Wow. Ok. Finally finished this chap. I don't know how long it'll be till I update this again because of my other fics and because I started school again but whatever. I'll update when I can.

So here's the next chap.

Hope it was worth the wait.

Enjoy

Break Out

Dante closed his eyes and felt a cold rush through his body as the sword sunk deeper into his shadow. The original searing pain Ombris had caused had slowed to a dull throb but the chill of it was still as intense as ever. It was like a block of ice was lodged in his throat and was slowly melting down his body and spreading throughout his limbs. It was hard to breath and his lungs ached from the cold burn. His head throbbed as if he had drunk something too cold, too fast.

He was beyond uncomfortable and Raven and Zephyr couldn't-or wouldn't do a thing about it. Either that or they were completely oblivious to Dante's current situation, which was unlikely. Zephyr had gone through this before and must know exactly what was transpiring with the sword-or maybe he hadn't gotten this far before he had lapsed into a coma.

Whatever the case, the two hunters stood a short ways away. Dante could see their shadows cast along the floor and Zephyr's was shifting impatiently.

Why doesn't he just leave if he's so bored? Bastard's probably waiting for the sword to kill me or something. Either that or he doesn't want to leave his precious Raven alone with me…Jackass.

"Agh!"

Ombris suddenly sunk up to the hilt and Dante cried out, his voice shrill and a visible white mist, as more blood broke through his chest in small red icicles. The crystallized blood instantly began melting as it hit the warmer air of the room.

Zephyr and Raven watched in awe. They didn't seem to notice the brunette's shadow engorge, then twist and break apart into two separate black forms; one of which stayed with Zephyr; the other slowly swept across the floor towards the devil hunter.

Dante knew in an instant what it was but as he raised his eyes and opened his mouth to warn the other hunters, no sounds came out. His voice was a wheezing cough and his throat burned just from the effort. It was as if his vocal chords had been frozen along with everything else in his body.

………………

The stalker kept its slow and silent glide across the floor. There was no need to alert the sword's keeper or the foolish human who had allowed him entry into Raven's nest of his presence. They would be done away with soon enough but first he had to stop Ombris from combining with the devil hunter.

Lucky for the stalker, Dante was vulnerable to its attacks while he was merging with the sword.

He hadn't been able to wound the son of Sparda earlier in the construction yard, even when he was weakened, but now he was wide open for an attack. His shadow was injured and that was all the chance the stalker needed to strike.

Once Dante was eliminated, there would be no one strong enough to wield Ombris and the sword would be rendered useless. All the Stalker needed was for the hilt to enter Dante's body and the devil hunter would be at his weakest.

By then it would only have seconds to destroy the devil hunter before the sword completed the merge but seconds was more than sufficient time.

…………….

Turning Dante's breath to a dull rasp, the rest of the shadow sword plunged into his chest. He felt the sensation in his head like his ears were popping. A veil of bright white light covered his eyes, temporarily blinding him. His lungs were almost screaming to be allowed oxygen. It felt as though a chunk of cement was slowly pressing down on his chest, crushing and closing off his airways.

In that sudden instant of agony, Dante wondered if the sword was merging with him or trying to kill him. In either case, he didn't like what was happening.

He also couldn't mask his growing fear as the Stalker continued its brazen approach. He knew that it wasn't afraid of him or the other hunters. It knew that Raven and Zephyr didn't know that it was there. It knew that it was going to kill Dante as easily as if he was a helpless child.

Dante could almost hear its whispery laughter. He could almost make out the harsh tone of it ghostly voice. It was speaking to him and Dante could understand its simple message easily enough.

"Die, Son of Sparda."

He was suddenly frozen; not even able to move a finger. It wasn't with fear and it wasn't the kind of freeze as if time had stopped. Dante was just so cold and dizzy with pain that he couldn't move a muscle.

It was the perfect time for the stalker to strike.

And it did.

Without a moment's hesitation, the stalker let out a piercing wail and dove at the immobile hunter. Dante's eyes widened in alarm but he was helpless to stop the coming attack.

Within seconds he was caught in a daze of intense pain as the Stalker tore through his body. Raven and Zephyr rushed forward, realizing what had happened but they were powerless against a shadow. If Dante was to survive, he would have to save himself. The only thing that could help him now was Ombris and the sword was still in the midst of combining with the ailing hunter.

He felt the shadow tearing at his insides. Any other mortal would have been dead by now but Dante withstood the assailment.

The Stalker jerked out of his body, shrieking loudly again, but not in delight. He was in a frenzy and if Dante had bothered listening he would have heard the frustrated question 'Why won't you die?' in the shadow's piercing scream.

The seconds had passed and the Stalker's opportunity to kill the hunter had vanished with them.

Soon the pain was lost to numbness and Dante rose unconsciously to his feet, like a puppet on strings. His eyes looked about wildly, glowing softly blue, and when they focused on the Stalker, he let out a low growl and reached behind him for Alastor.

He pulled the sword off his back and didn't waste time marvelling on how it had transformed, but bounded at the demon shadow and slashed furiously at it. The Stalker screeched wildly and zipped around Dante's swipes. It was nearly struck down when it let out a gleeful whine and dove into Raven's shadow.

Dante went after it but stopped his arm before the weapon grazed the floor. He growled angrily and scanned the shadow for the Stalker, pacing in an arc around Raven, his arm raised and ready to strike. The dark-haired woman bit down on her lip, hoping Dante wouldn't miss as she stood quietly and apprehensively before him.

Zephyr skulked closer, folding his arms as he watched. "You better not miss Sparda," he warned, receiving a vicious glare from the devil hunter in return.

"I'm gonna try very hard not to Princess." Dante bit back, his fingers tightening on the sword in frustration. Even though he had Ombris, its powers were still too new to him and he couldn't distinguish between shadows yet. The Stalker looked just like Raven's shadow and if he was staring at it right now, he would never know. The demon had gone completely quiet and was watching Dante, waiting for him to make his move. It wanted Dante to miss because it wanted the keeper of the sword dead.

Dante wasn't going to kill Raven and he silently cursed the shadow demon for not diving back into Zephyr's shadow. He would gladly have killed the tall brunette and rid himself of two pains in the ass in one shot. But of course the Stalker was smart enough to know that and it would have seen how the two hunters had gone at each other earlier if it had been attached to Zephyr's shadow at that time.

The Stalker chose its protection well and it made Dante furious to have it so close and yet not be able to kill it.

Raven looked up at the devil hunter, whispering his name to get his attention. Dante's eyes went to her in a questioning glance.

"Kill me," she said quietly and flatly.

Both Dante and Zephyr gaped at her, the brunette edging closer, protectively, as if Dante would actually go ahead and kill the dark-haired woman.

"What did you say?" asked Dante, needing confirmation.

"Just kill me," Raven repeated, as calmly as before. "Wipe this thing out now while you can. You might not get another shot like this. Just do it."

"He CAN'T," the brunette exclaimed, giving Dante a warning glance.

"He has to," said Raven. "Dante has an opportunity. He has to take it." She turned her gaze on the devil hunter, who had suddenly gone very quiet and was staring downwards at her shadow. "Go on," she prodded, looking very determined.

Dante lifted his sword higher with both hands on the hilt but didn't drive it down. Raven frowned.

"Do it Hero. You saw what it did to Trish. You wanted your revenge. So take it."

"But he could hit YOU instead!" Zephyr spoke up again. "He could end up killing you and letting the Stalker get away!"

"He could," said Raven, taking a deep breath. "But I already gave him permission to kill me. He can't see the difference between shadows so he's better off just aiming for mine and hoping for the best."

"HOPING FOR THE BEST?" The brunette's eyes went wide. "I can't believe you're going to let him kill you when there's almost no chance of him actually getting the fucking demon!"

"Oh shut up Zephyr," said Raven, finally voicing her annoyance with him. "We wouldn't even be in this situation if you hadn't brought it in here."

Zephyr froze for an instant, his mouth slightly ajar as he gazed at Raven. He began to stutter. "I-I didn't br-"

Raven raised her hand to silence him, turning her attention back to Dante. "Do it," she said forcefully.

Zephyr made a move as if he wanted to rip the sword out of Dante's hand and run away with it, but he kept back, his mouth setting in a scowl. Dante closed his eyes, puckering his brow. When he opened them, he dropped his gaze to Raven's shadow and concentrating, slashed at the floor.

The room echoed with Zephyr's protesting scream, but mingled with his cry was also a high pitched shriek that was too shrill to have belonged to Raven. Dante saw the wounded Stalker rush out of Raven's shadow and away from the hunters. He went after it but was suddenly distracted by another of its wails and all of the sirens going off in Raven's Nest. The lights shut off and the meagre emergency lighting came on. Dante lost the stalker in the shadows again.

"FUCK!"

"DANTE!" Raven yelled at him from across the room. She sounded almost frantic.

Dante gave another searching look around the room and cursed as he turned from the shadows, being forced to abandon his hunt of the Stalker.

Zephyr was already rushing out the door when he got to the dark-haired woman.

"What's wrong?" Dante asked, noting her worry stricken face that was bordering on terror.

"They're out! They all broke out!!"

Dante felt a lump in his throat. "What broke out?" he asked steadily, but his heart was pounding.

"The demons we keep for examination," Raven answered, her voice jittery. "The Stalker broke them out! He's controlling them! ALL OF THEM"

By the look on her face, Dante had been expecting bad news-but nothing even remotely close to what she'd revealed. "What do you mean it's controlling ALL OF THEM? It can do that?"

Raven didn't reply. She was too distracted by the horrified screams coming from a lower level and that were heading in their direction. She had to step quickly back into the training room to avoid being trampled by the droves of people rushing down the hall, yelling shrilly.

Dante watched the mass go past and then pushed by Raven, out into the hall as a large, tri-horned demon thundered up the way. It roared when it saw him and lowered its head, stampeding forward as another lumbered up the stairs after it. The hallway was a tight fit for its massive body and its sides slid along the walls, cracking the plaster as it ran along.

The cramped space slowed the demon down, but only marginally and the small passage left Dante little to no room to avoid the attacking monster. He would have gone back into the training room to get around it, but he had to protect the people that had run past a few seconds ago. By the time he got around the first demon, he would be right in the path of the second. And if he waited for both to go by, the people running for the staircase would get mowed down.

It left him with the only choice of meeting them head on.

Oh great…What the fuck am I going to do?

Dante lifted his sword and held it out in front of him, setting his feet apart as he waited for the demons to come closer. What exactly he planned to do once they did, he didn't know. He had as much hope of stopping them in his current position as he did a speeding train, but Dante wasn't seeing any other options.

The floor rumbled and shook beneath his feet and soon Dante had to bend his knees more and more to brace himself against the earthquake caused by the demons thundering feet. They were only feet from him now and the first demon began swinging its head, bashing down the walls on either side as it tried to smash Dante with its massive horns. The devil hunter took quick steps back to avoid the raging beast and as its head was turned from a failed attempt to gore him, he slashed at its neck, splitting it wide open. Its black blood spilled on the floor, making it slick underfoot but the wound barely slowed it down. If anything, it made the beast angrier and it charged Dante with even greater speed.

The devil hunter retreated again, getting sprayed with the demon's blood as it continued to swing its head. He slashed at it again but was sent off balance from the clumsy downward thrust of his sword. He slipped in the monster's blood and slid to a knee. The next thing he felt was an excruciating crunch in his chest as his ribs broke. He was knocked into the air by the demon's horns and sent flying through a crumbled wall into the room behind it.

He lay there, groggy and barely aware of the continuing shrieks of the people trying to escape Raven's nest. The sirens were still blaring and the emergency lighting was already failing. Dante opened his eyes to a slit and saw the flickering bulbs in the hallway he had just been knocked out of. He watched the second beast crash by the opening in the wall and tried to sit up but gasped in pain and dropped his head back down, staring blearily at the ceiling, loosely cupping his side.

He listened patiently and defeated to the roaring sounds of the demons feet as they continued down the hall. In a few seconds he expected to hear even louder hysterical screaming and probably the sickening crunch of bones as the demons caught up with the retreating people; only as soon as the second beast passed by, everything went silent-save for the sirens. The screaming had stopped and Dante could no longer make out any noise from the demons. It was as if they'd completely vanished-or somehow managed to find a way to walk on air.

Dante wasn't particularly comforted by the sudden silence and he strained to hear over the harsh sirens. There was nothing for a few long minutes. He was almost to the point of biting back the pain and getting up to see what was happening when he heard the slight echo of footsteps coming towards him. They were heavier steps. They didn't seem like Raven's. And as Dante lifted his head, he saw Zephyr come up to the crumbled wall and stare at him calmly with glazed eyes that seemed to be looking in his direction but were not actually seeing anything.

After seconds of uneasiness under the brunette's strange gaze, Dante painstakingly pushed himself up so that his head and shoulders were resting on the side of an overturned chair. He brought his eyes back up to Zephyr and reached out a hand, soon letting it fall back to his stinging chest. "…ugh," he grimaced. "Little help?"

The question seemed to snap Zephyr out of his dreamlike state. His eyes darkened rapidly and he glared at the devil hunter with pure loathing. "Help you?" he muttered, almost serenely. "The son of the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda needs MY help?" he questioned, taking a few paces into the room; wide steps so as to avoid large pieces of broken wood and plaster. "That can't be right." He shook his head. "You're much too BIG and STRONG to need anyone's help," he said mockingly and moved closer, his feet crunching through the debris until he stopped and kneeled over Dante. His gaze dropped briefly to the transformed Alastor, whose blade was now black along an edge and etched with strange symbols.

"You have the shadow sword." Zephyr lifted his eyes to Dante. "You have the power." He almost spat the next words and Dante knew immediately what he meant by them. "You have EVERYTHING."

The brunette hissed and Dante stared back at him coolly, dragging his fingers slowly towards the hilt of his sword, not liking the crazed look that had suddenly appeared in his eyes.

Zephyr caught sight of the measured action and snatched Dante's hand, squeezing his fingers tightly and twisting them back until the hunter howled and Zephyr released him. He grabbed the end of the sword and flung it to the other end of the room amongst a pile of rubble. He leaned back towards Dante, his face a little drawn as if the sword had already slightly weakened him in the instance that he had held it.

"This place is crawling with demons of all levels, Sparda," Zephyr said loudly, as if he were speaking to an audience of people rather than just one man in an empty room. "The Stalker is controlling them as I'm sure you are aware and if IT doesn't get you, THEY will. The barrier won't let them out of here so they're not going anywhere and neither are you."

"We'll see about that," Dante growled, once again trying to get up, but this time Zephyr pushed him down roughly, ramming his shoulders off the chair and down to the ground, his head banging along the wooden polls.

"I said you're not going ANYWHERE," Zephyr barked, sliding a knee onto Dante's chest to keep him down.

The devil hunter cried out in pain and coughed up a spray of blood into Zephyr's face. The brunette took a hand off one of his shoulders and wiped his face clean; looking disgusted and then brought the same fist to the side of Dante's face with great force, dazing him. He grabbed him by the collar and lifted him up to meet his eyes but the hunter's head lulled back and his eyes drooped shut. He let him drop back to the ground again with a snarl.

"You're dead Sparda. And nobody's left to save you. Everyone's either been killed or they've escaped. It's just you and the demons now."

Dante let out a feeble groan and his eyelids lifted partially. Zephyr was just a blurred mass in front of his face. "…R…ven." He garbled the name but it was enough to set Zephyr off again and Dante cried out again, his voice cracking as Zephyr pushed more of his wait onto his knee so that he was practically sitting on the devil hunter.

"Don't worry about her," Zephyr snapped, "She got out. She's safe-no thanks to you. And as far as she'll be concerned, you're dead. I searched and tragically found your mutilated body being devoured by demons…There was nothing I could do."

He sneered and bent lower to Dante's face, the devil hunter wincing and grinding his teeth together to try and hide how much pain he was in. Sweat was dripping down his face and blood was oozing from his mouth. His teeth were stained red.

"She was mine before you ever came along, Sparda," he whispered venomously.

Dante knew it was a terrible idea to laugh but he couldn't help chuckling, which sounded more like a panting dog, but Zephyr got the idea. Dante expected to have his throat crushed for it as he could see Zephyr flexing his fingers and his body getting increasingly tenser but he didn't touch him. Instead he reverted to his original eerie calm and blank gaze and stood, pushing off Dante with more force than was needed to stand to cause the white-haired man further agony.

Dante bit his lip to keep from yelling again and he watched Zephyr unhurriedly pick his way through the rubble to the broken wall.

"Save yourself Sparda…If you can," he mumbled and was gone as Dante finally lost consciousness.

Right so just let me know what you guys think of the chap.

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