Well I'll Be Damned

Chapter 3: There's No Need for Us to Catch Up

After finding out about V, Nero enlisted Nico's help to locate the guy.

She was more than happy to comply, seeing as how she was a fan of his novel. Learning that V has also published two poetry collections made the girl all the more eager to meet him.

And within a few minutes of hitting the keys on her laptop, she was able to present Nero with V's schedule for this week.

"God, Nico, you have what it takes to be a stalker." Nero laughed.

"Dumbass," she snorted. "The guy's kinda a celebrity now. It was easy enough."

She took back the device and browsed through some of V's pictures. "Sick tats! Why didn't you tell me you knew a guy like this."

"I barely knew him. I just ran off with him remember?" Nero recalled how mad Kyrie got when he returned after running off with V without a word. But when he noticed how Nico's jaws were dropping while looking at the screen –probably still V's photos— he knew he had to stop her. "Don't go crushing on him," he said as he lowered the laptop screen. "It'd be weird."

"Why? Ya like him?" she teased.

"The hell!" He snorted. He thought for a second, before deciding that it would be harmless and easier to tell her what he knows. "That guy's my father." He rubbed his nose as if to wipe away the shyness.

"Well ya look nothin' alike!" She laughed. "And he looks too young to have a son your age."

"It's a long story. That's not how he really looks like." That got Nero to realize that he had no idea about Vergil's looks. Dante probably had no photos of him too.

He felt a little sad that he will never see how his father truly looked like. As an orphan, he never experienced receiving comments such as "You have your mother's nose" or "You have the same smile as your father".

But then again, they said that Dante and Vergil were twins, so... Were they even identical twins? Back when he still thought that Dante was his father, he figured that his white hair and blue eyes were inherited from him. Did Vergil have them too? He recalled Dante's other features but he could only picture his shit-eating grins. Before his mind could face-app Dante any further, Nico's comments caught him.

"You mean this super sassy sexy look's all fake?"

"No- Dammit, don't talk about him like that." He knew she was just teasing him yet he couldn't help but fall for it. "He's like my old man's human persona. I don't know much about him, that's why I wanted to meet him in the first place!"

Nico found it a gold mine so she had to tease him some more before they both decided to try to meet V today. Luckily for them, V had a book-signing event this afternoon in a city just a bridge and an hour away.

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When they arrived at the place –a classy-looking bookstore— Nero saw the man he had been searching for these past two months. He was wearing a simple black V-neck sweater with sleeves partially pulled up, revealing the tattoos on his neck and forearms. His hair was partly tied back but there were still a lot of strands that seemed to land softly on his face, some covering his eyes a little.

Nico pulled him to the line, holding her book like a giddy kid, but it didn't stop him from staring at V. The black-haired man flashed a thin smile to every fan that approached him and talked in his usual melodic voice, and Nero couldn't help but smirk at how some of the female fans were holding back their squeals. "What, ya proud of your hot daddy?" Nico teased, to which Nero only replied "Shut up."

When it was finally their turn, Nico went on to fan-girl a bit on V and Nero just stood beside her, waiting for the man to finally recognize him.

"Nero?"

"Glad you still remember me." The lad smirked. "Can we uh, talk after this?"

"There's no need for us to catch up." Why was he being dismissive? Is this also why he left Qliphoth without a word?

"I know about Vergil."

"Thank you for reading my work, then."

"No, about you and Urizen." That seemed to catch his attention enough, so Nero added, "Heard it from Dante."

"So you want retribution for your arm?" V kept his cool despite his words sounding like a challenge.

Nero chuckled. "No, it's all in the past. I got it back." He showed him his right arm. "Along with two spectral ones."

V just made a sound of acknowledgement.

"I have something to tell you, though. It's not easy to." He glanced around.

V must've assumed that it was something about their demonic background, so he reluctantly agreed. "Fine. Meet me at the café across the street in an hour."

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Nero managed to convince Nico to wait in the van. He didn't actually know how he would tell V what he wanted to tell him, so he figured, fuck it, just wing it.

He got a bit surprised when V just sat on the chair across him, no waving or calling him out like how people usually meet up in places like this. Though it must've been easy to spot him in a crowd anyway, with his hair being white and all, and V had always been not the enthusiastic type.

When they have settled down –with V having ordered black coffee and a slice of triple chocolate cake for each of them— that was when Nero started with "So you both have a sweet tooth." It earned him a smirk from the man. He must've known who Nero was talking about.

Before he could continue, though, two young ladies approached their table. Probably a few years younger than himself, Nero guessed.

"Excuse me, you are V, right?" and they squealed when V nodded. "Can you sign this please?" They each brought out a magazine, both of which V's photo was on the cover.

Nero almost choked with his drink. So that's why Nico was saying those stuff earlier – this guy did not only write a novel or poems, he was also a model!

"Can we also have a selfie?" V stood up and the girls sandwiched him, wrapped an arm on each of his arms, made a pose and took about 5 photos in a second – the shutter sound gave them away.

Nero tried to stifle a chuckle as V returned to his seat looking rather embarrassed. "Sorry about that."

"Wow, you are famous," was the comment he managed.

"No," V did not seem to indulge in his popularity. His eyes were locked on his cake as he spoke, "It was the first job that Manager offered me." It amused Nero that V was compelled to explain. "I figured, if I were to live as a human, I would need a stable income. I'm not really into it but it keeps me fed while I haven't gotten new ideas to write. Besides, it did not seem likely for someone like me to get an office job. I spent around 20 years in the Underworld. Technology, I can learn, but official records and my identity, that would be a problem. I haven't found a guy for that yet."

Nero chuckled as he learned another thing about his father: he seemed more introverted than Dante, but more likely to think things through.

"This manager," Nero asked. "Do they know about you?"

"I met her when I saved her from some lesser demons in Red Grave, so she knows about-" He pointed the tattoos on his arm.

"So she met the noisy chicken!" Nero laughed and a smile made its way to V's face.

"I cannot summon him in a place like this but he sure has a reply." V then shifted into a more serious tone. "Since we are on the topic of demons, I have to ask, did you not destroy the Qliphoth roots from the Underworld itself?"

"Uh, we blasted the whole thing but we did not go to the Underworld for it, why?"

V hummed in acknowledgement. "No wonder I encounter demons there from time to time."

"What do you mean?"

"Although the tree is no longer growing and sucking human blood, the remaining part of the roots present in the Underworld must still be working as a passageway for demons."

"Wait, isn't that dangerous to be left as is?" was Nero's concern.

"It might be, depending on the size of the rift. If it is too small, only lesser demons could pass, but if it gets bigger, especially with the intervention of someone with vile intentions, it could cause an outbreak of more powerful demons," V calmly explained. "It would be best if you tell Dante to cut it properly from the Underworld. I'm sure he can find a way to traverse even without the Yamato."

"We have the Yamato."

And V froze for a few seconds before calmly saying, "I see."

Nero then explained what happened when he fought Urizen.

"The Yamato must have chosen to protect you over obeying Urizen's command to kill you," V concluded. "I find it odd, though, that the Yamato would grow more attached to its temporary keeper and not Vergil."

This was when Nero found an opening to say, "Maybe it's because it knows that I'm Vergil's son." It made sense to him now, why the Yamato also protected him back then in Fortuna Castle.

V, on the other hand, looked utterly surprised. It was the first time Nero saw him out of his collected expression. Then everything seemed to make sense to him too, as he slowly regained his composure.

There was a moment of silence as V dwelled on his thoughts. Finding it unpleasantly awkward, Nero decided to pull a Dante and say, "So, you're my dad! But you look like you're just about the same age. Did you also split your age when you split yourself?" He laughed, and was relieved when V finally smiled. "How did you even do it?"

"Vergil stabbed himself with the Yamato."

Nero looked rather amazed. He remembered the first time he used the Yamato and an apparition helped him in his fight. And then the portal that Vergil made upon leaving his garage. And the crystal defense thing that Urizen used. "It sure can do a lot huh?"

V nodded with a wistful smile. "Vergil can do a lot with it."

"I sure wanna see that!" Then Nero noticed the way V referred to himself. "Wait, you said Vergil. You mean-"

"I do not possess Vergil's skills nor his demonic strength. I merely am the weakness he threw away."

"Hey, don't talk like that." He tried to cheer him up, "You are strong in your own way. Humanity is like that. Hey, you even became famous in two months, I bet Vergil can't do that."

V chuckled. "You have a good heart, Nero." Then his eyes turned sincere. "For what it's worth, I'm sorry for what Ve— what we— what I did to you."

"You sure sounded like someone with an identity crisis there," Nero quipped before turning serious as well. "Look, honestly, if it did not turn out this way that I got my arm back and a bonus Devil Trigger at that-"

"Devil Trigger?"

"That's what Dante calls the demonic transformation. He has no naming sense."

V laughed then Nero continued. "Anyway, my point is, it turned out for the better so I have no beef with you about my arm. Well, about you not telling me your relation to Urizen, though, well, Dante made me realize that you had to do it because I might not have trusted you otherwise."

V nodded silently.

"And I guess I'm not mad about you leaving me as a child. It seems you didn't know you had a child after all."

V nodded with a bit more enthusiasm at that. "When I met you, I actually thought you were Dante's. Especially after seeing him be so protective of you."

Nero laughed. "I actually thought that too. When I met him, he left the Yamato in my care, saying it has to stay in the family. The asshole misled me into thinking that he may be my father, with the hair and eye color, and how the demons I fight keep saying that I'm Sparda's blood, and how similar our choice of weapons are."

V smiled wistfully, and Nero noticed so he quickly added, "But I want to get to know you." V looked at him with a toned-down surprise. "I mean, it doesn't have to be immediately, I cannot ask you all my questions today. But I want to keep in touch." He scratched his nose – his usual indication of shyness. "Maybe we can even go on a demon hunt or something. Sometimes Dante and I go on a mission together."

"I believe I am not useful in a demon hunt now." Nero thought V was referring to his jobs. "But I can at least provide you answers if I do possess them."

Nero couldn't help but smile at V's peculiar way of speaking. He mentally added that to his list of what he now knows about his father. He also made a note to buy a copy of V's book later so he can read it. And perhaps some of his magazines too, so he could show Kyrie how his father looks like.

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Notes:

Because the Qliphoth nightmare was shortened in this universe, Nero and V did not have those missions together. They only fought a few small fries on the way to Urizen. They weren't as quite close as they have become in the original timeline so Nero did not feel too betrayed upon finding out that V is also Vergil. And Nero didn't have to endure the deadweight accusation for a month here, so that's another thing that made forgiving easier.

And if the characters somehow turn out a bit out of character, I guess it's because the situations featured in this fic are unchartered emotional territories, not their usual fighting or cool moments, so a different side of them will show. ^_^;

I think, though, that Nero here is lucky, because it might be easier to talk with V than with Vergil. V is a bit more open than Vergil, although sometimes not direct with what he's talking about. Vergil on the other hand would just respond with "I have no recollection." XD

The chapter title is a reference to Dante and Vergil's conversation in Vergil's ending cutscenes: "By the way, how did it feel catching up with your kid?" "There's no need for us to catch up." Vergil there was just shy, right? XD

Anyway, can you imagine V being a model? Do those jobs suit him?

Also, this is how I imagine V during the book-signing. I just found it on Pinterest, credits to the person who posted it and the person who drew it! (copy the link and remove the spaces)

www. pinterest. ph/pin/459085755775075761/