Work Text
Things had gone to hell in Red Grave City. At least, that’s what you’d heard. You’d seen photos of that demonic tree, but that was it. You’d never been to the city before and by all logic, you should’ve continued avoiding it. But demon hunters aren’t always the most logical bunch. Besides, you had a really good reason to go. Well, it sounded good at the time.So here you were, wandering the city way too early in the morning, looking for the place Nico told you to meet her and her cohorts at. Unfortunately, you were a little lost and had a sneaking suspicion it was because the city’s geography had changed in such a way that made maps useless. She said to call her if you found a phone, but how was she even going to get through the city anyway? The roads were busted thanks to those things sprouting out of it. It wasn’t like she could just tunnel beneath them in her van.You turned a corner and found yourself in a large open area that had probably been a park at some point. You walked forward cautiously. An area with no cover wasn’t exactly ideal. Your caution was warranted as suddenly several demons began to rise out of the ground. Was it a trap or just bad timing?Either way, you knew what you had to do. You were holding your battleaxe in a fighting stance before they’d even fully materialized. The next minute was a whirlwind of blood and demonic screeching. One dead, then three, then six. You’d cut a pyrobat in half, when suddenly you were violently knocked over by a charging hell antenora. You fell to the ground and looked up to see it raising its hatchet, clearly about to bring it down into your skull. You quickly rolled away just as it swung. Before you could retaliate, a lightning bolt shot down from the sky and hit the beast, stunning it. You might have considered this divine intervention, if not for the voice you heard next.“Mingle in howling pains, in furrows by thy lightnings rent.” A man appeared that you’d never seen before. He was wearing a long black coat that was tied by strings in the front, revealing a chest covered in tattoos that reached out to his arms. His pants were black too and he appeared to be wearing... sandals? Who wears sandals to fight demons? Was this guy even a demon hunter? He pushed his dark hair out of his face and walked towards the antenora. In his right hand was a cane. Was he injured? A survivor, maybe?You wanted to warn him, to tell him to leave before he got hurt. He didn’t even have a weapon to defend himself with. But you didn’t do anything. You were frozen. You couldn’t believe... how attractive this guy was. You were a bit starstruck. Not to mention confused. What was a guy this good looking doing in apocalypse city?You couldn’t say a word as the man approached the demon. “This is eternal death, and this the torment long foretold,” he said and plunged his cane into the creature’s chest, killing it instantly. As it disintegrated, the man turned to look at you. Your breath caught in your throat. His eyes were beautiful. Before you could get more caught up in the moment, a large bird flew by your head. “What, the damsel in distress isn’t even going to say thank you?” it said as it landed on the man’s outstretched arm. That sure shook you out of it. The bird looked positively demonic, you’d never seen anything like it.“Wha- did you just talk?” What was this thing?“Oh, so she speaks. Some gratitude would be nice, we just saved your ass!”“Now, now,” the man said. “She may still be in shock.”Finally, the words the bird had said registered and you frowned. “I didn’t need saving! I was just about to- did you drop a lightning bolt on it? How did you do that?”“I could drop one on you, if you wanna see it again,” the bird shot back, flying off the man’s arm to circle overhead.“No thanks, birdbrain. Who the hell even are you?” you asked indignantly.The man produced a book from seemingly nowhere and opened it. “My name is Wonderful; inquire not after it, seeing it is a secret,” he said with a slight smile.“Huh?”He smirked and closed the book. “I’m kidding. You may call me V.”“V? Like, just the letter, V?” In your time as a hunter, you’d certainly heard weirder names, but very few of them were so... short.“Indeed. And you are?”You hesitantly introduced yourself, then asked, “What about your, uh... pet? What’s his name?”“Griffon,” the bird said as he flew down to eye level. “And if you are who you say you are, then we’ve got some damn perfect timing.”“How so?”“You know a boy named Nero, yes?” V said.“Yeah, I’ve met him a couple times. Are you looking for him?”He nodded. “I assume you are as well.”“I was more hoping to find my friend Nico. She’s the one who asked me to come to Red Grave and help out.”“Ah, the engineer Nero spoke of. He told me she’d invited you.”“Oh, then... you’re the client! So I guess we’re sort of looking for the same people.”“Looks that way.”“Alright, enough chit-chat!” Griffon interrupted. “We gotta get a move on! You comin’ with us or not, Miss axe murderer?”You sighed. “I’d like to tag along, if that’s okay. I’m sort of... lost.” Even if you had known the way, you likely would’ve stuck around all the same. You still couldn’t get over just how attractive V was and you honestly wanted to see more of him. Besides his looks, he was just plain interesting. His mysterious appearance and that book had made you quite curious.“Hmm. The lost travellers dream under the hill...” V muttered. He looked up at Griffon. “Go scout ahead.”“On it!” the bird responded and flew off above the destroyed city.“I suppose I’ll take the lead,” he said, walking away. You followed after him, still a bit confused. He didn’t seem to need his cane to get around, as he never leaned on it. Was the cane really his weapon? Sure, it did a good job of stabbing, but could he really defend himself with only that?You walked through the streets for a while, mostly keeping quiet. Every now and then, Griffon would check in or give some directions. As you made your way around the bodies and debris, you couldn’t help but feel a bit depressed about the state the city was in.“I wish I’d visited Red Grave before this all went down,” you said, looking at a half demolished library.“Is that so?” V replied, taking a glance back at you.“Yeah, I mean, the architecture here is beautiful. The only reason I didn’t come sooner was all the people.”“The people?”“I, uh, I’m not so great with crowds,” you admitted sheepishly.“Though you don’t seem too bothered by hordes of demons,” he teased.“Well, I can kill hordes of demons. Can’t exactly thin out a crowd of people the same way.”V laughed. It sounded lovely. Why did he have to have such a nice voice too? “I see your point. Regardless, why agree to come here now? Surely you’re not fighting out of the goodness of your heart.”“Not so much... but I’m not getting paid either. I owe Nico.”“It must be quite a sum, considering the circumstances.”“Ah, yeah, it is. My axe was destroyed in a fight and I needed a replacement. I asked Nico to make me an axe like my old one, but instead she made this.” You lifted up your axe to show him. “It’s made of a really fancy metal, the best for demon slaying, she said. I told her I couldn’t afford it and she said she’d let me pay back the extra cost over time. If I do this job, she promised to forgive my remaining debt. Wish I’d gotten that in writing though. I’m not sure if I’ll be much help.”V was quick to reassure you. “In this situation, your weapon will prove useful, no doubt. We will need all the help we can get. The price may have been worth it.” You smiled. It wasn’t often that you heard some positive words from a stranger.“If she can actually use it,” Griffon said, reappearing from around a corner. “Her track record isn’t great so far.”Your smile faded instantly. “Can it, you blue turkey,” you snapped back.“Oooo, never heard that one before.” He flew closer to his master. “Hey V, I saw a real big demon wrecking a church, think we should check it out?”V smiled. “Yes. It would seem Nero has already gotten started. Lead the way.”Griffon lead you both through a series of alleyways. Before you could get very far, a group of demons rose out of the ground. Sighing, you gripped your axe again and readied for a fight. You were about to get started, when you saw V hold his cane out. His tattoos began to shift and turn into mist, forming a black panther that leapt forward and growled at the appearing enemies. Your eyes widened. How the hell did he do that? You didn’t have a chance to ask as suddenly a fresh growth of spiked roots burst up from the ground between you and V. Within seconds, he was out of sight behind an eight foot high wall of demon plant.Groaning in irritation, you quickly dispatched all the demons on your side of the roots. When the area was clear, you called out loudly, “V? You okay?”“I’m alright,” he answered, sounding a bit out of breath. “It seems the Qliphoth will not give up until it consumes everything.”“Qliphoth? Is that the tree?”“Yes. I’m afraid I must keep moving forward without you. Time is of the essence.”He was ditching you already? “What? I’ve got an axe, let me just cut through this thing.”“No dice, kid,” you heard Griffon say. “The roots have to be destroyed at the source. Look for the part that glows red. Shouldn’t be that hard. You’re not blind, right?”You let out a noise of frustration. “Great.”“Don’t worry,” V said. “We will meet again in time. For now, consider it a chance to enjoy the architecture.”You raised an eyebrow. “Very funny. See you later, I guess.” So much for spending time with the hottest guy you’d met in years. You were back to working alone, as usual.As you walked away, you heard Griffon say, “I gotta tell you V, that was the worst attempt at flirting I’ve ever seen.”You paused for a moment, only to hear V say, “Be silent,” followed by retreating footsteps.He was... flirting? Your face felt a bit warm at the thought. Maybe it was because you couldn’t see his face, but Griffon was right, he hadn’t done a great job of it. Well, why would he need to know how to flirt anyway, looking like that? He could probably just wink at a girl and she’d be all over him. That definitely applied to you. You shook your head. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about that. You had to find the source of the roots and meet up with Nico.It only took a few minutes before you found the source and destroyed it, but it still meant you were a few minutes behind everyone else. Eventually, you reached a point where you could see a ruined church and beside it were two figures that had to be Nero and V. Griffon was flying around overhead and there was that panther again. You realized in the commotion of getting split up, you’d never asked about it. That was going on your to-do list.A squeal of rubber against pavement interrupted your train of thought, as you turned to see the Devil May Cry van coming towards you with Nico in the driver’s seat. You couldn’t believe she’d actually managed to get into the city with that thing, let alone drive through it. You stepped out of the way before she drove into you and quickly jumped up to grab onto the back of the van as she passed by. You’d been walking for a few hours anyway, no shame in taking a short ride.You regretted it when you were nearly thrown off as the van skidded to a stop and hit a car while doing so. After catching your breath, you walked around to the driver’s side of the van where V and Nero stood. Nico noticed you right away. She was holding some weird looking horn in her hand.“Hey there, Missy!” she said cheerfully. “I didn’t see you jump on. Glad to see you finally made it.”“Yeah... I got lost, my bad.” You surveyed the area. The panther was nowhere to be seen, much to your disappointment. Nero had barely acknowledged you, and was more occupied with staring up at the tree in the distance. V gave you a smirk and nothing else.“Lucky we were there to help you out,” Griffon boasted. “Still waiting on that thank you.”“I’ll thank you when you can shut up long enough to hear someone else speak,” you fired back.“Alright, we have enough bickering with me and Nico, don’t you start too,” Nero said. “Everyone’s been introduced, now let’s go.” He walked towards the van door. You and V followed behind.As soon as everyone was inside, Nico drove off in her usual style. This was gonna be a bumpy ride. “So what’s the plan?” you asked after sitting down.“We’re gonna tear up some roots and then see if there’s still a Dante left to save,” Nero answered from the front seat. “After that, kill the bastard that took my arm and rip down his damn tree.”Seemed simple enough. You’d cut down a tree or two in your time, this wouldn’t be a problem. “Sounds good,” you said. “Nice and straightforward.” You looked across from where you sat towards V, who was reading from his book. He glanced up and caught your eye.He smirked and said, “As long as you don’t lose your way.” He winked at you and you were half certain your heart skipped a beat.Yeah. This was definitely gonna be a bumpy ride.