"Out of my way!", Dante took down a hoard of monsters with a single slash.

He frantically looked left and right, trying to find his way through the burning carnage. He dashed forwards, running desperately towards the temple where Sora usually resided at, hoping for the best, but thinking of the worst. He finally managed to see the entrance of the temple, half destroyed by the ravaging flames. He ran inside, only to find a multitude of dead priests and priestesses lying on the dirt of the temple's garden.

"God...", he paused at the sight of death, "Sora! Sora, where are you?!", he called out to her again and again.

The only thing answering back to him was a gust of powerful wind and the cracking of the burning wood around him. He saw the melting of the iron statues and the crushing of the garden by the collapsing buildings whose support gave in to the fire. He almost forgot to contain himself once more, as his growing anger wanted to let go of all control. Right before he could burst into both tears and power, he heard a loud and powerful roar coming from the main building. He instantly looked towards it as he started running towards it.

"Gahah!", Sora was thrown out of the building, rolling along the ground behind Dante, "I-I can't...Hikari...", she whispered before fainting.

"Sora! Are you alright?! Sora!", he yelled back at her, holding his position and preparing for whatever was inside the building to come out.

His expectations quickly met, a massive, fire imbued monster blasted out of the building, tearing it to shreds before also burning the wreckage as well.

"Damn it! This heat...", Dante took a fully defensive position.

The monster then took the surrounding metal it had melted and began turning it into a part of it's body, covering it's head and arms, giving it a more human-like look. Tall as a building itself, it looked as if it was pinned to the ground, only possessing a body up to its waist. It looked down at Dante and to his surprise, started talking to him.

"Kneel before the mastery of the Pillars, Son Of Cecilia. Do so and you may be allowed to serve as our slave."

"What even the hell are you?!", Dante yelled.

"Hell. As you said.", the monster scoffed.

"What is your reason for doing this?! We had began the peace period!"

"Peace? You think that we belong to something as puny as your world's so called clans, nations or regions? You are lucky to be witnessing the world burning anew, so fill yourself with it's grace!"

"I think the world is fine how it is, little one!", Viola jumped into action.

Viola landed in front of Dante with a powerful rain of light falling down upon the monster, piercing its metallic parts and filling it with holes. She cleaned the dust off her shoulder and stood up, completely armless in the face of the monster and a face full of confidence.

"Mrs. Viola?!", Dante said in surprise.

"More than just a cook Dante! I thought I'd let you do your thing from the Clock Tower, but better safe than sorry!", Viola giggled.

"How did you do that?!", he gazed in awe.

"Sheff's secret. Though, the main ingredient is kind of...gone at the moment. Anyhoo, shall we take care of this little fella?"

"Little?!"

"Oh, pfft! Come on! Don't let this illusion confuse you. Helash is plain normal size, just that he sucked a little bit too much of that good ol' fire."

Helash then fully recovered his metallic parts, recovering fully and looking back down at Viola and bursting out flames of anger from his body.

"Valkyrie! I'll send you back straight to hell, with all those flying mosquitoes of yours!"

"Nope! Pretty sure they're all dancing high above you right now, given how big of a campfire you came out to be.", Viola mocked Helash.

"Burn in hell!"

Helash began closing both his arms together to crush Dante and Viola together.

"Dante, block for me a little."

Dante took on his blocking stance, "Wait, what for-gnn!", his words got interrupted by Viola's move.

Viola horse kicked Dante's sword, forcing him several meters backwards next to the fainted Sora, as he firmly held his stance. She then jumped back into her form and extended both her arms and legs outwards, preparing for Helash's strike.

"Squished like the fly you are!"

Helash clashed both his massive, metal arms with Viola's, making a massive gust of wind come out between them but failing to crush Viola.

"Doubting a Valkyrie's strength?", Viola smirked.

"I'll kill all of you in a single instance.", Helash said.

Helash's palms began to lit up, as he bended both his wrists, touching them together and preparing to fire a massive blast towards them all.

"No...", Viola's eyes widened. "Duck!"

Dante fell down to the ground as Viola punched the ground, shifting the platform Helash's hands rested on up and redirecting the blast straight to her, her barely being able to cover her face in the process. After his attack was over, Viola found herself kneeling before Helash, her armor half burned from the blast. She slowly began to faint as well, the attack petrifying her body.

"Pathetic.", Helash slapped Viola out of the way.

"Stay the hell back!", Dante stepped forward.

Helash scoffed, "Seriously? Even the weak get to raise their voice now? Begone."

Helash began to mercilessly pound Dante again and again and again, crushing him down to the ground a number of times and filling his body with the red of blood. Dante dropped his sword easily as he then began slowly crawling to Sora who was now beginning to slowly regaining her consciousness.

"Dan...te?", Sora began slowly crawling her way towards him.

"Ghk...aghk...", Dante tried slowly standing up, his young body rapidly giving in to his injuries, "Stay down, Sora. I've got this."

"You idiot...don't-"

"You can't stop me. Neither can he."

Sora smirked as she slowly found her footing again, "Don't do it...without me. I've seen enough of you hurting yourself close to death. Let's do this together."

"What? Sora..."

Before he could say another word, the little goddess stood besides the young Dante, leaning on him as he did the same. The two now stood before the hellish monster that kept on fueling itself with the burned carnage that once resembled a temple.

"So they stood before me, both those who denied the bond, only to be burned to ashes.", Helash poetically said, almost laughing at their miserable state, "Disappear the same way you appeared, insignificance."

Dante closed his eyes before taking on a defensive stance, hoping for the best and pray that this hell would pass too. Helash raised his hand once again, hastily hammering it down to the injured Dante and Sora, only to have it completely broken into bits, from Dante's powerful slash.

"Gyah!", Helash retracted his injured arm, "What?!"

Dante slowly opened his eyes, "What? Wait-", he took a look at his body.

Dante was shimmering with his signature red sparks all over, as the sword he thought to be a military standard had managed to cut through the massive chuck of hammering steel, saving him and Sora. However, what he thought to be a moment of saving grace swiftly turned into further and deeper despair, as he looked next to him to find a horribly bleeding and in a worse state than before. It looked as if she was barely able to bleed throughout the ongoing flow of red covering her young lips.

"Sora?! What the hell did you do?! Sora, talk to me!"

"Enough!", Helash punctured the ground with his broken arm, rapidly obtaining the metals bellow ground and instantly getting back into the fight, "Get out of the conquest's way!"

Helash raised all hell, as massive pillars and tornadoes of fire rose up and started to close in on the temple's parameter. He broke the edges of his metal part's gauntlets, revealing a menacing, crystal like pair of claws. His form began to rapidly shrink, as he brought himself down to the size of the average human, now standing at the center of the temple, looking straight at Dante.

"Fear the fire concentrated, not separated. Son of Cecilia, this is where the line is drawn. Prepare to face a fate worst than demise, for your sin of procrastination!"

Dante burst into a fit of rage, sparks rapidly flowing out left and right as he started to handle his massive sword with one hand. The young Dante took on a wide stance, left hand behind his back and right arm extended towards Helash, preparing to make a lethal move against him. Helash paused for a long moment, truly realizing what exactly was standing before him and regretting ever provoking the monster within.

"No way...this kid...he's killing himself for this? There's no way he possess that power, let alone control it...", he whispered.

The silence continued for a little while longer, both still firmly holding on to their positions. It was then that Helash decided to make his move.

"Die, imbecile!", he raised his left hand, preparing to make a powerful attack.

"Full speed ahead.", Dante muttered.

Dante blinked directly and behind Helash, landing a devastating strike straight through his chest before turning around to finish with a powerful back slash. That specific slash, though lacking the clash of an actual hard surface, echoed throughout the city as time itself seemed to freeze from the sheer speed and power within the move itself. Dante then blinked again as the ground underneath Helash suddenly burst, sending him upwards where a series of dazzling, red-sparked X slashes stroke his body and disappearing in an instant afterwards. Practically frozen in mid-air, Helash gazed around as his vision faded as he too failed to realize what exactly was going on, before looking directly above him to witness Dante reappearing right then and there.

"Checkmate, asshole."

Finishing his barrage Dante made a vertical slash similar to his finisher on his first blink. That slash however had its power way less controlled as it emitted even greater strength than the initial one. The world came to a sudden freeze again as the remains of the temple seemed to rapidly divide into multiple slashed pieces, those refusing to drop from the laws of nature, as time itself seemed to be meaningless. The surrounding tornadoes and pillars of fire seemed to also freeze from the devastating slashes coming their way. Harshly landing, Dante twisted the massive claymore around with ease, before seething back. What followed the moment he seethed it was massive blast, as the slashes began to rapidly detonate in rapid succession and time began to come back to it's normal state. The temple's sliced part's rapidly collapsed around them as Helash was violently thrashed from mid-air straight to the ground, following the momentum of Dante's finishing slash. All came to a swift end in a moment's notice, as if a raging storm suddenly were to disappear and be replaced by sunlight. It was the first time he had seen himself with the absolute necessity and will to go overboard on the abilities that made him the monster inside that he was. And despite it all, his body started giving in continuously, despite Sora's healing, as if a poison began rapidly shutting down his body. He desperately tried to limb his way towards the dying Sora.

"D-Damn...these...powers! Screw this Obsulyte! Why me?!"

He shouted before he returned to the engulfing silence. Not long before he could say another word, the silence was filled by the hoard of the coming monsters who were all menacingly and rapidly climbing up the hill. Dante quickly limbed his way past Sora's wounded body and close to the remnants of the temple's gates, preparing to give what little he had left on the coming hoard of monsters. Before their steel could come into contact, once again, a wide range if divine horizontal lights came from every sort of direction, taking out all the monsters around, behind and on his sides. Not able to support himself any longer, Dante pinned his sword on the ground and used it as support to hold himself up as he lifted his head to see the source of the light, immediately regretting what he came to face with.

"B-Big...brother?"

Dante's little sister's widened and tear soaked eyes met with his as she quickly realized what her brother had pushed himself into. Firmly holding on to Viola's bow, she slowly tapped one tiny-foot after the other, unable to run but stare to the state that everything around her was. To him, it was a familiar second. To her, it was a new kind of hell. Finally making her way up to him, she looked around on the wounds on his body. None. He dared not to muffle a word as she failed to do anything but shed tears into realizing her powerlessness at the moment.

"I...I can't heal you. This...I can't heal this. The Remedy Knight's can't...", she looked at Dante with a frightened face.

"Your oath...", Dante silently said before looking at his little sister's hilt.

Sword confined. This was her loophole. This was how she first chose to bend the rules...all for him. Not because she had to. But because she wanted to. She had managed to protect her oath and simultaneously him.

"Little sis...I'm...sorry.", he silently said.

No reply from her ever came, rather than a look to the side, gazing upon the wounded body of Sora, laying there on the ground behind him. A sudden and massive echo of a hoard of monsters came forth again, making their way from the other side of the hill. It was at that moment that inspiration of Sora's image made her make her decision.

"Stand still. I think...I think I can do it.", she pressed her hand against her brothers chest.

"What the hell are you-"

"I think...it worked.", Dante's little sister began losing her consciousness too.

She kneeled and grunted as she brought herself to a similar state to Sora's, dropping down and squealing in pain as he grabbed her, breaking her fall and realizing that the situation had quickly repeated itself.

"What did you do?! Lil' sis, come on!", he shook her in his arms.

Viola grunted as she moved ever so slowly towards the two. She took a look to the front, looking at them both before looking back at the dying Sora. She paused briefly before exhaling and moving up to Dante and his little sister.

"Viola! What's happening?! What's going on."

"Hold her still.", Viola approached and placed her hand on Dante's little sister's chest.

The grunting and panting stopped as his little sister fainted completely. Viola seemed to recover herself, as her wounds faded. A squeal came soon after as she grabbed her head as if she were having a massive headache.

"God...", Viola squeezed her head.

"What did you do as well?! Someone explain to me!", Dante yelled.

Viola powered through the pain, "She's fine...your sister. It's an art used by Valkyries that Sora knew, probably passed down to your little sister. We share injuries...the first time Sora healed you, it was just wounds. This time, your little sister took something much, much worse inside her than just physical wounds...ghak!", Viola kneeled, "It was like an infection. I stopped it...by taking it in. She won't be affected by the spread and her healing should kick in because of her Remedy Knight's abilities. Please...run. Listen to me, take your sister and run!", Viola yelled.

"No! I'm not leaving anyone behind, not you and not Sora!"

"Your friends have escaped. Anya is safe, Terna has been taken out of here by an officer and so did Sisi with her dad. Please, run back to your brother in the royal grounds...please be together!"

"I refuse to let them get away with what they did!", Dante tightened his grip on his little sister.

Coming up the hill, the monsters gathered around Helash's extinguished body and so did their leader. From top to bottom a powerful presence, the armor clanked against the metal seethe with every step on his descend. The figure went and stood above Helash's body.

"Looks like all that hate of yours burned you up.", he folded his arms.

Viola's eyes widened at the mere sight of him, "Gladeon..."

"Reburn him. I've got other tasks at hand."

Gladeon turned around and walked away slowly, fading away as quickly as he appeared, as the monsters all started to burn each other alive around Helash's body. From the ashes of the burned monsters, Helash's consciousness started slowly coming back as a massive roar of anger as he got up, reigniting the entire area around him in a much more devastating and violent manner than before.

"Dante!", he yelled with all his might, "I'll ruin you!"

Helash turned and looked at Sora's body and before anyone could make or say another word, he clawed the air, separating Viola and Dante from Sora with a massive ring of fire. He punched the ground, forcing fire to ceremoniously gather around Sora.

"No-ah!", Viola tried to move towards them but kneeled to the ground again, suffering heavily from the pain in her head, "G-Goddess! Don't you dare-ghk!", she fell on her arms.

"No, no, no!", Dante tried to move towards her, ignoring the fire, before realizing again that he was holding on to his injured sister, "Dammit, not like this! Not like-"

His yelling stopped abruptly as his eyes connected with Sora's. She was not in pin. She was not frightened. All she could return to him while being engulfed by the fire was a kind, gentle smile that she always gave to him, encouraging to go forth. He watched as the fire burned and ravaged her body and as tears started rolling down her face, her smile never faded, before she mustered all her remaining strength to speak a few soft words before her demise.

"Remember me....when it all goes down...I will always be there. I will always be there...for you...", she closed her eyes to embrace the inevitable.

He thought of crying, he thought of bursting into a fit of anger again. He thought of mourning her and vengeance against those who dared to hurt her. He did none of those but instead stare in the familiar feeling horror at what was happening before him. As he body was consumed, Helash fed off Sora, engulfing the entire area into flames again, regaining his entire strength and laughing above everything and everyone.

"I'll kill them all. I'll kill them!", Dante snapped out of it.

"You'll do none of that. It's not you.", Viola slowly rose up.

"Viola if you stop me again I swear-", Dante's fit of rage was interrupted by Viola violently braking his sword in half.

"Get out. I'll do it for you. You're just a kid...let me destroy them.", Viola slowly walked towards Helash, summoning her own sword out of thin air and moving forwards.

Dante could only stare at Viola and her massive surge of strength. A tear rolling down his face, he grabbed onto his sword, seething what was left of it from the handle up and picking his little sister up in his arms. In fear for the crisis he was in and of not losing her he started slowly backing away to save his sister, running directly to the royal grounds, leaving Viola behind like she wanted. He quickly made his way to the grounds, finding his brother dragged down and beaten up from the ongoing barrage of enemies. No Goldenlances were in his nearby vicinity and all that was left was enemy bodies.

"Little sister!", he yelled, coming up to Dante, "What the hell happened?!"

"She...healed me.", Dante looked at her.

"Healed you how?! By killing herself?!", Dante's big brother angrily said.

Before he could say another word, Dante changed his grip, holding his little sister up with his left arm and punching his older brother in the face.

"Piss off! You know nothing and you just pop off on me! Asshole!", he tightened his grip on his little sister, "And where's everyone? Why are you left alone?"

Dante's older brother calmed down, recovering from the punch and realizing his overreaction to both their injured situation. He seethed his blade as a gesture of pacifism and reproached his young brother again.

"Mom came in and redirected them. She sent them down to the harbor and in a general area around to secure safety for everyone. We took down the raid on the palace together, Sisi and Fred must've escaped by now. Then something happened and mom set a beamline for the temple!"

"Then this only means one thing...", Dante sighed.

"What is it?"

"I...nothing. Nothing...", Dante looked down with melancholy.

Dante's older brother set his eyes on his little sister, "Wait...what is that bow she's holding on to?"

"It's Viola's apparently."

"Viola could fight? I thought she just owned a restaurant. A cook!"

"Yeah...and this is her special ingredient.", Dante sighed once again, "Look, it's no secret it's all gone to hell. It's no secret that I want to constantly batter your ass to the ground, but for our little sister, I'm willing to overlook this desire just once. Please..."

Dante's older brother exhaled, "I know that this is how you feel but...lil' bro, I swear, I'm...", he paused, "I'll help you...wait.", he looked behind Dante. "Watch-"

In a rush to push his brother away from a mysterious incoming hit, Dante's older brother instead took the hit for him, not even having enough time to let out a reaction of pain. He froze on the spot before kneeling and eventually dropping to the ground, no wounds or anything to show physical damage.

"Big...bro?", Dante's eyes widened in the sight of his fainting brother.

He had hated the mere sight of him ever since "that day". He hated everything about him as his love eventually transformed into a relentless jealousy and need for an unneeded revenge and wish nothing but to force his older brother under his shadow. But at that moment, he could not but kneel next to him, little sister still at one hand and now his older brother at the other hand. His need for such meaningless bickering had largely forced him to forget what bond truly laid beneath. From the nearby vicinity, before he could snap out of his shock and let out his concealed feelings, a familiar figure appeared before him.

"Tsk. Near miss. Turns out I largely underestimated his reaction time.", Gladeon approached them with a menace following his every step, "He isn't dead, just so you know. Just paralyzed into submission...I had hoped to face him and carry you, but this just unnecessarily complicates things. Go on. Burst.", Gladeon drew his sword with his left hand, extending it fully to his side while holding his right hand behind his back, "No chance I get to hit you with my paralysis now. So a fight is how it must be."

Gladeon came closer and closer towards Dante, who remained still, hugging both his siblings and paralyzed in the mere sight of the man who had easily taken down who he hoped to first, all in one sneaked hit. As Gladeon came before him and prepare to lay punishment, the swing of his sword was deflected and he himself was sent flying, crushing at a nearby building behind him.

"C-Cecilia?!", Dante yelled.

Before him stood once again, the might of the heavens herself. Facing Cecilia's back, Dante refrained from speaking any more words as he saw a much different look on her than what he had originally. She was dipped completely into the red of blood. Hands, face, sword, everything was soaked down to the bone. Distress and sadness were written all over her body, with a large sense of fear engulfing her. How did he know what she felt? How did he know the depth of hell she was going through? Her hand, holding her sword...trembling. Who before but even her own son had seen the grand Omnipotent Blade of the Trail Blazers had the hand the justified countries and nations, and had taken the lives of evil, tremble as if the weight of the sword had overtaken it's lifting abilities. He briefly tried to break the mold by referring to Cecilia in the only way he hadn't felt like calling her for the longest time.

"M-Mom?", he looked at Cecilia with flight.

In the brief instance of those words echoing in her ears, Cecilia broke out of her broken mentality, briefly looking at Dante over the shoulder and revealing a sober look on her face, coated in a mix of red and tears. She quickly turned back to the front, steading her stance and stopping the trembling of her hand. It was as if she was afraid to face Dante more than the life ending enemy in front of her. As if she was ashamed of the thing that mattered most to her to look at her in the eyes, for him to only realize her largest mistakes in an instant. She muttered a few words to him.

"I'm sorry. For everything. I don't want to leave you like this...I'm sorry!", she whispered and muttered to herself.

"Huh? Mom, what are you saying?!", Dante yelled.

Cecilia completely turned around, revealing her full bloody armor and face to Dante, with frightened expression on her face never seen before by anyone and one that even her own son would never even imagine her with.

"Take them both right now and go to the bunked in the main hall of the palace!", Cecilia commanded her.

"N-No! Everyone is...I won't leave you be-", he was interrupted by Cecilia.

"No, you listen to me! Go in there right now! Don't you dare to look back! Run!", Cecilia urged him further, picking him up and pushing him away inside the partially destroyed palace, "Go! Hurry!"

Not wanting to let his mother away but unwilling to let go of both his siblings off his arms, he mustered all his strength and submitted to his mothers' heartfelt and frightened orders, taking both his big brother and little sister inside the palace and towards a bunker built for the general public down the main hall. He took faint looks behind him to see Gladeon recovering and Cecilia ready to charge him back down. He tearfully looked away as he hastily dragged both his siblings down the bunker. And as soon as he could see the inside of the bunker, more and more misery pilled onto him. No blood. No bodies. Nothing...emptiness. No one had made it to the bunker. No one had been saved he thought immediately. Despite his oath, duty and will to protect everyone, despite those that led the glory of hope...it was empty. He did not falter for once, as he softly placed both his siblings inside the bunker and prepared to close the door. Before he could do so, however, a flash of light emerged out of nowhere, smacking the door shut, hitting him in the process and knocking him out cold, right next to his big brother and little sister. A sense of instant darkness took over him as he remembered everything that he had unrightfully taken away from everyone. The places...the faces. It all flashed back to him before he twitched and bent his body, struggling to wake up, struggling to end the memories. And to his surprise, he finally did it. He woke up. He had managed to escape the pain, just for once. Or rather...a part of it. No more faces. No more surrounding destruction. But the nightmare was only beginning for him. His eyes slowly opened again to reveal the familiar faces of his big brother and little sister, still intact, still alive...and full of blood red.

He instantly got up, the adrenaline kick starting his body and started feeling all over their faces and necks. The were alright. For once, a sigh of relief came over him in this endless hell, knowing that those he held on to were indeed safe. Trying to wife the sweat of his face, he felt a familiar texture. Blood. Like his big brother and little sister, not his, but yet another mean to alarm him with. He looked to the side to gaze upon rays of sunlight, protruding through a completely broken palace ceiling and a shattered bunker door. A moment of joyful solace, not even a cloud in the sky ruining the view. It was as if the storm had never been brought upon him. He took a brief moment to escape the hell by looking back between the sunlight and his two fainted siblings, still struggling to take everything in. As he exhaled and lowering his head, his eyes met with something he thought to be a normality. A moment after he had thought to be staring at the royal red carpet of the palace, he finally managed to make out what it really was. Looking back, it became more and more clear what had happened, as the royal red carpet turned into a trail of blood that set it's starting point to the place where the he slept his pain away with his siblings, crawling up to their faces.

He unsheathed his broken sword slowly, worrying that there could be just one thing left with malice in it's heard, aiming to hurt what little he had left. Slowly exiting the broken, run-down bunker by stepping on some wrecks, he started to trail the bloody path to it's source. During his tracking he saw what he new under a new perspective. The royal red carpet that span from the palace's entrance to the throne room had now been burned down, with the blood trail filling the burned parts, like some sickening work of art. The walls that once hosted the head of what he thought to be his home were gone, broken down and reduced to wrecks, the banners hanged on them now resting on their remains. The lush green of the indoors flora now gone, with nothing but a few black burned and rotten leaves taking their place. The portraits of the heroes, legends and history of Dirunon and Victoria, along with the rest of the world were gone, as if their durned down ashes had already been taken by the wind.

He followed the trail down to detail, not that it mattered, because there was one placed it led him to. Forwards, all the way down the palace's entrance. He firmly held on to the broken blade, unable to find anything else to protect himself with as his adrenaline kept rising ever so higher, his fear and anxiety peaking at an all time high. Step after step, he slowly and finally managed to make his way to the entrance.

Horrible. Horrifying. Nothing could properly describe what he felt. This was not the natural cycle of things and it surely was what everyone could describe as one of their worst nightmares. A broken down in both spirit and armor Cecilia laid there, next to the partially destroyed arc of the gates, sense fading away. The blood trail ended right underneath her. Between the gazing in the sunlight and the pain on her body, she still found the remarkable strength to crack a sweet, soft smile at Dante, who's blade dropped to the ground, was simply gazing at his own mother, almost reduced to one of the many dead outside the palace.

"Hey kiddo...", she softly smiled and spoke with a weak, gentle voice, "Sleep well?"

Dante simply walked up to her and kneeled in front of her. Tears rolled down his face in an awkward manner, his expression still stuck to that of shock instead of fright and sadness to go along with the tears.

"Seems like...I messed up...didn't I?", Cecilia's voice began to crack.

Dante simply crawled up on Cecilia and leaned on her body, retracting his legs as if he was trying to cradle in her arms. He softly hugged his mother as she still, miraculously, mustered even more strength to do the same. Cecilia's eyes quickly turned watery, as she set off tears for both herself and her son. Unable to sob or squeal, she could only show her sadness for them both by tightening her grip around him, as if she feared of him running away from her again.

"Durante...you know this isn't your mistake...right?"

"Durante". No one could ever find themselves to call him by the full name. Dante, Dante, Dante. Always the same name echoed in his head. It was the way that someone could pull his attention, to make him turn his head. But that name..."Durante". Only but his mother ever called him by that name, rarely so, the same way he could never find himself to call Cecilia as "mom". It was in a way, the special way that they would call each other in a whim. Was it out of seriousness or out of formality? Only they would know.

"I'm sorry...", Dante kept shedding tears.

Cecilia chuckled, coughing a little, "No...really, I should be. All this time...all your life...I'm such a horrible, horrible mother. This agenda...this...oath.", she whimpered as she laid back, dragging Dante with her, "I wished for a choice myself...and I never gave it to you..."

"I'm sorry...", Dante repeated.

Cecilia cried even harder, "I can't believe you...you have so much to give...and I forced to you to keep it all to yourself. I...I thought that maybe, this would serve you better...then why...why didn't I let you chose...as if someone held a knife to my throat though they did not. I forced...such a one sided coin...like I acted how it was expected out of this world. One...in many.

"I'm sorry...", Dante kept repeating.

Cecilia pressed her arms against Dante's back. Slowly lifting one hand, she pet Dante's head, smiling, knowing how he loved it, but hated receiving it anywhere but behind a closed door. She held him tighter than she ever did with anything before. She slowly began residing that one, same song she always did to him from an older time. A time where tears were able to more freely come down. A time where there was no need to lift unneeded weight, as if the world was hanging over his head. It was a surprise when he first heard that song. Much like the person he looked up to, Cecilia was, in a way, similar to him. Struggling to say any words of true affection and bottling up, he could empathize with the song she had forced herself into writing to soothe what she made him go through. Patting Dante's head and clearing her throat, she started to once again speak that same song that brought out the best of his worst situations.

"I don't need to shed tears when I know I'm ok

In the morning the sun will show with no gray

I was thinking about what is to blame

Maybe all I carry or just my name, the role that I claim?

What is it anyway?

Always thinking about how I can hold on the strings

Wanting but afraid to let go or say goodbye to this

I don't know why I'm here, drowned in my own fear

Sometimes I wish I could disappear

Can I really take much more?

Things won't be like before

And that's shakes my core

I cannot step outside, I have to retain this pride

Because nobody will ever know how I cried

Down a road to an endless glory

But only thing that does is make me worry

Who will hurt us? What will I need to do to protect us?

Will it be myself or something worse at last?

It's as if I'm earning a past that wasn't asked

So I will keep on always going forth

But what I lose my stepping and end up in the lonely north

I was thinking if it all mattered anyway

Sometimes I feel I can't stay, only thinking of a life away

Will there be someone for me to pray?

Maybe this time I can hold it all together

But will that truly last forever?

I wish I knew why I was here, drowning in despair

Can someone find a way to make it more clear?

Can I really take much more?

Things won't be like before

And that's shakes my core

I cannot step outside, I have to retain this pride

Because nobody will ever know how I cried

Down a road to an endless glory

But only thing that does is make me worry

Who will hurt us? What will I need to do to protect us?

Will it be myself or something worse at last?

It's as if I'm earning a past that wasn't asked

Will there be anyone that could really tell that I love them, looking past my fake pride?

I struggle to show any way to care while I burn inside

Maybe I'm just the one to blame

The one pushing myself away, as I get casted astray

Why is it that I must blind those around me and sway?

Always thinking how I could get away and part with everyone else

Self destructive to the core and wishing to never again be found

I may never know but wish to why I was ever brought here

Because I need to stand strong and never chose to disappear

Can I really take much more?

Things won't be like before

And that's shakes my core

I cannot step outside, I have to retain this pride

Because nobody will ever know how I cried

Down a road to an endless glory

But only thing that does is make me worry

Who will hurt us? What will I need to do to protect us?

Will it be myself or something worse at last?

It's as if I'm earning a past that wasn't asked

But even then I must make it my task."

With each passing versing her melodic voice lowering, Dante slowly got up, he too inspired to muster his own strength, getting up from his mothers hug. He approached his dropped sword and picked it back up, before turning around to face Cecilia. His face turned expressionless as tears kept rolling down. Cecilia's face didn't change despite knowing as well what was about to happen. He dragged his body, each step slower and slower as the footprints left behind were constantly leaving a window from which he, only, could see and listen to the echo of all that Cecilia had given to not only him, but everyone around her. Especially them all. His cocky older brother and jolly older sister. His shy little sister...how did she manage to love them all as equally and discriminate not, like how their childish selves did, bickering about each tiny difference, despite knowing well that they would be inseparable at heart. Each step...a memory with them all. He kneeled right on top of Cecilia and placed his broken sword on top of her stomach. Cecilia kept on smiling throughout the process, still pressed against the wall, as she pressed herself against the blade, reaching Dante to hug him one last time.

"I...love you...", she softly spoke against his ear.

Final words. Nothing more. Nothing glamorous or a speak worthy of a legend. It was simply, the words of a mothers unyielding love. As the blade was pushed through her stomach, Dante remained emotionless, but firm, refusing to move an inch. The sunlight from above shone on top of Cecilia, taking away the light from her eyes, as the soft breeze blowing by took hold of her last breath, taking it with it's flow. There was a small pause in the world's movement. Still emotionless and frozen, her couldn't help but just remain there. Petrified like a statue. The ever growing flow of red from the cutting point drooled down further, surrounding Cecilia in a pull of blood. And it ever so slowly covered the handle of Dante's broken sword. And then how it all collapsed on him. That one subtle touch of the flowing blood was just enough to completely destroy him as at that moment a horrifying scream was echoed through the remains of the broken city. It felt as if Dante himself was stabbed through every point he could think of at once. Tears now flowing like a waterfall he hugged his mother the hardest he ever did, not caring about how he painted himself in the pool of ever flowing blood. It was the day that had been locked away and thrown into the abyss. It was the day he was reborn in blood. It was the birthday of the Son Of Cecilia.