Mission 1: Birds of a Feather
I fucking hate bugs.
I think this while I avoid a praying mantis crawling towards my foot. I barely miss getting my arm in a spider web.
"Who the fuck decided that we fight in the Amazon forest?" I hiss into my earpiece.
"The boss and his rival," Leti said as-a-matter-of-factly. "You were at the meeting. You were one of the people specifically chosen."
"Along with me, of course," Antonio says cockily. There were twenty more of us, but Antonio, Kiki, Renaldo, Leti, and I were specifically called out to do this. We were supposed to be in a town outside of Rio de Janeiro investigating on a weapon trade.
What the hell am I doing here? I should be in college right now, getting ready for a singing career. If I wanted to use guns and fight, I should have just joined the US army. I remember the package Ryu sent me two days ago. There was a letter and an album inside.
Kali,
I'm glad that you're having fun down in Brazil. I can't wait until August so we can go to the Summer Festival back home. In the meantime, here's the new UVERWorld album. I know how you love their songs and they don't sell these down there. I thought that you would want to listen to it. Love ya, sis. Write me back!
Ryu
"This better be a damn important fight," complains Renaldo. "These mosquitoes are eating my ass up."
"So you don't like it in the ass, Ren?" jokes Kiki. "Aw, Pablo will be so disappointed." We all chuckle at Kiki's joke. Pablo is the boss' right-hand man. He's been eyeing Renaldo lately, taking glances at his ass when he thinks no one is looking. Renaldo's cursing her out when I see someone in the distance. I immediately take cover behind a bush.
"I've got movement. 2 o'clock." I hear the soft clicks of guns around me.
"I see him. Get ready to move in," says Antonio. He always gets serious when a battle's about to happen. I start to sing "Rose" by Anna Tsuchiya softly, anticipating the moment when I get to pull the trigger on my M60E4. "C'mon, Kali. Sing a little louder. It'll be our battle cry."
"Are you serious?" I ask.
"Sí. Let out a high note in three seconds." I count down in my head. Three. Two. O- My countdown was cut off by a flash grenade crashing a foot in front of me. Goddammit! I can't see! Will I be killed now? I didn't even write Ryu back! Or listen to the album he sent me!
My vision clears and I find that I'm definitely not in the Amazon Forest anymore. Instead I'm in the middle of a town plaza. The street is made of cobblestone and the buildings look Victorian. There is a beautiful fountain in the center of the square. The people around me are dressed in white robes. They are all looking at me warily. I guess having a gun in my hands in a friendly zone is pretty odd. I put my machine gun in the holder on my back.
Where the hell am I? How the hell did I get here? This must be a dream…I must have been knocked unconscious or something.
I want to ask for answers, but I feel as wary of approaching any of these people as they do of me. I jump when I feel someone tap on my shoulder. I turn to see a brown-haired girl in a white dress trimmed with gold. The dress has a slit down the sides and an insignia placed on the shoulders, the lower edges, and on a small burgundy plate on her chest. She wears black boots with this dress, but I would pair gold strappy heels or gold ballet flats with it. I feel underdressed next to her. I have on a forest green sleeveless t-shirt with a heartbreaker neckline, dark-wash jean shorts, forest green thigh-high socks, and leather thigh-high lace-up combat boots. The only accessories I have are my leather double-padded fingerless gloves and my leather choker. I like to fight in style.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to frighten you," says the girl with a kind voice. "Are you new to Fortuna?"
Fortuna? So that's where I am. Too bad I've never even heard of it. "Um, yeah. I just got here actually."
"Really? I'm sure you don't know your way around then. My name is Kyrie." She holds out her hand and I shake it.
"Kali."
"So, Kali, since you are new would you like me to show you around?"
"That would be nice."
"Great! I just have to perform and we can go after the service. You can come, too."
"Perform?"
"Yes. I was chosen to sing for the Festival of the Blade."
"Wow. That's impressive. I sing, too."
"Well, maybe we can sing a duet later."
I smile at that. Kyrie reminds me of a girl from the orphanage I was in. Her name was Hana. She was 2 years younger than me, and she was as much of a sweetheart as Kyrie is. She was like a little sister to me and talking with Kyrie is bringing up some of those feelings again.
We walk into what Kyrie called the opera house, but it looks like a church to me. I'm not fond of churches, never have been. A man who bears the same brown hair and eyes as Kyrie walks up to us. He wears an outfit similar to Kyrie's: a white suit with a gold trim and black boots. The insignia on his left shoulder is trimmed in red.
"Kyrie, it's almost time. You need to get ready," he says.
"Credo, this is Kali. She's new here. Kali, this is my older brother, Credo," says Kyrie.
"Nice to meet you, Kali. Welcome to Fortuna."
"Nice to meet you, too, Credo. Kyrie, you should get going, I'll find a seat." She nods then walks away with her brother. I see an empty seat in one of the middle pews. About five minutes later, Kyrie walks to the platform. She is wearing the same dress, but this time she has some sort of circlet and a black lace shawl. She looks towards where I'm sitting and smiles. Then she looks at the empty spot beside me and frowns a little. I guess she's expecting someone. A boyfriend, perhaps?
She begins singing and my mouth drops in shock. She's amazing! Her voice is better than mine! I didn't expect such a soulful sound to come from such a soft voice. If you could compare my singing voice with anyone, I guess Miku-tan would be a close resemblance. I close my mouth before something flies in it and listen to her sing.
About two minutes into her song, the spot next to me is filled by a boy about my age. He has snow white hair and blue eyes. Instead of the robes and white and gold apparel that everyone else was wearing, he wore a navy blue t-shirt under a burgundy mix between a vest and a hoodie that was under a navy blue trench coat, black jeans, and combat boots. The sleeves of his jacket were adorned with the same insignia that was on Credo and Kyrie's clothes, this time in red. Does that have some type of meaning? I'll have to ask Kyrie.
Kyrie finishes her song. She looks at the spot both of us are in and smiles bashfully. Yup, he's definitely her boyfriend. Either that or her crush. She leaves the altar and a guy who looks like a priest takes the stage. He begins to preach about some demon named Sparda who rebelled against his own kind to save humanity from demons' rule. A religion that worships a demon as a god? Well, that's something you don't see every day. I notice a huge statue of what looks like a demon holding a sword who I'm willing to bet is Sparda.
I'm not interested in religion so I just take out my iPod touch from my back pocket and turn on some music. The iPod is already synched to my earpiece so I don't have to plug anything in. Emergency by Paramore fills my ear, and I'm in heaven. The boy looks curiously over at me then raises his own headphones to his ear. From the corner of my eye, I see the guy next to me look over at us and shake his head, looking displeased. What the fuck is his deal? I start to get irritated.
Kyrie walks up to the pew and the boy nudges something towards her. Her eyes brighten as she picks up a narrow blue box. Aw, he got her a gift. How sweet. She sits down next to him and we all sit in silence. The boy glances around the room a couple of times before he finally stands up.
"Nero, what's wrong?" Kyrie asks. So that's his name.
"I'm out of here," Nero says.
"But it's not over yet."
"All of this preaching is making me fall asleep. This girl looks bored with it, too." Nero shakes his head and exits the pew. Kyrie stands up and walks after him. I get up too. Hell, she's my way around this weird place. I stop myself, though, feeling like something is coming.
"Nero," Kyrie pleads. Nero stops, too, and stares at his arm in the sling. A blue light is coming through the cloth. A second later, we both turn to the window above the altar. A man crashes through and lands right in front of the priest. I hear the click of a gun and the next moment the sound of a gunshot echoes throughout the opera house. The man stands up and slowly turns around. The spot of blood on the right side of his face is the thing that puts the whole room in a panic.
"Your Holiness!" Credo screams out. Kyrie grabs my hand tightly, and Nero pulls us towards the exit. She drops her gift on the ground and someone runs over it. I glance back at the man who killed the priest. Damn, he is kicking ass. The soldiers couldn't even touch him. He put his sword into one of the soldiers and swung him around, hitting all of the others and killing them on impact. I look at his white hair and blue eyes along with the red outfit and unique sword. Wait a second! Is that Dante?! As in Devil May Cry Dante?! The famous demon hunter in Japan! I'm definitely dreaming now. I'd recognize Dante's sword anywhere. I remember my brother was a fan of Dante. He wanted to be a demon hunter, too. Once Dante was done slaughtering them, he turned to Credo, who was tending to His Holiness. Kyrie sees this.
"Credo!" she cries. She lets go of both mine and Nero's hand and runs over to try to save her brother. Someone bumps into her hard and she falls.
"Kyrie!" Both Nero and I shout. Dante walks slowly towards her. She looks up at him in fear. I'm about to pull out my M60E4, but Nero charges towards Dante and kicks him dead in the face, knocking him back. He shoots at him with what looks like a double barrel revolver, but Dante deflects both bullets with his sword. I run towards Kyrie and Credo, not wanting Kyrie to get hurt. It's obvious that Credo's sword isn't going make Dante stagger.
"Kyrie," Nero calls out. "Go with your brother and your friend and get out of here!" Kyrie nods.
"I'll go get help," Credo says. Did you not see all of those soldiers getting their asses handed to them? Obviously more soldiers aren't going to help. "You stall him until then!" We walk out into the hall and go into a room two doors down from the main room. "Stay here and don't come out until I get back." We nod at his order. He runs out of the door. Kyrie begins to whimper and I hold her tight.
"It'll be ok. I'm sure that Nero won't bow down so easily," I assure while softly stroking her hair. Kyrie nods and pulls back.
"Kali, I know that this may be selfish but…" she says.
"What is it?"
"Do you think that you can check and see if Nero's ok? I mean you look like you could help him." She gestures to the machine gun on my back and the two G18Cs on my sides.
"Sure. No problem." She smiles gratefully. I look down the hall to the direction where Credo went and then look to the direction where the main room is. I quietly sprint towards the door, taking out my machine gun just in case, and peek in just in time to see Dante knock Nero's sword out of his hands. Dante goes to stab Nero's throat, but Nero blocks the blow with his arm that was in the sling. When the blade connected with the arm, a huge gust of wind went through the room and almost knocked me back. I blinked my eyes a couple of times and my eyes widened when I looked at Nero's arm. The sling was gone and what was left was a glowing arm with what looked like burgundy scales on it. A demon arm. Dante seemed surprised, too.
"Hmm, you've got a trick up your sleeve," he says.
"I thought the cat had your tongue," Nero says. "But if you're looking for a trick, try this!" He knocks Dante back using his arm. Dante remains calm and collected.
"Heh, looks like too are a¾" His sudden stop makes me look back to Nero. He is holding up the sword that the statue had with his demon arm and it's aimed right at Dante. He throws it with all of his might and Dante dodges it.
He dusts off his hands. "Hate to interrupt but I want to wrap this show up before the cavalry arrives."
At that moment, I feel someone tug hard on my wrist. I turn to hit the person with my gun but stop short of a centimeter when I see Credo's face. Oops. Busted.
"I told you to stay put," he says through his teeth.
"Turns out I'm not so good at following orders," I shrug, not wanting to rat out Kyrie. He gets even angrier at my comment and shakes his head. He drags me back to the room and goes to bring help to Nero. "Nero's okay," I say to Kyrie.
"I'm sorry I got you in trouble," Kyrie says, eyes regretful.
"It's alright. I'm used to getting in trouble." Credo came back with more soldiers, but instead of the sound of swords clashing it was quiet. "I think that it's okay for us to go back, now." Kyrie follows me out of the room. When we go in the main room, the place is a wreck. The pews are all over the place and the statue of what was supposed to be Sparda was destroyed. I whistled. It's going to cost a hell of a lot of money to fix this. "This is more damage than I ever caused." I've wrecked a couple of rooms during fights but never like this. Nero looks at me curiously.
"Who are you?" he asks.
"Name's Kali. Nice to meet you, Nero," I say, smiling.
"Uh-huh."
"She's new to Fortuna. She just arrived today," Kyrie said while trying to drag a huge black case to Nero. Nero grabs it before she can tire herself out.
"You brought this for me?" he asked.
"Credo requested it; she yearned for your touch."
"Thanks. This blade is the best companion a swordsman could wish for." Nero opened up the box like a kid would open up a gift on Christmas. Inside was a unique sword. I looked to see Kyrie pick up a gold necklace with the charm in the shape of the insignia. What is the big deal with that sign? "Fortuna Castle, huh?"
"That's what the witnesses said," Credo says.
"The guy just came from hell. He's gotta hit up a couple of tour sights!" Nero says, revving up his sword. I smirk. At least someone has a sense of humor.
"You dare jest so lightly in a time of crisis!" Credo exclaims, exasperated. Can he not take a joke?
"Calm down, Credo. He's just trying to lighten up the mood," I say. Credo scowls at me. Okay, he's starting to piss me off. "You know, if you keep on scowling like that you're going to get frown lines on your face." Credo's face turns beet red and Nero's trying to hold in his laughter.
"You two are just alike," he mutters. I roll my eyes and walk right up to him.
"Listen, you are really starting to piss me off. So, I suggest you stop complaining before I kick your ass," I say through my teeth. Credo's eyes widen in surprise, as does Nero's and Kyrie's. I realize what I just said and who I said it in front of. Sometimes my anger gets the better of me. I take a deep breath and back up. "Sorry. I've just had a really bad day so far." I grab the bridge of my nose, trying to calm myself down. He nods and turns back to Nero.
"You must capture him," he declares.
"Trust me, I'll get it done," Nero says.
"Please be careful, you still haven't recovered," Kyrie warns.
"There's no time, and duty calls." He pauses for a moment to look at Kyrie's neck, now adorned with a golden necklace with a charm of a four-winged angel with a ruby in the middle. Kyrie smiles bashfully and Nero blushes lightly himself. They both look at each other with adoration in their eyes. I turn away. I think it's cute and all, but I'm not all for the mushy romance crap.
"Can't pass on an emergency," he whispers.
"I must return to headquarters," Credo says. At that moment the entire ground shakes. What the hell is going on now? We all rush outside to see what is going on. Everything looks alright until…
"Someone help me!" a man screams. He limps towards us but trips. Something stabs him and brutally drags him away. A second later his body is thrown right at our feet. Kyrie shrinks behind Nero's back. More people come screaming and some type of moving ragdoll with blades for arms jumps right in and starts massacring them all, cackling like hyenas on a hunt.
"Is this him?" Nero asks, referring to Dante.
"I-I'm not sure," Credo responds, looking extremely lost.
Nero steps forward and revs up his sword. "Credo, take care of Kyrie and her friend." He charges into the nearest demon and slashes at it. He does the same with the rest.
"Come on," I say, grabbing my M60E4. Kyrie runs beside me while I make sure that none of the demons touch us. Kyrie turns around and I look towards the direction that she is staring. A little boy is crying and the demons are coming after him. Before Kyrie can move, I dash towards the boy and blast at the demons. Kyrie reaches us and takes the boy by his shoulders. "Go! Both of you get out of here!" Kyrie nods and both she and the boy escape. I continue to shoot at the demons, trying to find Nero. Two demons come up behind me and before I can fully turn around, Nero cuts them down. He looks at me with annoyance.
"Why didn't you go with them?!" he exclaims. I decide to joke with him.
"Figured you could use some help," I shrug. Another demon comes up behind me and Nero shoots it dead in the head.
"You? Help me?" He smirks and at that moment a demon is coming from behind him. Before Nero can slash at it, I shred it down. Nero looks back at me in shock. I smirk at his dumbstruck face.
"You were saying?" He shakes his head and walks past me.
"You're just gonna drag me down," he mutters.
I decide to ignore him and just follow him since he knows the way around this place. "Fortuna Castle, right?"
"Yeah."
Haven't had this much excitement in a while. This should be fun.