Sorry for the week-late update; I updated this story on another site and I thought I'd done so on this one as well, but I was wrong.
The group as a whole had matured over the past year and some change; Dante's silliness had lessened to a manageable degree, Lady no longer shot at him when he upset her, Saya was in a "normal" loving relationship with her sister, Haji actually made conversation occasionally, Vergil had loosened up a bit and gotten a bit less grumpy, and Diva's personality had grown older enough that she could comprehend things like responsibilities and the like, though her childish playfulness had never gone away.
The shop's design was open as it'd used to be, with the wood interior from last year. The doors hadn't been replaced more than a few times since the battle against Ritorno and his sword flunkies, which was quite an improvement. Meanwhile, Diva and Vergil now shared the same room, giving Dante the chance to use Diva's old room for storage of everyone's things, since the residents of the building had increased by four over that past two years or so and stuff had begun to pile up.
Though initially Saya had seemed a bit against the idea of having Diva in Vergil's room, it became evident over time that Vergil wasn't going to be manipulated into doing anything Diva wanted him to, and that she cared about him enough to not want to manipulate him. Vergil had found it rather amusing at the time that she'd been worried about him, since it was her childish sister that was going to be sleeping in the same bed as him. Most sisters would be worried about their young, attractive, socially unaccustomed twin in those circumstances.
Work had finally started come in a steady stream and the flood of jobs to do was a welcome contrast to the previously dried up business of Devil May Cry. Demons seemed to be getting attracted to this city more and more, but they weren't coming any faster than the group could kill them. When they all went off on their own missions, they could get six done virtuously simultaneously. That was a lot more than Dante could get done on his own in just as much time with occasional help from Lady.
The job they'd just come back from would pay for a whole week between the six of them, and they still had others to do later on. You really couldn't ask for anything better; you got to kick ass for a living, and get paid for it. Plus, you could more or less make your own rules.
The phone rang, and everyone kept on eating their pizza. When the phone rang again, Vergil swallowed a piece and told Dante to go get it.
"Yeah, yeah. You're like a backseat driver." He spoke, curling up the edges of his own slice of pizza and downing the whole thing, crust and all, before slapping his hands against each other to get the grease off of them.
Dante walked over to his big wood desk, which the phone stood upon, and pulled the receiver up to his ear.
"Devil May Cry." He answered while the others continued eating their food. Their eating habits reflected their personalities; Lady ate hers like any other person, and took her time. Saya ate hers much the same way, while Diva's style resembled a girl eating a corndog in a "guy" comedy movie. Vergil took small, deliberate bites out of his pizza and Haji… Haji just sat in his place next to Saya with the pizza on a plate on his lap; Dante hadn't accepted yet that he didn't require food and always gave him a slice of pizza or whatever just in case he turned out to be right.
"Huh? What do you mean you're not going to use us? Who're you gonna call? The freakin' Ghost Busters? What? Who?"
Though the group hadn't so much as batted an eye in Dante's direction, all of them were paying attention to the spirit phone call as they finished their pizza.
Vergil sat straight up after setting his plate down on the coffee table in front of the couches, followed shortly thereafter by Diva, who instead decided to lay herself across his lap. He shook his head almost drowsily and looked over at Dante.
"…alright." Was all he said before dropping the receiver down into the cradle that made a loud enough noise to temporarily deafen the person on the other end before he walked back over towards them.
"What's the problem?" Vergil asked his brother while he sat down in his place on a couch, sighing.
"Looks like 'Hell on earth' said it'd get the job done tonight."
Vergil sighed as well as a scowl tugged on his mouth.
"We should have killed him while we had the chance." He spoke with a tone of seriousness. Then again, he usually sounded like that anyway, so he could be joking and sound genuine at the same time.
"No kidding."
"Hee hee, Vergil's mad because Enzeru's getting his jobs!" Diva teased.
"Let's give him a break; after all, if he was trapped down in the demon world like you said it must have been hard getting used to living here again." Saya added softly for consideration.
"Perhaps, but he's gotten past the 'crawling out of the gutter' phase."
"And since Enzeru isn't as lame as you, he gets more clients." Lady spoke up, amused.
"Heh, whatever. Anyway, we've still got plenty of jobs left. It's no big deal. If he wants that one I guess he can have it."
"My, how generous of you, Dante. What brought about the change in heart?" Vergil asked his brother.
"I may not be a big softie, but at the very least I know what it's like to be in this business with no money or anything. Figured I'd cut the guy a break."
Saya nodded and Lady's eyebrows rose just a little to show her slight surprise.
"Anyway, it's just one guy. Whether he can kill demons or not, he won't be able to take away all of our work; one person can only do so much so fast." She added.
"Bingo."
Vergil chuckled, though it sounded somewhat like a scoff; it was a leftover habit from earlier days. Vergil used to laugh perhaps once a year. And that was only when laughing at some kind of demon's pathetic attempt to kill him. It was a far cry from now, when he'd learned how to maintain his fighting spirit while allowing himself to enjoy life. That enjoyment came from Diva, and his brother, and everyone else around him. It hadn't taken long, after he learned to open himself up to others, for Vergil's inner world to change.
"I figured as much; you pretend to be helping him out when in reality you just think he's going to fade into the background, huh?" He spoke with a grin. The grin was returned and Dante looked away.
"You talk too much."
Both of them chuckled while everyone got their last serving of pizza from the box.
His wearing his hair like Dante's was a much bolder statement than most would realize; the previous style had shown his determination to not be like Dante; living as a human. It symbolized his unwavering ambition to gather as much power as he could and defeat anyone that opposed him, no matter how likely. One could say it was the insignia of his being the "dark slayer" as some had called him.
Vergil lived as a human now; he had friends, family, and someone that he genuinely loved, and who loved him back. He had no need for such a cold heart anymore. It was surprising how quickly the ice melted when you were surrounded by warmth. The thought made him smile, and Diva smiled back at him.
A moment later she closed her eyes and turned to face inwards towards him and the couch. Diva dug her head in against his stomach. Diva was going to sleep now.
He shook his head and leaned back in the couch, knowing he wasn't going anywhere anytime soon.
"Though I think we'd better get a few more jobs done tonight; don't want that bastard Enzeru to hog all the glory."
"Well, there was a rundown motel that supposedly had some demons in it." Vergil mentioned.
"An old building? Supposedly with demons inside? No way could that turn out badly." Dante joked sarcastically.
"Well it's better than putting up with twenty-one crazies at a hotel furnished to look like an uncreative dungeons and dragons battle-map."
"Hey, it was the money in that casino that we commandeered that help repair the shop and get us really going with work."
"I would prefer not to do that again." Saya spoke honestly, finishing her pizza."
"All of us that went there ended up almost dying. I hope we never have to do anything like that again."
Dante leaned back in his couch while Haji handed Saya his slice upon her polite request, and Lady finished hers as well.
"That's the thing about hunting demons; there'll always be some big loser in the demon-world with a god complex that wants to stir up some hell."
"Hey, that's just fine. I don't mind dealing with a little demon trouble. It's the brother-gone-bonkers and twenty-one-a-holes-in-a-mansion deals that I've got an issue with."
"Hey, at least my situation was justifiable." Vergil spoke in mock-defense.
"Aw yeah, I forgot; it's a lot more justified to go after your brother trying to kill him 'cause you're jealous about getting your ass kicked than trying to kill someone 'cause they killed your brother."
It had been intended as a joke. However, it didn't end up feeling like that and Vergil's smile faltered, as did everyone else's.
"Never mind. Bad joke. Anyway, let's get ready to get going again." Dante said, quickly getting up from his couch and heading back towards his desk to get his weapons so he didn't have to stick around anymore.
Vergil looked down at the floor, beginning to feel a bit unsure of himself, when Diva rolled back to face up at him and placed a cool hand on his cheek. The touch gave him a surprised expression for a moment, but he managed to build a smile in the aftermath.
"Don't listen to Dante and his silly jokes. They aren't even that good." She spoke with a sleepy smile.
The mentioned man sneezed from across the room while working on getting his weapons ready.
"Yeah, I know."
Diva sat up and managed to get off of him long enough to sit down beside the half-demon.
"So, who are we going to play with next?"
Vergil had long realized that to Diva, "playing" was, among other things, a synonym for fighting. However, as her choice of words suggested, she rarely took fighting seriously.
"There's some sort of building around here inhabited by demons. But they seem to be obsessed with maintaining their 'mafia' personas, so likely we'll be hearing a lot of old one-liners from television days past as we kill them."
She gave a sleepy shrug.
"Sounds fun."
"I suppose. As long as it helps keep this building from being repossessed I suppose it's a worthwhile cause."
Their one-on-one discussion was brought to an end when Dante came back over in their direction, ready to get going.
"Alright, everyone, we set?"
The other three stood up and showed in their own ways that they were while Vergil and Diva, still looking directly at each other, rose from the couch and got off of it. Diva slipped her shoes back on while Vergil stuck out a hand for Dante to throw his sheathed katana into.
"How many demons are we talking?" Lady asked, already checking her guns to see if they were fully loaded and on "safe".
"About ten, maybe twenty, no big deal."
Haji picked up his cello case which held Saya's katana in it and quietly pulled it on over one of his shoulders.
Saya and he stepped away from their couch and she asked him how powerful the demons would be.
"Like before, no big deal. Just a routine little mission for us to take care of."
"Yeah, right; don't the missions that end up having the world hang in the balance usually begin with 'just another little job'?" Lady speculated with some humor.
Dante shrugged.
"Don't sweat the small stuff. Anyway, we ready?"
They all were, and with Dante at the head of them, headed out the doors of Devil May Cry.