Notes :
First fic in english (not my main language) so if you find any mistakes, tell me.
Warnings : Hurt, angst, physical damage (demon fighting) and sadness
Summary : Had the spell worked ? Was she free ? Please...
(Lilith's POV)
Had the spell worked, Lilith didn't know. All she knew was that her whole body hurted. Fake or not. No coldness, no warmth, nothing else but pain and darkness.
Please, tell me it worked... I want to go back... I want to see him again... To hear him again... To tell him that I love him... To go back home with him... Back to Devil May Cry... Share a cup of tea like before...
The darkness around her trembled slightly, something like a whisper breaking the silence for a second. She tried to focus on it but whenever she tried to listen, the sound disappeared. Lilith tried to move, hoping she wasn't still trapped inside the necklace, hoping the darkness around her wasn't the last thing she was going to see for the rest of her life.
I need to get out of here ! I want to see him again ! I can't die ! Not here, not now, not before telling him...
'row...'
The whisper came back, a bit stronger and she saw the whole 'piece' around her shatter. Cracks appearing everywhere, letting faint light pass through, clearing the sound. It was a voice, low, warm, familiar... It warmed her somehow, giving her strength to move again, slowly. She was still in that stupid jewel it seemed...
Did I failed ? No ! Please ! No ! I want to go back to him...
'Sparrow...'
It was his voice, he was calling her. His tone charged with sadness yet still hoping. She could hear her birds too, both singing for her, Shadow's purring, Griffon wasn't making a sound but she was feeling his beak in her hand, pressing his head against her palm, gently... They were both there, trying to bring her back, calling for her and hoping for her to wake up, not knowing she was still trapped...
I can't end like this... Please... Someone... Something... I need to go back...
'Sparrow... Lilith... Come back... Please...'
There was only his voice and the darkness. Yet the cracks in the walls grew bigger, the more he called, the more his voice rang inside her prison, the more it shattered.
Please, don't stop. Don't stop calling me ! I need you... I'll be there... I said that I would never leave you and I wont !!
She focussed the remaining forces on the walls, not paying attention to the pain it caused her. He was more important, he was her reason to live and she was going to break free. For him.
Wait for me. It won't be long.
"Sparrow... I... I love you."
Light blinded her as the whole 'piece' she was in broke. The sensation of her body pressed against another one, warmer, hot tears falling on her face, both of her birds spreading their wings under the skin of her shoulders, soft feathers brushing against her hand, Shadow's roar in her ear as she hardly opened her eyes.
She had made it. She was back. She could feel her body again, every part of it, the pain she had felt in the necklace transfering immediately into her real body. Her gasps and groans startled him and Lilith saw the poet stare at her for a second, scanning her face, searching.
"You were right..." She hardly spoke, eyes filled with tears, "I wasn't going to die."
The poet kissed her the next moment, not as softly as the first time, tightening his grip on her frame as much as he could. Griffon squawked, calling her too before scolding his master to behave. But how could he after this ? She let him hold her for a long moment, wrapping her arms around him as much as she could with her tired body, relieved to be in his arms again.
The world didn't count anymore, the battle nearby wasn't important, the terrible and unforgivable actions of the necromancer didn't bothered her, she wasn't even paying attention to the place they were in, the bloody floor beneath her. She was alive and reunited with him, that was all that mattered.
"How do you feel ? Are you alright ? Is she still there ?" He helped her to sit, keeping her in his arms as Griffon and Shadow approached her, the big panther nuzzling her head against her arm while the demonic bird sneaking in her back to pick up some healing potions, "Well, that might be a good idea."
Lilith laughed, "Do I look so terrible ?" Her own voice answering for them. Her voice was hoarse, her throat hurted as if she had screamed for hours, her whole body was trembling from the suffering she had endured in the necklace, her hand barely able to hold the bottle and direct it to her lips.
She drank the sugary liquid slowly, sighing at the numbness spreading through her organism and quickly easing the pain, resting in his arms while the effect worked on her, healing her body, feeling both Lekha and Nuiid's mark pulsating with power.
When did Nuiid came out of his stalemate ? And... He looks... Almost fully healed... How ?
Time passed and the effect ended, the sun was slowly descending, marking the middle of the afternoon, no more lightning were slicing the mist or the sky and only faint sound of metal clashing against strong surface was heard nearby. The fight was still on but neither V or Lilith had moved, still in each other's arms with gentle kiss from time to time, not a word spoken but they didn't really needed it.
"Huh, are we going to stay here all day ?" Griffon asked, trying to sneak for another potion, "What ? You look like you need another one."
"Thanks Griffon but I can't only use it once at a time." She had stopped him, grabbing the small bag previously enchanted to carry all the potions she needed without worrying to break them or the place they could take, "The next one, if I need it then, is in... three hours approximately. But you're right. We can't stay here..."
Her gaze fell on the floor as she stood up, followed by the poet who did the same, cupping her chin to force her to look away from the blood. All the things she had seen inside her prison came back to her, the sorceress, her mother... Everytime it was there, at that same place, the same parcel of floor... He had raped them, both of them on that same tiled floor, ordering someone to do the same to his own daughter...
He had never loved her... I was born because he... Did this to her too...
She closed her eyes, hoping to stop the flow of tears from falling, the rage from burning inside of her, even her birds felt the same, both sad and angry, terribly angry...
"Sparrow ?"
V's voice was all she had to not break, to not rush and burn the man who was responsible of all that suffering... Looking back at him, feeling his arms pulling her close, leading her away while her feets wanted to run on the other side of the mansion where he was...
"I... I need to end this..." Her voice was shaking, tears streaming down her face, "I have to... But... I-I..."
She couldn't kill him. Even after all he had done, after all she had seen, she couldn't kill him. He had lost his mind from the first day, the curse making things worse, maddening him. She would never forgive him but killing him wasn't possible.
"I don't want to go back..." She whispered against the poet's coat, stopping him on the front door, "Not yet... The battle is almost over but they need support... And..."
"Lilith, you just said you couldn't..."
She silenced him with a kiss, a sad one, tears sliding onto his lips, "I know but... I have to be there when it ends... I have to... He's a real monster, he had done too much things..."
"You heard it ?" His hands on her hairs felt so good she leaned on his touch, closing her eyes for a second, nodding.
She had heard everything, saw everything, hidden memories, visions... She wished those images never showed up. It was terrible, the feeling still there, making her sick. He needed to pay for this, but she couldn't kill him... It was out of her way...
Even after all this...
Someone had to put an end on this... And her instinct were telling her that it was her... She was the one that had to finish this. The dark mage had lost his mind when losing his wife, sinking even more when his son died...
'I left all my knowledge about my power and the birds in a grimoire hidden with the only man I loved. Ask Nuiid and he will bring it back to you, I suppose that with time, it's not accessible by feets anymore.'
I have to get it before we leave, better do it now and go help Nero and Dante. They might need my potions and healing spells...
She felt the dark bird form in front of her, looking almost alike Lekha except for the colors. Nuiid was all black with purple and indigo feathers here and there, lavender eyes, flapping his wings and creating an icy mist under him. He was wonderful, just like the bright bird, answering as fast as his friend, flying quickly away from her to retrieve the grimoire and bring it back in the blink of an eye, reuniting with his host and taking back his place on the mark.
Lilith watched Griffon's shocked look while she tossed the new book in her small bag, the mouthy bird previously predicting that the book would never fit in after another comment on how both V and her were two terrible bookworms.
Never underestimate a witch.
"I won't fight him, I'll just give support to both Nero and Dante." She added, watching V's doubtful look as she turned back to walk inside, "They might need the potions too and I can provide healing spell as long as the sun is up. Did you send Griffon look out for Trish or Lady ?"
V shook his head, admitting to only had focused on her for the few minutes that followed the end of the spell. It had felt like an eternity but in reality her scary experience hadn't lasted long. The poet's face reflected sorrow for a second and Lilith called for him to chase it away, reassuring him that she was there and alive.
She walked back inside, staring at the dry blood and searching for the staff the older sorceress had used without finding it. Could it be possible that it had break after the spell ? Or during it ? It would explain why she found herself trapped again after it but even if the staff had broken, where were the remaining pieces ?
"V ? Did you see what happened to the staff ? I can't find it." She looked back at him, "What happened right after we shouted the spell ? I need to understand."
"I fear that it won't be of any use anymore, Sparrow." The poet showed her some fragment of wood on the stone here and there.
It shattered ?!
She picked one of the fragment, the biggest one, and read the latest 'memories' from it, seeing the sorceress shout the spell, her own body floating over the floor, the staff lifted in front of her hit by something, a flash of light that engulfed her whole for a few second then she fell. Her expression was nothing but pain, and Lilith saw the staff crackled and began to explode, the jewel shining with force but kept it contained by a thick dark layer of what looked like transparent silk.
Wait, did he casted another dark spell on the stone ? That's why I was still trapped ?
Her hands reached for her neck, finding the broken jewel still in place, its power sending her new visions of the dark mage. He had prepared a dark spell in case they tried to break that one, to prevent Lilith's soul to come back had she been powerful enough...
And what was the thing that hit the staff and shattered it then ?
Looking at the ceiling, Lilith noticed a hole in it, something powerful had pierced through the three floors and still managed to destroy her weapon. Without a sound...
It can only be a spell. Simple but effective... And impossible to block...Not to mention that we were busy...
Back to the memory of the stone, she saw the older soul breaking free from her body after the hit on the staff, merging with Nuiid to make him leave his stalemate, restoring his power and giving him a real conscience... He wasn't just the shadow of Lekha anymore, he was his own...
I thought she wanted freedom ? Merging with Nuiid isn't freeing her... It's destroying her...
"Sparrow ? Are you feeling alright ?" V's worry tone snapped her out of her thoughts, chasing them away for later, after the battle, on the way back home.
"It's alright... reading object..." She shook her head, offering a small smile, "Let's go help them, then we'll search for the girls."
If the mansion was still mostly undamaged by the main battle with the dark mage, the little garden that used to stand behind it in the witch's memories - was it her own or the older one ? - was nothing else but a battered battlefield filled with...
Tentacles and spikes ? What the...
Greyish unmoving tentacles laid on the floor, dark pool of what look like blood under it, sliced on the base and cut in multiple tiny parts. What appeared like spikes to Lilith were in reality giants roots of demonic plants, dead, dried and slowly turning into ashes.
They looks like the roots I've seen on TV during the Qliphoth's event...
V had probably thought the same thing judging by his expression and the way he looked all around frantically, but there was no demon tree here, this wasn't the best place either... The archipelago was empty except from them and it would never suffice to produce the damned fruit...
No, those demonic roots were just dangerous human plants turned into demonic ones by magic... Right ? He was old, so he could do that... Right ? Other trace of the raging battle were there, burnt grass, missing part of the cliff but the three of them were there. Nero and Dante fighting an ugly demon with multiple eyes, big dark mouth splitting acid and chanting dark spell, both hunters looked tired and hurt but not ready to give up.
Lilith even saw the girls, still alive, fighting as well what looked like four fury overboosted with purple and black crystals, firing the beast with their weapons while keeping an eye on the two men.
Where is he ?! Don't tell me he's doing the same thing he did in Fortuna...
She chased her worry, focussing on both Dante and Nero that clearly needed some healing, sending Lekha with one potion for each one to them, casting a protective spell around her and V as one fury rushed them. This got everyone's attention, the girls looked puzzled but quickly relieved to see her back, both white haired men thanking her for the support while the biggest monster shouted unclear words. From what Lilith could hear, it wasn't nice.
Trish and Lady ended the fury with the help of Lekha and V who stayed with Lilith, it was a good things he didn't need to fight upfront, and they all stared at the last battle.
"It will be over soon. Don't worry." Lady gently patted her head, "He won't hurt you anymore. Dante will make sure of that."
The sorceress looked, confused, at the fight, the huge demon was weaker now, all black, his eyes bleeding, closing one after another till only his 'real' ones remained... Cold as ice... The symbols faintly glowing on its skin, the cracks everywhere...
"Wait... That's..."
Trish nodded as she sat on a rock nearby, "Your father... Or what he became. He's not human anymore. He rejected the last part of his humanity to become that..."
The blond demoness glanced at V for a moment, the poet had done the same in the past, his 'past-self' had separated both human and demonic form from his body not that long ago and in the end only his human part was left. Lilith knew that he had gained back most of his power but he wasn't Vergil anymore in a way. He was V now, her poet, a wonderful man she had learned to know and love.
Lightly squeezing his hand, not really caring if the girls saw it, the little witch smiled at him, reassuring him in silence as the howl of agony of the monster came to their ears.
The creature laid in its blood, almost dead, breathing hardly as Dante and Nero were panting a few feets away. The rest of the group gathered around, carefully, the two girls already preventing the sorceress from closing the space between her and what was left of her father while she could feel V's hand on her waist, slowly pulling her close to him.
"Y-You... How... I felt it... You didn't break... free..." His voice wasn't the same anymore, distorted, guttural, broken and breathy... His body was nothing but a big mass of black stone, crackling everywhere, missing parts here and there... "I b-broke ... y-your...staff..."
"What ?!" Both girls shouted, looking back at Lilith to make sure she was alright.
"We thought that thing only touched the ceiling... Had we known..." Lady apologized, raging against the dying monster, "You're lucky she's alright."
So it was his spell that interfered with their attempts to break the dark one... But in the end, he failed.
"You failed." Hearing her own voice so steady was strange, maybe was it because V was holding her discreetly, "I'm here, alive and both my birds are perfectly fine."
Nuiid came out, joining his bright friend right behind their host, flapping their wings and shrieking.
"I will never forgive you, not after all the pain you caused, not after the terrible things you've done..." She stared right at him, rage filling her like when she was in her prison, after seeing all those terribles images of the older sorceress, her mother...
If it wasn't for V's hand on her, she would had end him right now, burnt him till only ashes remained, slowly to make him suffer as he had made them suffer, to let him taste what it felt to be broken, hurt and damaged...
"I'm not capable of ending your life..." She whispered, letting her tears fall, "Not because you're my father, you never acted like it, never, but because you were human, you've lost the one you loved and you fell into this madness."
Lilith closed her eyes for a second, wiping the tears away, opening them again to find the whole crew staring at her with surprise yet something else like concern.
I'm too kind for my own good, I know.
"You chose the wrong path, more than once and lost everything. This is why you lost. This is why you're going to die here. The curse is over..."
It has been over the day she was brought to the world, becoming reality when the dark phoenix chose her, the last threat of the curse breaking when he finally joined back his host. But her father still wanted to kill her, to kill everyone, to gain more power, over and over again...
This time, it's over...
The sorceress saw it. She saw it rushing toward her, full speed, neither Dante or Nero would move in time, neither Trish or Lady could protect her in time either, V would try to pull her against him to take the hit himself or to push her away but he wouldn't be fast enough.
Lilith was, her magic was, her birds were. The ice crystalizing the dark sharp clawed hand that aimed for her heart, freezing it directly while fire burnt the main body that send it, making the surface of the skin crack even more, splitting blood everywhere. Her spell silencing the monster quickly, his eyes wide open, light fading as the spell worked. A strong sleeping spell, one that could kill if overdosed like she did. At least, he wouldn't feel the end coming, enough pain, enough suffering, enough of this...
Even now, I'm too kind...
The moment his body crumbled, the whole team reacted, eyes flickering between the hand slowly disintegrating a few inches away from Lilith's heart and the now dead monster, their mouth wide open, wordless, shocked.
"What the fuck happened ?! Did that bastard tried to harm ya Toots ?" Griffon was on her side, checking her from head to toe, just like his master, after all, Nuiid had used his ice spell, his most powerful one, in daytime.
"Lilith, are you alright ? You shouldn't have use the dark bird's power..."
She stopped the poet, showing him that she was alright, just terribly tired, the after-effect of Frostbite draining her energy. She would need a good nap... Or a long night.
"Huh, is that how it usually work ? The icy spell I mean." Nero was still staring at where the clawed hand was a few minutes ago, "That's impressive."
Lilith smiled, it could be even more powerful if she needed, "You only saw the lower level of it... On a scale from zero to ten... Let's say, two ?"
His eyes widened, visibly impressed and amused, swearing the next instant and hoping to see it full level one day.
"Another time maybe. Well. Nothing keep us here I." Dante walked toward her, putting a hand on her head, "Glad you have reflexes but you shouldn't have come. We were almost done with him. You didn't need to see this."
The tears burned her eyes yet she didn't allowed them to fall this time, "I know... But it seems that I was right... It had to be me... I'm fine, just really tired and I want to go home."
The legendary devil hunter ruefully smiled, scratching his head, looking a bit taking aback, "Call it home now ? That's good but... Huh, 'bout that... The... things left from that..." He pointed the dark pool on the floor, "Well, let's say we need more time to clean the mess he made. You two will have to stay a few more days at Fortuna."
From the look Nero gave him, he didn't even asked the boy, Dante wasn't even paying attention to the young hunter, his eyes focus on Lilith, saying 'you two' clearly implied the poet, and that knowing look... He had put them together in the first place after all, making sure she knew where she was going, warning her while letting her take care of the black haired man.
He doesn't seems against it right now... Well to late anyway... I won't let anyone try to break what's between us.
She glanced at V who slightly nodded, then at Nero, it was his house after all. The young devil hunter didn't met her gaze but didn't refused which Dante took as a 'yes, they can stay'.
"If this isn't an awkward look, than I'm a roasted chicken." The demonic bird whispered into her ears as he perched on her shoulders, watching both her phoenix that eyed him with a sharp look, "Like a child that..."
She didn't heard the end of his speech, nor did she understood it, her brain was foggy with sleep and she was slowly leaning more and more on the summoner. The avian companion's talon left her body the next instant, back to ink, and she felt V's hand press her more against him as they all decide to move back to the port.
The way back is going to be long...
"Huh ? How did she... No, forget it... I don't care right now." Lilith heard the poet chuckled as they both stared at Nico's van. The mechanic had managed to make it till the first steps... The sorceress would have liked to know but was too tired to even care thinking about it or just ask, focussing on her feets to walk toward it and sat down on the sofa, head on V's shoulder, hands in hands, hardly seeing the whole group taking place before her eyes closed.