UNHOLYVERSE

Staring Through the Demons

"Look at their eyes. See how big they are? It's because they're looking at God."

Mikey leaned in closer to the picture. He didn't really know anything about art, and if he was honest, he didn't really care. He wouldn't say that to Gerard, and sometimes it was pretty cool to hear where a painting came from, or whatever. But a lot of the time Gerard would get really excited about something that Mikey basically thought was boring and bad.

This painting wasn't shitty, exactly, it was just weird. It was Mary holding Jesus, but he wasn't a baby, he was a strange, spindly toddler with a creepy grown-up face, and all the angels looked really annoyed.

"I know they look funny to us now," Gerard went on, his voice fond. He wasn't touching the painting, but his outstretched hand traced the shape of the angels' odd, pointed chins and flat, circular halos. "But it's like when we found those pictures of Dad with flares and a perm, remember that? It was fashionable at the time."

"The flares didn't age well either," Mikey reminded him. "And nobody's making me look at those in a museum."

On Gerard's other side, Frank was reading the little description plaque on the wall. "What's agape?" he wanted to know.

"It means love," Gerard said. "In the Bible it's used to describe how God loves us, how we're supposed to love each other. Actually, John uses it to describe God Himself."

"It's Latin?"

"Greek. They had a bunch of different words for love." Gerard counted off on his fingers as he listed them. "Eros for sexual or romantic love, philia for friendship. Agape is more of a general term, but in the Bible it means a love that's unconditional, all-encompassing. Selfless. It's what made God send His only Son to save us, what led Christ to die for our sins."

Frank leaned around Gerard slightly to catch Mikey's eye. Mikey cut his eyes at him and Frank looked away, grinning.

"You can laugh," Gerard said loftily. "It won't stop Him loving you."

The next painting was one of Jesus all bloodied up, hanging out looking sad. Frank wandered off to the other side of the room; he didn't like Crucifixion art, unsurprisingly. Mikey wasn't crazy about it either, so he followed him after a minute.

"Yo," said Frank. He was looking at one of those paintings of Mary with the little swords sticking in her heart. "I'm thinking about getting something like this inked, man. What do you think?"

"Cool." Mikey looked down at Frank's hands, clasped loosely in front of him. He was bundled up in layers, his sleeves coming all the way down to his fingers. "You have kind of a weird thing for Mary, dude."

"She makes me feel peaceful," Frank said.

Mikey couldn't really see what was peaceful about a crying woman with swords in her heart, but okay.

"This particular portrayal of Mary is called Our Lady of Sorrows," Gerard announced from behind them. Gerard would do that, commentate on stuff whether you asked him to or not, like those automatic holographic tour guides futuristic museums always had in the movies. "Each of the swords represents one of the Seven Sorrows of Mary. The Prophecy of Simeon, the Flight of the Holy Family into Egypt-"

"The Loss of the Child Jesus for Three Days, the Meeting of Mary and Jesus along the Way of the Cross, the Crucifixion, the Descent from the Cross, and the Burial of Jesus," Frank rattled off. Gerard gaped at him and Frank made a face. "Oh, you're the only one who's allowed to know anything? I read books, fuck you."

Gerard looked from Frank to Mikey and back again, confusion all over his face. "I guess I didn't think – sorry, Frank."

Frank waved him off and turned back to the painting. Mikey waited until Gerard had gone away to look at a sculpture in the middle of the room, then said, "You read that off the plaque on the wall, didn't you."