AN: Hello everyone! Sorry about my radio silence for such a long time. I planned to work on Puddin to finish everything up, but then I started my new job and then I got really into drafting an original novel, and I ended up coming back to this, a 4-shot story I wrote back in the spring. This was a story I made about the various meetings between John Seed and the Junior Detective, who (as a Far Cry protagonist) is a little bit psycho. I hope you all enjoy! Please let me know your favorite part and what you think the Deputy will do differently from the game.


Chapter 1 - The Baptism

John wished for a greater audience. After all, it was how Baptisms were usually carried out. In the years before, they had been a grand affair. There had been torches, music, and dozens upon dozens of onlookers, both those who had already been cleansed by his hands and those eager to be blessed by him.

But now those faithful to the Project were at war. The Reaping had begun. Their subjects were often less willing and so their rituals had become less formal. What had once been a display of faith truly incredible to behold had become a ramshackle event on a riverbank in Holland Valley. Several of the sinners who challenged Joseph's grace had been caught and were being cleansed by their future brothers and sisters in faith, dunked into the water, and held there just long enough for the oxygen to start to burn in their lungs. John sighed but allowed himself a hint of satisfaction. Despite the rustic and informal surroundings, there was still glorious work to behold. It was hard work, but it was done properly. Righteously. They were doing the will of God.

He licked his thumb and looked down at his Book of Joseph, turning the page to the next passage. "We must wash away our past," he read. Though he had done this sacrament so many times before that he could probably recite it by heart, reading from his brother's words always assured his heart and calmed his mind. Every word from Joseph's lips felt like poetry and truth the faithless world could not comprehend. "We must expose our sin. We must atone, for only then may we stand in the light of God and walk through his Gate unto Eden."

As the newly cleansed people were lifted from the waters and led back to the riverbank, they walked past him and he reached out to mark the sign of the cross on their foreheads. Most did not react to his blessings. Some even tried to pull away from him. He remembered their faces and made a note to spend a longer time with them when it came time for their Confessions.

That was when he saw her.

The Junior Deputy.

John handed his bible to a nearby brother and waded forward through the water. He had to get closer, to see her with his own eyes

Could this truly be her? The woman who stands in the way of our New Eden?

John didn't know how something like that could be possible. She was a slight young woman. Her dirty blond hair was plastered against her scalp and a braided ponytail hung over her shoulder in disarray, courtesy of her being soaked head to toe. The brother next to her had to half drag and half carry her wiry form. Even if her hands weren't zip-tied together, John highly doubted she could be much trouble, thanks to the wondrous Bliss still in her system.

This was the woman who had set Faith's Bliss fields aflame?

This was the fighter who had hunted Jacob's Chosen through the darkness?

This was the heretic who had waylaid his Reaping trucks, stealing supplies vital for their survival in the Collapse?

The brother holding the Deputy nodded respectfully.

"She is ready, John," he said. John did not respond, his eyes locked on this woman. He felt as if he could finally solve the puzzle surrounding this woman if only, he stared hard enough. She gave a sharp intake of breath and finally lifted her eyes.

A shiver went down John's spine. Her eyes were blue, but unlike any blue he had ever seen. They were pale with the barest hint of gray, almost like two chunks of ice waiting to freeze his soul.

But it was not the color that unnerved him so. It was what lay behind them. Far from the dilated pupils of one taken by the Bliss, her pupils were constricted and alert. And within was… nothing, save for focus. And rage.

He knew the sight well. He saw it every day.

He moved almost without thinking as he reached out and grasped her by the shoulders. "This one's not clean," he barely managed to get out before he shoved her down into the river. Bubbles rose from her lips as she bucked and struggled. Her bound hands emerged from the water and clawed at his shirt, searching for purchase to try and throw him off. Her legs kicked but he shifted his knees to pin them to the riverbed.

"John…" the brother said, lightly placing a hand on his shoulder. John shook him off and pushed down harder on the woman.

Purge.

Purge it all.

Purge her.

She must not live.

Can't enter Eden.

Too dangerous.

End her.

End her!

END-!

"Do you mock the Cleansing, John?"

John leapt away from the Deputy as if he had been burned, whirling around toward the voice that spoken.

He stood in the headlights of one of their trucks, haloed by the light as his shadow seemed to stretch across the entire valley. He was a man assured in his purpose, the kind of self-knowledge that no other person could possibly match.

Joseph Seed, the Father of Eden's Gate. John's older brother, who had found him lost in an ocean of empty vice. Who had been his rock as John reinvented himself and dedicated himself to the Project and its people. Who had finally filled his cold, empty life with love and purpose and joy.

All the other Project members on the riverbank bowed their heads in reverence or made the sign of the cross to him, adulation and love shining in their eyes. John turned fully to face Joseph, his cheeks reddening like a chastised child. John had been foolish, not realizing his brother had arrived. If only he had been better, more attentive.

"N-no, Joseph," John said, his eyes lowering from Joseph to stare at the river. "I would never-"

"Shhh," Joseph breathed. John practically choked on the words he had nearly spoken. Joseph turned his gaze from John to the form of Deputy and almost immediately a weight lifted from John's body. "Bring the child to me, John."

John slowly nodded and lifted the girl from the river. For a moment, John hoped that Joseph had been too late. That he had done his duty to protect their Project. But his hopes were for naught as the woman sputtered and coughed, spitting river water from her mouth. Every greedy breath she took sent bolts of alarm through John's heart, but he stayed as still as a statue in the presence of the Father.

"Come," beckoned Joseph.

John and the nearby brother approached the Father, supporting the dazed woman between them. Her feet struggled to find purchase, so they dragged her up the rocky bank and onto dry land.

"You have to love them, John," Joseph said, his voice silencing the sounds of the night. "Do not let your sin prevent that."

John felt as though there were stones in his gut, as though a great fist were squeezing his heart. The words pained him, but Joseph was right. Joseph was always right. John had allowed his darkness to get in the way of their mission. Their purpose in this life.

There must still be hope for the woman, just as there was for him.

As they came to Joseph, he held his hands out to receive her.

The woman was still weak and limp, but he gently took her head and stared into her eyes. Her eyelids fluttered and her head began to droop.

Perhaps I was wrong. Maybe she is still affected by the Bliss after all?

"Despite all you have done," Joseph said gently, "you are not beyond salvation. You are not here by accident or by chance. You are here by the grace of God and now our fates are tied together. You've been given a gift. You must decide what you will do with it."

John closed his eyes, letting Joseph's words wash over him. His heart swelled and his faith grew. John had always had a talent for conversing with others, but Joseph had always been different. John had the tongue of a devil, but Joseph had the words of a god.

The Deputy's head fell forward again. Her arms hung limp and her boots scuffed against the stones.

"Fa…ther…" she murmured.

John felt his spirit lift. Joseph had gotten through to her. Their Project could continue.

"Yes, my child?" Joseph asked.

She tried to lift her head to look at him, but she overcorrected, causing her head to loll back with her face turned to the sky. her lips moved again, yet even John who was nearer could not hear her words.

"What did you say?" Joseph leaned closer. "I am listening. What do you wish-"

A split second of tension was the only warning John had before the Deputy blurred into motion. Her feet, no longer limp and weak, pushed off a hard-packed stone she had found in the riverbank. Though John and the other Project member still held her, she had all the momentum she needed to snap forward. The night echoed with a dull thwack as her forehead connected with Joseph's face. The Father was sent sprawling, his sunglasses bent at the bridge and blood beginning to leak from his newly broken nose.

It was a wordless scream of rage that clawed its way up John's throat as he attacked. He punched the Deputy in the stomach so hard her feet left the earth.

The members of their Project, so peaceful as they carried out their duties, all screamed out in anger and anguish as the Father went down. Many grabbed their guns and turned them on the vicious heretic.

The Deputy was bent over almost double. Her mouth was comically wide, trying and failing to suck air into her lungs. John snarled before he hit her again, his knuckle splitting on her cheek as he knocked onto her back. The Project members were yelling, gnashing their teeth, and calling for blood. Her blood.

John was more than happy to provide it.

He pounced upon her, wrapping one hand around her neck while drawing his knife from his back pocket.

No time for the Atonement. No time to savor this. She needs to die. She needs to die for Joseph. For Eden's Gate. For him.

He aligned his knife with her jugular. Just a tiny bit of pressure and the blade would glide through her skin, severing the vein, and letting her blood sanctify this valley.

"Peace!"

John froze before glancing over his shoulder.

Joseph was standing with the help of several Project members. He shook his head twice before wincing as his bent glasses irritated his injured nose.

"Peace, my children," Joseph said calmly. Casting aside the ruined glasses, he gratefully took a cloth held out to him before dabbing at the blood dripping from his nostrils.

"John," he said softly, "let her up."

"Joseph, she's dangerous!" John implored. "Look at what she's done so far! She's a threat to Eden! She cannot be-!"

"Enough."

John went silent. He lowered his knife before releasing the Deputy, letting her breathe unhindered once again.

Joseph beckoned to him and John approached him, but he could not resist trying again,

"Joseph…please…"

Joseph gently took John by the shoulder and pulled him closer until their foreheads touched.

"This one is important," said Joseph. "She will reach Atonement. Or the Gates of Eden shall be shut to you, John."

"What?!" John gasped. "Joseph, who is she to possibly be-?!"

"And who are you, John," Joseph asked, "to question the will of God?"

John sucked in a strangled breath, feeling a roiling in his stomach as he heard those words. How could Joseph say that? To put more value in this heretic over John, his own brother and most faithful servant. He wanted to protest. He wanted to beg. He wanted to cry and plead and scream that this wasn't fair. What use could she possibly have?

"Yes, Joseph," he said instead, his voice sounding small in his own ears.

"Very good," Joseph said before pulling away. He gave John a comforting squeeze on the shoulder before dropping his hand. "Go in peace, John."

"And you as well," John said on instinct.

With that, Joseph turned and left them. For a few long moments, the river bank was silent. The crickets began to chirp again and the brush began to rustle from all the creatures that called these forests their home.

But sounds of nature were defiled when the Deputy began to laugh.

John could feel his face begin to redden with anger as he turned to behold this violent woman. She had rolled onto her hands and knees, her back arched as her forehead pressed into the cool stone beneath her. And still, she laughed.

"Did you… did you see his fucking face?" she said through her cackles. "Christ, I've been wanting to do that since I got here!"

John's grip around his knife tightened. His blood sang in his ears at such vile insults to Joseph.

How dare she? How dare she presume to judge the only man who cared to save them from the Collapse? What fucking right could she possibly have?!

He wanted to kill her. He wanted to defy Joseph and end her right here and now. But he squeezed his eyes shut and breathed. He relaxed his fingers and slipped the knife back into his pocket. No, he would not give into sin. His duty was to free others of their own sin. Now was not the time.

She still hadn't stopped laughing. He snarled out a short breath through his teeth and then gestured to a Project member, who grabbed her roughly by the arm and jerked her up to her feet.

Her laughter had at long last tapered off into a few chuckles as she gazed at John, but there was still a manic smile on her face.

John kept his face resolute as he stared down this heretic.

"You will confess," he said. "Every sin you've ever committed. No matter how petty, no matter how small."

She chuckled again. "Depends," she said glibly. "How much time you got?"

"As long as it takes," he said around gritted teeth, frustration building. "I will pull each and every one of them from you. And then we'll see if you are worthy of Atonement." Before he could stop, he added to himself.

We'll see if Joseph is right about you.

John knew his doubt was wrong, but that only increased his frustration. He gestured to the Project member and the Deputy was dragged away toward the truck that would take her from there.

John watched his quarry. No longer did she sag to the ground, too weak to move on her own. Now she stood, straight and resolute like she was mocking him with her strength. She gave him one last parting grin before he turned away.

John closed his eyes and tried to find peace. There was no place for doubt. No need to panic. No need to be upset. She would confess. She would atone. She would say 'yes' when she finally understood what she had done. When she understood that she truly deserved to be punished.

And John would certainly be thorough with her. He would bring her to righteousness. To faith and peace as Joseph decreed

John had all the time in the world to prove himself to the Father.

At least, that was what he thought before he was informed of her escape an hour later.