A/N: Hey guys, back again… I'm going to be perfectly honest, I have no idea what I want to do with this chapter… I think I'm going to just let my fingers go and see where it takes me. Also this particular story is on the wind down, although it will be followed by a direct sequel. Cause, y'know this is the rise of Vergil, we all know that he falls at some point. Also my cat is walking in from of my screen right now and I can't see what I'm typing…

Disclaimer: I barely own the cat sitting in front of me right now… the one who's being an adorable little shit…

The Passage of Time

It had been several weeks since Vergil met Amelia's brother and only a couple days since he'd met her parents. It was honestly one of the most nerve-wracking moments that he could remember in recent times, more so that living alone in the demonic world, more so that trying to best his brother in combat… Those were things that he had confidence in himself for… things that he was certain, at least at the time, that he could come out on top. This… dinner with a couple human beings, he'd had butterflies in his stomach, and sweaty palms. Yamato had been greatly entertained by his nerves and promptly reminded him that his father had been much the same way with his mother. Dinner had gone well, although neither Amelia nor her brother had been kidding when they said that their father would pepper him with questions. It was a good thing that the pair had gone over what lies needed to be cooked up for Vergil to pass in Fortuna because Jonathan grilled him like a fine steak.

It certainly helped that the half devil was now employed as his vying for the position as a consultant for the library on demonic texts had panned out. The lynchpin in securing the job had been that he had a lot of skill when it came to the language. Not hard when you spoke it from the cradle. He had yearned up a halfway decent amount of money at this point, working overtime hours that no one else wanted and trying to make up for mooching off of Amelia for so long, despite the fact that she waved the whole thing off, acting as though she didn't care if he ever could make up for all that she gave him. He also wanted to ask her father if he could take her hand… it wasn't something that he ever thought he'd do, marry a human, marry at all actually but here he was, trying to think of the right words to say to convince the man that had raised Amelia that he truly loved his daughter and that he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her… Vergil sighed and placed another book on the shelf where it belonged.

The night sky was cold and crisp when he stepped out of the library, locking the door behind him. It was the first time that he was locking up alone and it felt nice, the night was quiet and there was no one that he had to pretend to be interested in the small talk that they were spewing… He paused as one of the Knights passed him by, giving him a nod, he returned it and continued in the other direction. He didn't like that he could sense some demonic presence form them, he was certain that they did it so that they could wield the swords that they did but he wondered how far from truly human that they were pushing themselves… And if they could sense his presence in return. He masked it most of the time, a habit that he had long ago developed to keep his presence away from most devils, but as he got older it just got more and more powerful… Amelia told him that when he let it out to its full potential that she could practically feel it and she was entirely human, boringly so, she had said. Vergil had had no idea that it had become that strong, it wasn't like when he was a kid and could sense Dante's and have a rough idea of what his felt like, or even when Theuram would tell him, or when he had to hide from other devils just to get a night's sleep… no this was different, and a little worrying. It was the first time in his life that the half devil worried that he might not be human enough. He laughed to himself, now that was a novel feeling… He walked home, enjoying the cool air on his face, having let his hood down after leaving the city proper. Home… that was a novel feeling as well, after having spent a year in the demonic realm it was hard to think of any one place as permanent, it felt more like he just shifted from one slightly comfortable, reasonable spot to another and now… now he felt like he had a place where he belonged and someone he belonged to. This made him smile and walk faster, nearly breaking into a run when the house was in sight.

He walked in the door and felt his smile grow as he saw the food that was simmering lightly on the stove, keeping warm until he made it home. He was a little surprised to not see Amelia though, he wandered through the house, finding her in the bedroom, pacing. She saw him and immediately he knew, something was wrong. Her hands were shaking as she grabbed his arm and said

"Vergil, we might have a problem."

A/N: Bum bum buuuuummm! This was an interesting chapter to type, seeing as there's only one spoken line, I hope that's okay, well if not, too bad, that's how it's gonna go.

Till next time,

-Winged Element