Hello again faithful readers! Another chapter, and this one is a doozy. I'm going to have to ask for your full attention as was needed in the previous chapter. This one deals with Vergil and Trish, going in depth into what may have occurred on Mallet and Trish's memories from that time.
So again if something doesn't click with canon material please let me know. I really wanted to give Trish a chapter. Due to having so many characters to juggle it's really hard for me to give due time to people beyond the main three and I have neglected Trish who is an integral part of this story. I think I like this chapter, and Trish in this chapter with Vergil. How you guys will like it, well that has yet to be seen. Now that this chapter is complete though I shouldn't have as many mind road blocks as I once did. I can advance with the story from here on out.
Oh, and to all the people who have been reviewing. I was unable to reply to quite a few reviews for this story and a couple others. I apologize! I got sick over the course of the last week (ended up with an IV in my arm, ugh) and by the time I could get to them there was an overwhelming amount! I didn't have the brains to answer them all. So thank you guys for the reviews! I've been keeping up with them since, but if I didn't reply to yours after a week or two then I apologize. I'm all better now. Stupid summer flu's!
Hopefully you'll come away from this chapter feeling good. I'm pretty sure you won't neglect to tell me if you don't! Oo Enjoy!
We are one in the same
Only with different names
Somethings are not worth changing
I learned to love by hating.
-Different Than You by The Exies
Bleed It Out
Chapter 9
Downstairs Trish stood outside on the front steps of Devil May Cry. She had listened in uncomfortable silence to Vergil and Dante yell at each other and ultimately decided she needed some air. She could've just kept her mouth shut in the gym and yet she had been surprised by Vergil's actions back at the old hotel. She had hoped that she could use what he had done to finally show him she wasn't what he thought.
He had angered her though, because there were still some lingering doubts in her own mind about her place in Dante's life. Vergil was ever ready to point them out, and it had rubbed her the wrong way. Especially when she had tried again and again to prove to herself that she had changed. Dante had changed her.
The difference between her then and now was that despite her dislike of Vergil she knew Dante loved him. The old her would find amusement in that, and wouldn't care. She did now though, wanting everything he loved to be something she loved. She still had a long road to travel in terms of finding herself, and so she clung to his life as her own to help make her feel whole.
She shivered slightly as a wind blew through the narrow street way. It was on a similar night like this that she had first been introduced to Vergil.
"Get up," the deep voice called to her. She had been down in the dank cellar on the bare floor she called her bed, and yet she didn't ever sleep. Mundus had always told her it was the body he had given her that had not been broken of its human habits. She never felt tired, or hungry. She never really felt.
In the darkness of the room she could see the three glowing orbs that signaled the presence of her Master. She sat up in command, naked as the day she was born. It was a detail of her life she had never confessed to Dante because she didn't know how he would handle it. She had been ordered to never wear clothing while inside the castle. Another one of Mundus' cruelties that she figured had to do with his need to humiliate who he had created her to be. It was a way at getting revenge on a woman who was dead and no longer within his grasp to punish. One thing Trish had learned early on was Mundus' hatred for Eva knew no limits.
As she was fully sitting she found a complete stranger lying on the floor across from where she was.
"You will watch over him and see he does not get into any trouble. And if he should..." the demonic voice growled out of the darkness.
"Yes Master." Trish said obediently, knowing all too well that he sought out reasons to torment the body she was encased in. Thinking back on it, having to take care of Vergil in no clothing had also been a sick joke on Mundus' part, and perhaps now Vergil remembered all too clearly. Trish hoped he didn't. Shame was a feeling she had come to know since being freed and the idea now bothered her in a way it never could previous.
"Wake." Mundus said. Vergil's eyes had opened almost robotically and rather than the mystic blue she would come to know they were as black as thick blood. No emotions or recognition of any kind came from the figure. The amulet at his throat glowed with an unholy light. "You are Nelo."
"I..." Vergil's voice began to say. "...am..." Vergil stopped talking and said no more.
"Say it..." Mundus hissed at him.
Suddenly Vergil twisted and writhed in agony as a scream such as Trish had never heard managed to work its way from his throat. It was both painful and full of fury. His whole body went painfully ridged as the amulet on his chest began to burn its way into his skin, embedding itself there. The skin around it bubbled and hissed angrily until finally it found its core and took hold. Vergil sat straight up, eyes wide and jaw slack as he stared into nothing at all.
"Who are you?" Mundus asked.
"I...am...Nelo." Vergil's toneless voice said. It was soulless, a faint whisper.
"Yes, you are." Mundus said in what could be considered a contented laugh, mocking the vague figure. With that Mundus disappeared without so much as directions on what to do next. Trish had never had to "take care" of anything before. So she sat watching the figures profile. Vergil still remained sitting up rigidly long after Mundus left as if waiting for further instructions. His muscles were tense and he looked the worse for wear.
"Lay down," Trish finally said and Vergil obediently did as he was told. Now though he was staring at the ceiling rather than the wall. She didn't like seeing his dead eyes. "Go to sleep." His eyes began to shut and even before the lashes hit his cheeks he was already sleeping as if he hadn't done so in months.
Trish stayed with him on her masters orders, him having been placed in her "care". She didn't know the meaning of boredom, or care about time. Most of her days were spent in solitude except when Mundus came to torment her. He firmly believed the best way to keep her from straying was to keep her afraid of him. Yet some days she hoped the beatings and torture would somehow kill her. Mundus knew where to stop though. Of course he did. Physical pain was the only thing he ever allowed her to feel.
She had witnessed the torture and humiliation Mundus forced upon the dead eyed man who slowly became Nelo. The once beautiful human features she had watched sleep restlessly at night soon was replaced by his devil form. Something that had angered Mundus because he seemed to prefer the form that more closely resembled Sparda's human side, and the eyes of Eva while he was tormenting him. His permanent transformation was almost like a bid for control coming deep within the man. Even after everything he could never fully control Vergil.
It was at night when Vergil would call out for Dante, his mother, and Amy. In sleep he was more himself, and somehow reliving some memories left untouched in his subconscious. It was the first time Trish had ever felt anything, even though it was in the smallest trace amounts. It was foreign and easily pushed aside because she didn't know what to do with it.
One night he had been the worst she had ever seen him. She had seen her fair share of what Mundus could do when using a body the way Vergil was being used. At the time she had no real knowledge of what Vergil fully was. What she knew was limited to what Mundus felt she needed to know and the defeat by Sparda was not something he would ever admit willingly. So Trish had moved to sit Vergil up in the grip of a jerking fit. Most creatures got past the resistance phase within a week or even a few days. Vergil though never fully gave up on trying to break free of his hold. Perhaps this was the reason Mundus wanted someone to keep an eye on him when Mundus himself could not be bothered to do so.
She feared that he might swallow his own tongue. No, not feared for his safety but of what Mundus might do to her should she fail to prevent it. Vergil was like a trophy to him, some object of victory.
"One of an incomplete set," he used to say with a knowing tone. It was only upon meeting Dante she got the picture.
In the moment she went to sit him up though he had thrown his arms about her waist.
"Mother," he sighed against her shoulder.
"Nelo, release me!" She hissed at him while trying to pry the arms away.
"Nelo?" He asked in confusion. The head lifted and Trish noticed his eyes were fading in and out. From black, to midnight blue. For the first time he actually SAW her, not just looked at her as if she were part of the wall. "I'm Vergil." He reassured himself. Then the visage of the devil faded and she was again looking at the human underneath the armor.
It was the first time she had ever heard his real name. She began to claw at his arms, but he had a death grip on her. She yelled at him again to release her and even gave him an electrical jolt. Still he refused to let her go.
"I won't!" He said angrily to her. "If I do, then you'll die again. Just like you always do!"
His voice, while sounding like an angry man had a childlike quality to it. It was then she considered he was in the grip of a nightmare and potentially coming out of whatever it was Mundus had done to him. Mundus had been away for a long time and during Vergil had become harder to control.
"You're so cold," he said sadly to her. He pulled the hard blanket that was normally what he used to sleep with and pushed it at her. He then sat up and pulled off the stained and worn vest he'd been wearing since his arrival. He gave it to her, and she didn't know why but she put it on to cover herself.
Vergil seemed to right himself and laid back down to fall back into sleep. "I will protect you." It was the last thing he said to her until he woke after bringing him back. She had been so absorbed in Dante's pain she ignored her own, because maybe she expected something different when he woke up. His lack of recognition had really hurt, as well as his reaction to seeing her.
Mundus had returned and he knew what had occurred. About Vergil awakening, and accusing her of allowing a connection to be forged between them.
"Master, it is not true." Trish said calmly to him. "I am merely doing as I was asked."
"Then explain to me what occurred last night." Mundus countered. Somehow she just knew that whatever had occurred was what he was angry at. She just couldn't figure out which part of it was angering him. Sometimes it was better not to speak at all.
Trish stood from the step in front of Devil May Cry. She poked her head back inside and heard silence coming from upstairs. She half wondered if the two had killed one another. She let herself in and headed for her room. She didn't know why, but she was in need of something that she had held onto from those days. The only thing that had left the island with her.
She opened the wardrobe doors and reached into the far back. From inside she pulled the first piece of clothing she had ever worn. She had been punished thoroughly for taking something from Vergil and "giving back" something to him. She didn't know then that she had allowed him to show her kindness, and by doing so he had come to recognize her as a person of safety. Maybe even remember who he was. She took her punishment, but hid the vest like a sin. When the time came to go and find Dante she had tailored the vest Vergil had given her to make it look unrecognizable. Even dyed it black. The amulet had worn a hole in the front and so she had no choice but to create an opening at the front to help disguise it. Mundus had never known that a part of Vergil left the island in the form of the bodice she wore.
Even Dante did not know about the vest, because it would be very uncomfortable to try and explain why she needed one in the first place. Some things were best left unsaid.
It was then the door opened behind her, and she quickly dropped the clothing out of sight. She turned, and rather than Dante she found Vergil standing in the doorway. She turned back to stare into the wardrobe as she was sitting on the floor.
"Kill Dante and come to finish me off?" Trish asked in a biting tone. The door closed and she heard his unsure footsteps. He would walk, pause, then walk, and then pause. He stood just behind her for a long time without saying anything.
"Is that my vest?" He finally asked as he bent over and snatched it from her hand. Trish got up right quick to try and retrieve it.
"Give it back, that's MINE!" She yelled at him. He however was much taller than she was and made sure it was well out of reach as he examined it.
"What did you do to it?" He asked as he put a hand out to keep her at a distance while he held it outstretched in his other hand. "I didn't give it to you so you could mutilate it."
At this Trish stopped fighting to get it back and only stared at him.
"What do you want?" She snapped crossing her arms and glowering at him. "I suppose Dante sent you in here to make nice?"
"If he did?" Vergil inquired observing the stitching on the bust.
"You're doing a poor job of it. Now hand it over."
Vergil turned to look at her and finally handed it back to her. She snatched it from him and returned it to the closet.
"Tell me honestly Vergil. You really don't want to make nice with me, do you?"
"No, not really," he said as he leaned against the window sill.
"There's the door," she growled pointing her finger at it.
"I may not want to, but I will since Dante asked me to."
"Why? Why do anything if you're only going to do it half-assed?"
Vergil frowned at this, possibly considering her logic.
"Look. I have been willing to work with you since day one. Hell, I was the one who brought you back here! You can't just decide when it's convenient for you to finally stop treating me like scum."
He was just watching her closely as if sizing her up and it was annoying her.
"So tell me, why did you keep the vest?" He finally asked as his eyes cast around uninterestedly.
"Why not? It was the first thing I was ever given, and the only thing that connects me to my past," she responded putting a hand on her hip.
"I thought you despised your past?"
"I do, but I can't deny it no matter how hard I try. There is no point in loathing something that has come and gone. Besides, in a way I can partially be thankful to Mundus. I would've never even been if it weren't for him, and I may not be standing here now. The vest is proof I have a past, and a reminder that not everything or everyone is as they seem."
He lifted an eyebrow at this.
"If you have truly reformed then you should know better than anyone that change is possible even for the most hopeless of cases." She put emphasis on hopeless and found some satisfaction at seeing him scowl a bit at her for it. He still wouldn't say anything though and she was close to her breaking point. "You have something to say, or did you come here to observe me in my natural environment?"
"Actually I did." Vergil shrugged. "I admit I didn't expect that answer from you. I had thought you'd say you took it to remember me by, or some such generic nonsense."
"What makes you think I'd say that? I couldn't feel proper emotions to have remembered what I felt towards you then. Our time together was brief and all I really recall is you being used like a puppet during the day and in sheer terror at night."
"Because true demons cannot think half as deeply as you just managed. Everything is on the surface with them, uncomplicated by thought or reason. It is both impersonal and generic the way they perceive things."
"So now you're testing me?!" She snapped at him.
"If I'm going to allow you..."
"Allow me?!"
"...allow you to remain by Dante's side then I would sleep better knowing you are not out to bring ruin upon him. Call me cruel but your kind is not known to be trustworthy and you yourself have shown the same in your past."
Trish turned her back to him, grinding her teeth together and trying so hard not to start a fight. The arrogant bastard!
"And while your appearance is regrettable it seems there is nothing I can do to sway Dante from his chosen course of actions. Then again I must remind myself it is not by your own doing that you resemble my mother and so I cannot fault you for loving Dante in turn. He is, after all, very easy to care for. Something I have learned in my time with him."
Trish turned a bit to see the scowl had somewhat softened. The tone of his voice, while still "holier than thou" didn't have the same condescending tone to it.
"I won't sit by and say that we will be a shining happy family no matter how much I try. I have too many lingering doubts that are also faults of my own character. You look like her, but as Dante said the more time spent around you the less I see you as her. It helps to ease the anger some, combined with the fact that Dante is a different and albeit happier person with you around." Vergil sighed smugly. "I'll never fully understand it, but there it is. This is how I am, and may be for a long time. If you truly love the man then you will have to accept me because we are a set, and you cannot have one without the other."
Trish only stared at him pointedly, mulling this over in her head. He wasn't so different from Dante in how he could say something right only to cancel it out by saying something stupid. She somewhat understood what he was saying, and it seemed this was what she could consider his way of making nice. He wouldn't just come out and say I'm sorry, I've been an ass please forgive me! Oh no, it had to be a jumble of negativity to mask some of the kinder thoughts within.
"You talk too much," she sighed.
"One of my finer qualities." Vergil said observantly.
"I still don't like you."
"I didn't like you from the beginning. And yet I'm about 76.6 close to getting there." He said, and even though she was sure he hadn't meant it to, it sounded funny. It was so precise and so...Vergil sounding. She stifled a laugh because she wasn't ready to roll over just yet. She was only about 87 there.
"Tell me what you remember from back then," she asked as she sat down on a chair by the window. He frowned at her; no doubt his "charm" should've done the trick on her.
"Bits and pieces. Mostly darkness and a sense of void." He looked as if he were pulling something buried deep within his head.
"Dreams?"
"I didn't dream. Dreaming implies one is sleeping with intentions of waking. I was in an endless sleep with no hope of ever seeing reality again."
"You're lying again," she hummed.
"I am NOT lying."
"If you were sleeping then HOW exactly did I get the vest? The better question is how did you recognize your vest after all these years with all the alterations I made?"
"Because all my clothes are hand made, and I would recognize it anywhere regardless of your dye job and shredding it as you did," he said smugly as he crossed his arms.
"Do you know how I got it?" She asked.
"I do actually. It's one of the few memories I have of that time."
She looked at him surprised, fully expecting him to say he remembered nothing at all. Yet he said it with a devil may care attitude like it wasn't something he was ashamed to admit.
"And after?" She prodded.
"From there nothing until seeing Dante again in the courtyard, and a vague memory of a cliff overlooking the ocean."
"The ocean?" Trish asked wide eyed as she watched him move uncomfortably with his arms crossed. "You were with me then too." He gave her an odd look. "I thought Mundus had killed me, that I would finally find peace in darkness. But I heard someone calling to me, and somehow the voice made it unbearable to let go."
It had been Dante, although she hadn't known it at the time. Since he had saved her after the fight with the nightmare creature she had begun to feel something towards the devil hunter. There was such an ache from within to be near him that she wondered if she would die from the affliction of such emotions. He had awakened something within her.
"I wandered looking desperately for him. I needed to see him again even if I didn't know what I'd do once I did. Then I saw you, stumbling in full devil form just outside the castle. It was the first time I had seen you since...," she paused biting her lip as she remembered all too well what punishment Mundus had chosen for her and Vergil after that night he gave her the vest. She had been forced to whip him mercilessly to break whatever bond apparently had formed in Mundus' twisted mind. Vergil in turn was forced to do the same, but when it came time he remained still and did not listen to Mundus' commands. She would never know if it was because of her face, or because he had bonded with the soulless woman she had become.
"...you were injured and I almost passed you by. Your face was different though, more man like than devil and in your face I saw his. It was the first time I think I felt the pain of my heart breaking. I knew you were connected to him somehow and the idea of you that way, of him seeing you that way hurt so badly." Trish said softly with her head down. She could feel it somewhere within, that same aching pain and the tears began. The truth... The truth was she couldn't help but loving Vergil because he was Dante's brother. Something was engraved in her deepest roots to love Dante and everyone that brought him joy, and even pain. His pain for Vergil too was a sign of his undying love for his twin, a bond that even time and wear could never break.
"He loved you so much. How could I not?" Trish asked when she looked up at a startled Vergil. "I brought you back for him, for hope that I could rectify all I had done to him. To you... My life is nothing without him, so hate me if you must. I can bare the pain of it, as long as he can feel complete and sleep soundly in my arms at night."
Vergil came to stand before her and handed her a handkerchief from his pocket. She took it without a word and wiped her face.
"I hate you, and yet I can't. Arrrgh, if that makes any sense at all." She said annoyed as she shook her head. Vergil leaned forward and lifted her face, pushing her hair back to examine her eyes very closely. He needed to know she wasn't lying to him, because a part of him still didn't want to trust her. He could see pain there however in the eyes that so resembled his mother's and he let out a deep sigh as he pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Women," he sighed again. "Why must you always cry when all I wanted was a simple business transaction?" Trish only blew her nose and it made his forehead crease. "You can keep that." He said eyeing the soiled handkerchief.
"There is no such thing as business transactions when it comes to women Vergil. Unless of course you're referring to a job. Everything else requires emotions or else you're wasting our time."
"So I've noticed. So what will it be then Trish? Do I tell Dante I have failed miserably and continue to have this conversation with you for the rest of eternity or do we simply agree to disagree and say we can stand one another?" He asked pointedly.
"Where would you say you are percentage wise now?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.
"About 90.6 now." He replied thoughtfully.
"I guess I can live with that." Trish said smirking slightly as she stood from her chair. She felt like something else was needed though to cement the agreement. Should she shake his hand, or say something more? He was just standing there looking at her almost...expectantly. Maybe he was just as clueless as she was on where to go from here.
"Hug her already," a fake coughing voice came from the other side of the door. Both Vergil and Trish turned to look to see it had, at some point during their conversation, managed to open itself a crack. The two looked back at each other oddly and Trish put a hand up as Vergil went to go to the door. She slipped out of her boots and quietly tiptoed behind the door putting a finger to her lips for Vergil to remain quiet. Curiosity would get the better of him sooner or later... Apparently sooner.
The door opened a bit more to see in and at that moment Trish slammed it shut and a thud of something skull-like hitting it could be heard followed by an "ow".
Trish opened the door wide to see Dante sprawled on his back in the hallway.
"What were you doing Dante?" Trish asked as she crossed her arms and looked down at him. He sat up on his elbows and gave her a pained smile.
"I was looking for my boot... Can't find it."
"You mean the one on your foot?" Vergil inquired with a "not buying it" look at his twin.
"Aha! There it is... I knew I'd find it over here somewhere..." Dante's voice trailed off as he cleared his throat. "Sooo, how about dinner on me?" He offered with a guilty expression on his face.
"You two go ahead, I have some stuff here I need to take care of. Besides, you have a lot of catching up to do." Trish said with a small knowing smirk. She and Vergil would talk again, but for now the dust needed to settle between them and Dante needed to spend some time with Vergil alone.
"You sure babe?" Dante asked, finally standing up. Trish looked over at Vergil who was resolutely looking elsewhere.
"I am. You two have fun."
Without fair warning Trish gave Vergil a peck on the cheek and closed the door on both of them. Vergil's reaction was one of shock and embarrassment as his face turned pink. Dante's mouth hung open as he stared wide eyed at Vergil.
"You sly dog. I told you to make nice, not make moves on my girlfriend!" Dante barked at him.
"Oh, shut up Dante." Vergil growled back at him, turning to walk downstairs. Dante smirked at his back.
"I guess dinners on you tonight Romeo."
"Dante, shut up!" Vergil hissed.
