Chapter Text
Abel never wanted this. Why would he? Violence, for lack of a better term, isn’t really his thing. He is the First Murder Victim after all. And heaven is supposed to be forever, his father was meant to be here, forever, like everyone else. But now he’s not, and Abel is the new head of Heaven’s worst, best kept secret.
Well, best kept from Emily.
Abel doesn’t know how many people knew before the meeting with Hell, but he figured it out on his own a while ago. Well, okay, that’s giving to much credit to Adam, who couldn’t shut up about it. In “vague” ways, but how vague could Adam be? He was a brutally honest guy, who spoke his mind, he struggled with half truths, especially when women were involved.
Abel feels his skin rise into tight painful goosebumps just thinking about his talks with his dad. How he’d talk about the women of the Exorcist Army. Like they were dolls, or pieces of meat. It made him want to turn around and take the hottest shower he can physically withstand. Mentally, he’d prefer molten lava hot, it’s the only thing that sounds cleansing enough.
Maybe he should go to confession later today.
But that will need to be much later, he has to meet the Army as their new leader. He has to be brave, he has to be strong, he has to BE a leader.
God, how can I be more like dad? He could do this, I can’t do this! How am I supposed to lead an army!?
He didn’t actually have the time to get an answer, nor did he think he’d receive one, he’d have to ask The Speaker or Sera if he wanted a real answer, but they seemed pretty busy with everything going on. And technically he could ask Lute, but, after the meeting yesterday about the new guy, and, the incident in dads office…He thinks it’d be best to give her some space.
But he doesn’t have time to contemplate who to talk too, he’s at the doors to the training grounds, right on time too. He wishes he was late, so late he’d have had more time to prepare for this. He wishes he was early, so early he’d gotten here before the Exorcists even arrived.
Come on Abel, you can do this, put on your big boy pants and open the door. You can do this.
Abel reaches a shaking hand to the handle. His palms are soaked from sweat, and he’s shaking.
I can’t do this.
He yanks his hand from the door as if being too close to the door will scorch him to the bone. He wrings his hands so tight his fingers hurt and the skin turns red. His breathing is so uneven and rapid he thinks he’s going to faint. The sweat on his brow drips over his closed eye and for a moment he’s back in the field, his brother standing over him, breathing heavy as he watches Abel gasp and hiccup, he feels the blood seep into his eye that can’t see but can still feel everything.
The only reason Abel is able to pull himself out of his spiral is when he touches the ground it’s not grass and blood or mud and hair, it’s cold stone. The floor is cold marble, he is in Heaven, he is in front of the Exorcist Army Training Grounds. He is okay, he is alright.
I can do this, I CAN do this.
He stands up, his legs are shaky, and his arms feel like water balloons, but he’s standing, he’s breathing and he is here, and he can do this. He has to do this.
He opens the door before he can panic again or chicken out, and she’s a row of women in identical uniforms. In a line facing the front door, chins up and backs straight. Their expressions range from stone cold to noticeably suppressing fear. Lute standing in front of the Row, looking at Abel like he’s gum on her shoe.
“Hello Abel. Welcome to the training grounds.”
Abel gulps hard, who knew your mouth could water so much when you’re nervous? Because Abel sure didn’t. Seeing this group of soldiers is way more intimidating than he expected. Clearly he expected some intimidation, but this is, different, than he planned.
“Yeah, um, happy to be here! So, since this is my first day, I’ll mostly just be observing, seeing how things work around here and then, uh, changing things based on the new direction Heaven wants us to go, in. But that’ll be next time for now just, do as you usually do, pretend I’m not even here if you need! I’m just gonna be, over here. Yeah.”
Abel awkwardly shuffles backwards till the reaches the doors, closing them and walking to the space next to the door and leaning against the wall as the Exorcists follow him with their eyes. He folds his arms in a desperate attempt to hide how sweaty is hands are.
Oh dear God this is so uncomfortable and awkward… please just stop staring!
Luckily for Abel, Lute takes charge, with what he can only describe as a cruel grin. One that reminds him of a field, the sun setting, and his brother, staring down at him, smiling. Smiling while he watched the light fade from Abel’s eyes, and the blood soaked the earth beneath Abel. Smiling as Abel dies by his brothers hands.
“ALRIGHT MAGGOTS YOU HEARD THE MAN, GET TO WORK!!”
Lutes booming pulls Abel from his thoughts. He hates that she reminds him so much of his dad, AND managed to remind him of his breath all in the span of a minute. It makes me feel really, weird. He knows she was his fathers right hand and all but he doesn’t think he can work so closely with her. He’ll probably keep her in a higher position, it would be really rough on her to be a right hand, then become a foot soldier.
Is that even a rank? Foot soldier doesn’t sound right, but maybe it does? I don’t know how this works, I’ll ask someone about it later. Like everything else.
Either way, it’s time to watch the Army, and understand how they work. He can definitely do that!
…
He can’t do this. He’s been here an hour and it’s making him feel sick to his stomach. Watching these people fight each other like they’re trying to kill the other makes him feel horrible. He can’t even imagine what those poor Sinners have been through if this is what TRAINING looks like. This is terrifying.
Abel has had his hand on his mouth for thirty minutes and he doesn’t know how much longer he can hold it in. Two of the exorcists are a few feet from him, replacing their weapons that broke from the force of their blows.
“Hey, sorry to bother you ladies, but, do you know where the nearest bathroom is?”
For a moment they just, stare at him, like they’re surprised? By what Abel isn’t sure, but one points to a wall to their left.
“Yeah, Adam’s office has a restroom you can use, it’s two doors down on the left, can’t miss it. Technically it’s yours now so, might as well use that one?”
“Wonderful, thank you so much, if anyone asks, let them know where I am! Thanks again!”
Abel dashes off, but not before seeing the two women look at each other like they just saw a flying pig. Abel feels so weird every time he talks to them, they look at him so weird. Like they don’t know what they’re looking at or what to expect? It makes him feel uneasy, like he walked into the wrong room and everyone knows he doesn’t belong, or like he got somewhere early and everyone was talking about him behind his back and now that they see him they have to pretend they weren’t.
I really hope I’m just reading the room wrong. I keep doing that lately so that’s all it is. Right?
Before he can fall deeper into his worry he is confronted with a door with an incredibly extravagant name plate hanging above it, with ‘Adam, First Man, Biggest Cock’ in big bold letters, framed on the sides by two flaming guitars, with two silhouettes of winged women underneath the words laying on their stomachs.
Abel did love his dad, well, he still does, but that’s besides the point. He loves his dad, but he didn’t and still doesn’t understand his dad. Well, he understands his dad but doesn’t UNDERSTAND, his dad. He thinks maybe he was scared of his dad, he was definitely uncomfortable around him. Which is a very frustrating mix of emotions to have to face, especially now that he’s gone. He can never say something about it or try to confront it. He doesn’t like to think about that though and now’s not the time too either.
‘Can’t miss it’ is an understatement. I’m kinda surprised anyone allowed this, especially Sera. Maybe he got this made privately? Yeah, I could see that.
He opens the door and is relieved to find it to be a normal office. It’s different than his actual office with his guitars and albums, its pretty barren, so he probably only used it to just get away, or if he had work to do when with the Exorcists, right that moment, then he’d have somewhere to do said work. At least he hopes so, the alternative is he took naps in here and ignored his responsibilities, but normally he’d just go home to his own bed to do that.
He did notice a very large couch on one side of the office so he’s pretty sure his dad used it to sleep AT LEAST once or twice. Probably more than that. Definitely more than that.
By this point Abel doesn’t think he needs to puke anymore, getting away from all that… that stuff, is making him feel better, but maybe sitting on the couch for a bit will help him relax, get back to not feeling sick to his stomach. Don’t get him wrong, he’s not about to vomit, but he definitely feels like if he leaves now, he most certainly will.
Plopping down on the couch he sinks in a bit, it’s incredibly comfy, but everything is, but its weird, the seats are really, long? The seat from the back to the front is basically the width of a twin bed, maybe bigger. At least big enough for two people to lay down next to each other, it’d be tight, but it’d be possible. Now that he thinks about it, the distance between the arms is far enough to fit a person too, definitely for his dad.
Yeah, he 100% slept on this couch. Come on dad, seriously?
While he sits with the disappointment he has towards his dad, he looks around the room, trying to not think about how frustrating working with his dad must’ve been. And he notices some oddities. Across the room from him is a large TV, with the bathroom next to it, which is where the oddities lie. Specifically, there’s a shower in the bathroom, a big glass one directly facing the bathroom door, in perfect view of the couch.
Which wouldn’t be weird, if it wasn’t a shower in an office bathroom. And that bathroom has a glass door. With the shower head being directly in front of the door.
Knowing his dad, this makes Abel feel, weird. He remembers meeting some of the Exorcists in the past and thinking their names were, uncomfortable, to think about.
Wasn’t one named Vagina or something? Why was dad so weird. Why would he have this room like this!? I doubt these, amenities, got much use for him though. I doubt the Exorcists would, engage with him. Ugh, that’s so gross! I need to think about something else.
He looks around and finds a TV remote and mentally thanks God for giving him an out on his thoughts. He quickly turns the TV on and starts flipping through heavens channels, until he finds a nice morning talk show, it’s one of his favorites as it introduces new Winners, and talks to various Winners about what they’re working on.
Since Heaven is forever and all, everyone gets to work on their dreams projects, and Abel LOVES to hear what their up to and how the projects are going. Currently there’s a middle aged looking woman discussing a crochet project, trying to make a crochet plush version of every animal, extinct or still running around on earth starting from A-Z, so far she’s on C! She shows off her most recent piece, an adorable crochet Cockroach.
Awww, who knew cockroaches could be so cute? Maybe I should go find one and pet it later. Are there cockroaches in heaven? I should look into that.
*knock knock*
Abel nearly jumps out of his skin. He was deeper in thought than he thought he was.
“Hello? Abel Sir?”
“Uh, yeah, I’m here!”
An Exorcist opens the door slowly and pokes her head in, unlike the Exorcists in the training ground, her helmet is off and she’s holding it on her hip. He didn’t realize that the Exorcists could have curly hair. Abel pauses the TV and turns to face the door better.
“Need anything?”
“The others informed me you would in here and thought it would be best to ask if you needed anything.”
Abel can’t pinpoint it completely but the woman at the door looks, uncomfortable? Nervous maybe? She’s also aggressively avoiding eye contact, eventually deciding to just stare at the TV, which makes Abel feel a little awkward.
“Uh, I’m good. Just watching TV.”
“You’re not watching Adam’s films?”
“Um, What ‘films’? My dad was never in any movies? I don’t think he even liked movies, did he?”
The woman looks at Abel like he’s tricking her. Like she’s trying not to fall into a trap that Abel didn’t set. It just makes him more uncomfortable as the seconds tick by.
“Sooooo, how’s training going?”
“It’s, good. It’s going… good.”
This is so awkward I think being naked in front of everyone in heaven would be less awkward than this… actually, no it wouldn’t but I think I’d prefer it at this point…
The Woman just keeps staring at Abel, seemingly trying to figure him out, when Abel realizes something so incredibly basic that he feels like an idiot.
“Hey, what’s your name?”
“Pardon?”
“Your name, I never got your name. You already know mine but, aside from Lute I don’t think I know any of your names. Might as well start learning em.”
The Exorcist freezes, she’s looking at Abel like she’s scared, or confused, maybe both, maybe neither, maybe she looks, sad. She looks down at the ground, biting her inner cheek, like she’s scared she’ll fail a test.
“I- I was given the name Bass”
“Oh, like the type of guitar?”
“Yeah, like the guitar…”
“Let me guess, my dad picked it?”
“Yes, Adam gave each of us our names.”
“Do you like the name?”
“What?”
“Do you like being Bass? Being called Bass? Bass being your name? Doing you like it?”
The Exorcist wraps an arm around herself, she looks uncertain, again like she’s going to be tricked or fail. It makes Abel so scared about how his dad used to treat these women.
Maybe I didn’t know dad at all…
“You don’t have to answer if you don’t want too, it’s just, I don’t know, you seem tense, about it. You didn’t say ‘my name is’ you said ‘the name given to me’, well, not those exact words. I kinda slipped the order around, but you don’t seem happy about the name. Sorry, I’m presuming, just ignore me, I-“
“I don’t.”
“I don’t like the name Bass. I don’t like it at all. I think… I think I hate it.”
Abel looks up at the Exorcist in the doorway, she looks so small. This soldier, the fighter, this killer, she looks like a normal person, a scared and embarrassed person. Abel was so scared that he’d look at these women and see murderers, and on the training grounds when they were lined up he saw soldiers, and when they trained he saw fighters, warriors. But now, he’s just seeing a person. A person like him, with anxieties and desires and wants. And he smiles.
Abel stands up and walks over the Woman in the doorway, and tentatively rests a hand on her shoulder. She startles a bit, she knew he was coming towards her, and she saw him reach out his hand but, the gentleness of the touch shocked her.
“Do you have something else in mind? If not we can figure one out! I haven’t gotten to name anyone before! Only ever gotten to name lambs before, but I might be able to come up with something if you need help.”
“I like Basil…”
Abel smiles, something soft but excited, and Basil smiles back, something timid and weak, like she hasn’t smiled in a while and it feels strange to her, but like it feels correct.
“Oh, that is a great name! I love basil, it smells so good! Have you ever had pesto with basil in it? It’s so delicious!”
Basil smiles and Abel can see the sides of her eyes crease and he wonders how many of the others have that eye crease, or if any of them have dimples! Maybe Abel should try and find out?
How would I go about finding out? Hm…
PESTO!!
“I just had the best idea! Basil, come help me with something!”
Basil looks at Abel with a kind of adoration he did not expect to see from one of the Exorcists and she nods her head sharply. Abel takes her hand and pulls her down the hall away from the training grounds, he knows just the place to go!
…
The Exorcists at the training grounds practice in a resigned silence. They remember what Adam could be like, and they don’t know if they can trust Adam’s son. They all feel guilty for sending Bass to the slaughter, but she’s gone the longest with visiting Adam’s office.
They have a system, and to keep them all sane they have to abide by it. They have to follow the rules, they swore to each other, especially after what they’ve seen. When you deny Adam or fight back against him, or fight back against Lute…
The problem is they’ve been in Adam’s office for nearly an hour. Adam never kept them in there that long. And now they’re all feeling guilty. Because what if Abel is worse than Adam? What if he’s crueler? What if he’s rougher? What if he’s messing with her? What if he did something worse?
None of them would dare to leave, Lute is watching them all like a hawk, now that Adam’s dead she’s gone from 100 to 1,000. She’s become stricter and cruel, something they never thought possible from her. The only reason Bass was sent to Adam’s office is because Lute is used to the routine too. Problem being, she makes them pick. She doesn’t know about the arrangement, she doesn’t care enough to keep track so she never noticed but she knew Adam’s… needs.
She perpetuated the system, they made rules for it.
But now those rules might’ve just saved everyone and damned one, and now they don’t know if that damnation is going to be the new system.
But before they can truly fear for their lives, they hear something they never expected to hear in their training grounds.
They hear laughter
They all stop dead when it reaches their ears, and look up towards the laughter to see Abel and Bass flying towards them carrying bags, Abel laughing so hard that he can’t even open his eyes. And Bass, flying right beside him smiling wider than they’ve ever seen.
“Hey Ladies! Sorry we were away for so long! Making enough orders for everyone took longer than we thought!”
Abel lands in the middle of the training grounds and starts opening the bags pulling out containers, Bass opening the ones she was carrying and sorting the containers she carried.
“Basil here helped me figure out what you’d all like best, so hopefully you all like what we got, but if you don’t I can fly back over and get something else!”
Basil gleefully hands the containers out to her fellow Exorcists, double checking every box for which name she wrote in the top to make sure everyone got the right meal.
Lute watches this whole scene as if everything about it personally offends her.
“What is the meaning of this!? These are soldiers! Not children at daycare!”
All the Exorcists freeze, Basil nearly drops the containers she’s holding.
“Lute, these aren’t even remotely comparable. Also, soldiers need to eat too, eating isn’t going to make them stop being soldiers unless there’s some fasting code you follow but Basil didn’t say anything about that.”
“And who the fuck is Basil!? That Bitch is Bass! Or do you have some sort of imaginary friend you’re fucking talking about!?”
Basil does everything in her power not to shake despite just making herself shake even harder. She’d gotten so lost in being treated like a person, that she forgot to fear Lute’s wrath. Abel stands up, looking Lute in the eyes and points at Basil.
“That is Basil, she chose that name and I’m calling her, her name. And we are going to stop yelling and have lunch.”
Abel extends his hand towards her with a container with her name on it. He is doing his best to be brave and intimidating and confident but his stomach is twisting in knots. He is terrified of Lute, but he knows if he never stands up for himself she will never listen to him.
Please, please, please don’t yell again, if you keep yelling I think I’m gonna throw up!
Lute glares at him for what feels like an eternity, then, luckily, looking to the container, taking the pressure off of Abel. She grabs the container from him so fast that it knocks his hand to the side. Before he can say a word she flies off and out of the training grounds.
Well, she still took the food, I think that’s a win?
Abel looks to the Exorcists around him and sees all of them either staring at him or looking at the ground, Basil being the latter.
“Hey, you okay?”
Basil is quickly pulled from her thoughts and shakes her head vigorously in agreement before quickly moving on to passing out the food again. However, despite her indicating she was alright, Abel could tell she was still shaken. They all were, but Abel hopes that after a hot, homemade meal, that they’ll all feel, at least a little better. That’s what he hopes at least.