#also this makes me question just how much of Dante's life Nero knew | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

mxvladdy · 3 years ago

Text

Flutter

Fandom: Devil May Cry

Contains: pregnancy talk (kinda), angst, and drama

Pairing: Dante x GN!Reader

Word Count: 4.8k

Warnings: mentions of pregnancy and a brief mention of terminating (like a sentence but still)

Back on my bullshit with the baby fics lol. I love the trope idk why.

Thump thump thump-thump thump thump

Dante stirs with a huff of annoyance, his ears twitch focusing on the insufferable rhythm that was stopping him from resting. It started a few hours ago. Nothing major, something he could definitely doze through. The slow irregular was almost calming, until it got louder. At first he had chalked it up to one of the many freaky experimental weapons dangling in Nico’s tiny workspace at the back of the crowded van. They tended to pop and hiss if some raw materials got too close. But it had picked up in the past hour, growing consistent and strong, really strong. Strong enough to make it hard to ignore. Dante cracks open a bloodshot eye looking around at the van’s occupants to find the culprit.

Nero sat oblivious to the world on the floor across from him leaning on the side of the van’s tire well. His eyes are shut, and his face relaxes as the adrenaline of the day finally starts to seep out of his system. He nods his head along to the tunes blasting out of the jukebox in the corner. He was oblivious to the accusatory glare of his uncle. Dante crosses the kid off as the likely suspect of his annoyance. Nero looked about ready to pass out, each bobble of his head becoming more erratic and jerky as sleep started to take over. He clearly wasn’t hearing this.

So, he turns to the front of the van to check on the others. The ladies were chatting idly in the front. Nothing super exciting gossip wise. The three of them were tossing little jabs at each other. Well, Lady and Trish were, Nico was hiding a smirk behind a freshly lit cigarette as the two grew heated. The three of them called it “friendly bitching” but he still wasn’t all that sure. Whenever Lady or Trish used that tone with him he was about to either get robbed eight ways to Sunday by one of them or his ass kicked. The two human women seemed oblivious to the noise...perhaps Trish heard it? Hmmm-nah. Trish didn’t seem to notice the steady thumping that had now become a hyper fixation to him.

Huffing the hunter settles back down in the couch cushions of the couch to look out the window at the blur of the scenery passing by. The hum of the van’s engine and the low roar of the A/C were almost enough to drown out the noise filling his skull. He pops a finger in his ear digging out some wax. Did that smack across the head early knock something? Did a gun go off too close? Wait... shouldn’t he hear ringing if that was the case? Ye, the more he focused on it, it wasn’t inside his head. He checks out the window, his hand itching for a gun. Was a demon really that dumb to follow a van filled with demon hunters? He snorts at his question. Of course, they were. He was pretty sure they had finished the contract with a 100% kill count. Still, he checks out the window, just in case.

“I’m guessing you hear it too?” Vergil stirs from his meditative stupor, popping his neck with a satisfying grunt before turning his gaze to Dante. All of his younger brother’s squirming finally got too much for him to ignore. Vergil focused on his sibling, arms crossed over his freshly bandaged chest. “Really?” He looks down to his lap in disgust. Dante smirks, wiggling his muddy boots where they rested crossed on his thighs.

“What can I say? You’re ridiculously comfy.” Dante smirks. He knew his dick of a brother would threaten to stab him for dirtying his clothes, but he had a trump card, and he was going to use it. They both look down at your sleeping form sprawled on Dante’s chest and a part of Vergil's legs. You lay on him, curled up in a neat little ball on his chest. A dark spot grew beneath where your cheek was squished on his cotton shirt. Dante can’t help the smile that creeps across his face. He pulls his signature coat tighter around you and strokes your face with a only slightly grimy finger. Vergil sighs, settling back down, careful not to wake you either. He had a big ol’ sweet spot for you, and damn Dante couldn’t blame him.

Thumpthumpthumpthumpthump

Dante hisses, pulling away from your peaceful expression, jealous for a brief moment that your weak human hearing couldn’t pick up on the invasive noise. “You sense where it’s coming from?” He rumbles low in his chest, careful not to disturb you. His brother sits silently for a moment wiping at his drowsy eyes. Dante watches his ear twitch minutely picking up on every sound in the immediate vicinity.

“No, I-” His head snaps back to Dante so fast he was surprised Vergil didn’t give himself whiplash. His silver eyes are wide with shock for a moment before softening to an expression Dante only saw when he would talk with Kyrie over dinner. It was warm, protective, and far too gentle a face for him to be pulled out for him. Dante looks back over his shoulder on instinct before it hits him, hard. Vergil wasn’t looking at him, he was looking at you. Oh shit, oh shit.

Dante focuses his senses on you before he had been merely using his broad range listening figuring it was an outside threat. He smells you first, your natural scent was a soft and sweet thing, like moss by a river bed, or freshly turned soil. It only got earthier after a day of hard work. The faint scent of gunpowder lingered on you too, and something else, something more hormonal and almost floral. Beneath your changing scent, he hears your heart thumping steadily in your chest. That was always a comforting sound to him, an anchor whenever he worried for your safety. But underneath it, he heard it. It was a rapid rhythm over yours, in you.

Dante jerks up, tumbling to the floor and cracking his head hard on the metal guards of the stairs. You would have toppled with him if Vergil hadn’t lunged to grab you. “What?” You look around confused but alert. The van is silent in the aftermath of the sudden burst of energy, all faces now turned to the three of you. Vergil holding you close to his chest while you focus on Dante. “You ok?” You look him over, noticing how pale he suddenly was as he looked at you. He was breathing heavily and panicked. His silver-grey eyes flitting between yours and up to Vergil’s.

“Ye,” He croaks, running a hand through his dirty hair not moving from his spot on the dirty floor. “Ye-shit, sorry just slipped in my sleep.”

“Quite a ‘slip’.” You wiggle out of Vergil’s hold and come to bend over Dante. You put the back of your hand to his forehead. You had all gotten pretty banged up this mission, and as usual, Dante had taken the brunt of it. He laughs a little too forcefully to be considered natural and pushes your hand away to get up.

“You know me. I’m full of surprises.” He flops back onto the couch looking at you oddly before opening his arms up to you. He fights against the tremble he feels spreading across his whole body.

You catch the sour look growing on Vergil’s face, it was boiling over to murderous. He shakes his head before sitting back in his spot and reaching for a magazine.

“Everything alright back there?” Nico shouts looking up into the rearview mirror.

“Yeh-yeh.” Dante waves not taking his eyes off you. “Just my old man senses getting to me.” The van collectively snorts at that, all turning back to what they were originally doing. Picking up his discarded coat you climb back into the cradle of your boyfriend's arms.

Boyfriend. You smile into his sweaty neck. It was a new term for both of you and your relationship. You two have been skirting around the idea of a committed relationship for months now. You’ve been with the gang for years now, flitting in and out of each other's life mission after mission as a freelance mercenary. Dante welcomed you into the fold of his merry band of misfits well enough, but you could see the line in the sand he drew pretty easily.

You respected it. Life in this business was hard and sometimes very short. He was slow to open up and trust, not with just you, but anyone. You got it, you understand his hesitation. Once you both established that the feelings you felt for each other went beyond good friends the lines and walls he built began to fade. The few months of you two trying out the word have been going well. Or, at least you thought so. Dante seemed pleased enough too. The few dates you two were able to scrap your collective pennies together for were a blast. Spontaneous coffee dates, walks down none demon-infested streets and parks. Once he even took a weekend off to go cross country with you. That weekend had been the most relaxed you had ever seen him, and as a bonus, the sex had been phenomenal too.

“You ok?” You kiss the stubble on his strong jaw, taking in the hard look in his eyes. His arms were rigid around you, protective yet also isolating. He looked shut-off, lost deep in his mind back in that place you knew he went whenever something was deeply troubling him. Dante said nothing for a moment, his large palm rubbing your lower back in stiff robotic movements. “Dante?”

He snaps out of it with a jerk. “Ye babe- just tired.” He kisses the worry from your brow and slips back into your original position, arms locking securely over your middle. He listens to your breathing and heart slow as you drift off, the little thumping underneath beating on.

From the moment Dante stepped out of the van he shut down. Not just from you, but everyone. He wasn’t sure if it was intentional or just instinct after years of protecting himself. He noticed it happening from afar like he was on the sidelines and completely unable to control what he was doing. He took job after job that Morrison threw at him, not waiting for backup or help. He began staying in his room, slinking upstairs instead of his usual hang out spot down in his office to be social. He just leaves everyone behind. He knows Lady and Trish will blow it off, they were used to the odd mood swing by now, chalking it up to mission fatigue. You knew better though, and he loved you for it. Even if it irritated him right now.

The first few days after that mission Dante saw you trying to pretend like you didn’t notice the walls he was rebuilding around himself. He wanted to believe that you couldn’t see how he turned up the jukebox every time you stepped into Devil May Cry, or that you pretend not to notice how his eyes would drift to look at anything but you when you stood in front of him. It hurt, it hurt to do this, but he couldn’t stop this self sabotage he was inflicting on himself and the stress he was pushing onto you. He just couldn’t take it.

He saw his mother every time he looked at you, could smell the ash and sulfur, could remember how his young lungs filled with smoke as he cried for something he could never get back while his childhood burned around him. He couldn’t do it, so he stopped seeing you. Not that it helped much. He heard the beating every time you came near trying to talk to him, so he stopped listening too. He didn’t know what else to do.

“If you put your hair back I swear I wouldn’t be able to tell you apart from your brother anymore, especially with that new attitude you're sporting.” Dante hears the slight edge in your voice. You sat in your now usual spot on the edge of his desk, before that day his lap would have been filled with your warm sweet body. You didn’t look happy in the least bit. You looked exhausted. He doesn’t look up from his magazine, a slow buzz of panic begins to fill his ears. Were you sick? Did you know?

He puts up another wall. “Doubt it,” He flips a page of his magazine reaching blindly for his beer. “I’m still the better looking one.” More silence. Dante feels your hard stare from where you sat.

“Need something?”

Your shoulders slump. “No-it’s nothing Dante.” He feels himself break just a little at the moisture threatening to spill from your lashes before they are blinked away. You leave without saying goodbye. He doesn’t see you again after that, your spot is soon replaced with piles of empty bottles.

“I expected better from you.”

Dante chokes on his beer, the foam shooting up into his nose and bringing tears to his eyes as it burns its way back to his throat. “Damn it, Vergil! Knock sometime?” His brother says nothing storming over to his desk and kicking a chair out to sit next to him. The look on his face was venomous. “Don’t give me that look.” Dante sighs, popping the cap off of another beer bottle.

“What look?”

Dante waves the butt of his bottle at him. “That! That look. It’s the one you always give me right before you stab me.”

Vergil chuckles humourlessly. “I just might if you continue to ignore your growing issue.” He pushes leaning into Dante’s space.

Dante bristles feeling like a trapped dog. “They should find out on their own-”

“Brother-”

Dante cuts him off with a swipe of his hand, amber liquid sloshing over his desk and lap. He feels his control slipping. The heat of his devil form simmering just below the surface. “I don’t want to talk about this.” I don’t want to acknowledge this.

“It’s been weeks.” Vergil presses on lean in close to his twin. “Will there ever be a right time?”

Dante bares his fangs in warning. His fingers itching to curl up and punch his brother. “That is rich coming from you. Remind me again, how many times have you tried to kill your son?” He meant for it to hurt, to let that barb sink in deep and fester. Vergil doesn’t even react, his gaze still cool and steady.

“I regret it-in parts. But I am not doing this for you.” Dante frowns. He had figured that. When Vergil arrived with Dante all those months ago torn up and bloodied from quite literally crawling out of Hell the welcome he got from the crew had been...lukewarm to put it mildly. They weren’t openly hostile, but it got pretty close sometimes. Only you and Nero had been pleasant to his brother right off the bat. The others came around eventually, but Vergil had taken a real shine to you. You were inquisitive and hungry to prove yourself, but smart enough to know when to back down. It’s what drew him to you, so it would make sense Vergil liked it too. “I cannot change my past actions, nor would I,” Dante scoffs. “But you have been given yet another opportunity that I envy.” He looks over his shoulder to the empty office. He couldn’t lie and say that he didn’t still envy his younger brother and his successes. To be free-to have had a life, dare he say to act almost human? Dante had always been the friendlier and kinder of the two, even as kids. He was sociable and street smart. Most importantly, people trusted him.

Then he found you, a most extraordinary mate. Vergil knew Dante would never admit it vocally but he shows his love with how he acts around you. Dante was always brash and foolhardy but he was milder with you. Whenever you were in the room his sole focus was always on you. His eyes, his body, every part of his being just seemed to gravitate to you. Whenever you paced, pissed from a recent job he would follow in his chair rolling left and right to keep his body in line with you. Even on the field, he stayed close, a towering figure of red and flames. To have him cast you out like this... Vergil shakes his head. “Why are you stalling?” He asks.

“They should find out on their own,” Dante repeats himself.

“And what if they decide not to tell you? What if they decide not to go through with it? You are limiting their time frame, Dante. You are putting them both in danger.” Vergil’s words strike deep. If he can’t get his brother to see reason now, then he will have to intervene. If Dante never forgave him for this transgression, then so be it.

The roar of primal rage was the only warning Vergil got before he was airborne. His back colliding hard against the old oak bookshelves across the room, Dante’s splintered desk pinning him for a moment before he is being dragged up the shelves by his neck. Empty bottles and old tomes clatter to the floor. He matches his brother’s energy shifting in a blaze of blue fury until he faces his red counterpart. “You lash out, why? Because you know I’m right?” He hisses around bared razor sharp fangs. “Do you hope they will leave you?” Something passes through Dante’s scleraless eyes. “It won’t be like before, brother.”

The whine Dante emits sounds like a wounded animal. It was high and reedy, it was filled with turmoil. Vergil couldn’t stop the sharp bark of laughter that fell from his lips. Unbelievable. “Dante.” Vergil grabs one of the claws locked around his throat. “For all your foolish and idiotic behavior you have built yourself a family. Do you honestly think any of them would let something happen? Do you think I would let something happen?” The fist around his neck loosens and drops.

“I want them to live a normal life.” Dante steps away, his voice uncertain. “Look at us- at Nero and Kyrie. Being what we are, we have royally screwed them over.” He stares down at his rough armored hands. His elytra pulses red veins with demonic energy. “And a damn kid? Nero got by alright, but narrowly. Do I look like someone that can handle this?”

“No.” Vergil can’t lie, it would only hurt you in the end. “Not at first. While I have no right to talk about being a father, I know you can do it far better than I.” He smiles to himself. “‘sides, at least your better half has a head on their shoulders.”

“Gee, thanks.” Dante grunts retreating to where his desk used to be. He breathed deeply and shifted back to his human form. Damn it, he had just paid off the repairs from the last time he wrecked the place. Bending over to pick up his magazine, the two were interrupted by his door bursting open. Nero and Lady bursting through bickering heatedly at each other before they notice the mess.

“Did we interrupt something?” Nero steps open the splinters of Dante’s old desk taking in his half triggered father.

“No.” The brothers say in unison.

“Good-” Lady pushes forwards, tossing a missive to Dante. He catches it with deft fingers and rips it open. “Normally I would have taken this on myself with the kid-since you’ve been sulking.” She shoots him a scathing look. “But we need all boots on the ground. Trish and your flickering flame are already there, but this portal just isn’t budging.”

“What!” Vergil snaps. Dante stares blankly at the letter, a high pitch whining growing in his ears. It was getting hard to breathe. “You left them there? They are vulnerable.” The blue devil grabs the letter from his brother looking at the address briefly before grabbing Yamato before rushing for the door.

Nero shouts after his father in confusion, his outburst uncharacteristic for him. “The hell was that about?” Nero watches the skies as the blue figure disappears. “They are perfectly capable of handling themselves…”

“Get in the van. I’ll see you there.” Dante grits out, crumbling the paper up and tossing it aside. He flys out moments later, guns and swords are forgotten. Anything that touches you would be getting ripped to shreds with his bare hands. He travels in a blur of panic fighting the sense of guilt threatening to overcome him. How could he be so stupid? Just because you weren’t at the office didn’t mean that you weren’t still taking jobs. He always worried when you went out solo- or without him, but he was confident in your abilities. A few scrapes and bruises weren’t anything to stress over. It wasn’t something to stress about before. You were still on the field and it was his damn fault.

The sound of gunfire and the roars of dying demons draws him in. Dante’s sharp eyes find you immediately. You were holding your own. You back in a corner but your guns were hot, dropping demon after demon with near flawless aim. Instinctively his demon side rumbles in pride before he squashes the feeling. Now wasn’t the time. Vergil beat him there by minutes but was already covered in gore as he assists you from above, slicing through the almost endless wave of beasts. Dante lands near you grabbing a Fury in midjump throwing it away to splatter against a building yards away. “About time you showed up!” Trish shouted from her perch lightning crackling around her. He ignores her, instead he launches himself at the gaping maw of the portal. He fights with reckless abandon, each wound and injury fueling his fire. One more hit on him just meant one less directed at you.

The fighting didn’t last long after Nero and Lady arrived adding enough fire support that he was able to destroy the portal and clean up the remaining hellspawn. The moment it was Dante was on you. “The hell were you thinking!” He rounds on you his massive body crowding your space.

You hold your ground staring up at him. “Hey, so glad to finally hear from you.” You crane your neck up to meet his glowing eyes. “I love it when my boyfriend finally remembers I exist.”

“You could have gotten hurt!” He glosses over your snark and checks you out. You were fine, good.

You back away from him throwing your hands up in confusion. “Yes? That’s kind of par for the course isn’t it?” You were baffled by his behavior. Weeks. Weeks! Weeks of ignoring your calls, and a conveniently empty office every time you tried to drop by, and now that you have his attention the first thing he does is yell at you? Where did he get off? In fact, his shit attitude only angered you more. “Ya know what? I don’t want to hear it.” You turn your head to where Nico sat leaning out of her driver-side window. She waves at you. “Can you give me a lift back to my place? I got to grab some fresh clips before heading back out.”

A red hand blocks your exit. “No-” Dante grabs your forearm gently tugging you to look at him. His natural heat was a comfort you didn’t realize you missed so much. “Babe-let me handle it.”

“Dante,” You try to pull away. “It’s my job. What has gotten into you?”

He looks over to his brother, the conflict he had been trying to avoid closing in too fast for him.

Vergil holds his stare and shrugs. “Come-the two need to talk, let’s head back for now.” Asshole. The rest of the group follows his eldest brother casting curious glances over their shoulders as they pile into the van. He really wasn’t ready for this.

The two of you watch them go in silence. “Let me take you back? Please?” Dante let’s go of your arm. You nod, it’s not like you have any choice now. Well, you could walk, your body screams at the thought of moving any more than necessary. You’ve been getting exhausted faster and faster these days. Perhaps the stress of the job was getting to you. He scoops you up in his giant arms stretching his wings out to their full and impressive length before taking to the sky. He glides through the city taking extra care to make it as smooth as possible for you. His landing was as silent on the empty streets surrounding your apartment building.

The mid-afternoon sun was high overhead, the perpetual fog of the city finally breaking enough to let in the heat of the day. You slide from his arms and lead him up the steps to your door. Swinging the door wide you look up at him. “Do you mind?”

“What?”

You point to his devil form. “Shrinking? I don’t think you can fit.”

Oh right. He chuckles nervously. “Ain’t nothing a bit of lube and patience can’t fix right?” You don’t laugh, your lips pull taught. He coughs shifting in a flash of heat. Once he’s human he squeezes through the narrow door frame and just stares at you. Dante shuffles from side to side. Great. Now what?

You rub at your neck weary you could feel another knot growing. Weeks ago you had a whole speech laid out for when you got him through your door. You wanted to chew him out, to yell at him for cutting you out so unceremoniously. Shout that if he was going to break up with you at least do it cleanly, not this emotional roller coaster. A sense of anger fills you. Damn it, was this really it? It wasn’t like this was the first time a partner has done this. You just had hoped that Dante would be different. He had always been so dependable. “Just make it quick, Dante.” You didn’t have the steam for this right now. You felt nauseous and a pulsing head coming on. Ugh, and you still have that job waiting for you.

Dante’s silver brows scrunch up. “Make what quick?”

You wave at the distance between the two of you. “This. This breakup. Do it fast so it’ll give me the adrenaline to get through my next job so I can pass out tonight and get some sleep.”

Any other day Dante’s look of sheer shock would have been hilarious- today just wasn’t one of those days. “You think? Heh-shit yes, I can see why...” He rakes a hand through his disheveled hair. “It’s not like that, I- I was running from my problems again.”

Your hackles raise in anger. “I’m a problem now?”

“What! No, that’s not what I’m trying to say.” He points to himself. “I’m the problem. I ruin everything I touch!” His hurt cuts through your aggression.

“Dante-” You have had this discussion before. “You know I don’t think that.”

“You should.” He cuts you off, his expression imploring. “I messed up-I messed up big time with you. I should have said something the moment I knew but I just locked up and ran, like always.”

Knew? Knew what? “Dante, I don’t understand.”

“I-you...how are you feeling of late? I don’t know anything about this stuff, different?” His eyes swipe over your dusty battle garb. You feel his eyes stop at your navel holding there too long to be considered a coincidence before dropping to your feet.

“I’m sorry.” His breath hitches, getting dangerously close to a feeling he had been bottling up for too long. You are quiet, doing the math in your head. He hears your heartbeat pick up, your breathing becoming fast and shallow.

“Get out.”

His heart sinks. What did he expect? Closing the distance between you he reaches for you, his hand hovering by your face waiting to see if you will let him touch you. You don’t move, don’t even look up at him when his hands cup your face. So he moves crouching down to get a look at you. Your gaze is blank but resolute.

“I’m sorry.” He tries again. You ignore him far too engrossed in your revelation. Idly you trace a palm down to your stomach before flinching away is burned. “I’ll-I’ll be around…” He trails off all steam lost. At a loss he does the only thing he can think to do and flees, disappearing back into the streets outside your home like the coward he was.

#devil may cry #dante x reader

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queenmuzz · 4 years ago

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Happy Mother's Day

I'm terribly sorry, this is supposed to be a happy day between mothers and their children, but you know how I am... Note: Set Between DMC4 and DMC5

Nero’s legs wobbled with numbness as he cautiously got off the bike, making sure that the motorcycle wouldn’t tip. He really didn’t want to bring it back to Lady with a ding in it. But when she had offered it to him to borrow, he couldn’t resist taking it for a spin. The vehicle was a beaut, lovingly taken care of, and...very, VERY fast. How that waif of a woman was able to hold on for dear life, he had no idea.

After he had steadied himself, he looked at his destination and frowned, looked down at the paper in his hand, and looked back up. The address was a match, but this place, right smack in the middle of downtown Redgrave, looked like a dump. A decrepit skeleton of what had once been a magnificent manor that looked abandoned for decades. Even though it looked like a prime location for a demon hang out, Lady had insisted that Dante wasn’t on a job. Nero had gotten the feeling she really wanted him to find the elder demon hunter.

Confused, and more than a little curious, he passed through the broken down wrought iron gate towards the house.

The overgrowth was tall and suffocating, but Nero noticed, just before what had been the entrance, a new path going to the left had been created, freshly trampled grass going around the corner. Nero didn’t see any other sign of disturbance, so this is probably where Dante had gone. So, he trudged along, wondering why of all places the man would have come here.

He pulled around the corner, and instantly came to a stop. Unlike the rest of the property, this area here had been recently maintained, the grass recently shorn (Nero had a sneaking suspicion it was Rebellion’s doing) A large oak tree, with bright green newborn leaves, cast a lovely dappled shadow upon the ground. And beneath the aged trunk was Dante, his back to Nero, facing a pair of granite stones. It took a few moments for Nero to realize...not stones… gravestones.

“Lady,” Dante didn’t turn around, “I told you that I didn’t need you here. I’m fine…” Nero caught the scent of flowers, specifically roses fluttering in the breeze. The young man awkwardly coughed, startling the man in red.

“Sheesh!” Dante rapidly turned around, revealing that the scent came from a bouquet of red roses in his hand. Well, nearly all red. In the middle of the bundle, was a single blue rose. “Didn’t expect to see you here kid! Heard Lady’s bike rumbling down the street, so I thought she was sticking her nose where it didn’t belong.” “Yeah,” Nero said, scratching the bridge of his nose. Had Lady used him as a tool to get to Dante? “You weren’t in the office when I came by, but Lady let me use her bike, and gave me directions to...this place.” He didn’t know the significance of this area, but it was probably very important to Dante.

“Did she eh...?” he murmured, slightly annoyed, slightly resigned for some reason.

“Yeah, Kyrie told me I needed to get out of Fortuna, to take a break from rebuilding Fortuna. And the only place on the Mainland that I knew about, was your place.” That was partially the truth. Nero had also wanted to ask if Dante would be interested in a business idea that Nero had come up with: A mobile franchise using the Devil May Cry name, centered in Fortuna, but he had the feeling that this was not the time nor place to bring up business matters.

Dante chuckled, and looked down at the roses he was holding. “I guess Lady didn’t tell you why I was here.”

“Nah, and I didn’t ask.”

“Welp,” Dante rolled his shoulders, the joints popping. “Might as well get this over with. You know what day today is?”

Nero was perplexed. It was just another Sunday in May. He shrugged.

“Ah, maybe they don’t do it in Fortuna. Here, today is Mother’s Day. Where kids and adults spend time with, and thank the women that raised them, and well… I’m visiting my mom.”

Nero felt the pieces of the puzzle falling in the place. Fortuna’s version of Mother’s Day was during the autumn, and Nero hadn’t really cared much about it, considering his background. But to Dante, the day was more significant.

Suddenly, he felt the yank on his sleeve, and before he knew it, Dante had dragged him towards one of the gravestones, the one that was older, and slightly more worn. It was simple, no words on it, but there was flowering climbing roses carved along the edges. The one stone beside it was similar, but newer, and there were no roses, just intertwined climbing thorny stems.

“Hey Mom, I’d like to introduce you to that kid I was telling you about. This,” he pushed the boy further in front of the stone proudly, “is Nero.” He stood there, partly awkward and partly proud at the thought Dante had talked to his mom about him. Dante hadn’t mentioned his mom much, but Trish had helpfully filled in the blanks when Nero had asked why Dante had a pic of her on his desk.

“Oh, that’s not me...that’s Eva, Dante’s mother. It’s complicated, but I was created by Mundus to look like her, to lure him into a trap many years ago. She was very important to him, and while I don’t quite understand it, I know that she loved him dearly she loved the bot-”

She’d been interrupted by Dante coming in the office, and Nero hadn’t pried further.

Nero tried to come up with some words “Uh...hi.. It’s nice to meet you.” God he sounded like an idiot.

Thankfully, Dante swooped back in. “She was a wonderful woman. You’d think she was soft and demure, but the moment you pissed her off, she was as hard as steel. I can still feel her pulling on my ear when she caught me sneaking into the cookie jar before supper.” He chuckled and winced as he rubbed his earlobe, “A fantastic cook, a wonderful violinist and… an irreplaceable mom.” Dante’s voice trailed off, and for a moment all that could be heard was the rustling of the wind through the grass. Strange, despite never meeting her, with no connection to this family, Nero had a feeling he...belonged here.

“She would have adored you…” Dante murmured softly, startling Nero. He turned to find the older man with a wistful, almost melancholy look on his face.

“Huh?”

Instantly, that softness, that rare glimpse of something seldom seen, was locked up behind a steel grin. Dante laughed. “It’s nothin, just me talking without thinking. So, what about you? You’re on the Mainland now, best time to talk about your mom.” Dante must have seen his sudden scowl, and placed his hands up in surrender, realizing this was a sore spot. “Doesn’t have to be your blood mom. Can be any woman that helped you grow up!”

“Well,” Nero mused, “There was Cecilia, Kyrie’s mom,” he explained, “she was a heck of a woman. When Kyrie brought me home after I’d gotten into a scrap with the other kids at school, when they took my lunch, after she made sure I was okay, she gave me a ham and cheese sandwich on two pieces of fresh bread. She was a baker by trade, you see. And every day after that, when school was day, Kyrie would bring me to her, and Cecilia wouldn’t let leave until I couldn’t eat another bite. She was always looking out for me afterwards. Making sure I got my school work done, mended my clothes, and then when the Orphanage didn’t have clothes my size, she got Credo to get me measured up so she could get me several sets of clothes. But most of all…” he continued, trying to figure out why his eyes were getting all watery. Must be from the newly cut grass. “Unlike the rest of the island, she never judged me, never made me feel like I didn’t belong. I…” he took a deep breath, “I would have been proud to be called her son-in-law. But she never got the chance to see Kyrie and me grow up, to become a couple… Maybe if I had been there when the demon attack...” he trailed off, feeling a bit lost and alone. He couldn’t feel the same pain as Kyrie or Credo had, but there was pain nonetheless. He was surprised by a firm hand on his shoulder, and looked up to see the older man giving a smile of sympathy.

“I kinda feel where you’re coming from. My mom, she died in an attack too…she died protecting me from demons.” That smile vanished as Dante looked down at the gravestone...not this mother’s, the one beside it. “Our positions should have been switched” he murmured softly, grief on his face, “things would have been so much different, so much better...” Nero was perplexed. Was Dante wishing he had died so his mom had lived?

“Well, if she’s even half the mom you claim her to be, she’d probably be happy that you’re alive, strong enough to protect yourself, and others….�� Nero tried to say what he was feeling, and it seemed to be what came from his heart. It seemed to do the trick, because Dante had perked up, and that mask of a grin was nowhere to be seen.

“You’re a good kid, Nero.” Dante said, and rubbed Nero’s head, laughing at the halfhearted scowl that earned. Dante looked up at the sky, the noon sun shining happily down. “Welp, I’m famished.... How bout we get our asses- I mean butts, sorry mom, back to the office and order some pizza. I’m pretty sure Lady owes me a couple boxes of them, for what she’s done…” Dante glared at her bike, barely visible from their location. Nero didn’t quite understand, but he’d never turn down free food.

“You go ahead, bring that bike back to her, tell her I’ll be there a bit later, just have to do a…” Dante looked down at the pair of graves. “A few more things to spruce up the place.”

Nero nodded. Obviously, Dante deserved some privacy, this was his mother’s resting place, so he turned to leave, his stomach already growling at the thought of pizza. He slightly worried he was turning out like the old man. Next thing he knew, he’d be having questionable tastes in fashion, and have a penchant for shooting old men in the head without explaining beforehand that the guy was trying to take over the world. Strange, he thought as he got on the bike, and looked back at the manor. It didn’t look as decrepit and creepy as before. Instead of a carcass of a house, it was a dignified memorial of happy times long since gone. A place that seemed to welcome him to return as often as he’d like. As he drove off, he remembered that he’d forgotten, in all the emotional unloading, to ask about the other gravestone….

------

When the sound of Lady’s engine had finally faded away, Dante let out a breath that he’d been holding in for longer than he thought. Damn Lady, trying to get him to break down and tell the kid the truth. Well, there had been a few close calls, a few words slipped out, but that façade had been maintained, with the kid none the wiser.

He looked down at the bouquet in his hands, and then at the grave before him. “He’s a great kid, like I said.” He sighed, “I know you’re probably disappointed at me for not being truthful, you were always a big stickler for ‘Honesty’ but…” he pulled out the single blue rose out of the bouquet, and spun it between his fingers. “Bad stuff happens to us Spardas. You, me…” he placed that blue rose before the newer gravestone, “Vergil.... I just don’t want that to happen to him. The less he knows...the better. He deserves the stability that we never got...” He placed the roses down, and knelt down, eye level to the grave.

“I hope, wherever you are, that you’re at peace, and that he’s with you, so you can tell him what I never could, that he was loved just as much as you loved me….” His forehead touched the cool stone, and a few drops of water splashed onto the crimson blooms.

“Happy Mother’s Day”

#Devil May Cry #Dante #Nero #Angst #my writing

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alighieri-sparda · 4 years ago

Note

Dante and pregnant wife

Dante + Pregnant Wife Headcanons

Masterlist | Rules

Hello, my dear anon! Thanks for your lovely request. I was not really sure about what you wanted exactly, so I wrote some headcanons for you. Hope it’s okay!

By the way people, I changed my posting pattern... again. Let me know if you guys prefered the other one!

- - -

Dante and his wife weren’t planning to have children at first, but they both got careless with their contraceptive methods at some point, and boom, pregnancy. When she decided to announce her pregnancy to him, the apprehension about his reaction was unavoidable for her to feel. However, when Dante knew her wife was carrying his child, his happiness was nearly impossible to put in words. It surprised her, who was cheerfully hugged by his almost teary husband.

Family is the most important thing in Dante’s life without a doubt. Even before his unborn child’s existence, Dante has already considered Nero as his son somehow due to all those events in Fortuna and his condition as a descendent of Sparda. Once he and Vergil were back from Hell, Dante felt more than happy to see his family finally getting along in its completeness.

So, considering that now Dante has his child, the one who will keep his bloodline, there’s no way Dante would feel happier. And of course, he also is extremely gratified for his wife, since now he’s eternally connected with the woman he would die for.

It is pretty obvious that Dante will become overprotective of his wife. Much more he used to be. His memories about her mother’s fate as Sparda’s wife are still pretty fresh on his mind, and the concern consumes his mind every time he needs to leave home for whatever reason. He avoids leaving for jobs and other similar things, just to be sure nothing will happen to his wife and his child.

But this leads him to another problem: money management. Dante is known for doing a lot of things well, but organizing his finances is not one of them. He obviously needed to be careful about it once he got married — and his wife also helped him a lot in that process —, but now it’s completely different. Another living being is going to depend on him, and it means that Dante’s gotta take more jobs to take care of his wife and child without monetary difficulties.

Because of that, Dante is obviously going to be far from home, even if it’s just for a while. It would be a huge problem, but Lady, Trish, Nero — and even Vergil — are there to help him with this situation. They’re all there to keep an eye on Dante’s new family. Lady and Trish are the ones who would stay with his wife during the period Dante is out there, while Nero visits them often to make sure everything is okay, offering all the help he could give. Vergil would just be by the surroundings, just to see if something strange happens and kill any creature who dares to approach Dante’s family. Vergil, in particular, hasn’t talked to Dante’s wife too much. But he’s aware of how important she and the child she carries are important to his brother.

His wife’s pregnancy made Dante a more sensitive person. He has, in fact, an emotional personality naturally; but this special part of his life made him want to demonstrate affection constantly, as well as becoming a more caring and soft person. Due to that condition, Dante always calls her at least twice a day when he’s on a job that requires a few days to be done. His questions are usually the same: “How are you doing?”, “Is everything okay?”, “Want me to bring something for you?”, things like that.

Once he’s finally home, Dante doesn’t leave her side at any moment. Dante notices that his wife’s emotions are now kind of unstable, so he’s always there to help her — his typical dorky style is still there to cheer her up if she’s feeling upset for some reason, as usual. He has no idea what pregnancy does to women at all, but he tries his best to take care of his wife and give her everything she needs, even asking Lady for some advice.

Is she in pain? Dante has all the medicine in his hands already. Does she want to eat a specific meal? He can get it for her. Something she needs is far away from her and she would need to get up to catch it? Stay where you are, miss. Dante will gladly forget he’s a lazy-ass and do everything for his wife. If she gets upset about being forbidden from doing mundane things, Dante will kiss her cheek and speak softly: “Just let me take care of you and the baby, okay? You need to rest.”

He even started to learn how to cook to make things easier, since she was the one who cooked in that house and couldn’t do so in her current condition — well, she actually can still cook, but Dante insists she needs to rest all time. He almost got the kitchen burned out at his first tries, but he learned the primary dishes pretty fast. His wife also helped him by giving some tips about which spices to use and the right amount. Dante is not the most talented cook, but he now knows the basics to satisfy his wife.

As the months pass by and her belly gets bigger, Dante becomes even softer. He’s constantly running his fingers on that special part of her body and asking her to listen to the baby every time they are about to sleep. “Hey, little one, how are you doing in there? Daddy wants to see you soon!”, “Is the child moving? Oh, I think he/she will be a little brat just like I was” are common things Dante says.

At this point, Dante is aware of all of her problems; and he’s the most patient person ever. As I said before, he became softer as her pregnancy went by, so it’s not uncommon to see Dante kissing her head or cheek, holding hands softly, and embracing her body carefully, just to calm her down. He knows how cruel this period is to her due to all of this hormonal shit and stuff, so he will do everything to make her feel as comfortable as possible.

When the special day has finally come, Dante stays by her side and no one impedes him from doing so. He wants to be there and witness this moment with his wife, supporting her at every single moment. And Dante gets what he wanted: he stands by her side during the child’s birth, both feeling indescribable happiness when the baby is officially in this world. It’s the happiest moment in their lives without a doubt.

#i basically passed out today #i'm exhausted #but writing it made me calm down a bit #dmc headcanons #dmc #devil may cry #devil may cry headcanons #dmc dante

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beyond-the-mirror · 4 years ago

Text

The Blue Eyed King’s Gift

Finally! As promised Part 3 is now ready.

So as you have seen in the previous chapter, this fanfic was partly inspired by Thumbelina (or Thumbeline, depending on the country you’re from). In this part, however, there are a few hints for the main inspiration of this fanfic, can you guess which fairytale is it?

Be ready though, this chapter is a long one. More under the cut.

Special thanks to @cheesysquid for beta-reading and putting up with my amateur writing. Thank you so much for everything, o master of writing.

Pairings: Vergil x Fem Reader

Warnings: None. Pure fluff and wholesomeness in this one.

Tags: @v-vic. If you want to be tagged let me know!

Part One - Part Two - Part Four

……………………..

Part Three

“Nooo! You pesky knights have defeated me!”

“Take that you evil dragon! You have been slain by the great knights Nero and V!”

Both twins giggled victoriously after tackling their uncle to the ground, causing the man in question to let out a hearty laugh at their adorable antics.

They were still in the middle of playing when the door opened. The boys beamed at the familiar, stoic figure that walked inside, clad in an elegant blue attire and a tired expression evident on his face.

“Papa!” The monarch welcomed the twins into his arms, their innocent smiles already soothing the stress out of his mind and body.

“My apologies for working until late little ones, there were some important matters Papa had to attend to.”

“But, you are still going to play with us tomorrow like you promised, right?” Nero gave his father a worried look, his lips forming a cute little pout that the king would never resist.

The last couple of weeks had been busier than usual for the Blue Eyed King, leaving him little to no time for his beloved children. However, all pending work had finally been solved just in time for the weekend, a perfect opportunity to take a well deserved break from his royal duties for a few days and instead spend them with his lovely sons.

“Don’t you worry, tomorrow I’ll have the entire day free so we can do whatever you two want.” The twins bounced at their father’s words, already excited for the next day to arrive. “But for now it is time for you both to go to bed.”

The twins wanted to protest in hopes of getting at least another few minutes of playtime, pouting and huffing in a displeased manner. But their attempts were thwarted by their uncle, who had a mischievous grin on his face.

“Your papa is right kiddos, it’s already late and all the good little boys must go to sleep. Unless you wish to fall victims to the monster that eats naughty children!” Letting out a playful roar, their uncle picked up Vitale, acting as if trying to munch on the boy’s little arm.

“Eww! Uncle Dante that is gross!” V giggled as he pushed his uncle’s face away from him, failing to make him stop his antics. Finally giving in, Dante lowered him on his respective bed before making his way to the door, letting his older brother tuck his nephews in.

“Now what do we say, my dears?” The monarch asked, giving his sons an expectant look while a warm smile blooms on his face.

“Good night uncle Dante!”

“G’night kiddos. See you tomorrow Verge.” The young prince smiled back at them, and with a salute, he retired to his own chambers for the night.

As Vergil tucked his sons under the soft covers however, his keen eye could notice Nero fidgeting a bit in his bed.

“Is something troubling you, Nero?”

The boy jumped at the abrupt question, hesitating for a few seconds before answering.

“Uhm, earlier you said that tomorrow we could do anything we wanted, so...” Looking down to avoid his father’s intense stare, the young boy took a deep breath before continuing. “Remember our friend (Y/N)?”

Vergil raised an eyebrow in confusion. These last weeks his children would mention her quite often, even though he knew about her existence before they even mentioned the name to him. He indeed recognized and appreciated all the good things this woman had done for the brothers, and it would be a blatant lie to say he wasn’t grateful for her kindness and hospitality. However, he couldn’t help but feel concerned after hearing Nero bringing up her name.

“I do recall her. Something you wish to tell me about it?”

The older brother glanced at Vitale at the bed next to his. He seemed unsure as to what to say, until a silent nod from V gave him the push he needed to speak out.

“Well, V and I were wondering if… we could invite her for dinner tomorrow?”

………………….

Another day, and yet the same routine.

Waking up, getting ready, cooking breakfast for your father and preparing all the goods to be sold at the market before departing.

That’s how it has been for some years now, and yet something felt different.

Lately you’ve been smiling more. Everytime you cooked, you would hum a cheery song to yourself. Your plants and crops would receive more kind words from you than usual, which resulted in better harvests, and therefore, better sales.

There was no doubt as to why there was more light in your life. Two reasons actually: two adorable little brothers that would often grace you abode with their beaming presence.

It was no surprise to receive a sudden visit from Nero and Vitale, always accompanied by their two animal friends Griffon and Shadow. Those afternoons became your favorites, when you welcomed the twins into your garden so they could play as much as their hearts wanted to. On days when you weren’t particularly busy tending to your father, you would join them in their adorable antics and games.

While your father’s attitude had sabotaged your childhood, one that you hoped could have been happier, there was no denying the bond you formed with the twins. Eventually you found yourself going through all your belongings from your childhood that you had locked away inside an aged trunk in your room. And much to your luck, you found some of your old toys still in pristine condition. An idea then hatched in your head, why not share them with Nero and Vitale next time they visited?

As you tended to your garden, you spotted a couple of familiar silhouettes approaching your family’s chateau, which brought a bright smile to your face. It seemed today they decided to drop by earlier than usual, nevertheless you still welcomed the brothers into your yard.

“(Y/N)!” They exclaimed simultaneously as they ran to you, wrapping you into a warm hug as soon as you kneeled down to their height.

“Is the bad man at home?” V whispered into your ear.

“The bad man is sleeping. Don’t worry about him.” You winked at both brothers before ushering them in and towards the garden, glancing around to make sure your father wasn’t around.

Every time you would always make sure to keep the brothers hidden from your father. It was for the best, as you figured it must not be healthy to expose such innocent children to a volatile and constantly inebriated man like him.

“So what do I owe this unexpected visit? You arrived quite earlier than usual today.”

“Actually, we came here to invite you to our house.” Nero announced in a cheerful tone.

V nodded before completing his brother’s words “We asked our father and he said he wanted to meet you. So he wishes for you to come and have dinner with us.”

“Oh…” Needless to say, the request took you by surprise. “Well I do appreciate the offer, but I’m not sure if I could really go. I don’t want to be a bother there, and I still have some chores to do here.”

A frown crossed the twin’s faces “Please (Y/N). We promise you will not be a bother, we really want you to go.” V pleaded, immediately followed by Nero.

“Yes, and we could play and have so much fun! Plus, we can show you our home and you can meet all our family and friends.”

“But…”

“Pretty pleeeease?”

‘Oh, be still my heart.’ you internally struggled as you witnessed the cutest and loveliest pair of puppy eyes you had ever seen in your life.

“Alright then” you sighed in defeat. There was no way you could resist the charm of those two. “Let me just change my clothes and we’ll be ready to go.”

“Yay! Thank you (Y/N)!” They jumped up and down in glee, a rather adorable sight for you.

And so you made your way towards your bedroom, leaving the twins in the safety of your garden for them to play while you got ready.

You rummaged through your wardrobe in search of a nice enough dress, if you were about to meet the twins’ family then it was best to dress appropriately and cause a good first impression. You opted for a light blue gown, not too elegant but not too casual, perfect for an afternoon meeting. Searching through your jewelry box, you opted for a pair of pearl earrings, a blue hair ribbon to tie up your hair, and last but not least, a beautiful choker necklace that used to belong to your mother.

The sight of it brought a nostalgic smile to your face. Your fingers lightly traced the small blue rose at the center, the single sapphire drop beneath it reflecting light ever so pretty.

Sitting on your vanity you began working on your hair, combing and styling your locks into a simple but classy updo. However, as you sat there getting ready, you couldn’t help but wonder what kind of family did the brothers have. By the clean outfits they would always wear you figured they must have a wealthy enough family. The thought made you feel nervous, would they approve of you? The daughter of a bankrupt, alcoholic noble with a terrible reputation? A once respected family name now tarnished by the actions of your father, you lamented how things came to be.

With a deep sigh, you tried to shake those feelings off. Your little guests were waiting for you, and you wouldn’t dare let those negative thoughts crush their earlier happiness. It was the least you could do for them, the little lights of your life.

………………….

“You are going to love our home (Y/N)! It’s so pretty and everyone is so nice and kind. Also, Papa has an enormous library! Right V?”

“Yes! It’s my favorite place ever. I can’t wait to show you all the pretty books!”

Nero and V bounced all the way as they pulled at your hands, guiding you to their house.

And yet you couldn’t help but wonder about where the boys lived. Your father’s chateau was quite remote, and not once did you spot another house during your trips to the village. But you shrugged the thoughts away, choosing to instead follow Nero and V while enjoying their company.

That was until you noticed they were leading you towards the dense woods.

“Shouldn’t we take the road instead? The woods could be dangerous and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

But the boys simply shook their heads. “They’re very safe, besides we always take this route.”

“Don’t be scared (Y/N). We promise you it’s going to be okay, you can trust us.” Both twins reassured you, soothing your doubtful mind. Should it be true they have been crossing the woods to visit you, then danger was nowhere near.

“Alright then. Let’s keep going.”

………………….

A soothing peace lingered on the woodlands. Birds chirped away despite it already being past noon, flowers of all kinds painted the ground in all kinds of patterns and colors, warm rays of sunlight shone through the many tree branches and bathed the earth in a mystical aura.

Never once had you paid attention to the forest near your father’s chateau. Whether it was out of fear of the beasts that could possibly lurk there, or the scary thoughts of getting lost there and never finding your way back home; entering there barely crossed your mind.

And apparently you weren’t the only one who thought so. As vast as it seemed to be, the place appeared as unmarked in every map of the region. Just a big, nameless spot too unimportant to be considered as a landmark by locals and travelers.

So it made sense to ask yourself, as Nero and Vitale brought you along into the unknown, just what kind of family would take interest in living in a place like this?

Staring at Griffon’s figure flying just ahead, you wondered how far you were from home, and just how long you had been here in the heart of nature. It felt like an eternity, and at the same time it felt like only a couple minutes. Now that you thought about it, why did it look like the same scenery repeated over and over? The same trees, the same flowers, the same chirping birds.

What is this place?

“Here we are.” The sound of V’s voice pulled you out of your thoughts. It took a few moments to register where you were, and after blinking a couple times, you took in your surroundings.

Never had you seen something so otherworldly.

A small clearing, barely illuminated by a few rays of sunlight, laid right in front of you. The irregular terrain of the woods had now turned into a layer of soft green grass. But what truly caught your eye was what stood right in the center of the clearing: A lone stone arch was there, tall and covered in moss, looking as if it had witnessed many ancient eras that were now long forgotten.

A dead silence veiled the land, yet the mere presence of the arch weighed so heavy in the air. It almost felt as if it were alive, an ancient being filled with sorrow over being the only surviving structure of a lost kingdom. You found yourself staring at it for a bit too long, not expecting to see something so out of place in this forest.

“C’mon (Y/N)! Our home is right there!” Nero tugged at your hand, taking you towards the stone arch in a hurry.

You were about to ask what he meant, but the words never left your lips as the twins pulled you to the other side.

………………….

There was a fairytale you were fond of when you were a child, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland if you recalled correctly. There was a particular scene you remembered, one where Alice stumbled into a rabbit hole, falling deep down until she found herself in another world.

At this moment in your life, you felt like Alice. Except instead of following a white rabbit into a rabbit hole, you followed two brothers across a stone arch.

You gaped in awe at the scenery before you.

The thick forest you were once in had vanished completely, now replaced by a vibrant city full of life. Everything looked so much different from the little village you knew, from the buildings to the shops and even the clothes people were wearing. You were especially taken back by the strange carriages that ran along the streets, impressed by the fact they moved around by themselves without horses or any other animal pulling them.

Not only did it feel like a different place, but also like a different time.

“Griffon, Shadow, could you please go to our father and inform him of our return?” As V finished his request, what happened almost made you stumble back in shock.

Shadow’s body began transforming into what seemed to be ink, heavy and shapeless, before morphing into a majestic panther with crimson markings glowing all over its body. Meanwhile, Griffon enveloped itself in blue sparks, growing into a demonic avian with three beaks and three golden pupils.

Both creatures, however, meant no harm at all as they bowed before the boys before departing in order to carry V’s order.

You were still staring at their figures disappearing into the crowd when a sudden gruff voice broke you out of your trance.

“I see you have returned safely, Your Highnesses”.

“Hello again mister Morrison. This is our friend (Y/N)!” Vitale greeted back. The man, Morrison, was a dark-skinned gentleman who looked to be in his fifties, impeccably dressed in a three-piece suit.

You weren’t sure if he was a noble or a commoner, if anything the exquisite clothes he dorned seemed to indicate the former. Wanting to be on your best behavior, you curtsied appropriately and introduced yourself to the gentleman before you.

“The famous miss (Y/N) herself. A pleasure meeting the lady that his highnesses have been mentioning about lately.”

‘His highnesses?’

“Uhm, if it is not too inappropriate of me to ask mister Morrison... exactly where am I?”

The man chuckled warmly at your questions. “My apologies milady. We are not exactly used to visitors from outside, I should have been more considerate though.” Morrison took a pause before continuing.

“Welcome to the Great Kingdom of Fortuna, Lady (Y/N).”

………………….

‘Well, talk about unexpected news.’ Said the voice in your mind, still processing what you just learned so far.

You learned that you were in Fortuna, a kingdom that exists in its own dimension, hidden behind a magical barrier. Nero and Vitale were also nobles, the beloved sons of a powerful demon king that reigned over this uncharted land. How mystifying it was to be in a land whose name eluded even the most thorough history lessons you were given since birth.

And now here you were, in one of those horseless carriages you had seen on the streets just minutes ago, on the way to meet the Demon King himself. Both twins kept giving you apologetic looks, their poor souls not expecting your reaction to be so flabbergasted.

Still, you kept reassuring them that it was nothing to worry about. There was no way their innocent minds would have taken that into account.

But now you found your mind drifting to what could be waiting for you at the castle. Judging by the recent events you had gone through on the same day, there was no way this day could become any more unusual.

………………….

His fingers ran through his hair for what had to be the hundredth time that day, despite it already being as pristine as always. Vergil sighed in frustration as a few bangs fell out of place and over his forehead, his bad habit of slicking back his hair already making matters worse.

“Hey now, cut yourself some slack bro.” Dante tried to cheer his brother up, brushing back his bangs into their proper place.

“Shall I remind you how this was basically your idea, brother?” He gave a deadly glare towards Dante once he stepped back.

When his sons had suggested inviting that woman to the palace, he was taken completely by surprise. Ever since the day Vergil had decided to isolate Fortuna from the rest of the world, the idea of welcoming an outsider has been completely out of discussion.

As much as he trusted (Y/N) with his children, and as much as Nero and Vitale insisted and sobbed, his decision was absolute.

‘But papa, she lives with a bad man. Her father is evil and cruel to her.’

‘But father, we love playing with her. We want to protect her from the bad man.’

He could see it, the true meaning carried within the tears that cascaded down his sons’ faces. They only wished to make her happy, get her away from the sad reality that was dealing with a drunken parent all the time, even if just for a day.

Of course Vergil understood, and he would be lying if he said he wasn’t moved by their sweet intentions. However, he just couldn’t risk not only his family’s safety, but also his kingdom’s.

And then his annoying little brother intervened.

How did he manage to convince him? Nobody would ever know, least not Vergil himself.

“I’m just trying to help here. Besides, this (Y/N) girl doesn’t seem that bad so what’s the problem of letting one outsider in?”

Vergil grunted, becoming more unamused by Dante’s words by the second. He was about to retort when his brother rudely interrupted him.

“Or maybe the reason you are nervous is because you always look at her image like a love-struck puppy.”

At his words the king became paler than a ghost. “I’m not sure what you are talking about.” He cleared his throat in an attempt to hide his own insecurity.

“Don’t think for a second I haven’t seen you watching over her and the little ones with your magic.” Dante winked in an amused manner.

Feelings for that woman? Ridiculous. Sure she may look identical to his late queen, and her mannerisms may be almost the same, but his beloved was long gone. And yet Vergil couldn’t help the way (Y/N)’s image tugged at his heart.

No. There must not be any feelings whatsoever. (Y/N) was just an outsider and that was it. Even if his brother kept bothering him about it.

………………….

As you stepped into the majestic palace, you were rendered speechless by its luxurious interior.

Immaculate walls decorated with elegant and almost endless columns, their architecture like no other you had ever imagined. Not a single stain or speck of dust could be seen on the white and dark blue marble floor, and all the furniture pieces looked to be designed and handmade by master craftsmen.

Your gaze fell on the grand staircase at the center of the entry hall when you heard a door opening, the sound making all the servants bow at the figure that had entered the room.

The Blue Eyed King himself had entered. A gentleman dressed in an elegant navy blue suit, perfectly tailored and made with the richest fabric money could afford. His chiseled face was strong and defined, like a greek marble statue come to life. His luscious white hair was slicked back, not a single hair out of place. To complete his outfit, a matching tailcoat dorned his frame, decorated in a regal silver brocade that resembled wild briars enveloping his figure in exquisite patterns.

Everything about the king’s appearance exuded perfection and beauty, but what really caught your attention were his eyes. They were an icy blue, sharp and piercing like a deadly sword. Those were not the eyes of a human but of a demon, one with the power to make entire legions kneel and submit with a single glare.

Needless to say, the king’s mere presence intimidated you. And when his eyes connected with yours for an instant, you swore your heart stopped. Whether it was out of fear or wonder, you weren’t sure.

That was until the children at your sides started giggling.

“Papa!” The brothers ran towards their father with their little arms open.

And just like that, the demon in his eyes vanished. Kneeling down, the monarch welcomed his sons into his arms, a gentle smile breaking the cold stoicism that once rested on his face. Gone was the sharp look he had just seconds ago, now replaced with a warm light at the sight of his beloved children.

You couldn’t help but smile at them. However, when the king stood back up with the twins in hand, you were quick to regain your posture.

“Lady (Y/N), I present you King Vergil Sparda, ruler of the Great Kingdom of Fortuna.” In the most refined and formal manner, Morrison introduced his lord, before gesturing at the brothers. “His sons, Prince Nero Sparda and Prince Vitale Sparda.”

“A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Your Majesty.” You curtsied, now regretting your choice of attire. A more formal dress would have been more appropriate for the occasion, but then again, you definitely didn’t expect to meet a King on this particular day. A sigh almost escaped your lips, and you dared to hope no one took notice of the gesture.

“The pleasure is mine, Lady (Y/N). I am glad you have accepted our invitation, Nero and Vitale have told me a lot about you recently.”

The children nodded in agreement. “Father, can we go play with (Y/N) now? Please?” Vitale gave a timid pull at his father’s sleeve.

“We want to show (Y/N) the castle!” Nero added with an adorable bounce.

“No little ones. Dinner is almost served and we don’t want to be late.” Vergil responded in a most gentle manner, yet firm enough to get his point across.

Both twins looked like they were about to protest when their poor stomachs rumbled in hunger, prompting you to let out a soft laugh.

Kneeling down to their level, you patted their heads lovingly. “Now my children, we’ll have all the time to play whatever you want after eating. For now let’s get you something to eat, hm?”

“And then we get to play together?” Again, the boys try to sway you with those irresistible puppy eyes of them.

“As much as you two want.”

The children would have taken off on a race to the dining hall if it weren’t for Morrison who stopped them in their tracks. The twins’ antics coaxed a laugh out of you, and out of the corner of your eye, you caught the king himself letting out a low chuckle. But the moment he acknowledged your staring, he couldn’t help but blush a bit.

“Please excuse my sons’ behavior.” He cleared his throat. “Recently they have begun their training in etiquette protocols, but i’m afraid they continue to ignore them each time I’m present.”

You shook your head to reassure him “Do not apologize, Your Majesty. Such an attitude must mean they see you as a loving father rather than a ruler, a person far greater than any royal in the eyes of a child, don’t you think?”

“An interesting point indeed.” Vergil hummed, letting out a breath he didn’t know he was holding. For a second he looked like his mind was in conflict despite the cordial smile on his face, but he was quick to shrug it off. “Please allow me to lead you to the dining hall. You must be feeling hungry after your trip from home.”

The King proceeded to offer you a gloved hand. His eyes remained fixated on you, looking as if they were piercing into your very soul.

A bit hesitant, you accepted his offer, your soft palm soon enveloped by his warm fingers. On your way to the dining hall, the pink tint decorating your cheeks never once left.

………………….

All kinds of delicacies lined the grand table in front of you, trays filled with the most delicious looking food you had ever seen.

It took you by surprise when the monarch gestured to the seat at the right of his.

“I thank you for the invitation, your Majesty. However, I do not consider myself worthy of sitting at your right side.”

“Quite the contrary, Lady (Y/N). Nero and Vitale have told me of what you have done for them, and they requested for me to invite you to our palace. This feast was prepared as a show of my gratitude for the kindness you have given my children.”

The twins smiled at you. Knowing this was their idea warmed your heart to no end.

“I.. I don’t know what to say, your Majesty, except... Thank you for your generosity.”

Vergil offered you a smile before taking his seat at the head of the table, while his beloved sons were seated at his left side.

You sat at the king’s right, feeling nervous to take such an important place at a royal’s table. However, you were even further surprised to see that the rest of the servitude, including mister Morrison, occupied the seats too. In the countless times your family was invited to a noble’s house, never were the servants allowed to sit at the same table as the patrons.

Nero took notice of your expression and immediately understood your confusion. “Years ago, we told Papa we didn’t like the table to be so empty every time we ate, so we requested him to let all our friends sit with us too.” He explained, whispering loud enough for you to hear him.

Vergil smiled with fondness at the memory before adding “It has become a tradition since then.”

It seems not only were they a light in your life, but to everyone that met them.

“By the way,” Vitale looked around as if searching for something “Where is uncle Dante?”

‘Uncle Dante?’

“Hello family! Sorry for being late!” A boisterous yell resounded across the dining hall.

Turning around, you noticed a man who looked identical to King Vergil, and yet the energy he radiated couldn’t be more opposite to that of the monarch. His hair looked tousled, a contrast to the king’s slicked back hair. He sported a bit of a stubble, and the suit he wore as well as his tailcoat were a striking red.

The man you assumed to be Dante was about to take his seat at the table when his eyes noticed you.

“Oh! you must be Lady (Y/N), sorry for my rude entry.” As Dante approached, you stood back up to offer a polite curtsy. “I am Dante Sparda. It is an honour to finally make your acquaintance, milady.”

The noble offered you a wide smile, taking your hand in a gentle hold before planting a chaste kiss on your knuckles.

“The honour is mine, Prince Dante.” Your response was a bit bashful to the mannerisms of the noble before you, so you opted for a polite smile before sitting back down.

“So what are we eating on this fine day?” Walking around the table, Dante sat himself beside the twins, who immediately jumped to his arms.

Turning to the monarch, however, his reaction was far from the joyous one the boys had. In any case, he looked more like the demon you had seen the moment you first saw him.

“Please excuse my younger brother, Lady (Y/N). Unlike my sons, Dante never had a problem with ignoring the proper etiquette.”

Trying your best to ignore the deadly look Vergil was giving his brother, you proceeded to eat the meal in front of you with a low giggle, just like Nero and V in front of you.

………………….

“Aww can’t you stay for a little longer (Y/N)?” Nero gave a sad frown.

As much as you would have loved to stay with them, the sun was already setting down in the horizon. You still needed to care for your father back home and prepare everything for tomorrow’s sale at the market.

“I’m afraid I can’t, little ones. But you are free to drop by my father’s chateau whenever you want.” You pulled the boys into a tight hug.

Footsteps reached your ears, and rising your head, you noticed that the Blue Eyed King was approaching you.

“Are you sure you wish to leave Lady (Y/N)? You are welcome to stay in Fortuna and at my palace as long as you need too.”

You offered the king a polite shake of your head. “You are very generous, your Majesty. However, I do not want to cause any more inconveniences to your family and your staff. Besides, it’s getting late and I have a few matters to attend at home.”

As you gave a warm smile, the monarch’s mind was once again transported to past memories long thought to be overcome.

‘There must not be any feelings whatsoever.’ He reminded himself, before banishing those memories from his mind.

“In that case, please follow me.”

As you were being led through the many halls of the castle, you eventually reached the royal garden. Flowers and exotic plants decorated the place, all of them aligned in impeccable designs and nurtured as best as possible. At the center of it all, was a structure that was already familiar to you. A stone arch, this one surrounded by a bed of breath-taking blue roses.

“This portal can take you back to your home.” Vergil began explaining. “Picture in your mind the place you wish to go to, and once you step inside you shall be taken there. Afterwards, the portal will close behind you, and you will notice that time will not have changed since your arrival at Fortuna. You are welcome to visit the castle as many times as you wish.”

You turned to the monarch a bit incredulous. Have you heard correctly? The King himself had just invited you to return anytime you wanted. You would be lying if you said the warm treatment you received that day wasn’t unwelcomed, after having to support yourself and your father on your own all your life this was a rather pleasant change.

“Your Majesty, I-I can’t describe how grateful I am for your hospitality. However, I’m still not sure how I’ll be able to find the way back to this place again.”

At your doubts, Vergil kindly answered “As long as your heart wishes to, the way shall always reveal itself to you. And as long as you have something from your own timeline with you,” he then gestured at the choker that decorated your neck. “You shall always find your way back home.”

You were about to say something when the King reached for your hand, holding it gently and raising it to his lips before placing a soft kiss on the knuckles. Each and every word died before leaving your lips, the feeling of Vergil’s pillowing lips on your hand taking your breath away.

His eyes fluttered open, his gorgeous eyes now fixated on yours as his lips parted from the back of your hand. All you could do was avert your eyes, a rosy blush tainting your cheeks. Never in your life had you felt so bashful, and as much as you wanted to hide your sudden shyness nothing seemed to work. So instead you turned to the children, getting down on one knee before them.

“I promise you we’ll get to play another time, alright?”

After one last hug from them, you stood back up and crossed the portal, departing back home.

………………….

Everything was exactly the way it was when you left, even your father who still remained inside his chambers in a deep slumber as usual.

WIthout any further ado, you continued with your daily activities. Tomorrow will be another day, and yet the same routine awaited you as any other day before.

Waking up, getting ready, cooking breakfast for your father and preparing all the goods to be sold at the market before departing.

That’s how it has been for some years now, but now something was definitely different.

Your thoughts drifted to Nero and Vitale, and then to King Vergil.

‘Maybe I should drop by again in a few days…’

#devil may cry #fairy tale au #fairy tale inspired #Vergil Sparda #vergil x reader #vergil x you #dadgil #Papa Vergil #fanfiction #fanfic #reader-insert

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shianhygge-imagines · 4 years ago

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Silver Rose [Vergil/Reader] {Devil May Cry} Umbral Angelo

AN: I managed to finish this one in record time, and am already working on the next chapter. I’m intending the next chapter to be a bit of a dive into V and Vergil’s mentality, so it’s going to be a bit tricky to write... and a bit long. (If you take a look into my masterlist, I’ve already titled the next chapter “Bury the Light” so I’m going to try extra hard to make the next chapter worthy of the song.)

On another note: I’m probably going to start using my handwritten banner for this series from now on. I’ve noticed that gifs are rather intense for loading on certain devices/internet speed... and I’m tired of looking for appropriate gifs to use. I may end up changing the banner once I get photoshop or something >.>

If you like the content I create, please consider donating to my Ko-fi! Please help me feed my tea addiction!

|Masterlist Link| |First Chapter| |Prev. Ch.| --- |Next Ch.|

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

15th June 06:03am

- V’s POV -

V watched as you raced to greet Nero with a flying tackle hug that nearly sent the one armed boy tumbling to the floor from the force of your excitement. The mortal half of Vergil couldn’t help but feel equal parts bitterness, sadness, envy, and longing as he watched you fuss over Nero with worry. As he was, V didn’t feel like he was capable of having a family. Not only was the mysterious man dying the longer he remained separated from his demonic half, but because he felt unworthy after everything that had transpired since the day his family home was burnt down. Although he longed for this, it was probably one of the biggest conflicts within him during the past few weeks with you… and one of the reasons why the days had passed with too much left unsaid.

“Nero! Light of my life! My reckless son!” You continued the embarrassing titles while straightening his jacket and hair, taking care to pat down the spots covered in rubble dust. “I’m so happy to see you! Nico did such a good job with your arm! Oh! But that last one broke-”

The demon hunter’s cheeks pinkened as his mother continued to fuss over him, “Mom,” he whined, embarrassed at the fact that a stranger like V had to bear witness to this. “It’s good to see you, too, but I’m fine. I got a spare arm here-” Nero gestures to the red colored mechanical limb attached to his hip, “-see? I’ll be fine. But enough about me, what are you doing here?”

Like mother, like son, I see. V mused with amusement when the pair of you completely ignored the dying Goliath. Shadow had stalked over to sit at your side with a content flicker of its tail while leaving his weakened master to slowly walk over. “Little wanderer…�� V addressed the dying demon, raising his cane to deliver the killing blow, “hie thee home.”

Just as the massive demon faded into burning ashes, you and Nero stopped your fussing to address V’s arrival. “Well, it’s a bit of a long story, Nero.” Your grin is sheepish as you pointed at V with two hands, “Apparently, V’s been living like a hobo before he came to Devil May Cry for the job. Since he didn’t want to leave Red Grave City… and I have a house here, he kinda stayed with me the past few weeks.”

“Uh-huh.” Nero crossed his arms and leaned on one foot, his expression incredulous as blue-green eyes flickered between you and V. “You expect me to believe that your old house is still standing after over two weeks of this.” To V’s amusement, Nero nodded at the rubble and chaos that surrounded them as he finished his sentence.

Kid’s got a point. Griffon communicated telepathically as it circled the sky above their group.

You pouted and slumped over slightly, “… well, it’s not standing anymore.” You looked saddened and bitter at the loss of your home, something that V understood. It had been the home Vergil gifted you, and watching the structure of the building get torn in two had been a devastating loss to you both.

Nero grimaced and uncrossed his arms, pulling you into a comforting hug. “Shit, mom. I’m sorry.”

“It’s uh, one of the reasons why I’m here, actually.” You confessed, hugging your son back. “I’ve got business to settle with Urizen… and I’m sorry to intrude, but would it be okay to stay at the orphanage with you and Kyrie after this is all over?”

“Do you really gotta ask?” Nero smiled gently, pulling away. “Kyrie’s been begging me to ask you to come over. So, just take this as a permanent invitation, okay?” The boy’s attention diverged to V, who had settled to stand off to the side, “By the way, V… Thought I was gonna have to pick you out of his… uh… tummy teeth.”

V didn’t bother hiding the smirk that appeared on his face when you pulled away to look at the fading Goliath and promptly giggled when you realized that the dead demon did indeed have tummy teeth. “Pardon our delay.” The mysterious man holds up the collection of William Blake poems to show Nero, “I was… catching up on some reading.”

Nero’s eyes narrowed at the book, “Yeah… looks like a real page-turner.” The young man remarked dryly. In the background, V and Nero both noticed your renewed laughter at your son’s dry tone while a section of the Qliphoth Tree crumbled. “So uh… you think Dante’s still in there?” Nero asked V, the pair now watching as a path forward was cleared by the falling debris.

“If Urizen defeated him, then I expect he’s not much more than Qliphoth pollen by now.” The somber words from V’s mouth put a stop to your laughing, and while he hated when you were upset, he would rather stay honest when possible.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- Y/N’s POV -

You knew what a Qliphoth tree was, so you didn’t bother paying attention to V’s explanation, preferring to explore the area for anything remotely useful or valuable. Shadow followed after you, its red eyes watching your surroundings in case a demon tried to get a drop on you while away from V and Nero. “V may very well be right about Dante.” You muttered to the demon panther as you nudged a slab of concrete to the side with a foot. “But we’re also talking about Dante, here.” You smirk down at Shadow with hope, “He’s always been the lucky one out of the Sparda twins. Whether it be a winning prize popsicle, or taking on a demon overlord… Dante’s always been able to pull through…”

When you hear the distinct sound of a car smacking against slabs of stone, you turn to walk back towards your son and V, watching with barely concealed amusement at Nico’s antics. “You know, Shadow… Some days I wonder what would have happened to us if Vergil had even half the luck Dante has.” Ignoring Shadow’s questioning gaze, you wave at the trio waiting for you by the van. “Oh well, forget I mentioned.”

Once you were close enough, you plastered a carefree grin on your face, “Hey, Nico! Thanks for looking after my reckless son!”

“Wha-Hey!”

You and the aspiring legendary smith ignored Nero’s indignant cry. “Ah! Don’t mention it, Mrs. S! It’s always mah pleasure!”

“Bullshi, then why do you compl-”

“How much does he owe you for a new arm?”

“Mom! I can pa-”

“Nuh-uh, Mrs. S. Don’t worry about it.”

“D-Don’t worry about it?! What a load of-”

“Aw! You’re sweet as always, Nico!” You grin, walking around to enter the van with V in tow. “I’m looking forward to working with you!”

“Ditto, Mrs. S!”

Poor Nero looks like he’s about to have a fit from his seat inside the van. You feel slightly guilty for teasing your son in such a way, but quite frankly, you and Nico were having too much fun. To rain on your parade, when V climbs up the stairs to stand just behind you, he leans over to whisper in your ear, “Perhaps you shouldn’t tease the boy so much.”

And of course his father would be against my need to tease. You roll your eyes and sigh theatrically, “Alright, fine. I’m sorry, Nero. Please forgive your mother?” You know he already did, but you bat your lashes at him anyways for the fun of it.

Nero just shakes his head and folds his arms, “Just sit down. I don’t wanna risk you two falling and breaking something because of Nico’s shitty driving.”

You and V take a seat to the soundtrack of Nico’s indignant yelling.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

15th June 06:26am

- Y/N’s POV -

“I think we should split into two groups.” V suggested as the group of you sat in the van while Nico worked in the back.

“… And cover more group. Good idea.” Nero finished, turning to leave the passenger seat.

“Three groups.” You amended, getting up to snatch the Totsuka from where you rested it. “We’re splitting into three groups to get rid of the Qliphoth roots, and I’m leaving no room for arguments.” You shot a challenging look at both Nero and V when they opened their mouths to protest.

“Wait, Mom. Are you sure about this? We could still get this done in two groups.” Nero stood up to stop you from leaving the van.

“Yes, I would rather we all play it safe as well.” V’s green eyes locked with yours, silently worried for your well-being.

Sighing, you lifted a hand to pat your son’s cheek fondly. “I’m touched that you’re both worried about me, but you both said it yourselves. We’re on a time limit if we want to stop Urizen. I have Nico’s number, okay? So if I run into any problems, I’ll make sure to call.” With that, you waved goodbye to Nico, Griffon, Nero, and V before departing from the group, jumping out of the van with a spring to your step.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

15th June 08:30am

“Maybe I should have stuck with V.” You muttered out loud, back hand-springing off the wreckage of an industrial building to land on a sturdier platform. A few moments prior, you’d been strolling rather peacefully along the city’s central boulevard… or what was left of it anyways. When you noticed a peculiar figure standing in a dead-end of the collapsed street.

Having just dealt with a few lingering red Empusa stalking the streets and destroyed a few bundles of Qliphoth roots, you were still on high alert. For a moment, you simply stared at the tall imposing figure before it clicked in your mind how familiar the shape was. The last that you had seen that figure was a dark stormy night. “Nelo Angelo?” You whispered in disbelief, yanking the Totsuka from a dying Empusa and taking a step towards the imposing figure.

Of course, the moment you stepped towards Nelo Angelo’s direction, it turned its back on you and jumped atop the rubble blocking the street, only turning to look at you briefly before walking away. You weren’t naive enough to rule out a trap considering how close you were to the main Qliphoth’s structure, but if that phantom was connected to a main root… you would have to deal with him anyways. Sheathing the Totsuka, you followed after the figure, eyes set with flames of determination ablaze.

Which led to your current predicament: scaling collapsed buildings and platforms as you followed the figure of Nelo Angelo. “Honestly, why does every incarnation of Vergil make it their life’s goal to be difficult?” You cursed when your feet made contact with another unstable platform.

The floor gave away just as Nelo Angelo stopped to turn around, your eyes connecting for a moment before you plunged into what seemed to be a tunnel made by the Qliphoth roots. When you failed to grasp ahold of something to stop the fall, you cursed and fixed your position midair. Ah shit. Stick the landing. Stick the landi- You tucked and rolled to absorb the impact from the fall, but instead bounced as you rolled, “Oof!” You grunted when your back collided with a fleshy wall.

“Oooo… ‘A’ for effort.” You huffed, out of breath as you clambered to your feet and strolled over to pick up your Totsuka.

It was… deceptively quiet in the tunnel while you regained your bearings. Red, fleshy, pulsating walls told you that you were definitely somewhere inside the Qliphoth, though probably not in its main structure… maybe you were within one of its main roots? When the walls pulsed rather violently, you grimaced and backed away from the wall, trying not to remember Dante’s comments about demons and vore. “Urgh. Too late.” You groaned, going the slightest bit green as you journeyed deeper into the tunnels.

The further down into the tunnels you went, the less light there was, until you were forced to use a smidge of demonic energy to see in the dark. You’d seen Dante and Vergil use this ability mostly for intimidation purposes, but you found that it was useful for seeing in the dark. With a simple blink, gone were your human eyes, and in their place stood slit pupils, dark sclera, and ethereal glowing light grey irises.

When light was at its minimal, a wail reached your ears from deep within, and suddenly you were sprinting down the tunnel. The closer you came to the wailing, you realized with shock that it was a baby’s cry. What’s a baby doing down here? You wondered, turning as the tunnel drifted left before skidding to a halt at the scene before you.

“That’s not…” your words stopped, caught in your throat as something tight and unpleasant clawed in your chest.

They stood before you, a family. They weren’t much more than shades… shadowy images and illusions… falsehoods… but you knew what you saw. A mother comforting the crying baby boy in her arms while the father stood by his wife’s side, helping her quiet the little one with comforting shushes and whispered words.

“Shhh, shhh, everything’s going to be okay, Nero.” The woman carefully rocked the baby boy in her arms. “Vergil, do you mind humming to him? He always did love it when you sing to him.”

The man nodded and gingerly accepted the baby from his wife’s arms. “Of course, Y/N. You should get some rest, it’s my turn to look after our son tonight.”

The woman yawned and rested her head upon her husband’s arm, watching as he began to hum a familiar lullaby to his baby son. “No, I think I’ll stay right here, Vergil.”

You watched, eyes transfixed with longing and melancholy over the scene. How you wanted this for your family. How you wished that Vergil would have stayed all those years ago. How you wished that Nero was your biological son. How you wished and wished, but your wishes never came true.

The shades before you vanished into wispy shadowy smoke before reforming into two figures and a bed. The tears that had gathered at the corners of your eyes fell as you stared in misery at the scene before you. “No. I don’t want to see this.” You sobbed even when you couldn’t tear your gaze away from the two figures involved in a passionate embrace. Your hands rose to cover your ears, not wanting to listen as a shade of your husband made love with a woman that wasn’t you.

“V-vergil! Ah! Harder!”

“Stop.” You begged, finally closing your eyes, but you could still see and hear the shades.

“Y-you said you had a wife waiting for you at home.”

“Please. Stop!” You cried, shaking your head, not wanting to hear or see any of this.

“Tell me you love me, Vergil. If you don’t care about your wife.”

“… I love you.”

“STOP!” You wailed, throwing a volatile pulse of demonic energy at the shades, banishing the scene completely until you were the only one stood in the middle of a large room filled with rubble. Huddling into a ball of misery, you wept, your hair now a dark silvery white to match the rest of your family.

“Why must you torture me?” you asked the figure stood behind you, though you didn’t rise to confront them face to face, still drowning in your woes. When the figure didn’t answer, you let out a bitter laugh, sniffling, “Figures. You never answer. I don’t even know what I didn’t file for a divorce all those stupid years ago.”

Still crying, you rose to your feet and turned to meet the eyes of Nelo Angelo, though its armor was much different than you realized. Though its eyes glowed red from within its helmet, and its body was solid, you noticed that wisps of shadow and smoke would occasionally fall off it like a fog. This entire time, I was chasing a shade�� Umbral Angelo. Probably a pawn of Urizen given life by the Qliphoth. Your grief seemed so intense that it felt like you were choking, but somehow you found it in you to be angry. “Of course Urizen would find it amusing to dance all over my emotions.” You snarled, drawing your blade to point at Umbral Angelo. “So, what! Are you a puppet as well!?” You demanded, taking a menacing step forward. “Are you a puppet to Urizen like Vergil was to Mundus!?”

Umbral Angelo seemed to flinch back, as if struck, but still it didn’t answer you, opting to hold its massive blade at the ready. Gritting your teeth in frustration, you charged forward, swinging the Totsuka in an overhead strike that Umbral Angelo easily parried and countered with a backhand, sending you flying backwards even when you blocked.

“Tsk.” You clicked your tongue in annoyance as you skid backwards upon sticking the landing, “Katana versus broadsword. Really should have taken Dante up on those spars.” You couldn’t get cocky here, you decided, widening your stance and sheathing the katana once more. “I’ll let you come to me, big guy.”

The shade knight raised his broadsword with both hands in a preparation for a lunging motion, the blade glowing and ominous purple before it blinked forwards. You barely had time to switch your footwork and unsheathe the Totsuka to parry the blow to the side before Umbral Angelo was upon you again. Being much smaller than the shade knight, you dodged the incoming elbow thrust by getting in close and under his arm, thrusting the Totsuka into a crack of the armor before pulling away and creating distance.

A growl escaped the shade knight as he too jumped away to create distance. For a moment, the two of you stood at a standstill, simply observing one another from across the room. “I don’t understand you.” The statement falls out of your mouth, eyes narrowing as you run a hand through your silvery hair. “You won’t attack unless I provoke you. You won’t speak. You just stand there!” When Umbral Angelo remained silent, you threw up your arms in exasperation. “Is it the grey eyes? The silver hair? It’s probably a little darker than those of Sparda’s bloodline, but- I’m getting carried away. Answer me!”

The shade remained silent, only changing its position from one ready to attack, to one of rest, stabbing its broadsword into the ground in front of its feet.

“Fine!” The Silver Rose is drawn and its trigger pulled in the blink of an eye, the single bullet hitting the wall just next to the knight’s head.

“…s…r…gi…” Broken sounds echoed from within the confines of the shade knight’s helmet as it shifted its position once more, raising its blade to swing. “…fea…m… w…i…”

Surprised, you could only jump to avoid the wave of energy sent at you from the swing. “Wait. What did you say?”

It didn’t reply, sprinting forward in a violent horizontal swing as you bent backwards to back hand-spring away. The assault of strikes was overwhelming as you were put on the defensive, parrying and dodging while trying to get a few hits in with Totsuka and Silver Rose. There were chinks in its armor, but very little injury to his person. Now that you were closer, however, you could finally hear what Umbral Angelo was muttering.

“…use your gift… defeat me with it…” The shade knight muttered, its voice an echo of something that was once familiar, but long since a memory. “…you must… for your own sake.” It pulled back just enough to throw another downward slash at you. “…please…”

The force of the strike as you block it causes the ground under you to give away. The knight is unrelenting as you struggle to lift the blade or even parry it to the side. You didn’t want to rely on your demonic power so much, but at this rate, you were bound to be defeated by a mere phantom.

A flash of light blankets the room in searing white as you call to your demonic powers. You can feel your body absorb both the Totsuka and Silver Rose as it changes. Before the bright light can disappear, you’d practically teleported to dodge the still descending broadsword.

You grunt in annoyance when you feel your grey hair cascade down your back, having grown longer than it was in your mortal form. Like Dante, your Devil Trigger causes you to take on a draconic appearance, tough silver, grey, and black scales adorning your body in a mimic of a knight’s armor. There’s a ridge around your neck and shoulders that resembles a high collar, protecting your neck from potential damage should the need arise. Your head and face are pulled into what looks like a snout, though your mouth and eyes seem to be stuck in an eternal grin of mischief. Behind you are a set of white leathery wings and a long tail. You have little practice with your wings in tight spaces, so they are currently folded into your spine, keeping them out of the way while you make use of your tail, probably one of the only weapons you have in this form besides your fists and feet. Though describing the appendage as a simple tail would be an understatement, as it is probably more like a stinger, its point, a sharp dagger that can shoot energy beams.

“If you want me to win so badly,” your voice is a hollow echo when you activate your Devil Trigger, “Then, come at me now.”

Umbral Angelo flies at you with another lunge, but this time you dodge and summon white energy copies of the Totsuka to lay into the knight while you throw in a few jabs and kicks, mixing the barrage of attacks up by occasionally backing away so your stinger has enough room to fire a beam of energy or two.

The assault is too much for the shade knight, and it is forced to create as much distance from you as possible. It looks like it can barely lift its sword from the damage you caused. Umbral Angelo drops his broadsword and falls to its knees, weakened and defeated as you approach.

“Now, let me ask again. Why did you show me those things?” You demand, releasing your Devil Trigger to stand as mortal once more.

“To show you the truth. To show you his demons. A part of him regretted. But a part of him did not. Before you face him again, you needed to know.” Umbral Angelo forced himself to reply, though his voice was weak. “There is… one more thing. He-”

Umbral Angelo did not get the chance to finish when a sword cleaved through his chest, killing the shade instantly.

You stood, wide-eyed, your face slightly splattered with dark blood as another figure bearing Nelo Angelo’s semblance stood before you. When it didn’t attack you, you wondered briefly why it had killed its own ally. And then, you heard a distorted demonic cackle behind you.

“A pity it wasn’t even useful to defeat his old whore.”

You had no idea what the hell you were staring at. A three headed woman fused with a giant chicken fetus. Wait… whore?

“WHORE!?” You screeched, immediately activating your Devil Trigger once more to rush the cackling abomination. “I’LL SHOW YOU A WHORE YOU RAGGEDY EXHIBITIONIST!”

“Oooh! I touched a nerve!” The abomination sneered before disappearing into a portal. “Deal with her.”

Just as you’re about to close in on the backend of the retreating abomination, you’re tackled so hard that you get sent through the floor and into open air.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once again, Thank you for reading! :D

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harlot-of-oblivion · 4 years ago

Text

The Devil’s In The Details

All work and no play makes Dante a dull devil. But he soon finds a cure for his boredom when a smokin' hot detective comes a-knockin' on his door.

The title and overall feel of this chapter is inspired by the song "A Girl Like You" by Edwyn Collins.

Chapter 3: Never Met A Girl Like You

You look up Dante’s profile as soon as you get back to your desk. The Lieutenant was not exaggerating that this man’s file is incredibly long; it almost reads like a fictional novel filled with colorful characters and bloody descriptions. Unfortunately, all these reports are real and if any of what you read is remotely true, then you really have your work cut out for you this time.

It all starts with the infamous demon attack on Sparda Manor, which is common knowledge to most locals nowadays. The only body found in the rubble of their burnt down home was Eva Sparda, the matriarch of the family, and the rest of the family was pronounced dead soon after the incident. You narrow your eyes at that little detail…it’s rather strange that they just jumped to that conclusion even though there isn’t enough sufficient evidence to back up the claim.

The next notable part of the profile is all about the escapades of Tony Redgrave. You resist the urge to facepalm yourself while reading about all the events that occurred under his on the nose alias. It all seems to be standard fare on par with mercenary work, so you skip ahead a little until hitting another infamous incident involving some crazy ass tower…a lot of information about what happened has been redacted except that the Son of Sparda was definitely involved as well as an associate only known as Lady.

You read ahead again and raise an eyebrow at the strange report about a beautiful woman smashing through his shop while riding a motorcycle. This mysterious woman is later confirmed to be another associate known as Trish. Then it seems he left to do some outside work, so there isn’t much details except for a few witness statements here and there. The most noteworthy detail is the sudden appearance of a young man bearing a striking resemblance to the white-haired mercenary known as Nero.

A memory flashes before your mind at the name. You’ve seen this young man before; it was during the Red Grave incident involving the demon tree. You did not get the chance to speak with him…all you can remember is nodding to a young man with short white while leading a group of citizens caught in the demonic fray to safety. And speaking of that debacle, you skim through the reports about Dante’s role in that devastating event, which again seems to be scarce except that he was definitely hired to take care of whatever or whoever planted that freaky ass tree.

From what you can glean from the extensive damage reports, complaints about disturbing the peace, and the high rate of death and destruction…it paints Dante as a womanizing playboy who shows no concern for the wellbeing of others, which makes him a highly dangerous individual. Your fingers tap on your desk as you carefully sift through the information you have just gathered, noting that some of the reports have a healthy dose of prejudice attached to them. A good detective knows that preconceptions should never be taken at face value when searching for the truth. So, perhaps he’s more of a flirty troublemaker with a pension for hunting demons, which has earned him quite the reputation among mercenaries and police alike. You lean back in your chair and mentally weigh the risks of seeking out this infamous devil hunter in hopes of ridding the city of another demonic threat.

The soft chiming of your phone breaks you away from your deep contemplation. You pull it out your pocket and shuffle through a series of texts from Carmen. A couple of them are pictures of the victim’s garage, specifically a set of golf clubs found in the corner. She goes on to explain that this could be the murder weapon, but she will have to run some tests to confirm her suspicions. You take out your sketchbook and update the depiction of the crime scene with a drawing of a golf club with a question mark beside it. The other texts inform you about the safe key and missing dog. Carmen didn’t find any kind of safe or lock box that goes with the key, so she’s just adding it with the rest of evidence for further investigation. And there is still no sign of the family dog either.

No surprise there, you thought while texting her back about your heated argument with the Lieutenant and your plan of seeking outside assistance from a demon hunter. You also let her know that Graves is fine, just shaken up from the missing body that could very well be the zombie bride she gushed about earlier. While waiting for her response, you check your email for the record of medical examiners that Graves sent, and you file a report about the missing body from the morgue.

After completing those tasks, you decide to grab a quick breakfast and do some more investigating before setting out to find the Legendary Devil Hunter. You collect your sketchbook and grab another cup of coffee on the way out, gulping it all down in a few long sips while you walk through the station. Your phone chimes multiple times as you approach the exit, but you withhold from checking it as you slip past a slew of reporters standing outside the station. All of them are none the wiser as you gear up for a long ride before hopping on your motorcycle.

You rev the engine a couple of times before zooming out of the parking lot with a loud roar, hoping that you can make it to Devil May Cry before closing time.

(A few hours later…)

Another day spent doing absolutely nothing, Dante thought drolly as he rereads yet another dirty magazine while rock music blares from the jukebox.

It’s late afternoon and there is still no sign of Morrison. The phone rang a few times, but none of the callers gave a password. Dante knew that business has been slow recently, but he’s going to die of sheer boredom at this rate! He leans back in his chair and props his feet up on his desk, not really ogling the half-naked ladies in the magazine as his mind wanders through less vulgar musings.

Dante’s life has taken one hell of a U-turn for the better ever since getting back from hell with his brother in tow and having a very awkward but needed conversation with Nero. Just the fact that he even has a nephew still makes him shake his head in wonder, and having Vergil back to being his old cranky self…it all seems too good to be true. But a few pinches every now and then, as well as some stabs from his dear brother, knocks some sense back into him and erases all doubt from his mind.

Dante has never felt more alive now that he has finally found his family. And it would truly be a shame if this tedious dry spell takes him out before he gets the chance to really enjoy it. Morrison better bring the cure to my boredom before I find it myself, he thought, absentmindedly turning a page while letting out a huge yawn.

A loud knocking echoes throughout the shop. Dante glances up from his magazine towards the entrance. Huh…that’s not Morrison, he surmises as more knocking bangs on the door. “It’s open!” he announces, not one to turn down a potential client coming to him directly. He tosses aside the dirty magazine as the door swings open to reveal an attractive woman entering the shop.

Dante’s brow quirks in curiosity as you look around with mild interest. “Well, well…what’s a pretty lady like you doing here?” he asks nonchalantly while his keen eyes roam up and down your form, already spotting the concealed gun holstered inside your riding jacket.

“I’m looking for the owner of this shop,” you inform in a calm and even voice while slowly approaching the landing area of his office. “Is that you?”

Dante smirks mischievously. “That depends on who’s asking, babe.”

“Don’t call me babe.”

Your stern voice startles him for a moment as you step up to the landing and pause by the edge of the carpet under his desk. You’re close enough now for him to get a better look at you; confident stance, sharp eyes, and a stoic face that could rival his brother’s stony expression. And yet it still captures his full attention despite your cold reception of his playful retort.

“The name’s Dante,” he introduces himself as your head swivels around, taking in every detail of his office as you walk around his desk. “And if you’re looking for the bathroom…it’s in the back.” Dante motions with his head as you get closer to the couch, which gives him an opportunity to check you out from behind. His eyes linger up your slender legs and the curve of your ass…but then he does a bit of a double take when he notices a knife hidden in one of your boots.

“Legendary Devil Hunter, Son of Sparda…and the embodiment of sloth apparently,” you muse aloud, stoic shell cracking a little as your lips curl into a grimace while examining the copious piles of trash strewn all over the floor.

Dante crosses his arms with a shrug. “I see my reputation still precedes me,” he quips back cheekily as your gaze turns towards the small bar in the corner.

“Please tell me that hasn’t just been hanging there rotting since the Red Grave incident,” you mutter in disbelief while pointing at the Empusa nailed to the wall with numerous swords and one small dart.

“What does a babe like you know about Red Grave?” he inquires casually while his eyes narrow suspiciously.

A subtle spark of anger lights up your eyes. “Stop calling me babe.”

Dante slides his feet to the floor before leaning over on his desk. “How about you give me the pleasure of your name and maybe I’ll call ya by something more your style,” he offers with a wink, hoping to rekindle that spark of yours with his flirty banter.

Your smoldering eyes squint hard at him for a moment, the fierce spark now glittering as you reach inside your riding jacket. “Detective Y/N of the Red Grave City P.D.” You take out your badge and flip it open to show him your photo I.D. as you move close to his desk. “And if you call me anything but Detective…I’ll show you why some of the boys down at the station call me Ice Bitch,” you warn with a low growl filled with simmering anger.

“Ice Bitch, huh?” Dante repeats while giving the badge a quick glance so that he doesn’t miss the show when the sparks start flying. “I dunno…you sound pretty fiery to me.”

Dante watches with fascination as your eyes burst with searing heat, but your entire face remains completely composed. It’s not exactly the kind of show he was hoping for, but there is still time to figure out what really lights your fire so long as you are here. There’s just something about you that begs him to stoke the flames flickering in your eyes…maybe it’s the way you carry yourself with utmost confidence around the shop despite the infamy around his name and reputation. Or it could be that fiery spirit hidden beneath your frosty exterior…all he knows for certain is this:

He’s gotta have more.

“So, what does the fuzz down at Red Grave want with a guy like me?” he asks, relaxing back into his chair with an amused grin, detecting another knife hidden up your sleeve as you put away your badge. “Wait, wait…lemme guess: you’re here to arrest me for being too damn good lookin’,” he jests, arching his brow while stroking his chin in a dashing manner.

“Last time I checked, it wasn’t illegal to have a scruffy beard and unkempt hair,” you retort smoothly while straightening out your jacket. “I’m here to request any insights you have about demons.”

“Well, you definitely came to the right place,” he boasts, dramatically waving his hands around the shop before tilting his head inquisitively. “Is this for a case?”

You raise a well-trimmed brow in surprise. “You catch on quickly…yes, it’s for a case,” you confirm, resting one hand on your hip while the other hangs down by yet another knife in your pants pocket. “We need to determine if demons are involved in a series of disappearances and murders.” You pause for a moment, blinking your eyes once as you tilt your head in thought. “There’s also the possibility of a Devil Arm being involved as well. And if either of those are true…” You trail off with a weary sigh before finishing your explanation. “Maybe we can team up and work on this case together.”

Dante kicks one foot up to rest atop his knee. “It sounds like you already know a lot more than your average cop,” he notes while his brow twitches with interest at your proposal.

“When you live in a place like Red Grave, you learn to pick up on a few things…” The spark in your eyes dims down while a haunted look flashes across your impassive face. “Never know when it might save your life,” you quickly explain, crossing your arms as your expression hardens, but the dull ember of your eyes glimmer softly.

Now that’s a look I know very well, Dante admits silently, having seen the very definition of anguish staring back at him in the mirror for years. “Alright, you wanna know more about demons…why come to me? I know for a fact that there are plenty of mercenaries in your area,” he points out with an exaggerated twirl of his finger.

“Because you’re the best of the best, Mr. Dante.”

This isn’t the first time that Dante has heard those exact same words. His usual response is to just laugh it off and comment about hearing it all before…but this time it’s different. The absolute certainty evident in your voice sends a chill down his spine. And the spark in your eyes is roaring with the flame of total conviction as you seemingly stare straight into his devilish soul.

“Hmm…you sure are painting a pretty interesting picture,” he imparts, fidgeting a little under your intense gaze, which makes him wonder if you’ve noticed just how tight his pants have gotten while talking with you. Not that he minds…but it seems you are more interested in business than pleasure right now. So, he brushes that notion aside and scoots his chair closer so that his arms can rest on the desk. “Look…I’m really flattered and all, but you’ve overlooked one minor detail: mercenaries and cops aren’t really known for working together.”

Dante flashes you with a toothy grin, hoping the reluctant act he’s putting on will illicit another feisty show. “Oh, I didn’t overlook it,” you reveal, quickly snuffing out his attempt at lighting the fuse with a shake of your head. “I just don’t give a damn.”

“Really?” He leans in closer over his desk as he pokes that wild temper of yours from another angle. “Didn’t know it was okay for you to break the law whenever you want and openly carry that gun just because of some fancy badge,” he provokes with a challenging smile.

Your stoic face contorts into furious scowl as the spark in your eyes ignites in searing rage. You quickly close the distance between both of you and slam your hands down on his desk, proving that he skipped lighting the fuse and just kicked the entire damn barrel into the fire! But it doesn’t bother Dante one bit as you lean in real close to his face over the desk, inflamed gaze boring into him while you launch into an explosive tirade.

“Now you listen here! I took an oath to protect and serve, and that’s exactly why I’m here now! I did not work my ass off for this badge just to waltz around with this gun! And I have no intentions of abusing that sacred trust the citizens of Red Grave have put in me!”

You pause to take a couple of deep breaths before continuing in a calmer but still irate tone. “Your expertise and experience with demons may lead to the break in case we need…and it’s what I need to uphold that oath.” The harsh scowl on your face softens as the rage in your eyes dies down to a flickering flame of hope. “I need your help, Mr. Dante…I can’t crack this case wide open and finally bring this insidious killer to justice for the families and friends of their victims without you.”

Dante stares at you in awe as your impassioned speech buzzes around him like a temperamental honeybee. He couldn’t help but to watch your lips as you unleash your fury upon him…wondering if your kiss would be just as passionate as your volatile rage. And you are so close now, waiting for his response as you loom over his desk like an unmoving statue. But your intoxicating scent ensnares his senses while an all too familiar presence awakens inside him. His heart beats faster as blood rushes straight down his groin, forcing him to subtly readjust himself under the desk while the devil within purrs beneath his skin.

The door behind you suddenly swings open before he can come up with some clever one liner about enjoying the show. Morrison strolls on in and effectively pulls both of you out of the intense moment as he starts talking. “Hey Dante! Word on the street is that a detective from Red Grave City has been snooping around and…Oh!” He stops in his tracks when he finally notices you. “Looks like you’ve arrived before the rumors, Detective,” he notes smoothly while lighting up a cigar.

“I’m a firm believer of getting the whole picture before putting my pencil to paper, Mr. Morrison,” you divulge coolly without tearing your fierce gaze away from Dante’s stunned face. The corners of your mouth twitch into a fleeting smirk as you straighten up your posture while backing up from his desk. “I’ll be in the city for a couple more hours. You can find me at the Simmer Down Diner if you change your mind…and if you don’t come around, I’ll just assume that your answer is no.”

You turn and step down the landing before walking past Morrison towards the entryway. Dante’s eyes follow your every move, hypnotized by your swaying hips and confident stride as you reach for the door. “But make no mistake, Mr. Dante,” you murmur, grasping the handle as you turn to look over your shoulder. “There’s a serial killer on the loose and I intend to catch them with or without your help.” Your eyes sparkle with determination with those final words as you open the door and exit the shop.

“Did I hear her right?” Morrison questions, puffing on his cigar as he walks across the shop towards the couch. “She wants your help catching a serial killer?”

Dante keeps his eyes on the door as he nods. “Yep. Seems so.”

“Huh…that’s something you don’t see every day.” Morrison takes a seat on the couch and flicks his cigar over a nearby ashtray. “What’d she offer you in return?”

“We didn’t get that far when you busted on through the front doors.”

Morrison puffs on his cigar in quiet contemplation for a moment before cracking a knowing smile. “You’re thinkin’ about following after her, aren’t ya?”

Dante finally turns away from the door towards his dear friend. “What makes you say that?” he inquires, casually leaning back in his chair while Morrison shakes his head with a soft chuckle.

“You never could resist a beautiful lady asking for help. Even when all they brought was trouble…you still hear them out and almost always take whatever bait they dangle in front of ya.”

Dante shrugs at his friend’s logic while pondering about possibilities of working with a detective. On one hand, he’d have to play nice with the police and not break too many laws if he agrees to help you. But on the other hand, he gets to hang out with a smokin’ hot detective with one helluva temper. And if he takes up your offer…his heart throbs while the devil in him purrs at the thought of reigniting the flame in your eyes and seeing more of this sizzling chemistry between the two of you.

“You know me too well, Morrison,” he discloses with a puckish grin. “I’ll let ya know if I take the bait this time.”

Morrison waves his cigar in the air as if to say told ya so as he gets out of his chair with a small flourish. He recalls the restaurant you mentioned as he steps out the shop, knowing it to be one of many greasy spoons in this area of the city. His hands are practically shaking with anticipation as he summons Cavaliere while a blur of different emotions swirl around in his head. If you can get this kind of reaction out of him already, then he’s gotta see where this may lead because honestly…he’s never met a girl like you before.

And now that he’s had a taste…he wants so much more.

Read Chapter 4

My Ao3

My Masterlist if you want more 💖

Tagging: @bettybattaglia @drusoona and @exsultry

#dante x reader #dante #devil may cry #detective reader #murder mystery #crime drama #eventual romance #the devil's in the details #FINALLY!!!#the moment we've all been waiting for...👀👀👀#hope you got your popcorn ready #the fireworks are about to begin 😏#harlot writes

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sethrine-writes · 4 years ago

Text

Devil-sitter May Cry, Ch. 7

Pairing: Dante x F!Reader, Vergil x F!Reader (Undecided)

Words: 2071

Warning: Vergil being Vergil

Story Summary: Low on cash and desperate for a job, you reply to a flyer for a babysitting position. Little did you know that the opportunity to watch over two special boys would bring your life so much mayhem and adventure…and, perhaps, a chance at a family of your own.

A/N: Whew, what a hot minute it’s been for this bad boy! I’ve not forgotten, just merely had a bad case of the “wtf should I do next?” But I got it figured out! Let’s get into the thick of it, shall we?

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Chapter 7 - Not Necessarily Needed

Finding things that both V and Nero could eat together had become somewhat of a challenge for you.

Nero was the child every parent hoped for - nonplussed by veggies or fruits or temperatures, and cleared his plate every time with absolutely no fuss. V was the complete opposite, finding issues with flavors and textures at nearly every meal time and only eating small portions, though you could hardly blame that last part on taste and more on his underlying medical conditions.

Since taking up babysitting them, you felt you were starting to learn how V operated, taking careful consideration of the things he wouldn't eat and asking what it was he didn't like about the foods he ignored. It was quite the conundrum, but you were more than willing to learn how to incorporate things in a way that would be more enjoyable for him during mealtime.

So, you had promised to make the boys a special dinner that they would both enjoy, keeping exactly what it was a secret, much to the lament of two curious minds. Another evening scheduled for babysitting meant you would be in charge of dinner for the boys, so it was the perfect time to try it out.

Luckily for you, the little grocery store on your way to Devil May Cry wasn't terribly crowded. The inside was much bigger than you anticipated, however, longer rows of nicely lined canned goods and sections for both a tiny little meat market in the back and a nicely stacked produce section immediately to your right.

Despite yourself, you were immediately drawn to the stack of packaged strawberries on display, their sweet scent enticing you into grabbing a carton, and then a second one, for good measure. They would make a great snack later into the evening, and both Nero and V seemed to love them, much to your relief.

You smiled at the thought of the two boys, remembering what you had set out to get in the first place and beginning your trek through the store to find the ingredients you would need.

Peering down the aisles, you scanned the shelves slowly and with purpose, almost missing the pair of familiar faces at the end of one aisle and having to do a double-take when your mind caught back up with you.

It was rather odd seeing Vergil, of all people, in a grocery store rather than at the shop. It was almost just as strange seeing him dressed down from his usual get-up, though the nice slacks and collared shirt looked very becoming on him. He also seemed a bit more relaxed, though you weren't completely sure if it was because of the different environment, the clothing, or that he simply felt more comfortable-

You were staring, you realized rather abruptly, blinking a few times as you reorganized your thoughts, almost wanting to laugh at how easily your train of thought had derailed.

With an amused huff, you moved towards the pair, catching V's attention as you got closer. His eyes lit up considerably, and you were sure he was smiling excitedly, though it was thoroughly hidden behind the simple cloth mask shielding his face from his cute little nose downward. It was a necessary precaution, you knew, but it still felt like a crime to hide his sweet smile from the world.

"Papa, look!" he exclaimed excitedly while tugging at his father's hand, breaking away seconds later to excitedly wrap his thin arms around your legs.

Vergil didn't appear too worried that V had wandered away, and part of you had a feeling that the demon hunter already knew you were approaching almost as soon as you stepped foot in the same aisle.

"Hey there, V," you greeted with a chuckle, carding your fingers through his hair as he pulled back to look up at you with happy eyes. "I was just on my way to the shop, but I had to stop to get a few things. Looks like you and your dad had the same idea, hm?"

"We don't have anymore soup," V lamented, leaning a bit heavier against you in a feigned show of dismay.

"Truly a tragedy," you answered with a mocked tone of seriousness, smiling and winking at V when he peeked up at you. His following giggles were too precious for words.

"Where's your partner in crime, huh? Surprised I haven't seen him yet."

"Nero stayed home with uncle Dante," V explained, his voice lowering to that of a not-really-at-all whisper as he added, "they're working on something secret."

"Vitale," Vergil spoke suddenly, his tone baring a light warning. V gasped and popped his little hands over his mask-covered mouth as he moved back to his father's side. His eyes still held a giddiness to them when he looked back up at you, however, so he wasn't in trouble, just being reminded to keep the secret, whatever it may have been.

You looked up at Vergil, then, who seemed to still be focused on the selection of canned soups before him, seemingly deep in consideration, though you knew better than to doubt how very much aware he truly was of his surroundings.

"I'm surprised to see you without your, ah, katana," you spoke as a means of small talk, hoping you had remembered the style of his sword correctly.

"It tends to frighten the public without need of it," he replied matter-of-factly, eyes darting to you for a fraction of a second. "Why are you here?"

The question caught you off-guard, and for a moment, you felt as if you were being reprimanded for something you didn't know you had done.

"I...well, I had an idea for a dinner the boys would both like," you explained while looking down at V and smiling, "or, well, I hope they do, at least. I just needed to pick up a few things before-"

"You're not needed, tonight."

The statement alone shouldn't have made you feel any sort of way, really, but Vergil's intimidating self made it feel like a jab in the chest. It was just the way he was, succinct to the point of almost too harsh, too serious at times, but it still hurt for reasons you could not explain.

You were well and truly confused.

"Dante said you both had a job-?"

"It was canceled this morning," he answered. "Dante tried calling you, though claims you did not answer."

Your brows furrowed in further confusion before realization dawned on you.

With a quiet, barely muttered curse under your breath, you reached for your cell phone in your pocket, flipping it open to find you had three missed calls and a voicemail from the shop, of which you had labeled DMC in your contacts. From the time stamps, he must have tried to get a hold of you right after you left for the bus.

“This stupid thing,” you groused, frustrated and just on the side of embarrassed for basically having left the house for no reason.

“I’m so sorry,” you started aloud as you pocketed your phone once more, “I should have looked before I left the house. Stupid ringer hasn’t been working properly...oh, but that’s no excuse. I guess...I guess just give me a call on my home number the next time you guys need me.”

An apologetic smile crossed your lips as you looked down at V, who seemed to understand that you wouldn’t be visiting that day and held a particular kind of disappointment in his gaze.

“I’ll see you in a day or two, okay, kiddo? Say hello to Nero for me.”

You then looked back up at Vergil.

“Sorry, again. I’ll be more mindful to check my phone before I leave the house, just in case this happens again.”

Unsure how else to end the conversation, you gave a curt nod and turned around, mumbling about how stupid you were for not having checked your phone, of all the days to forget, c’mon, it really had to be today?

As you began your walk of shame down the aisle, you were unaware of the way V looked at his father imploringly, tugging lightly at his wrist to gain his attention. You missed the way Vergil caught on to the look his son was providing, missed how the usually stoic man’s intense stare followed you for a short moment, how his calculating gaze actually softened just a fraction...

"We don't have plans."

You paused in your retreat, turning back around to fix yet another confused stare on Vergil, who looked rather stiff all of a sudden despite having done nothing but intently look over the cans of soup before him.

"I'm sorry?"

"For dinner, that is," he clarified, gaze cutting over to you briefly, purposefully. "Nothing set in stone, though knowing Dante, he'll want to order in, as usual. It's quite tiresome, eating from the same three places everyone can agree on."

There was a moment of silence as you ruminated on what was said, feeling as if, perhaps, you were missing something. You may not have known Vergil very well, just yet, but you knew enough to figure that he wasn't much for saying things without intent, and it definitely felt like there was some intent hiding somewhere in his words.

Vergil's eyes cutting over to you once more had you jumping into action at their piercing intensity, stepping closer subconsciously and speaking nearly without thinking.

"W-well, uh, I did have plans for dinner...for the boys, of course," you stammered through, hoping you had caught on correctly to what was being implied behind his words, "and it'll be another hour or so before the next bus comes around. I'd be more than happy to cook for everyone, if you don't mind me waiting around."

You could see the line of Vergil's shoulders visibly relax, his posture not as stiff as it had been before, and it took you a moment longer to realize that the seemingly apathetic man had actually been nervous over what you would say. The knowledge alone was nearly jarring.

There was no way a man like him would be nervous over a woman like you. What a silly notion!

"I've no doubt no one would object to your presence, or your cooking, if the praises of young minds are anything to go by," Vergil responded coolly, "though for your recipe, do keep in mind how voracious the two at home can be."

"I've seen how much Nero puts away," you mused with a chuckle, "so I can only imagine what Dante is like. I'll make sure to double everything."

"If cost is any concern," Vergil spoke up suddenly, finally meeting you head-on for the first time during your impromptu meeting, "I'm prepared to cover anything you hadn't anticipated in your budget."

The sincerity behind his words was...actually rather sweet, if you thought about it. Granted, you hadn't anticipated needing to double the recipe, but you were certain you had enough to cover everything you needed. Still, that he had offered to pay the extra was actually very kind of him.

"I should be able to cover it," you answered with a smile. "Dinner's on me, tonight. You can cook for me, next time."

You meant it as a joke, following up your nonchalant words with a light chuckle. It was a moment too late that you realized your joke could have been misinterpreted or in poor taste, however, and you nearly spluttered in your haste to rectify yourself.

"Oh, I-I didn't mean it like- what I meant was-"

"It would only be fair," Vergil cut in, his icy gaze having moved back to the canned goods as he finally selected something from the shelf and placed it in his hand-held basket.

"Right, yes," you agreed in a rush of breath, mentally hitting yourself for being so damnably awkward in that moment.

You were a trainwreck, truly. And it wasn't even a Monday!

"I'll just...go grab everything, then. I'll, uh, meet you at the strawberries when I'm done?"

You were met with an affirmative hum, followed by V's excited little gasp as he looked up at Vergil, speaking for the first time since you had addressed his father with a much more chipper outlook.

"Ooh, strawberries?! Papa, can we get some?"

Perhaps you would only need one carton of the fruit, after all.

------

Tag List: @v-vic, @astridstark13

#dmc #devil may cry #dmc dante #dmc vergil #dmc nero #dmc v #dmc au #kid nero #kid v #reader #reader-insert #female reader #babysitter au

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subarublue · 4 years ago

Text

Sparda Family Bonding Time Series - Part 4

Series Description: It’s family bonding time! Sparda family style! A series of short stories revolving around platonic familial relationships between the members of the DMC crew. Warning: Lots of fluff and bonding ahead.

One Shot

Title: Through Thick and Thin

Fandom: Devil May Cry

Timeline: Post DMC5

Rating: Teen

Word Count: 2622

Read on Ao3

Summary: “You’ve been around through all my shit and you’re still here. Good friends are a rare thing in our line of work, so maybe it’s not really saying much, but still…you’re the best friend I’ve got.”

Notes: Always thought that if Dante considered anyone to be his best friend, it would probably be Lady.

She saw him look up from his magazine the second she stepped inside the office. He was seated at his desk, feet propped up on the sturdy wooden surface reading a magazine as if he’d never even been gone. There was a brief moment where he looked hopeful; probably thinking she might be a client so he could start making some money after being gone for so long, but when her dual colored gaze met his ice blue one, he gave her a wry grin.

One day. Dante and Vergil hadn’t been back from the underworld for one day and she’d managed to find out about it and was already paying him a visit. Lady admitted to herself that she had been a little worried about him, so she was glad he was finally home and, from the looks of it, unhurt. She could only imagine what it was like spending so much time in the underworld; especially when you’re hated by devils like he was.

She could see it in his eyes that he was expecting her to be bringing trouble along already. Not that she was a magnet for it or anything; more like trouble was a magnet for her. She was the one who went looking for it...purposefully...so she could shoot it.

Or shoot him. Really she was prone to either, and she knew she was a damn good shot; she rarely missed. And boy, did she have a good reason to shoot him this time.

“I see you’re finally back in one piece,” she said with a smile as she strode up to his desk.

“Missed me that much you just had to see me as soon as I got back, did ya?”

She cocked her eyebrow at him as if to say ‘really?’ He probably thought she wasn’t in the mood for his antics, but truthfully she couldn’t have been happier that spending so long in the underworld hadn’t changed him. She’d been really worried when that first couple of weeks had stretched into months. And though she would never admit it to his face out loud, she had missed him...a lot.

But now that she knew he was back, unharmed, and still the same old Dante, she had a bone to pick with him.

“Where’s Vergil? I assume he’s gonna be staying with you for at least a little while, right?” It made the most sense, seeing as how Vergil pretty much had no one to turn to except for Dante and his son. And since he didn’t really know his son at all yet, he probably felt like Dante was his only choice (other than living on the street or something like that), even though she was certain Nero would have taken him in, regardless.

“Yeah, but he’s not here at the moment.” Just the opportunity she was looking for.

“Good ‘cause I wanted to talk to you about him without him here.” Her no-nonsense tone had Dante sighing and flopping his magazine onto his desk.

“Thank you for all that concern over my well-being, by the way.” His voice was dripping with sarcasm, but now she wasn’t in the mood for his antics.

“Can it, Dante. Try to be serious for a change.” She knew that was a tall order for the man, but this was important. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

When she made no move to elaborate further, his confusion became evident. “Tell you what?” Obviously, he had no clue what she was talking about.

Which to be fair, wasn’t really his fault. He’d been gone for a long time and who knows what he’d had to do to keep going while stuck in the underworld, even if he hadn’t been alone this time. But that didn’t mean he was getting off the hook that easily.

“That Urizen and V were really Vergil.” She watched his expression slacken into surprise. “I mean, you knew, didn’t you?” Her accusing glare meant she expected the truth out of him and no beating around the bush, either.

He sighed again, a resigned sound that told her he knew he wasn’t getting out of this without some form of an explanation. Whether or not it would be what she was looking for still remained to be seen.

“Urizen, yes. V, no. Things might have turned out differently if I’d figured that one out a little sooner than right as he was putting himself back together,” he said casually.

“You think?!” She felt herself getting a little annoyed with his nonchalant attitude over the whole thing. She took a deep breath to try and calm down. He did just get back from the underworld yesterday and was going to be adjusting back to normal life for a while. Once she felt like she could say something without yelling at him (though the annoyance was still clear in her tone), she continued, “You still should have told me...and Trish, too! We would have handled the situation a lot differently if we’d known.”

She knew he knew she was right when he didn’t respond and couldn’t even look her in the eye. She’d known him long enough to know what was eating him up at the moment: guilt. They’d suffered for his choice and she knew that didn’t sit well with him.

She decided to ease up on him. Yeah, him not saying anything had ended badly for her and Trish, but that was the risk all hunters took when going into a job. Besides, he obviously hadn’t meant for it to turn out the way it had. And it all worked out in the end for everyone...well, mostly. He and his brother still got stuck in the underworld for a while so she supposed she could cut him some slack for that.

“So why didn’t you?” The softened timbre of her voice drew him out of the very likely self- deprecating thoughts he was lost in.

“Hmm?”

“Tell us, I mean.”

Dante just shrugged. “Don’t really know.”

And there went her trying to be nice; right out the proverbial window. He was being difficult and he knew it. She scoffed. Fine. If he was going to play it like that, she wasn’t going to make him talk, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to make sure he knew she wasn’t happy with him.

“And here I thought we were friends,” she said it with such seriousness that it startled him into looking up at her suddenly. She could tell he was wondering if she really meant it or not.

“We are,” he said carefully. His eyes narrowed at her; a silent challenge just daring her to dispute it...

...but she wasn’t backing down, either. That was something she never did and he knew it.

“Yeah well, you sure have a funny way of treating your friends.” By funny she of course meant horrible. Now she was angry and it showed. The least he could have done was given her his reasons for keeping Urizen’s true identity a secret, but now she’d had enough. Talking like this was only going to end with an argument between them and she’d already decided she wasn’t going to force it out of him, even if it was tempting.

She turned on her heel and stalked back to the door, fully intent on leaving.

“Best, actually,” he said it so quietly she’d missed it, but it was still loud enough that she knew he’d said something, even if she didn’t know what.

She stopped just as her hand touched the doorknob. “What was that?” She twisted to face him, her expression giving away her displeasure with him at the moment.

“Best,” he repeated it louder this time as he looked at her. “You’re my best friend.”

Her eyes widened in surprise at his admission. He’d said it so seriously she couldn’t help but be taken aback for a moment. Yeah, they’d been friends for over two decades now, but he didn’t really mean that...did he?

A sudden wave of emotion hit her and she struggled not to let it show. Her worry for him while he was gone and the relief she felt now that he was back on top of what he’d just blatantly admitted was overwhelming her. So she handled it the only way she knew how; brush it off like it was nothing.

“Stop joking around, Dante. I’m not in the mood, anymore.” She turned back to the door. She needed to go and get herself back under control, but she didn’t even get the door open before he was speaking again.

“I ain’t joking. You’ve known me longer than anyone, save Vergil.”

When she turned to look back at him yet again, he’d gotten up and was now leaning against his desk. The look on his face was serious and very uncharacteristic for him. It seemed he’d done a lot of thinking while stuck in the underworld; about his life and the people in it.

“You’ve been around through all my shit and you’re still here. Good friends are a rare thing in our line of work, so maybe it’s not really saying much, but still…you’re the best friend I’ve got.” He hesitated a bit at the end, actually starting to look a bit embarrassed at admitting such a thing to her.

Lady was just stunned. He’d never said anything about feeling that way about their friendship before, but looking back it kind of made sense. There was a dynamic between them that neither had with anyone else in their lives.

She couldn’t fight the upward twitch of her lips, as much as she tried. Was she still annoyed with him? Yes, of course she was. He’d worried her; worried everyone, really. And then he came back like nothing had changed and wouldn’t even give her an answer to the question she’d asked.

But he’d also just admitted something very personal. That was very much something he wasn’t inclined to do often, if ever at all. He didn’t like feeling vulnerable, especially emotionally. She would know after all; she was the same way. And so her anger had now simmered down somewhat.

“Don’t get all soft on me now. I’ll start to think you’re possessed and may be tempted to shoot you to make sure.” She leaned back against the door with a smirk.

He chuckled at that. “Wouldn’t be normal if you didn’t.”

Normal. A memory came unbidden to her of a time in their lives when they were much younger; just barely adults, really. Dante dressed in nothing but his signature red coat, pants, and boots; no shirt of course. And her, in a mini skirt, toting guns around a crazy tower. He’d saved her life then; and she’d shot him in the head for it. Luckily, he was half devil. If he hadn’t been, neither one of them would probably be standing here today.

The silence stretched on for a bit, but neither was uncomfortable in it; evidence of just how long they’d been friends. She was about to finally tell him she’d see him again soon and leave, when he spoke first.

“I didn’t want to believe it.” He looked nervous now, but she wasn’t sure what he was talking about at first.

“Huh?”

“Urizen. I didn’t want to believe that was Vergil. That’s why I didn’t say anything. Somehow, telling someone else made it feel...true. Guess I just couldn’t accept that.” A guilty look fell over his face again. “And you paid for it. Trish, too. I’m sorry for that. You shouldn’t have even been there. It was my shit to deal with.”

At first all she could do was just stare at him her mouth slightly agape in mild surprise. He actually told her. She hadn’t expected him to just come out with it without some more prodding, much less apologize for it; at least not to her face. He was the type that preferred to apologize with his actions rather than words.

Her surprise didn’t last long. She pushed off the door and walked over to his bar, only stopping to grab a bottle of his favorite whiskey and a couple of glasses before heading back to his desk. When she reached him, she set the glasses down and poured one for each of them. She handed him one, noting that his wry smile was back finally.

“Your shit to deal with, huh? Well, what are best friends for if not for putting up with all your shit?” She held up her glass with a smile.

He laughed at that. “Guess I’m stuck with you then.” He clinked her glass with his own and they both knocked back their drinks. As Dante sat back down in his chair, Lady took a seat on top of his desk and proceeded to pour them each another round.

“Actually, there’s one more thing that I should be pissed at you for.”

He gave an exasperated groan, “What now?”

She could tell by that he had no clue what she was about to bring up, and while he should have known, she couldn’t really blame him. It had happened right before he left, and then spending so much time in the underworld he had probably forgotten all about it while trying to focus on surviving.

That didn’t mean she was letting him off the hook for this either, though.

“Two words,” she said as she took another drink, “Kalina Ann.”

She watched as his face fell, suddenly remembering the fact that Nico had ‘rented’ her beloved weapon to him before he booked it with his brother to the underworld.

“Ah shit!” His exclamation told her everything she needed to know about the fact that he likely couldn’t remember what happened to the Kalina Ann II, meaning she wouldn’t be getting it back.

Which, in and of itself wasn’t a problem; she’d already had Nico make her a new one almost as soon as she’d heard from Nero he wouldn’t be back for a while. She still had work to do, after all. But there was still the matter of paying for the rental use and subsequent loss of her property left to deal with.

“Don’t worry about it so much. Since we’re best friends and all, I won’t make you pay me back for it...” she paused for a moment, watching in amusement as his expression turned to relief briefly, before she continued, “...right away.”

His jaw went slack at that. “Seriously!? I haven’t worked since I left! How the hell am I supposed to pay you back for that?!”

“Relax. I can wait. After all I’m used to waiting when it comes to you owing me. And I won’t even charge you interest, you know, since you’re a bum and haven’t had a job in a while.”

The deadpan stare he was giving her only had her grinning madly at him.

“Gee thanks. You’re so generous.” He reached for the bottle, suddenly needing another strong drink.

“What can I say? I’m just a great friend.” A thought suddenly occurred to her then and Dante might have been worried had he noticed the new wicked grin that spread across her face while he poured himself another shot. She couldn’t resist the temptation that presented itself.

“Maybe I should start coming to you with all my girl talk now, huh? You know, since we’re besties and all.”

Dante’s hand jerked, almost spilling the bottle he was holding and all Lady could do was laugh at the mildly horrified look on his face at her suggestion. It was priceless...and one she wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.

← Part 3 • Part 4 of this series • Part 5 (WIP)

#dmc #devil may cry fanfiction #dmc dante #dmc lady #friendship #best friends #devil may cry #my writing #suby scrawls

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dreaming-gamer · 4 years ago

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Hello, dear!😍😍😍❤❤❤

May I request for the dmc boys, especially our boys V and Nero, as dogs?👀👀👀

Like, if they are turned into dogs? What will happen?👀👀👀

You can answer it anytime you want, take your precious time, dear! I really love your works, and I hope you like this request of mine☺☺☺❤❤❤😍😍😍

Hello dearie! ❤️❤️❤️ Thank you so much for your sweet words and this request! I had a lot of fun with it ❤️❤️❤️ Sorry it took me so long to get it done. I hope you’ll like it! 😄😄😄❤️❤️❤️

Random headcanon (or short story): A day as dogs

Upon investigating a library filled to the brim with demonic lore, Nero and V have an unfortunate run-in with a magical trap. After suddenly being emerged in a cloud of smoke both of them find themselves in canine form. And when Griffon emerges, seeing them suddenly on four paws, his cackling laughter echoes throughout the room until Shadow growls at him.

Nero:

His first thought when being turned into a dog: Okay, something feels reeeally different. His sense of smell is a lot sharper but why does it feel like some of the colors of the world dimmed?

His second thought: What the hell?

It’s so radically different from his Devil Trigger form, having two extra arms was pure instinct, easy to control but suddenly finding himself on all fours on two sets of paws and no thumbs to grip stuff? With something swishing behind him, oh, that’s a tail and it’s long and fluffy, how will Kyrie react, how is he supposed to go back to human?!

And when his questions all come out in the form of barks, an equal amount of disbelief and anger sets in. Griffon’s laughter doesn’t help but his first uncoordinated attempts to get to the bird are very ineffective.

Nero wants back to his human form NOW and Nico might not be a scientist but her self-proclaimed genius brain-cells have got to be able to find a solution, right?

White, fluffy fur all over him, he’s taken on the form of a Samoyed dog and he just knows Nico will make fun of him for it, but what other choice do they have? They need her help.

Carries the Red Queen in his mouth but has to ask Shadow to bring the Blue Rose along, his tail can’t really grab anything like his wings could.

He can even understand Shadow now, what. Is. Going. On. And she’s slightly taller than him. It’s so weird, being stuck on all fours.

Nero doesn’t want Kyrie to find out, she will be so worried and he just wants to go back to his old self. Unfortunately, since Nico has no clue how to fix this, she enlists Kyrie’s help in looking for whatever can help. The crew of Devil May Cry is away on their own missions and Nero takes that as a small blessing, as Dante would NEVER let him hear the end of it if he found out about this.

Kyrie has a hard time to not just smile at Nero’s adorable, fluffy Samoyed form. If Nero could blush in dog form he so would, especially as she looks at him with such adoration. But when that initial reaction is over, she is of course worried, wanting to know how and why this happened and what they can do about it to get him back to his true self.

They don’t tell the kids at the orphanage about it, but since he can’t do a lot to help in this dog form, Nero keeps an eye on them and they end up dragging him into playing with them. Who knew it could be so fun to play catch? Don’t tell Nico he said that. The kids absolutely adore him and Nero is 100% expecting them to beg Kyrie for permission to keep him, or for them to get another dog very soon...

This is… peculiar. He’s now a Belgian Sheepdog, specifically a Groenendael, a long-haired black dog. The shift in how tall everything is compared to him suddenly is quite staggering.

He immediately makes his brain go through magic, rituals, demons, whatever on earth could have caused this particular condition in the two of them. Never has he heard of anything like it.

His familiars are still available to him and Griffon’s laughter is not helping even a little. The avian even takes to calling him pet names of the more canine variety in his moments of glee. It’s not “Princess” or “Shakespeare” no more, here comes “Fido” and “Sir Pooch”, to V’s slight annoyance.

Shadow on the other time is confused, but delighted. Her master is now around her size and it gives her joy to be able to look after him more properly. V can also communicate with her more directly now, actually able to tell what she wishes to say without having to ask for an interpretation from Griffon, or by judging from her feelings that get transmitted through their bond.

V is surprised at how happy she is about the whole situation, but ultimately it’s a warm feeling spreading in his chest at how much of a mothercat she is towards him, even in this form. However, he gratefully declines her offer to hunt for him for now. He would very much prefer to consume his next meal as a human.

He is not at all surprised that Nico brings out a camera to snap photos of them when they arrive, he just obediently sits on his hind-legs, waiting for her to be satisfied and willing to listen. Nero on the other hand drags it out while demanding to know why she feels that is necessary and she would only dare show Dante!

They must communicate anything they wish to say through Griffon, but any words that they attempt to speak come out as a chorus of barks, so V and Nero takes turns to tell Griffon what to tell Nico. Only sometimes, the avian phrases his translation in a way that annoys the Queen of Machines, making an argument break out. Some convincing barks get them back on track, somewhat.

Attempts to help as much as he can while in this limiting form, but not being able to really turn a page in a book without either tearing at it with his paws, or getting slobber on it from using his mouth, it feels much too ineffective to have Nico or Kyrie constantly turn the pages for him. And V has such respect for books that he doesn’t want to destroy any of them. He wishes to be useful in finding a solution, but everything he says has to be translated by Griffon and often not in the detail V would wish for.

It is… surprisingly relaxing to just lay down, listening to them rustling with the pages of books in their search, scribbling down notes or humming in thought. V’s now more sensitive hearing takes him by surprise from time to time, at how clearly he picks up sounds. How many nuances there are to it.

Without noticing, the light crackling of the lit fire in the fireplace has a downright sleep-inducing effect on him. Not to mention that the floor in the front of it is so blissfully warm and comforting. V nods off in a nap that might have been long overdue.

How they change back:

“Someone looks like they don’t mind their new lifestyle.” Nico’s snicker and the click of the camera make the vestiges of slumber withdraw from his mind and V looks up from his place by the fireplace to find her grinning face. Her expression turns almost apologetic.

“Sorry, did I wake ya?” Nico sits down in an easy squat next to him, hand stretched out to pet him but she stops her hand, close to his dark, fluffy fur. As if she just remembered that hey, he’s actually only a dog in look and not in mind at the moment. Maybe he’s not fine with her just petting him out of the blue.

V smirks, or as much as he manages with his canine mouth, however the musculature seems different and feels different. Instead he lets his tail wiggle, just a little. She may pet him. Never would he have taken Nico as a dog person but as her grins widens and she scratches him behind his ears, he learns that those fingers that have been coated in oil a million times eases his tension with relative ease. It’s quite the soothing feeling. The smell of cigarette smoke from her doesn’t even bother his nose too much.

“Ye gonna give a poetic recounting for how life as a dog is, once ye turn back?” She jokes, continuing to soothe as she scratches and pets him. V slowly lays down again, just welcoming the nice touches. His back twitches as he chuckles, or at least he would in human form, it more comes out in the form of a huff. It helps that she sounds so sure that he will turn back and not spend the rest of his life as a dog. Though at the moment, that thought doesn’t even seem so bad. But he would miss books terribly much.

Out of the blue however, Nico wraps her arms around his form, giving him a big hug. Just as she seemingly enjoys the feeling of his fur under her cheek, V feels something change and fast.

Nausea hits as his vision morphs, adding more hues of color than he had just gotten used to. He closes his eyes, feeling the rest of the change to his body goes much quicker, as if by magic. Legs and arms relocate themselves, paws transforming into hands but with no pain.

There’s a hint of a sweet smelling smoke left in the air as he coughs, Nico’s arms slowly letting go of him, her eyes wide behind her glasses and her mouth in the shape of a huge ‘o’, a soft “Oh-hee” being mumbled under her breath.

V’s looking like a human again, as if nothing was amiss in the first place. Frankly, the loss of fur suddenly makes him feel a bit chilled as he is only wearing his usual sleeveless leather coat and pants. Thankfully, the warmth spreading from the fireplace helps.

“I’m a genius.” The confident glint in Nico’s eyes brings out a chuckle from V as he has a hard time to imagine that Nico’s hug was really the reason he suddenly found himself back in human form. Nico’s eyes snap to him, but there’s a grin evident on her face. “Welcome back sir Pooch.”

“Please do erase the existence of that nickname from your mind.” It feels surprisingly weird to speak in human words again but from now on, he won’t take that for granted.

Nico just grins at him and he is not taking it as an affirmative. She raises from the floor, holding out her hand for him to take. He does and it feels good to come back to his usual height, how the world used to look.

“Gonna see how the jackass is doing. Ye comin’ with?”

“I’ll leave that to you.” V softly picks up a book from the bookshelves, he has felt a longing to read after all. The touch of a hard leather cover feels good, the weight just right in his hand. “I have some reading up to do.” He smirks. Finding out the source of this particular adventure would be preferable. Shadow brushes against his side, ultimately happy he’s back to his original self, from what he can tell. Perhaps he should write a recollection of this, in the form of poems...

Nero:

After spending most of the day as a dog, Nero tries to activate his Devil Trigger to see if it can cancel the whole transformation, or if he will turn into a doggo with wings. Sadly neither of the cases happens. In fact, nothing does.

Kyrie pats him when his sad puppy eyes breaks her heart. Her embrace is as calming as ever when she hugs him tight and tells him everything will be alright. Hums a calming tone next to his fluffy ears.

Her scent is even better than he’s used to, thanks to his heightened sense of smell. It’s a calming scent of something flowery, making him let out a sound of content. Only it sounds like a huff. His ears pull back in excitement.

But suddenly, that flowery scent is overpowered by a new, sweet scent that coats the inside of his nose and by the Qliphoth, what is that and where did the smoke come from, why is his body suddenly feeling stretchy but there’s no pain to speak of--

The spell and smoke wears off, leaving Nero finding himself in a very sweet embrace with Kyrie. Why or how it wore off, he doesn’t care, he just beams and holds on to her, his love for her and the kids having grown a little bit from the whole ordeal. Hey, even his clothes came back, however that could be. Nero shrugs it off as ‘magic’.

“Welcome back.” Kyrie’s soft voice and kind smile is all he ever wanted to behold. Nero feels as if he never wishes her to go.

“It’s real good to be back.” He grins, moving in for a kiss.

Only for him to snap his head back at the sudden sound of the door being thrown open behind them.

“Aw man, I guess Kyrie’s got ye covered huh? V’s back too!” She snickers. “Don’t worry, I’ll give ye copies of yer ‘day as a dog’ pictures.” Nero blushes furiously, cheeks red as tomatoes as he shouts at her to get out.

Aftermath:

Upon returning to the library, making sure to be protected by charms against spells this time, they find a diary depicting how the spell trap was a hastily scribbled together joke spell that the self-proclaimed librarian had set up. It was never meant to last very long, but one way to break the spell early was through a “physical sign of caring.” Finding the inscriptions for it was easy enough once they started to look and hopefully, erasing the lines would mean no one else had to go through this strange series of events. Ultimately, V felt as if this experience had not been all bad. It does make him realize he feels more comfortable with his own skin than he had previously realized.

#dmc headcanons #my writing #dmc v #dmc nero #thedyingmoon

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zenithlux · 5 years ago

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Only the Best (VergilxReader)

In which you decide to celebrate a special Valentine’s Day with a certain, blue devil and with what you hope is an equally special gift.

Happy Valentine’s Day Ya’ll ^^ Hope you enjoy

You've been with Vergil for almost eight months, yet Valentine's Day felt like it was going to be the most terrifying day of your life.

You had yet to decide if that qualified as being over-dramatic.

After a year and a half as Vergil’s “confidant” (the word “friend” apparently didn’t exist in his dictionary), you knew that Vergil didn’t care for holidays. Dante claimed that his brother often forgot them entirely, as he never had a reason to celebrate. And while you understood that, you were very different. Holidays were a chance to try something new, unwind, and just spend time with others. It was probably something you got from your father, who always found the craziest reasons - usually an obscure celebration of some kind - to come home with your favorite food and simple presents.

So, when you did start dating Vergil (which had surprised even you, as you evolved from “acquaintance” to “companion” after a rather honest, late-night conversation), you’d often wondered how you would handle this particular difference between you two. Every holiday since that night had been filled with excited people and other things to do. Halloween had come and gone, and you were happy to help with a costume party at the orphanage (and had been quite amused at the Batman costume the kids had begged Vergil to wear). Thanksgiving had been completely out of your hands, as Kyrie and Nico cooked everything while you were stuck at work. It had been Vergil who had dragged you out of bed after your overly long shift to join them at a rather impressive dinner. You expected Christmas to be the most difficult, as it involved presents (which Vergil always claimed he didn’t want). But his family had kept him busy on that one, and he'd actually accepted your gift in private; chocolate strawberries (you never told his family of that one) and a silver star charm for Yamato; a reminder of your first real date to the planetarium.

You were thrilled to find that attached to Yamato’s hilt the very next day.

But Valentine's Day was something else entirely. There was no family to back you up (though Dante had cheekily offered). No chaos to hide behind. Just you and Vergil and some kind of present because you really just couldn't help yourself. And as much as he adamantly declared that he didn't need gifts… he'd never declined the few you’d given him.

But you've also never tried to give him something so… frivolous. You’d considered buying another series present - books had been your go-to for your random bouts of gift-giving - but that seemed too simple. Too obvious. And it wasn’t often that you’d had a significant other on Valentine’s Day, and you were (mostly) certain that Vergil wouldn’t remember it. So, as you wandered the seasonal aisle at your favorite store, you were bouncing with nervous energy, determined to find something that would work.

Except nothing felt right. It didn’t help that Vergil despised the color red on anything that wasn’t Dante’s jacket. 80% of everything you saw was already out of the question. The teddy bears were too bright. The larger stuffed animals were too cumbersome. The chocolate wouldn’t fit his tastes (you had to go far out of your way for that). He wasn’t interested in any other candies (a real shame, though you were happy to enjoy whatever sweets he passed on). The cards were all too impersonal. And the longer you circled these three aisles, the more frustrated you got.

There had to be something. Anything that would earn that rare, adorable, and sincere smile you only saw when others weren’t around. But you couldn’t imagine giving any of these things to him… and you were quickly running out of time. Maybe if you’d thought about it sooner you could’ve done something more personal. A handwritten letter an option, though you’d only given him one of those, and you hadn’t actually seen anything but a curious, raised eyebrow when you handed it to him. The bookstore wasn’t too far away… you could always fall back on that…

“Hey!”

Nero’s voice almost startled you, and you weren’t sure whether to feel relieved or even more embarrassed. Fortunately, his knowing smile was all you needed to wave back. “Last minute shopping?” You said.

Nero sighed as he rubbed the back of his neck. “Honestly? I almost forgot about it.”

You laughed. Like father like son. “Well, Kyrie seems easy to shop for. I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

“Easier than finding something for my old man, huh?”

Yep. You’d be caught. Though you really shouldn’t have been surprised. While Vergil never outright announced your relationship, everyone in the family knew. Maybe it was the way he’d started sitting beside you at every outing or leaving early to walk you home. Or possibly the nights he spent at your house instead of Devil May Cry, watching TV (which he hated in any other circumstance), or talking over tea (which he hated a little less). The most obvious sign was his lack of response to Dante’s teasing after months of harsh denial. That had been the metaphorical nail in the coffin that confirmed what everyone you knew already assumed.

Regardless, you couldn’t help but feel a bit self-conscious. “You’re not… wrong.”

Nero laughed. “Whatcha thinking of getting him?”

You sigh. “Nothing at the moment.”

“Then you’re overthinking it.”

You blink in surprise. “What do you…?”

“He’ll love anything you buy,” Nero said with a shrug.

“...Are we talking about the same man?”

Nero laughed as he picked through the top row of teddy bears. “I’ve only known him for a few years, but even I can tell when he’s committed.” You blushed at that, though Nero didn’t notice as he pulled down a light pink bear holding a white heart. “Trust me. Find something that speaks to you or whatever, and it’ll be enough.”

You couldn’t help but smile. “I’m sure I’ll figure something out.”

And after another loop around the aisle, you found it. The perfect gift. And that’s when the wheels started turning, piecing together all the ways to make it a Valentine’s Day he might actually enjoy.

After all, only the best was acceptable for your handsome, blue devil.

Two days later, you couldn’t contain the painful bundle of nerves that had your stomach in knots and your heart nearly bursting from your chest. It was the first time that you’d officially invited him to your apartment, as he often just showed up on your doorstep whenever he wanted. Granted, he always conveniently knew when you were there, and you’d never had a reason (or a desire) to turn him away. But those impromptu meetings were usually dictated by him. So even he had been a bit surprised when you asked him directly with a specific time in mind, and a promise of a good meal.

You didn’t mention the holiday, and you’d glared Dante into submission before he had a chance to spoil it. But you didn’t miss the smirk on the younger twin’s face, or the subtle thumbs up he gave you when Vergil wasn’t looking. Unfortunately, Dante’s “encouragement” hadn’t helped your nerves in the slightest. Neither had an entire day of cooking, or the panic trip to the store when you realized that you’d bought the wrong wine. Then you’d spent way too long debating if you should or shouldn’t put the rose petals on the table, or light the strawberry-scented candles, or…

A gentle knock at the door brought your thoughts to a screeching halt. You took a long, deep breath, smoothed down your blue dress, and greeted your partner with the most genuine smile you could muster. “Welcome!”

That ever familiar, curious eyebrow raise shot back at you, but you merely stepped aside to let him in. “Just in time,” You said as you wandered back to the kitchen. “The steak’s almost done.” Why were you so nervous? You felt like a teenager on a first date, not a full-grown woman having dinner with someone you’ve cooked for at least a dozen times by now. But then your thoughts strayed to the present and you swallowed another bout of nerves.

“Are you alright?”

You jumped much further than you meant to and flushed likely as bright as a strawberry when he had to grab you before you tumbled straight to the floor. “Fine!” You said. “I’m… fine.”

He wasn’t fooled (was he ever?). “Are you…” He paused, brows furrowed. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s nothing, really.” You said. “Honest. I’m just…” The words ‘Losing it’ crossed your mind, and you sighed as he gently pulled yourself away. “I guess I should just get it over with, huh?” You could feel his eyes on you as you half-scurried out of the kitchen, only to return with a small, blue box with a simple, black bow. “I know, I know,” You said hastily as his eyes flickered between you and it at least twice. “You don’t like gifts. But today’s special.” You held it out to him. “So… here.”

It felt like an eternity before he took it from you, though it could’ve only been around thirty seconds, tops. Mercifully, he didn’t waste time opening it, and your heart twisted when his eyes widened ever so slightly. The blue dragon plush was a bit larger than your hand, so you knew it would fit perfectly in his palm… if he’d actually take it out of the box. Instead, he simply stared at it, as if he wasn’t certain what it was. “When I was out shopping,” you said. “I kept thinking of what would mean the most to you.” His eyes flickered to yours. Still, he said nothing. After another deep breath, you continued with as much confidence as you could muster. “So I thought you would want something small that your brother won’t see, that can keep you company when I’m not around.”

After another quiet moment, which wasn’t nearly as nerve-wracking as the last one, he finally lifted it. You smiled, relieved when it did, in fact, fit perfectly in his hands, its little legs dangling just off the sides. “Your perfume,” He said in a very matter-of-fact way. But you didn’t miss the slight twitch of his lips. So close.

“I may have slept with it the last few days,” You said. “And wearing your favorite perfume. Of course.” Finally, as the last of your nerves slipped away, you gave him a rather cheeky grin. “If you ever need more, you’ll have to come back for it.”

Finally, finally, it happened. He smiled. That genuine, relaxed, Vergil smile that you would give anything to see every day of your life. And it wasn’t a grin like Dante or Nero, but a gentle show of emotion that fit him just right. “This is very thoughtful, my love.”

Your heart fluttered in a mix of surprise and adoration. You couldn’t recall if he’d ever called you that. Maybe you missed it? Unlikely, as you had a feeling you’d never forget such a thing. Especially not when it was said with such astounding tenderness; the kind of tone that only he could ever pull off. “I’m glad you like it.”

Then a much smaller box practically appeared in your hands, and it took far too long for you to realize it. “I’ve been informed numerous times this month that today is Valentine’s Day,” He said. Your eyes snapped to his in surprise, and you felt your cheeks flush as his fingers brushed yours when pulled his hand away from yours. “My brother stayed out of this purchase, of that much I can assure you.”

You couldn’t hide your gasp when you saw it; a silver heart necklace with glittering sapphires in the shape of a V. “Vergil…”

“It hasn’t been long,” he said as he slowly took your hand. There was a hint of nerves in his voice, something that you’d never heard before. But it made your heart swell as he pushed through it, and brushed his thumb along your check. “But you’ve already managed to steal my heart.”

You couldn’t help but giggle at that. “Now that’s something Dante did have a hand in, yes?”

Vergil snorted but didn’t deny it. “He may have mentioned kicking me out soon. I can’t fathom why.”

You paused for a moment, even though you already knew what you wanted to say. “There’s plenty of room here,” you said as you confidently met his gaze again. “I wouldn’t mind having someone else around more often if you’d like. And your little dragon would probably prefer this place to your brother’s.”

He watched you, expression calm, face unreadable. You tilted your head. “Is everything…”

The world stopped when his lips brushed yours, but he pulled away long before your heart found its way back to its body. “I would happily live here with you, my love,” He said, smirking when he saw how much he’d caught you off guard. But, in a surge of unprecedented confidence, you practically crashed back into him with a much deeper kiss than his had been. This time, he didn’t pull away, and you knew you’d be more than happy if he never did again.

#Vergil x Reader #Valentine's Day #2020 #Thank you for the request!#My first official reader fic #It's nice writing some fluff with all the angst I'm working on.#I cannot wait until ya'll see the fic I'm working on after A/O is done.#VergilxReader #VergilxYou #Devil May Cry

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tsukuna · 4 years ago

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Side by Side

Summary: You wandered into Red Grave City to warn the “Legendary Devil Hunter” of a certain… negative shift in the area’s energy. It was an energy you knew to be demonic, and it grew stronger by the day. But on your way to meet with the intermediary, a noisy bird caught your attention. A noisy bird that would bring you to a frail man on the brink of falling apart.

Rated M • Female Reader • Before the Events of DMC V• Under the Cut • Part 2

The news began to speak of the Qliphoth, or the “tree shaped object,” that emerged in Redgrave City. No one, from the average citizen to local police, had a clue that a powerful demon lurked inside. Despite repetitive warnings to take shelter, crowds loved to gather around the base and just stare. Ignorant fools, all of them.

You observed the horde from a helicopter heading into the den. There was you, V, and Dante of course, but an additional two women accompanied. One had short, ebony hair and an eye of green, an eye of red--not to mention an enormous arsenal. The other was a near carbon copy of the woman you saw on Dante’s desk, and she smelled like a demon. Frankly, it was all perplexing, but you assumed questions would receive no answers. They are beautiful though. You admired their deadly radiance.

While the three demon hunters chatted amongst themselves, you looked to V. His demeanor was entirely muted, and his face showed little expression. There was a decent understanding between you too at this point though, and you could tell there was anxiety building in him. You would have given him a reassuring squeeze on the shoulder; however, you had a feeling the gesture wouldn’t be too well accepted.

“So,” the black haired one drawled. “Who are you?” She eyed you rather intensely.

You introduced yourself. “What about you two?” You looked back just as intense. The names Lady and Trish rang out. “Your names are pretty,” you smiled softly.

“Pretty?” Trish was surprised by the comment.

“Mm,” you affirmed. “I wouldn’t have guessed them. But they match perfectly.”

“Ahhh, so you think we’re pretty, huh?” The girl named Lady tried to tease.

“Extremely,” you said with confidence, not allowing yourself to show embarrassment.

Both of them seem more than satisfied with your answer. “How come you never pay us compliments, huh, Dante?” Lady complained.

“I don’t want to inflate the egos of two crazy ladies anymore than they already are,” Dante replied with a shrug. That seemed to spark an impassioned, yet silly argument. It was an interesting display of friendship for you. I never knew it could seem so… fun.

The light air wasn’t meant to last though. Once the helicopter landed, it was business. “Hey, Dante,” Lady spoke up. “I haven’t even heard the target’s name yet.”

“Uuh… hey poem kid,” Dante seemed peeved.

But in juxtaposition, Griffon began to laugh, “Hee hee hee, that’s our wise guy Dante! What a memory! V, he deserves some praise.” You couldn’t help but roll your eyes at the bird. So extra.

“... some said, it is Urizen.” It was a name you proposed after you met up with Dante before the trip.

“How about Urizen?” Those deep green eyes looked at you with a curious expression. “I read the story in your little book,” you explained.

“Ah yeah, right.” Dante seemed less than enthused. “Urizen, Urizen. You people keep it in mind for me.”

“Not a problem,” you whistled a tune while exiting to wait outside Devil May Cry once again.

“I’m surprised you remembered the name,” V admitted.

“How come? I spent quite some time reading the book while waiting for you.” There was a small pause before you giggled. “I was even pleasantly surprised by how soft your hair was. I thought about doing a little braid.”

“I’m glad it didn’t come to that,” V placed his palm on his face, but it didn’t fully hide the amused smirk on his lips. In spite of what was about to go down that night, you were glad you could provide some bit of comedic relief.

The skepticism on Trish’s face at the name made you a tad nervous, but whatever she was thinking, she didn’t bring it up.

“Looks like the party venue is still open,” Dante announced as you made your way into the Qliphoth.

“Shit, gross.” Your nose crinkled upon moving forward. But why does it seem similar to V’s faint demonic scent?

Lady affirmed, “Oh, it stinks in here.”

“I know. Smells like hot garbage.” Dante fanned himself with an irritated expression. But was it truly irritation, or something else? You couldn’t help but remember his reaction to the true name of the demon. Vergil.

V suddenly crumbled forward, and you caught him just in time before his whole body hit the (disgusting) bottom. His face looked similar to when he was on death’s door. “V?” There was no hiding your concern.

“This is far worse than I thought,” he whispered underneath his breath.

There was no time for questioning before Dante called out. “There’s no crime in turning tail. These things might be a little too much for ya.” He continued to walk while looking at him, hands cooly in his pockets.

“... you’re right.” V gritted his teeth. “I’ll leave the rest to you.” He turned on his heel, leaving both you and Griffon to stare in disbelief. Immediately, the demon flew over to question him in a panic.

Dante’s eyes turned to you. “What about you?”

You did consider your two options. You knew you could fight, and you could tell they needed all possible help. But could V make it without you? It seemed as though his health took a turn for the worst in the blink of an eye. “I’ll go with him, just in case.” Dante nodded before waving goodbye unceremoniously.

It was only a short jog before you caught back up with V. “One must always have an insurance policy,” he told Griffon. Strange. V acknowledged your presence with a nod. It let you know you weren’t unwelcome or a hindrance to whatever he was planning. Had he not given you the clear, however subtle it was, well… you supposed you would’ve turned back to rejoin the other there.

“What do you mean, insurance policy? Wait… Do you mean that brat?!” Griffon quite literally screeched. “Hey, hey… he got his right arm lopped right off,” he tried to reason with V. “He won’t be of any use in battle!” V mumbled some sort of reassurance to him, citing the blood of Sparda. It offered Griffon no comfort. “I said not to fall behind Dante, right? And then you just leave! If they kill him while we are out fetching some greenhorn, we’ll...” the little demon trailed off.

V glanced back. “That… won’t happen. I think.” It appeared this situation was worse than imagined.

“Perhaps I should’ve gone,” you thought aloud.

“I believe you would’ve died,” he paused. “And that would be rather unfortunate.” While V often omitted aspects of the truth, he didn’t seem to lie about what he did choose to reveal.

You, Griffon, and V made your way back to Morrison and the helicopter. His expression was confused. “Well, that was quick. Where’s Dante?”

“Inside. Send the helicopter now.” It wasn’t a question.

“Right now? And send where?” Clearly, the intermediary was puzzled.

“Fortuna,” V stated.

Fortuna--it was a place you heard about in passing. Rumors of mass destruction caused by demons and the existence of cults in the obscure city floated about. Is this where that “brat” resides? The entirety of the Qliphoth was once more in view. It was a disappointment, leaving before you had done a thing about the demon within.

Clearly, V noticed your irritation. “It will be solved in time. It must.” Though he said that to you, it also seemed like he was reassuring yourself.

“I simply wish it will be sooner rather than later.”

You fell back into a lull of science. Until the pilot broke it with annoyed chatter about these “boonies” having no heliport and how he’d have to look for a little landing spot.

“There is no time. We’ll meet below. I’m going ahead,” V prepared to jump from the helicopter, causing the pilot to panic even further. He turned to you and offered his hand. You hesitantly took it. You had a suspicion Griffon would be the way down, but you were skeptical on how well he’d do with carrying the weight of two people.

You clenched your jaw when the air initially hit your face. “God, fuck.” V seemed to laugh under his breath at you before pulling you a bit closer to make Griffon’s job easier.

“While I don’t mind helping out because, y’know, my life counts on it… try not work me too hard,” Griffon bitched. His complaints were met with no words of remorse.

Before your feet hit the ground, V began to discuss his plan. “I’m going through the window.”

“Alright, I’ll wait outside.” The distance to the bottom wasn’t far, so you let go, landing on your feet softly enough. At least I’m stealthy.

Over 15 minutes passed before your ebony-haired companion made his way back down. You looked around for whatever it was he came for. “He’ll be here shortly.” So it IS the brat.

The rattling of metal had you turning around, your eyes catching sight of a boy with blue eyes and silver hair--very similar to Dante. He looked to V, who he already met, then you with skepticism. Regardless, he moved forward to join you. “You’re telling me that’s our ride? Talk about posh.” When you looked at the city streets you assumed that yes, it was posh in comparison to what other residents typically saw. “...Don’t get it too close, the others will wake up.”

V was irked by the comment. “Do I look like I can contact it right now? Try jumping and telling the pilot in person.”

“Yeah, sure,” the other boy rolled his eyes. The conversational-less void quickly turned awkward, unlike the time you typically spent with V. You knew nothing about this boy though, and it’d be a lie if you said you weren’t semi-interested.

While still staring forward, you said your name. The boy turned to you with a questioning look. “Your name?”

He seemed to consider whether or not he even wanted to give it to you at first. “Nero,” he finally said.

Immediately upon landing in the Qliphoth, Nero seemed ready to rush in. But V warned him of the danger that waited. Shortly after, a gurgling sound came out from what you noticed to be Shadow’s “liquid” form. “I’m leaving,” V looked over his shoulder. “I doubt you two would get lost here, but still… I suggest you do not fall behind.” And so he did go ahead, using Shadow as a mode of transportation.

Nero’s face soured a bit, making you release a short laugh. “Not very personable, is he?”

“I can agree to that,” Nero grumbled. It wasn’t long before demons began to spawn, creating little roadblocks in your path. “Get behind me.”

“I appreciate the gesture, but I don’t need protection, y’know?”

“I don’t see any weapons on you,” he eyed you.

You sighed. “Why must one waste energy and space by carrying physical items?” You gave Nero a peace sign before allowing white-gold light to envelop your hand. With a small shake, the glow around your hand turned to light throwing needles. “You take care of half of them, I’ll deal with the rest from a distance for now.”

The demons crawled closer and he grudgingly understood there was no time to ask more at the moment, but oh man, you knew it’d be constant interrogation once there was time. Whatever. A disgusting creature with both the face of a man and an ant’s body caught sight of you. You lazily threw a needle at it, watching it explode once it was pierced between the eyes. They were clearly bottom of the barrel demons. They were quick work for you, and clearly Nero as well who finished shortly after you.

“So you gonna tell me what the hell that was about?” He placed his shoulder across his back as you two continued walking.

“Don’t think that’d be right,” you drawled, “I haven’t even let V know yet, and I’ve been hanging out with him longer.” Nero huffed. “But I will let you know that light exists to extinguish this darkness.”

“How poetic,” he rolled his eyes, which warranted you to bump you first on his head. “Hey! What the hell?”

“Don’t be a douche, Nero,” you stuck your tongue out. “But y’know what? I won’t give too much away from myself, but I have to say, for a kid with one arm, I’m rather impressed by your sword skills.”

“Tch. You should’ve seen me when I had both,” it was funny how quickly Nero could go from brooding to cocky.

A sideways smirk spread across your face. “Would’ve loved to spar with you and kick your ass.”

You both continued to banter and deal with anything in the way. It was actually fun, and, surprisingly, the pair of you laughed together. It took no time for you to see V in the distance once again.

Nero stepped forward. “Huh? What, did you come back?”

The comment undeniably miffed V. “I told you, had I not? Your presence is needed.” You still didn’t quite understand why he needed Nero. He was strong, yes, but he still only had one arm. And if the reaction V and Griffon had earlier meant anything, this demon was far out of Nero’s league.”

Speaking of the devil (or rather the demon), Griffon piped up. “Hey, hero, you do know your role, right?” Nero quirked a brow at the bird. “What I’m saying is get going. We’ll take care of the grunts.”

“Whatever,” he turned around. But then he called out your name, which had a surprisingly colloquial tone to it. “You coming with?” Dante asked the same thing, and you would give the same answer.

“This seems to be your fight,” you shook your head. “I’ll stay back and help here.”

“Gotcha,” Nero nodded and began to move forward.

Griffon cackled, “Fast friends, huh?”

“He’s a funny kid. But how about we focus on the issue before us, hm?” The demons, which Nero had let you know were called empusas, bubbled up.

“Work, work, work!” Despite the complaint, Griffon charged then released cracks of lightning onto the demons. “Fuck yeah!” Huh, I guess I never saw what he did. The bird then chided V for not helping.

“Don’t rush me,” he voiced as he pierced one of the empusas. “Garbage.”

“He, he, that’s the spirit. We gotta catch up to the kid! Even she is helping out!” Griffon was ranged, you noticed, so you took a more melee stance this time (as opposed to your strategy alongside Nero). Instead of conjuring the needles, you created an elegant scythe of light. While the hacking and slashing was entertaining, being splattered by rancid demon blood was a major downside.

“Ugh, disgusting,” you at least wiped it off your face. V looked at you, startled and speechless. “No time for a Q and A, we’re needed ahead.” You grabbed his (warm) hand and began to run forward. “I can tell they’re right up there!”

The first thing you saw was Nero already bloody and beaten. “Fuck, Nero!” You rushed towards him and continued to scan the scene ahead of you. Dante. Lady. Trish. All of them lying on the ground in defeat. The demon, the monster, who defeated the famed devil hunters sat at the far end, appearing bored on his “throne.”

“He lost?! How did this happen?!” Griffon’s panicked screeches rang in your ears. “Oh no… oh no… This is it. This is the end.”

V softly murmured “Dante…” It was as if that conjured him back from the grave.

“Round two!” He transformed into a devil right before your eyes. Who the hell are all these people I got involved with?

“Heeey, what do we do?! We could lose an arm too V!” Griffon flew around anxiously. “Earth to princess V! Get yourself together!” You joined his chorus of yells, however… the words did not reach his ears. Tears rolled down V’s face and you realized just how dire this situation was for him.

“V!” You and Griffon shouted, but he continued to stare ahead. “V!” This time you took him by the shoulder and began to turn him around. “We need to go!” His eyes finally came back into focus and he nodded.

“Get Nero out of here! This was a bad move,” Dante yelled out.

“I can still fight,” Nero screamed in response but you were already beginning to pick him up and drag him away. “Tch, shit, back off!”

“You’re just deadweight!” By expression alone, you could tell that Dante’s words reverberated through his whole being.

Even as the ground collapsed, Nero shouted, “Quit messin’, back off!”

“We have to leave here!” You and V both tried to shake sense into the boy. “He’s far stronger than we could’ve imagined…!”

“That bastard called me “dead weight”?! Don’t underestimate me!” Nero screamed out Dante’s name.

Your eyes widened with shock as V threw Nero against a wall. “If you’re frustrated then think of ways to get stronger!” You had never heard his voice ring so loudly. “If Dante loses… I need you to defeat Urizen.” Nero’s face was full of scorn, but he seemed to finally give up fighting you and V off.

“Yes Urizen, the demon king…” He’s the demon king? Fuck. “That’s the name of the demon who took your arm,” V explained to Nero. It was news to you that it was Urizen who stole Nero’s arm. First question you had was why? What was so special about his arm that the demon king needed it to ascend? Perhaps I can barter information with him another day. I’m sure we shall meet again.

A crisp snap cut the air, and suddenly the black from V’s hair dissipated, leaving only white behind. An enormous creature crashed down and busted the rocks. Its appearance seemed to be made of rock (though that would be too simple) and it had a single eye. Another of V’s familiars, huh? But unlike Shadow and Griffon, especially, it didn’t seem to have any conscience. “This is Nightmare,” V whispered to you. Good to know he thought that you may want that information.

The descent was over and once the familiar gurgled away, V’s hair became black once more.

“Where’s Dante? Hey!” Morrison exclaimed, voice full of confusion.

“He’s buying us time.. But it won’t last long,” V answered smoothly, not showing his despair to the other man.

Morrison was stunned. “Dante lost?!”

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skvaderarts · 4 years ago

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Hiraeth Chapter 20: Arrears

Masterlist can be found Here!

Chapter Twenty: Arrears

Note: And just like that, we’re on chapter twenty for the third time. That’s totally surreal, isn’t it? Sorry that my replies were a day or two late this week and that this chapter is a few hours late. I fell asleep. I was out of town Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday with a friend, so my uploads and response times were not quite as quick as I would have liked. But it’s okay because I’m back! Now let’s get on with this fic.

(-~-)

Once they were gone, the doors to the front office swung shut with a resounding bang, sending an echoing boom through the entirety of the front room. In what had to be a rare moment of silence for the normally noisy space, there was no music playing and no ceiling fans spinning due to the lack of electricity present within the building. It was welcome, but also strange as he had finally begun to grow used to the sound of Dante’s particular brand of loud metal and rock. And although he couldn’t say that he enjoyed the exact music that Dante did, he found that he didn’t mind it as much as he used to when he’d first heard it. Maybe he could even convince him to play something else…

The Darkslayer took a moment to lock the door behind himself before proceeding, not so much because he was worried that they would be attacked or that someone would attempt to actually break in and rob them. No, that would be an absolute dream as far as the eldest Son of Sparda was concerned. Having the opportunity to teach a wayward criminal a much-needed lesson without the moral implications that came with cold-blooded murder or fratricide was a welcome change of pace for him. No, they needed to be alone for this, and he didn’t need any of his younger brother’s associates interrupting them with any trivial or annoying requests, especially given their current circumstances.

As the devil hunter in the blue coat approached his brother’s desk, Dante shook his head, reclining in the chair at his desk as he awaited his older sibling’s response. He was somewhat sure that he already knew what he was going to say. After all, Vergil had been looming over him like a literal physical manifestation of the shadow of his immense debt ever since they had returned and realized that the power was once again turned off. That had surely given them both enough time to contemplate what they both expected the other to say and, in turn, what they would add to the conversation themselves. That was, if there was a conversation at all. While they had made remarkable progress in the short time that they had been gone from the office, he didn’t put it past his older sibling to still want to settle this the old-fashioned way like they always had. And at this point, there was a part of him that expected nothing less than that, regardless of the progress that they made. The real question was how they would go about this process, and what the fight would be about this time, not so much if there would be one in the first place.

“I know, I know. This is the part where you barely hide how mad you are at me, and they you give me a piece of your mind before you stab me again, right Vergil.” Dante laughed grimly as he spoke those words, watching his twin slowly approach the desk. That was what was to be expected under these circumstances. And he’d dealt with Vergil enough times to know that-

“Why are the utilities always off, Dante? Am I to presume that you are in some form of arrears to the utility company, then?” Vergil said calmly as he reached the halfway point of the room. He stopped a few feet from the desk, looking around the room for a moment before continuing. “It came to my attention just after we had first returned from the underworld that you might be hiding something. It clearly wasn’t the first time that you had gone without electricity since you didn’t appear to be surprised by its absence, but considering our initial fight with Nero on the front steps upon arriving, my general mood at the time, and the lingering unrest in the atmosphere around the office as to my presence, I was unwilling to bring it up at the time. But now I require answers.”

His calm demeanor took Dante somewhat by surprise as while he was indeed expecting his brother to ask him why the power was off again, he wasn’t expecting him to do so with such a genuine level of curiosity. There didn’t seem to be any real anger in his voice as he asked that question, which admittedly turned things on their head a little. Dante was expecting to be lambasted for several minutes before things either turned violent or Vergil gave up and went to bed. This was… well, this was entirely too diplomatic to be an actual response from his older twin brother. What the hell was going on here?

“You caught onto what was going on that quick, hu? Well damn. I thought I was doing a better job of hiding it.” Dante said, dragging out a long, tired sigh. It was out in the open now, and that brought with it a sort of strange euphoric sense of release that he hadn’t expected, given the circumstances. “So… what happens now? Are we gonna skip the part where you stab me, or go straight to it? I’d just like to know what I’m getting myself into this time, ya know?”

Vergil stepped out of the shadows and approached the desk, unfolding his arms and using them to prop himself up against the desk. He seemed calm in a manner unlike what Dante was used to when it came to his older sibling. From what he could tell, the devil slayer in blue almost seemed to be considering something or even patently awaiting his response. But whatever he was doing, Dante wasn’t sure how he felt about it. As unpleasant as most of his older sibling’s reactions were to basically everything that he did and didn’t do, they were at least almost entirely predictable. This was the farthest thing from that that Dante could imagine, and it made him somewhat apprehensive as to what to do now. He was in uncharted territory, adrift at sea with no wind in his sails and now oars to row with.

“I am… attempting a new approach. My old methods have hit a dead end. And predictably so, at that.” Vergil let loose a barely audible sigh, looking down at the floor as he considered his next words carefully. He wasn’t entirely sure how to put into words what he was thinking, but he did, in fact, know what he actually wanted to do. Talking to his younger twin had never been something that he was particularly adept at, but that didn’t stop him from trying. After all, when had Vergil been the kind of man to do things by half? “As you know, I do not enjoy predictability. So in light of recent revelations, I am now attempting to actually communicate with you instead of simply folding to my baser instincts and using less civil means with which to get my point across.”

Dante sat up and leaned in towards him, looking at him as though he were speaking a foreign language. No, he couldn’t possibly be hearing that right. Had his older twin truly just insinuated that he might be tired of… that couldn’t be possible, could it? Well, it could. That was entirely possible. But he just never thought that he would live long enough to see the day that Vergil would succeed defeat and decide that maybe stabbing his younger sibling to death constantly was perhaps not the best method to achieving his goals. The thought had crossed Dante’s mind on several occasions, but he had just never been able to actually find a way with which to make those ideas into reality. But now…

“So if I’m hearing you right, you’re saying that you actually plan to not stab me right now, and instead you want to talk to me?” Dante wasn’t sure that his humorous tone of voice and sarcastic mannerisms alluded to the deep-seated elation that he felt at that prospect, but that didn’t make it any less true. He had waited a lifetime for the day that his brother might come to the conclusion that it might be a good idea to simply speak to him. And while he hadn’t helped to make that outcome anymore likely, and had often worked directly against it in ways large and small over the years, that didn’t make the possibility of that outcome becoming a reality any less joyous to him. “Am I getting that right, or has someone left and opened a valve that lets out toxic gases in here and we’re both just secretly dying right now or something?”

“Your half right, Dante. That is, in fact, what I am trying to say. But on the last account, you are incorrect. We are not secretly dying.” The Darkslayer paused for a moment, lingering on thoughts that he would have preferred to have kept buried deep below the surface to hide his apparent suffering. He had been through much, and a large percentage of his suffering in life had been through the lens of death. Talking about it wasn’t something that he cherished the opportunity to do. It was unpleasant but necessary. And yet, here he was, willingly doing so. Vergil had pivoted from defiance to indifference in some respects, and then he had made a sharp left into uneasy acceptance. For now, that was all he could do, and he had decided that focusing on what he was capable of instead of beating himself down with the combined weight of everything that he couldn’t might just be the best thing that he could do for himself in moments like these. “Every living thing is at all times marching towards their death. There is no secret in that. It is the inevitability of mortality. Some of us simply make it there quicker or under less desirable circumstances than others. But in the end, we all share the same fate.”

Giving his brother a much more serious look now than he had been a moment ago, Dante leaned back slightly in order to physically give himself space to take in what Vergil had just said. He had the distinct feeling that he now knew what this was about, and that was both a good and a bad thing. While it was far past time that they tackled this topic, he just hadn’t expected things to come to a head like this when they had. It would have been wonderful to have had forewarning so that he could have prepared and… no. No, had had time to prepare himself for this. From the moment that he had stepped foot in the Qliphoth and found himself standing face to face with the doors to Urizen’s throne room, coming to grips with the fact that the monster on the other side of those doors was indeed his twin brother, he had been preparing himself for the worst. When Vergil had reluctantly agreed to return to the human world with hum under the resigned fatalistic view that it couldn’t get much worse, he had known that they would have to have this conversation one day. And now that Vergil was here, it was time to have it. They had needed to get this off of their chest for quite a while now.

“Say what it is that you really want to say, Vergil. I’m not stupid enough to not be able to tell that there is more to this than what you’re saying. You know that, right?” Dante straightened his back out slightly as he reclined in his desk chair, peering out at Vergil from the bangs that hand now found their way in front of his eyes again. He needed to put some space between himself and his brother, if only to keep himself from developing claustrophobia. As much as Vergil utterly despised unwanted or involuntary physical contact, it was one of his best methods for making someone that he wanted to put on edge uncomfortable. Being at the mercy of both his impressive height in respect to most people, and his cold, unflinching stare was normally enough to make the average mortal flinch and back down, and in that respect, even Dante folded, even if only just a little bit. Being stared at the way that Vergil stared at people when he was trying to make a point was enough to make literally anyone want to back away from him. The Demon hunter wondered for a moment if his older brother even noticed that this was something that he did, or if it was something that he did involuntarily out of reflex.

A look somewhere between surprise and acceptance crossed Vergil's face as he nodded in agreement, standing up straighter as he shifted his weight to one hand and then quite literally looked down on his younger twin. There it was again. That noticeable change in him that had not been present when they were younger. Vergil understood it now more than he had when he had first noticed that something was drastically different about his twin now. It was his maturity level. Dante had indeed learned from his past, and seemed to be haunted by the mistakes and regrets that he harbored, much like he himself still did. He recognized it as his own, the poignant grief that he now realized deep within himself that they both shared. It was… well, he couldn’t say that it was something that he’d ever wished for Dante. There were plenty of unfortunate occurrences that Vergil would have brushed or even wished on his brother during his youth. Not so long ago, he would have been ready to exact those very injustices upon him with his own hands. But in that same light, he now understood something that he hadn’t then: the fact that Dante himself felt the same way. He just buried it under a thick layer of humor and sarcasm

He saw it in the moments that they were alone. Dante didn’t possess the same energy that he’d once had, the same spark that he had carried in his youth. And that wasn’t something he could blame completely on his age. Some things were lost along with the youth of the person who possessed them, and hope was one of those things. But hardship, regret, and suffering were great at enhancing those characteristics in a way that few other emotions could match, at least in regards to negative connotations. He would have never pegged Dante as the sort to think that deeply about his actions and their consequences when they were younger, much as he was willing to believe that his younger twin probably didn’t think he himself did back then. And they might have both been right under certain circumstances. But now they were older and they had lived through the folly of their youth. And they were ready to move on from it.

“You’re terrible at keeping things from me, Dante. You always have been. I had the feeling that something was amiss financially in regards to your personal life, and I see that I was not incorrect. But that does not concern me.” Vergil tilted his head slightly to the left, attempting to make brief eye contact with his younger twin as the slightly younger man attempted to not think too hard about the situation that he now found himself in. Things had taken quite the turn since Lucia had left the office with V and the others. He couldn’t say that he knew for sure whether or not his brother had specifically waited for them to leave before having this conversation with him, but he was willing to believe that that was more than likely the case. And that in of itself was admittedly fascinating to him. Vergil had never really cared about shaming him out in the open. Had he actually done so in order to not embarrass him any further than he was embarrassing himself due to the fact that they had company over who were not blood members of their family? Because if so, that had been uncharacteristically compassionate of his older twin. “If I had come here with the expectation that you had everything in your life under control, then I would not be able to claim to know you at all. Your financial troubles are something that can be fixed, unlike some of our other troubles.”

Dante couldn’t help but laugh at that statement. “Oh, brother! See, that’s where you're dead wrong. There is no fixing the amount of debt that I’m in. It’s a whole lot worse than just a few power and water bills.” Shaking his head, Dante leaned back and attempted to open the drawer to his desk, cursing himself internally when he had to pull on it much harder than he normally would. He’d shoved something in there before he’d left, and the sliding mechanism had been jammed, but it opened nonetheless. He then produced a worn brown ledger, tossing it onto the desk with a responding thud. Completely unwilling to even look in the general direction of the book, he slid the door shut and glanced over at Vergil, shrugging slightly. “You want a better answer as to what kind of mess I’m in? It’s in there. But you’re not going to like what’s in it.”

Leaning over to pick up the ledger, Vergil gave it a once over for a moment before opening the cover and flipping to the middle of it. Dante had to admire his twin’s insanity for a moment, likening the action of jumping to the middle of someone’s financial history with diving headfirst into ice water without knowing how to swim. Oh, wait… V had literally done just that. Perhaps reckless insanity for the sake of self-preservation ran in the family? Regardless, the frankly calm and placid look on Vergil’s face turned rapidly to confusion and perplexed frustration as he looked over the numbers. He then immediately turned back a few pages, only to realize that his answers were elsewhere. A moment later, he turned back to the very front of the book before furrowing his brow and jumping immediately to the end of the ledger to try and assess the damages in full. There was no point in trying to make sense of something like this. It was simply the kind of situation where you looked at how deep you’d fallen into the hole, and then tried to figure out what you could stack up to try and climb towards the surface again just to have a chance at jumping towards the general direction of the surface that you could probably barely see due to how far down you were. And you could only hope that you were able to grab onto something when you made that just, because if you didn’t? Well, you would just be back at the bottom where you had started in the first place all over again, and at that point, what had you accomplished?

Upon realizing the depth of the issue at face value, Vergil closed the book along with his eyes before letting out a long, exhausted sigh. He then tossed the book back onto the desk as though simply touching it was enough to make him contract some sort of lethal virus. He slumped over the desk for a moment before glancing back towards the back office door and making a b line for it. Dante watched him go, trying his best not to laugh. Yes, now that was a feeling that he could relate to.

“Where ya headed Vergil,” Dante asked, barely hiding his amusement. It was time to see if his twin brother’s new anti-stabbing ethos was something that he was willing to stand by, even in the face of such a frustrating realization. He imagined that Vergil was more than ready to stab him right now.

He stopped, his back to his twin brother. After pausing for a moment, he peered over his shoulder, a slightly disbelieving, shocked, and overall surprised look on his face. “I need a nap, Dante. I think that jetlag has just set in.” He said simply before turning back in the direction of the door.

“You’re telling me, Vergil. Why do you think I sleep so much?” Dante said with s slight laugh, shaking his head as he faced forward into nothingness again. It was incredible how dark it got in there at night without lights to combat the inky blackness.

“Depression? A desire to avoid your problems for a bit longer? Other ill-defined reasons that I care little to discuss at this point in time?” Vergil shrugged nebulously, seemingly resigned to the reality of his fate. How in the world had those numbers gotten like that? It defied logic. It defied reason. Hell, it defied science and math, too! “Those are just the reasons I can think of off of the top of my head. I am not your phycologist.”

At that point, Dante actually did laugh. It seemed that his financial state had managed to strip what little will to live and energy that Vergil still possessed in his body. That many zeros tended to do that to you. “I mean yea, that’s fair, but you don’t have to say it. I have feelings, you know?”

“Do not awaken me until either the utilities are restored or the office burns down Dante. This will take a substantial amount of work, and I am not at all well-rested enough as it currently stands.”

With that, Vergil closed the door to his bedroom, and a moment later, Dante could hear what was definitely his older twin hitting the bed with enough force to go through it. That right there was a mood, and he was positive that he had never once related so much to his brother’s questionable coping mechanisms. Maybe a good night’s rest was in store for them both. It was dark already anyway. What could it hurt? He was sure that no one would mind, least of all Vergil. Considering the way that he slept on the rare occasion that he actually did, he wouldn’t mind literally anything for a very long time. That could only be a good thing at this point.

(-~-)

I couldn’t tell you why, but Google Docs has decided it hates my guts lately. It decided to crash no less than 7 times while I was writing this, taking whole paragraphs with it. It was a nightmare to write. In fact, it crashed once while I was writing this footnote, so this is my second time writing it. Joy! Anyway, happy 2nd DMC5 anniversary everyone! I hope you all had a good time reading this one! Can’t wait to read your comments. Now time to go cry in the corner over my lost paragraphs! Duh du du du du!

#Dante #Vergil #Post Devil May Cry 5 #Post Devil May Cry V #Hiraeth #Fanfic #Sons of Sparda #Devil May Cry #DMC #DMC5 #DMCV #Devil May Cry 5

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thephantomporg84 · 5 years ago

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Okay so in DMC5 Nero is pretty significantly older than Dante and Vergil in DMC3,right? Why does he still feel so much younger than them? Like DMC3 is like “oh damn! These powerful demon idiots are going to get us all killed! They’re so cool and badass!” And with Nero it is like “this is baby boy. Must protect. He is my son now.”

Okay so in DMC5 Nero is pretty significantly older than Dante and Vergil in DMC3,right?

Yup! Nero is ~19 in DMC4 and ~25 in DMC5. For comparison, the twins are ~19 in DMC3, ~38 in DMC4, and ~44 in DMC5.

Why does he still feel so much younger than them? Like DMC3 is like “oh damn! These powerful demon idiots are going to get us all killed! They’re so cool and badass!” And with Nero it is like “this is baby boy. Must protect. He is my son now.”

Good question! Lol. This is almost pure personal opinion and interpretation, but from my experiences playing through the series:

Both D&V and Nero had bad life experiences growing up, with the twins objectively having the more violent and terrifying events happen to them. However, Dante and Vergil are half-demon, and Nero is only a quarter. We’re automatically gonna relate to Nero more, in the long run and for the most part, because he appeals to us on a more human level. He still has what are essentially superpowers, but it’s nothing in comparison to his father and uncle, IMO.

[Not a perfect comparison, but it’s kind of why people relate to/enjoy characters like Batman and Iron Man despite them being billionaire/genius/celebrity types in comparison to, say, Superman or Captain America/Marvel, etc. They have abilities but in comparison to other characters they are very much mortal and not essentially gods walking the Earth. I actually do feel similarly about Nero and Spider-Man though, funnily enough. Incredible abilities but got dealt an absolute shit starting hand in life, good at heart, the works. Tugs on your heartstrings. Anyway, lol.]

With the gods thing, though — Dante and Vergil basically are gods, in a way, by the end of DMC5. Nero acts as the audience surrogate at the end of the game, because he’s annoyed at these two fucking idiots he’s related to and we’re annoyed for him.

The twins are, in general, more confident than Nero. Dante and Vergil know who and what they are and what bloodline they descended from. They are also aware they are not just the children of some random demon. They might not like it (in Dante’s case) or even reject what they don’t like (Vergil with his human half), but they are aware of their abilities and the power they can wield, and learn very quickly if they don’t. Nero, by contrast, grew up not knowing either parent and is left on an orphanage doorstep — something that can and does happen in real life. He is, at face value when we meet him, just some nobody. He knows nothing about himself other than he is not normal (something he gets a lot of shit for, if memory of Deadly Fortune serves). He’s told his mother is a prostitute (which I also think he gets shit for), and he has no way of refuting it. In short, feelings of abandonment and not belonging are common and it’s easy to attach them to Nero.

That said, there’s just something just... inherently tragic about a child growing up as an orphan in a place that worships his grandfather, and yet he has no idea.

I can’t imagine how absolutely scared out of his mind he had to be when his arm is injured and becomes the Devil Bringer. Like. There’s not even a dumbass Dante wacky woohoo-ing around town at this point to maybe answer some of his questions or at least tell him it’s okay. It’s just him and the creepy cult surrounding him that, quite frankly, probably wouldn’t mind making him a lab specimen at any given point. It’s hard not to feel at least a twinge of sympathy at that. Fortuna just feels oppressive to me, and.. yeah...

By comparison, Vergil and Dante did get a few years of happiness, before it all went to shit. They knew a mother and a father. Nero didn’t. And while he did have Kyrie’s family, who he seemed to care a lot about, it’s still not his family. He is still an outsider.

Dante and Vergil’s tragedy is both unknown and known to us. We know what happened the night Eva died, but we don’t know where Sparda went. We don’t know a whole lot about what happened in between then and the DMC3 mangas aside from a sprinkling of details here and there — we just know they made it. I’m not saying they didn’t have a struggle doing so, but it’s also easier to accept just at face value.

Nero, on the other hand: started life on an orphanage doorstep with no mother or father to speak of, ended up being a a glorified child soldier, and keeps getting lied to left and right — even by the people that are supposed to love him the most. We can piece together a story for Nero with little bits of information we get more than the twins, and it doesn’t make for a pretty picture. In short: we know more, but not everything, and it’s just enough to paint a depressing image for a really young Nero.

Dante and Vergil’s conflict is largely with each other and their differing morality and belief sets. Nero, however, has no real conflict aside with Dante at the start of DMC4 and Vergil at the end of DMC5, for obvious reasons. He just wants to be a part of something and be accepted. Have a family. He seems to want a lot of very traditional, simple things in his life.

Dante and Vergil themselves, just existing, make Nero more sympathetic as a character. It’s hard to relate to the twins as a whole because their conflict is so ridiculous by the end of DMC5. It gets to a point where you just want them to knock it the fuck off and get over themselves, no matter how much you like them, and focus on Nero. Be an uncle and father because he’s still young and he still needs them. Dante’s kept the secret for way too long and Vergil is just repeating the cycle of his father, and Nero just...doesn’t deserve that.

And finally, on that note of breaking the cycle: Vergil follows in the footsteps of Sparda, and ends up leaving his child — one he didn’t even know about or even consider he might have — practically for the wolves (The Order) and it goes about as well for Nero as you’d expect. However, Nero breaks that cycle. Despite everything he’s been through, and having to grow up fast just like the twins, Nero breaks the cycle of abandonment and shoulders the burden of 3 more orphans that he’s got no obligation toward so they don’t have to go through some of the same things he did. And so, in that way, he surpasses a father he’s never known at being a father. He even breaks the cycle of abandonment Dante has gone through, and stays in contact/looks up to him despite Dante’s arms length approach to Nero. And I think that speaks volumes about Nero’s character and really just increases that need to see him protected and loved.

#dmc meta #anonymous #if that even is your real name #dmc #dmc5 #devil may cry 5 #devil may cry #vergil #dante #nero #dmc vergil #dmc dante #vergil sparda #dante sparda #nero sparda #dmc nero #long post

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dylan-o-yumm · 5 years ago

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Can I request something sinful with Nero maybe having his first heat with his s/o? Lol maybe he's surprised about it and didn't know about it till either Dante or Vergil warned him?

(I’m not gonna add the spice in this one, I don’t think. Purely because I have another Nero in heat request and I don’t wanna seem like I’m being repetitive??) Also sorry this took so long, I’ve been procrastinating with OC stuff lmao

Nero had been acting weird for the past couple of days. Weirder than being a demon hunter who previously had a demonic arm that got chopped off by his own father, only to then have it grow back human-like. Deep breath. No, he was acting more… unlike himself, more aggressive, more animalistic.

One of the many odd things Nero had been doing lately, was constantly telling you how nice you smell. He was always one to tell you if he thought you were cute or sexy, but never really about how much he adored your scent. No matter if you had just gotten out of the shower or if you had been rolling in the mud for a solid hour, he’d always come and sniff you. Inhaling your scent and almost getting high off of it.

Not only was your smell suddenly amazing to him, but so was his to you. He never really smelt bad in your opinion, though there were a few times when he had been covered in demon blood and hadn’t had a shower for at least a week where it was probably at its worst. Now, however? You couldn’t quite place what he smelt like but you loved it. He was never really around long enough for you to get a good whiff though.

Another thing was how he hated when you’d leave the house. It was like he was unbelievably jealous whenever you had to go to the store to buy milk or bread. As if anyone who saw you was going to woo you and steal you from him.

He’d even go as far as canceling on missions and sending either Dante or Vergil out to do it for him, meaning he got to stay at home with you. Which usually you’d be okay with spending so much time with him, hell, you begged for it sometimes, but when he was acting as he was… Let’s just say it easily got to be a bit too much pretty quickly.

The day you had just come home from the store, you were surprised to not have Nero jump on you and kiss you roughly like he had been doing any other time you came back from wherever it is you were doing. This time you walked through the door and were met with the sound of water running from the bathroom. Either the bath or shower you weren’t quite sure, but you figured Nero was just getting cleaned up.

You didn’t expect to walk in on him sitting inside the tub, particularly long nails digging into the wall beside him and cracking the tiles. His eyes were closed, face screwed up into a look of pure concentration and rage. The room was hot, warmth radiating from the water running or Nero himself you had no idea.

“Nero? Babe, whats wrong?” You asked, quickly jumping into the room and kneeling down beside the tub. You reached a hand out and placed it on his shoulder comfortingly, only to realise just how warm he was. He’s part demon, demons cant get sick can they? Or do they get very sick, more so than humans? You took your hand off of him to check the temperature of the water, only to pull your hand back with a soft squeak.

“Nero, the water’s freezing!” You didn’t know if maybe you should turn it off or not, since his body was still so warm. He was clearly trying to cool himself down.

“I don’t know whats happening to me, but whatever it is, I hate it” Nero hissed through his teeth. He opened his eyes and finally turned to face you, you couldn’t help the gasp that left your lips once you saw the all too familiar look of arousal, lust and hunger in his eyes, mixed with anger and pain.

You didn’t know what to say, shaking your head as you look over his body. The only thing that seemed out of the ordinary to you, other than the heat his body was emitting or the look on his face, was how he was covering himself. His hands were still human but it was as if his demon form was trying to burst through, turning his nails into long, sharp claws. His knees were slightly bent in the small tub, but the hand that wasn’t gripping the wall was cupped around his manhood.

“Why cover up? Not like I haven’t seen you naked before?”

“…It won’t go down” In any other situation, you might have laughed. But the look of pain and dare I say fear on Nero’s face had you a little concerned.

You shared a look with Nero and you were thankful he didn’t put up a fight, instead he turned his head to the side out of embarrassment as he moved his hand. Your eyes widened at how red and angry his hard member was, the first thought coming to mind was that maybe he simply needed a release and he’d be good. However, you had a good sex life with Nero so why would this be a problem now?

“Um… okay. Look, why don’t I help you out? I can’t think of anything else that might help.”

“No! I-I don’t want to h-hurt you.” Nero panicked as he covered himself up again.

“Nero, you’ve never hurt me, and you never will. We’ve been through thi—“

“UGH!” Nero’s hands twitched before they suddenly turned into the familiar colour and texture of his devil bringer. The horns a top his head extended before disappearing shortly after, as if his demonic form was glitching and trying to come forth without him controlling it.

“Thats it. I’m calling Dante.”

~*~

Nero got dressed by the time Dante came over, he was still hot and suffering but the cold bath seemed to help a little bit. He sat in the lounge room and crossed his legs while he dug his nails into the arm of the couch while you sat across from him on the opposite couch. Dante stood in between you and Nero, looking between the both of you like you were stupid and the solution to Nero’s problem was right in front of you.

“Tell me, kid. You start making a nest with all their clothes yet?” Dante asked with a sly smirk on his face, clearly enjoying this more than anyone else in the room.

“I’m sorry… a nest?” You ask, confused out of your mind.

“You really have no idea what’s going on, huh?” Dante replied, the curve of his lips never faltering. You didn’t know if you should be mad at him for not taking Nero’s suffering seriously or if you shouldn’t be worried since Dante clearly knew what was happening and didn’t seem concerned in the slightest. He did however seem a little too eager to come over when you called him, wether that be because he was bored or because he just really wanted to see Nero so uncomfortable was beyond you.

You shook your head and shared a glance with Nero before pleading with your eyes for Dante to explain what was going on.

“Look, watch this” The older hunter grinned, walking the few steps over towards you and turning to face Nero as he slowly placed his hand on your shoulder. You didn’t know what you were meant to be watching or why Dante was touching you, but the moment you heard a low growl, you started piecing it all together.

You glanced at Nero who was gripping the arm of the couch roughly, tearing the leather with his claws. He looked like he was doing everything in his power not to stand up and rip his uncles head off. You were actually surprised he hadn’t gone into his demon form with how aggressive he looked.

“C’mon, kid. You’re acting like a bitch in heat” Dante chuckled, taking his hand off of you and taking a few steps back. You watched as Nero visibly calmed down, his claws retracting and the murderous glint in his eyes disappearing.

“Is that what this is? Some demonic heat kinda thing?” You asked, pushing yourself out of your seat and going to stand beside Nero just in case he happened to get angry again. You expected to stay standing beside him just as emotional support, but apparently he had other plans as he wrapped an arm around your waste and pulled you down into his lap.

“Now, I’d say it wouldn’t be as bad for you, considering you’re not a half demon and all, but… Maybe it’s worse for you? Huh, weird” Dante mumbled under his breath, seeming not to care that Nero was nuzzling into your shoulder as if to rub Dante’s scent off of you and cover it with his own.

You tried to push Nero away, finding the sudden PDA a little much, but there was a low grumble down in his chest when you tried to stop him. Dante however kept talking like nothing was happening.

“Once a year you’ll get like this and the only solution is wait it out. Should last about a week or two. Though…” Dante trailed off, feeling amused by both yours and Nero’s stunned expressions. You were shocked and still so very confused even though you now know what Nero is going through.

“To make it a helluva lot more bearable… all you have to do is bump some uglies. It’ll help calm him down a bit. Just be prepared, cause when a demon goes through heat, we can go at it for days” Dante chuckled, seeming a little too casual about this situation and telling his nephew to engage in sexual activities.

“Are you kidding me? Won’t I hurt them?” Nero asked, worried and confused. There was a light pink dusting his cheeks and nose as he asked.

“You could. But you won’t.” Dante grinned, clapping his hands. “Anyway, I’m going to leave you guys to it. Be careful and feel free to call me if you have any more questions” And with that he walked away, letting himself out and not giving either you or Nero the chance to thank him for his help.

You’d be lying if you said you couldn’t feel the bulge growing in Nero’s pants the whole time you were sitting on his lap. Perhaps Dante could sense the arousal and figured it was best to get out of there ASAP.

“Well…” You said, facing Nero and wrapping your arms around his neck. He looked a little hesitant but pulled you in for a deep, rough kiss anyway. “Bedroom…” You mumbled against his lips, squeaking as you felt his tongue slip into your mouth as he soundlessly stood up, keeping you in his arms as he walked you to your shared room.

(Woah can you tell this is rushed or what? Ha ha *sweating*)

#Nero x reader #nero #nero sparda #nero dmc #dmc nero #nero imagine #nero imagines #dmc imagine #dmc imagines #devil may cry imagine #devil may cry imagines #dmc x reader #nero x you #nero/you #nero/reader

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