In 100 yards, turn right. Then, you have reached your destination.
True to his word, Vergil had not said, or even moved, any further since they had set off. The indicator clicked as Lady prepared to turn, echoing through the silence between them. Fortunately, it had been a short journey.
"I'm… Sorry about your bag," Vergil said suddenly, causing Lady to jump.
"Um. It's fine?" she answered hesitantly, glancing over at him. He was still looking out of the window. "It wasn't really designer you know, I was just saying that to be annoying. Sorry."
"I see."
Lady pulled into the (much fancier looking) car park and tried to find a similar space to the one she had found last time. Just as she was starting to get worried that she wouldn't be able to find one, she came across an empty space by the back door with a small white sign propped up at the back of it, reading 'Reserved for Redgrave'. Somehow it made her feel even worse about their error, but she paid her guilt no mind and carefully slotted the vehicle into the space. They had a job to do - feeling bad could wait.
She turned the engine off and turned to face Vergil. "We're here," she said. "Although I guess that was kind of obvious."
"Let's go," Vergil replied, finally looking at her again and smiling ever so slightly.
"Are… You okay?" Lady asked, starting to feel slightly concerned. Usually if Vergil smiled he was about to do something evil, or had just done something unsavoury. She checked all around her to see if he had done something without her noticing.
"I've just been thinking about some things," Vergil said, getting out of the car. He walked around to Lady's side and opened the door before extending a hand towards her. "That and this establishment looks a lot more high end than the last one; I'm trying to keep up appearances."
"I knew you were up to something," Lady said, shaking her head. "Does this mean you're actually going to try and be nice to me now?"
"Only as much as necessary," he replied, still hovering awkwardly. Lady removed the keys from the ignition and slapped his hand away.
"I can stand up myself, thanks," she said, sticking her tongue out.
"...As you wish," Vergil said, his previously outstretched hand now forming a fist at his side. He was no longer smiling.
Vergil turned his back towards Lady as she stubbornly tried to get out of the vehicle without revealing her underwear to the world. "Interesting how a demon such as yourself can still have manners," Lady said at last, slamming the door shut.
"Interesting how someone so crass insists on being referred to as 'Lady'," Vergil retorted, giving her a moment to adjust her dress before turning round again. "Don't forget to swap your shoes."
"I know," Lady said huffily. "I don't need you to remind me how to dress."
"Well hurry up then."
Lady was about to say something sarcastic in response, when someone suddenly came running over to the pair. As they got closer, it was clear it was a waiter of some sort, dressed in some of the finest materials available. "Excusez-moi?" he was calling out. "Excusez-moi? You are, ah, you are Redgraves oui?"
"That's us," Lady said nodding. "Sorry for the delay."
"Non, non, it's fine," the waiter said, waving his hands in the air. "But the Madame, she is getting very impatient, oui? Her daughter has just shown up, you see."
Lady and Vergil looked at each other, now fully serious again. It was go-time.
"Has the male turned up?" Vergil asked, feeling mildly self conscious at how much more smartly dressed this waiter seemed to be than him.
"Eh? Oh non, no males, only women," the waiter replied, looking at Vergil and Lady's dresswear for the evening with slight scepticism. With her boots and dirtied handbag, Lady was looking slightly rougher than the waiter was used to. He shook his head and decided not to concern himself with such things. "Come, come," he said, gesturing for them to follow him.
"Give us just a moment," Lady requested, opening the vehicle to get her stilettos out. "We'll be right there."
"Of course," the waiter said, bowing. "I will wait for you inside." Vergil and Lady watched as the nervous looking man scarpered back around the side of the building towards the entrance.
"Did you see how well dressed he was?" Vergil asked, buttoning up his jacket.
"Well yeah, he's a waiter," Lady said, slipping out of her boots and into the much more uncomfortable heels. "What do you think? Reckon I'll get away with hiding an extra handgun in my bag or would that be too obvious?"
"If you're going to be bringing so many weapons with you, then I'm bringing Yamato. I don't care what Dante says about unnerving people," Vergil said, reaching for his sword.
"Hey, not so fast," Lady protested, stepping in front of him. "What happened to keeping up appearances?"
"I'd rather be prepared."
"Yeah, but it's not like we're going to fight them in the middle of the restaurant," Lady said. "I have specifically parked here because it is next to the back exit, which means once they head to the bathroom, you run out here, get the sword and return inside. That was the plan."
"And if the bathrooms are on the opposite side of the building?" Vergil asked, wondering if he could teleport past Lady without knocking her over.
"They're not, we checked, remember? That's why they reserved this space. Come on, we've already messed up enough tonight, let's at least try to do this properly."
Vergil glared at her for a moment, eyebrows twitching slightly. "Fine," he said at last. "Let's follow the plan, but-"
"But don't come running to you when things go wrong, yeah yeah, I get it," Lady said, slipping a small gun into her handbag and locking up the vehicle. "Now come on."
The two of them headed towards the front of the restaurant, which was already looking a lot better than the last place. A large round fountain sat by the entrance illuminated by yellow lights, which gave it the appearance of flowing gold. Various plants lined the pathway, and climbing roses covered the walls up to the elegant roof. As they approached the building, Lady quickened her pace until she was walking next to Vergil, who had once again left far too much distance between them. "This place is beautiful," she sighed, her eyes lit up by the various white fairy lights adorning the entrance.
"It certainly is something," Vergil admitted as they reached the door. He stopped and turned to face Lady who almost bumped into him because she was looking around so much. "Before we enter, I want to lay out some rules," he said.
"Uh, okay, but if they're weird then I reserve the right to refuse," Lady said hesitantly.
"It's more for your protection than anything," he continued. "After your little… act, at the last place, I would like to propose that while I will do my best to act gentlemanly in order not to draw attention to ourselves, I request that any unnecessary touching is kept to a minimum."
"Right…"
"Furthermore, there will be no approaching me from behind without sufficient warning. I don't know how many times I have to tell you this."
"Okay?"
"And finally - if you humiliate me in any way, I will be leaving and you can deal with this yourself," Vergil finished.
"Um… I'll try my best not to do any of those things?" Lady said, unsure how to react. "In return though, I need you to try your best to work with me as much as possible. Remember, we're in this together."
"Very well," Vergil agreed, opening the ornate looking door. "After you,"
"Thanks…" Lady said, walking into the restaurant with Vergil behind her. They were standing in a small lobby with a dark red carpet and brown mahogany walls. A large staircase extended in front of them which split into two and spiraled around to an unseen landing above them. Tanks containing various exotic looking fish sat in each corner of the room, save for the one closest to the door, which instead contained a small podium.
The waiter from earlier suddenly came running out of an open doorway from the right and made his way over to the pair. "This way please," he said bowing and beckoning for them to follow. They followed him through into a room a lot smaller than pub they had been to. Unlike that place, this room was also a lot brighter, with white walls lined with candles, and a soft cream carpet underfoot. Two large crystal chandeliers hung at equal distance above a collection of neat tables covered in white tablecloths. In the middle of each table stood a small vase of two red roses, with a small tealight inside a red dome carefully positioned next to it.
Lady paused for a moment, trying to take it all in, while Vergil quickly glanced around, trying to work out where the nearest exits were. It seemed that the room curved round to the left, presumably behind the staircase in the other room. He could just about make out the edge of another chandelier hanging over that portion of the room, which was currently obscured by the corner of a wall. As the waiter started to lead them towards a table that just so happened to be in this left part of the room, Vergil noticed something else which made him instantly uncomfortable.
"What's wrong?" Lady whispered, noticing his concerned expression.
"Ties," he hissed. "They're all wearing ties."
Lady glanced around, then looked back at Vergil's slightly unbuttoned shirt. "Well, okay, but…" she thought for a moment. "But you look better," she said finally, winking.
"Here is your table, Madame and Monsieur," the waiter said before Vergil could react, leading them to a small table just big enough for two people. At the back of this extra part of the room were what appeared to be the entrances to the bathrooms, around three table lengths away. In between the two bathroom doors was a pair of large double doors with a fluorescent green sign reading "EXIT" above it. The fire doors blended almost perfectly into the pale walls.
The pair were taken to one of the tables closest to the left wall, with one other table in front of theirs, which sat exactly on the corner of the turning. There were around five tables running parallel to theirs, some slightly larger in size. It was at one of these, with one table between them, that the middle aged woman and her daughter were sitting. "Please, take a seat," the waiter said, pulling out the chair facing towards the rest of the restaurant for Lady.
"Thank you," she smiled, enjoying the soft cushiony feeling as she sat down. Even the chairs were well made, and seemed to be some sort of white leather stuffed with feathers or similar. From where she was sitting, the bathrooms were behind her and she could look to her left to observe their targets. Vergil positioned himself on the other side, glancing at the doors behind Lady and trying to calculate how long it would take to get from the table, to the car, and then to the bathroom.
"I apologise for the unsavoury view, Monsieur," the waiter said to Vergil, gesturing towards the doors. "However, I was advised that you would need easy access to the…" he glanced around, briefly making eye contact with the woman and nodding slightly. "Well, I'm sure you can understand."
"Thank you," Vergil said. So far he was sensing nothing strange from the woman's daughter, and he wondered if this would be yet another pointless endeavour.
"Can I get you something to drink?" the waiter asked. "Or perhaps you would like to see the wine list first?"
"Just some water," Vergil started to say before Lady butted in.
"We'll take the house red," she said, smiling up at the waiter.
"Of course Madame," the waiter replied with a bow. He took the opportunity to whisper to Vergil, "I am also to make you aware that the alarm for the exit has been silenced tonight, should you need to… use it." Vergil nodded in response and the waiter straightened again. "I shall return with your menus shortly."
"What are you doing?" Vergil growled at Lady as their server walked away.
"Fitting in," Lady said, still looking around in awe. "This place is amazing!"
"You're driving," Vergil reminded her.
"The wine isn't for me," she replied, turning her gaze towards Vergil at last. "I made a guess and assumed you were more of a red wine kind of guy. If I'm wrong, we can always send it back."
Vergil started to protest again before letting out a sigh. It was pointless trying to reason with this woman. "You're right. When I do decide to drink, I prefer red wine. But that's not the point; we have a job to do."
Lady did a small fist pump, happy that she had guessed correctly. "That may be so, but one of our targets is missing," she said. "You said yourself it had been a long time since you had something good to eat, and that woman is paying for everything, so we may as well enjoy ourselves right?"
Vergil considered what she was saying for a moment. He didn't want to admit it, but she had a point. It hadn't escaped his attention how he had almost always been hungry for the last few months. He'd thought recently that he might even have been losing some weight, which concerned him. "Fine," he agreed. "But only one bottle, and I will not be finishing it."
"Of course!" Lady said, giving him a thumbs up. "The last thing I need is a sloppy combat partner anyway."
The waiter returned then with a large bottle of red wine in a bucket of ice, which he placed on the table. He put down two wine glasses and proceeded to fill them both with a small amount of liquid. "Would you like to try before I serve?" he asked Vergil, sliding a glass towards him.
"If I must," Vergil conceded, lifting the glass and sniffing it before taking a small sip. "It's good," he admitted, returning the glass to the waiter so he could fill it.
"Et Madame?" the waiter asked, turning towards Lady.
"Only a little for me," she said, gulping down the small amount of wine before holding out her glass.
"...Of course," the waiter said, seemingly put off a little by her behaviour. He took the glass from her and filled it halfway, before returning it to her and placing the bottle back inside the bucket. A very smart looking waitress approached and handed her colleague a set of posh looking menus before bowing and walking away. "Here are your menus," the waiter said, handing one to each of the mismatched couple before him. "I will be back soon to take your orders."
"Thank you," they both said in unison, looking at each other with bemused expressions straight after. The waiter hesitated a moment more before walking over to another table.
"You just told me you weren't drinking," Vergil said, admiring the long, red velvet lined menu he was holding. The restaurant's name was engraved in gold on the front page and when he opened it, he was pleasantly surprised to see the dishes listed in both French and English.
"Well, I figured a small glass wouldn't be too bad," Lady said, also admiring the menu which was much fancier than the last one she had held. "Besides, it would probably have been more embarrassing for you if I'd turned him down."
Vergil let out a disgruntled "Hmph" and the two of them cast their eyes over the options available to them, all the while carefully observing the woman and her daughter a small distance away. As the male had not yet turned up, they decided to order three courses to give themselves as much time as possible. Very few words were exchanged between them while they awaited the waiter's return, other than a slight telling off from Lady when Vergil tried to button his shirt all the way up again.
"It just looks weird like that if you don't have a tie," she argued.
"But if I don't, it looks sloppy," Vergil protested.
"I already told you it looks good as it is," Lady said, blushing slightly.
"You assume I care about your opinion," Vergil replied, undoing the button anyway when Lady wouldn't stop glaring at him. They sat in silence again after that.
Finally, the waiter returned to take their orders. They both opted for a starter of garlic mushrooms, their reasoning being that if one had it and not the other, the one who didn't would have to put up with foul smelling breath from the other on the way home. For a main, Vergil ordered Salmon with Sorrel Sauce, while Lady opted for something called "Coq au Vin". They held off on ordering the desserts until they were ready to make their move, as planned.
While they waited for their first dish, they observed the two females, trying to get a feel for what was going on. The daughter was very pretty, but she also looked very dishevelled; perhaps even quite ill. There didn't seem to be anything demonic about her, but there was definitely something slightly off…
"Afraid," Vergil said, startling Lady from her train of thought.
"What?"
"She looks afraid. I'm beginning to think it's not her we should be concerned with." Vergil went to take a sip from his wine and realised he had already finished the glass. Fortunately he still felt completely fine, so he allowed himself to pour another, slightly fuller glass.
"It is strange that the boyfriend hasn't turned up," Lady admitted, sipping her own glass. "I'm glad you like my choice of beverage by the way," she added.
"It was pure chance whether it would be any good," Vergil said dismissively.
"I got the colour right though," Lady said, grinning.
"Fifty, fifty."
A different, younger, waiter than the one that had served them previously appeared then, pushing a small silver serving cart in front of him with two domed lids on top of it. "Your starters," he said proudly, removing the coverings and placing each plate on the table. "Can I get you anything else?"
"Could I get a lemonade please?" Lady asked finishing off her wine.
"I'd like some sparkling elderflower," Vergil added. The young waiter nodded and bowed before pushing the cart away.
"See, I'm being good," Lady said, already feeling slightly lightheaded from finishing the wine so quickly.
"Indeed," Vergil said, impaling a mushroom and inspecting it briefly before taking a bite. He was unable to hold back the satisfied sigh that escaped his lips as he did so, and quickly took a drink from his glass, hoping that Lady hadn't noticed.
"That good huh?" Lady asked, lifting one of her own mushrooms to her mouth.
"It's not bad," Vergil said quickly, looking towards the woman and her daughter again to avoid Lady's mocking gaze.
"Damn, this is good," Lady said with her mouth full. She quickly shoveled a few more mushrooms in while Vergil watched in disbelief.
"You… Have been to a restaurant before?" he asked, taking a small bite from his second mushroom.
"Huh? Of course," Lady said, gulping down the rest of what she had been chewing.
"Your manner of eating is…" He wondered how best to phrase the word 'disgusting'. "...A little rough perhaps."
"I'm sorry," Lady apologised, looking sheepish. "Genuinely, I am. I guess I'm just so used to eating fast food that I kinda forgot how to behave properly." She looked down at the few mushrooms she had left on her plate. "I'll try to behave from now on."
"Thank you," Vergil said, feeling somewhat surprised. He had expected some sort of sarcastic response, not an actual apology.
For the rest of the starter they didn't really say much else, although Vergil couldn't help glancing at her every now and then to make sure she was staying true to her word. Halfway through their first meal, the younger waiter returned with the lemonade and elderflower they had ordered, along with a quiet message that the male target was expected to turn up at any moment. By the time they had finished their mushrooms however, there was still no sign of him.
"He must realise that something's up," Lady said, dabbing at her mouth with her napkin.
"And yet he has let the girl attend…" Vergil mused, taking a sip from what was now his third glass of wine. He still felt completely fine, despite not having had anything alcoholic to drink for a long time.
"Perhaps it's some sort of trick or distraction," Lady theorised. "He could very well be nearby; he might even be waiting outside."
"In that case, if they leave we are to follow," Vergil stated. The woman and her daughter had just had their starters delivered; it seemed they had given up on waiting for the male and decided to go ahead and order.
The young waiter walked over to their table again and offered to take their empty plates, to which they both nodded. "I trust the food was good?" he asked, smiling.
"Very much so," Vergil stated. "I look forward to the mains if the starters were this delectable."
"I am sure you shall not be disappointed," the waiter replied, bowing happily before walking away with a slight spring in his step. Vergil watched him for a moment and saw him whisper something to the waiter that had greeted them initially, who then looked over to their table and smiled, giving them a small wave.
"You really do have a way with words when you want to," Lady said, resting her chin on her hands and looking over at Vergil who had now turned back towards her.
"It's called eloquence," Vergil replied. "It can get you very far in life if used appropriately."
"I still find it hard to believe that you and Dante are twins sometimes," Lady said, straightening up when she noticed Vergil staring at her elbows on the table with disapproval. "I've never known two people to behave so differently."
"Dante and I have lived very different lives," Vergil stated, reaching for the wine bottle again before thinking better of it and taking a sip of his elderflower instead.
"True that, but for someone who has spent most of his life in hell, I'd expect you to be more… I don't know, feral? Lacking in knowledge? I don't really know," Lady trailed off, wishing she hadn't said anything.
"What you're saying is, you would expect Dante to be the one with manners and knowledge of human etiquette, and myself to be a rough oaf who doesn't know how to interact with humans?"
"Exactly!" Lady said, pointing at Vergil. "I mean, don't get me wrong, you still have pretty poor social skills generally, but it seems when thrown into a situation like this, you handle it perfectly. Seems like I should drag you to fancy restaurants more often-" She stopped talking as she realised the implications of what she was saying and blushed. "U-Um, what I mean is, you're a lot more bearable to be around when you're being polite to people instead of threatening to stab me every time I look in your direction… Although having said that, even when you're making threats you sound super classy, so uh-"
"Just stop talking," Vergil sighed.
"Yessir," Lady replied, pretending to zip her mouth shut.
"Madame et Monsieur, your mains," the original waiter from before suddenly said, approaching the table with yet another fancy serving tray. He lifted the shiny covers revealing two plates of steaming food, the smell of which alone was enough to make Lady and Vergil's mouths water. The waiter lifted the plates onto the table and once again smiled warmly at them both. "Can I get you anything else?"
"I'm fine, thank you," Lady said, eyeing the dish in front of her hungrily.
"Any update on the male?" Vergil asked quietly, glancing over at the other table. The woman and her daughter now seemed to be about to tuck into their main courses themselves; their starters had been a lot simpler.
"Nothing yet…" The waiter responded. "The current thoughts are that he may cancel. The Madame wishes for me to tell you that if this is the case, she will still pay for your meal and she apologises for the inconvenience."
"Send her my thanks," Vergil said.
"Of course, Monsieur," the waiter agreed, before bowing and leaving their table.
"That's pretty nice of her," Lady said, desperate to start eating her food.
"It is…" Vergil agreed, lifting his wine glass. "Cheers."
"Cheers," Lady said, clinking her lemonade glass against Vergil's. They were both silent for a moment while they savoured the first bites of their meal. They each looked at each other and nodded. There was no need for words - it was delicious. "Admit it," Lady said after a few minutes. "You're glad you agreed to this."
"I certainly won't deny that the food has made this all worthwhile," Vergil stated, realising that he had once again finished his glass of wine. Lady noticed his hesitation and reached for the bottle.
"Go on, one more won't hurt," she said, filling his glass halfway.
"If you're trying to get me drunk, it won't work," Vergil said, taking a reluctant sip. "I still feel completely fine."
"All the more reason to enjoy it then," she responded, offering to fill his glass further.
Vergil shook his head. "No thank you."
Lady placed the bottle back in the bucket and ate some more of her chicken. "You know," she said after a moment, "You're actually kind of bearable to be around when you act like a normal person."
"...I'm sorry?"
"Well, I didn't want to say anything in case you took it the wrong way, but I'm actually kind of enjoying myself right now," Lady admitted.
"Is that so…" Vergil asked, sipping his wine without taking his eyes off her.
"Well yeah. It's just a nice change of pace, you know? I'm not used to hanging out with someone so… formal? Polite? I guess it's just nice not to have to deal with constant quips from Dante all the time. I mean, you still piss me off, but you do it in a classy way. I actually need to think before I respond to the crap you say."
"You're…welcome?" Vergil said, shoving a piece of marinated salmon into his mouth. "I suppose you aren't too bad yourself when you're not making a fool of me."
"See, this is nice right? We're actually talking for once. A lot of people are put off by how quiet and mysterious you are all the time, but when you actually start talking, it turns out you're not as terrifying as you might seem," Lady said, smiling.
"You say that, but I feel I have done nothing but criticise you for the whole evening," Vergil said, although he couldn't help but smile himself a little. It had been a while since he had spent more than a few minutes with the same person. He realised that perhaps he might be enjoying himself just a little bit as well.
"Well let's talk properly then," Lady said suddenly. "Tell me about yourself. What do you do in your spare time? Do you ever have nightmares about your time in hell? How did you feel when you found out you had a son? Are you enjoying living with Dante?"
Vergil held up a hand to silence her. "She who asks many questions receives no answers," he said bluntly. "I dislike talking about myself, so please do not ask."
"But why?" Lady asked. "Doesn't it get lonely having no one to talk to? I'd be going crazy if I were you."
"Who's to say I'm not?" Vergil responded. He hesitated slightly before downing the rest of his wine and wiping his mouth. "I will answer one question, but only because I'd like a second opinion on something. And you can't mention it to Dante."
"Sure!" Lady said a little too enthusiastically. "Fire away."
He paused a moment more before he began to explain to her the horrifying experience that was living in the Devil May Cry building. He told her of the repeated lack of food, the cold showers, that his room was always freezing. He lamented over the fact that he couldn't read in peace without unexpected guests turning up at all hours, and how he frequently had to deal with seeing a demon in his dead mother's image walking around. The constant mess that Dante left behind, the countless times he had been left to clean up pools of blood and demon entrails while Dante lay passed out somewhere. The fact that he was almost always poor and could only just afford to keep himself fed and watered. "...and then there was what happened with you the other day," Vergil finished. "It was then that I realised I can't take this any more, so I'm trying to move out."
Lady stared back at him in silence, chewing on the last bit of food she had left before gulping it down. "Wow," she said at last.
"This is why I don't talk about myself," Vergil said coldly, realising that he had been talking long enough for them to both finish their meals.
"What? No, don't say that," Lady said, trying to sound sympathetic. "I didn't realise you were struggling so much. I guess that's why you were so pissed at me, huh?"
"No, I just naturally dislike you," Vergil said, smirking slightly. "Although, I will admit my current situation probably hasn't been helping things."
"Well… I'm sorry for walking in on you like that," Lady said, choosing to ignore his harsh remark. "I can't believe that was enough to make you want to move out though."
"It's been a long time coming," Vergil sighed, pouring some more wine and realising he was about to finish the bottle after all. "Anyway, the reason I told you all this is because I want to ask you something."
"I mean, I'll try my best to answer," Lady said.
"All right. So, I have discussed my current living situation with Nero, who has surprisingly agreed to help me."
"Man, Nero is such a decent person. I still find it hard to believe he's fifty percent you." Lady quickly shut up when she received a death glare from Vergil, who was also gripping the wine bottle a little too tightly.
"The catch is," he continued, dumping the bottle back into the bucket, "In order for him to get me somewhere to live, he wants me to work at that damn orphanage of his."
Lady, who was mid sip from her lemonade glass, spluttered and started to choke. After a few moments - and some rather disapproving stares from the other diners - she managed to get her breath back and started at Vergil in disbelief. "No way!" she said. "You can't agree to this Vergil, those poor children would be traumatised for life!"
"I had a feeling that would be the case," Vergil said sadly, swirling the last of his wine around in his glass. "I was planning to reject his offer anyway, but this just cements my decision. Thank you." He raised his glass and downed the rest of the liquid before standing up.
"Hey, where are you going?" Lady asked as he walked around the table, wobbling slightly.
"I think I've had too much to drink after all; I've talked too much. I'm going to go and freshen up a bit."
"What do you want to do about dessert?" Lady called after him. The woman and her daughter seemed to be ordering desserts as she spoke.
"I think it's safe to say the plan is off, so just pick something you like," Vergil said before stumbling into the bathroom.
Shortly after that, the younger waiter appeared again. "What happened to your friend?" he asked, as he started to clear up the plates.
"Bathroom," Lady replied, starting to regret pushing Vergil into talking.
"Is he all right?"
"I think so," Lady said. "By the way, the plan seems to be off. Can we have the dessert menu normally please?"
·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·
Vergil stared at himself in the bathroom mirror, cursing his foolishness. He realised he looked terrible; he had dark rings under his eyes and his hair was looking unkempt. He quickly wet his hands and ran his fingers through his locks, trying to fix them back into place. He also splashed his face a couple of times, before drying it off with some surprisingly high quality paper towels.
"Well well, a son of Sparda. I knew that old bag was up to something," a deep voice suddenly said behind him.
Vergil turned quickly, reaching for Yamato, only to internally curse as he realised he didn't have his sword with him. "Who goes there?" he shouted, looking around the small tiled room. He disliked how slurred his voice sounded and hoped that it wasn't too noticeable. Receiving no response, he proceeded to check the empty cubicles and found nothing. Slowly, he backed his way towards the door and, still seeing and hearing nothing further, slipped back out into the restaurant.
"Hey Vergil," Lady called out to him as he approached the table. "I took the liberty of ordering us both a black forest gateau, I hope that's okay-"
"He's here," Vergil whispered, standing next to Lady's chair and keeping his eyes trained on the bathroom door. "Give me the keys, now" he demanded, reaching behind him.
"Wait, what?" Lady asked in surprise. "You saw him?"
"Heard him," Vergil answered. "Someone needs to stay here to guard the women, give me the keys."
"Okay, okay," Lady agreed, frantically rummaging through her bag before placing the keys into Vergil's outstretched hand.
"If anyone comes out of that bathroom, shoot without hesitation," Vergil said, slowly making his way towards the exit. "It was empty when I left."
"Roger that," Lady said seriously, moving round to Vergil's seat so she could face the doors herself. "Be careful," she added, receiving only a nod in response.
·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·:·
A/N I think I like this chapter a bit more than the last one. It was certainly fun to write anyway. Next time - combat!
