It's a Long Way Down

Chapter Eighty-Three: Breakdown

"I should've said something sooner," Aeris said, looking at his hands sadly. Ember told him, "None of us noticed, Aeris, don't blame yourself."

"I knew something was off, I did notice. And I did nothing," Aeris said, rubbing his face with his hands. He was sitting in the common room with Ember and Sodo while the others waited in the hospital. Sodo had thought it would be for the best Aeris didn't see his mate right after he overdosed. So he opted to stay with him. Ember stayed back as well because she was worried for Aeris. Ember was sitting next to Aeris while Sodo sat on the coffee table in front of the small air ghoul. The fire ghoul shook his head, looking at Aeris, "No, don't do that. Don't blame yourself. There's nothing you could've done. If he had an addiction bad enough to try to mix drugs, then he was already really far gone. Words wouldn't have done anything."

Aeris scoffed, "That's rich coming from the one with an alcohol problem."

Sodo's eyes widened as he tried to speak, "I-"

Ember quickly cut him off, "He got help. We helped him get there. He doesn't drink anymore. But none of us knew anything about his addiction either."

"Because he was a coward and stayed in his room the whole time," Aeris shot back. Sodo sighed, running his hands through his hair, "He was high on drugs. He seemed to be high functioning. He may have been taking them for a while but we didn't know because he knew how to mask it. Alcohol is different. Its-"

"Don't try to make your addiction worse than it really was. You didn't go to the hospital because of your addiction. You didn't overdose. You didn't almost die," Aeris fired back. Ember could tell that Sodo was starting to get frustrated. She knew he didn't mean to get frustrated, but even just talking about his addiction made him mad since he hated that he did that to Ember. She just gave him a soft look to silently tell him to step away for a while and cool down. Sodo sighed and nodded, getting up. He just wanted to add one more thing, "I may not have almost died, but I did go to the hospital once. Aether was the one who helped me. Now it's my turn to help him. And I will do everything I can to make sure he gets the help he needs."

With that he walked away, going to the kitchen. Ember looked at Aeris, "Look, Aethers addiction was bad. We don't know when he started. We don't know what he started on. We don't know anything unless he tells us. And I don't think he will for a while."

"A few weeks ago I saw my pain meds slowly going away. I didn't know why, but now I feel like it might've been him. I think he was using my meds when he was out of his drugs," Aeris confessed, "I should've said something then."

Ember sighed and just pulled the air ghoul into her chest, holding him close, "It's not your fault, Aeris. Stop blaming yourself. It doesn't help you."

"I just wanna be alone," Aeris said with a sigh. Ember told him, "I'm not sure I wanna leave you alone. I did better when I was around people after Sodo went to Rehab."

Aeris pushed away from Ember standing up, "There you go again, making it all about Sodo's addiction. This isn't him, this is Aether. He would never do this. This isn't him. Something happened that pushed him to start and I couldn't help him!"

Ember wasn't meaning to keep bringing the conversation to Sodo's addiction. She was just trying to help Aeris since she had a similar experience. She knew Sodo only wanted to help as well since he had gone through an addiction himself. She just sighed and stood up, cradling her growing belly, "I'll leave you alone then. But I'm still going to be here if you need me. And so is Sodo. We only want to help."

With that, she walked I the kitchen, where she saw Sodo leaning against a counter, his arms crossed as he stared at something. Once she got closer, she noticed he was staring at a bottle of Whiskey. She asked, "You okay?"