It's Good to be Home? (Dante)

[Henry Renold]

Henry had finally decided to move in.

The little house that Dante Grixis had once called his own stood by itself a little way from the main heart of the slums. There were houses around sure, but this one was just a little set back from the road and had a bit more of a sense of privacy about it- something that Dante had always liked.
Despite its more isolated setting, it was still a true slum-house though, with boarded windows and paint peeling both inside and out. But Henry now had a roof that didn't leak and walls that didn't have huge gaping holes where the wind could get in, and to be honest that was all he had ever wanted for.

Henry dragged his feet as he ventured to the front door, wondering if this was a mistake. The pair of friends had shared so many memories here over the past few months that he was worried he might not be able to keep his emotions at bay when he saw all the little things that were Dante personified.
Finally, Henry Renold had come to realise that he was not who he used to be. He was still angry and had no intention of wrenching open the vault of emotion that he had so long oppressed, but he knew that he was doing so and that at some point it would have to be reversed. For now though he was making sure that that did not happen for as long as possible, although this was getting harder by the day,

As he forced open the thin wooden door, which was still stronger than any he had ever had before, he was hit by a sudden reminder of his friend. Everything in the bare room screamed Dante's memory at him. The bed, the solitary chair- even the smell. It was almost too much for Henry to take, but he breathed deeply and busied himself with putting his few belongings on the bedside table.

By the time he was done, the inital shock of being back in Dante's home where the pair of them had revelled, planned and even tended their wounds together had faded and he lay on his new bed staring at the ceiling and trying to keep the sad and angry thoughts at bay.

[Dante Grixis]

As Henry lay on the bed a shadow was silently forming on the far side of the room. Dante was shocked to be in his house again. He took a moment to look around. He looked at his shelf with a handful of books, a few trinkets from his adventures and a small mirror. He glanced into the mirror. As always, he was surrounded by a light blue aura, his chainmail and leather armor giving off the brightest part of the glow. He turned and saw Henry laying in his bed. He recalled giving the house to Henry before he died. He was glad to see that his friend had finally moved in.

He slid across the floor like someone walking on ice and sat down in his chair. It wasn't fancy but had arms and light padding on it. He kicked his feet up onto the table noiselessly even though he was wearing heavy boots and picked a necklace up off the table and began to absently look at it.

"Glad to see you moved in." He said into the silent room. It was good just to see Henry. The two of them had been through so much together, he imagined that his death had put a burden on Henry. A burden that he would try to lift.

[Henry Renold]

Henry glanced from the ceiling to the now occupied chair beside him without so much as blinking twice.

"Hello friend." He smiled, laying back on the threadbare pillow that still felt like luxury to a Low.

Henry was not shocked or frightened to see Dante Grixis sitting as he once had, in his chair with his feet upon the table. Nor was he surprised to hear him speak as nonchalantly as he always had. For Henry had seen his best friend everyday since that fateful battle, in his dreams, in his thoughts...even out of the corner of his eye every now and then. This time he just hadn't realised he was asleep.

"I thought it about time I came here. Might as well make use of the old place hey?" He laughed, kicking off his boots as he did so. His feet were blistered and sore, too much training had seen to that but for once Henry actually didn't care about training, about impressing the Black Knight or about killing. With Dante here, things were like they always had been and he was mild mannered Henry who loved to play sidekick.

"You'll leave marks on that table if you don't get your great sodding feet off of it!" He grinned, throwing the cushion he had been leaning on at Dante's head.

[Dante Grixis]

Dante dodged the thrown pillow and laughed as it crashed into the shelf behind him, knocking a few books down. "Well fine then, it's your house!" He said with fake annoyance and lifted his booted feet off the table and put them down on the floor. He glanced at the books and looked back to Henry, "I swear, if you use those as a fire-starter I'll find a way to kill you, Henry." He said with a lighthearted chuckle. He stood and put them back onto their shelf and turned to Henry.

"Lot of memories for us in this hovel 'eh?" He commented as he looked around. It was pretty small, but it was sturdy, and Dante couldn't think of anywhere better to have lived.

"So, what has the legendary Henry Renold been doing with himself these past weeks?" He asked in his usual light tone of voice as he threw the pillow(though some might believe it akin to a rock!) back at Henry.

[Henry Renold]

Henry threw a exasperated glance at Dante, who had decided to set his feet back on the ground finally.
"A firestarter? Oh no i wouldn't do that." Henry replied with a glint in his eye, "They would be better as lining in a rabbit hutch!" He laughed as his friend put the books back in their place as though he had never been away. Still Henry thought he was dreaming, but he was amazed and thrilled at what a realistic dream it was.

"You can come round more often if you're going to keep tidying up!" He grinned, but his comment cost him, for he didn't have time to dodge the pillow that came flying through the air and smacked him in the face.
"Ouch..." He muffled through the threadbare material, although his amusement was clear to all, he placed it behind him and turned to reply to Dante.

"Well I've..." He trailed off. Henry didn't want to get into his anger or thirst for revenge. He didn't want to talk about his encounter with Evie, or his abandonment of Gill or even his new love for the brotherhood. He couldn't face talking about life without Dante, for there was no life without Dante.

"Not much." He settled for a simple answer in the end. One that he hoped Dante wouldn't push further, although he didn't get his hopes up. Dante knew him too well to not see that something was bothering him. But maybe he would realise that he didn't want to speak about it.
"Life has been simpler that's for sure!" And that much was true, although Henry Renold had become a bloodthirsty killer out for Prince Arthur's (and anyone elses) life, he hadn't been arrested. Yet.

(OOC: im acting as though this RP happened before Henry got thrown in the cells for trying to kill Dreamer )

[Dante Grixis]

((ok cool.))

Dante nodded. "That doesn't sound like you." He commented and picked up a dagger that rested on the table and put it into the chest with his other weapons. He closed the chest slowly and turned back to Henry. "Now what have you really been up to?" He asked with a sly smile. Henry should know that Dante could always see when his friend was lying; it wasn't that Henry was bad at it, in fact he was quite good, but Dante just knew his tells.

Dante imagined that Henry had a reason for hiding something but what harm could there be in telling a spirit? Dante couldn't believe that whatever Henry was hiding was too horrible to tell him.

[Henry Renold]

"Its nothing." Henry snapped, not even feeling guilty for it. He had never argued with Dante- well not since that day when he wanted to fight with him, but that was months ago, and before they had become brothers.

He stood up and walked to the window which looked out into an overgrown and dirty yard behind the house. Henry closed his eyes, trying to keep calm, trying to keep the "other Henry" at bay. It wouldn't take much to drive his old self away and he didn't want Dante to see the new side of himself. It was like having a split-personality and although he was finally coming to realise it, Henry Renold couldn't do a thing to stop it.

Breathing in and out very slowly, Henry tried to stop the thunderous feeling that was echoing through his head. He couldn't, he wouldn't...

"Why don't you just mind your own business for once?" He bellowed, spinning round and grinning wildly at the spirit which stood in front of him. Still not recognising that he was a spirit.

"Look where it got you last time."

[Dante Grixis]

Dante was taken aback by Henry's sudden outburst but he held his ground. He wouldn't be intimidated by him, now especially that Henry couldn't harm him.

Dante saw something in his friends eye, something evil. He now realized that Henry had snapped, and the Henry that he had known and loved was gone, replaced by the angry man with murderous intent that stood in front of him. He took a step forward towards Henry. He knew that he had to try to calm him down before Henry hurt himself.

"Take it easy Henry. I didn't mean any harm." He said quietly and reached a hand out to put on his shoulder.

[Henry Renold]

"You didn't mean any harm?" Henry bellowed at his former friend, shrugging the hand off of his shoulder and turning to stare at him with those wild eyes.

"I bet you didn't mean any harm when you tried to kill Arthur, but sadly that one backfired." Henry laughed, cold and soul-less- out of the pair of them, he was the one who seemed more like a ghost these days.

"But you don't see it do you?" Henry continued, "Me being like this is all your fault. All because you just couldn't leave well alone."

Inside, the old Henry and the crazy Henry were fighting against each other for control. Currently the new hateful Henry was winning though, and as he and Dante stood staring at each other in the tiny house, two tiny clicks could be heard. The signal that he was ready to fight.

[Dante Grixis]

Dante stood his ground as he heard the clicks of Henry's blade's being released. He knew the hidden blades that Henry carried were usually dipped in poison to make them more effective but Dante didn't move from the spot. His gaze hardened as he stared into Henry's soulless eyes.

"And not a day goes by that I don't regret leaving you and Evie behind." Dante said without much emotion. He quickly followed that statement with one that would make Henry angry, but he decided that if diplomacy wouldn't work he would have to use other methods to get Henry to come to his senses.

"Put your damn blades away, you couldn't kill me while I was alive, even if you tried. What makes you think that you have the power to kill me now that I'm dead?" The words Dante spoke were as cold as ice. "You were my brother Henry, but I suppose those days are long gone." Dante shook his head with disgust as his swords materialized in his hands. If Henry wanted a fight he would get one. Dante couldn't actually kill Henry, but Henry would feel the pain of every blow that landed on his flesh as if the blades in Dante's hands were made of steel.

"I'm sorry Henry. I wish I could change things, but I have lost that power. But you... this life... this insanity, doesn't suit the Henry I knew, and I'll be damned if I let you live like this." Dante took a step back and pointed both his blades at Henry's chest. "Tell me, Henry, how does it feel to be so full of malice and hatred towards the world?" He let the last words he spoke hang in the air as he waited for Henry's response.

[Henry Renold]

Tears began to form in the corners of Henry's eyes as he heard Dante speak of leaving him and Evie behind. And they were not angry hateful tears, but lonely sad ones.

But that didn't change anything.

He cackled through the tears, bringing one blade up to his eyes and examining the cold steel closely.
"Have you ever imagined what it might be like to be a blade?"He asked suddenly, completely ignoring the words that Dante has spoken before. It was like he was in his own world, and no one else knew how to get there.
"You see, I never tried to kill you Dante, so how would either of us know that I couldn't?" He smiled and running his blades along one another he inched closer.

"What makes you think that you have the power to kill me now that I'm dead?"

Dante's words broke Henry's shell and he stopped edging forwards, looking with horror at the blades which were pointed towards his friend. The realisation of what he was doing struck him and he sunk to his knees, crying harder now but somehow still laughing.

He was a very broken man.

Somehow, through his strange half laughter/half sobbing, the 'real Henry ' seemed to find some sort of truth in Dante's words and with all the strength he had left he quietly whispered: "Help me." before going back to his maniacal whimpering.

[Dante Grixis]

Dante took a step back as Henry sank to his knees with a look of shock. The boy was a mess, and Dante knew that he was the one that would have to clean it up. Henry sounded insane as he sobbed and laughed simultaneously. Dante sheathed his etherial swords as he heard the true Henry, the Henry that he loved as his own blood, broke through for a brief second. He knew that he would have to scare the boy back to his true self, intimidation seemed to be working.

He grabbed Henry by the front of his shirt and pushed him forcefully against the wall, Henry's clothes balled up in his ghostly fists, his spectral face mere inches from Henry's tear stained one. Henry tried to look away but Dante shook him and yelled "Look at me!" He kept his hard edge, though it pained him to hurt Henry like this he continued, yelling in rage,

"If you were half as smart as you act you'd give this whole goddamned murderer thing up! You want to end up like me? How the hell do to think I ended up like this? Your violent ravings will only get you killed! What would Gill think? To see you, being eaten alive by this...this damn insanity!" Dante was acting as enraged as Henry was, but it was only partially an act. He couldn't let Henry do this to himself, he had to put an end to it. He lowered his voice to barely above a whisper, "I've been down that road before, it's not one that you want to walk." He accented his last statement with a threatening edge.

He pushed Henry away from him and turned his back on him and walked across the room, waiting for his friend's retaliation.

[Henry Renold]

Henry froze within his former friends grip as he was hauled upwards, his feet barely touching the groung. his face nose to nose with Dante's. He was finally being forced to confront the harsh words that should have been said many months ago, probably by a father figure or even a best friend, but of course Henry no longer had either.

With only the slightest of whimpers every now and then, Henry heard what his friend was saying. He was too tired and too broken to argue any more, and he was on course for losing his mind completely. Finally his body relaxed, rid of whatever demons it had been harboring for so long as his mind came to accept that things needed to change.

He still had not uttered a word when Dante dropped him to the floor. Through tear stained eyes and hair that clung to his face, Henry watched as his brother turned from him, ashamed and tired of trying.

"I needed that." He said, struggling to his feet weakly.

[Dante Grixis]

Dante sighed. "I know that you want revenge, for me, for you, for everything. But there will be a time when you will get it, or perhaps that revenge will no longer be necessary. For your own sake, remember what has passed between us."

As Dante finished his words he felt himself being pulled back to the world of the dead. He began to blow away like dust in the wind, starting at his feet and working its way towards his face. "Goodbye Henry." He said, a ghostly tear welling in his eye. A second later he was gone completely, leaving Henry alone in the again empty house.