Shadows within darkness

Before we start I´d like to thank Golden Kitsune (Yeah, that´s what I thought too :) Glad you like it!), Kerianya (Haha, I want him to read me stories too! Thanks, I´m glad it still worked even with Yazoo acting a litttle childish.) and DTDY (I am gad you liked it!) for reviewing!

Enjoy!

11

“Ah, hold still, will you,” Aeris chided, spitting into her handkerchief and rubbing it over the smeared chocolate stain on the corner of Yazoo´s mouth, ignoring his making annoyed faces.

“If you hadn´t snatched from the cookie tin and smeared it all over your face, we wouldn´t have to do this.” She sighed, letting go of his face after a last scrutinizing look.

Just like Aeris he was wearing his best clothes. While the maid wore a pink linen dress with a velvet ribbon criss crossed over her breasts and the ever present apron being absent this time, Yazoo had been plugged into black trousers and a white shirt complete with a silken neckcloth he obviously didn´t like. His long hair was held back in his neck by a golden clasp Vincent had graciously provided, but didn´t make him feel less stupid.

Just why did he have to go to church anyway?!

And at such an early hour too! He had slowly become accustomed to sleep late into the day since he stayed up so long with Vincent.

But Aeris seemed so cheerful and happy to take him to the Sunday mass that he hadn´t been able to reject her and instead settled with an indifferent shrug.

If only he had known what desaster it would mean in the end…

Right now they were standing a little offset from the opened church doors, as Aeris was checking on his appearance for a last time. Around them people in their best attires streamed over the market place towards the small stone church with its wide, coloured windows, occasionally nodding at the maid or greeting her and throwing curious glances into his direction.

Apparently Aeris was finally satisfied as she rose from her crouched position, straightened her dress and motioned for him with a smile to follow. His blank face not betraying any sign of his not so happy mood he strolled behind her, blinding out the whispers and interested looks.

It was just too goddamn early for this…

The inside of the church was dark despite the clouded sun shining through the windows, and casting coloured patterns on the floor. Plain wooden benches were put up in rows and crowded with people who, not caring if it was disrespectful or not, held animated discussions and laughed heartily every now and then.

The aisle was decorated with the obligatory altar and a large cross from whom the Holy Son was looking sadly and pained at the visitors, thick trails of blood running from his tormented hands and feet.

“Hey, Sweety, here we are!”

A round, friendly looking woman with a red face and warm eyes waved at them, and the maid´s expression lightened up instantly (if that was even possible…) and she dragged Yazoo towards her friend.

“Shera, how nice to meet you here,” Aeris beamed, taking the woman into a hug and nodding at a bad shaved, blond, older man who was loitering on his bench, looking grumpy and puffing little clouds of smoke from the pipe dangling from the corner of his mouth. He waved his hand in greeting and concentrated back to looking displeased and annoyed. Obviously he had been dragged here against his will just like Yazoo. If he hadn´t been so caught up in his own misery, the boy might have felt a tiny pang of sympathy.

But for now he had to endure the affections of Aeris´ friend, as she pressed him against her large, supple bussom, laughing “Now who do we have here? That a friend of yours, sweety?”

Aeris nodded, her hands folded in front of her lap and explained “This is Yazoo, he is a guest of my Master, but above all he´s my very special friend of course.”

She winked at the boy, who let himself being smothered to death without even batting an eyelash.

“Ah? What a fine young man you are! Let me have a better look at you!” the woman boomed with her naturally loud voice and held him away from her at one arms length.

“This are Miss Shera and her husband Cid Highwind,” Aeris informed him, smiling.

“Nice ta meet ya,” came the monotonous reply that made the Shera-woman squeal and press him against her breasts again.

“Oy, woman, let ta poor fella breath goddamnit!” her husband slurred,taking his pipe out of his mouth.

“Cid Balduin August Highwind, don´t you dare swear in a goddamn church!” his wife railed, but let go of the boy. Cid just waved his hand, mumbling a “Yeah, yeah,” to appease her and continued to chew on his pipe.

Huffing, Shera turned back towards Yazoo and Aeris, her frighteningly grim face being back to friendly and smiling. She sat down on the bench and patted the place next to her in an inviting gesture. Bowing a little, Aeris took the offered place with a smile and Yazoo followed her actions, happily rolling on the candy the maid had secretly slipped him.

Eventually the voices died down when the priest appeared before the altar.

He wore a black robe and his head was bald. He glared at the crowd with angry little eyes, his piercing gaze silently accusing every one of them.

Everyone had lowered their heads with humbleness and didn´t even flinch when the priest´s rather high-pitched voice bellowed through the hall, speaking of sins and human trash and hell and whatnot, after they all had knelt down to pray.

Yazoo had never visited a mass before and he decided that he wouldn´t again either. This was just like he´d thought it would be and he really didn´t like the little fat, bald priest. He reminded him of someone, though he couldn´t for the hell of it put his finger on it. For Aeris though, he also knelt down and pretended to pray, sitting back again and kneeling down and…

His knees were beginning to hurt from all the damn praying, but it seemed that after the 4th time, the cleric was planning on a longer monologue, so he just sat on his bench and thought about dragons and knights, slowly but surely drifting into sleep, his head sinking on his chest.

He yerked up, very awake again, as he felt two furious eyes burning into his head suddenly, and the voice of the priest booming at him.

“And SLOTH, the most despicable of all the seven deadly sins! It shows the inexcusable failure to love God with all one’s heart, all one’s mind and all one’s soul!”

An accusing finger was directed at him and approximately 150 heads -as much as people were sitting on the crowded benches- turned towards him.

Blinking, Yazoo let his gaze drowsily wander back to the priest, overall looking rather unimpressed. The cleric pinched his mouth into a thin line, balling a hand into a fist and dramatically thrusting it towards the heavens, screaming:

“And beware, never waver in your unquestioning obedience to the Holy Father, for you are wretched creatures that crawl in the dust and never find enlightenment but in Him and your devotion to His will! But the devil” he shot a meaningful, grim look at Yazoo “comes in many facings, seeking to seduce the weak and doubtful and stray them from the path of God. And do not believe that he comes as the ugly, wretched creature he is so you will easily recognize him, oh no! Lucifer is deceitful and cunning as is his spawn, and they may come to you in the disguise of an angelic creature, trying to enveigle your weak hearts with seeming beauty and alluring words!”

A small hand wrapped around his own and squeezed it. Aeris´ head was still lowered, but she knew very well who the priest had in mind so she tried to calm the boy down, but apparently it was not necessary as he only shot her an uncomprehending look and let the boring mass rush past him.

Eventually the priest was done with his rant and they had to kneel again and then it was FINALLY over.

Or so Yazoo thought.

Because when they stood to leave the hall the priest appeared before their little group, looking much less intimidating but no less frantic. He cast a cold look at Cid, who exasperatedly lowered his head after a nudge from his wife in the ribs, but the clerics attention was more focused on Yazoo and Aeris as he pointed his finger at them again and asked with malice in his voice. “You. Come her.”

Obediently, Aeris came to stand before him respectfully and Yazoo had no choice but to follow her example.

“Who is this person with you, Aeris?” he demanded to know, sizing the boy up and down frostily.

“This boy is under the custody of my Master, father. His name is Yazoo. Please excuse his misbehaviour, it´s his first mass.”

“I see,” the priest snorted. “The apple doesn´t fall far from the tree. I believe I haven´t seen your Master attending even one of my services.”

Biting her lips, Aeris whispered “I´m sorry,” and lowered her head even deeper.

Yazoo´s eyes narrowed dangerously. He didn´t give a damn about the friggin clerics opinion on him, but making Aeris miserable was something he could not tolerate. Once he had chosen to include her into his family, he wouldn´t allow anyone to hurt her, and he was about to make a cold remark about that, but Aeris had sensed his distress somehow and secretly shook her head at him, looking desperate.

So Yazoo settled for glaring at the priest icyly instead and kept his mouth shut.

The cleric snorted again, scowling at the audience that had gathered around them observing the scene with barely hidden curiosity.

“You will come to the confessional now,” the bald man decided arrogantly, turned on his heels and marched to the boxes, not even waiting if the boy woud follow.

And flatly Yazoo wouldn´t have had any intentions to do so if it hadn´t been for the pleading look of his adopted sister.

Unwillingly, Yazoo shuffled along the path the others left for him and vanished inside the box.

It was cramped and sticky, and the boy asked himself why the hell they needed blends when the friggin priest knew that it was him anyway.

“Whaddcha wanna hav me do?” he asked uneuphorically after having rearranged his limbs and eventually found a more or less comfortable position.

“Say: ‘Bless me Father, for I have sinned. It has been’, then you add the time it since has been, ‘since my last confession.’”

“Bless me fatha, foa I´ve sin´d. It´s been like” Yazoo frowned, stopping in his slurred reciting “dunno kinda like foreva since ma las´confess´n.Havn´t eva confess´d anyways. What now?”

“Now you tell me of your sins.”

“Da hell?! Like… all of’em?”

“Yesss.” The priest answered tightly.

Yazoo’s eyes had widened a fraction, but then the cleric had asked for it himself, hadn´t he?

Taking a deep breath he started, wondering if there had ever been an action in his short life that wasn´t a sin by the churchs standarts.

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Poor Yazoo... Poor cleric... XD

I have a question: my beta is busy at the moment so she cannot beta the chapters at the same pace I am planning on posting them. Therefore I would like to ask if someone feels like proofreading the next chapters? I have to warn you though: They are relatively long and I post two of them in a week (and I have a serious obsession with commas. I place them just everwhere, the more the better... BUT: I´m checking my work at least twice to make certain you won´t have to do too much :)). If you are interested just send me an email at: necromanin@gmx.de

Otherwise you´ll have to read them unbetad (just like this chapter)and I will develop gastric ulcers from the stomache ache it causes me ;)