Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Why me, Patty? Couldn’t you have asked literally anyone else?”

A young woman clearing cans and stray papers off a home bar whipped her head towards the source of the inquiry – and mess she’s currently cleaning up. The light from the red “Devil May Cry” sign above her scattered through the afternoon light and tinted her long blonde hair. She raised her eyebrows and smoothed down the gentle waves that had fallen around her face before continuing to clear off the garbage on the bar.

clang clang clang “Like who?”

The man sighed as he sat up on the couch from his supine position. So much for that nap. “Oh, I dunno, someone like your mom?”

“Dante, I already told you she’s working and can’t take time off!” Patty retorted before carrying her garage bag over to an ornate wood desk in the middle of the room. “Were you even listening?”

Dante ran a hand through his shaggy white hair. “Okay, so Nina’s busy.” He stood up and straightened out the bottom of his long red coat before walking towards the desk. “Who I meant wa– “

“You know Lady’s also working! You’re the one who sent her on that job!” She chided. “She told me herself. She’s not even in the country right now!” Patty looked up as Dante settled into his chair on the opposite side of the desk. “And before you ask, Trish is out of town too.”

“Well don’t you have– wait I actually need that one,” He grabbed the paper out of Patty’s hand before she could put it in the garbage bag. “Don’t you have any friends from school?”

Patty rolled her eyes. “Of course I do – I’m not you!”

She paused for a second before returning to her tidying. “It’s just that most of them have moved away for college already.” She grumbled softly.

Dante opened his mouth to respond, but Patty beat him to it. “I already asked Nero.” She said swiftly. Dante’s eyebrow quirked up. “He was actually the first person I asked. He couldn’t find anyone to watch the kids at the orphanage since Nico’s at some mad scientist inventors gathering thing and Kyrie’s committed to teaching some vocal lessons at the same time as the concert.”

“I was gonna ask about Kyrie. You asked Nero first? Really?” Dante asked incredulously. “What kind of concert is this again?”

Patty’s arm froze midway through lifting an empty beer can off the desk and she shot him a deadpan look.

“You don’t know your nephew at all do you?” She responded flatly.

“I guess not!” Dante threw up his hands. “But you never answered my question.”

Patty huffed and put down the garbage bag before digging in her pockets. “It’s a Kpop concert.” She set a slightly crumpled poster on Dante’s desk.

“Okay so you and Nero both like this,” Dante picked up the poster and squinted at the name. “Hunter-slash-x group?”

“It’s pronounced Huntrix.”

“Sure.”

Patty and Dante both stared at each other for a beat before Dante continued.

“Anyway, what makes this such a big deal for you?”

“Why’s this such a big deal? They’ve never had a tour stop anywhere close to here before!” Patty grabbed the poster and neatly folded it before putting it back in her pocket. “No groups ever come to Capulet city!” Patty paused for a second. “But, uh, now that I think about it, they’re probably only making this their stop because all of Redgrave’s theaters and stadiums are still under reconstruction after the, um, Qliphoth incident last year.” She winced.

“Hah! Well, make sure to thank your good ol’ uncle Vergil for the local tour stop I guess.” Dante leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head as he set his feet on the dusty wooden desk panel. “How’s about I watch the rugrats and you can go with Nero?” 

“Uh, there’s no way that’s happening Dante.” Patty scrunched her nose and flapped her hands in front of her face before placing them on her hips. “You really think Nero and Kyrie would be cool with that?”

Dante let his hands fall to his sides. “Hey now! What’re you implying? That I’m a bad influence?” He placed a hand on his chest in mock offense. “You turned out okay didn’t you?”

Patty scoffed. “Okay first of all, you had help from Lady and Morrison most of the time I was with you.” She took a hand off her hip and slammed it on the desk. “And second of all, the last time you had full custody of me a section of the city was destroyed and I ended up in literal Hell!”

A framed portrait of a woman with long blonde hair in a black dress and red shawl jostled slightly as Patty slammed her hand down. As Patty carefully fixed the frame with a small “Sorry!” Dante gave her a flat look.

“Well, if I recall correctly that incident was partially your fault.”

“What? I was, like, ten! Are you seriously–” Patty raised her other hand before glancing at the frame and lightly dropping it on the desk. “Quit changing the subject!” Her voice rose with each word. “You still owe me for missing my birthday!”

Dante threw his hands up in defeat. “Fine, fine we’ll save that for another time.” He crossed his arms against his chest as Patty stared him down.

“What about Vergil?”

“You can’t be serious. As fun as that sounds, I can’t imagine it’s really his scene.” She replied sardonically.

“Eh, it was worth a shot.”

A satisfied grin fell over Patty’s face. “Then it’s settled!” She pushed her hands off the desk and began tying up the drawstrings of the garbage bag at her feet. “I’ll meet you here on Friday at 10 AM and we can head to Juliet Arena by 11 AM!”

“What?” Dante swung his feet off the desk and leaned forward. “Why would we need to go so early? Aren’t these seats assigned?”

Patty walked over to the pool table with the garbage bag and set it down. “Yeah, but that doesn’t really matter. We have to get some merch and I wanna trade some photocards.” She explained while picking up the pink bag covered in fluffy and beaded keychains lying on the pool table’s cloth and slinging it over her shoulder.

Dante shook his head and shrugged. What the hell’s a photocard?

“Sure, if you say so.”

Patty walked towards the double doors at the front of the office with the trash bag in hand. “Don’t forget to bring batteries!” As she swung the doors open and stepped through, she turned and pointed at Dante with her free hand. “Triple A batteries! Don’t forget!”

Dante huffed. “Yeah, yeah I heard you the first time.” He leaned forward and laid his crossed arms on the desk. “Don’t get hurt on your way home!” He yelled after her.

After hearing a muffled “I won’t!” from beyond the doors of Devil May Cry, he brought his head down to his forearms. Ugh. He stretched out his right hand and began drumming his fingertips on the cold wood. His hand collided with a hard object as it moved across the desk. Slightly peering up from his arms, he was met with the sight of his rotary phone. His eyes moved towards the piece of paper he saved from Patty’s garbage bag.

CALL THIS NUMBER!!! DON’T call my regular cell while I’m away. was written in neat handwriting with said phone number being circled three times.

Hm. Dante grabbed the piece of paper and punched the number into his phone.

“Hello?” A feminine voice answered, followed by a muffled creak and the soft padding of footsteps. “Dante is that you? It’s 2 AM right now.” Her voice tinged with slight annoyance. “What do you want?”

“You sound pretty awake to me.” Dante sat up in his chair, pressing the handset closer to his ear. “And besides can’t a guy call his favorite Lady?” He retorted playfully.

“Ugh.” Dante could picture her rubbing her temple.

“There’s been a change in plans. Shelve the job for now and come back to Capulet city as soon as you can.”

“Why…?” Dante almost heard her eyes narrow through her tone.

He smiled sheepishly to himself. “Could you come back and go to this concert with Patty?”

Silence.

“Pleaaaase, Lady?” His voice dripped with saccharine.

“Dante, seriously?!” Lady’s voice dropped to a lower tone and volume as if she was forcing herself not to yell. “All the logistics of me bailing on this job and hopping on a twenty-hour flight back on such short notice aside – she wants to spend time with you, idiot!”

Dante heard a slight shuffle from the receiver. She probably moved the phone to her other hand. “She’s going off to college in a different country in what? A month? She’s going to be gone for at least four years.” Lady let out a small huff. “Plus, do you know how many kids move away for college and never live in their hometown again? You and Vergil spent your sweet ass time messing around and having pissing contests in Hell before getting back.” Dante heard something like an indistinct rumble in the background. Was her fan on or something?

“Be thankful she chose to attend a college that starts in March instead of August or you would’ve missed seeing her entirely.” She sighed softly. “You should count yourself lucky. Most eighteen-year-olds don’t want to hang out with their dads at all, much less in public.”

A small twisting sensation pulled at Dante’s gut as he idly plucked at the phone cord.

“Yeah, yeah I get what you mean.”

“Do you really? Look Dante, between me and Nina – and hell I guess you could count Trish too when she’s available – Patty’s not hurting for any maternal affection.” Her voice softened slightly. “But she’s only got one dad.”

“Oh yeah?” Dante rested his free hand on his face with a slight smirk, but his eyes lacked their usual amusement. “What’s Morrison then?”

“Pft. He’s more of a grandfather-figure.”

“Damn, don’t let him hear you say that!”

Lady’s laughter seemed to filter through the receiver, sweet and clear, despite the archaic phone. “Yeah, you know I wouldn’t! A girl’s still gotta find work. Not that you’d know much about that...” Dante could hear a soft tapping sound. Lady was probably drumming her fingers against her phone; she never could sit still for too long. “But anyway, you know Nina’s luck with men is horrible so sorry to break it to you but looks like you’re the chosen one, Dante! You’re her one and only father-figure and you need to start acting like it.” 

Dante thought he heard the muted sound of creaking wood, followed by soft thuds. “Besides, you still owe her for missing her birthday.” Lady emphasized.

“Damn, you and Patty never forget when there’s a score to settle do you?” His face brightened as he teased her. “You must’ve rubbed off on her.”

“Well, that’s what happens when you actually spend time with yo– Hm?” A soft static came through the receiver as if the transmitter on the other line was muffled by soft cloth.

Before Dante could produce a witty reply, the line cleared up again. “Oh, uh, yeah sure.” Lady’s voice came through followed by a soft click.

“Dante,” an icy, masculine voice cut through to his ear. “Are you finished making a fool of yourself yet?”

Dante sat up in his chair, his face twisting in surprise. “Vergil?! Is this where you’ve been all week?”

“Yes?” Vergil's tone made it clear he thought his twin’s question was a meaningless waste of time. “I ask again: are you finished yet? Your inane prattling is hindering our research.”

Dante was even more confused. “What? Research? I don– “

Lady’s voice came through at a lower volume. “Dante you threw this job on me with practically no information because you didn’t want it! I’m not about to risk being cursed or killed, so I need to understand what’s going on. With Trish away, I went with the next option.”

“Okay, so you needed a research buddy. Why didn’t you ask me?”

Lady’s guffaw crackled through the receiver due to its volume. “Hah! I forgot how funny you could actually be.”

Dante could hear a muted Hm on the other end and just knew it was accompanied by a self-satisfied smirk on his brother’s dumbass smug face. He wanted to reach through the phone and rip it off–

Wait… Dante’s scowl faded and he relaxed in his chair. “Well whatever – now that I know Vergil’s with you, put him back on.” He didn’t wait for confirmation before he continued. “Vergil, I’m gonna need you to do me a tiny, little favor,” his voice carried an insincere lilt. “I need you to make a portal for Lady so she can come back to Capulet befo– “

“There’s no way I’m just casually walking through some weird dimensional portal!” Lady cut in sharply.

“You heard that?”

“Dante, you’re on speaker. You’ve been on speaker for the past minute.”

Before Dante could respond, Vergil’s smooth voice came through. “No.”

“What? C’mon Verge jus– “

A droning high-pitched tone tore through Dante’s ear. Asshole. He scowled and redialed the number.

After two rings, an irritated voice grumbled through the receiver lowly.

“I. Said. No.”

The droning high-pitched tone followed again.

The sound of erratic clacking filled the office as Dante’s fingers flicked the rotary’s dial only to be replaced by a harsh buzzing tone playing in short succession. Dante gritted his teeth as he dialed one of the few numbers he knew by heart.

After one ring, Lady’s exasperated voice emerged from the receiver. “Dante is this really such a big deal?” He heard a familiar static and Lady let out a muffled, “let me talk to him”, before her voice returned clearly.

“You going with Patty to a concert isn’t going to kill you.” Her voice softened. “And it isn’t going to kill her. She’s a big girl. She’s strong and brave and can handle herself.” Dante chewed on the side of his mouth as Lady continued. “And stop pretending like you’re a bad father. Nobody buys it.”

Dante flattened his palm against the wooden desk panel and lazily wiped back and forth as his eyebrows pinched together.

“Don’t even bother calling Trish. You know she never picks up.” Lady stated firmly. A sigh erupted from Dante as he brought his hand up to his brow.

“Look Dante, if everything goes well, Vergil and I should be back in Capulet in a few weeks. If it doesn’t, well – I’ll definitely find a way to make it back before Patty leaves town. You know I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

Dante sighed again. “I know…”

A soft shuffle preceded Vergil’s bored voice coming over the line. “Dante.”

Dante sighed harder. “You gonna lecture me too?”

“If you truly wish for Lady’s swift and safe return,” Vergil droned cooly, “I suggest you attend this event you’re so childishly trying to avoid.” Dante let out a puff of air through his nose. As if he could talk.

“Don’t bother us again.” Dante’s ear was met with the familiar droning high pitched tone.

Dante scoffed and mumbled to himself. “Nerds…” He absent-mindedly rubbed his elbow as he eyed his phone. After a minute of staring, he grabbed the handset and began dialing another familiar number.

“The number you have dialed is no longer in serv–” Dante tossed the handset back on its hook. A hard thud resonated through the office as his forehead hit wood.

“Uggghhhhhhh where did I put those batteries…”

Chapter Text

Patty haphazardly swung her clear bag over her shoulder as she weaved through other pedestrians on a familiar sidewalk in Capulet city. She’d walked this street hundreds, if not thousands, of times over the past ten years but it had gotten much busier over the past year. After the new mayor announced an initiative aimed at helping refugees from the close-neighboring city of Redgrave, dozens of new restaurants and stores had opened up on the block, all owned by former Redgrave residents who had lost their homes to the demonic Qliphoth tree.

To onlookers enjoying their fancy brunch on an early Friday afternoon, she looked quite out of place. Her quick pace and state of dress drew quite a few curious stares from those sipping their tea in the outdoor seating of a hot new combination brunch-afternoon tea place. A young woman in a hip-length baby pink leather jacket and a white cross halter top tucked into an opaque iridescent pleated vinyl skirt expertly side-stepping people in her baby pink knee high platform boots with shimmering laces wasn’t exactly a common sight around these parts at nine forty-five in the morning. A man in a near floor length red leather jacket and a guitar case slung over his back though? That’s a different story.

“Excuse me! Sorry!” Patty tried to balance the clear box sandwiched between her left forearm and stomach as she continued past. Her long blonde hair, tied up in a ponytail with a pink bow, waved behind her as she increased her stride upon seeing an opening in the sidewalk. The jingling of beads from bracelets that covered her wrist to her elbow on both arms accompanied the sound of soft pops from loose beads hitting coated paper and the rapid clack of her steps as she hopped up the steps of Devil May Cry.

“Dante! Dante,” she yelled as she threw open the doors, “let’s go!”

Dante yawned, not bothering to remove the old copy of Two HandGun magazine lying on his face. “Kid, aren’t you early? It’s not even ten yet.”

Patty quickly surveyed her surroundings as she made her way to the pool table on the left side of the office that Lady and Trish had decided to bring back down to the main floor while Dante was away. As she looked around, she noticed that the familiar clutter of old pizza boxes, magazines, bottles, and cans had reappeared since she was last in the office. Ugh, not even three full days and it’s a mess again! Trish and Lady are right – he’ll never change.

Her box and bag landed on the couch next to the pool table with a soft thud. She began to gather the magazines scattered throughout the office before replying.

“Yeah, but there’s a change in plans! I heard the concert exclusive holographic photocards sold out at their Wednesday stop and I need to make sure I get them!”

“Do you really need those things?” Dante grumbled, “You bringing them to college with you or somethin’?”

Patty slammed a stack of magazines on the – somehow dusty again – wooden desk.

“Yes, actually they're on my orientation list,” she replied sarcastically as she snatched the magazine off his face and neatly placed it next to the stack of other magazines. “Which is why you need to put on some clothes!”

“I’m already wearing clothes.”

“Dante, you can’t pull up to the concert in this crusty outfit!”

Dante cracked his eye open. “Hey, rude! I know Trish and Lady think that teenage girls like you are the arbiters of what’s hot and trendy, but I think I look great!” He kicked his feet off the desk and opened his other eye as he glanced over Patty. “You’re not dressed like you normally are. Is this outfit really what kids these days consider stylish?”

Dante grinned smugly as he rested his elbow on his desk and cupped his face. “Y’know, aside from your jacket. Bet whoever got that for you is really thoughtful and stylish and handsome.”

Patty stared at Dante with a deadpan look. “Trish got me this jacket,” she straightened the sides of her jacket and smirked, “So yes: very thoughtful and stylish and beautiful.”

“What?! I could’ve sworn I got you one in that exact color.”

“The one you got me has longer sleeves and is cropped.” Patty gathered the magazine stack and opened a desk drawer. “And Trish told me you only got it for me because there was a buy-one-get-one-free sale that you only knew about after she told you she and Lady got new jackets!”

Dante twisted his body to face Patty. “Okay so it’s a different jacket! That doesn’t- Hey what’re you doing?”

Patty plopped the stack in the drawer and slammed it shut. “Cleaning.” She straightened up and began to shoot crumpled pieces of paper into the garbage bin next to the other couch near the bar and jukebox.

“Okay, well why leave that one out?” Dante asked, pointing at the copy of Two HandGun that was previously doubling as a sleep mask. “Oh, is it because your mommy’s in it?” He smirked playfully.

Patty rolled her eyes and grabbed the magazine, flipping through its pages. “Why yes actually,” she responded in an elongated, sickly-sweet tone and flipped the open magazine towards Dante.

A beautiful woman with short black hair in orange sunglasses, wearing a pin-stripe blazer with no shirt underneath and matching micro shorts with a giant rocket launcher slung over her back was pictured next to an article. “Oh, would you look at that? Now here’s yet another thoughtful, stylish, beautiful woman in my life!”

“And who do you have to thank for that?”

“Morrison.” Patty stated matter-of-factly. She smirked as she continued, “If you’re going dressed like that then we can stop by my place on the way to the venue and I can change into something more like this. Y’know take a page out of Lady’s style book.”

“You wouldn’t and you couldn’t.” Dante frowned and tried to snatch the magazine from Patty’s hand, but she hopped back, pressing it close to her chest. “You don’t own anything like this.”

“Oh yeah? You keeping inventory of my closet? Seems unlikely since you forgot what the jacket you got for me looks like!”

“Look Patty, you know I’m all for freedom of expression and all that, but you’re still a kid! Lady’s nearly twice your age in that photoshoot – she was wearing pieces of her school uniform for years before she diversified!”

Patty opened her mouth to retort before pausing and shaking her head. “We’re wasting time!” She sighed and set the magazine back on the desk. “Dante, what I meant was: can you please change into clothes that have at least been washed in the past week?”

Dante sighed in defeat, scratching his temple as he got up and headed towards the stairs. “Fine, I’ll see what I can dig up.”

“Thank you, you’re the best!”

Dante lazily threw up a hand as he continued up the stairs and disappeared through the door.

While she waited, Patty fell into her usual routine: clearing out trash, organizing papers, and carefully dusting the various knick-knacks and miscellany around Dante’s office hoping they weren’t cursed. She smiled at the large potted plant next to Dante's desk. It was she who insisted on getting plants to liven up the place. Sure, the only three plants in the office were fake - but it was still something! A necessary evil, as real plants would've been dead within weeks. It was nice having a little bit of green to contrast the rich reds and golds in the office. Of course, if it were up to her, the whole place would go through another remodel but alas, the office could never look as good as the time she decorated it when she was eight.

After about ten minutes, Dante reemerged. “Well kid,” upon stepping on the stair landing he slowly spun around with his arms out to his side. “Whaddya think?”

Dante wore a dark green corduroy jacket with two parallel strips of blue denim running alongside both arms. The zippers on his sleeves in between the denim were unzipped to his mid-forearm and his right sleeve had several patches on it. The asymmetrical zipper in the front was zipped up halfway with the black shirt underneath it being tucked into medium wash bootcut denim that were held up by a sideways black belt. The look was completed by dark gray leather boots tucked under the denim jeans and a zebra print neck scarf knotted to the side.

Patty nodded thoughtfully as she glanced him over, “Honestly it’s not bad!” She walked up and tugged on the neck scarf. “Maybe lose this though.”

“What? I think it’s cool! Ties the outfit together nicely.”

“Uh, maybe eight years ago,” Patty snorted, “Never seen you wear any of these things before. Where’d you even get this?”

“Got it during a job way, way down south in a place called Vie de Marli not long after you started living with Nina full time. Got it dry cleaned after I got back and haven’t worn it since.”

Patty scrunched her nose. “Huh, now that you mention it, you do kinda smell like moth balls...” She shrugged as she walked behind Dante’s desk. “But it’s way better than the crusty demon guts get-up you had on earlier so it’ll do!”

Patty grabbed a pair of car keys from behind the desk and bounded towards the couch to scoop up her box and bag. “How’s about I drive?” she beamed, jangling the keys in Dante’s direction.

Dante shrugged and let out a small sigh. “Why the hell not? You’ve already been bossin’ me around all morning, so let’s make it official – you’re the boss for today, kid.”

Patty skipped towards the front door, twirling the keys around her finger. “Alright then, let’s go Dante!”

Chapter Text

After a quick drive and circling the blocks surrounding Juliet Arena for a few minutes to find free parking, Dante and Patty made it to the merchandise line.

Dante put his hands in his pockets and surveyed the area as they waited in line. Juliet Arena had undergone a massive remodel several years ago to modernize it. The front of the venue was lined with several raised planter boxes. In a few months some of them would house blooming flowers, but for now during the tail end of winter, they contained only evergreen trees and grass. Several cars were parked on the curb of the street, which was relatively clean save for a few small mounds of clay along the sidewalk. Not a typical sight, but perhaps some poor ceramic artist was in a rush and couldn't be bothered to pick them up. Despite the concert being nearly nine hours away, the front of the venue was bustling with people of all ages. Throughout the line people were chatting, trading small cards and other accessories, and about a hundred feet away a small crowd had formed with people intermittently moving into the middle every minute to dance.

“Damn kid, I’ll be honest – I thought you were exaggerating when you said we needed to get here early to get your stuff.”

“I would never exaggerate," Patty laughed, dramatically placing a hand on her chest, “Not when it comes to something so important!”

Patty shifted the clear bag hanging from her shoulder and fiddled with a fuzzy keychain hanging off of it. “Anyway, I can’t believe you actually called Lady after I left on Tuesday to try and force her to come home all so you wouldn’t have to come with me! Isn’t there, like, a huge time difference between here and where she’s at? That’s so rude of you!”

“I didn’t try to force her,” Dante crossed his arms, “and it was only 2 AM. She was perfectly awake.”

Patty crossed her arms. “Uh huh… you said you called the number to her hotel room?”

“Yep.”

“And Vergil was with her?”

“Yep.”

Patty broke eye contact with Dante and shifted her eyes to the cement floor. A gentle wrinkle formed between her brows as she lazily rubbed her elbow. Her eyes appeared pensive.

“Look Patty, I wouldn’t be too worried about it. Lady definitely won’t let him summon any…” Dante quickly looked around, remembering they’re in public. “Uh, phallic structures on her watch.”

Patty’s eyebrows pinched together more as she snapped her head back towards Dante. “Ew! You didn’t have to say it like that! And anyway, it’s not that, it’s-“ Patty furrowed her eyebrows as she glanced over Dante. “Nevermind you’re hopeless. I’ll talk to Nero about it later.” She sighed, but her words held a soft thoughtfulness to them.

Dante raised his eyebrow. “Riiiight,” he unfolded his arms and stuck his hands back in his pockets as Patty turned away and mumbled to herself. He thought he heard something like “best” or “debt” or maybe “bet”…? He wasn’t listening that hard.

“Anyway, how long do you think it’s gonna take for us to make it to the front?”

Patty unfolded her arms and turned back towards Dante, her face brightening. “Well, the merch booth should be opening in about thirty minutes, so we should hopefully make it up there within the hour!”

As they were talking, Dante caught sight of two girls around Patty’s age eyeing the bracelets on her wrists from a few feet behind them in line. The twitch of his eyebrows was miniscule, but it was enough for Patty to notice. She turned, following his sightline, and upon spotting the girls she gave an enthusiastic wave.

“Hiiiiii! Do you guys want some freebies?”

The girls perked up and quickly said something to the person behind them before coming up to Patty.

“Who’re your biases? I have bracelets for each of the members,” Patty ran her thumb through the bracelets from elbow to wrist, “but I also have songs like Golden, Takedown, and oh-!” Patty bent down to pick up the clear box she had laid at her feet. “If you want to make your own, I have little baggies with string and beads! There’s a photocard and stickers in there too!”

“I’ll take one of your Mira bracelets, please!” One of the girls replied.

“Can I have a Rumi bracelet and two Zoey bracelets for me and our other friends?” The other girl asked, “Are you trading photocards too? I have some from the Golden single album I was still looking for.”

Patty tossed the clear box at Dante. “Here Dante, help me hand these out!”

The clacking sound from Patty beginning to take off bracelets caught the attention of other people in line and a few more began to come up to the pair.

Dante stood there with the box in his hands, watching as Patty fished out a small binder from her clear bag. Next to the fuzzy keychain on her bag was a clear rectangular keychain decorated with blue rhinestones and bow stickers. The stickers surrounded a photo of a smiling girl with black hair in two braided buns and choppy bangs, pinching her thumb and pointer finger together below her first knuckle. He was too engrossed in trying to figure out what the letters on the keychain spelled out to notice his own small line forming.

“Um mister,” a small child began shyly, “do you have any things for Zoey?”

Knocked out of his focus, Dante turned to the child. “Uh, sure!” He smiled sheepishly. “I, um… why don’t you look in the box for yourself and you can pick out which one you like. That sound good?”

The child brightened and began to rummage through the box. He did so with the same enthusiasm as a child that had been told to take whatever they wanted from a candy bowl on Halloween.

Finally, he pulled out a bag with a satisfied smile. “Thank you, mister!”

“No problem kid.” Dante offered the child a small salute and nodded to the woman, presumably mom, standing behind him.

The merch line began to slowly move as Dante awkwardly held out the box for people to look through. Next to him, Patty chattered away happily with her fellow fans while exchanging collectibles. He watched as Patty's clear bag filled with small cards, sticker sheets, and... candy? Perhaps this was more similar to Halloween than he thought. After a few minutes, things died down a bit as the line began to move faster and people returned to their places in line.

“You make all these things yourself? When’d you have time to do that?”

“Lady came by last week before she left on her job.” Patty adjusted the remaining bracelets on her wrists as they stepped forward. She only had about five remaining on her right arm and the bracelets on her left were about half-way up her forearm. “We beaded most of the bracelets together until my mom came home. Trish stopped by after dinner and we worked on the photocard baggies together while Lady and mom finished the bracelets.”

“No boys allowed?”

“Hah! As if you’d have come if I invited you.”

Dante shrugged, a playful smirk on his lips. “Fair enough.”

As they moved through the line, Dante began people watching to pass the time in between their conversations. Several people had walked past them wearing shirts that said “Huntr/x”, some holding rectangular boxes. More and more people had started to form small groups underneath the trees that lined the front of the arena. He thought he spotted some of them wearing Patty’s bracelets and let a small smile form on his lips.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a trio of young women looking in his direction, giggling.

“Hey Pattycake, why don’t you take this from your old man and give him a break?” he requested, his voice louder than it had to be.

This did nothing to deter the women, in fact, it seemed to make it worse. With more people hanging around the area chattering, it was difficult to make out the words of any one specific background conversation, but Dante heard snippets that sounded like “he’s so hot” and “DILF”.

“Um, no,” Patty scoffed at him, “you have to do what I say today, remember?”

Several more people came up to Dante and Patty as they continued towards the front of the line. One of the women who was ogling Dante came up to rummage through the box. He noticed her scanning his hands, rather than looking through the contents of the box. She grabbed a bag with a sultry “thank you” before walking back to her friends.

A few minutes later, another woman from the group came over. She looked up at Dante through her eyelashes, batting them to try and get his attention as her hands skimmed through the box. His eyes remained firmly placed on the box.

“Excuse me,” she said with a slow, airy tone, “this is for you.” She slipped a card in his hand before walking away. Patty caught the woman looking back at Dante as she walked past her and raised an eyebrow as she exchanged bracelets with the person in front of her.

Dante stared at a small photo of a smirking woman with long pink hair.

“What am I supposed to do with this, Patty?”

Patty thanked her trade partner before taking the photocard out of Dante’s hand. She rubbed it between her fingers and felt a loose piece of paper slide on the back. Flipping it around, she discovered a small strip of paper with a handwritten phone number taped down.

She smirked, waving it at Dante. “You owe me an ice cream!”

“Ugh that’s not fair,” Dante groaned, “can’t we retire this?”

“Uh-uh, no way! A tradition is tradition!”

“How’s about we change it up then? Instead of every time why not-“

“Paaaaaatty,” a loud voice boomed, “somehow I knew you’d be here!”

A tall, muscular blond man appearing to be in his late thirties raced towards the pair from the direction of the merch booth. He wore a white t-shirt about two sizes too small for him with “Huntr/x” screen printed in iridescent rainbow lettering.

“Isaac!” Patty beamed, “it’s nice to see you! Haven’t seen you around the restaurant in a while.”

Isaac came to a halt in front of the pair. He regarded Patty with a broad smile before turning to Dante with a considerably less familiar expression. His brow pinched slightly as he tried – and failed – to hide how he was glancing over Dante. It was five seconds before his face relaxed in recognition and the broad smile returned.

“Oh, and Dante too! Fancy seeing you here - almost didn’t recognize you! Experimenting with color, I see,” Isaac nodded as he looked Dante up and down again. “Love the neck scarf!”

Dante looked at Patty with a satisfied grin as he gestured towards Isaac. “See? It looks great!”

Patty snorted. “Um, yeah. I’m not sure I’d be taking fashion advice from someone who used to walk around with a v neck down to-” Patty shook her head. Not the time to be arguing about fashion. “Y’know what nevermind. More importantly, Isaac, what was that reaction? What other old white-haired man would I be with?”

“I’m-”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Isaac started with a shrug before Dante could finish, “I thought maybe he was that mysterious uncle that we all hear whispers about, but never see.”

“You’re not missing out on much,” Dante gestured dramatically at himself, “picture me: only less handsome-”

“You two are identical.”

“That doesn’t change anything! Anyway, as I was saying – picture me, but less handsome, a worse haircut, and a permanent scowl on my face due to the huge stick up my ass.” Dante straightened his posture and comically contorted his face into an exaggerated sneer.

“Permanent scowl…?” Isaac had brought his hand to his chin as if he were in deep though. “So, kind of like the time when we first met?”

“Hah!”

“Hey, I was never that bad. It was more of an… apathetic expression more than anything.”

“Oh no, you definitely acted like you had a stick up your butt back then most of the time.” Patty laughed as she turned to Isaac. “I’d probably say the biggest visible difference between the two besides the hair is that he’s got a penchant for blue clothing instead of red. He is still kind of an ice king, but I’m told he’s chilled out considerably. Or, uh, I guess thawed out.”

“Can't a guy get a break? First of all, I had a lot of stuff going on back then so I think we're clearly in fair pass territory. Second, he has, but just because the stick’s shorter doesn’t mean it’s not still there. Trust me – you’re not the one who spent months in Hell with him.” Isaac’s face snapped towards Dante with a mildly startled expression. After pretty much stalking Dante for the better part of a week many years ago due to some misguided white knight gambit, Isaac had discovered his demonic heritage, so it wasn’t exactly a secret to him. But still. Probably should change the subject.

“Ahem. But anyway, wasn’t expecting to see you here.” Dante pivoted.

“Ah! If I’m being honest, I wasn’t super aware of them before a few weeks ago. But my fiancée and little Lucy are fans, so I had to join ‘em. As a fellow girl dad, I’m sure you know how it is.” Isaac relaxed, putting a hand on Dante’s shoulder and nodding in exaggerated solemnity.

“Right...”

“Ooh, fiancée huh? Congratulations!”

“Thank you,” Isaac took his hand off Dante’s shoulder and placed it on his chest with a proud smile. “After years of asking, she finally wore me down and I said yes.”

“Isaac, don’t run off like that! We weren’t finished looking at the stuff yet!” A woman in her mid-to-late thirties with short, cinnamon brown hair slowly jogged over holding the hand of a young blonde girl.

“Sorry honey!”

“Hey Cindy, congrats on graduating from baby mama to fiancée.” Dante greeted with a teasing grin. “Worth the chase?”

“Thank you,” Cindy laughed, her eyes shining. “I’d say so. At least for right now - we’ll see if we make it to the chapel!”

Patty chuckled as Isaac sputtered in shock from Cindy’s comment. “Say hi to Dante and Patty, Lucy.” Cindy nodded to the young girl at her side.

“Hi Dante. Hi Patty.” Lucy greeted shyly.

“Hey squirt. How old are you now?”

“Seven.”

“You’re so big now!” Patty interjected, “Do you want to pick out some bracelets and photocards for you and your parents?”

The corners of Dante’s lips slightly twitched upwards as he glanced at the girls cheerfully chatting. “If you three are here does that mean Fredi’s closed for the day?”

“No, thankfully not! We convinced old man Fredi to come out of retirement for today, so he’s holding down the fort while we have a family day out.” Isaac responded.

“We were planning on going out for lunch and doing a little shopping after we got done buying merch to kill time before the concert starts,” Cindy chimed in, “what about you two?”

“Dunno,” Dante shrugged, “Patty’s in charge for today so I got no idea.”

“I gotta say, I’m surprised shorty’s stuck with you for so long,” Cindy laughed, “though she’s not so short anymore. Doesn’t feel like that long ago she was barely up to your waist!”

Dante crossed his arms, lightly smirking, “Won’t be long before yours sprouts up and gets taller than you.”

“Nooooooooooooo, don’t say that!”

Dante and Cindy laughed at Isaac’s dramatic exclamation. The five continued chatting until they reached the front of the line and parted ways. The wall of the pop-up tent was lined with shirts, sweaters, hats, and tote bags of various colors, all with “Huntr/x” written on them. Laid out on the table were posters with three young women pictured: one with long pink hair, one with black hair in two braided buns, and one with a long light purple braid. Next to the posters were small cards with those same women, arranged in a fan shape for display. At the end of the table, what appeared to be a thick silver tube attached to a hollow quatrefoil with lines running through the open space and a stylized “H” in the center was propped up against a silver rectangular box.

Dante grimaced as Patty rattled off her purchases: two tote bags, two posters, a set of photocards, three child sized shirts, one pink shirt, and one lightstick. Patty hummed happily as the pair walked towards the nearest tree with her items. Dante stared dejectedly at the receipt as they sat down and Patty inspected her haul.

“Dante,” Patty practically vibrated with excitement as she held out her hand, interrupting Dante’s stupor, “hand me the batteries, will you?”

Dante stiffened. Shit.

“Dante…”

“You’re the one who showed up early and rushed me!”

“I asked you to remember one thing and of course you forget!” Patty jabbed the lightstick at Dante’s chest. “The store across the street should have triple A batteries. Go on! I’ll wait by that group of people dancing.”

Dante groaned as he got up and stalked off towards the crosswalk.

“Remember: they’re triple A! Don’t buy the wrong ones!”

“I won’t!” Dante yelled, throwing a hand up in acknowledgment without turning around.

Chapter Text

⋆˖⁺✧‧₊☽◯☾₊‧✧⁺˖⋆

“Mmmm, I forgot how good this could taste!”

The fluorescent lighting in the diner made the fuzzy blue bucket hat atop a young woman’s head appear an even brighter shade of blue. The young woman practically inhaled the slice of pepperoni pizza in her hand and grabbed another slice before she was finished.

The table in front of her was covered in an assortment of food: chicken wings, fries, hot dogs, pizza, and burgers to name only a few. One of her companions, another young woman with long braided purple hair tucked underneath a pink hood, laughed as she reached for her own slice.

“Enjoying the taste of your childhood, Zoey?”

The third young woman at the table tucked her long pink hair behind her ear before nonchalantly dipping her fries in ketchup. “Don’t tease her too much, Rumi. Been a while since we’ve been able to tour out west, so I’m sure it’s nice being closer to home.”

“What about you Mira?” Zoey asked the pink haired woman, wiping sauce from the corner of her mouth, “how d’ya like the pizza?”

“S’pretty good,” Mira replied while squirting condiments on her hot dog, “think I prefer sweet potato pizza but I can see its merits.”

“It’s been so nice being out here,” Rumi mused, “after that demon tree popped up a few cities down last year, I thought we might have to be on guard but there hasn’t been anything so far.”

“And it’s not just that city,” Zoey chimed in, “apparently a few years ago, someone summoned a demon and it nearly destroyed the hotel we’re staying in! And years before that a giant demon tower popped out of the ground near that combination brunch-afternoon tea place we went to yesterday!”

“Honestly, I bet the fights to take those things down were pretty sick. Think they have their own version of the honmoon around here?” Mira considered.

“Nah, I don’t think that’s it,” Zoey tucked a stray piece of black hair under her hat, “word around the area is that there’s a group of demon hunters that operate here. Bet they’re the ones who keep the order. And, oh, get this - have you two heard of Sparda? The demon knight who rose up against his king and helped create the barrier between the human and demon world?”

“Everyone hears that story as a kid. Why ask?” Rumi inquired, popping a chicken bone out of her mouth.

“Well, I heard his son is one of the demon hunters!” Zoey exclaimed, enthusiastically dipping a fist full of fries into ketchup. “A half demon, half human demon hunter – just like you Rumi!”

Rumi perked up slightly, fiddling with her hoodie strings. “Oh, that’s – wow. Y’know I’ve never really thought about there being others like me. Half demons, I mean.”

Mira adjusted her sunglasses, eating a chicken wing over the table to not get sauce on her raglan sleeve t-shirt. “Think he’s around here somewhere? You know his name or what he looks like, Zoey?”

“Hmm, I think his name is D… something? Damien? Donald…? I don’t know for sure, but I heard there’s a man who lives here - has white, or maybe silver, hair and walks around in a long red leather coat no matter what season it is. Carries two pistols, sometimes has big sword strapped the his back, sometimes a guitar case. Prob’ly our guy.”

Rumi stared pensively at her full glass of soda. “Hm. Probably.”

Mira chewed on her hot dog, eyeing Rumi carefully. “You know you can always tell us what’s on your mind, Rumi.”

“Yeah,” Zoey said gently, “I know it hasn’t been that long since the Idol Awards, but we’re always here for you.”

“We might not understand exactly what you’re going through, but we have your back. Always.” Mira confirmed.

“Living up to that ‘expert at reading people’ title, huh, Mira?” Rumi smiled at the two gently. “I was… I was thinking about how little I know about this whole half-demon thing. How it’d be nice to talk to someone who might know more.”

“Well, while we’re still here, why don’t we try to find him?” Zoey suggested.

“Yeah, we can always ask Bobby and the team to put some feelers out. According to Zoey, it seems the locals would know. Maybe he’s got a phone number, address… something like that.”

“Yeah, Bobby always knows how to get something done,” Rumi smiled to herself, “… you know, I never used to believe that Sparda was real.”

Mira let out a puff through her nose in agreement as she downed her fries. “Heh, me neither. If you would’ve asked me a few months ago, I’d tell you it was just another children’s fairytale. Perspectives have… changed though.”

“I’m surprised Celine never said anything about him,” Zoey added as she cut into her chicken fried steak, “do you think she believes he existed?”

“She must have known about him. I can’t imagine that there’s no records from the previous hunters about his existence. I mean, he’s supposedly been around for two thousand years, right? The first hunters might even have met him.” Rumi chewed on the inside of her mouth as she poked at her grilled cheese sandwich. “I think it’s likely that whatever happened with my parents probably influenced her decision not to tell me... to tell us.”

“Hm. I guess so. At least now we know that he’s real though. Probably.” Mira’s tone as she shifted the subject was nonchalant, but her eyes very delicately regarded Rumi.

Rumi offered a small smile to Mira before returning to idly stirring her soda with the straw. “You seem like you’ve always believed though Zoey.”

“Oh, that’s because I have! I mean, who could resist the idea of a noble demon knight turning against his king and sealing the demon world away for the sake of his lady lo-”

Rumi flicked her eyes at Zoey upon hearing her abruptly stop. Zoey’s face was scrunched up, her eyes soft with regret.

“It’s okay, Zoey. The whole idea, it’s…” Rumi felt a sharpness in her chest, as though someone had reached into her and roughly yanked her heart. “It’s quite… romantic.”

Mira shifted her gaze between Rumi and Zoey. “Hm. Is that why you were initially so adamant about the Saja Boys being magicians or nice demons?”

“Hehe, it was part of the reason, for sure!” Zoey’s eyes sparkled mischievously. “But hey, even if I wasn’t one hundred percent right in that instance, I did turn out to be right. Our very own leader is proof of nice demons!”

A warmth bloomed in Rumi’s chest as the sharp sting faded.

“Thanks, you two.”

Huntrix continued to eat as their conversation shifted to sights they wanted to see around the city, other foods they wanted to try, and preparations for the new post-tour single. After all the food on their table had been demolished, the women ordered some burgers and a pizza to go. They wandered around the local establishments and eventually found themselves window-shopping in an area within a mile of their concert venue.

“Mmmm, nothing like a slice of cold pizza!”

“I’ll take your word for it, Zoey,” Mira snorted, “Ugh, walking past all these sweet shops is killing me.”

“I know,” Rumi groaned, “I can’t wait to inhale a gigantic milkshake after the concert!”

“Ya think there’s still time to put stuff on our rider?”

“Here, I’ll text Bob-” Mira froze with her hand in her pocket. “Hey girls, do you see that?”

Zoey and Mira paused their stride and turned to face the direction Mira was looking. In a nearby alley, a white-haired man in a green jacket rubbed his temples in frustration, his eyes firmly closed. Behind him, a skeletal creature in a tattered robe had its scythe raised overhead, preparing to bring it down.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

“Five stores and none of them have triple A batteries?!” Dante mumbled, trudging out of the convenience store.

He paced in the adjacent alley. Okay, Dante. One more store and we call it quits. He paused and squeezed his eyes shut, rubbing his temples. Patty will get over it eventually, right? I’ll just need to find a way to make it up to her-

Upon feeling the tell-tale shift in the air above him, he threw his left arm up until it was parallel with his shoulder, bending his elbow at a seventy-degree angle. A craggy material resembling cooled lava appeared in his grip. On one side, the grip extended up to a pommel with a red jewel while the other side extended down, past a handguard curled up like draconic talons, and into the shape of a large, doubled edged, two-handed sword. The summoned sword blocked the demon’s scythe with ease and Dante let go of the hilt, twisting around to face it. He grabbed the hilt with his right arm, but before he could complete an upwards slash what appeared to be several small iridescent rainbow knives whipped past him. They landed directly into the demon’s empty sockets, yellow tassels blowing in the wind due to the momentum at which the knives attached to them were thrown. Dante raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar weapons.

Eh. I’ll deal with it later.

He completed the upward diagonal swing of his sword, tearing into the demon. The demon dissipated into sand until all that was left on the ground were splinters of wood and the mysterious iridescent knives.

“Whoa!” Dante heard a high pitched, feminine voice exclaim from behind him.

As he turned around, he was met with the sight of three young women. There was one with a purple braid tucked into the back of her pink hoodie, wielding a thin, single-edged sabre, glowing in the same translucent rainbow sheen as the knives. She posed as though she was ready to charge forward. Another woman, tall with long pink hair, was holding a polearm with a massive crescent shaped iridescent blade at the ready. In between them stood a shorter woman with black hair tucked underneath a fuzzy blue bucket hat. Her right arm extended out in front of her with her palm open. Her left arm hung at her side, her hand holding three small iridescent knives in a fan shape. Bingo. Didn’t take long to solve that mystery.

“Thanks for the assist, ladies,” Dante’s voice held a lighthearted tone, but his shoulders remained tense. “Can I know the name of my saviors?”

“Zoey!”

“Mira.”

“Rumi... Care to give us yours?”

The girls unsummoned their weapons, prompting Dante to unsummon his devil sword.

“Dante.”

Zoey gasped and smacked Mira and Rumi in the back.

“Ow!”

“Hey!”

“Dante, that was his name! It’s Dante!” Zoey grabbed the two other women by the waist and rushed forward, the three of them inelegantly shuffling towards him. “Are you Dante the demon hunter? Son of the legendary dark knight, Sparda?” She chirped enthusiastically.

“Uh, Zoey you sure? This guy’s wearing a green jacket…”

Dante’s jaw tightened. “Maybe. Do I know you?” Dante’s eyes narrowed slightly as he scanned the three young women in front of him. They couldn’t be much older than Nero.

His brow furrowed as they got closer. “Wait, you do kind of look familiar… have we actually met before?”

“Nope. Not possible.” Mira replied bluntly.

“We definitely haven’t met, but I’ve heard so much about you!” Zoey grabbed Dante’s hand, enthusiastically shaking it. The gesture gave Dante a bit of déjà vu. “It’s so nice to meet you, um, Mr. Sparda sir!”

“Just Dante’s fine. Mr. Sparda was my father. I’m not one for formalities.”

“I’ve never seen a demon like that one before,” Rumi squatted next to the pile of sand and wooden shrapnel. “Are they common around here?”

“Nah, they’re just grunts but they don’t show up too often anymore,” Dante dropped to one knee and picked up a piece of wood, turning it between his fingers. “I’m told that last year, they were all over the place in the tri-city area for about a month or-so. Before and after that though, they had to possess something to cross over. Looks like this guy possessed some wood to get over on this side. Probably some wooden doll from an amateur occult enthusiast who got too far in over their head.”

“Huh. Interesting.” Mira peered over the two at the pile.

“What are you doing in the area, Dante?” Rumi asked as they both stood up.

Dante stiffened. Shit, that’s right. “Ah, yeah – my, um, daughter sent me on an errand.”

“Aw, your daughter? How cute! How old is she?”

“Eighteen.”

All three of the women’s eyes slightly widened.

“What,” Dante smirked mischievously, “I look too young to have an eighteen-year-old? I appreciate the help ladies, but I really gotta-”

A loud boom reverberated through the area and shook their surroundings. The source came from the same direction as Juliet Arena.

Patty. Dante took off.

After a second of initial shock, Rumi, Mira, and Zoey rushed after him.

“How fast do we need to get there? Do you know what’s going on?” Zoey’s voice was steady despite her sprinting.

“No, but Patty’s in the same area as whatever caused that sound is.”

“Patty? If you’re referring to your daughter, shouldn’t she be fine?” Mira inquired as she caught up to Dante.

“She’s not real- She’s not mine by blood. I’ve just known her since she was eight, took care of her for a while – y’know, that kind of deal. Anyways, what’s important right now is that she’s fully human and has no weapons and no means of defending herself against something that can make a ruckus that big. Not to mention, there’s a whole bunch of other unarmed civilians in that area.”

“Good enough reason for me.” Rumi pulled up behind the group, flicking her eyes to the side as they ran to scan for other demons.

As the four ran towards the source of the boom, a bright glint from a large metal object temporarily overtook the shine from the sun as it moved through the sky.

Chapter Text

Patty swung her legs while drumming the brick of the raised planter box beneath her. Enough time had passed that the shade from the tree she had initially chosen to sit under had moved. Even though it was still technically winter, being out of the sun still felt nice. Capulet city was known to have an early snowy season and early start to spring. Patty was used to this, having lived in Capulet all her life. She wondered what the weather would be like in her new home once she moved away for college.

“Ugh, how hard is it to find batteries? It’s got to have been, like, nearly two hours at least!” Patty grumbled to herself.

She sighed and unzipped her clear bag to reach for a snack when she felt it suddenly begin to vibrate. Surprised, she grabbed her thin, lavender colored smartphone. Tucked in between the back of her phone and its sparkly transparent case was a photocard of all three Huntr/x members.

Unknown Number was plastered on the screen when she turned it around, which meant it could only be one person.

“Trish?”

“Patty, where’s Dante?” Trish’s typical cool, velvety feminine voice was a bit more pressured than usual.

“He’s probably around the area, but he’s not with me right now. Why?”

“Where are you?”

“Juliet Arena. You know – for the concert.”

“Damn, I was hoping you wouldn’t need to be dragged into this. You need to find Dante,” Trish directed urgently, “Patty, this is important. I’m in Prospero right now following up on a possible Devil Arm lead and while tailing some members of a local cult I found a summoning circle. It looks unrelated to the cult.”

Patty’s jaw tightened as Trish continued. “This - ugh Gods it reeks of blood in here. And… steamed rice?” Patty heard Trish clear her throat in disgust. “This room is full of sewing needles and ripped up photos – not sure what they’re of. One that’s slightly less ripped up looks like it’s got something hot pink on it? That might just be the blood though... Doesn't matter - what’s important is that there’s a tour poster for that group you like, and Juliet Arena is circ-“

The sound of shrill shrieks tore into Patty’s other ear. Looking up, Patty saw a wave of people running from the streets towards the arena’s glass doors. Patty threw down her things and rushed towards the commotion.

“Trish, I think your hunch is correct,” Patty weaved in between people fleeing and saw a small group of skeletal figures wielding scythes shambling along the sidewalk. “There’s a few Hell Caina here – nothing I can’t handle.”

As Patty rushed towards them, the small shard of Alan’s Tear in her necklace glowed and sent beams of light towards the demons. In the eight, nearly nine, years since she first discovered its power the night Abigail was summoned, she’d learned how to control it more. However, she was still far off from mastering its power. It’s partially why she decided to leave Capulet; the college she’d chosen had a robust program on the history of alchemy. Perhaps she could find some answers.

Patty ran up to a security guard shakily pointing his handgun at the group of skeletal demons. “I’m gonna need this, sorry!” She snatched the 9mm Glock 17 out of his hand. It’ll have to do.

While the demons were stunned, Patty fired off three shots into the each of the Hell Caina with one hand. There was a slight stretch in her forearm from the recoil, but her aim was precise. The months spent convincing her mother and Lady to have Lady teach her how to shoot had been worth it.

4 demons, 12 shots, 5 bullets left.

“Okay, Trish I think that’s-“

The grating sound of metal grinding on asphalt ripped through the area.

“Patty, what made that noise?” Trish asked firmly.

A creature the size of a large bear had torn up a lamppost with its long trunk, dragging it down the road creating large sparks. Several more Hell Caina appeared in front of the creature, their scythes on the ground creating miniscule sparks compared to the creature. As the Hell Caina rushed towards the unknown beast, it swung the lamp post, instantly disintegrating them. All that remained of them was sand blowing through the air and small clumps of clay landing unceremoniously on the asphalt.

Patty had never seen any demon like this before. “Uh, I don’t know, it – it has a trunk and tusks like an elephant,” Patty slowly stepped towards the creature and squinted. “But it’s body, it’s like, a bear but it’s got paws like a tiger’s…? Any of this sound familiar to you, Trish?”

“No, I can’t think of anything like that off the top of my head. What’s it doing?”

“It’s, um, it’s got a lamp post in its trunk and is dragging it along the road. Hit a few Hell Caina with it.”

“It attacking any humans? Or doing anything else?”

“No. I think it’s… chewing on the lamppost?”

“Okay, don’t attack it just yet. We don’t know if you have the firepower for it. Just get everyone inside and wait for Dante. That thing’s probably made enough noise that he’s coming to check it out if he’s around the area. Stay on the line with me while I figure out what this thing is.”

“Gotcha.”

Patty put her phone on speaker and clicked the safety of the gun on as she jogged towards the arena entrance. She ran along the back of the crowd, helping security usher people in through the doors. As she softly comforted a young woman near the door, a loud boom of crashing metal and glass reverberated through the area, shaking their surroundings like a small earthquake.

The woman in front of her shrieked and rushed through the arena doors as Patty turned around to witness the creature, now the size of an elephant, wrapping its trunk around a destroyed semi-truck.

“Uh, Trish, this thing got bigger!”

“How big?”

“Like, the size of an elephant big!” Patty tucked her phone in the chest pocket of her jacket as she surged forward. She sent a beam of light at the creature with Alan’s Tear but it seemed to do nothing. Unclicking the safety, she steadied the gun with both hands and fired a shot between its beady eyes. The creature remained unfazed, the bullet bouncing off its skin. As it parted its mouth to chew on the metal from the semi-truck, Patty took the opportunity to fire two shots into the plushy opening, hoping that was the key.

Still nothing.

The creature wrapped its trunk around a parked car and tossed it high up into the air, temporarily blocking the sun and casting a huge shadow, before catching it in its mouth.

“Trish this thing eats metal!” Patty huffed, rushing down the road. As the car disappeared into its mouth, it appeared to grow bigger. “That’s how it’s growing! I need to get this thing away from the arena!”

Looking frantically around the area, Patty spotted the empty, wide space of Tybalt Park two blocks away.

“Hey!” She fired off two shots. Only one came out. Damn, the guard must’ve already fired one. She grabbed a large piece of metal shrapnel and slammed it on the asphalt, harsh tinny noises echoing down the street, before dragging it to create sparks.

“Come get your snack!” She heaved the metal up to her chest, positioning it so the sun reflected in the monster’s face. Its small, golden, rhinoceros-like eyes turned to the source of the light. The ground rumbled slightly as the monster began to trot forward to where Patty was standing with the metal.

Her heart thrummed, feet kicking up small pebbles as she ran towards the park. No weapons. No plan. Just need to keep the others safe.

“You got anything yet, Trish?”

“No – just hold on a bit longer, Patty. I know you can do that.”

Parts of the road shined, littered with shards of colorful acrylic lacquer painted cars. Despite the obstacles, Patty maneuvered past the obstacles with relative ease. It’s times like this she was grateful she got her first pair of heels at an early age. She remembered the elegant black slingback kitten heels gifted to her on her 12^th birthday by Trish. A few months after, she began small lessons with Lady and Trish, part of which consisted of running in said heels. “You never know when you’re going need to get somewhere fast when you’re all dolled up!” She remembered the playful lilt in Trish’s voice – the first time she’d ever seen her be anything but the cool, collected, badass demon hunter. She thought it was silly at the time, but they were right – she understood now that she was older.

Out of the corner of her eye, Patty detected movement in an alley.

“Patty!” She heard the unmistakable timbre of Dante’s voice, though it was slightly more winded than she was used to.

“Dante!” Patty cried out in relief. Turning her head to face him, she caught sight three young women close on his heels.

“Huntrix?!” Patty’s right knee buckled and the tip of her shoe scraped across the asphalt for a second before she regained her stride.

“Huh?” Dante’s eyes darted behind him, following Patty’s gaze. “Oh them – we’ll talk about that later.”

“Fill us in on the situation,” Mira panted slightly, having sprinted nearly a mile.

“Yeah, what’s going on?” Zoey asked, peering over her shoulder at the creature.

“Oh, um, yeah - a couple of Hell Caina showed up and right after this bear, elephant, tiger… thing showed up and started eating metal and growing! Guns aren’t working and neither is Alan’s Tear.”

“Eating metal? Sounds like a Bulgasari,” Rumi suggested.

“What?! Aren’t those things supposed to be unkillable?” Zoey exclaimed.

“Just because something can’t be killed, doesn’t mean you can’t beat it into submission.” Dust danced in the air for a moment as Dante skidded to a halt in front of the Tybalt Park fountain.

“Some stories say you can kill them with fire,” Rumi informed as the five of them caught their breath. “Learned about them in my studies when I was a kid.”

“Sounds like we need to bring the heat,” Mira smirked, anticipating the battle. “Anyone got a match?”

A loud crackly, crunch filled the area as the Bulgasari crossed the park boundary, snapping trees like twigs as it trudged towards them.

“Patty, drop what you’re holding and get somewhere safe,” Trish’s muted voice crackled through Patty’s phone. “Dante’s got this!”

“You heard her kid. Get going!”

Patty’s grip on the metal panel tightened for a moment before she tossed it at her feet. She ran, far enough out of the line of fire, but close enough to observe. She turned in time to see Mira in the air, bringing down her wol-do on the beast’s back.

The crescent shaped blade of her weapon bounced off its skin with a reverberant clink. As if it were hitting metal. Zoey’s shin-kal flew at the Bulgasari’s legs, similarly clinking against it and falling to the cobblestone below in a harsh clack. Rumi swung her saingeom down on the Bulgasari’s face, only for it to catch it in its mouth. Rumi hung off the sword’s hilt before using the momentum from the swinging caused by the creature’s chewing to flip through the air and land safely on the ground.

Rumi summoned her sword back in her hand, flicking the slobber off it with a wince. “Maybe we should try the fire thing.”

“Got it,” Dante summoned his devil sword and nodded at them. “You girls stay back for now! Things might get a little too hot for ya!”  

Sparks of glowing red ash filled the air around him as he surged forward, flames swirling around his body. The center of his blade split open to reveal molten lava. Where the man once was, a draconic, demonic looking creature appeared. His body, now a mix of craggy demonic stone and scales, covered him from the tips of his taloned feet to the large, upward facing ram-like horns protruding from his head. He glowed, incandescent, as whisps of cracking flame surround his body, his chest emitting a burning orange with molten lava. The insides of his two pairs of bat-like wings rippled with thin, red lava-like streams. They tucked in behind him as he started to fly towards the Bulgasari, spiraling towards it like a drill. The creature roared as it was pushed back from the impact. Once sufficiently far away from Huntrix, Dante flared out his wings before folding them in towards his body, unleashing a torrent of flaming orbs towards the Bulgasari. Shrill shrieks filled the area as the monster cried out in pain, now on fire.

Dante resummoned his sword, a barrage of translucent, red ethereal swords swirling in front of him as he brought down his sword on the Bulgasari’s head. Sparks covered his body like a cloud as he descended and regained his human form as his boots hit the ground.

“Okay ladies, time to rock!”

On cue, Huntrix’s faces shifted from looks of bewilderment and shock to fiery and battle ready as they charged forward towards the Bulgasari.

“That was so cool!” Zoey exclaimed, throwing her knives at the creature’s eyes before resummoning her shin-kal and dragging the blades across its body.

“Yeah, that was sick. You think you can do that too, Rumi?” Mira asked, slashing her wol-do on the opposite side of the Bulgasari’s body alongside Zoey.

“Maybe,” Rumi leapt up over the creature, summoning a sword – different from her other one – wider with a curved tip and upturned handguard. Still, the intricate details on the blade glowed with the same iridescent shine. “We’ll have to test it out some other time – I think this thing might just be about done!” She smirked, bringing the blade down on its head.

The creature roared in anger, shaking the ground below and expelling small gusts of fire outward. Patches of grass caught fire as the Bulgasari began thrashing.

“Uh… or maybe not!”

✩⋆˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆｡˚⋆✩

The four demon hunters continued their assault on the Bulgasari as Patty wandered back to the fountain to observe the action. From her position, she could see Dante and Huntrix flit around the beast with practiced precision. Rumi swung at the monster’s legs as Mira and Zoey slashed above. Seeing them fight in such perfect sync reminded Patty of the first time she had seen Dante, Lady, and Trish fight alongside each other.

Still, the Bulgasari continued to thrash, seemingly growing more and more angry. Was it using its last burst of power in desperation before defeat or could it truly not be killed?

“Trish, do you have any more information on this Bulgasari thing?” Patty asked, pulling out her phone. “Is this thing even a demon?”

“Not all monsters are demons, but what does that matter?”

“And not all demons are monsters. I know that firsthand, you know that firsthand,” Patty frowned, picking up a miraculously intact plum blossom and single stalk of chrysanthemum that had been torn up from the flower beds in the scuffle. She turned the stems of the two pink flowers over in her fingers. “It’s just – something doesn’t quite sit right with me. It was wrecking the place – that’s for sure – but… it didn’t seem malicious. At least, not until we attacked it. It even killed some of those Hell Caina.”

“Hmm,” Patty could hear the rustling of paper over the line, “there’s conflicting text about this creature. Some say it’s a bloodthirsty beast while some say it can offer protection. This one says it can defeat nightmares, evil spirits, prevent hurricanes, protect from… incubi?”

Patty let out a small exhale from her nose, the sides of her mouth curling up slightly. “Hm. Seems kinda random.”

“At any rate, whether this thing means well or not doesn’t matter right now. It just needs to be stopped.”

“Right…” Patty tucked her phone back in her pocket and looked up towards the battle.

The Bulgasari continued to thrash wildly, knocking against a tree which immediately caught fire. The four hunters continued to dance around the creature, bouncing between attacking it and putting out the small fires. Zoey continued her constant barrage of shin-kal on the creature's face in an attempt to wear down its hide and disorient it. Dante swung his large sword over the small flames, smothering them in one swoop as his small red ethereal swords slashed at the Bulgasari's feet. Mira had done something similar, twisting her wol-do around her to extinguish the flames, before sticking its blade in the dirt and using it to propel her into the beast's side with a hard kick. The force pushed it right into Rumi's waiting blade.

Despite their efforts, every rush of air from their weapons designed to put out small flames only served to flare the larger ones. The fire continued to catch the surrounding vegetation at a rate too quick to manage. Tybalt Park would eventually be engulfed in flames if something didn’t give. Patty's jaw tensed as she caught the familiar glint of the piece of metal she discarded.

Ah... Screw it.

Picking up the jagged metal sheet, she rushed towards the battle.

“Hey! Stop!” Patty yelled as she reached the hunters.

“Patty,” Dante scolded, slashing at the Bulgasari, “I told you to stay back!”

“Everyone, I said stop! The whole park’s gonna burn down at this rate!” Patty asserted through gritted teeth before turning towards Dante. “Trust me. Just this once.”

Dante let out a grunt, but fell back, signaling for Huntrix to do the same. “Fine,” his voice remained firm, protective, “but if I catch even the slightest hint of your plan not working, we’re doing this my way.”

Patty shifted the metal into the same hand as the flowers, placing her free hand on her necklace. Please, work.

A bright light swathed over the area, blinding them, before dissipating to reveal smoking ash where fire once was.

The Bulgasari let out a low whine as one of its legs bucked and it was forced to kneel on the ground.

“I don’t know if you can understand me. I know you’re probably confused and scared… but you have to stop now.” Patty slowly approached, careful not to aggravate it.

Even if it really turned out to be unkillable, Dante and Huntr/x still seemed to do a number on the beast. Its attempts to stand were more akin to a newborn fawn than a bloodthirsty monster. After a few attempts, it settled on the floor fully seated.

“Whoever summoned you can’t hurt you. There are no more evil spirits for you to defeat. You aren’t protecting anyone like this. Please stop.” The Bulgasari let out a snort through its trunk as Patty came closer. She wasn’t an expert on elephants and definitely was not an expert on whatever strange, almost chimera-like, creature this was. Still, something in her gut told her that sound held no malice.

Patty stopped five feet away from where the Bulgasari’s trunk was resting, curled slightly on the ground. She held out the metal sheet with the two flowers laid on top in front of her.

“Just… rest now.”

Patty poured every ounce of earnestness and authority she had into her gaze. The creature regarded her, the expression of its small eyes unreadable. It let out a softer snort, before lifting its trunk to wrap around the gifts. As the Bulgasari brought the pile to its mouth, it closed its eyes and tilted its head down in what looked like a small bow.

The sharp, tinny sound of crushing metal filled the area before another flash of light engulfed the creature. Where the Bulgasari once stood, was a staff floating among the scattering specks of light. At the very top of the staff, a pointed tip connected to a dome shaped mound protruded out, reminiscent of a reliquary stupa for holy relics. The stupa sat on top of a trefoil shaped silvery metal ring. At its center was another, larger stupa glowing with an iridescent rainbow sheen being held up by two flared out wings etched from metal. The bottom of the intricate finial was looped with metal rings and gave way to a long, shiny metal shaft. Soft jingling permeated through the area as it slowly floated into Patty’s hands.

“Well, damn! That worked. Good job kid.” Dante relaxed the grip he had on his Devil Sword.

“Yeah, you did great!” Zoey excitedly bounded over to Patty.

Patty’s grip on the staff tightened as she pulled it closer to her body in an attempt to stop herself from shaking.

“Um, uhh, y-yeah-! Thank you, Zoey!” Patty sputtered. “And Mira! And Rumi too! Sorry you all got dragged into this.”

Rumi smiled softly at Patty. “It’s no problem.”

“Yeah, just part of the job.” Mira shrugged cooly.

The jingling of metal rings brought Patty out of the stupor from meeting her favorite group. Her heart continued to beat in her ears as she awkwardly shuffled over to Dante, holding out the staff.

“Keep it,” Dante softly set his hand on the staff and pushed it back. The corner of his mouth tilted upwards. “Never know when ya gotta fight demons while all dressed up.”

A snort came from Patty’s chest pocket. “You stole that line from me.”

“Trish? You still here?”

“I’ve got to get back to work,” Trish said, ignoring Dante. “I’ll see you in a few weeks. Good work today, Patty. Proud of you. Enjoy the concert!”

“Bye, see you soon!” Patty turned her attention back to the staff and squeezed it to examine its sturdiness. Upon that action, it dissipated in a shimmer of light and a cool sensation pressed a circular indent into her palm. Opening her hand, she was met with an intricate metal ring.

Dante peered over as Patty pinched the ring between her right pointer finger and thumb. “You should put it on your pointer finger.”

Patty looked up, confusion flashing in her eyes before being overtaken with a playful glint. She hovered the ring over her left ring finger. “What? Not prepared to walk me down the aisle just yet?”

A sharp exhale came through from the back of Dante’s throat. He crossed his arms to distract from the small, brief tug in his chest. “We really need to workshop your jabs kid. You gotta at least try to make ‘em believable. I meant it’d be easier to remove if you put it on your pointer finger.”

“Hah! Well if I was, I wouldn’t ask you. No wonder you hate your devil arms talking so much – if they did more people would know all the embarrassing stuff you say!” 

Before Dante and Patty could start bickering Rumi cleared her throat. “We should get back to the arena. Need to survey the damage and prep for the concert.”

“Ah! Yeah, Bobby’s probably worried!” Zoey exclaimed, starting to jog towards the arena.

“You two want to join us backstage?” Mira asked, glancing back at Dante and Patty.

Dante furrowed his eyebrows in slight confusion as the group of five walked towards the arena. Glancing over the three women again, realization hit.

“Ohhhh, that’s right,” he gestured at Zoey, “you’re that girl from her keychain.”

“Dante! Did you seriously not remember what they look like?!” Patty smacked his arm with the back of her hand.

“Hey! In my defense, I never really got a good look at them until today.”

“We’re also dressed incognito right now,” Rumi shrugged with a smile. “Are you two in?”

“Yes!” Patty blurted out excitedly, turning to Dante.

Dante shrugged, his face remained aloof as a small wave of affection briefly crashed into him. “You’re the boss today kid.”

Chapter Text

When the group of demon hunters arrived at the arena, they were met by the sight of the fire department surveying the broken poles. Near the wreckage, one of the firefighters was speaking with a frazzled looking, short, black-haired man. As Dante and Patty parted ways with Huntr/x to retrieve Patty’s belongings, they saw the man let out a large, full chested sigh upon seeing the three women and run up to them.

“Still here.” Patty smiled, scooping up her belongings from underneath the tree.

Dante leaned against the raised planter box, watching Patty check the contents of her bag. “You know you didn’t have to call me old, right?”

Patty’s lips quirked up in a small, amused smile. “You’re still bothered about what I said to Isaac hours ago? And yes, I kind of did need to clarify because if I would have just said ‘what other white-haired man would be with me?’ there’s an obvious answer to that.”

“Like…?”

“Nero. You know - your nephew who is also a white-haired man who would have probably actually really enjoyed being here and is decidedly not old.”

“Huh. Guess you’re right,” Dante crossed his arms, “still, I’m not that old yet.”

“Sure.”

Dante glanced around the area. The road alongside the arena was littered with metal shrapnel and bits of broken glass. Several crushed cars lined the curb where parts of the sidewalk were cracked as if someone had tried to bust through from the underground with a large drill. Luckily for the concert-goers, the front of Juliet Arena appeared mostly untouched. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught Huntr/x and the man from earlier walking up to them.

“You two must be Dante and Patty,” the man greeted, his voice mixed with both tension and relief, “thank you so much for helping out my girls.”

“This is Bobby, our manager,” Rumi gestured towards the man, “you two good to go?”

Taking Patty’s animated nod as confirmation, Bobby ushered the group to the back of the arena, passing crew members and crossing through the loading dock before finally entering the building.

“Alright girls, you have soundcheck in about thirty minutes,” Bobby informed, leading the group through the hallways, “I know it’s typically VIP only, but considering there’s so many people already in the building me and the rest of management decided it’s probably best to open it up to everyone who wants to remain inside. Arena staff says we can clear out the audience and check tickets after.”

“Sounds like the right call,” Mira nodded thoughtfully at Bobby, “there still time to add stuff to our rider?”

“We could make it happen. What do you girls need?”

Mira and Zoey brightened and immediately began rattling off various items and food as Rumi turned to Dante and Patty. “You two want anything?”

Dante stretched his neck. “A post-fight strawberry sundae from Fredi’s sounds pretty good right now.”

“Dante! Singers aren’t supposed to have dairy before they sing!” Patty scolded through gritted teeth. Her brow relaxed as she remembered something. “Oh! Did you get the batteries?”

“Okay, see, all the stores I checked were out and-“

Before Patty could bite back Rumi laughed and put a hand on her shoulder. “We can add it to the rider.”

Patty giggled nervously at the contact, but seemed to regain her composure quickly. Soon, the hall echoed with the chatter between Patty and Huntr/x discussing food and setlists. After winding down several hallways, Bobby ushered the five into the dressing room while on the phone, presumably calling in requests. The girls happily continued their conversation, sinking into a large, plush, half circle sectional couch while Dante sat on a camelback couch against the opposite wall, resting his feet on a small ottoman.

As Huntr/x prepared for soundcheck, Patty dialed a number on her phone and set it on the couch before pulling out two posters from her bag.

“Since I’m here, I was wondering if I could get these signed? One for me, one for my cousin.”

“Of course,” Zoey cheerfully grabbed a marker while putting on a shimmery in-ear monitor with her other hand. “Anything for our fans!”

“Thank you!” Patty smiled widely, but it quickly morphed into a frown as her attempted call hit voicemail.

Rumi met Patty’s eyes in the mirror as she adjusted her in-ear. “Wanna take a picture too?”

Before Patty could respond, Mira put out her hand in front of her, palm up. “Can I?”

In a daze, Patty handed Mira her phone. Mira stretched out her arm as Zoey pulled Patty and Rumi into the shot. After a few different poses and snapping a few pictures, Patty thanked them enthusiastically. She hummed happily as she tapped on her phone while Huntr/x began to sign the posters.

Not even a minute after Patty set her phone down, it started to ring.

“Are you fuckin’ with me right now Patty?!” a harsh masculine voice cut through the room, loud enough to be heard without speaker phone.

Swear! A different, muted childlike voice came through. The harsh clink of metal on glass mixed with Patty’s laughter. She tapped her phone screen and turned it towards Huntr/x.

“Say hi, Nero!” Patty directed, her tone holding an exaggerated melodic lilt. Nero sputtered out a greeting, awkwardly smoothing out pieces of his short white hair and wrinkled shirt as the Huntr/x girls gave a friendly wave and continued signing.

“Aren’t you glad I’m, like, the best cousin ever and got you a phone that isn’t ancient?” Patty teased.

Nero snorted. “I’m pretty sure Lady got me this.”

“Hey, I contributed! I helped her pick it out! Without me, you would have been stuck with something only slightly less crappy than that chunky monstrosity you rummaged from the junk heap. You know how every adult we know clings to their old tech. I mean, Dante’s had that rotary phone for as long as I’ve known him – probably longer!”

Loud knocks interrupted their conversation.

“Girls, soundcheck starts in five!” Bobby’s muffled voice called from the other side of the door.

“Wanna stay on the line for soundcheck, Nero?” Patty walked over to Dante, who was lazily drifting between consciousness on the couch, and pulled at his arm to drag him into the hallway.

“Hell yeah, you even need to ask?” The sound of rustling cloth came though followed by more clinks of metal on glass. “How’d you even end up backstage?”

“Demons attacked outside the arena,” Dante yawned and stretched, looking over Patty’s shoulder at Nero. “Patty sent me on an errand, I met the girls by chance, we ran back to the arena, fought a monster, subdued it – you’re all caught up.”

“Typical Friday, old man?”

“Heh, only if it’s a good one!”

“Da – uh – dang, I probably should’ve taken you up on that offer to watch the kids.”

“Dante! Did you seriously ask Nero?”

Dante shrugged. “Didn’t think today would be half as exciting as it turned out to be.”

Patty scoffed as they made it to their destination, angling the phone from their place in the wings so Nero could get a better view of the stage.

Dante propped himself up against the wall, arms crossed over his chest, as he swept his gaze over the arena stands. Seemed like half the audience opted to stay inside. He wondered if Cindy, Isaac, and Lucy were still out on the town, enjoying their nice family day out – oblivious to what had happened – or if they were in the audience contributing to the resonant murmur filling the arena. He wondered if the new mayor Hagel, Angelina, was stressing over the logistics of repairing two city blocks worth of damage. If she was, he was sure her husband, Bradley, would be there to support her as he’d always done since the day they met.

His gaze shifted over to Patty. Despite the darkness in the wings, her eyes shined brightly as she watched the trio on stage. She swayed enthusiastically but tightly held her right arm to her chest, making sure her hand was steady for Nero’s view. Dante allowed himself to smile at the sight and tap his foot alongside the melody.

The three of them stayed like this until soundcheck ended. Dante hung back a bit as Huntr/x led them through the hallways. On their way back to the dressing room, Nero and Patty began their usual playful banter. Dante heard snippets of their conversation: some talk about biases, mentions of Golden, How It’s Done, Idol Awards… Dante didn’t understand basically anything about what they were talking about, but seeing them express themselves so openly and lightly made him feel like he didn’t need to. After everything those two kids have been through, they deserved all the happy moments they could possibly get. Huntr/x laughed as the two continued their banter and eventually joined in the conversation.

Once the party returned to the dressing room, Dante headed back to the camelback couch and Patty handed her phone to Huntr/x so Nero could properly converse with them.

The room once again came alive with chatter. Talk about demon hunting, Takedown… words Dante is familiar with, but he’s not quite sure they were within the same context as the current conversation. A soft thud added to the chatter as Patty plopped down next to Dante.

“Admit it – you’re having a good time.”

“I’m having an okay time.”

“Really?” Patty smirked, “I saw you tapping your foot at soundcheck.”

“A natural response,” Dante drawled, “look, the girls themselves are pretty cool, but I can’t form an opinion on the music when I haven’t heard much of it.”

“What?! We literally just came from soundcheck! I played their discography in the car on our way here!”

“I, uh, wasn’t listening all that hard…”

Patty turned to the side table next to her with a small “hmph!” and picked up a stack of magazines. Thumbing through the stack, she paused upon seeing a familiar magazine issue.

“What are the odds of this being here?” Her mouth curled as a small exhale left her nose. “Wonder who played here before – like, who put this on their rider and just left it here? Or maybe someone in management is a hobbyist?”

Dante shrugged as Patty began to flip through the pages of Two HandGun, stopping at the sight of a familiar article – and woman. Her eyes softened slightly as she smiled fondly at the page before getting up to join Huntr/x and Nero. Perfect timing seeing as their conversation had switched to weapons.

“Gotta admit, being able to manifest weapons like that sounds pretty sweet. But nothing beats the feel of something someone made by their own hand with their blood, sweat, and tears.” After his initial awkward nervousness, Nero seemed to have settled in nicely with the girls.

“A sword with an engine in it does sound pretty awesome.” Mira nodded.

“And a mechanical arm that flies around!” Zoey gestured excitedly.

“You four talking shop?” Patty chimed in.

“Yeah, Nero was just telling us about the gun he modified.” Rumi answered as she tied up the laces of her boots.

“Blue Rose? Pft that thing is a monster. Anyone without demon blood in them would have their shoulder popped out and shattered into a million pieces by firing it!”

“Heh, in that case maybe you could fire it, Rumi!” Mira playfully teased.

“You say that Patty, but we both know a full-blooded human that’s been carrying around a rocket launcher half her size since she was what? Sixteen?”

“It’s bigger than that actually,” Patty informed, flipping the open magazine towards the group.

“That thing’s nearly as tall as she is!” Zoey gasped.

“She sounds like a badass,” Mira smirked, “who is this mystery lady?”

“Oh, here we go. Little lady gets to brag about how cool her mama is.” Nero drawled with a hint of amusement.

Rumi gazed curiously at Patty. “Mama?”

“Oh, she’s not my biological mother, but she helped raise me before my biological mother came back in the picture and has been in my life ever since. The orphanage I lived in had a revolving door of helpers and she was the only consistent female figure in my life for a while so… I guess we kind of fell into our roles. She taught me how to sew the holes in my clothes, taught me how to use a gun… If you can believe it, she taught me how to waltz! Oh, uh, but anyways yeah - that’s the gist of it.”

“That’s really sweet,” Rumi smiled bittersweetly, her voice soft, “it sounds like you have a lot of women in your life who care about you.”

“A caring mother, a badass mom, a cool aunt – what more could a girl want?”

“Jealous, Nero? But seriously though, you do know that all three of those women care about you too, right?”

“If the two of us were hanging off a cliff, all of them would rush to grab you first,” Nero responded flatly. Even though Huntr/x had only known him for a few hours they could sense the slight sarcasm through the phone.

“Aw, don’t be like that,” Patty’s eyes had a mischievous twinkle, “we all know you’re more likely to survive a fall!”

Knocks at the door interrupted the conversation.

“Girls,” Bobby opened the door with his elbow, balancing a stack of items in his hands, “the stuff you added to your rider is here!”

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

Dante’s eyes remained closed as Huntr/x, Patty, and Nero continued their conversation. As he drifted in and out of consciousness, he caught some of the chatter. “If... mama…” “will they, won’t they… before I was born” “dang, that’s-”.

He was suddenly stirred from his micronap by someone addressing him.

“Excuse me. Dante?”

He popped one eye open to see Rumi. She was now dressed in a different outfit; her pink hoodie swapped out for a yellow jacket with detailed embroidery and her light wash jeans swapped for shorts.

“I’m told these are for you,” Rumi gestured at the table.

Following her hand, Dante recognized the unmistakable sight of a Fredi’s Strawberry Sundae, melting in a clear plastic to-go cup, resting atop a Ciacco’s pizza box. He moved the strawberry sundae to the table and opened the pizza box.

A bit of everything. Spicy salami, basil, garlic potatoes, prosciutto…

And most importantly: no olives in sight.

A gentle squeeze in his chest bloomed into a warm sensation as he stared at the order. It was a sensation he’d been allowing himself to feel more often since returning from the demon realm. When he was much younger, it wasn’t long before the feeling mutated, warmth becoming a sharp icy chill. It would tear at his insides as it fell into the hot pit of his stomach to boil over from the tragedy that inevitably befell those that brought him that warm feeling.

“Is everything alright…?” Rumi asked carefully.

Dante hadn’t realized how tense his face had become.

“Yeah, it’s fine,” Dante closed the box, glancing up and catching sight of Patty animatedly miming firing a rocket launcher, before turning to Rumi. “Thanks, by the way. For letting us come back here.”

“Oh! Yeah, no problem. Thanks for helping with the Bulgasari.”

“Just part of the job. Couldn’t let it wreak havoc in the city now could we?”

Rumi shifted the weight of her feet, as though she were debating heading back to the group or remaining. “Right, of course not.”

“So,” Dante cleared his throat as he reached for his sundae, “overheard that you’re part demon. Explains those cool shiny tattoos you got there, I guess. Isn’t often I meet someone of the same… heritage. At least, not one I’m not related to.”

Some of the tension in Rumi’s shoulders eased. “Yeah… I don’t know much about it though. Acknowledging my demon half is a relatively new thing. I know nothing about my dad…”

“Yours too huh?” Dante patted the seat cushion next to him, inviting her to sit down. “Mine was also the demon, ah, but I guess you knew that already. Don’t remember too much about him anymore. He was gone before I turned eight.”

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that,” Rumi sat down slowly, pursing her lips. “Celine, the woman who raised me, if she did know anything about my dad, she didn’t tell me. She never wanted to acknowledge the demon part of me – told me to hide it. I think… she did what she thought was right, but…” Her hands gripped her knees as she trailed off.

“Hm,” Dante gripped his spoon tightly, “that sucks kid. No one should get to tell anyone who they are. Especially not someone who’s supposed to take care of you. Sorry you had to go through that.”

Dante glanced over at Rumi. Her brow pinched slightly, gaze fixed on the carpet at their feet. Her eyes glistened with a moisture that hadn’t previously been there.

“But it seems like you’ve broken out of that mindset,” Dante continued, “of hiding or running away, I mean. If you ask me, that’s what really matters now.”

Rumi’s eyes softened and the corners of her lips curved up slightly. “Took quite a bit to get here. A nearly world-ending event, for one.” Rumi glanced up to look at Mira and Zoey, who were laughing with Patty.

“You too, eh? Must be some kind of screwed up half-demon coming of age requirement,” Dante chuckled.

“Huh, ‘you too?’ I thought that the son of the legendary dark knight Sparda would have always had things figured out,” Rumi turned her towards Dante and noticed the tension in his body. “Oh, um, sorry – I didn’t mean to pry.”

Dante tapped his spoon on the ice cream, splashing it slightly in the cup. “Nah, it’s okay. Lots of bad stuff happened after my old man was gone. For a long time, I resented him for what happened – for not being there, for making so many enemies, for being a demon in the first place… I couldn’t have been much younger than you when I came to my senses. My brother raised a giant tower to try get our father’s power, but at first I didn’t really care all that much about the consequences – I just wanted to fight him. But, lucky for me, there just so happened to be a lady in that tower who showed me responsibility and the importance of using your strength for what’s right.”

Dante gnawed on the side of his mouth. He wasn’t sure why he was spilling his guts to someone he barely knew when he kept these things hidden from those closest to him for so long. Just looking at her, though, made him think of so many things. He’d seen that same look of grief and sadness on the face of too many young women in his lifetime. Rumi had proven herself capable, even in just the few hours they’d known each other – all the Huntr/x girls had. But no matter how tough he knew she was, there was a small voice that compelled him to wrap her in a big fluffy blanket and offer her one of his pizza slices. The last time he’d done that for someone was years ago. Nina had been out of town, so Patty was staying at Devil May Cry until she returned and had gotten sick from a particularly nasty bug going around her school. Dante had been around people who needed first aid from battle wounds fairly often – too often – but that was the first time he ever needed to tend to someone who was sick. Something about it made him more nervous than the time he needed to stitch a small cut on her knee closed after she fell off her bicycle. He had fussed so much it started to annoy her.

Rumi reminded him of Patty.

But most of all, Rumi reminded him of himself when he was younger.

Angry, but not sure at what. Confused. Alone, even when surrounded by other people…

Maybe it was easier to spill your guts to someone you didn’t have such heavy ties to.

“Your brother? That sounds like quite the story…” Rumi’s curious voice cut through Dante’s introspection.

“Hah. It’s a long one – maybe another time. Y’know, I used to resent him too, but… well, I guess you never really know what life’s gonna throw you. Even those you think you’ve lost – they’re not truly gone, I think. I know that now.”

“Hm. Yeah…” Rumi silently stared at her hands. She was obviously thinking about something – or someone – but Dante was never one to pry into someone else’s business.

After a bit of silence Rumi spoke up again. “Did you always know about your powers?”

“Hm? Ah well, if you’re talking about the regeneration stuff I kinda did. My brother and I used to beat each other up real bad when we were kids. Wrecked the living room more than a couple of times. Drove our mother nuts!”

Rumi chuckled, visibly relaxing. “Sounds like another interesting story, but no, not that. I meant… the transformation thing.”

“Oh that,” Dante smiled wryly, “no, I haven’t. I actually learned I could do it while I was in that tower I mentioned earlier. After my brother pinned me to the ground with my sword.”

Dante heard a small gasp and turned to see Rumi, mouth agape, face scrunched with shock, horror, and confusion.

“Ah, I don’t recommend you just go and stab yourself with your sword willy-nilly! Turns out my sword had, uh, special properties,” Dante coughed awkwardly, “well… what about you, kid? Got any special half-demon powers?”

Rumi shook her head – partially to signify “no”, partially to regain her composure. “Not that I know of.”

“Well, what sorts of powers do the demons in your neck of the woods typically look like?”

“Oh! I honestly hadn’t thought about it in that way… a lot of them can shapeshift, but I’m not sure how to even try to test that out.”

“Shape shift, huh? Well, if you do end up wanting to explore that, let me know. I know a lady who can help you.”

“Lady? Patty’s mama?”

“No, no, not Lady - she’s fully human. Can’t shapeshift unless you count being annoyingly good at pulling off different clothing styles,” Dante grumbled.

Lady had once taken a shirt from his wardrobe as ‘payment’ after hers was stained on a job. Both Trish and Patty laughed when they saw him wearing it for the first time. Said the frills made him look like a reject from “Bolero in Spring”, but when Lady showed up wearing it, they said she looked great! He swore sometimes they did it on purpose just to take the piss out of him.

“I meant ‘lady’ with a lower case ‘L’. Her name’s Trish.”

Rumi’s eyes widened slightly. “Oh! That woman on the phone with Patty?”

“Damn, you’ve got a good memory kid!” Dante was genuinely impressed. He was sure no one other than Patty had spoken directly to Trish, so she couldn’t have heard her name more than once or twice.

“Comes from years of training,” Rumi tried her best to come off as nonchalant, but she bristled with a bit of pride.

“Yeah, I guess you gotta be able to keep a lot of stuff up there, what with all the singing and dancing you have to remember. I’m sure you’ve got your fair share of stories too.”

“Oh, for sure,” Rumi paused a bit before continuing, “my, um, ‘nearly world ending event’, had to do with a rival group turning out to be a demon boy band in disguise.”

“Hah, no kidding!” Dante chimed in, “if you need back-up next time let me know. Could use a change of pace from the usual doom and gloom the wannabe demon kings around here come at us with. They all have awful taste.”

Rumi brightened a little. “You mean back-up on stage or fighting demons?” She responded playfully.

“Why not both? I’ve been known to shred a guitar or bang a drum on occasion. But anyway, I didn’t mean to interrupt. Keep going. If you want to, that is.”   

“Oh, it’s no trouble!" Rumi smiled sheepishly before her face softened into a pensive gaze. "…the other group, they were stealing so many souls to bring back to their king. The worst part was I- I was so preoccupied with keeping my heritage a secret it ruined so many things,” Rumi slid her foot against the carpet. Sure, she’d talked about some of this with Zoey and Mira, but that had mostly been about her feelings post-half-demon-reveal after the Idol Awards. This was the first time she’d really sat down and talked about it like it was part of her story. There was a small tightness in her stomach, but she still felt compelled to share. “Lucky for me, I also had someone who suddenly popped into my life and pushed me in the right direction… Still, I almost irreparably damaged so many relationships.”

“But you didn’t,” Dante noted, “you seem to have a good group of people around you. Be sure to hold onto them. Just some advice from an old man.”

Rumi chuckled with a small smile. “You don’t seem that old.”

“Wow, thank you! You should talk some sense into Nero and Patty – from the way they talk it’s like instead of being in my 40’s I’m 400!”

Rumi’s smile twitched, falling slightly before she began to half-heartedly laugh again.

Sensing the small air of awkwardness Dante cleared his throat.

“Anyway, thanks for the talk. You should maybe get back to them. Sounds like they’re having a lot of fun.” Dante pointed his spoon at the group on the opposite couch. Zoey was animatedly whipping her arm in front of her face like an elephant trunk as Mira wiggled her fingers next to it to mime fire. He could hear Patty say something about “anti-fans” and Zoey something that sounded like “say sang”. Who sang what?

Rumi smiled fondly at them before turning back to Dante. “Thank you too, Dante. I hope you and Patty have a good time tonight.”

“Will do, Rumi.”

As Rumi joined the rest of the group, she seemed to brighten up quickly. Dante continued to down his sundae, opting to drink it like a smoothie since it had melted so much during his conversation with Rumi. He quickly moved onto his pizza soon after, trying to bring his mind to other things. However, his chat with Rumi had brought up too many pesky feelings to smother down with so little to distract him.

There were so many people he had once been close with that were no longer alive. Too many dead specifically because of him. It wasn’t until he met Lady that he began to entertain the idea that maybe things weren’t inevitable. That death, destruction, and the icy chill it brought wasn’t inevitable. That maybe… he could connect with people again. Because she didn’t die a horrific death just by merely being associated with him. And even when she left, Lady always returned.

Soon after he met Lady, he reintroduced himself to Morrison again, this time using his true name. Although the warmth began to stay for longer, he still hesitated to allow it to comfort him, as the threat of the frigid chill always loomed in his mind. The chill returned when he lost Vergil, for the third time - the final time, he thought. But that same day, a small bit of warmth returned when he witnessed Trish, a demon, shedding tears. The chill blasted him again when he had to hurt Enzo to save his life, when Trish left because of it. But Trish still returned when he needed her, even when he didn’t ask.

Not long after, Patty barreled into his life. She was only supposed to be part of a simple job, but somehow even after that job had ended, she stuck around. She annoyed him often and, at first, Dante didn’t notice the small embers start to catch in his chest again. Once Patty was in the picture, Lady came around more often. Between those two and Morrison, the office was livelier than it had been in a long time. Patty reconnecting with her long-lost biological mother was objectively a good thing, but her less consistent presence cast a small icy chill inside. With Patty gone, Lady’s physical presence in his life dwindled again and Trish continued her own mission away from the Devil May Cry office.

Alone again, he took the job in Vie de Marli. He found the whole ordeal rather dull: another human trying to resurrect a powerful demon for the sake of power and greed. But when he witnessed Lucia learn of her demonic heritage and try to sacrifice herself, his chest clenched. The humanity he saw in her stoked the dormant cinders in his chest and for a moment the warmth returned. So he went in her stead – alone, into the Underworld. And after a long, cold journey from Hell he allowed himself to feel the warmth from his office and finding Lucia there awaiting his return.

“Girls, you’re on in fifteen!” The sound of Bobby’s voice calling from outside the door saved him from falling deeper into his thoughts.

“You ready to head to our seats, Dante?” Patty walked over and flipped open the pizza box with her free hand, taking the last slice.

Dante blinked. He’d allow it. Afterall, she was the boss today.

“I’m ready if you’re ready, kid.”

“Good,” Patty said between bites, “toss the cup and the box and let’s go!”

Huntr/x, Patty, and Dante walked the now familiar hallway the led down to the stage. As he did before, Dante trailed behind slightly watching the girls and Nero chat until they had to part ways.

“We gotta head under to prep for our big entrance, but it was so nice meeting you!” Zoey hugged Patty and waved at the phone in her hand as she let go. She turned towards Dante and grabbed his hand for another enthusiastic handshake. “It was really such an honor!”

“Ditto to what Zoey said,” Mira smiled and nodded at Dante and Patty before addressing Nero. “You’re actually coming next time, right?”

“Hell yeah, wouldn’t miss it!”

“We’ll hold you to that,” Rumi said brightly, over the clinking sounds coming through the phone. She smiled fondly at Patty and Dante, meeting Dante’s eyes. “Really, thanks for everything.”

Dante’s eyes softened and he gave her a knowing nod. “If you’re ever around again, don’t be strangers.”

“Same to you!” Zoey turned her head, smiling as she walked to the stairs leading to the tunnel.

“Yeah, if you’re ever in Seoul hit us up.” Mira flicked her hand in a short wave before following Zoey.

“Enjoy the show you two!” Rumi waved over her shoulder as she joined Mira and Zoey

“That goes without saying!” Patty called out at them, watching them disappear down the stairs before gesturing to Dante to head down the opposite hallway.

“So, you never answered me,” Patty started, turning her attention back to her phone, “am I or am I not the best cousin ever?”

“You’re the best cousin ever.” Nero’s voice became more dramatized as he continued.

“Jerk! At least try to sound like you mean it!”

“You know I mean it. But really though, Patty, I appreciate you. The family thing is still pretty new but… you’ve made it easier.”

“Wow, that almost sounded sincere,” Patty teased, “guess getting to talk to your bias really meant something, huh?”

“Now who’s being a jerk?” Nero replied sarcastically. “Mira is awesome though – just as I always knew she would be. I’ve got great taste after all. Rumi and Zoey are cool too.”

As Dante and Patty rounded the corner of the hallway, they saw the entrance to the “family and friends” section of the arena their new seats were in.

“Anyway, I gotta go,” Nero informed, “need to make sure Julio, Kyle, and Carlo aren’t making the kitchen more of a mess when they’re supposed to be cleaning it.”

“Send my love to the kids!” Patty turned the phone towards Dante and he lazily waved his hand.

“Bye to you too, old man!” Nero’s voice was full of sarcasm, mouth slightly frowning, but his eyes smiled.

“Oh, by the way,” Patty’s eyes lit up like she remembered something. “We need to talk again soon! I have something that might interest you.”

“Normally I’d be worried, but today’s surprise was pretty good, so I guess I’ll take your word for it.”

“When have I ever steered you wrong? But anyway, go check on the kids. Talk to you later!”

Dante’s chest tightened with a warm squeeze whenever he watched Nero and Patty interact. After returning from the demon realm post-Argosax’s defeat, the ever-fleeting warmth came again when he learned of Nero’s existence, burning in a curious way he hadn’t felt since he was last with his family as a child. Though he felt the warmth of joy at learning he still had living family, the part of him that feared the pain from the chill won and he had kept his distance.

When he learned of Vergil cutting away his humanity and dooming the lives of innocents, fire raged in his chest and torrent of icy wind blew in his gut, both burning his insides.

When Nero had stepped in to stop them from killing each other, the conflicting tempest inside of him began to dissipate.

When he and Vergil flew into the demon realm and cut down the Qliphoth tree, a small bit of warmth returned when they began sparring without the intent to kill for the first time since they were eight. Because even though it took a while, Vergil did return.

The warmth only grew when he returned to the human realm to find everyone still there, waiting for him as they carried on. Because they believed that even when he left, he would return. Just like they had for him. Just like he’d always done.

The pair sat in their seats in silence as the arena echoed with the sound of hundreds of conversations, people singing along to the music videos on screen, and the rustle of people digging in their concert bags.

“Sooooo,” Patty grinned as she took her lightstick out of her bag and turned it on, “gonna admit you’re having a good time now?”

Dante smirked, but before the words could leave his mouth the arena lights suddenly dimmed and the music volume cranked up.

“Ah! I’ll ask again later!” Patty sprang up in her seat, along with most of the arena.

Dante remained seated and glanced at Patty gripping her lightstick with excitement. The beams of light from the stage drifted across the audience and as they passed over her, he saw how much her eyes shined with joy.

He smiled as he turned to the stage in time to see three, now familiar, silhouettes rise from the stage. The arena filled with excited shrieks as Patty – and what seemed to be the entire arena – shouted in unison:

“HUNTRIX GIRLS TO THE WORLD!”

Chapter Text

⋆˖⁺✧‧₊☽◯☾₊‧✧⁺˖⋆

“Alright girls, you ready?” Rumi glanced at Mira and Zoey as the trio squatted down on the stage lift.

“Always.” The hot pink rhinestones on Mira’s bedazzled microphone sparkled from the flashing lights peering in above them as she held it out in front of her.

“You don’t even need to ask!” Teal glitter caught the light as Zoey moved her microphone next to Mira’s.

“Let’s do this.” Rumi smiled as the metallic sheen from her purple chrome microphone joined the shimmery hovering stack of microphones.

A clean, articulate voice saying “takedown” came through the trio’s in ear monitors simultaneously. They raised their mics in a cheer before rising into their poses. The creak from the stage lift beginning to rise was dampened by the successive beats from the click track in their ears.

Despite the loud volume of the click track’s beat and a voice saying “Zoey, two, three, four”, the trio could hear the crowd sing “HUNTRIX GIRLS TO THE WORLD” alongside Zoey.

Excitement ran through them as the lift became flush with the stage. The bright glow of stage lights and lightsticks illuminating the arena greeted Huntr/x as they hit their vocal cues and danced downstage.

✩⋆˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆｡˚⋆✩

From her view in the stands, Patty could see the entire stage and runway clearly. Before today, she was a bit bummed she didn’t have floor seats but that was a non-issue now. The Patty of this morning would have never imagined she’d get to hang out backstage and be upgraded to the “family and friends” area.

Patty felt positively electric. A staticky tingling current ran through her as she belted out the fanchant to “Takedown”. The first time she’d felt a sensation close to this was when she impulsively grasped Trish’s hand in wonder after she saw her shoot lightning for the first time. There was something slightly magical about witnessing the sea of lights from the audience lightsticks and hearing thousands of people sing in unison. As expected, Huntr/x were killing it on stage, hitting every mark like the professionals they were.

Patty was firmly locked into what was happening on stage. As her eyes followed Huntr/x, a blur of objects flying onto the stage from the audience caught her attention. Not an uncommon occurrence at concerts in general, but certainly not within etiquette at a Huntr/x concert. Especially not this early in the setlist.

Patty shifted her attention, squinting at the stage trying to identify the items. Normally, if a fan were to throw something, it would be a gift. A plushie, a flower - something to that effect. However, from what she could see, the objects on stage were smaller and metallic.

A spoon? A fork?

There was also what appeared to be a balled up cloth napkin. As Patty scrunched her face in confusion, a small club-like object clunkily hit the stage and started rolling, Mira expertly stepping over it without missing a beat of the choreography. The object was too small to be an actual club, so it was probably a pestle.

From Patty’s perspective, these objects seemed random. However, as she focused more, she noticed they all appeared to have varying amounts of red stains on them. Within seconds of her discovery, the objects were simultaneously engulfed in smoke. Standing where the random household objects once were, strange creatures emerged. Although they were human sized, they had unnatural skin colors – bright blue, pink, and orange – in addition to fangs and striped markings similar to Rumi’s but darker.

Patty furrowed her eyebrows as she felt a presence appear next to her and lean on the rail.

“Hey kid, is this part of the show?” Dante asked the question that was also on her mind.

The two watched as several of the goblin-like creatures charged at the girls. Mira, who was in the center, tossed her mic to Rumi, who caught it while bumping the goblin towards Mira with her hip. On the other side, Zoey intercepted the goblin charging at her and twirled it around by the arm before shoving it towards Mira with a smile. A goblin ran up on Mira from behind, leaping while holding the pestle she had side-stepped, it seemingly having been enlarged to the size of an actual club. Mira ducked, her long pink hair waving from the burst of air overhead. The goblin sailed over her, crashing into its other two compatriots. Straightening her posture, Mira grabbed all three goblins by their arms and spun around before letting them fly further down the extended stage runaway. Not even a second after they landed, they disappeared into a puff of glitter, having been hit with Zoey’s shin-kal. Without even looking, Mira expertly caught the hot pink mic Rumi tossed back and began her verse.

Patty felt the presence next to her disappear. She turned to see Dante briskly striding towards the hall entrance that led backstage.

“You should stay and enjoy the show.” Dante suggested as Patty jogged up next to him.

“There’s no way I could enjoy it knowing something’s wrong!” Patty huffed as they rounded a corner into the backstage hallway. “Honestly, I was on such a high after we stopped the Bulgasari that the fact the people who summoned the demons in the first place were still on the loose kind of slipped my mind…”

“You and the rest of us, I guess.”

As Dante and Patty continued into the backstage area, they saw Bobby talking into a microphone mounted to a table with a large audio mixer. He was frantically moving his head back and forth and, upon seeing Dante and Patty, let out what sounded like a cross between a sigh and yell.

“Dante and Patty are here!” Bobby exclaimed into the mic before turning towards the pair.

“Saw some things pop up on stage and wanted to check in.” Patty informed.

“Yeah, what’s the situation?” Dante asked.

“We don’t have the full picture just yet, but it looks like someone for the floor is throwing things up on stage to summon dokkaebi.” Bobby frowned, glancing at the TV hanging on the adjacent wall to see Zoey punch a dokkaebi into shimmering dust.

“That’s bad right?” Patty had never heard of any demons called that before. After the earlier run in with the Bulgasari, she wanted to make sure.

“I’m sure it’s nothing the girls can’t handle. When stuff like this has happened in the past, the audience just thinks it’s part of the show. But the big issue is that we don’t know whether these people will summon them into the crowd to harm the fans. Our priority is to stop whoever’s doing this.” Bobby looked back at the TV monitor and saw Rumi kick a dokkaebi into confetti while she turned as part of the choreography.

Dante surveyed the backstage area as Bobby explained. In their immediate area, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Just the typical crew and stagehands monitoring their stations. Further back, in a dim hall, he caught sight of a beautiful woman talking to a male crew member. With his enhanced eyesight, he caught the man’s expression; his gaze was transfixed on her, his pupils dilated. Dante suspected it wasn't just due to the low light. The man looked absolutely bewitched by her.

Dante had been around his fair share of beautiful people and in the demon hunting scene long enough to know when an otherworldly beauty was a result of not being of this world.

That and he could see what appeared to be the tips of fluffy tails peeking out beneath her dress.

“Well, the show must go on,” Dante marched toward the woman, “I’ll clear out the backstage area.”

Patty nodded and turned to Bobby. “I can help look for the people summoning the demons.”

“Perfect,” Bobby’s face relaxed. He turned to speak back into the microphone, “girls after this we’re proceeding with the opening ment and moving into ‘How It’s Done’ like originally planned. Patty’s going to head down to the floor to help secure whoever’s doing this. If you see anything, signal her.”

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

Dante looked over his shoulder to see Patty and Bobby running down another hallway, presumably towards the entrance to the floor seats.

He walked up to the woman, who had the man cornered against a wall, and slid his arm between them.

“Hey babe,” Dante he silkily whispered into her ear, “it’s not nice to bother people at work. I’m told this is a family show, so why don’t you and I go somewhere a little more private?”

Dante’s arm lightly vibrated from the woman’s appreciative hum. She slid her hand down the wall, grazing Dante’s hand gently before letting it fall to her side. Dante slipped his hand out from between the pair, resting his hand on her shoulder as he led her down the darkened hallway, away from the crew. He glanced behind him to see the man, still in a slight daze, blink rapidly before his pupils constricted slightly and a confused look fell over his face.

Earlier, when Dante and the girls had walked from the wings of the stage back to the dressing room, he found himself checking his surroundings out of habit. A light squeak echoed through the hallway as he opened the door to what he assumed was an empty storage room and gestured for the woman to enter. He hoped this storage room was full of unimportant stuff. That way, if a fight broke out, he wouldn’t have to worry about being saddled with a bill for the damages like he so often was.

As soon as Dante entered the room, the woman hastily shut the door, leaving them in darkness. His back hit solid wall as she pressed him against it, hurriedly untucking his shirt from his waistband.

“Damn, you’re really getting straight to the point aren’t you? Was hoping you’d buy me dinner first.” Dante felt the woman’s hand snake up the right side of his abdomen, leaving a warm slightly burning sensation in her trail. She stopped below his pecs and, not a full second later, the tingling caress was replaced with the sensation of sharp claws digging into his skin.

“Woah there, babe,” Dante slid his right hand against the wall, “I prefer it with the lights on.”

A burst of florescent light filled his vision as he flipped the light switch. Before their eyes could adjust, he pulled his left arm in front of her and roughly shoved her off. Discordant thumps came from the opposite side of the room. A small cloud of dust came into Dante’s vision as his eyes adjusted, leaving a slight haze in the air. From the crumpled pile of cardboard boxes, the woman gazed up at him in surprise and anger. As she reached his face a flash of fear came across her eyes before settling back into anger.

“Spaaaaaaarda!”

“Damn, you too? Guess pops really is famous all over.”

“You are not human! Your liver is of no use to me,” she spat, “I will have to settle for ripping out your heart!”

The woman leapt towards Dante, nine fluffy tails erupted from behind her. Dante turned to the side, avoiding the sharp grasp aimed at his chest, only to feel her tails wrap around right arm as she sailed past him. A sharp creak cut through the room as she kicked off the wall, twisting her body and using the momentum to rocket towards Dante. Her sharp nails scratched his sternum, barely missing his neck scarf, as she grabbed the small bit of black shirt that was peeking out from underneath his green jacket.

“Hey, no need to take heartbreak so literally!” Dante pried her hand off his shirt, ripping it a bit in the process, and spun around. “I’d rather have all of my body parts stay right where they are, thank you very much!”

On his second rotation, Dante summoned his Devil Sword in his left hand, underneath her tails, and slashed upward in a clean motion.

A shrill shriek pierced his ears before being smothered by the dull sound of cardboard being crushed.

“Wretched son of Sparda,” she screeched, “you will pay for that!”

The woman launched herself at Dante again and successfully grasped his neck scarf.

Unfortunately for her, instead of giving her leverage, the scarf came undone and she slammed unceremoniously into the wall with a harsh thud.

“I’m not paying for anything this time, babe! The way I see it, nothing of value was harmed in our little dance," Dante chuckled, “if anything you owe me for messing up my outfit!”

Growling, the woman shot out her tails in another attempt to grab him. Dante sighed and unsummoned his sword, casually clasping his hands together in front of his stomach. He allowed the tails to envelop him on both sides, her forehead slamming into his as the tails pulled him to her. The momentum she had from her leap sent them both flying back to the opposite wall.

“Look, as much as I’d like to get to know you better, I’ve got a show to catch,” Dante drawled casually as the woman bared her fangs, “let’s wrap things up, shall we?”

Before she could bite down on his throat, Dante summoned his Devil Sword again. He twirled it around in his hand with a motion not too dissimilar to the one he had seen Patty do with a wooden rifle during the brief stint she had in her high school’s color guard team. Lady and Trish had dragged him out to a parade to see her march and, though he grumbled the entire time, he did think some of the tricks were pretty cool… far be it from him to ever admit it aloud though. Still, it had come in handy, as his blade swiftly sliced through all nine tails.

As the woman fell to the ground with a sharp pained bark, Dante slammed the tip of his sword into her chest.

“Glad we turned the lights on,” Dante smirked as he jostled his sword, piercing her further, “I like it better when I can see your face as I ram it in.”

The woman gazed up at him, her face contorting in an expression mixed with pain, disgust, and embarrassment.

“Uggggggh,” she growled lowly, “you… are so…”

Dante stared with a look of indifference as he bent over and snatched his neck scarf out of her hand before it disappeared. Once all that remained were small flecks of light, he wiggled his sword to dislodge it from the expansion joint of the concrete floor.

“Hm…” Dante regarded his Devil Sword, drumming his fingers on the rocky material of the blade. “Patty’s wrong; if you could talk, you’d think I’m hilarious.”

✩⋆˚｡⋆୨♡୧⋆｡˚⋆✩

“Bobby, you should probably have someone check in with security to see if they have any footage from outside the venue early this morning or yesterday night,” Patty glanced back at him briefly as they rounded a corner. She caught sight of the double doors leading to the floor section of the audience as her gaze returned forward. “There might be footage of whoever left those clay blobs on the sidewalk to summon the Hell Caina demons from earlier. Might help us identify them in the crowd.”

“I’m on it,” Bobby huffed as they burst through the doors. Patty continued sprinting towards the stage as Bobby flashed his ID card at the security. “Listen to what that girl tells you to do!”

“It’s been great being in Capulet city so far!” Zoey’s cheerful voice echoed through the arena.

“Yes, your city’s absolutely gorgeous!” Rumi smiled as she waved at the crowd.

“Not to mention the killer food you’ve got,” Mira added, “anyone got any recommendations?”

The crowd erupted, clamoring incomprehensibly as they shouted at Huntr/x. Somehow, through the noise, one very loud masculine voice could be heard.

“Fredi’s?” Zoey repeated to verify.

Another loud, enthusiastic “yes!” cut through the noise in confirmation.

“I hear their strawberry sundae’s are the best in town.” Mira nodded, gesturing to the crowd with her hand.

Rumi caught sight of what appeared to be a pink blob sprinting into her peripheral vision. Turning, she focused her vision and recognized Patty through the bright stage lights.

“Well, it’s almost time for our next song!” Rumi made eye contact with Zoey and Mira before flicking her eyes back towards Patty who was catching her breath. Two security guards jogged up behind her and the trio began to converse. Rumi waited until Patty caught her breath and the security guards moved into positions to better survey the audience before speaking again. “But before then, it’s fit check time!”

Several cartoonish boom sounds filled the arena as a colorful moving graphic that said “Fit Check!” took over the three giant LED screens behind Huntr/x.

“This show we’re doing things a little bit different,” Mira started, “if you see yourself on screen during this next song I want you to wait while one of our amazing staff members comes and gets you before you make your way up to the front of the arena floor!”

“Yes, once you get up here, check in with our lovely ‘Pretty in Pink’ assistant!” Zoey gestured towards Patty.

Patty, who was staring up at the stage, suddenly caught sight of her side profile on the giant screens. A live video feed of her from the waist up was encased in a colorful border with “Fit Check!” at the top and “In My Napalm Era” at the bottom. She jolted with a start before regaining her composure and turning towards the audience. As the shot zoomed out, she gave a friendly wave to the camera with the lightstick that she had forgotten to leave at her seat in the rush to get backstage.

As the lights went down, Patty repositioned herself so she had a good view of the audience and one LED screen. Music boomed through the speakers as Huntrix lit up one by one and began their well-practiced and synchronized performance of “How It’s Done”. A shiny glint caught Patty’s eye as it sailed towards the stage, only to hit a floodlight clamped to the stage floor and fall to the audience floor below. As the fork clattered on the concrete, Patty focused her eyes on the crowd. Trailing her eyes over the arc she assumed the fork had come from, she noticed a person in a hood stick their hand into the pocket of their “Huntr/x” hoodie and pull out a small bundle of red stained spoons. Without hesitation, Patty rushed towards the audience member as they threw the spoons on stage, all but one hitting their mark, and smoke began to envelop the objects.

Patty flicked her eyes between the audience member and the two dokkaebi who appeared on the floor. She focused her gaze back on the audience member as she threw out her arm, sending a beam of light from Alan’s Tear at the dokkaebi.

“Hi there,” Patty grabbed the audience member’s hoodie sleeve, “love the outfit! How’s about you come with me?”

Patty turned back to the stage to see a puff of glitter where the two dokkaebi on the audience floor once were. Hanging slightly above the space between the audience and stage, a dokkaebi was in the middle of evaporating into confetti from the sheer force of the kick Rumi had given it. Zoey twirled and released her shin-kal to hit the three dokkaebi that had manifested behind them. In the center of the stage, Mira punched a dokkaebi in the face as she crooned “beating you is what I do, do, do, yeah”, pointing at Patty and the audience member with a wink through the shimmery, translucent cloud that appeared in front of her. 

Patty’s grip on the audience member tightened as she turned them both towards the camera. She gave an exaggerated smile and gestured towards their outfit before beginning to pull them to security. Another object sailed through the air and, as Patty turned her head to identify the perpetrator, the person she was holding began to squirm.

“Hey! Stop struggling, I’m not gonna hurt you,” Patty tightened her grip on their sleeves, accidentally giving them the leverage to suddenly swing their arms up and squat down, removing their hoodie. A black t-shirt with the hot pink outline of a lion was plastered on screen as the person popped back up and into the frame of the camera.

“The Saja Boys?” Patty was bewildered. “You spent hundreds of dollars for floor seats to summon literal demons because you’re mad about your idol group?”

“Don’t judge me you cuntrix lackey!” a masculine voice shouted at her before he took off in a run.

Another object sailed overhead onto the stage.

“Security, come get this guy!” Patty pointed and yelled as she turned her head to see another audience member dressed in the same dark “Huntr/x” hoodie.

Before she could begin to make her way to the other culprit, another pair of security guards surrounded them and grabbed their arms. They thrashed violently as security dragged them towards the exit opposite of where Patty had originally come from. Patty made her way back to the other pair of security members who were holding the man she caught when she saw a figure moving towards her out of her periphery. She turned in time to see the other audience member hurtling towards her. After using a second to process the situation, Patty stepped to the side, threw out one arm, and tightened her muscles.

Patty couldn’t lie, the impact of her clotheslining this random Huntr/x anti-fan did hurt a bit, but she suspected it had hurt them more.

“You probably shouldn't have run,” Patty stood over the figure and pulled them to their feet, “you’re lucky you didn’t get more hurt.”

“Get your nasty hands off of me bitch!” a feminine voice spat at her.

The woman grasped at Patty’s elbows and attempted to grapple her. Patty sighed and jerked her right arm up. The motion was too strong for the woman, still dazed from being clotheslined, who let go as soon as Patty started her upward swing.

Unfortunately for the woman, Patty was accounting for a bit of a struggle. The force at which she pulled her arm caused her to slam the flat side of her lightstick into the side of the anti-fan’s face.

“I know you probably don’t believe me, but I did not mean to do that,” Patty frantically yelped as the two security officers previously restraining the woman had caught up to the pair. “I’m actually so sorry!”

 The two security members picked the woman up from her dazed, curled up position on the floor and the group of seven began walking to the closer exit.

“You two in on this together?” Patty locked eyes with the male culprit.

He simply smirked at her before ripping away from the guards holding him.

Patty sighed. She switched her stride to prepare for a chase when a blurry figure suddenly flew across her vision, tackling the man to the ground.

A woman, decked out in Huntr/x merch, quickly scrambled up his prone figure, straddling him, and began punching him.

“Are you nuts?!” The man’s muffled voice shouted from behind the arms shielding his face. “Get off of me!”

“Am I nuts?! You wanted to get wild, so I’m showing you wild!”

“Hey! Stop that,” Patty slipped her arms underneath the woman’s armpits and yanked her away from the man. “Better to leave this to the professionals.”

The woman turned around to face Patty and roughly grabbed her shoulders.

“You work for Huntrix right?! So you understand I need to protect them,” she began to shake Patty, “especially from the Saja Boys’ cronies! These guys must be working for them! I need to keep Huntrix safe from those wicked incubi!”

“Incubi…?” Patty raised an eyebrow. This had caught her attention, so she let the woman ramble for a bit longer to gather more information.

“Yes! Incubi! I just know that’s what they were! And who knows when they’ll pop up again? I need to protect Huntrix! Especially Rumi! Who knows when their evil leader will rise up and try to seduce her again?! He’ll take her from me! If I can show them the truth, they’ll have no choice but to see they need me!”

Patty nodded, trying to keep her eyes from showing her trepidation. She slowly brought her hand to her shoulder, moving as though the woman was a feral cat who was just as likely to allow pets as she was to claw someone’s eyes out. Patty placed her hand on the woman’s and pried it off her shoulder. She felt something dry flake off the woman’s hands and glanced at it as she pulled it across her face. Upon closer inspection, the woman had a brown, mud like material under her fingernails.

“Did you handle any clay this morning?” Patty asked plainly.

“Huh? What does that have to do with anything we were talking about?”

“This is important. Yes or no?”

“Uh, yes. Why? How’s this important?”

Patty spun the woman around to face the exit door and stood beside her, sliding her hand across her back and gripping her left shoulder.

“Why don’t we head backstage?”

The woman’s face beamed. “Really?!”

“Tell me, does the word Bulgasari mean anything to you?”

Patty could feel the woman tense slightly underneath her grip. “Maybe…”

“Hm, that’s too bad. Rumi told me all about them.” Patty mused with an exaggerated bubbly drawl as she nudged the woman towards the exit.

“It worked!” The woman gasped in excitement. “So she knows? She knows about me? She sent you to get me, right? I’m so glad I went to the shaman to get the materials to summon the gumiho, so I could show her exactly how powerful the Bulgasari is! I just knew she’d be grateful once she saw what I could do to protect her!”

“Gumiho?” Patty had no idea what that was, but knew it couldn’t be anything good. “How many?”

“Two!” The woman was in such a delusional state she answered without any clarifying questions.

As the group entered the double doors of the floor exit, Bobby and another pair of security guards came into view as they rounded the corner at the end of the hallway.

The woman gasped and squirmed a bit under Patty’s grasp before excitedly exclaiming, “is that Bobby?! Huntrix’s manager himself is coming to get me? I knew this would all be worth it!”

Patty nodded at the security guards holding the individuals responsible for summoning the dokkaebi. “Stick with these guys and do as they say,” she gave the woman a strong pat on the shoulder to ensure she was paying attention.

Patty heard an excited squeal behind her as she jogged forward to meet Bobby.

“I saw some of what happened through the monitors,” Bobby’s voice was less frantic than before, but still a bit breathless, “what’s the situation?”

“I think we got everyone who was summoning those goblins on stage and in the crowd. Seems to just be the two people, so that’s all accounted for. What isn’t, is that apparently that girl,” Patty glanced over her shoulder and gestured at the overly animated woman with her thumb, “was the one who summoned the Bulgasari and has also summoned two ‘gumiho’. Chances are they’re still running around somewhere. Can you tell me what gumiho look like?”

Bobby furrowed his brows. Since the Idol Awards, the Huntr/x girls had informed him of everything: the existence of demons, the honmoon, Rumi being half-demon… He was grateful to be considered such a trusted part of their inner circle, but the new knowledge had been overwhelming.

It was still overwhelming, but his girls needed him. He straightened his shoulders and tried to control the mystified look on his face as he responded to Patty. “Can’t say I know too much, but the stories say they’re nine-tailed foxes that can shapeshift into humans after they turn… one hundred I think? They’re said to be unnaturally beautiful, usually take the form of a woman.”

“Great, thank you Bobby! You’re a lifesaver – literally,” Patty smiled down at Bobby as she committed the knowledge to memory. “I’m going to hunt these things down. You good to have those three escorted to the security office for questioning? Oh, and could you hold this for me?”

Bobby grabbed the lightstick Patty held out to him. “Absolutely. If you need any help, I’ll be with the audio engineers backstage. Same table we initially met up at. Otherwise, when you and Dante are done meet me there.”

“Got it.” Patty gave a small salute before continuing to jog down the hallway, past more security, hallways, and doors to get backstage. She figured there was a chance whatever Dante spotted could’ve been a gumiho. Heck, there was a chance he could have dealt with both of them by now. Still, Patty was never one to wait around and twiddle her thumbs. She wasn’t raised that way and, even if she was, she didn’t think it was in her nature.

Once she reached the familiar backstage area, she scanned her surroundings. Dozens of people moved around in controlled chaos. Audio engineers stared at the levels in front of them, some muttering into a mic, probably communicating with front of house audio. A group of people gathered in front of the TV monitor showing footage of the stage. Huntr/x appeared to have successfully finished performing “How It’s Done” without any incident – as expected – and were well into their next song. Not a dokkaebi in sight.

Patty walked slowly through the area as she continued her surveillance. Several people moved around outfits hanging off a rack with handheld steamers, while a woman inspected a set of black and white shimmery clothing reminiscent of royal military garb. When she saw the woman pull out a needle and begin to touch up some embroidery, Patty recognized the outfits as the ones from the “Golden” music video. A bubble of excitement formed in Patty’s stomach before she willed herself back to the task at hand. The sooner she dealt with this gumiho problem, the better the chance she’d be back at her seat in time for her favorite song.

All in all, nothing in the area seemed out of the ordinary. As Patty moved past another hallway entrance, she suddenly felt a cool sensation on her left pointer finger. Pausing, she looked down at her ring and slowly backed up away from the hallway. With each step, she felt the sensation fade away.

“Hm…” Upon walking forward, Patty felt her ring begin to cool again. She had felt this sensation earlier when she, Dante, and Bobby were at the audio engineer table. Similarly to now, the sensation had faded away once she and Bobby headed towards the floor.

“Guess you can’t talk so…” her voice was soft as she gently spun the ring on her finger with her thumb, “this your way of telling me something’s up?”

She quieted her steps as much as she could - another neat trick she learned from Lady and Trish – while she followed her personal demonic dowsing rod. As she poked her head down another hallway, something hard slammed into her.

Patty’s head twisted towards her would-be assailant, the top of her hair brushing against something warm and sturdy. She steadied herself, hands pressed flat against the wall and looked up.

Patty’s gaze fell upon the face of a handsome young man.

“Pardon me, miss,” he smiled sheepishly, “please forgive me. I can be so clumsy!”

The cadence of his speech was… odd. It held an almost sing-song tone that reminded Patty of the old princess movies she used to make Dante watch with her. He was like a prince who had just met his princess by chance and was trying to coax her into opening up to him.

His mouth curled into a smile. “Please allow me to make it up to you.”

His smile grew, but as Patty’s gaze trailed up his face she met his glassy eyes. 

He stepped towards her, one arm outstretched, like a prince beckoning his princess to take a daring leap with him. Patty pressed herself further against the wall and slid her hands behind her back. The ring on her finger was so cold it felt like it was burning her. The only other time she’d ever felt such a sensation before was the time she was cleaning the Devil May Cry office and had caught Cerberus after it fell off the weapon rack.

Patty’s pulse quickened as the man approached and placed a hand on the wall above her head. Not from some form of… captivating romantic thrill. No, she had always loved a good story about fairytale romance, but she quickly outgrew the daydreams of having anything worthwhile just fall into your lap and be easy. Her entire life in the orphanage, she had worked hard, helping take care of the other kids, helping clean, helping cook… Even after reuniting with her biological mother and settling into a somewhat normal life, she rarely slowed down. Patty was determined to improve herself and the place around her wherever she went, whenever possible.

The rapid patter of her heart and electricity in her fingertips as she slid the ring off her finger reminded her of another story she’d been told. A firsthand account from Lady… about the first time she fought a demon on her own. And won.

Patty titled her head back, glaring up at the man’s face, his eyes now narrowed into slits as his mouth twisted in an inhuman grin. She dropped her body to the floor and rolled to the left, escaping his attempt to cage her. She threw out her right hand and squeezed the ring in her palm.

A metallic rattle echoed through the hallway followed by a yowl. Glancing up, Patty saw the man struggling against a thick metal coil wrapping itself around his body.

“A hunter!” He spat at her. His eyes widened enough for her to see his pupils were now slit.

Patty rose to her feet, noting the open door behind him that he must have initially burst out of. “You must be the gumiho. I thought your kind took the form of women?”

“Most of us do,” the gumiho smirked, still fighting against the coil, “I do not claim to be like most of my kind.”

Suddenly, the man flung himself at Patty. On reflex, she held out the Bulgasari staff perpendicular to her body and kicked him through the open door. Rushing in after him, she noted the room was mostly empty aside from small piles of long metal pipes and a random assortment of power tools.

The impact from hitting the wall had loosened the coil’s hold enough for the man swing his clawed hands upwards, slicing it open.

Now free, he cast a wicked look at Patty. “Let us make this quick little hunter.”

Patty rolled out of the way as he pounced at her. Though her body was out of reach, her long ponytail hung in the air long enough for him to grab it.

“Ugghh-AHHHH,” Patty screamed, hand instinctively flying to grip the base of her ponytail, “let go of me demon!”

“Oh, I will little hunter,” the man crooned behind her, “once I’m done eating your liver!”

Having regained her focus, Patty gripped her Bulgasari staff and thrust it behind her blindly. She still had no idea what this thing’s powers really were. She wasn’t like Dante who somehow just knew how to use every weapon he came across. Lucky for her, one didn’t need to be a weapons expert to know sharp pointy things hurt.

A shriek pierced her ears as she felt the grip on her hair loosen. She slid forward on her knees, grabbing a metal pipe before kicking up her left leg into a kneel as she whipped around and chucked it at the gumiho.

“My eye! My face,” he screamed, his one eye fixed on her with rage as he cradled his face and side-stepped the metal pipe, “you will pay for that, girl!”

Patty grabbed another metal pipe from the pile and braced it against her Bulgasari staff in an x-shape as he lunged at her. The impact of the gumiho pushed her into the pile of pipes, harsh clattering echoing through the room. As he clawed at her she willed a beam of light from Alan’s Tear into his face. This blinded her too, as he was so close, but upon feeling the pressure on her ease she swiftly slid out of his grasp.

Stopping by the door, far enough away from the gumiho, Patty squeezed her Bulgasari staff again hoping to summon another coil. A ring from the finial unlatched itself and grew into what looked like a thick metal pipe. Only this pipe wasn’t stiff like the tangible, human made one in Patty’s right hand. This one moved like a snake towards its prey before wrapping around and constricting it.

The gumiho tripped on a metal pipe as it once again struggled against the coil. Sensing her chance, Patty rushed forward, with the tip of the Bulgasari staff pointed forward like a spear. The gumiho growled as he regained his bearings. Nine tails burst out from behind him, causing the coil to splinter and shoot out around him. Patty quickly turned her staff upright, tossing it lightly into the air to grip closer to its base to ensure it wouldn’t make contact with the floor as she continued moving forward with a sliding tackle. A long shrill squeak filled the room as she slid forward with her shoes. Had she been wearing cleats on turf, she’s sure she would have made contact, but unfortunately she came up short.

The gumiho smiled wildly at Patty as he looked down and noticed how close she was. As he lunged down, Patty jammed her Bulgasari staff upwards and swung her legs around to get into a kneeling position. The gumiho, now anticipating her tactics, easily intercepted the Bulgasari staff by batting it away.

He was too busy focusing on the Bulgasari staff to notice the metal pipe flying towards his right temple.

The gumiho yowled in pain before whipping his head to face Patty again.

“Enough!” the man bared his fangs and wrapped his fluffy tails around Patty’s ankles, pulling her towards him.

Patty tried to reposition her Bulgasari staff, but the thrashing mess of limbs made it difficult to maneuver. Luckily for her, her leather jacket gave a bit of resistance as she was dragged across the laminate floor. She jerked her arm back to her chest as the gumiho swiped at the hand gripping the Bulgasari staff. Missing, his clawed nails instead ran down her forearm, catching her bracelets and sending beads scattering to the floor.

Patty grunted in anger and frustration. She had worked hard on those! She continued to thrash wildly in an attempt to free herself from his grasp. She squeezed her eyes tightly as she sent another beam of light into his face.

“Is this all you know how to do?!” The gumiho screamed.

Patty felt him jerk her body to the left before he immediately tugged her in the opposite direction. She felt the grip on her ankles disappear as she was flung into the wall with a loud thump.

Winded, Patty scrambled on the floor to grab the Bulgasari staff. Her fingertips caught the shaft of the staff and she flicked it towards her. Before she could fully grab it, a shadow covered her; the gumiho had sprung into the air and was seconds away from pouncing on his prey. Patty frantically grabbed a metal pipe with her left hand and brought up her knees close to her chest. She rested the metal pipe on her legs, hoping it would give her the leverage she needed to dampen the impact. She gripped the pipe tightly with both hands as her Bulgasari devil arm was now pinned at her side.

“You’re lucky… I don’t…” Patty huffed, winded again from the gumiho’s weight, “have a gun…!”

“Your inexperience in battle is no fault of mine little hunter,” the gumiho spat, attempting to claw at her face, “if you had just been a good little human I would have ended this cleanly. No longer – you will be awake to witness me rip out your liver and eat it before I take your heart and end you!”

Patty grunted as she kicked up her legs and pushed up the metal pipe, trying to lift him off her. When she felt the pressure on her lighten she thrust her left arm upwards and detached her right hand, quickly reaching for the devil arm at her side. She squeezed the Bulgasari staff, returning it to its ring form.

“Gross,” she kicked up again and thrust her right hand up to punch the left side of his chest. She hoped his humanoid form reflected a human anatomy. “You’re not my type!”

The Bulgasari staff manifested in Patty’s hand, bursting through the gumiho’s chest. An ear-splitting wail rang in her ears as the gumiho went slack above her.

Patty saw flecks of light float into the air and looked down to see his lower body start to vanish. As she looked up, her eyes met the gumiho’s face, twisted in rage and contempt. He opened his mouth, no doubt to deliver a scathing retort before his demise.

Regrettably for him, he would never get to.

An ethereal translucent red sword cut across his neck, causing his head to disappear into white light.

Patty let out a breath she didn’t know she was holding.

Looking up, she saw Dante standing in the doorway; his Devil Sword slung across his back, a harsh scowl on his face.

“That was a little overkill, wasn’t it?” Patty rose to her feet and dusted herself off the best she could. “He was already dead.”

Dante strode towards Patty, the measured stomps of his boots filling the room, as he ignored her comment. “You okay?”

Patty sighed as she rubbed out the scuffs on her skirt. “I’m fine,” she looked up, meeting Dante’s serious gaze. His lips pressed into a thin line. “What’s got your briefs in a bunch?”

Dante unsummoned his sword and his shoulders relaxed a bit, but Patty noticed some tension in his jaw remained. He shrugged, his arms flying out to his sides. “Some foxy lady messed up my outfit,” his tone held a sense of fake exaggerated exasperation, “and not in a fun way.”

Patty rolled her eyes. “Hoped for a better fight?”

Dante chuckled, one side of his mouth curling upwards, his jaw relaxing slightly. “Guess you do know me pretty well.” He looked around the room. Relatively intact save for the small section of metal pipes and beads scattered on the floor.

“So…” Dante gestured at Patty, “what was his deal?”

“Some guy who couldn’t take a hint,” Patty crossed her arms, “a nine-tailed fox demon – or a ‘gumiho’ as the girl who summoned them called them. Kept talking about eating my liver.”

“Gross,” Dante sniffed, “glad you saw through it. Seems like they can bewitch humans fairly easily.”

Patty scrunched her nose. “Of course I did! Who do you take me for?”

“Was just making a comment,” Dante threw up his hands, “didn’t mean it to come out like I was doubting you. Though I guess I don’t know what kind of person you like. The ladies in your life must have the girl talk covered.”

“That’s because you never listened when I told you!” Patty glared before taking a deep breath and smirking, her voice carrying an exaggerated insincere lilt. “Though they say kids imitate what they see around them. And I’ve never had any healthy examples of that stuff,” she let out an exaggerated sigh, “maybe I’m doomed to be an unwitting participant in an eternal song-and-dance or to wait for a handsome prince to carry me up a tower…”

“Don’t you mean carry you out of a tower?”

“Whatever!” Patty clenched her fists and pouted. “If all the gumiho are taken care of, we should meet up with Bobby at the audio table.”

“Got it, boss.” Dante stepped to the side, letting Patty pass him and lead the way.

As the two walked in silence, Dante discreetly looked over Patty, searching for possible injuries. At a glance, other than a few scuffs on the back of her leather jacket and the bow in her hair being slightly lopsided she looked fine. She wouldn't look out of place in the sea of concert-goers and he was confident no layperson would be able to tell she had just taken out a decently high level demon on her own. However, this observation didn't do much to quell the lingering irritated buzz underneath his skin. Dante couldn’t help but notice the tension hadn’t left Patty.

“What’s on your mind, kid?”

“How many times do I have to tell you I’m not a kid,” Patty snapped through gritted teeth, irritation bubbling in her gut, “I thought that after I turned eighteen it would get through your thick skull.”

“Just because you can legally buy cigarettes in Capulet city now doesn’t mean you can do everything,” Dante paused for a moment. “Please don’t develop a tobacco addiction.”

Patty scoffed. “Meeting Nico did more to scare me away from cigarettes than any speech could. Don’t get me wrong - she’s pretty cool and is kind of a genius… but no amount of air fresheners could ever get the smell out of that van…”

Dante noticed a bit of the tension in Patty’s shoulders dissolve as she shuddered, nose scrunching remembering the smell. “Anyway, relationships don’t change all that easily, ‘specially not because of something as arbitrary as a number. Just because the government doesn’t think you’re a kid anymore, doesn’t mean everyone else has to think that too. Ask Nina if she stopped thinking of you as a kid.” Dante paused, biting his tongue to prevent him from continuing that train of thought and saying something that could anger her more.

Patty let a heavy puff of air out of her nose as Dante continued. “Look Patty, even the best of us miss stuff sometimes.” Dante paused again as memories from the Qliphoth jumped to the front of his mind. “Just because you’re capable of doing something on your own, it doesn’t mean you always should. In a battle, there are people I trust to watch my back, and they trust me to watch theirs… but just because someone understands the possible consequences, it doesn’t mean the other people stop caring about what could happen to them.”

“I guess…”

Dante placed a hand on Patty’s shoulder. He felt her tense up slightly. “Good job today, kid. I mean it. Couldn’t have been easy taking that thing on by yourself. ‘Specially without access to your weapon of choice.”

Patty’s shoulder relaxed, but her brow pinched together more. Her eyes softened as her lips began to slightly curl upwards. “Lady would have killed him easily. She was younger than me when she soloed her first demon.”

“Yeah, well - Lady is Lady. I’m sure when she was your age, she would have ripped out his liver with her bare hands…” Dante shuddered, “but that’s besides the point. She took down her first demon with a long range weapon. Between you and me, you taking out that overgrown fox in close quarters combat is much more impressive… Lady would agree. She’ll be proud of you.”

Dante squeezed Patty’s shoulder.

“I’m proud of you Patty.”

Patty kept her gaze forward as they walked through the hallway. She placed her hand on Dante’s.

“Thanks.”

Patty gave a squeeze and brought her hand back to her side. As Patty’s hand fell away, Dante let his do the same, the irritating buzz settling as soon as his arm relaxed at his side. The two walked in silence until they turned the corner and saw the familiar bustle of crew members at the other end of the hallway.

“You should call her tonight. To tell her the good news.”

“Nah. I’ll wait until she’s back in Capulet.”

“Oh? Ah, I see. Lady might be so happy she’ll start cryin’ tears of joy! I wouldn’t wanna miss that either. Tell me when you plan on telling her so I can be there!”

Patty snorted, rolling her eyes. “Sure, whatever you say,” she reached back and smoothed her hand over her ponytail, pulling it to the front. She frowned as she inspected the damage. “That demon cut off some of my hair! Ugghhhhh, I’m gonna have to cut it! Now I see why Lady keeps her hair short…”

“We can always see if there are any hairstylists backstage that can give you a quick chop,” Dante teased.

“I think I’ll pass on making such an important decision for now. Maybe I’ll ask Trish to give me layers when she gets back,” Patty released her ponytail, letting it rest against her clavicle. “Dante, has Lady always had short hair?” 

“Uh, yeah - guess so. At least, she has for as long as I’ve known her.”

“Hm, I wonder what she’d look like with long hair…” Patty smiled softly as she twirled a piece of her hair around her finger. “Kind of hard to imagine, but I bet she’d still be so pretty.”

“Ah yes, the prettiest Lady in all of the land I’m sure,” Dante put on an exaggerated accent, reminiscent of a royal steward from one of the princess movies Patty used to make him watch with her, “maybe you can convince her to wear a wig to your going away party.”

 “Out of all your harebrained suggestions, that one’s not half bad. I’d like to see it, even if it’s just once. Bet she’ll look even more like a princess than the time we convinced her to wear a ballgown for my thirteenth birthday!” Patty giggled, “she looked so beautiful! it’s too bad there’s only one photo of her wearing it.”

“One photo that you know of,” Dante smirked mischievously.

“What?! You saved some copies from getting tossed in the fireplace and didn’t tell me?!” Patty whipped her head towards Dante, face aghast. “Or do you just have a weird random collection of Lady photos she’d consider blackmail worthy?”

“Who’s to say I don’t have a collection of embarrassing photos of all my associates?” Dante’s smirk curled more as his shoulders slowly rose in a shrug.

Patty pointed at him with a commanding conviction. “You need to show me this stash before I leave!”

Dante gave a small salute as the pair finally made it to the audio engineer table backstage.

“Great, you two made it!” Bobby’s voice held relief and gratitude. “Everything taken care of?”

“Yeah, seems like your stray fox problem has been taken care of right Patty?”

“Yes, the two gumiho have been dealt with. One did take the form of a man though.”

“Huh! Interesting,” Bobby responded, handing back Patty’s lightstick, “this whole thing is pretty new to me, so I didn’t mean to give you false intel.”

“It’s okay,” Patty nodded at Bobby as she reached for her lightstick in a show of thanks, “based on what he said it seems uncommon.”

“Heard you two saved the day once again.”

Turning around, Patty and Dante were met with the sight of Mira casually sipping on a straw placed in a water bottle being held up by a staff member. Two other staff members hovered around her with portable fans. Behind her, Zoey and Rumi walked into view, a similar buzz of staff members around them. Patty recognized the outfits as the “Golden” ones hanging from the clothing rack earlier. She tried not to jump from the electric currents of anticipation running through her body.

“That’s right,” Bobby confirmed, “all uninvited guests have been dealt with and all perpetrators have confessed. Now all you girls have to worry about is slaying the stage; not any wayward dokkaebi.”

“Awesome! Thanks again you two,” Zoey beamed as a member of the make-up team blotted her forehead.

“Seriously,” a staff member spritzed a spray into Rumi’s mouth before she continued, “if you ever need anything at all please let us know.”

The staff member carrying the voice spray shuffled over to Mira. “Yeah, with everything you’ve done today, don’t worry about needing to buy tickets to the next show.”

“Or ever,” Zoey opened her mouth awaiting the vocal spray, “we can reserve a whole row for you if you need it.”

Rumi walked up to a cluttered table and grabbed a large flat square. “It’s not much, but here. A gift from us.”

Rumi handed the square to Dante. It was a signed limited edition Huntr/x vinyl record.

“A little birdie told us you had a record player.” Zoey smiled as a make-up artist touched up her lipgloss.

“Thanks girls. I’m sure it’ll fit in perfectly with the rest of my collection,” Dante slipped the record halfway out of its cover with a small smile. It shined brilliantly - shimmery and iridescent. It suited them. “If you all ever need backup, you know who to call.”

“Oh? Can you sing?” Mira’s voice held a bit of playfulness to it, but it seemed a part of her was genuinely curious.

“And dance too, thank you very much,” Dante responded with a playful cadence.

“Let’s not exaggerate too much now,” Patty interjected, trying to hide her small smile. “It’s also thanks to you three that Capulet seems to have been spared the brunt of its ‘once-a-decade-destructive-demon-attack’ curse.”

“Yeah, only two blocks of destruction and a couple of singed bushes this time! It’s usually much worse,” Dante mused, “I’d say it’s been a mutually beneficial partnership.”

Huntr/x laughed as Bobby gazed at a clipboard. “Alright girls, the VCR ends in five so let’s get you to your marks.”

Mira nodded at Patty and Dante with a smile before heading off. Zoey threw a quick, “see you later!” before grabbing Rumi’s hand and following Mira. Rumi gave a friendly wave at the pair with her free hand before the trio disappeared into the wings.

Patty waved back before gasping. She grabbed Dante’s hand and tugged him towards the now familiar hallway. “Five minutes means we have five minutes to get back to our seats! C’mon!”

Amused, Dante allowed Patty to drag him back to their seats. It reminded him of when she was little.

Of when she was eight and had found a four-leaf clover at the park.

Or when she was eleven and had insisted on running to be first in line to buy a new game.

Or when she was thirteen and pulling him to the dance floor, having convinced him to come to a father-daughter dance at her middle school.

“So,” Patty started as they sat down in their seats, “tell me honestly – how has it been so far? Not that bad right?”

“No, not that bad. Maybe even a little good.” Dante replied playfully.

“See! Sometimes all you gotta do is trust me.” Patty smirked, turning on her lightstick and jabbing him in the chest.

Dante threw up his hands in mock surrender and Patty laughed before digging through her bag.

Dante smiled, eyes softening as he watched Patty, and allowed the warmth that had been building in his chest throughout the day to spread through his body.

He did trust Patty. Even though she would leave, he knew she would return. Just as she always had. He trusted that they would stay in each other’s lives, for the rest of their time on the mortal plane. Because even though he had pretended to be her father the first time they met to avoid undue attention from civilians, somewhere along the way it stopped being pretend for both of them. Even if it took a while to admit it.

“Hey kid, your flight still within the refund window?”

“Yeah, why?” Patty responded, eyes still focused on her bag.

“How’s about we drive you to college? Just you and me.”

The clinking and jingling stopped. Patty’s lips pursed and her brow wrinkled slightly.

“I’d… I’d really like that.”

“Let’s do it then. We’ll let the other know later.”

The two sat in silence as the VCR played in the background. Dante eyed the lone bracelet on Patty’s right arm.

“Sorry that demon messed up your bracelets. I know you must have worked hard on them.”

Patty startled a bit, looking down at her wrist before taking it off.

“Here,” she slipped the bracelet onto Dante’s wrist, “now we match.”

Dante stared at the bracelet. The beads were a mixture of metallic and matte purples and whites, with lettered beads that spelled “Rumi” in the middle.

“I get Zoey, Nero gets Mira, you get Rumi,” Patty explained, bumping her remaining bracelets against his, “luckily we have no overlap.”

“I’m sure there’s a joke in here about loving all your kids equally,” Dante chuckled, “lucky for me, I’ve never tried to hide who my favorite child is.” The soft clinking of Dante bumping his bracelet against Patty's bracelets was barely audible alongside the VCR.

Patty scoffed lightly. “It’s not the same thing. All’s fair in war and claiming your bias in photocard pulls.”

Before Dante could express his utter confusion at her statement, the VCR ended and an instrumental began to play. Patty gasped and sprung up to her feet as the audience erupted.

This time Dante stood up with her.

“Thanks for coming with me, dad.”

Patty’s voice was soft, drowned out by the crowd, but she knew he’d hear her.

Dante twisted his torso and tightened the bow in her hair before facing the stage again.

“Anything for my daughter.”