Well I'll Be Damned
Chapter 6: Yamato
Nero didn't want to lose V.
After years of being an orphan, he finally found out about his biological family. And finally meeting his father, after a few months of faltering hope, he couldn't just accept that V was fated to cease to exist sooner or later.
That was why Nero was here, asking Dante if there was somehow a way to bring Vergil back. He relayed what Griffon told him, including their original plan of merging with Urizen in order to continue existing.
Nero knew that this was a biased thought, this was something he didn't pay much attention to before, but now he wanted to believe that the light emitted by the Yamato that time in the Qliphoth might have meant that it absorbed Urizen's essence or something.
"Devil arms do that, right? You said all those weapons you got from the demons you defeated contain their soul, right?" Nero pointed the weapons on the wall. "The Yamato might contain Vergil's soul." His grip on the katana tightened.
"That's something true for demons, kid, but Vergil is just half-demonic," Dante replied, more serious than usual. "I don't know the rules for our kind."
"Well, his human half is V, so this could be a pure demonic Urizen devil arm then." The lad shoved the Yamato onto Dante's hands.
It was the first time that Dante actually held the Yamato since the Qliphoth incident. No, it even goes back to since the Fortuna incident. He carefully unsheathed the katana, and stared at the blade. He stood still and quiet; it must have been the first time that Nero saw him concentrate.
Not a minute has passed and Dante's shit-eating grin was back as he said, "Well I'll be damned!"
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It was a rare sight for Nero to see Dante holding the phone, turning its old-school dial for the numbers he was showing the older man, and not the numbers of his usual pizza joint that the goof must have already memorized by heart.
Nero's heartbeat was starting to accelerate in anticipation, only to be doused by Dante's greeting line.
"A powerful demon is about to resurrect and... we need your help, V." Dante chuckled. "Come to the house in Red Grave today."
And with that, the mischievous devil hanged up, earning Nero's scolding. "What was that?! You didn't even explain it to him!" Nero, himself, didn't even know Dante's plan because the bastard was playing mysterious. "And what house in Red Grave are you talking about? At least give him specific instructions!"
Dante just laughed and gave Nero a pat on the shoulder as he stood up. "Let's go book the venue."
"Wait, why not do whatever-it-is here instead?"
"I don't have the money for shop repairs, kid." Dante laughed yet again. "And besides, he would be able to concentrate better in there."
Dammit. This guy was basking in Nero's confusion. The young devil hunter chose to have faith, instead. Dante seemed to have a plan, anyway.
Another thought occupied Nero's mind, though, as he followed his uncle towards the door. The idea of V and Urizen merging got him a little worried. What if Urizen ends up with the bigger portion of influence on the resulting Vergil? And will Vergil remember everything he experienced as V, including the concern for humanity that he's been exhibiting now?
Nero could only trust in his father. Backup plan would be beating him into submission.
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The two arrived at the said house in Red Grave City.
"Shit, Dante, you used to live here?" Nero couldn't believe the big house and the wide yard, and the fact that Dante didn't even bother telling them about his origin when they were in Red Grave last time. The house was mostly ruined, but one could easily picture how beautiful it must have been in its prime. Nero also realized that this was the actual setting for the first part of V's novel.
Dante merely laughed and replied, "Yeah, and that big demonic tree that Vergil planted, that's just his city-wide gardening project."
When they entered the house proper, Dante went on with his bullshit. "Well, let me give you a tour of the house! This is where your old man liked to read his books, that is where we often brawled, and that is the family portrait." He pointed to three different spots, grinning the whole time.
Passing by and thoughtfully glancing at the aforementioned Vergil's reading couch, Nero approached the portrait for a better look. He couldn't help but still imagine V's novel – Vergil's story – that these were the characters described in there.
"Can you tell which one's me?" Dante playfully asked as he stood beside the lad.
Nero cupped his chin in thought, before chuckling and pointing to the boy wearing white. "Well, this kid is the one with messy hair and looked like he couldn't wait for the painting session to end."
Dante laughed at his observation. "Good-looking kid, right?"
"You looked like you'd grow up to be a goof," Nero poked fun at him before adding, "So you two were distinguished by your hairstyle."
"Among other things, yeah. You could always tell that the more charming one was me, though." Dante chuckled. "Your dad was stingy with his smiles even as a kid."
Nero stared back and forth the twin kids and nodded. He could somehow imagine the contrast in personality these two had. After noticing the ruined edges of the painting, he asked in a more serious tone. "Can I uh, can I have this painting? I'd like to try restoring it. I'm sure Nico will have an idea how to." He unconsciously did his usual nose scratching. He knew how valuable the portrait was to be simply left in here, and he wanted to at least have a picture of his grandma and grandpa.
"Sure kid." The older man ruffled Nero's hair dotingly before joking, "Just don't tell the Fortuna people that it's the Sparda family, okay?"
Nero huffed and moved his head away from Dante's hand. He realized that this might be a rare chance to learn more about their past from his uncle's side, so he said, "Tell me more about your childhood." He didn't want any trauma to resurface so he quickly added, "Like that spot where you two often brawled, you said. What did you often fight about?"
"Well, a lot of things. Sometimes I just like to annoy him for no reason at all." The man laughed. "Then we'd fight and get scolded for it. Oh man, I could still picture him," he pointed to an area, "Little Vergil, crying in the corner 'cause mommy got mad."
They suddenly heard V's ever-calm voice from behind them. "I seem to recall you crying every time father raised his voice."
And Nero wanted to freeze that moment when the brothers wore an identical smirk as they looked at each other.
"So, what did you call me here for?" V went straight for it.
"We're here to bring Vergil back," Dante stated casually as if talking about something you do everyday. "Wanna join us?"
Deciding to intervene before Dante continued his childish run that has been going on for a while now, Nero explained, "We think Urizen's soul is in the Yamato." Nero raised the katana a bit. "And Dante here has a plan on how to merge you two."
"Why would you-" V stopped all of a sudden, as if listening to something. He then sighed before saying, "I see. Griffon must have made you unnecessarily worried. We don't have to do this. I am perfectly fine."
V turned his back on the two and was about to walk away when Dante spoke, all his childish demeanor a while ago instantly out of his system, "Please Vergil, just this once, cooperate with me." Dante paused for a second as if regretting this slip-up in his usual cheerful mask. But seeing that V stopped his tracks to listen to him, he opted to continue, "Your kid doesn't want to lose you. And I... already have enough regrets. So just- let me at least try."
Nero wanted to add something but Dante's unexpected honesty stunned him.
The two felt a shower of relief when V turned to face them again and said, "Very well."
Out of sheer happiness with the response, Nero hurried to V's side and handed him the Yamato. He took his cane in exchange for it.
"So what are you planning to do?" was V's question.
...To which Dante replied with his usual shit-eating grin, "I'll stab you with the Rebellion."
"What the fuck, Dante!" Nero was quicker to react. "Enough with your jokes."
"I'm serious! Hear me out," he said trying not to laugh. He then took the Rebellion from his back and stared at it to somehow regain seriousness. "If the Yamato can separate man from devil... Then what about the Rebellion?" He then looked at V as if seeking for agreement.
After a few seconds of silence, V finally nodded.
But even upon seeing this, Nero still disagreed. "That's fucking dangerous! V's body is mostly human now. If this doesn't work, you might end up killing him instead!"
V put a hand on his shoulder and it melted some of his worries. "Let's trust Dante's intuition."
"Now get out of my way Nero. This is gonna be a doozy." Dante was forming his stance when Griffon suddenly popped out, saying, "Wait! Wait!"
Nero didn't have a chance to express his worries some more because V's familiars presented a different worry of their own. Immediately following Griffon was the black jaguar-like one that Nero recalled the name to be Shadow, and the big golem-like one who was known as Nightmare. The golem's size and its special entrance even made Nero worried that the house might collapse upon them, but the way that V's hair turned white in the process caught him in awe. At the back of his mind, he was starting to imagine how Vergil must look like.
"Before you start the stab-session," Griffon spoke as he hovered in front of his master. "We have to leave you first, V."
Nero's eyebrows creased at this. The other two didn't seem surprised, though.
"We don't want your trauma to carry over when you are reborn as Vergil," the bird added at the same time that the jaguar rubbed its face onto V's leg. The golem, on the other hand, just loomed closer behind V.
"Don't be foolish," V replied with a stern tone. "I've had you for a while now. I can say with enough confidence that I have, to some extent, coped up with the trauma that you three represent. I'm sure Vergil can do it too."
This got the bird to be on the verge of tears, if that was even possible. "V-chan!"
With that, V offered his right arm onto which Griffon perched, then his left hand onto which Shadow rubbed his face before jumping up to lick V's cheek, and V then moved his left hand over his shoulder as if to call Nightmare, which caused the golem to move as if embracing him before melting into some sort of a black sludge that drenched V's whole body. Then the three disappeared and V's hair and tattoos were dark again.
"Now that was sweet." Dante chuckled. "You sure have a healthy relationship with trauma."
V just smiled at him before clutching the Yamato with both hands, as if to tell Dante that he was ready. Dante recognized it easily and held the Rebellion tightly.
Nero convinced himself to shut up and just watch, despite the doubts he had about the safety of this whole thing. But before Dante reached V, the latter turned to him and said, "Thank you, Nero."
Fuck, that got him more paranoid. What if it becomes his father's last words?
And the next thing Nero saw was the Rebellion plunging into V's chest, causing the man to take a few steps back as he grunted in pain,
The Yamato emitting a blue light that seemed to seep into the stab wound,
And a more blinding white light engulfing V.
When the light finally dissipated, Nero saw an unfamiliar man standing in front of them.
The man had his back facing them. His swept-back white hair and three-tailed black coat were swaying in the gust of wind produced by the event. He was holding the Yamato in his left hand, and it took a few seconds, as if processing some thoughts in his mind, before he slowly faced them.
The man glanced at both Nero and Dante, before looking at the Rebellion that rested beside his feet and taking this sword with his right hand.
As if Nero needed to hear it first, his mind only labelled who this man was when Dante finally spoke, "Vergil."
The man's lips curved into a smirk before he acknowledged, "Dante."
And in the split-second that Nero must've blinked, the man disappeared, only to be found stabbing Dante with the Rebellion.
"WHAT THE FUCK!" was all Nero could say.
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Notes:
And here he is! ^o^ The storm that approached, that provoked black clouds, and stabbed Dante in isolation! XD
