Disclaimer: Capcom and Atlus own them, not I.
Here's another 'crossover' fic with Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne (AKA Lucifer's Call), which Dante appears in.
Q is for Quetzalcoatl, a demon in the game.
A missing scene, because there are far too few cutscenes in order to allow the player to imagine their own Protagonist.
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"You sure about this, 'Shura?" Dante asked him.
"I've come all this way." But he still hesitated to activate the lift that would take him all the way down, to become a true demon. He'd been refusing to commit this entire time, and now was the moment of truth.
Funny that all the courage he'd learned would desert him now.
"Remember what I told you about my father?"
"He saved the world you are from."
"He was a demon, through and through, and he always did what he thought was right. Changing won't change you: you'll still remember being a human, you'll still stay the same person. But what about the other yous?"
"What?"
"Oh come on, tell me you've figured this out. There are only a couple hundred demons, you just keep fighting different copies of them."
"Hey!" The restored Pixie said, crossing her arms and pouting.
"You're not exactly like the others, that's my point. You're you, Pixie. But there are a ton more pixies out there." He turned back to Shura, who had long since given up in getting rid of the nickname. He wasn't who he had been back when he'd had a normal name. "You and me? We can't be fused. We stay us. That's because we're part human. Once you're a demon? I'm guessing it won't stay that way."
"You mean Lucifer could make more of me, even if I found out he'd tricked me and decided not to help him anymore?"
"As strong as you are, it won't be easy to create more. But even my father had a copy: they call them Twins for really powerful demons where there are only a few of them. I've got one who was born along with me and we're as different as night and day. By going down there, you'll be creating a new, very powerful type of demon." Dante smiled slightly. "And you're a little young for fatherhood."
"So that's why they've all been waiting for me. I thought it was strange. I mean, I'm only one person." Even if he had just beaten God's most powerful servant.
"As a halfbreed, you are. As a full demon?" Dante shrugged. "I like being nearly unique. But, think of it this way. If you make the right choice going down there, than you're doing even more good than you thought. If you die, then your son can help stop all this world-destruction crap." A half-smile at the similarity to his own story.
"So I'm expendable after going down there."
"Kid, you were always expendable to him. That's why he tricked me into going after you, sent the other fiends too. That's how they work. Trial by combat: if you don't survive you're not the one they need anyway."
"I don't know if I want to be like that."
"You won't be. I've seen people get corrupted by demonic power, kid. If you had it in you, you'd have helped your friend kill those people."
"I'd be responsible for all of them."
"Think about the flying snake. One version of him, somewhere, is a god. The other versions we can take down without a sweat."
"So maybe I'd be able to make sure they aren't used to…" He didn't know. He thought going down there was the right thing to do. It was definitely the best option he had. But learning he couldn't change his mind later made it more serious.
"Want me to toss a coin?" Dante asked.
"I'll go." He walked onto the lift.
"Why?" Not are you sure? Just, you've thought this through all the way? You won't regret it later?
"If Lucifer hadn't given me the magatama, I would have been helpless to do anything. He's the one who gave me the power to choose. I'm not going to throw that away by leaving it to chance. The more powerful I become..." That sounded wrong, like he wanted power, like Chiaki.
"Without power, you can not protect anything," Dante said, and it sounded like a quote.
"I don't know if this is the right thing to do." He'd had to watch helplessly too much. He couldn't stop Chiaki, Isamu, Hikawa from killing right in front of him. "But I need to do it."
Dante smiled, and with his approval Shura felt he could do anything, even decide the fate of the world. "Good luck, kid. Here." He tossed him the coin.
Shura looked at it: one side was a woman with guns, and the other, "Hey! This thing's the same on both sides!"
"And the moral of the story is, screw chance: smart people make their own luck." Dante grinned. "You've got to take control of your own destiny."
Maybe that was worth all the money to learn.
