#mentions of mundus

[solidsnakecake]

I think about this sometimes...

1. Dante calls Sparda "Dad". Unlike Vergil who calls him "Father". This is the cutest thing and in-character.

2. The use of past tense once again proves Sparda is dead.

3. So what is Sparda's revenge exactly? That Dante feels it in Rebellion? We know Sparda rebelled against Mundus to protect humanity. It was out of compassion. All his other efforts in those 2 millennia were for the same cause. He wasn't harmed at any point or sought any grim revenge as far as we know so this feels a little random...unless he was? Was Sparda hurt or done wrong at some point? By Mundus? Maybe is it posthumous grief/rage that Sparda feels by the loss of his wife and sons? And then their suffering?

Or maybe Mundus did hurt Sparda badly once before he was sealed off. Like how Dante was hurt and driven to finish him off in DMC1. Maybe Mundus had already killed a loved one of Sparda or personally hurt and abused Sparda himself. We know he's not above abusing his own followers.

Interesting at no other point such a thing is mentioned. Not in DMC3 when Dante says he feels his father's soul in him. Not in DMC1. Or 4. Or any of the novels. Feels strange. Sparda was always imagined as being against negative emotions such as revenge so this must have been quite the event to drive him to feel this way. To the point Dante can feel his father's pain too.

[minticecodes]

A (late) piece for dmcweek2024 day 4! I was buzzing to put forward something for the week. Prompt was alt universe.

AU where Eva survived the fire and had to figure out a way forward, believing the twins dead. She becomes an RPG shopkeeper selling wares ranging from antique books to magical goods (Devil May Scry). She's also out for Mundus' blood.

Image descriptions are the same as in alt.

[ID: 7 Digital illustrations and sketches. 1: Coloured illustration of a bookshop at sunset. Eva, a pale blonde middle aged woman mans the bright patterned counter. She wears a turtleneck and red shawl, has shoulder length hair, and diagonal facial burn scar and scarring on her left hand. Light rays illuminate her gently smiling face. Besides packed books, on the shelves are potion bottles, statuettes, succulents, and a displayed katana. Roses and plants decorate the shop. On the counter are a thick hardback, bookscanner, and crystal ball. Cards are displayed inside the counter. On the wall hangs a price sign, featuring doodled vital stars (large star drawn with sunglasses), holy water and fortunes. Beneath it is a rose wreathed divinity statue display, with 2 red orb offerings in a dish. 2: Eva from behind, sitting hunched alone at a table where a birthday cake sits untouched. It's a two flavour cake. By her clenched hand are crumpled tissues. Caption: 'Vergil...Dante...happy birthday...' 3: Eva bracing the Devil Sword Sparda across her shoulders, aimed at the ground. She wears a bell sleeved, ruffled funeral/wedding dress with a slit for leg movement. A veil trails behind her like a ribbon. Close ups of her show the headpiece design; a pacifier made of a long bird skill, feather, rose, and four skeletal 'legs'. 4 & 5: Trish taking on teen Dante's image: a tan teen in black, with chin length white hair, a halter neck tank top, leather pants, kneelength boots and black polish. Her leather jacket collar resembles lightning bolts. She leans against an invisible wall, one leg bent to brace her foot against it. She looks askance with arched brows, lifting shades from her face. The 2nd image is a 3/4 profile with shades perched on her forehead and popped collar. 6: Helmetless portraits of Dante and Vergil in armour, expressionless. Dante's hair is shoulder length and falls across his face. 7: Full body of 2 somewhat lanky demonic knights. One (Nelo Angelo) in black and blue with droopy horns rests his palms atop his blue broadsword's pommel, the sword upright against the ground. He stands straight, staring ahead. The other in white and red and curled horns has a palm clapped on Nelo Angelo's shoulder, other hand at his hips. Somehow the eyes on his helmet express playfulness. At his back is the hilt to a flail, the spiked ball resting on the ground by his armoured heels. They're labelled '~16' . End ID.]

Read more for some wordy backstory and sketches. TW for mentions of torture, abuse and solitary confinement surrounding the twins.

I had...so many more ideas that I'm leaving out to keep this short. It's fun to think how she'd mesh with the cast.

Like! her and Lady. Mother that lost her kid and kid that lost her mother. It writes itself how much unwitting projection can go wrong. And pretty much everything about her, the twins, and Trish :)

In terms of backstory:

After the fire she's alone. Her birth family disowned her long ago. She thinks about revamping the mansion but the idea of staying in that empty space with only memories for company is too much. So she eventually opens a small store.

Starts off paranoid and distant. Still is distant but gets entangled with the local community overtime. Greets people by name and they'll chat about how life has been going. This includes demon hunters and demons and supernatural beings living peacefully; her shop becomes a small safe haven to exchange information to stay safe.

Gets very good at forging protective charms. Haunted by the memory of the enchanted closet, smashed in and empty.

A regular is a schoolgirl who originally came to pick up reserved books for her father but stuck around because hey, this place is quiet and interesting, and the owner serves stellar teacakes. Great place to study. To Mary, Eva's kind, though odd, secretive and a little lonely.

I got inspired by Eva's association with the bangle/bracelet of time and the amulets for her fighting style. It's based around item crafting, like an RPG character slapping on every stat boosting item.

She stitches together different outfits for different needs Cardcaptor style. They're all exceedingly dramatic. It's not clear here but I wanted a bird motif to eventually come through. Phoenix motif, really.

[ID: Rough sketches: A magician esque outfit with vest, feathered tophat and cape. A longcoat with long skirt and long scarf at her back like a cape. The cape is tagged with 'spells stitched into fabric'. Close ups on the coat lapel show two pins (strawberry and wing), labelled 'charm lapel pins.' Close up of the shoes show sharp heals and ankle bracelets. Eva leaping in a black bodysuit and leotard, with feathery collar, quill behind her ear, and ballet shoes with a claw at the heel. Eva making a triangular 2 hand sign in a hooded cloak and longskirt. Around her shoulders are claws. At her hips is an hourglass. Above her heeded head is a clocklike halo. Beside her is a sketch of a woman with a lionhead mask. A funeral and wedding dress inspired outfit. Eva crouches, wielding the Devil Sword Sparda in scythe form. Her face is covered by a tattered veil. She wears a knee length ruffled dress, black gloves, and a long, ruffled cape. Close up of her left hand shows a ring and finger claws Rough comic. Chibi lady talks to chibi Eva. Lady holds up a black body suit with billowing sleeves and a cleavage window. Lady: "Eva what is this" Eva (smiling cheerfully): "Oh - that old thing!" Eva: "My old hunting outfit. Gosh I'd almost forgotten about it. Not the most comfortable thing - so skin tight..." However Lady fixates on 'my old hunting outfit'. The words go in one ear and come out as a younger Eva in a catsuit, pointing a gun with a serious expression, wind blowing through her hair. Lady stares into the distance, bewildered, and slightly blushing. End ID]

Meanwhile the twins are having a terrible time but they have each other, even if they don't remember they're brothers. I think it'd be sweet if they have a bond anyway. Everyone else thinks they're rivals at best.

(Nelo is Mundus' favourite to toy with as the proud, eldest son. But when he gets rough, Bianco butts in and acts up for Mundus' attention. This gets him sent to solitary confinement; Mundus figured out Bianco hates small spaces and designed an iron maiden for him. Others think Bianco is a brute who acts out for a fight. But that's ok. It means Bianco can keep buying Nelo time.) (When lucid, Nelo despises his own weakness when this happens.)

[ID: 2 Images. Nelo and Bianco Angelo in fisticuffs in a cartoony dustcloud, glaring at each other as they fight. They're captioned 'Mundus' most competent generals'. Additional text: 'silent, obedient, crushing force when apart. Perfect soldiers. ... until they're put together. Complement each other's battle style OR clash terribly. Nelo Angelo staring off, arms crossed and furrowed eyes somehow expressing being completely fed up. Behind him, Bianco and Griffin talk at each other. Griffin's glaring. Bianco has a hand up to gesture. End ID]

[cainhart]

My brief theories on hybrid psychology, biology, lifespan, historical connections to our world, and the possibility of other hybrids in the DMC world aside from the loser twins and Nero.

In Devil May Cry, being a hybrid is not exactly seen as a freak of nature but rather as something disgraceful on the demons' side. The reason for this is quite simple: humans are considered "food" for demons. Human blood is both literally and spiritually a fuel, an essential substance that feeds the demons. The fact that a demon has "disgraced" itself to the point of mating with "food" is a big deal among demons. A lot of Devil May Cry media comment on this—it's even directly said of Sparda that he "turned into a lustful monkey," because, in their eyes, humans are lustful monkeys. Worse, humans die very quickly; they're weak and fragile. You can imagine how much worse it is for demons, where power is everything.

As for humans, there is no canon information about their perspective that I know of. My theory is that some of the "demigods" and mythological figures mentioned in the history of the world are hybrids who were born on Earth before the separation of the two worlds, but that's a topic for another day. As far as we know, the hybrids that are on Earth right now are Dante, Vergil, Nero, and (probably) Matier.

What confuses me more is biology. Humans and demons are different species, even though they were once "one." And even devils differ from each other by looks, too. While Mundus looks like a human man, particularly Zeus, Sparda looks like a bug. Agrosax has both a female and a male body. But it looks like they can alter their looks and DNA enough to have a human-like body by using their demonic magic. And they can have hybrids, hybridity works strangely in humans and animals too.

In Homo sapiens-Neanderthal hybrids, only the female was fertile.

In the animal kingdom, female hybrids are usually fertile unless there is a direct biological problem.

This is a Mule. A hybrid born from a female horse and a male donkey. Female Mule can only breed with male horses. Male Mule are infertile.

This is a Hinny, born from a female donkey and a male horse. Both male and female ones are infertile.

Liger's are both thought to be unfertile, but like Mule's, female Liger's can breed with male lions, creating Liliger. Tigon females are fertile, but males are not. A female Tigon and a male tiger had bred and created Titigon.

The reason for this is Haldane's Rule. When I tried to apply it to demon-human hybrids, I came up with something quite funny: Vergil shouldn't have been able to have a child. The Sparda twins are supposed to be infertile. But if we replace this with demon fuckery, we get at least the following result:

Male hybrid: Can breed with human females. Cannot breed with demon females. Cannot breed with Hybrid females.

Female hybrid: Cannot breed with human males. Can breed with demon males. Cannot breed with Hybrid males. A sad day for people with Vergil/hybrid!Nero's mother OCs because hybrids are unable to breed and produce offspring. Probably. Their partial infertility isn’t the strange part—that’s expected. Hybrids are known to have accelerated healing, incredible strength, agility, speed—the list goes on. These are part of their demonic heritage. But the truly fascinating aspect is how it plays into their biology. The human body can't display even half the strength of hybrids unless adrenaline is involved. If humans could perform such actions, our muscles would tear, our bones would break, and our blood vessels would rupture. Not to mention the risk of brain hemorrhage, blood coming out of the eyes and ears, or even heart attacks. The reason hybrids don’t suffer from these conditions might be due to their superior healing abilities, but even that explanation only scratches the surface. It’s directly related to the fact that they are hybrids.

The reason why Dante and Vergil can fall or jump from great heights (with Vergil literally falling into hell and only fainting, and Dante jumping off a cliff in DMC4) and continue on as if nothing happened is perhaps due to the high ratio of collagen, protein, and hydroxyapatite in their bones. This trait likely begins developing in the womb, as their bodies produce an abundance of osteoblasts. However, it would be nearly impossible for human women to survive such pregnancies. The human body would struggle to provide the immense amount of nutrition a half-demon child requires, leading to either a miscarriage or the mother dying from malnutrition and exhaustion. This could explain why hybrids are so rare.

How Eva carried TWO hybrid babies remains a mystery, but Sparda was likely-no, surely highly active during and after the pregnancy. Otherwise, Eva would not have survived, since there are six hours between Vergil and Dante’s births.

I believe that if a hybrid woman ever became pregnant by a human male or a hybrid male, her pregnancy would be shorter. Since hybrids are not fully human, their bodies function in a way that's almost like Homo sapiens 2.0. Their growth factors would be insane: -Growth hormone would be highly elevated. -their IGF1 would be mutated, leading to significantly increased cell growth and development -mutated CDKs would regulate the cell cycle to promote faster cell division and growth. -placental efficiency would be enhanced, with Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor doubling the blood flow and nutrition supply. The cyncytin genes would also be more active. Anyway, you get the picture. Hybrid women could grow and pack a whole ass baby in about 4 months and call it a day. This process may be even faster in Devil Trigger form, but Hybrids can't hold their DT long enough. What bugs my mind is whether female hybrids would have periods. I think so? But the duration and intensity would likely differ from human women. One day I will write in-depth about female and male hybrid anatomy but for now, this is enough.

Another thing is, assuming hybrids are not easily cut or pierced by mundane weapons, their skin must produce high levels of keratin. Keratin is a protein that gives nails their hardness and forms the outer layer of the skin (epidermis). The calcification—the storage of calcium salts in the skin—must be high. At the same time, neither Dante, Nero, nor Vergil have any scars, acne scars, blackheads, or blemishes. Their skin heals perfectly, restoring itself to its original state. The white blood cells of hybrids must be working like crazy lol. To put it crudely, when they get a cut—or any wound, for that matter the white cells ring alarm bells and rush to close the wound. Blood clotting (hemostasis) begins, then cytokines are released and after that the bleeding stops, what follows is tissue formation (Proliferation). This happens in such a short time that it is hard to believe. At the same time, as I mentioned above, the high collagen and keratin ratios of hybrids also prevent scars. It's really strange.

Another thing is that hybrids have a highly developed sense of smell, hearing and sight. In DMC5, Dante could smell Urizen from quite a distance. And demons, even hybrids, have their own scent. According to Dante, it's not a nice smell. That's my guess, too. I think the sons of Sparda are fire-based demons, considering their devil trigger form (I don't know what to think of Nero because his DT form is very vague and very humanoid. But he still can be a fire-based demon, considering Sparda, Agrosax, and Berial are prolly fire-based demons but none look alike). Therefore, the smell of all three could be like burnt flesh or a sooty, weird grotesque smell which I like the idea of. This is probably the smell of their demon blood mixing with their human blood. The hybrids smell must differ from each other based on their type. We've seen demons from the four elements throughout the series, but I think there could be more concept-based demons, like ‘darkness’ because nobody knows where to put these demons, so they just call them darkness or void… things like that. Even though we humans are the same species, we can give ourselves different names to feel special, so it's not surprising.

Hybrids also have the ability to sense energy. This is something we humans possess as well since we live in an energy field and are always in touch with it, we can feel the energies around us. It’s the same for hybrids, but their ability to transfer and sense energy is far beyond what we can ever achieve. It’s canon that demonic energies can bring a hybrid’s demon side to the surface, calling and provoking it. In Deadly Fortune, when Yamato is fixed/healed by Nero, Dante feels a sudden and all-too-familiar demonic energy that unintentionally triggers his demonic side for a moment. This is Yamato’s call. Dante’s demon side is provoked by her and, inevitably, by Vergil’s energy because I wholeheartedly believe Yamato contains a part of Vergil’s soul. They are inbound.

Not much is known about how long hybrids live, but they do age, as we’ve seen with Dante and Matier. Interestingly, Matier lived long enough to meet Sparda. I think hybrids outlive humans, and an average lifespan of 300 years, like Tieflings. I’ll delve into the biological factors of this separately another time.

In the Devil May Cry anime, there’s an episode about a devil’s sincere love for a human. This kinda confirmed my belief that there MUST be other hybrids besides shit twins, Nero and Matier. People in love sometimes have sex, and if they want to, children are born as a result. However, based on what I mentioned earlier, I’m not sure how healthy the pregnancy would be.

The character themes are the best source for understanding the inner conflict a hybrid experiences. Their demon and human souls and blood clash with each other, fighting to see which will come out as the victor. This is evident even with Nero, which is interesting because he’s only about 15% demon, having a hybrid dad and a human mom. It’s weird because, physically, demon blood is dominant, but according to the lore, the human soul is superior. Nero has so little demon blood that he nearly lacks the demonic smell (Dante in Deadly Fortune and Malphas in Devil May Cry 5 comments about this). He’s more human than the twins—a very domestic boy. His psyche should be stronger than the twins. 

Dante's theme songs, however, are understandable, he is a half-breed, a perfect balance of two opposite sides. We see that these demonic urges are directed toward other demons, but I’m curious about whether hybrids have any violent urges toward humans. They are half-demon, after all. Demons are the predators of humans—Sparda himself ate humans before he awoke to justice. We humans even have cannibalistic urges, thanks to female genome transaction, our time cannibalizing each other has scorched into our brains.  Human blood is not just tasty to demons yet hybrids are not berserkers or lesser demons with zero intelligence. They have a brain and a human heart; I don’t see them openly fantasizing about mauling or eating people. But I’m pretty sure the smell of human blood would be appealing to them. It might be like smelling a barbecue and thinking, “Damn, that smells good.” But maybe it wouldn’t be enticing enough to make them attack or eat people. You wouldn't want to eat an alive cow while it stands there cowly, eating grass. You may even interact with it in a nonaggressive way. That’s how I think hybrids would act towards humans if they were in control. Yeah, IF. Returning to Sparda Kin’s theme songs, the inner conflict of a hybrid makes sense with what I’ve said earlier. When you lose control and your demonic side takes over, you essentially leave part of your human consciousness in the hands of an apex predator. In such moments, you could harm those you love or innocent people, or commit worse acts. In the Bible, Nephilim are said to eat humans. This is, of course, a biased point of view, assuming that Abrahamic religions derive their sources from ancient records. But these Nephilim (hybrids) are not all the same; they are all different from each other and this is proven by science, human hybrids and animal hybrids are always different. It is also said that Nephilim are immortal, but there is no explicit mention that they are truly immortal; they simply die. However, the existence of man-eating Nephilim might suggest that some hybrids would indeed have a desire to eat humans. By the way, Nephilim are directly related to our world and the DMC hybrid concept—giants. Hybrids result from the mating of Annunaki people left on Earth with humans.

And don't even get me started on the creepy similarity between the Annunaki legend and Sparda and Mundus. :l

Well, uhh, that's all. I didn't touch on everything I wanted to touch on, but this post would be too long if I let myself go. Have a good day!

[car-goes-brrr]

Back on my yap because I’ve wanted to mention this for a while

-

From the way I see it, Mundus must’ve been obsessed with the Sparda twins, especially Vergil.

Firstly we know that Mundus is kind of a mad-scientist type because of him constantly making demons (all of dmc1 demons were made by him). Most importantly, Nightmare, he literally took a bunch of demons, slapped them into one and realised he created a monstrosity that could even kill him. So that proves the whole Mad Scientist thing.

Then, because Vergil wasn’t concealing his identity, unlike Dante, Mundus literally stalked this young boy, collected data on him and how he fights and created a clone of him (Gilver) who he then sent to attack Dante. Knowing that Mundus stalked Vergil for who knows how long, he definitely caught onto Vergil wanting to reach Sparda’s level of power. He’s definitely seen what Vergils true intentions are (to never feel the pain and weakness he did the night Mundus killed his mother), and realised how weak mentally Vergil was in that state. Maybe he knew that Vergil was going to make his way to the Underworld one way or another.

This brings on my next point. The Proto-Angelo’s show that Mundus had probably wanted Vergil under his control but needed the perfect armour to do that. I think that maybe he ordered Machiavelli to do that, since we know he created the armours. Going along with the Mad Scientist and Mundus’ obsession with God-likeness, he was probably a perfectionist and needed the armour to be exactly perfect to keep Vergil trapped within.

Quick mention: I know that the 2005 DMC1 comics aren’t canon. But it really intrigued me how in those comics, Mundus “adopts” Nelo-Angelo. Going as far as to call him son. Ofc Mundus is a villain, very manipulative and deceptive. But it took me by surprise for him to not only brainwash Vergil, but to also use his admiration towards his father against him and make him think Mundus is his father. Once again, the comics aren’t canon but maybe this part could be.

Long story short: Mundus is an obsessive creep but super interesting as a villain (like what do you mean the world was covered in snow when he was born????) and I wish we got to see more of him

[polarisbibliotheque]

Devil May Halloween - The Samhain Ritual - Vergil's Path

Devil May Halloween 2023 - The Samhain Ritual, Vergil's Path

Pairing: Vergil x Reader

Summary: It’s finally Halloween and, even if the demons are a lot more active this time of the year, that doesn’t stop you from going on hunts - the partying can be done later. Or… At least that was what you thought. Maybe Nero had pretty good reasons to worry about that job after all.

Author's Notes: Fucking finally part 2 hahahaha I deeply apologize for taking so long to post Vergil's part. As some of you might have seen here, my dad suffered an accident and my life turned upside down the last few months - I'm still managing, doing damage control hahaha but slowly getting back on track with my writing.

But here is Vergil's part! Be sure to read the Prologue first to understand this madness and, if you're a Dante appreciator, fret not, the red devil part is here.

I have to thank my dear friend @furyeclipse for sending me this idea as an ask a thousand years ago - and now, it is finally done! You can check Fury's work on ao3 right here, I highly recommend it!

I'm also going through a phase of powerful monsters (vampires, demons, the whole unholy pantheon) being on their knees for their human partner and, oh boy, it shows. I'm not apologizing. Oh. And the Helen of Troy/Sparta is NOT a gendered thing. It's more of being recognized as the most beautiful among mortals, enough to cause a war for their love. And yes there's a Ghost reference in there, I FINALLY got to properly listen to their music and man, why did I sleep on them for so long??

Devil May Halloween 2023 - Vergil's Path

Demonic marriages. There was a topic you had to admit you were completely ignorant about.

Vergil had mentioned it once. You did ask him when Sparda’s and Eva’s union arose as a subject in one of your researches one day – for, as far as you knew, marriages were religious and it did make you wander if demons had their own religion or only rituals.

That subject was very muddy, as per Vergil’s words. His own knowledge on the matter was very limited – and that was something new for you.

“Hmmm. A very good question indeed.” Vergil murmured as he put down his book on the table, raising his silvery eyes to you. The library was dead quiet, but his voice was always so low it wasn’t a concern – even if you both were the only living beings in that place at that hour. “You could say some demons are powerful enough to be viewed as gods, but those would be only the likes of Mundus.”

“And Sparda…?” Oh, you had to ask. After all, wasn’t Sparda the only demon strong enough to defeat Mundus? Who could ever defeat a being as powerful as a god? Only a god as well, at least in your mortal eyes.

Vergil allowed a proud smile to spread over his lips as nodded in agreement.

“Well, we do have Fortuna as an example of people worshipping demons as gods, so humans praying to demons doesn’t really surprise me. There are plenty of cults and even churches who do that.” You shrugged, organizing your books and papers, passing him a list of demonic cults you had been keeping track over the years. You weren’t one to judge, but, seeing your occupation was to slaughter demons, it was always good to keep an eye on them. “Eva and Sparda getting married made me wonder. Marriages are very religious, how did Sparda deal with that? Given his story, I don’t think it was only a civil ceremony for government benefits, right?”

“Right indeed…” Vergil once again murmured, curiously reading your list. It was a very thorough and good document, and he couldn’t stop himself to think how it was smart of you to do that. He had a list of people to keep an eye on as well now. “I’ve never really wondered about that as a child, for I didn’t know much of the world back then. We tend to accept that what we see and what it’s said to be true… But after I started researching and learning, it did spark my interest. As far as I can tell you, my father accepted my mother’s faith and married her by her rules, not the opposite. He would never do that just out of a civil agreement, he really did it for love.”

“So even with the power of gods, demons don’t have religions.”

“Again, that is a very good question. I never could really answer it with certainty.” Vergil sighed, leaving your list on the table between you and raising his silvery eyes to yours once more. “As impressive as it sounds, demons don’t lack faith. Some of them do worship more powerful demons as deities, and some of them do join each other in cults. As far as I could observe in Hell, they are very similar to humans on that matter: each has their own set of rules and beliefs and most of them kill each other for their ‘gods’.”

“Huh. Humanity once again proving they can be quite demonic.” You scoffed while rolling your eyes. Religious wars were as old as History itself and it was quite ironic for you to hear that was something present in demonic History as well.

“Or demons proving once again they have something of human after all.” Vergil shrugged after observing you a few long seconds, before turning his eyes to another one of his books again. “I’d argue not all humans, though. Differently from demons, most of them save themselves from being devilish and evil.”

“Hmmm. A few demons can also save themselves from that fate.” You had a slight smile on your lips, turning to your tea mug nearby. “And those who do can be even kinder than humans.”

That conversation would find its end right there that night, as both of you went back to your books and research – but you were able to see a slight smile on Vergil’s lips and how his eyes seemed to have softened after that.

Even if your Dark Slayer could soften under your words, you doubted other demons would do that – and even went as far as doubting they would have something close to a human heart. Vergil was different from all the demons in that place; and so, marriage was the last word you ever expected to hear.

But there you were, locked in a derelict room with Kyrie, surrounded by the long gone gothic architecture of a cathedral that once stood proud among those lands – now rotten, decayed, desecrated and with its colorful glass mosaics shattered everywhere, it was taken by demons to perform their unholy ritual.

“We’re really in it now, aren’t we Kyrie…?” You sighed back to the only human soul with you in that place – the only hope in that godforsaken night, lit only by the flickering warm light of candles. “Marriage. I did not expect it would be this way, though, I’ll tell you that much.”

“I didn’t expect it either…” Kyrie sighed in complete desolation, staring at a loose stone on the floor. “Nero is going to be so mad.”

“I can only imagine.” You answered with a giggle, taking a seat at rotten wood bench that once served as a place for priests to read while doing their own religious researches. “I don’t think Vergil is going to be very pleased as well.”

“Oh.” And it finally seemed to down on Kyrie who your lover was and how much trouble those demons were in. “Did he… Ever tell you about something like this…?”

“Well, marriage is not really a topic that usually arises with Vergil…” You had your eyes lost on an old bookcase, imagining if any of those would be worth a read. Not that you had too much time for that at the moment, but you were quite disturbed. If it was only you in that situation, you would be more at ease, but Kyrie’s presence changed everything. “But he did tell me about a similar ritual between humans and demons. The human usually isn’t a consenting participant though.”

Raising your eyes to hers, Kyrie felt a shiver down her spine. She knew exactly what you meant and that whole situation was also quite frightening for her – in a matter of fact, she probably wasn’t that scared because you were there; but even that didn’t help much. Not when both of you had no idea what was going on.

“I hate the fact they took my weapons. I’m thinking of a thousand ways to get out of here, but I can’t do it without at least my sword.” You rested your head on one of your hands, looking completely defeated. Kyrie had pity in her eyes, sitting by your side right after.

“Well… This isn’t exactly the sort of wedding dress I would choose either.” She sighed in desolation making you snort a quick laugh. “I’m not comfortable in this. I can only imagine how naked you feel.”

“Don’t tell me about it…” You rolled your eyes, pointing at your own attire. You and Kyrie looked positively ridiculous: it was as if the demon in charge of your clothes had only seen a bunch of 80’s movies depicting marriages and thought they had to be even more over the top than that. You could barely move in your own clothes and hated every single second of being in that thing. “If I at least had my gun, I’d shoot the bastard who thought this was acceptable.”

Kyrie had to giggle. It was always endearing to see how some of Vergil’s mannerisms spilled into yours over the time and vice versa. Your voice was as sharp as a piece of ice and your eyes had the same predatorial gaze – even if your words sounded funny in context.

“Couldn’t you use your summoned swords? Like Vergil?”

“I could but I shouldn’t.” Your answer was a little slow, because you were considering it. Using summoned swords was always an advantage, but it did come with its limitations. “Vergil is teaching me how to use all his arcane knowledge, little by little… But I’m human.” As you looked at Kyrie, she seemed to immediately understand what you meant: after all, she was the human companion of a half-demon as well. “It takes a lot of energy. Vergil can tap into his demonic energy that, honestly, it can power a whole city when he’s in the right mood. When it comes to me, though, I can only go so far. It takes a lot more concentration and I can do it only for a while – I’m a novice at it even, so I can’t hold it for too long. I need to train a lot more to be able to take an entire mission, for example.”

“Hmmm. It’s just like when Nero trains me with Credo’s sword…” Kyrie mumbled, resting her head on both of her hands, while her elbows leaned on her knees. You had to giggle: she looked like a bummed out child. “It’s so heavy, I can only do a couple of moves and I get tired quickly.”

“Is that why you’ve been training strength at the gym recently…?” You couldn’t stop yourself from smiling. There was something of sweet about that.

Your little angel was soon going to become a buffed little angel waving a big ass sword around. You loved that concept. Nero’s jaw would hit the floor.

“Exactly.” But Kyrie had the most angelic of smiles on her lips. You knew how it was important to her to be able to use Credo’s sword, even if it was just to protect herself and the children of the orphanage – she was never going to become a devil hunter like you. But she was going to be a guardian angel… Like Credo would’ve been if Sanctus hadn’t taken him away in that demonic cult in Fortuna.

Before you could say anything else, though, you felt a shift in the air. Furrowing your brows, you immediately got up from your seat and put yourself in front of Kyrie: whatever it was, it would have to go through you first. She didn’t say a word, seeming to hide behind you and that horrid thing you were wearing – which didn’t really work, seeing how evident her own dress was.

With a few sparks, one of the demon lords spawned right in front of you: Erlach.

“Everything seems to be ready for the ceremony, then. Good.” His smile spread across his leathery skin as a row of a thousand sharp knives. Erlach carried horns and claws, eyes with desolation and the fiery pits of his home, and a set of large wings fit for an overgrown bat – but something about his features were astoundingly human. Demon lords could tower over humans, sometimes even taller than doors, and carry all the might and horror of Hell, but their kind were built in resemblance with their mortal peers – which wasn’t very common when it came to demons.

“When you force your guests to take part in it, things do get ready at your will, demon.” You had that typical coldness in your eyes – the type that would make the will of a lesser demon waiver. It wasn’t the case with Erlach, though: a spark seemed to have crossed his eyes, as he stared at you for a few seconds with interest.

“Apologize being so rude, but I do think you wouldn’t have come this far out of free will, human.” He spat back, allowing a smile to take over his features once more. It wasn’t the most inviting thing you had ever seen, you had to be honest.

“With this sort of attire, I certainly wouldn’t have.”

To your surprise, Erlach laughed in response. You quickly shared a glare with Kyrie, both of you uneasy with such… Tolerance from him.

“I might have to agree with you. Now, come. I wish to speak to you in private – we have enough to discuss.”

*

Before you could even respond, you blinked and suddenly, you were in an old study. Probably a part of the cathedral that only priests had access, with private rooms where they could make their own little libraries and studies – the desk had books and documents all over it, the fire was lit and a thousand candles burned in orange to give light to one of the deepest nights of the year.

You tried not to sigh: demonic teleportation was always a nuisance to you. Your human body still had to get used to that and you always got a little angry at Vergil when he void teleported you with Yamato: he was wise to always ask your permission first and, if it happened during an emergency and it was the only thing available for him to protect you, he knew he was in for some serious complaining from your part later.

Honestly, Vergil would rather have you safe, complaining at him and as mad as a human could be than have you harmed in a place he couldn’t protect you. He was actually getting well versed in dealing with your void teleportation complaints.

“Your kind isn’t very prone to conversations.” You had to point out, taking a deep breath. Your dizziness would be gone in a few seconds and you didn’t want Erlach to know how much it affected you. “Mindless dismemberments and self-boasting talk seem to be the preferred route for demons.”

“Lesser demons. Demon lords do have a different approach to things… And deals.” Erlach walked around his table, skimming over some documents before turning his fiery eyes to you and smiling once more. “The brainless dismembering style is still preferred by some, though. Like Orcus.”

“The second demon lord here tonight.” As you noted, Erlach seemed to have enjoyed your answer. It meant you were paying attention, not only trying to escape. “Demons are quite selfish as well, I wouldn’t expect to see your kind engaging in alliances. Or is that something peculiar to demon lords as well…?”

Yes, you were trying to provoke him – it was in your fighting style, in your blood. When fighting against demons, they all boasted how terrible they were, how they would smash you into a paste on the pavement and feast on your bones. You had to know how to answer at the same level or the fear would get to you. After all, you were fighting against supernatural things on a daily basis, obviously faster and stronger than you. If you didn’t taunt them to inspire a little bit of fear and belittle them before your humanity, you would cower in a corner and wait for certain death.

It was something Vergil admired on you, though. You had everything to fear those you fought against – and, sometimes, you knew you were overpowered by them. Even so, you wouldn’t allow that to show, you would masterfully control your emotions and only let out those you allowed your enemies to see. Vergil was quite proud of that.

“It’s peculiar to those of us who rather use our minds instead of our powers.” Erlach’s eyes lost all interest they had on the documents and were immediately glued to you and you only. Not once you shifted your gaze, and not once your body seemed to want to run away. You just stood there, immobile, gazing back at his fiery eyes with the same conviction as his – waiting the rest of his answer. “You see, I could break your bones with the flick of my wrist, but that wouldn’t be so fun, would it…?” Erlach approached with a slight smile on his lips, some fun playing in his words. His steps were slow and calculated, everything he could to inspire fear in your human heart. “There’s so much more in this world than bending it to your will by force.”

“It is a lot easier. Or so did Mundus think.” You crossed your arms and slightly raised your head, failing to notice how arrogant you looked… Just like Vergil used to be. Dante said one day both of you would get your ass kicked for looking cocky and, well, your day might have arrived. You wouldn’t let your pride slip out of you, tough, and something about Erlach’s demeanor made you think he wasn’t really annoyed by it. His feelings were… Something else.

“It didn’t take him too far, did it…?” Erlach raised one of his eyebrows, slowly approaching you once again. He looked like a predator ready to pounce on his pray, but instead of running, you maintained your posture. The one the Dark Slayer taught you. The one from knowing the power of being tied to the blood of Sparda. “Mundus was arrogant to think humans were only meat.”

“Apparently we are unwilling wedding participants too.” You scoffed, making Erlach laugh in response. You had to hide how his reaction took you by surprise: how much did you have to taunt him for that demon lord to finally lose his temper? “I don’t suppose you brought me here only to properly propose to me.”

“Differently from the Spardas, I do believe in taking some things by force.” Erlach’s voice had a delight laced in his words that made you… Slightly uncomfortable. “The ritual is taking place tonight, whether you and your friend agree to it or not. I just wanted to look into your eyes and see what the son of Sparda, the Dark Slayer who had been locked in Hell for decades, saw in you. A bond between a demon and any mortal creature isn’t one to be taken lightly.”

“Well, then you aren’t in luck. I am not married to Vergil, nor do I think he will ever want to be.” Your answer was certain and, to the demon’s surprise, carried no tinge of bitterness. You and Vergil had an agreement regarding your relationship: he would be with you for as long as you would have him, but he would never think of binding you to his fate like his father did to his mother. You had said countless times you didn’t mind and you weren’t afraid, but it wasn’t something Vergil was ready for. And you could respect that. “Our bond is not what you think it is.”

“Oh, it is exactly what I think it is.” Erlach’s words carried a truth you feared you weren’t able to see at the moment – as if he knew something you didn’t. You had to control your feelings not to furrow your brows and allow him to see your confusion, hiding it under your unbothered and strong demeanor – like whatever words he said could never affect you. “It isn’t a ceremonial bond, but one of souls. The heart does not lie, my exquisite guest, and the Spardas seem to be haunted by their father’s heartful curse.” His fingers grasped an old piece of paper in one of the desks by your side; Erlach’s indifferent eyes analyzed its contents while he spoke. “I will never understand why Sparda decided not to follow our rituals. He could’ve been great; Greater than Mundus himself. But he chose to diminish and turn himself as human as he could be… and look at what happened to him and his family. A shame, really.” He tossed aside the paper, and you could see an old picture of Sparda and Eva, falling apart from how old it was. Probably cut out from a book, looking like a painting; a portrait made long ago, before Dante and Vergil were even born. “Our marriage is called a binding ritual. It requires two souls to connect, and it makes one of them more powerful than one could ever dream of.”

“Hmmm. It requires one to diminish itself and be a powerless servant, then. I can see why Sparda discarded this option.” He would’ve never done such a thing to Eva, and that you had learned from all the stories Vergil told you from his parents. If you had only known the story from the books and popular tales, you would’ve asked yourself the same thing and have the same questions Erlach had – but you did have Sparda’s own son to tell the story. To paint you how his father was warm, stern, yes, but still kind, graceful and loving… To paint him as human. In all his adoration for Eva, he would never think of turning her into a powerless slave to his will. That was not what love was. “You still have much to learn.”

Erlach’s fiery eyes immediately met yours – but they didn’t carry the offense you thought they would. There was something else inside his demonic eyes. Was it… Excitement? Maybe…?

“Oh, little human, you have much to learn then to think some wouldn’t appreciate being slaves to their partner’s will. It is all a matter of pleasure.” His smile, though, immediately made you uncomfortable. If that subject had been mentioned by Vergil, you would definitely answer with a sassy smile and state that, in a matter of fact, you did know about that – and see where that conversation with your devilish partner would get you. But with Erlach…? It sounded more like a warning rather than anything else. Definitely a red flag waving in front of you. “The other soul does get something in return – some very important things in Hell: protection and status. Desecrating the partner of one of the most powerful demons to ever live could easily be a death sentence to whatever demon foolish enough to do so.”

“If that is the case, and I am bonded to Vergil, I wonder how foolish you have to be to willingly kidnap and forcefully wed the partner of the King of Hell.”

You wouldn’t admit it out loud. You wouldn’t even say it in front of Dante and Nero. Whenever the subject decided to appear, you just nodded, agreeing with the others that what Vergil did was horrifying and terribly wrong.

But you couldn’t deny the power trip on the rare occasions you decided to flex Vergil’s King of Hell title.

It had its perks.

“Only foolish if I don’t finish the ritual in time, my little human. I was also careful enough to find myself some leverage.” Erlach immediately waved at the door, referring to Kyrie. You didn’t want to sigh in acknowledgement, but that was enough to at least try to put some halt in Vergil’s murderous rampage. Or to make Nero hold his father on a leash if Vergil just decided to recklessly kill everything on sight. You had some serious concerns those demons heavily understated Vergil’s power. “I had no intentions to let Orcus partake in this ritual but I did need a brute to carry out most of the killing; it would be terribly boring.” With those words, Erlach approached enough to stop right in front of you. At any moment you flinched or decided to walk back, even if everything in your being wanted to put some very good distance between the both of you. Preferably a Vergil of distance. “Therefore, he can bind himself to the weakest of partners. The grandson of Sparda clearly isn’t as attuned to power as Sparda’s spawns.”

“Only a demon would think a human heart is weaker than a devil’s will.” You scoffed in response, raising your head once even higher – in part to be able to look at Erlach directly in his eyes. Vergil’s gaze could cut like the sharpest of ice, and you had seen those silvery eyes in their worst. Erlach’s gaze was nothing compared to the Dark Slayer. “Maybe that was the source of Sparda’s power, have you ever thought of that?”

You would never throw a demon lord like Erlach at Kyrie, but you were quite certain he wouldn’t appreciate the truth to your words and would never turn to the crew’s little angel as the most powerful of partners. Demons could be quite predictable in your book.

“Hmmm. Maybe humans measure their status through empathy, but in Hell…” Erlach’s eyes leveled with yours, his head bowing to be able to share his gaze with you – and, instead of fear, he found something else… Something closer to pride. You were the counterpart of the King of Hell after all, weren’t you? You would never bow your head and lose your crown, Erlach was beginning to understand that. And appreciate that. “We measure through power. And you carry quite the power within you, dearest human. Vergil, the Son of Sparda, wouldn’t accept any less with all the titles he carries. He is part demon, after all.”

That was some food for thought that had never crossed your mind before. Yes, Vergil was partly human, but without a doubt, it was Dante who got most of Eva’s heart. Vergil always took pride in his demonic heritage and power, and always found solace in that – he slowly came to terms with his own humanity and learned to appreciate the human heart, but the thirst for power ran deep in his demonic veins. He did see something in you more than your human empathy… Or else, his devil would never consider bowing to you.

“Hmmm. If all you search is power then, you can always betray Orcus and perform the ritual only for yourself.” You had a spark of sharp intelligence in your eyes, making Erlach widen his smile as the words poured from your lips. “Surely a creature like you wouldn’t mind some backstabbing and murder to keep all the power to yourself.”

“Oh, my sweet temptation, I have to say, I love the way you think…!” Now his voice had a trail of smoldering lust that not even you could deny it was there. Yes, you were trying to manipulate the demon into killing Orcus and leaving only one demon lord for you to deal with – which would make your life quite easy – and probably releasing Kyrie while at it. But you never expected your little game to backfire so gloriously: perhaps Vergil was right when he said you still had a thing or two to learn about his kind. “And I know what you are trying to do – very exciting. A battle of wits and manipulation with a devil, you are truly fearless.” You didn’t think Erlach couldn’t approach you even more, but there he was, towering over you in a way you could almost feel his hot breath on your face. Even if you wanted to void-teleport Vergil right between you at that very moment, you wouldn’t back down – it wasn’t in you. “When all this started, I thought only to bond with a powerful creature of human blood – now… You have proven to be spellbounding, sweet sweet creature. I see what Vergil saw in you: all the cleverness, might, strength, wits; all that fire.” With those words, Erlach offered you his hand, with those fiery eyes staring inside your soul. “I will take you as my partner, but you can do it willingly. I will give you protection and you will be royalty in Hellish realms. You will rule by my side: everything we want is ours for the taking, and anything you ask, I will give you. Kingdoms, realms, worlds. Every living creature that has ever taken a breath will bow to us – the world is mine and yours to rule… You just have to say yes.”

Erlach’s words took you by surprise – your head spun and you thought soon your feet wouldn’t know how to keep you stable on the floor. Your plans backfiring was a serious understatement. You never gave Erlach a reason to like you: on the contraire, you only gave him reasons to be extremely annoyed and suspicious of any and all of your actions. He had no hidden agendas in his words, as far as you could see, and it was extremely obvious what was going on.

You just didn’t expect that to happen, out of all the outcomes of that night.

“Why would I do that when I am already royalty?” Your answer, though, came back with the icy stare you learned from your beloved blue devil, crossing your arms once more and raising your head high just like he used to do. It wasn’t something you did consciously – with time, people develop some mannerisms of their loved ones, and you were no different.

You just got Vergil’s arrogance – and you were more than ready to pay for your tongue. That little game between you and Erlach had already gone too far: you had spotted a few things in the room you could use as a weapon and you were ready to go feral if he attacked you because of your insolence.

You were disarmed, though, when Erlach started laughing – a laugh of pure delight.

“I will have to steal, then. Just like Paris did to Helen of Troy.”

“But remember: an entire kingdom burned just so that King Menelaus could have Helen of Sparta back.”

“Indeed, Beautiful Helen. I shall keep that in mind.” With those words, Erlach’s rough hands took one of yours by force and placed a sharp kiss on your soft skin – that seemed to burn like a lingering fire even after you were teleported back to your improvised cell.

You had to sit down. You had to sit down. That night was already becoming quite the ride – and you thought your Halloween nights couldn’t be even wilder than the ones you had already had so far. But there you were, proven wrong, by a demon lord with a crazy ancient ritual that required a demonic marriage. You were flabbergasted, shocked, breathless… And a little scared.

Vergil had always warned you not to play with demons – especially with those who were witty enough to answer at your level. You always thought he warned you so you could dodge being fooled and trapped into a deal you never saw coming in the first place – he never told you one of those creatures could develop feelings towards you.

“Y/n? Are you ok?!” Kyrie rushed towards you, sitting by your side on that bench you were before, checking your temperature. You were still staring at some lost point on the ground, clearly questioning your life choices so far. “Y/n! Did he hurt you?! What happened?!”

“I think one of the most absurd things just happened in this lifetime…” You murmured, finally staring back at her with a concerned look – but somewhat empty eyes. Kyrie just had her eyebrows furrowed, because if something worried you then she should be even more worried. “I think a demon lord just fell in love with me.”

“Ooooh, no…” The dread in Kyrie’s voice could be understood by even the most clueless of creatures. She closed her eyes, already foreseeing chaos and destruction. “Vergil is going to go on a rampage.”

Yes. And, honestly, you weren’t looking forward to that.

*

“I know we are in a hurry…!” Lady was leaning out the open door of the Devil May Cry van while Nico drove furiously right behind Dante’s trail. Screaming at the red devil while on the road wasn’t an easy – nor safe – task, but honestly, Lady had done worse. “But what are you trying to do, cowboy?! Not miss the train?!”

Dante immediately slowed down slightly, just so he could be side by side with the devil hunter he knew since his teen years. Looking up at her, Dante didn’t even have to watch the road to keep on going without running over anything – his demonic insight would make up for that.

“Kinda, Lady.” His answer was a little snarky, even if he didn’t want to. “Hey, kid! How are your instincts with your girl?!”

“Not good, I’ll tell ya that.” Nero growled, almost unable to stand still by Nico’s side. The gunsmith had made a mental note not to bother him through that whole evening: Nero’s fangs were already showing, his eyes had a tinge of gold, and his trigger distortion was already appearing in his voice. If she actually took some time to look at him, she would be able to see claws instead of nails and his hair a little bit longer than usual – almost like they were back in Fortuna. Nico still wasn’t used to half-triggered Nero and she could bet it would take some time. “Kyrie’s heart, she’s anxious. Somethin’s unsettling her. And I don’t like it. At all.”

With those words, Nero finished doing whatever he was doing with Red Queen and his sword clicked back into place, revving up with the engines he had installed long ago.

“If the kid is like that, imagine Vergil.” Dante stated back to Lady and Trish, now leaning by the open door completely unbothered by the speed and the wind. “He’s an idiot, but still, man’s got enough power to level a whole city. He’s an asshat who can control his feelings, alright, but he’s got one hell of a trauma and a thing for protecting. His partner is gone. He’s on a bloodlust rampage, trust me. We gotta get to this place before Vergil, or all hell will break lose.”

“Vergil’s our train. Got it.” Lady immediately turned serious, remembering all the times she had ever seen Vergil fight – and all he could do.

“Nico! Hit the gas pedal! We aren’t gonna get there in time going at this speed.” Trish strutted over the driver’s seat – always keeping an eye on Nero. She knew how half-triggers could be disorienting and dangerous, and she could help in case anything went wrong – after all, she was a full devil and, wanting or not, she could take down Nero in a fight, to some extent, if she ever had to. At least long enough to give Dante time to fight his nephew in a fit of rage.

“Already goin’ as fast as I can, demon lady!” Nico had her cigarette between her teeth and her foot never leaving the gas pedal. Indeed, it was the fastest speed for the van.

“We just gotta give it a spark, then.” With those words, Trish rested one of her hands on the van’s panel, her eyes immediately sparkling with thunderous yellow. Her demonic sparks ran through her body, pooling over her heart and running down her arm, jolting to the van and enveloping it on her signature yellow lighting.

“WOOOOAH!” Nico had to hold her cigarette even tighter, both hands on the wheel as the van seemed to fly on the road. “Are you CRAZY, woman?!”

“Keep your eyes on the road, virtuosa.” And Trish’s own glowing yellow eyes never left the streets. “We’ll make it there on time.”

“That’s what I’m talkin’ about!” Dante couldn’t help but laugh and use part of his own trigger to make Cavaliere go faster, now side by side with the van. “Keep it up, babe!”

They had to make it before Vergil. Dante knew in his heart he was the only one who could speak some logic back to his brother at a moment like that.

*

“Me and Vergil… We have a thing.”

You and Kyrie were being taken to the main event of the night: the ritual at the center of the derelict cathedral, under the light of the moon and the stars, witnessed by demons and the lost souls on the forgotten cemetery nearby. Barely any stained-glass mosaics were left – but those that were gave the cathedral an eerie tinge of color; like ghosts long gone in a place that was once holy. Your steps echoed on the stony ground, and you could hear the crackling of an enormous bonfire in the distance – as well as see the distorted, tall shadows of the demons taking both of you to your doom.

“I’m not saying it’s a good thing. I’m just saying it’s a thing.” You sighed, making her hazelnut eyes stare at you with interest as you walked proudly in front of her. The demons forced Kyrie to walk and kept shoving her until you made them only escort you to the ritual with just a stare of authority – she had to admit, you and Vergil were very much alike in some departments. “I can… Sense him sometimes. And he can sense me, whenever he wants to. It has to do with the arcane studies and the fact that we are partners.” You remained silent for a few seconds, closing your eyes for a while to take a deep breath before opening them again. “He can feel my distress. He knows when I’m worried, anxious, in danger.”

“Hmmm… Nero can do that too… I wonder if it’s a family thing.” Kyrie whispered back, not wanting the other demons to hear your conversation. You kept as close to her as possible, but still walking in front of her: if anything happened, it had better happen to you first.

“I wonder the same, too.” You answered with a breathy laugh, seeing the beauty of Vergil’s son being so alike him sometimes – and you wondered if Sparda had the same with Eva; with your heart already knowing the answer. “Sometimes, I feel Vergil’s rage too. His despair. His loneliness. His pain.” You went silent for a while, not really wanting to elaborate on that. It was the first time you were talking about that to someone on the crew – the first time you told Vergil, you had no idea what to do with those emotions and to say it was a roller coaster of a night to both of you, was an understatement. “What I feel is only a shadow of what he feels. And when he feels me, there is no force on Earth that will stop him. He will find me and, if need be, obliterate whatever is causing me trouble.”

“Oh.”

Kyrie finally understood why you said that wasn’t necessarily a good thing. When it came to her and Nero, their connection was deep and strong – and she had never seen anything like that before. But, the way you were speaking, it was different with you and Vergil… Maybe even stronger. And, when it came to Vergil, that could be for good or for bad.

You had to wonder how it was with Eva and Sparda. He was a demon, after all, and she was human. If Vergil was already that protective towards you, and that ruthless when it came to his enemies, you could see Sparda destroying entire countries for the woman he loved – being a harbinger of nothing but death, ruin and despair, only to have her feeling safe in his arms once again.

The fall of the city of Troy never made so much sense to you before that moment. Even if in the original story Helen’s heart was taken by Paris, still, Menelaus burned, killed, maimed and destroyed everything in his way just so she could be Helen of Sparta again… You could see Vergil and his father doing the same – but, in yours and Eva’s case, you would be longing to be back into their arms once more.

“Vergil is coming. And he is not in his best shape, emotionally speaking.” You whispered back to Kyrie so she could understand the extent of the situation you were in. “What I just felt, I could kill one of these demons with my bare hands. When Vergil’s here, he will do his best not to hurt you, but he is focused in one thing only so… Get out of his way. And I’m not trying to be rude…”

“I understand.” Kyrie whispered back, carefully noticing the demons eyeing each other. She knew you weren’t really giving her a warning, you were playing a little game: planting seeds of terror and discord so they would tear each other apart from the inside just from being afraid of Vergil. It was a clever move and Kyrie would’ve praised you if she had the chance. “I’ve already seen Nero almost go on a rampage. It really isn’t nice. I hope he doesn’t try to join his father, or there will not be a single rock left standing in this cathedral soon enough.”

She decided to play your game, noticing a slight smile of approval on the corner of your lips. All of you hunters always had smart strategies to deal with the demons you did on a daily basis, but, when you were completely stripped of your weapons just like on that moment, you had to resort to other ways of fighting.

Your scheming had to be put to a halt for a while when you approached the decaying wooden doors that opened your path down the church’s aisle – a moth eaten dark red carpet, now almost black from dirt and time, painting the path you should follow; until you would stand side by side with the devil who kidnapped you, now waiting for your presence by a tall bonfire at the center of the cathedral, illuminating an altar right behind Erlach.

Things suddenly seemed even more serious now and your heart sunk in your chest. As you started to walk down the aisle, the demons watching that hellish ceremony chanted and hit their weapons or claws rhythmically on the stony floor. Kyrie was held by one of the demons who guided you towards the aisle, outside of that madness, but soon to go in after your ritual came to an end – after you got married.

A few seconds after your heart seemed to have sunken on the floor, you felt a rage bubbling inside your chest, threatening to come out of your mouth with an earth shattering scream; running through your body like a violent bolt of lightning, resting on your hands that immediately closed to fists as you raised your head high: for a split second, if you saw anything that could be used as a weapon to cut Erlach’s head off its neck, you would’ve taken it and plunged in like a furious beast.

That lightning, though, dissipated as fast as it ran through your body. You didn’t lose your posture and kept walking with certain, hard steps towards your fate – but that blind bloody rage was gone.

It was Vergil.

You knew it was him. It was right after you had that desperate, desolating feeling of not knowing what to do, of watching that harrowing scene right in front of you and not knowing how to get out… Of feeling trapped like a little mouse on a cage. You felt some of Vergil’s emotions in a very fleeting manner – in a bolt of lightning – but he could feel yours more certainly and longingly. That bloodthirst that ran through your body… It was just a fleeting taste of Vergil’s emotional response to knowing how unsafe you felt.

After all he had been through, protection was a big thing for your blue devil. He silently promised nothing would ever happen to his newfound family now that he was strong enough to protect not only himself, but everyone around him. Knowing you were vulnerable, completely exposed, feeling like prey and he wasn’t around to keep you safe… To say Vergil’s demonic blood was boiling was a great understatement.

“Come, brilliant creature among humans. Midnight is close, and the ritual must be completed.” Erlach offered you his rough, devilish hand so you could take and approach the altar with him – a stone containing a couple of candles and an old golden bow, marked by ancient, dry blood.

You stopped right where you were, not taking his hand, but still staring into his eyes. You were thinking of words of defiance, of improvised weapons, of anything you could do to get you and Kyrie out of there. If you had to fight that demon with hands and teeth, so be it, but you wouldn’t back down – and if it was for you to die, you would die fighting.

Your thoughts were interrupted by a roaring thunder rumbling through the pitch-black skies right above your heads. You couldn’t see any clouds and it didn’t seem like it was going to rain earlier that day, but that ominous thunder roared once more – with a flash of a lightning in the distance cracking down from the sky suddenly illuminating your face as you opened a broad smile. Erlach only eyed you with confusion, taken aback by the sudden prelude of rain.

“A storm is approaching.” Your somber voice did not match the smile across your lips and Erlach’s eyes filled with understanding – even if he himself didn’t think that was possible for only a half-demon like the Dark Slayer. “You have yet time to give up this foolishness before he arrives.”

“I am not scared by a little thunder, human. You shall learn that in time.” The demon decided to ignore the warning on your voice, taking your hand with a little too much strength, already guiding you to the altar.

But you heard whispers – among the other demons, yours and Kyrie's words were being replicated, some of them resting silent while others laughed. With your ominous warning over a simple storm, though, they started to wander… To fear. Was that something done by your lover? Was that the extent of Sparda’s power? The Dark Slayer, the one who escaped from Hell and from his imprisonment by none other than Mundus, was that powerful…? They didn’t know. And some of them, didn’t want to find out.

“Oh, you will learn to be scared.” You whispered, back, slowly going up the few steps that kept you and Erlach far from each other. He conducted you with an iron grip, while the only thing you had in mind was to buy Vergil more time to get to you. “As all of you do.”

“Not if I get the ritual done first.” With those harsh words, Erlach gripped your arm in a way you couldn’t escape, even if his gestures were a lot more flourished than brute. You saw a ritualistic dagger in his other hand and you knew what the next step would be. “Then he shall learn a thing or two about fear.”

His hands moved so fast you didn’t have time to quip back – even if you wanted to answer that, after all Vergil had been through, making him feel fear was quite the achievement. Very few things could frighten his heart and soul… And you were oblivious enough to point out that, Vergil’s protective and enraged response that day was not only out of love, but out of fear of losing you.

Before Erlach could resume cutting your hand to harvest your blood for the bonding ritual, you managed to pierce his arm with a white summoned sword. With that surprise, Erlach dropped the weapon and you took it in your hand – twisting it and approaching him enough to press it against his neck, already making him bleed. You just didn’t manage to kill him because his survival reflexes made him snap our of his surprise and hold your hand against his neck, struggling with you in order to see who would win: you, by taking his life, or him, by taking you as his.

“My King of Hell isn’t the only one who should be feared, demon. You will learn that with time.” Your voice was low and filled with pride, hearing as the other demons immediately started whispering to each other: Orcus and Erlach probably didn’t tell them all the titles your lover carried.

As if to support you, another thunder roared in the skies and a lightning cracked near the desecrated cathedral. Some demons seemed to gasp and become startled, expecting Vergil to emerge from the shadows at any moment.

A few drops of water started to fall on your hair, your face, and run down your hands… And between your lips as you smiled.

“You are indeed a rare one.” But, to your surprise, Erlach smiled back. His sharp nails buried in the skin of your arm holding the knife, making you relax your grip ever so slightly as blood started to run from the wounds he inflicted. “Blood is blood. No matter how I attain it. Alas, I wanted our bonding to be beautiful, but this will do.”

With your blood running down his claws, Erlach grasped the blade on his neck, cutting his own hand even if you didn’t let the dagger go. Reaching out for the golden bowl, you once again tried to stab his neck, but the demon finally let go of your other arm only to hold your hand back. As you both struggled, you did your best to keep his hand away from the bowl, with Erlach already muttering some words in a language long lost to your human ears.

It was your blood already mixed with his. Whatever you did, he couldn’t reach that bowl for anything in this world.

You didn’t notice when the rain became stronger. You didn’t notice when Orcus moved Kyrie away from the door. You didn’t notice when the thunders seemed to roar inside the earth beneath your feet. All your strength was concentrated in keeping Erlach away from the altar, and all his strength was focused on completing the ritual on time.

“Before me all things create were none, save things Eternal, and Eternal I shall endure.*” Oh, you would recognize that voice even if you were dead. The words creeped through the stone walls of the cathedral, accompanied by calm, calculated steps approaching with resolve. The demons’ attentions turned to the rotten door, as well as yours and Erlach’s eyes, finally stopping to struggle. Vergil’s silhouette finally made itself visible, as if he was taken by a cold blue aura in the darkness – his silvery eyes set on you and your foe, one of his hands grasping the hilt of the Yamato as the other kept the sword safe at his side. “Per aspera, ad Inferi.”

There was a change in the air. Your very breath seemed to warp around you as time became slurred and thick. For a few moments it was difficult to breathe, as the storm outside that desecrated place looked like it would start bleeding inside the cathedral. You stumbled back, closer to the altar, dragging Erlach with you – you knew what was coming. Some demons tried to run, others froze in place, while some got ready to fight.

You could see how that cold, fiery blue started to cut the air – a split second before Vergil disappeared and all you could hear was the sound of the Yamato slicing everything in sight. Time stopped for a while, your breath disappeared from your lungs, your heart didn’t beat. You held yourself together as strongly as you could, while Erlach stared at that view with a pair of impressed – or maybe even fearful – eyes.

Vergil appeared once more, now standing a few meters away from you – all he had to do was climb the steps to finally reach you. Placing Yamato in its sheath, Vergil took a few long seconds to get the shiny blade to slide down and, with a click, make most of the demons – and whatever decoration that was left standing – fall apart in piles of flesh and blood.

You didn’t want to say you had warned them, but well… You had warned them.

“You’re too late, Dark Slayer.” With those words, Erlach reached the bowl – now even closer than before, since you dragged him back not to be so close to a judgement cut of that magnitude. His words were like a bell, waking you up to the reality that a single drip of your mixed blood in the gold, and it would all be over.

But Vergil unsheathed Yamato once again, as fast as he moved down the aisle to reach you, and the golden bowl was cut in half – cracking in some places, gold dust spilling at your feet.

“You should learn, demon, some things can never be taken by force.” Vergil’s voice was like a velvety murmur in the dark – and you knew, the quieter he grew, the more time he had to marinate his anger. “Love, is one of them. Respect, is another.”

Those silvery eyes finally landed on yours, as a faint smile spread across your lips. Love would be nothing without respect, and Vergil argued that earning your respect was one of the most honorable things you could have graced him with – not that the love was not of importance, but if you had never come to respect him, the love you shared would have never flourished… And the reciprocate was true.

“Well, well, looks like we’ve arrived in time.” You heard Dante sighing by the door, guns already on his hands. “Big bad demon is all yours, Verge. We’ll handle things back here.”

“Kyrie!” And you barely saw Nero as he ran towards Orcus with all the rage of the world in his eyes, slicing demons in the way with a revved up Red Queen and leaving a trail of fire behind him. Sometimes he was a lot like his own father, but other times, his uncle's heritage shined through.

Vergil didn’t even look back at the crew already killing the demons who fought and who tried to run away – he only had eyes for you and the filthy creature holding you in its arms.

“Last time I saw you, my whips cracked on that soft skin of yours, spawn of Sparda.” And for the first time that night, you heard some more emotion on Erlach��s voice – something close to hate. Maybe he wasn’t as controlled as he said he was… Maybe he was prone to violence after all. “You tried your best to hold back your tears as your filthy blood tainted the floors of Hell. But everything cracks, eventually.”

A jolt of pain burned across your skin on your back as if you were naked, as fast as a bolt of lightning. You couldn’t help but to wince at the feeling, even if Vergil and Erlach remained immobile. In a fraction of a second, you understood a little of that pain, of a memory in the back of Vergil’s head that came back like a kick in the stomach, and it seemed not to affect him at all – but you knew, you could feel what he didn’t show.

The pain was fleeting, but the anger wasn’t – that was yours and yours only. As you suddenly flinched, you took advantage of that moment of surprise to move your arms once again and the strength of your boiling anger to slash Erlach as you could, eager to take a piece of him… Eager to kill him after the suffering he put your lover through.

“Everything cracks indeed.” You murmured as he took one of his hands to his face, noticing the considerable gash you opened on his cracked skin – now pouring blood profusely. “Next, I will cut your tongue.”

You heard a quick chuckle from Vergil, silvery eyes observing you with so much pride – and a little of something else. Pride was always easy to see in him: the way he carried himself, the way he posed with his head high, the way his eyes admired that which he respected and loved… But care was a different thing. If you were looking at your lover, it would take you some time to notice, but his admiration for you was never ending behind his pride to be able to call you his.

“I do understand how you came to love this human, that I will admit.” Erlach hissed back at Vergil, licking his own blood from his fingers. Risking a glance at the cathedral, the demon assessed the situation: the bowl was broken, the demons were all but destroyed, fleeing from the weapons of Dante, Lady and Trish, Nero had Kyrie back in his arms and Orcus was nowhere to be seen. “I truly underestimated the depth of your feelings for such a fragile creature.”

“Eloquent words, but no wisdom behind them.” Vergil’s response was prideful as always, as he walked the small set of steps to reach you – and probably slice Erlach apart. “Fragile is far from what I would use to describe y/n. I will burn bridges, destroy cities, crush entire empires to protect those whom I love and respect. There is nothing of fragile in that.” Pointing Yamato at Erlach, the blade almost touched the wound you inflicted in the demon’s neck. “You should remember that as I kill you for this insolence, pitiful scum.”

His stern eyes glinted with a tint of blue, as Vergil’s teeth were already sharp in fangs. His hands around the Yamato already started to resemble claws and his voice, even if you would love it in all of its iterations, had that distinct demonic distortion. His blue fire engulfed him like a faint shadow, but it did make your lover look even taller than he already was. On the brink of his humanity, it would take only a spark to make him burst into his demonic form.

“King of Hell.” You mouthed at Erlach while pointing at Vergil right in front of you, as if to prove a point – the point you wanted to prove from the beginning: no matter what those demons did, Vergil was stronger and more powerful than all of them together.

And, of course, you could use another rush of power whenever you flexed that title. You just hoped no one else in the crew would see it: you’d be in for some harsh judgement if they did.

“I shall remember for the next time we meet, son of Sparda.” Erlach turned his fiery eyes to you. “And I shall see you again, brilliant Helen.”

With those words, the demon used its own blood for an incantation to flee a battle he would definitely lose – a smart move, even if you didn’t know where he went… And if that ominous warning was not something you would have wanted to hear. You would prefer to see him dead.

“Hmmm… Bold of this creature to assume it could steal your love like foolish Paris.” Vergil had to murmur under his breath, immediately turning around to face you, Yamato quickly back on its sheath. Before you could say anything, Vergil took your hand in his with a surprising gentle touch, only so he could analyze the bloody scratches on your arm – as well as allow his silver eyes to burn with wrath. “Are you hurt anywhere else?”

“No, that’s the only wound. You don’t need to worry, Vergil.” Your answer, though, made his eyes fly to look into yours as if you had said one of the most jarring things he had ever heard.

“I will always worry about you. You know that.”

He didn’t have to say, you could feel it. You had felt his worrying ever since he had learned it was Erlach who kidnapped you and wanted to complete that mad bonding ritual. Vergil’s worry was in his fear of losing whatever love he managed to have in that godforsaken life of his, and that usually manifested in an unparalleled anger in him. All that wrath… It was one of the highest praises you could ever get from your lover.

Placing both of your hands to cradle his face, you didn’t allow Vergil to keep on speaking as you pressed your lips against his. It was one of the most effective ways you could rest that flame inside his heart and bring him some peace – the same way the droplets of rain seemed to want to wash away all the blood and fury of that night. It took him a couple of seconds to start melting under your touch, arms wrapping around your waist and bringing you closer to his body, as your kiss quieted the fear that burned inside his heart.

You parted from his lips, even if Vergil himself didn’t seem to want to do so. His breathing, though, was already going back to a normal pace and you couldn’t feel his fangs under your lips anymore. As those silvery eyes stared back at you, the blue tinges were gradually gone. You took your hands to his hair, taking the rebellious strands that were already falling on his vision and brushing them back into his usual hairstyle – and Vergil even allowed himself to thank you with a soft smile.

“I cannot help but wonder, though…” He finally murmured, voice back to his dark tone with no traces of his demonic side showing up. “What, in the name of the gods, you are wearing.”

“Apparently, this hideous thing is what demons consider a wedding attire.” You sighed back, still in his embrace. You refused to look down and see yourself in that ridiculous thing again. “I wanted to get rid of it, but alas, the other option was to be completely naked.”

“Hmmm…” You didn’t know if Vergil hummed or growled, but you did know he was quite unpleased by that sight – almost as much as you. Taking your hand, Vergil guided you around the enormous bonfire behind the altar, in a place the crew couldn’t see you. “Don’t move.”

Before you could even ask what he had in mind, the air around you warped and your clothes fell on the ground after a quick and clean judgment cut.

That was a way to solve things, but…

“My clothes…”

Vergil immediately took off his coat, wrapping it around you and keeping you close, helping you dress it and hold it closed in front of you. It was a lot bigger than your form, and definitely a heavy piece of clothing, but it smelled like him – and that was one of the things that could always calm the distress in your heart.

“We will find your clothes. But you cannot walk around dressed like a clown.” With you still in his arms, Vergil placed a rather long kiss on your forehead, catching you by surprise.

A nice surprise that made you smile.

“On that, I agree with you. If we were ever to get married, I would have never worn such a thing.” You whispered back, making him chuckle while staring into your eyes again. Sometimes, the ice in his silver stare seemed to melt for a while, just like at that moment.

“You would be a beautiful sight to see.” His answer was also a whisper, and a rather unexpected one: that was something you never expected Vergil to say. He often mentioned how Sparda marrying Eva was a blessing to him and a curse to her, even if you insisted on arguing that probably wasn’t true; but you would never expect Vergil, of all people, would have imagined you on a wedding day… With him.

“Hey! Are you both makin’ out behind that bonfire? C’mon, it’s not time for that, Verge! Did mom never teach you to have manners?”

Dante’s voice interrupted whatever you could say in response, as Vergil already started to growl in annoyance at what his twin brother was implying. You headed back to the crew, twins ready to start bickering once again, as always. You saw Kyrie wearing Nero’s coat and couldn’t help but giggle – like father like son.

You sighed, finding Vergil’s fingers and entangling his between yours – his touch reciprocating immediately. It was time to go home.

*

“Your fingers are cold.”

Vergil held your hands close to him as you waited for the crew to drive back to the shop. Nico was smoking behind the wheel and you took some time to rest as everyone tried to find what the demons stole from you and Kyrie as well as where they found out about that binding ritual – or demonic marriage, as you began to enjoy calling it.

Your lover couldn’t stay away from you for too long, though. He came back after a little while, not wanting to admit he was too worried to leave you alone for more then a couple of minutes – even if you were with Nico.

He would argue if something bad happened, you would be the one doing the saving while Nico would be screaming around and trying to run demons over… And you couldn’t really disagree with him on that.

“Well, it’s part of my human condition.” You smiled back as Vergil had his mouth close to your hands, trying to warm them up with his breath. On the other hand, there was your blue devil, arms completely naked under his leather vest, oblivious to the weather. “I can’t keep myself warm while naked under a snowstorm like some.”

“Well, I cannot either.” Even if his eyes were a little harsh upon looking at you, there was also some amusement hidden underneath the ice. “Although I would survive enough to get you to safety.”

Vergil’s eyes went back to your hands while you kept on observing how he occupied himself with the task of warming you. His lips were close enough so you could feel them ghosting over your fingers, but never touching your skin. His rough hands cradled yours with a touch so gentle one would never expect from the likes of him. Everything about Vergil screamed danger, but when it came to you, it was completely opposite.

“I wished so bad you would find me.” You finally whispered, keeping your eyes close. Feelings weren’t easy for the both of you; somehow, you found that closing your eyes while being around only him was easier to allow your heart to open – and there were times Vergil did the very same thing when talking to you. “I… I did my best not to seem frightened. Kyrie needed me to stay strong, the demons couldn’t know and have the upper hand. But I was scared. I was lost. And I wished, deep inside my heart, you’d somehow find me in the darkness.”

“I know.” His answer was quiet, hands still wrapped around yours. You could feel Vergil’s breath as he spoke, slowly opening your eyes to find his looking back at your once again. “I know. No matter where you are, I will always find you.”

For a few seconds, the air lacked in your lungs and the words in your mouth. If you weren’t alone, you would’ve fought the tears that marinated your eyes, even if you didn’t want them to fall – they would rest there, making it seem like you were observing Vergil with a whole universe in yourself, just for him. And he would always appreciate that.

“As soon as I felt your rage, I knew you were coming.” You confided back, making him furrow his brows for a while. “I happen to be pretty good at energy work, Vergil. Remember sometimes I get to feel you back? I did today. And that’s when I knew I was safe.”

The last pieces of the puzzle arranged themselves in Vergil’s head: of course, when he got the strongest emotions from you, it was easier for you to get his. But when his emotions were too strong, that connection could work as well, for better or for worse – and he remembered how you flinched in the cathedral when Erlach mentioned how he tortured Vergil… When he was taken aback for a few moments suddenly feeling that pain he tried so hard to forget.

It was a shame you had to feel that too – his eyes went down to your hands while his eyebrows furrowed now from annoyance rather than confusion.

“Don’t beat yourself up about it.” You whispered back, placing your fingers under his chin and making Vergil look back into your eyes. “I’m here for the good, the bad and the ugly – no matter how harrowing it gets. You can always rely on me, as I know I can always rely on you.”

“As long as time will have us be together.”

Vergil’s murmured response was crowned with a gentle kiss on your hands, making you smile softly in return. You knew he was still annoyed with the fact you felt the worst of his emotions, but at least you were safe – and, for now, he would have to settle for that. You just hoped one day Vergil understood you didn’t see those terrible things that happened to him as a flaw, but as something he didn’t have to carry quietly on his own.

It just made you respect him even more than you already did.

“You don’t realize what you are, do you…?” Your question was a little absent as you kept on observing his stern face, with those silvery eyes now staring at you in confusion and distress: his heart beating a little faster, concluding you finally came to your senses that you had decided to give your love to a devil. “You deem yourself as one of the cruelest and worst creatures to ever walk the earth, but you don’t realize… Demons don’t protect their loved ones like you did today.”

To his surprise, you wrapped your arms around his neck, making Vergil instinctively hold your waist so you wouldn’t lose your balance. All the while, you never allowed those vulnerable silver eyes to leave yours.

“Angels do.”

As you placed your lips on his, Vergil’s embrace held you tightly against him – and even after you parted, he remained holding you, his head hidden in your shoulders and your hair. Vergil was silent and didn’t make a single noise, but you could feel the tears leaking into your mouth during the kiss and later dropping on your neck.

His heart could take a lot of harshness and cruelty, pain and torture, without even flinching. But this time… It was the first time in his life that Vergil was seen as good.

And his heart wasn’t used to that.

----

*Inferno, by Dante Allighieri

[icycoldninja]

Hi, can i request Vergil x jealous fem!reader.

I’ve seen people do the other way around but Vergil is too damn fine for girls to ignore. Reader is normally shy but when the other women dose not get the hint that Vergil is taken while also mistreating the reader, she lashes out to the point Vergil has to get her out of there since they were causing a scene in the restaurant. Reader gets embarrassed and ashamed but Vergil ends up comforting her <3

Yes, he is fine as hell, lol. Here ya go, enjoy!

Too good for you (Vergil x jealous!fem!Reader angst/fluff)

Folding your arms in your seat at the quaint, cozy restaurant Vergil had taken you to, you grumbled at the scene before you, your dissatisfaction very clearly expressed on your face.

Your boyfriend Vergil had decided to take you to a cute little restaurant for dinner as opposed to something fancier simply for the homely atmosphere. Honestly, at this point, you were beginning to wish he'd taken you somewhere fancier because if he did, there would be a less likely chance of the waitresses crowding around your table, chattering away at him as they were now.

"Oh my God, look at his muscles!" One of them squealed, reaching out to poke Vergil's bicep. After seeing this, you wished he hadn't chosen to take off his cost to eat.

"And his hands are so big and strong," Another cooed, this one a dumb looking bimbo with too much makeup and dry hair.

"He is so good looking, I'm folding like clean laundry!" Giggled yet another woman whose face you couldn't see, to a bitchy-looking girl who had way too many lip fillers.

"I know, right?" She cackled, lightly running her hands, adorned with ridiculously long neon pink talons down Vergil's forearm.

These women--no--these bitches were treating Vergil more like an object to be admired rather than a person, seeing as they weren't respecting his personal space, or yours for that matter.

"Could I sit there?" Asked one woman, pointing to your seat. When you looked up to meet her face, you nearly recoiled in shock--she looked like a literal clown with her face paint and awful hairdo, not to mention her weird looking outfit that seemed to have been together from whatever she could find in a local high school's lost and found box.

"N-no...no, you can't," You finally answered, once you'd regained your ability to speak. In response to your words, the woman pouted, but did not leave. Instead, she seized your arm and began pulling on you in an attempt to get you out of your seat, that you were paying for. Good God, the entitlement of this woman!

Vergil himself ignored the women harassing him; it didn't bother him one bit, he'd endured worse at the hands of Mundus. But to see you being harassed by anyone at all made him put his foot down.

"Take your hands off her," He commanded, staring at the woman with a glare cold enough to freeze lava.

The woman, visibly upset, moodily took her hands off you and stalked away, though once she left, several more took her place. Groaning internally, you focused your attention on the table, trying so very hard to tune out the world around you. Vergil saw this, obviously, and reached across the table for your hand, giving it a gentle, reassuring squeeze.

You'd think by now, the women would have gotten the hint that the man they were fawning over was already taken, but nooooo. These girls were either idiots or they thought they could steal your boyfriend right out from under you. All of them. At once.

There was a severe lack of braincells in that room, unfortunately.

As you were trying so very hard to ignore these pests, one girl had the audacity to remark,

"You, girl, are way out of your league. He's too good for you."

"Yeah, bestie. Seriously though," Another girl scoffed. "He's male model hot, and you're just, well, basic."

"Yup, pretty basic bitch right here," Chimed in the third. "It makes no sense, why do ugly girls get all the fine men?" The girls were now talking amongst themselves about you, rather than to you.

"Honestly, he should just leave her,'" Sighed one of the girls. "He can do so much better."

At that point, you lost all the last shreds of self control you had left. With a screech unfamiliar to even your own brain, you lifted your glass of water and splashed it on the girls, effectively soaking their shirts and pants. Squealing like the little piggy that went "wee, wee, wee," all the way home, the girls fled from the scene, naturally causing a great deal of confusion and tension to arise in the restaurant.

You caught sight of a manager approaching you, as did Vergil, who immediately leapt from his seat, slipped on his coat, took your hand in his, and briskly led you out the door.

The two of you walked in silence for some time before you decided to speak up.

"I'm sorry, Vergil." You sighed, sounding sadder than you meant to.

"For what?" He replied, turning to look at you.

"For...ruining our dinner date...and causing a scene...and embarrassing the both of us in public..." You let out a shaky, nervous sigh which quickly turned into a small gasp of surprise when Vergil let go of your hand and thew his arm around your shoulder, pulling you close to him.

"You have nothing to apologize for." He told you, sternly.

"I...don't?" You asked, confused.

"Not at all." He affirmed, rubbing small circles into your shoulder with his thumb. "It was simply an act of jealousy. I would have done the same, had our roles been reversed." He paused a moment before adding with a smile,

"I am proud of you for standing up for yourself, and me." A tiny, unintentional gasp left you as you stared up at him, noting how his cold blue eyes glowed with a warmth reserved only for moments like this between the two of you.

"Really?" You inquired, almost breathlessly.

"Absolutely. It shows you have power, that you are willing to fight when necessary. It means you are motivated," Vergil said, leaning down to plant a soft and brief kiss on your forehead. "Do not stress over it any longer. Let us return home. We will continue our dinner date there."

You chuckled, wrapping your arms around Vergil's torso, clinging onto him as you walked--a very rare occurrence, which you savored. Now that your jealousy was gone, you had to admit, those women had a point: Vergil really was too good for you.

[the-ultimate-romanian]

Dante and Dipper doodle :))

I imagine Dipper would be very interested in hearing about demons and the supernatural experiences Dante went through.

I'm sure that Dante wouldn't mind telling Dipper (more child friendly versions) of his adventures including his epic battle with Mundus at Mallet Island XD - maybe without mentioning all the Trish stuff maybe

Tbh this doodle is inspired by a DMC x Gravity Falls au that I'm working on where Stan adopted Dante like a year or 2 after the Fire that's why Dante looks a bit different (plus I added my own touches to Dante's design) :))))

The drawing's not good since it was something I've done just to get the idea across.

[kingbuffy]

How I hc dmc and bayonetta to be connected. Lol did you know Luka's last name is Redgrave. And in Bayonetta there's a witch named Eva who made a deal with a powerful demon ;))))

Yes I also hc Mundus and Sparda to be brothers it's just too perfect not to be true capcom

Don't mention my uneven lines I'll throw up

[dmc-questions-anon]

Where DMC Characters Rank

Capcom Super Elections results have come in and it time to see where the characters of Devil May Cry rank among Capcom's wide array of characters.

Dante is very, very popular. He was voted as the #1 Capcom character overall with 26,874 votes, #1 in both the world and Japan, got first with male voters and second with female. Generation-wise, he was voted as the best by people in their 10s-20s, second best by people in their 30s-40s, and fourth best by voters in their 50s-60s (and higher I presume). He got most popular male character in both the world and Japan.

Vergil was voted as the 4th best Capcom character overall with 10,178 votes. He got the #4 spot in the world and was not on the top 10 list in Japan. He got 6th place among male voters and 5th place among female. People in their 10s-20s found him to be Capcom's 3rd best character, while people in their 30s and higher did not find him worthy of the top ten list. He's Capcom's third most popular male character in the world and the 7th in Japan.

Nero landed 16th place overall with 3,025 votes. People in their 10s-20s found him to be 10th place material, while people older than that did not find him to be top ten material. He landed 7th most popular male character in the world and did not make the list in Japan.

Honorable mention to reboot Dante, who made 70th place with 518 votes.

V got 71st most popular with 516 votes, I can only assume this is supposed to be V from Devil May Cry.

Tragically no women from Devil May Cry made the top 10s, only to be seen through the extended list.

We see Lady come in as Capcom's 80th most popular character with 419 votes.

Trish came in at 234th place with 86 votes.

Surprise contender Sparda managed to find himself in 264th place with 69 votes despite the fact we know nothing about him.

Nico found herself as Capcom's 275th most popular character with 65 votes.

Lucia got 379th place with 32 votes.

Nelo Angelo got his own character spot, apparently, and landed 452nd place. Why those 21 people didn't just vote for Vergil I do not know.

Griffon, Shadow, and Nightmare got grouped together and are Capcom's 507th most popular characters with 15 votes.

Kyrie is Capcom's 538th most popular character with 13 votes.

King Cerberus made 580th place with 10 votes.

Elder Geryon Knight made 770th place with 3 votes.

Mundus somehow managed to get 3 votes and wound up in 770th place.

The Doppelganger also got their own spot and got 2 votes that landed them in 816th place.

Death Scissors aka the bane of my existence apparently got their own character spot and actually got a vote that put them in 867th place.

RIP Eva I ran through this list twice and did not see your name.

[spiralingemptyness]

continuing my uncanny ability to not be able to start a post properly, but this time with auto correct ✨turned off✨ so rip any spelling errors

why do twins, especially in media get so much shit thrown at them… and i dont mean shit as in ‘oh you guys are twins’ type of bullshit, i mean a fucking dupmpster truck load of trauma

and majority of the time, it has the same sort of coding, one was abandoned and the other lost/got stripped of their sense of self, oh and thats not mentioning the fact that each of them has no self preservation, but like sammme tho

Dmc - Vergil and Dante being forcibly separated, and then later on Dante having people leave him or people he cant save, while Vergil was tortured and stripped of his identity, memories, etc by Mundus (fuck you you skank-ass bitch) (i can rant about these two fuckheads more…. But i despise essays)

blue exorcist - Rin and Yukio, Rin sorta not really getting their adoptive father killed while having a more demonic side to him, which makes practically everyone nut trust him or afraid of him… fun. Yukio is a high achieving childhood prodegy and has also been known to be able to see demons since his childhood, which is why he started exorcism at like seven… fun

greek mythology - castor and pollux, pollux being the son of zeus and castor the son of Tyndareus, both mothered by Leda, were princes of sparda. Both saved Helen and were on the argonauts and have been told to have liked a multitude of different things.. blah blah, castor ends up dying and pollux being a demigod decides to say f u to immortality in order to stay with his brother, which created gemini

greek mythology- apollo and artemis, these two have been mainly shown to focus on the polar opposite part of being siblings, apollo being the sun and a literal man whore, while his older twin sister is the moon and has been known for choosing an oath to throw away marriage and that shit

That being said theres also toliet bound hanako kun, blood of zeus, the fucking mario brothers, even those jailers from persona 5, oh and lets not forget vash and knives from trigun, etc etc

being traumaless, ha, fuck that. Everyone wants the life spice, it adds flavor to the personality

[melchiordahrk]

hi!! im very fascinated with this idea of a "realm between realms" concept in TES. specifically the interpretations spoken of in the charwick-koniinge letters (becoming "lost between dimensions" when recalling from across large distances) and the inbetween referenced in loranna's RP, where a 'void vampire' named bosriel is stuck and can interact with the tangible, mortal realm by moving small things with great precision. with that said, you referenced something about the dunmer's ties with this "other side"

"The Dunmer actually have a strong connection to the dreamworld (”the world unseen”) through their mythology. It is tied into their idea of the afterlife and communication with ancestors."

iirc the dunmer don't differentiate mundus, oblivion and aetherius, and see the various realms of the "otherworld" as ends of many branching paths. do you think you could elaborate on this blurb you'v written? maybe offer a few sources and your personal opinions?

I cannot for the life of me remember where I got this text from (maybe the old Bethsoft lore forums when I was discussing The World Unseen with someone?), but I think this is an eloquent way of describing this mortal phenomenon:

Souls are aligned to the waking Mundus by its limitations due to design. Only dreams can set them free to roam like the Aedra did before, and in the metaphysical, dreams manifest as a sort of amorphous blob where spirits can send visions, the living can send memospores. The dead generally empower this miasma by dreaming their afterlife in it. This is the spiritual side that is still thinking, the Aedric mush that are the mortal collective subconscious that was left behind from Lorkhan's betrayal. Dreams are just one more tool to shackle souls to the suffering of the Mundus. "Oblivion" is more noticeable by what it is not - it's not the Aedra and their realm. It's everything else. It's the void between (the little void) and the outside (the great darkness). It's often misappropriated - oblivion simply means a lack of anything, and might not be synonymous with Oblivion, the realm of the Padomaic processes.

This is essentially describing the Dreamsleeve. What's not mentioned is that mortals can break this cycle through ascension or spiritual reappropriation of AE alignment (see Loveletter From the Fifth Era). This attrition of souls is the decay of the Mundus - which would otherwise be a self-contained system for mortal souls.

I know this may not be exactly the answer you were looking for, but I think the Dunmer afterlife may not actually be an adjacent place like Lyg (although I did feel that way at one time). It's simply how their dead perceive the dreamworld.

Ancestors and the Dunmer is the best official text on this subject. Although it doesn't go very deep into the subject of the "otherworld".

[sailorsenshishitposter]

Until it finds my dreams have disappeared

I've been debating about whether or not to post this for a while. Mostly because I use my tumblr to post dumb stuff or act as a distraction from stress. I'm getting kind of tired with people though. This isn't something exclusive to the Metal Gear franchise (far from it) but it's something I've noticed happening quite frequently. Metal Gear has many characters with horrible backgrounds that suffer from PTSD/CPTSD and many mental health issues. I can't help but notice that there's a trend in the younger crowd (isn't mgs exclusive) that whenever there's a heavily traumatized character (I've only seen it happen with male characters but I assume the opposite does happen) that they considere attractive, they will simp for them and post things unironically.

It's like they see someone who they think is attractive and start actually going "NO I CAN FIX THEM! THEY'RE JUST SAD LITTLE MEOW MEOWS". Like it's fine to make jokes but when you see posts that resemble those weird celebrity fan pages bordering on obsession I think it's time to take a step back. I get some people identify with characters which is fine but they'll completely ignore said characters actions and be like "sure they killed all those people but I'd totally let them cut me up if I had the chance to smash" when the person in question isn't even real. Or there will be a character that's traumatized so badly that they think that if you just cuddle a person like that and baby them then you can fix them. I guess I'm mostly just mad because I feel like usually these are young kids who still have a chance for a good life but they're very ignorant about how people affected by trauma can be.

It's not some cute, quirky thing. It changes your whole world and your beliefs, especially when it starts in childhood. You can technically put this for any character that meets the criteria but personally for me I would have to choose Monsoon from Metal Gear Rising. He grew up with no choice but to kill to survive and witnessed the Cambodian genocide along with working for the mafia and nearly dying from that. I don't really care if someone has a crush on a fictional character, personally that's none of my business. What I'm tired of is seeing frequent posts that range from "uwu my soft cinnamon roll baby" to all the graphic smut on here depicting tortue.

I can't speak for everyone but personally I find it demeaning when being coddled by others. Yes, I went through things but please don't treat me like a child. It feels insulting. I also have no problems with BDSM but I can only take seeing so many posts that basically allude to someone drawing a character about to be raped for their own personal enjoyment. It's especially bad when people make stuff of that for characters who have already been held hostage or enslaved (I'm looking at Vergil x Mundus shippers specifically).

Trauma is not something that you can help someone overcome. It consumes them and becomes your entire world regardless of how it came to be. In fact trauma is often passed down through genes. Though you may not have someone else's memories you will have the same reactions to traumatic situations that those before you did or your body will adapt to that kind of environment. Hypervigilance can be passed down through epigenic changes in DNA.

This is where things get personal for me. Though I've never met them, I know I come down from genocide survivors. I'm either third or fourth generation. I'm not exactly sure what they saw but from what I've read it was common to see various forms of torture. One method was to stick babies in the sand and then trample over their heads with horses... Based on the family I could find and knowing their location, they must have survived the death marches and I'm unsure if they were at the final killing fields or not. That's not even mentioning everything they had being taken away from them and seeing everyone they knew suffer horrible fates. To this day bone fragments will still rise from the ground, the bodies of the dead never having been put properly to rest.

I'm unable to travel there but if I could, I couldn't help but feel like I'm being swallowed by death. Why am I here but so many perished. Then on to my father. I don't know much about him and he passed away when I was a child. All I really know about his background was that he came from a wealthy family. It was common for his friends families to have guards outside their children's bedroom doors. We lived in a western country where it was "safe" (he wasnt originally from where I Iive) but I remember he wouldn't sleep at night and would seem like he was looking for something during the day. Sometimes he just stared like he was waiting for something to happen but nothing ever came. I don't want to say that he was an intentionally cruel person, just that I don't think he had the capabilities to act like a normal human being. I was raised with a mindset of being better than others. That is to say that I wasn't supposed to have weakness. It makes sense looking back. He survived having his body messed up and I was told he survived assisnation attemps (corruption is huge down there so it's not like police could do anything). Nothing was said after so I assumed he killed whoever was after him before they could kill him. Pretty much a kill or be killed mindset.

Growing up I realized he was hard on us not to hurt us but because he thought it would make things easier for us in the future. I know it must have been even worse for him if he thought that this was being kind. Anyway he passed away when I was a child and long story short but for whatever reason my family couldn't get in contact with us so I never received my inheritance but that's for the best. I don't know how well I would have handled it at nine if I knew there was a possibility of being kidnapped or killed for the money or because someone had a grudge against my father.

I guess I always knew I was different but his death really solidified that. I was used to having to be tougher but it seems like my older sister and mother couldn't handle it. They already cried one time when we couldn't see him (which was often) and once the news broke I just remember everyone sobbing and screaming in agony. I didn't feel anything though. I realize now that it was dissociation but no tears would fall and I understood what was happening but it felt like I couldn't emotionally process it. At some point I have no memories up until a certain point. Whenever I have some sort of traumatic situation happen I suffer from dissociative amnesia. I'm not sure for how long, I just know that there are large gaps in my memory.

Right before my memories vanished I can remember not wanting to exist anymore. The day after I was surrounded by all the sobbing and knew that I couldn't let myself die. If I did I would just be trying to escape from my pain and would place it on my family. So for the last two decades I haven't really had a dream or anything to look forward to. I've just had a goal of trying not to die. There are many more traumatic things that followed which I won't get into but I dislike telling people my life story since they just give me looks of pity or seem like they want to ask how I haven't killed myself yet.

Unfortunately the kill or be killed mindset has been passed on. While I've never harmed anyone, I have recovered memories involving someone I trusted keeping me against my will and unspeakable things happening many times. I've had frequent nightmares since then and didn't know that my situation wasn't normal. By the time I was a teenager I found out that I didnt have to live my life in fear and allow abuse to keep happening. I've decided since then that I'll do whatever I can should I be faced with a similar situation in the future. I can only fight back to stop such a thing from happening again. It will most likely never occur again but it still affects my life everyday. I can't go out in public without someone I trust and even then I still scan the whole area and look for an escape route. I shouldn't have to feel like everyone around me is a possible threat to my safety and freedom.

I don't think people realize just how calming the rain can actually be. Not just the light stuff but heavy rain. It acts as a soothing white noise that drowns out your thoughts and feeling it hit your body also distracts you. I won't say when since it could reveal my location but within the last few years I was outside during a very bad storm that had frequent wet microbursts. It destroyed all the trees in the area and I almost died but I felt oddly calm. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. There was so much wind and rain that it resembled blowing snow and there was so much water hitting the ground that it would form waves that would zoom so fast and then crash only to repeat the process over and over.

I guess what I'm trying to say is I'm annoyed by all the sexualization of people with mental health issues. With the way some people act towards characters that don't exist, it worries me how they could treat real people going through similar situations. And on the other hand please see trauma survivors as real people. Many of us had to survive on our own and you thinking someone being terrified is just a shy/cute trait that makes them adorable is infuriating. I can't tell you how much I hate the latter. I'm so sick of people thinking that I need someone to spoil me with affection and protect me to the point where I feel like I'm being treated as a baby. It just makes me feel more weak and pathetic.

[hotchocolatescoat]

Another review :]]] I havnt done one in ages

Devil may cry 1,4 and 5 , also the reboot. Not a book review but since I just got through dmc 5 let me try and give my thoughts/recommendations.

Dmc 1

The first game in the series , in my opinion is a good game for it's time. Capcom were still figuring out the mechanics and how it will flow the way it did in later games, I mean it's 22 years old and for that I can't really criticise I think It holds up for it's time and deserves the reputation it got, it was a strong base that let the dmc franchise take off.

What I love about it is the charm, the charm of an old game made silly and fun. I mean we all saw that sword cut scene when Dante rises up without a scratch- it has that dmc charm of unable to take itself seriously. I also love the level designs as well, especially at the end in mundus's battle.

What I don't really like is the difficulty. Some of it may be down to my skill issue. However I believe that those bosses are not for the faint of heart and the puzzles can be god awfully confusing sometimes. The reputation it got for being so difficult I can see was well earned .

If you wanna play dmc 1 go for it I recommend it greatly but it can get difficult at times.

Dmc 4

This is a mixed bag. Personally holding a place in my heart due to being one of my first video games.

What I like about it; for sure the combat , the upgrade from 3 to 4 in terms of just design and the capabilities are immense and capcom took it and ran with it. It's so satisfying and neros rev up engine is so damn cool. The world design is beautiful and the bosses are also really fun to defeat. Most have mixed feelings towards the story but I love Nero and Kyrie so I was all down but I was of course also in it for Dante which yet again capcom grabbed and ran with. It's so silly and you cannot take it seriously and that's why I love it so much (also to make it clear it still holds up while having the amount of freedom to make silly cutscsne)The plot itself can't even be taken seriously, a cult and an old man called the saviour wobbling around like a moulding raisin. Screaming reform and shit. I genuinely cannot with this game.

What do I dislike; the backtracking and repeating of bosses, and the puzzles. The puzzles aren't fun especially the dice one and you redo the bosses backtracking as Dante and that's why most people dislike the game it feels unfinished and at the end a drag , I can praise it for what it holds but it feels like a genuine bore at times.

Dmc 5

I love it , the dmc 3 references it's so chewable and the combat and the story. I have no hate or criticism , go play it please.

Dmc reboot

Oh boy

I actually enjoyed it quite a lot...the character appeal isn't there and I couldn't get attached till the end and thats why it got so much hate including how generic it was. That dmc flair I keep mentioning was wiped off and we were given a shit excuse for it "it's not cool"

Fuck you capcom

However I loved the combat yet again and the world design. The bosses were also really fun to play against and overall I don't have a hell of a lot to say. I mean they put a lot of good concepts such as limbo in but Dante was it's downfall as an annoying little man whore that only cares about himself.

Notes: I had fun reviewing the games may go into dmc 5 a bit more but I'm too tired

[cactusspatz]

June recs

June was full of Neil Gaiman fandoms: first I rewatched Good Omens S1 (S2 on Friday!!!) and then plowed through my backlog of fic to read, and then I watched The Sandman. So there's six Good Omens recs, two Sandman recs, and one lone but lovely Goblin Emperor rec.

GOOD OMENS

Demonology and the Tri-Phasic Model of Trauma: An Integrative Approach by Nnm / @mouseonamoose Amazing story about Crowley going to therapy, from his therapist's POV. The author clearly knows their stuff and Aubrey is a vivid character in her own right with her own journey to go on. This one's been recced all over, but it really is that good.

dearly departed by attheborder / @areyougonnabe In which Crowley gets discorporated and many shenanigans ensue - the London occultist underworld, lust-demons, Hell bureaucracy, Aziraphale vs loopholes, fake marriage, and of course, a happy ending. Slightly morbid at times but a fun hilarious romp.

Temptation by out_there / @out-there-tmblr Lovely look at Crowley tempting Christ (as he mentions to Aziraphale), and the lasting effect it has on him.

the deft, sweet gesture of your hand by deadgreeks / @mortuarybees Post-S1, Crowley turns up injured at the bookshop and Aziraphale takes care of him. Such a tender romance, such warm h/c. Poetry! Knitting! Pining! Ferociously protective Aziraphale!

Hell to Pay by battle_cat / @fuckyeahisawthat "In the midst of the Great Fire of London, Crowley does an emergency good deed too undemonic for Hell to ignore." Wistful h/c.

Lead me to the banquet hall by obstinatrix & wishwellingtons In which Crowley doesn't eat around Aziraphale because he has too many Feelings about it - and then Aziraphale finds out. Creative, delightful, hot, and well-characterized!

You can also find my older Good Omens recs on Pinboard!

SANDMAN

Spite (Is As Good A Reason As Any) by Blue_Sunshine In which Hob doesn't just build an inn and pine after 1989, but hires Johanna Constantine to help him track down Dream. Great AU in many directions, and the Hob-Johanna friendship is a complete scene-stealing delight. (If you like them as much as I did, there's another WIP that just finished: Totus Mundus Agit Histrionem, which kicks off with Johanna rescuing Hob from a demonic possession.)

Passing the Time by Anonymous Dream passes time in the fishbowl by quietly terrorizing his guards. (The author tagged this 'Dream is petty and terrifying' and I couldn't agree more.) Viciously funny but also a little heartbreaking.

GOBLIN EMPEROR

Between the Grave and the Well by Sphragis "In which Iäna Pel-Thenhior catches a fever and Thara Celehar catches feelings." Gorgeous hurt/comfort-y get-together that really captures the characters and the world.

[auntarctica]

When it comes to your writing how do you see the differences between the reboot interpretation of Dante and Vergil versus their classic counterparts? What parts stick out to you as similar or as different?

So, I'm in the minority camp that thinks Ninja Theory did kind of an interesting thing when they opted to switch storylines and birth order (for whatever that's worth with identical twins) between Dante and Vergil in the reboot.

I know a lot of people hate the idea of Vergil being the "little brother" in the equation and thought it made no sense and was a meaningless change, and I get where they're coming from, because it probably was - what I mean is, it likely wasn't intentional on NT's part, for any other reason than an attempt to instead make Dante the "cool older brother" and to differentiate themselves in one more way from OG DMC.

But what's interesting about both the shift in birth order and the storyline swap is that rather than undermining their innate characters, it actually reinforced them, and proved that no matter the formative circumstances, Dante will act like Dante and Vergil will act like Vergil:

Dante, whether he's the one protected by Eva or disenfranchised from society and family, will become secretly wounded, insouciant, irreverent, sardonic, flippant and cynical. He will be in denial about the true danger posed by Mundus, and determined to avoid his father's legacy, but reluctantly protect humanity when called upon - though not for free, of course. The toilets need flushing.

Vergil, whether he comes from rubble or privilege, will always be ambitious, idealistic striving, driven, calculating but rash, with the overconfidence of youth and a reach exceeding his grasp. He will have an Icarusian fall, and ultimately a phoenix-like redemption. (We presume a DmC sequel would/have follow(ed) the same reconciliation trajectory, because what else would make sense/serve the story?)

It also rather neatly answers and dovetails with the retroactive rhetorical question classic Vergil asks himself at the top of the Qliphoth, whether things would have been different if he'd had Dante's life, and Dante had his.

And the answer we already have from reboot is, no, not really. The outcome could only have been different if the individuals involved were totally different people - but their core character traits, I think, stay true and remain intact in both versions.

Still, obviously there are variations in character within those greater macro aspects, things that make the expression of these personality traits different, which we can attribute to formative experience, and the swapped backstory.

For instance, Classic Dante hides his profound psychological damage by being a party guy and a rock n' roll rodeo clown whereas DmC Dante wears his inside out; we can see his sullen punk-rock defensiveness, his bitterness, and we do not doubt his damage for a minute. Being the disenfranchised one has left its mark on him, and he has no ability or willingness to mask his trauma. Both keep others at arms' length, but ironically, ReDante actually is more receptive to intimacy and connection, possibly because he doesn't have a false front, or a whole circus-like façade, just a default defensive stance he holds as a last resort, after being embattled his entire life. He has been given the classic Vergil backstory, and while he becomes similarly defensive and embittered, he reacts like Dante, not classic Vergil.

Neither Dante is ever canonically shown as having any particular interest in humans or humanity as a whole, so much as a keen interest in killing demons (which is why the ending fraternal conflict of reboot rings so false, non sequitur and hollow). Both shrug off human collateral damage, and if classic Dante is ever bothered by the mass casualties incurred in the raising of the Qliphoth, he never mentions it as he trips over their bodies to run to his brother. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

Of the two, I think Vergil is the more different, with more personality contrast between interpretations - though his core traits remain: curiosity, intrepidity, enthusiasm, perfectionism, impulsivity, absolutism. With the strife removed from his life, Vergil is able to be emotionally open, to express his love for his brother, and his ambition comes from a proactive place instead of a reactive one.

However, like Dante, all his youthful flaws remain intact. He will always be the one who falls - and Dante will always be the one who fails to act at the crucial moment. The tragedy is thus complete.

The greatest difference, I think, is that classic Vergil has even less use for humans than Dante, whereas ReVergil is arguably the only one who actually has any appreciation for humanity as a class (even if he regards them as lesser beings) - which actually puts him more in line with classic Sparda, ironically, than anyone else. Reboot Sparda is never shown as having any particular interest in humans or their fate, and he and Eva are essentially depicted as just hiding out in the human world like it's witness protection.

That said, I'm sure I'm missing something, so I'm actually interested in hearing other people's opinions on this.

[that-gay-guy-from-hell]

Bound by Blood: Reader & Sparda Bloodline (Platonic)

SUMMARY: It all started on that fateful day, the day everything went up in flames. You’ve been forced to walk a life you’d never imagined. All in the name of avenging your brothers; Dante and Vergil. Who, unannounced to you, are still very much alive and are wandering the endless wasteland called Hell; the endless wasteland you’d called “home” for over three decades.

EDIT AS OF 7/12/2023: I am re-writing this entire fic. I don't really like how it turned out plus all of the half-finished/patrial story bits I have in here are kind of not up to my standard. Please still give this a read, it took me a REALLY long time to finish this, but just know that this is going to be redone. Thanks for understanding, have a great day/night!! :)))

Requested by @loshpen! :))) 

*Slams this down like a dictionary* HERE TAKE IT. THIS IS OVER 25,000 WORDS; HOLY SHIT-- *dies*

BEGINNING NOTES: ⚠️Please read these, they are important⚠️

➖➖➖ ⧳ It is EXTREMELY encouraged to read the “General Headcanons” before reading this story; it helps things make more sense. Otherwise, you get lost and/or confused. VERGIL IS WEARING HIS DEFAULT OUTFIT FROM DMC 5 NOT THE DEVIL HUNTER ONE; he does have V’s tattoos though. ⧲Universe typical violence: Blood, guts, gore, (mentioned) throwing up, bruising, broken bones, etc.  ⧳Talk of the reader eating raw meat (idk if I need to warn about that or not, rather be safe than sorry) ⧲Talk about abuse/manipulation/torture from Argosax towards the reader; it is not super in-depth, however, it is mentioned and talked about the reader basically having Stockholm syndrome.  ⧳Switches between 2nd and 3rd person; I tried to make it seamless but it is a little rough. ➖➖➖ ⧲ G/N Reader & Sparda family; the reader is the younger sibling to Dante and Vergil, making you Nero’s “Pibling” (which is the G/N term for aunt/uncle) ⧳The reader is a year younger than the twins; born in the fall.  ⧲Little less ambiguous than I typically try to write. I needed to have something to work on for the reader’s personality and stuff, so sorry if it doesn’t line up with you per se--I tried lmao ➖➖➖ ⧲Sparda is a soft old man--just let me have this. ⧳Vergil has emotional outbursts because of what happened with V/Urizen. ⧲Dante’s amulet is silver and Vergil’s is bronze; I’m using DMC3 as canon colors, not DMC1. ⧳Since you are a part of the Sparda family, you are in the painting from the mantel. You’re placed front right--the observer’s right--next to Sparda.  ⧲I know the reader wouldn’t get over things so quickly, but (again) just let me have this. ⧳MINOR SPOILER: The Sparda when you are younger is not “Force Edge” because the proper owner, who at the time was Sparda, has control of it. So when everything happens and you don’t have your sword, it goes into its dormant state, which it then has to be forced out of (or it would’ve had to reunite with you.). ➖➖➖ ⧲I don’t personally have a good relationship with my sibling; in fact, I don’t consider them to be my sibling. So, I don’t know how siblings interact. ⧳I also didn’t have much of a relationship with either of my parents until I was in high school (because I live in America where parents are worked to death and their kids never get to see them). ⧲I ALSO have the ‘tism so I don’t know how kids typically act.  ➖➖➖ (I will remove this section once I get my Argo/Mundus H/Cs out) ⧳Argosax’s personality (or lack thereof) has been scrapped. I think them being a psychopath (in the medical sense) makes for a much better character. Argosax can easily convince others to follow their orders--opposite Mundus who does everything through force.  ⧳Bolverk has been retconned to be Argo’s bodyguard/general (basically Argosax’s Nelo Angelo but willingly or Pre-woke Sparda).  ⧲Argo’s stronger than Mundus, but Mundus’s army is more substantial than Argo’s.

THE ENDING IS NOT PROOFREAD, I JUST WANTED TO UPLOAD THIS (I’ll come back and fix it up later.)

STORY START:

“Shhhhh--” Eva weakly reached out for the crying child that was in the midwife’s arms, “It’s alright."

     After a few minutes of her rocking the new child, the room fell completely silent. Despite how joyful Eva should feel, she couldn’t help but stare somberly at her newborn. 

     A quiet creak came from the door as a large platinum-haired devil entered. It was her husband and the child’s father, Sparda. His typically brash loud voice was beyond soft and gentle as he slowly shut the door behind him, “Eva?” 

     Her eyes flicked up to him before they returned down to their newest baby. 

     Sparda moved into the room, standing next to the bed with a dejected look on his brow, “Their… condition has not gotten any better I take it?”

     Eva gave a small slow side-glance to her husband; giving him his answer.

     A loud slam caught everyone’s attention. The door that Sparda had gently shut was now wide open; so much so, that the knob was digging into the wall behind it. In the frame of the door were the couple’s first children, Vergil and Dante. Before anyone responded to their sudden appearance, they bolted into the room. 

     Dante squealed in excitement, “See! I told you, Verge!” The two were intercepted by Sparda, who picked them both up by their shirt collars.

     “Why are you out of bed? I thought I told you to stay in your room,” Sparda’s voice was sharp but still quiet, not wanting to upset Eva or wake the baby. 

     Vergil pouted, “But--” 

     “It is alright, Love,” Eva’s voice was soft as she gave a meek smile, “If they can behave then they may stay for a moment.” Although it pained her to admit it, she knew that this might be the only chance for the twins to see the baby alive. 

     Sparda hesitated before releasing the boys. As quickly and quietly as they could, they ran to the edges of the bed. Sparda waltzed over and held up Vergil while the midwife held Dante. 

     After a minute or two, Vergil spoke as he tilted his head in confusion, “Why does it look like that?” 

     “Vergil!” Sparda growled at his son.

     Eva sighed and looked down to watch the sleeping newborn as it wiggled slightly, “They are unwell,” her voice cracked as she spoke. 

     Dante smiled, not understanding what she meant, “Well, when are they gonna be better? I want to play with them!”

     Eva swallowed audibly and gave a pained smile, “Soon, hopefully…”

     Days turned to weeks, weeks to months, and soon it had been a year since the child had been born. Despite all the odds, it continued to live. There were of course several days and nights spent watching with great concern, but the child always managed to pull through. Sparda had begun to equate it as the “runt” of the “litter” and referred to them as such. It wasn’t meant with ill intent, however, Eva wasn’t exactly fond of it, but the name wasn’t far off from the truth.

     Unlike the twins, their third child’s development was closer to that of a human; both physically and mentally. Not a single glimpse of a sign of having any devilish heritage or urges had been seen. In stark contrast to the two older children who, at this age, were nearly burning down the house whenever they threw a tantrum or didn’t get their way. This child was rather amicable, putting up little to no fuss; never even throwing a tantrum to begin with. Which would reflect the way the child would deal with things later in life; the way you would deal with things later in life. 

     When you turned two, your “slow” development sparked a very important conversation between Eva and Sparda; how should they raise you? At this rate, you wouldn’t be able to start learning things until you were of the correct human age, unlike the twins who were only three and learning at a second-grade level. 

     You had also shown a severe, borderline unhealthy, attachment to Eva and were very afraid of Sparda. He hadn't done anything that would cause you to be so terrified. Admittedly, he was a little hurt that his child won't let him anywhere near them. The couple figured that perhaps it is because you seemed to be more “human-like” that it caused you to inherently fear devils and demons.

     After many long discussions and some mild arguments, it was decided that you would be raised like a human. That you would attend human schools and human activities. To be treated as such just in general life around the house and town--which meant no training or lessons from Sparda. Once they laid out what they were going to do, the twins were informed of the decision; which was rather important, since the pair were already trying to get you to tussle or adventure with them. 

     Vergil and Dante were confused about their parents' choice; why were you going to be treated so differently? Sure, you weren’t exactly like them but you had the capability to play alongside them. This was dismissed by both of your parents, as they insisted that you weren’t like the twins--that this is how it has to be. However, when your parents weren’t looking; your brothers taught you what they could. Vergil taught you basic reading and math while Dante taught you more hands-on things, refining your motor skills.

     When you turned six, the twins decided to teach you things that Sparda had taught them. Dante taught you more hand-to-hand based things while Vergil taught you about proper weapon usage. You did well, much better than the twins were expecting after what they heard. If your Father or Mother won’t teach you then they feel that it was their responsibility, as your older siblings, to do so. 

     One night after everyone was in bed, the silver-haired twins unintentionally eavesdropped on a conversation about your upcoming seventh birthday. Underneath their bedroom was a large library that Sparda often visited late at night, however, it seems that Eva decided to join him. Currently, they were lightly arguing about what they were going to give you. 

     You were already past the age that Sparda gave the twins the heirlooms from his side, which the bronze devil wasn't exactly thrilled about. Sparda continued to insist upon giving you a weapon because, “--even if you were to be raised human, you are still his kin; devils and demons alike will want, and try, to kill you.” 

     Eva, however, was well within her right to be concerned. You still weren’t showing any signs of demonic heritage and most of Sparda’s gear is too heavy for you to lift or use. Besides, "If something were to happen, Dante and Vergil will be there to protect you.” All she wanted was for you to be raised a normal human child which doesn’t include demonic weapons; especially the one that Sparda was talking about. Before the twins could hear the verdict of the conversation, they both fell fast asleep. 

==

     Time seemed to fly over the next few months and it was finally your birthday. Although none of you knew it, this would be the last of your birthdays that you spent with your entire family. 

     “Tag!” Dante’s index finger jabbed your shoulder as he pivoted around, sprinting through the leaves. 

     “Hey!!” You ran after him, stumbling a bit; however, you continued nipping at the red devil’s heels. 

     “Tch,” Vergil sat on the porch stoop. He looked up from his book, raising a sharp brow at the two of you, “How childish--!”

     A wide toothy grin decorated your face as you poked his shoulder, “Tag! You’re it!” Then you took off, high-fiving Dante in the process.

     He stared for a moment, deciding if he was going to participate; since it was your birthday, he decided to swallow his pride and play along. With a heavy sigh, Vergil shut his book with a loud thump and placed it inside the front door. A small happy smile unknowingly tugged at his lips as he shook his head, taking off after the two of you.

     The three of you darted throughout the yard as Sparda watched from the window. 

     “Our Runt is keeping up well with the twins,” Sparda turned to his wife who had just finished placing dinner in the oven, “Perhaps we are wrong to assume--”

     “Sparda,” Eva sighed, “The boys are probably holding back so they can play together.”

     He opened his mouth but decided to keep it to himself. His lips turned to a thin line as he turned back to watch. 

     “You’re it,” Vergil’s voice was monotone as he tapped your shoulder.

     You let out a surprised sputter, “How?!” 

     Both Dante and you stopped as you stared at the eldest sibling. 

     “What?” Vergil tilted his head to the side and folded his arms.

     Dante smiled and laughed, “Since when can you do that?”

     Vergil’s brow furrowed in confusion, “What?” In a cocky manner, he teleported to right in front of the two of you, leaning forwards, “Surprised?”

     The two of you nodded before you reached out slowly and poked him, “Tag.”

     Vergil’s eyes went wide, “Wha..?” 

     Dante busted out into loud laughter with tears springing to his eyes. 

     Vergil frowned in irritation and aggressively “tapped” Dante on the head, “Tag.”

     The three of you resumed your scampering (and teleporting in Vergil’s case) around the yard, slipping and falling in the leaves several times. Despite what your parents thought, the twins never held back or handicapped themselves to play with you. They were just as rough and fast with you as they are with each other… Well, maybe not as rough but definitely as fast. The game finally ended when Dante fell face-first into a large muddy section of the lawn, taking an unintended mud bath. 

     The three of you came back inside. You all left your muddy dirty clothes and boots by the door and made your way to the kitchen. Dante ran in to give both your parents a hug but was promptly stopped by Eva sticking out her hand to stop him.

     “Dante,” Eva let out a small laugh, “What happened to you?”

     “I fell,” Dante gave her a wide goofy smile.

     “You need to get washed up,” she shook her head and patted his mud-encrusted hair softly, “Definitely your Father’s child.”

     Before Sparda could question his wife, she walked off with Dante. Then he turned his attention to his remaining children. 

     The two of you sat next to one another on the living room couch. Vergil had grabbed the book that he was reading outside earlier and had picked up where he left off. This wasn’t uncommon for Sparda’s eldest to immediately jump back into whatever literature he was reading before being interrupted. However, this time was different, this time he was reading aloud.

     “ ‘Here alone I in books formd of metals/Have written the secrets of wisdom/The secrets of dark contemplation/By fightings and conflicts dire,/With terrible monsters Sin-bred:/Which the bosoms of all inhabit;/Seven deadly Sins of the soul.’.”

     “Vergil?” Your voice was soft, not wanting to upset him by interrupting.

     “Hm?” He watched you point to a drawing next to the poem.

     “Who’s that?”

     “The author’s rendition of what they think Urizen might look like. Urizen is the subject of this section of poems,” Vergil felt something on his shoulder and looked over. Only to find that you had leaned against his arm and were nodding at his answer.

     The eldest continued through the collection of poems as you intently listened along; telling you the tale of Urizen. 

     “Vergil?”

     “Hm?”

     “Is Egypt a real place?”

     Vergil laughed quietly, “Yes, it is quite far away. Maybe someday we can visit there together.”

     “I’d like that,” you smiled, “We could read this again there, too!”

     “Sure, if that is what you wish.” 

     You nodded vigorously, excited at the idea of traveling the world with your brothers--especially if you get to hear Vergil read more. 

     Vergil leaned his head atop yours and waited a moment before whispering, “Hey…”

     “Hm?”

     “I…” Vergil’s brow furrowed as he thought for a moment, he sighed, “I’m glad you are still alive.”

     If you hadn't known about your odd illness as a baby, this comment would've seemed rather menacing. However, you were well aware of how sick you were and knew he was trying to be nice.

     Your voice was loud and laced with an overflowing, almost sickly, amount of love, “I’m glad too!” You removed yourself from his shoulder and yanked his head down to yours, kissing him on the cheek, “I love you lots, Vergie.”

     He stared at you for a moment before sheepishly looking away, “I love you too.”

     The loud pitter-patter of running footsteps, made Vergil lightly push you away. Suddenly there was another sibling on your other side, jumping onto the couch with a bounce. 

     “What are you doin’?” Dante had his signature smile across his face.

     “Nothing,” Vergil answered before you could.

     “Aw, were you two waiting for me~~” Dante’s voice was laced with a knowing smugness.

     “I was!” You chimed in, managing to beat Vergil to the punch.

     Dante grabbed you and gave you an aggressive noogie.

     “Dante,” Sparda folded his arms and raised his brow.

     He stopped, “Sorry..!”

     You grabbed him and did the same, ruffling up his just brushed and cleaned hair. 

     “I don’t know how you three still have so much energy,” Eva shook her head as she entered the room.

     Vergil looked up from his book, confused about why he was grouped with you two. 

     “Now,” she gently placed two boxes on the coffee table, “Would you like to open your gifts?”

     You looked up at her in confusion, releasing Dante from your grasp, “Gifts? … Oh! Yeah!” In all your fun, you had forgotten that it was your birthday.

     Eva laughed softly before handing you the first box. It was heavy-ish and rectangular. The wrapping on it was crude and chaotic, with enough tape on it that it may as well have been wrapped in tape instead. In complete contrast to an intricately and well-tied ribbon surrounding the outside of it. A warm smile spread across your face, knowing immediately who this was from; Dante and Vergil.

     The twins watched intently as you carefully undid the ribbon and the seventy layers of patchwork gift wrap. Your smile faded upon seeing what it was, but not in a bad way; no, rather, you were taken aback. It was a photo album.

     You ran your fingers delicately across the cover which had a family photo of all five of you together. Underneath it, there was a small note neatly written in calligraphy, “ ‘Pretty joy!/Sweet joy, but two days old./Sweet Joy I call thee:/Thou dost smile,/I sing the while;/Sweet joy befall thee!’ Infant Joy; William Blake.”

     A small bittersweet feeling tugged at your heart as you gingerly opened the scrapbook. Inside there were dozens upon dozens of photos, drawings, newspaper clippings, stickers, and other miscellaneous things. Most of them had dates or small snippets of information next to them, explaining why they were placed there.

     Dante whispered to you as you flipped through the book, “You know, it was Verge’s idea to make this for ya--been workin’ on it since you were born,” his voice was playful and, yet, had a sense of pride to it. Of course, this was a teasing remark in an attempt to rile Vergil up, but you knew that deep down Dante was glad that he listened to his twin for once. 

     You tilted your head in curiosity, halfway through the book the pages became blank, “Why are these empty?” 

     Vergil huffed contently, “It is so you can fill out the rest as you grow up.”

     With a small hum you turned to give him a wide close-eyed smile, “As we grow up,” you corrected him and looked back down at the gift, “Thank you both. I love it; almost as much as I love you! I'll cherish this forever.”

     Eva and Sparda shared a small laugh at your enthusiasm over, what the twins’ would’ve considered, such a "boring" gift. 

     With overly cautious gentleness, you set the heavy book down on the coffee table in front of you. Eva then handed you the second, and last, box. It was a small square box with rounded edges. The wrapping on it was excellent and it had a small bow wrapped around it; it was from your Mother, Eva. 

     You quickly ripped through the wrapping and stared at the uncovered item. The box was a black velvet color and was unlike any other box you’d seen. Upon opening it, you (and your brothers) raised a curious brow at the contents. Inside, there was a well-taken-care-of palladium chain that had a sapphire pendant; one that is similar but much smaller than the twins’ (not yet received) necklaces. 

     “That necklace,” Eva started in, catching your attention, “has been in my family for several generations and now I'm entrusting it to you,” she smiled, “I know you’ll take good care of it.”

     You got up and went to hug her, squeezing her tightly.

     “Happy birthday, sweetheart,” she placed a small kiss on your cheek.

     As she helped you put the necklace on, the twins noticed that Father had left the room. Before they could question it, however, he returned.

     “Runt,” Sparda smiled widely, “Can you close your eyes and come here?”

     “Sure!” You did as he asked, guided towards him by your Mother. 

     Sparda knelt in front of you, “You may reopen them.”

     You stared in confusion and furrowed your brow, “Huh?”

     Held between his hands was a large, over six-foot-long, blade. His right hand was on the grip of the sword and his left hand was grasping the back edge on the other end, “Happy Birthday.”

     “What!” Dante shot up from the couch, “Not fair!”

     “Dante!” Vergil elbowed Dante in the gut, making the red devil sit back down.

     You turned back to look at your brothers before your Father spoke again, “Although you may not have a use for it now, I thought it best that you get the same treatment as your brothers.”

     “What is it?” 

     Sparda looked at you with parted lips before they curled into a smile as he laughed, “It is--or, rather, will be--your sword. Just as Vergil and Dante have Yamato and Rebellion; you will have The Devil Sword Sparda.”

     A nervous shake found its way to your hands as you reached out and placed your hands on the flat side of the blade. Admittedly the weapon was rather intimidating; I mean, Father doesn’t expect you to be able to lift that, right?

     “Dad?” You meekly looked up at him.

     “Hm?”

     “Why is it named that?”

     Another laugh emanated from the large devil, “Because it is my sword.”

     “Weren’t Yamato and Rebellion yours too?”

     “Rebellion and Yamato, were mine yes. However,” he looked down at the sword, “this is my pride and joy, the one that I still use.”

     “Then why aren’t you keeping it?” 

     “Because,” he took one of his hands and patted the top of your head, “Someday you’ll need a sword too and I believe this one suited you best.”

     “Oh,” you nodded and smiled at him, “Can- Can I ask one more thing?”

     “Sure, I don’t see why not.”

     Your fingers moved closer to the spine of the sword, making you cringe slightly at the fleshy feeling, “Why is this one so… scary looking?”

     Eva laughed this time, even letting out a small snort of surprise at the odd question.

     “I…” Sparda had a baffled look as he stared at you, “Are you asking why it has organic material?”

     Once more, you nodded and gently grabbed one of the bony spines.

     “Because,” he pursed his lips in thought, “Because it is most closely related to me and I come from a place that has a lot of organic materials like this.”

     “You’re home..?” Neither you nor the twins knew much about your Father’s past, only bits and pieces, and you had always wanted to learn more about the strange man, “Can we visit there someday?”

     Sparda shook his head ‘no’, “It isn’t a place that I want any of you to see, it is…” he pursed his lips, not knowing exactly how to explain things without frightening you, “it is not a nice place…”

     “Oh…” You pushed down on the blue-grey scales, “Then how are you from there?”

     “Par-Pardon?” 

     “You’re really nice and kind to everyone,” you pushed down on the large emerald stone that was nestled in the scales, “So how are you from there if it isn’t a nice place?”

     Sparda didn’t respond.

     You looked up at your Father and saw that he was staring at you with an odd expression, “Dad?”

     “Sparda,” Eva moved next to you and gently placed a hand on her husband’s shoulder, “Is something wrong?”

     The room became uncomfortably quiet. Both twins were staring at the three of you and you had removed your hand from the sword, opting to hold Eva’s hand.

     Without a word, Sparda got up and left, taking the sword with him.

     “Did I say something wrong?” You looked up at your Mother.

     “No, sweetheart. I'm not sure what that's about,” she looked down at you, placing a hand on your head with a small pat, “Why don’t the three of you go play for a while? I’ll come to get you for dinner and cake later, okay?”

     Although you all were uneasy, the three of you went to the twin’s room to play for a while. Eva made her way to Sparda’s office and found him sitting at his desk, staring down at nothing in particular. 

     “Dear?” Eva’s voice was soft as she entered the room, shutting it behind her, “What’s wrong?”

     The large man looked up at his wife, “It is nothing.”

     She moved further into the room and stood beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder, “I wasn’t born yesterday, something’s wrong.”

     “It’s just,” Sparda removed his monocle and pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh, pushing the corners of his eyes, “that they used to run and hide when I’d enter a room and then to tell me that…” 

     Eva gently ran her fingers through his hair and had a sad smile tugging at her lips, “They have come a long way. Is that why you are upset?”

     His voice cracked a bit, “I know that it is rather stupid but it makes me sad…” he let out a wet huff of a laugh, “I never thought I’d have a family let alone,” his shoulders tensed as he leaned forwards, removing his fingers from his face, “let alone have children who see me as a good and kind man.”

     The petite woman watched as Sparda let out a shuddering breath and placed his elbows on his desk as he pressed his palms into his eyes; doing his best to suppress his emotions.

     “After everything I’ve done,” Sparda’s voice was quiet, shameful, “that I did…”

     “Sparda…” Eva’s fingers tightened on his shoulder.

     He looked up at his wife, tears welling up in his eyes, “Have I truly earned such words?”

     The blonde woman held her husband close, doing her best to comfort him, "A thousand times over, my love."

     They sat together for what seemed like a lifetime, intertwined within each other's arms. Neither you nor the twins were told about what happened; rather, everyone acted as if nothing odd happened in the first place. However, Sparda made sure that he tucked you in that night, gave you a hug and kiss, and told you that he loves you. A memory that you'd never forget.

==

     Over the next year or so, you began to flourish more and more. The twins were able to outright treat you the same as they do each other without having to worry about your parents getting as upset. Along with that, the townsfolk that saw you three thought that you were a set of triplets; even though you didn’t look like your older brothers. The three of you did everything together; sparred, played, ate, slept--you were inseparable. 

     “That’s not fair!” You pouted as you lay on the ground, face up, “You promised you wouldn’t do that!”

     Dante and you had been sparring, while Vergil was on the lookout in case your parents showed up.

     The younger twin laughed a bit and offered you a hand, helping you up, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

     Recently, he had developed a new ability, one which he called “Royal Guard” and he just absolutely blasted you with it. 

     “You alright?” Before you could respond, Dante gently moved your head to the side, “Uh-- Hey Verge,” he looked over to his blue brother, “Can you come ‘ere?”

     “What?” Vergil raised a brow and noticed what Dante was looking at, “Really, Dante?”

     The red twin removed his hand from you, only to have Vergil replace his hold on your face. You pouted a bit in confusion, “What? Is something wrong?”

     “Yes,” Vergil glared at his twin as he removed his hand, allowing you to turn back them, “Dante managed to leave a large bruise across your neck.”

     “What if I said I fell..?” You tilted your head to the side and watched Vergil think.

     “That might work, however--”

     A loud crash and an even louder yelp from you caught the twins off guard. You were currently pinned face down underneath something really really heavy and were unable to move. Dante being Dante started to panic and sprinted off to find Mother; only to have Vergil chase after him and try to stop him--leaving you completely alone. Admittedly, things could be worse--you could’ve been blasted by Dante’s new godforsaken ability again; however, you weren’t exactly thrilled at the moment. 

     Every muscle and tendon in your body felt as if it were on fire as you pushed up. A loud shouting cry left your lips as you finally push whatever it was off of you--at least enough that you could worm your way out.

     Your brow furrowed, “What..?” In front of you was the behemoth of a weapon, The Devil Sword Sparda. 

     Carefully, you ran your fingers along the flat part right by the sharp edge of the blade. You hadn’t been allowed to see it (let alone touch it) since it was gifted to you. Mindlessly, you grabbed the handle and tugged a bit. Sure, it was heavy when it was on top of you. But now? It felt like you could lift it. Before you were able to test it out, your Mother and brothers were right next to you.

     “How did you get this?” Eva’s voice was stern but had a very light trace of fear pricking at the edges. 

     “I-” you shook your head and looked at her, “I didn’t-- I mean, I don’t know how--”

     “It just appeared out of nowhere!” Dante chimed in, which Vergil then socked him in the arm; mumbling about how Eva wasn’t talking to him. 

     Her lips parted as if she were going to say something, but she said nothing. After a minute or so of silence, Eva cleared her throat, “We need to put this back in your Father’s office. Can you… lift it?”

     You moved to the end of the blade and picked up. Seeing that you weren’t quite able to fully pick it up, Vergil and Dante helped; which was enough to lift the gigantic blade. The three of you, guided by your Mother, carried it to Sparda’s office and placed it on the floor of the room. 

     The incident was never brought up again.

     A few weeks following, Dante and Vergil had their eighth birthday. It was an absolute blast as far as you were concerned. The three of you went ice skating, had a snowball fight, and then made snowmen; it was the most “human” fun you’d ever had as a family. When it came time for presents, Eva gifted them two semi-matching ruby amulets; the only difference was that Dante’s was silver while Vergil’s was bronze.

     However, Vergil and Dante asked a question that had been on your mind as well, “Where’s Dad?”

     Eva simply brushed it off saying, “He’s away with work right now; he’ll be home any day now.”

     Looking back on it now, you know Eva was fully aware of your father's death and was just sparing the three of you from the painful terrifying news. 

     Things were fine for a while; the three of you continued to learn at home with Eva as your teacher and trained as a trio, waiting for Sparda to return. 

     It was late spring the last time you saw your Mother. 

     Her, Dante, and you were inside baking cookies together; while Vergil was outside playing--since he didn’t care for cooking. 

     “Can one of you go get Vergil? I’d like him to come in and help decorate these,” Eva smiled warmly.

     Before Dante could even process what was said, you sprung up from your chair with a shout, “I’ll get him!!” and then sprinted out the door.

     One moment, you were happily sprinting through the house thinking about what color frosting you wanted to use; and the next, you were engulfed in flames. Your eyes widened with horror as you gazed upon horrific monsters that you’d never seen and, quite frankly, never wanted to see again. 

     The front door was closer to you than running back to the kitchen, so you continued forwards and did your best to avoid both falling bits of building and whatever these creatures were.  

     “I just have to reach Vergil. He can protect me,”  you repeated this thought to yourself as you sprinted as fast as you could. A half-choked sob left your lips as you felt your chest being to tighten from the smoke. In the end, your struggle was all in vain; you never made it down the hallway, let alone to Vergil.

==

     The twin’s swords clashed as they darted around each other; enjoying their long-awaited reunion. Vergil hit Dante square in the gut and made him fly back several feet, leaving the red devil belly up and laughing heartily.

     After a minute or two, Dante sat up with a small content sigh, “So… Not that this isn’t fun but, you got a plan to get us out of this place, Verge?”

     The eldest twin straightened his coat and looked at his brother, “I do.”

     “Well,” the red devil stood and cracked his back, “Why didn’t you say so.”

     “As you said…” Vergil avoided Dante’s eyes, “you were enjoying yourself.” 

     “And here I thought you were all work, no play.”

     Vergil glared at Dante for a moment then stood with his eyes closed, listening.

     “So, now-”

     “Silence-” Vergil’s face scrunched as he focused harder, before gesturing off to his left, “That way.”

     “O-okay..?” Dante followed his brother, “So, what was that about?”

     “Yamato can only create a portal at the highest points of the Underworld-”

     “Where would we be closest to the human realm..?”

     “Exactly.”

     “That doesn’t explain the weird thing you just did.”

     “I had to locate such a spot,” Vergil’s tone was flat, not wanting to have to explain the specifics; especially since Dante knows what he's talking about.

     “Ah, gotcha,” No, Dante didn’t have a goddamn clue as to what the fuck his brother meant.

     The two of them walked for what seemed like forever, only stopping to fight miscellaneous hordes of demons. Although it was unintentional at first, they used this time to talk about many difficult topics; starting from the freshest things and working their way back. Vergil’s mind was still a scrambled mess which caused him to have a rather difficult time recalling things the further back they went, so it took longer and longer with each topic.

     Despite that small hiccup, they reached back to where this all truly began. Admittedly, neither of them wanted to talk about it but it was important--and it’s not like they had much else to do anyway.

     Dante went first and explained what happened; how Eva hid him away and left to find Vergil, her then dying in the process.

     The blue devil raised a brow at Dante’s words which didn’t go unnoticed by the red devil, “What?” 

     “Nothing.”

     “No,” Dante shook his head, “No, we talked about this; we agreed to be upfront with each other,” at this point, the red devil sounded more akin to a parent scolding a child rather than a concerned sibling; because of how much he had to strong-arm his brother into talking.

     The eldest moved his jaw side to side in thought before speaking, “Last you told me, you portrayed a very different tale.”

     “Oh yeah? What did I say?”

     Vergil’s response was beyond quiet and Dante was unable to make out what was said.

     “Verge,” Dante carefully placed a hand on his twin’s shoulder.

     The blue devil flinched from the action before stiffening his entire body, “You heavily insinuated that Mother did not care for me; that she had no intent to…” He clenched his jaw and broke from Dante’s stare.

     Dante’s expression fell, “I know and… I’m sorry,” Vergil glared at Dante from the corner of his eyes, “but, if I’m honest, I was just doing that to piss you off,” he sighed softly, “It made it easier for me to fight you, because-- because if I refused to admit that I cared about you then I didn’t feel as bad about the whole thing... About fighting you…”

     “Tch,” Vergil slicked his hair back, an action that Dante noted Vergil did when uncomfortable, “I doubt you needed extra reinforcement with that; you seemed to be just fine with fighting me.”

     “Hey,” Dante grabbed Vergil’s shoulder, forcing him to turn to him, “You listen here,” he firmly grasped both of Vergil’s shoulders, much to the eldest’s discomfort, “I never wanted things to end like that. I never thought that you’d-- that we’d--” Dante let out an aggravated sigh as he unintentionally tightened his grip, “Don’t you think for a fucking second that I wanted to lose you or hurt you like that Vergil.”

     The blue devil did his best to avoid Dante’s eyes.

     “You are my brother, even if you did some stupid shit,” Vergil’s eyes snapped right back to his brother upon hearing that, “I mean, I did stupid shit too; but, I never thought things would turn out as they did.”

     Vergil sighed softly, “You are a fool.”

     “What’s that supposed to--” Dante let out a surprised ‘oof’.

     Vergil had pulled his brother into a hug, albeit a rather aggressive one but it was still a hug. 

     Neither of them spoke, they just stood there for a moment; holding one another. However nice things can never last as they became engulfed by another swarm of demons. It didn’t take long for the twins to have the large horde taken care of and they were back on the road. 

     After some time, Vergil decided to give his side of what happened. How he was attacked and experienced his first Trigger; how it tore his body apart and he nearly died by doing so. Only to run as far away as possible, thinking that “-both Eva and Dante were dead.”

     Dante’s brow twitched at his twin’s words, or rather, lack thereof, “Hey, uh, Vergil?” Dante’s voice was uncharacteristically quiet.

     “Hm?”

     “Aren’t you missing someone?”

     With a confused shake and furrow of his brow, Vergil stopped walking and turned to Dante, “No, Father was gone by then.”

     Dante’s lips parted slightly as he looked with great concern, “Are you sure?”

     Vergil raised a brow, “What are you on about?”

     “Verge…” Dante swallowed hard and placed a hand on the back of his neck, “We had a little sibling that you completely neglected to mention…”

     Vergil squinted, “What..?”

     “Holy shit,” the red devil’s shoulders, and overall posture, dipped with sadness “You really forgot?”

     “If this is your attempt at a joke, I do not find it funny.”

     “I’m serious Vergil,” Dante shook his head as he continued, “They were like a year younger than us--were super sick when they were born, which you very bluntly pointed out,” the red devil desperately looked for any sign of recognition in his brother’s face, “Father wouldn’t train them because Mom wanted them to be raised like a human-- Anything ringing a bell?” Dante stared at Vergil.

     “I…” Vergil’s jaw moved in thought, “I don’t know…” Before Dante could speak, Vergil put a hand up, “Just give me a little bit.”

     “Sure,” after which Dante just continued to ramble about things that the three of you did as kids or random information about you. 

     “Did we… make them a book..? Vergil scrunched his face in confusion at, what he thought, was a stupid suggestion.

     The younger twin’s head nodded quickly, “Yeah that’s right.”

     Vergil’s brow twitched as he tried to remember more, “I believe I used to… read to them?” 

     Once more, Dante nodded, “You did.”

     “I see…” the older twin’s expression was rather forlorn compared to normal, “You will have to forgive my confusion, everything is still a bit foggy.”

     The twins continued forward for another few minutes before Dante piped up again.

     “So, you didn’t see them during the fire then..?” Dante pursed his lips, “I never was able to figure if they…” Dante gestured at nothing in particular, “Ya know.” 

     The blue devil sighed, “As much as I’d like to think otherwise; if you haven’t heard from them, then they are most likely dead.”

     The younger twin nodded, “I figured-- I mean,” he sighed heavily, “I had hoped that maybe you’d seen or heard about ‘em when you were under… well, ya know-- Prince Dickwad’s control.”

     Vergil let out a small laugh before freezing at his own reaction. After a moment, he recomposed himself with a nod and returned to his monotone self, “No. I don’t believe I did, anyway…”

     The red devil nodded and swallowed his emotions. 

     Admittedly, Dante had hoped that Vergil would’ve known something about what happened to you. Hoped that, maybe, you had reached the older twin before everything happened; but that was wishful thinking. After all, you were treated like a human, it only made sense that you would have died like one as well.

     They continued forwards in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Vergil was mulling over his memories; admittedly, he was rather perturbed that he didn’t recall you until Dante reminded him. In hindsight, perhaps splitting himself using Yamato did more damage to himself than he had originally anticipated. However, that was for him to worry about at some other point; if at all.

     Dante, on the other hand, was doing his best to come to terms with everything. He had been living with the false hope of you still being alive. The only thing that was running through his mind was how he almost lost both siblings. Thankfully, Vergil was still with him; which, admittedly, only added to the fear of losing his brother again.

     A small discontented huff from Vergil caught Dante’s attention. Before he could ask his brother what was up, Dante saw what Vergil was staring at. In front of them was a large desolate building that absolutely reeked of gore--worse than they’d encountered thus far.

     “So, let me guess,” Dante half-ass pointed at the sight before them, “That’s where we need to go, huh?” 

     “It would appear that way,” Vergil took a deep breath. The blue devil wasn’t exactly thrilled about having to set foot in a structure like this; one so similar to the ones from all those years ago.

     Dante noticed his brother’s apprehension, “You gonna be alright?” 

     “I’ll be fine!” Vergil’s answer was much snappier than intended. Before moving forwards, Vergil mumbled to himself, “It is only a building, it isn’t that big of a deal.”

     Before Dante could try and comfort his brother, Vergil was nearly at the entrance. The two cautiously pushed the heavy doors open. The outpost had seen better days, that much was apparent; with every step forward Dante felt as if the pair were going to go straight through the floor--or worse, the building would collapse atop them. Despite the abhorrent smell of death and fresh kills, there wasn’t a body to be found--not even a single drop of blood. 

     While they made their way up the stairs, Vergil began to take note of how eerily quiet it was. Hell is far from a quiet place, constantly having the sounds of demons screeching and other miscellaneous sounds; here, however, you could hear a pin drop from five rooms away. It made him feel uneasy, only adding to how on edge he was. 

     Dante had also noticed and began to mindlessly whistle to himself. The unexpected noise made Vergil flinch heavily. The red devil stopped for a moment, waiting for Vergil to say something. After a few moments with no response, Dante continued to fill the silence with any sort of noise he could, unknowingly providing a little comfort to the eldest twin. As the pair ventured onwards and upwards, they both began to look around in a paranoid manner; awaiting the inevitable ambush.

     Dante decided to make small talk, “So… can I ask somethin’?” He looked over to his brother who was standing in front of a large decrepit, nearly shattered, mirror.

     “Hm?” Vergil’s eyes didn’t leave his reflection.

     “Is this, like, one of Mundus’s outposts?”

     Vergil shook his head and tilted his head to the side toward Dante, however, the eldest’s eyes never left the glass. He ghosted his fingers along the surface, “No--not his territory.”

     “Then who--”

     “Argosax… and this isn’t an outpost,” Vergil huffed and turned his full attention to his sibling, “This is, or was, one of their main strongholds; this one, in particular, is only a step below the main fortress”

     “You don’t say…”

     Vergil raised a brow at Dante’s odd reaction, “Don’t tell me you have forgotten about Argosax? After all, you are the one that killed them.”

     “Eh,” the red devil shrugged, “Can’t say I remember ‘em much--they were pretty boring. Plus Argo didn’t put up much of a fight.”

     The blue devil scoffed and continued forwards, Dante following a few paces behind, “Perhaps we are the only two people that would consider fighting a ruler of Hell an easy feat--no?”

     “You got that right,” Dante playfully shoved Vergil’s shoulder and had a sheathed Yamato placed right against his throat for it, “Whoa--” he put his hands up with his palms facing Vergil, “easy there tiger.”

     The eldest twin coldly eyed his brother for a moment before he took a slow deep breath and removed the sword, turning back around and continuing forwards.

     “Sorry, I uh,” Dante jogged lightly and stood beside his twin, “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

     Vergil didn’t answer but just kept walking. 

     Dante pursed his lips and stuck his hands in his jeans pockets. He wanted to say something, to continue talking, but it seemed like Vergil was done conversating for the time being. 

     Another set of stairs later, the twins came upon a large long hallway. Random bits of broken furniture and glass decorated the filthy marbled floors. The partially dilapidated ceiling was elegantly decorated with arch supports that had lavish latticework; which had large roots weaved within, destroying some of it. The walls had old craters that ranged from being small--almost fist-sized--dents to entire walls missing. Along the way, the walls were also filled with easily over a dozen doors; some were open, some were barricaded shut, and others were far from the hinges that they belonged to. 

     “This place seems much more refined than everywhere else,” Dante tilted his head to the side.

     Vergil nodded mockingly, “Yes, very good; I’m glad that you can still see.”

     “Hey,” Dante punched Vergil’s shoulder, “I just meant; like--Why is it nicer?”

     The blue devil hummed in thought for a moment, crouching to get a better look at one of the large shards of glass, “I’m not sure; but, if I had to guess,” Vergil carefully picked up the piece, moving it around and watching the reflection, “These were the living quarters for whatever devil’s served Argosax.”

     Dante made a surprised huff, “Really? I didn’t think that devils were into that whole thing,” he approached one of the normal-looking doors, “Figure they would be too focused on destruction and killing things,” he opened the door, but didn’t enter; opting to just stand in the doorframe.

     The eldest twin raised a brow, placed the shard down, and walked over to his sibling, standing behind him, “What’s wrong?”

     “I-” Dante stood with his mouth agape, a clear look of confusion across his brow, as he turned to Vergil, “You saw that, right?”

     “What are you talking about, Dante?”

     Dante looked back at the room, pausing a moment before speaking, “Nothing; guess I’m just tired.”

     The youngest twin took a step into the room before being stopped by Vergil grabbing his shoulder, keeping him from moving further.

     “Verge..?” Dante turned to his brother, who seemed paler than normal.

     “Let’s keep moving,” Vergil’s voice had an odd shake to it and his fingers were tight enough that they were digging into Dante’s shoulder.

     “S-sure..?” Dante turned and began to walk down the hall to the upward-climbing staircase, before finally asking, “What was that about?”

     Vergil looked over to Dante but said nothing.

     “Verge..?” 

     “Don’t worry about it,” Vergil looked back in front of them.

     “Was that supposed to be comforting?”

     “I didn’t think that I had to be.”

     “What a wonderful older brother I have.”

     Vergil glared at Dante before shaking his head with an eye roll.

     The pair continued forwards, the feeling of unease only intensifying with each deserted story. Vergil stopped within the confines of one of the stairwells, “Dante,” 

     “Hm?”

     Vergil looked around before looking at Dante, “Do you feel like we are missing something?”

     “What?”

     Vergil’s brow furrowed as he pursed his lips before turning his gaze back in front of them with a small shake, “Never mind.”

     The two continued to the next floor. Once at the top of the stairs, Dante stopped and looked around, “Well, now that you mention it,” Vergil looked over to him, “I do feel kind of odd; like we shouldn’t be here.”

     “Well… that’s a given; however,” the blue devil walked further, peaking inside different rooms, “that is not quite what I meant,” finally, Vergil seemed to find a room that fit whatever he was looking for, “Let’s rest here for a moment.”

     “I uh-- okay..?” Dante walked into the room. Vergil followed suit, shutting and barricading the door with a nearby cot; piquing the red devil’s curiosity, “So what’s with the sudden break time, Verge?”

     The blue twin looked around the room, “This one is safe.”

     “Huh?”

     Vergil sat on the edge of one of the dirty and tattered cots, “Sit.”

     The younger twin hesitated a moment before sitting beside his brother, putting one leg up on the bed to sit facing his sibling. 

     “Do you recall how I first confronted you when under Mundus?” Vergil’s voice was soft as his eyes mindlessly stared at nothing in particular on the floor. His forearms were resting on his legs as he rapidly tapped his thumbs together--tapping one foot in the same fashion.

     The red devil’s face contorted as he thought for a moment. Admittedly, Dante has a hard time recalling events from that time in his life. In the gap between Vergil’s fall and meeting Nero for the first time, Dante was beyond a depressed alcoholic mess leaving those memories a completely jumbled mess. 

     “Dante,” Vergil turned his head slightly, staring at his sibling from the corner of his eye, “Do you not remember?” Although his voice was still monotone as normal, there was a distant sadness to Vergil’s words.

     “I do, kinda,” Dante’s shoulders fell as he placed a hand on the back of his neck, “everything from back then is kinda hazy--just give me a second.”

     “I can just--”

     “No-!” Dante’s voice was unintentionally stern. Quickly he added in a softer voice, “I want to-- I can remember, just give me a second.”

     Vergil turned to fully stare at Dante; watching his brother’s contorted expressions as he was deep in thought. After a minute or so Dante’s face relaxed as he met Vergil’s eyes, “You used a mirror, right? Walked right out of it..?”

     “That is correct--”

     “Yeah, you were the first bastard that actually had some guts to give me a real fight…” Dante laughed, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

     A small smirk ghosted Vergil’s face as he returned to stare at the same spot on the floor, “Surely you noticed the abnormally high amount of glass here, right?”

     Dante shrugged, “I did notice but… uh- I got no idea what these places are supposed to look like; didn’t know it was weird.”

     Vergil frowned slightly, “No devil is that obsessed with themselves that they’d have that much glass--it must have been placed on purpose.”

     The younger twin’s brow lifted with confused curiosity, “So, you--or, well, Nelo--traveling using glass wasn’t some exclusive thing?”

     Vergil shook his head ‘no’, “It is a skill that can be taught; however,” Vergil’s shoulders tensed as he turned to look up at the door, “it is extremely difficult to learn and even harder to master.”

     “Vergil,” Dante sighed, “I don’t want to sound rude; but, what’s your point?”

     The eldest twin sat upright and looked over at Dante, with a harsh squint and clear scowl, “I am saying someone or something is here with us; watching us.”

     “Okay. Counterpoint,” Dante folded his arms with a raise of his brow, “What if those are all from someone who used to be here but left when Argosax died? Or are already dead?”

     “You aren’t that stupid, Dante,” Vergil stood up, his grip tightening on Yamato, “I know you can feel it, too.”

     “So what if they can do some fancy glass shit?” Dante stood up and cocked his head to the side, “We’ll just defeat them like everyone else.”

     “In our current state,” Vergil sighed, “I’m not so sure…”

     “Our current state?” Dante folded his arms, leaning back a bit, “What’s that supposed to mean..?”

     The blue devil’s eyes slowly turned to stare at Dante, “Tell me, Dante; how long do you think you or I can hold our Devil Triggers? Or better yet, our Sin Triggers?”

     Dante huffed, knowing that Vergil was right but not wanting to admit it.

     Vergil continued, “Whatever or whoever this is, they aren’t to be taken lightly. Neither of us can take on something much more than Behemoths or Lusachias right now; so, it would be very unlikely that we could survive a fight with a real devil.”

     After a minute, Dante let out a soft sigh, “Man,” Dante scratched his chin, “It’s that bad, huh?”

     Vergil squinted, asking Dante to explain.

     “I mean,” the younger twin moved his jaw in thought for a moment, “If you of all people aren’t confident about winning; then we really are fucked.”

     “I-- I do not know if you are trying to insult me or not.”

     The red devil laughed, placing a hand on his twin’s shoulder, “Let’s go find out who’s been spying on us; what do you say?”

     Vergil shook his head with a quiet sigh and a small smile, “They are most likely at the top of the stronghold; where we are going.”

     “The news just gets better and better,” Dante moved the cot from the door, “What’s next; you gonna tell me that they are immune to our swords or something?”

     “Don’t jinx us, Dante.”

     The younger twin laughed as they left the room, continuing onward and upwards. It only took two more staircases for them to reach the top.

     Both twins pushed hard against the large double doors at the top of the steps, opening them just enough for the pair to slip by. They found themselves in a large waiting room of sorts. Directly across from them was another huge set of double doors. 

     The room was in an odd mixture of both good and poor condition; the room itself was relatively undamaged--no holes or what not, however, it was inundated with corpses and blood--which is what caused the rotten stench.

     Marble flooring covered the space, which was so covered in filth and gore that it was impossible to tell what color it was intended to be. The walls were plain and relatively similar to the rest of the building; except for the one that housed the unopened doors. That particular wall was covered in rocks and miscellaneous gems. Which seemed rather out of place, as if someone had stuck them there after the wall was built. 

     Vergil’s eyes flicked up to the ceiling. Its base was covered in cracked grimy tinted glass which was broken up by several dome vaults. In each dome, there were different murals. As he looked harder, he realized that: A.) it was also not original and poorly done, and B.) the “paint” was demons' blood. The different murals were crude interpretations of different events, but he couldn’t quite make them out.

     As Vergil tried to get a better view of the artwork, Dante was looking at the extravagant furniture and decor that littered the room. In the middle of the right side, there was a large stone table with several wooden chairs--a few of which were broken; both the table and chairs all seemed to be hand-carved, covered with various creatures and symbols. On the far left of the room was a large wood desk; that, once more, seemed to be hand-carved--it looked similar to Dante’s. This was enough to pique the red devil’s curiosity. 

     Dante sauntered over to the desk. Once he got closer, he noticed that there was an odd stack of thin paper-like items on it. Carefully, he moved the items around and tried to make out any of the scribbles.

     “Hey Verge,” Dante turned over his shoulder, “Come take a look at this.”

     Vergil slowly looked down from the ceiling and strutted over to his sibling.

     “Does any of this mean anythin’--or are these just someone's failed art project?”

     The blue devil pushed Dante out of the way and spread out the items of interest across the entirety of the table. He leaned forwards with his hands on the edge of the desk and began to pick through the papers.

    After a few minutes, Vergil answered,  “These are all made on dried demon hide,” Dante gave Vergil a look of surprise, “They are all very well done, some of the best work I have seen...”

     “I didn’t know you could make paper from demons.”

     “It’s more akin to leather rather than paper.”

     “Still is weird.”

     Vergil hummed in acknowledgment and moved some of the pages together before sighing, “There is a small paragraph here,” he ran his index finger along the area with writing, “However, the diction is very broken and the language isn’t consistent; using both Greek and Latin.”

     “Is it anything important?”

     Vergil hesitated, “I’m unsure.”

     “Can you try and read it?”

     The eldest sibling nodded then cleared his throat, stopping every few words to translate more, “ ‘ "Father, father,/where are you going?/Oh do not walk so fast!/Speak, father, speak to your little child,/Or else I shall be lost.". The night was dark, no father was there,/The child was wet with dew;/The mire was deep, and the child did weep,/And away the vapour flew.' .”

     The red devil raised a brow, “Isn't that--?"

     "William Blake's work? Yes."

     "You didn’t by chance write these, did you?”

     “No,” Vergil shook his head and stood up straight, “I never wrote this one down; not to mention I was never allowed to accompany Mundus to any “meetings” with Argosax--none of my belongings would be here.”

     “Hm, wonder why?”

     “Why what?”

     “Well,” Dante placed a hand on his hip, “If you were Mundus’s prized knight, then why didn’t he take you with him? I mean, I would’ve if I were him.”

     “I-” Vergil’s face contorted with sudden confusion and realization, “I don’t know.”

     Dante shook his head, “Anyway, so why is there random poetry here? Argosax just decided to learn about human literature?”

     “I don’t know that either; this is the first time I have seen human works that weren’t written down by myself,” Vergil’s eyes peered over the table, “It is rather off-putting that it is Blake’s work as well; there are hundreds of thousands of poets to choose from…”

     “Yeah… I mean- I don’t want to sound mean but are you sure Urizen or V didn’t visit here?”

     “Urizen and V did not visit here; I assure you,” the blue devil looked over to the unopened doors, “I think our break time is over.”

     The younger twin looked over at the doors, joining Vergil’s stare, “You feel it too, huh?”

     “Mn,” Vergil gave a curt nod, “Whatever is behind that door; is what’s been spying on us.”

     “Welp,” Dante traipsed over to the doors, “Little help?”

     Vergil shook his head, “I am going to get a peak at what is on the other side first; then we will decide our course of action.”

     “What?!” Dante’s face scrunched as his mouth was agape in confusion, “Vergil, you are the one who keeps preaching about how powerful this thing is. You going over there by yourself is-- is--” he pinched the bridge of his nose, “stupid!”

     “Us just breaking down the door without understanding what we are up against or what we are releasing is impetuous,” the eldest folded his arms, “I will be fine, it is just a peek.”

     “But what if--”

     “If I am not back within a minute,” Vergil went to place a hand on Dante’s shoulder but stopped, opting to lightly punch him instead, “Then break down the door.”

     “Verge this is a little too heavy for--”

     “You are a son of Sparda; a devil imbued with the fire of hell itself,” Vergil gave Dante a smug smirk, “A wooden door shouldn’t be much of a challenge.”

     The red devil sighed, “Alright- Alright… Just, hurry back.”

     Vergil gave him a small nod before disappearing into a cloud of smoke.

     Once on the other side, Vergil was met with a muddy bronze-colored devil--just sitting in the middle of the room. The devil’s eyes were closed and its hands were placed on its thighs; as if it were meditating. The moment Vergil tried to move, however, the devil’s eyes snapped open. They were of a bright magenta hue and had streaks of the same color running down their face which joined up with a line that went across their throat--mimicking a slit throat.

     It stood up, locking eyes with Vergil. Their body was riddled with battle scars and had a mixture of browns, blacks, and purples throughout. Its entire form was much more akin to Vergil's or Dante’s Sin Trigger’s, making Vergil scrunch his face in bafflement. 

     The more he looked, the more strange this new devil became. Notably, the devil had cloven hooves; a feature that Vergil had only ever seen on one other devil. His eyes widened, taken aback at the sudden realization of what he was looking at; however, before Vergil could return to his twin, the eldest was teleported to an unfamiliar location. It was akin to that of Malphas’s void that V had been placed in; however, there were no gates, no menacing feeling, just a room filled with junk..?

I couldn't decide what I wanted the reader's SDT to look like, so here is a compilation of all the different sketches/two fully rendered works.

     Dante paced uneasily behind the door, tapping his fingers against the grips of Ebony & Ivory, grinding his teeth together, “He will be fine; I just--!”

     He froze and his eyes widened, he could no longer feel Vergil’s presence, “Son of a Bitch!” Dante holstered his side arms and Triggered then crashed through the doors--making them fly off their hinges. 

     The bronze devil caught one of the airborne objects and threw it back at Dante; who sliced it clean in two. He de-Triggered and looked around the room for any sign of his twin. Panic began to set in as he tried to figure out what happened; Vergil wouldn’t have left Dante here, right?

     Before Dante could delve into those thoughts, the feeling of his feet leaving the ground brought him back to reality. The bronze devil had hit the red devil far off into the doors that lead into the waiting room he had just been in.

     With a groan, he sat up and got to his feet, “Damn it, Verge,” his eyes met with the devil’s, “Where’d you go?”

     Crouching down slightly, Dante readied his Devil Sword and dashed at his attacker. The devil curled both sets of its leathery wings around itself, using them to take the brunt of Dante’s Devil Sword’s power; before expanding them back out, sending Dante flying back once more. 

     “Tch,” he quickly caught himself and sprinted at the devil once more, cracking the ground in his wake. 

     It grabbed Dante’s blade, which sliced into its palm. It looked at the wound in confusion, as if it didn’t understand what happened. Using their free hand, the devil tried to grab Dante but he managed to teleport out of reach. The bronze devil stared down at their injured hand, seemingly enamored by the pooling blood. 

     Not wanting to let up, Dante attacked again--using Trickster to get closer and take the devil by surprise. This, however, didn’t go as planned. His opponent flicked their head toward the direction Dante had teleported and, using one of its forward-facing horns, skewered him through the thigh.

     “Shit,” Dante pushed away on the devil’s head, attempting to break free; however, an odd blue glint caught his eye and he stopped.

     Before the younger twin could get a better look at the odd object, the devil yanked Dante off its horn. In a flash, they slammed him into the floor, creating a large crater with Dante’s body. They attempted to gut Dante using its claws; however, they were stopped by Dante’s Devil Sword being laid across his body. Using his free hand, Dante grabbed Ebony and shot his attacker between the eyes--at point-blank range.

     He waited for the devil’s body to go limp but it didn’t; no, it just sat there, looking down at him. The bullet was lodged deep in its head and was bleeding but they were still alive. Getting frustrated with this fight, Dante triggered. 

     The bronze devil hissed quietly and jumped up in reaction to the sudden molten hot temperatures of the red devil, which allowed Dante to do the same. The bronze devil grabbed the bullet from its forehead, looked at it with an odd curiosity, and then flicked it at Dante; with the same velocity that it would have if it had been shot from a gun. 

     Of course, it missed the younger twin. Shaking off his confusion, he re-engaged with the devil. Dante’s wings flew out behind him as he lunged at the devil. It put up its forearms and caught the sword with them. Although it wasn’t as deep as it would’ve been against any other devil or demon; the sword sliced into the meat of the arm. 

     A strange huff of a growl came from the devil, as it locked eyes with Dante. Despite the fact the devil had no lips, the younger twin couldn’t help but feel as if it were smiling at him--mocking him. In frustration, Dante pushed harder into the devil’s arms and that’s when he felt it.

     “What..?” Dante sprung back and looked at his forearms; large deep cuts that mirrored the ones on his opponents decorated his arms and were bleeding heavily, “That’s a new one.”

     The bronze devil cocked its head slightly and flared its wings outwards; now it was definitely mocking the younger twin. 

     With a small growl, “Fine,” Dante stuck his sword into the ground and pulled out Ebony & Ivory, “Let’s try this on for size.”

     The red devil kicked up into the air, hovering several feet above the bronze devil, and rattled off several rounds. If it had been any other devil or demon, Dante knows that all of his shots would’ve landed; however, only a handful of the bullets managed to knick the devil’s hide. Despite the devil’s sheer size, it was much more attentive and more of a contortionist than he’d anticipated. 

     Dante shot off Ivory several times in hopes to distract the devil from the slowly charging Ebony in his left hand, “Here’s a lil’ somethin’ for ya’,” Dante yanked up Ebony and fired--not allowing his opponent any time to react… or so he thought.

     The moment he pulled the trigger, his target disappeared. A chill ran up Dante’s spine and, before he could process what was going on, the devil was behind Dante and grabbed him by the wings, holding them by the base. The devil spun around in the air and threw Dante into an upper part of a wall. The younger twin let out a strangled gasp as he felt the air leave his body and de-triggered. He fell from the high-up spot face down onto the floor. Slowly he stood back up, stumbling a bit and taking deep uneven breaths. He tossed his coat off to the side--not that it mattered much since it was pretty tattered at this point--and revealed that his entire back was raw. Large slices ran along his spine where his wings were attached and were bleeding profusely. 

     Not knowing what else to do and steadily becoming more and more exhausted, Dante summoned his sword back to his side and used his Sin Trigger--healing his wounds. The bronze devil took a step back and tilted its head in confusion before Dante was back upon them with blinding speed. He stabbed the sword through the devil’s middle; not caring that it made his own insides burn. They let out a sputtering gasp and grabbed at Dante’s neck and face; wedging their claws in between his scales, pulling them off. The two struggled for a while before the son of Sparda was finally tossed off to the side. 

     The bronze devil looked around for a moment quickly concluding that it was outmatched. They stuck out its hand to the side and waited. Although Dante is only a few short steps away from feral when in this form, he froze upon seeing what was within the bronze devil’s grasp.

     Their fingers tightened around the sword’s dingy crimson grip as they placed the back edge on their shoulder. However, the sword wasn’t the only thing that Dante was in shock over; no, there was something else. Hanging onto the grip was Vergil, who teleported to his twin immediately upon returning. 

     Dante was in such shock that he could no longer hold his Sin Trigger. The bronze devil lunged at the pair, missing only by a hair because Vergil grabbed his twin and teleported to the story below. 

     “Are you alright?” Vergil looked over his visibly exhausted twin.

     With heavy breaths and a half-hearted laugh, Dante smiled, “That’s supposed to be my line.”

     “They seem to have given you quite the hassle.”

     “Eh, I’m just tired.”

     “Tch,” Vergil shook his head, “We don’t have much time-”

     “Verge,” Dante’s voice cracked, “Why does that thing have The Sparda?”

     “Not just that,” Vergil reached into the edge of his coat and pulled out a large book that had an old faded happy family pasted right on the front cover, “They also had this.”

     “What-” 

     “I don’t know exactly what’s happened; however,” Vergil looked up and saw cracks beginning to form, “We need to figure it out and fast.”

     Dante copied his brother’s stare before returning to him, “So what-- They were “Nelo Angelo-d”?”

     “Do not call it that,” Vergil snarled at his sibling lightly, “If it were that easy then I would’ve taken care of them myself.”

     “Then what happened to--!”

     The ceiling caved in and both brothers jumped back. Vergil quickly tucked the book into his coat and readied Yamato.

     “Wait, Verge,” Dante grabbed his brother’s shoulder, “Careful what you do,” his eyes locked with the magenta hue of the bronze devil’s, “I got stabbed by myself when attacking.”

     Vergil side-eyed Dante, “How odd, that--!”

     The bronze devil lunged at the twins, who split apart in two different directions. Dante pulled out Ivory once more. The bronze devil snapped their attention to the red assailant and swung The Sparda. Dante rolled out of the way and knelt at the end of it, firing a few shots. However, the bronze devil wasn’t done; it followed through and pivoted around on its hooves. This opened The Sparda into its scythe formation, which was perfectly in line with Dante’s body. 

     “Shit,” Dante leaned back and hit the floor with his shoulder blades, still having his knees in a kneel. His turquoise eyes watched as the blade just barely missed his body.

     Dante spun up around and onto his feet. Wondering what the plan was, he looked around for Vergil, only to find that he had disappeared again. Another aggressive lunge came from the burly opponent which Dante swiftly sprung upwards, landing on the (now-closed) Sparda’s spine. 

     A smirk tugged at Dante’s lips as he squatted down, placing his forearms on his knees, “Man you’ve gotten big, huh?” The devil pulled The Sparda back up, forcing the red devil to dismount, “You know, it took me forever to learn how to properly use that thing; surprised you already figured out how to open it--!”

     He instantly reacted to the devil’s teleportation by doing so himself and stood with a hand neatly placed on his hip.

     “I don’t want to fight you,” Dante’s brow twitched, using his free hand, he summoned his Devil Sword, “You don’t have to do this.”

     A small, but noticeable, hesitation came from the bronze devil before it re-engaged with Dante. The two exchanged blows. Dante noted that it was almost eerily similar to how the two of them used to spar as kids. Suddenly, he got an idea. 

     He made sure that he was correct about the pattern that the bronze devil was using before dodging at a very particular point, the same one he used to take advantage of when you were kids. 

     “How’s this?” Dante unleashed Royal Guard, sending the devil flying back onto its ass. 

     It laid there for a moment as it stared at the ceiling. 

     The younger twin’s brow scrunched as he tried to remember what he’d say to you after accidentally hitting you with his ability, “Sorry… You alright?” Dante pursed his lips waiting for a response.

     The bronze devil slowly leaned up, tilting its head at Dante. After a brief moment, they stood up with a shake of their head and readied The Sparda again. 

     Dante squinted as he readied his sword, thinking to himself, “Where the hell did Vergil go? He’d better have left for a good reason, I’m getting sick of this.”

     The two of them exchanged blows again. It seemed to go on forever until Dante, in his exhaustion, slipped up and got slammed by the back edge of The Sparda; flying off into a nearby wall. 

     “Damn,” he groaned as he sat up, “I’m getting too old for this.”

     They walked over to Dante, staring down at him with their wings flared out; debating what to do next.

     Blood splashed onto Dante’s face as he watched Yamato peirce right through the devil’s hide. Vergil yanked Yamato downwards before removing the blade, causing the bronze devil to hunch over and hold its middle. 

     “I see,” Vergil wiped the blade against the wrist of his coat, cleaning it. Carefully, he placed it back in its scabbard, “You can only reflect attacks that you see coming, how enlightening.”

     The bronze devil turned its head to the side before teleporting. Vergil pivoted around and blocked the devil’s attack. The eldest twin jogged over to his younger brother, tossing him the book. In return, Dante tossed Vergil Ebony before the blue devil turned back to the problem at hand.  

     Vergil reapproached and snapped his fingers, summoning his doppelgänger. The pair separated, Doppel shot upwards while Vergil did his best to keep the bronze devil’s attention. A grimace found its way to Vergil’s face as he used Yamato to block a heavy-handed swing from The Sparda. Sparks flew from the blades as they slid across one another.

     Doppel attempted to repeat the same attack that Vergil had done before; however, the bronze devil dodged it and grabbed Doppel… or would’ve grabbed them if Doppel wasn’t an apparition. Vergil used the distraction to skewer the devil once again, this time pushing even harder into them with Yamato. The blade was deep enough that the tsuba was against the devil’s spine. Vergil’s feet were placed on the legs of the devil and he was leaning his whole body weight into the attack. 

     The bleeding devil flailed about, shaking its body vigorously and trying to claw at its back to grab their attacker. Unable to shake the annoying blue devil, they fell backwards, attempting to crush Vergil. Although it was unexpected, Vergil had enough time to use his Sin Trigger. This, in turn, protected his body; however, the floor was a different issue. The pair went straight through the structure and were now a few stories lower. 

     Vergil shoved the bronze devil off him, removing Yamato. The two stood staring at one another, waiting for the right moment to-

     “Hey! Assholes!” Dante jumped down, fumbling his landing slightly, “You trying to kill me?”

     Vergil’s eyes didn’t leave his opposer, however, the same cannot be said for them. Currently, its eyes were fixated on the book in Dante’s hand which the red devil noticed. 

     He held the book up in one hand, “Lookin’ at this?”

     It tilted its head.

     “Verge found it in the little pocket dimension you stuck him in- That’s what it was, right?”

     The bronze devil looked away from Dante, staring at a random point in the room. Although he couldn’t be sure, from the odd reaction, Dante felt as if the bronze devil was confused--perhaps even trying to place the book or the twins.

     “Let’s see,” Dante licked his finger and began to thumb through the pages, selecting one at random. With a loud cough, he began to read, “ ‘Today, we all went to the beach. It was fun-’,” The devil snapped back to attention and lunged at Dante, only to be stopped by Vergil. 

     Seeing this violent reaction, the red devil stopped only to have Vergil yell back at him, “Keep reading.”

     The younger twin nodded, “ ‘-and I learned how to make a sand castle. Vergil kept making them with me and Dante kept destroying them; so mean.’,” Dante snickered to himself. 

     Vergil’s hold broke, allowing the bronze devil to continue its course. Dante managed to teleport out of the way and onto the opposite side of the room, using Vergil as a mid-way blockade. 

     “ ‘I asked if mom wanted to swim and she said ‘no’. Then I asked Dad, he told me he couldn’t swim. So my brothers and I offered to teach him. Mom laughed.’.”

     A low guttural growl emanated from deep within the devil’s throat.

     “Keep going, Dante,” Vergil and the bronze devil traded blows again, all the while, Dante kept reading. 

     He flipped to a new page, “ ‘Vergil and Dante came to get me from school today. They got to meet all my friends. Tristen said that they were weird and I punched him in the nose. There was a lot of blood and Dante told me to ‘beat his ass’. We all got yelled at when we got home. Worth it.’.”

     The devil swung The Sparda and nearly sliced Vergil’s tail in half. 

     “Let’s see, uh…” Dante flipped further into the book but stumbled upon something unexpected; entries made after the fire, “Vergil, give me a minute.”

     Although the eldest wanted to banter with his sibling, he was much too focused on the fight. 

     Dante’s eyes widened as he scanned the later pages. Things continued as normal, however, there was a turning point about ⅔ of the way through. There were no more drawings, no more newspaper clippings, no more stickers. The once-happy thoughts and quippy comments were replaced with ramblings about how much they wanted to go home; how much you wanted this to end. Dante’s eyes rapidly flicked across each section, a mixture of both despair and anger becoming more and more apparent with each entry. 

==

     You had been wandering for what seemed like days on end. In the beginning, you’d tried to summon The Sparda or call out to your Father, in hopes that he’d save you. Days on end were spent screaming and crying out for someone to find you--to wake you from this unending nightmare. But no one ever came, no one could even hear the whimpering lament of this lost child.

     Your body was growing weary and your limbs felt like lead as you began to meander slower and slower. At one point, you found a small out-cove and stopped in hopes of getting some rest but found yourself quickly attacked by those creatures again. So, you’d run until you lost sight of them. The incessant sounds of snarling nightmarish demons filled your ears, only to be broken up by the calling out of your long empty stomach.

     Everything hurt: your eyes, your lungs, your head, your legs; every single inch of your body was exhausted. The lack of water only drained your muscles further, adding painful cramping to each inch of your legs; but you had to keep going. However, despite this sentiment, you couldn’t pick your feet up anymore and collapsed on the ground.

     A burning sensation brought you back to. You tried to flip yourself over but found that you were unable; something had a hold of you. Panic quickly spread through your body as you struggled against whatever had you. With each movement, the pain became worse and worse; all you wanted to was scream but nothing came out. 

     What happened next was a blur. You remember feeling both as light as a feather and as heavy as a boulder. Whatever had a hold of you no longer did, rather, you had a hold of it. When you became fully aware again, you had a rock in your hand that was coated in blood. Pinned beneath you was a dead (Riot) demon. Its head and neck were barely distinguishable from the ground underneath it, smashed into a thick red pulp with bits of scales and other organs inside. 

     Terrified and revolted, you threw the rock at the mangled corpse in fright and stumbled upright, taking a few steps back; only to fall on your behind from a growing agonizing pain in your middle. Slowly, you looked down at your body to see what type of damage had been done. Your fingers shook as you lifted your tattered shirt.

     Deep dark bruising had covered your entire body, however, it seems that your ribs and abdomen had taken the brunt of the damage. Each breath felt like someone was carving up your innards, making your chest tighten. If you’d had any food or anything within your stomach, you would have thrown up from how painful everything was; however, you were running on empty. 

     With a shaky and unsteady hand, you slowly touched your middle and winced. All you could think about was wanting to go home; curling up in bed with your siblings or with your parents. You began to cry once more and curled up into a fetal position on the ground.

     After some time, you calmed back down and found yourself blankly staring at the nearby corpse. Slowly, you inched towards it; not standing but rather scooching over to it. Cautiously, you poked it and waited for it to spring back to life or something to happen; however, it just laid there. You grabbed its hand and looked at the claws on it. 

     If you couldn’t summon The Sparda, you needed a weapon. Despite your fear and the putrid feeling inching its way up your throat, you twisted the creature's fingers. Loud cracking and popping filled the air until you had several of the claws separated from the body. 

     You then had a horrible thought, “Is this edible?”

     A grimace of disgust found its way to your face as you looked at the dead demon. You were starving, sure; but were you really going to eat that? Loud growling from your stomach answered your question for you. Closing your eyes, you used one of the claws to slice open the creature’s bicep and obtained several strips of flesh. 

     You opened your eyes cautiously. Your arms and hands were stained a sticky dark red-black and you had obtained what you needed. Another loud impatient growl came from your gut. A part of you wanted to just eat the raw meat but you were much too repulsed to do so. With your prize in hand and your repurposed claw-daggers, you slowly stood up and wandered off; trying to find one of the many open flames of this strange place. 

     Upon finding a small flame, you used one of the claws to hold the cutlets to cook. The environment smelt of brimstone and rot, however, the smell of the meat was quite pleasant. Perhaps it was because of how starved you were but you swear that it smelt of something between a steak and fresh chicken that had been seasoned with copious amounts of various peppers. Your mouth began to water, it smelt so good.

     With a deep breath, you closed your eyes and placed a piece in your mouth--gagging instinctively. After several attempts, you managed to eat a full piece. It was tough and rubbery but it at least tasted as good as it smelt. After finishing your few pieces, you rested a while; letting the food settle. Once again, you found yourself crying and wanting your family; your Father in particular kept coming to mind.

     “Why did he leave us?” A hiccup left your trembling lips as you held your painful middle, curling back up into a fetal position on the ground, “Why wasn’t he there to protect us?”

     You cried for some time before taking a blackout nap. When you woke up, thankfully, nothing was trying to eat you and your middle seemed to have healed to some degree. With a deep breath, you stood and continued your aimless meandering. 

     Nothing interesting happened for some time. You had become quite the vagabond. You’d quickly learned how to survive in the harsh environment; living off of demon flesh and hell ice (for water). Although you never forgot about your family or the human world, you’d become rather comfortable here; a distant part of yourself wondered if this was where Sparda grew up. 

     As time went on, you began the early stages of--what could only be described as--a metamorphosis. From your elbows down, you had several rows of thick bronze scales, the same with the skin from your knees down. At first, you were scared and tore them from your skin. This quickly became much too painful for you to bare and you stopped trying to get rid of the re-growing scales. 

     Around ten you had developed scales throughout most of your body. Your hands and feet were completely covered in them now and had sharp claws instead of nails. You’d given up on clothing--or, rather, had none. After which, your body quickly developed scales on your chest, lower back, and entire hips; protecting you. 

     Your teeth had become much sharper and seemed much too large for your prepubescent mouth and would regularly cut your, still human, lips with them. The upside was you no longer had to cut the meat from corpses or had to cook it; you could consume it straight off the bone.

      Finally, after almost three years of wandering, you’d found something. A large building that was crawling with demons. Despite your uneasy feeling, you had an intuitive feeling that this could be your way home, at least, maybe provide an idea of how to do so. 

     For a few weeks, you watched, waited, and schemed. Every few days, the demons would leave in mass and then return no sooner than a day later. So, you used that time to break in. Of course, there were still guards but that wasn’t an issue. You quickly killed every demon that crossed your path; from Empusas to Sargassos to Plasmas; nothing was too difficult for you to kill. 

     You’d made it to the deepest parts of the building, it was a throne room of sorts. There was a large seat in the middle of the far wall that was covered in scorched burn marks. The room itself was decorated rather elegantly and was tidy--something rather hard to come by in the Underworld. None of this concerned you, however; you just wanted what you came for. Making quick work of the room, you pillaged the entire space, digging into every nook and cranny. There was nothing. Frustrated hot tears welled up in your eyes as you realized this was a huge waste of time. Before you could leave, another horde had entered the room. 

     You turned to them and gave the group a once-over. It was a fairly large pack of random demons, nothing you hadn’t seen or couldn’t handle; but, there was something else--something nearby that felt much stronger than anything you’d faced so far. 

     Fearing the oddly dangerous presence, you made quick work of the demonic horde and bolted out the door. Upon reaching one of the lower rooms, the evil you felt earlier made itself known. A large grey skeletal devil stood in your way. In his right hand, was a large Viking sword, and on each side of him there were twin white wolves that had heavy chain collars. A chill ran up your spine and your stomach began to turn. For the first time in a long time, you were afraid. 

     As you tried to scrabble for a way to escape or a way to get past him, one of the wolves lunged at you.

     Quickly you dodged out of the beast’s way only to find the second to be right in your face. You sliced at its face with your nails and cut it through one of its eyes, but it didn’t flinch. A loud crunch echoed through the room as you felt its teeth tear into your arm, right through your scales--breaking your bones. You grimaced and, in your anger, used the hand of said broken arm to grab the chain around its neck. With all the might you could muster, you threw the wolf into the first; knocking them off to the side. 

     Feeling the same terrifying devil’s power right behind you, you teleported out of the way and watched as the bony devil’s sword struck the floor where you had been standing. Your mind was reeling. It had been a long time since you had teleported and you were unable to control it. So, despite your best and most desperate effort, you couldn’t replicate it again to escape. 

     The wolves had stood back up and went for you once more, but you managed to sidestep both of them and used one as a jump pad; springing yourself at the skeleton. If you couldn’t leave then you are going to die trying. This action took the devil by surprise and allowed you to wrap yourself around his back. Your hands dug at his skull as you tried to pull it from his body; which, despite it not having a physical representation, was stubbornly strong. 

     Growing tired of these games, he grabbed you from his back and held you up; reading his sword. You struggled and growled, scratching at his arms and kicking wildly, waiting for the end of your journey. However it never came, rather, you found yourself stumbling forwards. It seems you had teleported again and, this time, you were right where you needed to be to run for the exit.

     Confused as to what just happened, the devil did a double take before sicking his wolves upon you once more. The entire time you ran down the hall the twin wolves were practically nipping at your heels. Distantly you found yourself wondering if they were toying with you, enjoying the thrill of the hunt as you had done many times before--perhaps this is a sick form of karma? 

     Things came to a head when you reached the foyer of the building. In the room stood a fiery devil. You froze, inadvertently allowing the dogs to catch up with you. They tackled you to the floor and began to bite at your body while their claws dug into your middle. You shouted loudly as you did your best to fight against them, biting and scratching at them in return, but you were unsuccessful. 

     Unexpectedly, the dogs stopped, looked to the side, and removed themselves from your body; leaving you face up on the floor.  

     A part of you thought you had died, that this nightmare was finally coming to an end. In reality, however, the fiery devil had dismissed the dogs back to their owner and was standing above you. Although you know you should’ve been afraid, between the large wings and the gentle warm feeling their body gave off; you felt as if you’d met an angel. Then they began to speak in a language you didn’t understand. 

     “Bolverk,” they turned to look at the bony warrior from before, “Where are the others?”

     “Lord Argosax, I-” he turned to look down at you, “I had sent a troop in to dispose of this vermin, but none returned.”

     Their voice tilted in disbelief, “Really now?”

     Your heart was racing as you sat up, a part of you wanted to run and hope to make it but you knew that this flaming devil was different somehow. Besides, you needed a moment to heal your wounds. 

     “You,” they turned to you, speaking in a tongue that you did understand, “What were you even attempting to gain by breaking in here? There are easier ways to die, I assure you.”

     An aggressive furrow decorated your brow as you tried to speak, unsure of yourself since it had been many years since you’d done so, “Fuck you--!”

     Instantly, you were kicked across the ribs and into a nearby wall. Blood dribbled out of your mouth as you fell back to the floor, laying face down.

     “Such a shame,” a sound of footsteps and slight sizzling told you that the fire devil had moved beside you, “You would’ve been quite the addition to my cause.”

     Everything went dark. Then you took a deep gasping breath, despite your current situation of being impaled, you were still very much alive.

     You slowly got up, moving to a push-up, sitting on your calves, kneeling, then stumbling to a stand leaning against the wall. A glint caught your eye as you looked down, the bony devil’s Viking sword had been plunged through your chest cavity, straight through your heart. With a grimace and a groan, you pulled the blade from your body and held it at the fiery devil’s neck; a crazed look in your eyes and a thunderous growling from your chest.

     You’d expected a fight or some sort of violence, however, that couldn’t have been further from what happened. 

     Rather, the fiery devil lightly ran its finger along the blade, “What a feisty brat,” if they’d had a mouth, you’re sure they would’ve been smirking, “No wonder you managed to make it in here; a power like that is quite rare,” they grabbed the sword and melted it, “To make others feel the attacks that are done against you... I only know of one other devil that could pull that off.”

     Although you were radiating confidence, you couldn’t have been more doubtful of your skills. Right now, you were completely and hopelessly outmatched. As the fiery devil melted the sword, your shoulders tensed as you heard a noise to your left; dodging instinctively. 

     One of the wolves had been sent after you again. You grabbed the wolf’s scruff and bit down through it; piercing its hide. It yelped and thrashed about but you dug your teeth further into its flesh, gripping onto it hard enough to pull its front paws off the ground. 

     “Bolverk,” the flaming devil stood and looked to the swordsman, “Call off your dog; I wasn’t in any danger,” they turned their attention to you, “Can you release Geri?”

     Your lip twitched as you let out a low rumbling growl. After a moment of thought, you did as you were asked. 

     “Good, you are smarter than I thought,” they moved in front of you, “Now, what is a child of Sparda doing here?”

     Another low growl left your lips at that name, Sparda. You’d conditioned yourself to hate your Father, blaming him for everything that you’d been put through. 

     “This is Mundus’s fault, isn’t it?” They took their forefinger and placed it underneath your chin, tilting your face up to look at his, “You’ve been here since Sparda’s demise, haven’t you?” 

     You recoiled your head from his touch and took a few steps backward.

     “My name is Argosax; I’m sure Sparda told you a story about how evil myself and Mundus are, didn’t he?”

     “I don’t know and I don’t care,” your voice was low and your eyes remained on their face, unblinking. 

     “Well then,” Argosax took a step towards you, “If you’d allow me, I would like to know more about you and what has happened; perhaps I can help you attain your revenge--that is what you are seeking, right?” Their voice was gentle however it had a sinister feeling deeply woven beneath it.

     “Revenge…” your brow softened ever-so-slightly, “No.”

     They sighed, “If you are looking for your family then I’m sad to say but,” they placed a hand on your shoulder, “they are all dead.”

     Your gut dropped and your eyes widened as you shook your head ‘no’ backing up till you hit the wall, “No, you are wrong; they are still alive, I just need to get to them.”

     Argosax clicked his tongue quietly, “I am afraid that they are all gone; the fire took them. The fire that happened because of Sparda--for Mundus to send a message.”

     You ground your teeth and clenched your fists tight enough that your palms began to bleed, “Because of…” your lip twitched as you felt a hot burning sensation fill your body. 

     “Mhm,” Argosax bent down slightly and was at face level with you, “Don’t fret; I can help you obtain all that you desire,” your eyes snapped open, noticing that the room had become engulfed in magenta-colored flames--courtesy of your angry outburst, “All I ask in return is for you to swear your servitude to me,” they stuck out their hand, waiting for you to seal the deal. 

     Admittedly, you were hesitant but you weren’t stupid; it was either accept this deal or Argosax would kill you. What choice did you truly have? Cautiously, you reached your hand out and grabbed theirs. Marking the worst mistake of your entire life. 

     Over the years you had lost all of what little humanity you had retained; you couldn’t even remember how to speak anything besides basic Greek or Latin. The training was harsh, borderline unbearable, but you kept going. Your intense hatred for Sparda pushed you over the edge and there was no returning. 

     Quickly you had become the strongest devil in Argosax’s ranks, only being surpassed by them and, their right-hand knight, Bolverk. Your heritage was quite apparent even just by looking at you. No human parts remained, you were fully outfitted in your (Sin) Devil Trigger. Although it wasn’t exact, your form had many similarities with your Father’s, many distinctive things--such as his hooves, knees, or horns.

     Because of how strong you’d become there wasn’t much left for you to learn, so Bolverk and, to some degree, Argosax began to train you. The brutality from the two was like nothing you’d even been through. Perhaps it was because they wanted you to be a perfect warrior or perhaps it was rooted in their deep-set hatred for Sparda; regardless, they tortured you more than they taught you. 

     Any little mistake would put you in what was nicknamed “The Chamber”. Within those four sound-proof walls many vile things happened to you, from things as simple as being starved for weeks on end to much more physically abusive things; you’d been through it all. During this time, Argosax did most of the more extreme punishments. 

     However, despite that, you retained your respect for Argosax; whether it had to do with the deal or an odd form of Stockholm syndrome, you weren’t sure. Every time they’d punish you, you’d almost get off to it; it was as sickening as it was alluring. In your endless torment, you’d convinced yourself that Argo was doing this out of love, out of compassion, for you and your situation. Something that they played into. Telling you that they loved you and that you loved them; however, none of that was true. It was all just to keep you within their pocket and use whenever they needed.  

==

     “Dante!” Vergil shouted at his twin, snapping Dante out of the horrifying implications in the journal before him, “Any time now-!” Vergil rolled out of the way, barely missing the bronze devil’s attack.

     “R-right, sorry!” The red devil shook his head and shut the book, “Vergil, you know Greek right?”

     “Of course,” Vergil growled loudly, shooting Ebony at the aggressor's eyes; unsure of what else to do at this point. 

     “Well, I think--”

     “Just get to the point!” 

     “They don’t know English anymore.”

     Vergil let out a low nearly inaudible whine as he landed near his twin with a small stumble, “So what, you want me to read?”

     “Not read, just talk.”

     “If you don’t think I haven’t tried that--”

     “Tell them Argosax is dead.”

     A small confused tilt adorned Vergil’s brow before he shook his head with a sigh, “Fine. Not like we’ve got much else to go on.”

  ��  The bronze devil waited for the twins to attack again; radiating a sickly amount of cocky confidence. 

     Vergil slowly approached and spoke calmly, “Are you waiting for Argosax to return?” It took a step back in confusion at Vergil’s words, “They are dead and have been for a very long time.”

     With a loud huff, the devil responded in a low, rough voice, “No, they will return; who are you to tell me otherwise?”

     The eldest twin shook his head, “As far as I or anyone else is concerned, Argosax has been dead for nearly two decades; they’re nothing but ashes in the wind.”

     “No!” Its voice reverberated throughout the structure as it slammed The Sparda into the ground, “They can’t be-- No one has that kind of power.”

     Vergil raised a brow and folded his arms, “Really now? Are you aware that any of us could beat Argosax or Mundus? The three of us are much stronger than any of them; surely you knew that you could’ve defeated Argo yourself..?”

     The devil took a step back and looked between the twins, “You speak as if you know about me; when you have no clue who I--”

     “ ‘So Fuzon call’d all together/The remaining children of Urizen:/And they left the pendulous earth:/They called it Egypt, & left it./And the salt ocean rolled englob’d.’. Does that ring a bell?”

     It took another few steps back, “I-- How,” it shook its head, “Are you mocking me?”

     “I don’t mock, I only wish to remind you of yourself; of your humanity.”

     “I am no human,” it placed a hand back on the grip of The Sparda, “Humanity has no place within me, Lord Argosax told--”

     “Then where did your items in your pocket dimension come from? Where did the book that Dante has come from?” Vergil gestured to the devil’s forehead, “Where did that sapphire pendant come from?”

     It said nothing.

     “I understand if you have taken issue with our Father but,” Vergil sighed, “Our Mother, Eva, had nothing to do with that day; it wasn’t her fault. So why denounce her side?”

     The devil yanked The Sparda back out from the floor and spook in an aggressive manner, “You do not know anything, I was shown the truth,” it lunged at the twins, who split apart and dodged the attack.

     “By whom? That manipulative bastard Argosax?” Vergil’s voice became louder, “Perhaps I could tell you the truth that Mundus showed me? The fabricated story of how Sparda was responsible for our Mother’s death and for us three being split apart.”

     It swung the sword wanting nothing more than for Vergil to shut up, “Silence!”

     The eldest’s voice was filled with an ever-increasing aggravation and vexation. Now, lost within his own thoughts he had stopped speaking in Greek, “How that traitor Sparda shouldn’t have sullied demon blood with a human womb?! How he could’ve used a child with some grit?!”

     Dante’s eyes widened upon hearing what his brother was saying. All he could do was stare in disbelief and with mouth agape in shock, this was no longer aimed at their youngest sibling; no, Vergil was being swept away by his own memories.

     Vergil darted at the devil, leaving a cloud of dust and cracked tile where he stood, “Do you honestly think that Argosax wanted anything more than a puppet? A pet with the name Sparda attached to it?”

     The pair interlocked swords and ground against one another in a hold. The blue devil’s eyes had a crazed expression; a mixture of a primal devilish wickedness and a deep-rooted terror that sent a very distinctive chill up Dante’s spine--the same feeling he got seeing what happened to his brother after Mundus.

     In Vergil’s anger, he unintentionally used his Sin Trigger and snarled at the bronze devil, “Argosax was no different than Mundus; they were playing savior to a disgraceful weak half-human offspring,” Vergil stood eye to eye with the bronze devil, “Tell me, do you still remember yourself or have you lost it with all that putrid shit Argosax told you?!”

     They froze at Vergil’s sudden overwhelming anger, giving the blue devil a chance to tackle them to the ground, pinning them.

     “I know you can understand me,” his wings flared out behind him as his tail flicked around, “Answer me!” His claws dug deep into the bronze devil’s arms.

     The pinned devil opened its mouth but said nothing. Despite Vergil piercing their hide, it didn’t use its power to make Vergil hurt; no, it just laid there and stared. After a few minutes, Dante slowly crept closer and peered over Vergil’s body to see what was going on. 

     The blue devil’s claws had dug far enough into the bronze devil’s flesh that his fingertips were inside their arm. Despite this, the pair just were just staring at each other. The bronze devil wasn’t struggling or trying to move; the only thing it did was wince when Vergil shoved his claws further. 

     Another few minutes passed. Dante had begun debating if he needed to step in and separate them, however, this was quickly answered.

     A loud snarl of a cry came from Vergil as he de-triggered. His eyes were filled with tears and he had enough running down his face that they were collecting at his chin, dripping down onto the pinned devil. He wanted to say something, anything, but only managed a weak, “Please,” that was followed by a voice crack. 

     Dante placed a gentle hand on his twin’s shoulder, “Vergil…”

     “Ver-gil?” The twins could see the gears turning in the devil’s head as it tried to place the name before its gaze slowly turned to Dante, “You are Da-nte then..?” It turned its gaze back to Vergil, and with a slight pause, it let out a low exhale, “My brothers..?”

     Vergil’s fingers tightened on the devil’s arm, making it flinch, “Yes.”

     The younger twin grabbed Vergil’s shoulder again, this time sternly, “Verge, stop--”

     “How-,” The devil’s gaze flicked between the two, “How are you still alive? More importantly,” the devil sat up, making Vergil sit on its lap in the process, “What are you doing here? If Lord Argosax truly is dead then the Underworld will be in ruins; you two are in immense danger.”

     Dante stared at Vergil for translation, but only got to hear Vergil’s response… That was also unintelligible to the red devil, “Who do you think killed such vermin? We aren’t in danger, only lost.”

     “Lost..?”

     With a nod, he let out a heavy wet sigh hoping to re-compose himself, “Yes,” Vergil carefully removed his fingers, a thick line of blood connecting him to the open heavily-bleeding wounds, “We are trying to get home and Yamato can do so but-”

     “You need a place close to the human world?”

     Vergil nodded and stood up, assisted by Dante. He looked up, “I don’t know if this place will work anymore…”

     The entire top six floors were missing and you all were staring at the open sky.

     “Ah, sorry about that,” you sighed, “I can escort you to another pinch-point if you would like?”

     “There aren’t any others close by.”

     You laughed and stretched out your wings, “I am faster than you’d believe.”

     “Ehem!” Dante put his free hand in his pocket, still holding the scrapbook in the other, “Care to share? Or are you two like shit-talking me or somethin’?”

     You stumbled over your words a bit, still struggling on how to say your brothers’ names, “I first want my book back, Dante,” you stuck your hand out, waiting.

     “Uh…”

     Vergil wiped his blood-stained fingers off on his coat, “They want their book back.”

     “Oh! Sure thing, here,” Dante placed the book in your hand; which you held up and it disappeared, returning to your small dimension of valuables. 

     “So…” Dante walked over to his coat that, thankfully, had fallen with the floors but wasn’t any more damaged than it already was, “What’s the plan?”

     Vergil straightened his coat, “They are going to take us to a new place; this one is no longer suitable for Yamato to work.”

     The younger twin sighed, “So, how long is this walk going to be?”

     You scooped up both brothers, holding one in each arm, as they wrapped themselves tightly to your neck. 

     “Verge,” Dante looked to his twin.

     “Hm?”

     “We sure this is a good idea? I mean, they were just beating the shit out of both of us..?”

     Vergil did a slow turn to the red devil, “I destroyed an entire city and threatened the entire human race, again… Then you decided to come down here with me… How is this any different?”

     “Fair, I umphf-!”

     You abruptly turned to the left, making both twins jolt violently within your arms, “There,” your wings stretched out wide before you neatly dug your heels into the ground, “Hold on tight.”

     With that, you flew straight up and felt both brothers tighten their grip tenfold. You took a moment to stabilize yourself since you aren’t used to having all the extra weight. Then, there was a thunderous clap. Both twins flinched at the ungodly loud noise, especially since neither of them was used to such noise from flying. Although you’d told Vergil that you were fast, breaking the sound barrier wasn’t exactly what he imagined. 

     It didn’t take long for the three of you to find the new pinch-point. Once again, it was a structure within Argosax’s domain. You landed on the roof and placed your siblings down. Both of them were dazed and Dante actually had leaned over to throw up (which he had nothing to purge so he just dry heaved). 

     You gave them both a curious look, “Are you alright?”

     Vergil looked at you and unknowingly yelled in response, “What?!” 

     “I see, never mind,” you waved a hand in dismissal and waited for the twins to return to normal; however, the three of you were paid some company.

     Both brothers readied themselves but, once more, you raised a hand, “Allow me, the two of you need to return to a stable condition before you leave.”

     The horde was nothing more than a sneeze of a challenge to you. You didn’t even need to use The Sparda; no, all you needed was your hands. It was times like these that you had grown to cherish during your time here in the Underworld; times where you could let loose, to rip and tear without any repercussions. You took only a minute to desolate the horde, finishing by ripping out a Fury’s throat with your teeth. 

     You turned to your brothers, gore still hanging in your mouth, and waved shyly. The expression on both of their faces was a mixture of impressed and horrified--Dante was mostly just horrified. You sucked the bits of flesh that were in your teeth into your mouth, eating them.

     “That’s,” Dante stared at the floor unable to look at you, “I’ve seen some gross shit but--”

     “It is the way of the world down here,” Vergil ran a hand through his hair, “Eat or be eaten.”

     “You ever have to..?”

     “No,” Vergil shook his head, “Nelo did not require food.”

     “Huh, really? How’s that work?”

     Vergil turned to his twin, “Perhaps I can explain more at a later date. For now, we have a more pressing engagement.”

     Dante nodded, “ ‘Suppose you’re right.”

     The twins walked over to you, who was currently gnawing on the last Fury’s corpse. A quiet “Ehem” from Vergil caught your attention and you stopped eating.

     “Sorry,” you stood up, “Are you two ready to go?”

     Vergil raised a brow with folded arms, “You mean us three? If you think we are going to leave you down here then you are mistaken.”

     Your eye flicked between the pair, “I do not know if that is--”

     Vergil huffed lightly, “This isn’t up for discussion, as the oldest child and the one who is making the path home; I have the final say,” his arms relaxed to his sides, “You are coming with us.”

     In an almost shy manner, you wiped your face using one of your forearms; doing your best to clean yourself, “Can you make a portal that can handle all three of us? Yamato’s original use was only for one at a time.”

     A confident smug smirk tugged at Vergil’s lips, “Trust me when I say,” he removed the blade from its scabbard, “I can do much more with Yamato than anyone knows.”

     Dante moved to stand next to you, grabbing your hand, and he mumbled quietly, “You’re gonna like the human world, I promise.”

     Before you could respond, Vergil sliced open a large plus-shaped hole; opening a large portal. He looked at the two of you before grabbing Dante’s free hand, “Tread lightly and keep close to me.”

     The two of you nodded, making sure to keep hold of one another, and traversed through the portal. 

     Once on the other side, the three of you found yourself in the middle of a snowy pine forest. You hissed loudly at how ungodly bright it was and covered your eyes. Dante stretched his arms up with a loud groan and then flopped face-first into the thick snow.

     His voice was muffled as he laid, unmoving, “Nap time.”

     Before Vergil or you could protest, Dante was already snoring. 

     Vergil let out a content sigh, a small smile adorning his face, as he sat down in the snow. You joined him, cautiously sitting in the snow. After a few moments, you tried to relax and allowed your wings to lay flat behind you on the snow, sending a shiver up your spine.

     After some time, Vergil ended up curling up in the snow; which, a half-asleep Dante proceeded to smother by wrapping himself around his twin. If this had been any other situation or context, Vergil would have gutted Dante on the spot--that is if Vergil allowed himself to sleep in the first place. However, both of them were exhausted from who knows how long they’d been traveling. 

     You, on the other hand, were wide awake. Sleep had become something you couldn’t afford to do when working under such circumstances. A small sad, almost envious, feeling pricked at the edges of your mind as you watched the fast-asleep two-person pile. 

     They slept for several hours and Dante at one point even offer (and beckoned) for you to join their cozy pile; however, you shook your head. Keeping them safe was all that you had in mind; something you’d wanted to do since they were taken from you. 

     Once fully healed and mostly rested, the twins decided to figure out what the next course of action would be. 

     Dante sighed, “What I wouldn’t give for some food right about now--”

     You stood up, “I can get something! I’ll be right back.”

     Vergil snickered slightly, “That’s not what he means, however, that is a nice--”

     It was too late, you’d already run off into the woods.

     “Hey!” Dante went to chase after you only to be stopped by Vergil grabbing his arm.

     “They are going to bring back food,” Vergil shook his head and spoke quietly, “What that food is or what that means, I’m not sure.”

     “Let’s just hope that doesn’t mean that they are going to hunt humans…”

     After a moment of silence, Vergil reached to his lower back and pulled something out, “Here,” he held out Ebony, “I do not wish to use this any longer.”

     “Alright,” Dante grabbed the gun and put it back in its holster, “If you ever wanna use ‘em again,” he winked, “Just lemme know.”

     Vergil rolled his eyes. They sat in comfortable silence for a while, Dante resting his eyes and Vergil looking over Yamato for any damage or filth to clean. 

     “Hey, Verge, why can’t we just use that again,” he gestured to Yamato, “to get back to Red Grave.”

     “I need to know where we are to use Yamato correctly,” Vergil mindlessly tapped his fingers on the scabbard. 

     “So we need to find a town or something then…” Dante sighed as he flopped face up into the snow, arms spread out, “Wonderful.”

     Vergil turned over his shoulder to look at Dante, “I do not see what the problem is with that?”

     The red devil’s brow furrowed, “Really?” The eldest gave no response, “Verge, we look like shit, we are covered in blood, and who knows what else-- we probably smell horrid- and we are traveling with an over seven-foot tall devil,” his eyes went back to staring up at the sky; however, instead of the sky, his gaze was met with a dead Elk. To say Dante jumped would be an understatement.

     The blue devil raised a brow, “I see you’ve returned?”

     You nodded. The dead creature was supported by your arms, however, your teeth were still deep within its neck.

     “Dante,” Vergil turned to his now calm sibling, “Can you make a fire?”

     “Sure, I--”

     Instantly, there was a small magenta fire in front of them and they turned back to you; who, even if you couldn’t properly emote it, they could tell was smiling.

     The twins helped you cut apart the meat, you’d long forgotten how to properly process an animal. Then using The Sparda’s spines, you hooked the meat up over the fire to cook. 

     “Alright, I gotta ask,” Dante looked at you as he cocked his head in curiosity, “Why didn’t you have The Sparda before..?”

     “Because I couldn’t summon it between realms, my pocket dimension is different and transcends such physical limitations.”

     Dante stared at you in confusion before Vergil translated for him, “Ah, I see.”

     As the meat cooked, the twins and you shared stories; both good and bad. Admittedly, this was the most you’d spoken since your last time seeing the twins; the most you’d spoken in over three decades. 

     The venison was unseasoned and cooked unevenly but was still rather tasty. It took you a few tries to get it down, not because it was bad or anything, but because it was much different than a demon’s meat.

     It was nearly midnight by the time you’d all finished eating. Dante and you ate most of it, Vergil isn’t used to eating more than a few scraps but he made sure to eat a decent chunk. You snuffed out the fire and put The Sparda away, as you did so the twins had curled back together and were sleeping. All you could do was stare at them. 

     As the weeks went on the three of you hadn’t found any sign of where you were, only seeing a few unoccupied hunting tree stands and abandoned campsites. Dante and Vergil had begun to re-teach you how to speak English (or rather remind you.). It took a while for you to re-grasp the language but you were able to finally communicate with both siblings, no longer relying on Vergil to be your translator. 

     At one point the three of you found a small lake. In a blink, Dante was nude and was easing his way into the cold bath. His arms were held close to his body with his fists in front of his chest, shivering heavily and saying various things; such as, “Holy shit that’s cold,” 

     “Are you going to join him?” You asked a very unamused Vergil.

     “Are you?” 

     The question caught you off guard, “Am… I?” You paused in thought for a moment, “It has been so long since I’ve seen water like this,” you let out a low growling laugh, “I don’t know if I remember how to swim.”

     Vergil began to strip off his blood-soaked clothing, placing it in a neat pile next to Dante’s disheveled mess, “Then that makes two of us.”

     Your head moved back a bit in surprise, before you could question him, Vergil moved to join Dante in the lake. 

     The blue devil’s shoulders shot up to his ears as he hissed from the freezing temperature. Dante was already comfortable enough that he was swimming around. A wicked smirk decorated his face as he snuck over to Vergil and splashed water up at him. Vergil’s body arched from the sudden icy feeling, cursing Dante in the process. 

     The younger twin’s laughter died down when he got a better look at Vergil’s bare skin, “Hey,” his fingers lightly touched Vergil’s back, who instinctively flinched away, “What..?”

     Without meeting Dante’s eyes he mumbled, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

     Unsure how to help, Dante grabbed his twin into a vice grip of a hug; despite the eldest’s protests.

     All the while you watched from the shore. Slowly you’d inched your hooves into the water, but you hadn’t moved since then. A part of you wondered what Vergil had meant by telling you that he might not know how to swim either; combine that with the abhorrent scarring on his back, and you were more than confused. 

     “Hey!” Dante yelled over to you, “You coming in? The water’s nice~!” He let out a hardy laugh.

     You looked down at the rolling liquid, unsure if you should. That’s when you felt something push you. When you whipped around, you saw that Vergil’s doppelgänger was behind you and it pushed you again. 

     Dante noticed and began to laugh harder as Vergil had a warm smile tugging at his lips. Slowly but surely the apparition made you enter the water. It wasn’t warm per se, but your body was hot enough that the temperature of the entire lake shifted up several degrees. The twins both washed themselves as you played with the water like a small child. You’d set your hand on the top and slowly push it down, feeling the surface of it give way to your scaled digits. 

     Having already finished cleaning himself, Dante swam over to you and splashed you. In shock, you shot downwards; submerging yourself. Under the water, you saw so much that you’d never seen before. Little fish that were playing with each other, small crabs that you put your hand out to and they pinched your fingers, several different types of vegetation, and many colorful stones. You felt something tug the end of your wing and resurfaced, seeing that Dante and Vergil were staring at you.

     “Thought I made you drown, heh…” Dante placed a hand on the back of his neck, “Sor--!”

     You used your wings to splash him--and Vergil by accident. The three of you engaged in a water fight, splashing and rough-housing with one another. It was fun, right up until the three of you heard a loud crunch from the embankment.

     A large polar bear was standing at the edge, watching you. Curious as to what it was, you got up and out of the water; despite both siblings telling you to stop. Upon reaching it, you stuck your hand out to pet it when it bit you. Enraged at the sudden act of aggression, you killed it. Then, you stared at the body horrified at what you’d just done. You flipped your gaze to your brothers who stared back, Dante was the only one that had any expression and he was just as horrified as you. 

     Vergil walked out of the water and placed a hand on your shoulder, “It is alright, accidents happen.”

     Without another word, you placed a hand on the dead bear, petting its soft blood-stained fur. Carefully, you incinerated the carcass. The twins got dressed and the three of you headed back on your way, never bringing up the incident again.

     Another week passed and the three of you finally found a small town.

     “Alright,” Dante said, getting up off the downed tree that he’d been using as a resting spot, “You two stay here and I’ll go get some info.”

     “Are you sure you do not want me to accompany you?” Vergil raised a brow.

     “Nah, I’ll be fine. Besides,” Dante looked over to you, “Someone needs to stay with ‘em.”

     Vergil’s gaze joined Dante’s and watched as you were intently watching a caterpillar as it inched along, your wings flapping a bit in excitement. The two smiled softly. Although you were a rather twisted version of the child they once knew, seeing you partake in such innocent things made them both feel happy.

     A short pause later, Dante slapped Vergil on the shoulder, “Alright, I’ll be back later,” he leaned over and whispered just loud enough for Vergil to hear, “Try to keep them from killing anything or anyone, yeah?”

     “Of course,” the blue devil folded his arms, “I am still the eldest, I know how to take care of my siblings.”

     “Had me convinced otherwise--”

     Vergil jabbed Dante in the gut with his elbow. 

     The younger twin left, waving goodbye to you--who was much too enamored with the small bug to notice. 

     “That is called an Arctic Woolly Bear caterpillar,” Vergil meandered over to you with his hands folded behind his back, “They are quite common in North America.”

     You looked over at him, “Is it dangerous?”

     He shook his head, “No, they are harmless,” gently, the blue devil picked up your hand, “Open your palm and do not shut it,” you watched as he placed the small fuzzy bug in your hand.

     A quiet purring could be heard from you as you watched it crawl on your hand, Vergil still holding the underside in case you accidentally shut your fingers. 

     “They do not have these in Hell… I wish they did.”

     Vergil laughed softly, “I know, I am quite knowledgeable about how things work down there.”

     “How?”

     The eldest twin’s face fell into a somber frown, “Here, let’s let the little creature go first,” he grabbed it from your hand and placed it back where he had grabbed it from. He sat on the ground, gesturing for you to do the same, “I cannot tell you everything just yet, however,” he paused and stared at the ground in front of him, “I can tell you about my time serving Mundus.”

     You tilted your head, “I remember you mentioned something about that when we were fighting.”

     He nodded, “I was forced to serve Mundus after I foolishly tried to defeat him, alone,” you watched as Vergil’s brow furrowed further and further with each sentence, “I knew it was a bad move but what other choice did I have?”

     You grabbed one of his hands, giving it a gentle squeeze.

     He gave a small half-hearted smile and took a minute before continuing, “In my arrogance and desire for power, I ended up being defeated by Mundus. Who proceeded to take my humanity from me, entombing me within armor made by Machiavelli…”

     Your body stiffened, “In the Nelo Angelo?” 

     “You know of it?”

     “I was taught about Devil Arms and Machiavelli’s work was somewhat of an obsession of Lord Argosax.”

     “I see,” Vergil’s posture slumped forwards a bit, bringing his shoulders to his ears, “I spent nearly ten years trapped like that.”

     “I am surprised that we never met.”

     “Mundus was smarter than that,” Vergil’s voice was quiet, almost meek, “Seeing Dante and his amulet half nearly broke the hold it had on me, but after so long I…”

     He went silent. You wanted to know more but you could also see how distressed your brother had become, even if it didn’t look like it from an outside view. So, not knowing what else to do, you manhandled him into your lap and embraced him; holding him tightly and wrapping your wings around the two of you--cocooning you together. 

     Although you couldn’t fully understand the pain and suffering that the eldest son of Sparda had gone through, you could relate to some degree. At first, he pushed you away and tried to escape, which he could’ve done if he had wanted; however, he didn’t. No, Vergil wanted to be comforted--to be held--but was much too proud to admit it, especially to Dante. 

     Vergil’s cursing slowly turned to soft sobs. His shoving turned to a vice grip, grabbing you as tightly as possible. All the while, you were purring and telling him that things will be alright now. You made small circles on his upper back, mimicking what Eva used to do when any of you were upset. Underneath the fabric, you could feel the scarring you saw earlier; the deep chasms that turned his once identical body into something so far off from his twin--something that secretly pained the eldest twin. 

     After some time, Vergil’s cries ceased and he just quietly sat within your gentle hold; relishing in an affection he had long since forgotten. He quietly murmured something against your chest, “I’m glad you’re still alive.”

     A pang of bittersweet shot through you, those words that were said to you many times when you were young. Words of endearment. 

     Softly, you whispered back, “I’m glad too,” you gently squeezed him, “I love you lots, Vergil.”

     He let out a wet half-hearted laugh, tears welling at the edges of his eyes, “To think this was something any of us could only have merely dreamed of for so long,” his fingers gently grabbed your hand, intertwining them, “to be back together as a family.”

     “I wouldn’t trade you both for the world,” your voice was low and soft, doing your best to sound as human as possible, “All I wanted was to have my brothers back…” now it was your turn to let out a huffed laugh on the verge of tears--or what would be tears if you could cry in this form, “I threw everything away in the pursuit of avenging the two of you--and Mother.”

     “It’s almost poetic that the most hot-headed of the three of us would be the only one not to blindly follow something to the point of destruction,” this, of course, was in reference to Dante; a child who would regularly get in massive trouble for doing things he shouldn’t be doing. 

     The two of you shared a small laugh before a third voice broke the conversation.

     “Hey! I’m back!” Dante waved to you as you unfurled your wings, letting Vergil out. 

     “Well,” Vergil stood, folding his arms, “Where are we then.”

     “Here,” the red devil handed him a map, “Up in Northern Canada, I guess.”

     “I see,” Vergil looked over the large North American map, finding Red Grave, and sighing heavily, “The trip through the portal will be rough and long, it is quite a distance to travel.”

     “Eh,” Dante shrugged, “I’m sure we’ll all be fine.”

     Vergil looked back at you, who had stood up as well, “Are you ready to go home?”

     You looked at the ground for a moment in thought, “Home…” Before nodding slowly.

     “Alright,” Vergil looked over the map one more time before handing it to Dante, “I will take us back to the house.”

     “Why not Devil May Cry?” Dante raised a brow, stuffing the map inside an inner jacket pocket.

     “Because I don’t know where that is,” he unsheathed Yamato and took a deep breath. 

     As the blue devil opened the portal, you moved towards Dante and grabbed his hand, whispering, “I don’t want to lose you.”

     The red devil’s eyes widened as he turned up to you, unsure how to vocalize the sudden warm feeling in his heart; so, he squeezed your hand hard and smiled.

     Vergil slid Yamato back into its scabbard, “Let’s go,” he stuck out a hand, which Dante grabbed tightly. 

     The three of you walked through the gap in dimensions. A portal created by Yamato is essentially a pocket dimension with extra steps; however, it can be used to transport the one who opened it as well--not just the items within. 

     It took what felt like a few minutes for the three of you when, in reality, it took nearly an entire day to traverse such a wide span. Once on the other side, the three of you stood within the destroyed remnants of your childhood home. You were the first to let go of your siblings and began to wander towards the mantle. 

     Upon it was the family painting. It was burnt beyond recognition. Although Eva was almost perfectly preserved and the twins’ were semi-damaged, Sparda and yourself were tattered to the point of not knowing what you looked like. You carefully reached toward the canvas and placed your fingers on the place you used to be. Perhaps it is some sort of pathetic irony that the only one who died in that fire is the only one whose portrait wasn’t damaged. The only one who was truly a saint amongst devils. 

     “Hey,” Dante gently touched your wing, making you flinch and pivot around, “Are you okay?”

     You froze at the odd question. Were you? After everything that’s happened, are you still truly the same sibling they used to know? The same child that was eternalized in those oil paints? Or are you some sort of out-of-place and unwelcomed creature? Do you really belong up here with humans or should you still be in that crumbling building, waiting to be rescued by someone who will never come? 

     Dante grabbed your hand, “Let’s go to my shop, it is where I’ve been living since I was a teen,” he smiled softly, “I’m sure you’ll like it.”

     A small whimpered huff came from you as you tightened your fingers around your brother’s. 

     “Wait,” Vergil folded his arms, “Perhaps it would be best for Dante to go first and see who is all at the shop? I do not wish for your first interaction with your nephew to be one of violence.”

     Nephew?

     Dante nodded, “Fair point, alright-- Fine, I’ll go make sure the ol’ beaut is shining and perfect.”

     Vergil rolled his eyes, “If it is anything like it was when you first moved in,” he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “It is a disaster.”

     “Hey, it wasn’t that bad and besides,” Dante let go of your hand, “It was your fault it got trashed in the first place, Verge.”

     “Are you sure about that, Mister “Let me kick down my own doors”?” 

     “The shop was ruined already-- Look we can debate this later, I want to go get this done and finally get some good rest.”

     “Fine, just,” Vergil grumbled, “be careful.”

     “Aw, what was that oh sweet big brother of mine? Urk-!” Dante grabbed his shoulder which had a small blue sword stuck in his bicep.

     The youngest twin waved goodbye and, once he turned back away from you both, used his Devil Trigger to get to the shop faster. 

     Once he got within the city limits, Dante de-Triggered and began to sprint down the sidewalk. The air was nice and cool, making Dante’s run feel rather rejuvenating; plus, it had begun to rain. It was late and not a soul was in sight, so Dante used Trickster to move even faster. He couldn’t wait to get home, to show both Vergil and you the shop. He joyfully hopped up the stairs and knocked on the doors.

     No response.     “Huh…” He peered around the corner and saw that the foyer lights were on, so he knocked again. This time, however, it was fast and hard; making sure to be as loud as he could without breaking the door. 

     The door slowly opened just a crack and a sleepy man's voice simply said, “We’re closed.”

     Dante laughed, “Well, then, guess I’ll have to come home tomorrow then.”

     There was silence. The door didn’t move, staying open just a crack. Dante could hear the heart rate of the man spike upon hearing those words. As if he were afraid to see, the door inched open; revealing a very disheveled-looking Nero. 

     “Man, I thought that I needed a haircu--umphf-!” Dante felt the air leave his lungs.

     Nero grabbed his uncle into a tight hug, gripping handfuls of Dante’s jacket. Hot bitter tears ran down his face as he sobbed into the red devil’s neck. 

     Dante lovingly clasped his arms around the young man, “I missed you too, Nero.”

     “I thought that,” his voice cracked, “that you weren’t going to come back.”

     “And leave you to carry on the family business all by your lonesome? Not a chance,” he pulled back out of the hug, firmly holding Nero’s shoulders, “Look, I know that I have no right to ask you but, can you do me a favor? Just for tonight.”

     The teal devil’s voice was apprehensive, having a feeling as to what was going to be said, “What?”

     “Verge is with me,” he heard Nero sigh, “The two of you can settle things tomorrow… I need the shop to be calm tonight, please?” 

     “Why?” Nero didn’t mean to be so blunt but he couldn’t help but be a bit salty.

     “Because,” Dante smiled, closing his eyes, “I’ve got a surprise family member for you to meet; I think they’d be called a ‘Pibling’..?”

     “You and Vergil have another sibling? Since when?” 

     “Since they were born.”

     Nero punched Dante’s shoulder harshly, “Very funny asshole.”

     “Just promise me you’ll be nice? Please?”

     “Alright, alright,” Nero sighed and wiped the few stray tears from his face, “So where are they?” 

     “I gotta go get ‘em. Unlock the garage door, yeah?”

     “Sure,” Dante turned to leave before Nero called out to him, “Wait!”     Nero stepped out of the shop and stood face-to-face with Dante. 

     They stood in silence for a moment before Dante softly sighed, “I promise I’ll be right back,” Dante ruffled up Nero’s hair.

==

     Vergil sighed, resting on the partially still intact staircase, “It was an accident.”

     You gave Vergil a sorrowful stare, “Have you told Dante about--”

     “No,” the blue devil’s voice was sharp, “and you are not to tell him either,” he sighed and placed his forearms on his thighs, “Nero has been through enough, knowing that his mother did that… It would only make things worse.”

     With a small nod, you looked up at the sky. It had begun to rain. The water was cold as you watched it fall, this had been the first time you’d seen rain since returning to the human world. You flinched for a few minutes from the droplets hitting your scales, however, you got accustomed to them bit by bit. After some time, you stood up and spread out your wings, watching the water roll off the tips and onto the desolated flooring of your childhood home. 

     Vergil watched from his seat with an amused smirk. Once again, the fact you seemed to be so innocent and child-like despite what happened piqued his interest. Upon seeing you shake off like a wet dog, he couldn’t help but laugh. 

     Noticing your brother’s odd reaction, you stared at him and watched as his face became flushed with embarrassment, turning away. Much to the blue devil’s ease, Dante appeared before you could question him. 

     “Alright kids,” Dante was standing in his Triggered form, his hands on his hips, “Let’s go, shall we?”

     Both Dante and you stared a Vergil, waiting for him to Trigger. 

     After a few moments, Vergil stood up, “Fine…” A flash of cornflower blue filled the room and there stood Vergil in his regular Devil Trigger.

     Dante wolf-whistled, “Been a while since I’ve seen you like that--Lookin’ good tiger,” he winked just to top off the corny line.

     “Silence,” he glared at Dante, making you laugh slightly.

     The three of you took off, the red devil leading the trio. It was difficult for you to travel at such low speeds, which made you almost hit both brothers several times during the flight. Often you’d find that you’d need to stop and wait before continuing, giving yourself small gaps to fly in. The twins found it rather amusing and even made a few jokes about how “Everyone has issues with finishing too fast” or things along that line--even Vergil made a few, much to Dante’s surprise. 

     The three of you landed in the back alleyway behind DMC. Both brothers de-Triggered and Dante bent over to pick up the roller shutter door. 

     “Welcome home, kids,” he smiled widely and placed his hands on his hips.

     Nero stood in the garage, leaning against one of the workbenches, but stood up straight upon seeing the three of you. 

     Vergil was unable to look Nero in the eye, a strong feeling of guilt eating at his mind. You didn’t take all of two seconds before walking into the garage, ducking under the door, and walking up to Nero. Curious, you bent down to look at him closer. His eyes were wide and he was fighting the urge to grab Blue Rose from his side. 

     You curiously tilted your head and stared at him, “You’re smaller than I thought you’d be.”

     Nero’s brow furrowed as he sputtered, attempting to figure out a response. 

     Carefully, you reached your hand out and ruffled Nero’s hair, “Soft…”

     Dante snickered loudly, reveling in the embarrassed expression on Nero’s face.

     The teal devil finally managed to say something, “What the fuck?”

     “Hm?” You titled your head to the other side, still petting the top of his head.

     “H-Hey! Knock it off!!” Nero unintentionally stuttered as he tried to look angry, which was completely ruined by the bright red tint of his cheeks. 

     “Oh! Sorry,” you removed your hand and stood back up straight.

     “It’s fine, I guess,” he cleared his throat and regained his regular composure, “So, your Dante and Vergil’s sibling then huh?”

     You nodded, “You’re Nero, right? Vergil’s son?”

     “Tch. Right,” he glared at the blue devil from the corner of his eye, “His son.”

     “I’m sorry-- maybe, your donor would be better? I didn’t mean to upset--”

     Dante wheezed super loud and doubled over in laughter, making you turn to view your brothers.

     “What is so funny?” You tilted your head.

     “It’s nothing,” Vergil shook his head, “Dante is just immature.”

     “Hey,” Dante stood back up, wiping tears from his eyes, “That’s harsh. You can’t tell me that isn’t funny.”

     “It’s not,” Vergil’s tone was flat.

     “Ehem,” the three of you turned to Nero, “Can we go inside? It’s late and I have a contract in the morning.”

     “A con-tract?” You cocked your head to the side, “For what?”

     “Uh… I don’t know if I should tell you. Seeing as your all,” Nero gestured up and down your body, “like that.”

     “Like what?” 

     “I--”

     Dante cut in, “Nero’s got a demon hunting job in the morning, it’s what he--and I--do for a living.”

     “Ooo!” Your wings fluttered a bit in excitement, “Can I come?!”

     “Can you-- what? Shouldn’t that be--?”

     You laughed softly, “If you are worried about offending me, I assure you,” you leaned down and made eye contact with him, “I have killed more demons than any of you in this room and, moreover, eaten their corpses,” you tilted your head and had a happy tone to your voice, “Only good demon, is a dead demon.”

     Nero stood with a pale expression. 

     Your elated state fell, “Did I say something wrong?”

     Dante grabbed your shoulder, “Nope, he just thinks that you’re gonna kill us three too.”

     “Oh no,” you shook your head, “We aren’t demons-- we are devils, there is quite a large difference.”

     “R-right,” Nero swallowed hard.

     “Welp,” Dante smiled widely, “Why don’t we go inside and relax for a bit?”

     Coyly you nodded, embarrassed that you’d just freaked out your own nephew. The red and teal devil both went in the door, leaving you with Vergil.

     Using one of your wings, you nudged him and gestured to the door with a nod, “Come on, let’s go inside.”

     He went first and you followed, ducking under the frame. A sudden overwhelming melancholic feeling shot through your body. The shop was relatively clean; which, compared to how Dante left it, the shop may as well have been spotless. Both twins and Nero had moved further into the shop and were talking amongst themselves; you, however, were standing at the dividing line between the main section of the room and the small off-shoot that had the bar. 

     All you could do was stare, unable to move from your spot. Perhaps if you had the ability to, you would’ve cried. 

     “So,” Dante put a hand in his pocket, “How long have we been gone anyway?”

     Nero pursed his lips as he stared at Vergil for a moment, “Nearly two years.”

     “Holy shit,” the red devil stood in disbelief, “I-- I gotta call Trish and Lady in the mornin’... They’re gonna freak.”

     “Yeah,” Nero’s eyes finally left Vergil, “They are supposed to stop by in the morning to pick up a contract Morrison left tonight, you could surprise ‘em then..?”

     “Good idea pipsqueak,” he ruffled Nero’s hair, getting some venomous cursing in response, “So, my room still mine or you’d move into it?”

     The teal devil gripped Dante’s forearm, trying to pull him off, “I didn’t touch your shit.”

     “Ah, alrighty,” the younger twin removed his hand and placed it on Vergil’s shoulder, “Let’s go, Grandpa, it’s way past your bedtime.”

     Vergil frowned but said nothing, much to Dante’s disappointment.

     “What about them?” Nero pointed to you, who had moved ever-so-slightly into the foyer and were playing with the jukebox’s buttons (thankfully it still didn’t work fully).

     “They’ll join me and Vergil,” a devilish smile filled Dante’s face, “Actually, you two wait down here--I’ll be right back.”

     “Wait-- and he’s gone,” Nero pursed his lips and sighed. He turned to Vergil who still couldn’t look him in the eye, after a short pause, the young man walked over to the desk and opened the top drawer, “Catch.”

     Vergil grabbed the object that Nero threw, it was Vergil’s poetry book.

     “Been keeping it in case you two decided to return,” now it was Nero’s turn to not be able to look at the other, “Figured I should after what V told me about you.”

     Vergil pursed his lips, “Thank you, Nero.”

     “Yeah, whatever,” he scoffed, doing his best to keep his emotions in check, and walked over to you, “What are you trying to do?”

     “I remember always wanting one of these when I was a kid,” you tapped the silver decoration on the top edge, “Sparda used to talk about jukeboxes quite often,” a bittersweet feeling filled your heart at the thought, unsure how to feel about your Father, “Told me for my sixteenth birthday that he’d get me one that I’d always fixated on,” you sighed, “But that was a long time ago, I doubt you care for stories like those.”

     Nero leaned against the bar counter, “Actually, it is funny hearing about how much of a normal guy Sparda was after being raised in a cult that obsessed over the old man.”

     “A Sparda-based cult? How stupid,” you laughed and turned to Nero, “He was just a devil, nothing more.”

     “That’s what I thought,” Nero smiled.

     A loud thump caught everyone’s attention. At the bottom of the stairs was a large pile of blankets and pillows. Dante was trotting down the staircase with a juvenile excitement on his face.

     “Dante,” Vergil raised a brow and folded his arms, “What in the world is this about?”

     “Well,” Dante walked over to the couches and grabbed the cushions from them, placing them on the floor, “I always wanted to have a sleepover when we were kids, but,” he grabbed some of the pillows he’d thrown, “was never allowed to or able to.”

     “You’re joking, right?” A skeptical brow adorned the eldest’s face.

     “Nope,” the red devil smiled and began to fold some of the blankets, continuing to make the nest of plush on the foyer floor, “I just spent two goddamn years in Hell and almost died countless times,” he closed his eyes and smiled wider, “and I would’ve died without having even one sleepover. So,” he tossed the last few blankets near the pile, “before I kick the bucket, I am having one.”

     “And you are expecting Nero, myself, and them to join you?”

     “E-yup!” Dante placed his hands on his hips, “Come on it’ll be fun.”

     Nero’s lips turned to a flat line, “I don’t want to agree with Vergil, but, what the fuck?”

     “I’ll do it,” you raised your hand slightly, “Although, I don’t sleep,” you began to mumble a bit, “The two of you always looked so cozy, but I didn’t want something to happen to you so…”

     The red devil walked over to you and grabbed your hand, “Well then let’s change that, hm?”

     He led you to the center of the nest and gestured for you to lay. Carefully, you did so and laid face-up with your wings tucked behind you, trying to give the others as much room as you could.

     “This is pointless,” Vergil grumbled, moving his jaw in thought, pouting ever-so-slightly.

     “No,” Dante smiled, “This is comfortable,” he flopped onto you, laying flat across your body

     You laughed and placed an arm around Dante’s shoulders, holding your brother close.

     Eventually, Vergil broke. With a heavy sigh, he hung his coat on the stair railing. He laid down beside you, his back facing you, to which you grabbed him and pulled him close.

     Nero shook his head, “Nope, sorry, I’m gonna pass.”

     “You sure?” Dante looked up at him, very obviously half-awake.

     “Yeah. I’m sure alright,” with that, the young hunter turned off the shop lights, “I’ll see you all in the morning,” he stood with mouth agape before closing it with a shake and going up the stairs. 

     A few hours passed. You were feeling tired, at least, you think you were feeling tired; it had been so long since you’d slept that you weren’t sure if that’s what it was. Both twins were fast asleep and Vergil had turned to face you in his sleep, grabbing onto you tightly. 

     A deep bittersweet melancholic happiness tugged at your heart. Deep inside, you feared that this was all an elaborate nightmare and that, soon, this would all disappear; making you lose your family once again.

     Creaking from the staircase pulled you from your thoughts. Before you could react, you saw Nero standing over you.

     “Hey,” his voice was quiet and meek, “I uh…”

     You removed your hand from Dante and patted the empty space beside you, which Nero immediately laid in. 

     Another hour passed and all three of the white-haired men were asleep. Nero’s actions echoed that of his father’s; starting with facing away from you and now he was gripping onto you as if he were going to be ripped away from you. Your eyes felt heavy and you were fighting the urge to close them, but you couldn’t help it. The loud purring from your family and the warm bundle that the group of fire devils created was enough to push you over the edge into a deep sleep.

     The sound of a phone ringing woke you up, slowly blinking awake. A groan left your lips as you felt something (or rather someone) heavy laying on you. 

     Dante was still on top of your chest but he felt heavier for some reason. He felt much taller too. Both Vergil and Nero were still latched onto you, however, they’d settled to grab your arms instead of your chest. They, too, felt much heavier and larger.

     An unexpected loud voice rang through one of your ears, “What on Earth?” The eldest shot upright, “You..!”

     “Mmm, Verge,” Dante mumbled, his warm cheek was placed against your chest and he had drooled in his sleep, “What are you shouting for?”

     “Dante, open your eyes.”

     When the red devil did, he pushed up and stared down at you with wide eyes. 

     Quickly, he stood up and grabbed a free blanket, “Here, wrap yourself in this before the kid wakes up.”

     Confused, you tried to pull your arm free, only to have Nero grip you tighter. 

     “Here,” Dante leaned back down and wrapped your body in the cloth. 

     That’s when you realized what had happened. Your skin was no longer covered in scales --your teeth were no longer too large for your mouth --your hands were no longer clawed.

     No longer trapped in your state of survival.

     You were what you once were all those years ago.

     Human. 

ENDING NOTES: Poems quoted:  ❥The Book of Urizen; Chapter II, IX, Preludium: William Blake ❥Infant Joy: William Blake ❥The Little Boy Lost: William Blake--changed slightly; replaced “boy” with child. ➖➖➖ I hope y’all enjoyed this. It took me SOOOO long to finish this. Not sure if I’ll do something like this again, I couldn’t switch between writing this and then writing some “x reader” stuff (because it would bleed into one or the other.).  Please let me know if y’all liked this or not! I’d love to hear feedback!  Thanks again for the request and I hope everyone has a great day/night! :))))

Want to see more like this? Check out the book on AO3 or check out the Masterlist for Tumblr!

THERE IS ALSO ART THAT GOES WITH THIS BUT I AM TOO FUCKING TIRED TO DEAL WITH THAT RN LMAO IT IS SO LATE AND I HAVE SPENT SO LONG ON THIS (Not that I'm complaining, I enjoyed writing this; it just took so damn long lmao)

If anyone is interested, there is a chapter on my AO3 of all the scrapped content from this fic. As you could/can probably tell, there was so much stuff I wanted to put in this and just either didn't because of time or scrapped because it became too overly saturated with the stuff. Please give it a read, it actually explains some stuff that I left in (like the ceiling paintings for example).