Imitation
12/8/20233 min read
Dean
Dean hunted devils. It was his job. When folks had a devil problem, they called Dean. Should Dean accept the job based on the presumed difficulty and payment, along with personal interest, he would arrive with his magic sword and slay the target. Sometimes there would be devilish acolytes, humans who had made themselves allies to devils, who would stand along with the devil or devils Dean had come to put down. Dean would often have little choice but to use his magic sword against them as well.
Sometimes a devil or a devil worshiper would come to Dean’s office of their own accord, seeking vengeance or reparations for those he had killed in the past. Of course, Dean would slay those as well, even though there was rarely any pay involved. It’s self-preservation. One cannot continue to bring order and justice to the world if one is dead or injured. Dean’s own personal safety presided above all else.
Had Dean allowed innocent humans, bystanders to devil incidents, to be harmed when his own survival necessitated it? A few times, certainly, but it was for the greater good. Dean calculated that for every person he deemed unable to be protected while preserving himself, he would be saving several more in return by continuing to be the devil hunter that civil society needed. Without Dean patrolling the streets, being proactive in searching for devils and devilish activity, those devils would continue to haunt and kill even more innocent people.
Eventually, the number of devils and devil allies attacking Dean started taking all his time. He no longer had the availability to take calls to slay a devil or to patrol for devilishness himself. He fought and fought and fought to save himself, and the number of bodies piling against him grew and grew and grew.
Noel
Noel was a cop. As a child, he always liked reading stories of Dean the Devil Hunter, or watching the animated TV series adapted from the comic books, which were themselves a take on an old series of novels from the 19th century. As a young adult, he also liked the live action movies that were made to cash in on the nostalgia people his age had for the cartoon. They were criticized for their overreliance on VFX and easter eggs meant to titillate fans and drive up hype for future installments and merchandise sales, but they managed to turn a profit in the box office for the majority of its 6-film run. Noel was now even looking forward to the upcoming prestige TV version set to be released on HBO, except actually it’s just called Max now.
Some people in Noel’s life didn’t approve of him being a police officer. Some of his friends had cut ties with him. Some of his extended family avoided him at holiday gatherings. His wife had divorced him. When he was at home during his time off, he would take his mind off things by playing Devil Hunter Dean: Retribution. It was the latest video game in his favorite media franchise - a follow-up to Devil Hunter Dean: Resurgence. That one was the first game in the series in quite some time. Noel liked that one too because it reminded him of playing Devil Hunters Never Cry as a child after he first got into Dean the Devil Hunter.
While on patrol, Noel was involved in a shooting that resulted in the death of an unarmed suspect. An internal investigation determined that Noel was within his rights to discharge his weapon as he deemed the situation to be a threat to his safety. While he was on paid leave after the incident, footage of the shooting taken from his body cam was leaked online. It showed Noel checking his phone moments after killing the suspect, with Dean the Devil Hunter on his lock screen. Protesters in front of the police station now called for Noel to be fired. In the comments under the video, people pointed out that Dean the Devil Hunter was an inherently racist story.