[Legend of Sun Knight] fic: My Friend, the Pope (in-training) - Part 4: Elijah
Title: My Friend, the Pope (in-training) - Part 4: Elijah
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 2,120
Summary: Grisia wasn't chosen as the Sun Knight. This is the legend of the strongest Pope in all history. AU.
Notes: I had fun with this chapter, though Elijah probably didn't. ;)
Previous part
Part 4: Elijah
If I were to answer the question of how I met him, I could only say that it was the mission that led our paths to cross.
By "the mission," I mean my first mission, which also happens to be the last my teacher would ever give me.
"Sorry, lad," my teacher had said in a gruff voice. "I owe it to the brat." With an apologetic look and barely any explanation at all, my teacher sent me off to the Sanctuary of Light to see the Pope.
Determined to prove to my teacher that I was a capable holy knight, I went without complaint. Eagerly, even. It was my very first mission, after all, and I wanted to impress. I didn't know that I was taking my last steps in the Holy Temple, and that I would be bidding goodbye to the place before I even came to consider it home. I hadn't even made any lasting friendships or memories.
One blond-haired, blue-eyed boy, however, was going to change all of that. Over the years, I regretted a great many things during my time undercover, but I never ever regretted making friends with him. Or well, I should say, I never ever regretted it... very much, making friends with this person who even played a trick on me the very first time we met.
(He would always claim that I was gullible. It was ironic that someone like me had been chosen as a spy, or perhaps that was exactly the reason I'd been chosen. I never really understood what Grisia meant by that.)
I remember standing outside the heavy door of the designated prayer room, taking in deep breaths to calm myself. I wondered if the Pope would be a wise, old man who would find my posture slacking. The very thought made me stand up straighter. I quickly knocked on the door, wanting to get it over with before I lost my nerves.
"Come in!" an excited voice exclaimed before I heard a cough, and the tone changed, becoming much more subdued. "Ahem, come in."
Confused, I pushed the door open.
A golden-haired child stood at the other side of the room, back facing me. Sunlight spilled in from the window above, bathing the figure in an ethereal glow.
My voice caught at the sight.
Was I in the presence of a heavenly being?
I gulped. I glanced around nervously, not finding anyone else about. "I'm here to see...the Pope?" I finally managed to say. I was not entirely sure what I was here for. I only knew it was a mission. "Is he around?"
The figure turned, face obscured by a veil. I could not tell if the person was a girl or a boy with their face concealed, and their billowy robes made it even harder to tell. Given their height, however, I guessed that they were probably around my age or younger, so their physical build probably wouldn't help too much either. There wasn't a huge difference between the builds of boys and girls at my age.
Once they saw me, they slowly walked forward out of the patch of sunlight, but even then, they still seemed to glow. I sucked in my breath when they started circling around me and looking me up and down. I hurriedly stood up even straighter, my back aching at the rigid stance. The head of blond hair tilted in thoughtfulness. I could see over their head. I tried to look forward instead of repaying the scrutiny.
"Hm, so you are the boy that Hell has sent me."
I blinked, eyes looking down at the other child before I could help it. The soft voice didn't help me in discerning their gender, but that was no longer at the center of my attention.
Hell? Why would a child be addressing my teacher so familiarly? I half wanted to berate them for being disrespectful, but the otherworldly impression they gave off stayed my tongue. Just who was this person who could address my teacher in such a way?
"Who are you?" I whispered instead, half afraid of the answer.
The child sighed and tsked. "The Pope, who else?"
I stared with large eyes. Surely, I was being tricked. There was no way that the Pope was a child who looked even younger than me... Right?
"This always happens..."
After sighing again, the child gathered holy light into balls and began tossing the balls above us like it was nothing. I looked up, entranced. The room became so bright with the floating lights that I could have easily believed I was outdoors.
"Now, do you believe me?" the child asked while continuing to toss a ball of holy light around, playing with it like it was, well, a normal ball children would play toss with.
I still didn't believe that I was in the presence of the Pope despite the impressive display, but then I recalled what my teacher had said just as he was sending me off. Hadn't he said, "I owe it to the 'brat'?" Was this what he had meant? Could it be that this was indeed the Pope? Who else would have such control over holy light?
"You're the Pope..." I whispered in realization.
The child nodded happily and sent all of the floating balls of holy light to the walls, further demonstrating their control on holy light. The holy light snuggled into the torch holders, taking the place of the torch lights. I'd never thought it possible that holy light could be molded like this and used to light up an entire room.
Throat dry, I quickly bowed, horrified over my lack of manners before my superior. "Good day, my teacher wanted me to see you."
"Yes, I was wondering where you were. Why has it taken you so long?"
I blinked and straightened my back. "I came right after my teacher told me to."
"You must have been dallying. I have been waiting much too long," came a stern reprimand.
My face fell. Had I already botched up my first mission? "I'm sorry-"
Before I could finish apologizing, the child before me doubled over in laughter, veil fluttering, partially revealing the face behind it and a cheeky grin. "Oh my God of Light! How can you be so gullible?"
"What...?"
The child lifted the veil, revealing startling blue eyes that were dancing with mirth. A hand reached up to wipe away some moisture that had gathered, no doubt from laughing so hard. With his face revealed and his voice no longer stilted, I ventured to guess that this was a "he."
"I can't believe you fell for it!" he exclaimed. "Who would believe a boy to be the Pope?"
"Wait, does this mean you're not the Pope?" I asked, confused. At least, he confirmed that he was indeed a boy. Then, I frowned, not liking that I had been tricked.
He grinned and held up his hands to pacify me. "Hey, I wasn't completely lying. Nice to meet you. I'm Grisia, the pope-in-training. I'll be the Pope before you know it!"
Oh. I didn't know if that made things any better.
Then, he looked at his raised hands, shrugged, and stuck one out for me to shake. I looked at it warily, not trusting that he wouldn't trick me again in some other way.
"I'm Elijah," I said slowly. I hesitantly took his hand. He grabbed it with his other hand too and shook it heartily. It was very hard extracting my hand.
"I didn't know the Pope took on any students," I said after I managed to retrieve my hand.
Grisia shrugged. "It's been years since there have been any candidates for the Pope. About time, I'd say. He's getting old."
Right after he spoke, another boy's voice asked in displeasure, "Who's getting old?"
Startled at the sudden voice, I quickly turned around. While Grisia and I had been talking, another person had entered the room. This boy, like Grisia in the beginning, had his face veiled. Another child. But instead of having shining, golden hair, his was a startling white that was incongruous on a child's head. Still, he didn't seem much older than us. At most, he was only a few years older, but enough for his voice change to have kicked in.
Was it required of all those in the Sanctuary of Light to have their face veiled?
Without missing a beat, Grisia said cheerfully, "I was just talking about the Sun Knight!"
The other boy nodded. "Yes, yes, Neo is definitely getting old... but..."
In one swift motion, the boy lifted his hand and sent a zap of lightning at Grisia. Grisia yelped and quickly dodged out of the way of more zaps. I suddenly found myself being used as a shield. I hurriedly looked back and forth between them, alarmed that I was stuck in the middle.
"Don't think I don't know that you've been gossiping about me!" the boy declared while stalking forward.
I hastily backed up.
"That doesn't mean you have to zap me!" Grisia whined and ducked further behind me.
The boy snorted. "You could have blocked that."
At those words, Grisia seemed to perk up. "There's a way to block it?"
"Yes, yes..."
"Teach me!"
I was all but forgotten as the boy demonstrated some kind of defensive spell to Grisia. He started explaining in detail the mechanics behind the spell, but Grisia's eyes just seemed to glaze over.
"Never mind all the mumbo jumbo!" Grisia said. "Is this how you do it?"
He waved his hand. I didn't know what he was doing, but apparently, he'd done it correctly. The other boy swore heavily. I darted my eyes around, hoping no one had heard him. Thankfully, the prayer room was still very empty. I didn't think the adults would like his language very much.
"Damn, if you weren't my student, I'd want to kill you!" He rubbed his forehead as if he had a headache.
Grisia frowned. "Why? Didn't I do it correctly?"
"On your very first try," the boy said. "Usually, it would take someone at least three weeks to learn it. Or longer. Not to mention countless attempts."
"You're just a very good teacher!" Grisia said, laying on the praise thickly.
The boy snorted. "You didn't even hear a word of my explanation."
"Uh..." Grisia looked sheepish. I hadn't known at the time how impressive it was that Grisia was able to learn what had been demonstrated to him in the blink of an eye. I was no expert on magic (but apparently, it was very impressive).
After the strange exchange, the boy finally seemed to notice my presence.
"So you're Hell's student? I see that you have already met Grisia," he said and walked forward, circling around me to examine me much like what Grisia had done earlier.
"That should be 'Hell Knight' to you," I said as I nibbled on my lower lip. Both Grisia and this boy were being very disrespectful toward my teacher.
Beside me, Grisia stiffened. When I looked over, I saw that he had a hand over his mouth and was trying very hard not to look in my direction. What was up with him?
"Oh?" the boy asked. "Don't you know who I am?"
"I don't know who you are, but I do know that you're definitely not the Pope," I said, pleased that I had their trick figured out, "because there is no way that the Pope is a young boy not much older than me."
With that, Grisia burst into laughter, laughing so much that he doubled over again.
I gave him a confused look.
The boy twitched. "Is that so? Well, why don't I show you?"
Even after an impressive display of holy magic, I shook my head. "Sorry, I'm not going to get tricked again! Grisia already tried that on me!"
The boy twitched some more. Grisia laughed even harder. I was alarmed when the boy tried zapping Grisia again, but this time, Grisia was able to block it. It seemed that the impromptu magic lesson had stuck. The boy snorted and grumbled under his breath about how this was Grisia's only saving grace. Why had he decided this was a good idea?
It took my teacher's interference before we finally got the matter straightened out, as I adamantly refused to believe the actual Pope that he was, well, the Pope, no matter what kinds of complicated holy magic he showed me. I thought I had things figured out.
(After all, Grisia had been able to perform impressive feats too.)
It hadn't been funny at the time, but years later, I would look back at the event fondly and think, "It was pretty funny..." At the time, I'd only thought it was the most embarrassing event of my life to have treated the Pope like a little kid who was playing house!
"You're really too gullible," Grisia would always say with a cheeky grin whenever I groaned about the embarrassing mistake I'd made.
I guess I was.
"But that makes for the perfect spy."
I didn't really agree.
Why were we friends again?
to be continued
After 4 parts, we finally get a closer glimpse at how Grisia's lessons have been going with the Pope. I thought Elijah would be an interesting POV for that! (I'm not sure I would want to be friends with Grisia...) I believe the Pope and Grisia would have very interesting interactions... I opted for them to still retain some of their banter, and for the Pope to have some trouble with Grisia's mischievousness. We'll see more of how their relationship is in this AU in future parts~. The Pope thought he found a gem, but is it more of a headache? The birth of a monster mage, for sure. =P
Next part
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 2,120
Summary: Grisia wasn't chosen as the Sun Knight. This is the legend of the strongest Pope in all history. AU.
Notes: I had fun with this chapter, though Elijah probably didn't. ;)
Previous part
Part 4: Elijah
If I were to answer the question of how I met him, I could only say that it was the mission that led our paths to cross.
By "the mission," I mean my first mission, which also happens to be the last my teacher would ever give me.
"Sorry, lad," my teacher had said in a gruff voice. "I owe it to the brat." With an apologetic look and barely any explanation at all, my teacher sent me off to the Sanctuary of Light to see the Pope.
Determined to prove to my teacher that I was a capable holy knight, I went without complaint. Eagerly, even. It was my very first mission, after all, and I wanted to impress. I didn't know that I was taking my last steps in the Holy Temple, and that I would be bidding goodbye to the place before I even came to consider it home. I hadn't even made any lasting friendships or memories.
One blond-haired, blue-eyed boy, however, was going to change all of that. Over the years, I regretted a great many things during my time undercover, but I never ever regretted making friends with him. Or well, I should say, I never ever regretted it... very much, making friends with this person who even played a trick on me the very first time we met.
(He would always claim that I was gullible. It was ironic that someone like me had been chosen as a spy, or perhaps that was exactly the reason I'd been chosen. I never really understood what Grisia meant by that.)
I remember standing outside the heavy door of the designated prayer room, taking in deep breaths to calm myself. I wondered if the Pope would be a wise, old man who would find my posture slacking. The very thought made me stand up straighter. I quickly knocked on the door, wanting to get it over with before I lost my nerves.
"Come in!" an excited voice exclaimed before I heard a cough, and the tone changed, becoming much more subdued. "Ahem, come in."
Confused, I pushed the door open.
A golden-haired child stood at the other side of the room, back facing me. Sunlight spilled in from the window above, bathing the figure in an ethereal glow.
My voice caught at the sight.
Was I in the presence of a heavenly being?
I gulped. I glanced around nervously, not finding anyone else about. "I'm here to see...the Pope?" I finally managed to say. I was not entirely sure what I was here for. I only knew it was a mission. "Is he around?"
The figure turned, face obscured by a veil. I could not tell if the person was a girl or a boy with their face concealed, and their billowy robes made it even harder to tell. Given their height, however, I guessed that they were probably around my age or younger, so their physical build probably wouldn't help too much either. There wasn't a huge difference between the builds of boys and girls at my age.
Once they saw me, they slowly walked forward out of the patch of sunlight, but even then, they still seemed to glow. I sucked in my breath when they started circling around me and looking me up and down. I hurriedly stood up even straighter, my back aching at the rigid stance. The head of blond hair tilted in thoughtfulness. I could see over their head. I tried to look forward instead of repaying the scrutiny.
"Hm, so you are the boy that Hell has sent me."
I blinked, eyes looking down at the other child before I could help it. The soft voice didn't help me in discerning their gender, but that was no longer at the center of my attention.
Hell? Why would a child be addressing my teacher so familiarly? I half wanted to berate them for being disrespectful, but the otherworldly impression they gave off stayed my tongue. Just who was this person who could address my teacher in such a way?
"Who are you?" I whispered instead, half afraid of the answer.
The child sighed and tsked. "The Pope, who else?"
I stared with large eyes. Surely, I was being tricked. There was no way that the Pope was a child who looked even younger than me... Right?
"This always happens..."
After sighing again, the child gathered holy light into balls and began tossing the balls above us like it was nothing. I looked up, entranced. The room became so bright with the floating lights that I could have easily believed I was outdoors.
"Now, do you believe me?" the child asked while continuing to toss a ball of holy light around, playing with it like it was, well, a normal ball children would play toss with.
I still didn't believe that I was in the presence of the Pope despite the impressive display, but then I recalled what my teacher had said just as he was sending me off. Hadn't he said, "I owe it to the 'brat'?" Was this what he had meant? Could it be that this was indeed the Pope? Who else would have such control over holy light?
"You're the Pope..." I whispered in realization.
The child nodded happily and sent all of the floating balls of holy light to the walls, further demonstrating their control on holy light. The holy light snuggled into the torch holders, taking the place of the torch lights. I'd never thought it possible that holy light could be molded like this and used to light up an entire room.
Throat dry, I quickly bowed, horrified over my lack of manners before my superior. "Good day, my teacher wanted me to see you."
"Yes, I was wondering where you were. Why has it taken you so long?"
I blinked and straightened my back. "I came right after my teacher told me to."
"You must have been dallying. I have been waiting much too long," came a stern reprimand.
My face fell. Had I already botched up my first mission? "I'm sorry-"
Before I could finish apologizing, the child before me doubled over in laughter, veil fluttering, partially revealing the face behind it and a cheeky grin. "Oh my God of Light! How can you be so gullible?"
"What...?"
The child lifted the veil, revealing startling blue eyes that were dancing with mirth. A hand reached up to wipe away some moisture that had gathered, no doubt from laughing so hard. With his face revealed and his voice no longer stilted, I ventured to guess that this was a "he."
"I can't believe you fell for it!" he exclaimed. "Who would believe a boy to be the Pope?"
"Wait, does this mean you're not the Pope?" I asked, confused. At least, he confirmed that he was indeed a boy. Then, I frowned, not liking that I had been tricked.
He grinned and held up his hands to pacify me. "Hey, I wasn't completely lying. Nice to meet you. I'm Grisia, the pope-in-training. I'll be the Pope before you know it!"
Oh. I didn't know if that made things any better.
Then, he looked at his raised hands, shrugged, and stuck one out for me to shake. I looked at it warily, not trusting that he wouldn't trick me again in some other way.
"I'm Elijah," I said slowly. I hesitantly took his hand. He grabbed it with his other hand too and shook it heartily. It was very hard extracting my hand.
"I didn't know the Pope took on any students," I said after I managed to retrieve my hand.
Grisia shrugged. "It's been years since there have been any candidates for the Pope. About time, I'd say. He's getting old."
Right after he spoke, another boy's voice asked in displeasure, "Who's getting old?"
Startled at the sudden voice, I quickly turned around. While Grisia and I had been talking, another person had entered the room. This boy, like Grisia in the beginning, had his face veiled. Another child. But instead of having shining, golden hair, his was a startling white that was incongruous on a child's head. Still, he didn't seem much older than us. At most, he was only a few years older, but enough for his voice change to have kicked in.
Was it required of all those in the Sanctuary of Light to have their face veiled?
Without missing a beat, Grisia said cheerfully, "I was just talking about the Sun Knight!"
The other boy nodded. "Yes, yes, Neo is definitely getting old... but..."
In one swift motion, the boy lifted his hand and sent a zap of lightning at Grisia. Grisia yelped and quickly dodged out of the way of more zaps. I suddenly found myself being used as a shield. I hurriedly looked back and forth between them, alarmed that I was stuck in the middle.
"Don't think I don't know that you've been gossiping about me!" the boy declared while stalking forward.
I hastily backed up.
"That doesn't mean you have to zap me!" Grisia whined and ducked further behind me.
The boy snorted. "You could have blocked that."
At those words, Grisia seemed to perk up. "There's a way to block it?"
"Yes, yes..."
"Teach me!"
I was all but forgotten as the boy demonstrated some kind of defensive spell to Grisia. He started explaining in detail the mechanics behind the spell, but Grisia's eyes just seemed to glaze over.
"Never mind all the mumbo jumbo!" Grisia said. "Is this how you do it?"
He waved his hand. I didn't know what he was doing, but apparently, he'd done it correctly. The other boy swore heavily. I darted my eyes around, hoping no one had heard him. Thankfully, the prayer room was still very empty. I didn't think the adults would like his language very much.
"Damn, if you weren't my student, I'd want to kill you!" He rubbed his forehead as if he had a headache.
Grisia frowned. "Why? Didn't I do it correctly?"
"On your very first try," the boy said. "Usually, it would take someone at least three weeks to learn it. Or longer. Not to mention countless attempts."
"You're just a very good teacher!" Grisia said, laying on the praise thickly.
The boy snorted. "You didn't even hear a word of my explanation."
"Uh..." Grisia looked sheepish. I hadn't known at the time how impressive it was that Grisia was able to learn what had been demonstrated to him in the blink of an eye. I was no expert on magic (but apparently, it was very impressive).
After the strange exchange, the boy finally seemed to notice my presence.
"So you're Hell's student? I see that you have already met Grisia," he said and walked forward, circling around me to examine me much like what Grisia had done earlier.
"That should be 'Hell Knight' to you," I said as I nibbled on my lower lip. Both Grisia and this boy were being very disrespectful toward my teacher.
Beside me, Grisia stiffened. When I looked over, I saw that he had a hand over his mouth and was trying very hard not to look in my direction. What was up with him?
"Oh?" the boy asked. "Don't you know who I am?"
"I don't know who you are, but I do know that you're definitely not the Pope," I said, pleased that I had their trick figured out, "because there is no way that the Pope is a young boy not much older than me."
With that, Grisia burst into laughter, laughing so much that he doubled over again.
I gave him a confused look.
The boy twitched. "Is that so? Well, why don't I show you?"
Even after an impressive display of holy magic, I shook my head. "Sorry, I'm not going to get tricked again! Grisia already tried that on me!"
The boy twitched some more. Grisia laughed even harder. I was alarmed when the boy tried zapping Grisia again, but this time, Grisia was able to block it. It seemed that the impromptu magic lesson had stuck. The boy snorted and grumbled under his breath about how this was Grisia's only saving grace. Why had he decided this was a good idea?
It took my teacher's interference before we finally got the matter straightened out, as I adamantly refused to believe the actual Pope that he was, well, the Pope, no matter what kinds of complicated holy magic he showed me. I thought I had things figured out.
(After all, Grisia had been able to perform impressive feats too.)
It hadn't been funny at the time, but years later, I would look back at the event fondly and think, "It was pretty funny..." At the time, I'd only thought it was the most embarrassing event of my life to have treated the Pope like a little kid who was playing house!
"You're really too gullible," Grisia would always say with a cheeky grin whenever I groaned about the embarrassing mistake I'd made.
I guess I was.
"But that makes for the perfect spy."
I didn't really agree.
Why were we friends again?
to be continued
After 4 parts, we finally get a closer glimpse at how Grisia's lessons have been going with the Pope. I thought Elijah would be an interesting POV for that! (I'm not sure I would want to be friends with Grisia...) I believe the Pope and Grisia would have very interesting interactions... I opted for them to still retain some of their banter, and for the Pope to have some trouble with Grisia's mischievousness. We'll see more of how their relationship is in this AU in future parts~. The Pope thought he found a gem, but is it more of a headache? The birth of a monster mage, for sure. =P
Next part