What's the point of praying [Open]

[myblueskies]

Characters: Romeo and Open
Setting: Cathedral
Format: Starting in prose but feel free to switch
Summary: Romeo wakes up to a tower that is very different than the one he went to sleep in.
Warnings: Small child having a very grown up crisis. Mentions of Dax's death, plot reveals, etc. Quite a lot of religion/questioning religion/heaven and hell and souls and good and evil stuff.

The cathedral was quiet, but not empty. At the front of the pews there was a small barefoot boy kneeling, head bowed. He wasn't praying though... he was just thinking.

Everyone seemed different today, the adults had that pale, something really bad has happened look about them. Romeo hadn't found any of those he really trusted to ask what had happened, but he had walked past a terminal and it had came on, for the first time in a while. So he had looked at the network...

And learned everything. Seen Zo being attacked... Seen Dax... He was dead. Dead for real... and seen Feferi's post, she was so upset and what she had said...

He knew what souls were, and he guessed that he had sort of known that they could take your soul out of your body. Because that's how he must have been swapped with mister Itachi, and how he had been a rocking horse. Still Romeo, even though he had been made out of wood and all he could do was rock...

But souls were meant to go to heaven. They belonged to God right? If you died your soul went to heaven if you were good. So the bad people were stealing their souls, and making them come here instead. And it wasn't really saving them at all...

The bad people. Romeo couldn't get what he had seen out of his head. He squeezed his eyes tight shut but tears came anyways. He had thought all this time that mister Dax was a bad person, that he was working for Ruana and even though he was nice to them he was still bad because he let bad things happen and didn't try and stop it.

But he had, he had been trying to help them all along, trying to stop mister Jason, that he was trying to stop the monsters, that he was trying to save them from miss Ruana...

And he had died for them. Because he argued with Ruana. That made him a hero. But could a bad person be a hero? And if he was was he a bad person at all? Or a good person who had been doing bad things because it meant he could help them more?

Romeo felt really bad for being so mad at him. For being angry all this time at someone who had actually not been bad at all. And it made him even more worried for Zo... He was just little and Romeo had never believed that he was really bad. The bad people were just his bosses so he had to do what they said. He didn't try and stop his tears, he couldn't work out how to keep his spirits up.

He really hoped that Zo would be alright... He brought his hands up to clasp together in prayer before dropping them again. He hadn't really believed God could hear him for a long time and he guessed he knew why now. The priest in his village had always said that his soul belonged to God even before he died, and God would look after him and when he died as long as he was good he could go and live with God and all his friends who had died. But if the bad people had stolen his soul than it didn't belong to God any more, it belonged to the bad people.

And Romeo really didn't know what to think about that...

Comments

[hystericull]

[Since the installation of the circus floor, Gamzee hardly needed to come here anymore. Before that, however, he would frequent the cathedral quite often, sitting in silence, screaming his lungs out to the stifling pressure contained here, or just laying sprawled on the floor for hours.]

[The quiet was a trait the circus floor did not have, however. As much as he adored every aspect of that scene, there were times when a brother needed to reflect on the carnival within - and that was a time when the honk horns were not to be tread upon.]

[As he pushed open the large, Gothic doors, however, he was greeted with the sight of his small, human roommate. They'd just seen each other not too long ago, and, quite frankly, Gamzee was surprised to see him here. With all of the questions he'd asked Gamzee about his religion, it led him to assume the boy was not very practicing, himself.]

[Nevertheless, in times of great duress, people found themselves turning to a higher power to help them cope. Even if the kid wasn't religious, he could still be here trying to find some strength.]

[Understanding the need for solemnity, Gamzee knelt in the front as well, parallel to Romeo, but a generous enough distance away to give the boy his space. Absently, he wondered how many people had seen Feferi's post. How many people would bombard them with questions about what had happened. What the other people who suffered the same experience that he did were doing right now, and how they were coping with it. Instead of praying as he intended, he wound up going over the same thoughts that had been plaguing him since they had returned. He said nothing.]

[myblueskies]

[Romeo sensed someone kneeling near to him and blinked when he realised it was Gamzee. He didn't know why he was here, since he had said that the circus was his church... Romeo didn't know much about religions other than his own though (and didn't know all that much about his own)]

Gamzee? [His voice was quiet and strained from crying.]

[hystericull]

[The painted lids opened a crack, but Gamzee didn't budge. Instead, he stared at the ground in front of his knees so hard it might burn a hole in it.]

Yeah.

[...]

Sorry for breakin' your fuckin' zone, man.

[myblueskies]

It's okay, I was just thinking... [Gamzee looked really sad, just like Romeo felt and Romeo edged his way closer] Are you okay?

[belzebul]

Something distinctly inhuman entered the cathedral. Winged, resembling a large fly with a human face and arms, it settled itself on one of the pews across from Romeo.

Zett liked the cathedral for no other reason than that they were pretty. He certainly wasn't religious in the traditional sense.

"Romeo." He raised his voice a little to be heard, knowing how the floor dampened noise.

[myblueskies]

Romeo heard his name being called and looked around. "Hello?" He saw the fly creature and got up off his kness, moving a bit closer...

[belzebul]

"Hey." Zett waved one fly arm. "How are you holding up?"

Romeo was just a little kid, he wasn't up to handling things like people's brains being eaten yet. If anyone ever was.

[myblueskies]

Oh it was Zett. Romeo tried for a tiny smile, not seeming surprised at all that his roommate could turn into a fly.

"I'm okay... Are you okay?" He wiped his eyes the tears smudging on his face.

[adorably_evilish]

"Snap out of it!" came a harsh, familiar voice from nearby. Veigar made his way to the weeping child at a slow pace, looking around the place and studying his surroundings with an uninterested glare.

Once he reached Romeo, his blazing eyes focused on them. "Surely you cannot be so distressed over such an occurrence? Have you not thought that this was possible before? Your friends have died, your world destroyed, allies tortured and you still show this meek demeanor and over that?" Veigar spoke in a low hiss.

"Far from being the time to mourn little minion... now is the time to stand up and get ready for what's coming..." Because Veigar knew it wouldn't be good. Had it been some amazingly good acting on the administrators part or not. What transpired would changed how things were going to be run in the Tower, whether that blasted Administrator was really gone or not.

[myblueskies]

Romeo blinked up at the harsh voice. Veigar... He looked angry and Romeo flinched, bringing up one arm as if to protect his head. He was used to Veigar being mad, but never at him and it was a little bit scary.

"What's coming mister Veigar?"

[isthatashortjoke]

Viegar eyes the child indifferently before shaking his head and looking up at the ceiling. "You think things are bad now? Or bad before? What's coming is much much worse. And if you don't toughen up, losing your life will be the least of your worries whelp..."

While Veigar wasn't much for 'helping others', assisting an ally wasn't beyond him.

[myblueskies]

Romeo didn't really worry about losing his life especially now he knew that their souls just got swapped anyways... "You don't know what's gonna happen though sir, no one does."

[silentsacrifice]

Itachi wandered around the Tower in a daze. Last night's events hung around him like a dense cloud, leaving him with a heavy heart and a lump in his throat that wouldn't go away. It was almost too much to deal with - they were souls, just souls, trapped in recycled bodies, a piece of information they'd only been able to uncover because of Dax's efforts.

And now he was dead. Itachi had a feeling that this death, unlike all the others in the Tower, was permanent. That Dax had died a hero's death was of little comfort to him. The man had said it himself - he was the only person keeping things in order, the only one who stopped Jason from destroying them all entirely. Now that he was gone, Itachi wasn't sure what was going to happen.

He'd only had one conversation with Dax, but even then, it was clear to see that he was a good man stuck in a bad situation. Itachi could empathize. The difference between the two of them, though, was that Dax had died for his cause, and Itachi would never be able to. He didn't want to believe that their worlds really were gone, but the outlook was bleak. There was a very real chance that Sasuke, the one he'd known and loved, was dead.

He didn't know how to deal with that.

As he descended the stairs, slowly and with no real destination in mind, he caught a glimpse of a familiar head of hair sticking up out of the pews in the cathedral. Without much thought at all, almost as if he'd meant to come to this floor, Itachi stepped out and walked up the aisle.

He wasn't too familiar with cathedrals. To him, this floor would always represent the battle he'd had with the Sasuke whose life he never truly knew about. But memories from Romeo's life had told him that this was a place of worship. Itachi knew nothing about the god of Romeo's world, but he couldn't help but think that any sort of divine intervention would be helpful right about now.

So, without a word, Itachi slid into the pew next to Romeo. He knelt down, bowed his head, and looked at his companion out of the corner of his eye. Itachi wasn't wearing his usual emotionless mask. His brow was creased, his mouth was set in a hard line, and he looked tired and haggard, like he hadn't gotten any sleep at all.

It was a struggle to find his voice, to raise it high enough that he'd be heard on the muffled floor.

"Are you here because of him?" he asked. He didn't feel the need to elaborate. It was obvious enough that he was talking about Dax.

[myblueskies]

Romeo heard footsteps and looked up blinking at Itachi. He nodded sadly. "Yes... I thought he was a bad person but he really wasn't. He was trying to help us..."

[silentsacrifice]

"He gave his life for us," Itachi said solemnly, then he let the silence of the cathedral weigh in on them once more.

Homura, Sasuke, Sakura, and even people from his world who he didn't know had been here, but who had gravestones - Sasori, Kankuro, Gaara of the Desert - they were all gone, and now Dax was gone, too. But the others, from what he'd heard, might have a chance at coming back. Their collars seemed to chain them to the Tower.

But Dax had no collar, and he didn't even have a gravestone.

It was infuriating. Riki, at least, the one in charge of making the floors, should have given his own comrade a gravestone. After all Dax had done, keeping the residents as safe as possible and dealing with the fallout when one of the other administrators enraged them, he at least deserved that much.

A pang of emotion hit Itachi all over again, and he screwed his eyes shut. He looked to be a mixture of heartbroken and furious.

[myblueskies]

"He did..." And that was something only heroes did. And Romeo felt really bad that he had not liked him. That he had thought he would hurt them.

He looked over at Itachi and turned to hug him, wrapping his arms round him even as his tears started again. "We gotta remember him, and finish his dreams."

I'm going to cry at some point during this thread, I just know it

[grimgrimoire]

Anyone who had known Ienzo for more than a week would know that he wasn’t incredibly religious. He wasn’t religious at all, actually. He understood the reasons why some people were, but religion was created because people had a gap in their hearts and minds that they needed to make something up to fill; Ienzo did not have that hole, because he filled it all with cold, hard science. (His relationships with the concept of religion was very similar to his relationship with the concept of love.) So no, he had never really paid much attention to the Cathedral floor, because he felt that it was not his place to enter. He was not here to pray, so why would he come and intrude upon those who do depend on a higher power to lift them through their lives?

Today, however, was a special case. Anyone with a functioning brain could see why. Ienzo was surprised that the cathedral was as empty as it was, with the tragic death that had just been televised accidentally — as so many are. This Tower seemed to have a horrible network system.

He’d done his research on the administrators, and had heard stories from other people. Dax was the forgiving one. He kept the residents in relatively good health and never did anything to harm them, in the food or as part of the ‘games’ or something else. And now he had been murdered by the freakish girl in charge, Ruana. Their last internal defense was gone. From here on in, it would be nothing but heartlessness from the people within, more months of abuse and “games” like those damned tape recorders. The only help from here on in would have to come from the people, trying to mess with the administrators’ now-more-nefarious plans.

Shit, as Braig would have said, was now getting extremely real. But before Ienzo worried about that, he also wanted to worry about the dead man they had all seen, and it was only fair to pay his respects to the one admin with any sense of common decency in this tower... and he wasn’t alone, it looked like. Ienzo could recognize the boy by the horribly dirty clothes and similarly dirty, unkempt hair, and the name came along quickly afterward. Romeo. A little, simple kid. Praying or thinking? The hands went up, and then they went down. He couldn’t tell.

Ienzo walked over to stand at the end of Romeo’s pew, just looking at him. After a moment, he walked over to where the boy was and sat down.

I am pretty much guaranteed to cry ;;

[myblueskies]

Romeo was still crying softly when he looked up to see who was approaching. He was also surprised not many people were in here, since praying when people died was something people did in his world. But maybe they had figured it out quicker than them, most people were cleverer than him.

"Mister Ienzo..."

we'll sob together. BABIES...

[grimgrimoire]

Ienzo didn't want to see anyone cry. That wasn't his objective. That never had been his objective, to see tears specifically; before, he just wanted to spread confusion, mayhem, and his own influence. But of course neither of these now applied. So the sight of a little Romeo, sniffling in a cathedral, stabbed him in the heart in a way he was almost relieved to feel; times like these reminded him that he still had a heart. That he hadn't lost it during the... well, slaughter.

"Hello," he said softly. It was fairly obvious what was on the child's mind, and even though he understood the situation much better than Ienzo did because he was here longer, the scientist had the feeling that knowledge just made his misery worse.

[hachitaro]

Taro wasn't one for religion. He really didn't see any appeal in any of the mainstream religions - they were nice and comforting sometimes, but they were for humans, not for people like him. Religions that followed pantheons from different lands were another story, and a sticking point for him. After all, it was the gods that were giving people power and causing all of this trouble.

... But he couldn't fault people for falling back on religion when they didn't know what else to do. It was a human trait, not really one in non-humans or even half-humans like Toshiko. He understood the psychology behind it, and he honestly wished he had something he could cling to like that, too.

The fact that Dax had sacrificed himself for them like that to get them information, to warn them... it didn't surprise him. He'd done something similar, though less public. The fact that messing with their souls was involved wasn't surprising either, though he'd pushed that particular revelation aside to deal with later. Right now he was looking for people who needed emotional support, because that was what he felt he could do. He wasn't a fighter. He could think of strategy later. Keeping the population calm was important for now.

And so, when he peeked his head back into the cathedral and saw Romeo praying - or attempting to - he slipped into a pew behind him. He'd keep his normal illusion up for right now... he could always change it later. Once he saw the kid seem to pause, he spoke up.

"... Hey there."

[myblueskies]

Romeo barely noticed someone come in, as he was still crying but the words made him jump. He glanced behind him. "Oh... hello sir."

[hachitaro]

Taro got up and walked softly over to where Romeo was, crouching next to him. He reached out to try to brush Romeo's tears away.

"We'll get through this. Everything that's going on... I know we'll get through this. Right?"

He didn't quite believe it himself, but he couldn't crush hope for a kid like that.

[reddeadvirtuoso]

Jade had never been very religious-- actually, this Cathedral had king of creeped her the fuck out when she first got to the Tower. But you don't live in Texas without hearing a lot about religion, and well. It was kind of a feeble attempt at reaching out to familiarity she supposed.

She was pretty quiet when she was walking across the cathedral floor. Didn't stay anything, but her footprints were dead obvious. Instead of sitting in any of the pews, she walked right up next to Romeo, taking a seat and crossing her legs next to him. Formality be damned.

"Hey."

[myblueskies]

Romeo looked up and saw Jade walking towards him, he felt a bit bad that he hadn't gone to check on all his friends first, but he wouldn't have been able to keep their spirits up like this.

"Hello Jade... are you okay?"

[reddeadvirtuoso]

Don't worry, we're pretty sure no one in the Tower is really up to having their spirits lifted.

"Pretty good," she says as vaguely noncommittal as possible. She fidgets with her hands a moment more, before she actually speaks up and says something again.

"No OK, I guess that's total bullshit? Because I don't think anyone in this place is really OK anymore, and they're probably really not OK right now of all times so I probably shouldn't be spouting crap in a place like this."