[center]Collab between finalcatharsis and Exit Part IV[/center] ---- [b]"Ya... I'm hungry too."[/b] He had his fill of the man, his simple answer his way of saying that he understood, he'd been there... that maybe in some way... in this world... Daniel was forgiven. He no longer hungered for him. He watched the letters scrawled all over the church begin to dissappear, the puzzle pieces clear themselves from the floor. A hunger... for real food was left in it's place. Daniel's eyes had become a little teary. He returned the knife to his pocket and wiped his eyes with the back of his hands. When it was all said and done, it made sense to him that he would have confessed to Abel, the first person he had seen since the incident. He walked up closer to the man. He felt like a weight had been lifted, but it had only been replaced with more sadness. He wasn't willing to let himself feel better about any of it yet. He had to repent before he could heal. "Come on." He motioned with his hand for Abel to follow. Daniel walked into the working sacristy and to the back where there was another door. He opened it and grabbed a flashlight that had been placed just past the entrance. The priest flipped it on. He started to make his way down the stairs. When he reached the bottom he moved out of Abel's way, then pointed the flashlight at what was left of his food stores. It had been enough for him alone to last throughout the year. Mostly it was comprised of a variety of canned foods and crackers. He questioned why he trusted this man so much as to show him where he kept the majority of his supplies. Perhaps him [b]wanting[/b] to trust again outweighed the alternative. Abel had thought the same as he took in the amount of food he'd managed to store away for himself. In his time spent surviving this was the most food he'd soon saved up for one man. When rationed properly, Daniel could live here for many more months... but had Abel really earned the right to be shown where it all was? He'd been catered too, offered confessions... and now food... lots of food. He could feel this odd emotion welling up somewhere deep inside him. He didn't quite understand what it was just knew that it didn't belong. Everytime his instincts kicked in, it would grow stronger, trying to over take it. His mind went over the possibilities... No one would miss a priest who'd been so worked up over killing to stay alive that he'd tear up... would they? He was finally able to put a name to the feeling... [i][center]...Guilt...[/i][/center] It was small but it was there. Everytime he thought about killing the man and making off with what he had he could feel it. It confused him greatly, he'd never felt like this before... not in a long time and especially not now when opportunities like this presented themselves to him. It was like a bank opening it's vault to a robber. Daniel grabbed a can of tuna and put it in his free pocket. "Just take whatever you want." Thoughts flashed through his mind of what would happen when the food ran out. Then there'd be no reason for him to stay here, right? On the bottom shelf he had about ten bottles of communion wine left. He took one knowing, at least for himself, a drink would help his mood. "Just take whatever you want"... Abel almost didn't want to but the bottles of were staring at him. He couldn't resist and quickly took one up along with a one of the canned foods resting on the shelves. It had a picture of some kind of ground meat on it. When Abel was done, he walked back up the stairs behind him, trying to keep the flashlight pointed in front of him so he could see the way back up. He walked to the table in the sacristy and set his tuna and wine on it. "I left something on the roof I need to go pick up." Daniel walked back through the doorway but went up this time. When he opened the door to the roof the cold air bit at him. He shivered and picked up his guitar and wine as quickly as he could. After he was back down the stairs, he returned the flashlight to its resting place and finally took a seat after propping his guitar up against the wall. And now they had two and a half bottles of wine. By then, Abel had had a couple minutes to collect his thoughts. He'd been fighting with himself, his need to make choices that benefited him against what was... right. He hoped that by the time Daniel had taken his seat that he'd successfully seperated wrong from right. Of course all these moral dillemas quickly paled in comparison with how hungry he was. Conveniently, on the top of the can there was a tab and and after bending it backwards and losening the lid, he tore it off and placed it to the side. He'd already found himself a spoon, setting one across from him for Daniel to use as well before he started digging in. He dumped spoonful after spoonful of corned beef into his mouth, his tongue savoring the taste of meat like it never had before. His eyes slide shut, his breathing steadied as he concentrated on nothing else but the fact that he was finally eating... anything. He was chewing faster than what he figured was normal but he didn't care. After he'd scarfed down nearly half the can, he turned to the bottle... before realizing he'd need a cork screw. Looking rather ridiculous now with the ravished half starved survivor semblance returning to him, his cheeks still puffed full of food, his hands and face caked in dirt. He turned to Daniel in desperation having no clue where he could find something to open the bottle for him. Something about Abel seemed... off. He was distracted by something, but Daniel had no idea what. He just continued to smile throughout the process. Ever since the start of this apocalypse, the only joy he found was in helping others. Perhaps that's another reason why these last few months had been so hard on him. After the initial panic people just stopped coming. Daniel took the seat in front of Abel and grabbed the spoon that was set out for him. He popped the top of his can of tuna, and was about to take his first bite when he paused to watch Abel. He couldn't hold back his laughter. It made sense, considering the man had been alone and food had probably been hard to come by. For Daniel, things had been much easier. The priest eventually took to eating his tuna at a much slower pace. He kept talk to a minimum, assuming Abel wouldn't want to speak while he was focused on eating. When Abel looked up at him it didn't take him long to put two and two together. He stood, grabbed the bottle of wine and took it near the sink. The priest pulled out a drawer and took a corkscrew from it. He set about opening the bottle and when he was done he grabbed one of the silver chalices from the cabinet above the sink. He filled it to the brim before setting it in front of Abel. Abel took the chalice in his hand and as he was about to tip the edge into his mouth, Daniel hit him with a peculiar line. "This is my blood. Do this in memory of me." Daniel couldn't help himself. Not caring enough to get some sort of cup for himself, he grabbed the bottle he had opened earlier, popped the cork out and chugged away. A few seconds later, just as one drop of the red liquid streamed down his chin, he set the bottle back down. Dan wiped the wine away with the back of his hand. He paused for a second before he took his first sips of the wine. Sips turned to gulps and he washed the rest of the food down his throat. He pulled the Chalice from his lips, staring at the red liquid as it moved in circles around itself. [b]"I remember..."[/b] He said almost to himself. It was ironic really... the words in that simple sentence... and the reply. The notion of drinking someone's blood to remember them... to eat their body... "Are you religious... or were you religious before? I mean... with that name..." He was excited at what an alcohol induced conversation might bring. He hadn't had one in ages. It wasn't vodka, but for people who were lucky to have eaten on average a half a can of food a day for almost a year, it'd get the job done. Abel took another sip of the wine before giving the question any thought. He smiled as he mused over the answer. [b]"The name..."[/b] He thought back to when he was young, when he had parents... when he had siblings. How they'd been forced to go to church in hopes that they'd leave each Sunday morning better people. [b]"Guess it does scream religion... which it should. I think the best way to describe it would be to say that I was always around religion but I don't think I ever actually had it."[/b] His mind was locked now in the past, reliving moments when he'd have to force himself to stay awake during sermons and when he did doze off, do so in such a way that his stepmother wouldn't catch him. He took another sip... [b]"I understood the basic concepts... We were all born sinners... and that God had died for us to cleanse us of those sins..."[/b] He scoffed.. and then caught himself. [b]"Sorry... but ya. I found it to be somewhat ridiculous."[/b] He took another sip... [b]"Anyways the name...Abel. It's a nick I gave myself after..."[/b] There standing next to Daniel now was another man. He had the same likeness as Abel, although his face was only slightly more round, his grey eyes looking down at his shameful state. [b]"I uh... had a brother."[/b] He took another sip of his wine... the sips becoming more like gulps. Every time he drank, the more clear his memories became, the more apparent the third man in the room was to him. He hadn't yet met his gaze. [b]"He always ended up getting into some trouble with some bad people. He was never much of a careful person, didn't know when to stop or call it quits..."[/b] He was now staring down into the chalice... there was only a little bit of wine left in at the very bottom. [b]"He uh..."[/b] Abel furrowed his brow. [b]"I remember him calling me one day... he was frantic... sounding stupid as ever... going on about some slut he'd managed to get into bed with. At first I figured he was just trying to gloat but then... everything just changed..."[/b] He emptied the glass and poured himself another. He could see him now... his brother standing next to Daniel across from him.. covered in blood. [b]"I just remember walking into his house, up to his room... seeing the... pieces..."[/b] He shook his head slowly, the fresh gulp of wine swigging around in his mouth before he swallowed it. [b]"He was uh... trying to get rid of her body... the fucking idiot. It wasn't the first time either. He'd done the same thing when we were kids... just with animals... and it always ended up the same way. He had this idea for getting rid of evidence... and that's what he wanted to do again."[b] His mind now was skipping ahead, jumping to conclusions about how Daniel would take what he was saying. [b]"I only did it because I wanted to protect him... that was the only reason why I've ever done it... from day one.. from the first cat... to the very last..."[/b] His eyes never went to the bloody figure next to Daniel... instead they found Daniel himself, his fogged mind trying to make sense of the expression on Daniel's face. He couldn't so he continued. [b]"Cain killed Abel. I thought the name was fitting seeing as how I died the moment we got rid of that tabby. It changed me and whatever I decided to become remained permanent."[/b] [b]"Soooo Abel."[/b] He said as he tipped the half empty chalice into the air. [b]"Because I do remember.... every single one."[/b] He took another sip before placing the drink back on the table. It was empty now.