Dante looked down at the body and knelt down beside it. Blood was pooling around the body, a huge wound in his back, going through his chest. Reiko held Alastor in his hands, the blade dripping blood. Reiko was silent as Dante examined the body, trying to make sure the tyrant had finally gone back to where he belonged. He blinked and looked up at Reiko before he started pacing around the room. Reiko's eyes watched him alertly, silently, like the eyes of a cat.
'Well?' Reiko tried to prompt the devil hunter into speaking. Dante remained silent but then stood in the centre of the room, his normally aquamarine blue eyes narrowed, the colour of his eyes deepening to a dark blue.
'You go and check.' Reiko blinked, nodded and then stood up. As he passed him, Dante took the sword from him. Reiko let him and bent down next to the body, his face impassive, except for his eyes, which were alight with some kind of energy. Excitement, maybe? Who knew? Reiko soon straightened up and looked towards Dante, shaking his head.
'He's dead.' Dante paced around some more, firing questions at Reiko.
'You're sure he's dead?'
'There was no pulse.'
'Was he breathing?' Reiko shook his head but then saw that Dante's back was turned towards him.
'No…He's dead. Why? Do you think he's still alive?' Dante paused and then shook his head.
'No.'
'Then what is it?' Dante looked towards him and then looked towards the crystal shard that lay in the palm of his hand.
'It just…seemed so easy. Too easy.' Reiko smiled slowly.
'You don't know Mostro like I do then.' Blue met hazel.
'Meaning?' Reiko blinked, sensing the sharp bite of anger in Dante's voice.
'All I meant to say was that Mostro's really big headed…and it doesn't take much to make him arrogant. When the power, even that little amount was in his hands, he probably grew overconfident. It led to his downfall. I don't know whether you felt it, but he stopped training, such was his arrogance.' Dante's eyes narrowed.
'If that's true, then how come you fell under his power so quickly?' Reiko blinked, as though he had been wrong footed.
'Well…I was…not thinking straight I guess…and…I didn't even know it was him who was making me less of a human. If I had known, perhaps I would have been better at fighting it?' Dante shook his head in exasperation. Reiko's answers were getting lamer and lamer. His eyes hardened slightly.
'Your humanity. Do you still have it?' Reiko nodded.
'That was his doing. I don't think he even realised at first what it was doing but then when he did realise, the results were…well…you saw…' Dante nodded, remembering suddenly that he had not been able to sense Reiko's whereabouts before. Now he could and now he understood. The power of that single sliver of crystal had been able to overpower Reiko's soul, replacing it with something else. Evil.
'You could have killed me if you wanted to.' Reiko looked up at Dante suddenly, confused. 'You're a lot stronger than I once gave you credit for. He was ordering you to kill me, and you could have, and yet you didn't.' Reiko said nothing, looking unsure as to where Dante's point was heading. 'Do you remember, when I was called out Devil May Cry on a fake job? I would have died but you came along and helped out.' Reiko was silent. Dante's face was impassive. 'I thank you.' Reiko's eyes widened and he stared at Dante as though he had grown an extra head. Though Dante's face had seemed carved of stone, and the words were spoken in a flat tone, their meaning wasn't lost upon the vampire. Dante saw the questioning look in the hazel eyes but said nothing. He turned around at that point without a backwards glance and headed up the stairs, leaving Reiko to wonder what exactly had brought that on.
Fact was, he wasn't even too sure himself.
Trish had her eyes open when Dante came into her bedroom and sat down at the edge of the bed. She tried to raise her head but failed, feeling too weak to even do that.
'You should just rest,' said Dante. Trish glared at him, irritated.
'Like I have any other choice.'
'You shouldn't blame yourself for what happened. You were caught by surprise.'
'I'm not weak though! I couldn't even get a hit in! One blast from him and I was floored!' Dante's face seemed to darken slightly. Trish blinked. 'What is it?'
'Mostro's dead, apparently.'
'Apparently?'
'Reiko killed him.' Trish smiled faintly at that.
'He must be pleased with himself.'
'With Alastor.' Trish blinked.
'But…you're the only one who's ever been able to hold that sword without getting electrocuted!' Dante shook his head in confusion. 'How did he do it? Kill him, I mean?'
'Just ran him through with the sword when his back was turned.' Trish frowned.
'A bit easy, wasn't it?'
'Too easy.'
'And you're both sure he's dead?'
'Certain. Reiko said it was because he got overconfident. Personally, I think that's a whole lot of crap.' Trish sighed softly.
'The reason he gave was valid though.'
'Even so, I just find it hard to believe. There's something more to this.'
'And how do you propose we find out?' Dante said nothing but he breathed out heavily, frustrated.
'I don't know.'
Reiko had headed outside, an energy surge making itself felt. He had wondered briefly whether he should have waited for Dante to return but the power surge was too urgent, too quick to rise. Something was wrong and he wanted to find out. He had cast one last glance at the body, saw no movement, no breathing, no pulse and had left.
The moon glistened down on the wet streets outside. Reiko paused, remembering. It had been a night just like this when Steph had first seen him. When he had fought that demon. His eyes closed slowly and he sighed heavily. Steph had been nothing to him, why should he care? Because she had been one of his first friends…
He blinked, shaking himself out of his reverie and carried on. Now was not the time to be reminiscing. He had to find out what the hell was going on, and whether the latest power surge was at all evil.
He turned the corner and blinked, grinding to a halt. His eyes widened and he started trying to back away, only to find he couldn't move. He snarled and hissed wildly, fangs bared but then yelled out in pain. Stars burst into his vision as his head hit heavily against the hard concrete but then the whole world seemed to be turning grey. Just before he blacked out completely, he gave vent to a loud ear splitting yell.
Back at Devil May Cry, Dante tensed up, looked towards Trish and headed out, his coat unfurling behind him, like a cape. He paused on the threshold and then headed back inside, sweeping up the small leather pouch that was filled with those strange healing jewels.
He had the feeling that he would need them.