I DO NOT OWN DEVIL MAY CRY!

Okay, before we start, I need to explain a few things. I have a headcanon that the whole reason Vergil is so coldhearted on his quest for power is due to him being influenced by the Devil's blood within him. In Devil May Cry 3, he tells Dante about how without power you can't protect anyone, and in Devil May Cry 5, V who is (spoiler alert) Vergil's human half incarnate actually feels remorse for all that he has done. There's also the fact that Vergil never actually tries to kill Dante when he's not A. under mind control or B. Urizel. In Devil May Cry 3, there is a time when Dante is at Vergil's mercy and all Vergil does is stab him to make sure he stays down. Vergil could have beheaded Dante right then and there but he didn't! Not to mention the time Vergil helped Dante out against Arkham, or the time when he trapped himself in the demon realm to make sure Dante got out in time. When combined with the lore of the two swords ,Yamato and Rebellion, given to us by DMC5, this leads me to believe that Sparda had the swords forged specifically to help the boys with controlling their Devil sides until they could do so on their own, but when Dante and Vergil's family were attacked by Mundus, Vergil awoke his Devil Trigger and it was so powerful that Yamato couldn't fully contain it. This lead to him growing up with the influence of how a demon would think of things and the attack on his home caused him to go after power at any cost in a twisted way to protect the only remaining family he had left.

- LadyMikleo (because Mikleo's a cool name)

When Nero was born,Vergil's entire worldview changed.

He had a son. He'd never expected something like this to happen, but there he was, little Nero in all his 5-month-old glory a near spitting image of his father.

He was adorable.

Vergil idly wondered how Dante would've reacted to something like this happening. He probably would've freaked out before looking at him pleading for help on what to do, but Dante'd get the hang of things eventually, and would probably end up being the worst role model the kid could ever have. Dante was never a responsible person, he was Dante.

Dante who was probably dead, just like Mom.

And all of a sudden Vergil's world got a lot darker.

Demons would be after Nero, just like they were after him, if they knew of Nero's existence. He couldn't let that happen, couldn't lose Nero. Even now, demons were hunting him, he wasn't strong enough to protect his son yet. He had to leave, draw their attention away until he was strong enough to protect them.

Where are you going, Vergil?

Demons are after me. I'm not strong enough to protect you. But I'll come back. I promise.

Vergil didn't begrudge Dante for fighting him atop the Temen-Ni-Gru. After all, Dante only saw the Tower as a threat to the humans below. And sure, it was a threat, but that didn't matter because it would lead to Vergil gaining the power he needed to protect both Dante and Nero. And Dante didn't understand and never would if Vergil got his way because he had pride dangit! So even if he felt a bit bad about stealing his brother's amulet or cutting him down with Yamato, Vergil could ignore those feelings because this was necessary to protect his family.

Vergil didn't like Arkham. The man had killed his own wife with no sign of remorse, and therefore was a threat to his family. Sadly though, Arkham was required, so he kept his silence no matter how much Vergil's instincts screamed at him to destroy this man before he could take another step.

He had thought the man dead when he left him bleeding out on the floor in front of the seal, but he was wrong. The man had survived and had the sheer gall to steal Vergil's power and try to destroy everything Vergil wanted to protect? Vergil had defeated him again (with Dante's help) but the man hud run before he could be killed. Vergil vowed to resolve that at the next opportunity.

Vergil knew that he didn't have much time until the portal back to the human world closed, and he was trapped here forever. He knew Dante would never hand over the amulet he needed without a fight, so he fought. He fought and lost, but not for lack of trying. His mind was growing fuzzier the longer he stayed here, he didn't have long before he snapped and tried to kill the nearest thing near him. Dante. Vergil would never let that happen, even if it meant he would be trapped forever. He threw himself off a cliff in his last moment of clarity. When he next woke up, his last memory would be swinging his sword at Dante who was just out of reach.

The next few (weeks? months?) were spent in a blur. He traveled and slew demons whenever he came across any. Eventually, he came face to face with Mundus himself and fought him, only to end up losing and blacking out.

His next memory was a fleeting rush of images of him facing Dante in an appearance not his own and fleeing when he saw Dante's amulet.

V would admit to being nervous about recombining with his Devil side. After all, it was that very same devil side that scrambled his thoughts and twisted his goals of protecting into a coldhearted grab for power. It was the side of him that caused him to rip his own son's arm off all to get back a sword that would have belonged to his son eventually.

But Urizen was a monster who had threatened his family, and if the only way to keep them safe was to recombine, then he would recombine with Urizen. Even if it meant he would become a monster again.

Vergil would become a monster to protect his family if he so must.