A/N: First of all, thank you very much for the reviews, justaguest, purpleshinigami and Lollipop. Second, thank you a lot for agreeing to betaing my texts, purpleshinigami. Third, thanks to Cosmic Sky, DarkCarolineRiddle, KimikoSenpai94, The Grim Reeper, purpleshinigami (the list becomes longer ^^) for following. And special thanks to Dropout bear9 for favouring the story since the last chapter. Last but not least, a lot of thanks for everyone who's reading Perspective.
Status: not beta-ed again (I'm hoping that the next chapter will be betaed.); part 3 of 6 (I splitted the next chapter because of it's length)
Disclaimer: I don't own anything of DmC.
3. Nephilim
Dante stood at the circle Kat had sprayed the last time they had been here with Vergil. He remembered the feeling of the bridge's concrete turning into thin air and the pain of crashing onto something that was supposed to be nothing more than a reflection on water surface.
"Do you think the tower looks like the one in Limbo?", Kat asked. She stood at the parapet looking off towards the tower. The sky was as gray as the hood she was trying to hide her face under. Dante guessed she had made some unpleasant experiences during the recent days. Or maybe it just made her feel safer.
"I guess so. It looks further away though. Are you sure you want to come with us?", he addressed Phineas.
"It's no longer a prison", the demon answered.
"But stay out of my way during the battles - both of you." They had encountered only very few demons up to this point but the hunter had the bad feeling that something big was ahead. When Phineas mentioned a powerful demon he hadn't cared much. Even the harpies had been a problem to the old guy. But now he got a strange feeling. There must be a reason why the demons stayed away from this place.
When they reached the towers entrance they saw a woman kneeling in front of the door. She was crying and threw her fists against it over and over again.
"He still hasn't left?", Kat asked kneeling next to her, "It's okay. This time we'll find him." Apparently she knew her. She urged her to tell her story again to bring Dante up to date.
The hunter didn't watch them, only listened. His eyes were focused on the top of the tower. He couldn't see a thing. The electricity of the building was cut down, too. No light shone through the windows although it was quite dark for this time of day.
The woman told them about her son, Andy, who had run inside the tower for some reason. He hadn't left it for days now. She was afraid he could be dead.
"I'll keep an eye open. Now get out of my way." His voice sounded rough giving a hint to his tensed muscles and dry throat. Whatever demon had kept Kat and Phineas from getting to the towers top, it radiated power. He could feel it from here already. It tickled on his skin and made the hairs in his neck stand on end.
"This demon probably has no body. We never saw it but it blocked our way with locked doors and frightening visions", Kat explained as soon as they were inside. The floor was cold and dark.
"We should have brought a flashlight", Dante remarked.
"We have a Phineas", the medium answered and gestured to the demon who did something with his eye that made it shine in a white light. It was bright enough to illuminate most of the floor. But it created shadows, too. The hunter immediately noticed that something was wrong with the shadows. They seemed to enlarge when he focused on them like the pure black stretched into eternity.
"What do you mean by frightening visions? Some kind of trick?" He had had enough visions lately. Did the crash of Limbo give psychic abilities to all demons?
"You'll see things only you can see. It gets worse the further up you go. It doesn't work so well on demons though. Phineas can go up much higher than I can."
"You should stay here then."
"And trust you to come back saying you found any hints of Vergil? I don't think so", she crossed her arms in front of her chest. When did the trust they had to each other melt? Or had it been limited from the start on her side?
"Whatever. But don't shriek too loud."
They climbed up several stairs without anything happening. The elevator had not opened from begin with so that was the only way to get up. At floor 7 whatsoever were tables and chairs blocking the way.
"There is another staircase on the other side of the tower", Kat said. She was shifting uncomfortably and Dante wondered if she had seen anything and was just holding back her fear.
"What a waste of time", he retorted and drew Arbiter. The red glowing axe crashed into the floor and tore the ground open. The blast send the obstacles into the air. Since it was ordinary wood it broke and gave the way free. Just one floor above their little journey was stopped though. This time it was a wall of complete blackness.
"Do you see what I see?", Dante asked just to be sure if this was a real problem or not.
"We need to go the other staircase", Kat repeated.
"Phineas?"
"This is too much darkness." For a usually helpless doter the demon made a very relaxed impression.
"Okay. Keep some distance in case something appears behind me. Wouldn't like to kill you accidentally." Dante led the way. The light of Phineas' eye was weaker because of the range. It created even more deep shadows. All of a sudden the ground shivered heavily and a part of the ceiling came crushing down.
"Dante?" The hunter heard Kat's voice. She and Phineas were on the other side of the debris.
"I'm fine. How are you?" As dust settled down he saw the extent of the damage. There was no way he could get the concrete out of the way.
"We're fine, too. Can you get to us somehow?"
"I'll find a way. Just stay were you are. I'll have to take a detour. Stay in the light of Phineas' eye." What a pity this wasn't Limbo. That eye would have come in handy now.
"OK, be careful." Dante did a double-take on that. Did she sound worried? One could guess Vergil was out of her mind for now.
"I always am", he lied and stepped back a bit. The crushed down ceiling offered a way to the next floor. He jumped up the debris and ended up in a dark hall. The lights were on but flickering. How could that be? Anyway he could only see where the light was so he followed the path it illuminated for him. It led the way to a locked double door. He kicked it in unceremoniously. The room behind was pitch black but he heard the laughter of a child.
"Andy? You're mother's waiting for you!", Dante called into the black. The kid didn't react but still laughed. He stepped into the hall as far as the light reached. Suddenly the door he had kicked out of its hinges closed behind him and left him in the dark. "Great", the hunter commented. He did a step further into the room when computer monitors flared up. They seemed to hover in the air and showed twisted faces which seemed to look at him. Some of them were screaming, others laughing. They made a deafening noise so that Dante couldn't hear the child anymore. This had been a prison, he remembered. Maybe these were the prisoners he had only seen the shadows of in Limbo? The light of the monitors showed him another way he could follow. He found a staircase in the back of the room. Was the tower this small? Contemplating he looked back at the monitors. The faces were a bit spooky he had to admit. But as long as they stayed confined they would only harm his ears. Just for the fun of it he sent a bullet at the nearest face. The monitor broke into thousand pieces and it became a little bit darker. Apparently there was no danger coming from them so he ignored the others. The stairs only laid up but he needed to get down to rejoin Kat and Phineas. This was the only way though. He couldn't see in the unnatural pitch black of this tower so he had to trust the light. On the next floor was not a single room. He couldn't even see the walls but the ground was dimly illuminated. It was a blood red glimmer like dying embers. The air seemed hotter, too. Because Dante cared about his shoes he concentrated on his demonic side to shield them from the heat. It was easy - too easy. The further he got the more suspicious he became. He was right it seemed since this was a dead end. Just for a try he threw an Enyx fist against the wall. The concrete cracked but bled darkness. Suddenly glaring white light went on blinding the hunter for a moment. He tried to shield his eyes from the light with his arm while he looked around. Rows of fluorescent energy saving lamps had appeared at the ceiling, the red glimmer was gone and a hell lot of doors were now set at the walls. Dante opened one of them as one lamp broke. Behind was a wall of brick stones. He guessed at least one of the doors hid another room with a staircase. This was a huge waste of time but he had no choice but to open every one of them. He opened another door and another light went out. Slowly it was getting darker. Simple math told him that there were more doors than lamps. If opening the doors and the broken lights had something to do with each other he would soon be left in darkness. He had never been afraid of darkness but right now he felt a bit uneasy though. If he couldn't see he couldn't fight. It didn't help much that he was always unlucky with games of chances. Something caught his attention as he was contemplating the doors. The staircase on the other end of the floor was gone. There was another door instead. Since he still had a lot of lights he decided to try this one next. Behind it was a mirror but it did not reflect. Something dark and liquid moved behind the glass.
"Vergil is not worth this", a voice that sounded like his own said. Dante was sure it wasn't him though. He kept his mouth shut and listened but the voice was gone. He gave the mirror a good kick. Behind it was another brick wall but no lamp broke. So not all of the doors brought darkness. Or had he made a hasty judgment? Maybe the light would break no matter how much doors he opened. He tried another door, found another wall and this time another lamp broke. Another door, another wall, another broken lamp. That was no coincidence. The mirror was an important part of the equation. Slowly he went through the floor, listening carefully. The silence was almost painful. He couldn't even hear his own steps.
"He brought us all in danger." There it was! The door to his left side revealed another mirror. Should he break it again? His hand was indeed shaking as he reached out for the glass. That was strange. He wasn't afraid so why was he shivering? Could that be the influence of the demon?
"Fuck your mind control", Dante hissed. The glass was cold to his skin. But the mirror seemed to react to his voice.
"We could die here and he wouldn't care", it said. Dante couldn't disagree. The thing had a point. But it stole his voice and that pissed him off. He leaned in and the glass broke to reveal another wall. How was this game played? He turned and walked the floor once more. Slowly he got the feeling that the demon was playing for time. But why?
"He had never been here", his voice had said before he opened the next door. There was something else - a second voice or at least some higher pitched tone that wasn't unpleasant at all. This mirror seemed different as well. White light pulsed like veins between the dark.
"What are you now?" The hunter asked just to say something so the mirror could react.
"Go back", it said with that same double voice.
"That's part of the plan. Show me a way downstairs." He needed to get to Kat. This tower or demon knew some good tricks. She probably was in greater danger than he had first thought.
KILL - the word showed in the mirror in big, white letters. Out of habit Dante reached for Rebellion and turned around to face any opponents. But there was no one. Row after row of light went out. He felt the urge to move but what could he do? Time seemed to run out now. In less than a minute he would stand in the dark, not seeing anything. Everything could happen then.
"Kill whom?", he screamed at the mirror, hoping that it held the secret of how to proceed. The liquid moved again, the letters disappeared and got replaced by Dante's reflection. Without a second thought the hunter stabbed the heart of clone only to realize that the mirror didn't show him but Vergil. He saw the blue stone of his necklace for a second. The image broke with the glass - into thousand pieces. Behind it was a path of darkness only illuminated by a transparent but weakly gleaming figure. It was a person, a man, and he had one hand squeezed to his chest.
"Vergil, is that you?" No that couldn't be. His brother wasn't here, was he? Although he was not sure what he was seeing Dante placed Rebellion at his back. If necessary he had two powerful fists to fight with, too.
The figure moved but only slowly. If it was a man he was bleeding a lot and therefore couldn't go faster. But this was not real, Dante told himself while he followed, although he saw the blood on the ground. He had experienced that before when the succubus had manipulated him. Whatever demon it was this time, it was probably trying to lure him into a trap. He needed to stay focused but he grew more and more worried though. What was that light? If this was Vergil it must be stopping him from healing. In the very back of his mind the hunter was afraid he actually did deadly damage to his brother this time. This couldn't be real, could it?
"Stairway to heaven, hm?", Dante asked as he saw more stairs illuminated by pale white light leading up a few feet in front of him. The figure fell to its knees and faded away. Slowly the hunter climbed up to the next floor. He cursed the elevator meanwhile to distract himself. The next floor was all dark.
"He's gone now." It was purely his own voice that whispered. It was too quiet and too close for Dante's liking.
"You said he has never been here, remember? Just settle on a version. You're giving me a headache."
"You killed him", the voice said. Frightening visions, Dante told himself. The demon had found the weakness in no time and was now trying to use it to its advantage. It had all went too smooth for it to be real. Vergil couldn't get killed this easily.
"Are we talking about the same person?", the hunter asked.
The figure appeared again standing a few feet away. It was a lot less transparent this time so Dante could make out more details. Who ever this demon was it didn't know Vergil for the person Dante saw now was himself just with a blue- stone- necklace. The hair style and its clothes gave the illusion away. Pure relief rushed through the hunter's veins. But the demon didn't need to know yet.
"What now?", Dante asked slowly lifting a hand to Rebellions hilt.
The figure became smaller it seemed, its features changed. The hunters eyes widened in shock at what he saw. It was the boy, Andy. He was bleeding profusely from his chest. Still there was light around him. It seemed to keep him alive because normally the kid would be dead by now. The injury was deadly and he already lost a lot of blood. This was real. The hunter felt it all too clearly.
"No", Dante breathed. He had forgotten about the child. But how should he have known the demon could do such a thing? He cursed himself. He had heard the boys laughter. He had known the kid was around.
The light got weaker and the room became darker. Something like black liquid surrounded the light, compressed it and shaped it into something that was probably the demon.
"I caught me a Nephilim", the voice laughed. It still sounded like Dante himself. The boy had disappeared behind the thick blackness but a bit of the light still shone through. It was the only light around. Dante couldn't tell where the walls or the ceiling were.
"You're just an ordinary thief, aren't you? I want my voice back and that kid." He drew Rebellion and pointed its tip at the demon.
"I stole your thoughts, too. And your fears. And your memories." The demon laughed again. "And I stole your friends. I became you." The features of the demon shifted again. It now looked like Dante's shadow. Normally it would have been invisible in the dark but the light that had surrounded Andy created a weak gleaming silhouette. "I have a gift for you in return." It held out a hand from which dangled Vergil's necklace. But how could that be if the other Nephilim had never been here? "Come and get it."
Dante pondered his chances. If he attacked would he hurt the child? He changed his stance into defense. He couldn't risk to injure the boy more than he already did.
The demon attacked with an evil kind of Rebellion. Dante dodged and evaded but he couldn't win the fight with that. The demon was fast and wild. Its movements weren't predictable. When the blade touched Dante's clothes or even his skin it would leave a burning red mark. Dante could jump and roll out of its way most of the time and after a while he noticed that the demon became slower, its movements weaker. A smile appeared on the hunters face. He had slept for about a week and was fit and ready to play this game for hours if necessary. Maybe this opponent wasn't as much a problem as he had first thought.
"Are you tired already? Maybe you should take a break", he suggested. The demon roared and attacked again. Dante blocked with Rebellion and pushed the shadow away. It was much weaker now.
"You think you can defeat me?" It roared again. Dozens of TV screens and PC monitors appeared.
"Yup", Dante answered simply. He looked around. "So we got some audience now, perfect. Enjoy the show!" The unsteady light made the room a lot brighter. Dante could now see the ground, the walls and the ceiling. It made him feel more comfortable although the faces in the monitors and screens made a lot of noise. The demon arrowed forward and Dante rolled out of its way in the last second. The shadow hit the wall what made the whole room shiver. One of the TV screens fell down and broke. Its fragments reflected and multiplied the light. The shadow seemed to shrink. The grin on the hunters face grew. He drew Ebony and Ivory and destroyed more screens and monitors and one by one the light became brighter and the demon became smaller. But unlike before the faces turned to demons when they got free. Soon the room was crowded. There were sickles, swords and other weapons everywhere and it was hard to not get hit. As if that wasn't difficult enough Dante had to pay attention to the shadow, too. The boy was still inside of it and he could probably get hurt. The shadow itself didn't care. It still bounced at its prey taking some hits from the other demons accidentally. Dante did his best to protect it while not getting hit himself. And this were still not all the bad news. While he jumped and rolled through the room he saw Kat and Phineas caught in screens. They seemed to be in pain and clutched at the glass from the inside. Luckily the demons didn't attack anything but the demon hunter so his friends were save for the moment. Only very slowly Dante made it to brighten the room now. He had so much things to pay attention to that he could barely focus on destroying the glass around. And he took one blow after another. After a while the shadow didn't attack anymore. It withdrew into a darker part of the room. Now Dante could fight the normal way without avoiding and protecting it. The room got rapidly emptier. In the end it was just the demon and the demon hunter again. Only few screens and monitors were left. The shadow knelt in the last darker corner of the room. It was bleeding light. In one last try to save itself it clung to the human boy inside.
"Kill him if you dare", it challenged as Dante stepped closer.
"You don't know when to give up, do you?"
"The boy is almost dead anyway. Come on, kill me and therefore kill him."
"Shut up" Without even looking at it Dante shot the last PC monitor. The demon which got free this way immediately darted towards him but Dante blew its head off with Ebony. The light was thrown around, reflected by a million pieces of glass. The last bit of shadow died and with it did the demon. The TV screens disappeared giving free their contents. But now they didn't reveal demons but human beings. Well, except for Phineas. All of them were exhausted from their suffering. In the corner of his eye Dante saw Kat sitting a few feet away from him but his main attention got the boy in the corner. He was still alive but still bleeding and pale. Could he survive it?
"I'm sorry, Andy", Dante told the kid, kneeling down next to him. He inspected the wound. Like he had expected Rebellion had cut right through the small chest.
"What a lucky boy this one is to have a Nephilim to protect him", Phineas said and stepped up next to Dante.
"What the hell are you talking about?" Did that fucking demon just try to be ironic?
"Things are not what they seem in a world that contains demons and humans alike." The old demon did something with its eye and it started to gleam orange. "See what I mean?"
The perspective changed. Slowly dimensions moved until it looked no longer that the boy was surrounded by light but hold by it. The light became a shape itself until a woman could be recognized.
"This, my friend, is Assiel. A former prisoner of Mundus and a Nephilim with great potential."
"You said that before", Dante remembered. She had been in the tower in Limbo caught in a stature. Only slowly the light got weaker and revealed more of her features, but it wouldn't fade completely. Dante thought he got a Déja- vue. "I've seen you. I thought you were my mother."
"You only saw what you want to see. You wanted to see your mother. You needed her to find your hidden powers. So I became your mother, encouraged you, told you what you wanted to hear." She said with a soft and very pleasant voice. Dante had heard it before. It was not the voice the stature had used but it was the voice that had told him Vergil had never been here. She had tried to warn and help him. She was the Nephilim the demon had talked about when it said it caught one. She was the light that kept the boy alive and made the demon visible. "It's not making things lesser real. You knew her best, you knew what she would have said if she had a chance to talk to you ever again", she explained.
"But I saw and heard you."
"No", Kat interfered. She had gotten to her feet and came over to see what was happening. "She's kind of a medium just much more powerful. You saw and heard your mother."
He knew she was only trying to soothe him but this was not the time to argue. "What about the boy? Will he survive?"
"Of course he will", Phineas said. "Nephilim are the most powerful beings in this world. Just give her time to recover."
"Alright, we should go and find a way out then. You're sure you'll make it?"
Assiel nodded. She held the boy close to her body like she was still trying to protect him.
There were no more illusions when they followed the exit signs. The tower was just a tower. Here and there some debris blocked the way but the light of the sun shone through the broken windows. People wandered around trying to find a way out themselves. The group had grown into a little crowd when they finally reached the exit. Andy's mother was still waiting for her child. Dante, Kat and Phineas joined her while the other people went their own ways. Assiel took her time but after an hour she appeared in the entrance hall. Andy was standing in front of her but darted towards his mother the moment he saw her. Dante watched him closely but he couldn't make out any injuries. He had to admit that he was impressed.
"So that's the potential Phineas talked about? You can heal even the deadliest wounds?", he asked Assiel. For some reason she seemed to be afraid of leaving the tower so he had to go to her.
"It's my greatest gift", she answered.
"It surely comes in handy these times. So where are you going to stay?"
"I'll stay here. This tower can still be dangerous. And I feel like I shouldn't leave it. You can find me here whenever you need me."
"Former prison now hospital", Dante commented. "I can heal myself but thanks."
"But your friends can't. Send them to me if they need to recover."
"You really want to do that, don't you? Helping people I mean."
"This is what I'm good in. Each of us has special powers and we should use them for the right purpose. I've seen so many suffering souls I couldn't help ..." She sounded sad and somehow older that she looked like. But it was probably hard to look old when you're mainly made of light. It seemed she had gotten a greater angelic than demonic part.
"It was not your fault. You've been a stature. You helped me to find my devil trigger."
"You're still mad at me."
"You can bet on that." He smiled at her nevertheless. He had hoped it had been his mother talking to him and it hurt to know that it had not been Eva. Maybe one day he could see things like Kat and believe that it was his mother speaking through Assiel. He really wanted to. That was when something came to his mind: "But didn't I see her before I met you?"
"I thought she's dead."
"She is."
"Dead people stay dead people or turn into demons."
"She was an angel."
"No doubts, Nephilim. But tell me, have you seen wings in your vision? I'm quite sure I hadn't some. It was a welcomed changed for as stature I had some. And I hated them."
"Well ... no, not in the vision. But I remember her having ... wings ... sometimes ... sometimes they were black, sometimes they were white." Now that he thought about it he noticed that his memories differed when it came to his parents. The painting at their home showed Eva with black wings as well as his memory about the moment when she gave him the necklace. When he remembered her death his memories showed him white wings. At other occurrences he couldn't remember wings at all.
"Your memory is still sketchy. I guess you tried to remember something and I could use that 'blueprint' you developed for yourself. Don't worry, it all will come back in the end. Maybe you're just not ready yet. Oh, I have to show you something."
"Hm?" Dante watched her opening her hands to him. In her palms materialized the necklace he had former taken for Vergil's. Now he saw he had been wrong. Once again he had only seen what he had wanted to see. Assiel's necklace was a bright agate bordered by gold ornaments at a thin golden chain. But he could see why he hadn't noticed the difference earlier. It looked similar. Maybe those trinkets were common gifts around angels. "What I saw in the tower ... Do you know what it meant?" He doubted he really wanted to know but curiosity kills the cat.
"I don't know your story but I guess you're afraid of killing someone you actually care about." The necklace disappeared. Dante wondered why she didn't wear it.
"I almost did", he admitted.
"The experience will stay in your mind. The fear will stay until you find a way to change it to something more pleasant."
"This isn't something that will ever get pleasant."
"Well, you have Phineas. He'll train you to change your perspective. Things are not always what they seem to be."
"I really get tired of that philosophical crap."
"To change your experience you'll have to find that person. Vergil. And this time you better shouldn't try to kill him unless you want to make things worse."
"I'm quite used to psychic traumas. Lost my parents, saw demons when nobody else did and such things. I'll get over it." The last thing he needed was a therapist. At this time Dante felt uncomfortable enough to end the conversation. He told Assiel he would make sure to send her some badly injured demons to heal and then went off to join Phineas.
"You OK? The screens didn't seem so comfortable."
The demon was doing something with his eye again. The light it emitted was unsteady and changing colors. "It was not comfortable", Phineas said.
"So that was the only real thing I saw. How did the demon get you?"
"The woman is afraid of a lot of things. She increased the power of the demon until it overpowered me. It had been a matter of time."
"And what are you doing now?"
"I'm looking out for useful information we might came across in the tower."
"And? What do you see?"
"It seems your brother wasn't here."
"Yeah, Assiel told me that."
"So you'll quit the search?"
"No, I have to undo a bad experience. More than one actually." Just in case Assiel was right. What he had seen, what he had felt and what he had done should never repeat. He didn't want the blood of a human or the blood of his brother at his hands, let alone that of a child.
"A lot of demons use the fear of their opponents to weaken them but only Succubus and very few Nephilim can manipulate your mind in a way that makes you believe everything you feel is true."
"Sounds good."
"It isn't. There are many forms of succubus' and lots of high ranked demons use their secretions to enlarge their might. Some of them catch Nephilim for that reason, too. Your brother is Nephilim like you are. You'll always be in danger."
"We're the sons of the traitor Sparda. They would come after us anyway. But do you mean I can do that, too? Manipulate people like Assiel because I'm Nephilim?"
"Maybe. You haven't reached your full potential yet. But keep in mind that the abilities of Nephilim are not all the same. And Assiel doesn't change appearance at will. Mundus caught her before she learned to do it. She only knows how to deal with the situation at best. You should learn that, too." He touched his eye again and the light faded. "This place has no use to us", he said right in time for Kat to hear.
"How is the boy?", Dante asked her.
"He doesn't seem to remember. Assiel would be a great ally."
"She won't come with us."
"You asked her?"
"No. Maybe she just said what I wanted to hear. She's good with such things." Now that he thought about it, maybe that was a female gift. He should be careful next time a woman praises him. Or better not. It would ruin the fun.
"You're mean. She just wanted to help." Kat sounded kind of offended.
Considering his luck Dante decided to drop the subject. "So where do you want to go next? The day is still young."
"But Phineas said Vergil hadn't been here. I thought you wouldn't want to look for him anymore."
"Since I'm a nice guy I changed my mind to your benefit. I wouldn't want to find you locked in your room crying about my brother again. We'll find him so he can break up with you officially."
"You're an asshole", she retorted and turned. Dante grinned and motioned to Phineas to follow her. Somehow that had made him feel better.