When The Snow Falls

Daniel's heart skipped a beat.

It was official.

Felix knew the truth.

He knew getting close to someone was a mistake. Especially someone like Felix. It had been a bad idea to date someone as observant as Felix.

Their relationship was probably over now.

Who would want to date someone ten years older than them in someone else's body?

"I imagine that you have a lot of questions for me, what would you like to know?" he asked once he felt ready to speak.

"I know you are Daniel Edgerton," Felix informed him. "...How did you get to be in Daniel Entwhistle's body?"

Daniel didn't react to hearing his real name. It had been clear that Felix had known a lot more than he had been letting on for a while.

"I don't know how it came to be. I died as Daniel Edgerton and the next thing I knew I woke up in hospital as Daniel Entwhistle."

Felix folded his arms. He certainly didn't look like the boyfriend Daniel had come to love. He looked more foreboding.

"I did do some research and there wasn't much on the internet and in books that seemed to be credible. However there is some theory that if two souls collide at the right time, the one that is dead can transfer the one that isn't dead."

Rebirth was something that Daniel had refused to ever research. He didn't want to know how many people could be in other people's bodies. It was dark enough that he was using someone else's body as it was.

"That could be it."

He thought back to Daniel Entwhistle's last memories with a frown. They were quite murky and cut off suddenly. Maybe that was when his soul had left his body.

"You have the original Daniel's memories don't you? You would have had a lot of trouble fitting in like nothing had happened if you," Felix said.

That was an understatement. He had felt lost enough when he had woken up in hospital and that was with two sets of memories going around in his head.

"I do have his memories," Daniel confirmed. "There were some difficulties initially, we don't have very similar personalities."

The original Daniel Entwhistle was a shy and restrained child that was too scared to speak up against his father. Daniel hadn't grown up like that and he had been a full 8 years older than the first Daniel.

"I realised that," Felix said. "Your mother- well she's not exactly your mother, showed me some childhood videos and told me all about you. It seemed like you became different after something that happened in your final year of primary school."

That must have occurred two years before as that was when Felix had last been to his house. Felix had been suspicious of him for a long time and never let a hint slip.

"How long have you suspected something?" Daniel asked.

Felix laid his hands on his shoulders and Daniel saw his eyes close up. There wasn't any malice in them, only curiosity.

"Daniel, your father is an Earl, yet you know how to pick locks, you have knowledge beyond your years, you seemed too experienced at solving real life cases, you speak completely different when you're not at home, some of the things you say about your mother don't match Lady Entwhistle. It's clear you reference two different women. It's been obvious for a while," Felix paused. "I wasn't sure about anything until I saw an article about Daniel Edgerton. He sounded like you in the interview and the news video was just you in a different body. That was last year."

Felix was far more intelligent than he had ever given him credit for. Then again he had started to make more slips once they had moved to Japan and he was far from the influence of the Earl.

"You also refer to your father as the 'Earl' instead of 'Dad' when he isn't around," Felix added. "There were some other small clues that I picked up along the way. It was technically an easy deduction to make."

"Surely you experienced disbelief along the way?" Daniel asked.

Suspension of disbelief had been the thing that he had been relying on since he had woken up in someone else's body. It was a very far stretch to believe that someone else was occupying a different body.

Felix laughed and withdrew his hands.

"Of course I couldn't believe it. Then I remembered 'rebirth' coming up in a few stories I've read. I looked into it more and there became only one conclusion to the oddities about you."

Daniel swallowed nervously. Felix didn't sound angry with him. It was more a mixture of hurt at not being told.

"Have you told anyone else?" he asked.

Felix shook his head.

"It's something personal to you. I don't mind that you didn't tell me, it sounds so implausible, I would have never believed you on your own word. I'm not unhappy with you or anything, I just wanted to let you know that I don't want you to throw your life away for Vincent just because this is your second life," Felix said gently.

What had he done to deserve someone so understanding? He wanted to cry.

"...I don't know what I would do without you at my side," Daniel admitted. "Why do you even want to be with me? I'm older than you."

Felix burst out laughing and pulled him in for a close hug.

"That's what you are worried about?"

"Yes," Daniel said quietly. "It's not even my body."

He had elected to never decide if he was more visually attractive in his old body or the new one. It was something that wasn't worth dwelling on. Now he felt guilty for attracting someone with the other Daniel's body.

"It's a unique situation, but I'm fine with it," Felix assured him. "I would even mind if you had two heads."

A tear slipped out of Daniel's eye and he was glad Felix couldn't see his face. Someone knew his secret and they didn't care, he was still accepted by someone he loved.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked. "You can dump me, it's fine."

Felix pinched his arm and Daniel winced.

"Don't be like that," he said softly. "We've been together for a long time, we're sticking together."

"Okay," Daniel whispered.

Felix hugged him tighter and then let go of him.

"There were some things I was wondering about. Are you okay to tell me?" he asked.

Daniel wiped his face self consciously. Hopefully Felix wouldn't notice the tear or else he really would cry.

"I will be fully open with everything," he said.

Felix took his hand and pulled down his sleeve.

"What happened to Daniel Entwhistle for you to end up in his body? Is it related to these scars?"

On his arm were a set of scarred lines. Daniel knew where Felix's mind was going.

"It's not. Those were from Daniel having an accident when he was younger with a thorn bush. I don't quite know how to explain the events of that night," he said wistfully.

He had been an idiot to not see that cat running out in front of him. It had been pitch black and he had gone flying and crashed down through the floors of the abandoned building and died on impact.

It was a lonely death for a teenage detective.

What had happened on the other Daniel's end had been even sadder.

"Daniel Entwhistle went to a very select and exclusive primary school where the standards are very high. He was constantly last in everything and the Earl wasn't too nice to him. It led to a complete lack of self esteem," Daniel said and looked down at the hotel carpet.

"I had figured that the Earl is a d.i.c.k," Felix replied. "You don't need to explain anymore."

Daniel smiled sadly at him. Felix had learnt a lot during his stay at the Entwhistle house two years before.

"It was the night of the school talent show and he had an attack of nerves in the toilets. He collapsed on the floor and hit his head and I'm going to guess that his soul gave out at that point. His memories are very blurred due to the sheer panic he was feeling. I think that's where our souls crossed, I had died at the same time. However, he was alive. I woke up in his body in the hospital and that's how I'm here now," he explained. "That school bathroom stayed in my mind for a long time."

The beige tiled walls and floor still haunted him occasionally. The other Daniel hadn't wanted to live anymore because he couldn't bear the humiliation of performing poorly at the school talent show with his father in the audience.

Daniel wanted to have been there to tell him that it wasn't going to matter and it was only a small moment in his life. Instead no one had been there and the other Daniel had given up on living.

"I won't ask anymore questions about that night," Felix said tenderly. "It's best left in the past. It's sad that the pressure from the Earl and society was enough to make Daniel give up on life."

"I've tried to live to Daniel's hopes and dreams. He really didn't want to go to Kingston Royal Academy. I deliberately broke my leg to miss the admission interviews and that worked for four years," Daniel replied.

"Then Jack died and the Earl jumped at the chance to get you in there," Felix summarised. "We met there though."

"There was one good thing that came out of that school," Daniel agreed.

Felix moved his sleeve back down and gripped his hand instead.

"That's right and we are not going to be beaten by Vincent and you won't die. We can beat him together," Felix vowed.