Saving You...

[Milly Faye]

Milly kept pressing on, carrying the weight of Duo throughout the night and into the early morning as she made her way to the infirmary. The cold from the mountain they had come down from still lingered on her skin as they approached the area near the beaches in the crisp early morning. The sun had still not yet quite peaked up in the distance, only a faint light beginning to stretch across the sky.

Many times during the journey, Milly felt as though she was about to collapse due to the weight and eventual near exhaustion. Each time she felt she couldn't continue, she would stop for a second to clear her mind and take a few deep breaths and slightly adjust them before continuing on. Each time she did this, she would glance over to Duo to remind herself why she was doing this.

Milly led him to the infirmary doors which were, luckily, unlocked. It looked as though there was no one there yet, though, so Milly led him to the nearest available and unlocked room that she could find with a bed and pushed him on top of it, making sure he was laying down properly before collapsing to her knees next to the bed, with her head resting against the side of it and breathing a heavy sigh of relief.

She looked up at Duo and crunched her eyebrows inwards as she took his nearest hand in one of hers and hoped that he was still alright and that someone could treat him soon. She managed to get him this far but now she felt so useless in regards to actually having him healed in both body and mind. Still holding his hand, she rested her head against the side of the bed and closed her eyes, dozing off into sleep as they waited for someone to see him.

[Duo]

There are certainly moments during their long trek from Cali's Diner that Duo had accidentally slipped into unconsciousness a few times, but he kept nodding himself awake every few minutes to keep his part of the weight in dragging himself through the snowy grounds. He feels so guilty to have dragged Milly in this mess... In his mess. In Solo's cursed trap.

'Maybe... Maybe Solo's right. Maybe I'm not meant to have any friends..' He heaved a breath, a large cloud of water vapor floated over his face as he closed his eyes, almost slipping off to unconsciousness again. 'It must be hard for her...to hold me up like this..'

He was a sight to see; blood everywhere, the fabric of his clothes ripped, a large piece of sharp glass stuck at his chest, broken arm and leg, not to mention how awful his hair must have looked. He can feel the hair tie that he used to hold his long braid loosening little by little.

By the time they had reached the infirmary, the hair tie that kept Duo's braid retain its shape slipped off somewhere in the waxed flooring of the building. His long chocolate brown hair then freely flows behind him with its bind's release. His hair proved to be much longer when untied, almost reaching the back of his knees, but with his body hunched forward/sideways like that against Milly's smaller frame, his hair had lightly touched the floor, sweeping against it in a way.

Duo groaned when Milly's familiar warmth escaped from him all of a sudden, and then he realized he's on top of something comfortable, is he on a bed? His chest rose and fall, his eyelids fought to open to see where exactly is he. He could feel the sudden weight at the side of the bed, and Duo immediately moved his good arm (which happens to be nearer) towards that side of the bed and rests his worn-out hand on Milly's head while she still leaned her head on the bed.

'Milly..' He wished he could call her, he wished his tongue and lips could move, but all that escaped his throat is his voice, very faintly, almost like softly grunting. He wanted to signal her a thank you at least, so he stroke on top of her head weakly, caressing her hair slightly.

Then, he dropped his hand, the back of his hand bounced on the bed upon touching the mattress. He was half-conscious now, but he could feel someone holding onto his hand. Slowly, his lips curved into a weak smile, just by the gesture. His eyes may be closed, but he managed to keep his consciousness either way by the warmth around his hand.

'Thank you, Milly..'

[Rika]

Rika was a new recruit to the herbal healing clinic but it seemed like the perfect place for her to be. Unfortunately she was almost immediately given the most awkward and lonely shift of the entire twenty-four hour day - the late night-early morning shift. She'd been in the clinic all alone since around three in the morning and it wouldn't be until after eight that anyone would finally be joining her.

With a sigh, Rika had gone to the nearby coffee place to grab a cup of coffee to keep her awake. She had also started working at the cafe in Evnae for the main duration of the week and she would be returning there after work today for an afternoon waitress shift. She loved her work, both of them, but she wished she wasn't scheduled to work at such an inconvenient time at the clinic.

Rika casually made her way back with her coffee and sipped it slowly, letting out a happy sigh with each sip as it warmed her up and made her feel slightly more awake. She entered the clinic and placed her coffee on the welcome counter. She let out another sigh before doing a quick patrol of sorts around the clinic.

Passing by the first door, Rika stopped and did a second look into the room with wide eyes. "Oh!" She exclaimed and hurried inside towards the boy on the bed and the kneeling on the floor next to him. "Woah!" She let out with a dramatic backed up motion as she saw the piece of glass jutting out from the area around his heart. As she breathed, she calmed down and took in vaguely what had happened with some obvious miscalculations regarding who attacked who and what the girl was to him.

Rika quickly moved to grab the supply of various herbs and pulled them towards the other side of the bed on a tray. She looked at the boy who she figured might not have the strength to answer him then looked at the girl on her knees. "Miss." She said as she poked Milly's hand. "Could you please wake up and let me know what happened while I prepare my herbs to heal him?" She asked with a concerned look on her face.

[Milly Faye]

Milly heard a loud woah that caused her face to flinch a bit until a girl's voice trying to call to her woke her up. Milly slowly lifted her head off the bed and unconsciously let go of Duo's hand as she brushed the backs of her hands across her eyes and yawned. She then looked at Duo on the bed, everything rushing back into her head as she looked over at the young nurse in the room with them. Milly stood up and faced the nurse and gave a slight bow of her head. "Please help him... before it's too late." She requested with a concerned look on her face towards to the floor.

She looked back up at the nurse and began to explain what had happened. "I met this man, Duo, in Cali's Diner up in Tenka and a fight eventually broke out with... she paused for a second to collect her thoughts before continuing "a horrible person." She looked at Duo with a concerned look and bit her lip somewhat. "Duo was shot a few times and in the end was stabbed in the chest with that shard of glass.." Milly thought it best to leave out some of the specific details for now so as not to scare the young nurse out of helping Duo because of his split persona Solo.

Milly took a seat in a chair across from the bed, still exhausted from the trek and kept her eyes on him. There must be a way to save you from this pain... she thought as she watched him, wondering more about Solo and if there was a way to get rid of him for good. She would first have to question Duo about how Solo came to be inside of him. She did think Duo was rather obnoxious and stupid but she knew for certain he wasn't someone who deserved to be tormented by such a thing, whatever it was.

Milly's eyes started to close for longer durations as she waited there, watching him and watching the young nurse. She had completely forgotten by this time the more minor injury she had suffered in her arm in her attempt to help the other civilians escape. It was not bleeding anymore but there was a clear mark and stain of blood along her arm.

[Duo]

Duo had slipped into unconsciousness almost immediately when he's sure that both him and Milly is going to be alright. Everything's so quiet, which is quite a rare experience for his possessed self, until...

"Oh heeeyy! You're finally here! Good, I was getting bored."

To Duo's surprise, Solo's voice doesn't sounded echo-ey, like it always sounded like in his head. In fact, it sounded rather loud and...very near to him? Beside him? Without knowing, he automatically turned his head to his right.

"BWAHH!!"

"...What the hell is with that reaction? I'm kinda hurt."

"You're...what.. I.. I CAN SEE YOU. I mean, I can see me, but...blonde version and...red eyes, and...oh my god, are you NAKED? ..AM I NAKED?!"[/b]

Fortunately, Solo had expected this kind of reaction, so he just stared apathetically to the boy laying beside him. Actually, they're both laying on their backs now, beside each other, tired from all that strain earlier, in the blank pit of their minds.

It's a rare experience actually, for both of them to be unconscious at the same time, leaving the body to really genuinely rest. So since they're both unavailable to host the body, Duo's body is for once, truly asleep.

Since it's Solo's mind too, he had made it pitch black. Except for the area between him and Duo. "Oh shush, you're looking at yourself naked, why is that so traumatizing? ...And do you have any problems with blondes, mister brunette?"

"I'm not freaking out looking at myself naked, I'm freaking out because you're seeing ME naked! Come on! Can't I at least have some privacy regarding my own body?!" Duo, if given the energy, would want to go away, far away, right now. Or cover himself. But he's too tired to move, he's just laying there with Solo, looking at each other. Like looking at a mirror.

"Oh, please. It's been years, boy, do you think I left you untouched all these time when I can easily possess you and play around?"

Duo fell silent. Slowly, bits of horrible possibilities are returning to his mind, "..Y...You didn't...... ..s-steal my first--"

"Sex?"

"KISS!! ...Uh, wait. WHAT?! WHAAAATTTT?!!!"

"Ahahahahah!! Oh wow, so THAT'S how your face turns out when you're freak-- AHAHAHAH! HAHAH! Oh man, you're priceless, bahahaha!" This, might possibly, the very first time Solo's laughing properly, without his usual distorted creepiness.

"I'm KIDDING! Jeez, even evil has standards, give me some credit! I don't like fooling around like that using YOUR body, that's just disgusting.."

Duo almost burst into tears of happiness that his virginity's still exist, and being caught in that emotion, just laughed mirthfully. "I'm never so glad I'm disgusting to you, hahah~! Aww man...that really scared me... Thanks! ..........Wait. Why are you being so nice to me..?"

"I'm bored, that's why. Now just talk to me."

[Rika]

Rika watched with a concerned look as the girl woke up and then suddenly stood and requested her help. Rika then smiled brightly at her. " Don't worry! I'll take care of him!" She said assuredly. Rika pulled the tray closer to Duo and looked over at the girl as she started to tell her story. Rika listened intently as she took a closer look at the shard jutting out of Duo's chest and took a knife to cut away the fabric around it so that she could more easily treat the wound.

She stuck a towel into a small bucket of warm water and gently dabbed at some of the blood surrounding the area. She then prepared a mixture that would be entered into the wound in place of the knife that would easily be absorbed by the body to help it heal and prevent infection. She put on a special protective glove so the glass wouldn't cut her while removing the shard and in her other hand that was gloved with latex she took up a glob of the mixture. Rika then grabbed hold of the shard and placed the hand with the mixture right next to it and, in a swift but gentle movement, she pulled the shard out and pressed the mixture in. Keeping the hand over the mixture, she placed the shard on the table then worked the glove off with help from a small device at the side of the table. She then grabbed a large protective bandage and brought it over to him, releasing her hand from his chest finally only to place the bandage firmly upon the wound.

Rika smiled at her job then turned to the girl with a smile. "That should do it for now. I will have to tend to this wound for perhaps another day or two but he should be fine. Now onto finding those bullet wounds..." She said then turned back to Duo and fully removed the remaining fabric of his shirt to find other wounds or scars. She took up the wet cloth again and wiped away any more blood she saw and eventually found the bullet wound in his shoulder.

"By the way, my name is Rika. What's yours?" She asked the girl who was starting to doze off in the chair with a smile as she turned to find a specific kind of tweezer that would get the bullet out of his arm. She carefully pulled it out then wiped the extra bit of blood away that came out with it then bandaged the wound in a similar fashion as she did the one in his chest.

"How many more wounds are there?" She asked the girl as she looked over his shirtless figure before pulling the cart down towards his legs and searching for holes there. Finding another wound on his right leg above his knee. She quickly cut away the fabric surrounding it, cleaned the area, removed the bullet and patched it up as well.

Not seeing anything else for the time being, Rika looked over at the girl and smiled. "That should do it for now. While he gets some more rest, how about I take a look at that wound on your arm now?" She said with a smile as she walked the tray over to Milly and sat down in the chair next to her.

[Milly Faye]

The sound of the young nurse’s voice after finishing the job for now brought Milly back to consciousness again. She stood up and walked over to the bed, looking down at Duo and smiled slightly as she heard that he should be fine. She kept her eyes for a little while on his face before, in exhaustion, she went back to the chair and pulled it a little close to the bed to sit.

Upon hearing Rika’s introduction, she smiled slightly at the nurse. ”Milly.” She responded with a tired note in her voice. She watched Rika remove the bullets she had shot into Duo’s body only hours earlier in her attempt to cease the fearful Solo from hurting too many people. After Rika’s second question, she seemed to have found the last real wound on Duo’s leg before Milly managed a response. ”That one there should be the last one.” She said slowly, obviously tired from the whole ordeal.

Hearing Rika now questioning about Milly’s wound on her arm, her eyes opened a bit wider as she had completely forgotten about it. She looked over at her arm that had already stopped bleeding, remembering what had caused it near the end of their fight. “Sure.” She said and let out a deep breath and allowed Rika to tend the wound on her arm now, even though she figured there was nothing much to it at this point now that the blood has coagulated already to close the wound.

[Duo]

Duo fixated his eyes at the man laying just beside him, the man he so greatly despise sharing his own face. All his life, he's always been receiving the bad ends of the stick because of this person, so Duo has no memories whatsoever that relates to the man's positive sides.

If he has any, then this moment is possibly the first one yet that Duo experiences talking with his other self...quite decently.

"Girl's cute, isn't she?" Solo suddenly started, his red eyes very intent on Duo's expression to pick up even the smallest of reactions.

Duo's internally surprised that the first topic this incredibly loathsome man chose is of Milly. He's shocked, to say the least, but Solo is still his enemy, so Duo kept his reaction rather rigid and controlled.

Or at least he wished he could.

"Cutest one I've seen so far! Her hair shines too, I just wanna touch it to feel how soft it is!" Duo let out a cheerful grin. He has to keep being natural so Solo doesn't expect him that he's currently being wary.

Part of him believes that Solo's fraternizing with him now that they're both tired to get on each other's throats.

Solo stared sharply at his companion with an eyebrow raised. "How old are you, boy? If you keep pretending to be stupid, she won't respect you as much." Solo's tone sounded so unlike him, almost brother-like actually. Almost.

At the response, Duo's eyebrows hit his hairline in surprise. "...W-well, I don't... In all honesty.. Solo, I believe that the right girl for me is the one that can see through my mask of stupidity and respect me as I am." There's a calm smile curving up the young man's lips. "This is just my style, y'know?"

A smirk crooked up on Solo's face. "Oh really? What if I say that I can capture her interest first and really steal your first kiss using her?"

A rare darkness could be seen in Duo's metallic blue eyes. "Do not.. Challenge me.. If the subject is about Milly." When his smile turned into a frown, even those who have known Duo cannot recognize if this is the same mirthful happy-go-lucky man. "If you did, I swear to God, I will kill you.."

"Heh. Killing me means killing yourself." Duo's display of courage back there to kill himself has certainly frightened Solo, mainly because he doesn't know where his soul is bounded next since his spirit is apparently a bound spirit. Having no host means having no freedom.

And just as he thought of that, Duo's response confirmed his fear.

"Why yes, Solo, what I meant is suicide. I goddamn seriously mean it, do NOT touch her."

[Rika]

Rika smiled at Milly as she walked over to her and pulled a seat next to her and sat down with the tray moved next to them as well. "It's nice to meet you, Milly! Despite the circumstances."

She then proceeded to clean the blood off of Milly's arm with a bit of water on a cloth. She made a small mixture of herbs and coated a piece of cloth with it then placed it over Milly's wound. She then took a longer role of bandage and wrapped it around the wound to hold the cloth in place and pinned it off.

Rika smiled brightly at Milly again. "All done!" She then stood up and began to clean up the things on her tray. "Would you like a drink, Milly? There's a water fountain just outside the room to your right and a bathroom just down the hall a bit further from there. If you would like to lay down to rest, we have of course other rooms around here that you could rest in."

"As for me, I will be taking these instruments to another room now to clean them and prepare them for another instance. If you need me at all, there's a bell on the main desk that sends a small ring out through the entire facility to alert me to your needs." She finished with a smile then headed towards the door.

"Please let me know if your friend wakes up so that I can do a few tests on him. Merely procedure." She showed one last smile before she headed out the door and to the left to clean her tools in another room.

[Milly Faye]

As Rika got set up next to her, Milly stared at Duo's sleeping body. She lost herself again in thought over the drastic change and wondered if it was a split personality or possibly something else. She had seen split personalities due to post-traumatic stress disorder in many young men after experiencing war, but as she recalled Duo's changes even in hair and eye colour, it was something peculiar. She would have to ask him about all of that later.

Milly winced slightly in surprise as she felt Rika touch her wound initially to clean it, then watched Rika as she finished. Milly listened clearly to Rika's explanations of the fountain and washroom and how to get a hold of her again. She smiled slightly and said "thank you" when she was done then gave a nod in response to her request.

After Rika left, Milly looked over at the sleeping Duo again then stood and pulled her chair right up beside the bed, looking down at him. She lightly took hold of his hand again as she watched him. She wanted to apologize for setting him off but that would have to wait of course until he awoke.

She sat there waiting, becoming more and more tired and eventually leaned against the bed and fell asleep with her head resting just by his side, her hand still holding his.

[Duo]

Internally, despite the rather decent talk he had with the other soul occupying his body in the beginning, Duo is seriously considering to get out of his mind right now and host his body before Solo gets the chance too.

Unfortunately, by that reddening glint of his enemy's eyes, he's pretty sure Solo is thinking of the same thing. So there they go, racing each other on who reaches the surface of consciousness first.

"GAH!!" Sitting up with a start on the hospital bed, the sudden sharp pain coursing through his limbs and chest made Duo cringed. Cold sweat beads littered his skin and by how abnormally fast his breathing is, it seemed like he was just awoken from a nightmare. Still, the feeling of pain means...he's back in his body.

That particular realization made Duo heaved out a relieving sigh. He beats Solo to it, and this is possibly the best achievement he's made so far today. He actually felt thankful of the pain that he's feeling right now, all these is definitely worth it than having Solo hosting his body and made a mess of things again.

He's tired, he wants to sleep, but he wouldn't dare risk it with Solo waiting for his guard to fall at the back of his mind.

"...O-oww..." Pain is still pain, such is life. He could feel how his hair is loose now, and it covered his back entirely with how long his hair is, and sprawled everywhere on the bed. Then, as Duo turned to look around the room, he noticed Milly at the side of his bed, holding his hand.

Duo's face colored a bit, having waking up to see such a cute girl holding his hand, he could get used to this. Not sure if she has been awake for a while or that waking up with a yell startled her awake, Duo grinned down at her.

"Enjoying the free show?" He winked, gesturing to how he's completely shirtless at the moment. Just as he said so, that pain in his chest doubled, so Duo slowly got back on his pillow with a cringe. "Oww...damn.. How long was I out..?"

[Milly Faye]

As a loud noise ripped through the room suddenly and a force of wind moved past her head as Duo sat up, Milly was shocked awake and slowly looked up to see Duo sitting there. A small smile broke out for a moment before it sunk back revealing a worried look. "Duo..." She uttered quietly, seeing him now looking at her and grinning at her.

Seeing his wink and hearing his question made her lowered her head slightly and slap the palm of her other hand to her face due to his idiocy but in the hidden areas of her face with that movement, a slight hint of pink arrived momentarily. After a moment, composing herself, she looked back up at him as he laid back again and asked her how long he was out.

Milly looked around the room for a clock but couldn't see one. She figured it was sometime early in the morning still or afternoon, but seeing as Rika was the only nurse still around, she figured it was still early enough before others would arrive. "Only a few hours, I suppose." She figured after that. "The nurse, Rika, tended you during that time. I didn't expect you to wake up so soon after everything." She said, her face normal until the last two words as a worried look revealed itself again.

"Duo," she began as she placed a hand on his cheek and leaned nearer to him, staring into his eyes with that worried look. "I'm sorry....... I didn't know." She paused, talking about Solo. "But... now that I do... I will try to do anything in my power to help you...." The look in her eyes showed she was serious and worried, In her mind, she couldn't help but think of those she had known during war who suffered severe shell-shock, some of which had turned into empty shells and others who had developed strange psychological disorders including multiple personalities. This sort of thing was not unusual to her, but it was something she knew was difficult to overcome. The only real peculiarity in Duo's case was that his appearance actually changed, hair and eye colour, apart from the normal.

She sat back slowly, having not let go of his hand and stared down at it for a moment. "If you would.... Please tell me more about... Solo.." She said, then looked over at him again with the remaining worried look.

[Duo]

Duo can feel the tiredness gnawing in his subconscious, and he fought to let out a yawn. He cannot allow himself to fall asleep, not now, and if it's possible, not ever. He's even considering looking for a medicine or something that can make him stay up for as long as he can.

Sleeping is like laying down in a minefield for him. He just can't risk it.

"Ooh~ So a nurse was undressing me while I was unconscious..?" Even having all of those depressing thoughts, he wouldn't let a chance to cloud his genuine dismay to pass. "And you were watching me the whole time while she does so?" He grinned up boyishly at Milly before letting out a low chuckle, being unable to laugh out loud like he wishes, "I know I'm irresistable. ..Is the nurse cute, by the way?"

Duo is painfully aware how serious Milly is getting into, and Duo desperately tries to grab any kind of thread that can hold himself up the surface of his smiles. It just keeps getting harder when Milly approached him, and with all the solemness in the world, moved her hand to touch his cheek.

Duo's smile twitched. There is no way he can hold up this fake smile when she's speaking to him so seriously about Solo. Especially slowly, the curve of his grin neutralizes, but he kept a hidden strength to at least forbid himself from frowning.

"H-hey, come now, don't look so worried.." he spoke gently. If it weren't for his hand clutching his painful chest all the time, he would use it to pat her shoulder and calm her. "And don't ever apologize about my problem, okay?" He tried to beam a small grin at her, it scares him when situations gets a bit awkward. His metallic blue eyes shifts over to the side for a while before meeting her gaze again.

"If anyone should be apologizing, it's me. Look, I'm... I'm truly sorry you've...met him. He wasn't.. I'm not supposed to let him out, y'know?" Again, that slight grin. He just can't wallow in sadness and anger too much, that's just the sort of weaknesses that manages Solo to slip out.

"A-actually, I'm pretty touched that you're still here~" He sing-songed, his voice seeming to take a strange broken turn as he squinted his eyes closed and smiled at her. "If anybody managed survived throgh Solo, they don't usually carry me to hospitals and waited for me to wake up, haha."

His voice definitely sounded strange, and there's even slight twinkles of liquid present at the edges of his tightly-closed eyes. "I mean, heheh, everybody would hate me after what happened, and I'm not even sure what did happened~ There's really no one who understands and they labelled me as a mass murderer the next day, so of course I had to run off~! Ahaha, this is actually the first time anyone would ever listened to me-e..."

Duo lifted up his good arm from clutching his chest and puts it over his eyes with his palm facing upwards, still staying strong with a smile on his lips. "H-hey Milly, can you get me a glass of water, please? I'm...really thirsty..heh.." He requested, his voice is broken with a few cleverly covered sobs. He needed some time to get her out of the room for a while and straighten himself up.

There is not a soul in the world...who have asked him about Solo, or even treated him and Solo as two different beings. Milly is the first one ever, and this proves to be too much for Duo, he wanted to cry and laugh all at the same time.

[Milly Faye]

As Duo spoke again, telling her not to be so worried and not to apologize about his problem, Milly's worried expression softened slightly but still remained worried. She shook her head slightly at his comment about him being not supposed to let Solo out. "Things like this usually have a trigger. I was the one who triggered it, so it is my fault." She finished, looking down at his hand again as her hand left his face and made it's way to cover the other side of his hand that she held.

When he spoke again, she looked over at him as he spoke. She instantly picked up on the change in his voice and noticed the bit of moisture forming in his eyes as she listened to him. Her eyebrows creased inwards mixed into her already worried expression. It annoyed her how so many people seemed to ignore the obvious differences in regular horrible people and people who are suffering something psychological. Having been surrounded by a lot of shell-shock victims in her time in the military, she does have a lot more experience in that regard than most others anyway though.

Milly watched Duo silently as he covered his eyes and tried to continue smiling then asked for water. She let out a heavy breath of air and slowly let go of his hand as she stood up and made her way out into the hall to seek out the fountain Rika told her about.

When she found it, she was glad to see that it was one with cups and filled up two cups with water. She paused for a moment as she thought over Duo's short story that lead up to this being the first time someone listened to him. She looked down at the two cups of water and drank one of them right away and threw the paper cup out there then headed back to the room with the other cup.

She walked over to Duo and sat down again, holding the cup towards him. "Here." She said in a gentle tone, her eyes still holding a somewhat worried expression but the corners of her lips lifted up ever so slightly. After he took the cup from her, she let out a small breath of air and looked down, sitting back in her chair a bit but sitting up straight and looked at Duo with a more serious expression.

"My name is Millicent Faye. I am the daughter of General Henry Faye of the Latvian army. As such, I was raised by my father to wield guns and fight. In battle situations, I mainly acted as a sniper because my father wanted me in a more protected area and because I am a pretty good shot." She said, ignoring that her last reason could seem a bit arrogant. She looked down again as she continued.

"Being involved in such things, I have witnessed many people after battles return with serious mental trauma, causing disorders such as schizophrenia and even multiple personality disorder." She looked back over at Duo again, a serious look on her face now after all of that. "My first thought of solo would be that he is a byproduct of such an event, however... " Her eyes looked to the side a bit as she began to mention the difference. "Multiple personality disorder does not cause things like changes in hair and eye colour." She looked back over at Duo again. "So I am very curious indeed as to who and what Solo is and why he is in you and able to take control of you."

[Duo]

When the warmth left his hand, Duo waited for a short moment before peeking out of his arm covering his eyes. When he's absolutely sure Milly is off to find water did the smile on his face drops drastically as he let out heavy gasps of air. Tears began rolling down from under his arm, down his face and into his pillow.

'I'm starting to have doubts on why you're even breathing anymore.'

This hurts. And this is probably a fraction of the real pain that he allowed himself to feel. Duo's been avoiding to acknowledge the seriousness of his problem, only to maintain his emotional balance. Emotional balance is exactly what he needs to ward off Solo, but Duo's still human, so there are certainly times when that balance slipped.

'What's the matter? Afraid I'll be jumping up on her if you break down?'

Yes, that's it exactly. He's afraid...if telling Milly about it might make that balance slip even more.

After a while, light footsteps reached his ears, so Duo quickly dried his eyes, takes in a few deep breaths and stabilize himself. Can he even pretend to be an idiot after what happened? How is he going to get around this now that Milly asked what exactly was his problem?

When Milly got back in the room, Duo pulled himself up to sit down and places his pillow behind him so he could lean on it. "Thanks," he took the cup from her hand and focused his eyes only onto the water. Slowly, he took small gulps until there's no water left he could stare at.

Then, Milly suddenly spoke up in a rather authoritative manner, it made Duo jumped to hear her sudden tone. The man just stared at her with wide eyes as she introduced herself fully before cleverly stating out her thoughts and assumptions regarding Solo.

Duo had to tilt his head slightly as he let all those information dawned on him. As much as he wanted to break out a silly comment or pressing her more of her background rather than his own issue, he has enough tact to understand that neither of his ideas are going to work.

Especially with Solo laughing in his mind towards Milly's little claims.

After inhaling a bit of air while still having his eyes still fixed onto the young lady beside his bed here, Duo parted his lips. "My name is Yumoa Duo. I have no idea who's son am I supposed to be. I grew up in an orphanage with a number of boys who were...how should I say this...made to be born. Our country is at war for over a millennium now, the people there have never acknowledged the meaning of peace as they can't escape nor can they seek justice."

His eyes never wavered off from her, and its rather strange to see and hear Duo speaking so seriously like this, it's a stark contrast of that normal idiocy he tends to let show. "As I was born to train and be a soldier there, I'm familiar with what you're talking about...I guess..." He does not like this topic. "But.. Solo isn't-- He's not...from any..byproduct of whatever you said." Duo now has serious doubts how to even say this to Milly.

"Solo is...real. He was a real person, a real human...before. He was a...tyrant, when he's alive. He had conquered thousands of battles back then, so the shamans there thought they could bring back his soul or something to probably stop the war. ...But they needed a host." Duo stopped there, almost abruptly. He waited for a moment to let that whole thing seeped into Milly's head as he worded out in his head of what he's going to say next.

...That's a pretty hard feat with Solo's voice clamorously shouting and laughing in his head.

Unable to continue any longer, Duo then closed his eyes and ended his story with "He's been living inside me, even now laughing loudly in my head at this very moment, ever since."