❝ we can build a new home. ❞
secluded manor , just a ways away from the city being tormented by qliphoth and urizen , resides a charred home. dante leads them onward , with leon in tow. much to his dismay , he’d return home. shattered rebellion in hand.
the charred furniture , slashed markings across the floorboards. he can see what was left behind. thin claw marks upon the floorboards , where his mother undoubtedly tried to free herself from demonic grasp. here , he muses , is god’s forsaken. no amount of prayer could save them. what was she to do? eva? alone with her children , those who could not be taken by mundus and his loyal creatures. she sacrificed herself here , in this home. the memories form an ache in his chest. he looks at the weight of rebellion in his hands. lost in thought.
the picture frame above the fireplace notes who the owners were and why dante had taken leon here. leon must have known , upon seeing the painted image of the twins and their parents. eva and sparda , dante and vergil. they looked all the same. so when leon stands beside him , his stride stopping as he looks up and speaks his words , dante does not move.
building a new home. a future that would not mimic the last. build it here ? no. he couldn’t possibly return. perhaps somewhere else , outside the city. away from government interference and demonic invasions. that was the hope. but dante knew ... this battle. it might be vergil and dante’s last. he would need to make necessary arrangements should that be the case. and this future sought , might not be achieved in the end.
... the hope of a new home. maybe he could be granted such a future. ‘ yeah? ’ he says , slowly. softly. it’s all he could muster in the moment. ' when this is all over , we can. ' there is no jesting to his voice , only a solemn sort of promise. a promise he hoped he can keep in the end.