Cult Waifu
Within life is peace and joy, happiness brought on by a sense of purpose. But what is life without purpose? Is it simply melancholy nothingness? Or is it a cruel and terrible damnation?
You asked yourself that daily, as though you were the son of a powerful oil baron, you couldn't help but feel an inescapable emptiness.
You were set to inherit the family fortune, something that would excite you if not for the overbearing nature of your father and carelessness of your mother.
You needed to be free of the pressure, if even for a moment, and often found it with forgetful women and clinging drugs, momentary reliefs that often deepened the hole you felt you were in.
Somedays you spent in loud nightclubs, others in cheap, quiet hotels, but regardless of where you were, you only felt the darkness in you return, like trumpets signaling the end of your peace and the return of your dread.
And after the highs ended, you had to deal with the scorn of your father, sometimes he would only lash at you with words, and others with his hand, whichever you came to blows with made you despise him more and more.
The inescapable cycle you found yourself in made you sometimes entertain the thought of death, as if life was so awful, surely the afterlife could be better?
A tempting thought...
Until you met her.
On one of your regular strolls through the lower parts of town, you stopped by an old, seedy motel, in part out of fatigue and also for a need for another high.
The motel was mainly used as a drug den, you just bought a bit from the resident dealer and found a room you thought was empty.
Except the room wasn't empty.
Words cannot possibly describe the woman you saw, you wanted to say she was an angel, but what kind of angel passes all nine rings of hell to land here?
You stood and looked at each other, a faint discomfort only broken by your mutual need for relief.
The woman motioned your to come inside, and in your own corners of the room, administered your respective vices.
Through awkward small talk you learned her name, Rachel Jessop, and all it took was her name for you to be hooked to something else, something more potent and easing.
Something pure.
You both met at the same motel room, wading into more conversation, conversation then turned to nights out, nights into days, and eventually you both spent almost all your free time with each other.
Rachel loved flowers, you loved books, and you both would sit in her family garden reading the stories of Zorro and Conan.
One day you both gave into each other, and you still remember it as the best day of your life, not because of the pleasure you felt, but the quiet peace you felt simply being with her.
Sadly, it all came crashing down.
One day, after your father spent his fist across you, you returned to drugs to just briefly take away the despair, and inadvertently overdosed.
When you woke, it was months later, you had been in a medically induced coma to save your life.
But Rachel was no where to be found, she thought you dead and disappeared.
You tore the medical equipment from your body and returned home, taking the money and jewels from your father's safe along with his prized muscle car, and set out.
It took you months to track down Rachel, you looked into far flung drug dens and shelters, finally finding a lead in a group called 'Eden's Gate', located in Hope County, Montana.
You wasted no time in heading for Hope County, feeling that you were being pushed by a divine power to find Rachel again.
You would find her, you would love her, or you would die trying.
Upon reaching Hope County, you came to realize who Eden's Gate was, as their trucks patrolled the county and their members walked freely with firearms fit for an army.
You stopped at Fall's End, Hope County's sole town in the midst of a heavy downpour, and entered the local bar for any further leads on Rachel.
The patrons, members of Eden's Gate, made it clear you were not welcome, but you stood steadfast against their religiously backed anger.
The members, tired of your questions, drug you outside in an attempt to beat you out of town, but found an unexpected fight in you.
You fought with every fiber of your being, suffering blow after blow, some with the cracks of your bones and other with the sound of your blood stroking the wet concrete.
You eventually lost your footing and suffered unending blows by the members, your mind only thinking of her...
Rachel...
Rachel...
You looked up.
You: Rachel?
Suddenly, your beating stopped, and you saw an unmistakable figure walk through the rain.
It was her, wearing a pure white dress as if tailored by Uriel himself, and she looked at you in shock for a moment before saying just one thing.
Rachel: (Y/N)!
She ran to you, sending the members away as if she held power over them, and she cradled you in her arms as blood ran down your face:
In those few moments before unconsciousness, you thought of how this could be it, your death, and you would be at peace with it, because Rachel is all that mattered to you.
You fell into darkness with Rachel's eyes the last thing you saw.
You woke sporadically, sometimes hearing faint conversations, some argued over you, others about how you knew 'Faith', but one thing that will forever be in your memory is the sight of Rachel, by your side.
When next you woke, you were unsure if you were in a dream, or in the afterlife.
You found yourself in a grotto, surrounded by a thick green mist, and you could not help but feel at peace there, as if it was familiar to you, yet you knew you've never been here before.
Thankfully, a familiar presence was with you.
You realized that you were laying on Rachel's lap, and she petted your head as you realized it was her, a warm smile on her face.
Rachel: (Y/N)...it's really you.
You looked up at Rachel.
You: Rachel? Please tell me it's you.
Rachel: It is but...I'm called Faith now.
You didn't think on that fact hardly any, a small name change meant nothing as you found your beloved.
You: Ra...Faith...I've been looking for you for so long.
Faith: I know, I found everything in your car, maps, dates, notes. Thank his we found each other again.
A single tear rolled down Faith's face, she happy to see you as much as you were her.
Faith: There's so much I need to explain to you, so much I need you to see, but first...
Faith leaned in your ear.
Faith: Wake up.
With a start, you found yourself from the misty grotto to a bedroom in what appeared to be a bunker, with Faith sitting next to you.
You tried to get up, but pain across your body prevented you from doing so as Faith ushered you back to laying down.
You: Okay...I have questions...
Faith: And I have answers, and plenty of time to answer them.
Within the quiet confines of your room, Faith spoke to you of Eden's Gate, The Father, and The Collapse that would eventually envelope the world, all maddening to hear, yet Faith's belief was steadfast.
It took you some time to process everything, and in that time you spent with Faith as she cared for your injuries.
You thought on how absolutely insane it all sounded? The end of the world? Bliss? A bear named Cheeseburger?
(Cheeseburger was the best character in the game btw.)
But within the words of lunacy, you remembered why you came to Hope County.
You came for Faith, the sole reason you chose to breath somedays.
With your love for her as steadfast as her beliefs, you took a leap of faith and decided to join Eden's Gate.
And it was just as fun as you thought it was.
(That was sarcasm.)
You started with reading the Father's book, which was just as fatigue inducing as the actual bible.
Then you moved onto a pilgrimage up to a statue of the Father, and realized how out of shape you were roughly thirty minutes into your hike.
Then, as if this roller coaster of guns and flamethrowers couldn't get anymore ludicrous, you often had to trade blows with the Hope County locals, who were understandably peeved that a bunch of unwashed hippies moved in and declares the land as their own.
Between dodging bullets and inhaling enough hallucinogens to forget your name, you always came back to Faith, who was happy to see you in the embrace of Eden's Gate.
Every hardship you faced was to prove how much you loved her, and she knew it, with a warm smile and gentle touch she let you know that she loved both you and your efforts.
It wasn't long before you made a cozy life for yourself with Eden's Gate, often out on watch duty for a horse stable, which is quite useful for the impending apocalypse and outrageous gas prices.
One day, as you were wrestling your shirt from a horse's mouth, Faith came to see you.
You pulled yourself from the horse and flew back into a pile of hay, the stallion victorious in your struggle.
Faith giggled lightly as you got up and dusted yourself off, she petting the noble steed as you did.
You: That horse is out to get me.
Faith: Is not, she just wants to play.
You: And you know that how?
Faith: I just do.
Faith kissed you on the cheek as she opened the stable which held the horse.
You: What are you doing?
Faith: Taking her out for a run, she needs exercise.
You: Do you know how to ride a horse?
Faith: No, but you do.
Faith led the horse to you, which rubbed her head over your face as a sign of affection.
Faith: See? She's nice.
You grabbed a saddle and jumped onto the horse, lifting Faith up to sit in front of you.
As you both sat atop the horse, you led her outside into the sunset farm fields that shined with a golden hue.
You: So usually you're supposed to use reigns and spurs to get a horse moving, but we can-
You were cut off by Faith, who let out a loud command.
Faith: Yip Yip!
At Faith's word, the horse set off into the open field, with Faith laughing joyously and you holding on tightly.
Faith reached back and moved your hands around her waist, where you eased into the sudden movement of the horse and enjoyed the view.
You could see the far off mountains along the horizon, both green from nature and golden from the sun, but it paled in comparison to Faith, who's smile shined with a more powerful purity that the sun.
You laid your head into her hair, and thought on everything you've been through.
Your father, your search for her, Eden's Gate, a perilous adventure from beginning to end, but it was all worth it for her.
Suddenly, the horse stopped, and with that Faith turned in her seat on the saddle to face you.
Faith: I need to tell you something, just between us.
You: Of course.
Faith leaned in, just enough to where you could feel the breath from her voice as she spoke quietly.
Faith: I prayed...everyday...that we would be together again.
You spoke at nearly a whisper.
You: Your prayers were answered...
In a slight moment, you both stared into each other's eyes, taking in the pain and hardship of each other, and caved into a slow kiss, with not a single burden from the past there to bother either of you.