Summary: Some weird idea I got a few nights ago, spawned in the depths of my twisted little mind. A woman from the Baldur's Gate games, one of my own characters, has to enlist Dante and Vergil to help her stop her own great-granddaughter from releasing the sealed power and essences of her father, the god of murder Bhaal, with the aid of the demons of their world.
Disclaimer: I don't own Dante and Vergil. Capcom does. I know the twins, but I can't claim ownership. Nor do I own the Forgotten Realms; that belongs to Wizards of the Coast, and the Baldur's Gate games are their joint property with TSR. Natasha and Laraedina, however, are totally mine. A lot of the other characters mentioned herein are also mine. No taking, or Ebony and Ivory will do the talking. You have been warned.
Chapter Rating: T
Stone's Throw
Stone's Throw brought back memories of Saradush, a city that had been destroyed merely because Natasha, a Bhaalspawn who was thought of as a great prize, the highest sacrifice they could give their father, by her other siblings, had set foot therein. Like that high-walled city, the tiny village had been all but wiped from the ground upon which it stood. But as far as Natasha could tell, no one had escaped this carnage, where at least some innocents had managed to flee from Saradush. People had fallen where they stood, had had no possible chance to defend themselves against the whirlwind of teeth and claws that had torn through them.
This was worse than Saradush.
Natasha and the twins examined the corpses as closely as they dared, mentally cataloguing the wounds that had killed them. Natasha rolled onto his back the body of a young boy, more of a youth, really. He had died when a claw of some kind had torn his throat out, but more than that, he was missing an arm. The tattered strips of flesh dangling from the wound suggested that whatever had killed him had also wrenched the limb right off his body.
Finding the arm a few houses down confirmed her suspicions. A woman had had her head beaten in with the appendage.
Natasha stood and looked around. She'd seen some very gruesome sights in her many years of adventuring, but this one took the ale. If she didn't suspect otherwise, she would have thought that wild animals had committed this atrocity.
But she needed to see some proof of Laraedina's presence before she attributed this massacre to her and whatever allies she had brought with her.
"Natasha!" Dante's shout directed her attention to a small hut back up the street, where he was squatting before a small pile of bodies. She ran to him, skidded to a kneeling position beside him.
"What did you find?"
He pointed to the body of a small boy laying beneath an older woman, possibly his mother. The boy's head had been sheared clean off his shoulders, and lay in the dirt a few inches from the body. "Does that look out of place to you too?"
"This is too clean to have come from a claw," she mused. "And the blood is gone as well."
"Meaning…"
"Laraedina's sword is vampiric. It sucks the blood from its victims and channels the energy into its wielder, making her stronger and faster than she would otherwise be." She put a hand to her head. "She was here."
"Natasha! You might want to take a look at this!" They were by Vergil's side in moments. He was looking at something just beyond the wall separating Stone's Throw from the sea, a slightly disgusted look on his countenance.
When the other devil hunter and the adventuress joined him, he pointed at two corpses, both mostly eaten. "We, Dante and I, that is, have seen this before. The demons of our world devour their meals in this manner. More than that, do you sense that something is missing?"
Natasha got close to the gruesome bodies, examined them closely. A deep chill suffused her body when she realized what was missing. "Their souls are gone…"
"Soul-eaters," Dante said automatically, his fingers tightening on his guns. He and Vergil had both dealt with those octopus-like monstrosities more than enough times to realize when a human had been drained of their soul.
"I would think so too, but soul-eaters don't feed this way." Vergil stood up and brushed off his pants. "I think this is the work of two different demons, two that I had hoped never to meet."
Dante and Natasha gave him curious looks. "Explain, please…"
"While I was researching ways to open a portal into Hell, before I met Arkham, I came across a book that listed the major demons of our world. Mundus was mentioned, of course, as was Sparda, but two others whom I took note of were Tlaneskiar and Ssaliinthra. These two can be thought of as counterparts of Mundus, demons lesser than he but still undefeated by his forces. They were last seen in the wars between humanity and demons, but were defeated by Sparda and sealed in Hell along with Mundus." Vergil looked down at the corpses again, his face emotionless. "Basically an uber-powerful incubus and succubus, brother and sister, they are also known to feast upon souls and enjoy the spilling of blood on a level akin to any other lesser demon. One of their titles, in fact, is the Devourer of Souls and the Mistress of the Bloody Claws."
"Wonderful," Dante muttered. "So they eat souls, they are extremely powerful, and Laraedina's working with them. What else is new?"
"We are running out of time" Natasha said softly, staring to the north with wide eyes.
The twins followed her gaze, and their eyes widened too. A massive, nearly transluscent staircase was winding its way to the heavens above, and upon that staircase were three tiny figures, almost to the top.
"Laraedina, and the demons," Natasha informed them. "They've opened a Celestial Staircase."
"We have to get to them. Now." Vergil grabbed Natasha, and looked at his brother. "Can you trigger, brother?"
"If you can, then I can as well." Dante stretched, his bones cracking loudly. "Ready whenever you are, bro."
"Hold onto me, and don't let go," the older twin advised his woman, reaching into himself to touch the devil below the surface.
"I have a better way." Natasha threw her head back, and touched a jewel upon her belt. Immediately, her body began to shrink and grow thinner, scales growing upon her milky flesh and the lustrous black hair shriveling into her scalp. The twins watched in astonishment as her legs and arms withdrew into her body, and her shape twisted upon the grass, turning into something else entirely.
Within moments, a black snake was coiled upon the grass where before there had been an elf-woman.
The snake crawled over the grass and up Vergil's body until it reached his wrist, coiling itself securely around the appendage. He stared at it dumbly, and it raised its head to meet his gaze, its unblinking eyes on his own. He was even more surprised to see that Natasha's eyes were set into the serpent's sockets.
Surely you didn't think that I would allow you to drag me along as you would a kite or something? The voice tickled across his and Dante's minds like a silken breeze, soft as a whisper, but it was undeniably Natasha's voice. This body is simply more convenient than my own. Rest assured, I will not let go of you until we reach the Staircase.
"I…was not worried about that, Natasha. You just surprised me, is all." Vergil shook himself, and threw a cocky smile at his brother. "Shall we race?"
"Only if you can keep up with me."
The air flashed with blue and red, and two demons completely new to Faerun flew away like strangely-colored meteors, covering miles in mere minutes with every flap of their wings.
They prayed that they would reach the Staircase in time.
DMCBGDMCBGDMCBGDMCBG
Laraedina looked to the demons behind her, and threw them a triumphant smile as the Celestial Staircase appeared before them. She lowered her hands, and tried to hide the trembling in her limbs. Such power required to open the path… She was lucky that the forces she had channeled hadn't killed her.
"Come. Our victory is close at hand," she said to the demons.
"The seals await us, sister," Tlane rumbled, gazing upon the Staircase with his massive arms crossed over his chest.
"And after she attains her goal, we can have our payment, brother," Ssaliira purred, tossing her blue hair behind her shoulders.
Laraedina smiled evilly, and mounted the Staircase. The demons followed close after her, once they felt ready.
No sign of Natasha yet.
Laraedina was rather disappointed by her great-grandmother's failed appearance. She had hoped to kill her now, and allow Tlane and Ssaliira to devour her body and soul before she took the essences of Bhaal into her body, transforming into the new goddess of murder.
But she did not worry. Knowing Natasha, she would make an appearance sooner or later, along with whatever pathetic allies she had managed to seduce to her hopeless cause.
She would yet be able to carve her heart out of her chest, and mount her head on the Throne of Blood, a symbol to all of her followers of the price of failure.
Climbing the Staircase, she could practically taste the victory over her revered ancestress.
DMCBGDMCBGDMCBGDMCBGDMCBG
Queen: So things are coming to a head. Will our daring trio catch up to their quarry in time? Will Laraedina release the seals containing Bhaal's essence? What exactly did the spirits mean in the fourth chapter, anyway? All will be revealed in time, as soon as I come up with the next chapters!
Vergil: Knowing you, that shouldn't be too long. You don't take months to make up stories like most authors do.
Queen: So I like to get my stories finished as quickly as possible. Is this so wrong?
Vergil: No. I never said it was.
(transmission shows Dante walking into the room, rubbing sleep out of his eyes. View of him is blocked by Queen)
Dante: What are you two doing in here?
Queen: Finishing the latest chapter of "Sins of the Father" and putting up a new oneshot, "Abandoned."
Dante (yawning): Oh, that. I forgot you were planning on posting that.
(Queen looks at Dante, and stares. Laughter spills from her, prompting Dante to look at her strangely. There is no reaction from Vergil)
Dante: What's so funny?
Queen: Have you looked in a mirror yet?
Dante: No…
(Queen fishes a mirror out of the desk, allowing the readers to get a glimpse of Dante. There are red and white rings painted on his body, with black numbers above each ring. 10 points for the chest, 20 for the heart, 30 for the shoulders, 40 for the abdomen, 50 around each nipple, and the last ring is painted on the crotch of his pants, a full 100 points carefully outlined in light blue paint. Dante takes the mirror, stares, and immediately runs to the bedroom to take a better look at himself in a larger mirror. An outraged roar soon shakes the monitor)
Dante: VERGIL!!!!!
Vergil (innocently): Yes?
Dante: I'm gonna KILL you!!!
(white and black blur races across the room, which Vergil narrowly dodges. Laughing like a lunatic, he runs out of the room, Dante close behind him)
Queen (shaking her head): Bull's eye targets. Even I gotta admit, that was a stroke of genius. I think that, for once, it may be Vergil's vital areas at stake here rather than Dante's. A change of pace, but not an entirely welcome one. I mean, I don't like seeing either of them hurt, fast healers or no. Anyway, please leave a review. The next chapter should be up soon, once I finish scrubbing that paint off Dante. Sure hope it was tempera, rather than acrylic. Turpentine just doesn't do well on skin.
Dante (outside): Just wait 'till I get my hands on you, you asshole! You're going to be so full of holes people will think you're Swiss cheese!
Vergil (still laughing): I don't see why you're so mad, brother! I think it's an improvement! Now Queen at least knows where to aim when she makes her moves!
(Queen shoves back her chair, Dante's indistinguishable snarl audible from outside)
Queen: I should be up for sainthood, for putting up with this. Gotta run folks, before I have to put Vergil back together!
(transmission ended)
