Hey people. I'm soo sorry for taking this long, but I don't think any excuse will be good enough. I won't even trey to make any *laugh* SO… Here it is the next chapter. I hope you'll enjoy it –smile-
Chapter Three: Red and Blue
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So what is it that makes some choose selflessness,
the need to devote oneself to something greater,
while others know only self-interest? Isolating themselves
in a world of their own making?
-Sylar- Heroes
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The elevator came to a stop in another room with a corridor. There were some statues in front of a green door. Dante looked around. That was the only door there. He headed towards it, but the statues came to life and one jumped in front of him. It looked like Hell Gluttony.
"So they have a pest problem here too, huh?" Dante used Cerberus to dispose of the first one. He jumped in time to avoid the second one. It was preparing to barf on him. Ewww, disgusting…Dante switched to Rebellion mid-air. He brought the sword down on the Gluttony. The demon shattered with that one hit.
When there was only one Gluttony left, three Sloths teleported in the corridor. Dante disposed of the Gluttony with ease. He turned towards the nearest Sloth.
"Hello girls, I hope you aren't mad at me for the last time we met?" He joked. The Sloth swung its scythe at him. He avoided, feeling the air wave from the attack. He spun around and took out Ebony and Ivory. "Well too bad, I don't give a damn!"
Dante swung Rebellion at it. The sloth was sending flying into the air. Dante shot at its stomach rapidly. "Yeah, baby!" It shattered and sand fell on him. Great…He thought while shaking his head, moving his hand through his hair, trying to remove the sand from it.
The second one teleported behind him. Dante he felt it and turned around. He switched to Cerberus. He made a shield of ice around himself. The Sloth was repelled backwards, ice creeping along its body. Then Dante made ice pillars hit it. He grinned. He loved the feeling he got when he summoned ice. Then third one crept behind him, getting ready to attack. Dante's breath hitched. He narrowed his brows with concentration. Dante slammed Cerberus into the ground and made a glacier around him-self. It killed both enemies at once. Dante grinned with delight. That attack was awesome.
Dante entered the door only to find himself back in the round chamber, though he was on a much higher level. He saw another door on the next floor to his right. It was grass-green colored. He made his way towards it and entered. He found himself in another chamber. It had a red door on his right and a thin bridge on his left. He moved towards the bridge. Just as he reached the middle it broke apart, and Dante fell into nothingness…
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He landed in what looked to be dungeon. Either that or a chamber from the sewers. He wrinkled his nose and went towards a powering wheel. He lit it and a sphere-shaped bar came from above. He smashed it and when it shattered with the debris, fell a shining object. Dante took it and then felt demons filling the room. Damn, where do they keep coming from?
Dante took care of the demons with ease and entered the portal that opened in the middle of the room. He was back to that place where the bridge had been. He entered the red door.
It was a long room with huge holes in the walls. It looked like some sort of snake was going to be his next opponent. He heard the screech, before he could see the creature. What came out before him was a giant centipede… A bug…Dante stared. All this fuss for a bug…
"You've got to be kidding me…"
He landed on its back and slashed with Rebellion until he was able to, as it entered the hole that was beneath him. Dante climbed back on the second level and waited for the bug to come back. This was going to be easy… When it did, he jumped on its back again and attacked with his sword again. It twisted and he fell to the ground. He followed it shooting to the middle of the room where it floated the lowest. He was able to slash at it from the ground. He was a bit disappointed that he didn't feel the usual adrenaline rush here. This battle was so easy that he almost regretted getting inside this room.
When it was out of Dante's reach he used Ebony and Ivory to continue his assault with rapid shots. It hid in its hole again. Dante waited. It came back, but shot at him with some pink balls. He wanted to laugh. Pink, man…Pink! Dante rolled to the right and hid behind one of the pillars, avoiding the pink spheres. They looked like it would be painful, if they were to hit him.
It came down again and Dante used rapid slashes. When it began to move higher ne jumped on its back again, continuing his attack. He sliced and diced at a high speed. The bug tried to roll over again. Dante did an Air hike. He landed on its back again. It used pairs of white balls with lightning between them. Dante noticed that they would have effect on him only if he was on the ground-level.
Dante jumped on the second level. He waited for the centipede to come out. It came out and he delivered the finishing blow. It fell to the ground with a final screech. Dante headed to the other end of the room, where there was a rusty red door on the ground level. He entered.
It was room with parts of a clock from what they looked like. He saw a shiny object in a recess, into the wall. Dante took it and saw that it was an Astronomical board. He headed back towards the door, but it was stuck. He pushed, trying to open it, but it didn't work. Dante was getting annoyed. He sighed took a few steps away from it, then turned around and delivered a kick to the door. Still nothing…
"Yoo-hoo!" Dante ignored the greeting and pointed his guns at the door. What appeared to be clown landed before him. "There's no need to use violence, devil boy." Dante ignored him again and swirled Ebony and Ivory around his fingers, then pointed them at the door again.
"This tower here is very sturdy." The clown knocked on the door with its staff and turned to face him. "You see?" It had very white skin and mismatched eyes. "Your tricks will do no good. No good!" Then it moved away from the door and to his right. "Better listen to what another have to say, lad. You've got nothing to lose, right?" Dante lowered the guns and turned towards the clown. It bowed and introduced itself.
"My name is Jester and I happen to know a thing or two about this place."
"Zip it, or I'll pierce that big nose" Dante pointed Ebony to the nose of the clown.
"That could be a problem." Jester pointed towards a structure on the left side of the door. "That thing there is a power generator for this entire section." It moved in front of Dante. "But first, you need to apply a little something, first. Do you know what that is, kid? Or is that too difficult for you?" The clown cackled maniacally.
Dante got annoyed with the clown and shot at his legs. "Get to the point, or do you wanna keep on dancing?" He kept shooting for another two seconds then stopped. Jester bowed at him. "Actually I prefer sword to be my partner." He pointed towards Rebellion and then said with a low voice.
"May I have this dance milady?" Dante was pissed off now. First kid, now a lady! He grabbed his sword and swung it at the clown. It disappeared and he hit the structure instead. It sank lower and the tower shook.
"That is what the something is." Dante turned towards Jester, who was standing on the ceiling, upside-down. "Remember this kid, write it down on your hand if you don't trust your head." Then the clown laughed maniacally again and Dante shot at its feet until it was out of his sight.
"I see. Thanks." Dante opened the door. "You still piss me off, though."
Dante was back in the long room that he had now cleared from bugs. There was a fountain filled with blood in front of him. He heard Jester's voice echoing in the room.
"Thanks for destroying the lock for me, devil boy. Please accept my gift, don't be humble, just take it!"
The blood from the fountain spilled on the sculptures supporting it. They came to life. They were red flying demons. One came towards Dante and he split it in two with Rebellion. Its two parts splashed on the wall behind him. Only to come back to life as two flying demons.
"Heh, I was expecting something little better than this." Still, it's better than the bug… Dante pointed Ebony and Ivory towards the nearest demon and fired. After a few shots it turned to stone and fell to the ground. Dante broke it with an upper cut. He fired at one that was spinning in air. It fell on the ground, frozen. Dante fired at another one. He missed. It managed to dive towards him. He jumped and avoided it. The one that was frozen shattered the stone, surrounding it and came back to life and screeched at him.
Dante froze up the one the came at him and destroyed it. One managed to hit him from behind. Dante was thrown backwards. He got up as fast as he could. He swirled Ebony and Ivory around his fingers and aimed at his attacker. It turned to stone and he killed it with Cerberus.
Dante moved very cautiously, trying not to slice the gargoyles with Cerberus or Rebellion, so that they won't split, creating more demons. He used the same tactic again and again until he killed them all.
Dante came back into the round chamber. He moved towards the highest level of the chamber and placed the Astronomical board in its place. He jumped down on the ground level and ran to the second floor. There was a triton-type of spear there. Dante took it and headed towards the third floor. He knew where that belonged.
While he was running he mused about what Vergil had said. What if his brother just wanted the power and would then close the gate. But that would mean that Vergil will stay in hell. He didn't want that. Even when he was away he had always felt that his brother was here. On Earth. But if he was in hell, Dante was sure that their connection will be severed. It was another realm after all.
He wondered why Vergil was doing things to him. They were brothers. He shouldn't act this way towards his twin. But he couldn't help but wonder. What will happen should he decide to join his brother? Will he become evil too? He was a demon, and to them blood was most important. Dante had to constantly fight and ignore the voice in his head that was telling him to follow Vergil. He had figured out that it was his demon. His demon part wanted to be with his family – Vergil. And it had no problem with being intimate with his twin. It rather liked the idea. Too much for Dante's liking…
Dante was almost too distracted with an image of his brother removing his boxers with his teeth during the fight with Jester. That was why the electric ball hit him in the first place.
The point of his mental rant was, that should Dante ever has a chance to meet that little voice, he would kick its ass. It shouldn't put such images into his mind. It was his brother! But back to his original train of thought. If he was to join Vergil would humanity disappear? His demon was telling him that no man was worth losing Vergil. Even if he was to become evil, blood was more important. His human side was angered about abandoning humanity, but Dante had to partially agree with his demon. Hadn't their family paid enough for the good of humanity? After all their father, Sparda had sealed the gate and disappeared. Wasn't one sacrifice enough? Dante wasn't sure he was ready to sacrifice his only family left. If that had happened before he met Vergil again, he probably would have. But not now, when repressed feelings towards his brother were returning. He was beginning to have doubts that were reinforced with his brother's words. NOT his actions, mind you!
Dante came back from his musings. He was in front of the marine-colored door again. He entered the corridor and climbed the staircase, fighting his way through, killing the Prides that were appearing.
Dante entered the small round chamber and jumped at the second level. He headed strait towards the chain-locked mechanism. He pierced the triton in the three holes that were made especially for it. Nothing happened. He turned around, annoyed and delivered a powerful kick to the device, moving the spear in vertical position, pitting it into motion. Chains were moving and the cage around the object was lifting. He climbed the stairs towards the object and took it. It was a Soul of Steel. Dante wondered where he had to go next. He turned to go back into the round chamber, but saw that his path was blocked by Enigmas, Gluttony's and Sloths.
"Hell, yeah!" He took out Cerberus and used Revolver on the closest Enigma. Few arrows passed near him. Dante turned around and shot at the Enigma at the other end of the chamber. After a few more shots, it died. The hairs on Dante's neck stood up, indicating danger. He jumped in time to avoid a barf that was coming his way. Dante shuddered. He switched to Rebellion mid-jump and brought the sword down. The Gluttony fell on its knees and dissolved into sand. Yeah! That was the heat of the battle! Dante loved it and lived for it! A Sloth teleported behind him. Dante felt the scythe graze his back, making a small gush. Blood floated and Dante scowled. That hurt! He fired a couple of shots at its head and it growled at him. He slashed at it rapidly with his sword and it fell dead to the ground.
"That is what you get, bitch!" He looked towards the door and saw one Gluttony waiting for him. He dashed towards it and felt Cerberus shaking. It wanted to be used. "So you don't like these fuckers either, huh?" Dante took out the ice weapon and made pillars of ice, striking the last enemy. It flew into the air and Dante finished it with Ebony and Ivory this time, making sure that he was nowhere near to it, when it disintegrated into sand. The seal on the door shattered, a red transparent hand reaching towards him. He avoided it and then passed through the door. He was ready for the Prides that waited him there. He felt his heart racing from the previous battle and used Million Stab on nearest one. It died and Dante jumped with a Helm Breaker in the next one. One managed to stab him from behind. The wound that had just closed was reopened again. He saw red at the corners of his vision. The pain was quite intense.
"Son of a bitch! That hurt, damn it!" He fired with his guns at it. "Eat this!" It dissolved into nothingness.
He quickly took care of the other two Prides that were left and leaned on the wall to take small break and give his wound some time to heal properly. Dante grimaced. Damn that Pride… He waited a few more minutes. Deciding that he had rested enough he came back into the round chamber. He had a feeling he had to enter the door that was on the highest floor. He always followed his gut, so he headed towards it.
He entered the door and looked around. There was no sign of a bridge… And he knew that behind the large red door there was nothing. It was a dead end. What to do now?
That was when Dante felt it…His brother's aura was nearing. Vergil landed on the side opposite to his own. They locked gazes again. Dante's cheeks were getting hotter. He was remembering images from his last meeting with his brother.
Vergil was looking at Dante. He knew that his brother didn't know where to go next, so he had come and help him out a little bit. Maybe steal a kiss or two… Dante was watching him, red in the face. He smirked, because he knew that it was very rare to see Dante blush.
"I really think you are stalking me, Vergil." Dante said to relive the tension that was forming between them.
"I just came to help you out, a little, Dante."
"Really? Well I guess there is first time for everything. Why help me, knowing that I am your enemy, brother?" Dante asked, knowing that this question was a lie. He didn't want to be Vergil's enemy. There was a part of him, that was growing, that wanted to follow his big brother. No! He shook his head. He didn't want to follow Vergil. He wouldn't turn to the other side. Though he wondered again, what will happen if he follows him? A part of him wanted to be with his brother. And it was growing. Fast…
"I want to believe that we won't be enemies for long, Dante."
Bastard, so sure of himself.
"So, what do you want me to do?" Dante asked his brother, snappishly.
"Do you have the Soul of Steel, Dante?" Dante nodded and took it out in his hand. "Then step towards me, little brother."
Dante looked at Vergil as if he had grown another head. His eyes said very clearly 'Have you lost your mind?' Vergil smiled and said.
"Trust me on this, Dante." Dante thought about it. If his twin wanted him dead, he would want it to be in a fight with Vergil. He would want to kill him with honor. Even if he is to fall down, he will only end up in the sewer-room as he had dubbed it. So he took a step into the nothingness and waited for the fall. It never came… He was standing in the air! There was nothing beneath his feet! He looked up at Vergil.
"See that wasn't so hard."
"Shut it." Grumbled Dante as he made his way across. He reached the other end and jumped in front of his twin.
Vergil just smirked at him and asked.
"Have you thought about my offer?"
"Yes."
"Not everything is black and white, Dante. Good and Evil. There may be a good motive under an evil action and the other way around."
"I know that. I don't need a lecture from you right now. Stop speaking in riddles and tell me what the hell are you up to! And tell me why the hell are you acting like this? Helping me? Doing other things?" Dante blushed as he said the last one.
"It is simple, brother. You are my twin and I need to be with you. Nothing else will suffice." Dante's eyes widened. Here his twin was stating that he needed him. In intimate kind of way. He had said it with such a straight, serious face, that Dante couldn't help but believe him.
"What the hell? We are brothers. You can't possibly think that we can be together!"
"I do, Dante and I know that it will happen. After all, your body wants me too. Apparently it knows better than your mind what you need."
"I don't need you!" A lie. An obvious one. Even if Vergil didn't know him so well, hell even a random person on the street that met him for the first time could tell it was lie. And he was dealing with his twin here. Vergil, who was able to read him like an open book, and knew him better than anyone even their mother.
"We'll se about that, brother. I can feel the devil inside you growing." Dante could feel it too. "You may change your mind, after it is awake."
With that Vergil kissed him gently on the lips. He was surprised that his brother was capable of being gentle. And before Dante knew it, Vergil had disappeared. He sighed. It was getting harder and harder to suppress the voice of his devil. It was telling him that he should've stopped Vergil and told him that he'd join him, and follow him everywhere. Dante was realizing that the more times he saw his brother, more hesitation of his path was building up. Now he knew that he definitely didn't want to kill Vergil. He must find a way to clean this mess and save his brother. Take him back forcefully if he had to.
Or there was the other option, which was becoming more and more appealing by the second. His demon's voice wasn't helping. He could join Vergil and both of them can stay in hell forever. They will be family again, and face whatever dangers the new realm brought together. He missed fighting alongside his brother. And now he was fighting against him. The demon voice told him that he'd be able to fight alongside his twin again, if he follows Vergil. It told him that he too was allowed to be selfish. He also had right to be happy. And the only place he'd be happy was with his family.
Dante shook his head and cleared him mind. He'd think about that later. Now he had two powerful demon auras behind that door. He saw that there was a hole with the shape of the Soul of Steel. He put it in there and a door was revealed before him. He pushed it and it opened with a creek.
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The chamber that was revealed was relatively big. On the other end of the room, there were two huge statues that were holding stone swords. In the place of the head there were bodies that were holding what Dante assumed were the real swords. His next opponents… Between them there was a giant metal door that had sharp spikes on both its sides.
The blue one spoke.
"Look brother! It's been aged, but we finally have company!"
The red one answered.
"I see that!"
"We must entertain our guest."
"That's right! We have to be gracious hosts!"
"So what should we do?"
"How do I know?"
Dante was getting very impatient. He was walking around during their little conversation. He sighed. The blue one noticed.
"Look brother! Our guest is sighing."
"Sigh? What it sigh?"
"Well a sigh is when a…." Dante interrupted him.
"Enough already! How long are you two gonna keep carrying on like this? In case you didn't get the hint, I'll spell it out. Your guest" He pointed at himself. "Wants to go through" He pointed at the door with both of his hands. Then he pointed at the red one and said. "Got it?"
The blue one answered.
"Our job is to guard this door!"
"That's tight! We cannot let you pass!" Its brother continued. They both took their swords and jumped down in front of Dante.
He took out Cerberus and attacked the red one with ice pillars. It tried to defend, but was thrown into the air. Fire clashed with ice. Dante then spun a few times into the air, performing the Revolver and cut trough it with the last spin. It leaned backwards. Dante felt wind hitting him in the back. He turned around only to be pushed forward, losing his balance. He rolled to the side and got up. His heart was beating wildly in his chest. His back was throbbing in pain from the hits. Now that was one hell of a fight!
Dante switched to Rebellion and slashed at the blue one. It deflected his attack. Dante jumped behind it. He did a Helm Breaker, before it had a chance to turn around. He continued with slashes, until he was repelled again. The blue one was heightening its defenses. Dante jumped behind it again and repeated the action.
With his periphery vision Dante saw that the red one was dashing towards him. He jumped. He managed to avoid its attack then he targeted the fire one with Stinger.
Dante could feel his adrenalin reaching higher and higher levels. The pain from his cuts was weakening. Dante jumped and got behind the red one. He switched to Cerberus and used a Revolver. He felt the wind moving behind him. He summoned a shield of ice around himself. Both the red and the blue one were caught in the ice. Their bodies were freezing. It stopped their movement for a few seconds. Dante used the pause to jump quickly and make pillars of ice hit the fire one, again.
The blue one was very close to Dante, so he then smashed Cerberus into the ground and made a glacier around himself. It hit both demons and they were thrown into the air. Dante switched to Rebellion and jumped after them. He hit the red one with an Aerial Rave. Then he landed and headed towards the blue one. He sliced the enemy upward into the air. Then did the Aerial Rave again, hitting the wind one with many fast slashes.
When he landed, apparently the red one had recovered, because it managed to hit him with a storm of fire. Dante was thrown backwards and landed on his back. A bone popped, but he paid it no mind. He'd see the damage later, when this exciting fight was over. He got up and saw that both the blue one and the red one were at the opposite end of the room. They had regrouped. He waited for their next move. His coat swinging behind him as he moved to the center of the room. Both red and blue dashed towards him. He jumped, but the blue one slashed him mid-air. He landed on his already injured back. Dante grimaced. The pain was getting very strong and even his demon blood was unable to numb it. That was not a good sign. It meant that his back was more injured than he had originally thought.
Dante lifted his head in time to see the red one heading toward him. It tried to stab the ground with its sword, making a fire storm. Dante rolled out of the way just in time. He could feel the heat of the flames, even from where he was laying.
Dante managed to get up. Rebellion was getting a bit heavy. He attacked the one closest to him – the blue one. It deflected his attack. Dante jumped behind it again. He slashed a few quick slashes and it fell on its knees and dissolved into nothingness.
Dante switched to Cerberus again and used the Revolver on the red one. He jumped behind it and changed back to using Rebellion. He slashed a few times. The red one evaded ran from him.
It jumped on its statue and summoned the blue sword. It connected the two swords into one. And then it swung them with expert ease. It jumped at Dante from where it was, but he managed to roll to the left. When he saw the force of the attack he was very glad that he had avoided that one. It was twice as powerful as the original fire attack of the red one. Perhaps it was because the wind made the fire burn stronger.
Dante launched at the demon and tried to use a Stinger, but it blocked it. He then jumped behind it and made another Helm Breaker. That slowed the thing down, as if it was getting tired. Dante himself was covered with sweat and was taking heavy breaths. His back was killing him and he had small cuts all over. He paid the cuts no mind, they were healing already anyway. He could feel the soreness in his muscles.
Dante managed to grin and with a final slash the thing fell, losing hold of the two swords. They flew from its hands and stabbed the ground in the middle of the room.
Dante sighed and tried to catch his breath. Now that is what he called a great battle. He stood still for a minute, giving his back some time to at least mend the broken bones.
Then he moved towards the door. A voice stopped him in his tracks. He turned around to face the swords.
"Wait!"
"Yes! Wait!"
"We have been waiting for a long time!"
"For someone stronger than us."
"For some one who can control us!"
"My name is Agni!" The red one said.
"And my name is Rudra!" The blue one continued. Then they said in stereo.
"You shall take us with you! We can be great help to you!"
Dante took a few steps towards them. He put his hand, under his chin in thought.
"Ok, but on one condition."
"What is it?" "Name it!"
He pointed his finger at Agni, "No." Then he moved it in front of Rudra. "Talking."
They quieted, as if thinking through it. Then Rudra answered.
"Fair enough."
Then Dante took the swords and swung them expertly. He sliced and diced an imaginary enemy. When he was done he heard Rudra say.
"Impressive."
He frowned and banged their heads together. "No talking." He was met with silence. "Good." He said to them. He then headed for the metal door that was glinting from the fires that lit the room. He opened it and moved towards the next challenge.
