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"So, what do we do for eight hours?”
Before getting a chance to even think, a little girl stood in the way, grinning at the two of them. Mary shook her head in disbelief while her so-called ‘partner’ awkwardly laughed at what was about to come.
“I heard what Grandpa said, he has to be left alone for eight hours so he can do his magic. So…does that mean we have time to play?”
Dante chuckled, “Why not, as long as there's free pizza we’re down,”
“Great!” Before the ex-commander could object, Matilda took both their hands and dragged them to one of the many rooms down the hall. “I hope you like singing, because karaoke is first on our agenda!”
“Great…”
The pink haired girl opened a door that seemed to be her bedroom. It was quite spacious, stuffed animals and boxes of toys piling up in every corner, a large bed with canopy curtains draping over it, and conveniently a large disco and karaoke machine right in the middle of the room. Colorful dots spun around the walls while faint music played out of the speaker, next to the table with cups of soda and half eaten desserts.
“I didn’t know we’d be having guests over, so I hope you don’t mind the mess, just watch your step like-”
The half-demon stumbled across the floor, crashing into blocks of wood that once was a castle. Dante groaned, rubbing the side of his torso, “Ow…that's gonna hurt tomorrow morning.”
“Sounds like someone’s getting old,”
“Oh shut it.”
As the two began to take their seats on the couch, Matilda turned on two microphones, handing one to Dante. The high pitched sound stopped ringing as soon as she stepped away towards the widescreenTV.
“Okay! We need to pick a song to start, I was thinking of some classic pop songs, or maybe Disney themes! What about something from the 60s, you look like someone who would listen to that Mister-”
“Whoa whoa, I ain’t that old am I?”
He looked taken aback, a little disappointed at the assumption that he may look nearly 60 years old. The man quietly murmured under his breath something along the lines of, “Just because I have white hair doesn’t mean I’m a grandpa…”
“Geez, just pick something already,” Mary sighed as she took the remote and put an OST from a random movie she saw on the screen.
Suddenly, soft piano noises silenced the talking and the three looked up.
“Oh my gosh I love this song! You have to sing with me,” the girl squealed while pulling Dante up to the front of the screen.
Pinching the bridge of his nose, he grumbled about how this was not how wanted to spend his evening. Mary on the other hand seemed silently amused by the distress overcoming him and the possible embarrassment he was feeling.
As soon as the chorus began, a cute, chirpy voice sang, “The snow glows white on the mountain tonight, not a footprint, to be seen…”
Right after, a heavy, gruff voice echoed through the microphone, “A kingdom of isolation, and it looks like… I’m the queen?”
It was seemingly getting almost impossible not to laugh at the situation, and for Mary, all she could do was watch and try not to let a smile out through her lips. The sight of a 19 year old man singing with a girl not older than 8 years old was somewhat adorable to her.
Harmonizing, the two projected their hearts out. Dante, who definitely did not have a talent for the vocal arts, was starting to enjoy this just as much as the little girl, who looked like she was having the time of her life.
“Let it gooooo!”
“Let it gooooo!”
“Can’t hold it back anymooooore!”
“Let it gooooo!”
“Let it go-oooo!”
“Turn away and slam the door!”
With the final end of the song, they both finished it off with a nice, “The cold never bothered me anyway…”
Slow, spaced out claps came from the woman with a look of laughter on her face, trying to keep it in but failing miserably. “That was…really- good! I’m sorry-”
Dante was shocked at the sight of someone who had been trying to kill him not too long ago, showing signs of joy and genuine happiness, even for a brief moment. Until that point he thought she was almost a robot, working as a dog of the military. No matter what joke, pick-up line, or story could break her cold exterior. Even so, the sound of her giggle made him forget all the doubts he once had. What’s more interesting was the strange sensation under his heart, but he ultimately decided against going further into that rabbit hole.
“Hey, Miss, would you like to sing the next song?”
The man grinned, “Why yes Lady, would you like to sing the next song? I insist,”
“Hell no, are you crazy?”
“C’mon, it looked like you were enjoying our performance just now, why don’t you do us a favour and give us one back?”
“Yeah, and I’ll join you on this one too!”
Mary looked at Dante and was met with arrogance, and looked at Matilda whose eyes glimmered in ‘please?’ all around. She groggily stood up from the couch and snatched the microphone from his hand. “Fine, not picking a song though.”
He smirked and took a seat, getting comfortable. “Oh don’t worry, I’m not picky.”
The speaker boomed with a crunchy guitar solo, heavy drums beating to a particular rhythm. The girl was jumping around, trying to hype up Mary, who was seemingly standing awkwardly in front of the screen. She had never really sung before, especially not in front of anybody. However, she didn’t want to embarrass herself in front of Dante for some reason she couldn’t pin point, so trying her best, a delayed voice repeated after the words on the screen.
“H-he was a boy, she was a girl…”
“Can I make it any more obvious?”
It was slightly off-key but luckily Matilda’s singing was much louder than hers, so it wasn’t very noticeable. Besides, it didn’t matter for the half-demon because he was able to indulge in her displeasure of how she stumbled with the lyrics, gripped the mic like her life depended on it, and awkwardly smiled along with the girl. It was almost cute. Almost.
When the song finally concluded, Mary sheepishly laughed it off, blaming that she had a slight cold and that was why her singing was ‘mediocre’ when it's usually better. Dante teased her about how even he sang better, and was met with a faint blush on her cheeks. It seemed like he was one step closer to melting the ice queen.
The girl, suddenly in her sparkly yellow princess dress, pulled out her ‘itinerary’ she had planned out a little while ago, and coughed to get their attention, “Ahem, so our next event is playing knights and dinosaurs!”
“Huh?”
“That's right, I need you Mister to be the knight in shining armour, and you Miss to be taken inside that circle.”
She pointed at the small Lego wall with toy dinosaurs placed around it, representing that Mary would be held captive and needed to be recused by said ‘knight in shining armour’ although she wasn’t too fond of this idea.
“Here, you put this on and sit down,” she said while handing her a crown and robe.
Matilda then pulled out a box full of metal pieces of what seemed to be a medieval suit. “And you- ugh- can put this on.”
Dante gave a look towards Mary, silently asking, “Where does she even get this stuff from?”
Shrugging, she yawned and looked around her. Not even less than a couple hours ago she was fighting against someone who could literally bring hell to earth. There was so much to worry about, yet time could only wait as long as it felt now. Stress was building up and there was nothing she’d rather do than curl up into a ball and forget this ever happened, but here she was, playing princesses with a little girl and a half-demon.
Half-demon?
Mary shifted her thoughts to the man trying to fit his head into the silver headgear, clearly struggling to do so. It was funny to think that also not even less than a couple hours ago, she kissed him. Suddenly, she felt her face grow warm and mentally slapped herself for even remembering such a moment. Trying to convince herself it was in the spur of the moment, and not something else she’d been yearning for, she flew into a spiral of improper thoughts for someone who should hate demons.
“-dy? Hello, Earth to Lady?”
“H-huh?”
“You alright? You’re supposed to say the lines of ‘oh save me, my handsome knight!’” Dante mocked in his girly impression, which ended up just being his normal voice but higher pitched.
“Im going to kill you one day.”
Matilda started to pout, getting impatient, “C’mon we don’t have all day-I mean night!”
Sighing, she did her best impression that years of being in the military had prepared her for, “...Oh my, what ever shall I do with all these monsters around me…I must cry for help. Help.”
“Oh no! We need to get the royal knight to save her! Sir Dante, hurry before she ends up eaten by these beasts!”
Scoffing, he smirked, “You are so right princess, but I can only save her if she says the magic words to undo the spell around her.”
Mary’s eyes twitched in annoyance, “And what would that magic word be, Sir Dante?”
“Of course, just plead for my help and admit that I’m super awesome-”
“Why you-”
“Just hit the wall and she’ll be free!”
“Fine, you asked for it-” Dante pulled out a wooden sword, slicing the wall in half. The sword felt much lighter than the one he’d usually wield, and completely forgot about controlling the amount of strength, in the process ripping the toy dinosaurs in half and leaving an ugly mark on the floor. Luckily, Mary had quickly avoided the sword’s trajectory by backing out of the wall. “Whoops…”
“Yay! She’s free!”
“We’re you trying to kill me?”
“Of course not,” he smirked before continuing. “I wouldn’t want my dear lady to be hurt now would I?”
Mary tried to comprehend what he actually meant, bordering the line of flirting as a joke and genuine interest. The ball was in her court now, and she had to say something, but the words wouldn’t come out of her mouth. Usually, she’d disregard this and retort back, but somehow, the situation felt different. His constant teases, they must mean something right? It was like their relationship was changing, which was true, yet it felt confusing. Her once deep hatred was transforming into a similar feeling of ‘affection’ to him, but she’d never admit that to herself.
“W-what?”
Dante noticed the sudden change in her usual expression and felt he did something wrong. Looking away, he tried to make excuses and get away from the sudden awkwardness lingering between them. Was it something he said? There wasn’t anything out of the ordinary he did, just a tease, and he’d expected her to ignore it like before. Why was their relationship suddenly changing?
“I- uh, sorry, I didn’t mean to make fun of you or anything. My bad.” He scratched the back of his head and turned away.
“No, I mean-” she was interrupted by the intrusion of another event on their agenda.
“I brought tea and snacks! We don’t have any pizza, but I have some ketchup and saltine crackers.” Matilda set the tray on the table, putting down the ceramic teacups and filling it with soda to the brim. Taking Mary’s hand and sitting her down on the couch, while Dante followed suit, her tea party was ready.
_____
He took a sip of his soda and munched on the low-quality pizza served by their host, who was chattering with the woman in front of him. Their conversation had abruptly ended, leaving their questionable label on their relationship hanging.
This was too much on his mind. Dante had hoped hanging out with the granddaughter of the man who was currently destroying the one key thing that could cause hell to reign over earth would ease his stress. Unfortunately for him, that and the kiss from earlier was all he could think about. It wasn’t like him to obsess over a problem, and in his regular ‘Dante’ style, he’d stop thinking about it and move on. This was different though.
Dante looked up at the two, feeling warmth blossom in his chest. It didn’t feel so good because he knew that chances were, Mary couldn’t return those feelings back. His once enemy suddenly having a change of heart towards demons, the one thing she’d sworn she’d kill? Please. Even so, a tiny bit of hope reigned over his thoughts, that recently, they've managed to get closer not as partners after the whole incident with Darkcom, but as people.
The pink haired girl looked at the man and could feel his dark, depressing aura raining down on her parade. The playdate was supposed to make them happy, not sulking. She could feel Mary also tense, making the tea party less of a relaxing break and more of a vacuum of joy.
She looked at her piece of paper with the plans, and looked at the last event.
‘Dress up’
Standing up, she smacked her hands on the table, making a loud clunk from the ceramics. “I have one last thing planned for us tonight, so you’d better make it a good one!”
“What…exaclty are we doing now?”
“You’ll see.”
_____
“Are you sure I have to put this on?”
Giggles could be heard from outside the curtains, and Dante grumbled. He was a devil hunter, not some mannequin!
Pulling down the blue dress and putting on the blue ribbon on his hair, he looked in the mirror to take a good look at himself. He wondered how she was able to find all these costumes in the first place, but was interrupted by Matilda opening the curtains.
“Nice Alice cosplay you got there,” Mary snickered.
“You should dress up as the Queen of Hearts then,” he shot back.
Rolling her eyes, she put her chin on her hand and huffed about being unreasonable.
Next up was his cowboy costume, and surprisingly he didn’t mind putting on this one. It looked good on him and the hat was the cherry on top.
He opened the curtains to reveal his costume. “Y’know what they say, save a horse, ride a-”
Mary flung a book at him, slightly grazing his white hair. “I’d rather die, thanks.”
“Great,” he mumbled and closed the curtains.
“Hey Mattie, is this the right costume?”
She tried holding her laughter and nodded her head. “Mhm!”
The blue qipao glared, daring him to put it on.
“I swear if any of you laugh when I’m done-”
“Don’t worry mister, she’ll be putting something on too!”
Dante got curious as to what she’d be wearing, possibly something to match his Street Fighter outfit. He imagined her wearing Ryu’s karate attire, or maybe something like an inflatable sumo outfit. Nevertheless, he was excited and quickly put on the uniform. He couldn’t wait to make fun of her, take revenge for his earlier Alice dress.
“Aha, notice how good this looks on me-”
Instead of the E. Honda cosplay he was expecting, it was a off-white, skin tight body suit that accentuated her figure. Brown, leather belts hung over her waist while Matilda tried fixing the chain on it to stay. The zipper was a third of the way closed, giving enough room to breathe.
It was safe to say that Dante was pleasantly surprised.
“What are you drooling over for?” She began to cackle, “Seriously? Chun-li? Keep that outfit on, I’d love to see everyone react to that,”
A light blush colored his cheeks, avoiding his gaze and slightly embarrassed at the assumption he was checking her out. He walked right up to her face, dangerously close. “Yeah, well what's up with that getup?”
“Got a problem with it?”
“Hell yeah I do, it looks ridiculous!”
“Says the man in a dress that reveals his legs out-”
“What are you, a Victorian era man who saw a woman’s ankle for the first time?”
“Ugh you’re so-”
The shutter sound of the camera silenced the room, leaving a pregnant pause in the air. Matilda grinned and waited until the photo came out of the polaroid, then waiving it around to dry it off. She felt accomplished, looking at the two adults bicker. She couldn’t understand them, but seeing them so familiar with each other, she was happy that neither of them were frowning anymore. Her mission was a success.
Mary let go of his collar and gently smacked his head. “Idiot.”
___________
The three lounged on the couch, bringing a late night show. Their eventful night had only taken four out of the eight hours, yet they were all tired. Especially the little girl, who passed out first mid-eating popcorn.
Soft sounds from the TV lulled her to sleep, while the other two were on the brink of taking a nice nap. The lights were all off except for the bright screen casting on their faces. Mary sneakily leaned her head against Dante’s shoulder, eyes half open. Both felt quite comfortable and didn’t want to budge an inch. If they did, Mattie would wake up, and that wouldn’t be good. Yup, that was the only reason.
It just felt so right at the moment, they almost forgot about their duty and the impending doom upon them and the world. For once, it felt like they were regular, normal people.
Mary quietly whispered before closing her eyes completely, falling into a deep slumber. “Thanks for making me laugh today.”
The white haired demon tenderly chuckled, smiling at her peaceful expression. “I don’t know what I’m gonna do with you.”
He was in too deep at this point to go back.