Chapter 7

'Is she going to be okay?'

'It's just a small wound. She'll be all right.' Val lay in bed, her eyes swimming with tears as she listened to Siren and Dante talking outside the room.

'What about Arson?' There was a silence. Val swallowed hard and fought back the sobs that were threatening to overpower her.

'I'm not sure what happened to him. I know that he's still breathing but I can't say whether he'll live or not. Even Inferno couldn't do anything.' Val slowly sat up, her ears strained to listen to everything. The tone of voice being used, the way it was said, the silences, they all counted. She could sense rather than hear Siren's tears. She felt them herself and for the first time, she felt pity for Siren. This seemed to make the tears fall. She fought against it but it was no use. Val turned onto her side and sobbed into the pillow, trying to muffle the sound. She didn't want anyone to hear. Somehow, in this cruel world, the sound of tears seemed almost illegal. You couldn't cry. It was a sign of weakness. If you cried you were weak. If you remained silent then you were strong. She raised her head from the pillow, allowing herself to cry unchecked. What did it all matter now? She could no longer care about what others thought of her. She had seen a lot, she had been through a lot and she would be damned if she was going to let a bunch of strangers control what she did.

She heard the door click open and turned her face away from the beacon of light that streamed into the room from the landing.

'Leave me alone,' she wept brokenly. 'Just leave me alone. I don't want to talk to anyone.' Dante stood there for a minute, undecided before coming to sit down next to her. At last he smiled.

'That's my pillow you're crying into.' In response, Val hurled it away from her and cradled her head. Dante watched in amusement as he watched the pillow soar through the air. Val tried to fight back her tears and tried to hide her face away from Dante. 'It's better if you cry. You'll get it out of your system.' Val said nothing but raised her head to stare at him angrily.

'You don't know what it's like. To know that your brother's sick but not knowing how you can save him. He might die for all I know! If he goes then I'll have no family left!' Val's face seemed to crumple up before she collapsed against him, weeping uncontrollably. Dante immediately felt his body grow rigid. He froze, unsure as to what to do or say to comfort her. At length, he grabbed her by the shoulders and gently pushed her away.

'Calm down! Inferno's going to try again and see whether he can make a change. He already has. He's stopped him from losing any more blood. That's something we should be thankful for.' Val stopped crying and lowered her eyes but suddenly brought them up to glare at Dante as she heard Siren walking around in the corridor outside.

'Why the hell is she here anyway? Huh? She has no business being here!' Dante shrugged.

'She seemed to know where to go. And when she turned up on our doorstep, and told Trish that she knew Arson, Trish said she could stay.'

'Didn't you argue?'

'You try arguing with her!' Dante released her and stepped back a pace, his eyes serious. When Val next spoke, her voice was low and barely above a whisper.

'When I think of Arson dying, I go nuts. I don't want to stay here in the past. The only reason I came was because I didn't want to be left alone.' Val suddenly winced and clamped her hands to her stomach, causing fresh pain to travel through her. Dante frowned.

'You should get some rest. You're still weak. When Inferno wakes up, he'll heal you.' Val looked away from him and stared blankly at a wall, her eyes sad and distant.

'Inferno was so upset…he must have collapsed. He didn't have a chance to heal me after he had tried to help Arson. I don't blame him though.' Dante waited for her to carry on, sensing that she had more to say. Val took a deep breath and continued. 'Arson is the only one who can mend the past and make a better future. I'd rather I'd die if it meant being able to save him. I'm just tagging along after all.' Her eyes suddenly brightened. 'Before I go back to sleep, may I see him?' Dante again noted the pained expression on her face but then realised that Arson meant a lot to her. He nodded once and allowed her to pass.

Val staggered into Dante's room, where Arson was stretched out upon the bed. She took a moment to take in the ashen face before she hobbled painfully towards the bed.

'Arson?' There was no reply. Val nodded slowly as if expecting this. Dante silently watched from the doorway, arms folded, face impassive. He turned as he felt someone's hand upon his shoulder. Trish.

'You're upset, aren't you?' he said quietly.

'If he dies…it would have been to save me. He knew that yesterday was the day that I would have died, had he not been there.' Trish looked up at Dante at that point. 'And to think I had sent you out to get the groceries done.' Dante couldn't resist laughing. Trish burrowed her head in his shoulder and closed her eyes as Dante hugged her close.

'It's okay. You're alive…it's okay.' Trish said nothing but slowly opened her eyes, realizing that for the first time, she and Dante were actually holding each other close.

Val reached for her brother's hand and swallowed hard. It felt like a cold, dead heavy thing. It didn't feel as though it was a part of a person. Val felt tears coming back to her eyes again and forced herself not to think like that.

'Arson? Please…wake up. It's me, Val.' She heard the pleading tone in her voice and paused. She cleared her throat and tried again. 'Wake up right now. I'm not asking. I'm demanding!' Still no response. Val felt for his pulse and sighed with relief as she felt it. It was weak and unsteady. Val felt pain in her abdomen again and gritted her teeth. She stood and gasped as the pain worsened. Her legs trembled underneath her weight. She sank back down on top of the bed and then decided that it would be best to lie down and sleep beside Arson. If he woke up, he would be sure to understand. Besides, she couldn't walk right now.

Val blinked back her tears as she lay down, remembering the times she had often teased him. If she could have turned back time, she would have never have said some of the things. Arson had never seemed to mind. He would simply laugh and shrug it off. Afterwards, Val would think back to the incident and would often regret. But whenever she wanted to say sorry, the words stuck. Sometimes, her mother would tell her that she should insult him more often, to put him in his place and to keep reminding him what he was, and that he would never be a part of the family. Val sighed as she continued to reminisce about the past. She had believed her. What a fool she had been.

Val tried to fight off the feeling of nausea and fatigue but it was no use. Her eyes drooped and she sank into a deep sleep. Siren came into the room momentarily to see Val asleep beside Arson. Her eyes narrowed and she felt herself becoming jealous of her. Despite her love for Arson, there was something about him that seemed forbidden to her. Arson hated being touched, for a reason she still had no understanding of. Granted, Val was his sister, but she couldn't help but loathe her.

She turned on her heel and slammed the door shut, pausing to listen to the wild crashing of Dante's drum kit as he played skilfully. She sighed impatiently. She was bored. There was nothing to do, no one to talk to. She found herself thinking almost fondly of her own home, where she knew where everything was. She found that what she really wanted was adventure. She felt a pang of guilt as sudden understanding flooded her senses. She hadn't come back to the past because of Arson. She had simply followed him because of her own lust for adventure and excitement. She had been using him.

Siren quietly made her way down the stairs and sat down on the last step, watching Dante play. Dante could see her watching through the corner of his eye and abruptly sent the cymbals clashing, causing her to jump. Siren glared at him frostily and noted the mischievous grin on his face.

'I don't think that's funny.'

'Yeah? Well I do.'

'In that case, I think you have a poor sense of humour.' Siren looked around the living room icily. 'And I think you should clean up in here. It's a mess.'

'I happen to like it like this!'

'Really? Well…it makes me wonder. Roaches are everywhere!' At this point, Siren spread her arm expressively pointing towards the kitchen and at Trish, who was just coming into the living room. Trish caught Dante's pleased expression and looked at him quizzically.

'She doesn't like the way we live,' said Dante simply. Trish leant against the doorpost and folded her arms, smiling almost casually as Siren continued.

'I can't believe Arson expects someone of my calibre to stay in a dump like this! When Arson told me that you were a legend, I thought that you'd be living in some place where there were huge gardens and sports cars everywhere!' Dante burst out laughing at this point. Trish tried to hide a smile but only succeeded in smiling lopsidedly. Dante stood up, still holding his drumsticks.

'Well if you don't like it, you can go. We're not stopping you.' Siren glowered at him and then walked out of the door without another word. Trish rolled her eyes.

'She'll be back. This isn't the first time that she's stormed out like that.'

'I know. It makes me laugh when she gets annoyed. Okay, so we don't live in a mansion or anything and it is a little dirty…but it's still mine.' Trish stared up the stairs vacantly. Dante sighed impatiently and paced about the room, as he was accustomed to do. He suddenly stopped, grabbed something from one of the shelves behind his desk and ran upstairs.

'Dante!' Trish yelled after him. Dante simply grinned back down at her and whirled into his room like a hurricane. Trish hurtled after him. 'Honestly! Sometimes you're like a kid!'

Val sat up, blinking wearily. She looked at Dante and then at Trish before she lay back down, giving in to the pain.

'Is…Inferno here yet?' Dante shook his head.

'Still asleep.' Val nodded, her eyes searching her brother's face for any sign of consciousness. Trish felt his forehead. It was ice cold. She realised that he wasn't breathing. She looked at Dante in shock. Dante lifted Arson's arm and watched as it flopped back limply. The expression on his face confirmed Trish's suspicions.

'So is he…' Val looked up at Trish, her voice suddenly growing childlike. 'He's just asleep…and he'll get up soon. He might be a little hurt at first…but he'll wake up and everything will be back to normal…won't it?'

'It's no use lying to yourself, Val and you should-'

'You're right,' said Dante suddenly. Trish gaped at him, startled by his comment. Dante had once told her that it was pointless to try and convince yourself that something was there, when it wasn't. It just turned you mad eventually. So why was he saying this? Trish frowned at him but Dante continued to smile as he placed a yellow orb on Arson's chest. Almost immediately, bright light flooded the entire room. Trish shielded her eyes from the fierce glare. Val said nothing but clenched her teeth, as though determined that no matter what happened, she would never leave her brother's side.

The light slowly faded out. Dante crossed his arms and leant against the wall, still smiling. Arson stirred slowly and his eyes flickered open, coming first to settle on Trish, Dante and lastly Val. His lips moved but no sound came out. His eyes slowly closed once more. Dante nodded as though he was expecting this.

'He took one hell of a beating. He's still going to be groggy for a while.' Val looked up at Dante, her eyes swimming with tears.

'That was a yellow orb, wasn't it? That meant that my brother…that Arson…' Dante shrugged nonchalantly and walked out of the bedroom, Trish beside him.

'You knew, didn't you?' Dante nodded and smiled.

'When you've been in the business as long as I have, you can sense death.' He caught the look of wonder in Trish's eyes. 'It's not a nice gift. It can be very depressing.' Trish nodded, dwelling on his words.

Siren felt her anger leave her as she marched down the streets. In fact, the more she thought about the situation, the more she realised that she had been complaining a little too much, and that she had given the impression that she was immature. She smiled thinly to herself. Well, Trish was more immature than her in some ways. At least she could openly admit that she loved Arson, unlike Trish. Siren stopped in her tracks. But did she love Arson? The questions ran through her mind again. Arson had always been so kind to her, and had never shown any malice towards her, apart from that one time. But he didn't really seem to respond to her.

It was always her who had to start the conversation, or instil passion inside of his soul. He was obedient, like some kind of robot. Siren wished that he would say no at least once to her. Or that for once, Arson would rather be the dominating one in their romantic excursions. But that was Arson. He was so quiet and somewhat shy. But maybe that was what made him so loveable in her eyes. And Arson had given her something else that no one else really tried to show. Respect.

She turned back the way she had come, noticing from the corner of her eye that one guy was watching her. She flicked her hair out of her face almost arrogantly and carried on walking serenely back towards Devil May Cry. If things didn't work out between Arson and her, she would be able to find a replacement easily. Her walking slowed again. Why was she going back so soon? And what was she returning to? Arson would still be most probably out cold. She saw the guy following her and noted his looks. Cute. She may as well have some fun.