Hi all! So, this fanfic is just super fun and easy to write. I am having a blast! I hope you all are enjoying the story too! AS for posting... I'm thinking I'm going to stick posting 3 chapters at a time. It takes a little longer to write like that, but then ya'll get a bigger chunk to read. Let me know what you think! Or if you have some ideas for the upcoming chapters. I love being inspired by others :).

The verses that John reads are actually from a PDF version of the Book of Joseph that you can find on google. I'd post the URL, but fanfiction doesn't allow me to do that. So if you want to read it yourself just google Book of Joseph Far Cry 5

Joseph

The celebration of new life had gone into the wee hours of the morning. I watched as Evangeline and John danced... love and joy radiating from them that I could not remember seeing for decades. They were a beautiful couple, but more than that...they were a couple of pure intentions. Evangeline would be a wonderful mother and John would be the father he had never had. We would survive the Collapse together, and come out on the other side ready to usher in the new world.

But there was this ache I felt in the back of my head. That something was amiss in the visions my God bestowed upon me. I could not see Evangeline in my dreams. I could see her giving birth...I could hear her screams...but then after...nothing. I worried about what God was showing me… or what he wasn't showing me. I sat in the dining room of my own home, Faith not far from me as I scribbled more into my journal. I carried it with me wherever I went...documenting, tracking, everything I could that would matter when the world was bathed in fire. I took a deep sip from my tea and paused when I heard a soft knocking at the door.

"...Faith…" I said, barely looking up. "Please?"

She nodded with a smile and left me to answer the door. I expected it to be Jacob, John, or one of the guards with their nightly report...but instead, it was Evangeline. Faith had an arm wrapped around her as she brought the young woman to me...and I immediately closed my book as a chair was pulled out for her.

"My dear sister," I said, giving her a smile. "This is a surprise."

Her smile wasn't one that reached her eyes...it was a polite smile that let me know we would be having a fairly long conversation. I feared what it was. I couldn't explain the anxiety I felt seeing her, but I had a feeling that what she had to tell me would make it known. I looked to Faith and dismissed her.

"Joseph…" she started, but then she stopped. " Father ...I didn't want to...worry John...but...I needed to talk to someone."

I reached forward and took her hand in my own.

"I am always here for you, child…" he said. "Please...you can tell me anything."

She nodded and took a deep breath.

"You were there when I was unconscious…" she began. "Joseph...I...I think I met God."

My eyes widened slightly as she told me what she experienced in this dream. I felt my heartbeat quicken as she spoke and I couldn't stop myself from squeezing her hand tight. I could only infer what God was offering her...Evangeline wasn't just going to be the Mother of New Eden. She was destined to become a saint. God had graced her with this divine mission, as he had done so with me and my flock years ago. I felt a sense of great pride but at the same time humility. I had known from the beginning that Evangeline was special. The light she emitted just...shined right off of her.

"I am afraid, Joseph…" she whispered. "I...what if I'm not strong enough to carry this burden? What if I break? What if the baby-"

"Faith, my dear sister…" I hushed. "You must have faith. God has given you this gift. He wouldn't have if he thought you couldn't carry it. And we will be with you through it all...we will help you."

Her eyes became wet and she bowed her head.

"...There was one other thing…" she said softly. "Joseph...I don't know if I will live through this."

I felt the air get caught in my throat and I watched Eva. I shook my head, I wouldn't let her believe that. I wouldn't let my child fear that she would never meet her own child. Evangeline was going to carry this baby to term...even God couldn't be so cruel as to take her from us after the work had been done.

"Do not talk like that, Eva…" I said, my gaze holding her own. "It will be a tough road...but we will get through it."

We sat together in silence for a couple of moments, but in that silence, I felt I could feel her thoughts. I had not convinced her...but she didn't want to think of it anymore. So she switched gears and asked me for something I had only ever dreamed of.

"Will you baptize me?" she asked. "Will you...make me worthy of this gift?"

I felt my own throat constrict with emotion and standing I pulled this young lamb in front of me into my arms. I could not express the joy I felt at this moment. The honor that had befallen me to deliver this young woman to the arms of our Father in Heaven. It was more than I could have ever hoped for...and it made so many years of strife worth it.

"You are already worthy, my child…" I whispered. "But yes...we will baptize you. John and myself. It would be my greatest pleasure in this world."

I gently held her face in my hands and brought my lips to her forehead.

The world was burning around me...screaming, ash, and blood. I could taste it all in the back of my throat. And I turned to see my brothers and sisters in the middle of it. I pushed past the panicked screams of my flock...until I was able to see John and Eva. She was on the ground… blood trickling down her legs...her face grey and ashen...and beside her was John...screaming in agony...in his arms their bawling child. But Evangeline was still...her vacant eyes staring back at me. No twinkle...no smile...she was gone. And as God claimed the soul he had given us, the earth beneath us cracked with the screams of their child. John wouldn't leave his love...and I felt Evangeline's voice in my head scream, "save them!".

I sat up with a shout and my body glistened with sweat. Tears rolled down my face and looking up at the ceiling I screamed in anguish and anger.

"What MORE can you take from me?!" I roared. " WHAT MORE?!"

He didn't answer me...and with a type of rage I couldn't recall feeling for years, I stood and threw my doctrine into a mirror that faced me. The glass shattered and I sunk to my knees in despair. How could God be so cruel...how could he take the mother of the new world? Not just from myself, but from her own daughter and husband? Was he not asking for enough? Had we not given him enough? No. Because it was never enough. My hands shook as I wiped the tears from my face. I couldn't fight fate...but I could be angry about it. I couldn't tell Evangeline...or John. If I did, I knew my younger brother would insist on terminating Eva's pregnancy...and if I allowed him to do that, humanity would be doomed.

Evangeline's baptism was scheduled for the early afternoon...where the river would be warm and the sun would be high in the sky. We had decided on a river that was as far away from the water contaminated with Bliss as possible. I would not risk it causing Eva unnecessary harm. The garment Faith had procured for Evangeline was nothing short of beautiful. And in Eva's hair weaved springtime flowers and rosemary herbs.

She looked angelic...and I stood with my brother John in the river...my book clutched in his hands...and my arms stretching outwards towards her. The water rippled around her as she entered...almost as though it wanted to make way for its newest child. Her hands took hold of my own, and the warmth that encased her fingers sent a chill down my spine. John moved closer, reading from our book as I gently brought my one hand to rest on her back and the other to push her into the water.

" From the book of Joseph, Now you have heard the message I spread. You have finally seen that the light is what you were seeking. You were like a beacon that only needed divine energy to light up the path and brighten the world. The light is now shining on you, in you; it radiates out from you. You are stronger, much stronger than they are. You are just and pure. You are the chosen ones. "

Gently I pushed her under the water. She didn't fight me, she didn't struggle, her eyes closed, her hair gracefully floating around me, I could not contain the joy that filled me. Tears rolled down my face and gently I pulled her back up.

John continued, " Society was not right for you. You knew that it was already a cemetery — that it was already in ruins. You smelled before anyone else the horrible odor that is putrefaction. You do not belong in this world. You belong in the next world, the new world ."

Once more...into the water...and once more I pulled her up again, the smell of rosemary and flowers flooding my nose.

" Only a handful will remain. You deserve to be among them — I know this to be true. Just as surely as they deserve to die, you deserve to live. We are a family and I am your Father. Together, we will walk to the gates of Heaven ."

A final dip into the river and as I pulled Evangeline out one more time, her beautiful eyes opened and with a smile, she held my face in her hands. It was as though this was her first time seeing me...and I felt I could see a glow emanating off of her that I had never seen before. The absolute grace and beauty that God had gifted us with...even if it was temporary...I would hold onto her visage for the rest of my life.

(I HOPE YA'LL ENJOYED THIS CHAPTER! PLEASE REVIEW AND LET ME KNOW WHAT YA THINK :D)