Scars
X: Persuaded
Disclaimer: (Crickets chirp)
Astar: What the crap? (looks in Gem's room) Gem, what are you…?
Kora: I want it! I want it! I WAANNT IT!
Gemakai: (holding back Controller, playing Devil May Cry 3) No, it's too difficult for a kid like you!
Kora: Come on… pleeeeaasse?
Astar: Um… Gem… Disclaimer?
Gemakai: Huh? …Oh poop on a stick! (Runs out, dropping controller which is caught by Kora)
Kora: (plays) Hehe… …What the crap! I died!
Gemakai: (from hallway) Told you!
Disclaimer: I don't own Devil May Cry or any of it's character. Now leave me alone, I'm playing Devil May Cry…..3!
The world was a blur and she was an animal. Instinct guided her feet as she rushed through the woods, covering her body with cuts from thorns and branches. Wherever she was going was a mystery, but she was going there at a fast pace. At least she was until an arm shot out from behind a tree and clutched her neck tightly before forcing her to the ground. At that point, Lilith had regained her senses and had control over her actions again. Her first course of action: she froze.
"Well, well, what do we have here?" Spoke her attacker, a man. "The little half-breed that I've been searching for." As her assailant lifted her from the ground, Lilith opened her eyes, examining the man. He had slick, black hair, reclining down his neck with a bandage around his head. His eyes glowed crimson as they glared sinisterly at her. The choice of clothing was a dark red version of a priest's attire with little skull-shaped cufflinks made of pearl. By simply looking at his face, Lilith became filled with terror and squirmed and kicked in his grasp, receiving fierce backhand in response. The halfbreed froze immediately afterward.
"Be still, you wench! Lest you want me to make your death as slow and painful as possible."
"M-Mundan…" she identified her attacker. "Wh-why are you doing this?"
"Filthy Half Breeds such as you shouldn't be allowed to exist." Mundan raised his free hand and flipped out bloody-red blade of demonic energy. "Try not to look at it like as 'killing.' More like… 'Setting you free'."
Free? Lilith wondered at the thought. She would be free? Free from the torment? From the pain of threatening her friends? If that were the case. "All right…" She gave in pathetically, hanging her head low. Mundan pulled back his dagger, the intent to kill evident in his burning eyes.
Suddenly a rose came down and struck the energy blade out of the Demon's hand. Mundan's eyes shifted viciously at his subordinate, who stood atop a tree branch in the dark forest.
"I would not do that if I were you."
"Petalir! What's the meaning of this… betrayal?"
"Betrayal?" The Rose Knight dropped gracefully to the ground, gripping another rose tightly in his right hand. "I merely wish to speak with Lilith. That was our deal, wasn't it?" They was a moment of silence as Master and Servant stared down eachother, while Prisoner looked between the two. Finally, Mundan dropped Lilith and turned away.
"Hmph, very well, do as you please."
"My sincerest thanks, Master." Petalir turned toward Lilith, who was grasping at her throat while gasping for air. "…How long has it been since we last met?"
"Petalir? …You?"
"Yes… 'me.' But that's of no concern to you now, is it?" He held out his hand. "Come on, let me help you up." His offer was answered with a quick slash from a knife Lilith received at Dante's shop, giving the Rose Knight a small cut in the palm of his hand.
"You… you betrayed…" Lilith's face teetered on the edge between complete misery and intense rage. "How c-could you… !"
Petalir's emotionless stare gazed at the halfbreed as he raised his right hand and formed his katana. "If you wish… you may take out your anger on me. A feat such as defeating me won't be very difficult at all for one like you."
Taking the offer to heart, Lilith drew another knife in her other hand and lunged at the Rose Knight, slashing at the side of his gut. He simply drifted to the side to avoid the blade, following up quickly by kneeing her stomach and then grabbing her neck, shoving her back to the ground. A low yelp rose from Lilith's lips as she curled her legs and kicked at Petalir's own stomach, forcing the Knight to release his grip and jump back. Immediately Lilith rolled forward, slashing at Petalir's arm as she flipped to the ground and regained her footing. Lilith nearly fell back down as Petalir's katana clinked against her dagger, followed up by a low sweep, tripping her. As she hit the ground again, Lilith rolled to the side, barely escaping a quick downward slash with a cut on her cheek. She hurried to her feet again, blocking another attack from the Knight with one knife and thrusting the other cleanly into his shoulder. A wave of pain came over Petalir's face and clutched Lilith's attacking wrist.
"Morrigan had taught you well." And then, he slid his sword through her chest. "But clearly not enough."
Pain was ridden throughout her face as blood coughed up her throat. The only thing more painful was when Petalir withdrew his blade from it's bloody sheathe, and Lilith fell to the ground, writhing in agony.
"Very good." Mundan clapped his hands. "You certainly know how to kill someone with flair."
A high /shling/ echoed throughout the forest as Petalir sheathed his weapon, giving an empty stare at his defeated opponent. "She's not dead."
"What are you waiting for then? Kill her!"
"She managed to hurt me." Petalir indicated the cut on both his left hand, right arm and shoulder. "And as you know, she has much untapped power." His dull, green eyes glanced over to his superior. "Wouldn't you like that power at your disposal?" No sooner than Mundan slowly and silently agreed did Petalir turn back towards Lilith and hold out his hand again.
"N-no! Stay away!" Lilith scampered away, clutching at her chest as the Rose Knight approached her. "Please stay back!" Yet her cries were in vain as Petalir soon loomed over her with his dead eyes staring down at her. She shut her eyes tightly awaiting the fatal strike that would end her existence, but instead of pain she felt relief as her heart mended itself together and her wounds closed. As she opened her eyes, Petalir was kneeled before her, holding a green light to her heart.
"How long has it been since I last tended to your bruises? Such a long time ago."
"Petalir… why are you… doing this for me?"
"Why?" He glanced back at Mundan, who had begun his descent back to his underworld kingdom. "I suppose it's because I… care for your well-being. So many years you've suffered your own being and you don't even know."
"Know what?"
"That you are one of the small handful who contain a powerful devil inside of them and what's even rarer is that you have the strengths of two of the most feared devils of all. I give you an offer to control it."
Could that have been the voice speaking to her throughout her life? How she would love to take control of her life. No longer would she have any black outs and awaken to find pointing fingers and accusations at her. No more threatening her friends and family. Such was a dream that was out of her grasp for so long. "I… I'll do it."
Petalir smiled and offered his hand again. "Good. Now come, we have much training to do."
Lilith looked at Petalir's hand, to the sky, to the ground, and then back to Petalir's hand…
…And then she took hold of it.
It was 20 years ago, Morrigan explained, in an alleyway of some European town when she met Darius, a renegade vampire chased out of his clan because of his sympathy for humans. On his skin, he looked to be just as ferocious as any other vampire that Morrigan had encountered and slayed, yet he had a gentle side that lead to Morrigan falling in love with him and eventually convince her clan to accepting him, though reluctantly. Only the head of the clan, Matyra, would never truly accept him.
Regardless of Matyra's say, within two years, Darius had practically become a long lost brother to the Succubi and was respected highly due to Morrigan's praises of him. The reason this had become so efficient was because of Morrigan's own high status in her clan. If Matyra was considered to be the queen of the clan, then Morrigan would've been it's princess. Though complete authority wasn't in her power, she had enough influence to persuade her sisters.
Anyway, after two years, Darius and Morrigan had a daughter, one in which Vampire blood and Succubus blood mingled in her veins. This child was looked down upon in the clan and was would end up facing many hardships because of her blood. This was Lilith.
"Wait. Wait. Wait. Hold on a tick." Dante interrupted. "I thought you two were sisters. …If you're mother and daughter then… why does she think…?"
"She doesn't know. When she was a baby, we had to send her out of the clan. Having a vampire in a succubus clan is sacrilege enough. To have a offspring of both bloods is strictly forbidden. It wasn't until she was 10 when she was allowed to come back. By then, my face had become a distant memory for her. I offered to be her sister, since no other in my clan would care for her."
"Hold it. So how did she live?"
"We left her with a priest that was gracious enough to take care of her. …When he was found out eight years later, he was stripped of his title and Lilith would've been killed if he didn't snuck her out."
"Who was it?"
"His real name was Peter Orchard, but since he was excommunicated, he goes by the name Petalir."
Dante blinked, "Wasn't he that one guy whose ass you kicked back when we got Lil?"
Then Morrigan blinked with a perplexed look on her face. "What? What are you talking about?"
"Didn't you win?" Morrigan shook her head. "Oh… well uh…" Dante looked around awkwardly, figuring out how much of an ass he must've look like. "So… what happened to Lil after Petalir was… you know."
"Er… r-right. Anyway, she was forced to wander around the world for two long years until I found her wandering the wastelands of Russia. I took her in, calling her sister and convinced Matyra to allow me to keep her… until three years ago when she…" She paused, covering her lips and bowed her head.
"……Yes?"
"I don't know. She… she wasn't herself and attacked one of our sisters. No one was killed but she had become the black sheep of the clan and was imprisoned because of it. Despite my pleas, Matyra wouldn't hear of releasing her back into the clan. Two years later, Yami appeared and demanded Matyra to hand over Lilith. Needless to say, she was happy to do so."
"Well!" Dante patted his hands together, "Not everyday that I just ask 'what happened' and then someone tells me their life story, but… pfft!" He pocketed his hands and shrugged. "Whatever! So what happened to Lilith?"
"She ran off."
"…That's it? Dang! That's the short answer that I want! So where'd she go?"
It was Morrigan's turn to shrug. "Who knows? Last time she ran off, we had search parties all over Japan that recovered her quickly enough. But we don't have that, now do we?"
"Guess not."
"So what do we do now?"
As Dante turned away, he threw his hands in the air. "Hell if I know. We have no leads for finding her, so the most we can do is just continue on track for Gem and Syra. Come on, let's just go back." Morrigan quietly agreed and they began back to the village. On the way back, Dante ran his left hand through his snow-white hair and stared at the palm of it. Morrigan and Lilith were family, one way or the other, and nothing could really change them. In their lives, they were bound by blood and love. In Dante's left palm was his own reminder of his family, the scar that would never heal under his glove.
"Family, huh?" He murmured to himself, "Vergil… I wonder where we went wrong." And he pocketed his fist again, looking up at the sky.
Gemakai: (Still playing DMC3, facing Vergil for the 3rd time) C'mon. C'mon. C'moooon! (dies) NOOOOOOOO! (Has a heart attack)
Astar: Honestly, Gem. You can't punish yourself so hard.
Gemakai: What are you talking about? This is what games should be! …Except those damn Fallens! God, they're a pain.
Astar: Maybe it's time you returned the game to block buster. I mean, think of Kora.
Kora: (All zombie like, holding controller) Must…. Beat…. Agni & Rudra…
Astar: No Crying Devils for you, missy. You need something more easy… like Dynasty Warriors 5!
Gemakai: (Corny Smile) Yes! Dynasty Warriors 5 is a really fun game that is both easy and requires some thought, plus the story mode is good.
Astar: …Do you think it was wrong of us to take that bribe from Koei?
Gemakai: I don't know, let me ask my fembot sex slave.
Astar: (Whaps Gem) No! (Whaps) No! (Whaps again) No!
Gemakai: T-T Owwy… seriously folks, Dynasty Warriors 5 is pretty good. But on a completely unrelated note, Review now! I'm Desperate!