Chapter Thirty-Nine: Trespasser
Note: Listening to Crimson Cloud while writing this chapter hits differently. It's just been that kind of day lol! More on that later. I'm very excited and also slightly anxious about this chapter, so I hope you enjoy it! Also, make sure to check out the footnotes for this chapter! There are some pretty neat things in them today!
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The atmosphere in the room grew tense, a palpable note of discomfort hanging in the air as oldest of the two descendants of the dark Knight Sparda silently reached over and turned the radio off. There was no need to ask what was going on. Neither of them had even the slightest idea as to how anyone aside from their known associates could know that they were there, especially since basically no one knew the address. The two shared a silent glance between one another and the doorway that led to the front entrance, considering the possibility of just not answering the door at all and pretending that they were not home. After a moment of startling mental synchronization, they nodded to one another, not needing to elaborate on what they were considering.
Both Nero and V carefully approached the door and, warry of a possible attack. There was just something about this situation that made them uneasy, and they were not keen on getting into a fight on the front porch of V's new dwelling. A quick glimpse through the peephole indicated that there was no one at the door, at least no one that they could see. The younger of the two glanced back at V, the latter gesturing for him to answer the door. He was more than ready to take someone to task over this, even if that involved a battle of some sort. Although admittedly somewhat tired, he wasn't physically wounded in any form anymore, and the combination of his newfound abilities and his cane being returned to his possession meant that he was far from helpless. Being kidnapped by that dreadful cult had been more than enough motivation for him to avoid being put in that kind of situation again.
After mentally cursing himself for only having his gun on him at that moment, Nero unlocked the door and pushed it open, fully expecting an ambush of some sort. What he received instead was an empty space and no signs of life. Had they both simply been hallucinating? Had some kid just knocked on the door and ran away in a silly attempt to be irritating? V stepped forward and examined the space before them, seemingly more perplexed than Nero was. He'd been so sure that he'd heard something…
Satisfied for the moment that there was no one out there, Nero stepped back, intending to close the door, only to become instantly startled and draw his revolver, signaling for a very befuddled V to join him. The longer haired man did so, glancing over his shoulder towards the now half-closed door to try and see what the commotion was all about. Much to V's surprise, he found the source of his younger sibling's distress.
Leaned against the side of the house next to the front door was a hooded individual. They wore a nearly floor-length black silk like cloak coat with ribbed dark grey leather sleeves that seemed to zip from the turtle neck styled collar that covered the bottom of their mouth, to the waistline before a button-up flap secured the top of the garment. Strangely enough, the long garment was adorned with dark purple and white vertical stripes on the inside, a stark contrast to the outside of the garment. Aside from that, they were dressed somewhat casually, if one could consider grey leather ribbed jeans that matched their coat sleeves and semi-high top boots as "casual".
Despite all of this being visible, the person in question was facing down towards the ground, their back touching the wall as their left leg bent outwards, braced against the dark brick. It was impossible to see their face in the dim light, but they didn't need to be able to pick out any details to be able to tell that they were both being watched intently out of the corner of their uninvited visitor's eyes. The unknown individual who, from what they could tell was a male, didn't seem fazed in the slightest by the sight of the double-barrelled, high-caliber gun that was pointed in his face. Instead, they sighed under their breath and sighed, pushing themselves off of the wall and fixing the collar of their coat, indicating that they were actually wearing a turtle neck underneath the coat and that the purple high collared neck of their coat was actually the part that the zipper went up into.
Both Nero and V glanced at one another and then returned their attention to the stranger standing before them, increasingly curious as to what they were doing there. Something told them that this person was here for something more than directions, especially since they had gone to the trouble of standing out of the line of sight of the peephole as though they expected them to look through it. V, noting that Nero still had his gun drawn and was entirely ready to put a bullet in this unknown man motioned for his brother to lower the weapon slightly. He wanted to know what this was about before he lost the opportunity to find out. Was this man part of the cult that they had been doing battle against? And if so, how had he found them here? He didn't seem like he was one of them based on his demeanor and the way that he was dressed, but it was far from impossible.
"... Do you have any idea what time it is? Most people are asleep at five in the morning," V stated plainly, his tone careful but concise. Neither of them had no way of knowing what this individual was capable of, and V didn't intend to be killed or have his new dwelling be leveled by this mysterious stranger. There was simply something about them that immediately put him on edge, and that wasn't something that he was used to. The summoner got the impression that Nero felt something similar to the gut feeling that he did about this unknown individual, but he couldn't exactly communicate with his younger sibling telepathically. That being said, the fact that Nero had a gun pointed at him seemed to allude to the fact that his assumptions about at least one of them were correct.
The man turned his hands outward and slowly lowered them to the same level as his chest, spreading them out to indicate that he was unarmed and meant them no harm. Somehow both of the young descendants of Sparda got the impression that this wasn't because he feared for his safety. No, it was clearly a display of cooperation and nothing more. Neither of them was entirely sure how they knew, but they silently agreed that this being, whoever they were, was entirely capable of handling themselves. Call it a devil hunters intuition.
"Relax… I didn't get up this early to initiate a duel to the death in full view of the public. You can lower your weapon. If I wanted to kill you, I would've done it already."
Nero gave the man a sideways look before hesitantly lowering the weapon. It wasn't so much because he'd been asked to as it was the fact that he actually wanted to see what they were getting at." Yea, that's reassuring. So what's your damage?"
Much to the surprise of both of them, the shrouded figure chucked slightly, his wicked tone carrying more weight than it was probably meant to. His tone wasn't entirely dissimilar to V's although with a more pronounced accent; one that neither of them could really put their finger on. It was just present enough to notice, but not so much so that it dominated his speech patterns and made it easy to pinpoint its place of origin. Still though, it seemed strangely familiar to them.
"Please… let's not open that can of worms. We've only just met. I'm here to collect you. It seems that you have an urgent meeting to attend." He said simply, a humorous tint to his voice. It was clear that he knew something they didn't and he obviously relished in it. Not so much in a smug way. It was more sarcastic than anything else. Simply finding something entertaining that they were not privy to seemed to be something that brought him immeasurable entertainment value. In truth, it was slightly unsettling, especially to V for reasons he couldn't quite place. In some ways, he got the impression that this had been what the people he now considered close friends had probably thought he was like when they'd first met, and he now understood why they had seemingly had such a difficult time trusting him at first. They hadn't needed to say it. Their wary looks and unsure mannerisms had spoken loud and clear. Still, he hoped that they had adjusted to his quirks since then and become more accustomed to dealing with him, because it it was even half as awkward as this was to deal with him on a daily basis, he genuinely pitied them.
The young short-haired devil hunter was more than slightly suspicious, clearly not trusting their new acquaintance. And to be fair, who could blame him for that?" With who? Who the hell are you?"
With a slightly discontent sigh, the man shook his head slowly and reached up to grasp his hood with his hands, pulling it down and off of his head, allowing it to rest on his shoulders. It gave way to a mess of wavy red hair, the length of which was tricky to see in the dim light but it seemed to travel downwards a ways, resting at his chest. Strangely, it was not the regular shade of natural red that Nero was used to seeing someone like Kyrie possess, but a more vibrant shade of blood red that made another feature of his stand out like a sore thumb: his piercing, almost unnaturally light grey eyes. They were almost white with barely any notable pigment present in them. They were not gray with a touch of blue or green or even brown. No, they were pure gray, and almost strangely familiar for reasons that neither of them could pinpoint.
For a moment, Nero considered asking their "guest" if he was wearing contacts or had dyed his hair, but something just told him that that wasn't the case. After all, both he and V possessed an unusual hair color. V's was possibly the single whitest thing he'd ever seen aside from something that had fallen in bleach or acetone by accident. Perhaps it was the extremely fair complexion that the man possessed or something else. He couldn't be sure. All he knew was that he found this entire situation profoundly strange and wanted to find out what was going on as soon as possible.
He remained calm despite the obvious hostility in Nero's tone. After all, there was no reason that he should expect him to trust a total stranger that had just turned up at his door at the crack of dawn demanding to take him elsewhere. Despite the inconvenience it posed him, he couldn't blame them for being slightly hostile towards him. If anything, he was glad that they were even humoring him at all. In his experience, that was a rare thing." Two of your relatives. I'm not entirely sure how you're related. And Magnolia. I couldn't tell you why, but they insisted that we all speak. Somehow I get the impression that this is my doing, but I honestly can't be bothered to care. I should be asleep right now."
There was a part of V that actually agreed with the stranger. They should all be asleep, and the prospect of some sort of emergency meeting in the wee hours of the morning was enough to make him long for the sweet embrace of unconsciousness on the floor of his new home. If he knew Magnolia, then V was willing to trust him somewhat. But he had to confirm that he wasn't lying first." You're acquainted with Magnolia? How so?"
He shrugged." I could ask you the same question. We've known one another for countless years. I can explain once we arrive, but they asked me to make haste. Something about needing to make preparations for a trip."
At that, Nero scoffed slightly. In truth, that made sense to him. While that statement could absolutely be a very skilled bluff, they had decided that they would visit the Guardians and return the Arcana to them after V recovered. Considering what had happened that night, he was willing to imagine that they were probably talking about that trip. But just to be on the safe side, he wasn't going to elaborate on that fact. It was best to not share sensitive information with a total stranger, especially one that could be fishing for information." What do you mean, "countless years"? You can't be any older than we are."
For reasons that were beyond them, he laughed slightly at that statement. V and Nero shared a cautious look with one another, not entirely sure that he was entirely sane." Oh, you have no idea. Now then, shall we go? One of your relatives threatened to behead me when we first met, and I suspect he wasn't joking." He gestured towards the van, the vehicle still parked on the street where they'd left it earlier that day. While V did in fact own a small garage now, hauling boxes all the way from the back of the house hadn't been very conducive to the efficiency of their energy levels." It may be quicker if we drive. By the way, I didn't catch your names. Forgive me."
V crossed his arms slightly, not entirely sure they should be telling him anything. Names were powerful, after all. That was a large part of the reason he didn't tend to tell others what his full name was. But, that being said, the young summoner was inclined to believe that this man had indeed come there on behalf of Magnolia and their father and uncle. There was only one person he knew of who would be unhinged enough to threaten to behead someone the first time they met, and they happened to be related to him.
With a tentative sigh, V gestured towards the man, reaching back to close the front door of the house the rest of the way. He grabbed his cane while he was at it. The long piece of metal had been resting against the wall inside of the entryway. V had to remember to purchase an umbrella stand or something akin to it to store it in when it wasn't in use. He felt more or less fine navigating his own domain without it, but that wasn't strictly the case when he was forced to leave the house. He'd simply tolerated it up until now in the hopes of locating a suitable replacement in the near future. Thankfully that was no longer necessary. Hopefully, he wouldn't need to utilize its alternate purpose.
"Likewise... You can call me V," The summoner said, carefully concealing his uncertainty. He had to remind himself from time to time that he was perfectly capable of taking care of himself. He had done so for years, even before he'd discovered the secrets of his lineage." And that would make you…?"
The young man in the striped coat nodded, placing his left hand behind his back and bowed slightly lower than the average person would, mimicking a more out of date mannerism that his youthful appearance depicted. He rolled his right hand, offering it to V to shake who stared at him for a moment, deeply out of his element. The redhead never broke eye contact, something that the young Descent of the Dark Knight Sparda admittedly found slightly intimidating. He wasn't fond of eye contact, but V got the impression that he had done this song and dance on more than one occasion. He himself didn't possess the center of balance required to do so. Still, he was admittedly slightly charmed by the over the top gesture, his fondness of more antiquated things thoroughly impressed with the greeting. V hesitantly reciprocated the gesture, unaccustomed to physical indications of the sort. It was rare that he ever had to do so.
"Ah yes, where are my manners? My name is Sirrus. The last name is… inconsequential, much as I imagine you'd like to consider your first name." He glanced over at Nero, a placid but purposeful look indicative of the fact that he was here for a reason crossing his visage. Although polite, he was thoroughly sarcastic, a fact that belied his more serious resting facial expression. If anything he seemed somewhat melancholy." And you, my young friend, would be…?"
Nero gave him an unamused look. Oh great, not two overly proper people!" Nero. I'm Nero. I don't do handshakes."
Sirrus stared at him for a moment before cracking a mischievous smile, closing his eyes and allowing his long eyelashes to nearly brush the bottom portion of his face. He chuckled deep in his chest, his lips never parting. He then spoke, his sultry voice caring that same darkness that had been present in all of his conversations." Yes, I can see that. No matter. Shall we proceed, then? The sun will be up soon, and I suspect that may cause problems. Trafic and the like."
The two brothers glanced between one another, somewhat resigned to their fates at this point. It was entirely possible that this was simply a very elaborate ruse designed to trap them or something equally nefarious, but at this point, neither of them really cared. They were more interested in seeing what was truly going on, and he happened to be telling the truth, then it was simply a happy bonus at this point. Otherwise, there would be hell to pay, and the fiery redhead would live to regret the day he tried to lure them into a trap.
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Sorry that the chapter is slightly late! It's been a chaotic day. Thanksgiving dinner ran late, and then I left my job over health and safety concerns. I'll be fine. I'm sure of it. But at the end of the day, my health is more important than minimum wage, even if the job Itself was pretty fun most days. See you all on Wednesday! And please check out my poll for book three! I think you might find it interesting! I also had an illustration done of Sirrus. Been planning this chapter for like two months lol! Links to both will be below! I hope you had a safe and happy holiday. Take care!
Link to picture: redrequiem0/art/08-2020-851324035
Link to Questionnaire: forms/d/16rSk71Zna2uhzGG1CQAxb6I05v6dTv8O8usPxcSUniU/edit?usp=sharing
