The Devils Cry Part 2-6

[eiahmon]

Title: The Devils Cry Part 2
Author: Eiahmon
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.

6.

“Damn!” Alastair cursed, staring at the silent phone “Three damn days and not one single phone call. This is getting ridiculous.” She gave the phone a hard glare, as if doing so would miraculously make it ring. She kicked her feet up on the desk and sighed, looking out the windows and seeing nothing but the light rains that had been going on for the past week or so. “I guess not even demons like going out in bad weather.” Hearing what she had said, Dante chuckled as he stepped through the door that led to the small kitchen in the back of his Devil May Cry office.

“What in the nine levels is holding up our business, Dad?” she growled. She hated it when he got a laugh at her expense. Dante gestured for her to get up out of his chair and go sit in her own. Once she had moved and he had settled back into his chair and put his feet up on the desk, he said quietly:

“Mundus is planning something.”

Alastair raised one eyebrow. “You said that last year, and nothing happened.”

“Think about that though. What happened last year?”

“Oh, let’s see. Vergil’s girlfriend’s family was murdered. Your office was trashed... again. Grandpa Sparda’s book was stolen. And Uncle Vergil appeared. Did I get it all?”

Dante nodded, apparently expecting her to say more. She thought about it for a moment.

“Oh, I get it. Events were building up to something, but things ground to a halt after Uncle Vergil appeared.”

“Exactly.” Dante smirked. “For whatever reason, your uncle’s reappearance upset whatever plans Mundus had.”

“But Uncle Vergil was a prisoner, nothing more, nothing less. How could have his escape into the human world upset Mundus’ plans?”

“If I’ve got Mundus read right, he probably had all of these neat little schemes planned out. When Vergil managed to make it to safety in Lar’cincel, it upset those plans and forced Mundus to rethink what he was going to do, and make an allowance for possible interference. When Vergil escaped back into the human world, with the help of the Sarcesti family, it threw his newly tweaked plans into a mess. So he had to make new plans all over again, since I’m willing to bet that anything major, like opening a large gate to the human world, requires the help of the Sarcestis. Well, they’ve betrayed him; he’s not going to use them unless he had no other option. So, Alastair do you see what I’m saying?”

She thought about it for a second and busted out laughing. “Uncle Vergil set off a chain reaction with his escape and screwed up all of dear ol’ Mundus’ plans. Good on him.”

“Yeah, I’ll have to buy him a beer sometime.”

Alastair’s laughter abruptly choked off. Dante looked at her in concern.

“Are you alright?” he asked “What happened?”

Coughing still, she couldn’t answer him, prompting him to get out of his chair and walk over to her. She waved him away. Once she got her breath back, she sighed.

“No, Dad, you won’t be buying Uncle Vergil any beers anytime soon.”

His eyes narrowed. “Why not?”

“You know the Lerkahm that you inherited from your dad?”

“What about it?”

“He’s been drinking it. Alot of it.”

“How much is alot?”

“At least a bottle and a half, I think.”

“WHAT!” Dante jumped up from his chair, knocking it over as he did. “Is he insane?!”

“

I asked him the same thing. I also asked if he was out to kill himself or something. I didn’t like his response.”

“What did he say?”

“He said ‘Maybe I am out to kill myself. What purpose do I really serve here?’ He then admitted that he was losing his mind.”

Dante closed his eyes and sighed. “Damn it.” he whispered to himself.

“I think I’m losing him, Alastair.” he said heavily.

“I don’t think that he was ever found, Dad.” she replied.

“That’s probably true.” He sighed. “I just wish that there was something that I could do for him.”

“I think, from what he said to me, last night, that only Grandpa Sparda could do that.”

“He was always closer to Dad. I was the mama’s boy.” Dante smiled a tiny bit. Alastair chuckled. She was only vaguely aware of the hairs on the back of her neck standing up.

Dante’s head shot up, and he stared hard at the front doors. Alastair, noticing her senses going on alert, did the same. They saw a shadow silhouetted against the doors, just before they opened, admitting a tall figure with short white hair and eyes that appeared to be white.

“Got the password?” Dante said coolly, his demonic senses screaming a warning as his eyes fell on the two short swords the person carried on each hip as well as the hand and a half sword strapped to his back. Something about this demon was familiar, and it unnerved him and filled him with a sense of dread.

“Dante, Son of Sparda?” the stranger asked, running his long thin fingers across the desktop, reminding Dante sharply of how Arkham had done the same thing just before....!

The stranger grabbed the edge of the desk and flipped it up into the air a split second before Dante realized he would.

“I hate it when people visit me in the office.” he said, annoyed, as his desk crashed to the floor “I go through far too many desks because of that.” Alastair had just enough time to smile at her father’s joke before a hoard of lesser demons swarmed in through the open doors.

“Didn’t we do this last year?” she asked.

“We haven’t had a complete year until someone attempts to trash my office.”

“And succeeds.”

“That sounds about right.”

“Well, then shall we get down to business?” Alastair asked, drawing the Alastor.

“It’s not like we have anything else to do.” Dante summoned the Force Edge to him and easily vaulted over the fallen desk and stood in front of the stranger that had invaded the office. Alastair joined him there, her eyes darting around the large room as to not lose sight of any of the demons within.

“Where is the book?” the strange man asked.

“What book?” Alastair asked, playing innocent.

“Don’t play games with me little girl. You know which book I speak of. The one your traitorous grandfather wrote, the one your half breed uncle stole from me.”

“You mean after your little friends stole it from us.” Dante added.

“Of course,” the man shrugged “I couldn’t let such a valuable book fall into the hands of Sparda’s filthy mixed blood children now could I? Though I must admit, I underestimated my brother -”

“Brother?” Dante and Alastair said at the same time.

“- for he was more clever than I thought when he hid the book, safely in the hands of a human family that he had once protected. Shame that his grandson could not protect them on his watch.”

Dante’s eyes narrowed; it was Adele’s family that this demon was speaking of so casually. The family whose deaths his son blamed himself for.

“I see you know who I speak of.” the stranger said easily. “I was sorely disappointed in them. I had hoped that since Sparda had placed his trust in them that they might at least be able to put up some semblance of a fight. But, alas, it was not to be, they were so easy to slaughter, like mindless sheep, if I must be honest. I had hoped to catch my dear grandnephew with them, but he was out, and was able to do nothing to help the family that had welcomed him with open arms.” He languidly stretched out reaching up to the ceiling, sighing with the many pops that sounded throughout his body.

“Well then,” he said, his body started to glow with smoky orange fire “Shall we get down to business?”

Dante and Alastair saw him reaching for the two short swords and reacted immediately, leaping back, away from him. He smiled at them.

“Oh, come now, nephew.” he said “Don’t you want to take the opportunity to get to know your uncle? Tell you what, you challenge me, and I will leave these idiots -” He gestured to the lesser demons clustering behind him. “ - for your daughter to handle. She has the skill and the power.”

“And if I say no?” Dante said.

The other demon’s eyes narrowed “Then I kill you both here and now.” Dante turned to look at Alastair, who nodded.

“Very well,” Dante said “Shall we take this outside? It is far too crowded in here for a sword duel.”

The other demon smiled. “Let’s.” he replied before moving towards the doors, the lesser demons scattering to get out of his way. Dante followed him, unnerved how they stayed out of his way as well. Normally they were trying to gut him whenever he came that close. He wanted to say something to Alastair, to warn her to be careful, but he could think of no way to say it. The other demon, whom he knew now was Luxian Sparda, his father’s younger brother, was right; Alastair did have the necessary skill and power to take down the lesser demons in the office. He would just leave her to it then. As soon as he stepped through the doors out onto the rain drenched street, he heard Alastair open fire.

*****

Vergil was seated at his desk in his room, absorbed in his studies, when the hairs on his arms and the back of his neck stood up. Raising his head and opening his demonic senses, he was shocked to learn that the house was surrounded by demons, pressing against the wards. Leaping to his feet, he snatched the Yamato off of its wall rack and ran for his father’s room.

*****

Dante stood in the middle of the street, watching and waiting for his opponent to make the first move. He thought crazily that maybe a car would come and finish the fight for him, but he quickly dismissed that. The street they were standing was never used other than by himself, Alastair of Vergil.

He, shook himself; he could not allow himself to be distracted by stray thoughts. This demon was only the second full demon Dante had faced in a real sword duel - the years of training under his father did not count - and he couldn’t afford distractions. He knew the only reason he had been able to defeat Bolverk all those years ago was because the other demon had been arrogant and overconfident. And he knew that Luxian was more powerful that Bolverk had ever been. He was in the for the fight of his life, and he knew it.

“Are you ready, Dante Sparda?” Luxian asked.

“Let’s do it.” Dante replied casually.

“Good, now show me that you are worthy of the Sparda name.” With that, the full demon drew his swords and charged.

*****

Alastair wound up and threw the Alastor at a small cluster of Sin Scythes that were floating around in front of her. She hated the floating clouds; she would rather fight Shadows. And it seemed that she would get her wish. Over the howls of the other demons, she heard the telltale dripping sound produced by prowling Shadows. Wonderful. While Shadows were a absolute blast to fight, at least as far as she was concerned, they could not be safely fought whilst in a room of other demons. They would cut her to pieces the moment she turned her back on them. Growling in annoyance, she morphed into her demon form and rained fire down on the other lesser demons, setting the office on fire while she was at it.

“Oops,” she said, ignoring how much deeper her voice had become now that she was in her demon form “Better do something about that before Dad goes ballistic.” Summoning her water power, which she had inherited from the mother that she had never met, she doused the loose flames and contained the burning demons so not to start any more fires. Once her enemies were sufficiently crisped, she returned to her human form, drew the shotgun from the folds of her coat, and turned to face the Shadows.

*****

Vergil followed his son down the stairs at a near run. The younger Vergil had a firm grip on his hand and was pulling him along as he stumbled along and tried to keep up. He had been sleeping, which he had been doing quite a bit of as of late, when his door banging open had startled him awake.

“We have to get downstairs c’mon let’s go!” His son’s sentences had run together as he had grabbed him by the hand and pulled him out of bed. Vergil had had the sense to grab the sword he had taken from Lar’cincel as he was pulled out of the room. Through the few windows that they passed, he could see flashed of light and hear angry howls from the demons outside as they tried to cross the line that Rachel had drawn around the house. He could sense their demonic aura, and it made him shudder as things that he did not wish to think about flitted across his mind.

“Where are we going?” he managed to ask instead.

“We’re going down to the weapons room.” his son replied as they stepped off the staircase and promptly spun around the newel post so they were facing the door that led to the small storage closet under the stairs. The younger Vergil opened the door and pushed his father through it.

“Vergil, we can’t hide from them in here! They’ll be able to sense us, and there is no room to fight!” The younger Vergil didn’t appear to be listening as he stepped in and shut the door behind him, plunging them into near total darkness. In the dim light, Vergil could barely see his son fiddling with something then a hidden door swung open, revealing a large square room. Vergil was pushed through this door, feeling the tingle of demonic magic on his skin as he crossed the threshold, and his son quickly followed him, shutting this door as well and locking the numerous locks on it.

“Rachel put several spells on this room.” the younger Vergil said by way of explanation “If, by some miracle, those demons out there get over the line around the house, then this room should protect us long enough for Rachel and Dad to get here. They spells on this room are so powerful, they could burn the house down, and we would be safe.”

Vergil nodded, looking around, and trying not to show his fear. His gaze glanced over the numerous weapons on the walls, including Agni and Rudra, which he vaguely remembered had something to do with the Temen-ni-gru, and he received a shock when he saw the portrait over the fireplace.

“Father?” he heard his son come up behind him “Are you alright?”

He couldn’t answer, still locked in the shock of recognition that he had received upon seeing the figure in the life size portrait. He had seen the ankle length white hair and the tall figure with its hidden strength before. It was him; the demon that he had seen lying in stasis in Lar’cincel. Had Zenedris Sarcesti ever mentioned a name? Vergil thought hard for a moment before concluding that no, she hadn’t. So he didn’t know exactly who that demon was, though he had a suspicion that it was his grandfather, Sparda and Luxian’s father.

“Do you know who this is, Father?”

“I don’t know his name, but I think it’s my grandfather.”

“My great-grandfather?” the younger Vergil looked at the portrait, trying to stir up his memory. He didn’t like to think of the three years he had lived in the Underworld with Luxian Sparda, but the portrait touched his memories just a bit. He had also seen the demon in the portrait, though he couldn’t really remember where, and wasn’t sure if he wanted to. Things that dealt with Luxian Sparda were best left forgotten, on that father and son agreed wholeheartedly.

The sounds of more angry howls turned both away from their perusal of the portrait. They turned and looked at the hidden doorway, hoping that nothing was going to come through it.

“I think they got over the line.” the younger Vergil said quietly.

“How did they do that?”

“I don’t know. I know that they couldn’t have done it without help. The good news is them going over it should alert Rachel to the problem.”

“I would call this more than a problem.”

“True, so we just have to hope that the other spells Rachel put up do not fall.”

*****

Seeing that Luxian was charging, Dante braced himself and brought the Force Edge - he had willed the Sparda to sleep so it was easier to carry around with fewer stares - to block what he knew was going to be a powerful swing.

He was right.

The combined swing of the two short swords, backed up by the full demon’s weight, made him skid backwards a few feet as the tremors reverberated throughout his body and sparks flew from the friction of the three blades.

“Come on, half breed.” Luxian taunted “Can’t you take any more? Is your human side a hindrance to you?” Though Dante was stung by the taunts, he refused to rise to the bait, remembering what his father had taught him all of those years ago. Letting your emotions get the best of you was a deathtrap. Shoving the demon away from him, he brought the Force Edge up and used it to knock away the two shorter swords. Luxian blocked with one sword and countered with the other, forcing Dante to jump away or be gutted. Bringing the Force Edge back to him, he moved into a defensive position just in time to parry a flurry of swings and thrusts from the demon in front of him. Gods, he was fast! He didn’t remember his father being that fast. But then again, he supposed that his father had been going easy on him because of his age.

Another swing, which narrowly missed cutting him in half, forced him back into the present. He stayed on the defensive, waiting. Sooner or later, like Bolverk had, Luxian would make a mistake. When it happened, he would be ready.

*****

Alastair morphed into her demon form and glided around the room while she waited for the wounded Shadow to self destruct. The glowing red creature followed her around the room, trying to catch her so it could explode with her in its mouth. She flew up to the ceiling and hovered there, watching impassively as it erupted into a fiery ball, releasing several orbs upon its death. So far she had no need of the green orb it had left in its place.

“One down, two to go.” she said to herself as she released her Devil Trigger and dropped back to the floor. As soon as she touched the wood floor, she rolled to her left to avoid the lance like projection of one Shadow and back flipped to avoid the lunging jaws of the other. While in midair, she had unloaded a blast from the shotgun at the one that had tried to bite her. Blood flew from the creature as it jumped back a bit to get out of range. She heard a growl from her right and saw a flickering, spinning shadow on the floor and she jumped backward again as a Shadow slammed to the floor where she had been like a bladed boomerang. The second Shadow, the one that had tried to eat her, sank into a black shapeless form on the floor and slid up to her, sending spikes up as it went. Breaking into a slow run to avoid them, she ran in circles around it, waiting for it to cease its attack. The second Shadow stood up on its back legs and formed its upper body into a lance that it send shooting across the room towards her. She rolled out of the way and jumped up onto it, knowing that it would be immobile for a brief moment, which gave her an opportunity to open fire on it. She unloaded several shots into its magically constructed body, before it shrieked, and it’s black magic formed panther shape sank to the floor, revealing the reddish sphere that was it’s core.

Hitting her Devil Trigger again, she ran towards it and began performing multiple Million Stab attacks against it. The forward motion of her attack allowed her to stay safely ahead of the black spikes that it was shooting up out of the floor to protect itself. She kept one eye on the other Shadow, noting with some relief that it was hanging back, contemplating its next move. A scant few seconds later, the Shadow pulled its defenses back up, forcing Alastair to jump away, and replace the Alastor on her back. Shadows were immune to the Devil Arms while in panther form. Bringing up the shotgun again, she opened fire on the first Shadow, which she had jumped perilously close to, causing it to jump back away from her. As she stood, waiting for them to make the next move, she wondered briefly how her father was doing.

*****

Dante was completely on the defensive now. Luxian was pushing hard, using every means at his disposal to knock his nephew back. Damn, the demon was powerful and fast! Dante continued parrying, hoping for an opening, but not seeing one. The entire time, he was being backed against a wall. He was hoping he could use the wall to his advantage, but first he had to get to it without being cut in half... He rolled to the left to avoid a thrust and raised the Force Edge over his head to block a swing that would have cut him cleanly in two lengthwise. The wall was just a few feet behind him...! Putting all of his strength into his arms, he pushed Luxian back and run up the wall, back flipping off about twelve feet off the ground, and spinning around in midair, so he was facing Luxian’s back. As he had hoped, his sudden move had surprised the demon, so he did not turn around to block as Dante brought the Force Edge cleaving down on him, nearly severing his right arm from his shoulder.

The demon roared in rage, surprise, and pain as agony exploded in his arm and shoulder, forcing him to drop on of his swords. He had underestimated the half breed; he had not expected such a move to be used, or even thought of. Already he could feel his arm healing, but he did not pick up his sword. He was through playing games. It was time to do what he had came to do.

Dante swallowed nervously when he realized that the wound he had inflicted had barely fazed the full demon. He swallowed again, and moved back into a defensive position when he saw Luxian begin to glow with power. His human visage disappeared in a flash or dark orange light, leaving the form of a demon in its place.

Despite the circumstances, Dante couldn’t help but be impressed and awed. He had never seen his father’s true form - he didn’t count Arkham taking Sparda’s form, and Bolverk’s form had been that of a misshapen skeleton. But Luxian was... Luxian was awesome to say the least. Standing at nearly seven feet in height, with three pairs of horns, and long hooked claws extending out of his elbows and razors on his arms, his hair grew out to his knees as he stretched his wings, allowing Dante a good view of his ten foot wingspan. His red eyes glowed dangerously as he reached over his back and grabbed the hand and a half sword there. When Dante realized that it was an Ensouled, he knew that he

was in trouble. He gulped and closed his eyes for a second.

Oh shit...

*****

Vergil kept one hand on his father’s sword as he heard demons clustering in the closet that hid the door into the weapon’s room.

“They know that we’re in here.” he said quietly.

His son only nodded silently, his hand tightening around the hilt of the Yamato. He walked over to the wall and began selecting other weapons. His father watched him in silence as he took two short swords and strapped him on his hips before taking Agni and Rudra down and placing them on his back. He didn’t think that the Yamato would fail him, but he wanted to make sure that he was covered if worse came to worse. He knew that his father was still too weak to fight, so he would have to defend them both. Listening to the scrabbling going on outside the door, he knew that he couldn’t hold out forever. He only hoped that his dad or Rachel would make it time.

“Get back in the corner, Father.” he said quietly. The elder Vergil obeyed without question, knowing that, in his state, he would only be a hindrance. The younger Vergil moved to stand in front of him, blocking his corner, and making it so their attackers would have to get past him to get to his father. And he would not allow that to happen.

With another blinding flash of blue light, which made both Vergils pause for a bit as both of them recognized the power color of the Sarcesti family, the door exploded inward, and lesser demons of all kinds spilled into the room.
Leaving the Yamato for later, Vergil drew his guns and opened fire on the first wave, determined to take down as many as he could before they reached him. If he was going to die today, then he was going to take them with him.

*****

Alastair performed a Stinger attack against the first Shadow and watched in satisfaction as it’s body turned a glowing red. Good, now she just had to stay away from until it exploded... The creature’s defenses came back up before she could jump away, and she felt it’s jaws reach out and clamp around her torso. She struggled, but she knew from what her dad told her that there was no getting away from a Shadow once it had you. The demonic cat slammed her into the floor several times before holding her upright, reminding her crazily of the giant man eating plant from Little Shop of Horrors and exploding into a fireball, flinging her across the room, her clothes and hair smoking.

Leaping to her feet, she snarled in rage at her perfect eight year record of fighting Shadows unscathed, that was now ruined. Shaking off the remnants of black magic from the dead Shadow that were clinging to her clothes, she ran at the other Shadow, spraying it with demon charged shot from the shotgun. She was going to make it pay for its companion’s audacity.

*****

Vergil holstered his guns and drew the Yamato, slicing three Misha cleanly in two in one stroke. It was only a few minutes into the fight, and he knew that he was in a desperate situation. The large 20 x 20 foot room was packed wall to wall with lesser demons of all kinds. He could take down several of them himself, but with his father to protect, he could not move from where he stood, shielding the corner where the elder Vergil was huddled. He only hoped that Rachel would notice the crossing of the line and rush to help him. Knocking aside several Puia to clear some breathing room in front of him, he drew Bahumet and smoked the numerous Flamebats that were fluttering around above him, looking to dive-bomb him. He hated those annoying little things! Once they were taken care of, he reholstered his gun and drew the Yamato. He then went to work on the Puia. He knew right away that he did not have enough room for the demonic katana, so he put it away and drew Agni and Rudra from his back. Bringing them in front of him, he planted the ends of both blades in the floor, which sent a line of fire and a line of wind racing across the floor, cutting a swath through his opposition, with a yelled “See ya!” from the heads on the hilts. Hearing the satisfying sound of shattering skeletons and shrieking Blades, he turned to decimating those unfortunate to be in front of him, morphing into his demon form to better lay down the damage.

Huddled behind his son, the elder Vergil watched the fight with a mix of fear and excitement. He knew that once, years ago, he had enjoyed the fight, reveling in the smell of blood and adrenaline. Now he was shaking, too afraid to assist his son against the overwhelming odds, and hating himself for it.

The younger Vergil suddenly shrieked, falling backwards against his father, who caught him and looked down at him in horror. The young man’s chest was gouged open, exposing the ribs and his beating heart and shredded left lung. The elder Vergil knew that the injury was not fatal, but it would put him out for a while. Before he could do or say anything, his son’s eyes sank shut, and he slipped into unconsciousness.

*****

Alastair kicked jump off of the Shadow’s head, spraying lead as she rose into the air. The creature shrieked and dropped its defenses, and Alastair ceased firing and launched into a Million Stab attack, watching as the Shadow began to glow red. Ceasing her attack, she replaced the Alastor on her back, hit her Devil Trigger and air hiked up to the ceiling. She extended her wings and glided around the room, ignoring the wounded Shadow’s futile attempts to reach her. When it exploded, she dropped down to the floor, absorbed the green orb that it left behind and ran for the front doors to check on her dad. What she saw made her scream in horror.

“NO!”

*****

Dante flew across the street and slammed into a wall, leaving a human sized dent in the old brick. He fell to the sidewalk and gripped the Force Edge, desperately willing his father’s soul to awaken so he could use that power to defend himself. But the sleeping soul within did not respond, and Dante had the strangest feeling that it was busy elsewhere, though how that could be possible was beyond him. He went to stand up, but a booted heel came down hard on his right wrist, forcing him to release the Force Edge and preventing him from rising off of the ground.

He looked up just as Luxian reverted to human form, holding his Ensouled high above his head.

“Daddy can’t help you.” he sneered before bringing the large bladed weapon down, intending to smash it down on Dante’s head.

“NO!”

A blue clad blur shot out into the street from the direction of the office. Dante had just enough time to realize that it was Alastair before she lunged out and blocked Luxian’s downward swing with the Alastor. The two Ensouleds touched and sparks flew as the swords seemed to battle each other for dominance.

Then the Alastor shattered.

Chapter 5 -- Chapter 6

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