Welcome back! Now that Lara has been established, as well as some other important characters, it's now Vergil's turn and the action will pick up. Also, I'm working with the understanding from what I've seen of DMC 3 that Vergil hadn't completely unlocked all his abilities, so, still pushing his boundaries power-wise, though he's more accustomed to using his demon powers than Dante is.

Chapter 2

Vergil watched as the island came closer into view. Somewhere on that island his father had once lived, and people worshipped him for sealing the Hellgate, according to the old man who specialized in obscure lore and alchemy for a price- perhaps it was the same gate that he had sacrificed his power and his third sword into.

He'd check it out, it was the best lead he'd had in months.

The island was crescent shaped, the city on one end and some sort of temple on the other. He'd start by exploring the city, someone might say something of interest, or at least direct him to a library he could use.

The cloak was awkward, but necessary, and it seemed no one paid much attention to him.

As he was walking up from the docks warning bells began to ring. Most people quickly scurried to hide, but Vergil kept moving. There was the sound of screams farther away, and Vergil ignored them, eventually the bells sounded again- presumably the all clear signal. He soon found the library.

The doors were unbarred, but there was no one at the front desk. Which was just as well, he didn't want to interact with anyone.

Presumably it was set up with a card catalogue, so it would be simple enough to find the letter S and the name Sparda.

Up until he opened the drawer and discovered there were two drawers devoted to Sparda alone. Annoyed, Vergil went to the H drawer to look up 'Hellgate', and was disapointed again. There were no cards about the Hellgate. A few on 'Hell', but nothing about the Hellgate, and Vergil double-checked that the cards hadn't gotten mixed up.

This was not getting him anywhere; he'd have better luck just browsing the shelves. Vergil reluctantly shed the cloak so he could search unencumbered.

The third book of annotated odes to his father later (titled 'the mysteries of Sparda'), and Vergil was reconsidering his refusal to ask for help. Especially as the books that were likely to contain information seemed to be missing.

Turning down another aisle he finally came upon his first stroke of luck, a table and desk, both stacked with books, a couple he recognized as the ones missing from the Sparda section.

"Finally." Vergil took a step forward, only to halt as a someone responded.

"Beg pardon?" The woman that looked at him was not wearing a hood. In fact she looked completely out of place, even considering the visitors to the island. The two stared at each other for a moment. "Sorry, did you need one of these? I was just getting ready to start putting them back."

"Ah, yes … I need any information on the Hellgate." Vergil was surprised when she frowned.

"You and I both …" She muttered, before putting some books to the side. "Here, these are some books that reference it."

Vergil took the books, and moved over to the other desk that he saw in the room. The woman was busy for a while, before returning to the desk and writing.

Vergil tuned her out at that point, focusing on the books … none of them having the information he wanted on the Hellgate's location, just that his Father had sealed it and ruled well before leaving.

He'd have to explore the city to find it, as well as his Father's castle. He got up to put the books back and looked at the desk the woman had been. It was cleaned off, almost as if she'd never been there, but what caught his attention was a piece of paper on the floor. Picking it up, he found a sketch of the library on one side, and a note on the back. 'Nice place, but supposedly the rarer books are elsewhere.'

Well, perhaps she might have a better lead. He'd just have to track her down to get answers. Shouldn't be too hard, there didn't seem to be many visitors to the island, so he'd just have to find a hotel.

As Vergil exited the library, he noticed the sun was setting, and as he began walking, he heard the warning bells began to ring again. The demons were closer this time. Vergil turned down the street. He'd deal with those later, right now, he needed to find that woman.

It turned out to be rather easy, if only because the first hotel he found had her arguing with one of the order members, this one much bigger than she was. Rather than interfere, he went to the hotel desk to get a room for the night- he probably wouldn't stay longer than the next day, but it would be less suspicious, and it allowed him to listen in.

"I haven't seen Vesper since yesterday at lunch and your repeated questions aren't going to change the fact that I don't know where she is!" She was glaring up at the order member, not backing down.

"If you've tampered with something that you shouldn't have, outsider-!" The man snarled at her.

"I didn't believe demons were real until they attacked us yesterday." She snapped at him, before sighing. "Look, all Vesper said was that she'd be at the Church today, that's where she always says she'll be if I want to find her. If she's not there, then I don't know."

"… Don't leave until she's found." He growled, and left, Vergil watched the woman turn and walk up the stairs. He glanced down at the registrar to sign it, as well as look at the room number of the person who checked in before him.

"Here you are, mister Gliver, I hope you enjoy your stay."

Vergil didn't deign to give the woman an answer, just took his key and walked up the stairs he'd seen the woman go. He took off his cloak once he was out of view of the front desk. Hopefully she would answer the door and he wouldn't have to wait for morning.

He paused in the hallway, reconsidering. Vergil had seen enough of human interactions over the years to learn a few things, and one was that most single women were wary of men that seemed too persistent- with good reason, as several of those encounters had ended with police called. He'd wait for morning, give her back the piece of paper as an excuse to start a conversation … that would go better. Vergil turned and went to the room he'd gotten. He should probably rest while he could.

Morning came slowly, and Vergil headed downstairs as soon as the grey light of dawn began. The front doors of the hotel were locked, and after dropping the key on the counter, Vergil sat down in one of the chairs to wait. The sky outside continued to lighten, and Vergil heard a floorboard creak.

The woman came down the stairs wearing dark clothes, a leather jacket with a grey hooded sweatshirt on underneath, as well as black boots that were fairly well worn. She headed to the door and tensed up when she couldn't open it.

"The sun doth arise and make happy the skies." Vergil stood up. "But it seems we are currently trapped."

"I suppose it does." She frowned.

"You dropped this, I believe." He held out the sketch, she carefully took it. "I'm here to study the Hellgate," He started, but cut himself off as her eyes widened, and she quickly signaled for him to stop talking.

"I can show you my notes on the city, this way." She lead him back up the stairs, but instead of going to her room, she opened a door that lead to a second set of steps, these going straight to the roof.

The door leading to the roof was unlocked, and Vergil frowned at that, why would the front doors be locked, but not the roof?

"You were saying?" She turned to look at him.

"I'm here to study the Hellgate, but it seems all the books have been tampered or removed. I was wondering if you knew anything?"

"Like you said, they all seem to be tampered or removed. Probably so outsiders didn't go looking for it." She took out a small journal which looked to have other papers folded into it, and opened it up to the fifth page. "But they missed one. I read it on my first day here, and it seems it was removed afterwards. The only clue to the location was that Sparda could watch over the gate from his castle." She gestured to the castle that was rather far from the city and difficult to distinguish from the peak. "I doubt they'd build a city over it, but that's the only clue I've got right now. I didn't think to pay it any mind at the time." She pocketed the journal again, and turned to look at the fire escape.

"Were you planning on going there?" Vergil asked as he followed her gaze. "Or are you planning to look for that missing girl?" Her gaze snapped back to him, and it was rather amusing to see her tense up, as if she thought she could fight him. "I have no interest in stopping you, but I could use a guide and perhaps you could use a bodyguard?" This would save time on him having to search for the quickest route to the castle. Then, once he found the gate's location, he'd leave her to go after it.

"If there are any books detailing the Hellgate's location, they're likely to be at the castle or the order's headquarters." The woman frowned. "Vesper offered to show me the Castle and the Hellgate before the demons attacked, and I think her disappearance might be linked to that."

Vergil ignored that, instead gesturing to the fire escape. "My name's Vergil."

"Lara." She looked at the city. "Let's go." She pulled her hood up and led the way down. Vergil donned his cloak which probably disguised him better than her attempt.

Lara guided him through the eerily silent city to what looked like an abandoned dockside factory. "When Vesper showed me the city, she mentioned there was a shortcut to the castle this way." Lara stopped moving, and Vergil looked over to see. Demons were on the bridge that connected the city to the odd gate. "That's odd; the bridge is normally not connected. Unless this is how they're getting into the city?" Lara didn't seem to talking to Vergil when she said the last part, but it was a good hypothesis as any.

"Stay back." He advised, passing the cloak to her and drawing the Yamato. The demons were fairly easy to defeat, but as he turned back he saw Lara watching with wide eyes. "The way's clear now."

Lara walked up to him, offering the cloak back. They continued on in silence.

Vergil is … difficult … to write. Like, he's got an honor code, but it's partially buried under that desire for power and strength and … gah, I want to strangle him right now.

Lara's easier, she's just starting out, and while she does have training, she doesn't yet have the drive, so she'll be easier to show growing … comparatively.