First of all, I want to apologize for the long delay in getting this chapter out. Graduation, family, and getting ready for a trip have been major delays, and just having a hard time starting this chapter slowed things down a bit.
Next: Thank you to Squishy the Jellyfish for reviewing. I hope that this chapter doesn't disappoint.
Another thing that I wanted to mention: My sister brought it to my attention while editing this that she didn't know what a 1911 was right off the bat. If she didn't know, than there's a good chance other people wouldn't. A 1911 is a type of .45 caliber handgun. It's a style that has been around since the late 1890's, and was standard issue for the US military from 1911 through 1985. Several companies manufacture them, and it's my best guess that it's the same type of gun that Rosette uses in the manga/anime (if memory serves me right, the extras say that she uses a Government Colt .45. Since the government was using this style of gun and how the gun looks this was probably the one she was using). So, Remington would be very familiar with them.
That said, I didn't really check to see if they would even allow this type of gun in Europe during the late '90's. While I really have tried to do my research for this story, I did get a bit lax in this area.
Chapter 8
As I tried to hail a cab from the confusion of the airport, I realized just how out of place I was. The airport was new, and even though I knew construction had begun just before I left for North Africa, the area had changed completely… the skyline had been altered so much that I wasn't entirely certain that I was even in the same city as before. Sure, there were a few skyscrapers that I remembered, but most of them hadn't been built until after I was drafted, and everything felt very, very alien to me. At least with Europe you could expect things to retain some of their sameness. I had actually forgotten how much Americans like change in the fifty plus years I had been gone.
When I finally was able to get a taxi to pay attention to me, I gave the directions to the Order and relaxed. Relaxing was a luxury that I hadn't allowed myself much of over the past two days mostly due to eagerness to be gone from Europe.
I thought about the events that led up to my leaving Italy, and I soon found myself drifting off to the memories of my last days at the Florence branch.
X X X
I had been taking a nap on my bunk when I was disturbed by the thunk of something hitting the foot of my bed.
"Yes?" I asked coolly as I lifted my head up to see what was happening.
"Your passport finally came. Minister Borgia is in the process of getting you a one way ticket back to America," the minister that had placed the papers there said as he went to leave.
"Thank you," I called to his back as I fully sat up and grabbed the item. Sure enough, there was my picture and the other information needed to allow me back into America.
Perfect.
Grabbing my leather pouch and the 1911 they were letting me borrow, I left the barracks and made my way towards Minister Borgia's office. The day had been rather boring before, but it was starting to look up. It wasn't every day that you got a passport to return "home".
The guards were standing guard outside the large doors, but they allowed me in after I handed them my gun and pouch.
The old man was sitting at his desk (I had never seen him anywhere else, and I almost felt sorry for him) but he indicated that I didn't have to stand at attention as he finished his phone call.
"I take it that you've already heard about me securing you a ticket?"
"I heard that you were in the process of getting me one, and I came to see what I could do to help."
The minister looked up from his paper work and regarded me carefully.
"You want to help?" he asked, sounding rather incredulous.
"It's the least I can do. After all, you have done much more for me than I have for your branch."
Borgia shook his head and returned to his papers.
"Your ticket should be here tomorrow, and you'll leave Italy from the Milan airport in two days. There is nothing you need to do to help. Dismissed."
I left at the curt command and retrieved my gun and bag from the guards outside. Two days? I could live with that. While I wasn't exactly certain why Borgia was having me leave from the Milan airport, I didn't dwell on it too much. I figured it either had to do with price, or the Order didn't want me to accidentally run into Aion. I assume that the reason had more to do with the latter than the former.
However, as much as I thought that I could bear two days of bordem, I realized that I had a very hard time doing so.
Time seemed to move at a snail's pace, and there really wasn't anything that I hadn't done at least twice by the time they handed me my ticket. I spent hours at the shooting range, another large amount of time training with a dummy, and still more time cleaning up the area around my bunk.
I purposely tried to keep my mind occupied, but other than wait, there wasn't much else to do. Sleeping wasn't much of an option as I kept tossing and turning on the bunk, and the grass outside wasn't much better. It was too hard, and the air was on the chilly side. I didn't really feel the chill, but I knew that it would look awkward to the others if I did manage to fall sleep in fifty degree weather without a blanket of any sort.
The next day was much of the same: shoot, train, clean one last time, and try and get some sleep that would never come. I didn't even try to sleep outside this time since it had decided to snow. That would have looked more awkward than just sleeping out in the cold.
The only changes to my schedule otherwise came in the form of returning my gun. I was told that I would get another one in America—one that I would like better—and that was that. While I was glad to hear that I would be getting a new gun, I hated losing the weight on my hip. The gun had become something of a security blanket, and it felt strange to no longer have it.
When the day came to finally leave, no one said good-bye to me, and no one saw me off. I didn't exactly expect anyone to, but the thought would have been appreciated. I did find Minister Borgia waiting for me outside of the gates to give me my ticket and a piece of paper with the name of the current head of the New York Branch. After he gave me these items, he went back to his office, leaving me alone with the driver assigned to take me to the Milan airport.
The driver and I didn't say anything to each other as he drove down the winding roads to the northern city. In fact, the whole drive was silent until I was getting out of the car and getting ready to go inside.
"Hey, good luck out there," the driver said quickly before I closed the door.
I gave him a smile. "Thanks. Take care of yourself too," I told him.
That was it. I shut the door, he drove off, and I went inside to check in and maybe get some breakfast.
X X X
"Hey…Hey!"
My eyes shot open and I looked at the driver of the taxi I was in.
"We're here."
"Thanks," I muttered as I handed him his fare. He unlocked the door, and I climbed out of the car. I was still tired, but the drive had allowed me to catch a little rest, and I was grateful for that.
As the taxi pulled away I stared at the large gate that impeded my progress into the New York Branch. As far as I could tell the layout hadn't changed much since I had last seen it in 1942, but there was a sense of newness to the buildings and landscape that indicated that I had missed quite a bit.
Straightening my back, I walked to the gate and hit the call button. I was greeted much faster than I had been two months prior at the Italian Branch, which put me at ease. Either here they were more acquainted with visitors, or they had been expecting me.
"Hello?"
"Minister Remington, reporting for duty," I said, and the heavy door began to open, pushing the snow aside as it did.
I had barely stepped inside the brick walls before three nuns came over to me with large smiles and eager expressions. That more or less answered my question as to whether or not they had been expecting me.
"Is it true? Are you really Minister Remington?" one of the nuns, a brunette with dark eyes, asked.
"Yeah, are you? 'Cause if you are, I didn't expect you to be so cute!" one of the others, this time with green eyes and a scarf around her neck, exclaimed.
All I could do was stare in shock at the girls. Yup, I definitely had missed a lot in the fifty years since I had last been to the order. Mary, Anna, and Claire never would have had the audacity to say that to any of the ministers. It just wasn't done in the '20s.
"Um…yeah, I am Minister Remington," I replied after a moment.
"We have to get you a room then!" the third one grinned.
"Is Minister Grishdun still looking for a roommate? Maybe he'll let you stay with him!" the first one said, turning to her comrades.
"He's really nice. Probably the nicest minister here," the second said, though it didn't seem like the comment was directed towards me.
I watched as the nuns continued their chatter back and forth, completely ignoring me. This didn't surprise me as much as the cute comment had, and I admit that I smiled a little as they tried to figure out who would make an ideal roommate for me. However, I needed to get going. Shaking my head as I continued to smile, I shuffled my bag around and started to walk towards the old administration building when I was stopped by the trio again.
"That isn't the way to the dorms!" the girls yelled in unison.
"I need to go talk to Sister…," I glanced down at the paper Minister Borgia had given me before I continued, "Florence before I can get a room. I assume that her office is in that building, right?"
They all looked at each other before finally answering my question. "Yes." Their response lacked any of the vigor they had had when discussing roommates. Their faces had also gone rather pale at the mention of her name.
I gave them all a smile and a "thank you" and headed off in the direction I had been going. I had no idea what Sister Florence looked like, but judging by how the girls acted; the nun had obviously put the fear of God (or at least her) in them. It wasn't a bad thing, but I was quickly reminded of Kate's relationship with Rosette.
As I walked down the well worn pathways, I looked at others across the way. They were the same ones that the original trio had walked down. I could almost remember some of the conversations I had heard them having, and I smiled at the memory.
They're probably all gone now, I thought as I returned my gaze onto the administration building. Or if any of them are still alive, they certainly wouldn't look the same.
Time tended to do that to most people.
As I entered the building I found myself wandering down familiar corridors to Sister Kate's old room. I didn't even realize what I had done until I had reached the door and knocked on it. The woman that opened the door wasn't Sister Kate though, and I quickly began to apologize.
"Oh, forgive me; I thought that this was Sister…"
"You must be Minister Remington. I've been waiting for you. I'm Sister Florence, the current head of this branch. I see that you still know your way around the building."
She let me inside the room and I walked towards the desk. The layout of the room hadn't been significantly altered, but the room itself had been renovated numerous times over the decades. It had lost the warm feel that I had once loved. Then again, that may have just had to do with the fact that the woman that I had known wasn't the one talking to me.
"So, you know what I am?"
The middle aged woman looked at me as she went behind her desk and smiled. "How could I not know, minister? I think that every single head of this branch made plans for when you would come back. Back in '81 the Council was certain that you would return."
"Because of what happened to the pope?"
"Yes."
"That's one of the reasons why I convinced myself that I couldn't return to the Order. I had to watch out for him."
"Just one, minister?" she asked.
"Don't inquire about the others. I'm not ready to confess everything yet," I replied as I leaned against one of the walls.
"I don't expect you to tell me, but maybe you'd be willing to talk to Anna about your time in Europe. I doubt that she'd judge you. She still seems to harbor some particular sentiments about the incident with Sister Rosette and the Sinner."
I jerked my head up and stared at Florence.
"Anna is still alive? Is anyone else?"
The sister shook her head. "Just her. I'm certain that she'll tell you everything if you just ask. Now, here is your room key and your room number. I'll debrief you tomorrow about what your duties will be, but for right now, I want you to relax and reorient yourself with the branch. You've been gone for a long time."
"Is Anna expecting to see me today?"
"She doesn't know that you've returned. Only a handful of individuals knew that you came back to the Order, and an even smaller number knew that you were being transferred here."
"How did those three girls find out?"
The sister gave me a look that suggested she didn't know who I was talking about. So, I indicated my head toward the window. "The trio of girls that caught me as I was entering."
"Those three? They were eavesdropping. We just asked that they not spread the word about our new transfer. It seems that they didn't, but they still wanted to be the first to greet you. Anything else, Minister Remington?"
I shook my head.
"Then you're dismissed," Sister Florence said with a kind smile.
I bowed and left, feeling a bit better about my decision to return to New York. Sure, things were different, but I could manage that. The people here still seemed nice and open, and it appeared as though it would be easy to start over again. I even had a small grin on my face as I exited the building and headed to the dorms.
The smile left as I passed the church. I felt my body slow and stop as I looked at the ancient building, and I could feel something pulling me there.
I didn't really want cross the threshold and it took all my will to get my feet moving again.
I'll go in…but not right now. Not right now.
I quickly finished the walk towards the dormitory and made my way inside. I couldn't bring myself to really take in my surroundings for fear of complete culture shock, and for the fact that I just wanted to get in and go back to the church. I didn't even realize what room they had put me in until the next day. I just found where I was staying, put my bag down and left again.
As I went back outside, I noticed that clouds had started to gather overhead. It was December, and not every place could be as temperate as Italy in the middle of winter. It's kind of funny, but other than the fact that it was very likely going to snow soon, this day felt exactly like the day I had given my last sermon.
It had been a week after Rosette and Chrono had gone missing, and I had been requested to talk about them for the week's homily. I spent two days writing and rewriting what I was going to say until finally I had something that I at least didn't hate. Still, that Sunday as I got up to the pulpit and readied myself, all I wanted to do was jump down and tear it apart.
I opened the Bible on the pulpit, and looked out over the crowd; Sister Kate had her eyes fixed firmly to the floor, Azmaria looked as though she had been crying for hours on end, Anna, Claire, and Mary all appeared exhausted, but it was Joshua that got to me the most. He sat next to Azmaria; completely oblivious as to why everyone was so sad. He kept trying to get Az to tell him why everyone was so melancholy, but all she would do was shake her head.
It broke my heart, and I found that the only thing that I could say was, "God betrayed them."
I walked out of the church, and the next day, I told Kate that I was leaving. All she did was hold up the papers that I had left behind.
"Why the chapter about Human Disobedience, Remington? Why that one?"
"Because Rosette always was defiant and disobedient, wasn't she? She would have appreciated the irony," I said, my voice showing the signs of my weariness. "I thought that the snake's challenge to Eve made sense to quote. 'The snake replied, "That's not true; you will not die. God said that because he knows that when you eat it, you will be like God and know what is good and what is bad."'"
Kate sighed and looked away. Three days later, Joshua and I had moved into a house in the city. He never did ask why everyone had been so sad that day, but soon after that he began to write his stories and draw his pictures. I wonder if ghosts of the past were playing with his mind during those times.
Now as I stood outside the church, I knew that I was going to have to get over my fear of what lay inside. I figured that I wasn't going to be struck down by Him for going inside the hallowed sanctuary, and I was well aware of the fact that I didn't have to confess anything, but I still didn't want to go in.
Now or never, I thought, and putting one foot in front of the other, I walked inside.
X X X
The church hadn't changed at all.
The statue of Mary was still there—forever locked in her sorrowful looking pose—the benches were still old and worn, and the pulpit was still as shabby looking as before…Yes, at least the church hadn't changed even if everything else had.
I found a spot situated in the shadows and I made my way over to it. Now that I was actually inside, I found that I wanted to get a few things off my chest. No one was watching me, and I knew that I wasn't going to be judged, so I began to speak.
"It's been a while, hasn't it, Rosette?" I asked the silence once I sat down. "I'm sorry that I haven't always been the best at talking to you, but, I think that you know the reason for that better than anyone else. I've been away for so long, and it's taken me some time to get my center back."
I sighed and leaned forward to rest my arms on my thighs. "I almost let myself fall under Aion's spell. He's good. He makes you feel like you're the only one that can make a difference…even if he's being a patronizing bastard in the process. I can see why you were caught up by him. I know that you didn't want to be, and you don't have to blame yourself…if you do."
"She sold her soul to a devil. Why do you care if she blames herself or not?"
I didn't move from my spot. The voice alone told me who it was.
"Uriel, of all the angels I expected to come and talk with me, you were the last one on the list. Guarding the sun too boring of a job now, or did one too many demons get passed you to come to Earth?"
The archangel walked to where I was and sat down at the opposite end of the pew. I didn't look at him, nor did he look at me.
"God asked me to find you and to tell you that you are forgiven. If you want to return to Heaven you can."
"He says that I'm forgiven? Huh, and here I thought that it was He that needed to be pardoned for his actions towards the Christopher family. I mean, he did fuck around with them enough."
"He doesn't need to be forgiven for anything, and you know that."
"Then explain to me why He let Rosette and Chrono die such tragic deaths?"
Uriel snorted. "Let's see: One was a devil and the other sold her soul to said devil."
"Chrono killed his own kind and hated himself for taking her soul. You couldn't say the same thing about certain humans, could you?" I asked. The archangel knew that I was right, but he brushed aside my comment like it was nothing.
"That doesn't change the fact that he took Mary Magdalene and helped Aion in destroying Pandemonium."
"He tried to stop Aion, and it ultimately cost both him and Rosette their lives. Damn it, am I the only one not blind to the fact that he spent the rest of his life trying to redeem himself and fight the wrongs that he felt he committed?" I snapped.
"I'm not blind to that fact, Ewan. I just see that he was a tainted devil who cursed the holy woman twice over."
"Just because Rosette fell in love with a demon doesn't mean that she was tainted. As for Mary, she knew what was going to happen. She just wanted to meet him before she died," I tried explaining, though I knew it would be futile.
"If you had allowed Mary the freedom to move around she wouldn't have left with the Ignoble One. She would have been perfectly content to stay at the Order, writing down her prophecies of the future," The archangel growled.
"I was told to keep Mary under lock and key by Him. Besides, He had to have given her those visions in the first place. After all, He is supposed to be omnipotent, right? He should have known that Chrono didn't want to kill her, and yet, she asked him to take her life in order to survive to meet Rosette. Chrono never wanted to hurt either of those women. He loved them both," I said, trying to keep my voice level.
"You've been completely brainwashed haven't you, Ewan? You honestly believe that there are some good demons out there? Well, I suppose brainwashing would explain why you stayed with the Sinner for three months before finally leaving."
"I just know that Chrono wasn't a horrible demon, and he certain didn't curse Rosette or Mary. All he ever did was help them and love them until they were taken from him," I replied, ignoring his comment about Aion.
I heard him mutter something, and I finally chanced a quick glance. He looked annoyed, and I don't entirely blame him.
"This is the only chance you'll have, Ewan. He won't give you another one."
"Somehow I think that I'll be fine with that. I don't need Him to tell me I'm forgiven. I'm perfectly capable of figuring that out for myself. Now, if He wants to apologize, I might listen. Until then," I shrugged before continuing, "why listen to someone that refuses to see things from another point of view?"
Uriel stood up and shot me a look. "You won't be welcome back, Ewan. It's a pity really. You had so much potential. You would have become someone important."
I returned my gaze to the statue of Mary and allowed myself a small, sad smile. "You know what? I'm glad that I don't have to deal with all of that. I'm doing what I need to do, and if I'm never recognized for that, great: I'll know that I did the right thing."
The archangel walked down the aisle, and that was the last time I saw him. It was the last time I saw anyone from Heaven.
"See, Rosette? We're both damned now. I hope that Chrono's with you at least. When I go, there probably won't be anyone waiting for me. It's alright though. I think that the silence will be just perfect for me. I mean, I've wanted to take a nice nap for a long time now."
I stood up and left the church, but I as I did, I thought that I saw a ghost linger before the doors. I can only assume that it was a trick of the light…but I swear that I saw Rosette's face in the glow.
It was snowing as I stepped out of the church. Well, the clouds had been forming earlier, so it wasn't as though I hadn't been expecting it, but it didn't exactly make me feel any better.
What I hadn't been expecting was the young man standing twenty feet in front of me. I didn't think anything of it at first; I figured that he was just on his way to the church and had decided to stand out in the snow for a little while.
However, as I tried to walk around him, he blocked my path. A little smirk played on his face: like he was a hunter and I was the prey.
"I'm not in the mood," I told him as I tried to get by him again, only to have him shove me back.
With the distance between us, he dropped down into a low squat, and brought one hand up by his face and kept the other by his front leg. It was a fighting stance—that was clear as day—but why he wanted to fight me was another matter.
"Look, I'm not in the…," I said again before he threw a punch at my face. I barely had time to step away from the attack before the stranger aimed a kick at my side.
I blocked it with my forearms, but it still felt like I was getting hit with a ton of bricks. Never before had I seen a human move so quickly or hit so hard. I was barely managing to evade his attacks, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to block them for much longer before he finally got in a decent hit. I expected this from a demon. Not from a human.
"Come on! At least try and get me!" the man yelled as he attempted to plant another kick in my stomach. So, I did as he requested: I threw a punch at his head.
It was the last thing that I did that night that didn't hurt.
He ducked under my attack, and with a smirk that is forever ingrained into my mind, he kicked my head before I even had time to register that my pathetic attempt at a punch had completely missed. The assault completely stunned me, but he didn't stop. Stopping, I think, would have been too easy for him. Instead, he hit my stomach with a vicious right hook before he used my doubled over position to deliver a jaw rattling upper cut to my chin. The smirk never left his face.
I fell to the ground; winded and disoriented beyond imagine. I fought to keep air in my lungs, and that took all of my concentration. Never mind dodging the stomps the stranger was now aiming for my legs and back.
"Get back up! He's not going to stop once you two get into a fight! He's going to hit a lot harder than this too!" he yelled as he caught my stomach with his foot and sent me curling into the fetal position, gasping for air and vomiting God knows what out onto the grass.
"Minister Jonathon, you can stop now."
That voice…that was a voice that I knew. Funny though, I couldn't be bothered to remember who it belonged to as I spat out blood and bile.
"He's going to need a lot of work," the stranger, Minister Jonathon, muttered.
"That's what you're here for. To train Minister Remington in the art of hand to hand combat. While I appreciate the quick and hard lesson, did you truly need to continue to beat him while he was down?" the woman, Sister Florence, asked curtly.
"I already told him that he wouldn't stop. Why should I? I was just giving him a taste of what he can expect from an enraged devil of the Sinner's caliber."
"You're…you're human though," I wheezed as I slowly lifted my head.
Jonathon just stared at me before shaking his head in disgust. "Yeah, and you're supposed to be a divine being. If I can beat you, than the Sinner sure as hell can. Right now, you don't stand a chance against him. So, get up and get some rest. I want to see you down on the grass at five."
He ran a gloved hand over his closely cropped hair and walked away; leaving me to try and get up on my own.
Or so I thought.
I felt a large hand grab my arm and carefully lift me up. It certainly wasn't Florence that was aiding me. Instead, it was another minister.
"Minister Remington, meet Minister Grishdun. He'll be looking after you this evening," the head sister said as the man slung my arm around his shoulders and helped me stand on my own two feet.
"This the usual welcome?" I asked as the three of us walked down the wet pathways towards the dormitories.
Grishdun laughed and shook his head. "No. We only get Jon over here for the ones that have vendettas. You can call yourself lucky in that regard, because Jon only works with the best."
Lucky, I thought, well if you can call it that. I sure as hell don't feel lucky right now.
Grishdun helped me back to the dormitories and then up to my room. I was still struggling to breathe properly, and other than to tell him which room was mine, I didn't say anything to him. It hurt too much.
"You know," he said as I opened the door to my abode and practically collapsed onto the bed, "you'll probably be more comfortable if you change out of those clothes and wash up a little bit. Just a suggestion."
I nodded and watched him leave before sitting up and going over the day's events. Well, I would have done that if I had been able to concentrate on my thoughts. The pain from my beating however tormented not only my body, but also my mind. The Order had once considered me one of their best fighters and now?...Now I was just an ignorant rookie that needed to be trained from the ground up.
That stung more than any of the bruises.
Uriel is apparently a few things. I have him mentioned as watching the sun in crresponding to the role Milton gives him, but he is also the pervaer of Hell (at least according to Wiki).
Also, Anna will be showing up in the next chapter. She just didn't fit here.
The instance of Sister Florence and the city Florence was not intentional. I didn't even realize that I had done it until a large chunk of this chapter had been written. So, I'll try and distinguish betten the two if they are ever brought up in the same paragraph.
If you notice any glaring typos, please tell me. While my sister did look over this, she only managed to get through the first four pages. So, if in two weeks I have revamped this chapter, just know that I've had her finish looking at it and change some things.
Just know, that if I don't respond for a few weeks, I am gone and will not have access to a computer.
Anyway, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoyed!
