#itll invite a smoother transition

[zer0pm]

No Name (10/?)

A/N: Your usual friendly reminder that you can find the complete series on my Ao3. Just simply click on any of the hyperlinks on my profile bio and it’ll take you to my works ^^ Thanks again for reading! This is a long one.

Pairing: V x Fem!Reader

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You were walking the streets of Redgrave City. Honestly, as beautiful as the city looked, the downtown area left nothing to be admired. It was especially so for the building you stood before. It looked worn down and ready to collapse. In fact, it judging my past work you have spotted, it already has...quite a few times.

You: “This is the office of the legendary devil hunter?”

Frankly, you were not impressed but at the moment, you were desperate. Gulping down your pride, you pushed yourself through the doubleset doors. The inside was even worse than the outside. The office was a complete mess, cigarette butts, torn and worn out paper, along with what you can tell to be pizza boxes littered the place. The place was poorly lit and it was so unbearably stuff, you were finding it difficult to get a good breath of air the longer you stood inside.

???: “Sorry, office is closed. Come around whenever I feel like opening it back up again.”

A voice pulls from your growing disgust for the office long enough to direct your attention to a man seated behind a large, wooden table at the far end across from you. He had white hair, something you have not seen amongst the local folk at all since you’ve been here, and wore a red leather coat. He had his head down, not facing you at all, hunching over and eyes cast down beneath him. His arms would fidget which made you assume he was fiddling with something down there. How rude.

You: “You speak to all of your customers like this?”

He looks up, eyes widening slightly at the sight of you. You can feel his gaze slowly take in your form appreciatively, his eyes raking up and down and up again until he met your eyes. He leans back into his seat and offers you a charming smile.

Dante: “Not unless they look like you. Welcome to Devil May Cry.”

As he sat back up, his hands finally lifted from behind the desk. One ruffled back his hair although the long locks fell to sweep to the side of his blue eyes and the other set down upon the wood a rubik’s cube. He was playing with a toy this entire time!?

With a roll of your eyes and a slight tinge on your cheeks, you explain to Dante the job in hand. The entire time you spoke, the legendary devil hunter not once took his eyes off of you.

Dante: “So, got a name to match that pretty face?”

You tell him and he tests your name on his tongue. You could have been imagining it but it felt like he was savoring the taste of your name and it stirred you uncomfortably. You were warned ahead of time that the legendary devil hunter can be rather...forward.

You: “For a son of Sparda, you’re not quite what I expected.”

For a moment, you thought his smile falter slightly at the mention of his father, but it was fleeting and the ends of his lips tug upwards in a smolder.

Dante: “And you don’t look like the kind of gal with demon problems. Which I assume is what you’re here for.”

You: “It’s...not a demon problem, per se. Although, I wouldn’t be surprised if they’re somehow in the mix. I have a sister-”

Dante: “Does she look like you?”

You glared at him.

You: “She went missing three days ago and was last spotted in this city. I need your help to find her and bring her back home.”

The man leaned further back in his chair to lift his feet and stack them atop the desk, his arms crossed and his expression suggesting that he was positively unimpressed.

Dante: “Sounds like a job for the cops.”

You: “Normally, I would agree but being a nephilim attracts all sorts of unwanted attention. Normal humans won’t be able to handle what I...we will be dealing with.”

His brows furrow to a harsh line, his crystal blue eyes lit up with curiosity.

Dante: “The hell is a nephilim?”

GASP!

Your eyes open, your heart pounding in your chest. You were laying on something soft and familiar. Your bed. As your eyes adjust and your breathing steadies, you sit up and feel your sheets pool down to your lap. Your room. How did you get here? The last thing you remembered was entering the Qliphoth with Dante and the others.

Dante...

The sound of you door clicking open made you lift your head from your thoughts.

You: “Dante?”

The door stops in its swing, a moment passes and it gives way completely. The one who stood there was not Dante. It was V. He was not wearing his coat, instead garnering a black shirt and sweats, very similar to the clothes you gave him when you first took him in. He had an unreadable expression on his face.

You: “V... I’m sorry, I thought you were-”

V: “It’s alright. He was technically the last person you saw before you were knocked out, afterall.”

The man lets himself into your room, in his hands was a tray with a plate of food and a glass of juice on the side. He slowly makes his way to your bed and carefully sets the tray by your side.

V: “Eat. You must be famished.”

Right as he said this, your stomach grumbles loudly. A blush reddens your cheeks in embarrassment and your hands quickly moved to grab the utensils and dig into the warm food made for you. The taste was delicious and you found yourself digging in faster than normal. He was right, guess you were famished. V watches you devour the meal he prepared ravenously, a hint of a smile on his face at your appetite. The moment felt rather uplifting in a way, but he knew what was to come next. As you finally began to slow down, gulping down a bite, you looked at him.

You: “V, what happened?”

The man sighs, his head bowing down slightly at the ground as he took a seat on the bed. His back was facing you. None of these were good signs.

V: “After we were defeated by Urizen...”

Urizen? Was that the demon lord’s name? You could have sworn it was something else. Struggle as you could to remember what it was though, it was all hazy. You can only really recall the battle, Dante, and pain of all sorts coursing through you that night.

V: “The demon lord made his next move. He commanded the Qliphoth to spread its routes throughout the city. These demonic roots then began to drain the blood of the human citizens as is its purpose. Many lives were lost that night and the numbers grow each day. You have been unconscious the entire time since then. A piece of the tree fell hard on your head. I am sorry, I wasn’t fast enough to stop that.”

Oh, god.

You: “H-How long have I been out?”

V: “...About three days.”

You: “Three days?!”

You were absolutely shocked. That was simply way too long. You dreaded at the thought of what the city and the people have suffered while you were out, how much was lost. Judging by what V said, it seems like things have gotten worse since you were last awake but a nagging question etches to the front of your thoughts.

You: “Where’s Dante? What happened to him? Trish? Lady? There was another guy too, right?”

V: “The boy Nero is fine. He is currently helping the remaining survivors to a safe haven.“

Survivors. Remaining. These words made you feel sick to your stomach and it only worsened when V turned slightly to glance at you over his shoulder. He seemed to be struggling to speak about this and casted his gaze down from your eyes once more.

V: “I don’t know what happened to the others. But... I believe that none of them live.”

That made your heart drop.

You: “W-What makes you say that? Did you try looking for them?”

The man nods carefully before stretching his hand out to give a full display of tattoos that adorn his arm.

V: “My power is not limited to solely summoning and commanding the demons I made contracts with. I can also detect demonic presences, Dante, although only half, amongst them. I cannot account for Lady’s fate, but given that I have had no luck searching for Dante or Trish, it would only suggest that they-”

You: “Stop. Just stop, please.”

You couldn’t hear more, your plea so soft and defeated. You didn’t dare look at V, not after what he just said. There was virtually no hope. No hope of the others...of Dante...

“I’m sorry.”

Those were the last words he said to you and with it a great weight that rests painfully on your heart. It spoke volumes. It showed his regret of what happened between you two. Of the loss of your sister and his involvement. And it broke you...it broke you because those were the exact same words that you were going to tell him. Of how you treated him. Of how you never truly blamed him for what happened. But now, you’ll never get that chance. Even now as you hear those words again, not from Dante’s lips or your own, but from V himself. The man who sat beside you now. He turned himself completely to face you, a deep frown on his face that reflected his condolences of your loss. It was all coming down on you now and you did nothing to hide the tears that fell down your face.

Your body wracked and your voice choked into sobs, eyes completely shut from the pain. You now know why you dreamt that memory of your first time meeting Dante. Your mind was trying to turn back the clock, to bring you back to where it all started for you, creating a false hope that if you somehow woke up there, things could be different. But it cannot be. It was only a dream. This right now is real. You weren’t asleep. And the man you once called your friend was gone. And you couldn’t save him. As you cried, you felt arms wrap around your body to carefully pull you closer towards warmth in attempts to soothe your sorrows.

V was holding you, so gently too, but you were too far gone in your grief to notice and instead you instinctually sink closer in his embrace. V himself felt out of his element as he held you in his arms. He remembers the feeling of loss and mourning all too well, but knew nothing of how to cope with it. Back then, he had no one to comfort him. Yet somehow, he felt compelled to comfort you, perhaps if not to have you suffer the same loneliness he was forced to bare with. At the thought, he rubs your back with one hand, and pulls you closer with the other. V felt your body relax slightly to his touch and it was then did he make his decision.

V: “When I from black and she from white cloud free, I’ll shade her from the heat till she can bear...”

He was reciting to you, smoothly and softly. The deepness of his voice lulling the anguish that continuously drowned your heart in grief. Yet ever slowly, V was pulling you up. Eventually your breathing steadied and you fell asleep in his arms. V continued to speak to you and hold you like this for a while longer until he then set you back down on your bed, lifting the sheets to tuck you in before leaving your side. The man took one more look at you, at the peace on your face. He dreads that this will be the only time you will ever feel this calmness and resolved to stay by your side and help you through these difficult times. For now. V closes the door, you name pasts his lips even though he knew you could not hear him.

V: “I’m sorry.”