Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Capricious Infection ❯ Act 40: Pained ( Chapter 40 )

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Capricious Infection

By: Melissa Norvell/Revamp

Act 40: Pained

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"I don't need you to know that. Do you know what I see?" Ares inquired, looking at the pitiful Dius before him.

"What?" Dante said reluctantly. He didn't really care, but he wasn't going to put up another fight after what just happened to him.

"A pathetic fool, unworthy of licking the bottom of my shoe," the god of war scoffed. In fact, he wouldn't even let that boy touch him with his filthy hands. The punishment he gave him was well worth it. Dante needed to suffer in unimaginable ways. That would never waver.

"I'm so sorry...to you...and to Tarvos..." Dante hung his head. It finally hit him. This was the gravity of his situation, and there was no escape. His parents had been savagely murdered in front of him. All the half-Dius could do was hang his head in shame.

"Good riddance," Ares scoffed.

"Maybe one day...you'll learn to accept me as Dante. There's so much I could learn from you. Maybe...one day, you won't hurt so much...or be so bitter," Dante closed his eyes. More than anything, he wished that Ares could see him as a different person. It was true that a part of Diablo resided within him, but he was no longer Diablo. He was his own man.

"You don't deserve to even be around me," Ares growled and drew back his fist, punching the boy in the chest. A loud, thunk sounded from the contact as he hit him again in an emotional rage. "You!" He shouted. "You never deserved to be my pyrex! You are a failure to the Dius race! You used me and now you have the nerve to try and reach out to me?" Every time he asked a question, he delivered another cruel blow to the battered boy's body. Over and over again, he hit Dante, taking out his aggression on him.

A twisted smirk crossed the warrior king's face as he trailed a hand tenderly down Dante's well-muscled body. "Lovely," just like lightening, his features morphed from tender to hateful, "but vile." He pulled his fist back and punched him again. "You bastard! You! I HATE YOU! I FUCKING HATE YOU!"

In an emotional fit, he drew his fist back again, but Dante spoke weakly, causing him to pause.

"Ares, how could I have done this to you?" Maybe, just for right now, he would play along. Maybe to some degree, Dante felt as if he deserved it. Diablo made Ares suffer immensely, and there was a part of Diablo inside of him, regardless of how much he wanted to throw the past behind him.

"I don't even know what to think anymore. Just...fuck you. This was all I wanted. You don't deserve to be Chaos. You don't deserve to be free." In fact, the warrior king was pissed when he found out that he was free. Ares panted, tired from pummeling on the male and screaming at the top of his lungs at him.

Blood ran down the corner of Dante's mouth, dripping onto the cold floor below. "Do you feel better? Is this what you wanted? I'm so sorry. One day, I hope you can forgive me for what I did to you. I failed you...it wasn't you who failed me..." He was tired, and his body felt like a punching bag. At this rate, Dante just hoped that he passed out.

"Please..." Tears ran down Ares' face. "No more...I'll beat the fuck out of you again. I don't want to hear it anymore. You're dead to me. Enjoy your pitiful life, helping those humans." He turned away, not allowing the other to see him cry. Like hell Dante deserved to see him shed any more tears than he had in the past.

The shackles released Dante, sending his already tattered body crash into the floor. The unforgiving ground wasn't kind to him and upon contact with it, waves of pain jolted through him like electricity. He didn't have any drive to move from his spot, and he was extremely tired, emotionally and physically. Dante could hear Ares' footsteps fade away as he walked away from him.

Tarvos flew down, landing in front of the half-Dius, holding his scythe. "It's over now."

"I hope you're happy," Dante frowned as he saw the reaper's feet appear before him.

"I've realized that you were right. I shouldn't have feeling for you anymore,"Tarvos had come to that realization long ago. Dante was right. He couldn't rewrite the past, so he simply stopped trying. Besides, when he saw him like that, it made him considerably less attractive.

"I was willing to try for you." Although his voice was weak, it was sincere. Dante really did want to make the grim reaper happy. He felt like a fool for trying.

"I also got us an ally." Honestly, Dante should have been happy that he did such a good thing. It wasn't easy getting the warrior king on their side.

"Oz...was going to kill my parents anyway, wasn't he? I didn't even know they were alive..." The whole situation crushed him. Dante felt betrayed by his fellows. Even if they were going to kill his human parents, they really should have not made him watch as they were sacrificed to the Death Factory.

"You should know who dies. I spare no one. That's my job. You will all die one day, for I am the ultimate closure to creation of all things." Maybe it was finally sinking into Dante's head that no one was safe from the grip of death. As much as death was the ultimate release, and something that caused great peace, it was also cruel and merciless, and the inevitability of all creations.

"Why? Why did you combine us?" Knowing what would happen, it seemed cruel for Tarvos to shove his soul back together with Diablos.

"You were needed," that was all Tarvos was going to say on the matter.

"I wanted to believe that you cared." Now, he could clearly see that Tarvos didn't give a damn about him.

"I did," the reaper replied. "I still do, but I want to win this war and my stratos would have it no other way. He won't bother you anymore. You're even now." If it was any solace, Dante had that behind him. The pain now was temporary compared to what could have happened between them. Just like all of the carnage that he endured, he would grow stronger and get over it. That was how people adapted.

"He destroyed my life," Dante choked back a sob. Ares murdered his parents. He would never forgive him for such a thing.

"What you did to him was equally bad," Dante tortured Ares in the past. Tarvos knew that Dante realized that. Thinking about things from his stratos' point of view, surely he saw how much he deserved to be in pain right now.

"All I could do was apologize." There was nothing that Dante could do to fix things. What was in the past was in the past, and he refused to believe that he was the same person as Diablo. No matter what, he was going to keep the belief that he was an entire different entity now.

"This should rest then," Tarvos commented. "You're even."

"Not easy," not with his temper. Did Tarvos really forget which element he controlled?

"Sorry to throw you under the human bus-" the reaper was cut off before he could even finish his sentence.

"That Ares guy...is such a prick," Dante pulled himself to his feet. His limbs felt like cement and his body like dead weight. He gritted his teeth and glared at the warrior king through orange eyes of malice. There was no way in hell that he was going to simply forget about this.

"Feeling angry?" Tarvos was as amused as ever.

"I'm super pissed," Dante seethed. Just then, a pain shot through his chest, which caused him to flinch and grab the afflicted area as he rose to his feet and stumbled around. He felt like he was having a heart attack. "I'll punch him in the face when I see him next."

"You should worry about yourself, first," Tarvos saw that Dante was in no condition to do any damage to anyone how he was.

"Ugh," the half-Dius groaned. "Why do you care about him so much? Enough to become his lackey?" Really, it was disgusting how the reaper mocked him. Did he really hang onto the past like his stratos?

"It's too late to have feelings for me now." Even if Dante was ready to admit it, Tarvos was hardly in the mood to hear it. Dante should have admitted them before, but he failed to do so and now he just had to pay for his misdeeds.

Hanging his head, Dante realized the error of his ways. His fondness came way too late, but maybe there was a way to salvage it. "Can we at least be friends?"

"Human friends?" Tarvos cocked his head. "I'm shocked that you want to." He was a traitor, after all. He did help Ares kill his parents.

"You've always been like this. I can't hold it against you for showing up where people die. It's who the Grand High Messiah is," Dante knew that he was the grim reaper. No matter how angry he was at him, he couldn't completely blame him for doing something that was in his nature to do. Not to mention, Dante knew Tarvos' back story. He knew why he was the way that he was. That made him understanding of what was going on as far as he was concerned.

"Are you going back?" Tarvos inquired.

"I have to. You guys fucking abducted me. People are probably wondering where I am." Like hell he was going to stay in that disgusting Death Factory. Dante knew that he was going to get pelted with a million questions but he didn't care. More than anything, he just wanted to see his friends.

Silently, Tarvos held out his hand.

"What?" Dante was dumbfounded by what he thought was an offer to take his hand. However, when he tried to reach out to it, a vortex appeared behind him and sucked him into it at light speed.

Dante tumbled back, flung through a swirl of monochrome purple and black. The vortex opened in the sky, spitting him out as he tumbled through the air and landed haphazardly on something lumpy.

"Fuck!" He shouted, laying on his back and looking up at a blue sky, spotted with powder puff clouds.

"Ouch," a familiar, feminine voice grumbled below him.

It was then that he realized what had happened. He apologized as his eyes widened and he quickly crawled off of the blind girl below him. Scrambling to his feet, Dante looked down at Rezzi, who sat up, rubbing her back.

"You smell like blood. Are you alright?" She looked to the direction of his voice with concern.

Holding his arm, the half-Dius sighed. He couldn't lie to her. "Not really," Dante proceeded to help her up with the good arm, pulling her to her feet. "I got thrown into blood, watched my parents die, and I got beat the shit out of."

He might as well tell her the truth. Dante knew that he would have to tell her the truth at one point or another anyway. Besides, if anyone should know, it would be her.

"We should get you back," Rezzi wanted to gather everyone. This was a serious matter. If Dante was beaten up, she wanted to know who was responsible, and if they were in any immediate danger.

"I should have been training. Oz is going to kill me," Dante almost forgot what he was sent out to do in the first place. Well, this fucked up everything.

"Just take it easy, okay? You need to rest and explain what happened to me. Who beat you up?" It was important to her that she knew the answers to her questions. Dante was in no position to train.

"Ares," he grumbled.

"You went to the Death Factory?" Rezzi was a little shocked by that.

"Against my will," Dante continued to grumble.

"What happened? Why did Ares beat you up?" She wanted to understand what happened and she was only getting pieces.

"The son of a bitch broke my arm," Dante hated admitting these things. They were so embarrassing.

"I'll take you to Lannad," Rezzi wanted to get him healed as soon as possible.

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"You fuckers!" David shouted as Pregmacia, Oz, Karkatta and Tony all looked at him. "Have you guys seen Dante?" He held up his weapon. "I went out to find him and I just found this." Something seemed wrong, and the dark-haired boy was going to figure out what it was.

"That dumbass, lazy, mother fucker better not be slacking off while the rest of us are busting our asses." If Karkatta had anything to do with it, they would make sure that Dante paid for being so ineffective.

Just then, the door flung open, banging against the wall as Rezzi rushed in, followed by Dante, who looked as if he has been drug through a war zone. "Where is Lannad?" The blind girl asked with urgency in her voice.

David ran up to them with a visage of worry. "Dude, what happened? You're covered in blood. I hope it's now your own." At any rate, he couldn't tell what was what color on the half-Dius.

"Lannad is in the kitchen," Oz pointed in the general direction of the room.

"Take care of him for me, David," Rezzi told the boy as she rushed off in such a hurry that she didn't even take her shoes off at the door.

"Uh, sure," David answered in a confused voice, but did as he was asked. He didn't know what the hell was going on.

Rezzi nearly slammed into the blue-haired sorceress as she sped into the kitchen. Bumped a little, Lannad jolted forward and caught herself, turning to see the gothic girl with a look of concern on her face.

"Rezzi, watch out," she warned. "What's gotten into you? You never run around like this. You're always so careful!" Something was definitely wrong.

"Lannad, Dante needs your powers," the blind girl grabbed onto Lannad's shoulders with a look of desperation. "Please, help him."

"Can you watch this?" Lannad asked as she gestured to the food that she was preparing. Rezzi nodded as the sorceress rushed out of the room to see Dante. She didn't know how she was supposed to watch the food, but if she smelled it burning then she knew that it would be overcooked.

"Dante!" Lannad rushed into the living room as she saw the battered boy before her. She was still dressed in her apron as she laid eyes on him. He looked terrible! His clothes were dirty and ripped, he was stained with blood and his arm was notably broken. He had multiple contusions, bruises and lacerations on his body. It looked as if he had been tortured.

"Lannad..." Dante's voice was haggard as he looked at the shocked girl.

"Let me heal you," she took a few steps towards him as he nodded. Lannad's face was knitted in concern.

She managed to move him to a futon. He lay down and let the cloth cushion his body as the girl sat beside of him on her knees and stretched her hands out, casting shadows over his bruised chest. Slowly, a golden light accumulated at her palms and coated his body, bathing him in a warm light. Dante closed his eyes and noted how warm it was.

Lannad closed her eyes, focusing her powers for a moment as his body glowed brighter and the energy grew warmer. Then, as quickly as it came, it faded out. Sighing, she put her hands down and looked at her friend below her. "There, move it around and see how you feel."

Dante sat up, feeling revitalized. He moved his broken limb around and it felt normal again. All of his pain was gone. "It worked," he rotated it, spinning it in wide circles.

"I'm glad you could be healed. You scared the shit out of me, like seriously,David was happy that he only looked worse than what he actually was.

"David," Dante looked to his friend. Was David actually worried about him?

"Yeah, bro?" David arched an eyebrow as Dante arose, hugging him tightly and burying his head in his chest. "Dude..." He felt the half-Dius grab the material of his shirt in his hands, balling them into fists.

Lannad's gaze was crestfallen.

"What happened?" David asked.

"I'll tell you later...I've been through a lot and I just...want to be here with you..." He didn't even care if anyone else came into the room. Dante just wanted the closest person to him at the moment, and that person was David.

"You always are," David smiled and rested his hands on his shoulders.

"Knock, knock, can we come in?" Just then, he heard Tony sing-song and knock at the door.

"Come in," Lannad granted them access.

"Was it successful?" Rezzi entered the room first.

"He seems completely recovered," the sorceress noted.

Dante pulled away from his embrace with David and looked at the human.

"Where is Tarvos?" Rezzi wondered aloud.

"I don't know," Dante didn't really care, either. He didn't want to think about it.

"What?" David was confused at his sudden lack of interest in the reaper. Didn't Dante want to make things right with him?

"He told me that his parents were murdered in front of him," Rezzi knew that Tarvos would have the answer to something like that. After all, he was the grim reaper.

"My condolences, bro," David knew how that felt. "If you need anything, let me know." He was going to be there, as he best friend, as whatever it was that they were, he would remain at Dante's side until he could no longer. Dante was there for him, now it was his turn to repay him for his kind deeds.

"I know you're here," Dante was happy to hear that right about now.

"I'm here too, Dante," Lannad said the words sadly, but she still wanted to know that she was of some use to him.

"You're pretty shaken up," Rezzi noted his condition.

"That factory...is fucking evil."

"What happened in there?" Dante's words brought a chill to her spine. Rezzi had never heard him quite that scared before.

"It's a fucking concentration camp. There is blood everywhere," his voice trembled as he described his own personal hell. "It's cruel...they take the aliens and people who are hurt or dying and extract their blood and use their flesh and innards to make bioships."

"What?!" Tony exclaimed. "Are you serious?" That was horrifying. He hoped that Dante was joking.

"Ares...he's like a Dius Nazi. He explained everything to me, then he kicked my ass. Apparently, he used to be Dialos' pyrex, from what happened to him, I don't blame him for doing it but it still pisses me off." Oh, how Danted loathed that guy.

"You're never one to let someone beat your ass," David knew that wasn't like him at all.

"I was shackled. I had no choice. I'm lucky he didn't kill me." In that moment, Dante knew that Ares very well could have ended his life easily. In a moment of pathos, he let him live, although he couldn't figure out why.

Then again, he wasn't complaining, either.

"Isn't Ares Tarvos' friend with benefits?" Tony knew there was a name for it, but he forgot what it was.

Dante nodded. "He is, Tarvos could control him a little better." If he did, none of this would have happened.

"You must have a lot of baggage from Diablo," Lannad felt sorry for him. It seemed that Dante's bad luck followed him wherever he went.

"You think?" Dante shot sarcastically.

"Do you think it will be over with the Dius?" The sorceress asked.

"Probably not," he sighed. "Fuck knows how many more there are." Then, he looked to the blind girl. "Rezzi, tell me...who's side are you on?"

"We're all working together," Rezzi stated, "this isn't about sides."

"I feel like I'm losing everyone," Dante's voice was shaky. He didn't know who to trust anymore. Giving him a sympathetic glance, the blind girl walked up and embraced him. He returned the gesture. "Sorry..." he apologized.

"We're friends, no matter what comes. Look at what we've been through. No matter what, Dante, you'll always have me." Taking his hand, she held it firmly and smiled at him in a reassuring manner. More than anything, she wanted him to know that they had strength behind their bond.

"Rezzi," looking flattered and endeared, Dante blushed a little.

"No matter what the Dius feel, we still love you," her words were gentle, easing his soul of worry and pain that he felt.

"I don't know what I'd do without you," he held her hand back.

"Funny," Rezzi smirked, "the blind girl is your guiding light."

Dante smiled in return. "If you only knew how much you really have helped me throughout the years," he owed her so much, more than he could ever express through words. To him, Rezzi was a confidant, a valuable friend who could do things that no one else could dream of. She understood him and never judged him. She was always there to share her wisdom with him.

"You helped me, too. You were the one who talked to me first. My very first friend and you never cared that I was blind. You were never mean to me at all," Dante was such a blessing to her, and while others considered him callous and rought, Rezzi saw the good in him. The gem behind the rough.

"You told me that friends are like paradoxes, like unborn possibilities and only by gaining them do you create new paradoxes and new possibilities in life." Because of her, Dante learned not to be so awkward towards people and to make friends. Rezzi helped him not to be as socially awkward as he already was.

The blind girl nodded, "I want to create more, and I want to create them with the Dius."

"Unwine, right?" Dante inquired. He knew that she had special feelings for him in particular.

"I'd like to be there for him, more than I am now." That was her greatest wish. However, she didn't know how possible it would be to do that with him.

"Where is he? Is he even on this planet?" Dante was confused about that guy in general.

"I don't know," Rezzi frowned, "I didn't even know that he was who he was. I've always wondered what kind of person he was and what he looked like. I got to see all of you, before my eyesight got worse, but I never saw him and I knew him a long time." Oh, how she wished that she could see her dear friend. More than anything, she would love to see Unwine one day.

"Lannad," Danted turned to the witch.

"Yes?" She looked back at him.

"You specialize in healing powers, right?"

"Are you thinking that I could help Rezzi see?" Lannad had a feeling that she knew where he was going with this.

Dante nodded. "Maybe you can, if she wants it," he really wasn't sure how she felt about her eyesight.

"Even if you could, would I still just get worse?" Rezzi wasn't sure if it was a good idea or not.

"My powers aren't at full," Lannad explained. "I don't think I can heal you," she looked down sadly, "not yet. I barely healed David after what Boxcars did."

"Hey, at least I'm up and around. I'd probably be dead if you hadn't have healed me," David was thankful for that, even if it was a bitch to come back from. He couldn't have been more grateful for what little magic she was able to use on him. Every little bit helped and he felt the effects of it.

Oz entered the room and looked at everyone. "Is this an inappropriate time?"

"We're just talking," David answered his question.

"If you're talking about what happened, then you should do it outside, where we can all hear it." There were many more people involved. It wasn't right that they withheld information from him or the others.

"Well, this looks incriminating," Rezzi noted as she realized that she and Dante were still holding hands. In the wrong situation, to someone who didn't know the circumstances, they would assume things about the two of them.

"I don't care," Dante sighed. Let them think what they want. They were idiots for assuming.

"Well, either do I, then," the corners of her cheeks tugged at her black lips, forming them into a small smile.

"You...smiled?" Dante was shocked. Since she had lost her eyesight, she had never showed him a smile of any kind. Rezzi, the woman of stone was capable of feelings.

"I'm happy," she noted, "and glad you're okay."

She couldn't ask for anything more.

The group walked outside. Rezzi never let go of Dante's hand, and he couldn't help but notice how warm it felt in his own. They approached the grass and walked out onto it. Just then, Rezzi's nose wrinkled as she caught a strange scent that she never smelled before.

"Something smells like blood and Indian spice," she noted. "It's not a scent I've smelled from anyone here."

Just then, a familiar voice sounded, sending terror and irritation into Dante's soul. "Oh, look at who it is the one with a face of a slapped ass."

"How dare you speak to me using the same yellow, dripping mouth that has been suckling the teat of the filthy demon beast," Dante shot back. The last person he wanted to see or hear from was Ares.

"If you're going to insult me, don't half-ass it. Your insults are truly a non-stop snore-o-rama of no talent," the warrior king crossed his arms over his chest with a smirk of arrogance on his face.

"Why you crawled your way out of the gene pool just to draw attention to your ugly-ass face and your back asswards social darwinism outdated Nazi theories to get shit kicked back to the Egyptian age is beyond me," if Ares wanted to be insulted more, he'd give it to him.

"Clearly, you spend way too much time in darkened rooms in front of your age-old computer, turning a lighter shade of pale. You should stay outside more before your thinking organ starts to rot from all of that festering stagnation and cognitive dysfunction," Ares shot back.

"Why don't you try a rehearsal for the latest suicide jacket?" Dante just wanted Ares to leave him alone.

"Calling you dull is a gross underestimation of just how tedious you are. You have the personality of a damp sponge and the appeal of a moldy foot covering. I could cure it with a mallet and some anti-depressants." Honestly, did Dante really see that pathetic attempt as an insult? Ares could run circles around him at this game.

"I doubt you'll ever have children since you eat your young, but that's a good thing," Dante smirked.

"How dare you!" Ares decided to up the ante, "you semen-shitting rectal wart!"

"Come at me, you Nazi cluster fuck!" Date shouted back,

"I'll rip your digestive tract out and hang you by it!" Ares threatened another round of harm to the halg-Dius.

"Enough," Tarvos stepped between them, trying to calm the both of them down.

"Ares..." Pregmacia was so shocked that she dropped her axe. The weapon hit the ground with a thunk, blade embedding itself into the floor as it stuck into the ground.

"The fuck?" Karkatta turned their sights to the male.

"He came back," Oz was shocked as well. After all of that time, the Warrior King had finally returned.

...To Be Continued