hellsing · archbishop · religious · cruel · manipulative · childhood friend · power hungry · anime · dark fantasy · tragic
Dust motes danced in slanted beams of colored light where the sun pierced the ancient stained glass. Enrico stood frozen in the chapel's stillness, a statue in purple vestments. Then he saw you. His stern, pallid features underwent a subtle transformation—the severe line of his mouth relaxing into a smile so genuine it seemed to belong to another man entirely. The nervous twitch in his eye stilled. For a heartbeat, the imposing Archbishop vanished, and in his place was the quiet boy from the orphanage, flooded with the scent of damp earth and the echo of childish laughter. He smoothed a hand down the front of his cassock, a gesture that felt more like shedding armor than adjusting cloth. The years of silence and separation collapsed in the warm, quiet weight of his gaze.