I meant to do this a few hours ago, but things got slightly out of hand. I had made dinner and I brought it up to Ai's room. Ever since Ai first holed himself up in his room, I'd been leaving him breakfast, lunch, and dinner outside his door. Every time I came back to bring the next meal, I would find the last one untouched. Today, however, I decided he needed to eat and that I couldn't keep avoiding him. I knocked, waited a minute or so, and then cautiously opened the door when there was no answer.
"Ai?" I asked uncertainly. Before I could react, a single tentacle came zooming at me and knocked the tray of food out of my hands. "Really?" I said, staring at him angrily. "You need to eat sometime. It'll make you feel better."
"Don't come near me." He said shakily.
"Oh, now you want me to stay away? I'm here to help you, Ai. If I leave you to your own devices you could hurt yourself or try and hurt someone else."
"You saw what happened earlier. You saw what I did to you...you're right...my grief is turning me into an animal just like it did to Taben."
"I told you it was fine, Ai." I shook my head. "I can take the punishment. You don't have to worry about hurting me. It's much better than harming some innocent bystander or one of our human and therefore more fragile friends."
"I'm sorry, Malkin...I just...I miss him so much. I don't know how much longer I can go on like this. I feel..."
"I know how you feel." I said, interrupting him. "That's why I won't hate you for any hurt you might inflict upon me. Look, I just came to see how you were doing. If you need anything, just let me know. I'll be downstairs with Chas." The mere mention of Chas' name seemed to send him back into his rage, as he threw a very large and painful looking glass object at my head that I only barely managed to dodge. It hit part of my shoulder and shattered against the wall, leaving glass shards peppering part of my arm and blood oozing down to the floor.
"DON'T SPEAK OF HIM AROUND ME." He bellowed. "YOU CAN'T PROTECT HIM FOREVER AND WHEN YOU'VE FINALLY LOST HIM YOU'LL..." He stopped and appeared dazed for a few moments.
"I'm willing to talk whenever you want, Ai. I'll come back when you've calmed down." I turned to leave the room.
"Wait." He said quietly.
"Yes?" I turned back to face him and met his gaze.
"Why are you so calm? Why aren't you retaliating? I'm hurting you. The wounds I've inflicted on you today must have been excruciating. Why are you just...taking it?" He asked, confused.
"This is the only way to keep you sane and to get you to calm down. Retaliation only means we'll get into an unnecessary fight. The last thing we need right now is to fight amongst ourselves. I know it bothers you, but this is to protect both Chas and your humanity. I won't let you become a murderer and I especially don't want to become your enemy if you kill Chas. I just want to help you recover, as your good friend."
With that, I left the room, shutting the door behind me. As soon as I did, objects that I can only assume were tentacles assaulted the place I had been standing and hit the door. I'm surprised the door didn't break from the force of it. The emotion that came with it down our mental link caught me off guard and knocked me out for a little while. I woke up a few minutes ago in bed with Chas asleep next to me.
So far, things are going from bad to worse all in one day. But, this is only the beginning of what will be a very long recovery process for Ai, if he recovers at all. I can only hope Taben doesn't decide to come here, because I'm pretty sure Ai will try and take his anger out on him next. If that happens, I don't know if Taben will survive the encounter.
Here's hoping that things don't spiral out of control for any of us.
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