#skvaderfics

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

Prologue:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-~-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-~-

Chapter One: Advent

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

-~-

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And then he triggered.

P1: To Reciprocate What Was Given

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

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

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

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

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

It was V.

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Amor vincit omnia.

Improvidus, apto, quod, Victum.

Citius, altius, forties."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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