By the time the nephilim twins staggered back the hideout, Kat had straightened up the mess from last night and then some. She looked up as the door opened and let out a low sound of distress. Both Vergil and Dante looked completely exhausted, their clothing disheveled and clotted with blood. Dante tossed his guns carelessly onto a desk before dropping heavily into a chair. Vergil leaned Yamato against a wall with a little more care and lowered himself a little more gently onto the bed.

"Are you guys okay?" Kat demanded. "What happened? Did you quell them?"

"Oh yeah," Dante said. "It just took a lot longer than anticipated. As it's starting to do more and more often, actually." Vergil nodded in agreement.

"There weren't just stygians this time either. There were rages, ravagers, and at least one death knight. The stronger denizens are starting to show themselves. The humans are going to have a hard time of things." Kat hugged her arms to her body.

"You guys look awful. You can't keep this up. What do we do?" Vergil tapped a finger against the mattress thoughtfully. It was very hard to be thoughtful amidst the sheer exhaustion he was feeling. Dante heaved himself back out of the chair and paced back and forth for a bit before suddenly stopping in the dead center of the room. His face twisted into something between epiphany and resignation.

"I think," he said at last, as if forcing the words past some hindrance, "I think I've got it. We go back to Vergil's original plan. We make Vergil the Demon King." The tension in the room stretched taut like a pulled rubber band. Vergil and Kat both shot him a look of sheer disbelief.

"No." they said at the same time, in various tones of horror.

"Dante, you've gone mad," Kat said after a slightly awkward silence. "We can't just let Vergil…no. No." Vergil ran his hands over his face, trying to crush the maddening glee that was threatening to rush up. He had made so much progress; he wasn't about to backslide now.

"She's right, Dante," he muttered wearily. "I've come so far since I made that plan, I've become someone entirely new. You can't just ask me to…to once again become that…that. That unfeeling monster. You told me there was no room here for a Demon King, and I believed you. Now you're saying you want me to do a complete 180 and become just that?" Dante heaved a sigh, resuming his anxious pacing.

"I know it sounds ludicrous, and I know I sound like I'm contradicting myself, but look. The reason the demons are wreaking havoc right now is because they are in total anarchy, right?"

"Right," Vergil agreed warily.

"They lack command, discipline, any kind of structure. You could give that to them. You could rein them in by reigning over them. They stop popping over to this plane to munch on mortals and you get to lord over something and have authority again. Win/win, right?" Vergil folded his arms again, thinking. He had to admit his brother had good reasoning.

"Why can't you do it?" he asked. "You have as much right to rule as I do. More, probably, what with my whole try-to-subjugate-humanity ploy." Dante scoffed.

"I'm too much of a wild card, and you know it. I'm not cut out in any way to rule over anything. You need discipline to provide discipline, and we all know I'm a bit lacking in that department." Kat cringed and nodded. Vergil huffed a sigh and knit his brows, thinking.

"It's risky," he said at last. "First of all, I don't even know how I go about even attempting it. They have no reason to accept me as their ruler."

"Of course they do," Kat chimed in, though hesitantly. She still wasn't completely sold on the idea. "You're a son of Sparda. You're one of two existing nephilim. Plus you overthrew their previous ruler, that's got to mean something." Vergil shrugged one shoulder.

"Fine. Granted. But that aside, my other concern is a bit more…personal." He closed his eyes, feeling the raw emotion seethe in his gut. "Taking over the demons will give me access to a tremendous amount of power. Real, awful power. How are you sure I won't turn it against Earth? Turn it against you? Bring all my plans of domination to fruition?" He crossed his arms tightly against his chest, his gaze fixed on the floor. "They say absolute power corrupts absolutely, and I'm not going in entirely innocent. Do you trust me enough to let me do this? How are you so sure I won't turn evil again?" Dante stared at his brother until Vergil reluctantly met his gaze.

"Will you?" Dante asked simply. Vergil opened his mouth to reply and found that he couldn't. He felt all the emotion drain out of him, leaving him feeling cold.

"I don't know," he said weakly, crossing his arms tighter. "I don't…I don't trust myself anymore." He heard his voice break and cursed himself. "I don't know what I am anymore. What I'm supposed to be." Dante smirked, though his expression softened.

"Join the club, man. I haven't known for years. Angel? Demon? Nephilim? Hero or villain? Who knows?" Kat snorted a quiet laugh, looking back and forth between the brothers.

"If I can throw in my two cents? What I see are two young men, trapped in a struggle between dark and light, good and evil, trying to figure out their place in the world while battling insecurity, guilt, and family issues. You want to know what you are? I don't know guys, but you sound pretty human to me." The two nephilim slowly looked over at her. She shrugged, a smile still playing on her face. "Just saying." Everyone was silent for a moment longer, before Vergil suddenly stood up from the bed.

"Human, eh?" he said to no one in particular. "Well, what are humans better at than foolhardy, not well thought out plans of dubious success?" He grabbed Yamato and headed for the door, not even looking back to see if Dante and Kat were following. He knew they would be. "All right then. Here we go." Squaring his shoulders, he opened the door and sauntered outside. Limbo wouldn't know what hit it.