A/N: Yeah guys, I know it's been forever but here's a new chapter lol. I was gonna post this in July honestly, but some personal stuff came up and I lost all motivation to work on anything. I'm only starting to get back in the groove of things so hopefully, there will be updates to some of my other works soon as well. This chapter is titled 'Interlude' but I promised plot and man here is where things start to happen! There are a few POV switches but I'll usually try to keep it to one narrator per chapter. Anyhow, I hope you guys enjoy this and tell me what you think!
To NightHunterDeath: I hope that message I sent you (months ago lol ;-;) helped in understanding what was going on.
To yesboss21: This is going to sound awful but I'm really happy that I got such a strong reaction! (Even the crying lol). I always wonder if people feel the mood I try to write this fic in, so it's reassuring to know that you feel so strongly (and positively) about it! Thanks for reading!
To lizyeh2000: I'm glad you like it so far! Sorry for the hectic update schedule, I hope you enjoy this chapter!
To LordKirkleton: I had some worries about introducing so many characters at once, so man, am I relieved that they're easy to understand and that people seem to enjoy the story so far. Thanks for reading!
To Guest: I'm glad you liked it! I hope this next chapter doesn't disappoint! C
The Rose Cross on Jelani's coat glistened under the hot Spanish sun.
It was early morning and he had just left the church where he had spent the night in search for the train station. His mission in the Rio Tinto mines might have been over but that didn't mean he could return to the Order just yet. On the way back from the mines his mission partner had gotten a call on her golem, one that was meant for him and that gave him the instructions for his next mission. It wasn't anything particularly difficult, just to meet up with a pair of Finders at the Trigueros train station for the newest golem prototype and follow them back to Ayamonte to investigate the possibility of Akuma in the town.
The only issue with fulfilling that assignment was this:
He was hopelessly lost.
Now, that's not to say he had ended up in the middle of nowhere without any idea of what country he was in- but as soon as he left the church behind him in his search for the train station, that of which he had been at only a day before if he may add, he had lost track of which way to go. He paused and peered at a nearby building.
Hadn't he passed that ten minutes ago?
He looked at his surroundings, seeing a familiar pair of women from earlier standing in the shade of the nearby trees. The fact that they were still there proved that he was just going in circles. He scowled and glared at the sky, using the sleeve of his uniform to dab at the sweat beading on his forehead. Why was the Spanish heat so humid?
Jelani just wanted to get to the damn train station so he could actually finish the mission. But instead, he was stuck wandering around until he sucked up his pride enough to ask for directions. He sighed and glanced back at the nearby women. The looked nice enough, maybe they wouldn't mind helping him out.
One of the women stopped talking to her friend and cocked her head in his direction, a curious look entering her gray eyes as she looked him over. Jelani didn't react. He was used to people peering at his uniform as if wondering what purpose it served. It wasn't something many people would understand, those that did were ones to be cautious of. Anyone that willingly approached an Exorcist was immediately to be regarded with suspicion.
Jelani's eyes narrowed as the woman said something to the companion she had been walking beside, a blonde woman with a wide straw hat and a flowy pink dress; and looked in his direction once more. His suspicion only grew as the woman split away from her friend, who moved to wait for the woman underneath the shade of a nearby tree.
The woman approached with careful steps. Her hair was long and brown, it streamed down her back, ending at the base of her spine; and moved with every sway of her hips as she drew nearer. She wore a simple blue dress, the hem brushing the tops of her sandaled feet with each of her steps. Her lips were curved downward at the edges by the smallest amount. "Disculpe señor, esta bien?" ("Excuse me sir, are you alright?")
Jelani tilted his head to the side, not letting the woman or her friend out of his line of sight. Now, what was the chance that this woman was an Akuma? He decided to reply honestly, regardless of whether the woman was human or not. Behaving normally was always the best way to draw out Akuma, especially when they approached Exorcists first.
"Estoy un poco perdido." ("I'm a little lost.") He said.
It was true. He wasn't accustomed to the finding his way around without the help of Finders to make sure he didn't lose his way to his destination. He gave the woman a bashful smile and watched how her face brightened in realization.
The woman shot him a dimpled grin that would have had him flustered if he had been one-hundred percent sure she was a human. As it was, he felt his cheeks warm. "Lo puedo ayudar si quiere." ("I can help you if you want,") She said, "Donde quiere ir?" ("Where do you want to go?")
"La estación de tren," He told her. ("The train station.)
She wrinkled her freckled nose and her eyebrows scrunched up cutely as she thought. "Creo," ("I think,") She began, tilting her head as if making a mental map to the station. Her fingers tapped her leg softly.
"Tiene que seguir derecho en esa direction," ("You have to keep on walking straight in that direction,") She raised a hand and gestured to the end of the road beside her. "Y después tomar la ultima izquierda hasta que mire la estación. No se lo puede perder." ("And then take the last left until you see the station. You can't miss it.")
"Gracias por la ayuda." ("Thanks for the help.")
"No hay problema." ("There's no problem,") The woman said with a chiming laugh. Her grey eyes twinkled mischievously. "Fue un placer." ("It was a pleasure.")
"Mi nombre es Jelani," ("My name is Jelani,") He offered with a flirtatious grin, winking at the beautiful woman that had helped him so willingly. It didn't mean that his hand moved anywhere out of reach of his Innocence though. "Espero verla si paso por Trigueros otra vez." ("I hope to see you if I pass by Trigueros again.")
"Lo mirare otra vez," ("I'll see you again,") The woman promised as she brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear. "Estoy segura que lo miraré otra vez." ("I'm sure I'll see you again.")
Before she could turn away Jelani stopped her with a gentle touch to her arm. He quickly withdrew his hand when she looked at him with her head cocked in confusion.
"Espere, si no la hace incómoda, me podria decir cual es su nombre?" He asked cautiously, not wanting to come off as impolite but eager to know. ("Wait, if it doesn't make you uncomfortable, could you tell me what your name is?")
The woman laughed, the corner of her pretty grey eyes crinkling with mirth. She leaned in close, a movement that had his hand jerking around the handle of his Innocence, and whispered in his ear. She pulled away with a giggle and smiled, moving away from him and towards her friend once more.
This time he made no move to stop her.
Jelani found the train station after that, a slight blush on his dusky cheeks.
The conversation that followed, however, was enough to make the smile die on his lips.
Her name echoed in his ears.
The peach skin split easily under Rénee's teeth, juice bubbling up and flowing, sweet and tart, onto her tongue. She closed her eyes and hummed at the taste, savoring the fresh fruit and swinging her feet off the edge of the harbor docks. The Guadiana licked at her exposed toes, the river water cool and fresh in the summer heat. The chill of the water blunted the edge off heat wave; while a slight breeze cooled the sweat sticking the billowing fabric of her dress to her skin.
Inez lingered nearby, gaze drifting from the sparkling water of the river to the town on the other side of it- to the town of Vila Real de Santo Antônio lining the edge of the Portuguese border.
She had said little since picking Rénee up from her home, besides offering her a small smile and a soft farewell to a sniffling Maria Elena before they went their way. Her abuela had caught a cold out of nowhere and had wanted Rénee out of the house until she was fully recovered.
It was odd that Inez had volunteered for the task of caring for her when Maria Elena had broached the subject in the church after last night's service. Even when she had finally returned to the church services, it was rare for her to speak more than a few words to anyone at a time. That's was most likely the reason Maria Elena conceded so easily; considering it was the most Inez had been willing to interact with others in recent weeks, she hadn't had the heart to refuse the woman's offer of help.
Rénee sighed, taking another bite of her peach.
She could understand the reasoning behind the decision of having someone else watch her but being without her abuelita in the wake of the Finder's departure made her wary. Like somehow they had seen what she truly was inside and would appear from the shadows to snatch her away from here; swept into those labs where the dead weren't allowed to remain dead and humans turned into monsters when crystals of God rejected their souls.
That was something she wouldn't have remembered on her own, not without the images of- screaming and flashes of white; cubes of Innocence pressed against people's heaving chests; consuming mind and body; monstrous behemoths bleeding light and spinning, spinning, spinning; souls warping and warping, falling down, down, down when God struck them down for the sin of wanting to fight in a war they were not chosen for- her nightmares to embed them freshly into her mind.
There wasn't truly anything to fear from the Finders, at least nothing that she could tell. She didn't ever see them around Ayamonte when they were still in town and Maria Elena hadn't mentioned running into any of them. She's sure her grandmother would have said something about it by now, something like, "No tengas miedo de esos extraños, querida. Son nada más que personas normales, como tu y yo." ("Don't be afraid of those strangers, dear. They're normal people, just like you and me.")
Knowing that there was nothing to fear did little to ease her paranoia. So she distracted herself, pushing the niggling suspicion that something was coming; something that would make the appearance of the Finders seem as important as an ant crushed underfoot by accident.
She exhaled and focused on the way the sun shined brightly overhead. On the way, the wispy clouds lined the deep azure skies in thin white lines. On how in the distance, a small ferry sailed toward Portugal from the Ayamonte harbor.
"Rénee," Inez said, voice faint and nowhere near the strong, booming one that she had always heard in the marketplace when passing the woman's stall before the incident. "Quiero preguntarte algo." ("Rénee, I want to ask you something.")
Rénee tilted her head back to peer at Inez curiously. "Si, Doña Inez?"
"Esos hombres que estuvieron aquí hace unos días atraz," ("Those men that were here a few days ago,") Immediately, Rénee's fingers tightened on the peach, bruising the shape of her grasp into the tender flesh. Her heart leapt to her throat. "Los unos vestidos en blanco. Que pensastes de ellos?" ("The ones dressed in white. What did you think of them?")
"They were an omen," she wanted to say, "a sign that bad things will be coming this way. They were a nightmare, proof that monsters do exist and it wasn't just a dream. I wish they had never come. I wish they had stayed away."
Rénee cleared her throat, licking her suddenly dry lips. "Me dieron miedo," ("They scared me,") she said instead, "estoy feliz que se fueron." ("I'm glad they went away.")
"Oh?" Inez moved closer, footsteps thudding softly on the wooden dock. "No me gustaron tampoco." ("I didn't like them either.") Her hand gently landed on Rénee head, carefully petting her hair. "Que alivio que te sientes igual." ("What a relief that you feel the same.")
Rénee leaned her head into Inez's hands, eyes half-lidded and oddly pleased at the praise from the older woman, no matter how strange the praise was, to begin with. Against her chest, the crystal glowed in the morning sun, growing hot in the direct light.
"Es hora de irnos de aquí," ("It's time for us to leave,") Inez mused, mouth curled into a ghost of a smile, "Pronto comienza el servicio, y no será bueno no atender." ("The service will start soon, and it would not be good for us not attend.")
Inez pulled away and Rénee was embarrassed to admit she was disappointed- that this new life had left her ravenous for affection, for a reason to keep on living despite the creature that she was. But they were going to church now, for the early morning mass- one of the busiest in Ayamonte- and there would be plenty of people willing to give her head pats there.
In the distance the bells of the church tolled.
And so Rénee smiled back at Inez, absentmindedly tucking the heated necklace back into the collar of her dress, pressed against her skin but not as hot as before. She slid her sandals on her feet, as wet as they were. Then, she slipped her hand into Inez's, not quite tugging but eagerly towing her in the direction of the church. The coldness of Inez's fingers distracted from the heat of her necklace, crystal pressed against her skin and growing hot once more.
"Estan seguros?" ("Are you sure?") Jelani asked, voice a low whisper that filled the vacant room, "Estan seguros que eso era su nombre?" ("Are you sure that was her name?")
-He watched, dazed, as the woman strode away. He replayed the words she had whispered over and over again until he could utter them by heart-
The shortest of the Finders hesitated for only a moment before reaching into the depths of the satchel at his side and withdrawing an aged newspaper. Jelani took it with a single hand, calloused fingers tracing the bold headline of the newspaper.
-"Mi nombre es Teresa Castillo," ("My name is Teresa Castillo,") She had said, with a bright smile curling her lips upward. "Pero me puedes llamar Rénee." ("But you can call me Rénee.")-
"Estamos seguros, Señor Exorcista." ("We're sure, Exorcist sir.") The Finder's voice did not waver, eyes meeting Jelani's in a determined moment, "Eso es el nombre de la primera víctima." ("That was the name of the first victim.")
Jelani's throat was dry. The grey eyes that had made his heart race belonged to a monster, a killer, a twisted soul. He raised his hand to grasp at the base of the staff on his back and took a shaky breath. He pressed his mouth in a firm line. "Teresa Castillo," he murmured.
And around him, church bells tolled.
The marketplace was bustling with gossip by the time they drew near. The clamor of mingling voices rising above all else despite the early hour of the day. It was hard to make out what the center of the attention was and Inez's steps were too quick for Rénee to hear much of anything, either way, so she just focused on keeping up.
The heat today was sticky, clinging to her skin and leaving the air tasting strongly of the sea. The airy fabric of her dress kept her from overheating and Rénee couldn't help but admire the soft green as it swished around her knees.
Green wasn't really her favorite color but it sure was nice to look at sometimes. Especially in the dresses and shirts that her Maria Elena took the time to make for her.
The heavy wood doors of the church were propped open with a stack of three bricks. Father Antonio lingered near the entrance, a gentle smile on his face and the corner of his eyes crinkled in warmth. "Bienvenidos," he called over to them as they approached, "Estoy feliz verlos de nuevo." ("Welcome, I'm glad to see you again.")
Rénee peered past him, spotting Sofia inside the church and smiling at the warm look in her eyes as she spoke to her husband-to-be. Rénee bounced on the balls of her feet, enjoying the way the hard soles of her shoes clicked against the cobblestone.
Father Antonio lowered his voice so that his words wouldn't carry into the church. He shook Inez's hands carefully, looking her over with an intent gaze, "Has estado cuidandote, Inez?" ("Have you been taking care of yourself, Inez?")
Rénee, feeling the mood shift into something more somber, tugged on Inez's skirt urgently, "Esta bien si voy a jugar con Sofia?" ("Is it okay if go play with Sofia?") Inez spared her a glance but nodded and Rénee beamed, politely tilting her head to Father Antonio and scurrying through the open doors.
"Sofia!" She called as she hurried closer to the altar, digging through her pockets for the seashell she found earlier, "Mira, te traje algo! Lo encontré esta mañana cuando Inez me llevo al rio!" ("Look, I brought you something! I found it this morning when Inez took me to the river!")
The young woman turned around in surprise, skirt swishing around her ankles and lips curled in mirth. "Es mi turno recibir un regalo tuyo, Rénee?" ("Is it my turn to get one of your gifts, Rénee?") She mused, squatting down to meet her eye-to-eye. Sofia rubbed her hands together, overplaying her excitement but sending Rénee bursting into peals of delighted laughter as she wriggled her eyebrows. "Okay, pequeñita, dejame ver cual es la sorpresa." ("Okay, little one, let me see what the surprise is.")
Rénee pouted, "Tienes que cerrar los ojos! No es una sorpresa si ya sabes que es." ("You have to close your eyes! It's not a surprise if you know what it is.")
Sofía gave a haughty little sniff, "Tal vez no quiero cerrar los ojos, has pensado en eso?" ("Maybe I don't want to close my eyes, have you thought of that?) She crossed her arms across her chest dramatically, "No hiciste que Rocío cerrara los ojos cuando le distes un regalo a ella. Esto es discriminación!" ("You didn't make Rocio close her eyes when you gave her a gift. This is discrimination!")
Rénee stuck out her tongue and blew a raspberry, "Entonces no te lo voy a dar!" ("Then I won't give it to you!")
"Ven aqui!" ("Come here!") Sofia roared with a dramatic lunge, fingers wriggling in the air as her arms reached out to grab her. Her skirt billowed around her ankles, flowy fabric swishing as she took quick steps toward the younger girl. Rénee squealed and ran away, ducking between the legs of amused town folk and the wooden pews lined in the chamber.
Sofia chased her for solid five minutes, face flushed but smile wide. Rénee narrowly avoided capture and threw herself towards Inez, grabbing hold of Inez's skirt and hid her face into it, giggling into the black fabric and occasionally turning to peer back at Sofia. The young woman slowly moved towards her, making grabby hands at her as she closed the distance between them, and the other churchgoers around them very carefully pretended that they couldn't see the entire interaction.
Clearly the woman could see her, but a childish instinct urged Rénee to keep on hiding behind Inez's skirt- as if by doing so, she was stopping Sofia from seeing her too. It was a behavior that she never expected from herself until her body reacted without her thinking. It was something that both relieved her and filled her with disgust- because this body clearly belonged to a child, reacted like a child, as if she was a child and not the twisted dead thing she truly was.
It left her with a dreadful feeling she couldn't dwell on in public.
But one that haunted her, all the same.
"Rénee," Sofia sang, wiggling her fingers, dusky cheeks flushing from the amused glance her fiance shot her but eyes twinkling all the same, "Ven aquiiii!" ("Come hereee!")
And Rénee pulled her face away from Inez's skirt long enough to make an ugly face at Sofia, bursting into loud laughter at the faux expression of affront on the woman's face. She opened her mouth to say something, something perhaps like, 'You'll never catch me!' or 'I'm not afraid!'.
Then, he appeared from the back of the church and time stood still for a long moment-
-one day, her heart would stop, freeze mid-beat at the sight of the black coat and a Rose Cross; her hands would shake and her tongue would grow heavy in her mouth; she would see her face reflected in the shiny silver and the memory of Ayamonte would make her sick to her stomach-
-before starting once more with a shuddering tick.
Her words caught in her throat and though she didn't see it, Rénee felt the way her face twisted in terror, how her eyes widened until they took up most of the room on her ashen face. Sofia's hand immediately dropped to her sides and her playful smirk fell into a worried slant of her lips.
"Pequeña, estás bien? Te asuste de realidad?" ("Little one, are you okay? Did I scare you for real?") But Rénee hardly heard the words. She didn't even notice that her hands had tightened so much in Inez's skirt that the fabric appeared on the verge of tearing. Inez didn't say a thing though. Simply placing her hand the crown of her head and giving her a gentle pat.
"Parece que lo buscan, Padre." ("It seems that there's someone seeking you out, Father.")
Father Antonio turned away from Inez, giving her an apologetic glance and placing his attention on the man quickly approaching. Rénee's heart stuttered in her chest with every step that he took.
The Exorcist stood tall and fierce, a man in his mid-twenties with coils of dark dreads brushing the shoulders of the black coat he wore. His mouth was twisted in what could only be displeasure as his long legs swiftly ate up the space between him and Father Antonio. His thick eyebrows were furrowed together in thought, and the combination of his small actions made the expression on his face a troubled one.
"Padre," he began, voice a respectful tone but laced with urgency, "Necesito hablar con usted sobre una de los pasados attendees de su iglesia." ("Father, I need to speak with you about one of the past attendees of your church.")
Father Antonio's response was lost amidst Sofia's murmured reassurances, lost behind the warmth of Inez's hand as she brushed Rénee's hair from her face with wizened fingers.
Out of from the back hallway came the Finders, the same ones that had stopped by town less than a week ago and sparked the sleepless nights that haunted her every time she closed her eyes for longer than five minutes.
Maybe, Rénee thought locking eyes with the taller of the Finder duo and feeling her throat tighten painfully, maybe she had been so awful in her past life that she had been cursed in this one. Maybe the stain of who she had been had sunk so deeply into this reality, that the only way to be sure that reality didn't unravel was to remind her that in the end, she was just a parasite clinging to a life she stole. To punish her for the sin of existing.
Maybe she deserved the mind-numbing terror that kept the tears from bubbling in her eyes, that drowned her in a fog of despair she couldn't claw her way out of. Perhaps this was truly what the price of life after death was- never knowing peace, and tearing it away when it came too close.
Maybe she truly did deserve this.
Even though knowing that didn't make her any less afraid of what was to come.
"Busco más información en la mujer llamada Teresa Castillo," ("I'm looking for more information on the woman called Teresa Castillo,") The Exorcist said, the words cutting through Rénee's rising hysteria, snapping her attention to him so fast that Sofia jerked back in shock before her, "Y en lo que usted sabe sobre las personas desapareciendo en su pueblo." ("And on what you know about the people going missing in your town.")
Missing people? It was a sign, one that Rénee- faced with the horror of having the Finders so close to her once more, of seeing one of the soldiers that she had, in another life, believed fought a fictional war- couldn't ignore. Not with all the clues leading to a clear answer, to the question she had dared not ask herself in fear of destroying the new life she had built for herself here- to the answer that she already knew the answer to deep in her gut.
(There were monsters were in Ayamonte too.)
But maybe the reason everything went wrong was because she had tried to deny fate its due for so long, averting her eyes and pretending to be like everyone around her in fear of losing the things that never belonged to her to begin with. Dead girls didn't have a place in a world, and no matter how much she told herself otherwise, she was still a ghost haunting a living body.
And Rénee knew- as Inez's hold on her tightened, as the woman yanked her close, hand clamped around her upper arm and eyes not leaving the man in front of them, bringing her mouth close to Rénee's ear and breathing out words that would haunt her for years to come- that this was the end of the life she had known.