[Part 22]

The last signal my lungs gave me that it was fully healed was shocking me awake from whatever pain-induced unconsciousness my body had forced my mind into. In a jolt and a gasp, I forced open my eyes, feeling an ache in my chest as if someone had been sitting on my chest and the weight had just been released. I breathed in a few breaths, letting the ache slowly fade away into the background as I finally began to take in my surroundings.

What I saw shocked me.

Vergil hung in mid-air, suspended above ground by shackles on his wrists. He was as unconscious as I had been; but the red patch on his chest seemed a lot worse than mine. It took me also a moment to realize that I saw Vergil on my eye level, which meant one thing.

I looked down, and confirmed one important thing. I was hanging way above ground too, suspended by my wrists.

“Vergil! Hey! Vergil! Wake up!” I called, but it was apparent he was out. He seemed to have suffered a worst wound than I, so I guessed it would take him a little while longer to wake up. Or so I hoped. I hope that half-devil had enough Sparda’s blood in him to wake up after whatever Lucifer had done to him. He had brought my sister’s heart high enough; he couldn’t possibly think of letting it crash to the ground by dying right now.

There were distinct clinks of footsteps on the ground, and then I looked down to see Lucifer slowly strolling in the large hall where we first met him. It was obvious that he was amused with his tilted smile and spying glance as he stopped before us, facing us squarely as he looked up.

“Awake already, Damon? Well, well, it seems like the rumors weren’t wrong. You are stronger than Vergil.”

I was? That statement did surprise me, but I didn’t show it.

“What do you want with us tied up like this? Even if you kill us, you should know that my family has probably already broken Sparda out of his cell. They are most probably coming to get rid of you as I speak.” I tried to spit at him, but it was a little hard to aim while staring down at him from such a height.

“You think Trickster is on your side, no? That’s where you’re mistaken. Soft-hearted bunch; you are. I did not expect Vergil to let his guard down so easily, but my nifty little servant weaseled his way into your little gang, and you were left none the wiser. I had Trickster disguise himself to you, had him pretending that he wishes to change side. But you and I know where he stands now, don’t you? The stab through your lungs must have hurt.” He laughed the sinister villain laugh, but two could tango in such a dirty foul play of trickery.

“And you think I trust him? Sure, to a small extent. But you forget. I am a businessman by nature. I don’t place trust easily, not when the life of my future-wife is threatened. Not when you have my sister right here in Hell. I’ve given Daniel and Dante their jobs, and with Trickster’s help or not, we are going to leave here together.”

Lucifer took only a moment to recover, and his laugh afterwards really outdid mine. I wasn’t used to playing the role of the victim, but this time, I felt that I was inexplicably forced to do so.

“But you forget. I am a demon prince by nature, and I have you and Vergil in captivity. You two are the brains of the group. Let’s see your little group fall apart without their head.” I was almost sure he was going to kill me at that moment, but instead, he turned his back on me, raising a hand. Within milliseconds, a barrier shot up before him, covering the entire hall from where he stood onwards.

“You see, there’s no point in really killing the two of you. I need demons of your wits. Your family, however, are dispensable to me. Dante and Daniel are no threat to Mundus, but that cannot be said if you and Vergil are with them. Like toys, I will break them apart, and when they finally see that it is all useless, I will send them back to their respective worlds to suffer their continual pain until they die. I will ensure that they suffer the most pain, starting with your darling girlfriend…”

Just as his words finished, the pattering of footsteps faded in, and I recognized those footsteps.

“Fuck you! Stay away from my family!” I yelled, just as the people in topic turned into the hall.

“Trish! Marce! Daniel! Get out of here!” I shouted at them, but they merely looked at each other with confusion, taking unsure steps in. “Listen to me and get out!”

I screamed, but they didn’t seem to hear me. They didn’t seem to see me at all.

“But I was so sure they were going to be here…” Daniel complained, beginning to walk back out, before someone I was quite familiar with stopped them.

“Wait. They’re here. I can sense my own power from the both of them. They are in this room. Lucifer must have put some sort of illusion to hide them.” Sparda said gravelly, trying to pinpoint our location.

“I’m here!” I tried to call, but it was apparent that they couldn’t hear me as well.

“Haven’t you figured it out yet? They cannot hear or see you.” Lucifer mocked, but I was past the point of being his bait and ignored him.

“Verge! Vergy, Vergy! Where the fuck are you? I’ve got Pops right here, so you wanna go right up to him and cuddle, you better stop playing around with Lucifer and get your ass right here!” Dante shouted in the entire hall, and I cringed before I could help it. God, Dante was incurable. At a time like this? He had to thank his million stars above that Vergil was unconscious right now.

Lucifer, beneath me, clicked his fingers, and I watched as two demons crawl from the ground, slowly morphing away from their hideous appearance and changing into…

Damon and Vergil. The demon-us wore our clothes, and had bruises where we had them. Gods, above, they were the exact replica of us. There they lay, motionless, looking horrible, in a pool of blood that was most probably fake –or just demon’s blood.

“Sit back and watch the show.” Lucifer instructed to no one in particular since I couldn’t even stand –much less sit –but I was past caring as Marcy finally spotted our fake selves.

“Oh my God! Is that Damon? OH MY GOD! VERGIL!”

Okay, maybe I was a little jealous that she screamed Vergil’s name in more panic than she did mine, but I had fair share of people scream my name too, with Trish bursting into extremely shocked and horrified tears as she flew right to the fake-me’s side.

It disgusted me a little that she took the fake me and rested ‘me’ in her lap, giving ‘me’ a tender kiss on the forehead.

“Darling… Please… wake up. Don’t go… please, wake up. Wake up!” My girlfriend was fast to turn on her taps, but this time it took all I had to stop myself from giving Lucifer the satisfaction of yelling. It was obvious that Trish thought I was dying –again- and this time, I couldn’t’ wake up to reassure anything.

“You can’t go like this… you can’t! You cannot leave me, not after what you have given me! You’ve given me such a responsibility; don’t you want to see the result? You can’t go! Wake up, you stupid businessman! Wake up!” She hammered ‘my’ chest, as if it could instill a heartbeat in that cold, stupid demon that had been made to pretend dead. I knew Trish could handle her own against a low-leveled demon like that, but I was worried that it would take the chance when she was most vulnerable to strike.

“Let’s add on a little glamour to this nifty little scene.” Lucifer announced, and before I knew it, he gave a wave of a hand and fake-me stirred, as if waking up from a pain-filled nightmare.

“Trish… Trish… where are you? Why can’t I see anything…? It’s so dark, so dark…” The words that Lucifer spoke came from the fake-me, perfectly done in my pained voice that I probably couldn’t do any better.

For the only consolation I had for Lucifer, he was melodramatic demon prince.

“Damon! Damon, can you hear me? I’m here! I’m right beside you!” Trish grabbed fake-me’s hand, and the demon slowly opened his eyes, pretending to be blind.

“Why can’t I see anything…? Trish… Where is Marcy? Is she alright? Daniel?”

I had to give it to Lucifer; he knew exactly well what kind of a person I was.

“They’re alright, my darling. Please, hold on. We’ve got Sparda with us. We just have to get Trickster, and then we can leave.”

The demon jerked a little, as if ‘he’ were putting effort to reach out to Trish.

“No! Trickster… betrayed us. He backstabbed me… Vergil and I could’ve taken Lucifer… but Trickster sneaked in on us. This is my failure, Trish. Take Vergil and leave.” Lucifer turned back to look up at me, grinning. It was apparent he enjoyed the show very much, as my heart broke at the sight of my darling crying so hard for me. It was useless trying to scream for attention now.

But if I attacked at Lucifer, it would break his concentration, no? If it broke his concentration, then maybe I could get some attention. I summoned a breath of power so fast that I shocked myself, blasting it towards Lucifer and praying that it would work. It wasn’t so much my horrible aiming, but the fact that Lucifer was a stupid demon prince that he managed to defend himself from my blow while holding on to the illusions.

“We’re not leaving without you!” Trish exclaimed, holding ‘me’ close to her. I wondered how adversely she would react when she realized that the body she was hugging belonged to a low-leveled demon. Still, I kept bearing my power on him, praying and hoping that something would work. The last time I fought demon princes, it had been with Dante, Nero, Lady and Trish’s help. Leviathan and Mammon weren’t exactly the cleverest of demon princes either. But Lucifer this time seemed cleverer than his brothers –more scheming and conniving, more trickery and scam rather than pure brute force.

Overcoming Lucifer this time needed more than brains than brawns, and though this was entirely my game, I had too much to lose to think straight. I had too much to protect, everything to lose while all Lucifer had to lose was his life, Trickster and Sparda. It was hardly a fair fight, but when has a demon prince expected of fair fights?

“I will be a burden to you now… I’m not asking you to leave me behind. I’m asking you to go first. I’ll pick myself up and meet you guys where we first came. I just need a little more time to regain myself. Take Vergil and go first.” Fake-me moaned, taking Trish’s hand and giving it a reassuring squeeze.

“B-But you can’t see…”

“I’m fine. I’m going to be fine…”

“Don’t be an asshole, Damon. You’re not fine, and I’m not going to let you die here in this hell hole. We’re going to get everyone’s ass out of here –with or without Trickster –and Dante here’s going to force his Papa to open a portal with Yamato and our amulets. We’re going to get out of here, alright?” Daniel exclaimed all of a sudden, breaking the slightly romantic air that had been built up, wrenching fake-me from Trish’s arm and throwing ‘me’ over his shoulder.

Internally, I moaned and cursed at Daniel while Lucifer turned and grinned at me. The only secret I had left about how we were going to leave had just been unwittingly spilled by my stupid, retarded brother. Great. Now I had to think of other ways to go back…

“I’m gonna bring that blood ass of yours out of here, and no one’s going to stop me. If you don’t wanna be a burden, then why don’t you start by telling me what Lucifer did to you and Verge over there?”

Lucifer gave me a raise of brow now. I hadn’t known anything at all after I fell unconscious, but I suspected some fire since I had some really bad burns on my limps.

“Trickster… backstabbed us. He took me by surprise, and Vergil was caught off guard. Lucifer… started with his demonic fire. Burned straight through me. I must have fallen afterwards.” Fake-me groaned, and I watched as Dante pulled Vergil over his shoulder.

It was obvious that Lucifer was out to rub salt on my wound since fake-me was the only one alive and talking while fake-Vergil was still unconscious as hell. I amped up on my efforts to make a big enough impact on Lucifer, but the demon prince had tons of power to spare to deflect mine. I needed a little more, just a little more to get Lucifer flying off his feet.

My family beginning to leave and it would be soon that they brought their demons home. Fake-dying in front of them apparently wasn’t enough for Lucifer. He had to have my family hold a little hope of me being alive, before he crushed it dry.

“It’s not going to work with your meager powers, Damon. You might be a half-devil now, but you don’t have enough of Sparda’s power to make me stumble.” Lucifer boasted, and the severity and hopelessness of the situation finally began to set in.

“But with me? It’s a bad idea to piss me off, Lucifer. I don’t like chains.” A new voice interrupted us, and before Lucifer could even react to that, another blast of power came to my aid, pummeling into the demon prince with such a force that Lucifer flew straight past his barrier, hitting the opposite wall.

In an instant, the illusion of everything left and there was a piercing scream from two female voices. Dante and Daniel stared at the load on each other’s shoulders, kept in momentary shock, bewildered at each other, wondering why the heck each other were carrying demons on their back.

“Don’t be idiots!” Vergil scolded as he sent another sharp blast of power, hitting both demons off our brothers’ shoulders, making those two disgusting things disintegrate at his touch.

“Vergil? How are you up there so quick…?” Dante stared up at us in awe as Trish found my eyes quickly. I gave her my best sheepish smile at her squeal of delight that I was in a better shape than my fake-self showed.

“How about you keep Lucifer busy first before you ask me such dumb questions? Sparda, free me.” Vergil had his no-nonsense tone, and I could hear he was pissed and frustrated.

Of course, when someone like Vergil started ordering people around, everyone naturally obeyed and hoped for the best. Daniel and Dante turned their efforts on Lucifer while Sparda sent a sharp burst of power to Vergil’s chains, shattering it with a loud bang. Trish took a little while longer to do the same with my shackles, but the fact that she could still do it after years of being human alongside me was cause for celebration.

Landing on my feet again caused fire-hot pain to burst from my burnt and cut limbs but I pushed them away as best as I could. It seemed like the rate of my healing was not as fast as I liked, and I hoped no permanent damage was done. Besides, I wasn’t using Vergil’s body in this world this time, I was using my own, and if this did some permanent damage to me, someone was going to pay; badly.

Trish took less than a second to crash into me, hugging me so tightly I was sudden afraid that she would break my ribs.

“You’re okay! Thank Gods!” She exclaimed, burying her face in the crook of my neck as if she had been staring for the past few years without me. I laughed lightly despite the severity of the current situation at her act of childishness.

“I’m not going to be if you continue hugging me so tightly.” I replied, bringing her in closer with a gently hold. Vergil and I exchanged looked when I found out that Marcy was doing the same thing to him, and I bit back my grin as best as I could.

For once, this time, there was someone there to appreciate Vergil. Of course, it was a little saddening that the person was my darling sister, but at least someone cared about this poor doppelganger of mine.

“Oy, you couples wanna fuck, why don’t you do it somewhere else?” Daniel shouted as he deflected a blow from the demon prince, aiming for a counter but missing Lucifer entirely as the demon was now caught up in Dante’s strikes. “If not, how about you coming to give us a hand and killing this thing? I kind of wanna fuck someone soon, and it would help if you make this process faster for me.”

Trish sighed, letting me know exactly how exasperated of my little brother she was. Still, she withdrew from our embrace, but still holding on to my hand.

“I’m glad that you’re fine. We will talk later?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’ll be fine. So don’t worry. Just take care of yourself. I love you, and we’ll definitely have much more to talk later.”

Little did I know, it was one of the last few times I could ever talk to her again.

She nodded, squeezed my hand once as if to make sure that I was here and still alive before she ran back into the fight. I watched as Marcy struggled to do the same, but with Vergil stopping her instead.

“Let me go! I want to help, Vergil. I can help!” She whined as he dragged both of them closer to me. She was tugging hard at him, and I knew she was unintentionally hurting him by doing so.

“Marcy, just give it a rest. They can hold their own. You’re hurting him.” I said, earning a shocked squeal from her.

“Oh my god. I’m so sorry! I didn’t know, Vergil. I’m sorry!” She apologized furiously, instantly forgetting about wanting to return to the fight. Vergil merely gave her a soft smile in reply, and a grateful look over to me for my comment. Apparently someone was too soft-hearted to tell my darling sister that she was hurting him.

“Stay here with Marce, Vergil. I’ve got things to do.” I gave the man who had suffered alongside me a pat on his shoulder, taking a first step out towards where the fight was before I was stopped by the elder son of Sparda, his hand trapping mine on his shoulder.

“You’re injured too.” He stated simply, but I shook his hand off.

“Not as horrible as you are. I can hold my own. You stay here, take care of Marce and think up of a new way to get us out of here. I’ve got unfinished business to settle with Trickster and his master.”

Vergil stopped me again, this time with his hand tightly gripping my forearm.

“He didn’t backstab us. He knew things were getting out of hand when Lucifer had us separated. He had to fake his loyalty to Lucifer. Some demon must have told Lucifer about Trickster’s deference; that’s why he refused to talk to Trickster about letting him free. After you went down unconscious, Lucifer had Trickster stripped of his bond. He took away Trickster’s curse, and freed him –only under the conditions that Trickster revealed our plan. Of course, Trickster did it, but he omitted how we were going to escape Hell.”

“Then he came and helped us open the door to our cell! We weren’t sure who it was that opened it for us, but I guess it’s safe to assume that it was him. We went on to do as you told us to, Damon, but we found most of the demons already dead. Trickster was way before us, brother. He helped us.” Marcy piped up, her hand on my forearm too, as if she could help Vergil to stop me from doing something stupid.

I turned around to face them fully. “Even if he did, he betrayed his promise to me. He put Daniel in danger, and I won’t forgive for that, no matter how well-deserved Daniel needed it.”

It was something they couldn’t argue against, and they knew it. Both Vergil and Marcy let me go, and there was no turning back. I sidetracked the fight, ran out the entrance, and was on the road to finding Trickster. I needed some answers, and I would get them.