The Devils Cry Ch 1-9

[eiahmon]

Title: The Devils Cry Chapter 9
Category: Devil May Cry
Rating: PG-13
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 daughter’s dreams of a place that Dante doesn’t want to remember make him recall things that he had once tried so hard to forget as the skeletons in the Sparda family closet come out to play. Lost family history is revealed, and people once thought long gone return.
SPOILER WARNING!!!: Spoilers for all three Devil May Cry games.

9.

Lesser demons scattered out of his path as he stalked the fleshy corridors to Mundus’ throne room. They feared him, feared his temper, and they feared the large sword that went by his name on his back. His eyes, such a pale shade of blue that they looked almost white, darted back and forth, daring those cowering aside the walls to step in front of him. To just give him an excuse to use his sword.

He crossed the massive heart chamber and was greeted at the doors to the throne by twin guards who snapped to attention and opened the doors for him.

“Go on in, Lord Sparda. Mundus is waiting for you.”

He ignored then, striding into the throne room and going right up to the dais and kneeling at the bottom step, as he was expected to do.

“Rise, Luxian.” Mundus boomed. “We have much to discuss.”

“Master,” Luxian murmured as he rose to his feet “I am your servant. What do you wish of me?”

“We have stolen the book from your traitor brother’s son. I want you to look it over and decide whether we should concern ourselves with it. Also I want you to do what you do best.”
Luxian, who had grimaced at the though of book work, now grinned instead.

“Oh course Master.” he said with a respectful bow “Am I going after my brother‘s -” He sneered on the word. “- family?”

“Yes, find the brat that was stolen from us. He will pay for his crimes against us.”

Luxian now looked positively gleeful. “Of course, Master. Shall I decide upon his punishment or will you decide?”

“I will leave the details to you, Luxian. You did so very well punishing your brother that I know that you will not fail me.”

“

Thank you, Master! You are most generous! I will not fail you!”

“You best not Luxian. Now go, and do what I bid you.”

“Yes, Master.” Luxian bowed his head and began to back out of the throne room - turning one’s back on Mundus was considered disrespectful and was punished severely.

Once he was out of the throne room and the doors were shut behind him, he began the trek back to black obsidian tower that had housed the Sparda family for generations, his eyes glittering with malevolence.

******

Vergil looked up when he heard the cell door open. He was still suspended by his wrists, and his shoulders were aching from the strain of supporting his weight. He supposed that maybe they were hoping that his shoulders would eventually dislocate from the strain, and he had to laugh a bit at that. He didn’t weigh enough anymore to do that. So much for that plan.

“Do you find something amusing, nephew?” came a cold sneering voice, and Vergil was torn between rage and terror when he saw Luxian step into the room.

“Answer me!” the white haired demon demanded, coming right up to Vergil and getting in his face. “Do you find something amusing?!” Vergil refused to look at him, which resulted in Luxian grabbing him by the chin and forcing the half demon to look at him.

“Now answer the question.” he said in a dangerous whisper “Do You Find Something Amusing?”

Vergil shuddered in revulsion. He hated his uncle’s touch, his fingers were cold, uncaring, and had no hint of the gentleness that his father had once displayed. The remains of his shredded pride screamed at him to keep quiet while his survival instinct demanded that he answer and spare himself a painful punishment. Torn over what to do, he wasn’t fast enough to respond and Luxian slapped him.

“Answer me, NOW!” Luxian locked gazes with him, delving into his mind, forcing what had made him laugh to the surface. Vergil tried to pull his head away, but Luxian only tightened his grip, until Vergil feared that his jaw would break. He let out a whimper, not wanting Luxian to get a hold of what he had been thinking.

The full demon abruptly broke his gaze, smiling maliciously.

“So you think our attempts to torture you are inadequate? Well we must rectify that situation, do we? After all, we must... accommodate... you as our guest, right?”

Vergil’s eyes widened in terror, shaking his head frantically.

“Oh come now,” Luxian said coaxingly “I’m sure we can work something out? Wouldn’t you appreciate an upgrade?”

“No, no.” Vergil whimpered, beginning to shake with fear and anticipated pain. Luxian’s eyes narrowed.

“What do you mean ‘no’? You have the nerve to turn down my hospitality! I cannot let such an insult go unpunished!” Vergil tried to scramble back away from the demon, which was impossible as his feet were barely touching the floor. Luxian snapped his fingers, and several guards marched into the room.

“We cannot dislocate your shoulders by just letting you hang there, so we must try another way.”

Vergil’s wrists were released from the chains, causing him to slump to the floor. Before he could so much as breathe a sigh of relief that the weight had been taken off of his shoulders, his arms were pulled back painfully and his hands were tied behind his back. A hook was fastened to the bindings and he was hoisted off the floor. He gritted his teeth against the agony as the tendons and muscles holding his shoulders in place were stretched painfully. He was hoisted up to the ceiling, and at a nod from Luxian, suddenly dropped. He fell only a few feet before he was jerked to a stop. His shoulders were wrenched from their sockets.

Vergil screamed.

******

Dante jumped awake. He fumbled for the bedside lamp and turned it on, while simultaneously pulling Ebony from under his pillow and scanning the room. Finding, and sensing, nothing, he flopped back down, stashing Ebony back under his pillow, and staring absently at the ceiling. He could not believe what he had just heard, he would NOT believe it, but he recognized it all the same. It was a sound that he had heard all those years ago, on that night.

He had heard his brother scream.

A scream of pure agony.

Dante felt his heart squeeze painfully. Vergil was dead, dead, DEAD, and nothing short of seeing him face to face would convince him otherwise. Turning off the light, he tried to go back to sleep.

Of course, he would have the luck to get insomnia.

Deciding that a snack would help him sleep, he threw the covers back and headed down the hall and down the stairs. Pushing open the kitchen door, he heard the sound of glass clinking against glass. Walking through the kitchen and into the dining room, he found Vergil (his son, not his brother) seated at the bar that ran along once side of the dining room, nursing a glass of Jack Daniels. His hands were shaking ever so slightly.

Deciding that a shot of whiskey was just the thing to help him sleep, Dante settled onto a stool next to him and poured him a shot.

“I heard him scream too.” Vergil said quietly, taking a sip of his drink.

Dante nodded, saying nothing.

“He is alive, you know.” Vergil continued. Dante emptied the contents of his glass in one swallow.

“You knew.” Vergil’s voice was quiet, neither angry of accusing, but it made Dante feel as if he had just been punched in the gut “Why didn’t you tell me?”

When Dante didn’t answer, Vergil looked at him sharply, and for a moment, Dante swore that he was looking at his brother’s face. Then the illusion faded and it was his son again.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Vergil asked again. When Dante still didn’t answer, he growled.

“Well, aren’t you going to answer me?”

“No,” Dante finally said “I’m not.”

“And why not? Afraid of what I might say? You can be such a coward, you know that?”

Dante’s head whipped around to look at Vergil, his eyes glowing in anger over the insult. Vergil wasn’t fazed.

“That look doesn’t bother me. After Luxian, very little can scare me.”

Dante felt that vague sense of familiarity at that name - the same sense of familiarity he got whenever he thought about Mallet Island.

“

Who is Luxian?” he asked.

“Someone I knew before you found me.”

“Tell me about him.”

“No way, no how. I like thinking about him about as much as you like thinking about Mallet Island.”

“And I told you about Mallet Island.”

“After twenty years of being asked, I might add. Maybe once you’ve spent twenty years asking about Luxian, I’ll tell you about him - not there is much to tell. I can only barely remember him except for dim nightmares every now and then. I am very happy with things that way, though I would be even happier if I could forget him altogether.”

“After I found you, you woke up screaming virtually every night. Is he what you were dreaming about?”

Vergil nodded, finishing off his glass and pouring him another.

“You know you are two years below the legal limit still.” Dante pointed out.

Vergil shrugged. “Think I care in this point and time? And besides, after all the hell that has been going on, I think I deserve a drink or two.”

Dante couldn’t argue that point.

“You never did answer my question, though. Why didn’t you tell me that my father was still alive?”

“I thought he was dead.”

“And how many times have you thought that he was dead, only to be proven wrong later?”

“Too many, to be honest.”

“So how could you be so sure that he was dead after you had found me?”

Dante didn’t have an answer to that.

“I didn’t think that you would answer that.” Vergil said, not sounding the least bit surprised, though his disappointment was plain.

“Has he.... said anything to you, recently?”

Vergil shook his head slightly, his hair mimicking the movement. “Not recently, though I have gotten the impression that is because he hasn’t been able to. The scream that we just heard seems to confirm that.” He turned and locked his gaze onto his adopted father. “We have to rescue him, you know.”

“We don’t know where he is.”

“Oh, come now. I know that you’re smarter than that. He’s in the Underworld. Where else would he be? Mundus would have loved to punish him for his failures.” Vergil laughed darkly.

“Who knows, we might find Grandpa Sparda locked away down there too, and we could have a Sparda family reunion.”

Dante shook his head, getting a little annoyed, though he admitted to himself that he had no right to be, that Vergil did have a valid point. “Well, I hope you know the location of a convenient Hell Gate, because I sure as hell don’t.”

Vergil set his empty glass down and got up from his stool. “I’ll just have to consult my notes then won’t I?” he said as he walked away “I’m going back to bed. I have research to do tomorrow.” He disappeared around the corner, and Dante heard the kitchen door open and shut.

He stayed there the rest of the night, absently fingering his glass, wondering what to do.

******

Luxian closed the book with an frustrated sigh. The large book that his brother, Sparda, had written contained plenty of information, but most of it was useless. Lord Mundus knew the location of each and every Hell Gate out there, and that is what the book seemed to contain - the locations of Hell Gates.

Leaning back in his chair and rubbing his eyes absently, he cast his thoughts to his brother. Normally, Luxian would happily forget that he even had a brother, but things like this had the tendency to remind him.

Older than Luxian by a millennium, Sparda had been the heir of the Sparda family, the one who would have inherited the patriarchy upon the death of their father. Powerful and a master swordsman, he had been one of Mundus’ favored, his prized general in the war against the humans. Their father had been proud of him, their mother had adored him, their younger sister had worshipped him. He had been happily bonded to Atalia, a powerful female demon from the Sarcesti family, and the two of them had a son together. And Sparda had thrown it all away.

For humans.

For the vile creatures that had murdered his son.

Even now two millennia later, Luxian’s teeth would grind together in rage just thinking about his brother’s betrayal. Sparda had betrayed his home, his family, his name, and his master by siding with the humans. He had slammed the door to the human world in their faces, leaving them trapped in the Underworld to stew in their rage. Long were the nights that Luxian sat in his family’s library, feeding off of his rage, being kept warm by his hate. Lord Mundus had been sealed in his throne room for weeks, and no one could get to him, leaving the demons listless and unsure of what to do. Luxian swore then that he wouldn’t rest until his brother had been punished for his betrayal. He would hunt him down, slaughter anyone that he was close to and ruin his life. Only then would Sparda himself be taken care of.

Luxian smiled remembering that night forty-five years ago, when he had orchestrated the attack on the home of Sparda’s wife and children. He had felt no remorse for causing the death of the mother of his nephews’ or for going against the long standing rule in the Sparda family of staying with blood, no matter what. He still felt no remorse. He had to do what was right, not what was easy. The human line of the Sparda was impure, a disgrace to the name, and could not be allowed to go on. Luxian had only done what had to be done.

One of Sparda’s half breed sons had escaped, but the other.. the other had fallen right into their hands. Luxian smiled in satisfaction. Corrupting him had been so painfully easy. Drop a few hints about avenging his mother, and steal a little of his soul and volia! he willingly raised the Temen-ni-gru and tried to kill his brother.

That word “tried” made Luxian’s smile turn into a grimace. The boy had failed to kill his brother, and in the end the Temen-ni-gru had been destroyed. The brat had willingly stayed in the demon world instead of fleeing to the human world. Luxian hadn’t been able to understand it then, and he couldn’t understand it now. But they had put his presence to good use.

For the next twenty-six years, the boy had been tortured by demons in the guise of his parents and brother. His memories had been scattered and his body laid waste. By the time all was said and done, the half breed had lost all sense of self and believed only the lies that Mundus and Luxian told him. Mundus had called him Nelo Angelo and had given him an enormous sword to use, and then had sent him up to Earth to prepare the gateway to the human world on Mallet. Luxian had been hoping that the brat would be able to destroy his brother this time, as Vergil was considerably stronger than what he had once been.

But again, he had failed.

As punishment, Vergil had been taken back down into the Underworld and imprisoned. Mundus had planned on leaving him down there to rot, and Luxian had been fine with that. But then Mundus had come up with that scheme.... To recreate the Sparda family.

By his rules.

Feeling angered and betrayed, Luxian had demanded to know why Mundus had gone back on his word. Two millennia ago, when Sparda had defected and he and Luxian’s father had been put in stasis to protect him, Mundus has promised that, when the time came, Luxian would be the one to continue the line. Now Mundus was reneging on that promise. Mundus had punished Luxian for his disrespect, and had been given the task of dealing with the child once it was born.

Vergil had been forced to take a female demon of Mundus’ choosing. Once she was pregnant, she had been locked away until the birth of the child. Once the baby, a boy, had been born, she had been killed and Luxian had taken the child to be raised. He had named the boy Larcersa, and had proudly raised him as his own.

Until he had been stolen away. By his father, no less! Thinking of that made Luxian grit his teeth in anger and slam his fist down on the table. He had taken the boy down to see his father, so he, Luxian, could gloat that he was raising the boy and not Vergil. He had had no idea that the half breed would be unrestrained. Luxian had been taken completely by surprise when the breed had leapt to his feet and attacked him, distracting him just long enough to grab the boy and run. Luxian had given chase, as well as several other demons, but Vergil had just enough of a head start to lose them in the labyrinth of corridors and open spaces that made up the Underworld. Though Vergil had lived down there as one of Mundus’ top soldiers for many years, he should not have known the area as well as he did. He was easily able to lose his pursuers and make it to one of the gates to the human world. They had caught up with him there, but not before he had dumped the boy somewhere, and when Luxian had demanded that he tell them, Vergil had only given them a triumphant smile and said that they would never hurt his son again.

Of course, Luxian knew where Larcersa had been left - with Sparda’s other half breed child, Dante, the one that had gotten away. They had been trying for years to attack and kill him, but he was too skilled and too paranoid. After Mallet Island, he had gotten Sparda’s sword, and Luxian knew then that it would be a hopeless cause to go after him now. With the sword came Sparda’s power, and no could stand up to it. Mundus had ordered that they retrieve Larcersa anyway, but that had failed too. Dante’s house had been surrounded by a powerful magical field, and Luxian had had no trouble recognizing the magical signature of a demon of the Sarcesti family.

Atalia.

Sparda’s former mate and the mother of his son, Akemus. She had defected for no apparent reason a few hundred years after he had. No one was quite sure how she had gotten out, though it was believed that she had to have had Sparda’s outside help. He had probably opened a rip in the seal just long enough for her to get out, and he had then closed it up behind her. She was a daughter of the Sarcesti family, who were one of the magic using families of the demon world. While all high level demons but the Bolverk family can use magic to a certain degree, they are limited on what they can do and how powerful it is. A Sarcesti, however, shatters those boundaries. They can use all of the known forms of demon magic, and their power level is generally above that of other demons.

The Sarcesti were so powerful that the females of the clan were allowed to keep their surname upon marriage. Not only that, since the power seemed to travel through the maternal line - unusual for demons - the family was matriarchal instead of patriarchal. They were rivaled in power only by the Sparda family. The two families had a long history, and they respected each other.

No one knew why Atalia was protecting her former mate’s son and grandchildren, though it was clear from the strength of the field that that is exactly what she was doing. As long as Atalia lived, then the shield would remain. They had tried to kill her, but she had proved just as paranoid as the half breed that she was guarding. Shields surrounded her home as well, and only one of her family would have a chance of bringing it down. But the Sarcesti, following the rule that the Spardas’ had long since abandoned, refused to bring harm to one of their own. No matter how much Mundus threatened and commanded, they would not do anything that would go against one of their blood.

Atalia’s grandmother, Zenedris, the matriarch of the Sarcesti family, had told Mundus in no uncertain terms would she or any other demon of Sarcesti blood obey any orders that entailed bringing about bodily harm or death to any relative of hers. Mundus had threatened to have the entire family wiped out, and Zenedris had responded with a challenge to “go ahead and try”. Mundus had quieted down after that. Second in power only to the Sparda family, the Sarcesti were rumored to have powers that were known only to themselves, and anyone from outside the family who discovered them didn’t live long enough to tell anyone. Mundus may have his moments of stupidity, but not even he was foolish enough to bring down the wrath of the Sarcesti family on his head.

Sometimes Mundus reminded Luxian of a spoiled child. He wanted things to be just the way he wanted, and if they weren’t, or he didn’t get what he wanted, he threw a temper tantrum. Luxian had been warned, as had Sparda and their younger sister Areceli, by their father to always keep one eye on Mundus. His need to control each and every little thing and his tendency to throw a fit when he couldn’t made him very unpredictable and dangerous.

Not to mention that he was just plain stupid at times.

Case in point, Luxian and Sparda’s father. Thinking of his father, Luxian got up from his chair and walked out of the library and up two floors to his parents’ bed chamber. He eased the door open quietly, though he knew that there was no need to. There was no one in there that could hear him. He stepped in, quietly shut the door behind him and walked towards the large bed in the center of the room.

Talthos Sparda lay in the center of the bed, his hands lying at his sides, looking like he were simply in a deep sleep. Luxian cautiously approached him, as if he were afraid of waking him up, and sat down on the edge of the bed beside him. The elder demon’s eyes were closed, but if they had been open, Luxian knew that they would be a pale, ice blue. His hair, white like the rest of the family, was free from the tail that he normally wore it in and surrounded him in waves that went down to his ankles. He looked peaceful, completely relaxed and at ease. But Luxian knew that this was not the case. Talthos had been deeply disturbed by the actions of his oldest son. Not even his life’s mate, Nakisa - Sparda, Luxian, and Areceli’s mother - could set him at ease.

But Talthos didn’t even have his wife anymore. She had been murdered, along with Areceli, by her own son, by Sparda. When news of their deaths reached Mundus’ ears, he had placed Talthos in stasis to protect him. But once the gate between the two worlds had been sealed, and Sparda was safely away, Mundus had not released the elder demon from stasis. Luxian was lost as for a reason why. Sparda was gone; Talthos was safe from him. Why keep him put away? Mundus had refused to explain his reasons and had punished Luxian for daring to ask. Unfortunately, only Mundus, or one of the Sarcesti family, had the power to break the spell on Talthos.

Luxian straightened his father’s blankets, not caring that Talthos was beyond such comforts. He did this everyday, waiting for the day when he would be allowed to awaken. When that day came, Sparda - and his children - would pay for their transgressions.

Luxian smiled.