Chapter Text
Cade didn't think he would be following Patty back into the hotel even after he had woken up from being tossed into a wall. He also didn't think that he would see a giant Demon sitting on top of the hotel once he did wake up. All of it had happened so fast he didn't stop to really think about it or really react to a giant demon that, up until now, didn't exist.
"Dante is in there!" She said before taking off and going into the building with Cade right behind her and her mother right behind him. Morrison even decided to follow as Roe stayed behind with Lady and Trish.
"Patty! Wait!" Cade yelled as she dove into the stairwell and started to climb up the stairs. It was going to be a long way up, but Cade could handle it, though it seemed Morrison was having some trouble. "Where are we going?"
"To get Dante." At the mention of his father's name, the boy realized he didn't know where his father was to begin with. He had been knocked out by that creepy guy and then the next thing he knew he was laying on a bench.
"Wait...my dad is here?" Cade was running up the stairs as fast as he could to catch up to her and trying to figure out when this little piece of information came out. "Where is he?"
"He went into the portal! Come on!" Patty yelled at him getting enough questions from him and he looked back to see if Morrison was okay. The old man just waved at him to keep going and so he did, finally catching up with Patty.
"Whoa." He said as they reached the top of the stairwell and saw nothing but blazing fire that took up most of the floor. How were they supposed to get passed this?
"We have to get through here somehow." Patty's mother said as Morrison finally caught up to them and then saw what was in front of them. The old man disappeared after thinking of a solution to their problem.
Cade watched as Patty spoke softly to her mother and then apologized for everything. However, Patty's mother felt she was the one at fault for all of this and honestly, Cade didn't really care whose fault it was, just as long as this nightmare would end. The only thing that he really wanted to do was get to his Dad somehow and get him out of whatever place he was trapped in. He watched as Patty and her mother embraced each other as the sprinklers came on, drenching all of them in the process of putting out the flames.
"There, that should cool things off a bit." Morrison said coming in to see the mother and daughter hugging each other closely with Cade standing to the side as though he didn't want to be there. "Oh. Well then."
"Come on Morrison, we gotta go get Dad." Cade said before leaving everyone behind and moving through the hallways back to the room that held the summoning circle on the floor. The room was completely empty this time and the windows were broken in some places, but the circle was still intact. "Great, how do we get to Dad?"
"I don't know." Patty said coming up to stand next to him as they looked over the room for any kind of clue, but there was none. "There has to be a way!" She yelled out.
"Kids! Watch out!" Nina's voice came out of nowhere just like the demons who had grabbed both Patty and Cade, holding them tight.
"Get off me!" The little boy was clawing and biting at the demon's hands that held on to him but all that did was make it hold onto him tighter. "Let go of me Freak!" He ground his teeth together as Patty let out a scream and then a bright light appeared from her chest. All of a sudden Cade was on the ground and trying to figure out what just happened before a he saw Patty running towards a light that had appeared from the floor. "Patty!" He ran after her and jumped in right after her.
When he opened his eyes, Cade found himself in a dark place he had never been before and when he rolled over he saw Patty laying there still unconscious, holding her locket tightly in her fist. He crawled over to her and tried to shake her awake, but instead all he got was a tired moan from her. He wasn't about to go off on his own, that would be stupid and he didn't know where he was. He shook Patty again and this time she opened her eyes slowly.
"Where are we?" She said sitting up and looking around at the dark world she had found herself in. Cade stood up and offered her a hand.
"I don't know." He looked around for some kind of clue, but there was nothing to really see. It was almost like they were in a dense forest in the middle of the night.
"Come on. We have to find Dante." Patty grabbed Cade's hand and allowed him to help her up as the little blue stone in her necklace glowed faintly in a particular direction. It was almost as if it was tuning itself to what she desired most. "I'm sorry I dragged you into this." She said as they walked side by side on the small path. The little hitch in her voice conveyed her feelings on the matter and Cade just grabbed her hand.
"It's okay." He squeezed it as they came to a ledge of some sort and a narrow path that lead to a sight Cade thought he would never see. "Dad?"
"Dante!"
With his long red coat blowing in whatever unnatural breeze and pinned to a stone cross by his own sword, was Dante. Cade felt his little heart shatter thinking that his father could possibly be dead and then he couldn't take it anymore. He cried out before running across the narrow pathway almost to be swallowed up by the darkness below as it began to crumble. It wasn't until he heard Patty scream that he realized she had fallen. Cade stopped to see where Patty was clinging on to a ledge for dear life and grabbed her arms, pulling her up with tears in his eyes. He was working on adrenaline alone at this point and then kept going until he saw the ghoulish figures with white masks pulling the cross down into the darkness.
"NO! That's my Dad! You can't have him!" He jumped across the gap and grabbed on to what he could which was Dante's waist and started to stomp on the faces of the ghouls. "Get off of him!" He yelled through his tears.
"Don't worry Dante, we will save you!" Patty said jumping across and grabbing on to Dante's neck, struggling to get her arms around it and then she grabbed on to the sword to try and pull it out. "I'll get this out of you."
"Patty!" One of the ghouls had grabbed on to Cade's ankle and was pulling him down, but she grabbed on to his arm and helped him up to where he was hanging off the cross itself. "Dad, wake up!"
"Dante! I didn't mean it." Patty said throwing her arms around the devil hunters neck. "I'm sorry I bother you about cleaning all the time and I'm sorry that I am annoying, but I don't mean to be. Please wake up. Please." She said crying. "Please so you and Miss Roe can be together again and Cade can have his dad." Cade just looked at his friend who seemed to be so remorseful about something she apparently had done. She was about to say more when she was grabbed by the ugly man and dragged down into the darkness with a scream.
"PATTY!" Cade reached for her falling head first into the mass of ghouls waiting for him only to stop short and feel something grab on to his ankle.
"Gotcha." Cade looked up to see his father holding on to him with a smirk on his face. "Hey kid."
"Dad!" Dante swung his son up to where he could grab on to him and then things got really interesting. "You're alive!" The kid grabbed on to him with tears in his eyes, totally forgetting about the sword still in his chest.
"I was just taking a nap." Dante said before looking down at the ghouls below him and seeing Patty swallowed up by the darkness. "Come on kid, lets get out of here." Cade swung around to where he was on Dante's back as the man dived off the small platform they were on and into the darkness, then following it down.
When Patty woke up from what she could only assume was a very real nightmare, she put a hand to her forehead to wipe the sweat that had accumulated on her brow. The only thing that she remembered was finding Dante in that hellish place and that he looked as though he were dead to the world. Standing up, she put those thoughts behind her as demons surrounded her on all sides, trying to grab at her. It wasn't until the giant golden demon covered the windows that she realized perhaps this wasn't a dream at all.
"Hello there little Lady." It said and she backed up a step, trying to remain calm, but inside she was terrified. "I wanted to thank you for giving me the opportunity to make this world mine." The laugh the demon gave was so sinister that she felt as though she were not going to make it out of there alive, and that would've been the case. More demons surrounded her and got ever closer, brushing past her as they circled her until gunshots rang out and they scattered like cockroaches. "What?"
"I swear, you big shot demon wannabe's always try and mess up a good nap." Dante stepped out of the shadows with his two guns aimed at the large demon outside the window with Cade's arms wrapped around his neck from the back. "What's the matter? See something you don't like?"
"Dante?" Patty's voice caught his attention. "Is that you?"
"Who else could it be? I'm the only good looking guy for miles around." He said as Cade dropped down from his back and went over to the girl in front of them. "Maybe not the only one, but you get the point." He said as Patty's gaze landed on the sword.
"Dante, you're..." He looked down at himself to see that Rebellion was still lodged in his chest.
"Oh right. I forgot about that." Dante said before pulling the sword out of his chest causing blood to spray everywhere as his body had healed around it. "Someone was very mean and tried to play a nice little trick." He watched as Patty collapsed in front of him and Cade barely caught her.
"Dad?"
"Oh now you show up after making me wait so long." Morrison's voice sounded out. "Where the hell were you?"
"Taking a nap." He wasn't lying. "Get these three out of here, I've got a ugly old fart to deal with."
"Be careful, Dad." Cade said as he tried to drag Patty over to Morrison and her mother.
"Don't worry, Kid, I've got this. I'll be sure to give him a proper beating for all of this." Cade watched as his father swung the blood off of his sword and then went after the giant demon without hesitation. Never in his short life, had Cade been so proud of someone besides his mother.
And when Cade saw his mother again, he was in her arms in an instant.
Roe checked him over for any scrapes or cuts, but found none and she was very thankful for it. She looked up as there was a big explosion up on the roof of the hotel and then caught a good glimpse of the man she loved more than anyone in the world. He was alive and he was going to save them all.
"About time he showed up, I was thinking we were going to lose for a second there." Lady said looking over to Trish who shrugged as she let another round of bullets go. "Damn him for making us do all this work and no pay for it."
"At least he is alive." Roe said holding on to her son for dear life as she watched the battle on the roof top unfold. She wasn't really concerned for Dante because she had absolute faith in his abilities and in him as well. That is how much she really trusted him.
Just as the sun rose over the horizon, it grew quiet and everyone below had gone still as well. Lady and Trish looked at each other then over to Roe who was just as concerned because there was no sign of Abigail or Dante, but then the sound of a gunshot seemed to give them all relief. Roe sighed as she hugged her son and then waited for some sign of Dante.
"That jerk. He made us do all this work so he could take a nap." Lady said as he appeared out of the building twenty minutes after the gunshot. "I should charge him double."
"Ditto." Trish agreed as she started to walk away with the raven-haired woman. "I'm up for a nice cup of coffee, how about you?" She stretched her arms over her head as she walked next to Lady.
"Sounds good to me as long as you're buying." Roe shook her head because those two were absolutely alike as far as treating Dante with little respect.
"Dante!" Roe and Cade looked up to see Patty running towards the half demon at breakneck speed before plowing into him. Good thing he could take a hit from a little girl because he absolutely looked like he could use a long massage. Roe blushed thinking about that before walking in his direction with Cade following closely behind her.
"Dad!" Then Cade ran at him and unfortunately, Dante couldn't take a hit from his own son and almost fell backwards when Cade tackled him. "You did it!" Roe saw how Dante flinched as her son seemed to cut off his air supply by wrapping his arms tightly around his neck.
"Cade, could you please cut me some slack here, I'm injured." Both Cade and Patty backed off of the 'injured' man in front of them and looked at each other sheepishly.
"Sorry." They both said at the same time looking back up at him with apologetic eyes.
"Don't sweat it, I'll be okay." Dante said going up to Patty and putting his hands on her shoulders. "I think it's time for you to go with your mother." The blond girl looked up at him with wide eyes. "I was wrong, Patty." Roe almost had a heart attack. Dante always had a hard time admitting when he was wrong about something and the fact that he was admitting it to someone he had hurt, was both sweet and it showed his true character. He put a hand on her head in affection and Cade gave her a smile.
"You can always come by, it's not like we can't be friends." Cade said to his friend who was almost on the brink of tears, but they were happy tears.
"Thank you, Dante." Patty said before running over to her mother and walking away from the rubble around them.
"Well, that was eventful." Roe said coming up to stand next to her son's father who was very focused on watching the mother and daughter walking away happily to start on their own adventure. "I felt completely useless the whole time."
"I wouldn't say useless." He grunted as Cade sat down on a pile of rubble next to them. "So, what's next?"
"I don't know. That's for you to decide." Roe said as she saw her son's eyes start to droop. "I thought about..." She didn't get to finish her sentence before he just reached out and grabbed her before pulling her close. She looked up at him before he leaned down to kiss her deeply, something he should've done a very long time ago, but for whatever reason couldn't. It was like fireworks going off in her mind and then her hands found their way to his hair before she couldn't hold her breath anymore. "Yeah, that will do it." She said putting her hands on his chest.
"Whoa." They both turned to see Cade sitting there with his eyes wide. "Are you guys going to get married now?"
"No!" The two adults said at the same time.
"I mean, a date would be a nice start." The chestnut-haired woman said looking back at the man she truly loved. "Maybe tomorrow night?"
"Seven?"
"Sure."
Two months later...
"Hah! Read'em and weep Dad!" Cade said putting his hand of cards down on the table. Four of a kind against Dante's Royal Flush. The kid was getting good. "I'll be taking those chips now."
"You can't even beat your own son, that's so pathetic." Lady said from the other side of the poker table they had set up in the shop.
"Where did you learn to play like that?" Dante couldn't believe that he lost to his own son to begin with and now he needed to know just how the kid learned to count cards. "Don't say it." He held up his hand knowing exactly who was the person responsible.
"It was Aunt Lady." The woman in question held up her hand for a high five with her nephew and Cade gladly did so with a broad grin on his face before raking in his chips from the pot.
"Looks like you owe me even more money." She said picking up the deck of cards and gathering all the discarded ones to put them back in and shuffle. "I suppose poor Cade will not have a trust fund to work out of when he gets older." Lady said winking.
"Just deal the cards already." He looked over at Trish who was sitting there with an amused smile on her face. "You've been quiet over there."
"I'm just enjoying the show." She said as the cards were dealt.
"So, who's winning?" Roe said as she came in from Dante's small kitchen with two beers in her hands. "By the look on Dante's face and the pile of chips that Cade has, I think I know the answer." She smiled as she walked over to Dante's side and sat down in his lap before handing him a beer. "You still can't win."
"Maybe you can help?" He said kissing her on the cheek and showing her his cards.
"No, Mom, that's cheating!" Cade stood up and threw down his cards, pointing at his father. "He isn't playing fair!" Dante looked at his son and smirked.
"I'm not playing, she is." He handed Roe the cards and everyone knew that Roe was a serious threat at cards, they may as well fold and go home now. "I'm just gonna sit here and watch."
"Momma's about to teach you a lesson little man." She said discarding two of her five cards and then putting up her chips.
"I fold." Trish said before getting up from her chair and then Lady followed her lead. This was going to be bloody.
"You might as well fold, Kid, she's going to slay you." Dante took a swig of his beer and watched as Roe punished her son with a Royal Straight Flush, Ace high.
Spades take all.