Name - One Shot Companion Piece to The Devils Cry Part 2

[eiahmon]

Title: Name
Rating: PG-13 for mild language
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: One-Shot. Companion piece to “The Devils Cry”. Sparda Achida Sparda, a name given to a demon who would become a legend in the demon and human worlds. This is the story of how he came by that name.

Name

Had he really been this small at one time? Talthos Sparda wondered as he looked down at his newborn son resting in his arms. The newest member of the Sparda family opened his red eyes and looked up at his father’s face in only what can be described as wonder. Talthos smiled at him and ran a finger down the tiny face, wanting to memorize each and every detail of the perfect little being in his arms.

“He’s beautiful, my dear.” he said to his life’s mate - the humans called her his wife - as she was being bathed and dressed by the servants after the birth. Nakisa Sparda looked back over her shoulder at her - what was the human word for it? Husband? - and smiled.

“And he’s all ours.” she said in reply “Not even Mundus -” She sneered on the name of their so called “Master”. “- can take him from us.”

One of the humans servants that was tending to Nakisa’s gown shivered in fear at the name of the Lord of the Underworld. Nakisa reached down and soothingly touched the girl’s hair. The poor child had been captured in a raid on a human village and brought down to the demon world, where she had been brutally tortured and raped before being bought as a slave by Talthos and brought to Lar’cincel to work as one of the family’s personal servants. The Sparda family had long ago learned that better treatment for their servants on their part resulted in better work ethics on the servants’ part

Finished with Nakisa’s clothing and hair, the girl and her companions scurried from the room, leaving their lord and lady alone with their son. Talthos rose from his chair, still cradling his son to his chest, and held out his arm to his wife.

“Shall we go, my dear? It would be bad form to keep Emperor Mundus waiting. He is most eager to see our son.” He smiled a grim smile, which she returned as she hooked her arm in his. The two strolled arm in arm down out of their rooms and out of Sparda Tower. They proceeded to Mundus’ throne room unimpeded as few were willing to risk a Sparda’s wrath, and Talthos was the most powerful of them all. The heavy sword, his Ensouled, strapped to his back was a good deterrent too.

Guards stationed outside the throne room snapped to attention when they approached.

“You may proceed Lord Sparda, Lady Sparda. Lord Mundus is expecting you.” one said as the enormous doors began to swing open.

Talthos nodded in acknowledgement as he passed the baby in his arms off to his wife. Their son might be safer in his arms, but Mundus insisted that a male demon, and a general of his armies no less, was degraded by showing any attention or affection to a child. While their family had never particularly cared what various emperors over the millennia had though of them, as long as their son was young and helpless, he would be in danger, from other demon families as well as from Mundus himself. If the child was ever seen as weak, his life would be forfeit. So Talthos and Nakisa thought it best to keep the emperor happy for now.

The doors opened and the illusion of bright light flooded the cavernous room with it’s giant heart in which they were standing. The couple, with their son nested securely in his mother’s arms, stepped into the room and walked calmly up to the dais where Mundus sat upon his throne. They dropped to one knee and bowed their heads and waited for Mundus to acknowledge them. They hoped that their baby wouldn’t fuss. Mundus had ordered the deaths of children that fussed and raised a ruckus in his presence.

“Rise, my servant.” Mundus’ voice reverberated throughout the large room “Present your son.” Rising to his feet, Talthos took his son from his wife’s arms and proceeded up the dais to where Mundus sat, while his wife remained kneeling with her head bowed, as was tradition. Once he reached Mundus’ feet, Talthos dropped back down to one knee, bowed his head and held his son up for Mundus to inspect. He felt the little bundle removed from his grip, and he felt his heart accelerate. No child of the Sparda family had ever failed an inspection, though none had been born since Mundus had come to the throne - by the murder of his father. And Talthos did not trust anyone that would betray his own blood. Calming his heart and bringing his worried thoughts under control, he listened for any sign that his child did not meet Mundus’ standards. If the baby failed this test, it would be death for him and his mother, though Talthos doubted that he would let it come to that. He would flee to the human world if that’s what it took to protect his wife and child. There were several moments of tense silence as Mundus turned the child this way and that, looking for any flaw or imperfection.

Talthos and his wife collectively winced when the infant let out a whimper at the rough handling, but thankfully it did not intensify into full blown crying. They were both privately surprised that the little one had remained so silent for so long as it was. He was not even a full day old and had not received his first meal yet, as it was tradition to not name or feed a child until they had passed inspection.

After several minutes, Talthos nearly sagged with relief as he felt the weight of his son settle back into his hands and Mundus bade him to rise. Rising to stand on legs that so wanted to shake with nervous relief, he glanced down at his son as he cradled him back to his chest. The blankets were rumpled and no longer covering the tiny body, and even though his skin was the dark charcoal of demon skin, bruising was plainly visible. Not daring to rewrap his son while Mundus was watching, he contained his wince and raised his eyes to look upon his Master.

“Talthos Sparda, your son passes my inspection, though only barely. He is small and weak, but given the history of his family and the power of his parents, I am wiling to give him a chance. He is on probationary status until his third century. He had better show some strength by then or else. Now, what name have you chosen for your son?”

Nakisa and Talthos had discussed and chosen a name for their child as soon as he had been conceived. Now, with that name, Achida, on his lips, he paused. Mundus had just effectively insulted his family, himself, his wife, and her family by calling their son weak. Thinking about this, Talthos abruptly decided to give his child a different name, one that was a great honor to have and was reserved for children that showed special promise. It was an old tradition practiced by the seven demon families. He would give his son his family name as a given name, making his original name his middle name, something that demons did only when a child‘s family name was also his or her first name. Looking Mundus directly in the eye, he spoke his son’s name.

“Sparda Achida Sparda.”

Talthos’ vision suddenly blurred, and he felt a strange pressure in his head as he spoke his son’s name. He then felt a strange sense of unreality as he began seeing images in his mind of a grown demon in human form, leading armies of demons and devils on attacks on human towns and villages. Using his flaming red sword, he cut down the humans with ease as they either ran screaming in the other direction or tried futilely to defend their homes and families. He saw this demon, who looked to be a Sparda from his white hair, presenting his own son to Mundus. He saw that same demon sobbing as he held the mutilated body of that same son, now a few centuries older, in his arms. He saw the demon openly rebel against the Underworld, fighting the same armies that he had once commanded. He fought his way through the Underworld until he reached Mundus’ throne room. The two fought long and hard, and it ended with Mundus falling, defeated. He saw a great tower standing tall in the human world, filled with demons and the sounds of fighting. This unknown Sparda stood in a circular room, deep within the tower’s interior, slitting his wrists and the wrists of a human woman standing before him. Talthos saw him and the maiden, both bleeding freely from their self inflicted wounds, cutting the large amulet used by the Sparda family to pass freely between the worlds in two. The unknown Sparda then climbed to the top of the tower, leaving the maiden dead on the floor of the circular room. He was carrying a demonic broadsword. Stopping in the center of the circular roof, he raised his blue eyes to the sky and shouted for all to hear:

“I, Sparda Achida Sparda, do hereby surrender my blood and my power so that the gates between the human world and the demon world may be closed! May the darkness that is Mundus never trouble this world again!“

With that, he rammed the blade of the sword deep into the stone. There was a blinding flash, and the tower began to sink. Weaker than before, since he had evidently sealed away his own power, the demon rode the tower down, seemingly fully intending to go down to where it came from with it. Talthos wanted to shout, to scream, to do something to keep the demon that he now knew was his son from committing the suicidal act. But he could do nothing but watch as the tower sank lower and lower.

Exhausted from the loss of his power, Sparda sank down to one knee, still gripping the hilt of his sword. As the tower was about to disappear under the surface of the earth a stone, falling from nearby structures, bounced onto the tower roof and struck Sparda full in the head, knocking him from the tower. He fell onto the street below and was quickly dragged away by humans fleeing the area.

“Now, what name have you chosen for your son?”

Talthos was shaken out of the vision by Mundus’ booming voice. He quickly gathered himself together, raised his head, and looked Mundus in the eye, and spoke his answer.

“Sparda Achida Sparda.”

Mundus’ eyes showed astonishment for the briefest moment then narrowed in anger.

“So you don’t agree with me!” he boomed.

“No, Master, I do not. And I do not appreciate having my family insulted, and it may just push me to take my power elsewhere.” Mundus got the threat. If he insulted and angered Talthos again, the powerful demon would leave and take his family with him. And the Spardas, the most powerful of the demon families, were important to the Dark Emperor’s plans to retain control of the Underworld and future conquest of the human world. And if they wished to leave, there was not one in the Underworld that had the power to stop them - or was foolish enough to try.

“You are dismissed.” Mundus said distractedly, waving his hand in their general direction.

Talthos bowed his head and backed out of the throne room, his wife following suit. Once they were out and the doors were shut behind them, they hurried to Sparda Tower, wishing to get safely behind it’s magically protected walls before Mundus’ temper exploded.

Talthos knew he was taking a dangerous gamble. If Sparda failed his next inspection, he and his mother would be put to death, and the family name would be dishonored forever. He watched his wife hurry to get him rewrapped and get him fed and thought about what he had done.

“What happened to you, Talthos?” she said quietly “You saw something. I know you did.” She knew that his Sarcesti blood gave him powers and abilities not seen in any other demon family.

He looked at her and then at baby Sparda in her arms, nursing happily. He saw his son again, once again grown and in human form, standing on a seaside cliff in the human world, his arms wrapped around a human woman with honey colored hair, his hands clasped in front of her swollen belly.

“Two of them?” Talthos heard Sparda say “Two boys?”

The human, obviously his wife, nodded and smiled. Sparda smiled and pulled her closer to him, tears forming in his eyes.

“So devils can cry.” she teased, seeming to know what he was doing without having to look at him. He buried his face in her hair.

“We’ll name then Vergil and Dante, after our favorite authors.” she continued. He nodded, his face still hidden in her hair.

“Vergil and Dante Sparda.” she said softly, dreamily. Sparda’s head came up, looking at her, alarmed.

“It has been 2,000 years since I used my family’s name.” he said sadly “I don’t think that it would be safe to give them that name.”

“Does it matter?” she asked, turning around in his arms to face him and placing her hands on his shoulders “Everyone knows who you really are by now, and they all know all of the names you’ve gone by. You’ve been running from your past for 2,000 years Sparda. It’s time to stop running. She leaned forward and hugged him close, resting her head on his shoulder. He tilted his head and rested it on her hair.

“Vergil and Dante Sparda it is then.” he said softly with a chuckle “Is that satisfactory to you, Lady Sparda?” She smiled and snuggled even closer.

“Of course it is, Lord Sparda.” Sparda looked over at where his father was standing, watching them, and he smiled. Talthos realized with a shock that his son could see him. He looked at his son and then at his son’s pregnant wife. He looked back to Sparda’s face with the tracks from his tears, and he nodded and smiled. Sparda smiled back, and Talthos came to himself to see his wife, still nursing the baby that would grow into a handsome and powerful demon that would later become the husband of a beautiful and loving woman and the father of twin boys, looking at him in concern. The thought that Sparda would obviously let both twins live, which was going against demonic tradition, didn’t bother Talthos at all.

He smiled at his wife. “Don’t worry, Nakisa. Sparda will be fine. You will see.”

She looked at him and then looked down at their son. Sparda looked up at his mother, not having a care in the world. She smiled down at him, and looked up at her mate. She nodded at him, the corners of her mouth turned up just a bit, then turned her attention back to their son. Talthos quietly stepped out of the room to go to the family weapons vault to pick out a good beginning sword for Sparda. It would be awhile before he would be able to use it, but there was no harm in looking. Besides Sparda would be fine.

Sparda would be just fine.

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