Bel Air,

a child's innocence comes and goes like a breeze

Carmyne receives a letter a woman gave Apollo when he was out grocery shopping. She tells her to come to the church on 7th street, she wants to see her one last time before she dies. She doesn’t know if she should stay or go because the woman never told her or Apollo who she is. She decides to go anyways to find out. Feeling uneasy, Apollo, Lorelei and Kenjin tag along.

  Surprised to see an old friend from Gongora, she greets Carmyne with open arms. She’s a nun now. Carmyne doesn’t think she looks sick but she told her she wasn't but her father is; he knew she would come if she thought someone else was dying. She tells her that he is in the upper levels of the church waiting for her. Carmyne gets mad at the nun saying that he is the last person she wants to see. The nun insists telling her that he needs to get a lot off his chest. So does Carmyne. She enters the church and heads upstairs allowing her friends to come with her. Reaching his room she freeze at the door and her hand shakes on the doorknob. All the painful memories come back to her. Kenjin asks her what’s wrong. She heads back to the lower level so she can tell them her story- a past even Apollo doesn’t know about.

  Carmyne talks about her father and how he saved her from a sinking ship when she was five. She was going on vacation with her parents and sister when their ship hit a forgotten water mine. Her parents were on the part of the ship that took the most damage and her sister fell into the water; unable to swim she drowned. Crying, a man notices her and places his life jacket on her. Jumping in the water, he guides her to the nearest life boat. When rescued, he takes her in.

  Lucky she thought since he was a wealthy man, but she soon found out that him saving her life came at a price.  She tells of how she caught him masturbating one night and how she helped him “feel good”. She also tells of how he was abusive, physically, mentally and sexually. Anytime she embarrassed him in public he would beat her when they got home. If she didn’t excel in school he would put her down verbally. Unable to trust woman because of his wealth his sexually frustrations were taken out on her. He never penetrated her but he did touch  and kiss her inappropriately. 

  She ran away from home after he tried to make her take crystal just to fall in love with a man similar to her father. She doesn’t see how much different she is from him. She fought people, manipulated them with sex, left her children in other’s care or let them fend for themselves. She reveals that Seymour resented her because she raped him and that she not proud that she got pregnant with Zane in that manner. When Seymour captured her, he let his men have their way with her for a week. She feels like she deserved it though. Even when he kept her children locked away somewhere, she still assisted him with his greed and lust. Lorelei comforts her and tells her that she never deserved any of the abuse and guilt. Apollo regrets that he couldn’t protect her from Seymour, but she told him that she was the one that kept forgiving them for their actions and not taking responsibility for her own. Kenjin asks her is she really hates him for killing Seymour, she response by saying no and that he set her free.

  Ralph overhears their conversation and drops a bombshell. Seymour’s “father”, Vicious is the one who set the ship’s course and caused it to blow up. Rival syndicate members were tailing Ralph. They knew about Ralph’s research on biological weapons. Vicious was in on it years before then and forced Ralph to continue his research, kidnapping Ralph’s two year old son, Seymour and never returning him. Seymour’s real mother, the jazz singer Zamira Aika Riya, had given her life to bring him into this world only to have him taken away from his true father.

He tells Carmyne that he regrets his actions and in no way should she forgive him for his lasting effects on her. He will always love her and she will always be his child in his mind. Knowing that one day they would be reunited is the one thing that kept him alive. She knows he acted in that manner because he was afraid of losing her like his wife and child, but he pushed her away and he went too far. Carmyne holds his hand as he dies without saying a word. His final words, “It’s funny, I don’t know a single thing about my son, but I know we had the same taste in women.” Carmyne continues to hold his hand, trying to hold back her tears. Everything goes black.

Sequence: "Bel Air"- Lana Del Ray

Carmyne faces gargoyles at the gate of her home. She runs towards the white door and on the other side is an ocean with the souls or her parents and sister. A light appears with Ralph reaching out his hand. She approaches happily, but he grabs her by the hair. She swats at him but he picks her u and raises her into the light. He holds her in his arms an strokes her cheek. He sets her down and walks off into a field of roses. Carmyne follows and gets pricked all over her body. Apollo brings a breeze that removes the thorns. Carmyne latches onto him as the flowers become grass. They fall asleep. A white light circles them and Carmyne is awakened to see Zane and Kalani playing with their fathers. White and black lights surround Seymour who holds his hand out to her.