Afraid for him, huh? Well. He supposed he was afraid for himself too but for far different reasons. Then again, Shiro had never particularly been capable of fearing for himself properly. It was how he even ended up the way he was now. Sharp jowls, odd blood, odd everything really. There was a lot they hadn’t discussed yet. Maybe they were just afraid to make it a reality. Maybe Shiro just didn’t want his heart to know just how drastic these changes were. (YOU WISH SO MUCH THAT YOU HADN’T DIED AT ALL BECAUSE OF IT) His heart lurches and he knows these fears are valid. Knows that Itachi has every reason to be afraid of his life expiring again. This was unprecedented after all. Could they truly know the full effects of his returned life? He can’t really meet Itachi’s eyes because he doesn’t know how to answer his fears. Doesn’t know how he could possibly ebb them away as he usually would.
“I cease to function at random points because I’ve forgotten how to live and feel. Physical contact feels overwhelming, I get startled when I feel hungry, even the feeling of my feet on the ground feels like some obscurity my brain can’t process anymore because I haven’t felt in so long.” His voice is quiet, he doesn’t know what to do. What could he possibly do other than try to explain it? Try to put logic to something that no one could’ve fathomed a possibility? To put logic to something even the person who’d done it couldn’t comprehend? “I don’t think that will happen. Unlike other events in history where possession is rejected because it’s treated like a foreign object, this body is only a modified version of mine genetically. Black kept me in the astral plane, preserved me with the intent of saving me. I don’t think she knew my life would be bought in blood.” (HOW CAN YOU COPE KNOWING IT)
“A clone. Didn’t think they’d want to keep me so much they’d make several of me to do it.” He tries to laugh but it only sounds broken. (YOU CAN’T COPE) “He didn’t even realize he was a clone either. I tried to warn Lance but I couldn’t make a strong enough connection. All I could do was watch as this person with my face tried to figure out why he was suddenly feeling so wrong. He tried asking for help after he snapped but it didn’t matter in the end. Haggar still got her claws in him and then..” Flashes, he could still remember it. Could remember seeing the way that plasma brushed against Keith’s face and marred it. “Then Keith was forced to fight a copy of the person who’d only shown him care since he was a rowdy teenager getting into trouble. After that I only remember feeling again and waking up in this body. A human base mixed in with Galra genetics and brought back with Altean magic.”
Could he even be counted as alive anymore? Was he really alive? (YOU CAN STILL HARDLY BELIEVE IT) Dead, undead, alive? He wasn’t sure. “I got sick afterwards. Of course there was going to be side effects. It felt like I had been put through the ringer and Allura suspected this body was rejecting it all. Turned out I just couldn’t cope with being able to feel again, it was too intense and made me sick. I couldn’t cope with the grief afterwards either. This body’s original owner dying, Keith getting hurt, you grieving and just.. Losing everything. I couldn’t really grasp at anything. Even after the illness passed I would randomly stop functioning. I’d stand in place, I’d blank out, things wouldn’t make sense and the most basic things would startle me. I couldn’t keep certain foods down anymore and my teeth and eyes scared them. Forget the fact that I fucking glowed, I looked like I could tear someone’s throat out whenever I got irritated with myself.”
He’d learned quickly to retain his composure again. Having a devoid expression was better than looking even mildly irritated around his team, his family. “I can explain it all away, can tell you everything that’s transpired and what we know about the side effects and what’s changed exactly-- But I can’t make that pain go away. I can’t convince you that it was a bad dream or that you didn’t lose me.” Fingers combed through white, tightening slightly as he hung his head and sat there like the broken and strange monstrosity he was. “I can’t make it so you don’t feel that loss anymore even if I'm right next to you and it makes me wonder if I should’ve just remained gone. Maybe you would’ve recovered eventually if I had rather than being left to feel like I might vanish at any point now. But I’m a selfish bastard, aren’t I?” There was no helping it. He couldn’t stay away, couldn’t just disappear on him, couldn’t leave his tears alone. Even if he was right next to him, he couldn’t do anything to make any of it fade.
Couldn’t heal it with careful kisses and the love he felt. There’s a strained laugh in his throat, like shards had been between his teeth as he folded his arms over his head and settled it on his legs. “Maybe you should be afraid of me. I’m more of a danger to you than any blade ever was.”