Heterochromia

White.

It's all Reed could think.

White.

It's all he could see, hear, smell, taste, and feel.

White. The color white.

By now, nearly an hour had passed. The White Syndrome had completely taken up Reed's consciousness. From tip-to-toe, the boy was paralyzed, frozen in time, unaware of everything and anything to occur.

White.

Even the boy's usual heat-seeping rage was cooled indefinitely. Like a fire put out by a sudden blast of freezing snow. Like frost trickling across the edges of his temper, and a glassy ice floor sealing his wrath beneath shut for eternities.

Eternal slumber, but wide awake.

Forever trapped inside this ice prison of white.

Inside the ice frame, as cold as could be, was also a truth to behold, as cold as could be.

The cold truth of reality bent to the standards of this corrupted underground world, that now flowed in and out of Reed's paralyzed body.

"There's more to it…" A voice said. "The truth lies past the surface…"

Reed listened, but he didn't reply. Rather he couldn't bring himself to reply. He was too mesmerized by the color white. But even further beneath the scorching soul that was Reed's, deep under the seal of ice that flew over their identities, was another, separate soul, trapped under the pressure of whom embodied wrath.

"If I could just…" The soul lighted sensation. Desire embarked from its regaining consciousness. "If I could just… push… past… this… weight!"

The soul leaned forwards, attempting to bear the mass of Reed's soul. But it stopped. The soul realized there was no chance. The amount of sheer willpower Reed's soul held was too heavy, and unparalleled in strength.

"I have no choice but to go around!" The soul barely slipped past the burning weight, now soaring towards the shell of ice that trapped the two inside.

"Go!" The soul surged forwards, breaking right through the barrier meant to keep it inside.

Reed's paralyzed body then contradicted itself. A finger twitched, followed by the hand, the arm, and soon, his entire body shook awake, all finally being followed by the recolouring of his eyes.

But rather than replacing the whited pupils with those of red—the color of Reed's eyes—was instead a bright, ocean sky-reflecting blue that painted the empty pupils with life.

The boy gasped for air, sucking in a heap of humid heat, and exhaling a gust of frozen air.

His hands grew cold, and his finger tips crackled. But his heart beated with spirit, warming his frozen body to extinguish itself of the color white and its effects.

The boy stood slowly, carefully regaining balance on his two feet. Steadily, he began to take steps forward. But a sharp pain pierced through the boy's forehead. He lost balance, and fell knee first to the ground. He clutched his head, attempting to bear with the unbearable pain.

"Urgh!" He now used both his hands to envelop his head, as if containing an entity from bursting his brain wide open. The pain loosened on the left side of his head, but began to intensify in the right. The boy felt himself sway to the right, as if the heavy pain weighed his head downwards. In an increasing matter, the right-side pain grew heavier and heavier, causing blood to leak from both his right nostril, and right eye socket.

"H-Huh? Agh…" The boy struggled his thoughts. There was a complete imbalance in what he felt. It was normal, and rather soothing on the left side of his head. But on the right side of his head, was what could be compared to absolute hell. It felt like the right side of his brain had been lit on fire, burning agony onto his identity, as it began to mesh with another. The boy's head throbbed, and the pain brought him to cry; tears on the left side, blood on the right side.

"Agh… AGHHH!!!" The boy screamed. He flailed, as if an insect were trying to crawl into his right ear. He swung, and swiped, at the right side of his head, trying his very best at removing and releasing what was trying to get in. But it was too late. The separate entity had re-entered; the separate identity re-established itself.

Wiping his bloodied tears, the boy reopened his eyes. The left eye was blue just as he'd left it. The right eye though, was red.

He felt his brain begin to encumber with violence.

"GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!" He suddenly screamed.

"No." A raspy voice replied.

"THIS IS MY BODY!!!"

"It's mine now."

"NO!" The boy pulled at the ends of his blonde hair, eventually ripping it out in shreds.

"Who… Who even AM I RIGHT NOW!?"

The raspy voice answered. "Reed Regardius—"

"NO!!!" The boy replied. He tried to recognize himself, but he could barely even tell at this point. "I'm…" He suddenly noticed the hair in his hands. It was golden blonde. "I'm Abel… Abel Vaso."

"But your body is mine now, Abel Vaso." Pain re-emerged.

"ARGHH!!!" Abel screamed in response. "NO!!!"

He continued to scream, and shout, using every single ounce of his mental capacity to hold against Reed's soul that slowly took over him. But after holding out the possessing for a surprising amount of time, the pain finally ended.

"Fine," Reed spoke. "I'll take it back next time."

And like that, the red from Abel's right eye suddenly vanished and recolored itself blue. In the following instant, Abel's body straightened as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulder, or rather his head. The burning sensation and its pain also erased itself from the right side of his head, leaving him finally relaxed.

Abel held his head once more, confirming the riddance with the now equalized weight it bore.

"What did Overseer Raphael do to me?... Reed Regardius… is in my head?" He wiped his nose. Blood stained his hand. "Is this even my blood?"

Abel brought himself up to his feet once more, and fully regained balance. Slowly stepping up the inclined tunnel, he swayed side to side in exhaustion at the regaining of his mind. It was there that Abel sensed a sudden danger incoming. He squinted his eyes, barely looking over the horizon of the tunnel's slanted floor. A few miles away, Abel could see an incoming gust of dust, debris and— "Blood!?"

He was quickly induced with panic. Abel turned around, noticing the entrance to the tunnel was hundreds of meters away. And to his left and right, were walls that curved over him in a semi-circular shape.

There was no escaping the fatal blast that approached him.

Contemplating on what to do, Abel noticed the wall of death now nearing him.

"W-What do I do!?"

"Drive yourself into the wall." A raspy voice spoke.

Abel was alarmed hearing Reed's voice again, but what scared him more in the moment was the death that approached.

"Drive myself into the wall?" He asked back. "Why?—"

"JUST DO IT!" Reed yelled.

Compelled, and urged by a sudden burning sensation in his heart, Abel drove himself towards the tunnel's leftmost wall. Unexpectedly to him, Abel crashed right through the dense concrete wall, solidifying himself inside a self-made cavity. Soon after, the violent gust blasted past him, completely erasing everything in its path.

Abel panted, both confused and shocked at what had just happened. "H-How did I do that?"

He looked at his hands and shoulders, both of which he used to crash into the wall. What confused him the most was how they weren't broken, or even scathed.

"You've been injected with serums that amplify your strength and durability tremendously."

"R-Reed?" Abel was surprised to hear his voice again.

"Yes."

"Wh-Who are you? Why are you in my head?"

He sighed. "That bitch Raphael planted me inside of you."

"Overseer Raphael? B-But why?"

"You're a vessel. There's nothing more to it. You were simply meant to be a vessel for me, Reed Regardius. That overpowered strength and regenerative potential you now possess, was originally my ability. All of that came from my original body, which they destroyed a while back. That's why I'm in yours now. They CHOSE to resurrect me, and they chose you as the vessel for that purpose. Don't take it personally."

Abel stared at the ground before him, unknowing of what to say. He couldn't understand, and he could only question his sanity. "What… Then… why did you choose to save me?"

Reed was taken back by the question. "Save you? I never saved you—"

"You told me how to avoid the incoming danger back there. If you hadn't, I would've died by now…"

Reed sighed of frustration. "Oh shut up. I never intended to help you in any way. I was simply helping myself. If you and your body dies, then I die too. I killed Raphael, so there's no one left to resurrect me into a new body. Your body is the only one I can count on now."

Abel listened, somewhat accepting that the separate identity inside of him was a horrible person.

"You can play and have fun with your body for now. Besides, it seems that if my soul stays in possession right now, those white lights will just induce the White Syndrome on me all over again. I don't know why your soul isn't affected by the lights, but it's useful."

"White Syndrome?" Abel didn't understand.

"But, I'll say one thing: never forget that your body was given to me. It's mine, and even if you can keep control of it now, I'll take it back for myself when the time is right."

Within a matter of seconds, Reed erased himself from Abel's mind. He vanished without a trace, and Abel was finally left alone, as himself, once again.

Still in disbelief at everything that's happened in the past few minutes, Abel pinched his arm to check if he was dreaming.

He wasn't.

"Well then…" Abel crawled out of the crevice. "I'll be counting on you to keep me alive when I need it."