Roden grabbed the scarf off the floor and quickly wrapped it around his mouth again, having somewhat calmed down from his breakdown, tears still trickling down his face, his eyes slightly red and his body slightly trembling. He still sat on his knees, Octavia looking at him concerned while holding his shoulders. He hung his head low and closed his eyes, doing his best to regain his composure.

"I think it would be best if we left..."

"Yeah, you need to get a handle on yourself bro...and this clearly isn't the place to do it, she'll just keep asking what's wrong. You need to get out of there, you've already been reminded of that night enough today."

Roden just slowly nodded in response to the voices and slowy rose to his feet. Octavia stood up and backed up to Mise and Vinyl to give him some space. Shadows covered the top half of his face as his hair blocked the light from reaching it. They all just stood there as Roden took a step forward before turning towards the front door.

As he walked away Octavia went to grab his arm. "Don't..." Roden quickly stopped her. "Just...leave me alone..."

Mise placed his hand on Octavia's shoulder and gently pulled her back towards him. "Let him go Octi, he needs to get out." He spoke in an almost hostile tone.

"How could you say that?!"

"Those eyes" He answered quietly as Roden turned to him. "I've seen that look before, I've had that look myself quite a few times in the past. The eyes of a man who has experienced great loss and pain. No amount of talking, comfort of reasoning will get rid of it, it needs to fade away over time."

Roden just stared at Mise dead in the eye for a moment, looking into him and trying to analyse him. He saw the look in Mise's eyes, it was faint, but he could see it. He merely nodded before finally opening the front door and walking out to his hummer.

"Why did you tell me to let him go with such hostility?" Octavia asked as she turned to her partner.

"It wasn't the kind of hostility directed towards anyone, not you and not Roden. It was more towards that look. That look can change lives, more often than not for the worst."

Vinyl shook her head and placed her headphones on. "Heavy stuff..."

Later

Roden set the empty glass in his hand down on the bar surface while sighing. Treble sat beside him sipping a large glass of Pepsi that Roden had bought him as an alternative to drinking. Roden however reached for a bottle of whiskey and poured himself another glass before downing the contents.

"Boy, you must've put him through some rough shit Pyra." Treble commented.

Yes, but only for the sake of storytelling. Of I could, I'd have everything go his way, the fact is that it wouldn't make for an interesting story whatsoever.

"Oh great...remind me again that all my suffering is for the sick entertainment of others..." Roden mumbled as he had another drink.

"Aww come on man, life can't be all sunshine and rainbows you know, otherwise our lives and our stories would be boring as all hell."

"Suprisingly Treble has a point."

"Hey!"

"W-What? Wait a minute, you can hear us?"

"Nah I just read the text." The bartender looked to Treble strangely before returning to his work. "Anyway, I know I can't do anything to cheer you up or whatever, so just you drink away your sorrows and I'll drive your green ass home." Trebls looked to the now almost empty bottle of whiskey. "Seriously, you're drinking a lot and you're always wearing green, suprised there hadn't been an Irish joke yet."

Roden shook his head as he finished off the bottle. "Well, at least one of us is being positive."

"Excuse me?"

"Alright alright, two of us..." Roden sighed and slid the glass and bottle down to the bartender who then placed a bill in front of him with a few breath mints. He placed the payment on the bar surface and took one of the mints. "Probably just gonna lie down when I get back to my apartment, try to let this fade begore Sapphire moves in."

"Probably a good idea, you don't want her first day living with you to be filled with angst, sadness and general drama." Treble said while shaking his head and dosing the last few sips of his Pepsi. "Come on, I'll leave you at your appartment."

"Thanks Treble. Don't really see why a lot of people think you're an asshole."

"People think I'm an asshole?!"

Roden threw himself down onto his bed, his green hoodie thrown across the room to let his body cool down, revealing the black t-shirt underneath. Come on, he had to have at least one piece of black on him, he is the son of Chrysalis after all. His scarf was layed put beside him, close to his person. He gently brushed his hand against his scar and sighed as he felt the sting of the wound. "I'm never gonna get over that am I?"

"You will eventually, you just need to find what will help you get over it."

"What like repentance or something? You know what I don't really care right now, that whiskey is starting to affect my thinking..."

"Just go to sleep Roden, you deserve some rest."

Roden closed his eyes slowly as he began to drift of, Zerlinda humming a soft tune to help her brother relax enough to rest comfortably. Once he was fast asleep, both voices silenced themselves and began to think over the events of the day. What should have been a happy reunion between old friends turned into an emotional mess. Both of them had no idea what to do, then again, they couldn't really do anything outside of talking to Roden...and Treble it would seem.

Roden lay there still, sleeping soundly in a dreamless sleep as to avoid any potential nightmares or flashbacks that could trigger him. You know, a part of me really wanted to make a Tumblr feminist joke here, but I figured it wouldn't really be suitable. Hooray for my failed attempts at humour.

Author's Notes:

I will make it clear right now, Roden isn't going to act all depressed all the time with the attitude of a one-dimensional anime character that always frowns and crosses his arms, and always complains about sadness, darkness, loss or stats get the hell else is considered cliché on this site. Which is basically impossible given that nearly everything is a cliché here.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter and that Knighty will MOVE THE PUBLISH AND EDIT BUTTON APPART!!!