DmC Illia's Chronicles

Mission 15: Aftermath

They drove for a good while in Axel's car that they both claimed as their own. The mildly discussed everything that took place at the factory. It was still a mystery why Axel sought death instead of reconciliation with his long lost brother. Yet, Heine knew that Axel was an overall anomaly to him even before their separation, preferring to walk his own way. They traveled to a town called Red Grave, following the address given to her, so they might rendezvous with Vergil and the others. Illia and Heine wandered until they saw the gate of an old manor home, which read 'Paradise.'

"This must be the place," Illia said, giving the timeworn gate a good once over,

"This place still seems so tied to Limbo, even though it has flooded into reality," Heine said in a stern tone.

"Yeah, it's strange that it still feels connected." She said, carefully pushing the gate open, gritting her teeth as it loudly creaked open: they proceed inside the old run-down ruin of what once looked like a great home.

Heine took the lead as they walked with caution through the decaying halls. Illia glanced through all the rooms but could not see Vergil anywhere,

"Where is he?" she said with a deep sigh as they stopped in a large room that once might have resembled a library,

"We'll find him. He probably just hasn't arrived yet." Heine said, trying his best to reassure her; she slopped against a wall,

crossing her arms and placing them to her chest as she pouted. They sat in silence for a while as Heine stared at a picture. That was enormous enough to stretch from the floor to the ceiling.

"I wonder what he was like...." he trailed off,

"Who, Sparda?" she walked over to his side,

"Yes... to be so hated by Mundus..." he trailed off again.

"You never asked him?" tilting her head to the side, trying to observe the picture a bit more in dept.

"No, when I served Mundus... I never questioned him." looking at Illia, whose hand was on her chin as she stared at the picture. Another moment of silence passed as they looked upon the image,

"By the way..." Illia paused to make sure she had Heine's attention; he slowly turned his head to her.

"Yes?" he said as he cocked a brow,

"What's it like to have your memories back?" she asked as his brow frowned a bit.

"Not sure." He pauses,

"On one hand, I am a bit relieved to have remembered the woman who had acted like my mother, with all of the decent memories of my childhood. But on the other, it makes me realize, I am fated to live with knowing that no matter what I did, Mundus still ruined everything." He said in a monotone as he looked down at the tile that seemed to have been ripped up by time. Illia place a firm hand upon his shoulder,

"What happened wasn't your fault, ya know? Mundus was a bastard," she said, giving his shoulder a light squeeze.

"I know, but I will always have to live with the mistake of always serving him blindly..." he said as he fell into silence; she gave a long look of concern. She had wished to say something, but the words had escaped her.

The sun was beginning to fall into the sky, turning the world tonight, and Vergil still hadn't made an appearance. They roamed yet again until they reach an enormous, dilapidated garden. Which looked as though nature was trying to reclaim the structures that resided within it,

"Whoa..." Illia said in a state of shock at the beauty of the sight before them, letting off a pleasing smile.

"Have you ever seen so many flowers, Heine?" she asked as she spun around like a child at play.

He chuckled at her as he watched her take in their scent. He walked ahead, noticing a trail of blood; he drew his blade following the path to what seemed to be a marble tome stone, letting out a loud gasp as he noticed whom the person who lay bleeding upon the statue was: Vergil. He rushed over, retracting his blade as he kneeled to see the seriousness of his wounds.

"Illia!" he shouted for her to come over,

"What is-" the words become caught in her throat as she stared at the man Heine held in his arms.

"Vergil!" she bellowed in disbelief as she dashed over to them, sliding to her knees once close enough: she examined him over and pulled his jacket open to see a gaping hole in his chest, which was where blood was oozing out.

"Why isn't his body healing itself?!" she shouted as she placed her hand on his wound, trying to apply pressure, as she concentrated her powers on her hands. They began to become warm and glow that familiar green color as her energy gathered to the palms of her hands. The strain from the day was taking its toll on her, and her nose began to run; blood ran down her lips.

"Take it easy!" Heine cautioned her, placing a hand on her shoulder,

"I got it!" She pleaded, needing to calm her mind to get her spell to work.

She released the energy over his wound, which slowly began to mend itself shut; she let out a small sigh as she took her jacket off to use as a makeshift towel.

"He has lost a lot of blood..." Heine said as he kept his hand on Vergil's chest to make sure the wound didn't reopen,

"We have to take him to Rodin's!" she said as she rose to her feet; Heine carefully lifted Vergil, holding him by his arm.

"Go, bring the car around; I'll keep an eye on him," Heine said in a reassured tone.

Illia ran as quickly as humanly possible to their parked car at the front of the building. It took at least half an hour to arrive at Rodin's bar; once they got there, they wasted no time rushing Vergil inside; Rodin provided them with a room right above his bar for Vergil to recuperate.