"It was only a year after we got married – my wife ran off and left me.
"She never really said anything about what was wrong, but my guess was that she just got tired of me.
"I've never been the most exciting guy.
"In fact, I'm so pathetic… I didn't even have the guts to go through with killing myself."
"… It's really beautiful."
Sun was warm and welcoming. The soft light shone from it upon the sea and reflected from its surface in a red spectre, expanding from the soft peach colour of the horizon, all the way to the deep crimson just above him. He could hear the waves below him, pounding against the hard surface of the earth and rock. He knew that the sound he heard was similar to the one of his own – just as the waves were pounding and crumbling the hard rock, his heart was also beating with the same sound, opening the wound of his suffering.
If only, as the waves hid the pieces it scraped to the unknown of the depth, he could forget his pain as easily.
Uda wished life could be beautiful as that.
Suddenly, something disturbed the peace he was just about starting to feel. From behind him, Uda heard something, similar to a greasy splash. Turning merely on instinct, Uda didn't know what to expect, not even expecting anything, really. On a day like this nothing would take him on surprise, he was too broken for that.
He was wrong.
And he screamed.
"Aaaaagh! W-what is that?"
Uda rose up in alarm, constantly keeping an eye on the being. The creature was unusual, like nothing he had seen before.
It looked like a leech of some sort, but different. When Uda looked, he saw that the 'tail' was to some sort the same as it should be, but the torso and head were completely wrong. First of all, he saw many excrescences growing from its body, all of them ending with big, green spheres. Uda never saw a creature with that sort of… could he call them hands? Legs even? What was their purpose? Secondly, where the creature should have its head, or something similar to a head at least, Uda only saw a strangely shaped drill of some sort. Unlike the rest of its light green body, this part was pink and grey, grey twisting around the pink in a thick spiral, resembling a blade. It was ending with a sharp looking lance. The purpose of that was even less logical.
In Uda's head, the creature didn't seem like something he should tease, less hang around it.
"Go away! Shoo! Shoo!"
Uda waved his arm towards it, like one would do to a stray dog, signalling to go away, while, in the same time, he was in fact the one taking a step backwards.
In response to his waving, the leech straightened itself, turning its drill-like head and spheres towards Uda. The spheres… was he watching him? No time to think, the thing made a rattling sound. Almost as if it was copying his last words.
"Bzzsshuuuu-"
Terrified to the core, Uda's legs started to move on their own, backing away, step by step, further from the creature, shacking. He could feel the sweat of fear already forming on his temples, cooling his previously warm face. Suddenly, the creature flexed itself and shrunk, only to sprawl out again and ricochet forward, beaconing in a lime light. Uda, feeling of pure terror coursing through him, tried to shield himself from it, reaching his hand upwards in desperation to stop the sudden attack, but too late – in a blink of an eye, it was burying it's leech-like body through the soft skin of his neck.
And he could feel everything.
Uda could feel the stinging pain of the drill, making a hole in him. He gaged, startled by the punch in his throat, feeling shivers travel down his spine. Not a second later he could feel something big inside him, crawling upwards. He could feel it, this creature moving the base of his skin, stretching and dragging it for its purposes, to travel inside of him, like a, like a…
Panicked and not coming up with any other solutions, Uda tried to scratch the being out of himself despite his brain constantly telling him that the act was most probably hopeless. He could feel the hole where the thing entered him and it disgusted as well as frightened him. Whatever the creature was, it probably dug himself in for a reason and Uda didn't believe that this was an action, meant for his benefit. But even if his hands would be able of scratching it out, the creature didn't let him – it acted as if it was thinking on the same level, with the same speed as him, perhaps even faster. It was playing with him, calculating his movements and escaping his nails which scratched and scratched and tried everything to puncture the skin, to make any kind of an opening near the thing to pull it out, dig it out, anything. But wherever Uda placed his fingers to catch or merely stop it, it evaded his touch and found another route with which it kept moving upwards.
Panicking and not knowing the creature's intentions, Uda's breathing was rapid and shallow. Unknowingly, Uda's legs were moving almost on his own, running from something which was already too late to run from. Uda kept moving backwards, further and further and finally he came to the edge of the cliff.
There, everything happened quickly – Uda could feel the soft surface under his feet rumble away and he lost his balance. His hands, previously on his neck, automatically went down and away in hope of stabilizing the body. It didn't work.
He reeled backwards, his feet losing the contact with the surface of the cliff. Without a chance to recover, he fell, his back towards the sea and facing the evening sky with his eyes wide open, screaming for something, anything to help him. It was short lasted.
The back of his head collided with an icy-sharp surface of the sea.
A blinding flash of white punctured through his line of vision and swayed it, roughly pushing the air out of his lungs with a sharp exhale which hurt his lungs. The blinding pain followed. In that millisecond, Uda could feel the pain traveling from the back of his head, down, across the spine, from where it was able to reach every corner of his body, completely paralysing him. Whatever it was, that was still crawling inside of his neck, reaching for something inside of him, was forgotten with the impact. The pain was all his hurting mind could think of.
But as quick as all of it progressed, everything came to a stop then.
In that moment, the roughly exhaled air didn't matter and the pain was gone as quickly and sharply as it appeared. Cut out. Gone to who knows where, vanished without a single trace to follow. As if it was never really there in the first place. In that moment he just felt… numb.
Uda thought that, maybe, this is how he dies - breaking his neck on the worst day of his life, on a hard surface of the sea while running from something that found its way into his neck – the idea couldn't be more peculiar as it was pathetic. If someone would have told him a year ago that this is how his life will end, he would cry for that person just to express the pity for his poor brain making up the most piteous way of dying. At that time it would really seem like something out of the science fiction.
Uda's eyes, instead of tears, were able to catch the picture of splashes and drops of water, dancing through the air where they left the sea upon his body penetrating its surface. They shone, glistening and glimmering in a crimson red tone of the sunset. It was a beautiful sunset. The last one he'll ever see.
A sad thought to think.
But the idea was, in fact, funny to him then, in that nanosecond of what was left of his time on Earth. His pathetic life, coming to a pathetic end. In reality, perhaps, he was lucky. Whatever that thing that buried himself into his neck was, perhaps it wanted to kill him – when he thought about it, it only eased the decision for him by startling him and sending him over the cliff. As if the universe or some other higher being was telling him that he was worthless and took a pity on him for that. Making a decision for him.
He was going to die. Die, just as he was supposed to.
Soon, he will finally be at peace. Yes, at peace, in the nirvana of his dreams where he could start over, away from all the struggle, from lies, that surrounded the average man, from the pain he felt - the worst pain, the one which still radiated from his broken heart – somewhere, where he could just lay and rest, safe from all the madness of the world… Safe from all the torture and darkness of the world…
Uda subconsciously closed his eyes and his mind relaxed, his last thought taking him over completely. The water accepted him then, but he felt no pain upon entering – just as before, he was numb at this point. Time was again running, just as it should.
Uda's mind was oblivious when the waves swallowed his body, pulling him further and further into its depths, embracing him. The light blue around him turned to grey as he sunk deeper and deeper. The embrace expanded into a thigh hug which ended with a tender kiss, lips on lips, filling Uda's mouth with salty water, which was rushing deeper and deeper, filling his lungs with an unthinkable speed and squeezing the precious air out, completely replacing it. His heart was slowing down, getting weaker with every beat it made. Death was expecting him soon.
But Uda didn't feel, not even remembered that. It was the darkness and quiet that welcomed his consciousness instead.
"So, you see, my very first and only thought was to take over the brain of a host, right?
"So I start sipping, straight for this guy's noggin, but something is wrong…
"What's happening?
"It's not breathing…"
A being was detected nearby.
A living being.
With a brain.
Brain…
When the detection was received, something began happening. Something beside himself moved, opened with a hiss and a new environment was slowly seeping in. And he needed to get out.
To take over the being.
To take over the brain.
For the first time, he moved. He could feel every movement he did. He could move his tail, he could move his excrescences, he could move his head. He could do all that and he was conscious only for a few seconds for the first time in his life. Not only that, he was already using them to their full capability to move out of his 'shell'.
But in truth, he didn't care if he did all that.
He needed to get to the host, to the brain, to take over the brain, take over the brain, take over the brain…
In the next moment he was free-falling. The soft and juicy base below him was gone and he was free-falling. To where, he didn't know. He just knew that if he was free-falling, he was closer. Closer to the brain. And then he came to a sudden stop, hitting something hard.
He was now lying on a new base, rough and solid, although still possessing some slime which was dripping around him and on top of him– the drippings belonged to the cocoon he emerged from. So he did not die. That was good. And he could move freely.
And for the first time, he could see. He saw the light and he saw the colours – he saw that the ground below was brown and that there were some green, thick lines sprouting out of it. When he looked around, locating the host, he saw other colours too. He saw more of the brown which was bigger and taller, with even more green on top. And when he moved in the other direction, he could see the orange and purple spreading above him, meeting with the shades of blue… and black. Weird black. The yellow light just ended with it. It was blocking it with its presence.
The host.
Right now he could feel his expectant host being near – he could see it as well. A dark figure, close to the ground. And he could sense the brain on the top of the figure. Just ahead, so close…
He started to move his body, just as he was moving it before, in the cocoon. He was wiggling his tail, holding his front up high while keeping a lock on his target. Suddenly it moved. The part with the brain rotated, revealing a strangely shaped silhouette. It had a pointy end in the middle and what seemed like three openings. The two openings on top, which he didn't count before, opened as well, only to end up with a dead end. The holes were already occupied. And they moved, circling in the holes, widening its lids.
Coming to a total stop, he hold to look at this being.
Where could he enter? Where could he get to the brain? The occupied holes were off.
Concentrating on the other, lower three, he also saw that they weren't a good idea to enter. The lower hole kept opening and closing, too unpredictable for an engage– the other two, which were close to one another were simply too small to target. As well, the host was apparently capable of movement.
He needed a better plan if he wanted to do this.
Suddenly, the being in front of him rose, growing for at least half of his former size. When in full size, the host moved, using his newly grown limbs to move away from him. It seemed that the host was well capable of growth and, therefore, escape. If he wanted to take over the brain, he needed to move fast.
The being did something weird then. It opened his lower hole which kept opening and closing. And it produced sounds. With each sound it was making, it was also moving one of his limbs towards him.
"Go away! Shoo! Shoo!"
Peculiar.
The sound was weird and he didn't understand it. But it reminded him of his cocoon when it opened – hissing and slushing. He tried to copy the sound and wiggle his excrescences to mimic the limbs. Perhaps with copying it, the host will calm down and he would be able to finish the deal without further complications.
"Bzzsshuuuu-"
But the being didn't seem to calm down. It just used its limbs to back away, further away from him. He needed to act now or the being with the brain might escape. He would die then.
Choosing the biggest exposed part of the host, he compressed into himself, tensing his muscles and prepared to jump towards the target. He used his muscles as a spring to push off the ground and next thing he was in the air, his mark just in front of him, closing in by the millisecond. He could see the host lifting his limbs towards him, seemingly startled, but he knew that it was too late for it. When he reached the mark, far from the reach and way too fast for the host's limbs, he suddenly felt the urge to enter the being.
The only way, the safe way to the brain.
Without thinking if entering was even possible, he evened the edge of his head with the outer layer of the host. He made the first contact then. His body felt under a total influence of his instinct, moving left and right, damaging the outer layer just enough for him to enter the being. When the hole was wide enough, he simply used his excrescences to pull himself in. He was inside.
The first thing he was aware of was the lacking of light and colours. It was completely dark inside.
What now?
His body again acted on instinct. It started to produce a light of his own, a green light. Whit it, he could move easily. Burying his excrescences into the inner flesh, he started to pull himself forward, towards the brain.
Upon making a good way there, he suddenly felt a tremble coming from the host.
It was moving.
Then he felt something sliding itself just above him. When it touched him, it hurt - he felt pain for the first time. Was the host trying to get rid of him? He didn't know anything about the physiology of this creature. He better be careful. Activating his senses, he temporarily changed the target to the host's limbs. That way he would be able to easily evade them if necessary and make his way to the brain unharmed.
He could feel them now. They were nearing him, targeting him. He quickly moved, the host missing him by a thread. Both of their movements repeated a few more times and then came to an utter stop. Only one, massive shake followed and then, there was nothing. Complete stillness. He waited.
After a few seconds of peace, he felt safe to proceed moving towards the brain. He commanded his excrescences to change the target to follow the signal of the brain again.
He started to move, but suddenly, something wasn't right. He could feel it. The brain was different as before. It's signal was, somehow, weaker. Something was wrong. But what? Stopping, he used his excrescences to connect himself with the body of a host. They spread, buried themselves deep into the flesh, searching it, trying to understand.
After a few moment he knew.
It was the movement.
The movement of the host, the constant movement of at least one of his parts was missing. As if he was… deceased.
Dead…
He needed to act quickly or he'll die with him. His mind, connected to the host, searched further. What was going on before, that isn't going on now?
The part beneath the section of the brain, beneath the head was unmoving. Was that it? The section was moving before, he could see it move when he was observing the being, firstly at a slow pace and then quicker just before he attacked. It was constantly moving, even if the being appeared still. Is this what he was missing?
Whit his excrescences still buried deep within the host, he made a quick inspection of the host's structure.
His host was made of many smaller cocoons, each keeping many even smaller cocoons. But they were functioning, he could sense their work as he observed. He could see the material entering, being rebuilt and leaving the cocoons. So what was wrong…
He felt it then. The danger. It was nearing. He could sense the smaller cocoons stop functioning and die, harming the body. And each of them was destroyed by the same foreign substance, making its way through the body.
Water.
The word just appeared in his mind. Seemingly, his host was unable to survive in it. He had to get rid of it, and quick. On his quick research through the excrescences, he sensed that the substance was entering through a hole just above him, then flowing parallel with him through some sort of a passage.
With no time to reach and devour the brain, he decided to start eating the parts of his host nearest to him, with an intention of fusing with them. With that, he would be in complete control of those parts, enabling him to build something that could help him get rid of the substance and saving them.
He knew that if he did that, the host would become conscious of his coexistence. They would be aware of each other and that… that could mean trouble. Beside disliking the idea, he ultimately wasn't granted any choice. It was this, or the host died, together with him inside. A total and utter failure.
In a few second, in which he was eating the skin and the flesh and the bones, replacing them with himself, he, for the first time in his life, tasted something. The taste was of salt, mostly salt, but bitter-sweet as well.
It suited him.
He thought of what the brain would taste like if he would have gotten to them. The thought alone made him hum in pleasure.
Hummm…?
Oh.
He was fused. The procedure was finished, keeping him forever locked in this part of the host. And the first thing he did with his newly-designed parts was this… this… humming. Pathetic. Putting his thought of a failure aside, he needed to act quickly. He stretched, expanding every bit of himself to reach a place that wasn't water. A few milliseconds later he breached the surface of the sea. Feeling that, he quickly designed a pump inside himself to get rid of the rest of the water inside the body. He felt it moving inside of him, closer to the opening he made. Spitting it out of himself – themselves – he reversed the procedure – if the human was able to survive outside of the water, he assumed, then this shouldn't harm him.
He took a deep breath and filled themselves with air, directing it to the parts where the water was beforehand. He could feel the air he put in doing well – the brain was in better condition than before, as well as the rest of the host's body. The being, as a result of his doing, was now completely still, floating in the depths of the sea, the only sensed movement being the one of its torso. If he concentrated, he could feel his host lifting, slowly becoming lighter than the sea. Was that the air's doing? Beside the unresponsiveness, which he identified as merely the state of unconsciousness, he must have done something good for both of them.
In contrary, soon after, he could sense that same air he was pumping in, coming out from a different hole than himself. He lowered his senses, investigating. His excrescences were gone, lost with the fusing, but now he had a new thing to learn from. The direct contact. Soon, seeing how the inhaled air differed from the 'bubbled' one, he found out that the exiting air was, in fact, the product of working cells, converting the fresh air into new products and energy, both doing good for the body. The exiting air was a waste and the body got rid of it by exhaling.
With that out of the way, he relaxed and, unintentionally designed his first eye. It seemed that the fusing had a side effect - taking up some of the characteristics of the human. Unknowing to him, the eye took characteristics of the sea as well – it shone in a brilliant blue, reflecting the cold surface of the deep waters.
When he looked at himself, he found out that he was of the same colour as the host – some sort of pink. And this eye, he found out that this is what occupied the holes in the host's head the first time he saw them open. An organ, capable of sensing the area around himself.
Fascinating.
Looking around with his new belonging, he could see the dry surface, rising above the water. That, he decided, was his first destination. Outside of the sea. With that thought, he changed his new form again, pushing them both towards the land, still keeping the role of delivering the air to both of them in the meantime.
The bubbles behind them floated upwards and popped upon reaching the surface, not leaving a single trace behind them, not a single proof of what has occurred.
The darkness was all he could think of and the first thing he became aware of. It was everywhere – he saw it, felt its warm and moisty and heavy embrace around him. He knew that the darkness was everywhere and everything. He felt like a baby in a mother's embrace. It was suiting and safe, Darkness singing to him in a comforting and dead, rotten song to never let him go, to forever hold him and be with him, to grant him anything he wished for - .
Peace.
He wished for peace and he wished for quiet and Darkness granted him his wish. She filled his mind with silence and emptied his head of everything else. It was… nice. Darkness was a good mother. In silence, he could feel Her holding him, hugging him. She laid down just so his body could lay on top of Her big, soft and warm stomach, Her big and him small, smaller than a leaf and she bigger than the Earth, Her belly infinite and warm. And as he was laying, resting his tired body, he felt Her embracing him, stroking his hair and after that, stroking his back and his legs.
At first, Her strokes were warm and gentle. After some time they suddenly became harsh and cold, not even stroking him anymore- they were hurting him.
So c-cold… And he started to hear other voices too. What about silence? Quiet? Peace? Where were they?
Trying to find Darkness again, he moved, feeling something small and soft, grainy bellow his touch. He remembered then. And everything collapsed. The Darkness was gone.
Uda slowly opened his eyes.
His vision was blurry and, at first, he didn't recognise where he was. Slowly the names of the things came back to him.
He saw… sand. White sand. He was laying on it. And the blue blur… the blue sea. The sea was stroking his back and his legs, cold and harsh. He was cold. So cold…
He needed to get away from it.
Trying to move, he clenched his fingers, slowly testing if anything was broken. On the first try, everything seemed fine. He could move all of his limbs which meant nothing was broken – at least nothing vital.
Slowly, he pushed himself upwards and dragged himself out of the sea, higher up the beach. The task was easier said than done. After just a few drags he felt into a heavy coughing fit. His insides, being sensitive after whatever happened, reacted on mere instinct. He felt something traveling up, starting in his stomach then going through his throat and finally coming out of his mouth. He vomited the sea and it was burning him, his eyes watering and stinging. And he cried.
After a few minutes, his stomach was empty and there, at last, the tiredness got better of him. His tears stopped flowing and he collapsed on the spot, on the soft sand, out of the reach of the sea. He was lying there for a long time, turning on his back in the middle of it and allowed himself to rest. He only opened his eyes once during that time. What he saw startled him.
The sun, which his memory lastly remembered, was long gone. Instead, his eyes rested upon stars, millions of them, glimmering and twinkling in the night sky. The moon was already high.
Late night.
'W-what happened… to-o me…?'
His mind felt heavy – so heavy, it hurt. If he could just sleep there and then…
'NO!'
A scream.
He opened his eyes, unknowingly closing them.
'No…'
Softer.
A voice in his head… his own?
'Home.'
Home… The word felt so comforting. Yes, he needed to get home. Home…
Uda opened his eyes, again, not knowing when he had closed them. He tiredly looked around. He knew this place…
It was the beach where Uda and his wife made their first kiss.
The flooding memory hurt him. He could feel his eyes watering again, crying.
Not bothering to stop their flow, shaking, Uda stood up and slowly, staggering all the way, clenching himself in search of warmth, headed towards his home, heavily swaying from the exhaustion. Luckily, his home wasn't that far away… When he was home, he could rest… Rest and think about what happened… And rest…
It was the sun that woke him hours later.
Shining through the window, the light, warm and bright, travelled and stopped right on Uda's eyelids. Bothering him, Uda turned around to escape it, only to fall face flat on the floor beside his bed. The stinging pain woke him up completely.
"Uuurgghhhh-"
Moaning, he slowly, still sleepily, pushed himself upwards and grabbed the edge of his bed. He felt drunk. Slowly working his legs, he stood up, stabilizing himself on the edge and found out something funny about himself – he felt numb. The creeps run down his spine at the déjà vu. The bad kind of creeps. He subconsciously grabbed himself by the neck. Strangely, although he felt like he was touching it, it was… wrong. As if the neck wasn't his own.
All of a sudden, the images of the previous day came, rushing in like a stampede– was it even the previous day?
Uda remembered staring at the sunset, the weird animal, the darkness and waking up on the white sand, thinking of his wife…
Nothing made any sense.
If he was on the beach, how did he wake up at home. He looked around and then at himself.
He was still dressed in his moisture clothes from before.
"Was I that drunk-"
His hoarse voice didn't even finish saying the thought, when he felt his jaw and neck stretch, wrinkle and tighten, forming a big, uneven lump of his flesh.
'A big, growing… tumour…?'
Panicked, Uda backed away, hitting the edge of his bed. His legs, still like a jelly, gave away and he fell, his back and elbows hitting the floor.
"Wat th-mmmghhh-!"
The tumour completely covered his mouth! Terrified, Uda backed away further, hoping to escape this nightmare. But he couldn't wake up. Instead, his head hit the wall on the other side of the room. As another wave of pain cursed through him, he closed his eyes and moaned as much as he could with his mouth out of control, grabbing the back of his head, rubbing it to reduce the pain. Just as the pain started to dull, he felt his neck and jaw change again. Opening his eyes, he came face to face with a giant… mouth?
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold still would ya? Jeeze Louise, do you want us to die? Again? We fell into almost certain death because of you moving like that!"
Uda's eyes went wide. He couldn't believe it. He must have gone mad! He heard the voice, coming from his mouth – but the voice wasn't his own. It was high pitched and sharp - and completely out of his control.
His mouth – he could feel every move the mouth made. And Uda could see it. It moved and talked – on its own occur, talking right before his eyes! It's sharp, shark-like teeth and big lips were nothing like his own. Panicked look and shallow breathing through the nose was everything Uda could do – his mouth gone, controlled by that… that… What was that thing? Uda raised his hand to protect himself from… himself. His mouth.
The mouth laughed at him and in the next moment Uda saw and felt something new -something formed. It came from the side of the flesh, at first only a thick, fleshy outgrowth which, in its end, grew thick, black lashes. In the middle of them, an opening formed and parted into a single eye. A giant, blue eye. Uda froze.
'So it wasn't a dream.'
He just stared at the creature, afraid to do anything, he only dared breathing through his nostrils.
The thing, after a few minutes of observing, opened his mouth again. Upon seeing the sharp teeth, Uda turned his face away, closing his eyes and waited for the creep to devour him and ending his life in pain and misery, not even granting him the need for screaming. But nothing happened.
"You'll remain quiet, right?"
Confused, Uda slowly opened his eyes. They met directly with the giant one. The creature was looking at him, seemingly waiting for his answer as it grew a few more lashes on its flesh and opened two more, exactly the same, navy-blue eyes.
Uda, seeing the formation, felt nauseous again. He turned his eyes towards the wall on the other side of his bedroom and, taking some deep breaths, quickly nodded in agreement.
If that is what'll keep him alive for a few minutes more, he'll manage to hold his mouth quiet.
The creature, visibly pleased with the answer, changed his form again. Uda felt it move itself from a place where his mouth was before and, at last, he could feel his own version of a mouth again. He felt the tongue and put it to use as soon as he could, feeling his whole oral cavity – he felt his teeth, normally shaped and all of them, he licked his lips, normal-sized and his own.
He took a shacking breath.
The creature shrunk itself to an area on his chin, forming some kind of legs and resting them on Uda's torso, supporting itself. Uda unintentionally shook. The creature didn't seem to notice nor mind, if it did.
"Wh-what a-are you…?"
The being turned his many eyes towards him and spoke.
"Who am I?"
Uda saw its teeth grew in size, snarling, a silent growl could be heard from deep within it.
"I'm… your worst nightmare!"
The creature snapped at him, showing him his teeth and stopping just before his nose. Uda, nowhere to run to, only backed away his head, tears already forming in his eyes. With a shacking voice, he pleaded for his life.
"P-pl-ple-ease… I'm sorry I spoke! I'm sorry! I'm… I…"
In his final moment before death he heard the creature open his mouth and started… laughing?
"Ohohoo-ho-haa-ahaha, oh, oh, ohohooo, you h-humans are sooo predictable-he-heee… Hahaha-"
It kept on laughing. Uda was completely confused by now, his tears falling from the edge of his eyes.
"Haha-hehehe-hhh-"
The laughing was slowly stopping and growing quieter only to start again when the being opened his eyes to look at Uda again.
"Hahahaaaa, y-you should have se-seen your face right now! I'm your worst nightmare – haaahe-he-he… Ju-just give me a sec here…"
Uda, drying his eyes, felt utterly ashamed and, perhaps, angry? Yeah. He was angry!
"W-what the h-hell… What the hell are you doing! Are you going to kill me or not?"
What he asked, again, lured another round of laughter from the thing – Uda seemed to amuse it. He frowned, fear completely gone, looking at this conscious tumour of a sort.
It soon saw Uda's frown.
"Heheheh, o-oh man, you really a-are something, ya know that? Don't worry, I won't kill ya. I can't live without ya. Literary. Not without killing myself too, at least."
"What? I'm going to have to live with you now?"
Uda, upon hearing these words, felt anger pulsing through him even harder. The creature looked at him as if he was the most idiotic being in the universe.
"Well, yeah, of course. Since you didn't let me eat your brain-"
"Brain?!"
"Jeeze, man, stop with this yellin'!"
The creature grew two more outgrowth, cowering himself with them as if trying to find his ears to silence Uda's screaming.
"Yeah, yeah, alright? B-R-A-I-N. Brain. I was going to eat your brain. You'd be dead – mentally that is. I'd be in charge. Everyone'd be happy. But now I'm stuck here. With you. For the rest of our miserable, doomed-to-be-boring lives."
Uda couldn't believe this. He'll have to live with this… this… thing for the rest of his life?
"What are you?"
"Oh, I watched something about our condition on the TV while you were out. I think it's called something, like, parasitism. There clearly is no nice way of getting rid of us, parasytes… The blood was flowing in rivers, I tell you, rivers!"
Uda didn't mind that, nor was he interesting in hearing the rest.
"You're a parasite?"
Uda, worn out by everything, took some deep breaths and felt all the anger wash away into a deep sadness. He lowered his head but upon finding, that he couldn't lay it on his knees because of this parasite, he rested his arm on one of his knees and leaned on it instead. Parasite took interest in his behaviour in a second.
"What are you doing?"
Annoyed, Uda slurred an answer to it.
"Thinking."
He felt his chin move.
"About what?"
"How I got into this mess."
"Oh, I can answer you that!"
"No, ple-"
"So, you see, you were out like a light, right? Hitting the sea and everything. And there I was, all alone, heading towards your brain to eat it. I wasn't even aware of what was happening to you, nor did I care, to be frank. But suddenly, something was wrong. What was it?"
Parasite went quiet for a while. Uda looked at it and parasite looked right back at him, waiting. After a few moments Uda had enough.
"Wha-"
"Your brain! It was dying!"
That answered his question, alright. Uda would slap himself if the parasite wasn't in his hand's way. The parasite was quiet to gather tension and to pump up his own curiosity.
'How did I let myself fall for that?'
"So, as I was saying, your brain was dying. And why was that? You weren't breathing. And that, upon my more accurate investigation, wasn't ok. I needed to do something. But what?"
The parasite, again, started with the silence. Uda was getting bored of it.
"Can you just-"
"I had to merge with you, now! There was no time to reach the brain. We would both die. So, on the brink of our death, I started eating, pushing myself deeper and deeper, eating everything on the way, everything! I could taste the juicy flesh and muscles and bone-"
"Enough! Enough, please… When I asked earlier, I mean it as a rhetorical question. Please, just stop."
Parasite gave Uda, who was already losing his colour and was breathing hard and deep, a puzzled look.
"Rhetorical… Oh. Oh! I know this! A rhetorical question – a form question, on which the asker doesn't want to know the answer to."
"Yes! That's right. I didn't want to know the answer. Never did."
Uda felt nauseous. He clinched his stomach and was somehow able to calm it. After a few minutes of silence, coming from both of them, a question came to Uda's mind. He furrowed his eyebrows.
"Wait. How do you know what a rhetorical question is? And when did you learn to speak? Were you always like that?"
Parasite served another one of his shark-like smiles.
"I watched the educational program on your TV. Your kind has a lot of killing going on. And I mean a lot."
"Wha- ? That wasn't a- You know what, nevermind."
He waved his hands to sign to lay down the conversation. Perhaps he'll ask Parasite about this educational program some another time, when his stomach is stronger. The picture he was getting in his head was already too disturbing. And Uda was getting a good idea what the educational program might have really been.
"Listen, um… Parasite. I want to know. What are your plans now? I'm thinking, are you still after my b…"
Uda almost vomited at the thought.
"A-after my brain?"
Parasite, for the first time since Uda saw him, withdrew his look. His teeth hid behind the thick lips and he went quiet. Then he whispered, quietly, only for Uda to hear him.
"No. I ain't going after your brain no more."
The voice sounded sad. Uda didn't know if that was a good thing or if he should feel sorry for the thing.
'Sorry? Damn, I always get attached too quickly.'
"Nah. I'm stuck here. In your neck and jaw. With you. Forever."
They both fell quiet. It was a lot to think about. How were they supposed to be living from now on? Any private life they had or they intended of having was utterly and completely destroyed. From now on they'll have to learn to live with each other. They'll have to rely on each other and to survive together. If one dyes, the other will surely follow soon after. If he had any tears left, Uda would cry.
Instead, he was the first to break the silence.
"So, um…"
He looked at the Parasite, who was standing still, still supporting himself on his chest.
"I was thinking… Since you're stuck with me and I'm stuck with you… How about a deal?"
Parasite, seemingly forgetting his sadness, opened his three eyes towards Uda.
"A deal? Like what?"
Uda gave a small smile and reached his hand towards him.
"Like partners?"
Parasite smiled back, showing his sharp teeth and formed a hand-like structure on his side with which he reached for Uda's hand and shook it.
"Deal."
A/N: My first one shot – one of many, which are still to come. This one-shot was a presentation of my style of writing and I hope you liked it!
About it, I think that Uda receives too little of respect as a character and not enough fan-stories, so I'm giving him one. :) And although I like the Japanese version (passion is on the max here), I like the lines it has in this episode in the English voice casting. As a result, I used the English lines for the beginning and a little in the middle.
I hope you liked it and don't hesitate to advise/criticise/compliment my work – I enjoy all of that. :)