ENJOY!! TehOdd1 x0xoxox0xoXXX

Here's to:

It was Christmas time, and little accomplished Lady was alone in some smoky old bar, all alone.

So she had killed her father, finally, and that had been months ago. What the hell was she supposed to do now?

Over head there were bells tinkering, and a few random bushels of holly. Dull music was playing in the back ground and murmured voices that didn't really form words touched her ears.

Lady stirred her drink with numb fingers. The olives - Lady saw three but knew she'd only ordered two - floated to the bottom in a extremely depressing matter that made the hunter's eyes begin to well up.

"Here's to bruises that sting." she mumbled, chugging it down.

She ordered another, and another different one, then paid for three more shots in advance.

Lady hadn't spent a single waking moment completely sober - since she had nothing to live for, why not?

She had been a virgin at the tower, but had lost it since - to some random who really wasn't all that special.

The occasional guy would hit on her, and she'd hit them, quite literally.

Being drunk made Lady do things that she would usually think about, although hitting the men seemed like a good idea at the time.

"Here's to...Binge eating." she told her glass, a single tear rolling down the curve of her cheek.

She downed the heavy liquor, feeling sick to her stomach. The sickness, however, had nothing to do with the amount of alcohol she had consumed.

Maybe it was the fact that around her, slightly drunken females were all laughing, and sharing a good time with their friends. Maybe it was because they all looked so happy and content, and fucking warm, that Lady just wanted to be normal. They seemed to glow, and Lady blamed that on her consumption of hard liquor. Hard liquor. Yep, that was it - drinking had officially made her hallucinate. Perfect.

Lady's eyelashes were wet with tears uncried.

Why should she make a scene?

Never wanted to amuse anybody. Always trying to impress. she pondered. You gotta be tougher then them, Mary, she scolded herself, her long held mantra chanting in her brain, almost echoing off the vast emptiness that occupied the once thriving skull. You gotta big stronger and smarter and faster.

"Here's to loathing what you've become." she said in an almost inaudible voice, drinking the entire shot slowly, closing her eyes.

She felt someone sit next to her and heard them order a water, slamming down another drink.

"How are you?" they asked in an insanely familiar voice. The voice was calm. Like they were high. It was male, and very alluring to the drunken woman.

With out giving him a look, she tilted her head back, bringing a shot glass to her lips.

"Rough. Tired. Drunk. Lost and lonely." she informed them, slamming it down.

The figure 'Hn'ed.

She nudged one of the glasses in his general direction, using her knuckle and almost pushing it into his elbow because she was not looking.

"What's this?" they asked in an amused tone of voice.

"Peace offering." she mumbled, leaning forwards on her elbows, catching sight of his wary complexion in the mirror before her. "Vergil."

"Mary. What a delectable coincidence." he muttered, picking up the offered drink and sniffing it.

Lady didn't even flinch away from her given name. She had disgraced her actual name by becoming what she had become.

A demon hunter that didn't want to kill demons. A woman who was more fucked up then the lowest of whores. A person who did not care if they were to live, or die, but were indifferent towards everything and anything offered.

"Coincidence?"

The female voice, so dead of any of the raw vengeance that Vergil had steeled himself for, caused him to study the woman beside him.

Her eyes were dull, bloodshot and wary, her hair was long and matted to the base of her neck.

Her shoulders were slumped forwards, delicate frame trembling slightly and small white hands looking frail and almost old.

"My ass it was a coincidence you walked through that door. Like you couldn't tell I was in here. Demons are all the same, you know." she informed the elder Sparda brother, speaking to her drink.

"And what does that mean?" he inquired.

Lady's eyebrow rose sluggishly, and she turned to face him in a slow, drawn out movement.

"Why are you talking to me like you care? We are supposed to hate each other." she said, taking a long gulp of her drink but never leaving his eyes. "We hate each other, right?"

Vergil considered this - then rose the glass she had given him.

"You offered peace. I am accepting."

"Peace." she repeated dully, blinking hot tears away from her eyes as she looked down at her quaking hands.

"How I longed for inner peace. Just to kill the last person in my life. The last. One." she growled. She sighed, obviously depressed.

Vergil kinda shrugged and sipped the drink he had been given, admiring the female's tolerance to the harsh tang of alcohol.

Even one had his head lighter than a cloud, and it was a feeling Vergil revelled in - because even though he would never admit to any one, he did not like guarding himself the way he did. He did not like having to be so uptight. So... tough. He didn't let himself feel or need any thing or one.

Feeling this...free...gave him some kind of rebellious inner wanting.

Because after escaping Hell, Vergil found himself in a rather amusing predicament: wanting to cuss, wanting to loose his temper, wanting to fuck, wanting to laugh, wanting to cry- but that was stupid.

Devils didn't cry.

"Here's to old friends." murmured Lady. "Your turn." she said, lifting her glass in Vergil's general direction.

She would not take her eyes off of her hands, and that bothered Vergil.

He knocked her glass to his and swallowed more of the amber coloured liquid, inhaling deeply through his nose.

His turn to what? To share? Psh, as if.

He was so deep under walls of self assurance and indifference he'd be damned if he could think of a single thing to toast to.

Although... Vergil's eyes swept over Lady. She didn't sound the least bit happy about said 'old friends'. Perhaps I am to share of something upsetting?

"Here's to...Mistakes." Vergil said quietly, awaiting Lady's reaction. It was the only thing he could think that could work both ways.

Happy or depressing, mistakes were something that happened to humans, right? Some humans even learned from there mistakes, wasn't that so? And shouldn't that, in itself, be a good thing? As far as he was concerned, doing something that might potentially go wrong or interfere with your life - aka a mistake - was not worth doing at all. In fact, he mused that if there was a chance that somebody was to make a mistake that could ruin themselves in any way, shape, or form, then they should have a back up plan. Or think it all the way through, as he did.

Lady turned and watched him finish the drink she had brought for herself.

She pushed another one towards him slowly, which he took hold of and raised.

"Here's to regret." she nodded towards him, her cheeks hollow and eyes shadowed.

Would he understand what she meant? That no, she wasn't blubbering about daddy dearest, rather that she could've done something else? Did he understand that?

They drunk in silence, only taking a few mere gulps as the drinks were running low. Vergil liked this game, watching the obviously drunken woman try to keep a hold on the feelings that ran such a frantic riot in her head. Amusing really, that she'd share these things with him. Lady, however, did not like this game, and did not like sharing things with anybody.

It was beyond her why she shouldn't or couldn't attack him - but she had been the one to offer peace. She guessed that he had been as surprised as she had when she had. Or had she? 'Had' didn't even sound like a real word anymore, and Lady's face broke into a small, maniacal grin.

"Your turn." she told him, before he could enquire as to what was making her smile so twisted.

What had he been thinking about, only minutes before, that had him so sure that Arkham was in this bar?

Oh. Dante.

"Here's to...Siblings." he said, raising the glass to his mouth.

Lady snorted, and caught his wrist, lowering the drink smoothly away.

"Family." she corrected. "Some of us aren't lucky enough for siblings."

Vergil scowled at her, peeved to say the very least.

Lucky, was he?

"How did I end up here? Talking to a mere human woman, drinking human drink, and pretending Hell never exists?"

Lady looked up sadly from her drink, which she had been swirling olives around glumly.

She bowed her head, her brow drawing together, and then held the last dregs of her drink up to Vergil.

"Here's to loneliness."

Vergil blinked stupidly, staring at the glass nearly touching his own. He cocked his head to the side, and sat forwards in his chair a little.

"You know nothing of loneliness." her informed her quietly, eyes flashing in a deadly, quiet and saddened way.

Lady's eyes, bi coloured as it were, flashed too, in a different light. Her light was one of anger, and determination. Who was he to tell her what she did and did not feel or know? Part of her reared up for the first time in months - and anger sobered her up some.

"I know nothing of being lonely? Oh, do explain, mighty Sparda." she spat, narrowing her eyes dangerously.

Vergil shut down. He did not answer, and he did not react at all.

Fuck, Lady thought, a little guilty. He doesn't even look like he's breathing.

"I had to grow up with a fucking psycho for a father." she snapped.

"I had no father." growled Vergil in an equally as annoyed tone.

"Well then. Here's to fathers that are fucked up as all hell." she said, slamming a shot down and getting another ten.

Vergil too, agreed with this, and swallowed his drink forcefully.

"I had no other to share my sorrows with." Lady said dangerously. "You had Dante."

"Dante was a constant pain in my ass." the cuss word, minor, sounded weird on such a formal tongue. Vergil felt something in his stomach stir as he said it though. Like...A rebellion had begun in him against his own will and wants.

Lady snorted lamely, like she didn't believe him.

"He was always hanging off my arm. Always getting into fist fights over petty things. Stupid boy was always fighting. Fighting me, fighting father, fighting mother, fighting our countless nannies. In the end all he had was me, and he craved my attention constantly."

Lady never thought Vergil could hold any more than a single sentence long. But, defending Dante on some level, she grit her teeth together and retaliated.

"You still had someone who loved you! Who was the same gender as you! I was shipped off to some hunter's academy where only boys were allowed. That all thought I was such a bitchy, wining little push over. I had no friends, and even when I was a very affeconete kid, I had no one."

Vergil narrowed his eyes.

"Here's to childhood, then?"

They slammed back another drink, with another glass in their hands, apparently waiting for the next 'here's to'.

"I always have a guard up," bragged Lady. "I have to. I'm just a human, and I'ma chick too, so anyone could easily over power me and rape me or sum ti'n."

Why that sounded so appealed to Vergil remained a mystery to him. He had to bite back a retort.

"I have a guard up around my guard." he said childishly. "I have to. I've been through Hell, Lady- quite seriously."

They narrowed their eyes at each other.

"I'm so paranoid my own shadow has been shot on numerous occasions." Lady admitted sourly. "That's how tough my guard is."

"By my instinct, I have, on several different nights, nearly taken my own head off with booby traps and devices I set up for intruders-" he began.

"I have to keep on the move, as not to have anything broken into." sneered Lady. "I have no home, Vergil. I keep moving, and never sleep without some kind of weapon behind my head board or pillow-"

"I just don't sleep." Vergil glowered, flustered. "I have insomnia on an entirely different level."

Lady blinked for a second, then ducked her head, looking at her drink.

"Here's to insomnia. And paranoia."

Vergil nodded, and downed his drink.

Perhaps Lady and he were alot alike in different ways...? Did that make any logic?

"My mother," slurred Lady, holding onto Vergil's shoulder to stop her falling off her chair. "Was a beautiful woman. She had gorgeous eyes and gorgeous and gorgeous everything."

A fight broke out among the human males behind them. Both the half demon and the huntress noticed, but took little interest. Vergil dragged Lady's chair closer to his so he didn't have to yell over the brawl, and rolled his eyes when Lady did not loosen her grip on his shoulder.

"My mother," Vergil said quietly, moving to her ear to speak. "Was beautiful enough to ensnare my father - who could've had any woman he chose."

Lady's cheeks filled with blood. She sighed, and moved so her head hovered very closely above Vergil's shoulder.

"So here's to beautiful mothers."

The words came out devastatingly seductive. And although Vergil had prepared himself for what was to come - that was no where near what he was expecting.

She intertwined her arm with his, and drank his shot, whilst he drank hers.

They stared each other in the eyes.

"Here's to complex drinking." he mumbled, causing Lady to giggle lightly. "Your turn, Lady."

Lady pondered for a moment, then pointed out: "I had to train under a predatory, perverted sensei." Lady continued lowly. "I had to fight twice as hard as everybody else."

"So did I." Vergil countered. "To live up to my father's swordsmanship. Everybody expected things from the sons of the legendary dark knight."

Lady looking taken back, but Vergil felt relived. That had been in his head for quite some time.

"I had to grow up way too fast to even be a kid." Lady said sombrely. "I never got to be a little girl. I was always by myself, training."

"I had to grow up and take care of Dante." countered Vergil. "I had to be a mother and a father. I never had any space of my own."

"I watched my mother perish at the hands of someone that I loved."

"I watched my father die internally, broken as he killed my mother, then disappeared for good into a world I wasn't so sure he could survive in."

"My father stands for everything I fight."

"I have two sides in me that scream," he said, closing his eyes. "They each scream at me to do what the other wishes not. It's a fucking nuisance."

Lady chuckled, and wrapped her arm around his shoulders, seemingly forgetting who it was that she was speaking to. She didn't really notice. She was more amused by the fact that Vergil had just said 'fucking'.

"Well, I had to live with the man I hated." she told him, smiling coldly - though he figured it was not aimed at him - more so at unpleasant memories. "I had to rely on him for years after he killed my mother. Do you know what that feels like?"

Vergil's eyebrows drew together, and he shook his head, then said slowly : "I am out casted in both this world, and that of the demons. I am not human, nor demon, but both, therefore I am my own worst enemy."

Lady gave him a quirky, one sided smile.

"My mother used to beat me." she almost whispered, ashamed. "So as much as I loved and fought for her, there was always a part of me saying 'good riddance'."

So, on one hand, there was Vergil. He had to witness his loving parents practically die in each other's arms, then grow up soon afterwards, getting a job and looking after his brother, whom he loved quite dearly. He had, however, tried to kill said brother more times then he would ever care to admit. He thirst for power and dominance was a mere hobby - he could not care less about any of that. He had nothing better to do with his almost never ending life, why not have a little fun whilst he lived?

On the other hand, there was Lady, who grew up alone and beaten by the woman whom she loved and adored. Her father killed said woman and left Lady in his care, forcing her to at least respect him whilst he climbed the ladder to power. Lady had to steal things and beat other kids for money to buy the barest necessities. She grew up in a town of boys and was always looked down on for being a girl, or simply being human. How hard had she fought, to gain as many battle scars as she had?

Who had it worse?

Lady smiled, and leaned over to whisper in Vergil's ear. He stiffened at first, then relaxed as he realised just how drunk Lady actually was. She wouldn't remember this tomorrow. Her breath hit the back of his neck, sending a wave a pleasurable tingles down his spine. He turned his head slightly, so her cheek was touching his.

Vergil closed his eyes briefly, and just enjoyed contact with a female - that wasn't resembling a fist or slap of some description. He opened his eyes, though, when she spoke, as he felt it rude not to look at the person speaking.

"Well." she said coolly, manuvering her head so her lips were inches away from his.

"I suppose a final toast is in order?" she mused, inclining her head slightly, with an eyebrow risen.

Vergil swallowed what little saliva he had left in his mouth, and blinked as he noticed something rather comical about this girl - woman - who stood before him, covered from head to toe in deadly weapons.

She has freckles.

"Here's to confusion, Vergil."

And Vergil, in all his demonic glory, just couldn't agree more.

"Indeed, Mary."

And they once more toasted their misery, and drunk far on into the chilly winter's night, laughing and joking, teasing and pleasing in various ways.

Vergil actually enjoyed himself, and Lady (although physically more drunk than ever before) had never sobered up so much in a few lazy hours.

One thing was for sure; neither of them could toast to loneliness anymore.