'l sol tace

Synopsis: The daily routine at the shop comes to an abrupt end when unexpected news reach Dante from Fortuna.

Disclaimer: DMC4 obviously isn't mine, but is property of Capcom

A/N: To bitbyboth: thank you very much for putting up with me xD I really appreciate your help.

Prologue

"Devil May Cry." The voice of the man sitting at the desk sounded monotone. Just a moment ago he had tried to sleep, boot clad feet on the wooden surface of the desk, a magazine over his face, eyes closed, trying to sleep the afternoon away. Now the telephone upset his plans. "Ah, it's you," he said. The female voice answering him was unmistakably his partner's. Trish came and went like she wanted to, but they kept in touch somehow, knowing that they would meet sooner or later. "Got it. Later." The receiver of the vintage phone found its place noisily but without forcing Dante to sit up properly. He still had some time to kill before Trish would show up, so he closed his eyes again like nothing happened.

"What's up?" the devil hunter wanted to know, a piece of pizza in his hand. Instead of an answer, he got a glimpse of a newspaper. It was thrown in front of him on the desk and Trish took a piece of pizza herself. Apparently she trusted Dante, who again showed no manners at all, to find the answer himself. Sighing, the devil hunter took the paper, stuffed his pizza slice into his mouth and wiped his hands on his pants. The first thing he noticed was that the newspaper came from the region of Fortuna. Nothing you could get around here easily, unless you knew where to look. The small castle town had made it into the national news a single time, and they both knew that it happened a year ago, when the so called Savior had come to life, leaving half of the city in ruins and drowning in demons. After that? Nothing. But there could only be one reason why Trish had brought him this particular paper. Unlike Dante, his partner seemed to be especially vigilant when it came to devil arms. Yamato, Vergil's former sword, was still entrusted in the care of a certain spirited young man, exactly where Dante had left it a year ago, being well aware what kind of risk it could be. At least, he hoped it was still there. But he started to get doubts. His eyes scanned the headlines, until he found what he was looking for. Three people killed by half demon He read the article suspiciously. It said that Nero had been arrested yesterday, after killing two men and a young woman named Kyrie, a famous singer of the city. The corpses were mauled, and it had taken twenty armed men to detain the half demon. The outrage of the community had been so massive; a swift judgment was to be expected.

"You got to be kidding…" the devil hunter mumbled, the pizza in front of him forgotten. Dante skimmed through the article again. There was no doubt about Kyrie being the same girl he had met a year ago in Fortuna. Absurd. Nero might have been inexperienced, hot-headed and cheeky, but he wasn't a murderer. And Dante could think of no scenario, in which the kid laid a finger on that girl. Not like that. Something was wrong, it stunk to high heaven. Dante tossed the paper back on the desk and stood up.

"What are you going to do?" Trish asked and looked at him.

"It's obvious, isn't it? I'm going to Fortuna." It was rare that Trish saw her partner angry like that. Dante was good at hiding behind masks of sarcasm and mockery; acting like nothing could really get to him. But she knew it wasn't like that. But now, he didn't even bother to hide anything. He took Rebellion, giving the sword a long look and came back to the desk. Ebony an Ivory found their places beneath the red coat. Dante took the keys to his bike and left the shop. Trish watched him go and sighing sat down behind the desk. It seemed like the devil hunter would be gone for a while. Someone better kept an eye on the shop until he came back.