#dmcwrite2020

You snorted, hoping down from the rooftop. You landed on a plant that wilted the second you stepped off. Shadow materialized beside you, rubbing your leg with his snout before wandering back to V’s side. “Because murder and chaos is always the best time for a show.”

“Exactly,” V said as he leaned on his cane. “You already understand.”

But as you moved toward him, his body began to crumble. Alarmed, you reached for him, but his hand slipped through yours. His smile remained as everything else turned to dust. “Don’t worry,” His voice whispered in your head as the world turned dark. “I’ll be back soon. Hold on to those until then.”

You jerked awake, clamping the sheets as tight as you could. You stared at the ceiling, calming your nerves as you let go. The red rose on your bedside table shrunk, and you could see one, hand-sized petal lying beside it. Great, you thought as you sat up. Now you were growing plants in your sleep. You hoped that wouldn’t keep happening or you might tear apart Devil May Cry in a fit of nightmares. Lovely. 

It had been a week since Dante and Vergil had returned, and you’d done a good job of avoiding at least the elder twin since then. It helped that Vergil himself had no interest in talking to you and stayed in his new room for most of the day. There had been a bit of an awkward moment when he’d wandered into your room, clearly remembering that it was also his, even though he’d never admit it. 

You got up slowly, flinching as you reached for your chest. The vine was hungry- you could practically hear it purring- but it would survive until you were done with your shower. 

But as you stood under the blazing hot water, another feeling washed over you. A strange sense of dread that had you shivering. Your heart leaped into your throat, and you could imagine the vine hissing as it constricted. You took a slow breath, trying to calm it down. But the pain… you hadn’t felt this kind of pain since you’d been lodged in that demon. 

Was it because of him? The pain had been more constant over the last week, but you hadn’t really thought about it. Was the vine reacting to his presence? He had been the demon of the tree… your demon’s master for all intents and purposes. But this new version of him had to be different, right? Disconnected from that… monster? But if he was V but also not…

You groaned, lowering your head to let the water slip down your face. Your poor, human brain was still struggling to process it all. You’d been mourning V’s loss, trying to ignore the logistics of everything else. Lady and Trish had kept an eye on you, but you were pretty certain you’d overheard Vergil calling you “overdramatic” followed by a loud “slap” from Lady who had no problems calling him every name in the book.

You reached for your chest again, feeling the star-shaped scar you’d been given. Trish gave you a special cream months ago to help with the constant, foreign itch it gave you, so maybe she would know what was wrong. Even Lady probably knew something. They had known about Vergil, after all. And hadn’t they said they’d been trapped in demons too? V would know what to do, you thought. Yet talking to Vergil was the furthest thing from your mind. You had a feeling he’d be more likely to glare you down than say anything useful.  

How could a man like that be V? It just didn’t make any sense. 

Or maybe you should give him a chance. 

You didn’t know what part of you was saying that. 

You finished your shower quickly, drying yourself off and dressing in an easy set of summer clothing. No dresses anymore - demons had torn through those faster than you cared for - but shorts, tank-top, and a thin jacket were more than enough. You rushed out into the hallway and down the stairs. “Trish…”

You froze at the bottom as your eyes found Vergil. Your breath caught in your throat as your heart pulsed again. Pain wracked your body, and you were certain you hadn’t kept it off your face. “Sunshine!” Dante said from his desk as he scarfed down a bite of old pizza. “You’re up early.”

“Where’s Trish?”  You said.

“Whaaaaat we’re not good enough for ya?”

You scowled at him. “I don’t know you that well.”

“Well let’s fix that,” he said as he hopped up from his desk. Vergil rolled his eyes but otherwise didn’t look up from the book he was reading. “I’m Dante. That guy over there is Vergil.” You glared at him, but he just laughed. “As you probably know by now, we’re a couple of half-demons that love to fight each other.” He tapped his chest with his thumb as if he was proud of such a thing. “So what can you do?”

“Lots of things,” You said as you crossed your arms. “Your finances being one of them.”

“And I thank you for that,” Dante said sheepishly. “Sounds like we won’t be running out of power with you around.” 

“Not as long as I live here, no.”

You swore you saw Vergil stiffen the corner of your eye. Dante laughed, his grin returning. “Of course. Wouldn’t dream of kicking you out now. The place might as well be yours. But!” He held up one finger and wagged it close to your face. “I only saw a glimpse of what you could do before I left. Seven months of practice must have been heaven.”

You scoffed. Heaven? Clearly, he didn’t know the extent of your nightmare, but that was a conversation for another time. “I need to speak with…”

“Enough,” Vergil said as he snapped his book closed. You froze, eyes wide as the very air rushed from your lungs, silencing you in an instant. “This is a waste of time,” he said as he rose from his seat. “If the woman wants to be stubborn then why push it?”

“Woman?” You said. “You have a million other names to choose from and you go with that?”

He glared at you. “Quiet. I’m not talking to you.”

Your mouth clamped shut as the vine twisted in your chest. Dante glared at his brother, not noticing your distress. “No reason to be so rude.”

“I told you we don’t need her help,” Vergil said.

“And I told you you’re going to have to deal with it.”

Guys, you thought, but your mouth remained stubbornly shut. Don’t fight. 

But they didn’t let up. “Just because she had some relationship with V does not mean she needs one with me,” Vergil said.

“I’m not asking you to start a relationship ,” Dante said with a roll of his eyes. “I’m asking you to be friendly. It’s not that hard.”

“I have no use for friends.” 

Anger swelled within you as their squabble almost turned violent. A sword appeared in Dante’s hand. Vergil clicked another out of a sheathe you hadn’t realized he was holding. You still couldn’t speak, your lips refused to open for more than paltry breaths. But you could do one thing. One very, very stupid thing. And before either of the brothers noticed, you made your move, swinging as hard as humanly possible at Dante’s arm. An audible smack startled even you. He jerked away as you shook out your hand, unable to swear at the pain in your wrist. “Ow?” Dante said. You rolled your eyes and pointed at Vergil. “What about him?” You pointed at your mouth, frustrated when they both just stared at you. 

“Use your words, woman!” Vergil snapped. 

“I can’t!” Spilled out of your mouth so fast you were genuinely surprised. “What have you done to me?”

The brothers exchanged glances and Dante’s expression turned serious for the first time in that conversation. “What happened?”

You hesitated, not sure if you should tell Vergil of all people your suspicions. But you had a feeling that you’d never get one twin without the other, and Trish was nowhere in sight. “Something’s wrong,” You said, defeated. “Ever since you two came back this… thing…” You pointed to your chest, “has been bothering me more than usual.”

“How much is more than usual?” Dante said.

You groaned. “I don’t know? It's always hurting, but last night it started… getting mad at me.”

Vergil scoffed. “Your sentient plant stuck to your heart is angry with you?”

“Oh don’t you start,” You said. “All of this is your fault after all, you...” You flinched as your heart twisted again. “Asshole.” You said, fighting through the pain. Your mind told you it was worth it, but your heart was very, very angry. 

Vergil blinked, though his lips tightened into a thin line while Dante choked back what you assumed was a laugh. When Vergil’s glare turned to his brother, Dante just shrugged. “Well, she’s not wrong.”

You threw your hands up into the air. “You’re both useless!” You spun around, zipping up your jacket and making for the door. 

“Hey now,” Dante said as he followed you. “Don’t drag me down with him.”

“Storming off again?” Vergil said. 

“If it means not looking at your…” Another jab of pain. “Being,” You said. “Then yes.”

“How very mature of you.”

“Marginally more than you at the moment,” You said as you stumbled your way to the front door. The pain in your chest radiated to your bloodstream, sweeping through your body. You grunted, angry at the world, furious with him, annoyed with Dante, and suddenly missing the “normal” life you’d come to appreciate. 

Dante appeared before you so quickly you nearly tumbled in shock. “I know you’re upset,” Dante said. 

“Upset?” You said. That was the understatement of the century. 

“But I’m certain more demons came with us when we came back,” he continued. “We have no idea what’s waiting out there. And if Lady and Trish aren’t going alone, then neither should you.”

“I don’t need him around,” You said, waving your hand toward Vergil. 

“But clearly something’s going on between you two,” Dante said gently. “And until we know for sure what it is, maybe you do need him.”

“No,” Both you and Vergil said at the same time. 

Dante sighed as he put his hands on his shoulders. You felt so small compared to him, and you liked to think you were at least average. But that’s when you realized you were actually terrified. Not of the brothers. Not even of Vergil and his weird demon magic that had apparently been spun around you. But of the unknown. The uncertainty of your future now that V - the V as you knew him - was no longer a part of it. What would happen to you now? You could keep fighting demons at Devil May Cry, and you’d have to in order to satiate the vine, but what else were you living for? What was your plan now? 

Start with Dante, You could imagine V saying. You can trust him. 

You found it ironic that he wasn’t recommending himself. 

You sighed in frustration and shut the door. “Fine. I had a book I wanted to read anyway.”

Dante grinned as he pulled away. “You hear that Vergil? She likes to read!”

You scowled but refrained from responding. You could tell that Vergil was doing the same as he simply clicked his sword back and forth like some kind of nervous tendency. But instead of saying anything, he simply plopped back on the couch and opened his book, no longer giving you the time of day.

Fine.

“I’m sure we’ll find something,” He said. “I doubt a client would have called just to mess with us.”

“Haven’t seen anything yet,” Lady said with a yawn. “You got anything, Rose?”

“Afraid not,” You said. “But maybe that’s a good thing.” You pressed your hand along the ground again, feeling for the roots. The streets of Red Grave had been torn up in the incident, and many plants had begun to grow through the holes in the concrete. There were also a lot of demon plants buried deep in the soil, but none of them would emerge without your provocation. Without the tree or you to fuel them, they were worthless and wilting. But you felt no unusual gaps beyond what you’d expect, and no signs of plant demons that simply hadn’t shown themselves. “I doubt I’d sense anything before the brothers.”

“Probably true,” Lady said. “It was worth checking.”

Vergil stopped suddenly. Dante knocked into him, earning a summoned sword to the shoulder. A month ago, such a random act of violence would have startled you. Now, you realized that Dante either felt no paint or didn’t care in the slightest. “What is it, Verge?” He said. “I don’t feel a thing.”

“Then you’re not trying hard enough,” Vergil said. 

“Or maybe I’m not as in tune with the demon world as you.”

Vergil said nothing after that, but you noticed how his hand moved almost protectively to Yamato. Did he sense something? Vergil wasn’t the type of person to lie about such a thing. You’d learned over the course of your time together that he preferred brutal honesty to white lies, and you’d often been on the receiving end of such thoughts. And maybe Dante was right. You didn’t know too much about the tree, but if Vergil’s other half had raised it… then maybe…

Pay attention, my little vine, V had once said to you in a situation eerily similar to this one. Some demons can hide themselves in plain sight, even from those who should know they are there. And he’d been right then too, as you quickly found demons that had managed to transform into objects on the streets and a strange suit of armor that came careening off the roof.

The roof. 

You stopped in your tracks, eyes drifting upward. You wouldn’t sense anything on the buildings unless the plants themselves were up there. Surely Vergil and Dante would have thought of such a thing already, but none of you had made the effort to actually check. Maybe from there, you could see something you couldn’t from down here? It was a possibility. So, without telling anyone - you’d catch up to them anyway - you moved toward a set of flowers budding beside a building. You knelt down, wrapping your hand around one. You willed it to grow and it did, expanding into a flower the size of a small seat. You plopped down on it, drawing the roots upward. It moved quicker than you expected, but you hopped onto the roof with relative ease. 

To your surprise, there were some plants on top, but they looked strange. They were like flowers, black and white petals with yellow stems. But the bulbous roots reminded you of the demon you’d killed forever ago. You knelt by one, feeling for its roots. But it didn’t have any. The plant just existed as if…

Oh. 

You stood up, looking to the other rooftops. There were hundreds of these plants spread out before you like egg sacs clinging to buildings. Some were bigger than others, reaching up to your knees while some only came up to your ankle. But they were most certainly demonic, you just weren’t sure how far their reach was. 

You jumped as Vergil appeared in front of you. “Stop doing that,” You wheezed, grabbing at your heart. 

He looked around, lips tightening as you assumed he made the same connection as you. “They don’t smell like anything,” He said. “They don’t even feel like demons.”

“They’re not normal plants,” You said. “They’re not grounded in soil, they're just… there, somehow growing through the concrete.” 

Vergil frowned, teleporting to the next building where more plants waited. You summoned your own small bridge, joining him on the other side. “They have to be demons, right?”

“It’s possible these were left behind by the tree, but didn’t manifest until now.”

“This place is usually a dead zone,” You said. “So Lady, Trish and I had no reason to be out here. Wouldn’t have even seen them.”

Suddenly, a pod nearby cracked. You both spun toward it with Vergil stepping in front of you. You might have thought the gesture nice if you weren’t staring at the plant falling apart. The center burst, and dozens of hand sized spiders with flowers for heads emerged. You took a long step back, but the other flowers around you began to crack. “Vergil…”

You gasped he appeared behind you, quite literally dragging you right off the roof. You landed in his arms but it still jarred your neck to an uncomfortable degree. “Ow.”

“Summon your plants,” He said as he quite nearly dropped you. “Dante!” 

“Way ahead of you!” His brother’s voice called back, but you couldn’t see the other three. Loud screeches echoed in all directions as spiders began spilling off the rooftops. You summoned every plant you could, slamming at them with vines and roots of all shapes and sizes, but there were hundreds of the things skittering down from the rooftops including some that were as big as you. 

You barely felt Vergil grab your wrist as he yanked you away from the onslaught. You stumbled at first, but found your footing and took off with him, summoning whatever you could with each step. The plants drove the spiders back, but most were used as climbing tools to reach the ground quicker. In another second, Vergil grabbed you and leapt an impossible height, back onto one of the buildings. He dropped you, but you didn’t have the time to be angry as he unsheathed Yamato and sliced all the demons around you in one go. You saw Dante and the girls down on the street, tearing through whatever they could. But the waves of spiders descended upon them in droves. It was a horrifying sight, one you knew would plague your nightmares if you all got of here alive. 

A quiet cackle echoed in your mind. The vine constricted around your heart, shooting pain through your limbs. You grabbed at it, flinching away from the edge as your vision blurred. “What is it?” Vergil said. 

“I don’t…” You paused, trying to remember where you’d felt this feeling before. Once with him, but not because of him. At least, that’s what you could remember. No, it was something else. Something driving the vine into a frenzy. Something like…

“Another sister,” You whispered. “Or a relative of some kind.”

“What?” Vergil said. 

“I felt like this with that plant demon the other day,” You said. “I thought it was just because you were there… but maybe it was because of her…” You stepped up to the edge of the building again, searching for any large demon possible. But even cleared, your fallible human vision didn’t reach all that far. You summoned enough plants to hop to the next rooftop, stabbing through the few bulbs that had yet to break open. You spread your own vines as fast as possible, killing the horde of spiders inside. Vergil followed suit, slicing the other three plants to a fine dust. 

“You think something else is here?”

“They must be under someone’s control,” You said. “Why else would they have all broken out now?”

“Lots of reasons,” Vergil said. 

“But if someone is controlling them, then maybe finding that person will stop them.”

“Or it will do absolutely nothing.”

“Well unless you’ve got a few flamethrowers hiding under your jacket I don’t think we have many other options.” You moved to the next building, killing the single plant there. The others had already broken open, but the spiders were all focused on pouring out over the ground. You found that odd. Shouldn’t they be reacting to you? Or Vergil at the very least? Were they that intent on killing Dante? Or was there something about you distracting them?

“If the demon’s another sister, then maybe the spiders are ignoring me,” You mumbled, more to yourself than Vergil. 

Of course, he heard you anyway. “It doesn’t explain why they haven’t attacked me.”

“Yes it does,” You said, your tone a bit sour. “If she’s someone else that pledged her allegiance to you.” You moved to the next building, summoning plants wherever you went. You had a whole network of many bridges as you jumped past Dante and the others. They were handling themselves just fine, though Lady had this horrified disgusted look on her face that you could deeply relate to. “Hold on,” you whispered, not wanting to attract any unwanted attention. Vergil was moving close behind, using your makeshift pathways rather than teleporting around himself. You wondered why that was a conscious choice, but shook the thought off. Now was not the time to be questioning someone you never understood anyway. 

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, you found what you thought you were looking for. A giant hole in the ground that some spiders were coming out of.  You wrinkled your nose at the thought of entering such a thing, but you’d come too far to back out now. You could practically feel the vine tugging at you, but you couldn’t tell if it was excitement to see whoever was down there, or some kind of defensive mechanism warning you to run away. And you could just send Vergil in there alone - that was probably the smarter move- but the spiders had avoided you until now… maybe their controller would talk to you too. 

You gently lowered yourself off the building, pulling back all of the plants you’d used to traverse the rooftops. You felt your energy replenish in a heartbeat. Vergil hopped down beside you and the spiders ran around you both. You glanced at him, but he was already moving toward the hole. “Stay here,” He said. 

Your legs stopped mid-step, rooting you to the spot. “You’re joking right?” You said. “You’re just going to leave me here, powerless to fight anything, as you go down into the hole that I found?”

He glanced back at you. “I never said you couldn’t fight.”

“You still suck at this,” You said, gesturing to your legs. “Stay here? Really?”

He glared at you. “Move.”

You stumbled forward, caught off guard by the sudden feeling in your legs again. “I’m going with you.”

“And if I say no?”

“You won’t,” You said. “Besides, how do you know the spiders won’t just chase you if you abandon me?”

“It was your theory that whatever is down there is on my side.”

“Or it's on mine and you’re just lucky,” you said as you crossed your arms. “Now are we going to keep arguing or are you going to take me down there?”

His glare intensified, but, to his credit, he did move to pick you up. “Foolish woman,” He muttered as you wrapped your arms around his neck and peered into the hole you were about to plummet into. 

“Stubborn half-demon,” You said lamely. It was quite possibly the worst response you could have come up with, but it was all you could think of in the heat of the moment. And Vergil’s dramatic eye-roll told you it hadn’t landed well. “What are you waiting for?” you snapped. “Just ju-”

You couldn’t stop the scream of surprise when he did what you asked, dropping into the hole with little fanfare. You pressed your face into his chest, imagining all the ways you might break to pieces at the bottom of this drop. But as the fall continued, you heard the unfurling of something above you. Something like…

Wings? 

You jerked your head up to meet Vergil’s gaze. And you might have dwelled on the fact that he’d been staring at you that whole time more if a pair of beautiful, bright blue wings weren’t stretched out behind him, glowing in the dark. They flapped once, slowing your fall to a gentle glide. For once, his smirk remained longer than a few seconds. “Surprised?” He said. 

“Your demon form has wings?”

“Of course.”

You scowled at him. “That’s not a given trait of demons last time I checked.”

He landed with a quiet thud, but you barely even felt it. The wings vanished, likely summoned by some crazy demon magic. He sat you down this time - generous of him - and gazed up into a dark tunnel. You yelped as you felt spiders skitter past you, but they were few and far between. Thank whomever for small favors as you think you might have died from a heart attack had they been as plentiful in here as they were up top. “So how far does it…” You trailed off as you realized his eyes were glowing a brilliant blue, much brighter than his usual, silver-blue irises. 

“Stay close,” He said, a command you didn’t mind following for once, as he moved forward through the tunnel.  And while you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face, the world felt strange. While you normally sensed the plants under your feet, this time you could feel them everywhere. Underneath you. Over your head. On both sides. You tested the waters, running your hand along the wall. You felt plants emerge at your fingers, but jumped when Vergil grabbed your hand. “Don’t do that.”

“I was just testing it out,” You said. 

“And bring the whole tunnel down on us?”

“I’m more careful than that,” You huffed. “Ye of so little-” He stopped you again with a hand on your shoulder, cutting the conversation short. That’s when you realized there was a light at the end of the tunnel. “Is it a demon?” You whispered. 

“Yes,” Vergil said. 

“So I was right?”

He glared at you again, but it was much softer than usual. Odd. “It seems so.”

You both moved forward as the light expanded. Soon, you found yourself in a pit at the end of the tunnel with rays of sun seeping through small holes in the ceiling. A massive spider was in the center of the room. You gasped as it turned toward you noticing there was a human form embedded on its stomach. At first, you thought it might be someone else like you. Someone sealed away in a demon. But then the human’s eyes shot open and a wicked smile crossed her face. “Well, well,” She said. “I thought I sensed my cousin… never expected it would be you.”

“I’ve heard that before,” You said. 

“So you killed Belladonna?” The spider said. “Good riddance. She always was a nuisance.” The spider took numerous steps forward, beady eyes jumping between yourself and Vergil. “Are you here to kill me, Demon King?”

“Yes,” Vergil said simply. 

“Unfortunate,” The demon said. “I had hoped we could…"

You jumped as Vergil disappeared. A second later, the demon screeched as demonic blood squirted in all directions. The demon collapsed before your eyes, dead. Vergil reappeared beside you, clicking Yamato closed as usual. The spiders around you fell from the ceiling, collapsing all around you. “Well that’s… anticlimactic.”

“No point in letting the thing talk,” He said. “We need to return to the surface.” 

Then, the spiders began to move. 

You lurched backward as they filled the doorway, all of them turning on you. Vergil killed the ones he could, and you pulled on the roots nearby. But they were numerous, as if all the spiders from the surface had come to avenge their master.

Suddenly, you felt it. A spike of demonic energy that washed over you like a waterfall. In another second, Vergil was gone, replaced by a massive, blue demon. You swore the vine in your chest shrieked in response as you stumbled away. No. A voice whispered. Was it your own? You weren’t sure. You were frozen in terror as the demon tore through the spiders, incinerating them with strike after strike. “No,” You whispered as the power bore down on your chest. You recognized it. It was the demon that had sealed you away. It was back. Back to seal you away again. 

No. No. No. No.

You held your head, panic overcoming you. What was happening? That was Vergil, right? He wouldn’t hurt you. He couldn’t hurt you. He was in control. 

… Right?

“My little vine…”

Your head jerked upright as the blue demon stood before you. His voice was low and distorted, but you could almost hear Vergil - no, you could almost hear V - behind it. You scrambled backward. “Don’t be afraid.”

“Afraid?” You said. “How? You’re…” You trailed off as he knelt before you, claws reaching out to gently stroke your face. Your heart slowed at the touch. The vine uncoiled, confused just as much as you. “You’re the…”

His demonic form dissipated and Vergil returned. His hand didn’t move, but you did feel his thumb stroke your cheek. It was then that you realized you were crying. “It’s alright,” He whispered. “I’m here.”

You didn’t know why that comforted you, but you found yourself leaning into his hand. This had happened once before with V. You’d been in a panic after a demon almost killed you, and he’d joined you just like this. Hand on your cheek, wiping away your tears with a quiet promise. I’m here. 

“You remember,” You whispered.