Here Comes The Son (Ghost Band / Papa Emeritus fic)

Though My Memories Have Faded

Descending the stairs to the Religious and Occult Artefact and Antiquities Department both Swiss and Aurora shivered slightly as they entered the museum-like wing of the abbey. What had begun centuries earlier as a room for storing Relics had grown significantly to include many artefacts and antiques from all over the world representing a wide number of religions. The wing was set in the chill confines of the basement out of necessity given the need for some of the more ancient pieces to be kept at cool, even cold temperatures and others with controlled humidity. The wing was also located alongside the abbey's furnaces for those pieces that required a much more infernal temperature.

Standing outside the perennially locked doors, Swiss and Aurora pulled the bell cord and waited for Doctor Sofia Vecchia to let them in. Opening the doors, surprised to see the ghouls, the tall doctor, possibly in her late fifties, wore her long mid-brown hair in a functional braided pony tail. Her white coat, that she wore over her smart black suit had seen better days but still did the work of providing multiple pockets and protecting her own clothes. She also wore glasses, but had a second pair and a small magnifying glass hooked onto a breast pocket along with a pen and and a pencil. In her hand she carried a clipboard with a wad of papers clipped to it; each one appeared to have been leafed through multiple times.

"Can I help you?" She frowned with a sigh; her brow creased and the impression that she had been working all night without break filled her eyes and dulled her skin.
"Dr Vecchia?" Swiss began. "We're two of Papa's ghouls, we wondered if we could speak with you about an artefact, please?"
"Is this urgent, ghoul?" She asked, her voice tight and her body stiffened with anxiety.
"It may be," Swiss replied, uncertain exactly how to answer.
"Well, is there any possibility you could come back when you're certain that it is?" She asked, pushing a stray piece of fallen hair from in front of her eyes.
"Dr Vecchia," Aurora's brow furrowed in sympathy for the doctor. "Can we help you with anything? You seem stressed."

Vecchia shook her head; she didn't know whether it was just the right time of asking or the surprising empathy from the ghoul, but her shoulders sagged and she sighed heavily.

"Please don't tell anyone," she begged, "I will find it eventually, but... I've misplaced a pagan artefact."
"It's not a poison ring, is it?"

The ghouls had never been dragged through a set of doors so quickly in all their lives. Closing the door firmly behind them, the doctor turned an anxious expression towards them.

"Tell me you found it!" She begged.
"Not exactly," Aurora shrugged, "but we have a suspicion about who took it. It was used against Papa."
"Papa's been poisoned?" Vecchia gasped. "He's okay? Yes?" She added offering an almost pleading expression.

Aurora took hold of the doctor's hands and smiled.

"Dr Stone says he's going to be fine, but it's affected Phantom too and he's still in a coma," she added, her shoulders dropping with her expression.
"Phantom?" Vecchia frowned. "That sweet quintessence ghoul? Oh, I hope he's okay."

Aurora and Swiss both felt astonished by the reaction. Far too many people in the abbey treated the ghouls as nameless as they were in Hell. Many didn't even have names in the abbey, not officially anyway although they would sometimes secretly name themselves for reference amongst other ghouls.

Papa had named each of his Pack on summoning them and always checked that they liked their names before announcing them. Even when Dew had switched elements from water to fire (which hadn't been the easiest of tasks for him). Papa had offered a new name for his fire element, but was more than happy for him to keep his water based name too. So, to some he was Dew or Dewdrop, and to others Sodo. It was another of their Papa's thoughtful ways, and just another reason why they loved him.