Disclaimer: I in no shape or form own the settings or characters of Devil May Cry or Final Fantasy XIII
To JinzoMask656: Thanks for the review bro! appreciate it! and your welcome!
Chapter 25: Family
Dante and the l'Cie group had rested for a day and then had decided to move towards the Taejin tower; they reached the top and looked on at the scenery. Dante for one, was bored out of his mind and uninterested; all he wanted was a way back to Eden and to get back Nero, his strength had returned to him and he was feeling well. They came to a stop and looked to the horizon.
"Oerba's down there, isn't it?" asked a curious Hope.
Dante watched as Vanille nodded her head with a smile "Yup!"
"So what's it like?" asked a now interested Snow. A smiling Vanille looked to him and then began to answer him "Welll...it's kind of small, but it's warm and green and very naturey.."
Dante blinked at the description the girl had given her, he moved to comment but was stopped as Fang intervened "Around the fal'Cie, it was flowers as far as you could see huh?"
Sazh however slowly interrupted their joyful conversation "The view from here ain't so rosy, I'm sorry to say..".. Dante paid Sazh a glance and then blinked as he heard a metallic sound; his eyes slowly turned away from the group to where the sound was coming from. Slowly without informing the group, he walked away from them and to the source of the sound.
"Where are you going?"
Dante stopped and glanced back to the voice that had stopped him. "Sightseein'..go on, I won't be long..." he answered her, an amused tone in his answer. Lightning folded her arms over her chest and scoffed at him
"Last time you said that, you dissapeared for twelve years.."
"Come to think if it, I did; didn't I?" answered a chuckling Dante "Listen, I promise alright?..just gonna check some things out, go on with the rest of them; I'll see you down there..."
"Heh...do what you want" stated a now un-concerned Lightning.
Dante blinked at the sudden change in attitude, he didn't know whether to laugh or be frustrated. Instead he let out a small chuckle and walked away from her and the group. "You want to wait here?" questioned a concerned Snow . Vanille shook her head immedeatly stopping Snow in his question "No...I need to see for myself"
She walked ahead along with Fang and stood at the edge, looking at the scenery below them; Vanille felt her heart twist as a strained cry came out from her mouth "It's...all gone.."
"The whole trace of colors..." whispered a now shocked Fang, her frustration finally built up and then she looked to Lightning "We're chasing shadows! this whole idea of losing our brands is hopeless!"
Snow let out an audible sigh and then looked to Fang "There's got to be another way..."
"Let's keep on looking, that's what we came here for...we all agreed, and now we're here" stated a defiant Hope. Vanille's voice wavered as she looked on, tears moved to fall but she wouldn't let them "You..you think it's possible?"
"Sure...anything is..." smiled a now joyous Hope.
Lightning slowly turned to Fang and then looked to her "There's no going back..."
Fang leveled her with another glare of her own "You don't think I know that?"
The whole group then began to move away from the edge and moved to find a way to get down to Oerba. Sazh stretched his back and then looked on as Fang watched the horizon in front of her. He let out an audible sigh and then placed a hand on Fang's shoulder "Come on..." and then he too walked ahead.
Fang held her gaze for a few more seconds and then she realized that Dante was nowhere to be seen, "Now where'd he go off to?"
The sound of gunshots drew her attention to a small door that was opposite to her, she furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and then walked to the source of the gunshots. As she entered the corridor, she saw blood splattered all over the area and Dante placing ebony and ivory back into his holster. She looked on and saw that the floor underneath him was shattered. He glanced back to find Fang looking at him.
"What are you doing here?" came his cold voice.
"I could ask you the same question, mate..." came an amused Fang's voice "Got bored of our little speeches huh?"
"You could say that, let's get going..." answered Dante, Fang raised an eyebrow at his strange mannerisms and then watched as he walked past her. She felt something was off and decided to question him about it "What's with all the blood?"
"Demons..." answered Dante.
Fang raised an eyebrow at his statements and then questioned him "Demons? didn't you destroy that hell gate? there shouldn't be any more of them left..."
"Looks like I didn't get them all...come on, let's go already.." stated a now irritated Dante once more. Fang spare him a glance and then walked ahead of him "Whatever you say, mate..." Fang walked forward while Dante remained motionless, he then smirked as he looked to the corridor filled with blood and proceeded to follow the Pulsian woman.
A few moments later, they walked up to the group; Snow looked back to them and smirked at Dante "What took ya so long?"
"Met some unpleasant company along the way" answered Dante. Fang just folded her arms over her chest and then answered Snow "He said he found some demons near the corridors so he went and killed them"
"Demons?" blinked a surprise Snow "Didn't you destroy the last of those pillars that time?..they were supposed to dissapear along with it"
"Yeah...I thought so too, but turns out some of them still stuck around" answered a smirking Dante, he walked past the group and into the circular machine that was before them, he then looked to them in confusion "You coming or what?". Lightning walked forward along with the group and then the device closed on itself. Sazh blinked at Dante in surprise "Since when do you know how to use this stuff?"
Dante didn't answer, rather just pushed the buttons and placed a small disk into the console for the transportation device..Lightning found this odd and moved to question him "Dante?"...he didn't respond but inputted the commands and then the device began moving along with the group. Snow however took the reigns and questioned him "Dante!..."
That did it as the devil hunter responded to them "Huh? What?"
"He asked you a question" came Lightning's serious voice "Now answer it..."
"Got it off one of those demons...Lightning" answered Dante. The whole group blinked in surprise at what Dante had called the woman in front of him. He blinked in surprise as he looked to them "What?..heh, you guys look like you saw a ghost or something!"
"Dante, you-"
Snow's question was immedeatly cut off as Lightning intervened "I see, good that you took care of them"
"Hah...they were nothing" chuckled Dante, the group watched on as silence erupted between them and they waited for the transport ot stop moving.
The circular device opened and they were now brought to Oerba. They slowly entered the village cautiously, Hope then looked to Vanille questioning her "Which is your house?"
"What do you mean? which is ours?...all of them. They're all ours!" grinned Vanille.
"Yep, everyone in the village lived together.." answered Fang, Snow came up and stood next to Fang, placing his arms on his hips "One big happy family eh?"
"One heck of a lot of places to hang your hat" stated Sazh, all of them began moving forward and exploring the village to find some way to remove their l'Cie brands. Dante slowly walked behind the group without saying a word. Lightning spared him small glances as she looked to Fang.
"You know already, don't you?" asked Lightning. Fang just smirked back at her and whispered "Way ahead of ya...keep it up until we find something..."
"Got it" replied Lighntning.
Hope came up to Lightning and Fang and then questioned them "So you wanna take a look around?"
"We'd better, we have to find something to help us lose our brands."answered Fang. Sazh slowly came up to Vanille and smiled at her "That's not the only reason we're here...your finally home; make the most of it..."..Dante paid the home's a glance and then walked along next to Snow. "Must have been hell living here huh?"
Snow just blinked at him "your awfully chatty today..."
"Am I?" asked a grinning Dante. Snow just raised an eyebrow and continued to walk ahead "Yeah, you kinda are..."
The group then searched the village for fifteen minutes and then proceeded to walk towards the harbour. They heard the sound of a woman's voice speaking as they went along. They stopped in surprise and shock, their eyes widening in disbeleif. A small grin settled on Dante's face as he too looked on.
"What?..." whispered a shocked Snow.
"Dante?!" questioned a shocked Sazh, Fang and Lightning stood in disbelief as they found the devil hunter hung up on a wall bleeding, Rebellion was pierced into his chest and he lay un moving. Blood seeped down from his face and his coat floated in the wind. And before the impaled form of the devil hunter knelt a girl.
Lightning's eyes widened in shock as she looked to who the girl was as did Snow. They could hear her chant and stood in disbelief as she slowly got up from her kneeling position.
"Ragnarok. Come day of wrath, Pulse l'Cie...embrace thy, thine home to burn...That fallen souls might bear our plea...To hasten the divine's return. O piteous wanderer, Ragnarok...Mkae of this day..a brave epoch..Deliver the divine Ragnarok.."
She slowly smiled and walked up to the group as Snow stood in shock "Serah! how did you-"
"Dante?" whispered a shocked Lightning, she glanced back as the Dante in their group walked up to Lightning and placed a hand on her shoulder, she slowly looked to him in shock as a grin formed on his face
"What's the matter babe?...told you I'd get you through this; didn't I?"
Serah walked infront of them and stopped "I was waiting...For you to open your eyes." and then she went ahead and hugged Snow. Sazh let out a small grunt as he too walked forward but this time, he walked to the impaled bleeding form of the devil hunter adjacent to them., Hope and Vanille moved to follow but quickly Dante stopped them
"Hey...where do ya think your going?...can't you see this is a big family ol' happy family reunion..." he then placed an arm over LIghtning and grinned at her once more "Ain't that right, babe?"..Lightning stood in shock as to Serah's sudden appearance and Dante's sudden behavior change, Questions ran through her mind as to who was the man that was impaled to the opposite of them..
"All the time...I knew what was happening, I kept trying to think of a way to save Cocoon ..Dante saved me Snow..." smiled Serah as she looked to her beloved boyfriend. Snow immedeatly looked back to Dante in shock "You knew about this!?"
"Surprise..." grinned Dante.
"We came up with a way to save Cocoon together" stated Serah and immeddeatly Snow looked ot her in shock "Serah!?"...he pushed her away as Lightning looked on.
"Hey..Snow, what's the big idea man? here I go and save your girlfriend and this is how you treat her?" asked an irritated Dante, he then looked to Lightning once more "Come on babe, I knew he was troub-"
And immedeatly Dante was thrown away from Lightning, she twisted his arm and then flipped him in the air sending him staggering back to Serah. "Lightning?" asked a now hurt Dante.
Lightning's eyes flashed with anger and determination as she drew her gunblade and poiinted it to both Dante and Serah "The real Dante would never call me Lightning...now tell us who you really are!"
Snow and Lightning watched in shock as Dante and Serah began chuckling uncontrollably and then a sadistic grin appeared on both their faces. Lightning let out a grunt of pain as she knelt down clutching her left shoulder "Gahh.."
"Lightning!?" questioned a concerned Snow.
The whole group watched as Dante and Serah began to speak together "What's the matter Claire? are you hurt?"
Lightning screamed out in pain as her skin took on a pale green color...Snow backed away as he watched Lightning's eyes turn from aqua blue to yellow black. She let out a shout tpwards both Dante and Serah who chuckled uncontrollably... "Shut up!"
The whole group watched in disgust as Dante then kissed Serah on the lips, "What the?!" asked a shocked Sazh. His answer was given almost immedeatly as a bright flash of light appeared and before them the primarch Dysely appeared, a sadistic grin adorning his face.
"Surprise indeed..."
Snow's rage lit up and he moved to slug the primarch "you son of a-" He was immedeatly blown back as towards the group. Lightning gasped for air as she felt her whole body going numb. Hope immedeatly knelt down next to her and tried to pry her awake "Light...wake up! wake up!"
"You betray Fal'Cie to chase after dreams and shadows. The world you claim to wish to protect now faces the end of days with no hope of salvation"
Fang slowly gritted her teeth and then looked to him "What did you do to her!?"
"Her?...just imbued a demonic toxin into her, her mind will serve only my ideals now.." answered a chuckling Dysley. "you...you monster!" shouted an enraged Snow.
"What did you do to Cocoon!?" shouted an enraged Sazh.
"I resigned, appointing Raines as Primarch in my stead." answered Dysley. Snow blinked in surprise "Raines? he's alive?!"
"The puppet has been restrung to serve my needs just as how she will be..it's eyes have long since turned to glass, of course, the calvary's eyes will see our friend as nothing more than a traitor to their cause...and what would happen if I spread the word that Orphan is the one tugging at his strings?" answered a chuckling Dysley.
"What? your going to use the calvary to take the thing out?!" asked a shocked Sazh.
Hope watched on helplessly as Lightning convulsed with pain. "Stop this!" shouted a crying Vanille.
"Either way...your end is at han-
The group blinked as a gunshot tore through the air, Dysely avoided it as e teleported to the left and looked back from where the shot came from. "I knew you were still alive...Dante.."
Dante slowly pushed himself off the wall, blood splattered on the ground beneath him as he looked to Dysley... "You knew huh? well...that was a shitty way of sneakin' up on me.." muttered Dante, he slowly pulled out Rebellion from his chest and then pointed the sword to him "I hope your ready for a proper beatdown..cause I'm gonna pay you bac-"
Dysley's laughter left Dante in confusion as he looked on, "I'm afraid I am not your opponent..."..Dante's eyes widened as Lightning's scream reached him. He looked on in shock as the group was blown away from Lightning with a black shockwave, Dante pierced Rebellion into the ground and held on as the shockwave died down.
"Claire?" whispered a shocked Dante.
And with swift speed, Lightning was infront of Dante in a heart beat; Dante moved to block Rebelion but was kicked into a wall by Lightning. He slowly got up and brought up rebellion blocking her gunblade..
"Dante!" called out a concerned Snow. Dante gritted his teeth and looked to the group "Stay back! I got her-gaaah! " his statement was cut off as he was lodged into the wall of a building. The walls came crumbling down as the group looked on in shock. They moved to help but Dysley stood infront of them and transformed into his Fal'Cie state to fight them.
"Get out of our way!" shouted an irritated Fang.
Dante slowly crawled out of the rubble and rubbed his head to ease the pain "Tch...damn that woman can kick" He slowly caught rebellion and looked to see Lightning grinning at him sadistically.
"Now there's a face even I can't recognize ." muttered Dante as he slowly got up, his voice resonated form his mouth as he looked to Lightning once more "Claire, come on...wake up! I don't wanna hurt ya!"
Dante blinked as Lightning appeared behind him with a sardonic grin "Well...lover"..Dante looked back in shock as Lightning slowly whispered in his ear "I do...". with another kick to his lower back, Dante skidded away from her, he twisted in the air and skidded to a halt and looked to Lightning. His gaze softened as she took in her form...he could barely recognize her anymore..Her skin had taken pale green color and her eyes held a deep yellow color with black pupils. Her lips were colorless as she grinned.
"Woah, she really means to kill me...talk about martial disputes heh..." he slowly looked on as Lightning walked towards him. An amused grunt came from his voice box as he looked to the twenty one year old women "You know if you wanted me dead...all you needed to do was ask..."
"Now where...would the fun be in that, lover?" asked a sadistic Lightning,
"Man, I take it back...you calling me 'your lover" is creepy; be a nice lady and go back to the way you were before huh? for me?...I kinda liked you better when you were looking down at me all the time..." asked an amused Dante. His face adopted a seious expression as Lightning chuckled at him "I'm sorry, but I don't think she's coming back..."
"Oh don't worry, I got a few ways of gettin' her back; you just worry about what I'm going to do to you when I rip you out from her!" shouted a now angered Dante. Lightning blinked as Dante drew out ebony and ivory and fired at her, she deflected the bullets by shooting from her own gunblade. That moment was all he needed as Dante appeared before her, Lightning's eyes widened as Dante caught her face and then pressed his lips onto hers.
He flickered into his devil trigger for a second and then let go off her. He was pushed away by her, he watched as the demon inhabiting her body slowly tore itself away from her. Dante rushed forward once more and then threw Rebeliion at the demon. With no time to counter, rebellion perced the demon and impaled it onto the wall opposite to them. Dante easily caught Lightning before she fell to the ground. He knelt down as he brushed a strand of hair from her face and smirked "I'm gonna get an earful for that kiss..."
Lightning's eyes slowly fluttered open as she looked to the devil hunter "D-Dante?..."
"Sorry I took so long, Claire...take a long nap huh? don't worry I'll wake you up this time..." whispered Dante, his voice now softened as he looked to Lightning.
A small smirk plastered itself on Lightning's face as she looked to the devil hunter.. "Don't e-expect m-me to t-thank y-yo..." she didn't complete her sentence as she drifted into the arms of uncocnciousness. Dante smirked at her once more and then looked to Snow and the others who also finished their fight.
Dysley let out a small chuckle as he transformed back into his human form and then looked to the group and more specifically to Dante... "I see, you siphoned your own demonic energy into her to drive the demon out...you are smarter than you make yourself out to be.."
"A compliment from you? heh...I don't think I need it, it kinda leaves a bad taste in my mouth" he immedeatly drew out ivory and shot at Dysley who teleported away from the group and onto a building.
"Dysley! get down here!" shouted an enraged Snow.
Fang slowly came up to Dante who held onto Lightning's unconcious body. "She goin' to be alright?"
"Yeah, for the most part; I'm just worried what she's goin' to do when she wakes up and finds out that I kissed her, not exactly a knight in shinning armour now am I?..." chuckled Dante. Fang let out a wry smile and then looked to the primarch who stood ontop of a small shed.
"The time has come...allow me to extend my invitation" the group watched as Dysley prtruded his staff onto the ground "To save a people beyond salvation, there is only Ragnarok...", a metallic bird emitted itself from his staff and then watched as it trasnformed in a greenish light into an airship.
"Cocoon suffers, release her from her pain..."
"Hey...where the hell do you think your going? I ain't done with you yet.." intervened Dante. Dysley looked back to him and chuckled "Of course, how could I forget...your nepehw is alive and well, but for how long? exactly?"
"You bastard..." muttered Dante. Dysley smirked at him once more and began to vanish a bluish light "If you want him so badly, come and get him then; Raines will be waiting for you...son of Sparda..."
Snow blinked in surprise as Dysely finally dissapeared, Dante let out a small grunt; irritation brewing in him "Ah...geez, what a pain..."..He slowly picked Lightning up and carried her bridal style.
"Hey son! where you going?" asked a now concerned Sazh. Dante blinked and turned around to face the group. "Where else? got to get the kid back..."
"You really want to do that? rememeber what happened last time? he nearly killed you and yoru still healing...this isn't your problem...heck, you don't even belong to Pulse or Cocoon..." stated a concerned Sazh. Dante just let out an audible sigh at him..
"This whole thing started with my mother being murdered on Cocoon...after that, it was my brother's turn and he went and had a kid of his own, then? he went and died on me, that kid...is the only family I got, can't just sit back and watch him cry now can I?" asked a amused Dante and then he started to walk towards the ship.
Hope however intervened at that moment "That's not true..." Dante turned back in surprise to the fourteen year old "He's not the only family you have, I'm still here...".
"I made a promise to your mother to look after you kid, not to get you into crap like thi-"
Dante blinked as Snow placed an arm over Hope and pumped his fist "Huh, last time I checked Hope can handle himself Dante...about the family thing? don't forget about me too...Sera wouldn't forgive me if I just let you go it alone..."
Fang and Vanille came forth and intervened as well "What? you forgot about us...I'm hurt" feigned an amused Fang. Sazh then let out an audible sigh and loked to Dante once more "I hate to say it...but I'm not letting you go alone and get yourself killed...kids like you are too reckless nowadays.."
Fang then pointed to the unconcious form of Lightning in his arms "She won't say it but...you got her too, so how 'bout we all go at it together?"
Dante let out an audible sigh and then walked away from them "Yeah? well...just don't get yourselves killed...can't have that weighin' on me now can I?" a little amusement creped up in his voice as he began walking towards the ship.
"Oh look Fang, he actually cares" grinned Snow.
Fang just looked back to him and smirked "Let's get going...and give ol' Barthandelus a beating, he won't forget..."
AN: Awww Dante's not alone :D :D...whew that was the end of that...read and review! thanks guys! :D oh yeah I got that lil demon possessing Lightning scene from an episode from the anime "Rock Queen" it's a really nice episode, you should check it out :D