A timeline where Sissel never died. Spoilers, as usual.
It was evening. The sky outside the old window was tinged with streaks of grey and red, and a little black cat savoured the sight and the wind the best he could as he sat precariously on the railing of the balcony. The air was smelt strongly damp. Rain is coming soon.
"It's smelling a bit like an uncovered drain," the cat thought to himself and his claws flexed as he thought about the fat squeaking rats that usually ran about in drains and gutters. They were so... squishable. Meaty. More fun than tasty though, because they reek of sewage. He wished he had one to play with now, his paws itched.
Beside him, his red-and-black-clothed companion fidgeted as well, putting on his dark shades and taking them off only to change his mind again.
The cat looked up at him and cocked his head to a side. His pointy-headed friend was thinking about something too, isn't he. It must be that meeting he was talking about earlier.
"Hey, Sissel." Yomiel said, noticing the look.
The cat couldn't reply the same way with his ill-equipped-for-speech mouth, so he gave Yomiel his best meow instead.
"It's almost time. I'm going to borrow your body when I'm done there, all right?" Yomiel smiled and rubbed the cat's head affectionately, briefly. Sissel closed his eyes and started to purr.
Ah, you want to run as me. At least you're warning me this time.
The last time Yomiel borrowed his body without saying anything, Sissel woke up to find himself being hastily towelled and disgustingly soaked. Needless to say, Sissel figured it out - Yomiel used his body to run in the heavy rain outside - and ignored the man for almost a week until there was peace offerings. Lots of peace offerings.
Noticing the man stopped stroking him, Sissel got up and wriggled his head under the man's hands, meowing and looking for more pats. That felt good. Yomiel smiled at him again absentmindedly and stroked him for another few seconds before slowly stopping yet again to brood, off thinking and thinking in his own little world.
Slightly exasperated at Yomiel's lack of attention, Sissel leapt onto the man's shoulder and settled for his favourite spot around the neck instead, purring at the warmth as he pushed and dug into the man's flesh with his paws in rhythmic motion. Come on Yomiel...
Yomiel didn't flinch.
His friend was a bit of an odd person, Sissel thought idly as he gave up and nibbled Yomiel's ear instead. The cat loved the man-ghost for having the compassion to reach out to him when no one else would and taking care of him for ten whole years, but he didn't really understand him still. The man would occasionally rage and wreak things for no apparent reason [Sissel hid under the bed when that happened], sometimes he moped for days, sometimes he was so excited he'd dance Sissel around where ever was their current home... yet other times he's deathly still and no amount of meowing and pawing at his face can wake him up.
Sissel wondered if this was one of those times, if he's going to suddenly become frozen again and fall over. Yomiel was so silent. Hesitantly, he called his friend.
"Yo-meoww?" Yomiel?
"All right, time to go..." His solid ghost friend muttered suddenly as the owl clock on the wall took the same moment to screech in its deafening electronic voice.
"6:30 PEE EM! 6:30 PEE EM!" it squawked, black plastic beak opening and closing mechanically.
Sissel's ears flattened and he hissed, everything he was thinking about forgotten the moment the owl emitted those fur-raising sounds. He hated the thing and the cacophony it made, the disgusting and loathsome thing.
"Come on Sissel, be a little more mature to a clock. We've got to get going if we don't want to be late." Yomiel said, unhooking the hissing cat's claws from his shoulders as he reached up to smack the owl on its button of an ear. Then he crooked a finger, and behind him a small cat carrier bag popped open.
With the owl now silenced, Sissel's mood improved. Mature huh. Since Yomiel put it that way... He shot a last glare at the innocently wide-eyed owl up on the wall and jumped into his open bag as dignified as he could to wait for Yomiel. He won't shred that little cheap plastic toy then, he sniffed.
Meanwhile, Yomiel flicked his fingers to open doors, float his coat over to him from the chair and grab keys. Things flew from all over the small rented apartment as he did some last minute housekeeping and shrugged on his coat at the same time.
Sissel watched the coat with interest as it flew around like a matador's red cape and landed on Yomiel's shoulders. He could never get enough of it, watching flappy things fly. That's another strange thing about his ghost friend too; he can make things fly through the air without a second thought. It was kind of... what the humans say? Freezy? Cool? Whatever it is, it sure is cold enough to make chills run down his spine.
All right, they're almost ready now.
Sissel let Yomiel tuck him into his little yellow cat bag. It was small but comfortable inside, with windows at the sides for the curious cat to watch the world go past. Yawning, the black cat settled in. It was going to be quite a long journey, Yomiel had said. They'd go to a nearby junkyard first [that place full of interesting discarded objects, Sissel recalled], then a Chicken place, outside a special prison, and a submarine... a lot of places. Sissel was very interested in seeing the submarine especially; he'd never been in one.
"You'll be all right?" Yomiel asked earlier about the long journey and Sissel nodded. As long as he gets some chicken and Yomiel's presence beside him, he didn't mind. He was comfortable anywhere, as long as it's beside his friend.
Yomiel walked into the junkyard, towards a girl with bright red hair. He nodded at her, and set his bag with his precious cat in it down beside the fence. He didn't want to accidentally crush Sissel when he fell.
Lynne, the girl detective, eyed him suspiciously. "You said you had info for me involving the case."
"Yeah..." Yomiel turned and gestured casually. "I'm the one who took you hostage ten years ago." His voice turned quiet."And I wanted Jowd to pay for killing me." He leaned back on the fence. Several barbs on it dug into his flesh and hooked on like he expected them to.
Yomiel let the info he just leaked sink in.
Yes.. I'm the one who got Jowd into his mess.
It was going entirely according to script. Yomiel fought to keep from smirking as he watched Lynne shake her head in shock, speechless. Almost too easy. He entered his blue Ghost World and took over her body, leaving his shell half-leaning half-hooked on the slightly barbed fence.
Time to act for the camera. Yomiel twisted her face into a determined look that he saw before and reached for the detective's gun calmly. He could feel her fighting him slightly. Usually the people he possessed this completely simply fell unconscious, but she was different.
It doesn't matter though. He held her steady and aimed at his body.
As he fired, he saw her arms jerk downwards. The bullet flew past his body's thigh and buried itself uselessly in the ground behind the fence.
Shit!
He had underestimated her... The detective managed to wrestle some part of control back at the last minute! What a monster. He stomped down the resistance, tightened his hold on the arms and fired again, this time dead centre in his heart.
His red-suited body was freed from barbs on impact and fell, just as planned.
Mission accomplished.
Yomiel dropped the gun on his collapsed body and zipped away into Sissel's core, feeling slightly disturbed at the possibility of someone being able to resist his control so well.
Sissel was so used to being possessed, he barely batted an eyelid when he felt Yomiel enter his core. He had been watching the staged drama from his little cat bag, puzzling over the events. He didn't like the loud gunshots at all, one came too close to him, but he stayed silent in his place like Yomiel had asked, trusting him. His friend was busy doing his ghost thing, he could sense that, though he hadn't the slightest clue what the man-ghost shooting his body could mean. Surely he knew he can't kill himself.
A blue skinned man in a black suit stepped out from behind the red-headed detective, threatening her with a golden gun, and Sissel felt his body tense outside of his will. Yomiel wasn't expecting this person, Sissel guessed. This isn't good, the woman was going to die. At the back of his mind, the little black cat could feel Yomiel locked in an inner struggle.
OneoftheSith'speople, whyishehere... saveher... Istillhateher... butshedoesn'tneedtodie... shedeservesit... she'sinnocent...
As Yomiel argued with himself, the hitman Jeego neared the end of his little speech. Sissel was getting nervous.
Yomiel? You've got to stop him! Sissel meowed as loud as he could in his head, even though he knew Yomiel can't hear him. She's in danger, she can die unlike you.
Yomiel gazed upon the scene, his inner dialogue calming into a single focus at last, like he had he heard Sissel.
"So long, sister."
Several things happened at once. The crossing gate went up, throwing the hitman's gun into the air. Sissel felt Yomiel leave him for the gun, which was now slowly spinning in midair... then a loud bang!
The hitman called Jeego jerked as the shots hit him. Then he fell to the ground with a sickening thud, and a powerful smell of blood and death rushed into Sissel's nostrils. The golden shotgun clinked onto the ground harmlessly at the detective's feet, the cool metallic sound echoing in the quiet junkyard.
The red-headed detective was still frozen in her hands up pose, staring blankly at the dead hitman as Yomiel came back to Sissel.
Sissel looked at the blue-skinned man in slight pity. Well, at least the girl is saved.
The girl detective shifted and collapsed to her knees. Beside her, the bag that the red-suited man brought with him opened, pushing the owner's body off the platform down into the deeper levels of the junkyard. Sissel peeked out, yellow eyes blinking, before stepping out.
The detective's mouth opened a little as she saw the cat walk past her, down after its dead owner. Something strange was going on here... She picked what was left of her courage up, ran down after it and saw the body of the man, sitting on a broken-down sofa like a boss.
Yomiel meowed at the detective lady, and then he leaped onto his body's lap and looked up at his own face for one last time before running away.
Sissel didn't understand. Why did Yomiel leave his body behind? Was it because of the detective? He wanted to ask Yomiel, but Yomiel couldn't reply. He was off in his own little world again.
Notes: Yomiel is friend, idol and doormat to his cat. XD Well, Sissel never met Ray and saved people who saw him as an equal, so he never really grew more mature on that helping selflessly thing. He's not purposely selfish, it's just his habit because Yomiel spoilt him silly like he is his own son...
Wait... his own son... I think I just got bitten by a plot bunny. GAH. STOP BRINGING MY PLOT BUNNIES BACK TO LIFE SISSEL! *tears hair out* B-But the imagery is so cute... I'll draw it instead.
You can sort of tell I got bored at the end. It's identical to the game, so I don't think I need to say more.
