The creature was dead. Vergil had known they would be able to take it down, but it was surprising how much of a difference fighting a land-based monster made things. With nothing but a boat for footing in their previous battle, they had been fighting with "one hand tied behind their back" so to speak. That being said, there wasn't much of a warehouse district anymore. They were fine, but the monster had felled virtually every building within a mile or two over the course of their battle. Ultimately they had to use Vergil's judgment cut to slowly whittle away at its massive body until there was nothing left. But the creature had possessed the ability to regenerate even its head, so that had taken quite a while. If Diva hadn't grown bored and unleashed a blistering amount of damage on it to end the fight as quickly as possible they might still be fighting it now.

The duo was not concerned with anything else happening; if another one of these creatures showed up, they would hear it coming. And if not, well, there wasn't anyone left in the city anyway. With no people left in the city but demon hunters, there wasn't much cause for concern. As a result, they decided to walk back instead of rushing. There was no scenery to admire, with it being a city that had been rebuilt so many times there was hardly any interesting architecture left, and with the rampant destruction from various demons most of that had already been toppled. Still, it was nice to be able to just take things at a slow pace and ease along. It certainly wasn't the pace at which their lives usually traveled, and once they got back to Devil May Cry things would be the same again, no doubt.

"Vergil, I realized something…"

The white-haired demon hunter turned his head towards her as they walked. She was plucking at her dress, stained with a variety of different liquids from the creature's body.

"White isn't a very good color for this."

Vergil smirked and looked back at the way they were headed.

"I am inclined to agree. Whenever we do make money, that's what you and I usually go out to buy. They don't last particularly long either."

"But I like the color. It's pretty."

Vergil was about to respond when Diva reached up to feel his hair. Given their difference in height, she had to go onto her toes, but she continued to tip toe along as they walked.

"Ha. Ha. I get it; pretty white, pretty hair."

"Soft hair." She said with a smile before returning to her feet and walking alongside him.

"So this vacation you mentioned before; where is it you would want to go?" She asked him.

He thought about it, and decided it would have to be somewhere rural. Forget about Terrence's attitude causing problems; if Diva were taken to a theme park she would undoubtedly end up trying to surf on a rollercoaster. She would most likely succeed, and either way, they would have trouble. Ski resorts would be out of the question; she would try to ride the lifts the whole time. She would cut zip lines to see what people falling mid-way would look like, not that they would go zip-lining anyway. But if they just got a cabin and went camping she would probably get bored. Not to mention Terrence would undoubtedly wander off.

"I'm not sure. We would have to find just the right place to go." He summarized.

"I wouldn't care where we went. I think it would be nice either way."

"Agreed. I just mean we need to make sure the place would be non-human-friendly."

Diva's lips pouted as she delved into deep thought. Vergil noticed after a few seconds, but gave her a few minutes before asking what she was thinking about.

"I was just wondering if there would be a way for Terrence to be more… human-like. Anthony would adjust, I'm sure. Perhaps he would be a bit like Dante. But I can tell that Terrence would be different, even without the powers he has now."

He understood that Terrence's nature bothered Diva now that she thought of him as a son. It was understandable, as it was obvious to anyone that, even as a human, Terrence would easily fit the description of an antisocial person. Not that being different than your average human was necessarily a bad thing, but he seemed unusually cold, and Vergil knew what that attitude led to. That being said, they couldn't force him to change; even if he were physically vulnerable enough to not be able to outrun them, the more one tells anyone they ought to be a certain way, the more their mind resists. And with his cold personality he wouldn't see much reason to act differently. That was the main problem; when one thinks from an emotionless, selfish mindset, one sees no rational reason to depart from it. They couldn't convince him of anything, he would either discover something for which he was willing to change, or he wouldn't.

"If he wants to change, he will. But he will need a reason. I know his kind of mindset, and he won't adjust unless he feels like he ought to. That's all I know of, anyway."

Diva seemed to take in his words like how-to instructions, and her mind went straight to work, figuring out how to give her son a reason to change. Vergil remained silent for the rest of the walk back, understanding that he wouldn't be able to have priority within her heart any longer. It would be a lie if the young man said that didn't bother him, but the higher part of his mind knew that she loved him just as much as before; she just loved her sons as well.

So Godzilla had some game. He'd lost a quarter of his jacket, a glove, and his belt to the thing. Not to mention a pretty charred boot. It turned out the thing had fire breath just like the real Godzilla. He was just lucky it wasn't any more effective than a real flamethrower… one with a flame twenty times as large, anyway. The details didn't matter, what did matter was that the story ended the same it always did.

"Thing was damn durable, though. Does the virus make them not just bigger and stronger but more durable too? It'd be pretty interesting if a whole army of demons was infected with that." Dante mused as he walked up the steps to Devil May Cry and opened the doors. It only took a second for him to notice something was wrong, and Dante opened his senses to the environment as he entered.

"Was that all just a diversion? Even if it was, there's no way anything could have given them much of a problem with the shop still in this good of shape. Hell, even when runts show up they usually at least knock down the doors."

Dante heard footsteps coming down the stairs and wondered what the story would be as he eased up. Though as he walked across the large room he saw there was a hole or two in the floor, albeit small ones. There were also distinctive wall decorations in the form of bullet holes.

"S'pose that's what I get for doubting collateral damage being done to my shop."

He noticed that the footsteps had stopped and sensed something behind him.

"Trying to get the jump on me, huh?" He thought while spinning and pulling Rebellion free from its sheath, swinging down towards-

"Oh, hey Haji."

The tall, stoic man gazed at him with no offense or anger in his eyes, yet Dante found the moment exceedingly awkward considering his huge sword was inches away from Haji's temple. Sheathing the sword, he asked the chevalier what was going on.

"Ritorno used those modified creatures to draw you, Diva and Vergil away and then attacked us."

"Damn, I'd expect a diversion but I wouldn't have thought he'd attack us outright. So what happened? Doesn't look like it got that intense."

"He almost killed us all. He was about to… decapitate Saya when-"

"We have Ritorno. He's back at Enzeru's now." A sharp voice said from across the room. Dante turned towards the speaker, but already knew it was Terrence.

"As Ritorno was about to strike, Terrence stopped and crippled him. After that he told us he would take the man back to the castle for interrogation."

Terrence had walked over to them, but was mostly looking at Dante. Haji, after all, already knew most of the story.

"Enzeru won't be happy that we're essentially torturing his brother to learn how to deal with this virus, but we can't afford to allow his reach to extend beyond the city."

Dante was puzzled, and crossed his arms.

"How'd you know he would be here?"

"I sensed the fight. At first we were on our way to fight that monster on the waterfront, but when I felt something was wrong I told Enzeru to turn back towards his estate in case Ritorno was headed there. I left him and Anthony there and decided to come to Devil May Cry in case he had targeted it instead. And what do you know…"

Dante shrugged and let his arms fall back to his side.

"As long as he can't spread that virus of his anymore, I guess it doesn't matter. So when does your 'sessions' start?"

"As soon as I get back. I don't have patience for this kind of stuff; I prefer the most expedient and practical approach."

"Well best of luck with that. I never got into the whole torture thing, but I wouldn't mind giving him a hook or two if it helped things along."

Terrence started towards the door as he responded, "I don't have hooks yet, but I think I saw Home Depot on the way here. I'll keep that in mind."

The kid-king was gone, and Dante shook his head.

"Ah, to be young. Right, Haji?"

The chevalier continued to look out after the young man.

"Something on your mind?"

"No, it's nothing. Saya and Lady are in the back resting. Have you heard from Diva or Vergil yet?"

"I'm sure they're fine." He assured the man while walking towards the case in the back to deposit his devil arms.

"You know, I wish I could get more of these things. It's been a while since I got a devil's arm. Wouldn't mind trying out a new one on one of these boss-fight demons."

Haji turned towards him and asked how many he had.

"Not including Rebellion, and Force Edge, four. And a couple of different guns."

"I remember, you used a few of them during the fight with Vergil at The Zoo in France, didn't you?"

Dante closed the weapons case as he confirmed the previous statement. He had used the weapons while making his way to Arkham in the demon world, back before he had ever met a chiropteran. It was strange, even though things were the same on the demon fighting front, his home life had changed significantly with everyone around. He gave most of the people a hard time, but it was great having them around. Maybe he'd close up shop for a little while for this vacation thing and go along. That was assuming Lady would come as well. He trusted her to take out small-fry demons, but there was always a bigger fish swimming its way up the pond.

"These things are pretty valuable. Not just because they're powerful, but each has the soul of a demon in it. Say what you want about the trivial kinds; there are a few that are worth keeping around here. Good for the soul, you know?"

"I'm afraid I don't."

Dante grinned.

"Yeah, I guess I don't either. Damn good to have in a pinch, though."