[Papa Emeritus III]

After having put my little ghoul to sleep I made my way to my new room and sat in the plush velvet love seat to admire the work he had done.
He had done such a good job cleaning up for me. He had placed all my belongings neatly in all the right places.

Omega was the one ghoul I knew the least about and that is why I decided to move in, so to speak, with him. I hope for him to open up to me and trust me at least a little.
I have heard from my other ghouls that he was not always this way.
He had been the last soul transformed by the first Emeritus. I had been told by my brother, Emeritus II, that he had been the rowdiest ghoul being the youngest when he had entered the Clergy. My brother had such a hard time teaching him and disciplining him. However, at some point towards the end, when my brother was close to retiring, I've been told Omega changed.

Apparently Omega became more reserved and preferred solitude over company. He was quiet and became more of a shadow behind everyone, only coming out to his true nature during performances for the Clergy and the public rituals for the masses. He only allowed little Earth near him and into his personal space. Those two became closer as my little Omega drifted away from the rest.

I sighed and let a small smile grace my lips. Second time I referred to him as mine. HA! There was something there, something that beckoned me to him. He seemed so broken but so strong at the same time. He intrigued me I guess. Yes, that is all. I must merely be curious to uncover all his secrets as I had done with all my other little ghouls.

When I stepped up as my brothers predecessor, he became a jittery nervous wreck, despite all my efforts to seem the least intimidating and all the more friendly. I had tried my hardest to win him over like the others but he simply showed me fear so I decided to simply let him be. I wanted to allow him to warm up to me on his own, going to the extent of only communicating with him when he had failed to do a chore or a task the way I had wanted it done and in the amount of time given. I allowed myself to only come into close proximity to him during my performances for the Clergy and coming into physical contact with him during mass rituals since that always proved to be a huge crowd favourite. However all my efforts had seemed to be in vain proven by the fact that my time with them was almost over and he had yet to approach me out of his own will.

Tonight, however, had been different. Omega had somewhat opened up to me and allowed me to intrude his little save-heaven and even gone as far as inviting me to share his bed.

I felt a heat spread through me as I thought of sharing a bed with the little ghoul. Sighing I dismissed it as nothing, it was simply due to me being tired. I took a deep breath as I sat at the edge of my bed. It seemed as if my little one had left his scent all around my new room. A small smile played at my lips, Of course he had left behind a small trail of his scent, after all he had accommodated and cleaned everything in here for me.

A sudden yawn escaped me. I got off the bed and made my way to my closet to retrieve a pair of sweat pants. I pulled them on and decided it was to hot to sleep with a shirt on so i kept my chest bare. I went to my connected restroom and brushed my teeth quickly before turning all my lights off. Once in the dark, I tiredly face planted onto my bed. Another soft smile settled on my face as I felt myself drift to sleep with the picture of my little Omega curled on his bed in my mind.

* * * * * *

[Omega]

*Dream*

I was running and crying. The merchant at the apple stand had unleashed his hounds on me once again. I had been so sure that no one had seen me take the two apples. I was so hungry and it had already been 3 days since I had last had anything to eat.

It was quite sad. No one in the village particularly messed with me but it was a known fact that no one was fond of me due to who my parents had been.

My poor mother had been killed, accused by the church of being a witch and my father had ran off leaving me behind after her execution promising to come back for me once he had found a place to settle. He never returned, word was he was killed in his attempt to escape but those were rumors. For all I knew he was living off with a beautiful new family and given me for dead. I was left an orphan and homeless at the age of 4 and had to learn to steal if I wanted to eat and survive.

Now, at the age of 16, no one would give me a job or a helping hand so I had no choice but to survive by stealing from others. Hell, I still lived in the cage my mother had been kept in after having had begged the pastor to help me move it from the central square when I was 10.

I could hear the hounds catching up to me. I felt my panic begin to rise. My legs burned and breathing was becoming difficult. I pushed myself harder as I saw my forest in front of me.My cage came into my view and I felt relief wash over me. I finally reached the cage and ran inside, locking myself in.

The hounds circled the cage and eventually left. I pulled out one of my apples from my pocket and stored it for later in an old chest I had found some time ago.

*End of Dream*

I woke up with a start covered in sweat and clutching onto Cora, my fluffy purple and pink stuffed Unicorn, I know I'm VERY manly grrrr. 

This was the reason I never spoke of my past. For so long only little Terra had known and I don't know what in Hell's fiery pits had possessed me to tell Papa about it. 

Sighing I got up, still holding my unicorn and quietly made my way out of my room. I tiptoed my way past Papa's room. I made my way down to the main hall and made a left after the second hallway. 

Every time I had a nightmare I came to Terra's room. He would always let me crawl into bed with him and cuddle me while stroking my hair to calm me down. 

He was the only one I trusted deeply. We had grown close after my "life" fell to pieces. He was like the brother I never had in my human life. Don't get me wrong, I love all my ghoul brothers but Terra was special to me, even more than what Alfie had been to me in the past.

I stood outside his door ready to knock when I suddenly heard laughter. I heard Aura and Aqua laughing along with Terra.

I let my hand fall back down and decided not to bother them, they sounded like they were having fun and I didn't want to ruin it for them. Dejectedly, I made my way back to my tower. 

I was tiptoeing my way back to my room when just as I was stepping in front of Papa's room I suddenly felt a cold hand on my shoulder. I of course let out one of the most MANLIEST of yells slip my throat. 

I heard laughter behind me and turned to see Ignis laughing loudly at me. I swatted at him with my Unicorn resulting in him only laughing even harder at me. 

"I hate you, you idiot!" I whisper yelled at him.

"I love you too Maggie" he replied with a chuckle.

I groaned, "Ugh shut up, You're gonna wake Papa up, who by the way happens to be sleeping behind this very door." 

"Sorry Maggie but that was just too damn funny. Admit it. The total cherry on top is you 'attacking' me with Cora. I didn't even know you still had her. It feels like forever ago since I gave it to you." He replied and smiled. 

"Fire, please for the love of Satan, don't call me that. You know I hate it." I pouted at him. "Plus why would I get rid of Cora, she brings me back many good memories." I clutched the fluffy unicorn to my chest.

"I now you hate it, I just like bugging you. It's not really fair that you still get to call us by our nicknames and we don't get to call you anything anymore. Ah yes, memories that was the best carnival in town. Thank you for going that night with me." he pouted and crossed his arms across his chest but slowly let a smile replace his pout. 

"Yeah well whatever, what did you want anyways?" I asked him.

"Oh! Right, we're watching movies in little Earth's room and we wanted to know if maybe you wanted to join us? We can even watch Mulan or The Little Mermaid since they're your favourite." He asked in a hopeful tone.

"Um, actually no thank you. I'm quite tiered so I'll skip this time, but next time I'll join you guys for sure under the condition that you Alfie dearest have to sing 'Kiss the Girl' for me. Thank you for the invite tonight though." I gave him a small smile.

I heard him sigh, "Alright then next time it is. I'll gladly sing the whole damn movie if you join us." He chuckled. 

Fire turned around and began to walk away but then suddenly he ran back to me and engulfed me in a big warm hug. He quickly let me go, turned around, and left.

I stood there still a little shocked. It had been so long since Alpha had hugged me.

A sad smile graced my lips, "Goodnight, Ignis." I whispered to the empty spot where he had been standing not long ago. 

I suddenly felt a presence behind me and turned around only to come face to face with Emeritus. 

He was leaning against the door frame of his room and only then did I realize that Ignis and I had still been talking, and rather loudly, right outside of Papa's room all this time.

I looked down at the floor and began to nervously play with Coras' tail.

"I'm sorry for waking you up Papa." I gently spoke to him.

I heard Emeritus shuffle towards me. He grabbed the hand that was nervously playing with Cora and tugged it a little.

"It's okay little one, come with me." he spoke softly.

I quietly followed him to his room.

"Sit anywhere you want child." he instructed.

I mad my way to a fluffy love seat and sat down. Papa closed the door and made his way to the seat across from me and spoke.

"Now tell daddy, what's wrong?"