It's a Long Way Down

Chapter Eighty-Six: Pride

Sodo stood at the door of the practice room, looking in through the crack as he watched Phantom messing around with Aether's guitar. Aether's guitar. Sure, the man wasn't in the band anymore, but he was assuming they would at least let him take the guitar. He flexed his fingers in annoyance as he debated just walking away and letting Phantom figure out the songs on his own. A voice spoke behind him, "You gonna teach him or what?"

"What the fuck?!" Sodo exclaimed, jumping as he turned around, seeing Omega standing there. The older quintessence ghoul looked at him amused, "You alright?"

"Shut up," Sodo grumbled, peeking through the door again. Phantom was still playing with Aether's guitar, Omega saying, "He's not bad for a new summon."

"That's not his guitar," Sodo said. Omega sighed, "It is now."

"I don't fucking care, that's Aether's guitar. He worked his ass off to be where he's at- was at. Now he's just willingly passing this shit onto a new guy. How are we so sure we can trust him?" Sodo said. Omega shrugged, crossing his arms, "We don't. But that's why we are teaching him. To make sure we can trust him."

"We?" Sodo asked, looking back at Omega. The larger ghoul nodded, "Yep. Word got to Copia about you attacking him yesterday. He asked me to... He asked me to oversee the training. Make sure he at least makes it out of that room alive."

"He insulted my mate," Sodo tried to defend, Omega quickly responding, "He's new, he knows nothing about you guys. Ember already forgave him. Now it's your turn."

"She forgave him because she's a good person," Sodo said. Omega gave a small laugh, "Are you saying you're not?"

"I'm saying, one wrong move, one slip of the tongue, one mistake, and he's gone," Sodo said. Omega said, "You know, this whole situation seems very familiar."

"If you are going to compare this to when Ember was summoned, this is different-"

"Is it?"

"Yes!" Sodo exclaimed, his hands running through his hair as he walked to the other side of the hall, leaning his back against the wall, "Look, with Ember I was scared. I had felt a pull to her so strong it scared me. I was intentionally trying to push her away-"

"Did great with that one."

"Shut up, Omega," Sodo shot at him. The quintessence ghoul looked at him in amusement as Sodo shoved his hands into his pockets, "It's gonna be hard not being up on stage with Aether anymore. They're moving him into your hallway when he gets back. I- We won't see him anymore. Not often. It's just..."

"It's a big change," Omega said. Sodo nodded, not wanting to say another word. Omega put his hand on Sodo's shoulder, "He's stepping away for his own good. He knows what he can handle, and temptation is harder to let go than anything else. You know that."

"I know," Sodo whispered, looking down at the ground. He'd be lying if he said he didn't want a shot just to ease the stress of this day. Even if practice was only an hour or two, it was still stressing him out. He was teaching the replacement for Aether. He tried to get Omega to take over, but Copia said Omega didn't know the new songs. And since Aether was still out, he couldn't exactly teach Phantom. He took a deep breath and looked at the door, "How much trouble would I be in if I just walked away right now?"

"A lot. And not with Copia. With Ember. She knows it's hard on you, but she also knows that it's important for you to do this. You can't take that step forward of accepting that Aether is done if you don't help that new ghoul," Omega said. Sodo sighed, "I don't want to accept it."

"Then just get this lesson over with and you can run out of this room as fast as you can. At least you won't have an angry pregnant mate, and this will be done. You can get on with your day. You can stop worrying about this lesson," Omega said. Sodo told him, "There's still gonna be more lessons."