Madness: DxD

Harbinger's High

A couch that has seen better eternities. A chair across from it. I'm on the couch. Charlie's in the chair. There's a clipboard between us that she pretends not to hide behind.

Charlie: Okay! So... welcome back, Y/N. Session... uh... three?

Y/N: Statistically, that makes this one a bad idea.

Charlie: (smiles) And yet, here you are. Progress! Today I thought we could talk about family.

I stare at the wall. It stares back. For once I'm losing.

Y/N: You sure know how to pick landmines.

Charlie: I know. But you don't heal by walking around them forever.

Y/N: You don't need healing if you avoid them.

She writes something down. I don't ask what. Regret, probably.

Charlie: Let's start simple. Your parents. What were they like?

Y/N: Never met them.

She looks up, gentler now.

Charlie: You don't remember them at all?

Y/N: I don't remember meeting anyone who claimed the title. If they existed, they didn't stick around long enough to matter.

Charlie: Then what's the earliest memory you do have?

That one lands. I roll my shoulders. Habit. Like I'm still bracing for teeth.

Y/N: Getting mauled by wolves.

Charlie: ...Wolves?

Y/N: Hungry wolves. Pretty common back then. They circled. I didn't run. Didn't know I could. Found a sharp rock. Used it until there were fewer wolves.

Silence. She doesn't interrupt. Credit where it's due.

Charlie: How old were you?

Y/N: Old enough to bleed. Young enough not to question why no one came looking.

Charlie: Y/N...

Y/N: You asked.

She nods, jaw set. She's sure of herself. That's new since the last session.

Charlie: Okay. Thank you for trusting me with that. Did you ever have a partner? A wife? A husband? Someone... important?

Y/N: A husband? I might have issues but I'm not that deranged.

She doesn't look amused.

I stay quiet for a while. The room hums. Somewhere far away, someone screams. Normal ambience in this hellhole.

Charlie: You don't have to—

Y/N: There was one.

Her pen stops.

Y/N: Gwyntail. Goddess of purity. That irony never got old.

Charlie: What was she like?

Y/N: Bright. Caring. She believed things could be clean. That battles could end without anyone being ruined.

Charlie: And you?

Y/N: I believed in winning.

That earns me a flinch.

Y/N: There was a war. I was heavily involved. Told her I'd come back once it was over. She asked me not to meddle. I told her the cause mattered more.