Chapter Text
{A Night with the Troupe}
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In an old memory of distant heat-haze days, the scenery of Meteor City resurfaces from the horizon. The notorious place, also known as the world's garbage dumpster, was filled with trash of all kinds of places. The streets were narrow and barely allowed for people to pass through. Some roads were even completely blocked by giant dumps. If one wishes to traverse through all of Meteor City - not that there was much to see, - one would have to climb up the pile of trash that seem to lay here ever wasting.
Despite the city already being crowded as it is, it was much like any other giant city: filled with people. The numbers amount to millions of unregistered people. Million of lives and existences - unrecorded, undocumented, and in the eyes of the public: nonexistent.
This place was all that Chrollo knew since as child. It was a home of luck and misery. A breeding ground for desire and dreams to fester. It never struck him as such a dire place to be in, after all he had all the books he needed, he had all the mysteries and riddles gathered in one place. All the unknown, undiscovered and unneeded by the world. He had all the pieces of the world gathered in this sole, single place.
You might have heard before: What's trash for others, might be a treasure for someone else. And so, Chrollo got used to desiring these treasures. And if by that off-chance, if already someone's trash was this valuable to him... How much more? Oh just how much greater, would owing someone's treasure feel like?
Chrollo was by no means a vain person. But he couldn't deny, that it interested him. That it thrilled him to know what it would feel like to touch and have something that's not trash for once. Would he feel more human then...?
Moving on, young Chrollo was a smart child. Through the many things unknown, he quickly learned and made it his own. His brain was able to quickly input new information together. His intelligence allowed him to adapt. Becoming any person he wanted to be, fulfilling any role and duty he needed to. That was how he survived amongst the city of ghosts.
He led the people around him with a delighted, cheerful and slightly childish ambition and it came to fruition fairly well as soon his gang of Troupe Members were performing on the streets of Meteor City bringing laughter and joy to the forgotten inhabitants.
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The lights flickered and Chrollo opened his eyes from the rattling sound that came with it.
Staring out at the passing by scenery, Chrollo lowered his hand onto the arm rest of his seat.
The Troupe had left Yorknew City and were on their way to the nearest international airport before splitting ways.
'A dream, hm...' Chrollo thought.
How strange it was. Occasionally, he would dream and reminiscent about his past. He saw the same scene over and over again. It was of the day, when he found a book called ยซBandit Hunterยป. The same title that his Nen-conjured book had.
As silly as he and his friends were, they did not know of the value it held and were happy just fooling around whilst chasing each other atop of the pile of trashes.
It was always this same scene Chrollo dreamed of. The same old memory replaying like a tape stuck on rewind.
That memory had become far overused to the point that Chrollo had lost any sense of lingering affection, feeling or emotionality to it. Seeing the same thing over and over again was bound to get redundant. Besides, he no longer considered himself a child that could afford or desired to frolick around like that.
His dream however... This dream was different.
A different dream, a new dream of the same old past. And of a past, he had long forgotten about.
'That was when the troupe started...' Chrollo remembered.
His memory of these days were fuzzy. It wasn't no memory he liked to think of much, but why was he so aversive towards it?
Instead of remembering, an overwhelming sense of grief and sorrow filled him.
'Right, those were the days when everything went wrong.'
Perhaps saying it went wrong was a wrong description. The world had always been wrong from the start.
'We just didn't see it.' Chrollo concluded, staring out of the window with empty eyes.
A deep sense of sorrow grasped him, pulling him into the mud. Chrollo didn't like it but he remained indifferent to it anyway. The darkness did not scare him, so why not let it claim him. For all that he cared, he'd rather not face the despair after all.
As he gazed at the scenery outside. From afar, a red flicker caught his eye.
On the outside terrain of a barren land, a flickering, red-hued campfire illuminated the dark spot.
Travelers who were setting up for night, had decided to camp out here.
The tiny flame, coming from the campfire, flickered in a stark contrast to the dark night around them. It stood out with its inherent radiance and ember, reminding himself of a certain, reckless, lycorice-haired woman that had popped into their life.
He mused in soft wonder and awe.
'She's with Hisoka now...' Chrollo said as his thoughts trailed off mysteriously.
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Machi and Pakunoda who had just returned from the dining room stopped in their tracks. In front of their compartment, the familiar silhouettes of the other Troupe Members blocked their way.
"What are you doing?" Machi asked, a hint of frustration in her voice.
"Pssh-" Phinks replied, without turning around.
Feitan and he were leading the front, gaping through the door gap and observing their leader, Chrollo, who was sitting in the next compartment all alone, seemingly listless.
Hearing this Shalnark shrugged and turned around to the girls.
"They're spying on Boss. Something about him acting weird."
He was smiling as usual, obviously enjoying the drama whilst questioning their stupidity.
"How can that be." Pakunoda said.
She approached Feitan and Phinks, and lightly tapped their shoulders. The two guys immediately gave way to her, allowing her through.
She peeked through the door gap and shrugged her arms under her chest.
"And?" Machi asked.
"Nothing unusual." Pakunoda said. "Boss is just keeping guard."
"See? I told them the same, but they wouldn't listen." Shalnark said.
The other members nodded in agreement.
"Oi, Paku. You talk to him." Phinks said out of nowhere.
He was still convinced of the fact, that their boss was acting weird.
"That's enough, Phinks. You've been acting weird since the auction." Franklin interrupted, stating his suspicion.
Phinks raised an eyebrow and glared at him. "What did you say?"
"Whatever I said." Franklin repeated not relenting.
The animosity between them grew until Nobunaga intervened.
"Hey, hey! Stop it. How long are we going to stand here? I want to go and sit already!"
The samurai impatiently tapped his feet whilst scratching his chin and yawning widely.
"I too agree. If you have any questions, you should ask boss directly. Us, troupe members, shouldn't pick a fight with each other." Kortopi being the voice of reason, finally said something that was of use to the situation.
The more sensible members nodded in agreement. This stalling was getting ridiculous.
Just as the group was about to move along, Pakunoda spoke up.
"Wait." she said.
Her eyes focused on their leader. It was a simple, nonsensical thing but Pakunoda noticed a change in the mood surrounding their leader's air.
"What is it now?" Nobunaga asked, a little more annoyed.
No one answered him, instead Machi shoved the guys aside and stopped next to Pakunoda.
"Paku... don't tell me you too?" she said.
"... I think Phinks isn't wrong..." Pakunoda said.
"What? What did you see?"
The Troupe members began to crowd around the blonde woman, trying to perceive a change in their leader.
Only issue was... none of them could tell anything.
And so, as people tend to do when in doubt, they began to make random suggestions, accusations and observations about what could be unusual or weird about their leader.
While the Troupe was busy, Machi pulled Pakunoda aside.
"What did you see?" She whispered.
Pakunoda hesitated for a moment.
"I think... boss was thinking of something." Pakunoda answered vaguely.
Machi threw her a look that spelled 'uh duh'. Their boss thinking of something was by far nothing unusual. She shrugged her arms in front of her chests, showing her frustration.
"I think... I think boss is thinking of someone." Pakunoda said in a rattled voice.
"Huh?" Machi asked, mirroring Pakunoda's surprise.
Though both of them understood the meaning of each word. The whole sentence in connection with Chrollo absolutely made no sense to them.
"You mean... thinking of the Troupe, right?" Machi asked to clarify.
"Not the Troupe... Someone." Pakunoda said.
"... SOmeone... of the Troupe?" The word someone strangely rolled off Machi's lips.
"..." Pakunoda remained silent, unable to utter an answer. Her eyes were focused onto the floor and trembling slightly.
The two women let the silence passed by for a little longer.
It was Machi who regained her bearings first.
She snatched Pakunoda by her arm and pulled her away before any of the other troupe members could notice the weird air around them.
"Where are you going?" Feitan asked in a low whisper.
Machi froze for less then a second before thinking of the next best excuse in her mind.
"Bathroom break." she said and passed him by.
"Hm~" Feitan said.
A sly smirk formed beneath his mask without anyone noticing.
Thankfully, except for Feitan, the rest of the members paid them no mind. Those that noticed didn't care and those that did care, did not notice as soon, another fight broke out between the ever squabbling members.
On the outside, it may looked like the Troupe was split into groups for efficiency, but the real reason was much more banal. It all led up to a matter of convenience.
In a group of 13 people differences and conflicts arise at an usual pace. Since handling them all would be a pain in the ass, Chrollo split the members into teams. It not only avoided unnecessary mettle and strive but also assured his own peace and quiet.
Of course, it was only by coincidence that his group happened to house the least troublesome members. Pure coincidence.
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