#find all the references if you can

[the-jnadf-man]

So I was going through my shit and uh

Found a thing I wrote a while ago.

It's kinda spooky so fucking uhhh

HERE IT IS I GUESS???

There's a lot of sentences I wouldn't write nowadays but here's how I wrote things... Whenever this was written. I don't actually know for sure.

Without further ado, here's "Two friends, then a third additional friend, which is me, who survives.", which... Is the actual name of the google doc I found it in.

Well.

You ever find yourself in one of those moments where your life should be flashing before your eyes, but you only have time to recap the last six hours?

I think that's what my friends have been telling me they experienced.

For some reason.

Sorry, let me introduce myself, in case I don't survive.

My name is Richard Pierce, and this is my diary. If you find it in a creepy old haunted mansion, that would mean that I am very much departed.

I went in with my friends Sadie Lockpin and Felix Castellan, both of whom are… Dead. Murdered by what lurks inside this abominable building. Sadie went to see what was in the kitchen, and had her head bitten off by a gross maggot man with a swollen head and deadly mandibles, whom Felix and I caught chewing through what was left of her neck. Felix died while we were trying to run away from the maggot man. I couldn't get a good look at what did it (And he won't tell me the details), but it seemed to be using many broken garden gnomes as an exoskeleton. You would think this would all be extremely traumatizing once it settled in, yes? Well, it was! For a few minutes! And then… Well, you probably figured it out already. My friends are now… Ghosts, hence why they've been telling me about how the last six hours of their lives flashed before them. It's really annoying, if I'm being honest. Running out of space on this page, so I'll keep writing tomorrow.

——————————————

Richard put the book down. Much to his chagrin, Felix had figured out some kind of weird ghost magic that stopped him from writing on more than one page per day.

"C'mon, Ricky! It's not that bad, is it?"

Speak of the devil…

"It kind of is, Felix."

Richard was a nervous wreck. In the two days since Felix and Sadie died, which he hadn't gotten to write anything about yet, he'd encountered two more maggot men trying to eat each other, only to chase him down when they noticed his presence, a living pincushion that fired the pins fast enough to crack a brick wall, and a three-headed snake that bit one of its own heads off so it could throw it at him. Thankfully, that last one didn't try to chase him after he ran off.

"Hey, you haven't gotten mutilated by the thing in the walls yet, so that's a plus!"

Felix willed his head to pop like a balloon, spraying bits of ectoplasm in a small circle around himself to emphasize his point. Richard, for whatever reason, genuinely believed Felix was trying to be helpful for once.

"...There's something in the walls?"

"Well… Yeah! It's been following you for the last hour or so!"

With shaking hands, Richard began pointing a broken and rusty water pipe, the only weapon he could find here, around frantically, as though it would save him from the coming ambush.

"G-get out of the walls, damn you!"

"...I mean, if you insist."

Whipping around, Richard found himself staring at Sadie, who was poking most of her spectral form through the wall behind him, grinning like she and Felix had played a particularly good joke just now.

"I- Tha- THAT'S NOT FUNNY!"

Both of them immediately started laughing smugly in disagreement. Sadie was the first to regather her wits.

"Pfahah… Ah… Seriously though, there is one of those gross maggot people coming here. I think it heard you scream when you saw that cerberu-snake in the side room."

Richard immediately began running in the opposite direction from the one Sadie had indicated while Felix gave her a mildly unimpressed look.

——————————————

"Do you ever go to sleep and just find out a block of cheese the length of your stomach inhaled your head while you slept when you wake up?"

Felix "What Is Humour" Castellan indicated to his conspicuous lack of a skull. Allegedly, he'd seen a cheese snake run off with it upon waking up, but neither Sadie (Who could confirm that ghosts don't need to sleep, nor had Felix chosen to do so that night) nor Richard (Who doubted a cheese snake would survive very long in here) were buying it.

"Felix…"

"I'M TELLING THE TRUTH, RICKY!"

Both his fellow ghost and the human survivor were clearly judging him.

"FINE! Geez! I'LL CATCH IT MYSELF!"

Huffing and puffing like he could somehow blow the supernatural torture dungeon they called a haunted mansion down, Felix flew through the wall.

"So he was just bullshitting, right?"

"Definitely. I've been through the entire mansion twice over while you were sleeping, and there's no living cheese here."

"Wh- I- YOU WERE SUPPOSED TO BE KEEPING GUARD?!"

Sadie looked to the side, as though astonished Richard remembered that.

"Oh, uh, look at the time. I gotta go."

In a supernatural poof, she was gone.

Half an hour of grumbling later, Richard fell out of his chair when Felix opened the door like a normal person and presented a living snake made of cheese, which spat his head out.

He wisely decided not to tell Sadie Felix wasn't making it up.

——————————————

Richard was trying to sneak past a truly horrid creature in the middle of what he presumed was a small child's former room. Consisting of the burnt, blackened spines of three or four humans wound into a snakelike shape, with a dozen arms serving as legs and a human skull for a head, with a yellow/orange eye in its jaws, along with an eye in each armpit, it was horrid to even look at. Felix and Sadie, however, were trying their best to play peek-a-boo with the sleeping monstrosity.

"Where's the monster?"

Thankfully, they were failing. The monstrosity did not stir even when Felix tried to see if sticking his arm through the closed mouth and shining his ghost-glow into the "main' eye would work. It DID, however, start shifting when Richard started opening the door he'd been moving towards, prompting Sadie to start miming mockery towards Felix, who was loudly complaining to Richard how unfair this was.

"I try for SEVERAL MINUTES, and YOU wake the cool bone snake up by OPENING A DOOR?!"

It continued shivering. Richard tried to stand still, not turning the obnoxiously loud door handle any further. It didn't work, as Richard realized when he heard its boney hands scratching across the floor.

Turning around, the disturbing approximation of a centipede crossed with a 7th degree burn victim was staring him right in the eyes. Awkward moments rolled past while Sadie was tossing a handful of pebbles into her mouth like it was popcorn, clearly adoring the realization that, as a ghost, she was now immune to indigestion. Felix was squee-ing at how cool the abomination seemed. Finally, it broke eye contact… And scurried away, tearing the door Richard entered through off its hinges. Not so far away, the horrific screech of one of the many maggot men was heard before a wet squelching noise cut it short.

Richard did not hear it, as he'd long since ran through the door he didn't enter the room through.

——————————————

"...What."

There was a garden. Indoors. In the basement. Richard ran his hand along a tree just to confirm it wasn't plastic, retracting it when he got the feeling he was about to get splinters stuck in his fingers.

"This- I- Wh- HOW?!"

Felix immediately ate one of the flowers, as Richard expected. Sadie, meanwhile, was inspecting a large mass of moss that seemed to be growing around something only slightly less large.

"...Guys? I think this thing's breathing?"

Felix poofed in and out of existence next to Sadie, inspecting the weird mass beneath with great enthusiasm.

"Real shit?"

Richard carefully approached it with the broken and rusty water pipe pointed towards it. Now that he was closer, it did indeed seem to have a slight bob. Once he got within striking distance, and acting under the assumption that it was faking being a rock and about to attack him, Richard struck it. The response he got was neither the feeling of successfully hitting something soft and organic, nor the dull sound that came from striking a rock. Rather, a sharp CRACK emanated, as he had barely enough time to note that it seemed brittle. And hollow. Like an egg. In the middle of attempting to back up, Richard was pushed back by a screech so loud it seemed to have physical mass. Falling onto his behind, Richard felt helpless as the creature within the egg broke out. It seemed composed of some sort of dark, slimy green goo, and emitting gas that instantly caused any plant in contact with it to wither and die. Most striking were its eyes, as they shone like flashlights, and, despite the lack of pupils, were obviously focused on Richard.

Sadie, responding to her ranidaphobia, jumped behind Felix.

"GAH! FROG!"

Felix, meanwhile, tried to hold a nearby rose in front of the monster's face. It immediately proceeded to decay into dust, leaving Felix with an empty hand. Richard did not know nor care why Felix did that. Acting on a fear response, the sole human of the trio jolted upright and back away. The creature that was… Imprisoned? Resting? Born? In the room began to approach. Despite it's clear intent to kill, it was quite slow. Richard managed to take advantage of this after putting a tree between it and him, somehow distracting it long enough for him to bolt past and to what he hoped was the exit door to the garden.

"Oh, what am I gonna name you?"

Felix, unlike Sadie who'd fled before even Richard, was inspecting the smoky ooze frog even as Richard closed the door behind him. As soon as Felix appeared beside him again, the beast started banging itself against the door, prompting the ghost to respond:

"Who's there?"

While Richard ran away.

——————————————

Finally.

They were finally back at the entrance. Only… Two, maybe three more rooms left, including the ones where Sadie and Felix… Died. They'd blown off the possibility of a post-traumatic panic attack when Richard asked. Both in their own ways. Sadie'd joked that she wouldn't even recognize her body, if it was still there at all, and Felix said he'd be too busy with, and I quote, "Shoving [his] spectral fist so far down that gnome-wearing bastard's throat it'd pop like a bug being stepped on" to notice.

In the first room, the hall that Felix was snatched in, they recovered what they assumed remained of his carcass.

Two ribs.

And by "they", I mean "Richard", since Felix was too grumpy to do it and Sadie… Wasn't there. Richard didn't know why, since she was right next to him before they'd entered the hallway.

"C'mon, Ricky. Grab the old me's ribs and let's get going. The bastard clearly isn't here…"

Hesitantly picking up the bone fragments (Through three layers of gloves), Richard placed them inside of an empty bag of chips, which was what he'd been eating for the last three days, and returned it to his backpack. He didn't know why Felix wanted him to carry these with him, but he hoped cooperating would make his friend more helpful.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip.

A hissing, black fluid began coating the ground behind Richard. Raising his eyes and gazing around in a rush of panic, he once more spotted the entity that'd slaughtered Felix. Now, he could finally get a good look at it. Yes, it was wearing shattered garden gnomes, but that wasn't all. Pieces of wood, bone fragments, stones, kitchen plates… Anything solid it seemed capable of finding. The only visible piece of its actual body was the left shoulder, which looked torn open with a fresh wound, and leaking the hot, sizzling liquid that alerted Richard to its presence.

"IT'S THE FUCKING- THE- THE- Y'BACKSTA-!"

With these… Choice… Words, Felix flung himself at the monster, which ignored the ghost. Richard, frozen to the spot, stared the beast down. Had he been braver, he would've considered trying to jam something, such as one of Felix's ribs, into the open wound on its shoulder. However, Richard is not that brave of a brave person, and thus turned to flee.

With eye contact broken, the scavenger-beast roared, released its grip on the ceiling, and began sprinting after Richard on all fours while Felix was trying to fight it. Sadie was still gone.

"DAMMITDAMMITDAMMITDAMMIT-"

Richard had come to the depressing conclusion that the door he intended to flee through was locked. looking over his shoulder, he found that the entity had slowed down, stalking forwards with all the smugness of a child with a team of legendaries about to get destroyed in a Pokémon battle by someone who was actually good at the game.

A click in the lock. Something moving within. Something metallic. Sadie's voice finally announced her presence.

"Hold on, it's almost open…"

Reacting to the ghost girl using the ability to move small objects to try and pick the lock, the scavenger-beast hissed in pain(?), and began sprinting at full force again.

Richard was about halfway through the doorframe when his instincts told him he was too slow.

and he would've been disemboweled, had Felix not accidentally proven useful, and pushed his head, which he'd torn all skin from in an attempt to scare the entity, through said abomination's head. For once, it reacted. Reeling back in horror, the crime against nature with comically hypersensitive eyes paused its attack on Richard, who closed the door and sprinted through the empty room behind to put more distance between it and him. Sadie and Felix had then appeared out of thin air when he hesitated to go through the final door. The door to the kitchen, which connected to the entrance and exit. Sadie, initially, had been giving Felix a sheepish smile, as though embarrassed about something. Felix, however, was busy celebrating the "defeat" of the scavenger-beast to notice. Once it looked like it was done chasing them, Richard settled down for the night, needing some rest after that particular encounter.

——————————————

Dear diary.

It's me, again. Richard Pierce.

I almost died. Again. Felix is VERY UNHELPFUL, as I've documented several times. We ran into that thing wearing gnomes again, but there were more things on it. I'd rather not recall it in detail. Tomorrow, we'll either get out of here or I'll finally die.

As a side note, Felix was unusually insistent on me taking two of his ribs back home. Maybe he just wanted some kind of proper funeral? I guess it might be that he wouldn't be able to leave the house without them being outside? I don't know, and I don't really care, if I'm being honest. He's been a bit callous about my safety, yeah, but we're still friends. None of us would leave either of the other two behind.

I have to believe that.

I know Sadie wouldn't leave me behind.

——————————————

Waking up to a cold feeling in his shoes, Richard found them full of ice cubes, with a giggling Sadie and Felix floating next to him.

"...Where did you even find these…?"

Sadie gave a Shrug, and Felix mumbled something about a fridge. That'd require the two to go into the kitchen, though, so Richard didn't think that was true.

Whatever. Getting out of here was more important.

Opening the door to the kitchen after confirming with Felix that it didn't lead to the hallway with the scavenger-beast, Richard was met with two things. The first of which being Sadie's request.

"Oh, and, uh, could you, like, pick up a bone from my body if it's still there?"

The second was the sight of… Something.

It was just standing there, as though it had no mind or will to speak of. Visually, it looked somewhere between a ghost and a human. It was obviously solid and not see-through, but it still emitted a blue glow, and it's skin looked… Wrong. Purple and glacial ice-blue, depending on which part of the body you were looking at. Its fingers were extended, almost like claws, with none of the sharpness. Finally, its head seemed ablaze with a ghostly flame. Blue, but harmless, considering an open, wooden shelf was in direct contact and remained unscorched. It was clearly wearing clothes, but that did little to make it less unnerving. Both of the actual ghosts experienced several emotions at the sight of it, such as annoyance, or that sensation you find in the uncanny valley. After at least two, maybe three, seconds of nothing happening, they concluded that it was both harmless and interesting, and went to take a closer look. Richard, for his part, was staying clear from its line of sight as best he could. Then… Sadie's corpse entered his line of sight. Decomposed and partially eaten, but far more intact than Felix's. With great hesitation, he grabbed a tibia that'd been snapped in half, presumably by the roach man that'd been eating her, and put it with Felix's ribs. He was definitely washing his hands after this, even if he never directly touched a bone.

He really needed to clean himself, anyway.

Still, the cold-looking semi-ghost-ish person did nothing but stare ahead, dead silent, expressionless. This did not change when Felix made taunting faces at it, nor when Richard opened the kitchen door with a loud creek and cringed at the noise, waiting for it to turn. Richard hurried outside, and slammed the kitchen door shut behind him, and prepared to leave this horrid building as a whole when Felix and Sadie lost interest in the kitchen entity.

——————————————

Finally. Home. After hours of walking after leaving the probably-still-haunted mansion, Richard could see the town they lived in on the horizon. Felix then gave him something to think about.

"So… How're you gonna explain all this?"

Richard immediately froze. Assuming the other townsfolk could see Sadie and Felix, it'd go far smoother. If they couldn't, he could say they were attacked by a wild animal on the way to wherever it was they'd been going, and he got lost.

But then he'd still have to explain the bones in his backpack, and the rambling about ghosts and the supernatural in his diary, assuming his parents read it.

Oh god, their parents.

"Hey. Let's not overthink this."

Sadie was, once again, floating just above him.

"If nothing else, you won't have to buy snacks for us when we hang out anymore."

Chuckling to himself, Richard decided to simply go into town and do his best to explain himself.

Going to prison was probably better than spending forever in the wild, right?

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Ooh, you want to know what happens at the gay bar run by ex-pirates, ooh...You'll just have to read Tiger Tiger to find out...

(Inspired by this Disco Elysium comic)

[theoldkyokodied]

One wedding and three funerals

Background paintings under the cut

[bet-on-me-13]

Ghostly Host AU

So! Ghosts need a physical Anchor in the living world, or they are liable to fall apart and fade away if they stay for too long.

In Amity Park, this usually isn't too much of a problem. Sure most Ghosts can't stay for a week without a Host, but the ambient Ecto-Levels in Amity Park are enough that they can stay for a few days or so at a time with little worry.

This changes however, during Reign Storm.

When Pariah Dark awakens, Tens of Thousands of Ghosts use the Fenton Portal to escape the Rule of Pariah Dark, running away into the Human Realm.

If Amity Park had stayed where it was, this would have been fine. They could have stayed in the Living Realm for a few days, and maybe the Weaker ones would need to find a temporary Host, but that was fine since Amity was filled with thousands of Liminals.

Unfortunately, Pariah Darks first move was to suck Amity Park into the Ghost Zone, alongside all of the Ecto-Energy that had accumulated there.

Now left trapped in the Living Realm with no way back to the Zone, thousands of Ghosts suddenly needed Hosts or they would start dying off by the Hundreds. In a Panic, they spread out across the Planet in search of viable Hosts.

Any normal Person wouldn't do, they needed a Living Being that could actually handle their Power, or someone who matched their Soul. Preferably both. Liminals were the best since they had a durable Body and a Malleable Soul, so any Ghost could use any of them as a Host.

But outside of Amity Liminals were very rare, and finding someone who matched their Soul was time-consuming and hard. Thankfully, in recent years the population of Aliens, Metahumans, Enhanced Soldiers, and even extra durable baseline Humans had spiked across the world.

All across the planet, People suddenly found themselves stuck with a new Passenger in their Bodies.

Those new passengers thankfully weren't malicious, for the most part, but it was still annoying. The only good thing was that they now had new Powers, which neat.

They could summon the Ghosts in their Body outwardly, and then command the Ghost to use their Powers in whatever way they wanted. Only other Hosts could see another person's Ghost, which meant they looked very awkward to normal people when they fought. Generally, Hosts seemed to act more strangely after getting a Ghost, as if they lost a few of their Inhibitions.

Why did they feel the sudden need to strike a flamboyant Pose? Or over dramatically scream?

[mantimae]

Breaking news!! Local mall teens loiter and buy NOTHING.

Bonus bg pic bc Steph’s hair covered it all lol (I didn’t put a whole lotta effort in the bg lines but the lighting was fun and I wanted to show it off <3)

[lucabyte]

Perceptive kid, I wonder just how much they pretend not to overhear.

[tea-n-ink]

Homesickness is where the heart is

[chitinleg]

got him off-balance!

[lovely-bellflower]

Why did no one tell me there was a batlantern moment in one of the latest Green Lantern issues??!!? This guy needing to fight his way out with his team mates chose a BAT-grapple to help pull a ring hunter off. That was the first thing that came to mind for this?!

[freckle-craft]

You ever get a craving for a certain art medium and have to scramble for something to do with it? Yeah same. ANYWAY this took a week and it kicked my ass and when my dad walked in he said “Is that perspective collage? Do you hate yourself???” And tbh yeah I was a little insane for that but it was funnnnn and I think I nailed the vibe I was going for!

(Also I spent so long picking out the products on the shelves and I put a lot of thought into it yet you can’t see 80% of them but at least I know)

[goatpunches]

I wanted to pay a little tribute to one of my favorite video games of all time :')

You can also grab a PDF of this on my itch.io for just $1!

[moonfang182-magic]

Gregtober Day 2: Treat

@gregaverse "I think he's finally crashed after all those treats."

~Design Under Cut~

[bread-is-my-life]

A lot of random stainmight sketches/doodles/ideas yada yada Posting those because idk if I can cook today and I just want to post at least smth ദ്ദി ༎ຶ‿༎ຶ )

[hickeygender]

sorry, he's allergic to SOUP? no wonder he thinks he's destined for infinite sadness, i'd believe that too if my immune system thwarted me from slurpin down a nice hearty bowl of soup 😭

[polarisbibliotheque]

Can You Hear The Rumble? - Vergil x Reader

Music Inspired Fics (Devil May Music) - Cirice, by Ghost

Pairing: Vergil x Reader

Summary: Everyone knew the kind of demon a hunter should be wary about is the one who plays with their victim's minds. You and Vergil were very proud on the outside - but how would it be when having to save each other on the inside for the first time?

TRIGGER WARNING: A lot of blood, cuts, bruises, scars and suffering on both Vergil and the reader's sides. The reader also struggles with perfection and self-loathing - in a "I'm never going to be a good person" kind of way, because I needed to get more intimate on the reader's part as well - and there are scenes with the reader covered in cuts and bleeding, though not self-imposed, it could be read like that. Those scenes are the reader's and Vergil's internal images of themselves. Reader and Vergil meet each other on their imperfections and the darkest parts of their souls, so BE WARNED. This might not be everyone's cup of tea and there are lots of potential triggers.

Author's Note: @tokkis-shelf asked me if Vergil's part of the Halloween special was inspired by Cirice, and here we are now. It is what kickstarted the song-fic requests! As with a lot of people, I think, Cirice is pretty personal to me.

In the video, it was so comforting to me seeing the black sheep being represented hahahaha and I guess that's why people love it so much. The part where they hold hands? I died, I'd never let go, I cry my soul out upon watching. (I did a very similar drawing to that scene when I was in school around 15 years ago, so it drop-kicked me out of my body xD)

Now, when writing this, I kept in mind that this song has a double meaning and can be quite comforting and quite manipulative at the same time - hence why I use the "can't you see that you're lost without me?" in two different situations, 'cause I think Cirice can be interpreted in so many ways and each person takes what they need from this song. I hope you guys like it!!

Plus, the song the reader and Dante sing at the end is The Power of Love, by Huey Lewis and The News

Cirice, by Ghost

“Can’t you see that you’re lost…?”

It happened every time Vergil walked in the darkness.

That voice in the back of his head, silently taunting him, the hiss of a quiet viper in the hopes of taking him back to the darkest parts of his soul. Quiet, lurking, whispering… Mundus always there, somewhere in the folds of his consciousness, guiding him back into the void – luring Vergil back into his shackles.

“Can’t you see that you’re lost without me?”

As if Vergil couldn’t belong anywhere else, as if his place was in Hell. After all he had been through, after all the sins he perpetrated, he believed wholeheartedly there was no hope for him at all – only a fool’s hope; only a glimmer of a wish he wasn’t as tainted as he was… A desire to not be such a monster as he was.

Pacing quietly through the empty cathedral, Vergil had already learned not to give in to those thoughts – to keep them at bay, as only a whisper in the darkness, of trickster voices that would always remind him of how inhuman he was.

It was times like this Vergil longed for the faint glimmer of the moon, or the warm ghostly light of a candle. It was easy to get lost in the dark, but a single ray of light could help through the direst of situations. That night, though, it seemed like the moon had fallen asleep behind the curtains of the clouds – Selene hiding her tears for her earthly lover in his eternal sleep.

None of you knew what that night entailed – you weren’t even certain what you were dealing with. That was the reason why Lady strutted in the Devil May Cry, not too fond of taking a job she didn’t know if it was up to her abilities.

“Well, looks like I have a new one for you to pay your debt, big guy!” Her singsong voice interrupted the ambience of the jukebox; Lady entering the shop with Kalina Ann and all.

“Eh, I’m never gonna be free of my debt, Lady, let’s be honest.” Dante sighed, putting his feet down and throwing his magazine across the table, shooting her a serious glare. “But things have been borin’ lately, so one of your odd jobs’ not gonna hurt. Whaddya have for me?”

“You talk as if I never help you enough to maintain this place.” She lifted one eyebrow, approaching the big desk at the middle of the shop.

“Gotta give the woman credit, Dante. Last month’s bills were on her.” You shrugged as you had finally come out of your shower, happy to see Lady around, still drying your hair with the towel as you went down the stairs.

“See? Someone who has a bit of common sense.” Her smile was nothing short of devilish as she gestured towards you.

“You know where you are, Lady. ‘Common sense’ isn’t much of a thing in this household.” You greeted her by quickly blowing her a kiss while passing by, making your way towards the couch where Vergil was quietly reading.

“Ey, you’re hurtin’ my feelings like that.” Dante put one of his hands over his heart, laughing alongside you as you kept on your way. “But fine. I’ll give ya that, Lady. So, what’s up? What job do you wanna throw at me this time?”

“I am not throwing it at you.” And there it was: you could always see when Dante stroke a nerve when Lady got defensive and with that fiery stare on her multicolored eyes. “If you wanna do it, great, if you don’t, I can deal with it myself just fine. I’m here to be a good friend since you can barely afford all that pizza you keep stuffing yourself with!”

As you sat by Vergil’s side, you both exchanged a telling glare. Just like you, Vergil was used to observing people. Granted, he didn’t know Lady as much as Dante or even you, but he did know her since he was very young. That fiery, easy-to-anger personality had been there since they first met at the Temen-ni-gru – and Vergil argued it was one of Lady’s traits that would never change.

Something he was quite pleased with, if he had to be honest with himself. It was a good trait for a human demon hunter like her. Dante always praised human’s hearts and particularly their love and empathy – Vergil praised their burning anger that made them unconquerable in the direst of circumstances.

“Jeez, alright, alright, don’t shoot me!” Dante raised his hands as if he was at gunpoint, making you wheeze quietly. Vergil side-eyed you for a while – half judging, half holding his own laugh. “It’s not like I have much of a choice, do I?”

“Humpf.” Lady rolled her eyes and took a slice of pizza from the box resting on the desk, pointing at Dante with it right after. “You know I wouldn’t bring you something if it wasn’t important.”

“Actually, you would.” With those words, Dante rested his arms crossed on the table – all the while, you and Vergil watched it all as if it was a show. Who needed a TV when you had those two? “But you’re bein’ too dodgy ‘bout it, babe. What’s goin’ on?”

“I got a call from a priest in a city nearby.” Lady’s answer was uncharacteristically quiet, followed by a bite from the pizza while she seemed pensive and in any hurry to chew it. “I’ve done some jobs there, know the guy, he’s nice. All the times he called me, it was always a quick, good-paying job. He said some weird things have been happening at the cathedral for the last couple of weeks.”

“Not to sound mean, but there’s always somethin’ strange happenin’ at churches.” Dante’s eyes carried a bit of skepticism: ‘weird things’ didn’t always entail a job for the Devil May Cry – and it usually ended with all of you hunting a rogue raccoon or something.

“I know. But this guy, he doesn’t get scared easy, ok? He’s one of those types of priests who’ll try to shoot down a couple of demons with a shotgun and, if that doesn’t work, he gives me a call.” Those words, though, made you and the Spardas raise your eyebrows. Indeed, it was a rare type of priest, but a good one to keep as acquaintance. “He said the cathedral is increasingly quiet, even from noises outside, with occasional distant noises that are not done by any of those who live there. After it all started, the other priests reported having weird nightmares, of being chased by something in the dark, inside the cathedral – this thing whispering things they can’t understand. Alright if it happened to one or two, but soon all of them started waking up in the middle of the night with similar nightmares – and, catch this, the higher ups of the clergy didn’t tell the common priests about it, but they all reported the very same dream.” Those words caught everyone’s attention. Vergil finally closed his book and leaned forward, paying attention to Lady’s retelling of the priest’s misfortunes. “The priest has been trying to figure out what’s going on, but some old books appear to go missing from the library, only to re-appear as if nothing has happened. Some books are missing pages, something that never happened before. He also said the inside of the cathedral has been getting darker and darker as the weeks go by. As if something is approaching – his words, not mine.”

Vergil immediately furrowed his brows and seemed to turn into an ice sculpture right by your side. You risked a glance, finding him with his usual dark aura – pensive, somber and quiet; hunter’s eyes showing themselves in a matter of seconds.

“Rare are the creatures in Hell in search for knowledge…” He muttered loud enough for his brother and Lady to turn their attention to him. “But those who do, are usually among the worst. Haunting noises, torn books, nightmares, dead silence and total darkness…”

“What? You think those Hell Piranhas came out of their pit?” Dante’s question had a bit of fun in the words, but his eyes were serious and he didn’t allow his lips to smile.

“Could be. Could also be a demon trying to mimic them to hide something else.”

“Hell Piranhas?” You and Lady didn’t need a cue to ask at the very same time. Neither of you had ever heard of that – and both of you had heard of a lot.

“This is not their name, but it is how Dante calls them since we were kids.” Vergil almost sighed in response.

“How we both called ‘em. Mister smart-pants over here isn’t that much better than lil’ ol’ me.” Dante winked at both of you, making you giggle quietly in return. “They’re kinda like illusion demons, but they like stayin’ in the darkness and gatherin’ knowledge. Usually work for someone bigger, though.”

“And even if they don’t, they swallow up all their knowledge and that is dangerous in itself. Afterwards, they feed from the victims they have been toying for so long.” Vergil continued Dante’s thought, ignoring his brother’s previous words. The more you didn’t think about what Dante had said about him, the better – for Vergil couldn’t deny it. “They hunt in packs, and the more victims, the more powerful they become. Some call them the Pit Deceivers, others call them the Lie Weavers…”

“You call them Hell Piranhas.” You concluded bluntly, making Vergil stare at the horizon with emptiness in his eyes – he could say all he wanted, flex all his demonic knowledge, you heard the Piranhas and now you’d never forget it.

“I never heard of them.” Lady had her eyebrows furrowed, searching her memory for some story like that.

“They either don’t leave the pit that much or not many humans survive to tell the story. That’s why.” Dante pointed at a great, old book Vergil had left on one of the tables a long time ago and now it was its official resting place. “You can find it only in the likes of the Codex Daemonica.”

“So either we have them around, or it’s something else. Something bigger. Right?” As you asked, Vergil only agreed with his head as the attentions turned to you. “Or something mimicking the Piranhas.” And Vergil had to sigh at your addition. He would never have peace again. “The mimic or the master, what kind of demon would the Piranhas answer to? If they are that obscure, I take it their existence is more of a niche knowledge in Hell rather than a common information.”

“On that, you are correct…” Vergil murmured in response, falling back into his pensive demeanor. You knew he would be lost for a while.

“See? Good thing I brought this for you, then.” Lady waved dismissively at Dante, but you could sense a little edge in her playful voice. Dealing with big things was fine, same as dealing with cruel demons and the ones that played the big-scary-one persona. Unknown demons were another kind of monster – one only Dante and Vergil used to deal with. “Plus, they always pay well.”

“Eh, I won’t be seein’ much of that money, if I know ya well.” Dante scoffed, having a small smile hidden in the corner of his lips; his tone and demeanor, though, were quite somber and you knew the red devil was taking it seriously.

“If you don’t mind, Dante, I would like to take over this one.” Vergil finally declared while getting up from the couch. “I know some of the hellish creatures who might make use of the Weavers or mimic them.”

“Fine for me, I’m needin’ some time to rest.” Dante sighed, but looked right back at you while Vergil rested his book on the big Devil May Cry desk. “But I’m gonna feel a lot better with someone around to keep an eye on ‘im, pretty thing.”

“Well, I didn’t intend on letting you guys deal with this all by yourselves anyway.” You got up from the couch, immediately receiving a glare from Vergil. “I’m going, blue devil, whether you want it or not. I want to get acquainted with these Piranhas.”

Vergil only closed his eyes, letting out the longest and most regretful sigh you ever heard in your life.

And there you were – although Vergil lost track of you quite a while ago. He knew the stirrings rippling through his heart when you were in danger; and being the fierce human you were, Vergil wasn’t worried about having you search for the demons in the cathedral.

There was, though, a slight uneasiness. That voice echoing in the darkest parts of his soul, it always came as an omen – causing nothing but destruction, inside or outside of himself. Vergil never could really say which one would be, but both were devastating.

“Veeeeergil…”

His steps came to a dry halt in the middle of the cathedral. The night outside the colorful stained-glass windows was pitch black, robbing the colors of their warmth and light – the fire on the candles, long dead in that cold night. The whisper that crept to his ears, like stark chalk on a chalkboard, dragged itself through the marble floor and took a hold of his soul in its clutches.

It was a different kind of sound – different from the ones inside himself, calling him to the darkness. It was from the outside… The Lie Weavers. Slowly coming up, finding him as their next victim. He was close to one of the places they were certainly lurking in the shadows, patiently waiting for someone they could consume.

Vergil never feared the darkness. Tightening his grip around Yamato, his steps resumed his way, approaching the places in the cathedral the faint light of the night could barely touch. Those demons should have known their end was near, and he was the harbinger of their demise – he expected all kinds of trickery, of resistance, of fight from them.

He did not expect to hear a familiar voice, filled with uncertainty.

“Vergil…?”

Halting his steps once more, this time his silvery eyes lost their predatorial gaze as his heart jumped in his chest – even if for a slight second.

“Mother?”

His answer was but a whisper before he was swallowed by darkness.

*

When engaging with illusion demons, one should be aware of not falling into their element: when engulfed by it, those demons were more powerful than expected, able to subdue even the strongest of foes. Breaking from their control required mental and emotional discipline rather than brute force.

It was a slight second – a foolish slip from his human soul, disarmed by the trickery of Eva’s voice – and Vergil was surrounded by a sea of darkness and turmoil. His heart stirred with anger towards himself for being such a child, a vulnerable stupid child, tricked by a puppet of something his heart missed so much.

Eva was long dead. There was no demon able to bring her back. And he would never see her again. All that logic was tossed aside in a spark of a second by his stupid human heart, trembling upon hearing her speak his name again. Granted, Vergil only heard his mother in his dreams, barely remembering how her voice sounded in reality, and this time he heard outside himself – but he should have seen it coming. Illusion demons, trickster demons, cruel demons… They all relied on the barely closed scars inside his damned human soul.

Vergil could always count on them to re-open those wounds, making him bleed as much as he did on the floor of that cursed cemetery so many years ago – and he was a fool to fall for it after he had been through so much.

“Vergil… Can you hear me…?”

“I can, you damned deceiver. You can stop these theatrics – mimicking my dead mother will not affect me.” His voice cut through the dark like the sharpest of ice, his predatorial gaze back into his silver eyes.

“I… Don’t understand you, son. I cannot find you.” Her voice had a tinge of sorrow and desperation – but it was exactly like Eva’s voice. Vergil remembered it with a tinge of gold, probably a result of the haze of nostalgia, but today it was grounded and melancholic – perhaps, that was how Eva had always sounded… He just didn’t remember it. “I can’t find you. You aren’t home.”

“I haven’t been home for a long while.” Vergil didn’t even try to hide the growl that raised from his chest as he argued with that creature. He was used to having a puppet of his mother parading in front of him to hurt his human soul even more, but that was already getting on his nerves. Taunting him about the fact his mother ran to find him that fateful night wasn’t part of the usual games those filthy demons played – and to say they were honing his wrath was an understatement. “And I will never be back.”

“I… I cannot see you, Vergil. Where are you…? Why…?” He could hear the weeping in her voice, faint sobbing while the desperation made her words tremble. Vergil raised his head in the darkness, holding his own heart not to quiver: she wasn’t real and it was all a gimmick to affect him. He would not be affected. He was stronger than that. “Why couldn’t I save you? Those demons they… They hurt you, didn’t they? Oh, my child! My son! They hurt you and I could do nothing! I couldn’t be your mother!”

“Enough with this, filthy, hellish creature!” His voice finally exploded from his chest, roaring in the dark and echoing through the void, finding only silence. “You have no right to desecrate my mother’s memory like this! Shut your putrid mouth and stop with your rancid lies!”

The glint of the Yamato being unsheathed made the darkness recoil for a split second, only to envelop the Dark Slayer once more. His grip was tight, his eyes fiercely looking for his first opponent to direct a very well-placed judgement cut that could end all those creatures with just one swing of his hand. Vergil had enough and all the patience he carried in his being wouldn’t be enough to stop him from overkilling those demons – he just had to know where to direct his wrath.

“Don’t say those words, Vergil… You are not… Not like this.” Her voice still trembled, and his hand was still certain around Yamato. Vergil knew quite well at that state he was a weapon of mass destruction, he just had to find his opponent. His soul was screaming for him to do that, to put a stop to all that mockery. “You are good… You are my son.”

Vergil would have sliced that demon into a thousand million pieces without flinching, even if it took the form of his mother – but his eyes widened as a soft, warm hand touched his face. In all those years being taunted by demons, being tricked and mocked, seeing so many puppets of Eva, Sparda and Dante, none of them had touched him… And none of them genuinely felt like them.

It had been so many lost years he hadn’t felt his mother’s touch – last time, she could cup his entire face, thumb lovingly caressing his innocent eyebrows, but now her thumb could only reach his cheekbones. Nevertheless, it felt like her: not like a golden, nostalgic lost memory of how she felt, but exactly like Eva’s hands, even with the slight roughness of her continuous gardening.

“It took me so long to find you… I am so sorry.”

“You are not my mother.”

“Don’t say that.” Her answer was a sorrowful whisper, her thumb now carefully caressing his sharp cheekbone. Vergil closed his eyes, unable to move, convincing himself all of that wasn’t real and not allowing his heart to sway – forcing his arms to remain frozen by his side, fighting the urge to embrace her. Reminding himself: his mother was dead, killed while trying to save him, a long time ago, and nothing could bring her back. “Your heart hasn’t hardened as much as not to recognize me. You…” Her voice once more became soft, as if trying to do the same with his soul. “You are not a monster… You are my son, my Vergil.”

With those words, Eva’s hand was finally met with a tear – melting the ice from those silvery eyes.

*

There was an impending storm rumbling inside your chest.

Whenever that turmoil took ahold of your heart, you knew Vergil was in trouble. You had just finished checking your side of the cathedral, finding some things out of the ordinary but no demons, when the waves became aggressive in your chest. Your steps were already taking you to meet him, but you found yourself walking even hastier – the sound, though, eaten by the shadows that seemed to only grow around you.

Neither of you had calm seas of feelings: they usually raged like a maelstrom of emotions you could barely get through without some destruction – be it internal or external. But there was a certain note of melancholy and desperation in your heart at that moment that made you know Vergil was hurting – and that hurting, you knew quite well.

It was almost ironic how you apparently despised each other at the beginning, but after a while you came to understand; that aversion was there because you, in a certain way, were a mirror of each other. You could see in him the traits in your soul you disliked the most, and Vergil did see in you the same thing – those traits, however, were the same ones that brought you together, and made both you and Vergil feel seen and understood for the first time in your lives.

He didn’t judge your sins, as you didn’t judge his. To your eyes, he was never a monster, and to his, you could never be as crooked as you thought you were. You found each other in imperfection and, in that, you managed to talk and feel on the same level – after that, every feeling of admiration, care and love was easy to blossom.

You understood that storm, that thunder rumbling inside your chest at that very moment. You could feel it exactly the way he felt – and you knew Vergil needed help… Even if he would never say so himself.

You couldn’t hear or see him, though. You found yourself exactly at his area of patrol in the cathedral, but there was no clue as where your blue devil had gone – and for him to completely disappear, imposing presence and all, was quite an achievement in itself. The air was stiff, heavy as if the windows had never been opened, eating up any sound from the inside and the outside. The darkness was heavier than the one you had previously patrolled, shadows allowing only a few glimpses of the opulent decoration and the path in front of you – although, you couldn’t see more than a few meters beyond your feet.

If you couldn’t trust your sight or your hearing to find him, you could trust your heart: the storm would guide you. Closing your eyes, you allowed your feelings to take over, following with your footsteps in the direction you could hear his soul calling.

Those shadow creatures wouldn’t be able to hide him from you: no matter what happened or where you found yourselves, you would always be able to feel Vergil’s presence and find him in the darkest of hours.

And as the thunder in your chest cracked violently, your feet came to a halt and you opened your eyes.

Right in front of you, there was only darkness. Not like in the shadows that took the cathedral little by little, but pitch-black darkness, that no light could cast aside. To enter it would mean to be completely bare: vulnerable, lost, without guidance, naked – but the screaming in your soul made it very clear Vergil was in there.

Contrary to your lover, you were afraid of the dark. You always preferred to have a little light by your side, for you never knew what could be lurking alongside you, ready to pounce and drag you to certain suffering and death. You protected yourself by being forever vigilant, as you always did – a trait that exhausted you, yes, but luckily, in the last few years, you had Vergil around to keep a light by you when your body started giving out.

For that reason, you would never fear entering the darkness for him.

And with a deep breath, your bold steps took you inside the dark.

*

Your feet were cold, bare, stumbling over a sticky floor. Even if your eyes could see only darkness, you felt the freezing air of that night slicing your skin: you were shirtless and something was hurting… Oozing. The cold wind mixed with a faint warmness that leaked from the open wounds on your skin.

Blood. You were bleeding.

Your arms immediately wrapped around you – those scars, they were showing. They never showed before.

Running your hands quickly over your body, you could feel the warm blood slipping through your fingers; some wounds barely holding themselves closed while others still poured as in the day they were created.

That was the version of yourself you used to fiercely hide. None of those wounds were physical, none of them could be seen… But whenever you looked in the mirror, you saw them there, under your skin, under your soul, quietly resting until you couldn’t hide them anymore.

“You are lost…”

It was always the same voice, of something dark, something inside you that could break your soul if you didn’t shove it back into the darkness like you always did. That was why you were afraid; that was why Vergil always kept a faint glow by your side whenever you couldn’t hold yourself together. The dark was dangerous to you – to both of you.

“You are lost without me…”

“I can survive quite well without you…!” You growled to the darkness, keeping that part of yourself at bay. The part that gave in to the pain, that bathed in the blood and didn’t want to get up… And the part that would bathe and rise in rage, making you survive at great cost to those around you.

You were past that. And you didn’t need that to survive. You didn’t have to survive, you could live.

“Can’t you see that you’re lost…?”

“Vergil!” Your scream was a roar in the dark, looking for the one you plunged into the darkness to find. You wouldn’t give in to the trickery of those Piranhas – and you would get Vergil out of there.

They would learn they shouldn’t fear only the son of Sparda: they should also fear you.

“You think you can find him…?” After the mischievous ethereal voice questioned, you heard a giggle rippling around your feet as you stumbled on the sticky floor to find your lover. “You think you are that good? You think you aren’t a monster?”

You furrowed your brows, doing your best to ignore the voices. You knew it was that part inside of you that always taunted how broken you were, how imperfect your soul was. For the longest time you believed there was nothing good in you, nothing to save you from a life of loneliness, until you crossed paths with Vergil.

He was broken too – and he would never judge the things you did to survive your lethal wounds.

“Vergil! Can you hear me?! I’m here to find you!”

“How chivalrous, how heroic! What are you trying to accomplish?” The giggles pooled around your feet, threatening to drag you inside that pool of viscous darkness. “Trying to prove yourself? You’re never going to be perfect. You’re a black sheep, an outcast, remember? The likes of you aren’t heroes.”

“Oh, I’m no hero…” You growled back, fighting against the things trying to pull you back; fighting against the pain of the freezing cold and warmness of blood. “I’m a fucking fighter. You’re messing with the wrong kind of monster, fucking Hell Piranhas.”

“Piranhas…?” A faint whisper in the dark broke whatever control those things were trying to have over your body, starting at your feet. It was Vergil’s whisper – followed by a louder speaking tone. “Y/n! I can feel you, where are you?!”

“Trying to find you!” You screamed back, immediately dragging your feet towards Vergil. You couldn’t see him, but you could feel where he was – and there was nothing those demons could do against that.

The darkness seemed to shift for a couple of seconds. You couldn’t understand what was happening, but you saw a faint, ghostly pale glow in the dark – almost imperceptible, but your heart knew, you could finally see Vergil.

And, in return, he could see you. Moving his feet, Vergil dragged heavy shackles through the floor, screeching in a horrid, soul scratching sound as he willed his body to move towards you. You could hear him grunting with the effort, another set of chains being dragged as Vergil moved his arms – slowly, but surely, wearing all of his strength to get to you.

You felt the viscous ripples of the floor creeping up your legs, almost on your knees, doing their best to pull you away – back into the darkness, back to the taunting voices, to the doubt, the hurt, the self-loathing.

“Vergil! Let me hear your voice! You’re still there, right?!”

“Yes. I am always here.” His answer came with grunts of effort, barely above the noise of the chains screeching around him.

The darkness shifted again, and his form became even more visible, as yours did to him – followed by a scream that rumbled in his chest, Vergil managed to get even closer. That made something spark inside yourself, that thundering storm breaking in your soul cracking in a scream that broke the insidious tentacles holding you back and making you lunge forward.

Once again, the glow you diffused only to each other seemed to get stronger as the darkness wavered.

“Y/n…” He growled once more, the shackles screaming on the floor as he reached out to you.

“Vergil…!” You reached out in return, barely making out the form of his fingers in the dark.

As you were almost touching each other’s hands, the heavy, muffling darkness faltered once more. You could finally see one another, as you were in that godforsaken place.

Vergil was shirtless, his body covered in wounds – new and old – bleeding profusely. His silvery eyes were red, sunken in deep shadow, surrounded by a deep purple mist on his dry skin. You could see his bones under his pale skin covered in so many lacerations you wouldn’t even know where to start healing him. His knuckles were battered, showing the flesh underneath, as well as his wrists covered by heavy iron shackles – wounds from fighting against them for so long. His hands were still long and elegant, but bony and covered in bruises.

You had never seen Vergil so hurt, so broken, so… Vulnerable.

In return, his eyes took in shock the vision of you: as shirtless as him, as battered and wounded as he was. Even if not locked in the shackles he wore for so long in Hell, you walked barefoot leaving a trail of blood behind you. Those scars, those wounds, those bruises… He knew they were there, but he had never seen those. You looked weak and tired, bloodshot eyes under dry skin, as if you hadn’t slept in ages… And those things you fought so much to conceal, now crystal clear in front of him.

Those were the scars you carried inside yourselves. The wounds you had to fight against every day – that you had to try to heal, even if sometimes it seemed impossible. The things you would never show, but, somehow, you managed to sense it in each other… Now you could see it, clear as a bright night.

And, even if you wouldn’t admit to yourselves, those were the very same breaking thunders that would keep you moving – fiercely fighting, fiercely surviving.

As you took in each other’s internal selves, Vergil’s silvery eyes finally found yours.

A loud thundering noise shook the floor underneath your feet twice, as your hearts rumbled alongside the devastating sound. You lunged forward, holding Vergil’s hand as if your life depended on it. Never breaking your eye contact, Vergil held your hand with the strength you would expect of the legendary Dark Slayer. You made each other stronger, and there was nothing that could come between you now.

His shackles immediately screeched back, pulling Vergil violently away from you. At the same time, you were grabbed by the viscous darkness – your knees, your legs, your abdomen, your arms. It pulled you back with vicious strength, doing its best to drag you away from him – back into the darkness.

“Don’t let me go!” You screamed back, tightening your grip around his bony hand.

“I will never let go!” He growled, doing the same, trying to drag his body forward – failing to notice you willed yourself towards him as he pulled you into his arms. Those silvery eyes never moved away from yours.

“You are lost…! Lost…!”

The voices chanted and screeched around you, doing their best to drag you apart. For a moment, your hand slipped and you let out a desperate scream, hurting your lungs as you were almost pulled back into the void. Vergil’s cry resembled a roar as he willed his body to move and tightened his grip in a way he didn’t hold even Yamato.

He hadn’t held his brother’s hand once. This time he wouldn’t make the same mistake. This time, he would hold you even if that damned the both of you to the darkest pits of Hell.

“Can’t you see…? Can’t you see that…?”

“I am lost…!” You barked back to the voices, still staring into Vergil’s eyes, trying to catch your breath while your lungs stung as if you were inhaling a thousand knives.

As Vergil looked into your eyes, though, he knew exactly what you were going to say – and he could safely say it was the very same thing he struggled to find the words to.

“Without you.” His answer came in a dark tone, ragged from the effort he too made to be able to hold your hand.

The thunder rumbled twice again – the voices shrieked and you suddenly found yourselves being launched into each other’s arms as the forces that bind you broke into a million pieces.

Vergil’s arms wrapped around you, one of his hands holding your head close to his chest, as you wrapped yours around his waist, keeping him as close as you could. His head rested on top of yours, and you kept your eyes closed – washing away the blood above his heart with the tears that streamed down your face.

“Don’t ever hide from me.” Vergil’s voice was uncharacteristically shaky, somber but reassuring. You had never been so vulnerable in front of him – and even upon seeing you like that, his reaction was to take you in his arms, to welcome you. “I’m not afraid of the dark.”

“And I’m not afraid of your darkness.” You tightened your arms around his cold, bony body as you felt tears running through your hair. “I can see beyond your glimmer, and I’m not afraid of what’s in the dark.” Your voice shook as you took a deep breath and Vergil’s arms held you even closer – his body shaking with the tears falling from his eyes. “It’s you. And I’m never afraid of you.”

“Neither am I of you.”

His answer was but a whisper – a whisper enough to break the darkness into a memory to be kept away in the deepest pits of Hell.

I can feel the thunder that’s breaking in your heart I can see through the scars inside you

*

*

*

*

“You killed the Piranhas from Hell with the power of love?”

Vergil wanted to crawl into a hole and disappear. Or die. Or both.

Probably both.

The whole crew was there as you and Vergil never came back from the job as quickly as expected – and when you did, it looked like you hadn’t slept in days.

The priest was more than happy with the result of your work – even though you never discovered why the Weavers decided to come out of hiding nor what they wanted. The congregation was just happy they were gone and the whole reason behind it would be a long-term thing for the Devil May Cry to work on – or to keep an eye on; maybe something bigger was approaching.

You and Vergil didn’t feel like going back to the shop, though. When you were hurt physically, things were very much ok to deal with, but when the wounds were emotional… You needed time for yourselves.

Unlike his brother, Vergil was a little more responsible with his money – and you, a lot more than the two. You managed to find somewhere to spend a few nights… Which involved the both of you talking out everything you felt and saw. It was harrowing at first, something neither of you were versed in and honestly were terrified of, but it eventually brought you even closer together.

So, to say you had defeated the Lie Weavers with the power of love was something that killed Vergil inside.

And you could almost see his internal self, glaring at you with a ‘really, after all of this you say this kind of foolishness’ look in his sad, silvery eyes, as Lady stared at both of you and made the question everyone was thinking.

“Yep. Power of love, it’s a curious thing.” You shrugged, making Vergil physically groan by your side while Dante slapped his table with a huge grin on his face.

“Make a one man weep, make another man sing! Hell yeah, Back To The Future, babe!” He winked back at you as you smiled in response.

“Of all the people you could end up dating, Vergil…” Trish sat on Dante’s desk, crossing her long legs while sporting a devilish smile on her rosy lips. It was interesting how her voice could never really sound like Eva’s. “It had to be someone who references the same songs as your brother.”

“Alas, fate plays many games…” Vergil rolled his eyes, but as they rested on you, there was a vulnerability you saw only once in that pitch black darkness. “But it is kind enough to give us what we need.”

No one ever really understood what he meant, but Dante was the only one who managed to see something inside his brother’s silvery eyes that could only reflect in yours – and that made him genuinely smile.

Indeed, you would never be the romance of a fairy tale book or a romantic comedy – but you could see what lied beyond each other’s scars; taking a glimpse at the worst of each other without fear and finding whatever light was left inside. You could understand – and that was much more than most lovers in the world would ever have.

[lilacthebooklover]

me, looking at the most toxic, awful, horrendously unhealthy fictional relationship in the world: why can't i have what they have? :(