Summary: Dante never felt remorse over the Night of Fang and Fire— after all, he only did what was necessary. But when he takes bullet to the back and Cobalt's underground is the one to keep him from dying then and there, he has to re-evaluate his life decisions. Before the end of the world, hopefully.
Disclaimer: Yes, I'm still doing this because I'm paranoid. I'm not Julie Kagawa. I don't own Talon. I'm just some kid with a laptop. No money is being made (although that would be great).
Pre-story Notes (This is where the Inferno spoilers start): This is the fix-it fic that I promised my friends, where Dante gets to be redeemed without getting his chest ripped open. I started this about two months before Inferno came out, so obvious canon-divergence, blatant manipulation/disregard of the Inferno timeline as I see fit, but there will be spoilers. I have everything of the first part (there may be more, maybe not, depends on feedback) written out, so it will just be a case of editing and remembering to post. Either way, it won't be abandoned.
Without further ado, There's a Devil in the Church
Chapter 1 (Dante)
Everything hurt, so much that he couldn't process anything else. He was bleeding. He was drowning. He was burning. And everything in his vision went spinning into white, bright and blinding and overwhelming, leaving him only with the pain pain pain from from his chest to his back, radiating down his spine until it was all that he knew. He was on fire. He had to be on fire.
This was what dying felt like.
"Shite, we're not just leaving him! He may be a murderous bastard, but he's still Ember's brother!"
Darkness. Pain. Burning, pressure, pain, fear and adrenaline, but he felt imobile, trapped inside of his body that hurt too much to move, barely clinging onto consciousness. He didn't know where he was, or what was happening. He tried to open his eyes, but he realized that they were already open. It was foggy and black, all that he could process was what he could feel, and that was only pain.
"Dante, I'm putting Ember on the phone. She's going to talk with you, try to pay attention to her."
And then he was numb. He couldn't feel his pain anymore, he couldn't find his body, he could barely string together his thoughts. He might be in danger. He might be afraid. But… it was so hard… to… to…
"Ember, you can't give any more of your blood, you'll pass out. I don't want to have to take care of both of you."
"He still looks so pale… is he going to make it out?"
"I don't know."
"Dammit Dante…"
He wasn't sure how long he existed there before the dark numbness gave way to a blunt pain and blurry light. His ears started to ring, and he still couldn't make out any details with his eyes. He tried to lift his arm and groaned slightly when his body protested. Human body— he was human, laying on his back, a blanket pulled up to his chest. Where was he? What had happened? Why did everything…
A shape appeared beside him, and for a moment he swore it was Ember. But she was a rogue, so there was no way she could be with him, wherever he was. He still tried to lift his arm to grab at her, but his arm couldn't find the strength to rise off of whatever he was laying on. The ringing in his ears was getting less intense, leaving him able to hear what not-Ember was saying.
"...Because he's the person who saved Dante's life, is why! If anyone has a chance of explaining what happened, let alone convincing him not to do anything stupid, it would be a damn medic in this place. Please?"
His vision sharpened. It was definitely Ember, and it didn't look like a hallucination. He took a sharper breath and felt his ribs grate against each other in protest. His heart picked up. He couldn't move. It hurt to breathe. And Ember was sitting beside him.
Dante thought back, racking his brain for the last thing that he remembered. He… he was on his way to China, he was pretty sure, but there was a detour to Chicago because he had to speak with the Archivist. A simple inquiry over how Cobalt had gotten information about the Patriarch, because he shouldn't have known any of that. He had made it to the airport, and then his hotel.
His heart pounded against his chest and he heard himself inhale sharply. Mist had been there, in his room, along with Cobalt. His memory blanked out just about around there, but he could guess what happened.
"Oh god," he heard himself whisper. "Oh my god."
"Dante, thank god you're awake!" Ember looked at him and smiled at him. "How are you feeling?"
"Where am I? Where are my bodyguards? What did you do to me?" He clenched his fists and tried to raise himself again, but his back cramped up and kept him immobile before his could even get onto his elbows. Ember winced. "Ember, what did you let Cobalt do to me?"
The door opened. Dante looked past Ember as a human walked into the room. He looked around college-aged, maybe a bit older, with brown hair and dark circles under his eyes. He was carrying a white box, which looked like a first aid kit.
"So he is awake," the human said. His voice had a harsh British accent, grating and unprofessional. "So are you going to go to sleep now, Ember, or will I actually have to go through with my threat of drugging you?"
"Who are you?" Dante asked and tried to sit up again. His ribs grated against each other again. He decided that it would probably be best to stop moving.
"I'm the lucky bastard who dug a bullet out of your chest. Ember, go to bed."
"But Dante—"
"I'm not going to suffocate the bastard just because you decided to lay down. It's been two days— if I were going to kill him, he'd be dead. Please go to bed so I won't have to worry about you, too."
"I'm not tired."
"You're a bloody liar is what you are," the man muttered and shook his head, but didn't repeat his order. He sat down next to Dante. Dante felt his lips curl into a snarl as the human took his hand, which he could see had an IV attached to it. "Don't give me that, Talon—"
"Who are you?" Dante growled. "If you and Cobalt are hoping to blackmail Talon or get any information, you won't succeed." He felt a dull pain in his hand as the human injected something into the IV. "What are you doing?" He felt smoke rise in his chest and fingernails harden into claws. The human didn't flinch, only slapping his wrist.
"If you shift, you will not only tear your stitches and bleed out in approximately a minute, but you could puncture your lungs with your broken ribs, and probably cause a bullet to sever your spinal cord. I wouldn't recommend it," he said. Dante's eyes widened. "Seriously, I'm not kidding. You're healing very slowly, for some reason. I can't believe you still have to have stitches."
"What did you do to me?" Dante repeated again. He knew that he was starting to sound like a broken record, he wanted answers. He didn't know where he was, or who his human was, or even what landed him in this situation. All that he knew was that it hurt and he couldn't move.
"You got shot," the human supplied. "Stop squirming, I'm not going to hurt you. I'm clearing your IV so I can safely remove it. I highly doubt that you actually want a needle in your hand."
"I— I want to talk to Cobalt."
"He's busy."
"Let me talk to Cobalt," Dante kept his voice from shaking and hardened his eyes, letting a snarl form at his lips to hide the panic rolling off of him in waves. Most humans would have immediately dropped their gaze and complied, knowing how powerful he was, but this human only tightened his grip on his hand and took the IV needle out. He taped a bandaid over his hand and met his gaze, smiling coldly.
"No."
"Then who's his second in command? I want to speak with them," he said. The human smirked, but stayed silent.
Dante took a breath and tried to sit up again. He got a bit further, but then something in his back jolted and sent electricity down his spine. He screamed and fell back down.
"Stop, Dante. You took a lot of damage, and there's still a bullet in you, against your spine. You can't move too much."
"Ember, what did you—" He blinked, finally registering what she had just said. "There's a what in me?" He took a few breaths and clenched his fists to keep his hands from shaking. "Do you people not know how damaging leaving a bullet inside a dragon can be?"
"I'm not an amateur, Dante," the human scoffed. "It won't be an issue unless you shift."
"Oh god," he whispered again and closed his eyes. He was trapped. Cobalt and his rogues had him at their complete mercy, and he couldn't detect a lie in that human's voice. There was a bullet near his spine that would kill him if he shifted.
Maybe they're lying. He can't be serious, can he? They wouldn't actually leave a bullet in, I can't stay human forever. I can't. I need to get away, I need to escape I—
"I'm going to check your wounds for infection," the human said.
"Don't touch me, mortal!"
"Bloody hell, I haven't gotten that one for nearly twelve years," the human rolled his eyes. "I almost forgot how uninsulting it was. Look, Dante, I am the only medic in the area other than Cobalt, who doesn't know nearly as much as I do. You still can barely raise your own head. You can either let me do my job or get sepsis. Something which, by the way, I don't know how to treat. Okay? Okay."
Dante forced his expression to go neutral and shrugged as best he could. He tried to ignore the human as he worked, unbuttoning his shirt and peeling the bandages off of his chest.
"So I'm your prisoner now?" Dante looked over to Ember, forcing his voice to be calm. "Locked up and incapacitated? What do you hope to accomplish by this, other than making the organization more angry?"
"Talon already wants us all dead, I don't think this is exactly a tipping point. Besides, you did send vessels after all of the safehouses. You did let Cobalt and Garret to be tortured. You did hand me over to the Elder Wyrm to be killed," she said coldly. Dante furrowed his eyebrows— that wasn't right."I wish that I didn't have to fight you, Dante. And right now, it's pointless. I don't expect for us to see eye-to-eye on anything, but I'm begging you to—"
"What? To sit here compliant?" he scoffed. "You would see your own brother imprisoned like an animal."
"You would see your own sister slaughtered?" Ember asked and clenched her fists. "Look, Dante. Just stay put, okay? Be somewhat agreeable with Wes."
"Who's Wes?" Dante asked.
"I'm Wes," the human sighed. "As lovely as this conversation is, could you try to hold still during it? I may not have a hoard of money as dragons prefer, but I do have an astonishing amount of ketamine, and I will drug you unconscious."
Dante felt some of the blood drain from his face. He nodded stiffly— he really was at their mercy. He couldn't shift. He couldn't get out of bed. He couldn't even raise his head. The human could drug him if he acted out. And everything hurt.
"Try to take some time to recover before you go off trying to kill us, okay?" Ember continued, pushing some hair out of his face in an almost-caring manner. As if she ever cared for him. She had always only looked out for herself, leaving him in the dust as soon as it was convenient.
He would get out of this. He'd get back to Talon. And then he'd destroy this underground, once and for all.
If he could just move.
"Where am I?" Dante finally asked again, trying to find a window to look out of. It was covered with a thick curtain, letting in almost no natural light. The room was mostly bare— only one other bed, vacant, a dresser with a cracked mirror, and a closed door that probably led to the hallway. "And when can I speak to Cobalt?"
"You're in an isolated area with a few other hatchlings. It's a safe place, and there's not too much of a chance of Talon sending in any vessels to torch the building," Ember said. "As for when you can talk to Cobalt, I don't know. He's pretty busy. But you can ask Wes just about anything and he'll know. He probably won't say much, but..."
"Are you seriously passing off your homicidal brother onto me?" Wes asked and as Dante repressed a groan.
"What would the human know enough to answer—"
"I'm the one who's been working with Cobalt for the past twelve years, you bloody brat. I'm going to lift you up a bit to try and assess the damage to your spine, please be cooperative. Ember, could you support his lower back?" The human interrupted and slid his hand under his back to support him. Dante jolted and tried to roll off of the cot. He almost succeeded too, before Ember stabilized him and helped lift him up. His back screamed and protested, sending currents around his ribs and down to his legs.
"Do— don't touch me," he gasped. Ember finally got him into a semi-sitting position and the worst of the pain faded, leaving him thoroughly uncomfortable and panicked, but able to process more than the burning in his back and chest. The human made quick work of an exit wound that had torn through his ribs and rebandaged it before applying slight pressure on his mid back. Dante hissed and clenched his fists.
"The bullet hit this vertebrae," He said. The pressure released. "It's the Thoracic 9, not that anyone except for me knows what that is, let alone cares. Fortunately for you, it's lodged in the body of the vertebrae, and your nerves have remained relatively undamaged. From what I can tell. But, again, shifting will likely sever your spine and could repunture your lungs, which would be very unpleasant to deal with. I may be the best bloody medic we have, but there's only so much to be done when it come to nerve damage."
Dante nodded weakly as his mouth went dry.
"Is there any way to take it out?" he asked it came out as more of a whimper than he wanted it to.
"Not by me. Maybe if we get a doctor who actually got their medical degree, we could. At the current moment, I'm more interested in keeping you alive than removing a bullet from your spine, an operation that I've never done before and could easily kill you."
"Wes, try for some tact," Ember whispered. Dante felt his heart stammer at their words.
"Ember, he personally tried to kill you, Riley, and Garret. He aided with the vessel project, which nearly wiped out the entire underground. I will do no such thing," the human said. Dante kept the wince off his face. Barely.
"Yeah, well, you were nice to Garret when he got shot," Ember muttered.
"That's because he was either delirious or unconscious. This one is neither," He human placed a hand on his chest, the other still on his back. Dante tried not to squirm. "Take a deep breath in and out." Dante did as he was told. "Again… and again… any additional pain?"
Just a medical assessment. You need this done if you want to get out, it would be a whole lot worse if you weren't given one. Just answer the questions and follow their orders, Dante, it's just a medical assessment.
"None," he said.
That was how the next few minutes went. Wes didn't react much, but enough that Dante could tell that he wasn't in too much trouble. That or the human truly didn't care if he died. He had attempt to do a few physical things— lift his arm, lift his leg— which he knew he had done badly at. His legs felt too stiff to move, which wasn't a good sign. By the end, when Ember finally lowered him back into a horizontal position, he was exhausted, eyelids fluttering.
"So?" he mumbled ineloquently. "How bad is it?"
"You didn't seem to take very much damage," he said. Dante breathed a sigh of relief. "However, if you want to have it remain that way, you will not move from your cot unaided without my permission. Understood?"
"I'm not taking orders from—"
"A bullet went through your sternum and hit your spine, you're not just going to walk away from it. You want to walk in the future? Then you will take orders from me," the human interrupted. "I've set up a camera in this room to monitor you, and I sleep in the hallway. If you feel like you're about to die, scream. If you can't breathe, then there's nothing I can do."
"Wes!" Ember glared at the human, who rolled his eyes.
"Try to visually alert the camera and I'll do what I can. I'll be coming in every so often to make sure that you're not choking on your own spit or whatever."
Dante nodded and forced himself to keep his eyes open, but he was losing the battle against sleep. He didn't want to sleep around Ember or the human, with a rogue underground surrounding him on all sides. It left him more vulnerable than he already was.
"Ember, I assume you'll be staying in this room?" the human continued to speak. Dante closed his eyes for several seconds before opening them again. He let his head drift to the side as his vision blurred in and out of focus.
"Of course."
"Alright, then. Tell me if you feel like something's wrong. Until then, I still have the rest of the underground to care about."
"Yeah. Thanks, Wes."
"Whatever."
Dante saw the human walk to the door, and open it, glancing back one last time at him.
"Go to sleep, Dante."
Dante wanted to say something defiant to the man, who had the gall to order him around. Instead, his eyes closed and his consciousness finally gave up.
Post-Chapter Notes: I said that he wouldn't get his chest ripped open. No other promises were made. The next chapter will be posted before Wednesday, unless something explodes and I'm left in the hospital strapped to a bunch of machines and a pipe stuck down my throat.
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