Fan Fiction ❯ Requiem for the Dead ❯ Time ( Chapter 1 )

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

****Quick note- If you've read "Name," then you know that Lady's new name is Darsha. The only problem is the original Darsha plays a role in this fic as well. So, for the scenes that they have together, "Lady" Darsha will be known as her rank- Lady. Otherwise the OG Darsha will be known as Mistress.****
 

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Requiem for the Dead
by Midori Bond
Chapter 1- Time  

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Two years. That was how long she had been here.... In Hell.

Two long and hard fought years.

Her appearance had changed. Her face was more narrow, she seemed to grow out of her baby fat. Gone was the look of justified innocence. All that was left was bitterness and hatred inside of mismatched eyes. She was no longer the Demon Hunter that vowed to rid the human world of all demons.

Now, she was one....

A strong one....

One that was feared and respected by those she regulated.

And out of impossible numbers, she only answered to one... Lucifer himself.

She had indeed come a long way from being little Mary Arkham.

A soft knock on her chamber door brought her out of her thoughts. She turned away from the indigo night sky and backed away from her terrace. "Enter," she commanded. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw her namesake smiling softly. Without a thought, she dropped to one knee. "Mistress Darsha," she said respectfully. "I had no idea you were in this section of the castle."

"I know. Only Luce knows that I'm here." She walked over to her descendant and gently touched her hair. "Stand up Darsha. Kneeling doesn't become you."

"Yet you chose to be a slave for eternity," she said lowly.

Mistress allowed a muse to escape her as the younger woman stood. "You still know nothing," she said with a sigh. She walked over to the plush sofa and sat. "I have never been a slave here. As long as Luce is in power, I never will be."

"Why? Because you believe him?" Lady asked hotly. "He's the Devil. He's not to be trusted."

Gold eyes looked at her curiously as she tilted her head to the side. "And you trusted him," she countered. "You continue to trust him. You follow his orders without hesitation, or question."

Lady lowered her head and frowned at her hands. "He's only asked that I police the nearby areas."

"Yes. And you do not comprehend the amount of trust he has in you to ask that." Mistress brushed her raven colored hair out of her eyes. "There are far worse than Luce out there."

"Then why is he the ruler? Couldn't anyone take his place?"

"Now you see why he's asked you to police for him," Mistress said plainly. When Lady frowned, she smiled. "I know you have a lot of questions Darsha. Please, allow me to explain who Luce is, and how he's like nothing you've ever expected."

Lady inhaled slowly before going to sit next to Mistress. The pair sat in silence as the younger brunette thought of the request. "I want to know why do you follow him so faithfully," she said.

"I love him," Mistress said without hesitation. She looked at Lady and laughed at the horrified expression she wore. "You've met him. He's everything that the church warns us about, and yet, he's completely different. Luce is a walking contradiction compared to the Almighty Lucifer we're told of." Mistress tucked a lock of hair behind her ear and sighed. "Luce rules here, simply because this is all he wants. He doesn't want the human world, or the Heavens. He's content just being able to do what he pleases, when he pleases."

"What if it pleases him to destroy an innocent family?" Lady spat.

Mistress shook her head, knowing that Lady was thinking. "He had nothing to do with what happened to your mother."

"And how would you know?" Lady cut in.

"Because you are of my blood," Mistress shouted. She looked into mismatched eyes and took a breath to calm herself. "Do you honestly think that I would allow him to do something that would hurt my family?"

"You speak as if you have the power to stop him if you wanted," Lady mumbled.

"I'm a woman, Darsha," she said quietly. "I could cripple him if I wanted." She watched the girl as she turned to look out of the window. "But to answer your question, Luce couldn't slaughter an innocent family."

"Why?"

"He was an angel once. He may know of lies, deceit, corruption, but he also knows of love, and compassion." When Lady snorted, Mistress frowned. "You're living proof of that."

Lady lowered her head. "I made a deal," she said lowly. "I'm not proof of anything."

"Are you so sure?" Mistress stood and walked over to the terrace doors. "I was Darsha when you arrived. I asked for him to give you my powers. I was the one that even introduced the idea of your deal to him." She looked at Lady with a curious expression. "All he could have said was no. Two little letters, and you would be down below, trying to fend off whatever wanted you. And with you being on their turf, you would have been ribbons for the fiends to play with. Now, why would he do something like that if he was such a vile creature?"

The younger Darsha was quiet as she looked at her hands again. Mistress had a point. She could fool herself into thinking that she was the best, and Luce had wanted to keep her around for her skills, but that wasn't true. He could have easily left things as they were, Mistress would have still been Darsha, his most feared advisor, and she would have been nothing more than another dead human. "I don't understand him," she said quietly.

Mistress smiled as she looked up at the rising orange moon. "Most people say that about Luce," she said softly. "I do. It's just hard to explain." She laughed and shook her head. "He's a force of nature that you have to experience. Not be lectured on."

Lady's frown deepened. "I don't think I'd enjoy that experience," she said as a blush crossed her face.

Again, Mistress's laugh echoed through the chambers. "I didn't mean that kind of experience," she chuckled as she looked at the young woman. Her eyes widened as she recognized the look Lady wore. "Darsha, are you still a vir...."

"This is not on the topic," Lady said quickly. As her face grew more heated, Lady stood and went to pour herself something to drink. "And no. I'm not." She drank some of her brandy and looked into her glass. "I'd just rather not think about Demons, and experiences, that's all," she said quietly.

Mistress nodded. "The son of Sparda," she said with a knowing smile.

The color of Lady's face turned from pale ivory to beet red. "It's not what you think," she said before finishing her drink. She placed the glass on a small tray and poured herself another.

"Sparda had a soft spot for beautiful women too. It nearly killed him when I died."

She really didn't want to have this conversation. "I didn't...."

"I've seen Luce's reports on Dante. He's a lot like his father."

"Vergil was my first," Lady said raising her glass to her lips again. She closed her eyes so she would have to see the shocked expression on a face that almost mirrored her own. When the glass was empty, she took a slow breath, bracing herself for the questions that were bound to follow such a statement.

"It would be better if you started talking," Mistress said calmly. She walked over to Lady and gently took her hand. Before the younger woman could protest, they were sitting side by side on the sofa again. "We thought all of your ties were with Dante."

Lady shook her head. "A few months after everything with my father, I went to a place called Mallet Island. All that's there is a huge house, and tiny village. I was hired as a hunter to investigate the house. On my second night there, a storm rolled through. When I was on my way back to my room, there was a body lying in the middle of the road. At first, I thought it was Dante. Everything about him was the same. But when he woke up, I got to see his eyes. They were blue. I had found Vergil.

"He told me of how he went to confront someone named Mundus and was captured. When I found him, he had just escaped." Lady looked at her hands and smiled faintly. "He was different from the first time we met. It could have been because we weren't trying to kill each other. But I took care of him with a woman named Giga's help. She lived on a distant island, but she came to the village everyday. When he was back to full health, the village was having a festival. It was something about honoring their God. That night, we both had a few drinks, and one thing lead to another."

Gold eyes observed the way Lady was telling her story. From the quiet tone alone, she could tell this didn't have a happy ending. "You lost him after that, didn't you?" she asked.

Mismatched eyes hardened. "Mundus sent his minions after Vergil. They found us in bed. Before either of us could put up a decent fight, he was shackled, and I was pinned to the bed." Tears came to her eyes unwillingly, and she bit her trembling lip. "To save me, Vergil told some woman that he would go with her, and do whatever Mundus wanted. So, yeah, I lost him."

Mistress felt her heart break as she looked at Lady. "Do you love him?" she asked quietly.

Lady looked at her with wet eyes. "No," she said quickly. Defiantly, a single tear escaped from her eyes and trailed down her face. She wiped it away roughly and shook her head. "Love never entered the equation. I felt sorry for him."

A small smile crossed Mistress's lips. Lady had fallen for him, no matter how she denied it. With a final squeeze, Mistress released Lady's hand and stood. "I came here to talk with you about how you're finding things, and we end up babbling like two long lost girlfriends," she mused.

Lady nodded as she gathered her pride around her like a shield. "That's fine," she said lowly. "With only you and Lucifer here, I'm sure it must be lonely at times."

Before Mistress could respond, the dark purple sky turned white. Both women ran to the terrace to see Mundus's mark high in the sky. What they weren't expecting was for the single figure to plummet from the insignia. Mistress took a slow breath as she realized what had just happened. "Whoever that was, in order for them to survive, they have to either go back to their master, or come here for Luce to heal," she said lowly.

Lady felt a knot form in her stomach for an unknown reason. "That was Mundus, wasn't it?" she asked lowly.

Mistress looked at the girl. She smiled sadly when she saw fierce determination written across her young face. "Yes. And if that was him, bring him here. Luce understands affairs of the heart."

Lady opened the terrace doors as the sky died back to its original black/purple. "I don't love him," she said one last time.

Mistress smiled as the girl walked over to the edge of her terrace and jumped over it. "This is one hell of a way to prove it," she whispered as she watched her namesake.  

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Lady Darsha, general of Lucifer's guards, always knew how to make an entrance.

A number of soldiers were gathered at the Palace gates. They all had been ready to retire for the night when the insignia threw whatever it wanted into the wastelands. Some of them were instantly ready to go and investigate, while others were wondering if they should wait for their orders. One glanced up above and quickly moved out of the way of the huge black wolf that was plummeting to the ground.

He jumped back and collided with a few of his fellow guards. As they all fell over in a tangle of metal and limbs, the wolf landed and started to run off towards the wastelands. Teal colored eyes looked turned up to the general's balcony and met the gold eyes of the Mistress. She was looking at him directly wearing an all too familiar smile. He was about to do something that could either shake the palace structure, or bring down his father's wrath. No matter what, he was about to lose in some way.  

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She ran.

It had been five minutes since Mundus's light erupted in the sky. The body would be surrounded by Feeders and Fiends by now. She was running out of time. She had to reach that body.

She had to find out if it was him. She had to make sure that it wasn't Vergil lying in the Wastelands. Images of his body being ravaged by some of the lesser demons flashed in her mind's eye, urging her on faster.

"I don't love him,"she thought as she reached the city borders. "I have to free him. That's all."

Yet, no matter how much she told herself that, Mistress's words wouldn't leave her alone.

Darsha slowed to a stop as she reached the crimson sands of the wastelands. Her keen eyes were searching for exactly where the fallen carcass would be. She was forcing herself to keep calm. It wouldn't do her any good to loose her composer. If the fallen warrior wasn't injured, and could still put up a fight, she would need a clear head.

A low growl escaped her. In the distance, she saw a number of shadows hovering over a lump in the sand. Without hesitation, she charged forward and slammed into one of the larger figures. As the shadows each turned to her, she transformed into her human form. She heard a number of the lower demons start to cower and drew the pistol she kept strapped to her leg. "By order of the Dark Lord, this body is off limits," she said in a low voice.

The demon she crashed into stood behind her. "He's fallen into our territory," it hissed. "Mundus promised him to us."

She turned and leveled her gun to its eye. Without hesitation, she fired. She heard the others in the background as they hissed and shrieked. As the body fell, she turned to the others. "You can feed off of that," she said coldly. "The body Mundus gave you is mine."

The Feeders that were around the fallen figure slowly moved away from it. Their long clumsy claws were digging into the sand as the moonlight was finally allowed to touch the warrior Mundus threw away.

Darsha felt her stomach drop. Clad in a strange green armor, was Vergil, the elder son of Sparda.

She didn't know if she wanted to laugh, cry, or leave him there for the feeders.

The decision was taken away from her when she heard the familiar whine of Thala, Lucifer's personal Dragon. She walked over to Vergil's prone form and knelt next to him. He was still alive, barely. She would have to hurry and get him to the palace if she had any hopes of saving him.

The ground shook as Thala landed. Darsha looked up expecting to find her Lord, only to see one of her Lieutenants. "Ren?" she asked as she looked into teal eyes. "What are you doing here?"

A breeze passed through, making his deep auburn hair lift slightly. "When you left the palace, I saw Mistress," he said simply. He dismounted the Dragon and went to Darsha's side. He looked at the figure and frowned. "I thought Sparda was thrown into the Dead Zone," he said lowly. His eyes then narrowed when he saw the way Darsha caressed his face.

"This isn't Sparda," she said before turning to Ren. She could feel emotions long locked away trying to force their way to the surface. Her eyes remained locked with Ren's as she stood. "Mistress wants us to take him to the Palace. Load him up and take him back."

Ren looked at her. "Yes General," he said lowly.

Darsha's eyes scanned the area with a frown on her face. The night was empty save for the Feeders feasting on the one she recently killed. She wouldn't let her guard down. She couldn't let anyone see her weak... even if all she wanted to do right now was breakdown.

As he strapped his burden to Thala's back, Ren looked at Darsha. He knew who she was, what she had been. She was the same as Mistress. A human that was sent to Hell, and then given favor by Lucifer. He could suspect that she had know this man in her former life. The strange way she was trying to act completely normal didn't escape him. Ren sighed as he tightened the last strap around Vergil. "General," he called respectfully. When she turned to him, he cleared his throat. "Mistress also wanted you to accompany me back to the castle."

Darsha walked over to Thala and easily climbed into her saddle. She waited for Ren to climb in front of her and barely hid a smirk. "You really don't need me," she said lowly. She gripped the hem of Ren's tunic as Thala took to the skies. "Your mother can handle your father."

"But he saw me leaving with Thala. How did you put it once? I was caught stealing his car."

She allowed a small smile to cross her face. "Yes. And you want me there, so he'll think that it was an order from Darsha."

Ren glanced over his shoulder and smiled at her. "It was an order from Darsha," he reasoned.

A sigh escaped her as she shook her head. "You're too much like your father sometimes. Do you know that?" she asked.

He chuckled as the palace slowly came into view. "Actually, my mother taught me to think like this." Again, he looked over his shoulder to Darsha. "Give her enough time with her. Mistress will have you thinking in circles in no time."

Darsha lowered her eyes slightly. "Sometimes I think she's already started," she mumbled.  

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TBC...
Author's note: Okay, I was getting like no response from "Hell Hath No Fury," and this idea's been bugging me for a while. Please bear with me. It's going to be basically Lady Darsha and Nelo (Vergil). I personally LOVE Dante, but I'm finding his big brother kinda hot too... Kami! I love twins. ANYWAY, I hope you enjoy. Let me know if you want to see this continue! Until Next Time! 
Midori