Hello to all confession-readers. First of all sorry for having taken my time with updating, but I have actually been really busy with things outside of the fanfic world recently (yeah, I'm pretending to have some sort of life). But of course I hadn't given up on this one, since I'm still missing a few key 'confessioneers'.

Oh and I also want to mention that I have begun writing another story which is an M-rated 'epic' (in the sense that it will definitely go above the 100K word count), and it wants to be read. Maybe it seems a bit cheap to mention it like this, but I kinda have a hope that the story will be read by a fair amount of people, and well... if I don't do a little advertising for myself... who will?

Disclaimer: Uhm... well... can't think of anything to say really... guess I just don't pwn then (urgh... author is very ashamed of that one).

PS: This chapter has actually been ready for several days now, but the damn site didn't let me upload new documents until now (grumbles).

Tales from the Confessional

By Shnoosh

Chapter 4 – Sloth, Envy, Wrath, Pride, Gluttony and... Curiosity?

"Forgive me father... for I have sinned." The meek voice sounded truly regretful, and judging from the pitch, the speaker could not be very old.

"What's troubling you, my child." The friendly voice of an elderly priest responded.

"Well... I sort of skipped rehearsal a few days ago..." By just listening to the tone in the young girl's words, one could practically hear her gaze boring into the floor. "It was... it was just so nice and warm and sunny and Chrno and Rosette had the day off from work, so I wanted to spend the day with them, because they were going downtown to look at the shops, and see how everyone was preparing for the Fourth of July. I didn't mean to... I mean... I know it was wrong to skip rehearsal..." Her voice trailed off.

"But you still did it. Even though you knew it was wrong, you did it in order to be together with your friends." The priest didn't sound reproving, it was almost as if he was merely summing up what the young girl tried to say.

"Yes... B-but It's just... sometimes I feel... left out. I sometimes feel... like I'm not really a part of..." The voice died down again.

"The friendship?" The priest asked gently.

"Well... yes... and no." The girl continued. "I know that they're my friends and all... b-but... there's so much between them... that I'm not a part of... and I just..."

"Are you jealous, that they're close?" The priest's voice inquired, and the question was met with silence.

"Are you?"

"Uhmm..."

She obviously didn't feel comfortable answering that.

"M-maybe...?"

Apparently she wasn't sure herself.

"B-but it's not that I want to come between them or anything, because I really like seeing how happy they are together, and I think they deserve it, with Rosette's life ticking away and everybody being so scared of Chrno and them searching so hard for her brother and Chrno not being allowed to..."

And that started a minutes worth of rambling.

"I guess..." she slowed down her speech a bit. "I think... I just want to have what they have..."

"My child." The priest spoke calmingly. "That which you have just described is something all humans would like to have at some point in their life. But, you are still young, with plenty of time ahead of you – you really shouldn't worry about that yet." Again his response was met with silence, and the priest used the pause to ask the customary ending question of the confession. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes... I wasn't very happy when I went to town with Chrno and Rosette because... well I still felt a bit... left out... and when I met at the next rehearsal I felt really bad because I had skipped the last one and... well... all those other things..." She drew in an audible breath before continuing. "And then one of the other girls started saying I ruined the whole rehearsal because they needed me for a big part..." The girl held a little pause. "She started to yell at me... telling me I was selfish and lazy and... and I just got so mad at her b-because... what does she know?" The girl's frustration and agitation now showed clearly in the increased volume of her voice. "S-so I yelled back... and I called her all kinds of things I can't remember... something about her being stupid and ugly and that I was a much better singer than she would ever be and..." She trailed off again. "I... I made her run out crying..." Her guilty conscience was evident, and once again she fell silent.

"Have you talked to her since then?"

"Yes I have... I felt really, really bad 'cause she's only 10 years old... and I shouldn't have said all those nasty things... because she was right about me being selfish... So I found her again and said that I was sorry..."

"That is good. Asking for forgiveness from those you have wronged is the first thing you must do, if you truly wish to be forgiven."

"But I still feel really bad for doing it..."

"That is understandable. You let yourself be controlled by your negative feelings, and that is something we must all strive to avoid. But you also responded in the right way afterwards, and you should remember that, as it will help you in taking the correct course of action in the future." The priest paused for a second before asking the potentially final question a second time. "So... anything else?"

"Well..." She took a few seconds to think. "I was really hungry at supper yesterday, and there were these really big yummy chocolate chip cookies for desert so... I sort of took more than we were allowed, and I didn't even think that there might not be enough for everyone... so I think... I feel bad about that also..."

"Well... you shouldn't have done that." Now one could almost hear the priest smiling at the banality of the 'sin'. "If somebody didn't get a cookie for desert they would become sad don't you think?"

"Yes... I know..."

"Anything else?" Maybe the third time would be the charm.

"Hmmm... let me think... I don't think... no... no I don't think there's any more."

"Then I shall grant you the Lord's forgiveness." The priest said. "In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen."

"Thank you."

"And do five Rosemary decades."

"Okay. I will." The pitch of the girl's voice had increased almost an octave – it was obvious that she was in much better spirits. Shortly afterwards followed the slightly creaking sound of a door opening after which came a 'bonk', indicating that the apostle had now left the confessional.

CLICK...

"That one was boring don't you think? But then again it was only Azmaria."

"Seriously... It's really not very nice of you to do this... first of all Elder is still missing his sound recording device, and it's pretty mean that you're listening to all those people's confessions."

"Would you listen to yourself..." The gold haired youth turned around, and sat up on the bed. She eyed the demon sitting next to the bed with obvious disapproval. "Stop feeling so guilty about everything will ya? It's not like we're hurting anybody. Not when we're the only ones listening to it anyway. And besides, now we've found out that Azmaria feels a bit left out, so maybe we can do something about that without her needing to know. Ever thought about that?" A little smile crossed her lips. "And I know you thought sister Kate's confession about her 'special someone' was funny too."

"But that's exactly what I'm talking about. If Kate finds out about this, you're gonna be in more trouble than you've ever been before. You should seriously consider erasing those things before that happens."

"Don't you think I would if I knew how to? I don't even think this thing can erase – it probably wasn't even finished when I took it... stupid Elder."

"Well, that's what you get for stealing it out of his lab. But still... I don't think it's right to peek into people's privacy like this. What would you say if you found out that somebody did that to you?"

"Alright, alright... geez for a big bad demon you're such an oilcan sometimes... a leaky one too."

"I just don't like seeing you get into trouble."

"Don't worry I won't... say I'll make a deal with you... let's just hear one more confession and then we stop... ok?"

"Sure... whatever..." It wasn't exactly a deal, but why bother arguing?

With a grin the exorcist turned back towards the black box on the bed. Laying down flat on her stomach, she pressed one of the white buttons on the side of the contraption.

CLICK...

"Forgive me father, for I have... sinned." The voice from the recording device revealed that the man who was currently speaking was not in the prime of his life anymore. However, it displayed an evident enthusiasm, implying that he still had quite a bit of time left, and the motivation to put it to good use. "It has been one week since my last confession."

"OH! Can you hear who this is? This one has got to be interesting!" Rosette burst out cheerfully, as she turned her head to look at her partner again.

Chrno rolled his eyes. Of course he could recognize the old guy's voice.

THE END...?

Gosh... pardon my language but... Oh shit...

This will not turn out pleasant I think.

Now it is left as a simple exercise for the reader to envision how the good miss Christopher's facial expression and Chrno's blush/nosebleed will evolve as this particular confession progresses (I presume you know which one it is). In the meantime I'll try to figure out some way to continue this story without reducing the Magdalene Order to rubble and ruins.

And please review too, although I won't be able to reply to any reviewers right away, since it's time for the Roskilde Festival to start. This means that I get to spend a week of my life listening to live rock music, sleeping in a tent, and consuming obscene amounts of alcohol (which my body certainly will get mad at me for). But I'll reply after the festival is over.