Disclaimer: I don't own Devil May Cry.

Well… I'm writing this far in advance of when it'll be posted. This might be the last thing I post for a while, there might be another one after it, or… It'll be interesting to see where I am when this gets posted.

Yes, Dante does say "time to go to work, guys," in DMC1. However, that 'guys' could include Force Edge, which as Sparda's sword is 'male.' Ebony and Ivory have pictures of women on them, hence I view them as female. Nell calls them children, too. Which is great, since I already portrayed them as children in 'Functional' and my other stuff. There's a reference to those drabbles here.

Having to integrate the novel with the existence of Luce & Ombra. Yay for plotholes!

-

Cradled in their holsters again they cried softly. Mommy had gone, and Daddy had used them but he wasn't happy, even though the one who had killed Mommy had gone away.

Daddy paused in his packing. He had told the man he was going away. He also said his name was Dante, but wasn't it Tony? Mommy had asked them to look after Tony, and so had the other ghost-person.

They didn't understand anything that was going on. How were they supposed to help him?

They were quickly drawn, Daddy pointing them around the room. Then he froze, listening. He took Ivory and held her to his ear, then shook her. "What the…" His eyes narrowed. He holstered Ebony and picked out one of the silver things he wore, passing it over Ivory. She tried to stop crying and pay attention. "Nothing demonic," he muttered. Then he shook her.

She eeped.

He tossed both of them over onto the bed. It bounced slightly under them, which was an interesting feeling. He stood there, arms crossed. "Talk. What are you, and why are you possessing my new guns?"

"We aren't possessing them!" Ebony protested.

He drew the big sword. He used it more than them. They were jealous. But in the end, they had made the bad guy go away! "Who are you?"

"I'm Ebony, and my sister's Ivory," Ebony explained. "Hello Daddy!" She sniffed a little, cheered up to be talking to him. She wanted to do more… and then she found she wasn't a gun anymore. She smiled. "Cool!"

Ivory did the same thing, pushing on the bed and bouncing a little experimentally.

Daddy stared. Ivory waved, smiling.

"My guns just turned into little girls? What the…" He stopped before he said the h-word, even though they knew the h-word. It was where the bad things came from, Mommy had said. "What are you?"

"You know. You made us. Well, Mommy did most of the work but you helped," Ebony reminded him.

Ivory nodded, supporting her sister. "And then we helped you beat the bad guy!" Weren't they good girls? Mommy had said so. That made her think of Mommy. She started crying again.

Ebony hugged her, looking at Daddy. They shouldn't cry in front of Daddy! It would make them look silly.

"You cry. Devils never cry. Mother said that." He holstered the big sword. "So… what are you?"

"Guns," Ebony reminded him, squeezing Ivory.

"You're not ordinary guns. Even Luce and Ombra never turned into girls."

Ivory hiccupped and looked at Ebony. "Mommy said she made us like others. Are those them?"

Dante frowned and dug around in a bag, pulling out two guns that did look just like them! Ebony and her sister leaned forward to see.

Dante put them down on the ground and passed the talisman over them. "Demonic… but you're not. If anyone's in there, come out!"

Willowy women appeared, looking like Ebony and Ivory but older. They were there only for a few moments, then vanished again. Daddy's eyes narrowed. "Talk to me."

"They're hungry," Ivory said, explaining for the big thems.

"Hungry?" Daddy looked suspicious.

"We're fine," Ebony assured him, "We just ate."

"Ate?"

"When we killed the bad things. Mommy said we'd get power from them. She read it in books."

"Mommy?"

Ivory cried again. "Mommy!"

Ebony hugged her. "She made the bits of us, and then you put us together, Daddy. She was dying, she said, and because she died when we were made we're alive. She said it's old magic stuff."

"Human magic?" He scratched his head. "Black magic."

"Mommy's not evil!" Ivory complained. "She made us to help you! Only you said you lied to her and weren't who she thought you were."

"I told her who I thought I was." He frowned. "I don't know… how could I remember Mommy dying and not remember why she was killed or what killed her? About father? About the fact I had a brother?" A fist clenched. "She died because of me. She should have called 911 and instead she stayed there in a burning building finishing up you two and waiting for me to come… she told me I had to put the pieces together. She said you were…. Children…"

They nodded. "We woke up then. And Mommy told us things, and this other person. Then they went away after you shot the bad guy."

"She… a ghost?"

They nodded.

"The old lady was… why? All I did was mouth off to her, and she…" Daddy looked sad.

They looked at each other, got off the bed, and hugged him. He seemed surprised.

"Mommy made us to help you, Daddy. She told us to. And we're good girls and we're going to help you kill things," Ivory explained.

Ebony nodded, squeezing him. "The bad guy disappeared, but you're not happy. Why?"

"I think he was my brother."

They looked at each other. "Like we're sisters?"

"I guess you are twins too, so yeah."

"Your brother killed Mommy?"

"And a shitload of other people." His hands clenched on their shoulders, very tight. Then he released them. "Sorry about that."

They blinked. "Why?"

He blinked. "Didn't that hurt?"

"What's hurt? Like when Mommy died? No." Ivory shook her head.

"You're not human."

"No, we're guns." Ebony pouted. "We told you."

He sniffed. "You smell like guns." Then he grimaced. "It's not normal to be able to smell this good, is it?"

"Normal?"

"I'm not human either."

"You mean you're like us?" Ivory smiled brightly. He was their Daddy, after all.

"No." He shook his head. "I'm not sure what I am. You're enchanted weapons, created by human sacrifice, I get that. I'm not that."

Ivory deflated and looked at Ebony, who shrugged. He might not be them but at least he knew what they were now. "You're Daddy." He should know that.

"And you're special," Ebony told him. "You're our only shooter. Mommy said not to let anyone else use us."

"We're her masterpieces and we're unique," Ivory said proudly. "You're the only one who has guns like us."

"What about Luce and Ombra?" Daddy pointed out.

"They're not exactly like us. We're better." Of course they were better, Mommy had told them they were her best work, and Mommy was the best gunsmith.

"Well, you're not demons." He pulled Ivory away from his leg to look like her.

"What?" She asked.

"You look… sort of like Mommy."

She nodded. "I'm blonde. Ebony's not."

"I'm blonde! I'm just darker blonde!" She stuck her tongue out.

Daddy laughed. Yay! They'd made Daddy laugh!

"You really think I look like Mommy?" Ivory asked happily.

"I meant my mommy."

"Your mommy? Grandma?"

He chuckled at the thought. "Well, she did love guns. Now what were you saying about ghosts?"

"Mommy went with us and helped us get strong, then this other ghost who was watching you helped her."

"We blasted the bad guy!" Ivory punched the air happily.

"But we can't do it like that by ourselves," Ebony said shamefully. "We need help."

"Other ghost?"

"Mommy called him Grue."

"Grue. So he is dead." His hair hid his eyes as his face tilted down.

They hugged him again, partly for their own comfort. "And Mommy's dead too!" Ivory sniffled.

Ebony kept telling Daddy what he wanted to know. "They wanted to help you. They told us to keep helping you. So we will. After you beat the bad guy they went away. Only the bad guy was your brother."

"Why did Uncle Gilver kill Mommy?" Ivory asked, peering mournfully up at Daddy.

"Vergil. His name is, or maybe was, Vergil. He might be dead now. He just sort of faded away." Eyes still didn't look at them.

"We saw."

"I don't think we killed him. Sorry, Daddy!" Squeeze, and hope he wouldn't push them away. They were made for Daddy. They didn't have any point but killing things for him. If he decided they were bad weapons because they hadn't killed the bad guy he might put them away like the other two and they'd never get to help him like Mommy had told them to!

"I hope he's still alive," Daddy said finally.

"Why?"

"So I can beat the crap out of him again." Daddy finally smiled, an I'm-going-to-kill-things smile.

They smiled back.

"Yeah, you're my kids. I'm not even seventeen and I'm a dad! Grue would…"

They hugged his legs again. Daddy was tall.

"What the hell am I supposed to do with you? I can't even look after Grue's kids. Enzo said he'd smuggle them off to an orphanage somewhere so they wouldn't get used as hostages… Damn, if Vergil goes after them too…"

"We're supposed to do things for you, not you for us," Ebony told him.

"We'll shoot things and help protect you, like Mommy said," Ivory assured him.

"The old lady." He hugged them. "Damn. If she'd known…"

"Mommy liked you a lot. You made her happy."

"Yeah, but I'm just like the thing that killed her. I wish I'd never remembered."

"Remembered what?"

"About what I am. About why my Mother died. About him. I thought he was dead, I was sure of it. He must have run too. Or did they catch him? They killed me, thought I was dead, so… maybe that's why he's helping demons. Mother must be spinning in her grave. If she got a grave. I left her body in the burning house. I wanted it to be a funeral pyre, and now Nell's gone the same way. I wonder if she was quick enough to shoot him, at least?" He looked at them hopefully.

Ivory shook her head. "He stabbed her in the back."

"I saw. He didn't finish her off, though. Maybe… no, he killed all the mercenaries."

"The other ghost tried to kill him before. That's why he stayed, he knew it would take something special to kill him. We're sorry, we did our best."

"He killed Grue too. And Jessica, she was just a kid! How could he have… My own brother, and he's siding with demons against humans. He killed them! I was happy here, I was happy not remembering what I was, and he killed them just because they were nice to me, just because I cared about them!" He was shaking now. "I hope he's dead, but I didn't feel him die. He just… he didn't answer me! That was why I didn't figure it out right away when I remembered, Gilver-Vergil is a damn stupid anagram. I just didn't want to believe it. It would be better if he had died! Damn him!"

"Why were you Tony and now Dante?"

"After mother died, father's sword spoke to me." Dante thought for a second and touched the talisman to the sword. "Damn, it's demonic too… and I've carried it all these years. Can you do anything?" The sword was silent. "And I just… didn't remember anything. I saw the name Tony Redgrave on Luce and Ombra, so when someone asked me what my name was I said that. I didn't want to think about it so I didn't. That bastard. He must have been trying to remind me. That sword he had, that was Father's sword too. It must have bugged the hell out of him when I didn't recognize my own brother. Not that I'd want to recognize him."

Ebony and Ivory looked at each other. Not want to recognize your twin? They knew they'd never fight each other, they both served Daddy. That was good to know.

"Of course I didn't want to remember, I didn't want to remember. Why would anyone want to remember they're a monster? Why would Vergil want to be a monster? How could he say things like that about humanity? Doesn't he remember Mother? She protected us. She loved us. She wasn't weak or anything like that."

The two of them had no idea what he was talking about, but they listened. That was something they could do for him besides shooting.

"Nell, Grue… lucky Enzo wasn't there at the bar. I've got to leave this town, they know I'm cursed now, even if they don't know why."

"You're not cursed!" Ivory protested.

"Yeah? Then why does anyone who gives a damn about me die?" He laughed. "I as good as killed your mother, you know. If she hadn't stayed there to finish you she might have made it. She was lucid up until the end, then she was talking to her real son. She was asking his ghost to look after me! Did he turn up?"

They shook their heads.

"Damn. At least she would have gotten to see her real son." He tugged a big rock on a chain out from his shirt. "Dante and Vergil. My mother gave me this, it's my last memento of her. I just never looked at the back." He shuddered again, and tugged loose of them to plop down on the bed, stare at the ceiling. "I'm like a bloody cuckoo. Grue took me in, the old bastard treated me like a son and Jessica's dead because of me. That's how I lost my last guns, in that fire. I'll probably break you two soon enough." He laughed hollowly. "I always break everything the old lady makes for me, wasting all her hard work. I still owe her money. And she fed me and I just imposed on her. Took advantage. Took."

"We won't break!" Ivory was incredibly insulted. "We're special!"

"She fucking died making you for me." His hand slammed down on the bed and there was a crack as the beam broke. "She shouldn't have cared. I'm not worth that. I'm not worth anything. Killing, that's all I can do."

"She said you didn't like to kill people." Ebony leaned over him.

"Yeah? Well I'm good at killing. I can kill demons. That's something." He seemed calmer, and then he slammed the bed again. "I'm not crying! I didn't cry then and I'm not crying now! Devils never cry! So am I a devil? I should cry for her, she cared… no, she didn't just care, she loved me enough to fucking die for me and I can't cry for her! And Grue, he taught me a lot and he'd always loan me money even though he was always strapped and they'd talk to me and… Hell!"

They hugged him again.

"You're probably safe. You're not human. Enzo's okay because I didn't really give a damn about him. I spent years killing only when I had to. But I liked it when I did, when it was justified, to protect myself. I killed humans, Mother told me to never kill humans. I'm not worth humans dying. She didn't mean it that way but it's the truth." He flipped over, burying his head in the pillows. "Why can't I fucking cry! When it happened, I just held her, and then I went to go kill." His shoulders shook. "That's what I want to do now. I want to kill some more demons. Starting with Father dearest, wherever the hell he is."

"Grandfather?" Ebony asked.

"The reason I'm not human. The reason Mother's dead and Vergil's like this. If I had a goddamn time machine, but no, he's the hero, he saved the goddamn world, and then he disappeared when we needed him. Fuck him. It's all his fault." He looked up again, eyes hard. "It's all his fault I was lying to them."

"Lying?" They didn't understand any of this, but they had to understand.

"They thought I was Tony. I thought I was Tony. And Tony was human." He held up the talisman, looked at it, and it started to glow. "I'm a demon. See? Now it's on it's reacting to me." He dropped it again and the glow vanished. "Hell."

"You're a demon? Like the things we killed?" Ebony asked, dismayed.

"Well of course he is. Gilver was Vergil was his Twin. Gilver's a demon so Tony's a demon. It makes sense," Ivory told her.

"Yeah, he's a demon too. Devil, technically, but who the hell cares." He rolled over and stared at the ceiling. "Now they know I'm alive I can't let myself forget. Wherever I go they'll find me. Damn!" And the innocent bed was hit again. "I liked being human! I liked not knowing I was… I can't let this happen again. I can't let myself care again. Hell, I don't care if I live or die."

"Mommy wanted you to live! So did the other ghost!" Ebony said frantically.

"We won't let them kill you! We'll shoot them!"

He laughed.

"Stop acting strange!" Ivory pleaded.

"How can I not act strange? I am strange. I'm a goddamn freak. If they'd known they wouldn't have cared about me and they'd still be alive."

They looked at each other, each hoping the other had some idea of how to fix this. They were supposed to help him! But this wasn't something they could shoot. Well, they could stop him being a demon by killing him, which seemed like a good idea except they were supposed to protect him. "If you try to kill yourself with us we're not firing!" Ivory yelled at him.

"Yeah!" Ebony agreed. "Mommy read books! When she saw you fight she said she knew you were special! She would have cared about you anyway!"

"You don't know that." He just sounded weary now. "But she did care about me. So did my real Mother. Demons killed them all. I can kill demons. I can avenge the hell out of them and they still won't come back."

"We're here."

"Yeah, but you're not human. Not just like me."

"We made Mommy dead, just like shooting her. She stayed to make us."

"She said she was glad she did, but that doesn't change anything. Mommy's gone."

"So we have to keep you alive, to make it up to Mommy."

"You're saying I should shut the fuck up and just live with it because she wouldn't have wanted me to be a goddamn crybaby?"

Ebony blinked. "We didn't say anything like that." She looked at Ivory for help.

"It would make Mommy happy for you to be happy."

"Same with my Mommy, I owe her a lot more than that. I'm going to kill them."

"Who?"

"We'll help!"

"The devils responsible for killing my mother. I just hid. I couldn't do anything, I was too weak. Just like I was too goddamn trusting to kill Vergil. She told me he wasn't human, and I didn't care. He was a good partner. I liked fighting beside him, someone who used a sword like me, someone just like me. I don't think I can kill him, even after all he did. I don't think I can avenge them."

"If she knew he wasn't human maybe she knew you were?" Ebony asked hopefully.

"Maybe." He didn't seem to care. "Damn it, how the hell am I supposed to react to finding out I'm not human?" He clenched his fists. "Why couldn't Mother have married a nice normal mob boss? Damn it. I wish I could go to bed and wake up tomorrow evening and they'd still be alive and my name would be Tony. Dante. I hate that name!"

"It's not that different," Ebony said thoughtfully.

"Yeah, they've both got Ts an Ns."

He just looked at them. "One's a human's name and the other's a… I'm not even a real demon. Traitor's son. And human demon hunters won't like me either. Especially with Vergil going around blackening the family name. Oh hell, why do I care? I'll just kill them. That's what I fucking do."

"We'll help!" Killing things they were good at. They were new but they had done a very good job.

"I don't want to kill humans. Ugh." He closed his eyes for a bit and sighed. Then he sat up and beckoned them over. "Come here."

He hugged them. "Thanks."

"What for?"

"We haven't done a good job making you feel good."

"You listened to me whine and didn't shoot me, just like the old lady did. I bet she'd have said something biting if she'd found out and not given a damn. Or said nothing at all. But she's gone now. She wouldn't want me to cry."

"No."

"If you breathe a word of any of what I said her to anyone I'm tossing you in a melting vat even if you are her children. Can't have devil hunter Dante being teased for being a baby."

"We'd never tell!"

"Why would we talk to anyone but you?"

"Hell, I'll pack later. Let's go get ice cream."

And so they were introduced to strawberry sundaes, which were very good even though they didn't need to eat, and were patted on the head by a nice old lady who didn't much look like Mommy, and they all felt a lot better. At least they hoped Daddy felt better. Daddy was very nice.

He was asked if he was taking his little sisters out for ice cream and he said no, but told them his mother had wanted daughters.

He got yelled at by Enzo for spending the bus fare to New York, but they weren't allowed to shoot Enzo. How dare he yell at Daddy!

They would get to kill more demons in New York.

They looked forward to it.