Disclaimer: I only claim Dawn. I don't care enough about the devil, in my story, to claim him.
Note: There's going to be one more chapter after this one. It'll be two endings, good and bad. Everyone can vote one which one they like best so that I can start on the sequel. And thanks for all the reviews, I really appreciate them.
I lead them out into the fresh air, the open space acting as a relief to us all.
"Virgil, look." Dawn whispers as she points to the horizon.
The sun has just begun to rise, bringing with it the start of a new day.
"The dawn of a new day," Dawn whispers beside me. "And the dawn of your new life."
"What does this new life hold?" I ask, facing her as I wait for her answer.
"That depends on you. I can't tell what the future holds. If I could, it would mean that it was all set; something I know isn't true. Only you can decide on your future." She answers.
"I guess this means good-bye." Dante says, depressingly behind us. "And I was actually considering you as my brother."
I look back to the horizon and think of what to say.
"We have much to talk about, you and I." I finally answer.
"Yeah, like how you talk." He says as he casually slaps me on the back.
"Meaning?"
"You're too proper. You talk like that around people and you'll give me a bad image."
A quiet giggle develops from Dawn. It doesn't take long for me to assume that she is enjoying the conversation between my brother and I.
"You believe I should speak more like you?" I smirk for the first time in years, somehow it doesn't feel alien to me. "If I were to do that, I would be and idiot."
Our brotherly quarrel ends with Dawn's laughter. She had begun to laugh so hard that she fell on me for support.
The future is my own, she said. My new future begins now. Dante will know what turned me against him, but only after I deal with Dawn's laughter.
Without warning, I take her in my arms and swing her around.
"Virgil!" She gasps through constant giggles.
"Just giving you something to laugh about." I whisper in her ear.
She looks into my eyes, not as she had done when we were children. It is because of this that a strange feeling pours over me. At first it almost feels like my heart has stopped, but then my heart is all I can hear.
"Before your staring contest can go on, would you mind telling me what you wanted to talk about?" Dante's voice broke in, immediately making us drop our eyes.
I hesitate as I tell him everything. My hatred for how he was loved and I ignored.
As I finish, Dante ponders it all.
"What will you do now?" He asks.
"I don't know." I answer. How am I to know what I should do now that I my future is my own? What does life hold for a creature such as I?
A creature such as I.
"Is it all truly over?" Dawn asks me.
"No." I answer in a soft voice. "We only destroyed the shell that held his spirit. Evil can't be destroyed. The devil can't be demolished. Without him, there would be nothing to balance out the good… No, he's still out there, but now his only weapon is his words."
Dawn's hands carefully wrap around my arm. Such innocence. Is this why the devil had taken her? Or was there something else, some other reason for him to steal her from this world. Perhaps, now, I'll never know.