The Devil's Hourglass
Chapter 2: Friends or family?
Dante sombrely walked down the dusty street from his office; the sun bathed him in its crimson light, making his coat a lighter shade of red and giving his white hair a soft red glow. His footsteps echoed throughout the neighbourhood, but awoke no one from their sleep. He walked slowly, with his gloved hands buried in his pockets and staring at the ground. Will I be able to do this? Can I? The hunter looked up and stared at the crimson sunrise; the warmth of the sun landed softly on his cheeks and he stared at the sun, wondering how on earth he was going to approach his friends after not seeing any of them for six months. He thought of how he had been acting since the incident when Nero finished of that demon;
"Dante, what's the matter?" The teen asked, concerned about the older half-devil. He saw the shocked expression on Dante's face; the red clad's eyes were still wide and he just stared at Nero nervously, as if he were seeing the ghost of a family member. He had visibly paled; even more than Nero thought was possible for him, when you considered the fact that the older hunter had quite a pale complexion. The younger half-demon walked up to Dante slowly; if the older hunter was as freaked out as his expression portrayed, it would be best to approach him in a manner that gave no indication that the teen was a threat to him. "Dante, are you okay?"
The red clad no longer stared at the teen, but rather at the spot where the Hell Vanguard had been. For one brief moment, he thought he saw Vergil standing there in the pouring rain, glaring at him though the white bangs of his hair that had fallen down from its usual style due to the downpour. The red clad's heart rate slowed yet his heart pounded fiercely in his chest. The hunter swore he could still smell the sickly, coppery scent of his own blood in the air. He could hear it dropping to the stone ground, staining the top of Temen-Ni-Gru. He could still hear himself panting heavily, feel the coldness of the rain make his whole body feel numb and he could still see that cold, heart stopping, murderous look in Vergil's eyes; those piercing blue eyes that showed no emotions except hate, anger and remorse. Those eyes, along with the Dark Slayer's heart of ice were the most unnerving things known to the younger twin. The red clad was about to back away slightly when he remembered that it wasn't possible for Vergil to be there; since he had been the one who had killed him. His twin wasn't there, because his blood, the blood of one son of Sparda was on the other son's hands. The older hunter's eyes widened further, but this time in fear. He found that he couldn't look away from the spot, no matter how hard he tried, and this scared him.
Nero had no idea about what was going on, but he knew that for Dante to act in this way there had to be a serious reason for it. The teen put his hands on Dante's shoulders, "Dante!" he called, in an effort to get the older man to respond. He didn't even get the red clad to blink, so he tried again, "Dante!" he shook the hunter slightly.
The mentioned devil hunter snapped out of his trance like state; once again he heard the sound of the heavy downpour echo around him, he felt the raindrops hit the top of his white hair, soaking him though. He dropped to his knees and placed his hands on the ground, staring at the puddles of water in front of him. "Vergil…" he whispered.
The younger half-devil crouched down next to Dante; he had heard the hunter say something sounding like a name, but he didn't recognize it. "Dante, who's 'Vergil'?" the teen asked.
The red clad raised his head and looked at the teen, "Vergil? He is…" the hunter shook his head, "He was, my… older twin brother…" his voice trailed off.
Nero's eyes widened a little; he had just been using Yamato, which was originally Dante's brothers sword and he knew that Dante's brother was no longer around but that didn't explain why he was acting this way. It seemed to the teen that the older hunter's brother had passed away awhile before he even met him, so why was he so upset and in shock? Nero had no idea about what had brought this up, but he did know that the two of them should get out of the rain and get back to Devil May cry. The teen stood up and offered his hand to the red clad, "Dante, we should be getting back right now, or the others will worry."
The older hunter stood up by himself and kept his gaze fixed to the floor. He turned around and began walking in the direction of the shop, with his hands buried in his pockets. He tried to let his thoughts on Vergil get washed away by the rain, so they would never come back, but he found that simply trying to forget about what he thought that he had just seen was impossible since it was so fresh in his mind. And the way he thought he saw Vergil look at him back there; the glare that he gave him, with those ice cold eyes of his. Those eyes, that would haunt him forever.
Nero glanced at Dante as they walked up the street to Devil May Cry; seeing the red clad act the way he did earlier had put the teen on edge. As much as hated to admit it, he knew that the red clad far surpassed him in all aspects of fighting and he knew how to keep his cool most of the time on the battle field, but for him to act in the way that he did slightly shocked the teen. Dante always made himself out to be a cocky, sarcastic kind of guy, but today he had seen a completely different side to the older half-demon. He wondered that if something to do with the red clad's brother could freak him out so bad, then what would Nero be like if he were faced with a similar situation? The teen shuddered at the thought.
The pair walked up the steps to Devil May Cry and went through one of the two wooden doors. They walked into the shop which was surprisingly warm for once, although this could be because Dante and Nero had spent a long time out in the rain. Lady and Kyrie instantly looked over at the soaked duo from their place on one of the two sofas and smiled, Trish however, who was sitting on the desk near the back of the shop, could already tell that something was wrong.
"So, how was the job?" Lady asked, just as Nero closed the door.
"Um…" the teen cast a worried glance towards Dante, who was silently making his way up the stairs to the second floor of the shop to his room. Everyone watched him, slightly shocked at his uncharacteristic behaviour. The red clad opened the door to the second level of the shop, walked through it and made his way to his bedroom.
Trish looked at Nero; her worry for Dante was evident in her eyes. "What happened while you were out?"
"I don't know; we just went to the area where the demons had been reported to be and began taking them out." Nero started, "I finished of the last Hell Vanguard with Yamato then I looked at Dante; he had a shocked expression on his face and then he just dropped to his knees and said his brother's name…" the teen's voice trailed off.
Trish slid off the desk and hurried up the stairs after Dante. Lady got up from her place on the sofa and slowly walked past Nero, her high heeled boots making the floor boards creak. She stopped when she was about a meter behind him. "So, Dante mentioned Vergil's name…" the Gunslinger sighed, "I haven't heard him speak about Vergil in around ten years… not since Temen-Ni-Gru."
Nero turned around and looked at Lady; she hung her head slightly, as if in shame or in sadness. Kyrie got up from the sofa and walked to the teen's side. She held his demonic hand in her own and looked at him, as if willing him to ask a question that he wanted to ask. "Lady, what… what was Vergil like?"
The dark haired woman turned to face him, "That's not my place to say."
Trish made her way along the landing to the room she shared with Dante. It was very rare to see the half-devil in a state slightly similar to the one he was in now; in fact, the last time she had seen Dante act this way was on his last birthday, but even then he still remained in moderately high spirits. The demoness came to the doorway; as she peered inside the dark room, she saw Dante sitting on the bed with his head in his hands. He had taken his red trench coat and black shirt off, so he only wore his black trousers. He was shaking slightly and breathing fast. Trish walked over to the half-devil, sat down next to him and put her arms around his neck, holding him close to her. She put her hand on his head and gently stroked his hair, calming him.
"Shhh, Dante. It's okay," Trish said in a quiet, soothing voice, "It's okay…"
The red clad stopped walking and sighed; that was the day when he had started seeing Nero and Trish in a different way. Trish… I'm sorry… I shouldn't have acted in the way that I did… I really am sorry. He looked to his left and saw the dimly lit street that he had been heading for. The hunter began walking down the street, heading towards the one place where he knew he would get help to find the Hourglass. Lady.
Slowly, he made his way up to her apartment, and over to her front door. He raised his hand to press the door bell, but froze and couldn't bring himself to. How could he? He hadn't seen Lady in months, what if she didn't want to help him? The red clad shook his head, Lady was his friend; he'd known her for over ten years, surely she would help him? Reluctantly, Dante rang the doorbell and waited.
After a couple of minutes there was no answer; the red clad couldn't even hear anyone moving around in there even with his demonic hearing. He rang the doorbell again and waited. This time he heard someone complain about being woken up so early. He heard heavy footsteps come to the door and the small click of the lock being unlocked. The door opened and he instantly caught sight of a very tired Lady, who was rubbing her eyes. She wore a plain white shirt and a pair of black shorts, presumably what she had worn to bed.
"Okay jackass; who are you and what the hell do you want at this… time in the morning…" Her voice trailed off as she looked at the man clad in red standing before her, "Dante!" She gasped.
"Lady-" the red clad was cut off by the Gunslinger, who was hugging him. She then stopped and dragged him inside.
"Dante, are you okay? Why are you here so early?" Lady inquired.
The hunter was about to give a reply when he heard another voice come from a room just off of the living room, "Lady, who's ringing the doorbell at this time in the morning?" The door to the room opened to reveal a sleepy looking Trish, who was also wearing a white shirt, but with no shorts so she only had her black, lace underwear on. The blonde demoness began walking over to the front door, only to stop when she caught sight of the red clad hunter standing in the doorway.
She stared at him with wide eyes, making sure that he was not some form of illusion that had been conjured by a demon of some sort to torment her and then ran up to him and hugged him. Dante was quick to return the embrace and rested his forehead on the top of her head. "Trish," the hunter started, "Lady, I'm sorry-"
"Don't be," Trish said calmingly.
Lady came up to them and joined the hug, "We know it must have been hard on you."
Dante relaxed a little; the welcoming atmosphere that he felt around him was completely different to the one of rejection that he had pictured earlier. He felt comfortable around Lady and Trish like he was wanted there by the two women. He felt loved, something which he hadn't felt for a good few months now.
Lady and Trish stopped hugging the half-demon. Instead they tugged him over to the sofa and forced him to sit down. The blonde demoness, grabbed Rebellion from him, set it on the floor next to the sofa and sat down next to him. Lady sat in the armchair that was positioned in a ninety degree angle with the sofa.
The red clad looked around the living room; it was quite plain in colour, having pale while walls, but there was plenty of furniture to make up for it, such as a coffee table, two sofas and an armchair. There was also a forty two inch flat screen TV that had been made by Sony.
"So Dante," Lady began, "What brings you here at this time in the morning?"
The hunter sighed and hung his head, "To tell you the truth, I only wanted to know if you knew where the highest point in the world is…" he said quietly.
"Oh, right" the Gunslinger said disappointedly. She would have thought that he had come to see her and Trish since both women hadn't seen him for ages, but she was wrong.
Dante realized his mistake and quickly tried to remedy it, "It's not that I'm not happy to see you guys, I am, really, but I need your help for this."
Lady nodded understandingly, as did Trish. "Then why do you want to know where the highest point is, Dante?" the blonde asked.
The red clad went silent for a moment; he wondered if the two would believe him if he told them that he was offered the chance to go back in time last night, but then decided that they knew he wouldn't lie about something as serious as that. "Have you two ever heard the legend of The Devil's Hourglass?"
"The Devil's Hourglass?" Trish questioned.
Dante turned to look at her, "You may know it as Chrona's Hourglass."
The Gunslinger pondered for a moment, "Hmm, I think I have, why?"
Unlike Lady, Trish had already caught on to what the hunter was trying to say and quite frankly, she couldn't believe it, "Dante, are you saying that-"
"Yes," the half devil confirmed.
The Gunslinger finally figured out what Dante was saying, "Wait a sec, don't tell me you were offered the chance? But how? The Devil's Hourglass is just a legend."
"So is The legend of Sparda, but that one is true isn't it?" Dante questioned her.
Lady sighed, "I guess. So, you were offered this chance then?"
Dante nodded.
Silence was bestowed upon the room.
The two women looked at Dante with wide eyes; they couldn't believe it. Dante had been given this chance and out of everyone else that could have got it, only he did and he would be the only one to ever get the chance in the existence of time.
Lady stood up, now recovered from being shocked at the chance that Dante had been given, "I'm going to call Nero and Kyrie; they should and come and see you while you're still here," she announced, while walking down the landing. She opened the door to her room and went inside.
The red clad hunter looked at Trish; there was sadness in his eyes, sadness that had dulled the bright, wild, liveliness that they had once had, "I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"Taking this chance to save them; if I do, I'll have to leave you and the others behind."
Trish looked deep into his icy blue eyes with her own, she searched them carefully; they were now full of not only sadness, but remorse too. Sighing, she put her hands on his cheeks and forced him to look in to her eyes deeply as well, "Dante, do what your heart is telling you to do, because no matter who you choose, you will have to leave someone behind."
Just as Dante was about to say something, Lady walked in the room, fully clothed in her usual white shirt and shorts, with red gloves and light brown high heeled boots, "Nero and Kyrie will be here in about ten minutes." she sat back down in the armchair and watched as Trish got up to go and get changed.
They sat in silence as they waited for the younger couple to arrive. Trish came and sat back down after five minutes and the three continued to wait.
Dante began to get tense; not just because Nero and Kyrie were coming and he didn't know how they would react, but also because the silent atmosphere was very unnerving. He wondered how Nero would react to seeing him, since the kid knew that Dante was reminded of Vergil whenever he saw him; oh the kid knew that all too well, considering the amount of times that Dante had reacted to him being like Vergil. Yep, the kid definitely knew. Kid… it's been a while since I called him that. Hmph, I guess he's not much of a kid anymore, being twenty seven.
The sound of the doorbell snapped Dante out of his thoughts. He looked over to the front door that was being answered by Lady and Trish and caught sight of Kyrie, who despite looking very sleepy, was smiling and seemed to be quite excited about something, which was probably something about seeing him again. The two were invited in and that was when Dante saw Nero; he hadn't changed much in terms of his facial appearance, he still had the same hairstyle and of course the same dark blue eyes, but he appeared to be a bit taller and broader than he had when Dante had first met him in Fortuna. He also appeared to be a lot more mature and reserved than he used to be.
The only real change was his clothes; he now wore a dark blue trench coat that didn't have a purple tinge when it was exposed to sunlight, a red waist coat that was similar to his red hoodie, but instead of there being a yellow stitch design on it, there was now a set of black ones that were set out in the same style. He still wore the same jeans and boots, but the holster for Blue Rose had appeared to have changed a little. Nero had Red Queen sheathed across his back.
Nero then noticed Dante and stopped in his tracks. The two of them stared at each other, unmoving and with blank, unreadable expressions on their faces. They both gave each other murderous glares, each trying to intimidate the other. After a minute of glaring, Nero walked over to Dante and gave him a brotherly-like hug, which the red clad, returned. The three women in the room let out a sigh of relief; for a moment, they were convinced that the two would just breakout into a fight. The two hunters stepped away from each other, "It's good to see you, Dante," Nero said, while smirking.
"You too, Nero," the red clad replied. Although the two would never admit it, Dante and Nero were close in a brother-like relationship and both held great respect for the other, even if they would rather pay Hell a visit before saying it. Despite this, they also liked to rival each other while fighting, which was, on the rare occasion, when Dante would give a cocky remark of some sort, but this didn't happen often at all.
Kyrie walked over to Dante while he was distracted and ninja hugged him, "What about me?"
The older hunter returned the hug, "Of course, I'm happy to see you too," he even smiled a little when he saw her warm smile, because no one could resist at least smirking, when Kyrie smiled or hugged them, her aura was just too happy and warm for that.
Lady smiled; she knew that Kyrie would be able to cheer Dante up and she was right, "I'll go and make some coffee," she walked off to the kitchen, with Trish following.
Kyrie finally let go of Dante, then her and the two hunters sat down, Dante on the same sofa as before and the younger couple on the one opposite. Out of habit, the older hunter put his feet on the coffee table.
"So Dante, how have you been?" Nero asked.
"Fine, how about you two?" in all honesty, he hadn't been fine, he'd been the opposite actually; it had gotten quite lonely in the office for the past six months without any of his friends paying him any visits, or without Trish living there with him, but he wouldn't ever say that, he had a feeling that they all knew anyway.
"We've been good," was Nero's short reply.
"We missed you though," Kyrie added.
Dante sighed, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-"
"Don't, we understand," Nero cut in. He knew Dante regretted thinking that he was exactly like Vergil and Nero had his own things to be sorry for, such as not checking up on the older half-demon for six months.
Lady and Trish came in with five cups of coffee. Although she was first slightly amused by Dante's habit of putting his feet on any table or desk he happened to be near, Lady soon shoved his feet of the table and handed him a cup of coffee, which he stared at for a few seconds, before proceeding to drink it.
Trish took a sip from her coffee, "Dante, what were you here for again?"
"I only want to know where the highest point in the world is and then I'll be one my way there," the red clad explained.
"Hold on a sec; how did you even get this chance? You haven't explained that yet," Lady asked. "And don't worry about explaining the situation, I told Nero and Kyrie over the phone."
The older hunter was silent for a moment, but soon spoke, "Last night, after I had fallen asleep, I had a really strange dream, all I could see around me was this wavy, red space and then I heard this voice, I don't know who they were, but they told me about the Hourglass and that I had been chosen to take the chance to go back in time."
"Do you think it could have been Chrona talking to you?" Nero questioned.
"That's possible. If it was her, then she also told me to go to the Crystal cave, where the Hourglass rested and that the cave is located near the highest point in the world," said Dante.
Lady took a sipped her coffee and then placed the cup on the table, "But where the highest point is, has been a debateable subject for years; some say that it's Mount Everest and others say that it's this Volcano in the middle of the ocean."
"Actually, it is Everest," said Kyrie, "That Volcano is bigger in terms of sea floor to the summit, but Everest is the most famous for its height, so I'd say the cave was near there."
Everyone looked at her, especially Dante, who looked at her with wide eyes, "Are you sure?" He asked desperately.
"Quite sure," she replied, smiling.
The red clad stood up suddenly, "Then I need to go," he was about to reach for Rebellion, when Trish suddenly picked up the sword and pulled Dante in to a passionate kiss. The others stood up and waited by the front door for the two.
Trish and Dante pulled out of the kiss and stared into each others eyes, knowing that this would most likely be that last time they would. "Look after yourself, okay." The demoness told the hunter as she handed him Rebellion. They walked over to the other three in the room. Dante gave Lady and Kyrie a hug, with both of them telling him to take care as well.
Then the red clad came to Nero, who gave him another brotherly hug and said his own version of 'take care', "Make sure you don't go dying on me."
Dante smirked at this and simply nodded. He then changed his expression and turned to everyone solemnly, "I suppose you've figured out, that once I do this and change the past, we may never meet in the changed future. I just want to say, that all of you were and still are a blessing to me. You're the family that I never had, so thank you for being that, you don't know how much it means me to have to leave you, but someone told me earlier, to listen to my heart and so I am. I'm sorry if I upset you by doing this… but I have to. Goodbye… my friends." The hunter turned around and made to open the front door.
"Dante."
The mentioned man turned back around to face Nero.
"You forgot this," the younger man said, holding out Yamato. "Eight years ago, you gave this sword to me, but right now, you need it more than I do, so that's why I'm giving it back."
Dante took Yamato from Nero, holding the sword in his left hand like some long lost treasure, "Thanks," he said simply, before turning around, "Kid," he finished.
For the first time since he had known Dante, Nero let the nickname go, just this once.
Dante flung open the front door and stepped outside, "I hope, that someday I'll see you all again and then I'll introduce you to my family." with that last comment, he strolled away, now fully prepared for his quest, for The Devil's Hourglass.
"Often, both humans and demons do not keep their friends and family as close as they should. Most of the time, they never stop and think, that maybe this time, will be their last. But you, son of Sparda, are different. Your friends are your family, yet you are still able to leave them behind for your real family, and this takes a great deal of strength and courage. I was right to have picked you, of all people."
My god, I feel like I just climbed Everest with this chapter! Thanks for reading and I'm sorry for the delay, I had Exams. Hope you liked this chapter! Please leave a review and tell me what you think! Oh yeah, my english teacher could be reading this... right now 0_0