Chapter 4: Moving Forward

Once on board the battle airship, the Iron Maiden, I found myself being rapidly shuffled through the vast network of hallways. From the very few things that I was able to make out of the interior in the airship was that its beauty, on the inside, was just as apparent as it had been on the outside. I couldn't help to feel that it was impossible that another airship like it existed anywhere else in the world.

Passing through a new room, one that had a wall of evenly spaced Plexiglas windows, I looked over towards Father Abel and Father Tres and asked a question that was eating away at my mind. "So where are we going exactly? It might be because I'm new here, but it feels like we're just wandering from one hall to the next. Do either of you officially know what we're looking for?"

Chortling, Abel came to a stand still and started to readjust the collar of his overcoat, once finished he began to speak. His voice sounding both weary yet so alive at the same time. Almost as if he'd just ran a marathon, where the prize for winning was an opportunity to discover the cure for death. "Well we are just simply escorting you to your sleeping quarters for the evening." Sheepishly he looked away for a brief moment before he continued. "And well, Father Tres is here to make sure that I don't get lost myself." With the very smile that I was quickly growing so accustomed to seeing, I couldn't help but to return the favor and smile back. "So did that answer your question, Jonah?"

"Yeah. I can easily see how anyone would manage to get lost here. The Iron Maiden's quite literally the size of a small city." I peered out of one of the many Plexiglas windows and watched as the world passed by, completely untouched, below us. The sight of the cities and streets that were as tiny as ants flew by, another question came to my mind. "Uh, Father. What will I be able to do once we reach the Vatican? I'm not skilled in anything, so I'm afraid that I might be nothing buck a nuisance."

Reflected within the faux glass, I saw Abel standing behind me, undoubtedly trying to think of the best way possible to explain it to me. Eventually after a moment of silence had gone by, he calmly stated, "I'm guessing that you'll be granted a post as a temporary agent within the A.X. That's really the only way that we'll be able to protect you. And as for being afraid that you'll be a nuisance, don't worry. I've had my own fair share of mistakes, and look at me. I've still got my job within the A.X."

Taking in a deep breath, I tried to steady myself. The fatigue that I had felt before that very second was now gone. "So an A.X. agent...like the two of you?"

This time it was Father Tres who responded to my inquiry. "Positive, temporary Sister Jonah Turner."

Face flushing, I couldn't think of what to say. So almost out of instinct, I turned my gaze back to the window looked out at the dark sky. I couldn't help but to feel lost in this brand new world that I had just managed to step foot into. My reflection from within the glass looked as uncertain as I felt.

Without warning, through the barrier that was my reverie, I heard Father Nightroad speaking. Though he sounded farther away than he actually was. I slowly turned to face him. He was talking to Father Tres, yet I wasn't able to catch the words that he said. When his lips stopped moving, Tres replied with a single word, then turned around and began to leave.

Quickly shaking my head to clear away all of my thoughts, I cried out to the silver haired priest that had stayed behind. "Wait! Where is Father Tres going? I thought that he was here to make sure that neither one of us got lost?"

"I think that the two of us will be able to manage just fine on our own. Besides, the rest of the A.X. agents would be furious with me if I was careless enough to forget that he needs to go and recharged." He smiled widely and chuckled softly.

Obviously missing out on the joke, I hesitantly asked, "So he needs to sleep?"

"I guess you could call it that. However don't worry. You will learn everything that you need to know soon enough. As for right now though, I'd say that it's a pretty safe assumption that both of us need to sleep and recharge ourselves. Otherwise we won't be in any fit condition to do anything that we'll need to tomorrow." His deep blue eyes seemed to twinkle like tiny stars with his every word.

"Right..."

The smile he wore faltered slightly. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing really. I'm just having a hard time understanding everything that's on my mind right now. So much has happened to me, and my life has changed in so many ways. I know that I can trust you and Father Tres with my life, but..." Unable to continue looking into the eyes of Abel, I veered my vision towards the floor beneath my feet.

Yet he pushed for me to continue speaking my mind. "But?"

"I'm having trouble discerning if all of this is even happening. Is it even possible that I'm still asleep in my bed...dreaming?"

"This isn't a dream. I can at least assure you of that, Jon-Oh, forgive me. I mean Sister Jonah." Laughing at his own tiny mistake, I noticed that Abel's face became lit with true happiness and his voice was full of amusement. "That will most definitely take some getting used to, now won't it?"

"I guess it might. But can't you please just continue to call me Jonah? 'Sister Jonah' just sounds so...so strict? It doesn't suit me." I mumbled quietly, watching as Abel continued to smile.

"You'll get used to hearing it far sooner than you think you will." With a slight glance to his right, his eyes fell upon a round clock that had been hung up on one of the ship's many interior walls. Seeing the time, he silently began to scream and taking hold of my hand, hurried down the long hallway we had been standing in. "So the plan is that the first two rooms that we come across and are, might I add empty, become ours for the evening. No one will be the wiser."

Blushing lightly from where Abel had grabbed my hand, I simply nodded without saying a word. And though I immensely enjoyed Father Nightroad's company, I couldn't help but to look forward to having a few hours to myself. I needed to sort out all of the thoughts that had been floating around inside my brain all evening. I had to make sense of it all.

Less than a minute later, a pair of neighboring rooms came into view and I knew that it was time for Abel and myself to part ways. At least until the morning came. "Good night, Father." Smiling, I took hold of the door knob in my right hand and twisted it until the door opened. Entering the room I heard Abel whisper to me from out in the hallway.

"Pleasant dreams, Jonah. I will wake you u in the morning, just a little before we arrive at the Vatican."

From where I stood, I said, "Thank you. For everything." With that, I shut the door behind me, leaving Abel with the only option of going into his own room for the night. Inside of the room that was currently mine, I noticed that it had the basic commodities that are usually found in places like hotels. Pushed up against one of the four walls was a twin sized bed. Plain white sheets had been used to cover the bed itself. It was simple, yet very comforting. To my left, in the corner, was a wooden standing mirror. Unable to resist the urge, I walked over to it, looking at my full reflection for the first time in what felt like an eternity.

I could hardly recognize myself.

My clothes had dark spots on them from where I had spent hours sitting on the roof of my house with Father Nightroad. My long brown hair was disheveled, and I hurried to try and tame it down with my fingers. My face was by far the worst part of it though. My green eyes, normally so bright and full of spirit, now looked vacant and void of life. My face itself looked so shell shocked, I felt like crying because of it.

Prying myself away from the mirror, I walked over to the bed and sat down. Outside of the window next to where I sat I could see that the sky was beginning to grow brighter as a new day was just about to start.

Doubt threatened to creep back into the corner of my thoughts, and remembering Father Nightroad's words, I spoke them aloud to myself. "Never look back. Just keep going." With a sigh, I decided to finally lie down. My legs dangling off the end of the bed and looking up at the ceiling above me, I shut my eyes. Falling asleep and instant later.

Yet no dreams awaited me, only the never-ending night and the fear that was trying to engulf my every thought.

When morning came, it felt as though I had only managed to sleep a few minutes, but a few hours had gone by when the gentle knocking on a door woke me up from my dreamless slumber. A voice that I didn't know soon followed. "Are you awake yet, Sister? Well if not, then now is the time to do so. We'll be landing in Rome in less than an hour, and if you hurry, you might still yet have some spare time for breakfast." The voice was cheerful, but I had no idea what the person that the voice belonged to was talking about.

During the night, I had subconsciously forced myself to forget everything that had happened the previous day. "Sister? Rome? Pancakes?" I mumbled, my voice still heavy with sleep.

There was another knock on the door and the person spoke again. "Sister Jonah? I'm coming in."

I sat up on the bed and watched as the handle on the door was twisted open and in the doorway I saw the tall figure that I now remembered was Abel. Seeing him standing there in his long black and white cassock gave me a sense of deja vu, and I couldn't help but feel as though I were seeing him for the very first time all over again. His silver-white hair was held up with the thin black ribbon, and his glasses rested comfortably against the bridge of his nose. The winter blue eyes behind the glass' lens looked at me as I simply sat on the bed.

But as I became more alert, the memories from the previous day started coming back to me. "Father Nightroad?"

Worry overtook his face, "Jonah, are you all right?"

"Yeah. I guess I just somehow managed to forget all that happened yesterday." I looked down and stared at my hands without actually seeing them, and almost as if it were simply an after thought, asked. "Father...how can I meet your superior. I mean, our superior, dressed the way that I am right now?"

"I'm already ahead of you."" He gave me a playful wink and with a laugh he turned, leaving the room. Quickly I got up and followed after him.