Hey there, everyone. I'm back with the next chapter as promised!

Yeah, my bad for not getting around to it sooner, but as explained in the previous chapter, I aim to bounce back and forth between this fic and my other current fic, something that becomes fairly difficult to do since I am doing online schooling which necessitates a lot of essays or powerpoints. Hope you will continue to bear with me on this.

Do rest assured that I WILL be completing this fic one way or another. In fact, it's practically essential that I do… as to why, I'll keep that a secret lol, though I'm sure you all can figure it out.

In any case, I'm very happy to see this has been getting so many favs and follows. The DMC/Haunting Ground section truly is alive and well, I see. Hope it continues to stay that way because I do think Haunting Ground has a lot of fic potential.

Now then, let's not bore you with more of my rambling. Onto the chapter we go!

P.S. Saw the sneak peek clips for Netflix DMC season 2. Will say this much: Dante is rocking the longer hair and turtleneck!

P.P.S. Writing Riccardo – and Lorenzo for that matter – makes me feel icky. It's easy to forget just how fucking horrible these two characters are. Seriously, they're a different breed of horror compared to other things in Haunting Ground or even other Capcom games in general. For real, just look at the final line I wrote for Lorenzo's section... and then remember just where the Azoth is supposed to be at within Fiona. Ugh!

P.P.P.S Recently discovered that Fiona is based off the Girl heroine initially planned for RE4 way back in the day, who in turn was the prototype for Ashley. Really makes the parallels and differences between Fiona and Ashley all the more prominent, doesn't it?

Chapter 3 – The Party Begins

"Damn it all! Useless oaf!" Riccardo swore as he aggressively stomped through the castle.

From the very moment he'd brought Fiona back to the castle and had deliberately left the cage he'd placed her in unlocked, he'd known it would only be a matter of time until she encountered his failure of a homunculus. And he'd known just as well that Debilitas would take a shine to Fiona, pretty little thing that she is.

What he hadn't expected was just how persistent the damned failure would be pursuing Fiona throughout the castle, to say nothing of how the oaf threatened to kill her… and entirely by accident at that too!

Already, he had to interfere once to prevent Fiona's certain death and had almost been tempted to do so again…

…Only instead for something else entirely to happen, something that he held Debilitas responsible for:

The arrival of none other than the Son of Sparda himself.

Like that old codger Lorenzo, Riccardo knew well of the devil hunter's legendary background and lineage. And just like his creator, he'd never thought the scion of the legendary Dark Knight would have come here of all places and times.

But what had angered him, however, was that Debilitas, instead of trying to drive off the new intruder, had cowered and fled. Now because the homunculus couldn't have bothered to actually stand his ground, Fiona was traveling alongside the devil hunter for the time being.

Granted, Debilitas was hardly adept in combat, but he was nothing if not tough and strong, plenty enough to deal with an ordinary human. And while the devil hunter was far from ordinary himself, surely Debilitas could have done something if the oaf had tried, yes?

But no. He'd done nothing other than whimper and flee. Once a failure, always a failure, it would seem.

Now Riccardo had to think of something else.

Letting Fiona run around on her own had proven entertaining thus far, seeing her puzzled and frightened by all that Belli Castle contained. It… tickled his fancy, to be perfectly honest. The many secret passages within the castle combined with his own scrying arts courtesy of his alchemic learnings had helped ensure he have as good a view as possible of her journey so far.

It would have made it all the sweeter when he finally took Fiona and made her an incubator for the next him, the better and more complete him.

But now this hiccup had occurred in his little game and must be dealt with. So long as the Son of Sparda remained around Fiona, his plan couldn't come to fruition.

"Master Riccardo."

Riccardo paused just as he rounded a corner, nearly ramming into the monotone speaker.

He sneered viciously. "Daniella," he growled her name out. "I see you've chosen to clean yourself up a little. For what little good it has done you."

The bitch maid of this castle stood almost as still as a status even as he now entered her personal space.

The man huffed as she showed no reaction, disappointment welling up within him for the umpteenth time.

When Lorenzo had first brought this woman in so long ago, it had been done in the hopes she would serve as a suitable bearer for the next generation of Bellis. Much to their great misfortune, however, even after the experiments they'd performed to ensure the next Belli would be born with as much Azoth as possible after Ugo had run off with Lorenzo's, it had been discovered Daniella was barren. And just like that, all their efforts to strengthen her very being for birth and mentally warping her into something more bearable had been for absolutely nothing.

That had been when his disciplining of her had started properly. That she had taken said disciplining without ever crying out did bother him though. To say nothing of her greater loyalty to Lorenzo than to him, who should have been the one to create the next clone.

"What brings you here?" he demanded. "Shouldn't you be off polishing the door handles or something else frivolous?"

"Master Lorenzo had tasked me with something new and asks you to not interfere," she dully replied. "I am to seek out our newest guest and keep him occupied."

Her reply caused Riccardo to actually take a step back, the words shocking him.

But then, after a brief moment, his shoulders shook. Then he threw his head back and let out a loud bark of laughter. It lasted for moments before he finally began to settle down. Even then, he was still snickering here and there.

"Lorenzo wants you of all people to deal with the Son of Sparda?" The very thought defied imagination. "And just how does he expect you to accomplish that. You're an utter failure of a woman, no womb with which to conceive and such muted responses that I doubt he'd find much pleasure in bedding you… if you could even entice him at all, that is."

Sex… it was something he held complicated emotions towards. The act of procreation can certainly be a very pleasurable experience… but that wasn't the point of it. The point was, as the term suggested, the creation of new life – in his case, his next life.

Daniella had been brought in with the intent of bearing the next heir, to no avail. While having her around did alleviate some of his stress every now and then, it would ultimately bear no fruit. No new 'him' and her pitiful reactions to pain and pleasure alike made lying with her a tedious affair after a while.

And if he could scarcely stand to tolerate her corpse-like responses despite knowing her for years now, then he highly doubted a man like the Son of Sparda would grant her the time of day.

Especially not when around the likes of Fiona. Her Azoth and hopefully fertile womb aside… she was certainly a far more pleasing sight to look upon compared to Daniella. And if her intense responses to the castle's wonders were anything to go by, then she'd also be much more expressive in bed as well.

The very thought of his rebirth being a much more pleasurable venture was enough to lift his mood, though he was hardly lost in thought.

Instead he just continued to stare at Daniella in light of her words… though he did miss the way the fingers of her right hand twitched in response to his statement.

"Well, I suppose there is always a small chance he might take a glance your way," he said, hands on his hips as he considered the possibility. He supposed if nothing else Daniella was still objectively a pleasing woman to look upon, just not much compared to Fiona. But the devil hunter was still a man in his prime, so Riccardo was willing to guess he may bear a strong enough sex drive to desire more than just one type of woman. "But regardless if he does fall for your bait or not, at least ensure he and Fiona are separated. It's essential that they break up, do you understand me?"

"Of course," Daniella dutifully replied.

"Then get on with it," he declared. "I can only stand to look at you for so long."

Daniella bowed and walked past him. The hallway was filled with the sounds of her heels clacking away. Only when the sound was now far enough away to be almost fully gone did Riccardo finally move again.

He held no illusions about Daniella being able to accomplish anything. But whether she did or not, he also knew that he must act.

Consider this a sort of insurance, if nothing else.

Lorenzo can order him through Daniella to keep from interfering as much as he wants – for he said nothing about more indirect methods.

"Now then, let's see if those other homunculi are finally ready," he murmured as he made a beeline for the castle's laboratory.

As the three of them walked back the way she'd initially come from, Fiona took the liberty of recounting everything she could remember to the man.

Every now and then, she'd glance up at him as she spoke. The man, Dante, would hum and haw and otherwise grunt as she spoke of her brief but frantic journey through Belli Castle thus far.

Gauging his response was rather difficult for her. While she wasn't exactly a wallflower, she wasn't a social expert well, meaning she didn't quite have what it took to read another person. That said, she was able to tell that Dante was indeed listening to her while also surveying the castle around them.

That, more than anything, gave her hope. That she and Hewie can discover what had truly happened to her parents and then escape from here as swiftly as possible.

"Hell of a tale you've lived so far," Dante finally said as she finished speaking. He also finally glanced her way. "Almost makes me feel bad that it took me this long to check this place out if it was dripping this much with weirdness."

She couldn't help but huff, which in turn elicited a bark of what sounded like agreement from Hewie, who traveled in between the two of them. "That is certainly one word for it," she murmured, a brief display of snark there, brought on by her experiences so far. She then fell silent. "Uhm, then Mr. Dante-."

"Just Dante, kid. Way too young still to be called a Mr. anything," he quipped.

Her lips tugged upwards into the beginnings of a smile. "Fiona," she spoke her name, quietly asserting he call her by name if he insists on him being called by his. "And… Dante… I just wanted to know… for what reason did you really come to this place?"

His words to her earlier, about him being on a job of some kind… she couldn't help but wonder what sort of job could possibly lead anyone out to a place like this.

"Like I said, work stuff," he reiterated. But her stare must have really been intense or something because he then let out a quiet sigh. "The long and short of it is that I'm something of a private investigator, though I tend to… specialize, let's say, in cases that are odder than the norm, know what I mean?"

Odder than the…?

"Do you mean…" Fiona began, the cogs in her mind working better now that she wasn't so frightened. "Like some kind of paranormal investigator?"

That gave Dante pause. "Something like that. Anyways, work was getting a little dry so I decided to take matters into my own hands and look around. Lo and behold, I found out about this place and decided to see how much bite its rumors really had to it."

Hewie let out a low whine, as if to say 'this place has plenty of bite then, eh?'

Fiona and Dante both looked to the dog, then back at each other before the latter let out snicker. "I think I know what poochie here is getting at. Can't say he's entirely wrong."

Fiona smiled and gave Hewie a light brush upon his back as they kept walking. His tail wagged at her regular attention to him.

"Anyways, where exactly have we been going? You're my guide here, after all," Dante asked once she was done brushing Hewie.

"Y-Yes." Fiona tried to focus back on the matter at hand. "I think the answers I hope to find lie further inwards. You said there was a mansion of some kind, yes?"

When the tall man nodded in confirmation, Fiona took a breath and continued. "Then I believe the only way to reach it would be through the chapel of this place. I've come across a note or two mentioning it and I think the way there can only be accessed by completing some kind of puzzle first…"

Dante looked at her, amazed and amused. "Really? A puzzle?"

"Yes."

"Been a while since I've had to deal with something like this…" he mumbled.

"W-What?" she asked, baffled at his low tone, just barely hearing the words.

"Nothing much," he replied, a whimsical wave of his hand in the process. "Let's just say my work has never left me too bored. Anyways-."

As Fiona led the man to where the chapel entrance was – a side 'benefit' of all the wandering she did from being lost thus far – a loud groan was heard, causing her to jump.

A mechanical sound, it was… and coming from the direction they were going in.

With just a bit more speed, she headed to see what was happening, Hewie and Dante swiftly following along.

Heading down the current path, she came across the supposed entrance to the chapel, which had been closed tight this entire time… except now, it was open.

Fiona couldn't help but gape. Just what was happening? They hadn't even done anything yet!

"Well." Dante sounded positively amused. "So much for that puzzle."

Lorenzo let out a grunt as he maneuvered his wheelchair away from the master controls, his work done for the moment.

Originally, he'd been content to let Fiona find her own way into the inner parts of the grounds, where the House of Truth lied. Alas, with the arrival of the Son of Sparda, he saw no choice but to instead accelerate the plan. Especially in light of Riccardo clearly going against his orders to just leave them be.

At that particular thought, the ancient alchemist weakly snorted. What a fool his failure of clone is. Did Riccardo truly believe himself outside the range of the wards established or the security system in place? Lorenzo knew well that the man was in the process of freeing some of the more violent homunculi to use as attack dogs.

Still, he must admit that this night was taking a turn for the worst in all manner of ways. With the devil hunter here and Riccardo becoming emboldened, Lorenzo had no choice but to make use of the master controls to undo some of the defenses long since put in place. Such as, for example, opening up the chapel instead of allowing Fiona and her new companion to meander around to move the dials into position.

The less time Fiona spent around the Son of Sparda, the better, especially if that also meant shortening the amount of time until he meets her personally as well. While he sadly can't do anything else in terms of stopping Riccardo or reining in that giant of a homunculi of his, he could at least count on him to perhaps amuse the devil hunter with his feeble resistance. Combined with the task he'd given to Daniella to 'occupy' the man as well, there was at least some chance of separating Fiona from her new protector.

Lorenzo let out a harsh series of coughs, his ailing health making itself known. His chest felt like it could break if he kept on coughing any longer. The smallest bits of blood made itself known within his mouth, the taste of bitter iron acting as a sign.

With shaking hands, he reached for a side compartment within his wheelchair and pulled out a single tablet, which he immediately gulped down.

It took a few minutes, but as always, the tablet worked and his coughing steadily disappeared.

A pathetic attempt at a panacea, which he'd only developed in recent years when he'd realized just how poor his body had begun to fair. While some of the ingredients for said tablets were grown here within Belli Castle, other elements that couldn't be produced so easily had to be acquired from outside sources – in this case, the same source of monitoring that had allowed him to become aware of Fiona in the first place.

"Damn it all, Brandon… such a stingy man you are," he groused.

Decades ago, Brandon Bailey had come to him upon hearing of his 'wonder drugs,' to use the man's words at the time, which had benefitted him greatly in advancing his study of virology and by extension his position of power within Umbrella. Alas, it wasn't to be. Before long, Brandon had been removed from the company and the man had instead established his own organization to continue his research, with recent focus upon fungi of all things.

From there on, an unofficial contract had been established – Lorenzo and Riccardo would sell the organization some of their 'wonder drugs' for study to aid their research on this mystery fungus of theirs and in turn, they provide the ingredients that can't be created here so that he could synthesize his tablets. Every now and then, he would also provide them some homunculi to dissect and use as material and in turn he'd receive the ability to call in favors.

Finding Ugo and Ayla had been one such favor, one that had been absolutely priceless thanks to Fiona's very existence.

Alas, Brandon had become stingy as of late, more focused to whatever personal research he had instead of providing the requested amounts of ingredients he needed.

…He was down to just enough tablets to last him the rest of the month. That might sound like a lot to some others, but given his weakening body, it was far too little. As things stood, he was already running low on Camomile and other herbs, and it would be a long while before they could be restored to their previous amounts.

Azoth… He needed Fiona's Azoth and soon. If he can't obtain it tonight, then his pursuit of the Great Truth will come to a pathetic end, the great line of Bellis snuffed out with not even the grace of a whimper.

His health somewhat stabilized for the time being, he could only roll forth in his wheelchair, dwelling on what else he could do. As things stood, he'd opened the path forward for the duo while also potentially setting up a chance for Fiona and the Son of Sparda to be separated.

If Riccardo or Daniella could just do one damned thing right for once…

Hope – no, more like pure desperation – bloomed in his bony chest at such a thought. In lieu of any other medicines and tools at hand, this would have to suffice in carrying him onwards.

He will have Fiona come to him…

…And when she does, he will suck the Azoth out of her.

He won't leave behind even a single drop.

Dante's heard a lot of tales in his line of work. It's left him somewhat desensitized, if he was being honest. Still, what Fiona had to tell him definitely had him quirking an eyebrow through her sordid tale.

It helped too that this creepy castle backed up her claims, to say nothing of the big guy he'd scared off earlier.

Wonder where he went too…

…Well, that point aside, at least he wasn't being bogged down by any dumb traps in this dump of a castle. He recalled all too well the twists and turns he'd had to deal with way back in the Temen-Ni-Gru and while it had helped break up the monotony of smacking through some weak-ass demons to get to Vergil, it too had gotten annoying after some time.

Still…

Just what could have caused this chapel to open up so suddenly?

"This night just keeps on getting better and better," he mumbled as he and Fiona entered said chapel, her fluffy canine trailing close behind her at all times.

After unlocking the damned place, they'd had to go through a long stretch of dark hallways with dismal lighting to show the general way forward before finally reaching said chapel, the actual door to which had been remarkably plain all things considered.

That said, the chapel itself was pretty spacious, with a large open area near the entrance and only a handful of pews on either side…

…All of which led directly towards a statue of some kind. Probably a goddess, if he had to guess.

The dog, Hewie, growled in worry. Clearly, the white furred canine didn't like the vibe of this particular room. Dante couldn't blame him; it was pretty dreary in spite of its spaciousness.

Meanwhile, Fiona slowly did a small circle, taking in all the sights around her. She looked almost entranced. Quite the far cry from how terrified she was when he'd first come to her rescue.

"Well, someone's having a good time," he couldn't help but remark, signature smirk upon his face.

Fiona jumped lightly at his words – did she jump at everything? – and then looked at him with a bit of a blush.

"S-Sorry," she began. "It's just… before all this, I was just your average university student. To see wonders like this… this architecture… it does have an allure to it."

Dante hummed, somewhat nonplussed. "What'd you study?"

"The arts," Fiona answered. "Music, more specifically. But I like to think I've an affinity for arts in all forms."

"Huh. So, minus all the creepy schmucks hanging around here, this would be a vacation for you," he lightly quipped.

His words get a hesitant smile out of her. Good, better she was relaxed instead of so tense all the time. Way too young to be going gray from all this damn tension.

The conversation over for the time being, Fiona slowly turned around and headed for the statue that lied at the end of the chapel.

"To the seeker of the sacred technique of Ars, Obey the will of Hermes' divine cane and hasten to the secret staircase," she murmured, albeit loud enough to make sure he could hear. Little did she know, his senses are quite sharp. One of many perks of being his father's son.

Not that he was about to advertise that to her, not out of the blue.

"Must be referring to that key hanging off the statue there," he commented, motioning with a free hand towards said statue.

"I guess so…" Fiona sounded somewhat unsure. "I guess I'll get it…?"

"Hey, you know what they say." He shrugged. "Better to have it and not need it…"

"Right." Fiona nodded and slowly reached for whatever stone podium she'd been standing in front of…

…Only to pause.

"What's wrong? Want me to get it?" Dante asked.

"N-No, I can get it. It's just…" He could practically hear the blush in the girl's voice. "This skirt is somewhat…"

Despite its somewhat modest length, it had quickly started to ride up her ass the instant she even lifted a leg up higher than normal. A little more effort and she'd be practically mooning the whole chapel.

"Right," Dante muttered. "Turning around. Do what you gotta do now."

"Thank you," Fiona mumbled. Hewie also barked, presumably in gratitude as well for his owner's(?) modesty.

Seriously, where the hell did she get those clothes from? Because Dante refused to believe this shy girl would have willingly worn something like that otherwise.

His back to Fiona, he watched the chapel's sole entrance instead.

All the while, he could hear Fiona rustle awkwardly about for several long seconds.

"A-Alright," she said as she audibly plopped down onto the floor. "I've the key."

Dante. "Sweet. Let's get going then." He looked back in time to see her smoothing out the skirt, golden key in hand…

…All while Hewie had rushed past them both and now stood just several yards away from the door.

He was growling now, teeth bare.

Dante's own senses pinged something being funky here too.

"Hewie?" Fiona called out. "What is it?" She was getting tense again.

"Looks like we came in ahead of a midnight mass," Dante replied.

He could make out the sounds of several pairs of feet shuffling about. Stiffly in some cases, haphazardly in others.

The door to the chapel, which had closed behind them when they'd first entered, now banged open and in came the new arrivals.

Fiona's breath hitched something fierce. Hewie's growling intensified. Dante couldn't blame either one for their response. After all, it wasn't every day one got to see such… such… damn, he wasn't even sure what these things were supposed to be.

They were humanoid enough in shape and size, faces that could be vaguely considered human from a far enough distance. But their naked forms fully exposed their gray and sagging skin. The texture of said skin looked off, more akin to clay or some kind of plant rather than actual human flesh. The fingers were a little longer than they should be and sharp in some cases.

The creatures were completely bald as well. But what really set off the oddity was the dull and utterly blank eyes they all had, no sign of pupils or sclera to be seen anywhere. Said eyes framed faces that looked mushy, almost like someone tried to use them as playdoh.

They shambled and waddled into the room, feet smacking loudly against the floor now. Only when they were nearly upon Hewie did they seem to stop and dumbly stare at the occupants.

"W-What are they…?!" Fiona was quivering where she stood behind him.

"Who knows?" In comparison, Dante was much more at ease. Flippant even. These things had nothing on even the lowest of demons, but he'll give them props for making this self-imposed case all the more intriguing.

Still, that didn't mean he could just take this too lightly, not with Fiona so close by.

His hands reached for Ebony and Ivory. The very instant his grip found his beloved guns, the creatures finally stirred from their temporary stupor… before suddenly howling and throwing themselves forward.

Fiona screamed. Hewie howled and leapt into action.

As for Dante?

He just grinned and drew his pistols in the literal blink of an eye.

"Let's rock!"

And there. We. Go. For now, that is lol.

Man, despite being about 12 pages long, the word count for this chapter is still pretty low compared to my norm in other fics. In due time, this will be rectified as I pack more and more content into each chapter. In the meantime, I'm still building up to later events.

With that said, I've pretty much set the main stage already – Daniella is going to try and run interference between Fiona and Dante, Riccardo has only barely started to release the more violent homunculi, Debilitas is set to return in due time as well, and Lorenzo is out there plotting how to take advantage of this clusterfuck.

Also, decided to drop a very noticeable reference right there… and frankly, one that should give away what I have planned in the future. That being said, the references/surprises aren't anywhere near done just yet, so there is still a chance I will do something that will really take you all by surprise.

Anyways, in the next chapter, there will be some action and additional divergences from Haunting Ground canon, courtesy of Dante's presence rendering a lot of the troubles the castle provides null and void. Do look forward to it.

Until next time, everyone. Take care.