By Fang Wolfsbane

"Three extra-large strawberry sundaes," the barman at Dante's favourite diner said with a grin on his face as he placed three tall glasses in front of them, each one containing what seemed like a milk-ish liquid topped with small red fruits humans called strawberries. She found it difficult to fathom how the berry made them think of a straw.

She and Ares sat next to the demon hunter, nearly covered in head to toe in muck and grime from their little cleaning escapade thanks to Nero and his lack of explaining what cleaning equipment was and how they were meant to be used. The twins had discovered it the hard way, hence their current appearance of looking like they had just gone for a roll in mud at the nearest pigsty.

It didn't help that on their way to the diner, some inconsiderate human drove over a muddy puddle that splashed over both her and Ares. Luckily her brother had taken most of the filth by stepping in front of her. If it had been any other male, she would have backhanded them for daring to think that they could protect her better than she could herself, although given what it was that he protected her from, she just might have turned a blind eye to it.

She didn't dare look at her nails or the state they were in. Taking care of them had never been something she was overly interested in, but that didn't mean that she was happy about them getting chipped or having gunk stuck beneath them either. It would take her weeks just to get them to look decent again. Perhaps that human – Kyrie – could help her get them back in a presentable state. It was the least she could do to apologise for the human she seemed to wish to mate with.

She shuddered. The mere thought of mixing blood between two species was off-putting. How the great Sparda could give up his life for one these creatures… she refused to try and understand.

When news of Sparda's betrayal against the underworld reached them, it was believed that the demonic prince had done so out of lust, but surely one plain old human couldn't have such a powerful effect on a demon that could have gotten anything he wanted just by snapping his fingers. Could she?

She had originally planned to ask Dante about his parentage, but the half demon seemed far more interested in the frozen drink the bartender had served them a minute ago. He had originally been on his way out when she finally managed to corner him, so he had invited the two of them along, claiming that if these sundaes didn't convince them to help humanity, then nothing would.

She was inclined to believe the latter. Nonetheless the two of them had made a promise to the hunters to assist them in keeping Mundus from invading their realm and ruling it as a second underworld.

Ares had asked her the night before why she intended on helping Dante and his little group, and to be frank, she didn't know why herself either. If their parents ever found out about their escapade, they would not only disown them and toss them out on the streets to fend for themselves. No, they would ensure that something far, far worse came over them, titles and blood be damned.

After studying Dante's interest in the sundae, Ares picked up a spoon and copied the half-demon's actions. His eyes widened so fast that she instantly felt the need to question the ingredients. Before she could mutter a single word, Dante grinned at the boy.

"It's good, right?"

Ares could only nod as he held his hand over his mouth. A second later he scooped the dessert again, and again, and again until Aspasia's own curiosity won out and she took a bite. The moment the cold sweetness of it hit her tongue, she nearly jumped off her stool.

Knowing smiles and grins passed over the faces of the human patrons that seemed to frequent the diner as often as Dante. A glance around the room had her confirming as much. Looking back at the dessert, questions flooded her mind. How was it possible for something so plain-looking to taste so sweet and inviting?

Before she could stop herself, she did the exact same as her twin. Dante reached over as if to stop them before he thought better of it. She was about to ask him what his intention was when Ares let out a yelp and grasped a hold of his head with both hands, squeezing it as if he had just been hit. Aspasia moved to spin on her stool and demand to know who had the audacity to raise a hand to her brother when Dante's chuckle drew her attention.

"That's called a brain freeze. I'm guessing you never had one before."

"B-Brain freeze?" Ares repeated in worry, looking between him and his sister. "A-Are you trying t-to kill us?!"

Dante only shook his head as he went back to eating his sundae. "No, it's just something that happens when you eat or drink something that's cold too fast. Give it a minute and you'll be fine again. Just try to eat slower this time okay?"

For that whole minute, Aspasia watched Ares until he continued eating as well, following Dante's advice this time.

When half of her sundae was finished, Aspasia took a moment to wipe her lips. If all human food was as delicious as pizza and sundaes, then she could see why Sparda had been so willing to protect them from the demon realm.

She had been ready to tear Dante a new one on his nephew's arrogance about asking – no, ordering – demon nobility to clean, but now that she had a decently full stomach, her anger seemed almost neutralised. She thought of making Nero make a trip to the diner for one of these sundaes each time he got on her nerves in the future.

Despite his relaxed composure it was almost impossible to tell whether Dante knew that she had a pressing matter to discuss with him or not. Ares was simply there to act as her protection, not that she needed him for such a purpose but who knew what could happen if she left him alone with the humans back at Devil May Cry.

She had already seen how excited the human female with glasses had been over their presence. Over his presence. Whether he was aware of the looks she gave him or not, was something she didn't know.

Nor did she intend to find out either.

If her brother wanted to follow in the great Sparda's footsteps like that then he was more than welcome to, as long as he didn't expect her to start acting like an aunt the moment he told their parents that he had planted a child within the human woman. She was far too young for that title, even by demon age-measurements.

She had often found herself wondering if humans followed the same social hierarchy as they did. During her studies of the realm she had learned that their decisions were made for them by someone they gave the title 'president', a title given to a human who was meant to provide peace and prosperity to the lands they ruled. This was often classified as nothing more than failures.

With humans it was a constant war of sexism, racism, xenophobia, homophobia and far more complicated messes that often caused fights to break out amongst them. Yes, demons had different classes amongst themselves, but compared to humans, socialism was really the only form of inequality they possessed these days. She dared to say that they were actually better off than the humans.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Dante asked after a while. The question caught her by such surprise she nearly knocked her glass over. For a second she thought about asking how he knew she had something to ask him but then again, he was the famed demon hunter. If he couldn't tell that something was going through a demon's head, then no human could.

She sighed. "I want to know why."

He arched an eyebrow at her, his spoon halfway to his lips, the ice cream doing nothing more than to emphasise how delicious the cut strawberry seemed. "Why what?"

This time she looked him in the face as she said her question. "Why you protect humanity when you could be ruling over them instead."

D ante only let out a sigh as the diner's patrons looked to them as if awaiting an answer they had probably asked themselves multiple times by now. Even Ares held his tongue as he waited on the answer.

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