Fallen Out

Satania shot up, sweating profusely. She couldn't remember her dream—she stopped remembering them a while ago, but she was sure this feeling had nothing to do with it. Her arms and legs were shaking, and it was hard to breathe.

Oh fuck.

All those times, when she went and met her various dealers in the past year and a half, she never really knew what drugs she was taking. Marijuana and heroin were just words. All she wanted was a feeling of relief, which she received every time she shot up or snorted.

But the price was this. Her body, convulsing and seizing up, giving her more pain than she had ever felt before. Her demonic immune system could only put it off for so long, and then—

— and then…

The world was spinning. Satania was going to throw up. She was going to throw up.

Oh fuck, oh fuck, ohfuckohfuckohfuckOHFUCK—

She buckled down on the bed she was sleeping on, and belched. Whatever she ate for dinner yesterday was now splattered in a green blot across the bed. Something wet and salty ran down her face.

She was crying. Not out of self-pity, like normally, but out of physical pain. Her stomach felt like it had been wrung out and whipped around like a wet towel, and her everything ached.

"Satania! What's wrong?" A voice called out.

The door to her room burst open, Vignette and Eve standing at the door, looking apprehensive. When they say Satania curled over on the bed, leaning over her vomit, they looked horrified. "S-satania? What happened?" Vignette ran too her friend to help her up.

After the events of the day before, Vignette had decided to sleep over at Eve's. It was only for the night of course, but Vignette felt like she needed to be there, if only to make up for the lost time that she wasn't. Eve had obliged, and while Satania was more or less still doubtful that there friendship was worthwhile to Vigne, she voiced no objection.

Satania looked at her with bloodshot eyes. "It...hurts.." She panted in between spit-spewing breaths.

The next question came from Eve. "What does?"

Satania whispered, "D-drugs…need..."

Both parties were alarmed. Vignette was the first to react, like a scared puppy. "D-drugs...Satania?" She spoke in disbelief, trying to draw a connection between the two things. Sweet, innocent Satania was an addict?

Then again, sweet, innocent Satania also tried to kill herself only days ago.

"Wh-why?" Vigne asked quietly, almost hoping her friend wouldn't hear.

Her hopes were in vain. "Why…?" She muttered, tasting the word between bile and blood. Why was irrelevant. Couldn't Vigne see that? It didn't matter!

Who the hell does she think she is? Be fucking absent from my life for fucking forever, then barge in, demanding to know how I feel, what I've been doing to myself? What gives her the right?

Satania glared at the other demon, and raised a shaking hand. Charging it with all of her demonic energy, she slapped Vignette across the face, knocking her to the floor "Get out. Get out of my sight, Vignette April Tsukinose." She growled. "Whatever you think you're doing, It won't work. Don't try. Just keep fucking ignoring me like you have for the past two FUCKING years!"

From her position from below staring up at Satania perched on the bed, Vignette was afraid. Satania looked the most demonic she had ever been, with her eyes like cracked rubies and her frothing mouth.

Was this really Satania anymore?

"Satania, that's enough." Eve spoke for the first time since the confrontation began. Moving to the demon, the angel placed a glowing hand on Satania's shaking back. After a moment, the demon's eyes rolled over, and the demon fainted.

"Wh-what did you do?" Vignette whispered, still afraid that Satania would jump up and attack her in a wild fury.

Eve sighed. "I simply sent a small pulse of holy magic through her. It's nothing lethal, but it should be enough to knock her out for an hour. When she does wake up, we will probably have to improve our treatment plan to commenderate for her...addiction issues."

Hearing that word, addiction, made it more real to Vigne all of the sudden. The Satania she had known before, evidently, was a fake. A lie. And Vignette wasn't a good enough friend to see that.

She prided herself on being the best friend of them, the one that held the group together, but she couldn't deny it any longer.

She was a terrible friend.

Eve felt the emotional state of the demon crumble, so she led her to the edge of the bed (furthest away from Satania) before she started crying. "Shh…" She murmured, saying, "What's wrong?"

"I just keep wondering, was it my fault that Satania ended up like this? Why she is so...messed up?" Vignette's voice was full of doubt as she once again went through her many questions.

Eve sighed. "Vignette, what Satania said...she wasn't thinking clearly. She was suffering from withdrawal, which makes one irritable and angry. Whatever she's causing you to think...she doesn't mean it."

"Y-yes, but even so, I should have...I should have noticed something! H-how could she h-hide all this? I-I am a t-terrible friend…" And here the tears really started to flow.

They sat in silence, like that. Eve smiled slightly. "If you were a bad friend, why would Satania nominate you to help her first?"

"Yes, but—"

"And you mustn't blame yourself for her mental state. Satania was, before this, her own responsibility. If she was not feeling well, she would hide it from you, so it could not be your fault for her depression. And again, the fact that Satania wanted you first shows just how much she considers you a friend, and how close you must have been to discovering something."

"But why didn't she say anything?" Vignette whispered. "If she truly saw me as a friend, she would have—"

"She would have been stopped." Eve interrupted. "She was feeling a lot of bad things, and because of that, she didn't want help, since she knew you would have stopped her, Vignette. It's important to know the reason that she didn't come to you wasn't because of a lack of friendship, it was because it was of a presence of one."

This gave Vigne pause. It wasn't that she was neglecting her friend, rather, it was because her friend hid it from her. She still felt guilty about not seeing the signs, but it was considerably lessened now that she had heard Eve's reasoning. In fact, the remaining guilt would serve to further help her friend out.

Maybe she could fix this.

Satania woke up surprisingly refreshed. Her mind was clear, and her stomach was no longer in knots. Since she was feeling better, she took a moment to appraise her surroundings. She was in a bigger room than the one she was staying at with Eve's, but judging by the gold walls, she could tell that she never left the house. Indeed, she was in Eve's room, because the queen-sized bed had the same gilded floral pattern as when she's been her for the little tour.

The room was very spacey, with huge windows peering up into clear skies—was it that late in the day already? And an open door to her right peeked into a master bath. Yup, definitely Eve's room.

To her left, however, were two chairs. Upon them sat Eve...and Vignette. They hadn't noticed she was awake yet, since she had yet to rise from a lying position.

A flood of memories bombarded Satania's head all of the sudden. A flash of vomiting on the bed, a glimpse of slapping Vignette.

Oh..god. What have I done?

The red mark on the other demon's cheek confirmed that it was not Satania's mind playing tricks on her. It was real.

You really crossed a line, didn't you?

Shut up. Satania thought weakly.

Pathetic. I warned you, useless. Although, if you want to make it up…

...eye for an eye, perhaps? Although a failure like you...deserves far worse.

Her arms itched. Oh god, how long has it been? What she would do to feel the cold blade again...the one thing she could trust…

She shot up all of the sudden, startling the other two in the room. "Satania!" Vignette cried out, running up to hug her—

—and stopped short, evidently being reminded of what happened earlier.

A sharp pang of guilt attacked Satania, making her flinch.

"How did you sleep, Satania?" Eve asked, intervening.

When she heard Eve's voice, Satania was distracted from her moment of despair. She spoke quietly, unsure. "I...slept fine." She said. In actuality, she slept great, but that fact was downplayed by her new feelings.

"I would hope you didn't sleep badly, at least. I had given you some angel dust to counteract the withdrawal symptoms when you fell asleep."

Vigne turned her head sharply; she was shocked. "Angel...dust? Isn't that a hallucinogen?" She asked.

Eve laughed lightly at that. "You'd be surprised at just how many drugs were named after heavenly healing substances...due to your side of course. Anyways, the healing effect administered by it won't last forever; And that is what I wanted to talk about with you and Satania after she woke up. I want to put her on some medication both for her drug addictions as well as depression."

Satania was slightly damped by that last part. Saying it out loud, "addiction" and "depression" only solidified her situation. She couldn't ignore it now, she couldn't pretend.

You can't run from the truth anymore. Voice sang. A messed up, useless, burdensome demon.

Hot tears formed at her eyes, but Satania sucked them in...she couldn't break down now. Not again. Not here.

"Satania? Is something wrong?" Eve asked kindly. Damn it, she sensed it. "We don't need to discuss it here, maybe over a brunch?"

Satania nodded. The idea wasn't a bad one. She could go with it, for now.

She could absolutely not go with it. That bottle, sitting right there between Vignette and Eve's plates full of blue pills stood out agrilly like one of her scars. Only, unlike those, she couldn't ignore it.

She tentatively picked at her eggs and bacon. Vignette noticed this, saying, "Satania? Can you eat, just a little bit?' She paused here, awkwardly, perhaps realizing she was saying something she shouldn't. A encouraging smile from Eve helped her continue. "...It'll be good for you."

Satania didn't look up. They must have talked a bit after her initial wake-up-and-blow-up. She didn't know what to think of that.

"Alright." Eve spoke firmly. "We need to decide on some medication for you. Your mental health plan is easy, really. We've already got a plan for therapy, and I have some pills that you can take morning/evening. However...as for your...addiction, that will require some effort, I'm afraid."

The girls listened attentively, breakfast forgotten.

"It will be hard, yes. Whatever you got into will only matter partly. The treatment side of things will be easy, since the Angel Dust both acts as a temporary relief and a substitute. Gradually, we'll wean you off of that, and then on to some smaller, lower affecting stuff. "

She took a breath, transitioning from good news to bad news.

"The problems normally wouldn't exist. Unfortunately, because of your demonhood, the holy qualities of some of the substitutes can cause some side effects. For every day that your body forgets its addiction, another day will happen were it will convulse in twice the pain from not satisfying the need. Normally, I would avoid this by figuring out what you have taken and prescribing human-made medicine, but again, your demonic nature—which, in this case, is actually synonymous with angelic nature—would use the substitute more severely than a human."

She paused for the slightest moment, waiting for the girls to catch up.

"It will be a battle, Satania. But we'll be here for you." She smiled, and Vigne did too, and for a moment, Satania felt a twinge of hope.

"Oy, Raphiel." Gabriel muttered. "Why are we here again?"

The two were on stakeout in front of Satania's home, waiting for some kind of activity. This was all they've been doing all day, and nothing—nothing—was happening. It was almost like nobody was there. Which shouldn't have been strange, and Gabriel was about ready to leave. She had games to play, anyways.

The only problem was that nobody left, and nobody returned. This triggered Raphiel's weird stalker tendencies, and she sat there, loyally, like a dog, waiting for something to happen. And she made Gabriel do it as well.

For a few minutes, Gabriel was intrigued. She wanted to know where Vigne had ran off too from yesterday, was, and Satania's seemed like the best place.

But it was booring.

She entertained herself by throwing rocks at the window for a bit, careful not to disturb Raphiel from her cat-like perch.

A second passed, and then another, and then yet another.

Alright, guess I'm gonna be ignored. Gabriel sighed, throwing another rock at the window.

It shattered.

Raphiel was shaken out from her trance, falling over before catching herself. "Gabriel! What did you do?" She said, surprised.

Gabriel sat there, open mouthed, not responding.

"Um." She said after a moment.

Raphiel was mildly annoyed; not only was this stakeout entirely pointless, but now whatever amusement she could have gotten out of it was lost. Satania was sure to know that they were hiding out here now.

But when no noise preceded the initial glass-breaking, Raphiel became...worried? Concerned?

Nope. the word to use here was delighted. Finally, something interesting!

"A'ight, guess that's my cue to invade the place." Gabriel muttered, opening an unlocked—unlocked?—door and running in.

Raphiel followed in soon after, surprised at how empty Satania's apartment was. Upon opening the door, a cold draft of air blew into her face. Something was up. The floors were cold, and not a light was on. Tracks of something sticky littered the floor.

What is going on? A single, worried thought entered Raphiel's mind as she tiptoed along the demon's apartment.

The door to Satania's bedroom was open, showing an unmade bed and a backpack left forgotten next to it, with books and not-done papers strewn across the floor.

"R-raphi?" Gabriel's voice called.. She was in the bathroom. "Y-you should see this."

Bells started ringing in Raphiel's mind. Something was obviously wrong, for Gabriel to sound like that. Quick as the melon-bread stealing dog, Raphiel raced over to the bathroom.

Gabriel was on on her knees, eyes wide in shock.

The bathroom light was on, in contrast to the rest of the apartment. But that wasn't what had Gabriel terrified.

The mirror was shattered. Pieces of glass peppered the floor like tragic glitter. A small knife laid on the sink, dried blood coating its edge. This...blood trailed further out of the bathroom, leading into the bedroom, then hallway.

What...happened?

I am alive! Immortalized!

Whew-hoo, guys! Chapter four is here, and I am officially now more productive than compared to Falling Apart! Yay! A little shorter than intended, sorry. I...didn't know what to write in multiple occasions, leading to a very long case of writer's block.

Writer's block only happens when you don't know where to go, and I was worried that was what happened. And it did. But I'm back now, with fresh ideas on where this thing is going to go. It's going to start to focus a little more on the other three girls now, but my original plot won't change.

Congrats to Violet Pieces for their story finale to Pieces!

DFTBA,

Nate