Chapter Text
“I will always love you. Will you always love me?”
John Grace, otherwise known as The Sinner was a kind man, who was a priest, before he fell into sin. He is used to very fast paced activities and finds taking things slow uncomfortable. Plagued by trauma, lustful thoughts, misinformation, and other sins, he staves his way through a parkour purgatory.
John opened his eyes to find himself standing in a plaza-like place, leaning against a fairly uncomfortable brick wall. He gasped for air, surely he should be used to this by now… He just stood there for a few minutes, shaky. He had just died, and was now back in this… place. It wasn’t hell, and it definitely wasn’t heaven.
He looked down at himself, finding slight comfort in his old uniform; a black long sleeved button up shirt, black pants, and dress shoes, along with a clerical collar, and a necklace with a cross tied at the end. With unsteady hands he held a caged lantern, God's gift to him. He slid down the wall to a sit, trying to catch his breath. Just another day… night… How many days has it been since he arrived here? How long has it even been..? Does it even matter…
Try as he might to shake those thoughts away, but doppel was practically breathing down his neck. John shook his head and stood up, brushing himself off.
“Maybe I should just skip the next run…” He said softly to himself. His voice was scratchy and awkward, he hadn’t spoken in a while.
“What a stupid idea.” Doppel responded, slightly louder. Their voice was what could only be described as a sad garbled trumpet.
John just brushed past them, he didn't want to deal with Doppel right now. Or any time for that matter, walking swiftly over to an elevator and standing in front of it. He could see his reflection in the shiny metal inside, he barely recognized himself, no longer a man but a scribbly black figure with large white eyes, surely anyone who came would be disgusted with what such a holy person had become.
But what was it that he could do, right? Eternally trapped here, there was nothing he could do.
Sigh…
John walked swiftly towards the edge of the plaza, a small ledge over what seemed like an endless stretch of water. In the distance he could see tall shining pillars illuminating the water underneath them.
“What are those?” John thought to himself as he ran his fingers through the water. Cold as usual. He didn’t care to go out there, he would surely drown. It seemed like a very long way to swim. On the other side of the plaza, he could hear Mime, Drain, and Elkman talking about… maybe he shouldn’t listen in on their conversations. Not like he hadn’t thought of things nearly as disgusting, but this is why he was trapped here, yes? To face his sins and repent towards God's light. He refused to give into what all of his sins were trying to lure him to do. He lifted his hand from the water to shake it out, but then realized it was practically the only thing keeping him from thinking of disgusting things, so he slipped it back in, even if it hurt.
“Not like it matters anyways, no one else was here.” John thought to himself as a slight sprinkle of red raindrops started to fall. Just his luck.
He stood up, shaking his frigid hand off, and walked under the overhang of the elevators, sitting near the one person elevator. Why were there even elevators for multiple people if there was only one person here anyways… he tried to shake off the thought that more people came before him in this place, and that there were more to come, the least he could do was leave the notes up for whoever was next.
“Right, the runs…” John thought, remembering that he should probably head down the elevator. So he stood up, hoping he didn’t get nicked by sorrow on his way into the elevator, the awning was only so far out. On his way over, Mime grabbed his shoulder as sorrow’s rain fell to a stop.
“Hey Sinner, before you go, care to talk a little?” Mime said with a coy tone. His glitchy voice resonating in the otherwise silent plaza. He swirled around John like a piece of paper in a tornado, waggling his fingers, his smile large and eyes off level from each other.
“Mi-mime? What is it.” John responded, slightly annoyed at the lustful creature's action. He didn't particularly want to talk to Mime at the time. He was always reluctant to speak to Mime, as to not be tainted by gross thoughts.
“Oh nothing much, just checking in on you~”
“What do you want, Mime.”
“I just want to talk, John! You never seem to talk to me, Jitterbug.”
“That’s because all you talk about is disgusting.”
“You know you like it Jitterbug~ I’m only here because you were the one who-” John cut him off before he could continue that sentence, he knew where this was going.
“Mime, if you're just going to tell me to ‘have some fun’ again, I'm going to go.” John said, placing a hand on the elevator door, staring at Mime.
“Wait Jitterbug-! Just-, I just want to talk to you! Remember, it’ll just make you feel better! It’ll only make us feel better.” Mime sounded almost desperate. And John felt almost bad for it. Almost. But not quite.
“Look Mime, I’m not doing that, not anymore. The whole reason why I’m here is to repent from all of you, not do what you say. I’m sorry.” John wasn’t really sorry, but why should he care, this was an enemy after all… So why did he feel bad? Oh whatever… Maybe he should do a modifier run, so that he could face everything and get more done. So he looked back at Mime for one last time, and turned to walking into the elevator. Bracing himself to the free fall all the way down, instead of the typical soft lower that real elevators took. As he plummeted down, he landed on that familiar grate, holding his god-gifted lantern in his hand.