Instincts
"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
The cry forces itself out of the girl despite the protests of her raw throat. Naked and suspended by chains embedded in her flesh, it's all she can do as the collection of bruises and lacerations across her exposed body grows. Deep red gashes form like islands in the sea of blue flesh, the blood pooling below like an animal being slaughtered. Just like an animal, she is preparing her, getting rid of everything unneeded and transmuting the girl from the wretched spawn of Vuseba into a delectable domesticated pet.
"Are you ready to play nice?" The voice comes from behind her, perfectly situated in her blind spot. Her eyes remain unobscured because she wants her to see how helpless she is. The question is accompanied by the sting of something — a finger — digging into one of her wounds as it attempts to heal, causing her to grit her teeth and fruitlessly thrash about. The wet pop and delighted hum that follow after the offending digit is withdrawn make her skin crawl.
She doesn't even fully realize that she's speaking, for she does not have the mind to give form to her thoughts. Yet, words manage to stumble past her cracked lips. "Yo...ll...you...I..." Barely intelligible and muttered, but repeated over and over with a mad conviction. The last thing she can cling to. Her tormentor yanks her white locks, painfully pulling her head and forcing their eyes to meet.
"Speak up," the woman says. Her gaze is filled with hunger, waiting for something. And it comes: "-kill you. I'll KILL YOU" Instinct is all it is. Instinct directs her punishing glare when the source of her pain is in sight.
Instinct can be trained.
A sudden wave of nausea hits her, and her vision grows darker. Her body refuses to process what's happened, to accept defeat. But the crimson tears trickling from her baleful eye reveal the reality as her consciousness fades.
"Welcome aboard!" He grinned as he snaked his arm around Faisal's shoulder. He attempts to rest his hand precariously close to her chest, but she scoffs and bats him away.
Her third eye glares at him as she sips her drink, judging him. "Make no mistake; joining you is convenient. This pitiful realm of darkness is in need of a guiding light, and I shall provide it. Extending my services to the Yahata allows me to keep watch of the reprobates you draw in while my comrades and I deal with worse vermin."
Such bluntness is of little use, but sweet lies are beneath her. Yahata is of interest, but they would be no use to her if they proved to be more maggots feasting on Youdu's rotting core. Then, they would be nothing but kindling. "I see, I see...so you're saying you dig me! Well, a pretty lady like you is free to watch me all she wants." Hayato didn't seem to mind the threat, but Faisal's gaze only intensified at his apparent lack of concern.
Being the leader of the formidable mercenary group and powerful in his own right, she would have to be a simpleton to buy the act. She didn't doubt that he was indeed a perverted layabout, but if she thought that was all he was, she wouldn't waste time speaking with him at all. "Play the fool all you like — it won't save you from the flames of Naraka." She stands and makes to leave, Hayato's gaze following her the whole time. His true colors would show in time, she was certain. So, there was nothing more but a headache to be gained from staying.
However, he isn't the only one who watches Faisal as she makes her exit. Four crimson eyes devour her, and their owner walks into her path. "Right and wrong, innocent and guilty — why do you make excuses?" Excuses. Such a dirty word for the code she holds herself to, but in Chi Shin'nou's view, it's the only way she sees fit to describe the reasons the supposed avatar of divine punishment gives herself to enact violence. Faisal's eyes narrow, and her hands tighten into fists as she squares up. "You take me for a common thug?" It was a grave insult. An overseer she may no longer be, but her actions were taken because she loved the City and its people. At least, that's what she believed.
Shin'nou appears unbothered by the challenge. If anything, she is amused by the reaction. "Not at all. But there's no reason to feel shame in following your instincts. Battle if it's what you desire." Faisal grits her teeth, and her gaze turns from one of anger to something more akin to disgust. "An anarchist then. Worse than the filth that flouts law to serve themselves, you believe in nothing but going about as animals."
"The law is the law. Undermining it, obeying it, serving it — all are of equal worth, and nothing is to be gained from attaching a moral dimension." Nonsense. Nonsense is all this is. Faisal shoves past Shin'nou. Her eye aches to burn the dreadful woman away, but she resists the impulse. Being a fool is no crime. "Your drivel will hold me no longer. What is good shall be preserved, and what is wicked shall be brought to ruin."
Shin'nou says more, but it doesn't reach her. Her mind is aflame, the chain leading her away.