Chapter Text
It was about time that shit hit the fan, you thought sourly to yourself. Your rise to the top had seemingly hit an unexpected speed bump. A lengthy detour, more like.
Everything had been going according to plan! Until suddenly it hadn't been. As far back as you can remember, your path in life had been carved out, pre-planned down to the minute details. Growing up in the church, early services where you served as an altar attendant, becoming a Sister of Sin and learning the inner workings of the Ministry. Until finally having been given your first official placement to assist higher ranking members. Naturally, it was expected that your next assignment would finally allow you your own position, not one serving as glorified receptionist for other officials. Again.
The thought brought you anxiety. It was not that you were unused to it, but you did not like unexpected changes. You stuck to your plan, always pointing towards your ultimate goal, the goal you had been primed to strive for since your youth. To deviate was to disappoint. Your job was to follow that path, to get to where you needed to be. Questioning was encouraged, of course, but ultimately to not trust in the path was to show an extreme lack of faith. An extreme lack of trust in the Dark Lord. But this news... it definitely had you feeling that dreaded lack of faith. Hard to trust the process and stay on the path when the hands of fate grab you off of it and toss you miles away in another direction. Had you done something wrong? Something deserving of a punishment? That was the only explanation that made sense.
Your name being called finally pulled you from your thought spiral and back to the present moment, where you sat in what had to be the most uncomfortable chair to ever exist. It was placed directly in front of the desk and surely was reserved solely for those facing clergy mandated punishment, though you thought the chair was punishment enough.
"I want you to know that this is not a punishment, dear", sighed Sister Imperator, seemingly reading your mind. "In fact, quite the opposite. You should be proud to receive this opportunity to serve the Church".
The tone of authority with which she had given you the news of your promotion just 20 minutes earlier was starting to fade from the Mother Superior's voice, being taken place by the tone of a woman who had essentially served as your de-facto mother from the day you were brought to the Ministry. You took a deep breath, trying to process what she had said; not only the news, but also the fact that she seemingly had rearranged your diligently planned out 25-year plan. It was very unlike her, and the ease with which she had delivered the news made you uneasy to say the least. Sister was not one to change direction so easily.
"Yes, Sister, I am. It's just.. a surprise", you admitted, "It seems very similar to what I do now." The plan was, had always been, for you to move from being Papa Nihil's personal assistant to more important Ministry work. Sister had always alluded to a new position being created just for you, but what you had been given was not what you had had in mind at all. Over the past couple of years, the old Pope had slowly had a majority of his responsibilities delegated to more capable members of the clergy during your time with him and most of your job had been keeping him company as he complained about his sons or waxed poetic about fumbling Sister Imperator back in his prime. Your ambition to do more, fostered by your upbringing in Sister's capable hands, made every moment spent as a babysitter to Papa Nihil feel like an eternity. You can only listen to that man play the saxophone so many times before you lose your sanity. You had spent two years doing that, and the last six months of it had been the worst. Nihil, and you by extension, had been transferred to an abbey in Italy after his retirement was made official. Two very long years of doing nothing, and now you find out your next move is to do the exact same thing?
Sister sighs again, muttering your name under her breath as she pinches the bridge of her nose. She knows you so well, knows what must be going on inside your head. "I know what you're thinking and let me assure you, this new position is a step up, a step in the right direction". She spoke frankly now, having mostly dropped the formality she had given you the news with.
"Your new role as Head of the Office of Pontificum Priori will entail having much responsibility. Leadership sees you fit to take over this new role, dear, and I can assure you, as the one who has been trying to manage those three for years, it will be... a challenging role. The Papas all need strong hand individually and now that we will have all of them here under one roof again means we needed someone strong to head this new office here at Headquarters. We all believe you are well equipped to handle the job. Please try to remember that you are on the right path, yes? Just because it is not what you thought your next task would be does not mean you are not trusted to handle important Ministry matters. Try to keep an open mind".
You exhale a little sullenly, resigning to your new fate and feeling a bit like a sulking child. Sister hands you a stack of papers entailing your new duties and adds, " Now, here is everything we talked about today. You will find you have been given a stipend for new clothing expenses so feel free to toss out those dusty old habits that Nihil always insisted you wear. There is enough for some more professional looking outfits as well as new habits to be worn at Mass and special events. Now that you are back home for good, you'll be graduated to official clergy lodgings on the fifth floor, the key to your new quarters is in that stack of paperwork and I had your things moved from the guest room already. On Monday, we begin your training and you will be formally introduced to the Emeritus brothers".
You nod and thank her graciously, a smile on your face as you try to push away the lingering doubts that you're being tabled by the clergy. Standing up from your seat, you ponder getting Sister a more comfortable set of chairs for her office as your hip pops and you begin to feel the blood rush back into your legs. When you open the door to take your leave, she calls your name again.
"Oh, and Copia will be arriving the day after tomorrow. He doesn't know you've been moved back to HQ so keep that under wraps, hm? I want everything to be a surprise. We will be having dinner together that evening, 7:00 pm sharp. Please don't be late!"
"Of course, Sister. Your secret is safe with me", you reply and mime zipping your lips with a smile and head out of the now darkening office.
-
Heading from Sister's office on the fourth floor, you decided to take a detour to the kitchens in search of a late dinner. Your meeting with Sister had been scheduled during the last hour of dinner being served and you had not been able to leave Papa Nihil for the day at your normal time. Upon returning back to Ministry headquarters, he had insisted upon cleaning out his old office which had taken the better part of the first few days you had been back. Today, much to your chagrin, he had found old Ghost memorabilia from the 60s in an abandoned closet and you weren't able to get a word in edgewise while he excitedly showed you the treasure he had found. Not that you would have had the heart to cut him off anyways, but that little escapade had cut into your dinner time and you were starting to feel the effects of not eating for the last several hours.
You had to ponder the news of your new appointment as an executive in the church office committed to "managing" the former Papas. A new position created just for you, or so you were told. On paper, it was what you had wanted. In theory... well that was yet to be decided. Sister had insisted that it would not be the same as your tenure serving as Papa Nihil's assistant. But he was in fact, part of the Retired Papa Club you were now in charge of keeping an eye on. Adding his two sons into the mix would just mean you had triple the work. Primo you had previously met, he was a gentle man who mostly kept to himself in retirement. But Secondo... well, you had heard the rumors of the problems he caused the Ministry. A perpetual thorn in the clergy's side during his reign, you had been assigned to HQ shortly after he was fired and had never met him, but boy did his reputation proceed him. Taking care of three old men was not anywhere near where you had imagined you would end up, you thought tiredly.
As you made your way through the halls of the ministry, admiring the gilded portraits and chandeliers as you always did, you passed by the great double doors leading into the cathedral. As you passed, though, a small flash of white from the corner of your eye caught your attention. Given that those doors were not typically open this early in the evening, you really had no choice but to give in to your curiosity and double back to see what was going on. You stopped in your tracks a few steps past the entrance to the main hall, listening when you faintly heard Papa Nihil speaking quietly to someone in the room. That would explain the white figure you had caught. His words were almost unintelligible as if he were deep within the sanctuary, and it took a few moments to register that what you had been hearing was all spoken in Italian. Nihil did have a tendency to talk to himself as he went about his day, and so you started off again towards the promise of food, curiosity quelled. But then another voice broke the silence, this time in English. Heavily accented English, but you could understand the voice nonetheless. And it was not happy.
"Don't worry old man, I won't be a bother to your dear little fiorella", the voice barked out, cold almost. The pair had clearly been arguing, you now realized. About what, you weren't sure. Despite growing up at the Abbey in Rome, your days with Sister Imperator had yielded less progress with Italian than you would have liked. But who was this person speaking to Papa in such a way? It was uncalled for, no matter what the issue was. As much as you were bored to death by the task of keeping the man busy, you had taken a shining to him. He was endearing, deep down. A genuine person despite his faults and you almost felt protective over him. Overcome with the need to stand up for Nihil, you turned and walked back to the door as you heard the voice call out again, this time further away than before.
As the mystery man spoke again, it sent chills down your spine with the predatory tone. "I can't touch, but I can look, no?"
As you finally stepped into the threshold of the chapel ready to verbally assault this stranger, you caught only a glimpse of his black suited figure as he exited quite dramatically through a door on the other side of the chapel. You watched as a disgruntled Nihil threw his hands up in the air in frustration before he too took his leave. You stood there for a second, bothered on behalf of Nihil and wondering who this was to speak so disrespectfully to a former head of church like that. It must have been someone transferred from another branch, you think. Nobody here would dare speak to any clergy member that way. Not without facing the wrath of Imperator, that is. Looking down at your watch, you check the time and decide that its a problem for another day when you aren't on the verge of starving, despite how riled up the incident got you. You make a mental note to ask Sister Imperator about it on Monday, run a hand over your forehead tiredly, and continue on your path.