Dante slowly opened his eyes to hear a sweet voice singing. The tone was slow and mournful. He slowly sat up, still listening to the sad melody. For some strange reason, he felt oddly disappointed when the voice petered out. It filled him with an odd sense of loss. There was no more left. There was nothing left to go on. He realised then that he was thinking of himself, and his lost past.
Maya walked into the room, bearing another tray of food.
'Are you feeling any better, Dante?' she asked politely. Dante nodded slightly.
'Was that you singing?' Maya turned to look at him, blushing slightly. She nodded once. Dante's light blue eyes seemed to bore into her. She froze, wanting to go but not wanting to seem rude. 'I thought you were very good.'
'Thank you.'
'What does it mean?'
'If I tell you, then it will lose all meaning. But I am glad to see that you are feeling a lot better. I was getting worried.' Dante was not to be swayed.
'Come on, tell me. I'm curious now.' Maya folded her arms and then lowered her eyes, smiling somewhat embarrassedly.
'Okay…don't laugh…'
'I won't.'
'It means, Filled with light, your eyes are filled. Filled with light, your eyes are filled. Your eyes, they say don't let me go, Filled with Dreams your eyes are filled. Filled with Dreams your eyes are filled.' Dante frowned.
'That doesn't make any sense to me.'
'I told you…it would lose all meaning if I translated it…but to me…even then it makes sense.' Maya turned to go. Dante watched her expressionlessly and then cleared his throat.
'I want to thank you.' Maya paused at the doorway and turned again, frowning.
'For what?'
'For saving my life.' Maya had nothing to say to this. Dante watched the expression on her face carefully. 'There's not many people who'd have done that.' Maya offered him a smile, and it seemed to light up the whole of her face. Dante couldn't help but smile back. Maya suddenly looked serious, the smile vanishing from her face.
'You're not human.' It wasn't a question. It was a statement. Dante didn't seem surprised.
'What of it?' Maya shrugged.
'I'm just letting you know that I know.'
'Why aren't you running?' Maya looked at him steadily.
'The way I figure it, we shouldn't be afraid if someone happens to be slightly different. The world we live in today, it's so prejudiced. I don't believe that we were created to harbour such thoughts of hate and anger. And most people now, they hate those who happen to live in a different way to theirs, or do different things, or even if they act different. I'm not afraid of you. Despite whatever you are, I can see that you mean me no harm.' She caught the sudden glint of the sword and smiled. 'Perhaps you mean others harm, and I'm sure you have a good reason why.' Maya left Dante to think on her words. Instead of seeing the wisdom in what she had said, his thoughts began to turn to the last thing she had said. Sure, he knew he needed to stop someone, or something but who? He had a good reason why he wanted to stop this evil surge. Because both sides of his lineage were in danger of becoming wiped out. He looked down, and his eyes caught sight of the red amulet that hung about his neck. Something like thunder flashed through his mind. He could remember a storm. No not a storm. It was his own power, and it had been surging through a narrow corridor, towards a boy who was about eighteen or so.
'Arson!' he yelled. Maya dashed back into the room, shrieking. Dante became aware of the evil that surrounded him as his grips on his memory slipped away. Arson became nothing but dust. Maya collapsed into his arms, bleeding and sobbing. There was a sudden high pitched cackle before he saw a black piece of material loom out in front of him. Maya clung onto him, her eyes wide with fear. Dante looked down at her and was suddenly stunned by her beauty. How come he hadn't noticed that before? He shook his head to free his mind from these thoughts and quickly snatched his sword from the ground, still holding onto Maya.
'Listen,' he whispered in her ear. 'I think you'd better get out of here. Just get clear from this area for now. This is going to get ugly and I don't want you to get hurt. Now go.' Maya stumbled forwards, half limping half running. The Sin Scythe gave another frenzied cackle before it raced after her, swinging its blade wildly. Maya screamed and fell to the ground.
Dante threw something. The star shaped stone skidded across the floor, coming to land at Maya's hand, bathing her in a green glow. Dante ran towards the demon, a confident smile on his face. The demon shrieked in pain as Dante brought his sword crashing through it to the hilt. It dropped the scythe, screaming in pain and snarling with rage. Dante watched it squirm and wriggle unsuccessfully, only managing to hasten its death. It gave one last piercing screech before its mask shattered, leaving only the cloak of illusions swirling aimlessly before it faded away.
---
Maya slowly woke up to see that Dante was by her side, cradling her head in his arms. He smiled with relief.
'I didn't think it would work for a second.' Maya looked at him, uncomprehending. A dull grey lump of stone was by her side, star shaped. She looked at it and then back up at Dante, her light green eyes more prominent against the raven black hair.
'What was that thing?' she asked breathlessly.
'Demon.' Dante rose with her in his arms. He was surprised by how light she was. Maya clung to him instinctively, eyes wide.
'Dante? Before that thing came, you yelled out something. Like arson or something…' Dante's eyes looked distant for a minute. Maya watched him carefully before she began shivering with delayed shock. The sudden movement brought Dante back into the present.
'It doesn't matter.' He looked down at her, again stunned by her looks. 'Get some sleep.'
'But…'
'I'm fine.' Maya looked up at him with those huge eyes of hers. Dante looked straight ahead, fixedly, feeling unnerved by these new feelings that were surging inside him.
'What if another one of those things come?' Dante caught the sound of fear in her voice and looked down. The shuddering was growing worse. Her skin was cold to the touch. He gently placed her on the bed and grabbed his trench-coat, which had been neatly folded and placed on the seat of a chair, as well as his red vest that he wore over his black top. He draped his coat over her body, hoping that it would help to keep her warm. At length, when he saw that it was not helping, he sat down beside her and began rubbing her skin briskly, hoping that would help somehow.
'Is this helping?' Maya nodded slightly, her eyes lowered. She slowly looked up at him.
'You saved me,' she whispered. Dante said nothing. His rubbing had slowed down to a caress. Maya's shivering stopped. She had closed her eyes, as though she were asleep. Dante carried on nonetheless, liking the feel of her skin. His eyes searched her face and he was surprised to see that she was still awake, and watching him.
'Could you please stop that?' she asked. Dante grinned.
'You don't like it?' Maya was silent for a while. She looked confused. 'You do, don't you?' Her eyes seemed to soften slightly before she tried to regain her composure.
'No…I don't…' She looked away from him, nervously but then looked back in his direction, unable to fight away the attraction. She started. Dante's face hadn't been that close to her's had it? She no longer cared.
---
Dante woke up and smiled as he saw Maya beside him, asleep. Acting on an impulse, he leant over and kissed her gently before he stretched languorously and slowly dressed himself and then walked into the kitchen. Funny how he was always drawn to kitchens. Even back at home, at Devil May Cry he had always been in the kitchen, most of the time arguing with Trish. Trish…
Dante's eyes widened. Trish with the golden hair, Trish with the attitude problem, Trish who thought she knew everything, Trish. His head began to pound. Where the hell was she? She was here somewhere. He paused as he felt his amulet hit against his chest. He looked down at it, eyes confused.
Thunder raced down the corridor towards Trish, a young man, no, a boy and another girl. Trish was on the ground, screaming. The kid, he had done something to her. No, not to her. To the intruder who had come to kill them. Trish had been too much in the way and her clothes had been burnt to a crisp, due to the intense heat. The flames had leapt and had danced as they consumed and destroyed all things metal. The whole of the compartment had been burning; it had been as hot as Hell. But it wasn't arson. He hadn't meant to destroy everything. He had only meant to kill his enemy. It wasn't arson. No wait…it was. Arson. Arson who had had his amulet. No that wasn't right. If that was the case then it wouldn't have been hanging around his neck right now. So why did he have one? Unless…
Dante fell to his knees, shock robbing him of all strength.
'Oh my God…Oh my God…'