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Dante returned shortly after Vergil had untied Rona. With him he carried the head of a demon he had found watching the shop, not yet realizing he had either made a crucial mistake or saved Rona.

With heavy, tired and depressed steps, Dante walked to his room, expecting to see Rona trying to escape again. Instead, he found her sitting on the bed with a book in her hands. His eyes grew wide as he wondered why she hadn't jumped out the window with her chance of "freedom."

"What's going on?" He asked as he dropped the demon head, paying no attention to its wet splat as it hit the floor.

Vergil, who was sitting at the desk, calmly answered, "We're reading."

Dante couldn't believe he was acting so natural about the fact Rona might bolt any second. "She's able to get away, you know." He stated as he took a subconscious step towards the girl and prepared for his words to remind her of what she could do.

"She won't." Vergil answered.

Nodding with uncertainty, Dante took another step towards Rona, this time wanting to see what she was reading.

"Did this really happen?" She asked, making Dante pause in his step.

"What?"

"Did this really happen?" She repeated, handing Dante the book.

He soon realized what it was. After they had left her world, Dante figured he would never see her again and wrote down everything that had happened. And maybe a few things that didn't.

Reading the pages, he tried to think of an explanation for what was written.

"Let me see that." Vergil suddenly spoke as he stood from his chair at the desk.

"No." Hiding the book behind his back, Dante slowly edged his way to the door. Vergil would tell her it was a fantasy of Dante's and he couldn't have that happen. Not that he wanted to lie to her but for her to know something so personal about him was enough to make him wish she had never gotten a hold of the ledger. "It's nothing important."

Rona smirked. "So you writing about me lying next to you and reciting some poem I was supposed to have written isn't important? Even with what was supposed to have happened before that?"

Vergil glared at Dante while Dante gave a nervous laugh. "I… was… uh."

"You were what?" Vergil growled.

"I was thinking of ideas for something Rona could write?" He laughed nervously again but a little more silent this time.

Noticing the demon's head on the floor, Rona suddenly had a look of horror drift across her face as she recognized the demon as her guardian. "You killed him?" She whispered.

"Huh?" Dante was almost thrilled about the change of subject until he saw Rona's expression and realized what she was looking at.

"Get it out of here." Vergil growled as he moved to hold Rona.

Pushing Vergil away, she slowly walked to the head lying on the floor. "He protected me in every task I was given. He even drew Banith's anger from off me when I made a mistake." Her now teary eyes floated to Dante as though she were in a dream. "He was never an enemy like most demons."

"Get it out of here." Vergil repeated as he drew Rona to himself and far from Dante's trophy. His arms encircled her waist as he held her close and whispered in her ear.

With the sudden fear that Rona would never return to him, Dante obeyed and carried the remains out and to the trash. He wondered why a demon would show her such concern, why this one in particular had protected her from their master's rage. Was there an understanding between them? Or was there a secret he had helped her keep? It was too late to ask for these answers now. The demon was dead, destroyed. He would never speak again.

"She's asleep." Dante spun around to see Vergil standing against a brick wall, trying to make himself comfortable. "The shock didn't last long." He continued.

Dante nodded.

"There's something you need to know about what happened to her, Dante." Vergil silently told him what he had learned while Dante was gone. He watched as his brother leaned against the wall, a blank look covered his usually cheerful features while his eyes burned with anger and hatred.

"She tried to fight him." Dante mumbled. "She understood what was happening and tried to stop it." His eyes flew to Vergil's face. "Could she have subconsciously remembered us?"

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Dante's twin calmly answered, "It might not have been memory. She always knew what was right and what wasn't. It could have been just a reflection of that."

"But it is possible that she was thinking of at least one of us when she tried to stop him." Dante seemed to be clinging to this hope as if it would save him. And maybe it would.

Vergil nodded. "But it isn't likely."

Lowering his head, Dante nodded; still holding onto the hope that maybe she had remembered his proposal.

Rona twisted and turned in her sleep, the nightmares returning to her as they did every night. Her eyes fluttered, never opening and never remaining closed. She groaned her fears as she watched him come at her. His angry eyes burning with more than just rage and disappointment that she had disobeyed him. What was she supposed to do when he tried to strike her? Cower before him? She knew that wasn't in her blood. Just as she knew she was stronger than he wanted her to be.

"I'll teach you to obey me." He growled as he threw her to the floor.

The memory of her head hitting the hard stone beneath her had become as dull as the roundness of the ring she wore around her neck. A ring she didn't remember being given but that Banith had allowed her to keep.

She watched with horror as what he was about to do slowly occurred to her. She impulsively kicked his feet out from under him and tried to scurry away. But she was too late. He had taken a hold of her legs and was pulling her back.

"No!" She screamed as she suddenly sat up, her eyes searching for the monster from her dream, the monster that had been her master.

Dante and Vergil ran into the room, both wondering what was wrong. Rona only looked at them blankly, the idea that they were there to help her remaining too distant from her mind.

With a smooth movement she was up and soon walking past them and to the bathroom she had somehow known where to find. Her hands shaking, she turned on the cold water and, cupping her hands together, gathered enough water to splash on her face to chase away the memory. Her eyes, now red from the tears she hadn't known she had cried, looked into the mirror, focusing on the face she could hardly recognize any more. For a moment she fancied that the mirror had been shattered with spots of blood covering the center of the broken mirror. At the same moment she could feel a dreadful pain in her hand, pain that was only existent when cut. Hesitantly she looked down at her hand to see it covered in blood. How did this happen? She didn't punch the mirror. Or did she? The memory of glass shattering against her fist seemed to float to the surface of her mind but only to sink as soon as she could see it. What happened that would make her do such a thing? Why was this pain so familiar to her?

Banith waited for Rona's guardian to return and tell him he had found his lost slave. But he never came. The thought of him being dead was obvious, but which twin would have killed him and why? Did they have her? He should have known that she was too precious to lose, even for him. What she carried made it even more so.

Calling a group of demons to himself, he quickly explained to them his suspicions and sent them to take care of this small errand for him.

"She will be returned to me. Even if I have to drag her here myself." Banith growled.

A calming female voice sounded behind him. "She holds more than what you planted, Banith. Be cautious in your hunger to bring her back. It may prove your downfall."

Banith chuckled. What could she know? "She would never betray me. She knows what will happen if she does."

"You miss my point." The voice answers, tainted with slight aggravation. "Something has gone wrong in your plans. She is back with them. She has your offspring. She carries the future of your race and could destroy it if they bring back her memory. Or should I say if he brings back her memory?"

Suddenly, with a deep-throated growl, Banith threw the nearest object, a giant crystal, in the direction of the voice, only to hear it shatter against the wall.

The voice laughed at his futile attempt. "You are too predictable, Banith."

His heart racing with his rage, Banith stomped out of the room. He would make the voice pay. He would make them all suffer for the death of his species. Just as he would bring the man she spoke of to his knees. He would take his life in front of Rona. He would listen to her frantic screams as she watched him fall to the floor, a pool of blood blooming around his still body. She would see his power and fear him at last.