You Will Be Reborn

[Simon]

Following the events of As Long as You Interest Me and Concept of the Hollow Man

Dante found his senses temporarily overwhelmed with the absolute light that replaced his spirit realm. As he relented his hand used to shield his eyes from the sudden shift into brightness, the devil hunter found himself in a familiar site: the expanse of the Nexus, before the Fountain. A cascade of four streams from a spout in the raised bowl fell away into the pool below it, in an endless display of classical fanciness. So, the fountain did change shapes...

Something seemed strange, however. The virulent haze that covered the Nexus, for one- no, it was just his fogged vision. Yet it, and the gradient of shadow creeping at the edges of his sight, struck more as supernatural for Dante. This was where he had been brought into the Omniverse, yes, but it did not feel like he was there. It bore the sensation of an out-of-body experience, except the half-blood's extremities were still very much attached to him.

"Guess I just have to wait a little longer, then." The voice surrounded him, but not physically- a resounding in Dante's head, as he had gotten accustomed to prior with the Hollow's nuisances. "It's not like I'm going anywhere. Eventually, we'll meet again. One way or another."

But next time, I'll be ready.


The Son of Sparda directed his focus forward, leaning forth as if he intended to break through some invisible barrier. A moment passed, and several more followed it, and only after that did Dante tear away the shroud cloaking his existence. Fully materializing, the mercenary lost his balance, stumbling forward several steps before he fell to his hands and knees at the base of the fountain.

Any evidence of the torture he had been put through in the past week had ceased to exist. Not a single trace of a wound remained, not a spot of blood outside of the man's body. The clothes coating his body in black and red were fresh and whole, as if they were made flawlessly moments before. Dragging himself to the stone lip of the pool, Dante saw that even his skin showed a brighter color than when had first come here. His silvery hair, too, showed only a slight trussing from its apparent groomed state due to his tripping over himself. Perhaps most importantly were the comforting heft of the guns at his belt and the blade at his back- a sensation the hunter had come to miss throughout his ordeal upon Teucer's island.

There existed a certain surreal nature to changing into a fresh set of clothes after going through a devastating experience. Something about looking so restored on the outside, as if whatever you had gone through had never even happened - and yet, you could remember that it did, however vividly. Dante had learned that it was important to remember the situations fate forced him through, however injuring; if such memories brought trauma, then to forget would be to deny they ever happened, that you changed as a result.

Dante plucked himself from the ground, stand up straight after having spent so long in physical anguish. He inhaled the light mist from the fountain's spray, exhaling a deep breath after a couple of seconds. As if he would have a hard time forgetting his own darkness, animated within him. Still, Dante had some more pressing things to be concerned over at the moment.

It looked more and more like the Pale Moors were going to be his home for the next few days.

[Jak Mar]

The Nexus...

The annoying hurt of death.

He'd felt it once too many... what for? Nothing? Pointless fights that only got him killed in the end.

The mercenary felt the sting of death in Dante's Abyss through a merciful slam of a back of a shovel by a red suited man, he couldn't blame the man however. He was upset at himself for what happened. He had gotten blood on his hands from Dante's Abyss. It was just another victim, but every victim tore Jak apart from the inside. It made him puke. Two victims he had claimed... Dynamite...

But he had payed for it in the Colosseum, by fighting his literal equal. That was a fantastic fight however it didn't end out as how he wanted. His dark side had pratically almost murdered the demon hunter but the demon hunter had countered his moves in a interesting way. One of them had to die, one of them went on. Why did Dante save him?

Because they were equals..

But his dark side could sense the frustrations inside of Jak.

"What's got you in such a ... bad mood, Jak?"


None of your business..

Easy, Jak.. Only trying to help... His dark side laughs.

One could see that Jak was almost talking to himself, however he wasn't.

Jak's Light Side had come to light and forced the dark from annoying him every so often.

“Dante… You there?” Jak had called out as he ran toward the devil hunter near the fountain of infinity.

Teucer’s adventure had taught him that weapons were important to survival. His guns being by his side again had been a final relief.

A breath taken to see a old friend, a old Ally he should of been able to make it toward Dante instead of Dying by the cyberdemon for a group..

that could give two shits less about him.

and that pissed him off.

[Simon]

The oddly familiar voice hailed Dante, and he looked aside with a hint of puzzlement that quickly faded. That same challenger from the Colosseum, the fellow challenger hailed for Teucer's sake- he appeared here, too. "Jak," the hunter spoke back simply, looking on with a neutral face an a furrowed brow.

Could the eco warrior really provide a trustworthy ally? Perhaps. Following their duel, Jak seemed to acquire a certain fondness or respect for Dante, the exact nature of it being difficult to glean from their fleeting moments of interaction beyond combat. Perhaps not, however. Was Dante merely recognized as an able fighter capable of defeating the Dynamite Kid, or might there be some other element that proved noteworthy?

No, it could not have been as simple as that. The former competitor recalled their fight, and how he so narrowly braved the assault of a Jak charged with that dark aura. Something feral, something uncontrollable, something... undesired. It didn't take a master detective to draw the parallels between the devil hunter and the eco warrior. Both held a great and dangerous power- and a dark side, a criminal soul ready to abuse it.

"What happened with you?" Jak inquired, rousing Dante once more from his thoughts. "...did you die, too?" There followed a moment of silence, and the green-haired mercenary wondered if he had asked the wrong question.

Dante merely nodded his head in response, after those seconds passed. "To the same one I lost to in the tournament."

"Oh." It was all Jak could manage to say, in that moment. He attempted to salvage it, "Sorry we couldn't get together. We should've gotten to fight as a team."

"It's not a problem."

Another bout of nothingness followed, the two mercenaries on awkward terms now that they were first truly meeting each other outside of a conflict. Dante looked off into the distance, trying to spy where the gate to the Pale Moors was. "So - what'll you be up to now?"

[Jak Mar]

Jak’s eyes, a sky blue looked at Dante’s face. His face showed no emotions at the time and blinked. The devil hunter had been here too so he wondered, the weakness of fighting for a team who saw him as a “criminal” in Nippur took a long time to understand.

He had been going by himself the whole time and should of been there for the devil hunter.


“So have you improved since that fight for Teucer?”
Jak had his own rival but at least it had faded down. “So .. you have a rival too? My rivality with Victor Wolfe died slowly, but it’s mostly because of Daxter. He’s...not here with me currently so I’ve been traveling on my own terms.”


Jak caught Dante looking at the Pale Moons gate and crossed his arms “My plans… were to find Daxter.. but he’s off on his own adventures… and I..’ve never gone to the Pale Moons before since my time here.”


Dante was quiet and then frowned “I have. Have you improved yourself Jak?


Jak stopped and nodded “I have to, I am… not so angry anymore...I feel like a weight got lifted off my shoulders”

The eco warrior nodded “It’s a little more complicated than that.”

Jak turned “Listen...that fight in the Colosseum didn’t mean much but I’m sorry that Dark Jak almost ripped you into shreds. I know he’s dangerous.

[Simon]

Sorry? For a power he scarcely had control over? "Don't worry about it," Dante blew off Jak's profuse apology over their past battle, "I'd know a thing or two about inner demons."

"Really?" The eco warrior replied, with a hint of surprise. "You don't mean- you have something evil within you, too?" Had the Son of Sparda spoken too much? He didn't really think so- if Jak and him were going to get along at any point in the future, it might as well be best to get all of the secret business out of the way first. It would lend to a few less misunderstandings later, surely.

Dante arched his spine, bringing his hands up behind his head to stretch the whole of his upper body. "Something like that, I guess-..." The devil hunter replied, his voice strained a bit by his effort. With a satisfying pop, he exhaled a sigh of relief and relented, slumping back down straight. "Probably not the same as yours, but- y'know."

"Let me see it."

"Hm?"

"Your dark powers, whatever they are - I want a look," the elfin mercenary insisted, with a strange level of assertion. "Even if it's just a moment, I want to see the extend of your power." Both mercenaries were caught staring at the other for a time, Jak with some awkwardness and Dante with a nigh-dumbfounded look.

Finally, the eco warrior simply shook his head, "No, nevermind, I shouldn't have asked-"

"Sure."

"What?"

A bolt of red lightning struck down decisively on Dante, as if the heavens passed some great judgement upon him. In that instant, a wicked light of hell consumed the mercenary's form, and as soon as it appeared it too disappeared. Caught off-guard, Jak recoiled at the sight, the image of of the devil hunter now mutated into a ferocious demon quickly consuming his attention. Dante held his body arched back and his clawed chitinous arms out aside, as if he meant to roar to the skies in fury or anguish. The only sound that escaped his fanged maw, however, were harsh breathy gasps choked with a strange echoing, as if the very air were his voice.

Before the eco warrior could fully process this transformation, the twisted shape of Dante was blasted away in another flash of that bloody dark-light. That same man was once again left standing there, shaking off his exertion like a bad feeling in his bones. "Sorry," Dante spoke up, practically indifferent to what just occurred, "It doesn't usually take that much effort. Omniphysics, or whatever you call it. So, what do you think?"

[Jak Mar]

Jak literally found himself staring at Dante’s full on transformation. “So this is your dark form?” The long eared hero found himself crossing his arms a bit more than usual. He lifted a eyebrow and nodded in approval.


“I’m impressed.”


The mercenary was interested and that was saying something. Not much seemed to impress the eco warrior but it was the first time he had seen Dante’s dark side come to life in front of his eyes.


Jak stood in front of Dante, his blue eyes staring right at the other mercenary.


“If we are showcasing powers, then I ought to show you my other side, one i had just gotten.”


It had taken Jak sometime to get this but it had calmed him to a point where he wasn’t so shaken up.


He had seen things he didn’t want to see so he had been a little darker than usual.


The devil hunter just stared at Jak, a strange voice coming out of the man “Wait, you.. have another side?”


“Yeah.”


Jak stared at Dante and his body turned translucent blue, as he lifted into the air and wings grew out of the man’s back. His eyes were pure blue to match and the angel like form crossed his arms.


The angel like form had spoken no words however..


It was up to Dante to decipher how he wanted.


The light form of Jak was lifted up to the air as the quietness could cut like a knife in between the awkwardness.


If only Daxter was here to break the silence...

[Simon]

"Well," Dante mustered finally, tossing his hands aside in a gesture of surrender, "There you have it." Truth be told, the half-devil wasn't sure what to make of the act, this so-called 'light form' that Jak possessed. When the light-shrouded eco warrior offered no response to the comment, Dante elaborated, "I think I'm satisfied."

It certainly looked quite holy, but in the world Dante came from, there was an unfortunate lack of distinction between devils and angels. It was simply by the truth of the matter that there was not a single pure angel that existed outside of heaven- the only 'angels' that Dante could ever claim to have fought were either fallen ones or simply demons in disguise. But of course, Jak was from another world entirely, where such a thing could be starkly different; even regardless, it didn't actually seem like Jak's powers were actually demonic in nature, simply energy aligned in dark (and in this case, also light) states.

As the angelic figure returned to normal, meanwhile, the devil hunter pulled out his Dataverse Device (following a moment of him patting down his clothes to find it) and began to click away on the tool, searching for something. Curious, Jak approached Dante again. "Er, I don't suppose you have one of these?" The Son of Sparda asked, a bit awkwardly, to the mercenary opposite him.

It took Jak a moment to figure out what Dante was on about, but he took an educated guess, "A Dataverse Device? I have one of those." He was turning to pull the item from his belt when he stopped midway, caught up in a thought. "You want to keep in touch with me?"

"Why not? You seem like you know your stuff," Dante passively insisted. "I think I'm gonna be busy for a while, but sooner or later, I'm gonna set up my shop- a business to call my own. And when I get that done, maybe I'll send an invitation your way."

Jak listened to the fellow mercenary's words as he registered Dante's device number, and then shard his own. There were quite a few options to weigh, and while Dante seemed like an individual worth trusting, only time would tell if they were meant to work together. "What kind of business?" The eco warrior asked, preemptively testing the waters. He only got a single, chest-heaving chuckle at that, as Dante finished the exchange and pocketed his device.

"Devil hunting, of course," the red-coat replied matter-of-factly, starting to walk towards the Pale Moors.

[Jak Mar]

Jak’s angelic form disappeared from view as he watched Dante typing on a dataverse device as he pulled out a device of his own.

The Son of Sparda turned and started to come up with a bit of chat asking him his dataverse information and phone number.
Jak was actually surprised Dante wanted to keep in touch with him but he didn’t mind at all. Maybe Daxter could join him next time and they’d have a blast.

As both mercenaries typed their numbers, Jak stopped and asked Dante what he meant to set up shop in.

He just chuckled in response and turned toward the Pale moons gate.

Jak stopped him before Dante got any further “Wait, I want to come with you. I’ve never .. been to the Pale Moons and figured why the hell not?”

[Simon]

"Seriously?" Dante asked as he turned headlong to view Jak, his tone betraying the incredulous feeling he spared towards the mercenary's insistence. "It's not gonna be some sort of vacation-"

"I know that," the eco warrior retorted, taking a step forward. "It's not like I'm weak- I just showed you my power, for crying out loud?"

The red-coat shook his head, the mop of pearl hair on his head swishing slightly. "That's not what I said. I've got my own reasons for going to the Moors, and they're all strictly business. And I have a feeling it'll take quite a while before I can say I'm finished," the devil hunter explained somewhat firmly. "You said you had someone you were looking for. All I'm saying is, are you prepared to leave them for that long?"

Jak leaned back a bit, as if conceding that Dante had a good point. He turned over the question in his head, his thoughts turning to Daxter. "I think..." he trailed off absently, then locked eyes with the devil hunter again and finished the sentence, "I think Daxter can handle himself. I know him pretty well."

A strict moment passed before Dante then shrugged, seeming to dispel all that firmness he established. "If you're sure," he said dismissively, then spun back around to start hiking towards the Pale Moors.

"Wait," the elfin fighter hailed again. The red-coat mercenary stopped short, not even turning around but acknowledging Jak all the same. But this time, he bore a suggestion:

"Wouldn't it be faster if we had a car?"

Dante looked over his shoulder, raising an eyebrow. "You got something in mind?"


Ten minutes later, Jak and Dante were on the proverbial road in a jalopy of the eco warrior's design. Like a dune buggy but more powerful in appearance, the cab had been stripped down to the frame to allow more freedom of movement within the vehicle. As Jak pushed the roaring vehicle as fast as the Omniverse would allow it, while the devil hunter simply held onto a bar in the side seat, wondering to himself if this kind of vehicle was the norm where the foreign mercenary came from.