Fuyuko: Well, well, and I'm back again for more, finally. Hope you all like things with a heaping side of sorrow, because this chapter is high on the Tear-o-Tower.
Lady: You're such a nice person, did you know that?
Fuyuko: Really? Aw, I'm touched that you think that. I think you're nice too, why don't you ditch Dante and come with me baby?
Lady: Sarcasm, psycho-bitch, sarcasm. And I'm not dating demons or women, got it?
Disclaimer-Bot: I do not believe that you need to be concerned about her advances, as I happen to know that she only pursues elf-men. And I am certain she would find your inevitable pairing with the half-devil a more enjoyable thing. Which is one of the primary reasons she is continuing to write this fic, although Capcom will never fulfill her dreams in canon, and she does not have the rights to DMC.
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Devil in the Cradle
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Dante lost track of how long he and Lady stood in that God-forsaken room holding each other like lifelines, but it felt like eons to him. Even as his sobs quieted, as his demon side fed off his own grief, the world seemed to be moving in slow motion. He felt like, he didn't know what he felt like; because it felt like he couldn't feel. But he could feel because he felt it when Lady shifted in his clutching hands, when her breath ghosted over his face, drying the tears to a sticky salt screen on his skin. He felt the world around him, but he could no longer feel himself, feel his human soul and emotions.
It felt like the night his mother was murdered before his eyes. And it felt worse this time because he knew exactly why he felt that way. Knew that he had damned someone else to feel that gaping hole in their heart for the rest of their life. He wasn't just the victim this time, he was the murderer too.
In his broken mind, the devil hunter registered the sound of soft whimpers, of cries that wrenched at his emotional wounds and eventually forced him to part from Lady's comfort. 'I don't deserve her care now; I don't deserve anything from her.' The mix of guilt and renewed pain from his own orphaning was being swallowed by his demon half, a practice he had started long ago to strengthen himself. His steps were still heavier and his mind still foggy as he turned away from Lady and advanced towards the mother and child again, but gradually they regained a confident swagger. He could still help this child.
"Dante." He heard Lady's voice call out to him, half harsh reprimand and half soft sympathy. He stopped walking, but couldn't say anything, his own voice still choked and his comebacks still lost. He knew that she knew he was listening, though, she knew him so well these days, almost as if they lived together. 'Funny how before this I would have been pissing myself in excitement at that idea. Rain, rain on my parade, from now on, right, life?' Then again, maybe not. It wasn't like his brunette partner was running from or trying to exorcise him.
"That woman…she's injured. I saw it earlier, before the devil got here…before all this. She needs to go to a human hospital, I don't think we can help her."
"Even if we take her to a hospital, we can't help her. She's dead, Lady. I can smell it." Huh, he'd thought saying that would have been worse than just dropping it like a lead weight into the room's atmosphere. Didn't make it better to say she was dead, but then, didn't make it any worse either. The white-haired man had smelled the stench of death when he'd arrived, even through his bloodlust, he'd known someone had died here. He just hadn't known it was the mother. If he had, maybe he wouldn't have killed the devil. No, he would have, he knew that. He'd known Lady was safe, and he'd still killed the devil. 'No sense in crying over spilt tomato juice. Just have to pick up the bottle and cleanup the mess.' He intended to make things right, as much as he could now, no matter the cost.
Lady had come up behind him, her petite gloved hands clenching reflexively. He understood that, understood how helpless she felt and how the urge to do anything made her experienced hands twitch. He engulfed them in his own rough hands and squeezed, trying to return her earlier gesture, trying to say 'thank you' and 'I know' and 'don't worry and we'll fix this', all at once, without saying what he knew he couldn't in words. No hunter was good at comforting those in the aftermath. Hunters came, cleaned house, and left. They didn't do disaster relief.
"So what now? We can't leave the baby here. It's not human, and nobody is going to try to help it because of that alone."
"We're not going to leave the baby. We're going to take her with us."
"Her? Nevermind, I guess you can tell that too. …Cheap devil."
"…Yep. Police are outside waiting if you'd like to lodge complaints against this cheap devil." He was glad they were bantering like usual, it was helping clear his conscience for the time. He was sure from her smell that it was relaxing her as well. Nothing like small talk to get the emotional leftovers pushed aside for later.
"Waiting for an all clear, huh? Should we smuggle her out then or take her out visibly?"
"Visibly, but wrap her up better. Hide more of the green skin. They'll buy it if we say she's sick and we're taking her to a hospital and her face is green." The half-devil's right arm swung out to block Lady from going forward herself, 'occupational hazards' was the intended warning, and they both knew he could handle those better. She yielded, watching his back and the still ajar door across the grim room as he crouched before the mother's dead body.
She'd been dead far less than twenty-four hours, that was certain, and probably no more than this morning, really. The blood on her wound was still fresh, red, and slightly oozing, a good visual sign that not only was it recent, but that it had never been tended to. Not a surprise, given her situation within the cultist's hands as a hostage. She'd obviously been captured to lure her devil lover out, their baby was just an added bonus, a backup plan if they didn't get daddy. Something powerful that they wouldn't need to control, just raise and brainwash. It made him want to snarl, but he swore instead, refusing to make the half-devil baby suffer more fear.
'You'd be a cutie if it weren't for your skin, kid.' Large, sinewy hands moved slowly into the child's line of sight, because Dante remembered attacking fast moving objects when he was young. Besides, he wanted the kid to fuss as little as possible when he picked her up, and it would help if she familiarized herself with his scent and sight now. Devil babies had the instinct to attack what wasn't familiar to them, because an unknown represented death in the hell that part of them descended from. Thankfully, she only whimpered fretfully when his large hands scooped between her warm back and her mother's cold chest. Poor kid was probably too tired to struggle, he reasoned, wanting to kill the cultists himself for putting the baby half-devil in such a weakened state.
Dante rose and turned back to Lady slowly, trying unsuccessfully to wrap the infant into her blanket tighter. He curbed his growl of frustration when she squirmed and loosened the blanket again, her tiny hands waving feebly. It really wouldn't do to upset the kid, especially if she let out with an inhuman shriek. 'Crying babies are bad enough, but crying devil babies? Gimme the tranquilizer darts instead.' He couldn't stand upset kids. He found himself wondering how he'd raise her, his own childhood had been fucked up to say the least, and he definitely wasn't a role model. Damn, she'd squirmed out this time too. What did it take to keep a kid still these days?
"Here, let me." The white-haired hunter raised an eyebrow at his brunette counterpart, reluctant to let her have the half-devil baby that was barely filling his hands. He wasn't worried about Lady mistreating her, not by a long shot, but he didn't know if she knew what she was doing. Tch, like he had anything to worry about? 'Hell, she could drop this little cutie on her head and it'd be okay. 'Cept for the bad reactions on both sides.' The half-devil handed over his infantile charge anyway.
"You don't have to tighten the blanket, Dante, you just have to move it up around her head better. Like this, see?" Blue eyes still darkened by regrets and rimmed by rapidly fading red watched observantly as the human woman's small, pale peach-skinned hands rearranged the grey and stained blanket deftly. Lady's eyes rose to meet his, seeing that he had gotten the idea, but she didn't try to hand the baby back to him. Maybe she didn't trust him. Maybe that was for the better. Maybe he'd slip up again and the only thing that would save her from a berserk son of Sparda would be that mistrust.
"Whatever, Lady." Trying to blow off his worries with a tough guy act, with a carefree nature as he walked out of the dank and disgusting room. She was on his heels, he knew without looking, without smelling, without even sensing her energy or the child's, that she'd at least follow him out of the building. The cops thought they were a team afterall, and they had to keep things looking smooth.
Hunters had to make it all look calm, like no big deal. Like they weren't driving themselves mad with the horrors they'd been forced to see. Dante wasn't the best hunter out there because he did a crappy job. He might not always have played by the rules with his opponents, but he always did play by the rules with those he protected. It was probably the only thing he and his old man had shared, a compassion and understanding for those weaker than them.
Backtracking through the ruined townhouse with its dead inhabitants in silence, the devil hunter shook his white-haired head to keep from quagmiring himself in a brood. He still had a job to do, and his number one rule was to not mope on a mission. Number two was to do the thing with style and number three to do it right the first time. Demon-hunting wasn't a profession where you got the chance to try and try again. If you failed, you hit the big one. 'Besides, I hate losing. It's so not very stylish.'
They'd reached the entrance hallway now, and the half-devil's sensitive hearing was ringing with the sirens outside. He seriously hoped the kid wouldn't wail like a banshee or do anything unnatural. Glancing back out of apprehension, the half-devil saw his human – and professed devil-hater – partner cuddling and shushing the inhuman child with hands that suddenly seemed so delicate, like the actions were normal.
His white hair fell over his puzzled blue eyes as his head swiveled back around, facing the wooden front door and pulling it open. He tried to rationalize the sight; he just didn't expect it, that was all. Not that he thought Lady couldn't care about a helpless child, just that he'd never really seen her soft and unguarded like that. 'And here I thought I knew her, thought I was ready to pounce on her and date her dizzy.' His booted feet stepped out and down the few stone steps, into the front lawn, confidence in each stride. This was normal procedure. He had to keep that in mind, or everything might be blown as not normal.
There were at least three squad cars with flashing lights parked on the short and well-kept lawn of the townhouse, as well as the chief's unmarked car. He'd known that before exiting the cultists' sick house of horrors, but visually seeing them laid out on the lawn was helping him sketch out an escape plan. Dante hoped they wouldn't need to do that, he didn't need the headache and fuss that would cause. The chief had spotted his bright red coat and began heading over to them, probably thinking they were injured. No more time to think, then, just time to act.
Lady seemed to have the infant half-devil under control behind him, so Dante figured he should be able to handle dealing with this police guy for once. He could at least do that right today. The half-devil extended his hand toward the man as they met, clasping hands to signal that the job was complete. And then came the part he usually left to his business partners, those stupid follow-up questions.
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Lady still wasn't sure why she was cuddling a half-devil baby in her arms, aside from a general need to protect. And she wasn't sure why she'd let Dante walk off with the chief of police to finish up the business part of the job. Business and follow-up procedures were half the reason she worked with the guy, he really couldn't handle that part on his own. Not for lack of knowing what to do really, just that he could never muster the proper attitude for serious business affairs. At least, not that she'd seen.
Thinking on it as she cuddled the half-devil baby that was cradled in her human hands, Lady supposed that she knew he could be serious and mature if he wanted to be. But that was the entire problem, Dante was childish because he wanted to be…what? Surely he didn't want to be thought of as a child. 'Maybe he likes how it causes people to underestimate him, maybe he thinks it hides his demon nature…' She grimaced, suddenly realizing she knew very little about the adult half-devil outside of a job setting.
But then, she'd chosen to remain ignorant of him after Temen-ni-gru had fallen and the demons remaining had been cleared up. Was she regretting that? Why now, when there'd already been a three-year business partnership? 'I'm tired and a bit bewildered from this day and this job, that's all. It's nothing permanent, and I don't need to get to know him. We're in business together, that's all, the old 'enemy of my enemy is my friend' deal.' But Lady's logic didn't stop her mind from wandering.
Trying to distract herself enough to make the 'sudden, unnecessary, and irrational' interest in her partner disappear, the brunette hunter found herself focusing her bi-colored eyes on the baby she was carrying. She admitted to herself silently that the little girl blew all her suspicions and fears of devils away, and not just because she had a cute, round, and full-cheeked face. Nor was it completely due to the way her tired eyes opened to reveal ivy green eyes that shimmered with their own light and had an open emotional depth unfound in most adults of either species. Maybe it was the sense of utter helplessness she got from the child, not a feeling she was used to finding in anyone, human or demon.
It was so rare in her line of work to have someone truly, openly need assistance and be really grateful for any help offered. Even human children mistrusted her because of her rough appearance and short, no bull-crap, business manner. That had to be it, she decided, looking at the half-devil girl's wide, slightly frightened eyes. 'I'm so unused to being loved and wanted without strings attached that it's drawing me in.' And the brunette hunter couldn't claim that she was resisting in the slightest.
Seeing that her partner had moved away to talk with the chief of police by the squad cars, Lady held the child closer, descending the steps from the cultists' house cautiously. She wanted to get the kid out of there, but as a hunter she knew that acting hurried or panicked wasn't going to help her cover, so the best thing to do was take things one step at a time. 'Baby steps, huh? That'll have a whole new meaning in a few months.' She suppressed the trickle of trepidation that swam up in her mind at the thought of raising the half-devil in cradled gently in her calloused hands. She'd spent so long eliminating life, was it possible for her to raise one?
Thinking of starting life and glancing down at the half-devil she was holding made her mind wander back over to the topic of her demon-hunting partner. She wasn't dumb, blind, or deaf, and she knew he had a thing for her, so to speak, something he'd been harboring since the tower. But she didn't know if he was just being a hormone driven young man like other human men or if he was lusting for her as some kind of odd appetizer for a demon. For that matter, was she just a sexual prize for him, something to be tasted and trashed, or were his feelings more heartfelt, was what he wanted permanent?
'Not that it matters in the end, I don't feel anything for him…Even if I did, I have to fulfill my vow. Can't fall in love with a devil if I'm going to destroy them.' The thought of Dante dying unnerved her quiet a bit, sending a surge of rage through her frame, but she accredited it to knowing how helpless the world would be without a Sparda to defend it. Human hunters were capable of turning away the grunts, the regular demons that came across, but none of them had the stamina to hold out against legions of demons or any high-ranking devils if such an attack came.
Not for the first time, she wondered about Dante's parents; Why had Sparda chosen to defend humanity, why had Eva chosen to mate with him – 'Devils don't do marriage, I know that, and any human dating one has to be unorthodox' – why had the two of them chosen to have children, why had they chosen to leave such a dangerous legacy unfinished? Perhaps it had all been for the sake of humankind. But it seemed like a well-laid plan gone awry, since Sparda didn't seem the type to leave his family undeniably vulnerable, to leave loose ends, and no mother would want to die in front of her children.
She knew very little of Dante's past, though, so it all was speculation, even the idea that things might have been different if they had lived. Would she even know Dante and Vergil if their parents had lived, had gotten the chance to raise them? Lady doubted they would have gone to the tower, it might not even have been raised by Arkham under Sparda's watch. Caught in her ramblings, her bi-colored eyes focused blankly on her blue-eyed partner. She was walking past them now, untrained hands clasping the baby girl closer to her, whose much smaller hands grasped the thick fabric of her sweater. Giving no indication that she was listening to the two men, Lady continued trekking slowly across the pristine green lawn, towards her old Suzuki motorcycle.
"So then, there aren't any survivors, Mr. Dante? I'm not doubting your information, but that seems a bit out of line for an easy case."
"Look, I deal with these supernatural pests all the time. Trust me, all of them are capable of leaving no survivors. And wouldn't the cultists have gotten the death penalty anyways? Just look at it as the devil doing the dirty work for you."
"Mr. Dante, the job of the law is to exact full and proper justice. While it may be true that the suspected cultists were committing crimes, they would still have gotten a fair trial. This leaves no closure to the case, since we can't prove anything about the suspects to victims' loved ones, find any suppliers or associates through questioning, or vouch for the end of the murders and kidnappings; Supernatural involvement isn't an excuse."
"Look, buddy, it's just Dante, I ain't old. Second, my understanding is that job of the law is to protect the weak, which is what I do as a hunter. I don't question things, I just mop up the messes made by demons and their human cohorts. I can't do anything about who lives or dies before I get to a job."
"That's not exactly the type of answer I was looking for Mist… Dante. I at least need to know the details of what happened here, and any proof of the suspects' guilt."
"Sorry, but I've already told you everything I can, chief. The cultists were killed by some demon they'd gotten mixed up with, and the only captive they had had been tortured and died from injuries made by human hands. The lab they worked in is in the back of the house, door on the right at the end of the last hallway. You'll find all the bodies if you go through the house, and even the ashes and sand left behind by the demons."
"I thought there was just the one demon."
"Just the one that I fought. The sand is leftover from a low level one that had been summoned by the cultists, probably to fight the first one. Demons kill each other off too."
Lady was mildly surprised to hear Dante speaking professionally – 'As much as is possible for him anyway, there's still that arrogant 'I've got it covered attitude' in his words' – although she'd known he could, since he hadn't always had a partner or a business agent like Enzo or Nevan to negotiate and manage for him. More surprising was that he seemed to have left out the little survivor in her arms from the debriefing report. Not that it mattered much, and she could see where it would be better to leave the half-devil out. As hunters were fond of saying, the less the civilians knew, the less they'd get in the way of professionals.
Shifting the baby over a shoulder and cupping her blanket's bottom with one small, strong hand for support, the brunette hunter threw her left leg over her motorcycle, preparing to mount fully and ride off. They hadn't discussed it, but previous experience from working with her white-haired partner told her that he'd want to meet back up at Devil May Cry.
"Excuse me, ma'am, aren't you the other hunter that we hired? You need to give a report to the chief too, for clarification." Damn, she'd been so preoccupied with getting out that she'd missed one of the deputies walking up beside her. Vaguely she thought of silencing him with a round to the head, but manslaughter wasn't on her list of things to have added to her official record.
"My partner and I would have the same account, so it's really just a waste of time for us both to report. And one of us needs to get back to the shop and start cleaning up from the mission." Well, that was all true, at least for the most part. They'd witnessed a few different things, but they would have corroborated on the report anyway, to make things easier, and she did need to get back to Devil May Cry. 'The sooner the better, too, because neither of us knows what to do with this helpless baby right now.' Unfortunately for the female hunter, the baby her upper body was hiding from the deputy chose that exact moment to whimper loudly, throwing a grenade into the group's seamless and thus-far-perfect departure.
The deputy's eyebrows shot up high, then lowered to complete his stern, resolute facial expression as he approached the bike-mounted young woman and her cargo.
"Ma'am, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to get off the motorcycle and report with me to the chief."
"Officer, I'm really sorry, the kid's sick. She's suffering from…mistreatment, malnutrition, and anxiety. It really would be better if you could let me take her to a hospital to get treated as soon as possible." Go with plan A and plaster on the cute, pleading, desperate woman face. 'Should be fool-proof, especially with this rookie.' A part of her was secretly proud of her acting skills, while another part grudgingly admitted that she'd unfairly honed them on Dante first. The half-devil was, hands-down, a definite sucker for pretty and/or helpless women.
She raised her silent cheers when the deputy's hard face cracked just a bit. Glancing at his commander, the deputy quickly waved for her to go on, sighing to himself as though he knew he'd been had. Revving her favored Suzuki up and backing slowly around and off the untainted lawn the cultists had kept, Lady's last view of the job site was of the blue-eyed half-devil detaching himself from the chief of police he'd stalled for so long. She tried to ignore how her chest swelled with pride and something else as the thought struck her that he'd done it so patiently and willingly for her sake.
Regardless of what her feelings and relationship to Dante were becoming, she didn't have time for them. She had another half-devil that needed her so much more. One with whom a caring relationship was not just a want, but a need. As she wound through the city's streets for the baby's safety, Lady found that she wasn't really unhappy with her current 'mission'. Why should she complain about learning more of the half-devils that had come into her life? Everything she was dealing with now was temporary, and she would move on with new knowledge and experience to utilize. Nothing to worry about at all.
Fuyuko: I know, I know, I was bad and didn't update for more than a month. But really, I did warn all of y'all at the first chapter.
Lady: Doesn't make up for it, slacker.
Fuyuko: Quiet you. You and that half-demon boy-toy of yours are part of the reason I had such a hard time finishing this chapter. Uncooperative main characters, awkward business/cop scenes, and the half-hearted theme of hands as character comparisons. Blegh. Anyways, go ahead and leave a review or flame or whatnot. I'll be here.
Lady: Admit it, you got distracted by freaking solitaire.
Fuyuko: Did not! And de Nile is not a river in Egypt! Parting note of extreme thanks to all my readers and reviewers for putting up with this fic and its sporadic updates. Special shout of thanks to The Tyrant Hamster for another praise-filled review, I'm glad you liked my idea on the devil forms of the sons of Sparda and the horrible thing I did to Dante and the baby. Apparently, thinking does make my writing better.