Darkness At The Heart Of My Love

1

The grass and the tree leaves, green. The weather, too warm for layered clothing. The sun scorching down upon the stone walls of the cathedral. It was the beginning of summer and some of the members of the clergy had volunteered to tidy up the ministry before the newly appointed Papa Emeritus the Fourth and his band of Nameless Ghouls arrived home from tour. Among those few memebers was a young woman by the name of Athena.

Athena, although only being in her twenties, had been a part of the Church of Ghost for more than half a decade. Though not much of her past before her arrival is known. The only one who knew any of that was Sister Imperator, as she was the one who brought Athena in.

Athena arrived at the church when Papa Emeritus the third took over. In the beginning, Terzo hardly even paid attention to Athena. He would see her here and there but for the most part her existence was evanescent. But in the years that followed, Terzo's reign was coming to an end. Athena was there by his side to try and ease him as he knew his time was almost up. Then the day finally came when Terzo was dragged off the stage on the command of Papa Nihil. For the following months after that, it left everyone wondering what was next for the band. It was during that time that Terzo began to acknowledge Athena's existence and appreciated her sticking by his side.

In those months, Terzo, now fully aware his touring days were over; he and Athena began a secret relationship of sorts. It wasn't so much so that it had to be secret, it was more of a "Why does anyone need to know?" Type of ordeal. Then finally it was announced that the Emeritus line would have "New Blood". Sister Imperator and Papa Nihil announced that Cardinal Copia would take the mantel as the head of Ghost. However, he still had to prove himself by doing arena tours. Out of the three predecessors, Terzo was the most insulted by the decision.

"How could they let that idiot of all people, be the fourth coming Emeritus?" Terzo expressed to Athena as he sat on the edge of the bed.

Athena, not knowing what words could possibly comfort him, sat next to him and put her hand on his back.

"Papa Nihil should have let me keep it going. I was selling tickets, I was bringing in fans, I won the Grammy. It isn't fair."

In his anger induced ramble, Terzo became so frustrated that he asked Athena to leave his room. As Athena left the room and made her way down the hall, she ran into none other than Cardinal Copia; literally.

"Speak of the devil." She thought.

"Oh, Athena, I'm sorry!" He exclaimed.

"It's all right, Cardinal." She smiled.

As she was about to walk away, Cardinal stopped her.

"Uh, Athena?"

"Yes, Cardinal?"

"How's um, how's Terzo?"

"He's okay, why?"

"Is he still mad at me?"

"He's not mad at you, he's just a bit frustrated with Nihil."

"Oh okay" Cardinal nodded.

A bit of an awkward silence occurred before the two parted ways. Athena giggled to herself over her encounter with Cardinal. Their encounters were always awkward, with Cardinal being so shy and timid. He would make cheesy jokes that he seemed to regret after saying them, but nonetheless they made Athena laugh; thus reassuring him that he hadn't embarrassed himself.
Cardinal was very sweet and kind, yet no one really treated him with respect except for Sister Imperator. In fact, one of the things Athena disliked about Terzo was his treatment of the Cardinal.

As she made her way to her room, she thought about one the first encounters she ever had with Cardinal. It was late at night in the ministry and everyone was asleep, or so she thought. She had gotten up to get a glass of water. As she turned the corner of the hall she was almost run over by a tricycle that stopped dead in it's tracks.

The two stared at each other for a moment; one trying to think of ways out of the embarrassing situation while the other was trying to process whether it was a dream or not. After the awkward silence, the night ended with the two hanging out for a while and Athena promising not to tell anyone about Cardinal's tricycle.

Now back to the present day. Athena was finishing up sweeping the floors when the doorbell rang. She placed her broomstick against the wall and hastily made her way to the foyer. She opened the door to reveal all of the ghouls and greeted them all as they entered. Then last but not least, Cardinal- now Papa Emeritus IV- walked through the door. He didn't walk on after the ghouls, he stayed by as Athena closed the door. There he stood timidly, waiting to greet Athena the way he felt proper.

"Hello, Athena." He smiled and did a gesture as if he was about to hug Athena but was unsure whether he wanted to follow through with it or not. To which Athena giggled as she knew what he was trying to do and pulled Cardinal in for a hug. They both stood in embrace for a moment before pulling apart.

"Sooo, how was your first tour as Papa?"

"It was good! The fans were great! It was all great." He said with excitement in his voice.

"I'm glad." Athena gave a genuine smile "Oh, I think Sister Imperator is waiting for you in her office. But I look forward to hearing some tour stories later."

"For sure." He nodded "It's good to see you again by the way, Athena." He said before walking away.

Athena responded with "likewise" and a smile.

As Athena made her way back down the hall to retrieve her broom, she noticed that it was gone from where she had placed it. She then heard someone clear their throat from behind her.

"I see you've abandoned your duties, Sister Athena." The man spun the broom with his white-gloved hand.

"I was getting the door, now can I have that back please?"

With out hesitation, the man handed it back to her. But not before putting his hand around Athena's as her hand gripped the broom handle.

"You were never that quick to greet me whenever I would return from touring."

"I just so happened to be closest to the door, Terzo. Now can you let go?"

With out anything else to say, Terzo let go of her hand and walked away.

Terzo and Athena's relationship had ended two years ago on Terzo's terms. As he felt Athena may had been a distraction for him; thus being the reason Nihil thought he was no longer fit to lead the ministry. This was brought up after Sister Imperator and Papa Nihil had told Terzo and his two older brothers that they were going to be "killed off" to the audiences knowledge. That was the final straw that sent Terzo over the edge about Cardinal taking on the mantel. To have it be suggested that he and two other predecessors would be killed off just to make room for new blood.

He didn't understand why Sister Imperator was so hell bent on having, in Terzo's eyes "a baphoon" take on such a prestigious title. It infuriated him to the point that he could not even stand to be in the same room as the Cardinal. Now, two years later and Terzo's feelings towards the Cardinal had only barely softened. He didn't hate him as much, but he still didn't take him seriously.