Arson woke up with a jerk, his eyes wide as he looked around his surroundings. He was in a place he did not recognise. A forest. He sat up quickly, noticing suddenly that he was fully healed. He looked down at his clothes, they were completely different. They were not his own. Even worse was the fact that this whole body was not even his own. He began to feel sick.
'Oh God no…' he groaned. He clapped his hands over his mouth, shocked. His voice…it wasn't his either. Not only that…it wasn't a guy's! He or rather she started shaking with terror. Never in her wildest nightmares had this happened. This was beyond her imagination. She swallowed hard and jumped as she heard several voices near her. At least she still had her powers. For that she was grateful.
'Ash? Ash where the hell are you?' She frowned. Was her new name Ash now? Was she Ash? Or maybe this was someone else they were searching for? She gulped and looked around nervously. Better keep on the move.
Arson slowly and quietly moved out of the clearing, her feet never making a sound. On a sudden thought, she searched her pockets and found that her metal bars were with her. Thankful that there was at least one thing she recognised, she drew them out and unsheathed the blades. She started running as she heard the voices growing closer to her.
'Ash? Is that you?' Arson frowned. How could she possibly answer that when she didn't even know herself? Where the hell was she anyway? She wanted Xyphos…she wanted someone she knew with her. Arson cursed. Even that sounded wrong now. Now that she was stuck in this body.
Arson carried on running until she broke out into another clearing. She swallowed hard, regaining her breath. She looked around the clearing and suddenly tensed as she saw a dark figure in front of her. The face was covered by a hood. She crouched down into what she imagined to be a threatening fighter stance.
'Who the hell are you?' she hissed. The person uncloaked itself. Dante. Arson's eyes widened.
'Dante? What are you-'
'The Hunter must learn to face the unexpected.' Arson pounced forward, grabbing onto his arm.
'Where am I? How did this happen?' But Dante would only smile down at her with that famous smirk of his and said no more. Arson was close to tears already. It suddenly occurred to her that this was all some part of a stupid test. 'Please! Answer me! What do I do? Where do I go?'
'The Hunter must learn to face the unexpected.' Arson stepped away from him. This was all some part of a weird nightmare. It just had to be. She looked around and froze as she heard voices again.
'Ashley! For God's sake say something!' Arson turned back to Dante only to find that he had gone. Her eyes widened.
'Dante? Dante!' There was no answer. Arson was left in a quandary. Should she sit here and wait to be found? She could always try and bluff her way through and make these people, whoever they were believe that indeed she was this Ashley person. Or she could go and look for Dante and try and force some advice from him. She decided to wait.
It didn't take much longer for them to find her. She was sitting down meekly, almost on the verge of tears. Two guys and a girl (Ha ha…no references to the TV show) emerged and apparently seemed to be relieved to see her. Arson looked at them in bewilderment before something inside her snapped. Tears trickled down her face.
'Ash?' the other girl in the group came towards her cautiously.
'What?!' she snapped back. The other girl's eyes widened in surprise.
'Are you okay?'
'Do I look okay? I feel fucking terrible!' One of the guys raised his hands in defence.
'Okay Ash, just calm down.' Arson got up quickly to her feet.
'Calm down? Calm down?' She paused to try and keep her composure. No point in scaring off what might be her friends. But right now, she felt as if she was going to explode with anger and fear. Fear? Yeah…fear was probably the best word to describe it as. And what had Dante said? The Hunter must learn to face the unexpected. Well this was very unexpected. Thanks a lot, Dante. She was already facing it…Her face suddenly crumpled up as the full force of realisation hit her.
'I-I don't know anything…I don't remember anything…I don't know you guys…I don't know anybody here…where am I?' The three looked at each other in shock. Arson looked up at the three of them. 'Please…just tell me this. Where am I?' A sick feeling entered her stomach again but she was beginning to feel an uncontrollable rage fill her heart. Flames began to crackle somewhere in her mind.
'Ash!' One of them dashed forward, grabbing her roughly by the shoulders and shaking her. 'Calm down. Don't get angry! You know you can't control it yet!'
She couldn't? She couldn't control her powers anymore? Again, she felt as if she had just been slapped. She couldn't depend on her powers anymore. This girl, whoever she had been, had never learnt control. But…these people? They knew? Were they all demons? Were they all like her?
She started to tremble. The whole world seemed to spin around her eyes. She was not going to faint. Just because she was a girl now it didn't give her any excuse to dissolve into tears like that or faint. What was she? A lady from the 12th century or something? A damsel in distress? Okay so she was scared out of her mind and was now a girl, one could say that. But she was not from the 12th Century. Hah…yeah right. Speaking of which…
'What year is it?' Instead of getting an answer, the three stooges looked at each other again, as though they were unable to believe what they were hearing. A stab of pain and then a dull aching feeling settled into the pit of her stomach. She groaned softly and clutched her stomach, cursing inwardly. No wonder why Xyphos yelled at Arson when she had been a guy…
'Instead of staring at each other like idiots, why don't you answer me?'
'Ash are you feeling okay?' Arson felt ready to scream at them. She got up unsteadily and made as if to walk off before the dizzy feeling returned. Questions pounded through her head. Where was she? How did she get here? Where was Xyphos? Dante? Trish? What should she do? Was this all a sick game? Did Mundus have anything to do with it? The last thing she heard before she blacked out was her own scream of pure anguish.
Xyphos sat at Dante and Trish's table, feeling shaken. She looked up at Dante pleadingly.
'You know something…please…where is he?' Dante smiled simply.
'He'll be back tomorrow. Just see.'
'But where is he?'
'If you must know, he's in a world parallel to ours. Most things are different there. Very different.' Dante shuddered lightly.
'What d'you mean?' Dante shook his head and shrugged.
'It's what I've heard.'
'Okay then. Tell me this. Why?'
'Because it's time for Sparda to be passed down to him. But first the sword tests the person and trains him up. He's got a lot to face before he gets back.'
'But you said-'
'No matter what happens, he'll be back by tomorrow. Days will pass there but not here. It's all a part of the process.'
'But this never happened to you, Dante,' said Trish suddenly. Dante frowned.
'I know.'
'So how do you know all this?'
'The sword has a spirit.'
'A spirit?' Dante nodded.
'The reason why I wasn't put through all this was because I was already being tested to my limit. You must admit, being chased down a corridor by a spider made entirely out of lava was pretty unexpected.' Xyphos brought her hands together silently. After a while, she looked up again.
'Is there any danger of him-' Dante shook his head.
'I don't know,' he said quietly. 'I really don't know.' Xyphos swallowed hard.
Please let him be safe…
Okay so that's it for chapter 2. Xyphos belongs to Vampy Sparda, Arson belongs to me and Trish and Dante belong to Capcom.
R and R please! Things have only just started for Arson! Aren't I so nasty?