Chapter Text
She looks down at the piece of red meat on her plate. People around her are laughing and talking loudly amongst themselves. They shovel food into their mouths without a care in the world. Why can’t she forget her troubles like these people can? She furrows her brow and glances around the room. She sees him sitting at a table across the way. He’s surrounded by people gazing at him with their mouths agape and their eyes glazed over. They act like he can turn water into wine. But he probably can. She notices the way the candlelight casts a glow onto his sharp features. A woman sitting next to him leaves her hand on his upper arm, then casts it downward. Y/n moves her eyes back to her plate. She jabs a fork into the meat and watches the bloody juice seep out of it.
She’s been in this sanctuary for about 18 months now. She thought she was getting used to it. She was one of the first people to arrive here after the bombs dropped. Over the coming months more and more people showed up. None of them seemed like good people. But then again, she didn’t feel like a good person either. She wondered why was it that she was spared from doomsday. She knew that while she was stuffing her face with perfectly handcrafted cream puffs, there were people deteriorating from the radiation up top in the real world. Probably having to resort to cannibalism and trying to not trip over the corpses strewn everywhere. After a while, life in the sanctuary became mundane. She ate delicious food, had warm baths, started to wear gowns, and slept on silk sheets. Actually, it was better than her life before. But she got used to the routine. She got used to being spoiled but never truly happy. She was missing something. She couldn’t form any relationships. Everyone else seemed genuinely happy, while all she could think about was the possibility of never feeling the sun on her skin again. Maybe she was missing someone, but she would never admit that. She just thought that in the case of the apocalypse, no one should be as happy as these rich fuckers were.
She was relaxing on a red chaise lounge chair. A book in hand while the candelabra nearby illuminated the words on the pages. Her gown was riding up above her knees, but she was too engrossed by the novel to notice. Footsteps rang out and then voices. “How was your rest, Mr. Langdon? You’ve been travelling for such a long time.”
“I slept well.” He let out a short sigh. “It was much needed.”
“I may be mistaken, but I thought you were supposed to bring another here with you. From Outpost 3?”
The sounds were becoming louder, and she finally registered that people were coming down the hall. Some time passed before he answered. “That fell through, since she’s obviously not here.” His voice was cold, not completely void of emotion but just holding back. As her eyes scanned the page, the thought that she knew that voice made it so that she couldn’t comprehend anything she was reading. As the men came closer, she was scared of what she would find when she looked up.
“I’m sorry to hear that.” The man quickly changed the subject. “We are so happy to finally have you here, Mr. Langdon. We will start using the just finished church, hopefully later today….” The man continued talking as she finally lifted her eyes up. She found that he was already looking at her, eyes piercing through her soul. One side of his mouth curved up almost to taunt her. She knew she looked surprised and maybe even scared. The fact is she was. His eyes moved down to her legs. His smirk grew. She quickly noticed what he was looking at and fixed the bunches in her dress. He finally moved his line of sight to the man talking and didn’t look at her again.
This was a week ago and now she’s the most miserable she’s ever been in the sanctuary. The mundanity of her days has been ruined. Instead, she’s constantly looking over her shoulder. Even when she just wants to stroll through the maze of corridors and look at the art they saved from the old world. She can’t even enjoy her meals anymore. She can’t stand the people gawking at him. There’s a young woman that’s always next to him, whispering in his ear. She thinks her name is Elena. She wants to scream. She feels stupid for thinking he didn’t have anything to do with this, that this place wasn’t full of a bunch of soul selling devil worshippers.
She could barely stomach the steak that she ate in a hurry. She just wanted to get out of there. She doesn’t feel relaxed until she is under her sheets. She then drifts off to sleep, trying not to think about what Michael is doing before he goes to bed.
She doesn’t see Michael at breakfast. She thought she would be elated to not have to see his face. But instead, she’s left wondering where he really is. She tries to savor her stack of pancakes, but she’s interrupted by an announcement. “Everyone must report to the church after breakfast. This will be most peoples’ first time in the newly constructed church and Mr. Langdon has a special announcement for you all.” It’s the same man that was with Michael when she saw him a week ago. He must be Michael’s lackey. After the announcement, she puts down her fork and doesn’t pick it back up. Even though there’s half a stack of pancakes left on her plate.
She sits down while others file into the church. She notices the inverted cross at the front and her stomach does a somersault. She looks around the room and sees people trying to hold back their excitement of what’s to come. Everyone quiets as she sees Michael starting to walk between the rows of pews. It makes her think of the first time she saw him.
Girls in plaid skirts all tried to quiet down as the head nun stood at the front with a scowl on her face. Sunlight shone through the windows and landed on the cross at the front of the church. The sun was also beating down on her. She remembers feeling like she was sweltering and wishing the sun would just disappear. She just wanted to get through this stupid mass. She’s always had a difficult relationship with religion and God. Especially as of late. Her parents forced her to go to church since she could remember. She tried to believe in God, just like she tried to be good. But when she was 12, her mother caught her rewinding the sex scene in Titanic. So, she was sent away to an all-girls catholic boarding school located deep in the woods. She was 18 now and she still wasn’t sure that watching the sex scene from Titanic was a sin. At least she would be graduating soon. The sound of the big wooden door opening, and closing snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked back and saw that a man had walked in. He wore all black except for a white collar around his neck. He walked down the aisle between the many girls that eyed him up and down. She knew she hadn’t seen a priest that attractive before. Most priests gave her the creeps, she thought it was sad that someone would devote their life to something that may not exist. His blonde curls and his angular face made him look like a character right out of the bible. He turned around to look at everyone from the front of the church. She then noticed his icy blue eyes. His brow drooped low which made him look sinister. If he was a character from the bible, he probably wasn’t one of the good guys. “Ladies, this is Father Michael Langdon. He is a new priest here at Emily Gray’s. He will be helping Father Gabriel with mass and also will be tutoring any girls who need it.” She knew that he would be spending most of his time tutoring since everyone would want help from him. Michael gave a courteous smile to the head nun and then proceeded to glance around the room. She couldn’t help but look at him while he was doing this. He got to her part of the room and locked eyes with her.
She realizes that Michael has already made his way to the front, and he is looking right at her. It’s almost the same look that he had given her on that day at Emily Gray’s. But this time Michael has the ghost of a smirk on his lips. She knows he’s a monster and all he wants to do is taunt her. Michael looks around the room and begins to speak. “I know all of you have been waiting patiently for this church to be built. Also waiting for me to finally arrive at this sanctuary. All of this so we can start the new world.” He pauses for dramatic effect. She tries her hardest not to roll her eyes. “I will speak more about how this new world will go on. But first, I would like to formally introduce my fiancée, Elena.” A woman from the pew at the front gets up to stand next to Michael. Everyone politely claps, except y/n. Elena plants a kiss on Michael’s cheek and rests her hand on his arm. She knows that everyone wants to be her, because she’s the one who gets to possess him. “We plan to be wed in one month,” he says over the clapping. Y/n notices that his eyes are going everywhere but to her. It’s like she doesn’t exist to him anymore.