The Popestar

𝕻𝖆𝖗𝖙 𝕰𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙𝖊𝖊𝖓- 𝖄𝖔𝖚 𝕮𝖆𝖓'𝖙 𝖂𝖎𝖓 𝕿𝖍𝖊𝖒 𝕬𝖑𝖑

Part 18- You Can't Win Them All

The following few days after Terzo's party, Lucie regretfully never saw a lot of Copia. He was extremely busy getting everything ready for the first tour Secondo was about to begin. He had been extremely stressed, losing sleep worrying and praying that he'd remembered everything he needed to do for Secondo and the ghouls. The higher clergy had a last meal before they'd leave for America for the weeks leading up to Christmas.

"Don't miss me too much fratello. I know you'll be eternally longing for my return." Secondo smirks at Terzo.

"Pfft." Terzo rolls his eyes sarcastically. "You wish. But eh, whatever helps you sleep at night stronzo." He pulls an awkward-looking face.

"Now, now boys." Sisters hushes. "Let's not dispute on our last night together."

"We were only playing around Sister, don't fret." Secondo reassures.

The Cardinal managed to keep a low profile all night, staying quiet and keeping himself to himself. Clearly something was on his mind. Lucie noticed his eyes were continually looking down into his lap and he wasn't engaging in conversation as often.

"Hey," Lucie whispers, reaching over the table to place her hand over his whilst everyone else was preoccupied in a conversation about one of the stops on the tour, "is everything ok? You don't seem yourself." His eyes look up and around at the rest of the table, the conversation was dying down and Terzo noticed Lucie's hand comforting Copia's.

"Fine! What makes you think differently Sister." He says, a smile suddenly appearing on his face.

"What? Everybody alright? All is well, no?" Terzo looks over at Copia and Lucie puzzled.

"Everything is fine, Lucie just questioned whether I am ok, which I am." Copia tightly smiles.

"You must be I'm excited I'm sure!" Sister exclaims.

"Yes! Haha." He nervously chuckles, "I can't wait."

Copia was going to be going out on the tour with Secondo to keep everything in check and running smoothly. Papa Nihil was getting older, and inevitably more dependent on Sister, so she had to find somebody to fill her shoes and who else but Copia would be a perfect fit for the job? He already knows the logistics of the tour, so it wouldn't be a problem, right?

The night begins to draw to a close as the family bid farewell to one another. Copia leaves the Papal area, intending to head back to bed but Lucie slips out before he has the chance.

"Copia." She calls after him, placing a hand on his shoulder to bring him to a halt. "Copia, are you sure everything is ok? You can talk to me, you know that. I know something is on your mind... is it about the tour?"

"What? No! Honestly I'm fine." Copia smiles, not fooling a soul.

"Let me walk you to your room." Lucie links arms with him.

"But Terzo will be waiting for you."

"I'm sure he can live without me for a short while Copia. Please tell me what's got you down." Lucie says. He sighs.

"I'm scared Lucie. This is the first time I've left the ministry since I have gotten here, other than the surrounding towns of course. I feel like something is going to go wrong, I'll miscalculate something, I'll forget a vital piece of equipment, I'll oversleep." They walk down the corridor together.

"You know that's completely normal, right? Obviously you're going to overthink everything, you're a perfectionist Copia. You're so good at what you do, so good that you can't let a single thing fall out of place. Just relax, everything will be fine."