Original Stories Fan Fiction ❯ Dante's Requiem ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

Chapter 1

Six years later

It was after midnight on a bitterly cold and windy night and Dante was just finishing up his shift. It had begun at four and was uneventful, as usual. Tonight had been a patrol night for him, as well as Gabriel. They walked silently from the Police Force headquarters back to their apartment, stopping once they had reached the corner of their street.

“Hey Gabe, I'm going to stay out a bit and smoke, okay?” Dante said.

“All right,” Gabriel replied. “Don't stay out too late. We have to work again tomorrow night.”

“Yes, mom.” Dante grinned cheekily.

Gabriel rolled his eyes and walked off, turning up the corners of his jacket to keep himself warm even though the apartment wasn't far down the street. Dante watched him go and then set out for the park down the street. It had become one of his favorite places to go to find a bit of peace and quiet. He sat on one of the benches and pulled out a cigarette. With long, deft fingers, he lit it and held it to his lips. The nicotine soothed him and he felt like he could start functioning again.

Dante slowly exhaled and coughed slightly. It was cold tonight. When his cigarette was finished, he put the butt out and flicked it into a nearby bush. He stretched out on the bench on his back and stared at the sky until fatigue finally caught up with him and he drifted off.

 

He had been born to poverty to an unwed mother. He never knew his father; he had left long before Dante was born. His mother managed to find a decent paying job and an apartment. Somehow, she was able to make ends meet and kept Dante properly fed and clothes.

They shared the apartment with another family—an unwed woman named Yukaria Christenson and her son Alex, who was Dante's age. The two of them grew up together and became best friends. When the time came for them to start school, Dante's mother used her influences to get them enrolled in a good school. The only problem was that the school was several blocks away and they had to walk; both their mothers had to work during the day.

On his first day of school, Dante was both nervous and excited. He barely slept the night before and didn't eat much for breakfast. He and Alex left early so they would have plenty of time to make the journey. They didn't get far before they ran into several thugs who blocked their path.

“And just where do you beauties think you're going?” the largest man asked.

“Why does it matter to you?” Dante shot back. He grabbed Alex's hand and pulled him away. “C'mon, let's just go.”

“Hey, where are you going, Red? I'm not done with you,” the thug protested.

Dante burst into a sprint, dragging Alex along with him. The men shouted after them.

“Don't look back,” Dante urged. “We just gotta keep moving.”

Alex nodded and didn't let go of Dante's hand as they ran through the streets, dodging the men and women, drug dealers and prostitutes, gamblers and alcoholics. Everyone stared as the two boys wove their way through the streets, but Dante didn't look back. He never looked back.

 

Dante's eyes snapped open and, breathing heavily, he looked around. He was sleeping on a park bench. He was twenty-four now, not five. His life in the slums was long over. He exhaled softly, his heart pounding. His entire body was stiff, cold, and wet. He sat up and stretched out, cracking his vertebrae. He glanced up at the sky and blinked when raindrops fell onto his face. He wiped the liquid away and got up. He had no idea how much time had passed.

The apartment was mercifully a short walk from the park; he was starting to get very wet and it was making him feel uncomfortable. The lobby was dark when he arrived and he moved quietly up the stairs.

He was terribly out of breath by the time he reached the fourth floor. To his surprise, the apartment was lit when he entered. He unzipped his dripping wet jacket and hung it on a hook in the front hall next to Gabriel's jacket. He was in the process of removing his soaked boots when he heard heavy footsteps on the cheap linoleum floor that lined the entire apartment with the exception of the bedrooms.

“Is that you, Dante?” Gabriel asked. Dante could already tell by his partner's tone of voice that he was annoyed.

“Yeah, I'm back,” he called, stifling a cough.

He finally managed to get his water-logged boots off and looked up. Gabriel was watching him.

“What?” he snapped. He always hated it when people stared at him.

“You took your time,” Gabriel said, unaffected by his partner's anger.

“I fell asleep,” Dante responded.

Gabriel glanced at his soggy appearance. “I can see that. Well, I'm going to bed.”

“Okay then. Goodnight.”

Gabriel smiled. “Goodnight.”

***

Gabriel woke up at his usual time, feeling incredibly refreshed. He got up and dressed in his usual sweats to go jogging. As he entered the living/dining room, he glanced over at the couch. Dante was sprawled out, fast asleep. Gabriel shook his head and fixed himself breakfast—oatmeal and a cup of coffee. Then, he went out for his normal morning jog.

When he returned an hour later, covered in sweat, Dante hadn't moved from his position on the couch. Gabriel frowned when he noticed that Dante was shivering. He covered his partner with a blanket and took a shower.

He walked back out to the living/dining room and stopped. He heard Dante's rough, hacking cough all the way across the room, but it was not the cough Gabriel had become accustomed to hearing, the one that came with smoking. The cough Dante had now was deeper, rougher.

Gabriel's eyes widened and he quickly crossed the room. He switched on the lamp next to the couch so he could get a better look. Dante's face was twisted in agony as he coughed and tried to fill his lungs with precious oxygen. It was beaded with sweat and his lips were starting to turn blue.

“Shit,” Gabriel muttered. Dante was really sick.

He rushed to the kitchen and called the paramedics. After he got off the phone with them, he hurried back to his partner's forehead. He put a hand on Dante's forehead.

“Just hold on a little longer, okay?” he murmured. “An ambulance is coming.”

Dante mumbled something incoherently and continued coughing. There was a sharp knock on the door. Gabriel left his partner's side to let the paramedics in. There was a man and a woman with a gurney between them and a bag on it.

“He's in here,” Gabriel said, allowing them to pass.

Dante started coughing, this spell worse than the previous one. The paramedics looked at each other and wheeled the gurney forward. The man bent over to examine Dante while the woman turned to Gabriel.

“Can you give me his personal information?” she asked.

“Of course.” Gabriel nodded. “What do you need to know?”

“First of all, what is his name?”

“Dante Winters.”

“Age?” the woman started writing on the clipboard she carried with her.

“Twenty-four.”

“Date of birth?”

“February 28, 1974AA.”

“Blood type?”

“O negative.”

“This is his place of residence?”

“Yes.”

“Any medical allergies?”

“None known.”

The woman nodded. “What happened?”

“Dante and I were out on patrol. Dante stayed out a bit longer than I did and when he came back, he was dripping wet. I went to bed. Dante fell asleep on the couch. I got up at eight like I usually do. Dante was fast asleep on the couch. I had breakfast and went out for my usual morning jog.

“When I came back an hour later, Dante was still on the couch. I noticed that he was shivering so I covered him with a blanket. I went back to check on him after I took a shower and I found him like this, gasping for breath.”

“Does he have any pulmonary problems that you're aware of? Asthma?”

“No.” Gabriel shook his head. “But he smokes.”

` “He does?” the woman looked up from her notes.

“Yes,” Gabriel replied.

“How long has he smoked?”

“A couple years.”

“Is he a heavy smoker?”

“No, not particularly. He smokes maybe a few a day, depending on how stressful a day he's having. Sometimes he'll smoke close to a half pack.”

“Hey Lisa, come and give me a hand here,” the man called from the couch.

“Sure thing,” the woman said.

She walked over to the couch. Together, they lifted Dante from the bed and put him on the waiting gurney. The man put a breathing mask over Dante's nose and mouth and he was wheeled toward the door. Suddenly, Dante reached out and grabbed Gabriel's hand, forcing the paramedics to stop.

Dante's icy blue eyes opened and rested on Gabriel. He said something, but the breathing mask muffled his voice, making it impossible for Gabriel to understand him.

Gabriel frowned. “What did you say?”

Dante lifted the breathing mask up. “Come with me to the hospital, Gabe?”

“All right,” Gabriel nodded.

He freed his hand from Dante's grip and pulled on his shoes. Dante's hand dropped to the side. The male paramedic replaced the breathing map to its previous position. Gabriel barely had time to grab his jacket from the front hall hook before his partner was wheeled out. He paused to locked the door and stow the key in his pocket. He caught up to the paramedics as they carefully maneuvered the gurney down the stairs. Dante's coughing grew worse and worse, muffled by the breathing mask

As soon as they were in the back of the ambulance, Dante grabbed Gabriel's hand again. It was soothing to have him there. His lungs burned with every breath he took and no matter how hard he breathed, he couldn't get enough oxygen into his lungs. He felt extremely lightheaded, dizzy, and nauseous. He struggled to cling to consciousness but as time went on, it was harder and harder. The ambulance stopped and he was taken out. The cold morning air was biting even for the brief time Dante was exposed to it.

Inside, Dante watched Gabriel until his partner was out of sight. Then, he looked up at the white tiles and watched them pass until they blurred together and all he could see was white.

 

Dante and Alex ran to school every day to escape the men and women of the slums who wanted to harm them. Even at school, they couldn't escape bullying. They became aware right away that they spoke differently from the other children and were targeted because of it. It was small things at first—exclusion from games, isolation, teasing. As they got older, it turned more physical—pushing, shoving, and eventually full-blown attacks. The older boys chased them around the playground at recess until they were trapped and then beat them up. The teachers pretended not to notice their bruises and their mothers were never around to pay attention to them. All they ever had was each other.

 

Author's Notes

Well this was a lot shorter than I would have liked. The next chapter is also short, I'm afraid. But the chapter after that is really long. I'm at an estimated 4000 words and counting. I'm nowhere near done with the chapter too. It's gonna be really long. I've already split it up and I'm not sure I can split it up again.

I keep alternating between Dante and Gabriel's perspective. I'm not sticking to one because both of them are really important. Especially later. You'll understand why when I get there. I made a lot of changes. One of the biggest, you'll notice, is the absence of Beau, the little fur ball Dante finds in the park. I just thought it'd be better if I got rid of him because he is important, but not really that important, and he doesn't even appear in Book II. So I got rid of him.

I've done a lot of compressing and I'm getting to the important parts quicker. If there are any typos, I apologize. I'm too tired to go back and read through what I've written. Let me know if there are and I'll fix them right away. And if the formatting is screwed up, that's not my fault. It's MS Word's. It really seems to enjoy raping anything I write. D: