Devil in My Mind

White Raven

At Devil May Cry, Slade morphs inside and experiences an internal agony that consumes every appendage of his body. Beautiful, obsidian magic swirls out of him, the magic he worked so hard to cultivate, so he could get to the Underworld, so he could get to the Devil Sword.

"NO!" he bellows, "not again, not AGAIN!"

He conjures his trophy, his prized weapon, one last time before it disintegrates, fading out of his hands just like the time before.

Fail.

"GRAH! Not the sword, NOT THE SWORD! I can't believe this! I killed him, he's dead, I know he's dead! UGH!"

He taps into a vision of Raven meditating in her room.

"Did Raven revive the Devil Hunter? ARG, I am going to STRANGLE that girl!"

He uses the magical knowledge and knowhow he's accumulated over the last few years to send a ghostly, amorphous spirit into the atmosphere.

Back at the tower.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." A mirrored version of the demonic valley manifests in Raven's mind. But instead of a fear-inducing terrain, the hills are covered with thriving wildflowers.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." The new valley is protected by a beautiful twilight sky, clean and clear, calming and vast. There are no carnivorous shrieks, only the subtle chirps of birds and insects.

She's not used to visiting these sorts of places in her mind. She can recall the monks teaching her how to connect with her chakra, how to hone the burden of being a portal to her benefit.

"Azarath Metrion Zinthos." Confidently, she begins to explore until... "Ugh!"

When will the stomach pain end? It's stifling her concentration. She holds her torso.

"Okay, I need help with this," she acknowledges, then gets up and retrieves her meditation mirror. As she sits back down, repositioning herself, she keeps her eyes on her reflection.

This gorgeous valley is definitely where she'd rather be. So, she enters the mirror as a raven spirit, her body reforming inside her own psyche, or at least, somewhere quite magical.

As she stands among the wildflowers, a merciful wind flows all around her, daintily lifting her hair and cooling her skin. Two ravens soar past her enticingly.

In spite of her broken heart, she shimmers radiantly, turning back into White Raven. Her indigo hair, now white, finding that same pretty bounce it did when she shared a pizza with her favorite person. Her chakra pulsates brilliant ultramarine once more, but this time, it doesn't hurt.

"What a safe place."

Captivated, she begins journeying uphill, taking time to soak it all in. When she reaches the top, she spots... "Dante!"

With a stumble, she lands, tripping over herself in a rush.

As she last saw him, he lies on his back in an unresponsive state, only now, he's cushioned within tall, golden grass. The two ravens, nestling him. He's emitting some kind of etherial fire from his injury. Though, up close, his chest is still looking rather... zombie apocalypse. Still, it's clear he's been stabilized. No more smoke, the color's returned to his face.

"What did my magic do? Is this real?" she whispers shakily, sitting on her knees behind the crown of his head. She purposefully puts her hands on his shoulders, then his pulsing neck. Overwhelmed, she whimpers like a small child.

"You're healing yourself!"

She maneuvers beside him. Gently she lifts his head just enough to tuck her arm under his neck so she can hold him. With her other arm carefully wrapped around his head, she nestles with him too.

"I'm so relieved!" she sobs, kissing his forehead. "I'm so relieved, I'm so relieved! I'm so relieved you're still alive!"

Glow, a wash of light!

She's back in her room, still clothed in white.

The amorphous aura that Slade sent, catapults straight for her! She opens her eyes to find it inches from her face. It wrinkles reality, a distorted, transparent wave in the form of Slade's silhouette. Violated, she scrambles to her feet as his voice berates.

"You've foiled YEARS of concocting and studying, efforts you can only dream of, that I've made, so I could have that Devil Sword! You just had to get involved, had to make friends with my victim, all so you could play pretend with a garish excuse for a fighter! I know what your magic can really do. Futile inner child! I see right through you! Are you hiding him in your chakra again, Little Raven? Lemme in, so I can snap his neck!"

"NO, SLADE, NO!" Raven screams, blocking the phantom with a white blast of magic from her palms. Slade's spirit repels, fractioning the same blue light saturating Raven's chakra. Her eyes go black. Inky tears streak down her face.

"Don't you dare. You think my powers don't work? Watch me, I'll kill you myself."

Back in the city, Slade can feel his body beginning to burn. He may have clung onto enough of Trigon's power to corrupt the Devil Sword, but he's unprepared to receive a taste of his own medicine from the one who was born Trigonic.

Sizzle. Black smoke exudes from his limbs, the crown of his skull blazes onyx underneath his helmet. He grabs his head and starts shrieking. If he stays with Raven any longer he'll surely combust! Genuinely out of his depth, he calls his spirit back.