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skvaderarts · 4 years ago

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Apocrypha Chapter Twenty One: Expedition

Masterlist can be found Here! Thanks!

Chapter Twenty One: Expedition

Notes: Can we talk about how amazing Bury the Light is? Ok, good. Just wanted to make sure we were on the same page. Moving on!

(-~-)

Considering the fact that he’d spent the better part of the night trying to ignore the feeling of tiny toddler toes digging into his back, the darkslayer had slept relatively well.

It had been challenging to him to even tolerate the concept of sharing a bed with another living being at first, more or less due to the fact that he had not done so in over two decades. Add to that the fact that he was still adjusting to the sensation of sleeping in a bed again after spending a lifetime in the underworld, and the fact that he had a difficult time sleeping through the night because he’d trained himself to wake up almost instantaneously at the slightest sound as a defense mechanism to prevent his enemies from being able to easily sneak up on him, and you had a recipe for an unpleasant night’s sleep practically evening. But there wasn’t much that the little boy could to to sway that outcome one way or another. Vergil was going to be cranky come breakfast time regardless of how little or how much he tossed and turned in his sleep.

Practically the second that the sun dared peak over the threshold of the windowsill, Kyle sat up and yawned, repeatedly jabbing Julio in the back with his free hand as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Once the middle child was up, so was his older brother. That was simply the way the children did things. As soon as Julio was roused and somewhat capable of functioning, he jabbed his little brother back, an action that immediately led into a poke fight. Had an adult, especially Vergil, been awake to see it, they would’ve more than likely dissuaded them, but the only “qualified” candidate was trying his level best to just tune out the world around himself and get a few moment’s rest.

Well, that was until Carlo woke up.

As if from nowhere, the little child sat up in the bed next to his grandfather and whimpered in frustration. His tiny child brain was incapable of processing the concept of lethargy, and as such desired nothing more than to turn back over and go to sleep. The main issue with that plan was that he didn’t comprehend this idea, so his only recourse was to become immediately flustered and frustrated. Clearly seeing that they had probably woken their baby brother up by accident, the two older boys shared a glance between one another before Kyle went to his younger sibling’s side and tried to shush him while Julio tentatively attempted to wake Vergil up in a manner that he assumed wouldn’t get him a stern lecture later on. Or worse, simply upset him.

Julio didn’t have the slightest idea why the older man was so… antisocial? Was that the right word for it? Regardless, he wanted to stay on his good side. While he wasn’t scared of him by any means since he assumed he meant them no harm and that Nero wouldn’t have entrusted them to someone who was a danger to them, he still didn’t want to make someone he barely knew upset. Vergil was supremely intimidating, especially to a small child. He didn’t want to be on his bad side, especially since he knew that he would probably tell Nero. The last thing he wanted was his father and his grandfather to be upset with him.

“Um… mr. Vergil? Can we go downstairs? I wanna find our mom.” Julio asked quietly as he gently prodded Vergil’s shoulder. He paused for a moment, waiting for Vergil to turn over and face him or sit up so that he could tell if he’d heard him, but he didn’t move. Still, right as he was considering repeating his request, the child stopped short of raising his hand to repeat his action. Something told him that Vergil was awake and probably just considering his request before delivering a reply. He couldn't be sure, but it just seemed like it to him.

“... Do you have any idea what time it is?” Vergil said in an almost hushed tone, still not moving. Not a single muscle shifted aside from the motion his lips made as his vocal cords moved in the proper manner necessary to assist in the production of the vernacular required to render his request audibly detectable. (Wait… what? Wha?)

The young boy glanced over at the analog clock that sat on the bedside table, unsure as to what the time had to do with anything. He’d overheard someone mention that breakfast went until noon, so he could only imagine that they hadn’t missed it yet. The others wouldn’t leave without them, right?

“Um… It’s nine o’clock, sir.”

Vergil sighed, still not moving. “Is that AM or PM, child?”

Julio furrowed his brow and glanced between Vergil, the window, and the clock, wondering for a moment if simply pointing out the level of light in the room would be an action that could get him into trouble for being rude. It was clearly morning. The sun wouldn’t be out if it wasn’t unless they’d been transported to another planet during the night. And if that was the case, they had an entirely different problem on their hands. After signing under his breath, he shrugged nebulously and decided to respond. After all, what harm could it do?

“That would be nine AM. It’s morning.” He made an earnest attempt to cover up how confused he was by the obvious question he’d just provided an obvious answer to, but Vergil caught the tone of his voice effortlessly. The blue devil slayer didn’t really care one way or another. He simply wanted to see what the child would say to him. He was Nero’s son, after all. Perhaps being around Kyrie or ever the adults at the orphanage they’d adopted him from had taught him some manners. He was inclined to assume the former as opposed to the later.

From what he understood about public childcare institutions, especially the ones based in remote places like Fortuna, the concept of individual children receiving one on one time with the adults that supervised them was a completely foreign one. They more than likely had no time or interest in making sure that every single child was taught perfect manners, unless it served to expedite their adoption.

Why oh why did he have to meet Nero’s mother in Fortuna?

There were so many places he could conjure up that would've been preferable to that hyper-religious cultist paradise. And yet, there he’d found himself, digging through the archives that the Order of the Sword possessed, more than a little invested in finding out what -if anything- they could tell him about where his beloved father had disappeared to. To this day, Vergil had no idea where Sparda was or what had become of him, and it drove him slightly insane to consider it for any length of time. While it was realistic to assume that he had died and that he simply would never know, Vergil found it incredibly difficult to do so. After all, if the legendary Dark Knight Sparda had been struck down in combat against some unknown advisory, shouldn’t every demon in the underworld know about it? In all the time he’d spent in that accursed place, he’d never once heard such a rumor pass through circulation. The underworld worked on a different time rhythm than the human world did. Their little three day excursion turning into six weeks had been a perfect example of that. What was less than half a century to a seemingly immortal population?

He needed to stop thinking about it. The children needed to be returned to their parents. And he needed to find something to eat before he became even more irritable than he already was. After all, it was far too early to develop such a negative disposition towards the rest of his day. He hadn’t even ran into Dante yet. No, he had to pace himself or this day, like every other day, would get the better of him. There were too many possible undesirable outcomes to contend with to get so befuddled before even parting ways with his bed. He would get the children dressed and ready to meet back up with the rest of their family, and then he would plan accordingly from there. But first, the breakfast bar. He truly did need a snack.

For the sake of the hotel, he hoped they had something with blueberries in it…

(-~-)

Sun pierced the delicate green leaves as a cool breeze blew in from the north. The mountains parted, allowing an ample forest to line its borders. The creek that snakes across the ground in front of them had originated farther up the pass, it’s spawning point basically invisible from where they currently stood. And all the while V couldn’t help but wonder how in the hell he had allowed himself to be talked into this group hiking trip with the girls.

Nero had cited a desire to spend a few hours alone with Kyrie, a request that had garnered a few surprised looks and a teasing whistle from Dante, but they had resolved to head out without him, leaving the young devil hunter to his devices and at the mercy of his lovely domestic partner. Dante had decided to stay behind as well, stating that there was something he wanted to look into. While V was certain that probably had something to do with the fact that the girls hadn’t invited Vergil on this trip due to his lack of presence at the time they had decided to embark on it, he still wasn’t sure why he had decided to come at all. There had never been a time in his entire life that he had aspired to go hiking. Yes, he did enjoy nature in all it’s wild splendor, but he was also woefully clumsy, and clambering up a steep embankment was liable to get him injured in one way or another.

The group had stopped for a moment to catch their breaths when Patty chimed in, more than likely uncomfortable with the silence that had settled over the group. He’d realized that she was the talkative sort practically the moment he’d first seen her, though they had yet to actually introduce themselves to one another. She seemed friendly enough from what he could tell, however, and the others clearly adored her. The young blond woman had been around for quite some time and it showed.

“Ok, so like, I’ve just gotta ask… Does anyone know where we're going?” Patty asked as she gestured to the wide open space around them. She was clearly taken aback by the expanse laid out before her.” Because I like walking around in the woods as much as the next girl, but if I have to get Dante to find us out here or something, it’s going to be super embarrassing and he is never going to let me live it down. You know how he gets.”

“Look, your guess is as good as mine, Blondy. I don’t live here, either. Not even close.” Nico shrugged as she stood up from fixing her shoe. She’d managed to get caught on a fallen branch, and was having a hell of a time picking all the little pieces of debris out of her foot. “What I can tell ya is that V has a magic chicken, and that magic chicken is gonna help us find our way back if we get lost. It’s about the only thing it’s good for besides roasting over a campfire on a stick. A big stick because it’s a big chicken.”

V sighed, already aware that his avian companion wasn’t going to take that comment lying down. He could feel Griffon itching for a fight already, and he was still in his dormant form. The second he manifested, he was probably going to raise hell. For whatever reason, the mouthy bird had a special type of hate reserved for those who referred to him as a chicken. Perhaps he didn’t enjoy the idea of being edible? If so, he was in for a rude awakening if Shadow ever got particularly hungry…

As expected, Griffon suddenly materialized in front of him, clearly riled up and ready for a fight. His beautiful iridescent blue wings sparked it traces of electricity as he flapped furiously in place, shooting Nico an especially angry look. She just stared back at him, he hands on her hips. “You got somethin’ to say, lil chicke? Because you look upset. Better cool off before you roast yourself from the inside out.”

“Why you- now you look here missy, I’m no chicken! I’ll have you know, I was very dangerous in my heyday. You wouldn’t have wanted to mess with me when I was a few hundred sizes bigger!”

Nico shrugged, unthreatened by the mouthy bird. Picking fun at him was one of her favorite pastimes.” Then I would've just needed a bigger net… and a much bigger grill, because it sounds like there would’ve been leftovers! Now unless you're gonna help me fix my boot, go bother Trish or somethin’. I’m a lil busy.”

Griffon mumbled something under his breath about how he’d like to help her, earning him a stern look from V. While the summoner knew he wouldn’t actually do anything to Nico and she wouldn’t do anything to him, he still didn’t need him getting any ideas. Griffon was a crafty sort, and basically everything he did had some sort so wicked streak involved. The last thing he needed was Griffon accidentally igniting some of the dry underbrush and setting the entire forest alight. V had come there to enjoy the splendor and spectacle of nature, not destroy it. Rampant industrialization would do that at some point in the future without any needed input from him. All he needed to do at the moment was not trip over any of the rocks as he made his way to the precipice of the hill.

Supposedly, there was a lake up ahead. That was the entire reason he’d hauled his beach gear all the way out there. After spending an entire day at the beach, the rest of the team had come to the conclusion that hanging out at the beach for hours at a time with nothing of real substance to entertain themselves with got relatively dull surprisingly quick. And while the pristine waters of the bay area and the shops were fun to look at and good at taking them for every cent that they owned, the forest provided much appreciated things like privacy, shade, and silence. The forest was obscenely quiet compared to the boardwalk, almost uncomfortably so. V almost had to almost physically fight off the urge to smirk as he considered all the quality reading time he might get in during this little expedition. Maybe camping was worth it after all…

“So, I don’t think we’ve talked before! I’m Patty Lowell. And your… um?”

It genuinely took V a minute to register that the young blond woman was talking to him. While they were not particularly far apart in age, he was considerably taller than her, so she just slid below his range of detection without much real effort on his part. That and her talkative nature had earned her a spot on his list of people that he tended to tune out. He had nothing against her, but he just liked to hear the silence inside of his own head every now and then. From what he could tell, she was quite nice, however.

“My apologies, Patty. You can call me V. I intended to introduce myself sooner, but I was… preoccupied.” He said, leaning over slightly to get a better look at her. She looked up at him and smirked, nodding in approval. He didn’t seem to need to elaborate any further as to what had held him up. Still, he was somewhat surprised upon reflection that he had managed to make it through an entire train ride and a dinner with her present without speaking to her even once. He wondered for a moment if she thought he was avoiding her. Hopefully that wasn’t the case.

“Well, it’s nice to meet you! I didn’t think Dante had any family for years before you and Nero showed up. He used to seem so sad sometimes, but now there’s four of you guys! Who would've ever guessed that would happen?” Patty seemed elated as she practically skipped along the path next to him. Despite his towering height compared to her, his commitment to careful foot placement meant that he had to walk considerably slower than he normally did. He didn’t feel like falling on the loose rocks that dotted the river banks they were walking near.” Your his… nephew, right? Like, your Nero’s brother? Older or younger? I bet you're older. I don’t know why, maybe you just seem like you're more mature or something.”

V shrugged slightly and nodded. He wasn’t entirely sure if he’d consider himself more mature than Nero. Perhaps he thought things through a little longer before enacting his plans, but his younger sibling was bright and capable in his own right. Not to mention the responsibility he’d helped take on by helping Kyrie adopt the children. Where were they, by the way? He was willing to bet that little Carlo would enjoy the woods. Maybe they would meet up with them later?

“You’d be correct in that assessment. I am slightly older, although by what margin, I can’t say. We have different mothers.” V said simply, cursing himself internally as the ascended the steepest part of the embankment. The lake was becoming more visible now, though it seemed to be closer to the size of a very large pond than a lake, per say.

Patty made a face as though he’d just told her something absolutely scandalous. He could tell she was being dramatic on purpose, but she’d done so nonetheless and it was honestly somewhat entertaining how animated and excitable she was. To be fair, the idea that Vergil had managed to get multiple members of the opposite sex in bed with him during his youth while Dante had no children of his own was quite interesting in its own right. Maybe she wasn’t too off base after all.

As they reached the top of the hill and approached the pond, V took in the area around him. The scent of fresh water and wet leaves permeated the air as unseen birds chirped and crickets rubbed their legs together to produce their melodious song. Despite the ever present fact that the forest was simply uncomfortable quiet still nagging at the edges of his subconscious, he decided to push his concerns aside for a little while and try to relax. He was determined to make the most out of the situation, especially considering the way yesterday had gone, and it seemed that everyone else was, too.

He could only hope that Nero and Kyrie didn’t make… well, anything else.

Three was enough, as far as he was concerned.

The compact house they called home simply wasn’t big enough for any new editions.

(-~-)

Well, this was fun to write! Only two or three chapters left of the Beach Arc, and then they return… and then the fun really begins. Cue the Phantom of the Opera theme, because things are about to get… dramatic.

#Apocrypha #SkvaderFics #DMC #DMCV #DMC5 #Devil May Cry V #Vitale #V #Vergil #Carlo #Patty #Nico #Griffon #Kyle #Julio #Devil May Cry 5

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skvaderarts · 5 years ago

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Soliloquy Prologue:

If you’d Like to you can read it on A03 Here, FF.N Here or Wattpad Here! Oh, and my Website Here! Almost forgot

Otherwise, you can read it below! Enjoy the Megafic! Info can be found here

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"Love seeketh not itself to please, Nor for itself hath any care, But for another gives its ease, And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair." -William Blake

Prologue:

And as soon as the battle had started, it stopped. All the demons that had been foolish enough to think that they stood a chance against the sons of Sparda now laid dead at their feet. Well, for now, at least. The base of the Qliphoth seemed to be an epicenter for demon activity, and it was never very long before they decided to return in mass quantities. And as entertaining as defeating the first hundred or so waves of hell beasts had been, it was long past time to leave this place.

Dante pulled his blade out of what remained of a Chaos carcass and flicked it clean before returning it to its proper place on his back. The devil hunter did a full 360 turn, taking in the perimeter of destruction they had wrought. The average demon didn’t stand a chance against him, but both of them together? The word “futile” came to mind. Dante shook his head and scoffed to himself. “They just don’t stop, do they?”

Behind him, Vergil twirled Yamato and dragged it along its scabbard to remove the residual blood before returning it to its proper place. He then spared a glance over his shoulder at Dante. “What made you think that they would in the first place, brother? This is the underworld. They’re not going to let up anytime soon, I can assure you of that.”

Dante sighed tiredly. Yea, there was no way he could have guessed that one with his brother’s assistance. But regardless of how obvious the statement was, the point he made was still valid. During their extended stay down here, Dante hadn’t really taken the time to consider the situation in full until now. The fighting was never going to end, and they had no safe area to call home. And then there was the conversation that they both knew they needed to have, but neither of them seemed to want to initiate.

The matter of how long they were going to stay down here.

“So, Vergil, I’ve gotta ask,” Dante said as he walked towards his twin brother. Vergil was standing with his back to him, looking at something far off in the distance that his younger brother couldn’t quite pinpoint. He seemed lost in thought; focused. He tilted his head ever so slightly in Dante’s general direction but was still clearly more focused on his prior observations. “How the hell did you get out of this place without Yamato?”

Vergil looked almost amused by the question. Of all the things his younger twin brother could’ve asked, that was his question? It was almost ironic. “...That is…” Vergil paused for a moment as if searching for the correct word”... It’s convoluted, to say the least. I would demonstrate but…”. Vergil didn’t need to say that it was an awful idea. Dante had deduced that one for himself from his brother’s tone alone.

“Got it. Let’s just hope we don’t need to do it again.” Dante shrugged. He didn’t think Vergil was going to try to explain that one, and part of him honestly didn’t want to know. It was probably something awful, considering Vergil’s track record. Their father Sparda had made it nearly impossible for more powerful demons to leave the underworld. Too bad he hadn’t left an instruction manual to go with his magic wards. It could have solved more than a few problems…

Vergil stepped forward and used Yamato to gesture towards whatever he had been looking at in the distance before. “We may have more luck over there.”

Dante looked towards what his brother was indicating. If he strained his eyes, he could just make out something red and jagged in the distance. A row of red thorn-like structures extended out across the horizon in what looked like a wall of some sort. Or that was what he thought it was from where they currently were. If distance worked the same way in the Underworld that it did in the human world, that had to be a few miles away. But, it wasn't like they had anywhere better to go, and they couldn't be any more exposed to attack than they were now.

The younger Son of Sparda opted to accept the offer and waved Vergil on, indicating that he was willing to follow him. After all, Vergil had spent a long time down here. A very long time. If anyone knew their way around this place, then it was going to be him. Vergil started down the well-worn path that led away from what was left of the Qliphoth. It would be good to leave this place behind them. It might now lay dead at their feet, cut to the ground by their blades, but it still served as a powerful reminder of Vergil's destructive and frankly tragically misguided desire for power at all costs. There would be a time and a place for that conversation, but that time hadn't come yet and it wasn't something either of them relished. For now, they would go to whatever the mysterious structure was in the distance and regroup. Perhaps they could take a break and collect their thoughts for a moment when they arrived.

-~-

The first leg of their long walk was surprisingly uneventful. Only a small handful of lesser Empusa bothered to stand in their path, most likely displaced from their home and purpose after the destruction of the Qliphoth and the sealing of the Hellgate the monstrous houseplant had housed. It was official: Vergil was never, under any circumstances, allowed to garden again. Anyone who could conger up the demonic equivalent of the magic beanstalk from Jack and the Beanstalk couldn't be trusted with plants to any capacity. If only Vergil could find a hobby that didn't end in people dying...

As they had continued onward, however, things had become a bit more hazardous. And as they neared their destination, things took a radical turn towards danger. The first dozen or two Empusa Queens hadn't been too hard to deal with. They were nothing new. But then the Behemoths decided to team up with the Chaos and Riot demons, and the Lusachia started showing up in droves. It was all a bit much to deal with at once, but when the Pyrobats showed up, they decided that they were done casually dealing with this. Dante's twin pistols Ebony and Ivory made quick work of the flying menaces, while Vergil took out the Behemoth's with concerning speed and efficiency. As soon as the last Pyrobat had died, Dante turned his attention to the Chaos. It had seemingly been sizing him up from across the battleground for a while now, waiting for the perfect moment to attack.

Dante bent over and placed his hands on his knees, gesturing between himself and the demon playfully. "What's wrong little guy, all bark and no bite?"

The demon, seemingly understanding Dante's little jab at him, snarled in rage before coiling up into a tight blade-lined disk and rocketing towards him at blistering speed. Dante smirked to himself and drew Cavaliere, readying it for a charge attack. Just a the demon was about to collide with him, Dante effortlessly swung the hulking bike blade into the hapless creature, shattering its razor-sharp bladed scales in an explosion of fuel fueled flames and exploding sparks. With just one well-placed strike, he had immobilized and disoriented the creature, effectively killing it. With one last powerful over the shoulder downward strike, he finished off the creature. The confused beast cried out in a mixture of pain and shock before flopping down onto the ground and dying.

Dante put Cavaliere away and stood back up just in time to come face to face with a Riot. He leaped backward several feet the very instant that the creature's long needle-like claws would have connected with his throat, reaching back to retrieve his blade from its resting place on his back as he landed. Just as he stepped forward to imbed his blade into the screeching demon's brain, a blindingly fast downward strike from Yamato's blade took the creature by surprise in much the same way that it had attempted to do with Dante. The demon howled in pain one last time as Vergil slowly sheathed his blade with a ringing click that sent the creature careening to the floor in two halves. Yamato's blade had split it down the middle effortlessly.

The area was once again silent with only the ambient sounds of the underworld to provide any indications of life. The twins were left facing each other surrounded yet again by the corpses of their enemies. Dante shook his head and let out a sound somewhere between a snort and a loud exhale as Vergil looked down at the dead monstrosity at his feet. If the younger twin hadn't known his older brother better, he would have sworn that he had just come to his rescue. Not that he particularly needed it, but it did seem that way.

Vergil stepped over the fallen demon and walked past Dante, heading in the direction they had been going in before. It was much easier to discern now that they were so close. It was a wall of demonic thorn-covered trees with dead-looking semi translucent black leaves sparsely covering them. The ground looked much like a hardened pyroclastic flow, white glowing vines snaking across the ground as they pulsated with a faint luminescence. Through the treeline, what seemed to be a river snaked through the underbrush against the bottom of a cliff face before flowing over the edge of the plateau the surrounding area was perched on. The deep azure liquid had an almost silver sheen to it that meant that it was almost certainly not water but was mystifying nonetheless.

"I get the idea that you've killed a lot of those." Dante kidded as he caught up with him, noting the way that his brother had effortlessly finished off the Chaos.

Vergil glanced back at him as he approached, slowing slightly as if to allow his brother a chance to catch up. "I lost count or care long before today of how many of those useless pests I've exterminated. They are innumerable and seemingly unending." Vergil spoke in a way that indicated to Dante that he was more than over dealing with these creatures. It was almost funny how sick of them he seemed to be. But considering how long he'd spent dealing with them, it made sense.

After a few minutes of nearly silent walking, they reached the treeline. As Dante stepped forward, Vergil held out his arm, stopping just shy of touching his twin brother. Dante raised an eyebrow at him, but took the hint and halted his movement. Had Vergil changed his mind? Was this the wrong place? Did he hear something? "Change your mind, Vergil?" Dante inquired passively. Whatever the issue was, he hadn't clued into it.

Vergil lowered his arm and tilted his head in the direction of the treeline. They were standing close to one of the red and black thorn-covered trees. "... I'd advise against touching one of these barbed trees."

Dante looked back and forth between Vergil and the trees. Yes, they looked like oversized thorn bushes, but they weren't exactly walking through this place naked. Vergil closed his eyes and exhaled, clueing into his brother's lack of concern. "These are Daturademonica, a relative of the Qliphoth. Only instead of feeding on human blood, they have an unquenchable thirst for the souls of the living. And unlike the Qliphoth, they are sentient."

Sentient demon trees that sucked the souls out of their victims. Just what they needed. "So if these things suck your soul out if you touch them or whatever, what are we doing here?" Dante inquired, totally at a loss for what could possibly be worth going into this deathtrap over.

Vergil took a step towards said deathtrap, assessing the best place to enter. Most of the sharp branches pointed upward, but the trees were still covered in long needle-like thorns. "Because most beings, living or dead, are not unintelligent enough to set foot in this place. We will encounter no meaningful resistance here, aside from the trees themselves." Vergil stepped under a branch, standing slightly to the side to allow Dante to pass him. "Mind the gap," Vergil said almost sarcastically," I believe I've failed to mention that these thorns are razor-sharp and coated with a sedative."

Dante shook his head in amused disbelief and stepped under the branches, following Vergil into the forest of death. Vergil always did have an askew sense of humor. Well, they both did, but that was neither here nor there.

They navigated the underbrush and vines with care. The same vines that snaked across the ground also hung from the tree branches, bringing the deadly spiked appendages closer than comfortable to them in a few instances. Despite their careful navigation, Vergil seemed intent to pass through this area as quickly as possible. Dante ducked around another branch, doing an unintentional double-take when the branch moved back around and placed itself in his path again. That was odd, he hadn't moved that to start with...

"Is there a problem?" Vergil asked, stopping for a moment to turn and make sure that Dante was still following him as closely as he had been before. When he noticed the almost puzzled look on his brother's face, a note of -was that concern?- passed over his face. "Tell me you didn't touch it..." The words were spoken in an almost breathless whisper.

Dante didn't show it outwardly, but he was actually more surprised by Vergil's concern for him than he was thrown off by the tree's unexplained movement. "No, I didn't... do these damn trees move?" Dante looked back and forth between his brother and the tree as he closed the distance between them.

Vergil stealthily exhaled the breath he hadn't noticed that he was holding and waited for him. That could have ended decidedly worse. "Did I not say moments ago that they were sentient?"

Dante shrugged as they resumed walking. "I didn't think you meant that they could move Vergil! I thought they could tell we were here or something."

After a few hurried moments of walking, Vergil stopped and ducked under one of the branches. "This entire forest functions as a sort of venus flytrap. The Daturademonica can discern our location, based off of where we walk. If given an opportunity, they will attempt to strike. But no matter. We've reached the clearing."

Dante followed his brother under the branch and into the clearing, making sure to stand clear of the trees. Keeping his soul inside of his body wasn't exactly low on his list of priorities. He looked out across the clearing and took in their surroundings. The once distant cliff was now only a few yards away, a small indent in it forming an enclosure just shy of a cave. There was a substance covering the ground that was reminiscent of grass, except it was grey and possessed a texture somewhat similar to moss. The water seemed to have an audible hum to it now that they were close enough to hear it, which was more than a little strange considering that it was a liquid, but it still maintained the same intense shine that it had when Dante had seen it from the entrance before.

It was all very beautiful in a haunting sort of way.

While the youngest Son of Sparda had been taking in his surroundings, the eldest of the two had repositioned himself at the edge of the river with his back to his twin. After an uncomfortably long moment of intense silence, things were starting to become uncomfortable. Vergil was staring quietly at the "water", seemingly lost in thought and it was clear that he had something to say that he wasn't saying. Dante sighed and approached him. What was the worst thing that could happen?

Well... best not find out the answer to that one...

"Should I even ask if this water is drinkable," Dante inquired as he kneeled over his twin. Vergil's eyes glanced up briefly to acknowledge his presence, but he didn't budge from his position.

"... I don't want you to be trapped down here with me."

Dante scoffed at the suddenness of his brother's statement. It was inevitable that they would have this "conversation" at some point, but right now? "You probably don't, but you need me to be." Dante knew that his statement was painfully true. There's was a complicated relationship indeed, and neither of them really comprehended the unending toxic nature of it. And at this point, they had stopped trying to. They were about ready to just accept it as a fact.

Vergil sighed in what seemed to be mild annoyance. "You have other more important things that should be occupying your time. I can find my way around down here just fine."

Dante almost laughed at the statement. Oh, really? "That doesn't change the fact that the last time I left you down here you ended up a slave to your mortal enemy and then I had to kill you," Dante felt a wave of revulsion wash over him at the very thought," Oh, and you took up the most deadly gardening hobby I've ever seen! How could I forget?"

Vergil let out a low growl of annoyance at the statement and stood up to face his younger twin, his rapid response giving off a level of hostility that he didn't intend. "You don't need to remind me, Dante. I haven't forgotten."

Dante held up his hands as if to stop his brother. "I know that. But I'm not going anywhere your not going, Vergil. I've done that for decades and it's a worse hell than this cursed forest we're standing in!"

Vergil shifted in discomfort and let a long bothered sigh. "I don't belong in the human world, and you know it. Let's not lie."

Dante fanned his arms at his sides, flexing in irritation. "You don't belong down here, either. Nothing good has happened to you since you fell down here when we were kids. And besides, you have plenty waiting for you up there, too." Dante gestured up towards the sky for emphasis. On that note, was the underworld even technically below the human world if they were in two different planes of existence? Nevermind, that was beside the point.

"I'd ask you to give me one good reason I should return to the human realm, Dante, but I don't think you have one" Vergil was clearly incensed by. It was a rare moment of pure emotion, though Dante could tell it was borne of something other than just anger. To say that Vergil was emotionally complicated was an understatement, but Dante wasn't going to just drop this and leave him down here alone again. It would be the ruin of them both.

"Give you a reason," Dante grumbled through almost clenched teeth," I could give you two reasons, Vergil, but I don't know if it would do any good."

Vergil stared at him in silence for a long moment before looking away. His posture slowly migrated into an almost defeated slump before he spoke again. "What then, brother? What then?" There was no anger in the words as he spoke them under his breath. Vergil would never admit it, but he was tired. He had been fighting everything and anything nearly his entire life. But as of late, he was losing the tolerance to argue with his brother. In their time apart, Dante had grown and become difficult to argue down; more sure in his resolve than he had seemingly once been. It was impressive but troublesome how difficult it now was to push his once eager to fight twin past the breaking point.

Dante exhaled slowly and, in an action that took Vergil slightly off guard, he extended his arm and placed his hand on his older twin's shoulder, shaking him gently. Vergil looked up at him and they locked gazes. After a moment of shared silence, Dante's unspoken point seemed to sink in. There were no words adequate to express what the youngest of Sparda's sons wanted to convey. "... Look, Vergil... If you won't do it for me or yourself, I get that." Dante sighed almost dejectedly," But if you won't do it for our sake... then do it for Nero's. He doesn't know you can do better, and he's not going to if you stay down here and run from your mistakes for the rest of your life."

Vergil stared at his brother blandly and visibly swallowed, chewing on the inside of his jaw as he closed his eyes and pulling away from him. He stood with his back to his brother in silence with his arms folded, looking out across the haunting expanses of the underworld. For the first time in a long time, Vergil was visibly shaken and upset. Dante had managed to strike a never he didn't even realize he possessed until now. Dante stared at his back, waiting for him to respond. He had to eventually.

A minute passed like this. The two. Then three. The discomfort only grew more volatile the longer the silence lingered. Finally, after what had to be a solid ten minutes, Vergil unfolded his arms and lowered them to his sides. He gripped Yamato's scabbard tightly in his hand but didn't move to draw it. This wasn't something he could fight with a blade, and that was perhaps the thing that unnerved him the most. The eldest Son of Sparda inhaled and then, after a long moment, exhaled in one long slow breath.

"... Do you think Nero would even talk to me? After everything I've done?"

Dante could practically feel the pain and despair in his twin brother's question. In a rare moment of vulnerability, Vergil had let his carefully cultivated shell crack, and the repressed feelings that he had been holding onto for so long were starting to slip through. Dante was taken aback, but he stepped forward and placed his hand on his brother's shoulder again. "You have to ask him that. I've got some things to answer for as far as he's concerned, too."

Vergil waited a moment before he spoke." He has no idea of the depths of my depravity, does he, Dante?"

Dante shook his head. "I conveniently left that part out when I told him about you being his old man after what happened with V." Dante paused when Vergil visually recoiled at the mention of that name. That entire situation was a bit unclear to him, but it seemed to deeply upset his twin. "Speaking of that, should I even ask who V really is and what the hell really happened to him. I mean, he was literally falling apart. Did you have something to do with that?"

Vergil looked like he wanted to avoid this topic even more than he wanted to face Nero again. "... Everything unfortunate that has ever happened to that child is probably my fault," Vergil snickered morbidly. "It is unfortunate that we ever crossed paths. Much like Nero, he was better off without me involved in his life..."

Dante shook his head. "You've got some prior with him, hu? How'd that happen?"

Vergil stared at him with a facial expression somewhere between discomfort and trepidation. Dante stared at him in confusion before transitioning to shocked disbelief. "...Vergil... you didn't... is he..."

Vergil stepped back and turned away from him, shifting Yamato into his dominant hand. His lack of an answer said everything it needed to. Dante sighed in disbelief. His brother wasn't normally so reckless. Or so he thought. Vergil unsheathed the demonic katana and cut a cross in the air in front of him, sheathing the blade as a portal opened before them. "... That is... a matter for another time. For now, we should leave before I change my mind."

Dante shook out of his disbelief and allowed elation to overwhelm him. Did he just hear his brother wrong, or was he insinuating that he was willing to return? "You're coming back with me after all then?

Vergil nodded once. "Hurry up before I come to my senses."

Dante wasted no time. His questions could wait until they were home and then he could get the answers to his pressing questions. He crossed the distance between them in an instance, waiting for Vergil to step through the portal before him. The Youngest Son of Sparda was many things, but he wasn't stupid enough to let Vergil come through the portal last. After all, the last time he went through a portal, Vergil had chosen to stay behind. But this time would be different. After all, there wasn't too much room to go lower from here, was there?

Vergil took a tentative breath, before stepping towards the portal. But before he could have second thoughts, the wind was promptly knocked out of him as he was firmly kicked in the back through the portal. He flew through the portal to whatever place was on the other side, disappearing behind the reflective black surface of the mirror-like portal.

"That's for breaking my damn sword, Vergil," Dante said with a slight laugh. And with that, he walked through the portal and into the unknown to join his brother. For the first time in a long time, they were in this together.

-~-

Thanks for reading the Prologue! The next chapter will be available very soon, and you can read it here and in the links in my bio. Have a wonderful day and stay safe! Also, thanks to this angel for helping me figure out why this post was coming out as one giant paragraph!

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skvaderarts · 4 years ago

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Apocrypha Chapter Sixteen: Vacuum

Masterlist can be found Here! Thanks!

Chapter Sixteen: Vacuum

Note: Potential trigger warning for nearly drowning, maybe? Super probably not, but still. I'd rather play it safe. It's probably just fine considering my own personal experiences (in plural FML), but I can't speak for everyone. But I tend to be super descriptive, so I just thought I'd say something just in case it applies to someone. It's probably fine though. It's not graphic. Feel free to skip any part of the story that you find uncomfortable at any time, but I'd love to know if I do something that upsets you so that I can do better in the future. Even if it's through a PM or anon comment. Sorry about that!

(-~-)

For a brief, fleeting moment, the weight of the world fell away and everything became weightless; omitting, of course, the pressure of the water that suspended him upon impact and that now aided his gradual sinking towards the depths of the sandy bottom. The feeling of the crushing and unrelenting, yet pliable and motionless water took him by surprise, as meer seconds ago, he'd been standing upright on the beach, repressing the all consuming urge to tremble in terror from anticipation. He's expected Vergil to do something but this wasn't at all what he'd expected. V didn't know what he thought would happen, but this wasn't it.

It had taken V debatably longer that it should've to come to the realization that he was under water. Perhaps the force of the impact he had jarred his senses to the point where he couldn't properly decipher his surroundings. Or perhaps he just couldn't tell that all the air had left his lungs. Either way, he had sunk quite a ways down before he'd figured out that he was actually submerged, and he wasn't entirely sure why his brain was incapable of reacting like he'd normally expect. He'd actually felt more in control of his surroundings when he's been in the void he involuntarily ventured to before he'd recovered Griffon and Shadow.

Griffon and Shadow…

He suddenly registered that the little voice inside of his head that he couldn't shake was his loyal avian companion. Shadow didn't speak, at least not to him. He assumed that she tried to from time to time, but if she was attempting to do so, he couldn't comprehend anything she was trying to impart upon him. So for a moment he continued to float, unsure of what to do. He knew what to do, but his mind lacked the sense of urgency he knew he should possess, so his limbs continued to dangle uselessly below him. And it felt like ages had passed like that as the light became more and more faint.

V knew that he should be worried. That he should be scrabbling uselessly towards the surface. But he couldn't muster the mental energy to do so. Was this what having a concussion felt like, or was it just all the water in his ears that made everything seem so still and quiet? Perhaps it was the fact that he was probably low on oxygen. He could only assume that was what it was. Or maybe it was the realization that he couldn't actually swim that led to the eerie stillness that he was experiencing. Had his brain just thrown in the towel and decided to leave him to his fate. That was entirely possible, all things considered. His mind often actively worked against him. It could be… problematic, much like the situation he currently found himself in.

"Oh for- what the fuck are you doing?! You do realize that you're still semi conscious, right? That you're totally drowning right now?!"

Despite the fact that his brain registered the fact that Griffon was speaking to him, he didn't have the clarity of mind to actually respond. It wasn't that he didn't want to, it was that he was quite literally unable to part the clouds that hung over his cognitive functions and just ask his familiars for help. Now that he thought about it, would they be able to act without his direct permission? He's never really experimented with that. V's connection with them was incredibly tight. They just sort of acted as an extension of himself. He gave them verbal commands, but at the end of the day, he already knew what they were going to do before they actually did it because it was his will that drove their actions. What were they supposed to do if he didn't have the cognitive ability to command them to do something about this situation? Griffon couldn't very well swim under water, could he? Did he even have enough strength left to summon one of them? He didn't feel weak so much as he didn't feel anything. V was totally and utterly stunned, and he was aware of it, but he was still willing to do something about it. The problem was that no other part of his body was. Being semi conscious was strangely exhausting.

His mind regressed to the first time he'd used Nightmare. To the strange out of body experience he'd endured back then. Despite the fact that he'd been nearly dead and probably in a light coma, he had been able to discern that fact for himself. The pages of his book had been totally blank as if his brain didn't have the processing power to render the words he knew should be there since he'd looked at them a thousand times before. The void he'd found himself in had been like that. And being under water felt the very same way. It was… troubling. He was sure he had felt this feeling once before, a lifetime ago. It had been ages before he'd encountered Nightmare for the first time. Had he been a teenager at the time? No, further back. Much further back. Something he'd buried deep within his own mind. Something so deep that he couldn't recall it. Only the sensation he'd experienced.

There was the sound of rushing water. The gurgling sensation that pared so well with the suction caused by the air vacating his ears and lungs. A pressure he'd felt back then that was greater than the force of the water. He had been perfectly capable of standing up on his own. His balance had been perfect. What had happened to him when he'd been so young? Why had his brain repressed this? What…

Suddenly it came rushing back, making impact with his body harder than the water's surface had. An emotion he didn't feel very often and hoped to never feel in such a quantity again. V remembered why he didn't know why to swim. He remembered why he had instinctively avoided the water as though it would reach out and snatch him towards the depths, never to be seen again. The sound returned to his ears, the burning sensation in his lungs gripped him like the heat of Inferno itself, and the cognitive function suddenly roared back to him with a vengeance.

And it had all been restored by a level of shear, unadulterated, mind blanking terror.

In that instant, he wished from the bottom of his heart that he could forget again.

Before his body could even fathom a response, he sifted through the subconscious corridors of his previously blank mind, pulling a probably escape plan from the depths. Griffon couldn't swim, of that he was sure. But Shadow was a being composed of darkness itself, untethered to the laws of things as petty as oxygen and pressure and formless until otherwise given shape. He didn't need Griffon this time. He needed his decidedly feline companion.

"We need to go up. Now."

His mind practically screamed the command, his brain echoing despite the total lack of sound. His head spun and his ears rang as his body suddenly jolted in a direction he couldn't discern, rocketing away with a level of force so strong that every last remaining molecule of air evacuated his lungs and set his mind alight. It was so dark that he genuinely couldn't tell if he was going up or down; if his eyes were open or closed. He could be facing the sun or plummeting towards the depths and his subsequent death. The second outcome was quite plausible. Be it the water or his bodily functions beginning to cease, an unearthly chill crawled up his body as Shadow shot through the water with a speed that put her shadow slide ability to shame. It was as if she had become the very water around him as she headed towards her destination. And with every passing second, his unsourceable, unseizing panic rose to a vicious level, his circulatory system firing on all cylinders despite the fact that his blood was starved for oxygen and his brain was running on empty.

Yes, this was it, wasn't it? This was what death felt like.

He hadn't gotten the chance to experience it before, his demise had been too abrupt.

But he felt it now. And he was willing to do whatever it took to avoid it at all costs.

V's brain had little time to process anything further before all motion came to an abrupt end, his body jolting to a bone shattering stop as he was snatched to the surface. Air and sunlight hit him with a force he hardly recognized as possible, and he took a second to try and process what the hell was going on before the opportunity was snatched around him. The water fled his ears and his lungs instinctively reinflated in response to the change in ambient pressure as he flailed slightly, unable to blink away the staggering level of darkness he seemed to be trapped in. The only thing he could really feel was something gripping him with an unrelenting amount of force, like a concrete pillar in a hurricane standing as a bastion while the earth parted around it. V reached upwards (at least from what he could tell) and grasped it, the ability to blink and breath returning to him all at once. And as he shuddered from the combined sensation of the blistering midday sunshine and the sweet euphoria produced by the flow oxygen reuniting with his circulatory system, he blinked heavily and all sight came flooding back to his pupils at once, nearly blinding him all over again.

And it was then that he realized that Vergil had him by the back of the shirt and he in turn had what amounted to a death grip on his father's arm, delivering enough force to probably shatter the bones of a mortal man. Vergil's semi perplexed, mostly breathless facial expression summed up his extreme reaction to him with no words required. His body was running on autopilot, and he wasn't entirely sure what he was actually doing (if anything) to aid his recovery from what he had just experienced, but of two things he was certain. Vergil and Shadow had just saved him, and he now remembered why he was terrified of large bodies of water. And the second one he would have preferred to stay buried as far down as possible.

It seemed that his past experiences had gained the upper hand yet again.

(-~-)

Nero had blushed a gobsmacking shade of red when his brain had finally registered that Kyrie had changed her outfit. He had been so utterly mortified by the split second realization that V probably hadn't resurfaced due to an inability to swim that he hadn't even noticed the others rejoin the rest of the group. She and the others hadn't seen what had just happened and, as such, had been shocked to return to such a tense atmosphere. Never in his entire life had he regretted pulling a prank on another person so much as he did this one. Not by a longshot. But as V had been pulled from beneath the waived and Shadow had lunged at Vergil in a misguided attempt to protect her master, he'd let out the breath that he hadn't realized he was holding. They just couldn't have a fun family vacation, could they?

And unlike the other times his extremely damaged father was basically entirely to blame for the chaos unfolding, he was at fault as well. Had he realized that Vergil would react in the way that he had? No. Did he assume things would probably take a turn? Yes.

But he had no idea that Vergil would toss his older, more fragile sibling in the ocean, and neither of them had any idea that V couldn't swim. And this had most certainly been one of the worst ways they could've found out. Kyrie's new stylistic choice was equally shocking to him in a totally different way, one that he couldn't quite find the words to describe. He literally couldn't figure out how the cute bathing suit made him feel, especially given the context of it's reveal. And when Vergil had practically towed V to the shore and waited for him to release the shock induced death grip that he had on him, only for the young summoner to slide back first into the sand and begin to attempt to stop hyperventilating by covering his face with his eyes and shivering from the sensory overload induced vertigo that he was probably suffering from, Nero's brain had practically crashed like an old broken down computer.

The fact that he'd contributed to something so distressing and painful to watch unfold was physically and emotionally crushing to him. He'd never meant to be the catalyst to something so dreadful. It had never even crossed his mind that something like this could happen.

He had officially been put off of pranks for the remainder of his adult life. But Kyrie's bathing suit? That was a different story entirely. He wanted her to put that on as much as possible. Nero considered her stunning regardless of what she was wearing (or not wearing), but this was something his idle mind had never strayed into conjuring up, and was illogical pissed about that. As soon as he knew for certain that V wasn't going to literally die again, he was going to have to address the sudden onset of salacious reverence he was now experiencing. How was he supposed to cope with knowing that he lived in a world where something like this was possible but he'd never even considered it an option? His mind was being pulled in far too many directions simultaneously, and none of them were very healthy for him. He would have to revisit this shortly.

But first, he needed to figure out what the hell had just happened to V.

And then they needed to talk.

(-~-)

To the surprise of practically no one aside from the young children who had no way of truly comprehending what the hell had just happened, V had quietly retired to the hotel after he had regained control of Shadow. The hyper pissed off panther had been ready to disembowel literally anyone who came within viewing distance of V, and that wasn't very good for keeping a low profile. He had vacated the scene wordlessly, totally unsure of what to say or do about what he had just endured, and not a single one of them even knew where to start. Simply asking if he was alright didn't cross most of their minds due to the panic that they had all collectively felt in that moment in time, and for the ones that did consider this, the simple gesture didn't seem nearly profound enough.

Vergil had quietly shadowed V back to the hotel after allowing ample room to settle between them. While he didn't doubt that his eldest son knew he was tailing him, he was also aware that not allowing him the proper time to wind down after experiencing something so destressing was probably a surefire way to literally start a magical brawl in the street in full view of the public. That wasn't a good look or a good idea, and it would most certainly end the entire trip early.

Oh, where was their mother or father when he needed his advice on how to handle something like this?

No. It was better that neither Sparda or Eva know of his failures. They were his and his alone. He would not wish to disappoint them. He just knew that his actions would.

After a short while, the rest of the group attempted to go about the rest of their day, but there was an unmistakable blanket of discomfort that settled over them. Nothing about what had just happened seemed like the standard reaction one would have to almost drowning, if such a thing even existed. There was clearly another layer to it, but none of them felt like it was their place to ask. For now, they were just going to give V his space.

That was all they felt they could do…

"Hey Kyrie I… you look nice," Nero said hesitantly, unsure if it was the right time to bring it up. It had been just shy of an hour, and things were winding down from what had happened, but a part of him still felt like it was too soon to change the subject, even if he hadn't spoken since then. "Did the others talk you into it?"

Kyrie nodded, her mind elsewhere as she watched the children from the distance. Since V had left in such a hurry, the umbrella was still there. Nero made a mental note to make sure that someone took the time to bring that back to him. If it got left out overnight, someone would probably make off with it.

"Yes… it is pretty, isn't it? I wasn't sure it was my style, but it's really starting to grow on me. Maybe I'll go shopping with them more often?" She wasn't sure who that question was directed towards, but she asked it all the same.

"Maybe you should. You seemed like you were excited when I saw you before," Nero said as he glanced sparingly between the hotel and the children. Carlo was trying his hardest to teach his two older brothers how to make a sandcastle." I mean, getting out of the house more might be fun! Everyone's enjoying themselves so far…"

Silence settled over them for a moment as he considered his statement. No. That was a lie. As much as he wanted that to be true, there was most certainly one member of the family who wasn't having a very good time at all, and he couldn't' sit here any longer and pretend that wasn't the case. Even if he hadn't been partially involved, he still would've been concerned. But he had been. And while it was a mistake that had been the foreseeable result of what he had assumed to be a relatively harmless prank, things had turned out decidedly less "harmless" in the end. He needed to get a gauge on the damage his idea had caused.

Kyrie seemed to understand exactly what he was thinking. She'd spent over half of her life around Nero. She knew when the gears in his head were turning, and when there was no train in the station. They had all the time in the world to plan their next fun adventure. But right now, Nero needed her to let him go. He couldn't make himself ask. He cared about how she felt too much to do that, even if it was an irrational train of thought born of an escue sense of responsibility to her. She glanced over her shoulder and gave him a lingering, thoughtful look before nodding gently and looking in the direction of the hotel. She was more than happy to wait, especially when it was about something so important.

Nero smiled at her gently and leaned over, giving her a gentle squeeze before planting a small kiss on her forehead. Kyrie really did get him, didn't she? He was never permitted to doubt himself in her presence, and that was something he'd truly come to appreciate over the years. Her unwavering faith in him reassured him that he wasn't half as foolish as he thought he was most days. And he was going to make good on that faith.

"I don't know how long I'll be." Nero said quietly, trying not to draw the attention of the children. Wherever he went, they tended to follow.

The brunette waived him on with a gentle smile. "Were fine, Nero. But he isn't. I think he might need someone right now more than everyone realizes. He just seems so… lonely most of the time. That could just be me, but I don't think I'm wrong. But he's not like that with you. Go see how he's doing."

With a determined nod of his head, the white haired demon hunter released her and stood up, turning to head in the direction of the hotel. She wasn't wrong. He needed to speak with V, and probably Vergil for that matter. He wasn't going to accomplish that sitting here on the beach with her trying to pretend that everything was okay.

"You got it, Kyrie. Sorry to always keep you waiting."

(-~-)

Wow this chapter was a wild ride. First one I wrote at my new desk. Have to say, the new set up definitely helped me be more productive! Let me know what you guys think! I loved your comments on the last chapter. They made me laugh! I'll see you all on Friday! Take care and stay safe out there!

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skvaderarts · 5 years ago

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Soliloquy Chapter 1: Advent

You can check out the Masterlist here for more links to places to read!

Otherwise, you can read the new chapter below!

Chapter One: Advent

Stepping through the portal that Vergil had cut through the fabric of time and space was perhaps the most disorienting thing that Dante had experienced in his entire life. Well, maybe that was an understatement. Everything about being on Malet Island had been a massive trip into a new dimension of confusion and headaches. But this was a very close second. Everything seemed to go faster than it normally did but, at the same time, things were slow enough to take in and try to comprehend. It was a blur of bright light that fluctuated from blisteringly bright to suffocatingly dark that seemed to transcend time and space itself. And that was probably because it did transcend time and space itself.

Oh, and it was probably the most nauseating experience Dante had gone through in a long time.

As quickly as it had started, it ended. Although experience had taken less than a few seconds, it had felt more like a minute. Dante landed feet first on the cobblestone pavement, his head swaying slightly before he shook it to regain his senses. He stretched before looking around to gain a bearing on his location. Vergil was in the process of standing up and brushing himself off, as he hadn’t landed quite as gracefully as he normally did. Being kicked in the back spartan style through a tear in reality tended to do that to a person.

“Dang it,” Dante scoffed, trying and failing to repress a playful snicker,” I was hoping you’d land on your sword. You know, see what it feels like for yourself for once.”

Vergil straightened his coat and turned around to face Dante. He couldn’t have looked more unamused if he tried to. “Oh, I am very aware of what it feels like, brother.”

Dante shook his head and let out a short laugh. “How’d that happen? You stab yourself with your own sword?!”

Vergil didn’t answer his brother’s rhetorical question. Instead, he opted to just stare at him blankly, his silence saying everything that it needed to given the context of the situation. After a moment Dante slowly stopped laughing and stared back at him, a look somewhere disbelief and confusion crossing his face. “... Wow… um, yea... You need professional help, Vergil. That’s… that’s pretty messed up. You okay?”

In an unflinching display of unamused irritation, Vergil shook his head once. “Absolutely not.”

An uncomfortable silence settled between them. The alley they stood in was a veritable audio sink. Barely any ambient noise from the nearby road traveled far enough down this dead-end inlet to pierce the uncomfortable silence. Though neither of the twins would ever admit it, they were starting to notice how bad they were at basic conversation with one another. It was actually astounding how quickly almost every conversation they had turned to an unpleasant experience that dwelled on topics neither of them wanted to relive. Dante shifted in discomfort, switching his center of gravity back and forth between his left and right feet. He shook his head and sighed, looking down at the pavement for a moment before looking back up at this troubled brother again. What on earth went through his twin’s mind sometimes. “Seriously Vergil, you okay?”

The eldest Son of Sparda gave his brother a thoughtful look before turning to walk towards the end of the alley. Dante opted to follow him, coming to the conclusion that he had reached his tolerance for genuine progress with his brother today. Vergil didn’t seem to be equipped to deal with continuous emotional conversation, and Dante wasn’t going to try and force him. He’d made it a decent amount of time without finding Yamato embedded in his sternum, and his older twin had shown an unusually high amount of restraint in not putting it there.

The twins stepped out onto the main sidewalk and were greeted by the blinding light of the early morning sun peeking over the rooftops of the adjacent street. A stray car or two passed on either side of the road, contributing to what little noise there was to be heard. Rows of attached business lined the street, some with apartments above them. A few quaint townhouses were squeezed in between the shops; a few planters with thin birch trees sprouting from them lined the sidewalks providing a comfortable amount of shade to pedestrians. The smell of salty water permeated the air as a light breeze rustled the leaves of the nearby trees. It was almost picturesque.

They both stood there quietly for a moment, silently taking in the calm. It was the first time in a long time that they had experienced this kind of quiet serenity. The first time in an immeasurably long time that they had just enjoyed silence the presence of each other’s company. Vergil glanced around the street, taking in the area. Just as he did, the vintage brass streets lights flickered off, their automated timer taking note of the ambient light level. Something seemed to occur to him, causing him to stop and turn to his younger twin. “Where are we then?” He spoke plainly, seemingly trying to change the subject from their previous conversation. Dante decided to chalk it up as a loss for now and simply move on. There would be another time. They had plenty of time.

He glanced up and down the street, taking in their surroundings. This area seemed vaguely familiar to him. He could almost sware that he had been here before, but wasn’t sure how recently or for what purpose. This wasn’t a part of town he spent much time in, but at least he knew what town they were in. “Capulet. Pretty sure this is Capulet.”

Vergil nodded slowly, seeming considering this for a moment. “Which way then?” Dante shrugged obtusely. “Can’t say for sure. I don’t spend much time down by the waterfront. I live further inland from here. You know, where all the crime is.”

Vergil scoffed at the comment, shaking his head. His twin brother really was something else, wasn’t he? Before he could enquire as to possible context clues or landmarks they could use to regain their bearings, Dante stepped forward and looked down the long street towards the right, nodding in confirmation to himself as if he’d figured something out. He casually started to walk in the direction he was facing, gesturing over his shoulder for Vergil to follow him as he headed away from where they had just been. “It’s this way. Now I recognize this place. Had a run-in with an interesting demon on a foggy morning a while back around here. Tried to take my head off with two blades,” He kept a steady pace up the street as Vergil caught up with him in the blink of an eye,” There’s a park up this way. It’s basically the center of town. Once we get there, I can tell where we are.”

With that, the pair walked briskly towards the end of the block, crossing the oversized roundabout that surrounded the square into the park. The lush greenery of the hedges that surrounded the park was bordered by a tall wrought iron fence. Each of the four crosswalks that connected to this central park area was aligned with entry gates for ease of foot traffic flow, so they didn’t have any issues finding a way in. The twins entered the park and followed the path into the central plaza where they both came to a stop for a moment to figure out their current position.

“We need to go this way, Vergil. Vergil?”

Just as Dante was going to question his brother’s silence and explain that they should go north from here towards the upper part of the hillside to reach his office, he stopped. Something had seemingly drawn Vergil’s attention, as he was standing slightly off to the side, only half facing him. Dante allowed his gaze to follow his older brother’s and then stopped once his eyes landed at the object of Vergil’s fascination.

Fuck… How on earth had he forgotten about the statue?

Capulet City was well known in the region for a few unfortunate happenings over the years, a status that had now been totally dwarfed by the calamitous Redgrave City Disaster. While being the resting place of the once again slumbering Temen-ni-gru was nothing to scoff at, and Abigale’s fires had raged for several days after the gargantuan demon had lit the town ablaze during his attack, being a mecca for demonic activity was, while an unattractive trait for a city to possess, a totally different thing entirely from having an entire city literally turned inside out from the tectonic plates up. But, one of the few good things the city was known for was this park and its towering onyx statue of the Dark Knight Sparda astride his dark steed, a horse that, in retrospect, was almost certainly a Geryon. People came from far and wide to take pictures of the monument the city had erected to the dark knight over the now filled in hole where Temen-ni-gru had once emerged from the earth. And in the process of trying to find their way home, Dante had completely forgotten that the stature was here as he had grown so accustomed to seeing it over the years that he didn’t even register it as he passed by it today. To be succinct, there were several things about this park that he had put out of his day to day thoughts, this fine piece of craftsmanship included.

Vergil seemed to be taking a moment to consider it, having not set foot here during or since it’s construction over a decade ago. The art installation’s significance was not lost on the eldest Son of Sparda, nor was it’s geographic location. They could both sense the demonic tower below them, a powerful reminder of the underworld’s never-ending connection to the human world. But then again, nothing about their father was lost on him. Not his legend, not his legacy, and most certainly his bottomless grief at his sudden and unexplained disappearance. They were all things he still carried with him and would never shed; a forthright burdon anchoring him firmly in all things that he did. Vergil shifted his gaze downward and then away from the monolith, quietly dispelling the profound internal battle that he would never win for now.

It was a simple, immutable fact that he still mourned their father’s loss and always would. He just hadn’t dwelled on it in a long while now.

Dante didn’t need to say anything. Interrupting his brother’s train of thought to garner the answer to a question that he already knew the answer too would be utterly pointless and unkind, and this was one silence he was willing to wait out for the sake of its importance. After what felt like a decade, Vergil finally turned back to his brother and joined him at his side, eager to leave this place and his unbridled feelings of grief behind him. He drifted past Dante as he approached, not making eye contact. “... Which way is it then? Or are we still lost?”

The younger twin pointed towards the northwest, taking a mental note of Vergil’s understandably unaccommodating mood. “It’s up there, probably about a mile or so. If we’re lucky, we might make it before one of the girls burns it down in a fit of rage or something.”

Vergil didn’t speak. He simply nodded in silence and followed Dante in the correct direction. Despite the fact that they were just traversing normal human streets, he couldn’t have felt more out of his element if he’s tried. It was the first time in a long time that he’d simply walked somewhere and something hadn’t jumped out and tried to kill him. And he didn’t have the emotion reserves left to contemplate how that made him feel right now.

-~-

The front of the office was surprisingly just as Dante had left it. The doors were still attached for once and the front windows were still intact. The only notable difference was the lack of light coming from the sign out front. It was only then that something occurred to the younger twin: how long had they been gone? It had only felt like a day or two, but unless the sign had shorted out (again) then they had been gone a little longer than he’s originally thought.

“So um Vergil,” Dante started as they approached the front steps,” About how long do you think we were gone?”

Vergil stopped as if to consider the question for a moment. He’d been quiet for about fifteen minutes now, more than likely still lingering on his internal baggage. “That could be rather hard to tell. Much like the human world, time works in zones in the underworld. The time discrepancies are just a bit more… pronounced in some places than they are here. Some parts of the underworld are stagnant and don’t have time at all. Some don’t even have a day and night cycle. And they are all prone to shift under certain circumstances.”

Dante sighed. “So we could have been gone ten minutes or ten years for all we know. That’s what you’re saying, right?”

Vergil shook his head. “Let me clarify. At best, we’ve been gone a few days, at most a few weeks. Volatile as the underworld’s perception of time maybe, I can’t think of a region where time distorts quite that far in the timespan of fewer than three days.”

Dante shrugged as they started up the front steps. “Nothing I can do about it now. But I guess that explains why you kinda look younger than me now, at least.”

Before Vergil could retort, a faint male voice on the other side of the door could be heard. It was unfamiliar to him. The voice was accompanied by the sounds of two other female voices from what his keen sense of hearing could pick up, but he couldn’t discern any of the owners. From what he could make out, the man was saying something about the rent not being free and him having the deed to something.

Dante smirked and shook his head, snickering under his breath. This was no mystery to him. “Good to see that they are still hanging around.”

Just as Vergil was going to ask what Dante was going on about, the doors to the front of the office burst open, and out came one of three people came out. Vergil was correct in his assumptions of their genders from what he could tell, but the man he didn’t recognize at all. The man stopped dead in his tracks and let out a loud, clearly overjoyed laugh. “Well, I’ll be damn! Where the hell have you been for so long, Dante!”

At the mention of Dante’s name, the two women who were just stepping through the doorway (presumably walking a short distance behind him) raced ahead and stopped dead in their tracks. In unison, both of them shouted Dante’s name, shock, concern, and disbelief heavy in their tone. The trio stepped forward and immediately set upon the youngest Son of Sparda, greeting him happily. The one with the black hair that Vergil now recognized as Arkham’s daughter (though he couldn’t remember her name) Immediately batted at him in frustration. “You crazy bastard! I was starting to think you weren’t coming back!” The well-dressed man in the hat reached up and removed it, clasping it in his hand as he laughed a the scene unfolding in front of him. Dante seemed to be about three seconds shy of catching a bullet from his younger friend. She was clearly less than amused with his leave of absence.

“You’ve been gone for six weeks, Dante,” A familiar voice spoke,” I was just starting to wonder I you were coming back myself...”

Vergil felt a barely contained barrage of complex emotions hit him at the sight of the blond devil. Her presence truly took him off guard in the worst way possible. He wasn’t sure if he was showing his seething rage, and he’s wasn’t entirely sure if he cared at this moment in time either. Though no one had seemingly noticed his presence quite yet as he was standing at the bottom of the stairs and slightly behind his brother. But he recognized her anywhere. How could he forget such an instrumental person from his time on Malet Island?

“What the girls are trying to say is that you have perfect timing because we were just having a little conversation about this,” The older gentleman produced a white envelope from his pocket and returned it to Dante in one elegant movement, still laughing to himself as he did so.

Dante shook his head and allowed a smirk to cross his face. “You guys are just the worst, ya know that. I mean, I take a vacation for a few weeks and you figure I’m not coming back?” There was a tone of humor to his jest that was immediately lost when he glanced back over his shoulder and recalled the fact that Vergil was still with him. And that he looked undeniably pissed. It wasn’t something that anyone else but him would probably pick up on, but it didn’t slip past him for a second. “Um, Vergil?” Three additional sets of eyes followed Dante to his brother as he said his name, just noticing him for the first time in their excitement. Lady looked shocked, to say the least, Morrison was looking back and forth between the twins in obvious bewilderment and Trish… well, Trish and Vergil were making what was perhaps the most uncomfortable eye contact of their respective lives. Vergil seemed to be looking into her more than he was at her, obviously thinking rather intensely and Trish was returning his stare, albeit with a look of caution akin to the sort that you would give a big cat that looked ready to attack if you approached it in the wild.

It took Dante all of about three milliseconds to figure out what the issue was here and, although he didn’t understand the history behind it, he wasn’t stupid enough to be ignorant of the notion that Trish and Vergil had prior. And he also wasn’t stupid enough to not notice that Vergil was very clearly considering entering devil trigger and ripping her throat out with his bare hands. Dante carefully placed himself just close enough between them that it made further action on either of their ends unfeasible and he shot Vergil a look, clearly asking him what was going on. Trish took the opportunity to step towards the others and give the twins a parting look, silent trepidation evident in her gaze. “... We were just leaving. Let’s have this conversation later.”

Dante wasn’t sure which of them she was actually addressing, but he didn’t get much time to think about it as, as if from nowhere, a loud screech split through the air. Everyone stopped and turned their head in the direction of the van that had just pulled up, missing the stairs and the side of the building by mere centimeters. Dante would’ve laughed at the awful timing if it might not have been the spark that could set everything alight. He heard a car door open and then slam shut on the opposite side of the car and then a familiar face stepped around the front of the car. The white-haired young man stopped dead in his tracks as if he had just been slammed face-first into an invisible brick wall. He stared in evident shock, wide-eyed at the sight before him before taking a decided far left into instantaneous, unbridled rage, his casual demeanor shattering like glass. At that, Dante let out the breath he hadn’t realized he was holding and chuckled to himself under his breath. Nero really was Vergil’s son, wasn’t he? “Hey, Nero…”

The younger white-haired man shot him a look of white-hot seething rage mixed with other emotions he couldn’t quite place, but he knew they were probably bad nonetheless. Oh shit.

“Dante,” Nero shouted at the top of his lungs,” What the fuck is this bullshit?!”

And then he triggered.

… Oh shit...

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skvaderarts · 4 years ago

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The first chapter of Apocrypha comes out in two hours!

That’s 4 pm CDT in case anyone is wondering. Here’s the link to Soliloquy (part one of the AU) if you’d like!

Masterlist Here

#Soliloquy #Apocrypha #V'sApocrypha #omg I'm so excited #a03 fanfic #A03 #SkvaderFics #SkvaderAsks #DMC5 fics #v fics #DMC #v dmc v #dmc v

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skvaderarts · 5 years ago

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The history of DMC, more or less part 2/8

Fortuna, a decade or so after Eva's death:

Vergil: I have heard that my father's history in this accursed town runs very deep. They seem to worship him. As much as it loathes me, perhaps I should get the point of view of a local.

Nero's Mother: Crawls out of Eva's monster fucker closet in Sir, I may be able to help you... in more ways than one. You seem to be in need of company and local knowledge. I would like to assist you. I could guide you around the area if you'd like.

Vergil: Foolish girl... You do not know who I-

Nero's Mother: No, but I would like to. I am also single and you are very attractive. I presume you are single?

Vergil: Yes, and not entirely human for that matter. But I did not come here to find a date. This is for business not pleasure. That is not to say that I do not find you quite pretty.

Nero's Mother: Oh, that's a shame. I was completely fine with you not being fully human, but I suppose that doesn't meret...

Vergil: Crooks head to the side Ah, if I may stop you there... Are you then fine with having a child with me that do not find out about until much later and leaving said child in an awful orphanage so that he may grow up feeling deeply unloved and abandoned with authority issues, just as I did? Also, you must not, under any circumstances allow my twin brother Dante to know about the boy. He would most certainly adopt him and we cannot risk the child feeling wanted and having a normal childhood.

Nero's Mother: ... Where have you been all my life you, handsome not entirely human, stranger?! What a wonderful idea!

Vergil:... Perfection.

Nero's Mother: Also, you said something about a twin-

Vergil: No. You want me. Forget that I even mentioned him.

And that is how we got Nero... Hopefully this is obvious satire by now lol.

Part one is here.

#SkvaderShorts #THODMCMOL #SkvaderArts #devil may cry 5 #devil may cry v #devil may cry #vergil sparda #vergil devil may cry #vergil devil may cry 5 #vergil dmc #nero devil may cry 5 #vergil devil may cry v #vergil dmc5 #skvaderfics #the angel with the scabbed wings #shitpost

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skvaderarts · 5 years ago

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50K Words 12 chapters. I can’t thank you enough. Truly.

I just wanted to say thank you for all the people who have been reading Soliloquy. I wrote a full statement on my website at the link below, but it’s important that I take the time to say I appreciate every single one of you.

THANK YOU A BUNCH!

https://skvaderarts.wixsite.com/skvaderarts/post/a-quick-thank-you-for-50k-words-and-twelve-chapters-of-support-your-all-amazing

#Thank You #thank you for following me #thanks Tumblr #Thank you all #thank you anon #A03 #a03 fanfic #SkvaderArts #SkvaderStories #SkvaderFics #DMC #DMC5 #DMCV #Devil May Cry #Devil May Cry 5 #Devil May Cry V

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skvaderarts · 5 years ago

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Chapter Twelve: Dauntless

You can check out the Masterlist Here for more links to places to read!

Chapter Twelve: Dauntless

Note: Hey everyone! Thanks for reading the last chapter! I was pretty tired when I edited it, so I’m sorry for any errors. I’ll be more careful and try to go back soon and correct anything I see. In the meantime, I want to thank Random Reader Nothing Special, BeansWithBones, and HunterJamie for their continued support. I always love talking to you guys! Now, back to the chapter! This one is going to be very... interesting. Haha!

-~-

There was nothing visible within the inky blackness. No light pierced the veil, seemingly holding back all time and rendering distance irrelevant and imperceivable. Regardless of how far he reached in either direction, he never touched anything and the sensation of weightlessness he felt was disputed by the lack of air friction but felt nonetheless. Yet somehow he seemed to travel rapidly downward, the sensation of his stomach dropping being the only concrete indicator of any movement at all. After all, it was so dark in here that he could simply have gone blind. He would have no way of telling. Being this deprived of his senses wasn’t reassuring, but until he figured out what was going on, there was no way of knowing.

As V stood (or floated or fell downward... there wasn’t really a way of knowing for sure) within the dimensional equivalent of a sensory deprivation tank, he internally acknowledged that although he should feel threatened or concerned, he didn’t. There was something strangely familiar about this place that he couldn’t quite place. If he didn’t know any better, he would swear that he had been here before. But that wasn’t possible... was it? After all, he should remember that. Or maybe he shouldn’t. Maybe the part of him that swore up and down that it had been here before was the only part of his subconscious that recalled a prior visit to this hellscape. How could he possibly say for sure?

In the blink of an eye, V suddenly felt every muscle in his body tense as he was hit with a powerful gust of air. As it grew in intensity, it dropped in temperature, the once oven-like heat taking on an otherworldly chill that sent him sliding back towards some unknown destination. Or it could have been forward for all he knew. It was literally impossible for him to tell at this point, especially with his arms folded around himself to protect his body from the unearthly force that pressed against him. It didn’t take long for him to lose his center of balance and topple to the side, launching forwards on what he could only assume was the floor. However, when he made physical contact with it, he found that it was soft and pliable, almost buoyant. The liquid clung to him but didn’t stick, possessing a quality similar to that of oil in water. Every bead of the abyssal substance ran off of his skin like it was coated in a hydrophobic substance. Every part of his body that made contact with it tingled slightly in response, and he was unsure if this was a good or a bad thing. Regardless, it was strange how much colder it was than the already freezing air. While not cold enough to remove any skin, it was more than a little bit uncomfortable.

V launched himself to his feet, pushing himself upward with a quick press against the ground. To his shock, he kept tumbling backward instead of landing on his feet. It was as if the floor had rotated to keep him from gaining the upper hand. As he cartwheeled backward headfirst, he gained speed, flipping more times than he could even try to count. As he did so, his breathing became slightly frantic. Where was he going to land? Was he going to land at all? What if he was trapped here forever and this was how he would spend the rest of his natural (or unnatural) life? Did time even pass in this place? Had the entire day before this been nothing but a fever dream as he passed into eternal damnation? The idea of being stuck here quite literally spiraling out of control forever sure made it seem plausible.

“I need to regain my control over this situation,” He thought to himself with finality,” However I came to be in this place is irrelevant. I refuse to stay here any longer. If I could just stop-”

The very instant that the world “stop” passed through his mind, his body hit the ground with a heavy smack, knocking the wind out of him. The once soft material that he had touched merely a few moments before now felt like asphalt, a substance that he was all too familiar with falling onto. Every part of his body ached, although he somehow knew that he hadn’t broken anything. It was more like a toothache, a dull throb that traveled through every inch of his body leaving him immobile and uncomfortable. Thankfully, his pain threshold was legendarily high, so the instant his breath returned to him, he blinked and carefully clambered to his feet.

“I can only assume that you brought me here for a reason?” V asked cautiously. He had no idea the limits of the power that his place possessed.

The darkness did not respond. Instead, it remained woefully silent, unwilling, or perhaps unable to answer his question. He inhaled, unwilling to take silence for an answer. He hadn’t come here of his own volition, at least to his knowledge. He required answers. He was owed answers. And he was going to receive them.

“So you’re going to tell me that you are capable of manipulating this entire place,” V said gesturing casually to the vast nothingness that encompassed him,” but you are not capable of communicating? How disappointing.”

The air (if that was what he was in. Presumably. After all, he was breathing) became statically charged, causing his thin, lightweight white hair to float upward slightly, spreading out around his head. His arms tingled as the static wrapped around him, making every hair on his body regardless of how thin, stand at attention. He exhaled, lifting his arms to look at them. He almost expected there to be something physically present, but there was nothing. This reminded him of something all too familiar, but he dare not speak his thoughts into existence. There was no way that this could have anything to do with them.

…

“If you have some sort of wisdom to impart upon me, I’d appreciate it if you would do so. I do not desire to be here any longer than I already have been.”

Again, the vast emptiness did not reply. At least not verbally. The inky ground bubbled and churned as if it were about to produce something from within it. Several back abyssal spikes broke free from the ground and encircled him, growing closer to him as they closed him in completely. V stood his ground, now thoroughly fed up with whatever the hell was going on. No, this was going to stop. Now.

“Either make your demands or release me,” he said, completely unamused by this situation,” I’m done entertaining your games.”

Before he could say anything further, the wind returned. Only this time it hit him with the force of a freight train. The spikes encapsulating him from behind dropped into the ground and he went flying backward, tumbling weightlessly, except this time much harder and faster than he had before. Every molecule of air left his lungs and he gasped as he crashed with devastating force into the now almost completely solid surface that surrounded him. He never got the chance to figure out if it was the wall, floor, or ceiling because he was rendered unconscious upon impact. It was lights out the instant he made contact with whatever he had landed on.

The young white-haired man gasped and jolted into an upright position in his bed, gasping for breath. His hair flopped down onto his face, sticking to the sweat that he seemed to be soaked in. As he panted breathlessly in an attempt to grasp as much precious air as his lungs could contain, he moved his arms and jolted in shock. In the places where the black substance had gripped him, were the faint but now fading remnants of his former familiar’s tattoos. Specifically Griffon’s. The marking glowed brightly, emitting white light as it outlined the corresponding markings. After a moment, the light faded, allowing V a better look. His arms and part of his chest were covered in faint grey markings that were barely perceivable to the naked eye. But they were most certainly his former tattoos. Of that, there was no doubt. The only difference was they were completely depleted of their power, the vibrant black luster now absent in its entirety.

After a moment, the marking disappeared entirely, leaving his arms and chest bare again and his mind swirling with a plethora of thoughts and anxieties. Had his resurrection unleashed something within him? After all, the place that he had just been in seemed to be metaphysical in nature. He had woken up in his room again after his visit, and his body was still just as sore as it had been a few moments ago. And to top it all off, his head throbbed from the supposed impact he had made with the ground just moments ago. Some aspect of that had to be real, didn’t it?

It almost felt like he had brought something back with him when he had returned and he couldn’t even pretend that that wouldn’t have consequences later down the line. For now, he would take a shower. Perhaps the soothing water would calm his nerves and give him a much-needed reprieve to focus his thoughts and form a hypothesis as to how this had come about.

Things had made so much sense before all of this had happened.

He didn’t like his old life, but at least he didn’t visit other dimensions in his downtime.

-~-

V’s hair was still stuck to his face, only this time it was from water instead of midnight precipitation. He had changed into the alternate set of clothing that Kyrie had left him the day before and sat down on his bed, noticing for the first time that daylight shined in from outside. It was later in the day than he originally thought. There wasn’t much due to the storm that still raged beyond the safe confines of the house, but at least things had calmed down somewhat since last night. Before there was no light at all, as if the clouds themselves had absorbed it with their arrival.

He sat there for a moment, his wet hair dripping down onto his shirt. He didn’t really notice it, and if he had, he wouldn’t have minded. Something more was going on, and the longer he stayed here, the more pronounced the feeling of ever approaching danger became. He needed answers. Urgently. For perhaps the first time in his life, he didn’t know much of anything about what was going on, and that unnerved him greatly. As his mind tried to piece together a coherent string of thoughts, V stood up and walked over to the window. After pulling the curtains shut, he leaned his head against them, noting how cold the glass was even through the thick cloth.

During his shower, he had time to think. And during that time, something had occurred to him. For the first time in his entire life, he needed to make a decision that pertained to his family. V scoffed to himself at the thought of it. How preposterous, the idea that he was now part of something like this. Until yesterday, he had no idea what it was like to be loved; to be wanted and accepted unconditionally by others. For the majority of his life up until this point, he had been an outsider everywhere he went. His distinct white hair was quite the head-turner in public spaces, and his stature made it nearly impossible to blend in even though all he wanted was to assimilate and be overlooked. And now he had exactly what he wanted, but in a way he would have never fathomed possible.

More often than V would be willing to admit, he had sat and pondered the possibility of having a family somewhere out there, so much of his idle time and energy spent on possibilities and contingencies. But he didn’t have a plan of action for being loved and wanting to preserve the lives of those closest to him. Despite the fact that he barely knew Kyrie and the children, even Nero for that matter, it was undeniable that he felt… comfort when he was with them. That was something that he treasured. But what was that worth to him truly? Could he equate a worth to that?

It had been no coincidence that he should return and then have such a surreal out of body experience. And then there was this storm. It was anyone’s guess where his familiars had disappeared to when he had died, but he was willing to guess that simply returning to hell or fading into oblivion were off the table as possibilities. That was too simple, and they were not regular demons. Nightmares probably didn’t work the same way as your run of the mill lesser demon. After all, did a nightmare really ever die? Perhaps if they were forgotten, but even then the person who experienced them could still recall vague details about their dreams later down the line.

And then that presented another important question. Did V want his familiars back in the first place? While there was no question as to their loyalty and the strength of his relationship with them, he wasn’t entirely sure he was ready to devote himself to that path so fully. At the time that he had made his allegiances, he was presented with no other alternative. Literally backed into a corner, it was either fight or die, and he possessed no fighting experience or knowledge of how to control any abilities that he might possess. Was he ready to give up any possibility of a normal life and commit such a substantial part of being to this world that he had born so far from? When he had been raised away from the chaos that seemed to plague his family, he had been given a chance at a somewhat normal, if not arduous and miserable life. Somehow, even though he had never met the woman, he had the feeling that this wasn’t what his mother would have wanted for him. And a part of him respected and agreed with that sentiment. But another part of him resented the idea that he needed to be protected from his own existence. After all, if he truly was a descendant of Sparda, he couldn’t be that helpless. Maybe he just needed a teacher. From what little he had come into naturally, he knew he possessed abilities. Royal Fork was born purely from his will, no instruction required. And this nagging feeling of uncertainty that he felt now was almost assuredly supernatural in its insistence.

Did the need to repel danger at any cost constitute a choice at all?

By that notion, did anyone in his family truly have a choice in all this?

V gripped the curtains tightly, allowing his eyes to close before exhaling. He would always find the strength to embody the ideals that he stood for. The only issue here was that he had no idea what part he played in any of this. However, coincidences were something he was against on principle and he rejected them as a policy. If he actually thought that whatever was going on with this storm and his experience during the night were not somehow connected, then he was truly stupid. And although V was many things, stupid was not one of them. Before he could decide anything, he needed to be more informed. Going into things blindly had ended badly for him the last time.

Although he was the first to admit that he didn’t know very much about the island of Fortuna, he knew that this place had a history with demons. Word of the disaster here a few short years ago had reached the mainland in bits and pieces not long after it had occurred, and talk of magic and supernatural activity had shrouded the entire place in an air of mystery. Maybe he could ask Nero if he knew something about what had happened here. It was hard for him to believe that there could be a cataclysmic demonic invasion here and Nero hadn’t been involved somehow.

After taking a final breath to clear his overcrowded mind, he turned and headed to the bedroom door. He was tired already, and he hadn’t even been awake an hour yet. As he opened the door, the children ran past, more than likely headed in the direction of the stairs. Nero was standing just off to the side of the door talking on the phone with someone, although he hadn’t a clue who since he wasn’t talking loud enough to be heard clearly. Kyrie and Nico were nowhere to be seen, but he assumed they were somewhere nearby. A distant crash from inside of the garage followed by the sound of Nico cursing confirmed his suspicions. Some things never changed.

He stepped out into the hallway, closing the door behind himself just in time to hear Nero read off an address to someone and say something about seeing them soon before hanging up the phone. Nero turned, catching sight of V out the corner of his eye. He seemed to be in a relatively good mood from what V could decipher, his posture more relaxed than he was accustomed. Despite the three children playing not far from them, this was still a much less hostile environment than they were normally accustomed to being in. Wonderful. He could start his morning by totally killing the mood between them for the rest of the day. Just what he was going for.

“Hey, you’re awake,” Nero actually sounded somewhat surprised as he spoke,” I was wondering if you were getting up today.”

V glanced over on the small wall clock that hung over a mudroom rack near the entrance, noting that it was just shy of noon. He scoffed at the comment, seeming somewhat amused.

“Ironic. This is actually rather early for me, all things considered,” He replied nonchalantly as he leaned against his bedroom door,” I actually have a question for you, if you can spare a moment.”

Nero spared a glance in the direction of the children playing down the hall. They had parked themselves in the living room, not going upstairs as V had assumed. If V was willing to guess, they normally played outside, but the storm had forced them to hang out inside and they were making the best of an unideal situation. Understandable.

“Shoot. What is it?” Nero asked casually.

V crossed his arms, capitalizing on his position against the wall to provide him the balance he required. “I need in-depth information on demons, specifically pertaining to alchemy or binding. Is there anywhere in town that houses that sort of information?”

Nero gave him a sideways look, clearly wondering what he could want with that kind of information. He seemed to ponder the question deeply for a moment as if he were debating something. After a moment, he sighed. “... No. Not in town. But…” Nere glanced up and down the hallway as if he was checking to see if anyone was within earshot,”... There was this one bastard that worked for the Order, a huge asshole named Agnus. He has a lab outside of town in some giant castle that Sparda supposedly lived in forever ago. That place is loaded with books. It was abandoned after the Order fell apart after the attack.”

V took in the response, nodded to himself as he considered the validity of finding anything useful there. It seemed likely. “How do I get there?”

The look on Nero’s face spoke volumes. While he was curious about what V could possibly want with that wretched place, he decided to just go with it. But the last thing he was going to do was let him go there alone. That was just asking for trouble. There were traps everywhere, and just because the Hellgate had been destroyed didn’t mean that the place wasn’t still crawling with demons.

Nero took a step towards the door and grabbed his sword, reaching for his coat with the other. This was going to be a long day.

“Don’t worry about it. I can get you inside,” his mind was distant. Going back to the place where he had the first glimpse of his power was going to be very surreal,” I just hope whatever you want there is worth it. That place is nothing but trouble”

-~-

PHEW! I am so sleepy right now. But I made sure to check the grammar on this chapter better than the last one. I’m sure something slipped past me, but it has to be better than last time. Thanks for checking out this chapter! It was really fun to write, especially the voice section at the start. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on that one. I’d love to see if any of you can guess what’s up with that place. In the meantime, stay safe out there and I’ll see you on Wednesday, June 10th with another chapter! Take care!

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skvaderarts · 5 years ago

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Primrose Litwick

Primrose is one of three OCs that I’ve created for my DMC AU. You generally won’t see more than one of them in any given fic at a time (if they make an appearance at all), but still. Out of the three of them, Primrose is probably the most unique.

Primrose is a bookworm, philosopher, and botanist with a keen intellect and a kind but fierce personality. She is nothing if not a determined intellectual with a kind heart. She spends most of her days using her very limited eyesight to study plants and work towards making alchemical breakthroughs in the hope of curing some of the most deadly ailments, supernatural or otherwise. She and V have an adorable friendship that may or may not slowly progress towards an actual relationship. It depends. What never changes, however, is that she is blind and uses her purple and black Owl familiar named Haze to see for her. She has powers of her own, but she mostly uses practical alchemy and grimoires if she needs to protect herself because her actual powers are unstable, to say the least.

You will come to know more about her as time passes, but I'm more than happy to answer any questions anyone has about her, hear your opinions and feedback about her, and include her in any content you ask me to. So feel free to voice your opinions about Primrose to me. I'd be happy to hear from you.

Now, back to finishing the outline for my mega fanfic.

#My writing #My DMC AU #SkvaderFics #SkvaderShorts #Post DMC5 #V'sApocrypha #My AU #My OC #my thoughts #My Headcanon #V x OC #DMC5 #DMC5 V #DMC5 V Fic #DMC5 Fic #DMC5 AU #Blind OC #DMC

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skvaderarts · 5 years ago

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Happy Holidays everyone! For once in my life, I’m actually geting a holiday post out on the day of the actual holiday! Can you believe that because I know I can’t! Anyways, I stayed up until 7 am on Christmas morning to get this done, so I hope you like it!

It’s about time Vergil got some love, damn it!

READ BELOW (Hiden to save long post scrolling sanity)

P1: To Reciprocate What Was Given

Note: In an attempt to get something DMC related prepared on time for once to celebrate a major holiday, I stayed up until 6 am on Christmas Eve night to get this done. This is just a short introspective dabble to celebrate the festivities. It takes place in my AU, but that honestly has very little bearing on what's going on overall, but you can think of it as a follow up to my one-shot "The Rest is Silence" as having read that first will make this more enjoyable since it references an event in that fic. You can find it on my Ao3 page. There will be a part two for New Years that will hopefully be a little longer, but for now, happy holidays and enjoy the short.

If anyone had told him that one day he and Dante would be sitting in the living room of the Devil May Cry office surrounded by friends and family who were eager to celebrate the holidays with them, he would have thought them insane. He and Dante had not fostered a healthy relationship with one another their entire adult lives. Why would the holidays change this? If anything, the occasion seemed, at first glance, to be a perfect opportunity to drudge through the bottomless lake of bad memories and regrets that the twins shared collectively between them; a perfect opportunity for misery and suffering. And yet the only thing at this party that could pass for true misery was V trying to get into a festive mood and not grow like moss on the wall in the far corner. Parties just were not his thing, regardless of how comfortable he was with the people involved.

No, Vergil was almost having a good time tonight. Not quite of course. Joy was utterly beyond him at this point. But he was, daresay, content with the way things were going at present. Nero and Kyrie had hauled Kyle, Carlo, and Julio with them from Fortuna, Lady showed up to show off her new outfit, Trish had just about physically dragged V to the house from his comfortable perch on his couch at home, Patty had stopped in to drench the house in awful neon pink adorned gifts, and Morrison had stopped by to wish everyone a pleasant holiday and drop off a purposefully ironic fruit cake that absolutely no one was going to eat. Ok, V was going to eat it because he was peculiar, but he didn't count for that very reason. But that was beside the point.

For the first time in what had to be the better part of his life, Vergil had nothing notable to concern himself with. Kyrie had made dinner, the children were keeping Nero busy, the girls were fulfilling their new roles as pseudo wine aunts, and V was... well to everyone's shock, he was helping Kyrie cook dinner. No word yet on his capabilities. Vergil had survived in the underworld for nearly two decades. V's aforementioned cooking skills (or possible lack thereof) wouldn't be the end of him. Maybe he was content with the presence of his children, or just so tired of pizza that anything would suffice at this point. At this moment, he honestly didn't care. This was the first time he had a reason to acknowledge the holidays since he was the age of Nero's oldest child, and that was quite literally a lifetime ago.

At that moment, something stirred him from his idle thoughts. He glanced over at Dante who was sitting reasonably close to him on the couch. And by reasonably close that meant sitting on the same couch to start with. His younger twin had slumped over on the arm of the sofa, sleeping as if to actively defy the ambiance in the large, festivity filled room. He was not the source of this sudden change in the space's atmosphere. Vergil pivoted his gaze back around to the floor in front of him and mentally chastised himself for somehow managing to overlook someone standing so close to him.

It was V.

The slender young man stood before him with his back to the rest of the guests in the room, a look somewhere between anxiety and anticipation on his face. For someone so akin to a wordsmith, he was clearly searching for the right words. His change in demeanor wasn't so much obvious as his mannerisms were easy for Vergil to pick up on. It took the perceptive eye of a nonverbal recluse to read another with any degree of ease, and he had always had a knack for this sort of thing. He couldn't be sure if it was the number of people crammed into the building, the lack of private places to retreat to, of the awful sweater that Trish had somehow blackmailed V into wearing, but the younger descendant of Sparda was noticeably crawling in his skin.

Just as Vergil was going to ask the white-haired poet what he wanted, he retracted his arm from behind his back and produced an overly wrapped gift. The box was clad in shiny metallic navy blue and gold wrapping paper, bound with gold and silver weapon, and topped with a black bow, a set of color choices that did not go unnoticed by the eldest son of Sparda. Vergil cocked his neck to the side thoughtfully as he took in the sight of the box. What on Earth...

"... May I join you...?" V gestured towards the plethora of open space between Dante and Vergil as the couch was longer than the most.

Vergil gestured towards the space with a silent tilt of his head, still taking in the fact that this situation was actually happening. After taking a seat and managing to retreat even further into himself than he already had up until this point, V handed Vergil the neatly wrapped box and leaned forward, clasping his hands together in his lap. Vergil accepted the gift and turned it over in his hands a few times as if he were trying to memorize every fold of the paper and centimeter of ribbon. It was almost a shame to take apart something so flawless.

Vergil dismantled the wrapping paper at the seams, deliberately taking it apart with the same precision and care that had gone into wrapping it. This somehow flattered and terrified V in equal measure, and he was starting to get the impression that Vergil was trying to elicit this very reaction from him. When he finished unwrapping the box, he opened the box and stared.

Inside of the box was an ornate metal covered book with Sparda's sigil inlaid into the cover. slotted into a label window was a rectangular piece of parchment paper with the words "family photo album" scrawled into it. He could tell by the weight that Vergil moved to open the book and then hesitated, unsure if this was the correct time before electing to simply open the cover. The first page contained a photograph of an all too familiar family painting and superimposed into the inside cover was a quote in what could only be Sparda's handwriting.

"Amor vincit omnia.

Improvidus, apto, quod, Victum.

Citius, altius, forties."

Vergil sighed and closed the book, placing it down onto his lap. "... Where did you get this?"

V gestured across the room towards Nero. "We were delving into the ruins of Redgrave, and Nero managed to find your childhood home. This was in the remnants of what I think was a Library. I can only assume it has otherworldly properties, considering the number of fires it has survived. I suppose we both found, though it was never truly lost. Consider it a gift from us both, though I am not sure it was ever ours to give."

He considered V's words for a moment before looking back down at the book again as if to make sure it was real. He would have to reminisce over this with Dante when he woke up. "Thank you. This is..."

Kyrie cut in from the kitchen, shouting something about whatever dubious project the two of them had been concocting together under the guise of cuisine. V nodded thoughtfully and stood, politely excusing himself to go attend to his prior engagement. "You don't have to tell me. I understand." He gestured towards Nero and then towards Dante. "Tell them."

As V exited to room, Vergil made eye contact with Nero from across the room. He gave a simple, appreciative nod towards his son, thoroughly perplexing him before turning towards Dante. His hand lingered over him for a moment before he elected to wake him. The younger twin sat up groggily and stretched, clearly unamused. "Vergil, what's your pr-"

Vergil extended the hand that held the book out towards him, stopping Dante dead in his tracks. "A gift. It might be worth your time, brother."

Dante stared at it and shook his head in disbelief. "You know what? It just might, Vergil. Maybe there's some pictures of you looking like a dumbass in there that I can laugh at."

Vergil rolled his eyes and smirked ever so slightly. Of course he would say that.

End Note: I guess this turned out to be longer than I originally figured it would be. I wrote all of this in a grammar checker, but I'll do a second edit run when I've actually slept. I'm sure I've missed something. And as for that Latin bit, each line is a quote. I won't ruin the surprise for you. Go check it out! Happy Holidays and thank you for an amazing year of support for an amazing franchise! I can't wait to see what 2020 has in store for us!

And yes, Nico was at the party. She was just hiding in the kitchen with Kyrie!

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