Chapter Text
It happened two weeks ago, at three in the afternoon, when your superiors asked a handful of Siblings of Sin—which included you—if any of them wanted to risk taking care of the pack of ghouls that lived in the Ministry. When you saw that nobody was willing to do it, you raised your hand. You didn’t know anything about ghouls. You were just tired of cleaning the same parts of the abbey everyday, but when everybody turned to you in shock, you started doubting. The rest of the day was tense, your fellow Siblings were looking at you weird and whispering, most likely discussing how long you would last taking care of the demons that lived with you all. You didn’t really notice, people had judged you your whole life, whispers from those supposed to welcome you because they were sidelined too wouldn’t kill you. Though during dinner, at eight, a group of Sisters sat with you—a rare occurrence—and warned you of the fact most people stayed for at most a month in this role. It’s not like you cared, this would be a nice change of pace—and pay, it would pay way more than your current position.
In the next two weeks you heard an awful lot of stories—that’s what you considered them, just stories, nothing real—about what ghouls had done to their previous caretakers. You’d heard everything from them playing the most traumatizing pranks on the poor Siblings to the creatures mauling them half to death. You didn’t believe any of it, having not seen it yourself since you only joined the congregation less than a year ago. But with all the tales you heard, not a single person actually taught you anything about the ghouls themselves.
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Now here you were, at the bottom of the stairs leading to the ghouls’ den, having no clue what was awaiting you behind the door a few meters in front of you. There was another door to your right, a small note stuck to the old wood; the note wasn’t really new, but written on it was “Handler” which meant it would be your room from now on. You decided it was safer to settle in first before introducing yourself to the fiends. You had the key—thankfully—so you unlocked the old door and set your lone bag against the wall to the right of it. You didn’t have many belongings, having left most of your stuff back home with your parents, and not having bought anything since you arrived at the lovely Ministry.
The room was a decent size, though only furnished with a bed, dresser and desk with a chair. The lack of window made it look just as small as the emptiness made it look big. It just looked weird, creepy even. Or maybe the creepiness came from the fact that it was in such close proximity to the devils you had yet to meet, you weren’t sure. You took a step into the room, closing the door behind you, taking a better look at everything in case you missed anything—but you hadn’t. You grabbed your bag again and went to the dresser, knowing all of your clothes would fit in only half of it, and your books on top… Damn, you should really get art supplies again, you missed drawing, maybe it would help the room feel slightly more lively too.
You were done putting away your stuff far too quickly for your liking. But you had nothing to do now, guess your only choice is to go meet the ghouls. Nerves be damned, you’ll have to do it at one point anyway. Maybe you should check if you’re presentable first though—why is there no mirror in here? Well… Your phone camera will be good enough. You fished the device out of your discarded bag and turned it on, checking your face first. Once you were sure you didn’t have a pimple or something between your teeth, you smoothed wrinkles out of your clothes, removing some imaginary dust here and there just to buy time for your poor heart to slow down.
Taking a deep breath to steel yourself, you opened your door once more and stepped out. You look at the double door that led to the den for a moment before finally approaching it. You hesitated for a second. No point changing your mind now, you raised your hand and knocked on the wooden surface. For a while it was silent, it lasted almost long enough for you to regret knocking— and all your life choices really. But then old hinges groaned as the door was pulled open, revealing one of the monsters living here. They were so tall—or maybe it was just their vibe— fist clenched tightly and tail thrashing harshly. Oh you definitely interrupted something and they were upset. What a way to meet someone…
“Uhm… Hi. I’m the new Sibling in charge of the ghouls. May I come in?” you stumbled over your words, intimidated by the ghoul in front of you.
“Mh. Get in before I change my mind.” the creature said, his voice not entirely matching his stature.
“Thank you…” you squeaked, quickly stepping inside.
Only after stepping in did you take a look at the place. It was surprisingly cozy and homey, Candles scattered everywhere, beanbags, sofas and armchairs with blankets and pillows all over them as well as string lights here and there. But there was also the ghouls, all staring at you in a terribly judgmental way.
“A new one? Already?” said a ghoul on the opposite side of the room.
“Guess they don’t learn.” replied the ghoulette next to him before nuzzling his shoulder.
You were confused but didn’t ask what they meant. You just looked around trying to recognize any of them, which turned out to be harder than you first thought. Thankfully they stopped staring pretty fast and went back to what seemed to be a big cuddle session.
“So uh… I guess you all already know what I’m here for?” you said before telling them your name.
“Oh that’s a cute name. Don’t know what I expected but it wasn’t this.” giggled a ghoul closer to you as the one who opened the door for you settled down next to him.
“Oh, uh… Thanks?” you mumbled, unsure what to make of this statement.
“I’m Zephyr, by the way.” he added giving the ghoul next to him a head scratch. “And this guy’s Ivy.” Ivy grumbled unintelligibly, seemingly displeased that somebody else was introducing him. “The two who talked earlier are Mist and Delta. And I don’t think the others are up for a discussion right now.” he finished, giving a nod towards the entire group.
“Yeah, sorry for interrupting… I just thought it was better to come and introduce myself sooner than later. But, uh, I can leave if you guys want…” you spoke, not certain what to do.
Zephyr and Ivy just nodded, your sign that you should go and leave them alone. Well it wasn’t too bad, not welcoming but they didn’t maul you at least—not yet. You left as quietly as humanly possible and went back to your room, locking your door behind you out of fear. It was only two in the afternoon, but you had nothing to do. Maybe you could take a nap? Yeah, good idea, that way you could get your brain to calm down a bit. Maybe then you would know what steps to take next. Yes that’s a good plan. Unfortunately it took just a little too long for you to fall asleep and your mind conjured the worst of the worst. Your dreams were plagued with nightmares pulled straight from what you had been told about the ghouls.
Thank Satan it was only in your head and nobody was coming for you.