Chapter Text
The first thing Rain became aware of as he slowly started to return to consciousness was that he was underwater. He could feel the water all around him, breathing life back into him. Rain wanted to stay submerged in the water, but he felt as if he was forgetting something. Something important. It was tugging at his mind insistently, begging him to remember. He tried to concentrate, closing his eyes as he attempted to grab at the memories of what had happened before he’d woken up underwater.
He had been in the ministry garden. There had been a fight. He’d been badly hurt by…a fire? No, that couldn’t be right. He’d felt a painful burning sensation, but there hadn’t been any actual flames. Magic then. Fire ghoul magic. He had been fighting a fire ghoul. A fire ghoul with blood-red eyes. Alpha.
Why had he been fighting Alpha? He usually stayed out of the old band ghouls’ way, well aware of the resentment they harbored toward the current band ghouls. Alpha must have approached him. But why had Rain fought him?
A scream of pain echoed in Rain’s ears as he dug deeper into his own mind. Alpha had been hurting someone. Rain had fought him to protect…protect…
Who had he been protecting?
“I get why you like it out here.”
“Anything can be enjoyable with the right ghoul.”
“So, uh, do you want this to be a date…?”
Sodo.
Rain’s eyes snapped open. Sodo. He had been with Sodo. Then Alpha had come along and hurt Sodo.
Sodo was hurt.
Rain sat up, gasping as he broke the surface of the water and abruptly inhaled. The sudden transition from breathing with his gills to breathing with his lungs sent him into a coughing fit. He doubled over, still chest-deep in water as he hacked and spluttered, gasping as he tried to regulate his breathing.
“Rain? Rain! Shit, Aether, get over here!”
Suddenly there was a pair of large, clawed hands gripping Rain’s shoulders. Rain panicked, blindly lashing out with a snarl. There was a hiss of pain and the hands let go, but they were quickly replaced by a different pair of hands firmly gripping Rain’s face, forcing him to turn his head. Rain growled and struggled before he suddenly found himself gazing into a pair of soothing violet eyes. A deep sense of calm washed over Rain and he slowly relaxed. His harsh coughing also subsided, allowing him to get his breathing under control enough to stop gasping and hyperventilating.
After a moment, the hands released their grip on Rain. Rain blinked and found himself staring at the concerned faces of Aether and Swiss, who were kneeling on the bathroom floor just in front of the bathtub. Rain’s eyes drifted to Aether’s hands, which were resting palm-up on his legs, and he felt a bolt of fear strike him when he saw Aether’s palms glowing with a pale purple light.
“Did you use your magic on me?!” Rain demanded, his voice rising in pitch as he felt himself starting to get frantic again.
Aether dropped his gaze to his palms guiltily. “I was just trying to calm youー”
“Don’t use magic on me,” Rain interrupted with a low growl. He knew in the back of his mind that Aether would never intentionally hurt him, but his fear was stronger than reason. The last time he’d come in contact with another ghoul’s magic he’d almost died.
“Sorry,” Aether murmured quietly. Rain just hissed at him, which earned him a warning glare from Swiss. He would feel bad about his actions later, but right now he had only two things on his mind: avoid magic and find Sodo.
“Where’s Sodo?” Rain asked. He attempted to stand up, but Aether reached out to stop him. Rain flinched away from the quintessence ghoul’s hands with another hiss and Aether immediately backed off, averting his gaze.
Swiss handed Rain a towel, which he accepted as he got out of the tub. He wrapped it around his waist and waited patiently while Aether got a fresh set of clothes for him. Once Aether returned with the clothes, he quickly dressed himself, not as bothered as he usually was by the fact that Aether and Swiss were still in the room. The only thing on his mind was making sure Sodo was okay.
“Can I go see Sodo now?” Rain asked, sounding more snappish than he intended to.
Swiss and Aether exchanged a quick glance that didn’t go unnoticed.
“What’s wrong?” Rain demanded, feeling panic rise up in his gut. “He’s alive, isn’t he? He’s okay? Is he? Is he?”
“Rain, calm down,” Swiss said, holding his hands up in a placating manner. “Sodo’s alive. He’s in the bedroom. You can go see him. Just…don’t be so freaked out, okay? You’ll just freak him out, too.”
“Yeah, okay. Sorry,” Rain apologized. He felt embarrassed about how he was acting. He wasn’t embarrassed about how worried he was for Sodo, but he was embarrassed about how he was treating Aether and Swiss. They were his friends, and it was obvious they had been worried about him. They still were worried about him, if the way they were both staring at him was anything to go by.
“Well then, let’s not keep Sodo waiting, yeah?” Swiss finally said, opening the bathroom door. He motioned for Rain to go first. Rain stepped past the multi ghoul, suddenly nervous about what he might see. Had Sodo been as badly hurt as he had been? Rain thought he’d heard him scream, but he wasn’t sure anymore. His worry diminished a little at the sight that greeted him as he entered the bedroom.
Sodo was sitting in bed and seemed to be in the middle of an argument with Cumulus.
“I know he’s awake!” Sodo pouted. “Why can’t I just go see him?”
“We don’t know what state he might be in right now,” Cumulus sighed, as though she’d had this argument with Sodo already. “Besides, the last thing I need is for you to get those bandages wet.”
Sodo looked like he was about to say something else, but Rain cleared his throat at that moment. Sodo’s head whipped around, and his bright eyes widened as he caught sight of Rain. “Rain? Rain!” He looked as though he was about to vault out of bed, but Cumulus pushed him back against the pillows with a warning growl. “Rain, please get over here before your boyfriend hurts himself even more by falling out of bed,” she muttered.
Caught up in the joy of seeing Sodo alive and conscious, Cumulus’ words didn’t register in Rain’s mind as he quickly approached the bed and immediately all but threw himself onto the mattress next to Sodo. Sodo pulled Rain into a tight hug, pressing his face into Rain’s shoulder as a tiny sob escaped him.
Distantly, Rain heard a door shut. Cumulus, Aether, and Swiss must have left to give them some privacy.
“Sodo? Hey, what’s wrong?” Rain murmured, worried as he felt his sleeve grow damp.
Sodo looked up at Rain in disbelief, his eyes still shimmering with tears. “What’s wrong? I almost got you killed, that’s what! And I…I…” he trailed off, sniffling softly.
“You what?” Rain asked softly.
Sodo shook his head, pulling away from Rain. Rain felt hurt; had he done something wrong? Why was Sodo distancing himself? Before he could ask, however, his eyes caught sight of something. Sodo’s hands were both wrapped in a thick layer of bandages.
“Sodo…” Rain gasped, reaching for Sodo’s bandaged hands.
Sodo quickly pulled his hands to his chest and shook his head. “Don’t,” he muttered.
“How bad is it?” Rain asked.
“Bad,” Sodo replied softly, gazing down at the bandages with a mixture of anger and despair in his eyes. “Alpha, he…he bit the right one. Hard. Crushed the bones like…like toothpicks. And the left…he already broke it, but then he snapped each individual finger too, and…” Sodo broke off with a choked sob. “I might never play again…”
Rain could feel tears of his own well up in his eyes as Sodo broke down, sobbing quietly. Rain wrapped his arms around his distraught boyfriend and hugged him tightly to his chest, relieved when Sodo didn’t try to pull away.
“I’m fucking useless now,” Sodo whispered.
“That’s not true,” Rain told him, hugging him even tighter.
Sodo didn’t try to argue, but Rain could tell he disagreed. He knew there was nothing he could say in the moment that would change his mind, so he just held Sodo as he cried quietly, stifling his sobs in the fabric of Rain’s shirt. Rain hummed softly, trying his best to calm him down. Sodo’s sobs tapered off into quiet whimpers, but he still kept his face pressed against Rain’s chest. Rain frowned as he felt Sodo trembling slightly. He let his cheek rest on top of Sodo’s head, nuzzling the fire ghoul’s soft hair as he rocked him back and forth gently.
Eventually, Sodo’s trembling and whimpers subsided and he pulled away just enough so that Rain could see his blotchy, tear-stained face.
“What am I gonna do?” Sodo asked softly. His eyes were unfocused, gazing into nothing as he let his head rest against Rain’s chest again. Rain didn’t reply to Sodo’s question, partially because he didn’t know if it had been aimed at him and partially because he didn’t have an answer. As much as Rain hated to admit it, Sodo’s ability to play guitar was important. If he couldn’t play anymore, let alone use his hands at all, there was no telling what would be done with him. Rain didn’t think Copia to be a cruel manーhe treated the ghouls more fairly than any of the previous Papas hadーbut he didn’t know if that kindness would be extended to a ghoul whose most important ability had been stripped away.
Sodo was crying again. Rain couldn’t stop himself from making a noise of distress. He felt guilty as tears of his own welled up in his eyes. He had no right to be crying. Sodo was the one whose whole future might have potentially been destroyed. He had more of a right to cry than Rain did. Yet Rain couldn’t stop the tears from spilling over and running down his face. He was scared and confused and, more than anything else, he was angry. He was angry at Alpha for maiming Sodo in such a deliberate and cruel manner, he was angry at himself for not being able to stop it. Hell, he was angry at Sodo for attacking Alpha in the first place.
It wasn’t long before Rain’s anger dissipated and was replaced by an empty, hollow feeling. There was no point in being angry about what had happened. He couldn’t change it, as much as he wished he could. All he could do was be there for Sodo.
Speaking of Sodo, it seemed that the fire ghoul had cried himself into exhaustion and fallen asleep right on Rain’s chest. Despite the circumstance, Rain felt a small smile tug at the corners of his lips and he let out a chuckle that was watery with lingering tears. It always amazed and endeared him how small and peaceful Sodo looked when he was asleep. He was nothing like the energetic, sometimes downright insane force to be reckoned with that he was when he was awake.
Rain’s back was beginning to ache from the angle at which he was leaning against the headboard of the bed. He gently laid Sodo down on the bed, careful not to jostle him into wakefulness. He then laid down next to his boyfriend, draping an arm over him and holding him close. Sodo let out a quiet murmur and shuffled closer. Rain smiled and closed his eyes, feeling himself relax as the comforting sound of Sodo’s gentle breathing lulled him toward sleep.
There was no denying that the situation was new and, for Sodo, downright terrifying. But right now, curled up next to each other and sleeping peacefully, it felt like everything would turn out okay.