Father Feliciano was staring out the window, watching the rain pour as he stroked his rosary and prayed in his native language.
"Padre nostro, che sei nei cieli, sia santificato il tuo nome, venga il tuo regno-".
His afternoon prayer was interrupted when he heard a knock on the door. The Italian turned the doorknob to find a familiar face. It was Arthur Kirkland, a devoted member of the church who recently got engaged with a beautiful lady from Seychelles. However, Michelle had broken up their engagement for unknown reasons.
"Ciao Arthur, how can I help you?"
The priest said with his usual cheerful voice as he opened the door and allowed him to enter.
"Father I have excellent news! Michelle told me that she still wants to marry me so our engagement continues".
The Brit had a big smile, he seemed very proud of himself. While the brunette just stared at him in surprise, seemingly confused, but he pretended to be enthusiastic.
"Congratulations! I'm glad that you two decided to continue with the marriage".
The British nodded, taking a bottle of wine from a paper bag he was carrying and handed it to the Italian, who received with a gentle smile.
"Here's a present from our part, if it weren't because of your constant meetings with her, she changed her mind and now will be my bride".
Feliciano chuckled and shook his head, leaving the wine bottle on his desk, beside his rosary and bible.
"There's no need to thank me".
He said humbly and the British began walking towards the door, signaling that he was gping to leave.
"I hope you can be our mentor for the path of marriage. I wish I could stay a bit longer but I have to get going".
The Italian waved goodbye at him and glared at him leave his office and then the church, he didn't stop staring until he left the building. Then the priest rushed back to his desk to open the wine bottle. As soon as he managed to open it he chugged the beverage down until he couldn't take it anymore, putting the bottle down. A priest shouldn't be having so much wine, and he especially shouldn't be drinking so much just because he was heartbroken. How could she do such a thing to him? Sure he knew that his relationship with Michelle wasn't going anywhere but for god's sake did he love her. The Italian didn't expect her to suddenly engage to Arthur again, he thought that she was going to be her forever lover, but he was a fool to think that. After all, he was a priest and she was an engaged woman with a bright future in from of her along a wonderful man like mr Kirkland.
The brunette stumbled upon a bookshelf, he was starting to get a bit tipsy and a little dizzy, but he didn't care. He felt like the only thing that could make him feel a little better was to drown his sorrows in alcohol, and he did. In just a few minutes the bottle was empty and the Italian was on the floor, hugging his knees. His stomach was hurting so much. It was a sharp pain as if someone just stabbed him multiple times. His body was feeling hot and cold at the same time. Feliciano didn't know what was going on, he had been drunk before joining priesthood and he never felt this way before. His palms were sweaty and he was shaking involuntarily and couldn't get up from the ground. Then the pain worsens and he was having difficulty breathing. The priest began coughing, trying to get a grasp of air but he couldn't, he could barely breathe. A few seconds later, he was laying dead on the floor.
"Where am I?"
He asked himself as he rose from the ground slowly, with his legs trembling, and looked around his surroundings. It was a place he had never seen before, the room was completely white with no doors or windows. The Italian rubbed his eyes, perhaps he was dreaming. When he opened his eyes he was still in the same place. Feliciano began walking around the four walls he was stuck in, there seemed to be no way in or out, which led him to the conclusion that he was dead. He looked down on his hands and noticed they were pale as a paper, there was no doubt that he was dead, but that place didn't look like heaven.
"Hello? Is anyone here? Can anyone hear me?"
He yelled desperately, bumping the walls with his fists as he started panicking.
"Oh my god, am I in hell?"
The priest cried out, running towards the corner of the room and hiding himself there.
"Dear god please don't, I know I did many bad things and that I have broken my holy vows but please, give me another chance. I-I don't want to die yet!"
He begged and pleaded, kneeling down on the floor as he held the crucifix on his neck and began praying in Italian.
"O Gesů, perdona le nostre colpe, preservaci dal fuoco dell'inferno-".
His prayer was interrupted again by a familiar voice.
"Where the fuck am I?"
Feliciano turned around and saw his brother, in the same room as him, cursing and kicking the walls angrily.
"F-fratello!?"
As soon as Lovino heard his brother's boy he turned around and sprinted towards him.
"Feli, what are you doing here?"
The priest hugged his brothers tightly and Lovi corresponded, normally he would have pushed Feli away but this time it was different.
"I don't understand, why are you dead?"
He asked his little brother, patting his head since the little Italian couldn't stop crying.
"I think there was poison in my wine, and you?".
Lovino raised an eyebrow and looked at him suspiciously, someone must have poisoned his brother's wine. If he was alive he would beat the hell out of whoever killed his little brother.
"You know how the life of a mob boss is. Sooner or later I was going to die in the business".
Lovino shrugged, knowing well that the lifestyle he chose had consequences. But he was thankful enough to find himself in the purgatory, because that was it right? And at least his brother would be by his side to spend eternity with.
"Wait a minute, you're a priest, shouldn't you be in heaven now?"
The brunette looked away embarrassed, he didn't know how to break Lovino the news of the things he had done before dying.
"I may have broken some of my holy vows".
Lovino slapped his forehead, why was his fratello so stupid? Since Feli came up with that idea of wanting to be a priest, he told him it was a bad decision because he knew what kind of man his brother was. If only he had listened to his wise big brother.
"At least we're in the purgatory right?"
He said, while still petting the Italian's head.
"We're in the where?"
A loud American asked as he appeared in the room with another blonde boy with glasses hiding behind him.
"Alfred, I think we're dead".
The Canadian said, looking around the room and touching the white walls all around them.
"Who the fuck are these people!?"
Lovino growled, frustrated that he was going to spend eternity with other loudmouth morons.
"I'm Matthew and this is my brother Alfred, we died because someone started to drive in the middle of a tornado in the fast and furious way".
He introduced himself and after slapped Alfred in the back of his head, making the American whimper.
"And who's that chick over there?"
Alfred pointed at the Hungarian who was just sitting on the floor, observing her surroundings.
"Hey there, I'm Elizabeta, nice to meet y'all".
She said as if she was just hanging out with them in the mall or something, which made Feliciano terribly confused. Don't they realize that they are all dead and stuck in the purgatory? Isn't that scary to everyone? Apparently not.
"Ohonhonhon, I'm so glad we're having some female company here".
A Frenchman said as he chuckled and approached the girl to give her a kiss on the hand.
Lovino stared at them all with hatred. Who the hell were all these people and why were they all together? Perhaps because they died at the same time?
"Fratello, I don't understand what's happening".
Feliciano asked, glancing at all the strangers he was going to spend eternity with.
"Mon cher, clearly we're all dead! Because all of you look awful except miss Elizabeta and me".
Francis giggled and judged everyone in his mind. One of the Italians was pale as a ghost and the other one had a few bullets in his chest. The American and Canadian had glass stuck on their faces due to the car crash and the Hungarian seemed fine until you looked at the back of her head.
"You don't look that good, you have like a weird mark on your neck, what did you die of?"
Alfred asked, curious of what the judgy Frenchman had died of.
"Autoerotic asphyxiation".
He replied as if it wasn't anything extraordinary, then everyone in the room was quiet staring at each other.
"It's more common that you think!"
He argued, but the group discussion ended when a door appeared in the room and it creaked open. 6 people entered, although they didn't exactly look like people, more like 3 angels and 3 demons. One of the demons with slicked blonde hair and blue eyes stood in the middle, he seemed like some authoritative figure.
"Welcome to the purgatory, my name is Ludwig and I'm in charge of the demon lawyers. My colleague Antonio is in charge of the angels. Your stay at the purgatory is only momentary, everyone will be assigned a lawyer, whether it's a demon or an angel it doesn't matter. He will defend your cause in front of the court and your faith will be decided if you go to heaven or hell. Now, the lawyers will approach you and take you to their office for an interview, please give your full collaboration".
The priest stood in the same place he was, confused on what was going on. He had never read about this in the bible. The purgatory was a place where you're supposed to pay for your sins and it was the middle part of heaven and hell. Supposedly you couldn't move on from it, but apparently that wasn't true. Feliciano's whole doctrine was falling apart as well as his hopes for getting to heaven when he saw the main demon Ludwig walk over to him.
"Hello, I'm your demon defendant".