It's a Long Way Down

Chapter Thirty-Eight: The Snap

Everyone was laughing and having a good time in the common room, all except Ember and Aeris. The two of them were in her room, laying on her bed as the small ghoul told her stories of the other ghouls that were in the church, the ones Ember never had a chance to meet.

"And then Spark decided it would be a good idea to tell Mist that all her clothes were set on fire, and Satan, that was a rough week of pranks between those two," Aeris said. Ember chuckled, "That sounds like fun."

"It is. We can have a lot of fun, not only that, but we just have more time on our hands since we aren't in the band. A very select few get chosen to be in the band. Even though a lot of you guys were summoned for the sole purpose to be in the band. Like Rain, Swiss, Sunshine, Cirrus, and Cumulus. And you, of course. The rest had all their own moments there too. I hear stories all the time. Mountain was pretty crazy down there. His pranks were legendary, but nothing ever beat a Dewdrop-Aether pranks war. Those two would keep it going for weeks," Aeris told her, "But then they were all told to join the band, so, of course, they went. Then Dewdrop turned into a fire ghoul. Everyone thought keeping a water name on him was weird so he just told everyone to call him Sodo. Not many people know why. Or, most of us don't know where he came up with that."

Ember giggled, knowing exactly where it came from, "It's better you don't know. Believe me."

"Why? Is it bad?" Aeris asked, eyes wide. Ember shook her head, "no, just very dirty."

"Oh," Aeris said, blushing. There was a knock at the door, followed by Aether's voice, "Ember, you've been hogging my mate, I want to spend time with him too."

"Sucks to suck, Aether!" Ember called, Aeris just muttering, "I do most of the sucking, actually."

"Aeris!" Ember exclaimed, jumping off the bed and walking to the door, saying, "I've changed my mind, Aether, you can have him back."

She opened the door, a smirking Aether standing there with his arms crossed over his chest as he said, "You found out how dirty-minded the guy is, didn't you?"

"I can survive without knowing about the sex lives of my best friends. Now, go ahead, take him," She joked. Aether chuckled, looking at Aeris, saying, "Come on, you still need to meet everyone else. She's been hogging you the past few weeks and it's unfair to the rest of the band."

Aeris let out a dramatic sigh, climbing off her bed and saying, "Fine. I guess I'll go with you. But I'm having another day with her tomorrow."

"As much as I love that the two of you are such best friends, I wanna spend time with you too. Some... quality time," Aether suggested. Aeris just jogged over to Aether saying, "I'll see you later, Ember. I've got plans for the rest of the week."

She just groaned, covering her ears, "You two are going to scar my innocent mind."

"You've slept with Sodo, I think your mind is the least innocent out of the three present," Aether told her. She just shooed him away, laughing a little. Once they disappeared into the common room, her eyes drifted to Sodo's door. She sighed, feeling worried for her mate. There had been times when she felt the pull go weak. She slowly walked over and knocked on the door. When there wasn't an answer, she spoke.

"Sodo, I haven't seen you in weeks. What's wrong?" She said through his door. She had gotten over her depression a few days ago, thanks to Aeris and Rain getting her out of her room every day. But Sodo was still isolating himself. It was worrying Ember. She would send him texts but he wouldn't respond. She knew he was still alive because he would talk with Aether, but for her, it was as if she was talking to a brick wall.

Sodo sat on the other side of the door, his back pressed against it, holding a bottle of absinthe. He had been seeing that she was trying to talk to him, but he couldn't bring himself to answer. The guilt of what he had done weighed down on him. Not to mention the depression if the kits being gone still stuck around like a shadow. He hadn't actually spoken to anyone out loud in nearly a month. He would text Aether, who would bring food and water for the ghoul. Some of the food had started to go bad. Sodo couldn't bring himself to eat much. He took a large swig of the liquor as Ember asked, "Sodo, can you please talk to me?"