The man’s face had eluded him for 34 years.
There are so many portraits. The tapestries painted of Sparda’s image, the demons who speak of his power and his grace, or who mock him and curse him. The Traitor. The Savoir. The man. The Demon. The Devil Sword for which Dante carried until only recently -- and now Dante’s sword which bared his name was fused with the Devil Sword Sparda. Always connected to a man whose face is never visible.
Eva’s face is clear as day in his eyes. Yet Sparda always filled in hazily. At best, the most precious memories are of his absence, and of Eva’s stern words, that Sparda would only leave to help humanity, not to abandon them. Dante thinks back of the gravestone he carved with his own hands. Beloved Mother. Beloved Wife. His brother, for which he knew now he lived, and still lived, despite it all. Beloved Son. Beloved Brother. Dante never took it away, he reminded himself of the 10 years he spent grieving Vergil as a child -- and all the days inbetween. And of course.... his father. He hesitated to carve it back when he made that stone. He knew nothing of his father’s death, but held the firm belief that Sparda never abandon him. Beloved Husband. Beloved Father.
So here he stands, in the doorway of Devil May Cry, Dante inside, and Sparda outside. His face can’t even fill into Dante’s memories, but he knows it is the man of his childhood. His father. Sparda. He sees something strange on Sparda’s face. A smile or some collapsing expression that may be urged to tears. There is a long silence. Dante doesn’t say anything. And soon--
Dante’s fist meets his father’s face so hard Dante can feel his knuckles pop from the force. It somehow barely knocks Sparda back, but it does knock him out of the shop, and Dante exits with him, shutting the door behind him, he’s trembling like a leaf in the autumn wind, and yet his conviction is as solid as iron.
“How dare you come back here!” Dante’s voice is never like this, it is never so thick with emotions, but dear god and devils above and below, he has never felt the way he does now. He has never felt the feelings he felt now. Before Sparda can even get up, he’s throwing another fist into his face, and this time, Dante pushes every thought out, and merely seeks violence and violence only.