Little TW: This chapter has angst and tere will be mentioning blood, abuse, a crying Sodo, and mild panic attacks.
If you're sensitive to blood and abuse, you can skip to the ~~~
If you're sensitive to the rest that was mentioned above, you can skip to the 'chats'. There are a few important things to know at the end of the chapter, so you know what is going on in chapter 9
Your mental health is very important, so if you can't handle the things that go on in the first part of the chapter, that's okay <3
Grab your favourite snack, something to drink, and relax <33
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The metal shackles feel almost freezing cold against his wrists and ankles, his skin burning from the adrenaline and anxiety that runs through his trembling body. He wants to pull and rip at the chains, try to get out of this room and away from the people that surround him, but his body won't respond to him, almost as if he's paralyzed, forcing him to kneel in the middle of the pentagram.
The Ghoul raises his head, trying to look around the room and identify the people that surround the outside of the pentagram, but everything is blurry, and the room feels like it's spinning.
He tries to force himself to growl, snarl, or snap at the people around him, to try and get the fuck out of this place, but it has no use.
Soon, his brain picks up on voices, soft murmurs that soon turned into loud chanting, in different tones, female and male voices. He doesn't know when they started the chant, but he knows that it won't be long until the inevitable will happen. A cold shiver runs down his bare back at the thought of his fate.
A figure separates itself from the others and steps into the pentagram, quickly and roughly grabbing the Ghoul's chin, turning his head up to meet their gaze. He tries to struggle against it and pull away, but the pain that shoots through his jaw soon stops him. The figure has dug their nails into his skin to the point blood pools from them and drips in slow small beads onto the floor.
The kneeling man looks up at the figure with a wince, trying to get his eyes to focus on that shit eating grin the figure has on their face.
"We're all very pleased with your cooperation and consent for this ritual." A female voice speaks, her words sound slightly muffled in his ears, but he can still make out what she says, and the woman's words only make his blood boil with anger.
He never agreed to any of this. He never had a choice. The council decided his fate for him. He wants to yell at all the people to leave him alone or he will rip them apart, but all he can do is stare up at the woman and listen to her words while the chanting fades into quiet murmurs in the background.
"F.. fuck.. yo-you." The Ghoul manages to get out through gritted teeth, his words quickly being met with a harsh slap against his cheek, making him wince in pain and drop to the floor. His body was weak, and his normally pretty high pain resistance has gone completely to shit for some reason.
The woman grabs his hair and one horn, yanking him back into a kneeling position, the pulling causing a stinging pain to trickle along his scalp and the nape of his neck, it only getting worse as he feels his left horn crack under her strong grip, causing him to yell out in pain.
"Now, now." She says in a mockingly soothing voice as the tears start to roll down the Ghoul's cheeks and drip on the cold stone, the salty droplets mixing with the crimson red ones that fell there just a minute ago. "We don't want you to cry." The woman continues as she soothes her thumb over the still slightly bleeding jaw of the trembling young man. "Let's get this started, shall we, Dewdrop?" She whispers, her breath fanning over his sweaty skin before she lets go of his head and steps out of the circle.
The Ghoul's head is swimming with panic and pain, which pulses in waves into his skull from his horn. He tries not to cry but can't stop the tears from rolling down his cheeks and garter at his chin.
The chanting grows louder again. He tries to make out what they're saying, but it all turns into inaudible mutters and murmurs when he concentrates too much on it.
Suddenly, a sharp burning rushes up his spine, making him yell out in pain, and the tears increase as the burning spreads over his body. His skin feels like it's actually on flames. He can practically feel blisters forming on his skin and the flames licking at his bare body before crawling into his flesh, burning him from the inside out.
~~~
Sodo wakes up and immediately sits up on the bed, curling up in himself. His body is trembling and his clothes are completely drenched in cold sweat. The Fire-ghoul turns his bedside lamp on and looks around the room frantically, trying to find something to assure him that he is in his room and that he's okay.
His eyes land on Swiss's shirt that is scrunched up on the mattress next to him. The Ghoul quickly grabs it with his shaking hands and buries his face into it while trying to take slow deep breaths to calm himself down a bit as he sobs into the shirt.
The shirt doesn't help as much as Sodo wished it would have, probably because it stopped smelling like the Multi-ghoul a few days ago and the short Ghoul can't go into Swiss's room to grab a new shirt, since he accidentally left the spare key in the room the last time he was in there.
Swiss, even though now bound to Copia, still seems to be Sister Imperator's favorite Ghoul to command around. Maybe now more than ever, since she has way less control over him than she would like. She made the Multi-ghoul go to a different clergy on the other side or the world for a month to see how everything is working there and make sure it's all running smoothly.
Only 12 days after Swiss had to go and the Fire-ghoul's nightmares returned. Normally Swiss's shirt has helped him calm down pretty fast, but that is now over since it was the AC/DC shirt that the Multi-ghoul gave Sodo after the first time the shorter man stayed over, and Swiss never got to see that shirt again besides when Sodo was wearing it.
He grabs his phone, his hands still shaking to the point where he can barely hold it.
_______________________________________
Babybel 🧀🧡
Hey, are you up?
_______________________________________
He puts the phone down on the bed next to him, staring at the screen while trying to wipe the tears off his cheeks, which don't seem to stop anytime soon. He feels stupid for texting Swiss over his nightmares, but Sodo needs some kind of distraction right now.
The Fire-ghoul's ears perk up when he hears the costume ringtone he put for Swiss, which is a recording of the Multi-ghoul's purr which Sodo secretly made, and sees the message notification pop up.
He quickly grabs the phone and opens the messenger, smiling lightly at the screen.
_______________________________________
Babybel🧀🧡
Yes, I am
Why are you up? Isn't it like 4am right now?
Is everything okay?
Not really.
What happened?
>Just nightmares and missing you
_______________________________________
Sodo stops, his finger hovering over the 'send' button before he deletes the message.
_______________________________________
Babybel🧀🧡
Just a few, not that important nightmares, and it's kinda cold in my room.
Wanna get on a call for a bit?
Sure, why not.
______
Not even 2 seconds later and Swiss calls, a small grin spreads onto Sodo's lips as he accept the call, his grin turning into a full on smile as he sees the Multi-ghoul's adorable sleepy face in the camera, knowing that Swiss most likely woke up from a nap about 15 minutes ago.
"Hey, Firefly." Swiss smiles gently with a slightly groggy voice, his face quickly turning into concern as he sees Sodo's tear stained face and puffy eyes. "You sure it was just a 'not important nightmare'?"
Sodo nods his head and quickly wipes his tears away.
"You want to talk about it?" He asks gently while running a hand through his black and purple curls. "I would love to listen, you know that, right?"
The Fire-ghoul nods. "Mhm, I do.." He mutters with a small sniffle. His voice is still shaky, but he calmed down a bit by now. "It.. it was from my transformation into a Fire-ghoul.." Gives in with a small sigh.
Swiss's expression turns into a sympathetic one. He knows how hard it is for the shorter man to deal with the transformation and that his partner very hardly opens up about it. The Multi-ghoul himself has first hand experience of how it feels to go through an element change, but he never really knew how fire felt, only that it was the worst element to change to, especially after being a Water-ghoul for your whole life.
"I'm listening.." He speaks gently, trying to reassure Sodo to keep talking.
"It was when they dragged me into that room and chained me to the floor.." He continues while pulling a pillow into his lap and hugging it, his tail coiling around himself and the pillow. "I couldn't move and was powerless against her.. she even broke my horn.." He mutters as he raises a hand to his left horn, which has a big crack going through it, and a piece of it chipped off. New tears started to form in his eyes at the memories.
Swiss stays quiet and listens to what the Fire-ghoul says, his heart breaking as he listens to his boyfriend and sees him tear up more. All that the Multi-ghoul wants right now is hug Sodo, hold him tightly against him and reassure him that everything is okay, that yes it was bad memories but they're in the past and it won't ever happen to him again.
"And I miss you.." Sodo murmurs into the pillow so quietly that Swiss almost can't hear it.
The taller man smiles gently. "I miss you too." He replies, his tone soft and gentle in a way that he knows will melt Sodo's heart. "I'll try and come home earlier."
The Fire-ghoul's tail wags a bit at that, and he buries his face fully in the pillow with a huff, the reaction making Swiss chuckle a bit.
"Are you feeling better?"
"Mhm.." The shorter man hums as he moves his head a bit to peek over the pillow at his phone screen. "Can you stay on the phone with me until I fall asleep again?" He asks a bit hesitantly.
"Yes, of course!" The Multi-ghoul laughs softly. "I have to do some paperwork now, so I maybe won't talk much, but we can stay on the call." He adds as he gets up from the bed and walks over to a desk where a pile of papers are stacked up on the desk.
"It's okay, as long as I can hear your voice." The Fire-ghoul smiles gently as he lies down on the bed and cuddles up under the blanket and against the pillow. "Which I know I will, because you mumble to yourself when you work on stuff."
The taller man chuckles softly and sits down at the desk. "I didn't think you would notice that." He smiles as he glances at his screen, his smile getting slightly softer as he sees Sodo's puffy eyes and sleepy face. "When was the last time you slept the night through?"
He stays quiet for a few seconds before murmuring his answer. "Like.. before you left."
"Oh.. Baby.." Swiss chuckles gently, making Sodo grumble and bury his face into the pillow. "I'll make sure I will be back home sooner."
"You better." He grumbles into the pillow before flipping the Multi-ghoul off.
"What was that for?!" The taller man asks with a laugh, the sound of the laugh making Sodo's tail swish over the bed under the sheets.
"Just because." The shorter man grumbles before glancing over the pillow at his boyfriend.
Swiss rolls his eyes in response. "Seems like you're feeling better already." He points out with a small grin while starting his paperwork.
The Fire-ghoul rolls his eyes and rests his head on the pillow, watching Swiss work on the paperwork while smiling softly at his boyfriend, quietly admiring the taller man while he works.
"How are you doing over there..?" Sodo breaks the silence after a few minutes, smiling as he sees Swiss turn to look at the screen.
"Oh, it's pretty fun. But I'm missing you a lot." He smiles softly and scratches the back of his neck. "They actually have a pretty cool system over here when it comes to categorizing Ghouls."
"Oh? They do?" The shorter man asks, not really interested but wanting to hear his boyfriend's voice, knowing that Swiss will most likely start rambling once he finds something interesting to talk about.
"Mhm! Here, the Ghouls also have elements, of course, but some of them are separated into smaller categories that say more about their abilities." Swiss starts his rambling while going over the papers again. "Like Fire-ghoul's have categories like inferno, sun, and light. Inferno-ghouls are the ones who have very hot flames, Light-ghouls have very bright flames or different coloured ones, and Sun-ghouls have both very bright and hot flames. You would be an Inferno-ghoul. The Water-ghouls are ice, ocean, and lake ghouls, Earth has plant/flower or ground. Air sadly doesn't have a subcategory because there are hardly any Air-ghouls or Air-ghoullettes here, but quintessence has a few cool ones based on when they're able to control their abilities the best and what they can do with them."
"Huh, that sounds really cool." Sodo murmurs into the pillow. "And what does quintessence have?"
"They have stuff like night, moon, death, and a few more that I was too lazy to remember." Swiss chuckles lightly while scratching the back of his neck.
"Sounds interesting, tho." The Fire-ghoul yawns and nuzzles his face into the pillow, closing his eyes while listening to Swiss rambles about the place.
About 25 minutes later, Swiss shuts up and smiles pleased as he hears Sodo's breathing has evened out, and he hears the Fire-ghoul let out a few snores.
The Multi-ghoul takes his phone and takes a screenshot of the sleeping Fire-ghoul before he hangs up the call and types a small "I love you" message.
Swiss puts the phone back down and turns his full focus onto the paperwork before him.
AN: I AM FINALLY DONE WITH MY FINAL EXAMS. YES.
I will try and update regularly on Saturdays from now on. I already have written a few chapters ahead after I got home from school yesterday, so I'm sorry if they seem to be rushed or are a bit chaotic-