Well I'll Be Damned

Chapter 2: Surprises

"He said Vergil. I heard him. Who's Vergil?" Nero asked Trish and Lady. He had called them to the empty hallway to talk privately. He knew these two have known Dante long enough to have answers, because he could sense that there was something off about Dante tonight.

He held back a tiny detail though – that upon saying that name, he thought he saw Dante's eyes glisten. He got distracted that time so he wasn't really sure. Not just distracted, actually, more like worried, when the Yamato in his hands lit up the same color as the blue crystal Urizen dust in the air.

A lot happened that time – his right arm grew back along with some kind of wing-claws over his shoulders, the same time that his body changed into a more demonic form just like Dante's. It was after being overcome by feelings of helplessness from losing his arm that easily, amplified by the man he looked up to calling him a deadweight, mixed with the determination to put a stop to the blood-sucking massacre he saw on the streets earlier.

So, what happened with the Yamato, he merely shrugged it off as one of the unexplainable yet harmless things that happened tonight. Anyway, the color of the light that the sword gave off was similar to his new spectral wings, so he figured it must be related to that.

When he turned back to Dante that time, the latter was already walking away. Then Nero got preoccupied with searching for V, because last he remembered, the frail-looking man was pulling him to safety, but he kind of shoved him away to rush towards Urizen and Dante instead.

"Vergil," Trish finally answered, bringing Nero back from his thoughts, "is Dante's twin brother."

Then it finally clicked. He remembered Dante saying a few years ago that the Yamato belonged to his brother. The way Dante said it, though, Nero thought that this brother was already dead.

But then a few days ago, there was this demon who barged into his garage and –now that it makes sense— he could recall him saying something like "I'm taking this back."

"So that demon was Vergil all along?" It was Lady who voiced the same conclusion that Nero had. She had a hint of contempt on her face, though.

"I wasn't so sure but I sensed a familiarity," Trish confirmed.

"Fuck, so I helped kill Dante's brother," was all Nero could think of now. Despite the way he sometimes talked to the older devil hunter, he respected him so much that he considered him as a mentor, or even a father figure. How would Dante treat him now? He has to apologize at least, or-

It was when Trish put a hand on his shoulder that he realized he was already heading for the door. "I think it'd be better to give him some space, kid."

"I think she has a point, Nero," Lady agreed. "When I first met Dante, the whole thing ended up with him losing his brother, or at least that was what he thought. And he had the same look as he had earlier."

"But I-"

"He needs time," Trish stated, as if speaking from experience. "Leave the man alone for at least a week."

"Did you also-?" Even with little information he has about Dante, Nero knew that he met Lady years before he met Trish. So the way she said it led Nero into thinking that there was more to this.

"Yes," Trish cut him again as if she could read his mind. "These are things that he should be the one to tell you about, but I doubt that the day he'll ever be open about it will come so... Yes, when I met him, he also had to fight his brother, who was being controlled by Mundus at that time. And he..." she took a breath, as if the rest was difficult to say. "Dante killed his brother before finding out it was him. Or at least that's what he thought he did."

"The fuck, so it happened twice before?" Nero exclaimed.

"Poor guy going through it over and over again, but he has his own way of coping, trust me," Trish reassured.

But it wasn't enough. All that was running through Nero's head was that he helped make the third time happen, and he even basked in Urizen's defeat because the bastard ripped his arm off.

Dante might be the most resilient person he knows – since the first time they met he slammed his fist into the guy's face like ten times before throwing his sword onto his chest – but this...

This was too much. Who would've thought that the old man had such a dark past? And Nero helped history to repeat itself. Fuck.

Nero gritted his teeth and hit the wall beside him with his fist. He knew the feeling of losing a brother – Credo, and the fact that he was not able to save him still haunts him even now. But it wasn't as close to how Dante must be feeling, having thought he was responsible for his brother's death thrice. The first two might not have been really Vergil's death, but this time it clearly happened, with the big guy crumbling into crystalline ashes in front of them both.

Overcome by guilt or concern – he really didn't know – Nero fled out of Morrison's place and went straight to Dante's.

##

##

Nero really did not think this through. He just ran and jumped on roofs, thanks to his new wing-arms that made it easier. He arrived at the Devil May Cry in just a few minutes. The whole time, he was holding the Yamato, which helped keep the same thoughts spiraling in his mind.

The neon sign was off, and so were the lights when he barged in, but he was forced to stop by the door when a bullet hit the floor an inch away from his foot.

"Oh, Nero! Sorry I didn't notice it was you," he heard Dante's cheerful voice from the couch near the stairs.

If Dante didn't look a bit like a mess, Nero would've gotten angry at that dangerous kind of a welcome. He immediately spotted two empty whiskey bottles on the floor near the couch, so the guy must be pretty wasted by now, but his senses were still that alert. It probably had something to do with demonic metabolism.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were at Morrison's," he said casually before standing up and grabbing his red coat by his feet.

Nero found it weird why Dante would have to wear his coat just to welcome him in his office, but after noticing the bullet shells on the floor that Dante shoved under the couch with his foot and some holes on Dante's black shirt that the coat was not able to hide, Nero could only say his word of the day, "Fuck."

"Want some pizza?" Dante offered gleefully as he turned on the lights and moved to his desk.

"Cut the crap, Dante. That's unhealthy."

"What, pizza?"

"Your coping mechanism."

"Huh?"

"You can be honest with me, damn it!" Nero could feel his stomach clenching with guilt.

Dante was silent. He kept himself busy with a pizza slice as he sat on his chair

"I-I'm sorry," Nero then blurted out. He didn't know if this was a good start but he just couldn't contain it. "We... killed your brother," he said in a soft voice, as if saying it that way would reduce the pain it might bring.

"What are you talking about? He's not my brother." Dante laughed. "That garbage god is just-"

"Damn it, Dante, denial won't make it easier!"

That seemed to have ticked him somehow because he dropped his pizza and said "I'm not denying it!" His tone changed back immediately, his control on his emotions evident. "Well, technically, he's just half of him..." He snorted, as if contradicting himself, and muttered, "Yeah, right."

"Wh-what are you talking about?"

"I only killed the evil part of him." Dante chuckled before going to the bar to get another drink. He busied himself with preparing two glasses of whiskey on his desk so his focus was on the task and not on his words. "That makes it a bit less bad, right? Though I don't know what happened to V. If he also... disappeared, then-"

"What?" Confusion made Nero impatient. "What has V got to do with it?"

As if he let some sort of secret slip, Dante bit his lip before sighing and pushing one glass towards Nero's direction. "V and Urizen, they are... Vergil cut out the humanity in him, it became V, then all the demon that's left was Urizen." He tried to explain as briefly as possible before sitting and drinking.

"What? So the whole time V was..." Nero was on the verge of feeling betrayed.

"Hey, don't blame the guy. You wouldn't trust him if he introduced himself as half of the guy who tore your arm off, right?" Dante chuckled as he explained. He made sense, though. "He came to me to stop his other half so I think he's not that bad." He fiddled with his now-empty glass before looking at Nero and noticing what he was holding.

It was only then when Nero realized that he hasn't moved since first arriving here. He walked towards Dante and placed the Yamato on the desk. "I think I should return this."

"Keep it, kid. You've had it for years."

"It's not that." Nero really did not plan what to say on his way here. "I'm sorry. I feel like— I'm just— I'm sorry."

"Dammit, Nero! Stop apologizing." Quickly calming down, Dante pinched the bridge of his nose and added, "If anything, I should be the one to apologize, you know."

Another confusing thing Nero heard tonight.

Dante took a deep breath before facing him and saying, "He's your father."

"What?" Did he hear it correctly? Nero doubted his ears.

"I had a feeling the first time I saw you, but I just wasn't sure. And then I saw how the Yamato reacted...and I was certain." He repeated what Nero wanted to confirm. "He's your father."

The whole time, it was Dante who kept his eyes on him, while Nero could only look down as he processed everything.

"So if you're gonna keep apologizing for helping me kill my brother, then I guess I owe you one for actually killing your father." Dante stabbed both of them with those words.

"Then why didn't you say anything?!" Nero's confusion turned into anger – the one which he found easier to handle.

Dante somehow levelled with him. "You think that would make it easier for you? 'Hey Nero, this demon who ripped your arm off is your father! Don't worry though, I got this.'" He didn't know that Dante could pull off sarcasm.

"No, back then when we-"

"You think I can proudly tell you I'm your uncle when I know for a fact that it was my fault that you grew up without a father?"

That's right, Dante blamed himself. Nero remembered what he learned from Trish and Lady earlier. This made the younger devil hunter consider his next words. He could not turn to his usual fist rampage, so his clenched hands were shaking in restraint.

And that was when he realized something. His tone was completely different when he asked, "Dante, when demons or half-demons die, their weapons don't disappear right?" He threw a glance at the Yamato.

Dante seemed to be caught off-guard with this sudden change of topic.

"If V uhm, scattered like Urizen did, then I should've found his cane there. Or at least his book." Nero's enthusiasm was growing but he tried his best to choose his words. "If he, uh, died like a normal human being, then his body would be there."

"Where are you going with this?"

"If I can't find his body or his cane or his book there, that means he's alive!" Nero thought he got a bit childish right here. He was already planning the next day, where he would go, who he would ask, what places he would check.

"Kid, I don't want you to-"

"It's not false hope. The longer I can't find him, the more hope there is that he's still alive out there."

Dante shook his head and laughed. "You continue to amaze me, kid."

Even Nero didn't know where this optimism would lead him, but he sure wanted Dante to stop blaming himself, and, in the process, find his own father... even the human half that remains of him.

As long as he doesn't see V's body, or cane, or book, there's hope.

##

##

And Nero has been hoping for two months now.

His mind drifted to that night he had a rather embarrassing honest talk with Dante. To his uncle, though, it was as if it never happened. Either the fucker was really good at masking his feelings or he was so drunk –from almost three bottles of whiskey— that he didn't remember anything they talked about.

He was glad to have an uncle now, though. And the fact that Dante sometimes refers to himself as his uncle, means he remembers their talk. Asshole's probably just too embarrassed to admit.

"Earth to Nero!" Nico pulled him from his thoughts.

"Yeah, I'm listening." He tried to fool her with the bits he could remember. "This new book you said, kept you awake all night. Too good to let go. Made you cry at some parts even though you hate sappy shit."

"Yeah, if it weren't for you calling me here early to be your pet mechanic then I would've finished it already." She placed her tall mug of coffee on the van's table to get her book from the driver's seat. Then she plopped down on the couch and started flipping the pages.

Nero was on the other side, disassembling Blue Rose on the table for its routine maintenance.

For all the smart inventions she had, Nico seemed to be lacking the sense to use a bookmark, because she has been flipping through the pages for a while now, and that gave her time to talk some more and drink her coffee alternately.

"I'm tellin' ya, since that demonic tree started sprouting, people are getting more aware about the existence of demons. Even this guy wrote a book about it." She took a sip of her coffee before continuing, "And man, this is absolutely amazing! A true work of art! This Vergil guy is so-"

"Vergil?" Nero dropped everything to look at Nico.

"Yeah, the main character."

Her reply was sort of a disappointment, but when he noticed the familiar "V" insignia at the back cover of the book, he couldn't help but grab it from her.

"What the-"

"Who wrote this?" Nero asked but his hands were not patient enough for her answer. He was not a fan of novels but somehow his instincts told him that the author's bio was usually found at the back page.

And there he saw the name and the photo.

"Well I'll be damned."

##

##

##

Notes:

Title call! XD

This was a bit heavy but I hope the last part made up for it.

What do you think will happen next? ^_^