I'm back! Sorry it took me so long between the last chapter and this one. This chapter is one of those weird ones for me; I half enjoyed writing it, and the other half is uncertain about it. Hopefully it's well received by all of you. As always, please R your input is always wanted and needed. :) I thank all of you who have reviewed so far and who continue to do so, and I also thank those of you who have added this to your favourites list.

This chapter has to do with Dante, Lady and Patty going to an amusement park; I won't say much more than that.

Disclaimer: I do not own Devil May Cry, or the characters; they are the property of Capcom. I merely write this for entertainment purposes; no profit is made from this.

Thrill

"Well, we're here." Dante remarked, taking the tickets from the overly chipper attendant. "So, what do you want to do first?"

Patty took her ticket from him, her expression becoming one of contemplation, as her eyes took in the various sights. Next to her, Lady scanned the variety of game booths, her mismatched eyes lighting up when they fell on a shooting game.

The scent of fried foods wafted through the air, the sounds of laughter and screaming echoing all throughout the amusement park, brightly flashing lights drawing the eye to various thrill rides well beyond the main gate.

"Why don't we try that booth over there?" Lady suggested, pocketing her own ticket as she started making her way toward it, a look of longing on her face.

Patty smiled knowingly at the female hunter, nodding her head enthusiastically. "Sure, why not? I could use the practice, anyway."

Dante scoffed at this. "I don't think a game booth at the park is going to help you, there."

The blonde teenager only stuck her tongue out at him in response, the two following Lady as she led the way up to the counter.

"So, what are the rules?" Patty asked the booth manager.

The portly, balding man blew a large pink bubble with his gum, causing it to snap loudly before he answered. "You have to break thirty balloons in thirty seconds to win a prize."

Before Patty could reach for the pellet rifle, Dante placed one of the game tickets on the counter, and scooped the gun up, bracing the stock against his shoulder. "Piece of cake..." He muttered.

The booth manager held up a stop watch, and pressed the start button. "And…go!"

Dante took aim, his finger rapidly pulling on the trigger as he trailed the gun back and forth over the rows of balloons pinned into the booth's back wall.

When the booth manager hit 'stop', his mouth fell open, his eyes widening in amazement. Dante had managed to pop every last balloon; the half devil twirled the gun around his finger smugly, before putting it back on the counter.

"Well, unless I'm mistaken, I just took out ninety balloons." He drawled, eyes glinting. "So, what prize does that get me?"

The man looked at him, completely dumbstruck. Throwing his thumb over his shoulder, he indicated a shelf just behind him, laden with the largest plushies the booth had to offer.

"Well, pick one out." Dante stated, gesturing to the wide assortment with one gloved hand.

Patty beamed up at him, and turned to look at the prizes.

"Hmm…how about that one?" She pointed to a large stuffed polar bear with large, sad blue eyes.

"You heard the little lady," Dante told the man, "she'll have the bear."

The booth manager remained silent as he handed the bear to the adolescent girl, his expression still one of complete and utter bafflement.

As they walked away, Dante let out a soft chuckle, as he heard the man mutter under his breath, "What the hell does that guy do for a living?"

"You want to go on that one?" Lady asked Patty; the brunette's eyes widened fearfully, Dante unable to keep from smirking.

"Oh, come on Lady." He scoffed, the female hunter scowling at him. "You've hunted and killed demons ten times bigger than you, and you fell from the Temen-Ni-Gru tower all those years ago…you don't mean to tell me that you're afraid of a little rollercoaster ride, do you?"

"That is not a little rollercoaster ride," Lady countered, thrusting a finger in the direction of the swerving and looping track, "that is a speeding death trap!"

"Come on Lady, it'll be fine!" Patty insisted, tugging on one of the woman's gloved hands. "There's nothing to be afraid of; they run maintenance and performance tests on these things all the time…"

"And yet, you still hear about rollercoaster deaths…" Lady muttered, hesitantly following the teenaged girl into the line.

Dante only shook his head, trailing behind the two females; despite teasing her, he understood Lady's fear perfectly well. It wasn't so much the rollercoaster she was afraid of, and he knew it. It was the lack of control; Lady was used to having a certain level of control in whatever situation she faced. Throw her into the car of an intricate rollercoaster ride, and the ability to control the situation was completely out of her hands.

As they drew closer and closer to the ticket attendant, Dante placed a hand on Lady's shoulder, her blue and red eyes meeting his as she cast him a bewildered look. "It'll be fine." He reassured her, giving her shoulder a light squeeze. "If anything goes wrong, I'll be right there beside you."

The female hunter's expression was inscrutable; Dante couldn't discern whether she was grateful, or whether she was annoyed with his assurance that he'd protect her.

Heh…knowing Lady, it's probably both.

"Tickets, please." Dante watched as the brunette spun around, fumbling to give the ride attendant her ticket as Patty already made her way up to the platform.

Dante handed his ticket to the bored-looking teenaged boy, and followed behind Lady, both of them coming to a stop next to Patty.

"Lady, why don't you sit with me?" Patty offered, smiling kindly at the woman as she fidgeted with her pleated skirt.

"You guys take that car." Dante indicated, as he slid into the one behind it. "That way if anything happens, I'll be right behind you."

"See? We have nothing to worry about," Patty declared, "Dante will be right here if anything goes wrong…not to say that it will, because it won't." She added hastily, watching as Lady's eyes widened more than before.

Lady let out an exasperated groan, and finally settled into her seat, clipping her seatbelt harness tightly over her waist and shoulders. She tugged on it a few times to ensure it was secure, Patty sliding into the seat beside her.

Making sure his own harness was in place, Dante trained his eyes on the back of Lady's head, doing his best not to laugh at the almost imperceptible trembling of her shoulders.

As soon as everyone else was secured in their own seats, the hand railings of each car clicked down into place, allowing those who required a little more security to grip tightly to the metal bar, as the rollercoaster slowly made its way forward.

"You ready?" Dante called out to both Patty and Lady.

Patty looked over her shoulder at him, smiling excitedly as Lady only let out a stifled moan.

With that, the rollercoaster lurched forward, making the climb to the apex of the track, causing several of the other patrons to squeal in anticipation. Once it hit the apex, it sped downward, the half devil laughing as the wind rushed through his hair, Patty squealing and laughing in front of him, as Lady remained silent, clearly too scared to do anything.

As the rollercoaster swerved up and down, back and forth, Dante let out a wicked chuckle. When this was all over, there was no way he'd ever let Lady live this one down...

When the ride finally came to a stop, Lady sprang from her seat, a hand covering her mouth as she made her way to the end of the platform. Leaning over the guard railing, the brunette retched, Patty and Dante watching her, the blonde girl letting out a sympathetic moan.

"Poor Lady," She murmured, "I guess she really doesn't like rollercoasters, huh?"

"It looks that way." Dante replied, the half devil smirking as Lady's eyes met his.

"Not a word, Dante." She growled, wiping a hand over her face. "Not…a damn…word."

He only shrugged his shoulders in reply, the trio making their way passed the ride attendant; they weaved back into the busy throng of people heading to and fro from the many booths and rides surrounding them.

"So, what do you guys want to do next?" Dante asked when they came to a stop, his stomach growling as he caught a whiff of hot dogs cooking a few stands away.

Patty had obviously heard the grumbling of his stomach, for the blonde teenager laughed. "Yeah, I'm pretty hungry, too." She declared, "Let's get some hot dogs."

"None for me thanks." Lady winced, holding her still heaving stomach, her nose wrinkling at the scent of cooking meat.

"Are you sure," Patty asked, holding up her flowery purple wallet, "it's my treat…"

Lady nodded her head weakly. "You go ahead. I'm just going to rest for a minute…" The brunette made her way over to one of the many plastic benches that lined the walkway, settling down on it with her head between her knees.

Dante snickered, and turned to the blonde girl. "I'll take that offer."

"I kind of figured you would." Patty teased. The adolescent led the way to the hot dog stand, and handed a ten-dollar bill to the grey-haired woman running it. "We'll take two jumbo dogs please, and two medium sodas."

As the middle-aged woman set to work on preparing their order, Dante leaned casually against the counter top, his eyes sweeping passed the crowds of people, and coming to rest on the cotton candy stand.

"Hey, how about some of that after our hot dogs?"

Patty's eyes followed the direction that the devil hunter pointed in, her lips pulling into a smile. "Sure; after all, a visit to the amusement park just wouldn't be complete without cotton candy!"

Dante laughed at this, taking hold of the soft drinks as the hot dog stand attendant handed their food to Patty.

He cast a playful grin at the blonde. "My thoughts exactly, little lady."

"A flume ride, huh?" Dante looked at the relatively short line leading to the ride. "No thanks, leather and water don't mix."

Patty pouted at this, her eyes meeting Lady's. "You'll come with me, right? It won't be anything like the rollercoaster; it's just a log ride…" She trailed off hopefully.

Lady sighed, hanging her head in resignation. "Oh, alright, I guess I can go with you."

"Be careful not to get too wet, or you'll have to walk home!" Dante called after them, laughing as Lady flipped him the bird. "Hey, don't get mad at me; it's not my fault my car has leather interior."

He continued to laugh as Lady muttered under her breath, the female hunter following Patty passed the vinyl rope and up the several stairs that led to the flume ride.

Leaning casually against the side of a vacant booth, the devil hunter watched in wry amusement, as the log ride Patty and Lady shared dipped down sharply, a large quantity of water splashing over the female hunter as the ride zipped down the water-filled chute.

When they exited the ride, he didn't even bother to stop himself from laughing; Lady was soaked from head to toe, her hair and clothes dripping steadily onto the pavement beneath her feet as she and the teen made their way over to him. By some twisted turn of events, Patty barely had a drop of water on her-and she'd been in the front seat!

Noticing that her blouse was see-through, Dante laughed even harder, earning a death glare, followed by a very solid punch to the shoulder from Lady.

"Well if you were hoping to enter a wet T-shirt competition," the half devil snickered, rubbing his shoulder, "I'd say you have a good chance of winning first prize."

Patty exchanged a look with Lady, the adolescent covering her mouth and letting out a muffled gasp.

Lady looked down, her face turning a very deep shade of crimson when she realized her red satin bra was visible beneath the thin wet garment covering her upper torso.

"You have got to be kidding me…" She hissed between clenched teeth. She looked up at Dante, her blush deepening when she met his smirk.

"Don't just stand there, you big dumbass. Help me out, will you?"

Dante crossed his arms over his chest, his grin never faltering. "Ask me nicely, and I'll consider it…"

Patty groaned at this, shaking her head as she watched the exchange between both grown-ups.

"Help me out, and I won't lodge a bullet in that thick skull of yours," Lady replied silkily, giving the half devil her most sickeningly sweet smile, "is that nicely enough for you?"

Dante snorted at this, his upper lip twitching in amusement as he stared at her. Heaving a melodramatic sigh, he threw his hands up in the air. "Well, I guess it'll have to do." Shrugging out of his coat, he draped the heavy red leather over Lady's shoulders, the female hunter gripping it tightly so that it covered as much of her chest as possible.

"Thanks…" she muttered, her gaze dropping under the intensity of his stare.

"Is that 'thanks', or is it 'thanks, how can I ever repay you?' Because if it's the latter," Dante chuckled when Lady glared at him, "I can think of a few ways…"

"You're disgusting, Dante." Patty declared, rolling her eyes.

"Don't push your luck." Lady told him at the same time, her eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Lighten up, babe." Dante winked at her, "I'm just messin' with you. So, what else should we do?"

The three stood rooted to the spot, uncertain as to what to do next. Dante cast a look around the park, watching as more of the lights turned on as the daylight faded into evening.

"Well, I don't know about you guys," Lady finally spoke up, shivering, "but I've had all the fun I can handle today."

"My bear…" Patty gasped then, the blonde teen's eyes going wide. "I think I left it at the hot dog stand."

"Relax Patty; it's just a stuffed bear." Dante remarked, frowning at the morose expression on her face. "We'll just head back and look for it, alright?"

"It wasn't just a bear," Patty murmured, "you won that for me…"

Dante let out a sigh. Girls…man, they're so sentimental, sometimes.

"Alright, come on." He relented, leading the way with both females in tow. "If it's not there, I'll win you another one; how does that sound?"

Patty smiled up at him, and nodded. "Okay, it's a deal."

By some fortune, Patty's bear was right where she'd left it. This didn't stop Dante from returning to the shooting booth though; Lady and the half devil won the teenager two more stuffed animals. The two hunters turned it into a shooting competition, before the booth manager finally insisted in an exasperated tone that it was time to close up.

By this point, Lady began developing a case of the sniffles, her clothes still quite damp from her endeavour on the flume ride.

"Alright, I think it's time for us to head back." Dante said to Patty, grinning roguishly. "I think Lady's had enough of the amusement park for one day."

"One day," Lady scoffed, before letting out a sneeze. "Try for an entire year."

Dante chuckled at this. "Come on kiddo; I'll give you a ride home."

Patty nodded at him, stifling a yawn as she clutched her prizes to her chest, a black stuffed dog and brown and tan monkey sandwiching her polar bear.

They made their way passed the various booths and stands, most of them already locked up for the night. Once passed the main gate, Dante pulled his keys from his pants' pocket, and opened the front passenger door for Lady.

"You can stay in the guest room tonight if you want," he told her without his usual trace of humour, "If you're getting sick, we can pick you up some hot soup on the way, too."

Lady offered him one of her rare, genuine smiles, sniffling slightly as she slid into her seat, Dante's coat still draped over her shoulders.

"Sounds good to me." She replied, tilting her head back against the headrest and closing her eyes.

Making sure Patty was already buckled in, Dante slid into the driver's seat, the car purring to life as he turned the key in the ignition.

As he pulled out of the parking lot, the half devil had to admit, it was good to get out and do something ordinary every now and then; it really made a person appreciate their day-to-day lives that much more.

As the female hunter beside him succumbed to a fit of sneezes intermixed with cursing, Dante grinned to himself.

Well, that seems to be Lady's case, anyway.