“Y-Y-You’re with them aren’t you!” Franceth pointed at the insect, his finger trembling.

“Who?” Marlow was becoming increasingly confused with his possessor's insane rambling.

“Don’t try and play dumb with me, you stupid pest!” Franceth’s shock and fear had disappeared, leaving him only with anger, his hands clenched into fists. This stupid bug thinks it can toy with me. he lunged down the stairs, his foot coming down in a frenzy.

Marlow skittered away, the feet coming down like raindrops above him. “Please calm down, I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.” This went on for about 10 minutes, Franceth running about like a crazed animal, nearly tripping over his heels trying to stomp on the pest. In his haze, he didn't even notice his massive boost in fitness, in his old body only being able to sprint at full speed for about 3 minutes, before his body gave in. However, a human body was still a human body, no matter how fit, his legs began to burn up and his heart rate skyrocketed, cold sweat dripping onto the floor. He limped over and collapsed into a chair, arms drooping by his side, the stale air all the more apparent as he drew in heavy breaths.

“You ready to talk now?” Compared to his possessor, Marlow had hardly used up an ounce of his energy, quite enjoying his new metabolism and light muscles.

Franceth was in no shape to reply, and resorted to raising his hand into a loose thumbs-up sign, still panting heavily from the brief workout he had gotten. Deep down Franceth had known that there was likely no way a cockroach could hurt him, however being thrust into an unfamiliar situation 3 times in a single day, after spending the best part of 8 years alone in a castle had obvious effects on his sanity.

“Ok first things first, I’m not working with anyone. I am a singular guy, just me. I have no plans of selling or eating your organs or anything like that, just hear me out.”

If these words had been said earlier, it would have completely destroyed any chance of being heard out, however, Franceth was in a state of catharsis, feeling much more rational. “You should probably choose your words a bit more carefully if you want me to hear you out.” he choked out, his dry throat killing a lot of his volume.

Marlow pondered his words, taking a bit of time before his next declaration. Marlow was often known to let words slip when he shouldn’t, having gotten in trouble for it on multiple occasions. A few moments passed before he began again. “I’m Marlow, a rune architect and I summoned you into my body. Right now you are inside my basement. I don’t know what happened before you di.. nearly died, but you are in a completely different place right now.” he corrected making sure to watch his word choice.

“Why did you summon me into your body,” Franceth asked flatly, suspiciously glaring at Marlow who had crawled onto the table during the time Franceth had been talking.

“Ok, I know this probably seems like some occult bullshit. But I have no” he paused contemplating what he was going to say next. “I know you asked me to watch my words, but I’m going to have to tell you this as bluntly as possible. I have no intention of doing any medical or magic experiments on you.” He paused for a minute, trying to gauge how his possessor would react.

“Get on with it please.”

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“I know this is going to sound silly, but I have a rare defect that affects my soul, that may or may not have a cure. I transported myself into this cockroach corpse using a soul transferal rune, to slow down the effect of the illness. If I was in my old body I would have about 14 days until my soul would be drained, leaving my body a lifeless husk. However, if I calculated the size of this cockroach in comparison to myself correctly, I should have roughly 5 years now.”

“Ahem, Excuse me for interrupting, but where exactly do I fit into this.” Franceth asked, rhythmically tapping his fingers against the table.

Marlow continued, cutting out some of the embellishments. “So it would be pretty hard to get around and find a healer willing to heal me as a cockroach right?” Franceth nodded, beginning to see where he was going. “So that’s where you come in. You get me to a healer and convince them to heal me.”

“And what’s in it for me.” Franceth interjected, right as Marlow had finished his sentence.

“Well you kinda owe me, I mean seeing as how the rune worked, you would probably be dead if I hadn’t pulled you into my body. Also, you tried to kill me earlier” Marlow said, running his mandibles along the table, praying that his reasoning would be enough.

Franceth blushed, remembering his previous predicament. “That’s fair” he agreed, getting up from his chair and stretching his limbs, his legs still sore from his earlier workout.

Marlow inwardly sighed, surprised that his reasoning had been accepted. “Ok, I’ve told you about me, who are you?”

“I’m Franceth Williams” he sheepishly stated, nervously scratching the back of his head.

“Wait, you’re the monarch's son?” Marlow incredulously asked. “How the hell did you die? you’ve been out of the public eye for years.”

“My father thought it was in my best interest to stay in the castle after my grandmother's death.” Franceth shrugged, pacing around the table. “I’m impressed that that’s the first question you asked. Most people I met when I was a child start bowing and babbling apologies for their rudeness once they realized who I was.”

Following his lead, Marlow also attempted to shrug, forgetting that he didn’t have arms. Franceth heard a large grunt in his mind as Marlow toppled on the table, rolling onto his back. He attempted to stifle laughter, watching the large cockroach try and regain its bearings now much less intimidated.

Marlow, having now turned himself right-side up. Walked onto Franceth’s arms and gently nipped him with his mandibles. Franceth yelped in pain, the sharp mandibles piercing his skin and drawing blood, however, he was laughing too hard to acknowledge it, still quite amused by the clumsiness of the cockroach in front of him.

“I was gonna say I talk like this to everyone, but now that you’ve shown how much of an asshole you are, I’ll make sure to insult you as much as possible.”

“My bad” Franceth managed to push out, between his bursts of laughter.

“If you’re done laughing, can you answer my question” Marlow opened his mandibles holding them above Franceth’s arm.

Franceth quickly pulled his arm away, the laughter having died down to light chuckles. “Alright, Alright. Yesterday I suddenly got sent off on a military rescue operation, and we got ambushed by beastmen.”

Marlow paused for a moment considering his answer. “You’ve been locked away for 8 years, why now?”

Franceth once again shrugged. “No idea.”

Marlow intently stared at him, trying to wrap his head around everything that had happened. “So you got sent out on a military operation, you got ambushed by beastmen and died.”

“Nearly died.” Franceth corrected “ But you got the rest of it right.”

Marlow nodded, glad that his strange new motor abilities at least extended to his head.

“So where do we start with your plan,” Franceth asked, having already positioned himself at the bottom of the stairs

Marlow paused again. “Uh…. Good question”