A/N: Some of you might be sitting here, wondering what the hell this is. Others might be wondering why the HELL this has the same words as 'bare: A Pop Opera's opening song 'Epiphany'.
Well...there's a simple answer to that! : D
This answer is that I'm absolutely OBSESSED with this musical right now, and I was sitting there going, 'Must...write...' and for some reason I put Riku and Sora in Jason and Peter's places. AND THUS, THIS WEIRD BABY WAS BORN. And yes I'm going to do the entire play. And yes, most of the chapters will probably be tiny like so, unless I make them longer. Now, I won't be using the songs for the entire story; probably just dream sequences and the play. I think it'd be a bit off if Sora and Riku and them all randomly started to sing in the hallways or something. Admit; musicals are awesome, but if you try to live them, you're clinically insane.
: D
So, I hope you guys enjoy my madness!
Disclaimer: 'bare: A Pop Opera' belongs to Jon Hartmere, Jr. and Damon Intrabartolo. Kingdom Hearts ( CoM, II, 358/2 Days) belongs to Square Enix.
It was mostly silent in the church, with the occasional sounds of someone shifting in their seat or coughing into their fist. The pews held most of the school population, except for one or two missing students, each organized into their year from freshmen to seniors. Someone in the back yawned, wide and loud, the sound briefly echoing along the acoustics before the choir started, singing a soft song in what appeared to be in Latin.
The back doors opened as they sang, and two tall boys in white robes with metal crosses hanging around their necks walked down the aisle in the middle, one holding the cross with the crucified Jesus painted in bronze and gold, the other holding the Holy Bible high in his hands so that everyone could see it. A few paces behind them was the priest, dressed in a green chasuble with gold patterns of the cross sewn along the front. His hands were pressed together in the world-known sign of prayer, his head lowered as he walked steady steps behind the two younger altar boys.
Once they approached the altar, the music stopped and the altar boys moved to either side so that the priest could come up to the middle, and all three bowed before it to show appreciation and humility to God. The boy with the cross then went to the back to put the staff in places, making sure Jesus was facing the congregation. The boy with the Bible walked around behind the altar and placed the holy book onto it reverently, stepping back. Both boys then moved to their proper places on either side of the priest as he moved to stand behind the altar.
The blond haired man looked at the students all sitting around, looking bored and ready to fall asleep, before he smiled a little to himself; he had been expecting as much.
"Good morning, everyone."
"Good morning, Father Ansem,"
"I would like to welcome everyone back. I hope that everyone's Christmas holiday was filled with joy for you and your families. Today is the Feast of the Epiphany, in celebration of the arrival of the three wise men to pay homage to the baby Jesus." He paused, placing his fingertips together thoughtfully as he moved to walk in front of the altar, standing close to the first few pews. He noted that the students who had dared to sit in the front sat up a little straighter when he came close, making themselves appear more attentive.
"I want you to imagine what that journey must've been like. A journey resting entirely on faith that they would know where they were going once they had arrived. Imagine what a joy it must have been for them, to have finally reached their destination." He paused again to smile, before turning his eyes to the group farthest in the back, half of them looking asleep, the other half like they couldn't wait to get out of here.
"Seniors!"
"Whoo!"
Father Ansem simply smiled and continued despite Hayner's outburst. "You are coming to an end of four years here at St. Cecilia's. You have lived together, studied together, and, most importantly, prayed together; have strength for the journey." He nodded to them before moving back behind the altar, turning to them and raising his hands as if inviting them for something.
"We begin in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Let us take a moment now to call to mind those times we have fallen from God's grace. I confess, to the Almighty God, and to you my brothers and sisters…"
"That I have sinned through my own faults," the mass spoke up then, overpowering the priest's voice. "And in my thoughts and in my words; in what I have done, and what I have failed to do. And I ask the blessed Mary, ever Virgin, all the angels and Saints, and you my brothers and sisters…"
"To pray for me, to the Lord our God," the altar boy on Father Ansem's right spoke, smiling as he closed his eyes. He paused when he heard silence, though, and not the continuation of mass, before he opened his eyes to see what was wrong.
"Yes," said a girl in the front row snidely, looking at him with a disgusted expression. "Pray for him, to the Lord your God!"
She suddenly jumped to her feet then, the congregation joining her. The brunet watched with confusion and a tiny hint of fear as they started towards him, the priest and the other altar boy pushing him forward with looks of disgust and hate.
"One of these boys just ain't like the others!" Hayner shouted then from the back, smirking down at Olette who snerked.
"Loves his female singers,"
"Loves to cook!"
"I've seen him look around in gym," Pence whispered conspiratorially. "It pleases him."
"Thoughts enslave him, somebody save him!"
"'Cause he knows that he knows that he is taking chances,"
"And he knows that his romance is doomed!"
"Sacrifice his soul to feed his vice,"
"Heaven severed, Hell is forever!"
'What the crap is going on?' he thought, jaw dropping as his classmates and the priest started to sing in time, circling around him as if he were in some sort of musical.
"Dig down deep and save your soul!" He was suddenly against the altar, on his back with everyone around him, grasping onto some part of him. He felt himself lifted off of the table, feeling that tiny fear in the back of his mind grow, his confusion growing with it.
"Grave mistakes will take its toll!" Okay, where did his altar boy robes go?
"Every sin is entered in. Heaven comes with discipline!"
"But it doesn't all make sense, what I feel is real!" he tried to cut them off, but he was quickly silenced, being thrown off of the altar.
"No more dodging, God is watching! His eye is on the lowly sparrow; the road is long, the path is narrow!"
"And his mother, God how she will suffer!" Oh great.
"Will your father break to bare the shame?"
'I have got to stop listening to show tunes.'
"Yes you were a force in their divorce!"
"Trust the shepherd; God make an effort!"
Suddenly Hayner was in his face, walking towards him as he crawled backwards away. "Will you drag that poor boy down there with you?"
"He's unsure and you can't change his mind!"
"If you love him so, you'll let him go!"
"Life is choices!" 'Really?' "Live by our voices!" 'Some choice.'
"Dig down deep and save your soul!" Now he was suddenly being lifted up with his arms spread as if he were on the cross itself. Well, it kind of was like he was being persecuted.
"Grave mistakes will take their toll!"
"Every sin is entered in," 'Even the ones when I was five and I ate a cookie before dinner? That seems stupid,' he thought wildly, not even sure what he was thinking anymore. This was way, way too confusing.
"Heaven comes with discipline!"
"But it doesn't all make sense, if the love is strong!" He tried to argue back, thankful that he was now on his feet so he could do this. They all grabbed onto his arms, though, making him feel like the rope in tug-of-war.
"No more dodging; God is watching! His eye is on the lowly sparrow; the road is long, the path is narrow!"
He was thrown out of the group of people just then, and he looked over to see someone at the podium where the readings always took place. His jaw dropped when he saw his mother standing there. 'NOW I KNOW SOMETHING WEIRD IS GOING ON HERE.'
"Our first reading today is a story on how, despite the best efforts of a single mother, a child can still turn out horribly, horribly wrong."
"Mom!"
"For his eighth birthday, Sora asked for an Easy Bake Oven©. His father asked for a divorce." She sighed, and Sora immediately felt guilty about being the catalyst between his parents' divorce; a guilt that had been with him since his eighth birthday. "To me, the link between these two events was as strong as Sora's attraction to my make-up table." Okay, that was embarrassing for everyone to learn about.
"We sent him to Catholic boarding school, thinking it might help." Oh, he'd always suspected that was why. "But when he met his roommate Riku, their eyes locked and I said to myself: 'Tifa, you wanted grandchildren. Instead, you're going to get ambiguous Christmas cards from South Beach.'"
Why South Beach?
Suddenly Olette popped up with a book of songs, a light smile on her face. "Please join us for the offertory hymn, number 279: A Bender Among us." Subtle.
"There's a bender among us! He must be exposed! He'll kidnap our children and take off their clothes!" WHAT? "A bender among us, there's pink in our flock! A boy without conscience who's lead by his—"
"Cockamamie!" Tifa interrupted, making Sora sigh with relief. "Pure cockamamie that this isn't a choice!" She then turned to him, and her expression turned so pathetic something inside Sora twisted. "Please don't do this to me, Sora."
"Mom—"
"The peace of the Lord be always with you," Father Ansem interrupted, holding his arms out again in that inviting manner. Sora quickly ran back to his spot, folding his hands in front of him.
"And also with you."
"Let us offer each other a show of Christ's peace." Sora turned to shake hands with someone, but nobody was near him or would go near him. He felt officially snubbed. Father Ansem continued. "This is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world. Happy are those who are called to this table."
"Lord I am not worthy to receive you," Sora sang, turning to the priest to accept the Eucharist. "But only say the word and I shall be…"
He watched as the priest turned away from him and offered the Eucharist instead to the other altar boy.
"Lord he is not worthy to receive you…"
Sora watched in confusion as Father Ansem's expression turned from disgusted to sad and lost. "Father?"
"Not at a funeral, Sora."
'A funeral? When did this become a funeral?'
He watched in numb shock as the other altar boy, Roxas, stepped forward to speak.
"I'd like to start with just a….if we could have a moment…if maybe we were silent….or we had spoken…."
He watched as the altar suddenly turned into a coffin, and he felt sick as he saw someone lying in it, but he could not see who it was.
"Mom, what is it?" He turned to see her at the doors of the church, before she turned and ran out. "Xion? Larxene! Roxas?" Sora watched as they all turned away from him before he clutched his chest in panic.
"Is it I Lord? Is it I…?"
The coffin was suddenly slammed shut and everyone was on their feet again, circling around him as he was forced to stand on top of the altar. Their voices mingled, making it hard to understand what they were saying, but he caught a few words.
"Timothy, Romans, Corinthians, Leviticus…"
"Hate the sinner, hate the sin! Created in his image…"
"Abomination! Abomination! Abomination! Abomination!"
"Bear, the cross…."
"Bear the cross! Bear the cross!"
Sora gasped as his eyes snapped open, and he looked around to see everyone still dully sitting in their seats, half of them asleep and the other half wishing they weren't there. He saw Roxas look over at him oddly with a raised eyebrow and a smirk to show that he knew he had fallen asleep during mass, before the two turned their attention back to Father Ansem.
"Let us go forth in peace, to love and serve one another."
"Thanks be to God."
Sighing heavily, Sora watched as Roxas moved to get the Bible off of the altar, and he turned to grab the cross, before the three of them lined up as they had when they entered, leaving the church's main hall much the same way. Once they were in the back room, Sora placed the cross in its proper place and slipped out of his altar boy robes, hanging the white cloth into the closet.
"Fell asleep during mass, Sora? That's unlike you."
"Heh, yeah I guess," Sora muttered, frowning as he thought about his weird dream. "I was up late last night finishing a paper for English class."
"You hadn't finished that?" Roxas turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow incredulously. "That's not like you, either."
"I've been busy lately," Sora said lightly, shrugging a shoulder. "So I'll see you in class?"
"Yeah. Oh, and don't forget about the try-outs after school for the school play! I hear we're doing a musical version of Romeo and Juliet."
"Musical, eh?" Sora laughed a little uneasily, before he muttered a quiet 'later' to Roxas as the blond left him. He collected his backpack from where he had left it before mass, straightened his uniform sweater and tie, and left the church, walking across the fields towards the school building.
'I can't believe that I fell asleep during mass! And…that had to be the weirdest dream ever. I wonder if it was trying to tell me anything…' He thought for a moment, trying to decipher the meaning before his eyes widened and he felt a cold fear grip at his throat. 'Of course…it's just telling me what I already know. That I'm one big sin.' He sighed shakily, entering the building and walking towards his locker, muttering under his breath.
"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee…"