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polarisbibliotheque · 3 years ago

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Dante & Vergil taking care of their sick s/o

Pairings: Dante x Reader; Vergil x Reader

Summary: Unfortunately, you were sick. It was time to rest for a while - luckily, the house of Sparda learnt a thing or two from Eva on taking care of sick humans.

Trigger warning: The reader is struck with sickness in this one, barely being able to move or eat. On Dante's, they talk about eating properly and not wishing to; On Vergil's, the reader is bed ridden, sleeping. If you have any sensitivity to these matters, reader discretion is advised ;)

Author’s notes: Hail the gods, I can write again! As a few of you know, my health is terrible and it kinda took away all my creativity. I've been able to start drawing again by literally letting out my feelings on paper - so I figured 'why don't I do the same thing when writing and see if something comes up from that?' and it did!

This one is pretty much from personal experience while I'm going through all this. To all my beautiful beings out there struggling with a chronic illness, I hope you get better. It's tough, but you can make it through!

Also, please picture Vergil with stay-at-home clothes on his, or comfy pyjamas. Thank you.

Dante

As you arrived at the last step of the stairs that took you to the office in the Devil May Cry, Dante’s sky-blue eyes immediately shot up at your form. You were slow and steady, finally having made your way downstairs to grab something to eat – honestly, it was a victory for you.

“And might I know why you brought that beautiful ass all the way down here, hot stuff?” Of course, Dante would never be totally rude to you… But he would question you.

After all, you were sick. As Dante remembered from how his mother took care of him when he was a kid, being sick indicated you should rest.

And that was something you usually didn’t do.

“I’m here on a quest to find food, cowboy.” You answered with a placid smile on your lips, completely ignoring the way his eyes were judging you – even though he had that classic Dante smile on his face. “Nothing too fancy though; I’m too tired to actually think about it.”

“You could’ve asked me, ya know.” He put his magazine down and got up from his chair – that’s when you knew Dante wouldn’t leave you alone. It wasn’t your intention to worry him, but ever since you got sick, he was perpetually worried.

And hovering around you like a crow.

“Don’t worry, babe. I can still fulfill the very trying quest of getting a piece of bread in the kitchen… Or something like that.” You smiled back at him, while Dante was clearly escorting you to the kitchen.

It was rather cute, actually.

“Also, how’d expect me to call you? Screaming ‘Dante, get your ass up here!’ as loud as I can?” Your look back at him made your devil laugh out loud – even though he had all his attention on every step you took. “You know, it pays not having a cellphone.”

“Yeah, you got a point there, babe. I’ll give ya that.” He let out a fun sigh, opening the kitchen door for you so you wouldn’t have to deal with that – as if it was too much trouble for you. Dante could be over thoughtful when you weren’t at your best. “But ya know, it pays for life, but not for Lady. That woman wouldn’t leave me alone if I had a cellphone.”

“Now you got a good point, cowboy.” You laughed slightly, shooting at Dante with finger guns. He winked back at you, leaning on one of the cupboards to watch what you intended to do. As soon as he understood it though, he would promptly help you. “Lady would call you every single day to collect your debts or with a job…”

“To pay the debts.” You both said at the same time, making you laugh happily probably the first time since you got struck with that nagging sickness that didn’t want to leave you be.

“Ya know, I’m pretty sure cookies aren’t the best food for sick people. Dunno, read it somewhere.” In a matter of fact, Dante remembered how his mother would insist on having him eat ‘proper food’ – meaning fruits and vegetables, only healthy stuff – when he was sick.

“But cookies are delicious.” You shrugged, taking your package of cookies and a little plate so you wouldn’t make a mess around. When you turned to the fridge to get some iced tea, though, you found Dante with his arms crossed, giving you a judging look with that beautiful, cocky smile plastered on his lips. He wouldn’t let you go that easily. “Me, cookie monster.”

Dante immediately laughed out loud at your feeble attempt on justifying your need for cookies – too tired to actually go all out on a Cookie Monster impression, you settled for saying it and just looking back at him. With how human and tiny you looked – in Dante’s eyes – it was a reason for him to laugh for weeks.

“That was the worst point you’ve ever made in an argument, babe!” He leaned back on the cupboard again, helping you reach the glasses right after as soon as you opened the fridge.

“Well. I’m not really considering this an argument.” You shot back, a tiny giggle hidden in your voice. It honestly was a very bad way to convince him to let you get away with a bunch of cookies as a proper meal. “Or else…”

“Oh, I know. Don’t need to remember.” Dante looked as if you had him at gunpoint while handing you the glass so you could fill with your iced tea. You just smiled at how goofy he was. “But your body needs strength right now… And I know, I know, chocolate is a wonderful thing to give you a kick, but it won’t last forever. You need somethin’ better, babe. C’mon.”

Dante leaned by your side so he could level his eyes with yours and you couldn’t escape from his sight. Not like you’d ever want to escape his eyes, though: you could stare at that sky for an eternity, and it wouldn’t be enough time to soothe how much your heart longed for him. You allowed your hands to rest on the cupboard and sighed once your task to pour some iced tea was over.

“I know, babe… I’m just… I dunno…” You sighed once again, entangling the fingers of one of your hands with his. “I’m tired and I don’t really feel like eating, you know…? I convinced myself to eat cookies because they’re delicious, not because I do want to eat. Honestly, I could spend the whole day tossed in bed, sleeping and recovering, but… I guess my mom would always say we can’t give in to sickness and here I am, trying not to give in. It isn’t much, but…”

“Ei, ei… Got it, babe. Don’t worry.” As soon as you started to mumble, Dante caressed your hand, making you look back at his kind eyes. “No need to overexplain, I get it. You’re doin’ your best, and it’s a lot already. Ya know, tomorrow I can try fixin’ somethin’ for breakfast, what do ya think?”

“You…? Cooking?!” You made sure to look as shocked and baffled as you could, making Dante pretend he was insulted with your reaction.

“Hey, I’m a decent cook when I want to! How do ya think I survived alone in this joint all this time?!”

“On pizza…?” He knew you’d say that – and he also knew you were having fun with that little ‘argument’. It was heavenly to see you smile once more.

“Well… I’ll have you know ice cream isn’t pizza.” Dante held the door open for you once again as you followed him back to the shop, laughing out loud at his comeback. “And strawberry sundaes count as fruit!”

“A very balanced diet indeed!” You shot back, having him help you settle the food in the center table, right in front of the huge couch you were already slouching your tired body in.

“Jokes aside, babe, I can do a couple things. Mom used to make this fruit with honey on the oven when we were sick… I’ll see if I can find it for ya.”

As Dante sat by your side and took upon him the task to open the package of cookies, you just observed your red devil. Now you could understand how he was so good at taking care of sick humans: it all came from Eva. And he was even offering to try to remember something from his childhood to help you – honestly, if Dante could see himself with your eyes, he’d see how golden you painted his heart.

“You aren’t gonna feed me some weird demonic fruit for health and stamina, right…?” But of course, you were the other side of his soul. And that meant you couldn’t let the joke just fly by without saying it out loud.

“Nah, that would be a remedy from papa Sparda. You’re not that bad yet, hot stuff.” Dante giggled alongside you, winking while handing you the plate filled with cookies.

“Yikes, I can only imagine how it’d be.” You had one of your eyebrows raised, making him laugh as your devil got comfortable by your side – taking up a lot of space, as always.

Not that it bothered you: as Dante occupied his space, you always took it as a chance to lean on him or put your legs over his lap. It was already unconscious between you two.

“Not as bad as it sounds.” He shrugged, leaning his head on the couch right after. “The ones with Holy Water, though. Those are worse than human medicine.”

“You mean the ones Verge bottoms up when he’s badly injured…?” As you asked, Dante just confirmed with his head, making you shiver just imagining. “You know… He has issues.”

“Ha! It runs in the family!” Even though it wasn’t such a joyful thing to say, Dante was laughing out loud. You had a complimentary sense of humor.

“Hmmm… I don’t think we have everything you need for breakfast tomorrow, though…”

“Don’cha worry about that. I’ll pick some things up in the market before you wake up, babe.” And, as you were getting ready to respond, Dante immediately started talking so you couldn’t argue. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll wake up early tomorrow. Again, don’t worry. It’s not like it’s gonna kill me, ya know? I’m built up like a demon.”

“You’re horrible.” It was the only thing you could put in words after his little joke at the end of his phrase. Dante couldn’t stop himself from laughing alongside you. “You were doing so well.”

“I’m pretty sure I’m still doin’ well.” Dante nudged you with his shoulder, making your cheeks blush slightly. You’d say it was from the sickness, but, even after years together with your devil hunter, he still could make you blush. And you wouldn’t have it any other way.

“You always do, Dante. Always.” You lifted a cookie to his lips, which Dante promptly accepted. Before you came around, it had been years he didn’t eat cookies like that. Dante had faint memories of Eva cooking them for him and Vergil – and that alone made him not taste cookies for quite a while.

But with you, memories seemed not to hurt anymore. They seemed to glow in a golden, forgotten place in Dante’s mind – somewhere he knew those things were never coming back and those tastes, laughs and touches would never be felt again… But, somehow, he could see them for their beauty, not for their sorrow. They would leave a bitter taste in his mouth, yes, but the sweetness of it all made the unpleasantness worth it.

“You too, babe. You too…” And Dante nipped playfully at your nose, gladly receiving another biscuit from you. “My lil’ cookie monster.”

Vergil

Who would have ever guessed the Dark Slayer would be so methodical when taking care of a sick human?

To be fair, it was to be expected. Vergil was methodical with everything he did, so one could only guess he would be the same way in all aspects of his life.

But.

Taking care of a human wasn’t really in his vast list of abilities. Vergil had an inhuman talent with killing and moving at speed of light, laying waste to all demons who decided to challenge him – and that really meant all of them. Ranking, power, poise, or weapons didn’t matter: Vergil would eventually slay all, one way or another.

So, you never thought he would be so… Good at caring and healing.

It was a very pleasant surprise, though.

Around 2:30 a.m. Vergil was silently sitting on his chair, reading one of his many poetry books while you slept on the bed – safe and sound. Four minutes passed until he checked the clock once more: it was time for you to take your medicine again.

Laying his book aside, Vergil took the pills and a glass of water – carefully waiting for you since hours prior, when he first set up his guard to make sure you would wake up to take your medicine once more – and sat on the edge of the bed by your side.

It was the first time in days you were sleeping so peacefully. That last week had been hell for you, and Vergil felt a weird twist in his chest every time he thought about it – he had suffered from all kinds of diseases in his lifetime but seeing someone he loved so deeply being hurt like that and knowing he was almost powerless to do something about it vexed him more than he initially thought it would.

The fact that your body was more fragile than his for not having his demonic heritage didn’t help at all… And not being able to solve everything through his own power and will triggered memories he wanted to leave locked for good.

Brushing his fingers carefully on your cheek, Vergil slowly brought you from your slumber to reality once more. You fluttered your eyes open as he felt your skin slightly damp from sweat – at least, the pills seemed to be working.

“It’s time to take your medicine, love. Then you can go back to sleep.” His voice was but a murmur in the dark of the room – you could only see a faint light by the side of his chair; the one he used to read while guarding you in your slumber.

“Hmmm…” And even your voice seemed tired. Vergil didn’t like having to wake you from such a calm sleep, but it was necessary. He wondered if Eva felt the same way when he was nothing but a child, burning with fever during silent, endless nights. Vergil couldn’t ask her, but he could assume she did. “What time is it…?”

“It’s late. Here.” Vergil didn’t want you to think much – you obviously needed to rest and worry your mind about time and responsibilities wouldn’t get you very far. You took the pills from his hand without questioning, taking them with a few sips of water.

But of course, Vergil was smart, and he also saw intelligence in you. As you took the medicine, you took the chance to glance at the clock and check the time. Indeed, it was late.

“Verge…” Your speech was a little slurred and positively drunk from sleep. “You stayed up all this time to…?”

“Yes. Now, you go to sleep, angel.” He didn’t raise his voice from his velvety murmur in the dark. Taking the time to lay one of his hands on your forehead, Vergil calmly checked your temperature, concluding everything was fine after double checking it with his hand on your neck. As he was about to leave, you held his hand on place.

On the faint light of the moonlight, you were able to see the Dark Slayer’s silver eyes staring back at you, filled with worry.

Such a human gaze in such harsh eyes.

“You have to rest as well.” You whispered back, making Vergil go speechless.

It was a rather difficult feat, making the house of Sparda speechless. But you had the ability to do that with both Dante and Vergil – and, someday, you had to test your powers with Nero. Kyrie was the only known being to be able to do that with the three of them – and it was a title she would gladly share with you.

One would say it was a power greater than that of the Slayers themselves.

“Y/n…”

“Hey…” You lovingly caressed his hand as you allowed a tired smile to fill your lips. Your eyes could barely stay open but touching him was enough for you to know he was paying attention. Vergil would always be attentive to your words. “It’s late… You said it yourself. If you keep pushing like that… Don’t you think you’ll get sick too…?”

“I’m a demon, y/n. It takes a lot more to get me ill.” His answer could cut a diamond in half, but Vergil’s hand caressed yours in return. You always knew how to read his feelings beyond the harshness of his words: Vergil could hide them in his speech, but not in his heart – and that was always so obvious to you.

“Half demon.” You whispered back, smiling again as you opened your eyes once again – only to meet Vergil’s speechless stare. “And I guess it’s the other half… That kept you up so late… And that has been taking care of me… So beautifully. Right…?”

Vergil would never know how you did that. It was as if you could easily see the human in him not even he could see – you had a strange power to know when his instincts were purely demonic or purely human.

And you were right. How many nights had Eva stayed up until late hours of the night to check on him when he was sick? How methodical was she with the time he had to take his medicine? How many times had he woken up in the middle of night just to find his mother sitting right by his side with a book on her lap, asleep from exhaustion after making sure he was alright?

Everything he knew about taking care of someone else came from her – his human mother. And that instinct, that ache in his chest that made him do the same thing whenever you looked too fragile to get up on your own, certainly came from a part of Vergil that wasn’t demonic.

It wasn’t an instinct of survival nor territoriality. It was an instinct of making sure someone he loved deeply wouldn’t suffer and would smile once more. An instinct of wanting to see you shine again – of wanting to have you, safe and sound, back in his arms and not worrying he might lose you.

It was the same instinct of protection that made him thirst for power so many years ago – but this time it was… A little different.

“I can take it. You, in the other hand, can’t.” His eyes were, now, understanding; his hands moving a lot more softly.

You had a way to find the Dark Slayer’s heart under thick coats of ice like no one else had.

“Not right now.” You furrowed your eyebrows, pretending to be offended by his words. “But I do remember when you… Slept so soundly on my lap… Out of exhaustion one day.”

“Hmmm. I was badly injured.” Vergil tried to regain some of his pride with his posture while sitting, his regal demeanor coming back for a few moments. That made you smile more than you expected – as best as you could in that moment.

Oh, if only you knew how you could melt his heart with so little.

“Well, well… Today, I am quite sick…” You sighed, still allowing that golden smile to fill your lips. Vergil would argue you were a creature he had no knowledge of, but he knew your blood was purely human. And that never ceased to baffle him – there was something in you that made you look ethereal.

Or maybe, that was just his human heart making sure he knew how much his soul cared and longed for yours.

“If you’re not willing to rest… Can I at least rest in your arms…?” Your murmured question caught Vergil off guard, even if he didn’t show it in his eyes or icy façade. “Just like you did that day…”

Vergil knew what you were doing – for he was aware that, if he at least leaned on that bed, it wouldn’t take him long to fall asleep. His body was tired, and his eyes were already starting to scramble the words from the poems he loved so much. While waiting for the right time to wake you up, Vergil had to take of his glasses and rub his eyes twice – wondering where all that tiredness came from.

Perhaps, the worry of taking care of a loved one was enough to make one exhausted – not physically, but emotionally. Vergil would never want to admit that, and it puzzled him deeply, but feeling could be tiring as well.

“If that is what you wish…” He didn’t have the heart to argue. You were asking for his company, his presence, and that was much more than anything else he could have expected.

Because, at that point, you could ask him anything that Vergil would make it happen – but, out of all the possibilities, demonic and human, you asked to have him. How could he ever deny that?

“It is…” And you closed your eyes as he left a soft kiss on your forehead. “Maybe you could fall asleep with me too…”

“Hmmm. I wouldn’t be opposed to that.” Vergil murmured in the very same tone as he wandered around the room to leave his slippers along with your other shoes and finally turn off the faint, amber light that kept him awake while reading.

Between sitting and laying down by your side on the bed, Vergil cuddled you the best way he could. Your arms rested on his chest while his arms embraced you, safe and sound. That put a smile on your face.

“If I didn’t know better… I’d never say you’re half demon…”

“Oh…?”

“I’d say you’re my guardian angel.”

As your whisper lingered in the moonlit air, Vergil’s hand gently played with your hair – the way his mother would do when he was younger. That phrase inspired a maelstrom of confusing emotions he wasn’t expecting at that time of the night… He only knew he suddenly had the urge to hold you tighter; to keep you protected from whatever harm the world could bring you.

If Vergil hadn’t checked your temperature before, he would dismiss your words as nothing but delirious musings of a feverish mind.

Finally settling with a golden swell on his chest from what you had just said, Vergil allowed himself to close his eyes – a faint smile playing on his lips while his hands kept caressing your hair.

Even if he dismissed those words in the future, he could savor them during that moment. It was a secret whispered in the deep of the night – and you were sick, after all.

And so, you drifted away in your sleep in the wings of an angel.

#dante x reader #vergil x reader #dante imagine #vergil imagine #dmc #devil may cry #dmc imagine #devil may cry fanfiction #dante sparda #vergil sparda #honestly Vergil wearing slippers is a cute concept on its own #and I'll never get enough of Dante being bffs with his s/o

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dinjoyer · 3 years ago

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The idea of Dante being a dad is so underrated that I’ve decided to take matters into my own hands and write out some headcanons AHAHEM (plz feel free to add onto these if u want to! I’d be ever so grateful to be able to read more dadnte stuff :))

WITHOUT FURTHER ADO:

- he doesn’t think he’s worthy of being anyone’s father. Even if the kid(s) is/are his bio kid(s), he’s still hesitant to assume any parental role. Mostly because he’s worried he A) would be a terrible dad and B) would put the kid(s) in danger by virtue of his own reputation (I mean the Devil May Cry gets broken into like every other day). Eventually, he’d take up the mantle as a father (remembering his own issues with Sparda would’ve probably pushed him to), but he’d still be terrified of fucking up.

- On that note, though, he’s actually a very responsible parent. Like does all the research and everything; baby proofs the shop even if it draws away from his grunge and swag vibe Ksjfjgjjgn

- He buys those stupid embarrassing kid clothes that say stuff like “daddy’s little devil” KWJDJFJFJ

- When they’re small, he sleeps with the kid(s) lying on his chest. Lady yells at Dante that it’s unsafe and he needs to get a crib, but he waves her off that he can’t afford one (he can; he just prefers having his kid(s) close to him, especially when they’re that young. And there’s no real hazard to them; Dante’s senses are so absurdly attune if they slipped off his chest he’d catch them far before anything dangerous happened).

- Similarly, Dante keeps the kid(s) near him in the office. He says it’s because “the ladies like seeing such (a) cute kid(s)”. Again, he doesn’t like being far from them (and who can blame him, considering how dangerous his line of work is).

- he has two rules for his child(ren): “don’t be an asshole and don’t do anything stupid”. If they do something stupid, he’ll try to help them as best as he can. If they do something asshole-y, they’re on their own.

- He’s one of those parents that makes an effort to embarrass you (lovingly). Like. Drops his kid(s) off at school blasting his dad rock and screaming “HEY KIDDO I LOVE YOU SAY IT BACK-“

- When Dante thinks no one is around he’ll sing/hum to his kid(s). Lady and Trish absolutely have footage of this that they black mail him with 💀 But, really, it’s one of the only guaranteed ways he can get them to sleep.

- HE TELLS HIS KID(S) STORIES ABOUT HIM AND VERGIL AND ITS ADORABLE AND HEARTBREAKING ESPECIALLY WHEN THE KID(S) WILL REENACT HIS STORIES-

- If he has to go on a long trip for you know, killing demons, he’ll always leave the kid(s) with something to remember him by (like a stuffie or something). When they get a little older he’ll start leaving notes around the house (I’m imagining stuff like “hey kiddo, don’t eat all the pizza before I get back! Love ya -D” on the refrigerator KDJFJV) before he leaves so he can still be there for them. Lady and Morrison are the certified babysitters (not Trish. Trish was born in the underworld; she has no idea how to take care of a human or mostly human child 💀)

- EXHAUSTED 24/7. Literally his doppelgänger move is his life saver; poor guy’s a single dad who can barely afford to keep the lights on, you already know he’s stressed tf out KDJFJFN.

- If his kid(s) asked for a pet, Dante refuse immediately and repeatedly. They get the pet. *insert dad and the dog meme*

- Dante is so fucking protective of his kid(s). Like would fight anyone that messed with them. He doesn’t, of course (most of the time), and instead teaches them self-defense and conflict resolution skills. The last thing he wants is his kid(s) to end up like him or his brother— where they have to resort to fighting more often than not.

- Whenever he’s mournful over the loss of his parents he’ll immediately check up on/go play with his kid(s). Dante doesn’t want them to know abandonment or the feeling of having to grow up faster like he does.

- If Dante’s kid(s) are adopted he’ll tell them from an early age that he’s different, and there are things he can do that they can’t— but that doesn’t mean they’re any less of a family.

- His kid(s) absolutely adore his different abilities. They’ll always ask him to DT and fly them around and stuff. Dante acts annoyed about it, but secretly he loves how happy his child(ren) get(s) from him just doing some tricks.

- Dante teaches them guitar. Just. Yeah.

- Dante is surprisingly good at Just Dance and that raises some,,, questions about his past

- Actually he’s good at like practically every game that doesn’t require logic (twister and tag and hide and seek and such). His kid(s) is/are 100% fed up with it, but Dante and his superhuman ass can’t help it 💀💀💀

- He finally has a mostly stable income (he’ll prolly take up a second job because I can’t imagine he’d completely throw away his empathetic tendencies that lead him to refusing pay from most of his clients) because Dante feels like he finally has a reason to take care of himself (being that he has someone else to take care of). He’ll prolly try quitting alcohol for the same reason.

- All in all, being a dad would be a very healing thing for Dante, I feel. And he’d be good at it too-- at least better than Vergil has been MDNFV. He would try his damndest to provide for his kid(s) and stop the generational trauma the Sparda family’s been cursed with. Just. SKDJVJV I HAVE A LOT OF THOUGHTS OKAY 😭😭 thank you for reading this mess! If you have any other headcanons for Dad!Dante PLEASE LET ME KNOW I will HAPPILY scream about them with you.

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headcannonsbutwrittenbyasnake · 3 years ago

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Loving the DMC yuu so far!

When it comes to the Diasomnia boys, well I wouldn't be surprised if Lilia may or may not have met Sparda on some occasions. He wouldn't have realised about Yuu either by the different magic or different features until the DMC men came to twisted wonderland.

Sebek and Silver will have new mentors and sparring partners aside from Lilia. Savanaclaw might want to join in.

I'm not sure if it's canon but I think that Nero is a decent cook Yuu can help too, the guys in the dorm will thank the seven for that.

Dante is a bad influence for Malleus's innocent mind.

I don't think Lilla has met Dante, but he probably met Vergil once. The two did travel for years so it's not that farfetched to think they could have crossed paths. I think I mentioned this somewhere else but I don't think Yuu would look like a Sparta outright. Since I characterize DMC!Yuu as a girl I think she would look more like Eva, so still light hair and light eyes, but nothing that outright screams "Child of Sparta". So I don't think Lilla would notice that Yuu is a half devil, he can tell that theirs something weird going on, but since demons haven't been mentioned at all in twst, they might not be a thing.

As for Silver and Sebek, I like to think during Leona's overblot, Yuu pretty much beat the shit out of the blot monster (and Leona). Silver asked Yuu about her sword work and after Yuu said that she's been fighting demons for as long can remember, Silver would ask to train with her.

"Yuu? Are you sure it's okay?" Silver asked picking up the sword.

"Silver don't worry, I've had my head cut off more times then I can count. Plus a real sword is a hell'va lot heavier then a wooden one, so it's good for you to get use to the weight." With a wave of her hand Yuu dismissed the second year. Yuu always spoke softer to Silver, more than anyone else. She didn't know if it was because he looked like old photos of her dad, or like Nero before he cut his hair. At first she thought he was a Sparta but thanks to her sense of smell, she could tell he was completely human.

"But- sigh, alright fine. I do remember what happened during Leona-senpai's overblot." Silver picked up the sword, his eyes glancing back to Yuu who gave and experimental swing of the sword.

"Man, it's been awhile since I used a wooden sword. It's so light." She whispered to herself. Now Silver wanted to know how heavy her weapons where. "Aright, now try to kill me,"

"What?"

"Try to kill me. Aim for my head, chest, arms, legs, anything. A real fight is a lot different then sparring, enemies don't show mercy often." Although Silver knew she would be fine, it still doesn't feel right trying to kill a friend.

"Okay, fine... I'll try and kill you." He didn't mean it, Yuu knew that, but the thought of trying to kill someone takes time to get use to. She knew that personally.

"Just get use to parrying a moving target, then we'll worry about the full out attack part. Okay?" Yuu got into a fighting stance.

"Okay, let's start with that." Silver responded mimicking her.

Yuu started off by putting her sword overhead, trying to bring it down on Silver. Even if he knew that she was pulling her punches, she's still quick. Still not use to the weight of a real blade, Silver was slow on the draw, he barely managed to block her him with his.

"A little slow, but the more you get use to the weight, the quicker you'll be." Yuu said, then aimed her 'blade' just below his shoulders. Silver blocked the hit again but didn't notice her leg coming up to hit him in the other side. On impact he stumbled slightly to the opposit side of the kick. "Don't focus only on your enemy's blade, don't take your eyes off their body. There are no rules in a real fight, just a winner and a loser."

Yuu ended up teaching Silver a lot. Lillia was also watching that small training session of theirs. Although he taught Silver quite a lot, it's been a long, long time since he's been in a sword fight. So having someone who's been fighting often and for a long time to teach his son a few thing about real battles, put his mind to ease a little.

Now Sebek, ooohhhh Sebek... One of his favorite things is martial arts, so of course he'd ask Yuu to spar with him after chapter 2.

And since Yuu didn't feel as soft to Sebek as she did to Silver, still somewhat soft (consistently using human to refer and address he makes her quite happy)

"HUMAN! I need someone to practice hand-to-hand combat with, and your fight against Kingscholar was impressive, so please! Spar with me!"

"That's a lot've words to ask someone to punch you."

Just because I said she was somewhat soft with him, doesn't mean she isn't a little shit.

After letting Sebek get a bit tired from trying to strike her, Yuu finally made a move. Side stepping his next attempt to land a hit. She caught his wrist, put her other arm under his arm pit and grabbed the back of his shirt just above his hips. Turning slightly Yuu threw him over her hip, making Sebek land on his back.

"Remind me to say thanks to Nero for teaching me that." She whispered to herself.

Yuu doesn't do serious CQC often, but consider how often her and Nero fight (playfully) She can fight like that if she really tries.

About Savanahclaw, they're mostly afraid of her. The only exceptions are Leona, Jack, and a few others. (Ruggie's still on the fence because on one hand "WHOOOHOO FELLOW STREET KID" and on the other "OH GOD A WOMEN OH NO," you know, it's a hyena thing). And while Jack tries to get Yuu to work out with him, she's still Dante's daughter.

"Jaaaaack, I just wanna sleeeeeep," Yuu was still in bed, half asleep

"Whining will get you nowhere Perfect, not get up!" Jack pulled the blanket off of her. "It isn't healthy for you to stay in bed all day, you need sunlight."

"I'm part devil! There's no sun in hell!... I think" She muttered the last part.

"And still part human, now wake up." Jack did manage to get her to work out with him, at the cost of pizza for lunch.

In one of the Devil May Cry books, it mentions how Nero and Kyrie have taken in three kids from the orphanage (I think, I don't know if those books ever got a proper EN translation) and since Nero is a sweetheart and wouldn't have Kyrie cook all the time, he does know how to cook, not as well as her but pretty good. Yuu learned how to make basic meals because "No dad, we can't order pizza. We need to save money,". So when Nero and Yuu cook together (which happened a lot during the month in dmc5 when Dante was MIA), Yuu takes the easy and repetitive task, while Nero does the ones that need more focus and precision. In Twisted Wonderland, Nero misses the lively dinners he had at home so Yuu invites the Diasomnia four over for dinner often. Malleus is always happy to be involved in anything Yuu plans so he instantly accepts, so does Lilla! (who has Silver and drags Sebek to come along) a lovely goth/punk family meal :)

As for Dante and Malleus, well it's mostly just the two sharing stories and Dante making offhand comments on how he'd fit in the family. (Which is Dante for "I'll happily allow you to date my daughter")

#twisted wonderland #twst #disney twisted wonderland #devil may cry #dmc!yuu #twst yuu #twisted wonderland headcannons #diasomnia #twst diasomnia

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theromaboo · 2 years ago

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Tagged by: @gooseberry--fool

Relationship status: I'm single.

Favourite colour: My favourite colour is red, but other colours are pretty, too.

Song stuck in head: Il Coccodrillo come fa? (it's a banger)

Last song I listened to: As Long As You Love Me (my mom was listening to it so I listened to it with her)

Three favorite foods: This is really hard but I think my three favourite foods are durian, sushi, and pasta. Which is an incredibly diverse selection actually.

Last thing I googled: Britannicus allergy to horses (OH MY FRICKING GOD EVERYONE KEEPS THINKING THAT HE WAS ALLERGIC TO HORSES BUT THAT LITERALLY CAME FROM A HISTORICAL FICTION NOVEL AND ISN'T TRUE AT ALL!! I was just checking again to try and look more into it, but there's nothing to look into)

Dream trip: Rome *sighs in longing*

Anything I want right now: To get all of the Masters of Rome books (I haven't read it but I now want to after reading that one LiveJournal post)

Tagging: 10 people???? That's one big number. I'm tagging @the-little-fox-in-the-box because he's funny and I always aspire to be as funny as him. @alienmythologist because they're cool and asked about my cringe fanfiction idea and was supportive. @doobydoobydoowau because I remember when we talked about my Ides of March party. @athelstan-anglecyning because they are a nice person and excellent writer (you may know me from AO3). @emperornero because I remember that comic he drew with Britannicus and Britannicus is my blorbo. @odysseus09 because I know him in real life and he is cool. @incitacitus because she seems cool and has a hecking awesome username (so fun to say! And also definitely inspired by the name of Caligula's horse). @spinogreen0iq because he's a very hardworking artist and I think of him whenever I want to draw. @ashavah because she seems cool and she likes ancient Rome and so do I (though that basically applies to 90% of the people here). And @nysus-temple because she likes Vergil a normal amount and so do I (I reread all the AO3 fics about Vergil at least 50 times because of how starved I am for Vergil content. I'm learning Italian so I could read a few Vergil fics in their original language). Oh yeah she also did a lot of ramblings about history and stuff and I look up to her because of that.

WHAT? QUID? I made it to 10 people!? That's amazing. And I still have a few more people I want to honor.

@echo-dream because xhe reblogged my post about bread day that I spent a LOT OF TIME AND ENERGY ON and in the tags, xhe said "here for the bread day discourse" which made me laugh and made the hour I spent writing that worth it.

Also @lone-rhapsodist because they seem cool and they also reblogged my less detailed bread day post on May 2 (which was one of the acceptable days).

(Btw, if you want to know the acceptable days to celebrate bread day, they are April 17, April 19 (if you ignore the whole Julian Calendar/Gregorian Calendar thing), and May 2. But NOT April 7. Not in your lifetime. Check my long-ass bread day post for the details why)

Tagged by: @serpentandthreads

Rules: Tag 10 people you want to know better!

Relationship Status: Married

Favorite Color: Crimson Red

Song Stuck in Head: "Wait for Me" - Hadestown

Last Song I Listened To: "Waiting on the Sky to Change" - STARSET, Break Benjamin, and Judge & Jury

Three Favorite Foods: Sushi, Breakfast, & Candy

Last Thing I Googled: ... USB slave kit. My old laptop died completely and I needed to save the hard drive.

Dream Trip: Japan.

Anything I Want Right Now: Tens of thousands of dollars to pay off my medical bills and student loans.

Tagging: @hyacinthuspetals, @life-in-the-garden, @maceofpentacles, @lotusfeather-and-bone, @delphijackdaw, @jasper-pagan-witch

#oh my god this took ages #tag game #this post is more me tagging people than me answering questions lol

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skullgirrl · 4 years ago

Note

Ugh, I just got my period early and the cramps are pretty bad this time around. So I was wondering if you could write some headcanons on how the dmc gang would comfort their s/o on their period? Thanks so much!

DMC 5 gang with an S/O who is menstruating

Period comfort ft. Dante, Vergil, Nero, V (the ladies will be in part 2) and a s/o with a cycle.(I didn’t know if you meant the DMC5 gang or the DmC gang so I stuck with DMC5 just to be safe.)

Dante:

He knows what a cycle is. He works with two women, so he’s heard all about it whether he wanted to or not.

Blood doesn’t gross him out anymore. He’s gotten used to it.

If you two don’t already live together, he’ll keep a stash of pads/tampons just for you. Dante will buy you new blankets and a heating pad as well.

He’ll take you out to buy snacks whenever you want. He loves food, he’ll eat with you so you “don’t feel lonely”.

Dante isn’t the best at keeping his medicine cabinet up to date, but he’ll try to remember to buy pain meds for you.

Actually, he kind of ‘babies’ you. He’ll draw you warm baths and coddle you. Remind him that you’ve gone trough this before numerous times and you’ll be okay. (Unless you like being coddled, sometimes it’s nice to be looked after.)

Vergil:

Vergil knows what menstruation is, as in, he’s heard of it before. You’ll have to walk him through the basics.

He feels somewhat queasy at the thought of your organ ripping itself to shreds, but he’ll never let you know that. He’s determined to be the strongest and best boyfriend ever in this week.

He knew periods were uncomfortable, but he didn’t know that cramps could get that bad.

He’ll get you pain meds and heating pads. Anything you need to make you feel better.

Vergil won’t quite understand your cravings, but he’ll let you get whatever you want. He’ll even suggest different teas to help your cramps.

Your mood swings concern him at times, but he’ll endure it.

Nero:

He knows all about periods. Nico is his best friend and she never shuts up when she’s menstruating.

He’s pretty much seen it all. Nothing fazes him anymore. He has no problem running to the store, at any hour, to buy pads, tampons, snacks, meds, anything.

So sweet and doting all the time. He understands if you’re more irritable during this time, you’re in pain. Anyone would be irritable if they were in pain 24/7.

He’ll be willing to let you just lay around and relax all day. He’ll lay with you so you don’t feel bad about not doing anything all day.

He just wants you to feel better and he can’t wait until the week is up so you can be your usual self again.

No way he knows what a period is. Maybe he’s heard of them, but he definitely doesn’t know what happens in detail. He is but two days old... how could he know?

The first thing he notices is that you’re in pain. You thought he knew you were on your cycle. He didn’t.

He’ll ask you if you’re okay, you grumble something incoherent in response. He’s worried about you, even more so that you’re obviously in a lot of pain.

He wants to take the day off just to care for you. He’s never done this before, so be patient. He treats you like glass at first.

Tell him what you need and want. He’ll be willing to do anything, but you need to talk to him first.

He’ll hold you and give you massages if you want. Anything to make this week more bearable for you.

Thank you for requesting <3 I’ll make a separate part for the ladies since this one is a bit long. This has been on my headcannon to-do list for a while so I plan to write it for DmC reboot as well! (If you send a request try to specify which dmc game and characters you want.)

#devil may cry 5 #devil may cry #devil may cry headcanons #dmc 5 #dmc dante #v dmc5 #dmc v #devil may cry x reader #dmc nero #devil may cry dante #devil may cry vergil #devil may cry nero #devil may cry v

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dmcvergillament · 3 years ago

Text

Bedtime Stories [Part 1]

Fem!Reader x Vergil

Summary: Unable to sleep, young Nero requests a bedtime story. You happily oblige and weave a tale that Vergil recognizes. Nero falls asleep to the legend of the dancer and the dragon and Vergil remembers how he fell in love with you.

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

Tucking little Nero in for the night, Y/N kisses his forehead. "Sweet dreams, my little angel."

Vergil picks up toys off the floor.

Nero catches Y/N's hand to stop them from leaving. "I...can't sleep without a story."

Vergil looks up from studying a blue bird plush he found. It looked oddly familiar...

Y/N smiles and sits back down on the bed to brush aside Nero's bangs. "Alright. What story shall I tell?"

Nero snuggles up to his chin in his comforter, eyes shimmering with curiosity. He waits for his mother to begin.

"Ah! I know: how about the legend of the dancer and the dragon?" suggests Y/N.

Vergil pauses as he sets the bird down alongside a black cat on a shelf. His interest is also piqued. What fantasy is Y/N spinning now?

"In a land far, far away in a time long, long ago..." begins Y/N, twirling her hands.

'There they go again with that dramatic voice,' thinks Vergil. Still, he cannot deny how his lover never fails to spark wonder in their son's eyes. Only a few words in and she has Nero's full attention.

"...there was a dancer who could mesmerize entire palaces with every step. When they moved it was like watching petals on the breeze. The soft colors of their clothes twirling around their long legs. Stories spread across many kingdoms of not only their unrivaled skill but also that of their bewitching beauty. All that bore witness to their dance were charmed. It was like a magic spell only they could use," continues Y/N.

"Were they as pretty as you, Mama?" mews Nero, tilting his head in that way that always melted Y/N's heart.

Y/N reaches over to stroke their son's ivory hair, before opening her mouth to say---

"What a foolish question." Gliding over to the bed, Vergil sits opposite of Y/N. His eyes flicker to Y/N before he continues, "Do not compare a rose to a field of dandelions."

Nero seems satisfied with this answer.

Y/N gestures for Vergil to not interrupt before she adds, "So one day the dancer gets invited to the royal palace to perform. Afterwards, the King becomes so enthralled, he begs them to stay and marry one of his sons. The dancer politely refuses and leaves. This was not the answer the King had hoped for and so he hired a famous knight to find her and bring her back to the palace."

Rubbing his chin, Vergil wonders, 'Why does this sound oddly...familiar?'

"This knight always wore brilliant, scarlet armor, so the people called him the 'Crimson Knight'. Legends spoke of how he could slay any monster and of the sword he carried upon his back. It was a grand sword said to be enchanted with an ancient magic that allowed it to cut through even dragon hide," explained Y/N, waving her hands like she was trying to make the sword appear.

"He was a dragon slayer?" asks Nero curiously.

"No matter how tall or dangerous the monster may be, he was always victorious. While many claimed to have been witness to such a feat, no one knew for certain if he had slain a dragon. After all, dragons were the most powerful of foes. They were cunning, proud, and equipped with immense magic," answered Y/N.

"Could he beat a dragon?" questions Nero.

"He most certainly believed he could. After all, he was the Crimson Knight: the warrior of all the human kingdoms. Whenever a monster appeared, he was called in to defeat it," replied Y/N with a nod.

"Sounds like someone I know," grumbles Vergil.

"Shhhh."

"But here he was faced with a strange request: to hunt not a beast but a woman. A woman armed with only an aptitude for dancing. This was not a job for the Crimson Knight. The King---afraid he'd decline and she'd slip away---lied. He told the knight that the dancer was harboring a curse set upon her by a demon. That if she was not found and brought back to the palace to be purified, she would die. Now this resonated with the Crimson Knight. How could he let such a beauty wither and wilt from such misfortune? So he set off to find her," continued Y/N.

"How could he lie? She's not really cursed, is she?" asks Nero with a frown.

Vergil interrupts, "People lie because..." He clears his throat. "Sometimes they lie to get what they want."

"She's not really going to die, right?" whispers Nero.

Vergil glances at Y/N. "No, she won't."

Y/N nudges him with an elbow. "Shhh, no spoilers."

"So without even knowing she was being followed, the dancer hopped from town to town to perform. Rarely did she stay for more than a few days in the same area. Her heart was set on adventure and she enjoyed the journey even if it was tedious without a horse or carriage. She felt as free as the birds in the sky. With her spirits soaring, she set out for the neighboring city. However, along the well-trodden path, a man appeared. Whipping his cart into a frenzy, he was approaching fast. Spotting her, he jerked on the reins and nearly fell off the bench. 'Young lady! Young lady!' he gasped. 'Turn back now! Only death and hellfire awaits at the end of this road!' Stunned, the dancer asked him to explain. 'A dragon has appeared! He has built his den inside the ruins of the castle and he strikes down all who disturb him! The people are terrified! Protect yourself and run while you still can!' Then with a crack of the reins, his cart was disappearing down the road in a cloud of dust. The dancer stood there flabbergasted. How can there be a dragon of all things? Were they not creatures of myth? Not believing in the danger, she continued onwards despite the warning."

"No! Don't go! You'll get eaten!" gasps Nero, burrowing deeper into his comforter to hide.

Vergil snorts. "Depends on what you mean by 'eat' her."

Y/N shoots him a look. Luckily, she seems to be the only one to catch it. Nero is oblivious as he is too busy trying to blend in with his pillows.

"Anyway..."

"Our heroine reached the city and was hit by a startling revelation: it was quiet. Walking through the marketplace, she found stands of fruit abandoned and carts of goods unprotected. Where was all the hustle and bustle? Where were all the people? Further up the road, shutters rattled and there were hints of movement. The dancer wondered if she'd even be able to perform here if there was no one to be the audience. Then an idea stuck her: what if she could coax the people out with her talents? If not dancing, then maybe a lute or harp would soothe their spirits and rekindle the city's vigor. So she sought out the very reason she had come to this territory specifically: the grand theatre. There all kindred souls of music and art showcased their passions. She had hoped to connect with other performers here who were as dedicated to their craft as she was. Spotting the gold rooftop shimmering in the evening sun, she scurried towards it with a renewed excitement. Throwing the doors open, she gleefully announced her arrival."

"Only to be met with silence."

"How can a place of boisterous joy be silent? On hooks and shelves, all the instruments sat idle. Not a single string was singing. Even the tables were vacant with not even a crumb set out for the mice. 'What is going on?' she wondered. Still, she was even more determined now. Picking up a lute, she played a few notes. Testing its voice, she listened to the hearty tones and wondered how anyone could have put it down. Jumping into an energetic melody, she smiled to herself. This hall echoed the sound perfectly: each note complimented each other rather than drown in a sea of cacophony. Erasing the silence eased the chill that had settled in her chest. That is, until someone snatched the lute from her hands. 'Are you mad?!' hissed a man, 'You'll draw the beast right to us!' Confused, she asked him to explain. 'Music attracts him. If you keep playing, he'll come back!' She asked him if he was speaking of the dragon she heard about. 'Yes. He has settled into the castle on the hill. Both the castle and its lord perished many years ago. The city has never been quite the same since. Now this monster has taken over and the peace in our hearts have been shattered.' The man's words sowed worry in her heart. Yet, something struck her funny: if this dragon was so vicious, then why did it only attack, when he heard music? Did music have some kind of power over him?"

"Did the dragon not like music? Why?" Nero peeked around the edges of his blanket.

Y/N fixed her son's hair behind his ear. He was already nurturing the start of a bird's nest.

"The music made him remember..." Vergil's eyes were glossed over. Y/N could tell he was somewhere else. "Remembering was...painful for him."

Not expecting a co-narrator, Y/N waited to see if he would continue.

"See, the dragon was cursed: his memories stolen from him. Hearing a melody sometimes brought those memories back in bright flashes. Remembering what he had lost pained him more than the sharpest blade. Rather than endure his past, he silenced the melody any way he could. Even if it was...cruel," explained Vergil, his voice dry.

Was that a twinge of guilt Y/N could hear?

[Continued in Part 2...W.I.P.]

#Reader x Vergil #DMC #Devil May Cry #Nero #Vergil #Dante #Nero's mother #bedtime stories #knights #dragons

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sailordiavolo · 3 years ago

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Sparda Headcanons

nobody asked, but i’ve had many thoughts about Sparda lately, and i need to get them out before i go mentally insane

[ mostly general headcanons about Sparda himself, with some including his relationship with eva and the twins. ]

sparda started out like trish; a full demon who learned compassion, love and empathy, despite those traits not occurring naturally to demon kind.

when he did experience these emotions for the first time, it completely blew him away and fundamentally changed him. he became horrified by things such as the qliphoth tree, which eventually motivated his rebellion.

sparda, similar to mundus, could spiritually inhabit statues that were made in his likeness. there was one placed in fortuna, the purpose of which was originally to watch the hell gate for potential activity

though he would quickly dispatch of demons that tore into the human world, he wouldn’t meddle with human politics or affairs.

unlike vergil, sparda’s hair (in his human form) naturally grew out of his head in that slicked-back manner because that was how his horns grew (curled backwards). his hair even curved out and around like his horns did if he let it grow long enough

he had a romanticised view of humanity. he loved humanity like a neurodivergent person loves their hyperfixation

sparda spent most of his time in the human world in his demon form. he would occasionally take a human form when he wished to experience certain human things firsthand, or if he wanted to blend in, but he did this sparingly

while sparda was alive and at his strongest, there were a lot less demons trying to break into the human world, so the dark knight was often left with long periods of time to himself.

though he had learned empathy and compassion, sparda did not form close, loving bonds with humans for many centuries. thus the dark knight did not really have a concept of loneliness. he read about it, but didn’t really understand.

sparda was very reluctant to let people into his inner world, especially humans, who lived their entire lives and died before he could so much as draw a breath. there had been attempts to mingle with humans, but he stuck out like a sore thumb, or would outright scare people if he was in his demon form.

in his spare time, sparda liked to travel the world and visit various places, observing people, cultures, languages, arts and customs.

several different cultures have legends that somewhat fit the description of the legendary dark knight, but at present, nobody knows how accurate these legends are, and many of these legends do not mention him by name. they tell of his bravery and heroism.

sparda, like vergil, loved poetry and the artistic pursuits that humans created. (after all, swordsmanship is an art, too.) he admired the beauty of human art, especially the ways they used it to express emotions or tell stories

sparda liked to collect weapons and armor, even ones of human creation because they fascinated him. contrary to popular belief, sparda had been wielding guns since they were first invented, although for several hundred years they weren’t any match for most demons.

sparda’s mansion was like his den. it was filled with human literature, a lot of ancient texts in ancient languages; including various works of art, textiles, collections of weapons (including Luce & Ombra) and various items he’d been given as acts of worship. The doors and ceilings were very high because of how tall Sparda was in his demon form.

he had a colllection of human trinkets, various things he’d find that he thought were interesting, but didn’t really know what they were for. random mundane items, like an egg beater, hot water bottle, electric appliances that he doesn’t know how to turn on, spinning tops, and the like. he’d sort of just guess what they were for and put them up in places.

in his human form, he liked to dress in ways that imitated his favorite characters in books.

sparda had wished to know love like what he read about, like in the stories humans love to tell, which just seemed to be intrinsic to their nature. he could sort of understand shakespearean tragedies with his own understanding of love and compassion, yet for many centuries he still found the true meaning of such love to remain elusive to him.

eva was as curious about him as he was about her and humans in general. he would ask her questions about humans (initially, he had a lot of misconceptions about humans) and she would ask questions about him. when he was more comfortable around her, he showed her his human trinkets collection and asked her to explain what they were for. (he did not think that the egg beater was for mixing eggs).

he was bad at socialising and often spoke in a way that sounded ancient and out-of-place, sometimes mixing middle english with modern english, but he improved after meeting eva, since he had more practice after that.

after finding out sparda liked things such as poetry and literature, eva would bring him other human things to try; films, music, food and the like. just as vergil got his love of literature from his parents, dante got his love of music, dance and film from his parents, too. (sparda a fan of old western films? more likely than you’d think)

like dante and vergil, sparda was prone to aging in his human form. that’s why you see the version of him in dmc1 (pretty young-looking) and the older version of him as seen in the family portrait. ( see below )

therefore, it was a HUGE decision to marry eva and stay with her. it meant staying in human form, which meant aging, which meant shortening his own lifespan. although it was a big decision to make the commitment to marry eva, when the time came, he made the decision instantly.

he could’ve lived thousands of years longer had he left her alone, or had he resolved to watching her wither away and die from old age, but that was a very lonely existence, and once he had known eva, he had known loneliness and he had known sorrow.

eva and sparda were married for many years before the children came into the picture. (eva has a banging skin care routine btw)

sparda actually wanted children because of the many times he’d witnessed the loving bond between a human parent and child. it was a type of love he’d secretly longed for

though he wanted children, he was very reluctant to actually create them with eva, because of the potential risks involved with carrying hybrid offspring. not only that, but eva being the mother to his offspring would only put her in even more mortal danger from his enemies.

but eva had insisted, soothed him and reassured him. eva understood the risks of becoming a mother this way, and she was prepared to go through with it anyway.

dante was a mommy’s boy and vergil was a daddy’s boy

sparda was a great storyteller. he would recount in great detail his various adventures to the children, or sometimes read his favourite books to them. dante was only interested in stories where the hero defeats the bad guy, whereas vergil would soak up anything his father told him. thus, vergil was privy to many stories that dante wasn’t.

by the time the twins were young children, sparda had aged considerably since he first married eva, meaning his power had begun to dwindle. this meant he was away from home more often, because more and more demons were beginning to break into the human world.

and once mundus figured out that sparda had fathered children (with a human woman, no less) they’d begun to target the wife and kids.

dante specifically remembered waiting for his father to return on several different occasions, but being disappointed many times. vergil however, understood that sparda was protecting them, because he was the strongest, and there was no one else who could.

the twins often bickered about this. vergil would remind him that his little attitude towards father was “foolish”. at which point dante would try and hit him in the face. (he only managed to actually hit vergil half the time)

while sparda was gone, the twins would stay with eva. sparda’s excursions grew longer and longer, until one day he did not return at all.

dante in his youth held a grudge against his father for his absentee behavior, but it wasn’t until he was much older where he finally understood where his father was coming from. and dante too had become like his old man in thay regard, pushing loved ones away with the intention of protecting them.

and it wasn’t until much later that vergil had finally realised that sparda’s love was his driving force behind the immense power he wielded; sparda’s love for the beauty of humanity. a realisation that had come far too late for vergil.

if sparda and eva had’ve known how it ended for them and given a chance to take it all back, they wouldn’t do it. they knew what they were getting themselves into when they chose to bring dante and vergil into the world. the only regret they would’ve had is not being able to spend more time together as a family.

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alighieri-sparda · 4 years ago

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Silly Game | Vergil x Reader

Prompt list | 39. Spin the bottle kiss

Word count: 1479

- - -

Kindly requested by anon ♡

Hello, dear ♡ Thank you for your request. I had a lot of fun writing it, hope you enjoy ;) I’m sorry if this imagine is too long. By the way, thank you @blackenedskykai for helping me earlier. x)

- - -

Vergil is frustrated. Better speaking, he’s annoyed. He just wanted a quiet place to read, but you and your friends were invited by Dante to reunite at Devil May Cry. He heard something about you meeting your high school colleagues again or something like that. He doesn’t care about the reason because the fact is that those loud noises are disturbing his precious reading time.

Locked in his room, Vergil just gave up. He didn’t want to leave the building at night just for reading, but Dante managed to ruin his night without even realizing it. With his book and, of course, Yamato on hands, the eldest son of Sparda gets out of his room and walks toward the front door to leave the place and finally have a quiet reading night at any possible place.

When he puts his hands over the door handles, that annoying voice calls him:

“Hey, Vergil!” Dante sounds pretty excited about what’s happening at the party now. Vergil turns his head to see what his brother wants from him. “Come and join us.”

Confused and riled up about another interruption, he raises an eyebrow.

“No.”

“Do you even know what we are doing?”

“No, and I don’t want to know. Good night.”

He pulls the door handles, but the front door doesn’t open. Dante and some of your friends laugh at it, which makes Vergil even more pissed off. Why the hell is it locked?

“C’mon Verge, maybe spinning a bottle will cheer you up. Remember that you lost our last fight, so you better do what I’m asking.” And of course, Dante’s teasing his brother. He just can’t help it; it is so easy to annoy Vergil. Even easier when he recalls his defeat.

At this point, your friends were already asking Vergil to join the game as well. Vergil has a sigh and growls.

“Fine.”

You see Vergil joining the circle and taking a seat beside his brother. He seems confused, and before Dante could explain, Vergil asks by himself.

“So, what is it about?”

“Basically, someone spins the bottle and must kiss the person to whom the bottle points,” Dante explains. He looks at you smirking playfully. You don’t understand why, but pass it on. “On the other hand, the person to whom the bottle is pointing must kiss the person at the rear end of the bottle. Got it?”

“Unfortunately, yes. I truly don’t see a point on those silly games.” Vergil answered, looking indifferent. You know that he’s totally upset and will ask for a rematch tomorrow. But only after Dante is cured of the hangover, of course.

“Okay, okay. I know you’re a boring-ass, but as I told you, you lost. Good luck, brother.” Dante laughs.

“What if you spin the bottle and it points at Vergil, Dante?” A friend of yours asks, joking. Both Dante and Vergil react disgusted.

“Then we will pass.” You respond, laughing. “So, I think it’s my turn now?” You only asked to remember yourself whose time it is now. Dante’s interruption to call Vergil made you forget about it.

“Nope, it is my turn now,” Dante smirks again, wasting no time on spinning the bottle in the center.

The bottle stops spinning, and then you freeze when you realize what’s about to happen. The eldest son of Sparda closes his eyes and sighs, annoyed at Dante's laugh. The bottle is pointing at you, and Vergil is at its rear end.

“Oh, my lord…” You think, perceiving Vergil’s deadly stare at him.

With that playful smirk, Dante just cups your cheeks and kisses you without hesitating. It is only a peck extended for ten seconds, but you feel like it was an eternity. When you’re both are done, he winks.

“Man, Vergil’s gonna kill me…” He whispers to himself, laughing.

Now it is Vergil’s time to kiss you. And you don’t know how to go for it.

Surprisingly, he was the person who came to you, holding the back of your head and kissing your lips without a word. Your heart skips a beat when you feel his soft lips touching and holding yours. Again, it is only a peck, but this time you almost feel your body lighter.

“I need to spin this bottle and make it point at him again.”

Vergil leaves your lips after some seconds. Once he’s back on his seat, Dante looks at you both with a naughty smile on his lips.

“What a great start, brother.”

The eldest twin punches his brother’s arm. He has a serious face, but you can see that this time, he’s kind of sheepish.

And you can’t help but find it cute.

[...]

Once the last of your friends left the shop, you started to clean it up. Dante went upstairs, telling you that he was too tired to help with the cleaning. You know that he’s just a lazy-ass and wants to take a nap after a fun party, but you can’t complain. He offered his place for you and your friends, and then you invited him to join your party. For the first time in years, he had no obligation on helping you.

Vergil convinced Dante to open the front door after the game and left the shop to read his precious book. He probably wouldn’t return today due to the annoyance his brother put him through, so you would have some time alone to think about everything.

At this point, you are almost finishing. During the process of cleaning the shop, you thought about what happened: after Vergil’s kiss, you tried to make him kiss you again, but it didn’t work. You actually ended up kissing your friends and made him kiss one of them. You did the opposite of what you truly wanted, and this situation really bothered you.

You’re not brave enough to go for it, and Vergil definitely won’t play those “silly games” with you again.

Suddenly, you hear a sound coming from the front door, but don’t look at it – you’re busy collecting some things your friends dropped on the floor. Firstly, you think it’s Dante leaving the shop to look for his brother, so you tell him:

“Dante, just let Vergil alone for a while. You annoyed him enough for today.”

“Oh, I agree.”

Shocked, you immediately raise your head to look at the voice’s owner. Vergil closes the door behind him without taking his eyes off you. Throwing out the last pieces of trash, you stand up as Vergil walks towards you.

“I thought you wouldn’t come back tonight.” You smile at him, in a try to mask your coyness. You can’t stop thinking about what happened earlier.

“And I thought you and your friends would stay all night long.” He replies with a slight smile drawn onto his lips.

You look away, ashamed.

“I’m sorry about it, Vergil. Dante offered the place and I didn’t know you were there. And you ended up playing with us, and…”

He gets closer to you. Vergil is now standing in front of you with a rare desire to talk. It is truly strange, but you can’t complain about it.

“Have you hated kissing me that much, Y/N?” He chuckles.

“What? Of course not!” You immediately respond, without even thinking about your words.

“So, it means you liked it, right?” Vergil is now talking softly like he’s enjoying your nervousness. And you finally realize what you said.

“Well, I… Oh, lord.” Your cheeks are now blushed on a slight tone of red. Vergil smirks at you.

“Dante pissed me off earlier, indeed. But I think I learned something today.”

He touches the back of your head and brings you closer like he did when you were playing the spin the bottle game. You lose your breath for a moment, but it doesn’t stop you from putting your heads over his chest. Before kissing you, he whispers:

“Although I got mad at my brother and kissed another person, that silly game really worth it.”

Vergil dips his head low and presses his lips against yours. This kiss is deeper than the last one because you and Vergil are more confident about it. When you feel his tongue asking for permission to enter your mouth, you open your lips a little, allowing it gladly.

He is slow and passionate. When he runs his fingers through your hair as he touches one of your cheeks with his other hand, you throw your arms around his neck, deepening the kiss even more. You try to hold your groans, but it is impossible.

After some time, you slowly separate the kiss, kind of out of breath.

“Why don’t you go to my room, Y/N?” Vergil murmurs against your lips. Then he takes his mouth to your earlobe, seductively whispering: “I can’t wait to finally kiss you properly.”

The cleaning can wait until tomorrow.

- - -

BONUS: I had to draw this to write the kissing scene. LOOK AT THIS

why am i so stupid lol

#well i know it sucks im sorryyy #dmc #dmc vergil #dmc5 #devil may cry #devil may cry 5 #dmc imagines #vergil x reader

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ps-i-dont-even-know · 4 years ago

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Devil may cry headcanons

You know I wasn't expecting you put a lot of Kyrie stuff in this one but I couldn't help it. Also there's dadgil in here because I really love it, sorry for no young Dante and Vergil I'm running out of ideas since I can't remember most of my childhood. Also for those who are interested, I’m thinking of starting taking request/ask for headcanons and writing, possibly drawing but their not the best, but I need to work stuff out at the moment.

Sometimes when Vergil has a mission near Nero and Kyrie, he stops by their house

The first time he did this was shocking to Nero, not only was Vergil there, but V and Urizen was there too, and it was going to be extremely ridiculous to explain this to Kyrie

And he knew how this was go and how she is protective over Nero since losing her brother and nearly losing Nero.

"Nero, who's at the... door", " Oh, um Kyrie I would like to introduce you to my dad, er … Dads?", "Your, Dads?", "Look its complicated and a long story, anyway this is my main Dad, Vergil, he's kind of nice but doesn't really talk that much. This is my dad's human half, V, he's nice, likes poems and has animals, strange one that is. And lastly is my dads demon half, um I'm not sure if he's nice or not since he raised the demon tree", "Oh that's nice, by the way which one was the one that hurt you", "Wait, Kyrie, No!"

Nero has to hold Kyrie back from trying to attack Vergil, mostly for her safety. Of course she doesn't forgive Vergil at first, because of what he has done and while she gives off a nice demeanor, her glares and scowls are anything buy warm and welcoming. Which Vergil approves of Kyrie dating Nero, having someone who will fight for you instead of turning tail when something bad happens

After a while Kyrie finally forgives Vergil, because she shouldn't hold grudges that are already in the past, and to move on. But she does tell him that if he were to do something like this again she would not hesitate to hurt him, and Vergil knowing that it would be impossible for her to hurt him agrees. And the tension is finally gone and she is more welcoming to him. Which is great for Nero's case since he felt like he was being smothered in between all their glaring and the tension.

Kyrie also makes apple pie when Vergil visits, since apples are one of his favorite fruits and because the one time he visit she made some for the orphans and she asked if he would like a slice and at first he said no, but soon gave in and had a slice, well maybe two or three but he wont admit to it.

He will also go grocery shopping with her when he has free time and Nero is busy, only to help find ingredients for new food Kyrie wants to try, and to get to know each other better.

On holidays when Vergil and Nero will help Kyrie cook some of the food. Sometimes Dante will try to sneak some sweets only for his hand to be hit by a spatula as Kyrie tells him, he needs to wait or he'll spoil his dinner. In which Dante's pouting, Nero and Nico are giggling, and Vergil is smirking.

Nero has Kyrie fix his jackets when he comes back from missions sometimes, normally he will tell her he doesn't want to put work on her, but she wants to do something nice for him. She also teachers Nero how to sew and stitch so when there are days she can't fix he can do it himself, which took a while but he got it down and not only does he fox his jacket but also helps make clothing for some of the kids, sure his stitching or sewing not the best but they love it nonetheless. Kyrie has also has sewn cat like ears on one of Nero jackets without him knowing until Dante was laughing at him, he chewed him out but still kept the ears on his hoodie because he likes it.

Kyrie got Nero into cooking and remodeling house shows, sometimes he’ll turn it on just to see how the house changed and kind of debated on doing it with their house. What surprised him was the time he came into the living room where the tv was and saw Kyrie watching crime investigator shows, saying she finds its interesting about how they solve the problems, which Nero also got into, along with most of the kids.

The kids will dog pile both Dante and Vergil, Dante loves it, play fighting with the kids and stuff. Vergil on the other hand he doesn’t expect it and isn’t used to the contact, so he gets stiff and weirded out.

Dadgil

He got a school suspension, because well doing his first judgement cut on an apple sitting on a desk while cutting the apple but also the desk was something he wasn't supposed to do, and also because there not supposed to bring weapons to school

Nero had brought the Yamato, Cerberus, Nevan, and Agni & Rudra to his school show and tell, because he want to knock the socks off the kids who brought in pets, toys, or food from a different country

Vergil was frustrated that he had gotten a call from the school that his son brought weapons to school and was being suspended because of it and was mad that Dante let the Nero bring the weapons to school in the first place because it was Dante’s day to take the kid to school and he was busy

He was proud that Nero had done a judgment cut for the first time even if it was tiny and told him not to do this again.

Nero technically has two dads. Vergil and V, he loves when V visits him because of his strange pets, and the way he acts, he's mysterious but kind and loves his poems

Nero will not sleep unless V or Vergil reads him something be it a poem or story, and will try to stay up when Vergil is out on a mission. Being read to helps Nero sleep

On that subject of sleeping, Nero has frequent nightmares. It might be something he has gotten from Vergil, but there will be times where Nero leaves his bed and walks to his dad's room asking if he can sleep in bed with him, and half awake Vergil will agree. Sometimes Vergil will softly sing to Nero because after his nightmares it takes him a while to get back to sleep, and god forbid if Dante heard him singing he knows that he will not let him live this down.

Nero wanted to learn an instrument because his dad knows how to play a violin, and his uncle knows how to play both the drums and guitar. Though the problem was he didn't know which one to go with, there was many to choose from, he kind of stuck with a trombone since it slides a lot and the style is kind of it is great, also he can get away with spitting on Dante.

Nero has only two fears, spirits/ghost and frogs. Its mostly Dante's fault for letting Nero watch paranormal horror movies at night. And Nero doesn't know why he is afraid of frogs, maybe its the way they look or something he doesn't know nor care.

When he was at the park with Nico and Kyrie, did his fear of frogs really show. They were over by the pond and Nico comes over to Nero with the frog in her hand, only for him to scream and start running, while Nico chase after him giggling. Kyrie was also giggling watching Nero run from Nico was too funny.

Nero also begged his dad and uncle for a pet, he didn't care what it was as long as its not a frog. Dante was close to getting Nero a hellhound or Cerberus, but Vergil literally had to stab smack some sense in his brother. They decided on ferret, they didn't want a cat or bird because V has one and they weren't sure if its territorial or not. Hamster and Guinea pigs are tiny and live I cates not much fun there same with Lizards. Dogs are a hassle and no one wants to clean up after it, so a Ferret is what they decided on.

Nero absolutely loves it and its a noddle he can wrap it around his neck and wiggle the creature. He decided on naming it Furret cause it looked like the Pokémon and he couldn't think of anything else

Every year for fathers day Nero will try and make Vergil something, he's make weird cup looking thing that you cant drink out of it because of holes, macaroni art, drawings, cards filled with glitter galore, paper hats, the list goes on and on. But he tried making those flower thing Dante makes, he asked him how he did it and Dante responds it comes to him naturally which doesn't help at all. So he tries only for nothing to appear to his disappointment, he tries and tries until he gets the tiniest and wimpy looking thing. But happily gives it to his dad who really appreciates it.

Vergil's refrigerator is covered with child like drawings given to him from Nero, he loves them and encourages Nero to do more and that he will be the greatest artist.

When Nero first met Patty was the same day Dante was given the mission to babysit her. She was kind of bratty and annoying at first and he didn't like that she would take all of Dante's attention. They argued a lot and Dante would yell at them to stop because it was giving him a headache and they should try to get along. After having to take Patty to retrieve her family money he did start to get along with her and they started to both annoy Dante together.

Nero absolutely loves dinosaurs and has loads of toys of them, and when he was going to the Zoo with Vergil he told him he was excited to see Dinosaurs there. Only for Vergil to tell them that there aren't any dinosaurs at the zoo. (This happened to a friend of mine).

Trish and Lady likes to take Nero out shopping, normally he doesn’t mind going with them, as long as he gets something out of it. Poor Dante and his debt when he finds out how much stuff they bough for Nero

Dante watching Nero while Vergil out can lead to many, many, different ways, and Vergil dreads all of them. Dante could feed Nero only sweets and junk food instead normal healthy food, Dante could probably lose Nero somewhere be it the park or his own damn shop, Dante could probably get Nero in danger because of the demons that show up to his shop and destroys it.

Nero does get into a lot of fights at school, half of them are kids making fun of him others are he’s a hard head and doesn’t let go of grudges. The school is very frustrated in how Nero always gets into these fights, but are nervous of his dad, because of his stubbornness and how he knows that half the time its not Nero’s fault. Like one time a teacher and Nero argued about how Demons do exist and how his dad, uncle, and two aunts go out and defeat. It resulted Nero getting embarrassed in front of the class and being sent to the office and a very angry Vergil that nearly killed the teacher.

#devil may cry vergil #vergil devil may cry #devil may cry #devil may cry headcanon #dante sparda #dmc dante #devil may cry dante #dante son of sparda #vergil dmc #vergil sparda #vergil #nero sparda #nero imagine #nero devil may cry #dmc nero #nero #dadgil

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lizzart-zardonicz · 4 years ago

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• General art advice/ how to get started in digital painting •

First of all, thank you for the ask and the opportunity to spread some tips regarding how I got started in digital art and how I learned. Please note that I don’t consider myself a professional, this is just pure self-taught “skill” I gathered over the years. Let’s get started!

1. Your canvas and settings (I will use Photoshop CC as an example because it’s the industry norm for digital art and that’s what I use daily). • Sketch and lay out your drawing on a slightly gray/darker canvas so you don’t hurt your eyes! Staring on a white background for a long time tires you out and gives you headaches. • If you plan on drawing a portrait or human, use a brown/dark reddish color to sketch out the shapes on a separate layer, so it’s easier blendable with the skin tone later on and you won’t have black spots. If you established a base tone for your portrait, use “Overlay” or “Multiply” on the sketch layer to blend in the sketch. This is a method I use very often for quick portraits. • Size your canvas appropriately: I used to draw on 72 DPI which was fine for smaller applications/emotes but as soon as I started posting stuff online or sent it out for printing, the needed size is 300-450 DPI. Brushes will show up differently as well depending on your canvas size. Remember: It’s much easier to size your canvas down than to enlarge it once you’ve finished a drawing. 2. Drawing & learning • Besides learning anatomy and the structure of the face, I wanted to share some tips regarding values and shading since that’s a topic I struggle most with. Also, there are plenty videos on how to draw anatomy and how to simplify a face on Youtube! (My favorite art teachers on youtube are Marc Brunet, Atey Ghailan, Adam Duff and Ahmed Aldoori). • Refrain from watching too many speed paint videos, rather watch in depth lessons in real time and draw alongside with them! • Before you start with color, learn how to use values. The easiest way to do that is by drawing only in black & white.

• Doing fan art to learn anatomy, values or color is great! My obsession with white haired video game characters (*looks at Vergil & Dante*) got me started in digital art. • DO NOT BE AFRAID to experiment, to fail or to try again. • Also don’t delete any of your sketches, old drawings, they are all beautiful and one day you will go back and see how much you’ve progressed even if it’s just one tiny aspect like a button or a certain shape. • DO NOT overload yourself with learning EVERYTHING at once. You cannot master them all. Focus on one thing and split it up into groups. For example: You want to learn how to draw humans more realistically. Pick one part of the human body, e. g. the face. Focus on that. Now, you have to pick again. What do you want to learn/need to improve about the face? Maybe it’s the nose or the eyes, and then you solely focus on that. This way, you will train your brain to memorize the shapes. • Nobody expects you to draw perfectly! Improve for yourself instead for others. • Something that probably many others have told you: Just draw. The more you use a skill, the better you get at it. It’s like a video game in that sense lol.

3. Technical equipment • I use a Wacom Intuos Pro M tablet and for a few weeks now I’ve been practicing with a Wacom Cintiq 24 Pro. Both tablets are great. Cintiq is a display tablet which allows you to directly draw on the screen. The biggest difference for me tho is the price. In my personal experience, it doesn’t matter if you have a display tablet or not. It’s all about the brain/hand coordination anyway. • Photoshop is annoying with its monthly payment, but it is the digital art industry standard program. Some professionals also use Clip Studio Paint, which is also a great option! I’m currently learning how to set up CSP properly so I can make the transition one day. • Make sure your monitors are calibrated correctly! That will impact the values, colors and overall look of your drawings. I used to draw a lot darker because I messed with my monitor’s brightness too much. Also google for gamma tests, they are pretty useful and very simple to apply. Hope this helps a bit. If you have any specific questions, let me know. ♥

#personal #ask #long post #art advice

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dmcfsstory · 4 years ago

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Also available on Ao3: [link]

Full Proofreaded by Hotspot-the-626th(@ deviantart)

Partner Artist: @wikimb

Word count: 14552

Trigger Warning: Violence/Gore description, Depression/PTSD cases

Back to September 13th - Hell

At the most obscure depths of Hell, loud fight noises could be heard. Many lesser demons and even strong demons were trying to hide from the fight range.

Mundus, the former Demon King, who still carried scars from his fight against Dante and Trish, was getting an ass-kicking from an unknown creature. The being had three pairs of wings, a snake-ish body, and two pairs of arms holding two silver swords within one set and a longbow with the other. Its body was covered in snow-white feathers with golden details so finely detailed that it seemed to be hand-draw. It had a female humanoid face, with an owl beak in the middle of the lips, and very long blood-red feathers came from its head, looking like hair. Finally, it had a bone formation over the head that looked like an angel's halo.

The being wasn't having trouble fighting Mundus. It was having fun. It threw him really hard on the ground, making some scars open and showing a bit of Mundus' true form under it.

"What… What are you doing here?" Mundus asked, out of breath and terrified.

The creature took their top left hand to cover their mouth while it was laughing out loud. "Hahaha, isn't it simple? you still own me!"

"No! I-!" Mundus barely could reply before having his face buried into the ground by the creature's hands, which were only half his size.

The smile on the creature's face vanished, and now it was a furious look as if someone clicked a button on its mind.

"Listen here! You piece of shit!" it shouted, "You had one job! ONE FUCKING JOB! And not even with two powerful weapons on your side could you make it work!"

Mundus couldn't respond. His shame for losing to a Sparda ascendant was more significant than his courage to face the white creature.

"This is a two-part deal, remember?! You got the coolest part! Mine was so fucking boring!" It continued to scream at him.

"What… do you want…?" Mundus asked, very ashamed.

The creature gave a very questionable smile and then said, getting closer to Mundus' face, "let's remake our deal…"

??? - ??:??

It was a humid, dark, and cold forest. There was a rain scent in the air. The treetops were dense that the grayish sky above could be barely seen, and just a dim light illuminated a few spots around. Through the dark paths between the tall trees, a loud and desperate crying of a human child could be heard.

Vergil found himself in this odd place. He looked around confused; what happened? Wasn't he just at the Qliphoth base among Dante?

But he felt like the child's crying was calling him; that sound gave him an odd urge to follow it.

In a sprint, he began to run the fastest he could. The more he ran inside the forest, the more the man felt he was being watched by not just one, but countless presences as if he was in the middle of a big city.

Still running, he looked to his sides and behind himself, but he couldn't see anything else aside from the deep darkness within the forest.

That didn't stop him from following the child's crying.

He continued to run the fastest he could, but he started to abnormally get tired quickly. Once he began to lose his breath, the scenery around him began to look different. The trees assumed a distorted shape, the bark turned white with screaming faces carved on them, and the branches looked like arms and legs. There were no leaves anymore. He could now see blood veins connecting the trees, and it was getting dimmer and dimmer. The place was getting hotter and the air heavier.

It was getting difficult for him to breathe properly and his legs burning tired as if he was climbing a mountain. He had to stop to catch a breath, or his body would do so by itself.

When he tried to stop, he nearly stumbled on his feet. The man had to hang his hands on his knees, and he was sweating and breathing heavily.

"Just a quick pause, I need… air," he thought.

*Crack*

The sound of crackling wood came from much closer than the child's cry.

*Crack crack* again.

When he noticed, the trees' arms and legs moved, trying to stretch and reach him out. The faces started to move, and blood began to come out of them. The trees also began to make loud noises as if they were screaming, muffing a bit the child's cry from Vergil's hearing.

He didn't have time to watch that grotesque scene; he had to find the crying child. He didn't catch enough breath, but he started to run all over again.

The heavy and hot air wasn't letting him run at the same efficiency as before. But as he continued on his path, the trees were shaking more aggressively. More blood dripped out of it until he was stepping in large pools of blood, making running much more difficult for him.

The lack of oxygen started to make him dizzy. His vision blurred, not letting him see a white crystal-shaped stone in the ground that he stumbled over.

He fell flat on the blood-soaked ground. His body was weakened, and he could barely move. But even between the screams of the trees, he could still hear the child crying, this time much closer.

With all the strength he had, he directed it to his arms. It was like a heavy stone was over him. He did everything in his power to get up. He eventually started doing so but slowly.

Suddenly, he felt his body being dragged down; he looked back in a hurry to see what it was. Human-shaped forms were coming from below the blood pool. To be precise, the figures were the humans from Redgrave City that the Qliphoth had turned into - empty and dried, dark bloody red carcasses.

He tried to Devil Trigger in a desperate move, but none of his demonic magic responded, and then all of his legs were taken under the blood. He wasn't sinking fast, but very slowly, fuelling his panic.

He didn't have Yamato with himself either, and neither could summon it.

Looking around, in front of him, he could spot many black and white crystal-like formations. He extended his left hand, reaching a white crystal, but it was fragile and shattered the moment he'd put his hands on it.

More of the Qliphoth's victims emerged from the blood, this time coming entirely out of the pool. They walked towards Vergil and began to step on him, making him sink faster.

He tried to fight them, but his body was weak. He had zero strength to even break the thin material of the moving carcasses.

One of the carcasses above the blood raised their feet and straight-up stepped on Vergil's head, sending him ultimately down the blood.

More of the victims started to appear under the blood and began to drag him down faster. He could do nothing except to drown in the freezing cold blood.

When everything seemed to be lost, a child's hand came from above the pool, grabbing Vergil's left hand.

The child easily brought him up.

Once his face met the air, he took a deep breath and regained all his strength.

"You okay, Sir?" the child asked.

Vergil quickly took off the liquid from his eyes. It wasn't blood anymore, just normal cold water.

The first thing he saw was the kid: a little boy, around six years old with peach skin and silver hair like his, as well as sky-blue eyes. He was wearing worn-out clothes, something he probably found in the trash or something.

He concluded that he was in a fountain with a statue that resembled Sparda in the middle after looking around. The water wasn't so deep; it was around his belly as he was in a sitting position. The buildings around were very familiar, a Victorian style of construction, much like how he remembered Fortuna. It was night time; the only illumination was from the lamp posts.

"Sir?" the little boy called Vergil's attention.

Vergil took a better look at the kid; he felt his heart being stung by the boy's eyes. Something about him appeared to be different from all the other kids he had seen through his time. He got mesmerized by the gleam in the kid's eyes, it had so much life in it, but the rest of his body was so messed up and dirty.

The kid looked at him, confused. He was totally lost in what Vergil was doing in that fountain. Why was he staring at him like that?

"Who are you?" the boy asked, snapping Vergil back.

As he got up, he presented himself, "My name's Vergil. And you?"

The kid stepped back as Vergil got out of the fountain; still a bit confused, the kid said low, "Mah… mah name is… Nero."

Vergil took a delay to process the name in his mind.

"Thank you for hel-… Nero?!" he yelled, surprised, looking at the boy.

Nero got a bit scared and stepped further away from Vergil.

Understanding the boy's reaction, Vergil took a breath to calm down. He then kneeled to look at Nero at his eyes' height. He extended his right hand to call him closer and said in a tender voice, "Nero… This may sound sudden… but… I'm your father."

Nero's scared face turned into confusion and skepticism.

"You? My Daddy? That's not funny," He said dryly while he pointed at Vergil with all the sassiness of a legit Sparda.

Vergil didn't expect such a reaction, and he replied a bit embarrassed, "Yes… your biological father… I made you with your mother..."

Nero kept staring at him confused, he didn't want to get closer either. He looked at Vergil as if he was crazy or drunk.

"Nero? Who's him?" another voice, practically the same as Vergil's, came from behind.

Vergil got confused just by the voice, but when he turned back, he got thousand times more confused: There was a man in fancy winter clothes that looked almost like him, just a bit older, with a very short beard and his hair was part silver and part black, brushed backward like Vergil's but just a bit messier. His right eye was blue like his, but his left eye was of a bright caramel color. He also had a freshly cut wound crossing his right cheek, and his face and clothes were all dirty from some sort of a fight.

Vergil could also notice a katana in its scabbard, tied to the man's waist. The guard had an odd moon drawing. The white cord wrapping and handle had black paintings similar to a tiger's stripes. And the pommel had a keychain with a jewel very similar to the Perfect Amulet's golden part Vergil once had.

Vergil had to keep his guard on; that guy probably knew how to sword fight.

"Daddy!" Nero yelled with the purest happiness and ran towards the man.

Vergil got up slowly, staring confused at the man, not understanding what kind of doppelganger shit was happening.

"Hehehe! Hey! My baby!" The man yelled happily.

He got Nero up to his arms, and they hugged very tightly. The man even gave a few kisses on the kid's head, making him giggle happily.

"Who the hell are you?!" Vergil demanded.

The man gave a very suspicious smile at Vergil and responded calmly with a bit of sass in the tone, "Haven't you heard? I'm Nero's dad… but you can call me 'Shooting Star Man.'"

"What the…?" Vergil blurted. "I am Nero's father! Who the hell are you, again?!" he yelled out of patience.

"Are you tho?" Shooting Star Man replied with a mocking smile on the face.

"I don't like him... He's scary," Nero said low, hiding his face on Shooting Star Man's shoulder.

That was like a headshot from a bazooka. Vergil barely interacted with the child and already gave him a bad impression.

"Nero…" Vergil whispered disappointedly.

"Are you really his father?" Shooting Star Man asked.

Vergil answered without thinking twice, "Yes! I am!"

The man started to walk around Vergil's right side slowly, giggling in a mocking tone. Vergil didn't dare engage in combat; the man began to release a very intimidating aura, pretty much like Vergil's but many times more potent. His eyes also turned bright green, and his scleras assumed a four-pointed star shape. He had not just demonic magic, but another Vergil couldn't identify what it was, except that it wasn't demonic at all. He already looked like a formidable opponent just by that.

"So…" the man began, now sounding rather serious. "You seriously call yourself this child's father… when you had ripped off his arm?!"

The man turned so Vergil could see Nero's right arm; he didn't have his arm from the elbow below anymore. The amputated area was all covered with lots of bandages. The child was now crying in pain, shocking Vergil even more than the apparition of a modified clone of himself.

Vergil couldn't speak, only stutter in shock and confusion.

"How could you?!" The man accused while trying to comfort Nero.

"But…" Vergil didn't know what to say to defend himself. "I didn't know he was my son back then!"

"That's no excuse, and you know that." Shooting Star Man retorted but remained composed.

For a few seconds, the only sound in the place was Nero's sobbing and sniffing.

"You knew you had other options to help you in that situation. Why did you choose the Qliphoth one?"

Even with the man threatening Vergil, he couldn't stop looking at Nero. The kid was really in pain about the lost arm, and Vergil never felt so guilty about something he did before.

"Stop…just... give Nero to me...please," Vergil begged.

"Just for power? To fill an empty space inside you?!" Shooting Star Man continued.

"Stop!" Vergil yelled.

"You allowed your fears to blind you! You were looking for something you always had!" The man shouted with confidence

"STOOOOOOP!" Vergil screamed at least and, blinded by rage, he sprinted to attack the man.

He was able to summon Yamato midway, and he swung his sword with all the strength he got when he was aiming precisely at the man's right arm.

At the last second, the man parried the attack with his sword. Vergil didn't even see the movement of his arm to get the weapon.

Shooting Star Man's katana's blade seemed to be made out of diamond. Apparently, blue and golden magic energy was flowing inside of it, resembling a space nebula.

Tsukuyomi

Category: unknown

Type: unknown

User(s): Shooting Star Man

Description: A beautiful sword that shines like the clearest night sky filled with stars and galaxies till where the eye can see.

Vergil didn't have time to admire the opponent's weapon. He was too focused on getting Nero back. The man continued to swing his sword in many attempts to wound Shooting Star Man. Still, he was able to entirely deflect and parry every single attack.

Over the head, to the waist, knees, feet, it didn't matter; Vergil couldn't make a single scratch. And the man was using only one hand to swing his sword, while the other was holding Nero - that was watching everything.

In one last attempt to cut the man in half, Vergil put all his strength in one swing. Unfortunately, he was parried once more, and this time the man threw him and his sword backward, almost making him stay down on his knees.

One thing Vergil only noticed after the last attack was the diamond sword's blade form: the blade was smaller, the length of a dagger by now, the rest disappeared.

As he paid more attention to his surroundings, he could see countless little diamond pieces floating in the air around him.

Shooting Star Man turned to Nero and whispered tenderly, "Don't look at it now, my baby."

Nero gently covered his eyes with his left hand and hid his face on the man's shoulder.

Vergil was out of action. He couldn't channel his magic for what he wanted to use it for - he could only use Yamato as an ordinary sword… if he had it in his hands.

"You have made your choices…" the man said.

"...now let the stars judge you..." he said, pointing the broken sword at Vergil.

Everything happened in a matter of half a second or less. The diamond pieces glowed in bright white light, and faster as lighting, they slashed and pierced Vergil through every part of his body.

He felt like he received his own finishing move - Judgment Cut End - many times but as smaller cuts.

He fell to the ground, bathed in his blood. He didn't have any more part of his skin and clothes in one piece, and his internal organs were like swiss cheese. Luckily, only his head didn't receive such severe damage. And since his brain was intact, he was still conscious.

The Man got slowly closer to him and didn't let Nero watch that horrific scene. The small pieces of the blade quickly returned to the handle and formed the sword again as if it never had shattered.

Vergil's blood began to form a vast pool around him and the same human carcasses from inside the blood from before started to rise, using his blood as material.

There were countless more, probably all the victims from the demonic tree, under and deep down the pool.

"Their blood is your blood now," the man said stoically.

Vergil couldn't move his body, but he could see and listen to what was happening.

"What are you gonna do about that?" The man asked.

When the man's presence got closer, Vergil saw Urizen, and he was now V - wearing Vergil's clothes.

They were both now at the dead and dry place inside Vergil's mind.

Urizen kept staring at V's bleak picture in the bloody ground.

"How long will you insist on this?" Urizen asked, his voice sounded sad instead of the usual confidence.

V could do nothing except stare at the demon. He barely could keep his eyes open.

"All of your ideas only brought pain and sorrow to this place. You know we don't deserve friends… a family…" Urizen said with grief.

-a pause-

"Love…"

Urizen got very close to V and raised his right foot over V's body.

"Enough of your human fantasies," he said slowly...

...And went to step on V with all his strength.

Hell - Next day - Day time… probably…

Vergil woke up in a blast. His heart was racing insanely; his arms and legs were shaking like thin branches in a storm. He was so nervous he had difficulty catching a breath; he was breathing heavily, and his body was stiff.

That dream was so vivid that it looked like it was real.

He didn't even pay attention to what was covering him. He just dragged the supposed blanket over his shoulder, cuddling himself tightly in an attempt to find some comfort and calm down.

Until a robust putrid scent snapped him back to his senses: he was covered by Dante's leather coat.

He may be on alert all time, but something he never stopped to pay attention was his and Dante's scent; his brother hasn't taken a bath in a month… or more. Now him… What was soap like? It's been years since he cleaned himself good enough to call it "bathing."

The smell was twisting his stomach. He had to take in some air, but he noticed a magical barrier when he looked outside. The energy from it seemed to be from Dante, which was also nowhere to be found.

A few minutes later...

Vergil didn't take off Dante's jacket from his back to keep himself warmer. He kept long minutes thinking about that dream: why Nero rejected him like that? The Qliphoth's victims were angry at him… and his… doppelganger? Clone? Shooting Star Man's image and power level were too scary to think about it without losing sanity.

"Hey! You woke up!" Dante's voice came from the other side of the barrier, bringing Vergil's attention back to reality. Surprisingly, he was dragging a dead Riot by the leg with him.

"I brought lunch!" He yelled with a smile, raising his prey's dead body.

Void - next day - 08:37AM - Victor's laboratory

Victor, Kyrie, and Nico took Nero, still unconscious, to Victor's laboratory to examine him better.

The place was located on the city's outskirts, in the middle of the remaining natural forest near the town. The building loosely resembled a Port's shed; made out of concrete, the first floor had a very high ceiling(around ten meters high). The second floor had an average height(nearly three meters high).

The first floor seemed to have come out of an old horror movie about some crazy scientist. The walls were painted dark gray that even with the white LED lights, the place still looked dark - there were only a few small windows at the top of the walls that barely could let some sunlight come in.

A top-notch air conditioning system was keeping the huge place fresh.

There weren't walls to make rooms. It did have countless high shelves and glass cabinets with many demonic samples arranged like a small labyrinth, taking up three-quarters of the place. Many had orbs, stuffed little demons and heads or just a random piece of bigger ones. On the shelves were also bottles that held demon appendages and/or organs in a conventional liquid. There were also countless blocks of papers and books.

Sharing space with the labyrinth, there was a shiny ironed, steampunk-like scientific machinery that created a contrast with the multi-colored demonic things. The equipment didn't look modern aside from the computers and giant screens at the remaining quarter of space left. All that could be used to do experiments with whatever demons it had.

Kyrie was only able to help take Nero to that place thanks to her surprising physical strength. After that, she could only observe Victor and Nico trying to examine and take care of her boyfriend.

For some reason, Victor gave the day off to all his assistants. So he had to take care of Nero alone with Nico only.

Nero was sleeping like a rock, and Victor was very thankful for that. He could use the energy readers on his chest and head to better examine his magic without worrying about some sort of rebellion. Visually, the readers were precisely like a Holter Monitor's electrodes.

Nero's physical health was worrisome as Victor suspected: he was underweight, his ribcage was clearly visible, but fortunately, he wasn't anorexic… yet. It was impressive for Victor how Nero could still fight demons. However, Nico pointed out that his efficiency in battles dropped significantly.

Victor theorized that it was because of his desync problem. It is incredibly stressful on the body. But Nico also thought that Nero's mental state could also be its cause because, since the Orphanage Incident, Nero's behavior changed drastically.

Unfortunately, nothing could be pointed as the real reason until the exams are concluded.

While Victor was waiting for some programs to do their job, he turned at Kyrie using his office chair. He looked at her earnestly and then asked, "Please, be honest… Are you a demon? Or a hybrid?"

Kyrie stared at him, confused and at the same time worried. She honestly didn't know how to answer anymore. The last time she checked, she was human, but she wasn't sure anymore after the previous night's events.

Nico was closer to Victor, who was apprehensive, but she decided to let Kyrie tell the story.

Having noticed Kyrie and Nico's apprehensiveness, Victor asked calmly, "so… you don't know?"

Surprised by the doctor's sharp eyes, she couldn't do much except stare at him with eyes wide open. She knew lying wouldn't help; the only option was to tell the truth. "Yes… I don't know anymore," she said in a confused yet sad tone.

Victor took a deep breath and let out a long sigh. "Well… let's go slower then... -ahem- how did you get your demonic magic?"

Now that question was more challenging than the previous, making Kyrie more nervous. She started to stutter and scratch her head as she looked away, trying to come up with answers. Nico wanted to respond, but she was able to contain herself for now.

"I guess… it was right after I woke up from the coma a few weeks ago..." she responded with a bit of confusion.

Victor's eyes filled with curiosity; a human turning into a hybrid or even a complete demon without dying a short time after was quite rare.

"Why were you in a coma?" he asked.

"Demons… some kind of 'smart demons' attacked the people of the orphanage I used to work… They severely wounded me when I tried to protect the children." she tried to explain.

"What do you mean by 'smart demons'?" Victor asked curiously.

But Nico had to interfere this time, "That was me that called them like that, Uncle. They were very different from anything I ever saw or studied. They worked like a human team would, and they were even willing to make sacrifices for whatever it was their objective or to protect each other…"

Victor was indeed surprised by Nico's statement. Such description about demons wasn't standard, but that was a discussion for another moment; Kyrie was the focus.

"That's really odd, but let's talk about that after this…" he said calmly. "So, they used some magic on you?" he then asked Kyrie.

"No… only their claws and chains," she replied with a bit of unease to remember that event.

She was thoughtful and quiet for a few seconds. Then gently, she took off the feather from Nero's wing off her hairpin, undoing her look. "But… I can feel my magic acting strange, and sometimes it's even a bit painful when I stay away from Nero's magic for too long."

That last statement made some gears start to work on Victor's brain. However, on the other side, Nico was getting nervous knowing how her uncle would react after getting the knowledge about a particular fact.

"Wait… what?" Victor blurted with confusion. "So… your magic has some relation with Nero's? He did something with you magically?" he asked, worried about the incoming answer.

"No…" Kyrie said with a bit of confusion. "Well… aside the Orbs he tried to use on me while I was in a coma."

Victor massaged his nose bridge nervously, raising up his glasses a bit to do so while making some grumbling noises. After that, he said between pauses, but keeping his composure, "Only demons… can use orbs… it was before that then…"

Nico had enough of holding her anxiety. She couldn't wait anymore for the scold she knew she would get. Slowly, she tried to get into the conversation, but speaking very apprehensively, "She… she received blood transfusion.. from...Nero a-after the attack on the or-rphanage, Uncle V-Vic..."

He kept in dead silence for a moment. Nico was already squinting her eyes and clenching her jaw nervously; her body was stiff while she waited for his reaction. Seeing Nico's behavior, Kyrie started to get nervous too. Still, in her case, without knowing why she just felt like something terrible was coming.

If Victor was a computer, a sound of dial-up internet loading could be heard coming from him. He was thoughtful yet scared; he was staring at the void, trying to process that information.

Nico felt Victor's pressure over her soul already without looking face-to-face yet, the man was quiet and immovable.

By only moving his feet, he made his chair turn in Nico's direction. The more he turned, the more the girl was cold, sweating nervously. Victor's reaction wasn't a surprise, she was already waiting for that, but she didn't want to see it.

He was staring at her intensively, looking straight at her eyes.

"Did you let them do a blood transfusion from a hybrid to a vo-void? And blo-blood from a-a Sparda?" He hadn't yelled but spoke in such a severe tone that it made it seem Nico had killed someone.

"Do you know the consequences?" Victor asked, keeping his posture.

Nico moved her head slightly to the sides with a bit of reluctance, denying her uncle's question.

"S-So do I!" He finally yelled; tension and confusion were clearly noticeable in his voice. "Who knows w-w-what can happ-pen as a consequence of a blood tran-transfusion! And from such a strong being! A Sparda's ascendant! They can't e-even breed with a Void! for bein a-a H-Hybrid!"

Kyrie's world stopped during the last lines from the scientist; it was true then? She and Nero can't have their own children because of what they are? Unfortunately, most of what happened during her so short pregnancy was starting to make sense, the pain and uneasy out of time... the miscarriage…

"They can't what?" Nico interrupted Kyrie's desperate thoughts with a blurted question to her uncle.

"You didn't know?" he asked back, a bit confused but not so surprised.

"That's why… we can't have children?" Kyrie said without looking at the doctor; she already had red-ish teary eyes. Her hands were sweating cold as her heart was racing just to remember the painful day of the miscarriage.

"Oh no..." Victor whispered when he saw Kyrie's depressive image. "Have you two already tried?"

"Th-they tried once…" Nico said a bit awkwardly, holding her stuttering.

Victor felt sorry, but he couldn't do much to help Kyrie in that situation, aside from trying to explain why such an unfortunate event happened. "I'm sorry, but that's how nature works… hybrids can only breed with other hybrids. The same goes for 'pures,' they can only breed with other pures. If something happens outside of this rule, it's because it had some interference… like…ritual spells, scientific experiments, etc."

Kyrie didn't respond, just continued to stare at the void. Her face was the perfect description of sadness and despair. As some tears started to form in her eyes, she quickly took them off using the sleeve's end of her jacket. That information was quite hurtful, she and Nero were planning to have a child of their own for nearly a year, and suddenly their dream was shattered into small pieces. They had names planned, bedroom designs, how they would do when Nero had to leave to work, lots of money saved, and so on… but nothing of that mattered anymore.

A freezing chill suddenly rose up on Nico's spine. She remembered her talk with Nero before the incident, making her very worried about the boy more than she already was. Nero was already in a terrible mental state. If he discovers that his suspicion was correct, he definitely will drop dead in despair. That left her in doubt if they really should tell him that after he wakes up.

But what nobody expected was that Nero was listening to all of that final part of the conversation. He just hadn't spoken or moved because of the heavy fatigue over his body and mind.

Nero let go a cracking snort out, loud enough for the others to hear it when they stopped talking. They all turned at him at the same moment, everyone staring with eyes wide open. Nico even jaw dropped scared; she barely thought of the possible incoming problem, and here it was, kicking the door with both feet.

Nero could feel all of his muscles very stiff as he slowly tried to sit up. His body was in total stress because of his unstable magic. It was like he hadn't moved in a month. He couldn't even imagine doing stretches. If he tried so, probably his muscles would break out of their strings. He could snap a joint or two; his neck and shoulders made loud noises as if they actually had broken. During those cracking sounds, he'd let go very tired and annoyed grumbles.

It took a significant delay, for he had noticed the electrodes all over his chest and head. He looked at them with confusion; his face clearly said, "what the fuck is this?" and with zero caution, he took them off, nearly invalidating the apparatus. Loud error beeps came from Victor's computer screens at the same moment. Nico rushed to shut down the program and stop the ear-hurting noises.

Victor couldn't contain his annoyance and blurted out loud, angry words, "What are you doing?! I was doing critical exams on you! Get back in there!"

Nero turned his tired gaze at him, his eyes squinting of so much fatigue. He didn't say a thing, he only slightly moved his right hand up, and with shaking fingers, he raised the middle finger to Victor. He let go a subtle, muffled giggle with a mischievous smile, mocking the man for no reason.

The doctor didn't get offended; instead, he stared at the ill boy with confusion. He wanted to ask him what was wrong, but he knew he wouldn't get an answer. Nero's mind obviously wasn't where it should be right now.

For a brief moment, Nero stood quiet in place, head down, his upper body was -visibly- softly swinging back and front with his own breath. At the same time, his arms were thrown down like a plush doll's and his back arched forwards. He barely could keep his eyes open. They were dry, blood-red, and empty. He honestly looked like he was having a hangover and could throw up or faint again at any moment.

He was indeed in a lethargic mood.

"Nero…?" Kyrie said in a grievous whispering.

Nero began to giggle again in response to Kyrie's call, low and drunk-ish giggling, slightly choking with his own saliva between a few pauses to breathe.

"I had...a dream…" he began to speak in pauses, his voice fading weak. "My dad… was beating… Vergil's ass… hehe..." he finished with a broken smile, without taking his eyes out of the void.

"What?" both Nico and Victor said together.

"Shooting Star Man?" Kyrie let go without thinking twice.

"Yeah…" Nero said with a smile on his mouth, but his eyes were clearly showing sadness.

"Nero… Shooting Star Man was-" before Kyrie could even finish her phrase, Nero quickly interrupted, aiming an angry gaze at her.

"Shooting Star Man was not a dream!" he yelled with a trembling, almost crying, voice. "He exists! And he's my real dad! Not…the fucking… Vergil…" and a tear rolled down on his cheek.

"Foolishness…" he mumbled, returning his eyes to nothingness.

Hell - Daytime apparently - "same moment"

The twins were still at the same place, inside of a made-up cavern on a huge dying root of the Qliphoth. Dante's magical barrier was still up. A simple but very effective spell he learned with Trish, closing the entrance for other demons don't come to annoy them while they eat their lunch.

They weren't talking with each other. They were quietly eating the meat from the demon Dante had hunted down. Each of them had roasted their parts the way they like it using fire magic.

At every bite Dante did, he made a face of total disgust, squinting his entire face as if eating a pure lemon. The meat tasted awful; it was definitely the worst food he ever ate. He was swallowing every bite almost wholly because he couldn't stand the taste.

On the other hand, Vergil was eating like a savage. Using his teeth from his (standard)Devil Trigger form to eat, he looked like he was barely chewing his food and more like swallowing it whole. The man had barely cooked the Riot meat; there was demon blood dripping down his chin and hands. It looked like he hadn't eaten in days, if not weeks. He was almost done with his part his share, while Dante wasn't even at half of his yet.

Dante couldn't believe in his eyes; never in his head passed the idea of his brother, a person so collected and disciplined, to be acting like a wild beast.

Although, he had folded his coat's arms until the elbow and had taken off the gloves to avoid dirty them while he eats. But there was a detail that gained Dante's attention: Vergil's lower arms looked too skinny, very likely how he remembered V's arms. That made him think that his brother wasn't in good physical health, but he wouldn't ask his brother to just simply take his shirt out to confirm that.

He decided to talk about that another moment, having in mind what happened last night.

"How… how can you eat this food like this?" he asked instead, still dumbfounded while staring somewhat scared at Vergil.

Vergil suddenly stopped eating and looked at Dante with a surprised face. His mouth was so full that his cheeks were puffed up, lots of blood around his mouth and dripping down his chin and hands. He had a quick look at Dante's food. He wasn't paying attention to it and was surprised that his brother hadn't eaten, not even half of it.

Dante couldn't help but stare, scared at that odd and savage image of his older brother.

Vergil gave a big swallow to put everything in his mouth down. He then said stoically, looking at the big piece of meat in his hands he was holding by the bone. "You get used to the taste of it… there will be a moment your tongue will start ignoring it," and he took another bite.

That was a bit unexpected, but at the same time, it wasn't. After last night's story, Dante was more aware that Vergil had a though life trying to survive the consequences of his own acts. But still… used to eat raw meat? Vergil was so focused on his demon side like that? Or was it something else?

"I'm starting to envy you, to be honest," Vergil suddenly broke Dante's thoughts.

Dante turned his gaze from his piece of awful food to his older brother. Vergil had left his ordinarily stoic face and was staring emotionless at his piece of meat half-eaten.

The younger brother's silence made it clear he didn't understand what his older brother just said.

"You have friends… a cool job... -a pause- you didn't have to worry about… surviving all the time…" Vergil said with a bit of sadness in his voice. "You had a family by your side…"

Dante takes a moment to realize what he meant by that last line, "You mean Nero?" he asked just to confirm.

"Yes… I envy you for that… I don't think I ever will experience such moments…" Vergil said with grief as he recalled the dream he had earlier.

Such a statement did sting Dante with suspicion. He really didn't like how that sounded. He started to look for words to describe his feelings towards that, but he was too confused to make up something at that moment.

He couldn't speak, only look at random directions as if searching for some inspiration.

Unfortunately, he couldn't think of anything, and they spent the following minutes of their lunch in silence.

After finishing his share, Vergil licked his fingers and hands, not because the food was good, it was just to clean them out before wearing his gloves again. To clean his face from the demon blood, he did very like how a cat would do; by licking the side of his hand and passing thought where he wanted to clean: his cheeks, chin, and mouth.

Meanwhile, Dante couldn't eat all of his shares and just simply tossed, with no difficulty, the leftovers very far to outside their hideout(without vanishing the magical barrier). He cleaned his hands on his coat anyway.

There was dead silence between them once again, that same awkward silence from the previous day.

Dante was finally coming up with something to ask his brother. Still, he was a bit reluctant this time because of how much Vergil scared and worried him talking about his life. He had to find a way to touch the wounds with more caution than before.

He pretended he would start talking a few times, opening his mouth to speak and turning to look at Vergil, but he ended up giving up.

Vergil only stared at him with suspicion and waiting for a conversation to start, but it never came.

Finally, when Dante moved to start a conversation for real, something called the attention of both at the same time:

"Dante…!"

"Vergil…!"

A weak and tired voice of a woman echoed in their heads out of nowhere.

They both stared at each other scared, they didn't need words, only their look exchange told each other that they heard the same thing.

The voice called them again, but this time a bit louder and clearly in a panic:

"Dante! Vergil! I need your help, please…"

They jumped out of their place and stood up. Vergil looked around the area for some demon that was possibly messing up with them, but Dante stared at the void; that voice was somewhat familiar.

"Kyrie?" he asked in the air.

"Nero's girlfriend?" Vergil blurted, remembering that Nero told him her name back when he was V.

"Nero is gonna die… help! Please!" she said in a sobbing and panicking voice.

Void - same day - 09:00 AM - Victor's Laboratory

Among Nico, Victor was trying to put the electrodes back on Nero for the exam to restart. But he didn't want to collaborate. The man was waving his arms towards them to shove them away every time they touched him or just got closer. While he did so, he was groaning like a stubborn child that didn't want to do what the adults were trying to make him do.

Kyrie tried to talk with him many times, but he wasn't listening to her too. He was avoiding eye contact altogether.

They could only put two, out of the eight, electrodes on Nero the moments before he -inexplicably- started to act like that. One in his right temple and the other at the left side of his chest.

Such behavior was quite shocking, especially for Kyrie. Nero was behaving like a sad and scared child. He was curling up in himself, an attempt to look smaller. His arched back let his spine be more visible under the skin of his skinny body, giving him a more decaying image than before. He got his left arm wrapped around his belly and his right arm over his head, trying to hide his face from the others. He was sitting over his left leg, and the right one was bent up for the knee to help hide his face. He was breathing heavily and pacing fast between groans of a supposed crying being held with all of his mental strength left. He was shivering entirely, almost like he was feeling super cold.

Victor took a step closer to the boy with an electrode in hand. Nero could see him through a small opening between his arm and knee.

"Stay away! Stay away!" he begged in a crumbling voice, curling up even more.

Victor said nothing and stepped back cautiously, only to look at the girls and face anxious looks. After all… they saw a loved one in front of them in a terrible mental and physical situation. Kyrie was on the edge of a panicked crying.

Feeling defeated, Victor asked the ill boy, "okay… what do you want for you to cooperate with us?"

Without leaving his fetal position, Nero's breath accelerated a bit, cold and big tears went down his cheeks. "I want… I want my… dad… my dad… the… Shooting Star Man..." and he started sobbing.

Victor let out a long sigh. He shook his head and took off his glasses. He pressed his nose bridge between his eyes and closed them hard, trying to contain himself for not responding to Nero as if he was sane.

Both Kyrie and Nico couldn't move their eyes away from that decaying person they always knew as a tough and prideful man. Such a situation made them think, "he has been hiding those feelings all this time?", "that's how he truly feels inside?" and "why did he never tell us about that?"

Kyrie let a tear escape thinking about it, but she cleared it quickly. She must be strong; otherwise, she wouldn't be able to help Nero.

Victor put his hands on his waist. Sounding a bit impatient, he asked the girls, "Well then… this totally looks like it is a serious PTSD case, is there something I don't know yet? I have a friend that's a renowned therapist. She can help him out too."

The girls exchanged thoughtful looks, thinking about something they could reveal so the doctor can have a better north about what to do next.

Meanwhile, he walked towards a shelf near the computers. Nico accompanied him with her head only and saw him taking off a sedative glass bottle out of an aluminum box.

She gasped silently and walked to him quickly. "Are you sure this is necessary?" she almost whispered, astonished by her uncle's decision.

"Do you know a better option?" he whispered in a nervous yet worried voice. "He's definitely not in the mental state for this, but I need to finish those exams so I can know how to aid him until Vergil and Dante come back."

Nero could hear them talking with his demonic super hearing, and once he heard "Vergil," his heart raced insanely.

Kyrie could hear them too, but not so clear like Nero. She couldn't understand what was going on, but it wasn't good.

Without leaving his position, Nero began to look in front of him for a way to escape: he'd spot his coat in a hanger and his boots under it near some kind of automatic double door. But how would he run away quickly? Victor surely would know how to stop him.

Only if he could touch him, he realized. He then had an idea that would make them all probably mad, but he *had* to get it out of there in his mind.

He heard their steps on the cold concrete floor getting closer. One thing he couldn't see was the syringe in Victor's hands.

He couldn't wait any longer.

In a second, his hair and all of his body hair turned black. Everyone noticed that an instant before the computer began to make very loud emergency warnings, taking the attention off him for his luck.

Sounds of crackling flames called out the others' attention back. They could see a large red flame passing through a small gap in the middle of the exit door for just a few seconds.

Both Nero and his coat and his boots had disappeared; only the electrodes were left in the chair.

"OH SHIT! NO!" Victor yelled, presuming the flames he saw were Nero.

Nico had stopped the machine's loud noises in a hurry, just to finally read the message on the screen that said: "MAGIC SIGNAL LOST."

The living red flames flew through the woods behind the laboratory, going in the direction of the city. After a minute or two, the fire gained a precise shape, and Nero materialized himself out of it, with his coat and boots in hands.

Not only his hair and body hair were with a different color, but his eyes also changed. They went from the typical sky blue to a bright emerald green color.

He was breathing hard and out of energy, his eyes swollen and red, eyebags dark like Vergil's, and his face tired like never before. He couldn't stand up and threw his body over his knees, but his arms faltered, and he kissed the grassy ground.

He cursed in a whisper and slowly got up, squinting his face at every move because of the pain. His body was so weakened, so exhausted, he wished he just could lay there and cease to exist.

At a slow pace, he wore his jacket, zipping it to feel a bit warmer and then wore his boots. Then his hair and eyes' color returned to the usual silver and sky blue, respectively. Thanks to upgrades on his weapons made by Nico, he summoned Devil Queen and Carnage Rose from the van to his hands as if they were Devil Arms.

He heard his name being called by Kyrie far away in the woods, he couldn't let her find him, or she would bring him back to Victor; he opened his spectral wings in a rush and flew away with a single flap.

Kyrie could spot him flying in the sky as soon he got very high. She became much more apprehensive, realizing she would need to take more drastic measures to contain Nero. Unfortunately, she was the only one around that could do that.

She called her staff like Nero called his weapons and activated the flying mode. She rose to the sky very fast, trying to reach the altitude that probably Nero was. That was her first time going so high, but she calmly stabilized.

By wearing a headphone in her left ear- connected to her phone- she could call Victor. "I've found him! But I will have to chase him!" she told the doctor.

Victor instructed in a hurry: "Oh shit! Well… get Nero and stick that thing I gave to you on his skin. Anywhere is good! But give preference to his chest and head. This is a prototype of a remote magic reader! It's not as efficient as those ones I have here, but it will help a lot already!"

"Okay!" she yelled confidently.

She then looked at a small device Victor gave to her, a gray and round button, smaller than the palm of her hand, with a little red LED light in the middle. She put it back in her pocket and accelerated to catch up with Nero; she couldn't waste more time.

Getting closer to the city, she noticed that she was high in the sky as the megacity's tall buildings. The growth was quite remarkable; the vast gray ocean of buildings till the eye can see. The people and the vehicles' noisy sound in the streets and large avenues, the dark line on the horizon due to the heavy pollution created a total contrast with the shining blue sky with fluffy white clouds above.

She wanted to stop and admire such human creation. She thought she would never leave Fortuna and witness that kind of thing, much less that way.

But that wasn't the time for that; she had to find Nero.

The loud sounds from the city were an annoying buzzing in her ears due to her new demonic hearing and the terrible pollution scents in her nose.

She was flying the fastest she could, turning her head to the sides looking for Nero in a hurry, but how would she find him in such a gigantic place?

She had to think, think! She knew Nero better than anyone else… At least she thought she did. The bitter feeling of Nero never having told her about his grieves made her quite sad, but also, on the other hand, she could understand why he did that...

"Got something?" Victor called her in the phone call, giving her a little jumpscare. For a moment, she forgot she was on a call.

"Not yet… he blended with the city…" she said, worried.

She heard some thoughtful hummings coming from the other side of the call for a moment and then Nico's voice from the background.

"Yeah, that may work," she heard Victor talking with Nico.

"You know the feather you must wear?" He now asked her. "Focus on it. It's still connected to Nero. Spectral objects stay magically connected to their creators until it's vanished by them or when they die."

"Okay, I will try that!"

Kyrie stopped in the air and closed her eyes. She laid her hand over the feather in her hair clip for better focusing. She began to use some meditating techniques she knew, giving her complete focus to the feather's emanating energy.

Slowly, she could feel a magic string leaving the feather. The more she focused, the more she could see the line in her mind.

The line grew… and grew… and grew…

Until she saw Nero at the end. His energy was a mess and aggressive, like a vast hurricane moving out of control and ready to destroy everything in its path.

"I think I found him!" She yelled confidently.

"Amazing!" Victor shouted with relief. "Hurry! Every second, his condition gets worse!"

She left her place in a blast, going full speed. Following the energy path, she didn't know she had that sixth sense now.

Swinging between the buildings quickly and precisely, she noticed the enormous windows of them; there was a problem if she flew so close to ordinary humans? Humans may know that demons and devil hunters exist, but it was okay they see a human doing demon magic like that?

She started to have flashbacks back to the orphanage's attack and felt better fly above the city.

The altitude was very frightening. Death was certain if she fell off - as if the previous height wasn't already - she was a bit demon now but not demon enough to survive such fall like Nero would. Still, she kept herself under control, not looking down, only in front.

Nero's energy was starting to descend towards the city's asphalt. He was probably going to land. The closer she was getting to Nero, the more turbulent the signal was getting.

Now she had to follow the signal in the middle of the giant mass of people; only in an intersection of avenues looked like it had more people than Fortuna's population. That gave her goosebumps, but bringing back Nero to safety kept her motivated.

There were dozens of scents and different energies from the large mass, so filtering Nero's magic out of it would need more concentration than before.

Inside Nero (figuratively)

Much like Vergil's mind, the place was nearly dead, dry soil, and a small pool of water in the middle, but the difference was the tree. Nero's tree was frail at the bottom, and it got a bit stronger at the top, making it look like it was upside down. Devil Queen and Carnage Rose were by the side of the tree.

There were three entities there:

N (Nero's human self), a boy visually the same age as Nero with a face similar to V's, long hair like Nero's Devil Trigger itself - but it was part black and part white -, and yellow eyes. He was also wearing the same clothes Nero was in reality.

Hintkurt (Nero's demon self) was a demon visually similar to Urizen but half its size with a rigid scaled body. It had a few extra eyes through its chest and a large one where it would be his forehead. His shoulders had big mouths with sharp teeth each.

Then there was Hintchack (Nero's unknown self), a sleek and snake-ish creature with four arms and four wings, a humanoid owl face with long feathers that resembled hair in his head, and a third eye like Hintkurt. His body was all white with some red paintings so detailed that it looked hand-painted. He wasn't big like his magical partner; he was the same size as a human.

The three of them were fighting against each other, but the two monsters mostly focused on the human. There were countless markings around the place; scorched areas by fire and other magics, big crackings and holes, claw markings, and so on.

Hintchack used his long tail to slap N on his back, sending him a few steps away. The hit was so strong that N couldn't react to get back on his feet, and his face was slammed against the ground.

"You stupid shit! When you'll learn that's a fucked up idea?!" Hintchack shouted harshly, his voice high pitched and cracked.

N, already wounded from previous hits from the bird-snake-ish creature, tried to get a bit of strength to rise up, but he was out of breath already. He was struggling to lift his head up, "What if...I'm right? Stop judging the others -cough cough- by the cover!"

"Are you serious?!" Hintchack shouted furiously. "No jackshit, Vergil can't have a good side! AND HE'S NOT MONSTER! MONSTER IS DEAD!"

Entirely the opposite from the screaming avian, Hintkurt, with his deep demonic voice, spoken calmly, "The parrot is right. Let go of this stupid idea that Nero will have parents. That's illogical. We're all grown-ups! Adults do not even adopt pre-teens, much less other adults!"

"But… what if…" N stuttered, the sadness on his face was evident, but he wasn't going to give up.

Hintkurt let go a long and annoying breath while Hintchak was close to plucking the feathers of his head out of anger.

"'If I beat Nero… I won't lose next time!'" Hintchack mimicked Vergil. "You really think that's how a father would sound? You idiot!"

"He was even going to kill Dante!" Hintkurt added.

"Another scum…" The bird blurted angrily.

"Dante is not bad!" The demon retorted.

"Oh really?! What… 'uncle' hides the truth about your bloodline for five fucking years?! He was willing to keep it secret if I haven't pressured him!"

Hintkurt didn't know how to respond; deep down, he agreed with that point.

"He… must have… a good reason.." N said between exhausted breaths.

"ARGH! Spare me of this family-care bullshit! He didn't want to have official responsibilities!" The avian shouted, flying closer to N.

"Only visiting to have lunch, making calls just to ask for money or pass a demon hunting job!"

"Help with sword fight training, helped create a devil hunting branch… he even sold some devil arms to gave Nero money for the van's fixes… and…" Before the demon could continue, Hintchack attacked him, cutting his chest using his wings' long sharp feathers.

"ENOUGH!" He shouted, pissed.

"What is wrong with you?!" The demon yelled, confused, stepping back.

"We all know Nero won't be able to have a happy family! Can't we all agree it's a lost case?!" Hintchack shouted out loud.

"We… are not… a lost case…" N said, his voice still weak, but he could stand on his feet now. "You are just paranoid!"

"ME?! PARANOID?! HAHAHA!" and he flew towards N, sending him back to the ground using his four hands.

Holding him still, he shouted in his face, "Who keeps crying and killing Nero's image is not me! You! YOU are the big kid here waiting for irrational wishes to come true! GET LOST! Nero will never have a daddy or a mommy!"

"We always knew this…" Hintkurt added. "Since we lost Monster… the last person that…"

"But! Shooting Star Man!" N interrupted.

"That motherfucker isn't real!" The bird yelled, a vein almost popping in his forehead.

"HE IS! He just won't come back!" The demon shouted, quickly taking the bird off of N, holding him by the tail.

"HOW DARE YOU?!" He shouted and again used his feathers to hurt the demon that released him at the same moment because of the pain from the severe wound.

"YOU PIECE OF SHIT!" The demon shouted, very pissed off with the stubbornness of the avian fellow.

They both started to fight using their magics, a fight so aggressive they were beginning to destroy the place again, heavy dust began to rise due to the dry soil.

"Stop! STOP! You're hurting Nero!" N shouted with all his strength left, but the magical beings didn't listen. They continued their fight without caring about him or the place.

The human could do nothing but whimper in grief. He continued to stay down on the ground and put his head between his crossed arms. There's nothing he could do… he needed help, and he knew that.

"Vergil… Dante… help me… please…" he whispered in agony.

But the two creatures could -surprising- hear his praying and stopped the fight almost immediately.

"YOU SAID WHAT?!" They shouted in synchrony, looking at the helpless human on the ground.

Back to reality…

Nero was sitting in the shadow of a small alley, hidden from the noisy and agitated crowd. He was in a fetal position, holding his head in pain. His two magics were fighting inside of him, and he barely could keep them under control. He was being hurt from the inside out. It was like small ghostly daggers were stabbing him. He was bleeding a little through his nose and mouth. In his eyes, the blood was mixing with his tears of agony. His skin, however, was starting to show up signals of a crackling similar to dry soil.

His mind was in complete chaos. At the same time, he wanted to call help...he didn't. He didn't know what to do; he just wanted to stay there, quiet, letting his internal struggle consume him.

But then, Kyrie found him. At first, she just observed him from far away, figuring out what was going on. When she got closer, she soon could feel his two magics fighting.

He was immobile.

She slowly walked to the middle of the alley, stepping softly so as not to make a noise. But her focus on the man was so intense that she didn't see the broken glass on the ground.

The soft cracking noise called Nero's attention, and he immediately looked at her.

Noticing who it was behind his foggy and red-ish vision, he quickly got up, using his leftover strength. When he attempted to sprint, Kyrie called him desperately, "NERO, NO! Please! Don't go! I just want to talk!" almost deafening, Victor was still in the call.

He stopped with her calling, but he didn't turn to look at her.

"Nero… please… tell me what is going on… I just want to help you..." she begged.

"HELP?! There's nothing you can help with!" Hintchack yelled furiously.

"Stay away, it will be better like this…" Hintkurt said with a bit of sadness.

"Kyrie… help…" N then cried in a helpless whisper.

"SHUT UP!" Hintchack yelled at him.

With a weak and sad voice, Nero almost whispered, "Just… leave me… please… I don't want to hurt you again..."

"Hurt me? When have you done that?!" She said quite incredulously.

"Lost memory or something?" Hintchack blurted.

"If you're thinking my coma and the exil-" before she could finish her sentence, Nero turned to her. His expression was an incomprehensible mix of sadness, anger, and pain. His face was all dirty with his own blood and tears.

"OF COURSE THEY'RE MY FAULT!" He shouted, his voice fading and muffled due to the fatigue of so much crying.

"All of the shit that happened to us… to your family… it's all my fault! I...I'm cursed…" he said with an ashamed and defeated voice.

Kyrie made a quick connection to what he was talking about. Fortuna's people never liked him because his demon magic attracted demons to him. People used to call him a "demon-magnet" and bully him as hell because of it.

She took a deep breath before continuing to speak. She didn't want to make the man run away again and slowly, she was trying to get closer, they were meters apart.

"Nero… You're not cursed… you're not like everyone always told you…" She tried with the softest voice she could do.

"How could she never notice?" Hintkurt said low and sad, holding N with one hand to make sure he couldn't say anything.

"Yes… Yes, I am!" he yelled between sobbings. "I honestly always envied you and Credo, you always had a family, had loving parents… you were -sob- respected..."- pause to take a breath - "but… but it was just me get in your life… and everything went down the hill -sniff- your parents died… Cre-Credo…" And he once again began to hold back a desperate crying. He did not want to in front of Kyrie.

"Stop, Nero! You can't blame yourself for that!" she tried to call him a little back to his senses.

"Please… let's go back to Victor so he can help you clear your mind and body… please," she begged.

"ENOUGH OF THIS!" Hintchack screamed with rage.

"HOLD UP! We must not hurt her!" Hintkurt interfered quickly.

"You seriously think I would hurt her, dumbass?!" the bird yelled incredulously.

"I don't trust you." the demon responded harshly.

Nero shut down his eyes and put his hands on his head. He was in panic and pain at the same time. The man began to hurt his scalp with his nails, and the bleeding from his eyes, nose, and mouth started to get worse. He had to cough out the blood from his throat.

Kyrie was panicking, but she was able to keep her composure. Still, when she tried to open her mouth to talk again… an eruption of desperate and panicking human screamings echoed around them.

Kyrie gave a quick look behind her just to see what was going on. Countless people were running in a panicked hurry from something, very likely to be demons.

Unfortunately, when she turned to look back at Nero, he had disappeared. Her heart raced in panic; she had no idea from where he could have gone. Once again, she would have to follow his energy track, but the more she saw people running, she began to feel the presence of other demons. It was hard for a newbie Devil-Magic user to concentrate on Nero's magic with all the nearby monsters' interference.

In a sprint, she ran outside the alley just to meet face to face with a demon, but it wasn't any demon: it was the same wolf-skull head ones from yesterday's morning.

Instinctively, using her right hand, she casts a lightning spell that blew up the demon's wolf-skull helmet, revealing a human mummy-like head that was under it.

The demon fell backward, wholly stunned, while she kneeled, holding her right hand in pain. She could feel her magic pulsing like an insane heartbeat in her hand; she thought her hand would literally explode.

'You idiot! You must use the staff… always!' she told herself madly.

"Kyrie? Kyrie?! What happened?!" Victor asked because of the loud, bomb thunder noise he heard on the other side.

"I'm fine… I just… didn't use my staff.." Kyrie said in a tense voice.

"KYRIE!" Nico yelled, a bit incredulous.

"I know… I know!" Kyrie yelled too, but impatient.

“Thunder Rose”

Category: Human-made

Type: Magic Catalyst

User(s): Kyrie

Description: A magical staff made by Nico. It helps Kyrie learn how to control her recently owned demonic magic and since it’s made of a very resistant material, she can also use it as a blunt weapon.

She got back on her feet quickly, and when she stopped to look at the avenue, she almost lost her breath. Jaw dropped; she couldn't count how many demons were there; they came this time in a massive hoard. They were attacking humans and killing them.

But when she paid attention to one that had already killed its prey, she saw that it wasn't eating the human's flesh. Instead, it was taking it away, running against the direction of the attacking ones.

She couldn't handle them by herself alone. It was too many for her.

"What's with all these people screaming?! Where is Nero?!" Victor yelled, his voice very worried.

"There's a bunch of demons here! And Nero ran away from me…

"What?! You MUST find him!" Victor said almost in a demanding tone.

"Take! Take it! Take to the Sin!" one demon that passed close to her caught her attention.

"The Sin needs flesh!"

"The great Sin will revive!" Many of them were shouting in a demonic language she could understand.

Until one of them yelled, "Dragon! Dragon!"

It called her attention that one wasn't attacking humans. It was utterly ignoring them all.

"Get the Dragon!" others yelled.

Some were strangely blabbing, a similar thing the ones from yesterday were.

Dragon? Could they be talking about Nero?

Those demons certainly could tell the difference between demon-magics better than she, and she decided to follow them. She rose up to way up over the panicking crowd riding her winged staff.

She could observe all of those "dragon-seekers" going into the same point. She accelerated to go ahead of them. The more she advanced, the better she could feel Nero's magic apart from the other demons'.

Not even half a minute of flight, she spotted Nero in the middle of the avenue. He was fighting against the same demons, but his condition wasn't letting him fight like he used to. He had to rely on his spectral arms and gun.

Those demons weren't ordinary; they were using teamwork to get close to Nero.

They were all around him, shooting their arrows with chains close to him, trapping him, but Nero knew the only way to leave was flying IF all of them missed their chains. But Nero didn't have the strength -physical, mental, and magical - to fly away so perfectly, they would get him.

Kyrie quickly dived towards the demon horde; in a swift move, she took her staff from her feet, and the wings rolled together to form a ball shape. With all the strength she got, she slammed the demons using her staff as a giant hammer, killing and stunning a few that were in front of Nero.

The wolf-skull-helm demons even dismantled their formation for a brief moment because they didn't see her getting close.

Nero felt some relief in seeing Kyrie again, but at the same time, he got scared, he wanted to leave as fast as possible, but that was a distant wish by that point.

"Kyrie… you…" he mumbled between painful groanings.

"Quiet!" She yelled, mad at him. "Just focus on getting out of this. We talk about that another moment."

Nero got briefly stunned. Never had Kyrie raised her voice towards him like that. He got quiet and decided to listen to her for now.

His legs weakened, and he kneels on the ground. His magics were starting to fight inside him again. Kyrie didn't think twice when she saw him like that. She slapped Victor's device on his nape in one swift move.

"What the hell?!" Nero yelled, confused.

"Don't even think about taking that off! I dare you!" she threaded him.

"YES!" Victor yelled victorious at the other side of the call. "Those readings aren't perfect but will help a little already!"

The demons got furious with her interference. The ones in front of her raised their body quickly and shot their arrows at her.

She swung her staff and blasted an electric discharge at the arrows, sending them away. More demons started to do the same from different directions right after.

She kept blasting energy to send the arrows away. From behind, her left, right, she was circling around and sometimes even jumping over Nero. The man still was kneeling on the ground, trying to catch a breath while blood was dripping from his eyes, nose, and mouth.

During the middle of that situation, she and the demons took a quick pause to breathe, and she could blurt something: "If only… Dante and Vergil…"

"We… -cough cough- don't need… them," Nero said with his trembling voice.

Kyrie's blood boiled that moment; she couldn't stand Nero's stubbornness anymore. He was passing the limit of irrationality.

"SHUT UP!" she shouted, scaring him and the demons around. "Listen here! You're not in the condition to make decisions yourself! So, stay quiet and listen to what I say! Okay?!"

"Oh wow… that was hot", Hintkurt blurted.

"Is that what you're thinking about in this situation?!" N yelled incredulously at him.

"She's… scaring me…" Hintchack said, hiding his head under his wings.

Nero didn't know what to respond to. He just kept quiet, staring at her, his eyes wide open of both surprise and scare.

"Good!" She yelled, returning her gaze to the demons. She couldn't believe she had to raise her voice at Nero like that. She didn't want to, but that was a matter of life and death. He had to cooperate.

Quickly, all the demons coordinated to shoot their arrows at them at the same time. It didn't have how to avoid that attack if not flying.

Kyrie didn't know an area spell to help in that situation either.

Suddenly, the programs on Victor's computer started to give emergency warnings of "magical signal lost" again.

"What the?!" he yelled. "Kyrie?! What happened?!"

No response.

"Kyrie!" He shouted, but she was stunned in place, staring at the small protective red bubble around her and Nero.

Nero had his arms extended, his hair was black, and his eyes green once again. He quickly cast that shield to protect them, sending the arrows away.

He couldn't stand it much longer and dropped tired to the ground. Then, the protective bubble exploded, sending the demons not so far away from them and stunning them in the process.

"KYRIE!" Both Victor and Nico shouted, trying to call her attention. They made it but almost gave her a heart attack.

"I'm here! I'm here!" She replied, scared.

"What happened to Nero?!" Victor asked, quite worried.

"Did he switch magics?!" Nico asked right after.

"He what?!" Victor blurted, now confused.

"Yes, he did," Kyrie replied. Simultaneously, she quickly kneeled to check on him: he was heavily breathing, sweating like crazy, and, unfortunately, but fortunately, he was unconscious.

Still staring at the monitor, Nico explained, "That's the other thing we came to ask you, Uncle Vic. Nero recently discovered he has a second magic type. I couldn't get readings with any device I had… and apparently, yours can't read it too…? Oh shit…"

Victor stayed silent, trying to process why that other magic of Nero couldn't be read by their devices and why he had another type within him?

He then gave a quick gaze to a specific painting he had on the same computer station wall. Noticing the peculiar look, Nico turned to look at the picture too, but she couldn't understand much: it was an image half white in the top and half black in the bottom. She couldn't clearly see the details because the painting was a bit far and wasn't that big.

Victor returned in silence to his computer and started to do something on his programs. Nico saw that something snapped in his mind, and she would not question him about it now.

"Kyrie! Is Nero okay?" Nico asked instead.

"He… he just dropped... unconscious… urgh," her voice sounding as if she was doing a lot of strength.

"What are you doing?" Nico said, worried with her tone.

Kyrie was trying to take Nero to an alley while the demons were stunned, using her staff's magical wings. She pulled the staff with all her strength while the wings formed a basket shape under Nero.

"Trying to… find a safe place…" she replied, breathing heavily.

The demons were starting to snap back to their consciousness when Kyrie entered an alley and could hide her and Nero between large trash containers.

Nero's magic was dim by now, but the demons could still sense it; they barely woke up and already started to flow his weak signal.

Kyrie fiercely stood nearby the place she left Nero. The demons couldn't enter all at once in the area.

They began to menacingly enter the alley, ambling with their four members. The path was dark, cold, and stinky. Only their shiny orange eyes were visible among the shadowy shape they had in the dark.

That vision sent a chill down Kyrie's spine. Her hands were sweating cold inside her gloves, she wanted to take Nero and run away, but that wouldn't be easy to achieve. She had to fight, fight not just for Nero's safety but also hers.

Unfortunately, that was the first time she didn't have Nero's aid to help her when something went wrong. She was alone, entirely by herself only, giving her the same sensation Nero always had when she was in danger.

She positioned herself ready with her staff. There wasn't space for the scythe blade to swing by. The only option was to use brute force and her smaller electric spells.

"Give… the...DRAGON!" the one front-most yelled and jumped towards her.

She could smack the demon's head against the ground, killing it in one quick swing before it could touch her with its scrawny fingers.

Another one fired its arrow to pierce her body, but she spun her staff really quick and rolled the chain on the top side of it. In a decisive move, she pulled the demon at her, and, using the staff's bottom end, she pierced against the demon's head.

She then sent it away against the other ones in an air kick with all her right leg's strength, breaking its chain. Only one got hit by the flying body and sent out of the alley.

Another two climbed the walls in a sprint and jumped over her. With the staff free, she turned the engine on with her magic and blasted the demons away.

But another one was already in a jump towards her right after and threw her against the ground. She held the creature's hands with her staff, as well as its neck.

She was fighting with everything she got. The demon was trying to push her staff against her throat. But her strength wasn't enough, the demon was slowly winning, and she could see its sadistic smile on its mummy face.

KABOOM

The demon was blasted away in a loud and robust light blast.

Kyrie got blind and deaf for a moment; she could only hear a lousy beep. Her head was inexplicable, spinning and hurting from the light blast.

Victor and Nico had a heart test when they heard the loud blast through the call.

While trying to recover her senses, she used her staff to help get support to get up. A bit dizzy and deaf, the first thing she looked after with her partially white vision was Nero. Fortunately, he was in the same place and position she had left him; she could support his back in one of the big trash containers, but his body was stiff. His arms and legs sometimes jumped with little spasms. He wasn't desyncing yet, but his magic definitely wasn't okay.

Looking outside the alley, some demons were killed, and others were just lying down unconscious. They simply vanished away. The ground was temporarily covered with electrostatic energy, making Kyrie a bit reluctant to move out of the place.

"Hey! Those are no demons for noob'ing around!" a strange young voice came from far outside the alley.

Kyrie tried to see who it was; her vision was almost recovered by now. She could only identify a tall human figure, in a scarlet red coat, white hair with a single hair clump of a different darker color. They were holding a tall and shining Spear, probably a weapon for fighting demons; strangely, she could also feel demonic magic coming from them.

"Get out of here!" the person shouted and ran away.

"NO! Wait!" But the person was already far.

"What's up?!" Nico asked right after.

"There was… another… Devil Hunter, I guess…" she replied with confusion, not so sure of what she saw just now.

"Anyway!" she regained all her senses back again. "I need your help, please! I can't take Nero like this by myself. There's too many demons here too."

"No need to worry, pal! We were already getting out stuff together here!" Nico yelled confidently, but deep in her tone, Kyrie felt her worry.

"Thank you!" She said with a bit of relief.

But that wasn't the moment to relax. The demons were still there. Kyrie used this opening to kill the closest demons and to collect some green and red orbs. It was easy to kill them standing still, just blasting their chest and cutting their heads off with no effort at all.

It took her less than 5 minutes to do so, but for a brief moment, she contemplated how much she changed in such a short time. In the end, she shook her head to regain focus. It wasn't the moment for that.

She quickly absorbed the red orbs around and held onto as many green orbs as she could. In a hurry, she brought them to Nero, who absorbed them in his sleep.

The muscular spasms stopped, but he didn't wake up.

The only thing she could do was wait for Nico.

"Dante… Vergil… Where are you? Nero needs your help…" she begged in her thoughts.

The ground began to shake inexplicably, and the demons that she didn't give the final blow began to wake up. It was time for her to fight again? She barely had caught a breath from the previous fight.

The small earthquakes began to get stronger and paced, like quick steps, giving her a chill down her spine. Flashes of Lightning also started to roar in the sky. That wasn't normal; it surely was some demonic thing.

Suddenly, around fifty meters high, a colossal creature falls down in the avenue corner, a few meters ahead of the alley she was.

The demons that woke up ignored her and ran away, but she heard them yelling, "IT'S THE GREAT SIN!", "THE SIN LIVES!"

So, that was the Sin they were talking about earlier? That boss-looking demon?

The colossal creature got up the faster it could. It was incredibly visually similar to the small demons. It had a wolf skull as a helmet, a skinny body with animal legs and human arms. The few differences were it had a black mist-like tail. The one coming from the head was also covering its torso, neck, and, probably, face ultimately.

A person comes jumping from where the demon came. It was that one that told Kyrie to run away. They were surrounded by electricity, and it went straight to the enormous beast, pointing the spear at its chest.

But the beast dodge rolled to the side, and the hunter carved the spear in the ground. But the electricity exploded and got the arms of the best.

The enormous creature howled in pain. An instant after, it tried to swing its claws towards the hunter, who easily avoided it by jumping away using an energy blast.

"Leave me be, you monster!" The creature shouted, not in demon language; it was in human language.

"Me?! The monster?! Look who's talking!" The hunter replied angrily but with a sassy tone under it.

The creature suddenly stopped; his eyes totally showed surprise, and it looked straight at Kyrie.

Witnessing that tremendous stare, Kyrie froze in a cold sweat; her hands got stiff in her staff.

"Dragon? The Dragon?!" The monster said low and surprised.

That was it. Kyrie was dead now. No way she could face that thing. Nero could, but not in the state he was. Her arms and legs got weak of so much scare, and she kneed in despair, but she could feel her inner magic starting to storm inside her like a defense response.

"Dante… Vergil…" she whispered in panic, tears forming in her eyes.

"Wait… THE dragon is here?" the hunter whispered astonishedly, looking at Kyrie too.

"Dante! Vergil! I need your help, please…" she yelled in her thoughts.

"Nero is gonna die… help! Please!" She closed her eyes and held on tight to the staff while the monster was getting up. It had its eyes on her.

Time stopped.

The only thing that she had in mind now was Dante and an assumption of how Vergil would be. They were twins, right? And they should be together in Hell by now.

"Kyrie?!" She heard Dante's voice in her head.

"Nero's girlfriend?" she heard another voice, an unfamiliar voice, but she assumed to be Vergil's.

She thought it was her imagination for a moment, but she could feel her magic inside her acting quite differently. The wish to have the twins there was provoking something on it.

"PLEASE! I need you two here! Nero is sick and can't fight! There's a huge demon looking for him!" she thought in an instant.

"How?! We are here, and you are there!" Dante said, worried.

"Can we trust this voice?" Vergil said quite distrustfully.

"Yes, man! I know this energy! It's definitely Kyrie!"

All that happened in a fraction of a second.

An inexplicable feeling dominated Kyrie that moment; her magic was acting differently like never before. A new instinct awakened in her. She assumed a fierce and intimidating expression.

She strongly hit the ground with her staff's end, carving on it, scaring the giant demon and the hunter.

She embraced that new feeling and let her magic follow it; she could feel it growing stronger inside her. Still, it wasn't out of control. All that seemed quite natural already.

She began to charge the staff at its limits. It looked like the metal plates from the gear would fly away. A large jolt of energy blew up out of it and formed the pink spectral wings.

The staff would be able to hold all the magic she was channeling. She made the terrible decision to conduct her magic by herself.

That was a deadly move.

Barely a second after summoning, the wings disappeared from the staff and quickly reappeared in her back, but this time double in size. Both of her eyes were glowing white, and the sclera turned black. The small white hair clump she had in her fringe hair quickly grew out to have more strands.

The demon began to step back, afraid of what was coming. But the hunter didn't move out of his place.

"DANTE! VERGIL! HEAR ME OUT! FOLLOW MY VOICE!" she shouted in her thoughts while she began to scream out loud due to the heavy magic channeling.

At the end of her wings, two large demonic magical circles formed an azure blue and a crimson red.

"Fuck! She's summoning something!" The hunter yelled.

"DANTE AND VERGIL! I SUMMON YOU!" she shouted with all her lungs' strength.

Vast flames from their respective circle's colors began to blast out from them, and human shapes started to form.

Dante then jumped out of the red circle, and Vergil jumped out of the blue one.

Kyrie's wings immediately dissipated, and the staff did an emergency stop. She had to kneel on the ground; she had never been so tired before. She had to take many deep breaths, she was sweating profusely, and she looked like her heart would jump out of her mouth.

"WE ARE BACK, BITCHES!" Dante shouted as soon as he stepped on the ground.

But Vergil quickly noticed a problem with them, which shocked him for a brief moment.

To be continued...

#forgotten sins story #devil may cry #devil may cry 5 #dmc5 vergil #vergil #dante #dmc5 dante #dmc5 nero #original character #dmc5 kyrie #nero

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thenightgazer · 4 years ago

Text

A Long Way Home

While still trapped in the Underworld, Dante and Vergil have to resolve their family issue. One that can't be solved only by swords and guns.

It's been two years since Red Grave incident, one week after Christmas, and still no news about Dante and Vergil. That leaves Nero terribly upset, but little did he know that miracle will come to him very soon.

Merry Christmas @nibbbs! Surprise surprise, I’m your secret santa from @dmcsecretsanta! Hopefully you enjoy the gift I wrote for you! Happy reading and happy holiday!

You can also read it on my AO3!

~~~

The Underworld has never been this quiet before.

That forsaken place is the real no man’s land; always boisterous with fights between demons to take over the throne of the Underworld. Be it a slaughter between lower demons or higher demons, they couldn’t care less. Their primal instinct is just craving more power and of course, human flesh. But since the portal to cross into the human world isn’t always unfolded, cannibalism is ineluctable. It’s either eat or be eaten. It’s bound to happen and demons don’t have any choices but to yield to the Underworld’s natural law. Surviving and escaping the Underworld seems like an absurd fantasy for humans, even for demons as well.

Which is why voluntarily jumping into the depth of the Underworld to save the world is considered to be a valiant and honorable act, yet also frivolously lunatic.

Well, for Dante, lunatic sounds like his middle name, if he ever had one.

He chuckles by the thought of that.

“What are you laughing at?” Dante’s problematic twin brother Vergil snarls.

“Nothing,” Dante closes his eyes. “Just having a weird thought.”

Vergil replies nothing. He shows no interest in Dante's daydream, but that’s just probably because he’s too tired to even think of a reply. The twins couldn’t count how many days have passed since they cut the Qliphoth tree down. They spared and killed any demons nearby, exploring other regions of the Underworld simply because they are bored and need some time to rebound their lost time as brothers. Now, exhaustion forces them to take some rest. They lean side by side on the scorched desert, staring at the perpetual black sky while restoring their energy.

Dante can sense a demon’s presence not too far from where he is right now, but that presence fades eventually. “You feel that too, Verge?”

“I do,” Vergil murmurs. “The words have been spoken, I presume. That they better not to disturb us if they still want to live.”

“Well, once we recover, they’re going to die anyway.”

Vergil’s short hum speaks of his concurrence.

Dante shifts his hands under his head as he glances to his brother. Vergil stiffly lies on the ground with Yamato on his chest while his hands gripping on it. He might close his eyes but Dante knows his brother can still attack his opponent while closing his eyes. As hard as a steel, this old bastard, Dante amuses at his idea. “Rest means relaxing, bro. You don’t have to be on guard all the time.”

“I’m preparing for any attack.”

“It’s not like there is a demon near us at this moment.”

“Have some self-consciousness, Dante. You could attack me at any time, given a chance.”

Dante wakes up straight away. “Why would I wanna attack you?!”

“There’s always a possibility.”

“Says the guy who always has the intention to kill me, huh,” Dante lies back again. “Seriously, Verge. Just for five minutes, stop thinking and go to sleep. Bet it’s been a while since you have a proper sleep, right?”

Neither show any agreement or disagreement, Vergil turns his head to Dante. “Why are you still awake then?”

“Huh? To keep an eye on you, of course. Who knows you’d do some weird shit outta there again.”

Vergil curves a smirk, then turns his eyes to the dark sky again. “I see. You are also scared of me attacking you while you’re asleep, aren’t you? We’re twins, after all.”

“I don’t-” Dante almost bite his mouth.. “Man, you’re as sharp and annoying as you always have been.”

“I take that as a compliment.”

“Yeah right.”

And there’s silence again. It’s been days, or weeks, since the last time Dante hears any demonic voices around him. To be honest, he kind of expects their appearance. He likes talking to Vergil, but the older brother has an issue in healthy communication. Hell, Vergil is a difficult person and Dante wonders if the eldest children around the world are always like this. But Dante realizes he is also no expert in social interaction, and fighting is also the only thing they both are good at. Vergil would talk a little bit much when fighting, even if it’s mostly taunting and mocking Dante, yet it’s better than having Vergil succumb to the dark side again.

“By the way,” Dante breaks the ice. “Are you ready now to tell me who’s the lucky girl a.k.a Nero’s mom?”

Vergil draws the Yamato above Dante’s throat. “One more word, and I’ll cut you into pieces.”

“C’moooon! I’m curious!”

The Yamato is now touching Dante’s skin. “Final warning, Dante.”

Dante flicks the Yamato’s blade. “Fine. Whenever you’re ready, bro. You might not want to tell me, but you owe that to Nero. He’s your son. He deserves to know.”

Vergil sheathes Yamato, scoffing at Dante’s warning. “It’s not like I’m going back to the human world.”

“Well, we HAVE to!”

“Pray tell why I should agree with you.”

“I have a shop to run and there’s a new menu at my favorite pizza parlor. You should try it, by the way. And you got a lot to explain to Nero. You don’t wanna be a deadbeat like Father, right? Though you kinda already are all this time.”

“You know it better than anyone else that I didn’t know Nero’s existence until you told me so.”

“Which is more reason why you have to come back to the human world soon. You can say you don’t need to catch up with Nero but I know you want it. You left him your frigging book; the same one you didn’t allow me to borrow. Dear ol’ Vergil got some soft spots for his son, huh?”

Vergil turns his back from Dante like a sulking child, ignoring his younger twin’s laughter. As expected from a cold man like him, he won’t ever admit that every single of Dante’s words is true. Again, a long and neglected fear consumes him. What’s fatherhood for a man who ran out of place and time like him anyway? Is there any chance for him to fix his family? Getting back in terms with Dante is one thing, but with Nero, the son he had never met before his escapement from the Underworld? Does he even have a right to call him his son after all he had done to him?

After quite long of silence and battle with himself, Vergil murmurs a question to Dante. “How old is he?”

Dante almost squealed if only he didn’t remember not to ruin Vergil’s mood or else they won’t have any friendly conversation anymore. “Nero? Twenty-something, I guess. Haven’t asked him myself.”

“How did you meet each other?”

“Long short story, some weird-ass cult that worshipped our father as a god turned out evil and wanted to use our father’s power to rule the world-”

“The Order of the Sword?”

“Right! You did your research! Nero was one of them but rebelled after they kidnapped his girlfriend and killed her brother. I came to Fortuna to retrieve the Sparda sword and apparently your kid was able to summon the Yamato and I got the picture already. He got white hair, he summoned Yamato, tried to kill me repeatedly, stab me with Rebellion and Yamato, craving for more power to save his beloved. I wondered where he got that from, by the way~”

A hint of smirk curves in Vergil’s mouth.

“Then we worked together to save Fortuna from a pope who was obsessed with our Father and destroyed the island. We succeeded and brought peace. Nero got his girlfriend back, and we established the branch of Devil May Cry in Fortuna. The end.”

“A heartwarming, and very unoriginal story.”

“You think I made up that story?”

“Didn’t say that. I am merely implying that I heard stories similar to your experience.”

“Hell knows you are the coldest person alive, but you are a terrible liar. You are a man of pride, after all. Lying doesn’t suit you.”

“I can tell thousands of lies as I please, if only that’s necessary,” Vergil takes a brief look at Dante’s mischievous face. “But I won’t, if it’s concerning my son.”

Is this really the Vergil I used to know? Dante can’t hold his grin while elbowing his brother. “Starting to feel like a real dad, huh?”

“Silence.”

“Admitting that you love your son won’t do any harm, Verge.”

“I-” Vergil stumbles upon his own words. He growls impatiently, hurrying himself to get up and sit down as he wipes his face frustratedly. “We’re not having this conversation anymore.”

“Why? Just because you can’t admit that you grew care for your son?”

“Because I’m a terrible person!”

That was the most honest words that came from Vergil, if anything, ever. When was the last time he showed his vulnerable side like this? Even as V, crumbling and dying slowly, he didn’t even spare Dante any sign of defeat and regret. Dante gets up, clapping Vergil’s shoulder. “Only if you still want to destroy the world and kill your own family, then maybe I’d call you the worst shit in the world too.”

Vergil shakes his head. “If only…”

“Huh?”

“Had I known I have a son back then…” Vergil says bitterly. “I would never leave him. I would never go pursuing power or raising that foolish tower and this ridiculous tree…” he points to the remains of Qliphoth tree with his sword. “I would have a better chance to be… a good father for him…”

Regret always comes late, isn’t it? The ‘if onlys’ never come at the front of the mind, merely whispering behind the head but never appearing into the surface before regret comes. Vergil knows that, but never really understands it until Dante tells him that Nero- the very man whose arm was ripped by him and still willing to help him in every way- is his own flesh and blood. His priority was to seal the gate of the Underworld and cut the Qliphoth tree, so that Nero and the rest of the human world are safe and sound. He will stay in the Underworld to redeem himself, for he thinks he has no place in the human world for all he has done. He planned to create a portal to the human world after he fixed things up with Dante to kick him out from the Hell with force, because he knows Dante won’t leave him alone again and will do anything to drag Vergil out from the Underworld. The plan is simple. It should have been easy to execute.

Yet ever since Vergil landed at this hellhole, his steps are getting heavier as time goes on. A haunting voice inside his head kept telling him to come back to Nero as soon as he finished his job cutting Qliphoth roots. Another sound tells him he should stay longer here with Dante to catch up with their sibling bound. The third sound, more demanding and urging, tells him to stay in the Underworld forever as a redemption.

“Y’know, bro,” Dante folds his legs as he seizes the Yamato from Vergil’s hand and puts it on the ground, which dismays Vergil. “Gotta admit that I wanted to kill you because I wanted to free you from evil, and get rid of Nero’s burden of having you as his father. Though he proved to us that we are just a bunch of nonsensical idiots who got unsolved sibling problems between us-”

“I am not an idiot!”

“You might have scored higher on the Math test than me but you’re still an idiot!” Dante barks. “Anyway that’s not my point! What I mean to say is, as much as I hate your dumb-as-rock head, you’re still my brother. And it’s never too late to fix things up.”

Vergil scoffs and takes his sword back to his embrace again. “How can you be so sure?”

“I blamed you, y’know, for that day” Dante admits, his eyes getting darker and the carefree vibe in his voice is gradually gone. “For not rescuing me and Mother.”

Vergil streaked at that confession. “What do you mean?”

“You thought Mother only saved me and left you behind while she died searching for you,” Dante woefully chuckles. “But for me, on that day, I thought you would come to rescue us.”

“I was planning to-”

“She could have hid with me in the closet until you come to save us. That’s what I thought back then when she died, and you never came back. I thought you left us, before I heard one of them say they had you killed. There I was; frightened and thinking that I was alone. My mother and brother died. No one could save me but myself. I was blaming you for running away that day. If you didn’t, we could have defeated them all and protected our home.”

“Or, we could have died. All of us.”

“Exactly. Instead of blaming you, I blamed myself for picking a fight with you. Should’ve left you and your book alone,” Dante stands up, spinning the Ivory before shooting a flying demon that approaches them. “I lived by loathing myself, until I met you again in that cursed church, remember? I was genuinely happy to see you.”

“I remember,” Vergil nods slowly, recalling a blurry picture of their younger selves. “You said you are a devil hunter and will be filthy rich someday.”

“Still waiting for that day, actually. Yet you fucker started being a dick, saying shits about power and stuff,” Dante’s harsh voice trembles slightly. “I thought we could start over as a family, but you decided to fucking stay in the Underworld. I couldn’t save you at the gate of the Underworld. I couldn’t save you at Mallet Island. I could save everyone else, but not my own family.”

Vergil raises up. His arm is reaching Dante’s shoulder, but it never touches him. His hesitation is rational, for he knows words can’t describe how Dante must have felt towards Vergil. Hatred might be the wrong word; it sounds too soft. Too lenient, too merciful.

One could tell it’s disappointment, Vergil gets his answer as Dante turns over to face him. The mischievous little brother side of Dante has gone as he aims his gun at Vergil. It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend. Let alone a family.

Dante wails horridly. “Always the quiet one, ain’t cha? Remember how our parents always told me to be quiet like you? ‘Why can’t you just behave like Vergil?’ Guess what? At least I’m not the one who fucked the world up and ripped off my son’s arm-”

“Dante-”

“Shut the fuck up!” Dante’s grip on Ivory is slightly trembling as he snaps. “I’ve been through shits too, Vergil. I missed Father and Mother. I missed you, for fuck sake! After all this time I believed I killed you in Mallet Island, then you came out of nowhere to destroy the world. I came out with the conclusion that you didn’t even change a bit, just an egomaniacal who thinks the world only revolves around him. I needed to kill you again because I don’t want my nephew to kill his own father. Don’t you fucking realize how maddening was that?!”

A bullet passes through Vergil’s head. The older hybrid stands still without any intention to return the attack, only wiping the blood from his forehead. I don’t have the right to be irritated, he reminds himself while his mouth forms a bitter grimace as Dante puts the gun on Vergil’s forehead, ready to pull the trigger anytime soon. For a second Vergil can sense Dante is going to lose his temper as he catches a glimpse of red flash in Dante’s eyes. Ever since they were kids, Vergil was always aware that Dante in his total wrath is dangerous. A ticking bomb , Vergil recalls what their father said about Dante’s anger as he watches the raging fire in Dante’s eyes ignite until it’s slowly fading.

“But I changed my mind again,” Dante continues. “Instead of blaming you and carrying on the bad blood, I choose to start over. And that’s how I can be sure,” he pokes Vergil’s head with the gun before putting it back into his coat. “That everyone deserves a second chance and it’s never too late to fix what you have done.”

The red devil yawns as he slams himself on the ground again, stretching his hands before he closes his eyes. “Sorry for raising my voice. It’s just impossible to use soft words whenever I’m talking to a stubborn jackass like you.”

He opens one of his eyes to see what Vergil would react. His older brother sighs heavily, sitting beside Dante’s lying body and puts his katana on the ground. For a man with a soul of a true warrior like Vergil, putting weapons down on the ground is a sign of defeat. Which is the reason why he was slightly aggravated when Dante seized the Yamato and put it on the ground as if he told Vergil to surrender. It should be a humiliating act, but for once Vergil throws his pride away.

Because you are right, Dante.

“Dante,” he calls his brother. This time there’s no hostility in his voice, only sincerity and repentance. “I am ever so sorry.”

“Apology accepted,” Dante smirks playfully. “Why do you think I’m here if I still hold a grudge against you?”

“I mean it,” Vergil emphasizes. “Truthfully. For everything I have done… and my sincere gratitude for taking good care of my son while I wasn’t there for him.”

“Honestly, Verge. Forget it. I only do what I have to do.”

Watching his little brother finally howls in laughter, a surge of warmth fills Vergil’s veins as he joins the laughter. It’s comforting, since they can’t remember the last time they laugh together without any fight and bad blood. I barely remember how it feels like to have a family, Vergil chuckles while Dante kicks Vergil’s knee mischievously. Was it always this… warm?

“Dante.”

“Yup?”

“I think we should go back to the human world now.”

Dante whistles in joy. “Ready to meet your grandkids?”

“Do tell me the truth,” Vergil growls, impetuously tugs Dante’s collar. “Are you serious about grandchildren or you just make it up?”

“For fuck sake, Verge! Didn’t you know that already when you ripped your son’s arm?”

“I didn’t pay much attention... I can only recall a voice of woman called Nero for dinner- not the voice of that mouthful friend of Nero-”

“Yeah that was Kyrie. Your soon-to-be daughter in law. Anyway they adopted kids called Carlo, Kyle, and Julio,” Dante pats Vergil’s shoulder with pride and teasing manner. “Congratulations, you’re officially a grandpa! What a fine day for revelation!”

As if my life could get any worse, Vergil grinds his teeth in frustration as he releases Dante from his grip. “How unfortunate.”

“C’mon, swing that flimsy sword of yours and make a portal to the human world. We got plenty of things to do! I gotta pay those bills, refurbish my shop, return Kalina Ann to Lady, and buy a birthday present for Patty.”

“Rather a cumbersome list you got there, Dante.”

“What can I say? I’m a busy man! Now get your ass up, old man! Nero’s waiting!”

---

It’s already two fucking years.

Nero was never a believer. There’s no such thing as a miracle, he told himself. Protecting Kyrie and the kids is an endless responsibility that bestowed upon him. There’s nothing he won’t do for their happiness and safety, even if it means to cost his own well-being. He relies on nobody but himself. He doesn’t pray. He never tries to exceed any expectation, because hope is a dangerous and fragile thing. Hope bothers him, and he hates to be bothered.

Yet, lately, he almost surrendered by the temptation to hold some hope.

What hope? Nero rejects his own thought. For those douchebags to return safely? Gimme a break.

Sitting in his garage and polishing the Red Queen, Nero takes a brief look at the snowy ground outside of the house where the children are building a snowman. He grins at Kyle who waves at him; the youngest from the three children he adopted, who’s now taller and braver than he used to be when he found the little boy searching for some scraps at Fortuna’s slum. Nero chuckles when a glimpse of a picture of Vergil meeting Kyrie and the boys pops out from his head. Would they be pleased to meet him? Would Vergil be pleased to meet them? Would he himself be pleased to meet Vergil again? There’s no fucking way for them to coming back, Nero slaps himself. They either die or shit themselves in the Underworld. Probably fucking fighting again like toddlers.

Still, the thought of his father and uncle somehow return and meeting his little family is overwhelming. Nero can’t even hide his smile anymore. He throws away the rug he uses to wipe the blade and hangs the Red Queen on the wall.

Come to think of it, that fucker ripped off my arm in this garage too.

He lays a hard punch on the wall.

“Keep punchin’ the wall, and ya would destroy the house.”

Nero glances at his friend and partner in crime, Nico, who rests her back on the van and lights her cigarette. He still finds it strange to witness Nico in her winter outfit, a contrast to her usual tanktop and shorts she used to wear before winter comes. "How many times have I told you to smoke outside the house?”

“Ya blind or what? It’s cold outside!”

“Darn it, Nico! Then don’t smoke!”

“Too late~” Nico barks a laugh while blowing a smoke. “Anyway, why did you punch the wall like a madman?”

Nero shrugs nonchalantly. “Nothing. Just feeling like punching something.”

“Cut the bullshit. Ya missed yer old man, ain’t cha?”

“Buzz off, Nico.”

“Aaaaw, don’t be so meanie~”

“Seriously, Nico. Go bugger off someone else. I’m not in the mood for having a chit-chat.”

“Everyone’s worried, ya know,” Nico exhales exaggeratedly, pointing at the children outside. “Those lil’ brats asked me if somethin’ pissed ya off because ya look like ya wanted to punch someone in the face since the Christmas party last week.”

“I indeed want to punch a certain person,” Nero lets out a cackle. “But he’s not available at the moment.”

“Y’know, I’m not an expert of daddy and son shits, and yer dad is obviously not an ideal father, but it’s totally okay for ya to miss him. The jackass did save the world, at least.”

“Thanks, Nico. That’s so motivational. I’m deeply touched- ouch !” Nero swears when a sturdy plug lands on his head. “What the fuck Nico?!”

“Talk to Kyrie,” Nico lowers her voice. Her brash mouth always sounds kinder and empathetic when she talks about Kyrie. “Ya locked yerself in this garage the whole day! You’re making her worried, ya know?”

“I think you should double your eyeglasses. I didn’t lock myself. See that door? It’s unhinged, because I need to make sure the kids are alright.”

“Yeaaah whatever. Go talk to her, pretty boy. I’ll watch over the brats.”

“Fine…” Nero scratches his nape as he walks away from the garage. “Don’t let the kids go anywhere near my weapons!”

“Gotcha~!”

Nero never meant to worry anyone, of course. He lives a happy life; he married the love of his life, adopted a bunch of orphans whom he loved and took care of equally, and ran a business with his best friend whom he considered a big sister. The world is currently safe from danger. So what's to worry about?

His confusion disappears when he sees Kyrie’s figure covered in a thick blanket at the terrace. She smiles happily as the snow continues to fall and catches a drop on her palm. Nero feels like he could melt anytime he sees Kyrie’s soothing smile. He takes his time to watch her catching snow as he leans against the door, ignoring the cold breeze that sneaks inside his body. It doesn’t take a long time for Kyrie to be aware of Nero’s presence as she asks him to join her at the terrace.

“You should put your coat on, Nero. It’s cold here.” Kyrie speaks her concern while she wraps him with her blanket.

“Chill out. I’m fine,” Nero gives her a light peck on the forehead. His right hand envelopes Kyrie’s waist to give her a sense of comfort. “The kids are building snowmans back there. Been hours and who knows when they will stop.”

Kyrie giggles. “The more they grow up the more energetic they become! At least we don’t need to worry about how to get them to sleep on time. I believe they’ll get exhausted after play and filling their stomachs with delicious dinner would quicken their way to sleep!”

“You’re right.”

Kyrie looks up at her lover’s tensed face. She brushes the tip of Nero’s nose slightly to make him smile. That little maneuver always succeeded to cheer him up. Kyrie rests her head on Nero’s chest. “Are you not happy with the Christmas party last week? I know you hated surprises but-”

“No- I liked it! Really! You know we rarely celebrate things lately and last week was one of the best days in my life! How could I hate that?” Nero tightens his grip on Kyrie’s waist, gazing at Kyrie’s eyes deeply. “I’m happy, Kyrie. I’m happy here with our little family.”

“Then it must have something to do with your father and uncle, is it?”

“That obvious, huh?” Nero smirks bitterly. “I just… I don’t know. You know how Dante is. To think that he’s actually my uncle is… weird. Then I found out the man who screwed up Red Grave was his brother. My father. Vergil, he left me when I was a child… as V, he manipulated me to do his agenda. He reemerged and left me again. And Dante didn't even bother to tell me the fact before Vergil was back. That made me feel… kinda betrayed. It still doesn’t make any sense to me. I got a pair of dysfunctional family members and I don’t know what I should do if they come back. I just can’t stop thinking about it.”

The only parental figure Nero ever had was just Kyrie and Credo’s parents, and they didn’t even live that long to give little Nero more love and parental advice. Kyrie truly understands Nero’s struggle to accept his heritage and keep holding on his humanity. “Nero… do you forgive your father?”

“What?”

“I don’t mean to bring it up again, but after all the ill he caused to you, do you forgive him?”

The memory of him and Vergil on the top of the Qliphoth tree rises again. He succeeded in bringing some sense back to his father and the old man entrusted him his precious book- the one which Nero kept safely on the shelf- before jumping to Hell and finishing what he started. Vergil didn’t say much, but his promise… his damn promise!

“I won’t lose next time. Hold onto that until then.”

“I forgive him,” Nero admits. “I think… I just miss him. And Dante. I really want us to be a proper family. That's all.”

“Just as I thought,” Kyrie cups Nero’s jaw with her hands. “I’m glad that you’re honest with yourself. There’s nothing wrong with missing them. They might be flawed, but they are your family."

Nero carefully caresses his beloved hands as if he's afraid of hurting her. "I'm sorry I keep putting you to my demon lineage problem…"

"Hey, we talked about this. Demon or human, it's you I want to be with…" she kisses him on the lips. "I love you, Nero."

"I love you too." He returns the kiss deeper.

Nero wraps her around his arms, seeking comfort and warmth from her presence. Kyrie's words succeed in getting his head together. He can feel a degree of burden has left his shoulders as he finds himself finally letting go his worries. Kyrie is right. There's nothing wrong with missing those douchebags. They're my family-

"NERO!"

Nico appears out of nowhere at the terrace, panting and panicking like she ran for her life. Every single nerve inside Nero's body tells him that something wrong is happening, but the sassy smirk on Nico's face while she tries to breathe normally tells another thing. "You're not gonna believe me if I told you this-"

"Are the kids safe?" Kyrie asks anxiously.

"Yeah they're fine. They have company."

What the fuck? "Company? What are you talking about?!"

Nico rolls her eyes as she grabs both of Nero and Kyrie's hands. "Just follow me quickly!"

Nico seems excited… if it wasn't a danger, then what?

The children are giggling and shouting happily at something Nero can't see yet. But as soon as Nico delivers them in the backyard, he spots two familiar figures among the kids. The red-coated man joins them to decorate the snowman as he helps them crafting the pile of snow with stones and branches. He summons a cowboy hat and a shiny red scarf from thin air- which excites the kids- before he puts the hat on the snowman's head and wraps its neck with the scarf as the last touch. The children are applauding and hugging him, saying their gratitude and bombing him with questions on how he could summon stuff only from thin air. The cocky red man barks in laughter and tells them that he learns some magic tricks.

In a contrast to the red man, the blue-coated man stands a bit far from the crowd, facepalming and reluctant to do anything despite the children's curiosity as they glance at him and whisper their surprise on how similar his face is with the red man. Carlo states that the blue man is scary, and quickly hides behind the red man when the blue man hears his mutter and glares at the poor kid.

"C'mon, Verge, stop glaring at the kids! You're scaring them!" The red man chuckles.

Dante?

Vergil?

How-? Since when…?

"You…" Nero breathes heavily, barely trusts his vision. "You guys are alive…"

Dante grins and waves a salute at Nero. "Heya, kid! Miss me? I know we're late, but Merry Christmas!"

Kyrie holds her giggle when she catches Nero's dumbstruck face. She grips his hand and whispers him a word of advice. "Time to let your doubts go, Nero. They are here, at last."

Nero gives a nod, but his mouth isn't capable of forming any words. He reluctantly approaches Vergil, who seems nonchalant about his surroundings, if only Nero failed to catch his father's warm gaze as he stands before Vergil. A minute has passed and none of them say anything. Words cannot describe how they feel towards each other.

But Nero decides to solve the problem in Sparda's family old-fashioned style: punching his father hard right in the face.

There echoes Dante and Nico's laughter as Vergil's body lands violently on the ground, covered with snow.

The older son of Sparda can taste a metallic scent liquid dripping from his lips.

"That hurts," he murmurs and proceeds to get up as he wipes the blood from his mouth. "Two years and still have no manners, I see."

"Fuck you, old man!" Nero spats angrily.

Dante, still laughing at the picture of his brother getting sucker-punched by Nero, sloppily walks to approach them. He pats Nero's shoulder in pride. "You're doing the right thing, Nero. You gave him the right Christmas present-"

The legendary devil hunter gets a very lethal slap from his nephew before he finishes his sentence.

"And that's a present for you, deadweight!" The young devil hunter shouts.

The view of Dante and Vergil getting slammed by Nero only increases Nico's laughter.

"Why did Nero punch Mr. Dante and Mr. Vergil?" Carlo asks Kyrie. "Nero always punches bad people. Are they bad people?"

"Well… no, they are good people! Mr. Vergil is Nero's father and Mr. Dante is Nero's uncle," Kyrie chuckles to hide her worry and struggles to find the correct way to explain the situation. "They haven't met for a very long time. Nero misses them so much that he… doesn't know what to do anymore. But punching people doesn't solve problems, so don't ever do that, okay?"

The kids nod obediently despite not completely understanding the circumstances.

"Can we stop Nero from punching them, Kyrie?" asks Julio, the oldest one from the three. "Family doesn't hurt each other, right?"

"Nah, don't worry. They will stop soon," Nico says as he points at the three hybrids. "Let 'em get the reunion they deserve."

They become calm and smiling at the sight of Nero bringing his father and uncle in a tight embrace together as the young man lets out a cry.

"You both are full of shits and stinky… like a scavenger…" Nero sobs, his teeth grinding hard. "At least take a shower before you show up, dumbass…!"

Dante sneers as he taps Nero’s back. “Yeah, I miss you too.”

The red devil glares at his twin. Say something to your son!

Vergil, unmoved and stiff, doesn’t know how to react from this awkward embrace. He feels uncomfortable, yet finds himself melting between this fuzzy feeling. “Nero…”

“Shut up,” Nero interrupts while breaking his embrace and burying his teary eyes on his palm. “Just fucking shut up.”

“Forgive me,” the blue devil insists to continue. “For leaving you again.”

“Yeah yeah, just shut up...”

Nero jolts by the unexpected weight on his head; Vergil’s hand ruffles his hair as he curves a very subtle smile.

“I’m proud of you, son.”

Oh how Nero wanted to punch him again, if only he could bring himself to.

“Uhm…” Kyrie comes to Nero’s rescue as she smiles politely to the twins. “I’m sorry to interrupt this reunion. It’s dinner time and… we would be very happy if the two of you join us for supper.”

“We’d be glad!” Dante accepts cheerfully. “Nero once told me you cook the best meal in Fortuna!”

“Shut up, Dante!” Nero grunts. He remembers he hasn’t told the twins that Kyrie and him are married. He pulls Kyrie closer and holds her hand firmly. “Anyway, Father. This is my wife, Kyrie. Kyrie, this is Vergil. My father.”

Kyrie smiles warmly at Vergil. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Vergil.”

Vergil appreciates Kyrie’s bravery and gives his sincerest nod of approval. There is not a single hint of fright from Kyrie as he recalls how people tend to tremble and stutter in fear whenever they talk to him. He can see why Nero loves her and is very protective towards her. “Thank you for taking good care for my son all this time.”

“Sorry for missing your wedding party, babe. We’ve been busy cleaning up Hell,” Dante grins at Kyrie. “Congratulations. My nephew is lucky to have you as his wife.”

“Can you shut up already?” spats Nero, feeling terribly embarrassed.

“I’m hungry~!” Nico shouts mischievously. “Let’s continue inside! It’s damn freezin’ out here!”

Kyrie gives the twins a final nod as she invites them to come inside the house. She runs to the kitchen with Nico while Nero gathers the kids to enter the house. Dante chuckles like a cocky cool uncle when Julio asks him to do another magic trick, and the little chuckle turns into a bigger laughter when he sees Vergil’s hand tucked in Kyle’s hand as the youngest child calls him Grandpa Vergil.

“Grandpa’s hand is cold!” Kyle says, unaware of Vergil’s death glare. “Once you eat Kyrie’s food, you’ll be warm in no time!”

“Let go of my hand, little rascal.” Vergil scoffs, uncomfortable by the strange kindness from the little child.

Kyle laughs and keeps guiding him to the kitchen. The food is prepared and everyone is about to get their seats. Carlo drags a chair beside Dante’s seat and shyly asks Vergil to sit there, which Vergil accepts.

“Starting to feel like coming back home?” Dante asks his brother.

“This is not bad.”

“I’ve contacted Lady and Trish. They will be here soon,” Nico says as she puts the cigarette on the ashtray. “Lady said something about returning her Kalina Ann. Trish gave her regards, and said that ya need to pay the rent as soon as possible.”

“Damn… those devilish ladies…” Dante buries his face on the table.

“Your office looks like shit without you.” Nero sneers at Dante.

Further family resolvement can wait. Now let them enjoy their first family dinner for the first time. Christmas might have passed a week ago, but Nero thinks his most valuable present had just arrived today. He still wants to beat the shit out of his father and uncle for some unknown reasons, but it can wait for later. His eyes meet Vergil’s, and his father forms a warm smile to him. He never says much, Nero knows that, but he can give him time to adjust in the human world.

Amidst the chants and chatter in the house, unbeknownst to each other, the three descendants of Sparda secretly hope that this rare moment can last forever.

#dmcsecretsanta #dmc #devil may cry #dante #vergil #nero #kyrie #nico #nero x kyrie #night writes #nibbbs

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skvaderarts · 3 years ago

Text

Hiraeth Chapter 64: Restful

Masterlist can be found Here!

Chapter Sixty-Four: Restful

Note: We’re on the cusp of taking the fight to Belial. There is literally just one thing they have to do first...

(-~-)

In the dim but all-encompassing light of the torches that lined each of the wall's pillars, the guardian in the Dark Slayer stood, observing the pedestal before them. The recess in the middle was a perfect fit for the blade's holder, a metal stand that stood just above it with two clasps that were purposely designed to house the instrument. He was not entirely sure how this device had been constructed, but it was admittedly fascinating.

But not quite as fascinating as the reaction of the building continued to have to them, the strange sensation of nostalgia that had hit him like a freight truck still lingering in the air. He understood its purpose now. This was a ward of sorts, an ambient effect left behind by his father that was meant to drive away any who would do harm to the temple or what it housed. It instilled dread in those that did not belong here. It was a genius little bit of magic, something that his father had been quite good at if he remembered correctly. Even when he was not here, his work remained, and the legacy of the effort he had put into containing the evil around him was a testament to that. It was enough to make him reflect on his own life choices and feel... Discomfort. He could not undo what he had done, but this was surely a moment that he would look back on.

"So If I'm understanding you correctly the temple is reacting this way because… The blade was removed from the pillar, and it's doing this to ward off any demons that may take the opportunity to enter the premises?" The oldest son of the Dark Knight Sparda was not exactly confused so much as he was simply trying to confirm that he understood her explanation as to what was going on here. He was not familiar with the work that had gone into creating this building, and he had to admit that the technology that had built it was very advanced for the time that it had been created in. Would restoring the blade to its pedestal actually shut down the reaction, or was that just wishful thinking?

Lucia looked up from her place in front of the pedestal, her lovely eyes shimmering in the flames' reflection. She understood why he had asked that. This entire complex in of itself was probably slightly different than what he was used to. How interesting considering that he was the son of one of the people who was responsible for the purpose of the structure in the first place. It seemed that neither of the twins had been given the chance to learn about this during their youth. Pitty.

"You are correct. It seems that this will continue to grow in intensity until the blade is restored to its weight for resting place." She extended the blade to him, receiving a slightly raised eyebrow and a clearly questioning glance from him as she did so. He failed to see how this involved him directly. "If you'd like, you can place the blade in the receptacle. Then we may see for ourselves firsthand what will happen as a result."

Admittedly willing to go along with her request due to curiosity on his own part, he stepped forward and did just that, slotting the blade into its reciprocal and watching as the pedestal slowly opened and lowered it down into its cavity. For a few moments the only sound in the room was that of their own breathing and the stone sliding against itself, welcoming the blade back into the safe confines of its rightful resting place. An ingenious piece of engineering, one that would be more than sufficient to keep the blade safe. If the room appeared empty to the casual passer-by, then they would have no need to examine the pillar to see that it housed the blade in the first place. People tended to just keep going when they didn't see what they were looking for.

"We should return. I believe we've been gone just long enough for something to have potentially happened during our absence." He stepped back and out of the path of the pillar, ready to draw his blade if he needed to. He didn't so much have the feeling that something had gone wrong as he did that he simply needed to return. Something was amiss, but not in a manner that he could identify as dangerous. At least, not this far away from home. He wondered for a moment if distance was actually a factor in regards to this specific inborn gift.

Lucia gave him a slightly humored look. "I get the impression you don't have a lot of faith in your family's ability to stay out of trouble." She barely contained the smirk and small bit of laughter that ventured across her face. Admittedly, that's probably both of them at this point. He was right, they should head back. "But I agree. I'm ready when you are."

Nodding in agreement, Vergil unsheathed his blade and crisscrossed it through the air, opening a portal before them. It was best that they leave from their current location and save a bit of time and walking. She stepped forward with him and through the gate, her feet leaving the familiar stone floors of the temple, and landing on the wheel manicured pavement outside of V's home. The heat from the room they had been in was juxtaposed to the cool night air, a welcome respite. The flames had been quite hot.

Fresh air was something that he would take over the stale air of a stone temple any day, and despite it being something that he had had to readjust to after returning from the underworld, it was now something that he could say that he enjoyed with genuine truth. The air in the underworld was full of sulfur and ash, and it wore on the lungs of any who lingered in its general vicinity for long periods of time who were not born biologically accustomed to it. It was not something he could say he missed. And that was to say nothing of the smell of it.

"Do you ever get... I can't remember the name for it... Jet lag? From doing that, I mean."

He hadn't noticed until then that he'd been drifting off for a moment, his mind elsewhere. He didn't sense V's presents within the walls of the building, and as such, he didn't know where he was. He'd been there when he left. What had become of him during the time since? What would he do now that he knew he was not here? Should he go look for him? He didn't sense that he was in danger, but the fact that he was not within the safe confines of his home eluded to that.

"It… is just something that you become accustomed to after a while…" He drifted off, his attention elsewhere. They had not been gone for very long, and yet, when they had returned, things seemed to have changed quite drastically. Why did that always seem to happen?

Lucia looked at the house and then back at him after a moment, seemingly noticing the same thing that he had. She wasn't sure what to suggest they do, however, so she continued to consider their options for a moment before speaking, attempting to dig up a few that she hadn't actually registered before.

"They aren't here… "

He nodded. "No, I can't say that they… " He stopped. Not even a moment after he'd spoken, he could sense that that was no longer the case. His eyes drifted slowly towards the end of the block, and much to his surprise they came upon something he wasn't expecting to see. Both Nero and V rounded the corner a moment later, seemingly headed back to the house. He couldn't tell what it was, but he could instantly sense that something was different than it had been when he left. Perhaps it was just the air around them, but there was a certain difference that he couldn't pinpoint. The only thing he could say was that it wasn't negative this time. He couldn't say why, but of that he was sure. It was probably the only thing he was sure of at the moment. The rest was just pure conjecture and speculation.

Upon approaching the building and noticing that their father had returned, both of the youngest descendants of the Dark Knight Sparda stop dead when they're tracks, a look of total surprise on their faces. For a moment they both genuinely looked as though they had been caught sneaking out by their parents as teenagers before remembering the fact that that wasn't the case and approaching their father. At least this time they weren't being attacked by a demon with a scythe in the middle of the woods.

"Dad? Oh crap, V told me that you had just left a couple of hours ago. Everything good?" Nero said casually as they approached, holding the now closed umbrella that his sibling had brought along with him. He hadn't recalled him having a red umbrella, so he was going to assume that it wasn't originally his and that it probably belonged to Sirrus, but considering the fact that the young adjudicator was on bed rest right now and that V had his cane to deal with, he was happy to take it off his hands.

"Father… " V was genuinely too tired and emotionally exhausted at the moment to even begin to try and figure out how to talk to his father. In all honesty, he probably should have waited until morning to return. But as soon as their conversation ended, he felt an unmistakable desire to just be within the walls of his own home again and to crawl into his bed and rest. It had been a long day, and he had the feeling that tomorrow would be, too.

It was agreed upon that as soon as Sirrus showed signs of awakening that he would be alerted, and then he would return. But for now, he needed to rest, and the safest place for him to be besides the Ludwig estate was his own home. And despite the fact that he felt guilty for leaving even for a short while, he recognized the need to do so. He'd even left a note in case he didn't make it back in time. He just hoped that his friend would understand and be willing to hear him out, and knowing what he did about him, he was willing to bet that he would.

Realizing that they were more than likely just returning from somewhere, Vergil stepped back out of the way in order to give his sons the room they needed to properly pass him. He wasn't sure what had happened while he was gone, but he would wait until they were inside the house. And he was relatively sure that if he actually needed to know, they would just tell him.

From what he understood, his children hadn't really made it a habit of actively lying to him. No, that wasn't something that they really had in them. Especially not Nero. He was more likely to tell you exactly what he was thinking whether you liked it or not than he was to sugarcoat literally anything. And V? While he was unlikely to say everything that was on his mind, he was likely to make his point known, especially if he had a stance on the matter at hand. It was good to see that in their own way the absolute bullheaded refusal to budge on most things ran in their family, at least with the exception of his oldest child. He had it in him when it came down to it, but he wasn't entirely unwilling to back down, either. It just depended on the circumstance. The ability to compromise was one of his best traits, actually. No, what he had in spades was an absolute refusal to give up, and they were going to need that now more than anything.

As soon as they unlocked and opened the door, they headed inside, more than willing to return to the warm confines of the building. It was like being swaddled by a warm blanket or basking in the comforting heat of a candle. More than anything right now, the young summoner just wanted to reside within the walls of his home and think quietly. He'd come to his declaration, but now he needed to understand the best way to act upon that virtue.

Moments later they were joined by Lucia and Vergil. The Dark Slayer locked the door behind them before joining Lucia as she shedded anything that she didn't feel like carrying around the house and left it near the door. They weren't going to need their weapons for the foreseeable future. It was late. The only thing they really needed was to go to sleep. Dante would be returning sometime tomorrow as soon as his venture was complete, and then they would act.

Well, as soon as they knew what they needed to do and where they needed to do it. It wasn't quite as simple as just walking through to the underworld like he had previously. While that was possible, they needed a plan. The entirety of Belial's domain was inhospitable, so they needed to know what they were up against and how to best combat it before they ventured into it. Nothing good would come from going in blind. He'd learned that at least two separate times in recent memory of his own accord.

Upon entering the living room, Vergil couldn't help but notice the amicable silence between his two sons. Hero was making himself comfortable on one of the couches, and V had curled up on the chaise lounge next to the fireplace, seemingly slightly dozing off into something resembling sleep. It seemed that he was at that interesting stage where he couldn't quite make himself go up to bed, but was clearly tired enough to sleep. Always a dilemma, that one.

But that wasn't what stood out to him. What he couldn't help but notice was the fact that something subtle had changed in both of them, and that something was different in both cases. He couldn't say that it was in their eyes or their demeanor, but it was just something he knew, even if he didn't understand it.

What on Earth had happened while he was gone for the last few hours? And for that matter, what was Nero even doing back on the mainland? Weren't the fairies closed by now? It was barely dawn. He would have had to fly or otherwise make a drastic choice to return to the mainland. He'd like to know the story behind that, but he was fully willing to assume that it was too late at night to get an agreeable answer from them. Still, perhaps it was worth attempting…

"Am I correct to assume that the time since I have left has been eventful? It must have been to see you both returning so late at night." He looked around the room thoughtfully as he approached, taking in the quiet atmosphere. He imagined that if the rest of their house guests had been up, that they'd be down here drinking tea. But that being said, something had just occurred to him. Something was wrong here. "And for that matter, I believe we're missing someone. Is there a story there?"

"Correct on both accounts, father. I suspect It will be a short while before we are graced with Sirrus's presents again." V said with a slur that was entirely born of his need to sleep, the special way that he dragged his words only occurring during such a state. It was a tick unique to sleeplessness. "We encountered our uninvited guest from the train station again, and it ended in what I can only imagine was quite the fight. I had been thrown from the roof by that point, so I can't give you any details, but I was told that I would be informed if anything changed in his condition. He heals quickly. I'm hopeful that he shall awaken again soon."

Vergil's entire brain threatened to run out of his ear. V had been thrown from a roof? Did that mean that the young adjudicator was in a coma, or that he was just injured? And how did this situation involve Nero? It seemed that there was a lot more going on than he knew about, and he was willing to take a hint from his oldest son's demeanor and wait for morning to receive more details. Perhaps it was best that he only had to explain this once when Dante was present. He could tell that something about the situation weighed on him. It was just something in his demeanor that screamed it to him. Perhaps it was just too familiar to him on some sort of deep-seated personal level that he didn't want to confront…

"Dante is going to return in a few hours. You can elaborate then. But for now…" He watched his Lucia politely waved at them before hitting up the stairs, both of his sons returning the favor. There didn't need to be any discourse between them. They just all seem to understand that they were tired and needed to rest. "I will occupy one of the spare rooms. Until then." He nodded quietly and then turned away, both Nero and V sort of looking surprised by his actions, but pleasantly surprised all the same.

"... Good night, father." V wasn't sure what led to him speaking those words out loud, but he had truly met them, even if he was half asleep. It seemed that he dropped his inhibitions when he was tired. At the end of the day, he actually did care about Vergil, even if he wasn’t always very good at expressing it or understanding the particular reasons that he couldn’t help but do so. He had long suspected that he would never be able to forgive his father for what he had done, but when it came down to it, he couldn’t summon the energy to be angry at him even if he wanted to.

Nero nodded, waving as Virgil appeared over his shoulder at the both of them. As soon as their father was out of earshot, he turned back to his older sibling, noticing that he was starting to curl up under the blanket that he kept on the couch. It seemed that Kyrie's gift had proved to had proven to be practical as well as sentimental.

"V you gotta get a TV or something so that we can watch movies together or whatever. I think all of us like to read, but nowhere near as much as you do." Nero left himself softly, rolling up under his coat on the couch. V had come quite a way since their conversation an hour or so ago, but he could tell that they were still some remnants of the same guilt that he felt at the house. That made sense. No one completely immediately shook off everything that was bothering them, but they both needed to sleep at some point tonight, and they were running out of time. He couldn't just go to sleep and no that he might need him, but maybe if he could just make him laugh first… "Hell, maybe I can get Nico to fix an old one. I bet Morrison knows a person that's got one they're trying to get rid of. He can find anything. Or we could "borrow" Dante's jukebox."

V smirked to himself. "I am open to that possibility. I hadn't honestly considered it before now." For a moment as he attempted to fight the urge to sleep just yet. The call of the void was just too enticing. How in the world had he forgotten to get an actual form of entertainment? It seemed that his love for poetry was all-consuming. "Joy and woe are woven fine, a clothing for the soul divine. Under every grief and pine runs a joy with silken twine."

Nero stretched his arms over his head and yawned, flopping over awkwardly onto the couch. He resisted the urge to roll his eyes playfully and laughed to himself slightly as he looked over at his older brother and registered his quote. Even at the cusp of sleep, V was unable to forget William Blake’s works. Now that was commitment. "Good, because I'm bored to tears, and I need a nap. And you need a new hobby."

(-~-)

Sorry if there are any major mistakes. I think I was a little sleepy when I edited this lol! I’ve been really enjoying these wholesome moments. I need them for what’s about to happen. See you in the comments and on Friday! I believe it’s finally time!

#Hiraeth #V #Vitale #Nero #Vergil #Lucia #My Post Devil May Cry 5 AU #My Post Devil May Cry 5 AU OC's #My Post Devil May Cry V AU Fanfiction #My Post Devil May Cry 5 OC #DMC #DMCV #DMC5 #Devil May Cry #Fic #Devil May Cry 5 #Devil May Cry V #Post Devil May Cry 5 FanFiction #DMC AU

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