Clean Hatred
Disclaimer: If we owned it, we sure as hell wouldn't be wasting our time writing fanfic about it. So please, don't sue us, we're just a couple of out-of-work college gals.
Author's Note from Luna Angel: I didn't write this chapter. This one is purely Sol's. Unfortunately, her computer went kaput and she had to send it out for repairs, so she couldn't update herself. So she asked me to do it. Anyway, all credit goes to her, and I'll be the one updating for the next week or two until her comp gets back. Either way, just enjoy.
Chapter 7
Liara stared up at the shadow-encased ceiling, unable to sleep. Her mind was working overtime, turning over the events of the day and the entirety of her life since her mother disappeared, and it was keeping her awake. A small smile curved her lips as she remembered Dante's expression upon opening his fortune cookie once the remnants of their little food fight had been cleaned up. He was more than slightly disgusted by it, but didn't seem to want to share, and had quickly swallowed his distaste, regaining his normal expression.
Thinking of Dante brought her mind back to her own fortune, and she frowned as she considered the words. She had never been one to believe in those things, but this one just seemed… different, somehow.
The words kept running over in her mind, 'A pleasant surprise is in store for you.' She usually got ones that made no sense to her personal life at all or stated something that happened or wasn't even possible. This one seemed to be stating the future as if the paper was sure it would happen.
Finding their mother could have been it. She smiled in unadulterated joy when the thought crossed her mind. They had been searching for so long, without result, and it seemed like Adara was giving up. She certainly hoped she would find her mom soon, for both their sakes. If it went on much longer, Adara could lose all hope. And her own sanity wasn't helped by the lack of knowledge either.
Several blocks away, a very different creature was staring up at his own ceiling, a small slip of paper in his hand. He passed it between his fingers, twisting it into a small cylinder before unwinding it and switching it to his other hand. The restless fidgeting of his hands was the only motion in the otherwise still room. Carefully, he took one end of the paper and held it between his index finger and thumb, straightening it between his two hands. The darkness of the room hid the words from his gaze, but he didn't need light to know what was written on it. After reading it earlier that day, he had moved to throw it away, but instead, for some reason beyond his comprehension, had tucked it in his pocket.
Now, in the privacy of his own room, he turned the words over again in his head. "Your true love awaits?" Dante muttered under his breath. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?" Weren't fortunes supposed to say things like, 'Riches and Power will come to you' or 'The only true failure is a failure to try'? They weren't supposed to mention love. He continued in his thoughts.
He growled at himself lowly, and irritably crumpled the fortune in his fist, glaring at nothing. This was ridiculous. He put the crumpled paper on his night stand and turned his attention back to the ceiling. He placed his hands behind his head and slowly drifted off into an uneasy slumber.
The heightening sun pulled Dante from a restless sleep. He sat up and rubbed his aching forehead with a groan. These early-morning headaches were becoming more frequent, and would be the death of him, if he couldn't figure out what was causing them and stop it. He got out of bed slowly, bending over to pick his soft, brown-leather pants off the ground. He slipped them on and looked groggily around the hardwood floors for a pair of socks.
After searching for a while, he found the pair he took off last night hidden within the depths of his satin sheets, the gray-white hue a glaring contrast to the crimson bedclothes. He easily slipped them on, followed by his boots, and stretched, relishing the slight release of pressure when his ligaments popped. He walked out his bedroom door and into the office area while running his fingers through his silvery-blonde hair, doing his best to straighten it out and settle the sleep-mussed strands into some semblance of order.
Vergil looked up from his book after hearing the heavy footsteps of his brother's boots against the hardwood floors with a small smirk. "Well you look like shit. Or is this a new look for you?" he remarked in reference to the deep, dark circles under Dante's eyes and his bed head.
"I didn't sleep well," Dante replied with a glare.
Vergil let out a small laugh, his attitude irritating Dante. He walked up to his brother and messed up his spiked back hair to look like his own. Dante gave a smirk, now satisfied that he wasn't the only one ticked.
Vergil let out a low growl. He hated his hair messed up. He stood and quickly wrapped his arm around his younger twin's neck and pulled him down into a headlock. He then proceeded to smooth back Dante's hair to look spiked like his own.
Vergil let him go as Liara walked in the door to 'Devil May Cry'. Liara looked from Vergil to Dante then back again.
"Is this a joke, or a weird quirk where you two change clothes?" Liara asked with a small amount of amusement in her voice.
Dante shot a look at his brother who seemed quite pleased with the job he had done on his twin's hair. He grunted and fixed it, smoothing the tousled strands back into their normal style. "No. Vergil fucked with my hair."
"And you didn't?" Vergil shot back brushing his hair back with his fingers, returning to his normal spikes.
Liara gave a small snicker when she saw Dante's hair, all but returned to normal, except for the small section of hair in the center of his forehead that was still spiked. "What are you doing here? Don't you have work tonight?" Vergil asked attempting to hide the fact he detested their line of work. "And where's Adara?" he added when he noticed she was missing.
"I have tonight and tomorrow off," Liara explained. "But Adara's working, some private gig. They specifically requested her. I got bored just sitting in the apartment, so I decided to come here to hang out. I left her a note," she insisted, correctly interpreting Vergil's shocked expression as upset that she had left without Adara knowing where she was.
Dante and Vergil looked at each other and shrugged. For a moment they looked like mirrors, with their copied facial expressions and shrug.
"That works for me," Dante replied with his famous smirk.
With that, Liara set a large, black duffle bag down in the corner near the door and walked further into the office.
Nearly a half an hour later, Liara was laughing at a comment of Dante's when the door opened, admitting Adara, carrying a matching black duffle bag to the one her sister had carried in.
Liara's laughter abruptly broke off and she stood, frowning in concern. "Adara, what are you doing here?"
"The client canceled," Adara answered plainly, clearly irritated. "When I got home, I found your note, so I came here."
"They canceled?" Liara asked incredulously. "Why would they cancel? You're the best!"
"I don't know," Adara shrugged. "Maybe the wedding was called off." Adara shook her head in confusion, and moved across the room, collapsing onto the sofa, dropping her duffle beside her before tipping her head back and sighing with exhaustion.
"Oh well," Liara chirped cheerily, sitting back down beside her sister. "Whatever their reasons, you're here now."
Adara tilted her head back up and opened her eyes, smiling at Liara. "Yes, that I am."
Liara smiled back, before resuming her conversation with Dante.
A few hours later found Adara and Liara playing Rummy, with Liara loosing badly, as per usual. Vergil was reading a book and Dante was leaning back in the desk chair snoozing, his position precarious as the chair continuously threatened to tip backward. A large crash from outside drew Vergil and the girls' attention, but did nothing to draw Dante out of his nap.
"What was that?" Liara asked quickly.
Adara looked at her sister then motioned her head to the duffle bag in the far corner and flicked her eyes down to her own duffle. Liara nodded slowly, understanding the wordless message. Be ready for a battle.
Another crash came, this time a little closer. Vergil walked to the window and looked out. For a moment he didn't see anything, and then a red sedan flew past the window and landed down the street, screeching to a halt on its metal top. Liara cringed for a moment, as did Adara.
"Ew… Like nails on a chalkboard," Liara stated with disdain.
Vergil looked back at the still-sleeping Dante, then abruptly chucked his book at his head. The thickly-bound book made contact with the younger male's head, jerking him back into consciousness. He sat up immediately and looked around before glaring at his brother indignantly. "Wake up. There is trouble brewing," Vergil commented simply.
Dante stood and stretched. Then, he walked over and grabbed his and his brother's swords. He tossed his brothers katana to him and Vergil caught it with ease. The two boys walked outside with weapons in tow.
As soon as they ran outside, Liara ran to her bag and opened it, as Adara grabbed hers and hauled it up to the now-vacated half of the sofa. Liara pulled out her black-and-deep-green-lined katana, testing the edge with a small scrap of paper and smiling as it split cleanly. She gave her sister a quizzical look when she noticed her pulling out her Sai set. "Where's your bow?"
Adara smiled at her sister's confusion. "I left it at home. It's too closed in here, and the buildings are too high for it to be of much use. Besides, it's a bit conspicuous to be carrying around town. It's five feet long; it certainly wouldn't fit into my duffle. And anyway, the Sai are just as good," she explained as she wrapped her hands around the weapons.
Liara nodded, trusting her sister's judgment. They both stood and ran outside coming to a halt next to the boys. Vergil eyeballed the girl's weapons, shocked that they had any. The only time the two boys saw them fight was bare-handed. But now wasn't the time for musing on that, and he turned his attention back to the large horde of demons approaching.
Without a word, Liara drew her 30-inch, folded-steel katana and ran at the demons as fast as she could, her sister close on her heels. In a flash, Liara started slicing the creatures left and right.
She blocked a monsters scythe strike with her sheath at her right side, then did a fast strike to its midsection and turned her attention back to the ones in front of her. Her sister was in her element, stabbing her Sai's into demons and pulling them back so rapidly the movements of the elegant weapons were a blur. She was taking out demons almost as fast as her younger twin, her speed only impaired by her need to get in closer to the creatures than Liara did.
The boys snapped out of their stupor and rushed in to help. They were once again moving in an identical motion, working their way through the circle of demons to the girls.
Within minutes of the battles start, Liara's sword was knocked out of her hand, sliding to a stop 10 feet away. She was left protecting herself with her swords sheath, but with one strike of a scythe and a roar from a demon it snapped in two, leaving her defenseless. The demon prepared to strike again, and Liara squeezed her eyes shut in anticipation of her death, but the blow never came. She opened her eyes to see Adara shaking with the effort of holding the scythe back, her Sai's entwined with the wooden staff. When her strength began to give out, she gave a last strong twist of her weapons, popping the scythe out of the grip of the demon. She pulled one of her Sai's free and used it to stab the demon right between its eyes, but another demon approached the still-defenseless Liara from the other side, right as one attacked Adara.
Dante saw this and quickly strapped his sword onto his back and pulled out Ivory and began shooting at the demons. He ran up behind Liara and grabbed her around the waist and started shooting a path out of the swarm of demons.
Vergil saw his motion and sought out Adara with his eyes. Seeing her fighting valiantly against the swarm of demons surrounding her, he began making his way toward her side. He could see her strength waning and started to finish of the remainder of monsters near her, trying desperately to make sure all of them made it out of this alive.
Suddenly, with a loud screech, the demons vanished into thin air. The three fighters that were still armed lowered their weapons and looked around.
Dante looked down at Liara and smirked a bit. "You ok?"
"Yeah I am. Thanks," she said with a smile. She hesitated for a moment then leaned up and gave him a peck on the cheek.
"Mmm… Do you always thank men like that for saving your life?" his smirk grew bigger.
She winked. "Only you," she replied then walked over to her sword and picked it up.
Adara walked over to her sister, scrutinizing her carefully. "You okay, Lia?" she asked cautiously.
Liara nodded with a smile. "Yeah Dar. Thanks."
"Hey, it's what I do," Adara quipped lightly, then gave her a weird look. "What was that?" she asked, a little shocked at Liara's behavior toward Dante.
"I don't know… I just did that…" Liara said with a nervous laugh, joining her sister in walking back into the office.
As Dante stared at Liara with a big grin on his face, Vergil walked past him and slapped him on the back of the head. "Get your mind out of the gutter," he ordered with a frown.
Dante snapped out of his daze and shot his brother a look then followed him back into 'Devil May Cry'.