Progress of Possession
By Mirror and Image
D'Eon lay in his bed reflecting. Robin, the only member of their group remaining, was sneaking off into the palace to return the Royal Psalms to Queen Marie. D'Eon himself would be looking at his notes on the Psalms soon, but for now, his body required rest after the battle with Telligory. In many ways he was extremely numb. Durand was dead by D'Eon's own hand and in England, awaiting passage for his body to come home. Telligory, D'Eon's own teacher was dead by Robin's hand, after betraying them to the Duc d'Orleans. Lia, his sister was dead and always with him.
Already, along the edges of his awareness, he could feel her hovering. Her soul still bore much anger and sorrow, but after his long journey, D'Eon was familiar with it, and he now had much of his own to match hers. However, after meeting Queen Mary in England, D'Eon was aware that anger and sorrow weren't the only things that Lia felt. He could, in quiet moments such as this, feel her love for him. Her caring, and kindness.
It was amazing, really. When Lia's tortured soul had first found him, and had first started possessing him when he was in the Secret Police of Paris, he had been unaware. He would merely fall asleep and then awaken to something that had changed in the room. One time that came to memory was blinking his eyes open in the middle of the night to find his fingertip covered in ink and "NQM" written on the pages beneath him. Another time he was certain that he had fallen asleep at his desk, but awoke to find himself in bed. While those eerie occurrences had disturbed him, he had more important things to learn, like the mysterious deaths of all those women in Paris. Looking back, his sister was guiding and looking after him.
Once he joined Le Secret du Roi, however, things started to change. Lia borrowed his body not to guide him, but to protect him. He would be knocked out and then awaken to see the vengeance that his sister brought. The violence of what she did to Bernice in order to save him. There was always a lingering confusion when he once again became aware, both his, and his sister's. When Lia had defeated Caron, she then tried to attack their comrades. The confusion D'Eon had when he became aware of himself once more was also a lingering taste of what Lia had. She was not just looking after him, she was also trying to figure out what was going on. D'Eon had come to realize that just as he was adjusting to Lia sharing his body with him, she was also adjusting as well. When she woke up she was as confused on where she was as he would be upon return to his body.
The most shocking time he had woken up was to find himself on the roof of the cathedral in Cologne, feeling Lia's lingering focus on a carriage that his own eyes found so easily in the maze of streets below them. Those were perhaps, the easiest times in his possessions. His own consciousness would merely jump in time. With a moment to regain his bearings, he would be just fine. Lia seemed to know what he was doing and that those traveling with him were friends. He could almost glimpse whatever she was feeling when they switched places, and when his comrades explained what had happened while Lia was there, he could almost understand.
When they arrived in Russia however, things changed once more. Their enemies grew more daring, and Lia needed to fight with not just her blade, but also to counter poems that were thrown their way. Lia's own recited poems took much will and energy. While Lia would always provide the will, it was D'Eon's body that needed to provide the energy. He would awaken to exhaustion and splitting headaches. Because their souls were mingling all the more, he started to see Lia's memories, and it was disorienting to see people and places he'd never seen before. It was these possessions that D'Eon began fainting from the strain after becoming himself once more. It was a wonder that his body could maintain two souls. He had mixed feelings on this. On the one had, he knew that he physically couldn't keep taxing himself like this. But he was getting closer to Lia. He understood her feelings much more clearly, beyond vague lingering, instead clear definition. It was why, on their way to England, D'Eon spent most of his time resting in their cabin. The others never said a word, and along the edge of his dreams, he could feel Lia's warm approval.
England seemed to bring more stress during possessions. However, D'Eon could remember what Lia was doing when she borrowed his body. He remembered when his sister greeted Queen Mary, when she used a poem at the dinner party to free Robin from the spell he was under. D'Eon was grateful that he was getting closer to his sister. He was glad that he could better understand all Lia had done for France, glad that she no longer felt nothing but anger and sorrow, glad that her soul, was in some way, being eased by what he was doing. However, when Queen Mary had informed him that he would eventually start to lose his sense of self, he and Lia both were scared. They loved each other very much, and both were adjusting to sharing his body. Both were glad that things were becoming easier, even if battles with poets taxed his body to its limits. But both were reluctant to completely lose themselves.
Even Durand commented, shortly before he died, that it was becoming harder and harder to tell when D'Eon or Lia were commanding his body. It was inevitable. And it was when Durand said it that both he and his sister bowed to fate.
Now, D'Eon rested, aware of Lia along the edges of his consciousness. It was almost done. The Psalms were being returned. All that was left was to figure out who had killed Lia. D'Eon sensed it had something to do with what was written in the Psalms and something was nagging him about what he had copied down. Sitting up, D'Eon looked over to the desk where his notes had been left behind by Robin. He carefully got up and eased his way over, his body protesting at all the pulling on his injuries. He could feel Lia's caution, something about reading this was making her nervous. But they had to find answers.
Together they read.
Fin
Author's Notes: Woke up thinking about D'Eon's possessions, so we had D'Eon reflect on it. The strain and fainting he goes through isn't clear cut. There are definite stages. Meh. I'm procrastinating from what I really should be doing in any event.