Chapter Twenty-Nine: Reappearance

Note: To that random person who gives me Kudos every single chapter… Thank you! I love this little community so much! You're all amazing. It's the little things, you know?

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For close to three days now, the bare walls of the now burned-out structure had been his only company.

Despite the fact that the grocery store had mysteriously caught fire and had swiftly burned down by the time that he had been alerted to the situation, the oldest Son of Sparda had known before he had even arrived what had caused this particular eventuality. But knowing was only half the battle; more like a tenth of it in this case since that didn't do much in the way of explaining where his son and Magnolia's young nephew had disappeared to.

He could smell the sulfur, sense the utter darkness that wafted from within. It was a faint thing that only someone who had spent ample time in the underworld would probably notice. But even though he had been gone for what felt like a lifetime now, that was something that he would never forget. The burning ash that rained down from above, and the frankly astounding amount of smoke in the air had made for a memorable experience, if not a negative one. The fire had been meant to cover up the telltale signs of the spell that had been used here, of that much he was certain.

Belial's domain was so much different from the rest of the underworld in that regard. Although treacherous and utterly defiant towards the concept of producing navigable terrain, the underworld was verdant and lush, producing its own versions of forests and rivers, deserts and mountains. But the devil prince's aura reigned supreme in the depths of his despair-filled circle of hell, and few possessed a reason to venture their willingly.

Oh, how he wished now that he had possessed some form of forewarning about him. It would have saved them all much pain and suffering. For as he stood there pondering the actions that he would have to take soon if nothing here changed, he felt that he could only blame himself and his hubris for the situation that he found himself in now. Why had he wandered to that clearly inhospitable area of the underworld? In retrospect, it hadn't been to hide. It couldn't have been. There had been a thousand better places to accomplish that goal. No, he had been wandering aimlessly, something that he rarely did, and for good reason, if this was the outcome. His thoughtlessness in the past had the potential to cost him dearly in this situation, and all because he had not trusted his intuition and left that place alone. His reckoning had come in a manner far beyond his scope of imagination, and he wasn't sure what else he could do about it. It seemed that his enemy had played his hand, and he had played it very well.

To his understanding, the two of them had come here to buy… something. The Darkslayer hadn't the foggiest idea what. After all, he hadn't been there when they had made the decision to leave and come here. But he wouldn't soon forget how things had played out after their departure. It was seared into his mind like a brand from a hot iron.

Nero had come rushing into the office in a terrible state, completely out of breath and in an obvious panic that he was making virtually no attempt at hiding. The Darkslayer had felt uneasy for reasons that he couldn't explain just before that, and despite Dante's playful if not annoying suggestion that it was probably his personal finances that were causing him so much upset, he had been sure that that hadn't been the source of his unease. There had simply been a mounting sense of dread building in the pit of his stomach, a feeling that he was so unaccustomed to feeling that it had totally blindsided him with its very presence. Contrary to popular belief, he did feel fear. He just refused to acknowledge its presence lest he allow it to control him. Nothing was allowed to override his prevailing sense of morality and logic, but what Nero had said had gone a long way towards undoing that ethos.

Gasping for breath and practically dry-heaving from the tightness that he had felt in his lungs, Nero had practically slammed the door off of its hinges upon entering, something that had earned him a perplexed look from his father, and an immediate look of concern from his uncle. Dante had immediately stood up and gone over to him, seemingly playing little to no mind to the condition of the door. His attention had been fixed on trying to discern what could possibly be going on with his young nephew. This was far from the normal state of affairs.

When Vergil had realized from his younger twin's reaction that this specific behavior was severely abnormal for his youngest child, he had made the mistake of deciding to try and unearth the source of the problem. For all he could have known he might have been injured in some way, or something more complicated could have happened, such as yet another attack on some unsuspecting city. Those had been quite common since his return. Oh, how he had wished that he could have been further off base.

The look of absolute confusion and despair on Nero's face had said everything before he had needed to even open his lips and speak a single word. Even when Nero had faced him down as Urizen, he had been more willfully defiant and forcefully optimistic than frightened, perhaps as a required mindset in order to defeat a foe that he knew outclassed him to such an astounding degree. And in some part due to that, he had prevailed despite the overwhelming gap in their size, power level, and readiness to fight. But the alarming uncertainty that the Darkslayer had seen on display at that moment had been all that it took to be sure that something more was wrong here than he might be expecting.

"Hey, you alright? You look like you just ran a marathon or something." Dante had said almost cautiously, a lighthearted but otherwise serious tone to his voice. Upsetting Nero when he was already on edge could only end in pain and disaster, especially in regards to his office. He couldn't afford more furniture. Dante hadn't seen Nero this riled up since Kyrie had been taken by Agnus several years back. "Do you have any idea how late it is? Shouldn't you be at V's place?"

The eldest of the Dark Knight Sparda's twin sons had looked at him with a similar look of apprehension and caution, concurring with his twin and nodding in agreement. Nero hadn't been this upset since… well, he honestly couldn't say. He was simply very flustered and seemingly- was he frightened? Was that what this was about? What could have caused something like this to happen? Nero was generally unshakable in his assurance that he could handle anything that his wild and chaotic life could throw at him.

"Yes, you seem… What is going on?" Vergil had asked, genuinely curious at that point as to what had gotten him so riled up. Had something unfortunate happened to his lovely domestic partner? Did Nico's wild and chaotic driving finally get the best of them and result in a car accident? In truth, Vergil wasn't sure what else could get his youngest son so riled up.

And then it hit him. He was alone. The dread and anxiety that he felt in the pit of his stomach suddenly washed over him like a tidal wave as he took a slow breath and released it, closing his eyes for a moment as he made eye contact with Nero, the younger man's state now making more sense to him that it had ever before.

"Nero… Where is your brother?" Vergil asked, deep down already knowing the answer.

The almost pained look on his face answered for him. Vergil was positive that something inside him had died at the very moment that he had been forced to watch Nero have that reaction to his question. He understood now. Nero felt helpless. "I… I don't know. He just disappeared. I think something bad happened to him. He's been gone for almost six hours. V and Sirrus went to the store, and they never came back…"

Vergil had stared at him for a moment before standing up and redirecting his attention towards the front door. He stopped briefly to place his palm on Nero's shoulder, unsure of what else he could possibly do to console him. Dante was probably more adept at that sort of thing. And either way, something needed to be done. He called Yamato to him from its place near Dante's desk and pushed the door open, not even bothering to turn around to see where it had gone. He knew it would land in his hand, and it did. "You've done enough, Nero. I'll handle things from here. Thank you for bringing this to my attention."

And with that, he had left, not waiting around to see what either his brother or son would say. He could find out later once he knew where V had gone. There was only one store near his home, from what he knew, and it would not take him very long to get there. And it hadn't, but when he had arrived, all he had found was a burning building and a mess of terrified onlookers screaming about how the store had suddenly gone up in flames with all of them inside. There had been no casualties, but that was beyond his scope of concern. He was here for one reason, and one reason only: V. And he was going to find him and take care of whatever trouble he had managed to stumble his way into.

But he hadn't taken care of it. And that was why he was still here. Waiting. And he did not tolerate lies, especially on his own part. Belial would not make him into a liar today. One way or another, he would locate V, and then he would bring him home where he belonged, for his sake, and Nero's. He utterly refused to give up on either of them, especially if Belial was involved. Condemning them to a fate like that would be his ultimate failure as a parent, and probably in general. But search as he might -and he had exhausted- he could not find any trace or indication of their existence. Aside from a small indication that he had found that magic had been used on the building, there was just… nothing.

He had been standing there now for at least two hours, fully aware of the fact that he probably looked insane to anyone who might be able to see him, but not caring in the slightest. This had nothing to do with any of them, and they would be wise to remember that and stay out of it. He was not some unhinged arsonist coming back to the scene of the crime after the fact. He was… well… a concerned parent searching for their missing child, something that he could not say that he enjoyed being. This was the second time in his life that he had searched exhaustedly for his son, only to come up empty-handed. But this time, he refused to leave until he had either a plan of action, or some indication as to what he needed to do to get him back. V was a very intelligent young man. Perhaps he left a clue of some sort?

As the Darkslayer considered this fact, a tear reminiscent of the one that appeared when they had witnessed Belial speaking to his underling in the abandoned factory appeared, only this one was smaller, no more than eight feet tall, and only about three feet wide. Vibrant white light poured out of the opening, making things difficult to see, but not impossible. He placed his hand on Yamato's hilt, readying himself for a possible attack. He refused to believe that this was just some sort of unlucky coincidence. This had something to do with the reason he was here.

Just a few short moments later two figures poured out of the opening, crashing to the ground in a heap. One of them stated on the ground while the other attempted to make their way over to the phone booth that was no more than ten feet away. After the remaining light died down from the tear being closed, Vergil did a double-take, realizing rapidly that the figure who had just partially collapsed on the sidewalk was V, and neither he nor Sirrus was in very favorable condition.

Before he could manage to collapse entirely, Vergil managed to grab V around the shoulder and lowered him as opposed to allowing him to fall, unsure as to what was actually wrong with him. He went noticeably rigid as he tried to keep him steady, clearly expecting the worse, but a moment later when he turned him over onto his back, an exhausted but relieved look crossed his face. Vergil was going to ask him what had happened, but he never got the chance to.

"We both… Sirrus is hurt… Belial captured us and…" He breathed heavily, pulling in air that didn't seem to satisfy him. Vergil glanced momentarily over at the red-haired young man, noticing that he was indeed bleeding badly. It seemed that they had both managed to become ensnared in one of the devil prince's traps. "We tried to get away… Sirrus saved me and… There were black spikes, and I couldn't leave him there alone…"

Unaware of how entirely delirious and out of his mind he probably sounded, V closed his eyes for a moment before his breathing stilled. It became shallow, more than likely weakening due to his less than favorable state. It was then that Vergil noticed that V too was bleeding badly. Nowhere near as bad as Sirrus, but still heavily. The deep cut and smaller puncture wound had a perimeter of black liquid around them, a trademark of one of Belial's signature attacks. Vergil felt himself grow visibly paler. That was not a good sign. The devil prince secreted a black, toxic liquid not dissimilar to that of what they found around the corrupted conduit back when they had gone to rescue V, and anything that he managed to get into the bloodstream of… He doubted that either of them would fare well with that in their systems. That was, if they didn't bleed to death first. This was not good.

They both needed to get to Magnolia. Now.

Vergil allowed V to gently rest against the pavement, very clearly unconscious now. Probably for the best, all things considered. It was a wonder that he had been able to speak at all, given his physical state. Vergil himself had not fared so well when he had gone up against Belial and come in contact with his toxin. And even then, he had done better than most. Apparently most went insane as a side effect, even if only temporarily.

Standing up, he removed Yamato from its sheath and slashed it across the space in front of him, opening a slightly larger portal than he normally did. He then returned the blade to its rightful resting place, and turned around to face the both of them. It didn't take much to figure out that he was running out of time in this particular situation, and that Magnolia was not going to be pleased by this turn of events. She had been hoping for a favorable outcome from the moment that he had informed her of the situation. Oh, how he didn't like the concept of having to inform her of her nephew's condition.

(-~-)

Everything was quiet now, unlike when he had arrived. The horrified, agonized look on Magnolia's lovely face as she had seen the sorry state that they were both in was enough in of itself to make him want to kill… something. He wasn't sure what that would fix, and he didn't care. It would just make him feel better to break every bone in the body of some unsuspecting demon for having the audacity to even remind him of his foe.

Magnolia had managed to stop the bleeding, but she wouldn't give him an answer as to what she thought their odds of survival were. It was apparently one of those "wait and see" situations that he disliked so passionately. There was just far too much at stake in this situation for both of them, and her silent, almost mournful observation of them both did little to ease his concerns. Her hands seemed to shake slightly as she tried her best to do something more to help make them more comfortable, but for the moment, they were both unconscious, and all she had been able to do was administer something to them that she said might be able to counteract the toxins. She had been in the process of preparing more of the solution when he had requested that she allow him to use her phone, something that turned her head in surprise despite the situation at hand. Apparently, she had caught wind of his complete and utter lack of ability to properly use technology.

"Come to Magnolia's house." He said flatly through gritted teeth. And then he hung up the phone. There was nothing more to say. He was beyond words at this point. Dante would see soon enough. He had no idea how his twin would get there, but he was sure he could figure it out. And he didn't even want to call Nero, but he knew he had to.

Seeing his reaction from a few feet away, Magnolia joined him, her pain replaced by a look of cold rage on her face. She was angry enough to kill by this point, but she was holding herself together amicably, fully aware of the fact that she was probably the only one present who had the power to do anything to help either of them in this sort of condition. "So what are you planning to do about this, Vergil? Because I know what I have in mind. I'd like to know if we are on the same page."

"Why would you even ask me that? It should be obvious." He said calmly, seething rage and utter hatred and contempt ligning every fiber of muscle in his body, and replacing the very blood in his veins with venom. It had been a long time since he had been this furious, this incensed. A very very long time indeed. And there would be hell to pay for it. He would make sure of it. Of that, there was no doubt. It was the only path forward against an utterly depraved act such as this. Lessons were going to be taught, one way or another.

"Because I was hoping you would say that." A wicked, hateful smile crossed her face. "It's time to pay my extended family a visit. We have work to do."

He turned away from her, looking over at V as he laid unconscious in the bed, far too near to death's door for his liking. This was easily the worst he had seen him look in recent memory, even when the cult's attack was taken into consideration. Too many times he had seen him in this sort of condition. Too many times Belial had made the mistake of thinking that he could continue to endanger or even threaten his life. And too many times he had allowed it. That came to a stop here and now. This would be the last time that V found himself in this condition due to something that that petulant brat did to him. His sons would no longer be at his mercy. The games were over.

"Excellent. Because I'm going to destroy him, Magnolia. He had better hope for his sake that his arrangements are already in order."

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I got another update on the cover art today! It's FANTASTIC! Such a unique design, omg! I think you're all going to love it! I don't think I've ever seen a book cover done quite like this, so fingers crossed it turns out well!

I guess Dante got Mundus, and Sparda got… well, Mundus again, but also Argosax. It's Vergil's turn now. So glad that I was able to get this chapter out on time! I was worried I would have to cancel until next week but I pulled through! Here's to hoping that it was worth it and that you enjoyed reading it! See you in the comments!