A few chose to leave after picking up a few pamphlets and muttering a few empty promises of 'I promise I'll be there', but most of the crowd stayed behind. Anna was surprised - for an event that offered no food or drink, a good chunk of the crowd chose to stay behind.

  Aria walked up to her, after weaving her way through the crowd. "What do you think?" she asked.

  Anna looked up from her phone. "Of the speech?"

  "Of all of it," she clarified. "I know you were one of the Pope's 'special guests', so I was surprised to see you here. Well?"

  Anna blinked at her. "How did you know about that?"

  Aria winked. "We have our ways."

  "Ah, well," Anna fumbled - Aria's wink *really* threw her off. "I thought it was...really interesting," she finished lamely. "I mean, I never really considered other perspectives - I don't mean anything by that, I just meant-"

  "I get it - this never would have crossed your mind," Aria finished for her. "Before my sister passed, my mom was deeply religious. I mean, church every Sunday, attend every event and gathering, and when we found out that one of our neighbours was a blessed, well, our lives were dedicated to her after that."

  Aria sounded... not sad, but empty. Like she was talking about the plot to a TV episode, and not her own past.

  "I never really considered this, either. I mean, in my hometown this group wouldn't have even been allowed to exist - you *believed,* and that was it."

  Anna can relate - her childhood felt largely the same way. Faith wasn't even up for debate - what was, was her level of engagement. Once she was blessed, that wasn't up for debate either.

  "Well, after everything, we're both here," she said, looking Aria in the eyes.

  Aria met her gaze with a smile. "You're right - after all of it, we're both in the same room."

  The rest of the night was warm, and pleasant. Anna found herself enjoying Aria's company, in a way she hadn't felt in years. In an hour, the crowd had thinned to a handful of people, most of whom were a part of the group. Anna was one of the few 'new recruits' that had stayed behind, and the group had left the hall for dinner, opting for a local pizzeria.

  "So, how did it go?" Aria asked, between bites of pizza. The two of them sat on a smaller table close to the wall - the entire group was scattered around the restaurant, and most people spoke quietly.

  "How did what go?"

  "The lunch! How did that go? What did the Pope say? How were the others?"

  Anna held her hands up. "Ah, I don't know if I can really talk about that..."

  Aria rolled her eyes. "Relax. It's not classified information - you're not a government spy. If the Pope said you couldn't tell anyone else, that's a definite red flag. If you don't want to tell me, you don't have to, but I'm just saying..."

  Anna sighed. She found herself wanting to tell Aria about the lunch, about *anything*. She enjoyed her company and wanted her approval. "It wasn't that secretive, anyway," she said. "We mostly just talked about ourselves and why we accepted the invite, and how we feel about being...blessed."

  "And? Why did you accept his invite?"

  "Honestly, I was curious. I was also looking for a reason to get out of the house for a while, and this seemed like a good opportunity."

  "And the others?"

  "Well, most of the others were curious, too - it's hard not to be when you get a personal invitation from the Pope, right?"

  Aria nodded. "Yeah, I get that."

  She smiled. The pizzeria was warm, and Aria seemed to glow in the soft light. She felt content.

  Ichiro and Kai walked back to the hotel after sunset, each one lost in his own thoughts. They had walked around the piazza earlier in the day, and Kai picked up a few fliers from a small group of protesters. The flier shared the details of a protest that would take place this week, about - well, about the blessed. Kai wanted to go. Ichiro wanted to hole up in the hotel room until everything blew over.

  "Come on, Ichiro, it will be good to see what this is about!"

  Ichiro shook his head. "You know better than to go to the mob," he whispered.

  "It won't be a mob," Kai argued. "We both know that. Look, I think we should go. I also think we can get some form of protection if we tell John that we are going."

  Ichiro looked at him, skeptical.

  "Why not? He clearly has the manpower, and he'd be happy to help. He practically said so during the lunch! Come on, there's no way he'd deny us!"

  Ichiro couldn't help but believe him - Kai was right, the Pope would be happy to help. Considering the fact that they were two young men in a foreign city, if they turned to him for help, he'd be happy to oblige.

  "Still, I feel weird asking for protection," Ichiro said, as he made a face.

  Kai rolled his eyes. "It's not the Mafia, man - although, we are in Italy. I mean, you can think of it as more like a tour guide," Kai offered. A tour guide did sound a lot better than 'protection.' Ichiro shrugged. He knew that he would have to get over his fear of crowds quickly - his role and his standing couldn't allow it. How long until he no longer felt terrified of the power of a crowd? "Fine." Kai fist-bumped. "But, we leave the moment things look even remotely weird - and I decide when that is, not you." Kai sighed. "Fine, I can live with that. I think this will be fun!"

  "You think a protest will be fun?"

  "Come on, we both know this isn't really a protest, but more like a controlled march. No one is going to be throwing rocks or getting tear gassed. It's probably going to be a nice afternoon walk - along with hundreds of other people."

  "You seem oddly optimistic about this."

  Kai nodded. "I've seen videos of peaceful protests in New York and London and it's so...relaxed. People dress up for it, too - I saw so many videos of people in full drag going for protests, like it's an event or a concert!"

  Ichiro shook his head. The privilege of attending a protest in costume was incredible. "Well, if it's anything like that, then it should be...fine?"

  Kai put his arm over his brother's shoulders. "Trust me, it definitely will be. What a way to experience the city!"

  The two of them walked back to the hotel room, curious about what the protest promised them.

  "So, is it always this...tense, here?" Ralfie asked.

  The security guard was surprisingly chatty - Ralfie didn't know if it was because he was part of the contingent that guided them for lunch, or if he was just a *very* open person.

  "Not really," Mark said. Ralfie knew his name, the names of his wife and children, and why Mark joined the service to begin with - along with a myriad of other details as the two walked the grounds. "Even with the protests, we've never had emergency meetings about them - ah, I mean..."

  "It's fine," Ralfie replied, smiling. "I'm guessing most protests tend to be more like calm marches? I don't think we've had a fight break out in *decades*, for as long as I can remember, anyway. We do provide extra security to the local police forces, just to make sure that streets are cordoned off and manned in case of any emergencies, but it's always been very...calm. Except, for this one. Higher-ups are not happy with the way things have been bubbling up in the city, and it feels like it's coming to a head with the one scheduled later this week."

  Unauthorized content usage: if you discover this narrative on Amazon, report the violation.

  Ralfie looked up. "Later this week, huh?" A bird flew overhead, the only mark on an otherwise crystal blue sky. "Can I ask why your superiors think that?"

  Mark finally had the decency to look uncomfortable while spilling work-related secrets. "Well, I'm not sure how much I can tell you, but things have been getting worse for a while - especially when budgets were cut to victims' families and many were forced to move out of government-provided homes."

  Ralfie was surprised - the welfare system here was remarkable, a strong safety net that managed to support most, if not all, of its citizens. "Why were they turned out?"

  "Those houses were sold to private landlords," Mark shrugged. "Those landlords wanted them out. No one consulted the families living in those houses in this decision, but money talks."

  "And how did you feel about it?" Ralfie asked.

  "Frustrated and angry, like the rest of us. If the government is okay with turfing people out of their homes, where does it end? But, I also know the difference between human greed and divine punishment. The church helped for those families - they're safe in homes that we provided for them." Mark looked proud of this, and Ralfie could see why. Ralfie felt oddly proud, too. After his 'discussion' with Aisha, he felt like he needed some form of validation. Something to ground him, to prove he wasn't the only one in what suddenly felt like a sea of dissent.

  "That's good to know, I'm glad you were able to help."

  "That help won't last forever," Mark said. His expression shifted from proud to troubled in an instant. "The coffers aren't unlimited, but corporate greed is. We're already at capacity - if more families are turned out, they'll have nowhere to go but the shelters."

  Mark wasn't just troubled - he was *angry*. Ralfie had seen the same sort of anger before. Not just on the faces of his friends, but on his own, and it troubled him. Mark looked too young to bear the weight of the world on his shoulders, and frankly, he was currently too low on the totem pole to actually demand any change.

  "Cheer up, mate," Ralfie said. "For now, you're doing what you can to help those in need. We just have to put one foot in front of the other, right?"

  "Right." Mark nodded, weakly smiling in return.

  "A silent march proves nothing, Alicia!"

  Aisha found herself in the middle of a tense discussion, veering towards becoming an all-out brawl. The group she had approached after her conversation with Ralfie - the ones boldly named 'Victims of God's Enslaved' (or VOGEs for short) were loud, brash, and commandeering. She felt drawn to their spirit and signed up immediately. In this meeting, she was one of two new members who had joined - Titus, one of the group's co-leaders, scared almost everyone away with his intense stare and slightly manic energy. Almost.

  Aisha eyed the other new recruit - a tall, dark-haired man that was lanky and hunched, like he was aware of how much space he took and tried to minimize it. He hid his face behind long locks of wavy brown hair, but his glance wasn't furtive, but curious. Aisha turned her attention back to Titus and Alicia, both of whom were loudly arguing their points to the chagrin of everyone else in the dank basement.

  "Okay, thank you Alicia and Titus!" Marcus stood up and clapped. "You've both brought excellent points to the table." "I didn't raise any point!" Titus argued. "Calling Alicia's point stupid *is* a point, Titus." Alicia gasps in an insulted manner. "Both of your points have been noted," Marcus continued, pointedly ignoring Alicia's stares.

  "Before we dive into the nitty-gritties of it, let's share a proper welcome to our two new recruits, right?"

  "Aisha, Stephen, I'd like to welcome you to the VoGEs. Apologies for the unpleasant introduction, but I hope you understand how passionate we are about the cause." Aisha nodded, while Stephen stood still, observing. Marcus smiled.

  "Great! Our first order of business - and well, our only one for tonight - is to decide whether or not we attend the protest scheduled for the end of the week. This one is...different from the rest. Aisha, I know you're new here, so I'll bring you up to speed. Groups like ours have existed within this city for as long as the blessed have, and we've been left behind at every turn, ever since the first victim lost their life and was deemed 'collateral damage' by the government. Mostly, victims' families are still treated well, though protests have occurred to fight for better compensation. A few years ago, budgets assigned towards victims' families have been getting cut, and things are dire. Parents who lost their children are left struggling under heavy debts, and children who lost their parents are rendered homeless. Support groups and shelters have stepped in to bear some of the load, but it's not enough."

  "It's never fucking enough," Alicia interrupted. She looked angry. "It never fucking was - we always groveled to the government, begging for scraps. They don't even toss those fucking scraps out anymore."

  Marcus looked at Alicia, who leaned back in her chair. "As you can see, tensions are running high. It's not just us - it's everyone. We heard about the protest from our network, but no one can really figure out who initially organised it, which is why-" Marcus raised a hand to silence Alicia, who opened her mouth - "I'm not sure if it's a good idea to attend. The air feels different around this one. I have a bad feeling it's going to get ugly, but I also can't hold you back based on a vibe check. So, let's put it to a vote - Aisha and Stephen included."

  Alicia and Titus immediately stood up. "They're a part of us," Marcus said, standing tall. "And the others?" Titus asked. "We know what they think," Marcus replied. He turned back to Aisha and Stephen.

  "Well, what do you think? Do we go, or do we stay behind?"

  Aisha and Stephen looked at each other, and Aisha could see the anger behind his calm expression. He was just a kid. A kid who wanted to see the world burn. Fuck it. So did she.

  "We go," they said simultaneously.

  Marcus clapped. "Alright, the masses have spoken. We go."

  Alicia grinned. Titus looked concerned. Aisha was mostly curious - they seemed such a small group. "We will prepare, before we go - I see your concern, Aisha, and trust me, we will be ready for whatever eventualities may arise. We reconvene again in two days, and I'll have more details ready for you. Does that sound good?"

  Aisha nodded. Her stomach was unsettled - she could feel the rising tensions that this protest promised to blow open. She could feel it in the meeting, and in the streets outside. She knew it would be a protest to remember, but she had no idea how badly things would go wrong.