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The new Papa’s coronation was tomorrow and the church was bustling with activity. From music rehearsals to planning for the afterparty, everyone from the lowliest ghouls to the highest ranked clergy members were working themselves to the bone to get everything right in time.
Omega and the other band ghouls had been spending weeks learning and perfecting the new songs. Their current lack of a lead singer led to the aether ghoul filling in on vocals during rehearsals, leading to a few noise complaints from clergy members who were more open about their dislike of ghouls. It would be more than mildly irritating if not for the fact that Omega outranked most of them despite being a ghoul. Whatever. All preparations were done and he was looking forward to his first night off in weeks. With his guitar packed into the case and the other band ghouls long gone, he left the rehearsal room and pondered what he was going to do tonight.
“Omega!” called out a familiar voice. The ghoul didn’t need to turn around to know who was addressing him. Cardinal Copia, a sweet, shy man with a surprisingly salacious side with whom he’d had dalliances with before.
“You know you’re not supposed to use our names,” said Omega.
“We’re not supposed to fuck either but that’s never stopped you,” smirked the Cardinal. “Anyway, no one’s even here, don’t worry. I need you to gather the band ghouls and meet in the private dining room in an hour. The new Papa is here and wants to meet you all in advance.”
“He’s here already?”
The third Emeritus brother, or Papa Emeritus III upon his upcoming coronation, hadn’t lived amongst the clergy like his brothers had. There were many rumors about the youngest’s whereabouts, and from what Omega had gleaned over time was that he was sent away to study at a young age and served in smaller congregations ever since.
“Yes, and he said something about being hungry so I assume there will be food there as well.”
So much for a night off. “Thank you for letting me know. I’ll gather the band right away.”
“Yes. Hey, uh…” the Cardinal patted Omega’s shoulder. “Sorry for the short notice. And if this ruins any plans you had. I know you were supposed to have the night off finally…”
“Copia, it’s not your fault the new Papa decided to show up early.”
“I know, but still . You’ve just been working so hard lately. I guess I just wanted to say that we all can tell. That’s… ahem, that’s all.” Copia turned around and awkwardly hustled back down the hall, leaving Omega to wonder how he’d break the news to the other band ghouls.
~
The five selected band ghouls were seated. Alpha, Omega, and Air sat on one side of the table while Water and Earth left the chair between themselves empty for when Papa arrived. The two younger ghouls quickly started bantering amongst themselves before roping the two guitarists into the conversation. Air sat silently, as usual. None of them knew what to expect.
“What do you think he’ll be like?” asked Water, tapping his fingers against the table.
“I don’t know, nobody who lives here’s ever met him,” mused Earth.
“His brothers live here, dude, I think they’ve met.”
“How am I supposed to know what his brothers think of him?”
“I don’t know, you at least knew the Second, I’m new at this.”
“Earth definitely does not know the Second,” Alpha teased.
Earth rolled his eyes. “Why the hell would I try to get to know him outside of the band? I prefer living, thank you.”
“Come on, he wasn’t that bad.”
“Look, I will do my job but when he looks at me with that- it’s not even the one off eye, it’s like a culmination, or accumulation, or whatever of what his whole deal is and I gotta leave.”
“Fuckin’ coward,” laughed Alpha, although he clearly shared the same sense of nervousness at the idea of his impending meeting with Papa III. “Hey Omega, did One and Two ever talk about their brother?”
Everyone at the table turned to look at Omega.
He knew the two Papas quite well, actually. Primo was wise and patient. He spoke very little outside of his work and seemed to prefer quietly reading alone over leading the church. Secundo was dark and hard-hearted, but fair in his dealings. Many of the ghouls were frightened of him, but he and Omega had a mutual respect.
“I don’t think the First ever mentioned him. The Second seemed a bit irritated when the topic came up, but I don’t think that-”
The sound of the door opening silenced Omega. Each ghoul immediately turned to look at the figure entering the room.
A small, slim man with raven black hair and skull paint entered the room. He wore a black two-piece suit with a grucifix adorned onto the jacket. His mismatched eyes gave him away as an Emeritus, but the bright smile on his face set him apart from his siblings.
“Ah, buonasera ! You lot must be the nameless ghouls, yes?”
Omega was grateful the mask covered up the surprise on his face and suspected the other ghouls felt that way as well. After a beat, Omega remembered the others were expecting him to be the one to answer, as usual.
“Yes, Papa.”
“ Magnifico !” Papa clapped. “I am pleased to meet you all, nameless ghouls.” The new Papa approached the table the ghouls sat at and shook each of their hands before taking the empty seat directly across from Omega. “The food should be in soon, along with the wine. Your kind do drink wine, yes?”
“Oh we do, Papa,” replied Alpha, visibly more relaxed at how amiable the new Papa was.
“Good to hear. This is my first time meeting any of your kind, so forgive me if I am not familiar with how you all… ah, work.”
“You’ve never met a ghoul before?” Earth asked, audibly surprised, then realized he forgot to speak the man’s title and added a quick “ahem, Papa.”
“I have seen your kind, but the last time I was here the ghouls weren’t allowed to speak with or interact with humans outside of serving them. A terrible thing I am glad has changed.”
Papa Emeritus I had granted the ghouls basic privileges shortly after he ascended to leadership. Omega and Alpha had been summoned specifically to serve him and were the oldest summoned in the church to have not lived under the ghoul servitude edict. Air had been summoned several years beforehand and as a result still barely spoke.
Omega raised an eyebrow under his mask. “Wait, Papa, when was the last time you were here?”
“Eh, twenty years, give or take? Yes, it is a… long story, perhaps for a different time. The other monasteries and such do not have ghouls.”
The doors opened and a few kitchen ghouls delivered the band their dinner of spaghetti and meatballs with a large plate of garlic bread- Papa’s choice.
“ Molte grazie ,” Papa bowed his head towards the kitchen ghoul pouring red wine into his chalice. “You can leave the wine bottles behind, we will pour it ourselves if we want more.”
The kitchen ghouls silently bowed and scurried out of the dining room.
Papa raised his glass. “A toast. To a new era, and to my ghouls.” Papa and his ghouls all clinked their wine glasses.
As was tradition, the ghouls all had to lift their masks up slightly in order to eat or drink. Despite Papa I’s proclamation it remained forbidden for them to show their faces to non ghouls.
Omega tipped his glass to his mouth to drink but choked on it in sudden surprise. Under the table, something… someone, only one possible person, put the toe of his shoe on the ghoul’s shin. The other ghouls all looked at Omega.
“Are you okay, ghoul?” asked Papa.
Omega met his new Papa’s intense gaze. The other man had the art of playing innocent down. Papa’s foot was rubbing circles on his shin but he looked like nothing was happening.
“Yes, Papa, just drank too fast.”
“We’ve all been there, no?” Papa smiled and retreated his foot, leaving Omega to process what had just happened. The ghoul picked his glass of wine back up and gulped half of it down. This was going to be an interesting night.
Earth was the first to pipe up. “So Papa, where have you been all this time?”
“Venice, mostly. Satanas, leaving it behind was difficult. It is so cold here in Sweden, no?” Papa smiled and leaned back in his chair. “You know, you lot do not have to call me by my title in every fucking sentence.”
“Papa, Sister said it’s a matter of etiquette and tradition.” said Earth.
“I’m not my family and I certainly am not Sister. You all can speak to me like normal people. Or normal ghouls. I confess I do not know what all the differences are between your kind and mine.”
With that, Omega felt his leg being touched again, this time without a shoe. The ghoul looked back up at Papa, who was still speaking to Earth. He rubbed his foot up and down Omega’s leg and carried on conversation like nothing was happening.
“Some of you have served my brothers, correct?”
“Most of us, yes. This one over here’s the baby of the group,” said Alpha, pointing at Water.
“Hey! I was summoned over two years ago!” retorted Water.
“Exactly my point.”
Alpha and Water got into a half-hearted argument while Earth and even Air laughed at them. Omega lost track of the conversation and kept devouring the contents of his wine glass to distract himself from whatever the hell Papa kept doing. A plate of spaghetti, four slices of garlic bread and three glasses of wine later, Omega was in his own little world that consisted of the intoxicated swimming in his head and Papa’s incessant fucking game of footsie.
“So I know I said I do not know much of your kind, but you are all some kind of… element, yes?”
“Most ghouls are one of five elemental types, but some are hybrid elemental. For example, I am purely a fire ghoul, and this kit over here is part water and part aether,” said Alpha, pointing at Water, who retorted by flipping the fire ghoul off.
“Oh, what are the rest of you, then?” asked Papa.
Omega was so distracted by his intoxicated state and Papa’s heel on his leg that he jumped in surprise when Alpha elbowed him. Papa moved his foot down and lightly brushed it against Omega’s.
“Oh, yeah, sorry, Papa. My name is Omega.”
As soon as the words came out of his mouth Omega’s eyes went wide and the ghouls collectively gasped. They had nicknames for each other in private and amongst close human friends, but publicly (and especially around church leadership) they were supposed to be nameless except for their element. Ghouls had been banished back to hell for lesser offenses.
The laid back attitude of the night immediately evaporated into an environment of dread and panic for the ghouls. Omega saw his life flash before his eyes, all of that hard work and it ends with an amateur fucking mistake. Papa pulled his foot back from Omega’s leg and the aether ghoul braced himself for something awful.
Instead, Papa just chuckled. “A nameless ghoul named Omega? I like it.”
A wave of relief washed over the table.
“ Satanas , there is a lot that needs to be changed around here. You are all, what is the term, ‘walking on eggshells?’ I will put an end to that.” Papa’s voice became deeper and more serious at his last sentence, but he quickly bounced back to his casual tone. “Now, other than my new friend here, the nameless ghoul named Omega, I am afraid I am at a loss on what to call you all.”
Alpha spoke up first. “I’m Alpha. Me and Omega are counterparts, so over time we were given matching names.”
“I’m called Water, even though I’m also part aether. A lot of us just stick with our elemental name or one of them if we’re hybrid.”
“Yeah, I’m one of like 50 ghouls who just go by Earth. And that’s Air over there. He doesn’t talk much.”
Air grunted.
“Speaking without formalities, using names… What else are you all forbidden from doing? I need to know exactly what to put into my first edict.”
“We’re not supposed to remove our masks in front of humans,” began Omega, but was interrupted by Water.
“B-but that actually serves to protect us more than not! A lot of the younger ghouls are afraid of showing their faces and it keeps the bad humans from forcibly unmasking us!”
“That’s true, but it’s still a rule.”
“We can’t have phones!” piped up Earth.
Papa tilted his head. “What, like cell phones?”
“Yeah, if I want to play Candy Crush there’s this one sister who lets me borrow her phone when she gets stuck on a level, but that’s the only time I get to play.”
“All righty, I’ll need more feedback on the masks and you, my friend, will get to play all the phone games your little heart desires.”
The ghouls took turns airing out several complaints while Papa typed them all out on NotesApp.
“So we have a total of…68 rules to change- damn, only one short of the magic funny number. Do we have everything?”
Omega suddenly remembered his interaction with Copia just a few hours prior. “Oh, we’re also not allowed to have sex with humans or be in relationships with them.”
Papa’s jaw dropped.
“You are not allowed to… Satana all'inferno , what kind of backwards shithole is this? How have you all lived like this?” Papa genuinely looked furious, but then took a deep sigh. “No matter. Ghouls will have equal standing. You will use your names without punishment, you will be allowed your own phones, and you certainly will be able to fuck, or date, or whatever with any human who agrees to have you.”
Without thinking, Omega put his foot forward and rested it on Papa’s ankle. Both men widened their eyes in mutual surprise, but the other ghouls seemed to be so ecstatic at the idea of Papa’s reforms that they didn’t notice.
“W-well, I shall take my leave and properly write up this new edict. I wonder what the clergy reaction will be, no? My dear ghouls, I am so glad to have met you.”
Papa shook hands with the other ghouls before Omega approached him.
“Hey, Papa, I appreciate what you’re doing for us. Like, you just got here and you’re already putting a lot on the line for our sake. Not many people would do that, I mean, you’re certainly not making any friends by doing it… just, thanks.”
Papa smiled. “Omega, I have already made friends. Five, to be exact.”
Papa embraced Omega in a hug and briefly rested his head on the ghoul’s shoulder before pulling away.
“I am glad to have met you, Omega. I think we’ll get along handsomely.” Papa winked at the ghoul and casually strutted out of the room.