Chapter Text
"Charity is certainly greater than any rule. Moreover, all rules must lead to charity."-St. Vincent de Paul
Everything was silent in the night, aside from the sounds of insects buzzing.
"PLEASE PLEASE"
Along with the pleas of the guilty,
There was blood splattered on the walls, bullet holes strewn about randomly, as if fired in a panic, and bodies strewn about, but the strangest thing about them was that their heads were all flattened, or at the very least, they looked like an elephant had stomped on them.
Only two people were in the room, people who were living, at the very least.
The begging mess was on his knees, sobbing and crying, mucus trailing down their faces as their entire body shook, their eyes red and puffy.
There was also a man dressed in priestly robes who towered over them.
Around his neck hung a necklace made of black beads.
He had light brown skin with medium length black hair tied into a bun with scruffy facial hair. His eyes were fox-most likely he was of some Mistrallian descent. A thin gold chain ran from a piercing in his left earlobe to his nose.
"P-Please Saint, I’m sorry. We didn’t know we were in your territory." He spluttered
The saint merely raised a brow before their faces tightened into frowns as they grabbed the man by the hair, bringing him to eye level without even a grunt. It left them totally in his control, unable to even touch the ground.
“Do not beg; you may cry, but do not beg;It is not that you are within my land which has angered me, but that which you've done within it” His tone was soft, but it had a silvery edge to it.
Unceremoniously dropping the man, they crumpled into a ball, now silent but sobbing even harder before they were interrupted by a kick to the head.
"You are starting to test my patience, so please be silent."
They remained absolutely still, not even risking the chance to take a breath.
Slowly, the Saint rested his foot on their heads. They tried to pull away, only to be pushed to the ground by an invisible force. The bead around their neck was now glowing a deep purple and floating.
He turned his head to look down at them before firmly planting his foot on the back of their head once again, pressing into it even harder than before.
“Hopefully this is enough closure for those poor girls” he muttered
That invisible force came back once again as his aura flared a deep purple.
Agonizingly slow, his foot sank deeper and deeper into an ever growing crevice in the man's head.
Blood leaked from every orifice; their eyes were even popping out as they mumbled and slurred, gasping for air like a fish on land.
BOOM
His foot sank into the ground, cracking the tile flooring.
The foot came out with an audible pop and a disgusting squelching sound dripping in blood and pink chunks.
"I'm hoping you burn from the very bottom of my heart."
He took one last look back at the carnage before he left, shaking his head softly.
Was he a good person? Only with the loosest terms
But at least he was trying to do some good.
"If you are what you should be, you will set the whole world ablaze!"-St. Catherine of Sienna
Death was not a good feeling.
Honestly I don’t know what I was expecting to feel. Lady Death's cold embrace or a restful slumber that gradually claimed me
Instead, I got searing pain and the sound of sirens grating against my ear. Never once had I been a religious person, but dear lord, in that moment I prayed more fervently than the pope had ever in their entire wrinkly lifetime.
It was more of a sort of panic-induced begging. It didn't work though, and I died. I know that much. I woke up in the middle of a city I didn’t recognize. Then I saw the moon, and what would a sane man do when seeing a shattered moon after what they thought was their death?
I broke down. I cried and laughed through gritted teeth all while yanking my hair out, and after that, I felt numb. Everything felt so wrong, not just the world but my own body. I just shut down for a whole year. I spent my life as a corpse on a sidewalk eating from the trash.
I was so lost and scared.
Then I met an angel. She was young, oh so young, with gleaming silver eyes and she seemed so sad when looking at me. I remember it as clearly as day.
She scrounged through her pockets before giving me some plastic cards, which I recognized as what the people of whatever world I was in used as currency.
"It’s all I have, but I hope it helps." God, she was so pure it brought me to tears.
“Ruby, there you are! Tai would've killed me if I lost you.” A gruff voice spoke out, and as I turned towards them, I saw their necklace, a tilted cross, and as he walked away with the little angel in hand, I finally decided to do something.
To help those like she helped me, to make sure kids like her would stay kids as long as they could.
Even trash could be repurposed into something greater.