Chapter 28:

"Now then, Akeno Himajima, we need to have a serious talk." Hearing Luna speak in a serious tone Akeno felt some chills go up her spine but remained relatively calm on the outside, "How can I help you miss Luna?"

Luna: "I will be frank; do you love Dante?"

Akeno was taken aback by the question but still nods confidently,

Akeno: "I do love him. He is the only person that is like me and can truly empathize with me about my past. That and he is handsome, strong, caring, and is all-around great person. I feel like I can truly understand him unlike what I feel from others."

Luna gives her a sad smile,

Luna: "You can't even begin to understand the pain Dante has experienced. He has experienced so much pain that anyone else would have broken a long time ago, myself included. I will ask you this, how well do you really know Dante, and how much is just what he shows you? Have you ever looked up the circumstances on why he was forced to come to Japan? Do you know why he has to constantly improve? Ask yourself do you really know him?"

Akeno was shocked, she never looked into Dante, she always just took his personality at face value and didn't even begin to think that it could be a mask.

Akeno: "If that is the case then show me"

Luna: "Excuse me?"

Akeno: "Show me his past, his suffering, his pain, let me prove that I can truly love him in his entirety."

Luna gave her a long look before she gestured for Fierce to come up.

Luna: "Fierce, show her everything."

Fierce: "Are you sure? Even Dante almost collapsed last time."

Luna: "If she truly wants to earn the right to stand by our king then she should at least be able to bear the weight of his past. Do it."

Fierce gave a sad sigh before returning to his normal knight form with his eyes glowing a dangerous red, "Be prepared, for once this starts there is no going back" he warned.

Akeno: "I am ready." She said confidently.

Fierce gave another nod and his eyes glowed even brighter and, in a flash, Akeno collapsed.

Luna: "Now then we shall see your true worth. Dante can't deal with anymore pain in his life." She said gravely.

While they were watching her body Akeno was watching Dante's lives, his past and current one, and she now understood what Luna meant, his life was truly hell. His mother was no mother, she treated him like a tool for her own use and advancement, she controlled which school he went to, who he was allowed to talk to, who he was allowed to be friends with, how he was supposed to act, who he could date, she truly controlled him. There was no Dante or Michel, there was only the drone she programed him to be. Akeno almost broke when she had to watch as his mother beat him to the point where his had lacerations and bruises all over his chest and back from when she beat him with a club and cut him with knives and whips, but she stood strong. She was relived when she saw him escape his mother and move across the country. Her heart ached when she watched as he fell in love with someone, he chose for the first time, but it was all brought crashing down when he was killed. Her heart almost stopped when that happened. She thought that it was over but was shocked when the seen changed and she watched him be born, she watched as he grew up, when he trained, and she watched the trials. She was shocked that he did all of this as a child. She almost broke once again when she saw the vision during the Trial of the Fierce, she knew that if Dante's mother and former girlfriend were replaced with her mother and Rias then she would have been left broken, but she was amazed when she saw that instead of breaking Dante was angry, angry at his own weakness, she saw his suto-sin devil trigger that was stopped by Rebellion and Yamato. She silently cried when she watched Dante take off in his flight leaving his mother to her fate at the tender age of 9-years-old. She watched him meet Azazel, how he started Devil May Cry and the Devil's Golden Crown. She watched as Dante broke into the labs and saved Kuroka and Koneko, and how he managed to pass it off as Kuroka killing her master so Koneko could be spared, how he trained his whole life. Not to get stronger but to survive in this hellish world that would want to consume him should his lineage be brought to light. Out of all of this she remembers what Dante's mother Eve told him, "Remember Dante, you are the son of Sparda and Eve Grood, you are not a monster nor an abomination, you are our miracle." When she finally woke up, she was still silently crying, 'To think that I thought losing my mother was bad. Compared to him I am nothing, compared to his pain losing my mother was nothing.' Looking at Luna she asks one question,

Akeno: "How? How does he still smile when he was experienced so much pain?"

Luna gives a sad smile.

Luna: "That is Dante, no matter the situation he will always charge in headfirst with a smirk and a kind heart. In his old like there was an old saying:

The loneliest people are the kindest,

The saddest people smile the brightest,

The most damaged people are the wisest,

All because they do not wish to see other people suffer that way they do.

I believe Dante is the perfect example of this. This is why we had to test you because we couldn't dare let Dante get hurt again, I honestly don't know how much pain Dante can truly take before something else inside him breaks, I had to make sure you weren't on the list of possible pains. I am sorry for this and if you truly don't want to be with him after this, I will simply wipe away Dante's past and have him break up with you saying that his work wouldn't allow your relationship. Do you still want to be with him? Can you help shoulder his pain?"

Akeno looks Luna dead in the eyes for a long time and says with conviction,

Akeno: "I will help shoulder his burdens, because I truly love him, thank you for letting me know his greatest secret." Akeno stands up but never breaks eye contact with Luna before giving a faithful and thankful bow.

Luna gives a nod and her expression softens, "No, thank you. Because of you he can now have someone real to depend on, and he can do it without restraint."