I returned to Fortuna Castle, where Vergil found me. He was standing guard, as always, but he was giving me his wicked smile.

"Do you know why my brother can see you, but not me?" He said. I shook my head.

"I'm sorry. It must be a real let-down that…"

"I don't care if he can see me or not. I prefer it that he doesn't. In fact, I'm curious to think that he can see me, I just don't let him. Much like what you're doing with your little tiff. But that's not exactly my point."

"Weren't you just saying…I thought you said he couldn't see you?"

"Allow me to start over then. Do you know why you haunt Fortuna Castle?"

"Because I'm an angry teenager out for revenge?"

Vergil looked away; he didn't talk for a long while. I knew I had made him angry, but I didn't care at the moment. I was more focused on Dante, I found him in the Library; he was wide awake, reading through another journal. He didn't seem too intrigued by it. Oh, and one more thing: Lady was curled up in his lap. Her rocket launcher was leaning against the wall.

JOURNAL ENTRY#12

Ezekiel's wife died.

The child survived, luckily.

I couldn't bear to lose this child.

Elijah, he named him.

Welcome to the world, Elijah.

Now you're the final drop of Sparda's blood.

Dante turned the page to read on, but felt Lady pushing against him as she yelled out and began to punch him wherever she could reach. Dante immediately stood up, and she fell with a thud.

"God dammit, Dante!" She screamed, "What the hell? Why was I on your lap, you sick pervert?"

Dante put the journal in his inner coat pocket, He put his hands up innocently, "Hey, you were coming on to me! I don't want to hear it!"

"I…what?" Lady called out, refusing to believe that she would ever come onto him. She began to shiver with the cold of Fortuna Castle. Dante nodded.

"I think that may have been why."

"That?"

Dante shrugged, "Nothing. I'm just…warmer than you. In any case, I can't believe that after ten years, you still can't stand the thought of my cooties."

Lady threw a book at him, "Bite me."

Dante shook his head and picked the book up from the ground, "You could be a little more respectful for literature."

Lady's eyes narrowed, "Since when were you such a bookworm?"

"Since it became relevant to understand the way this man's mind works. I doubt he's going to just give me the answers to what he's plotting. Especially since he's not going down easily." Dante cracked open the book, and found exactly what he was looking for.

JOURNAL ENTRY# 13

The Hell Gate. Standing so gloriously in the center of Fortuna,

remains sealed due to the bravery of Sparda himself.

But the time has come for history to repeat itself,

and for a new Savior to emerge. We found Yamato in two pieces in the

underwater remains of Mallet Island, along with shards of

the armor of the demon known as the Black Angel.

The Black Angel. Once known as Vergil. The Son of Sparda.

Rumor has it that there is another son.

In fact, the rumor goes that he was the one who killed the Black Angel.

Such a shame. Poor Yamato, in two pieces, the key to the Hell Gate.

Now how do I open it? Perhaps, if I could somehow fix the sword.

In the meantime, I wonder if I can…recreate the power of the Hell Gate.

"You bastard." Dante growled. Lady, who was gathering her guns, looked over at him, curious and worried, "So it was you. So that's why you have Vergil's sword. That's why all these Gates are around."

"Dante?" Lady said, carefully approaching him, "What's wrong?"

Dante did not answer; he flipped through the pages, through various notes of exactly how Agnus created the artificial gates, how he gave them a connection to the Underworld. But why?

And just what was the Savior?

Dante slammed the book shut and dropped it to the ground; he turned to Lady, who looked wary. He shook his head. "Don't worry. I'm fine, I'm just…thinking about what the hell is going on here."

Lady picked up the book and flipped through the pages, "Hell Gate. One of the key landmarks on this island. They're planning to open it up? Why?"

"…Like I said, I'm trying to figure out what's going on here. There has to be something in here that we're not seeing."

"Well, what could it be?" Lady said, looking around. She began to rummage through all of the books in there. Dante stopped her.

"It'll take too long, Lady, we may have to find that last piece at the source."

"The source? You mean…the madman from your ghost story?"

Dante nodded. "Get ready Lady. This could get messy."

Lady smirked, "I'm armed to my ass and I have a rocket launcher strapped to my back, I don't think this will be too hard."

Dante smiled. "Yeah…I guess we do have an upper hand here." He sighed heavily. "At least…I hope so."

Lady placed her hand on his shoulder, "Dante." She said. "Do you not want to do this? Don't tell me…that you're afraid."

"Of course I'm not afraid. I'm just a little cautious about how this whole thing's going to work. If it'll work, if we even get out of this alive."

"Don't worry, Dante, we'll get through this. You did it once already, didn't you?"

Dante had his eyes closed, wind blew through the library. Blood seeped through the crack on the walls and the floors, the moan echoed loudly in their ears as the blood wormed in front of them. It spelled out two terrifying words.

YOU PROMISED

"Promised?" Lady gasped, "Who promised what? What's going on, Dante?"

"…He's right. I promised." The haunting stopped. The blood dissolved into the floor. Dante clenched his fists. "I promised her. I'd kill him. I promised it."

"Kill the madman?"

"Yeah."

Dante's fighting spirit came back then. He thought of Kyrie, unaware that Agnus had her right where he wanted her. His imagination was her, holding her brother tight, the brother he promised not to kill. Dante pulled out his guns, he nodded at Lady, who pulled out her preferred gun, (a gun Dante recently got her for her birthday) a Desert Eagle.

"Lady. I want you to be careful; this man has no sympathy for anyone. Don't let him catch you."

"Please, Dante. You know how stubborn I am when it comes to men. Now which way are we going?"

Dante pointed to the floor. "Down. Way down."

They left the library, Dante leading the way, they ran out with guns blazing as Basilisks and Scarecrows alike attacked them. I watched, and I found myself thinking about how easily a promise can be broken.

Dante led her to the large canvas of Sanctus in the top floor of the Grand Hall. Lady asked him if he did it, to which Dante denied, but he admitted to shooting a smaller portrait in one of the hallways. Cautiously, they walked down the stairs. It was there that they saw the cages.

People were inside, grabbing the bars and whimpering, dim lights barely showed their faces. Lady gasped, Dante bit his lip. The people moaned for them to leave. No one will ever come out. More words were written in blood on the wall closest to Dante.

KILL THEM, SAVE THEM

He gulped, he looked at the miserable people inside, he could see them more clearly than Lady could. He could count their ribs, smell their shit, hear their hearts pounding. He began to sweat, he lifted his gun, Lady grabbed his arm.

"What are you doing?" She hissed.

"…Kill them, save them." He replied weakly, and pulled the trigger.

One down.

Seven more to go.

Every time he pulled the trigger, he felt himself pulling on his heart. As they dropped to the ground, something within him broke. Lady looked away. Finally, they were all dead. It was time to move on.

Through the door, down another hallway, loaded with various mechanisms, there was the large hole Dante had fallen through, he could even see the large hole from the thin dirt above them.

"Down?" Lady said, Dante nodded. She climbed on his back, knowing that he could jump down there without hurting himself. "We tell no one about this, okay?"

Dante rolled his eyes. "Do me one thing, and please don't scream. If he's here, you'll be a big giveaway." Lady nodded, and he jumped. She pressed her face into the back of his coat as the wind rushed through them, her hair flipped about.

Dante landed loudly, not like he could defy science, but as long as Lady wasn't screaming the whole way through, he was fine. He took in a deep breath of air. Clean. Looking down, he saw the big fan below them was turning, and the ceiling was not closed up. This was a good sign. Agnus must have turned the poison off.

Dante remembered the door to his right. Maybe a little too well. Looking at it, he could hear screams echoing in his mind. He shook the memory away and beckoned for Lady to come. Opening the door, there were more Basilisks and another one of Agnus' experiments, the Cutlass. A fish combined with a sword. It had no reason to breathe under water, and cut through damn near anything.

Dante remembered the fish, he pulled out his shotgun. Lady, her Riot Gun. The shooting began until they were all dead. Lady had a few cuts and some burns, but she assured Dante that she was fine, and the two of them kept going.

Dante tried to hide it, but his hands were shaking. He was worried about what would happen next, even though he knew he shouldn't worry about it so much. Lady was well equipped.

No one argues with a woman who carries around a rocket launcher.

The final door opened to the containment room. Dante saw the large window, shattered. He led Lady over to it and helped her up before climbing up himself. Lady looked around, she saw the tube.

"Is that…" She gasped, "Isn't that…his?"

"Yeah." Dante frowned, he examined the room. Agnus had cleaned it since the last time, but he wasn't in sight. Dante took a moment to look around, he saw the large steel door with a narrow barred window. His curiosity got the better of him, and he looked inside.

That was when he saw the real Ghost of Fortuna, A boy, bare-chested, banged on the wall on the other side of the room. Blood was all over him, it stained his perfectly white hair as he screamed. He cried. He turned to Dante, his eyes were piercing as he stormed over to Dante, on the other side of the door.

"Why are you doing this?" He growled. Dante gasped, Lady looked over at him. She tried to ask him if he was ok, but he ran off. He opened the door and began to throw up, it closed behind him.

Lady looked into the same room, and could only see some blood. No ghost. She was confused, but shrugged as she continued to look around. She was alone. In Agnus' lab. The perfect recipe for danger.

The clock ticked, it was time for Agnus' shift in his lab. He entered, not aware of what was to come. He was still tired as he lumbered in. When he saw Lady, her back was turned to him, all he could see were those white garments, and that beautiful black hair, flowing down. He took no note of the guns, he was too shocked.

"Kalina Ann?" He said, choking on his words.

Lady turned around abruptly, she saw him then, the large man approaching her. He smiled, a shocked kind of smile, and said it again, "Kalina? Is that you?" He approached her, and it was not alright with Lady, as she pulled her nearest handgun on him.

"Take one more step and I swear it will be your last." She threatened. Her mind clicked and immediately told her that this was the madman Dante had warned her about. The only problem was that Dante was elsewhere, cleaning out his stomach.

Agnus glared at her, Kalina Ann or not, he didn't like being held at gunpoint. He dove for her, grabbing her hands. He didn't care who she looked like. Kalina was a whore, anyway. However, his plan of grabbing Lady didn't work as well as he would have hoped. He never dealt with a woman who could fight back. And trust me, Lady fought hard. She kicked him in the stomach with her high heels. He released her arms and staggered backwards.

"Your eyes…" He snarled, "You aren't Kalina. You're her…that whore's bastard daughter!"

Lady kicked Agnus again, "Pardon me, but I don't take kindly to assholes like you calling my mother a whore."

Agnus attempted to reason, "No…your mother…she left me so long ago, no reason. My own wife! All I did was love her! What did I ever do wrong?"

"I would have dumped your ugly ass, too!" Lady snapped. Agnus closed in on her.

"You don't know how it pains me. You could have been mine! You could have been my daughter! You could have had my eyes!"

"I don't want your eyes!" Lady screamed as he got closer to her. She was ready to pull the trigger, but Agnus grabbed her again, she pulled the trigger alright, but it only shot upwards. Agnus held her arm and her throat. She grabbed him and tried to kick him again.

"So…identical to her." Agnus mumbled, "Except for those damn eyes. His eyes." He gave a smile, his smile that was never a good sign for anyone, "Who says you need eyes anyway?" He pushed her against the wall. His hands grabbed her face, Lady brought her arms up to defend herself as his thumbs closed in on her. Closer and closer, no matter how hard she pushed against him. "You can live without eyes!" He whispered to himself.

The door below them slammed hard on the wall as Dante kicked it open, Agnus lost his focus and looked down at him in shock. "Didn't anyone tell you it's rude to assault a lady?" Dante snapped.

Agnus glared, he threw the woman on the ground, "You're back, I see." He growled, walking closer to him, "And here I thought you'd be smart enough to stay away. Do tell me, by what means of stupidity brought you back?"

Dante threw his arms out, "You're right, I guess I am a little stupid for coming back here. But trust me, this time I've come back with a purpose."

"Purpose?" Agnus laughed, "So you've reconsidered my offer?"

Dante smirked, "Of course I have, I just have one condition…You go to hell first."

Agnus laughed at Dante, "I'm sure you truly prepared yourself for this. Bringing yet another woman who will only end up being dead weight." He smirked at him, "Speaking of dead weight, thank you for delivering Kyrie to me. I was a little shocked when she showed up but the whole matter has been resolved. She's working for me now."

"What?" Dante growled, "What did you do to her?"

"What did I do? Once again, you failed and you sent her home. Straight to me. Where I am strongly trusted among the people. Even His Holiness himself! Oh, and by the way, I just thought you'd want to know that Kyrie misses you. She drew a picture. She must love you. Too bad you can't return the feeling."

DANTE'S REACTION

He was terrified for her.

He wanted to be there for her.

What he really wanted, though, was to love her.

But he knew he couldn't, and it tore him apart, knowing
how she must have felt for him. However, with every word
said, the more and more his reason to kill Agnus rose.

Lady was listening as she lifted herself up. She silently slid behind Agnus and pulled out her Riot Gun. As Agnus laughed at Dante's suddenly pained face, she cleared her throat. The lab went silent. Agnus turned around and noticed the shotgun in her hands.

"Three minutes of listening to you and I've already concluded that you're a pig."

Agnus' eyes narrowed, "Excuse me?" He snarled.

Lady pulled the trigger, blowing against Agnus' stomach as he flew backwards, "You heard me. P-I-G." She stood over him, "And the last person who referred to me as dead weight is now dead meat."

"Is that right?" He smiled.

"Lady, move!" Dante yelled as he made his way up to them. Agnus knocked Lady down as he kicked her foot. She toppled over and fell backwards, she watched as his gun wound began to heal. He stood and turned the tables as he stood over her. Lady swore under her breath as she reached for another gun.

Dante tackled Agnus to the ground, he pushed him away as he gained his own balance, he looked at Lady and helped her to her feet. She took in a deep breath, "He's just like him, isn't he?" She said.

"Very much." Dante replied, "Only he turned himself into a demon by means of science, not sacrificial sorcery."

Agnus chuckled, "I do hope you two aren't putting me on the same level as that idiot, Arkham, are you?" He stood and snickered at them, Dante and Lady both pulled out their guns. "Enough with your stupid firearms, they won't do any good."

Dante laughed as well, "You're right, it's a disgrace to you people of the Order to use guns, isn't it? Maybe we should go down a notch." He put his guns back and pulled out his sword. "This makes things a little more interesting, doesn't it?"

Agnus smiled, he pulled a lever. Through the walls several large objects began to fly around, they spread their metallic wings and screeched at Lady and Dante. One flew into Agnus' hand and folded into a large sword.

The Gladius. Bird demons infused with a sword. They were Agnus' personal favorites.

"Lady, take care of the birds!" Dante called, "I'll take care of him!"

Lady jumped down to the lower room with her Riot Gun in hand, (she wasn't using her rocket launcher because it was too small of a room, therefore, too much of a risk) and began to shoot the birds. When she made a perfect shot, they would fold into a sword and land on the floor, giving her a chance to destroy them. Her main concern was making sure that they didn't get in Dante's way as he fought against Agnus.

Agnus had the upper hand in size. His sword was much wider than Dante's, and he himself was larger than Dante. But this gave Dante an advantage in agility, if anything. Agnus knew how to use a sword, he spent a lot of his moments training with them, as he was the main manufacturer of the Holy Knights standard sword.

JUST A SMALL INSIGHT

Don't be fooled. Agnus is most definitely not a
political advisor. Sanctus had him by his side
because they were partners. It was simply an
excuse to get him acquainted with Credo.

Agnus was a doctor, though, everyone knew
that. No one ever really questioned where
their swords came from, though.

Agnus and Dante clashed metal while Lady kept the Gladius at bay, there was blood, oh yes, there was a lot of blood. Lady was bleeding from the cuts she was receiving from the times she wasn't exactly fast enough to avoid the flying swords. Dante and Agnus were bleeding from the cuts they were giving each other, but they were minor cuts that healed almost immediately.

It annoyed them both, to say the least. Agnus, though, had an idea. He released his sword, and it flew right for Dante. He then ran around his lab, looking through drawers until he found the syringe he was looking for. Dante swatted the bird away, but it chased him and continued to slash at him, it was like he was fighting an invisible swordsman.

Agnus approached him again, his hands behind his back, he smirked at Dante, who swatted the bird away one last time, he lunged for Agnus, but he was sneaky. Before Dante could comprehend, feeling only the pinch in his neck, Agnus had the syringe in him, he dropped it as the glass shattered to the ground.

Dante fell to his knees, he glared at Agnus, "What the hell did you do to me?"

"…I'm so sorry Dante, but your regenerative ability was just getting on my nerves. It'll be so much easier to subdue you when you can't heal from your wounds."

Lady was shooting the birds, but she heard the whole thing, for one split second, she pulled out her Desert Eagle, and she shot Agnus in the leg, then returned to her duty. Agnus doubled over for a second, one thing was for sure, he wasn't going to heal fast from a bullet wound, at least, not as fast as he would have hoped. Dante was able to stand up first, he kicked Agnus in the face. He drew his sword.

Just once to his heart, his non-existent heart. Maybe a few times to make sure, maybe a few bullets in his face. And it'll all be over. It will be over and we will be free. Kyrie will be able to sleep at night, Fortuna will have its Savior. Then the Hell Gates. Destroy them all. Then this castle.

I would love to tell you. Love to tell you that it was the end. That Dante stuck his sword into Agnus again and again and again until the bastard was good and dead. But, as cruel fate would have it, that was not what happened. Instead, just as Dante was about to impale him, it would be appropriate to say that Agnus cheated, and changed to his Angelo form immediately and shoved Dante back.

Dante flew across the lab and smacked against the wall. He cried out, not exactly used to pain like this. Without his ability to regenerate, he was trapped, he only had his strength to rely on. That, and his devil form, but that was used in emergencies only.

Agnus laughed as he approached Dante, he reverted to his human form. "You're such an idiot, Dante. Look at what you've brought yourself to. Why didn't you just give up the first time?"

"…Why him?" Dante said, slowly rising, "Why him? Why didn't you just kidnap me from my home and take me? I've seen plenty of shit in this world. He still had so much…" He pounced on Agnus and tackled him to the ground, blood was dripping on his face as Dante yelled, "HE WAS ONLY SEVENTEEN, YOU ASSHOLE!"

Agnus pushed Dante off him, he toppled to the ground as Agnus brushed himself off. He spoke nonchalantly, not even looking at Dante as he was glared at, "You can't possibly tell me that you're doing this all in the name of some boy you never even met."

"Of course I've met him. I've met him plenty of times."

Agnus scoffed, "What? Did Kyrie's love story touch you so much?"

It was Dante's turn to laugh, "You don't get it, do you?" He said, "I see him. I see Nero's spirit."

"…What are you talking about?"

"Don't tell me you haven't figured it out yet! Did you really think that you could kill so many times without some means of karma coming to bite you in the ass? Look around. This castle's haunted, and it became haunted the second you killed him. The Ghost of Fortuna's real, his name is Nero, and he's after you." Dante lifted himself to his feet, he slowly approached Agnus, "And he will not rest. Not until you're good and dead."

Agnus simply stared at Dante, he crossed his arms, you could tell that Agnus was not the type of person who liked to listen to bullshit speeches about justice and karma. But for the moment in time, he'd let Dante speak as much as he liked.

Dante watched him, he held his sword firmly in his hand, he stumbled a little bit. "And I'm here…I'm here to finish you-"

AN INTERRUPTION
As Dante spoke, Agnus smiled. Dante was quickly cut
short as a lance drove through him.

Only this time was much different.

This time Dante's regeneration was nullified.

Another Bianco Angelo. Another test subject. The Son of Sparda.

Lady watched as Dante fell to the floor, blood gushed from his chest. He was on his hands and knees, Agnus stood over him, she could hear his cruel laugh echoing through the walls of the lab.

For Lady, it was time to pull out the big guns. She grabbed that rocket launcher strapped on her back, she aimed upwards, and she fired. Sparks flew, dust rose, the lab was loud with fire. Dante coughed a few times before he felt small hands wrap around his torso and attempt to hoist him up. He stood with great difficulty, but he could still see better than Lady.

He saw that the blast had opened a small hole in the lab, where he and Kyrie escaped last time before he blocked it off. He nudged Lady over there and told her to dig her way out. He'd be right back. He had one more thing to do.

He ran to the tube, the tube encasing his brother's sword. Agnus lifted himself from a shuffle of debris. He glared at Dante, then noticed he was right next to his prized possession. He gasped, and tried to protest, but Dante bore his middle finger before breaking the glass tube. He reached in, he tried to grab the two pieces, but the soul contained rejected him. It pushed him away.

Dante clutched the sword's fragments, cutting open his palms. Slicing them. Blood slithered down his arms and down the sword. Until with one final refusal, the soul within forcefully pushed Dante back. Lady grabbed him and nearly dragged him out of there.

Agnus screamed and followed after them. They couldn't go far. Dante was too injured, that woman couldn't possibly carry him around. They were trapped with nowhere to go.

Though that wasn't exactly the case. Dante was limping, that was for sure, but he knew better. He knew that it was time for him to get out of the castle, once and for all. He couldn't come back now. Lady was staring at the waterfall, she pointed at it.

"There, we'll go past that waterfall!"

"No, that's a wrong turn, Lady." Dante said, "There's a different option."

"What different option? Dante, we have to go! Shit! He's coming!"

Agnus was making his way over to them, he was smiling his cruel smile. "I've got you now, Son of Sparda, and Kalina's little bitch of a daughter. This is it, Dante. This is it."

Dante shook his head, he grabbed Lady by the waist. He took another step back. "Not yet." He whispered. His body began to transform, Lady gave a small shriek as Dante lifted off the ground, slowly, then quickly diving for the murky, ash-filled sky. Agnus yelled, he followed them.

The Devil, the Angel, and the Lady. Together streaking across the sky. Truly a terrifying sight.

Agnus was so close to reaching them, but Lady was tricky, he hadn't noticed that the rocket launcher was still in her hands, not until the moment came that she aimed for him, midair.

"Burn in hell." She snarled. She pulled the trigger, the missile fired, and Agnus plummeted down to Fortuna Castle with it. She and Dante both watched as the explosion triggered on the surface, but Dante had little time, and he continued to fly until they reached Ferrum Hills.

Dante staggered as he reverted to his human form, Lady sat down next to him, she looked at his wound. "Do you think you're going to make it?" She whispered. To her relief, Dante nodded.

"He only stopped my regeneration, it should come back soon, but right now, I need to take it easy…"

They both sighed, They looked up at the starry sky. Lady elbowed Dante lightly and pointed up. "Look," she said, "A meteor shower. Something must have gone right."

Dante and Lady watched the stars as they fell beautifully out of the sky. "I wonder…" Dante said, "If those are all the souls we've saved." Silently, he whispered to himself, "Nero…I hope I made everything right for you…"

"Did you say something?" Lady said, hearing his faint mumbles. Dante denied.

"I was just mumbling, because I'm in a lot of pain…"

Lady was silent, before speaking again. "That man…he was my stepfather…I don't think my mother divorced him before she high-tailed it out of here." She gave a sigh, "Cinderella can kiss my ass."

Dante gave a small chuckle.

They looked at the sky.

The stars fell at their feet. The world turned.