On the cosmic beach, situated in black sand, Little Dante snoozes, curled in a heavy, maroon, leather jacket and pants that don’t fit. 

 

He sits up. 

 

As he rests quietly and stares at a grey ocean, he finds himself thinking about absolutely nothing. No stressful memories, no racing thoughts. 

 

Everything is nice and calm and this spot is cozy and clean. Slowly he blinks, watching a pretty terrifying demon land in front of him, a few meters away.

 

It strides to him, looking like he came right out of a volcano. When he reaches him, he kneels and examines Little Dante’s face, putting his monstrous hands on his cheeks and taking a concerned interest in the glossy gaze in his eyes.

 

“Still not all there,” the demon says, his voice rumbly and thick. “Open your mouth.” 

 

Little Dante’s pretty sure he obeys this command, though it seems he needs help, as the monster cradles him and pretty much does it for him. It’s odd to Little Dante, how gently such a scary creature is behaving. But it doesn’t matter because whatever it is that he’s having him drink, it’s soothing and he’ll take it.

 

Nestled in the demon’s lap, for a few seconds, he closes his eyes and lets this warm serum run down his throat, into his stomach.

 

“I’ve been exploring your Fortuna. I’ve found the strangest, most helpful things. Books, medicine, I flew around and these things laid themselves out for me, for you. What I just gave you, that serum, I think it may appeal to your angelic side.”

 

Surprisingly, Little Dante finds himself a bit more awake and this time, when he opens his eyes, he doesn’t see a demon, but instead, he sees a man that he recognizes.

 

“Hey, you almost look awake for real now. When you were little, did your mom ever read to you?” 

 

“Mmhm,” Little Dante nods.

 

“Had a feeling. Got a few books here. So, question.”

 

He reaches over to a small stack of books that Little Dante didn’t know was there. 

 

“Are you more of a poetry guy, with this William Blake stuff and this Divine Comedy stuff? Or are you more of a Puff the Magic Dragon, Where the Wild Things Are kinda guy?”

 

Little Dante nods at the children’s books.

 

“Ah see, me too! These other ones are cool and all but come on, this one has a dragon in it. Actually they all have a dragon-thing in them, but whatever. You comfortable?” Little Dante nods again. “Okay good…”

 

For a little while, he reads to him, and it’s so great, that Little Dante fights falling back to sleep, all so he can hear his paternal voice for as long as possible. He gets through the whole book.

 

“Look at you, still awake. That’s good to see.”

 

“Dad?”

 

“Yup.”

 

“I didn’t recognize you at first.”

 

“Shhhh, that’s okay.”

 

“I’m, I’m worried about my friend. Where’s Killer-Red?”

 

“I dunno, but I can find out. Might need a lead from you though. He’s a Devil Hunter, right?”

 

“Red Hood.”

 

“What about him?”

 

“Same person.”

 

“Killer-Red is the Red Hood?”

 

“Robin.”

 

“You mean Nightwing?”

 

“No, my Robin, he’s my Robin.”

 

“There’s more than one Robin?”

 

“Killer-Red is… the Red Hood… and Robin.”

 

“Got it. That explains why he went to Batman. No worries, I’ll reconnect you with your friend but first, ya gotta recover.”

 

Feeling loved, Little Dante smiles sweetly, kind of remembering now…

 

“That’s right, because I died…” his eyes roll back as he suddenly faints. Alarmed, his caretaker shakes him lightly, his voice, it’s so genuine.

 

“No no no, I gave you my Sin Devil Trigger! Awe buddy, you don’t remember that? Hey, hey Little Dante, please, make a noise or something for me. Please.”

 

Little Dante makes a tiny groan, hearing a sigh of relief in response.

 

“Ho good.” He rocks him, holding him like he’s very precious. “I’m sorry. I won’t stress you out again. Oh man, I know, being awake is rough.”

 

“You… you gave me your… Sin Devil Trigger?”

 

“Yeah, bud.”

 

“Does that mean… you can’t use it anymore?”

 

“No, buddy, it’s yours now.”

 

“What if… you can’t ever… Sin Devil Trigger again?”

 

“I can still Devil Trigger, you just saw it.”

 

“But… your powers.”

 

“Look kiddo, I was lucky to even have them to offer.”

 

“But… don’t you… need it?”

 

“Meh. If I can still Sin Devil Trigger, cool. If not, cool.”

 

“Do you still have… some version of… your Devil Sword?”

 

“Heh, no. No, not anymore.”

 

“You gave up your sword?”

 

“Yeah. Yeah, Little Dante, I gave up my sword.”

 

“You did that… for me?”

 

“Yeah, buddy. You’re part of me and I love you.”

 

Gasp! “I love you too!” he exclaims with a hug and tears of joy.

 

Dante rocks him again, “Awe, it’s okay. Listen, when things go back to normal, I fully expect you to do your own thing. Do your own thing with my powers. They weren’t even mine anymore anyway.”

 

“I’m gonna use them to take care of my friend.”

 

“I’ll help you find him, I promise. Are you, are you Devil Triggering right now? What… the hell?"

 

Little Dante drifts off and leaves this wonderful place only to enter an awful one, the most disgusting feeling filling every cell in his body. Thinking he’s about to choke, he gasps. Such familiar frigidness.

 

“Dad, why is it so cold?”