Chapter Text
It was supposed to be a snap and grab mission, before celebrating Christmas in Rome. But nothing went according to plan. The laptop they were after was rigged with explosions, resulting in the moment Nile lifted the laptop, she got blown into a wall. The only good thing that could be said about that was, that the explosion only knocked out the air of Nile and didn't kill her. Before they could leave the house, they got men after them, and they only got away because Nicky suggested that they should go under the ground to get away from their pursuers.
At first, Nile didn't understand what Nicky meant, but when Joe lifted the manhole cover and Nicky jumped into the sewers as the first one, Nile followed before Joe. As they walked through the sewers, Nicky was in front, Nile was in the middle, and Joe covered their backs. They could also hear that the pursuers were somewhere near them, but because Nicky and Joe knew the sewers better than their pursuers, they were able to be ahead of their pursuers.
"How are the ribs?" Joe asked.
"More sore than broken," Nile replied. "Where are we btw?"
"Close to an old hideout of ours," Nicky replied. "When was the last time we used it, Joe?"
"100-110 years ago," Joe replied. "To this day I still don't get why the mayor of Rome got so offended that he wanted my head on a silver plate."
"Maybe it had to do with that you just told the mayor that the da Vinci he bought was a fake," Nicky replied. "You could have told him more nicely than you did."
"You're always the one who tells me to be honest," Joe replied. "That was what I did. Being honest. It wasn't my fault he bought a fake painting. And may I add, a very bad one."
Joe caught Nile when she almost fell into the water when her foot slipped on the slippery stones.
"You wouldn't like to bathe in that water," Joe said with a smile. "Wait until we get to Malta."
"Very funny," Nile said sarcastically. "But thanks for saving me."
"Buy me an ice cream when we get out of here," Joe replied. "And we're even."
Nile nodded just as Nicky stopped.
"Joe, do you have a flashlight on you?" Nicky wanted to know.
"Here, Babe," Joe replied. "But be quick. The idiots are getting closer."
Nicky nodded as he lit the light over the stones on the wall like he was searching for something.
"What are you looking for?" Nile wanted to know.
"The key to our hideout," Nicky replied. "Just a second."
Nicky ran his hand over the stones and pressed at one of the stones. A secret door opened in front of them.
"Ok," Nile said impressed. "You got a secret hideout in the Roman sewers."
"Yep," Joe replied. "Step inside, but please show respect to the other people in here. They were here first."
Before Nile could ask Joe what he meant, she was pushed inside by Joe.
"Sorry," Joe said. "They were getting closer."
"Just fine," Nile replied. "So, where are we?"
Nicky turned on the flashlight again and the first thing Nile saw was a skeleton and she let out a scream.
"He won't hurt you," Nicky said. "This is an old forgotten church. Founded during the Roman empire, when the Romans hunted the Christians."
"Do you remember if we left any candles the last time we were here?" Joe wanted to know.
"If we did I would say next to the exit," Nicky replied. "Let me help you search."
Since Nile hadn't been here before just stood still and let the others search for the candles. She had heard stories about the Christians and the Romans. Both from her history teachers in schools but Andy had also told some stories about ancient Rome.
"How do you even know if it's a church?" Nile wanted to know.
"It says so on the wall," Nicky replied as he pointed the flashlight towards another wall.
"I don't read Roman," Nile said. "Or whatever that is written in."
"It's actually written in Greek," Joe said. "And if you want to learn it ask Nicky. He's the world's leading expert in Greek."
"Thanks for making me feel old," Nicky said. "You'll pay for that later."
"If I get your favourite ice cream from your favourite ice cream shop on Malta," Joe said. "Am I forgiven then?"
"Yes, you're," Nicky replied. "I found the candles. We need to bring some new the next time."
Nicky handed Joe the candles because Joe never went anywhere without his trusted lighter. The first thing Nile saw there were skeletons around them.
"I knew I had left it somewhere," Nicky said and held up a book filled with dust on the cover.
"I told you that, when you couldn't find it," Joe replied. "Nile, are you ok?"
"Don't you find it creepy?" Nile wanted to know. "I mean with all the dead people around you?"
"I was a priest once, and as a warrior, I have also seen dead people, so no I don't find it creepy," Nicky replied. "Instead, I'm trying to think about the lives that surround me. Both the good and the bad, and the living and the dead."
Nicky sat down on the ground with his book and began to read as a sign that he would take the first shift, so the others could get some sleep.
"Nicky got a point, Nile," Joe said. "Don't think of them as being dead. Think of the lives they have lived. What they might have seen. Why did ended up being buried in an old forgotten church? Find meaning in that."
Joe laid down on the ground and placed his head in Nicky's lap and pulled the brim of his cap over his face. Nile looked closer at the skeletons. She could tell that some of them were children who were being held by the adults in their arms, while others were laying for themselves and some were laying with another adult. It did make her think about how they ended up in the church in the first place.
"You know it does make me think about what they went through," Nile said when she sat down on the ground next to them. "It also makes me think of a poem I read in high school when I see the children. It was written by Warsan Shire, who wrote: "no one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land". I think I finally understand what she meant."
"Time is a great teacher," Joe said. "See if you can get some sleep. We'll be here for some time. You can use me as a pillow if you want."
Nile nodded and lay down with her head on Joe's stomach. She looked over at one of the children being held by the adults. As she closed her eyes, she hoped that the children at least had been loved before they died this young.