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The Devils Cry Chapter 2-15
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.
15.
Lian Itarls was in his private study, looking over his family’s books for the coming year. While money was not an issue in the demon world, balancing food and other supplies was, and the clan heads had to be careful to not use up the limited amount of each that they were given. The Sarcestis and the Valters could conjure what they needed, so they were exempt from those worries, which would explain why those two clans were the largest and had the highest birth rates, but everyone else had to be careful.
Lian hated to admit it, but things had lightened up for his family twenty years ago, when his grandniece Cele Itarls had died. Mundus had told them that she had died in childbirth, which had raised Lian’s internal alarm. Death in childbirth was almost unheard of in demons, with it happening maybe once every several thousand years. And of course, there was the small fact that Cele had not been married, or pregnant, when she had left her family’s home for the last time. Some ten months later, her body had been delivered to Ma’ni’kelan, and Lian had detected the scent of childbirth on her, yet not only was there no child, but the evidence of one had been washed mostly away, as if someone had been trying to disguise it.
Lian’s niece, Saline, Cele’s mother, had been distraught, and had gone to the Mundus demanding answers. She had come back home a few hours later, pale and shaking, saying that she had been told that Cele had served her purpose and that further questions would not be advised. Though he had not shown any concern over Cele’s supposed purpose, Lian had spent many hours alone in his study, working over the facts in his mind and trying to learn exactly what her purpose had been. What little he knew had led him to the conclusion that she had been bred, and the child had either died or had been taken by Mundus to a secure place. Since any children of Cele’s would be beyond the two generation limit that showed up on the family crest, he would never know about them unless Mundus decided to let him in on his secret.
And humans and demons would become friends and live happily ever after before that happened.
A polite knock on the study door made him look up from the books.
“Come in.” he said in his normal monotone. It was a rare event indeed that made him show emotion on his face or speak it in his voice. The door opened just enough to allow Saline to slip in.
“Someone is here to see you, Sime Kelan.” she said quietly, using the demon word for uncle and the Itarls name for the patriarch.
He didn’t bother to look up at her. “Who?”
“Lord Sparda, Sime Kelan.”
Luxian Sparda, he thought with a growl. “I do not wish to see him.”
“Sime, he wears the Sparda patriarchal ring.”
Lian paused; it was well known that the patriarchal magic had judged Luxian unfit to lead the Sparda clan. If it wasn’t Luxian, then who was it? Talthos Sparda had been locked in stasis two millennia ago, his traitor son had been killed as punishment for his betrayal, and Sparda’s two sons were half breeds with one dead and one living in the human world. Had the patriarchal magic finally gone to Luxian?
“Is it Luxian Sparda?”
“No, Sime.”
“Is it Sparda Achida Sparda?” He had a feeling...
“I would not know, Sime.”
“No, you wouldn’t would you, since you weren’t born until after his betrayal. Send him in, whoever it is. I will speak with him.”
Saline bobbed her head respectfully. “Yes, Sime Kelan.”
Once she had left the room to fetch the visitor, Lian put his books away. It wouldn’t do to allow the head of another clan to see how his family was doing. No sooner had the last book been returned to its place on the shelf did the door open and Saline walked back in.
“The Lord Sparda Achida Sparda, Sime Kelan.” she announced before stepping out of the way and allowing the figure behind her to come into the room. It took every ounce of Lian’s self control to keep the shock off of his face as the so named demon stepped calmly into the room, the firelight glinting off of the rings - the Sparda patriarchal ring and a human wedding band - on his fingers Lian rose from his chair. “Lord Sparda.” he said flatly.
“Lord Itarls.” Sparda said in kind, his voice and body language showing that he was on his guard. The Sparda patriarch was certainly no fool, and he was very aware that most were quite angry with him over the betrayal of his own kind. As a show of that anger, Lian did not offer him a chair or any refreshments, something that etiquette demanded, even in the most loathed of company. Though Sparda didn’t say anything, Lian knew that he was aware of the hostility.
“What is it you want?” Lian asked coldly, forcing some emotion into his voice.
“I seek your assistance.”
“And why would I give my assistance to a traitor such as yourself?”
“Because you may not have a choice.”
Lian’s eyes narrowed.
“Who are you to threaten me, Sparda Achida Sparda?”
“I do not threaten you. I bring to you a warning. Mundus is planning something, and it will affect all of us.”
“What is this ‘something’ that you speak of?”
“I am not sure, though I have my suspicions. No doubt that you are aware of when the six families ruled the Underworld themselves, before the imperial family came into existence?”
“Yes, but pray tell what that has to do with anything?”
“Did your father tell you that the Seven families have grown more powerful since then?”
Lian snarled. “Get to the point Sparda, before I lose patience.”
Sparda sighed. “Very well then.” He leaned forward and placed his hands on the desk, looking eye to eye with Lian. “We are growing too powerful to Mundus’ liking, it seems. I am certain that all of us, at one time or another, have complained about the way he is running things. So what is a vindictive Dark Emperor to do? Simple, he does what he deems necessary to bring us back under control.”
Lian raised a single eyebrow in disbelief, though he couldn’t really refute what Sparda had said. “Oh, really,”
“Really. Think on it, Lian. The sudden mysterious death of the previous emperor, the disappearance of Alastor Valters and his wife, along with Alastor’s Ensouled, the supposed death of my son at the hands of humans when he was supposed to have been safely in the Underworld with me and his mother, the forcing of my father into stasis to protect him from me, yet he was not released when I was safely in the human world on the other side of the seal, the forbidding of my brother to marry or have children for no reason, the supposed murders of my mother and sister at my hands, the feud between the Valters and Bolverk families that not only does Mundus not discourage, he outright encourages it to keep them at each other. The unexplained deaths of Luka Valters and his three sons, the theft of the Death Sentence from the Sarcesti family, the theft of the Pride of Lion from the Bolverk family, the theft of the Melancholy Soul from the Valters family, and the theft of the Guiding Light from the Sris family. Oh yes, let’s not forget the sudden 'accidental' death of Ifrit Ximorn when he expressed concern to the then empower about young Mundus' apparent greed and the theft of the Hellfire Gauntlets, the attack and imprisonment of the Sarcesti family -”
“They were harboring a traitor.” Lian growled.
“They were harboring my son,” Sparda corrected “who was forced into Mundus’ army against his will and who was related to the Sarcesti family by blood. When have any of the Seven turned away a blood relation seeking shelter? And of course, there is more.”
Lian wasn’t sure he was ready to hear the rest of it, but he nodded nonetheless.
“Where was I? Oh yes, the cold blooded murder of my second wife.” Sparda’s eyes narrowed dangerously, and his human visage disappeared for a brief moment, revealing his powerful natural form underneath. Then he gathered himself, his human form reappeared, and he continued. “The kidnapping of my older son and the stealing of his soul, on Mundus’ orders. The fiasco of the Temen-ni-gru, where our world was very nearly revealed to the humans.”
“They’re just miserable little humans.” Lian growled “They cannot do anything to us.”
Sparda snorted. “That may be have been true two thousand years ago, but that is far from the case now. I lived in the human world for two millennia, and they have advanced far in that time. They now have weapons that could destroy the entire planet with only the push of a button or the flip of a switch. If they can use them on each other, which they have mind you, with little thought or care, what would keep them from using them on us if they saw us as a threat? But, I digress. Let’s see now.... Ah, yes, the best part. The murder of Sirce Valters for failing to return, pregnant with my grandchild. Said grandchild is alive and well in Lar’cincel right now, so someone hadn’t intended to harm her. And, of course, I cannot forget to mention the death of your grandniece, in ‘childbirth’. Have I mentioned everything?”
Lian sank down into his desk chair and covered his eyes with his hand. He hated it when facts were so boldly thrown in his face.
“Is there anything else you wish to say?” he asked quietly.
“Yes actually. Your great-grandnephew is twenty years old, and he has no inkling of his own power since the one that could have told him was murdered immediately after his birth. If you wish to meet him, come to Lar’cincel.”
“Twenty years old? He’s hardly old enough to be able to access his own power right now.”
“He aged at a human rate, and as such, he is an adult.”
“Human rate?”
“His father is half human.”
“Half human?” Lian dropped his hand and looked at the demon in front of him. “Your son is his father?”
“My older son is, yes. He could not save her, Lian. He wasn’t even aware of the boy’s existence until three years later, so don’t accuse him.” Sparda took his hands away from the desk and stood up. “If you wish to meet him or discuss what Mundus is scheming, come to Lar’cincel. I will meet you there.” He turned away and walked out of the room, leaving Lian alone with his thoughts.
*****
“Was the Underworld always like this?” Alastair asked, looking out the small window in front of her at the vast plain dotted with five other towers and the ruins of a sixth. She was seated on the floor in a small room at the very top of Lar’cincel, the Alastor on her lap. Talthos realized that she had not relinquished her hold on her weapons since she had come into the Underworld.
“What do you mean?” he asked quietly, sitting down beside her.
“I mean,” She gestured to the burned out ruins of Dali’mar’ne “Like this. Attacking each other, just because Mundus said. Eyeing each other with distrust and suspicion, turning against each other on just a rumor.” She drew her knees up to her chest and laid her head on them. “I may be more demon than human, but things like this make me glad that I live in the human world. You’re all related, you know; you shouldn’t be fighting each other. Yet, the Valters and the Bolverks are at each other when neither side knows why, and none of them have ever stopped and gone: ‘Wait, why are we fighting?’” The Alastor crackled, and she gave it a pat on the hilt. “I know that you tried, Grandpa, but Mundus put an end to that before you could do anything.” The sword stilled, and she turned back to her other great-grandfather. “You went to war against another race, and for what reason? Just because Mundus felt like it? I know the odds were heavily in your favor, but I know you had to have lost some. What was it all for?”
He sighed; she was right. “No,” he replied quietly “it wasn’t always like this. The Six families once ruled this world together, before the imperial family came along. No one knows where the first emperor came from, but he took over this place and forced the families into a subservient role. Leman or Lemin or something like that was his name. There were many uprisings by the Six to try and regain control, so the then Emperor created the Sparda family to protect him and bring the other families into line. But in time, the Sparda family began to resent their role, as by this time they had married amongst the other families and had befriended them. They did not wish to cause them harm. So the Spardas had some of their power taken away and knocked down to the same level of the other families, though they were still left more powerful than the other families. Seeing what the Emperor could do to them, the Seven quieted their anger, looking to protect themselves from having their powers stripped from them.”
“And it has been like that ever since?” Talthos nodded.
“As far as I know. As far as my father knew. As far as his father knew, and as far as his father knew.”
Alastair’s eyes widened with the implications. “Is that as far back as the Sparda line goes?”
Talthos nodded, turning to look out the window at Dali’mar’ne. He felt a painful twinge in his heart seeing the ruins of his second home.
“We’re going to die out, aren’t we?” Alastair asked suddenly.
Talthos started and looked at her.
“Dad explained to me the inheritance of power and all that, so I guess that means that unless you or Grandpa Sparda or Luxian have more full demon children, then our name and our power will die out.”
“Yes, that is true. I can’t speak for your grandfather, but I never intend to have more children. I doubt that Luxian ever will, either.”
“Well, the name will continue on at least.”
“What do you mean?”
“In the human world, children are given their father’s name, at least in most countries, regardless of appearance, so as long as Vergil has children the name and bloodline will continue. The demon will eventually be bred out though.”
Talthos nodded, and they were silent for a moment.
“What is Grandpa Sparda planning anyway?” Alastair asked suddenly “Why is he gathering all of the family heads together?”
Talthos smiled; a smile that usually terrified those who saw it. “He is going to restore the power of the Seven.”
*****
Nestor paced the length of his study. He had returned from Lar’cincel only a few moments before, and he had already been harassed by his older relatives on his whereabouts and activities. He sighed and flopped down into his chair and massaged his temples. He never understood why they thought him unfit to head the family, even though the ring had obviously thought that he was fit enough. What was he to do? Refuse the patriarchal magic as it settled on his soul after the deaths of his uncle and cousins?
Hardly.
He supposed it was a case of the sins of the father being revisited on the son, though what his father had ever done to deserve their derision was something that he didn’t know. He thought that it was ironic that, to humans, his father represented sins of the parents being forced onto their children, and that is exactly what his relatives were doing to him. He knew, of course why they hated his father, though their logic for taking it out of him was something that was beyond Nestor’s comprehension.
Alastor Valters had been born right after the Valters family had realized that they were breeding their power out of themselves. Before that the rules of incest had been considerably looser than those of the other families, and they believed that interbreeding among each other would increase their power. Parent and child was frowned upon, so was brother and sister, but everything else was allowed. Things had backfired on them, when their power had weakened, not strengthened. When they had realized their mistake, their rules for incest had been made the strictest in the demon world.
Alastor had been the product of first cousins, a pairing not even acceptable among the members of the other six families. No one had wanted anything to do with him, with the exception of his parents and older half brother. Nestor was certain that the only reason Alastor had not been killed at birth was because his father was the patriarch, and he strictly forbade anyone from harming his son. It wasn’t until Alastor grew and proved himself to be more powerful than anyone else, did he gain some respect. And even then, some of his older relatives did not like him and gave him grief at every opportunity.
It was those same relatives that were starting to really aggravate Nestor.
He wished that he could have had some time with his father’s Ensouled, but Alastair - he had been amused to learn that she had been named after the sword - had rightful claim to it, and she refused to relinquish her hold on it. He remembered from his childhood how he could actually hold a mental conversation of sorts with it, which he did often whenever he had received a scolding from his parents. Knowing that at least one part of his father was not upset with him always made him feel better. He missed his father, especially whenever things with the other members of his family became difficult. He had been nineteen centuries old, the equivalent of a nineteen year old human when his parents had gone to the human world one day and not come back, leaving him to raise his three younger brothers. Hector, his youngest brother who had died at Dali’mar’ne, had been an infant still.
Thinking of Hector, whom he had raised like he was his own son, Nestor repressed a sigh, considering seeking out his wife, Liris, and going to bed. Besides, he hadn’t yet told her that they had a granddaughter by Sirce. Liris would be furious that he hadn’t told her right away.
There was a soft knock at one of the study’s double doors.
“Enter.” Nestor sat up and rubbed his eyes and straightened his clothes.
“Father?” The doors creaked open and Kastor stepped quietly into the room
"What is going on, Father?" Nestor waved him to come in and sit down, while he cast the most powerful privacy spells that he knew. Kastor looked around at the shimmering spells before looking at his father in surprise. Satisfied that no one would hear them, Nestor turned to Kastor.
"We are going to Lar'cincel later." he said quietly. Kastor's eyes widened; demons seldom visited the tower of a family that they weren't closely related to. And the last direct link between the Valters and the Spardas had been when Tils Sparda - Talthos Sparda's elder sister - had married Luka Valters, who was Nestor's uncle and the former patriarch of the Valters family, and that had been over eight thousand years ago.
"Why?" he asked, genuinely curious.
"There is going to be a meeting of the family heads. We are going, and hopefully, Sparda will convince the others to come as well."
"And... the Bolverks will be there?" Kastor asked, sounding almost timid.
Nestor sighed. "Yes, Rithas Bolverk and his son, Thenal, will be there as well." He held up his hand before Kastor could protest. "Rithas and I have called a truce of sorts for now, so their will be no refusing to speak to him or bringing your weapons up when he or his son is nearby. Is that understood?"
Kastor looked incredulously at his father for a moment, before nodding hesitantly. "Yes, Father."
"Good, Now go, get dressed and collect your sword and whatever else you may feel you need. We'll be leaving shortly."
*****
Terln Ximorn glanced over at the massive table where his entire family was seated, enjoying their evening meal. He absently rapped his fingers on the table, waiting for a servant to come and take away his empty plate and refill his wine glass. He heard the chatter of his relatives and the clinking of dishes against the table when the wards alerted him to the presence of someone at the door. Rising from his chair, he slipped quietly from the table and went to see who it was. He could sense that whoever was powerful, very powerful. He didn’t know of any demon that was that powerful, well expect for Sparda and Talthos Sparda, and Talthos hadn’t been seen in two millennia and Sparda Achida Sparda was dead.
Good riddance, the Ximorn patriarch thought.
So it was with extreme caution that he eased the door open and peeked around to see who t was. When he saw who had arrived, his eyes narrowed, and he growled as his power flared out around him. “Sparda.” he snarled.
“Greetings, Lord Ximorn.” the white haired demon said neutrally “I hope that my visit finds you well.”
“I was perfectly content until you showed up, traitor. You’re supposed to be dead.”
“Never believe what Mundus tells you.” Sparda said dryly “As you can see, I am alive and well.”
“Not if I have anything to do with it.”
“Cool yourself down, Lord Ximorn. If you wish to face and kill me, it will have to wait until after we’ve had a talk.”
“And why would I listen to anything you have to say?”
“Because it is you responsibility as patriarch to see to anything that may threaten your family. And something large is looming. Tell me, what does your family know of the death of Ifrit Ximorn?”
Terln snarled again; his family knew next to nothing about what had caused his great-great-granduncle’s sudden death. What’s more, shortly after the former patriarch’s death, his Ensouled Hellfire Gauntlets had disappeared. No one in the family had seen them in over 8,000 years.
“What do you know?” he growled.
“I know that his Ensouled gauntlets have been found, and are currently in my granddaughter’s possession. Does the spark your interest?”
Terln regarded him thoughtfully for a moment before stepping back and opening the door all the way. “Come in.”
Chapter 14 -- Chapter 16
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