Getting it Together

Tradition

TWs: Shock collar mentions, cult like behaviour, Beatrice and Patton, mentions of bile, mentions of a corpse, cutting, blood, arm slicing, knife.

The sun was astonishingly bright the day of Jason's funeral. Roman could even swear he saw a rainbow out his window from the rain the night before.

"How about this?" The sound of Patton's gasp filter's through the hallway and into Roman's bedroom.

Stepping into the hallway, Roman peers into the kid's bedroom. Patton held up a white suit in front of Remy excitedly, while Remy toyed with the shock collar on his neck.

"Babes, I don't do white." Remy glares. Roman noticed that his neck was faintly red.

"It's tradition." Patton insists. "And you're wearing it whether you like it or not."

"It's tradition to wear white to some rapist's funeral?" Remy snorts, shoving the suit towards Patton.

"Yes," Patton says breezily, his right eye twitching with held back anger. "Now put it on."

"He will." Damien hurriedly finishes tying his bowtie and grabs the suit from Patton. "He will."

Remy rolls his eyes as Patton leaves the room and Kai quietly shuts the door.

"Come on." Patton smiles brightly at Roman and grabs his arm, leading him back into the bedroom he shared with Remus. Opening the closet, Patton grabs something from the very back and has it pulled out. "My mom made this for you, custom."

Roman stares at the blood-red suit and tie, not a single other colour on it. "Tradition?" He asks quietly. His voice shook with quiet fear, yet he didn't quite know why he was scared.

Patton nods and hands it to him. "I have to go help Logie."

Roman watched Patton walk away, a look of distaste on his face. Moving into the upstairs bathroom he started to put on the button up. When he caught a glimpse of himself in the mirror, the red hard to miss, Roman went back that day in the bathroom, the blood running, staining his hands, the floor, everything.

He glanced out the window in the car watching the trees go past. Patton had rushed them out quickly, talking about being late. Roman watched as Remus leaned his head against the other window, his eyes drifting to the outside. Roman smiled at the little movement, happy his brother was finding some way to enjoy this. Hopefully this was a sign of him getting better. They'd been working really hard to hide their little movements from Patton.

The car slowed to a stop on the edge of some woods, a few cars already parked nearby.

Remy gently touched his red neck, now free from the collar as Patton thought he'd had enough good behavior. Stepping out of the car, Damien found Remy's hand and held it tightly, Thomas on his hip. Virgil bounced out of the car and raced over to the tree line carelessly, stooping down to look at sticks and pretty rocks.

Roman helped Remus out of the car, Kai following after them as Patton and Logan got out of the front.

"Come on everyone!" Patton said cheerfully, a bright smile on his face as he bounded over to a person he knew, dragging Logan behind him.

Damien whispers a low warning to Remy as they follow Patton into the woods, hoping his smart ass cousin wouldn't try anything after just earning Patton's trust.

"Hello Patton." Beatrice practically glides over to her son, her hair and outfit pristine, almost as if the forest itself was scared to sully her outfit.

Pulling Patton into a half hug, Beatrice manages a small smile to the family before her normal frown returned, bending down to hug Virgil.

"Hi mom!" Patton says chipperly. "Hello Genevieve!"

The malnourished servant following behind Beatrice briefly looks past the family, before her gaze returns to the earth floor.

"It's almost starting puppet, I'll see you after." Beatrice hugs Patton once more and drifts off, Roman and Damien letting out a sigh of relief at her exit.

"Come to the front please Roman." A petite woman with brown hair piled into a bun on her head approached the small group, holding her hand out to Roman. She looked to be only a few years younger than Beatrice, and her eyes flickered every now and then with the anger Roman say in Patton when he first tried to run away from the house on the mountains so long ago.

Roman picked his poison, looking to Patton for help.

Patton smiled comfortingly, giving Roman a gently push towards the woman. "It's okay Ro-Ro! Go with Ella."

Roman reluctantly let go of Remus's hand and allowed his hand to be taken, following Ella silently to the front of the group, where a deep grave had been dug. Ella smooths of the bottom of her pure white dress, turning Roman forcefully to face the grave.

"Look down." Ella commands. "Look at him."

Roman shakes his head, his eyes squeezed shut, bile rising up the back of his throat. "I can't." He whispers, his voice barely there.

"Look at him." Ella says sharply, harshly grabbing Roman's face and pointing it down towards the grave. "Look at my son."

Her son?  Roman almost puked. Forcing his eyes open, Roman peered down into the grave.

There Jason was, white as a ghost, not even graced as much as a casket.

"He is below you." Ella says loudly, her voice firm and clear to the audience that looked up at you.

"Only worms go below into the embraces of hell. He is below you. He is a worm." The sea of people said in unison. In the back, Roman could just barely see Patton saying the words too, Damien and Remy looking around in discomfort.

A man walked up to Roman and Ella and kissed her, holding his hand out from Roman to shake. "I'm Everitt." He introduced lowly, not wanting to disturb the community.

"You are above him." Everitt continued in a louder voice, as both he and Ella placed a hand on each of Roman's shoulders.

"Those who follow the written path of their lives, without struggle fall to the grace of our God above. We will rise." Roman blanched at the creepily in synch voices. "We all return to dirt at the end, but before we send others to dirt. We are dust."

Now the crowd broke off, the women continuing to speak. "We are dust, we drift through the world unnoticed until the sun shines through the windows or we collect on a shelf."

"God is our window. The community is our shelf." The men continued.

"We are seen." Everitt and Ella say loudly, projecting their voices to everyone. Reaching into his pocket, Everitt pulls out a long dagger and holds Roman tightly so he can't squirm away.

"W-Wait!" Roman panics, thrashing in his grip as Everitt pulled the knife across the top of Roman's arm, sharp pain shooting through him.

Roman screams in pain as Ella moves his hand to hover over the grave, the small river of blood pouring down onto Jason's corpse. Everitt cuts his arm next, before handing the knife to Ella, who does the same. As Roman collapses in agony to the forest floor, they allow their blood to cascade down on Jason's head.

"One who has wronged has felt the blood of his parents. Their disappointment. A family is torn apart but made." The unison of voices spoke.

Roman screamed.

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