Before a statue of Jesus Christ stood a horned young man. He stared back at the bearded messiah, lost in thought. A part of him wanted to destroy it, but that would attract unwanted attention. Religious folk were paranoid as is around him. Members of his gang were religious too and thought him a genuine demon passing judgment as well as indulging in the suffering no matter many times he told them he was a mutant. Too many people judged him by appearance alone, just as they did the statue.

The flowery scent of a sixteen-year-old Dominican woman made his nose twitch.

He turned and saw an olive-skinned girl in a white gown with black hood approaching with a curious look on her face.

"¿Busca absolución?" She glanced at his horns. "Ningún pecado es demasiado grande para el mesías."

"Puedes…" He shook his head. "Can you speak English?"

"Yes," she said in a typical Bronx accent. "Are yo-"

"No. I don't even believe in sin."

She frowned. "Then you are likely a sinner or a man without faith. Typical of the young these days."

Kojo shot her a look.

"I was raised here. My parents left me at the monastery's doorstop long ago."

He laughed. "Some fucking parents they were."

"They did what they thought was best. Even if I was not wanted by them, I am thankful they gave me to the Lord. My life has purpose thanks to faith."

"What if it isn't real?" He asked, frowning.

"Then it isn't. When I die, I will at least know I lived my life as just and good as my faith entails."

Kojo looked her up and down. "So you chose to devote yourself to it? Are you sure it's not because you were raised into this?"

"The love of God is all I need." She scowled at his appraising gaze. "He is my husband and looks down on wandering eyes."

"What's wrong with appreciating the sight of a woman?"

"The more a man looks at women he does not love, the less he will at his one true love. While relations before marriage is natural, it's best to remain pure until so lest your body ache for others or past lovers. Fidelity in nearly everything is vital, isn't it?"

"Even if it's to a criminal or genocide?"

She frowned. "I said nearly everything."

"What's wrong with crime and genocide then?" Kojo grinned. "One's just a symptom of financial instability in society and the other's a symptom of nature. If you don't commit crime, you get stuck working as a slave for shit pay or starvation. If you don't commit genocide, you risk the opposing people coming back to take more of your tribe's lives."

"Crime leads to more instability as it shows other immorals the rule of law is weak. Genocide is wrong because other peoples can be convinced or converted. Alternatives without pain and suffering exist, so they are wrong."

"If causing pain and suffering is what makes wrong, how are things like drugging, raping, and lying wrong? Pleasure can be a factor in all three."

"Yes, can be. They are still violations that cause pain and suffering."

He stepped forward and looked at the nun's hips. "Why don't I show you good in wrong to show you how full of shit that is?"

"Even if good came from a wrong, it does not change the wrong those actions still cause." She stepped back. "My love is for God alone."

"What is love?" Kojo looked back up to the young woman's lovely face. "I keep fucking hearing that, but I still don't understand."

"It can be many things: affection, appreciation, devotion, and care. In the end, it depends on you."

"Then it doesn't exist because it has no meaning to me."

She tilted her head. "Like sin?"

"Yeah. It's all meaningless."

The girl's eyes softened.

He blinked. "What?"

"It's sad. Your words carry much bitterness. Like so many others, you're in need of salvation."

Kojo burst into air-shaking laughter.

The nun took another step back at his extreme amusement.

"When I was seven years old, I'd already killed so many people it felt like walking to me. They tried to hurt me just for being alive. They hurt others and kept me awake with their bullshit, so I killed them. And then people called me a monster, like I was supposed to just lay down and die." He grit his teeth. "Salvation? I gave them salvation, and they threw it back in my face. Even now, I'm saving them, but they look at me and see a demon! They see power they can never have or control." He chuckled. "In the end, it's power and control that dictates right and wrong. Everything I do is right, and everyone who tries to stop me is wrong." Advancing on the woman, he snaked an arm around her waist, resting his hand on her backside.

"S-Stop!"

"I'm a virgin too. Maybe you're my true love, huh?" Kojo grinned as she beat her hands against his chest. "I didn't know if I was into girls or sex at all for a while, but I think that's just because I had other interests. Now I've been getting these urges." He raised his hand and brought it down, drawing a cry. "I've even been looking at other guys."

"You sick monster!"

"If I am, let your precious husband strike me down. All he's gonna do is watch." He wrapped his other arm around her torso, holding her in a close embrace. "Let's go somewhere more private though: father and son doesn't feel like my thing." He hopped to the roof of the church and took off into the sky with his capture.

She looked down at the buildings below before securing herself on her captor. "¡Hijo de Dios!"

He laughed as he hopped off another roof. "Beautiful, isn't it? It's mine. Everything is going to be mine." He nuzzled her cheek. "Just like you."

"I don't want this!"

"Then stop me. Fight me tooth and nail." His smile shifted into a frown. "You've lived in peace until now, haven't you? No real conflict or fear in your life except for the occasional gunshot, huh? It's easy to believe in bullshit when you've never had someone who fought you on it." Snickering, he rubbed his groping hand against the girl. "Don't tell me you're not the least bit flattered: I mean, look at me."

"Y-You!"

"Look fantastic? I know."

She parted her lips and closed them when they began picking up far more speed.

They landed in a section of Pelham Bay Park beyond prying eyes.

He ripped her clothes off and slipped out of his own.

She did her best to cover herself to no avail.

In a slice of nature, a demon violated a holy woman.

"That felt amazing." He looked down at the tired girl in his arms.

She looked away.

"...Hey." He lifted her head up by the chin. "You never gave me your name."

The nun stared into his sparkling eyes.

"It's okay. I didn't hurt you, did I? What you think is wrong isn't nearly as bad as you think it is. I once flayed this asshole alive with my fingers for the hell if it. You should've been there to hear him screaming, begging for death."

She blinked.

"Come on, tell me."

"...I'm Hortensia. Just Hortensia. Who are you?"

"Kojo. Just Kojo. I've always been Kojo." He grimaced. "Actually, it's Kojo Reyes. I don't know why, but I always introduce myself three times."

"...Trinity."

He raised an eyebrow.

She shook her head. "Never mind. Can you take me home?"

"Why would I do that? You're my woman now."

Hortensia's eyes welled with tears.

"Don't…" He sighed. "Fine." Kojo put on his pants and slipped his shirt over her. "I might've gotten carried away."

She shot him a look.

"You were licking and sucking my fingers just a minute ago; don't act all innocent."

Tears streamed down her cheeks.

He held her and took off before she could break down.

Over a year passed since that day.

Kojo hopped from roof to roof through Hunts Point. He did this quite often, having little else to do since the Bratva attack several months ago. The piles of corpses he left of bounty hunting assassins also helped. It was annoying him to no end.

The sight of a familiar monastery made him stop on the next roof.

A stand was set in front of the entrance, and a group of nuns manned it

He saw her.

Immediately, they were standing two feet away from each other.

Everyone but her froze at the sight of him.

"Kojo," Hortensia said.

He grinned. "Hey… It's been a long time, huh?

Her eyes stared back at his, dull and soft.

"What's wrong?"

The other nuns glared at him.

His eyes remained on the young woman. "Are you mad at me?"

She shook her head before turning to the church entrance. "There's something you need to see." She began walking and beckoned him.

Kojo followed with a frown.

They went through the monastery of shocked preachers and nuns to a courtyard of sorts, a courtyard with grave stones. A handful of them and the convent leader followed them. Step by step, they passed by the resting places of holy men and women long since dead. It was more a memorial ground than burial.

She stopped by a small grave.

Kojo blinked as the gravestone shared his true name. "What is…" His gaze froze on the current year etched below it.

"He was a beautiful baby boy. Giving birth was the most painful experience of my life, but the sight of his red face crying made me forget all that." Hortensia smiled. "Even though father and my sisters berated me, I couldn't help wanting to find you. I wanted to show you him. I was sure just the sight of him would save you from yourself. Something beautiful and good came from something so ugly and wrong." Tears spilled from her eyes. "Then one day, he didn't wake up. I held him, prayed over him, and tries nursing him, but he was dead. Our baby boy was dead."

"…"

She looked up into his still eyes. "I don't expect anything of you. I only wanted to show you this because he was your son, and he deserved his father's love." She frowned. "Do you truly…" Her words were lost as the light inside his eyes died. "Kojo?"

He was frozen.

Hortensia stood on her toes and kissed his cheek. She turned to the livid, stomping convent leader and shook her head.

The preacher took one look at the young man and forgot his anger.

He was already dead.

They left him.

Hours and hours passed with no change. When the sun fell and rose, he finally hopped out into into the Bronx. He leapt from roof to roof with the same look on his face. Hours faded into days, which merged with weeks. Then he tripped on a misstep and flung himself into a wall.

An unrestrained hum from his throat shook the air.

"Did he know? Did he ever have a thought something like me could exist? Did he understand what her touch meant?" He fell out the wall on to the roof. "Was he scared? Was he too cold? Was he at peace?" His arms sculpted through the roof material. "Did…. Did his small life even…" He pulled out a small chunk of granite and rocked it. "No, of course it did. It… It's okay. It's okay, little Kojo. Your father's here. Nothing's going to hurt you. No one ever will like they hurt me. Like I… hurt them. You're going to be different." His hands tightened. "You're going to b-"

It broke into dozens of pieces in his grasp.

"...Oh, right. He's already dead."

He fell limp and closed his eyes.

In his mind, he dreamed of his father and his mother together with him. Abuelita and Dan congratulated him on his success. Marcus stood at his side at the wedding. Hortensia fed their child in contentment. He could hold on to them all without breaking them.

Then he woke up and remembered what he had done.

"Love… Love isn't real. Something like love can't exist in this world."

It didn't help him at all.