Disclaimer: I don't own Devil May Cry.
And now we get to the one DMC game I have actually managed to play. Well, I did Missions 1-9 of Dante's disc on normal mode. With massive abuse of Vital Stars and almost no use of the dodge button. I've played three other games in my life, did not get at all far in any of them, and sucked at them, but before DMC2 I hadn't played anything in years. Why oh why did I get hooked on a game?
I was disappointed by the minimal cutscenes because I felt that if I was going to get my butt kicked by an Orangguerra I at least wanted some plot out of it. Besides that, I like Lucia.
To clear up a misconception: Lucia's accent is not French. According to the game booklet Vie du Marli was settled by religious refugees (devil worshippers) from the Middle East who came along Viking routes. There's no indication they were a French colony later: Arius is the first one to exploit the island's resources so it's pretty clear the Guardians were able to fend off imperialists. So nor is she a native speaker of English, as they weren't colonized by them either. So her stilted language, accent, and awkwardness are natural. So don't mock her accent unless you can speak a second language without an accent. I for one know my Spanish is horrible.
I actually liked Dante, Arius, Lucia and Matier in the early cutscenes. It was a disappointment to see some of the later ones and realize that they seriously needed different voice actors for Dante and Arius. Especially Arius.
That the game is easy I can attest. After all, I got that far on my first try. Combos? I didn't even master the dodge button.
All in all, it was a nice experience for a beginner and I now want to play the rest of the games. As Sparda and Trish. Who has the Sparda.
According to a Yahoo search, Ha Konr is Norse for High King.
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Lucia stood in front of the desk, half-sitting on it, idly tossing the coin, catching it, and tossing it again. She wouldn't feel right sitting in Dante's chair.
After Dante had gone into the demon world Lucia had been busy mopping up the demons. Then Dante's partner Trish had arrived, highly irritated that Dante had gone to the demon world without her. Matier had told Lucia that she had done enough of the work and that she should go to Dante's shop to wait for him and deliver Matier's message and the payment. Arius' business had collapsed and the government of Vie du Marli had seized his properties on the island as recompense for his terrorist actions against the island as part of his goal to gain access to the resources in the island's interior. Much of that money had been given to Matier, head of the Guardian clan. The islanders, unlike the rest of the world, knew who kept them safe and were grateful.
However it had not been the Protector who had truly saved the island, even though she had finished off Arius. Dante must have left him alive for her. So Dante would be paid in better coin than a story he already knew. Lucia was very glad: she owed him much, more than she would ever be able to repay.
He, as much as Matier, had given her faith that she was not only Arius' creation, but a human, with no need to die to prove it. He had saved her so many times.
So she waited for him here at his shop, and helped out his servants.
Nevan was busy with business matters and the other demons were much less able to function in the world of humans. There had been one, Alastor, but he had left and not come back. His sword was still here, but it was cold and dead. Lucia did not know why. If she were only a demon, she would be happy to serve Dante.
The Son of Sparda was a god worthy of worship, just like his father.
It was strange that he had a shop and demanded payment. The Guardians were just… given money, tithes, they did not ask for it. But then, Dante had not asked money of them. She didn't understand him. She wanted to understand him.
She heard an engine outside the shop. She forgot all about the coin and ran to the door. Dante was here, finally! He seemed not to notice her, heading right for his desk and flinging himself down into the chair with a weary sigh. Only when he was settled did he look at her. "Lucia? What are you doing here?"
"I came to give you this." She took out the check and handed it to him. Or tried to.
Dante, realizing what it was, waved it off. "I did the job for the story."
"But you already knew the story."
"I know."
"Matier said you must take it. After all you and your father have done for us…"
"Matier needs the money more than I do. The Guardian Clan used to be powerful. Since Mundus revived between his demons and sorcerers like Arius there are very few of you left. You should use that money to rebuild."
"But we owe you."
"Look, it's better for me if you're strong. If you stop them, I don't have to."
"But we could not stop Arius without you. You are the strongest, Son…"
"I know, I'm the strongest devil hunter on the face of the planet. Sparda's son, the guy who stopped Mundus, I know." His eyes were weary. "You can't always count on me. You need to get stronger, Lucia, because one of these days I'm not going to be there."
"But Sparda lived for millennia and you are a half blood. You should live at least a millennium." Lucia didn't understand.
He waved it off. "Sure, I'm powerful. I'm good. Damn good. But I can't be in two places at once." He smiled at that, some private joke.
"I am sorry. If I had been stronger Matier would have not needed to call upon you. That was why I was so angry when we first met. I felt that…" she trailed off, ashamed of herself.
"You felt that it was your family matter." He understood even though she didn't.
"I should have put my personal feelings aside." One more sign that she was not worthy to be the Protector.
He snorted. "Lucia, your feelings are important. They make you stronger. Devils are the ones that never cry, and it's why humans can fight them."
"I felt… when I faced Arius, he, he tried to tell me I was nothing, but you said… thank you." She bowed slightly, deep respect.
"You're welcome."
"What you said, about every hero having a weakness, you…" she didn't want to tell him he was wrong. "I am very glad you have that weakness. Even though saving me meant the ritual was activated. And you used the false coin so I did not go to my death."
"So you don't want to die anymore?"
"No. I, I believed you, and Matier. She is not my mother but she chose to be my mother. It would make her sad."
He nodded, looking at a photograph on his desk. "The power of a mother's love."
"Excuse me?" That did not seem like something he would say.
He turned around the photograph so she could see it. It was of a woman who looked oddly like Trish. "My mother. She's why I have that weakness. I couldn't save her, so instead I'm obsessive about saving people like her."
"Like her?"
"Strong women." He shrugged. "People like Arius aren't worth a damn. What matters are the people who care about you. They're the ones who know you, know what you are, and don't care because they know you, know you're not a monster. Listen to Matier, Lucia."
"When she talked to me, I… I did not truly listen. I believed you because your job was hunting devils. I asked you to kill me and you stopped because you had proof I was not a monster." Lucia hung her head. "I should not have let Arius affect me. I was like a child."
"Lucia, somebody told you your whole life was a lie. They were wrong, but I can see how that would get to you. What matters is that you put it behind you and came through in the end. You did your job. I assume he's dead."
"Yes. I killed him myself." She nodded.
"Good. Anyways, you should talk to Trish. She was created by Mundus."
"By… Mundus?" The dark emperor, who had killed almost all the good gods and tried to conquer humanity as well? Sparda's sworn enemy?
"He used her to get to me. She did a pretty good job. But in the end… it's not what you are that matters, it's who you choose to be. And you're Matier's daughter."
"And you are Sparda's son. I am sure he would be very proud of you."
He started laughing.
"What… why are you laughing?" Had she said something stupid and embarrassed herself again? She wanted Dante to think well of her. He had given her a reason to live.
"Lucia, I used to hate my dad. I was Eva's son, not Sparda's son. All this," he pointed around him at the shop, "Is because I wanted to be like her, not like him. My mother was a hunter too."
"I know, Matier told me. She said she married your parents and she was very impressed with the woman who won Sparda when so many others had tried." Matier had known Sparda. Lucia had seen old regret in her eyes when she talked about him. The same regret Lucia would have.
Lucia knew Dante would never look at her that way. But she didn't want anyone else to look at her that way, not after finding that Arius had created her… and knowing what he had created her for. But Dante was… She was just a child next to him.
"I used to think I was a monster too. She's the only person who knew who didn't think I was, even if they tried to think of me as a human. She told me that my father was a man who fought for the weak. That I should be proud of who and what I was. It took me a while to listen to her though. If I had sooner… If I'd been stronger when we were attacked, she might have lived." He turned the photograph around so he could look at it. "So listen to your mother, Lucia."
"I know that I am a person and not just Chi because she took me in as her daughter and heir. Matier made me who I am, the Protector, even though I am still not sure I am worthy. But she tells me I am, so I will try, even though I do not have the blood of the devils." She was amazed that Dante was telling her all this. He was doing it to help her. She couldn't help but feel touched that he, the great Son of Sparda, thought she was worth the effort. She wanted to live up to his expectations of her as much as she desperately wanted to live up to Matier's.
And she had only seen him a few times, as their paths crossed while they fought Arius and retrieved the Arcana! He was truly a god, such an amazing man with such presence! A true king.
He was also very handsome. Matier said that Sparda had been the same way.
"That's good," Dante told her approvingly. "You're being a lot less bullheaded about it than I was. Took me years to quit…" He suddenly seemed weary again.
"What is wrong?" She hoped he did not think her presumptuous for asking.
"Nothing."
"Please. You have helped me so much, if there is anything I can do I will." She didn't want to seem to pry.
"There's nothing you can do."
"Oh." She tried to think of something else to say. "I am sorry it took you so long to get home. You might have been trapped."
He laughed. "I guess I'm going to have to talk about it. I didn't have any problems getting back. I went looking for someone."
"Someone in the demon world? Sparda?" No one knew how or why he had suddenly disappeared all those years ago.
"No." He shook his head. "Already found Father. Have you met Trish? He's her devil arm."
"The large flesh and bone sword?"
"Yeah, that's him. I was looking for my brother."
"Your brother?"
"Never heard of him, have you?" He looked slightly annoyed.
"I am afraid no." She shook her head.
"I'm not surprised. Just like practically no one knows who my Mother was. What, do they think I sprung from his god-from his forehead? My brother was the evil twin."
"Evil?"
"He raised Temen ni Gru, trying to get his hands on Father's power. Only I stopped him from getting it and he decided to dive into hell. I don't know exactly what happened. But eventually Mundus got his hands on him."
"Mundus… I am so sorry!" What Mundus would have done to a Son of Sparda did not bear thinking about!
"Well, he's still alive. Or he was, a couple years ago. Mundus used him as well as Trish to attack me. Only thing is, when I defeated him he disappeared. He might be dead. But I don't think so."
Lucia had heard legend upon legend of the cruelty of Mundus. So she shook her head.
"So every time I get a chance to get into the Underworld I go looking for him. No luck this time either."
"You spent a week searching?" He must truly care for his brother. The longer you stayed the less chance of returning, the legends claimed. If he were not Dante he would have gotten lost, gotten eaten by something stronger…
"Yeah. I should have spent more, but I had to worry about somebody bringing about the apocalypse while I was gone. Anything big happen?"
Lucia shook her head. "There have been a few jobs. I took them for you."
"Great, thanks."
"I'm not going to give up on finding my brother. Mundus turned him into a dark knight and sent him to kill me, but he didn't. He stopped attacking me even though it caused him a lot of pain instead of finishing me off, and he dropped his half of the amulet when he disappeared. My brother is still out there, and I'm not giving up on him." Determination, and Lucia knew he would find his brother someday.
"The Secretaries… they were made with me, only I was a defect. Matier says that they are my sisters and we must try to help them become human. Trish and I captured a few, but they only sit in the cage now and try to attack through the bars. They are like animals!"
"Or like weak demons."
"If Matier had not saved me I would have been destroyed or become one of them. Arius tried to make me become one of them. He told me my name was Chi, not Lucia."
"You are whoever you decide to be. Your name is what you answer to, not what they decide to call you. I've got another friend named Lady you should talk to."
"I would like to meet this friend." Someone worthy of being counted as a friend by Dante.
"I met her the same night I lost my brother. Funny. Anyways, I learned a lot that night." He dug in a drawer for a bottle and took a drink from it. "You can decide your own destiny, you're not foredoomed by who your father is. Although you have to fight to make it that way. Nothing's easy, Lucia. But you've got Matier."
Dante had lost his mother and father at young ages and been on his own. He had refused to come to Vie du Marli, Matier had not said why. Because he did not want to be trained as a Guardian?
The outlanders, corrupted by the false faith of the Christians, who worshipped a god that did not exist, called the gods devils in their language and held that it was a shame instead of a great honor to be descended from them.
Lucia had been very proud to have diving blood in her veins and be Matier's daughter. It seemed that Dante, son of a god, had not been proud of being a demi-god. No, he had defeated the Dark Emperor and now the Despair Embodied. He was a true god despite his human heritage. If he came to Vie du Marli, he would be worshipped as he deserved.
The money was a small sacrifice, only his due.
Dante looked around. "Where's Trish?"
"She is on Vie du Marli. She went there to help kill the last of the demons," Lucia informed him.
"She's going to be ticked at me about having to do the scutwork."
Lucia would be honored to be Dante's partner. "I should have done the cleaning up, it is my duty, but Matier sent me to greet you. Please, you must take the money."
He shook his head. "It's not about money, and you need it more than I do."
"It is to protect." She understood why one fought. "And you deserve it. Please."
"I once would have asked if you were crazy, and said it was all about killing demons. But then, back then I was crazy, and proud of it." Memories. "No means no. And if you've been minding the shop that's payback enough. I got something out of it too."
"But you did not find your brother. And I have done very little here. Only a few missions."
"But I got the chance to look. At least I know a few places where he's not. I'll take what I can get, and then take more." He smiled, the smile of the powerful. "And those few missions mean people are alive who would have died. That's not something small, Lucia."
The phone rang. Dante kicked the table and the receiver sprang into his hand, all without him looking away from Lucia. "Devil May Cry." A pause. "Got it. Where?" Dante listened. "Good. Be there in five." The phone was tossed back. "Got a job. Want to come?"
"Yes, please. It would be an honor to fight beside you." She bowed again.
He laughed. "It took you long enough to stop calling me Son of Sparda. Don't start calling me Sir Dante. I'm not exactly formal." He got up.
"But you are a dark knight, like Sparda. You defeated the Dark Emperor and are the rightful Ha Konr… King of Hell." That was how you would say it in English, right?
He blinked. "Say what?"
"You triumphed over the former ruler of the demon world and so you have the right to his power. How do you say… might is right?"
"Wait a minute. Sparda beat him. So why wasn't Sparda the King of Hell?"
"He decided to stay on Earth to protect the humans instead of taking his rightful place," Lucia explained.
"Probably they wouldn't have liked being ruled by a traitor… so the rightful king is whoever killed Father."
"But no one knows who defeated him, if he was defeated. Unless you know what happened to him?" Not even Matier knew.
Dante shook his head. "No idea. Mother died not knowing… anyways, I'm not going to be some king. I'm not a god, either."
"Not the way the outlanders say it, but to us you are a god. A very good god, who protects us and asks for nothing in return." Lucia bowed again.
Dante just looked at her, then turned away. "I don't want anyone worshipping me."
"That is what Sparda said as well, according to Matier."
"Let's get going. I'll put the sidecar on the motorcycle."
"There is no need, I can run alongside with the power of the Quick Heart."
Dante looked at her with what someone else would have called an "oh shit" expression. "Lucia, tell me you haven't been running through Metropolis devil triggered."
She shook her head. "I have been on five jobs. Nevan took me to two and a very nice policeman drove me to the rest when I said I did not have a car." Or the keys to Dante's motorcycle.
Phew. "We'll take the sidecar. But for future reference, Lucia, don't devil trigger in front of people outside of Vie du Marli. The fact you look sort of like an angel will just make it worse."
She winced. "Matier told me that as well. Outlanders are…" Dante was technically an outlander. If he had been raised on the island he would not have thought himself less than humans. "We must keep things secret from them." Or there would be more of the massacres her people had fled to Vie du Marli to escape.
"Right. People are better off not knowing demons exist. They'd just be afraid and that just makes them more appetizing."
Lucia frowned as she followed him outside. The gods and their servants knew the hearts of man, and dark ones would be attracted by dark emotions as the good gods gained power from the love their worshippers had for them, but "Our people are not afraid."
Dante was busy attaching the sidecar to the motorcycle. "Yeah, but your people know not all devils are evil. Most people think about Mundus."
"That was why they hunted our people, those who still served the gods, because the ignorant," that was a polite way of putting it, "made no distinction between Mundus and the gods who fought him. Except for Sparda."
"A lot of the people who know he existed don't even like him."
"What? But he saved humanity!" Lucia was shocked.
"Yeah, but first he killed a lot of people. And you know what they say, if you're a traitor once you can do it again. A lot of people think he didn't die but went back home to report or something." Dante snorted. "Some people think he decided to run someplace to hide because Mundus was about to revive. That he had kids so we would kill Mundus for him."
"How can they even think such things!" Now she was outraged.
"Because we scare them. We're stronger, faster, smarter, and the underworld tried to conquer humanity once already. If Mundus hadn't been fighting a war on two fronts, humans and the devils who were still resisting his takeover of their realm, even Sparda wouldn't have been able to toss him off. Humans think about imperialism, about how they took over weaker lands and did horrible things to the inhabitants because they were of different races. Practically every nation that could took a piece of the pie. And if civilized humans do stuff like that, what about demons? Since they're evil incarnate and all of that."
Lucia nodded. Vie du Marli knew about imperialism: the Spanish had tried to conquer them several times, wanting to kill the devils, convert the heathens, and gain access to the riches of the island. The Guardians had been able to fight them off easily, but many refugees had come from the tribes of the mainland of South America, telling stories of horrible massacres and inhumane slavery.
"But you would not hurt a human! Nor would I."
"You wouldn't. Remember? When you found out and asked me to kill you, the big thing you were scared of was attacking people. You cared more about that than your own identity."
"I did?"
"You're really serious about helping people. You're a real Protector. And that's why I had to save you even though it put the world in danger." He started the motorcycle. "Now come on, we've got some demons to kill."
"Thank you, Dante." Even if he would never love her, he thought well of her, and that gave her the pride Arius had tried so hard to destroy.