Mission 9 – Demon's music

"You still haven't told me what's that mission." Nero changed his position a bit. Riding on a motorbike with Dante, who had a sword on his back was as uncomfortable as hell.

"We're supposed to check out some ruins. They say that people who go in there aren't coming back." The guy replied and Nero couldn't help but sigh.

"And why do you think that it may be something about the crystal?"

"I don't know. Intuition?" The hunter smiled and Nero sighed again.

"Did I tell you already that you're an idiot?" He said. Dante smiled and parked the vehicle near some weird pillar.

"We just need to check out these. Is it so hard without complaining?" They got off the motorbike and looked around. The ruins were probably of some temple, they were quite big, but right now all you could see were stones, rocks and pillars. But if you came near to the centre, you could find even more of these and in the middle you could see short stairs and big stone door. "That's our target." He pointed them out.

"Wait, Dante." Nero stopped the guy from going away. "Do you hear that? The sound coming from below. Is it… piano?"

"If we go through these door, we should find out. Come on." He directed his steps to the centre of the ruins. Nero tried to listen to the weird melody, but it was too quiet. He followed his partner when the melody stopped.

In the inside of the ruins there was something that looked like catacombs, but while they thought that it's the place that something should attack them in, it was actually awkwardly empty. There was no one there, no humans, no demons, no witches or even zombies. They were walking in silence until the road split up.

"I knew that it's going to end up like that." Nero sighed.

"Just go left." His friend smiled. But then they both heard a quiet sound coming from the right side. "Hey, isn't that the same melody as before?"

Nero listened closely. It definitely was the same melody, but where did it come from? "We need to follow it." The boy stated. And then he did what he said. There was nothing else to do anyway.

"Nero, slow down, we're running in circles." Dante sighed at his partner who was desperate to find the source of the sound.

"It's coming from everywhere now." The boy stopped and leaned against a wall. "How are we supposed to find it?"

The red coated guy stood next to him and smiled suggestively. "We can always take a break."

Nero glared at him with annoyance "Is it the only thing you can think of right now?" Dante slang his arm over his lover "…pervert."

Then suddenly the music stopped. Again. The grave silence surrounded them as they stood there in the middle of the catacombs, there was dark and probably scary. Not for them of course. But as the devil hunters, they knew that something was going on there. And it started to move.

"…the steps. D'you hear it?" Dante whispered. They were both focused now with their weapons in the close range to their hands, just in case.

"It's not far, but I have no idea where is it coming from." Nero looked around, but it was dark and he could see only few steps before him. The other took his guns and shot few times in the ground.

"Don't play hide and seek, demon! We're here!" He shouted. Nero… just 'facepalmed'.

"Dante… don't be a moron, pretty please." He sighed. But his partner wasn't listening.

"Show us that you at least don't look like chicken, 'cause you surely act like one!"

"This won't work, it's stupid!"

"Get your feathery ass here, so I can fry it!"

"Dante, you…"

The demon before them surely wasn't a chicken. It looked more like a chick. Her short, blond hair were falling on her eyes and she was wearing a long, dark dress.

"Oh, no boobs show today?" Dante looked disappointed.

"Shut up already, what's gotten into you?!" Nero finally burst.

"Are you jealous?" The guy asked him mockingly.

"You're just… I'm going home, damn it!"

"Wait." The devil stopped him. She didn't move a bit, but Dante surely did. He was quite close, trying to see her face.

"I know your kind. These scars…" His tone suddenly changed.

"It doesn't matter what kind I am. I am a demon. And even if I do not have the item you are looking for, I may know where to look." She gently pushed the devil hunter away and he let her do it.

"Why should we trust you?" Nero was suspicious. Well, who wouldn't be? "You could have gotten out earlier."

"I like to… play. That's all."

The boy looked at her more inquisitive "What about the people who were here before us? What did you do to them?"

The demon shook her arms "I don't know. They probably got lost. Maybe they're dead, I don't really care." She looked at the blue coated hunter "The only ones I wanted to lure in here were you"

He sighed. "Alright. But after we're done talking, you will show us where they are, dead or not."

"We never agreed to get the people out of here. I say, we should leave it be." Dante interrupted.

"We won't get cash if we get out of here with nothing."

"We'll just tell Lady that it's a damn labyrinth and that everyone who gets here probably just got lost. No demons inside."

"You want to lie?"

"And why not? This girl is not dangerous."

"But she's a devil"

"So are we."

"… Why are you protecting her so much?"

"Because!" The guy tried to sound convincing, but it was doomed to failed without a reason.

"Just let me tell you what I know. Then you will decide if you want to save them, fight me, both or just go away." The demon stopped their argument "Come on, I'll show you where I usually stay."

After some time of walking through the corridors, they've found themselves in a stone room with one torch and a black grand piano. Nero looked around for a bit and noticed a sheet, but there was no title of the melody and he couldn't read notes. Well, at least not as good as he would want to. The other hunter still seemed oddly quiet.

Their host came closer to the piano and put aside the sheet. The boy finally managed to see her face: it was covered in weird scars, like she had it sewed, which somehow reminded him of scarecrows. And her eyes were totally black, like little holes.

"Tell me what you know about Rea." She said, but they didn't answer "I don't want to waste my breath on something you already know."

"I really don't see why are we supposed to talk with you." The boy sat on the piano.

"Because I know Rea better then you. And I have some kind of an idea where the crystal might be." She said while pushing the D key.

"I still don't understand what does this girl have to do with the crystal."

"Our witch wants to find and kill her and she cannot do it while the crystal is still whole." Dante leaned against a wall and smiled.

Nero looked quite shocked "How do you know this?"

But his partner didn't answer and instead, the devil woman started to talk "You can say that Yuki Rea was created by that witch of yours." She pushed A "I will call her Yuu, because that's how she was called when I first met her. I don't know the details, but because of that creation something really bad happened and Yuu barely put everything back in place." They heard the B sound. "Now Rea wants to do the same mistake that Yuu made long time ago, and Yuu knows that she cannot let it happen." There was a G sound. "There is a demon who can make people immortal. It makes a crystal which gives an incredible power to one who obtains it. But then, one's soul is bound with that crystal. Yuu didn't know why, but she already had that power when she had awoken, but there was no crystal. Rea, on the other hand, can be much weaker if you can only manage to find and destroy the crystal." And then she hit the D accord with her left hand and grinned. "Do you know that melody, Dante?"

But he didn't answer and the demon didn't pursue the topic any further. Nero, on the other hand, looked like he was thinking intensively while the girl started to play the melody from the very beginning, this time adding the other hand.

"I don't understand." Nero finally said. "What does Yuki want exactly?"

"She wants to make someone immortal, but she doesn't know about its consequences." She kept playing. D, Des, B, A, F… "And she probably doesn't care about them anyway."

"Nero just has to find the crystal, so maybe you should tell us where do you think it is." The red coated looked at the devil a little bit annoyed.

"Sparda" the sound of the piano suddenly stopped "he was the only one whom she trusted."

Zinkul: Yay, I'm back :P I'm really sorry for the delay, I just don't have too much time lately. I'm not really sure if I did the right thing, putting this song here, but I hope it's not too annoying to read because of her pushing the keys all the time ;) I also hope you enjoyed the chapter and I will try to upload as fast as possible this time.