Chapter Text
Copia wiped the sweat off of his painted face, the lights of the studio dimmed, and he panted. The cardinal loved to sing, it was in his blood, but after his brother died, singing just filled him with so much sadness and grief. All he could think about on stage or while practicing was Terzo, he tried to act like Terzo sometimes, tried to fill that gap that kept growing bigger as the shows continued, but it just wouldn't go away. The lights turned back on, and he saw Omega smiling at him halfheartedly, "Good job, Cardinal." He muttered. He knew, even though it had been years, that Omega was still grieving. He wasn't one to judge, he was too.
"Thank you." He said softly, his voice cracking ever so slightly. The other ghouls in the room watched the interaction with frowns, they didn't take the death of their papa as hard as Omega or Copia, but they were still grieving. Terzo made them feel special, made them feel appreciated and almost human. But alas, they were only ghouls, they were mostly incapable of feeling human emotion to its fullest. The only reason Omega could was because he was mated to Terzo.
Omega never got the closure he wanted, when he barged into Kelsie's room, he was surprised to find she wasn't there. He ended up looking everywhere yet couldn't find her anywhere. Hell, he even discovered that the ministry had a dungeon! He looked through that as well, but apart from a couple empty cells and a weirdly placed wall, he didn't see Kelsie.
Everyone filed out of the room, practice was over, and everyone was left sweating as the room was small and everyone's bodies were closely packed together. They really needed to make that room bigger...
Omega had taken over Terzo's room, it still held his smell after years and Omega greatly appreciated it. Every night he would snuggle into the bed and pretend that Terzo was right next to him, his forehead against his and hands in one another's.
He knew that would never happen.
He opened the door to Terzo- His chambers and shut it quietly. He needed to remind himself of the words that were once spoken to him by none other than Terzo himself. After Omega's cat died, he was left in a bout of depression. Terzo was still only a few days into being the anti-pope, but he had grown a strong connection with all of his ghouls. Terzo approached Omega who was in the ministry's courtyard, sipping a can of soda on a bench. He had asked if he could sit next to him, and Omega nodded.
Omega sat on the bed and closed his eyes, repeating the words Terzo had spoken to him that day.
"Life moves on."