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

Of All the Demons I've Known

The abbey was a flurry of activity as the evacuation began. Two hastily rented warehouses began to be filled with precious artefacts; statues; artwork; books; stage outfits, instruments and amplifiers, all aspects of the black mass such as altar wine, thuribles, candles, cups and chalices, lamps, decanters and monstrances; clothing, and anything and everything considered precious, irreplaceable or expensive that was possible to carry. Individuals packed what they could in the few hours allowed or at least enough for a few days should the abbey itself be destroyed, three Sisters of Sin and two Brothers of Sin offered to pack Copia's belongings to allow him and his ghouls a chance to rest before what they knew would be a raging battle. Finally, the medical wing was evacuated with patients placed in a dedicated corner of the warehouse to protect them. The remaining doctors and nurses setting up in a tent about a mile from the abbey, hopeful that it would be far enough away to avoid possible destruction, but close enough to return to offer help when needed. Copia had suggested a further mile, but although they had agreed they had not moved. Finally, a temporary shelter had been set up in the second warehouse for all the Clergy and any of the staff who lived onsite.

Standing outside the first warehouse and breathing a sigh of relief that the evacuation had been successful prior to Belial's rising, Sister Imperator turned to Papa Nihil.

"Papa, I wonder, do you think we should evacuate the prisoners?" She asked, undecided how she felt about it herself.
"Sister, you are gracious and kind, but in this instance, you are too kind. No, they remain in the abbey. If it is destroyed by His actions then He has killed them, but there is a faint possibility that the abbey may be spared if He is aware that His followers are inside."

Imperator nodded, it was a reasonable assumption and she had no compunction about risking their prisoners' lives given that they had forced them to risk theirs.

"It's all up to Copia now," she said, staring back at the abbey, an apprehensive expression covering her face. "Oh, Papa, do you think he'll be okay?"
"He has his powers and from what I hear they're quite significant. He is our and Lucifer's son, that's a good start and he's strong."
"He's had to be after the life we've given him," Imperator choked back her emotions at the words.
"We were protecting him," Nihil shook his head.
"Oh, Nihil, eventually we were protecting him, but please let's not pretend that the mistakes we made in his early life were caused by anything more than our anger and foolish pride."
"No," Nihil nodded sadly. "I want to purely for selfish reasons but I know selfishness is part of it too."
"Papa," she paused, uncomfortable with the question, "do you think he wrote See The Light about us?"
"I have often thought so, Sister. Come, we should pray for him and his ghouls."

Imperator nodded, still unable to tear her eyes from the abbey, where she knew that somewhere inside, her son was preparing for a battle with the Prince of Hell who wanted nothing more than to kill him for his own gain.

*

Inside the otherwise empty abbey, Copia and his ghouls gathered together in the chapel.

"Phantom, Mountain... are you certain you're up to this? Are you well enough?" He asked with concern at the fact that they had both insisted on joining him.
"We may not be at full strength, Papa," Phantom nodded, "but however this goes, we want to fight with you. All of us, together, stand or fall."
"I'm just worried about you risking your lives, all of you actually. I would be devastated to lose any of you."
"Papa, I was still conscious for a brief period in the crypt after Matthias shot me. I am, perhaps more than anyone, aware of the pain you felt for losing one of us, but that pain is not greater than it would be for one of us to lose you. If we can help fight and protect you, then that is exactly what we will do."
"Mountain said it best when we split into two groups after you'd been kidnapped and we led the security team away from the other four of us so some of us would be able to find you. There was a possibility we could be banished or worse, but he said 'For Papa, anything' and that hasn't changed." Phantom confirmed.