The 20 Missions

Birds of a Feather

You promised Kyrie you would be there for church. As you sprinted down the empty streets of Fortuna, you looked at your watch. Crap, it already started.

"Damn it!" you grumbled through your gnashing teeth as you rounded corners, taking the short cut to the cathedral. The whole city was practically empty- the people here attend mass pretty early, but still. You felt eyes on you as you ran. And slowing to a jog to catch your breath, you came across a small pile of dead scarecrows. Some were still waddling around with one leg. Your daggers, Mark and Cleo itched for battle, so you eliminated the few remaining, avoiding physical contact with them as much as possible. They smelled bad enough from a distance, you'd rather not touch them.

The last scarecrow dropped to the pile and you proceeded back to sprinting towards the opera house, sheathing your daggers in the process. You glanced back at the pile and judging from the freshness...

"Must be Nero," you thought to yourself. At least he's already in the church, but the fact that he told you yesterday that he'll have something waiting for you if you do make it in time, served as your motivator. You ran up the stone steps of the chapel and slipped through the slightly opened corridor. He probably left it open for you.

Kyrie's singing voice echoed down the hallway as you hurried around the building, your boots thudding very loudly with each stride you made against the polished granite floor. With a loud squeak from your shoes as you halted towards an opened door, you entered silently into the large room. Kyrie's standing figure stood in the center, surrounded by church-goers clad in white, their hoods worn, shrouding their faces. Kyrie sang the last words of the song, ending with a pleasant high note and the crowd applauded.

Slightly hunched over, you crept through the isles of benches, looking around for Nero, your whispers barely audible, drowned by the sound of the crowd's applause.

"Nero," you called in a loud whisper as the clapping started dying down.

"(y/n)," responded another loud whisper and you turned to where the voice came from. Further down the isle, a couple rows from the front seat, Nero was looking at you over his shoulder and he quickly gestured you with his good arm to come over. You hurriedly sat next to him.

"'Nother mission?" he asked as he noticed the bags under your eyes, but you shrugged it off.

"Yeah," you said softly, "the Order sent me to retrieve some stolen codex about some history of Sparda last night."

Not that you or Nero even cared about the Order of the Sword's religion, so he rolled his eyes in response. "I take that you didn't get much sleep last night, didn't you?"

You stretched you arms forward and yawned in a loud and unladylike way that was enough to get some attention from from the people around you just before Sanctus walked up to the altar. Nero took that as a 'yes'.

You added, "I wanted to sleep in, but... y'know. Promise is a promise, so I'm here now."

Kyrie headed towards you, waving as she hurried, her face full of zeal and excitement.

"You made it, (y/n)!" she said in a whisper before sitting on your left, sandwiching you against Nero. Kyrie gave him a questioning look and Nero twitched as he came into some sort of realization. He glanced to you before reaching into his coat to reveal a small, rectangular box. In hesitation, you took if from his waiting grasp and your two friends leaned slightly towards you as you opened it.

"Aw hell," you gaped as you lifted out a little necklace with a large, golden pendant. It had a pair of wings, and two gold slivers that embraced the long, red gem in the middle. Kyrie took it from your hands, no longer able to wait, and put it around your neck. You felt the pendant on your chest with your fingertips as Kyrie marveled at your slightly new appearance.