Notes: I really need to finish updating this one; it's already a finished piece. What do they say? Finish what you start? At least try to.

This was originally Mary's pov, but changed to 3rd,and show later Vergil's perspective. I apologize for any small errors and for taking so long. This chapter isn't romantic.(sad face) I'll make up for it on the last chapter next.


Chapter seven: Shirena's advice (OC)

Mary came empty handed, she saw the disappointment on Vergil's face as he set his forehead against hers."Let's move on shall we?" He then started to walk away, towards the doorway where another extension of the cave sat - perhaps towards the--- that's when she remembered.

"Wait. I saw an obsidian wall and diamonds encrusted in them, is that something?"

Both Vergil and Shirena looked at each other; a knowing look crossed their features. It was Vergil who half smiled, "Indeed... that obsidian wall that you speak is where the jaguar mask in its completion is concealed."

"Bravo!" the female demon said. "You see? I knew you would have the abilities to see things that we even as devils or half devils cannot see." She stepped up to Mary in a friendly manner. "In the next chamber, we'll rest; there is a waterfall up ahead."

Then it dawned on Mary just then…. "That must explain the presence of mold in this room. So where does the water come from?"

"You'll see. By the way, do you like karabou beef jerky?" Shirena said, right out of the blue. Her almond shaped orbs seem to sparkle in the dim light. The butterflies around them started to flutter their way back to the tree; the branches moved in a ghostly fashion as they embraced their hosts.

"I'm not hungry, but if we're to rest, there's a bit of a fruit bar in my small back pack if anyone wants."

Mary was a bit perplexed at the woman's offer. Karabou?

Vergil purposefully walked through the doorway, not waiting for them. Mary felt as if she were supposed to retrieve something more than just a memory.

"Why did you attack me with your whip? I don't see the purpose of all this."

"Why, Lady, the whip was an extension to get you to see these images, they were to drive you into the tree and see your bones. From there you would retrieve the things we needed to acquire."

Still unconvinced. "And because Vergil asked me to come along I'm a key? Somehow that sounds very familiar. You know, in history; good women are always sacrificing for their children, while good men sacrifice for their country."

Shirena laughed, nodding. "True. Some men believe that if they save the world, they will save their women and children. Their offsprings. But on the subject of women...not all of them are 'keys'. Some women aren't worthy, or in your case, unlucky. But, men like your father, they're a different breed altogether. They want to create a 'new' world."

"Besides..." she continued, "You are the descendent of the mortal priestess. She was one of the few who could see things that no other mortal could and naturally, her descendants would possess her powers. We're demons and we can't get them. Even the powerful half devil Vergil needed you for this quest. Having the legendary Sparda in his veins isn't going to be enough to achieve these things. Some things are left for lesser beings."

The way she said that: Lesser beings. "Is that what demons think of us? You know it's funny, my father was human once. He no longer is the man that he was, his obsession with Sparda was driving him to do things that he normally wouldn't."

"At least your father chose the right devil. You must wonder how long or how far he went to find your mother to beget you. Isn't that amazing? I would find his methods rather genius really. A methodical genius. He had the brains and if he had the power of Sparda." The woman clucked her tongue. "Just think of what the world would be like…."

"Humans don't have those kinds of powers." Mary ended, she said with a deadly whisper.

"No," Shirena said, "But they're the reasons why demons still exist and why humans are bound and intrigued by them. We're quite jealous of your kind, yet many of us hate mortals with a passion."

"Sounds rather contradictory, don't you think?"

She didn't answer and looked at the young female with a kind of quiet predatory action, smiled, got up and walked to where Vergil disappeared to. While Mary watched, her brows furrowed as she thought of what the woman said, but staying behind meant that things in the dark could find their way……….to her.

Footsteps behind her approached. The familiar dark skinned Spanish man whose body was now healed from the wounds that one of the hellhounds inflicted on him. He held the torch up to light the corners of that cavern; his grunt of dissatisfaction was evident,

"Only an injured hellhound is left." He said. Mary gave him a curious look then saw what he meant.

A hellhound was severely wounded; its one wing was cut off, while its other folded in, the cuts along its body were severe, and its eyes were glowing red. Its jaw lowered, opening up its mouth to reveal fangs and gave off a warning growl to Mary.

When the man came closer, Mary stayed him, holding a hand to stop his action, "No. Don't. He's afraid of us."

"These hellhounds are of no importance, Lady, we must eliminate it."

Mary's desire to get to know it was more overwhelming.

"Humans." The man's grating voice cut out, "You think you can heal everything in this world, even lower beings such as these. They know nothing but to tear you apart when you're not looking."

When Mary came closer, the beast growled menacingly, keeping her at bay. Blood covered parts of its body, its dog head moved slightly as if it were about to faint. The fear was greater in the creature, and as it slightly moved forward, keeping its broken body and wings held up - it growled, showing stained fangs.

A biting voice cut in. "What the hell is going on here?"

Vergil was livid.

He wasn't in the happiest of moods, seeing the possibility that Mary was going to try and save the beast? He couldn't fathom it; he'd rather see it cut up into pieces before –

She turned to see his expression; it was as hard and forbidding as a granite sculpture.

"If you think I was going to suggest saving this creature….think again." Mary raised her chin, daring him to challenge.

"Then you won't mind if I do this?" He said in a scathing tone. She didn't even see it coming – the beast had made its way towards the human, even in its sorry state. Using one of his projectiles, he stabbed one of the creature's attacks. Vergil instantly demolished the offending beast with little or no effort.

Taking a deep breath, Mary's momentary shock gave way to a sudden, almost uncontrollable burst of wrath. "I could do that myself, thank you."

"Right. And so, we'll be here forever nursing your wounds." He smirked. "I don't know about you, but I'd really like to get back with the mask." He turned his back to her, then as if regretting his harsh words, Vergil said, "You can't trust demons, Lady. You should know this…"

His voice trailed off and he walked into the next chamber.

In the next room, there were clusters of small gems encrusted within the rough walls of the interior and these gave off colorful lights. They took in every facet of the age old cavern's raw beauty, and then they saw it: a waterfall. Mary's knowledge from school and from her father's ancient books, which she realized had some contradictions - the Mayan culture had rich tropical forests before over population. The downfall of its civilization was inevitably toppled.

"I have some hot corn drink if you want." The woman shape shifter called out from her sitting position, offering this to Mary, and the human watched the woman take a small dip of a funneled clay cup and held it over her other hand. Producing a fire by lieu of a quick incantation, green and purple-black electricity sparkled, the cup the shape shifter held with her fingers allowed the water inside to boil.

Mary looked over to see that Vergil had lounged against a shadowed wall; he was eating that strange karabou beef jerky. His cool blue grey eyes scanned over the direction of where the water fell – a small river and a bridge. The bridge looked like it was created by human hands; knotted ropes and braided thick material created an extension to the other side. He pushed off the wall to walk over to the bridge that precariously hung over the flowing water – a small interior river that came from the waterfall.

Shirena broke into Mary's attention, touched her by the arm softly, "The Mayans drank this and called it "atole", not much of any nutritional value, but its good enough to quench ones thirst. I'm surprised you're not cold inside this place. Don't you feel a strong cold draft?" She raised the drink to her lips.

"Alright, thanks." Mary decided she'd sit down for a bit. Leaning back against the wall, she felt slightly relieved at the past events, and gratefully took a drink of the atole offered. The substance was thick, but it usually held favorable light to Mayans before. The waterfall sounds were soothing and loud enough that it covered small conversations.

"It does feel like an old castle in here." The human huntress rubbed herself, wrapped her arms around her shoulders and felt a chill run through her. "I shouldn't complain since its better than having no oxygen."

The shape-shifter laughed slightly, reaching out to touch Mary's dark strands that lay against her ear. Mary slightly flinched at her attempt at this, but she poised no threat and wondered at her gesture. Glittering predatory eyes bore into the human as she spoke, "I knew the mortal priestess that was your ancestor."

This certainly piqued Mary's interest, "Really? What was she like?"

"Loyal to a fault. Sparda was lucky to have found her. Since her sacrifice, it made Sparda see many things that he didn't before. He had already decided that turning against his own kind was the right thing. The Devil King wanted to make humanity a thing of the past."

"I thought that he kept humanity in chains, more like servants, you know, useful enough to keep them alive."

"Don't be naïve, girl, the Devil King wanted to eliminate all humans. He felt that the blood of a human was too weak and would weaken the universe with its existence. The only true power is a devils power."

"If their only purpose is to kill every innocent human being, then they'll have to get by me." Mary said, half joking, half believing.

"Big words for a human."

"My ancestor was a mortal right?" Mary said back, her gaze held the other with a kind of challenge. Shirena took this in and with a silent withdrawal, went to touch another subject:

"Your father. If he had succeeded to be a demon lord, you would have been more determined in your goal to hate all demon kind," she glanced over to the dark doorway by the waterfall, indicating that that is where Vergil may have disappeared to, "Even him."

"It is a natural thing for any normal human being to hate demons," Mary emphasized the last word. "To hate anything that threatens to kill all of humanity."

"That's not true for all humans. Some humans want humanity to be extinct." Shirena laughed; raising her drink to her lips, she stood up. "The next stage is coming up. Are you ready?"

"If I get more weapons like this…" Mary held the silver metallic gun in her hand, as if weighing its worth, "Yes."

"You have enemies in the next stage, and these are called draggers in the spiritual realm. They try to steal your energy, because they are jealous of you and resent you."

"What?"

"I'll give you fair warning: you must pay their debts by honoring them, Lady. That's the trick. These spirits are not buried well and they roam, looking for the perfect physical counterpart. You need to fight her when she approaches."

Now this was getting really weird, Mary thought. She was surrounded by multitudes of butterflies and found a vision that could lead us to Vergil's quest in the last chamber. What the hell was next?

"So why are you helping me now?" Mary's eyes narrowed suspiciously, "You were taunting Vergil earlier about how he was too weak to kill a human because he is involved with me."

Shirena chuckled and Vergil had entered at that moment from the doorway, his eyes met Mary's for a moment. "Enough rest. Let's move on. I don't want to stick around here too long and there's a steep climb in the next passage."

Mary started to follow the half devil, and Shirena's voice followed her. "Sometimes blood relations are so strong that they tend to either respond in their descendents or go the opposite way. In your case, it looks like the first."

This next chamber had a steep climb; the walls had small holes in which one could insert their hands and feet in for leverage. But it was not enough.

At least for Mary: How the hell am I supposed to get up there without my Kalina Ann? Think, Lady, think, this isn't time to be helpless. A small knife and quick thinking skills would save her life. Scanning around for anything, she looked around for an area in which she could find to make any climb easier along the roughened walls. Some areas had what would appear like sharp shiny glass which shimmered like starburst. The light that surrounded this area was sufficient enough for everyone to see.

Shirena lifted herself up with a few incantations in devil's tongue. Just then, Mary called out to her. The shape-shifter had stopped floating up to look down.

"Your whip! I need it!" The thought occurred to Mary to use it as a kind of insurance.

"Whatever for?" Shirena quirked a dark eyebrow at her caller. "When you have a devil of your own."

Shegave a wink right before edging her way skyward, her concentration on the incantation.

Vergil snaked his arm around Mary's waist gently, his lips against her ear, "Yes, whatever for? We're in a hurry, Lady; I doubt you'd make it in time by yourself."

He deviled triggered, and teleported himself and Mary to their destination.

It was then that she saw where they were headed to: the obsidian wall.

The obsidian fortification curved upwards and formed as part of the ceiling. The shiny exterior gave off an unwelcome feeling and Mary felt something at the pit of her gut.
"Vergil, how?"

He, however, was not too discouraged by the obstruction.

"If the masks are within those walls, how are we?" She looked at him with narrowed eyes, "You're going to try and break through it are you?"

"No need to."

The walls opened up as they came closer. There were splits around the shiny surface and they gave way, allowing them to enter through.

A blast of hot wind touched them, the temperature rose at such an alarming rate that Mary began to hold her hand over her mouth and nose, "What's going on? The heat is rising!"

"The seven levels of hell, heh." Vergil mused aloud, then looked at Mary. "It'll remain at a reasonable temperature very soon, at least until we cross the bridge."

"You know this place well enough to know there's a bridge?"

Mary would have asked more, but her eyes fastened on the bridge before them.

"Looks like we've got trouble."

There were dark shadowy figures ahead, armed with yellow fires that flickered, covering their bodies; it was their masks that held the face of the jaguar that piqued their interest.

These alien forms held long lances in their grips and by the looks of things; they weren't going to let them pass.

"My kind of trouble." Vergil murmured, depositing Mary easily on the ground, he gestured to her quickly, "Stay behind me."

He went ahead while Mary whispered. "And let you have all the fun?"

She took out the silver gun out of her back pack and before she aim, Vergil lashed out with one fluid movement. The two flaming figures felt the sting of his Yamato, their jaguar masks clattered loudly on the ground; the solid counterparts fell apart. In another sudden movement, Yamato clicked fluidly into its sheath.

The scabbard and blade created soft hushing sound, echoing in the fiery chamber; the figures exploded as dust as soon as the noise clicked and their semi-fleshy forms clothed the ground.

"Let's see what these scums can give me." Vergil grinned, his silver-blue eyes flashed dangerously. With his one arm outstretched, small pockets of light appeared and glided towards him.

He was stealing their power.

Mary's eyes widened as she saw him collect what was perhaps spirits from the fallen figures. As they formed a larger white glowing piece, the outlined circle flashed, twirled, then rushed immediately to its master. As it enclosed within Vergil's body, he started to glow hotly, the edges of his body illuminated and pulsed.

As his palm opened, there in place was a shape of a gun. The flames which now pointed in the direction of the overpass – there, light blue flames out from beneath the bridge seem to magnify. As the yellow flames flew out of his hand, the bright fire pushed the blue fires down.

"Humpf." He smirked, "I don't really favour guns. I suppose this will do." He gazed at Mary. "I would give it to you, but…"

"Suit yourself. Hey, what this place? If this is where ancient Mayan practices took place, why pistols? This is the spiritual realm right? Shouldn't it be with swords or with something more…"

"…Primitive?" He cut in; light blue eyes flickered over her. "When Westerners entered this world, the Shamans or the Chiman, however you want to call them, some of them went underground. They had learned the ways of Western firearms and used it to their advantage. You see, the creators they worshipped, had many dwellings. They were also called Magicians, but they didn't have parlour tricks, they manipulated and used mans weaknesses."

He softly closed his eyes. "I would tell you more, but I think that's Shirena's job." Vergil looked up and the woman was behind them.
"The masks, Vergil, are they any use?"

The two jaguar masks that fell to the ground glowed with an inner fire: one blue, one yellow.

"On the contrary, these are not in its completion. They would not serve me any purpose right now."

Vergil picked them up and threw them at Shirena, "Here, put them away until I need them. When the time comes, I shall wear them."

"As you wish," She nodded and gave Mary a watery smile, "Let's cross the bridge shall we? Your 2nd trial is coming up."

"I can hardly wait." Mary said jokingly.

"You have to accept him as part of you, Lady, which is why he can't wear the masks." She offered.

"I have accepted him."

Shirena smiled wickedly as she added,"You'll see what we mean in the next stages, Lady. And no, calm your mind; it's not about the union of physical bodies, or marriage as in the traditional sense."

"What?" Mary turned hot red; her cheeks flamed at the insinuation. She wasn't a prude, but the thoughts were on her mind and still made her blush.

Vergil was already on the other side and called out to them with a warning. "Are you waiting until the fires come up and consume you all on the other side?"

Walking across the bridge, Lady felt a hot sensation which started from her feet, working its way slowly up her body and into her head. She shivered – the touch of flickering hot flames tonguing her body felt inexplicitly glorious. There was a painful heat, yet this didn't burn her; the coldness that came afterward engulfed her.

The fluorescent neon-like red interior pulsated like a noisy heart beat. It's as if they were inside the stomach of some kind of alien monster. How original, Mary thought, and she thought these were only in video games. They arrived at the entrance of the other side which led to another one of those very narrow hall ways.

"Shirena," Mary ventured to ask. "If this is a Mayan tomb, which obviously goes directly deeper than any burial ground I've ever seen. My question is……why is it that it has so many layers and there is in every chamber every possible indication that life breathes in here? The waterfall, the fiery pit below and the hell hounds."

Her answer as Mary was expecting would be in riddles.
"Of course you wouldn't know where we are. We're in one of the top levels of hell, my dear girl."

"Hell? Is that so?" Mary pinched herself. "I knew I shouldn't have had those bad thoughts!"

"Funny. Make fun all you want, child, you'll see it's no laughing matter."

Suddenly, a rain of pebbles dropped down; it was at first so faint that the next flow dropped down heavily, taking them by surprise.

In that split second, a large rock fell in front of them, it started to transform. Immediately sprouting out arms and legs, the rock formation stretched out with a bone crunching sound. Before it made its way towards the intruders, Vergil pulled out his sword; the glint of silver flashed right before he sent the shape shifting stone into a pile of debris, creating an explosion of rocks covering the floor.

He sneered. "Pathetic. Is that all it can do?"