Dante pulls up outside of Vergil's house and turns off the car. They sit in silence for a long moment before he says, "Thanks again for what you did back there."
"You're welcome."
His brother's voice shakes a bit, but it seems like he's holding onto control, even if it's barely. Which is something at least. "It's funny," Dante jokes, "you've used Summoned Swords on me half a dozen times at least, and this might be the first time you used it to save me."
"Summoned Swords," Vergil murmurs. "Is that what that's called?"
"It's what you called it in my world. Although it's a bit different there."
Vergil nods, and silence settles again. Dante scratches his chin as he searches for what to say. "You know, Nero can do it too. Surprised the hell out of me the first time I saw it."
"Nero." Vergil turns his face to the window. "I should get inside."
"Yeah. But, Verge…" Dante sighs as Vergil looks back at him. It is obvious his brother needs him now: he needs comfort, reassurance, something to help him process everything and come to terms with the truth. He needs wisdom. He needs tact and compassion.
Damn it all. "I'll pick you up in the morning," Dante says. "Then we'll look for dad."
"Yeah."
Vergil reaches for the car door and Dante blurts out, "Don't worry about anything. We'll find him. And if any demons show up, you can use Yamato. You're a better fighter than I am, so you'll be fine."
"I'm not a swordsman, Dante," he grumbles. "I haven't fought with anyone since we were children."
"But you can. And Mary can too. She's a way more successful demon hunter than I am." Vergil frowns at him, but Dante continues, encouraged, "She kicked both our asses. She's always got some demon on the run, knows how to use dozens of weapons and make her own even. And Nero? He's got all kinds of crazy power. He was demon hunting before he even knew how."
"Nero's just a child."
"Yeah, here he is, but in my time, he's older, and I've seen him in action. Took down a whole evil god robot once." Vergil huffs and shakes his head as Dante leans his elbow on the steering wheel. "I'm just saying, you don't have to worry. You didn't think you could fight but then you skewered that guy. So trust that they can handle themselves. And your V, Vitale? He's not… I don't know him, he's not from where I'm from, but if he's anything like you, then he's got this too."
Vergil glances at him briefly before nodding. Then he opens the car door and climbs out, and Dante watches as he hurries up the driveway to his front door, still clutching the sword.
Dante heaves a long sigh before starting the car again. On the drive to home, he wonders what he's going to do about Lir. He's still not entirely sure she's not a demon too, so if he comes clean with her, there's no telling she won't attack him just like the bar waitress.
His questions are answered when he walks in the front door. "Dante? Dante!" Lir practically runs to greet him from the kitchen. "There you are! What happened? Are you okay?"
Before he can answer she pulls him into a hug, forcing him to bend over so she can press her cheek to his. "Dante," she murmurs, and he feels a pang of guilt as he returns the hug. "I was so worried."
"I'm okay." He eases up and pushes her hair back from her face. "Why were you worried?"
"Your mom called all frantic. She said your father ran off and broke a window and in his study… there was…" Lir's voice trails away as she examines his front, and Dante glances down. There are splatters of blood on his jacket and shirt, and he steps back as she gapes. "She said there was blood on the floor. What happened?"
Her eyes are wide with alarm as they rise to meet his. "Let me get cleaned up and I'll explain."
Dante eases past her and heads to the kitchen. Lir follows, hanging back in the doorway as he moves to the sink. He uses the minute to think as he runs his hands under the hot water, taking a few pumps of dish soap to clean the blood away. He shuts off the faucet and grabs a dish towel, drying them as he turns to face her.
He leans against the kitchen counter and swallows thickly. "Mom was upset, huh?"
"Very." Lir takes a step closer before hesitating. "What happened?"
"We… fought. It's fine," he says hurriedly, holding up a palm as she opens her mouth. "My dad's been keeping secrets and I confronted him. It didn't go well."
"Secrets?" she asks. "What kind of secrets?"
Dante folds his arms with a sigh. "He's not who he says he is. He's… something else."
"Something else? What does that mean?"
"It means he's not human."
He waits for a long moment to let the news absorb. Lir stares at him with wide eyes, and he notices how her fingers tremble as she reaches out to brace against one of the chairs at the little breakfast table. "He's not human," she murmurs.
Dante nods and she tilts her head towards him. "And the blood?"
He glances down at his soiled shirt. "That was my mistake. Dad was lying and I wanted him to tell Vergil the truth. So I stabbed him with a sword."
"You stabbed him?"
"Yeah. He was fine though. Got right up." Dante chuckles. "Shoulda seen the look on his face. Serves the old man right. He kept refusing to come clean, and I—"
"Dante." His mouth snaps shut as she sinks into the chair, looking pale. "I don't understand any of this."
"If it makes you feel any better, this isn't all his blood." Lir looks up sharply as he spreads his arms. "Vergil and I got a drink afterwards and got attacked by a couple of demons in the bar. Had to kill a waitress and all I had was a chair leg, if you can believe it. Luckily Vergil came through. Wasn't that bad, he killed the bartender."
"You killed a waitress?"
Dante winces. "Okay, it sounds really bad when you say it like that. But they were demons, I swear." He starts to walk towards her, and Lir scrambles up, pressing back against the wall. The fear on her face makes him freeze, and he watches as her eyes start to tear up. "Hey, relax. Really. It's gonna be fine."
He takes another step and Lir launches herself across the kitchen, diving for the knife block. She pulls a long bread knife from its slot and spins, holding it out like a magic wand as if to ward him off. "Don't come any closer!" she shrieks.
"Okay. Obviously I'm telling this story wrong." Dante holds up his palms. "I'm not gonna hurt you. See?"
"You're crazy!" she cries. "Demons? Killing?" He rolls his eyes and she shakes her head furiously. "Stay away from me!"
She steps to the side, keeping pressed against the counter, as she fishes her cell phone from her pocket. Dante frowns as she swipes it on. "What are you doing?"
"I'm calling the police."
Her voice has an edge now, and Dante can see she's a dangerous mixture of frightened and furious. "I'll just go," he suggests.
Lir shoots him a look to kill as she raises the phone to her ear. "Hello? Yes? Yes, I need the police, my husband—"
As she speaks, something catches Dante's attention, like a pinprick on his neck. His head turns just as the ceiling explodes in a shower of drywall, the window shattering as something breaks through. Lir screams and he sees her drop the phone in the corner of his eye, and Dante steps between her and the two demons that now stand towering in their kitchen.
He looks up at the hole in the ceiling and grits his teeth when he sees the sky. "We have a fucking door you know," he growls.
"Dante!"
Lir's voice is wild with panic, and he holds out a hand. He curses silently, knowing her being here is going to just make this harder. It's bad enough to fight a demon when a human is around, but now his instinct to protect her is screaming loud enough in his head to drown out any reason. He's got to get her safe, and then he can deal with them.
"Lir, I want you to run."
"What?"
"Get to the front door and run. Now!"
He doesn't know if she obeys because at that moment they advance. Once again he tries to summon Rebellion, and again he realizes he's left it in the damn car. Two sets of teeth and four sets of claws come for him with a screech, and then Dante is dodging, throwing one punch after another as he tries to make a plan. One of the demons picks up the toaster and throws it at him, making him duck. It sails over his head and implants into the wall behind him. "What the hell!"
One of the demons grabs his leg, pulling him to the ground. Dante lurches to the counter as he falls and grabs a drawer, yanking it free with one pull. He prays it has something he can use, but inside are dish towels. "Damn it," he mutters, but he swings the drawer, which breaks with a spray of splinters as it hits one demon full on the face. It falls back and lets his leg go, and Dante scrambles to his feet, pulling open another cabinet.
This one has plates at least, so he grabs the stack and throws them one by one at the other demon. They explode in its face, the porcelain shattering loudly as it falls in pieces to the floor, but they disorient it enough that Dante can deliver a kick that sends it sailing across the kitchen. Before the two demons can recover, he lunges at the knife block, and with a steak knife in each hand, he quickly dispatches them both, slitting their heads open, both collapsing in a pool of dark blood.
Dante catches his breath and drops the two knives in the sink. When he turns, he finds Lir on the ground, her knees drawn up as she gapes at him.
"Lir…" he murmurs with a wince. They stare at each other for a long moment, and he takes in the pieces of drywall stuck in her hair, the way her shoulders shake, the bright flush on her face. But she's alive, that's all that matters. The rest of this shit he can explain, and fix, and make up to her.
Just then, there is the sound of someone talking, and they both look down at the phone on the ground. It looks like it takes a half minute for her to remember what it is, but then she jerks it up to her ear. "Hello? Hello, yes I'm here. No, no, everything's fine." Her eyes are wide as they take in the mess now that it's settled, but her voice is steady. "I thought my husband was hurt, but he's fine. A cabinet fell over in the kitchen, that was all the commotion. I'm so sorry." She listens for a moment and then says, "Really, it's not necessary. We're fine."
Dante takes a deep breath as she finishes the call, looking out the hole in the wall where the window used to be. He scans the darkness for any more demons, but his senses don't pick anything else up. Lir says goodbye, and he glances over as she presses a finger to the screen before slowly setting the phone on the ground.
Their gazes connect, and he feels a twist in his chest as he sees tears swimming in her eyes. But then Lir scrambles towards him, and he catches her in a tight hug, her face pressed to his neck. Dante gives a small smile as he holds her closely, rubbing a soothing hand on her back as her breath shakes against his skin.
"So that's everything." Dante looks over at the passenger side, where Lir stares straight ahead. "Sorry I didn't tell you earlier."
Her eyes fall to where her hands sit in her lap. "So you're not Dante? My husband?"
"I guess not," he replies. "I mean, I'm Dante, but I don't know if I'm him or if he's me or if…" He rubs his face and glances at the clock on the dashboard which shows it's nearly midnight. The gas station they had pulled into is deserted, and the light from the shelters over the pumps gives enough light that he can see the pained expression on her face. "Sorry. I keep saying the wrong thing. And uh, I guess I should apologize… for the other night—"
"No, it's…" She glances over, almost shyly, and Dante's heart skips a beat. "You're still him, just not him him. I think."
"Right." He chuckles humorlessly with a half smile. "You hungry?"
Lir shakes her head. "Not really. I'm exhausted."
"Let's get some rest then." He starts the car and pulls out of the parking lot, heading down the nearly empty street. After a few turns he finds a little motel, and Lir luckily doesn't argue when he parks. She stops to grab the bag she had packed in haste before they fled the house as he heads into the office, emerging a minute later with a room key. "Funny, the guy didn't blink twice even though I'm a mess," he jokes.
Dante grabs Rebellion from the trunk, remembering this time, before he leads her to room six. But he hesitates when he slides the key into the lock. "I guess I should have gotten two rooms?" he murmurs.
"No. I don't want to be alone." She presses her hand on his back lightly. "It's fine."
He nods as they enter, flicking on the lights as Lir follows inside. There is a Queen-sized bed in the middle, a television, a chair and table, and Lir shrugs off her jacket before opening the bag. She pulls out a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, holding them out to him. "Do you want to get cleaned up?"
"Yeah." Lir doesn't look up at him as he takes the clothes, and not knowing what else to say, he heads into the bathroom.
His reflection is a mess, his hair sticky strands covered in blood and dirt. His face and neck aren't much better, and as he strips off his clothes, he thinks about what he must have looked like arriving home like that. "This is why I never got married," he mutters to himself as he turns on the faucet. "Too much trouble."
His dialogue continues as he starts the shower and unwraps the little bar of free soap, listing the reasons why a relationship and marriage don't mix with demon hunting: too much blood. Too much laundry. Too many questions. Weapons. Blood. Death.
He leans his forearm on the tile, watching as red swirls around the drain until the water goes clear. Stupid fucking wish, he thinks. This life he had always wanted? It's not possible, and he needs to accept that and move on. He had no idea what he was asking for, Dante realizes.
It makes sense, really, he tells himself as he towels off. After all, Lady didn't have anybody. Neither did Trish. Whoever Nero's mother was, it couldn't have lasted long before Vergil was gone, if his brother even knew he had a kid in the first place. Too much liability when you have someone in your life. He remembers Lir's scream as the demons crashed into their home, the way the fear hit in a way he hadn't experienced in a long, long time. But Nero has managed it, hasn't he? He has Kyrie, and goes home to her every night, blood and guts and all. Dante frowns, wondering if it's not meant to last. It would kill the kid to lose her.
Sparda, Vergil, him, now Nero… their whole family, one after another, losing someone close before disappearing too. Like some big cosmic joke.
Lir is curled up on the pillows, the lights off and the television on. She pulls back the covers when he climbs up to join her, and Dante smiles a bit when she repositions herself with her head on his chest and her arms tightly wrapped around him. "This okay?" she asks.
"Yeah," he whispers.
"I'm sorry I didn't believe you."
Dante snorts. "Nah. It's a crazy story, I know."
"I pulled a knife on you."
"Not the first time someone's done that."
Lir stiffens a bit before lifting her head. She looks at him sadly, but he grins. "Don't worry about it."
"You didn't tell me who I am," she says.
Dante glances away with a shrug. "I don't know you in my time. We never met."
"Oh." She lays her head back down against his shoulder, and Dante settles his hand on her hip. "I'm glad we got to meet here."
"Yeah, me too."
Dante listens as Lir's breathing goes steady, her body sinking against him as she falls asleep. He stays awake, watching the light behind the curtain grow darker before slowly turning gray. By the time the sun comes up, his decision is made.