Whumptober 2020 Day 15: Into the Unknown—Possession/Magical Healing/ Science Gone Wrong
Word Count: 1175
Author: Katie/Ally (aquietwritingcorner/realitybreakgirl)
Rating: T
Characters: Sheska
Summary: So where did all of the freed souls from Xerxes go?
Notes: I'm totally going to turn this into a multichapter one day.

Possessed

What was happening? Sheska didn't feel right. Her body felt heavy, lethargic, and like she wasn't quite moving it. She felt disconnected from it, as if she couldn't feel it quite right anymore. It was as if there was a separation of some sort happening between herself and her body, but that couldn't be right. Something was wrong, though, and she couldn't figure out what it was.

The bookkeep was over her, and Sheska realized that she must be on the ground. Had she collapsed? She hadn't been feeling well lately, but she didn't think she was feeling that bad. Someone else was there too. Kain Fuery. What was he doing here? They weren't meeting until later, right? Both of them looked extremely worried about her. She couldn't quite hear what they were saying. Someone else was here too. A Xingese man. She had seen him around, although she didn't know his name. He wasn't looking at her, though. He was looking at some strange board, and then in another direction. She followed his gaze, and her eyes locked onto the woman standing behind the others.

Sheska shuddered and felt her body gasp for breath. She knew that woman. She had been coming in here and talking to her for about a month now. But her eyes looked so cold right now, and she looked triumphant. It looked so unlike how she had been. Something about her seemed menacing now, and Sheska couldn't take her eyes off of her. The woman stepped closer, and Sheska felt her heart seize in her. Breathing suddenly seemed to become more difficult, as did everything as it suddenly felt like every part of her body was frantically fighting something off. The bookkeeper and Kain were suddenly frantic with worry, that much she could tell. She wanted to scream, but she couldn't. And the woman who she had thought of as her friend just smiled, and moved impossibly closer, Kain and the bookkeeper not even seeming to notice, until she was all that Sheska could see. And then—

It was like everything stopped.

From then on out, it was liked everything happened through the other side of a darkened mirror. She could catch snippets and snatches of things that happened. She could sometimes hear and see things, although they were muffled and hard to see. She could sometimes feel things, although it was distant.

But the strangest and most frightening thing was the fact that she wasn't alone. She felt like someone else was there, an overwhelming presence that was overshadowing her. It seemed to say "This is mine now, little girl. I am taking it. You will be removed. This will be mine, and mine alone." It felt like the lady, her friend, who was saying these things. But how could that be? It terrified Sheska, especially as she felt herself fading more and more from what she could sense.

There was no sense of time with this, just a sense of being. She wasn't sure how long she was existing like this. But then there was a shift, and something felt hard. It was like something that should be soft hardening up, to make it brittle, but also like something digging itself in. It was also like something was strengthening her. Slowly, she started to hear voices becoming more and more clear. She began to feel things better and better. She started to see more and more.

And there was an unholy shriek inside of her.

That same voice, that voice of the woman she thought was her friend, it was screaming, shrieking "No, no! This is mine! This is mine! I won't leave!"

"Be gone, withered soul! Your time was over hundreds of years ago!"

"I deserve this! I was cheated! I won't leave! I'll take her with me!"

"You will do no such thing! You who had your body taken, it does not entitle you to another's! Leave her body and return to the energy of this universe!"

There was a horrible, terrible shrieking, and it felt like something was being ripped out of Sheska. But although it was painful, it was the kind of painful that was good, because it felt like there was something that wasn't supposed to be there being removed. Whatever it was, it didn't pull out easily, but finally, with what felt like a snap, it was gone, and Sheska merely heard an echo of that shriek in her ears.

And then, for a moment, everything was still.

She suddenly heard panicked movement to her side, and turned her head to look, but only got a glimpse of the Xingese man slumped over before suddenly Kain was there, taking up her field of vision.

"Sheska?" he asked, anxiously.

"…Kain?" her voice felt weak. "What… what happened?"

Kain looked between her and the Xingese man. "I…" he said. "I'm not entirely sure I understand, but he said that a soul from Xerxes had tried to take you over. To… to possess you and make you her new host."

Sheska blinked at him. "…What?"

"It's true," the Xingese man was being helped up by Maria Ross and Denny Brosh. "You met that woman some place you love, correct?"

Sheska blinked for a moment. That woman? The one from the bookstore who had felt like she was in her head? "Y-yes. The bookstore."

"And you are a lover of books, yes?"

"Yes."

He nodded. "She was, in her former life, a librarian, before her soul was stolen away from her body and she was kept as fuel for hundreds of years. When she was freed, she looked for a host. You, being of a similar soul type as her, was compatible, and she started to slowly take you over."

"That's why you were feeling so bad, Sheska. She was trying to take over your body," Kain explained. "And the more time you spent with her, the stronger her connection to you got, until she had nearly taken you completely over. If it wasn't for Mr. Wang, she would have, and your soul would have been gone."

"Oh…" that sounded terrifying.

"You should rest now," Mr. Wang said. "As will I. You will be fine with time, and she has been banished."

"Thank you," Kain said, and Mr. Wang gave an abbreviated bow before being helped out of the room. Kain watched him for a moment, then turned his attention back to Sheska. "How do you feel?"

"Tired," she said. "Confused."

Kain smiled at her. "You should rest then."

She reached out to him, her hand catching his. "Wait. Could… could you stay? I…" she didn't know how to phrase it. She wasn't scared, exactly, but she didn't want to be alone.

She didn't have, to, though, as he gave her hand a squeeze and pulled up a chair. "Of course," he said. "I'll stay with you."

She smiled at him, and felt her eyes growing heavier. But this time as she went to sleep, it actually felt like it was going to be restful.