~An Interview With The Devils~

[Nero]

(He walks into the room looking a little flustered but calms down quickly after. Seeing you already waiting for him, he passes you a sheepish look, brushes the imaginary dust off his coat, and walks towards the chair which is set out for him.)

“I’m sorry, I was caught up. Demons tried to ambush me a moment ago. Nothing I can’t handle, but it delayed me. Sorry.”

(You nod, and looked towards your paper.)

Yes. Do you know what you are here for?

“The interview for ‘An Interview With The Devils’? Sure, Lady told me about it.”

I hope you are prepared for it. May we start?

“No problem. Ask away.” (He gives you an easy smile, sitting relaxed.)

Let’s start with a self introduction. Tell me a little about yourself. You don’t have to go to the details, just a little, your family background, how you got yourself into trouble and a little bit of everything. We will go to details later.

“That’s a lot. Um…” (He puts on a thinking face, and it is apparent that he didn’t prepare anything at all.)

“My name is Nero. I don’t know my surname; I’m an orphan since young. There’s this girl and her brother –Kyrie and Credo –they took me in and treated me like a younger brother. Kyrie’s of the same age as me. We grew up together. Credo rose through the ranks of the Holy Knights, I just stayed as a small fry.

A few years ago, an accident happened, and my arm transformed. It freaked the shit out of me at first, and then it got extremely annoying. I had to sling it up –and trust me, slinging up an arm which works well isn’t fun at all. During the transformation of my arm, something whispered in my ear ‘Power, I need more power’. No one understood what that meant, so I kept it a secret. I thought everything was okay, and then one day, during the day of Kyrie’s performance –I forgot what important event it was supposed to be –I was just there to watch Kyrie –Dante happened. He just crashed in with his usual cockiness, shot Sanctus in the head. He sure knew how to cause chaos, and then it was left with me and him. He pissed me off, so I killed him. At least I thought I did, until he told me he was a demon. Things went downhill from that day on. I guess you already know what happened afterwards, so there’s no need to elaborate on that.”

I’m sure we all do, Mr. Nero, but it would be nice if you would give everything’s recount in your point of view only.

“That’s really… Never mind. Okay, so I let Dante run away. Credo gave me the task to run after him, which I did after finding out this really cool device that lets me grab things and fly to it. I fought that fire demon… Berial? Yeah, he was really hot. He didn’t seem to like me stating the fact that I don’t tan. Must have pissed him off –but I was slightly angst at the time –so we were evens. Of course, I kicked his butt, but he retreated back to where he came from, so I left him alone. I went to the castle order, found out about Agnus and crap. Getting Yamato –it felt like a part of me was complete. It was like something woke up in me. The demonic trigger was amazing, the feeling. Then Kyrie was captured. I just went crazy. Hey, can I… can I not do this? Skip the Kyrie part, can I?”

If it bothers you, then yes. We are aware of your protectiveness over your girlfriend.

“Good. Thanks. Anyways, I was stupid enough to get caught by the Savior, got sucked in his body. I must have blacked out, because the next thing I knew was the tip of Yamato poking at me in the darkness. I grabbed it and sliced my cocoon open. Made it all the way to find Kyrie. Let me tell you something. Since Kyrie and I were the only ones there and no one saw Sanctus afterwards –he was ugly. So ugly I can’t believe I used to think he was human. I mean those horns! His attacks with the Sparda nearly caught me, but naturally I’m faster than that lousy bastard. So I killed him –in a very stylish way, I might think –and saved Kyrie. We escaped, but the Savior just didn’t want to back down. I crushed his face.”

Now that you are the hero of the city-castle of The Order of the Sword, would you like to update us on how your destroyed town is?

“The guys who weren’t killed slowly picked themselves back up. I made everyone take off their hoods –I mean, what’s the point in that? Sparda isn’t going to be condemning us for showing a face. I never took religion to such an extent anyway. Dante and ‘Gloria’ left me to do the cleanup –those bastards. But at least I managed to sweep the entire place off demons. Having Yamato really helps. We’ve managed to rebuild most of the place. But no one seems to get around rebuilding the opera house where Dante and I destroyed the Sparda statue.”

Do you think there is a particular reason for that?

(The young man shrugs.) “Probably no one believes so much in Sparda anymore.”

Has Dante said anything about that?

“You know him; religion doesn’t mix with him. Besides, he doesn’t seem to care one bit about his father, He doesn’t seem to care about anything at all –truth be told.”

How about Kyrie?

“What about her?”

Has she recovered from her shock from what happened at The Order?

“Of course. She’s my darling. Enough about her. Can we talk about something else?”

Okay. How about Lady? Do you know her?

“She, Dante and Trish visited me afterwards about their pay. Or rather –Trish was miffed with the pay. But what more can The Order pay? We are already deep in debt.”

So now you hold a position in the Council of The Order?

“Don’t be stupid. I’m just a demon hunter. They chose someone else to lead the place. We destroyed the castle –since it was a hotspot for demons. I just hunt demons.”

Do you not wish to be something greater?

“Hunting demons and having Kyrie with me is enough.”

Speculation is that you are Vergil’s son. What do you think about that?

“Vergil –you mean Dante’s brother?”

Yes. Dante’s twin brother who was supposedly controlled by Mundus, then killed by Dante.

“I don’t know. He could be. How else could I reunite the pieces of Yamato? It doesn’t really matter to me anyway. Dante’s nephew or not, I’m just me. I kill demons for a living, and I’m will murder Dante if he dares steal more of my jobs, uncle or not.”

It is apparent that he is a veteran demon hunter, while you are…

“Look, I’m not here to be compared with Dante. Besides, I’m gotten stronger since I last fought him.”

Right. My apologies. That’s all that I have for today, Mr. Nero. Thank you for your cooperation. We will deliver the money promised by tomorrow. Have a nice day.

“You too. Thanks.”

(The young man gets up and walks away without a single look back.)

[Lady]

(A knock on the door takes your attention and you shouted your instructions for the person to come in. She walks in with full gear, but as soon as she steps into the room, she rests her motorcycle helmet, her rocket launcher and her array of guns at the side before taking a seat across the table unasked.)

“Sorry about the arsenal. Came here from a job.”

No problem. Are you ready to start, Ms. Mary Ann?

“Call me Lady. No one calls me Mary Ann anymore.”

Alright. How about you start with a short self introduction?

“Right. My name is Lady. I’m an acquaintance of Dante’s. Not exactly his best of friend, since he owes me a mountain of debt and doesn’t seem to ever clear it anyway. I partner up with him on some jobs, but otherwise I go solo. I work better alone anyway. I use guns –as you can see –and my rocket launcher to kill. I’m not exactly your typical tomboy, but hey, no man wants to marry a woman who kills demons for a living and is probably stronger than him.”

You can’t be too sure. There must be a man out there. Anyway, could you enlighten us on the situation where you first met Dante?

“The Temen-Ni-Gru. I was there to kill my father –he was there to kill his brother. The first impression I had of him was that he was one big cocky bastard. I wasn’t wrong. I found out about him being a demon when I shot him in the forehead, and he didn’t exactly die. He kept on butting in between my father and me, and when Vergil first killed my father, I thought it was him. He said he had a dysfunctional family too, but what did demons know about family? I didn’t think a demon like him would understand. But afterwards, as he fought Vergil, I saw something different. Dante was different from normal demons. He was a demon with a heart. I fought him in the library afterwards. He was crazy fast. He kept attacking me with that sword of his, and then changing to guns…… You don’t want to play around with Dante. Obviously I lost –the only demon I ever lost to –but he promised to kill my father for me. I trusted him. Kind of stupid, but I did. He didn’t turn back on that promise though. He solved everything for me.”

It seems quite a story. How about afterwards? How did you continue with your weird relationship with him?

“He set up Devil May Cry afterwards, I continued going solo, killing all the demons I could find. I knew it was too much for just a human like me to aim for ridding the entire world off demons. So I guessed after a few more years of hunting alone, I went back to him. He was surprised when I first brought a job to him, but it became apparent to me that he can’t be trusted to do a job without destroying the entire place. So I began counting a debt on his head.”

And the count so far has been?

“Too many zeros for me. It came to a point for me that Dante was forever in my debt, so I stopped counting. “

And you are pulling him along by the threat of his debt?

“Someone needs to get that lazy ass moving sometimes. He needs to stop the diet of pizzas and get a life sometimes. And the best thing is that he can’t resist the woman with a rocket launcher and a debt on his head.”

Do you not think it is cruel sometimes?

“Not one bit. Do you see how the man kills? When he kills demons, it’s like the rest of the world don’t exist. It’s just him and demons. He can just throw them through a row of walls, breaking apart tens of homes in just one movement. And who is the one settling all these debts for him? Me? It is cruel of him to do this to me; not the other way around.”

Maybe you could just tell him?

“Dante? When does he change? I’m just wasting my saliva if I do.”

True. How about Vergil? What is your impression of Dante’s brother?

“Vergil? I don’t know a lot about him, but he seemed really caught up in the stupid quest for power. But I know Dante’s got a soft spot for him. Why else would a devil like him cry for his brother? It’s kind of cute at first, and then it became some sort of addiction for me to remind Dante about that scene. ‘Just the rain’; I can still remember his stupid excuse for those tears.”

(The woman grins, as if the topic had finally changed to something that tickled her very much so.)

All in all, do you believe in Dante’s legacy?

“What legacy? That man has a legacy? Are you kidding me?”

‘Devil May Cry’. Is that not his legacy?

“That’s a pretty way to put his crap slogan. But yeah, I think I do. Devils can cry, after all. I’ve seen them cry like hell when I point Kalina Ann –my rocket launcher, if you don’t know –in their faces. But if you mean the Dante-type of crying, I haven’t seen much of it. I heard Nero cried for Kyrie. But that’s all rumors. The only real devil I saw cry was –surprise, surprise –Dante himself.”

For Vergil, right

“Yeah. When else did he cry that I don’t know of?”

For Trish. He did cry for Trish on Mallet Island.

“Did he now? He didn’t tell me about that!”

I can imagine he doesn’t wish to.

“Well, that’s too bad, because I know now.”

What do you feel about him? Have there been any instances of any romantic relationship or is it only briskly debtor-loaner?

“Date a demon like Dante? Please, even if he is the only good demon out there in the world, I’m not that desperate. Besides, I don’t need a man to show me that I’m a woman.”

An independent woman then, are you?

“Can’t you see? I’ve been like this since my father killed my mother. I don’t see a need to change.”

It is good to see you are surviving well on your own. But have you considered taking a man as a lover?

“What makes you think I haven’t already? Anyway, it’s not idealistic. I kill demons for a living. No human would be willing to be constantly put in that risk, and I will not marry a demon, or even a half demon.”

Alright. Let’s move on. What do you think about the boy Nero?

“The kid from the Order of the Sword? He seems alright. A little young and too enthusiastic. He’s a gemstone that needs refining in the demon hunting sector. Obviously Dante doesn’t want to do the refining, so we’re just letting him improve on himself bit by bit. I think Dante just doesn’t want to see the kid outdoing him next time.”

How about you do it? If you recognize that Nero has potential, then why not make him better?

“He’s a half-demon. He has ways to kill demons that I can’t do. I kill demons with guns and launchers. I can’t expect a half-demon like him to do the same.”

Trish?

“She’s most probably too busy chasing after her own preys to even stop to teach the kid.”

How is your relationship with Trish?

“It started rocky, but we’re like sisters now. Who else better to ask on a shopping spree, when we can both put the bill on Dante again?”

Right. That’s all for today. Thank you so much for your kind cooperation with us today.

“Thank you too. You’ll transfer Dante’s part of this to me too right? That’s the only reason I did this; not for the money.”

Right. I’ll tell Dante that he’ll get his due, but give you the money.

“Great. Nice making a deal like this with you. Good day.”

You too.

(She packs her arsenal back on her body and walks back out the door. Shortly awhile afterwards, you hear her motorcycle roaring away)

[Vergil]

(He does not even knock on the door. He appears through a portal, and you jolt slightly on your seat, not having expected his arrival like this. He spoke no words but sat down on the chair with a glowering gaze to you while you shuffled the papers on your desk and brought out a blank piece of paper to scribe on.)

Good morning to you, Mr. Vergil Sparda. I trust you know what you are here for today?

“Power. You promised me more power in return for this pointless interview.”

Yes, power. We have located the piece of lapis lazuli that you need for whatever experiment you are conducting. Just answer a few of my questions, and we will have it sent to you.

(He stares at you, making sure that you know he is not happy that you are negotiating with him. You knew very well that he is a half-demon, and from the way he is staring at you, you know he is reasoning with himself over why he should not just kill you right here and now. Your heartbeat picks up a little, but you betray no emotion.)

“Do not waste my time, mere human. Ask.” (He said briskly, and you turn to hide your eye contact to your paper.)

R-Right. How about you start with a self-introduction?

“Introduce? What for? You know about me. You know exactly who I am, who I am related to, and everything major that happened to me. You need not ask, you know. So do not waste my time and get down to the questions.”

(You snap your gaze up at him, fear gone now. He had promised to answer questions through the phone when you promised him his precious lapis lazuli. You hated nothing more than someone who went back on their words.)

Will you just introduce your damn self? I didn’t ask for these questions to be here. You want to bitch about this, bring this up to my boss!

(Eyes widen at your sudden surge of anger, and for the moment, he resigned himself here.)

“Fine. My name is Vergil Sparda. I am the son of Sparda, brother to Dante Sparda. Orphaned young, I roam the world alone. I continue my lifelong search for power, even till now.”

(You could see his self-introduction was reluctant in the way he grumbled it.)

That’s better. Next question: Tell me about your relationship with Dante.

(He glares at you, knowing full well that you knew, but you were forcing him to speak the words he didn’t like. You tilted your chin challengingly back out. This man was a horrible interviewee, and you no longer had any intentions to be as polite to him as you had done with Lady and Nero.)

“Dante and I are twin brothers. We were as close as any pair of twins get. Then our parents died, and we separated. It became clear that we were as different as black and white, red and blue. In Temen-Ni-Gru, the difference was even more apparent. I stayed in the demon world while he left.”

And afterwards?

(His hands tightened over the katana he held in his one hand, Yamato. You could see he was restraining himself, refraining from slicing your head off your neck.)

“Mundus captured me and made me his slave. Dante found me on Mallet Island and killed me.”

Now that is a cause of curiosity. However did you make it back into this world?

“My father taught me a variety of tricks before he died. One of which was resurrection. It was only a matter of finding the right human to terrorize and ordering to resurrect me when it was apparent that I was dead.” (He bit out, as if he almost couldn’t get those words from his lips.)

And you did not think of obtaining more power from Sparda after you came back?

“Arkham was a model in that. That filthy little human could not contain Sparda’s full power. I see that I am a half-human, and that curse stops me from obtaining my father’s full power. I can obtain enough power to be the most powerful half-devil, to win over every demon. I will only stop when I am second only to Sparda.”

Dante? It is said that Dante has mastered the demonic blood in him.

“When the time comes, I will battle Dante again, and I will win him. Then I will be the most powerful half-devil alive.”

Then what? Rule the world like an evil villain?

(He gives you such a glare that you bite your lips shut. Maybe you shouldn’t have said that. You were just beginning to get him to talk, and now you had said the wrong words.)

Ignore that. Next question: Are you aware of a boy named Nero?

“I am. He is the one who reunited my sword. Unfortunately, I stole it back from him, and he seems to be keeping a fair façade in tricking everyone around him that it is still with him.”

Does Dante know you are back?

“No. I don’t intend for him to know either. He has no need to know that I am alive.”

And you intend to walk this world unnoticed until you gain the power you seek?

“Is that a problem with you? If your judgment is what I have to bear in answering these questions, maybe I should just end you.”

Maybe you should be more receptive of my questions and actually give me a proper answer, Mr. Vergil Sparda. Are you aware of what your brother has done in The Order of the Sword with Nero?

“That’s what everyone’s talking about these days. Useless humans just cannot understand that worshipping a demon as a god cannot protect them.”

(You refrain yourself from making a snappy comment at him for that.)

Were you in the same situation, would you do what Dante did?

“Were I in the same situation, I would leave The Order to the Savior and let the kid fight his own way out. Dante usually spends his useless time on these useless people; it’s not surprising he did what he did.”

Given your replies; do you hate your brother?

“With passion. Dante shouldn’t be mixing around those pointless people he hangs around with. He can get nothing out of rotting at some demon hunting job. He could be the best, he could be god. But he is wasting his talents, his innate abilities for nothing. That is a sin; a sin to our father, a sin to our blood that I must erase.”

Did you know he cried for you?

“Crocodile tears.”

No, Dante’s tears for you were of sorrow when you stayed in the demon world.

 “He was still a baby then. He always was.”

Dante cares for you, Vergil.

“Enough to kill me on Mallet Island, I see.”

(You could see he was bent on seeing Dante as an enemy.)

Maybe this was a mistake. Thank you, Mr. Vergil. That’s all.

“This IS a mistake. You should have realized it sooner. But I hope you will keep your word, or I will return. The next time I return, I will not wait for words to be exchanged.”

We will send the jewel, Mr. Vergil. Now leave.

(The man stands up.) “You don’t have to ask twice.”

Leave. (He gives you a look and disappears.)

(You sigh. Three down. One last one to go.)

[Dante]

(He walks in with no problem, not bothering to knock, not bothering to ask if he can come in. He struts in as you shuffle papers of the previous interviews away from the table. You reconsider, and then read through all that has been scribed as he sits down and takes hold of the cup of wine you had taken out after Vergil. He doesn’t ask, he just drains it dry then smack his lips.)

“We starting or what?”

(You look at him, wondering just how much of the previous interviews you should tell him. This ‘interview’ wasn’t so much of an interview now that you had gotten an insight of every segment of his life –coming from his friends and family. You actually had run out of questions to ask at all.)

Mr. Dante Sparda?

“You make me sound old. Besides, I dropped my dad’s name as a surname. I’m just Dante.”

But officially, you are Dante Sparda, no?

“Yeah, but seriously, just call me Dante. I’m not exactly a fan of surnames and crap. Are we starting? I kind of need the money for a good strawberry sundae therapy.”

(You take another moment to look through the papers, and then a question popped up in your mind.)

Your friends and family seem to have quite abit to say about you. What do you think they talked about?

“Well, obviously, they were jealous of my manliness and couldn’t stop harping about it. Lady most probably gushed over me and how awesome I am.”

(You smiled gently at his self-delusion, content to let him revel in his own light.)

What makes you think they would praise you so?

“Why wouldn’t they? I’ve been nothing but awesome in front of them.”

How about Lady? You cried before her for Vergil.

(He spies you with a suspicious gaze.)

“How do you know about that? I made Lady swear not to tell anyone!”

It is well known fact, Mr. Dante Sparda.

“Okay, so maybe Lady talked something bad about me. But she’s the only person, right?”

Not exactly, Mr. Dante. There were others.

“What? From who?”

Lady, Nero and… (You trail off, looking up at him) …Vergil.

(He sits up immediately.) “You’re kidding me. Vergil is dead.”

Apparently not. He was here for the interview before you. I can assure you he was most unpleasant towards me, and he showed absolutely no sign of politeness.

(He scoffs, rolling his eyes.) “That’s typical Vergil. Tell me something I don’t already know.”

Enough about that. Would you like to tell me about how you met Trish, and a brief outline of what happened at Mallet Island?

“I thought you know?”

For the sake of the interview, Mr. Dante.

“Okay… so Trish comes walking into my office one day looking like my mum. Of course I had to go to Mallet Island with her. Then I met Nelo Angelo, managed to piss him off a few times and chased him away with my amulet. Te last time he took off his helmet, and then there he was, standing like he never lost contact to me at all. It was self defense that I killed him! I didn’t want to… who would want to murder their own twin?”

(You think silently about Vergil’s aspirations, but betray no emotion.)

“Anyways, what’s done is done and I obtained Sparda by Vergil’s sacrifice. I went down to hell, killed Mundus and left my parents’ mementoes with Trish.”

(After he cried again for her, it seems, you think silently.)

“Mundus refused to die, and I was sending him back when Trish came and gave me a helping hand. Needless to say, we made out of the blasted island alive.”

Thank you for the narration, Mr. Dante. I’m afraid we have yet to contact Trish, so I must ask you a few choice questions regarding her.

“Not yet? The last she said, she was on business out of town, and then she disappeared without a trace. Yeah, what do you want to know about her?”

She looks like your mother, no? Do you feel any romantic relationship for her?

“You wish. Trish is just this bitch I’ve come to terms with in my life. Sure, she’s my partner sometimes, but no more than that. Besides, can you imagine having sex with someone that looks like your mother?”

Could you select two choice words to describe her best to me?

“Bitch and crazy-shopper.”

Because she puts the bill on you? What if we ignore that fact?

“Fine. Then she’s a free-loader, but a friend.”

Do you view her or Lady more favorably?

“How about neither? Both of them are pains in my ass and they constantly keep me in debt.

Okay, do you know of any relationship Trish might be having outside, then?

“I dunno. She may have a lover out there. Who knows what kind of guys a woman like her prefers?”

How about her choice of companionship? A demon-woman would find men with no fear of her, no?

“Darling, this interview is about me, not Trish. Now, ask me some questions concerning me that I can answer.”

(You bite back a grin, pretending to look back to your papers.)

Did you know you are considered egoistical?

“What?!”

I take that as a no. How about annoying?

“Impossible!”

Jackass?

“Who said that? The kid right? I’m going to skin him alive!”

Asshole?

(He jumps up, looking as if he were going to step out of this room right now.)

“This is overboard! He’s using you to insult me!”

Please, take a seat, Mr. Dante. Let me assure you that those words weren’t said by those whom I have interviewed, but words on the street itself. I have one more questions about the awareness of your position in your friends’ lives.

“Surely a lousy scrape at the underside of their shoes…” (He mumbles with a frown, but sits back down.)

Not exactly, Mr. Dante. They all seem to think that you are important to their lives. In what sense, would you take a guess?

“For Lady, it’s most probably to offer some money. She sees me only important because of my debt.”

It appears, Mr. Dante, that you are quite welcomed by your friends despite your flaws. You are important to them because of the ways you have changed them

(His eyes widened considerably, and you catch a hint of a blush before he turns his face to the side, rubbing his cheeks embarrassedly as if someone had just slapped him.)

“That’s sweet.”

Sure is. That’s all for today, Mr. Dante. Thank you for your kind cooperation, and I hope you will meet your brother soon.

(He stands up, glad to be gone and a little bit richer.)

“Thanks too. You’ll send me that money right?”

(You wait till he was almost out of the door.)

I’m sorry, Mr. Dante, but Ms. Lady told me to transfer your money to her account. It has already been done.

(He tries to look back, but you run to the door, shut him out and locked the door. Just a moment after, bangs came on your door and you wondered if the demon hunter was going to knock it down.)

“What?! How can she do that?”

(You laugh quietly.) It is Ms. Lady, Mr. Dante. What can she not do? It was nice interviewing you, Mr. Dante!

(Grumbling, knowing he would get nothing out of you, you hear him stomp away shortly after, leaving you to your silence. You thought about the people who had been sitting across you as your poured another good measure of wine, shuffling through your paper. You retrieve a pen and a blank paper, and began on your report.)

Interview with the devil…

Perhaps you thought that the devil who saved the world a million times and played a hand in destroying the statue Savior years ago was a handsome man with heroic characteristics.

Perhaps, today, you should change your mind set.

Through interviews with his close companions, friends and families, as well as the man himself, the only impression one will get from Dante Sparda is that he is…

*What would you place your description of Dante as? How would you describe the man who has done so much, yet been so useless? Leave me a message and tell me what your dream Dante would be according to these interviews!*