It's a Long Way Down

Chapter Thirty-Three: The End of Her Reign

"Aether, you've been looking happier lately," Swiss said as the quintessence ghoul walked into the common room. Aether just shrugged, "What, can't I be happy?"

"No one's saying that," Sodo said, holding Ember against his chest as they lounged on the couch, "It's just strange. This close to tour when you're usually stressing and you're not. It's not normal is all."

"Maybe I feel good about the tour," Aether told them, sitting in a chair. Mountain looked at the ghoul and said, "Maybe it has something to do with his random disappearances."

"I don't randomly disappear!" Aether exclaimed. Everyone said in unison, "Yes, you do."

"Name one time," Aether argued.

"After band practice last week, you left without a word, smiling at your phone and no one could find you for the next 6 hours," Rain said. Cumulus added, "Last month, after breakfast, you disappeared for the entire day. We didn't see you until dinner. I don't know what happened, but you were all smiles the rest of the night."

"Yesterday, we invited you for game night, which you said you'd be at, and you never showed up. You weren't in your room either," Sodo told him. Aether gaped at the ghoul, "You checked my room?"

"Well, bad shit has been happening and we were worried!" Sodo told him. Ember put her finger up, "I was worried. I made him check."

Aether let out a breath just as Ember said, "Also, right after we told you about the kits, you congratulated us, then fucked off the rest of the day."

"Okay, can we stop talking about when I disappeared?" Aether said, putting his face into his hands. Swiss told him, "We just want to know why. Do you not want to be around us anymore?"

"No, that's not it, believe me, it's not. You guys are my family," Aether told them. Ember squinted her eyes as his shirt shifted just a little, revealing the smallest bit of a mark on his shoulder. She just smiled softly, realizing why he kept disappearing. She kept her mouth shut, though. She was kind of enjoying the attention not being on her for a moment.

Cirrus said, "If you just tell us what's going on, maybe we can help out."

"He's not depressed, Cirrus. No depressed guy looks as happy as he does most of the time," Sunshine told her. Cirrus argued, "I think that's exactly what's going on! They always say it's the happy ones you need to look out for. Maybe he's putting on a mask so he doesn't worry us."

"It is worrying us!" Swiss exclaimed, "He's keeping something from us and I don't know why."

"I'm sure he has his reasons," Ember told him, throwing a subtle look towards Aether, telling him she's figured it out. His skin paled slightly as he read her look. If she figured it out, what's stopping her from telling Sodo? If she tells Sodo, he'll tell everyone else. He just stood up and said, "I gotta go."

"And there you go disappearing again," Swiss complained. Aether paused and said, "I'll tell you guys soon, I promise. It's nothing bad, I just want to keep it to myself for a little longer."

Swiss just groaned, leaning back until he was laying on the floor. Sodos hand started rubbing Ember's belly as he asked her softly, "How you feeling?"

She had gotten a bad run of morning sickness about an hour ago. Sodo had been there the whole time, holding her hair back for her and rubbing her back. Her body temperature kept fluctuating between hot and cool, making Sodo wonder if it was the kit's that was doing that or if it was a bad sign. He tried to tell Ember to go to the doctor to find out, but she insisted she was fine.

He barely let her be alone, ever since that night in the hallway with the feral ghoul all those weeks ago. She didn't complain. She had started to get jumpy around ghouls she didn't know. Her trust in new ghouls had gone down. Of course, if she were to meet the one Aether was with it would be different since she knew nothing like that would happen. Of course, she was a little upset he had found himself a mate, marked them, and still hadn't told them about it, but she was sure he had his reasons. Ember simply told Sodo, "I'm okay. I'm feeling better at least."