The Emperors Return

Chapter 6: Fortuna Castle

The three half-demons stepped off of the boat and onto the dock in Fortuna. Nero led the way through the streets since he knew all of the shortcuts that would get them to Fortuna Castle quicker. The half-demons walked to an abandoned mining area that had been the battle ground when Nero and Dante had battled Berial. Vergil glanced around; to him it seemed that there were once a few buildings here. He could see that there were several scorch marks on the ground. The blue clad saw the ruined Hell Gate that was in the shape of a broken heart.

"What happened here? It looks like the place was burned to the ground," the blue clad asked.

"It kinda was" said Nero, "I had a fight with a demon called Berial and he cindered the place."

"And then I came here later, and finished him off," said Dante.

Nero gave the red clad a confused look, "You finished him off?" the teen asked.

"That's right Kid" the older hunter replied.

"When did you finish him off?"

The red clad thought for a second, "A little while after you were captured by Sanctus."

The teen nodded, "Did you do that?" He asked, pointing at the Hell Gate.

"Yep"

Vergil, who was ignoring them, walked forward a few paces and looked around. He then felt a presence behind him; he turned around, unsheathing Yamato as he went and pointed it at a Scarecrow, which had tried to creep up on him. Smirking, he sliced it in half and sheathed his O-katana.

Vergil turned around, "Shall we get going?"

"Yeah" said Nero.

The twins followed Nero though the mining tunnels, occasionally stumbling across a demon or two. At one point they walked into a cavern and the only way forward was at the top of it. Nero used his Devil Bringer to get up there, white Dante and Vergil jumped on the wooden platforms, that looked as if they would collapse at any given moment.

When they came out of the tunnels, they were instantly hit by a blizzard that made it very difficult to see. The three half-demons put their arms in front o their faces, so they could try and stop the snow from getting in their eyes. Normally, there were blizzards up by the castle, but this one was heavier than usual. As they walked along the mountain path towards the castle, Nero slipped and fell off. Dante caught his left arm just in time to stop him from falling to his death.

"You alright Kid?" the red clad asked. He pulled him back up.

"Yeah, thanks" said Nero.

"No problem."

The half-devils kept walking until they got their fist view of the castle. Strangely enough, the blizzard cleared up and instead was replaced by a light snowfall. Vergil held out his hand and watched a snowflake fall and melt on his glove; it had been a long time since he had seen snow. Heh, snow... now that's something I missed in the Demon realm. Snow... it's white... cold... and beautiful. He smiled softly.

The older twin looked at Fortuna Castle; it was so impressive and mighty. Its gothic look made it a perfect match or the moon that highlighted the towers.

The blue clad half-smiled; fond memories from when he and Dante were younger began to creep up into his mind...

A six-year-old Vergil looked out of the living room window; it was snowing outside. His eyes brightened at the sight of it; he loved snow and so did his brother. Vergil looked over at his twin who was asleep on the sofa. "Dante!" He ran up to his twin and shook him awake, "Dante, wakeup!"

The younger twin groaned and opened his eyes, "What? I'm trying to sleep."

"It's snowing!" Vergil said excitedly.

Dante's eyes brightened like his twin's had, "Really?"

Vergil nodded. The sons of Sparda went to the window and looked out; the snow was beautiful as it settled on everything it touched. The twins stared outside, wide eyed and open mouthed. Eva came up behind them and pulled them into a hug. Eva's sons smiled at her sweetly and then the three watched the snow together...

The blue clad was suddenly prevented from remembering his past, by a snowball that had collided with his face. This caused his hair to fall down. He looked over at the only one who could have thrown that snowball; Dante.

Vergil growled, "Dante!" He made a snowball of his own and threw it in the red clad's direction. The younger twin dodged the projectile and then made a snowball and threw it at Nero; it hit him in the face.

"Hey!" The teen protested.

The half-devils then engaged in snowball fight, not seeming to care about how childish they must look. The fight ended with Dante being bombarded with snowballs from Nero and Vergil.

"Okay, okay stop it" Dante said, chuckling.

"You know the rules Dante; if you provoke me, you must be prepared for a retaliation," Said Vergil. He slicked his hair back and helped his twin up.

"Yeah, yeah whatever" Dante said, brushing himself off. "Anyway, we should get going."

The trio walked down the side path which lead to the snow covered courtyard. Since it had seemed to have gotten colder near Fortuna Castle, the ground was very icy but this didn't bother the half-devils too much, so they just carried on walking. As they crossed the bridge to the castle, Vergil looked over the edge at the sheer drop, which would mean certain death to anyone that fell off of the bridge.

"Now, let's go look for that book you were talking about" Dante said to Vergil.

Dante tried to open the doors to the castle, but failed miserably. He attempted to kick them down, but it didn't work. The red clad whipped Ebony & Ivory out and was about to open fire, when Nero and Vergil walked in front of his aim and tried to figure out a better way to open the door.

"The doors appear to be frozen shut" said Vergil.

"Wow, thanks for stating the obvious Vergil" Dante said sarcastically. The older twin rolled his eyes.

The blue clad unsheathed Yamato faster than the eye could see, stuck the O-katana between the two doors and moved the sword down, breaking the ice in the process. The Dark Slayer then re-sheathed his sword and the trio walked inside.


Lady and Trish had spent the night at Kyrie's apartment and all three women were extremely bored because they had nothing to do. They had been shopping, gone out and Lady and Trish had even tried to see if there were any jobs, but there were none.

Trish sighed, "You know what's happened don't you?" She said to Lady.

"What?" The Gunslinger asked.

"That idiot Dante probably has all of the demons tailing him around Crimson Island. And I'm sure that he's currently enjoying the company."

"If Dante has all these demons following him then, do you think they'll attack Nero." Kyrie asked. The two female hunters had told her that Dante had gone on a job and Kyrie had informed them that Nero was on the same job, so it was very likely that they would have met by now.

"I'm not sure" said Lady, "It's possible, but I wouldn't worry too much; he can take care of himself and if not then I suppose Dante is probably there."

Kyrie nodded, "But I can't help but worry."

The two hunters smiled, "It's understandable." said Trish, "You got yourself a nice guy there Kyrie."


Inside the castle, the smashed portrait of Sanctus still covered the far wall and the chandelier still lay broken on the floor. The half-demons walked over to the right side of the main hall, jumped up on to the higher tier and went through the door. They went down the corridor that leads towards the gallery. As they walked through the dimly lit gallery, they looked at the chandelier that always moved on its own. Nero took his glove off of his right hand, exposing his Devil Bringer. Vergil noticed this and couldn't help but be fascinated.

"Nero," The blue clad started. "Your arm, I've been meaning to ask you how you possess such a thing."

The teen paused, a little taken aback at the question, but he soon answered. "I was attacked a few months ago in a forest not too far from here, and then my arm changed. It sort of mutated in to what it is now in a few minutes; it's a bother sometimes, but I'll tell ya, it's damn useful." Nero explained.

Vergil nodded, "It's interesting how your demonic power seems to originate from your arm, I've never heard of it before."

Nero shrugged, "It's weird but, I don't care so much."

The three went through the door and headed down the walkway to the library. Once they entered, Dante and Nero instantly looked at Vergil, who was trying to figure out where exactly the book could be hidden.

"So Vergil," Dante started, "Where's the book?"

"It's somewhere in here" Vergil replied, Looking around.

"I know that, but where in here?"

"It's probably hidden."

Dante sighed, "Where in here is it hidden?"

Vergil glanced around the room, ignoring his twin. His sharp eyes spotted something that was out of place on the higher tier of the library. He jumped up, vaulted over the banister and walked over to a book case that had several empty spaces on it.

He's on to something, Nero thought, looking at the way the Dark Slayer was acting.

The blue clad picked up one of the books on the book case, that had been lying on top of other books and put it in the empty space on the top shelf. He then noticed that three more spaces were available on the shelf, so he got three other books and put them into the spaces.

"He figured that out quick." Dante muttered.

The wall behind the Gyro Blade shook and moved upwards. Vergil jumped down, joined Dante and Nero and watched as the wall moved, revealing a hidden chamber beyond it. The trio walked into the chamber. Inside there was a stand with a very old and worn book on it. Vergil picked up the book and flicked through the pages; they were covered in demonic and human text.

"This is the book" said the older twin.

"Are you sure?" Nero asked.

Vergil nodded, "Yes."

"Shall we get back to Crimson Island then?" Dante asked.

"Yeah," Said Nero, "Then we can figure out what's going on with the cathedral."


Me: Sorry, don't kill me please! It's my teachers, that's why I'm updating late.

Dante: Damn those teachers. Anyway thanks for reading and we hope you liked it.

Vergil: We'll hopefully see you all in the next chapter.

Nero: Ciao

Me: Merry Christmas everyone!