Dante had gone off to Love Planet again tonight. Lady couldn't even bring herself to sigh. It wasn't like this was the first time.
She looked at all Dante's stuff piled around Devil May Cry. Matchboxes and cigarette ash lying all over his desk, chair upturned, empty pizza boxes and beer cans lying all over the den, clothes strewn about the sofa…and his stupid bikini babe poster tacked over the front desk.
Lady used to glare at that poster when Dante wasn't there, when he was out on a mission on his own. She would stand there with her hands on her waist, legs spread, and wonder what Dante could possibly see in that bikini babe, so brainless and demeaning. But it's not like she could ever say anything about it. "Jealous, Babe?" is all Dante would say, sitting on his chair with his legs on the desk, this cocky grin on his face. He would say it so casually, always so casually. Then he would casually bring her up to the loft where they would have sex and sometimes it made her feel better, but most of the time it didn't.
A year later, the same poster is still tacked on the wall catching dust and the junk had begun to spread. She used to complain about it a lot but now she's just given up and taken to smiling whenever Dante came up with his hare-brained schemes. It's not that Dante was stupid. No, Dante was a very smart man and had inspirations and the goal and the drive to achieve them. But, as Dante became happier and she let him get away with doing more things, the more sad Lady became. It came to the point when she wouldn't even ask where he was going and it's not like he would volunteer an answer.
She dreaded the day when he would not come back to her one day. It hasn't happened yet, because he usually comes back from a mission, or from drinking, no matter how late it became, or if he had to be off for a couple days, then he would let her know. She used to think that maybe he was in trouble when he didn't come back and would ready her weapons, only to discover that her weapons were already gone once she killed her father. She had given up that life long ago once her goal's been reached. She just wanted to live like a normal person now. But she supposed things never changed.
So Lady did what she usually does and tried to make something out of all of the junk. The problem was, Dante didn't like anyone touching his stuff, especially his junk. "Where's my motorbike magazine?" he would say. "Where's that last beer can?" "Where's my grim reaper head collection?" He became so accusatory and suspicious when he said it that she just gave up.
So Lady carefully moved his shirts from the sofa and turned on the tube. She skipped all the channels with the romantic stuff and soap operas because they always made her sad. Whoever said love could be like that anyways obviously hasn't lived in real life. She turned to something neutral, like cooking.
As Lady tried to distract herself with the pleasant young man demonstrating how to cook Mexican, she could feel her eyes beginning to well up. She sniffed and refused to let the tears fall down and blinked rapidly but that just made her more aware of the fact that she was going to cry. Forcing herself to stare at the television screen, she could feel the tears run down her cheeks.
When had it all come to this? When had she become so reliant? She remembered just over a year ago about the drive she had, the spunk, the courage to do what no other woman could do, to kill demons and to kill her father. And after that, she had met Dante and it all seemed like a happy ending. She didn't like him at first, because of all his cockiness more than anything, which surpassed all of her hate for his demonly attributes as well. But perhaps because he was the first man she had ever met to take charge of his own life and be able to change the world, and his bravery that intrigued her. That, and the fact that she was a virgin and he was the first man that she had ever given herself to. But, no matter how high and mighty a man was on the outside and the vision of imperiousness that has his legion of admirers at his every beck and call…some things about a man never changed.
And here she was like a stupid idiot, waiting for her Dante to come home. No, not HER Dante. Dante didn't belong to anyone. He was like a wild stallion who liked to run free and had the temper and aggression to boot. She supposed that their relationship would have come to this sooner or later. Soon, the old-fashioned Mary inside of her would have to break free and Lady would subside once more. She couldn't pretend to be Lady anymore. She wondered if Dante would care.
And that is the exact moment when she heard a loud knocking on the door. It sounded like Dante yelling. He sounded drunk. The knocking became more random now and Lady quickly got off the couch to swing open the door before Dante could break it down. Just because he was half-demon didn't mean he couldn't have the decency to unlock a door with a pair of keys.
Dante practically fell on top of her. His breath smelled alcoholic and she coughed at the stench. Outside Devil May Cry, she could see two women, obviously from Love Planet by the looks of their fur and miniskirts, waving and leering at Dante outside. Then, getting bored at Dante's unresponsiveness, they left.
"Dante," Lady yelled, a part of her concerned yet the other part disgusted at what he'd become. Those women were hideous. "Get up."
Dante responded by snuggling his head between her breasts and holding her hips tightly. He was obviously only half-conscious.
Lady couldn't move. She could already feel her feet beginning to get pins and needles. Taking his head in between her hands, she slowly tried to peel himself off of her. A combination of squiggling around like a snake and gently propelling herself off the weight of his body helped her move up to sitting position. His face was now resting on her legs.
Lady was disgusted to find Dante's fly undone. What exactly happened at Love Planet she did not even want to begin to fathom.
She could already feel her eyes welling up as she struggled out of this stranger's grasp. No, this was not the courageous Dante whom she once knew. How could she let a man like this take her? She was stupid, just stupid. She had no one else to turn to for support because she couldn't trust anyone this side of the slums. She never knew Dante would turn out the same way. She never thought he could be this way.
Free from Dante's grasp, she stood up shakily. That had taken out more of her than she thought. She would need to get more exercise. The door was still open to Devil May Cry. She knew that if she didn't close it soon, some unwelcome visitors or, even worse, demons, would come entering in. But Lady left it open and felt the cool breeze hitting her sweaty skin. It felt welcome. It felt free.
Turning around and looking at the mess that was Dante's house and the mess of Dante lying on the floor, Lady wondered how she could have tolerated all his nonsense for so long. Did love really make one blind?
Lady decided to leave the door open for now to let the fresh breeze waft in (and, more likely for Dante's scent to waft out). Still feeling some sort of sense of responsibility over him, she went upstairs to the loft to the bed they shared, the bed where he had made love to her. Lady tried to ignore those thoughts as she quickly grabbed up a blanket and wandered back downstairs.
Sure enough, Dante hadn't moved from his prone position on the floor. He also began drooling. Taking up a napkin from the bar, she carefully wiped up his lips with it and then, as an afterthought, grabbed a pillow from the couch and gently shoved it under his head. Now he couldn't complain of neck pains next morning.
Next morning…Lady bit her lip. What WAS going to happen next morning? Lady's eyes wandered over Dante's body and when they reached Dante's unzipped fly, Lady's brows furrowed. Her heart started pounding wildly as images of Dante with Love Planet's girls wafted into her head. She closed her eyes, but that only made things worse. Trying to slow her breathing and calm her nerves, she bit her upper lip again and forced herself to look away, which made her focus on the back of Dante's head.
Dante was such a rogue. She had tried to trust him, really she had, after he had defeated Arkham and kept his promise. Had tried not to twinge when Dante was evoking his devilry charms on other women. It was part of his personality, he couldn't help it, she told herself. Kept telling herself. Maybe it was the demonic side of him. But really, now that time passes, she realized that it was the human side of him that she hated more. And his demonic side that was more noble, more like the side of Sparda, that legendary Dark Knight that Dante despises. But can one love both?
Lady began to pet Dante's hair the way she sometimes did when he had fallen asleep. Due to the physical work that he did, he usually fell asleep as soon as he hit the mattress, unless he was feeling particularly horny. She wondered what would happen if she left him.
At that thought, she stopped stroking. What am I to him anyways, she thought. Over the past couple of months, she felt like she was getting less respect day to day. Oh, there were times when she felt proud to be his girl and his charms certainly had some devil magic to it. But it seemed as if the nicer Lady became to stress him out less and decrease the arguments, the more he took advantage of her and took her for granted. Lady, do this. Lady, do that. Being the girlfriend of a devil hunter was worse than being his partner. At least she wouldn't feel so emotionally upset over situations like this.
Giving up, Lady took the bundled blanket next to her and placed it over Dante's shoulders. She disliked how it was going to get dirty on the floor but it will have to do. Then she got to work on Dante's feet and tried to pull his old, dirty boots off. She started struggling for quite a bit which was when Dante suddenly took that moment to flip over his sleepy body and kick her on the arm. Lady yelped and started rubbing at the bruise that was sure to appear there later when she heard Dante utter a name from his lips. "Trish… "
Lady's mouth gaped open. Here she was helping him and he was uttering the name of another woman? Dante sleepily moved an arm down and started rubbing at his crotch.
Damn him! Flinging the blanket over his head, Lady stood up and blew the hair out of her face angrily. She wanted to bludgeon him with something, perhaps with the head of Agni or Rudra. She searched around and picked up Rudra (or was it Agni?) but as soon as she had taken the weapon, she let her arm drop, heavily. This is what the old Lady would do, rash, not even thinking. She hadn't picked up a weapon in a long time. And would bludgeoning Dante with it actually make her feel any better, or more guilty? Was there really any point with his demonic powers?
Since she couldn't possibly hurt his demonic side, she decided to work on his human side. She was about to go upstairs to the loft and lock herself up in the bedroom. But the cycle of this pain would continue on the next day and linger on the next morning. What would she do the next morning? Ask him who Trish was while eating scrambled eggs for breakfast? And, in even more pain, listen as Dante lied to her without even blinking an eyelash?
So Lady did the only thing she could do. Taking up a duffle bag, she put all her clothes, which was not much, into her carry on, along with her usual bare necessities. Nothing else really belonged to her anyways. Looking back at the photos along the wall, she realized that she hadn't even taken a picture of with him. Maybe it was better that way.
Dante's mother smiled at her from an old photograph. Lady smiled back. His mother always looked so kind. I'm sorry, Mrs. Dante. But I guess if you can't handle your son, I don't think anyone could. She tried to ignore Dante's particular scent coming from the bedsheets. I won't miss him at all. She began digging around in an old cardboard box for some of her old weapons but regrettably realized that she had buried them at her father's funeral long ago. So she went into Dante's massive weapons collection from fiends he had accumulated over his past missions on devil hunting. Taking out the only gun from the pile, a silver one, she tucked it beneath her belt. It was kind of big, made for Dante's hand, but it'll do. She was always partial to guns anyway.
When she walked back down the stairs, she paused when she saw Dante's handsome face still lying on the floor. She didn't think running away from him would be this difficult. But she had to do it. She had to know how much she was worth.
She stepped slowly around him, put on her red boots, and looked back at him one last time, almost hoping that he would wake up, pop his eyes open, and stop her. But he did nothing.
Lady painfully peeled her eyes away from him and, taking one last look around Devil May Cry, left before she could regret anything. The door slammed shut with unwelcome behind her.
Sorry for making Dante sound like such a jerk...but I guess no one's perfect, eh? Still wondering where I'm going with the plot... All I know is that Vergil will pop up and add some tension in their relationship. Also, I wrote the entire first part before realizing that I didn't have a title... "No More Drama" came from Mary J. Blige's song, actually. Sorry, will change the title if I think of anything better! -luvs, Echidna