Devil May Cry: Zero
Disclaimer: All original characters from Devil May Cry belong to Capcom. This is a non-profit fan fiction.
Chapter 9: The Encounter
A bit of warning: This fanfic contains violence not suitable for those under 13 years of age.
Vergil had a feeling that something wasn't right. Why Rune decided to show himself at a time like this? Why not later or earlier? Suddenly he noticed Rei was no longer standing next to them. He turned around just to see her being pulled into darkness. Without thinking twice, he followed her a split second before the black void closed up.
It all happened too quickly for Dante and Mia to do anything. Rushing forward, Dante grabbed Rune on his collar and pointed his gun under Rune's chin. "I don't like to play hide and seek," Dante told him.
"Where did you take Rei you creep?" Mia demanded.
"You'll see her again soon enough," Rune said. He wasn't slightly worried about the loaded gun pointing at him. After saying that, he simply vanished.
"Wait!" Mia called out but Rune was already gone. She clenched her fist, feeling angry and frustrated. It was obvious that he is toying with them but she couldn't do anything about it.
"Looks like it's just you and me now," Dante said sheepishly. Deep down he was concerned about the other two. It didn't take a genius to figure out Rei was in bad shape and Vergil wasn't looking a lot better her either.
"What do you think we should do?" Mia asked. She wasn't sure if she should ask Dante that way. To her, it felt a bit foolish to be so serious to someone as facetious as him. There were only two choices for them really: stay and find Vergil and Rei, or leave immediately to avoid being found by devils. According to Rei's personality, Mia guessed her sister would choose to leave Domain separately – that was if she still had her freedom.
Dante imagined what Vergil would do if they were separated. "We leave. They'll probably do the same," He put aside his sarcasm and said. He thought about asking about Rune but decided leave it until later.
"Yeah," Mia agreed. She didn't expect a serious answer from Dante.
Before they could make it out of Cathedral, something huge fell on the ground right in front of them with a loud thud. A huge spider of the size of a motorbike with human face stood in the way out menacingly. Apparently, it dropped from the ceiling. Dante looked up and saw at least ten more above their heads. These low class devils were called Arachnes. They looked like they hadn't been fed in a long time.
"Let me take that back. Looks like we've got company. The host has a way of making us stay behind for the party, don't you think?" Dante had Rebellion ready.
"If only they had better music I'd think about it," Mia answered. "Cut through this one quickly."
"We're not staying?" Dante asked jokingly.
"Just do as I said!" Mia hurried him, less patient this time. "Ok lady," Dante shrugged. A few more Arachnes landed on the ground and surrounded them. Dante lend Ebony and Ivory to her while he armed himself with his sword.
The situation wasn't looking optimistic so Dante decided to trust whatever Mia had up her sleeves. It was easier said then done though. The Arachnes were not only fast but they worked cooperatively as a team. They had eight legs but only used the two at the front to attack. After a while of jumping and rolling away, Dante noticed they always screech before they rush forward. Behind him, Mia was using the handguns to keep the spiders from getting too close. At first, she attempted to save bullets but soon discovered that the guns had infinite ammunition.
Taking Mia's words, Dante focused on the particular Arachne that was blocking the door. When he saw another rush attack coming, Dante jumped on its back lightly and landed behind it. The moment he did, he unleashed several combos, not giving it any chance to strike back. Dante stood out of the way before the Archane fell on its back and turned into a pool of acidic liquid. Seeing that their way was cleared, Dante and Mia pushed the door open and hurried out the Cathedral. However, Mia didn't head off right away. "Catch," Mia threw Ebony and Ivory back to Dante, who caught them skillfully. Mia placed her hand on the door and closed her eyes. A bright line of blue light appeared, outlining the edge of the door. Following that, a symbol that was similar to the ones in Rei's summoning circles emerged in the center.
"This should keep them inside," Mia said when she finished with her seal.
By the time they arrived back at Lagoon, it was no longer a lake. The area turned into a muddy swamp. There were no other ways to get across other than on foot. Dante put his feet into the mud and immediately sank down to knee level. The swamp was deeper than they thought. It was hard to walk in it because the black mud was so slimy and sticky. Mia followed behind the demon hunter. Like Dante, she didn't find walking in the mud the most enjoyable thing to do but they needed to get out of there as soon as possible.
"I've always wanted to play in the mud when I was little," Dante said sarcastically as they travel across. At least his wounded leg was fully healed by now. Even though he was half devil, it still took a while to heal up.
"Well, have fun," Mia replied. She pulled a muddy foot up to take another step forward. She had to walk faster otherwise she would sink further below. Suddenly, a bean sprout-like yellow plant broke out of the mud behind them. It began to grow several thick vines from itself at an amazing speed. The vines were covered in millions of sharp thorns. The direction where the vines were going was clear – it was heading for them.
"This just keeps getting better and better," Dante said. He tried to walk across as fast as he could but found it difficult to precede any faster than he was. Mia was doing the same. They both knew that in actual fact, the plant was getting to them quicker than they were getting away from it.
Just when Dante was about to suggest getting rid of the plant first, one of its vines caught Mia's arm and began pulling her back. Mia cried out as the thorns on the plant dug into her skin. The thorns were like tiny knives, small but sharp. Desperately, she tried to break free but the vine wrapped its end firmly around her upper arm. Dante attempted to chop off the vine as soon as he was able to get close. However, Rebellion was no use against the vine's tough surface. Before he could swing his sword at it again, the other vines attacked Dante.
Mia knew she could not let the vine pulled her back any further closer to its main body. Ignoring the thorns, she tried to untangle the vine with her other hand. Before touching it, Mia gritted her teeth so she wouldn't scream when the thorns cut her. She couldn't use a barrier here otherwise it would affect them as well. Although Mia was able to loosen it slightly but it quickly tightened around her arm again. Blood was dripping down her arm and hand.
Meanwhile, Dante was dealing with the other vines. One of the vines hit Dante's back and sent him into the mud. Luckily, that brought him closer to the main body as well. Dante tried to ignore the pain on his back and attacked the bean sprout-looking plant. It turned out that its main body was as least as durable as the vines. He looked over to Mia, who was still struggling to break free.
Think! Dante thought to himself. If the enemy is a plant, what is it weak against? Something flashed past in his mind. Then he remembered having brought a lighter along with him. Dante turned the lighter on and threw it towards the monstrous plant. The plant caught on fire at once. It swung its vines furiously to try putting out the fire. However, the fire kept burning strongly. The bean sprout-like plant's movements slowed down shortly after and released its hold on Mia.
The thorns left little holes on Mia's arm. More blood ran down her pale skin from the holes, staining her white shirt red. Mia grimaced as she press her hand on her arm to stop the blood.
Dante went to see how Mia was but couldn't see it because her hand was in the way. "How is it?" He asked. Both of them were covered in mud and blood.
"Nothing to worry about," Mia lied. "We better go," she added. The pain was unbearable. She needed to keep her mind off it so she wouldn't feel it as much. Not waiting for Dante's reply, she continued to cross over to the other side of the swamp.
Dante found Mia even more stubborn than Rei. The wound on his back caused by the bean sprout plant was intolerably painful, so he doubt Mia was telling the truth. Dante quickened his pace to catch up with her. Dante grabbed Mia's unwounded wrist.
"What are you doing?" Mia turned around to face him. She didn't want Dante to see her face. She hated to show weakness in front of others, and especially not now.
"Jeez, I don't know why you and Rei are so desperate to be nominated as Miss Tough. You can both pretend nothing happened at times like this," Dante took a good look at Mia's bleeding arm. Fortunately, the bleeding seemed to have stopped by now.
"I told you so," Mia said. In fact she only found out at the same time as Dante. He let go of her.
Dante and Mia left the swamp and entered Mirror Walk. It was the same as the way Dante left it. They made their way through the mirror tunnels without getting lost. When the two of them reached the decagonal pathway room, a man stood in the middle of the platform with his back to them. Mia gasped and immediately turned back to the way she came. "This way!" She didn't have time to explain so she just hold Dante's hand to lead him away. "What's going on?" Dante asked. "He's –" Before she could finish, all the paths were sealed shut, trapping them in the pathway room. Mia was going to use her power to break the seal but the man appeared in front of her. He wasn't where he was standing seconds ago.
"Zorlin…" Mia backed away. Dante moved back as well so they are not standing on the narrow path that joined the platform and doorway. It would be a bad time to fall down such great depth.
The man called Zorlin wore a medium length silver coat with black clothes underneath. His hair and eyes were grey in colour. Dante thought Zorlin would either be a very robust-looking, bodybuilder-like man, or a hideous and insane monster. Instead, he looked like an ordinary human to Dante. The incredible coldness in his eyes reminded Dante of his elder twin brother; only Zorlin's eyes were much more daunting. On his back, Zorlin carried a very long blade weapon. Dante couldn't see it very well from where he stood. Mia tried to stand still but she felt weak due to the pressure Zorlin put on her. His eyes radiated some kind of mysterious power that could hold back enemies. It was the first time Dante saw Mia being scared. She didn't even flinch when they fought Archanes and bean sprout monster. Zorlin stepped forward towards Mia but Dante came in between them.
"If you walk away now, I can forget you ever came." Zorlin stopped on the spot.
"Nice offer, but no thanks," Dante said. He stood in a defensive pose with Rebellion in his hand. At the same time, Mia used the opportunity to work on destroying the seals. The moment she put her hands on the ground she felt sharp things prodding into her palm. As unbelievable as it seemed, white-silver coloured crystals were growing from the ground at an amazing rate.
Dante only took his eyes off Zorlin for a short moment to look at this astonishing sight. Zorlin seized the chance to attack him at an inhuman speed. Dante couldn't believe he was stabbed on the chest from the front. He could see his enemy's weapon now. It was a double-sided long blade with a steel section in the middle. Dante felt the blade being removed and then the next moment he was kicked on the ground. Mia wanted to go see how he was but more crystals grew from the ground and began growing on her foot. She tried pulling free but it was like beings stuck in a stone. At the corner of her eyes, she saw Zorlin holding onto a red amulet in his hands.
"Give that back!" Dante said as he picked himself up with a hand pressed on where he was stabbed. He was bleeding badly. Although he didn't know when Zorlin took the amulel,it had a silver chain so it had to be his and not Vergil's. He couldn't get on his feet in time before Zorlin kicked him another time. Dante rolled off the platform but his right hand caught the edge.
"Dante!" Mia called out frantically. Her lower leg was bleeding as well because she was trying so hard to break free that the sharp edges of the crystal cut into her skin. She tried pulling apart the crystal with her bare hands. She tried so hard that the blood on her hands coated the crystal that was trapping her foot. It was no use; the crystals wouldn't budge. Even so, she knew she must do something. The only person who could save him was her.
Standing on the edge, Zorlin looked down on Dante, who was dangling in midair. "I hope you don't regret this. It was your choice, after all." Having said that, Zorlin kicked Dante's hand off the edge.
Author's note: As with the rating of this fic, sorry I got to change it to T. It's not going to have alot of coarse language or any suggested adult themes, but it doescontain moderate level ofviolence. I'm not too sure how much violence can children under 13 take but I thought it'd be safer to change it to T.
Please review to tell me what you think of this chapter. It doesn't matter how many I've got already. I treasure every single one of them.
Date written: 1 April 2005