Shinigami - The God of Death Part 7
"So how come I'm not back in my body yet?"
Solo moves around the room in a fury, looking angrier than ever. I guess that talk with Quatre still had him upset. Here he is, back from work with the guys at the Preventers office and he's about to blow a fuse. World look out! Because if he's in my body that means he blows my fuse... and man that is a huge fuse to blow. But still he's ignoring me.
"Solo! Listen to me right now. Quatre knows what's going on, so why the hell am I still stuck in your body?! Is there something you forgot to tell me? Dammit!"
A smile slides across Solo's face and he sits down on the bed. Crossing his legs he looks right at me, an amused look on his face. Arg, I never realized how annoying that expression was on my own face when I used it on others.
"You aren't remembering the rules correctly, Duo." He says softly.
"Would you care to restate them then?" I growl back at him angrily.
"Certainly." Solo stands up and walks around the room, as if ready to show off some great secret or treasure. Man I just want to punch his lights out, too bad I can't. "The rules are this... Heero has to notice that I am not you. He is the one you chose, so that means he has to notice. It doesn't count if any of your other friends notices or points it out."
"You mean he has to actually walk up to you and accuse you of not being the real me?"
Solo nods and the grin on his face widens.
"Figures," I mutter with venom. "Just my luck that everyone else in the house is beginning to notice except Heero. Mental note for next time, I choose Quatre, at least he can tell when I'm in the room."
At that the grin wilts and Solo turns away from me, rubbing his chin. "That is a small problem. I had an idea that little empath would cause trouble but not this much this early..." He frowns. "It would be so much easier if he weren't in the picture."
Those words strike me cold and I shudder. My eyes widen and I just stare at him. "My god Solo, you aren't honestly thinking of..."
Solo turns to look back at me, his face completely serious and unreadable. "Do you care about him that much? I thought you loved Heero."
I swallow. "I love Heero, but they are my friends. Dammit! Solo don't you dare lay a finger on Quatre!"
Solo merely shrugs and walks toward the bathroom, undoing the long braid of his hair. Jeez, you know that there is something wrong when you get used to seeing your childhood friend in your own body. I actually called it HIS hair! I need my body back soon or this is going to drive me insane.
I watch him walk into the bathroom and I just want to go hide in the corner. What in the world happened to him? The Solo I knew was always smiling, he had a joke for everything and never frowned. The Solo I knew...
The Solo I remembered from when I was younger was a lot like I am now. He didn't have long hair, he kept his sort of messy and short, a lot like Heero's yet it curled more. And he was always laughing. Life to him was one great comic reel and made completely for his amusement, yet he still knew how to be serious when it was needed. Solo was the king of laughter, the one who always smiled and laughed, the one who kept everyone elses' spirits up even when we were hungry or dying. He always made us laugh. He always made me laugh.
And now? What had happened to him?
I sit on the toilet and watch his smeared image through the glass of the shower as he hums away and the water rushes over my body that he's inhabiting. All I can think about is him and how he must feel.
I actually feel sorry for him. I guess I know how he feels, since I was the one who didn't acknowledge that he might still be living. How frustrating was it to watch me for ten years? How angry could I get watching Heero for ten or more years, wishing I was still a part of his life.
Solo died when I was so young... too young. Is it possible to actually understand love when you're that young? That's a strange thought, since I'm not exactly sure whether I understand love right now. But I suppose it's not impossible that he loved me. Whether he did or not, the point is he thought he did.
I feel guilty now, a deep guilt welling inside my stomach making me sick. Solo raised me, Solo was the whole reason I'm called Duo and what did I do? I destroyed what life he had a chance at just because I was unwilling to accept that maybe life contains things that are more then meets the eyes. Just because I was too stubborn to admit that what I believed and what he'd taught me to believe might actually not be completely true.
The shower before me turns off and Solo steps out, wrapping the towel around his body. I glance up at him quietly, but say nothing. I don't know what my face looks like at the moment, not sure what my expression is, but whatever it is he doesn't like it.
"Don't look at me like that," he says quietly. The tone of his voice... or rather my voice that he's been using all this time, is soft and pleading. Like a scared child who didn't expect to be scared.
I sigh softly. "I don't suppose it would help in any way for me to apologize would it?"
Solo bites his lip and leaves the bathroom at a quick step, heading straight for the closet that holds my clothes. I turn just so I can watch him from my seat on the toilet but other than that I don't move.
"No, it wouldn't." He bites out quickly, in a slightly angry tone.
I shrug. "Yeah, well it'll at least make me feel better. I'm sorry Solo. I'm sorry I didn't believe the truth that stood right in front of me."
He stops in his motions and the shirt he is holding drops to the floor. Recovering quickly he bends down and retrieves it, throwing it on in a hurried fashion. "Your apologies don't make up for what you did," he hisses, but still doesn't face me.
"Yeah, I know." I say softly.
He turns and looks at me in confusion, just standing there in the black tee-shirt and wet towel wrapped around his waist. He just stares at me in confusion and indecision. I offer a small pitying smile.
"Mind me asking a question? What happens if Heero doesn't notice me?"
The confusion drops off his face and he goes back to dressing, discarding the towel in favor of a pair of black jeans. "Then you stay like that," he states out matter-of-factly.
"No, what happens to you?"
His hands fumble and he drops the hair tie and what hair he'd started to braid. I can see his hands trembling slightly as he tries to pretend he didn't react to that. Slowly those trembling hands redo the long strands of wet hair into a braid.
"You don't know..." I venture softly.
"I don't care!" He cries out in anger and whirls on me, a glare of hatred set deep in his face. I jump backward in surprise and tumble off the toilet seat to the ground, my head going through the shower door. I sit up and shake my head, glad it didn't actually hit the shower door since that would have really hurt. Meanwhile Solo stalks over to me and grabs the front of my shirt, yanking me to my feet.
"I don't care! And don't you dare try to work your manipulations on me. I know you're not sorry, and it wouldn't matter even if you were. You destroyed my life! For all I care you're the one who pulled the trigger on the gun that shot me! Admit it!" He screams shaking me. "Admit it that you were happy when I was gone!"
"I-" I attempt to choke out an answer but I can't, he's holding my throat too tightly. Wait a second, I'm a ghost and ghosts don't need to breathe right? Well then how the hell is he choking me?!
I glance around worriedly in a panic as he continues to yell and shake me, then my eyes set on the bathroom mirror. My eyes widen as I notice the reflection... or lack there of. In fact the entire mirror is blank even though Solo and I are standing right in front of it. My eyes widen even more as I remember his reaction to my comment about mirrors yesterday. Now it all made sense.
Solo had no reflection!
He must have seen me staring at the mirror because he turns his head and glances at the mirror, then the sneer on his face grows. With a growl he throws me right at the mirror and I shut my eyes, expecting to hit the wall. Instead I go flying through it and land out in the hallway outside my room. Solo rushes out of my room and just glares at me in anger as I struggle to my feet.
"You have no reflection, that's why my comment bothered you yesterday," I choke out as I rub my throat.
Solo's eyes narrow even more. He opens his mouth to yell at me when there is a voice behind us. Both of us glance over Solo's shoulder to see Wufei standing there, book in hand. A single slender eyebrow is raised in question but nothing more.
"Duo?"
I see Solo swallow his anger and just stare at Wufei. For a long time, as I struggle to stand once more, Solo and Wufei just stare at each other. Finally Wufei lowers his eyebrow.
"Good night," he mutters, walking past Solo to the door for his own room. I watch him close the door to his room and disappear, my jaw hanging.
"What the hell is wrong with you, Wufei?! Are you blind!? Didn't you see that?" I scream at Wufei's door and actually consider marching into the room and screaming at him some more but I stop as Solo lets out a small chuckle behind me. Instead I turn to look at him. "Yeah, laugh it up, asshole."
Solo merely shrugs and walks down the hall. "Time's running out," he mutters as he passes me then heads down the stairs.
Angrily I attempt to kick the wall and end up losing my balance, falling into my own room and landing on the floor. Was Wufei blind?! Arg!! Well at least there was one good thing gained from today. At least I'd learned Solo has no reflection.
Still, the chance of Heero noticing that was about as slim as him noticing that the desk color under his precious laptop. As in zip, zero, nada, nill.
"That's it! Next time I chose Quatre!" I growl angrily, yet the growl is only half-hearted.
I guess I'm slowly coming around to the realization that there will not be a next time. I have three days before the week is up and I'm stuck like this forever.
Like it or not Duo Maxwell, you better get used to it.
Life may suck. But lack of life is worse.
TBC...
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