#Post DMC5 AU FanFiction

[skvaderarts]

Petrichor Chapter 37: Gone

Chapter 37: Gone

Note: Happy first chapter of the year, everyone! Sorry for all the delays and thank you for bearing with me during my difficulties. I’m still recovering, so it’s just one chapter every Friday for the time being, but my fingers are feeling much better. Just a bit sore now. Anyway, enjoy the chapter! And thank you for all your well wishes. I haven’t responded to them just yet, but I do see them and they make me smile. I’m working on getting to them soon! Enjoy this slightly longer chapter to kick off the new year!

(-~-)

He had returned home on time, just like he’d promised. And what awaited him was hell itself.

A sinking, empty feeling overtook him as he stood in the doorway to what had once been their living room, his eyes lingering on the furniture that had been overturned and the broken items thrown about the place, subconsciously acknowledging them but not paying much attention to them. He was unable to process or feel anything about the destruction of the space he was so used to seeing in otherwise pristine condition, his mind lingering on the only thing of consequence at the moment.

Where was she?

He walked through the room, scanning his surroundings for any trace of her. And although he did this at a relatively standard speed, the racing of his heart that his face did not portray and the unmitigable dread that he felt overtaking him both slowed his perception of time and accelerated his fear until it became all-encompassing. Suffocating. Crushing.

He made his way into the kitchen where he saw it: blood. A trail of it on the floor as though something had been dragged from the carpet through the doorway and into the kitchen. It wasn’t enough to soak the carpet, but it was enough to warrant replacing it altogether in lieu of trying to clean it. Far too great of a quantity for his liking. He passed the threshold of the doorway and stepped into the kitchen where he found something that he did not entirely expect. A humanoid demon, laying face down on the floor dead with a long metal object stuck through its chest that now protruded through its back. He peeped back into the living room, his pulse racing faster now than ever. It appeared that his observation that one of the fire pokers was missing had not missed the mark.

She had not gone down without a fight. The important question now was… where had she disappeared to? The blood in the kitchen could largely be attributed to the dead demon, but he smelled more than one source, and to his utter dismay, a portion of that was hers. He just couldn’t be certain how large of a portion thanks to the sheer quantity involved and the overwhelmingly pungent aroma of decaying demon blood. It didn’t have the coppery scent of human blood. No, it reeked of decay. Rot. inhumanity. An indication if not a dead giveaway to its composition. A contrast to its normally inoffensive scent.

A glance out of the back door into the small backyard revealed nothing in much the same way as his trip of the stairs to check each of the bedrooms yielded much the same result. It seemed that aside from some blood smeared down the walls and floors and another dead demon nearest to the door to the master bedroom, there was simply no trace of her. A thorough inspection revealed that the only untouched room in the entire house was the nursery, something that he might have recognized as morbidly ironic, if not even darkly amusing if not for the circumstances and the personal stakes involved.

But after a thorough search of the premises revealed nothing, he found himself walking slowly and silently back down the stairs, paying no mind to the broken banister as he slumped down onto the stairs at the bottom, the entire weight of the world nearly crushing him as he found himself sitting there, his neck and chin cupped in his hands and he allowed Yamato to slide out of his grip and onto the steps beside him, the bottom of the sheath actually touching the floor. A rare occurrence that he registered but made no move to remedy. He couldn’t muster the mental energy to prioritize his beloved blade at the moment. Not while this was going on.

“Vivienne… Where are you?”

He knew not who he spoke to, he didn’t know how to answer that question, and he was certain that he wouldn’t like the answer, but his heart suddenly ached for the company of the young woman that he held so dear to his heart. He’d been stabbed before. He’d been brutally assaulted and nearly shredded to pieces. He’d lost those dear to him before. But as he sat there on the steps with the realization that she might be gone forever and that he could sense no traces of her anywhere in at all, even on the outer fringes of his senses no matter how far he expanded his range, he knew true emptiness. He knew loss. He knew agony.

He would search for them. He had to. It was all that he could do. But a part of them already knew that they were lost to him. He was simply going through the motions like he always did, unable to face the truth of the cards he’d been dealt. He always drew the worst hand. He should have known better than to get her involved. What horrors she must have endured during her last moments. What brutality she might still be enduring elsewhere. What if this had been the devil king’s work? Those demons were not your average run-of-the-mill henchmen. They were humanoid. Advanced. Had Mundus ordered that they take her to the underworld? Did he know about the little one? Had he… 

“No… anything but that… “ He thought to himself as his now empty mind spiraled. He could not think of a worse fate for her to endure. A worse end to her vibrant and beautiful life. Vergil could hardly fathom the depths of her suffering or the things that his hated enemy would do to the woman who dared bear his child. For the first time in recent memory, he felt visceral anger, hate, disgust, and misery mix into one potent cocktail of apathetic sickness. They were lost to him. It was a fact that he somehow knew deep in his soul.

How… how was he supposed to go on without them? He would think about this as he searched. And he would search everywhere. He had to. It was the very least that he owed her. Wherever that path lead him. Even if he had to open the gates of hell themselves, he would. And if he could not find them he would upturn the Earth itself in vengeance. How foolish these human emotions were to lead him down such a foolish path. To let him think that he could be happy. To convince him that he was strong enough to protect anything and that he was worthy of love. Where love had once been there was only emptiness. A void. And he did not know how to fill it. But he would spill the blood of those who had dared cross him. Who had dared hurt her. Who had thought foolishly that they could take from him the only ones he loved.

He would have his answers. He would know revenge. And as he stood up from his place on the stairs and grasped Yamato, throwing open the door to what had once been their home and slamming it behind him as he left it forever, he felt the setting sun sting in his waterlogged eyes. His was a divine hate for whatever force had taken her from him. He had nothing left. Nothing but his task. Nothing but his vengeance. And he would know satisfaction. She would know justice.

Vergil would become strong enough to make sure that this would never happen again. He would never dare love again. And he would never again be made a victim of his human heart. He would become strong enough to protect himself. To defeat anything. He would internalize his hatred and allow it to become the barrier that blocked out all else. To become the icy barrier that held back the storm. He had a single-minded focus now, and if he could not find them, then hell protect those who had stolen from him the only thing he had left to fight for. The only thing he’d ever wanted to protect. The only one he’d ever loved in that way.

He felt an icy tingle flow through his body as he triggered and, in a flash, disappeared through a portal cut through the fabric for reality itself with his blade, the ruins of what had once been behind him. Whatever the outcome, this would be the end of his weakness. The end of his humanity. The end of hope. The end of love.

(-~-)

Dante looked at his twin brother as he simply sat there on the other side of the table, his mind a thousand miles away. So much more made sense about him now than never had. He… he felt like he’d come to understand Vergil more during the conversation they’d shared that day than he ever had up until then, at least all at once. 

Over the years and through a lot of introspection as he’d grown out of his teen years he’d been able to sympathize more with his older twin than he’d had the capacity for when he’d been younger, but it was these moments when Vergil opened up to him… when they allowed themselves even the slightest vulnerability with one another that he felt them truly connect. And even if it felt like a knife slowly being plunged into their hearts the majority of the time, he wouldn’t back down from the challenge or wish for an easier way out. It wasn’t like the silence between them and their previous feelings towards one another for the majority of their lives had been painless, anyway. At least this way they were making progress. Or, at least Dante thought so. He liked to imagine they were, at least.

“So you came back and she was just… gone?” There was an emotion in Dante’s tone that was hard to distinguish, but he seemed to truly be trying to put himself in his older twin’s shoes in an attempt to comprehend the sorrow that his brother had felt that day. The very thought of imagining what he’d lost and how sudden it had been. And the not knowing. Not knowing what had happened to her. And V… thinking that he’d forever lost the opportunity to know his child… And they’d been so close. So very close to the actualization of everything they wanted. No wonder he’d been so unreachable during their clash atop the tower. Not that he’d exactly tried to talk things out and really reach him until the very end, anyway. One of his own life’s biggest regrets. They’d both had something profound to keep them awake at night.

“Yes. And the quantity of blood did not leave me with an abundance of confidence. Nor did the broken furniture. Or the claw marks.” He spoke quietly as though raising his voice would invoke some otherworldly force. “... It was clear that there had been more demons there at one point than what I found. I can only imagine with the gift of hindsight that they must have pursued her. I still do not know how she managed to escape her fate but… I am grateful that she did.”

Dante didn’t doubt that for a second. He had to admit that he himself shared that sentiment. Not just for his brother’s sake, but for hers and for V. He would have never been granted the chance to meet him and to know him as he did now if she’d died that day. And would his brother even be here now to have this conversation with, if not for the actions that V had taken decades later? Would he have ever known Trish and Lady? How much would be different if they had ventured down different paths and never known it? The possibilities were staggering and admittedly somewhat existentially horrifying.

“Any idea who they were or how they got in? I mean, besides obviously being demons”

“That much was clear from the offset, yes. I could tell just from the smell of the blood alone. Some of it was her’s, but I couldn’t determine what percentage due to the sheer volume. I can only assume they were tracking me on behalf of Mundus and happened upon her since she was more or less the nexus of all of my activity at the time.” A look of displeasure crossed the Darkslayer’s face. He was no doubt considering the folly of his past again. Perhaps thinking about what he could have done differently to change that outcome. Dante wondered to himself if that was a fatal flaw that his brother possessed that he would ever outgrow: his inability to not blame himself for every negative outcome and to see that there were simply some things that he could not fix. That he could not account for. That were uncontrollable. He didn’t expect him to enjoy that fact, but he wondered if he would ever come to accept that. 

Something told him that he wouldn’t.

“You figured that they took her. I gathered that much.” Dante added to his brother’s conclusion. Everything else he’d said made perfect sense. It seemed that they were on the same page for once, in this regard. They had probably been looking for Vergil and she’s simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Poor Vivienne…

Vergil fell silent for a long while, closing his eyes as he exhaled a long breath. He almost seemed to tremble as he did so, Dante understanding that hearing those words spoken out loud still brought with them immense sorrow. And the way that Vergil swallowed and opened his mouth to speak only to close it again before shifting uncomfortably in his seat spoke volumes. “I did not wish to come to that conclusion, but after searching for the better part of a week with no trace of her for hundreds of miles around, that was the only answer. But it seems I was incorrect.”

“What… what did you do after that?” Dante asked carefully, fully aware of the fact that he was treading on cracked ice. Probing for details when it came to something like this was a good way to get Vergil to stop talking altogether. He only hoped that he wasn’t pushing him too far.

“Come again?” The Darkslayer asked, his mind elsewhere for a moment. He’d heard what Dante had just said, but he hadn’t really comprehended it.

“When you stopped looking. I’m sure that was a hard decision to make but… What did you do after that?” Dante wasn’t sure if he’d struck, a nerve or his brother had simply checked out during their conversation, but understandable his mind seemed to be elsewhere. He hoped that he wasn’t lingering on his past. There didn’t seem to be any peace there. Only pain.

“I needed to distract myself from my grief. It… consumed me. Utterly and completely. My decision to stop looking for them was perhaps the hardest thing ever done. No amount of time felt like enough, and nothing short of that felt like too little. It would never have been sufficient. I was fighting a losing battle in every aspect possible and I was utterly and completely lost.” Vergil admitted, looking down as a heavy sadness washed over him. He was lingering in it; living in it again fully for the first time in a very long while. And it was just as utterly saturating as it had always been. And for so long he’d felt that he deserved to feel this forever. His personal penance for his failure. He did not deserve happiness, so it was unavailable to him. He did not deserve love so it was forever lost to him. “So I left and followed the lead that had cost me so dearly. That I had pursued despite everything telling me it was foolish. It was the only thing that I could do. And that led me to Fortuna. And eventually to our first encounter sometime after that.”

“Guess that explains… well, a lot, actually. Now the cold silence makes more sense. You weren’t in a talking mood, and now I know why.” Dante said with a nod, more to himself than to his older twin. Neither of them had been, but for entirely different reasons. So many of his brother’s words made so much more sense to him now. He’d been grieving everyone he’d ever loved, and the only person who had survived, the only person he’d had left, had been his younger twin. The younger twin who had told him to his face that he didn’t like him. He… he wished he could take that back. He was willing to bet that he’d already assumed that, but hearing it had probably forced him to internalize it. And why had he said it in the first place? Just to hurt him? Had they both just been that petty back then?

He… He loved Vergil. They were brothers. He might not speak the words, but it was true.

“Among other reasons, yes. You have arrived at the general vicinity of the answer to your lingering question.” Vergil said almost too offhandedly. Perhaps this was a road he didn’t want to go down, either. And then something occurred to Dante that hadn’t previously.

“You said you went to Fortuna. That end how I think it does?” Dante asked, genuinely curious. To say that he knew nothing of what had happened in that place would be a vast understatement. He genuinely wondered what all had occurred there. After all, Nero was proof enough that something of note had transpired there. “Anything noteworthy happen while you were there?”

“If you’re insinuating anything with regards to Nero’s conception, then yes. I assume.”

“That another bad story?” Dante said before registering the last two words that his brother had said. And then he remembered his offhand joke about Vergil’s awful memory atop the Qliphoth. Had he actually been onto something? “Wait, you assume? You… you really don’t remember. I thought that you were being sarcastic.”

“Surprisingly, no. That isn’t a negative experience. Although I must admit that it started as one. I was looking for a distraction. It… It was his predicted due date and I desperately wanted to not think about that.” Vergil looked up at the clock on the wall of the diner and Dante’s eyes followed his gaze to it. They’d been here for about two hours now. This had to be the longest single sitting of conversation between them in perhaps their entire lives. It was a good thing that they’d started the day out so early. But he didn’t regret that. “And as for remembering… much of what I do and do not have the capacity to recall is dictated by my time as that… thing. Everything is hazy and fragmented. I recall pieces of many things, but not their order. Mundus made sure of that.”

“I see.” Dante lingered on the clock for a moment, his eyes drifting back to Vergil after he realized how late it was getting. They weren’t exactly in a hurry, but he wondered if his older brother had noticed that. He’d looked at the clock a few minutes ago, after all. “Getting late, hu? Don’t have time for that one?”

Vergil looked over at him, an almost amused smirk threatening to make itself known as his eyebrow crooked slightly in spite of it all. “I distinctly remember you indicating back in Redgrave City that you were uninterested in that story. But I suppose we do have time. If you’ve since reconsidered.”

Dante chuckled to himself as he shook his head. He had said that, hadn’t he? Vergil had him dead to rights in that regard. “Eh, I was just being difficult. Lay it on me.”

“Very well. It was a short affair, but I can only imagine that the details will prove to be… entertaining to you, at the very least.” Vergil leaned back in his seat and gave Dante a serious look. It was clear that whatever he was about to say was no laughing matter. “But.. you will not speak of this to Nero. To anyone or either of them. Not until I have. I owe them that much.”

Dante nodded. His older twin hadn’t needed to tell him that in the first place. He didn’t think that it was right to do something like that, and he was quite certain that Vergil probably knew that, but he clearly still felt the need to say as much. It was simply that important to him. “Deal. Not that I needed telling in the first place, but fine. So what’s the story.”

Vergil chuckled to himself, shaking his head. Now that they were on the same page… “It’s pathetic. Given the circumstances, I fully understand why I let it slip from my memory. But I shall tell you what I remember.”

(-~-)

Well, this conversation was one heck of a roller coaster! I hope you liked it! I’m typing this as the guy from the internet company is pulling into the parking lot to see whats going on with my wifi. Fingers crossed it’s not the wiring! See you in the comments and next week on Friday! I hope you liked it! Bye bye!

[eastonia-blog]

I’m going to do a weird.

I know a whole lot of us are stuck at home due to the COVID19 outbreak and all our respective governments attempting to flatten the curve. So I’m going to break out my VAST library of fanfiction recommendations for you to read! Please bear in mind that my tastes in fics are not necessarily like yours so the following 15 Fandom reccs might be hit or miss. All ships and above T ratings will be tagged with brackets, all crossovers will be mentioned in those same brackets. Also, if I mention it’s part of a series, I’m not just recommending the fic I mentioned, I’m recommending the whole series. I’ve tried to recommend a different author’s fic each time. So! Let’s start with the 3 fandoms I mention in my blog description.

1) ATLA Fate Deferred (Zutara) Aang remains in the iceberg ten years longer. Sozin’s comet comes, the world keeps turning with no Avatar to save it, and by the time he’s finally found by a waterbender and her Fire Nation husband, a lot has changed. [Zutara established relationship full series rewrite; Now on Book II: Earth]  Cheating at Pai Sho (Canon Divergence) “You said you were the Avatar!” “…I lied?” Aang doesn’t get rescued in episode two, and no one’s seen him go glowy yet… so he starts bluffing. Hard. Or: “The Avatar joins Zuko’s quest to find the Avatar.” In which Zuko doesn’t join the Gaang, the Gaang joins Zuko.  The Undying Fire: Blood and Fire (First in the Undying Fire Series, eventual Zutara) Book 1. In which rescuing the Avatar from Pohuai Stronghold doesn’t end so well. It’s a tough life being a banished prince trying to get home, especially when the Avatar just wants to be your friend and keeps making everything confusing. Oh, and did Zuko mention he somehow healed the kid? Yeah, that happened. Stalking Zuko (First in the Stalking Zuko Series, eventual Zutara) Katara has developed a new hobby. At the Western Air Temple she takes to stalking Zuko. Much silliness and shenanigans follow. In chapter 20: Katara and Zuko return home to the others. Katara hates the F word and she comes to a decision regarding Zuko.  Embers (Canon divergence) Dragon’s fire is not so easily extinguished; when Zuko rediscovers a lost firebending technique, shifting flames can shift the world…  2) Percy Jackson and the Olympians The Father (Percabeth in the GFFA, eventual Anidala) It all started with a wish, but because it was Percy Jackson it couldn’t have been a friendly goddess granting him a wish. No, it had to be Nemesis, goddess of revenge and balance. Now Percy and Annabeth are stuck in a strange new galaxy right when an ancient and powerful darkness finally begins to stir.  Glass Figures (MCU Mashup) I lifted my gun, pointing it towards the minefield of shattered fragments, and kicked the small coffee table out of the way.Only to stare down at an awfully familiar face, which split into a somewhat lopsided grin. The intruder raised his hands in a mocking surrender. //“Long time no see, dude.” //I lowered the gun. “What the hell are you doing in South Peru?” //Or in which Clint Barton and Percy Jackson have a long personal history that starts in high school. All Together, Cousins (Canon divergence) When Thalia ran away with her toddler brother, Jason, she slowly gathered her cousins: she and her cousins being Big Three children. As Jason gets older and their motley group expands to six, Thalia resigns herself to the fact that she won’t always be the leader of the pack. As she accepts that, something more is coming, able to challenge even the gods above. A Crown of Golden Leaves (Historical AU) Annabeth, a Lady from the declining polis of Athens, must marry the Heir Apparent of Rome to save the rapidly expanding world from a threat even the gods couldn’t foresee.  Deluge (Percy in the Arrowverse) Barry has to deal with yet another Metahuman that Zoom has pitted against him. But this ‘Metahuman’ is an unwilling pawn in Zoom’s plan and really wants to find a way around killing the Scarlet Speester. But how can he when Zoom is holding something against him? 

3) DC Firework (First in the Sparks in the Dark Series) Orphaned and removed from the only life he’s ever known, Dick feels like there’s no light left for him in the world. His new benefactor, however, still sees something worth saving… Chronological beginning of the Spark in the Dark series.   Iron, Fire, Mirror-Glass After a brutal confrontation with Bane, Bruce comes away with a broken spine and the certainty that his days as Batman are over. An unexpected discovery offers him another chance—but at what price? The story of a man who risks his soul for the sake of his mission, the dangerous creature he names Robin, and the unlikely partnership that will shape the legend of Gotham’s Dark Knight.  Get Back Up There was a mole, one who played a long game. The team was betrayed, crushed. Robin nearly died. What are they going to do now? Only one chirped the answer. Get back up. WARNING: lots of talking, little action, many follow ups  Five Times …Five times Damian thought of Dick Grayson as his father, and the one time Dick thought of Damian as his son. Future-fic. YJ characters will show up later. Batman!Dick and Damian as Robin. With guest appearances from Jason, Tim, Cass, and Steph.  Unveiling the Mystery Series of one-shots about the team learning a little about Robin (Dick Grayson).   With all the fics, I heavily suggest you also read what else these authors have to offer in their archive.

And now here’s the plethora of other fandoms I read fics in under the cut!

4) Harry Potter The Horse (Mature) Looking after a Muggle animal should be easy compared to saving Hogwarts from Voldemort. Harry and Draco might disagree with that. Featuring Luna, Marauders, peppermints and, of course, a tall, black, badtempered horse named Simon. The Potions Master’s Nephew An accident occurs and Professor Snape finds himself trapped in his fifteen-year-old body. Enrolled into Harry Potter’s fifth year, he is forced to hide his true identity. Girls, drama and teenage angst do not bode well with Severus. Keeping Up with the Grangers (Dramione, Mature) Mr. Malfoy, I invite you and your mother to tea next Tuesday, May 25th at 2o’clock to discuss recent events. Dr. Helen Granger //…  …// He glances at the boxy too-uniform numbers flashing on the face of Richard’s radio. It’s nearly noon, and he should be getting ready to leave; but there is still a harsh tension in his shoulders and neck that he wants to work out before Hermione finds him. It is, after all, Tuesday; and while his Tuesdays were designated ‘tea with Helen’ days previously, they are now ‘lunch with Granger’ days, ever since the chance meet-up with the Weasel’s wife and the insufferable swot herself. Faceless (Dramione, Mature) New year. New love. New threat. A powerful enemy is on the rise, and Hermione Granger finds herself intertwined in a relationship with Draco Malfoy – only she doesn’t know it’s him. / / RUNNER-UP: Enchanted Awards Summer 2017 for Best Relationship Development 

5) Devil May Cry And the Rest is Silence (Mature) The destruction of the Saviour wasn’t the end. Too many people had too much invested.  An Uncle’s Thoughts Dante’s thoughts and feelings regarding one particular quarter-demon kid. Vignettes that span from the start of Devil May Cry 4 through Devil May Cry 5, and beyond. Fortuna’s Fool Events after DMC5 with flashbacks to the events we briefly see in DMC4SE only with Vergil telling Dante all about Nero’s mother. Family ties are so complicated, aren’t they? Family of Happenstance Some orphans have happy endings, getting adopted or finding their family. Having a demon slaying half devil for a father tends to throw a tiny monkey wrench in the process. AU Father!Dante, Son!Nero. Rated because hunters don’t exactly have clean mouths.     

6) Power Rangers (Focus on Might Morphin’ and Dino Thunder teams) Of Love and Bunnies Set just after Dino Thunder. When Angel Grove announces another Power Rangers Day, Tommy takes the Dino Rangers to Angel Grove for a reunion with the original team… including Kimberly. TommyKim, JasonTrini, KiraTrent. The Reason (Part 1 of eclyptyk neo‘s Dino Thunder AU) COMPLETED. DT. AU. Years go by as Tommy Oliver becomes accustomed to his job as a teacher. A person from his past returns. The new ranger team grows interested in its outcome. How will these new changes between rangers young and old be? Sequel: Ordinary World Change of Hearts (Wild Force)   PRWF: When Jindrax and Toxica set out to find themselves, they had no idea that their greatest adventure was only beginning. Chronology Conundrum DT/MMPR - After a strange mutation is released in Reefside, the five Dino Thunder Ranges find themselves thrown back into the past, circa 1995 Angel Grove. Somehow, they have to figure out how to make it back to their present without destroying it or themselves. And if they succeed, they must navigate the consequences of their actions in the past, while still protecting Reefside. 7) Merlin (Mergana leaning) The Other Version of Events What if Merlin and Arthur had met when they were children? What if a mysterious illness fell over Ealdor and Merlin was blamed? What if Arthur had actually felt sorry for him? What if destiny was thrown at them in a whole new way? AU, no slash, Bromance, A/G M/M… You get the idea.  Flipping the Coin, Part 2 of Coins (2nd story in the Coins Sage but 1st multichapter) Merlin and Gwaine are sent on an adventure to discover their past and stay one step ahead of Morgana. Fearing for them, Arthur and the other knights set out to find them, but soon discover much more than they bargained for. Alt version Season 5. Sequel to “Two Sides of the Coin” Angst, Adventure, BAMF, Bromance, Redemption, Twists on Arthurian Legends.  The King’s Legacy “I hope you are rolling in your grave brother, I will find your son, and I hope he is like you. I will ruin him and gain a lovely weapon in the process.” Cenred spat on the grave, “I win Balinor.” .Sequel posted.  The Warlock’s Quickening (First in the Albion Cycle) Merlin might have come to Camelot to master his magic, not to end the Purge, but he’s not going to sit idly by while his kin suffer. Oh no. Whether it’s releasing a chained dragon, smuggling sorcerers out of the city, or trying to change Arthur’s mind, he’s fighting back. Now. Series rewrite beginning after 1X02 featuring Proactive!Merlin. AU. 

8) Dragon Ball Under the Radar (Gohan/Videl) Gohan is living life as a secret superhero, but Videl is making it her business to find him out! How will Gohan manage her and Saiyan hormones? Will he fess up? Or will he try to live his life -puts on sunglasses- “Under the Radar”? *applause* Thank you! Thank you! And GOODNIGHT! G/V obviously. Rated T because adult situations and language in later chapters. COMPLETE! Golden God (Mature) To save the lives of millions, Gohan is forced to expose himself as a Super Saiyan, proving that his tricks are indeed very real. And it drives the whole world to insanity. Warning; becomes a little graphic goes as it on. Walking Towards the Sunset Bardock’s curse sends him to a mysterious place where weaklings are abundant and an odd trio claim to be his family. Eventually giving in, he stays with them to discover that Earth is more unlucky than Planet Vegeta. Impatiently waiting for his son’s arrival, Bardock has to survive a new life with his estranged family and a certain girl set on finding the truth. (Saiyaman-Buu Saga) Plus One (Gohan/Videl, Mature) Tired of being pursued by the gold-digging, glory-seeking, Satan obsessed freaks of the world, Videl will resort to the only method open to a celebrity like her to find Mr. Right. 9) Sailor Moon (Mainly SenshiShitennou) The Crystal Age (Rewritten) In an alternate version of Season 1, as a result of Beryl’s curse at the end of the Silver Age, Tuxedo Mask and the reincarnated Shitennou are fighting a losing battle to save the city and find the lost princess. Sailor Moon has disappeared, Sailor V is working on her own, and the other Senshi are still just ordinary girls. Sequel to The Silver Age. MxU, SxS. Please R&R. Hooligans It’s after Galaxia and time for University. The Senshi and Mamoru settle into life in Great Britain and meet some old friends. Inner Senshi x Shitennou and Usagi x Mamoru. Modern Timeline. Strong language, crude humour, hilarity and sexual situations abound, be warned, there will be some heavy angst later on too. Never Gone R A single choice can change the course of Fate: a choice, say, like waking up on time. If that choice were made, Chiba Mamoru would never meet Tsukino Usagi; but, he WOULD meet Unami Seiya and the burden of Terra’s future would fall onto his shoulders. Never Gone AU. The Dinner Hour (Part of The Dinner Series) It can be hard to be patient in the face of eternity. But good things come to those who search and refuse to give up on their dreams. R/J. (Sequels: Dinner And Again, Dinner at Last completed!)

10) Les Miserables (Warning: Enjonine ahead) When Apollo Met Persephone (1st of the 1830s AU) The revolution, or at least the first part of it succeeds. Enjolras confronts political and personal realities. Eponine is suddenly faced with more opportunities than she ever thought. Can they guide each other in a world that needs them as much as they need it? Les Choses Qui Sont Arrivées Après “You must flee Paris at once.” Enjolras and Eponine. The thief and the leader, the marble Apollo and the dark street girl… two wholly different survivors of the Revolution are forced together under a dangerous circumstance. Can they successfully fight their demons as well as each other? Neither of them knows quite what is going on, or what will happen when they figure it out.     Teacher of Man The first time Enjolras and Éponine meet, it is their wedding day. (arranged marriage AU) My Best Friend’s Wedding Éponine Thenardiér always thought that Marius would eventually come back to her, until the wedding invitation came in the mail. Now she is going to do everything that she can to get him back from that blonde tart Cosette. Nothing goes according to plan and even her partner in crime Enjolras is becoming an obstacle. E/E. 11) Naruto Beginnings  Naruto was six years old when he met the man who changed his life. …Now he’s kind of just hoping he survives it.  An Inch of Gold (Part of the Legacy of Fire series) Team 7 is sent on a mission to investigate a disturbance outside of the village, where they encounter an unconscious girl in a crater. The mysterious Sarada insists she’s a shinobi from the Hidden Leaf trying to rescue her teammates. When the team discovers she possesses a Sharingan, things become even more unbelievable. [Part of the Legacy of Fire Series]     Guilt of Innocence Uchiha Sasuke abandoned Konoha in his persute of power to join Orochimaru. However, this was only a cover story. In fact, on Tsunade’s orders, Sasuke is to act as Konoha’s spy within Otogakure. One agreement and his path had changed forever…  Blind (SasuSaku) It was almost time, Orochimaru was going to take his body as a vessel. He hated being used…he refused to be used. With that thought, he took the kunai in his hand and slashed across his eyes.     

12) Legend of Zelda (Zelink) The Conviction to Save The princess is dead. Those are the words being whispered in the streets. A great shudder sweeps across the land of Hyrule as news of its beloved monarch’s passing spreads like wildfire. In the midst of the ensuing chaos, a humble village doctor happens upon the body of a gravely injured young woman on the road. Legend of the Miraculous (Concepts taken from Miraculous Ladybug)   A legend retold through many a tale, but when a darkness resurfaces after so long, Athena and Sheikhan Wolf must return again! Will Link and Zelda be able to combat this threat? and will they figure out each others’ identities? Come inside and take a look! Hit List AU. It all started as a typical day at Ordon High, until a sudden school shooting turns the life of Link Hero upside down. Now, surrounded by enemies, can Link save his friends and escape the school alive? (Edit 10/2015) Counting Stars Link finds himself caught in the middle of an elaborate gang war. Lucky for him, being a B-list superhero makes that predicament a tiny bit easier. / Modern AU ZeLink, inspired by Spider-Man. Under Revision! 13) Hunger Games Vox Libertas Due to things playing out a bit differently in the last few minutes of the Quell, the rescue also goes a bit differently than expected. Now Peeta has the responsibility of representing the Rebellion thrust upon him. No pressure. *AU Mockingjay. Part I of Dandelion in the Storm AU. Mainly Peeta POV.*     Someone To Watch Over Me (Everlark, 1st in the Series) A HG rewrite. What would happen if Peeta was just a little bit bolder, and Katniss a little less emotionally confused? You’d be surprised. Let the Games begin. This is an AU, but I’ve tried to stay as canon as possible. Rated T to be safe.     Enthralled (Everlark, Gadge, Mature) Thrall (þræll), n., a slave or serf in Viking Age Scandinavia. After a successful raid, Gale is rewarded with a slave girl: the Saxon noblewoman Madge. Meanwhile, shieldmaiden Katniss grows closer to captive monk Peeta. Gadge/Everlark historical AU with background Odesta and other pairings.   Katniss, Vampire Slayer (Mature) “Into every generation a slayer is born.” the man droned out slowly, quietly, in a way that made her think he was quoting something. “One girl in all the world. A chosen one. She alone will wield the strength and skill to fight the vampires, demons, and the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their number. She is the Slayer.” //  Haymitch mocked. “One girl in all the world. Ain’t I just lucky it had to be you.” 14) How To Train Your Dragon Becoming Lífþrasir (Hiccstrid) People often wondered what kept Hiccup going during those early years. When that single, most-treasured thing is taken from him, there is little left to keep him on Berk. The day Stoick returns, and the day before the best recruit is finally chosen, Hiccup leaves Berk; little knowing that he would one day return under … strange circumstances. H/A, R/F, rated for violence.     HTTYD Easter Special Sequel to “The Unholy Offspring,” set after the season finale. When Alvin the Treacherous threatens Asgard with a rogue demigod’s help, Hiccup and Berk’s Dragon Riders must prevent an early Ragnorak. It doesn’t help that Alvin has learned to tame dragons, and that the only god that can help Hiccup is a sullen, suspicious boy named Mud. Happy Eos week, Hiccup!     The Blacksmith’s Apprentice (Hiccstrid) AU. Hiccup never took the shot on that fateful night-and the war continued. Three years later, Berk is beset by dragon raids and hostile tribes while the boy who should have saved the island is merely the assistant in the forge. With only Astrid as his friend, fate gives Hiccup one more chance to end the war and become the hero he was meant to be. Hiccstrid. Snap (Hiccstrid, Mature) He was just supposed to fix her back, and she doubted that at first. She definitely didn’t expect to get dragged into the ethics of a girlish crush. Modern AU. 15) Star Wars Double Agent Vader The one where Vader turned double agent for the Rebellion about three years after ROTS, and Leia is now his primary contact with the Rebellion. Or,  a man attempts to escape slavery by turning into one of his culture heroes, teaching his daughter how to do magic, killing people, and flower arranging. A New History During a heated battle, Dooku escaped into the past! Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker follow to stop him, but discover that Dooku went to the past where Obi-Wan is a young padawan to a very much alive Qui-Gon Jinn. Now, the two must go undercover to stop Dooku’s plans from coming to fruition in order to save not only the future, but also young Obi-Wan Kenobi and Qui-Gon Jinn. Pulse AU for ROTS. As Padme’s life hangs in the balance on Mustafar, a stream of brilliant light causes Anakin to reconsider his choices. Jedi Shmi AU Shmi leaves Tatooine with Anakin and goes to the Jedi Temple.

[skvaderarts]

Saudade Chapter 16: Corporate Conniptions

The Masterlist is HERE!

Chapter Sixteen: Corporate Conniptions

Note: I whipped this one up for all of you on short notice since it’s supposed to rain and my power goes out every time it rains. The weather has been weird this week.

(-~-)

In truth, being invited to a party wasn't remotely on the young summoner's agenda.

He'd been approached out of the blue by Sirrus, the red-haired man citing that his original party companion had canceled at the last minute due to needing to cover for someone in a different department. As such, he didn't have any co-workers to hang out with that he actually liked at the company party. 

He required a replacement. And V was perfect.

He'd been more than a little skeptical at first, not eager to spend the evening at a corporate event, but understanding precisely why his friend didn't want to go alone. Everyone there worked for the same organization that Sirrus did, and as such, work would be the main speaking topic. Sirrus clearly needed a break from all that, even if he was still willing to (or perhaps being metaphorically held at gunpoint to) attend the party.

And so he'd agreed to go. To accompany his friend to this drab, formal corporate shindig. And it had been fine initially. A few people had shown interest in him initially, and he'd been able to placate them with a bit of polite conversation. But over time more and more people had approached, fascinated by the tattooed man with the white hair. To say he stood out would be an understatement, even if he was dressed just as nicely as everyone else courtesy of a few articles of clothing that Sirrus had procured for him at the last minute from who knew where. But everything from his demeanor to his manner of dress and his general appearance made it clear that he was not one of them. And being the unintentional center of attention and the main topic of conversation had quickly worn on him, especially after Sirrus had been forced to step away for a moment to answer an important phone call.

The event in its entirety had taken its toll on him and not wanting to disrupt the evening, he'd excused himself to go to the bathroom. But after he'd left the restroom, he'd gone to the closet to grab his coat in an attempt to combat the overly air-conditioned building that they were in and he’d decided to remain there. In the coat closet, far from the hustle and bustle of the rest of the building. 

Before long, however, the door opened. An inevitability, to be sure. It was a coat closet, after all. But fortunately, V recognized the face of the man who had interrupted his peaceful reprieve. As the door slid open a mess of red hair and a set of piercing gray eyes had coming to focus. And his friend had clearly been perplexed to see what they found.

V sat on the floor among the hanging clothes, slightly off to one corner but not hidden entirely. The partially opened door allowed light to cascade in from elsewhere in the room, contrasting the total darkness that had previously enveloped the closet. He looked ever so slightly surprised to see him, but not at all surprised that someone had opened the door.

He didn't move a muscle as Sirrus regarded him with bemusement. Was he hoping that if he sat still enough he wouldn't be noticed? The adjudicator hadn't expected to find him in here, but he had noticed that he had disappeared from the main hall about 15 minutes prior. 

Upon closer inspection Sirrus noted that he'd removed his overcoat and neatly folded it, the article now sitting in his lap with his hands folded over top of it. Conversely, he'd unbuttoned the upper third of the dress shirt he'd had on, seemingly strangled by it. He'd also undone the cufflinks he’d been wearing previously, seemingly set off kilter by something and how more haggard than the red-haired man could quantify just by assumption. 

What was going on here?

“What are you doing in here?” Sirrus asked pleasantly, a small, gentle smile spreading across his face. He knew that his companion was something of a wallflower, but he looked utterly spent and exhausted. Had something happened in the brief time that he'd been away?

“Hiding,” he answered simply, looking up at him. It was a good question, to be sure. And it had been one that he'd expected to be asked should someone stumble upon him. He was glad that it had been his friend to do both.

Sirrus opened the closet door a little bit wider and stepped inside, leaving it cracked as he stepped inside and leaned against the door frame. He allowed his arms to go slack as he closed his eyes and exhaled slowly, reveling in how quiet it was in here. He hadn’t noticed how loud the party had been until now. No wonder V had fled for the hills.

“Too many people, I take it?” He asked, already knowing the answer to that question. It felt like half of the organization had to be at the party even though the majority of them probably had a thousand better things to do than spend their free time back at work. And V didn’t know a single one of them save for the red-haired adjudicator. Talk about being dropped directly into the deep end with no lifelines.

“People and noise. Too many people I don't know attempting to strike up conversations I don't feel like having and have no interest in the content and context of.” V admitted earnestly. Mingling wasn’t his strong suit, but he’d just discovered that office politics made him physically ill. “I became overwhelmed.”

“Understandable,” Sirrus said with a soft chuckle. He didn’t enjoy office gossip, either. He was friendly with his co-workers and didn’t have any notable qualms with the vast majority of them, but that was admittedly partially because none of them were crazy enough to cross a man with more seniority at the company than years that the majority of them had spent being alive. On top of that Sirrus didn’t have any skeletons in his professional closet that they could use against him in their hypothetical schemes of corporate espionage, so they just left him to their own devices and interacted only when they actually needed something. Things were polite and purely professional and that was his personal preference, even if it was a bit boring in practice.

V nodded in agreement. But then something occurred to him that he hadn’t thought about until just then .“What brings you to the closet?”

Sirrus shrugged. He didn’t have that much of an explanation if he was being honest. He was just wandering and decided to come and pretend to be busy fiddling with his belongings. Maybe he’d make fake adjustments to his suit for a few minutes so that he had an excuse to have a moment to himself before going back out there for a socially acceptable amount of time. 

“I wanted an excuse to not have to make small talk with the higher-ups for a few minutes.” He admitted nonchalantly. They weren’t unbearable, but he didn’t like feeling like he needed to constantly explain to them what he was doing and what he was working on. When the topic of conversation had drifted there, he’d drifted off to another section of the building. He wasn’t doing this tonight. 

V understood the sentiment, even if he did get the impression that they had different reasons for feeling the way that they did. Sirrus was much more extroverted than he was, but they both had their limits when it came to social interaction. V’s limit just arrived quicker. Much quicker. Perhaps comically so. “Too much noise?”

“I don't like feigning interest in subjects I don't care about almost as much as I hate being needlessly rude to people by not doing that,” Sirrus said with a huff. It was the truth. He didn’t like to be rude, but he also couldn’t care less about what most of the people there were talking about, and he didn’t have much to talk to them about, either. “I'm proficient at it, but it quickly becomes tiring.”

“It does,” V said simply, his mind wandering for a moment. This closet was comfortable enough, but perhaps there was somewhere else that they could have this conversation. Or a different conversation entirely. Somewhere with fewer people and preferably less noise. “... Do you want to take a walk? I don't think we'll be missed.”

Sirrus seemed to consider the proposition for a minute or so before stepping away from the wall of the coat closet and opening the door. He peered down the hallway and into the main room where the party was taking place. He assessed something silently before turning partially back to V and extending his hand to him, offering to help him up from his position down on the floor.

“I don't, either.” He said with a smile as his companion used him as a counterweight to stand up, adjusting his back as he stretched and yawned. Sirrus chuckled to himself as he watched V attempt to fix his cuffs before calling it quits and just grabbing his coat out of the closet. If he couldn’t fix it then he could cover it up. It wouldn’t matter regardless. The aim was to get away from prying eyes, anyway. 

“Let’s get out of here. I could use the fresh air. We're already in the closet.” V said as he stepped out of the closet, holding it open as he grasped Sirrus’s coat, a relieved, slightly tired smile on his face. Oh, thank goodness. Peace and quiet for a little while. They could both use that. “You might as well grab our coats. It's chilly out there.”

(-~-)

This was a fun little chapter, I think! My original goal was to update Petrichor next week, so I’m currently working on finishing it up but I have a doctor's appointment this weekend that’s gonna take up some of my writing time. So my plan is this: The next chapter of Petrichor has a planned release date of August 23rd, 2024! It’s been a long time coming so I hope you all had a great time reading this chapter and I’ll see you over there in just over 3 weeks! Take care! Bye bye!

[skvaderarts]

Hiraeth Chapter 62: Exploration

Masterlist can be found Here!

Chapter Sixty-Two: Exploration

Note: I'm enjoying getting so many longer chapters in. Feels good!

(-~-)

The temple was comprised of a menagerie of different corridors and rooms, all of which possessing their own highly specific use case or purpose. Intricate engravings and pictographs adorned almost every visible wall, betraying the truly ancient history of such a grand structure. And although none of it was easily understandable to the average person, It was still more than enough to be able to admire and respect the historical contribution that works like these could pose to the people of this kingdom, and to the rest of the world by extension if they knew anything about it. But perhaps it was best that it stayed as it was, guarded and untouched by the people who it belonged to. In an unknown state. While it was true that some history belonged in a museum, was it truly history if the people who created it or took part in it its creation were still protecting it? Still dying for it?

In some places the walls were painted, but most laid bare, the markings adorning them being the only thing that made them stand out as opposed to a simple stone wall. And that was appropriate considering the fact that most of the walls were still bare, a few spots in the process of being worked on seemingly being abandoned part of the way through. Or maybe that was how they were supposed to look? It was hard to say. He was no anthropologist, and he'd never seen anything like this before.

But it's fascinating as all of them was, and is right as Lucia have been when she said that he might appreciate her people's culture more than his brother probably would, the eldest of the Dark Knight Sparda's twin sons have to admit that they were nothing more than a pleasant distraction in the midst of what would otherwise be a complicated and dangerous situation. Well, it would be if Lucia hadn't been there. She seemed to navigate the retrofitted temple with relative ease, whereas he found himself considering routes or options that were ostensibly the worst possible method to get to where they needed to go. 

And that was the other issue: He had no idea where they were going. 

He was so used to what he was looking for being straight ahead of him in one way or another that he hadn't even really considered it. And with nothing in the way of a challenge to do battle against within the walls of the building, he just found himself sort of quietly following along behind her, taking in the sights and attempting to not seem like the fidgety child that he felt like at the moment. 

It had been a while since things had gone this…  smoothly. It wasn't that things had been easy, it was that they had been relatively straightforward. They made sense. And while the cacophonous and winding always reminded him of the demonic tower that he had helped raise so long ago, this was clearly an entirely different set of people in an entirely different setting. Its craftsmanship easily rivaled that of the tower, but there was just something decidedly more exotic about this location. It was almost exciting. A part of him genuinely enjoyed it, at least for the time being. He was still quietly waiting for something to go horribly wrong. But at this point, was that anticipation, or a self-fulfilling prophecy? Were his very thoughts causing him to carry out actions that would lead to the negative outcome that he was imagining, or was he actually that unlucky most of the time? A question for the philosophers.

"Am I to assume that we are headed to an antechamber of sorts?" It was a good guess based on the structure's presumed layout.

Lucia looked back at him, her red hair blowing behind her as a small gust of wind tossed it about. Little shoots had been cut into the sides of the ceilings in some places, allowing air to pass into the chambers without having access to windows of any sort. It was a clever bit of ventilation considering when the building must have been constructed. And it was probably the only way that most demons could get in, which explained why a lot of them were so small and why they had encountered so few of them.

"Correct. Each of the Arcana is kept in a different portion of the temple behind its own unique protections. We're almost to the one that houses the Arcana Spada."

Placing the torch that she had lit when they had entered the structure in a notch in the wall, She fiddled with a slot in the wall nearest to her. Moments later, a sliding door of sorts opened, rolling out of the way and allowing a second door behind it to lift up out of the floor into the ceiling. It was an ingenious bit of engineering, and Vergil was admittedly curious as to how it functioned. Being alive during the period in which many of these sorts of structures had been built must have been interesting. What could they have learned from these long-forgotten civilizations? The technology used to build this structure seem to be leagues ahead of where it should have been at the time, and much could be said about the Temen Ni Gru. Had their dealings with demons allowed them some sort of knowledge in regards to these sorts of matters that he was unaware of? It seemed that technology had taken a massive step backward after the Hellgates had been closed. What an interesting if not unfortunate circumstance.

Following the young guardian into the antechamber that was hidden behind the doors, it occurred to Vergil that unlike seemingly every other structure he vented, this antechamber was actually located off to the side in an innocuous room instead of in a grand hall in the center of the building. It seemed that they had taken a few clues from some other ancient civilizations in that regard.

Nothing specific came to mind, but he could remember some civilizations doing things that were similar to this in a bid to keep grave robbers away. Some even went as far as booby-trapping what would otherwise be the central area of the tomb or temple just to punish those who attempted to actually break-in. A devious plan that he wholeheartedly approved of. At the very least, you should be allowed to have peace and rest undisturbed after death. There was a special place in hell for grave robbers. He should know. He'd probably seen them when he was down there.

"And what is the significance of this specific Arcana? Why would someone steal it? I assume that it is ritualistic in nature? But it has a secondary use, does it not? Something that causes it to stand out in comparison to the others?" He followed her up the steep, well-worn ramp, noting the abundance of colors and pictographs as he hurried along. Everything that he was now seeing was better preserved than the rest of the temple, which was saying something when how well the structure was kept up was taken into consideration.

Obviously taking a moment to consider what he had just asked her, she paused momentarily to looked around the room, torch in hand. She then stepped forward and began to light some of these sconces along the edge of the wall, eliminating a pillar in the center of the structure. What seemed to be a skylight bloomed over them, but it was currently closed by a large stone dome, so there would be no natural light tonight. The structure was interesting and seemed reminiscent of an altar of some sort.

"You are right. The Arcana is special. While the others were contributed by different groups of our people, the blade was contributed by your father. Its composition is different, and I would not be surprised to learn that he had crafted it himself. The materials seem to be demonic, and have properties to match. The same essence, in a way of speaking.” She gestured towards the room they were in. In the center was a pedestal with some sort of intricate holding apparatus. That must have been the blade’s housing apparatus. “My mother might know more about that, but it would be invaluable in a ritualistic setting. I believe that it is no accident that it found its way into your son's body."

Vergil nodded. That made sense to him, unfortunately. Demons were always after artifacts that his father had either helped create or had at one time owned. His wards and spells had a strong hold on much of the demotic world, and as such getting a hold of something that he had created were used to create something else was generally considered a fable use of time. He didn't need to know the precise secondary use case of the blade to know that if it had been created by his father then it should not fall into the hands of the devil prince.

Upon entering the room himself, a wave of what he could only describe as heavy familiarity hit him. If nostalgia had a sensation, it would be this place despite never having stepped within it before today. The feeling that had been outside in the courtyard was amplified by several dozen times in here to the point where it was almost suffocating, and yet he didn't feel threatened by it or even uncomfortable. Lucia seemed to be somewhat puzzled by its presents, wish she was otherwise undisturbed. 

There was no mistaking it: this had his father's influence all over it.

(-~-)

The Ludwig family had acted swiftly upon receiving his phone call, coming to his location with clearly supernatural speed. They had taken the young adjudicator into their care immediately and had insisted upon doing the same with V in order to ascertain the status of his curse. He had taken little consideration as to his own well-being in the adrenaline field panic that he had been in, and both his admittedly minimal injuries and his slowly progressing curse had been put to the wayside for the time being.

It had been decided that they would hold him until the morning. Magnolia and Flora would be returning to his home anyway, so if this was to be the outcome, then he could easily return with them at that point in time. Perhaps they would get lucky and Sirrus would recover by then? It was probably wishful thinking on his part, but he desperately felt the need to do something, anything to help his companion recover. He had done the same for him. It was the least he could do given the circumstances. He didn't like seeing people who were kind to him suffer.

But upon arriving and being seen by a physician, there had been quite the commotion. He hadn't caught the specifics of the details, but it seemed that they were something extraordinary about Sirrus's blood loss that required an extra amount of care and attention to be shown to it. It was something nebulous from what he could tell like a shortage of a certain blood type, or something equally as strange. Whatever the case may be, it seemed that his blood was not compatible with anything that they currently had on hand and that his body's ability to regenerate its own supply had been hindered somewhat. Stabilizing him had been hellish and troublesome, but after something that he had not been able to see clearly had been administered orally in the form of a liquid powder, he had seemingly started to recover although he had not regained consciousness.

In a strange way, it was good to know that he was not the only one who had these sorts of issues. Though he had never experienced that specifically, his friend's extraordinary abnormality made him feel somewhat secure in the knowledge that he might actually not be quite as odd as he thought he'd been all this time. This was going to be quite the story to tell the rest of his family once they all met up. But for now, he would remain at Sirrus's bedside, awaiting the moment that he would awaken so that he could thank him for everything that he had done and to just see if he was alright in general.

For a brief moment in time, he had considered the possibility of asking some of the Ludwig girls with a significance of his gift had been. It was clearly enchanted to some degree, so finding out what the bracelet did specifically was fascinating to him. Still, it was not the time. As soon as Sirrus was doing better, then he could bother with that sort of thing. No, until he awoke he would just sit here and fiddle with it quietly, allowing Shadow and Griffon a much-needed rest. Maybe he would read his book while he himself was attended to by the wonderful young woman that worked in that wing. 

He'd refused to have his injuries treated by what little staff that they had till Sirrus wounds had been brought under control. He wasn't that badly injured, and he couldn't in good conscience sit there and take up viable resources when someone else needed them more. His temporary discomfort was more than warranted as far as he was concerned. And that's how he found himself sitting there being treated in the room next to him, not nearly within range of cross-contamination, but still within the same general vicinity. 

They had put up some sort of protective plastic barrier between them for that exact reason, but it was indeed helpful to help keep things sanitary. A few bandages and a little bit of disinfectant later and he was basically fine. A bit scuffed up and with several bruises that were sore, yes. But he was alive, and although the curse had indeed spread, he only felt slightly weak as a result. He was admittedly just happy to be unharmed for the most part. The fight could have gone much worse. It normally did.

Realizing that he desperately needed to talk to somebody about what had happened, he spared a glance at his resting companion before making the decision that he could temporarily step out of the room. He didn't want to leave long, but he did want to make a phone call, and it would be rude as far as he was concerned to make one inside of the room where he was. And even if he didn't have that issue, there wasn't a phone in here. He'd have to go and get one. Maybe he should buy one?

Quietly standing and hoping that the chair he was sitting on didn't creak as he did so, he made his way over to the door, opening it and stepping through before closing it quietly behind him in a manner so slow that he wasn't entirely sure that it was necessary. He then looked up and down the hall, wondering if there was one on a table in the breezeway or something. He didn't actually know if they really had a lot of phones in this house. It was lucky that they had picked up when he had called. Almost as lucky as he'd been when he realized that he'd remembered the number.

Making the executive decision to just go and ask someone about where he could make a phone call, he headed into the main hall, sure that someone would be still awake at this time of night. But as he headed through the doorway, he ran face to face with someone that he wasn't expecting to see still up at this hour. He'd assumed she'd gone to sleep after what had happened.

"Good evening, Willow."

She stopped, turning her attention to him for a moment as she seemed to be taken slightly by surprise. A somewhat perplexed look crossed her face as she obviously considered something. But a moment later, she nodded. "Likewise. I was actually just coming around there to see how things were going. Has he awoken yet?"

V couldn't help but notice that she seemed uncomfortable, her hands clenched together in front of her in a manner that betrayed what he believed to be actual, genuine worry. She had been walking in the opposite direction, so he had probably taken her by surprise. What a shift in behavior considering how displeased she had been to see the young adjudicator the last time they had visited, at least initially. Perhaps it was guilt for what she had said to him when he'd been here last? Either way, he shook his head to indicate that he hadn't woken up yet. She did a decent job of hiding her obvious dismay, but not good enough to go unnoticed.

"Oh... I see. Well, do you keep me in the loop if you can? I'll send someone to come and check on both of you soon." She shifted her stance slightly, turning more to face him than she had been before. She unclenched her coupled hands, putting them slightly behind her back on either side of her body before more than likely bunching them into uncomfortable loose fists. There was no anger, only discomfort." Did you need anything? I can't imagine you're just wandering the halls so late at night searching for a sense of clarity."

At the risk of seeming unpleasant or possibly even rude, V decided to make the executive decision to have a meaningful discussion with her for a moment. He had nothing to gain by lying. "I was wondering the very same thing about you, though it may not be my place to. You seem anxious… and you don't seem like the sort to wander anxiously through your own home. But to answer your question, I was looking for a phone. I wanted to call someone. I suppose I just need to get something off of my chest."

Willow stared at him quietly for a moment, seemingly thinking about what he'd said. For a moment, V was concerned that he had upset her before she nodded and something akin to a soft smile spread across her face. It seemed that she understood what he meant by that statement and wasn't upset by it. He was strangely relieved by that fact. He didn't know her enough to have a concrete reason to be worried about what she thought of him, but either way, he didn't like being an ungrateful guest. 

"Are you sure you're your father's son? I don't believe he's ever worded anything in such a thoughtful manner in his entire life. He cared little for causing me upset, but I suppose I did cause quite a bit of grief myself." She seemed to drift off for a moment, thinking of a bygone time and her youth with what we're clearly nostalgia glasses. He got the impression that his father and this woman probably didn't view that memory the same way. Actually, knowing Vergil, he probably didn't remember what she was thinking about in the first place. He'd noticed that his father seemed to have a habit of not recalling things that were important to others because they had meant very little to him at the time. Fleeting moments in an otherwise negligible experience. But he couldn't really fold him for that. It wasn't really a character flaw so much as it just wasn't a lack of awareness of what other people were paying attention to. That was a common enough thing for people to do.

Something akin to a small smirk graced his lips for a moment. "Perhaps it's a product of not meeting him until later in my life." He couldn't be sure why he'd felt the need to divulge that, but it almost felt good to get that off of his chest. There was a strange sort of tension that came with the moments when people asked him about his childhood or his past, not realizing how drastically different it probably was from what they assumed it to be. But he wasn't ashamed of that so much as he just wasn't entirely ready to talk about it to other people. But even given that fact, there was something about this moment that allowed him the levity to speak his mind.

The look of genuine surprise that crossed her face was admittedly unexpected on his part, but she nodded in solemn agreement. He remembered Magnolia telling him that their mother and father had passed away when they had been teenagers. Perhaps he had brought up a memory or a feeling that she could relate to. After all, it had seemingly torn their family apart at the seams. "I suppose that makes sense... There's a phone over here. Feel free to borrow it. Though you can't walk off anywhere with it. It's a landline."

He nodded in agreement, appreciating her assistance. She then gave him a small smile and turned to go back to what she was doing, bowing as if to dismiss herself. It seemed that once again he had dismissed her original assumption as to the family structure of another person that she knew. He wondered where that came from with her, but he couldn't say that he was bothered by it. He didn't really care enough to be. 

But with that in mind, perhaps it would be best to go and use that phone now. There was no telling when Sirrus would wake up, and he genuinely needed to talk to Nero. With the difficult time that he was having right now, he felt like perhaps his little brother was the only person that would truly understand. He just hoped he wasn't disturbing him. After all, it was late. The last thing that he wanted to do was wake the children or their long-suffering parents. Kyrie and Nero deserved more than that.

(-~-)

For a moment there I actually thought that today was Friday. Lol, nope! It's Tuesday! See you on Friday, and the new readers who have joined between now and the last few chapters! It's always wonderful to have new people around and to answer any questions that you all have! Hope to see you in the comment section, and I'll see you all again on Friday! And if you see any errors, let me know! I went over this twice, but I still feel like I might have missed a few little things.

[skvaderarts]

Hiraeth Chapter 71: Forethought

Masterlist can be found Here!

Chapter Seventy-One: Forethought

Note: This one was fun. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Can’t tell you what it is about it, but I just had a blast!

(-~-)

A chilly breeze settled over the region as they made their way into the interior of the town. Vast swaths of land could not be seen from their center point, the fog that engulfed the area seemingly blocking out their vision in a way that was not typical, to say the least. There was a certain stillness that felt almost wrong as though they were interrupting something; disturbing a place that shouldn’t be disturbed. In its own way, this place was now hallowed ground, the lives of those lost here over the centuries seemingly still holding their sway over the small settlement.

V wondered for a moment if more lives had been lost here over the land itself than the subsequent lives of the people who settled this land after its original occupants had been chased away. He wouldn’t have been surprised to find out that that was the truth. What a pitiful outcome on the behalf of what should have been so many right-minded adults. But curses were rarely born of logical decisions made by level-headed people, and there was no arguing against the idea that this place was simply not right.

A dusting of snow threatened to intensify as they pulled the vehicle over between two old shops, out of sight and hopefully out of mind. Despite the lack of other cars, the young man driving still took it upon himself to stay on the right side of the road and to not speed. He saw no benefit to putting them in danger just because no form of law enforcement was around to stop them. A ticket would be the least of their problems if he caused a car accident.

Pulling over, Bren looked around the area that they now occupied, gesturing towards a nearby building over his shoulder as he unfastened his seatbelt. The sooner that they got this over with, the better. He couldn’t say that he would miss this place. He had never met Morgan’s grandparents, but knowing that they had lost their lives at the hands of the sinister cult that he had once been a part of didn’t sit well with him. To know that their blood had been spilled over such senselessness in this very place only a few short years ago made him feel ill. And then had joined the very people who had done it? He suddenly didn’t feel as though he held any sense of moral superiority over Vergil for indirectly taking the life of his parents. He had certainly done his fair share of wrongdoing in his short time upon this Earth. That was something that he sincerely hoped that he could find a way to undo, or at the very least make up for. Living a life of self admonishment because of your inability to cope with the wrongdoings and folly of your youth was not something he could say that he was looking forward to.

“I figured it might be a good idea to point it towards the road out of this godforsaken hellhole since everything is icing over and it’s gonna get slick out here. You know, encase we need to make a run for it because something goes wrong.” He sighed as he brought the van to a stop, admittedly exhausted just from the idea of trying to go face to face with someone this dangerous, especially when they wanted his little sister. How had it come to this? “Here’s hoping that it doesn’t come to that. We’ve got enough problems as it is. This plan has to work.”

But as they disembarked, something seemed to catch the eye of both Nero and Sirrus, the two making their way towards the end of the narrow alleyway that they currently occupied. It was a wonder that he had been able to pull the car into this spot, let alone back out and position himself the correct way before allowing them to disembark. Maybe he should spend some time around Nico. The plucky mechanic could learn a thing or two from him just by association alone.

“Oh, I assure you, something most certainly shall go wrong. That is the nature of plans. To be undone. I don’t think that any of us has ever had     anything go exactly the way we were hoping it would.” Sirrus headed towards the corner of the street, his hand ready to draw in the event that he needed to. He couldn’t place what it was, but he knew that something wasn’t right here. They were going to need to be extra careful. “What is important is that you have a secondary plan for when that something goes awry. The plan its self doesn’t have to work so long as the framework stays intact.”

Nodding in agreement, V joined them, being careful to keep a low profile. An anxious Brenowin and a hypervigilant Morgan followed closely behind, unwilling to be ambushed just yet. They were, without a shadow of a doubt, walking right into a trap of some sort; inviting themselves into the belly of the beast of their own accord. But that was the only way that this plan would work out the way that he was hoping it would. They had to behave typically in order to pull off an act of deception.

Flora flanked Brenowin and Morgan, covering them from behind. Keeping the two people who their opponent was after in the middle of the group was the best way to make sure that they remained safe and unaccosted. Brenowin was just an unfortunate bonus to that equation. There wasn’t enough explaining in the whole world to get him out of a direct encounter with their opponent. He would know that something was up the very second that he saw the young man, so keeping his hood on was paramount. It wasn’t like they could just ask him to remain in the car.

“Something very specific about this entire situation genuinely bothers me, but perhaps I am simply overthinking it,” V said calmly as they walked, lowering his voice in the middle of his statement as he realized just how much it carried in such a cold, open space. It was actually somewhat spooky just how alone they were out here, isolated and away from the prying eyes of the rest of the world. How strange it was to think back to the time in his life when he would have been comforted by that sense of solitude.

Looking back at him, Sirrus nodded in agreement. He had thought for a moment that perhaps he had been the only one to note that something just wasn’t right about this place. There was just something very malevolent and indirectly malicious about this place that didn’t sit right with him. He couldn’t remember the last time that he had been to a place that he could say with all honestly was severely tainted by evil. The unspeakable acts that had been committed in this place had utterly transformed this place, and not for the better.

“Yes… I must agree. This place is… “ He trailed off towards the end, still looking around to make sure that he didn’t see anything That was the only thing about the half-inch of snow that dusted the ground: it put them on even footing with their opponent. They would seem them pass by, and their adversary would be able to do the same. If nothing else it was a fair arrangement. Rare in times like these, but still entirely unwelcome in its own way. They needed an advantage, not a level playing field.

“Honestly, I doubt it, V. I’m willing to bet that you’re onto something. Whatcha thinking?” Nero said as they approached one of the buildings. He noticed that his older sibling stopped for a moment and stuck his head inside, a troubled and uncomfortable look adorning his face. V hadn’t spoken a word as to his true thoughts yet and he was already uneasy. Did that count as an anxiety speed run?

“… Why are the roads still plowed?”

Everyone stopped dead in their tracks. Sirrus looked back over his shoulder at V, a slightly wide-eyed look on his face as he grappled with the implications of that inquiry. It didn’t quite make sense that that would be the case, did it? Something wasn’t adding up about that. No one had resided here since the tragic attack over three years prior that had wiped Lympha off the map and out of the public consciousness altogether. People had mourned it, been incensed by it, and then forgotten about it in short order like they did every time there was a massive loss of life for a senseless reason. There was no compelling reason for anyone to plow the roads, let alone a person available to even do the labor in the first place. He couldn’t think of a single explanation to this conundrum that wasn’t supernatural or insidious in nature, and that actually made him immensely uncomfortable when he dwelled on it.

For a moment V waited for the realization to hit him that they were actually all still in the car heading back into town and that this had simply been another illusion conjured up by his broken psyche; a fantasy borne of a fractured mind. A chill ran up his spine as he wordlessly made his way over to another door, opening it to find that it was thankfully different than the last building. He looked up at the sign that hung over the door after the fact, staring in a sort of numb relief as he realized that the place that he had no precognition of and no prior experience with actually matched up in a reality outside of the confines of his mind. He couldn’t put into words how grateful he was for that to be the case. A heavy exhale escaped his lungs as he looked up from the ground to find everyone looking over at him, a realization that unnerved him slightly for reasons he couldn’t put his finger on. And then he remembered what it had meant the last time that an excessive number of eyes had been on him all at once and he felt his blood run colder than it had been before.

Was he losing it out here or was this his would-be collector’s influence?

“…Could you clarify what you were just doing and why?” The words came from between Sirrus’s parted lips at what almost seemed to be a delayed speed even though V was certain that he hadn’t been talking that slow. Perhaps that was just his own perception playing havoc with his mind. But regardless, he would answer, if not somewhat reluctantly. He wasn’t so sure what he should give away and what he should keep to himself until he knew what to actually believe. After all, what if his hunch was correct?

The nature of the illusions created by the devil prince are such that things I have no former reference point of cannot be accurately rendered. I have never seen the inside of these buildings, so my only method of confirmation was to assess whether or not they were identical within.” He paused. “But even that does not fully satisfy me, if I am being completely honest. How am I supposed to be certain that I did not somehow imagine the interior of that building and then the sign changed in order to best match what I saw within? My memory as to whether or not that sign was even there until it became relevant to me is shaky at best, so this entire line of questioning may be fortuitous.”

If it was possible to have a visible stress headache, he certainly had one right about now. There was so much that was just wrong about this, and he didn’t want to consider the ramifications of how he was supposed to tell reality from fiction when he didn’t know how far down the rabbit hole went, or if he himself was in it, for that matter.

Stepping forward, Sirrus unfolded his arms from around himself before extending his hand. He used it to gently roll V sleeve up, making the bracelet that he had given him visible. He gripped it slightly before recoiling, a small flash of bright light emanating from it as if in reaction to his actions. The adjudicator seemed to experience momentary discomfort before withdrawing, tilting his head sideways to indicate that he was referring to the bracelet.

“Because I never fully explained the nature of this talisman. That is not something you could have imagined. And so long as you wear it you are no longer susceptible to his hold upon this reality, and you may see everything around you as it truly is. That is what is causing your inner conflict. I implore you not to take it off.”

V stared at Sirrus for a moment before laughing to himself quietly in a nervous fashion. Yes, that made sense. Presenting a fact to him that he could not know in advance and then demonstrating proof of it that could not be refuted was a good way to prove that… unless that fact in of itself self was not true? He shuttered internally at the fact. But then he noticed that little thing he had barely given the slightest thought to suddenly stood out to him. The color of the clothes around him. The smell of decay that hung in the air around them. The reassuring presence of his familiars. His opponent knew nothing of their nature or purpose, and he didn’t have any concrete way of knowing about their existence. That was something that only he could know about, and something that would sense if something was amiss.

“Am I overthinking things out of premature but understandable concern?”

There was a momentary pause as he awaited his answer, aware of the fact that there was only so much room in his mind for the consciousness of others to occupy. There could not be another force within his mind without his knowledge. He had just answered the question himself.

“I’m not picking up anything, V, and I don’t think that the big shadow monster can mimic things he’d never seen or that he’s never seen you see. The stuff your noticing is all subconscious. He’d have to be in your head for that, and we’d know if he digs that deep.” Griffon seemed to have genuinely thought that one through before giving an answer, perhaps wondering the same for himself. It was safe to reason that if something was troubling V then it had probably slithered its way into the avian demon’s mind as well. “I think you’re all clear. But I still wouldn’t go into any of these buildings except for the unfamiliar ones. Don’t want to risk giving him a map to any of the exits.”

“You make a fair point. I shall pass that onto them.” V thought in response before gesturing towards the nearest building. That was a very logical conclusion. Sometimes he felt bad for thinking so little of his familiar’s intellect. There had been several occasions when his input and point of view had been invaluable to him. Griffon deserved more respect. He was a good and respectable little chicken.” Perhaps it is best that we do not venture into any familiar-looking buildings? We don’t need our brains filling in the blanks… unless were purposefully misleading any eavesdroppers.”

Nero nodded in agreement. He was starting to see where his older sibling was going with this. You couldn’t mimic what you couldn’t understand. He would keep his mind fluid and his eyes open. If he saw a building with proportions that didn’t make perfect sense or that did not accurately correlate with its external or internal geometry, then he would alert his sibling. That’s all he could do for now.“Yea, that’s a good idea. Let’s get inside and out of sight before something bad happens. We can worry about why time doesn’t seem to work right here once we’re at least kinda safe.”

Flora, Brenowin, and Morgan nodded in agreement. V then scanned the area and picked the tallest building that he knew he had never stepped foot into. A high vantage point would be useful for what was to come. They needed to enact their plan soon, but at least they had accomplished their primary goal of being as far from the woods while being within the town as possible. Now to get ready for the next phase.

This was the worst part of the plan. This was the part where they had to wait for the predator to track down its prey, hoping that they could waylay it at the opportune moment. And they all knew without a shadow of a doubt that he would locate his prey. And when he went in for the kill, they would be ready. For what bait snare worked without the input of its desired target?

As much as none of them wanted to consider it, there was very little that they could do until the time came, and that wasn’t something that any of them were very comfortable with. No one wanted to sit and consider their options while the very real specter of death in the form of a minion of a devil prince marched towards them with the intent of ending their lives and taking V as a prize for his master. But they also knew that only by their death would that outcome come to fruition. Not a single person there was simply going to lay down and let him take V. All they had to do was find out where they needed to be and go there. They would worry about everything else when the time came. They couldn’t do anything more until they had more information anyway.

For now, they would keep a watchful eye out and get some rest after their long trip. There were going to need it for what was about to happen.

(-~-)

Boy, I think it’s truly occurring to V for the first time just how much of a threat to his sense of perception Belial could be if he wanted to. He’s gonna have to find something he can use to ground himself! I’m excited about this next chapter! Writing it is going to be a blast. Next week is gonna be WILD hahaha! Can’t wait to read your comments and I hope you have a lovely weekend!

Also, you get a holiday chapter of Saudade so keep an eye out for that on Halloween! Just something fun for the season. Nothing long or crazy, but I thought you might like it!

[skvaderarts]

Hiraeth Chapter 65: Auxiliary

Masterlist can be found Here!

Chapter Sixty-Five: Auxiliary

Notes: these last few chapters have been nothing but good vibes and family fluff, and I don't think this one's going to be any different! Well, a little bit different, but you get the idea. Gotta get that quota of gorry fluff in before everything gets real apocalyptic, you know?

(-~-)

From the moment he woke up that day he suspected that something would go wrong, and as was usual, it did.

Making his way downstairs early, he was met with the reality that no one else was awake quite yet. Both of his sons had foregone an early morning breakfast and had opted to simply stay in bed, Nero actually awakening earlier than V. It was almost unheard of, but considering the fact that he hadn't made it to bed until nearly sun up, it made perfect sense. 

He decided that he would not disturb them. After all, there was no particular reason to. If they needed to talk, then they would when the time came, but for now there was no reason to be awake aside from simply not being in bed. And after about an hour of sitting by the phone waiting for a phone call to come through, he was starting to believe that he had involuntarily pulled the short straw in this endeavor. What was he doing here?

Dante should have called by now. While he couldn't claim that he understood everything about his younger twin, one thing he did remember quite well was that when he set out to do something, he normally did it. It took quite a bit to stop him, something he knew from first-hand experience. So it wasn't so much that he was confused or worried or even surprised as to the fact that his twin brother had yet to call him as it was that he simply wondered what was holding him up. Had it slipped his mind that he would not be at the office and he had spent this entire time calling the wrong number? Did he even know this house’s phone number? All valid questions that could easily be the reason as to why he was sitting here with nothing to show for his time.

After a short while, he made this subconscious decision to go and idly browse through the contents of the fridge. He wasn't even hungry. It was just something that he could do to pass the time while he was alone. While doing so, the phone had rung and he had sprung into action, almost instantaneously making his way across the house to its receiver. But it had not been his brother. Instead, it had been Magnolia and Flora, and they had been looking for V.

"We were hoping that V might be awake. It's about Sirrus. He requested that we call if anything changed, and something has." Magnolia had said from the other end of the line, her mind seemingly preoccupied. If he had to guess, Vergil would be willing to say that she was probably thinking about her injured nephew. They seemed quite close.

In truth, he had known what they were calling about the moment that he had heard their voices. There was nothing else they could be calling about given the circumstances. But he had called up to his eldest son nonetheless, and he had arisen from his perpetual sleep, drowsily dragging himself to the top of the stairs to see what his father wanted.

"Yes, father? Do you have any idea what… " He had presumably been about to scold him for waking him up so early until he noticed that the sun was streaming through his windows, I'll be it through partial cloud cover. He rubbed his eyes and then looked over at the clock that was on the wall. Sheepishly, and with a noticeable layer of red coating his cheeks, he made his way down the stairs to his father's side, realizing for the first time just how late in the day it was. "Sorry. My mistake."

Vergil couldn't say that he was bothered by it. If nothing else, he was amused. He realized that that was a quality that his son had that he did not: the ability to more or less instantaneously apologize when he recognized that he had committed a wrong, regardless of how small. It was perhaps the quality that his son possessed that he desired most. There had been many times when he knew that he needed to do the very same, but it was just… difficult. And yet such a simple act could have saved them all so much trouble on multiple occasions.

Seizing the phone in his hands, the young summoner had held the receiver up to his ear. His father watched quietly, barely picking up on what was being said as his keen hearing filled in most of the gaps for him. The look of utter surprise on V's face told everything that he needed to know without even needing to ask.

"Do you need to be there quickly?" He'd asked simply, realizing that this meeting wasn't going to occur until his brother arrived anyway, and that he could always retrieve him when the time came. It was probably best that Sirrus attended the meeting, to begin with since he no doubt had some input into what they were planning, so if there was a possibility that he may be awakening soon, then it was in their best interest that V be there.

Nodding, he agreed with him quietly as Nero joined them from the stairs, seemingly having overheard the conversation but not having had a reason to join it. "Hey. Is everything good? Is it about what happened to Sirrus?" V's nod told him everything that it needed to. He was ready to go at a moment's notice. There was no need to even ask. Needless to say, both of them would be going. He could see that much in Nero's face as soon as he'd realized what was going on. 

Wordlessly, he opened a portal for the both of them and stepped back, seeing no point in attempting to halt their departure or give them a hard time about it. There was literally nothing to gain from doing so aside from the ire of his young sons.

"I will be in touch." He said simply, making it clear in his own way that he had no intention of coming with them, but that he also wasn't going to hold them up. They both looked at one another for a moment as though they were confused before looking back at him, their own individual levels of confused appreciation apparent. Nero then stepped through, waving back over your shoulder as he shrugged himself, the whole situation just entirely too strange for him. After all, he had just woken up a few minutes ago.

V paused, taking a moment to allow his eyes to linger on his father as he blinked slowly, nodding in gratitude. Neither of them needed to speak. They knew what the other was thinking, and there was something peaceful and relieving in that notion. It was nice to be on the same page. The young summoner then stepped through the portal, joining his younger sibling on the other side. He couldn't imagine that they would run into much trouble at the Ludwig estate, and if they did, then he would definitely know about it. He had eyes there, after all.

Now all he had to do was wait. And something about that notion was actually uncomfortable to him. 

It was strange, being in a house this big alone. He wondered for a moment how his eldest son did it. But then it occurred to him that he hadn't really been entirely alone in the house before. Well, Lucia was here and probably upstairs still resting, that did technically mean that he wasn't alone, didn't it? And most of the time, although they weren't always present in the room, someone else was in the house with him. But even still, he couldn't imagine occupying such a large structure as a solitary being. As much as he hated being around other people for long periods of time, he believed he might go quite mad here, wandering the quiet holes and listening to the echo of his boots click off of the wood and marble floors. There was just something about this place.

Perhaps when he was eventually left alone to his devices, V wouldn't mind if he came to visit occasionally? After all, Vergil could only take so much of Dante, and he couldn't imagine that his eldest son would mind if he occasionally checked in on him. Whether that was born more from a desire to know that he was safe or to satiate his own anxiety at the concept of leaving him alone for long periods of time unsupervised for his own safety, or even just to have something worthwhile to do with his time, he couldn't say. But either way, it accomplished the same thing, did it not?

But as he considered this, the phone rang, and he just knew that it was his brother. It wasn't as though it rang differently. No. There was just something that told him it was. Call it a twin's intuition.

Reaching over to pick up the receiver, he attempted to muster as much irritation as he possibly could before realizing that he honestly couldn't be bothered. He'd half-expected something to go wrong today anyway. None of us carefully laid plans ever went quite the way that he was expecting them to.

"Do you have any idea what time it is, Dante?"

A sigh came from the other end of the receiver as the sounds of what he could only describe as pure and utter destruction rang out in the background. Sirens blared steadily and the cacophonous screams of civilians were overwhelmingly easy to make out..He caught himself subconsciously blinking in surprise, not entirely sure as to how something that obviously chaotic could be going on and he could remain none the wiser. Just where the hell was Dante?

"Yeah, that's kind of why I was calling, you know? Figured that while I was trying to fight this whole city block full of demons, you'd probably be waiting for me and wondering where was at? Is the meeting still on for today, or have, um…  technical difficulties caused it to be rescheduled?"

Sometimes the oldest son of the Dark Knight Sparda found himself forgetting that his brother actually had a sense of humor, and for a moment he actually wondered if they were experiencing technical difficulties. He was glad that Dante wasn't here to see him do that double-take. He would never let him live it down. Vergil felt woefully out of touch sometimes. Understandable for someone who had been missing in action for as long as he had been. But he himself had a more pressing question.

"It seems that they encountered the summoner from the train station last night. Nero and V have just been called away to attend to Sirrus. Apparently, he is just reawakening from a near-comatose state. That's about as called off as a meeting can get." He sighed, standing as he headed towards the door. He knew what he needed to do. There was nothing to gain by just sitting here. "But clearly we have more pressing matters to attend to. Where are you?"

Dante laughed to himself. "Oh, you're gonna hate this, brother. And don't worry, you're not gonna have a problem finding this place. It's pretty hard to miss."

(-~-)

As much as he hated to admit it, Dante had been right on both accounts.

Vergil's predilection towards not watching TV had proved to be unhelpful in this situation, as he couldn't imagine that this wasn't on the news by now. This entire fight had to be the most conspicuous thing for dozens of miles, and the fact that it was going on during broad daylight didn't help literally anything. For blocks, people have been running and screaming, yelling about how something was coming out of the remnants of Redgrave City and how they were doomed. Apparently the demons had broken down a governmental containment wall and were flooding the city streets. He'd paid little mind to their plight or their words, but he couldn't say that he didn't agree with them.

Before him stood the outskirts of a part of Redgrave City, one of the regions that was less destroyed than the rest, and a result of his actions. He didn't like to linger on that fact. It was a bad place to be. Or at least it had been before this fight had broken out. Several demons that were unfamiliar to him were in the process of wreaking havoc, and Dante, Lady, and Trish were in the process of attempting to contain the situation.

Lucia had tagged along once she'd heard that there might be a fight going on, and she'd immediately jumped into the fray to assist as many people as she could, much to the appreciation of the other two girls. They weren't exactly backed into a corner, but they were being swarmed by quite the horde of unfamiliar-looking demons. This had the potential to be interesting. Or if nothing else, a good workout.

Going off of their colors alone, these seem to be the demons that had attacked his sons in the train station, so it was probably a decent guest to say that this was the work of that summoner. A distraction tactic, then? A diversion? Or perhaps he was hoping to wear them down? Regardless of the ill intent, he couldn't see this working out the way that their opponent had probably intended. Every last one of these demons was going to die here and now, and there was not a single meaningful thing that the summoner could do about it.

"I'm going to go and see if I can figure out where they're coming from! Anyone want to tag along?" Trish shouted over the hail of gunfire and lightning that she had just launched into the unlucky bodies of several demons who had made the mistake of attempting to fight her. They flopped over uselessly on the ground, the life leaving them as they dissipated into a miasma of black smoke and dust. They didn't seem to be giving her any sort of trouble, but the numbers in which they were attacking were somewhat concerning. Groups of six to ten at a time were coming at each of them, and it was easy to become overwhelmed when you had so many opponents to contend with, even if they were relatively weak. The only thing the demons had going for them was their speed and agility, making evasion relatively easy for them.

Stepping forward as she cut down two of the demons in front of her in a manner too elegant to be wasted on such a lowly creature, Lucia nodded in agreement as she hurried over to join Trish, striking down another demon in her path. "Nothing would bring me more pleasure than to fight by your side. Let's go."

Nodding in agreement, the two turned and made it clear to their partners that they would be departing before hurray off in the direction the demon seemed to be coming from, Lady hurrying to one of the nearby lower rooftops in order to give them coverage from above. They were more than likely running into an ambush, and although they knew that, eyes from above could still prove useful.

"These guys have been popping up all around town, and me and Trish have been pretty busy taking care of them the last few days," Lady shouted at them as she headed up the catwalk, feeling several unlucky abyssal demons with A few dozen rounds from each of her twin SMGs. She kicked one off with the balcony, sending it to its death as she hurried a top, scoping out the area for them. "It's been good business though. I can't complain about that. Might even go shopping after we finish up unless you've got better plans."

"Can't say that I do, at least none that you'd probably care about. Just don't take my credit card this time, alright?" Dante said casually as he cleaved one of the demons he was battling against in half from the head down, kicking it back into two more demons before spinning and slicing another in half behind him. These things were pretty good at flanking you, and he used that instinct against them, making sure to always have his back to one. They simply couldn't resist the temptation. A real trustworthy sort, these lot. Just like their master.

Vergil strolled idly across the field, not so much charging into the fight as he was scoping out his surroundings and casually cutting down his enemies, clearly walking into the middle of what had been an ongoing battle. He had no idea how long they'd been there, and he honestly didn't care. It had been nearly a full 24-hour since he had been able to kill something, and his bloodlust was such that he couldn't resist the temptation. Moving at a pace just below a jog, he cut down several unlucky demons, the creatures back-peddling slightly as they realized just how swiftly he could cut them down. 

It seemed that none of them wanted to do battle against someone who might actually be able to stand toe to toe with them. That made sense. Fast creatures didn't like fast opponents, and as such, they were in for one hell of a rude awakening. No one liked it when their only advantage was stripped away from them. It was jarring, to say the least.

"So Vergil, how was the trip over? Do any sightseeing on the way?" Dante teased playfully as he shot a demon point-blank in the chest with his shotgun before slashing it up into the air and tricking towards it, kicking it back to the ground with a brutal slam. Another demon attempted to rush him, but it was immediately impaled on Vergil's sword, the oldest of the twins not even slightly amused at the demon's attempt to take his twin’s life. He looked it dead in the eyes as it faded into oblivion, and stilling a sort of terror that only he could provide. A little gift to give to their master on his behalf when it returned to hell.

He shook his head, too focused on what he was doing to be amused or unamused by that statement. "Yes, it was a lovely trip. Wonderful weather and I had plenty of screaming townsfolk to keep me company. They gave astoundingly unhelpful directions despite the fact that they were quite literally running from the very thing I was headed towards. But at least that made things easier to ascertain."

Yamato hummed as it was exposed to the air, the blade ready and willing to draw the blood of his enemies. It gleamed in the midday light, ready to do what it did best. A group of demons charged them, seemingly thinking that if they took them in a large group that they would be able to actually overtake them. But it seemed that both of them were about to teach them the hard way that that wasn't going to work the way they were hoping it would.

Vergil looked over at his younger twin, the longer-haired man smirking and barely resisting the urge to grin. This was going to be fun. He couldn't remember the last time that they had fought against such an overwhelming number of foes like this together. The two run-ins with The devil princess cult hardly counted as the cultist themselves couldn't put up much of a fight. No, the only time that this had happened recently had to have been back in the underworld. Even the night that city block had been overtaken, it hadn't been like this. This was something special. It was something to be savored.

Dante scoffed before shaking his head, readying his blade for the battle to come. Something told him that this was going to be a battle to remember. "So Vergil, whaddya say we teach these twerps a lesson they won't say and for? Or do you have better plans, too?"

A volley of summoned blades flanked both of them, surrounding them with a makeshift safety barrier. Vergil assumed what could only be described as a fighting stance, adjusting his center of balance so that he could best impale several of the demons that were headed their way. Despite his more serious mannerisms, he allowed himself a smirk. He couldn't say that he didn't feel the rush of excitement that his brother felt when they stood side by side on a battlefield, especially on the rare occasion that their opponent was not the other member of the pair. These demons we're going to thoroughly regret the day that they made the mistake of stepping foot anywhere near this city. 

"I'd say that's the best idea you've come up with in quite a while now, Dante. Let's give them hell."

(-~-)

Let's just hope that this fight goes better than the one that V and Sirrus just had lol! Oh, who am I kidding, these demons are all dead hahaha! It'll be a good one for what's to come. Can't get out of practice. Can't skip leg day hahaha! I hope you liked this chapter! See you in the comments, and see you next week on Wednesday. Something tells me it's time to go take the fight to Belial sooner rather than later! Now if they could just track down his little henchman...

[skvaderarts]

Petrichor Chapter 3: Primagen

Sorrt for the huge two week delay! Family issues. My cousin was the victim of a hit and run and a bunch of other stuff happened so I had to take a break. She’s alive, don’t worry. But still.

Chapter Three: Primagen

Note: My best friend asked me today if he would read "the story I spend all my time writing" because he wanted to see if he liked it. I almost died from a combination of horror and shock. No man. Never. Not going to happen.

(-~-)

Looming over them like a foreboding shadow stood the door, its wide, tall rectangular shape quite detailed despite the fact that black was its only visible color. The door looked as though it belonged inside of a crip or a tomb instead of a modern office building, its carved surface covered in symbols and what almost seemed to be hieroglyphics of some sort. And although the young summoner tried, he couldn't quite make these out unlike the other languages that he'd been able to stumble his way through back at the Ludwig Estate. It was comprised of what seemed to either be a very high-end metal with a stone-like texture or genuine slate, it's heft apparent without even needing to push on it.

Whatever was behind this door was important. There was no mistaking it.

"I have a recommendation, if the both of you will humor me for a moment," Sirrus said nonchalantly, glancing over at both V and Nero before returning his attention to the door. The two siblings looked at one another before quietly regarding each other, turning their attention back to Sirrus. Nero then nodded, quietly making their shared agreement known. The man with the red hair glanced at them and smiled softly before turning his attention fully back to the door. It was nice dealing with people who cooperated from time to time. "Do not volunteer information that is not requested, and give as little of the information requested as possible. There are no foreseeable consequences, but in some instances, it is best to keep yourself an enigma. They can not compel you to say anything."

Sirrus stepped forward and put both of his hands on the door, the symbols lighting up as a haunting red glow emitted from the slit in the center. And as he pushed the doors lightly they yielded to his command, opening slowly and allowing them entrance. A low rumble echoed through the entire office space, shaking everything around them. It was the kind of sound that you could feel deep in your bones, rattling your resolve and causing a strange sensation in your teeth.  But before the door opened all the way, the man with the black hair turned and looked at the set of siblings, nodding in agreement with what his long-time friend had just said to them.

"Also, don't be surprised if they attempt to recruit you. Their methods can be esoteric and even archaic at the best of times, but their judgment is sound." Kayro said simply, taking a deep breath and closing his eyes before exhaling and reopening them. And then he stepped forward, the air in front of the doorway rippling like water in much the same way as the Ludwig manor the first time that they had visited. This took Nero and V by surprise, but neither of them were particularly scared to step through. After all, they had no stakes in any of this. What possible concern was there?

The man with the red hair took a moment to roll his shoulders and adjust his back before stepping through the doorway behind Kayro, the doorway rippling around him as he vanished into the darkness on the other side. Nero shrugged and sighed slightly, more or less content to just head in after them. He couldn't say that he was exactly worried, but there was something about this place that just made his skin crawl a little bit. Still, he was willing to follow them, and as he glanced over at V, his older brother nodded, more or less content to follow behind him.

"See you in there," Nero said before stepping through, happy to go before his older brother. He needed to scope the place out and make sure it was safe, not that he could probably communicate with V from within the confines of this strange room. If it blocked light then it more than likely blocked sound, but at least he would know what they were getting themselves into. And as much as he trusted Sirrus, he had to know first hand. It was just the way that he was.

V watched as Nero stepped forward and disappeared through the doorway, the strange barrier that spanned its distance rippling like water. He looked around the room behind them, noting that most of the desk clerks had seemingly returned to their posts with only a few exceptions. A few sets of eyes watched him, but whether this was due to his hesitation or his very presence was a mystery to him. But regardless, he was admittedly curious as to what sort of work they were doing. Perhaps he could ask Sirrus once he rejoined them.

"Okay, so is it just me, or is this place just creepy." A quiet voice said from within the confines of his mind. V was actually surprised to hear Griffon vocalize his concern, or actually talk at all. He'd been very quiet since they had returned from the underworld, so it was a welcome change to hear him speak again. Shadow sturred from deep within him, almost as though she concurred with the vibrant bird's assessment of their environment.

Approaching the door, V internally agreed with them. The entire building simply didn't have a welcoming environment. Well, perhaps that was an overstatement. The lobby had been somewhat welcoming. But perhaps there was nothing supernatural going on at all. It might simply be the fact that he wasn't used to being in an environment this formal and stuffy, despite his rather formal previous profession. But regardless, it was time that he joined the others. "I will take your assessments to heart. I will not allow my guard to falter."

Taking a moment to inhale deeply, V exhaled slowly before closing his eyes and stepping forward. The cold tingle of the strangely moist barrier hit him like a tidal wave, a sort of floating feeling overtaking him. He held his breath as he pressed forward, positive that he couldn't draw breath in a place like this. But just as his lungs began to strain from the effort that it took to step forward, the heavy vertical liquid peeled away and he emerged into the very last place that he'd expected.

Surrounding them on all sides was a strange sort of cave. The nearly black stone that covered every wall around them was overgrown, large tropical plants growing out of the ground around them. Vines climbed the moist walls and water pooled on the ground surrounding what seemed to be a light gray stone platform in the middle of the room, white stone squares forming a purposefully misaligned path towards the center of the room. Moss grew between the stones, what had to be millions of small black pebbles lining the floor but more visible between the larger stones. The entire space was surprisingly chilly, the cool mist that rose from the water invisible but pleasantly tangible. The moisture rose upwards towards the large natural skylight at the top of the cave, the vast crack allowing light to cascade in from an unseen source due to the slanted angle. It was impossible to see how far above sea level they were, but the young summoner got the impression that they were very far above the ground, perhaps at the top of a mountain. It was hard to say what gave him that impression, but that was what he thought either way.

And in the middle of the room sat a desk, a hooded individual sitting at it, their entire face invisible to him. They were clearly in charge of this area, and it seemed that they would be heading over towards them.

Without a word, he followed along closely behind the rest of his group, the three of them having made an understandable amount of progress in the time that it had taken him to enter the room. But the cave was vast, and as such, it would take them all a minute to two to actually reach the door. But as he stepped forward, he couldn't help but feel that something had changed. It was almost as though his head were foggy. He felt… weaker, almost as though he'd lost some of his strength when they'd stepped through the doorway. His mind was muddled and although he could still sense Griffon and Shadow, they felt miles away. A security measure, perhaps?

But as they reached what seemed to be an admissions desk of sorts, the figure manning it came into focus. They were busy scribbling away frantically, recording something unknown, and looking down at the desk, seemingly not noticing them. But as Kayro's foot touched the edge of the top step, they suddenly halted, clicking their ink pin. The sound echoed throughout the entire cave, causing them to halt in surprise. They still didn't look up, but they did address them, their voice hardly a whisper despite the acoustics of the cave.

"State your intentions." They said plainly, their voice genuinely difficult to listen to. It was hard to place, but each time they spoke, it made the young summoner's ears sting, almost as though he was listening to static or an extraordinarily high-pitched noise. he winced, glancing over at Nero who made a facial expression that indicated that he might be attempting to hide the very same feeling but had failed. The short-haired man reached up and rubbed the underside of his left ear while Sirrus and Kayro seemed to be mildly uncomfortable with what had just happened but it seemed that both of them had possibly expected that to happen.

"We seek an audience with the Primogen. Sirrus has returned from his absence." Kayro said calmly, nodding respectfully. The person in the hooded robe moved their head ever so slightly, almost as though they were viewing the rest of them. They then ran their finger along the edge of the thick book that they'd been writing in, flipping through the pages like a deck of cards before suddenly stopping and allowing the book cover to slam onto the table, running their finger down the page before stopping and nodding once, seemingly having found whatever they were looking for despite the dim light.

"Proceed." They said simply, clearly watching them as they stepped forward, but not commenting further. They walked past the admissions desk and down to another set of walking stones, a large archway in front of them. And all the while as they left, despite the fact that he was no longer directly looking at them, they could still feel his eyes upon them. Looking through them. V was certain that he had never experienced anything quite like that before. Sure, everyone had experienced the sensation of being watched or even stared at, but this was the only time he was sure it was actually happening and that it wasn't just a figment of his imagination.

"The door goes to several locations. Most people don't have direct access to the Primagen, hence our reception back in the main office. Everyone knows what that particular color means." Kayro said as they continued forward. He shuttered slightly as he said it, clearly a bit unnerved by what they were about to do. "Even I cannot directly access them without prior authorization or without being accompanied by someone like Sirrus. For security purposes, of course. Though I doubt they need to bother."

V was going to ask what he meant by that, but as they stepped through the archway and into a secondary section of the cave, his attention was drawn elsewhere. On either side of him were three doors, each identical aside from a nameplate on them. He couldn't read any of them, but he did recognize the language as they were written in. If he was going to guess, perhaps they belonged to people of different nationalities? Or perhaps they went to different locations like the door he had just been through, and the labels displayed their destinations? He couldn't be sure, especially not without seeing them, but it was curious that there was no translation below them. Perhaps they didn't need one considering how rare it was for people to visit? He had no way of truly knowing, but that wasn't honestly what he found the most interesting in the first place.

Ahead of them was a large glass door, the frame of which had clearly been custom cut into the side of the mountain. It was frosted a soft gray, and it perfectly aligned with a metal frame that seemed to be cut into the stone of the cave around them. And on the other side of that door was what appeared to be a table or a long bench of some sort, raised up on the same sort of stone that they currently walked upon as though it were a stage of some sort; a viewing platform for them to look down from.

Kayro paused the door for a moment before inhaling deeply and then exhaling slowly, putting his hand on the door handle and pulling it open slowly. They walked inside, a sort of suction when the door handle was pulled that reminded V of an airlock. His ears popped for a moment as they went from the moist coolness of the cave to an almost cozy warmth, the sort that you would experience from standing near a fire. And as the door closed behind them, he got a better feel of the room. It was indeed large, something that the doorway alluded to, but the shape of the room was more akin to that of an oval as opposed to the more rectangular shape of the cave they had just been in. 

There was a pair of doorways on either side of the room, leading to a total of four, but only three individuals sat before them. And as they look down upon the group, the young Sumner couldn't help but feel an absolute vice grip him. It was as if their gaze held physical weight. And behind them stood another glass section, this one looking out upon what seemed to be the treetops of a snow-covered slope, wind whipping the tops of the trees. But They were so distant that it made it clear that they had to be very high above them. How is the water running, then? Was there an internal heating structure somewhere on this structure? This presented a few questions.

It simply wasn't possible for it to be snowing outside while being naturally tropical inside of the cave that they occupied. Only two options came to mind: either this was an artificial window or it was a gateway to another place entirely. It seemed that finding the actual location of this cave would be next to impossible, not that he'd planned to. A fascinating decision that he couldn't help but wonder about. Had they done that for security or purely ambiance. He was sure he would likely never know, and he most certainly wasn't going to ask them.

"Sirrus… it has been some time." The woman in black in the middle spoke calmly, clearly relaxed and her intentions unclear. She regarded everyone in the room in equal silence, leaned back casually in her chair as she unfolded her arms and intertwined her fingers, seemingly examining them all to some extent. "You are here to request something."

"Indeed. I am." The red hair adjudicator said calmly, stepping forward slightly as she gestured for him to do so. The two men on either side of her had yet to speak, seemingly listening before making any comment. It was unlike him to ask for things, so this was a curious occasion. "Two things. But the first is more pressing than the last. There is someone being held at the Ludwig estate. They need to be placed under executive hold."

The woman nodded, her long nails drumming on the table as she leaned forward slightly, a curious look in her eye. She didn't seem surprised by this request, but she did seem marginally more intrigued than she had been a moment ago. "I expect the paperwork in due time. And the second?"

Exhaling deeply, the young adjudicator adjusted his posture, a tired look on his face that had not been their moments before. It seemed that much like V, his discomfort and tiredness came in waves, and it was catching up to him just as much as it had been catching up to the young summoner for the better part of the entire day. They'd had a rough few weeks, hadn't they? All of them. "I am formally requesting a leave of absence. For how long, I have not decided."

Her eyes widened slightly as she raised an eyebrow, genuinely surprised this time around. She leaned back in her chair, crossing her legs and unclasping her hands so that she might rest them in her lap. She then looked between the other two members of the Permagen on either side of her, one of which seemed to be more or less disillusioned with this decision.

"We cannot in good conscience uphold that." The man to her left said, seemingly annoyed that he would even ask. There was a certain degree of genuine malice in his tone, almost as though he and Sirruz had previous bad blood. That much was actually quite likely, now that V thought about it. After all, he knew next to nothing about his companion's work relations. "You've been on an extended period of fieldwork as it is, and now you wish to leave the office for an undetermined amount of time? Preposterous."

Sighing heavily, Sirrus closed his eyes for a moment as though he were considering something. He had expected some degree of resistance, and he had half expected it from this specific member of the council, but that still didn't mean he wanted to deal with it. Quite the opposite, actually.

"This is the first leave of absence that I have requested in nearly two decades. The amount of paid personal time that I have amassed is practically incalculable, and I have only waited this long due to a genuine desire to fulfill my obligations here. But no longer." Sirrus said calmly but firmly, his displeasure obvious. He wasn't asking, he was informing.

“We are short on inquisitors at the moment.” The man on the left said, seemingly looking for a reason to make Sirrus stay. It wasn’t clear as to whether or not this was actually true, but if the look on the council woman’s face in the middle was anything to go by, there was a good chance that he had just pulled that excuse out of his ass to give the red haired man a hard time. “You would be causing us a great inconvenience.”

Sirrus barely resisted the urge to scoff at that statement. Be that as it may, he failed to see how he alone was supposed to make up that deficit. “Then would you prefer I put in my formal resignation? It is not my responsibility to make up for the shortcomings in the staffing practices of the counsel. One way or another I am taking the time off that I am owed, and if that is in the form of my numerous off days being cashed out into a sizable check, then so be it.”

The counselor on the left leaned forward, clearly incensed. But before he could speak, the man on the right held his hand up, stopping him. He didn't seem nearly as annoyed by the request as his contemporary did, and the councilwoman seemed to actually find his statement amusing, nodding in silent agreement. "I will dissent from this. I have no objection, and that is my final decision."

"I concur. I see no reason that he should not be able to enjoy his sabbatical. He has more than earned it." The woman who sat in the middle of the two men said, her tone pleasant and understanding. "Surely this should not-"

"And perhaps Minerva if you were willing to stop catering to his every whim and desire you would see that-" The man to her left began, making not even the faintest effort to conceal his condescending tone. But before he could continue, the woman with the dark hair eyes lit up a bright red, any humor dropping from her demeanor.

"Choose your next words carefully, Andros." She said, lowering her voice, her anger physically present in the room around them. The man to her left stopped speaking instantly, physically pulling away from her. He'd made an incalculable misstep and he knew it. "Take the time you need, Sirrus. I invite you to do the same, Kayro. You are dismissed."

Kayro seemed genuinely surprised to be directly addressed by the councilwoman, but he nodded respectfully, gesturing for the rest of the group to follow him as he backed away and attempted not to hurry towards the exit. He didn't want to seem unprofessional even if he could feel the toll that this situation was starting to take on him. Conflict caused him a great deal of anxiety. "Best wishes, your grace. Thank you for your time."

"Are you not going to apologize?" The man to her right said, only now seemingly becoming annoyed. It seemed that he wasn't going to sit there and let this slide. They did not hear his response as they vacated the room, eager to not witness his murder. But as they exited the space and headed back down the hall towards the admission desk, Sirrus took note of his companion's obvious discomfort. He seemed to be slightly pale and his skin was moist. He looked exhausted.

"You have to develop the ability to tell them these things yourself," Sirrus said softly, placing his hand on his friend's shoulder. He could see the anguish and unneeded stress that his absence had caused Kayro, and he was only making that worse with the announcement of his sudden departure. Their superiors were going to eat him alive back in the office should he not take a break himself. And that was to say nothing of what had just happened. He was on edge. "You have a right to not be sent over the edge at work."

"I don't have the privilege or standing that you do with them, not that I would ever imply that that is your only reason for continued employment despite your defiance. I’m only still here because of you… " He exhaled heavily, looking down at the floor in obvious dismay. He really didn't know how to say what he was thinking, and he was certain it showed. Maybe it was best that he just stopped digging down before he couldn't see the sky anymore. "Perhaps I simply envy your self-confidence. I'm afraid to push them, even for my own sake. Forgive me, Sirrus. I didn't mean to-"

Sirrus held his hand up to stop his friend from speaking. He'd heard more than enough to be satisfied. They had known one another for what felt like a lifetime. There was no need for him to clarify. "Just don't let them beat you down while I'm gone should you choose to stay. Remind them who you are and why they need you. What you offer them is invaluable. They cannot replace you and it is time that they started to act like it."

As they approached the main door, Kayro nodded towards the figure at the desk, receiving a single nod in confirmation. And as they turned their attention back to the large door in front of them, Kayro nodded in agreement, turning to look at the rest of his group. "A fair point. So… where to next?"

Nero shrugged, not really sure where else they should go, all things considered. "My votes on heading back. Something I need to check on."

V nodded in agreement. It seemed that he and his younger brother had the same inclination, even if they didn't know what it was. "... And perhaps lunch on the way."

Sirrus stared at V for a moment before bursting out laughing. He was surprised that he was hungry after that awkward ordeal. And as Nero nodded in agreement, he couldn't help but smile. They were truly something else. "Yes, that sounds like a good plan. I believe I know just the spot."

(-~-)

Sorry for the super long delay between chapters this time around. My wifi was acting stupid again (thanks spectrum SMH!) the chapter is a few hours late today. A lot has happened in the last few weeks. But I’m as okay as I’ll ever be right now, so I wanted to thank you for your time and patience! I hope to get to your wonderful comments soon! I’ve seen them all and I greatly appreciate your support! Now then… back to the Ludwig manor. I believe that it’s time for things to advance. See you on Wednesday! Bye-bye and thanks again!

[skvaderarts]

Hiraeth Chapter 75: Estranged

Masterlist can be found Here!

Chapter Seventy-Five: Estranged

Note: Hehehe I've been wanting to write this chapter for like a year. I hope it doesn't disappoint. It's taken all my willpower not to say anything about this lol!

(-~-)

Pearlescent and gleaming like a polished gemstone under the radiant glow of a full moon stood a structure in the shape of the bell of a round, somewhat demonic flower, held aloft above the sprawl of towering thorns and vines that made up the rest of the area. The top was splayed open, presumably to allow light in, but from this angle and distance, it was impossible to see within its confines. The bulb sparkled in pastel hues that ranged from soft yellows and barely discernible pinks to the palest of blues and purples, giving it an almost stained glass aesthetic. Along the edges of the mock petals were borders of what looked to be seams of silver or platinum, the only metals that they could compare them to in regards to aesthetic familiarity. It was entirely possible that it could be a metal that was unknown to them, but the effect was all the same.

A silver lake ran below the structure that emptied into a cascading series of waterfalls, trailing off of the edge of the visible plateau that they occupied, nothing visible past them except for the shimmering sky above them. One could only imagine that something else lay just beyond their line of sight out in the distance, but it was impossible to tell from where they stood, and the rapidly growing torrent of dust, smoke, and fine black sand particles were doing nothing to positively impact their visibility.

Several smaller bulbs were connected to the larger structure that ranged in size and shape, but they were all in the form of plants, and they all seemed to be suspended in the air by nothing, levitating in a manner that was admittedly somewhat disconcerting to them from this distance. A soft white moss seemed to cover much of the structure, accenting its primary shade of pale gray and drawing out the color that resided within the reflective and colorful outer shell. It was something so wholly different from any place that they had ever seen, and they were admittedly aware of the fact that there was much that they could not see from this position and under these conditions.

Connecting the somewhat distant structure to the almost garden-esque path that they had traversed in order to find this place was a bridge composed of several floating flat white stone pieces that possessed connecting railings. They were drifting away from one another in different manners, speeds, and angles, disallowing entry without the use of wings. But something just told them that flying through this place wouldn't work anyway. Call it a hunch, but some things didn't need to be said to be known or understood, and this was one of them. The bridge was necessary.

To say that the entire place stood out amongst the rest of the colorful surroundings would be an understatement, but as they made their way along the side of the black stone cliff face that they had followed to make it here in the first place they were struck by a strange sense of calm. Some form of bioluminescent plant formed a railing so that they would not fall to their death from this height, coiling along the edge of the stone. The vine wall on the other side of the path had woven itself into a sort of lazy basket weave pattern that implied that it had been groomed to assume that shape and keep out any intruders. And up ahead of them by a very short margin was the being responsible for bringing them to this strange place. The young summoner had been so busy nursing his sore arm and taking in the wonderment of this place that they now found themselves in that he'd completely missed the fact that the storm was now starting to subside, at least in the area behind them. It seemed that the closer they got to this building, the weaker the storm became. An effect caused by the structure, perhaps?

"It seems that you were lucky that I happened to be out for a walk." "Quite lucky indeed. But no matter. We can worry about all of that later. For now, you need only pay heed to where you stand. I have a bridge to realign."

Without warning, she held her hands up and out towards her sides before bringing them together slowly, the polarity of the bridge that stood before them adjusting itself until each of the split pieces of bridge reconnected and snapped together like puzzle pieces. The air pulsed with a strange and unknowable energy, making their hair stand up due to the static discharge and tickling their demonic sides a bit. There was just something exhilarating about this place that none of them could put into words. It was truly marvelous. They just hoped that they didn't fall off the edge during the crossing.

"Is it safe to assume that the river that flows below this structure is not water?" V asked quietly as they made their way across what had to be at least a quarter-mile-long bridge. The lake was very large indeed if it demanded so much from them to even head towards the front door. He wasn't looking forward to spending that much time over such a far fall, but he wasn't going to complain either way. This wasn't the sort of situation where your individual preferences were taken into consideration. He would have to take it in stride.

"Yes. From what I understand it is mercury." Vergil said simply, looking back at his eldest son. It seemed that being freed from the burden of the sandstorm had helped him greatly. He was clearly still very sore, but he was recovering at a noticeably accelerated pace, especially when his normal healing speed was taken into account. And so was Nero, actually. The little nicks and scratches that had previously peppered his skin after their fall seemed to be disappearing at a noticeable tempo, alluding to the idea that perhaps being down here in the underworld had some sort of enhancing effect on them.

Vergil honestly didn't know how this place would affect either of them. Considering that both of his sons were more human than demon genetically speaking, it was entirely possible that this place might have influences or effects over them that it didn't over him, and that was something that he made a point of being mindful of, especially with the way that V was coughing. The Darkslayer didn't know what was going on with him in that regard, but he would allow himself to be foolishly optimistic for once and assume that it was just the residual sulfur and ash in the air and probably some of the pollen that these demonic plants had to be releasing. He knew that it could be the curse, but he couldn't do anything about that until they made it to Belial, so he would have to just push down his compulsion to worry over his eldest son and continue forward. As much as he cared, distractions led to death down here, and lingering on something he couldn't control, regardless of its importance, was an unwise diversion away from things that he had to focus on.

Still though, perhaps if he could just speak with him… 

Approaching the far end of the bridge, they approached an arch that had been formed from the splitting of several layers of petals, framing the opening and providing a fascinating point of entry for the structure. It seemed that a door wasn't strictly necessary here, and that did make some measure of sense. If no one could get to your front door without you allowing them to, then what point was there in having one besides to just keep trash, dust, and insects out? And something told V that that probably wasn't something that they worried about here. He was willing to guess that they had bigger issues to worry about if they lived down here than just a few bugs. And he was also willing to guess that the bugs were a bit bigger than they were back home… 

Crossing the threshold into the structure, they were met by what appeared to be a vast white frosted glass ceiling. The fractal pattern allowed the vivid sky above them to cast rays of light down into the space that danced upon the light gray flagstone floor, lighting up what would otherwise be a vast dark space. And filling that space were gradual tiered elevations whose sides were decorated with what seemed to be iridescent tile of some sort that seemed to branch off into things like sitting areas, work areas of some sort, and what appeared to be a library tucked off around a corner, only another spread petal doorway enclosing it. Nero could practically hear V salivating behind him at the prospect of taking a reading break. A part of him wished that they could leave him here for his own safety, but he knew that wasn't an option.

Dotted around several seemingly illogical places in the house were winding vine-like staircases that seemed to lead to large petals that Nero could only imagine served as doors despite the fact that there was no way that a room actually existed up there. Unless this place defied the laws of time and space and was nothing more than a spatial anomaly, there was no way that rooms could even fit up there, even with the vast ceiling height taken into account. Perhaps the doors served as vector points for portals of some sort? The other blooms he'd seen outside didn't appear to have bridges to them, after all. Maybe that was how this place worked? He wasn't sure why he cared as much as he did

It was a strange but admittedly visually appealing environment, even if Nero wasn't really sure how to process most of it. To deny the splendor of the space would be almost criminal. In fact, if not for the fact that they were in the underworld, Nero would have been sure that Kyrie would have loved this place. She absolutely adored sparkly things and plants. He wondered how she was doing right now. Her and the boys. He had a hunch that little Carlo would probably climb all over everything in this place.

Perhaps the strangest thing of all however was the prevalent sense of comfort and peace that filled the entire space. Nero had no way of really properly quantifying it, but everything here filled him with a sense of ease and tranquility, and he suddenly had a profound desire to just lay down and take a nap. He wondered momentarily if that was intentional, and a perfectly timed yawn from Dante seemed to confirm his suspicion that he might not be alone in that regard. Was this aura meant to entrap them in some way? It didn't feel malevolent in any way, shape, or form, but he also couldn't help but take note of the fact that lulling your prey into a false sense of security was a good way to get them to let their guard down so that you could attack. Call it paranoia, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something was just off about this place. It was too nice to be part of the underworld, at least by his standards.

"Time doesn't flow here like it does everywhere else. It's the effect of the Aspect of Purgatorio that lingers over the little tear in our reality that this place was built upon."

Dante looked slightly surprised to hear that, turning to see his older twin's reaction to her statement. He seemed to be unmoved by this revelation, so the devil hunter could only imagine that this wasn't news to him. It made sense in a strange sort of way, though. If there were other realities and they were all layered around one another then crossover was somewhat inevitable. And as long as Vergil had spent down here he would be the one who would know that, wouldn't he?

"So the human world isn't the only place that other realms and realities bleed into?" V asked softly, admittedly wanting nothing more at that moment than to sit down and get a better look at his shoulder. It felt considerably better now than it had about ten minutes ago when Dante had reset it, but he still couldn't move it much. It seemed that his healing abilities didn't take numbing the pain associated with the injury into effect quite as much as he might have liked.

"But of course, child. Why wouldn't the friction between the realms affect more than just one portion of the trinity? We're quite close to Purgatorio here, after all."

The voice that responded did not come from their escort. Instead, they looked around the room in alarmed surprise, unsure as to the source of the voice due to the way that the structure carried sound. After a moment their eyes settled upon the top of the staircase… and on a figure that they had not noticed previously. They could only imagine that she had just arrived. They had located the source of the almost sing-song voice.

Everyone watched as the second demoness made her way down the winding stairs. She strolled, taking her time. She clearly felt no need to rush to her destination. But as she made her way down the stairs with the apparent intent of joining them, she became more visible, and she was a truly fascinating sight for such unexpectant eyes. If the purple demon who had brought them there had been oddly beautiful, then this devil was in a league of her own in that aspect.

With an appearance that could only be likened to that of an Egyptian scarab beetle, she was at least a head taller than her purple companion, and that was before the crown of green, teal, and gold semicircular half-moon shaped antenna on her head were taken into account. Singular small side spikes stuck out on either side of the demon's head, making it seem even larger than it did already. A third spike stuck off of the top of the center of her head, adorned with another smaller top-facing half-moon-shaped spike, this time without the single side spikes on either side of the outer layer of the horns.

Gold seams flowed down the upper chest area of her body, covered slightly by the litany of gold jewelry that adorned her pale green-skinned body. Several layers of golden rings encapsulated her entire neck. Her silken body wraps began at a chest piece that seemed to hang from her neck and ended at the sash that rested against her waistline. A long trailing piece of teal cloth that seemed to be a skirt of some sort embroidered with gold hung nearly to the floor behind her legs, leaving the front of both of her legs from just above the tops of her calves visible. It was an entirely different style of dress from what the other demon who had brought them there was wearing, but there was no doubt that they were at the very least members of the same species.

She came to a stop near them, resting her hand on her hip. She seemed to regard V with a sort of quiet fascination, studying him as though he were a particularly interesting decoration that she was interested in procuring. V and the rest of his family looked at her with more than a little bit of intrigue. She was strangely beautiful in a way that they were not expecting, much like the purple demon who had brought them here. And to top it off, she seemed to be a bit more demure and polite than her sister, her sass less biting overall. They had not expected to run into two demons here, but then again, a place this big was a bit overkill for someone who lived alone. But to be fair, this was the underworld. Overkill was sort of the point.

"And it's a good thing, too! I can't do everything around here, after all. Can you even imagine how exhausting that would be?" The green demoness said with a light smile, bending over to make eye contact with V for a moment. She winked, giggling to herself at the flabbergasted look on his face. The young summoner had clearly never met anyone who was this tall in comparison to him before, and it showed. He'd never felt so short in his entire life.

Looking him over, she seemed to notice some of the markings that covered his skin. She batted her long eyelashes, pleasantly surprised by this turn of events. Now that was something that you didn't see every day. "Ah, a little one after my own heart. A bit different in comparison to the methods used by the darling witches I normally patron, but I imagine no less useful. But I still cannot remember the last time I met a summoner who was… well, your gender. And never one with your specific combination of human and devil blood. How truly spectacular! Do tell me more about yourself once you take care of whatever has brought you down here."

V blinked in surprise before blushing. He wasn't really sure how to take that. He couldn't recall ever being lauded like this for his abilities. He was not aware of the fact that it was uncommon to be a male summoner. And what was this about her being a patron for other summoners? Did they summon her? That seemed unlikely, all things considered. That would take a great deal of power, and he couldn't imagine that there were a ton of people wandering around who were capable of such feats. This conversation had been exceptionally eye-opening.

"Khepri please, you don't do everything around here. Manipulating the flow of time and doing a few tricks with some solar beams isn't that hard. Don't be so dramatic, dear."

They all turned to see yet another insectoid demoness enter the room, this one possessing a more human skin tone and adorned in a flowing red gown that she held up with her two clasped hands, presumably in order to keep it from dragging on the ground behind her. Her long sleeves hung almost the same length, draping in large hoops around her as she sashayed over towards them, her horn-like head adornment connecting at the top to form a circle over the top of her head. In the center of the horns floated some sort of strange symbol that they couldn't recognize, but it was honestly the strangest thing about here from what they could tell. And like both of the other demonesses, she possessed a golden forehead adornment of some sort, slightly different in design than the others but similar enough to be able to tell that it served the same purpose. Were they crowns, perhaps? They looked more like a sort of circlet or tiara, but they might hold the same significance.

Unlike both of her companions, her robes covered the majority of her body, draping from the closed necked high collar neck of her gown down further past her pointed shoulders and all the way to the floor in a sort of bell shape. The only visible openings on the garment were those of the spit that went up to about her knees and the cleavage window that occupied the top of the chest section of the garment. Again, a distinctly different garment style-wise from both of the other she-devils. Did they come from different locations, or was this simply a stylistic choice? There was no way of knowing aside from asking them, and none of them wanted to accidentally rub them the wrong way. After all, they had been nothing but hospitable towards them up until this point. There was no reason to ruin that.

Her heels clicked on the cold stone floor behind her as she walked towards them, her eyes closed and a thoroughly sassy look on her face. She was clearly here to give the green demoness hell, and none of them were sure it was going to be of a playful disposition. They just hoped that if the two of them started chucking demonic power around that they had the decency to not catch them in the crossfire. None of them knew what these demonesses were capable of just yet, but it seemed that at least one of them had some level of control over time. They wanted nothing to do with that. And that was all somewhat irrelevant when that reality sunk in a little. The ability to control time was far from a typical power for a demon to possess. Just how powerful were they?!

As soon as both the red and green demons got within touching distance they pointed their fingers at one another, sassing one another as they mumbled something under their breath in an obviously mocking manner. It was actually somewhat funny, but none of them were crazy enough to actually laugh at the argument taking place. And it seemed that that had been a wise decision as the purple demoness shook her head and walked over to shoo both of her companions apart, shaking her head like a disapproving parent despite being barely taller than the red demon and quite a bit shorter than the green one.

"Oh, for the love of- I knew you lot had no manners, but this is a new low even for you. Have you no shame? Our guests have been here mere moments and you've already started bickering! Could you at least be bothered to greet them before you start clawing each other's throats out? You'll have plenty of time for that once they leave. They won't be here forever. You should understand that concept better than anyone by now."

Both of them stopped, clearly displeased but unable to deny the fact that the purple demoness was correct in her assessment of them. They both looked away from one another with a somewhat dramatic huff folding their arms around themselves. They would just admit defeat and allow their purple companion to continue speaking.

"Honestly, this is probably why our other sibling left and went to war a while back. I can only take so much of the two of you myself, and I have much thicker skin." The purple devil said with a small laugh. She loved them both dearly, but they were a mess.

A sigh came from the second shortest one, her red robes dancing around her as she twirled to face Dante and Vergil. She seemed to linger on them for a moment before nodding to herself. Well, wasn't this curious? "Yes dear sister, you might be right… We are so very unfriendly. So unrefined. We didn't even take the time to introduce ourselves." 

"Not that she probably did, either. Care to do the honors?" The green demoness said with a somewhat disinterested wave of her hand. She dismissed both of her sisters wordlessly. She could only take so much of them in one day. No, her focus was on their guests. She had not noticed who had just stepped foot into their realm until now. How had she managed to overlook that? This sort of thing was literally her whole job!

"These are my darling sisters who possess little to no hospitality skills." The purple demon said, shaking her head and resting her hand on her hip. She was just going to ignore that little comment from her lovely sister. She was right, she hadn't introduced herself, but still! "Khepri is the lovely one in green, and then the youngest is Styx. I'm the middle child, so I do my best to try and keep them from eating one another alive. And if you were wondering what my name was, well, even though I'm sure you've figured it out by now but still, I'm Butterfly! 

Khepri nodded in agreement. "Were the devil sisters that run things here in the Infernal, so this is the safest place that you could possibly find yourself in. Rest easy. It used to be someone else a while back but… well, she's been taken care of. Her sister though… "

Shaking her head, Styx giggled. She was clearly amused by something that they knew nothing about. It probably wasn't relevant to what was going on, though, so they couldn't say that they were particularly concerned. "Surely your father has mentioned you to us by now! Dear Butterfly used to drive him up the walls. Why, I'm certain that Sparda took up Mundes's invitation to join the war effort just to get away from her. Even death would be preferable to her torment. It's what she does best, after all."

Butterfly snickered, waving her off. "Well, I certainly hope not! It's been so very boring since he left! You don't get nearly as riled up by my little jests and games. It's such a drag, especially without any mortals to play with. Such a shame."

Dante and Vergil looked at one another for a lingering moment, unsure as to what they should say to that. So they were sisters? Fascinating. That was good to know. But anything that they might say in response to that might reveal more than they were planning to these devils. But after a moment, Vergil gestured towards his younger twin to signal that he wanted him to let him handle this. That was probably what was best given the situation. He turned and faced them, not entirely sure how best to explain this to them. He was certain that neither he nor his brother had ever expected to come across another demon who was as ancient as his father who actually seemed to have fond memories of them. Everyone else they had met had been trying to kill them in retribution. This was… truly unexpected and special.

"Unfortunately no, he did not have the opportunity. We have not seen him since we were quite young." He said simply, hoping that they would not ask for more of an explanation but fully expecting them to desire one. And he understood that more than they realized. At this point in his life, he would like nothing more than to have something of substance to give them in regards to an answer. And for himself, for that matter… but in spite of his best efforts, he simply didn't. And that still haunted them. He almost didn't want to tell them for that very same reason. They had probably wondered what he'd been up to all of this time, much the same as he had. They had just had a considerably longer amount of time to do it.

All three of the sisters looked surprised for a moment before looking at one another with expressions ranging from confusion and perplexment to mild irritation and worry. They had hoped that he'd taken the time to do so, but that was honestly nothing in comparison to the revelation that had just been delivered upon them. "Did he just disappear one day? Because that sounds like what you just described."

Vergil nodded, not really sure what else he could tell them. They had just as much of a right to know as he and Dante did but… He genuinely had nothing to tell them. He wondered how his father would feel knowing that his former friends still thought of him from time to time. He imagined that he would be flattered. "From what we understand, that is precisely what happened. I've had no success in finding any trace of him for the better part of forty years now. Am I right to assume that you have had no correspondence with him since then, either?"

Styx shook her head. "No, and we better not have if you haven't. But that being said, I can't imagine that he would have just left you. That's not how he is in the slightest. Nothing short of death would keep him from his family. He stands by those he loves, and he loves very few. But… "

Nero looked at her in surprise for a moment, aware that he didn't know anything about his grandfather but curious as to what that "but" might have meant in regards to what might have become of him. "But…? Do you think you know something about where he went? I never met him, but it sounds like he would never just up and leave, but he's still just kinda gone. It's really strange."

Dante and Vergil said nothing, but they agreed with Nero's sentiment. He had really hit the nail on the head with that assessment of the situation. Dante in particular couldn't help but feel melancholy at that moment, uncertain as to anything other than the fact that he had nothing worthwhile to add to the conversation. Dante hadn't spent years of his life looking for him like Vergil had, but he's always wondered what had happened to him. It was one of the aspects of his past that he had never been able to fully put behind him and move on from. It was not knowing more than anything else that made it so unbearable for both of them.

He… he missed his father, too. And it seemed that no one knew what had become of him.

Khepri looked as though she was wondering if she should say something, concerned that she would do more damage than good. But in the end, she decided to just say what was on her mind. If the wound was open then she might as well scratch it a little. "... Our little brother is infamous down here. I find it strictly impossible to believe that he could have been killed without the individual responsible telling quite literally everyone down here. And it isn't like he's going to catch anything in the human world that could put him out of commission… not to mention that he's too young to really die of old age. He's certainly missing, but I have my doubts as to him being dead. If anything I feel like we would be able to feel it. But when I think of him and try to seek him out I just feel… nothing."

The room fell silent for a moment as Dante, Vergil, Nero, and V tried to absorb what had just been revealed to them. No, they had to have heard that incorrectly. There was simply no way that what she had just said was anything other than a slip of the tongue. She hadn't just said that their father was… 

"... You're their aunts?" V asked, resisting the urge to go even more wide-eyed than he already was at the prospect. So these were their relatives, then? Perhaps the only living ones that they might have? He had never even considered the possibility that his uncle and father might have family on their Father's side. Or now that he thought about it, his grandmother's side for that matter. Was it possible that any of them were still alive? They would have to be quite old but… 

Each of the other two sisters looked as though they had just been caught with their hand in the cookie jar for a moment before Butterfly sighed. Sometimes Khepri's upfront and truthful nature really put them in a tight spot. "Yes, we most certainly are. We were going to mention it before you left… or maybe when you came back. No need to distract you from the task at hand. What is the task at hand, by the way? Or is it presumptuous to assume that you're down here seeking something?"

Dante shook his head, looking down at the floor. Well, wasn't today full of surprises? He'd never realized until now why their father had tried to get them to get along so much, but now he understood. He'd been a sibling himself. It had never even occurred to him that he might have left behind a family in the underworld. His heart suddenly ached for the incredible sense of loneliness that he knew his father must have felt until his mother had come along. It was actually quite sad now that he thought about it. It explained so much about him that he'd never taken into consideration until now. He was just trying to spare them the same kind of unending loneliness that he'd felt himself spending all those years away from his kin. And in an ironic twist, he and Vergil had ended up drifting apart and isolating themselves from one another regardless of his best efforts.

… Their poor father… 

Vergil turned an unhealthy color. So that had been why Mundus hadn't wanted him to go anywhere near this section of the underworld. They might have been able to help him. He had known the entire time. The Darkslayer suddenly wanted to kill his old master a few hundred times over for that level of defeat. But the fact that he'd no doubt known that was enough in of itself to tell him that Khepri, Styx, and Butterfly had to be immensely powerful because if the Devil King wouldn't have left them alive this long if he thought that he could kill them.

Realizing that his uncle and father were not in any condition to respond, V decided to take the initiative and do so for them. "We're here to kill Belial. He plans to use me in some way to take over the human world, and has placed a curse on me to help facilitate that goal. We… can't allow that to happen." He rubbed his arm absentmindedly, realizing for the first time that both of his arms were causing him no small amount of grief. But at least he had stopped coughing for the moment. He'd actually felt a little bit better since he'd come here. Maybe this place had an effect on him that was similar to that of the dimension that Malphas had placed him into?

Styx nodded before allowing a small smile to spread across her face. "Well, it's about time that someone did. He's been stealing demons from our realm to supply to his summoners and corrupting our magic for some time now, but we just couldn't be bothered to take care of him. We don't get involved unless it's worth our time. It seems that our inaction and complacency has caused you quite a bit of trouble. Our sincerest appoligies. I guess we haven't been doing our job very well as of late. He's even managed to corrupt a small section of our realm. How embarrassing."

It was Khepri's turn to say something now that her younger sisters were currently indisposed. "We noticed that you had been touched by his presence when you arrived. We can sense all forms of corruption that originated from the underworld. We've been here a long time." Her gaze traveled over towards Vergil for a moment, lingering on him wordlessly. A feeling of unease came over him as he realized just what she meant by that. So she could tell that that had happened to him, then? And yet, she had said nothing. He… appreciated her tact. Even though he had been free of that corruption for a while now, he could only imagine that there were still remnants that could be picked up by someone who knew what they were looking for. That was more than a little disconcerting to have to come to terms with.

Nero just shook his head. "I mean, it's not like you knew. No hard feelings. But if you wanna make it up to us then you can help us kill that asshole. We're kinda in a time crunch. It's the end of the world again or something. Happens more than you'd probably think. It's honestly kind of fucking annoying how often the world almost ends if I'm being honest. You never get to do anything else."

To the young devil hunter's surprise, Butterfly started to laugh, her hands resting on her hips. It was a surprising sound considering how she'd laughed up until this point. It seemed as though she had been genuinely entertained by Nero's statement.

"You know what? I'll admit it. I like you, child. You remind me of someone." Butterfly said with a sly smile. Her mischievous personality meshed well with his total lack of fear and his overall punkish ways, and that was something that she respected. "I don't generally give help to others without some sort of price, but for you, I'll make an exception. Here, hand me that little thing you're carrying. I want to try something with it."

Reluctantly, Nero looked down at his belt and realized that the demon was referring to one of his devil breakers. It made perfect sense that she didn't know what it was called. She had no reason to. He gestured towards several of them, the tall woman shaking her head before pointing directly at the oh-so-familiar gauntlet at his side. Nero blinked in mild surprise. Rawhide? What could she possibly want with that?

Plucking it from its rightful place on his belt he held it up, still perplexed as to what use she might have for it. Sure it was a useful devil arm and one he kinda wished he'd had equipped during his fall now that he thought about it, but what could she possibly want with it? It certainly wasn't going to fit on her hand.

Taking the Devil Breaker into her hand she closed her eyes for a moment and seemed to concentrate. After a moment the weapon began to glow a faint purple before dimming again and returning to what seemed to be its original state. She then assessed it before quietly confirming that it met her standards. "This should do the trick, little one."

"How did you do that?" Nero asked, slightly surprised. One look at the Devil Breaker was all it took for him to be able to tell that she had enhanced it somehow. Nico would get a kick out of that once he got back. He hoped that he had the opportunity to show her when he got back. As long as it didn't break during what was to come then he didn't see why he couldn't at some point. She would probably want to study it or something. "Oh, and un, thanks. I appreciate it even if I don't really know what you just did."

"From my personal experience, it is not a simple task to fragment one's power, least of all your very soul. How did you manage to do that so easily?" Vergil asked calmly, obviously impressed by the ease with which she had managed to do that. She had practically created a minor Devil Arm just now. That was quite the favor she had just done for his youngest child. He was actually curious to see how it worked now that it had been transformed into something more substantial.

"Because it depends on how much you put into it, of course. That's just common sense, darling." Her sisters watched as Butterfly handed Nero back the gauntlet, now infused with a small fragment of her power. No doubt it would be useful to him going forward. Belial couldn't be harmed by just anything. They were going to need every advantage that they could get. "Your father isn't the only member of this clan who knows how to fragment their lifeforce. But such a tiny sliver is inconsequential to me. Use it as you will, little one. Give Belial a good smack for me. And that fussy little thing that serves him. His little Dark Knight. Oh, what was her name?"

The green demoness on the other side of the room folded her arms around her and shook her head. If her sister didn't insist on half-listening then perhaps she would be able to remember the names of people who genuinely wanted her dead. "Exalta?" 

Snapping her long fingers, she nodded in agreement. She used to be better with names, but after so many years she just couldn't be bothered to put in the effort. "Ah! Thank you, sister. Exalta! Her sister was just as unpleasant, but one of my darling little witches took care of her a while back. It seems that she's forgotten where she comes from and where her loyalties lay as well, but that should serve to humble her a bit. I suspect she will have quite an unpleasant experience with that now that it's been… enhanced."

Nero shuddered. He was now very grateful that he hadn't brought Sweet Surrender with him. Something about the way she said that just felt wrong.

"Just stay here until the storm passes. Make yourselves comfortable! Take a look around. We would offer you dinner but I've heard that they don't share our culinary preferences up there." Styx said casually as she headed back in the direction that she'd originally entered the room from, waiving over her left shoulder as she departed the room. If V was going to guess then he'd say that was probably where her bedroom was. Not that it made a difference to him one way or another. The location of her sleeping quarters was none of his business. Though a bed did sound like a comfortable prospect right about now. He'd love to take a nap while he was waiting. "Take care and do visit us again sometime. We have so much catching up to do!"

Butterfly nodded before heading around the corner on the opposite side of the room. Yes, they most certainly did. "As much as I hate to admit it, she is right. I know that's impossible to believe, but still. We would very much like for you to pay us another visit. So very little goes on down here." She knew that they were here on important business, so they had to leave soon, but if it was up to her then she would have them linger quite a while longer. Visitors were exceedingly rare these days. "Do take care not to get yourselves killed dealing with Belial. He's dishonest and does not like to fight on a level playing field. Show him what fear is. He seemed to feel emboldened by the absence of our brother, and by our lack of action against him. A grave error on his part. And should you need help afterward, you know where to find us."

With that, Butterfly disappeared down the hallway and into what was more than likely the next room. Khepri watched her sisters leave before turning towards the stairs herself, heading in the direction of the library on the other side of the main area. She would make herself more easily accessible for their guests should they need her. "We will alert you as soon as the storm passes. You all seem as though you could use a little time to think and plan your next moves. Come and see me before you go. I may be able to help point you in the right direction."

That was a proposal that none of them could deny the appeal of. If they could not travel during the storm, then they would rest here. Time did not pass here according to the Khepri anyway. They would take the opportunity to get some much-needed rest and then carry on, perhaps allowing V's shoulder to heal before they left. They had a devil prince to destroy. There was no time to lose. As soon as this storm was over, so was Belial's life.

(-~-)

Sorry if I missed anything. It was another long writing session. But hey, 7300 words! I'LL TAKE IT! Wow, it feels great to get so much done! That's over 15k words in two chapters! That's more than I normally write in about two and a half weeks! Also, I figured out the schedule for the holidays! I'm taking the week of Thanksgiving off but resuming the week after so there won't be a chapter next week, but there will be two the week after! And I have an upcoming chapter of Saudade, but I have yet to decide when that will be dropping. I'll tell you all on Friday!

I hope you liked this chapter! Let me know if I missed anything, and I'll see you in the comment section. See you on Friday! Have a great week!

[skvaderarts]

Hiraeth Chapter 80: Festering

Masterlist can be found Here!

Chapter Eighty: Festering

Note: Sorry the chapter was a few hours late. Had to run out and do some last minute grocery shopping in the middle of editing the last few paragraphs, and when I got back to my apartment it was already 7:30! Anyway, I hope you enjoy the chapter! I’ve been wanting to write this one for a while now! The holiday schedule is in the notes!

(-~-)

A series of innumerable inconsistencies had led to this moment, each more unfathomable than the last. But this… this was something else entirely.

The hollow, ringing reverberation produced by the pitter-patter of falling water was deafening, at least to the eldest Son of Sparda. Its source was unknown, but with every second it grew heavier and more damaging to the psyche and no doubt the structure they resided in. It had to be difficult for the supports that held this place up to hold sway over that kind of liquid mass. He didn't like their chances. And as if the pillars themselves had heard him and shared the same sentiment, they suddenly gave way. The thick stone structures that held up the heightless ceiling above him split down their carved creases, the weight of what they had to hold proving too much for them to handle.

But as the cracks deepened the pillars didn't falter. Instead, seams of crimson flowed through and from them, cascading downward as though gravely wounded. The rest of the red matter flowed upward in a doubled pumping rhythm as though each post contained its own circulatory system. It was reminiscent of a heartbeat, only with more irregularity. Despite this, there was an apparent strength to the flow of it with no signs of weakness present. But what it pumped towards was completely unknown to them… until the moment that the droplets from above made contact with the bloodied water below.

Large droplets of an uncertain liquid pelted them from above as the eldest of the twins took in his surroundings. Or at least he tried to. There was not really much that he could take in given the circumstances. On one side of the room, the pillars were readily visible, but would lie beyond them on even the far side of the same room was hard to say. It was sort of darkness that seemed to creep on and on forever regardless of how close you walked towards it, and the last thing he wanted to do was become separated from the rest of the group. They stood very little chance against whatever this was if they were not together. Of that he was sure.

And all the while the hot air from the other side of the door never relented, its blistering temperature rising higher and higher until it became undeniably apparent that something truly was breathing on the other side of that door. The rhythm of the pseudo breath was even in rough synchronization to that of the pulsation of the pillars, further indicating that these two structures were intertwined in some way, shape, or form. It was almost as though they were within the center of a massive being that had taken the shape of a structure, and they had unwittingly traveled through its mouth and down its throat into the literal belly of the beast.

But none of that was comparable to the real and very present threat in that room: the broken, mangled, misshapen remnants of what had once been the Devil King himself. The two eyes that saw nothing lingered upon his face and bore into the Darkslayer's very soul, judging him and wearing him down. Looking into the face of his former master would have been grounds for brutal retaliation at one point in his life, and even though he wanted to recoil in physical discomfort the longer he gazed into them, he couldn't will himself to redirect his attention. He felt trapped

The third eye that resided upon his forehead was barely visible as a result of the cracks that formed in his head the higher up you looked, but despite the fact that what seemed to be his brain was exposed and threatening to tumble to the floor, his firey blood quenching in the cool liquid as it dropped from his exposed stone skull. The demon slayer knew just by looking at what remained of this creature that the power that that third eye contained was not lost. And he knew that the damage that it could do was devastating. He had far more experiance with it than he would like.

Vergil recalled with much internalized anguish the number of times he had experienced defeat and agony at the business end of that particular eye, the cylindrical, spear-like rods that it shot out piercing him and pinning him to a number of surfaces in that very room. That was where the majority of the blood had come from, after all. Mundus had taken great joy in attempting to shatter his psyche, but when that didn't work his bones were still available. And unlike his mind, his bones healed quickly which meant that they were always available for target practice. Vergil had never resented his healing factor so much in his entire life, but a little bit of time down here quickly changed that. It was undeniably useful, but there had been many times when he wished it would simply give out and allow him the sweet release of death. That would have been his only avenue of exscape.

"What is he doing here?" Vergil thought to himself as he made reluctant and involuntary eye contact with what remained of his old master. The probability of this particular demonic prince being here at this particular time was exceedingly low, and he quickly came to the conclusion that was most obvious given that undeniable reality. He wasn't here. This was clearly all just an illusion. Even in his sanity spent, brain-addled, utterly deluded state, he was able to clearly understand this fact. So why was it that even though he was being confronted by an illusion of something long since past he simply couldn't shake the overwhelming feeling of nauseous dread that threatened to overtake him and send him careening to the floor in anguish? Why did his blood still run colder than the deepest arctic waters and his lungs forget how to intake air?

"Because." Vergil thought to himself in undeniable irritation, his frustration with himself evident. He lacked the capacity to even try and contemplate how insane he must look at this point. And he certainly couldn't even try to pretend that he cared. "You still… You have to admit it to yourself at some point, don’t you. And will you let that stop you from protecting them? You know they stand no chance against him… You certainly didn't. Well, except Dante but… No. Especially not alone. And they have no idea what to even expect. They don't know what they are up against. But you do."

His mind started to drift for a moment to all the possibilities. There were so many things that could go wrong here. And in a strange way he couldn't imagine things having gone worse than this. But then after a moment, a nudge brought him back to his senses, even if only slightly. And then a second prodding tap dared to actually attempt to grab his attention. Forsaking the entire situation he was in momentarily, the legendary Dark Knight's eldest son snapped out of the daze he was in and turned and made eye contact with his strangely persistent botherer. And for reasons he couldn't quite process, he was actually surprised to see that it was Dante, and that Dante seemed to see the exact same thing that he was seeing. At least he hadn't gone completely mad, left alone to fester in his own grief within the confines of his own illusion. That would have been so very like Belial. A fate worse than death. Perhapse he would even use it against V as a means of attempting to blackmail him into submission, his freedom hanging in the ballance.

"I… What exactly happened to him, Dante?" Vergil said almost breathlessly, clearly unsure as to how to process what he was seeing. He’d never seen Mundus in a state so unbecoming of his position. He’d clearly been badly injured by something, and it certanly handn’t been him. He didn’t even have any memories pertaning to this. Where had Belial conjured them from? Had he seen this first hand? “My memory of many of the events surrounding my death can be patchy at the best of times… But I distinctly recall him being much more intact than this. Is this how he looked before he met his end?"

"Yea, more like "What didn't you do to him, Dante". Dante said, scratching the back of his neck before putting his gun away and drawing his blade. It hummed in the darklness, eager to draw the demon king’s blood for a third time. How fitting that the evolved form of the blade that had struck him down the first and second times should be the one to end him once again. "After I realized I'd, ya know…  killed you… I kinda went berserk and, well, that happened. That wasn't the only trick that he pulled but… well, I didn't really have anything left to lose at that point, ya know? So I just went all out. I had some help finishing him off, but this? Yea, I think I was actually trying to destroy him more than I was trying to just kill him at that point. After what he did to you I just… "

Dante knew that there was more to that story, but mentioning Trish right now probably wasn't the best idea. And it hadn't occurred to him until then that he'd literally never talked about Vergil's death with him before. It might not be a good idea to do so within Belial's domain, either. But it still needed to be said either way. It was one of the things that weighed heaviest on him, even to this day. The passage of the years hadn't made things any less painful, and having to look at Vergil and remember that things had come to that between him was physically painful at times. He wished that he could just take it all back and they could start over, but he wasn't sure that death was something they could just forget or forgive and move on. It never had been.

Nero looked at his uncle and father as he approached, V in tow behind him. It was best to stay together, but now he knew that what Nico had said about having been told by Lady that Dante had killed Vergil once was actually correct, he wasn't sure how to even begin processing it. And whatever this demon was that was prying itself off of the throne on the other side of the room had tricked Dante into doing it? Just how powerful was this thing, and what had it even done that for? And how had Dante been deceived into doing something so fundamentally self-destructive in the first place? He didn’t seem like the type to be easily tricked. So much more about his uncle made more sense to him now that it threatened to physically give him backlash, even if he now had more questions than answers.

"Wait, so if he's dead then what the fuck is he doing still breathing and moving around?!" Nero asked, suddenly coming to the realization that something about that didn't make sense to him. If his uncle had basically destroyed this guy years ago by the sound of it, then there was no reason for him to still be moving around, right? After all, Dante was good at killing things. Really good. So good in fact that he'd never seen anything he'd fought aside from his own brother even so much as stand a chance against him. So how could this thing still be moving and even thinking about starting a fight with them? Was it undead or something?

"Because this is an illusion," V said as calmly as he could manage, the shifting environment that they currently occupied making doing so difficult. He wanted nothing more than to go through that door and get this over with, especially if this was just a taste. Neither he nor Nero had been able to see the illusion initially, and the prospect of Belial making individual illusions that only specific people could see was enough in of itself to send him into a barely concealed panic. "They can be very convincing. Take my word for it. I have prior experiance."

The youngest member of the family felt himself die a little inside at the realization that their opponent could create illusions so convincing that they would even stop their father dead in his tracks. He knew that was possible. After all, Vergil had lost to him in the past. But the idea that some of them could see the illusion while others couldn't make things several thousand times worse, as far as he was concerened. And could he make them appear different to one another as well? Could he turn them against one another? There were simply too many variables in the situation, and until he had some concrete facts to work with, he was just going to have to work off of the assumption that everything could go wrong all at once.

"Belial fashions his nightmares off of the negative experiences of those he seeks to destroy. He sees no point in attempting to fight an opponent that he can simply make destroy themselves." The Darkslayer said calmly, not at all helping to ease Nero's anxieties. It was a simple truth of the matter, as awful as that truth might be. They had known this to some degree before coming down here, but seeing it really did make it worse, didn't it? It seemed that all of them would be worse off by the end of this in some way, shape, or form.''... He has much to work with on my behalf. He always has. I sincerely doubt he even had to look into my mind this time to create this illusion. A quick glimpse into Dante's mind was probably all it took for him to find the details he was searching for. Or perhapse he saw this himself."

As they turned to look back at the demon that had now managed to almost pull itself loose from its confinement, Dante turned and looked at his older twin. It probably wasn't very easy for Nero and V to be able to tell that Vergil was deeply unnerved, but Dante could tell from a mile away. Even in this vast, impenetrable darkness, he could tell that his brother was trembling ever so slightly and that he seemed almost short of breath, a reaction that probably came from years of neglect and abuse at the hands of this wretched being. And perhaps it was only the angle, but he got the impression his pupils had dilated slightly more than they needed to, even in this kind of darkness. His eyes were certainly open slightly wider than they normally were, even if he had totally averted them and seemed determined to look down at the floor instead. He couldn’t make eye contact with him, it seemed. And he wasn’t too suprised by that. It made sense.

He had seen what Munduus had turned him into; how he had corrupted him and broken his spirit until he had been forced to serve him against his will. He had defeated him. And even then he was sure that Vergil had rebelled against his will. It was what his brother did best. He didn’t yeild to those he hated under any curcomstances. So to know that this was still something that was so fresh, a wound still open and bleeding. To know that he still held weight over his brother in any way at all... It made him hate Munduus more than he ever had before.

"Illusions only have the power we give them over us, Vergil. They aren't real, even if what makes them so painful is." Dante said quietly in an almost hushed tone, exhaling slowly to avoid sighing and giving off the wrong impression. This was something that they didn't have the time to fully discuss right now, but it was something that he needed him to know, even if it led to more problems than solutions. He was long overdue to say it for both of their sakes, even if it did open a can of worms that he wasn't ready to handle right now. He just hoped that it wouldn't serve to do more harm than good. Vergil was already pretty close to the edge. He didn't want to kick him bodily over it and back into the abyss that he'd clearly worked so hard to claw his way back out of. "He's gone. He can't hurt you ever again. You're free now and he's dead. You never have to do anything because of him again. He can't force you to do anything against your will anymore, you know that, right?"

Vergil didn't answer. In fact, he seemed to physically recoil at the very mental image that that statement had just conjured up in his mind, hiding within himself. That experience had been a lifetime ago for Dante, but for Vergil… those wounds were still bleeding. Time had flowed differently for him down here, and every slow, agonizing second of it had been hellish beyond comprehension. From the point of inception to the moment he had taken his last breath, every interaction had been filled with debasement, defilement, and denigration; what little honor and pride he still possessed stripped away from him layer by layer like so much earth beneath flowing water. It seemed that whether he wanted to acknowledge it or not, he was still coping with the trauma of his past. And that was something that would probably never relent. It was not a simple thing to move on from that level of trauma. He had spent half his life in that dreadful situation, and he wasn't sure when the moment that he could say that he was truly living again would ever come, if at all. Maybe pain just didn't work that way for him. But either way, he couldn't abandon any of them at the moment when they most needed him. He wouldn’t even consider it. He was many things, but a coward was not one of them, and it never would be.The very idea of abandoning V and Nero to a similar fate at Belial's hands; of leaving Dante to protect them alone… The fury it awoke within him was almost enough to burn away the complex cocktail of emotions that he felt brewing in the pit of his stomach every time he looked up and saw the shattered, broken, illusionary remnants of what had once been the devil king who had enslaved him. Even if only for a moment. And perhaps a moment was all that he needed. 

He was stronger now. He could defeat him.

Still unsure as to how to process everything that was going on, the Darkslayer turned to face his opponent, looking up slightly as he took a deep breath and inhaled the darkness around him before exhaling slowly. He then drew Yamato from its sheath again, the blade glistening in the dim light. He would end this here and now. 

Dante came to stand beside him, saying not a single word but making his intentions known as Nero and V both flanked Vergil on his opposite side, unwilling to allow him to fight this part of his past alone, even if it was only an illusion.

"Last time you avenged me. This time I am owed my vengeance." Vergil said under his breath and a tone just allowed enough for his brother to hear him, his conviction evident. He needed this more than the devil prince Belial might have realized. Disillusion stood no chance against the unyielding power of the combined might of their family, and so long as they stood together, they would not fail. “Even if this is just an illusion, I will destroy him. I have to.”

"And if he can't shake the darkness then maybe I can be the light." Dante thought to himself as he stood shoulder to shoulder with his brother. They could defeat this illusion. It probably wasn't as powerful as the real demon it was based on anyway. This would be a good warm-up before they took down the real thing. "Maybe I just have to realize that he's in the dark and that I can stand in the dark with him. If I can't bring him into the light, then maybe I can bring the light to him."

"Man. I gotta say, you sure as hell don't know how to stay dead. Maybe this time when I send you to hell we'll draw ya a map." Dante said to almost clenched teeth as he prepared to face off agains thim, his own hatred overflowing in its own way. He had not forgotten the hate that he felt towards the devil king for what he had done, and this illusion was going to feel the full force of it. They couldn't risk going all out on this opponent, but they were still going to make it suffer. Any destruction of a part of Belial was going to help in the long run, so maybe it was best that they get this over with quickly. It might even be cathartic. The clock was ticking after all. "I told ya to say hello to my son for me if you ever met him, but maybe it's time you said hi to both of my nephews instead."

Nero and V nodded in agreement, the youngest member of the family drawing his blade and revving the chamber that injected the fuel into it, the blade glowing red hot as he stood at his father's side as V redied himself. He didn't need to know what happened to him in detail to know that it had been heinous and that this particular demon deserved to die a gruesome death. If it had done those horrible things to his uncle and father and helped set them down the path that had led to so much pain between the two of them, and there wasn't enough pain he could inflict upon it, and one glance at V was all it took for him to know that his older brother agreed.

They were going to destroy this thing once and for all. And then Belial was next.

(-~-)

HELLO EVERYONE! QUICK ANNOUNCEMENT!

I will be taking a break for christmas week because were gonna be super busy! That being said, come back on New Years Eve for something special over in Saudade! I think your going to like what I have planned! I also have my Tumblr and Discord info in my bio of AO3 for you, so please feel free to get in contact with me over the holidays if you like! I will still be checking comments here on A03, too! I might not have any chapters, but I sure as hell don’t mind talking with any of you! You are all wonderful, and your the reason this seriese has made it to ONE HUNDRED AND SIXTY DAMN CHAPTERS AND OVER 520,500 WORDS! That’s a totally of 1156 words! For context, the entire Lord of the Rings trilogy is 1136 pages. I just… I can’t believe your still here with me. I’m genuinely touched! From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT!

We will resume our normal schedule as of Wensday January 5th, 2022, but again, we will have a chapter of Saudade on Friday, December 31st! Wow, that’s weird to say. 2022… 

Hiraeth might be drawing to a close soon, but don’t worry, we still have some lose ends to wrap up. I did mention some things a long while back that still need to be addressed. I’m looking forward to next year. Seriously, I have so many wonderful things to write for all of you! I hope you are not bored of reading my work just yet hehehe! But first, we have to take care of Belial, see what happened with Sirrus and Magnolia’s sisters, find out if Patty and Nico and Kyrie are okay, check in on Lady, Trish, and Lucia… and see what Morgan and Brenowin are up to. I hope to have you all along for that journey next year! As long as you keep reading, I’m happy to keep adding to this universe! Your the reason I write, and I have at least 4 side projects that tie into Hiraeth and the larger Soliloquy Saga planned for next year, so your about to get hit with a truckload of variety! The multiverse is expanding, and I couldn’t be more excited! I hope you are, too!

Take care and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, no mater what you celebrate or if you don’t celebrate at all! Everyone is welcome here! I hope you see you over on Discord, and I’ll see you all again soon! Take care!

[skvaderarts]

Hiraeth Chapter 77: Inevitability

Masterlist can be found Here!

Chapter Seventy-Seven: Inevitability 

Note: This chapter really got me. I don’t know why but it really got me in the feels. I hope you like it! And I hope you are all having a wonderful week!

(-~-)

A sort of quiet almost comforting stillness hung in the air between them, each member of their family considering the actions that had led them to this moment and that would spur them forward, down into the deepest depths of Hell.

Damnation. It was the only thing that came from the path that they sought to follow. For how could one hope with even the slightest glimmer of realism to defeat something so primordial; so evil and deadly? They knew it had to be possible, at least in a theoretical sense. Anything that breathed could cease to do so; anything with life could lose it. But the process of actually removing it was a different story, and although they were all confident in their abilities to do battle or against the average foe, just the knowledge that Vergil had faltered in previous attempts in the past was enough to unnerve them all in some small measure.

It was strangely humbling to have to acknowledge the fact that even the Darkslayer himself was not invincible. They knew this of course, but to actually have to admit to themselves was another thing entirely. They felt invincible much of the time, but reality was often disappointing and they knew the only thing down the path that they currently traveled was sorrow and destruction, a real chance that they would not return with every step they took and only growing in its certainty as they proceeded. They had known that when they came down here, but now that they had had time to think on it, the reality of just how dangerous what they were doing was could not be ignored. Before they left here they would do what had been asked of them by their father’s sisters. Perhaps she would have insight?

But the more they lingered on it…

No. That was the enemy. Doubt. They did not have the leeway needed to be able to doubt themselves. They would simply accomplish this task as they had accomplished so many before this one. This was not the first time that they had fought a powerful demon, and would not be the last time. No, it was not his power that unsettled them. It was his ability to get into their minds and to make them confront the things they did not wish to remember, witness, or admit to themselves. How were you supposed to be able to fight something that you could not touch in a physical sense? From what they understood their opponent was somewhat difficult to actually physically harm. 

Harsh language wasn't going to cut it. If that was all it took they would have just sent Nero alone and called it a day. No, this required something more. And while they were sure that the boon that had been gifted to them by Madama Butterfly would come in handy for the task at hand, they weren't actually sure that their blades would be adequate. It seems that it was time to see if Yamato really truly could cut through anything. They would just have to see.

Unable to take the piercing silence in the large open room any longer, Nero stood up and made the executive decision to go and speak with Madama Khepri. He had made a full recovery sometime ago, and V was not far behind him. His shoulder was the only holdout, but he got the impression that even that would not take much longer. Within the next short while, he would be fully recovered and ready to take on their opponent. Once that time came, they would leave here. And hopefully, return victorious. Of course, there was always the possibility that they might not return at all, but he didn't like to think about that. He couldn't think about that. As soon as he allowed those sorts of thoughts to linger in his mind, then his enemy had already won.

Madama Khepri was sitting a short way away from the rest of the group, out of eavesdropping range but still able to see them easily enough. She was browsing through some sort of large book despite the fact that she was not using her hands to do so. The book just sort of levitated in the air, the pages turning on their own as she looked away from it from time to time to take a break from reading it or something else that he wasn't sure of. Her momentary pauses made it hard to tell what she was doing to be completely honest, but he didn't really need to know that. He was interested enough in just the fact that she was reading a floating book. And she seemed content to do so, having been quiet for the last hour or so. Or at least what he thought was an hour or so. His watch didn't even work down here. It was strange, it had worked before they had reached the house, even if it has been sporadic. Was this her time dilation effect?

Truthfully, the youngest member of the family wasn't entirely sure what to say to a being who was this ancient and this wise. He did not need to ask if she was intelligent. It was a parent and everything that she did. She carried herself with grace and grandeur, commanding of a respect that nothing he had ever previously met did. In all honesty, anything that he felt that he should ask felt like a massive waste of her time from his perspective. After all, why spend her valuable and mortality entertaining the machinations of such a narrow-minded mortal? But then again, perhaps that wasn't how she was? Perhaps she was looking forward to the possibility of speaking with him. There was only one way to find out.

"So your sisters said that you could control time, right? That's pretty cool. So does that mean that you can, you know…"

A look of amusement passed across her face as she regarded him silently, turning her attention back to the book that she was reading. She knew where he was going with this. She'd live long enough to be asked that herself on many occasions by all sorts of people. It was no longer a surprise when this particular line of questioning was brought to bear. "If you're going to ask me if I can tell you the future or not, I will have to disappoint you, little one."

Nero made a face like he had just lost a bet with himself, a look of knowing disappointment on his face making itself apparent. Somehow he had expected that sort of answer. It seemed that things were never quite that simple, especially when it came to power of this nature and magnitude. "So you don't know how to do it, or you just can't tell me?"

Another slight smirk, this time more amused than the last. This one had spunk, didn't he? Yes, he fit in quite well with the rest of his kind. She should introduce him to some of the rest of their people. The girls would probably adore him. Though to be fair this was the kind of thing she expected from her sisters, not this young child. Most of the male members of their kind were far more indirect and tended to be more careful out of an inborn respect for their powerful kindred. Most of their kind were female, after all. By a significant margin. Sparda had been a rare exception. A truly special one. "Are you familiar with the concept of a self-fulfilling prophecy, child?"

His brow froze slightly, his eyebrows nearly touching as he considered her statement. He was going to take that as a confirmation of the second option, considering the fact that she hadn't said that she couldn't. But to be entirely honest, he'd only vaguely heard of the term. He didn't really know too much about what she was trying to infer. "I think I've heard of the term, but I don't really know what it means. Something about being your own worst enemy or something?"

Nodding, Madama Khepri closed her book and set it to the side, her eyes now fully focused on Nero. Despite his lack of knowledge on the subject, he seemed to be capable of inferring what was going on and, as a result, able to catch on to it rather quickly. He was at least making an attempt to understand what was happening and what she was trying to tell him, an admirable trait all things considered. She didn't meet a lot of people down here who were capable of critical thinking. Both were content just going about their day and plotting their schemes, no amount of deep thought or widespread consideration to be found. The underworld sorely needed more people like him. More critical thought would do them all well.

"You're not entirely incorrect. Essentially the concept works as such: by trying to prevent the very thing that you are trying to avoid, you make the fate come to pass that you fear most. In trying to change the future, you bring about the very doom that you sought to mitigate, sometimes in a worse way than it would have been otherwise." She adjusted the position she was sitting in on her lounge chair, her eyes drifting over to V and Vergil as she seemed to consider her next words carefully. She actually did have some foresight as to what would happen, and it troubled her, but the actual outcome was foggy, even to her. She was not all-knowing, but she could see some things. He was correct in that matter. But nothing good had ever come from telling someone what was to come. People and demons shared one thing in common: an inability to accept the fate that they had been given. And most times that was a good thing. But sometimes... Well, it could be the very worst thing they could do. Plotting against themselves by plotting against the fate that they sought to avoid. She did not think that he was like that, but she wanted to make sure that he did not fall prey to his own concerns. He obviously had his reservations, and that was understandable given the circumstance, but the last thing she would attempt to do was to go in trying to change something that might not need to be changed. But telling him that, well... It could only do damage. Too much information and you would become too sure of yourself. Too little and you would doubt. Perhaps the best thing she could do was simply give him some friendly advice. "The threads of fate don't quite work in the way that most assume, and as such, everything is flexible times and subject to the will and actions of those with enough foresight and carefulness to be able to take their affairs into their own hands. But as a result of this, ambition runs its course here, and ego and hubris generally lead to the downfall of everyone involved. Avarice is perhaps the worst quality anyone can have here, for it leads to foolishness, greed, and petty downfalls."

"Why are you telling me this?" Nero asked as politely as he could, attempting not to sound as perplexed by that advice as he actually was. He comprehended what she was saying, but he wasn't sure if that meant that they were supposed to be doomed or that their victory was assured. Perhaps it meant that they were actually somewhere in the middle? That their fate had not been decided on this matter yet? Was fate even something that he needed to worry about? He didn’t believe in it He'd never liked the idea of things being predestined, the whims and follies of his life written out before he even had a chance to do them. That he was following a script for a role that he had not asked to play in the first place. No, his life had to be his own. He craved agency. Perhaps asking a demon who could see the future about the realities of the universe was unwise? It was like staring into a bottomless abyss and expecting to see where it ended.

"Because child, you do not seem to fall prey to these inhibitions. Anyone is capable of great evil and great good, but you seem truly wished only the best, and I can only assume that your reasons for being here are mostly selfless. As such, you stand the best chance of succeeding in your endeavor if you know nothing of the obstacles ahead of you or how they may affect you. Simply stay your course, and what must be done will be done. I cannot sway your future in any way that is good, and knowledge will only cause you undue stress and intensify the burden you already carry. That you all carry. The only advice I can give you is to keep your head on your shoulders, keep calm, and do what you think is right. My counsel would be of very little use to you outside of the advice I've just given. Forgive me."

"So what you're saying is… just be myself? Am I getting that right? Just believe what I'm doing is the best that I can do and do it?" The youngest descendant of the Dark Knight Sparda was admittedly unsure as to whether or not he was correct, and he felt as though most of what he said was probably very asinine to a being this ancient, much like speaking to a toddler with too many questions, but he was still going to try. He wouldn't get anywhere by just assuming that he wasn't good enough.

For a moment, something akin to a smile crossed her face as she nodded in agreement. Yes, he was indeed a clever one. It seemed that her younger brother's bloodline had flourished in his absence. Perhaps his decision to leave here had been for the best after all. She had never expected to meet any extended family, much she expected he had not intended for them to ever meet his children, let alone his children's children. But even still she was glad for it. And a part of her genuinely hoped this would not be the last time she would see the young devil hunter. He was a curious thing, and if he was even slightly as intelligent as he seemed to her, then perhaps the rest of his family had some merit by proxy. She would very much like to speak with the other little one, the one who had to be his brother. There was something so enticing about him on an intellectual level. Perhaps it was the way he carried himself? She could not be sure without meeting him.

"You are absolutely correct, little one. That is the advice I wish to impart upon you. Do not allow the hands of fate or the ravages of self-doubt to deter you or to hamper your progress. You've come far despite the limitations of what many would assume to be possible, and here you stand in defiance of everything down here. Every being in this place that knows you're here is willing your death, craving your blood and the end of your life with every atom of their being. And yet… you still stand here, living and breathing. Carry that with you as you go. There is no advice that I can give that is greater than the accomplishments you have already completed. Be the master of your own fate, and take the matters that you can into your own hands. There are universal constants and truths, but the existence of any creature down here for the most part is not one of them. With perseverance and skill, I believe you can overcome anything that you need to. You simply have to believe that you can."

A strange sort of clarity washed over him and she considered the reality of that statement. She was not incorrect, he was sure that everything down here did want him dead. And yet here he stood, through a combination of his own wit and through the help of those around him. If they rallied together I kept their heads where they needed to be, then they did have some level of hope that they could overcome this challenge. Perhaps his father's fatal flaw in his previous attempts to take out Belial simply stemmed from the fact that he was alone before and had no one to fight the darkness with him? He was no longer alone, and he would do everything that he could to keep each of them safe just as he knew they would for him. Her words were wise even if they were not the wise words he was hoping they would be.

"… Thank you. That was… I think you put my mind at ease. At least a little bit. There's a lot going on and I just needed somebody smarter than me to tell me I was doing it right. I guess. I don’t know. Sometimes I really don't know what I'm looking for until I find it." He looked back over his shoulder to the spot where his brother and father were, noting that the oldest of the two twins had made his way over to V. The young summoner had migrated back outside towards a balcony of sorts. It was probably best that he rejoined them. He was willing to bet that it was probably time to leave, or very nearly so. "I'm going to go check on them. Thanks for letting me waste your time for a few minutes. It was good talking to you."

Madama Khepri nodded, her book floating back up to her face and she seemed to return to her previous task. "Likewise. Think nothing of it. I have nothing but time… and a conversation with someone of some merit is always a good use of my time. Be safe little one. I expect to see you back here soon, or you’re going to find yourself in deep trouble. A decent conversation partner is hard to come by down here, and my sisters certainly don't qualify."

(-~-)

Standing out on what seemed to be a sort of balcony, the young summoner took in his surroundings. The silver Lake that flowed below them into a sort of cascading set of waterfalls before traveling away into a river. The braided vines at the edges of the warped forest that shrouded everything around them. The remnants of what seemed to be some sort of structure far from where they stood. In a strange sort of haunting way, this was a beautiful place. V felt at ease there contrary to all common sense or explainability. There was just something here that was peaceful and content to remain as it was, unchanging in the face of so much destruction and reformation. He had to admit that the proposition to return here was not one that he would turn down. He would not desire to stay, but maybe a visit every now and then was in the cards after all. If nothing else he wanted to check out the library that they seem to have here and speak to his extended family. Although he was sure most of the books would probably kill him or put a deadly curse on him the second he even so much as touched them, he still wanted to at least look at them. Just knowing if he could read them alone was a source of fascination in of itself. Sometimes knowledge for the sake of knowledge was the greatest reward one could hope to receive.

The sound of light footsteps behind him alerted him to the presence of his father, the silent approach being a dead giveaway. Dante always said something when he approached as though he were trying to break the ice. Knowing the demon hunter he probably was trying to break the ice. He couldn't imagine that this entire situation had gone over smoothly for him, either. This was a lot to take in for all of them in many facets, and he imagined that this year had been quite taxing on Dante in particular. The very notion that his brother had returned from undeniable oblivion and that he had another nephew on top of it? It was so much to unpack there, and he was doing an admirable job of either hiding it or processing it. So much so that he couldn't really tell which one he was actually doing most of the time. There was a sort of deep underlying sadness and grief to Dante but he found far too relatable but didn't fully grasp the concept of why. Perhaps one day he would be able to talk to him about it, but he has been enough time in his life feigning happiness or humor in the face of adversity and great internal turmoil to know that his uncle was doing much the same and had been for quite some time. He was well versed in it by now.

"... I believe that my shoulder has healed," V said simply, aware that the speaking of those words doomed him to the fate he had already come down here to accept. He had to do battle against his foe, something that he was not looking forward to despite his desire to make them pay for everything they had done and to stop them from doing anything else. But there was a real sense of walking to your death that he could not shake, and even with his family at his side, he did not relish the idea of the battle to come, mostly for their sake. There was just something so… crushing about the task that needed to be carried out. He felt so small in comparison to the might of his enemy, physically and mentally, something that he was sure was the intention of the devil Prince. He had faced him down before, barely escaping with his life and with Sirrus mortally injured. They were three for three on losses or at least retreats. Would bringing Nero and Dante really even the odds and their favor… or was he just bringing them to their willing death? He hoped that if the latter were true that he would not live long enough for the reality of his own folly to settle into his soul.

Above all else he just wanted them to be safe. He couldn't live with the idea of taking them down with him. It would be him and no one else. And he genuinely hoped from the bottom of his heart that Sirrus had not perished as a result of standing up to their enemy alone. He knew he was strong, but there was just a part of him that couldn't fathom the idea of returning to find him gone. He wasn't sure that he could live with that. No, he was sure he couldn't live with that. He knew that Sirrus felt differently and that he saw it as no task or burden, but he had never been one to relish or even accept the idea of another person giving up something for his sake. But it was not just for his sake, was it? It was for the entire world's sake. Belial had tied his fate to the very fate of the world. He was so small in comparison to the number of lives that could be lost, and that way heavily on him even though he knew that it didn't need to. He had not asked to be in this situation, and yet he was. It was a reality that he had to accept, but that he knew he couldn't live with. This had to go well. It was the only thing they could do. And he would do everything that he could if only to be able to say that he had tried even if that would be cold comfort in comparison to the wrath of hell itself.

"Yes, I had inferred that from the fact that you were not clutching your arm any longer." There was a sort of gentle concern to Vergil's tone of voice that V quietly registered and acknowledged. It seemed that he had made his father worry. He can only imagine what was going through his head right now, the idea of facing an enemy who had nearly killed him in the past. To be bringing both of his sons to this place. And he was doing it for his sake. He wondered if his father truly acknowledged the amount of self-sacrifice he was indulging in for his son's sake.

"I... I'm sorry. If it was up to me I would not have you fight him again. I know that is your own choice to make, but it is not a choice that I would have ever wanted for you." V said softly, his eyes distant as he considered that this was the last place they would visit before the fight. They really did have to go, didn't they? He could feel Vergil's eyes on him, But he did not waver. There was no malice or anger there. No, there was something else entirely. And he saw firsthand exactly what that something else was mere moments later when his father walked up behind him and did something that he did not expect.

He put his hand on his shoulder.

Sighing softly, Vergil looked off into the distance and then slowly over to his son, a sort of calm gentleness to him that he wasn't entirely sure he'd seen before. He seemed to be considering something, but in a calm and collected way that he was not accustomed to. He seemed to almost be at peace with something, and that was something that he was definitely not used to. Had his apology meant that much to him? He had the feeling that that wasn't what this was about.

"And this is not the fate that I had imagined for you upon being informed of your existence by your mother. It is most certainly not the one she would have planned. I'm sure she would have curated more calm activities, things with far less potential for bodily harm. Gentler pursuits like going for walks in the botanical gardens near her apartment or indulging in her favorite hobbies with her. She adored baking and painting. I imagine those were things she would have been excited to share with you." He gave him a sincere look, a glimmer of something long sensed passed in his eyes. He seemed to genuinely mean what he was saying, and there was a real sort of pain in his voice as he spoke those words. It was slight but unmissable. For the first time since they had first discussed his mother, V wondered what she had been like. And he wondered if Vergil missed her as much as he seemed to. He got the impression that he didn’t just date anyone. "And it shall not be your fate. I refuse to allow it to be. This is but simply a roadblock and one that will be circumvented with ruthless efficiency. And then from there, we shall see where we are actually meant to go. But this will not be the end."

V took a moment to genuinely consider his father’s words, lingering on the fact that they were actually making physical contact. He couldn’t quite remember the last time that Vergil had touched him outside of a combat or post-combat situation. This was… he could see himself getting used to this. Dare he say it, he was actually genuinely enjoying himself for the first time around him. Whatever this side of his father this was, he wanted to see more of it when they left here. Knowing that he cared was one thing, but to actually see it… it meant the world to him. “Then let’s see this task through. To the end. And let’s be done with it. I’m ready.”

(-~-)

I can’t remember the last time I got both chapters done before Thursday! It feels good! See you all next week! By then I will have figured out my holiday schedule! I’ll keep you updated! Thanks for the wonderful comments you left me during the one-week holiday break! I loved reading them. Sorry for the late replies! I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Stay safe out there, and I’ll see you in the comment section! Bye-Bye!

PS: I have a surprise for you soon. Call it an early holiday gift lol! Stay tuned!

[skvaderarts]

Hiraeth Chapter 74: Careening

Masterlist can be found Here!

Chapter Seventy-Four: Careening

Note: Okay, this chapter is just something else omg! I had a blast writing it, but omg you're just gonna have to wait and see what I'm talking about because it's one hell of a while ride! Just you wait… 

(-~-)

It was heavy down here. Despite the fact that they were not descending slowly, there was a palpable sensation of sinking that should have not been there. It felt as though everything was moving around them slowly, the very air around them thick like a sort of transparent, unseeable jelly that distorted everything below and made it nearly impossible to actually see what was happening around them. How were they doing to land or even navigate their surroundings if things were this hard to make out?

Nero genuinely felt as though he would suffocate if this held up for long. He hadn't thought to take a deep breath before jumping over the edge with V. After all, why would he? The thought that he might land in some sort of liquid or an unmovable mass of barely tangible… whatever this was had never crossed his mind. He wouldn't have imagined this in his wildest dreams. And the amount of ash and dust in his lungs right now wasn't helping. He was certain that it would suffocate him in the long run unless this place that they were headed to blocked its flow. And if it was underground, that was probable. 

He genuinely hoped that where they were going wasn't always like this. He wouldn't survive that. "Just my fucking luck." Nero thought to himself as he felt the space around him grow denser instead of lighter, making his predicament even worse than it already was. "I'm gonna die down here because this stupid place had, what, jelly for air? What the hell is that?!"

Perhaps somewhat luckily, only a moment later the oxygen that was supposed to be around him suddenly returned, showing mercy on his lungs. The only downside to this reunion was that the pull of gravity suddenly became significantly stronger than it had previously been. It felt like he had just passed through a bottle of molasses and then been shot out of a cannon directly towards the ground. And it was only now that he realized just how high up they were. And his stomach dropped.

Below them at a depth of what he imagined to be at least five hundred feet was a tangled mishmash of shockingly colorful vines, some of them seemingly bioluminescent. They were mostly just shades of vibrant greens and violet reds with a bit of purple mixed in, but compared to the start landscape that they had just returned from, this was an incredible contrast. Nero had never imagined that something like this could exist in the underworld. Thoughts of Hell brought to mind images of fire and brimstone, ash, dust, and death. Maybe a few charred trees thrown in. But this… 

Dare he say it, the Infernal was actually quite aesthetically pleasing, if not for the aura of toxic, camouflaged death that it gave off. It was like admiring a white tiger as it pounced on you to take your life. No less intoxicating, but entirely unwise. But as he fell, a sound above him caught his attention. And then he registered the fact that he had indeed jumped through with V. Oh yea, he had no way of landing in this place without breaking every bone in his body, did he? There was no way that Griffon was going to be able to stop that kind of downward plummet. The drag alone would probably send him flying. He wasn't anywhere big enough. And what were the odds that Shadow could turn into a parachute? He wouldn't be surprised, but maybe he could save them all some trouble.

Pivoting his direction slightly, he realized that V actually wasn't very far above him. And as it turned out, that startled little yelp had indeed come from him. That made sense, after all. Nero wasn't sure whether or not V possessed wings as part of his Devil Trigger like the rest of them, and the thought to switch forms had probably not crossed his mind. And to be honest, that probably wasn't a good idea anyway. Unleashing that kind of power might very well attract something, and they didn't need to draw any attention to their arrival. Perhaps it was best that he not shout that suggestion up towards him.

But there was something that he himself could easily do without asking V to do anything and that would not draw too much attention. For reasons that he wasn't privy to, V actually seemed to be catching up with him. If he could just shift slightly to the side, maybe he could grab him. If he could just do that, he was sure that he could land with him. It was better than hoping that he could slow his own fall. None of them had come here expecting to freefall this far.

"Hey! Over here!" Nero shouted over towards him, hoping that nothing else had heard him. The whipping wind around them made it difficult to say anything at all, let alone hear it. But to his relief, V looked over at him. And before he could say anything in regards to what he had planned, it seemed that V had caught on. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared, leaving Nero momentarily alarmed and confused. And then he suddenly reappeared before slamming into him with enough force to knock the wind out of both of them if there had been any air left in them to start with.

V let out a startled yelp, signifying to his younger sibling that he probably hadn't meant to do that. And that made sense to him. V was normally a bit more graceful than that, but the sheer force of the windy vortex that they now found themselves in was probably enough to send him off course a little. Sometimes Nero honestly forgot that V could even teleport in the first place. That was probably the one thing that he'd seen V do that he actually wished that he could do himself. He could move fast, but not that fast.

Scrambling to grab onto him, Nero realized an instant later that there had been no need to. V had a death grip on him, and he seemed to have no intention of letting go. They made eye contact for a moment before V looked away and towards the ground. The ground was getting dangerously close and Nero was actually very certain that they had hit something close to terminal velocity. It was now or never, and V actually looked like he had something planned. But maybe he could at least slow them both down a little.

Concentrating for a moment, Nero opened his spectral wings and jetted closer towards the little piece of what seemed to be stone that was jetting out of the side of the mountain. There was no way that they were going to reach the top, but if they could just clear the little ledge nearest to it then they could make their way up on some of these giant vines. The only issue was that even after successfully managing to clear a few dozen feet, they were not nearly close enough to actually land. They were going to plummet into the silver water-like substance below them, and it went without saying that if that wasn't water then they probably didn't want it on their skin. This could be very bad indeed.

But as Nero was scrambling to think of a solution to their predicament, the ground rapidly approaching, he felt a shift in the energy around him. It was like a strange tingle of sorts, causing his skin to vibrate. And for a moment, everything went dark before his vision returned and he realized that they were now within a hundred feet of their destination, perhaps a mere fifty feet above the ground. Despite the extraordinary amount of difficulty that it had probably caused him to do so, V had summoned enough strength to use Shadow to teleport both of them at least forty feet to the side, something that seemed to have taken all the air out of him. And if the strange sort of luminescent, concentration-filled glow in his eyes now that he had never seen before and the look of surprised disbelief on his face was anything to go by, then he had half expected it to not work. Nero got the feeling that V had never done that before, and it felt as though the very time around them had slowed.

V was probably using an immense amount of power to pull this off, and Nero wasn't sure that he could sustain that for very long, but they didn't really have much in the way of other options to try. If it came to it, Nero would trigger and see if he could glide over further, but they were still going to go crashing into the ground at Mach speed.

Seconds later Nero felt the last of the air leave his lungs as a strong jolt slammed them backward. He looked back to see Griffon, the wiley bird seemingly having grabbed the back of his coat. He flapped his wings furiously in large gusts, clearly trying his very best to slow them to something that wasn't a lethal speed. They were collectively aiming for survival at this point, and that much was clear. It was a good thing that they were both wearing thick coats because Nero got the feeling that this wasn't going to feel good.

Re-summoning Shadow a final time, V managed to get them as close to the ground as he could, the speed that they were falling at now something closer to being hit by a car than it was being hit by a train. They could survive this, but the last thing that Nero wanted to do was land on his older brother. It would be just his luck that he'd break several of his bones on impact from the force of the crash putting his knee through V's ribcage or something. No, he couldn't let that happen. He had to shift their collective center of balance so that they landed at another angle, one that was preferably less head-on and back first.

They had slowed down dramatically as a result of his momentary glide, but they were still coming in fast enough to knock themselves clean out. There was no way that they would be landing on their feet, that much he knew… but if they could just land on their side a bit. Shifting himself slightly, managed to at least get V off of his back as the ground grew dangerously close. V glanced up at him for a moment, obviously confused before realizing what he was doing and throwing himself as much to one side as he could. And then, in the blink of an eye, he summoned Shadow again, Griffon retreating back into V having done all that he could. Shadow snatched them both to one side, forming anchoring spikes that embed themselves into the side of the cliff. They then swung upward and over several dozen feet, a jarring and unexpected change in direction that caused both of them to yelp before slamming into the ground with enough braking force to probably kill both of them, sliding about twenty feet collectively before coming to a stop.

Moaning in collective discomfort, both siblings just laid there for a moment, V having stopped a short distance ahead of Nero and laying on his right side in a scraped-up heap. He was going to have to collect his cane. He could sense that it was nearby, but he had no idea where since he was just looking down at the ground at the moment, run slightly ragged and raw by the experience. His brain was still trying to process the fact that he was alive and at least somewhat conscious, having hit his head slightly in the fall despite Nero's best efforts. The only thing he could muster the cognizance to do was cough, this time considerably harder than the last time. 

The young summoner blinked in discomfort as he shifted ever so slightly. He was pretty sure that he had probably pulled his shoulder out of the socket, but he was otherwise still alive and would be able to get up shortly. He hoped. The way he was coughing right now didn't exactly inspire confidence, his lungs burning somewhat worse than they had been before, and as he used his left hand to reach up and cover his mouth, closing his eyes for a moment as he blinked away the moisture forming in the corners of his eyes. He realized at that point that he wasn't so much coughing as he was choking, but after a moment, he was able to steady himself and regulate his breathing somewhat, out of breath but otherwise still able to actually draw breath. He was grateful for that much.

Nero pulled himself up off of the ground, attempting to walk off the discomfort that he felt in his ribcage. He himself coughed for a moment, clearing his throat as he tried to pull himself completely up and off the ground. Stumbling slightly, he looked around for V, exhaling in relief as he realized that he was just over twenty feet away. He'd lost his grip on him during the impact, and he'd been so worried that he'd gone tumbling over the edge. But unlike him, he hadn't managed to get up. Har from it, he was still laying on the ground coughing, his right arm moving in a motion that implied that he was trying to elevate himself somewhat, but that he wasn't really succeeding. 

"He probably needs a hand." Nero thought to himself as he took a few steps towards him, rotating his shoulders and reaching back to rub his sore neck and the back of his head by his left ear. That had been pretty rough, no doubt about it. He needed to make sure that V was okay. He'd practically thrown him down here in the first place, after all, and that cough didn't sound good. "V are you alr-"

Underneath them, something shifted. It wasn't clear if it was the ground itself or something considerably large that resided within it, but one thing was clear: the ground had just become entirely unstable. Cracks suddenly formed around them, clustering closest to Nero, his more localized standing pressure probably exacerbating the problem as opposed to V who had indirectly spread his bodyweight out across a wider surface. V looked up in response to the sound of Nero's voice just in time to see him try to jump to the side and out of the path of one of the crags before the ground beneath him crumbled and he yelped in surprise, falling downward feet first and nearly out of sight.

Without thinking or even a second's pause, V jumped up and bolted to where Nero had been, the speed he was moving at probably the only thing keeping him upright. He ignored the lingering burning sensation in his lungs and pushed aside the nagging realization that he didn't have enough air in his body for this before diving across the crumbling space and landing on his chest, barely managing to reach him in time. With no other choice, he reached out with his right arm and only just managed to grasp Nero's wrist, forgoing any attempt to grab his hand.

And then the pain hit him like a tidal wave, washing over his entire upper body and sending his nerves screaming like he had never quite experienced before. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that what had been merely a sore or slightly jammed shoulder a few moments ago was probably nearly a full dislocation if not worse, but he couldn't muster up the residual willpower to care. There was simply no way in hell that he was going to let Nero topple over into that abyss. A crackle of demonic energy sparked its way across V's body as he took deep breaths and just barely held back the urge to trigger, not sure if that would make things better or worse in this situation. He'd only done it once, and he wasn't sure just how much control he really had over himself in that state. He would take no chances with Nero's life at stake.

Doing his level best to keep himself calm, he managed with great effort on his part to push through his own pain and pull Nero's arm up ever so slightly, just enough to get a grip on his arm with his left hand, alleviating a small fraction of the strain and pain his right shoulder felt in that moment. In response, Nero gripped the now rapidly crumbling ledge with his right hand, scrambling to get his feet onto something more solid. If he tried to use his wings to get out of this situation then he would no doubt pull V off the cliff with him, and he didn't want to put him in any further danger than he was already in.

Upon realizing that their master was in obvious peril, Griffon and Shadow both manifested, the panther gripping the back of V's belt as Griffon pulled his coat backward, using both of his wings as a counterbalance as the pare worked to both steady their master and help him work his way backward to help Nero over the edge. And after what felt like a lifetime in contrast to the amount of time that had actually passed, Nero managed to clamber over the edge and back onto his feet, practically diving chest first into V and scooping him up in the process, dragging both of them back and away from the edge of the cliff and to relative safety. They then both collapsed onto the ground in an exhausted heap, Nero laying partially across his older sibling in the process. He didn't even notice until V reached up and somewhat weakly gripped the back of his head, seemingly unwilling to let him go again. He'd almost lost him, after all.

Sitting up and breathing heavily as the reality of what could have just happened really sunk in, Nero pulled himself back to his feet, putting his arm behind V's back and thankfully grabbing his uninjured arm to help hoist him to his feet. They were both sore and out of breath, but they had managed to survive that plummet in one piece. Against all the odds, they were still alive. That had to count for something.

"Tha- thank fuck! I mean thank you, V. Shit! Thank you." Nero said, completely blown away by the fact that either of them was still alive, his brain not entirely functioning right at the moment. He was out of breath and totally shaken up from such an unpleasant experience, leaning over and resting his palms on his thighs as he took deep, unsteady breaths. It seemed that the terrain here was going to be their worst opponent. If it could fall from underneath them at any moment like that then this was going to be slow and unbelievably dangerous. He could only hope that there would be no further cave-ins. And either way, he was supremely grateful to his brother for his timely rescue. He'd be at the bottom of that hole right now trying to climb out if it wasn't for him. That would suck. And that was still the best-case scenario… 

Nero then looked over at both of his brother's summons before nodding. He'd seen what they had done to help both of them, and he couldn't help but be thankful for that. Reaching over carefully, wary of having his entire arm bitten off, he carefully patted Shadow on the head before turning to Griffon to thank him. He wasn't sure that he'd be here right now if they hadn't helped. Hell, neither of them might be. He got the feeling that V was determined to either get him back onto solid ground or go over the edge with him. And he was honestly shocked that V had managed to pull him out of that situation with just his own strength alone. Shadow and Griffon had helped him not slide forward, but they hadn't pulled him. Amazingly enough, that had been all V. What the hell.

"Thanks, bird brain. Didn't expect you to help rescue me after all the chicken jokes." Nero said with a small laugh, shaking his head. Maybe this plucky blue turkey wasn't half bad after all. He wouldn't be serving him for dinner anytime soon. What a shame.

"Eh, don't worry about it. Worry about him. I think he hurt that arm of his pretty badly." Griffon said with a shrug, hiding his concern for his utterly spent master and blushes before both he and Shadow returned to their master, their tattoos seemingly ever so slightly dimmer than they had been. Nero glanced over at V, noting that he was breathing heavily and that his arm did seem to be injured. He could only guess that that had happened during their landing. He refused to believe that he was quite heavy enough to dislocate V's shoulder. Still, he wasn't really sure how to relocate it or he'd offer to do it. That had to hurt like hell, especially now.

V managed to stop panting for just long enough to nod in recognition of his sibling's thanks, holding his right arm with his left hand to help alleviate the pressure on his admittedly now agonizing sore shoulder. He was not looking forward to the point in which it had to be put back in the right way, but he knew it was going to have to be if he was to ever have a chance of recovering from this injury. It was probably best that he got that over with as soon as possible. He didn't want to give Belial anything else to exploit.

Looking up at the "sky" above them, Nero realized that he could actually see the barrier above them. It looked like some sort of magic, shifting like an ocean in the sky that every color and hue reflected off of like a kaleidoscope of iridescent, fragmented images. The light faded and swelled in a sort of rhythm, almost as though it was breathing. It was actually mesmerizing. The young demon hunter had never seen anything even a little bit like it, and he was sure that he would never find anything like it again. Nero watched as V looked up at it, clearly bewitched as he caught his breath. He could see the way the sky reflected in his eyes, and he was certain that he'd never seen V look at anything with quite the same sense of wonderment. He even seemed to forget his pain momentarily.

If not for the peril they might very well be in, he would have allowed his older sibling to linger a bit longer. He knew that even a moment's reprieve from the obvious pain that he was in would be greatly appreciated, but they had no time. And he was certain that their father had probably landed by now despite the fact that he could not see him. They needed to find the rest of their family and get the hell out of here before something worse happened. Maybe then V could actually rest and recover. He needed to save his strength for the battle to come. All of them did, really. "We should go, V."

V took a moment to register what had just been said before nodding almost reluctantly, clearly not sure what to do or where to go. Everything around them was so vast and so strangely captivating. It was like this place had been designed to draw them in. "This place… it's like a venus fly trap. Beautiful, bizarre, and dangerous. I feel that it might entrap us if we linger here for long. Like it's slowly coiling around us with the goal of keeping us here forever. We should make haste lest it succeed… "

Nero nodded in agreement. Now that was a description of this place that he could agree with. He'd been trying to find the most understandable way of putting it, and V had beat him to the punch. It made sense, though. V had always had a certain way with words, after all. All that poetry had to come in handy for something, right. "Couldn't have said it better myself. Let's get the hell out of here and find Dante and Vergil before some demon eats them or they get stuck in a sinkhole or drown in some kind of demon world tree sap or something. If that tree came from here then who knows what could be down here."

"He has a valid point." V thought to himself quietly as he exhaled and tried to regain full control over his breath, trying not to focus on his arm. This was not a place that would reward them for lingering. They needed to move forward with their plan. And if not that, then at the very least getting away from this accursed canyon was a top priority. He walked over closer to Nero, clearing his throat and gesturing with his left hand for the younger of the two to lead the way. Neither of them had any idea where they were going, but he didn't figure that Nero wouldn't want to walk behind him the entire time.

Turning around and away from the ledge that had nearly taken both of their lives, they surveyed the area around them. There were no apparent signs of either of them anywhere within their line of sight. Or really anything else that could be alive here for that matter. Literally, nothing else seemed to be alive for as far as the eye could see except for black almost hexagonal stone that layers in layers with slightly lighter black sand between the crevices and swaths of colorful demonic vines, branches, and flowers. From what they could tell by looking at their surroundings, they were alone here, the only sound to be heard for seeming miles around being that of their breathing and a sort of low rhythmic thudding that they couldn't place the source of.

Collective waves of worry washed over them as they both silently considered something that neither of them wanted to acknowledge. They would never dare speak the words aloud but what if they were the only ones who had… Surely not. They had been down here in the underworld before, right? And they were better at landing in places like this! They were probably just fine. Yes. They had to be. Nothing else was possible. That just couldn't be… 

"Nero…" V said with an almost physically palpable sense of dread-filled realization in his voice. He was looking down at the floor but Nero didn't need to see his face to feel the anxiety and horror that was coming off of him in waves. He hadn't noticed until then that the black mark that had once been on just his arm had now reached his chest and seemed to spider downward towards his core. He couldn't see how far down it traveled due to the way that V was dressed and the markings that adorned his skin, but it was enough to give him momentary pause. That couldn't be good. "Do you think that…"

Despite the fact that he didn't want to interrupt him, he just couldn't let him say it. He grabbed his good shoulder gently and waited for V to look up, noticing once he made eye contact that the horror in his demeanor did little to allude to the utterly heartbroken pain in his face. He was clearly more worried about the idea of having lost them than what it might mean for the both of them, and that was something that Nero truly did understand. When he'd thought that Dante had died back during the Redgrave Incident, he'd barely managed to not vocalize his worry for the older man, hiding it under a thin layer of humor. It had been the only thing that he'd been able to do at the time.

"Hey V look… I'' Nero said softly, unsure as to what he could really say in this situation. If they were truly alone down here then they were as good as dead themselves, but either way, they were gonna get through whatever came at them together. "Whatever happens I'm not gonna leave you down here. You know that right? We might be stuck and it might be hopeless, but you're sure as hell not alone. Cause I'm still here and I'm not going anywhere without you. I made a promise, remember?"

Seemingly taken aback by the sincerity of that statement, V just looked at Nero for a moment before cracking a slight smirk, a single tear rolling down his face. He hadn't realized until that moment how utterly overwhelmed he'd been by everything that had happened so far that day. It was possible at this point that the only person he had left was Nero, but if that was the case then he was glad to at least still have him. Nero was right. Neither of them was alone. "I know Nero. Thank you."

Realizing that he probably needed it, Nero reached over and carefully pulled V into a hug, realizing as soon as his brother shuddered that that had been exactly what he'd probably wanted but just not been able to say. He held him for a brief moment, waiting for him to stop shaking. This entire situation was probably the realization of some of V's greatest fears, and if there had ever been a time for radical acceptance, it was now. They were going to get through this. They just had to work together.

The pair then exhaled, trying to shake off everything that had just happened. They had to think of something. But before they could so much as take a step, a large vine chunk of a vine that had to be as thick around as a car and at least as long as a small house fell from the side of the thick jungle-like area a few yards away and landed only a few feet in front of them, the thorns that were half as long as their arms missing them by little more than a foot. They both stepped back before looking over at the opening that had been made, staring in relieved exhaustion.

Dante and Vergil had finally caught up with them.

Vergil walked alongside his younger twin, soaked in what seemed to be blood. Considering the fact that he didn't seem to be injured or even noticeably out of breath, he could only assume that it was not his and that he had ended the life of some unfortunate demon (or perhaps a group of them) on the way over. Who had he managed to get in a fight with something on his way here? Whoever it had once been, they were no doubt dead now. Nothing survived that level of blood loss.

"I was delayed. Forgive me." Vergil said simply, clearly displeased with the speed of his own arrival. It seemed that despite the fact that he had made his way over to rescue them as quickly as he had physically been able to, he was not pleased with the results, no doubt due to the fact that he had arrived a good while after they had actually needed his assistance. Should they have not managed to get out of the situation themselves, it would be long past too late to do anything to save them. It made sense even if it wasn't really called for on his part, but then again, they were his children. It was to be expected.

Dante sighed and looked at both of them. He'd seen the cave-in from the other side, but they had been pinned down. If it had been up to him he would have just triggered and flew across to save them both, but to do that he would have had to abandon Vergil in the middle of a fight, and should he have died again he wasn't sure how he'd ever be able to live with himself. He was never leaving Vergil to fight alone ever again, not after that. And to make matters worse, the sheer amount of falling rocks, noise, and dust had made it tricky to actually be able to see where they had been. He could have very well flown over then and completely missed them. It was truly a lose-lose situation.

He was just glad to see them both alive. That had been one hell of a fall.

"We both landed on the other side of that canyon. Couldn't get here any quicker without telling the entire underworld that we were here until Vergil arrived. And then as soon as we met back up some giant demon attacked us." Dante said in a genuinely apologetic tone as he looked them both over. They'd looked better the last time he's seen them, but they seemed to be alright for the most part. A fall like that was gonna take a few years off of your life no matter what you did. V almost seemed extra pale though. Had he come down with something since arriving? The youngest son of the Dark Knight Sparda certainly hoped not. "Poor kid has enough problems without catching the plague down here. Hang in there, V. I saw what you did. No wonder you look so exhausted. Nero's pretty damn heavy to be as small as he is, especially when you're, well, you."

V released his right arm for a moment, holding up his hand as he exhaled and silently recalled his cane to his hand. It blinked over towards him, emitting a vibrant flash of purple light. He clasped his hand around it tightly, wishing now more than ever that he had some sort of sheath for it or something. He needed it but with his grasping arm indisposed in the way that it was, he wasn't sure that his shoulder could even stand to have that small amount of weight put onto it. This was going to be hard going.

"It's good to see you both. We had started to consider that the worst might have happened given our less than ideal entrance." V said tiredly as both he and Nero joined their father and uncle. He was more than a little happy to see them, in fact. To have lost them in such an unknowable and sudden manner would have been truly tragic.

Nero nodded in agreement, folding his arms around himself. "Take our eyes off of you for one goddamn second and you fall down a hole. Classic Dante."

Dante laughed to himself. "I didn't fall, Nero I jumped. There's a difference!" It was good to see that Nero still had the energy to be the little punk that he'd always known and loved. He and Vergil had a lot more experience with this sort of thing than they did, so he could only imagine that they probably needed a breather after that. But this wasn't the place or the time. He knew that they would push through it, though. They were far from dead, even if V looked like he was going to pass out from anguish at any moment. "So, eh, what the heck happened to you while we were taking the scenic route? You break your arm during the fall or somethin'?"

The young summoner looked over at his arm for a moment, not even willing to consider moving it to any degree. It hurt bad enough just from the momentum caused by him walking. "... It isn't broken. I'm certain of that, but… "Stepping slightly closer so that Dante could see what he was talking about, he let go of the arm, allowing it to hang as it had been if not for his intervention. Dante winced, a reaction that he himself mirrored but for a slightly different reason. "I think I might have at least partially dislocated it."

Without needing to really look at it too closely, Dante knew that V was correct. That was a subluxed shoulder if he'd ever seen one. "Yea, I think you might be right. But hey, at least you didn't put a hole in your new coat. Sirrus got you that, right?"

V's brain went blank for a moment as he realized what Dante was talking about. His mind was going a thousand miles a minute and somehow standing perfectly still at the same time. He had genuinely forgotten that he was wearing anything new, the fabric so light on him that he'd barely paid attention to it. Sirrus had indeed gifted him this trench coat before they had departed on their trip. He had come over to his home to gift it to him just a few short hours before they had left, stating that he wanted to give him something that he thought he might need where he was going.

The coat was black on the outside with a deep emerald interior that flowed towards the floor. Although form-fitting at the top, it flared out at the very bottom of the waist, a zipper holding it together that ran from just below the collarbone to the very top of his belt. And although the inside was made of some incredibly soft and silky material, the outside was made out of something so jet black, smooth, shiny, and durable that he was convinced that it wasn't leather but that it was no less expensive. The collar stood up comfortably around his neck and although it was unzipped at the moment, he knew that it had the perfect amount of give to it to make sure that it was both easy to move in and that it didn't restrict his breathing in any way, shape, or form. This had taken some work. "You're half right, Dante. He did give it to me, but it's apparently custom. I have no idea where he had it made, however. It was a surprise."

Dante shook his head in surprise. He'd never been gifted anything like that before by anyone outside of his family. Sirrus certainly knew how to give a gift. He wondered if the gesture was meant to be more. "Well, you gotta find out when we get back. I want one."

Nero scoffed to himself as he walked over to join his father. He was still considering Dante's response to his little jest. It seemed that the older devil hunter was truly mad. The Darkslayer seemed to be taking in his surroundings and, if he wasn't out of his mind or simply mistaken in regards to his reading of his father's current emotional state, then he almost seemed to be relieved. Had he been worried about them? "Yea Dante, the difference is that you're crazy enough to jump down a creepy hole instead of just being unlucky enough to fall in. You're dead either way, old man. Not much of a difference."

Vergil noted Nero's presence silently, turning away from the direction that he'd been facing and more towards his youngest son. He's seen him nearly fall to his death a few minutes ago. Thank everything that V had somehow managed to move that fast, especially without teleporting. In fact, it was the fastest that he'd ever seen his eldest son move. It had been but a momentary blur. Perhaps he did possess more abilities than they had originally thought. Curious. But either way, both of his sons were alive. At this juncture, that was truly all he cared about.

"The forest that we traversed during our time here was an extension of this place. It had spread or otherwise broken through." Vergil said, speaking to Dante as he walked over and silently taking note of the fact that V looked somewhat pale with great concern despite the fact that he did not vocalize it. Not in a deathly way, but there had indeed been a slight downward shift in his overall wellbeing. Was the curse heightened by being so close to the origin point of its creator? He had half expected it to spread quicker down here, but this was a bit worse than he'd anticipated. He would have to keep a close eye on his eldest son. He was doing well against such an insurmountable challenge, but everyone had a limit, and his shoulder wasn't helping matters. "I will impart upon you the same advice that I gave Dante during our last trip here. Do not touch them with your bare skin. You may very well lose your life."

"Got it. Can't say I was planning to touch any of this crap anyway, but good to know." Nero said with a nod as he brushed himself off, realizing for the first time that he was covered in dust. He shook his head to get the stray granules of what appeared to be black sand off of him, now needing it to migrate anywhere else and drive him nuts later on down the line. None of them needed more problems and despite how minor that one could be, sometimes the smallest problems caused the biggest upset.

V nodded in agreement before stepping forward, his discomfort still apparent but more so when he had to move his arm even a little. The only things he could say were positive about this situation was that he healed quicker than the average person and that he hadn't broken it. He would live. It could be much worse, after all. This was just a scratch as far as he was concerned. A painful, irritating, somewhat debilitating scratch.

Looking over at V as the group converged it occurred to Dante that the eldest of his two nephews seemed to be in a significant and lingering amount of pain. He'd dislocated his shoulder a few times himself, but he'd never had to suffer for more than a minute or two. Demonic healing powers and all that. But V… well, he'd been like this now for quite a while, and he was certain that the pain should be subsiding at least a little. What was going on with him?

And then it hit him.

Realizing for the first time that the issue was that his nephew hadn't had his shoulder reset yet, a light clicked on in Dante's brain. Nero probably didn't know how to do that and had probably been unwilling to experiment lest he accidentally make things worse. Either way, it would be painful. He knew that V was probably going to want to rip him in half for doing so, but it was probably best that he help him out with that. And it was probably better that he not be expecting it when he fixed it. In his experience that only made it hurt worse.

Voluntarily hanging back for a second so he could step behind his nephew, Dante tapped him on his left shoulder, the tired young summoner, turning to see what was going on. He genuinely seemed more confused than anything else. He didn't immediately realize it was his uncle's doing as the devil hunter had walked past him the other way, now sure of the best way to go about doing this.

"Hey V?" Dante said calmly as his nephew turned almost entirely around in a circle. V rotated to face him with the intention of asking him what it was that he wanted to say, but before he could, Dante ducked behind him, grabbed him gently by the shoulder and, before he could process what was happening, pulled back and then inward and popped his shoulder back in the socket.

To the surprise of both Nero and Vergil who were walking a few feet ahead of them both, V let out a sound somewhere between a feral snarl and a blood-curdling scream, leading them both to turn around and reach for their weapons, half sure that something had managed to get the drop on him when they weren't looking. But to their surprise all they found was Dante with a grimace on his face and V half keeled over in very apparent pain, hyperventilating with a look on his face somewhere between utter contempt and agony.

"Godda- Oh why did I miss you for even a moment?!" V snarled half growling and half crying as he slumped over, exhausted and in absolute agony but aware of the fact that it did indeed need to be done. Still, he hadn't screamed like that since Malphas had stolen his familiars from him. But even now as the pain swelled to new heights he was certain that he could feel his shoulder slowly mending itself. He hoped it wouldn't take too long. He wanted his suffering to be over sooner rather than later. At least now he could hold his cane in the right hand. And perhaps he should apologize. He hadn't meant to be so rude to his uncle. Or to almost utilize that specific level of profanity "... Thank you. My sincerest apologies for my phrasing. It was uncalled for."

Dante just laughed and patted him somewhat roughly on his good shoulder, jarring his center of balance a little. If his nephew hadn't screamed like he was being murdered and nearly cursed at him he would have questioned what was wrong with him. That being said, V's reaction to having that done was easily the most demonic thing he'd ever seen him do in the entire time that he'd known him, and there was something supremely funny about that to him. "No problem, V. Guess you have at least a little bit of demonic blood in there somewhere after all! I'm more surprised that you actually know what a curse word even is! Never thought I'd see the day."

Upon turning around, Dante found Nero checking on V with concern as he offered to support him as he walked while his father gave him a surprisingly soft look of sympathy. He then looked at Dante for a moment as though he wanted to literally tear his head off of his body with his teeth before folding his arms around himself and walking away to join his sons. It seemed that Vergil's reaction to any harm coming to his son was a swift act of murder. Perfectly understandable.

As they turned back to face what seemed to be a path, the dust suddenly picked up around them, throwing a layer of ash and black powdery sand into the area around them. It was gradual at first but then it started to build, irritating their eyes and covering their skin. Nero sighed in irritation. Just his luck. But in the darkness something became visible. Eyes. Dozens upon dozens of eyes. And then a low, continuous rumbling growl that told them everything that they needed to know. They were surrounded. Just like that, they were about to be overtaken. And with the misty blackness that was now rolling in around them, they had no time to lose. It was time to fight.

Nero, Dante, and Vergil drew their blades, flanking around their more injured relative as Nero snuck a look back at him. He had summoned Griffon and Shadow, but it was clear that their ordeal just a short while ago had depleted much of his strength and that he was going to have a tough fight ahead of him, especially with that arm to contend with. It was healing, but Nero wasn't sure that he could raise it up just yet. Still, V seemed determined to fight and he wasn't complaining, simply taking this particular struggle in stride. Sometimes Nero forgot just how strong V was. What he lacked in physical talents he made up for in spades with sheer force of will, unwavering dedication, and primal, unyielding determination. None of them were backing down. They could get through this.

As the dust settled around them they realized that they truly were surrounded. What had to be at least a hundred snarling wolf-like demons stood around them, their colors matching the nearby woods with a shocking level of accuracy. They would have never seen them in the nearby vine jungle, and they could only imagine that that was the point.

Suddenly the ground rumbled beneath them and the demons seemed to cower before making a litany of unpleasant sounds that ranged from howls and snarls to almost humanoid screams. They then scattered and ran in all directions, some even running off and down the edge of the canyon. It seemed that something had scared them very badly, and now they wanted nothing more than to get as far away from here as possible.

Just as soon as they had left, a low sort of thudding noise echoed throughout the area before a shadow cast over them. And it was in a humanoid shape. Everyone present looked at Vergil, but the way that he looked back at them told them everything that they needed to know. He had no idea who or what this being might be.

"Well, well well… and what do we have here? Oh? So my senses don't deceive me after all! Well, isn't this a treat! And just when I was starting to think that nothing interesting happened around here anymore. Finally." The voice of the looming she-devil said, clearly amused. She made some sort of noise that was akin to an almost mocking laugh before leaning forward, allowing a faint glimpse of what she looked like in the darkness to become visible. And then to their surprise and confusion, she seemed to shrink… "I wouldn't consider it wise to wander through my domain at the best of times, but with that blood coursing through your veins? Positively insane! Madness, darlings. Why, you must be seeking death! Perhaps you are in need of an escort? After all, the darkness is approaching. Best to not be caught outside. And there is no place safer than my not so humble abode. Care to join me for a rest?"

Each of them looked at one another as though they were wondering if they were collectively insane. They had literally no reason to trust this creature. They had just met her, after all… and yet for reasons that they could not place, they were not exactly afraid of her, either. In fact, there was a strange sort of familiarity to this demon that none of them could identify but that put them at ease nonetheless. They didn't trust her in the slightest, but they were at least somewhat willing to see what this was about.

"How would you have any way of knowing who we are?" Vergil said sternly. He had far too much going on to humor a trap or the games of any demons today. She had better have a good answer or else she was going to have some holes in her that weren't there before. And some cuts. And some gashes. And perhaps a few less limbs.

She giggled, seemingly amused before stepping out from behind the vines, now considerably smaller than she had been previously but still taller than any of them were by at least a foot and a half or more. Her skin was a sort of pale bluish-gray color, her body covered in flowing purple robes that seemed to be more a part of her than they were clothes. She seemed to be wearing some sort of golden adornment on her forehead, her eyes red but otherwise quite humanoid along with the rest of her body. She possessed what seemed to be either ornamental horns or antenna of some sort atop of her head that pointed in either direction that ended in red curls. They shared her purple and blue hues but there were a few added colors as well that added to the ornate overall look. Despite her height, her proportions actually made logical sense and there were no overly long limbs or highly inaccurate anatomical details.

All and all, the exact kind of demon one would imagine would live in a place like this, albeit far more human-looking than any of them were anticipating. Truthfully, none of them had probably ever seen a demon who looked this human who had not used magic to change to look human, been artificially created to look human, or was not part human in some way. It wasn't impossible to believe that there was a species of humanoid demon that looked so distinctly human without probably really even trying. After all, the underworld was a big place. They just never expected to see any for themself.

"Well, don't we have a lot of questions! How rude. But that's quite alright. I wouldn't expect anything less from a descendant of Sparda. He asked a lot of questions, too. Never sure of anything but his motivations for what he did, that one. Such a mess." She giggled again, turning to head away as she strolled in the opposite direction. They each looked at one another in turn, seemingly surprised that she wasn't bluffing. The then peered over her shoulder at them before gesturing for them to follow her by bending her long, dainty fingers in a fanning motion towards herself coyly, turning away again. "And to answer your question, why, I'd recognize those swords anywhere, even if one of them is a little different than I remember. Among several other reasons. My, my… Sparda must have been quite busy lately! I wonder who the lucky lady is. I'm sure she's just stunning. But enough idle chit-chat. You can tell me all about it once we get out of here. This weather is such a drag, and I have little patience for it."

Dante and Vergil looked at one another. If she knew what Yamato was and recognized the Devil Sword Sparda even in its transcended state then… 

Vergil released his hand from Yamato's hilt, opting not to attack. No. He wanted to hear her out on this. She knew things that she would have no way of knowing without having actually known their father. And having known him quite well at that. They had a few things to discuss. And perhaps she might even be able to help point them in the direction. They would take her up on her offer. The visibility out here was getting steadily worse. And if it came down to it then he was sure they could either just slip away or fight their way out. They had little to lose aside from time, and they were going to lose that if V collapsed from pushing himself too hard at the very start anyway. He needed to take a breather for a moment, and Vergil needed to ask some questions.

They would follow her.

"Lead the way," Dante said simply, shrugging as Nero and V looked surprised but not all that concerned. This didn't feel like a trap, but if it turned out to be on, then they would do what they did best. They had fought bigger, more ferocious things before… probably. She did carry herself as though she were quite powerful, and she certainly felt powerful, but it was actually kind of hard to get an accurate reading on her. They would just have to wait and see for themselves. Normally they wouldn't do that, but then again, this wasn't exactly a normal situation.

Smirking, she sashayed away towards the end of the visible path, the vines parting for her as she walked. It seemed that she knew where she was going. They had nowhere else to go anyhow. Why not follow her? "I was hoping that you would come around. Follow me, little ones. We're not far off. And I have a feeling that you're going to like it."

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I sat down and started writing this chapter at 1 pm and it's not 11:40 pm. I realized that I had been writing for hours, and I was genuinely shocked so I decided to check the word count and… 

9400 words. Holy shit 

… That's not only the longest chapter I've ever written for this story, but it's the longest chapter I've ever written for anything EVER. That's over triple the length of an average chapter. That’s 19 pages! I AM THRILLED! I have no words! I hope you liked the chapter because I just did like three chapters worth all at once because I was having such a good time working on it. My poor Chromebook LOL! I just couldn't stop lol!

Hope to see you in the comment section, and have a wonderful weekend. Also, the website should be finished soon. I have some fun stuff planned. And don't worry, I didn't cancel the books lol! I just had to work some stuff out with shipping and such in my area. That isn't too far off into the future! I've even got a digital copy for eReaders lined up as an easily accessible option for anyone who wants a copy! It's gonna be great! Thanks again for reading this chapter! I look forward to seeing you all next week! I'll update you on the holiday timeline soon, too! Take care! And as always, let me know if you see any mistakes. I can't imagine I didn't leave something out considering how long this one is!

[skvaderarts]

Hiraeth Chapter 72: Climacteric

Masterlist can be found Here!

Chapter Seventy-Two: Climacteric

 Note: Well shit... Oh.

(-~-)

Night almost seemed to fall early in the clandestine remains of the town, the evening sky bright with colors and stars unseen by those within the city limits. It was time to enact their plan. They had bided their time for as long as they could while they finalized their plan of attack. There were some details that could only be worked out once they had arrived due to the absence of a topographical map. But now that they had all the information that they needed, it was time for them to act.

Flora opened her eyes and shook her head, the young woman having spent the majority of the last ten minutes looking into something for them. "There are traces of what might be Belial's presence here, but I have no reason to believe that an illusion is present here."

The young summoner nodded, letting out a small sigh. He had been somewhat sure that that might be the case, but he had required reassurance. "May I ask what makes you so sure of that, Flora?"

She shrugged before nodding. It was entirely understandable to her given what she understood from V's past experiences with the Devil Prince that he would require reassurance on certain matters. He needed to be sure that they were not playing right into their enemy's hands, and while that was in some ways inevitable, at the very least he needed to know that he was not in an alternate version of the place that they actually needed to be in.

"Don't see any harm in that. I used my abilities to check, but there is a simple enough way to do so without the use of sorcery." She stood up, stretching. The hotel lobby that they had chosen to occupy was very cold, much like the rest of the town. If not for the small, barely contained fire that Sirrus had cobbled together in the bathtub after he'd ripped it out of the wall and dragged it into the main area, they would be huddled together freezing to death. "As a general rule he cannot recreate an entire town, at least from within his place in the underworld. Too much detail. He doesn't have a firm enough grip on this reality for that. You had a solid reference point for what a grocery store looked like, much less so for this place that you only vaguely remember. And you can see an illusion as you approach it. He would have to make it once you were within its confines or else risk you noticing the transition between one reality or another. I believe you've seen his dark dimension before?"

V looked down at his arm, his sleeves pulled down so that he could avoid making eye contact with it as much as possible. The progression of the spread did nothing to settle his already frayed nerves. Since their departure, it had become noticeably worse, and he was sure that nothing good would come from it. "So by repressing my memories of this place, I have given myself the upper hand? That is good to know.

Brenowin and Morgan looked at one another. The teen girl then stood up and turned her attention to V, noting that had seemingly calmed considerably since he'd arrived. She was glad that she wasn't the one having to physically fight this monster. Everything that she had heard about it sounded patently awful. "Then what's wrong with this place? Even if it isn't fake or whatever, there is still something totally iffy about it. I'm not gonna say what I notice in case it jogs V's memories of that day and then this thing that were up against finds a way to use that against him, but the point still stands that the road outside was shoveled, and things in general look too much like they did the last time we were here. It's like nothing's changed since… "

Nero glanced over at Sirrus, noting that he was peering through the front doors to the building. The man with the long red hair then turned to face her, noting the question that had just been asked. "Pardon my interruption Flora, but I think that's because nothing has actually changed since that day. I dare not dig up bad memories, but from what I understand almost everyone in this town was killed by Belial's will. That might be just enough malevolent energy to strengthen his hold on this place. This town might very well serve as a sort of makeshift anchor for what he plans to do tonight, and as such, he's probably holding it in stasis in the same state that it had been in when he arrived and took possession of it. His dominion over this area has probably stopped anything notable from changing since then."

The young man in the hoodie sighed. "So he basically paused the reality around the town? Or at the very least put it in super slow motion because he needs to use it for the ritual that he wants to do tonight? I guess that's one way of extending the window of time he would need to be able to pull off his plan."

Sirrus nodded in agreement. "Indeed. Which is why it is time for us to go. We have a considerable amount of ground to cover and not a rather insignificant amount of time to do it. Does everyone remember what they need to do?"

Everyone present nodded. Even though most of them were entirely uncomfortable with the odds being stacked against them in the way that they were, they recognized that there was only so much that they could do against an opponent like this. But if they did what they were supposed to do, then they would be alright. They just had to keep their heads on straight and make sure that they didn't falter. The straightforwardness of the plan was the only thing that was really keeping them together in a situation like this. They had to believe that it would work out if they did what they were supposed to do.

V shared a look with Morgan and then with Nero, silently confirming that they were both prepared for the task at hand. Once they did this, there would be no going back. They had to be sure and they had to take the opportunity given to them. But they were as ready now as they ever would be, and they had countless people counting on them. It was time to get to work.

"Lead the way, Sirrus," V said, standing up and readying himself, his cane in hand. With his familiars at his back, he felt secure in his ability to protect himself. He needed to conserve his energy for the task ahead, but he was far from helpless. "Time is not on our side. There is too much at stake to linger any longer."

Nero joined his older sibling, loading his gun as he placed Red Queen onto his back. Everything was as it should be, and he was more than ready to kick some demon ass. "Just point me in the right direction and let me do my thing."

Sirrus smirked at Nero's response over his shoulder as he turned to face the door, opening it and holding it for them. He liked Nero's fiery spirit. In truth, the young devil hunter reminded the adjudicator of himself when he had been younger; a bright light that rarely faltered and only grew brighter in the face of adversity. He didn't back down from a challenge, even when it threatened his life and he was advised to by others who were wiser and probably more experienced than he was. He was truly the beacon of hope that held his family together. There was a part of Sirrus that wished he could be more like him, and he hoped that his vibrant spirit would continue to shine bright. He would need that where he was going.

"Alright then. Let's do this."

(-~-)

The woods were eerily silent, the trees stalwart barricades that stood in their path and encroached upon their progress. At times it almost felt like they drew closer and closer to them, closing in on them and threatening to trap them where they now stood.

Venturing along the path, they were grateful that they had some sort of road to traverse. It didn't seem as though it had been frequented nearly as much as even the most disused roads in the rest of town, but it had still been used somewhat recently. Tracks made their way up the road, signifying that they were not the first to come this way this evening and that they probably would not be the last. And that was to be expected. Only a fool would assume that they were unaccompanied.

"Next time you plan an outing, Sirrus, pick one with less mountaineering?" Flora said at a volume barely above a whisper as she shook her head and scoffed playfully to herself. The man with the red hair shot her an amused look and closed his eyes for a moment, shaking his long locks but saying nothing. He simply chuckled deeply, clearly too entertained to say much, at least in that moment. He did after a short time, seemingly considering the matter at hand and appreciating her quite literally breaking the ice. It was freezing outside after all, although a strange sort of energy caused an almost magnetic fluctuation in the atmosphere around them. The entire area pulsated with a strange power that none of them could put into words but they could all feel just the same. It was extraordinary and yet entirely unsettling, but not in a way that they could attribute entirely to the devil prince. No, this was not wholly of his will or influence.

"Guilty as charged. I am nothing if not an inconsiderate host." Sirrus said at an equally low volume as they approached what seemed to be their destination. But one look at the place that they were approaching was all it took for them to know with absolute certainty that they had arrived at the correct location.

Up ahead of them a clearing entered their line of sight, a vast cliff face becoming visible on the far side of the large open space. Remnants of stone and rock littered the ground, spreading into what appeared to be a long ruined wooden staircase that slowly transitioned into stone as it sprawled higher and higher towards the precipice of the clearing. They were now at the highest point on this side of town, the only thing taller being the actual mountain range that served as the backdrop for the entirety of Lympha and the large lake that made up the majority of its backside. It would have been beautiful in its own strange way if not for the implications of what this local had been used for in the past, and what their opponent no doubt hoped to use it for in the near future.

And in the center of it standing like a malevolent monolith that radiated unknowable darkness stood a stone chalice of sorts, about a foot in diameter and standing on a pedestal that couldn't have been more than about three feet high. The interior gleamed in the moonlight as it caught the reflection of the night sky, signifying to them that it probably contained some sort of liquid and the interior seemed to be lined with either copper or brass if the hue was anything to go by. They couldn't say that they knew what kind of material the structure itself was made from. Only that it was almost black in appearance and seemed to be polished and upkeep, unlike its surroundings, perhaps by supernatural means. Fascinating if not somewhat disconcerting.

But any sense of awe departed them as they entered the clearing and came face to face with an unwelcome sight. Standing before them was perhaps the person they least expected to run into like this: the very summoner who they assumed would be out searching for them, not lingering in the very place they hoped to ambush them in. It seemed that an amendment would need to be made, but it was a worst-case scenario that the fiery-haired adjudicator had planned for. It seemed that they would be switching to plan B after all.

Much to their collective surprise, their opponent didn't seem to move in quite the same way that they remembered, walking towards them in a steady, even, almost predatory gate that made it clear that he was scoping them out in the hopes of launching an attack. There was no doubt that something profound had changed in their opponent. He didn't even show signs of possessing a limp anymore.

Pausing in front of them, the summoner stood at attention, craning his neck to one side as he seemed to examine each of them in turn, his eyes lingering on Brenowin and Morgan for an extended period of time. They all stood at the ready, expecting the worst but naturally hoping for the best. It was all they could really do right now.

"Ah… I was so hoping you would come here. You have saved my acolyte some time." The summoner said, his voice possessing an echo that had not been there previously, and the combination of depth, timbre, and the sheer number of simultaneous voices that spoke in tandem in different purposefully unmelodic pitches with each word was enough in of itself to lend to the idea that something was seriously not right with this individual. "Did you think that you would be able to delay the inevitable? That my corruption would not take hold eventually? My influence lingers in your very blood; each breath you take in my presence is of my accord."

He then turned and faced V head-on, his eyes burrowing into the young summoner from behind his mask. A wave of overwhelming nausea hit him like a train, twisting his stomach into knots and causing his head to pound in what had to be the most unpleasant sensation he'd ever felt. His entire body came down in chills, and for a second he registered quite literally nothing around him. The only thing he could feel was the cold, tingling numbness that spread up his arm and throughout his arm until it reached the base of his shoulder as the darkness crept through his body at an accelerated pace, spreading its icy grip. It felt like ice water had just been poured into his veins. No, it was somehow worse than that. It was like he had been touched by death itself. His breath became heavy and he felt entirely overwhelmed, doing his very best to stay calm and keep himself stable. It was frankly overwhelmingly awful, but he managed to hold fast until it passed, leaving only the lingering feeling that he had just experienced something profoundly wrong.

"I would like to thank you for delivering my loyal servant to me, child. Without you Agreus could not serve as the instrument of my vision; an extension of my will. I had no way of transporting him to the underworld before you arrived, and although he barely survived the journey, I couldn't have accomplished this goal without your timely assistance. How very thoughtful of you."

There was no question that the voice that had come from within the summoner's body was no longer its own. Belial had overtaken him in mind and body and soul was still in question. Regardless, the devil prince seemed to be in complete control, and that was something that they had not planned for in the slightest. It seemed that Sirrus was not the only one who was playing 4D chess… 

"So, um… does this factor into your plan, too, or are we basically just winging it at this point?" Nero asked in an almost painfully deadpan tone of voice, the inherent sass not at all lost on his conversation partner as he drew his blade. It seemed that they might have to stand their ground until the time was right. He had a feeling something was going to go horribly wrong at some point. It literally always did. Story of his life.

"No, I can't say that it does, but I am capable of improvisation," Sirrus said with a glimmer of amusement in his voice. Sometimes he just loved his sense of humor, and it really shined in dark situations like this. He'd have to thank him for that later.

Thankfully, only a moment later the resonating sound of timber cracking could be heard from the far side of the clearing, followed by the downward tumble of a large tree, the impact barely missing the summoner on the far side of the clearing. If the stone had not been thoroughly worn in that spot already, it would have suffered a good deal of damage in the process.

Out from behind the trees stepped Vergil with Dante in tow, the Sons of the Dark Knight Sparda looking less than pleased to see the summoner here. That hadn't been part of the plan, but they couldn't claim to really care all that much. Anything that stood in their path today would be signing its own obituary and morgue release papers by morning. 

"Hey everyone! Didja miss us? Sorry we're so late. There was, eh, traffic. Yea, let's go with that." Dante said confidently as they strode onto the battlefield. This was only a pitstop on their journey. They would not be lingering here for long. "Hope the tree Vergil cut down didn't hit any of ya on the way down. Probably should've looked first."

Ignoring his twin's introduction, Vergil stepped over towards Morgan and Brenowin, keen to remove them both from the situation as immediately as possible. They had done their duty amicably, helping to draw out their opponent. They could not be sure that their advisory would have appeared for just one of them, but with both V and Morgan in one location, it was a done deal. Poor Brenowin was simply tagging along to do what he could to keep his sister safe. He had no hope of doing anything meaningful against an opponent of this nature. They now had other obligations to attend to in a location decidedly less hostile to unarmed civilians. Not that being armed would do them much good.

Removing Yamato from its sheath in one smooth movement, Vergil cleaved a cross-shaped symbol into the air, gesturing for the pair of unfortunate youngsters to pass through it. They both paused for a moment, shooting appreciative if not somewhat guilty glances at their companions. They wished that there was something more immediate that they could do, but they couldn't. At least not here. All they could do now was hope for the very best.

"You would do well to find someone who is able to assist here. I suspect treachery. It is a hallmark of Belial's plans. This boy may be deeper than he truly realizes once we depart." Vergil said as he waited for them to pass through the portal. He hadn't the slightest idea what had gone wrong with this plan, but it didn't change what they needed to do. And it didn't change the fact that they were going to more than likely require assistance once they had gone. There was only one way that this plan was going to work out the way that they needed it to, and it wasn't going to be easy for any of them. "Hurry along. There is nothing more that you can do here. We shall return once it is over."

Nodding thankfully, Bren took Morgan's hand, attempting to lead her through. To his surprise she snatched her hand free, turning back towards the rest of the group. Her eyes lingered on V for a moment, the young summoner looking over at her. She then nodded sternly, a look of genuine concern for him in her eyes. She was scared for all of them. She could feel the evil that they were up against, and she had no idea how they were going to overcome something like this. "You come back safe, V. You hear me?!"

With a small, almost sad smile, V nodded. He would try his very best to make it through this. They had a lot to talk about once he returned. "I will keep that in mind."

Morgan nodded in confirmation before turning to face her brother. He could see the hurt in her eyes and he understood. The last thing she wanted to do was to leave V behind to die again. She probably felt so useless; so in the way. But they would get their chance. Somehow he just knew that. With a soft sigh they thanked Vergil and rushed through the portal before Belial could compel either of them to stay or something. Bren didn't want to think of the kind of residual hold his old cult's master might still have over him. He had left of his own accord, but there was still a part of him that didn't trust himself.

The moment that they departed, a low rumble could be felt all around them. It seemed that the devil prince was not thrilled about the prospect of having to track down the person who was instrumental to his plan. He needed Morgan back, and he wasn't going to wait around and hope that she would return. He rushed towards V, seemingly shocked to find himself waylaid by none other than Sirrus. The adjudicator locked blades with him, stopping the staff that he had drawn in the middle of his downward strike. V jumped back out of the way, additionally pulled to the side by Nero at the last moment. He had not seen Sirrus's approach, and as such had stepped in to assist. Vergil and Dante approached the two younger members of their family, flanking them on either side as V stepped closer to his father. He had not forgotten what they needed to do.

"Get out of my way and you may die less slowly than I might have originally planned." The possessed summoner snarled, seemingly projecting his thoughts outward and towards his opponent. Sirrus could not be sure that his mouth had actually opened.

Unwilling to even humor his opponent, Sirrus pushed them back, sidestepping a swipe from their staff and contouring with a strike of his own, shattering the mask and causing it to fall to either side of the man's body. The summoner stepped back, staggering slightly as they momentarily lost their balance from the sheer force of impact. It seemed that Sirrus was going straight for deathblows this time around. He had not forgotten his ordeal from only a few short days ago, and he needed his opponent to be solely focused on him in order to provide an opening for them to escape. This hadn't been what he'd planned, but as he had said previously, he would improvise.

For a moment a strange sense of nostalgia and horror overtook V as he locked eyes with the now unmasked summoner. He recognized that face. How could he ever forget… 

A look of determination overtook Sirrus as his resolve solidified. He knew what he had to do. He looked over at V for a moment before slowly nodding, something akin to a mournful smile passing across his face, this time actually reaching his eyes and displaying a level of sincerity that he had not expected to reveal to him at that moment. This had not gone to plan, and it seemed that he would not be going with him after all. It wasn't an eventuality that he'd expected, but it was one that he would face down and overcome as he did all things. Or at the very least, he would die trying. 

"Take V and go. Keep him safe. I can keep this up longer than you might think. He will not find victory so long as I stand in his path." Sirrus looked at Dante, Vergil, and Nero as he spoke, blocking another much stronger strike from Agreus as he staggered back and regained his footing, rushing forward to push his opponent back and away from them again. This had not been a fight that he had been expecting to undergo tonight, but he saw no use in complaining. It was simply time for him to do what he did best. It was going to be an ordeal, but that wouldn't stop him. Hopefully. He then turned to V, making eye contact with him for as long as his situation would allow. "I wish you luck. Return victorious. I'll be waiting. We all need you to be okay."

V looked somewhat alarmed by this request, clearly recalling how it had gone the last time that he had done battle against this particular summoner and against his master, and this time they had more than their fair share of advantages. He didn't want to cast doubt on his capabilities, but he also didn't want this act of bravery to be his last. When he came back he wanted to come back to the people he cared about, and that included Sirrus. It was not truly a victory if he gave up everything to achieve it, and he could not fathom the sorrow that losing his newfound friend would bring him. The last thing he wanted to do was to leave him, but he feared that he had no choice. They had to leave. It was time.

But in spite of himself, he took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. The choices that they made now would change everything, and he chose to trust his companion and let him do the work that needed to be done. If Sirrus thought that he could hold off Agreus, then he would allow him to do what he thought was best. He had to believe that he could overcome this overwhelming challenge in much the same way that his friend believed that he could overcome his own. He would not argue… but he would make a request.

"Will do. And Sirrus?"

The adjudicator glanced back at him, standing his ground and barely evading another staggeringly strong blow. It was too early in the fight to break a bone. He glanced over at V as Vergil concentrated on opening another portal. This was going to be the hard part of the journey, and he had to make sure that everything went the way that they needed it to. They had to arrive in exactly the right spot. "What can I do for you, V?"

V stepped back towards the portal, a fierce look of defiant determination on his face instead of the worry that he knew his heart wanted to put there. Perhaps if he was not here Sirrus would not be as limited as he had been previously. Flora had slipped off into the woods to do what she needed to do. When she returned she could help him if she arrived in time. They were not leaving him entirely alone. "Leave no brick standing."

A wicked smile spread across the adjudicator's face, something wild that had not been there previously. Something primal that he had buried deep within himself awakened, a gleam to his eyes that he had never seen there before. He could not place how he knew it, but perhaps the only thing he could guarantee was that Agreus was in for one hell of a fight. Sirrus wasn't letting him walk out of here in one piece. He was going to eviscerate him. He would destroy him piece by piece. "With pleasure."

His wish known, V nodded and allowed a small smirk to pass across his face as he and the rest of his family stepped through the portal and into the underworld. Sirrus was not the only one with an insurmountable task ahead of him. There was no time for delays. They would only get a chance like this once. He just hoped with everything in him that Sirrus wasn't grandstanding to alleviate the growing sense of anxiety that he felt in the pit of his stomach. He just had to believe that everyone they were leaving behind would be okay.

Moments later the portal closed and Agreus retreated across the clearing, clearly furious. He had not expected them to disappear, and he hadn't the slightest idea where they had gone. This could not be allowed to stand. He would locate them, and this boy would die screaming and bleeding upon this forsaken altar. And it didn't necessarily have to be in that order. He was willing to negotiate.

"The prophecy did not specify names, child. Perhaps you will make for a fine substitution. For if you possess the will and power to defy me, then perhaps you shall serve me just as well. And you will most certainly be more satisfying to break."

Sirrus stood up straight and held his position, unwilling to show that he was slightly phased by that idea. It would never come to pass. There was no force on this earth; no pain incense enough to make him turn on those he was loyal to. He would take his own life before he allowed Belial to make him his slave. It was a sentiment that he somehow knew that he and Vergil shared.

Looking up at the sky, he watched as the clouds parted to reveal a blood-red moon, black clouds accompanying it. He could feel the ancient power surrounding him, enveloping him in the darkness that he normally held at bay. There was no risk of collateral damage here. He could finally let loose. He could dig deep. Perhaps it was time that he delved into the more taboo aspects of his bloodline.

"You picked the wrong night to pick a fight with me, Belial. You are not the only one who draws their strength from the darkness." Sirrus said calmly as he held his blade at the ready, basking in the brilliance of an atmosphere as tainted as this. Perhaps it was best that things had come to pass the way that they had. "You will rue the day that you gave into your hubris and sought to challenge me. You have done battle against the lighter facet of my abilities… but even you, the Prince of Darkness, stand no chance against the new devilry that I keep caged up just for occasions like this. Perhaps it's time to show you what I truly am."

(-~-)

h, you have no idea how long I've wanted to use the demon ass joke lol! I thought a longer chapter was in order. We've made it, everyone! We're in the climax! . But seriously, this is going to be such a blast to write! I truly hope you're ready because I'm about to send you down one hell of a roller coaster. This is just a taste of what's to come! See you next week and I hope you're staying safe! Take care and I'll see you in the comments! Bye-bye!

Also, I GOT A KITTEN YESTERDAY! SEND ME NAMES! It's a grey and black striped one with a little bit of white on the bottom and blue eyes. I don't know what gender the little one is yet because we rescued them and they are only about 2 months old (and very fussy and don't trust us much yet), but that hardly matters to me! I'd love to know what you think or hear any advice you have. It's my first kitty, so I'm excited but nervous. And I couldn't be happier.

Hope you're doing well! Talk to you soon!

[skvaderarts]

Hiraeth Chapter 61: Rescue

Masterlist can be found Here!

Chapter Sixty-One: Rescue

Note: I hope I didn't scare any of you off with any of the recent changes I've made! How have you been? Do you like how things have been going recently? And if so, I'd love to hear your predictions!

(-~-)

The salty coastal air kissed the rocks alongside the water’s edge, the ebb and flow of the shoreline a familiar sight by now considering the fact that they had grown up here. From the window of their home, they had a rather nice view of the water, even if they had no ability to step out onto a balcony or patio to actually take it in. Still, property with a view was expensive in most places, so neither of them was going to complain about the fact that there had to be a piece of glass between them and such a wonderful view. It was one of the better things about the house, all things considered.

Nero had arrived in short order, just in time for dinner and for a good telling off from Nico for having been gone so long. His explanation as to why and what was going on made perfect sense on paper, but when he tried to elaborate further into the details, It had devolved into a situation that required more than a little explaining, especially when it came to matters pertaining to his brother, Morgan, her brother, and literally everything else that was going on. It was a sort of conversation that drew captivated but clearly confused gazes from those who listened to it before they nodded in the barest of understanding and returned to their previous tasks, still wondering what had just been said to them, but unwilling to ask at the risk of sounding foolish.

Dinner had gone well enough, even though it served to be a wake-up call of sorts for him. Little Kyle and Carlo were doing well, and Julio was starting to become more proficient with the concept of using utensils. It seemed like he'd only been gone a few days, and yet the children had seemingly changed to a noticeable degree. He truly desired to spend more time with them once everything was over with and he had no pressing matters to attend to. What was going on in their lives did actually mean a great deal to him. Maybe he could even bring them over to see their uncle sometime? He could see it now, the look of trepidation and horrified anguish on V's face as he attempted to find a polite way to explain that he was on the brink of a nervous breakdown at the very thought of allowing children to run amok inside of his generally well-kept home. Oh, that would be a comedy masterpiece. He had to schedule an uninvited visit sometime in the future.

But one thing did occur to him as he chatted with the children that night and generally spent time with them after his return: when they got older, would they go down the same path that two generations of his own family had gone down? Three generations if he counted his grandfather, though he'd never met him to really ask if it went back any further than that. He wouldn't be surprised to find out that the urge to do battle ran even further back than that, but one thing that did concern him was the idea of his entirely human and not exactly magically inclined children doing battle against demons. While it was totally true that there were plenty of demon hunters who were human, the idea that they could be in such danger was worrisome to him, especially since he himself had not exactly gone unharmed in his own career. He liked to think that some of the work he did was in service of a safer world for them, one where they would not have to do battle against demons in order to keep the forces of darkness at bay. 

They deserved something that he couldn't have: A normal life. But they also deserve the choice to choose something else. He wouldn't think much more about it for now, but he couldn't say that he thought it would be right to dissuade or try to stop them, either. He had been allowed to take his own path, and he couldn't take that from anyone else, even if he tried. He just hoped it would never come to that.

As he glanced at the window across the water towards the mainland, he peaked back over his shoulder at Kyrie. She had just returned from the bathroom, completely and utterly ready to go to sleep. He would need to turn the light out. There was no need to keep her awake while he thought about these sorts of things to himself. And in all honesty, talking to her about it was probably the best thing he could do. But that could wait until morning, or perhaps even later than that. These were long-off problems, and he would not perturb or disrupt what could otherwise be a more than earned night’s rest just so that he could inquire as to her thoughts about the topic. There would be plenty of time for that. It was one thing that he promised himself. 

He refused to not be there for them for any reason. The cycle couldn't be allowed to continue.

"Nero, do you mind closing the window before you head to bed, please? I've heard it's going to be especially cold tonight, so it's probably a good idea," Kyrie asked politely as she practically burrowed her way into the covers, the only indicator that she was actually in the bed being the small lump that formed under them and a tuft of her red hair sticking out the very top. She had put extra blankets on the bed recently, and as such, it was especially plush and warm. A welcome sight and supremely comfortable. It was almost enough to make him snicker.

He took a moment to clear his mind before turning in her direction, hoping that his momentary pause didn't set her down a path of worry. She was unfortunately very good at reading him, and it seemed that she always knew when something was on his mind that either shouldn't be, or that was weighing heavily on him. Still, he would be lying if he said that he wasn't glad that someone understood. He didn't want that burden to fall onto her, but it was always good to know that there was at least one person who absolutely did understand everything that he was going through, and was always willing to talk. Well, now he had more than one person like that in his life, but there was always going to be something special about the rapport between himself and the love of his life. It was essential and welcome in their relationship, and he knew that should he ever need to be there for her, he would try his very best. She seemed to be able to internalize whatever was on her mind and solve those sorts of internal dilemmas herself for the most part, but he would never leave her hanging. Not in a million years.

"Yeah, sure thing Kyrie. I'll be right over. Let me take care of that for you."

True to his word he pulled the window shut from the top, locking the latch. He then pulled the heavy curtains shut, realizing for the first time that she had seemingly put up the shear set they kept up in the room during the summer. It seemed that she was trying her best to keep the cool air out, and the cozy heat inside. A smart move. They were not heavy, so they probably wouldn't do much, but it was better than nothing.

She giggled, gesturing towards the bedside table. Sitting there was a small but familiar mug, whipped cream topping it and an inviting aroma accompanying it. Steam seemed to bellow from the top, indicating that whatever was in the drink that he had been given was warm and probably should be drunk sooner rather than later. He would have asked her what it was if not for the fact that he knew that she was going to tell him regardless. He could see the excitement all over her face. How precious.

"Great, because I made hot chocolate! I thought you might like some, so I put your cup on the bedside table." She patted the covers invitingly, a large grin on her face as she seemed to excitedly wait for him to join her. He could only guess that she was waiting to drink her own drink in order to see if he liked what she made for him. It was the most Kyrie thing he could think of, and it was genuinely endearing. "Come drink it before it gets cold, silly! Your whipped cream is going to melt into a sad puddle if you don't and make a mess."

Nero could practically hear the joy in her voice as she spoke those words. Kyrie loved this time of year. Pumpkin spice, apple spice, cinnamon spice, you name it. He was probably forgetting a few. Everything had to be spiced within reason, and anything that wasn't had to be in the form of hot chocolate, peppermint, or even eggnog. She was very into seasonal drinks for the holidays, and with Halloween fast approaching, she was going to have ample opportunity. He just smiled and headed over to sit with her, setting aside the strange sensation of disturbance that he felt in the pit of his stomach. More than likely it was just the events of the day getting to him. They all had a lot on their mind right now. 

He knew that if he was truly needed, he would know it, but until then he would enjoy this quiet time with Kyrie and the children and wait for them to enact their plan. Sometimes the best thing you could do was simply wait for the person with the plan to tell you what they needed you to do, and as much as he didn't like sitting there and waiting to be ordered around, the simple matter of the fact was that he couldn't actually intervene even if he wanted to, and he definitely did. But without access to Yamato, he wasn't going anywhere to do anything. So for now, the hot chocolate was going to have to be enough for him. And anything that Kyrie did always was.

"Be right there. I'm sure it's gonna be great."

(-~-)

Picking up the pace as he hurried along, V and his companions were all too aware of the fact that they could still possibly be the prey rather than the predators in this arrangement. By the time that they had made it to the roof, the fight had been over, and it was safe to say that the red-haired man who he'd come to be quite fond of had seen better days. The wound that he'd taken to the chest didn't seem to be the primary issue, however. V had missed the fight, so he couldn't be sure as to how the wound had been inflicted or if it had actually done any lasting damage, but the one thing he could be sure of was that something was just off about this particular injury. There was a nagging sensation that was building in the pit of his stomach demanding that he seek someone with more teeth than himself to make sure that Sirrus survived. 

There was something more going on with him. He just knew it.

Looking up the street as he ran, he wasn't surprised to see that there was basically no one out right now. The inclement weather had seen to that. And yet, for the first time and perhaps an entire life, he wanted someone, anyone else to be out there. It wasn't because they could keep him safe. Far from it, actually, if the train station was anything to go by. No, he just needed quick access to a phone, and while asking to borrow one from a stranger while allowing his familiars to carry Sirrus up the street on the back of a demonic panther was a good way to set someone off, he didn't have very many options. 

Shadow and Griffon were doing their level best to keep from dragging the fiery-haired adjudicator down the street on the ground as they attempted to keep up with their master. Scraping all of the skin off his body wasn't going to do him any favors, and he didn't want to hear what he would probably say when he came to if that happened. It would just be a bad time for everyone involved, physically, emotionally, and mentally. No, it was best to just be as careful as possible to try and make sure that he was all right. They had all been through more than enough that night.

But then that brought them back to the matter at hand. He knew precisely who he needed to contact, and he knew exactly how to contact them, but for the life of him, he couldn't find a payphone anywhere. And that was atrocious because depending on the part of town you were in, there were probably more of them than there were family pets in this neighborhood. The fact that he couldn't find even a single one of those booths now that he actually needed one was as astonishing as it was asinine. For a moment he considered the possibility he might be in another of Belial's illusions before rushing along down the road, shaking his head. No, they were just nowhere to be found.

"Do you need to stop?" V asked as he looked around the neighborhood, somewhat sure that he recognized where they were a bit better now. He'd seen this neighborhood before at the very least, so that was an improvement. And now that he had some idea as to where they were, he could navigate to the nearest phone booth a bit easier. For a moment, he considered the fact that if his adversary were actually watching, this might be very educational to him. His extreme levels of confusion in regards to the topography of the area he was a dead giveaway to the fact that he didn't live over here. The more familiar someone was with their surroundings, the more obvious it was, and the easier it was to figure out how close they were to actually being home. He'd learned that himself first hand, as a kid. He'd gotten lost and left behind quite a few times.

"Can't say that we do, buddy. No need to worry about us back here. Just hurry up and make the call before something else bad happens. We've got our hands a little full over here." Griffon was attempting to help hold Sirrus up in a more upright position, making it slightly less obvious that he was actually completely unconscious. It was more for the benefit of anyone who happened to pass by than it was anything else, but either way, they had to get out of here quickly.

"Very well, then. I think I might have found one. Let's hope that it works." The Young summoner pointed in the direction of what seemed to be the outline of one of the booths just a short distance up ahead towards a plaza, a plaza that he silently hoped would have more people in it. That way the possibility of politely asking to borrow someone's phone was available to him in case the payphone didn't work. He just hoped that nobody noticed that his friend was unconscious, or he might get more than he'd bargained for out of the deal. He needed assistance, not attention.

Making his way over towards the phone booth in as quick a manner as he possibly could manage, the summoner rushed inside, checking the phone before he made any commitment towards actually using it. The buttons were a little wonky, and it was all in all somewhat dirty as was to be expected since it was outside, but when he picked up the receiver, he was pleased to find that it did, in fact, actually work. It seemed that he'd gotten lucky for the first time tonight. Well, that wasn't quite true. Depending on your definition of lucky, he'd been nothing but the entire evening. But this was the first time he'd actually gotten lucky in a way that he wanted to be.

"So... Does it work? Or are we going to need to look for another one?"

V looked over his shoulder at his avian companion, nodding in confirmation. The iridescent blue bird seemed to be relieved to hear this news, sighing as he fluttered downward and allowed Sirrus to rest against the edge of the phone booth. Carrying an entire person for long periods of time could be exhausting for him, as their previous exploits had shown. But the last thing that he was going to do was just leave him lying there. He'd continue to carry him. Shadow curled up at the foot of the booth, more hidden in the darkness than Griffon. She needed to rest, too. V patted her gently, grateful for their combined efforts.

A cursory examination of the younger adjudicator showed that he was still breathing, and that the bleeding had seemingly stopped, but that he was still unconscious. He seemed to stir slightly for a moment, his breathing patterns changing ever so slightly as though he'd been disturbed by something, but he did quickly drift back off to sleep, unable to maintain anything even remotely similar to consciousness for the time being. At least he was still somewhat cognizant. As far as V was concerned, that was a huge plus. He could work with that. And even if he wasn't, well... It wasn't like he was going to just leave him out here, was it?

Dialing the phone as quickly as he can manage, V attempted to work with the wonky controls of the old phone booth as best as he could, hoping that the fact that it had a dial tone wasn't its only functionality. He subconsciously held his breath for a moment as he waited to hear the phone actually ring, aware that he didn't have that much change on him to keep trying. It was late. Maybe he could still find a business that was open? He was running out of options, and he couldn't travel a very far distance with an injured person in tow, not to mention that he wanted to be in the best condition himself. But he also refused to leave him. It would be a very bad idea to do that.

But to his relief, seconds later the phone rang and he waited with bated breath as he hoped that someone would actually pick up. He was somewhat sure that he had the right number but less sure that they would actually pick up the phone this time of night. It wasn't that he didn't think anyone would be awake. No, that was a given considering how many people were actually living there. But it wasn't very common for people to just pick up a phone and answer it from an unknown number, and if they had caller ID, then they probably could see that this was just that.

Fortunately, it seemed that the universe was willing to continue to humor him that night as seconds later the phone was picked up off the receiver. A somewhat familiar cheerful voice answered the phone, and it took him several moments of thankful, overwhelmed confusion to realize that he was talking to Hydrangea. Thank goodness, someone that knew him by name.

"You've reached the Ludwig residence. State your name and reason for calling, and I can see if I can get you to the right person."

Slumping over against the wall tiredly, V let out a relieved, exhausted sigh. He'd actually managed to get someone on the phone. Part of him couldn't believe that. "Hydrangea, it's me. V. Please, I think I need your help. Or your mother's help? Regardless, It's Sirrus. And it's not good."

(-~-)

Well, it's good to see that he managed to actually find help! As soon as everyone else gets back, they're going to have quite the situation on their hands. It's time to take the fight to their enemies. No more running and hiding. I'm going to have a blast writing this segment! Well, I've had a blast writing all of it, but you know what I mean!

Let me know what you think in the comments, and I'll see you all next week! Hope everything's been going well for you this week! And thanks for reading! Bye-bye for now! Also, before I go, I wanted to know your opinion on something: would you prefer that I upload chapters for you during the holiday season (Christmas week through to New Year's), Or are you going to be too busy to read during that time? Because if so, I could start squirreling away chapters for you so that you can have something to read, and I don't have to worry about working on them during the hectic holidays! I don't mind, either way, I just want to know what works best for you! See you all on Wednesday!

[skvaderarts]

Hiraeth Chapter 66: Attrition

Masterlist can be found Here!

Chapter Sixty-Six: Attrition

Note: feels good getting to write another good fight scene, especially since a bunch of you were excited for this one! Hope I did you proud! It's good practice for what's to come.

(-~-)

Every inch of the battlefield was awash with the blood and dust of their enemies, coating every surface of the open fields around them in irrefutable proof that neither of the twin Sons of Sparda was to be trifled with. If the denizens of the underworld were filled with enough folly to actually think that they could defeat them, they were sorely mistaken and would need to be immediately corrected. But they had probably learned very little from the experience considering the speed at which they expired. This was not their domain, and they had learned that the hard way.

Holding their own a short distance away, the girls had regrouped, taking on a small hoard of lesser abyssal demons. Although they were not experienced with doing battle against these particular creatures to the degree that they were with others, it meant little in the wake of such overwhelming power. Countless demons fell to their knees and perished at the ends of Lucia's dual blades, and her daggers were very much the same, pairing well with the sheer overwhelming amount of artillery that Lady had brought to bear against them. 

And as always, Trish's hail of lightning was nothing that they could stand against, the trio making quite the formidable group. Nothing was leaving here alive, be it by their hands, or the hands of their distant companions, both of which were in the process of dismantling what seemed to be an entire small flood of the demons. 

It hadn't taken the girls long to locate the rift there were coming out of, and all they had to do was dismantle the device that had been set up to try and keep it open, but they did so with very little concern. Truly, there was no need to hurry. They got the impression that their companions would continue to do battle against the demons for as long as they poured forth from hell. And they would do so with absolute unabashed pleasure. It was just who they were, a special level of thrill for battle carved into their very bones.

They didn't need to ask if Dante and Vergil were all right. No, they were having the time of their damn lives. It seemed almost cruel to take this opportunity for them to flex their muscles away from them, but for the sake of the city, they would have to endure a bit of disappointment. These demons needed to be taken care of right here and now before they spread further into the city.

On their own respective side of the battlefield, what seemed to be almost twice the number of demons had attempted to flank them from all sides, meeting A literally unfathomable amount of resistance considering the fact that they're only going up against two individuals. The only problem was that they had picked the last two people in perhaps the entire universe that they were qualified to win a fight against. Apparently, these demons hadn't gotten the memo about how Dante and his brother did this sort of thing for fun. But then again, the underworld was a big place, and the news didn't tend to spread very quickly when you killed everyone who was a witness to it. A technicality that wouldn't matter in the grand scheme of things anyway.

Cutting a swath through his opponent, Vergil surged forward, taking the opportunity to take a small section of the demons off guard. He hacked through several of them crosswise, raining down a volley of summoned blades upon the ones who attempted to cover their opponents from behind. With a sufficient wall between them and their counterparts, he sidestepped the group he had been doing battle against and slashed one demon that tried to run up behind him, killing it with one blow before using the momentum and power that he had built up from the strike to send a tight group of shock waves through the crowd. They parted like waves that had been torn through by a ship before Vergil finished them off with another much wider side-to-side arc, the blue wave gathering them together and cutting them to the bone. 

But before they could react to any of the unprecedented and varied ways that he had corralled them, he struck from above, bringing his gauntlets to bear against their hapless heads. They had been stunned, and before any of them could get up, the eldest son of the Dark Knight Sparda calmly raised the gauntlet before slamming it down to the ground, creating a powerful shock wave that tore through them, completely obliterating them in an instant. It seemed that they were dead long before they had been able to actually comprehend what had just happened. Oh how thoroughly they had been out of their league.

Just a few short feet away on the other end of the same stretch of road, Dante had taken the unfortunate group of demons that had made the mistake of picking him as their opponent to task, raining down a volley of gunfire on them from above before using his blade to cleave them in two. He then switched to a different weapon, sticking the electrified rod in the ground as he used it to vault forward and slam into his opponents. As soon as his feet made contact with the ground, the rod transformed into an ice-covered set of triple nunchucks, pinwheeling around and in front of him as they tore through the hapless demons on all sides of him. With that small amount of space established, One of the demons in front of him was shocked to discover that instead of a blade it found a flaming gauntlet fist embedded into its skull, a matching foot slamming it in the chest as it flew back into its own kind. Rushing him in an attempt to overwhelm him, none of them succeeded as he managed with effortless efficiency to both sidestep and utterly decimate them, pushing through the group and spin kicking and punching multiple members of their posse into submission.

Far from over and done with his opponents, he took the opportunity to fill several of the demons that have made the mistake of fighting him with buckshot before withdrawing the bayonet-tipped artillery gun from his back, a temporary loan from Lady. She tossed it to him before running off to join the others, scolding him in regards to the possibility of him not returning it. Charging up a considerable amount of demonic power, he waited as the demons made the mistake of funneling towards him in a line, all those behind him now dead or utterly crippled. 

The moment that they got within proper range he unleashed a volley of smaller heat-seeking rockets, decimating most of them in the process. Those who were not destroyed or hampered by the attack were then met with something that they had very likely not expected: a searing hot red beam of energy coming from the end of the rocket launcher. They were melted in the blink of an eye, reduced to nothing more than ash and embarrassed-looking cloth on the ground below as they became one with the asphalt beneath them. Two of the demons that were left exchange looks before stumbling back in surprise as a stray rose was tossed to them, seemingly unsurpassed what it could mean. But as they considered this, Dante closed the distance between them and himself, leaping into the air before tearing through them with one well-placed shock wave from his blade, coupled with a barrage of red clone blades. And before they could even register how truly doomed they were, they were checking back into the waiting room and the underworld, completely and utterly blindsided by the sheer audacity and abnormal flair of such a disrespectful attack. They had been destroyed physically and reputationally, and they would never recover.

Now that he was no longer occupied, he turned fully to face his twin. Vergil was in the process of cleaning the remaining blood off of Yamato's now gleaming blade, running it down the opening at the head of the scabbard. Despite the relative ease of the battle, it had been exhilarating to go up against so many opponents again, even if the reality that becoming overwhelmed could have ended his life was still something that he had to contend with was undeniable. That was highly unlikely though, and he knew that they both knew that. Vergil probably wouldn't have made it in the underworld as long as he had if that had been the case.

He didn't wish for the city to be attacked more, but he'd be lying if he didn't admit that he enjoyed doing battle against such overwhelming odds. It was an absolutely wonderful feeling, the adrenaline coursing through his veins. It was the only time that Dante could say that he was completely and utterly in tune with his demonic side, and he felt no guilt for that. So long he'd been held back by uncertainty and a feeling of otherness, but in the time since his brother had returned, he'd come to a strange sort of peace with it, perhaps realizing that If the two of them could meet in the middle, then perhaps he should meet in the middle with himself. He wasn’t the only one like this anymore. He didn't have to be all human and not indulge his demonic side any more than his brother had to be all demonic and ignore his humanity. Their lives were about moderation, and the simple matter of the fact was that they were two separate but whole things. Both forms of rejection of their true whole selves had caused them pain, and if the best way to unify that was to do battle against the forces of evil, then he was willing to bet that was one of the few ways that they could always find agreement. It was a kindred sort of experience.

"So... when did ya learn to do that, Vergil?" The Devil Hunter in red asked, clearly referring to the all-out assault that his brother had just carried out against their hapless enemies. There was a steady stream of them now, but far less than there had been, and it seemed to be the very last of them. What a pity. They had just started having fun. Maybe they should do this sort of thing more often; spend time on jobs together when they weren't going up against Belial. After all, this war of attrition they were fighting couldn't go on forever, could it?

Vergil turned to face him, slowly walking over towards the middle of the area that they had just done battle in. It seemed that the girls had just returned from closing the rift the demons had come through, so it was probably best to meet up with them and make sure that none of them had become injured in the process. He highly doubted this, but it made practical sense either way. As Dante dragged up behind him, he shook his head slightly, barely out of breath from the ordeal. He imagined this was what a Good workout felt like to most humans, satisfying but nothing that he couldn't handle. Nothing like when he had been fighting for his life in the underworld. How strange to think that something that had once been a possible threat to his life had been reduced to a form of leisure and entertainment. It was strange how things came and went in his life, the ebb and flow of his reality seemingly always changing and altering its conditions. But that was the way of life, wasn't it? You could only choose to remain stagnant if you were a boulder standing defiant in the path of an ocean, And even then eventually you would be eroded and torn down, a shallow husk of what you had once been back before you had made the fateful decision to not yield.

But perhaps there was some poetic irony in that fact. Regardless of where the boulder stood, it would be eroded over time. Perhaps it was best that you stand your ground? He imagined it was some combination of the two, a compromise needing to be met. After all, hard water brought faster distortion and disillusion, so perhaps it was truly best to know when to move to shallower water and simply partake in the rapids instead of waiting out to see when all you could do was sink. Your time would come regardless, so there was no need to speed along the process. You needed to know when it just wasn’t worth it anymore, and how to not be ashamed of that.

… Why was it so difficult for him to just enjoy the little things in life for once? Perhaps he was just cursed to overthink things? Spending too much time lingering on the ramifications of his actions had never gotten him anywhere, but then again, neither had thought about them at all. There was always something that he wasn't doing, and now he was starting to see that perhaps not doing something sometimes was the best thing you could do. If fixating on the issue didn't help you in any way towards solving it, then perhaps it was best to just find a healthy way to cope with the reality that some objects were immovable, some things unchangeable if they were out of your control.

Moderation. It was a little word that he was learning carried so much weight. And it was one he wished he'd learned the true value of A lifetime ago. He had no idea what their life expectancy was, but he did hope that with what time he still had he could write some with the wrong he had done as a direct result of the folly of his youth. He knew he couldn't fix everything, but satisfaction and acceptance were what he strived for now. If his method hadn't worked, then perhaps it was time that he tried the methods of others and actually heard them out. After all, It couldn't kill him any deader than his own actions had.

“I've been able to do that since I obtained these gauntlets after my battle with that creature that worked within the Temen Ni Gru. I never asked its name, but I could see the value in the power but they added to my arsenal." He looked over at the girls as they approached, himself and Trish making momentary eye contact for a moment. They did not speak, only looking at one another and not moving, not so much sizing one another up or being frozen in place at the concept of what may occur between them as they were simply aware that something had shifted between them at that moment. There wasn't nearly enough work between them to merit forgiveness just yet, but the idea of its existence had come to existence at that moment. It was perhaps the origin point of what might become a lasting peace in the future. It was too early to say, but she had fought admirable and with genuine intent to help and protect Dante. To protect both of them. To protect all of them. She’d changed. "I am willing to concede to the fact that the abilities that I possess as a result have... Strengthened significantly in the time since then, but strength does come from proficiency."

"Oh, that thing? That was Beowulf. He was a fun time. A real people pleaser, that guy. He punched me back first into the ground once so hard that I broke the floor. My ribs definitely didn't appreciate it." Dante left himself as they walked along, heading back towards the interior of the city. It was probably best that they get out of here before things get too wildly out of hand. "Apparently he had something against our old man. I think you might have cut his eye out in a fight that they had before the gates were closed or something like that. He came crashing through the ceiling while I was trying to find something, and I had no choice but to remove his eyesight altogether. How’d he manage to track you down?'

Admittedly, upon the realization of the irony of that entire situation, Vergil slowed his pace considerably and actually chuckled under his breath, unable to completely hide the fact that he found that deeply amusing. It seemed that the creature just hadn't known when to stop, had it? And it also meant that Beowulf was probably the first time that every member of their family who had been alive at the time had encountered the same foe and managed to beat it. What an utter disgrace.

"I was in the ritual chamber and the wretched thing made the mistake of interrupting me. It was blathering on and on about how it had lost its sight but it remembered my scent, something that I remember finding strange at the time considering the fact I'd never encountered it." He cleared his throat slightly as he looked over and realized that Trish was examining something on the ground. On closer examination, it seemed that the strange red flowers that had been found in a few areas of Redgrave city had started to sprout here as well. How fascinating. He would have to make a point of talking to Magnolia about that when they returned. He couldn't help but wonder if it was relevant in some way to what had happened here today. Perhaps they indicated points of excess demonic influence? If nothing else, they were admittedly aesthetically pleasing. "I don't think it realized there were two of us until the very moment before its death. Quite the unfortunate last-second epiphany."

It was Dante's turn to laugh. He chuckled, the mental image of how quickly that fight had probably gone completely south for the demon rendering him unable to stop laughing for a few moments. Vergil had been astoundingly ruthless in his youth. He was certain that he had been summarily executed with not so much as a word spoken. What an undignified way to go after holding a grudge for so long!

"Yeah, well you're going to have to tell me all about it on the way to that fancy house Magnolia's family lives in because I think it's safe to say that it's high time we put their boss in the ground. Let's just hope that Sirrus is awake by now"

(-~-)

Is it obvious that I suck at playing Dante but play Vergil a lot? Because I feel like it is. Like, somehow I don’t know the names of most of the moves I use with him on a regular basis! HOW?! Or at the very least I'm not very good at explaining how I play Dante lol! It's really easy to write elegant sword swipes, but then there's Dante, throwing roses at people in midair and using flaming gauntlets to speed punch people into the grave. Omg, I can't! My lungs are burning now because I'm laughing so hard at that last sentence! I'll see you all in the comments and on Friday! Holy hell!

[skvaderarts]

Hiraeth Chapter 55: Disclosure

Masterlist can be found Here!

Chapter Fifty-Five: Disclosure

Note: I know you’ve been waiting a long time for the answers, and now you’ve got them. This is the beginning of the end in regards to the secrets surrounding Belial’s Arc and what he hopes to gain. Enjoy… if you can.

(-~-)

It didn’t take long for everyone present in the house to make their way to the living room, especially once it was revealed that information pertaining to them had been unearthed. Despite the fact that Brenowin and Morgan hadn’t known Sirrus for more than about a day, the fact that everyone else seemed to know or otherwise welcome him was really all that it took for them to be willing to at least listen to him. And from what they could tell, he had no compelling reason to lie to them about anything.

Making the executive decision that it was probably best that they all know about what was going on, Dante called Lady and Trish, both of whom were luckily not far away, and seemed to have just finished a job a few hours prior. They agreed to come over and see what was going on despite the fact that it was probably a bit too early for them. They both sounded like they had just woken up when they’d answered the phone. That would surely get him shot in the head later on.

But what was more of a surprise to anyone that knew him was the fact that Vergil had actually made a similar decision. Taking a moment to step aside and make a phone call, Vergil had subsequently disappeared for several minutes to go and fetch Magnolia, something that had gone completely unnoticed until they had come back through the front door together just a short while after. It wasn’t a new notion that Vergil was capable of benign stealthy, but none of them had realized until then that he was able to dip out of a crowded room and just disappear from everyone’s consciousness. Perhaps they had spent too much time actively tuning him out until now? Even Dante hadn’t noticed at the time, more than likely because he’d been talking to Lady on the phone.

Within a few minutes of their return, Lady and Trish came around, and they had brought along Morrison. According to them, they had run into him as they were leaving, the middle man presumably interested in getting in contact with them to offer a job. Or, at the very least curious as to how well the last job they had been on together had gone for them. Dante wouldn’t have been surprised if Morrison had been the one to provide them with whatever work they had been doing lately. He was resourceful like that.

As was Ludwig family tradition at that point, Flora made a fresh pot of tea that everyone was welcome to share. If she was going to sit there and listen to Sirrus talk for goodness knew how long, she wasn’t going to do it without a cup of tea in her hands, especially since Magnolia had brought a tray of macaroons with her when she’d arrived. Vergil’s timing couldn’t have been more perfect, in her opinion.

“Ok, so what’s up?” Nero said nonchalantly as he sat down on the couch next to V. Considering everything that had happened recently, he was pretty sure that nothing Sirrus could say would be particularly shocking to him, and he was hoping that he wouldn’t be proven wrong in that regard. “You said that you had something to tell us?”

Sirrus nodded, watching as everyone settled in and made themselves comfortable. At least he wouldn’t have to worry about repeating himself. The only person who wasn’t there was Nico, but it would have taken several hours for her to reach their location. Or perhaps it wouldn’t, considering her driving skills... 

“First, I’d like to start by making it clear that I have obtained some of this information from Aluta and Willow, so if you’d like more in-depth information, you will have to contact them. I’m just the messenger in that regard.”

Various members of the team either shrugged or nodded in response, silently indicating that they would like for him to continue. He leaned back against the corner of the wall nearest to the window, the warmth from the fireplace licking his subconscious as he tuned its presence out, for the most part, noting its existence, but not sparing much in the way of attention to it. He drew a long breath before proceeding, sure that he was about to ruin several people’s day in the process. Oh, how he hated that sort of thing. Being the bearer of bad news was never pleasant, but in cases like this, it was a necessary evil. One way or another, someone was going to have to tell them. It might as well be him.

Gesturing for him to continue, Vergil sat down in one of the armchairs nearest to the couch. He wasn’t quite sitting next to V, but he was as close to doing to as it was possible to be without actually doing it. The young summoner seemed to silently note this for a moment, allowing his gaze to travel towards how father, but otherwise not reacting. He was clearly anticipating bad news, and considering everything that was going on and the fact that he was locked in a losing battle against a devil prince, that was more than understandable.

“Now that we have that out of the way, I’d like to say that I’m genuinely sorry to always be the bearer of bad news in these instances. What am I, the wild hunt?” Sirrus scoffed and shook his head before realizing that that at least half of the people in the room didn’t have any idea what that even was. He then sighed and folded his arms around himself. “Would you prefer that I get straight to the point, or go into a bit more detail?”

“Considering the implications of what I assume you are here to tell us, I would prefer the former and then the latter,” V said softly, rubbing his arm absentmindedly in an attempt to soothe it. Just thinking about what was going on was enough to make the malevolent ink that coursed his veins tingle from excitement, something that the rest of his biological composition didn’t approve of or appreciate very much.

Putting his arm behind his back, Sirrus nodded in a manner more akin to that of a curtsy than anything else. He glanced over at Morgan who in turn nodded in agreement. She didn’t need him to ask for her to be able to tell that he was awaiting her permission to continue. He then cleared his throat before leaning over and pouring a few sips of wine that he summarily gulped down in the least refined manner possible. He hadn’t spoken a word yet, and he already hated this conversation.

“Fair enough. I suppose nothing worthwhile is accomplished by beating around the bush all day, is there? We all have things to do and places to be.” He went in for another topped-off glass, indirectly signifying to everyone in the room that he almost certainly didn’t want to be here talking about this right now. “The Ludwin family sent some of their family members to go and investigate Belial’s activities and they have found an almost definitive answer as to what he wants with both Morgan and V. I trust that you don’t need me to tell you it’s not to simply spread the good word.”

“No, I suppose you do not.” Vergil wasn’t amused, but he was also keenly aware of the fact that Sirrus hadn’t exactly meant that in a humorous way. He’d clearly been using his cynicism and sarcasm as a coping device. “Continue.”

With a casual shrug, Sirrus turned his attention back to V and Morgan. “V, do you recall what you said about the attack that destroyed Lympha about three years ago?”

To the surprise of no one, they both nodded. Morgan looked as though she would become sick to her stomach at the mention of that place, but she did remember. There was no way that she would ever forget. V looked down at the floor for a moment in discomfort, considering the possibility of speaking. But when he finally did, it wasn’t about the town. “How did you hear about that, Sirrus? You were outside.”

Sirrus nodded in agreement, reaching for another glass of wine but finding that the bottle was a bit too close to being empty for his liking. “Your quite right. I was with Nico. But I have very good hearing, and I am not at all ashamed to admit that I did, in fact, eavesdrop on you. I can see why you’d find that strange, however. My apologies if I’ve upset you or caused you undue confusion.”

V seemed to consider this for a moment before nodding, brushing his concerns aside. He had done nothing to offend him. He would know if he’d done something to cause V any distress to the young summoner. That made sense. After all, Sirrus was not exactly a normal person, and he had several abilities that he knew very little about. “Think nothing of it. But please, what does this have to do with what happened in… that place?”

Leaning back again, Sirrus adjusted his shoulders. “It seems that before Belial disbanded his cult and destroyed just about every trace of it, he had tasked them to take care of something important. And that “something important” was in Lympha.” He turned to Morgan, his focus lingering on her for a moment as he attempted to find a tactful way to put into words what he wanted to say. “You made mention of an old story. Something about a prophecy?”

Morgan nodded. “Yea, it was something about how some settlers were run out of the area a few hundred years back on suspicion of being witches, and the leader of the coven’s son was killed before he could be used as a vessel of sorts of a ritual to bring back their fallen leader. She cursed the town or something like that. I think it was… “ she stopped, clearly unable to remember what all she was supposed to remember in that situation.

“And onto this land, I lay a binding of blood and bone. For never again shall the shadow depart. And the snow shall run red with the blood of the self-righteous until upon the altar of the Lord of the Disquieting the flesh of the so chosen repository is offered and the blood is spilled, melding their beings into one. And so he shall walk the damned soil again and hold dominion over the dominion of humanity as the storm holds dominion over the sky.” Sirrus looked displeased to have had to even speak those words. He didn’t like curses at the best of times, but full-on generational damnation? That was going several layers too far into the depths of insanity. “That is the first half of the actual prophecy. It was quite the thing to translate from Enochian, but I managed to do it on short notice once it was discovered in the Ludwig trove. Aluta deduced from what I shared with her about your story that it was relevant.”

Nodding in consideration, Dante seemed to linger on the words for a while. He clearly understood them, at least for the most part, but he was still at the end of his rope in regards to what that was related to in their exact circumstance. “Yea, that’s pretty metal and all, but what precisely does it have to do with V and Morgan?”

Realizing that he could stand to be a bit more transparent about it, Sirrus looked over at Morgan, displeased about what he needed to say. “The curse was created by a woman named Atropa Lundwick nearly exactly 500 years ago. She was the only survivor of a heinous attack by locals, and she was cursed herself at the time by those same townspeople after the deaths of her family. They apparently enchanted their crops to help them through the hard winter as an act of kindness, and they all nearly starved to death as a direct result of refusing to eat food that was “tainted by unnatural forces.” She was the matriarch of what you now know as the Ludwig family. That curse is the reason that members of the Ludwig family only ever have daughters. The locals incorrectly assumed that that would be a disadvantage to her. Fools.”

Flora and Magnolia both looked visibly horrified by the statement, but not at all angry. A sort of deep sorrow seemed to overtake them as they collectively realized the unintended butterfly effect that this still had on things in so many of their lives even to this day. It was a tragedy that had borne more tragedy, and no one had really emerged the winner in the situation. What a painful and shameful legacy for their ancestor to have left behind. “What does this have to do with V and Morgan, Sirrus.”

Taking note of the pain in Magnolia’s voice as she asked him that question, he sighed and closed his eyes for a moment, shaking his head in deep dissatisfaction. “For a cause to have any bearing, it has to have a source of anchoring, a natural or unnatural force to draw from. The Ludwin family at that time had dealing with several powerful demons as a result of their somewhat Umbran ancestry. One of the demons they guarded against was Belial, but once tragedy struck, Atropa sought the tutelage of the very devil she had sought to destroy, her grief gaining the upper hand as she mourned the death of her only son. She formed a pack with him, and that pact led to the enforcement of the curse. She used the power he lent her to see forward into a time that had not yet occurred for him, and the prophecy was borne of the outcome that favored him. She promised him everything if he succeeded, and ever since then, his influence strengthened by her curse has allowed him dominion for one season of the year over the town of Lympha to seek out his vessel. Her coven had never intended to sacrifice her son to him, but he had requested as much as he would have been a powerful asset to a devil prince who was physically incapable of crossing over into the human world.”

Morgan looked horrified. “So that’s what was wrong with all the people in the town? They were being subconsciously influenced by a curse and a demon all at once? That’s why the animals and anything else that ventured into the woods disappeared into the darkness? Because he was taking them to the underworld?”

Sirrus made a gesture to indicate that she was half right. “You’re mostly correct. Belial could not bring them into the underworld due to the fact that he could not open a gate, and there were no existing ones in the area. But he fed off of their fear, and he warped them into the horrible creatures that were sometimes seen around the town. Like in the story about the dog that you told V. At night his corruptive darkness changed those weak enough to be changed, and assimilated those who would not bend to his will, making the forest stronger. And it construed in a cycle unending until the day that his cult came to the city… looking for both of you.”

It was Nero’s turn to ask a question now, the young devil hunter clearly displeased by everything he had just learned. “But what did they want with V and Morgan as opposed to literally everyone else in that cursed hellhole of a town?”

The red-haired man gave him a sad smirk. “What did the Order of the Sword want with you in the grand scheme of their master plan?”

Nero seemed to think about the question for a moment before he visibly paled and felt the breath leave his lungs. Oh. Oh no. He didn’t mean that… He couldn’t mean that… 

“On their 20th birthday, every one of the young men in the town was compelled to enter the woods. This was a test on Belial’s part. He is the Lord of Disquieting from the prophecy. Apparently, he was testing the mental resolve of each of the potential vessels in the town. The one who could resist the incredibly powerful and increasingly strong pull of his influence would be the one he would pick. And that is how he located V. V was basically entirely resistant to all but the very strongest of his mental barrages, save for the one occasion with the full moon which was literally the anniversary of the curse being placed from what I can tell. And more importantly, why his cult descended upon the town that day. Their master specifically wanted V. And he wants him alive. But there was another half to that prophesy.”

Brenowin looked ill suddenly. He shared a concerned look with Sirrus and then at his sister, clearly realizing something that none of the rest of them did. But he couldn’t speak of it, and he had a feeling that Sirrus would do so for him anyway. “You don’t mean…”

Much to his displeasure, he nodded. “Unfortunately, I do. I can tell from the ill look on your face that you know of what I speak. The cult must have made mention to it, then?” He watched as Bren nodded and then looked over at his sister, a look of immense concern on his face. He then continued, wanting to get this off of his chest. “And upon the twin thrones of darkness shall sit the vessel of darkness and the eyes of prophecy, she who will be gifted future sight as I was and who shall make material the brood of the machinations of the lord of shadows, Insanity made physical. For only through the union of darkness and foresight can be brought true retribution to cleanse humanity of their petty mortality.”

Everyone in the room seemed to linger on those words for a few moments before slowly coming to the realization of what they implied. And each one of them looked varying degrees of physically ill as they all came to the same unanimously horrifying conclusion. And V especially was mentally kicking himself. Why had he not considered the fact that Belial’s cult could have been the same cult that had killed the people of Lympha a few years ago? Perhaps the devil prince’s dark influence had been what had made him feel compelled to stay in the first place. The demonic part of him could have been drawn to the aura that his influence provided… 

“So you’re saying that… Belial wants to use V as a vessel that he can, what, possess so that he can come to the human world and take everything over, and then he wants Morgan to… so they can… and she’d be… That’s…” Dante looked between his nephews and his brother, noting their stunned silence and the will to live exit V’s body with silent indignation. He’d actually prefer dying to a fate like that.

“Quite literally the worst thing I’ve ever heard in my entire life,” Nero said breathlessly, looking over at his brother and the horrified shivering young teen girl sitting next to him. He couldn’t tell which of those options was the worse fate. Being used as a meat puppet for darkness incarnate was bad, but the idea of being stuck with him to create descendants of his bloodline purely for the purpose of helping to subjugate the rest of the world was literally too vile for him to comprehend properly.

And with the will of a Devil Lord in the body of a descendant of the great dark knight Sparda, he could undo every safeguard and protective ward your father placed with enough time and the proper know-how. And he could easily gain access to both… after all, who would stand a chance against that kind of power…” Lucia looked mournful and horrified. She couldn’t imagine something so dark coming to pass. No one deserved that, but V? No one could deserved that fate less. And Morgan… 

… Our father’s spell stops the possibility of a demon as powerful as Belial crossing over into the human world, but possession of the movement of power and consciousness into another living being. Only his essence needs to pass over… and in that respect, his horrific and contrite plan is actually entirely possible. And I loathe that.”

“Over my dead body,” Magnolia said, genuinely angry. She didn’t even bother to hold back the tears that were forming in her eyes. “I will not allow the momentary hubris of my one forebearers to lead to the damnation of two children, and by proxy, the entirety of humanity, over the mistakes of a few people nearly a millennium ago. This dies with her, as it damn well should have back then.”

Sirrus nodded in agreement. “And that is why I am here today. To propose the idea of stopping that before it starts. We need to go on a little road trip. And we need to do it now. I need you to see the conduit. And I need you to see it now.”

(-~-)

And there it is, Belial’s horrible plan finally revealed! Let me know what you think in the comments! I had a blast writing this when I got back from grocery shopping today. You all take care. I’ll see you next week on Wedsnday! And for those of you who dropped in on my Tumblr account during DMC OC Week, thanks for the love and support! See you in the comment section, and stay safe out there! Enjoy the nightmare fuel! Bye Bye!

[skvaderarts]

Hiraeth Chapter 69: Mastermind

Masterlist can be found Here!

Chapter Sixty-Nine: Mastermind

Note: I really like this chapter. It was fun to write! I have so many nice messages to respond to this week! Sorry for the delay. I was busy going back and forth to the doctor’s office for the last few days. But I’m good for now! Well, I hope lol! You never know… 

(-~-)

A heavy air of seriousness and contemplation settled over the group as they continued to eat, waiting to be addressed by the red-haired adjudicator. Each of them held some piece of the puzzle, that much they were sure of, but none of them knew how they fit together aside from him. It seemed that he had gone to a great deal of trouble to come up with this plan and to get all of them here today to actually hear it, so the least that they could do was sit here and humor him for a few minutes. There were going to be amendments made and small details tweaked for sure, but they would wait until they at least knew what he had in mind first before they decided that he didn’t know what he was talking about.

Upon realizing that they were ready to hear the details of his clever plan explained to them, Sirrus stood up, ran his palms down his shirt in order to smooth and wrinkles out, and cleared his throat. The sooner that he explained this to them, the sooner that they could start enacting their plan. And this was going to take quite a bit of explaining.

“You might have noticed that I spent the majority of time away from town during the two-week period of time that Vergil was missing.” Sirrus bowed respectfully to the eldest Son of Sparda, clearly not wanting to come off as insulting towards him in any way. Vergil showed very little reaction, but not in a way that was disrespectful or openly malicious in its own right. Realizing that he had the go-ahead, he continued. “That’s because I was working on something during that period. I rendezvoused with some of my contemporaries, and we collaborated. And through that collaboration, we were able to ascertain the location that Belial’s summoner is working out of. That was what set me down the path to finding out what he was up to in the first place. A discovery with unfortunate ramifications, but an important one that I think we’re all better off knowing.”

Each present member of the Ludwig family looked visibly uncomfortable, but they nodded or otherwise indicated their mutual agreement. He was correct in that assessment. Although painful, it had been an important thing to learn. In fact, knowing that had been a catalyst towards Willow deciding that perhaps it was best that they now try to mend their relationships and learn from the mistakes of their past. The only person who had been present at that time who hadn’t seemed rattled by that revelation had been Aluta, the sorceress in black seemingly internalizing something personal about the revelation that the woman who had been the matriarch of their bloodline had done something so forbidden and heinous.

“I think that perhaps it sometimes that being confronted with the demons of your family’s past to realize that they were not faultless and that you by extension do not need to be in order to honor their legacy. No matter how infallible they were from our standpoint, every living being is variably flawed. What matters most is their intention and how they handled those flaws.” Aluta cleared her throat before continuing, making a point of looking Vergil dead in the face, her eyes locking with his in a rare instance of eye contact to profoundly uncomfortable that the Darkslayer found himself repulsed but somehow unable to avert his gaze. Oh, how he wished that he had not looked up in that moment. It could have saved him so much mental anguish. She looked into him instead of at him as though she were searching for something. “Sometimes simply living a virtuous and fulfilling life where we live to our ideas and principles and don’t compromise our morality is all that we can do from a persona standpoint, and accepting that we did our best and forgiving ourselves for past mistakes is the best thing that we can do. The actions of our forbearers are not the responsibility of our children, and should not be the burden of those who are an extension of our own legacy. But at times like these, I think that we all feel a personal sense of responsibility to do what we can to correct such an incredible vile act.” 

Seemingly deeply affected by her sister’s words, Willow looked over at Magnolia. She already knew that her sister was here to answer a call to action. There was no need to pick her brain in regards to her intentions. They nodded to one another before she turned her attention back to the nephew she had once dismissed, ready to make her true convictions and intentions known. “House Ludwig answers your call to arms. What do you require of us, Sirrus?”

Brenowin nodded from his seat next to his sister. He was ready to make right on his promise to protect her if it was the last thing that he did. “Just tell me where to be and what to do. I’m ready. Let’s do this.”

Everyone else at the table nodded or otherwise indicated that shared the same sentiment. They would all be better off without Belial looking over their shoulder, casting his dark influence over things in their stomping grounds. It was high time that he meet his end and that they usher in a period of peace. If there was one thing that they could agree on, it was that they all needed a vacation. And a real one this time. No doomsday cults welcome.

Impressed by their initiative and their willful determination to fix the mess that they had all somehow found themselves in, Sirrus nodded. This was going to take a lot of careful planning and attention, but if they worked together then he had no doubt that it could be accomplished. But he also realized that everyone here was staking their life on the possibility that they might not make it through this. Anyone and everyone at this table was capable of dying; of losing everything and everyone they loved. This had to be done in as careful a manner as possible.

“Good. Then I think we’re ready. I propose a plan of action based on the information at hand. We don’t know everything, but we do know quite a bit, and that gives us the element of surprise. Let’s hit Belial where it hurts. We have the element of surprise. Let’s exploit that.” Sirrus crossed his arms over his chest, looking at each of them individually. They were going to have to work together if they had any chance of success. He just hoped that that was possible considering how much each and every one of them had been through. But he liked to think that that shared pain would be the very thing to bring them together at a time like this. They all understood what was at stake, and they had still come here with no strings attached. He respected every single one of them for that.

“We need to be ready by the coming of the full moon in three days’ time. That is when the prophecy is supposed to be enacted. And that is when we will strike.” Sirrus smirked wickedly, clearly excited by the prospect of what was to come. In spite of everything, he couldn’t turn down an opportunity to have a good fight. “It would be predictable. Oh so very predictable. And in that predictability, we will disguise a masterful act of subversion. Belial has a lot of eyes… but he can only pay attention to so many things at once. And we shall exploit that in every way imaginable. And with that said, I think it might be time for some details.”

Everyone present settled in and made themselves comfortable. They knew that explaining a plan like this was going to take a while. And considering how many of them were here today, something told them that this was going to be one involved, complicated, and precise undertaking.

Dante leaned back in his seat and folded his arms behind his head. He couldn’t wait to make Sirrus repeat his carefully laid plan at least seven times. Hell, V had to tell him several times what the name of the demon he had hired him to fight was called. His memory and attention span were selective, and he could already tell that this was going to be one of those times where that fact got the best of him. “Well then if that’s the case, get explaining. All this healthy food is breaking me out in hives.”

Vergil slowly migrated his hand up to his face, rubbing the center spot between his now closed eyes as he attempted to hide how utterly disappointed he was in the fact that his brother had managed to live to be this old while still not partaking in any actually healthy food. Ever. And no, drinking cans of tomato juice hardly counted. No, he meant things that he had to cook. Opening a can and slurping down its contents wasn’t cooking. It had to at least go in a microwave or something first.

The youngest of the two didn’t even need to look at his brother to physically feel him die inside slightly. And although he couldn’t read minds, he was almost certain that he could feel his older twin fighting with every ounce of strength that he had to repress the urge to not bring up the fact that he hadn’t owned dishes before he’d shown back up with him in tow. He knew that his brother would literally never let him live that one down. And he wouldn’t have it any other way.

(-~-)

For some inexplicable reason, it had taken the better part of three hours to iron out the details of the plan with Sirrus. Perhaps it was questions born of confusion about some of the details, worry about the margins of success needed or the possibility of their precautions not being nearly enough, or one of the seemingly endless times that Dante had straight up listened to Sirrus explain the plan, repeated it back to him, and then just gone “wait what?” but they had taken quite a long time to all get on the same page. It wasn’t that the plan didn’t make sense. In fact, it was actually a very good plan with little that needed to be changed, all things considered… but the margin for error was basically nonexistent, and the conditions for success were staggeringly stacked against them. This was a highly dangerous undertaking, and they were all going to need to bring their A-game.

Lucia had departed with Lady and Trish to make preparations, the three taking Nico with them as they were all going to need her help in the hours and days to come. Something told them that they were going to need some new weapons, and where better to get them than from the gunsmith herself? And for their part, they were going to be working together after they dropped her back off in Fortuna anyway, so it was probably best that they take advantage of the opportunity now rather than later. None of them knew what the future held, and they were both excited and anxious to find out. But they were going to meet it head-on with as much overwhelming firepower as possible. It was the creed they lived by.

Dante was going to owe them a fortune in ammunition. If only the fact that Vergil was around now didn’t make it so tricky to actually tack that onto Dante’s existing debt.

Making his way across the roof, V slowly and carefully crossed the apex of the steep structure, grateful that this manor was large enough and its architecture style old enough to accommodate a railing that he could use to navigate. He had noticed that this had been where Sirrus had retreated to after the meeting, and so that was where he would go as well. The only qualm that the young summoner had was that this was the one time that he genuinely wished it wasn’t raining. The rood was dangerous enough to navigate. He didn’t need to add a twisted ankle to the list of things that were wrong with him or that we’re capable of killing him.

As he approached Sirrus from behind, he realized that this was probably the same place that his father had found Magnolia in the night that she had fled tearfully from the library, totally overwhelmed by the events of that day. That had to have been a rough day for her, now that he thought about it. But if breakfast was anything to go by, she and her sisters were making progress. That was something that he found great personal pleasure in. Although that had nothing to do with him that he knew of, he didn’t like to see her suffer. He liked to think that they all just needed a fresh start in one way or another. But then again, he knew very little about their family history aside from what he’d been told and what he had overheard, so there was little that he could say in regards to things he didn’t fully understand. But even with that acknowledged, he knew that none of them were bad people. They just sucked at communication. How painfully fimiliar… 

Just as he approached, the rain began to lighten up slightly, allowing him to be able to see lightly better and to not have to look down at the ground in order to keep his eyes from becoming useless to him. Good. Perhaps this was a sign that he should be up here after all. He lifted his head and called over to his newfound friend to alert them to his presence, and the man with the fiery red hair turned to look at him, his platinum eyes widening slightly as he realized that he had company. He would be lying if he said that he had seen that one coming.

“The roof is hexed, V. You can’t actually fall off of it.”

“Well, that would have been good to know before I put so much effort into being careful not to fall,” V said with a slight smirk as he approached the edge of what seemed to be a flat platform about a dozen feet squared. It was plenty of room for them both to sit, but still scary when you considered where they were. Sirrus didn’t seem to mind, though, considering the fact that he was sitting with his feet hanging off of the edge. He must have really trusted that spell to do that. The last time he’d checked, his friend couldn’t fly. Maybe he would just float down?

“Well, you can still trip and hurt yourself. You just won’t fall to your untimely death. That is an important distinction to make. Traversing this area in the rain is far from hazardless.” He paused looking down towards the ground below him, his mind clearly distant. V could tell without asking him that something was on his mind.” I am glad to see that you made it here safely.”

They sat in silence for a moment as V made himself comfortable. It was noon now, the overcast skies making it look slightly darker now than it had before. The chill that haunted the air around them seemed to perfectly complement the weather, but it was still quite a bit warmer. After all, it had snowed that morning. But now it was a bit too warm for that, even if only barely.

Deciding that nothing worthwhile would come from just keeping his thoughts to himself, he turned and looked at Sirrus, realizing that they were sitting closer than he normally liked to sit to another person, but not feeling the need to actually move over. No. he would linger here. He got the impression that his companion needed that from him right now. “... I saw how you reacted to receiving that bottle of wine earlier. Do you not receive gifts from your parents often?”

Sirrus slowly turned to look at him, a thoughtful look on his face. Neither of them spoke for some time, v wondering for a moment how so much pain could come from something so small. But after a moment, he did decide to answer. He could only endure the discomfort born of their unneeded silence for so long before it began to eat away at him, compromising something integral to his being.

“Before you ask, you did not overstep. I can feel your anxiety. And… ” He rubbed his lips and nose with the back of his hand, his long fingers grazing the bottom of his right eye as he looked away for a moment, perhaps trying to wipe something else besides the ambient moisture out of his eyes. “I do not receive gifts from them. Ever. That was the first I have ever received from either of them. And I am not quite as young as I might appear to be. I believe I share that in common with your own family. You all age remarkably well.”

V couldn’t say that he was surprised to hear that. Despite the fact that he genuinely looked as though he was probably the same age as he himself was, his wisdom, mannerisms, and general demeanor betrayed an age far beyond that of what his youthful exterior might imply. There was just something in his eyes that alluded to a lifetime that had already been lived, and perhaps one that exceeded the standard length. And yet, he couldn’t; say that he honestly cared. He was just glad that Sirrus felt safe enough to mention it.

“Yes, I assumed that when I met Aluta. You said it was unusual for a father to marry a woman younger than his child… and you have never mentioned having siblings to be before.”

Sirrus nodded, something similar to a smirk passing across his face for a short moment before dissipating like so much dust and sand in the wind in the aftermath of a desert storm. “I don’t trust easily. An unfortunate side effect born of factors that I still cannot control even after so many years of trying. And even still, as much as I try with everyone else, I think it only ever works with me.” 

He lingered on V for a moment as they seemed to study one another, though in different ways. And yet there was a strange sort of mutual understanding between them; a set of boundaries that they knew not to cross and felt no desire to. “Is it safe to say that your father and uncle are about twice the age that they actually look?”

V nodded. “And Aluta is not far behind them… But I suspect you are a bit ahead of her.”

Again, Sirrus nodded in conformation. “A fair and completely accurate assessment, if a bit conservative due to my overly vague nature. Though to be fair even, with the fact that I have you beat by a considerable number of decades, were actually technically the same age. I simply do not age the same way that you do. It’s caused me a fair bit of difficulty over the years.”

The young summoner nodded, looking out over the property. It was truly beautiful here. He wanted to take that in before he did what he now knew he had to do. “I can only imagine how alone you feel. How isolated.”

“How unwanted and discarded. I can do battle against loneliness… but knowing that one day I will have no one to go to to satiate that fact is what cuts me so deeply. That’s what brings me to the roof. Perhaps if I pull away now before it can hurt me, and I be that willing catalyst of my own pain. I can master and control it. Wishful thinking, but everyone must feed their fantasies… however self-destructive they might know them to be.” 

Sirrus leaned over slightly, allowing his head to barely rest against V’s shoulder, his long hair draping down his back as he looked out across the yard, but saw nothing in particular. V allowed it, past the point now of minding it. A soft smile crept across his face as he considered the truth in Sirrus’s words and was hit with the realization that not so long ago his skin would have crawled at the very idea of being shown any sort of contact. How distant that time seemed now in spite of how short that journey had been.

Nodding slowly, V agreed. He knew he didn’t need to say anything. Sirrus could look at him and tell what was on his mind. But that was one of the things about him he treasured most. Theirs was the rare kind of friendship where they could simply occupy the same space, no sound shared between them, and be perfectly content and unified. They just understood one another. He didn’t have to elaborate or explain. He didn’t have to justify his existence. He could just… be. And he’d never realized how much he needed that until this very moment in time. He’d needed that for his entire life.

“You’re a good listener. I can’t tell you how long I’ve wanted that. Thank you, V.” He allowed the rogue tears that he had held back to now leave him, acknowledging silently that even when he was alone he wasn’t able to find this kind of release. It was cathartic to not be judged for something so basic. So genuine. So required. “Maybe once this is all over we could spend more time together, unimpeded by the troubles that neither of us asked for in this life. Perhaps traveling. I don’t care where or what we do. So long as we get to do it together. You’re the first new thing I’ve experienced in a long time, and I think we could both use a change of environment for a little while.”

V considered his words for what felt like a lifetime, but in truth was barely a minute. But things did seem to drag on when they were contemplated in silence. “... I think I might like that. I might like that very much.”

(-~-)

I live writing chapters with these two. There is just something so special about it. Like, the feels, ya know? Oh, what’s that? You thought I would tell you what the plan was instead of showing you?! *Evil laughter* You thought wrong! But don’t worry, you’re about to find out! Let the Underworld Arc begin!

… Well, next week, that is. See you on Wednesday! See you in the comments! And as always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and are having a good week. Take care!