"I can hear her inside my head." Aroma told the Healer. "They are not her memories. It is her. Like she is still there."
Alex cursed internally. Aroma's previous refusal to acknowledge her presence had been a boon. Over the months Alex was able to get strong enough to regain some control over her mind. She tried to be discreet, being careful not to alert Aroma, but you can only be so secretive when you share a brain.
The Healer looked worried. "This is not an uncommen phenomenon on this planet. The Hosts are quite resistant here, especially the ones who were occupied during the later stages of acquisition."
"It has been going on for quite a while with me. I've been in denial that anything was wrong. I used to convince myself that I was hearing my thoughts, but... Healer, the resistance is only persistent in the mind, right? They can't control our bodies, can they?"
Your bodies?
"There have been instances of Hosts cutting out Souls out of their bodies. They don't survive the process, but the death toll of Souls has also been very high." The Healer replied, regretfully. "We've been treating any case with remanent consciousness with highest caution. You don't have to worry, you'll be transferred to a new host as soon as possible."
Alex could feel Aroma's reaction to this. She was embarrassed. She was the oldest Soul alive. In all of her fifty lifetimes, she had never skipped a host.
"Isn't there any other way? Can't you make her go away?"
Ha! As if they could!
"I think it would be best for you to move on to a new host. This isn't skipping, Aroma. This is a defective host. It is justified." The Healer replied, guessing her thoughts.
Hey! Who did you call defective?
"I heard her." Aroma was frightened. Uh oh! Alex hoped her fear doesn't overpower her embarrassment at skipping. Because whatever they did with 'defective' hosts, Alex assumed it wasn't pretty. "I'll need some time To think about this, Healer." Alex could already hear her thoughts move in favor of skipping.
This wasn't good.