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purpleshadow-star · 3 months

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So, the season finale of Hazbin Hotel came out last night.

Spoilers ahead

I was never part of the Hazbin Hotel or Helluva Boss fandom(s), though I have been watching Helluva Boss since about midway through when season one was being released. I only watched the pilot for Hazbin Hotel maybe six months to a year ago, and I only ever watched it once. I never kept up with VivziePop or whatever was happening behind the scenes. I watched Hazbin Hotel as it came out the past few weeks, I’ve watched some TikToks about it over the past week, and I read through a few (like, three) of the character’s wiki pages like, yesterday.

So, with all of my inexperience in the fandom and in this universe, I’m going to try to predict how the show is going to end.

Kind of.

Well, I’m going to make a prediction.

I think Angel Dust will be the last resident of the hotel we see get redeemed.

Angel was the first resident of the hotel. It’s only fitting that he’d be the last (that we see, anyway).

I think that season one was almost like a set-up season. The main characters and their characterizations/arcs have been established. The main problem, the extermination, has been temporarily dealt with. It’s been proven that the main objective in the show, redeeming sinners through the Hazbin Hotel, is possible. Seeds of a bigger plot and future trouble have been planted.

Now that the bigger plot things are out of the way, I think the show will be able to (hopefully) slow the pace down now and really focus on the hotel itself and the redemption process of the sinners that choose to be there, along with the individual characters and their personal journeys and arcs.

I think that Sir Pentious getting redeemed and making it into Heaven proved that the concept of the hotel can work, so now that they have the bigger, newly built hotel, they’ll start to get more residents. We’ll meet and bond with more characters as the seasons go on and they’ll go through the hotel and eventually get redeemed and go to Heaven.

I think that during all of this, for the next few seasons, we’ll see Angel work towards redeeming himself too. At this point, he’s accepted the hotel. He’s accepted his place there and he’s been visibly getting better. We’ll see him continue his path to redemption while also dealing with Valentino, his contract with him, and any other personal conflicts that arise.

I think that partway through the show, we’ll see Angel start to kind of put off becoming fully redeemed. Maybe he’ll just slow down, but I think we’ll see him become more apprehensive about completing his redemption.

At this point, he’ll probably already be in an official relationship with Husk, and his situation with Valentino might be resolved or at least not as much of an issue anymore. I think he’ll start putting off officially moving on into Heaven because he realizes that he doesn’t want to leave his friends behind. He won't want to leave the friends he’s made at the hotel, so even though he might be ready or almost ready to go to Heaven, he’ll just keep putting it off.

I think Angel’s ascension to Heaven will be the big series finale. I think that it’ll be a big emotional moment. Angel will accept that it’s time to move on, and there will be an emotional scene where he says goodbye to Charlie (who, as a Hellborn demon and not a mortal soul, can’t go to Heaven like the other sinners), and Vaggie (who will choose to stay with Charlie and has no desire to go back to Heaven), and probably Alastor (who loves his power and control too much to want anything to do with redemption himself) and maybe Niffty (I’m undecided about whether she’ll try for redemption, but I’m thinking no, at least as of right now). If Husk stays behind, that’ll be an absolutely heartbreaking goodbye too, but I’m thinking that, at some point in the show, Husk might decide to try for redemption as well, so maybe he and Angel are going together and saying their goodbyes together.

I think we’ll get a teary goodbye for the people Angel is leaving behind in Hell, but we’ll also get a joyous reunion scene where he meets up with all the redeemed souls in Heaven as well. He’ll get to see all the former residents we got to meet throughout the show, and maybe he’ll even have a moment where he gets to reunite with his sister, too. It’ll be a somewhat bittersweet moment, but a happy one overall, because Angel Dust, the first resident of the Hazbin Hotel, who didn’t take it seriously in the beginning and thought redemption wasn’t possible, who went through so much in Hell and who didn’t think things could get better for him, will have finally completed the journey to redemption and moved on to Heaven.

And then maybe we’ll get an epilogue-esque scene or series of clips of Charlie and Vaggie happily continuing to help redeem sinners in the Hazbin Hotel, of Angel and the other redeemed souls happily living their best afterlives in Heaven, of the redeemed sinners meeting and welcoming new redeemed souls into Heaven as they come in.

And maybe, taking place some time in the future, maybe years after Angel goes to Heaven, we’ll get a moment of Charlie and Vaggie, and any of the other original cast that stayed in Hell, being allowed to take a day trip into Heaven. Maybe we’ll get to see them reunite with the redeemed sinners in Heaven in person for the first time since the redeemed souls left, and it’ll be a happy reunion where they’re all just happy to see each other again and catch up. Maybe at this point the show has already established a way for the redeemed souls to still be able to communicate and keep in touch with those in Hell, so maybe this isn’t the first time the two groups have spoken to each other since the redeemed souls left the hotel, but maybe it is the first time since the redeemed souls left that they’ve been able to see each other in person, so the teary hugs all around are expected and maybe even appreciated.

Maybe the show will end on a happy note, where our first and most skeptical hotel resident ends up happily redeemed with a partner who loves and values him for who he is and friends who care for him, and where our main character is able to fulfill her dreams of helping her subjects find the best version of themselves and move on to a better place.

Maybe the extermination no longer happens, so there’s no more deadlines. Maybe being redeemed is no longer just an escape from second death. Not every soul in Hell is going to want to change, but for Charlie, it’s not about redeeming every soul. The Hazbin Hotel started as a way to decrease Hell’s population so that the extermination would no longer be necessary, so that no more souls, however awful, would be needlessly killed, but Charlie knows that the extermination was never about overpopulation, and yet she’s still going through with the hotel and she’s still working to redeem sinners.

So, maybe the extermination is a thing of the past, but Charlie will still continue running the hotel and giving sinners another chance, because everyone deserves another chance. Because Hell isn’t forever, and despite whatever some people did when they were alive, they deserve the chance to try to redeem themselves. They deserve the chance to try to be better. And that’s Charlie’s dream. She just wants to give her subjects the opportunity to do better, and not everyone will take it, but in the end, we'll see that all the effort was worth it for those few souls who do.

So, to recap: I think Angel Dust will be the last sinner we see get redeemed. We might get clips and/or mentions of souls after him, but he’ll be the last character to go to Heaven who’s journey to redemption we’ve seen. In the series finale, he’ll be the last major character to be redeemed, and we’ll get to see him live his best life in Heaven while Charlie happily stays behind in Hell to help guide more souls along the path to redemption.

Or at least, that’s something I’d like to see, anyway.

#even if this doesnt happen i think it's a cool idea lol #i love the idea of angel starting the hotel and then finishing it (for us)#like i feel like angel moving on should be a big deal right?#there's no way they wont make it a big deal #and i feel like they'll keep him in the hotel for as long as possible because he's a very popular character #and sending him to heaven earlier would split the focus of the show too much bc there's no way they'd write him off the show #and he has a lot to resolve in hell before going to heaven ie the situation with valentino and his slow burn with husk #there'd not be enough proper time for that if he goes to heaven too early #but there's also no way he doesn't go to heaven in the end lol not with his current tragic 'life' story #i also really hope husk tries for redemption and goes with angel in the end #it would suck for angel to finally find and bond with someone who actually loves him for who he is only to have to leave him behind #that would suck #so idk this might be a hot take but i really do want husk to eventually start working towards redemption #but i also want it to be bc he wants it. not just for angel if that makes sense #like getting to stay with angel is definitely nice and good for him but i want him to ultimately try for redemption for himself yknow #anyway ive gotten way off track lol #i also kinda got off track in the post at the end oops. but charlie can actually be so interesting #anyway this might all be wrong and maybe vizziepop has already said smth about angel's fate but like i said im new to all this so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯#hazbin hotel #hazbin angel dust #angel dust #huskerdust #hazbin hotel theory #hazbin hotel thoughts #hazbin hotel angel dust #hazbin hotel analysis #hazbin charlie #charlie morningstar #vivziepop #hazbin hotel spoilers

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karmitofenix · 3 years

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“You very much mistaken about one aspect about me: I don’t enjoy killing” “..., you are kill-”

“No, no, no, I didn’t kill a single soul, I just removed their second chance forever” -Adult Awakard Chuckles are heard- “Sinner like to think they are here for a single mistake, if they admit they have done mistakes, and they cannot ever redempt themselves,...but that not exactly the same thing what keep them for doing good,...just like you and me, them believe they are right and feel their punishment is unfair, when most of them just run away from the consequences from their single mistakes,...that a mistake by itself??”

“...” “I commit the sin of thinking myself as someone who could remove their second chance,...but heavenly crap to think every single day while I work myself to death, to stop the innocent from being killed, to deal with the loss of those I care, Knowing, Where I came from, people get out of hell all the time, and even still they can do good,...but here in this accursed world,...sins happens all the time by everyone when they not begging for mercy” “...” “People I could trust are a bit more than a bunch of brats who too busy complaining to realize they ruined their live, and even the eternity to work their mentality still can help them solve their problems,...eternality, eternality, eternality,...a endless time period where horrible people live exactly like they are alive but they don’t chance a hint, not even to be self-aware,...they become powerfull demons as matter of fact, some of them, while the powerless and kind suffer at the selfish man, who gained his power from the efforts of others.” “...” “Here I am,...making sure to make them know what really is “being beyond redemption”,...”beyond hope” truly,...and they pretent redemption cannot happen as long you’re thinking about your actions and what they can do,...so no redemption for no one, not even me” “...!!”

“Well, Where I come from Hell is Empty, devoid of any souls, not by god or the devil, you know, your father, but by a mere mortal with nothing with the brutality of their hands, I failed, proven by my existence” “...NO,no,no!!”

“...Even by doing everything again, I wished I didn’t have to do it, to hear your words about redemption, they are once mine, you know, but darling THIS HELL STINKS SO BADLY EVIL, SO TO JUST IGNORE IT WOULD BE THE GREATEST MORTAL SIN TO LET IT LIVE!!!”

#dialogue prompts

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syntaxeme · 4 years

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Sugar is Sweet (and So Are You) ch. 2

[First Chapter] [Next Chapter] [Read on AO3] [Support me on Ko-fi] Rating: T Summary: Plagued by jealousy toward the men Angel sleeps with, Alastor comes up with a plan to keep Angel from having to work the streets. He wasn't planning on becoming an actual client, but having Angel all to himself might prove too sweet to give up--for as long as he can afford it, that is.

— — —

Alastor wasn’t quite sure what to do with himself after his conversation with Angel, but he felt he should be doing something. After some time of pacing around his own room, running his mind in circles trying to figure out what was expected of him here, he was forced to concede that he simply didn’t have the information necessary to make that determination. So he would have to seek someone who did. He went down to the lobby to sit at the bar with a visibly-hungover Husk and asked for his usual—gin and tonic, hold the gin.

“Husker,” he ventured carefully, swirling the tonic water in his glass. His friend (though he used the term loosely) grunted in response. “Would I be right to assume you’ve had some experience with. Er. Filles de joie?”

“First of all, dial down the volume,” Husk grumbled flatly, squeezing his head between his hands as if that might alleviate his headache. “And second, speak English.”

“You know. Working girls. Ladies of the night. Cocettes? Streetwalkers?” How many ways could he say it gently?

“Hookers.”

“…yes.”

“Sure,” Husk agreed with a shrug, resting heavily against the bar. “But what’s it to you? Since when d’you care about that kinda shit?”

“Oh, I don’t. In so many words. But I’ve always been a curious sort, and since I don’t have any personal experience of my own, I figure a secondhand account is better than none,” Alastor explained. The two had known each other long enough that inquiries like this weren’t entirely out of the ordinary, as there were plenty of things about society—mortal or demon—that Alastor had only seen at a distance. Husk, on the other hand, had seen and done quite a lot in his years and could be very helpful when he chose to be.

“Don’t know what you’re gonna do with it, but I guess it doesn’t really matter. Whaddaya wanna know?” He groped absently along the bar for the tumbler of gin he’d withheld from Alastor’s drink and tossed it back all at once, then immediately got dizzy and regretted the sudden motion. “Just. Keep it down.”

“It’s my understanding that escorts, like many other professionals, have regular clients,” Alastor answered, lowering his voice slightly, more because he didn’t want to be overheard having this particular discussion than for the sake of his friend’s comfort. “But I’m not sure what sort of relationship that constitutes.”

“Like you said, a professional one,” Husk told him. “It’s a job, and a client’s a client. No matter how many times ya see ‘em, that doesn’t change.”

“I see. So…that dynamic isn’t likely to develop into something else?”

He let out a dry laugh. “Somethin’ else like what? A gal doesn’t date a john if that’s what you’re askin’.” He was answering almost automatically, not bothering to question where this curiosity had come from. “I hear when a guy starts gettin’ ideas like that, most ‘workin’ girls’ are pretty quick to cut him off.”

Which was exactly what Alastor was afraid of, considering what he knew of Angel Dust. But then, maybe there was a difference if the escort in question had only one patron. Maybe whatever he was getting into with Angel didn’t have exactly the same rules. “In a slightly different vein, then, what about…” Even saying the word felt like an admission, like an embarrassment. But he truly needed some sort of reference point before he got into this, so he had no choice. “Sugaring. The sort of arrangement where—”

“Yeah, I know how it works,” Husk said, waving him off. “Not my thing, though. Too much commitment.”

Well. That was a positive thing, wasn’t it? In terms of what Alastor actually wanted from his interactions with Angel? Commitment, as far as he was concerned, meant exclusivity, which his jealous tendencies certainly appreciated. “Commitment. On the part of the client, you mean?”

“Sure. Once you tell ‘em they can rely on you, they’re gonna. And that means you hafta be able to deliver. Money. Presents. Dates. Whatever she wants, you hand it over.”

None of that sounded bad to Alastor, not if it was Angel he was spoiling; if his previously-idle money could provide enjoyment or satisfaction for the object of his affections, why not let it do so? ‘Dates’ would even mean they were enjoying time together. How could that be negative? “And in return…?”

Husk shrugged again. “She sleeps with you and pretends she likes you. Ain’t worth it if ya ask me.”

Alastor’s eager smile faded slightly. ‘Pretends’? That could be an issue. Even if he hadn’t yet expressed it, the attention and affection he wanted from Angel was the genuine sort, not something motivated purely by money. Maybe he was being greedy in hoping for something like that, when the point of this plan had simply been to stop Angel sleeping with other men. But after the spider’s welcoming attitude and that kiss earlier, he was now starting to hope (a four-letter word if ever there was one) that more might come of it.

As he was trying to decide how to word his next question, the lobby elevator dinged, and Charlie marched out of it, dragging a fully-clothed but obviously reluctant Angel Dust by his wrist. “Don’tcha have night classes or somethin’ I could take? You two givin’ out drinks at this thing?” he grumbled, trudging along behind Charlie without otherwise protesting. When he caught sight of Alastor, his expression shifted from annoyance to a sweet smile. “Hey, boys. Room for one more?”

“Come on, Angel, it’s bad enough that we’re late already,” Charlie scolded.

“What she said,” Husk muttered, his ears turning back and downward at the voices ringing through the lobby. “Get to your fuckin’ meeting already.”

As they walked past on their way to the conference room, where Vaggie and several of their other patrons were already gathered, Angel paused to steal another kiss to Alastor’s cheek, causing Charlie’s eyes to open wide even as he casually strolled past her. The Radio Demon refused to look anywhere near their proprietor, grasping his glass tighter and trying to pretend he didn’t notice her eyes boring into him. She must have taken the hint eventually, as she disappeared into the conference room and shut the doors to begin their meeting, allowing the tension in Alastor’s body to dissipate, at least somewhat.

“Y’know, no one could blame you if ya smacked him when he does that shit,” Husk pointed out, still dispassionate, illustrating with a swipe of his own dangerous claws. “After a couple times, he’ll get the picture, trust me.”

Now this was unusual. Alastor couldn’t recall ever having felt so violently vengeful on the behalf of another person before. He’d never borne Husk any ill will in the past. That said, the thought that he had at some point struck Angel instilled in Alastor a powerful urge to tear out his feathers one by one and then stab them all back in.

“I’m sure violence isn’t necessary,” he said instead, forcibly shoving those images to the back of his mind and reminding himself that Angel had proven more than once already that he could take care of himself. “Maybe he just needs a proper focus for his energy…”

“Hey, if you wanna volunteer, be my guest,” Husk snickered without smiling.

Their conversation was interrupted by an unfamiliar demon nervously slinking into the lobby, looking to check himself in. Alastor quickly shifted into salesman mode to secure another patron and get him set up in his own room. After a whirlwind tour of the establishment, which put him back in his element and did wonders to take his mind off any other concerns he might have at the moment, they made their way back down to the lobby.

“And if I’m not much mistaken, Charlie and the others should be finishing up another session just now,” he crowed, still leading the new arrival with an arm around his shoulders and gesturing to the conference room doors. “She’ll want to welcome you personally, of course, and discuss your goals and expectations for your stay.”

His prediction didn’t come a moment too soon, as the double doors swung open to release the handful of lesser demons who had been gathered for Charlie’s group counseling session. Alastor led the newest member of their merry band of misfits to the princess to call her attention. “Charlie, this fine fellow is—remind us of your name, my good man.”

“Knix,” the burly gent answered, apparently having some trouble with looking anyone in the eye.

“A new arrival!” Alastor concluded, and Charlie beamed at the thought, as always.

“Welcome to the Hazbin! I’m Charlie, and that’s Vaggie”—she indicated her partner, who was straightening up the conference room on her own—“and we run the group meetings. How did you hear about us? What inspired you to come in? Tell me everything there is to know about you.” While she was haranguing the poor fellow to within an inch of his life, Alastor conceded that his work was done and took a step back to watch Charlie’s protégés disperse to their own rooms.

He recognized one self-involved feline named Davronius, a rabbitlike misanthrope simply called Io, an elegant and aloof owlish demon who went by Donatella—but no spiders. Odd, considering how often Charlie held Angel Dust up as her ‘star pupil,’ the exemplar of the hotel’s efficacy. And he typically basked in the attention it got him. Maybe he was still talking with one of his fellow recovering sinners? What a ridiculous thing for Alastor to be jealous of. And yet…

A flash of color darted between the guests and into the conference room, then back out only a moment later. Niffty stood to one side of the doors, her face screwed up into a pout, her eye darting around the room to seek out imperfections. She must have been in a mood, further evidenced by her scurrying over to the stairs to fuss at a guest who was leaning against the banister. Once he had backed off, intimidated despite her tiny stature, she whipped a handkerchief from her pocket and started to polish his fingerprints off the otherwise-pristine wood.

“You know,” Alastor said, strolling in her direction, “the banister can’t serve its purpose if you won’t let anyone touch it.”

“Well maybe if they washed their hands once in a while, it wouldn’t bother me,” she answered testily. “Besides, Vaggie already cleaned up after the meeting, so I don’t have anything else to do. I have to do something.” That was a fair point; there was too much energy in her little form to stand still for long. If she tried, she might spontaneously combust.

“And the entire hotel is already spick-and-span from top to bottom?”

She shot him what he had come to recognize as her version of a glare. “What d’you think I was doing during the meeting? We only have sixteen occupied rooms, and all the empty ones don’t get messy. You don’t even let me go in your room, so it might as well be fifteen. The new guy just got here, so it’s basically fourteen! And now Angel’s not here leaving dirty dishes in the lobby or doing target practice in the common area—”

“N҉o҉t҉ ҉h҉e҉r҉e҉?” There was a scratch of static in Alastor’s voice that he tried to will away as he asked casually, “A҉ng҉el ҉isn’t here? Where is he?” There were only so many reasons he would leave, and considering his recent track record, Alastor was quick to assume the worst.

“He left with some lady while you were upstairs with the new guy,” Niffty explained, flicking her handkerchief briefly in the direction of Knix, who was still in mostly one-sided conversation with Charlie. “His manager, I think.”

That statement was confusing for a few reasons. First, the only person Alastor knew of who could be called Angel’s ‘manager’ was a fellow Overlord named Valentino—a man. Furthermore, Angel had mentioned some time ago that he and Valentino were no longer working together, and Alastor had noted the improvement in his mood since.

But most importantly, the manager issue shouldn’t have applied at all, considering what they had agreed upon earlier in the day. His time shouldn’t need to be managed. Or if anyone is managing it, it should be me. He realized immediately how possessive and controlling that idea was and chastised himself for it. Yet it didn’t change how he felt. This day had come to involve entirely too many feelings, the way he saw it, and he was beginning to get exhausted. Since Angel wasn’t there to explain himself at the moment, Alastor was sure to drive himself up a wall fixating on the problem—unless he had something else to do.

“Do you know what always lifts my spirits when I’m distraught, dear?” he mused, glancing in Niffty’s direction again.

A delighted smile lit up her face and banished any lingering frustration. “A good meal?”

“That’s exactly right. In fact—Charlie!” he called, striding across the room to meet his co-manager with Niffty on his heels. “I hate to interrupt your onboarding discussion, but would you be so kind as to let all our guests know that I’ll be serving dinner this evening?”

“You’re cooking? That’s great! I’ll make sure everyone’s there,” she assured him. With a sly smile, she pointed out, “You sure seem like you’re in a good mood today. Any particular reason for that?”

“When am I ever not in a good mood? Especially when we have a new guest to welcome.” He gave a brief pat to her head, refusing to acknowledge what she was implying, and swept off to the kitchen with Niffty to occupy himself with something he knew how to control.

#RadioDust #can never tell when my stuff's going to turn up in the tag or not...#Angel Dust x Alastor #Alastor x Angel Dust #Sugar is Sweet #Hazbin Angel Dust #Hazbin Alastor

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bookoftruth · 3 years

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Hand of My Eternal Father will now fall on this ungrateful blind world

Monday, April 4, 2011 19:00

Surely mankind cannot fail to see this hatred for themselves at every corner? Don’t they know that this is Satan, the deceiver, at work? As the evil hatred and sickening atrocities spread like wildfire, so too will the Hand of My Eternal Father now fall on this ungrateful, blind world. As the human atrocities continue, where man inflicts terror and murder on each other, so too will the ecological disasters increase in punishment, for man’s sin against man. This chastisement will now befall on the world. Monday, April 4, 2011 at 19:00 hours

My dearly beloved daughter, time is not on our side now. Push. Push these Messages as far afield as you can. The time for The Warning is very close. Tell My followers, out of their faith for Me, to help convert non-believers to prepare for The Warning.

My daughter, while you may still be questioning these Messages, you are losing precious time. Time is not available for My beloved souls who are craving redemption. Sin, My daughter, is rampant and spreading like a virus in every corner of the world. Satan is playing havoc with mankind. He is everywhere. He is tormenting good souls as well as those who are lost to Me. He has got to be stopped. Prayer and the spread of My Word will help. Tell My followers how Satan is infesting mankind. Not only is he present through global unrest, he is infecting those who believe they are acting out of a sense of justice. He is even present in the young carefree society, in their music and celebrity culture.

Save souls now by praying My Divine Mercy. Spread this prayer as a matter of urgency. The sense of panic, horror, unrest and bitter hatred that is now being experienced in the world is felt deeply by Me, man’s Divine Saviour, Who cries endless tears for these lost souls.

The battle to save souls has begun

The battle to save souls has begun. Pray for yourselves and your families hard. For many innocent souls will be caught up in this calamity. Fear not because those loyal to Me and My Eternal Father will be saved. If My Eternal Father does not interfere now then man will inflict genocide on such a scale that the world’s population will be depleted in huge proportions.

Divine Mercy

Hold on to your faith, all of you, because without your faith your suffering will be difficult to endure. Praise to My Father for granting Me the Gift of Divine Mercy. My Mercy knows no bounds and this will now be proven to all of you. This ocean of pure, undiluted Love will be poured over all of My children to help save you from the hatred and evil, which is being spread by the evil one. Wash your souls now, in My Love, through prayer, because the time is close.

Remember, I love all of you. My Gift of Mercy is for all, even those sinners in mortal sin. They will be given a chance to repent, to defeat Satan, to join My Ever-Merciful Kingdom to come.

Look towards Heaven. Let Me hold you all and embrace you.

Your loving Saviour Ever-Merciful Judge Jesus Christ

#The Book of Truth #truth #Volume One #God #Jesus Christ #Message from Jesus

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geekprincess26 · 7 years

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Bless Me, Father

Written for Day 3 of Jon x Sansa Fanfiction’s 15 Days of Valentine’s challenge.

Father Samwell Tarly was having a difficult day.

He’d been told by Professor Targaryen on his first day at seminary that a priest’s work would never end or lack for challenges, and that had certainly proven true. As with every other parish he had served during his relatively short tenure in the clergy, Wintertown had its share of illness, poverty, and various other forms of human misery. On some days, he would visit half a dozen homes of people who were bedridden or depressed or otherwise in need of advice and prayer, and after that just as many rooms at the county hospital. On almost as many, he would fall asleep at the dinner table without so much as having taken off his collar for the evening.

But Wintertown, more than any other parish he had served, had also given him unexpected joys. His parishioners had initially been more suspicious of and less friendly toward him than had those to whom he had ministered in his two prior postings, but once he had won their trust, they had welcomed him warmly. The library at the parsonage put the collections at his prior parsonages to shame. And to his unexpected delight, Wintertown’s congregation was teeming with young families. The parents were not so stubborn or set on having things done just as their prior pastor had as were some of the older parishioners Sam had encountered, and the children, to his great surprise, almost all took to him from the start – especially, for some reason, little rascals like Rickon Stark, who much to his older sister’s horror had first greeted Father Sam by tackling him into the mud and roaring ferociously because, he said, he was trying to greet the new priest like a proper northern direwolf.

No, Wintertown was by far Father Sam’s favorite parish so far, and most days there gave him more than enough joy, or at least assurance that he had entered the right profession. Today, however, was not one of those days. It was the day of the week that he always had set aside to listen to the confessions of any parishioner willing to give them. This was not always a bad thing, for Wintertown was small, and sometimes the young priest would spend an hour or more reading one of the many volumes in his library while waiting for his next visitor. Today, though, he had a head cold and had awakened later than usual, and then only to the jangling of his telephone. Old Mrs. Mordane’s husband was dying, and so Father Sam had no chance to so much as brush his teeth before he threw on his clothes and headed out the door. While at the hospital, he had encountered the Mormont family, whose youngest daughter, Lyanna, had just fallen from a tree and been brought into the emergency room badly injured. Naturally, Father Sam had stopped to pray with them. He was running over an hour late for his confessions by the time he left the hospital, but then his faithful old Ford Model B had finally given out a mile from the church, and he had had to huff and puff all the way there in the rain. When he finally arrived, it seemed that almost half the town had turned up for confession.

Father Sam spent the next several hours huddled miserably but faithfully in the confessional booth. By the time Miss Sansa Stark, none other than the previously horrified older sister of young Rickon, arrived to make her confession, he was hungry and thirsty, and irritated to boot. His irritation was increased, strangely enough, by the fact that he knew her confession would be boring, for Miss Stark was not much of a sinner. She taught the second grade at Wintertown’s sole school, and students and parents alike loved her, for she was gentle and kind and always had a smile even for her most mischievous students. She had raised her three younger siblings singlehandedly after the deaths of their parents and elder brother in a terrible automobile accident, and by all accounts she did a wonderful job, Rickon’s shenanigans notwithstanding. She even baked cookies for catechism class. And yet Miss Stark felt herself a rather sinful person, for every week without fail for the past year and a half, she had confessed that she struggled with lustful thoughts toward Dr. Jon Snow, the other half of Father Sam’s biggest dilemma – and also Father Sam’s only remaining parishioner still waiting to have his confession heard.

Father Sam had long suspected that most of the young ladies of Wintertown, had they been as sensitive as Miss Stark, would have confessed that they too had lustful thoughts toward the handsome young physician. His black curls, piercing brown eyes, and brooding demeanor gave him the aura of a hero straight out of one of the historical novels that were all the rage among young ladies these days. However, he had never encouraged any of the young ladies in their affections; in fact, he had seemed more or less oblivious to their intentions. The only young lady of whom he had ever taken any real notice was Miss Stark. Father Sam was more keenly aware of this even than the most sharp-eyed of his parishioners, although it was obvious to more than half the congregation at this point, even if nobody spoke of it openly. It would not take a sharp pair of eyes, after all, to see the way Dr. Snow shifted that brooding gaze toward Miss Stark while singing a hymn, or to notice the way that gaze softened whenever he did so. Nor did it take too much intelligence to see the pink tint that spread across Miss Stark’s porcelain face when Dr. Snow helped her into his automobile, which he used to transport the four Starks to and from church every Sunday, or when he let Rickon climb all over him and cover his nice clothes in dirt for the hundredth time and tell an abashed Miss Stark that really, it was no trouble at all. And anyone who could see out of one eye could also see the smile that lit up Dr. Snow’s face every week when he helped Father Sam prepare for catechism class and saw Miss Stark walk into the room with her cookies.

Even if Father Sam had seen none of this, he heard plain evidence of it. For one thing, two of Miss Stark’s three siblings, Miss Arya Stark and Master Brandon Stark, were old enough for the confessional booth themselves, and more than once each of them had confessed to wanting to smack their older sister over the head for being not only oblivious to Dr. Snow’s affections, but also idiotic enough to believe she did not deserve such a fine man. Furthermore, every week like clockwork Dr. Snow entered the confessional booth and admitted to having lustful thoughts for Miss Stark. Father Sam would shake his head behind the curtain, for Dr. Snow was always quick to say he would take such thoughts to his grave rather than bother Miss Stark with unwanted attentions, even if those attentions were to take the honorable form of a request for courtship, or even a marriage proposal. In fact, when Father Sam would mildly mention that the kindnesses the young doctor bestowed on Miss Stark were evidence of care and generosity, not depravity, and even suggest that Dr. Snow might find his conscience relieved if he were to ask Miss Stark for a chance to show just how honorable his intentions were, Dr. Snow would only shake his head in that brooding way of his and remark about how much better Miss Stark deserved.

It was at those moments that Father Sam experienced some of his least priestly inclinations, for he wished then to smack some sense into the other man, or at least give him a fine scolding. On occasion, he had had the most wicked temptation to open his mouth when one of them was in the confessional and reveal the other’s exact feelings. But that, of course, would be a violation of one of his most sacred duties, which was to keep his parishioners’ confessions in the strictest confidence. Not even a judge or man of the law, even during the investigation of a crime, could be required to force Father Sam to speak of what Dr. Snow, Miss Stark, or indeed anybody else told him once seated in that consecrated booth.

This matter, however, was not a criminal one nor even a case of a mortal sin, and Father Sam had begun to wonder of late whether it would also be a sin to deny two people like Dr. Snow and Miss Stark their chance at finding happiness and love, which, after all, were two of God’s greatest gifts to the human race. So when Miss Stark entered his confessional on that wet and miserable night and Father Sam heard the sound of tears creeping into her voice, his irritation fell away in a heartbeat, and in between the sniffles, he felt an idea begin to form at the back of his mind. By the time he had finished hearing Dr. Snow’s weekly bout of sighing and self-loathing, it had become a plan.

A few weeks later, Miss Stark brought her usual batch of chocolate chip cookies to catechism class. Father Sam announced to his young students that this week they would be studying the subject of love. As Miss Stark and Dr. Snow, whom Father Sam had politely requested assist her, quietly set out the cookies at the back of the classroom, he asked his students to discuss instances of people around them showing love to each other. Young Rickon Stark immediately raised his hand, and Father Sam was only too happy to call on him.

Rickon rose to his feet and stood next to his desk. “My sister Sansa loves my brother and sister and me,” he said, “because she cooks dinner for us and talks me and Arya out of fighting and takes us to see Dr. Snow when we get sick.” Oblivious to the blush rising in his sister’s cheeks, he continued. “And she loves Dr. Snow because she lets him read the books she borrows from the library and helps him smile when she brings us in to see him.” Ignoring the identical flush that had swept across Dr. Snow’s face, he said, “And Dr. Snow loves her. He opens doors for her, like a gentleman does, and says nobody is as intelli-intellectual and kind and pretty as she is. He offers to drive her home from school when the weather’s bad. And he smiles at her when she’s not looking. And I think he ought to marry her.”

He sat back down, and Father Sam had to hand it to the boy for not grinning like a Cheshire cat at his sister and the doctor, who had each flushed a bright shade of scarlet. After perhaps five seconds, which seemed to stretch on for five years, Dr. Snow turned not just his eyes, but his whole head toward Miss Stark. Not one moment later, she mirrored his action. She quickly looked down at the floor, but a few seconds later Dr. Snow whispered something unintelligible, and Miss Stark looked shyly back up at him. He said something else, and she nodded and followed him out of the room.

Father Sam beamed at Rickon Stark and took out his Bible to begin the rest of the class. It opened to the spot he had bookmarked the previous night, and his eyes fell on the beginning of Psalm 8:2: “Out of the mouths of babes…”.

One year later, Father Sam looked at that passage again and smiled. It was one of the Scripture verses they had chosen for him to read at their wedding.

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