Summary: His family shattered before his eyes, the first time he ever took a life. The events that would steal Dante's innocence, making him the hunter he is today...

Disclaimer: I do not own squat. I know the twins, but I cannot claim ownership over them. Only the almighty Capcom can dare to do that, which is reasonable. They own the games, after all.

The Possessed

Nalasmil watched the family go. The tall, willowy blonde woman certainly matched the descriptions of Sparda's woman. If she wasn't cause for immediate suspicion, however, the twin boys walking at her sides were. The silver caps of hair alone marked them as suspect.

Raksh, she thought, communicating with the demon that shared her mortal shell. Can you see them?

Yes, a deep, gravely baritone replied from somewhere deep within her.

Show me.

A clear film seemed to cover her eyes, and suddenly she could see through the demon's eyes. All the buildings and plants, the cars and streetlights, seemed somehow twisted and perverted, more organic and less mechanic. Demonic versions of the human originals. The sky was as red as blood, and the atmosphere seemed somehow heavier, more difficult to take into her lungs. Through the power of the demon inside her, the transition didn't harm her, where it would have caused a normal human to at least cry out and give away her presence.

When Nalasmil turned her gaze to the little family, she saw that a frightening change had taken place. The human woman had remained the same, but her sons had disappeared. In their places were two small demons, the wings and horns of adults only just beginning to grow from their blackened forms. Their claws clicked on the pavement as they moved away, and their eyes glowed with the fires that raged inside them. Most telling of all, however, was the color of the horns emerging from their skulls. Black horns, which only one other demon in the long history of Hell had possessed.

These two were, beyond all doubt, the sons of Sparda.

"Yes…." she hissed.

The demon on the right suddenly turned to look at her, and Raksh withdrew back into her as if he were afraid. She, likewise, was stricken with a flash of panic. There was just something about him that inspired fear in both her and the demon, something inexplicable, yet almost tangible. But what?

The boy glanced at her for a heartbeat longer, then turned away.

Had he sensed her? She shook that disquieting thought away. They were only half-demons; surely they couldn't sense Raksh's presence! That was impossible!

As per her master's wishes, she followed the family.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

"Vergil? What is it?"

"Nothing, Mom. I thought I heard something, but I was wrong." He caught his mother's hand, hurried along to keep up with her long strides. "What are we getting?"

"The usual things. But first we are going to get some ice-cream for Dante's throat."

"Yeah, 'cause I really need it." Dante rubbed at his throat and pretended to wince, even though the marks had almost disappeared already.

"Liar. You just want a cone." Vergil leaned around his mother to stick his tongue out at his brother.

"No, it really hurts!"

"Boys," Eva said in a warning tone. They immediately went quiet, and she hit the crosswalk button. "We'll get cones, then we'll go shopping, but there will be no more fighting today. Right?"

"Right, Mom." Dante jumped off the curb just as the light turned blue.

She smiled at her younger son, and something caught her eye.

A woman was following them.

She seemed inconspicuous, despite her pale, pale skin and hair and general unhealthy look, but something about her just put Eva's 'mommy senses' on high alert. This woman meant harm to her sons. To her as well, of course, but her safety mattered little when her sons were in danger.

Crossing the street, she took them into the ice cream parlor. As usual, the boys couldn't agree on what flavors to get, but finally settled down and chose. Vergil asked for a chocolate cone, Dante vanilla. Eva got a banana cone for herself, and noted with no small amount of suspicion that the woman was still lounging around outside when they left the store. She took up following them shortly after they headed in the direction of the supermarket.

"Let's see. What do we need from the store?" Eva asked, hoping not to tip off her sons that someone dangerous was near. What could this woman want with them? Was it connected to Sparda?

"Milk. Bread. Cheese. The usual." Vergil took a bite of his cone, having already licked it down to the sugary rim. He always knew what essentials they were low on.

"Pizza. Cookies. Chips." Dante was the one with the junk-food requests. As usual.

Eva finished her cone and threw the paper into the next available trash can. "We also need some vegetables." She waited for their predictable reaction.

"Vegetables? Yecchh!" Both of them pretended to be ill at the thought of food that was actually good for them. Fans of rabbit food, they were not.

"And some cake mix."

That lightened their faces. Their birthday was tomorrow, and Eva always let them lick the bowl and beaters when she made their cakes.

"C'mon, Mom! Let's hurry up!" They quickly finished their cones, and began pulling her along behind them, eager to get to the store. Eva laughed and let them drag her, thankful that they were unaware of the pale woman trailing them and that they were in a good mood. Of the two, Dante had been closer to her, and not really that fond of his father. He could usually be counted on to be playful and sunny, much as she had been as a child. That hadn't changed as he had gotten older, and she was grateful. Vergil, on the other hand….

Vergil's good days were usually few and far between these days. He was a lot more like their father, whom he had virtually idolized. Subdued, enigmatic, almost cold. On a bad day, he could seem as if he didn't care about anything besides himself. Sparda had been like that a lot, but not always. But when he wanted to, he could be as playful as his twin.

She was glad that today was one of those days.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

When they entered the supermarket, Eva glanced back at the woman while Dante went to get a cart. The woman hadn't entered the store with them, but Eva still felt that her instincts concerning the woman were correct. After all, she was still standing there outside the doors. Waiting.

"Mom?" What's wrong?" Vergil asked, seeing the concern on her face.

"Nothing."

Dante pushed the cart over to her, and they continued on their way through the aisles. Several times, she caught Dante sneaking things into the cart. A few times, as always, she pretended not to see him. If the item was too expensive, she could put it back on a shelf later, when he wasn't looking.

She also let the twins choose a bag of potato chips (Doritos, this time), and a package of cookies (chocolate chip). They went through this little ritual every time they went grocery shopping. The chips were a present because they stayed quiet and didn't beg, and the cookies they received if they didn't fight over anything on the way to, or in, the store, and helped her carry the groceries home from the supermarket.

"Vergil, would you go get me a jug of skim milk, please?" she asked, reaching for a box of cereal.

"Okay, Mom." He gave his brother a superior look as he went up the aisle to the dairy products. Dante shook a fist at him until Eva grabbed it.

"I wish you wouldn't do that, Dante."

"But he…." he started to protest, and she pressed a finger to his lips, silencing him.

"Listen to me. You are twins." She got down one on knee and touched a finger to his brow. "You've told me you and Vergil have a certain special connection. You can sense the other's presence, and sometimes even feel what he feels. Remember how he suffered when you broke your leg? The time you had that fever?"

"Yeah. He couldn't walk on it, and he was just as miserable as I was," Dante recalled.

"And when he had to get that tooth pulled?"

"I felt it too."

"Exactly. Do you understand now what I'm trying to tell you?"

"No."

Eva sighed, then shook her head and smiled ruefully. "You are two halves of the same whole. When all else is gone, so long as you feel that connection, you have each other. That is why twins like you are so lucky. When everyone else is gone, you will have each other." She smoothed the hair away from his eyes, made sure he was listening to her. "That's why it hurts me to watch you fight. The whole is split in two. But as long as you are at peace, then you will never be alone." She stood back up. "Do you see now?"

He nodded slowly. "I think so."

"Good." She started to push the cart again, but his next question stopped her.

"But what about you? Aren't you going to be with us, Mom?"

The question was not so unexpected, but it still caught her off-guard. Eva was in her mid-thirties, having given birth to her sons at a fairly young age. Would she be there for them? Of course, but how much longer? She looked down at him, walking beside her with one hand on the smooth silver of the cart. "You know that I will be there. Even if you can't see me. In times like that, where will I be, Dante?"

"Here." He pointed to his heart.

"That's right. I'll always be with you until we are reunited, and Vergil will be too. You'll be with him, and I as well."

"I understand." He put his arms around her waist. "I won't forget you, Mom. Ever."

"That's my boy." She hugged him back.

"Here's the milk, Mom." Vergil's voice intruded upon the scene, and Eva let go of Dante with a fair amount of guilt. Vergil was very sensitive to things which he believed indicated that his mother favored Dante over him. Already she saw that he was sullen, and his voice had been flat, emotionless.

"Vergil…." she began, reaching out to him.

He shrugged her hands off. "What else do we need?"

His rejection stung, but there wasn't much she could do to apologize. He wouldn't accept it. "There is nothing else. Let's go."

The twins didn't say anything while they checked out and paid for the groceries. When the food was bagged, they each grabbed a bag of groceries without prompting.

Then Eva noticed that the woman was still lounging around outside.

"Wait. Stop!" she commanded her sons. They looked at her in confusion. "Come here, and wait."

"Mom?" Dante looked at her.

"Mom, what's going on?" Vergil touched her arm, the first time he'd touched her since he'd come back with the milk. "What's wrong?"

She knew her sons' moods. They were scared as well as confused. "We are going to leave through a different set of doors. Follow me, and don't touch anything."

Eva had worked here, at this supermarket, while pregnant with the twins, too stubborn to live off Sparda's accumulated riches. She knew there was another exit, only used by employees. She and her sons did get a few strange looks from teenage cashiers and stock-boys on their smoke-breaks, but no one stopped them. A few alleys over, and they were far enough away from the supermarket to get back on the main street.

The boys never questioned her, and soon they were back in their two-story home, just outside the city in the suburbs. Eva owned a car, but most of the buildings and places they would go to were in walking distance. For this, right now, she was grateful. They would surely have been seen if she had taken the car today.

After they carried in the groceries, Dante and Vergil ran off to play or read or whatever they wanted to do. Eva put away the groceries, and began to make dinner. Pizza would be made tomorrow night, so burgers and fries would be the main menu tonight, with cookies and the last of the ice-cream for dessert. And after dinner, she'd make their cake.

If she could find the time. It was hard to accomplish what she'd set out to do if she had to keep breaking up fights.

LLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

Queen: Poor Eva! She never truly gets a break, just like her sons!

Dante: And people wonder where we get it from…

Queen: Oh now, don't be like that. What's wrong anyway? You've been mad all day.

Vergil: I beat him this week. He has to pay for the pizza on Saturday night.

Dante: And I have no money.

Vergil: Spent it all on booze again.

Queen: I suppose I could give you some money, but you'd have to do whatever I wanted tonight.

Dante (gives webcam an anguished look): Fine, but what exactly would this consist of?

Queen: You know those chains I bought a few weeks back?

Dante: Yes…

Queen: You, chains, bedposts. Break them and you don't get anything.

Vergil: Too much information…

(transmission ended)