A/N: Loyal fans, I love you, thanks for your patience. Muffin baskets all round. Here we are, a fresh chapter before I'm off to Japan ^_^ This one gets a little heavy-themed, just be aware. Enjoy!

Sensing this was no joke, Lady obeyed. Dante bowed his head and closed his eyes. What happened after that was too quick for Lady's human eyes to follow. She heard an animalistic shout, saw a flash of red light, and the next thing she knew, a malicious, blue-skinned demon was standing where Dante had been seconds before.

Instinct drove Lady to her pile of weapons; she seized two handguns and fired madly. Thoughts chased each other inside her head: where was Dante? What was this thing? Would she be able to kill it? What did it want? The demon flipped a broad sword from its back and sliced the air before it. Bullet shell halves tinkled to the ground.

"What the hell are you?" exclaimed Lady, realising her weapons were useless.

"It's me, Lady," said the demon. Its two-tone voice sent shivers down her spine. She focused on the sword. The grey skull hilt, the colour of the steel, the nicks and scratches – it was unmistakably Dante's.

"Dante?" she said in disbelief. As suddenly as it had come, the creature roared, and was replaced by a handsome silver-haired man. Before Lady could speak, he tore off the bandages to reveal a perfect unmarked hand.

"Good old demon blood. Works a charm," he said with a wink.

Lady's head was spinning.

"You can – change – at will? And you heal faster?" she said.

"Don't think I like it. Pure devil blood," murmured Dante, "is like medicine. In small doses it's great. Have too much and it'll kill you."

Lady nodded, thoughts forming and reforming.

"Wait a minute. You're saying that if you stay in that devil form for too long, you'll die?"

Dante's eyes narrowed.

"Yeah," he said slowly, "But I'm not stupid enough to try it."

"I know another half-demon who is." It was so pathetically simple. If she aggravated him enough, Vergil could accidentally kill himself. She may not have to waste a single bullet. Lady marched over to her heap of artillery, pulled on her boots and began suiting up. There were still common demons infesting Teminegru.

"Lady, Vergil may be an asshole, but he's not stupid," said Dante, making his way over to the shrinking mass of metal.

"Are you kidding? I had him in the palm of my hand at the Moonlit Mile. All you have to do is – ugh." She shuddered, yanking a strap tight. That was one advantage, however sickening, she had over male enemies.

"What. What did you – ooooooh." Dante's mouth rounded as a look of dawning comprehension crossed his face.

"You little whore," he teased.

Lady holstered a gun with extra force.

"Shut up. I had to distract him," she retorted, moving up in her strapping to her thighs – and gasped.

They were bruised and coloured nasty shades of violet, blue and red. How she could have missed the injuries before was a mystery to her, but now that she stared, they began to tingle.

"Ouch; how'd that happen?" said Dante, eying her legs for once in a non provocative manner. Lady couldn't tear her eyes away from the bruises, confusion coursing through her.

"I don't know," she said honestly. She thought hard. She hadn't sustained them during her bout with the pride demons; she'd remember the pain. (She made a mental note to bandage the sickle wound on her waist.) Dante hadn't done it, and she hadn't tripped or ran into anything that would cause this kind of damage.

"Hold up," said Dante. Lady glanced up at him. His eyes were riveted to a particular spot. In an instant he was on bended knee in front of her, examining her battered leg with a touch so soft, she quivered.

"What can you see that I can't?" she said, trying to sound impatient. In truth she felt very uncomfortable and a little embarrassed at a man so close to her, seemingly without a dirty thought in his head. Demon, Lady corrected herself. Well…half-demon.

Dante's fingers froze on her skin.

"Vergil, you son-of-a-bitch."

She'd never heard his voice so low or deadly. Dreading the outcome, Lady followed Dante's gaze to where his hands rested. One was splayed on each leg, quite high up on her inner thighs. He slowly moved his hands away.

There.

Clear as day. Handprints, highlighted on each leg in white against the violet skin. They had fitted perfectly in Dante's hands. Which meant…

Lady paused. Everything – her brain, breathing, movement. She was stuck in a few moments ago. Dante swore quietly as he rose.

"Lady, I'm sorry," he said. He began backing away from her as if she were an explosive. Lady looked down and touched the finger marks. Her mind began to churn, slowly at first, then faster, with pieces of information.

"I need an heir to live inside in case I die…"

"Shush now my queen, you don't want to upset the new life in you…"

Heir, new life – Vergil had meant…he'd done…when she was knocked out from the tranquilizer…she was now…it clicked.

A huge, crushing weight slammed down onto her heart. It felt as if someone had dropped a tonne of frozen stones into her; some landed in her head and back, most had landed in her heart, but the rest tumbled down into her stomach, her legs…

She couldn't fight it, the stones forced her to her knees, the weight still crushing her.

They blocked her lungs, her throat, her mouth; she couldn't breathe; she tried to suck in a breath but all she heard was a horrible rattling sound…

Could she breathe? Could she make a sound? The stones were welling in her throat, she had to get them out somehow…She managed to suck in a clear breath and to scream the stones out.

The sound echoed off the walls and filled the chamber. She screamed and screamed until her throat stung and her voice became hoarse. As if things couldn't get any worse, she suddenly felt dirt all over her skin. The stones were inside her, but the dirt she could get rid of! Lady clawed at her legs, brushing away the dirt and filth that wasn't really there.

She scratched at her arms, stomach, neck – but the dirt wouldn't come off. She wanted to slit her skin, to climb out of it and run away. She looked around wildly – the pool. She launched herself at it, feeling the cold water rush over her.

It helped, a bit. Maybe a thousandth of the filth washed away. It wasn't enough. Maybe if she went underwater…Lady took a breath and dove. At least most of the stones were gone from her throat. She waited, trying to spin around underwater, creating momentum for the dirt to lift from her skin.

She was amazed she hadn't sunk straight to the bottom, what with the weight inside her. It wasn't working. Maybe if she kept at it more would dirt come off. Her lungs began to tell her to surface, then demanded, then yelled, then screamed at her. The stones caught alight, burning. She could take it.

The dirt was worse.

Her vision steadily narrowed into two points of blue light fuzzed with a black boarder. Her mind churned to a halt, and the pain suddenly seemed unimportant. Lady felt stones were lifting.

She felt light as air. At last. Lady closed her eyes to enjoy it. She didn't have long. Someone reached into her heaven and tore it apart – strong arms wrapped around her shoulders and hauled her out of the water.

No, Lady thought. Leave me alone. I like it here.

She kept her eyes shut, her body limp. Maybe if she stayed like this, the peace would return. The water was draining around her body; the sound of dripping reached her ears.

Lady refused to accept it. She felt her body lift into the air for a moment before settling on hard stone. She couldn't ignore it now. The water, and her peace, were gone.

Then something crushed on her lungs and it wasn't the stones.

Lady jerked upright, coughing and spitting water. Her eyes flew open; shapes and colours slowly cleared into a picture. Dante's face filled her vision. Another sound reached her ears other than the dripping – his voice, shouting. Lady squinted and struggled to make sense of it.

"…Lady! Lady! Snap out of it! I…" He looked upset, but she couldn't figure why…it looked like he was about to cry…why was he doing that? What was wrong? Lady began to get upset herself.

He was Dante! He wasn't supposed to be able to feel anything like that! She felt the tears welling. How dare he be upset. How dare show emotion…show weakness…

"What's wrong with you?" she cried, the tears overflowing. Dante looked like he'd been slapped, before a look of…sympathy, was it? Overcame his features. Lady felt herself being pulled into a devil's embrace, one of Dante's hands stroking her wet hair, the other holding her close on her back.

For a moment, Lady forgot who he was. Someone was touching her. Touching the dirt. It would get on him, and then he'd never get it off! She tried to push away, but he held her tight. Didn't he understand? He was getting dirt on him!

"Let go!" said Lady. She struggled against him wildly, beating, but her legs were trapped beneath her. Even though he was down on his toes, his balance was rock steady. She couldn't infect him too.

"You're gonna get dirt on you!" she cried, twisting and writhing.

Dante began repeating her name in her ear in a low voice, swirling his hand at her back. She listened but kept struggling. He'd never be rid of it like her, they'd be stuck filthy together forever…

"Lady, its ok, its ok, I…I'm not getting dirt on me."

"YES YOU ARE!"

"No I'm not, I'm fine. See?" He released her. She staggered to her feet and leapt back as he rose gracefully, never taking his eyes off her. She eyed him. His skin was as pale and luminous as ever. Even with her warped imagination, Lady couldn't dream a mark onto him if she wanted to.

"You're…you're ok," she said. "It's not rubbing off."

He gave a nervous smile and spread his arms to show her, but she misunderstood. Lady barreled into his arms, as she had found one good thing about him.

He was warm. The stones were cold. Maybe he could melt them away.

She clutched at his coat and buried her face into his strong chest, trying to press every inch of her body into him, to get the warmth in as many places as possible.

"Lady…" Dante hesitated, but only for a second. She felt his big arms encircle her, heating her back, and nuzzled even harder. They stayed that way until steam rose from her clothes, and the morning sun cast shadows on the water.

A/N: Right, one more new story maybe. Then off to bed for a 5am start to catch this plane. Buh. Catch you guys later!