I do not own Devil May Cry or any of the characters.

Long Time No See

Marcus's eyes slowly drifted open. Blood red sky, blood red clouds. Yup. Demon World. He looked down. He could move, so either he had died, or he was healing. Judging by the gaping wounds in his chest, he would guess the latter. He looked around, finding himself lying on a large boulder on top of a hill, the katana still clutched in his hand. He groaned, using the sword to stand and to support his weight as he took in his surroundings. The hill was dotted with the large chunks of stone, which he finally realized was debris, not rocks. The debris stretched for a mile or so across, then gave way to dead rotting trees. He spotted both his own sword and Red Queen lying a short distance away and limped over, tying the katana to his belt then putting his own sword on his back and using Red Queen as a crutch. There was no clear way out here. He was trapped. He heard rubble shift behind himself and turned, seeing debris tumbling away from the bounder he had been lying on. Then, the boulder rolled out of the way as well and a massive reptilian demon with Arius's face and blue hide rather than scales rose into the air.

"Arius," Marcus growled. "Terrific. Just die freak."

He extended his spectral arm but Arius's tail knocked it aside. He grumbled, pulling out a pistol and opening fire, the bullets barely making it through Arius's hide. He put the pistol away, beginning to limp forward again, twisting Red Queen's grip. The blade lit up red but it began to fade instantly. He twisted again. More of the blade lit up, but again it began to fade. Once more and the blade was glowing red again. Just as he got it there, Arius shot forward. He leapt at him, Arius moving to go around him only for Red Queen's superheated blade to split his side open. Arius roared in rage as Marcus crashed down, head banging into something pointy and hard. He groaned, holding a hand to his head and lifting the sword unsteadily.

Arius roared again but before it could charge, a blood red laser beam shot over Marcus, hitting Arius in the face and exploding, blasting him into pieces. Marcus turned to look as a woman in boots, short shorts, a brown vest over a grey hooded sweatshirt, a cylindrical object on her back, and a pendant that was really all Marcus recognized of her, walked over to him, Pandora in her hands, now as a briefcase again.

"Welcome back Marcus," the woman greeted him. "You've grown up."

"You haven't aged at all," Marcus said. "I never got your name. Seems kind of rude of me since we were together for six years."

"There was no need," she smiled. "I'm Kat. I saw what happened. I'm glad I found this on the way here to find you."

"So am I," Marcus smiled. "Glad you found me."

He glanced to the side and froze. Nero's upper body was lying a short distance away. He limped over, falling to his knees beside him. Then, he set his forehead on his father's chest, feeling tears flowing from his eyes for the first time in years. Kat remained silent, watching him for several seconds, before kneeling beside him, wrapping her arms around him and letting him cry on her shoulder. After a short while, though, she decided it was time to go.

"Marcus, we have to get out of here," Kat said. "A summoning circle opening, even if it closed shortly after, attracts a lot of attention. We need to leave. Now."

"I can't leave him," Marcus said. "He's my father."

"I'm sorry, Marcus," Kat said. "But we're going to be dead too if we don't leave and get you patched up."

Marcus stared at her for a moment before reaching down and removing a necklace that was around Nero's neck, a black cord with a silver ring pendant that had a red crystal handing from the bottom.

"What is that?" Kat asked.

"Don't know," Marcus said. "I figure Mom will want it back though."

Kat nodded and helped Marcus up, then guided him away from the clearing and into the trees. They walked in silence, Marcus's weight settling more and more onto Kat's shoulders as he grew weaker from blood loss. He was healing slowly, but it wasn't fast enough for him to not bleed, and moving around was making it worse. His healing was slowed. He was weak enough that instead of sealing almost instantly like his wounds should, they were barely healing. Finally, they reached a cave with a strange symbol spray painted onto the ground outside. Kat all but carried Marcus past the symbol into the cave, setting him on his knees in the center.

"Stay here," Kat said. "I've got to bandage your wounds. You're losing too much blood."

Marcus nodded, head feeling light, and waited until Kat returned, kneeling in front of him and shaking a green spray paint bottle. Marcus's senses focused and he shook his head.

"Why do you have spray paint?" Marcus asked.

"It's special," Kat said. "It'll heal you. Or, at least, it'll help you heal faster."

"You're not spray painting my wounds," Marcus said.

"You'll die if I don't," Kat said.

Marcus was silent for a moment before nodding.

"This is going to hurt," Kat said.

Then, she began to spray. She started with the lesser gashes and cuts covering his body from his fight with Vergil. The smallest healed almost instantly upon being sprayed, while some of the others did not. The wound on his shoulder from when Vergil first got his new katana healed, while a deep gash across his abdomen did not. Finally she stopped, giving him a knowing and apologetic look. All that was left was his two massive stab wounds.

"Make it quick," Marcus said.

She nodded and sprayed them, making sure that the paint not only got around it but coated the inside too. Then, she moved to his back, doing the same thing for that side. Throughout the entire process of her spraying the smaller wounds, he had to keep his teeth clamped shut against the pain. The gash in his stomach earned a loud groan. But as she was spraying his stab wounds, he had his hands over his mouth, muffling a scream of agony. Finally she was done and Marcus let his hands fall, panting. His left arm still had a very deep gash in the forearm that reached halfway through, his torso was obviously still heavily wounded, and his upper right arm had a gash in it. She pulled out bandages, giving Marcus an apologetic look.

"Sorry," she said. "I told you it would hurt."

"Hurt is an understatement," Marcus mumbled, Kat sitting on her knees in front of him.

He held one end of the cloth to his abdomen, below the gash, then reached around behind him, having to lean almost against him to reach her other hand behind him and pass the bandage off, Marcus holding the end to his abdomen for her. After a moment, he was able to let the end go and set his hand back down, keeping his arms out enough for her to work, Marcus watching the determination on her face, as well as the worry at seeing how much he was bleeding and the fact that she could see completely through his chest. Slowly, bandages stretched up his abdomen to his chest. She tucked the other end of the bandages under itself and set a new strip against him, Marcus obediently holding it in place while Kat leaned forward again, wrapping the bandages around him a few times before he lowered his hand. She had to shift closer to be able to reach around his chest while still keeping the bandages tight, making it so that their faces were only a few inches from each other each time she leaned forward. She kept her face downward, making sure the bandages didn't miss anything, and he looked to the side where she had five more rolls of bandages waiting. Slowly, bandages reached up his chest, covering his stab wounds, then wrapping over each shoulder. A total of four rolls had to be used on his torso, but she finally finished. She grabbed another roll and lifted his left hand, carefully using a rag to clean the blood away from the gash in his forearm before carefully wrapping it, one of her hands never leaving his. Next, she shifted over to sit beside him as she wrapped his right shoulder. Once she was finally finished, she sat back, inspecting her work before looking at his back, making sure the exit points of the stab wounds were also healed. Then, she sat back, sighing and nodding.

"Done," Kat reported. "Now you should rest. We're going to start heading for the portal tomorrow to get you home."

"What about you?" Marcus asked, leaning back against the wall of the cave, his three swords across his lap. "Will you come with me this time?"

Kat was silent as she slowly packed up her supplies.

"I don't know," Kat finally admitted. "I've ben here a long time. I can't age here. I'm dead. So I can't age. The world's probably changed so much. Everyone I know is probably dead. I don't know if I'd even have a place in that world."

"You would," Marcus said. "You could help run the shop. Arrange us jobs hunting demons."

"I doubt Dante would be content to have me hounding him to keep the shop clean all the time," Kat smiled.

"What did you mean you can't age because you're dead?" Marcus asked. "I did last time I was here."

"It was different for you," Kat said. "You weren't killed normally, your soul was sent here before you were even born."

"I see," Marcus nodded before yawning.

"Rest," Kat smiled. "I'll answer your questions when you wake up. It'll probably be a while before we can make any real progress toward the portal. it'll be a couple days minimum before you're healed."

Marcus nodded then set his head back against the wall of the cave. He watched her through her eyelids, seeing her reach up and wipe her eyes before she curled up into a ball, hugging her knees to her chest and forcing herself to sleep. He sighed quietly, closing his eyes and allowing sleep to claim him as well.

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