Title: Et regarder, mourir les hommes
Fandom: Digital Devil Saga/Death Note.
Warnings: Spoilers for DDS2.
Characters/couples: Angel, Light.
Summary: Angel would laugh - here they are proving that God exists, and yet there are people who don't believe.
Rating: PG for philosophy and religion.
Notes: Written for
kinkfest: Crossover: Death Note / Digital Devil Saga 2 - Angel/Light - debate - what sort of god this world of abominations needs
Et regarder, mourir les hommes
God, men, are cruel
Men, are sure of themselves
Oh! God, men, are cruel
What do we have to do
To win your grace?
God, you who put us on earth
Why force us to conceal ourselves?
And watch the death of men
God...
“Roméo et Juliette: de la Haine à l'Amour ”
It's a pretty blase room. White walls, white table, white floor. A see-through mirror to the side. They have rooms like this at the Society, places to watch how the candidates and the possible children who might fit into the Cyber Shaman role interact with each other.
If they are expecting something of the sort with her, they're sadly mistaken. Jenna sits up straight, hands on the surface, and she spends twenty three minutes doing her very best not to think about David before the door opens.
The detective seems young, almost terribly so, not a day older of twenty five, if. Jenna studies him with a glance of her eyes, the well kept suit, the trimmed nails, the careful cut of his hair and classifies him as an obsessive-compulsive, at the very least.
He doesn't bring her another cup of the the bitter coffee the other young man had brought for her when she first arrived, and he looks at her with clear, serious eyes.
“I'm detective Light Yagami. I'm sorry for your loss, doctor Angel.”
He's saying that out of courtesy, she realizes. Perhaps out of obligation, so the people that are behind the mirror will be satisfied with him. She feels almost relief at that: seriousness, she can deal with; but if there is one thing she has always hated, it's pity.
“Let's get over with this, shall we?” she asks instead. She doesn't glance at her reflection over the glass, knowing that her eyes must be red, that her face must be dirty with soot and tears.
She will, at the very least, keep her control. There are things she needs to do, once this is over. Things and things and things over each other. Find out every single person who did it. The why is unimportant when she has already decided they will pay. She wonders if she should be concerned, that she has skipped straight into anger rather than denial.
The questions, at first, remain extremely formal and the ones that she had predicted she'd be asked. Did she see any of the terrorist faces? Did she heard anything? Does anyone have a personal grudge with her or 'doctor Gale'? She answers as she's expected to, perhaps a little too collected but it's not her problem. She pays attention to the questions when Yagami asks about God.
“Beg your pardon?”
“We've been informed that this might have been caused due to religious differences,” Yagami says, serious, but Angel can hear just a faint thread of scorn at the thought of someone being so moved by religious ideals.
She would laugh - here they are proving that God exists, and yet there are people who don't believe. Yes, she would laugh but she doesn't trust herself to stop if she starts. So she crosses her legs, cocks her head to the side, leans her face against her hand, finding her footing at last.
“Do you believe in god, detective?”
He raises an eyebrow, and Angel gives the young detective a few points as he doesn't look towards the mirror, as he keeps on looking at her.
“And unfair question, considering where you work at.”
“Not necessarily. Despite our proofs, there are many who remain thinking of god as a Someone rather than data. Personal beliefs are often enough stronger than proof.”
There's something to his smile. It almost seems patient, almost kind, but there's a twist that Angel knows from colleagues, something other than just patience. He closes his eyes for a moment, then shaking his head a little.
“If that's the case... then no, I don't. At least not in a religious way.”
“How so?”
“I believe in justice, doctor Angel,” detective Yagami tells her, his eyes serious. “And anyone who breaks the law is a criminal.”
“Is the world really so black and white?”
“For me, it is. If I was to believe in a god that allows crimes to happen just because it's 'free will', then there would be no sense in having laws,” Yagami closes his notebook and then crosses slim fingers on top of it. “After all, the ones breaking the law would be simply following their will and we would have no reason why to stop them. If everything is ruled by free will, then we shouldn't have rules that are directly going against that.”
Angel doesn't chuckle, still not trusting herself, but she feels a spark of amusement among all her rage. “Catholic?”
Yagami shakes his head no. “My mother was one, but I'm more of an Agnostic, if I have to be anything.”
“'Have to,'” Angel repeats, and the detective raises a hand as if to wave his own words again.
“Seeing that we're discussing religion, it might be needed. But going back to your original question, I suppose that no, I don't believe in a god that is just there. I'd rather believe in a god of my own making.”
“Isn't that excessive, detective? A god of ones making.”
“I don't think so,” Yagami says, his eyes clear but Angel can almost picture how they'd look in a fanatical frenzy, just the needed requirements needed. “The moment people stopped fearing 'god', the moment it became an useless idea. Even now, with your proofs, there is no fear. The world is spiraling out of control, and the idea of 'free will' that this god seems to give is not enough.”
Angel is almost certain that David would not have approved of that idea, despite the fact that she can't find fault into that argument. But then again, David had liked if not everyone almost, and even of those he didn't agree with, he'd had a kind word. Even at the end, he had asked for forgiveness and.
Jenna draws a harsh breath and she blinks quickly, trying to stop the tears that are trying to betray her. She knows that Yagami takes notice of her moment of weakness, but at the very least he doesn't mention her tears and he doesn't offer her a handkerchief, allows her the grace to handle her grief as she wishes.
“Is that what you believe it's happening, detective? The disease is happening because we don't fear our destiny?”
“Perhaps. What is there to fear when we're promised eternal forgiveness, after all?”
However, his face grows softer then, but his eyes remain professional. Was she someone else, she would be moved by the way his handsome expression turns into a perfect show of sympathy, at the slightly pinched expression that is supposed to tell her he's very sorry about all this, especially about the turn the discussion had. Jenna finds herself almost thinking that it's a shame that he isn't a scientific: they could have used someone like in in Karma Society, especially now. Someone who'd be able to take the emotions other show and use them like this, for his sake.
“We will catch them, doctor Angel, and punish them,” Detective Yagami promises. “Trust me.”
Punishment. Now, that's different. Jenna finds herself nodding, lowering her head as it's almost expected for her. The door opens, one of the Society's lawyers waiting for her there and she stands up. She hears the detective ask the lawyer that if she remembers anything, anything at all to contact him, twenty four-seven, but she puts it out of her mind. No, she doesn't trust him and further more, she doesn't care.
A god of her own making, that she can do. An eye for an eye, her faith for her revenge.
It's a fair trade.