Children of the Clergy

Season 2 | Episode 12 | Consensus

!An announcement has been posted!

"Shut the door." They whispered and she did just that, carefully shutting it behind her. "Did anyone recognised you?"

Slowly, she crept further into the pitch black room. "They must have. I spent years with them, after all." She answered quietly.

Stepping just a little closer, a noose suddenly slid over her head, landing around her throat as they tightened it. "Lights out, love."

Seren startled awake, shivering and terrified from the vivid nightmare she'd just had. She'd been getting more and more snippets of whoever that woman was in her dreams recently. But she'd never caught a glimpse of whoever it was she kept talking to, that strange person who killed her at the end of each dream. The first time, they'd used a gun. The second, a dagger. Each time, it was a different method but the result was always the same: 'Lights out, love'. That odd phrase they would always say to her as she died, just before Seren would wake up. By now, it haunted her, permeating her thoughts and always sticking around somewhere so it could never truely be forgotten.

"Another nightmare?" Seren turned over in bed to face Sister Aria, who fixed her with a concerned look. "This is the sixth time in a row now."

Slowly lifting herself into a sitting position, Seren groaned and rubbed the exhaustion from her eyes. "I know. You're not the only one who's been counting."

Aria chuckled. "You look like my brother when you do that. He was never really a morning person." Seren glanced over at her. "I remember, once, I had to stop him from tripping down the stairs at the front of our house because he was so tired."

The young witch giggled back. "He seems nice. Does he work here too?"

Aria's smile faltered slightly. "No he...he died just into my first year of Secondary School."

Seren frowned. "I'm so sorry for that. Was he sick or something? Why did he die so young?"

The older woman sighed. "Murder, I think."

Seren suppressed a gasp. "Did they catch who did it?"

Aria frowned, turning her gaze down sadly. "They didn't try to. The police said his injuries were too...wild. They ended up just blaming it on an animal attack instead."

Seren carefully slid out of bed, moving towards her and bringing her into a soft, yet difficult due to the shackles, embrace. Aria smiled wearily, wrapping her arms around the small witch. "It was years ago, dear. It doesn't hurt to think about as much now. He's in a better place, I'm sure." Seren whimpered, still feeling very sorry for her.

"And, either way, you need to be dressed and ready to head out soon. We have a meeting with Seestor Imperator to discuss this whole angel situation." Sister Aria explained, patting Seren's back and encouraging her towards the closet to find her uniform. The young witch grabbed the folded clothes and walked to the bathroom to change.

A few minutes later, she was fully dressed and the two were ready to leave for Seestor's office. Aria adjusted the shackles on Seren's wrists slightly, apologizing again for how uncomfortable they were as she opened the door and they stepped out into the hallway.

They walked together through the ministry, Seren again trying to avoid the gaze of the siblings of sin and inevitably failing.

Once they'd finally reached the door to the office, Secondo suddenly emerged from the other end of the corridor with Air following on his left. The ghoul spotten Seren and Aria, chirping happily in greeting.

The small witch giggled. That had been the friendliest reaction a ghoul had had to her since the start of the whole situation.

Secondo stood in front of the two, glancing over both of them before nodding and knocking on the door. Seestor answered immediately, inviting them in. They walked through the door slowly and Seren suddenly noticed the other people already waiting in the room for them.