The worst sort of misunderstanding

"Haha, now we bring that exploding fart to his knees!" - a tall, thin olive colored blur exulted.

"Uh, boss…" a side blur seemed to be addressing the first speaker.

It's far too much effort and pain to keep my eyes open and figure out which blur is which.

"What?!"

"… Nevermind."

"Shut up and go take care of the family."

"Even the kid?"

I opened my eyes at that. The blurs are a little clearer; and the pain sharper.

A vicious looking well groomed man looks at a more muscular man with an expression of mock sympathy that turns into evil at play: "Nah, the kid comes with us!"

"Jiātíng!" I screamed in frustration and mourning for someone

This was the first and last of my thoughts in this world before I faded into unconsciousness as I wondered "Where am I, why does everything feel so bad, and who is this kid named Jiātíng?"

After what seemed like a year of fever dreams, I started choking on something, and opened my eyes to see the boss holding my jaw and making me swallow.

"Why did you give him that, boss?" asked one of the henchmen dragging a kid along.

"Oh, I couldn't let this one in such exquisite agony just move on so easily, now could I?"

This I heard, drifting off again. After that, it seemed like another hundred years, multiple lifetimes lived and died in fevered dreams, and constant pain. When I finally, somehow, miraculously woke up, feeling a bit better, I was surprised to find that my surroundings, my body, and even the few memories that I could actually access, didn't line up with what I thought was my normal life!

Then I heard someone else approaching quickly! In a daze, and still trying to recover my wits, all I could remember of this new life was that I needed to protect those who were in the houses behind me from powerful people. It was then that I noticed that my wounds were healing at a miraculous rate! Before my eyes, the last remnants of destruction were healing from my body. "What is going on?" I thought to myself.

I started standing up, but something caught around my neck and started choking me. I reached back and felt a large, dense, round rope-like thing that seemed to have a hold around my neck! I dropped to the ground and rolled trying to get free, but it was tenacious and clung tighter. I tried beating at the thing, but couldn't reach it in the middle of my back, so I tried slamming my back on the ground a couple of times to make it let go - to no avail. Pausing to think of a new strategy, suddenly the pressure on my neck diminished. I felt at my neck again to try and figure out what kind of creature this was and felt… cloth. "Seriously, I've been fighting my own clothes?". I stood up again. It was a cape. Trying to get the loop from the cape over my head, it catches on what I assume is my mask. Struggling with the red and gold, I finally tear both of them off and yell in frustration "What kind of self-righteous masochist even wears this stuff?" very loudly.

"Uh... What are you doing?" Another person in a green and gold outfit with a cape and mask, and a small recurve bow asked me with eyes wide open in shock. This must be the person who had been approaching. Still not really grasping the situation, I knew only that I had to protect. I warned him with a wheel kick and yelled "STOP!"

He shook his head slightly, narrowed his eyes at me, and said: "What was that? And what are you doing? Are they Sa….", at which point his eyes widened at the scene of destruction behind me, and looked like he was going to go forward.

"Stop! .. You can not pass!" I felt like there was something wrong here, but I was still quite disoriented.

"You… are trying to stop ME from going back to see them? To protect someone from ME? Get. Out. Of. My. Way." He said with his forehead set like stone, and a fire in his eyes that felt like it would consume me.

"Who ar…" and he was already well past me, probably reaching his destination as I started lifting my big toe to try and trip him. I turned and started chugging along after him.

When I finally arrived, minutes later and completely out of breath despite the amazing shape this strange body looked to be in, my friend was staring at a group of bodies. The family household. And Jiātíng was not the boy, Jiātíng was my friend's entire household. It seemed some of the memories of this life were returning.

My friend spoke quietly, but the pain and anger in his eyes spoke much louder: "I.. Have been your faithful sidekick for TWO DECADES. I have watched your back, protected your friends and loved ones while you fought the bad guys, and never once complained. Then two days ago, YOU said you wanted me to take point on this one, to be the hero, and you would be the sidekick. I was going after the villains, and you were going to do the protecting. I was so thrilled that you finally respected my abilities enough to let me lead! Tonight, YOU took the call, then sent me on a wild goose chase, and I come to find that not only are my family's whole household DEAD, but you don't even look like you tried to fight!"

"I did try to fight, I nearly died!" I replied.

"And now you lie to me, knowing FULL WELL that I have the ability to detect when someone is lying!?!"

Well, what was I supposed to tell him, that his friend really did die, but I took over his body, and then the guy who had his whole family murdered gave me a strong healing pill, but I'm still his best friend? Oh… it was a healing pill, that's why I healed so quickly. Wow! That's one amazing pill! Helplessly, I realize that even though he's been my best friend, there is just no way I'm going to be able to make him understand right then. Especially as his palm hit my face and my body went flying into the painful darkness once again.