The Devils Cry Chapter 2-23

[eiahmon]

Title: The Devils Cry Part 2
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Devil May Cry and it’s characters and situations are the sole property of Capcom. I am making no money or profit off of this fanfiction and no copyright infringement is intended. On the other hand all original characters and situations are mine so please don’t run off with them without my knowledge or consent.
Summary: A year after the events in “The Devils Cry”, things in the Sparda family have calmed down, well, as much as possible with them at any rate. But when strange things start happening, including a reappearance of Alastair's dreams of the unknown castle, they realized that they still have a long way to go.
SPOILER WARNING!!!: Spoilers for all three Devil May Cry games.

23.

And party they did, for several days in fact. The festivities took place out on the plain, and the lesser demons stayed away and stuck to their own devices. They knew that Mundus no longer ruled the Underworld and that their new masters wouldn't take kindly to being bothered. Talthos, as the oldest demon in attendance, remarked that it was the first time that he could ever recall all seven families mingling together in a single group.

Of course, not everyone joined in the fun. Luxian was imprisoned in Lar'cincel, while Talthos and Sparda debated whether to execute him for familial betrayal, or whether he had just been incredibly stupid and let him go. Aselni Sarcesti had been executed for familial betrayal, and her husband and son were quiet and kept to themselves mostly. Nestor was still lying comatose in his bed in Kei’serse, and Kastor had begun to seriously consider putting him down. Rithas was subdued, the loss of his wife and the destroyed marriage bonds had affected him deeply, and he spent much of his time sitting in his chambers in N’mir’kus, staring morosely out of a window. Thenal and his sister Misa had stayed close to their father at first, but soon they had coaxed him into joining everyone else, if only for a short while.

After a few days, things began to wind down, and the seven heads and their heirs began the long process of restructuring the order of the Underworld, making it like it was before Lemian took over. Rithas threw himself into it with abandon, desperately hoping for some sort of distraction to take his mind off of the gaping hole in his soul where his wife had once been. Contrary to what many humans believed, demons could and did love, and did so deeply, and they grieved for those that they had lost every bit as much as humans did, perhaps even more so.

With their magic returned to them, it was agreed that the Bolverks would retake their former position as the peace keepers, and Rithas and Thenal kept the others amused by morphing into their forms at unexpected times. The roles of the other six families were debated for awhile until Sparda called for their attention.

“The Spardas are not going to have any part of the Underworld.” he said calmly. The room was stunned into silence for several seconds before the others began demanding answers and shouting questions. Sparda held up his hand for silence, and once the room was quiet again, he explained.

"The human world has been home to the Sparda family for 2,000 years." he said quietly "We have every intention of, once things are settled here, of returning there. My father has already stated his wish to go and live there as well."

"What of your brother?" Sri asked.

"My father and I have decided not to execute him for familial betrayal, as he had been led astray by Mundus and had no one else to set him straight. We will not be taking him with us, however, and he must make his own way here without any assistance.”

“So he will retain hold of Lar’cincel then?” Terln wondered.

“No.” Sparda shook his head “Lar’cincel is to be given over to the Sarcesti family,” He looked over at Zenedris and Nasilii. “for them to make their home in.” He looked back at my others. “If any of you wish to give Luxian shelter, then I won’t say anything, but if any of you wish to leave him out on the plain to fend for himself, then that is perfectly fine with us.”

The room went silent for a few minutes, and Sparda and Dante walked out of the room to begin packing up Lar'cincel. Just because they were leaving the tower for the Sarcesti family, doesn't mean that they were leaving the contents. The others carried on the meeting without them.

*****

The next few days had Lar'cincel in a flurry of activity as the Sparda family prepared to move out, and the Sarcesti family prepared to move in. Most of their possessions had been destroyed in the burning of Dali'mare'ne, but they were able to simply conjure what they needed. Once the Sparda books were all out of the library, Zenedris took great pleasure in putting the Sarcesti books on the empty shelves and heavily warding one shelf for the matriarch's use only. Individual families went around, picking out which rooms they wanted for their use as they were cleared out. The biggest change to the tower was when Talthos tore down the Sparda wards, so Zenedris and Nasilii could erect Sarcesti wards. Everyone had gathered nearby to watch the sparks and flashes as the millennia old wards came down.

"Well that just put any 4th of July fireworks show to shame." Alastair remarked afterward, drawing chuckles from those around her after she explained what the 4th of July and fireworks were. The Alastor crackled in agreement, and Alastair had the strangest impression that the bit of Alastor's soul inside was laughing.

Everyone scattered for a few hours as Zenedris, Nasilii, Atalia, and a few others put up the new wards around the tower, so not to disturb the complicated spellcasting. Alastair went to visit her mother’s family in Kei’serse, and spent a few moments with Nestor and Liris.

“Will he ever wake up?” Alastair asked quietly, looking down at her grandfather’s still form.

Liris shook her head. “It’s doubtful now. If he was going to heal, he would have done so a long time ago. Kastor is planning to put him down soon.”

Alastair couldn’t help but shudder a little. The phrase “putt him down” made him sound like an unwanted animal at the shelter. The Alastor crackled, and Alastair absently patted the blade, which usually was enough to make it settle down.

But this time, the blade didn't settle down. Instead it only crackled louder and harder and began to vibrate in Alastair's hand. Liris raised her eyes from Nestor's still form to look at it as Alastair held it upright in front of her.

"Grandpa?" she asked questioningly and spent a moment seemingly having a mental conversation with it. "Are you sure you can do that?" A pause. "Okay then, if you're sure." She stood up from her chair and walked to the foot of the bed, where she released the Alastor. It hovered in mid air, point down, waiting for her to move away. Once she had, the sword began to vibrate and shimmer with a electric blue light. And then, like it had a year before, it shattered. Liris threw her arms over his face in surprise, even as she moved to protect her husband from the flying metal. Alastair, who had sat back down in her chair, didn't move or make any move to shield herself, which was proved to be unnecessary anyway, as none of the metal touched her or the other two occupants of the room.

The light faded revealing Alastor’s silver haired form standing at the foot of the bed. As Liris watched in shocked silence, he walked swiftly to the side where Alastair was sitting and sat down on the edge of the bed. He said nothing as he reached out and smoothed back his son’s hair.

"Nestor." he said quietly "Nestor, it's time to wake up, child. You've been sleeping long enough." He then leaned forward and placed a kiss on Nestor's forehead. He smiled and chuckled, like he had heard something amusing, and then stood up and waited. Alastair watched her grandfather, while Liris stared in open shock at her father-in-law. A flicker of movement from the still form on the bed made her swing her eyes back to Nestor as he came awake with a gasp. Alastor simply smiled before he faded into mist and swirled back into the sword, which, like it had before, had repaired itself. It then floated gently over to Alastair who absently took it as she watched her grandfather.

*****

Nestor was wrapped in darkness and silence. He vaguely remembered being struck on the back of his head but then nothing after that. It was if he had been in a deep sleep a long time. But then he heard a voice, a familiar, loved voice that he had not heard in two and a half millennia; his father's voice, calling to him, telling him to wake up. His first reaction was to mumble about being too tired to do lessons, as he had as a child, and he heard his father laugh before he remembered. His father had gone out, along with his mother, and had never returned. No bodies had ever been recovered. His memories began to race by in fast forward then: fighting with his Uncle Luka to keep custody of baby Hector, the human/ demon war, Sparda's defection, the attack on Dali'mar'ne and Hector's death, Sparda's return to the Underworld, his granddaughter Alastair, who carried his father's lost Ensouled, the treachery of Himar, Mesim, and Exis...!

Nestor came awake with a gasp, eyes wide, just in time to see his father smile at him before he dissolved into mist and disappeared. He tried to see where the mist had gone, but as he turned his head a bolt of agony raced down his neck, knocking the wind out of him. No sooner did he process that fact, than a weight fell on him, and arms were around him, squeezing, and a curtain of red hair was covering his face. He tried to tell Liris to stop, she was hurting him a great deal, but all that came out was a strangled croak. She seemed to get the picture though; she released her hold on him and sat back. A second later a cup with water was brought to his lips, and he drank it greedily.

“How long?” he finally managed to ask.

“Almost two weeks.” Liris replied quietly.

Two weeks! How was that possible? Any injuries should have healed fairly quick, anything else should have killed him.

“Mesim put a power blocking collar on you,” Liris explained “and it wasn’t removed until after you were rescued from the Forgotten Levels several hours later by Alastair and Lord Bolverk. By then you were in a coma.”

Nestor shuddered, and then promptly regretted it, as his head and neck screamed in protest. Once the pain had subsided and he had caught his breath, he waited for the rest of the story. Was Mundus defeated? Had Mesim, Himar, and Exis been punished for what they had done? And what about what he had seen when he woke up?

Liris explained all that had happened while Alastair went to fetch Kastor. Nestor was relieved to learn that Kastor had made if safely to Lar’cincel, and was surprised to learn that the boy had become patriarch. Mundus had been defeated, his power stripped from him, and his body destroyed, leaving the Seven in charge of the Underworld once again. Or the Six rather, Liris explained, as Lord Sparda had announced his family’s attention to return to the human world once things were settled. Which meant that their granddaughter was leaving soon. And somehow, the Alastor sword had shattered, releasing the fragment of soul that it contained, and that fragment had somehow managed to heal Nestor’s injury and wake him up.

Nestor took all of this in, but his thoughts were interrupted when the door opened and Kastor walked in, followed closely by Alastair. Before the door shut, he thought he heard the sound of a party going on downstairs. Kastor grinned happily when he saw his father awake, and he took the chair that Alastair had vacated.

"I'm glad you're back, Father." he said "I really hate being the patriarch. People trying to kill me and all just isn't any fun." Nestor managed a weak chuckle, and Alastair grinned, before she ran back out of the room and leaned over the balcony railing that looked down into the main room below.

"He's awake!" she yelled to the party goers downstairs. The volume level promptly rose several notches as everyone cheered. Alastair chuckled before she shut the bedroom door and went downstairs to join the party. Nestor managed a tired smile as he felt his wife smoothing his hair back from his forehead, and he slipped into a easy sleep.

*****

Within a few more days, the Sparda family had finished moving out of Lar'cincel, and the Sarcesti family had begun to settle in. Luxian had been set free, and to his fury, he was unable to reenter the tower, as the wards Zenedris and Nasilii had erected simply bounced him off every time he tried to pass through them. He'd spent the better part of a day trying to get in, swearing and cursing up a storm, before he gave up and wandered off. He then tried to find shelter with one of the other families, but was rebuffed. He was also warned that as long as he did no harm to anyone, then he would be allowed to live. If he started trouble, then his life was forfeit. Snarling in rage, he stormed off, to where no one knew.

Talthos stood in what was no longer his bedroom window as he watched his younger son storm off in a rage. He sighed deeply, remembering the sweet child that Luxian had been so long ago, and he wondered where the boy had gone. Luxian had adored his older brother as a child, and the two fought side by side in the war, but then Akemus had died, Sparda had discovered Mundus' betrayal, and everything had gone wrong. The fact that the monster responsible for the loss of Akemus, Nakisa, Areceli, and dare he say it, Luxian, had been destroyed was a cold comfort to the elder demon.

A hand came gently down on his shoulder, and he heard his other son's voice speak into his ear. "He'll be alright; he can take care of himself." Talthos nodded; he knew that Luxian would be just fine - none of the lesser demons would dare bother him - but Luxian was still his son, even after everything he had done.

"Are you ready to go? We'll be leaving soon." Sparda asked quietly.

Talthos nodded again; he'd been fascinated by the humans and their world in their younger years, but he had never wanted to live with them. The Underworld had always been his home, but now, with his wife and daughter dead and with one son forever lost to him, he knew that he would never been happy there again. Maybe the human world, with the massive difference in scenery, would help.

He felt Sparda take his hand away and heard him walk out of the room. Talthos took one last long look out of the window at the familiar view before he took left the room, shutting the door behind him.

*****

Everyone - everyone but Luxian that is - gathered to see the Sparda family off. Atalia was also returning to the human world, despite her mother's best attempts to convince her to stay. The elder Sarcesti had given up only when Zenedris had pointed out that the two could visit any time they wished. Since Mundus was no longer a threat and the lesser demons were under the control of the Six, it was agreed to leave one gate - the one in the Swiss Alps - open, so those that wished to do so could come and go for visits and whatnot.

The younger Vergil was the first to step through the gate after goodbyes were exchanged with his mother's family. He had not spent much time with them - sensing that he was not liked for whatever reason - and so had not gotten to know them well. He did not say it to anyone, but those close to him already knew that he was eager to leave a place that had mostly bad memories with few good ones. The elder Vergil quickly followed his son; he didn't want to stay there anymore that necessary either. Dante went next, grinning cheekily at those assembled near the gate. After a round of hugs and goodbyes with her family, Atalia went next,

"To make sure those three aren't causing any trouble." she said.

Talthos went next, after a round of difficult goodbyes with those he considered his second family. He then practically ran for the gate, as if he were hoping he would reach the human world before he could change his mind. Alastair cheerfully gave out hugs to her mother’s family, especially Nestor, who had fully recovered and was patriarch again, much to Kastor’s relief. Then she happily went through the gate. Sparda went last, waving to everyone as he went.

*****

The Sparda family plus one Sarcesti gathered in the gate room at the bottom of the castle until everyone was together. Then they trooped as one up the hidden stairs to the upper floor. There the others waited a moment while Sparda walked around, lost in memories, as he touched different things: trinkets that had belonged to Eva, books, the couch where they had sat in the evenings, and other treasured items. Through it all, Atalia watched him in silence, the guilt at cutting him away 2,000 years earlier plain to see in her eyes. After several minutes, Sparda sighed and said he was ready to go home.

Atalia returned to Dante's house just long enough to assist in the renewing of the wards (One can never be too careful after all.) and then she returned to her little apartment above her magic shop. At the Sparda home, weapons were cleaned and put away, Chinese was decided upon and ordered (Much to the delight of Talthos, who hadn't had Chinese food in over two millennia.) before everyone went off to their rooms to think and rest. Dante, Alastair, and the two Vergils slept soundly, but Talthos and Sparda passed the night, lost in thought of wives lost and lives missed.

Not much was done by the Sparda family over the next several days. With the destruction of Mundus, there was a massive, immediate drop in demon activity, which had demon hunters all over the world mystified.

"They're better off not knowing." Dante said when Alastair asked him if they were ever going to let it get out that Mundus was gone "If it gets out, then you know that someone, somewhere, will get it in their head to take his place. I doubt any will succeed, but I'd rather not have to worry about it at all."

Talthos stayed in his room, staring out the window, lost in thought. Nothing could catch his interest: not the books Sparda brought him, not the human technology that surrounded him, not the movies and TV shows the others tried to get him to watch. He would only leave his room to eat, and only then when harassed into it.

"You must eat." the younger Vergil quietly insisted one afternoon after multiple attempts to get the elder demon to eat had ended in failure.

"Please leave me be." Talthos said quietly "Leave me to my grief please."

Confused at that last sentence, Vergil lightly touched his grandfather on the shoulder before going downstairs. There he told the rest of the family what the elder demon had said.

"Damn it," Sparda groaned "I didn't think about that." He looked up at his sons and grandchildren. "He was put in stasis less that a month after the death of my mother and sister. He had no chance to grieve."

"And now that he's awake, it's caught up to him." the elder Vergil finished.

"Yes."

"What do we do then?" Alastair asked "Leave him to it? Force him to function?"

"I think we should leave him to it for now." Sparda said quietly "Give him the time and space he wants, and if that doesn't work, we can think of something else." Everyone nodded in agreement.

Weeks went by, and Talthos gradually emerged from his self imposed exile. He began to join his family for meals and group activities more frequently, and soon he began to express interest in joining them in hunting down the last of the lesser demons that were still roaming free. He also joined in the laughter when Alastair suggested that once in a while, if the Six ever came by a surplus of lesser demons, to send them to the human world to give them something to do.

Any lesser demons loose in the area were quickly disposed of, and soon reports from hunters around the world began to come in, reporting that demons had all been wiped out. Some of the sharper hunters speculated that the Lord of the Underworld had been defeated for good, but no one in the Sparda family confirmed or denied it. Dante, Alastair, and the younger Vergil were careful to act as puzzled as everyone else. Sparda and Talthos just kept to the background.

Dante gloomily said that he was going to have to take normal mercenary work from then on, since there were no more demons to worry about, and Alastair cheekily told him to suck it up.

"You know that it means no more Shadows for you, don't you." he pointed out, and Alastair stopped in mid chuckle, flopped down in the nearest chair, and started brooding about the loss of her Shadows.

“Now what the hell will I do for fun?” she grumbled.

Dante laughed.

Chapter 22 -- Chapter 24

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