Captain's Dominion (Raiden Mei X Fem Reader)

Chapter 15: Different Opinions

[Y/n's PoV]

The next few weeks, I slowly regained my strength back as Kiana and the other Valkyries took good care of me during my prolonged recovery phase.

It turned out that while the wounds I sustained weren't serious enough to be fully life threatening, they still took a good amount of time to recover entirely. I could feel the improvement day by day, but unfortunately, it had still been about half a month until I eventually managed to stand without too much trouble whatsoever.

During that time, I spent my leisure time talking about some things with Domi inside her domain. She seriously got on my nerves some time but I could say that the two of us eventually got along just fine.

I found Domi to be... an interesting conversation partner. We would talk often when I was just relaxing in her domain. Despite the fact that the two of us have some differences and that she could be a bit too domineering at times, we still become good acquaintances.

During these lengthy conversations, I would even start to learn a few things about Domi, such as her true views on humans and her past relationship with the other Herrschers.

"...Hmm, so you see the world in a negative light, and thrive off the hatred of humans to have them become puppets from the past..?"

"Pretty much. The Honkai exists to rid the world from the worthless humans who are only meant to serve us. Moreover, I still haven't found any reason why I should value any one of humanity's lives at all, to be honest." She replied.

"After all, they have only brought more pain and suffering to themselves. And while the current Era has been rather peaceful compared to the past ones, that doesn't change the fact that humans are nothing more than mere maggots that live on this planet."

She said the last line with a very spiteful tone that made it very clear just how she really thought of humans in general.

I sighed.

We've been having the same conversation with our different ideals on this topic for quite some time now.

It was indeed no secret that the two of us had a habit of going back to our old discussions as this topic has been brought up several times before. I knew for a fact that Domi would never be convinced to change her ideals, as she has already made it clear multiple times over how firmly she stood with her own beliefs.

It was quite evident that the two of us were bound to have conflicting thoughts on this matter, so it may have been better to just agree to disagree for the umpteenth time at this point rather than dragging on the same debate again.

"Your 'belief' is the reason why Kiana had the chance to eliminate you during that time. Shouldn't you at least view us humans on a different path by now?"

Domi stayed silent for a few seconds as she took some time to process my words.

"...Humanity can be given a change of path or whatever you wanna call it. However, it's inevitable that they'll never be capable of staying in that path for long, as there may come a time when they may be faced with a very painful and unfortunate experience..."

I nodded, understanding what she meant.

"I know what you mean since you tried to thrive off the hatred of humans to let them become your puppet, only to be defeated after a single person whose beliefs are the opposite of yours. But since you have given the chance to 'live' to this world again, why don't you try proving it wrong by changing yourself?"

"...."

Huh, did I hit a nerve? She seemed to be quieter than usual. It was obvious just how tough it was for Domi to even consider this idea as she clearly didn't see herself changing her core ideals whatsoever. However, that didn't stop her from replying back to continue our discussion.

"I could potentially try what you proposed to do. However, that can be said to be easier said than done, Captain. Can you really guarantee that my faith in humanity will be rewarded?"

I nodded almost immediately.

"Of course, I'm here as your vessel and you already prove it to me that you could keep your word. After I let you use my body during that time, you protected Mei when we were outnumbered by the honkai beasts in that facility rather than opposing my will and doing the opposite instead."

She seemed fairly surprised by my straightforward answer which made her think for a long moment. In the end, she decided to give the answer that I expected to hear.

"...Fine. Since you have proven yourself to be honest in your intentions when it comes to me... I shall be giving humanity one more chance to show that they can change for the better."

"However..."

"If they were to fall down the dark path again... then I will not be holding back this time, Captain. I cannot guarantee that I'll change my beliefs after this, but I will at least listen to your side on this topic. That... should be a fair compromise for the time being, wouldn't you agree?"

I nodded again.

"I can work with it. Even though humans couldn't erase what you called hatred inside them, there are still other emotions that could surpass it and help them get back up. I'm sure you still got a long road ahead of you to fully understand human emotions, but now that we are connected to one another, perhaps I'll be here to serve as your guide as well."

Domi gave one final nod to this compromise as she then turned her sight away from me momentarily.

"And I suppose that might be necessary, considering how unfamiliar I am with humanity as a whole. Even though I still hold a negative bias towards their general existence, this could be one way to get me started on changing that belief system of mine... although I don't entirely have faith for this outcome to work. My lack of trust towards humans is still very strong, despite the fact that you seem to have faith that humanity will succeed."

I think for a moment before tapping my chin.

"Then would you try to place your trust in me first..?"

"Oh?"

She seemed curious when I said that as I seemed to be making a pretty important suggestion.

"I guess that would be a start... I have come to realize that out of all the humans out there, you are the most interesting one I have interacted with so far. Although I must say that I find my faith in humans to be more fragile than a house of glass, if I'm honest. They could shatter at any moment, if you get what I mean by that..."

"Of course," I replied. "Now from this day fourth I consider you as my other half."

She just raised an eyebrow in response then looked away again.

"...You're already so quick to make such a judgement, aren't you Captain? What if I told you that what I'm trying to do right now is to manipulate your mind and make you vulnerable so that you will just submit to me in the future?"

I only looked at her indifferently before grabbing her hand and clasped it with mine.

"If so then you would've done it long ago. But you didn't. And even if you are, then this is still my choice for placing my own trust in you as well, is it not?"

Her eyes merely narrowed and looked down as she felt the warm touch of my hand upon hers. She then gave out a soft, but rather uncertain chuckle as she saw how easily I was to trust her in comparison to normal humans.

"Hmph... I'm somewhat surprised that you were willing to place such blind trust in me, despite already knowing that I am a Herrscher. But I guess you did have a point in the fact that I had other opportunities to do this in the past, yet I haven't..."

She cleared her throat.

"Well then, I looked forward to where our connection goes with this one, Captain."