Title: Frame My Mother's Day.
Timeline: Two years after DMC3. AU where Vergil returns to the human world.
Characters/Pairings: Vergil, Dante, Eva.
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, Family.
Summary: Only one thought occupied their minds at that moment, one thing they wished to say out-loud but they couldn't.
Frame My Mother's Day
His brother was quiet.
Too quiet.
If there was something Vergil was sure of, it was the fact that Dante was never quiet, especially when he was with him. He mocked, taunted, and teased him to in the most annoying and constant matter.
But now?
"What are you planning? You won't be able dye my here pink even if you spent your entire life on it." A quiet Dante meant trouble, and he'd be damned if got involved with his shenanigans.
Dante just looked up at him, not uttering a single comeback.
Alright then, either Dante has become sick somehow, this guy isn't him, he is dreaming, or the world is ending.
.
.
.
Nope, not hearing the sounds of the Apocalypse.
Suddenly his brother stood and headed towards the door, and quickly noted before he left, "There is some pizza left in the fridge. I'm not coming back today so you have the place for yourself."
Vergil didn't know what came over him but he found himself asking, "Are you alright?"
Dante's back was facing him so he couldn't see his expression, but he noticed that his hold on the door knob tightened. "Oh, so you're worried about me Verge? My, do I feel flattered!" He waved him off, back still turned towards him. "There is no need to, I'm fine really."
Vergil scoffed. "Who said anything about me worrying?"
"And here I thought you loved me." He turned his face towards him, showing that he was smirking.
"Say that again and your head will decorate this sad excuse of a shop," Vergil replied coldly, hands already on Yamato.
"That's what I thought, you caring about me is really creepy, you know." And with a salute, he left, leaving Vergil twitching with anger. And after calming himself, he grabbed the book he was reading earlier.
"...I'm fine really."
With a sigh, Vergil closed the book.
Clearly, his brother was lying.
What was up with him today? Why was he that worried over Dante of all people?
Maybe he should send a jacket to Mundus.
"Yeah?" A drunken voice slurred over the phone.
"Did you send Dante on a job?"
"W-who are youuu?"
"You pathetic thing that I won't even call a human, did you send send Dante on a job?"
"Linda, is that you? You finally remembered to call your sweet Enzo after soooo long!"
"I'm going to find you," Vergil hissed venomously, "and when I will, consider yourself dead."
"I'm totally digging your way for speaking you know? It's such a tur-"
Cue for the phone to be brutally hung up.
It was obvious that the Itallian trash didn't contact his brother, so with a huff he dialed on the phone again, now to the other one.
"Hello?" said a familiar female voice. Not drunk, he noted gratefully.
"Do you know the whereabouts of Dante?"
"Oh, it's you." It was a known fact that he and Lady didn't get along, no matter how much Dante urged them to be. "I don't know. Shouldn't you, his brother, know?"
"And shouldn't you, his best friend, know too?" He shot back.
"Ouch." The way she said it sounded like she was holding back a smile. "What did he tell you before he left?"
"Just that he was going out for the whole day."
"Hmmm... wait! What is the date today?"
"May 13th. Why?"
"That explains it."
"Explains what?"
"Whenever that day comes, he just disappears only to come the after smelling like flowers."
Vergil raised an eyebrow then. "Flowers?"
"Yeah, I know. Dante can't stand flowers, so to be literally flowing of them is weird."
"What else?"
She told him about how uncharacteristically quiet his brother would be on this time of year, Vergil was only living with him for only a year so he didn't see him like this. It really made him wonder about what could make Dante behave like that. When he asked Lady about where he could be at, she said the only thing Dante ever told her was 'To Evanstrom's' which she didn't have an idea where it was.
Evanstrom? Wasn't that...?
Eyes widening, Vergil knew where his brother was at.
"Mom, look at this frame, it's much cooler than Vergil's!"
"You don't possibly think that this eyesore of a frame would fit mother's picture?"
"Boys, we're not looking for a frame for my picture, we're looking for one for yours," Eva finally said, attempting to end their argument, but the twins ignored her and continued bickering. Sighing, she grabbed the nearest frame and showed it to them. "How about this one?"
That made them stop, and taking the frame she chose, they inspected it like some kind of art critics.
"So, what's the verdict?"
"It's too old," Dante stated.
"It's classical," she defended.
"What ever it is, it wouldn't do good to the glorious beauty of yours." Okay, maybe Vergil had been spending too much time with his father.
"I like it." She looked at them, all puppy-eyed.
And that was enough to convince them.
Adding two other frames to the shopping's, she headed to the cashier, her boys following suit. Mr. Evanstrom, the shop's owner, beamed at the sight of them. "Hello Eva, how are doing?"
Putting what she bought on the counter, Eva replied, smiling wide. "I'm fine, how is your wife?"
"Alive and kicking, and still bossing me around." Despite the complaining, the obvious fondness in his voice was hard to miss.
Ever since Vergil and Dante's birth, she would come here at this shop every year in this day - Mother's Day, to be exact. When he asked her why, she replied that she considered the birth of her twins to be her gift for that day, so she felt that the best way she could celebrate it was to take pictures of them, but her children had a tendency to break everything, hence the buying of the frames.
This year was the sixth one that she entered his shop, her adorable children were with her too. He gave them two pieces of candy from the ones that remained when he bought it to his own kids.
"Say thank you to Mr. Evanstrom," she told her silver-haired twins. Unlike most of people in this town, he and his wife thought the color was rather charming.
"Thanks!" the younger twin said energetically.
The older just gave a formal. "Thank you." Mr Evanstrom thought that he would grow to be a responsible young man.
The three then bid him goodbye and left, leaving him smiling fondly after their trail.
"What a beautiful family."
The shop was the same as it was sixteen years ago, Vergil mused. Nothing had changed except that it got painted. He couldn't help but to feel a little nostalgic, after all the last day he was with his moth-
Don't think about it.
"Vergil... is that you?" The voice took his attention away from the painful memories, and turning around, he saw Mr. Evanstrom standing behind him. Unlike his shop, he changed, time wasn't too kind to him; the tired kind eyes, wrinkled features, and pale ash hair told very much about it. He was far from the energetic man he used to be many years ago.
"Yes," he replied simply.
And with that, the man broke into a smile. "It's been ages since I've last seen you! What were you up to?"
"Uh..."Opening the gates to the demon world? "... nothing much."
Mr. Evanstrom just chuckled excitedly. "You're still shy as ever, my boy. Do you want to buy a frame too?"
"Not at this moment, I'm looking for Dante."
The other gave a slightly confused look, probably wondering why he himself didn't know the whereabouts of his brother, but he shrugged it off eventually. "He was just here ten minutes ago, I think he went that way." And he pointed towards a nearby Tulip field.
This just confirmed my suspicion.
"Thank you." He was about to leave when Mr. Evanstrom stopped him.
"I'm sorry."
When Vergil faced him, he continued. "I don't know what happened to you two, but when I see that sad look on your brother's face, I know it has something to do with your mother. Dante has been visiting me this time every year, just like she used to."
'...just like she used to.' Did he knew about what happened?
Vergil only nodded solemnly, noting quickly before he left, "Don't be, it wasn't your fault."
It was mine.
"Could you two slow down a bit? I'm not as fast as you are." Eva chuckled, highly amused by her children's antics.
"We'll show you something!" Dante exclaimed happily.
Now she grew curious. "Oh, what is it then?"
Vergil had a mischievous smile on his face. "It's a surprise!"
If Vergil was smiling like that, it was either something disastrous or wonderful.
Eva became reasonably worried.
"Close your eyes!" the two ordered after stopping so suddenly, and she complied without protesting, inwardly wondering what were they up to. She felt them taking her hands as they guided her.
"Open them!" they ordered again, and when she did, she gasped.
In front of her was the most beautiful sight she ever landed her eyes on. She never knew that there was a Tulip field in this town, how did her twins discover it?
"Do you like it?" they both asked in one.
She was still dazed by the sight. "It's beautiful, I love it."
That earned her a grin from them.
"When we saw it, we thought it looks like you!" her younger twin stated.
"Huh?" was her only response, confused about what did they mean.
As if reading her thoughts, her older twin answered, "the Tulips have your eyes's color when the sun sets."
That...
That has to be the most sweetest thing a child could ever say to his mother! Really, was she a lucky woman or what?
She hugged the two of them on the spot, squeazing the life out them. "Thank you, darlings! Such a lovely thing to think about me!"
"Mom, we're kinda dying in here," Dante said, but he was smiling brightly nonetheless.
"Oh, sorry about that." She let go of both of them, but they really didn't step away from her that much.
"How about we frame the pictures we took today here," Vergil suggested.
"It would be nice hun, but we don't have-" The two pulled out the pictures instantly. "Never mind."
And so they framed all the pictures, even the one when she wore that black dress. The three of them spent the entire afternoon in the field, Sparda would freak out when they would get home late, but he would understand if she told him what happened.
Looking at her boys lovingly, she thought that she couldn't be happier.
Just as he thought, his brother was there, sitting amidst the blue flowers.
"Took you long enough," he said without looking at him.
"I made the mistake of calling that Itallian first."
Dante chuckled, much to his annoyance. "You shouldn't call him while he's drunk, he'll hit on you."
Then came a moment of silence.
"So," his brother started, finally glancing at him, "why are you here?"
Vergil didn't give him an answer and only sat silently next to him, which got Dante confused. "You're being really weird today Verg-"
"You forgot this." Vergil cut him off, handing him their mother's picture that was usually on Dante's desk.
"I... I thought I took it earlier. I must've been in a hurry," Dante muttered, taking the picture.
"Did you buy a new frame for it?"
"Yeah, I change it every year." True to his word, he brought the new frame for him to see.
"Change it then." And he did.
The two of them then sat in silence then, the Tulips around them gently swaying with every breeze.
Only one thought occupied their minds at that moment, one thing they wished to say out-loud but they couldn't.
Happy Mother's Day, Mom.
