'Keeping Promises' - Chapter Eleven
~* Ikira *~
I heard the tower begin to shift and I made a break for it. I rushed into the tower via the same whole I went out and noticed a body lying on the ground. I nearly did a double take, but I knew that it was him as soon as it hit me.
Vergil.
He had been thrown from the top of the now spiraling center structure.
I dived after him, but the floor gave way beneath him. I continued my dive, pulling everything I could close to speed my descent. I finally reached him after what felt like an eternity of flying downward. I grabbed onto his coat and then his vest. I spread my wings and let them catch us. I didn't have the energy I needed to pull us back up to the floor above so I had to glide to the ground below us.
Fortunately, I had landed in an area that appeared to have been sleeping quarters of some sort in the past. Even demon priests need to sleep.
I lifted him on to the bed and sat down beside it. This had been one hell of a day and I was tired. He was out cold from the impact of his head on the stone floor. So I was going to sleep... if only for a little while.
--
My eyes creaked open slowly. I blinked them twice, and then noticed something amiss.
His energy was gone.
I leapt from my place on the floor and spun around to see nothing lying on the bed behind me. This wasn't good. I knew he had ascended the tower again, I could feel his energy near the top. The bad part of that, he was weakened. Hell isn't an easy place to walk through, and knowing Vergil, he'd dive right in. He was too much like me not too...
I looked up at the whole in the ceiling. It was a clear shot to the top of the tower. I knew where he had gone, and I felt a fading life energy on the roof of the tower. I didn't know if it was his or not, but I was about to find out. I allowed my wings to take a full form, physically appearing in this realm instead of just being flames. I bounded straight up and spread them as far as they would go, the size being double that of Luken's when his were in this realm. They stretched roughly 15 feet from each shoulder, and where a blood red in color. I quickly made use of them and floored it toward the top of the tower. I slipped outside so I wouldn't bust another whole in the roof of the structure. I landed on the edge of the tower in order to see who's energy was fading on it's surface. What I saw surprised me.
I knew of her, I knew what she looked like, I knew who she was and what she was to me. But why she was crying over Arkham was one thing I did not know.
"Mary...?"
Her eyes shot up to mine, and a look of remembrance crossed her face.
"Ikira... Tell me, was I wrong?"
I didn't know what she meant until I looked at Arkham's head. Four shots were fired off into his head, and Mary was holding the gun. I knew then that she had finished him.
"No, Mary. You were not wrong. He betrayed the one he promised to stand beside. That is something not even the worst of demons do. You did nothing wrong Mary."
She looked at me with tear filled eyes and spoke.
"Then why did it hurt to kill him? I should be happy that I avenged my mother. That he can't hurt anyone anymore. Why am I crying if what I did was good?"
I looked at my grieving sister. I knew why, it was the same reason it hurt for me to kill Luken. No matter what he had done to her, he was still her father. Luken was my brother as far as I was concerned, he practically raised from age 9, so it hurt to drive the blade through him. I knew why it hurt, I had felt the same hurt, I was just good at hiding my tears. I walked over to her and held her close to me, I let her cry into my arms, my wings wrapped around both of us. I then felt something change. Something was different. Another life was fading. I then realized it. When my blood mixed with his, a blood link formed. I knew what changed, his life was on the edge of coming to an end. I released Mary quickly and threw her a look that told her I would be back for her. I then took to the air again, this time flying right into the demon world.
--
I thanked God both myself and Rykira were speedy little demons, otherwise I wouldn't have made it when I did. I managed to get to the Blood Falls just in time to see Vergil fall off the edge. I dived for him, just as Dante did. His blade cut Dante's palm, and nearly slit my throat. My arm wasn't as lucky, as it was slice nearly clean in two length wise; I had managed to save it by pulling it away from his blade at the very last moment. I knew there was nothing I could except watch as he fell toward the ground below. I had a feeling though, that he wouldn't die from it, but I knew he wouldn't be in his best of condition from it.
"Dante. Come on, let's go home. I left Mary on the top of the tower waiting on me, I can't make her wait forever."
I turned to walk away and spread my wings, I didn't want to be here any longer then I needed to. Dante walked past me and grabbed Force Edge, then he turned to me. His eyes didn't hold the same spark that they held when I last saw him. I walked up to him and hugged him, burying my head in his chest as he wrapped his arms around my waist. I then took us both back to the entrance of Hell and through the gates. I kept my promise, I stayed with it till the end, but I still felt like I was missing something...
" ...You may not have noticed it, but he holds your heart. And unless I have read him wrong, you hold his as well... "
I remembered Luken's words, and then I realized what was missing...
I kept my promise, sure, but I left something back in the Demon World...
I left my heart...
Now, I had another promise to keep...
I had another heart in place of my own to protect.
I chuckled at the words Rykira once told me...
" ... Always keeping promises... "
