Day 43: Chapel, Second Shift

[screwthegods]

Once the shift had changed, Homura headed downstairs for a brief time to check on the assorted information posted on the bulletin. Some of it was relevant to his interests--much moreso than he might have initially thought as he added replies. By the time his written conversation with Okita had finished, the demi-god's mood had changed

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[janus_006]

The different voice over the intercom, the robotic intonation, barely registered with Alec. He had woken up quite suddenly, and felt an overwhelming urge to just stare at the ceiling and let the memory of the night's events just wash over him. James. He'd ended up working with James, then he'd run off and

[haplesstracker]

Under the excuse of going to look for Blitzwing somewhere else, Scourge made his escape from the Sun Room. He had no idea what a "chapel" was, although the inside looked a bit like the "churches" he'd seen on TV, but it was clear of Decepticons and Maximals and other people trying to pick fights in his presence and that was good enough for him.

He still had no idea what to do about Lugnut. The gentle suggestion that Blitzwing had escaped hadn't even worked, the big idiot was determined to believe that Blitzwing was not only alive, but had refused to escape without him. Which was stupid, Decepticons didn't hold that kind of loyalty to each other.

Mostly. He missed Cyclonus.

Scourge took a seat near a man who appeared to be as physically worn out as Scourge was mentally. Soft, nonthreatening, less likely to get him into trouble or yell at him for no reason. He folded his arms over the back of the seat in front of him and put his head down on top of them, letting out a long sigh. Maybe now he could get his head in order.

[janus_006]

Trevelyan heard someone take a seat nearby. He didn't really care who it was. He probably had to talk to TK - he'd heard Armand's final words, and wasn't sure TK had understood them. Lucky for him Alec spoke French. Yeah. Lucky.

He glanced out from between his fingers at the newcomer. The other guy seemed pretty out of it, too. It had been a rough night all around. "All told, I think that was one of the worse nights I've spent here," he muttered. If not the worst.

[haplesstracker]

"Definitely my worst." Scourge didn't bother raising his head and his voice was muffled by his arms. "I've been awake for hours and my arm's still trying to stab things."

Not to mention their losses. The others Scourge didn't know, but Blitzwing had actually liked him. Scourge needed more of those types.

[falseblack]

There was the usual parting of a rather unusual encounter, and Nigredo continued in pain-filled reverie. A fact possible as the chapel was nearly clear of its occupants. His nurse, too, had taken her leave, the task of sitting still and packing his eyes left completely in his care. It was only then that the child remembered his fatigue and with some misgivings, pulled the ice pack to his lap. His eyes remained closed

[att_901]

He almost never had time to go to church, or anything that resembled one. Churches were peaceful areas, a place to to pray, to commune with others, to seek refuge at times of calamity. It wasn't a place for a soldier at all

[falseblack]

The shadow caused a flutter in the recesses of his mind, but Nigredo remained fast asleep. The noise, on the other hand, caused the flutter to shift and crack. It had been too close, too loud; rest was no longer possible. He visibly jolted, before pulling away from his knee in alarm. Slowly, carefully, the boy opened his eyes to what he thought to be the source of the disturbance.

In his view stood a human: a rather large, hulking male. Nigredo blinked hard, before drooping his eyelids out of necessity. His migraine hadn't completely reduced.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

[att_901]

"I- I'm fine." His reached for the back of his head and bowed slightly. "Sorry if I disturbed your sleep."

He left his seat and went for the one behind the boy. No, it was still too close. He left that seat and went for the one behind it. This will probably do, right? He smiled awkwardly.

[opposingheaven]

At least his conversation with Okita had left him feeling a little more himself than he had been that morning. He was tired, ridiculously so, and the thoughts in his head just wouldn't stop, but he was more ready to have company than he had been earlier. He'd need it to deal with Homura most likely. Reporting something like this hurt in a way that he couldn't quite describe.

He found Homura in the mostly deserted chapel and approached him casually, hands stuffed into his pockets. He slipped into the seat next to the other god, taking a breath and stretching out more comfortably.

"Hey. Sorry for the cryptic messages but I figured this was something that you'd want to hear in person."

[screwthegods]

Whatever it was, Kenren still seemed able to put up a decent front. Though Homura had no doubt that the facade would last at most a few minutes, for the moment it seemed that the elder god had somehow managed to calm himself. No doubt it was for the best, as the Taisho of heaven had been known for his reckless behavior when he felt an injustice had been done.

"That doesn't make me any more optimistic about your news, you know." Homura has known that whatever Kenren had to say, it wasn't going to be pleasant. That knowledge alone was the enough to make him almost restless to hear what had happened. More than once in Heaven, he found himself wishing the Jade Emperor would end his long speeches and simply deliver his orders to the Toushin Taishi who was to be sent on his next heavenly task.

The foreboding sense Homura had now was almost exactly like that.

"What happened, Kenren?"

[opposingheaven]

"I wasn't exactly going for optimistic," Kenren replied with a wry smile which somehow fell short of his usual one, even when he was at his most morbid. He never really considered himself an optimist anyway. He was firmly of the opinion that sometimes things were just fucked up. This was one of those times when the truth of that view was hitting him rather firmly.

But he didn't want to keep Homura waiting for something like this. Something trivial could be seen as teasing, but denying him this knowledge, no matter how much it hurt to speak about it, was crossing the line into downright cruelty.

"Genjyo Sanzo died last night. He was murdered." He couldn't dress it up in any way, just the brutal facts.

[screwthegods]

The lighthearted jokes were little more than an attempt at distraction, and Homura thought that both he and Kenren knew it. Whatever was coming would, simply put, be bad. Yet both men defied the systems that had tried to dictate their lives, and now they were doing the same. Trying to somehow temper the blow with humor that had as much success as tissue paper thrown into a bonfire.

Then Kenren told him, and for too long, Homura could only hear the words echo in his mind.

Genjyo Sanzo.

Had died.

died.

He was dead. Genjyo Sanzo had died. But--

He was murdered. Murdered