This is a tribute to why I shouldn't just dive into a story without a clear idea where I want it to go. I honestly never thought I'd come up with an end to it but leaving it unfinished has started to drive me nuts so here we go, I shall end with chapter 13 because that's just a fitting number to end it on, yea?
They aren't welcome.
The streets don't even have a pretense of normalcy anymore. Lady is so on edge when the soft click of footsteps on pavement comes from behind them she whips around, her gun in her hand.
Fara stands a few feet behind them, both of her small hands wrapped around the middle of her walking stick. She still looks pale and sick, even more so than before, but she shakes her head even before Dante can speak. "I can't sleep...I couldn't even make it down the block. I can hear screaming from every direction. And laughing."
Her voice is shaky and Dante takes a step toward her. She reaches a hand out toward him gently. She's left her sunglasses behind and her eyes gleam, wine red, a weird light gleaming from behind them. Sick, tired, yes...but Lady can see the same rage in Fara's eyes that stirs in Dante's. And her own, probably.
Fara's eyes flick to Lady and again there's that eerie sense of being focused on without being seen. "You can feel it, can't you? Clawing at your mind? I can too." She looks at Dante. "You're Sparda's son, so it's taking longer for it to get to you. It will suck us all dry. And grow as it feeds."
"Stop it, Fara," Dante's voice is low.
She falls silent for a long moment, then stares at him. "Get us down the damn street."
He nods once. Fara takes the book from him and sucks in a breath, her fingers tightening on it. For a long moment she seems to struggle with something and Lady has to turn her face down because the angle of the buildings around her suddenly seems off, it makes her eyes hurt. But the ground isn't any better, the pavement squirming beneath her feet and yet it feels perfectly solid.
There's nowhere she can look that brings comfort, not even the insides of her eyelids.
Fara is clutching the book, muttering to herself. "Demons want power. Yes. They'll do anything for power, even go digging around for something they can't understand and could never control..."
"Fara..." Dante clamps a hand on her shoulder and her head jerks up, her eyes wide. She breathes out and closes her eyes for a moment, and then points down the road. "There."
There's no people around as they move down the street. Even people in the throes of madness are smart enough to stay away.
Dante brings up the rear, his face set in a way very few have seen before, a cold focus that only comes when he's reached the absolute limit. His form ripples without him realizing it, just a hint of dark energy rippling below the surface of his form, ready to break free at the slightest provocation.
Fara leads the way, her power much less than his but the lack of one sense lending her a small measure of shielding. Because of this, she walks beside Lady, one slim hand across the human woman's eyes, the other holding her arm, guiding her because Lady won't go back and even if she did...where would she go?
Fara's guiding him on pure instinct now. She has no other form to shift to but like him she can tap into the power of her blood and she's using that now to see through to the source of the mess.
Dante's the only one looking as chaos reigns. The streets shift from one moment to the next but he keeps his eyes on Fara and Lady in front of him. Now he sees the trick for what it is and ignores it, waiting, sword drawn.
Fara makes a warning sound and throws some kind of barrier around her and Lady a second before the entire area warps. The buildings around them explode, rubble spiraling out. He doesn't think, just reacts, sword a wild blur in the air around them. Rocks, wood, none of it gets past the blade.
Lady cries out in shock and revulsion as her foot sinks into the ground, dragging Fara along as well. It sucks at her leg, burning, warm and wet and pulsing like flesh. Fara braces herself and Lady uses that, grunting as she rips herself free. Blood spurts out, pouring over the ground and a low shriek seems to come from deep inside the earth. Fuck it if she's hurt it, it just tried to eat her.
She pulls her gun as Dante drags both of them clear of the sinking ground. She doesn't give a damn if she'll be shooting rocks or even air, she's going to go down shooting.
Dante's sword carves a path in the air again and then...
The street is normal again.
Utterly still.
Except there's a woman standing at the intersection ahead of them. Laughing.
She smiles at them brightly, holding the book in her hands, seemingly oblivious to the fact Dante and Lady both have guns trained on her. "Thank you for bringing this back. It won't do you any good now, but it's still nice to have it again."
Dante knows that voice somehow.
Her voice is bright, happy. Impossibly young and girlish. Grotesque. Because this woman left girlhood behind a long, long time ago. She stands tall and straight, her yellowed teeth bared in a happy grin, her hair still more gold than white. But her face is lined and wrinkled and sags like it's about to slough off her skull. Her skin is so dry and leathery it's cracked in several places, blood oozing over her skin, and her veins draw lines just beneath the surface, pulsing and black. Her hands are twisted and Dante can almost hear the bones crack as she tightens them around the book.
"Tea time!" She starts to prance in place, giggling, hugging the book to her chest like a child with a beloved book of fairy tales. "Hero, what can you do now? Just sit back and watch the world bleed bleed bleed bleed..."
Tea time...A memory of his swims to the surface, hazy but growing clearer.
"Put the book down!" Lady cocks her gun with a loud click, her voice shaky but growing stronger. Fara is watching Dante sharply.
The woman ignores them all, dancing outright now. "Tea time! Cake of meat! Spoon of bone! Tea of blood! And there's nothing you can do."
It clicks, that voice, those words.
Not especially beautiful. Or strong. Or pure. Not anymore.
Dante's voice is remarkably calm as he says the two words that stop the apparition in its place, her smile freezing into an ugly, shocked rictus.
"Hello, Alice."