Hello everyone, many thanks to those who are still reading this fic after my long hiatus; so I have another chapter for you guys. Just to let you know I think this is the second last chapter. Warnings for OOC, I guess.


SEALED FATE

It would be the day of the ransom and Trixie was to stay at the safehouse whilst Vergil and Dante were to take Lilith to the rendezvous point. It was, nonetheless, a terse day. She observed him from the corner of her eye as she brushed her hair; Dante had been quiet, silently donning his jacket and his gear and slipping on his boots once they had woken up. They took a quick shower together and he had also been rather silent too.

He slid his guns into their holsters then turned to her. "It's time."

She nodded, placing the brush atop the bed and rising to stand before him. "Be careful."

They embraced and he pecked her briefly on the forehead before there was a knock on the door and Vergil entered their small room. "Ready, Dante?"

"Yeah." came Dante's blunt reply.

"Then let's go." Vergil said, "Beatrice, stay here until we come back."

"Sure."

She watched the twins leave, driving off with their hostage in the backseat.

...

They would return with Kat in tow a few hours later, albeit arguing the moment they stepped in.

"Welcome ba – " Trixie began, but Dante and Vergil were already in heated dispute.

"What the fuck was that all about, Vergil?!" Dante yelled as they both stormed into the safehouse; both twins were glaring at one another profusely whilst Kat clutched at her bruised arm and limped into the room.

"I did what was necessary." was Vergil's calm reply.

Meanwhile, Trixie went to greet the wounded wiccan and helped her to the sofa. "Kat, I'm so glad you're alright." She said before she hugged her gently, careful not to hurt her.

"...Beatrice, I..." Kat began, until she winced, clutching at her arm in agony.

Whilst Dante and Vergil yelled and growled at one another, she searched high and low for first aid supplies only to find none. Turning to the Nephilim brothers, she placed her hands on her hips, "Will you stop yelling at each other?" She said sternly, "Kat needs help."

Vergil was the first to react. "Of course. Kat, my apologies. Come with me. I'll help you." Giving Dante one last look, he abandoned his brother and went to fetch Kat, reaching for her.

"No, you've done enough; don't touch her – you endangered her life with that stunt you pulled back there!" Dante barked, but Trixie went up to him and tried to hold him back, wrapping her arms around him tightly.

"Vergil, I'll...I'll cool him off." She muttered, struggling somewhat with Dante.

Vergil gave her a brief nod of acknowledgement and together, he and Kat left the vicinity, disappearing down the small hallway and out of sight. Once they were out of view, she let go of him and the room fell silent. Dante was constantly glowering at the hallway, however.

"...Are you alright?" She said.

"No." He spat with a scowl, his dark eyebrows knitted in fury. He shrugged himself out of his jacket and tossed it to the couch leaving himself in his vest and seated himself down on the swivel chair in front of Vergil's laptop.

Trixie wondered what had happened. Had the mission failed? But Kat was back safe and sound...surely a victory? "What happened?" She asked, maneuvring to the sofa to sit down, facing him.

"Lilith is dead, and so is her spawn." Dante grunted.

Her eyes widened. "Dead? Who – "

"Vergil."

"Vergil?"

Dante nodded, then closed his eyes as though he was grimacing, before he began growling inaudibly under his breath. "At the same time Kat coulda been killed. He was too impatient and shot Lilith and her spawn halfway during the exchange."

"What?" Trixie exclaimed, "But Vergil – he...at least Kat is safe, right?"

"Well, yeah." He replied, and finally, he raised his head to meet her gaze, "But somethin' tells me that this is..." He left his sentence trailing, frowning. "Trix? You said you were looking at property on Mallet Island the other day, right?"

She nodded. "I have some good news to tell you – I managed to find another property – in Limbo City this time so it's much cheaper. It's also one bedroom but perfect for the two of us. I wanted us to have more options, you see, so I put down an offer and the landlord said we can look at it at any time. With the Mallet Island shop...I contacted the owner and also put down an offer too. I know we haven't had a chance to look at the property yet, but..."

"That's fine." Dante rose from his seat and joined her on the couch. "Take the first boat next morning and head over to Mallet Island. It's not safe to stay here for the time being. We've pissed off Mundus big time. I don't know what'll happen next."

"I can't leave you – "

"Trix, just do as I say."

She was taken aback by his rather stern tone, but she knew he was serious. Ultimately, she said, "Alright...I...I'll go to Mallet Island. I'll wait for you there."

"Are you okay though? You still look pretty pale."

She admitted that she was still feeling unwell and that it would take her some time to recover after the attack on the Order headquarters. "I'm fine. No need to worry."

Nodding, he took her hands in his and kissed her on the cheek. "C'mon, let's get outta here. I need some air."

She followed him out of the hut and towards the direction of the hill; outside and the sun was now setting. Just like last time, he sat down over the soft grass and she seated herself beside him with her arm looped around his. It seemed Dante had a lot of thoughts going on in his mind so they simply sat in silence for a long time until he unfurled his arm from hers to wrap around her shoulder, drawing her closer to him. Taking her hand in his own, he inspected the ring on her finger again.

"Should we exchange...vows or somethin'?" He mumbled.

"Huh? What's gotten into you?"

"But that's what people do, right? Exchange vows, or whatever the hell they're called."

Trixie sat up, facing him. "Really? You wanna do that?"

Dante turned to her, nodding, although a little unsurely. "If we don't do it now, we'll never do it."

"Okay." Trixie was more enthusiastic than Dante, "Let's do this. But uh...I don't really know what people say when they exchange vows."

He scratched at his chin. "We'll just make it up as we go along."

"...Alright..."

Dante sat up properly to face her and cleared his throat. "Alright, here goes. I, Dante, take you, Princess Trixie – "

"Dante!" She smacked him on the arm and finally, he grinned and chuckled.

"Okay, okay." He ceased his chuckling, returning to a solemn expression. "I, Dante, take you, Beatrice to be my wifey."

She sighed.

"I think it goes somethin' like that," He said, "Now you need to repeat what I said but change the words."

She nodded. "...I, Beatrice, take you, Dante, to be my husband."

There was a silence.

"Okay, now what?" Trixie asked.

He glanced to the side, seemingly at a loss for words. "Uh..."

She said, "Wait, wait, I think I know – I've seen this on TV on those dramas I used to watch – ahem. To have and to hold from this day forward, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, till death do us part. Yep, that sounds about it. Now repeat after me." After Dante repeated her words although he forgot the middle part, he finally managed to clumsily finish their 'vows' and they both burst into laughter. "This was a terrible idea." She said, "We have no idea what we're doing."

"Whatever. Can I kiss the bride now?" Dante replied, a little impatiently.

She nodded, still grinning. "Do you even have to ask?"

With a smirk, Dante drew her into his arms and pressed his lips firmly against hers; she melted into the kiss, running her hands through his hair whilst he encircled his arms around her waist securely, bringing her closer to him. When he pulled away, he murmured against her lips, "Mm, we've come a long way, haven't we?"

"Yep." She said, as he pecked her briefly again.

"It's been a rough ride." Again, he planted another kiss.

"Oh yeah."

"There's more to come, y'know." He said, smirking.

"I'm looking forward to it."

"I thought about the business thing by the way."

"Did you? That's great!"

"Yeah. Let's do it. I'll do the demon huntin', killing stuff, you can take phonecalls and business since you're better at that kinda stuff than I am."

"Ooh, sounds exciting. I can't wait." She replied with a grin; he captured her lips in a deep kiss once more.

...

The next day, Kat had recovered from her minor injuries but still had her arm stuck in a sling and already she was planning their next actions with the twins. From her limited supplies, she had given Trixie the majority of what was available - two spray cans with spells for emergencies – one containing a strong spell that would teleport her to anywhere she wanted to go and one for casting a protective shield. She carried them safely in her rucksack along with some food and money for the journey.

Trixie had taken a bus away from the city as Dante had requested so now on her own, that would take her to Limbo City harbor where she would get a boat to Mallet Island. She would wait for Dante there but she didn't like being separated from him. Maybe it was because she had been separated from him for those three years that even three hours would be deemed a difficult task. The entire time she was on the bus, she couldn't help but smile as she contemplated a life with Dante. Since they'd been split up, she was eager to get back on track.

This time, she would make sure they would never get separated ever again and she nodded to herself vigorously. No matter what, she told herself, I will never be separated from Dante again.

Glancing to the side, she thought what their new life might be like. With Dante finally finding his long lost family, it would not be so lonely anymore. And now they even had Kat as a good friend. She thought about birthday parties, Christmas, Thanksgiving and all sorts of holidays but then stopped herself in the nick of time. She was being too ambitious and getting ahead of herself.

Mundus still had to be defeated.

She prayed for their success - Dante, Vergil and Kat would commence their plan to take down Mundus since they'd grabbed his attention successfully by wiping out his spawn and mistress. Killing two birds with one stone, literally.

Finally, her bus journey came to an end and when she stepped off the bus, she saw that the sky had thoroughly darkened, clouds were gathering into thick clusters and overall, had cast a rather drab and gray, ominous atmosphere over the city and there was a strong wind picking up. Dante and Vergil must be fighting Mundus by now, she thought, considering she left when they departed to Silver Sacks tower. When she arrived at the harbor, she spotted the ticket counter and quickly hurried over only to see that the ticket counter was surrounded by a small and angry crowd and the booth clerk pulling down the shutters.

"What's going on?" She said, jogging up to a random woman in the crowd who was yelling and screaming.

"They're closing because of the storm. Absolute bullshit! Why, my husband – a sailor that he is – he's sailed in terrible weather like this with no problem! This is no good for business at all!" exclaimed the woman with a huff, "I need to get to Fortuna Island within half hour!"

With that said, Trixie watched the woman storm off to one corner and open her phone, barking down to the recipient – probably her husband. Trixie left her alone to squeeze through the crowd and she arrived at the counter, just for the clerk to flip the side from 'Open' to 'Closed'.

"Wait!" She cried, "I need to get to Mallet Island!"

"Sorry, miss, but no-one's going anywhere – look at this terrible weather – " He gestured to the sky and then to the sea, where rough waves could be seen crashing against the pier and the rocks. "For your own safety, come back after the storm's cleared – "

Suddenly, she felt a tremor underneath her feet. The angry mob with her all did – and for a few seconds, the crowd at the ticket booth ceased their complaints and all went silent – when nothing followed up, they refocused their attention and energy at the clerk, roaring and yelling and attacking his booth.

However, something had changed. The sky had become a collage of red and yellow. Trixie made her way out of the mob, staring at the direction of the city. What was that? I felt incredible demonic energy.

Her answer came when suddenly, a lanky, humanoid figure abruptly flitted into view a distant away, stunning a few passerbys. It was not alone – several large, white quadruple creatures could be seen pacing down the streets, having come out from nowhere and startling random people on the road. Cars went screeching to a halt as their surroundings changed, the slogans on signs and posters changing and various buildings becoming distorted.

Limbo, she thought, recalling her own experience in the hellish otherworld.

Dante and Vergil must've destroyed the hell gate – but she was not at Mallet Island yet, and definitely would not be, at this rate.

I should go back, she then thought. I hope Dante's okay...

Grabbing one of the spray cans from her bag, she found a quiet alleyway and quickly checked if it was the right one – it was – and she shook it hastily and sprayed the sigil on the wall with Kat's stencil provided. After she removed the stencil, the glyph glowed brightly and a portal opened, dark and empty.

Mallet Island could wait.

"Take me to Dante." She said, and the portal flickered into life, revealing the top of a skyscraper where she could see a large hulking bald man whom she recognized from the photos Vergil had shown her. Mundus. He had his back to her, and there was Dante stuck in his grip. "Dante!"

She rushed through the portal immediately, emerging on the other side. The portal closed behind her, sealing her fate.