Placed in the DMC2AU by karaii, following after his comic "Pandora" and ends with "Redemption". If you haven't read them already, I advise you check them out after reading this fanfic since it plays out what happened in between the comics. Do so not only because they are amazing, but also cause "Redemption" is the ending of this story.
Chapter 1 will be rated T, the second one will contain expicit material, so the rating will go up.
Inspired by Vampyglamour25's request.
Disclaimer: Devil May Cry is an IP owned by Capcom. This is a fan story, I do not own any Characters used and the idea behind the AU belongs to karaii. I do not make any money out of this text.
Of faults and farewells - Chapter 1
A sigh played on his lips. Nothing useful in there either. Skimming quickly through the pages with leathery gloves, ancient demonic text passing by in ridiculous tempo, one could wonder how he was able to get out any information at all. He closed the book with force. Reaching back to the shelf, he put the grayed out, dusty tome back at its place. Not like it mattered anyway.
He turned around, back to the door, or rather, what was left of it. The ceiling of what once was a library was blown off, the room's floor covered in rubble. Stepping outside, a small breeze greeted him, ruffling his long red coat and white hair partially hanging down his face, the air loaded with more dust, ashes, blood...
Just another regular day in hell.
He went out and on the streets, passing by the desolated view that once was Capulet City. Where to go? It felt like he already went through all the possibilities of obtaining the clue he sought. Now he has to resort to skimming through ruins for texts that might hold the final piece. He knew the chances were bad. But that didn't stop him.
Matier had given him a lot already, she sent off Lucia to look for it on his behalf, too. She didn't even know why he needed it. It shouldn't matter to her why, just that it's important. She was eager to help, of course. His mouth formed a small smirk, though it faded as quickly as it came. Focus on your goal. She was not important, finding the phrase was.
Right... that's why he insisted in risking his life and went through the hell portal to fend off Argosax instead of her. The fight was easy compared to finding the way back home. She waited for him. Time flows at a different pace in hell, he didn't know how long he had been gone. 5 whole years, she told him then. And Lucia was in the shop at the day he arrived... He felt happy then, even if it was only for a brief moment.
It was a useless sentiment, he knew. Especially considering what he had planned on doing once he brought all the pieces together. But wasn't he the one who swore that he would change, that to bring back the red where it rightfully belonged, the blue would fade forever? He was. And he would put through with it, until the day of redemption.
It took about half an hour until he reached the first beginnings of civilization. The guards knew him well enough, most of them didn't even spare a glance. They didn't mention it, but secretly knew the reason they were still able to hold out in this demon infested world. A silent thanks of sort.
He recognized a young soldier. Shaggy brown hair, helmet on his head, machine gun in arms, a huge hole replacing where his left eye would be, multiple deep scars grazing his cheeks... Poor guy had lost half his face in a demon attack 7 years ago. His parents weren't as lucky though. At least the kid survived long enough for him to arrive at the scene, immediately cutting the demon in half with Rebellion. Recognizing the devil hunter clad in scarlet red, the boy nodded in his direction.
"Hey Dante! Out hunting again?"
"Not really. There isn't much to save out there."
"I guess that's true. Anyways, have a save route home, alright?"
He thanked the kid, the latter returning to his duty. He had once visited the half-devil and asked him to train him hunting demons. A second encounter with one of hells denizens was enough to change his mind, at least. Teaching was not his forte. Especially a human fighter. They die in a blink to most hellspawns, so teaching them would waste his time while he could just fight the demons off himself.
He didn't say it aloud, but he thought those guards were no help at all, a waste of resources, just a vessel to ease the minds of the people living here. Still, he smiled at those that waved at him, participated in their small talk and put his own witty remarks in it. He made them laugh, brought back the smiles despite everything that was happening to the world. Not bad for an imitation.
More than 20 years by now, a few days to add wouldn't matter in the slightest.
Though this area was indeed inhabited, the streets were almost empty. Those passing by mostly ignored him, some intentionally quickening their steps. Fear has struck in the hearts of people, he couldn't bring himself to feel bad about their behavior.
Sometime later, he finally reached the doors of the old shop he called home. He wasn't alone. There already was a motorcycle waiting for him in front of the old building. Lucia.
Said redhead was sitting at his desk as he entered. Her face lighting up as he approached.
"Dante! I was waiting for you. Found something that might interest you."
Sending her not more than a brief glance he slid off his coat, revealing the black shirt beneath that tightly snuck around his torso. Removing the holsters he sat the guns on the desk, placing Rebellion carefully down to lean on the furniture. Lucia stepped forward, holding another book in her hands and in the hunters line of sight.
Curiosity caught, he took the black leathered tome and inspected the outside. It looked promising.
"Thank you. I'll read through it later."
The demoness chuckled. "Later? Are you tired? Is that even possible, you being exhausted?"
The tome landed on the desk. "Unbelievable as it may seem, I think it's true." He grinned.
"My Dante, are you getting old?", she jokingly replied, placing her arms on her waist and leaning slightly forward, only a few inches left between them both.
He joined with an own small chuckle. His eyes did not. "Maybe I am."
Lucia looked at him closely. Some small wrinkles were forming around his mouth and eyes. Those bags beneath his icy blue orbs were probably caused by something else though. She did not know about what was eating him up inside, just that there lied a dark scar in the mind behind the eyes she adored so greatly. But he closed himself off, even to her. If only she could...
The phone started ringing. He let out a groan, but picked it up anyway. "Password?"
Why did he even ask, it wasn't like he would deny the help. But he didn't set the rule.
"I'll be there in a few minutes, tell them to hide and don't start shooting." He hung up, grabbing his coat again. "Emergency. Seems like a few prides broke through the barrier, attacking humans."
Lucia was already holding the door open. "Then let's go."
Adjusting his collar carefully, he turned to his desk and picked his weapons up again. "It will be easy. You don't have to join you know." When he looked back she was already gone. Women.
They took the motorcycle, the half-devil driving with Lucia sitting behind him, clutching his waist to keep herself on the vehicle as they picked up tempo. Every second counted.
The scene that greeted them was death, more than usual. He silently cursed that guy who had phoned him. A few Prides alright. Not counting the dozens of Blades and Flambats attacking whoever may be close. People were running from the demons in panic, only to be chased and executed. Some guards were trying to combat them with guns. He told them to hide, goddamnit.
Not wasting a moment they joined the fight, Rebellion was freed from his back and he threw it, rotating so that it could hit the blades which were about to approach some civilians with deadly intent, only to return to the hunter who caught it like second nature. Ebony and Ivory brought the Flambats down, a quick Stinger to the Prides killed them easily. Lucia was not far behind, throwing daggers at the demons and cutting them down with her Cutlaseers.
It was as easy as anticipated, though the numbers of demons didn't seem to decrease. There must be a portal nearby. The few soldiers left didn't stop shooting, some bullets even hitting the half-devil in the back, which stung, but didn't stop him from fighting.
"Stop shooting and hide you fools! Your guns aren't damaging them!" They did not listen. Useless.
Lucia fought through the masses of demons, killing them one after the other whilst looking for the portal that spawned them. She found it in an alley nearby, some more flambats emerging just this moment which were immediately greeted by her daggers. Quickly, she closed the portal off with a spell. Though many had already gotten through, so the fight was far from over.
The earth shook beneath the hunters, halting them in their tracks. Just a second later several, thick limbs shot out of the ground, the red hunter dodging them swiftly. The guards weren't fast enough. Knocked to their feet they were greeted by multiple insect eyes that belonged to a spider like body, engulfed in lava and flames. A phantom. It charged and burnt the guards down in a single fireball.
Lucia rushed back and jumped onto the creature, hitting it's back with multiple strikes of her swords before she was thrown off. Her partner didn't wait around, wanting to finish it quickly. He triggered into his true devil form, flying over to the phantom, striking from above and successfully impaling the demon with Rebellion. It screamed in anguish.
The black devil jumped off it's hard carapace, raining down a hail of bullets onto the spider. He charged forward with another stinger, cutting off the head of the insect beast.
With the boss dead the smaller demons tried to flee, both devils hunting them down and putting an end to the attack. He de-triggered.
All that was left behind was chaos and grief. Ambulance arrived and helped the wounded civilians, others collecting bodies of the fallen. The hunters didn't stick around for long. It didn't matter that the guy that called him would probably never be able to pay them for their job.
Back at Devil May Cry they could finally take a rest. Lucia slumped unceremoniously on the couch. It were just too many, even for her inhuman capabilities.
"I wonder what they would have done without us, Dante."
"Not a single soul would be left alive." He joined Lucia on the couch, already stripped of his coat and kicking off his boots, slumping against the back and spreading his strained legs out on the carpet. "Besides the phantom, the demons were easy to kill. But the soldiers couldn't even get rid of those without our help. Not to mention that no one could have sealed the portal." Lucia nodded, sadly.
Humanity was lost without the devils watching over them. Since Mundus' attack years ago they gradually weakened the seal Sparda placed on the demon world, resulting in countless demons emerging everywhere on earth, numbers steadily increasing. There is only so much two hunters could achieve.
He stopped Mundus. He stopped Aries and Argosax in hell. Every threat that endangered humanity itself was fought off by the man in red. Without him, the next devil lord would be the end. He was aware of that. Lucia would try her best, but... without anyone of Sparda's bloodline, he doubted the world could survive for much longer.
He shouldn't feel like any of this was important to him, but it was. His goals are set... were set decades ago. It was complicated, he didn't know what exactly happened to this timeline once he used the spell. Most likely, this world wouldn't change at all. And it frightened him, even if he didn't want to admit it. He wanted to correct his mistake, that was why he even considered... Lucia was still here. It would be fine. She would be fine.
"Don't forget the text I've brought, I too want to know if it is what you were looking for." She broke his train of thoughts.
"Curious eh? Alright." He slowly got up with a grunt, his joints shouldn't hurt so bad, they never did before. He cursed his human side, but actually didn't really mean it. He took the book which was left on his desk before they departed, opening it and reading through the pages quickly. He stilled a few pages in. There it was. Lucia had found it.
"Don't keep me waiting here, you stopped reading so... I suppose you got it?"
"Indeed I have. Thank you Lucia." His voice remained calm but his insides were ablaze. All this years of searching. There it was. The end.
The demoness stood up, walking up to her friend. "That's good. I wondered why you needed a spellbook, especially a demonic tome. What have you planned to do with it?"
"I was searching for spells which could help us ward off the city better. Even if it's of demonic origin, we should use whatever we have in our arsenal to try to prevent situations like today from ever happening again."
"Yeah, I hope we'll find a way."
He placed the book down. She surprised him by placing her hand on his, entwining their fingers.
"It was not your fault. Without you they all would have died by now," she said, calmly.
"I know -"
"No, you don't."
They shot each other a look, him not showing any expression. Lucia glared at him.
"You grieve, constantly, but don't speak up about it. You hide your thoughts, drowning yourself in sorrow. Do you really think I would be oblivious to that?"
Green met blue. He retracted his hand, breaking the hold. Instead she gripped his arm, not letting him off the hook. She wanted answers, and now.
"You are a bad liar Dante."
Chapter 2 is already in the works, I don't think it will get longer than that. Feedback is appreciated!