"I can feel you falling away! No longer the lost, no longer the same! And I can see you starting to break! I'll keep you alive, if you show me the way!" -Breaking Benjamin. Give Me a Sign.
Chapter 4
Easy to Find What's Wrong
Dante eyed his father's Force Edge sword on the wall as he prepared for his newest job. At first glance the sword was nothing special, even Rebellion looked cooler than it's rather plain look. However, Dante knew all too well that this was his father's most used sword. The weapon he used to become the best swordsman among all of the demons.
Curiously he picked up the Force Edge and held it in his hands with admiration, leaving Rebellion on the wall. He was willing to try out the sword and see what was so good about it. As he stepped into the living room Robin glanced over at him with a smile.
"Hey, where are you going?" He asked.
"I got a show to play." He replied gesturing to his guitar bag that actually contained Force Edge. "I'd hate to leave my fans waiting."
The Titans leader turned completely around on the couch and leaned in. "Did you find out anything? You know about Raven?"
Dante shrugged resting on his arm against the couch. "Eh. Nothing helpful. Just some stuff about her emotions getting out of control. And some stuff about her father, but nothing that ole crispy face would want."
"I'll keep looking." Robin nodded as he spun around.
"I'm coming too." Said a monotonous voice behind them. That immediately gave Dante an expected smile without even looking.
"So you came to your senses, huh?" He smiled as he turned around. Raven stared blankly at him from under her hood. Dante shook his head with a wide grin. "Heh. Honey, you just made my day." He and Raven started toward the titans elevator as Dante waved to the other Titans. "We'll be back in a few. Don't wait up."
Dante was actually quite glad that Raven decided to tag along, even if it was expected. She wanted to overcome her demonic urges. Something that Dante himself didn't even have to try at. Perhaps it was because of his personality, but as far as he knew, she just needed to let loose a little and have fun. Though that theory simply sounded ridiculous when he thought about it.
Trying to make Raven see the optimistic side of life was a fool's errand, just like trying the same thing with someone with depression, it simply couldn't be done through sheer words. There needed to be action.
As he looked over at her blank, motionless action, Dante could only smirk to himself. She was actually rather cute whenever she tried to stay apathetic, and even more so whenever he flirted with her. The way she blushed and went all bashful, was simply adorable. Dante hadn't had so much fun with teasing and flirting with someone before, usually it either got him shunned down or it worked without the cute little reaction that Raven had.
This girl was dark above all other, even more so than most full demons. It was almost like she didn't have a soul some times, but thankfully that wasn't the case. That poor girl couldn't even enjoy happiness without worrying about herself and others. All she really needed was to feel that happiness without being scared. This was all starting to get real interesting and Dante was loving every minute of it.
Raven said nothing and made no movement for the entire journey down the elevator. Everything that was happening with her was happening in her mind as usual, and boy oh boy was it noisy in there. Possibly one of her weakest emotions, happiness, was more lively and cheerful than ever. Along with passion the two were causing quite the stir and completely taking over.
So many questions filled her head, only causing further questions with them. She wondered if this was a date or not. Whether Dante was good to have around or if she should drive him away as soon as possible. If she should invite him into her mind and her life or if she should keep her troubles away from him. Would Dante help them disappear or would he simply make them worse? She hadn't seen his bad side yet, if he even had one. So far he had smiled through it all, except for when he faced his brother. Though nothing he did seemed too bad.
He was cocky and arrogant, but not in an obnoxious way. He was violent, but not in a way that was cause for concern. Probably the most important thing was that he was able to understand her. He too had a demonic side and yet he had a soul and a warm heart that gave Raven an even warmer feeling inside. Raven couldn't help but like him and enjoy his company. It was a breath of fresh air from her dark and quiet life, and she could rest easy knowing that Dante could handle the dark as well.
Maybe she should keep him around after all.
They finally reached their destination rather quickly. At first glance, Raven could only wonder what Dante was up to. They had just arrived at a cemetery of all things, which she could only guess had something to do with demons. Though she didn't know what a field full of corpses would need help with, especially Dante's help.
"What are we doing here?" She glanced over at him with a blank stare. "There's nothing wrong."
Dante took a step forward shaking his head with a casual smirk. "Think again." He tapped her and pointed at the arm, noting the now empty pits the filled the entire yard. Raven gasped as she noticed that every single grave that was once flat grass was now an empty pit of dirt and their caskets lie empty beside their head stones. "Looks like we got a bad case of necrophilia on our hands." He chuckled as he started down the empty path. "Lets see if we can find the stiff pervert."
Raven nodded to him in agreement with a slight hum as they started down the path. The cemetery's dead trees and empty graves were already dark and creepy enough, but it was nearing night time now which only added to the dark atmosphere. Dante seemed way excited because of it and didn't even bother to keep his eye out for anything suspicious.
"What happened here?" She thought out loud as she stared down into the empty graves. "And where did the bodies go?"
"Beats me." he shrugged as he looked around the field. "People call, I show and kill demons. Thought you'd enjoy the excitement. Maybe I'll treat you to some dinner afterwards."
Raven glanced at him with a blank stare, yet inside she was actually kind of surprised by the idea. She thought for sure that Dante's interest in her was merely him teasing. Yet he basically just asked her out.
Suddenly Raven gasped as a cold chill ran up her spine. The presence of countless demons filled the air, but as expected a wide smile spread across Dante's face as he walked on. The dark Titan smiled slightly at his enjoyment of the danger, but quickly regained her troubled gaze as they suddenly stopped. Dante didn't move; he just stood still and folded his arms. Raven wondered what was the problem, but suddenly understood when they saw a man ahead of them.
He sat on the tattered roof of the Undertaker's hut with his legs dangling over the edge, and appeared to be a slender old man. His lower face covered in a thick white beard and the rest of his head covered by an over sized cowboy hat while his clothing was rather plain and plaid. He clutched only a small empty can of peas in his hands and spat out a dense loogy into it with a lout ping.
"It would seem you're missing something." Dante replied with a smirk as the old man paid him no acknowledgement.
"Ah... You came." The old man spoke in a low demonic growl and lifted his head showing a pair of glowing red eyes. "I've been waiting for you."
"Hah, I'm flattered." He smirked up at the old man. "But I'm not interested, so I'll let you down easy." Suddenly he reached behind himself and unzipped his guitar case. He caught Force Edge in his hand and pointed its tip directly at the demonic grave keeper. "Do you best to hold in your tears."
The grave keeper spat into the can once more then with a loud growl he threw it directly at Dante. The devil hunter merely leaned back as the can hit the ground with a roll, then suddenly the grave keeper stood on the top of his hut and his body quickly began to change into a demonic form with dark grey skin and his beard was replaced by a monstrous set of fangs on the outside of his face. His had changed as well into a giant metal disk with a razor edge.
"Since the body we were looking for isn't here, I don't have to worry about the rest." The Undertaker growled as he waved his palm outward. At his summoning the field filled with a demonic red mist that hovered eerily over the ground.
There was a heavy rumbling along the entire area and without warning the dirt broke away from underneath them and out of it came countless skeletal hands followed by the raggedy corpses they belonged to. One hand came up from right underneath Dante, swinging and missing as Dante flipped back and landed on top of a grave stone with perfect balance, Raven shot up and hovered in the air as the countless amount of corpses crawled out of the ground.
There was no sound from whatsoever, and because nothing in their bodies worked they were simply powered from pure demon power causing their eyes to glow a shade of blood red as they spotted their two targets. The Undertaker simply watched from above and waved his hand at the two intruders causing each and every one of the corpses to immediately look at Dante and Raven.
The devil hunter grinned at Raven with satisfaction. "Time to love your powers." He gave her a nod only causing her confusion.
"Your time has come!" The Undertaker shouted as he threw up his arm and faded away.
Each of the corpses snapped their limbs back into place and immediately lunged at Dante and Raven like frogs. They could barely dodge their attacks in time as the previously dead bodies suddenly gained a surprising liveliness and strength. Dante flipped over their heads, slashing Force Edge through the tops of their torsos as he jumped to another grave stone. Then he suddenly spun around on one foot with a wide slash outward, cutting through the necks of several more.
Raven threw up her hands and levitated several empty coffins, sending them flying at several corpses under her, then she looked to Dante. Her eyes flashed bright white as she swung her arms once more and swept through a row of even more corpses and knocking them into the graves at their sides. Dante immediately flipped over the graves, pulling out Ebony and Ivory and firing a rain of bullets into the deeply dug pits while the foes couldn't move. As he landed he stuck his pistols over his shoulders and didn't stop firing and shot through the face of a close corpse behind him.
Raven swept through countless corpses with immense force, cleaning through the gigantic crowd of what looked like nearly a hundred re-animated corpses. A loud snarl sounded from underneath her and two of them suddenly lunged upward at her before she could even react. Just when they nearly got her Dante came swooping in from the side, spinning as he swung his feet around in a wide circle. He landed below her, Raven gave him a simple nod and threw up her arms once more. Several more coffins sprung up from the ground and swept up several corpses at once, trapping them inside.
Dante smirked at her and held up the Force Edge like a baseball bat. "Hey! Batter up!" Raven let out a slight smile at him and threw the first coffin his way as he prepared to slice it in half. As he destroyed the case he bellowed out, "Base hit!" She threw the second one. "Home run!" Then the last one. "Aaaand, grand slam!"
A skeletal hand clutched the shoulder of his red leather coat and squeezed rather hard, drawing quite a bit of blood as it did. Dante simply reached for his silver pistol and rested it over his shoulder, firing a round through its decayed skull. Raven threw up her hands, deflecting multiple leaping corpses with a slash of black energy that she used as a shield. Suddenly out of no where she levitated higher, holding out both arms as her eyes glowed bright white.
"Azarath Metrion Zinthos!" She threw out her hands, blasting out a huge beam of black energy that slew multiple foes at once, creating a small path in the decreasing crowd of corpses.
Dante twirled Force Edge and came dashing forward, stabbing through multiple of their dead bodies at once, then with a spin he ripped his weapon back out. As he pivoted around their bodies he swung his father's sword in a wide ring of sharp slashes, then with multiple full circles he delivered a deadly ring of attacks that cut down multiple of the corpses at once. Then with another downward slash he drove the sword upward, launching several corpses into the air at once. Dante kicked himself off of one of their airborne bodies ever so slightly and spun around with multiple wide slashes then he flipped upside down, firing a hailstorm of bullets onto the zombies beneath him.
Raven levitated backwards, shielding herself from several jumping corpses then without warning she threw her arms outward and blasted them with a heavy beam of black energy. Then as they prepared to keep fighting, they both gave a quick look around at the fallen corpses which miraculously had gotten back up and started reattaching their limbs.
"Ugh, great." Dante shook his head as he rested Force Edge on his shoulder and simply ignored the zombies.
"What are you doing!?" Raven replied as she trapped several more inside a coffin.
"As much as I'd like to stay here and fight forever, I'm pretty sure you don't." He replied stepping back to the Undertaker's hut. As he did so the demon reappeared before him, shielding his face with his razor hat.
"Tired already?" He replied in his demonic voice. "Shall I deliver you an early afterlife?"
"I told you before, I'm not interested." Dante shrugged and pulled out Force Edge. "And what's with the hat? Don't have a sharp enough mind?"
"You dare mock me?" The Undertaker lifted his head and glared at Dante through his beady red eyes. "How quick do you want to die?"
The devil hunter looked off with a puzzled expression. "Eh, I don't know. How about zero seconds?"
The Undertaker suddenly rose from his spot on his roof and turned his back, tipping his hat. "Your wisdom was perhaps underestimate." Suddenly without warning the demon turned around and flung his had at Dante, barely missing him as he leaned back, letting the razor barely pass over his nose. Then suddenly the weapon came around into the demon's hand as it jumped down from the roof.
As soon as he landed he pulled off his metal hat and held it in front of his face as Dante fired a storm of relentless bullets. The projectiles bounced off the hat without damaging it one bit and as soon as Dante stopped the Undertaker leaned in and hurled the hat right at him like a frisbee. As soon as the hat came near him, Dante flipped backwards and landed right on the top of the hat, proceeding to ride on it like a top as it came back around towards the demon.
Then without warning he jumped straight up and slashed down with a heavy downward strike which the Undertaker simply blocked with his shield like hat. Their weapons collided with Sparks flying everywhere before finally the demon threw Dante off balance and attempted to slice him while he was open. This however turned out to be but a trick as Dante back flipped off the roof, kicking the hat from the Undertaker's head. The devil hunter caught it upon landing and took a slow spin before hurling it back at him.
The grave keeper's hand came out to grab the hat, but just then Dante fired a booming shot at the bottom of the hat's rim causing it to spin wildly in the air out of control. Then suddenly Dante lifted his Force Edge over his head and hurled it right through the Undertaker's chest, causing blood to shoot from all open areas as the demon stared shocked at Dante. The devil hunter aimed his pistol right at him with the gun slightly covering most of his face.
Raven flew around, dodging attack after attack of leaping corpses. Dante started down the demon as it drew its last sights. "You kill me? I never thought that possible."
"Obviously that hat wasn't doing its job then." Dante replied with a smirk as he fired one last shot which collided with the butt of the Force Edge and sent it the rest of the way through, turning the Undertaker into a mere pile of dust as it did with all other demons. The sword then came spinning back to Dante which he caught swiftly in his hand before glancing back at Raven who had several coffins rose above her head. However, as soon as the demon was dead, the corpses went back to the way they were and Raven let go of her projectiles.
"See? Easy peasy." Dante smirked, replacing his sword onto his back.
The dark girl flashed him the same timid look she gave everybody, but then before she knew it she was smiling brightly at him from the excitement. "That was actually kind of... Fun."
"See? What I tell you?" He replied, nudging her with an even bigger smile. Then the devil hunter threw an arm around her shoulder with an exaggerated polite look as he guided her from the cemetery. "Now how bout that date? I haven't been wrong yet."
Raven looked back at the trashed cemetery, sure it was a dark and rather violent way to have a good time, but even she had to admit she had a good time bonding with Dante on the battlefield. Her mind couldn't have been more calm and relaxed at that moment. It was almost like fighting demons with him cleared her head from her usually troubled thoughts.
"How does Pizza sound?" She suggested as they stepped thought the gate. Dante grinned over at her and pumped his fist in amusement and delight.
" Hah! You know how to treat a guy."
Alright! And we are done with this chapter!
Some of the moves from this fight scene were taken from DMC3 sword master style, especially the sword throw, which I actually unlocked today. :)
Special thanks to lovingazarath for loving the story. And to answer your request, yes I did plan on adding lemons eventually. So be looking forward to that.
;)
