It's a Long Way Down

Chapter Twenty-Three: New Power

It had been a week since Sodo was put in the freezer, and Ember was still sleeping. The ghouls were in the common room, Copia still trying to convince Sister Imperator to release Sodo. Mountain was the first to speak, breaking the silence, "So is this time to start thinking about a plan to break him out?"

"Yeah, 'cause the last time worked out so well," Swiss said. Cumulus hit his shoulder, making him say, "Hey, last time we made plans to break someone out, the plans were changed in the middle of said plan. I'm just saying. We don't have a good track record."

"It did get Ember back though," Sunshine said, "I wouldn't say it was ineffective."

"Look, maybe coming up with a plan wouldn't be a bad-" Mountain stopped short as he felt the room heating up, "Does everyone else feel that?"

Aether's eyes widened, "Ember."

"Ember?" Swiss said, confused before realizing, "Fuck Cirrus must've told her!"

They all scrambled out of their seats, running to the hall of ghouls, just to see Ember walking out of Sodo's room.

She was walking.

Her casts were gone and she was walking as if nothing was ever broken. The ghouls looked at her with surprise, Rain following behind her, grabbing her arms, an audible sizzle being heard as Rain grimaced in pain. Swiss had to stop Sunshine from pouncing on Ember, reminding the ghoulette that Ember didn't mean to hurt Rain.

"Ember, calm down, we will get him out, you shouldn't get walking!" Rain told her. She shot back, "He was right there to get me out of the cell when the tables were turned. I need to be there for him now. I will get him out."

"Ember, you should really sit down, there's no way this is good for your leg," Mountain tried. Ember shook Rain off of her saying, "Fuck my leg, I'm fine. All of you haven't done shit in trying to get him out, so I'm going to do something about it. I mean, what are they gonna do? Send me back? They already tried and failed."

With that, she pushed through the group, going straight down to the basement. Guards were standing outside the doors to the basement, already looking terrified seeing an angry fire ghoul storming their way. A simple quick flash of her amber eyes was enough to make them move out of the way.

She quickly ran down the stairs, going straight to where the freezer was, not caring that she was burning guards as she pushed them out of the way. The freezer soon came into sight and she started making her way towards it, just to get a bucket of water poured onto her. She took a deep breath as the water quickly evaporated, doing absolutely nothing to her. The guard who had poured the water ran away in fear as she turned to look at him, her eyes just staying amber this time. Gone were her normal eyes.

Walking straight up to the guard in front of the door, she said, "Move or I will move you."

"You keep hurting my staff, you'll get sent back," the guard told her. She let out a dangerous chuckle, "I went easy on them. You don't let me in, I won't offer the same courtesy."

"I hope your bags are packed then, ghoul," The guard told her. She glared at him saying, "I hope you don't have a wife and kids, because the way you're going, you aren't getting home tonight."

"You won't be either," the guy tried to shoot back, just for Ember to smirk, "I already am home."

Her eyes started to burn a brighter amber, reaching out to the guy. As soon as her hand touched him, he dissipated into ash. With the guard out of the way, she grabbed the door handle of the freezer, ripping it off. Sodo slowly looked up, shivering. His lips were blue, and his fingertips were starting to turn blue as well. He had given up on trying to keep himself warm.