AUTHOR'S NOTES: I do not own anything from Bayonetta, Devil May Cry or anything of the sort.
This chapter will make reference to several unreleased/finished fics. Until we get to Blood Moon, very little of their contents will need hyper explaning. I hope. I'll answer any questions as best as I can.
Chapter 1: A World of Chaos
…
Bayonetta felt his fist slamming against her temple with a resounding punch and she flew to her left in an unguided missile of flesh and bone. Slamming into a wall, she crashed through the bricks and wood in an explosion of dust and debris. The momentum carried her into the opposite wall. This time, she did not break through.
Catching her breath, she swallowed and forced her aching body upright as best as she could. Bayonetta only reached her knees and hands before she felt the tip of his sword at her throat. It pulled up, raising her head into his gaze.
"Stand, Umbra Witch," Damien's voice was calm and serene. His eyes stared with soulless hatred, almost like he was simply going through the motions. That was incorrect; he was a puppet of him, and he always called the shots. "And let me take my Eye from you."
"Bubby…" She pleaded once again. And just like every other time, he was forced to ignore her. His head tilted and his clouded eyes lit up in delight.
"None of that matters anymore," he turned around, still keeping the katana at her throat. "The Prophet is here to take back what is theirs."
"Listen to me, B-"
"Your 'Bubby' is dead. Only I remain."
A blue figure, shrouded in the settling dust and darkness, stepped into the light. Their body was shrouded in misshapen details, each limb flowing into their body in an indistinguishable sea of cerulean.
To their left stood another unknown person. This one was far more material and dressed in long, flowing white robes with cyan and gold trims. These patterned around his clothing, tracing up from the hem of his robe to the hood on his collar. A circular mask and hood hid their face away from view, and a familiar glaive twirled in their right hand.
To their right stood Jeanne, Angel Slayer swinging lazily in her grip. Her bald head was inscribed with glowing blue sigils and Bayonetta finally realised what had happened to her friend when she was captured long ago; there now was no more Jeanne in that body. She was truly nothing more than a hollow shell under their control.
"And here we go once again; you at my mercy, flanked by two puppets and one very good friend. I believe this situation has only ever occurred twice before, but this time we did not have good old Sephiroth here at all. I do now wonder," the blue figure chuckled, gesturing to both herself and her brother. "Will they be the deciding factor?"
"Bubby please! Fight it!" She called out, desperate to reach him. His hair turned blue as the glow of the same sigils upon her former sister appeared. The Enemy, Jeanne and Damien all began to laugh at her pleas.
"It is useless. The same treatment that this wench here undertook was also given to them. Now, they are the perfect little weapon that you will never be able to defeat. Whatever was left of your 'Bubby' died long ago." The Enemy turned to his left. "Now, would you like to do the honours or should we let her sibling kill her? After all, it was her that killed Cereza."
The man stepped forward, pointing his glaive at her. "She took away my family. As much as I desire revenge, it is only fitting that the same happens to her."
"I did not kill your family-"
"Where is your proof!?" The man exploded. The glaive disappeared from his hand, only to reappear in her left thigh and pin her to the ground. Bayonetta screamed and collapsed from the pain, only for more to burst from her face when the katana sliced through it from falling down.
"Where is any proof that the Prophet's words are false and yours are true?" He kept up the verbal and physical assault, grabbing the glaive and giving it a twist. "Your lies and deceit will always fall on deaf ears, uls c vaoan!"
She screamed in agony, trying to reach down and alleviate anything. Bayonetta instead found herself frozen in place as Damien raised a hand and ensnared her with a paralysis spell. The masked man leaned down and pulled her head roughly until it met the circular visor.
"Is this what you did to them, Bayonetta? Torture them until they lost all of their will to rebel, to live?" Venom dripped from his words and he dropped her head. "You will suffer the same fate as my family, Umbra Witch!"
Fire surged from the man's fingers, trailing down and into her leg. A symphony erupted from within her, echoing in her screams as well.
"Alright, that's enough. You've made your point." The Enemy beckoned to the man. The glaive was removed from her leg and the pain lessened instantly. It was still agonising and deliberating, although, and she curled into a tight ball.
"Now, now, Bayonetta; where is the light of resistance in your eyes? You are all that stands between me and my Eye, you know? Everyone else is dead or acquiesced to me," they peered down at her, almost tenderly. "So why fight?"
Her only answer was a pained whimper.
"Let's see; the Laguna are all dead or under my command. The Infernal's are all still trapped in Inferno. The Infinite One is unwilling to help or dead; I don't care which. The Ascendant One challenged me along with the Heiress of Destiny and they proved that they were weak." The Enemy gestured to each person in question. "My Lumen Sage was already working with me in his goals to eliminate the Sovereign One, who is conveniently dead. The Prodigal Child cannot be born and the Twilight Wanderer is no longer a possibility."
A body was tossed by Damien to the right of her. She knew exactly who he was and she didn't want to look at them.
"Poor Redgrave suffered, you know? I managed to finally run the experiment of whether or not you could invert a person and still have them live. Guess what? It's feasible! They can live! Somehow. Given enough-"
"Shut up, you popsicle." She spat out some blood, managing to roll over to stare up at their smug face. "Someone fucking has to stop you, and I will be the one to do so!"
"And of course, even in the face of certain death you still have quite the tongue. Jeanne!" The Enemy snapped their fingers and the puppet stood at attention. "Remove it."
Bayonetta didn't even even get to blink before Angel Slayer whipped out, expertly cutting through her vocal chords and severing her tongue from within. Immediately she screamed, then choked when the organ fell onto her larynx and closed it shut. Her gag reflex kicked in and she vomited her tongue out, along with a stream of blood.
"Now, it's finally due time. Give me back my Eye, Arch Eve. I will not ask again."
Something moaned near her. Bayonetta felt her skin go cold with fear and she slowly turned to see the quivering mass of flesh and bone reaching out to her. The two eyes that sunk into its brain pleaded with desperateness.
"Oh, I forgot! Redgrave didn't suffer; he's still suffering!" The Enemy laughed. His hand appeared, pointing at Luka. "Come on, do you not want to help him? I will give you this, Bayonetta; I'll let you kill him. I won't, they won't, but you can! You, my dear, can be the one to stop his suffering! All you have to do is kill the one person you swore to protect no matter what."
Scarborough Fair slipped into her hand and she took aim. If they had their way, he would suffer for eternity just to spite her. Pain filled her mental and physical states and she screwed her eyes closed. She couldn't look.
"Bayonetta…" Luka begged with a tone that was just wrong. Everything about this was wrong. "Please… Make it stop…"
A cry erupted from her throat, garbled and inhuman from the loss of her tongue. She could hear the Prophet laughing in the background and she wished she could do something else.
But there was nothing else she could do. Everyone else was dead or under their command. All that was left was making sure Luka did not suffer any longer.
She pulled the trigger.
…
Bayonetta woke up with a scream that almost instantly silenced itself when she realised that she was no longer dreaming. Breathing heavily, she climbed out of bed and practically ran towards the main room. Ignoring the surprised sounds from the trio of cats, she threw open the door to Luka's room and just stared.
The mortal was still snoring away, blissfully unaware of the unsettled and frazzled woman at his door.
And he better stay that way. I have no idea what to do if Cheshire did ever beg me to kill him.
Butterfly, as was the case for the last three months, did not answer.
Sighing with relief, she watched him sleep for a minute and let her nerves calm themselves. Once Bayonetta felt they were sufficiently ready, she gently closed the door and made her way to the bathroom. Running the cold water, she splashed it onto her face and watched her reflection with tired, darkened eyes.
A lot had changed in half a year.
When everything had settled down, Rodin had requested that she and Jeanne attended an experiment of his design. For some asinine reason the gunsmith had attempted to make a multi-universe dimension wormhole device, that they had all instantly nicknamed the Dimensionator for ease of speech, and had asked Damien to be his test subject. Apparently there had been two goals with this; one was to figure out if it worked and the other was to deliver a warning to specific figures in these other dimensions.
Damien was supposedly the perfect candidate for it. Rodin all but said that he needed someone with a fresher view on the world; a person with more naivety than prejudices and someone with the strength to survive anything that the other side could throw at them. Considering he had survived death by a technicality (something she still had not truly forgiven him for) and the pair of Umbra had not, the choice seemed logical on that behalf.
And hell, he was still very much the naive boy she had met in Vigrid. Both herself and Jeanne had opinions that contradicted Rodin's modus operandi; the gunsmith had flat out told her that she would compromise many relationships if she simply opened her mouth to the wrong person. That was completely wrong; Bayonetta visited two of these dimensions and the only person who screwed up anything badly was when poor Breylna 'accidently' shrunk Damien to the size of a mouse.
Four universes were meant to be visited; three times did her brother traverse dimensions in the space of two months. He refused to talk about the first one, she tagged along in the second and Jeanne was dragged in on the third after she had inadvertently left him behind. Bayonetta could talk about how she was jealous he was getting the opportunity to undertake all of these adventures, but every time he returned he was either sad from leaving new friends behind permanently or legitimately traumatised by the experience. At the end of the third trip he told Rodin that he refused to continue along with his plans any longer. He just couldn't do it anymore.
Surprisingly, the weaponsmith agreed.
"Killing off an entire species accidently just because you wanted to help them will do that." Jeanne had said when Bayonetta asked both what the hell was both going on and why he was giving up on Rodin's request. She refused to elaborate and dealt with it her own way; by getting black out drunk and making Damien clean up her mess after. She also said that he would tell her when the time was right.
Considering his continued silence, perhaps never was truly the right time. It was obvious to everyone around him that he was truly hurting, but Damien refused to speak on his experiences. He did speak about how Jeanne's drinking habits weren't just a one-off occurrence. It seemed that every other night he was coming home to see an unconscious Witch surrounded by empty bottles.
Bayonetta's features softened when her thoughts trailed to her sister. Jeanne's experiences in the last six months had been… hectic. But at the same time it was inspirational.
Damien and Jeanne moved into her apartment, which was conveniently a few streets away from Luka's, and their life slowed down to a crawl. She had managed to find a stable job that she enjoyed by becoming a history teacher for a local school, something Bayonetta still made fun of from how she 'cheated' her knowledge of the subject.
Her habits of drowning her sorrows in alcohol eventually became vigilantism as the Wonderful Cutie J who protected the city of New York, a completely unknown heroine who prowled the streets-
Well, they all pretended to her that none of them knew, but it made them smile whenever she would awkwardly ask their opinions on the masked crusader. Jeanne's eyes would light up with pride and satisfaction every time they praised her actions and she would be both bubbly and content with life for a week or so.
But the one thing that made Bayonetta really happy was that Jeanne managed to find love. It was probably an overreaction to label the relationship as that simply because they had literally just started dating, but goddamn were Trish and Jeanne the cutest couple she had ever seen. Apparently it had all come about when the latter finally let go of her latent feelings and accepted Bayonetta as a sister, which allowed her to truly discover what she actually wanted. Well, discover that other people could see her in a romantic light and she could do the same.
But being the person she was, Jeanne did not make any moves on her newfound attraction to the Demoness. Instead she opted to dwell on it and continuously ask everyone else for advice as to how to move forward. Each person, from herself to Damien, to Dante, to Ada Wong of all people and to even Luka told her the same thing; just ask her out. The worst that could happen was she said no and on the grand scale of bad that had happened to Jeanne? It was very low on the totem pole.
It took Trish finally getting fed up from constant coffee dates and teasing from her friends at Devil May Cry to do what Jeane could not. They sealed the deal a month ago and became official after kicking her poor brother out of the apartment that night.
That all, again, was according to Damien. Trish had told her much later that he lied about being forced out; she wasn't even aware he was in the apartment and Jeanne was too inebriated with both lust and alcohol to remember or care he was.
No wonder he walked in looking completely traumatised.
Aside from the dimension hopping, her brother had been busy in the last half year. He had accepted the training offer from Dante, but he specified it was people training and not fighting training. Damien spent his days teleporting around the globe, meeting up with her constantly, staying at Jeanne's and absorbing teachings of the Umbra and learning the ropes of dealing with the public with Nero and his side of Devil May Cry. It wasn't abnormal for him to disappear into obscurity for weeks on end while he stayed there, but every time he came back he had changed for the better. Slowly, but surely, he was beginning to accept himself and his power while becoming comfortable in his skin.
According to Nero it was due to having a few friends around that treated him as a human being instead of a freak science experiment.
Life was not without its ups and downs. He and Jeanne had gotten into an argument that ended with a shouting match over her addiction to alcohol which left him running away for a month. Rodin said he had used the Dimensionator to complete the fourth and final task asked of him during this time, and whatever he had done in a world called 'The Lands Between' had been enough to calm him down significantly enough to talk. Bayonetta remembered him walking in, completely unannounced, and spilling the beans on what Jeanne had screamed at him;
"Your struggles and pain do not matter because you don't react to them! You think you are some kind of sad little boy because you got experimented on? I was tortured for months and puppeteered for a century! I need this alcohol to fucking be able to function and if you can't accept that then you should just go and murder more fucking people just to feel a small fraction of what I feel every single day! Shit, go and murder children! That's all you're fucking good for!"
If what he was going through at the top of Ithavoll Tower was any indication, that was possibly the worst subject to both bring up and accuse him of. Despite her initial fury at his disappearance and abrupt reappearance, it was extremely difficult to stay angry at her highly emotional brother who was somehow blaming himself for being concerned over a certain someone's wellbeing.
Eventually, he had gone straight back to Jeanne to apologise. Regardless of whether or not she had deserved the apology, and it was of Bayonetta's firm opinion that he did not need to, it was a large enough gesture that finally tipped the scales for Jeanne to accept that she needed to start attending some form of therapy. The last time she had spoken to him Damien had told her that it had been going along smoothly and the effects, while small, were instantaneous. There was no longer continuous tension in the apartment between the two parties, Jeanne became more outgoing and more liable to ask Trish out on dates instead of waiting for the Demoness and overall the Heiress was happier.
"Not visibly. I don't think either Trish or myself have seen her smile yet," Damien quickly added when she asked for a little more clarification. "But she's humming to herself whenever she's doing tasks, you know? I don't know if she did that when she was a child, but she never did when I first moved in with her."
Jeanne did do that back in her youth. That was more than enough to make Bayonetta squeal with happiness.
But if Bayonetta was being honest, they all needed therapy. Damien would argue that most therapists would be terrified of him, she noted that she was quite well adjusted and Luka simply could not find the time in his schedule to talk about his problems. Excuses were convenient, after all, but they all didn't really need it at this moment. If these nightmare-like visions continued however, she might consider it. Then again, who could she really talk to about unfounded worries that her friends might be dying in the future?
Her thoughts trailed to the man she lived with. Initially their arrangement had gotten off to quite the rocky start, with her not really understanding how to live in a domestic sense and Luka expecting her to be, but once he figured out there was going to be problems he simply sat her down and asked what she wanted to know in regards to the modern world.
Which, once they both worked out the actual extent of her knowledge, was way too much until she would be considered competent. The Umbra had barely taught her anything about living and she had previously dealt with people who would do everything for her when she woke up.
And he taught her well. She could use computers and mobile phones without breaking them, her understanding of what was deemed basic arithmetic now was beyond her own expectations and she could cook medium difficulty meals without blowing up the kitchen.
Well, that already happened. But it wasn't her fault that she didn't know how his specific oven worked and that flour was explosive when subjected to heat! Literally anyone could make that mistake! He simply shook his head and sprinted to grab a fire extinguisher, muttering something about 'chemistry' and 'science'. The next day textbooks pertaining to those two subjects appeared on her bookshelf in her room.
She still had not read them.
Luka himself had taken back to investigative journalism with fervor in addition to her lessons. Watching him pour through… investigative things, she really needed to learn the proper terms, was utterly fascinating. Most of it would be discarded as useless, but then he would find a lead and essentially grab it with both hands. Most of the time he would work solo, but eventually he would either call Damien or herself to get him out of a sticky situation.
Hell, the last time he was out he was attempting to bring down a trafficking operation. Luka had called Damien in immediately for backup, but then they both called in her when it was becoming obvious what they had stumbled into was not just your normal, run-of-the-mill bad guy nest. It had taken Jeanne and the FBI getting involved to solve the issue. The whole mess ended with one former senator meeting his timely demise.
Her eyes focussed on herself in the mirror, gazing at the unfamiliar style she now wore. The tall beehive bun that used to twirl atop her head was gone; Jeanne had changed her own hairstyle when her therapist suggested she change parts of her look to symbolically move on from her trauma. The suggestion resonated with her as well; since she had already renounced her true identity as either specifically Cereza or Bayonetta, she decided to try out a look that was now wholly hers.
Short, pixie cut raven locks fell around her face, giving her a more immature appearance. For her old haunts, which she visited still to keep up contacts and continue her previous jobs, it gave her an advantage to some of the new faces. They thought she was an impressionable ditz who had wandered into the wrong life; how wrong they all were. Sighing, she turned off the tap and noted the time; three AM in the morning.
Great. She wasn't getting any more sleep tonight or any time soon. Not that she wanted to anyways.
Walking over to the 'lounge' room, she turned on a lamp and grabbed the blanket that lived perpetually on the sofa. Wrapping it around her and flopping gracefully onto the right end, she let a book drop down from Inferno and into her hands. It fell open once it landed, perfectly at the last read page. It was The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe; a book that Luka recommended to her before practically throwing it at her to read. He explained that he enjoyed reading it when he was much younger, but it was the book he had been reading when his father died.
She silently swore on the spot to read it out of respect for both him and his father. And she had not regretted that decision yet.
A wet nose tapped the back of her neck, startling her. Chuckling, she reached back and lifted Viola down and onto her lap. The cat had very much despised her from the beginning, but once she figured out that Bayonetta was the owner with the treats her opinion changed in a heartbeat. Viola circled around and took a seat, mewling with a question.
"No, I won't be getting rest tonight, Kitty." Bayonetta answered, letting her hand dangle like a carrot on a stick. Viola took the cue and instantly began nuzzling it, trying to show some affection to her. "But thank you for the concern."
Returning her attention to the book, she continued on into the night. The dull green and reds of the Christmas Tree in the background caught her eye briefly, and she smiled.
Tomorrow was gift buying day. With a friend, no less.
…
Bayonetta placed yet another box onto the ever-growing pile of presents that Enzo was somehow still holding. The short fat man was struggling from the volume of them and it somewhat impressed her that he could still carry them all, let alone walk.
"You know what I have forgotten, Enzo? I need to buy something for myself. This whole day will be wasted if all I am doing is buying gifts for my illustrious friends." She fiddled with the lollipop in her mouth, knowing full well that Luka was probably restocking the jar on his kitchen counter as she spoke. The Witch could almost hear his complaints about her habits in her mind and her lips curled into a smile.
"Another thing you have forgotten? It's not like we haven't made a million fucking stops already!" Enzo replied, irate. "First, we have the thousands of presents you've gotta get for your little group of friends, then we had the millions of people who show up to talk to you, because you're the biggest fucking celebrity in town right now, and we still haven't done anything I wanted to do yet? Don't you know what it is in one week from now? Christmas! The season of motherfucking spreading joy and merriment, and I ain't feeling any joy yet!"
"I need some heels without guns." The white pair she wore suited the white dress and hat she wore, but nothing else. Every other pair was combat oriented with ugly slots for her guns. Speaking of which, Rodin had a delivery to make to her today. Bayonetta had kept an eye out for the gunsmith's inevitable appearance, but she figured that the man would probably find her first.
"Did you really not hear a fucken' word I said!? No more stops for you! I need to get my children the model jet airplane that everyone wants now, or I'm gonna be the biggest mutt in the city!"
"I know, Enzo. You still haven't shut up about it. And besides, it's not like you have a week to go and grab it then." Bayonetta began to walk onwards and away from the perfume shop. Keeping her eyes peeled for a shoe store, she heard the man beginning to trot after her. "Or even weeks before today as well!"
"It was only just released today! And not only that, it's a limited edition jet! That shit is gonna sell out before I even get a chance to buy one at this fucking rate." Enzo sighed loudly. "This is why I can't have good things. Why am I the one stuck carrying the presents!? Surely you have other friends who are-"
"Jeanne has her own life to take care of, no one has heard from Damien for a fortnight and I prefer not to use Cheshire as a shopping cart," she took the lollipop out of her mouth and pointed it back at him. "You, however, were free and you owed me."
"Yeah right I owed you… You still owe me for the car! Twice!"
"Are you ever going to collect on those debts?" Bayonetta turned around, still keeping the candy pointed at him. Enzo muttered something about 'bullshit Witches' and shook his head. "I certainly did not think so."
Placing the candy back in her mouth, she spotted a shoe store across the road and immediately beelined towards it.
"You're a real piece of work, don't you know that? If you weren't already on your way to Inferno, you'd be well on your way with the shit you pull!" He yelled after her, startling some passers-by. "Dressing up like a nun so you can off some Angels and keep the Underworld happy!"
"Enzo, I really don't need you shouting my life's story to everyone in town."
"Yeah, but why-" A present fell onto his face, quietening him for the time being. Bayonetta snorted at the struggling man and continued onwards to Heels R Us to see a completely unexpected sight.
A familiar face walked out of the store, an uncomfortable expression on her. She exhaled deeply once the automatic doors closed behind her and her features softened considerably. Her black outfit was a form-fitting, yet loose, frilly jumpsuit that hung on her body from a choker around her neck. The legs section flared out at her thighs and her shoulders were bare. Everything else was wrapped in black, covering her pale flesh from both prying eyes and the sun.
Bayonetta remembered buying that outfit. Its wearer had torn up her previous red line of clothing in what she described as 'an attempt to get a new wardrobe'. She was very certain that they all reminded her friend of Balder and she didn't want to remember her past.
A smile broke out onto her face and she waved from the other side of the street. "Jeanne!"
Her Umbran sister was startled momentarily, but she recovered swiftly and crossed the street. Her long, platinum hair trailed behind her in the wind, whereas the bang that covered her right eye shifted around to show that Jeanne was very happy to see her. There wasn't a smile on her face, however.
Small steps, Bayonetta. Small steps. She reminded herself.
"Cereza!" Jeanne awkwardly waved back in greeting. Shopping bags, wrapped gifts and boxed items were clutched in her hands, held tightly and swaying in the air from the sudden movement. "I didn't expect to see you today."
"The feeling is mutual." Bayonetta peered at her friend, noting just how much more lively she appeared. "You're looking much better since I last saw you."
"I- oh- Thank you." Jeanne blushed and found something very interesting on the sidewalk to look at. "It's all still very much a work in progress, but Doctor Atyrell says that it should be fine for me to start doing more mundane tasks in public."
Aside from the obvious post-traumatic stress disorder, Jeanne was also diagnosed with social anxiety as both a symptom of the former and a category of its own. Bayonetta admitted that it was surprising to hear that, but if she really thought about it? It made a hell of a lot of sense. The former Heiress had been constantly pushed beyond her limits by both her mother and her own expectations brought about by her, leading to the woman demanding perfection in every aspect of her life.
A recent example was when Luka and herself visited one day and Jeanne accidentally burnt the roast she was preparing. Everyone else was ready to laugh it off and order food instead, but she almost began literally beating herself up for 'not being good enough' and a 'failure to her family's name.'
She was told by the Therapist to leave almost all tasks to her friends and roommate. Bayonetta could tell that Jeanne hated this situation that had essentially left her completely powerless, but upon every subsequent meeting and visit she could tell that the Doctor's orders were working in helping Jeanne relax.
"Oh! That's great news!" She gave the bags in her hands a very pointed look. "Is that why you are out Christmas shopping?"
"I wasn't sure if you all were going to celebrate. None of us are religious-"
"Do you not remember my job?"
Jeanne's eyes flashed in annoyance. "My point is, Christmas wasn't exactly an Umbran tradition. I felt that it was better to be safe than sorry."
"Gifting each other presents is the least important part of Christmas. What is important is that we get to spend time with each other as a family." Bayonetta took the lollipop out of her mouth and twirled it between her fingers. "Speaking of family, why isn't Damien helping you?"
"He's still on a job for Devil May Cry. He called at least three weeks ago to say that something had come up and he wasn't coming back until it was solved." She shrugged. "This isn't exactly abnormal behaviour for him and I can handle myself."
"You're barely holding onto what you have."
"I can handle myself." Jeanne firmly repeated herself.
Bayonetta rolled her eyes and held a hand out. "Come on Jeanne. You don't have to do everything alone."
The Witch in black sighed and began handing her everything in her right hand. The effects of it on Jeanne were instantaneous; now she had a much more dignified posture and didn't look like she was about to drop everything if someone bumped into her. Glancing down into the bag from Heels R Us, she saw a gorgeous pair of black heels that were covered in silver sequins and black rhinestones.
"Oh, these are gorgeous!" Bayonetta voiced her sentiment. Slyly, she looked up to see Jeanne blushing madly. "Are they for-"
"Yes. Now shut up."
"Well, aren't you just the cutest thing whenever we talk about her?"
"Cereza! Please stop!" The Witch was mortified, but she instantly recovered by narrowing her eyes. "What are you going to give Redgrave?"
"I don't see what that has to do with anything," Bayonetta shrugged and began to continue towards the shoe store. "And I've already gotten him an apron."
Jeanne just stared at her, confused. "An apron?"
"It has 'kiss the cook' on it. Isn't that just hilarious?"
"No? Cereza, he'll hate it."
"That's the point."
"I don't understand." Jeanne shook her head after a moment. She exhaled and pursed her lips. "Even though we did not celebrate Christmas, sharing and receiving proper gifts was a tradition in the Umbra during meetings between families."
"For you in the upper echelons of society, maybe. Besides, Cheshire has told me explicitly that he doesn't care if I do or don't get him something, so I figured something we can all laugh at is better than making him feel pressured to follow up in kind." Bayonetta explained, hiding her disappointment in her friend behind a soft smile.
"Is that because you believe that or because he's short on money?"
She smirked. Luka wasn't exactly rolling in money, but he could afford to splurge if he really wanted to. But Bayonetta absolutely did not want to give him an inkling of an idea that she wanted expensive gifts of any kind; after what the pair of them had been through, he did not need to prove himself to her by trying to buy her favor. "I will not answer that."
"Yeah, that's real fucken' funny!" Enzo appeared to have removed the offending gift from his face. A pile of presents sat beside him and the man was huffing and puffing with exertion. "You know what isn't fucken' funny? Me on my way to becoming the biggest mutt in the city!"
Jeanne gave the man a withering glare. "Have you felt anything strange recently, Cereza?"
"Now that you mention it, I still haven't figured out how a broke, bumbling undertaker managed to turn himself into a respectable family man." Bayonetta tapped her chin with a finger from her free hand. The lollipop went back into her mouth and she savoured the cherry flavour. She had forgotten to grab any refills when she stole this one, so it was her last candy until she returned home. "It completely boggles the mind, if I'm being honest."
"Fuhgeddaboudit!" He retorted. "Now that your ug- friend is here, you can entertain yourselves while I go and do my own thing! Sayo-fucking-nara!"
Turning on his heel, the man walked towards a toy shop and left the two Witches and the presents behind.
"I do wonder too," Jeanne's icy voice trailed after him. "But no, that is not what I am referring to."
"Then what are you?"
"Your eyes, Cereza; they look tired." Her voice was small. "Have you been sleeping well recently or at all?"
The vision flashed through her mind again and she flinched. She better tell the truth at this point; there was no way to hide that. "No. I've been getting these… visions of something."
"Visions? You can call them what they are; nightmares." Jeanne gave her a flat look. "From what Doctor Atyrell has told me, it's not uncommon for people like… us to get them."
"These aren't nightmares. I have no idea what I'm watching half of the time and Dante's blue guy is there."
"The blue guy?" Now the concern was back on her face. "How do you know?"
"It's a guy who is completely blue. I have no idea what else to call them." Bayonetta hesitated, realising just how ridiculous that sounded. "But whether or not it's the same blue guy as Dante's is something we would have to ask him."
"Unfortunately, I agree. For how long have you been having these?"
Bayonetta cast her mind back to when they first appeared. It was just after Damien had returned from his fourth trip, so about; "Three months ago. That's definitely when they started."
"That's a coincidence. I haven't heard anything from our friends in Inferno for three months." Jeanne narrowed her eyes and glanced around the street. "And I also haven't seen an Angel in three months."
Madama Butterfly had been conspicuously silent ever since those visions started. She barely answered when called upon, opting for short and succinct answers.
Bayonetta obviously didn't know any better, but every time her patron spoke to her it sounded like the Demon was in immense pain. She followed her sister's actions and tapped her glasses to quickly peer into Purgatorio. As usual, nothing was there. Just as it had been for the past three months.
Bayonetta walked forward, her Left Eye beginning to whisper to her. A strong gust howled through the street, blowing her hat off and sending it flying high into the sky.
"The Eye is a little… tempered." She held a hand out and caught her hat, placing it back onto her head. "Something is still very much wrong, but it can't tell me what."
Jeanne glanced at her, ending her surveillance of the street. "I can still sense the Right Eye in this world. But, there's something off about it. Like I can't pinpoint exactly where it is."
Ever since Balder died and Jubileus was sealed into Inferno under Jeanne's care, Bayonetta had expected to never feel the pulse of the Right Eye of the world again. But, somehow it persisted. She wanted to search for it, but had no idea where to start. Or how to start. The only person who had managed to figure out its original location was Enzo, and that was specifically because Balder had essentially told him. It seemed that Jeanne shared that sentiment.
"I should have told you this long ago, but I've never felt the Eye go away. I never really got a chance to explain myself or figure out how to search for it." Bayonetta grimaced, expecting to see Jeanne looking at her with disappointment.
She wasn't. "I don't mind. My reaction to that news then would have been… disastrous. Now? I'm not surprised it's not gone yet."
There was still a small tremor in her voice. The damage that Bader had wrecked upon her psyche was, simply put, massive. Luka's theory of why Cutie J only ever operated at night was because Jeanne simply could not or refused to sleep was a very small part of this, but along with the entire wardrobe change there was several small idiosyncrasies that Jeanne now had that could be directly tied to those one hundred years in figurative hell. Or even the five hundred years previously of being on the run.
She couldn't be near men by herself for extended periods of time. The only exception was Damien and even then, Bayonetta could see that Jeanne wasn't comfortable around him in more intimate moments.
Spoons terrified her and she flat out would refuse to eat foods that either required them or if they were in sight. Absolutely no one knew why, but they all came to a silent agreement not to ask.
There had been several occasions where Jeanne had frozen up while doing some basic task and just stared off into space with a dazed look in her eye. Bayonetta was no expert, but to her it seemed that the Heiress had simply forgotten that she could move her limbs or that she didn't realise she was no longer trapped in her own body.
Besides the shouting match, most of the conflict in the De'Arc household had been solved by Jeanne simply withdrawing into herself and silently begging that it would simply go away.
Some of this had been addressed by the therapy, partially. But Bayonetta knew it was a very slippery slope back down. The statement that Jeanne learning that the Eye still existed would be disastrous? It was very much an understatement. No one was really sure if Balder had actually died, so any proof that pointed towards the Sage still living on this world-
He was dead. There was no possible way the man had survived the assimilation into Jubileus and her vessels' destruction.
"But," Brushing her hair to her back, Jeanne looked at her with both eyes. "We will discuss this soon. Not here. And not today."
"I agree. Let's just get to Christmas and survive whatever ridiculous party Dante decides to throw." Bayonetta smiled. "Do you have something you would like to bring food-wise?"
The Witch in black's eyes widened. "Shit. I… What do people bring to a Christmas party!?"
"Jeanne, don't fret too much. Just bring something ridiculous like caviar and absolutely no one will care. At the very least they will all be drunker than a skunk and not really care about what's on the table in front of them." A thought came to her. "Are you still abstaining?"
"I am and have been for a full month now. Caviar, correct?" Jeanne calmed down considerably and a very tiny smile broke out on her face. "I will not fail."
Bayonetta sighed as the Witch turned on her heel and walked into the ground. "You don't have to do your best for everything, Jeanne. Just being there is enough for us."
But, at least she was smiling again. The last time she had seen her friend genuinely smile was a little over five hundred years ago.
…
Enzo leaned on the counter and pointed to the outside of the store. "Ya hear that? That's what I want! One of those! I want a jet!"
"Sir, I'm sorry, but we do not have any more of those in stock." The clerk swallowed, still attempting to be polite.
"Then what are those fucking things behind the counter then? Barbie dolls?"
"Sir, those are reserved for our customers that have already paid for them. They are not for sale to the general public." The voice was tightening up, struggling to keep calm.
"I will pay double-"
"Sir…"
"Triple!"
"Sir!"
"Quadruple!"
"Sir, they are not for sale! It is against our policies to sell products that are currently held on preorder, no matter what the circumstances, to other customers! Please do not ask again!" Somehow, the clerk managed to keep calm, only exploding his anger in fast paced sentences.
"Arthur!" Another clerk popped out from the back, their head wide in a smile. "The extra stock for the FS-Seventeen has arrived!"
The clerk at the counter let out a huge sigh of relief. "If you buy one, will you leave?"
"Just wrap the damn plane in a box. With a big ribbon too!" Enzo turned around and smirked. "My kids are going to love it."
Something caught his eyes on the street. People were running in fear, screaming and getting off the main road.
"You know what? Make it quick, will you?"
A plane, an actual version of the model he was buying, was flying dangerously low to the ground. It seemed to drop lower and lower, almost as if-
"Forget the damn ribbon! FORGET THE DAMN RIBBON!"
…
Bayonetta slid in front of the toy shop, glaring at the offending plane. She sensed Enzo's panic dim down from behind her, and the Eye informed her that the people on the street were now out of the way. Everyone was relatively safe, unless the plane was going to turn into the buildings.
Butterfly? Do you know anything about this?
'Not… now…' She definitely was in pain. 'Don't… know…'
"You all must know…" She growled, her hat flying off from the blasting winds. "I try to avoid doing this in my Sunday best."
Giving the jet a swift kick, it flew up into the air, spiralling out of control. Bayonetta crouched, then launched herself after it. Activating Witch Walk, she landed onto the right wing and surveyed the empty space in front of her.
"And I certainly have not missed any of you lot." A portal to Purgatorio opened in front of her and she dove through it. Blades and projectiles passed at her, slicing through the dress and sending the rags off and into the sky. Rolling past a few more slices, she rolled into a three point stance. The cold air whipped and bit at her naked body, but she smirked and stood up while turning around. The weather didn't bother her; the loss of her new favourite dress did.
Bayonetta finally saw the Angels for the first time and the best she could describe them was that they resembled centaurs. Their bodies were elongated and on four legs, colored porcelain white like the ones she was familiar with. The front half built up into a torso, or specifically it grew into a head sized torso. Two arms poked out from where the ears would be (which is why she called it a torso) and held a variety of harps, swords and axes. Bayonetta assumed that the harps were similar to the trumpet guns used by the Affinity before. Considering one was drawing back a golden arrow on the strings, she probably was right.
"Well, you all seem very quick to get a girl out of her clothes." She put her hands on her hips and gave them a smirk. Her hair began to weave down, wrapping around her body and limbs to form her Umbran battle suit. Instead of it being the black, sleek suit that she wore before, it was now navy blue in coloration with a poncho style cloak wrapped around her upper body. Her legs were now more exposed with diamond-pattern trails running up the sides. Two pads accentuated her shoulders and her white gloves now had frills that flourished from the hem of them. It wasn't as sleek as her previous outfit, but she felt far more comfortable in something she could truly call her own design.
Bayonetta let two guns drop from Inferno into her hands. Unfortunately, the Scarborough Fair was not what answered her; her old guns were currently being upgraded by Rodin, so she had to make do with mortal weaponry.
The gunsmith better make his entrance fast and soon.
An Angel went flying from a whip yanking it off the jet. They all turned to see Jeanne flinging herself up with another crack, twisting in the air in a graceful loop and landing beside her in a crouch.
"This interruption is just the worst," the Witch flicked the Vritria back to herself, wrapping it back into a loop. "And to think they stayed quiet for so long."
"You came back pretty quickly." Bayonetta commented, slipping the pair onto the backs of her heels. Another dropped out from Inferno and she felt somewhat complete once more.
"Forgot the Caviar. The supermarket is the other way."
She rolled her eyes. The lie was superficial, but surely Jeanne would have gotten used to the layout of the city by now. "Well, these are all new to me. Have you-"
"No. I've never seen or heard of these variants before." Jeanne curled her lip in distaste at the sight of her. "How far along is Rodin with those guns? You're going to need them."
"I'll make do." She peered at Jeanne's lower half. "By the way, your pants…"
The Witch glanced down and shrieked, immediately hiding the rip along her buttocks by slamming herself against her own backside. Bayonetta rolled her eyes, but gave her a comforting pat on her back.
"There's no one to see you up here." She jested.
"It doesn't fucking matter!"
"Don't worry; I'll take the spotlight off of you today." She stepped forward and pointed her guns at the Angels. "Come on boys, let's have a waltz!"
…
Enzo struggled with his car as he watched the chaos seemingly unfold above him. Which was the damn key he needed? Not that one, definitely not that one-
A crashing sound rocked the buildings around him and he fell into the corvette, screaming.
"Just my fucking luck!" He cursed as he fumbled with his keys and tried to flop himself upright. "Why now, of all days? Just fucking why?"
A footstep somehow echoed through the city, breaking through the chaos like a light in the darkness. Enzo turned to it and his face paled.
"R-Ro-" He swallowed. "Rodin?"
"Enzo, you deadbeat motherfucker," Rodin grabbed a cigar from the man's pocket and lit it with a click of his fingers. He was wearing a Santa hat and a fake beard and was carrying a sack on his back. "Now, I'm feeling very generous today and I'm not going to hound you on your debt. But you need to give old Santa here a ride."
"But I don't believe in Santa!" Enzo replied in disbelief.
The bartender sighed and leaned down, blowing smoke into his face. "Angels have walked this Earth, you are talking to a Demon and you are acquainted with the most powerful beings on the planet. And you believe that Santa isn't real? Who do you think started the legend?"
"I don't know, some fucking guy called Nick?"
"Hmph." Rodin shoved him to the side and got in front of the wheel. "Watch and learn who did, buddy."
Touching the wheel, the car unnaturally revved to life. Speeding off, Rodin used a parked car as an impromptu ramp and launched the car at the side of the building, landing onto it and driving on it like nothing.
"C'mon, where are you…" He was scanning the skies, completely ignoring the panicking man next to him.
"How are you fucking doing this!?" Enzo screamed, holding onto the car for dear life. "I don't wanna die!"
"There you are." Rodin stomped the floor and the car jumped off the building, flipping and turning to land on a perpendicular street. The man screamed again, now holding onto his chair with a vice-like deathgrip.
"I'M GOING TO FUCKING DIE!"
…
Bayonetta hurled the remains of her handguns into a nearby centaur-Angel, knocking it off the jet. She pressured another away with a few kicks and turned to Jeanne. "Are you done changing yet?"
"Did they really only last a few seconds?" She popped up, tossing the black outfit into Inferno. Her own Umbran battlesuit was now covering her body, an almost identical copy of her own. Jeanne scowled at the remains of one gun that had sat on her heels and readied her katana with a roll of her eyes. "Useless mortal trash."
"Come on Jeanne, give them a little credit." Bayonetta leaped over a swinging halberd and landed onto the back of an Angel. Slapping its rear end, she sent it charging towards a pack of Laguna and jumped off right before it barreled through them. "Besides, it's not like I really need a weapon. And you aren't helping yet either!"
"Just because these fodder are terribly easy it does not mean we let our guard down." The Witch darted forward and sliced through a pair of Angels, kicking at another to push it away from the small space of the Jet. It simply sprouted wings from the back of its torso head and flapped off into a V formation with dozens more of itself. "The more prepared we are, the better off we will be."
"That is true; this seems far too organised for a simple attack." Jeanne slipped back to her side, holding the katana defensively with both hands. Something caught Bayonetta's eye from the left and she saw a gigantic Angel burst from a building. It was screaming bloody murder, swiping at the plane with elongated claws from two arms that sat behind its frilled headpiece. She managed to push the former heiress off and out of harm's way, but now she was the one flying out of control on a spinning piece of the Jet.
"CORONZON!" Another Angel roared, and she caught a glimpse of another gigantic being bursting through another building. This one was carrying a sword and shield, brandishing both at her. "You will be punished for your sins against Jubilieus!"
Do they ever fucking stop?
'No…'
Bayonetta leaped off the plane, aiming towards a speeding train below her. If she were to fight these new threats, she would prefer mobility over being stuck on a building. Arcing gracefully over a swipe from the sword, she looked down to see a car driving along the wall of the building.
…
"I believe…" Enzo was madly saying to himself. "I fucking believe!"
Rodin glimpsed something exploding out of the building behind him, but paid no attention to it. Bayonetta was within reach and she needed to get the package he had to deliver. Standing up in the driver's seat, he grabbed the sack and pulled it open.
"Take the wheel, Enzo."
"What!?" The man scrambled over to keep the car moving straight. "What do you fucking mean take the wheel? I can't fucking drive a magic car!"
"Please, Enzo, it's not that difficult." Grabbing a blue box from the sack, he tossed both up. "Bayonetta! Catch!"
The sack disappeared into the air while the present was snatched up by its intended owner. Bayonetta gave him a surprised look, which turned into a wink of thanks. Rodin folded his arms with satisfaction and tried very hard not to scratch at the fake beard on his chin.
The car swerved wildly and then launched itself off the side of the building, roaring through the air with chaotic abandon.
"I FUCKING BELIEVE!" Enzo was screaming; whether it was in joy or fear was another question. Rodin didn't really care. He simply jumped from the convertible and landed on the ground next to a haphazardly piled mountain of gifts. The cigar was pulled from his lips and he breathed out a cloud of smoke.
"So did your master plan include all of this, Khepri?" He whispered to himself. Holding one hand out, he caught a boxed model jet and pulled it down to his side. "Or is this a little 'oversight' you didn't bother to tell me about because I didn't choose you?"
The car landed with a crash, Enzo thudding into the seat shortly after. Rodin didn't bother checking on whether the man was alright; he had a debt to pay and he wasn't visiting the afterlife until he did so.
…
The box spilled open as she fell onto the train and the four guns clattered over the roof. She cushioned her fall with a roll, snagging two of them and slipped them onto her heels.
"Typical Rodin. Couldn't aim even if his life depended on it." Bayonetta grabbed the last two and inspected them. Scarborough Fair's double barrel and red and white design was long gone; a single barrel encased in blue paint and gold trims was their design now. She had asked for something with a bit more 'oomph' and it seemed that Rodin's response was to simply make each bullet of a higher caliber. "But these will do very fine."
More bodies landed onto the train and she tore herself away from her musings to see more of the centaur Angels surrounding her. A smirk broke out on her face as she took her stance.
"And not a better time to get testing with them."
Bayonetta pulled the trigger and the recoil made her smile. The explosion of gore from the Angel widened it.
"Absolutely perfect."
Tossing herself forward, she slammed into the closest Angel with a dropkick. The guns fired in short burst and obliterated through the porcelain skin, revealing a mechanical-
What?
She twisted off and frowned at the beings. Damien had told her that Sapientia had mechanical aspects to it, but it was still wholly a living creature. These were machines through and through.
"Cereza!" Jeanne crunched an Angel down, moving her Kali from her feet back to her hands. The last of the Laguna fell quickly after, leaving just the two alone. "I'm sure you've figured out that these Angels aren't what they seem."
"You don't say." She held her guns up with a wide smile. "Look what I have! I'm going to call these guns 'Love is Blue.' Seems fitting, right?"
"What, because they are blue?" Jeanne scoffed with a roll of her eyes. "Surely you have more important things to be worrying about than the bloody names of your weapons right now!"
"Have you not heard the song? Come on Jeanne." She sauntered to her friend while placing her hand on her hips. "Robot Angels they may be, but they aren't more difficult than the flesh ones."
The train shook as a tremor rippled through it. Glancing back at the end of the train, they saw a familiar but unfamiliar Angel charging at them.
It was a circular torso with a cherubim face framed in the centre. Two arms grew down from where its legs should have been, acting as them by seemingly tossing the Angel forward with every step. On its right side was a long, whip-like tentacle that was grabbing onto the end of the train, dragging it further forward towards them.
"Of course, it had to be a tentacle." Bayonetta shivered.
"Who are you? Actually, scratch that; what the fuck are you?" Jeanne pointed at it with Angel Slayer, stepping out. "And why are you attacking us now?"
"The Heiress of Destiny. The Arch Eve." It gurgled, similar to Iustitia and Beloveds. "Much hate flows through Paradiso at the sight of you both."
Those names again. The last time she heard them was from Jubileus; neither Rodin, Butterfly or Khepri could tell her what they meant.
Or refused to.
"And so it should. But I really don't have the patience for your little name game that you continue to drabble on about." Bayonetta pointed Love is Blue at its face and fired a few warning shots. The bullets exploded against the porcelain skin, marring it with black ash.
"You will die Coronzon!"
"You've got a fat chance in hell of that happening." She smirked in reply, drawing herself into her stance. "Did you really want to play that badly?"
The Angel ripped the train upward, derailing it and tossing them back from the sudden shift in momentum. Jeanne was the first to recover, twirling her legs and landing onto a car. Bayonetta did the same, reflexively calling for Madama Butterfly to deliver a few wicked weaves at the Angel. But again, she did not answer. Rolling her eyes while her sister jumped forward and sliced through a few stray carriages to reach the Angel itself.
'Don't… worry… about… me…'
Swallowing, she began to jump from sliced carriage to sliced carriage. The tentacle whipped out at Jeanne and Bayonetta dived over it so she wasn't collateral damage. Bringing her guns around to bear, she took aim at the joint connecting the arm to its body.
Jeanne proceeded to jump into the way, shockwaves flinging off her katana. They slammed with concussive force into the Laguna, pushing it back in a retreat. Grunting in frustration, Bayonetta rolled her eyes and took off into a sprint, trying to circle around to get a clear shot at its legs. Evidently Damien was not the only one being taught new tricks.
It didn't take her long to find a better point. The former Heiress was spinning around, releasing a continuous spiral shockwave that was knocking it up in a whirlwind. Taking aim once more, she fired twice into the right leg. The bullets, but honestly it was more appropriate to call them shells, exploded and ripped the mechanical limb off.
The Angel shrieked, tumbling now in Jeanne's whirlwind. The Witch halted her movement, switching the katana out for her whip again. It cracked through the air, wrapping around the remaining leg's ankle. She landed on the bridge and heaved with all her might, tossing the Laguna off and towards a nearby building.
Bayonetta reached out to her contracted Demons, trying to get a feel on who was available. To her surprise, one seemed completely unaffected by the funk the others were in. Sprinting, she grabbed Jeanne and pulled her towards the flying Angel.
"Come on, Jeanne!" She leaped up and beat the Angel there. Jeanne was a distant second, shaking her head.
"I don't have-"
"I do!" She twirled and twisted her body in a dance, letting her Umbran power fill her for the first time in three months. "AVAVAGO!"
Her hair flew from her body, swarming up and then down into the side of the building. Red lights erupted from behind her as a portal to Inferno opened and an old friend roared their way out.
The Angel stood no chance; it landed directly into the open jaws of Gommorah and was crushed with one bite. The Demon tossed it up and snapped down hard. This time, the Angel broke into shards of stone and metal and the remaining chunks screamed in pain and defiance.
"Finish them!" She commanded, not bothering to look back in annoyance. Gommorah answered with a bellow and one final chomp. Silence reigned when the Angel's voice was abruptly cut off.
"Huh. Not even a challenge," she glanced at Jeanne and shook her head in disappointment. "So much for upgrades."
The red light turned blue. Bayonetta instantly frowned; her magic, and every Umbra Witch she could remember, was always red in tint. What was going on?
'Cere-' A pained cry erupted from Butterfly and her stomach dropped; someone, or something, was hurting her patron. 'Watch-'
Butterfly screamed in agony and her eyes frantically darted to Jeanne's. "What the-"
"CEREZA!"
She barely managed to turn around and register that Gomorrah was untethered to her hair and swinging their mighty fist at her before she was flying through the air.
She did manage to look back and helplessly watch the Demon's fist connecting with Jeanne. Her head snapped back and Bayonetta knew her neck was instantly broken. The body ragdolled and fell from the building, slamming against the ground with a faint smack.
Jeanne's soul remained. It bounced once, then tumbled in a long roll until it stopped about twenty metres away.
Then she too landed onto the building and crashed straight through a window.
…
Cereza was safe. That was the important part.
Jeanne felt her body break when Gommorah hit her. To her surprise, dying wasn't that painful; if anything it felt like a shove that Damien would give her during one of their sparring sessions.
But how had the Demon broke free? And how did Cereza summon him? Neither of them were able to reach their contracted for three months! So how-
'Jeanne!' Styx's voice finally reached her. The Demoness seemed to be panicking. 'What happened? Some repulsive being ambushed me three months ago and-'
Her voice became very small and very out of character. 'Oh no, this cannot be! That was their plan?'
It was a setup. Something had wanted to kill Cereza and they had played straight into their hands.
Jeanne's eyes widened as a blue portal opened underneath her. Limbs belonging to her various contracted reached up and grabbed onto her.
'Jeanne, I will find you. You have more roles to play-'
Who gives a shit!? Fucking help me!
'I cannot! I want to but I-'
She screamed, her voice warped from being a spectre, and struggled against the arms. Cereza was sprinting towards her. If she could make it-
"I won't let it end like this!" Jeanne gasped out, managing to get one arm free. She reached out towards her sister.
'I will not either!' Styx frantically promised. 'Jeanne, trust me, I will not let some blue blotch decide the fate of my contracted!'
Her fatal mistake was slackening her limbs in shock at what her patron said. The Demons underneath her heaved down in a final surge and she felt her body enter Inferno.
…
Her hand barely brushed Jeanne's before the portal closed with her friend with it. The Witch just sat there on her knees, staring with shock and horror at nothing.
"No…"
Bayonetta was shaking and her hand was still reaching out to nothing. She should have been faster. She could have been faster.
"NO!"
She wasn't dead. This was another horrible nightmare vision that the Eye was giving her. She was going to wake up and go shopping tomorrow with Enzo and hopefully run into a very alive Jeanne that wasn't dead and-
Gommorah roared into the sky and it began to turn red. Crimson lightning rippled through the clouds, striking into nearby buildings and melting through the glass and steel like a hot knife through butter.
This was no dream.
Fury enveloped her and Bayonetta whirled around while straightening up. Her left eye felt like it was about to burst and her face had to be contorting into pure hatred.
"You bastard! You fucking bastard!"
"Puny Witch…"Gommorah growled, climbing out of the portal fully. Its hind feet gripped onto the building, ripping apart everything with ease. She was somewhat surprised the Demon was still staying on the wall and not falling down to Earth-
She spoke too soon. The building gave way and Gommorah latched onto the wall, swarming and wrapping around it like a snake. Bayonetta flipped out of the way and kept her eye on it. The Demon roared into the sky and the sky answered with red lightning.
"I'm not one for pets who betray their masters." She hissed, calling out to Malphas to grant her the power of their wings. To no surprise, the Demonic bird did not answer.
"There is no help coming for you, puny Witch." It looked down upon her with angry red eyes, seemingly grinning with its canine jaw. "We have all wanted a piece of you ever since we made our contracts. Every one of us."
That was how they all worked, but Bayonetta had no intentions of visiting Inferno any time soon. "Well, you will just have to fucking wait your turn then!"
"And now we were given the opportunity to take what is rightfully ours! Why would we not take it!?"
The Demon tore chunks off the building and began tossing them at her. Bayonetta sprinted to the sides and felt each piece smash behind her with enough force to throw her off balance.
She fucking needed a Demon.
Jumping to the opposite building, she trained her guns onto the Demon and began firing. Explosions from the shells ripped into its skin and flesh, but appeared to be doing little to no damage to it. Gommorah held two more chunks of the building and roared at her. Red energy began coalescing around its mouth and fired out in a laser.
The building began to explode behind her. Jumping off, she found Gommorah doing the same opposite her. The two chunks of building dropped from its hands and it opened its jaw wide in an attempt to swallow her.
'I've… got… someone…'
An incantation was whispered into her mind and Bayonetta found herself smirking for once. Giving the Demon a wink, she pushed herself down and plummeted towards the ground.
"ARGEDCO!" She cried out, imploring Inferno for an answer. Just this once.
And they answered, her hair flying off to form a portal behind her. A chorus of… meows ripped through the air, giving both herself and Gommorah pause. The Demon closed its mouth and looked behind itself in both trepidation and confusion.
Five cats fell out of a portal and savagely began tearing into the renegade. They swarmed its head, ripping and biting into any visible weak point or exposed flesh; which was the whole thing. Gommorah bellowed in pain and tried to knock any of its assailants off with massive swipes of its paws. The cats were quick to notice its lumbering strikes and simply ran off, trailing down towards its tail.
"Mistress," One called out to her. "Shall we destroy this interloper?"
There was no hesitation in her answer. "Do it."
The five cats hissed in answer and all jumped off the falling Demon, disappearing in a white flash of light. When that faded, the true form of her latest contracted was revealed.
The Demon had three heads; one was situated in the normal spot for a head atop the torso. A lion-like mane formed from leather flared out around its neck, protecting several beady red eyes. Two elongated, thick red fangs framed its mouth and a purple tongue flickered between the rest of its teeth. The other two heads shared the same traits, but these were on its forelegs, taking the place of the paws. She couldn't see the other two, but she assumed the hind legs were where the rest of the litter ended up. The majestic creature roared at the falling Demon beneath it and Bayonetta could sense the fear emanating from it.
"How can you be here!?"
"We serve those with the power. Especially her."
The two Demons began to bite and snap at each other, both attempting to tear out their opponent's throat. Gommorah's larger head and stronger body seemed to give them the initial edge in the struggle, using pure power to batter into and through the flesh of the Demon. Her contracted's three visible heads, however, made up for this detriment by being faster and more nimble than its adversary. It attacked from every direction, forcing Gommorah onto the back foot more often than not. They were evenly matched, even though the traitorous Infernal was still underneath its assailant.
'Earth!'
Right. The ground was a thing. Bayonetta flipped over and landed with a roll, letting the momentum carry her. Gommorah and the new Demon slammed into the ground shortly after. The shockwave tossed her away and a massive cloud of dust rose to hide them.
It didn't last long. The wind from the Infernal storm blew it away to reveal Gommorah's neck in the mouths of the Demon. It pulled up and the Demon's head came with it, blood splattering through the street.
Bayonetta didn't feel any remorse in watching one of her original Demons die.
"Mistress, we will serve you until our contract is fulfilled." It spat out the limp head and regarded her with its main face. "Us Labolas are honorable creatures who will not betray you for empty promises."
"Thank you, Labolas." The information was filed and stored away. "I… Do you know what happened?"
"We do not. Only rumours are known to us."
"Then begone, for now. If you are my only available Infernal then I'm going to need you much later." She cut the summon and the portal began to close.
"We are in agreement, Mistress. To the beginnings of our glorious partnership!"
The portal snapped shut and Bayonetta felt a wave of exhaustion pass through her. Opening another portal, she dragged herself towards it with dread. Stepping out of Purgatorio, she found Jeanne's crumpled body lying on the ground nearby, each limb at unnatural angles. Choking out a sob, she sprinted to her and fell on her knees. Her hands grasped at Jeanne's face and shoulders, trying to draw a reaction out of the body.
She wasn't dead. Everything she saw was a trick of the light. Right?
Right.
"Jeanne, wake up."
The body did not stir. It felt cold and clammy to the touch, limply following her movements.
"Jeanne, you better wake up." Her voice was shaking. "Please."
Silence answered.
"Wake up. No, you're not dead. Wake up!"
'Cereza…' Butterfly's voice was beginning to regain some of her strength. 'Please…'
"You're not dead! You can't be dead!"
'Stop… She's…'
"No! Wake up! This silly joke has gone on long enough! Please."
'She's dead.'
"NO! SHE'S NOT!"
A hand fell onto her shoulder. "Bayonetta, I'm sorry."
She shoved Rodin away with a hard shove, not caring that the man went flying off and down the street. Grabbing her, she held the body tight as tears began to leak from her eyes.
"SHE'S NOT DEAD! SHE'S NOT- SHE'S JUST SLEEPING! I'M JUST SLEEPING! WAKE ME UP!"
"Bayonetta, stop." The gunsmith pulled himself out of a car, shaking his head. "You're not dreaming. Please, s-"
"NO!"
Her vision was becoming blurred. A sob ripped from her throat and she felt weak and pathetic. She let her friend die. Jeanne's eyes stared off into space, but she swore that she was glaring at her, blaming her for what had befallen her.
And she would be right.
"Hey, what's goin- Oh shit…" Enzo wheezed in shock. "Oh my fucking god, she's dead."
"SHUT UP! FOR THE LOVE OF YOUR OWN SAFETY, PLEASE KEEP YOUR FUCKING MOUTH SHUT!"
"Okay, okay…"
What was she supposed to tell Damien?
What was she supposed to say to Luka?
How was she going to break the news to Trish?
Bayonetta stood up and ran, ignoring the cries of Rodin and the murmurs of shock from the slowly gathering crowd. Pushing past them all, she didn't care where she was going. Or who she was pissing off.
She only wanted to be alone.
…
And so it all begins again.
Those who fought for their lives and the safety of the multiverse will need to fight further.
The Primordius of Reality each are now closely watching these events about to unfold, wondering if their taciturn nature will come back to haunt them.
The Harbinger of Wisdom believes that their decision was right.
The Harbinger of Chaos wants aid for his world.
The Harbingers of Order and Judgement abstain from interference, both believing they are not necessary yet.
The Harbingers of Calamity, Life and Creation all believe in their faith in the Arch Eve's abilities.
And the Harbingers of Time and Destruction have no voice, for they are both lost.
All will be revealed as destiny attempts to manifest by the force of the Enemy.
POST NOTES:
Let's #getthisplotrolling. Sorry Jeanne, but you did have to die.
Hopefully my one chapter a month upload schedule doesn't fall into tatters instantly. The hardest part about writing a fic, in my opinion, is starting. I know in my mind I've got all of these words to put on paper and the sheer amount of it gets to me sometimes. But once I start, the ball gets rolling.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter and please leave a review of your thoughts! Any feedback is always appreciated!
