It's a Long Way Down

Chapter Seventy-Nine: Visions

"Get the fuck off me!" Sodo yelled as he pulled on the restraints he had. They had him strapped to a chair, the restraints so tight around his wrists that they were drawing blood. The men were trying to get a mask over his face, just for him to desperately try to avoid them actually getting it on him.

One of the men got frustrated, throwing a punch at Sodo's face, making his head fly to the side. Sodo simply spit some blood to the side, just to get the mask on his face immediately after. Sodo let out a frustrated yell, the men saying, "Guy's a fighter."

"Not for much longer," another man said as gas started to fill the mask. Sodo's heart rate accelerated as he tugged on his restraints once again, blood now dripping from his wrists and onto the floor. Sodo glared at all of them saying, "I will fucking kill every single one of you."

The men just laughed, "Yeah. Sure you will."

They then left the room, letting him struggle against the gas and the restraints as he desperately tried to call on his abilities to get out of it all. When he couldn't get his abilities to come back he let out another frustrated yell, "Fuck!"

"Sodo?" He heard a voice say. He turned to his right and saw Ember there, "Baby?"

"Sodo, you're okay," She said a smile on her face. He let out a small relieved smile as the restraints went away. He walked over to her and said, "I'll always come back to you, you know that."

"But why'd you have to hurt me?" She asked. He looked confused for a moment before everything burst into flame. There was fire separating him from Ember. In her arms was a newborn baby, a young boy hugging her legs with a scared expression, "Daddy, why do you want to hurt us?"

"What?" Sodo asked, his eyes wide. He tried to get closer to them, just for the fire to roar up, preventing him. He couldn't get through it. It was actually burning him. He called out, "I'll get you out of there, I promise!"

"Sodo, you let your anger get the worst of you," Ember said, a disappointed look on her face, "Look what you've done."

The flames started to consume his small family making him yell, "No! Ember!"

He tried to run towards him, but no matter how fast he ran, they just got farther and farther away. He called out once again, "Ember! I'm sorry! I'm coming!"

The flames then stopped abruptly, making him fall to the ground onto his hands and knees. He panted for a moment before feeling a sticky substance on his hands. He sat back onto his ankles, looking at his hands, and saw they were covered in blood. His claws were out. He looked in front of him and saw a bloody Ember on the ground. The tears started to fall from his eyes, "No, no, no, no, Ember. Baby, please, don't leave me, I didn't mean to, please."

His hands shook as he slowly picked her up, holding her in his lap as he cradled her limp head to his chest, sobs wracking through his body, "I'm sorry, please. Please, come back to me."

She then disappeared into ashes, her face starting to appear around him, making him turn to face him. He started looking around in circles as she spoke.

"You hurt me."

"You hurt our kits."

"You said you would never hurt me again."

"I never meant to do what I did. But you didn't want to hear an apology."

"Your son only wanted to help, Sodo."

"Every day I loved and cared for you, and this is what I get."

Ember started to get more aggressive with her words, her image getting distorted.