Disclaimer: I neither own Devil May Cry, nor do I make profit from my fanfiction of it. If I did, I would be rich. Or, at least slightly less poor. The original characters that appear in this story are mine, however, and I would appreciate them not being reused by anyone. (I say as though anyone gives a shit about my OCs XD)

I always feel really guilty when I get a ton of favorites and watches in the months between updates. Like I said before, we're pretty much in the home stretch now! Hang in there with me everybody! There WILL be an update next Monday as well because I already have the next chapter written.

And, as always, beta read by my good friend Cerulean Twin.

Mission 11: Indigo

Nero and Dante rose early the next morning. Nero's body ached where bruises were still healing from their sparring match the previous evening, but it was easy enough to ignore. He doubted they would still be troubling him by the end of the day.

Both demon hunters had a few slices of pizza for breakfast before getting dressed and armed.

"Could be a pretty interesting day," Dante commented as they both mounted his motorcycle. Nero wrapped his arms around the other devil hunter's waist.

Dante gunned the engine and they rocketed away from the curb, weaving into traffic and following the road toward the Magnolia East Lounge. But, somewhat expectedly, they didn't make it before being accosted by demons. The giant wolf-bat creatures started on their tail at about the halfway point and Dante swerved to avoid one dive-bombing them.

"Keep driving!" Nero shouted into the other man's ear as he ripped Blue Rose from its holster and shot one of the demons out of the sky. Another tried to fly into them again but Nero Snatched it out of the air and used his demonic spectral hand to crush it to death.

Nero fired a couple more shots at their pursuers before gripping the motorcycle with his Devil Bringer for balance as he clambered around so that he was facing their rear. He didn't doubt Dante would manage any forward assailants.

The wind whipped around them as Nero brought down another flying demon, its body crashing into a parked car. The car's alarm wailed for a second before the sound was lost as they sped away. Behind him Nero heard the sound of Ivory, rapidly firing, and a second later he was nearly thrown off as they swerved violently around a demonic body on the asphalt.

"What the hell is up with this shit?!" Nero shouted over his shoulder as he gunned another one down, "They just keep coming!"

"Look like we're on the right track!" Dante yelled back, a wild grin on his face.

Nero sighed, but it did make sense. Whatever these things served didn't want them going back to re-investigate. He did his best to hold on as they skidded around a sharp turn, watching as several of their pursuers crashed into the side of a building with an explosion of bloody finality.

Dante hit the brakes and Nero slammed into his back, knocking Dante forward over the handlebars, but the red devil managed to bring the bike to a halt without crashing. As they stopped, Nero slid off the back of the bike, launching into a forward roll and then firing on another demon as it swooped in, thinking he was an easy target.

Together he and Dante decimated the stragglers from their demonic pursuers. Finally, the creatures stopped coming, and the two demon hunters had a breather.

"Well," Dante said, holstering his firearm with a flourish. "I'd say we're definitely in the right place. Not too smart of 'em, chasing us right to this place."

The son of Sparda looked up at the glowing Magnolia East Lounge sign for a moment before opening the door and grinning at Nero, "After you, sweetheart."

The Knight gave the other man a black look before shoving Blue Rose into its holster and complying. During the daytime the club was mostly empty apart from a few die-hard patrons and the bartender wiping down the bar with a rag.

As soon as the door swung shut behind the two half-devils, they were intercepted by Romilda. The establishment's owner was dressed less lavishly in her day-wear than she had been upon their previous visit. In a black women's business suit she looked much less glamorous and much more like the smart entrepreneur that she must be in order to run such a successful nightclub.

"I wasn't expecting the two of you back so soon," she said as greeting before adding the query, "What's wrong?"

"Oh, we'd just like to take another look out back," Dante said airily, but Nero noticed the way the man in red's eyes narrowed slightly upon seeing the older woman's approach, "I'm sure during the day like this, you've got more important things to be doing than watching us…don't worry about it."

The woman's face was unreadable, but she replied, "I don't know if you'll find much. The crime scene has been cleaned…"

Dante shrugged and brushed past her, Nero following a second later. He threw a glance over his right shoulder as they made their way out, but Romilda's face was cast in shadow.

"She seemed a little…odd," the Knight observed as he pulled the door shut behind them and stepped out into the alleyway.

"Well, she's a suspect now," Dante replied, surveying their surroundings with his hands on his hips. "She's been running this club for ages, it's sort of wild to think of her being some sort of evil mastermind but…stranger things I guess."

The idea of a massive demonic tower suddenly thrusting forth from the middle of the city ranked pretty high on Nero's 'stranger things that have happened in Dante's town' list, and he hadn't even seen the Temen-ni-gru; only the barren spot where it had sunk into the ground.

Dante jumped down from the back stoop and approached the spot where they had found the body previously. It was true the area had been cleaned, but there was still a dark stain on the side of the building and in the pavement where the center of the gore had been.

"It doesn't look like there's much left to look at," Nero complained.

"That's because she's covering her tracks…" answered Dante as he ran his fingers over the stain thoughtfully.

Quite suddenly, Nero's Devil Bringer began to glow more brightly. It was subtle at first so he didn't notice it, but after a moment he looked down at it in puzzlement, "That's…odd."

And then the white hairs on the back of the Knight's neck started to stand on end. A feeling of cold dread slid down his spine as he saw the look on Dante's face as the man in red's eyes travelled over Nero's shoulder.

"Shit, it's right behind me, isn't it," he managed to say before the world turned upside down and blood blinded him.

Vergil's face was colorless as it hovered above Nero. The Knight's vision swam, blurry, and he…he couldn't move? The man in blue was saying something, his lips were moving, but Nero couldn't…hear him.

The opera house was too bright. All of the stained glass windows had shattered.

Vergil opened his eyes. Slowly the world slid into focus. He was on his side in a pool of blood—his? No, not his. Not technically, though it belonged to the body he was in. There was shouting, and someone was standing between this body and…?

Oh, yes, Nero's attacker. The angel. What was its name…Remiel?

Vergil rolled over slightly and slowly sat up, feeling the massive hole in his sternum knit itself back together. He reached up to wipe the blood from his forehead with his right hand before stopping short, the blue glow catching his eye, and he stopped to investigate the demonic appendage.

He could feel the soul in it, trapped and dazed and maybe dying—Nero's soul, his host. He could also feel something else, less deep and just waiting to be let out. It wasn't a soul, or Yamato which he would easily had identified. It was…that vile gem the little brat had stored in this beautiful arm. The piece of the angel.

Vergil scowled at the taloned hand he now possessed, and then turned his gaze upward toward Dante's back. His foolish twin was standing between Vergil and the two figures that had invaded their space—the angel and his…what? His servant? His lover? The blue devil brushed the detail aside. It was of little importance anyway.

Finally, Vergil stood, brushing the hair backwards from his eyes in a practiced flourish as he did so. The motion caught the attention of all three other men—if the angel counted as a man—and Dante had half-turned just in time to take Yamato in the gut.

His eye widened in shock as Vergil ripped the katana out again and then kicked his twin in the chest, sending him flying into the side of the building with a loud CRASH!

"Nero—what are—" the human gasped but Remiel's skeletal wig flared out in front of the youth and he fell silent. Scum.

With a flick of his new glowing blue wrist, Yamato re-absorbed itself into his arm, and the Tear of the Fallen took its place. It glowed in his palm faintly and Vergil held it out to the angel, "This is what you've been looking for isn't it?"

He knew the angel couldn't see it, but any supernatural being that powerful would sense the object from miles away. The level of sanity the broken thing still possessed was dubious at best but it would doubtlessly know a gift when it saw it. Metaphorically speaking, of course.

The angel's lips split over its teeth in what might nearly have been a smile, and it whispered, "A demon freely offers me this thing…what changed so suddenly, Son of Sparda."

Vergil tilted his head to the side and mused, "A deal. Or, a contract, if you will." Off to the side, Dante was crawling out of the rubble, Vergil needed to be quick. "Give me my own body back in exchange for your Tear returned."

But, whatever answer Remiel might have given him, Vergil didn't hear it. An unholy scream broke the tension-filled air and something monstrous swooped down on them from above. Vergil re-absorbed the abominable holy relic in a split-second and dodged out of the way at the demon crashed into the pavement where he had been standing only a moment before.

The angel snarled at it, torn wings unfurling behind it aggressively. Slowly, the trespasser stood. Her black hair fell in curls across her face, skin white as bone apart from the blood-colored scars that marred her cheeks like carved tears. Her bat-like double-set of wings were black and edged with razor-like claws that matched the draconic ones on her feet. Her spine rose up out of her back in jagged bony spikes, extending outward into a long wicked-looking tale with a vicious barb at the end. And, a horrible stench rolled from her, like rotting meat and bile, and burning things.

"You give me that Tear," she hissed through black pointed teeth at Vergil, extending a clawed hand toward him. "And I won't tear you all into shreds."

As she spoke she sent Remiel flying with the flick of one massive wing, and half of the building next to the club collapsed under the impact. Cassius—yes, that was his name, Vergil finally remembered—who had been standing beside the angel was frozen with shock. Foolish little human, and little better than a pet really.

Vergil looked at the demon for a moment before asking, "Why?"

She blinked at him, looking taken-aback that her violent display had not cowed him, but she humored him a moment later, "I need it to re-ascend. I lost my own when I Fell. It's not really a Tear you know—it's an angel's holy soul. If I have it I can be a true angel again."

"You can't!" the human shouted, and Vergil blinked in surprised, not having expected such a weak being to speak up against a…fallen angel. "Only God can give you back what you lost, you fucking bitch."

"For once I'd say I gotta agree with the kid. And, Romilda, I really liked you better as a nightclub owner. This new look really doesn't do anything for your complexion." Dante said as he approached, scratching his stomach where Yamato had pierced it and then giving Vergil a sidelong look, "You and I are gonna have a long damn talk after this is over."

Vergil didn't deign to even acknowledge the foolish idea, and he really didn't have a chance to because 'Romilda' was spitting venom, shrieking, "You give me the Tear, demon, and maybe I'll spare your life! All of my plans fell through but this thing I will still have!"

She lunged for Vergil but he sidestepped—really who did she think he was?—and a second later Yamato slid into his hand as smoothly as a lover.

"Perhaps we should first discuss why you gave my sword away to this little bastard?" he quipped to his twin as he sidestepped another lunge.

"'Perhaps' the two of your can pay attention to what's happening right in front of you!" the black-haired youth barked at them as he circled to the other side of the Fallen Angel.

"Tetchy little brat isn't he," Dante muttered under his breath as he pulled the Rebellion off his back with a flourish.

Vergil didn't respond. Dante was much younger than when they had last crossed blades. It had seemed like an eternity since Vergil had been possessed of an in-tact train of thought in the real world…but this Dante was certainly younger. Temen-ni-gru had only just fallen in this timeline after all, Vergil remembered discussing it briefly with his rather disagreeable host.

Romilda screamed at them, a long unearthly bellow that made Vergil's head ring. He saw Cassius stagger, a hand pressed to the side of his head and the boy in white nearly dropped his gunblade.

Vergil flashed forward and swung Yamato with lightning speed, catching the Fallen off guard and she stumbled back a step. Cassius jumped out of the way as the creature that had been Romilda threw open her massive wings again and leapt into the sky. As she did so the air around her began to darken, and a poisonous purple glow started to swirl malignantly around her clawed hands. A second later she shot a bolt of lightning down at him and Vergil spun out of the way.

An explosion rocked the area, and for a brief second the cerulean twin thought the source had been the lightning bolt, but then he saw the rubble that had flown out of their adjacent building and the injured Remiel taking to the sky after it.

All three men on the ground watched at the insane angel flew straight into the Fallen, crashing into her in an explosion of bloody feathers and gore. The demonic lightning crackled around them for a second before the sound of Cassius' gunblade went off like a canon shot. The shell exploded through one of Romilda's right wings, taking a huge chunk of leathery flesh with it, but the injury didn't seem to be much more than an annoyance to her.

She dropped out of the sky, leaving Remiel above them hovering blindly for a confused second before Cassius' scream split the air. Romilda rose high into the sky one more, soaring with the young Knight clutched in her wicked talons. The claws were digging gouges out of the youth's flesh and staining his already dirty whites with his own fresh blood but he wasn't screaming because of the pain. It was the height.

"Shit!" Dante cursed, throwing Rebellion back onto his back and drawing Ebony in a heartbeat, aiming high at the still-climbing Romilda.

But, he couldn't shoot without a good chance of her dropping the human to plummet to his death. Vergil scowled, it was just like Dante to worry about collateral damage. But, Vergil recalled this Devil Bringer arm having a handy ability to grab things out of mid-air. If they were going to get anything accomplished in this battle he might as well go along with it.

Remiel collided with Romilda again, upsetting these plans very suddenly. They were so high now that the wind had nearly completely washed away the terrified screams coming from Cassius, but not quite. Vergil almost felt sorry him. Almost.

The collision has loosened the Fallen Angel's grip on the youth however, and suddenly he was plummeting through the air. Vergil was honestly a little relieved, the human would be out of the way at any rate—what did he care now?

A wave of dizziness suddenly broke over the demon in blue, and without his control his right arm shot out and Snatched the falling Cassius right out of the air before dropping him to safety in a shivering, sobbing, bleeding heap. But, alive.

And Vergil was reminded of just who this body actually belonged to.

The two angels were fighting in the air again but before long Romilda descended once more—and right into Dante's gunfire. She shrieked in pain as the bullets exploded through her wings. Ivory was in the red devil's other hand now and he fired of bullet after bullet, not stopping until the vicious creature's wings were bloody bony pulp. She crashed into the earth with a wail of pain, and dust rose around her still form.

Remiel landed with barely more grace, staggering and bleeding and snarling, insanity reining his senses until Cassius croaked, "Remiel…that's it…please stop that song…"

Song? Vergil hadn't even noticed a song until the human had brought his attention to it. But, there is was sure enough, in the back of his head like a faint hum of energy, a song-like aura emanating from the angel. Very interesting.

"That was…easier then I was expecting," Dante said as he watched the dust cloud rise before turning his attention toward Vergil. "Now what exactly do you think you're doing…with Nero's body."

Vergil didn't even bother to feign impressed surprise that his younger twin had noticed the change so easily—as if the stabbing hadn't been tell enough. He would be ashamed, well more ashamed then he already was, to call Dante his twin if the red devil couldn't even figure out that much.

The blue devil had a brief flashback to Mallet Island, but he shoved that train of thought away.

"You—Remiel was it?" Vergil called to the angel, totally ignoring his twin's query, and calling the Tear back into his demonic hand, "Let's finish this now."

In the blink of an eye, the angel right in front of him, not even a pace away, and out of instinct Vergil moved out of the way, barely dodging one of Remiel's blind slashes. It was no use, he realized, the idiotic thing was still in the throes of its battle rage.

And here in Nero's body, Vergil couldn't even teleport. How troublesome.

He side-stepped another swipe, and sighed, shooting a comment toward the human that was still quaking on the ground, "Can't you do something to control this thing?"

Cassius glared at him through a curtain of black bangs and spat, "Fuck you."

"Wow, kid really doesn't have any sense of humor," Dante commented airily, "I'd hate to get into a snark-match with him. It'd be hella' boring just shouting 'fuck you's back and forth."

"You are so pedestrian," Vergil replied to his twin before tossing the Tear at the young Knight.

Cassius caught it out of reflex, looking surprised for a moment, but he picked himself off the pavement finally and examined the glowing relic briefly. Finally he looked up at Vergil and asked, "What exactly do you expect me to do with this?"

"You're the angel's pet aren't you? Make it see reason," Vergil sighed, feeling as usual, that he was surrounded by utter fools.

The human sighed dramatically and tentatively called out to the angel who had turned its aggressive attentions on Dante in the meantime, "Uh, R-Remiel!"

The reaction wasn't immediate, but after a second, the angel's attacks slowed, and finally it stopped and turned around toward the sound of Cassius' voice. The human looked a little nervous, and Vergil surmised that must be because his 'friend' wasn't always so considerate of the fragile human form. But the angel didn't attack him, and as he limped slowly toward the Knight, Vergil noticed the golden sword on Remiel's back between his ragged wings.

Clearly Dante noticed it too because he said, "Huh, I was wondering where that had gotten to. I guess Remiel's Bell really was a sword…"

Before Vergil could question him, the sound of rubble collapsing crashed through the alley, and high shrieking laugh rose up. Something shot through Cassius' chest like a skewer, going on to impale the angel in front of him and barely missing Dante and Vergil as both of Sparda's sons dove to either side out of the way.

Romilda's bony tail yanked back out of both angel and human, taking the Tear with its wicked barbed end. Remiel staggered, blood rolling down its chest, but the angel didn't seem much affected from gaping wound. Cassius was not so lucky. The human crashed to his knees, gaping at the steaming saucer-sized hole in his chest before pitching forward onto the concrete in a limp sprawl.

"I can't believe how easy you made this for me!" the Fallen screamed at them triumphantly as she climbed out of the rubble, grabbing the Tear from the tip of her tail and laughing again as she thrust the Tear into her chest cavity. "It was like…well forgive me for this cliché but…it was like taking candy from a baby!"

"Did she really just say that…?" Dante muttered, but his face was hard as he glared at the Fallen Angel.

Something stirred in Vergil's chest then. He couldn't remove his eye from the stupid human's corpse on the ground. It didn't bother him in the least so why—why?!

Quite abruptly the Devil Bringer swung up and smashed its fist into Vergil's face, sending him flying backward into the hard ground in a spray of blood.

The irksome kid was glaring at him when Vergil awoke in the Opera House. Vergil's head spun when he tried to stand, so he stayed where he was.

"I guess you think you're pretty clever, huh," Nero sneered at him, mis-matched arms crossed over his chest, "Just when I was starting to trust you, you finally show me your true colors."

Vergil shook his head, running a hand through his hair before speaking, "You would never understand."

"Yeah, maybe I wouldn't. But it's a sure way to make sure I won't if you don't even try to work with me," the youth replied, "Trying to give that crazy angel the Tear of the Fallen, and…getting Cassius killed…that just makes no goddamn sense but…"

Vergil waited silently for the other end of that 'but'.

Nero uncrossed his arms and looked down at his Devil Bringer. "But I think if we want to get anything done now, we have to work together. I didn't mean to keep you trapped here, Vergil. I didn't even realize just how…real you were, I guess."

And then he held out the demonic arm, offering his hand to Vergil, "Please, lend me your power one more time." And after a second's hesitation, the blue devil took it.

To Be Continued

Well here we are! The final chapter will be coming next week! Is everyone as excited at I am? This journey has been nearly a year long but this is the first multi-chapter fanfic that I will have ever completed! I feel like that's pretty impressive if I do say so myself hehe. As always reviews are highly valued! I will be very interested to hear the opinions of all this shit that just hit the fan here. Until next week, adieu!