Disclaimer: I don't know why I keep writing these things but here goes. I don't own anything from Devil May Cry. (Muttering) As if saying that in the first chapter wasn't enough.
A/N: This chapter is at least somewhat longer than the last.
magusanubis: The story will end somewhere in the next couple of chapters and I'm not sure about writing a sequel yet. As for Rona, you find out in this chapter. And I already know you want me to update soon because of the other reviews. Thanks for reading all the chapters, by the way.
Miyakitt: As for your first question, the answer is in this chapter. (I'll probably be saying that a lot now.) I'll be trying to make the next chapters longer. It's been bothering me that they're so short, too. Thanks for the reviews.
LadyKadaj: Thanks for saying this story is more realistic. You're the first to say so. And I'm glad you like it, too.
BloodyDemonEmpress: You'll find out in this chapter if she's dead or not. And you can now stop hugging my leg and begging me to continue. I do take it as a compliment, by the way.
Ok. About the question for a sequel, what do you think? I'll write a sequel if at least five people request it. Enjoy the chapter and please review, though it doesn't seem like I need to say that.
The demon that had been controlling Rona knelt at the side of the human body. She had left the dying body to save herself, but why was she kneeling beside it like she was sorry? Virgil pondered this until the demon spoke, "She was the first to push me aside like that. She saved you with her own strength." The demon's shining eyes turned to Virgil. "And now her strength is seeping away with each second, like tears that are soon to be forgotten once cried. But she can be saved."
Virgil, at first, wondered if it was a trap but didn't care when he remembered the days he had watched her. "How?" He asked before the demon could choose to leave.
"By giving her a pert of myself." The demon answered, her eyes looking back on the body she knelt beside. "She will only be half demon, but she will also have complete control over her actions. Is this what you want?"
Virgil didn't have to think it over, having immediately said, "Yes."
The demon stood and took the two swords planted above Rona's head. She looked to Virgil, watching as he slowly drew his sword. "The you will fight for her. If you win, I will save her. But if I win, her fate is decided by me with no interference from you. Do you agree with these terms?"
"I do." Virgil spoke in a cold voice, not letting the demon know he was afraid to lose this battle. That he was afraid to lose the woman who's life was the prize.
The demon made the first move, charging Virgil and leaping over him when she noticed he was ready for the attack. She kicked him squarely in the back, causing him to stumble forward. Bringing down her swords toward the back of his neck, she watched as he rolled and blocked the attack.
"How can you save her when you don't believe you can?" The demon asked, forcing Virgil to think of more than just the fight. "If you do not trust in what you are, there is no hope for her survival and no hope for yours." She pulled back, allowing Virgil to jump his feet and ready himself for the next attack.
The demon soon attacked again, this time spinning and striking continually with both swords. When she figured Virgil had come to expect the same attack, she fell to her knees and tried to sweep his feet out from under him. She hadn't expected him to jump over her to avoid the possible end of the fight.
He swung his sword over his head and brought it downwards in a chopping motion, only to have it blocked by her crossed swords.
"You are fighting better." She commented. "Now for the real fight."
Her moves became faster, yet Virgil could predict them. She nearly slashed his arm, but somehow failed. Their swords rang with each hit, with each possible deathblow that had been blocked. Both fighters wondered when the end would come. But only Virgil wondered if he could come out as the victor.
Finally, the demon made a fatal error. She lunged for Virgil and soon felt a cold, steel blade at her throat. "I knew you had the power to defeat me. But will you be able to defeat my brother?"
"I don't care about your brother. I have won. It is time for you to keep your end of the bargain. Save her." Virgil motioned towards Rona's still body as he tried to catch his breath and hoped she wouldn't go back on her word. He didn't know if he could win another fight.
"Put away your sword, warrior, and I will." She answered calmly.
Virgil cautiously did as she said, knowing the demon could turn on him any time she chose.
He watched her go back to the body, her eyes seeming to pity the human lying before her. A look he had never given any human before he had met the girl who had summoned him with his enemy. She planted the swords firmly in the ground at her sides and knelt over the seeming corpse of Rona. Virgil hoped it wasn't too late as the demon rested one hand on the wound in Rona's chest and the other on her forehead. She raised her face to the sky and closed her eyes, her fiery figure seeming to glow brighter as she concentrated on her task.
The demon hummed a tune Virgil knew Rona had never sung. It was a tune that beckoned and yet seemed to repel him, a tune that reminded him of life and yet sounded of death.
Flames erupted around the two, covering them in a burning curtain.
Virgil couldn't see what happened next but heard the terrified scream that told him something else was in the circle of flame with them. And he knew he could do nothing about it. Not without his own destruction instead.
The flames abated, leaving only the moonlight to reveal the body that was still lying as it was before. The demon was gone and the swords were now crossed above Rona's head, almost as an offering to her spirit that was to have been restored. There was no sign of what had happened, only the scream of fear he had heard before.
Virgil carefully lifted the body. His eyes trailed to where the wound had been. He drew in a sharp breath. The wound was closed, leaving only smooth, perfect skin. It was then that he noticed the rise and fall of her chest. She was breathing. The demon had done as she said, but at what cost? What had happened to her? But these were questions Virgil didn't care about. Rona was safe and alive. Nothing else mattered to him except for taking her back home so she would be in her bed when she awoke. Everything would be back to the way it was. The three of them could be like a family, this time. Dante and Virgil would work to pay the bills and Rona could work towards becoming a singer like she wanted. All this, Virgil thought of but knew it couldn't be. He walked on, carrying Rona and her two swords.
Rona walked in the dark hall once again. She called to Dante and Virgil but received no answer as before. But, this time, she met with the demon that had controlled her for the short time. She watched as the demon danced, hearing a song Rona could only imagine.
"They fought for your life, little girl." The demon spoke as she swayed. "They have won a life for you. Will you return to them? Will you dance in the rain again? Will you dance with the life they have created for you?"
Rona watched its dance, hypnotized by the graceful movements she had once made. "What kind of life will I be returning to?" She asked, unknowingly speaking in the rhythm of the silent song. "If it is a life without them, I don't want it. I can't go back to the life I had after being so used to the life I've lived with them. I would rather die than go back."
The demon stopped. She took a step towards Rona, her hands outstretched in friendship. "Would you abandon them? Make my victory over my instincts fruitless? I wanted to kill your spirit, but didn't. Will you be weak now when you have won a victory over the demon that could have destroyed you before you even knew what was happening? Will you throw everything away because you are afraid?"
Rona's eyes flashed with golden fire. "I am not afraid." Her voice rumbled. "I have nothing to be afraid of."
"Then why do you hide? Why do you cower in your nightmares where you know he waits? He calls to you but you don't answer. They fight for you and you hide. Why do you wait to decide who to follow?"
"I don't want to send them back." She whispered. "If I wake up and finish this, they will have to go back. I'll never see them again in their freest state of mind. I'll never wake up to hear them arguing or Dante laughing while Virgil tries to figure out a puzzling trick Dante had come up with. All of that will be lost when this is over. I will have the memories, but memories aren't enough."
The demon took her hands in her own. "Sometimes the greatest sacrifice is actually the greatest blessing disguised in pain and sorrow."
"And sometimes both are too much to bear." Rona answered.
"But the pain you have felt has not destroyed you. Neither will this. You have the strength to do what you know should be done. You have the power of the crystal buried deep within you, now. Will you let it go to waste, or will you use it for right?"
"What is right?" Rona whispered.
"Taking the leap. You are drawing close to a chasm, child. Will you fly to the other side to reach your goal or will you stay for fear of falling. For fear of failing."
Rona looked into the demon's eyes. She watched as she faded into her own form, until Rona seemed to be looking into a mirror.
"We are one, now." The demon spoke. "But you are the dominant. Call on me when you most need help. Perhaps we will become a legend as did this Sparda I have seen in your mind."
"You will be the legend, not me." Rona answered.
The demon faded into nothing with a smile in her burning eyes, leaving Rona in the darkness but with the knowledge that she no longer needed to be afraid. She could feel both the demon and human sides of her. They were equal but the demon was submissive. She would no more have to worry about destroying all she loved.
Dante sat in Rona's room, his eyes staring at nothing though they were directed at the guns he had made for her. An occasional tear fell, splashing onto either of the guns. He wished there were demons to kill, to lighten the pain. But he knew no demons would be sent after them. Rona was gone. There would be no need.
He wondered why Virgil had killed her when he should've seen she was back. Didn't he know that Rona would have done everything she could to protect them? Or had he gone back to the heartless demon he had been?
Dante!
Dante looked around. The voice, it had been Rona's, but how? He asked himself. She was dead. She couldn't have come back.
The sound of the door slamming alerted Dante to Virgil's return. He quickly slid the guns under the bed. Looking towards the door, he saw Virgil holding Rona and her swords. "Why did you bring her body back with you?" He asked angrily. "There's nothing we can do for her. She's dead."
Virgil shoved past Dante and carefully laid Rona on the bed. "She's not dead." He growled. "I made sure she was brought back."
"How?" Dante asked before sitting on the bed and taking one of Rona's hands into both of his.
"The demon. I fought her to make her save Rona… Rona should wake up soon. We should leave her alone. Besides, the sun's rising and I have a lot to explain to you." Virgil led his brother out of the room, sparing a glance at the sleeping form on the bed.
Rona wondered why she was still in the dream. She was ready to wake up. Was there something else? Something she had to learn before going back?
"Why am I still here?" She yelled into the darkness. "Why haven't I gone back to them?"
"There is one thing I must tell you." The voice of the demon spoke. "Virgil didn't need to fight for you. I stayed to save you. I knew your heart and did not wish for your death. Our brother needs us. But he was too powerful for me to finish. The shards are one again, except for the one you hold. It is my heart. It will keep us alive as it would have kept you alive had I chosen to remain with my brother. But you must hurry, my sister through soul. He must be put to rest before we are no longer two consciousnesses. When we are one, then too will our twins be inseparable and you will have no choice but to kill your brother."
"I'm not strong enough to beat him on my own." Rona exclaimed.
"You have Sparda's sons to aid you. Our brother has most of my power. But you have the numbers and heart to conquer him. Use it wisely, my sister. The end draws nearer for you." The voice spoke as it faded.
Rona ran through the darkness, searching for a way out.
"Your death will be slow. As will be my sister's for betraying me."
She turned to see her demon that had taken over her brother.
With lightning speed he took hold of her hair and yanked her head back, forcing her to scream from the pain.
"Witness your end." The demon held a red-flame knife, slowly lowering it to the tender skin of her throat.
"No!" She screamed as she sat up. She hardly realized she was sitting in her bed, early morning light flooding the room with a cold glow.
Dante and Virgil came running in, both were glad she was awake but worried over how she had awoken.
Holding her close, Dante soothingly cooed in her ear, "You're okay. It's over. It's over now."
Tears welled in her eyes as she remembered everything. Letting go of what she had left of her humanity, the fight with Dante and Virgil. The dream. All of it had seemed too horrible to remember, but she did. This had been a warning from the demon. A warning of what she had to keep from happening again.
She clung to Dante, rocking from side to side with him, letting him sooth away the fear and pain, though it was only a temporary solution. She wished it would never end. A return to what she had felt upon waking would be too much. How easy it would be to lose herself in Dante's comfort, to forget everything and let him hold her forever. But she knew her brother would never let her rest if she attempted it. He would always be there to destroy what she now had, to destroy the one last bit of sanity and happiness that she still held.
She was back and was now wishing she wasn't. She knew the pain wasn't over yet. She knew there was still a debt that had to be paid. Whether that debt would be paid with the blood of her brother or the loss of Dante and Virgil, she didn't know. Either way, she knew she had to lose.
A/N: Don't forget to give your opinions on a sequel. And I thank you all for the reviews. They're the reason why this story has been continuing.