Chapter Text
"I'm in front of it now. … Yes. … I don't know, it doesn't look as shady as I thought it would. … Yes, I will be careful. … Of course I will call you when I'm done. You don’t have to worry. … Love you too, pa. Bye," the dark haired girl ended her call and looked up at the neon above the door.
Devil May Cry.
That was the place. No mistakes.
It’s a shame that the neon is turned off , she thought. The street must look beautiful, flooded with its light in the dark of the night…
"Okay," she murmured to herself, holding the door handle and gathering her courage. "Here goes nothing," she said and opened the door to the building.
She didn't know what she was expecting from the office of the legendary demon hunter she’d read so much about, but this one definitely lived up to its name. The interior was kind of chaotic, but more or less clean. There was a sturdy, wooden desk with a lot of stuff on one side, framed photo and an old phone on the other. There was also a worn out chair, even more worn out couch, overgrown plant, shelf, bar and a very tempting to touch jukebox. What picked her interest, though, was an insane amount of weapons hung up on the walls and the tiny little fact that nobody was there.
"Hello!" she shouted without a moment of waste and was instantly greeted with a loud bang of falling pots and a string of curses. By the smell of it, something was burning too. "Is everything alright?" she called out apologetically.
"Yeah! Welcome! I…Shit! I will be right there in a minute!" a man shouted from upstairs where, she assumed, was a living area.
"Sure. Take your time," she answered, put her hands in the pockets of her leather jacket and started to wander around the room, inspecting the weapons.
After a moment a man emerged from (obviously) the kitchen and hurried down the stairs.
"Sorry for the wait. I had a little emergency,” he said with a merry smile and proceeded to open the front door to get rid of the smell of whatever he just burnt. “How can I help you?" he asked, finally facing her, but she couldn't utter a word. She just stared at him in disbelief.
"Miss? Are you okay?" he asked, raising one brow and widening his amused smile.
"Ah, yes. I'm… just… I’m good," she replied and kept shamelessly staring at him with her big, icy blue eyes.
Starting to feel slightly uncomfortable under her gaze, the man sat in his chair and cleared his throat.
"So?" he asked, breaking the awkward silence.
"Oh yeah," she blushed and looked down, nervously tucking her black hair behind her ear.
"My name is Angel and you must be Dante. The Legendary Devil Hunter, right?" she asked.
"In the flesh," he said proudly with a hand on his chest.
"Great. So…" she reached in her bag and took out an envelope with money. "I don't have a lot, but I need your help."
Dante eyed the envelope and then the girl.
"What can I do for you?" he asked.
"I'm looking for someone , but… Can I ask you a question first?"
"Sure. Shot," he said with a wave of his hand, slightly curious.
"Do you believe that demons can fall in love with humans and have a baby?" she asked with a very expectant look.
Dante tried to hide his surprise.
"That's… Um… Yeah… That's not impossible, but why are you asking me this?” he enquired, getting his defences up. A human believing that demons existed was one thing (though after Qliphoth it wasn’t so rare anymore), but asking something that hit so close to home was quite alarming.
“Well…” she started and nervously turned her face away from him.
Dante looked at her for a moment and then it hit him.
“Whoa! Wait! Miss, are you pregnant with a-"
"No, no, no! Gosh, no! I'm not pregnant with a demon," she denied hastily.
"Then where did that question come from?" he sighed with relief. "Who are you looking for?"
She ignored his questions, though, and continued with hers.
"You think there are a lot of demons capable of love out there? Or hybrids?" she pressed.
"Girl, I have no clue where this conversation is going… What do you want from me?" he asked, lowering his voice to nearly a growl.
"For now - answers. So?" she demanded, unshaken by his little threat, which clearly amused him.
"I dunno. I may know one or two," he answered, locking his fingers behind his head.
Angel closed her fists and took a deep breath.
"Have you ever been to Fortuna?" she asked, looking at him with anticipation.
At that he straightened in his seat.
"Yes. A few times," Dante said, narrowing his eyes at her suspiciously.
Angel knew she was stepping on thin ice now. She tried her damn best to calm down, but she was sure that at the end of the day her ribcage would be bruised from the inside from how hard and fast her heart was beating.
‘Could it really be him?’ she thought.
"Have you heard about the Latini family?"
"Latini? Nope, never heard of them," he then looked past her and smiled so genuinely she realised that up until now all the smiles he showed her were just a mere act. Well, some amused smiles were probably sincere. "Maybe we can ask the expert. Guys, we've got a job!" he called joyfully to the entering group.
"Someone wants to hire you?" some woman said mockingly.
Before Angel managed to move, two beautiful women were already passing by her as they headed to the couch on her right. She started to turn to see who else was coming in, but the sight of the next person shocked her to the point she forgot how to breathe.
Her eyes were glued to the face of a young man who also went straight to the couch. He sat, resting his large sword beside him and started to fiddle with a gun in his hands. He was around her age, had silver hair and sharp, blue eyes. Just like her.
"Har har," Dante answered the woman and started bickering with her. The young man was in the middle of making fun of the older hunter when he caught Angel staring.
"Yes?" he asked politely and a bit confused.
"Oh, sorry. It's just… your hair-" she pointed to her head to emphasise.
"Ah, yeah," he said sheepishly and scratched his nose. "Kinda runs in the family. So, what's the deal, Dante?"
"This little lady here is apparently looking for someone... demonic , I guess," he said, throwing his legs on the desk.
She hasn't denied his suspicion. She was indeed looking for a demon or part demon or someone who played with demonic powers.
"We're still stuck at the interview part, though,” he added with a shrug.
“I have a feeling it’s not a typical ‘go and exterminate the demon’ mission,” the blonde woman said, looking at Angel with interest as if she noticed something in her.
“No, it’s not. And I hope to find them very much alive,” Angel answered.
“That’s a shocker,” the black-haired woman commented. “Demons are creatures better off dead,” at her words Dante put a hand over his heart and let out a small ‘oof’, barely hiding his smile. “Why do you want them alive?”
“Oh, hush it, Lady. We were getting to it. So, what was the last question?"
"Do you know the Latini family?" Angel repeated her previous inquiry, making a certain half-demon twitch.
She still hadn't even noticed his presence, but from his desk Dante could clearly see Vergil leaning on the doorframe behind her. Up until now he didn’t seem to be interested in the girl. Well, no news here. He rarely showed any interest in others (with Nero being an exception). But even if he wasn’t interested at first, everything changed when he heard that name. Which of course made Dante curious. In the end, not much made his older brother lose his composure.
"Latini family? Like those rich fuckers from Fortuna?" the youngest hunter asked.
"Yup. That's them. Are you from Fortuna?" Angel asked, trying to not let her hope seep through her voice.
"Yes, but sorry miss, I don't play around with old snobs with too much money to spend. If you're looking for someone to slay demons in Fortuna, though, count on me. I have a branch there," he said, still playing with his gun.
"I will remember that. Thanks...um…"
"Nero," he provided.
"Thank you, Nero. I'm Angel," she said with a gentle smile.
But under her calm and polite demeanour, her heart was crying from happiness. She wanted to scream and jump! She barely could contain her emotions, even though she hadn’t even confirmed anything yet. Maybe she was letting her hopes up, but she was certain that she'd already found what she was looking for.
"An angel looking for a devil, huh?" the woman with short, black hair - Lady - said with amusement. “Quite ironic.”
"So, what does this family have to do with this job?" the other woman asked and Angel was more than glad to provide. Glad and nervous, because everything depended on this moment.
"There is a story, known only by a handful of people, about the daughter of the Latini family. It was around 25 years ago,” she started, her voice getting full of fondness. “From what I've heard she was a feisty little thing. For an aristocrat she was wild and rebellious. Full of passion and curiosity, yet still graceful and charming. And above all, she had a loving heart. Her name was Luce."
And that was it. At that name Vergil's eyes widened, his grip on the Yamato's pommel tightening. Nobody noticed this slight change in his stance. Nobody except Dante, whose interest in Angel’s story was now at its peak. He was curious what could possibly leave his brother so shaken. He already had a good guess to be honest and if he was right… it would be a hell of a day.
Angel continued.
"She became pregnant with some unknown man. Outsider, most likely. When her family found out, they were furious. A child out of wedlock? Such disgrace could have been a fatal blow to their reputation and influence in Fortuna. They valued money and status more than anything else, so...They wanted to get rid of the problem. Luce fought back and insisted on giving birth to her child, not even once spilling a word about its father's identity. To protect the “ good” name of the family, the Latini hid Luce from prying eyes. She was locked in the manor for months and when the day of delivery came, she gave birth at home to a white haired boy..." Angel said, glancing at Nero who was visibly lost in his thoughts, connecting the dots. "...and a girl," she added finally.
That information shocked everyone in the room. Even the ever present smile on Dante’s face fell as he put down his feet on the floor.
"There were twins?" Lady asked first.
"Yes. But only Luce, the doctor and the midwife knew about it. After the boy was born first, the family didn't waste even a moment to take him away from his mother. They took him and she never saw her son again,” Angel stopped, needing to compose herself when she noticed Nero hiding his teared face in his hands. “There was no one except the doctor and the midwife with Luce when she gave birth to her daughter a few minutes later. She begged the older man to take and protect her from her family. And so he did,” everyone looked at Angel in disbelief, but she continued. “He secretly got the baby girl out of the manor in his bag with medical tools and took her to his wife and newborn son. The pair knew it wouldn’t raise anyone's suspicion if they told everyone they had twins, so without hesitation they decided to raise the girl as their own. Fearing the Latini would find out about everything, they left the island with the little girl a few weeks later. After some time, the doctor got a letter from the midwife that stayed in Fortuna that the “mysterious white haired boy” was dropped at the orphanage door and…that’s all they ever heard about him, " she finished, sending a sympathetic look at Nero.
The room fell dead silent. Both women tried to somehow comfort the young man who started to break down. Surprisingly to Angel, Dante only spared him a glance. He was clearly more concerned about something behind her back. She wanted to turn around, but Nero broke the silence and grabbed her attention.
"H-how do you–?” he choked a sob. “Is that true?" he asked, looking past her and instantly paled as if he had seen a ghost.
Angel started to feel nervous. She followed Nero’s gaze and realised that all this time someone stood at the doors behind her! She tried to make out the person’s features, but the light from the outside was too blinding. Suddenly, she heard the scraping sound of Dante’s chair, which momentarily distracted her. She turned to see Dante standing up with a serious expression when a bloodcurdling chill pierced her body. Somebody was in front of her. She felt somebody's presence in front of her! She was too afraid to breathe, let alone look up.
" What happened to Luce? " she jumped when she heard a growl.
She slowly raised her gaze to see a man very similar to Dante, yet completely different. He was wearing a dark coat with light neon blue ornaments, his white hair was swept back and his eyes… Gosh, his eyes were giving away so much pain and anger right now, Angel could feel her heart breaking.
‘So it is him,’ she thought, burning the image of the man in front of her in her memory.
"She died a few weeks later," she explained sadly.
A violent surge of power rolled through the room, freezing everyone in place.
Nero and Dante looked at the man in disbelief as his stoic mask crashed in an instant. He gave out a short, feral cry and started to pace around the room. He went to the front door, then turned around and with a fury of the approaching storm in the blink of an eye returned to his position in front of the girl.
" Who are you?! How do you know all of this?! " he shouted in her face.
"Brother, calm down!" Dante was fast to interfere, but Angel seemed unfazed.
"So it's really you? You and Nero,” she said with an excited smile, looking back and forth at him and the young man who still had tears in his eyes. “You’ve found each other."
"ANSWER ME!” Vergil demanded. “Who are you?!"
"Why did you leave her?" Angel asked, taking him by surprise.
To be honest, she was surprised by her boldness herself, but as happy as she was right now, that thought was bugging her since she learnt that story. If he loved Luce so much to react like that, why did he leave her in the first place? It didn’t make any sense and only made her more angry at the man.
"I don't need to explain myself to a stranger,” he hissed and took a step closer, towering over the girl. “Now, where is my daughter ?!" He finally lost his patience and reached for her, but before Dante could even react...
"Don't you dare!”...she already slapped his hand with her transformed demonic arm. “You would have known if you hadn't left!"
"You…?" Vergil whispered in horror.
"Shit…" Dante muttered and glanced at Nero who jumped up from his seat.
They all could sense it now. The demonic power of their kin.
With no use in still hiding it, Angel took her wig off, letting her white hair fall to her shoulders.
"Now do I deserve some answers?" she asked with a mix of anger and sorrow.
Vergil was rendered speechless and wasn’t able to do anything more than look at her with wide eyes and mouth agape.
"Maybe you're right. We are strangers,” Angel sadly admitted. “You don't owe me shit and neither do I."
She then turned to Dante, who was visibly lost at what to do.
"Here,” she pressed the envelope with money to his chest. “Your payment. I hope it's enough, miste- well, uncle."
"Sweetheart, let's just calm down and–" Dante started, but Angel was too upset to stay and listen.
"Goodbye," she said, teleported herself past Vergil to the door and left, with Nero instantly on her tail.
Like father, like daughter, huh? Dante thought and, since Nero ran after Angel, focused on Vergil.
His brother stood there, in the middle of the room, like a marble statue. Dante had never seen him like this. He seemed almost vulnerable .
Not even a minute passed when he unsheathed the Yamato and without a word slashed through air creating a portal to wherever he just wanted to escape.
"I got him," Dante declared to Lady and Trish and ran after his brother before the portal closed.