anyone in a long time the pleasure to see before.

Despair.

During that endless, sullen silence, she continued to stare at the card. Any and all color had been drained from her cheeks and lips. The air was like fire in her lungs, she could barely breathe at this point.

Her fingers trembled. She had begged anything, anyone, any deity for that damned suit. Any spades. That was precisely what she had gotten, in the end.

Ace of Spades.

"Oh. What is this?" Hisoka asked, words dripping with venom. "Didn't you say you never lost?"

It was true. Medea was an excellent gambler. Luck was never a problem when she made bets, and, in fact, it seemed to always favor her — a good example of that was the one she had made with Kurapika, back in Padokea. Yet, that was not what happened this once. Not when she needed the fortune the most.

Fate was not on her side this time. It was on Illumi's.

Not a single word left her mouth.

"What is wrong, little dove?" That sultry, sarcastic voice made her entire body shiver in distress, but she still did not look at any of the men in front of her. "Cat got your tongue?"

It was not that she did not know what to say; she did. She had many things she wanted to tell the both of them, claims regarding the veracity of the game, her opponent's honesty, the lack of involvement of his companion, and much more. But still, she remained quiet. Medea could not bring herself to utter anything.

This moment was a big, disgusting stain on her impeccable gambling trajectory. It was too much. Too humiliating. Too unavoidable.

This did not make any sense. Her brain tried to comprehend what the Ace of Spades in her hand meant, but, again, she could not.

Medea never lost.

It was simply a fact. It was supposed to have been irrevocable.

"An Ace?" Medea flinched slightly when that cruelly amused tone rang through her ears. "I guess that means I win."

"It does!" Cheered Hisoka.

"What did you do?" Her voice faltered and she hated herself for it. At first, she could barely raise her face, but she ignored the bitter taste on her tongue and stared at the dark-haired assassin. "What the hell did you do?"

Illumi grinned. "I did nothing."

"You did something," Medea insisted, leaning over the glass table, "What was it?"

"I have done absolutely nothing, Medea."

Slamming the glass, she grabbed him by the collar. "You motherfucking liar!" The other cards fell to the ground, but she did not care. Not when Illumi continued to look at her in that infuriatingly haughty way, "Tell me!"

Chuckling, he shook his head. "We made a blood oath, do you not remember? I could not cheat. I could not go against that even if I wanted to. Still," He held one of her wrists and pulled her closer, faces mere inches apart. A disturbing smirk appeared on his lips, "I do not think it would have been necessary. You lost, anyway."

Before she could land a punch on his cheek, something prevented her from doing so. She stared at her fist. A bright, sticky pink aura engulfed it, which made her frown in pure confusion.