A Family Reunion

Sentinel walked like a man who had all day towards the large building. This part of town was quiet and had a low population count. Furthermore the buildings were large and spacious, which was something he needed. The building he was heading to had huge high ceilings on the first floor and smaller sets of rooms on the second floor. This was his base of operations for the time that he was here in Capulet and he needed a good place to hide out. Well hide out was the wrong word. He needed a place he could lie low for a brief period of time if he ever needed to. He didn't really tire, except mentally, he didn't really feel hunger or thirst either, but this was necessary. He remembered what he was going to do and sighed at the thing that had happened so long ago that had caused the breach.

"These people have lives! They live!"

"We do what we do to keep them safe! Don't you see that!"

"Yes! But we are not alive, not like them!"

"You cannot change what we are in ourselves."

"I will not be like you! I want to have a life of my own!"

"You can't just walk out on us like this!"

"I already have. When you know what it is you protect, then you may speak to me."

Sentinel grimaced as he recalled the fire in the argument. He had been intractable, and that was what had broken them all. He squared his shoulders. What had happened had happened, this was the present and he had to get on with it.

The door opened cautiously and he edged inside. With footfalls as silent as snowflakes falling he crept into the middle of the floor. Then he stood stock still.

"I'm home!" he roared.

Two sets of chuckling laughter came from the ceiling, which was shrouded in darkness. Before Sentinel could move for the lights, two shapes jumped down from the ceiling with a movement that nearly matched his own speed! Sentinel crashed to the floor with pair of blades at his throat, one across it, the other pointing at it!

"You're dead!" came a voice from above him.

"Got you completely off guard." Said another voice that was similar to the first.

Sentinel sighed. "You guys are getting better, but I knew you were up there all along. Even before I said I was home and one of you gave the game away by sniggering."

"I knew you'd let him know!"

"It's not my fault. You laughed too!"

Sentinel laughed. "What did I ever do to deserve a pair of brothers like you two?" he said when he'd caught his breath.

The two younger men took their blades off his neck and pulled him up. One of them was dressed in black, a leather coat, slacks, and a shirt which also had three white stripes across it. His brother was dressed completely in a white robe which had tails down the back of his legs and was belted across the middle. The belt and the edges of the robe were green. They wore on their faces a couple of guilty expressions.

"Did Aria tell you what we did?" the one in white asked.

"No Ian, she did say that you needed some restraint though."

The one in black waved a hand dismissively. "So we had a big rough and tumble fight with a Devil General, who cares!"

"I care Ty. Why?"

"It was leading a force of demons to attack a village outside of town!" Ian said in one quick sentence, "We had to intervene or lives would have been lost!"



Ty took over. "And a couple of the Messenger girls were watching, and a few human girls were too, so we had to, you know,…"

Sentinel raised an eyebrow slightly. "Show off." He finished for his sibling.

Ty nodded. At Sentinels eye roll he defended his actions. "Oh come on Justin, you know how cute Messenger girls are, them and the whole female population of this world."

"Most of them anyway." Ian added with a smile.

Ty grinned conspiratorially. "You should know anyway. I've seen how you try to flex in your good Messenger-General's presence!"

The look he got from his older brother would have frozen magma. Ian quickly grabbed Ty out of punching range. Suddenly Justin laughed. When the other two backed away hastily he calmed himself.

"You two are unbelievable. Messengers, you two have got no chance! They don't live here boys!"

"Sorry Justin."

Justin grinned from ear to ear. "Next time try to make sure the humans don't see you, unless it's not a battle. They'll see plenty of you in the future."

Back in the office Trish had finished recounting what Lucia had told her. Nero bolted straight for the phone, then stopped suddenly.

"What did the captain look like?" he said hoarsely.

"A One Winged Knight."

Nero shook, but turned to the phone and dialled a number. He never finished dialling because Vergil took it out of his hands.

"I think using a payphone would be better in this instance Nero."

"But the phone here wor-"

"I have to get some more pins as we seem to have run out," Vergil added before turning to look at Lady, "Care to join me Lady?"

Lady was looking at Trish. Dante was looking at Trish as well, very intently! Trish on the other hand was not meeting his gaze. "Yeah I got to check on my bike guys, see you later!"

With more than usual tact the other three left and as the silence descended it was just Dante and Trish left. Dante turned and went over to the fridge where he pulled out a beer.

"So, where all did you go?" he asked innocently.

Trish sighed. "Dante I'm sorry I was gone for so long but,"

"It's okay." Dante cut across her, "I didn't really mind so much that after everything we have done together you just went off and left me."

Trish sat down in the chair that was opposite Dante's favourite couch. "I didn't intend to be gone so long!" she replied, twisting her hands in her lap. "I really thought I would be back before now."

"Don't mind me, I had a great time hanging out in bars and looking for women."

Trish looked up at him sharply. He was lounging in his favourite slouched position, looking like he hadn't a care in the world. "I don't doubt that you didn't." she responded.

"And in Love Planet."

"I'm sorry I left you."

"I managed."

She looked at Dante with a sharp expression. "Not according to Vergil."

His face showed no emotion, but she could sense his fear. "What does Vergil know." He said in a superior voice.

"He knows enough to tell me the truth when I call to talk to you!" she snapped, "He told me that you wouldn't speak to anyone for two days after I'd left! Then you got drunk and started 

shouting that you hated women! You nearly threw Lady out as well when she commented, only Vergil stopped you!"

"You've been gone before. You said you wanted to see what it was like living as a human woman."

Trish was raging now. "You encouraged me! I had to learn how to behave, and hanging around with you was not the best way!"

"So I can't teach anyone how to act normal then, can I?"

"Oh grow up Dante, you're entire life and all that you love is not normal!"

"You're not my mother!"

"You're right I'm not. I want to be so much different than your mother!"

Dante leaned forward and looked her in the eyes. He was surprise to see that she was crying.

"I really, really wanted to be back here Dante, but I knew I couldn't come back until I had found out all that I had gone to learn!"

He wilted. "Why'd you go Trish?"

"I was trying to learn how to defeat Mundus for good," she said bitterly, "and no one knew. It took me all this time to find out his weakness! Even then it isn't much good and near impossible."

"I don't need to know how to defeat Mundus, Trish, I did it already!"

"But what if he comes back?"

"Then he'll have three Sparda's to deal with!"

"It mightn't be enough." Her tears were running down her face.

Dante sat back and his head fell into his hands. "It's been hell here without you around Trish, you don't know how much!"

She got up, went over to him and put her arms around him, her own eyes streaming.

"I'm back now Dante."

"I don't plan on letting you go any time soon!" he put his arms around her waist and kissed her gently.