Devil May Cry Zero: Past Ties

Chapter 6

Dante followed the lit path ahead of him. Vergil and Mia were walking along by his side. He was sandwiched between the two. They had been walking for a while without saying anything, intentionally ignoring each other. For several times, Dante thought about breaking the silence with some of his sense of humor. Those two were avoiding each other so naturally they were like the opposite ends of a magnet. Not that he ever thought they would get along very well. However he certainly didn't expect they wouldn't even treat each other as being present.

Meanwhile, there were many other things Dante had in mind. For one, he found it hard to one hundred percent believe Mia's version of what happened to her and Rei. He was sure Vergil believed her even less. While Mia might think she was telling the truth, it was possible for her to have made up her own memories liked previously. The whole thing was so confusing he'd rather not think about it. What were bothering him more though were the flashes of images he saw when walking up the stairway of the future. One of the scenes he saw had already came true. On their last encounter, Trish gave him an evil smirk that was exactly like what he saw. He wondered how many images he saw back then will come true.

At the corner of his eyes, Dante spotted a shadow of a person emerging from the coming corner. "Who's there?" he heard his own voice mixed with his twin's. It's not a common occurrence between them. Keeping his eye on the shadow, Dante went to check out its origin.

Dressed in old European style gown was a female mannequin at the beginning of a small room. The mannequin took a standing pose. It was holding a wine glass in her slender hand with a happy expression on its face, as if it was having an enjoyable conversation at a party. In reality, it was kept inside a large glass container.

"It's so pretty," exclaimed Mia. She pressed a hand on the glass container's smooth surface to look at mannequin more closely. The colour of its eyes matched its curly long hair, both chestnut brown. Its gown was rose red decorated with silver laces on the edges. It looked a real person frozen in time.

Vergil was examining the mannequin too, frowning slightly as he did so. Though, he didn't hover over it like Mia did.

On the other side of the room was a door. Followed by Vergil and Mia, Dante went through it and found yet another room with mannequins. This time, the room was bigger and there were three mannequins, not just one. The mannequins were a man, a woman and a little girl. The three of them were walking side by side, hands in hands. They appeared to be a family. Again they were kept inside a glass container, like mannequins placed in front of shops for window shoppers. Dante couldn't find a connection between the mannequins they were seeing now and the one before other than they were all very beautiful. The man mannequin was handsome. The female mannequin was pretty and so was the child mannequin.

Looking over to Vergil, Dante could see his twin's frown deepened. Obviously he didn't like what he was seeing. Mia had an uncomfortable expression on her face as well.

"Let's leave this place," Mia said. Dante wasn't surprised she didn't comment on how pretty those mannequins were any more. "Great minds think alike," replied Dante. He pushed open the next door. The instant they stepped foot in the next room, she groaned.

"Not again," grunted Mia. They were in a diamond-shaped room filled with more mannequins against the sides of the room. It was at least four times more spacious than the last one.

"Someone's got really bad taste," Dante agreed with her. They were looking at mannequins of different age and race. There were children, adults and elderly people of all sorts. It was a collection of people from different cultures.

"They are too real," said Mia. Indeed, the mannequins looked like they could spring to live any moment.

"They are real," said Vergil, his face darkened. Mia was surprised that Vergil actually sounded like he was disgusted by what he was seeing.

When Dante and Mia was about to ask what he meant, someone interrupted. "You are correct. They are real. I have stopped their time," said a high and squeaky voice.

They turned around to look for the speaker. In the middle of the room where there was nothing before, stood a short and skinny demon. It was similar to a dwarf but looked skinnier than a dwarf should be and didn't have pointy ears. The demon had grey skin. Not a single strand of hair was found on its body. If it had a tail it'd resemble a giant hairless rat.

"Welcome to my gallery, intruders. Raton is my name," the demon said. "How do you find my collection?"

"So you're the sick collector of this doll house," said Dante, revolted. He could barely make out there was a chair behind Raton. Someone was sitting on the chair but the light in the room was not sufficient for him to tell who it was.

"You're quite right," Raton sneered. "Would you like to see my newest addition?" It moved away so they could all see who was behind him.

"Rei!" Mia gasped. Sitting on the chair was unmistakably Rei. Her twin was no longer in her blouse and jeans. She wore a white dress long enough to cover her feet. She had her eyes closed and head tilted slightly sideways. Mia ran to towards Rei. Seeming without a reason, she tripped and fell.

Following Mia, the twins headed towards the middle of the room. Dante thought it was fishy because he was sure there was nothing she could trip on. Yet she did. "Hey, are you –" before Dante could finished his sentence, he saw Raton appeared in front of him. Without any hesitation, he drew his sword. He missed Raton by a millimeter. "Ok?" he finished off. Raton had gone to bother Vergil, who reacted pretty much the same way as him.

Mia struggled to get up but found her attempts useless. It was as though all the strength in her lower body was sucked away in an instant. Her legs felt so weak she couldn't even move a toe, not to mention standing. She looked around for anything that she could throw at the demon. She was frustrated at how helpless and useless she was. "Don't worry about me, have a look at Rei please, Dante," she said to Dante.

As a matter of fact, Dante was eager to check up on Rei too. Before he reached her, he suddenly felt a tinge of cold sensation on his left hand. A thin layer of ice had begun to form on his hand, wrapping it like plaster applied on broken bones. The layer of ice was creeping towards his wrist and arm and was getting thicker at the same time. He looked over to Vergil and noticed his twin was moving awkwardly as well.

"What do you have there, Verg?" Dante asked his elder twin. He pecked his frozen arm with the hilt of his sword. Pieces of ice of various sizes rained onto the floor, breaking into yet smaller pieces due to the impact. Where the ice broke off regenerated into larger chunks. It would probably been better if he hadn't tried, because he ended up with a heavier arm and shivering slightly.

Instead of answering him, Vergil held up his left hand. Petrifaction was taking place on him, just like the ice on Dante. "It's a curse demon," said Vergil. He could feel his arm getting heavier by the second. No longer could he move the parts of his arm below his wrist. It was not affecting him in fighting yet but he was sure if he didn't do something soon things would not look good for them.

Raton was moving speedily between the three of them as if he was toying with them. Its movements looked like blurs to the twins. They swung their swords every time he came close to them but the demon was always faster. Dante took a glance at Mia. She somehow dragged herself to Rei by half crawling.

To Mia's dismay, Rei was placed in a glass dungeon just like the other mannequins. She didn't notice until she got close. Her twin did not appear to be injured. Rei's black hair fell on her shoulders in a similar fashion as Mia. She would have looked like she was sleeping soundly, only that she didn't appear to be breathing. With her fists, Mia banged on the glass desperately, hoping doing that would wake up Rei from her slumber.

"It's no use," Raton said, who suddenly appeared beside her.

"What have you done to Rei?" asked Mia, livid. She rounded her hands into fists and aimed for the demon's face. "It was you who kidnapped her back in the library!" She didn't actually see him but was almost certain about it.

Raton vanished to avoid Mia's punch and reappeared behind her. "Ah, you must be the girl who killed her own twin," he said.

"I didn't kill Rei!" shouted Mia, angry and aggravated. Her hands were hurting from her attempts to break the glass. "Let her go! Can't you take me instead?"

Completely ignoring Mia's reaction, Raton continued. "I saved her. I didn't want the pretty face of her to suffer wounds of any sorts. She was very kind girl who was unfortunately killed by the one she cared the most," it said. Mia winced. "I've stopped her time to preserve her beauty to eternity. She'd be a wonderful addition to my existing collection. You murdered your own twin. You are not even worthy to be cursed, to be honest." It turned to Vergil and Dante, smiling wickedly. "Not even the kiss from the prince will wake her up."

"I didn't kill Rei," repeated Mia, less loud this time. Dante thought she half sounded like she was trying to convince herself. "Rei didn't care about her own safety to save me," she admitted.

"The rat is starting to give me a headache by mumbling to itself," said Dante. He aimed for the demon and threw Rebellion towards it like a huge dart. Upon hearing the sword piercing through the air behind it, Raton moved away in a relax manner as though the sword move by centimeters per second. With Raton no longer at where it was, Rebellion flew towards Mia. Dante wanted to kick himself for not thinking before acting. "Move out of the way!" he yelled urgently.

Mia moved her head away swiftly for Rebellion to narrowly miss. However, the sword was thrown with considerable force so it pierced into the stony wall behind. Half of the sword went in. "I'd appreciate it if you don't do that again!" she said sarcastically.

Dante didn't have time to reply her. He barely dodged Vergil's blade in time. Apparently, Raton lured Vergil towards Dante and then suddenly disappear out of sight. Vergil was too immersed in the fight to notice the demon's evil scheme.

"Can I say what she said to me to you?" Dante said to his twin brother.

"Not now," Vergil replied, looking around for their enemy.

It was Dante who spot it. Raton was crouching on top of one of the mannequin containers. Dante reached behind for his guns but was reminded he couldn't use his left hand. He groaned. If he couldn't fire Ebony and Ivory one after the other, he couldn't use them. As fast as he could, Dante went to get Rebellion, which was still pierced into the wall. Quite unexpectedly, he shivered. Dante looked at himself. The ice had covered his entire left arm and was freezing the left half his upper body. Humans under the same condition would without a doubt be shivering uncontrollably by that point. But the demon blood in Dante put up a fair resistance. Nonetheless, he could no longer feel his left arm anymore. It was totally numb by the coldness of the ice.

Raton disappeared from where he was standing to evade the razor sharp Yamato. Dante struck where he thought the demon would appear next after Vergil's attempt but he missed. Vergil's movement was clearly getting slower. They both knew if they don't end the fight quickly they were as good as gone.

"How are the statues of the Sparda boys going?" said Raton. "Good, good, well on their way. Will definitely be done when I return," he smiled in satisfaction when he saw them. The way he smiled was very unpleasant; his face wrinkled all over and scrunched up in an ugly way.

"Uh-ah, you're not going to play dress up on us!" said Dante, running over to Raton. He could tell he was going to flee.

"You're not going anywhere!" yelled Mia. A barrier was raised and embraced the entire room like a gigantic net, sealing all exits. She had taken off the charm that suppressed her barrier manipulating power. The strands of light that made up the barrier were blue and radiating brightly.

While Raton was distracted, Dante used the chance to break open the glass container with the metal hilt of Rebellion. He was glad the glass didn't form back like the ice on his arm did. He put his sword back so he could carry Rei out with only one arm movable. Little white objects fell off her shiny hair. On a closer look, Dante realised those were little flowers Raton put into her hair. It made him feel sick just thinking the demon had treated Rei like a doll.

"Don't touch my figurine!" Raton roared with rage when he saw Dante removed her from the container. Apparently it hated others to disturb anything in its collection. He lunged towards Dante in fury. At that moment, Vergil could see his target very clear, perhaps because it was distracted. It had its back on him Vergil swung his sword in a way faster than naked eyes could follow, and cut Raton into half.

Black blood spilled all over the floor. Raton's upper body was still moving but lower body was motionless. Mia watched in horror while Raton's upper half of the body flipped and twisted in its own blood, shrieking in agony whilst doing so. "How dare you…!" it snarled at Vergil.

Vergil felt the weigh on him increased drastically. He dropped on one knee involuntarily. His entire left arm had turned into stone. "Kill it, Dante, before it can cast the dying curse!" Vergil shouted to his twin, who was closer to Raton.

Dante put down Rei and gave her to Mia. He then thrust Rebellion into Raton's head. Mia felt a cold chill ran down her spine when her eyes met the bulging red eyes of the dying curse demon. "It's too late," it hissed to her. Though totally unaware of how gruesome its current state was, Raton seemed satisfied, though neither of Vergil, Dante or Mia took it as a good sign. "Your twin sister will never wake up as long as you live." Its bloodshot eyes rolled back to his head and Raton stopped moving.

Dante watched as the thick layer of ice on him dissolved into thin air. Vergil was able to stand up again now he was not longer half petrified. Mia felt strength returned to her feet once again. "Rei," she shook Rei gently. Dante felt sorry for her. It hadn't occurred to her what Raton's last words meant.

"It's no use. The curse demon cast the dying curse on her. It's a curse that is meant to last after the caster's death," said Vergil.

"You mean, Rei is not going to wake up until Mia dies someday?" asked Dante. He received silence as a reply. Vergil was staring down at Mia. Mia was staring at Rei's face.

"Go on," Mia said, lifting up her head for her eyes to meet Vergil's. "The only way for you to know what happened to your mother nine years ago is to end my life," she said calmly. There weren't any traces of doubt in her fearless green eyes. Rather the opposite, she sounded more resolute than ever. Many might think one was foolish to ask for death. However, Vergil found it quite admirable.

Dante could no longer kept silent. He didn't like the way that they were falling apart, distrusting each other and threatening each other. "Can this be the last time you two say anything about killing each other off?"

Dante bent down to feel Rei's cheek. Her skin was smooth but cold. He wasn't sure whether it was because he almost turned into an ice statue just moments ago. Suddenly he became alert when he felt movement behind him that didn't belonged to any of his companions. Mia was staring ahead with a hand clamped over her mouth, utterly terrified. Raton's dead body began to rise and floated into the air by an invisible force. It halted in midair and just hangs there. Black blood was dripping down like thick ink. Slowly, its thin arm raised and pointed out the only window in the room. Although stunned by what he was witnessing, Dante's eyes followed the direction the corpse pointed. He scanned wildly for anything that stood out. A faint blue glow was sighted on top of the North Tower.

Dante raised an eyebrow to Vergil. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" he asked.

"I'm not so sure, since all you ever think of is food," replied the elder twin. It made Dante felt a little relieved to hear that from Vergil. He understood how desperate Vergil was to find out about what actually happened to their mother. Also, he knew very well that sometimes, Vergil would do anything to get what he wanted.

Dante could tell Vergil knew what he was talking about. "If it's that, it can probably save Rei," said Dante, disregarding the sarcastic reply.

"That must be it," said Vergil firmly, who saw the same thing as Dante.

"I have to admit I don't know telepathy like you two do," asked Mia when she finally recovered from the shock. "What is 'it'?"

"We'll fill you in later, but now we need to go over there," said Dante, pointing at the dark and eerie bell tower.


Author's note: No I'm not dead! And, I'm still writing this fic. Thank you for your patience. Does anyone feel I'm dragging the story too long?