#i think aki might be able to tell from her body language that she's a pretty open-hearted person

[sylviareviar]

Easily missed - @phantomuheist

"Oh, it's okay, really. It's not unique to Japan. At least here, people are interested for a second before turning away. Honestly, it's been much better here than it has at home. People are fascinated that my manners are so bad, and then they lie and tell me my Japanese is great. It feels good to pretend I'm accepted as a member of society, even for just a year."

"I just don't wanna cause you any trouble, Senpai. Thank you." She didn't give him a proper answer about hanging out. She didn't know what rumors could possibly circulate around someone so good-looking and studious, but all she knew about him was that he was a year older than her (evidenced by the pin on his lapel), and that he had a few friends he hung out with in his own grade-- er, his own year. Two blondes (one dyed, she was pretty sure), plus a third-year too, right? The student council president? Either way, if she befriended him, she'd be interfering. That was something she learned early on in life.

Once kids made their cliques, there was no going back, and asking to be friends would be an invasion of their privacy and an insult to their self-respect. If she was good enough, she would've found friends herself a while ago, just like everyone else. But if she butted in now, she'd destroy their dynamic. He was only offering to be polite. That's how things often were in Japan, she found (and it wasn't unique to here, but it certainly felt amplified by a thousand).

Always be aware of the space you share with others. Put others above yourself. She had to be aware that this senpai didn't actually want to be friends with her; he was just offering to be polite.

"I appreciate the offer, Senpai, really I do. But I'm sure you're busy, and I wouldn't want to take up your precious time. Thank you, though. I will be alright."

[minevn]

What if the MC mute only speaks sign language? I think this would be a pity for Hoshi and Habiki because MC can't listen to their insults 😂

(I don't mean anything bad)

Minato: If you're deaf and mute, he might catch on a little slowly just because he's really dense, but he'd feel awful afterwards and would do his best to learn sign language and be useful to you in any way he could! He might be a bit more protective of you and doesn't realize that that may come across as babying.

Haruto: Grew up with you and is used to it. He learned sign language from a young age because of you. Everything is pretty much the same honestly, you guys just talk through sign language and honestly, sometimes you don't even need to sign anything, he has grown to just be able to read you, he can tell what you want with your body language and can read your eyes.

Jun: Was so curious about you when he was younger, he had never seen or met a deaf and mute person before so it was a new experience. Didn't quite understand what it entailed at first and continued to try and talk to you until Aki sat down and had a talk with him about it. Jun understood but was still kind of confused on how to be friends with you if you can't hear and then Aki taught him sign language. So Jun has known sign language for you since you were a kid.

Hoshi: It's a bit annoying how you can't hear the insults, but Hoshi has other ways of letting you know that he doesn't like you, other ways of pissing you off. Pranks! Pulls tons and tons of pranks on you, no one is safe from Hoshi. One day you walk into one of his stupid pranks and turn to glare at him only for him to sign an insult at you. Of course you're taken aback, the Hoshi learned how to sign just for you? you can't help but feel a little special.

Habiki: For Habiki, who only has insults, it's more annoying for him that you can't hear them. That's only if he notices you though honestly, you might not stand out enough for him. He doesn't think it's worth the effort to learn sign language just to insult someone either. You'll walk in on him playing the violin and look at him amazed, he almost forgets you can't hear and get mad at you after. Since he doesn't know sign language you'll have to write your messages out to him. Once he starts liking you, he'll learn sign language.

Kage: Also learned sign language from a young age. He may have been confused at first but understood it well enough quickly. He did ask his brother to teach him sign as well, but Haruto said no of course, so Kage took it upon himself to learn sign. Still, throughout their younger years they never even got to show you. It was still useful when they could eventually talk to you though!

Kei: Kei probably already knew sign before meeting you to be honest. Kei is fascinated in languages and loves learning them. On the slight chance he didn't know sign language though, he'll learn almost everything the day he met you. Nothing really changes between you two, he's still tooth rottingly sweet, caring, and attentive towards you.

Yani: Probably also knew sign language before meeting you, only a little though! Yani learned sign language in order to confess to someone, although it completely slipped her mind to learn how to sign yes or no so she didn't know what the persons answer was until after she got home and looked it up and felt stupid for getting so happy and holding the persons hand when in reality they said no. ANYWAYS Yani probably ended up getting carried away with learning sign language and now knows a lot more. After meeting you she'll make sure to know everything about sign before she falls asleep.

Aki: Much like Haruto, has grown up with you and gotten used to it, learned sign language and everything else she needed to for you, and even taught Jun. Nothing else really changes between you two :)

[chaoticspacefam]

6.  “How do you think this will all end?” for D'leah, please <3

Pinky once again picking THE juiciest possible combo of prompt + characters, everybody go thank her bc I had a blast with this 👀 I’ve been wanting to write a oneshot for this part of the story for a while and this is the perfect excuse mwahaha 

@palepinkycat here you go! Sorry this one took a little while, I haven’t had time to sit and write it out till now, but hopefully it’s a decent enough length to make it up to you! 👀

I have more to say about the body language I described in here (namely the significance of the “under chin” snuggles & also why D’leah Yelled At Abe When He Tried To Do It To Her At The End), but I have a Worldbuilding tag somewhere in my mentions so I’mma save it for that basically. More Tomato Lore gonna drop sometime in the next week or two once I’m done with the drawings skshsks I tried to do one for this one too but it was not coming out right so maybe some other time XD

I’ve seen a lot of fics explore what it’s like to have a Force bond and communicate with it but I’ve seen very few that deal with the “what if it breaks when one of them dies” side of it, so this is my take on what happens and how it probably feels for the “surviving” party; I usually describe my Force bonds as a sort of ethereal “thread” type thing that then connects their emotions/souls/however you want to see it and yadda yadda, so...you can’t tell me that snapping that thread wouldn’t fucking hurt ;-; For extra heart hurty, the song quotes were the main two songs I listened to while working on each “part” of this fic, so you can use them for ambience if you want ;)

As always I use the Coruscant Translator for (most of) my High Sith, translations are included on the bottom however :) (since the quote from the prompt is said in Sith, they’re gonna talk in High Sith sometimes being well...Sith :3)

Abaron is the best brother-in-law, I do not make the rules. D’leah you need to apologise to this man immediately 😂 she does, immediately after this (not shown) dw, I swear

Timeline/Setting: 3729 BBY (roughly/according to the still-holey timeline I’ve been working on since the “canon” one was released) Immediately post-Valkoriate takeover. As in, literally just happened slash is happening as this occurs.

Warnings: Character Death mention (Kissai), Breaking Force Bonds, Plenty of angst (it was from an “angsty” prompt list, after all! 😬) , possible slight gore (?) in the form of description of a former  injury from a concussion grenade (just to be safe lol), and ofc some Cuss Words (™) 

^^ these are ur warnings, click past this cut at ur own risk and I am not responsible for how you react bc you chose to pass the warning k thanks ^^

“Don’t care if he’s guilty, don’t care if he’s not. He’s good and he’s bad and he’s all that I’ve got. Oh lord, oh lord, I’m begging you please...don’t take that sinner from me -” ~ The Civil Wars, “Devil’s Backbone”

It all happened so fast, they had to react fast if they were going to save the twins, and D’leah knew that. She’d tried so desperately to help her husband, pouring as much of her Force energy as she could through the bond they shared. It had always worked before, why wasn’t it working NOW?! D’leah didn’t know, but she could feel him growing weaker and weaker by the second. 

D’leah - his voice was so distant and faint, she almost didn’t want to acknowledge the reality of it. No, no no, he wasn’t dying he couldn’t be dying, no no no…. D-Don’t do this. Sai… her grip on the control cluster tightened until her knuckles turned pale, they were already in the air. It would be easy to do what she knew he was about to ask...but it would mean leaving him to his fate. Could she do that?

Dimly, D’leah could hear Abaron chattering to the girls behind her as he made sure they stayed in their seats, but she couldn’t hear the words any of them were saying, there was just him and that horrible, ominous weakness bleeding from her husband’s end of the bond. 

You need to run… Kissai urged her. PROMISE me. The girls-

I can’t...not without you! her mind-voice caught as if the words were difficult to form, she felt him slip further away and frantically tried to bolster his strength up again, but somehow, she couldn’t put her finger on how, it only seemed to make the other Pureblood weaker. Sai, snichi… she pleaded, and she could feel the barest attempt at a smile from her husband as he gave her his final farewell, 

Nu aki j’us, D’leah. RUN. For me...

His words were far weaker now, more forced, as if even Kissai knew he was running out of time to convey his plea. D’leah realised with a growing sense of horror that they really didn’t have another option, she had to protect their daughters. She reached towards the navcomputer to punch in the quickest hyperspace code she could think of that would get them as far away from Imperial Space as possible, but never managed to get there. 

The pain hit her so fast that D’leah had no time to prepare for it even if in reality, she’d known it was coming. First, came the white-hot metal rod of pain that jammed right down the center of her spine. Every nerve ending felt like it was on fire and it was this that was enough to cause her to cry out in pain and lose her grip on the ship’s controls as the Pureblood was thrown sideways in her seat. She managed to fall with just enough grace to get herself out of Abaron’s way and as she hit the floor and the pain kept coming, she faintly heard the man curse in High Sith as he lunged across to take her place in the pilot’s seat before they nose-dived into Force-only-knows what, out here in open space like they were. 

Then she felt the thread of Force energy between herself and her husband straining, threatening to snap, and before long, it did. D’leah knew logically there was nothing she could do to stop it, and that trying would make it hurt more, but she was desperate and on reflex she could not help but try. Frantically, she reached out with her own Force energy and clasped for each thread as it tore away from her, bit by bit, as if clutching at the strings would somehow, futilely, keep him here. Would let him live. But still, the pain came again, and again, and she fancied that the sinews of flesh being ripped from bone when she lost part of her face to that concussion grenade had been less painful than this. “No...no no no no please...please! NO!!!” Everything else was so faint and far-away in comparison that D’leah didn’t realise that her scream had been out loud this time, her fingers fumbling for her heart, though she couldn’t rightly tell if that was where the pain was truly coming from and it was simply a reflexive reaction. 

For a long while she clenched her teeth through wave after wave of pain, and while it didn’t stop, it became easier with every breath for D’leah to push it into the background. Slowly, the Pureblood’s blurry vision cleared and she realised the twins were staring down at her, wide-eyed in horror. 

She needed to get up. She needed to go to them, she needed to be strong. For them.

Saarai reached for her first, but she scooped both of them up into her arms as best as she was able, all but falling into the seat where the twins had been huddled moments before. The girls both clamored to settle themselves as close to her as they could without pushing the other out of her grasp too. D’leah held onto them as tightly as she could, only vaguely aware of Saarai’s voice as she chattered a question up at her, catching every second word or so. “Moooom!” as she reached up towards her again, and “Dad...gonna find us...right?” 

Their mother shushed them softly, adjusting her grip to fit both of the twins, as best she was able, beneath her chin. Safe. They were safe there.

“Shhh, shh-shh, my little one.” she croaked shakily, a tremor passing through her frame as she tried to keep her voice steady and convincing through the lie. “He’ll catch up later, don’t you worry.” 

They sat in silence, D’leah clutching them against her chest as if they, too, might disappear if she let them go for even one second, and Abaron took over piloting the ship so that she didn’t have to. He’d practically done all the work already, anyway. She risked a glance down at her daughters, and caught the wary glint in Saarai’s golden eyes, the sideward glance at her sister, and she knew that they knew it was a lie. But she had not the heart to tell them that yet. Not now, through the tears that had begun to stream from her eyes despite her attempts to hold them at bay. She did not mean to cry, but what else could she do??

Saarai’s tiny fingers reached up shakily, when she realised what they were, to brush the liquid tracks from her chin and the spurs on her jaw. It only made her cry more and hold them tighter.

“Nunchi woiunoks, oi ai utja…” she breathed soothingly, hoping it was convincing enough for the twins. “Mom’s got you...nothing is ever going to hurt you while I’m here.” She held them like that right until they landed.

“The daughter of a lawyer, told the fallen priest “it’s a cold, cold place in the arms of a thief”, And tapping at the arrow in her heel, she said “LEAVE ME ALONE! ...but just don’t leave me here, alright?” Alright..” ~ Iron & Wine, “Arms of a Thief” 

By the time they arrived at their destination, some planet called “Rishii” that she doesn’t ever recall knowing of before - but perhaps that’s a good thing - and Abaron managed to find them a place to stay, the pain she had felt had dulled to more of a phantom throbbing than anything else. But her consciousness felt vulnerable and empty without Kissai’s own Force presence winding around hers, she felt alone, even though physically she was not. D’leah had sung and rocked the twins to sleep, with some effort, and glanced down at them as they slept, Ni’kasi’s arms curled around her sister as she burrowed under her chin for comfort beneath the blanket their mother had tucked around them.

The pain was gone, and in its wake came the FURY. It bubbled to the surface all too quickly, and D’leah began to tremble again, a growl rumbling deep in her throat as she realised that first, the girls were theoretically out of danger, and secondly, she still had a ship. She could go back. 

“I’m going to kill that fucker.” the Pureblood wheeled for the door, only to find it blocked by Abaron, who seemed to have pre-empted her outburst. She stopped short, a hiss slipping past her teeth as her lip curled back to show her fangs briefly. “Abe. Move.” she snarled, resisting the urge to shout so as to not wake Saarai and Ni’kasi from their slumber. The tips of Abaron’s jaw spurs shook as, for once in his life, he declined to follow her order. 

“No. My Lord, I can’t let you do that.”

It took every ounce of her self control not to do worse, but as it was, D’leah tried to lunge for him so she could force her way past, he might not have been taller than her but he was stronger, and heavier too. The man reacted just as quickly, his own hands closing around her wrists to push back and keep her in place, his own feet firmly rooted in the doorway as he grunted. “D’leah! Listen to me, please!” 

The tears threatened to come to the surface again, her eyes burning hot, though this time the matriarch forced them down, though her voice still quivered as she spat, each word punctuated with a quiver in her voice.

“You have no idea how I am feeling right now!”

“Not wholly, no.” Abaron argued, releasing her arms as she dropped them back to her sides, her remaining spurs still rattling softly in agitation. “But I know that going back there now is foolish, my Lord!” 

“Get. Out. Of. My. Way!” D’leah hissed, though she didn’t have the strength left after the manic dash away from Kaas to call the lightning to her fingertips and lend to the threat she was trying to punctuate. “H-He is sitting there, on our homeworld, w-with our people’s blood on his hands!” she tried to shove him again, but her fist connected dully with the plated armour on the other Pureblood’s chest and didn’t make much of an impact on him. “They’re all dead and y-you just want me to -!!” 

“I’m trying to protect you, my Lord!” his teeth flashed back at her, yet another thing she would not have stood for if she was half as lucid as usual. He continued on further, his voice a low, agitated growl as he lowered his face to hers as if to punctuate his point. “That is my charge, it’s what you bid me to do and I will not have you risking your life for such a foolish venture, you’re not thinking straight! We are the only ones left! It’s my duty to make sure that all three of you stay alive!” 

She flinched at the reminder. Them, and Vowrawn, perhaps...if he was sneaky enough. But Abaron was right, going back would put him at risk, too. His eyes searched hers frantically, and his hands remained raised as if Abaron wasn’t completely sure he wouldn’t need to hold her back again. D’leah was in half a mind about it herself, she wasn’t sure how to react now. And what her brother-in-law said next put the nail in the coffin, so to speak: 

“Dias dari j'us minti pa saû iki wisa qorit?” he urged, the words a muttered whisper.

The Pureblood matriarch felt her anger fizzle out almost instantly as the realization sank in. The girls....they were only children. They were far too young for this. Too young, they were too young for this talk of death and loss and grief; too young to have to understand if she left them here and did not come back either. Their father’s passing would weigh heavily on them for the rest of their lives, they didn’t deserve to have to lose their mother, and on the same day, too...

She deflated, her shoulders sagging in defeat, and another tremor wracked her frame as she dropped her own gaze to the floor for the moment. “Abe...I-” 

“I know.” he sighed, relaxing as he stepped up to draw her against his chest sympathetically. She almost didn’t react, until she felt his chin brush the top of her head and she realized what he was trying to do. Despite his attempt at the gesture being comforting, D’leah jerked herself away from him to growl warningly. “Dari nindz.”

He looked momentarily taken aback, holding his hands up amicably as he apologised. “I was just...I thought you needed-” “Nu sûa nindz zo ardira!” she snapped at him, but mercifully, turned away from the door and stalked further inside once more.

____________________________________________________

Sith translations, in order:

Snichi... - please... 

Nu aki j’us. - I (romantic) love you.

Nunchi woiunoks, oi ai utja. - Sweet little one, it’s alright.

Dias dari j'us minti pa saû iki wisa qorit? - How do you think this will all end? 

Dari nindz - Don’t.

Nu sûa nindz zo ardira! - I’m not a child!

[zenithlux]

Cadence - CH 9

Welcome back everyone! I really hope you enjoy this update, and I’ll see you later for my second to last Hanami Week post!

Catch up on the story here!

In which Vergil meets Diadona, and learns a bit more about Roxy’s strange problem.

I can’t feel my senses I just feel the cold All colors seem to fade away I can’t reach my soul

Frozen - Within Temptation

----------------

In hindsight, Vergil’s thirty-minute timeline was more of a formality than an actual constraint. His trip to Fortuna took ten minutes tops, as he hadn’t even needed a portal to sneak by the two dozing security room guards in the train station. There were a decent amount of boxes, but finding her name was easy enough. Roxanna Montgomery. Had she ever mentioned a last name? Not that he could recall, but it did sound familiar…

He filed it away for later. Maybe Dante would know something.

But that would require talking to his brother about her. So… maybe not.

“Fighting” the Behemoths- if one could even call the slaughter such a thing - had taken even less time than retrieving the boxes. And, as expected, he’d absorbed their essence in the blink of an eye. That then led to thoughts on just how exactly this unknown demon woman planned to take it from him, which made him wonder what exactly he had gotten himself into. 

But I don’t know who else to call. 

Vergil sighed in resignation as he retrieved the boxes from the safety of the closest rooftop. Unfortunately, he’d never received the message with her address. He did remember a vague mention of it from a few weeks prior. Which might have been helpful, if there weren’t five different “haunted” apartment complexes in the area (honestly he didn’t know why humans in need of shelter couldn’t get over such a foolish notion). And without Roxy’s address, (what was taking her so long?) all he could do was wander between each of them, searching for the incredibly minuscule smell of Aki that would likely go the other direction because of the wind. 

Wonderful. 

Finally, he found it; the only apartment in all five complexes that had the lights on. Vergil blinked up the stairs with ease, balancing the boxes in one hand to knock.

“Come in, come in.” A voice said before he could. “We don’t have all day.” 

Roxy’s apartment was larger than Vergil expected with a modest amount of furniture and a television that Dante would envy. The floors were made of light wood and partially covered with a dark blue rug decorated with intricate swirl patterns. The walls were painted a matching dark blue, but the numerous, brightly colored paintings and the wall of windows brightened the room considerably. Vergil might have examined it more, if Roxy wasn’t unconscious on the couch with Aki mewling in pure sadness on her lap. 

“About time!” 

Diadona was much shorter than he expected, with the top of her head barely reaching past his stomach. She was another elder demon for certain, though it was impossible to know exactly how old. Her human-self looked to be around 60 with short gray hair pulled back into an overly tight bun, glasses that she most certainly didn’t need, and far too many wrinkles. Vergil wondered if she always adopted this look, or if it was just a formality for Roxy’s sake. Which then led him to wonder what her actual…

“Did you kill the creatures?” The woman said, her voice sharp. 

Vergil blinked, mind reeling back to where it was supposed to be. “Of course,” He said simply. “Now how do you intend to take it from me?”

The woman rolled her eyes as she pulled an absurdly long needle and syringe from her pocket. Of course, that pocket was far too small for something like that… so maybe she’d just made it on the spot. “The simple way, of course.” She said as she beckoned to him with spindly fingers that were a touch too inhuman. “I’ll take it right out of your bloodstream.”

Vergil’s eyebrow shot up. “I’m not sure that’s wise.”

Dia huffed. “Why? Because you’re a big scary demon yourself? Please.” She beckoned again. “If anything, your blood will only make her stronger. A win-win, wouldn’t you say?”

Vergil didn’t have an answer to that. Foolish, was the first word that came to mind. What demon in their right mind would willingly give their blood to anyone, much less an archdemon? Or, more importantly, what demon would willingly give their blood to a summoner?  He knew from limited research that was an easy first step into pact making. He could even sort of recall his mother mentioning it when he was much younger. Of course, it didn’t mean they were making one… but it opened up the possibility.

Whether it was his expression or his hesitation, Dia laughed. Except her human voice mixed with some strange cackle of a demon he couldn’t quite identify. A bug? Maybe. A dragon? Maybe. Some crazy, witch thing? A strong possibility.

Did it matter?

“Do you honestly think she’d force you into a pact?”

“What?”

“Even if she wanted to do such a thing, I don’t think her body could handle it.” She shook her head with an irritated click of her tongue. “Now are we going to keep standing around staring at each other, or are you going to let me heal her?”

Begrudgingly, Vergil rolled his sleeve up, glaring at the woman as he did so. It was a useless gesture, but at least it made him feel better. She just rolled her eyes again and grabbed his wrist. Except he sorely underestimated the strength in such a small body, and nearly fell flat on his face when she yanked him closer. “Hold still,” She snapped before muttering something in a language he didn’t understand. He did, however, know it wasn’t anything helpful. 

But then his eyes flickered to Roxy, and any response he might have had vanished in an instant. She was so… pale. Had she been that pale when he walked in? Was she breathing? She had to be… right? Aki was still there - the poor creature was butting the top of his head on her chin over and over again - so she was alive. But…

“She’s close to stasis,” Dia said, her voice filled with nothing but worry. “This happens from time to time. She usually has a caretaker around but…” Her expression turned sour. “Let’s just say I’m glad she was able to call me in time.” 

“Stasis?”

Dia nodded as she tied a small piece of fabric above his elbow. “How much has she told you?”

“Nothing about this.”

Dia sighed. “This should be her story… but…” She glanced back at Roxy. “This is what she refers to as an ‘episode’” Dia turned her attention to his arm, searching for a vein. “I call it stasis because that’s what it is.” She grumbled something under her breath, but all he could pick up on was “humans” and “avoiding the problem”. “Nothing can prevent it, but she needs demon essence to recover. If she were by herself, then she would have to stay like that until her body recovered naturally.”

“How long does that take?”

Dia shrugged. “The longest I’ve seen is three months.”

His eyes snapped to hers. “Three months?”

“I broke her out of that one too,” Dia said. “Hold still.” 

He hadn’t even noticed the needle pierce his skin. “Her last caretaker quit, right?”

“Taylor?” Dia’s scowl turned murderous. “I never liked that woman. Flighty. Greedy. Did you know she convinced Roxy to pay for years of medical bills in exchange for her help?” Vergil wasn’t certain why Dia thought he would ever know something like that, but she continued on anyway. “Then she left her stranded, less than a month from stasis, because she needed something more ‘stable’ and ‘predictable’.” Dia huffed as she practically ripped the needle from his arm. It healed in an instant, but how she knew it would (or if she even cared) was beyond him. “Come here before I wake her up,” She said. “I’ll apologize to her for talking to you later.”

After a small, almost curious step, Vergil realized that Roxy’s skin wasn’t pale; it was frozen. His mind raced through memories of V, trying to piece together what could possibly be happening. The closest connection was his crumbling body, but that hadn’t been linked to the familiars. Though he’d argue that none of them even compared to Kuro. Nightmare had been a mostly mindless conglomerate he could summon from time to time. Griffon and Shadow were more like Aki; small familiars that didn’t require much. But Kuro...

Was this the price she had paid for such a creature?

“Stasis,” Dia repeated. “If left unattended, the ice will imprison her. Then there’s nothing I can do,” She gently pulled Roxy’s arm from under the blanket, turning it over in her hand as if handling the most fragile glass imaginable. And maybe she was. Vergil didn’t want to think what would happen if she moved too quickly… or if Roxy herself were found or handled too roughly… or if she was left alone for too long...

He shoved those thoughts aside. Why bother worrying when Dia clearly had things under control? He barely knew her. He shouldn’t be concerned about such things. He...

His mental image of Griffon snorted in pure disdain. And you think I’m the moron.

After resting Roxy’s arm back on the armrest, Dia tapped it gently with the tip of her finger. A quiet crack echoed in the room. Another tap. Another crack. The process was agonizingly slow, but Dia continued on. By the fifth tap, a thin layer of ice broke away, shattering to dust on the ground. Vergil swore he heard a quiet gasp, but he wasn’t certain. Aki pushed his head against Roxy’s cheek. That time, he didn’t pull away, and a sad chirp echoed in Vergil’s ears as if the little griffon had proclaimed it from the heavens. 

It was then that Vergil wondered if Roxy was aware of it. She left her stranded a month from stasis, Dia had said. So Roxy must have known about it. But if she did… why didn’t she tell him? Sure, he wouldn’t have been much help over the last few days, but Dante would have taken a job like that in an instant. “Gather up some demon bodies?” Dante would have probably said. “You’ve got it! I’ll drop them at your doorstep tomorrow.” His brother wasn’t really one to ask questions over such a thing (even though he probably should… but that wasn't the point).

What would something like this feel like? What would any of this feel like? Was she awake? Trapped in her body until it knocked her out? Did she know time was moving? Or was she asleep, trapped in some kind of dream? 

Did she feel… anything at all?

Did he even want to know? 

“Hold on, Rox,” Dia whispered. “You’ll be out of this soon.”

The world seemed to go silent as the needle punctured her skin. The noises from the town slipped away. Dia went impossibly still, and Vergil was certain she’d stopped breathing all together. The blood left the syringe slowly, but Vergil could see trails of ice branching back down Roxy’s arm in a rush to close the hole Dia had made. And when the blood was gone and Dia pulled away, the ice snapped closed again. More slipped over her cheeks. Lines of blue magic scattered in all directions. 

Was he too late? Was it not enough? Was…?

Then, Roxy’s eyes snapped open. A single gasp of air was all it took for the world to come back. Ice shattered in all directions, vanishing into the air as if it had never existed. She jerked upright in a panic as her hand flew to her chest. Aki tumbled to the floor, but the flustered noise he made was twinged with a chirp of what Vergil assumed was relief. Roxy’s eyes flickered a pale blue. Kuro’s, Vergil realized. So she could channel the dragon’s power without summoning him… but maybe not willingly. 

“It’s alright, Rox,” Dia said as her hand cradled the younger summoner. Roxy’s gaze snapped to hers, and her heartbeat quickened to an unnatural level. But Dia only smiled, rubbing her now entirely human thumbs along Roxy’s skin. “Everything’s fine, you hear me?” And while Roxy said nothing, Vergil heard her breathing slow. Her eyes drifted closed as she squeezed Dia’s hand. When she opened them again, her heart was steady and her eyes were back to their usual green hue.

“That was faster than I expected,” Roxy said. “I thought I had… a little more time.” She sighed as her gaze flickered to Vergil. “Less than thirty minutes…” She said, and Vergil wasn’t certain if she was talking about him, or her stasis. It probably didn’t matter. At least, not at the moment.

“I’m sorry you had to see this.”

Vergil stared at her. A million different questions swirled in his head, right alongside a few choice words to chide her for being so foolish. But all that came out was, “What?”

“That mixture I gave you was quite potent,” Dia said proudly as Aki hopped back into her lap. “And with the blood of Sparda’s kin…” She shook her head with a sigh that sounded almost nostalgic. “You’ll be good for a few months, at least.”

“A few months?” Vergil said. “That’s…”

“Quite impressive!” Dia said, cutting off his less than enthusiastic reply. “You should be proud!’

“Proud?” Vergil said. “I have the most…”

“Powerful demonic blood there is?” Dia said, her voice laced with sarcasm. “Afraid there are quite a few demons that would disagree with you.”

Vergil huffed. “And they’d be wrong.”

“Probably.” Dia waved him off. “Doesn’t matter.”

And Vergil might have argued with her more, if Roxy didn’t look so miserable. For a brief moment, that annoyed him more than the demon-turned-grandmother. “Is a few months not enough for you?”

Roxy flinched, and Vergil bit back a quiet groan at how utterly terrible that sounded once he’d actually said it. It didn’t help that Dia was glaring at him with the intensity of a thousand suns, probably wishing she could smite him for such a statement. “It’s very generous,” Roxy said. “And I appreciate it.” But her voice was so, unbearably quiet. So sad in a way Vergil hadn’t heard before. And he realized very quickly that he hated it with a burning passion.

Why did it bother him so much?

Why did he feel this… obligation to help?

He forced himself to sit beside her, but not before casually moving a few of the pillows between them. He heard Dia snort in the background, but he didn’t pay her any mind. “How does this work?” He said. “All of…” He paused. “Kuro. You. The stasis.”

Her head rose slowly, but the confusion was evident in her eyes. “Wh-what?” She stammered. “You… You want to know? But…” Vergil wasn’t certain if her expression was one of shock,  disbelief, or something else he couldn’t read. Regardless, it slipped away when she took a long, deep breath. “Are you sure? It’s not the most…” She trailed off, head tilting in thought. “Glamorous of… situations.”

“Seems marginally better than calling me ten minutes before you turn into an ice sculpture.”

She paused, flummoxed. “That’s a rather dramatic way of putting it. But you’re not entirely wrong.”

“I believe,” Dia said, drawing out the statement for an extraordinarily long time. “That it’s time for my departure. You can handle it from here, right?” She raised her eyebrow at Vergil. When he simply stared back, she said, “She needs to hunt once she can walk again, and...” She paused, glancing at Roxy. “When was the last time you ate?” Roxy’s mouth opened for a split second, but she quickly closed it and looked away. Dia sighed. “And maybe make her some soup.”

Then she was gone in the blink of an eye, leaving only glimmers of green magic behind. “She does that, a lot,” Roxy said. “Though she’s usually kind enough to knock when she visits.”

“Considerate.”

Vergil didn’t know how to explain the peculiar feeling in his chest when she giggled “Could be worse,” She said. “Her last husband was the worst.” A curious sparkle returned to her eyes, and Vergil didn’t have the heart to stop whatever story she was about to tell him. “He’d never left the Underworld before meeting her. So, when she visited me for the first time, she brought him along. Next thing I knew, he’d eaten all of my food, most of it uncooked, and was trying to convince Aki to tell him where I got it from.” Aki growled, his tail flicking upward in annoyance. But Roxy just smiled and brushed through his fur. He purred as he nuzzled back into her lap, annoying demon husbands forgotten entirely. “The second time, he ordered two dozen pizzas, and paid with my card.”

“... And you’re certain this wasn’t Dante?”

“Is he a big pizza guy?”

“That’s putting it mildly.”

She laughed again, but Vergil saw her eyes flutter as she attempted to hide the following yawn. “I should probably talk to him a bit more, huh?”

Vergil scowled. “That’s not…” He trailed off, averting his gaze. 

“Not what?”

“You need to rest.”

“Now you’re dodging the question.” But even she relented after another yawn and sunk back into the cushions. “I’ll probably be asleep for… awhile. But Aki knows when to wake me up.”

“You can’t hunt like this.”

“I mean once the feeling in my legs comes back…”

“I will stay,” He said. “And you still owe me an explanation.”

Her eyes drifted closed. “How much do you really want to know?”

Vergil paused, but not for long. “Go to sleep.” 

“Because you need some time?” He glared at her, not surprised when her lips curved into a soft, and very tired smile. “If you need anything,” She mumbled. “There’s plenty of food, tea, and coffee. There’s the T.V, of course, but I’m assuming you’d be more interested in the books... in the room down… the…” She slipped into sleep before she finished. 

“Insufferable,” Vergil muttered. Aki chirped something akin to an agreement as he nuzzled against Roxy, tail flopping to the side. And Vergil might have pondered what exactly he was trying to accomplish here, had an all too familiar ringtone not gone off at that exact moment. He answered it begrudgingly, fully aware that ignoring his brother would only make things worse. 

“So, Verge,” Dante said without any form of pleasantries. Vergil could imagine the grin on his brother’s face. “Out with sunshine again?”

“That’s none of your business.”

“Well, technically...”

“I’m on a job,” Vergil said. “I’ll return once it’s done.”

Dante laughed. “Sure sure, whatever you say. But does it at least pay well? Because we could really use some money for…”

Vergil hung up. 

Ko-fi -- Master List -- AO3

[ft-dads-au]

Chance Encounter - Chapter 5 (Final)

Home for the Holidays 2019 Prompt: Limits A collaboration by @mdelpin​ and @oryu404​ AO3 | FF.Net | Prev: Ch 4

6:40 pm - 7:15 pm Members are encouraged to talk about any issues or share successes

"Alright, that was incredibly uhm, informational?" Gildarts muttered, "Anyway, on to my favorite part. For those of you joining us for the first time, this is the part of the meeting where we talk about what's going on with us. Any issues that we're facing or anything we managed that we're proud of. Keep it to kids/family stuff, I'm looking at you Wakaba, no one needs to hear more about your fights with Millgana.”

"Let's start with the positive things first, does anyone have something good to share?" Macao asked even as he snickered at a man with a pompadour hairdo that Rogue could only assume was Wakaba.

One of the other dads got up from his seat, smiling widely. He had short dark hair and was wearing a blue t-shirt with the Magnolia Police Department logo. "It's my daughter Asuka's birthday today. She turned six and wanted to celebrate with you guys as well."

Upon hearing her name, Asuka left the play area and rushed to her father's side, "Is it cupcake time, daddy?" she asked, jumping up and down in excitement.

"Yes it is," he assured her, still smiling as he patted the top of her head through the cowboy hat she was wearing. He then addressed the rest of the group again, "We made cupcakes together to share with the club. It was a lot of fun, and they turned out great, Asuka even did all the decorating herself!"

They all took a moment to sing Happy Birthday to the excited little girl who beamed at being the center of attention. Father and daughter then retrieved a plastic tray that had been covered with foil from the snack area.

"Are there any more napkins?" the man asked, and Gildarts walked over to where there were still some market bags, quickly grabbing one and handing it to the father.

"That's great, Alzack!" Macao complimented as father and daughter wandered around the room offering cupcakes, "I think one of the challenges we often face as fathers is allowing ourselves to enjoy activities that are usually associated with women. Baking, tea parties, or playing with dolls, just to name a few. We need to remember these are just another part of our children's development. Giving them affection and support is much more important than any perceived affront to our masculinity."

Hearing Macao mention tea parties, Rogue couldn't help but remember the ones Gildarts and his father had forced on him and Gray when Cana had first shown up. She'd been so quiet and sad when they had first met her, and both men had tried their best to make her smile. To the point of wearing ridiculous outfits while sitting around holding conversations with dolls and holding the little cups from the tea set that had been a present from Rogue's mother in their large hands.

Rogue chuckled at the memory and searched out his brother, wanting to see if he'd had a similar reaction only to find Gray watching him as well, and for one instant, they shared a smile before Gray looked away.

"I'd love to do stuff like that," a man spoke up, drawing Rogue’s attention to him. Unlike most of the other men there, he was dressed impeccably in a fitted suit, and for some reason, he chose to wear tinted sunglasses inside. His expression was sad as he accepted a cupcake from the little girl, but he still managed to offer her a smile, "Thank you, sweetheart."

"What's going on, Loke?" Gildarts asked, sitting in one of the empty chairs next to him.

"I barely get to see my girls anymore. They're usually asleep by the time I get home during the week, and now my wife has started taking them to her parents' summer house on the weekends."

“I get that, with my crazy schedule I don’t get as much time as I’d like with the twins, so I try to plan something each week and just kind of grab any moment I can along the way, you know?”

Rogue knew Sting was just trying to be helpful, but something about Loke's body language made him think his situation was very different from theirs.

Gildarts leaned his head towards Loke, and they began speaking in quiet voices, Loke seeming more upset the more they talked.

Rogue looked away, feeling uncomfortable with watching when Loke seemed so unhappy. As his eyes wandered, he couldn't help but notice that his brother's companion was staring at Loke with a rather interesting expression on his face, seeming to Rogue to almost border on dislike.

Before he had a chance to wonder about it, Alzack and his daughter were standing in front of him and Sting, holding a tray still half-full of cupcakes. The little girl's eyes were hopeful, and Rogue could only gawk at her attempts at decoration. Each cupcake was slathered with pink frosting, a drawing of some kind done in white frosting on the top, although to him it looked like no more than a blob.

"Oh, wow! Those look great!" Sting grinned, always enthusiastic about anything having to do with food, "Can I have more than one?"

“Sting!” Rogue scolded, but the little girl only giggled as she handed his husband two cupcakes.

“You can have one too!” she handed Rogue a cupcake before moving on to the men sitting next

to them.

Rogue ate his cupcake before Sting could beg it off him, he had to admit it was pretty good.

Another man had spoken up about a problem he was having with his teenage son when Rogue heard someone say, “Wouldn’t these have been more useful before you got here?” followed by a chorus of laughs.

Gray’s companion was holding a box of condoms in his hand, and a quick glance at the impish grin on Gildarts’ face and the way he was watching Macao for his reaction made Rogue realize this must have been the object he’d hidden earlier.

Macao, for his part, was frowning at Gildarts with what looked to be long-suffering exasperation, which seemed to be enough to set Gildarts off into a fit of mirth. It almost reminded Rogue of the way his dad would sometimes get when Gildarts was too much for him to handle. And he stopped that thought before it could gain any traction. Of all the hornet's nests that had been stirred that day, his father was the one he couldn't afford to dwell on.

7:15 pm - 7:30 pm Upcoming events or activities (signups)

"For now, we are still paper only, so there will be a clipboard available where you can sign up to bring an item or help plan an event. The old club used to do activities like picnics, potluck dinners around the holidays, stuff like that. We'd like to continue the tradition, so if you have any ideas of things you'd like us to try, don't be shy. As soon as Warren finishes, you should be able to just do it from your phone." Macao declared.

“Feel free to send Warren an email to encourage him to hurry up, his email is-” Macao teased as Warren yelled at him to shut up.

“As far as the snacks, we’ve decided to just charge a 500 jewel monthly fee rather than asking people to remember to bring stuff. Please make sure to list any allergies you or your children might have on your membership form. Gildarts and I will just buy snacks before every meeting. Everyone okay with that?”

No one complained, and they soon began discussing different possible activities both with the kids and dads only.

Rogue lost interest in the conversation, his eyes darting more and more to the play area. He observed Aki, hoping he could somehow glean the answers to all of his questions just from the way he acted.

Aki ran back to his father, sporting a bright smile on his face as he climbed back on his lap. Gray

hugged him, kissing his forehead and listening to whatever the little boy was telling him. The silver-haired man smiled at both of them, ruffling Aki's hair, which caused the little boy to frown at him, and it was such a perfect replica of Gray's frown that Rogue had to laugh.

There was a longing in him now to have Aki be a part of their lives and to rekindle the bond he'd once shared with Gray, back when things were simpler. He waited impatiently for the meeting to come to a close so that he could try to approach his brother. If nothing else to let him know he wanted to talk.

7:30pm Cleanup

“Alright, our time is up. We’d like to thank everyone for coming, we’ll be here again next week. Please take a moment to help us clean up, and make sure to grab your kids on the way out!” Macao announced as Gildarts appeared with a large garbage bag.

The room once again became chaotic as everyone got up to help with the cleanup. Small groups formed blocking Rogue’s view of Gray and his mysterious companion while others cluttered up the play area in search of their kids.

He finally caught a glimpse of them and without even a word of warning to Sting Rogue took off after them. He tried to get through the crowd to get to his brother, but he was stopped by an older man.

"Are you the journalist Macao was telling me about?" he stared up at Rogue, and though he was furious at the interruption, the man's kind smile made it impossible for him to snap at him.

Instead, he took a deep breath and held his hand out for the older man to shake, “Yes, my name is Rogue Eucliffe.”

“Nice to meet you, I’m Makarov Dreyar.”

For a man his age- and this short, he had to be under 4 feet tall- Makarov had a firm handshake. Whatever he had to say did not quite reach Rogue’s ears. Instead, he was focusing on overhearing the conversation Gray was having with his companion.

"I told you this would be a waste of time," Gray grumbled as they walked towards the exit, a smiling Aki in his arms.

“I wouldn’t say that. This was just as much for Aki as it was for you, and he seems to have enjoyed it immensely. Now, are you going to tell me what your deal is with that guy with the long black hair or what?”

The doors closed behind them, and Rogue felt his frustration grow as Makarov continued to talk to him, asking him questions about his family, which he tried to answer as politely as he could.

"Can you excuse me for just one minute?" Without waiting for a response, Rogue ran out the daycare center exit, down the long hallway and out the community center doors, but he saw no sign of them.

Damn it! How was he supposed to find him now?

With a heavy heart, he hurried back to the daycare center, feeling bad for acting so rudely towards the older man. When he entered, he was surprised to see Sting had already put both boys in the stroller and was talking to Gildarts, million watt smile at the ready.

"Put that away, son, you're liable to blind someone with that thing," Gildarts asserted, looking amused. "I've already told you, I can't give you any private information on any of our members. Would you like it if I just gave out the half-pint's number to anyone that asked?"

“But Gray is his brother,” Sting protested, “You know that for a fact.”

"I do, still doesn't change anything," Gildarts shrugged, "Listen, kid, I wish I could help you out, but my hands are tied. Now, if you were to ask me for information on his companion, that would be a different story."

“What?”

"He gave me business cards and permission to hand them out to anyone who might need one, but you didn't so-" Gildarts turned away, and Rogue wanted nothing more than to throttle him.

Same old Gildarts, always playing games, never taking anything seriously.

“Give me the damn card, Gildarts,” Rogue growled, not in the mood to play along.

“Half-pint, you came back!”

Rogue rolled his eyes, grabbing the card Gildarts offered him and reading it hungrily. Lyon Vastia, Attorney at Reitei Family Law and a phone number. It wasn't what he'd hoped for, but it was something, a connection to Gray no matter how small.

“You talked to him, what did he say?” Rogue demanded, not even bothering to disguise how important the information was to him.

Gildarts crossed his arms “I’m not saying a word until you start talking. What the hell happened between you two? And don’t you dare say nothing, I’m not stupid. I’ve witnessed sworn enemies act happier to see each other.”

The last thing Rogue wanted to do was to rehash the events of the last six years with Gildarts, especially when he was already riled up. But Gildarts had always known how to push all his buttons and this time was no different. The man had been interrogated countless times by professionals and had never been broken, Rogue knew without a doubt Gildarts would not disclose anything until he came clean.

“Fine,” Rogue accepted the terms, but when he opened his mouth to begin Gildarts stopped him.

“Not here.” Gildarts turned to Sting, flashing him his own million watt smile that had wooed more women than any of them had ever been able to count. “Half-Pint’s coming with me to FairyTail, assuming he’s honest with me he shouldn’t be home too late.”

Sting looked like he wanted to protest but one look at Rogue’s face was enough to silence him. Instead, he gave him a quick hug and whispered, “Good luck, I’ll see you when you get home.”

Home. Rogue held on to that word, it had been an empty one for so long, until Sting had come along and given it meaning again. No matter what came of his talk with Gildarts, knowing that he had a home to return to that was full of love and family gave him the strength to suffer through whatever the rest of the night had in store for him.

~~~

“That bastard!” Rogue ranted the second he made it through the door.

Sting shushed him, pointing at the door to the twins’ room. “How much did you have to drink?”

Rogue blinked, trying to remember how many drinks Gildarts had shoved at him as they talked. He shrugged in response, he had no idea.

Sting snatched the baby monitor and the glass of wine he’d been drinking, leaving the other he’d obviously poured for Rogue behind. Grabbing him by the arm he gently led him outside, sitting both of them on the bench swing in their backyard.

“What happened?” Sting pushed his feet against the ground, rocking the swing back and forth slowly.

“I must have talked for hours, I told him everything and-” Rogue was once again filled with rage, “He didn’t know anything, said he tried to get Gray to talk to him but failed.”

Rogue wanted to scream, he felt like such an idiot. How was it that even after all these years Gildarts could still turn him into an insecure child? Gray would never have fallen for that.

He could feel Sting’s eyes on him, even worse he could see the way he was trying hard not to laugh at him.

“That guy is something else,” Sting chuckled with something akin to admiration, “Let me ask you this, outside of the anger you’re obviously experiencing, do you feel any better?”

“What?”

“You heard me, you’ve been holding on to a lot of that stuff for years, I know it’s been eating away at you. He might have been a dick, but he got you to talk about all of it, which is something you desperately needed.”

Rogue had done more than that. Gildarts had always been a man of action. Given all the things he’d come to learn about there was no way he would be willing to stand on the sidelines while people he considered family were floundering about.

No, Rogue thought as he remembered how furious Gildarts had seemed upon hearing the events that had transpired while he’d been handling his own issues. He had unleashed Gildarts on all of them and with a sadistic grin, considering everything he’d gone through on his own, he realized he wasn’t one bit sorry.

He laughed until tears streamed down his cheeks, the alcohol feeding into his hysteria, causing Sting to gaze at him with concern once again.

“You’re right, it’s going be fine,” Rogue finally replied, wiping the tears from his eyes. He waited for Sting to put his glass down and snuggled into him, reveling in his warmth. They swung together for what felt like a long time, enjoying the silence after the chaos of the long evening.

Things were likely to get interesting in the coming weeks but for right now Rogue was at peace.

A/N: This concludes our first multi-chapter story in the main plotline.Gray and Rogue’s story will continue in the sequel which is tentatively titled Brothers.

[karl1n-fanfiction-librarys]

Chapter 9: Everybody loves family!

Pairing: Asami/Akihito

Contains: mature language

Summary: Akihito gets pregnant, what will happen?

Disclaimer: I don't own the viewfinder series Yamane Ayano does.

Note:

 “Ryui- wha!” Asami was now kneeling down in front of Akihito, a tiny red box in his hand. In the box was a shiny white-gold ring. “My sweet Akihito, will you marry me?” Shock was clearly shown on Akihito’s face “ah.. umh, yes?” he said in a tiny voice. Asami smiled sliding a ring on Akihito’s finger, and then kissing his hand; before standing up and capturing Akihito’s lips with his own.

‘Akihito is finally truly mine’

 06/24 18:54 Tuesday

 Akihito stared out the window; he hated this. After Ryuichi had proposed to him they had walked around for a bit longer, viewing the trees, but Akihito now nearing the end of his 4th month got tired rather quickly, his ankles also didn’t seem to like walking anymore.

 Akihito was currently staring at his chest, or rather what was on his chest. Apparently he needed to his tits to look female, and Kirishima perfectionist that he was had off course made sure he had them. The fake boobs were frighteningly realistic, this morning when the make-up ladies had first dressed him up it hadn’t been nearly as bad as now. He had just worn a stuffed bra. The things stuck to his chest were just… ugh. Had Akihito not know it was him in the mirror he wouldn’t have been able to recognize himself, and he certainly woudn’t have said that his reflection was male. The boobs were glued to his skin with a special substance that wouldn’t allow the appendages to fall off unless the special anti-substance was applied to them. They were his exact skin colour and you couldn’t see that they weren’t supposed to be part of him. Akihito really didn’t understand why he couldn’t just wear a filled bra again, this was ridicules!

 “Asami-sama, are you finished?” One of the ladies said and Akihito eyes widened in horror, they where going to see him like this?! Were the fuck was his bra. Akihito honestly didn’t know where this prudishness came from, but he couldn’t care less. “A-Almost!”

 06/24 19:20 Tuesday

 Asami Chika, looked towards the door of the privet room she and her husband had rented, just as her oldest son opened it. Standing next to him was a rather beautiful looking woman; she wore a midnight blue dress stopping at her ankles. She wore matching blue shoes, with a small heel. Two long locks of light blond hair were braided and met at the back of her head, they were tied by a small engraved silver clasp and fell down her shoulders with the rest of her hair reaching until mid-back. As she studied the jewelry the lady in front of her was wearing she couldn’t help but feel slightly shocked when she saw the white gold ring around her finger. It was a simple band with in the center a ring of diamond; her son wore a matching one, without the diamond.

 Akihito felt rather nervous Ryuichi’s mother had been eyeing him for the last couple of minutes, while Ryu and Ryuichi exchanged pleasantries. The hand resting on his waist tightened, as Asami addressed his mother. Akihito rubbed his stomach self-consciously, the dress he was wearing was comfortable but it just made him feel uncomfortable.

 The midnight blue dress had an open back and stretched comfortably around his round belly, it was cut on the right side from just bellow his hip all the way down and the sides of the cut were decorated with tiny diamonds. Bigger and more prominent diamonds were covering the fabric around his ‘breasts’.

 Akihito wore matching blue earrings made up of 5 small stones hanging from one big stone set in white gold. He also wore a simple bracelet with blue stones on it.

 The ladies who had done his make-up had wanted him to have his natural hair colour and had dyed it back to light blonde. Just one shade darker than it actually was. He had removed his collard contact lens form his right eye now dark blue, slightly lighter than his dress.

(A/n: so Akihito hair colour is light blonde and his right eye is dark blue while his left is hazel.)

 06/24 19:28 Tuesday

 Ryuichi could barely refrain from chuckling when he saw the lost look on his fiancé’s face. Akihito didn’t appear to really know what to order. Leaning in he raised his eyebrows, he finally understood the look, Akihito’s menu was in French.

 06/24 19:35 Tuesday

 Akihito studied Asami’s parents in boredom. Sure he was happy that Asami had spared him the embarrassment of having to speak -–supposedly he had a throat infection—but he was bored as hell! There was nothing to do but listen to Asami speaking with his parents, and of those conversations he didn’t understand half of. They were talking about business and stocks and other things Akihito didn’t really care about. He was also really hungry and they didn’t even bring a basket of bread! Looking at Asami’s parent could only entertain someone for a short period of time after all. Asami Chika was clearly ‘the man’ in the relationship, she kept interrupting her husband, and Akihito felt sort of bad for the guy. Having to live with someone like that must be awful. Chika was rather pretty for her age, she wore a light yellow yukata, which looked good on her. Her husband, Ryu, was like his son wearing a suit. Though unlike Ryuichi, it was dark blue instead of black.

 Chika wore light make-up which made her look quite a bit younger. She looked like a strict sort of mother; in Akihito’s eyes she fitted the roll of being Ryuichi’s mother. Akihito could only imagine how awfull a teenager Ryuichi must have been. Chika didn’t seem to like jewelry; she only wore her wedding ring and a pair of earrings. Not that Akihito had that much more, but with the diamonds covering his dress, he thought, or rather the ladies who had dressed him thought that that would be too much.

 Grumbling on Akihito almost didn’t notice their waiter walking in with their food. After the plate was placed in front of him Akihito stared. They couldn’t be serious, this tiny amount of stuff, he didn’t’ t dare call it food, was their dinner? He was frigging starving and this; this was what he had been waiting for, for the last fucking 30 minutes!

 06/24 20:45 Tuesday

  Akihito really wanted to go home, after five courses he was exhausted. Every time their waiter placed food on the table, Akihito spend the entire meal trying to figure out what it tasted like and what the fuck it was. Each course lasted five minutes at most so in the end he never figured out what he ate. His back hurt from sitting so still and stiff the entire time and he was simply tired. The only good thing about the entire evening was that he had actually meet a nice waiter for once, Edward was one of those stereo type gays, but in a good way. He had to remember to tell Ryuichi to give the man a nice tip. (A/n: I had a waiter named Edward when I was in America, he was very nice. :D)

    Omake 2: soccer, cages and rabbits

06/28 20:56 Monday

 “No! move it more to the left, yes like that, gosh, how hard is it!”

“Akihito what are you doing… what is that?” Asami asked, eyes filled with suspicion.

“Hm… oh, you mean Mayu’s cage?” Akihito said absently minded, still looking at the piece of paper in his hands.

“Yes, her cage, would you care to explain why it’s taking up the whole room?”

“Come on now, you’re exaggerating, it isn’t taking up the whole room, Mayu just needs space to run so I made, okay, your men made fences around her cage. Unless she is allowed to walk through the house?” Akihito said looking hopeful. “No.” Asami growled turning on his heel. Akihito sniggered behind his hand, kneeling and petting Mayu. “He looks jealous doesn’t he Mayu?”

 06/29 19:45 Tuesday

 “Hey, Ryuichi can I ask you a question?” Akihito said squirming on the settee. “Yes, what is it?” “Uhm… areyougoodatplayingsoccer?” “What was that, Akihito?” “Are you good at playing soccer?” “I’m decent why?”

 “Well we’re having three sons so I think that we can assume that at least one of them would like soccer and I suck at it so they need someone to teach them. But if you can then it’s fine.” Akihito said standing up and waddling away happily. Leaving a confused Asami behind. He jerked his hand away from the paper on the floor he had planned to pick up. He glared at it, pressing his left hand to the bleeding one.

 Asami gently nudged the paper with his expensive Italian shoes, revealing a white-pink ball of fur. He reached out again, planning on shoving the rabbit out of the room, the white monster didn’t seem to agree with him though, and he couldn’t suppress a yelp as the beast bit him again.   “Kirishima! Get this thing out of here!” “Coming!” Sounded a voice, followed by footsteps. That didn’t sound like Kirishima, no, it sounded like his lover. Quietly cursing he hastily whipped the blood on the couch. He wasn’t going to show Akihito that he had been bitten by the little bitch.

 The creature causing all the trouble was watching the man; she was highly amused. Who would have thought that biting him would be so easy!

 “Ryu, why were you shouting? Hey! Is that Mayu?! I’ve been looking for her everywhere!” Akihito said waddling over to the rabbit. Aki carefully lifted the animal of the ground. “Asami are you bleeding? What happened?!” He said shifting Mayu, she didn’t look comfortable at all, might have something to do with her inability to keep her balance with the hot pink plaster surrounding her upper body. “It’s just a small cut, you shouldn’t worry about it.” “Oh.. Okay” Akihito said, but Asami could hear the suspicion in his voice, the look Akihito was giving him didn’t help eather. Luckily his fateful assistant finally decided to show up “Asami-sama you called?”

 07/30 11:37 Monday

 “Good morning Mayu!” “Aren’t you happy they are going to take that awful cast off today?” Akihito said cheerfully squeezing the rabbit against his chest. “Jin! Hurry would you, I’m pregnant and I’m faster than you!” “Akihito-sama please wait! You shouldn’t walk so fast, what if you fall! Akihito-sama!” The man shouted miserably, he had just been assigned the job of being Akihito’s personal bodyguard/assistant and it was hell on earth. The boy didn’t see danger in anything! If it went on like this he would need an early retirement. “Jin! Move! Mayu stop wiggling! Jin!”

Poor rabbit, Jin thought, must be awful being squeezed against a chest like that.

  07/30 11:45 Monday

 Mayu looked around the room in fright; she was visiting the mean white man again. She recognized the disgusting smell. She tried desperately to get away from the man and the sharp object he was holding, making frantic squeaking noises in the process. Where is master? Where is my master! Go away! She tried biting but she couldn’t reach, suddenly the hard stuff that had been keeping her from walking properly was removed, she scramble of the table, hitting the floor and speeding out the door. She came to a sudden stop, right in front of a big black dog, Shit. “Mayu, what are you doing!” master, she was scooped up in his arms, warm and safe. “Shees, I was worried, bad Mayu! What if that mean dog hurt you!” He said, waddling towards the front door, still petting Mayu’s head on the way out, with Jin hurrying after them.

[zenithlux]

Cadence CH 7

Catch up on the story here!

In which Roxy shows Vergil what she can really do.

Still is my soul My blood drawn cold I gain control

Oblivion - THE PRIMALS

The second Vergil stepped out of the portal, the latent demonic energy in the area snapped at him like a pack of rabid wolves unaware that he was the much more dangerous predator. He heard Roxy suck in a sharp breath, followed by a cautious coo from Aki as he hopped up onto her shoulder. “What is it?” Vergil said, genuinely curious if she felt something similar. V had some awareness of demons around him thanks to Griffon and Shadow, but a single month wasn’t enough to explore the possibilities of the familiars’ power. A decades-long connection with Aki must have given her something.

Then there was the matter of her second demon. He couldn’t sense it, but that didn’t surprise him. Familiars had no true form when contained within their pact-maker. He’d felt Nightmare at the back of his mind, but had never tried conversing with it. He wasn’t even sure if it was capable of normal speech. Maybe her’s wasn’t either. 

“There’s a lot of demons around,” She said with a frown. “More than I’m used to.” 

“Can you tell anything about them from here?”

Her look turned quizzical. “I’m not sure what you mean.”

Vergil realized he didn’t have a good response to that, as any explanation he could provide would likely give away his own demonic nature. He wasn’t sure what the right time to share that was, but the first day of an actual acquaintanceship probably wasn’t it. “We need to find Nico,” He said. Nico was smart enough to stay away from the more dangerous fights, but if the portals had caught her off guard…

He heard the van long before he saw it. And whether it was the screeching of tires, the clear panic in the echo of Nico’s voice, or his demonic sixth sense, he pulled Roxy towards himself and dashed to the side. He heard her gasp, but it was drowned out by the engine of the van as it whirled by them both. It spun to the side as it skidded, and nearly toppled over before somehow landing on all four wheels. In her wake were at least five demon corpses, including the one who’s bones cracked under the van. Roxy’s ragged, terrified breathing echoed in his ears, and her heart was beating so loudly that he could feel it as if it were his own. “What was that!?” She said. 

“Nico,” Vergil replied

“Is she crazy?”

“It’s highly probable.”

“I knew he’d save ya,” Nico said as she hopped out of the driver’s seat. “Well, I didn’t know you’d be here, but figured it would work out.” Vergil glared at her, but Nico didn’t pay him any mind. Instead, she kicked at the head of the dead empusa beneath her van three times before it dislodged from whatever had impaled it. “I haven’t heard from Nero or Dante since we got a call about this place, so I’m assuming they’re fine. But another portal opened up near here that you should be able to take out before they get back.”

Vergil wasn’t certain if that was a casual remark on how quickly he could fight, or a warning: Nero will be back soon.  “What’s causing it?” Roxy asked. 

“Not sure,” Nico said. “They might know more by now but…” 

She flinched as a series of varied shrieks echoed on the horizon. Of course, Vergil heard more than she ever could. “There’s a lot more than just demons around,” He said simply as he clicked Yamato in his hand. 

“Humans caught up in it?” Roxy said. “We could try reaching…” Her voice trailed off as a black line appeared in the air before expanding into an uneven square; a shredded portal that was nowhere near as clean as the ones Vergil could open. The demons that spilled out were the expected variety of rabble. Empusas (hell seemed to have an abundance of those)  Hell Cainas with their skeleton bodies and incredibly long scythes, and a few Hellbats with the usual chamber of explosive flames mounted on their backs. These weaklings weren’t a concern. Vergil could kill them all with a set of summoned swords if he wanted. Though that would make hiding his demonic nature a bit more difficult, so a few quick slices would have to do. 

A trio of arrows pierced the empusas first, draining their blood as they crumbled. The arrows vanished in a spark of purple light and the energy returned to Roxy’s hand. She took a deep and satisfied breath, though Vergil could see the twinge of worry in her eyes. “These bugs are always nice to see,” She said. “Easy targets. Plenty of energy to harvest. A hunter's dream.”

“They’re called Empusas,” he said.

She hummed in thought. “Not the name I would’ve given them. But sure, let’s go with that.”

“There’s plenty of books on the topic.”

“Not in any library I’ve been to recently.”

“Your father studied demons, didn’t he?”

“The important ones, sure,” She said with a dismissive wave. “I also don’t think those particular demons existed while he was still alive considering they showed up when that tree did.”

Vergil hadn’t thought of that, nor did he want to talk about that particular tree. Instead, he silently grabbed Yamato, lurched forward, cut down the Hell Cainas and shot a bat out of the air with a summoned sword from close enough that she shouldn’t see it. He slid away from the explosion, taking great care to not instinctively teleport. 

Acting human was a lot more difficult than it should have been.

“So you fight them up close and I’ll shoot down whatever I can.” Roxy said cheerfully.

He almost snapped a quick “I can handle this myself”, but bit his tongue. Sure, he could. But handling itself meant he wouldn’t get to see her other demon, and she would have used all of her energy for nothing. But not trusting himself to express that the right way, he simply nodded as more demons spilled out of the portal. This time, the empusas were replaced by the lizard-like Riots. Nothing that concerned him. He surged forward without a second thought, forcing himself to weaken what he could without outright killing them.

That too was something much more difficult than it should have been.

But Roxy kept her word. Every almost dead demon he left behind, she shot in a heartbeat. He tried his best to move on before absorbing the essence himself. However, he realized quickly that he didn’t have to worry, as her arrows drained the demons on their own. A clever evolution for Aki. Vergil wondered if it was something her father had taught the demon or something it had picked up on its own over the years. 

Once that portal vanished, Vergil was confident he had seen enough. “Check on Nico,” He said as he sheathed Yamato and scanned the area for any more spikes of energy. There were still a few demons around, but the human screams in the area were gone, and the only blood he could smell was demonic. If any humans had died, they weren’t here. 

But whatever pride he might have felt at such a thing (which wasn’t much given the simplicity of the task) dissipated the second Nero arrived.

Every time Vergil saw Nero, he was always struck by the impossibility of it all.  He really should have been Dante's son, not his. He knew from the occasional drunk conversation that Dante had considered it when they first met. (Dante being drunk, not Vergil. He'd be a corpse in the ground long before he partook of that infernal drink). His brother's escapades with women during their teenage years were far more frequent than Vergil's, seeing as he'd been with one person and Dante couldn't give him a definitive number. But Dante had joked that Vergil must not have considered any form of protection, and Vergil had been too stubborn to ask what he meant. 

Now he knew, but not through his brother. He tried to avoid his brothers smug, know-it-all grin as much as possible. 

But he and Nero were nothing alike, physicality aside. Vergil was calm and kept his thoughts mostly to himself. Nero was brash and spoke his mind. Vergil avoided most human contact whenever possible. Nero embraced it, even volunteering at the orphanage in his spare time. 

Nero had his life together. Vergil, regrettably, did not.

“What are you doing here?” Nero said as he reached for the sword on his back. Vergil wasn’t sure if that was a self-conscious decision, or if his son truly intended to fight him right now in the midst of a demon invasion.

“I am here to help,” Vergil said. “Just as you are.”

“Sure you are,” Nero said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if you were the idiot who summoned all these things.”

Vergil’s eyes narrowed. “I did nothing of the sort.”

Nero snorted, rolling his eyes. “I wouldn’t put it past you.”

“You know nothing about me.”

“And whose fault is that?”

Both of ours, Vergil thought, but he stopped himself before he said it. Vergil refused to blame anyone else for his predicament, even though he didn’t think there was much else he could do. Nero seemed to take his silence as an admission of guilt and continued. “Thankfully for you, Dante already found the guy. Some old man in his basement. But don’t you dare think this makes anything better. People are dying out here and you went on a date.”

“You didn’t call me,” Vergil said. “Nico did. And it wasn’t a date. It was a meeting.”

“You were supposed to be on surveillance.”

“Wasn’t it your goal to keep me away from this part of the city to begin with?”

Nero was seething now, and Vergil was surprised one of them didn’t burst into flames. “There are portals over there too, asshole. I had to send Lady and Trish in your place.”

“How many?”

“Does it matter?”

“Yes it does,” Vergil said. “As I am more than capable of dealing with the influx of portals here. A single, coincidental one over there would be a waste of my time.” It was simple logic really, but Vergil didn’t say so. 

A scream from Nico knocked them both out of the petty feud. In the distance, a pack of Riots surrounded her, stalking from all sides. Another demon, a gangly Baphomet that Vergil hadn’t seen in a long time, hovered just in front of a new portal, chanting something in an old demonic language. And while Nico scrambled for the van, Roxy stood in front of her, calm and collected. A small blue light hovered over her palm, and Vergil realized that the demons were moving much slower than they usually did. 

“Nico!” Nero shouted

“Wait,” Vergil said.

Nero’s head jerked toward him in protest, but Vergil ignored him. Roxy’s fingers twitched and the light rose just a bit higher before snapping into a new shape. An orb of ice hovered over her hand like an otherworldly snow globe called from the aether. A single glass snowflake hovered within, glittering with a swirl of light blue. It was enough to quiet Nero’s panic beside him. Even the demons consumed by a desire for human blood had gone still. Her eyes flickered to him, and her tight-lipped expression shifted to a small smirk as she looked back at the monsters before her. 

“Come forth, friend.”

Her voice was a whisper, but the air around her responded to her call.  The orb pulsed once as she raised her hand toward the sky. It lifted far above her head before it pulsed again. Shards of ice shot out from its smooth surface as its perfect form expanded into a jagged, powerful conglomerate of magic. The blue in her hair bled out, and a matching glow radiated through her clothing. An impossible flurry of snow rose from her feet, swirling upward around her body until it reached the ever-expanding orb above her. Her hair turned a deep shade of red. Her skin paled. Energy pulsed again. The demons broke from their stupor, each one charging with desperate abandon.

Vergil grabbed Nero’s arm seconds before the younger devil hunter lurched to her aid. “I said wait,” Vergil said, calm in the face of the pure rage that followed as his son tried to escape his grasp. 

“You’re just going to let them die?” He snapped.

“The situation is under control.”

“You don’t know that you fucking…”

A resounding crack silenced him. When they looked back, the orb shattered. But shards that should have gone in all directions turned to snow, and the energy alone shot the demons backward. Some shattered the moment they touched the ground. Others survived but were slow to get up. The Baphomet began mumbling its familiar shield incantation, but Vergil knew that wouldn’t save it from her.

“Kuraokami,” She said. The snow surged backward forming a tornado flurry. A massive tail with overlapping scales of ice curled out around her and slammed against the ground. Two arms twice as tall as Roxy followed, with one on either side of her. Pauldrons of white ice formed on its shoulders and talons pierced straight through the concrete. Vast wings of sharpened icicles snapped outward and the tornado dissipated. A large dragon head stretched out over her with four horns curving backward and multiple layers of ice protecting its back. Pale blue eyes snapped open and the demon roared; a haunting sound that echoed all around them even though there was nothing to contain it. 

But Vergil felt the strength behind that sound alone. An arch-demon; one far older than himself. His demon-half wasn’t intimidated, but it acknowledged the untold amount of years between them. And, given Nero’s dumbfounded expression, Vergil assumed he felt something similar, even if he didn’t know what it was. 

But Vergil… Vergil was impressed. This human woman, whose body seemed to shift between perfectly healthy and broken in the blink of an eye, had made a pact with an arch demon. And given the way its power quite literally radiated off of her, Vergil was certain this partnership had lasted far longer than he would have ever guessed without seeing it for himself. 

Now, with this ice dragon towering over them all, he realized he’d judged her far too soon. He had taken her for someone who had made a pact on a whim and was still struggling to control it. It explained the back pain and the temporary paralysis, so he hadn’t considered this second demon to be any more than an unruly mess. Aki had been a gift from her father, so surely she couldn’t have made a strong pact on her own. 

Vergil now understood how wrong his assumptions had been. She stood with pride, staring down the demons before her with the confidence of someone who had fought similar battles hundreds of times. And the way her hand drifted along the dragon’s icy scales with great fondness… She was clearly an experienced summoner, and this pact was no accident. A single month with three arguably weaker demons had nearly broken him. He couldn’t imagine what she had given up for such a beast. 

Now, Roxanna had Vergil's full attention, and he was certain she knew it.

“It is good to see you,” Roxy whispered as she glanced up at her companion. The dragon growled in response, and she laughed. “It has been a rather long nap for you, hasn’t it?” The portal across from her widened, and a new batch of demons surged outward. But her smile didn’t fade. “Destroy the source, and I’ll handle the rest.” The dragon huffed, and a puff of white snow billowed from its nostrils. Roxy shook her head. “Child’s play for you, yes?” She held her hand out and Aki vanished as the bow appeared. This time, it crackled with purple lightning, surging outward stronger than the last time he had seen her. 

I hunted yesterday, She had said. How many demons had she needed to kill to achieve this? Surely he and Dante would have heard about such an infestation. 

And how had she done that alone in what he assumed was a weakened state?

Vergil swallowed a sudden strange feeling of excitement. A part of him thought these questions shouldn’t matter. Her abilities were there for all of them to see. But he realized very quickly that he wanted to know how she had accomplished such a feat. He wanted to understand how this power of hers worked, and why her strength seemed to wax and wane at seemingly random times instead of a steady decline. 

The Baphomet’s shield appeared as Roxy threw her hand out. “Shatter!” The dragon’s head snapped forward at her call and a beam of pure ice swept through the demons. Each one turned to ice. The demon struggled, but a series of quick arrows killed them all. The essence flooded into the dragon as it fired another shot straight into the portal. Ice billowed out, swirling around the edges until only a small hole remained. Vergil heard the shrieks from the other side; one more shot would end it. But when Roxy reached for another arrow, she flinched. Her hand twitched toward her back, but she stopped and forced herself to stand up as straight as she could. “Impossible,” She muttered. “How could yesterday not have been enough?” 

A shard of ice shot out of the portal. The dragon’s tail knocked it out of the sky, and Roxy found a smaller arrow to shoot at a second. A Riot slammed into the ice, shrieking as it tossed itself into the barrier over and over again. Vergil heard the grating sounds of metal claws scratching on the surface, but it had yet to break through. But as soon as he heard Roxy’s labored breathing, he knew she couldn’t hold the dragon’s power much longer. “He’s slowed the demons inside,” Roxy said. “But I can’t close it myself.”

Vergil moved without another word, and long before Nero had the chance. The Riot’s head emerged from the hole, cracking the barrier. But when Vergil slashed across the ice, the portal snapped shut. The lizard’s head hit the ground and turned to dust. He sheathed Yamato with a satisfying click and looked to her. 

Except what he got was a very very angry Nero. 

“What was the point in waiting?” Nero said. “You risked their lives for what? Your amusement?”

Vergil’s eyebrow shot up. Did Nero truly believe he couldn’t have intervened? Or that he wasn’t ready at any point to step in? “They were fine.”

“Bullshit!” Nero said. “You didn’t have a clue what she could do.”

Now, Vergil was baffled. Wasn’t Nero the one who wanted humans to learn to fight for themselves? Or had he misunderstood Dante’s descriptions of the boy? “She is a grown woman, Nero. She’s fought demons before and wanted to do it again. Who am I to stop her?”

“Wonderful!” Nero snapped. “Let’s just risk the lives of even more humans so Ms. Ice Queen over there can summon a demon!” He paused for a moment, before glancing at her and mumbling a quiet “no offense.” She shrugged, but the pain in her eyes was more alarming than her lack of response. 

“You closed the other portals, yes?” Vergil said.

“Of course I did,” Nero said. “Because unlike you, I’m not a useless asshole.”

Vergil stared at him, fingers tightening on Yamato. He felt his jaw clench and quickly fought to bury any other reaction to his son’s words. He expected to be angry or find a reason to fight. Vergil assumed he would have something to say to such an accusation. But any response he might have had vanished before it reached his tongue. Instead, a deep stinging pain pierced right through his heart. His mind flashed to his imprisonment, and he tore his gaze away before it consumed him. He would not let Nero see his weakness. Not now. Not like this. Not when Nero already hated him, and not when Vergil didn’t know how to fix it. 

But what could he do? Nothing he said could fix this. Nothing he did…

“Vergil?”

His eyes snapped to Roxy’s as she pulled away from a very worried Nico. The dragon was gone, and her hair had returned to its light blue hue. Aki hovered toward Vergil with a concerned chirp, but Roxy whistled and the demon returned to her shoulder. And as she slowly made her way toward them - no slump, but a slight limp. Clearly in need of more demonic energy- Vergil wanted to walk away. He didn’t want the questions, nor did he know what to tell her. This was all moving too fast, even for him.

This was a mistake. He couldn’t even get along with his own son. What right did he have to make friends with someone like her? How did he dare consider pursuing this new information when he hadn’t atoned for all his past mistakes? But how did he tell her this? How did…

Then, she turned to Nero and bowed her head. Vergil froze, surprised. Nero stared at her, confused. “It was my fault,” She said. “Not his.” Nero’s eyes widened and his mouth opened to respond, but Roxy continued. “I should have been able to handle it, but I misjudged the amount of energy I was carrying.” When she lifted her head, her back spasmed, but she held herself together. In fact, Vergil was certain Nero hadn’t noticed a thing. 

“It’s not… that…” This was the first time Nero had ever looked embarrassed as far as Vergil could remember, but his anger had completely diminished. “I didn’t mean to doubt you,” He said hastily. “I mean that demon of yours is pretty cool… no pun intended,” He chuckled awkwardly.

“Come on, devil-boy!” Nico said as she dropped her arms over both his and Vergil’s shoulders. Honestly, he was more annoyed that he hadn’t noticed her move between them. “Let’s go check in on your uncle. Your old man’s got plenty to take care of himself.”

Nero frowned as he pulled himself out of Nico’s awkward, three-man hug, but he didn’t look at Vergil again. “Fine,” He said. “It was nice meeting you.” Vergil could hear his voice crack, caught between the genuine desire to be nice and his anger toward his father. He finally gave up and hopped into the passenger seat and slammed the door, flinching as he did so. 

Nico gave a dramatic sigh as she pat Vergil on the back. “You’ll take care of your Ice Queen, right V-man?” She winked at Roxy who blushed and looked away. Vergil paused, his mind drifting back to his worries. Was this… alright? Was this… fair? Should he continue on with this friendship after everything…?

He twitched when Nico quite literally smacked him upside the head. “Excuse me?” He said, glaring at her. 

“Restarting those gears in your head,” She said as she followed after Nero. “See ya later, right Rox?” 

The woman blinked before her gaze fell to the other woman. “As long as I get to drive,” She said. 

“Hell no!” Nico said with a laugh. “I’m the best driver around.”

Roxy looked like she believed that about as much as she believed she could jump to the moon. “I’ll keep that in mind.” Her small smile was genuine, at the very least. That was much better than Vergil could manage at the moment. At least the tightness in his chest was starting to ease the more he had time to breathe. And Roxy stepping toward him was… comforting. That same, interested spark returned when she stood beside him in Nico’s place, and the pain in his chest vanished completely when she met his gaze with that same confident smile.

“How do you do it?” Vergil muttered.

“I’ve had a lot of practice.”

Vergil blinked, unaware he had spoken aloud to begin with. He glanced at the van one last time, but Nero didn’t look back as Nico drove away. Vergil took a long deep breath, and he could almost hear Griffon’s voice pulsing in the back of his head. 

Ya ain’t gonna give up like that, right, my lady?

Vergil shoved the bird aside and looked back at her. “You need more essence, yes?”

She sighed. “Seems that way. Guess I miscalculated.” 

“There are some demons left behind,” Vergil said. “I can weaken them for you, but you’ll have to find the strength to kill them yourself.”

She nodded. “Lead the way.”