It was 4am before Dante and Trish finally returned home. As usual, they were about as subtle as a brick through a window, and Vergil found himself jolted awake by the sound of the slamming doors reverberating throughout the entire building. How they hadn't snapped off their hinges by now, he had no idea. He could hear the low murmurs of their voices followed by what sounded like laughter, as they presumably shed themselves of their bloodied clothing and weapons, and prepared to fight for who would get to have a shower first.
Their relationship still confused Vergil. The woman looked like their mother and Vergil tried to avoid her as much as possible because of this. Yet for some reason, she and Dante seemed particularly close. What puzzled him was the exact dynamics of it all. It was clear that Dante saw her as nothing more than a friend, or perhaps a work colleague, but he often caught the wretched woman looking at his brother with a strange expression in her eyes; one which wasn't quite lust, yet didn't seem entirely platonic either. He often had to remind himself that while to them she looked like a dead relative, she was in fact her own entity, with her own thoughts and her own… feelings. Vergil shook his head in disgust at the mere thought of Dante getting involved with anyone, let alone someone resembling their mother.
His thoughts wandered back to the other one; Lady, she called herself. He hadn't much liked the way she was looking at him earlier, either. Her stare had been just slightly too intense and it made him strangely uncomfortable.
He sat up and shivered slightly, realising he had fallen asleep on top of the covers wearing just his trousers and vest. It was unsurprisingly chilly given that they couldn't afford to have the heating on, and he was yet to obtain some pyjamas that didn't make him look like a fool. Vergil let out a loud yawn and stretched a bit, before deciding to head downstairs and see if they had managed to make a decent amount of money this time. He pulled on a pair of boots and slung his coat over his shoulders before descending.
Before he was even halfway down, he spotted Dante passed out on the couch with his shirt and coat lying in a heap on the floor next to him. Vergil tutted in disapproval and walked over before whacking Dante square between the eyes with the hilt of Yamato. "Look at the state of you," he said coldly as Dante jumped up, flailing wildly in an attempt to grab his own sword.
"What the hell, bro?" Dante asked, rubbing his forehead with the back of his hand, smearing what looked to be blood all over himself. "What'd you do that for?"
"I am growing weary of cleaning up after your messes," Vergil said, gesturing to the trail of demon entrails covering the floor from the entranceway to where Dante was now lying. "And I'm especially tired of clients complaining that this couch smells of an abattoir."
Dante looked around at the mess he and Trish had left behind and scratched the back if his head lightly. "Okay, so maybe it looks kinda bad right now, but it's cool. Just leave it to us and it'll be fixed by the time morning comes."
"It's already morning, Dante," Vergil said, rubbing his temples slightly. "And from the sounds of things, your companion is already in the process of cleaning herself up, so I doubt she intends to come out here and fix this mess."
The sound of the shower ceased, and Vergil found himself suddenly on edge. The last thing he wanted to see was the doppelganger in a state of undress. He glared at Dante and asked quickly, "Mess aside, how much did you make this time?"
Dante pondered for a moment and seemed to do some calculations on his hands before holding up three fingers. "About three months worth of bills," he said, grinning.
"That's… Actually not too bad," Vergil said, nodding slightly in approval.
"Right? By the time we pay off the debts we owe, we should have-"
Vergil let out a defeated sigh and turned towards the stairs again. "Clean up this mess, Dante. If I come down in the morning and this place is still like this, demon blood won't be the only thing covering the floor."
·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·
Somehow, despite the rage that flowed through him, Vergil must have fallen back asleep because he was suddenly awoken by the sound of his phone ringing next to his head. He groggily reached over to the bedside table, grabbed it and flipped it open, stopping the heavy metal music mid scream. He still needed to get around to asking Nero how he could fix it after Dante had changed the ringtone.
"Devil May Cry…" he half mumbled into his pillow.
"Dad?"
Vergil shot up, suddenly wide awake, narrowly avoiding hitting his head on the windowsill in the process. "Nero. You actually called."
"Well yeah, I may remind you of Dante, but I'm not as bad as him just yet." The two of them shared a light chuckle between them before Vergil coughed in embarrassment and went back to serious mode.
"So… Did you find a way to get me out of here?" Vergil asked, talking quietly so Dante wouldn't hear him. Not that he would be awake this early in the morning anway.
"Uh so yeah, about that…"
"Spit it out already, foolish boy."
"Hey, manners. I'm doing you a favour here." Vergil remained silent and Nero continued. "So, I talked it over with Kyrie and… How would you feel about helping us run the orphanage?"
"Absolutely not," Vergil said without a moment's hesitation.
"But-"
"No."
"You would be-"
"I said no. I'd rather take my chances on the street," Vergil said coldly.
"At least hear me out," Nero said irritatedly. "If you agree to help out, I'll be able to get you an apartment as a business expense. All you'd have to do is help look after a few kids and negotiate with our suppliers to make sure they keep providing us with food and clothes."
"Nero, your orphanage is run on charity handouts and government grants. I want to earn money, not lose it."
"Yeah, but you also want to get out of there right? Plus, it would be an excellent way for you to work on your people skills," Nero said. Even over the phone, it was obvious from the tone of his voice that he had known this wouldn't work.
Vergil remained silent for a moment, looking around at the small box he referred to as a bedroom. Eventually he spoke, and even he was surprised at how genuine he sounded. "I'll consider it," he said before snapping the phone shut.
·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·
The shop was quiet as Vergil descended the stairs and made his way over to the refrigerator. Perhaps most surprisingly, the room was also clean. He opened the door and reached in for a bottle of milk. Even before he had wrapped his hand around it, he was aware of someone behind him.
"You didn't pass my message on, did you?" asked an irritating feminine voice.
"I see you did not learn your lesson last time, woman," Vergil said, still leaning inside the fridge. He put the bottle back down and his hand quickly moved to the hilt of the Yamato. Lady was able to dodge the swing with ease. "What do you want?" he asked, pointing the tip of the blade between her eyes.
"That's no way to greet a guest," Lady said dryly, stepping to the side and leaning against the large wooden desk. Vergil's gaze followed her closely as he resheathed the sword.
"Answer the question," he stated, ignoring her comment.
"Well, if you must know, I'm here because Dante didn't turn up to our appointment." She turned around to face the desk, looking for the note she had left last night.
"Unwise to turn your back on me, human," Vergil said, although he did not move from where he stood. He watched as she leant over the desk, opening various drawers before letting out an annoyed sigh and ducking underneath the desk. If he hadn't know better, he'd have said she was swaying her hips back and forth on purpose as she did so.
"I knew I should have weighted it down," she said, standing with a piece of crumpled up paper in her right hand.
"An amateur mistake," Vergil said, somewhat smugly, walking over to her. He grabbed the piece of paper from her hand without warning, much to Lady's annoyance. "What is this anyway?"
"It's- Was, a job," Lady huffed, crossing her arms and leaning against the desk. "At a big farm down south. They were having issues with what they thought were locusts. Turns out they were massive insectoid demons instead. For some reason they only appeared in the early hours of the morning, hence the 'be there at 5am' requirement. It now being, what…" she glanced at the clock above the door. "9am," she continued, "We kinda missed the mark."
"So you intend to head back tomorrow?" Vergil asked, unfolding the paper and skimming over it.
Lady let out a light scoff. "Yeah right. I ended up doing it all by myself in the end. Turns out I didn't even need Dante."
"That makes two of us," Vergil said looking back up at Lady, a faint smile tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"Whoa hold up," Lady said, raising her hand. "Am I mistaken or did you just make a joke?"
"Can I interest you in a coffee?" Vergil asked suddenly, his smile disappearing again. He screwed up the piece of paper and threw it into the nearby trash can with pinpoint accuracy.
"I'm sorry, what?" Lady asked in disbelief. "Weren't you about to impale me earlier? And now you're offering me a coffee?"
"Oh, don't get the wrong idea," Vergil said, walking back to the fridge. "I just need to make sure the milk hasn't gone off. Our electricity has a bad habit of running out during the night."
He's teasing me, she thought. Or at least, she hoped he was. Surely no-one could be that inconsiderate… "Oh well, that's a shame," she said after a moment. "I drink my coffee black."
"Ah, just like your personality," Vergil said, opening the milk bottle and giving it a slight sniff. "Bitter and unpleasant, but people convince themselves to like it so that they look better in front of their friends."
"Damn Vergil, you seem to be on a roll this morning, huh?" Lady uncrossed her arms and walked over to where he stood, careful not to approach him from behind this time. "Well, how is it?"
Vergil's nose screwed up slightly as the sour aroma hit his nostrils, and he started to pour it down the sink. "Take a guess," he said, rinsing out the bottle and dropping it into the recycling bin that he had insisted they get due to the amount of cardboard boxes they went through.
"Well isn't that a shame," Lady said, somewhat mockingly. "Guess you'll have to join me for bitter coffee."
"I already drink it black," he replied, testing the other bottles in the fridge, only to find that they too had gone off. "I was actually planning on having cereal."
For some reason the image of this terrifying man sitting down to eat a bowl of cereal brought a smile to Lady's face, and it took all she had not to giggle to herself. The grin quickly disappeared however, thanks to a sharp glare from Vergil. He turned to face her again, hand hovering over his sword. "Do you find something amusing?" he asked, coldness creeping into his voice once more.
"Not at all," she said, raising both hands and stepping back slightly, only to find herself trapped against the open door of the refrigerator.
"Good. I'd hate to have to clean up such a mess this early in the morning," he said, stroking the hilt of his sword slightly before stepping towards Lady. "Move."
"Huh?" she asked, almost unintelligibly, unable to take her eyes away from the weapon which hung at his side.
"You are wasting electricity by keeping the door open," he said, pushing her out of the way and closing the fridge. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair again.
Yep, definitely a comfort thing, Lady thought to herself as she watched him struggle with a few strands that kept falling into his eyes. "Where is Dante, anyway?" she asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence.
"Hm? No idea," Vergil responded, walking past her to check on the electricity metre. "Ah good, we have a few days worth left at least…" Adjusting his coat slightly, he unsheathed his sword again and created two large slashes in front of him. A shimmering void opened up and he prepared to walk through.
"Hey, wait a second!" Lady shouted, running over. "What the heck are you doing?"
"I am going to obtain milk," Vergil said, looking at her as though she were some sort of idiot.
"By walking through an interdimensional portal?" Lady asked, incredulously. "You couldn't, oh, I don't know, just walk to the nearest corner shop?"
"Oh, I'm still going there," Vergil said calmly, resheathing Yamato. "This just means I have to deal with less people on the way."
"You have some issues, you know that?" Lady asked, hands on hips. "This is why I don't invite you out on jobs instead of Dante."
Vergil said nothing and just gave an abrupt wave before stepping forward. The air made a strange humming sound as the opening closed behind him.
