DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters in Devil May Cry, all rights to those characters belong to Capcom. The only parts of this story I own are my character, Rose Jay, and the plot. I do not make any profit from this fanfiction; it is solely intended for your reading pleasure.
Dante's P.O.V.
"Hey, Dante! Will we meet again?"
Holding back an irritated groan, I give Nero a final two-finger salute without breaking stride or turning to face him as I continue walking away. With the so-called Savior now defeated, I can go back to my shop, kick up my feet, and return to business as usual. My first task at the moment, however, is to find a restaurant that serves decent pizza. To my feet, it seems as though I've walked an entire marathon before I'm finally able to sit down at the counter of a cool place named The Devil's Lair. The second I open my mouth to ask where the waiter's disappeared to, a blazing hot babe bursts out of a pair of doors behind the counter. She skips over to me with a pen and a small notepad in hand.
"Hello and welcome to The Devil's Lair," she trills happily, "Fortuna's finest foodie fan club. I'm Diana and I'll be your server for this evening. What can I get for you?"
"I'll take a sixteen inch prosciutto with extra cheese, garlic potatoes, no olives, and make it crispy," I answer, watching her scribble it all down on her notepad. "And I'd like to be out of here before sundown, if you don't mind."
"Absolutely, I'll get on your order right away," Diana replies, racing back through the doors that I'm assuming lead to the kitchen.
Turning around to face the meager assembly of customers, I find myself thinking about something that has significant importance to me. But I can't quite pinpoint it, which frustrates me to no end. It doesn't concern any of my debts to Lady or else I'd be taking more jobs and making an honest effort to earn some more money. Not that I'd actually want to pay her, anyway. I can't think of anything else that it could be, which just infuriates me even further. The sound of a plate being set down on the counter behind me and the familiar, mouthwatering scent of my favorite food drags my thoughts back to the present. Swiveling around in my seat, I find that my order has been rendered in absolute perfection... All brought together by a toothpick in the center with a flag-like piece of paper pierced onto it. Upon closer inspection, I see that Diana's signature has been scribbled on it, including what I'm assuming is her phone number. Looking up, I watch her return into the kitchen with a wink to me. I can't help but chuckle to myself.
"Maybe my luck with women is finally starting to turn around."
"Is it just me or are you disappearing to get food more often now?"
With my hand on the doorknob, I let out a sigh and reluctantly turn to stand my ground against the disapproving leers of Lady and Trish.
"Well? We're waiting, Dante," Trish urges impatiently.
"Fine, the guilty is charged," I grumble, whipping back around to the door. ""But this demon's still gotta eat-."
"Oh no you don't!" Both women lunge forward, grab me by the shoulders, and drag me over to my chair, forcing me to sit.
"Aw c'mon, babes. I'm hungry!"
"You've got more important things to worry about than food," Lady scolds, holding up a business card in my face. "Remember this, Dante?"
Taking the card, I read it over several times before handing it back to her with a scoff of irritation.
"You tryin' to tell me my weapons aren't sharp enough or something?"
The stunned silence that follows my honest question only tells me that I should have remembered something unbelievably important. To further this, Lady storms up to me and delivers an agonizing left hook to my face. I groan in pain, bringing my hands up to shield my face just in the of chance that she decides to take another swing. Before I can even complain, she starts rambling on about something. Can't tell what it is or if she's even speaking in English because she's talking so fast.
"Could you please start over, except a whole lot slower?" I growl, rubbing my temples as I begin to feel the onset of a headache. "I can't understand a word you're saying, Lady."
"After the defeat of Sanctus and the Savior in Fortuna, an increasing number of people have been on edge," Trish cuts in, giving Lady a chance to regain her composure. "Something far beyond ordinary happened here in Capulet the day before you returned. Unfortunately, nobody knows how or why it happened."
"Well, does anybody at least know where in Capulet?"
"According to thirty-seven witnesses... On your doorstep."
Snapping my attention to Lady, I lean forward and prop my elbows up on my desk, lacing my fingers together and urging her on with a nod.
"Does anyone know what happened and if there were any specific persons that may have been involved?" I press on when she doesn't respond.
"The owner of the Rares Repairs smithy was abducted," Lady says with a bit of an uneasy tremor in her voice.
"And what significance, pray tell, does that have in my life?"
"Maybe this will help jog your memory," Trish sighs, walking up to my desk with a section from yesterday's newspaper in hand.
When she sets it down in front of me, the first thing that catches my attention other than they bold printed MISSING PERSONS is the largest of the eight portraits. I recognize the woman's face instantly, and the name written beneath the picture upholds this. In a surge of rage, I stand from my chair, extending my right arm out to the side. Responding to the gesture like a magnet, Rebellion flies across the room, landing directly into my open hand and sending shockwaves of power pulsating through my veins.
"Tell Morrison to meet me at the police station," I growl while walking towards the front door of my shop and simultaneously trying to keep my demon from surfacing. "I gotta talk to the Commanding Officer."
Standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window in Joshua's office, I can't help but wonder where my brother has taken Rose. Morrison is sitting in the chair in front of the desk stationed in the center of the room, staring me down, even though I have my back turned to him. I know he's questioning my reasons for being here - and for dragging him into this - and I can't blame him. He just doesn't yet know my brother like I do... What he's capable of.
"I know I've already asked you this a few times too many," Morrison says while leaning back in his chair.
He doesn't get to ask the question. The Commanding Officer of Capulet City's police force, Joshua Star, walks into the room, his eyes locked on me. I keep my back turned to him as well. My demon is still a bit on edge, but staring out the window seems to be helping to calm him a great deal. As the officer sits down in his chair, he pulls a file out from the top drawer of the filing cabinet behind him and places it on the desk. It's a plain white file with a color-printed portrait stapled onto the top left corner.
"Rosamund Alexia Diane Jay," Officer Star reads while leafing through the pages inside the file. "Three-quarter demon. Daughter of the full demon Satan and the half demon Alexia Elaine Jay. Professional blacksmith starting from the age of thirteen, and no criminal record whatsoever."
He pauses and then gently closes the file with a long sigh.
"Tell me exactly why I should not be sending my officers out to look for her."
"You would be sentencing every one of them to death," I respond immediately, earning a shocked expression from Joshua when I turn to face him.
"Dante, you need to realize that you're messing with the federal government," Joshua scoffs, his simple human nature blinding his brain to reasoning. "I can't just pull my men out of a search because you need the reward money to."
"IT'S NOT ABOUT THE DAMNED MONEY!"
Both Morrison and Officer Star look at me as though I've suddenly grown fifteen extra heads. Marching over to the desk, I draw Ivory from the holster on the inside of my coat and point the barrel at Rose's picture.
"She's all that matters to me right now," I say flatly, staring into the Commanding Officer's hazel eyes. "I will kill anyone or anything that gets in my way without a second thought."
"Dante, back down," Morrison warns me.
I point Ivory at him, which shuts him up before he can say anything else.
"My trigger finger is itchy enough as it is, Morrison," I snarl at him. "So don't go pushing your luck."
"Why would I be sentencing my men to death?" Joshua asks, bringing my attention back to the subject at hand.
Whipping my ice blue gaze back to him, I lean over the desk as far as I can, stopping a few inches from his face.
"Because my brother would kill them. He despises humans, and that's part of the reason why he took Rose. Because she's a partial demon that works as a blacksmith, she can give him exactly what he wants; power."
"How can you be certain your brother was the one that abducted her?" Joshua asks.
"If her captor were anyone else but my brother, none of us would be standing here having this discussion," I snap at him, closing my eyes and taking a few deep breaths when my demon begins to surge up again.
"What kind of power can she give your brother that an ordinary blacksmith can't?"
Does he ever run out of questions to ask?!
I reach into my pockets and pull out half a dozen blue-grey marble shaped gems, holding them out for Joshua to see.
"The day I met Rose, I watched her make a pair of guns just like mine using gems very similar to these. They can't be purchased anywhere. Only the eyes of certain demons crystallize into gems of different elements"
"How did she forge them?" Morrison asks, walking over to stand beside me.
"With her own two hands, or to be more precise, her right arm."
The three of us turn to face the door where Nero is standing, looking at me with a glint of determination in his saddened azure eyes.