It's a Long Way Down

Chapter Eighty-Four: Help

Aeris was walking down the hallway of the ministry, books piled in his arms as he tried to hurry back to his room. He ran out of reading material in his room, and he would rather stay in there. It had been a few months since he was summoned and he still decided to hide, trying to protect himself.

He heard a book fall off the pile he had, making him sigh as he crouched down to pick it up, just for the rest of the books to fall.

"Son of a bitch," He cursed. He started to pick them up, just to see another person stop and help him, "You okay?"

His head shot up to look at the other ghoul in front of him. It was one of the ones who were in the band. He stayed silent, focusing back on picking up the books, trying to rush so he wouldn't have to talk. Aether refused to give up, "That's a lot of books. Did you leave any in the library for the rest of us?"

Aeris looked back up at Aether with shock written all over his face. Aether simply had a smile covering his face. That's when Aeris realized Aether was joking. He finally responded to the quintessence ghoul, "I already read everything in my room five times. It was getting boring."

"You were barely summoned, right?" Aether asked. Aeris simply nodded in response. Aether smiled softly again, "You remind me of one of my friends. He was the same way when he was summoned."

"What? Alone?" Aeris said bitterly. Aether grabbed the last book at the same time as Aeris, just to get his attention as he said, "No. He also stayed in his room and read the whole time. He only came out first band practice. Maybe he was scared. Maybe he thought we were going to hurt him, I don't know. But you're safe here. No one here is going to hurt you."

There was something comforting in the other ghouls voice. Something that Aeris almost believed that he was safe. Almost. Aether picked up the last book and put it in his arms saying, "I'll help you carry these to your room..."

He realized he didn't know the small ghouls name. Aeris was scared to tell him. He knew that if he used his old name he would just end up hurting again. He just ended up spitting out the first name that popped in his head, "Aeris."

"Aeris," Aether said with a smile. The air ghoul would be lying if he said he didn't like the way it sounded coming from the larger ghoul. Aether told him, "I'm Aether."

A few days later, he found himself back in the library. The books he had gotten were starting to bore him. He was looking through tye shelves when he heard the familiar voice, "I thought I'd find you here."

Aeris turned around and saw Aether. He couldn't control the smile that went on his face. He said, "Oh, hey!"

Aether smiled softly, "Good to see you're finally settling in. You already read all those books?"

"No, I just started to get bored of them. None of them really interested me anymore," Aeris said. What he really wanted to say was I was hoping I'd run into you if I left my room. Something about Aether just made him feel safe. Aether chuckled, "There were at least twenty books there. They all started to bore you?"

"I- um," Aeris stuttered. Aether just chuckled, "I'm teasing you. Maybe I can show you something that won't be as boring?"

"Oh, um, what is it?" Aeris asked. Aether just held out his hand and said, "I know trust is hard to find with you, so I won't ask that. I'll just promise you'll love it."

Aeris hesitated for a second, but he soon found himself putting the book in his hand back on the shelf and taking Aether's hand. The smile that found itself on the Quintessence Ghouls face made Aeris' stomach do flips. Aether started leading him outside, going out to the woods. He said, "I know it looks sketchy. But just wait. The view will be like nothing you've ever seen."