I don't own Devil May Cry and associated characters, blah blah blah you know the drill.
Thanks for reading, and tell me if the chapters are too long! ^_^
Chapter 1: Visitor
Wandering. Dark alleyways of downtown back towards home. A few bottles of beer and a half-broken drum set. Half broken for a half breed, thinks the man who stretches and yawns while wandering the alleys.
"Boooooring," Dante yawns as he enters under the flickering neon lights of Devil Never Cry (damn stupid name if you asked him, he'd change it back in a heartbeat if it was worth the effort). Boring. That's how the night had been. A devil here, a ghost there, yada yada boom bang.
Hanging Alastor up on the wall next to Force Edge, he flops down in his chair and starts the answering with his boot heel. "You have…..4 new messages," the electronic voice says cheerily. Dante rubs his eyes and pops open a beer. "Come on…what shit is this," he mutters annoyed as the first message is a telemarketer and the second is a prank call. The second two have more promise, but…. "No password…" Delete delete delete delete. Dante shrugs off his red leather trench coat and take a long drink of the beer.
A faint scuffling noise outside one of the windows causes him to nonchalantly slip Ebony into the hand he has under his desk, while he continues to have a drink with the other. He relaxes momentarily as the door opens. Devils have a way of liking to spring up from the darkness and such. The front door wasn't their "style", if devils had that sort of thing. The sight of the slow shuffling figure, however, causes him to raise both Ebony and Ivory. "Hold it buddy. I'd back away now if I were you. Run fast enough and 'maybe,' he says grinning, "you'll miss a bullet." The only reason he hadn't shot already was because of the sheer pathetic and non-threatening air the guy radiated.
He was obviously a devil, though of humanoid stature. He had pointy elflike ears with tufts of hair at the end, too-large cat gold eyes, and a terrible humpback. Dante could tell the guy was old though, and not in the best of health. Wisps of gray hair clung to his head, and his eyes, Dante noticed, were cloudy with rheumatism. He wore a shaggy brown coat and dirt beaten clothes that looked like something from the 1700s.
"Ugh…mm….must…must...tell" the devil panted hoarsely, before staggering to the wall and collapsing.
Dante, having not yet moved his handguns from the devil, quirked an eyebrow at the crumpled form. "Well you're a first buddy…usually I go to the devils, not the other way around," he said getting up and walking over with his guns still trained on the body.
The devil doesn't move.
Dante, no longer amused, gives it a light kick, then squats down and pokes it with a handgun. "This ain't no hotel. I'd--" He stops, noticing a dark and rather nasty look splattery puddle around the devil. "Aw hell. Fricking bleed all over my floor." The devil twitches slightly and Dante's guns are trained back on him.
Shit. The guy might be a devil, but Dante was uneasy about shooting a guy that as far as he knew hadn't done anything wrong and was obviously rather badly wounded. Course if it was all a sham he didn't want to just dump him outside and forget him. Mumbling a few choice words he walked back to the phone and propped the receiver between his shoulder and ear, dialing with one of the handguns.
One of the good things about living in a big city like Chicago was that there was no lack of specialists or services provided. If you wanted something unusual done or needed special info, there was always someone on hand who had the qualifications and needed the money. He'd run into these people awhile back and was caught by surprise. A group of humans (and a few devils) that was actually working for some type of peaceful working relationship between humans and devils. They had a sort of homeless shelter for devils where they'd round up those that were more harmless and mischievous than actually evil and destructive. Might as well hand this guy over to them.
*Ring*…..*Ri-- "Hello. Bralen's Food and Drug, this is Wendy speaking. How may I help you?"
Fortunately Dante had been prepped for this little routine. "I'm looking for some aspirin."
"Any brand in particular?"
"Whatever's in the red."
"I'm afraid we're all out.
"Then I'll need something from the doctor.
"Right. Please hold for call transfer."
Dante grimaced random password system used, then grimaced again at the bad elevator music that came on while on hold. That what you get when you pose a demon hospital as a corner drug store.
Finally a person picks up the call. "Sarah here," says a brisk sounding woman with a hint of Irish accent.
"Sounds like someone's had a rough day."
"!?! Who is th---Dante?"
"Right on target babe. Haven't heard from me in awhile eh? By the way, you gotta change your hold music. I've heard less nastier things in Hell."
The woman on the other end snorts. "Tell me about it. Michael picked it out, and he gets do so little else I'd thought we might as well bear it….for a while anyways."
Dante chuckles. "Brave woman."
"Yeah…..well not I don't enjoy catching up and stuff, you're not exactly on my list of guys who like to make chatty phone calls. Something up?"
Dante glances at the body. No movement. "Yeah, I got a devil that decided to wash up on my doorstep. The bugger looks like the type you people take."
"Meaning what exactly?"
"That he's bleeding all over my floor and the place is starting to stink." This was very true. One of the good things about the devils on Malle Island had been that once they died they would tend to disappear, blood, guts and all. "Mangy unwashed devil in a pool of blood tends to do that you know."
Sarah made a clucking noise. "Fine….drop it on me. I'll have someone come around and pick him up in a few….try to keep him alive till then." *Click*
Dante dropped the phone back on the receiver and scowled at the devil. Alive was not how he usually kept them.
???
After Sarah's little agency had dropped by and picked up the devil, Dante finished up his beer, had another one, brushed his teeth like his mother taught him, threw his clothes in the wash and dropped into bed. [For those who are interested, Dante sleeps in white boxers that say "Let's Rock" all over in red lettering. ^_~ ]
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The next morning Dante rolled out of bed and nearly beat his alarm clock into dresser next to his bed. Making his way to the bathroom he threw on the shower and let the water heat up, then headed downstairs to a makeshift kitchen for some coffee.
Devil Never Cry was actually a larger place than most realized. The main room upon entering, which contained his desk, drum set, and wall of devil trophies, was the business side of the building. There he met with certain clients and could get a little late night sword practice in. Through the upstairs in the back was a small and grubby bedroom equipped with a large, headboardless bed of a mattress and a sheet, a TV in the corner, equipped with an old school Atari of all things, and a dresser with most of the drawers half open. Attached to room was the was a surprising clean and roomy bathroom. A separate stairway led the from the bedroom down to kitchen/armory area. On the tiles covering half the room there was a fridge, stove and oven, and small counter with overhead cabinet. Beer bottles and empty ramen noodle packets lay around everyone. Where the tiles ended ran a maroon carpeted area with a variety of weapons on the wall. Shotguns, needle guns, shrapnel guns, and Nightmare Beta were lining the wall with a variety of other curious guns. A rack nearby held Force Edge, Alastor, and Sparda, with the Ifrit gauntlets hanging on a hook. A barrel of rarely used backup weapons, including a halberd of all things, stood in the corner. A backdoor led out into the alley behind the building.
Dante, not the most morningish of people even, at noon, headed up to the shower with his Irish coffee. Jumping in the shower he let the water wake him up a bit and played some air guitar while humming a favorite rock song. Climbing out of the shower, silver hair dripping, he wrapped a towel around his waist and drains the rest of the lukewarm coffee. Sauntering over to his answering machine, he checks to see if he slept through any phone calls.
*Beep* "Dante, it's Sarah. We're managing to hold on to the guy you picked up last night, but it looks like he's not going to make it much longer. Also, he keeps demanding to see you. 'Parently he has a message for you or something, which he won't give to us. Better hurry if you want it though, he's fading fast. Just stop by the shop." *Click*
Dante mused to himself while toweling his hair. The dude had been trying to say something to him last night before he collapsed. He wasn't sure what type of message a demon could bring him though. Bad news ultimately. It was probably either a threat message from someone in the Underworld who didn't like Dante, or some god awful news that Mundus had returned or something. Ignorance is bliss, and while Dante would dearly liked to have given the devil guy the finger and walked away…..you never knew when knowledge could come in handy.
---------------------------30 minutes later-----------------------------------------------------------
Dante climbed off his red and black motorcycle and wandered into the entrance of Bralen's Food and Drug. As he walked up the counter inside, the cashier smiled at him. "Sarah's been waiting for you. Through the back and down the stairs."
Dante looked surprised. "What, no ID or password?"
The girl smiled at him wryly. "Well I don't know how many other white haired guys wearing red leather are planning on coming in today. Your description's not the average Joe."
He smirked and shrugged. "I try." He walked past her into a hallway then turned and went down a spiral staircase of carved rock that went at least 4 stories down. Flickery lights wired every twenty feet or so gave it a haunted castle air. Opening the door at the bottom of the long (and uneventful) walk he found….a surprising sight. Someone had done redecorating since he had been here a few years ago.
He was standing on a large semicircular rock platform about 40 feet in diameter that served as a sort of lobby area. Elevator like lifts stood on either side of the platform, going down into a enormous natural cavern that splayed out in the view about 100 feet beneath him. A small village had been assembled on the ground floor, with a variety of around ten wood and stone buildings of different sizes, though none over two stories. Other tunnels in the cliff sides of the cavern had also lifts running to them. A menagerie of people and demons alike wandered the area below.
The lift on his right buzzed slightly and Sarah stepped off it. She grinned at him and winked. "Not what you were expecting, eh?" she asked, obviously amused to have caught him by surprise.
Dante shook his head and looked around with admiration. "I'll admit I'm impressed. Last time all you had were a few rooms in the back of the store. What is this place?"
"One of the devils we rescued off the streets told us about this cavern. Apparently renegade devils, the ones too weak to survive or those who opposed their superiors, would hide down here. The two tunnels on the side walls," she said gesturing, "lead to two locations within the city. Very convenient when you're trying to move a large devil across half the city in the middle of the day. The one that leads up the shop we got some golem devils to help carve out."
"Golem devils? And are you saying tunnels run all under the city?"
She shook her head. "No, they're straight tunnels just to the two locations. As for the golem devils, they're not really devils as elementals…" she trailed off, shaking her head again. "I'll answer some questions later. Right now Barthalanus [pronounced: bar-thay-lawn-us] wants to talk to you." At Dante's blank look, she added, "The devil we picked up from you last night. We did manage to get him to tell us his name."
"Right. Lead the way."
They headed down one of the lifts then at ground level angled off towards one of the smaller wooden buildings. A few humanoid devils wandered around accompanied by a human who was apparently giving a tour. Sarah elbowed him to get back his attention as they went inside. "This is one of our medical halls where we bring the wounded and such. We have all of modern medicine's benefits," she said waving at some complex machines that were blipping complacently, "as well as a few….less medically accepted…. practices." They stopped and looked into a room where an old lady was chanting around a circle of candles and throwing incense in the air.
Dante quirked an eyebrow and said skeptically, "I see."
Sarah laughed and shook her head. "For someone who fights demons, you don't seem to have much faith in mysticism."
He shrugged uncomfortably. "I believe what I see and know. If I see that crone bring a guy back from the dead then consider me a convert."
Sarah's eyes harden slightly. "That 'crone' as you called her," she said softly, "if one of our most dedicated members, and also a talented shaman. I've seen do things that would turn even you white. And I'd suggest that when in our complexes, you give the members a little more respect." With that she turned and continued walking.
Dante swallowed and followed. Touche. Apparently Sarah was more devoted to this business than he had thought. Giving the…old lady…who was still chanting, one last look, he followed Sarah down the hall.
"This is where we put him," she said opening a door. She seemed to have settled down a bit. Walking in, Dante saw the same devil me met the previous night now propped up in a hospital bed. Upon hearing the door open, the devil's eyes flickered open weakly and it slowly turned towards them.
~~End Chapter 1~~~~
Thanks for reading, and tell me if the chapters are too long! ^_^
Chapter 1: Visitor
Wandering. Dark alleyways of downtown back towards home. A few bottles of beer and a half-broken drum set. Half broken for a half breed, thinks the man who stretches and yawns while wandering the alleys.
"Boooooring," Dante yawns as he enters under the flickering neon lights of Devil Never Cry (damn stupid name if you asked him, he'd change it back in a heartbeat if it was worth the effort). Boring. That's how the night had been. A devil here, a ghost there, yada yada boom bang.
Hanging Alastor up on the wall next to Force Edge, he flops down in his chair and starts the answering with his boot heel. "You have…..4 new messages," the electronic voice says cheerily. Dante rubs his eyes and pops open a beer. "Come on…what shit is this," he mutters annoyed as the first message is a telemarketer and the second is a prank call. The second two have more promise, but…. "No password…" Delete delete delete delete. Dante shrugs off his red leather trench coat and take a long drink of the beer.
A faint scuffling noise outside one of the windows causes him to nonchalantly slip Ebony into the hand he has under his desk, while he continues to have a drink with the other. He relaxes momentarily as the door opens. Devils have a way of liking to spring up from the darkness and such. The front door wasn't their "style", if devils had that sort of thing. The sight of the slow shuffling figure, however, causes him to raise both Ebony and Ivory. "Hold it buddy. I'd back away now if I were you. Run fast enough and 'maybe,' he says grinning, "you'll miss a bullet." The only reason he hadn't shot already was because of the sheer pathetic and non-threatening air the guy radiated.
He was obviously a devil, though of humanoid stature. He had pointy elflike ears with tufts of hair at the end, too-large cat gold eyes, and a terrible humpback. Dante could tell the guy was old though, and not in the best of health. Wisps of gray hair clung to his head, and his eyes, Dante noticed, were cloudy with rheumatism. He wore a shaggy brown coat and dirt beaten clothes that looked like something from the 1700s.
"Ugh…mm….must…must...tell" the devil panted hoarsely, before staggering to the wall and collapsing.
Dante, having not yet moved his handguns from the devil, quirked an eyebrow at the crumpled form. "Well you're a first buddy…usually I go to the devils, not the other way around," he said getting up and walking over with his guns still trained on the body.
The devil doesn't move.
Dante, no longer amused, gives it a light kick, then squats down and pokes it with a handgun. "This ain't no hotel. I'd--" He stops, noticing a dark and rather nasty look splattery puddle around the devil. "Aw hell. Fricking bleed all over my floor." The devil twitches slightly and Dante's guns are trained back on him.
Shit. The guy might be a devil, but Dante was uneasy about shooting a guy that as far as he knew hadn't done anything wrong and was obviously rather badly wounded. Course if it was all a sham he didn't want to just dump him outside and forget him. Mumbling a few choice words he walked back to the phone and propped the receiver between his shoulder and ear, dialing with one of the handguns.
One of the good things about living in a big city like Chicago was that there was no lack of specialists or services provided. If you wanted something unusual done or needed special info, there was always someone on hand who had the qualifications and needed the money. He'd run into these people awhile back and was caught by surprise. A group of humans (and a few devils) that was actually working for some type of peaceful working relationship between humans and devils. They had a sort of homeless shelter for devils where they'd round up those that were more harmless and mischievous than actually evil and destructive. Might as well hand this guy over to them.
*Ring*…..*Ri-- "Hello. Bralen's Food and Drug, this is Wendy speaking. How may I help you?"
Fortunately Dante had been prepped for this little routine. "I'm looking for some aspirin."
"Any brand in particular?"
"Whatever's in the red."
"I'm afraid we're all out.
"Then I'll need something from the doctor.
"Right. Please hold for call transfer."
Dante grimaced random password system used, then grimaced again at the bad elevator music that came on while on hold. That what you get when you pose a demon hospital as a corner drug store.
Finally a person picks up the call. "Sarah here," says a brisk sounding woman with a hint of Irish accent.
"Sounds like someone's had a rough day."
"!?! Who is th---Dante?"
"Right on target babe. Haven't heard from me in awhile eh? By the way, you gotta change your hold music. I've heard less nastier things in Hell."
The woman on the other end snorts. "Tell me about it. Michael picked it out, and he gets do so little else I'd thought we might as well bear it….for a while anyways."
Dante chuckles. "Brave woman."
"Yeah…..well not I don't enjoy catching up and stuff, you're not exactly on my list of guys who like to make chatty phone calls. Something up?"
Dante glances at the body. No movement. "Yeah, I got a devil that decided to wash up on my doorstep. The bugger looks like the type you people take."
"Meaning what exactly?"
"That he's bleeding all over my floor and the place is starting to stink." This was very true. One of the good things about the devils on Malle Island had been that once they died they would tend to disappear, blood, guts and all. "Mangy unwashed devil in a pool of blood tends to do that you know."
Sarah made a clucking noise. "Fine….drop it on me. I'll have someone come around and pick him up in a few….try to keep him alive till then." *Click*
Dante dropped the phone back on the receiver and scowled at the devil. Alive was not how he usually kept them.
???
After Sarah's little agency had dropped by and picked up the devil, Dante finished up his beer, had another one, brushed his teeth like his mother taught him, threw his clothes in the wash and dropped into bed. [For those who are interested, Dante sleeps in white boxers that say "Let's Rock" all over in red lettering. ^_~ ]
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The next morning Dante rolled out of bed and nearly beat his alarm clock into dresser next to his bed. Making his way to the bathroom he threw on the shower and let the water heat up, then headed downstairs to a makeshift kitchen for some coffee.
Devil Never Cry was actually a larger place than most realized. The main room upon entering, which contained his desk, drum set, and wall of devil trophies, was the business side of the building. There he met with certain clients and could get a little late night sword practice in. Through the upstairs in the back was a small and grubby bedroom equipped with a large, headboardless bed of a mattress and a sheet, a TV in the corner, equipped with an old school Atari of all things, and a dresser with most of the drawers half open. Attached to room was the was a surprising clean and roomy bathroom. A separate stairway led the from the bedroom down to kitchen/armory area. On the tiles covering half the room there was a fridge, stove and oven, and small counter with overhead cabinet. Beer bottles and empty ramen noodle packets lay around everyone. Where the tiles ended ran a maroon carpeted area with a variety of weapons on the wall. Shotguns, needle guns, shrapnel guns, and Nightmare Beta were lining the wall with a variety of other curious guns. A rack nearby held Force Edge, Alastor, and Sparda, with the Ifrit gauntlets hanging on a hook. A barrel of rarely used backup weapons, including a halberd of all things, stood in the corner. A backdoor led out into the alley behind the building.
Dante, not the most morningish of people even, at noon, headed up to the shower with his Irish coffee. Jumping in the shower he let the water wake him up a bit and played some air guitar while humming a favorite rock song. Climbing out of the shower, silver hair dripping, he wrapped a towel around his waist and drains the rest of the lukewarm coffee. Sauntering over to his answering machine, he checks to see if he slept through any phone calls.
*Beep* "Dante, it's Sarah. We're managing to hold on to the guy you picked up last night, but it looks like he's not going to make it much longer. Also, he keeps demanding to see you. 'Parently he has a message for you or something, which he won't give to us. Better hurry if you want it though, he's fading fast. Just stop by the shop." *Click*
Dante mused to himself while toweling his hair. The dude had been trying to say something to him last night before he collapsed. He wasn't sure what type of message a demon could bring him though. Bad news ultimately. It was probably either a threat message from someone in the Underworld who didn't like Dante, or some god awful news that Mundus had returned or something. Ignorance is bliss, and while Dante would dearly liked to have given the devil guy the finger and walked away…..you never knew when knowledge could come in handy.
---------------------------30 minutes later-----------------------------------------------------------
Dante climbed off his red and black motorcycle and wandered into the entrance of Bralen's Food and Drug. As he walked up the counter inside, the cashier smiled at him. "Sarah's been waiting for you. Through the back and down the stairs."
Dante looked surprised. "What, no ID or password?"
The girl smiled at him wryly. "Well I don't know how many other white haired guys wearing red leather are planning on coming in today. Your description's not the average Joe."
He smirked and shrugged. "I try." He walked past her into a hallway then turned and went down a spiral staircase of carved rock that went at least 4 stories down. Flickery lights wired every twenty feet or so gave it a haunted castle air. Opening the door at the bottom of the long (and uneventful) walk he found….a surprising sight. Someone had done redecorating since he had been here a few years ago.
He was standing on a large semicircular rock platform about 40 feet in diameter that served as a sort of lobby area. Elevator like lifts stood on either side of the platform, going down into a enormous natural cavern that splayed out in the view about 100 feet beneath him. A small village had been assembled on the ground floor, with a variety of around ten wood and stone buildings of different sizes, though none over two stories. Other tunnels in the cliff sides of the cavern had also lifts running to them. A menagerie of people and demons alike wandered the area below.
The lift on his right buzzed slightly and Sarah stepped off it. She grinned at him and winked. "Not what you were expecting, eh?" she asked, obviously amused to have caught him by surprise.
Dante shook his head and looked around with admiration. "I'll admit I'm impressed. Last time all you had were a few rooms in the back of the store. What is this place?"
"One of the devils we rescued off the streets told us about this cavern. Apparently renegade devils, the ones too weak to survive or those who opposed their superiors, would hide down here. The two tunnels on the side walls," she said gesturing, "lead to two locations within the city. Very convenient when you're trying to move a large devil across half the city in the middle of the day. The one that leads up the shop we got some golem devils to help carve out."
"Golem devils? And are you saying tunnels run all under the city?"
She shook her head. "No, they're straight tunnels just to the two locations. As for the golem devils, they're not really devils as elementals…" she trailed off, shaking her head again. "I'll answer some questions later. Right now Barthalanus [pronounced: bar-thay-lawn-us] wants to talk to you." At Dante's blank look, she added, "The devil we picked up from you last night. We did manage to get him to tell us his name."
"Right. Lead the way."
They headed down one of the lifts then at ground level angled off towards one of the smaller wooden buildings. A few humanoid devils wandered around accompanied by a human who was apparently giving a tour. Sarah elbowed him to get back his attention as they went inside. "This is one of our medical halls where we bring the wounded and such. We have all of modern medicine's benefits," she said waving at some complex machines that were blipping complacently, "as well as a few….less medically accepted…. practices." They stopped and looked into a room where an old lady was chanting around a circle of candles and throwing incense in the air.
Dante quirked an eyebrow and said skeptically, "I see."
Sarah laughed and shook her head. "For someone who fights demons, you don't seem to have much faith in mysticism."
He shrugged uncomfortably. "I believe what I see and know. If I see that crone bring a guy back from the dead then consider me a convert."
Sarah's eyes harden slightly. "That 'crone' as you called her," she said softly, "if one of our most dedicated members, and also a talented shaman. I've seen do things that would turn even you white. And I'd suggest that when in our complexes, you give the members a little more respect." With that she turned and continued walking.
Dante swallowed and followed. Touche. Apparently Sarah was more devoted to this business than he had thought. Giving the…old lady…who was still chanting, one last look, he followed Sarah down the hall.
"This is where we put him," she said opening a door. She seemed to have settled down a bit. Walking in, Dante saw the same devil me met the previous night now propped up in a hospital bed. Upon hearing the door open, the devil's eyes flickered open weakly and it slowly turned towards them.
~~End Chapter 1~~~~