It's a Long Way Down

Chapter Fifty-Seven: Hostility

Sodo soon came to and pushed his way out of the rubble. He hissed as the sharp pieces of rock cut his arms, pulling himself out. When he finally got himself out of the fallen wall, he leaned against a still-standing wall, panting with his eyes closed, saying, "Fuck."

"Sodo?" He heard a female voice say. He grumbled and said, "What do you want?"

"Are you okay?" She asked him. He cracked his eyes open and looked at Lilith saying, "I just got crushed by a fucking wall. Do I look okay?"

"I realize that's probably a stupid question, sorry," Lilith said, "Look, I know you probably don't trust me-"

"Probably?" Sodo scoffed, "No, I'll make it easy, I don't trust you. Why would I? Your Sister Imperator's sister, what is there to trust about you? Your whole bloodline is fucked up."

She sighed and told him, "I think it would be better if we worked together."

"No, you're on you're own, woman," Sodo said, standing up, just to feel a pain in his ribs, making him groan, holding his side as he leaned back against the wall. Lilith took a step towards him, making him say, "You better stay over there, Lilith. I don't need your help."

"Sodo, I'm not my sister," Lilith tried. Sodo chuckled, "Yeah, she liked me before too. When I was a water ghoul. Shit changes. I don't need your help, I don't need your sympathy, I don't need anything from you."

"Sodo. You're hurt and you need help. I'm not gonna leave you here by yourself when you can barely move," Lilith told him. Sodo shook his head, starting to walk away, holding his ribs with one hand, and keeping the other hand on the wall. Lilith huffed and turned around to look at Sodo as he passed her calling out, "Damn it, Sodomizer, you can't do everything yourself! I am not my sister, I will never be my sister. I actually care about all the ghouls here, especially one in particular. You know why? Because I was mated to one years ago and he ran so he wouldn't be killed by my sister. You know him quite well. Your old friend Ifrit."

Sodo paused, hearing her use his full name. His eyes widened when he heard she was mated to Ifrit. He slowly turned around and said, "He never told me he had a mate."

"Me and him were the reason why my sister made the rule that ghouls and humans couldn't have any relationship. She kept me and him apart. She even went as far as trying to get him killed. That's when you were changed into a fire ghoul. It's when Ifrit disappeared. He was trying to protect me. Because he knew that if he died, I'd go with him because we're-" Lilith said. Sodo looked at her and finished her sentence, "Soulmates."

She didn't respond. Sodo slowly walked closer asking, "You are, aren't you? You two are soulmates. You're the reason why she hid that book in particular. The first pair of soulmates to be in the church. The only question is, how did you two survive so long without being marked? The book said-"

"Yeah, the book says if you two aren't marked within a certain amount of time, the bond will kill you. It's wrong. You need to at least be around each other. He came by every week. Snuck past all the guards," Lilith said. Sodo just shook his head, "And he never thought to check up on me."

"Sodo, you know he couldn't do that," She tried, Sodo just shook his head, "He could visit you, but couldn't check up on the one who he made the complete opposite element than he already was. You have no idea how difficult it was having to adjust to being a fire ghoul after being a water ghoul."

"It was hard enough to get to my room for him-" She tried, just for Sodo to cut her off, "It was harder to get to your room because you had literal guards around it. The ghoul hall never had guards. It would've been easier to go there than to see you. Stop trying to make excuses."