[C] Not exactly gone

"I can't talk, I don't exist, I'm a dead man
Yeah I guess I'm dead right?

I'm goin to the cemetary to peep out my gravesite
And sure enough, there it is
I look into the box
Son of a bitch! I don't believe it, that's me!

His Momma kissed me on my head
Aww shit.. I'm dead!"

Maks sat on top of a trash can singing out the same song at the top of his lungs.

He had been following Lyo around the apartment since he died, screaming at the man non-stop but he never noticed and when he packed up and headed to the airport Maks tried to follow but he got a block away from the apartment and he couldn't move any further.

So he sat here, waiting for his stuff to get taken down to the dump, he had no doubt that he would be dragged along with it.

"Fucking Lyo," Dani cursed, which was a shock in itself. Dani wasn't usually one to curse.

But he felt he had the right at the moment. It had been just two days since Maksim had died and Alyosha had already skipped out. Dani had just been to his apartment to check up on him and see if he was all right, just to find out that he had skipped.

He kicked a stray can into an alley way then wheeled around.

"We get it, you're dead. Stop fucking singing, it isn't big news," he growled, not realising it was Maks he was yelling at.

He just knew it was a ghost, just fucking around and being annoying. That was enough to piss him off even further.

"I'll do what ever the fuck I want and if you think you can stop me well then, good fucking luck!"

He shouted back, not quite grasping what had just happened, he was too preoccupied with trying to figure out a way to get out of this situation and find Lyo.

However as much as he had tried he couldn't open the trash can with his stuff in it, the only reason he could even sit on the can was because he wasn't exactly sitting, but rather floating on top of it, it felt more natural than floating mid air at the moment.

Dani snapped up the can he had kicked and hurled it at the ghost. It passed right through him and hit the tin lid of the trash can he was hovering over.

The move was designed to both make an annoying noise to bug the ghost, and freak him out with stuff passing through him.

"You're dead. Get over it and stop bugging those of us that can hear you."

Daani grunted and shoved his hands in his pockets before turning on his heel, muttering something about hating being a Necromancer.

Maks looked up as a can went flying through him and hit the can he was sitting on.

His head snapped up from looking at the ground only to be met by Dani walking past.

"Dani?"

He called out, a little confused as the man spoke again.

"Dani! You can hear me?"

He added, sounding equal parts surprised and relieved.

Dani's curiosity got the better of him when he heard his name being called out.

His body froze as he stared right at the fuzzy image of the ghost.

While he didn't practise Necromancy, his vision of ghosts was poor, only really seeing fuzzy images unless he really concentrated.

"Maks!"

Dani bolted towards the ghost, wrapping his arms around him like he was a solid mass.

"Dani, thank fuck."

He muttered as the man pretended to hug him, despite not being able to feel it he hugged him back.

He was relieved, if he had to ability to cry he knew he might be shedding a few tears right now.

"Lyo's gone...I couldn't follow him."

He added, looking back over at the trash can with a sigh, he wouldn't be able to find him now, he would be on a plane to God-knows-where.

"You're looking a bit pale, bro."

Dani took a step back, resting his hands on the ghost's shoulders.

Each old Necromancy clan had their own tell-tales. The tell-tale of the clan that Dani descended from was the ability to be able to touch ghosts like ordinary people.

It was a strange ability, but it helped a lot of the old Necromancers Dani's family descended from.

Being able to touch a freaking out ghost calmed the ghost down a surprising amount.

It wasn't until he calmed down a little that he realized that he could feel the weight of Dani's hands on his shoulders.

He hadn't been dead long so the feeling of someone touching him was still fairly fresh.

Maks ran a hand through his own hair and gave a soft chuckle.

"Yeah I suppose I do, probably look like shit, luckily no one can see me."

Maks was still dressed in the same clothes he had been wearing when he died, bloodstains and all.

"Have to admit, the afterlife sucks, hard."

"You need some more sun, bro. Get out and tan."

Dani's eyes were actually welling up. He felt welled up!

"It's lonely," Dani responded. "The afterlife is a very lonely place." Unless you were lucky and found a Necromancer, you would be ignored by everyone.

It led for a shitty afterlife.

Dani had witnessed that a few times.

"So what are you doing down here in a back alley? Hoping to get a free show from a couple of randy kids?"

It was lonely, he was lonely, being able to talk to Dani was more than he had been hoping for sitting in that ally.

"Some of my shit is in those cans, figured I'm stuck to them since I can't seem to wander too far from them in any direction."

He had tried every possible way, even up, and down, nothing had allowed him to get more than a mile away from it.

"Figured I was gonna end up being dragged down to the landfill or something."

Dani clucked his tongue.

"That makes things easier. Sometimes ghosts get attached to people or places. That makes things difficult. Cant really take a place around with you."

Dani rolled up the sleeves of his hoodie.

"What do you think you'd likely be attached to? We can start from there."

"All my stuff is still up in the apartment, he only threw out one thing."

All of his clothes were up in the wardrobe, Lyo hadn't touched them at all.

"They uhh...gave him my shirt back."

He replied, they had a doctor on staff back at headquarters but there wasn't anything anyone could have done.

Now his entire consciousness was tied to a bloodied shirt with a bullet hole through the chest.

"The one that you...?" He didn't really want to finish that question. It was bad enough that it had happened; he didn't want to talk about it.

But that was probably what was keeping Maks in place.

The blood. The biggest physical part of him that existed now. Dani knew how the mafia got rid of bodies. There wouldn't be a body for Maks to stay attached to.

"Let's find it and then we can make sense of all this somewhere else."

"...Yeah."

He muttered, it was a sore subject at the moment, he was still letting it all sink in, he kept trying to do regular things like opening doors or getting into a car.

"Shouldn't be hard to find, haven't seen anyone use them."

He replied as he walked beside Dani, floating kinda freaked him out still.

"Is it still upstairs or did Lyo throw it away?"

It could, hopefully, only be in a few places. Which made this easier. He wouldn't have to go rooting far for it.

Then they could figure out where to go from there.

Dani chewed on his pierced lip slowly as he wondered what was going to happen to Maks after this.

It wasn't something you could brush off.

"He threw it away."

He replied as he moved to the trash can that he thought it was in. He tried not to sound hurt about it, he knew Lyo wouldn't have thrown it away if he knew that his spirit was still attached to it.

"I think its in this one."

He replied trying to kick at it.

"I don't want to end up in landfill so let's get it back into the apartment or something."

"No one's dumped anything else in there, have they?"

Dani had gone to some extreme measures in his time and dumpster diving was one that he wasn't proud of admitting. He'd seen a lot of shit going through bins and he hated every moment of it.

He didn't want to suffer through that again.

The man pulled the lid off the can that Maks was trying to kick and peered into it.

"I don't think so."

He replied, he hadn't seen anyone coming or going, but he had only spent a few hours sitting out here, he had been up in the apartment most of the day.

Maks leaned over the bin, trying to see if he could find his shirt.

His lips pursed, it was still in the bag they had placed it in when they took it off of him.

"There it is, under those boxes."

"Where? Oh."

Dani leaned over to snatch the bag up and peer inside it.

His nose crinkled a little as he closed the bag up. Not so pleasant to smell. Crusty two day old blood wasn't a good smell.

"Let's go find somewhere quiet to talk about stuff."

"We could go up to the apartment?"

He suggested, it was in the building that they were standing right next to.

The whole being dead thing wasn't quite fully sunk in yet and he still expected to be able to do the same old stuff.

He wanted to go up to the apartment, raid what was left in the fridge and sit down to talk and watch tv.

"Probably not a good idea, bro."

From his experience with Ghosts that had just recently passed on, they just managed to upset themselves when they went into familiar areas. He wanted to see Maks upset as much as he wanted to shoot himself in the head.

"I'm staying with a guy at the moment. We can go to his. He should be out. Or on his way out."

This new guy was good to him. As long as Dani took care of him as often as he wanted him to, Dani was allowed a free pass in the apartment, he could go anywhere, do anything, eat whatever he wanted. All he had to do was give out blowjobs whenever something quick was required or bend over when his guy wanted it slow.

"Why?"

He asked, a little confused, being upset had kind of been a continuous thing for him recently, there was no real way of escaping it.

"Alright then."

He agreed with a shrug, he didn't really mind where he went, besides, with Dani holding his shirt there wasn't much he could do but follow after the man.

After all, he was just happy to have someone to talk to.

Dani stuffed as much of the shirt into his pocket as he could before stepping out into the street.

People would whisper if they saw a man walking down the street with a bloody shirt in his grasp. It was best not to give the people fodder to whisper over.

The walk to his friends place was only short, and pretty soon Dani was leant against the door, listening intently.

He didn't really fancy being caught by his roommate as such right now. Especially not with Maks being able to watch.

There was noise in the house. Damn.

"When he leaves, come in yourself," Dani murmured as he opened the front door and stepped inside, closing it in Maks face.

Maks followed behind him, sometimes walking, sometimes floating around a bit when too many people started walking through him.

It wasn't pleasant to have someone walk right through you.

He raised and eyebrow as Dani went inside.

"...Alright."

He muttered as he sat by the front door, idly wondering what Dani's roommate was like.