[ A Farcry Fanfic ] Remember The Sins

[4] Becoming Reborn

The helicopter landed smoothly. Joseph helped Hope step down and they waited Jacob

Hope followed Joseph like a shadow, everyone in his flock were staring her down. Jacob laughed as he said

"Relax, they don't bite. Well, they don't bite untill I tell them to" Jacob could tell she was uneasy. Hope wouldn't show it but he helped her relax. They continued walking until they came to a river, she could hear someone preaching in the distance

"For only then can we walk in the light of God" as they got closer she could make out the preacher, it was the man in the picture John. Joseph walked over and hugged his brother, he whispered something into his ear and turned back to Hope

"I'm going to leave you with my brother, you can trust John. He is going to help you atone"

John walked forward and put his hand out to hope gesturing her forward. She looked twords Jacob and Joseph they both nodded before Jacob pull Joseph to the side. Hope grasped his hand and he guided her twords a path along the river John let go of her hand and turned twords her

"I can tell that you judge me, and I can tell that you judge us" he walked twords the shore "You must understand that I'm not here to take anyone's lives, I'm here to give it to them, they are sinners, we are all sinners. We must accept that before we can atone. You must accept that you sin, and that you are a sinner" his last sentence stung Hope, it lingered in her mind and made it hard for her to breathe, he sounded like her father
"I never denied that I am a sinner, my father made sure Id remember that" she subconsciously felt the scar on her lip
"He beat you?" Johns entire stance changed, his eyes became sorrowful

"Yes, day after day, pain after pain. he was always telling me the same things, calling me a sinner. Saying that I'm going to burn"
John swallowed and cleared his throat,
"I know what that is like, even when I did nothing wrong I had to make things up."
Hopes eyes were starting to tear up, she could remember those moments so clearly,
John cleared his throat again and shook his head, remembering what he was going to do he turned around

"Come let's talk, I'd like to find your sin"

"My sin?"

"Everyone of us as a sin that drives them" get gestured to the scar on his chest
"We must free ourselves from it, look into your past, look at the choices you have made, only then will your sin reveal itself"
Hope sighed and looked to her feet

"I don't know my past"

"But you will, I will help you, come let me take you to my home" John took her hand and began walking up a set of steps they passed through a clearing and hope could make out his home

It was a large ranch estate, there were multiple floors and towers all around

"How did you afford this?" Hope asked amazed

"Inheritance money. My.. parents were well off, that and I was quite a success back home. You know I was a top attorney?"

"Never would have guessed" hope teased
Something about John made her feel open, like she could tell him anything. John let a smile out, for once it was a genuine smile.
"I would do anything to afford a house like this"

John walked twords the door.
"Welcome to my castle, feel free to look around"

He pushed the door open guided her in.
It was a large room with a high celling, there was a fire place in the center. Hanging from the ceiling were chandeliers made from antlers, it was very unsettling to hope she found them grim. To the right was a display case filled with church items: books, flags, everything.

She looked back to John who was leaning on the the side of the door. He had slight smerk as he was staring back at her

"Memento Mori, hmm?"

"What?"

"Your tattoo, 'Memento Mori' remember you will die, or well the literal translation is 'remember death' it's a bold statement"

Hope moved her hand over her neck.
"I did even know I had that tattoed"

"Do you really have no memories of your past?"

"Nothing" she lied, she didn't want to explain her childhood or he father.

"Sometimes I wish I remembered nothing, but then I would never had learned the power of yes" he walked twords the stairs
"Follow me, I'll show you around the place, after all, you'll be staying here for a while"

The last part lingered with Hope,
"I'll be staying here for while? Joseph only mentioned that John was going to baptize me, nothing about me living with him"

They walked up the stairs and John guided her twords a hall way, there were four rooms to the left and one door at the end of the hall. They passed the first door and John stopped at the second.

"This is your room" he opened the door and walked inside

The room was spacious the walls were white with ebony wood accents, there was a large window with off white curtains, besides the window was a wooden chair. And in the very right corner there was large bed with blue silk sheets.

"It's perfect, thank you"

John nodded
"My room is at the end of the hall, and next to here is my study, if you need me go there, I'm usually in one or the other" he walked back to the door come I'll show you the rest of the ranch,

John showed Hope the ranch, he was proud of what they had built,

"How did you guys gain all this land?" Hope asked, she looked curiously to John.

"At first I used most of my wealth, but as we grew, many gave their land to us in return for salvation,"

The rest of the day was spent walking around the ranch, before they knew it, it was dark. The returned into the house. As Hope was walking around admiring the roomJohn was admiring her, her grey hazel eyes were filled with wonder and curiosity, but also hid a deep pain. Her black short hair was messy but it looked good, John had to force himself to look away.

"I can't fall for this, sinner. But I can't help myself. Something about her makes me feel, relaxed" he cursed himself and brought himself out of this thoughts

"I'm doing to call it a night, Hope. In the morning I have something I want you to see" he started up the stairs but stopped halfway "Oh and while we were out I had some of my men gather some clothes, they are all in your room"

"Alright, thank you. I think I'm going to do the same, I'm exhausted"

John went up the stairs and locked himself in his room, Hope soon followed
She walked into the room and looked through the dresser for something to sleep in, she ended up finding an old t-shirt, it was larger than the rest of the appeal, it was obviously John's old shirt. She put it on and layed on the bed. She counted her breaths till she passed out.

Unknown location,
Hope was hiding in some bushes, trying to focus on three figures in a nearby river
After a moment she could differentiate all of the people, it was a man with a white tank top holding a woman under the water,
The second man was pouring a blueish green liquid. The girl was fighting, and screaming

"Emma! Help please" the men pushed her back under, she stopped fighting and when they brought her up she was completely different, calm and willing she followed the men into a van and drive off"
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Alright, part four is up! Sorry this is so short
I'll probably update this later. Im working on the next chapter now, thanks again for reading!