Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Long long time ago, in a planet in Gamble Galaxy, there was a little kid that looked like some kind of blue bird, some sort of penguin maybe, the kid was covered in bruises and wounds, he was holding a chest while running through a forest, not looking back for even a second like something was chasing him. The weather was cold and the child wasn't wearing anything to protect himself from the cold, if his body wasn't that weak the weather wouldn't be a problem since his species was pretty durable to cold weather but for some reason he wasn't. The kid was hungry and tired and had been running for a while. A few minutes later the kid fainted.

When he woke up the first thing he saw was a giant eyeball.

The kid immediately sat up and tried to get away from the eye.

“W-who are you? WHAT ARE YOU?”

The eye created some kind of black liquid and put it on the kid's cheek, trying to calm him down.

“Don't be scared, my dear. I will cause no harm to you.”

The eye said, with an angelic voice. The kid had no idea how it did that but it helped him to calm down.

“My name is Zero, but most people call me Lord Zero. Now will you please tell me your name and your reasoning on why you are here on this dark and cold night?”

The kid was surprised and didn't know whether to tell it or not but he decided to tell him. He didn't know why but something about that eye felt... calming and kinda holy?

“M-my name is Dante but people sometimes call me 3d.”

“And your reason to be here?”

The kid looked even sadder and looked like he was about to cry. 

“I-I've had a fight with my dad and I d-decided to run away.”

“And how frequently do those fights with your father happen?”

“It wasn't that much before but after my mom died we started to fight a lot.”

“And how does these fights usually go?”

That question clearly made the kid upset his eyes got teary and he was in the tears. The eye gave a worried look put it's dark liquid hand on the kids shoulder to calm him down.

“Oh no, I am terribly sorry my dear, I did not want to make you feel any kind of negative emotion.”

After coming down the kid looked at his arm and noticed something. 

“Hey, I don't have any scars. Did you do it?"

“Of course, little one. I fixed you up since you were really beat up. All you needed was a little bit of healing magic.”

“But you don't look like any creatures with healing magic.”

“The reason for it might be because I am ‘matter born’.”

“Huh.”

The kid was surprised, he has seen a lot of creature with healing magic so he knew it didn't look like those but he has never seen a matter born in real life, he had only read about them in the books and heard about them from other people but from what he could remember, they were described as one head tall round creatures with round hands no arms feet  cheek blushes, not faint eyeballs. 

“You may be wondering why I look different from other matter horns, it is because of I am a special type of matter born made out of a magic called ‘void magic’.”

“What is ‘void magic’?”

“The magic of the void can take many different forms. The type that I specialize in is a magic that you people usually call ‘dark magic’.”

“DARK MAGIC?”

The kid was shocked and scared. He heard about ‘dark magic’ before many times, always about how dangerous and how corrupted the people who use it are but something didn't feel right. If people who use ‘dark magic’ were evil, terrible, horrible things, why did Zero was so nice and seem kind of angelic. 

“Now, you might feel a little scared but there is no need for that. All of those things you heard about does not reflect the reality a lot. The tales you heard are about people who used it amuterly and irresponsibly, if you use it carefully and learn how to use it right it is the most harmless and most helpful magic you can use and with you…”

“Me?”

“Yes, you. It will be really easy to use it the right way because of your ability to bend magical energy.”

The kid was surprised and didn't know what to say for a minute. 

“I-I’m sorry, but you must be mistaken I don't have any magical abilities.”

“What leaves you with that conclusion?”

“My species can't use magic, plus I feel weird whenever I'm near a magic source and I can't handle any weath-... WAIT A MINUTE!”

The kid had just realized that he wasn't feeling cold but he wasn't feeling hot either he felt weird... not too hot but not too cold either, but he still felt weird, not overwhelmingly annoying but still noticeable. 

“Did you cure me?”

The kid asked with excitement. 

“Oh my dear, I am very afraid that it is not possible to get rid of lack of magical immunity without also destroying your amazing and rare ability to use magical energy, I am really deeply sorry about that. All I am doing is manipulating the magical energy around us so you will not feel horrible like you always do.”

“Well, thank you for that.”

“Now tell me my dear, where are you planning to go?”

“What?”

“You said you ran away from your home, so you must have a plan on where you would be going next.”

The kid didn't know what to say, he wanted to admit that he had no idea where to go but before he could say anything Zero started to speak again. 

“What I mean is, you can not stay here because there are wild creatures that will harm and kill you and the weather will also kill you, where are you planing to go?”

“Actually I didn't have a plan on where to go.”

“Oh you poor unfortunate thing that is not good at all, if you wander all alone in the forest you either will get die or someone will find you and make you go back to your house, and that man that you call ‘father’ and he will continue to mistreat you and my soul can't take any of this options, so I will take it upon myself to take care of you .”

“HUH!!!”

“ Oh I am sorry,  I did not mean to startle you but I truly believe that it is the best decision for you and if you think about it you will also see that, so what do you say my child.”

The kid wasn't sure what to do, he didn't fully believe to Zero but the other options weren't good either plus Zero seemed really nice and sounded like he genuinely wanted the best for him and something in the back of his mind said to trust Zero and not to question him. 

“Every other option is guaranteed to be bad, this is the only one that  can be good.”

The kid thought to himself. 

“Okay, I will go with you.”

“Great, now let's go.

“Oh wait, I almost forgot about this.”

The kid seemed happy and he picked up the chest he was carrying earlier. 

“Now I'm ready to go.”

The kid said with a big smile. 

“Oh, I am sorry but you can't take that with you my child.”

“But it is from my mom, it is the only thing I have left of her.”

“I can understand how saddening this must be for one especially you, my child but you can not bring that chest with you.”

“But, why?”

“ You will understand when you are older, now leave that thing here and never pick it up AGAIN .”

Zero yelled. The kid was so scared he ran away and hid behind a tree while holding the chest, Zero's voice sounded really angry and was really deep and loud, it felt like his voice shook the ground, kinda reminded him of his father... 

“Oh no, I am incredibly sorry my child, I did not mean to scare you but you disobeying my orders just made me angry.”

Zero went to the scared little kid, he was sitting and covering his head with his hands while trembling in fear and the chest was lying on the grass. When he saw Zero he tried to get away from him while not standing up. 

“Oh my dear child, look terrified you are, I did not want to frighten you this badly, now come here.”

Zero summoned his black liquid hand once more to comfort the frightened child and wipe away his tears. 

“I-I'm s-sorry for d-disobaying y-you.”

“I am pleased that you realized your wrong doings and are willing to repent for them.”

Zero summoned another black liquid arm and put both of them to kids back, trying to replicate hugging without the kid touching it directly. 

“Can I at least bury the chest?”

The kid asked, he still didn't want to leave the chest behind, as it felt like leaving his mother behind and never coming back but that voice at the back of his mind was back it was telling him to leave the chest behind. 

“Of course you can, my child.”

The kid dug a little hole on the ground, put the chest in the hole, buried it there and put a stick to the place where he buried the chest. 

“Are you now ready to go, my child.”

“Yes I am ready to go.”

“Great.”

Chapter Text

The kid woke up in a bed in a wooden room, he felt really weird when he woke up, he remembered that he fall asleep while walking in the forest with Lord Zero but for some reason he felt like he just walked around a whole planet, and whenever he moved a part of his body it felt like he was some parasite trying to set in a new body but the feeling go away after a few basic body movements but that weird feeling he had when he met Lord Zero was still there. He looked around the room full of beds that looked like the one that he was in. There were little wall lambs next to each bed, it went on like bed, wall lamb, bed, wall lamb and so on. The only parts of the room that disturbed the pattern were the doors and a little tiny circular window that allowed him to see that it was evening. He got out of the bed and walked around the room. He looked  at what was behind the door on the left. It was a room filled with showers and one bathtub. He walked up to one of the showers and turned it on. It ran water for a little bit then it stopped without him closing it. He then looked at the door at the right, it was full of other doors and a wall of sinks behind those doors were toilets. He would try to flush the toilets or turn on the sink but he didn't think it would do anything. When he opened up the door in the middle he was met with a suprasing sight. 

“Oh, hello you must be the new comer Lord Zero talked about.”

“Aww, he looks cute, kinda like a puppy that you can squish so hard it explodes to million pieces .”

“I think he looks pathetic and weak. It would be easy to get rid of him .”

“He looks like he is in good shape, he would make a great puppet .”

“DO NOT SCARE HIM! I am sorry about them, my name is Dark Nebula but you can call me only Nebula and these are dark Rimuru, dark Rimura and dark Rumuro.”

The kid looked in disbelief at the three floating eyes and the star with a single eye, the eyes looked familiar to Lord Zero but they had what seemed to be black eyelids, their irises were orange while Lord Zero's was red and weird orange orbs were attached to them. The star looked even weirder, it had very round corners, one purple eye in the center, purple edges and some kind of magical aura around it.

“Hello, are you there?”

“I think you broke it,”

“Aww, look at his face, he looks like a small defenseless animal that is about to get hit by a car .”

“Only a few seconds and it is already a source of negative feelings, good job we are getting better at the scaring business.”

“ We are not trying to scare him, we are trying to make him feel comfortable in a new environment and leave a good first impression .”

The kid had just realized he had been standing there for five minutes or so without saying anything.

“H-hello, m-my name is Dante.”

The kid said he was scared so he statured. They didn't look as terrifying as Lord Zero but they didn't feel as comforting as him either.

“Well it is good to meet you Dante, we are going to be your tour guide for today, and you must know how lucky you are because not everyone gets to learn about this place from the future ruler of the underworld themselves.”

“Oh, cool. Where are they?”

“I-It's me, I'm the future ruler of the underworld.”

“Oh, I'm sorry, you just look nothing like what I imagine the ruler of the underworld would be like.”

The three eyes laughed while the star looked embarrassed.

“That's why I said the future ruler of the underworld. Now let's close this topic and go to the lower floors.”

The star grabbed the kid's hand and dragged him downstairs.

“Here is the nursery, let's take a look”

The star opened a door. Behind that door was a dusty room with cribs lined up against the walls with wall lambs next to each crib without any windows.

“This is the room creatures that can't do anything stay until they can do something.”

“You mean babies?”

"Well, I guess that's what they call those in the place you came from.”

“Why is it so dusty?”

“Well… because nobody has been using this room for centuries.”

“Wouldn't you guys stay here when you were babies?”

The three eyes started to laugh.

“Did I say something wrong?”

The kid asked the star.

“Oh no, not at all.”

“Then why are they laughing?”

“Because-”

“BECAUSE YOU THOUGHT WE STARTED LIFE AS WEAK LOSERS LIKE YOU!!!!”

“RUMURO! Do not intrude me when I am speaking, but yeah we were never ‘babies’, Lord Zero created us to be useful from the get go.”

“Lord Zero is your father?”

“Well, he did create us but we wouldn't call him our father, and he wouldn't like being called father, he is just our creator.”

“Yeah, just because someone created you doesn't mean they are father.”

“Yeah, I guess you are right…”

The kid said with a saddened expression and the star and the eyes felt some bad energy coming from the kid. 

“Dante, do you wanna go downstairs?”

“Yes.”

They went downstairs, it had only one door. The star opened the door to reveal a room full of books.

“Welcome to the reading room.”

“I think you meant library.”

“Will you shut up?”

The kid looked around the room and picked up a book but he realized all the books were written in a language he didn't understand and an alphabet he didn't know, it looked familiar tho.

“Where did these books come from?”

“Those books have been here for a very long time, you wouldn't understand any of them.”

“Rimuru, don't be mean. Dante, do you wanna go downstairs.”

“Yeah.”

They went to the ground floor, where there was a dining area at the right, a door at the left and a giant door in the middle.

“If you look over there you will see the place where you can consume things that will restore your life force and if you look at your left you'll see an entrance to the basement a-”

“What's inside the basement?”

“First, no interrupting while speaking, second, the basement is where I spend most of my time.”

“Where is Lord Zero, I haven't seen him yet.”

“Oh, Lord Zero doesn't stay here, he is usually way too busy with his other jobs.”

“Are you some kind of dark matter?”

“Yes, why did you ask?”

“Because if you are dark matter shouldn't there be more dark matter?”

“They don't stay here either.”

“Then why are you here?”

“To take care of you.”

“Do they stay here?”

“No, they were just visiting for a business.”

“Wh-”

Before the kid could ask his question, one of the eyes took away the stars attention.

“Nebula, I think you forgot to tell our new friend about the rules.”

“Oh yeah, the rules, thanks for reminding me, Rimura.”

The star turned to the kid.

“Now, Dante, it is the time to tell you about the rules. First rule, always do what Lord Zero or someone above you says without questioning. Second rule, do not disobey Lord Zero or someone above you. Third rule, do not be disrespectful to Lord Zero or someone above you. Fourth rule, do not go to the outside world without permission from Lord Zero. Fifth rule, when you go to the outside world do not leave the sight of your supervisor. Sixth rule, do not ask too many questions. Seventh rule, do not disappoint Lord Zero. Eighth rule, if you break any of the rules you must accept your punishment and repent for your wrongdoings, no matter how painful they might be and do not complain about them.”

“Painful?”

The kid said, he looked worried and scared and the eyes and the star could feel that he felt really sad when they brought out the punishment.

“Dante, are you ok?”

“Yeah I am fine.”

“Okay then, let's go outside and finish our tour.”

The star opened the giant door. There was a yard that was covered with green grass, there was a river and a big tree. The edges were guarded by tall walls.

“This is the place where you can play and touch grass without going to the outside world. I've heard creatures around your age range like those sorts of things.”

The star said, it looked at the kid, hoping that this would cheer him up. But the kid still looked terrified. 

“Do you want to go back to the dorm?”

“Yes.”

The star assisted the kid back to the dorm. When the kid was alone by himself he looked through the tiny window, which he just realized was the only window in the entire building, to watch the sunset.

“It seems like pain is used for punishment in this place too.”

The kid thought to himself and sat on the floor. 

“At least it will be harder for me to miss my old home and my father.”

As he said that out loud he heard the noise of the door opening. 

“Hello.”

The stranger said and came in holding a few red pieces of clothing. He was really tall, had spiky black hair and purple eyes, he was wearing a robe with a hood behind it and a bleeding red eye symbol on its front. 

“You must be the new comer, Lord Zero wanted me to bring your new clothes, sorry I couldn't meet you sooner I was training, my name is Umut.” 

The stranger put the red clothes on one of the beds, came next to the kid and sat down next to him. When he sat down he lost a lot of height and it looked like his lower half folded.

“Do you wanna talk about yourself?”

The stranger asked.

“My name is Dante, but you can call me 3d.”

“Can I call you ‘Dedede’.”

“I guess so if you want.”

A little cackle came out of the stranger.

“Why are you laughing?”

“No reason. How old are you?”

“11”

“Well I am twelve that means I'm above you.”

“Can I ask you a few questions.”

“As much as you'd like.”

“What's going on with this whole above you business.”

“I'm talking about ranks.”

“What rank am I at?”

“Well I don't know the names of the rank but I know you are probably at the lowest one since you just came.”

“Which one are you at?”

“Well… I'm at the lowest one as well, but I know I'm at a higher place in that rank than you since you I'm older and I've been here longer.”

“Understood. Do you know who is at the highest rank?”

“Lord Zero, duh.”

“Why do you look so wei- different?”

“Because I'm a human.”

“What is that?

“I can't explain it but I know that it is the thing I'm.”

“Can you use magic?”

“Kinda, magic doesn't come to humans naturally but Lord Zero has been teaching me how to use it for fighting.”

“Fighting?”

“Sword fighting to be specific.”

“Do you think I will be a sword fighter too?”

“Maybe, I don't know.”

They sat in silence for a few moments until the kid asked another question with a tone that was a little uncomfortable.

“Have you… ever been punished by Lord Zero?”

“Huh?”

“They told me if I break the rules I would be punished and it would be painful, how painful is it?”

“Uh, well. It isn't that bad, as long as you didn't mess up really badly. But if you broke a major rule it can be really bad especially if you've already broken those multiple times.”

“Does it leave any scars?”

“No it doesn't leave any scars or bruises but it still hurts you'll understand when you get punished, so I hope you'll never understand it.”

The silence filled the room again. 

“What was the point of running away if I would just end up in the same place again.”

The kid thought, but the voice inside of his head had returned, this time it was like it was speaking in full sentences. 

“You are not at the same place. Lord Zero will punish you only if you knowingly misbehave and when you need to be taught a lesson, while he just wanted a living punching bag, a thing that he could take out all his anger out of, a scapegoat that he could blame for every bad thing that happened in his life. You'll be safe with Lord Zero as long as you do not break the rules while with him, you'll never be safe.”

“Hey, Dedede are you ok?”

“Huh?”

“You've been staring at nothing for a couple of minutes.”

“Oh, yeah I am fine, just a little tired.”

“Do you wanna go to bed?”

“Yes.”

The kid went to one of the beds and slept in it. Surely, as long as he doesn't break the rules his life from here will be a lot better. 

Chapter Text

Three years before the events of the story: Dante was sitting in the principal's office, covered in bruises, with a kid he had a fight, it wasn't his fault, the kid was making fun of him and picking on him, he was just trying to defend himself.

“This isn't fair.”

He mumbled to himself

“What was that?” 

The principle asked

“I said, this isn't FAIR! HE HAS BEEN BULLYING ME FOR MONTHS AND THE ONLY TIME YOU DECIDE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT IS WHEN I FINALLY DECIDE TO DEFEND MYSELF!?”

“DEFENDING YOURSELF? YOU WERE THE ONE WHO HIT ME FIRST!”

The other kid said. 

“I WOULDN'T IF YOU DIDN'T MADE FUN OF ME!”

“IT'S NOT MY FAULT YOU CAN'T HANDLE A FEW WORDS!”

“YOU LITTLE-”

“OH, YOU WANNA ROUND TWO OK LET'S GO!”

“ENOUGH, BOTH OF YOU.”

The principal yelled, causing both of the children to be quiet and sit down. 

“I called your parents, they'll be here any minute.”

“Wait, what?”

“I called your parents, as this is something they have to know about.”

Dante was just sitting there, scared of what would happen when his father heard about it. When their parents came the kid were instructed to leave. 

“Can I have an one to one talk with my son at outside.”

Dante's father said just before the kids left. The principal approved and the two went to a place where no one could hear them for privacy reasons. 

“WHAT THE HELL YOU WERE THINKING?!”

He yelled at his son while trying to not be so loud so others wouldn't hear. 

“I WAS JUST TRYING TO-”

“DON'T YOU DARE RAISE YOUR VOICE AT ME!”

The father said, raising his baston, causing his son to flinch.

“What were to two things I wanted from you at school.”

“Get good grades and don't get in trouble.”

“And what did you do?”

“Got in trouble.”

“And what did you score at your language exam?”

“51 ,but I'm pretty good with numbers. ”

“Look, I don't have time to talk with you right now. Just go home I need to fix your mess, we'll talk about it when I come home.”

________________________________________________________________

Dante woke up in the morning. The first thing he saw was Umut staring at him.

“Good morning, Dedede.”

“Can I sleep a little longer?”

Dante asked while rubbing his eyes.

“Nope, put your clothes on and get ready.”

“Can you leave the room first, I'm not comfortable changing while you are here.”

“OK I'll be waiting for you behind the door.”

Umut said while leaving the room. Dante took off his old clothes and put on the new ones. It was the same oversize robe the human was wearing with the same bleeding red eye symbol but it was a red and smaller version of that, it was still oversized tho.

"Alright, I'm ready.”

The kid said as he opened the door.

"Alright, follow me.”

The human said as he went downstairs.

"Do we really need to get up this early?”

Dante said while following him from behind.

"Yes or you'll be late for breakfast and training and make Lord Zero angry.”

The children went to the ground floor to eat.

“What are we going to eat?”

Said Dante. He hasn't eaten anything for a couple of days and was starving. 

"I don't know, but probably something made out of meat.”

“Why?”

“Just look at the fridge and you'll find out.”

Umut said. That made Dante curious so he looked at the fridge. The sight that he saw was a fridge full of grinded meat and blood. The kid looked around the fridge to see if he could identify any of the animals that meat came from but he couldn't. And the smell, oh the smell was so awful the kid felt like he was going to throw up, it smelt like a morgue.

"Eww, where did this meat come from?”

“I don't know. I just know whenever Lord Zero and the others go exploring they always come back with a lot of meat.”

Dante took a piece of meat from the fridge while doing his best to not look or smell it and put it on the counter. 

“Are you going to make meatballs or something?”

“No, we are going to make meatballs. You do know how to cook right?”

“I know how to cook basic stuff. Although I haven't cooked anything after making a huge mess in the kitchen that made my father really angry that one time.”

“No problem, I'll teach you. You just need to add some bread crumbs and shape them into whatever you like, just make sure to make it as flat as possible and not too chunky.”

After the two kids cooked and ate the meatballs, Dark Nebula came out of the basement. 

“GOOOOOD MORNING, you future greatest soldiers of darkness.”

It exclaimed. 

“Good morning to you too, Nebula.”

Umut said. 

“Greetings, sire!”

Dante said while doing a salute as if he was in the military. The other two gave him a weird look and Dante sat down, embarrassed. 

“Are you excited Dante?”

Dark Nebula said. 

“For what?”

“For your first day of training by the future ruler of the underworld .”

The star said the last part with pride in his voice.

“Cool, I'll go get ready.”

Said the human.

“Sorry pal, but that's for Dante only.”

“Why?”

“Because you are training to become a swordsman and Dante over here is going to be a Mage.”

“What?”

Dante asked.

“A mage. You know, people who are extremely good at bending magical energy and casting spells.”

“Oh yeah, I really think you've got the wrong kid for this.”

Dante was never a fan of being anywhere near magical energy because of his medical condition, doctors couldn't name it and all he knew about it was it made his body feel really weird and really bad whenever he was near any kind of magical energy. There was no cure for it but some doctors had recommended some medicines, that his father rejected because he didn't think they were healthy and he wanted his son to get rid of that thing all at once and not have to waste money on something that will just make him slightly better for a short amount of time.

“Nope, Lord Zero is always right, now come outside when you finish your breakfast.”

Dante didn't really want to go but he didn't want to get punished either.

“Okay.” 

He said and quickly finished his breakfast. 

“Let's go.”

“Ok, just let me-.”

Dante said while looking at his arm as if he was searching for something until he suddenly remembered something and stopped looking embarrassed. 

“What were you doing?”

“Nothing, just a force of habit.”

_____________________________________________________________

Dante woke up in a magma filled planet, the last thing he remembered was walking towards the walls at the garden. 

“How did we get here? And why are we here?”

Dante asked to the star. 

“For your training.”

The star said. 

“What am I even supposed  to do?”

“It is easy, at least Lord Zero said it should be easy for you. All you need to do, according to Lord Zero, is to take a deep breath and focus on the magical energy inside of you.”

Dante was still confused but didn't want to anger anyone so he tried to do what he was told. He closed his eyes focused on his body's temperature as it was what he thought he was supposed to do.

“Now direct that energy to your hands.”

Dante still didn't understand it completely but he did as he was. It wasn't long before he felt extreme heat coming from his hands. 

“You are doing it.”

Dante opened his. 

His hands were on fire. 

“AHHH!”

Dante screamed and fell down to his back, causing the fire to go out. 

“Dante are you ok?”

Dark Nebula asked while going down to his level. 

“Yeah, I'm fine, just a little bit shocked.”

“I'm glad you are fine, now let's do it again, this time try not to freak out.”

Dante got up and did it again, this time with a lot more focus. As he focused more he felt hotter and as he felt he felt dizzier. Focus more, get hotter, fell dizzier, focus, heat, dizziness, focus, heat, dizziness, focus, heat, dizzie…

________________________________________________________________

Dante woke up in the dorm, tucked inside one of the beds. He get up and walked towards the exit room until he heard a conversation happening in the hallway, not wanting to interrupt it he decided to put his ear on the door. 

“I'm really sorry Lord Zero, he seemed like he was doing great and I thought he could handle a little more heat.”

“So you decided to disobey my orders because you felt like it?”

“N-no, of course not, I would never dis-”

“What were my orders?”

“To not let Dante have more magical energy than he could handle.”

“And what did you do?”

“If I knew he couldn't-”

“I already told you how much he could handle. Just go to the basement, I need to talk with Dante, we will talk about it when I am done.”

The talk sent shivers to down Dante's spine, he immediately went to the bed he woke up at to not seem suspicious. 

“My child, how are you feeling?”

“I'm fine. What happened?”

Dante said, trying to sound normal.

“Dark nebula let you absorbe way more elemental energy you could handle and that caused you to pass out. What dark nebula did was extremely irresponsible and could have put your life at serious risk.”

“It's ok. What are you going to do with him?”

“I'm going to punish him to make sure this will not happen in the future.”

“What will his punishment be?”

“I'm sorry but I can not tell it to you.”

“It's okay. By the way where is Umut?”

“He is currently doing chores, he will be here when they are done.”

As soon as he said it he left the room. Leaving Dante alone with his thoughts and feelings. He didn't like the things Lord Zero they felt familiar, uncomfortable familiar, painfully familiar, he could hear another, awful, voice saying those words, the voice of his fa-

“Dedede, I'm back.”

Umut said, coming through the door, snapping Dante from his thoughts. Umut jumped on the bed next to Dante. 

“How did the training go?”

“Pretty bad actually, I got overwhelmed by magical energy and passed out.”

“Oh, sorry to hear that.”

“Don't worry about it. Plus being a mage isn't what I want to be when I grow up anyway.”

“Then what do you want to be?”

“A mechanical engineer.”

“What is that.”

“Basically a scientist who creates robots.”

“Oh. Why would you want to be that when you could become a mage.”

“It's just that, I'm really interested in robots and even know about their inner workings.”

“Even if that's the case wouldn't you want to be something way cooler.”

“MECH ENGINEERS ARE COOL!”

“What're you say.”

“...”

“But…”

“But what?”

“There is something I would like to be that you say is cooler than being a mech engineer.”

“Oh. What is it?”

“It's a little bit embarrassing and unrealistic, so promise not to laugh or make fun of me.”

“I promise.”

“I… wanna be king.”

“... BAHAHAHAAHA!”

“YOU PROMISED NOT TO LAUGH!”

“I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Why do you want to be a king if you know it's unrealistic.”

“Because no matter what they do, everybody still loves them and they are surrounded by people who adore them.”

“Yeah that's sound pretty cool. But how are you planning to do it?”

“I always imagined something like in the fairytales. Like how the hero saves the poor damsel in distress and then they get married and live happily ever after.”

“But you are neither a damsel or in distress, are you?”

“I wouldn't say I'm in distress now, but while I was with my father I've always felt like I was in a fairytale waiting for my hero. Even now the idea of someone taking my hand and showing me things I've never seen makes me extremely happy.”

“Oh, I get it. You wanna be a gold digger.”

“HEY!”

But before Dante could say anything to defend himself, a dark matter came in. 

“You must be happy you got to talk with each other but you must stop now. Dante needs to recover and you need to train.”

“But I've spend the entire day doing chores.”

“No buts, it is Lord Zero's orders, now come with me.”

“Ok. Bye Dedede.”

“See you later.”

Shortly after Umut left Dante fell asleep as he was still feeling tired from the training. 

Chapter Text

Dante woke in the morning with the sun shining down on his face. He washed his face and went downstairs, Umut and dark nebula were waiting for him. It felt warm, a kind of warmth that he was denied for years. A warmth that went away with his mother. A warmth that was interrupted by a knock on the door. 

“I wonder who it is.”

Umut said.

“Can you look at the door, Dante?”

Dark Nebula asked, but Dante didn't want to open the door for some reason, he felt like if he did something terrible was going to happen.

*knock knock knock*

"Dante.”

*Knock Knock Knock*

“The door.”

*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*

“DANTE OPEN THE DOOR!”

Just as Dark Nebula had said that the door burst open and an army of armoured soldiers swarmed into the house.

“OUCH! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?”

Umut yelled as one of the soldiers shoved him to the ground. Dante was going to help him but he saw a large figure, one not wearing armour but a brown jacket with blue feathers that had a beard and walked with a silver cane, one that struck Dante's heart with fear.

“You.”

The figure said to Dante with an intimidating tone. Dante started to run from him. He was running towards the dorm while the figure was following him. When he opened the door and enter the dorm, the dorm wasn't the dorm but a bedroom with a single white bed at one side of the room, a closet that was severely damaged at the other side, a cracked window in between them and a table with tons of books notebooks and a chair near it for studying at the opposite side of the room from the window, quit the depressing side especially the rooms lack of toys. Dante took the chair and put it under the doorknob, kind of locking the door. He went over the window to try to escape but it was locked.

“Come on, don't tell me he locked it.”

“DANTE YOU BRAT! OPEN THE DOOR OR  ELSE!!!”

Dante didn't have enough time nor the materials to break the window so he rushed into the closet and closed his eyes while tears were coming from them.

“DANTE!”

*BANG*

“I'VE”

*BANG*

“TOLD YOU”

*BANG*

“TO OPEN”

*BANG*

“THE DAMN DOOR!”

*BANG*

And the door was finally broken open.

“Oh so we are doing this again.” 

He looked under the bed. 

“You gotta be a really big fan of hide and seek if you keep doing this even though you know it does nothing but anger me.”

He looked under the table. 

“So here is a little tip for ya since you love playing this game so much.”

He went to the closet. 

“Don't keep using the same three hiding spots.”

He opened the doors of the closet. 

“There you are.”

He grabbed the feathers on top of Dante's head, forcing him to look at him.

“You thought you could escape me?”

He threw Dante to the floor.

“I'm sorry dad.” 

Dante cried out.

“Apologise doesn't matter.”

He grabbed Dante by the collar of his shirt and raised his cane.

“Do you have any idea about how MUCH DAMAGE YOU COULD'VE DONE TO MY REPUTATION? If anybody heard about that DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA ABOUT THE RUMORS THAT WOULD'VE COME FROM THAT?! NO YOU DON'T! BECAUSE YOU ONLY THINK ABOUT YOURSELF! You wanted to escape from me right?”

Dante was a crying mess but he still tried to give an answer to the question but his father cut him off before he could do that.

“THEN GO ESCAPE TO THE SIDE OF YOUR DEAR MOTHER!”

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Dante woke up screaming in sweat and tears, he tried to calm down and be quiet before he woke anyone up.

“Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, don't cry…”

Dante whispered to himself with his trembling voice over and over again while his eyes were busy wetting his feathers and the bed sheets. 

“Dante, are you ok?”

Lord Zero said as he approached the horrified child. Dante tried to hide his face and say he was fine but when he opened his mouth the only things that came out of it were muffled by sobs.

“There there, my dear. Was it a nightmare?”

Lord Zero said as he was rubbing the kids back with it's hand that was made out of black liquid. Dante didn't say anything, instead he just looked at him and nodded.

“Worry not, my child, what you dreamed about will not become real no one knows you are here and they will never know even if they are a part of some kind of army.”

Lord Zero said while lifting the child's chin gently to make eye contact. 

“How can you be sure about that?”

“I have my ways of knowing and granting.”

“Are you really sure about that?”

“Yes,my child.”

“But are you really really sure?”

“If I was not I would not be saying those words to you.”

“I guess you are right, if that's so, can I ask you one more question?”

“Yes, my dear.”

“Can you stay here until I fall asleep?”

“Of course, my child, I would not leave you alone unless I see it myself that you have peacefully dozed off to sleep.”

“Thanks, but also do you know any kind of stories?”

“What kind of stories are you talking about?”

“The kind where the hero saves the pretty lady and they live happily ever after.”

“I do have a story similar to that but it is not a love story if you were looking for that.”

“It's ok.”

“Once upon a time there was a young girl with magical hair but nobody know...

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Meanwhile, somewhere in the galaxy, the king of nightmares was looking at his magic globe.

"Huh, that kid finally fell asleep again, that means it can be here any moment.”

After a few minutes of him waiting, Zero came to his castle.

“How did I do?”

The wizard asked with a tone saying he already knew he did good. 

“Pretty well”

“Did you manage to calm him down or did you creeped him off by being yourself?”

“I calmed him down.”

“Hm, I guess you finally figured out how to act like you care about those kids.”

“Well I need to be more careful with him. A kid like him is hard to find. I can not afford to lose one like him.”

“Yeah not everyone can create the most perfect child with minimum effort.”

“Talking about that, how is your creation?”

“Perfect, he is one of the best things I've ever created, way above your little captures even though they are around the same age. Wanna see a picture of him!”

“No.”

“Just what I expected from you.”

“Well, I believe our business is over, I will inform you if I need you to scare him again.”

“Wait a moment.”

“I did not forget about your payment, there is a raided village in one of the stars at the north of this one, you'll notice it via black clouds above it. You can go there and get whatever you want from there.”

“Only a village? Couldn't you go for a whole kingdom or something?”

“Do not worry. You will get the payment you want and more when my job with him is done.”

“Oh, no problem, I just need to wait a whole DECADE.”

“You waited many centuries, you can wait a decade.”

“Yeah but as time passes my patience runs out more and more.”

“Your impatience is no fault of mine. This conversation has gone for a little longer than it needed to be now, if you allow me, I would like to go.”

“Ok, I hope I see you again too.”

The wizard said with a mocking tone as the eyeball left, devoting centuries of waiting to a plan that was getting started was getting on Nightmare's nerves, if Zero's plan worked he would have all the power he wanted and more but deeply he felt like he somehow managed to found a way to waste his immortal lifespan on a gamble. 

“Why do I even need to follow his stupid plan, I can create anything on a wimp if I wanted to, HECK I EVEN MANAGED TO CREATE A FAKE VOIDBORN THAT IS EVEN BETTER THAN A REAL ONE!!!”

He said to himself. 

“I already wasted centuries waiting for this, I can wait a little more for at least seeing if I got scammed or not.”