Author's musings: Well hello and welcome back to the confessional. I know I've taken an extended break, but I hope that everyone who's been waiting to hear another confession can find it in their hearts to forgive this unproductive writer (you know forgiveness is a major theme in this fic).
I'd like to give credit to a reviewer of mine, who actually gave me the inspiration to write this chapter... I'm not telling who the reviewer is, as it would give away part of the chapter, but after having read this it should be obvious who the person in question is. So thank you for the inspiration, and a big thanks to every reviewer of this story.
Tales from the Confessional
By Shnoosh
Chapter 6 – Every little Sin
This was...
A nightmare...
A hellish nightmare was the only description which came just a little close to the truth.
He cast himself against the wall.
The only effect was a hollow 'thump'.
And a sore shoulder.
He was trapped... caged... locked within some form of dark sadistic trap which not even Pandemonium herself could have been cruel enough to device. The blackness was all around him, it entered every pore in his body... his soul... it cut through him and filled his mind with visions of pain...
Claws scraped against the confines in a futile attempt to get out... why couldn't he just break free... why did he have to be trapped in here... why was he so weak?
Tears began forming in the corner of his eyes, and his movements became faster and more desperate. His hands were raw and bloodied. A trail of thick liquid caking the wall was the only evidence of his frantic struggle...
"LET ME OUT!"
No response... nothing... not even a single sound entered his prison... he was completely alone...
Alone in the cage...
So small... so endlessly small and dark... and horrible...
He couldn't even stretch his arms... the distance from one wall to the other was only three or four feet or so... they smothered him...
Did they just move closer...?
caved in on him...
They did.
Vicious faces from the past appeared in the blackness...
They're going to crush me...
Laughing...
I don't want to die like this!
mocking...
I DON'T WANNA DIE!
He burrowed his head in his hands, sobbing hopelessly.
"Help..."
He was so weak... he had no strength left, no energy... it had all been depleted, and every second more was drained from him... how could they still drain him... when there was nothing left?
He coughed.
It hurt... it hurt so much, every part of his body screamed and writhed in pain... his throat burned, his chest ached, his legions were dying by the millions...
And the walls...
Oh God the walls...
They kept coming closer.
How could God let something like this exist... how could he be so silent...
He knew why.
God didn't care.
The walls came closer...
He never had.
He was just a spectator, carelessly viewing this cruel world he had created. This unjust, unfair, unfeeling world where evil wasn't punished, good wasn't rewarded, and everybody looked out for themselves only.
The walls came closer...
Why was he getting punished...? So many wrong things in the world... Did he deserve this any more than others... everyone was selfish... why only him...?
The walls came closer...
They were going to kill him, they were going to keep coming closer until they squashed him completely... he was going to die horribly... a suffocating, crushing, nightmarish death...
"HELP!"
He hammered on the small door. Using every ounce of strength he had still left. He pounded with his fists, his elbows, his shoulders, his head, he clawed and scraped, he bit, he kicked...
Nothing happened...
Sobbingly he dropped to the floor, but there wasn't even room enough for that so he ended up with his back against a wall...
He jumped away from the wall – fear evident in his movements – and slammed into the wall on the opposite side, immediately he jumped back again as tears ran down his cheeks...
They weren't this close before...
He was trapped...
No they've come closer...
He was going to die...
They keep coming closer...
Die inside these frighteningly small confines.
They're gonna kill me!
Succumb to a death which terrified him more than anything ever had.
Tears again welled up in his violet eyes, and he hid his head inside his long platinum hair, trying desperately to escape from the horrifying and deadly prison... imagining an endless open field... with an infinite sky, a horizon which could not be reached, and no boundaries anywhere...
Like a baby he cried helplessly as he tried to escape to his dream...
His happy place...
All he had wanted...
"Help..."
Was freedom...
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"So tell me..." A slight frown was evident beneath the blond hair covering most of the priest's forehead. The ghostly glow of a cross barrier was mirrored in his blue eyes; he regarded the confessional bathed in the light of the holy force field. "Why is..."
"HELP!" He was interrupted by a terrified shriek coming from inside the little wooden construction. The scream was followed by a loud pounding sound and it caused him to pause momentarily.
"You were saying?" Asked the white haired man standing beside him.
"Why... is this necessary?" The question had been on his mind ever since Aion had been put inside the small confines, but so far he had not received any answer.
"Ah... a splendid question, and one that I do not mind answering now..." It was a cryptic response, and the smile on the old inventors face revealed that he did not mind dragging out this response either.
"Well then get on with it." Remington's frown increased slightly, and the tone of his voice indicated impatience. "If... you do not mind."
"Well..." A wrinkled hand came up to scratch the owners temple. "Aion has remade Heaven and Pandemonium. Pandemonium is filled with light, heaven with darkness. This all started when he killed his mother... Pandemonium herself."
"I know that..." Remington rolled his eyes. "We all do, now tell me something I don't know."
"The killing of Pandemonium was a sin, and Aion was therefore dubbed a sinner. But not just any ordinary sinner. He was THE sinner, the sinner above all, the sinner whose sin remade that which God himself had created... do you see what I'm getting at?"
"I think so... if he were to confess that sin..." The militia class exorcist narrowed his eyebrows, apparently he was doing a lot of thinking right now.
"Yes...?" The Elder sounded very encouraging.
"And get absolution, then the sin would be forgiven... and cease to be a sin... is that it?"
"Exactly!" Dexterous hands clapped once in a sign approval and enthusiasm. "And then the light and darkness could revert to where they belong."
"Seems a bit far fetched." The priest frowned again.
"Well it's not stranger than how many other things work in this world."
"I suppose not... how did you know that Aion suffered from a galloping case of claustrophobia by the way?"
"An educated guess..." The Elder shrugged and continued in a secretive whisper. "His insane obsession with freedom sort of gave me a hint ya know."
"I see... so how much lon..."
Again the minister's speech was interrupted by the voice from inside the confessional. It didn't scream this time, or seemed angry. Instead it cried... a whining, helpless, heartwrenching sound much like the crying of a little boy who had become lost from his parents.
The Elder smiled again. "I'd say he's about ready now."
Remington had to agree. However much resentment he had for Aion, hearing an archdemon cry like that was just too pitiful.
The blond minister walked towards the confessional, and stepped into the priest's side.
Immediately after getting in, there was a ruckus from the other side, and Remington saw a pair of bloody hands grip the little grate separating the two rooms. An agonized and somewhat insane-looking face followed a few seconds afterwards, pressed towards the grate and staring at him with pleading eyes. "Please... let me out of here... please... I promise I won't be bad..." The words were chopped up by sobs and sniffles. "I'll do anything... just let me out... please..."
Remington took a deep breath. This was just too strange. "You know what you have to do to get out."
"I... Yes... I do..." A loud sob came from the opposite room, and the hands and face disappeared from the grate. Several seconds of silence followed – Remington figured that Aion needed the time to come to terms with abandoning his dream. "Forgive me... father..." There was a crying sound... the kind of sound indicating someone losing something precious to them. "For I have..." again a little cry interrupted the sentence. "Sinned."
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The elder whistled a bit to himself as he paced back and forth inside the chapel. It had already taking quite some time... over two hours, but maybe that was to be expected. Aion probably had more sins in his baggage than most, and getting through all of them...
There was a creaking sound.
Turning his eyes towards the confessional again he could see Remington stepping through the little wooden door. He went to meet him. "So... tell me..." He looked at the minister expectantly. "How did it go..."
"This is too crazy... I can't even remember all of it..." Remington took half a step backwards. His face was being severely scrutinized by the inventor who took half a step forward. "Oh you know I'm not allowed to say anything... It's supposed to be confi... arh to hell with it... he confessed everything... from the largest to the smallest... kidnapping Joshua... killing Pandemonium... getting the other sinners killed, ripping off Chrno's horns, he even confessed bullying other demons when he was young, stealing toys, verbally snapping at others, swatting fli... Hey what's so funny?"
"Ahaha..." The old man was overcome with a fit of laughing and chuckling, which took him quite a few seconds to snap out of. "This is simply too good... Just wait until Rosette hears this... she's going to love it."
"Yeah... yeah... that's great, so now everything should be in order right...?"
A big smile was plastered across the Elder's face, his gaze was locked on the priest.
Then he burst out laughing again.
Ewan Remington stared at his old friend who was doing an immensely poor job at controlling himself. Almost half a minute passed with the old man almost choking from laughter and the priest patiently waiting for a response.
"Well... hehe..." The Elder said after drying the tears away from his eyes. "At least the forces of heaven are not immune to being gullible either."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Did you really think that everything would revert to normal if Aion confessed?" The old man inquired looking at the priest with a million dollar smile... ok maybe a ten dollar smile considering the state his teeth were in. "If you kill somebody and say you're sorry afterwards, do they come back to life?"
Remington stared completely perplexed. "But... why...? What was all this for... the confession... the barrier... I mean not that it was hard or anything. He was pretty easy to trap in there after Chrono had gotten his horns back and beaten the shit out of him." He let his hand run through his hair, scratching his scalp. "It just... served no purpose."
"No purpose?" The Elder exclaimed. "I wouldn't say so... we managed to take an immensely proud man, and caused him to forfeit everything he believed in, everything he stood for, everything he had ever dreamed of, reducing him to a sniveling wretch with no self esteem just by exploiting a little weakness. Now that... ma boy..." He put on an even brighter smile. "Is called entertainment."
A meek voice broke into the conversation. "I'd like to come out now... please..."
The militia exorcist shook his head. "You humans make demons seem like saints you know that?"
"Perhaps... anyway I will go and tell Rosette about this... might help me get on better terms with her."
The conversation was again interrupted... this time by a soft knocking sound. "Hello... can I come out...? Can you hear me...?"
Remington regarded the confessional shortly before shifting his eyes back towards the inventor. "What have you done to her now?"
The elder had already begun making his way out of the chapel. "Ah... you don't want to know." He said over his shoulder, before exiting the building, still chuckling to himself.
"Hello... I've done what you asked for... (sniffle) hello... do I need to say the prayers now...?"
Remington rolled his eyes, something needed to be done about Aion. Maybe he should go talk to sister Kate about it.
A little smile formed on his lips as he recalled what had happened the last time he had dropped by her office.
Oh... he should definitely go and 'discuss' this with Kate.
"Hello... (sob) please let me out... (sob) are you there... please say something..."
The blond minister walked hurriedly out as well, leaving the chapel empty.
Well... almost empty.
"Our father... (sob) which art in heaven... (sniffle) Hallowed be thy name..."
THE END
Well, I suppose that was a bit cruel... but what the hell... I think it's funny. The story is rapidly approaching the end, and as a matter of fact I have only gotten one more chapter planned. This means that I would love getting a review, since I wanna try and make it to those 100 reviews, and this story seems to be my best shot so far. So click the little button, tell me what you think, have a nice day, and see you for the upcoming 'grand finale' chapter.