Nameless Ghoul

Hypothesis

Itzal wanted to speak to Shay the following morning, but the old ghoul was unavailable. Sunshine had slept in, spending a lazy morning in bed. Itzal watched her sleep for a while, still in disbelief that this was his life now. He couldn't have asked for a better one.

He thought maybe he'd get a break from the bad dreams while his soul caught up with being reinstated into his body, but alas. Wishful thinking.

The usual showreel of memories, interspersed with creative new ways to torment him made for a restless night. He tried his best not to wake Sunshine, but each time he woke with a start, he'd felt her snuggle into him or hold him tighter. He felt guilty for waking her too.

When Itzal had finally woken for the day, she looked so peaceful, so he didn't disturb her when he eventually got up.

He grabbed a coffee from the canteen as he noticed it was quiet on his way past, and then wandered outside for some fresh air.

As he walked through the gardens, the crisp winter air sharpened his senses, until he was fully awake. The caffiene hit was welcome.

A voice called his name, and when Itzal looked back, Omega was striding towards him.

“Morning, Itzal,” he said with a toothy smile. “Did you sleep okay?”

“Hmm, so, so,” Itzal responded, taking another sip of the coffee.

Omega chuckled. 

"Oh, busy night, was it?”

Itzal dropped his eyes and his cheeks flushed.

“No. I didn’t sleep too well, is all.”

Omega grimaced awkwardly. He changed the subject.

“Were you okay after yesterday? You seemed a bit rattled when we were leaving. Sunshine said you’d done too much, but it didn’t feel that way to me.”

Itzal silently cursed him for being so astute and so nosey. He debated whether to tell him, but seeing as he couldn’t talk to Shay, he may as well see what Omega thought. The quintessence ghoul was a wise soul, and he attended a lot of the meetings about these types of things with Terzo, so his opinion would be valid.

“Okay, but it’s going to sound crazy,” Itzal said, shaking his head. Omega raised his eyebrows. "I thought I saw Santos in the last store we were in, and I thought I scented him, too. But then I lost track, and there were so many humans there, and too many smells. I lost the scent."

Omega frowned, but he didn't interrupt Itzal's flow.

"Sunshine tried to tell me he's gone now, and I know she’s right. I felt stressed anyway, and it’s only been a couple of days since I came back, so it was probably paranoia." Itzal raised his eyes and met Omega's gaze. "But I just can’t shake this feeling that it was actually him.”

Omega thought on it for a few minutes.

“Well, if you want my opinion?" he eventually said. Itzal nodded. "I'm not going to lie to make you feel better. You might not want to hear this, but I don’t think you’re crazy. I think it’s possible.”

Itzal wasn’t sure he’d heard him correctly. If he was honest, he'd expected the same reaction he'd had from Sunshine. His heartrate picked up, and he waited to see what else Omega had to say before jumping in.

"Secondo said they weren’t sure what kind of binding spell Santos used. It wasn’t the one the Clergy uses. The Santos family was into all kinds of fucked up shit, so who knows what kind of magic he had access to? I guess it's plausible he could have bypassed the dying when you die part somehow. Hypothetically, of course.”