The two brothers exited the hellgate and found themselves back on the tower. The hellgate itself appeared to be shrinking and closing, something Vergil speculated was due to the separation of the two amulets. It would not be long now until it closed for good. Vergil looked around, and spotting Mary standing at the edge of the tower, staring at the sunrise.
"I'll just leave you two lovebirds alone, give you some privacy."
Vergil turned to protest, and Dante raised his hands in the air.
"I ain't going far, don't worry." He walked away, down the first set of steps off of the tower. Vergil shook his head, walked around Arkham's dead body, and came to a halt next to Mary.
"You're back." She said, still looking at the sunrise. "Did you manage to-"
"I did."
"Good. I'm glad. It would have been a shame if we had both lost the last of our family today."
Vergil put a hand on her shoulder. "There was nothing you could have done for him."
"I know. It still hurts."
They stood together for a long moment, staring at the sunrise.
"So." Mary eventually said. "About us..." Vergil turned to her, expression unreadable. "I...lots of things happened today. And...I need time, to adjust. I don't want to go too fast. It's going to sound super cliche, but it's not you, it's me. I'm not sure I'm ready for a serious relationship, so soon after...this. So, I think I'd like to be just friends for now."
"Friends?" Vergil asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Close friends." She quickly corrected. "Very, very close friends. But still friends."
Vergil took a moment to ponder this, then shrugged. "As you wish. I'd hardly be able to force you to do anything you didn't want anyway, Son of Sparda or not."
She chuckled. "That's true. But, speaking of things I want, there is one thing I'd like to do, at least once, while we're up here."
The two turned toward each other, closed their eyes, and went in for a kiss. They embraced, and after a couple of seconds, the sound of a wolf howl broke the silence, made by Dante, who was poking his head up above the last steps of the tower. Without stopping the kiss, Mary reached for her pistol and aimed in the general direction of Dante, firing a bullet. He quickly ducked back below the steps and out of view. Then, they broke apart, both of them looking annoyed.
"I am so going to kick his ass when I get my hands on him!" Mary said, her face turning red as she clenched her fists.
"Only once I'm done with him." Vergil said.
Another moment passed, and Mary put her gun away.
"So, have you decided what you will do next?" Vergil asked.
"Well, I still have a job to do that's far from done. To eliminate every last demon."
"A childish, unachievable dream."
Mary gave a sad smile. "I know."
"Still, so far as dreams and goals go...it's a worthy one."
"What about you?"
"Dante wants to open a business."
Mary turned toward Vergil, clearly interested in hearing this. "A business? What kind?"
"Demon slaying."
"Don't you do that already?"
"He wants something a bit more legitimate then wandering the world. My brother is lazy, you see, probably just wants to avoid the walking. But even so, it's one of his better ideas."
Mary nodded. "I agree. So, what kind of assets are you two working with?"
Vergil gave her a long stare. "Assets?"
"How much money do you have?"
Vergil reached into his coat, and withdrew a large stack of bills. He started counting them, only for Mary to grab his wrist.
"Vergil. I don't mean your pocket change. How much money do you have in your bank account?" Another long moment passed, as Vergil was clearly reluctant to respond. Mary crossed her arms, her face demanding a response.
"...I don't have a bank account."
"You...what? How do you not have a bank account?"
"Never needed it."
"So what, you just carry your money everywhere?" Mary asked, face disbelieving.
"Can you think of a better spot? What fool would try to rob me?"
"Ok, I'll give you that much" She said, holding her hands up. "But still, do you have any idea how much an office costs?"
"...No."
"More than what you're carrying in your pocket, that's for sure!"
"It was Dante's idea, not mine."
"And how much money do you think your lazy brother has?" Vergil did not respond, as good a response for her as any. "If you're going to open a real business that's not just you walking around at random, you're going to have to start thinking about these kinds of things!" She said, waging a finger in his face.
"We still haven't worked out the finer details..."
"Asking "Can I afford an office" is not a finer detail!" She said, placing her hands on her hips before shaking her head. "I can already tell I have a lot of work to do with you." She reached into one of her pouches, withdrawing a piece of paper and a pen. She wrote a number on it, then held it out to Vergil.
"Here, this is my cell phone number. I'm in no condition to have this conversation now, and frankly, as soon as I get back to the hotel, I'm probably going to crash for the whole day. So, wait until tomorrow, then call me, and we'll discuss the details of getting your business off the ground." He stared at the paper, not taking it and looking slightly sheepish. "What? What's wrong?"
"I...don't have-"
"Don't you dare tell me you don't even own a phone!"
"I've never had anyone I needed to call, what use would I have for-"
Mary groaned loudly, and took the paper back, angerly scribbling an address on it. "I can't believe this. I knew you were old fashioned, but I didn't think it was this bad! You're lucky I like you, I should just leave you to run yourself into mounds of debt and learn the "Old fashioned" way!"
She finished writing the address, and shoved it into Vergil's chest. "That's where my hotel is. Take some time, be with your brother. In three days, since knowing you, you're going to walk all the way there-" She waited long enough for Vergil to sheepishly shrug. "Getting you a license is something else we'll need to work on, you can't just walk everywhere. Anyway, in three days, I expect to see you there."
Vergil cocked his head to the side. "You want me to meet you. At a hotel. Are you sure you want to take this slow? Because you realize when a woman asks a man to meet him at a hotel, it usually means-"
This earned Vergil a blood curdling glare, one that caused even him to pause and reconsider finishing the sentence.
"Three days, Mr." She then poked him in the chest. "And bring a phone! I don't care if you get some cheap pre-paid flip phone, but if you don't come with one, I'm dragging you by the ear to get the most expensive phone I can find, and saddling your business with the bill!"
She stormed off, and Vergil shook his head, wondering what hell he had accidentally unleashed on himself. Then he heard a hard impact, and Dante yelped.
"Owwww! Shit, did you really have to punch me in the face?"
"You're lucky it wasn't a gunshot! I know you can survive it, that means I can do it and not feel any guilt at all!"
After another few seconds, Dante walked back up the steps, walking over to Vergil. "Sure know how to pick em. She's scarier than the demons."
"Perhaps, but you did more or less ask for it."
They both took a moment to shake their heads.
"So." Dante said. "Time for a fresh start."
"A new beginning."
"Think we'll get work?"
"Chances are good." Vergil said with a nod. "Even though we closed the portal, there is still a chance that demon attacks around the world will increase, as a result of the events here, at least for a while."
"Least we won't be bored."
"That much, I believe I can promise you."
They turned, and started walking away.
"You know, bro, we're gonna need a name for this place. And I was never any good with names."
"Hmmmm..." Vergil took a moment to consider this question.
"Actually, I think I may have one."
One last chapter still to come after this.