Disclaimer: I don't own the boys or anything related to Devil May Cry. Check chapter 2 for more information!
Author's Notes: So sorry that I didn't update on Thursday like I usually do. I've been very (can't stress that enough) busy and haven't been getting much sleep (a few hours here and there so that I'm getting maybe 5 hours a day) and then yesterday my heifer that I've been waiting to calve had a lot of problems. Thankfully the vet was out looking after another of my sick babies (this is what happens when I'm too busy to go and check on them. sobs) and was able to look after her. Unfortunately though her calf died because it took us 2 hours to get her out. I suppose it was a good thing though, cause the vet broke the calf's leg clean through, trying to get her out. Anyway, here's the next chapter and hope everyone enjoys!
Chapter 10: Given Up
Dante sat at his desk feeling particularly grumpy that Trish was forcing them back to work.
"We still have a business to run!" She had nagged, hands planted firmly on her hips.
Lucia, goddamn the woman, had agreed. "Yes, the bills have been coming in. They've been neglected too long. And there are still the people of this city, that depend on us to keep them safe, to consider. "
Complain though he might, Trish and Lucia had pointedly told him that if he didn't even so much as go on patrol, then they would repaint his room a really nice pink. Dante had quickly complied allowing Lady, since she was still on the injured list, take the task of keeping an eye on Vergil, not that his brother had so much as moved a muscle since they had patched him back up. But he did make a point of popping in every few hours, just to check up. It wasn't that he didn't trust Lady; it was the fact that somehow he knew when Vergil woke up, it wouldn't be pretty.
"Where's Yamato?" Lady's voice broke Dante's thoughts and he looked up at her uncomprehendingly for a moment before it registered in his brain what she wanted.
"Ah," Dante scratched his head and stood up, leaving the case file and research he was supposed to have been doing behind. "I hid it."
"Don't tell me you don't remember where you put it?" Lady frowned in displeasure.
"Yeah, yeah, I remember." He walked over towards the weapons shelf. "Why do you want it?"
"I said I would clean it remember?" She rolled her eyes, and Dante lifted Nevan from her stand.
"Oh, yeah." Dante replied and holding the tricked out guitar in one hand, pulled down the katana that had been hiding behind her on the shelf. Putting Nevan back, he held the sword lightly in his hand and slowly unsheathed a portion of it, grimacing once more as his eyes met the caked brown surface of the once fine blade.
Sheathing it once more he held it out for Lady to take. "The blade's pretty much ruined. You're probably wasting your time." He said sadly, watching as Lady reverently took his father's memento to Vergil.
"Since when do you throw weapons away?" Lady asked looking from the blade in her hands to him, one eye narrowing.
"Since they become completely unsalvageable." Dante responded with a shake of his head.
"Nothing is unsalvageable." Lucia suddenly spoke, walking into the office from the direction of the kitchen.
"And what would you know?" Dante sneered still ticked at the redhead for siding with Trish.
A dagger suddenly whipped past his face, lodging in the dartboard on the wall behind him.
"I found that dagger when I was still a child. It was covered in so much rust and dirt that I was told to just throw it away. I refused and it is my most trusted blade to this day." The red head replied with a sneer of her own.
Crossing his arms in front of his chest, Dante glared down at Lucia. "You sure someone didn't just take pity and replace it on you?"
Lucia returned his glare, "For those who are willing and have patience, anything is possible." Lucia turned her green gaze from Dante to regard Lady with a softer expression.
"I've got the time and the will." Lady returned, meeting Lucia's gaze steadily.
Lucia nodded, "Then I can be of help." Turning she, walked past Dante, retrieved her dagger and then joined Lady as they headed back into the kitchen.
"The ladies are right." A voice piped up from beside him.
Dante's sour frown grew as another voice followed the first. "Yes, no weapon deserves to be thrown away."
"If you two don't shut up, I'll throw you away!" Dante growled, glaring pointedly at the two multi-coloured serrated blades.
When no more sound issued from either brother, he snorted in satisfaction and returned to his desk and his work.
When he was interrupted again, it was more of a welcome relief then he let on.
"Your phone not working?" Bells jingled as the owner of the voice walked in to the office.
"Afternoon Leo." Dante spoke, not bothering to look up and flipped a page of the book he was looking over. "We've been a bit busy. Trish checked over the messages this morning but hasn't told me anything about it yet."
"Great." Leo muttered striding forward.
Leo, a young eager detective, was one of Lady's rescues a few years back. After tracking down a nasty demon in connection to his first murder case, Lady whom had luckily also been tracking the same demon had literally saved his ass and then introduced him to Dante. After a long discussion on the fact that there were actually big nasty things roaming around out there in the dark, Leo had made sure that anyone at the Devil May Cry agency was informed of any odd cases he came across, and subsequently placed them on the city's consulting fee.
"So what did you come across now?" Dante asked, finally glancing up from his work at the young detective.
Dressed in partial casual and partial formal attire, Leo responded, "We fished a body out of the Hudson two days ago."
Uninterested, Dante looked back down at his work, jotting something down on a small note pad he had next to the book and over top his case file. "Nothing unusual about that."
"Maybe not. But this one's different."
Glancing up in annoyance that he was still being interrupted; Dante twisted his lips into a look of disapproval. "Get on with it, I am busy you know."
"He's missing his brain and most internal organs." Leo garbled out quickly, not wishing to further upset the devil hunter that already seemed on a short fuse.
Dante lifted an immaculate white eyebrow, his interest perked.
"Problem was the doe had no wounds or injuries to speak of." Leo continued quickly, his fingers fishing in his tan coat to pull out a cigarette. Even though Leo had dealt with many unusual things, the poor kid still couldn't handle most of the crap thrown his way, and as a result had accumulated a nasty smoking habit.
"If Trish catches you with that thing in here, she's going to cream you and flush that whole pack." Dante smirked at the thought and pointed with his pen toward the offending object.
Flushing guiltily, Leo stuck the cigarette behind his ear. "Sorry, bad habit."
Returning to the case file in front of him, Dante questioned again. "So who's working tonight?"
It was a question Dante always asked, since he only trusted two morticians in the whole of New York, and Leo was quick to answer. "Jo."
Dante grinned and looked up again, his attention now fully focused on Leo. "Wonderful! What time do you want to meet? Ten alright?" Jo, although being a woman of the night, a bit naive and far too smart for her own good, was always a good relief from the often head strong women he worked with. Not only was she extremely good looking, but also she was often open to his charms and provided if nothing else, amusing entertainment.
"Yeah, ten works." Leo stated shoving his hands in his pockets and then glancing around as if looking for someone, as Dante snapped closed the book and case file on his desk in one swipe. "Is Lady around?"
Dante almost grimaced as he looked back up at the young sandy haired detective. "She's around somewhere." He said and waved his hand in the general vicinity of the building. "Busy cleaning weapons again."
Unfortunately for Lady, from the moment she had rescued Leo's life he had developed a huge crush on her. Perhaps more unfortunately, Lady hadn't given the young detective the same reception she gave all other male suitors. Whether it was simply because Lady hadn't the heart to tell him off or that she simply enjoyed the new easy access she had to the police force's firing range – something she was loathe to give up – or something else altogether, Dante was still trying to figure out. What he did not enjoy was having Lady moan and gripe about the fact that Leo was constantly trying to ask her out.
"Oh," Leo's face fell.
"Did you want to leave her a message?" Dante asked politely, gathering up his file and passing another notepad and pen to Leo.
"Thanks," Leo said, scribbling down a quick message. "Hey?" he spoke again. "Man to man, what does Lady really like? I mean she's turned down just about everything I can think of except the firing range and that's just well… not romantic."
The demon within Dante grinned in evil mischief, and for once he willing indulged it, deciding to kill more than a few birds with one stone. Outwardly keeping a caring and thoughtful face, Dante carefully looked around the office, searching for any one of the girl's, if they found out what he intended to do with poor Leo, Trish would have him doing all the chores for the next year, and that was simply not acceptable.
"Well…" Dante paused, eyeing Leo with feigned reluctance. "You'd have to promise to not tell anyone."
"Oh, sure!" Leo exclaimed excitedly, eager and willing to walk straight into Dante's trap.
The demon in Dante grinned even bigger, if such a thing were possible, and Dante had the slight impression it was even rubbing its scaly hands together in glee.
Still making sure to keep his face devoid of any of his true emotions, Dante beckoned his prey closer. "She loves bunnies." In truth Lady, and Trish to boot, hated the cute little hippity hops. After a really nasty encounter with a demonic rabbit, both Lady and Trish couldn't even so much as look at a bunny, regardless of the size, without shuddering.
"Really." Leo breathed and ripping off the note he had just written, jotted down everything Dante told him on a clean sheet of the notepad.
"She's also a sucker for romantic songs and lots of attention. So here's what you do…" Dante imparted his plan to Leo, whispering into the young man's ear and carefully glancing around the room every so often for one of his female companions. "But," Dante finished wisely, inwardly grinning like some kid on crack. "You've got to wait at least a week before doing all this. Lady got all banged up last time out and she won't be as appreciative until she's healed up."
Leo nodded quickly. "Yes, yes of course. Thanks Dante!" He grinned happily and taking his notes, waved and trotted back out the front door.
When he was gone, Dante let the Cheshire grin that he had been holding in, emerge, giving him a truly demonic look. If Leo followed his plan to the t, which he most likely would, then Dante was sure it would finally cause Lady to build up enough courage to tell the kid off, and if Vergil was finally awake by then, which he was also sure would happen, then it was exactly the type of cruel joke that his twin would truly appreciate.
Dante snickered to himself and set off to find Trish and hand over his current case to her, in favour of the new one.
Trish reluctantly took the case file and under pain of more chores Dante got to work on the new one, which thankfully for him panned out, minimizing his chores. Two days later, and hot on the case of the Brain-Eater demon – he currently had nothing else to call the creature, having found no reference in any of his books and having yet to actually see it – Dante tiredly climbed the stairs up to his room. Pausing at the top of the stairs to glance in the direction of Vergil's room, he promptly decided to check in on his comatose brother.
In the last two days, Dante had done minimal hovering over Vergil's bedside. Not that it mattered; his twin hadn't even so much as batted an eyelash to even signify that he might possibly wake up. If it hadn't been for Trish and Bobby adamantly protesting such a thing, Dante would have shaken Vergil awake long ago. As it stood now, Trish and Bobby had taken most of the stitches out of Vergil, leaving only the grievous wound in his chest stitched up.
Entering into the room, Dante looked over his twin from afar.
"He hasn't moved, if that's what your wondering?" Lady's voice spoke up from beside him, surprising Dante.
He looked down to where she was sitting beside the door with her back to the wall.
Yamato was stretched out over her knees as she sat cross-legged on the floor, with all of her cleaning supplies spread around her in a half circle. "How's it going?" Dante asked pulling a hand through his hair.
"Good." She replied, and held up the katana for inspection when Dante reached his hand down for it.
He looked the blade critically over. Blood still clung to the portion of the blade just below the hilt and about half way down the blade itself. Undoubtedly they were also the parts that had received the most friction with Vergil's flesh, and as a result not only was the blood thickest on these parts, but the metal had also become corroded.
"It's taking awhile to get all of the blood off. But I'm most concerned about the damaged metal." Lady spoke thoughtfully, a tinge of sadness in her voice. For as long as she had been watching over Vergil, she had been working on Yamato, gaining a new appreciation for the once fine blade.
"It should be alright." Dante mused, running a thumb carefully over the corroded metal.
"We'll just use my whet stone in the shop and sharpen it out. It'll be just as good as new." Dante smiled encouragingly down at Lady and passed the blade back.
Lady nodded and was about to say her thanks when a groan had them both whipping their heads in Vergil's direction.
A frown creased Vergil's forehead as his eyelids fluttered. His fingers moved slightly, and Dante moved to his brother's side while Lady gripped the pistol that she had placed near her knee and rose.
"Vergil?" Dante questioned, placing a hand on Vergil's bare shoulder.
Stormy grey eyes, that even now disturbed Dante to no end, flickered open.
Bending down to look his twin directly in the eye, Dante smiled. "Hey there. You had us worried bro."
Vergil breathed slowly, his eyes closing and opening slowly.
"How you feeling?" Dante asked softly, trying to get his twin to respond.
Lady fidgeted uncertainly behind Dante, and suddenly Vergil's eyes went wide. He moved into a quick sitting position, his hand simultaneously reaching out and grabbing
Dante pulled him across the bed, behind him. Or at least would have if he had had the strength to do so.
"Dante move! I won't let her kill you! Not this time!" Fear strained through Vergil's rough voice, shocking Dante more than any thing else. His brother had never been afraid!
"Hey, Verge, it's alright. No one's going to kill me." Dante soothed softly, beckoning to Lady to drop her weapon.
She complied, setting the pistol back down on the ground.
Vergil's haunted eyes flickered from Lady to Dante and then back again.
"See," Dante stated softly, placing his hand over his brother's, which was still clutching his coat in a death like grip. "Its alright. No one is going to hurt any one else here."
"You dropped the gun." Vergil breathed out in disbelief, his voice so soft that Dante barely heard it. "You never put your gun down. Not once."
"Maybe that's cause I don't need it anymore." Lady returned softly, her voice calm and controlled, though the look on her face was one of pity.
Vergil shook his head. "This is real."
"What made you think it wasn't?" Dante asked, keeping his voice in the same soothing tones.
Vergil didn't answer for a while as his mind tried to process what it was all going through. Suddenly his grip on Dante tightened and he shuddered, bursting into huge wracking sobs a second later.
"Hey, its alright." Dante soothed patting his brother gently on his back, careful to not touch the wound.
Feeling just a little uncomfortable, Dante steeled himself and pulled his brother into a tight embrace, remembering how after their mother's death, it had been Vergil to provide the exact same comfort. "Its alright, Verge, your safe now." Dante continued to soothe, barely paying any attention to Lady, as she grabbed her pistol and Yamato and exited as quietly as she could.
Dante was thankful for that, and promised himself to thank Lady for her kindness at the first chance he got. Focusing on Vergil, he continued to comfort his twin with both his voice and his body as Vergil continued to sob into his chest.
He wasn't sure how long he stayed there with his brother clutching to his chest, but slowly Vergil's sobs lessened and after a time he pulled away, facing away with his arms around his knees.
"You alright now?" Dante asked, watching Vergil critically.
"You shouldn't have brought me here." Vergil stated, his voice still heavy with his tears.
"Safest place there is." Dante stated proudly.
Vergil only shook his head. "No where is truly safe. Not from Mundus. You should have left me. I don't belong here."
"Bah." Dante growled, suddenly angry with his brother. "I've beat Mundus before, and I've half a mind to go tell him what I think of his service. As for leaving you there… that wasn't going to happen. You might not want to believe it but you belong here! And not in some shity hell hole, with some demon bitches using you for a free meal."
Vergil grimaced at that, his eyes closing as fresh tears tracked their way down his cheeks.
"Hell may have been our father's home at one point. But in the end, it wasn't his home and it sure as heck wasn't ours." Dante continued, and then placing a hand on Vergil's shoulder squeezed it lightly. "Home is where your heart is. And I know your heart well enough to know that it's not all cold and black."
Vergil said nothing for a long time, and Dante just sat near his brother, for once in his life simply maintaining a silent comforting presence.
A heavy sigh pulled its way through Vergil's frame and he softly spoke again. "How long has it been?"
"Since Temen-ni-gru or Mallet?" Dante asked, folding his arms behind his head and leaning back against the headboard of the bed.
"Does it matter?" Vergil asked, not looking toward his brother.
"Suppose not. Almost seven years give or take a couple of months." Dante replied.
"Seven years." Vergil murmured softly. "So much time lost."
"Sure. The humans keep going about their stuff, regardless of what's going on in other worlds."
"What has all happened?" Vergil asked, his eyes closing once again as if dreading Dante's answer.
"Plenty!" Dante took in a deep breath, ready to deliver an extensive answer. "Some fruit cake named George Bush is in charge of the country. Went and declared a 'war on terror' in Iraq and Afghanistan after the World Trade Towers got demolished here in New York. Jeez. You have no idea what kinda mess that was. Man, the demons thought it was a fiesta or something and you ever try to get rid of a ghost that has its body buried beneath tons of steel and concert, not to mention if said body is still in one piece.
"Sadam Hussein was executed. Though you probably knew about that already, since I'm sure Mundus would have been gloating about his new toy. No… Hmm." Dante finished at a shake of Vergil's head.
"Anyway, where was I? Ah, Paris Hilton went to jail."
"Who?" Vergil questioned, glancing back at his brother in confusion.
"Oh, guess she must have come on the scene after you took a noise dive into Hell. Ah well." Dante shrugged and continued. "The Red Sox finally won the World Series, officially braking the curse of the bambino.
"Hmm… Everyone is freaking out about global warming. Though if any of them knew that demons were around they'd probably forget all about that.
"The Spice Girls are back together and planning a reunion tour." Dante couldn't help but grin as a visible shudder traced up Vergil's spine, reminding him of his brother's previous hatred for the British born song stresses. "And…" Dante drew out, saving what he thought the best for last. "They have made a live action Transformers movie!"
"Impossible." Vergil stated with a frown, having become more interested as Dante spoke.
"Improbable. Not impossible. You should see all that the movie and video game industry's can do now! The graphics are incredible! They've made Spiderman movies, X-men, Ghost Rider, etc. etc. etc.!" Dante grinned slyly and leaned forward whispering in Vergil's ear. "Maybe me and you can convince the girls to go with us and watch Starscream and Optimus kick some ass, hmm?"
Vergil shook his head and sighed. "I suppose I should feel comforted that some things will just never change."
Dante frowned sadly, leaning back once more. "That's the thing though Verge, some things do. You choosing to stay in Hell changed me. Meeting Lady, then Trish and finally Lucia changed me. I'm not quite the same ol' fun and games little brother that used to annoy the crap out of you."
"Something tells me though that you aren't quite that different." Vergil spoke softly, closing his eyes once more.
"I try to put on a good show. If I walked around all depressed all the time, I'd be no good to anyone cause no one would stick around. I mean, man, I've got three gorgeous women living with me and nothing to show for it. Lady keeps sticking bullets in my head. Trish some days just likes to see how much she can get me to do. And Lucia sometimes likes to take a look at my insides, and not in a good way."
The smallest snort issued from Vergil. "It seems you've found ways of replacing me."
Slowly he sank back into the bed, jolting up and moving to his side when his back touched the mattress.
Dante shook his head sadly. "Nothing could replace you. You're my brother, and no matter what, nothing will change that. Lady, Lucia and Trish have become part of my family, but you were a part of it first." Dante intoned sincerely, pulling the sheet up over Vergil's body and tucked it gently around his shoulders. "Get some good sleep. I'll stay here and when you wake up you'll see everything will be all right." Dante placed a hand on his brother's shoulder and leaned back against the headboard once more. "Trish will make us some tasty strawberry pancakes, with some nice soft bacon, all drizzled with some maple syrup. And everything will be ok." Dante yawned, knowing Vergil was already asleep by the soft sound of his breathing. He smiled and fell asleep dreaming of all the wonderful things Trish could whip up in the kitchen.
Reviewer Thanks:
The Lex and Terry Listener: Very glad you liked the last chapter. But yes, I did know that the title of my story is the same name as a Linkin Park song, it's why I chose it. And as you've probably already figured out, so is this chapter.
LordxxAxelxxLover: Good I'm glad you found that Vergil and Lady were both in character; I worked hard to make sure that they were. As for Dante being more evil… were you frightened?
BladeMaster16: Yeah, the sarcastic, cold, evil guys are the most awesome and well put together characters there are. The creators spend time with their heroes too, but they seem to put more work into the characters that aren't necessarily the nicest people. Raistlin, Sephiroth and Vergil being good examples of this.
Lady Luce: Yeah, it's been two chapters. I was a little worried that something happened to you, although I do understand very well that life doesn't always allow us the time to just sit down at the computer. And I'm glad you liked Dante's reaction, I want to try to stay away from the common as much as possible, despite the fact that the story idea has been done hundreds of times before, as well as keeping Dante, Vergil, Lady, etc. in character as much as possible. I really hate stories were they make them out to be all lovey dovey. As for Lady getting up the tower, I really think Capcom should have spent more time with that. I mean, she gave Dante her rocket launcher, which was really her only climbing tool and then she did look up when Vergil passed her. What's to say she didn't get up and say 'Hey!' Since other than that, how the heck was she supposed to get up all those stupid cubes! And I'm glad that you liked Vergil/Lady, even though you usually don't. I on the other hand am a sucker for them.
Kez-o the Brave: Well, I think I've figured it out, of course because of my busyness, I've resorted to writing with paper and a pencil while I'm waiting for the stupid train, or when someone else is driving. But anyway, originally I was only going to do 13 chapters, but one of my friends that is also reading it and who I tend to bounce ideas off of, told me "You didn't give Vergil his sword back! You CAN'T finish the story before you give him back his sword!" So now I think there will be 15!
Dela (): Hey, don't worry about it! I know the meaning of busy!!
XxDawnxRiderxX: Yeah, Vergil can be a gentleman every so often. Course he'll usually off set that with a nasty comment eventually. I like you're idea with the photo, unfortunately I can't see how to work it into my story. But I have figured out how Dante can use it, and might keep your idea and then work it into a sequel, if I ever get that far.
IceCamaro: Well, it seems you and I think alike when it comes to Vergil. And I have to agree that most authors do seem to forget that while being mostly nasty and cold, also has an odd sense of fairness and honour. And unfortunately because most seem to either forget that he is capable of being nice or go overboard on the niceness, I usually tend to stop reading their story. Though you have no idea how your words made me proud of my work! Thank you very very much!!
Bourriquette: You know a lot of people say that about Dante, but yet it clearly states in the first game manual that he takes jobs like that. Anyway, I'm heavily influenced by Supernatural as well, and since Dean reminds me quite a bit of Dante, it just worked. LOL! And isn't that true! Bring Dante pizza and he'll love you forever!
Yodel: Yup, if Lady and Dante work well together, than you should see how well Vergil and Lady work together… that is only when the going gets tough, otherwise they'd just be at each others throats. I had that heart getting stolen thing to when I first say Sephiroth in Final Fantasy 7, I've actually never beat the game again, because I simply can't bring myself to kill him again. Well, Vergil's awake now! What'd you think! And did you catch my references?
Nishiko-chan: Well I wanted to keep it as believable as possible, because stories just aren't very good if there is no base for realism. Hopefully, you've got something to say for this chapter as well, but if you don't… I'll understand.
SoDesuKa: I like how you interjected Vergil and Dante into your review and sorry about the long update, though I fear it may get longer yet before I'm done. I really need some good long sleep!