Disclaimer: Anything from DMC isn't mine.
Note: I'll warn you, there is some more romance in this chapter.
Sanctuary of Darkness: Cute is a good word, even though I don't use it often either.
I don't remember who all reviewed the last chapter, but thank you and this story will deffinately be continuing. And I'm glad it's liked so much. I hope you'll like this chapter too.
Dante was the first to wake, his arms still around Rona. He wondered if she or Virgil were awake yet but didn't want to move if they were. But the he also had to go to work.
"Did you sleep okay?" He asked Rona in a whisper.
"I did until you started talking just now." She groaned. "What time is it?"
"Time for me to get ready for work."
Rona slowly opened her eyes then quickly closed them again. "The next time you two sleep in my bed, I am not sleeping behind Virgil. His hair just tried to blind me by getting in my eyes."
Virgil suddenly pushed back. Rona instinctively held onto Virgil while Dante was shoved off the bed with a heavy thud.
"What the hell was that for?" Dante growled.
"Get ready to go to work. We're going back to sleep." Virgil muttered to Dante.
"I'm too awake to go back to sleep." Rona rolled off the bed, landing on Dante. "What do you want for breakfast?" She asked while trying, unsuccessfully, not to giggle.
"Whatever you can make." Dante answered only to start tickling Rona.
Through Rona's laughs and screams, Virgil heard a crashing in the sword room.
"Quiet." He growled then listened for anything else. A silent moan was heard by all three of them this time.
Rona quickly got up and ran towards the moans. She entered the room to find Aris lying on the floor, covered in blood.
"Aris." She said shakily before running to his side. She placed his head on her lap and slowly began to rock him. "You'll be okay. Don't worry, we're going to help you." She murmured. She didn't see Dante and Virgil come in with their weapons, ready for a fight. "Get a towel and call for an ambulance." She cried.
Virgil looked at the man cradled by Rona and nodded for Dante to leave the room. Defiantly, Dante stayed, forcing Virgil to speak his thoughts with a possible fight afterwards. "He's gone, Rona. You can't help him now."
"He's still moving!" Rona yelled. Her eyes were dry of any tears but her voice was shaking with her pain.
"Rona." Aris spoke, barely above a whisper. "I couldn't stop it. I…"
Rona held him closer and told Dante and Virgil to leave.
Virgil refused to move from where he stood.
"Leave us!" She yelled. Dante and Virgil suddenly flew out the door, hitting the wall across from the door. The door slammed shut and locked.
"She did that?" Dante asked as he pulled himself up from the floor, his back crackling as he moved. He looked at the wall to see two imprints, one of him and one of his brother.
"She's telekinetic." Virgil answered. "I wouldn't have expected her to be weak."
Dante checked his weapons before saying, "You thought she was weak as a human. Why would you have expected her to be this strong as a demon?"
"Her mind is stronger than her body. She made herself a demon through the crystal. And because of her mental strength, she's more powerful than some demons." Virgil moved towards the door, attempting to hear Rona and Aris. He could hear their voices, but not what they were saying. He suddenly jumped to the side of the door, just before Rona came sailing through the air.
Before Virgil could stop him, Dante caught Rona before she could hit the wall. He carefully set her on her feet and looked through the destroyed door. A man made of fire held Aris and seemed to smile at Rona.
With an angry yell, Rona suddenly transformed into the thing she had seen in her dreams. Her whole body was made of fire with her hair as the flames of a torch. The crystal shone as a black coal on her chest. She ran at the demon, only to be thrown back again. She struck the wall, her fiery form fading away. She lied on the floor, unconscious.
Dante held Rona while Virgil watched the demon carrying Aris walk through the now melted window. He thought of the similarity between Rona's demon form and the demon that bore her brother away. Was there a connection, he wondered? Was there something Rona hadn't told them? The demon that had attacked was male and taller than he and Dante. Why would he have taken her brother?
"Aris." Virgil turned to see that Rona was regaining consciousness. She quietly spoke again, "Why?"
Dante had refused to go to work, saying that he had to stay to help Rona. She hated the idea but didn't want to argue with him. Instead, she talked him into showing her how to use the pistols he had made her. They trained behind the apartment building, doing their best at trying not to draw attention. Virgil watched as Rona learned each move with ease. Her mind worked ten times the speed of a half demon's and twenty times the speed of a human's. Yet, when it came to learning physical attacks, she faltered. Her strength seemed to disappear when it came to attacking her opponent without a weapon. Even with her swords she seemed to have a difficult time with adjusting.
"What a demon I'm becoming." She commented after losing both her swords in a fight against Dante. "I can't keep my own weapons long enough to survive. How am I supposed to fight him?"
"Patience." Virgil calmly advised. "Don't think of the swords as mere weapons. Think of them as extensions of yourself."
"Great. All I have to do is think of myself as a psycho with swords connected to my arms."
Dante chuckled and let his sword drop. "Treat your swords as weapons but weapons that respond to your intentions. If you want to wound your opponent, they'll do it. If you want to kill your opponent, they'll obey you."
Rona nodded and retrieved her swords before readying herself for another try. This time, after following the advice of both Dante and Virgil, she knocked Dante's sword out of his hands within minutes of starting.
Holding one blade to his throat, she whispered, "Do you trust me?"
His pale eyes focused on her as he prepared to speak. "If I didn't, I wouldn't be at this end of your sword."
She lowered it from his throat and hugged him. "Promise me that next time you won't hesitate to defend yourself. Don't let me gain the upper hand."
Dante paused before answering. "I won't have to promise. You won't be fighting me."
Rona let him go and turned towards Virgil. "What's next?"
"Now you rest." He replied.
"Forget that." Rona mumbled. She waited until Virgil had disappeared around the corner of the building before asking Dante, "Want to go somewhere?"
"Where?" Dante wasn't going to turn down this chance for anything.
"The high school. I thought it would be nice to just hang out."
"You don't want to invite Virgil?"
Rona looked down to the grass. "I think he needs a rest from us."
Dante agreed to go and placed his arm around Rona's shoulders. In response, Rona wrapped her arm around his waist.
"People are going to think we're dating." He whispered.
Rona smiled and answered, "And they're all going to think I'm lucky because I have the best looking guy around. All the girls are going to be sojealous."
Dante pulled her closer to himself and began to walk towards the school with Rona struggled to keep in stride with him.
"Do you want me to carry you?" Dante looked at her with a grin.
"It's not easy to walk while being held so close to you, you know." She answered.
He quickly swept her off her feet, expecting her to object. Dante's grin grew when she only laid her head on his shoulder and held onto his neck.
People stared at the two as they went to the school. None of them knew that the Rona they had watched running around the town as a childwas no longer the human they thought they had once known. They could see that she had changed but not the full extent of the change in her. The guys that grew up with her wondered why she had never been as friendly with them as she was with the man carrying her. The girls she had once considered friends were proud to see that she had finally found someone she would trust.
They arrived and soon found that they weren't alone. A couple of people were walking through the parking lot towards them. At first, Rona didn't recognize them. Until she suddenly noticed one face she could never forget.
"Put me down, Dante." She whispered.
He did as she had said and watched as she walked, hastily, to one member of the group. He watched as she threw her arms around him and smiled when she talked to him.
Finally getting close enough to hear them, he asked, "Friends of yours?"
Rona turned to Dante, a gleeful smile plastered on her face, "This is my childhood friend, Karl. Karl, this is Dante. He and his brother have been living with me for a while now."
Karl held out his hand for a gentlemanly greeting. Dante smiled devilishly and took his hand, giving it a strong shake that would have torn his arm off if it had been any stronger.
Afterwards, Karl massaged his arm and hand while giving Dante a curious and yet cautious look.
"You never told me you had two roommates." Karl said while trying to ignore Dante. "Let alone that they were men."
"You don't need to worry. They're both protective of me. They wouldn't allow for anything to happen." Rona answered, trying not to laugh about the faces Dante kept making behind Karl.
Taking her hand, Karl asked, "So you're still single?"
Dante frantically shook his head, hoping Rona would give the answer he wanted her to. "Yes. I am." She said, nearly laughing about the disappointed look Dante was giving her.
"Maybe we could go out somewhere and hang out with some friends. Do you remember Genji?"
Rona turned around to see another friend she had known as a kid. "Of course I remember. Genji was the first one to be my secret admirer."
"You knew it was me?" Genji asked, wondering how she could have found out.
"You were the only one that had a crush on me at the time. And a friend told me." She smiled so much that Dante almost thought her face would be frozen in her joyful expression.
Dante tapped her shoulder and whispered that they should be moving on.
"I'll talk to you guys some other time. Dante and I were coming out here to hang out and talk so we should be going."
Karl quickly suggested that he and Genji stay with them, which was immediately refused by both Dante and Rona. "We've been meaning to talk alone without interruptions." Rona said, hoping the excuse would work.
Karl and Genji seemed to understand since they soon left, allowing Dante to ask a few questions about them.
"They were just friends. Let's go. There are some bleachers over there. We can sit and talk if you want." Rona walked on with Dante protectively walking beside her.
Reaching the bleachers, Dante led her behind them and leaped to the rail. He held onto the cold metal as he turned and called down to Rona, "Come on."
"Okay." She answered before heading towards the steps of the bleachers.
"Not that way." Dante said. "You're not human any more, remember?"
"You don't have to announce it to everyone." Rona looked around, hoping no one had heard.
"Jump up." Dante commanded.
Rona shook her head and answered, "What if I fall?"
"You won't. I'll catch you."
"Promise?"
"Do you really think I'd let you fall?" Dante held out his hand, as if reaching for her.
Rona hoped he was right. She focused her eyes on Dante and leaped towards him, missing the railing. Dante grabbed her outstretched hand and pulled her to him. She laughed; amazed she had jumped so high.
"Fun?" Dante asked, knowing it was something she had only done in her dreams.
"Yeah. Can we jump on the roof of the school?" She watched Dante jump across first. She looked at the wide gap, estimating that it had to have been at least twenty-five feet across.
"Remember." Dante called to her. "You're not what you thought you were. You can do this."
She focused on Dante again and leaped across the gap, almost falling into Dante's arms this time. She smiled up at him, noticing that he was enjoying teaching her to use the simple abilities that she had. She soon left his hold and ran to a higher roof of the school. She jumped up and turned to see Dante running to join her. Now in a playful mood, she ran and jumped to a different area, knowing that Dante was following her. Before long she found herself on the roof of the school theater. She turned to see Dante walking towards her.
"I've never felt so free." She said to him before turning towards the horizon.
Dante stopped at her side, gently placing his hand on the small of her back. She, surprisingly, leaned against him. "I hope you can keep feeling this free." He answered, wishing he could come up with something better.
Rona looked into his eyes, suddenly realizing the change in her wasn't just because of the crystal.
Dante slowly leaned towards her, listening to her breaths and watching as she closed her eyes. He closed his own when their lips suddenly met.
The moment seemed to have ended just as fast as it had begun. Rona pulled away and jumped down the side of the building, starting the chase again. But for a different reason this time.
She ran to her apartment, not realizing that Dante had run several feet behind her. She couldn't believe that she had allowed him to kiss her. For years she had kept every possible boyfriend at bay because of the fear she would lose him. And she knew that one day she would have to say goodbye to both Dante and Virgil. Whether it would be because of her death or sending them back, she knew she couldn't stay with them. But then she was practically something from their world. What would she do without them? She had grown so accustomed to their presence that she couldn't imagine life without seeing them every day. She couldn't imagine life without the laughter and adventure that seemed to follow them.
"Rona?" Virgil asked, making her realize she had run into her apartment without seeing what she had been doing.
"I'm going to my room. I need to think." She quickly ran into her room and closed the door.
Dante soon came in, receiving a hard hit to his bottom jaw. He stumbled back a bit and looked at his brother as though he had gone completely nuts. "What was that for?" He almost yelled at his twin.
"What happened?" Virgil growled. "She went straight to her room after getting home. What did you do to her?" Virgil swung his fist again. This time Dante was prepared and blocked him.
"I didn't do anything to her." He growled back.
"Then why isn't she out here with us?" Virgil kicked at him. He almost made contact but missed because of Dante jumping back.
"I don't know. I only kissed her." Dante soon realized it was the wrong thing to say when Virgil had lunged at him and kicked him hard in the chest. Dante stumbled back, wondering why he was fighting his brother and seeming to be losing. He quickly gained his composure and punched at his brother. His attack was blocked and soon countered with his arm being twisted behind his back.
"Neither of us is supposed to get too close to her." Virgil growled in his brother's ear. "We're supposed to keep our distance. We're supposed to keep from falling in love." He soon released his hold and walked towards the nearest window. "We weren't supposed to love a human from another world." He whispered. He turned to Dante, seeing that he was now standing and favoring the arm Virgil had twisted. "We should have helped her be strong enough to live her life without us. Now, she's not going to have the strength to send us back."
"I thought you didn't want to go back." Dante began to walk around his brother. "With how you've been acting, I'd say you wanted to stay with her."
Virgil looked back out the window. "I do." He whispered. "But I can't. We don't belong here."
"Neither does she." Dante pointed towards Rona's door.
"She will after the crystal is destroyed."
Dante let his hand drop to his side. He knew Virgil was right, but didn't want to admit it. He didn't want to go back and remember his life in this world, knowing he could never return. But he also didn't want to go back and forget everything. He didn't want to wake up in his bed with no memory of the world where he found…
He couldn't lose the greatest fight of his life. His fight for a true life.
