The Devil of Zero
Disclaimer: Neither The Familiar of Zero nor Devil May Cry belong to me.
Intermission
– The Zero –
"Little girl…"
As before in her dreams, the demonic voice spoke, rough and brutal in tone. But rather than the mocking songs she had heard previously, it was merely speaking now.
"You have no idea of the power I wielded…and the power I sought..."
This memory was different than the others. Always, those involved quick, brutal combat and bloodied corpses. This one, however, began in a library, an institution she was intimately familiar with, given her extended study periods in the academy's library researching various magical practices and theories in trying to advance herself so that she might get something other than an explosion with her spells.
This example she found herself seeing through Vergil's eyes was apparently an old, if not ancient and ill-kept structure. There were frankly enormous cobwebs on the ceiling, hanging between the bookshelves and in the corners of the room that were either the product of multiple generations of spiders or a handful of enormous ones that Louise would rather not meet or witness. Further adding to the appearance of age and neglect was the mold and mildew that covered entire shelves. That was what she could see before Vergil's gaze caught on a particular tome, a blue leather-bound example that he drew from its shelf and opened. Louise was surprised to find the book in extremely good shape, given the rot that appeared to have fallen on most of the others. However, it was completely incomprehensible to her, the characters in their deep red ink being completely foreign to her.
Vergil flipped through the tome rapidly, thumbing past diagrams and artwork that sickened and somehow pained Louise before the sound of shoes on marble echoed, approaching the half-devil. Vergil ignored whoever it was, instead flipping through the last dozen pages of the book.
"So, you're looking for the book of ancient legends." The voice was definitely that of a man, mature and calm. "The tale of the demon warrior, Sparda." Vergil snapped the book shut with a resounding thud, replacing it back in its hollow.
"That's not what I'm looking for." Her familiar's voice was as always, calm and dismissive. "Leave me." The man ignored Vergil, instead drawing closer with an unhurried trod.
"Then what are you looking for?" He asked, stepping into the barest edge of Vergil's line of sight. He was a bald man with faded heterochromatic eyes, one a faded light blue and the other an almost-yellow light brown. "A demon…who impregnates a woman…who then bears twin sons…that's the story…isn't it?" The man turned his head from side to side as he walked closer, revealing some sort of discoloration on the left side of his face, spreading from just below his left, brown eye, down under the collar of the simple suit he wore.
The moment he stopped, Vergil drew his sword in a flash, the tip holding steady four inches away from the man's chin.
"Leave me." Vergil's voice was even, but with that distinct undercurrent of threat Louise had heard several times since she summoned him. "I won't tell you a third time." Instead of obeying, the man smirked.
"People," He began, raising a hand to the gently curved blade, running his fingers along the dull back, his thumb drifting close to the razor-sharp edge that Louise knew could cut apart thick stone with ease. "Inherently fear," His hand drifted up until it reached the tip, where suddenly, he drove his thumb onto the blade, cutting it open, "Evil. However," He continued, stepping closer to Vergil and drawing his thumb along the sword, "Occasionally, a person may become…seduced by evil. Vergil's eyes, steadily focused on the books and away from the man, drifted towards him.
With a flick, he drew the weapon way from the bald man, twirling it once and drawing it against its sheath before driving it home with a snick.
"What are you getting at?" Vergil asked. The man studied Vergil for an instant.
"Share with me…" He said, "The story of Sparda…" The two contemplated each other for a moment, before Vergil turned on his heel and strode away as the scene faded into darkness.
"He…is the one who aided me…" The demonic voice hissed sibilantly now. "Neither of us trusted each other, but in the pursuit of power we worked together…to resurrect the Seven Sins…"
A new vista came into being, a church as ancient as the library must have been, but in even greater disrepair, the roof collapsed inward and the doors gone from their frames.
"Are you sure this is the place Arkham?" Now she had a name for the man. Wait…wasn't Arkham the name of that purple blob-thing Vergil and Dante fought?
"Indeed." The bald scholar, like and unlike Professor Colbert replied. "Originally, Temen-ni-Gru was constructed and then sealed in Sumeria, present-day Iran. But when Sparda returned to this world, he moved it, using the blade that you now wield."
"I care little for its history." Vergil dismissed Arkham, striding forward and into the church. Soon enough, the pair found themselves in the catacombs underneath the edifice, with dust everywhere, and a single figure in the center of the tomb they entered. It was a ghastly sight, a horned, humanoid creature with the face of an infant turned upwards to the ceiling, broken and twisted upside-down angel wings protruding from its back chained to the ground with stakes. Those were far from the only disfigurements, its manacled hands bearing sharp, foot-long talons and its hooved feet impaled by stakes bearing crucifixes atop them.
"This and other Devils were imprisoned by your father," Arkham explained, "The Seven Sins who instigated the construction of Temen-ni-Gru and were stripped of their powers and identities to serve as the first seal."
"Impossible." Vergil declared. "No one can cow one of the Fallen so."
"Your father did so." Vergil considered that before nodding, and walking towards the bound Sin.
"WHO GOES THERE?" A new voice, tortured and pained called out. "IS THAT YOU SPARDA? TRAITOROUS FILTH!"
"It is not Sparda who stands before you now Fallen One," Vergil intoned, "It is his son."
"THE MORTAL-LOVER SPAWNED? THIS AURA…HE BRED WITH A MORTAL!"
"Enough of the past. What concerns us now is the present and the future." There was a pause, hesitation, before the chained Devil responded.
"IF YOU ARE OF SPARDA…YOU CAN GIVE ME BACK MY NAME! GIVE IT TO ME! NOW!"
"No." Vergil denied. "I have no knowledge of what my father stole from you, and even if I did I would not sully my lips with the name of one as pitiful as you are now." A roar created an artificial whirlwind, the dust flinging itself around in the shifting current. "Enough whining! Have some pride and name yourself!" Another pause, pregnant with possibility, bridged the gap between Vergil's words and the Devil's response. A deep, ghastly chuckle echoed in the catacombs.
"AS YOU SAY, SPAWN OF SPARDA…I WAS ONE OF LUCIFER'S COMMANDERS, I CAN CERTAINLY CHOOSE MY NAME. I AM PRIDE!" With that proclamation came a surge of power, the Devil suddenly growing in mass as a once decrepit and gaunt form filled with power and muscle. The stakes embedded in its wings were ejected with disturbing, gurgling noises as the broken appendages fixed themselves. The manacles on its wrists shattered as it flexed its arms, and the hooves broke past the crucifix stakes with ease.
"AH…THAT FEELS SO GOOD!" The Devil chuckled. "THE CHAINS ARE LIFTED…AND THE SEAL IS FRACTURED. YOU SEEK TEMEN-NI-GRU."
"No. I seek Sparda's power.
"AND YOU WOULD CLAIM IT AT THE COST OF THOUSANDS OF MORTAL LIVES? SUMMONING TEMEN-NI-GRU, EVEN AFTER BREAKING THE SEAL OF SIN, WILL REQUIRE A GREAT SACRIFICE…TO SAY NOTHING OF WHEN THE GATE IS UNLOCKED."
"That does not matter."
"HEHEHE...HOW IRONIC THAT SPARDA'S SPAWN SHALL UNDO ALL THAT HE HAS DONE, AND BRING ABOUT THE DEATH OF THE MORTAL REALM…VERY WELL. DO NOT LET ME DELAY YOU." The baby-like face split open, literally from ear-to-ear, in a grin full of sharp, deadly fangs as Pride backed up into the shadows. And all went black.
"Do you see?" Louise yelped, turning to face the once omnipresent voice that now boomed from a discernible source, noting that she had a body now even as she did so. Upon seeing the source, she squeaked, just before a clawed and scaled hand grabbed her by the throat and lifted her until her feet dangled two feet above a ground that wasn't there before. Part of Louise's mind, shocked by the sight before her, placidly examined the new vista, which was that of a plain strewn with black ash and glassy stones instead of dirt and decorated with enormous bloody pools and the mangled corpses of thousands.
The dominant part of Louise, however, was horror-struck by what held her captive. The creature that held her now was something out of a nightmare. It loosely resembled that devil form the Sparda Twins transformed into in her vision-dreams, but matured and grown into a horrific monster. Due to her current situation, the first aspect Louise noted was the beast's hands, four-digit humanoid appendages armored with blue sapphire scales, with fingers tipped with two-inch claws. They, and the rest of the creature, were covered by similarly colored armor plates that looked like the scales had grown and fused together, the only separation being glowing purples veins that pulsated like a heartbeat and the usual brief gaps in the armor that showed the smaller scaled hide.
Louise's gaze drifted down, along the arms and to the shoulders, following the pulsing veins to a glowing diamond-cut amethyst embedded in its chest, before following other veins towards its feet. Rather than the expected hooves, the feet were three-toed digitigrade appendages, with the first and third toes being of standard size and equipped with three-inch talons. The second toe, however, was upraised, allowing the nine-inch curving sickle-talon to hang above like a guillotine blade for anyone unfortunate to be underneath the Devil's foot.
Gulping then, she looked up, at the Devil's face. In general shape, it was still Vergil's face, with the bone structure the same and the shape of the eyes as well. That, however, just added a hint of familiarity to the whole picture that just made everything else worse. The mouth was a lipless monstrosity filled with what looked like dozens of sharp, serrated, pearly-white fangs, accompanied by two insect mandibles on either side of the jaw. Two ivory horns sprouted from the forehead, arcing smoothly back before curving slightly up over the Devil's head, which was covered in segmented…hair…things that crudely imitated Vergil's hair. There was no nose, just two nostrils embedded in the center of the face. The eyes, as mentioned, were of the usual shape, but their sclera was as black as a new moon, with bloody red irises and silver, slit pupils.
"Do you see what I did? How close I came to achieving it?" The Devil spoke, the only movements its jaw made to open slightly and twitch the mandibles with every word. "All that effort, all that work, to gain all that power…only to be defeated by my worthless twin!" Louise remembered, then, the original visions, of Vergil fighting beyond demons to, as she later learned, chase after Dante and the blob Arkham (who, apparently, had been the bald man in this vision). And of course, the final duel between Vergil and Dante. In the last two visions before she witnessed the duels between an armored Vergil and an older Dante, there had been references to power, specifically the power of Sparda, the twins' father.
With this latest vision adding more contexts…
"Yes, yes, yes! You see it don't you!" The Devil chortled, drawing Louise closer to its face before suddenly throwing her back. Louise landed amidst a pile of corpses that to her horrified eyes morphed into the forms of her classmates, teachers and family. With her wider perspective of the Devil, she saw two sets of wings, the first being the protective, hardened type that beetles had to cover their functional wings, while the other was a set of avian wings, upside-down like with Pride's pair, with feathers of every hue and shade of blue and purple.
"What matter the foolish mortals that would die? I would have had power! Power with which I could have accomplished ANYTHING!" The Devil strode forward, talons clicking on hard stone and cutting through ashy ground. "But now, here I am, weaker than before. My human self may be growing content with this situation, but I will not stand for it! I will grow! I will ascend to the heights that Lucifer himself achieved! All that stands in my way are my weak half, and you." Now the Devil stood by her, peering down from its height, before raising one foot, the second, sickle-shaped talon twitching in anticipation.
"Now hold still, and let me mangle your soul!"
Louise's Room
Night
A scream tore itself from Louise's throat as she bolted upright in bed, echoing throughout the academy's dorms. Shuddering, her hands flew to her throat, feeling for the gaping wound the talon would have left on it. A relieved sigh escaped from her when her fingers detected no cut, and no blood. Then she frowned, digesting the new information she'd obtained.
– The Author –
Right. Well. Sorry for leaving you guys in the lurch again, and that this isn't a full chapter. In my defense, I have been writing for the Devil of Zero...just not the right parts. I got a bit...enthusiastic about some new stuff I had planned and jumped ahead in the story to write it, and completely forgot about continuing Siesta's arc.
Heh. My bad.
Part of the new plan, however, requires that I recant something I've said previously: Vergil will be getting Yamato back. As for how...well, let's wait and see eh? Also part of the plan is introducing elements of two other video games that I feel mesh rather well with Devil May Cry's overall mythology and background. Refer to the updated Glossary of Terms for hints.
As for an explanation for the events of this Intermission, I had stated I was going entirely off of the games for the backstory, but for the scene with Pride I did rely a bit on the Devilmaycry . wikia article for the DMC3 manga, although I used a different description for Pride than the one in the wiki. As for the Devil, you can say that's Vergil's Devilish half, although in Freud's structural model of the psyche, it could also be described as some sort of personification of a warped and twisted meld of Id and Ego...but I digress.
At any rate, looks like Vergil's gonna have to do some explaining to do, eh?
Review Replies (Both for Chapters 17 and 18)
pyromania101 (17): Thank you.
True.
Eh...maybe. Like I've said before, I'm not one for romance, especially writing it, but since most of this isn't planned at all, it might happen.
Yep.
See above.
I know, right?
(18): Heh...sorry.
Eh, I'll settle for it then.
Well, on Mott's part, he was kind of stricken by the fact that his guards were completely decimated by a 'weak commoner girl' who then dodged his spell and didn't really give him much time to do anything but start thinking to plead for mercy. And Siesta may have some side-effects...a bit of a psychological malfunction...
Part of my problem was my overactive imagination whenever I started writing Siesta's description...brrr...
Thank you.
Well, I'm certainly not going to write one anytime soon, although I do have ideas...
bakapervert: You're welcome.
Zaralann: Thank you.
LunaticPandora1 (17): Indeed. The chained one, in particular, will introduce some very awesome elements."
(18): He most certainly did.
Be glad it's not Dante. He would have buried you in pizza debt.
Imperial Warlord (17): Thank you, and my apologies.
(18): Thank you.
Takeshi Yamato (18): Oh yes, they did.
For many various reasons, yes she is. And, yes, he will.
Sorry about the bio, it kind of got...side-tracked with my recent epiphany on the story's direction...although in relation to that, when am I gonna see another chapter of MSGX?
Orchamus (17): Psh, they were only human. Hardly something to get worked up over for Vergil.
HolyKnight5 gave me the idea, and on reflection it certainly made sense. If her ancestor in canon was a Japanese fighter pilot, why couldn't he be a Japanese Devil here?
(18) Like I said with pyro, maybe.
ShadowAngelBeta (17): Thank you.
CrimsonBlade11 (17): I'm glad you enjoy my story. For two other Vergil-centric stories, I'd recommend Dark Defense by kyugan, a crossover with Harry Potter, and Hell Follows Me by Tora-Katana.
Almark (17): The circumstances around it will be different, as will some of the combatants (Wardes is dead after all) but yes.
Thank you.
That is what I was going for.
Thank you.
Brad W (17): He did indeed.
code R.R. (17): Well, you'll see some skull-splitting in a while, I assure you.
AnubisGundam0 (17): True...although I'll note that they didn't really do anything courageous then either (not that it would have helped).
That I will.
HolyKnight5 (17): I'm not to clear on ZnT canon, but I think the Elves are native to Halkeginia. Although, given that in canon they apparently have been getting a lot of tech from Saito's world (among these, a nuclear submarine) and that here I'm swapping all of those out with stuff from DMC...they'll certainly have reason to fear Vergil...heeheehee.
They are?
Eh...survivors? With Frosts? Hungry Frosts at that? Heh.
(18): Hmm...an intriguing idea...Majutsu huh?
scott pike (17): Thank you.
Yep. Going by generations, I'd say she's one-eighth Devil, whereas Nero is one-fourth.
Well, it's not canonical, just my interpretation for this story.
Hmm...
Kojiro Kun (17): Oh it's gonna go further, especially with the new plan.
EVA-saiyajin (17): Thank you, and I will.
ZXEclipse (17): Stunned
Well...it won't really be miraculous...
panda-kun77 (17): Hehe, just what I was going for.
Trust me, some of the ones coming up will be quite...shocking...
perseus: It might happen, it might not. I'll see how it goes.
asredwer (17): Thank you.
Well, for one thing, Tarbes is never gonna be the same. Heh.
(18) I'm glad you do.
There's going to be a lot of swearing, I'll tell you that.
Savaris:...It is?
Pedro Boncompagni: Thank you.
Kamen Rider Ebon: Yep.
The Lord of Pages: Thank you.
Monty Python. I was trying to come up with a name, and Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail was playing in the background, and I suddenly had an image of some kind of knightmare/Gundam combo standing in the middle of London shouting 'NI!' at all the people passing by. It was an amusing idea.
Techpriest of Tzeentch: Kunoichi Meido, Hai.
RoyalTwinFangs: Sorry, but I already have some plans for him...and guns aren't really Vergil's style. Plus, of all the Devil Arms, only one has been a firearm...suitcase...hovercraft...thing...hmm...
Trife: Thank you.
Don't worry, I have no intention of starting yet another story before I finish one of the...four...in-progress now.
DiLost: So, not good Japanese then? Eh, I'll just roll with it.
menosay: Indeed, gore and despair abound.
Thank you.
Eddi: Thank you.
calming-seas88: Thank you.
I will, and you will.
KeiGinya: I see...wait, there's an actual rock named bloodstone?
Thank you. Yeah, Vergil doesn't play around when he gets pissed.
Personally, I'm glad to have made it so far with so few mistakes, especially given the quality of some other beta-less stories here.
Wrathkul: Hmm...
Thank you. I've actually wondered if any of the characters in my stories have fallen under that label myself, although I'd like to think I've avoided that so far.
Heh, Like I said in the prologue, I got fired up to do this story by reading other ZnT crossovers, although I'm working using both the anime and the novels as a basis.
sayain673: Thank you, I will.
Hypothetical Spiritual Entity: Personally, I'm just winging it.
Thank you.
Thorfaxdragonkin: Thank you.
Vandenbz: That she did, No they didn't and most definitely.
I will.
Got in Himmel, the Replies alone doubled the word count!
That'll teach me to skip them. Anyway, you know the drill: Review, or Dante will steal your cards and bury you in pizza debt!
Don't think I won't do it just cause it's Christmas!
Shut up you.
Merry Christmas!
Knightmare Gundam of Ni