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The church is empty and the lights are snuffed out from any candles. Save for the glimmering, ceaseless eye of the moon staring through. It's terrible, watchful gaze ever so piercing through the night.
Only two occupants would stay here at this time. Same time every 6 months, no later and no sooner than the last.
The song and dance had been played time and time again.
Scar had his head buried in Cub's lap. His fingers dug into the meat of his thigh, undulating between a grip far too tight and hardly a hold at all. Chest heaving and hiccupping, his breath leaving him each time it caught in his chest.
He wasn't the man he wished he was.
Bleary eyes catch Cub's - just for a moment - and the pity within them is inescapable. All-encompassing, suffocating to see. Scar wasn't the man he needed to be.
His head buries further into the plush catacomb, safe from judgment, safe from pain, safe from his pitiful eyes.
Slowly, a hand falls upon Scar's head, gentle and forgiving. It satisfies the pain in his weary soul for just a moment before the guilt extinguishes the flame of it in an instant. Scar can hardly notice a fresh gushing from his eyes amongst it all.
“Time to start confessional. What have you done?” Cub queries, voice low and matter-of-fact.
The sound rings in Scar's ears, and he stifles back a sob to wring an answer out of himself.
“I- I stole. I'm sorry, I don't know why I keep doing it.” Scar murmurs, voice shaking and quiet.
“What… else?” Cub asks once more, tone lowering to a more despondent one.
“I hurt Grian. I hurt Pearl. I- I hurt everyone!” Scar states, quick enough to push it out before he can cough out another sob. His body is rattling, trying to stifle back any sort of hysterics.
Cub is silent. Too silent. The loud, ceaseless white noise and the sound of Scar's own heartbeat in his ears cause him to clutch his fingers, digging into the man above.
“I'm sorry! Mercy on me, please!” Scar wails out, the sound echoing throughout the dark brick walls of the ceremonial halls.
Cub's fingers merely curl, a sharp exhale being the only other sound heard above.
“You are forgiven,” Cub states, tone cold - almost cruel sounding in Scar's sensitive ears.
Scar dares to glance up, his weeping only momentarily tamed as he spots the grimace coating Cub's features. The same one he sees each time, and he knows it's only so long until his patience wears thin. Until Cub can’t take the pain of this anymore.