You Know Me Through The Years

Soul Searching

He felt like he had been kicked out of some dive bar for getting into a fight over something stupid. He was pretty sure he was not in some dark lit dive bar or even in reality when he opened his eyes. The smell of smoke and the sound of a child's cries carried through the air like a bell.

Sitting up, Dante looked around, and to his surprise, he was back at the house in Red Grave. It was still smoldering from the fire that had claimed his mother's life. Looking to his left, he could see the very same closet his mother hid him in all those years ago. He shook his head, knowing just who was in that closet and exactly whose cries he was hearing. He brought his knee up and rested his arm on it for a moment.

Was this some sort of strange vision quest to deal with his past?

It could not be, but he decided to go with the flow. It could totally be Marcaria inside his head again, but maybe it was just him. He was the one who let the demon inside take over. Or was he? He could not really remember how it happened and who was really in control, but he knew he needed to get back in control.

Sighing, he stood up and made his way to the closet where he knew his eight year old self was hiding. Dante knew exactly what his child self was going through. He walked up to the closed doors and could hear shuffling as he knew his child self was slightly panicked. The fear of being attacked by demons was very strong then. Especially when he had known very little about them at that point in his life. He was a child. He slowly opened the doors to see himself as a child curled up in the corner, holding on to Rebellion as if it were a lifeline. The sword hummed.

So it was still in there, just in the form of a memory.

"Hey, you okay?" A stupid question to ask, because no, his kid self was definitely not okay. He should have known that. Seeing himself curled up in fear like that reminded him of when Cade had all those nightmares at that age. He could see the resemblance and his fatherly instincts kicked in. He softened his voice and knelt down to the kid's level. "Hey, it's okay. The ugly, nasty demons are gone." Only because they thought he was dead.

The tears in the younger Dante's eyes had called the older one back to the very raw feeling of being alone. Dante, the older one, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He realized, looking at himself in this state, that his real fear had been abandonment.

"Hey, it's gonna be okay." He held out his hand to the child he once was. "Come on out of there." With a lot of hesitancy in his eyes, the child slowly put his hand in Dante's. What surprised him the most was that the kid quickly leapt up and grabbed him around the neck into a hug. It was strange for him to be embraced by his younger self. "Hey, hey... it's alright. I'm right here." He slowly put his arms around the child he was and held him close. He would have given anything for that to have actually happened at that time. A familiar face and someone physically able to wash that trauma away with a loving embrace.

Rebellion had been cast aside, but hummed as it knew what was going on. Dante gave the sword a glance as it was nice to actually see it again in its original form. It was still the same comforting presence it had been all his life.

"I'm all alone." His child self said with a hiccup. "Vergil's gone. Mom's gone. My dad..." Dante rubbed his hand up and down the kids back as he attempted to comfort him. Years of experience being a father had taught him that. 

"Shhhhh... I know, I remember." He was very aware that he was holding on to himself as a child, but the emotions were the same. "Hey, look at me." The child he was pulled away and looked at him in the eyes. "I know it's rough, and it's going to be hard for most of your life, but you'll be okay." He put his hands on the boy's shoulders. "You remember Roe?" The kid nodded. "Well, she is going to come back into your life, and you two will have three amazing kids together. You'll be surrounded by people you love, and you'll run into Vergil again. It won't be easy, but you won't be alone." Dante gave him a small smile as he assured himself that this was all a memory.