Author's note: Hmmm, ok. This is moving kind of slow but I'm trying to make
it that why to give it mystery. Don't sweat it, there will ACTUALLY be some
answers to these questions in the next chap so be patient! Ok, don't really
have a lot to say this time but hey, just gives you more time to read the
chapter, eh? Ok, here it is!
This is Blades. "Good reading equals good times." I'm out.
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Ash woke to the continuous beat of his alarm clock which he rarely set. The sun hadn't even started to creep over the horizon as he started getting dressed. Drak said he was going to show up at the crack of dawn so Ash should at least start moving out well before that. After firmly strapping Salvation to his back and double checking that Ebony and Ivory were in the right places, Ash put his shades on and left his office, jumping on his bike and riding off.
Ash weaved absent-mindedly through the now just forming traffic as he finally reached his destination. He walked up to the door and knocked loudly. The same old man came out. "Oh hello there. Is there something you forgot to do from last time....?"
The man seemed pretty nervous. Maybe because a Devil Hunter just showed up for a second time to his house.....This time not invited.
"I saw a little girl here a couple days ago. I also saw her yesterday at a train station. She has some information that I need. Could I see her for a second?"
The man, now a lighter shade of white, said. "Little girl? I'm not sure who you're talking about. Now if you'll excuse me."
Ash stuck his hand out to stop the quickly closing door. "What about your daughter's room? The one I cleared a Blade from? I'm guessing that doesn't exist anymore?"
"No it does....But she's an adult and doesn't live here anymore. I just keep it like that as a memory."
Ash scoffed. "Sure ya do. Are you going to let me in or am I going to have to force myself in?"
The man tried to slam the door shut but Ash was obviously much stronger and flung it open, walking in.
"You can't be in here! I'm calling the police!"
Ash growled slightly. "What are you trying to hide?"
The man ignored him and ran to the phone but Ash was that much faster. His hand firmly around the man's neck, he plastered him up against a wall. "What are you trying to hide?!" He asked, his voice a bit higher then before.
The man gagged but didn't answer. Ash let his grip loosen slightly, allowing him to speak. After awhile the man didn't answer him. Instead he pointed in a direction behind Ash. To a figure hiding in the corner.
"You...." Ash said, letting go of the man as he turned to face her.
"She can't speak. She's a mute.....A special one, at that." The man coughed out from behind him.
Ash glances back over to the old man. "What do you mean? I heard her talk to me before I left this place."
"She was just getting your attention. She can only do that so many times."
"She made a screeching noise.....In the station."
"Yep, that must have been her. That's the only sound she can make."
Ash was now facing the man completely. "What is she?"
"Don't quite know. Thought she was a demon for the longest time but she's not. I've been told that by experts that are like.....Well like you."
Ash raised an eyebrow over his shades. "Like me?"
"Y'know.....Demonic."
"How do you know I'm a demon....?"
"Oh your mom told me. She's quite a nice gal. She's the one who said Ashley wasn't a demon.....Just something strange....er.....unique."
Ash was now floored. This man knew his mother? "How?" He accidentally asked out-loud.
"How what?"
"How do you know her?"
"We let her stay here years and years ago. You were no more then a year old or so. She looked pretty beaten up and pretty much fainted on our door step. Now I'm not one to judge but.....Well she looked pretty scary but you were just sitting there, crying. I couldn't turn you two down. I let her in and patched her up. Tying her to the wall just in case. She woke up and after a lot of convincing, proved she wasn't evil. We got to be pretty good friends and she stayed for a couple years here. Now and then going away to go to some place to look for your dad. Ashley was born right on your fifth birthday. So we gave her the female version of your name, Ash. Unfortunatly her mother died at birth....Sad thing...."
He didn't know what to say.....What could he say? "Thanks....." Was all he could find. "....For helping us." He added.
"Oh I should be thanking you and your mom. She saved us many an occasion. Ashley's so unique. People don't like that, lotta people want to end what they don't understand. They also think she's a big part of something. I don't even know what that something is but I swore I'd never let anything happen to her. Age is really catching up with me and I'm not sure if I'll be able to hold that promise for much longer. Perhaps your mother could watch her...?"
Ahs closed his fists and he looked to the ground. "My mother's dead. She was murdered by someone and I don't know who...."
The man was looking down too, now. "Sorry, I didn't know...."
"No, It's ok. I understand. So who's going to look after her now?" Ash asked, trying to get off the subject.
"I'm not sure....."
Ashley strolled up to the man and sat on his lap, playing with his balding head, smiling all the while. Ash smiled too as he watched on. The man looked up at him and watched his face for a small while. Ash wondered what he was looking at and just now realized how big his grin was getting. He placed his hand over his mouth and turned the other way, trying hard not to smile in spite of himself.
After a moment to think, the old man rubbed Ashley's head and asked Ash if he would take her in with him. "I know it's a large thing to ask someone I don't even know....But you remind me of your mother and she was the most kind soul I know. I thought if there was anyone she'd be safe with.....It was you."
Ash gave a hard, deep sigh and turned his attention to the roof. "I don't know. I'm in a tough business. I put my neck on the line every day. She'd be in permanent danger."
"But who better to protect her from demons then a Devil Hunter?!"
Ash sighed again but with less force. He looked down at the girl and felt his smile sliding back onto his face. "Alright, I'll do it.....But I'm not saying it's going to be permanent. I have a lot of friends. They should be able to find a good enough stronghold for her."
The man clapped his hands. "Good, good! Very well then! But I don't think you'll be giving her away. She really grows on you after awhile."
"Yeah, bet she does." Ash muttered, picking her up off the man and holding her for a while. "So you're going to be coming with me, is that alright?"
She gave a small nod and looked back at the man who gave her another hug and a huge grin. She smiled in return and gave a more enthusiastic nod.
"Great! So it's settled. I guess I'm out of here...."
"Good bye and please, PLEASE take good care of her!"
"Don't worry, I will." With that, Ash was off and to back at his office, going much slower then he had ever done in his life, now knowing he was riding with a child.
He opened the door and let Ashley down, allowing her to explore his office/house. Ash thought he'd better child-proof his room before letting her in there. His 'pictures' would not be a good influence to her.
As he cleaned up the sun finally made its way over the horizon and Ash waited at his desk, Ashley on his lap, for Drak to come by. He bounced the little girl up and down as something just slipped though his think skull. He now had a child to cloth and feed! How was he going to take care of a child?! He was only eighteen himself! He didn't know the first thing to do!! He sighed again, something he was getting better at nowadays. A couple minutes of silence Ash finally asked what she knew about his father. She grabbed and pen and some paper form his desk and began scribbling on it.
She showed it to Ash who read it aloud. "'he's being framed.' What? Are you sure? How do you know this? What about this artifact? What is it really?"
Again she scribbled, this time much longer and seemingly harder as she dug the pencil into the paper. Ash read it again. "'I am sure. Everyone is lying to you. This Infinity Artifact is just a ruse. They're trying to get you to find your father before the full moon.' But why?"
More scribbling. "'Stories say that's when he and his weapons are the weakest. He'd be easy pray.' So the artifact he was after was just a hoax?"
More moving of the pencil. "'No, there is something the demons believe he's trying to get into his possession. It's called the Reality Orb. It nullifies all arcane powers, including that of demons. Dante would only be half powered because of it's cancellation of his own abilities but he would still be strong enough to thoroughly take out a world of demons who can do nothing more then squirm around.' Wow.....How do you know all this."
She grabbed another sheet of paper. "'Your mother used to tell me stories about him and everything that went on in the Underworld. His last fight was over her freedom and the possession of the Reality Orb. She doesn't know who came out the victor, though.' That's.....Amazing."
There was a loud knock on the door and Ashley bolted up, running right for Ash's room. He knew she knew who was at the door and he knew why she was so afraid so he thought it'd be better if she just stayed there. He opened the door and let Drak in.
"Hello, friend!" He said, slapping Ash's back and walking in, taking a seat at his own desk like he belonged there. "So, you ready?"
"Na, I already found the thing my dad was after."
"What?! You found the.....Um, artifact?"
Ash nodded. "Yep, not sure how it's supposed to work though."
He walked over to his desk and picked up his paperweight, it was the crystallized blood of a Shadow. The very first Shadow he ever killed. It was a deep red with lines of black swirling around in it. He put it in Drak's hands. "So, how does it work?"
"Oh, we're not sure. Didn't we tell you that?"
"But it came with instructions. They said only half-bloods can use it. That's why my pop wanted it so bad. It says they only need to wish for their most secret desire and it will come true."
Drak's eyes were sparkling almost as bright as gold. He held in firmly in his hands. "Are you serious?! It's that easy??"
"Well it's not THAT easy. You DO have to be half demon and half human. I'd use if but I'm three-quarters, remember?"
"Yeah, yeah you are!! Wow...This is amazing..... I didn't know this actually was real but here it is! In my hands!"
"Yep, there it is. Better get it back to Kilik, right?" Ash reached his hand out for it but Drak pulled back, hard.
"No! He's a pureblood!! What's he going to do with it?!"
"Hey, you're right...Maybe you should use it then...right here. Right now."
"I will!!" Drak laughed, almost hysterically, and held the jewel over his head, shouting. "Give my eternal POWER!"
There was a pause as he waited for it to do something but nothing happened, Ash would have been laughing his ass off if this wasn't so serious. He brought it back to eye level and practically yelled. "Why isn't it working?!"
In a second, Ash had him up against a wall, right hand pushing the front of his neck into the back and left hand shoving the barrel of a black .50 deep into his skull. "That's because it's a fake, you little bastard. Guess we're both even. You believed my lie and I believed yours. Now.....Tell me why yours came to be in the first place?"
Drak growled at Ash, he knew he was screwed but he didn't know what to say. "It was Kilik's idea! Ask him! I know nothing, just an errand boy."
There was a creek and someone came out of Ash's room. It was Ashley.
"YOU!!" Drak roared as he shoved Ash down, flying towards the little girl.
Ash couldn't get up quick enough to stop him....But he soon found out he didn't have to. Before Drak had a chance to sink his swords into Ashley's flesh a bone-splitting screech filled the whole building, braking windows, taking things off the walls, and bringing some of the walls themselves crashing to the ground. Drak fell to the ground as he body seemed to wiggle like jello as he took the full force of the attack. As quickly as it started, the screaming stopped.
Ash took his hands off his ears. "Holy crap, warn me next time!" He couldn't hear his own voice over the loud ringing in his ears.
"Gah! Is this were you got your information from, Ash?! This.....THING?! How could you be so stupid? She's the main reason your mother is dead and your father went insane, you know? Oh sure, you don't have to believe me but I'll come back with FACTS to prove my case!" Drak vanished into a glowing green pit that had formed under his body.
Ash stared at the young girl. "Is that true? Is what he said true??"
She feverishly shook her head no and quickly ran into his room, locking the door. Ash lied on his back and screamed as loud as he could to the roof above him. He was STILL at square one! And he didn't know who to believe!! HOW did he get mixed up in this mess in the first place?!?!
"He's starting to fall apart at the seams, sir." Drak said to a shadowy figure before him.
"Yeah, it's just a matter of time before he completely snaps." Kilik added, coming out from behind Drak.
"Good." A voice from the shadow said. "But just make sure he's able to lure his dad out of hiding before he looses it. If Dante doesn't show himself then this whole exercise was moot. Do you three understand?"
The two men in front of the figure nodded but a third body, a female one, to the side didn't agree. "I don't like how we're screwing with his head. The little girl is only making this worse."
"I don't care what you think, Kira, as long as you do as I say and don't interfere."
She 'hmphed' and vanished into the darkness. The figure turned to Kilik. "Keep an eye on her. I don't trust her loyalty. Drak you go and continue pushing the young Sparda. Our plans will not fail. The pawn will bring forth the king and then we'll have exactly what we want...." The figure gave a deep bellowing laugh as the two demons faded into the walls, going back to their assigned tasks.
This is Blades. "Good reading equals good times." I'm out.
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Ash woke to the continuous beat of his alarm clock which he rarely set. The sun hadn't even started to creep over the horizon as he started getting dressed. Drak said he was going to show up at the crack of dawn so Ash should at least start moving out well before that. After firmly strapping Salvation to his back and double checking that Ebony and Ivory were in the right places, Ash put his shades on and left his office, jumping on his bike and riding off.
Ash weaved absent-mindedly through the now just forming traffic as he finally reached his destination. He walked up to the door and knocked loudly. The same old man came out. "Oh hello there. Is there something you forgot to do from last time....?"
The man seemed pretty nervous. Maybe because a Devil Hunter just showed up for a second time to his house.....This time not invited.
"I saw a little girl here a couple days ago. I also saw her yesterday at a train station. She has some information that I need. Could I see her for a second?"
The man, now a lighter shade of white, said. "Little girl? I'm not sure who you're talking about. Now if you'll excuse me."
Ash stuck his hand out to stop the quickly closing door. "What about your daughter's room? The one I cleared a Blade from? I'm guessing that doesn't exist anymore?"
"No it does....But she's an adult and doesn't live here anymore. I just keep it like that as a memory."
Ash scoffed. "Sure ya do. Are you going to let me in or am I going to have to force myself in?"
The man tried to slam the door shut but Ash was obviously much stronger and flung it open, walking in.
"You can't be in here! I'm calling the police!"
Ash growled slightly. "What are you trying to hide?"
The man ignored him and ran to the phone but Ash was that much faster. His hand firmly around the man's neck, he plastered him up against a wall. "What are you trying to hide?!" He asked, his voice a bit higher then before.
The man gagged but didn't answer. Ash let his grip loosen slightly, allowing him to speak. After awhile the man didn't answer him. Instead he pointed in a direction behind Ash. To a figure hiding in the corner.
"You...." Ash said, letting go of the man as he turned to face her.
"She can't speak. She's a mute.....A special one, at that." The man coughed out from behind him.
Ash glances back over to the old man. "What do you mean? I heard her talk to me before I left this place."
"She was just getting your attention. She can only do that so many times."
"She made a screeching noise.....In the station."
"Yep, that must have been her. That's the only sound she can make."
Ash was now facing the man completely. "What is she?"
"Don't quite know. Thought she was a demon for the longest time but she's not. I've been told that by experts that are like.....Well like you."
Ash raised an eyebrow over his shades. "Like me?"
"Y'know.....Demonic."
"How do you know I'm a demon....?"
"Oh your mom told me. She's quite a nice gal. She's the one who said Ashley wasn't a demon.....Just something strange....er.....unique."
Ash was now floored. This man knew his mother? "How?" He accidentally asked out-loud.
"How what?"
"How do you know her?"
"We let her stay here years and years ago. You were no more then a year old or so. She looked pretty beaten up and pretty much fainted on our door step. Now I'm not one to judge but.....Well she looked pretty scary but you were just sitting there, crying. I couldn't turn you two down. I let her in and patched her up. Tying her to the wall just in case. She woke up and after a lot of convincing, proved she wasn't evil. We got to be pretty good friends and she stayed for a couple years here. Now and then going away to go to some place to look for your dad. Ashley was born right on your fifth birthday. So we gave her the female version of your name, Ash. Unfortunatly her mother died at birth....Sad thing...."
He didn't know what to say.....What could he say? "Thanks....." Was all he could find. "....For helping us." He added.
"Oh I should be thanking you and your mom. She saved us many an occasion. Ashley's so unique. People don't like that, lotta people want to end what they don't understand. They also think she's a big part of something. I don't even know what that something is but I swore I'd never let anything happen to her. Age is really catching up with me and I'm not sure if I'll be able to hold that promise for much longer. Perhaps your mother could watch her...?"
Ahs closed his fists and he looked to the ground. "My mother's dead. She was murdered by someone and I don't know who...."
The man was looking down too, now. "Sorry, I didn't know...."
"No, It's ok. I understand. So who's going to look after her now?" Ash asked, trying to get off the subject.
"I'm not sure....."
Ashley strolled up to the man and sat on his lap, playing with his balding head, smiling all the while. Ash smiled too as he watched on. The man looked up at him and watched his face for a small while. Ash wondered what he was looking at and just now realized how big his grin was getting. He placed his hand over his mouth and turned the other way, trying hard not to smile in spite of himself.
After a moment to think, the old man rubbed Ashley's head and asked Ash if he would take her in with him. "I know it's a large thing to ask someone I don't even know....But you remind me of your mother and she was the most kind soul I know. I thought if there was anyone she'd be safe with.....It was you."
Ash gave a hard, deep sigh and turned his attention to the roof. "I don't know. I'm in a tough business. I put my neck on the line every day. She'd be in permanent danger."
"But who better to protect her from demons then a Devil Hunter?!"
Ash sighed again but with less force. He looked down at the girl and felt his smile sliding back onto his face. "Alright, I'll do it.....But I'm not saying it's going to be permanent. I have a lot of friends. They should be able to find a good enough stronghold for her."
The man clapped his hands. "Good, good! Very well then! But I don't think you'll be giving her away. She really grows on you after awhile."
"Yeah, bet she does." Ash muttered, picking her up off the man and holding her for a while. "So you're going to be coming with me, is that alright?"
She gave a small nod and looked back at the man who gave her another hug and a huge grin. She smiled in return and gave a more enthusiastic nod.
"Great! So it's settled. I guess I'm out of here...."
"Good bye and please, PLEASE take good care of her!"
"Don't worry, I will." With that, Ash was off and to back at his office, going much slower then he had ever done in his life, now knowing he was riding with a child.
He opened the door and let Ashley down, allowing her to explore his office/house. Ash thought he'd better child-proof his room before letting her in there. His 'pictures' would not be a good influence to her.
As he cleaned up the sun finally made its way over the horizon and Ash waited at his desk, Ashley on his lap, for Drak to come by. He bounced the little girl up and down as something just slipped though his think skull. He now had a child to cloth and feed! How was he going to take care of a child?! He was only eighteen himself! He didn't know the first thing to do!! He sighed again, something he was getting better at nowadays. A couple minutes of silence Ash finally asked what she knew about his father. She grabbed and pen and some paper form his desk and began scribbling on it.
She showed it to Ash who read it aloud. "'he's being framed.' What? Are you sure? How do you know this? What about this artifact? What is it really?"
Again she scribbled, this time much longer and seemingly harder as she dug the pencil into the paper. Ash read it again. "'I am sure. Everyone is lying to you. This Infinity Artifact is just a ruse. They're trying to get you to find your father before the full moon.' But why?"
More scribbling. "'Stories say that's when he and his weapons are the weakest. He'd be easy pray.' So the artifact he was after was just a hoax?"
More moving of the pencil. "'No, there is something the demons believe he's trying to get into his possession. It's called the Reality Orb. It nullifies all arcane powers, including that of demons. Dante would only be half powered because of it's cancellation of his own abilities but he would still be strong enough to thoroughly take out a world of demons who can do nothing more then squirm around.' Wow.....How do you know all this."
She grabbed another sheet of paper. "'Your mother used to tell me stories about him and everything that went on in the Underworld. His last fight was over her freedom and the possession of the Reality Orb. She doesn't know who came out the victor, though.' That's.....Amazing."
There was a loud knock on the door and Ashley bolted up, running right for Ash's room. He knew she knew who was at the door and he knew why she was so afraid so he thought it'd be better if she just stayed there. He opened the door and let Drak in.
"Hello, friend!" He said, slapping Ash's back and walking in, taking a seat at his own desk like he belonged there. "So, you ready?"
"Na, I already found the thing my dad was after."
"What?! You found the.....Um, artifact?"
Ash nodded. "Yep, not sure how it's supposed to work though."
He walked over to his desk and picked up his paperweight, it was the crystallized blood of a Shadow. The very first Shadow he ever killed. It was a deep red with lines of black swirling around in it. He put it in Drak's hands. "So, how does it work?"
"Oh, we're not sure. Didn't we tell you that?"
"But it came with instructions. They said only half-bloods can use it. That's why my pop wanted it so bad. It says they only need to wish for their most secret desire and it will come true."
Drak's eyes were sparkling almost as bright as gold. He held in firmly in his hands. "Are you serious?! It's that easy??"
"Well it's not THAT easy. You DO have to be half demon and half human. I'd use if but I'm three-quarters, remember?"
"Yeah, yeah you are!! Wow...This is amazing..... I didn't know this actually was real but here it is! In my hands!"
"Yep, there it is. Better get it back to Kilik, right?" Ash reached his hand out for it but Drak pulled back, hard.
"No! He's a pureblood!! What's he going to do with it?!"
"Hey, you're right...Maybe you should use it then...right here. Right now."
"I will!!" Drak laughed, almost hysterically, and held the jewel over his head, shouting. "Give my eternal POWER!"
There was a pause as he waited for it to do something but nothing happened, Ash would have been laughing his ass off if this wasn't so serious. He brought it back to eye level and practically yelled. "Why isn't it working?!"
In a second, Ash had him up against a wall, right hand pushing the front of his neck into the back and left hand shoving the barrel of a black .50 deep into his skull. "That's because it's a fake, you little bastard. Guess we're both even. You believed my lie and I believed yours. Now.....Tell me why yours came to be in the first place?"
Drak growled at Ash, he knew he was screwed but he didn't know what to say. "It was Kilik's idea! Ask him! I know nothing, just an errand boy."
There was a creek and someone came out of Ash's room. It was Ashley.
"YOU!!" Drak roared as he shoved Ash down, flying towards the little girl.
Ash couldn't get up quick enough to stop him....But he soon found out he didn't have to. Before Drak had a chance to sink his swords into Ashley's flesh a bone-splitting screech filled the whole building, braking windows, taking things off the walls, and bringing some of the walls themselves crashing to the ground. Drak fell to the ground as he body seemed to wiggle like jello as he took the full force of the attack. As quickly as it started, the screaming stopped.
Ash took his hands off his ears. "Holy crap, warn me next time!" He couldn't hear his own voice over the loud ringing in his ears.
"Gah! Is this were you got your information from, Ash?! This.....THING?! How could you be so stupid? She's the main reason your mother is dead and your father went insane, you know? Oh sure, you don't have to believe me but I'll come back with FACTS to prove my case!" Drak vanished into a glowing green pit that had formed under his body.
Ash stared at the young girl. "Is that true? Is what he said true??"
She feverishly shook her head no and quickly ran into his room, locking the door. Ash lied on his back and screamed as loud as he could to the roof above him. He was STILL at square one! And he didn't know who to believe!! HOW did he get mixed up in this mess in the first place?!?!
"He's starting to fall apart at the seams, sir." Drak said to a shadowy figure before him.
"Yeah, it's just a matter of time before he completely snaps." Kilik added, coming out from behind Drak.
"Good." A voice from the shadow said. "But just make sure he's able to lure his dad out of hiding before he looses it. If Dante doesn't show himself then this whole exercise was moot. Do you three understand?"
The two men in front of the figure nodded but a third body, a female one, to the side didn't agree. "I don't like how we're screwing with his head. The little girl is only making this worse."
"I don't care what you think, Kira, as long as you do as I say and don't interfere."
She 'hmphed' and vanished into the darkness. The figure turned to Kilik. "Keep an eye on her. I don't trust her loyalty. Drak you go and continue pushing the young Sparda. Our plans will not fail. The pawn will bring forth the king and then we'll have exactly what we want...." The figure gave a deep bellowing laugh as the two demons faded into the walls, going back to their assigned tasks.