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Sebastian recognized the body as soon as he saw it. Shorter and slimmer than Neumann, Sebastian had always liked the high cheekbones and pointed chin. A little reminiscent of Oliver Turner now that Sebastian thought about it, but much less pale. Sebastian had taken it from a bureaucrat at a factory owned by some Human corporation that didn’t care that their wages were too low to support their workers.
Sebastian managed to drape his upper body over the side of the gurney and flop one of his arms into touching distance with the prone, pristine body lying there, and that was close enough.
With an almost overwhelming sense of freedom and relief, Sebastian unhooked his barbs from Neumann’s brain stem and burst out of his dying body. He skittered down the outstretched arm and over the chest of the bureaucrat until he got to the nape of the man’s neck. With a quick slice over the old scar tissue, Sebastian slid in.
Hooking in his barbs and opening his new eyes, Sebastian could have cried.
The pain was gone. All gone, and the memory of it already fading fast.
A laugh bubbled up his throat, and he grabbed at his own stomach, reveling in the painlessness of it all. He sat up, still huffing out a few lingering chuckles.
“Oh god, that sucked.” He pushed his hands through his hair and shook his head, then looked at Maxwell. “Do you have any idea how much that sucked?”
“I don’t think I can even imagine,” Maxwell admitted. He shoved Neumann’s lifeless body back onto the bed. “Look what you escaped.”
Sebastian looked, and his breath caught. “Shit,” he breathed. He’d known it was bad—he’d felt it after all—but looking at the gory mess that was left of Neumann, his gorge rose. “Is that…intestine poking out of that hole there?”
Maxwell prodded the bit of gray flesh visible between one of the sutures and the edge of the gash. “Yes, I think it is.”
“Oh god.” Sebastian covered his mouth and looked away. “No wonder you and Hess were so freaked out.”
“You almost died, Sebastian.”
“Yeah, I see that now!” Sebastian swung his legs around to the other side of the gurney and stood shakily.
“You know I didn’t enjoy torturing you, right?” Maxwell stood too, and the earnest look on his ever-sweet face was enough to melt away the last bits of Sebastian’s resentment.
“Of course I know that, Maxwell.” Sebastian sighed, still keeping his eyes averted from the body he’d almost died in. “I wasn’t in my right mind. You were afraid I’d be an idiot and die before you could save me.”
Maxwell grimaced. “Essentially, yes.”
“You know I’ll never trust you again, though, don’t you?” Sebastian pointed a finger at him and then wagged it. “That was a one-use trick, and you’ve used it up now.”
Maxwell chuckled and batted his hand back down. “Well, hopefully, I never have to. Try not to get disemboweled again, hm?”
“Yeah, I’ll try to keep that in mind.” Sebastian stretched and rolled his shoulders, but when he tried to take a few steps in the small room, his legs shook, and he listed sideways before managing to grab the desk and hold himself up.
“Are you alright?” Maxwell quickly skirted the gurney and helped him to sit in the chair squished up against the wall.
“Yeah.” Sebastian pressed his thumb and forefinger into his eyes. “Just…tired, but not.”
Maxwell lifted Sebastian’s chin and tilted his head back and forth to take a look at him. “You should try to get some sleep.”
“How am I supposed to sleep?” Sebastian pulled his chin back and waved an arm to encompass his own body. “I’ve been asleep for weeks.”
“That body has, but you haven’t.” Maxwell crossed his arms. “That’s not the same thing.”
It wasn’t, but Sebastian still scowled. “How would you know? You’ve only ever been in the one body.”
Maxwell’s eyes narrowed. “And you’ve never been to medical school.”
“Not like they teach you any torvar anatomy in medical school,” Sebastian muttered. “Unless maybe it’s how to tear us out.”
“No, actually, not even that.” Maxwell sighed and leaned against the desk. He brought his hand up to the nape of his neck and trailed the fingers thoughtfully along his skin. “I’ve been about able to figure out exactly which structures all our barbs and hooks lock into, though.”
“Huh. That’s interesting, I guess.” Sebastian had never thought much about exactly where he put his claws. It was all instinctual.
A couple of firm knocks on the door made them both look up, and then Hess’s voice came from just the other side. “I’m coming in.”
