"Are you sure it's him?" Sirzechs asked as he looked over his desk to the only other man in his office. The room had been warded and sealed as much as the ruling Lucifer knew it could be. The subject of this discussion warranted such measures. It spoke of events and concepts that made him seem tiny by comparison. And that was saying something considering who he was.
Sirzechs Lucifer was known as the King of Hell, and held the office of Lucifer, one of the four great Satans. Outwardly, he was not the most intimidating man. More often than not, a friendly smile adorned his handsome face. Long crimson red hair cascaded down his back, a proof of his Gremory heritage. However, it would take any person of worth or experience but a glimpse to discern that this man could bring utter ruin and chaos to any fight.
"Yes… I am certain." The man sitting across from the leader of the Devils was named Thanasis Vassos. He was a member of the Grim Reaper race; they were servants of Death and the masters of the cycle of souls. "We know who it is; this is a first." Thanasis was a tall man, and while his face clearly showed his advanced age, it still held great strength and wisdom in it. His head was closely shaved and his face was framed with a tight white beard. He was clothed in black silver leather armor and a black and cold blue cloak; this was the standard uniform of the Grim Reapers. Rarely did they pay mind to fashion or dress codes for fancy parties, believing in practicality and duty over appearances.
"We know the identity of the next Prophet of Death. Your grandson, Dante Alighieri." Sirzechs said as he opened up a mirror, it's surface a swirling mass of colors. With a small application of Demonic Energy, the colors would fade, replaced by an image of whatever the Crimson Satan was focusing on. "A person capable of using the power of one of the Primal Forces of Existence… Death. Therefore, that person would be the rightful leader of the Grim Reapers, and the remaining Gods of Death. A being that holds more power than any of the gods, Great Red and… well… anyone chosen as the Prophet of Death is a Primordial Concept made flesh." Sirzechs said, tapping his desk, the nervous motion a clear indication of his agitation. It wasn't like he stressed by the idea, several beings on Earth were the Avatars of the Primordial Concepts. But they were bound by rules and laws forbidding them from getting involved with the goings on of any faction. But the Prophet of Death… there was truth to the idea that there would always be an exception to a rule.
"The past seven were all killed before they could gain their true power. I don't care if he's the next Prophet… he's my grandson and I want him to live a happy life. He deserves it, after the one he's had." Thanasis said, looking down in shame at the feeling of guilt he experienced due to his family's suffering. Part of him knew it wasn't entirely his fault but he couldn't help but focus on what he could have done.
"You last saw him two years ago. Before we see how he is doing, could you tell me about him?" He said as he leaned back in his chair with a friendly smile on his face. Meanwhile, a nervous smile stretched across Thanasis' face; he hoped that his grandson would impress the Devil King.
"He is a perfect Gentleman…" Thanasis trailed off not knowing how to fully explain his grandson. In many respects he was proud of him, but at the same time he was a complex young man. "… he has some issues with authority… and well… men… and the idea of moderation… and the difference between locker room talk and what a person should say in public…"
"That doesn't sound much like a gentleman." Sirzechs chuckled, not finding too many problems with what he was hearing.
"He is… put him in a room with a woman and he'll treat her like a queen… and likely end up in bed with her ten minutes later." Thanasis muttered though loud enough for the other man to hear. "He's combative only when people don't live up to his standard of decency which is a little weird. Basic, but selective. I promise that he's a good man deep down."
"That is good to know; if our plan goes as we hope, he will be part of my dear sister's family, so it is good to hear that he is of good character." Sirzechs said, honestly happy at this news.
"Thank you, Lord Lucifer. Is there anything else I could tell you about my grandson?" Thanasis said, perking up a little at the knowledge that such a powerful man approved of his blood.
"First, I would think it be best to just see him for myself." Sirzechs said, even as the mirror on his desk focused on an image of a young man running down the streets of New York, shirt barely buttoned up, pants but no shoes, black hair messy from bed head, all telltale signs that he had recently gotten out of bed… and likely not his own. Behind him a huge angry man chasing him yelling death threats at the younger male. The sound of Thanasis' head hitting the desk echoed in Sirzechs' office. "This is… unusual? I hope?"
Present Day
New York City
"Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Motherfucking shit I should have grabbed my shoes!" Dante yelled out as he ran down the sparsely busy sidewalk. He wasn't sure exactly where he was but all he knew was it wasn't far enough. "Feet hurt… but not as much as I could be…" He glanced back and saw he was still being chased by the brother of his most recent bed partner.
"Get back here asshole! I'm going to kill you!" The older teen raged, his face red with anger and hate. Dante sighed as he knew that this morning could not have gone any worse. This guy just had to show up as he was getting out of his sister's bed. Why was it he had the worst luck.
"Run fast. Run very fucking fast!" Dante yelped as he continued to run down the street, this had become more normal for him than anyone would think they would be comfortable with. He knew that he slept around… he knew that the title man whore could be put on him because of these habits. But he wasn't changing who he was, a man that loved to give love to women, said women just so happened to clamor for that love. Much to the chagrin of male relatives and jealousy of male peers. His sins of choice were lust and wrath, one often for him came after the other.
"I'm going to rip off your balls you bastard!" Dante continued to laugh in the face of those threats. This whole routine of finding a girl, either seducing her or charming her into their bed, then often times the running escape from their brother(s) or father had gotten into Dante. He enjoyed the entire thing and it was one of the few joys that he had in his life since two years ago.
"Is that all you going do? I made your sister scream my name as I fucked her silly and that's all your going to do?" He shot back, his sadistic side making a showing. He hated it but he loved breaking, mocking, and destroying those he say as those that opposed him. It came from his father but he felt he made it his own, he never let that side of him touch those he cared about. Unlike his father. He heard the increasing violent rants toward him and knew that unless he wanted a real fight on his hands he needed an out here. And eventually saw his lifeline. He spotted a subway entrance. "Perfect!" He hopped down the stairs, still being pursued, lunged over the turn wheel while at the same time scanning his subway pass, and in one last finishing move ducked between two closing doors.
"You're dead asshole! I'll find you and believe me I ring your neck for what you did!" Dante just smirked at the angry young man as he pounded on the door impotently. As the subway train began to move he flipped the opposing boy off with a look of victory on his face.
"Ah… freedom… it tastes so fucking good." Dante sighed contently as he grabbed ahold of a nearby free pole and only then did the flow of air remind him of his lack of footwear. "Oh fuck… those were my favorite boots." He grumbled before looking up to see just what route he was on and then hung his head in irritation and defeat. He was all the way in the Upper West Side. "How far did that bastard run me off… I could swear I was in Chelsea." The teen constantly grumbled as he looked into the window seeing his reflection. His face handsome and showing off his clearly defined Italian descent, with a small bit of Greek thrown in there. Black hair that he usually had combed back except for the three long hair braids that extended down to his collar. A scar running from the back of his ear to his head was slightly visible. Steel gray roomed over his reflection one last time before he threw his head back in a sigh of weariness. Listening to the subway hit the rails as he began his journey back home.
His lifelong battle with luck rearing its head as delays, construction, and other roadblocks caused him to end up spending the better part of the morning and afternoon wandering around the city until he found his way home. Only to find himself locked out. His keys were still back in his coat pocket that was left in his latest lover's room, he was just thankful that he left his wallet in his pants… or that he was able to put pants on at all before he had to run. He groaned as he slid down the hardwood door of his family's large townhouse. This wasn't the first time he had been in this situation and knew that the best thing to do was wait for someone to come and open the door for him.
It wasn't entirely wasted time anyway. It provided a quiet moment for Dante to think clearly. Around him was the small garden that was kept in perfect condition by his family's staff. There wasn't much traffic beyond the gates to the private home, and no one would dare to disturb him unless they belonged to The Family. It was times like this that provided nice moments of reflection for Dante. As he had once been told that self-reflection was how a person kept themselves from turning into an ass. If only he had a pack of smokes then everything would be right with the world.
He tended to use this time to think about his past. It was only since coming back to the city did he really think about something like that in an introspective sense. Before… he had just going day by day and didn't really think about things beyond what lay ahead. He still did most of the time, mostly in how he could change his future to something he wanted and not what someone else did. But Dante didn't like to use this quiet serenity he had at the moment to be a brooding dumbass. But he just couldn't help but seethe at the lack of control he found in his life. He hated, whether it was his father, people opinions, or fate itself trying to dictate what he was going to do with his life. It was his life dammit! He had the freedom to chose what he wanted to do with it.
"Great… I've gone back to the brooding dumbass trope again." Dante groaned softly as he tried to collect his thoughts into something more productive but that negative note would be the last.
"Hey, little Dante." Dante opened his eyes to the stupid nickname, but then again he had been given worse, seeing the only man that called him that standing at the foot of the stairs that led up to his home's front door. Bino Ristaino. His father's fixer in all things that needed to be fixed. In other words his father's personal triggerman. Tall and lanky but Dante knew that it was a deceptive look, as the man was quite strong. Strong enough to break down doors and choke people out with a single hand. The greasy smile that the man had only made Dante sick, and given his weirdly cheery disposition it was rarely without it.
"Death I just want to string this fucker up and waterboard his ass." Dante internally growled not hiding the scowl on his face as he looked up. He had a list of people he knew personally that he would have no problem turning into a drooling mess of a human if he had the chance. Over his life, Dante just lost all sense of mercy and pity for certain kinds of people. He valued free will above all other traits people had… the power to choose. But Dante also had a deep respect and desire for proper consequence and reward for those choices. And he was happy to give both himself.
"Locked out again?" Bino gave a toothy grin at the son of his boss. The hitman liked the youngest Alighieri son as much as the young man liked him. But he had to play nice even if he made the offhand comment to his fellow mobsters that he should but a bullet in the punk's head.
"Yes now get me the fuck in you shady ass yes-man." Dante didn't hold back the disdain he had for this man. A scowl tugged at Bino's smile, Dante knew that if anyone else had talked to him like that they would wind up and the bottom of the Hudson dead. Both Dante's father and this man loved the classics.
"Sure thing squirt." The hitman said still too cheery for his profession. Or at least too cheery than his profession should allow a person to be. Dante continued to glare at the man as he came up the stairs and opened the door for the third son of the most powerful Mafia family in New York. To the public and the police the Alighieri family were just the descendants of a famous poet and owners of an international shipping company. But many in Little Italy knew the truth, that you just didn't mess with them. You did what was asked of them. And you sure as hell don't refuse them. Or else you'll be seeing if hell really was like how their ancestor depicted it.
Dante bumped past Bino in an effort to have to interact with him as little as he could. He made for the stairs and his room as fast as he could. He didn't want to deal with the fact his absence during last night at dinner would have been noticed. He was in no mood to listen to his father lecture him about commitments and pride in the family.
"Death dammit… I get that he's the Don but it's twenty sixteen, get out of the Godfather already." Dante grumbled as he made his way through the halls of his family's home. Passing by pictures dating back decades and even a few to the last few centuries. He ignored all of it as it wasn't like he was featured much in any of the photos. "Fuck him for making me all angsty teenager…" Said seventeen-year-old grumbled as he approached his room… only to be pulled to the side by his older brother's arm.
"Dante! Another night out huh?" Dante just held a blank, only slightly irritated, face. It wasn't that he didn't like his brother Tony. It was just that he didn't like dealing with the vast majority of the male population of the earth. Tony was one of the tolerable ones. But that still didn't mean that Dante liked interacting with him, it just meant he would without trying to be a dick.
"Yeah… another night… another satisfied arrangement." He explained from under his larger brother's arm. He made sure that the girl was thoroughly fucked stupid while he had a reason not to go home and deal with his father.
"Hey don't be like that, come on tell me about her." Dante sighed at his brother's attempt at trying to get closer. He honestly appreciated it and it was why he indulged the supposedly older brother in his attempts. But all concept of Dante thinking of himself as part of this family had died. The one member of his blood that he cared about was dead and the rest more little more than strangers to him.
"I was walking in the park when I heard her crying…" Dante began to tell how he ended up in bed with another girl to his brother. He wasn't someone to boast about his lovers as he agreed with the idea that it just cheapened the whole thing. They were flings and Dante was always upfront about that to any girl that he was with. He promised a good night or few hours of pleasure and that's all. Honesty was the best policy.
The two Alighieri brothers continued to walk through their home until they ended up in their living room. Fire going in the fireplace and the lights dimmed to give the whole place a warm glow. The wealth of the family on full display as the entire room was tastefully furnished with restored classical furniture from well over two centuries ago. Dark hardwood contrasted with light green and red drapes and upholstery. As much as Dante didn't like to admit it, his family did have good taste when it came to decorating.
"Okay okay… I get that you did your whole coming in and saving the day thing with her. Her boyfriend breaks up with her to run after some slut with bigger tits… you show up… offer revenge sex and shoulder to cry on…" Tony said as he sat down on the couch and Dante in the chair opposing him. This was fairly common with Dante, he liked to come out looking like the hero in the story. Even if someone could argue that he was equal part scumbag for taking advantage of a situation for his own purposes. But it was hard to play that card against him given that Dante would just shrug it off saying that both sides got what they asked for. Dante was very big on the idea of both parties being satisfied with a deal.
"Not in that order." Dante chuckled with a small smile on his lips. He spent a good two hours just listening to the girl's whole relationship with her now ex-boyfriend. And he never made a move until she brought up the idea, and even then, he warned that she would never see him again after they did it. She was fine with that and even preferred that as she just wanted to get revenge and wasn't looking for something new. "See this is why dad is wrong, the hippies had it right. Make love not war. Lot fun more fun that way."
"You do realize that's what dad's trying to do right? With the whole marriage thing." Tony said uncomfortably knowing that he just broached the main topic of contention between father and son. It was the reason for his little brother's acting out, or at least it was what the family thought was the reason. Never once had they considered that Dante was just doing what he wanted.
"No. It's not the same fucking thing." Dante scowled as once again felt the need to storm up to his room and scream out I hate you to his parents. "There was zero consent on my part." He said as he stood up from the chair he had been sitting in. He had no doubts as to what he was going to be doing today. Yesterday he had everything set but wanted to take one last walk through Central Park when he got distracted. But it didn't take much to move around a few things so his grand escape could be made a day late.
Dante ignored the sounds of his brother apologizing and headed back to his room. Not slamming the door behind him like some dumbass teenager. He calmly went to his desk and opened his laptop. He waited a few moments as the video chat began to connect. He had been planning to leave New York for the last year and a half. He had been back in the city of his birth for two years after an extended period of separation, and it didn't take long for him to want to return to that state. But he wasn't alone in this venture, he had a partner.
"Yo man! You free yet?" Dante smirked as said partner showed up on his laptop's screen. Issei Hyoudou had been Dante pen pal, something that had been forced on both boys as part of their school classes. Some inter private school program, a kind of international big brother type of thing where upperclassmen helped a younger one in another country. As many of these things go, they continued to send e-mails even after they passed the class. Dante found Issei amusing in the sense that he was goofier and less refined version of himself.
"Nah… I got caught up in fucking and couldn't make it." Dante had to hold back the howling laughter that built up in him at the sight of Issei's jaw drop.
"HOW?! How do you do this? You get smoking hot babes without even trying and I still haven't got a girlfriend." Issei sunk into his desk, the fact Dante could see a poster of a Hentai series in the background didn't help Issei in the slightest.
"You, desperate pervert." Dante mocked without any real malice as he pointed to Issei. "Me, gentleman pervert." He said with a smug smirk as he pointed to himself. "I don't peep on girls changing in the locker-room. I don't openly talk about what porn I watch. I actually can talk to a girl without my first thought being boobs?"
"But but but but…" Issei tried to defend himself but knew it was pointless. Dante was right about all those things. But he wasn't going to change, he was going to be King of the Harems just by being who he was.
"That aside, we still good on your end?" Dante asked knowing that without Issei and his family there would be a lot more complications with his plan to leave his own.
"Oh yeah… no problem here. My folks are pretty excited to have you here. They keep saying it will be like having the son they never had." Once again Dante could see the depression hanging above Issei's head. "But! When you get here… you'll get me that girlfriend right?!"
"We'll work on it. I'll be on your doorstep in a few days. Seen you then kis perverz." Dante said shutting the window before Issei could tell him to stop calling him that. It was a nickname that Dante found funny because it was a small call back to his own past. The screen turned off and Dante leaned back in his chair thinking about his plan to run away. He had worked hard all year to improve his grades to the point where he could get a full scholarship. And then carefully forged his parents' signatures on transfer papers. Everything was set for his move to Japan and transfer to Kuoh Academy. He had chosen that exact location due to his connection to Issei who lived in the town of said academy and because it was a damn good school. One where it would look excellent on college applications. There was also the personal attachment for Japan, having spent some of his happiest years there. Everything was set for Dante to get out of his family and back to being on his own. He knew it was very likely that he would never be able to return to New York or the entire eastern seaboard of the US for that matter. But that was a sacrifice he was willing to pay. "Minos!" He called out and seconds later the door to his room opened to a tall well-dressed man that embodied the idea of a high-class servant.
"Yes master Dante?" The man spoke with perfect respect and dignity. Dante had to admit that even though the butler was just a spy for his grandfather, he was very useful and loyal. It wasn't like Dante minded that Minos only followed his orders because he worked for his grandfather who had gifted his grandson with the servant. And he knew that Minos was really here to spy on Dante's father more than Dante himself.
"I assume that you've handled the rescheduling already?" Dante asked as he packed up the last few things in his room that hadn't been already. He wasn't going leave anything, he was going to be out of a stable income for a long time so he had abused his family's wealth considerably in the last few months.
"Yes, plane tickets have been exchanged, your luggage is already on its way, and there is a taxi on call for when you are finished here sir." Minos replied as he watched his charge sling his travel pack over his shoulder. This wasn't precisely what Minos and the boy's grandfather had thought would come of his return home, but it wasn't the worst outcome. In fact it was looking to be one of the better ones.
"Good, be ready to pull me out of here just in case my dear father tries to pull his old tricks again." Dante said rubbing the scar at the base of his collarbone. He had many scars and even a branding but out of that this one was the one that ached the most. Dante gave one last look at the room that he had known since childhood. Since birth this had been his room, only used for a total of eight years. Barely less than half his life. "I'm so done being this moody…" He grunted before walking past Minos and out into the halls of his home. Not giving a second thought to the fact it would be his last time seeing them.
"Are you sure that you should do this sir, would it not be wiser to simply leave without alerting your father to what you are planning." Minos tired to advise the young man only to get waved off with an I'm not worried gesture. The two continued onward, not deterred in the slightest as the approached Dante's father's personal study. "I believe that your brother Raimondo is speaking with your father, should we wait."
"Oh fuck no… if I'm going to tell off the king might as well do it in front of the heir." Dante smirked as he opened the door, the sound of the door opening quieting whatever conversation was going on between father and son. "Oh please don't stop on my account. Do go on with the crime and the bribery and who to whack next and all that." Dante said with all the disdain and mockery he could as he walked into the center of the room and sat down next in the chair next to the one his brother was sitting in. Opposite of them was their father, while Raimondo was glaring cold fury at his youngest brother their father just sighed in resigned shame.
"Just what do you think you're doing, a disgrace like you shouldn't-"
"Quietare, your brother clearly has something important to say." The man stopped his son, the sooner he had got this over with the better. "We can continue this discussion later, leave. See to Bino and make sure he's compensated for his latest show of loyalty."
"You paid for his latest time at chopping someone to bits and feeding them to pigs." Dante bluntly put what was really said. His father didn't so much as glance toward him for that remark. Dante's brother on the other hand deepened his glare but stood up and gave a small bow before leaving. The door was closed behind the eldest Alighieri brother, but not before Minos gave one small warning glance inward for the head of the family. A reminder of who was watching.
"Son… is there a reason you find yourself with the need to barge into my meeting. Did you get some girl pregnant?" Dante rolled his eyes at the first sign of urgency in his father's voice at that last comment. But he instead used the anger building in him to fuel his next move instead of lashing out.
"No, I didn't." Dante said locking eyes with his father. Elijah Alighieri, the man had taken over from his own father thirty years ago at twenty-two. Extremely young for a mob boss. But he proved himself beyond a shadow of a doubt when he took his family to the very top. Now Everyone paid him honors in New York. And beyond that even. With his international shipping company the man had contacts and deals just about everywhere. In the criminal underworld he was rivaled by few. His stature helped with that, he tended to loom over others and had a stone chiseled face of authority that made people just want to bow in fear to.
"Then why, for what reason did you want to speak to me. You could have done so last night at dinner… no wait… you weren't there." He said as he leaned forward with his hands interlocking over his desk. "All of the family was there, but not you."
"Not all." Dante growled out as what his father said had hit a particular sore spot.
"Yes… I suppose so." There was a small moment of shared peace between them as Elijah remembered what Dante was talking about. Father and son wordless decided to move past the sudden topic at hand. This was supposed to a confrontation, it wasn't good to bond over their shared loss. "Then are you here to once again rant and brood over your duty to this family."
"Forcing me to marry that psycho just so you can get a better deal isn't family duty. And I don't brood!" Dante hated that he did in fact brood these days. He never did before moving back with his family. But now Dante found himself acting more like an emotional and temperamental drama queen. He hated and wanted to get back to his old self. "I'm not going to marry her and that's final. I don't care that you've made your little backroom deals and-"
"No, you will not be marrying the Monetti girl." Elijah interrupted his youngest son much in the same cold and relaxed fashion as he did with his eldest. Dante blinked when he heard this.
"B-but… that was the whole reason you wanted me back you fu-" This time he was interrupted by the sound of his father stabbing his desk with the small butterfly knife the man carried.
"I told you boy, you watch your mouth when in my presence." Dante was never cold, he never felt any chill when winter came. But the only time he felt something that could be akin to the feeling was when his father spoke like this. He had no doubts that his father would use that knife, because he had in the past. The scar on his collarbone itched slightly at the memory of when Dante learned his first swear word and said it at the dinner table.
"What do you mean I don't have to marry Tori? You wanted me back for that exact purpose. You didn't move a finger on me until that deal came up." Dante growled as he tried to reassert his angry and cover his lingering fear.
"I have no idea what you are talking about." Elijah said taking his hand off the still embedded knife as he leaned back in his chair. Dante snorted at his father's play at innocence, it really didn't suit a man guilty of so many things.
"The Pendola family knew where I was. They alerted you the second they saw me in New Orleans. For seven years you knew where I was, didn't tell anyone… you were perfectly content to let your own son be off doing who knows what… until you needed him." Dante charged while his father just sat calmly taking his son's accusations with a passive frown. "So you tell me that you don't want me to do the one thing you brought me home to do!"
"I'm hurt Dante. How is it that you think so little of me?" Elijah said with feigned concern.
"You beat me, stabbed me, abandoned me, ignored my sister's death… huh… what could it be?" Dante thought to himself as he didn't want to get off track, he wanted to know just what his snake of a father had up his sleeve.
"Well, as the caring father that I am. I have heard you and have broken off the marriage between you and Tori Monetti." Elijah explained leaving his son speechless as he sat up and began pulling over a small stack of papers. "Instead you will be marrying Tatsuki Arisawa." He said as he began to sign several of the contracts on his desk.
"Who?" That was all he was able to get out before it hit him. That was a Japanese name…
"She is the daughter of a high-ranking Yakuza officer." His father replied as if that was the most obvious thing in the world.
"So I'm still a bargaining chip!" Dante shouted figuring out just what his father was planning.
"Your little plan to run away to Japan was loud enough a cry for help." Dante froze up, there couldn't possibly be any way for his father to know of his plan. "I do have to admit, you put considerable effort in it. Commendable if it wasn't in an effort to shirk your duty to your family." His father glared at him just for a moment before continuing his work. "It took even greater effort to convince Tatsuki's father to this arrangement, and even further dealing to convince his superiors. Not often do they let someone outside their own marry into their family."
"Nothing stopped you from marrying mom, thankfully you didn't have to deal with so much pushback." Dante grunted as he knew about the ethnic purity that crime families tended to favor. Dante's own heritage was of mostly Italian with a little Greek thrown in from his maternal grandfather. The fact that his father married a woman that was half anything instead of full Italian rose a stink with other Mafia bosses but then they saw the ungodly amounts of money that his father pulled in so they looked the other way. He didn't know if the Yakuza was more or less stringent on this or if his father was just playing this up to make him feel guilty.
"Yes, I was already head of our family and bringing in enough profit so many overlooked that little breach in tradition. And times are changing, blood purity is being shoved aside in favor of better relations and more profit for all." The father said as he studied his son's reaction to the news that his attempt at running away was in pieces. He was nearly successful too, had it not been for the fact that Elijah had his home's internet connection outfitted with the best black-market monitoring systems. The second that his son began planning with his overseas friend on video chat the noose was tied. "Had you chosen anywhere else I would have acted accordingly, you had all the choice in the world where you would want to spend the rest of your days."
"And that's the only choice you gave me." Dante growled as he ground his teeth with each word.
"Yes. You will leave as you planned, however you will be taking the family's private plane and your brothers will be going along with you." Dante now knew what they had been talking about when he came in. Travel plans. "Both will stay to see you settled in at a hotel that you will be staying at until in three months time you will meeting and eventually move in with your future in-laws. You are to be respectful and courteous to them and anything less than that will have… consequences."
"Let me guess… pinky getting cut off?" Dante mocked as he stuck his right pinky out with a rude smile.
"You should be so lucky." His father warned before a tense silence passed between them. Only broken by the elder man speaking again. "You chose well in schools, Kuoh Academy is well known as a center for the elite, both foreign and domestic. I expect you to keep those spectacular grades." He was just rubbing salt in the wound at that point. Dante just continued to glare at his father until he stood up and began his way out of the study. "By the way…" Elijah began as Dante opened the door. "… be sure to pass on my thanks to the parents of that friend of yours. Such generosity to take in my runaway son like that, the world always needs such kind and welcoming people in it." Dante stood still at the warning. It was for him, that his father had found someone that might possibly affect him if he got to them. Dante had never met Issei's parents but what his father said was true, they had agreed to take him in with little question and no fuss. That at least made Dante care about them in the sense he didn't want them to suffer because of him.
"I'll be sure to tell them." Dante barely was able to keep all the bile and hatred from flooding his words. There was no response other than the sound of his father pulling the knife
Present Day
Thanasis and Sirzechs' Meeting
Thanasis was seething, while at the same time giddy. It was an odd mix. To see his son in law so callously manipulate his own blood's plans just to turn them around for a life his son didn't want. And to see Dante stand up and not buck under pressure was impressive.
"It's a little coincidental, don't you think." Sirzechs chuckled as he thought about the boy he had just watched. He could tell that Dante was angry, and out of his element. He could see it in the way the young man moved. He was agitated and looking for distraction, he was extremely uncomfortable where he was. Sirzechs took what he had seen as a test of real character, but he needed to see Dante in a more natural setting for comparison. This was him under stress, how he acted without that stress would put things in context.
"Huh… what is?" Thanasis asked not fully thinking about what the scarlet-haired man said. But then a second later he leaned back smirking as he caught on. "Yes… I may have done a few things here and there to get a few things moving in the way we need them to." Sneaking into Dante's school and fiddling with the pen pal program so that Dante got a certain boy in a particular town was the easy part. Manipulating events to get the pen pal program started in the first place had been the hard part. Or it had been for Thanasis, others that were involved in the lives of the current players had been doing this far longer and so it was trivial for them.
"That Dante had conspired with another to run away to the very town my sister Is studying in. One might call it fate." Sirzechs found it all quite amusing and did give the man across from him his due. He indeed had been planning this for some time now. Likely ever since Dante returned to his family.
"Yes… fate… let's go with that." Thanasis chuckled as he collected his thoughts on what this would mean. Minos of course would be there to at least make sure things go slightly to plan. Dante wouldn't be living with Issei as expected but he would still be going to Kuoh. The critical part of the plan was still intact.
"A theme of what we saw was his time away from his family home." Sirzechs began as he felt that they were beginning to run in circles. "What can you tell me about the boy's past." That had been something that was nagging at the Devil King. His own efforts to look into Dante Alighieri only went to age six and then back again at age fifteen. Nine years there was a blank.
"Ah… I was wondering when you would ask about that." Thanasis sighed as he pulled out a small notebook that he had prepared. It was one that he and Minos had collected all that they knew about the nine years of Dante's life after he was separated from his family. He opened the notebook and turned back to that first day. "His early life was… not exactly the most common childhood. As you could guess from the family business." He chuckled nervously before clearing his throat. "I love my daughter, I do, but she is not ideal mother material. She has given birth to five children, and yet has yet to act as a mother to any of them. Her eldest, Raimondo, grew up without any mother figure; my daughter was a vaguely familiar person that he rarely saw. He grew up focused on his father, something that later became a source of hostility between him and Dante. Raimondo became the heir to the shipping business that his father owned as well as The Family. Tony came next, since the role of Heir had been taken, so he took the role of the fool. Tony is the second son but is he is protected by the idea of the heir and the spare. Elijah still makes sure that Tony is at least competent, but that doesn't make him any less a party boy. Then there was Eloisa. She was the sweetest girl I have ever met, wonderfully selfless and hardworking. She was the one who raised Dante for much of his young life; at the age of ten she took on more responsibility as a mother than Dante's actual mother."
"I see, and we have seen and heard a bit about the relationship between father and son." Sirzechs frowned at the implications of what he had seen between the two. There was hate, fear, and pain between them in vast amounts.
"Yes… for the first six years of Dante's life Elijah was a towering figure of fear and intimidation. He would pose impossible standards and if Dante didn't meet them then he would try to beat a lesson of failure into the child. This made Dante fairly closed off, preferring to shut himself in his room with whatever comic books and video games that Eloisa could get her hands on." Thanasis explained as he checked his notes one last time. As he finished he sighed deep regret. "What happened on that day… I will forever consider myself to be at fault."
"What happened?" Sirzechs found it hard to believe that this man in front of him could have harmed anyone in his family. Everything that the Devil King knew about Thanasis told him of a man that valued family above all else.
"I just… I just wanted to bring Dante out of his shell a bit." The grim reaper groaned as he sunk back in his chair with a hand over his face. "I came to New York and… maybe threatened Elijah a bit once I heard about the stabbing incident. I wanted to take Dante away for… maybe just a year or two. I never meant it to end up being most of his life. Not two months into him and Eloisa, because she of course wouldn't leave her little brother, living with us… that fucking day happened."
Eleven Years Ago
Athens, Greece
Dante kept to his older sister's side as she and his grandfather moved through the crowds of people while on their way to the various stores. They were currently shopping for Dante's coming school year. Around them were the storefronts of downtown Athens, beautiful old buildings that now housed fancy and upscale business for the more wealthy people who lived in the city, or who came to visit the old and grand city.
"Got to look sharp kid, no grandson of mine is going to look like a bum. Going make you look sharp, you'll have all the girls falling for you." His grandfather said with a friendly swagger to his step. Dante liked his grandfather; he was always funny and often he brought cool gifts. When Eloisa told him that he would be living with him and his family overseas Dante didn't know how he should feel. He felt scared leaving the only place he had known but then again… it would mean getting away from father. And so long as Eloisa came with him he guessed that things would be fine.
"We are not getting Dante a three-piece suit, grandfather, he's six." Eloisa chuckled, though still keeping an air of seriousness however her light smile shining so brightly undercut that seriousness. It was difficult moving to an entirely new country but anything was better than living with their beast of a father. And their mother was completely useless. Raimondo and Tony tried, more so the latter, but even they tried to excuse their father's actions. Not this time, she wouldn't stand for him nearly killing Dante.
Eloisa had grown up watching the horrible nature of their parents. She had been ignored for the most part by their father as he deemed her only useful in the sense of projecting the right image for the family. And likely future marriages. It made living with him bearable but she quickly learned that her father wasn't a good man by any means. His only redeeming quality seemed to be that he genuinely cared for his family, in his own twisted way. Her mother was little better, she flat out ignored the very fact she had children beyond using them in some superficial sense to brag about and pose like little dolls when necessary.
But Eloisa had tried her best to prevent her little brother from growing up like she did. Ignored and unloved. She took the place of a mother when their real mother was off living the high life as New York socialite. She tried to shield Dante from the horrors of the family business and keep him out of their father's sights as best she could. But that was where she failed most of the time, unlike with her as a girl, Dante had much more worth in their father's eyes. But she continued to try to keep Dante happy and just seeing him smile was enough to make it all worth it.
So when she saw him being stabbed below the neck at their dinner table just because he had said fuck you to Tony, Dante likely heard such language from one of their father's associates, she couldn't take it. She called their grandfather, the one person she knew their father feared, and told him what happened. He showed up that afternoon and screamed bloody murder at his son in law. He demanded that Dante be given over to him. It didn't work entirely, from what Eloisa could gather was that father only gave Dante up for a few years. Then he was to come right back or he would press legal charges.
So here they were now. In the city that was said to be the birthplace of democracy. This was where Thanasis said he lived but everything at the house they stayed at felt very new. Eloisa didn't question it as much as she thought she should. Their grandfather had gotten them away from that beast and she would forever be grateful for that.
"B-But, but, what else could he wear?" Thanasis looked like he just been kicked in the gut and gasped deeply.
"We will get comfortable, yet presentable clothes for Dante to wear. Not only that, but we still have to stick to the school's dress code." Eloisa said, as she pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to her grandfather. While Dante adored Thanasis, Eloisa was skeptical of their mother's father. Even if he had saved them, that didn't mean she would blindly trust him. For one thing, their mother… Thanasis was partially responsible for her actions, or more accurately, inaction. Thanasis also had for years known about what an awful person her and Dante's father was yet did nothing. Until it had reached a breaking point. But, he did save them and had been a good grandfather to Dante. So she would try to give him the benefit of the doubt.
"Yeah, yeah…" Thanasis grumbled as he glanced over the list of things Dante had to wear, what he could wear, and what he was forbidden to wear. "You gotta look good, first impressions are everything."
"Grandfather, if you're going to continue to sulk, can you do it while getting Dante and me something to eat, please?" Eloisa asked, and Thanasis mumbled some sort of confirmation, then turned away from his grandchildren, still reading over the dress code for Dante's school. "Okay, let's just hope that he comes back with something good this time." Eloisa chuckled, and Dante nodded at the memory of the last time grandfather got them surprise lunch. The two continued to the clothing store, utterly unaware that they had a tail on them.
"Eloisa… something is wrong." Dante mumbled to himself, not sure enough in his gut feeling to really voice it. Dante was a quiet child, namely because when he did speak up his father or eldest brother would criticize anything he might say. So when the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end in some instinctually feeling of dread, he didn't voice it. They walked out of the clothing store with their purchase in hand and were headed off to find their wayward grandfather. Dante then noticed something bizarre; everyone in the street had disappeared. There had been people shopping and going about their day before they had entered the store, but now… nothing.
"I'm sure that he's…"
"Right here, babe." Suddenly, out of nowhere a man grabbed Eloisa's arm with a smug and assured grin on his face. On the surface he looked very handsome, but something about him gave off a sense of greasy ugliness. "Ditch the kid, I'm feeling hungry and you look tasty." He said, fully expecting Eloisa to go along with his demands, not even giving thought to the idea that she would refuse. He never saw the slap coming.
"How dare you?! I don't know you, and I don't want to kn-" She was unable to speak her mind more, as the man grabbed her mouth. Her attacker didn't even remotely react to her struggles to get free.
"You little bitch, you don't say no to me! No one ever says no to me! That is a law of Nature." He growled, with pure undiluted hate and unshackled hubris burning in his voice. "When I tell you to suck my cock, you don't even respond, you get down on your knees and start sucking. That's how it works in the world; you're nothing but a worthless human!" He yelled, lifting Eloisa off the ground with little effort. "I'm going to have fun breaking you… you won't be able to even think ever again. The only thought that will be in your mind is 'I Need Master's Dick'."
"Let go of my sister!" Dante yelled, as he began hammering into the man's leg. The man only then remembered that there was another person involved in this. With a hard, yet effortless smack Dante was sent to the ground a few feet away from the man and Eloisa.
"Weird. When I first saw the brat I thought he was yours. Good, I love breaking virgins." A feral snarl formed on the man's face, demonic traits starting to show. "Maybe I kill brat… maybe we fuck on brat's corpse… maybe I use brat's blood for lube." He threatened before licking the side of Eloisa's face, his smile stretching even wider as he tasted her tears.
"Stop making my sister cry." Dante weakly said as he stood back up. "Stop… stop… go away."
"Yup… goin' fuck on the brat's flayed body." The man said with a slight hum to his words. However, all thoughts of cruel whimsy fled his mind at a sudden and large drop in temperature. In a matter of seconds, the air around them turned from dry heat to well below freezing. He then looked back at Dante, and his eyes widened with fear as he saw the ground and air around the young boy starting to freeze. "Damn… did I fuck with a Sacred Gear user?" The Incubus thought as he dropped Eloisa to the ground, then refocused on the boy. "This could be fun! Plus, if I can take him, I can turn him into Azazel for a shit ton of cash." The Incubus thought, grasping a small switchblade in his pocket. Dante didn't see this, and in his young mind everything was over now that he had let go of his sister. The air began returning back to normal with Dante's calming mood, though he was still a bit scared as the man continued to grin at him like a predator circling its prey. "Come with me kid. I know someone who would love to meet you." The Incubus said as he stepped forward, causing Dante to trip stepping back. "Oh don't be…" Both his smile and words stopped at the blade touching his neck. The Incubus looked down and followed the curved blade back to its wielder. "You're that old man that was with them earlier."
"You will leave, Incubus. And forget everything you have seen today." Thanasis warned, his voice cold and devoid of emotion. That was the curse and power of the Grim Reapers, once they felt the need to kill, not harvest but kill, they lost all emotion and became more like their predecessors.
"No can do, old man Grim, you see… that kid is worth ten times over his weight in gold." The Incubus said as he eyed Dante like a piece of meat. "And let's not forget that the girl defied Nature by refusing me. That cannot go unpunished." The demon growled out with a feral grin of mad certainty.
"Your kind is all the same… more like demons of pride than lust, with that overinflated ego you all share." Thanasis said as he pulled up the blade of his scythe just enough to break the Incubus' skin and draw a small line of blood.
"Just following Nature…" The Incubus smiled, then pushed his neck forward and to the side, causing the cut to go deeper and spurt out blood right into Thanasis' face. The Incubus, totally unaffected by the cut to his jugular, dashed at Dante with the intent of snatching him now and taking care of Eloisa at a later date. But, as the Incubus ran forward, he stopped as he was lifted into the air by a tornado forming under him. 'Fuck, Fuck, FUCK! Cock-sucking old man!" The Incubus screamed, as he was thrown into the sky and flew away from his prey.
"There. That should buy us time." Thanasis breathed out as he wiped the blood off his face.
"Grandfather!" Thanasis was only able to turn slightly before he felt his granddaughter latch on to him still crying from the fear and abuse. Thanasis was surprised by this action as he knew she didn't hold him in very high regard but was happy that she was grateful to him none the less. "What the hell is going on? And who was that? And just where did you get that?" She asked her questions after pulling herself from him. She then pointed to the large scythe in his hand.
"I will explain what I can later but right now we need to leave the city before he returns with more of his kin." Thanasis said with great urgency. Eloisa watched with shock and slight disgust as she watched the scythe in her grandfather's hand… meld into his skin… and he moved his hand to do this with such reflex it showed that he had done this many times and it was now second nature to him. Thanasis then walked over to Dante scooped up the confused child in his arms. "We need to get to the car now, if we hurry we can leave no trace we were ever here."
Present Day
Thanasis and Sirzechs' Meeting
"That is quite the tale… it's a shame you couldn't have ended that piece of filth's life right then and there." Sirzechs growled, his anger at the whole affair plain to see. The Incubus and Succubus Demons were a source of great animosity for all Devils and the Fallen Angels. Central in that the Lust demons betrayed their Devil masters to work for the invading Fallen Angels.
"Indeed. Because of that, Eloisa and Dante had to leave the country. Succubi and Incubi are persistent insects that come together only when they face collective danger, or when one of their egos are bruised." It was a difficult situation for all those that distasted the Incubi and Succubi. Which was everyone but the Fallen Angels and even then most of the rank and file Fallen Angels were just as disgusted with the demons as everyone else. But as the third most powerful demon race, they were difficult to ignore as an ally.
"And where did you go? Please, tell me I'm right in my guess." Sirzechs chuckled softly as he knew where this was heading. A piece of the puzzle had just been fitted for him.
"We went to Japan, yes." Thanasis sighed. Sirzechs was thoroughly pleased by this. "However, the choice of where we were to go was not made by me. At first, I had thought to go east, to China, and work with a Buddha I know. Then, I was given a deal that was too good to refuse."
Eleven Years Ago
Underworld, Fallen Territory.
"Governor General! There is a Mr. Vassos here to see you." Azazel's secretary told him from the small intercom he had in his desk. This was a fantastic new toy from the human world, but that was expected. Azazel was a great fan of the many things humans could pull off, seemingly out of nowhere.
"Send him in." He didn't have much work for the day, things were quiet, but there was enough work for him to be in his office for a change. He would rather be out having a drink or in bed with some well-endowed woman, but such was his life as the leader of the Grigori. The doors to his office slammed open and the air in the room began whipping violently around like a tornado was tearing through. It did not help the paperwork that he'd yet to do. Then, in came a very angry Grim Reaper, fully outfitted in his dark attire, his glowing blue eyes shining through the shadows provided by his Reaper's hood.
"Your mad dogs are after my family." Thanasis growled as he approached Azazel's desk. "Tell them to piss off." He then dropped three skulls, one burned with the symbol of House Thanatos, Nergal, and the lastly House Ereshkigal. These were the Reaper Houses of Hades, Hell, and Heaven respectively. "As you can see, I've come prepared."
"You have indeed. The thing is, the Fallen Angels don't have a Reaper House."
"Because we have never recognized you as a faction to begin with!" Thanasis growled loudly; this fact had been a long-standing argument between the Grim Reapers and the Fallen Angels. The Fallen Angels were, in all truth, not a part of the system of Christianity, or the other two Abrahamic religions. As such, the Grim Reapers saw them as nothing more than rebels to God's plans. The Grim Reapers didn't answer to the Abrahamic God, or any god for that matter, but they recognized them as powerful beings. As such, the Grim Reapers had established embassy Houses in Heaven, Hell, and every other Pantheon that still held enough power to warrant it.
"Soooo… while you have the authority of both of the Houses of Christianity and your own, that doesn't really do much for us." Azazel said, not giving Thanasis' comment much thought. He personally could see the Grim Reapers' argument as valid, in a certain light; the Fallen Angels held no real purpose in God's world. The Devils ruled Hell and the proper Angels ruled Heaven; that was how it was supposed to be. However, even though Azazel didn't give much mind to the issue, others did. Many in the Grigori wanted a Reaper House as a form of validation to their cause, and even their existence. "That aside, tell me. What has happened?"
"One of the Incubi tried to rape my Granddaughter, then almost kidnaped my grandson. He seemed to think that my grandson was worth ten times his weight in gold, any comment on that?" Azazel didn't have any clue, why an Incubus would think that was anyone's guess. You couldn't buy or sell a Grim Reaper; doing so tempted fate for any being, no matter how powerful. And if Azazel was correct, the boy this man was speaking of was still mortal, and thus lacked any real power. Grim Reapers only gained their power over the forces of death once their souls had matured enough to handle entropy that always existed in their souls. Twenty years, if Azazel remembered correctly, dying before that and the Grim Reaper's own power would consume the soul, withering it into nothing. This meant it did not return into the cycle of reincarnation, but was annihilated, much like a Devils soul when killed by Light.
"No, I don't, and I am sorry that this has happened to you. Unfortunately, I can't help you. The Succubus and Incubus covens have a pact with us, and we can't go against it. All I can tell you is that they won't be getting help from us. Their quest for vengeance is for their own wounded pride; we have no stake in such nonsense. But, I'm sure that…" Azazel stopped talking; Thanasis had slammed his hands on his desk, nearly cracking it.
"Don't give me that bullshit! You are one of the most powerful beings in the underworld! Don't you dare fucking tell me that you will let some filth like the Succubi and Incubi hold you by your balls." Azazel frowned at that statement.
"Trust me. I don't find this situation fun. You come here with the backing of two Houses of Grim, and I'm sure all of the others would come running to help if this got too big. Indeed, I have no doubt that more than a few Gods of Death would also join in on this. So I understand the threat." Azazel said as he stood up. "Besides, personally I'm on your side in this." Azazel said, before walking over to a pile of papers on the ground that had blown there by Thanasis' entrance. He picked one up and wrote something on it, before tearing the piece off. "This is the address and number to a friend of mine in Japan; go to him. He is the sort of man who will be understanding of your plight. I'll call ahead to tell him you are coming."
"Thank you. However, what of us returning home? Are my grandchildren never going to see the streets of their birth?" Thanasis didn't really have an issue if they never did. This might even be the best way to get them away from their abusive family life altogether. But he worried what might happen to his daughter and other grandchildren should he attempt to hold out Eloisa and Dante form their father. Not without a good excuse.
"You know Succubi and Incubi as well as anyone else. Do you really think they will be after you for that long? They may hold a grudge like no one else in the short-term, but their attention span isn't capable of keeping them to it. After a few years, and a few more hits to their egos to get worked up over, I guarantee that even the Incubus that started this will have forgotten all about this."
"Yes, you're right. I thank you for what you have done. I am to assume that this isn't your official support?"
"Oh, hell no. Don't ever tell anyone that this meeting happened."
Present Day
Thanasis and Sirzechs' Meeting
"It seems like that promise is broken." Sirzechs chuckled, as Thanasis finished the story. He could honestly see Azazel doing something like that. The man was more than a bit perverse, but kindhearted nonetheless.
"Yeah. I should have taken them to China like I had planned." Thanasis said, as shadows covered his eyes. "No, no. It wasn't that choice that caused it. I should have never left them. I thought… I thought that things would be fine. Alas, it would seem like the pain and misfortune would not only follow Dante and Eloisa, but spread to those around them, as well."
Eleven Years Ago
Skies Above The Caspian Sea, Vassos Private Plane
Dante was asleep, his head resting on a pillow on one of the couches in the private plane; His grandfather had acquired it for his travels. Nearby, his sister was watching the clouds go by. She was trying to distract herself from the many thoughts rushing through her head. Their grandfather had hurried them on to the plane, then gave the order to take off and head east. It sounded strange to Eloisa. She didn't know much about air travel, but even she knew that a destination was usually needed before taking flight. Their grandfather never got on the plane, nor did he explain what was going on.
Finally, she'd had enough. Eloisa decided that she needed some answers, and so she got up. She walked up to the cockpit of the plane and opened the door. To her surprise and horror, the cockpit was empty. This terrified her; the fearful girl immediately began panicking, believing that the plane would fall to the ground any moment. A silly thing to think, given that they had been flying safely without a pilot for the last few hours, but a reasonable worry. She then saw the red light of a button marked autopilot and breathed a sigh of relief.
"It's okay." A voice spoke from behind Eloisa, even as a hand was placed on her shoulder. The girl yelped in fright. She spun, then, upon seeing the culprit, slapped her grandfather. An understandable reaction, considering that she was still on edge from her earlier experience. "Ow… that's some arm you've got there." Thanasis whined as he rubbed his cheek.
"It was your fault for startling the poor girl, sir." A man standing behind Thanasis said; he was a well-dressed older man clad in a fine, jacket-less suit and glasses. He appeared to be in his late sixties, yet at the same time, his physical form didn't appear weak in the slightest. He wore his short hair pulled back into a tight knot, and his angular face was freshly shaven. His darkly tanned skin clearly marked his Arabic heritage. This man was Minos, retainer and butler to the Alighieri family, currently serving Thanasis during his travels. Thanasis had once told Eloisa that his father had saved Minos' life, and the man had been serving their family ever since. "Madam Eloisa, please return to your seat; I shall bring some refreshments for you and Master Dante." Minos said, before giving a perfunctory bow and walking toward the back of the plane.
"Uh, h-how… how did you and Minos get up here?" Eloisa asked as she turned back to her grandfather.
"That is a story for later, dear. Wake up your brother, I have a few things to explain to the both of you." He said, before walking back to the small sitting area on the plane.
Eloisa noticed as he walked away that he was no longer wearing the suit he had been wearing earlier, instead he was clad in strange leather armor, studded with small bits of silver around the hands and lower arms. The palms, however, were entirely free of any protection, and the rest of the outfit was replete with silver trimming. Around the armor was a large yet thin cloak, colored a darker black than she had ever seen and lined with a trim of cold light blue. The cloak was attached to a cowl as well, but her grandfather had it down.
She did as she was told, walked over to Dante's seat and, woke him up, getting him into a coherent state with the help of a bit of juice, courtesy of Minos. Eloisa herself had a cup of coffee, some of the best she'd ever had, but she wasn't paying attention to that right now.
"Grandfather, I think it is time you tell us what is going on." Eloisa said quietly but firmly; she would not wait any longer.
"Right…" Thanasis then looked to Dante; the boy had been very quiet about the whole thing. Most likely, he was just as concerned, but still lacked the sense of seriousness and skepticism that would develop as he grew older. He was still young, and as such fantasy was more believable to him. What had happened was scary, to be sure, but to him the word impossible had yet to mean the same thing as it did for most grownups. "I guess I should start by saying that we, you, your mother, and the rest of our family… are not human."
"What?!" Both of them questioned in shock.
"'Calm down!' Yes, I know, that's an unreasonable thing to ask of you."
"What do you mean, 'not human'? What else could we be?" Eloisa demanded, though a part of her knew that he'd already been going to explain that, and she wasn't going to like it. Dante just sat next to his sister with a look of expectancy on his face.
"First thing you need to know is that the world is far larger than you thought. Things like Angels and Devils are real; Heaven and Hell are real. So are many of the other myths and religions that exist in the world. I once had a drinking contest with Thor. Trust me when I tell you that is a bad idea. I was so hammered that I-"
"Stop!" Eloisa yelled interrupting her grandfather. "This is crazy! You're saying that Gods and Angels and Devils are real and… and… we're not human!" Thanasis waited for Eloisa to finish, giving her a few seconds to breathe before snapping his fingers; Minos came to his side.
"Show her." Thanasis said seriously, his eyes not leaving their focus on his granddaughter. Minos nodded and, in an instant, he was replaced by a black cloud of fireless smoke, three glowing yellow orbs serving as the only color in the mass of smoke. The smoke coalesced into a loosely humanoid form, though its abdomen tapered into a wispy tail rather than legs. "Minos is a Jinn, one of a race of beings from the Middle East. My father saved him from attacks on him perpetrated by his own kind when he was twenty-seven… two hundred and thirty years ago." Dante and Eloisa both were scarcely listening, so entranced were they by the supernatural being floating in front of them.
"Master Thanasis. May I return to my flesh and blood form? It is quite a task to keep up with the speeds of the plane and remain in the same place on said craft." There was no origin to the voice, though it was still distinctly Minos', if a bit strained.
"Yes, I think that will be all, thank you." At that, Minos returned to his human form, bowed, then returned to the back of the plane. "There was your proof. I'm not going to give you a complete rundown of the Supernatural World for two reasons: because it is unnecessary, and because it goes against tradition. You are supposed to learn these things once the danger has passed. It's less likely for you to seek adventure and danger if you think the world is more mundane than it really is."
"What do you mean, 'once the danger has passed'? What danger?" Eloisa asked, outwardly concerned.
"I will get to that in a moment. The important thing is that you both now understand that what I claim is true; that the supernatural is real." The two grandchildren nodded. "Alright. I will now explain just what we, our family, are. We differ fundamentally from humans, down to our very souls. Calling them souls isn't even accurate, metaphysically. What we have are comparable to the souls of ordinary beings, but still different. What we have in place of souls have many of the same traits and uses, but at the end of the day, what we have is still a different thing altogether.
Souls were are basically a living being's share of a cosmic energy that gives a being that spark of life. It grows with life and the longer someone lives or gains that cosmic energy the more substantial the soul. But the actual mechanics of Souls are not what's important here. It's that ninety percent of all living beings have them, but we do not. We were created to be the replacements for beings that badly needed to be replaced. Reapers. Those that harvested the souls of the living once they had died, then either returned them to the cycle of rebirth or to the collective cosmic pool of energy that we call the Void."
"Just answer the original question already! What are we?" Eloisa demanded.
"We are Grim Reapers, a name given to us in mourning for the loss of our master, Lord Death. He was the first God of Death and the avatar of the primordial force of True Death itself. After that happened, his creations, the original Reapers, went crazy, causing the event known as the Black Harvest to occur. They swarmed over all Creation and attempted to bring forth the end of all. It took everything; all of the Gods and Primordial Avatars to end the threat. However, there still was of the void left in Creation. Something needed to continue to perform the duty formerly left to the Reapers and Lord Death; to maintain the balance between Life and Death. Thus, we were created; The Grim Reapers. We of the Vassos line, are descendants of the Greek God of Death, Thanatos. Indeed, all Grim Reapers are somehow related to one of the many Gods of Death, all of whom answer to Lord Death… who is, of course, missing."
"So that's what we are… We are not human, but monsters of death and misery…" Eloisa said quietly, as she looked off with sadness in her eyes.
"NO!" The plane shook violently as Thanasis' raging emotions caused the air around it to turn wild. "We are not monsters; don't ever think that."
"Sir, please try to reign in your emotions; we wouldn't want to crash, now would we?" Minos offered dryly as he walked past them to the cockpit. Thanasis ignored him.
"We are sentient beings, beings with the ability to think, reason, and feel. Above all, you must remember this: never judge a being by its race. I have met many people in my years. I have met Angels that were some of the worst people I have ever met. On the other hand, there are Devils in Hell who I consider to be champions of decency and what it means to be good. Trust me when I say that we are not monsters. We are just as capable of being good or bad as anything else." That seemed to put his granddaughter at ease, before she frowned again.
"So, who, or what, was that man that attacked us?"
"Him. He was an Incubus. Demons of Lust, Succubi and Incubi are made out of humans that have their hearts broken by love. Due to this, they end up bitter, craving anything that would fill the emptiness in their lives. One might ordinarily consider them tragic, but so many of them are absolute... jerks." Thanasis said, clearly wanting to use a more colorful word. "They are able to feed off sexual energy and use it to make their bodies nearly… no, invincible isn't the best word. They can heal rapidly, and injuries don't affect them at first; it takes a while before they even notice. This gives them time to apply magic to heal any fatal hit they can't endure naturally. They also can drain and nullify magic through skin contact. Finally, they are some of the fastest fighters out there. In short, they are annoyingly powerful. They also often come in pairs. I mentioned that they are born out of the grief of heartbreak. That means there is a second person involved with them, the one who did the heartbreak."
"Someone actually loved that guy?! How?" Eloisa was understandably disgusted by the idea.
"Not exactly. The Succubi or Incubi is the only one that needs to be in love. And unfortunately, it doesn't need to be true love for the person to become a Succubus or Incubus. Most of the time, the newly made Succubus or Incubus kills their Heartbreaker, but sometimes there's an even worse fate. The Heartbreaker's Cruse, with a single Willing, that part is important, kiss, the curse is enacted. A week later, the target is forever tethered to the will of the Succubus or Incubus that put it on them. They become puppets for their master's whims; it doesn't take long for the Succubus or Incubus to turn cruel and torturous towards the person they once loved. The worst part is that the person is linked to the Succubus or Incubus; so long as the demon is alive, they can't die. Nothing short of destroying the body will kill them. As you might imagine, that is a powerful tool in combat." Thanasis sighed a bit before continuing. "Succubi and Incubi also have it in their head that everyone should do what they say and take great offense when people don't. They normally have a sort of hypnotic allure that humans are susceptible to, so they normally get what they want. However, it only works on humans; other beings find them all to be sleazy and cheap. Make no mistake, though, they are vicious creatures that will stop at nothing to get those they think have wronged them."
"Like us." Eloisa said with disgust and disdain for the fact she had to flee her home because someone couldn't take rejection.
"Yes, but it won't be forever. In a few years, they will have forgotten all about you. Besides, once you turn twenty it won't matter anymore." Thanasis shrugged off. Living as a mortal Grim Reaper after the age of twenty was an fascinating thing. They tended to go to the extreme to test how much they could get away with. Extreme stunts were very common.
"And why's that?" She asked, a little confused.
"Because if you die after the age of twenty, say from an Incubus killing you, you will be reborn as a fully matured Grim Reaper. And will, in that second, cut that Incubus in half with your own Blade of Bone."
"That was the scythe you had, wasn't it?"
"Yes; all Grim Reapers have their own. That, however, is for when you are older." He said with a smile. "For right now, just get some sleep. We will be heading for Japan, where a friend of an ally will be taking care of you two, for the time being."
"You're not staying with us?" Eloisa asked, a bit surprised.
"No, I can't. I have to perform my duties for the Grim Reapers. I had been hoping to get a personal leave for the next two years but seeing as things have gone as they have I most likely won't be. Even now, the only reason why I can take you to the safe house is that both Grim Houses of Heaven, Hades, and Hell have permitted me to handle this little incident. Once I make sure you two are safe, I am to check on your big brothers and your mother. Once that is done, I need to get back to my duties." It irritated him how obstinate his superiors were being about this.
"Is that the reason we don't see Mother? Is she on Reaper business as well?" Dante asked, hoping the answer would help him understand why he didn't see his mother so much. And maybe why she didn't stop father. Eloisa also looked up to her grandfather with a hopeful look, but that was crushed once she saw the look on his face.
"She hasn't died, has she?" Eloisa assumed the worst within a second.
"No, no, she hasn't. She does know all about this, but she generally doesn't care very much for any of it." He said, unable to hide the disappointment in his voice over his daughter's thoughts on her heritage. Thanasis sighed; sometimes it killed him all over again when he saw how his own little girl had turned out. He didn't remember spoiling her as a child, so he continued to wonder just how she turned out the way she had. "But enough about this; try to get some sleep, and we will be there in no time at all." He said, trying to shove the problem of their mother away. Eloisa seemed all too happy to do just that, giving her grandfather a hug, a small thank you for all he had done, and then went to one of the small cabins on the plane to sleep.
"Grandpa…" Thanasis looked down and saw Dante looking down at the floor, as if wondering if he should continue.
"Go on… you can ask me anything, Dante."
"I… I made everything really cold. And that man… he wanted to take me away, didn't he?"
"Yes, we Grim Reapers have power over three of the forces, or Tenants of Death, called the three Cs of Death by many. Chill, Certainty, and Calamity. I have trained with the last, which is why everything gets so… Things become turbulent, like a tornado or hurricane when I get mad. You, however, seem very attuned to Chill, so much so that you did it without training. That's very rare; I'm very proud of you." That made the young boy smile. "However, you must keep this a secret. People like to take rare things for themselves. So, don't tell anyone. They might not care much, but someone they know might. Now, go get some sleep." The elder Alighieri male ruffled Dante's black hair, and sent him to his own cabin. It was a large private plane.
"You said rare, sir. More like unheard of. No Grim Reaper in history has used one of the Tenants of Death like that untrained and still as a mortal." Minos pointed out as he exited the pilot's room. "Except for…"
"Don't… say it. I know. I am thankful that the Incubus seemed to mistake Dante for a Sacred Gear user. So hopefully, we are covered on that."
Present Day
Thanasis and Sirzechs' Meeting
"And are we're covered on this?" Sirzechs asked with total seriousness.
"Yes, in the years that followed there was no move by those that would be looking for the Prophet of Death. In any camp; not the Grim Reapers, The Horsemen, the Followers of the Dawn, none of them. Not a word."
"That is good, but it doesn't mean we won't have to deal with them at some point." Sirzechs said, leaning back in his chair, happy that he didn't have to do that right now. While it was true that he was a mighty being, the same could be said for those that Thanasis had just listed. "So, who was this ally that Azazel had sent you to? I have a guess~"
"Shut up."
Eleven Years Ago
Tokyo, Narita International Airport
Thanasis watched with a little amusement at -Eloisa and Dante having trouble just understanding what was going on. Both spoke their native English and both were fluent in Italian, and Eloisa even knew a bit of French, but neither knew a bit of Japanese. Many of the signs were also in English, so they weren't lost entirely, but it was still a very jarring time for the two.
"Come on you two." Thanasis called back to the two, they both listened, quickly coming to his sides. Thanasis led his grandchildren through the crowds with Minos right behind them carrying their little luggage that they had been able to get. "We're supposed to be looking for a… ah, of course." Thanasis mumbled to himself, switching from English to Japanese midsentence; then he spotted the very tall man standing near the exit to the airport, holding a small board with the word Vassos on it. It was clear that he was not exactly thrilled about having to hold it. "It's likely Azazel ordered him to do so…" Thanasis chuckled in the safety of his mind as he directed Eloisa and Dante to the man they had been sent to see. "Thanasis Vassos, with Eloisa and Dante Alighieri." Thanasis said with a small nod, as he stood in front of the Fallen Angel.
"Baraqiel. I welcome you to Japan, and I wish to personally apologize for what you had to go through. While I understand why we need the covens, I do not think they are worth the dishonor they bring with them." Baraqiel said, with honest intent backing his words.
"Thank you, and I thank you for taking my grandchildren in even with the… ah… cold relationship the Grim Reapers have with the Fallen Angels."
"Yes, cold… what with your claims that we shouldn't even exist." The two men stared at each other for a moment; people around them instinctively moved away, latent ancestral memories urging them to stay away from the duo. "However, that is not what is at issue here. It is that children are being targeted." Baraqiel said, ending the tense moment.
"Yes, let us leave. I want to make sure that my grandchildren are safe before I have to return to my duties." The Fallen Angel nodded, the group exited the airport, and soon were on their way to Baraqiel's home.
All the way, Eloisa and Dante gaped at what they saw. Having never been outside their own home city of New York, they were surprised by how different everything was while at the same time being the same. They both took in the modern aspects of Tokyo, as well as the traditional Eastern style of building. Soon enough, they left the city and came to a small compound on the outskirts of a small suburban town. "This should be more than enough for their expenses." Thanasis said as he handed Baraqiel a black credit card. "It's linked to their father's company, so there is no spending limit." Thanasis smiled as he remembered him getting this out of Elijah. It was at knifepoint but still, he then later had a few friends do some work on it so it would be untraceable. Paranoia had been quickly becoming a good friend to Thanasis. If only he had gotten acquainted earlier.
"I'm not sure if I could take such a…" Baraqiel immediately stopped, as he felt his wife's presence behind him.
"Dear… accept the gift. This man is trying to help with the cost of two extra mouths to feed." Baraqiel's wife, Shuri Himejima, said, before taking the credit card from her husband.
"Please, my lady, feel perfectly free to treat yourself. Really, nothing you could use that for would be of real cost to their family. New car, not even a drop in the bucket." Thanasis said with utmost manners and charm, there was his grandson in their presence. And Thanasis wanted to impart on him at every opportunity how to treat women. Like a gentleman.
"Oh, how entirely sweet of you, we appreciate it, don't we dear?" Thanasis was silently laughing at the situation, though not at Baraqiel being whipped. Never would he laugh at that; the woman was happy, and Baraqiel's anger towards Thanasis was a sign that he cared greatly for her. This made it clear that Thanasis could never make fun of a man who made his wife happy and would do anything for her. No, Thanasis was laughing at the fact this stern and very powerful Fallen Angel was whipped, not the man himself, but what he was.
"Yes, thank you for your help." Baraqiel groundout before turning and going inside not wanting to be around Thanasis any more than he had too.
"He can be so grumpy at times." Shuri sighed, before turning to the child and teenager that had been watching the exchange with interest. Dante because he was a child, things were happening and thus earned his attention. Eloisa watched for two reasons. On the surface, she was determining whether these people could be trusted. Deep inside, however, there was a part of her looking for decent parental role models. "I'm assuming they don't understand Japanese?" Shuri asked, looking back at Thanasis.
"English… what can you do… American. But they do know a good deal of Italian." Thanasis answered.
"Oh, I see, my English is a bit poor; my husband has tried to teach me a bit more."
"Since they are going to be living here for two years at the very least, I think it would be best to have them learn Japanese." Thanasis said. One could never know enough ways to speak to others.
He pushed Dante and Eloisa off his sides and then bent down on his knee. "Now, listen, you two." Thanasis switching back to English. "You both need to stay here and do as they say. I will explain the situation to your mother and brothers; they're due for their own little Talk anyways. As for your father… I'll just… convince him. I'll be back as soon as I can, and I will see you when I can. Got it?" They both nodded and grabbed onto their grandfather, who returned the hug. "Okay, okay! You're going to break Grandpa!" he chuckled, before they pulled off and he stood up. "One last thing, here for you." Thanasis said before holding out a small beaded skull pendant. Shuri took it and gasped; it felt ice cold to her touch. "If anything, anything at all goes wrong, break that and I will be here as fast as I can." Shuri nodded her thanks at the gift.
Thanasis then nodded to Minos, who dropped their luggage and took Thanasis' arm. "This is how I showed up in the plane, by the way." With that, they both vanished in a pillar of black smoke and vanished off into the distant sky. Shocking Dante, Eloisa, Shuri, and the young girl that had been watching the whole thing from a hole in the garden fence.
Present Day
Thanasis and Sirzechs' Meeting
"Interesting… so Dante knows Rias' Queen. In what way?" Sirzechs asked, not having seen this coming at the beginning, but the second that Thanasis had mentioned an ally of Azazel and Japan, he had known.
"I'm honestly not sure. They could hate each other, or they could fuck one another the second they are reunited. I don't know. I was unable to see them even once during the two years that they spent in Japan."
Present Day
JFK International Airport
"Dante, it would appear that we have one last meeting before we take off." Raimondo said dispassionately as he read the text of the incoming business on his phone. They had been waiting in their family limo outside the hanger that housed their private plan. They weren't giving Dante the chance to escape into the crowd of the public of the airport.
"Yeah? The fuck is it?" Dante grunted still in a foul mood of his forced captivity.
"Apparently Tori Monetti will be arriving in the next two minutes to pled for you remain and marry her." The eldest brother scoffed, the girl couldn't understand that that deal had nothing to do with them. It was about profit and the continuation of two crime families.
"And we're not getting on the plane before she can set fire to it?" Dante joked on reflex before feeling bad. He had throughout the time of knowing the girl joked about how she was a crazy stalker after only their first date she was fully ready to get married. And even after that she went along with the idea of a forced marriage without so much as a single reservation. It didn't make a good impression on Dante as he had been opposed to the whole thing from the beginning.
But now that hearing that she was coming to beg for him to come back, not that he had the choice, it at least made him feel like maybe he should have seen it from her side. She didn't have the life that bashed the brutal reality of life over her head like he had. She most likely had been taught from a young age that her father would set her up with her prince charming, and that all she needed to live a happy life was to marry that prince. And Dante wasn't exactly not princely on that first date, having wanted to at least give the girl a shot at changing his mind over the whole matter.
"I'll tell the guards to turn them away." Raimondo mumbled not really for his brothers' benefit but more out of habit.
"Nah… let her through." Raimondo glanced up with a look that said you're not in charge here. "Let's just give the girl some closure. I'm not gonna run off with her, but come on man have a heart."
"Just let him do it." Tony interrupted before Raimondo could voice a denial. After a moment of silence Raimondo sighed and called the guards to let the incoming limo through.
"You have five minutes before we take off." Raimondo growled before opening the door and getting out. The two younger brothers enjoyed a small victory smirk before following the eldest out. Raimondo and Tony both walked to the hanger with the middle brother hanging back at the door to watch his little brother still at the family limo. Sure enough another stretch came through the nearby chain-link fence and drove up to the Alighieri.
"Better to get this over with now rather than my real wedding where she crashes it… no, bad Dante." He admonished himself as he watched as a bodyguard opened the door for Dante former fiancée. A girl two years younger than himself took a step out, Dante assumed that she had come as soon as she heard what had happened because she was still in her school uniform. Short blond hair in a slight mess, most likely over the stress. Red teary eyes and puffy cheeks from all the crying marked the normally very pretty face.
"Dante!" Tori yelled as she began to run over to him only to stop when a few of the many Alighieri goons pulled up their firearms.
"Calm the fuck down would ya, there's no need for that." Dante groaned loudly causing several of the goons to back down. Even if he was the black sheep of the crime family he still held authority over the goons. Dante then looked back to the tearful girl, again he felt so much worse for his dismissal of her. "Tori, I do appreciate this gesture. I really do. It made me reconsider a few things…" He trailed off with a slightly guilty look on his face.
"Then come with me, we can still be happy together. Just you and me forever." She pleaded and another pang of guilt hit Dante at the desperate panicked tone in her voice. Whatever she had thought they're lives would have been like must have been so apparent in her mind. It was a certainty he could only equate to one he had a long time ago. But just in his own past, this rosy future she had wouldn't come true.
"That's not up to me… you see these guys…" He motioned to the goons that had been threatening her just a moment ago. "… they're mostly here to make sure I get on that plane head off. I told you on our first date that this had all been arranged by our fathers… well… so has our end. We're just bargaining chips to them, and my father has decided to use his chip somewhere else." He tried to explain, none of this was in his control. But that didn't seem to get through in the right way.
"If that's how it is… then I'll save you!" She yelled causing the goons, of both families, to all hold up their guns ready to fire on each other.
"No!" Dante yelled not wanting to have a firefight. As much as he didn't care for his own family, the goons were still people with their own families and they were just doing what they were paid for. "Redshirts matter too." Was a thought that Dante often had on this subject. "I don't need saving. I was planning on running away regardless, trying to stop my father's wishes for the reasons you have would be pointless."
"B-but… what about…"
"There was no future." Dante said bluntly but his eyes tried to convene the remorse and guilt he had for this whole matter. Behind that was an inferno of rage for both his father and hers. In a rare situation, he blamed someone else more than his own father, hers. Whatever shit Tori's father shoved down her throat was in Dante's opinion no better than brainwashing. "I have doubt in my mind you'll make a great wife to someone someday. But not to me, and sure as hell not to someone of your choice." Both of them stood there, Tori still crying as she stared at the ground. Dante could feel the seconds tick by as he waited for her response.
"Could… could I just get one last farewell kiss?" Tori asked as she took a tentative step forward bridging the gap between them, making it only a few more steps. "I know its sad to make our first kiss our last but… please." She pleaded as she took another step forward, her voice a tad more confident. Dante couldn't help but feel that if he didn't he would be breaking so many of his personal morals. So, with a sigh, he also took a step forward causing Tori to light up and close the distance between them. The kiss was quick, desperate and more sad than happy for both sides. But as Tori pulled back, Dante couldn't help but notice a smile playing on her lips. But she turned around and ran back to her limo without a word.
Island of the Fates
"Sisters… I do believe that we have set the table for the next act." Present hummed pleasantly at what they had witnessed. Everything was going as they hoped, their Champion was coming along the path of greatness. His past building a foundation to give him a strong will that would not break. A personality that would bring people to him, and connections to people that would strengthen him in body and mind.
"Finally! We're getting to the fucking!" Future cheered loudly and while her oldest sisters agree they sighed at Future's childish actions.
Author's notes
yes I know I've changed the name of Dante's Ex like five times now. But this is the last time because I actually like this one, and it has a inside joke that I find funny. Also there's a reason for Dante's grandfather's name change, in that the whole Alighieri name is now coming from his father and it makes way more sense in the wider lore.