It's a Long Way Down

Chapter Eighty-Two: Aether

"And what did you say it was?" Aether asked as he held the small plastic bag in his hand. It was filled with small white rocks. Cowbell said, "Cocaine. You can snort it, smoke it, or inject it. It makes you feel way better, I swear."

Aether nodded, "Thank you."

Cowbell smirked and told him, "I'll get you something else soon. I just gotta try it first. I'm not letting you get shitty stuff."

"Alright. Just let me know when you have it," Aether told him. They then said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Aether put the baggie into his pocket before entering the ministry. He walked down the halls back to his room, just to turn a corner and run into Sodo.

"Oh, shit, sorry man," Aether said. Sodo just looked at him and asked, "Why are you up?"

"I can ask you the same thing," Aether countered. Sodo crossed his arms over his chest, telling him, "I asked first."

Aether sighed, "I couldn't sleep. I had to go take a walk."

Sodo let out a small chuckle, "Yeah, I get how that feels. I was doing the same. Just everything that happened a few weeks ago is still haunting me."

"What did they do to you?" Aether asked, "I never asked."

Sodo sighed, leaning his shoulder on the wall next to him as he said, "They made me see things. Some sort of gas or something. I saw myself hurt Ember. I hurt my kit. I couldn't get to them. They had fire all around them and I couldn't get through it. It was actually burning me. I tried to run to them but the faster I ran the farther they got. Once the fire was gone, I fell to my knees and I was covered in blood. It was her blood. She said it was my fault. It's all still so vivid in my mind. It just keeps running around in my head like a broken record. I can't sleep because of it."

"You need to get yourself some help, Sodo. Did you tell her yet?" Aether asked. He nodded, "Yeah. About a week after we came home I told her. She's helping me find a therapist. Something about the trauma it caused me. I think she made my first appointment for tomorrow."

"That's good. At least you're trying to get yourself some help," Aether said. Sodo let out a chuckle, "I need to. I have a kit on the way and I can't be scared of everything that might happen."

"How far along is she now?" Aether asked. Sodo told him, "18 weeks. Fuck, the time is just flying. We are almost halfway there."

"Just wait until you finally get to hold your son," Aether said, "Rain was just beaming when he came home with Dew."

"I'm just glad we made it past when she lost the last ones. I was already so worried about it all. But now we're past that and it's all starting to look up, it's just what happened to me that we gotta get past. But I'm working on it," Sodo said, "One step at a time."

"Yeah, one step at a time, brother," Aether said, a smile on his face, "You should probably try to get some sleep. Especially if you have an appointment tomorrow."

"Yeah, I know," Sodo said, standing up, "What about you?"

"I was heading back to my room, actually. I'll walk with you," Aether told him. The two walked side by side back to each others respective rooms. They talked about all the things they all used to do together. Once they got to their doors, Aether waited for Sodo to go inside of his before entering his own. Aeris was still sleeping on the bed. He had a small eyepatch on his face to try and protect the burns that were still healing on his face. When he first had gotten home, he just had gauze wrapped around his eye. It all was already starting to look better, but Aether still hated that he couldn't do anything to help his mate. Every now and then, Aeris would feel pain in his eye. His cheek had lost all feeling from the acid, so he would be asked Aether a lot if his eye was bleeding or if there were tears. There were a few times Aether had to help Aeris with drying the tears that did fall. It hadn't bled since he got out of the hospital, but the tears would still come.