₊˚.༄ God Complex
CHAPTER SIX:
( all paths lead to home. )
"i'm beginning to know myself. i don't exist.
i'm the space between what i'd like to be
& what others made of me."
Seira never liked the idea of a home she didn't create.
She liked Aki and her's home in Japan, for they had built it with love and care. Each brick laid took its time to craft, and each one was laid with precision and respect. They were like the Israelites building the Egyptian's empire, the only difference was they weren't slaves to do so. Exodus was there testimony to a heartfelt home.
They say all paths lead to home, but this train ride was not leading her home as much as Makima would like to think. The 'home' everyone liked to think she had was nothing resembling a home, for home was a place of comfort, and made you feel as though you were back in your mothers embrace. Wazuka was not her home, for it feasted and preyed on her fears and dismays. That place resembled Hell, for fire consumed the idea of Wazuka.
Sure, Seira resided in Wazuka for many years before moving to Japan. She had been a sister in the church that praised her beloved God. She was familiar with all the townsfolk, for their faces filled the pews every Sunday, and she sang the hymns of the lord. She was a prophet there, and she was still a prophet, only her home had become the world at her fall. Her fall from grace had poisoned her idea of Wazuka ever being a home.
Seira was not birthed in Wazuka. The version portrayed now was birthed on its soil, but in mankind's ideology she was not birthed here. The United States was her birth place, Seattle, Washington to be exact. If she remembers correctly, her father was a United States marine, serving his country with his life. Her mother was of Chinese descent, and her and her family had migrated for a better life. She was born and raised in the United States, and only when she was 16 did she move back to her mother land to study abroad. She never left, and her family only became a distant memory with time. When they died Seira merely received the phone call and moved on with her life. She doesn't think about them anymore, not even in passing at night when she ponders at the ceiling.
That is where her and Aki were different, for Aki defined himself on the death of the past. His whole life revolved around what happened to him, he shaped himself around vengeance, and he fueled himself with dealing out judgement to the creator of his past. Ultimately, this would be his untimely downfall, for any belief or ideology set with stones of revenge would always collapse. Seira built everything she believed on with the promise of the future, for she had learned a long time ago that the only thing promising was the future, and it was the only outcome you had control over. The past was merely set in stone.
The train ride felt begrudgingly slow, like time was out to get her and make a mockery of the situation at hand. Half of Seira was eager to get to Wazuka and put an end to this devil hunt, and the other half was perfectly content with her current position, wanting to never exit the train to plant her feet on the rotting soil that had birthed her current state. No words were shared between the two buddies, Aki was fixated on the passing earth through the window he sat next too. Seira was too busy studying the book she had brought along, Paradise Lost, a book that had quickly become her favorite when she finished it the first time. She was currently on her sixth read of the book, and no time passed could ever extinguish the fire that consumed her soul when reading the book.
Aki had noticed quickly that it was her favorite book when he saw her rereading the book for a third time, yet he never indulged himself in ever finding out what fascinated her about the book, for he figured that was a subject that would lead deeper than she'd be willing to admit. This train ride made him curious about Seira though, for neither one of them spoke about her outburst in Makima's office just a day ago, and he was desperate to know why she hated her birthplace so deeply.
"Why do you hate your birth place so much," Aki broke the silent that had been settled between the two since they got on the train.
Seira slowly closed her book, tabbing it as not to lose her place amongst the pages. "Wazuka is not my birthplace, it is merely named such for it is the soil my current self was founded upon," she spoke in her usual calm yet emotionless voice.
"Then where were you born?"
Seira looked around, and Aki had found out a few months into them being partnered that her at first weird quirk was merely a defense mechanism, for Makima had eyes and ears everywhere, and Seira did not like to be preyed upon. She let out a quick sigh before speaking, "I was born and raised in the United States, I only moved here when I was 16 to study abroad."
"Then how did you get involved into Public Safety?" Aki would always be curious, and Seira didn't like that about him, for she knew what mischief curiosity birthed from its twisted womb.
"A few months before I turned 17 I was recruited as a special operative for a devil hunting agency, and there I worked in hunting devils until I was 20. I left for a year, but was quickly ensnared by Makima. I've worked for since then," Seira coldly told him.
"What did you do in the year that you weren't on the field?"
"Aki, what have I told you about curiosity," Seira's pensive eyes planted themselves into Aki and he couldn't help but squirm under her gaze.
"I know, it'll get me killed, but I see no harm and being curious about your past when you have only shared the smallest of details to me," Aki defended himself.
Seira couldn't only shake her head in disapproval, "I lived in Wazuka as a nun."
Aki was in disbelief, for he had always known she was religious, but he did not realize how deep her religious views ran. "So, let me understand this. You left your home in the United States to study abroad here, but also left that behind to hunt devils, and also left that quickly behind to become a nun, and then you join Public Safety," Aki questioned.
"More or less, but a that is a very rough draft of the version." Seira rolled her eyes at his version upon her life.
The questions had become endless for Aki now, "Have you spoken to your parents at all since moving here?"
"No, and they died before I ever actually got a chance to call them," Seira deadpanned.
Aki could only crinkle his nose in disgust at the sudden revelation, "How did you come into contact with the prior devil hunting agency?"
"I killed a primal fear that had hit the university I attended, and I was recruited from there."
"What caused you to leave then?"
Seira had paused for minute, pondering on how to word her next statement carefully, "The innocent blood soiled my hands."
Aki could only give her a sympathetic look, for he could only imagine how many lives you would have to take to turn you towards the God that had abandoned the people he vowed to protect. "So, you became a nun because of that?"
"Anything for forgiveness," was all Seira could say.
"So, I'm assuming your devil contract was forged in Wazuka, and Makima had found you shortly after that," Aki's eyes riddled with dismay, and Seira did not care for the apologetic look he gave her.
She needed no sympathy for her actions.
She only nodded her head, and hoped Aki would stop asking questions from this point on. "What do you give up in return for your Devil Contract?"
Seira was perplexed by the question, for she knew how other contracts worked, but she never thought that would be his next line of question. "My contract doesn't work like that."
"Then how does it work?"
"I made a deal in exchange for a deal," Seira simply told him, ready to turn course from herself.
"And what does this deal entail," Aki tried to push the envelope
Seira quickly shut him down though, "None of your business."
Aki stayed silent from then on, realizing that he had run her word quota up. The many hours left of their travels stayed silent. Aki had never wanted companionship before he met Seira, but his want had hastily become a need when he was acquainted with the woman sat across from him. She was an abyss, and he wanted nothing more than to be the first to explore the secrets that obscured her. He figured that Seira thought if she stayed a closed off and cold woman that people would scatter, and while true for some, others only found it more alluring.
The train slowly stopped at their destination, and the pair quickly grabbed their luggage and stepped off onto the platform of the train station. Aki couldn't help but watch as Seira slowly tensed up with every move she made, like a toy being winded up, she slowly became more and more ready to pounce with slightest hostility thrown at the pair. Aki did now like the foreboding atmosphere that hung over their heads, and Seira disliked it even more.
All paths lead to home, or so they say.
All devils rise from the ashes of Hell's gate.
Wazuka was home, but only for monsters and demons alike.
Wazuka was the deepest pits of Hell.
( WORD COUNT ) 1726
—— unedited
Howdy, again, another fluff chapter, I know. Don't worry though, for the next chapter we get into this stories main event! I so want to hear y'all's theories on what primal fear I've decided for this arch, so leave them in the comment section! As always, don't forget to: comment, vote, and share. I love you, my lovely little souls.