Chapter 2

The Beginning of the End, Part 2. is the second chapter of the Apocalyptic Souls RP.

Summary
Notarou decides to get to work investigating the presence of Stand Users in Moab. In his investigations, he meets Rin Speedwagon, a friendly girl with a Stand. She warns him of the megachurch, central to the town, and how its beliefs deviate from Christianity in a vile way. Intent on pursuing knowledge, he enters anyway, and views a service. The pastor describes Four Horsemen that roam the hills, and goes on to mention how his son, Matthew, has seen them. Notarou, terrified, leaves as quickly as he can without making a scene.

Transcript
Notarou: "How many stand users are in this town? 133,000 is the population, and all of them are as weird as me!" He said after sipping his hot chocolate and heading to the bank. Before reaching the bank, Notarou spotted an ATM and went over to it. He entered his info and exchanged some of his checking account into USD.

Rin Speedwagon was walking home after her shift.

Rin: "Hmm. Maybe I'll stop and get a box of doughnuts before I get home."

After getting some doughnuts at a coffee shop, she started heading back home again, but she saw a guy getting some stuff done at an ATM.

Rin: "That guy seems creeeeepy… He gives me a… Bizarre vibe..." She said to her Stand. "Let's follow him." She took off her hat, which transformed into its Stand self. "Carry the doug-hunuts." (She used to only speak Japanese, and still speaks with slides here and there.)

Notarou notices he's being followed.

Notarou: ''‘EVERYBODY has a stand, huh. The way she's following me... Has nobody in this forsaken town ever seen a japanese man?!’'' He thought. He calmly walked back to the inn and entered the front door.

Notarou walked into the inn to see the innkeeper standing up and grabbing her purse.

Notarou: "Oh, are you going somewhere tonight?" He asked.

Innkeeper: "It's Wednesday. It's time for evening services at New Megiddo."

Notarou: " 'New Megiddo'? What's that?" Notarou said as he cocked his head.

The woman looks up at him for the first time since he walked in.

Innkeeper: "It's the church at the center of town. Do you not go to church?"

Notarou: "Sometimes. I don't often visit ones in cities I don't live in."

Innkeeper: "You probably ought to..." The woman looked him up and down.

Notarou somehow felt a little offended by that statement.

Notarou: "Well then... I hope they don't mind my outfit then..."

Rin is already standing in the Inn, trying to be sneaky. ''‘New Megiddo? Ain't that Catholic?’'' She thought. ''‘I haven't heard of that Church. Maybe it's ‘cause I'm Protestant.....?’'' She looks at Notarou.

Rin: "Hey! You! You are Japanese!" She said while pointing.

Notarou looks at the girl and her doughnuts.

Notarou: "Yes, I am, Stand-using bumpkin... Has nobody EVER seen a person of my race?! C'mon!" He followed the Innkeeper to the church at the center of town, while Rin also started following him.

Rin: "Bumpkin? I used to live in Japan, Onii-San! Plus, what's a Stand User? Sounds cool." she said.

Notarou: "It's whatever YOU are, creepy little girl." Notarou replied, as he kept walking.

Rin: "I-......I'm not creepy, Okie? I just got some weird feeling that you were creepy, then like we were supposed to meet because you really aren't creepy, just doing something important......" She grabbed a doughnut out of the box and started eating it. "Want a floating doughnut?" Notarou rolls his eyes.

Notarou: "Yeah, because I'm going to take food from a stranger who's been following me around in the shadows. No, not now."

Notarou made it to the church and was about to enter. Rin's eyes widened as she saw the Church. It didn't dawn on her that THIS place was New Megiddo. She grabbed Notarou's arm.

Rin: "NO! ONII-SAN! DON'T GO IN THERE! They don't preach the Bible, they preach....SCARY! Plus, if you're a Stand User like me, they might try to exorcise ya! PLEASE DON'T GO IN!" She was obviously frightened. Notarou looked back.

Notarou: "Perhaps you should leave me alone and go home then..." he walked into the church.

Notarou had been sitting through the sermon... and he actually agreed with the girl outside. This wasn't like a normal church... The room was so big that the pastor had to speak through a microphone that echoed his words of doom through the entire room that was about as big as a warehouse. His likeness plastered on a massive television floating on either corner over the altar. He began to finish the sermon.

Pastor: "...I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And he who liveth and believeth in me shall never die..." He cut the verse short and closed the bible.

Pastor: "Are you willing to follow God's will?!" He shouted out to the energetic crowd that roared back at him. He pointed out to the crowd as he strode across the stage.

Pastor: "ARE YOU WILLING TO GIVE UP EVERYTHING FOR GOD'S PLAN! Are you willing to die to see it completed?! Many of you who have the blessed eyes have seen them in the hills, the horsemen of the apocalypse. Others have been touched by them. SINNERS! THE SINNERS HAVE BEEN SLAIN!!!!!! This is God's will!!!! He has sent the horsemen to tell us that it's time for a new age to rise. It's time that this old world be burned away in the ashes of sin and be reborn in the fires of righteousness! My own son, Mathew, has seen the horsemen with his own eyes!"

The camera panned to a shy looking 17 year old.

Pastor: "He has seen the horsemen with his own eyes! He knows the truth! He knows that God's time of mercy has reached its end. God's time of vengeance on the world has come at last!"

The church roared. This was unlike anything that Notarou had ever seen. He had been to many churches, but none of them were like this. Most of them preached the gospel, and the mercy of the Lord, but this one preached only vengeance and anger. And the crowd loved it! Notarou was starting to think the girl was right. If they found out that he was a stand user, there is no telling what they might do. He stood up from his seat and made his way to the exit. He was stopped by Deacon Obadiah.

Deacon Obadiah: "Where are you going, brother?"

Notarou smiled as happily as his nervous spirit would allow.

Notarou: "I was just going home. The bus ride to this beautiful town has left me queasy. It was a wonderful message though! I might consider coming back if I'm still in town later. (He was never coming back.)"

The deacon pat him on the shoulder.

Deacon Obadiah: "I look forward to it."

As soon as Notarou was out of the building, he almost ran as fast as he could back home. He did not know what he had seen, but whatever that church service was, there was something off about it...

 To be continued… 🡆