#phantua

He didn’t want to lose his Papa. Copia was the one who Summoned him, was the reason that he was topside and able to play in the Ghost Project. He was everything to him in so many ways. How was he supposed to be okay with him being replaced? Sure, he was being promoted and Phantom was happy for him but…who was going to be their Papa now? Who was going to take care of them on tour? Some new guy that couldn’t even get the front door open? How was he supposed to trust that this random new mysterious figure could lead everyone like Copia did?

No one would ever lead like Copia.

“Come on, Bug. It’s time to meet Papa.” Aurora knocked on the door to Phantom’s room, her voice gentle but with a hint of something underneath that Phantom couldn’t quite place. Excitement? Dread? It was hard to tell.

“I already know Papa, thanks though.” His voice was muffled as he laid face down on his bed, his feet and arms dangling off of either side.

He could see and feel the sigh she let out through the door. “Oh come on, don’t be like that. Aren’t you excited? I’ve heard through the grapevine that he’s pretty spooooookyyyyyyy.”

Phantom lifted his head and rolled his eyes. There was the excitement he thought he detected. “You’ll have to let me know later.”

“Ugh quit being such a downer and get out here!”

“I have a prior commitment with not having anything to do with the new guy. Now if you don’t mind-” The door flew open but Phantom didn’t move. Only one of the Ghouls was notorious for just kicking down a door and walking in, so he knew it was Swiss without even having to look. Without so much as a “Hello,” Swiss picked Phantom up off of the bed, flung him over his shoulder, and turned to walk out of the room. Phantom simply dangled there like a cat with no bones, limbs flopping around as Swiss walked.

“You know, you could have just come on your own.” Aurora followed behind, arms crossed. “Why are you being so stubborn about this?”

He propped his arms up on Swiss’ back and rested his head on his hands, gently bouncing back and forth with the motion of Swiss walking. “Why are you being so normal about this? Of everyone, I figured you would understand me the most.”

“Ant come on,” she rolled her eyes and sighed. “You know how things go-”

“Actually, no I don’t. And neither do you,” he pointed at her for emphasis. “Copia is our Papa. Copia is the reason we’re here. This isn’t something we’re used to, Rory. How can you just cast him aside so easily?!”

Swiss smacked the back of Phantom’s thighs as he continued to walk towards wherever they were supposed to be meeting the new guy. “Calm down, Bug. She’s not happy with this either, you know. None of us are. But it really is just how things go sometimes.”

“But-“

He smacked Phantom’s thighs again. “No buts. We’re all gonna miss Copia, okay? But everything is gonna be fine. He’s got a cushy new job as Frater and the Ministry is gonna thrive with him in charge.” His steps halted briefly as he opened the doors to the chapel and walked over to where the rest of the pack was gathered. Everyone was there, Aether and Sunny included.

“Didn’t want to come, huh?” Cirrus walked up, shaking her head, and ruffled Phantom’s hair a bit.

Swiss gave a quick smack on Phantom’s ass before setting the Quint down on his feet. “Nope. Can’t blame him but, ya know, we all gotta meet the new guy.”

“Don’t have to…” Phantom grumbled, crossing his arms and looking around. “Hey, where’s Copia?”

“Meetings. He’s gonna meet the new guy when he gets a minute,” Dew’s voice sounded from one of the pews where he was seated with Cumulus and Rain.

He sighed and sat down, realizing that all he could do now was wait until whoever the new Papa was supposed to be decided to show up. Conversation was minimal and everyone was constantly looking towards the chapel doors in either

Eventually, the doors opened and a higher-up from the Clergy walked in. No one the Ghouls were familiar enough with to know by name, but definitely high up enough to where they were allowed to see them without their masks on and didn’t react, much to Sunny’s visible disappointment. They came to a stop a healthy distance away from the pack and stood with their arms behind their back and cleared their throat. “Presenting, Papa V.”

The chapel doors opened once again and everyone except for Phantom stood and turned to watch the new guy, Papa V, walk in. The light behind him made him appear as if he was a shadow at first but when he finally walked into the chapel far enough, the doors closing behind him, he was fully visible. The room was completely silent as he moved towards the Ghouls and Swiss reached down to smack Phantom’s shoulder.

“Get that ass up,” he whispered.

With a sigh loud enough to echo, Phantom stood. “Don’t know why I have to-” he stopped speaking as soon as he turned and laid eyes on Papa V. “Unholy shit.”

Papa V was beautiful. His dark brown hair curled around a chrome mask that covered his eyes and the tops of his cheekbones, face paint concealing the rest of the lower half of his face. Surprisingly, his attire wasn’t flashy like Copia; just a simple pair of black pants, a silly black shirt, and a pair of black gloves. Simple but it had Phantom feeling lightheaded wondering just what those gloves would feel like dragging across his skin. As he walked, Phantom noticed that he was doing his best not to wring his hands together. Was he…nervous? It made Phantom’s heart flutter slightly.

“Oh that’s adorable,” Swiss giggled from beside the lovestruck Quint.

Finally, after what felt like ages, V was in front of the Ghouls. Much closer than the Clergy member, who had vanished as far as Phantom was concerned, but still distanced. He stumbled slightly as he tried to figure out how best to stand and cleared his throat before speaking.

“H-hello there.” His voice was shaky but it was obvious he was doing his best to remain calm. He looked so familiar but Phantom couldn’t figure out how or why. “My n-name is Per…” he cleared his throat again, “Perpetua. Yes. My name is Perpetua.”

“Unholy shit there’s two of them,” Dew cackled then groaned when Rain smacked his hand against the Fire Ghoul’s chest. “What! Tell me I’m wrong then.”

“Can you lot behave for five seconds?” Aether sighed, stepping forward with his hand extended to Perpetua. “Welcome to the Ministry, Papa.”

“Thank you…” Perpetua blinked then pulled out a piece of paper from his pants pocket and looked at it quickly. “Phantom.”

The other Ghouls laughed softly and Phantom let out a squeak that made everyone turn to look at him. Thankfully, Cumulus stepped in and drew all of the attention to herself, tossing a quick wink in Phantom’s direction that had his cheeks turning warm as he sat back down on the pew.

“Hey there, sugar. I’m Cumulus, nice to meet you.”

Conversation picked up as each of the Ghouls introduced themselves to Perpetua and Phantom, much to everyone’s surprise, sat silently. All he could do was stare at Perpetua. He could feel his stomach fluttering and his heart was racing, a very similar feeling that he got when he realized was in love with Swiss, but… he had just met this new Papa. How could he already be in love?

“I knewwwwww you were gonna love him, Ant.” Aurora slid into the pew beside him and nudged him with her elbow, snapping him out of it.

“Hu— Wha? Love? No, I just— I mean, he’s um…” Phantom sputtered, visibly embarrassed. He cleared his throat and sat up straight, trying to play it as cool as he could after that. “He seems cool, yeah.”

“Cool. Riiiiiight. So are you gonna just sit here and stare at him or are you gonna, you know, talk to the guy?”

“T-talk to him?! Never.” The thought of actually talking to Perpetua had his heart skipping a beat but actually doing it? Terrifying.

Aurora laughed as she stood up, grabbing Phantom and dragging him to his feet. “Yup, we’re gonna go talk to him. Let’s go.”

He could have put up more of a fight, could have dragged his feet and told Aurora he didn’t want to, could have just turned and run out of the chapel and explained why later on. But he wanted to meet Perpetua, wanted to hear him speak, wanted to hear him say his name again. Something about him was absolutely intoxicating and Phantom couldn’t help but want more. The closer they got, the more Phantom’s vision and hearing narrowed until all he could see and hear was Perpetua. Satan below he was…

“Beautiful,” Phantom spoke aloud, not realizing that Aurora had stopped walking and that they were now standing right in front of the new Papa.

“No, my name is Perpetua.”

Phantom blinked and everything came back into focus all at once. He saw Papa with his hand extended, Aurora giggling as she stumbled over to Swiss, and the rest of the pack doing their absolute worst to hide that they were all staring at the two of them.

“Phantom is me.” His words came out jumbled as he all but threw his hand into Perpetua’s, moving his arm up and down and trying his best to be entirely normal in that moment, even if he was anything but.

“Oh you are…adorable.” The smile that broke out across Perpetua’s face was anything but sweet and if he had a soul, it would have left Phantom’s body in that moment. “I knew there was a Phantom here somewhere. How wonderful to meet you, little one”