AN: I swear to God I heard these two talking in my head one night and they would not shut up until I wrote everything down.

Correction, about what I said earlier. I'm completely nuts.

You already made your thoughts on my current mental state perfectly clear.

No, not you, Sage. Me! As in, the me that's not inside you right now.

Uh, okay, I realize how that sounded, and that is not what I meant! I just meant the me that's not a disembodied voice in your head. Which now that I think about it, doesn't that make what I say and think what you say and think…? And I was going to apologize, too. If anything, you should apologize to me, Sage. I didn't ask to be part of your surprisingly dirty mind.

…does this have a point, Adrian?

A point? Absolutely. Which I was about to get to, before you distracted me with sexual thoughts.

How can you get distracted when it's my brain?

It's a gift. Now, as I was saying before, the Adrian that lives and draws breath, and, you know, isn't a part of your damaged psyche, well…he's totally crazy.

He's just under a lot of stress. I put him under a lot of stress. I still do.

Stress? Sage, he hopped on the express train to Crazytown and beat you there by hours! If Crazytown were a geographical location, he'd be…the statue in the main square…or something.

…statue? Really?

Hey, I'm no poet.

Don't I know it.

Funny, Sage. Real funny.

…alright, I noticed it too. Or, well, I had to have noticed it if you did. But what am I supposed to do about it? I can't just magically fix him.

Can't you?

No, Adrian, I really can't. I don't know any…mind healing spells.

No Vulcan mind-melding meditation?

Have you even seen Star Trek?

The new ones.

Doesn't count. And no, no spells that I'm aware of can fix someone's mental state. Don't you think I would have used it by now to get you out of my head?

I…seriously resent that statement.

I'm sorry. That was cruel. I did create you after all. It's just, sometimes two Adrian's are a little hard to handle.

What? No, not that! What do you mean the new movies don't count? Did you even see them? They were awesome!

No. We are not having this discussion. Not now, and definitely not inside my head. And of course I saw them, Adrian, if you saw them then I had to have…no, just – just no.

You could always just talk to him.

About what?

About what happened, to both of you, while you were – separated.

And what would that solve?

Maybe nothing. Maybe everything. A least it would give you a chance to catch up.

Catch up? Adrian, this isn't two friends sitting down to coffee after not seeing each other for a couple of months. This is…it can't be…it's too…

Hey, believe me, I know. I was there. I'm just throwing out ideas, Sage. I'm only supposed to be your sounding board, not your problem-solving machine. Actually, if you want to get technical, I'm not really supposed to be here at all…

No, you're right. I need to – we should at least try – thank you, Adrian, for helping out with problems between me and…Adrian.

Hey, no problem. It's why I'm here.

I'm glad. That you're here, I mean.

I know, Sage. I am you, after all.

And isn't that just the most depressing part?

.

.

Sage.

Sage.

Sage.

What?

Are you asleep?

Yes.

Hey, no need for sarcasm. It was an honest question.

What do you want, Adrian?

Right down to business, huh?

Well, actually nothing. I'm just bored.

Usually when I'm bored and I should be sleeping, I just dream-walk. But here…

Oh don't give me that. You've never made a spirit dream in your life. Count sheep, or think deep thoughts about the universe or something, but please be quiet because some of us are tired and want to go to sleep.

I'm not tired. And since I'm not tired, that means you can't be tired either.

Excellent logic, Adrian. Now shut up.

Alright, alright, I'll be quiet. We can go back to pretending to be asleep.

Or we could play monopoly instead.

They play monopoly in her own head, and somehow she still loses.

.

.

Adrian.

Adrian?

Nothing, except silence. The elusive, blessed quiet that she'd been yearning for ever since another person joined her inside her head has finally been given back. Somehow, it feels more like a curse now, then a blessing.

I'll miss you, I guess. In my head. It was…nice, to have some company.

No answer. But she didn't expect one, really.

Alright, then. I guess this is it.

Goodbye.

She has better things to do than mourn a person who was never really real. He wouldn't want her to be sad. And besides, there's an Adrian sitting right next to her, who is very much his own person. Time to bring the conversation outside to the real world.

"Hey," she says, and her voice is still crackly from disuse. "Can we talk?"

Judging by the smile that lights up his face, they most assuredly can.