Chapter Text
Eden had been sanitized. Honestly, she was still in disbelief over the whole thing. Thank god she didn’t kill Roxie in her sanitized state. The octoling opted to stay with Marina and Pearl after making it to the surface, which she was grateful for. The only thing she wanted right now was to be alone.
She had just left the hospital because they did nothing to help her. The wound on her face was still raw and fresh and it hurt like a motherfucker. The others were concerned for her, so she had to sneak away because they wouldn’t leave her alone. She didn’t want to talk to anyone right now. Her world as she knew it was over.
She dragged herself up to her apartment and plopped down on the couch. It was surprisingly clean - Olivia must have helped herself in during her absence and cleaned it. Her head was throbbing and the right side of her face was on fire. It was hard to focus on much of anything.
She begrudgingly got up from her spot on the couch to go get an ice pack from the freezer. She put the ice pack on her eye and immediately hissed in pain. Okay, she definitely wasn’t going to be icing it anymore, fuck what the doctor said. She put the ice pack back and replaced it with the bottle of whiskey that was in there.
She grabbed a cup and sighed, pouring herself a tall glass. She’d get this pain to go away no matter what. God knows she needed a drink after everything that just happened in the metro. She downed the glass before pouring herself another. Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. She really couldn’t believe this happened to her.
She slid down onto the floor of the kitchen with her glass and whiskey bottle in hand. The pain in her eye had yet to subside and was actually worse now thanks to the ice pack. She pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face in them. She started to sob, digging her claws into her leg.
She wasn’t sure how long she’d been sitting like that, but she looked up when she heard her phone going off. She downed the rest of her second drink, already lightly drunk from the first one. She shakily stood up and grabbed her phone off the counter. There were 12 missed calls - six of them from Olivia, four from Marie, and two from Callie.
She rolled her eyes and turned her phone on silent. She needed to get out of these clothes. She was currently in the same hero gear she’d been wearing for three months straight now. She poured herself another glass and drank about half of it before stumbling her way into the bathroom.
She peeled her clothes off, tossing them in the corner of the room. She turned on the shower to the appropriate temperature and climbed inside, almost tripping on the way in. That was a mistake. She cried out in pain as soon as the warm water made contact with the wound on her face, causing her to stumble and knock over everything in the shower.
Tears were streaming down her face. This wasn’t normal. There’s no way this was just an ink burn, but the doctor she saw wouldn’t listen to her. She had to continue with her shower despite the pain - she was disgusting.
She grabbed a washcloth and lightly dabbed at the wound with it. She hissed in pain, despite the alcohol it was still unbearable. She would just have to drink more. She sloppily finished the rest of her shower, forgoing conditioner today.
She went to climb out of the tub but slipped, falling and hitting her head against the side of the tub. “Fuck!” She yelled, holding the back of her now very sore head. It fueled the migraine that had been ripping through her head.
She got up after a few minutes and stammered her way into her bedroom looking for some clean clothes. She managed to get some sweatpants and a sports bra on before flopping down on her bed. Her entire head was throbbing and a burning pain was radiating from the right side of her face. She had ink burns before and they never felt like this.
After a few more minutes, she got up and headed back into the kitchen. She really should eat something, but she felt sick. There was no way she’d be able to get food down right now. That didn’t stop her from finishing the rest of her drink though.
She drunkenly slid down to the ground. She just wanted to forget the last three months. Her pain was finally starting to subside. Tears started to form in her eyes once more as she started to cry. She kept thinking back to when she attacked Roxie in her sanitized state. She remembered every moment of it, yet had no control over her body. She felt violated.
She shakily poured herself another drink and downed it. She took a deep breath and wiped her tears away. She reached up for her phone and grabbed it. An unknown number was calling. She decided to answer it this time.
“Hello?”
“Eden, thank god.” Marina’s voice could be heard on the other line. “Where are you? Everyone’s looking for you.”
“How’dyou get this number?” Eden slurred. She was quite drunk now.
“Callie gave it to me. Eden, are you okay, Honey?”
“M’fine…m’fine.” She sniffled. Tears started to well in her eyes again.
“You don’t sound fine. Where are you at?”
Eden’s lip quivered. She pulled her knees up to her chest as a sob escaped her. She couldn’t do anything else but cry.
“Eden…Everything is going to be okay. Just tell me where you are.”
“It’s not…It’s not okay.” Eden sniffled again. “It’s not going to be okay.” She sobbed. She poured herself another drink and finished it. It was going down as easily as water now.
“Did you go home? I’m going to send the others over there. It’s going to be okay, Honey.” Marina repeated.
“I want to be ‘lone.”
“Just stay on the line with me, okay? The others are on their way.” Marina was met with silence. “Eden?”
The girl could barely keep her eyes open. Before she could do anything else, she started throwing up, getting it all over herself and the floor. She dropped her phone, slumping over and passing out into her own vomit. She knocked over the bottle of whiskey, spilling what little contents was left in it.
“Eden? Eden, answer me!” Marina’s voice could be heard coming from the phone. The call disconnected.
Marie, Callie, and Olivia arrived shortly after. Olivia used her key to unlock the apartment and the three of them rushed in.
“Eden?” Callie called.
It didn’t take the group long to find her passed out on the floor. Olivia rushed to her side, not caring about getting vomit on her pants. “Eden!” She shook her sister. “Eden, wake up!”
Marie noticed the empty whiskey bottle on the floor. She jumped into action. “Liv, move.” She crouched down to check her pulse. She looked up at her cousin. “Cal, call an ambulance.”
Callie pulled out her phone. “Is she…?”
“She’s alive. We need to wake her.” Marie said. She shook her as well, but got no response. She lightly slapped the unconscious girl on the face. “Eden!” She yelled.
Eden cracked her eyes open and groaned. “Mm what s’it?” She slurred.
“The ambulance is on its way.” Callie said.
“Liv, help me sit her up.” Marie directed. Olivia crouched down and helped Marie get her sister up.
A whine came from the inebriated inkling. “Leave me’lone.” She slumped over into Olivia’s arms.
Finally, after a minute, they got her sitting up and propped up against the counter. Callie poured her a glass of water and crouched down next to the others. “Here Eden, drink this.”
Eden shook her head. “Nno.” She mumbled, turning her head away from it. She could barely keep her eyes open.
“Let me see it, Cal.” Marie said, grabbing the glass. She put it up to Eden’s lips. “Drink.” She ordered.
Eden got a few sips down before feeling sick again. Before any of them could react, Eden vomited all over Marie. She started sobbing uncontrollably. “M’sorry m’so sorry.” She rambled.
Marie took a deep breath. “It’s okay Ed, just keep drinking the water.” She soothed, putting the glass back up to her lips.
“I’ll go get some towels.” Callie said before getting up from her spot.
Eden started to fall asleep once more. Marie lightly smacked her face. “You need to stay awake.”
“No…‘M so tired…” Eden whined. She was starting to shake.
Callie returned with the towels. She wet one with some warm water and handed the others to Marie to clean herself off and the floor. Callie crouched down next to Eden and gingerly started to wipe the vomit off her face and hair. ”Everything’s going to be okay, Eden.”
The drunken inkling could only weep in response. She buried her head in Callie’s shoulder. “M’sorry.” She cried.
Callie patted the girl on the back. “It’s okay.” She soothed.
Eden couldn’t stay awake any longer and slumped into Callie’s arms, slipping into unconsciousness. Callie started to shake her. “Eden!”
Tears filled Olivia’s eyes. “No! We just got you back!”
Marie placed a reassuring hand on Olivia’s shoulder. “She’s going to be okay, Liv, the ambulance should be here soon.”
Callie carefully set Eden down on the ground, away from the vomit. Olivia continued to cry as she squeezed onto her sister’s hand.
—
Eden had a raging headache and her face was on fire. There was some annoying beeping sound that wouldn’t stop coming from the left of her. She cracked her eyes open when she heard hushed whispers in the room. Okay, ouch, that was a mistake. The lights in the room were blinding.
She squeezed her eyes shut. “Can someone turn the lights off?” She croaked. Finally, it was less bright in the room.
She cracked her eyes open once more. She was laying in a hospital bed? The last thing she remembered was leaving the hospital so why was she back here?
”Eden! Thank god you’re okay!” Olivia cried, squeezing onto her hand.
The inkling in question winced at the volume of her sister. “Speak a little quieter, Liv.” She mumbled.
“Oh, sorry.” Olivia apologized, this time much quieter. She sniffled and wiped away her remaining tears. Callie handed her a tissue.
“How are you feeling?” Marie asked from the opposite side of the bed.
Eden gingerly moved her head to face her. “What do you think?”
“What’s the last thing you remember?” Callie questioned.
Eden started to sit up which was a mistake. Her stomach flipped and bile rapidly started clawing its way up her throat. Marie picked up on this immediately and quickly grabbed a waste basket, putting it in front of the inkling.
Eden started throwing up into the bin while Olivia pulled her hair up and rubbed her back. This did nothing to help the intense pain coming from the right side of her face. Tears started streaming down her face as she got sick. Each tear that fell on the right side of her face felt like a knife being slowly dragged down.
She lifted her head out of the basket a few minutes later feeling extremely dizzy and still quite ill. Marie gently pushed her back into the bed and covered the shivering girl with the blanket.
Eden squeezed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to quell the nausea rapidly overtaking her. “Why am I here?”
Marie crossed her arms. “Alcohol poisoning. You nearly killed yourself last night.”
Ugh, the last thing Eden wanted to hear right now was lecturing. She groaned, still unable to open her eyes. Guess that explains why she doesn’t remember anything after leaving the hospital yesterday. No more drinking for her.
“What matters is you’re going to be okay.” Callie said, holding onto Eden’s hand.
“It doesn’t feel like it.” Eden grumbled.
”You’re going to get past this, Ed.” Marie replied.
“Why did you leave the hospital yesterday?” Olivia asked.
“Because the doctor was useless, I’m obviously going to have to handle this on my own.”
“You’re not alone in this Ed, you can lean on us.” Callie said.
“We’re here for you always.” Olivia chimed in.
Eden sighed and pulled the blanket over her head. “I don’t want to talk about this right now. None of you understand what I’m going through.”
Concerned looks were shared among the inklings in the room. It was true. When it came to sanitization, none of them knew anything. It was a rare thing to see up on the surface and most of the doctors didn’t know how to treat it either.
“We don’t understand, but that doesn’t mean we don’t want to try.” Marie said gently, carefully removing the blanket off Eden’s head.
Tears pricked the corners of Eden’s eyes as she turned her head to avoid Marie’s gaze. “I don’t want to talk about it right now, okay?” She choked out shakily.
Olivia’s expression softened, she hated seeing her sister in such a defeated state. “We don’t have to talk about it.” She said, grabbing a tissue and gently dabbing the tears in Eden’s eyes. She was careful not to hurt the wound on her face, but the girl still flinched anyways. “Sorry.”
Eden looked up at Liv. “You didn’t tell dads about this, did you? Any of it?”
”Not yet.” Olivia frowned. “But you know I’m going to have to - the sanitization anyway. They’re worried sick about you Ed, you’ve been missing for three months.”
The sickly inkling sighed. “I know…Did they say when I can leave? I just want to go home.”
”Sometime today.” Callie replied.
“Just rest until then, okay?” Marie said.
Eden nodded, falling back asleep a few minutes later.