Chapter Text
Mary didn't know what was going on, in fact she was almost certain that bastard Arkham had something to do with it. She was in a place she didn't recognize with monstrous skulls adorning the walls pinned by swords she knew for a fact were real.
The place was a disaster with a few skimpy posters, pool table, and a jukebox that was on in the corner. But what caught her eye and kept it was the man at the desk whose feet were kicked up.
The magazine he'd presumably had over his face was moved as he stared at her with eyes that were otherworldly. He shifted, and she immediately drew her guns. She would be stupid to not know what he was even if he looked nothing like any demon she'd seen before.
The aura he gave off was like nothing she'd felt before and it almost had her shaking. The power was unmistakable and the way it moved was languid and too smooth, like some apex predator.
The thing chuckled and raised its hands as it watched her. She hated how amused it looked, it made her skin itch.
“Woah there little Lady it seems you're a far way from home.”
“Where am I?” She demanded.
“In my shop, and seemingly many years out of time.”
That had her coming up short. What? Out of time, what was the demon talking about? It must have seen her confusion because it continued.
“Yeah not so sure about it myself I've…well it's new for even me. But you're definitely not my Lady, and I'd go as far to say, considering your reaction, you haven't met me yet.”
Huh? Met it…no no demons lied, that's all they knew. This one was trying to trick her, but she'd NEVER fall for it not after... No. Besides if she'd met this demon in the future, she'd have killed it.
“Fun story but you're tricks won't work on me.” She hissed at the creature.
The demon just gave her a soft smile, and she scowled even harder.
“You're seventeen and your mother's name is Kalina Ann.”
Mary snarled and shot at the creature, the shot landed between its eyes but it didn't even flinch.
“Your name is Mary but you hate that because it's what Arkham named you, and you want the bastard dead.”
She was breathing harshly, her eyes wide and maybe, possibly, a touch scared. It had to be reading her mind it…it had to be.
“S-shut up!” She snarled firing again and again, but the bullets did nothing as the demon approached her. The thing grabbed her wrists and took the guns and she tried to fight, but the creature was impossibly strong.
“I'm not going to hurt you, but I can't have you wrecking my shop. The poor thing’s gone through enough abuse and I'm in enough debt.”
“Why should I trust a demon!?” She demanded.
The creature just smiled again and she eyed its fangs in disgust.
“Well for one, I'm only half devil.”
She scoffed and the thing just laughed.
“Yeah ok sure you don't care, but it doesn't make it a lie. I'm equally as human as I am not. Name’s Dante, I hunt demons and devils for a living.”
She frowned at the creature but it continued.
“I have two business partners, one of which is you. We've been working together since I was nineteen.”
“I'd never work with a demon.” She denied immediately.
“Nah, not now you wouldn't. And even to this day you hate the things more than anyone.”
That had her blinking in shock at the offhanded honesty. It was so genuine it had her reeling.
“Do you expect me to believe I make an exception for you?” She needled harshly.
“Ehh me and a few others. You're quite fond of Trish, the both of you are constantly trying to drag me into shit. Lucia you like fine enough. Nero is still new and you haven't interacted with him much yet, but it's only a matter of time besides the kid’s great.”
“Liar!”
“Nope, hate to break it to you little Lady but your life gets very interesting. Now you want some pizza because I'm hungry.”
The creature turned on its heel and walked back over and picked up the old phone on the desk. It was only then did she realize how tall the demon was and how she'd been craning her neck to keep eye contact.
“I-”
“Don't worry about it. I know your order and if you don't eat it, I sure will.”
She just blinked confused as the creature…ordered a pizza. What was going on she wouldn't be able to tell you.
Once done the thing stretched, and yeah it looked human, all the muscles moving how they should. Nothing was out of place or wrong and it just made this whole thing more confusing.
The thing looked back at her and something flickered behind its eyes that she couldn't distinguish.
“You don't trust me at all.” It said flatly, more a statement than anything else.
“I don't.” She snapped.
“How about this? I'll answer some questions for you, anything you want to know.”
“You said you're half devil.” She started immediately.
“Yeah, mom was as human as they came, practically an angel. Don't know how she dealt with us.” The thing huffed softly and shook its head.
There was something like sorrow in its eyes, and that wasn't what she was expecting.
“My father was Sparda, you could say I'm simply trying to follow in his footsteps.”
Mary blinked hard at that. Sparda? The only good devil there ever was. She didn't know if she believed it but she couldn't find a reason for the thing to lie. Sparda was detested by every demon and devil alive.
“And you're mother?” She hadn't missed the ‘was’.
The thing frowned before turning a picture on the desk to show a beautiful woman. She looked a good bit like the creature in front of her.
“Killed by demons, she sacrificed herself for us. Dad had disappeared and had probably died, hell I still don't know, and Mundus took his chance to kill us. Me and Vergil got out but…”
Mary felt a familiar dread build in her at the similarities to her own experience. He looked up again and in his eyes was a depth of knowledge she couldn't begin to decipher or understand. The man knew, he knew her story, and he knew her pain.
“You said you know me. How…how did we meet?”
“The Temen-ni-gru, I was just a stupid kid going to pick a fight with Vergil. You gave me a better purpose and an honorable goal.”
“The- it raises?” She asks a touch horrified.
“My brother is a damn idiot and your father used us all. But in the end we remained and decided to help each other in the aftermath.”
“So what? We really work together?”
“Kinda, we divide jobs that get brought to us. I take particularly nasty ones, you take whatever you please and Trish gets hers too. Sometimes we team up, other times we don't, it just depends.”
She…couldn't find an issue with that. The idea that she could make a living killing those creatures.
Before she could continue on asking her questions Dante perked up and said he'd be back before grabbing something from the desk and opening the door. Some muffled conversation and a minute later Dante dropped the pizza on his desk and grabbed himself a slice.
She followed suit and sure enough it was her preferred order.
“How long have we known each other?” She wonders as she finally takes a seat on the nearby couch.
“A long time. I'm getting ready to turn forty, so you can do the math.”
She wasn't blind to the implication they were friends, close ones at that. It was still bizarre, her friends with a devil? Though the more Dante spoke the less insane it sounded. He could still be lying…but he was so human.
He seemed to be reading her mind because he just grinned at her with mischief dancing in those uncanny eyes. She almost jumps at the low rumble she hears a second later. She's confused for a moment before it clicks.
He's purring like a damn cat.
“What?!” She demands.
“Nothing, it's just weird. You're so young, practically a baby.”
“I am not!”
“Yeah you are, you're barely older than Patty and she's pretty much my daughter.”
“But you knew me at around this age!”
“Sure but it's been years, and I was also a baby. Not to mentio-” He cut himself off.
She squinted at him.
“Not to mention what?”
“I shouldn't spoil it.” He dismissed her.
“No, tell me.”
He seemed to weigh his options before dramatically slumping on the desk, but his eyes were more unsure now like he was afraid of how she'd react.
“Well it's weird to feel almost parental over you considering you end up being my wife.”
She spluttered and nearly dropped her pizza. WHAT?! He laughed almost uproariously at the look on her face, and she's sure for a moment he was pulling her leg. But all the fondness he'd looked at her with…
“Ah come on I think I'm pretty charming and your future self agrees. Even if you swear it's just for tax benefits.”
She just blinks at him and actually lets herself consider it for a moment. He's…objectively attractive, that's undeniable. Big and broad, handsome in a rugged way, what with the stubble and shaggy hair…though it would look better if it was longer…
What the hell is wrong with her!?
She shook herself and he just snickered clearly following her line of thought, which she didn't like at all.
“You're insane! I'd never marry a demon!”
He just shrugged and grabbed another slice of pizza. “Whatever you say little Lady.”
She furrowed her brows.
“Why do you keep calling me that?”
“Cause I can't call you Lady, that's my wife. And I'm not going to call you by the other name, it just feels wrong and you hate it.”
“Lady?”
Dante shrugs. “You're name, I started calling you it since you wouldn't give me one. You kept it, but in return you named the shop so I think we're even.”
She…didn't know what to say to that. It…it wasn't the worst name. Weird perhaps, but fitting.
“What's the shop's name?”
He gave her another grin and ok yeah he was handsome she admitted to herself almost dejectedly.
“Devil May Cry.”
Another weird name, but also fitting.
Then he seemed to grow more serious as he contemplated something. She felt her hair go on end, was this it? Was the front finally up had this all been a trick.
“I have a request… when you go back and if you remember this.”
She froze this…this wasn't, oh.
“You can't hunt down Arkham to the top of the tower. I know you want to kill him and I definitely don't blame you, but it'll eat you alive. Beyond that, he needs your blood to break the seal.”
She wants to immediately tell him to mind his own business that it's her family and he can't tell her what to do. But the sorrow that she heard in his words brought her up short.
“We were all tricked into fighting one another until we were too tired to stop him. We were played like fools, and in the end it led to a lot of heartache.
She felt sick suddenly as he made eye contact with her once more. His eyes spoke of a sadness that she'd thought was unique to her.
“Vergil is a damn fucking fool, but he's my big brother. My twin, the other half of my soul, and this was the start of the end for him. If you could convince me to ensure he never swan dives into hell…well let's just say I'd be thankful.”
She had nothing to say to that and Dante seemed to know it too as he took a breath before smiling again. This time however she saw the small cracks in it.
“But enough doom and gloom, do you have your rocket launcher yet?”
Despite herself she perked up and started talking about how she just commissioned it.
In the end she isn't sure how she went…forward? In time. She's also not sure it was even real or just a dream, but when she blinked back to the rundown apartment complex she'd been in before? Well she tried to put it out of her mind.
But as much as she tried she couldn't keep her mind off of Dante. He'd been so interesting, and if anything he said was true…? She'd keep an ear to the ground and followed the rumors until sure enough the Temen-ni-gru rose.
And inside the first thing she spotted as she rode in was a man. Long red coat, no shirt, and shaggy white hair. Dante unmistakably and he was young like he had said he'd been. Still just a kid in the grand scheme of things.
She shot at him with Kalina Ann and he…well he surfed on the rocket. Impressive, but she'd see what he was made of later. Besides she had things to do and maybe, hopefully, a fate to change. If not for her than for the man she’d met who knew her pain.