This is my first Catherine fanfic...thing so I'm sorry if it sucks. Due to that fact, feedback will be greatly appreciated. There aren't a lot of fanfictions for Catherine though, so I didn't really have much to compare myself with… I guess it's slightly AU, since this particular question and landing never existed in the game. Also...the question has nothing to do with romance, cheating, freedom, being tied down, or anything of the sort, and I don't intend to change it to make it fit those terms. Anyways... I really hope I got Astaroth right, that guy is hard to do. Vincent, not so much, but I still hope I got him right…-.-
Vincent took a deep breath, calming himself before stepping into the confessional. These nightmares got stressful, and if he wasn't calm then he wouldn't make it through the conversation with the mysterious voice. The voice didn't help by seemingly trying to be as taunting and infuriating as he possibly could. However, Vincent wasn't dumb. He knew that the voice controlled these nightmares to some extent, and upsetting him could make them harder than they already were.
He pulled the deep red curtain of the confessional closed behind him and glanced around the cramped room before finally sitting down on the bench at the back.
"Hey, it's me," he said.
"I see you survived that one as well," the voice said almost immediately as Vincent finished talking, in the same mischievous tone that made Vincent so uncomfortable when speaking to it. Even now, after he had heard it many times over the past few nights, he still shuddered a bit. "I must say, you're turning out to be more impressive than I previously thought. For that, I suppose I must congratulate you. It's not often I misjudge a sheep..."
"Can we just move this along?" Vincent said, flashing a glare to the grate that was his only window to the other room where the voice's owner sat, and where his sly grin was unbeknownst to Vincent. Through the grate's alternating male and female symbol shaped holes shown an unnatural light, preventing him from seeing who was in there. However, he knew whoever it was could see him.
"Eager, aren't you? How annoying...You know this is the only chance we get to talk, and you're much too interesting of a lamb for me to rush."
"Whatever. You should know I don't like talking to you anyway."
"Hey, don't be mean." The voice seemed to be pouting now. God, it was childish, and its high pitched tone helped give Vincent the idea that it might have been a child on the other side of the wall. The thought made him smirk a bit. However, as he remembered the true evil of the voice underneath the way it sounded he quickly extinguished the thought and the smile.
"Come on, just ask the question. I want to wake up already."
"So impatient…" The voice sighed. "Fine, and don't worry, you're getting close to the Cathedral and end of this world. I'm getting excited… This is something that hasn't happened in the longest time!"
"Well that's a change," Vincent said, chuckling a bit.
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"Before you said there was no chance I'd get out, now it's like you want me to succeed." The voice was silent for a moment, then began to laugh.
"Oh, don't misinterpret me, little lamb. I wouldn't mind if you died in the next climb, but you are awfully close, and it's so rare an occasion… Don't blame me for being so excited about seeing if you'll succeed or not. Now, you wanted your question, right?"
The other, deeper, disembodied voice echoed through the confessional, booming out Vincent's highly anticipated question.
"If you died, would you want your friends and family to be upset about it?" The two golden tassels descended and all fell silent as everything in the world seemed to await Vincent's answer.
This question was a bit complicated, Vincent realized as he stared at the slightly swaying tassels, right for Yes, left for No. He wouldn't want them to be too upset, but he didn't want them not to care at all. Vincent mulled it over for a bit, finally deciding to be honest, and pulling on the selected tassel. As he did, they both faded to nothingness.
"I expected that from you," the voice said, sounding as condescending as ever. But still, I'm curious about why you chose that. Care to tell me?"
"I'd rather not," Vincent said, gripping the edge of the velvet padded bench tighter and staring at the light streaming through the golden grate.
"Hm, oh well," the voice hummed. "I don't really mind. Now, let's get you to the next stairway. I'll see you at the next landing, if you survive." The confessional lurched a bit, before propelling up into the air like a rocket.
The owner of the voice watched it go from his own section of the confessional, which hadn't gone up with it's counterpart.
"That sheep is definitely interesting," he murmured, leaning back and watching until the confessional/elevator disappeared. "I wonder if he really will make it out of here alive…" He grinned. "I guess all I can do is wait and see."