Twilight stood directly in Dante’s face, staring him right in the eye. Her expression demanding an answer. “Seriously, I need to know how you three know each other. I get that she might know you if she’s been here before, but how does Virgil know her?”
“Well, obviously we were-” he began.
Twilight let out a huff. “No jokes! Tell me the truth.”
“Jeez, ok, just stop yelling," he chuckled. "You want to know? Fine, I’ll tell you my tragic backstory.”
“Thank you!” she said, crossing her arms and listening closely.
Dante sighed and began recounting his past. “Basically, the story goes back to about 10 years ago, I was about 14, Virgil and I were still on good terms, and I was still a babe magnet. Long story short, it was around the time when we found Rebellion and Yamato, the weapons that we carry. It was also when we found out that we weren't exactly normal children.
~~~
Dante thought back to a time long past, a time when he could still turn his back to his brother and trust him to watch it, and where Virgil was able to do the same. Both of them had just gotten over the death of their mother that happened just 2 years prior, and had just started out on their journey to discover who they really were. Virgil’s unnatural agility, and Dante’s unnatural endurance, were only the first indicators that they weren't normal children, but ever since they were younger they never thought anything of it.
That was until the demons attacked. Without warning, a band of demons broke into their house, and murdered their mother. Seeing her die broke something in them, they transformed into demons themselves and killed every demon around them in a wicked blood rage. By the time they came to afterwards, they found themselves covered in blood and only a single demon still alive. His final words were “Curse you, sons of Sparda.”
Searching their parent’s room, they found several pictures of a man they didn't recognize, and several mentions of the name Sparda. Deep in the closet they found two distinct weapons, a large broadsword, and a blue sheathed katana. When their individual amulets glowed in response to them, they immediately knew that they were meant for them to have.
Two years later, both brothers still traveled their world searching for clues about their origin, killing every demon along the way.
A silver haired, 14 year old boy, wearing a zipped up blue sweat jacket with black pants tucked into his boots, pulled his weapon from the corpse of the demon that he had just slain. He quickly wiped down his katana and re-sheathed it. Turning to look at his brother, he sighed. “Dante what are you doing, stop toying with that demon.”
A young silver haired 14 year old boy stylishly dodged an attack by the now pissed off marionette demon and slapped it on the back of it’s head. He looked almost identical to the first boy, except that his jacket was a bright red color, it was unzipped, and his hair was messier than his twin. He wore black jeans down to his untied black shoes.
“Come on, have a sense of humor, it’s funny to watch them fall over," the younger Dante said, his face stuck in a perpetual cocky grin.
“Your carefree attitude will be the death of you someday,” muttered Virgil, paying his brothers infuriating attitude no attention.
"Shut up," Dante groaned, tired of hearing his brothers constant nagging. "We're immortal"
Virgil leveled a glare at him. “I wish that were true, but that you know that it isn't. We can die, it’s just harder for us than others.”
Dante scoffed and sat the large weapon on his back. “Whatever, let’s go.”
Virgil held up his half of their mother’s amulet. He slowly turned in a circle holding his amulet in different directions. Eventually, the amulet began to give of a faint bluish glow, signalling that it was the correct way to go. “Come on.”
Dante lazily strode after his brother, even though they were both bent on discovering who their father was, Dante also thought that demon hunting was enjoyable. He loved to fight and show off whenever he got the chance.
Dante and Virgil made their way through an abandoned town that was, at one point demon infested. Until about an hour ago when the boys showed up. Dante finally broke the silence. “You know, I heard that like, 20 years ago, there actually used to be more demons running around.”
Virgil responded with an air of disinterest. “Is that so?”
“Yeah it’s weird, people say that all of them just up and disappeared one day,” he said.
Virgil tore his gaze off of the amulet to turn around, his attention actually caught this time. “I agree, it is curious.”
“You think it has something to do with our dad?” he asked, meeting his brothers gaze.
“Well it is reasonable to assume that it may have something to do with him, considering our demonic attributes,” Virgil turned back to the amulet and began walking again.
“I told you to stop calling us that, we’re not demons.”
Virgil glanced back at his brother. “If you say so.”
“I’m just saying, it’d be pret-ty badass if-oof!” Dante bumped into Virgil when he suddenly stopped walking, this time very suddenly.”
“You dick! Why’d you stop walking?” Dante walked up next to him and saw him staring up at the sky. Following his gaze, Dante looked up to see what seemed like a falling star. “What, you gonna make a wish now?”
“It’s coming right toward us.”
Dante flinched back. “Oh shit, why are we just standing here?!”
“I thought you were unkillable?” he snarked.
“Pain still hurts, dumbass!”
Dante and Virgil quickly ran out of the way of the large fireball that crashed on the spot where they had once stood. After the smoke from the crater cooled some, Dante and Virgil slowly made their way over to it.
Dante smirked. “Aliens?”
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
Without warning, something jumped straight out of the crater and landed directly behind Dante and Virgil. Both of them quickly reached for their weapons. Standing in front of them was a hunched over figure completely cloaked in a pitch black aura with glowing blue eyes. It’s sharp teeth pulled themselves back in a sneer.
“What the hell is that!?”
“A new demon perhaps?” said Virgil, grabbing his blade.
“Never seen a demon like that!” Dante followed suit.
When the monster changed to a four legged stance, Virgil steeled his own. “It’s coming!”
When the unfamiliar creature dashed forward, something odd appeared in it’s hands but before they could get a good look at it, it too became covered in the same dark aura. It swung at Dante who easily blocked the attack. “You’re a freaky one, arent’ya.”
Virgil quickly maneuvered himself behind the the creature and took a swipe with Yamato. Before the attack could connect, the creature vanished, startling both Dante and Virgil. Reappearing just as suddenly as it disappeared, the creature knocked Virgil and Dante into nearby walls.
Virgil was slow to recover. “Ughh, this is no ordinary demon.”
“That bastard is fast, I’ll give it that!” said Dante, hopping back up.
Virgil picked himself up and readied his blade, “We have to subdue it, if it’s intelligent we can probably get some information from it.”
“Or we could kill it and move on!”
“Dante-” The creature gave them no time to argue when it zoomed forwards and attacked Virgil. With quick reflexes, Virgil dodged and began to attack with Yamato. Dante rushed forward with his signature stinger attack.
Landing between them had been a mistake, because now it was right between Virgil and Dante. Before they could strike it, however, the creature released a torrent of dark energy that manifested as spikes on all sides, not having any time to react, both boys got skewered in the attack. Dante got stabbed in the side and Virgil, in his arm.
Dante grunted. “God damn that stings. I told you pain hurts!”
The aura retracted and the creature readied another attack. Virgil and Dante put up their defenses but could only watch at the creature suddenly lost consciousness and fell to the ground. It’s aura of darkness fading. Cautiously, the two came closer to see what happened. Eventually, enough of the aura receded to allow them to see what they were really dealing with.
“It’s a babe!” said Dante. Both of them gazed at the figure lying between them she had long blue hair and dark blue-black clothing, on her forehead was the symbol of a crescent moon.
“She appears to be slightly human," observed Virgil.
“You think she’s like us?”
Virgil considered this. “Possibly, she may have just lost control. What’s most curious however, was that she fell from the sky,” he said, looking up into the air.
“You gotta admit, it was effin awesome though.”
“Hmm, yes. Let’s take her inside one of the nearby buildings, when she wakes we can question her properly.”
Dante looked back the way they came. "You mean the one with the dead guy in it?"
“That bartender had it coming! When I ask for earl gray tea, I EXPECT earl gray tea, there can be NO substitutes. He failed me and he paid the price.”
Dante grinned and rolled his eyes. “Yeah yeah, help me here.”
“You can carry her yourself, you would enjoy it more anyway.” Virgil began to walk away toward the building that they would bring her to.
Dante gave a mischievous smile. “Are you embarrassed to touch a girl?”
Virgil’s eyes shrank and a blush creeped up on his face. Luckily, he was turned away from Dante, but he had faltered in his stride, and that was enough for him to get a laugh going.
Eventually, they made it into the building and sat the strange girl down on a nearby seat. Now it was only a matter of time until she awoke.
~~~
A tall woman stood regally in front of two young girls and one boy, all three of whom are bowing before her in respect. Her bright red hair, and pure white dress flowed and swayed in a non-existent breeze, and her skin radiated power and authority. “Children,” she began, her voice a smooth and calming as silk. “You have all performed admirably on your mark of mastery exam. I am extremely proud of all of you. Celestia, you have shown wisdom beyond your years.”
The girl with beautiful pink hair smiled. “Thank you, master.”
She turned to the next child. “Discord, your creativity and resourcefulness have served to save your teammates in many a dire situation.”
The oddly dressed boy smirked a fanged tooth poking out. “It was nothing, really”
She smiled brightly, “It brings me enormous pride to name you both, honorary Keyblade masters!”
Discord immediately cheered while Celestia tried to keep her composure, only to quickly break down and join in on the party Discord had created for them. Balloons rained down from nowhere and an electric blue haired DJ had been summoned by him to kick the beat. Neither of them paid attention to the third girl who wore an extremely shocked face.
“Wait, what about me?” she asked.
Everything stopped when they remembered that she was there, all of the celebrations instantly disappeared. Both of their heads turned to their master who began to make her way over to them.
“Am I not strong enough? Do I not posses the necessary qualities? Is it because I am younger than the others!”
Leaning down, she placed her hand on the girls shoulder. “Dear Luna, believe me, you are more than strong enough, and your abilities are not in question here.”
“Then why have I not ascended like my brother and sister!?”
“Because you still choose to reject what is apart of you. You should not purposely stray from the path chosen from you, and instead make it your strength.”
Luna began to tear up, she pushed her masters arm off of her. “What does that even mean!” she screamed, “Nothing is wrong with me!”
“Luna, let me see your keyblade.”
Luna wiped away the tears forming in her eyes, and summoned her keyblade; Midnight Gaze. It was a long, greyish blue keyblade with no noticeable decoration except a full moon that acted as both the teeth, and as the keychain.
Her master took one look it, and sadly shook her head. “Luna-”
Luna saw her face, and broke away from her in a fit of tears and rage, and ran off. “NO! I don’t care anymore!”
Celestia and Discord immediately tried to go after her, but with a gesture from their master, they stopped. “Wait, don’t follow her. She needs to learn for herself.”
Celestia frowned. “But master…..”
Luna ran outside, tears in her eyes, her anger growing with every step. Jealously, irritation, resentment, and just pure anger poured into her heart from sources unknown. All she knew, was that she needed to leave. She would show her master that she was ready, even if it meant saving……. or destroying an entire world by herself. When she got outside the crescent moon mark on her head glowed and she donned deep blue armor that covered every inch of her body. She tossed her keyblade high into the air, once it reached a tall enough height, it transformed into what Dante would call “a badass flying motorbike”, its sleek blue design left an contrail of stars as it tore across the sky.
Turning around it flew right passed Luna who jumped into the air after it. Landing right on the seat, she drove it into the sky.
As she tore through the space between worlds, the image of her siblings ascending without her played through her mind relentlessly, only serving to fuel her anger. She didn't even notice her skin turning pitch black inside her armor. All she could think about was how badly she wanted to prove all of them wrong. Eventually, she started to see them laughing at her, waving their mastery marks in her face. They did nothing but declare how much better they were. That was when her anger broke, dark aura spew forth, destroying the armor from the inside out, causing the motorcycle to lose control and fall to the nearby world in a ball of dark fire.
All of these memories played out in Luna’s mind while she slept, and when it was over, she woke up screaming.
Dante and Virgil, who stood nearby, jumped back and readied their weapons in alarm.
“Don’t move!” Virgil ordered.
Luna began breathing heavily, a cold sweat running down the side of her face. Once she calmed slightly, she began to look around. The first thing that she noticed that she was lying on a black couch in what seemed like the foyer to a dilapidated, run down hotel. The next thing that she noticed, was the fact that two identical boys, both around the same age as her, were standing some distance away, hands already on their weapons.
“Where am I? Who are you people?”
Virgil stepped forward. “My name is Virgil, my brother, Dante. From this point on, we will ask the questions, understood.”
Luna didn't exactly take direct orders well, she sneered. “And if I don’t?”
Dante leveled his sword at her face. “Then we pay you back for the ass-kicking you just gave us!”
Luna’s expression turned into one of shock. “I…….. attacked you?”
“Hell yeah, you just fell outta the sky and went bat-shit crazy!”
Luna dropped her gaze.
“Now, are you willing to be civil?”
Luna nodded sadly.
“Good, Dante, stand down.” Dante frowned but obeyed. “Firstly, your name.”
“My name is Luna Eclipse. Keyblade master…...in training.”
“Damn….. that’s a cool name.” Dante admitted.
Luna smiled slightly at the compliment.
“Next, what sort of demon are you?”
Luna’s expression turned contorted into one of deep offense. “Demon? I am no such thing!”
Virgil pointed his sheathed weapon at her. “Don’t lie to me!”
“I do not lie! I am no demon!”
Dante stepped in. “Babe you're not fooling anyone. Wings, strange mark, fangs, pitch black skin? Sounds like a demon to me.”
“Fool, the wings and markings are a sign of- wait…. did you say black skin?”
Dante nodded, and they immediately heard a whooshing sound. Before they could even blink, Luna had made it across the room to the nearest mirror, turning around, they saw her frantically examining her skin. True to his word, her skin was no longer fair with a blue tinge. Now it was dark as a moonless night.
“What is this! What has happened to my body!” she screamed. Turning back to Dante and Virgil she glared and pointed her recently summoned keyblade at them. “What have you done to me!”
Dante stepped up to her. “What the hell, did you not hear me, you fell out of the sky like that!”
“A likely story, the last thing I remember is leaving my home world, now I find myself unconscious on yours!”
Virgil raised an eyebrow when she said, ‘home world’.
“Bullshit! You just came here covered in some pitch black whatever and bum-rushed us! We didn't do a goddamned thing!”
“Not possible! The darkness has no power over me!”
“Then what do you call that skin?”
“Silence!” In a rage, Luna attacked Dante and likewise Dante swung at Luna. Neither of them made contact as Virgil stepped between them, blocking Dante with Yamato, and stopping Luna by grabbing her arm.
“Enough, both of you stop this foolishness.”
“Bro, she’s starting to piss me off!”
“This fool would dare suggest that I would succumb to the darkness!”
“Because you did! we all saw it!”Dante argued.
“Shut up!” She demanded, dark mist escaped from her body forcing Dante and Virgil back through the nearby wall. She quickly followed them outside, breathing heavily. “I refuse to let darkness have any power over me!”
“Luna,” Virgil yelled. “Look at yourself, there’s darkness coming off you in waves!”
It was true, while she wasn't completely clothed in it like before, it still surrounded her body. “Shut up, Shut up, Shut up!” she screamed, she fell to her knees holding the sides of her head, waves of dark energy spewing out from her body as she continued to deny the truth.
Dante struggled to stand up against the waves of energy coming off the girl, when he did he quickly pulled out Rebellion. “It’s no use, we have to kill her before she turns again!”
“No!, We can learn much from her, we need to calm her down!”
“And how in the hell are we going to do that?!”
“Maybe we could…….. oh no…”
“Fuck!”
Looking around, the brothers noticed that all the energies that she was releasing began to attract demons of all types, small reapers, demon dogs, marionettes, and even fallen angels began to materialize. Virgil and Dante got ready to fight them, but before they could move, Luna’s eyes burst open and she savagely attacked the demons surrounding them. The more she fought, the more the darkness receded back into her. Eventually, the darkness was gone, and the demons stopped materializing. That was when Dante jumped in to helped her take out the remaining demons.
By the end, Luna broke down on her knees and began crying. Finally aware of the horrible truth. “It’s true… it’s all true. This is why I can’t be a master,” she sobbed.
Dante and Virgil put away their weapons and glanced at each other before making their way over to the sobbing girl. Once they reached her, they both held out a hand for her.
“Hey…. come on, stop crying,” Dante awkwardly demanded.
“Now do you see?” Virgil asked.
Luna looked up at them, nodded sadly, and slowly took they hands to stand up. “Thank you….”
“What was all that about being a master?” Dante began.
“Yes, you said you were in some sort of training stage.”
Luna looked around at the, quite frankly, depressing town. “Can we go back inside?”
All three of them made their way back inside the hotel that they were shot out of. Inside, Luna told them all about the existence of other worlds, and the mark of mastery exam that she and her siblings had to take, she also told them all about the keyblade and it’s powers. Dante sat in front of her, and constantly interrupted with compliments like ‘awesome’ ‘badass’ and ‘sweet’ Virgil just remained quiet and listened while leaning back against the nearest, undestroyed wall.
“I see, so your jealousy and resentment allowed the darkness to take hold of you.” Virgil reasoned.
“That is my guess. Secretly, I’ve always been jealous of Discord and Tia. Everyone always flocks to Celestia because of her beauty and insight, and everyone always listens to Discord because of how clever and charismatic he is. Nobody ever listens to my ideas, or comes to me for help. However, before now, I was always able to keep these feelings in me sealed, and kept away from the surface, but now…….”
“I think you should just accept it, you were pretty strong, kicked our asses anyway.”
“Never, it’s the keyblade wielders duty to fight the darkness and keep the balance. If I accept it then I’ll never be a true master.”
“I agree with Dante, power is power. As long as you can tame such might, it does not matter the source from which it comes.”
“You two just don’t understand,” she sighed. She decided that a change of topic was in order. “I’ve noticed that you two are the only ones here, why is that.”
“Oh no, we don’t live here.”
“We’re traveling to find our father, someone named Sparda.”
“Also, I wanna know who sealed away all the demons that used to roam around here. I think it might have something to do with him,” Dante added.
“Do you think whoever sealed the demons could seal my dark powers?”
Virgil thought about it. “I don’t recommend it… but if such a person or demon exists, then most likely.”
Luna stood tall. “Then let me travel with you, please.”
Dante and Virgil shared a glance. Dante answered first. “Sure, I don’t mind we could use a babe in our group.”
“Are you sure this is what you want?” Virgil asked as he made his way over to them. “Might controls everything, you have much of it, sealing it away would be a waste.”
“Even so, I don’t want to continue feeling this way. I’m angry all the time, I’m jealous of my siblings for invalid reasons, and I keep transforming into a being of pure rage. It’s all the darkness' fault, I need to rid myself of it.”
“I suppose, if you are so intent… you may travel with us.”
Beaming, Luna jumped up and hugged both Dante and Virgil, causing them both to blush furiously. “Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou!” she squealed.
“I-it’s nothing....” Virgil stuttered.
“N-no problem.”
~~~
Twilight listened intently to the story as they traversed the tower. Even though the story was entertaining and enlightening, the thing that impressed her the most, was the fact that Dante never skipped a beat when telling it. Even when demons attacked them, Dante fought while still talking, almost as if his mouth was running autopilot while the rest of him went on to fight, which, Twilight thought, actually sounded possible for him.
Dante sliced the last remaining demon in half. “And, long story short, we found who we were looking for, Virgil abandoned us after he found out about or father, Luna learned to accept the darkness as a part of her, and I took Luna’s advice and started my demon hunting business.”
“Wait, what?”
“Hm, what? you got the story?”
“You can’t just skip to the end like that, what happened in the middle? What kind of adventures did you two go on? I need to know.”
Dante chuckled and pointed in front of him. “Well sucks to be you, cuz we’re back.”
Twilight looked ahead, and found that they really were right back at the elevator where they split up from. Standing there were the two slightly scorched forms of AJ and Dash, a woozy looking Rarity, and sleeping Pinkie Pie. She quickly turned back to Dante.
“Hold on, that’s not possible we didn't even find our piece.”
Dante held up a piece of blue orihalcon. “Yeah we did, you just weren't paying attention.”
Twilight blushed as Dante walked forward and greeted the others.
“Sup’ you all look like crap,” he said bluntly.
Rarity lazily glared at him. “Thank you, Dante, that’s exactly what a woman wants to hear.”
“What happened to you all?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Diane told me that we got ambushed by a bunch of demons, and that they knocked me out from behind, the ruffians. When I woke up, they were all gone, and she didn't have a scratch on her.” she said, pointing at the girl peacefully sleeping the time away. “Honestly, it’s all very confusing.”
“As long as you're both ok.” Twilight turned to the AppleDash group. “What happened to you two? Did you set yourselves on fire?” she half-joked.
Both of them gave a nervously embarrassed glance at one another before turning back to her, and answering together. “We’d rather not talk about it.”
“You all wanna take a minute or can we move on?” Dante asked slightly impatiently.
“Wait, I want to hear what happens, not just how it ended!”
“Sorry girl, we don’t have time. We need to get up top and stop my brother and that idiot Jester.”
“But-”
“Ask Little Luna for the rest the next time you see her, hell it’s probably why she sent you all here.” Before he she could rebut, Dante moved forward and joined his piece with the other two pieces already in their slots, thus solving the puzzle and unlocking the elevator. He stepped inside and was soon followed by the rest after they had woken up Pinkie. Twilight slumped over and groaned before going in after them.