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[darkinferno]

Dante Rantanen

"Hey, you've reached Dante. I'm not in right now--you know what to do."

VOICE | TEXT | VIDEO | ACTION

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Comments

[mincingminuet]

He...is a Judge. Capital J, some sort of soldier and lawman or something.

[She shoves the last of that slice in her mouth and chews before adding:]

And I remembered him trying to kill the other me.

[darkinferno]

Oh. That's all?

[Dante's finishing his piece as well, leaning back onto his hands. The corner of his mouth turns up in a faint, halfhearted smirk, just enough to let her know he's joking as he chews.]

Just because you remember that doesn't mean he'd do the same thing now.

I've... got a couple memories of fighting someone else that's on the network here. Really fighting, not just sparring like we do Sundays. I don't like this version of him either, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna try to kill him. That's not the type of person I am.

[mincingminuet]

I know that. I grew up with him around. Gabranth has been as much a part of my life as my brothers.

[More than, really.]

We talked about it though. And...not talked about it. I don't think he'd try and kill me obviously. But maybe it's better this way, avoiding any chance.

Anyway, I just thought you should know he was off.

[darkinferno]

Yeah, I'll make sure I don't accidentally drunk-text him again. He'll probably be less likely to let it go if I do.

[Is he joking? Who knows.]

It'll be weird, not seeing his grumpy ass around.

[mincingminuet]

Yeah. And as weird as it sounds, it'll be easier to talk to him again, with him not remembering. But...safer.

[Back to stodgy cop.]

Pass that Fireball?

[darkinferno]

Nah, I get it.

[He reaches down, grabbing the bottle and passing it over.]

There are a couple people in this city I'd get along with a lot better if they didn't remember any of this stuff, too.

[mincingminuet]

[Taking it, she unscrews the top and takes a sip. Straight cinnamon whiskey. Yum.]

Sora?

[darkinferno]

[Oops, someone's taking a loooooooong drink instead of replying right away.]

That obvious, huh? Or did you hear it from someone else?

[mincingminuet]

Just from him.

[Penelope shrugs, taking another drink.]

He seemed like a nice kid, but I don't actually know him.

[darkinferno]

[That's a snort.]

I couldn't tell you. If it weren't for both of us remembering all this Retrospec shit, I'd make sure I never had to see his face around this city.

[Definitely bad memories here.]

[mincingminuet]

As bad as Gabranth and I?

[She's curious now, mostly because Sora seems like...a really sweet if really naive kid.]

[darkinferno]

[A pause... and then he nods.]

I've got at least one memory of the two of us fighting. When he won I... [Dante lifts his free hand, looking at it as though he might fade away just by talking about it.] I was fading away.

I don't know what happened after that.

[mincingminuet]

Fading away...?

[That's an oddly specific way to phrase that.]

Think it could have something to do with whatever powers you have? I assume he's similar, jumping around like that.

[darkinferno]

I don't think so. It didn't feel like that at all. [But how can he explain what it did feel like?]

There's another memory I've got. When I first remembered it, I didn't know what was going on--I thought I'd remembered dying. I was walking in this place called the realm of darkness, and it felt like something was leeching away my strength. [Almost instinctively, his free hand comes up, resting over his heart.] If I'd let it, it would've eaten away at me until there was nothing left. I would've faded away into the darkness.

That's kind of what it was like. I could feel myself fading, like the strength was being sapped out of me. Like the fight had taken everything I had.

[mincingminuet]

[Silently, Penelope takes a bite of more pizza, leaning forward a little to consider what he's saying. That's...pretty heavy. Especially heavy, coming from a guy like Dante. He never really seemed all that serious about much of anything, but this? Well hell, Intense is definitely what she'd call it.]

So, you think that this other you started to fade out after the...other Sora fought you. And you don't know the motivations behind either person, I guess?

[The realm of darkness sounds a little like a place she remembered, almost. A foggy, dead place filled with shadows and beasts and traps. Deadly, some sort of...necropolis, she thought. Or a dead city.

But there was more to it than that.]

Did he say anything? Seem more emotional?

[darkinferno]

[Dante shakes his head firmly as soon as she mentions that he probably didn't know the motivations of either of them. No... no, he definitely remembers that--at least, part of it.]

What all did Freya tell you about Hell Manor? Did she tell you about everything that happened while we were fighting the wraith?

[Surprisingly, it's not entirely an attempt to dodge the question!]

[mincingminuet]

[Shaking her head, Pen closes her eyes and blows out a breath.]

She said ghosts, and she told me the gist, but I didn't pry. The wound from Ryoji was pretty raw, and I didn't want to do that to her.

Why?

[darkinferno]

[He's not going to throw Freya under the bus then.]

The ghosts... they could possess people. They could force you to attack other people against your own will and you couldn't do anything to stop it.

The same thing happened to the other me. He was fighting Sora, but it wasn't him--it was something controlling him instead.

[mincingminuet]

[That. Actually she understands.]

Possession I get. So you think this...shadow world had something to do with it?

[darkinferno]

[Again, he's shaking his head decisively.]

No. That came after. Once I was in that shadow world... [Okay, give him a moment. Dante runs his free hand through his hair, trying to figure out how he could phrase this better. It's hard, because he doesn't know for certain what the chain of events was--he can only guess based on the little information he has.]

I don't... really want to go into the details, but when I was in that place, I was trapped there. I'd... [A sigh. This is actually something he hasn't told anybody yet, not Togusa, not Prompto, not even the prof.] I'd died. There was a voice that told me I'd lost the battle for my body, but my heart had survived. That's why I was there. He called it "this place of darkness where hearts are gathered."

It felt the same, though. I started fading away after fighting Sora, and when I was there I was fading away again.

[mincingminuet]

[Quietly listening, Penelope takes in the information with only a little flinch. It was a little surreal, hearing about it, and she wasn't even entertaining prying any deeper even if he had just cut off at not wanting to go into details. This was clearly incredibly personal for him, and it surprised her in a way, that he'd go into it at all, so the least she can do is listen.]

Okay. [She reaches for his shoulder, giving it a hard, tight squeeze.] I understand. I'm sorry that you went through that, that you...remembered that. [As sorry as she'd been to Freya earlier that day, when she'd woken up screaming.]

I...don't really know what to say, but I'm sorry your other self has such a raw deal. Way worse than other me.

I didn't mean to push you, and I'm sorry for that too.

[darkinferno]

[Any other time and he wouldn't have gone into it. When it comes to the stuff he's remembering about his other self, Dante's been keeping his cards close to his chest. There's too much bad, too much he doesn't want to acknowledge as being real. But with everything that's happened over the past few weeks (and the help of the gin he's been drinking)... it slips out easier, just one more bad thing to add to everything else that's gone down. But even so, he's shrugging, trying to wave off Pen's concern.]

Whatever. It's no big deal, I'm doing fine. He's not me, right? We're different people.

[Not that he really believes that. How many times has he worried that he'd repeat the other Dante's mistakes? That he'll fall prey to the same traps and end up in the same place in the end?]

But there you go, the reason I don't like dealing with Sora. Every time I do it's more of these memories, and they're never good. Especially when he's in them.

[mincingminuet]

[Quietly, she nods. She...definitely gets that at least a little. Memories with Noah were never pleasant.]

Sure. Yeah. I feel that.

[Shaking her head, she goes back to the soft drink. May as well brighten the mood some.]

There's no way I could be like other Pen. I swear, she's got to be some special kind of insane. Absolutely fucking nuts.

[darkinferno]

[Dante's more than willing to follow her into a subject change.]

Oh? Why's that?

[mincingminuet]

I'm not nearly so adventurous for one.

[Going along with it then.]

Half my memories are of these crazy places, and others are full of monsters.