I almost failed in my efforts to ignore him but, thankfully, my father spoke again before he could assume anything. "It's been far too long."

"Yeah." Dante replied angrily. I thought that anger was directed at me. "I wish I could say the same thing."

Mundus smiled, then aimed his next words towards me. "So, this was the reason you went up there for awhile?"

Frightened, I could only nod in answer. "Well, no matter the reason, I'm very proud of you, Zoe. None of us thought you could do this but you have proved us wrong once again." I had to actually fight off the urge to laugh. He had no idea about what he was speaking of.

"I'm just happy I had this chance. I wouldn't trade any of it for all of the power you could offer me." I saw Dante bow his head, hiding a smile.

My father looked puzzled but he pushed aside any thoughts of doubt he had, quickly. "I thought you said it would end the same way?"

Dante raised his head. "Well, yeah, I did. Because it will."

"You are here with two fully capable demons and the Lord of the Underworld and you still think you can win?"

"Correction. I am here with just the Lord of the Underworld. These two..." Dante gestured back towards Dartan and I. "Don't count. Dartan left you about two thousand, twenty-nine years ago. And, Zoe, she left you a couple days ago."

My father looked over at me with a gaze that would've killed an army of Hunters. "Surely he jests? My own daughter would never turn on me."

"Hey! Blame it on Dante and my first instructor. It's their faults." Dante just shrugged as Mundus hit him with a cold glare.

"Zoe, why would you do such a thing?" My father was truly confused, for once.

"Because he gave me something you never were able to."

"He could offer you nothing more than what I could."

I took a defensive step forward. "He could offer me love. That's all I need to forget you."

Extremely pissed off, Mundus threw spears of light towards me but I quickly ducked, knowing it wasn't my time yet.

In a speedy look down at my watch, I realized it was time. And so did Dartan. He opened a portal, to my father's dislike, and Alastor came flying through. It cut Dante's bonds, landing in his right palm.

"It's time to end this." Before anyone in that room could do anything, a loud screech came from the the room next to ours. The door crashed open and through it came a demon. Pierced through the heart with a dagger.

"What is truly going on?" My father rose from his throne, angrier than I'd ever seen him and with good reason.

"Dartan." Dante said to the demon, ignoring my father. "Get Zoe out of here. She has to make it out of this."

At that moment I had no idea what he was talking about, until my instructor pushed me through the door. They were going to do it on their own. But no matter how much I protested and fought his efforts, Dartan only pushed me closer. Before he could close off the enterance to my father's room, I saw an entire group of Sirgands pour out through hidden rooms. Dante stood still, in the middle of the room, poised for a fight. He could not fight them all at once, that I knew. But Dante was always ready and willing to surprise.

Dartan slammed the door shut in front of me, leaving me in a not-so- empty room. I turned around and saw that there were five Hunters battling an entire army of demons. I had never known that the Underworld housed so many of the foul creatures. And, shocking me even more, they had all arrived directly after the other eight had. I had to admit it, they were really on top of things.

In a desperate attempt to get back to my father's room, I backtracked all the way to the stadium. I started to lean over the rail but it had just occurred to me that a weapon might have been useful. So I sprinted to my room, dodging blows and pushing my way through the crowd of dead and living demons. I was becoming so pissed off because I couldn't find a weapon and I knew Dante and Dartan wouldn't last much longer in there with the Sirgands and my father. Tossing that idea away, I raced back to the stadium, picking up two daggers, out of a demon, on my way. I thoughtlessly jumped over the railing, landing on the ground floor painfully. But I got up instantly and looked around the room for the switch.

The reason my father could get from his room to his stadium so quickly was because they were connected by a short, stone hall. Torches were lined on the walls and, thankfully, one stood out. As I ran over to it, the sounds of battle became less. I looked up and saw that thousands of demons lie dead or dying all around me. Three of the Hunters I could see were simply and confidently walking over to their next victim which they killed as mercilessly as all of the others. The room that used to be completely white was almost completely red. Nearing the torch, I pulled it down, hearing a section of the wall moving.

I ran through the newly opened hall, cursing myself for taking up nearly ten minutes. The hall leaded out onto a balcony, if you will, that created a frame around the room, connecting all four of the sides. Placing my hands on the rail and looking down, I saw something that I thought was never possible. The Sirgands that had attacked Dante and Dartan were lying completely lifeless around the Hunter. I counted them all. In total, there were five and I thought that one was supposed to be enough to kill a Hunter. My eyes searched the entire room but Dartan was not to be found. I hadn't a clue as to what happened to him but I saw Mundus. He was on the ground beneath me, without breath. I was ecstatic because Dante had killed him, finally, but the moment I saw my love I knew it was no time for happiness.

He was on his knees, about thirty feet in front of my father's lifeless body, panting. I leaped over that rail, as well, and jogged to his side. Dante looked up at me, loosely, with eyes of denial. Utterly confusd, I placed my hand on his chest, feeling a warm liquid cover it quickly. Suddenly, I knew that I wasn't sleeping or dreaming a horrible dream.

Losing too much too quickly, he fell onto his back. Dante winced as he hit the floor, feeling complete pain. After a moment of trying to catch some breath after that, he spoke to me, quietly and slowly, as if it was the most difficult thing he could ever do.

"Zoe... when she comes... go with her. She knows what to do." I didn't know who he could've been talking about but I ignored that at the moment, putting my complete attention on him. Dante swallowed hard, squeezing his eyes shut under the pain. I didn't know who it was hurting worse: me or him. "And, if you find an orb, use it. There's so much... I still want to... show you."

I almost broke down completely. I knew it was going to happen but... not like that. It couldn't happen like that. "Dante, don't leave me. Not here, not now."

"I won't. I promise." Getting my mind off of the thoughts I couldn't stop thinking, he weakly reached up and caressed my cheek, seeing the tears forming behind my eyes. "Devils never cry... remember?" His arm dropped, landing over his chest, and that was when I knew he left.

I was completely confused. But, knowing that I wanted to touch him one more time, I leaned over him, softly kissing his forehead. And, as I looked back down at him, I realized that I had dropped one tear. It fell on him in such a way that it appeared as though he had been the one who cried, not me.

I didn't even have another moment there before two Sirgands came out, each grabbing my arms and pulling me away from the one who'd saved my life.