Return to Redgrave
Disclaimer: Devil May Cry belongs to people who are not me. I am making £0.00 out of this fic; it is written purely because I had some Dante angst.
Rating: PG-13
Part: One of One
Set: Post DMC5 - Several months after Meet the Sparda's.
Authoress note: Nero's birthday is coming up. For someone who doesn't have a fantastic grasp on human traditions Vergil struggles with this.
For all my reviewers, who without I would have surely given up a long time ago.
Return to Redgrave
Dante had been emotionally attached to his shop from the moment he laid eyes on it. It was never just a building to him. It was a symbol, proof that he could stand on his own, that he was not to be fucked with, that he was safe. It was his spot in a world that both admired and feared him, but always held him at a distance. This was home, long after home had burned and died. He'd lived here alone for years, with those he trusted and loved orbiting the place like satellites.
Then he'd found the kid.
Nero had been in the shop almost as much as Dante at one point. But the kid had never officially lived there. He crashed a lot in the early days, but then, as he sorted his own internal bullshit out, he stayed less and less and the shop had felt remarkably empty.
Then, out of nowhere, Vergil had come back and, much to Dante's surprise, had moved into the shop permanently. Dante hadn't quite believed it when they returned together, and Vergil said he would stay. He thought it would be days or maybe weeks before Vergil was chaffing at him to get away. At least far enough away that he'd want his own place. Dante had often imagined his brother in a high-rise apartment or condo, something not unlike his towers. Vergil always enjoyed being high up. All the better to see your foes approaching, to see those who you would rule beneath you.
But Vergil had not left, and suddenly Nero was visiting more and more again. Things didn't feel too cramped, though. But then Vergil decided that the shop needed a massive demon cat and an oversized chicken and a shadowy blob monster that kept hiding in the utility room. Things got tighter then. Dante lost count of the times he stepped on Shadow's tail, or Griffon crashed into his head. Vergil somehow avoided most of his pets' physical chaos, much to Dante's annoyance.
Then Dante had decided he wanted a demon pet too and had gone and found Yota. Yota was a soppy boy and, more often than not, liked to show his loyalty and affection by being as physically close as possible. Even when Dante had curbed that behaviour, poor Yota could only go so far and it was impossible not to bump into the monster dog frequently.
Vergil had started talking about the shop being too crowded.
Dante found himself suddenly afraid, not that his brother would leave, or that he would force someone else to leave, but that he would want them all to live somewhere else. So Dante had ignored every grumble and complaint from his brother. Every sigh, every broken object. But he knew Vergil was right and there was only so long he could ignore it. The shop was crowded. But it was also his home, so Dante was loath to admit it.
Until the day he came home to find Yota in the centre of the office space, looking very pleased with himself and very large.
"What the-" Dante started.
"Ah," Vergil interrupted. "There you are. I need to speak with you." Dante glanced at his brother, who was sitting on the sofa with Nero. Shadow was in-between them, with Griffon watching from the banister. Dante winced at how cramped they looked.
"Is it about how Yota has suddenly become massive?" He went to the fridge, clambering over the unexpectedly large dog's tail, and pulled out a beer. He hesitated for a second, then got two more. Heading back to the sofa, he was bereft to find no room for himself after he handed his brother and nephew their beers.
"And grew two more heads. Glad to see you noticed," Nero said.
"Bit hard not to." Dante gave up and sat on the floor. Yota turned slowly and carefully until his new head was above Dante, his breath musing over the demon hunter's hair.
"Um, can you explain?" Dante looked too Vergil, who shrugged in his common 'of course' gesture.
"Simply put, Yota has evolved. It happens when Demons reach certain power levels. Surely you noticed your own demon form changing as you became more powerful with age."
"Aww," Dante reached up to scratch Yota's now massive chin. "You a big grown-up boy now."
"Quite." Vergil chugged half his beer in one go. "Brother, I know you were loath to accept my idea when I've raised it before, but circumstances as they are, we need to do something."
"This place is worse than the Tokyo subway at rush hour," Nero shoved Shadow, who was leaning on him. "Can't breathe in this joint."
"Your being dramatic," Dante scoffed, narrowly avoiding the drool that had started to rain down upon him.
"Only a bit!" Nero snapped.
"Nero is correct," Vergil said. "Beside as I stressed before, I am not requesting that you give up your shop. This place would serve well as an office. All I'm requesting is that we move the living quarters."
"But then I'd have to commute!" Dante leaned back against Yota. The good-boy was a semi-comfortable back rest. "Like a regular smuck."
"A demonic motorcycle kinda ruins the idea of you being a regular smuck." Nero sipped at his beer.
"I couldn't ride the bike in the rain. I'd get wet."
"You're being difficult on purpose." Nero's face was going red.
"What'd you care? You got your own house to escape to. Why do you care if we sleep here or if it's cramped?"
"Actually," Vergil coughed, getting his brother's attention. "Tell me, brother, how much attention do you pay when you visit Nero?"
"What?"
"Have you not seen the permanently locked second bathroom? The cracks in some walls, the window held closed with rope? It is derelict."
"Uhh," Dante frowned. He had noticed nothing like that. Vergil was making Nero's place sound like a shack.
"Hey," Nero nudged his father. "That's my home… but yeah, it needs some work."
"It needs more than some work. If work was all that was required, you'd have done it by now." Vergil finished his beer and went to get another one. Dante watched as his brother clambered over Yota, nearly tripped over a bar stool and kicked over a pile of laundry.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Dante reached out and flicked Nero's knee. "If it's a money thing, I could have helped you get more jobs."
"It's not a money thing. The building's a bazillion years old. If we fix it or speak up, then the council will look at it more closely and won't let us stay there anymore. And it might surprise you, but Fortuna is low on housing. Plenty of small places, but nothing big enough for us and the kids. If we moved then…" Nero trailed off.
"They would split the children up." Vergil had come back without too much difficulty. He handed Dante a beer, which reminded the devil hunter he hadn't started his first one yet. He used it as a distraction and to avoid saying anything while he let what Nero and Vergil were saying sink in.
Dante and Vergil needed a bigger place to live. That was obvious. But Dante could be stubborn. They were demons, for crying out loud. A small place would not kill them. But Nero and Kyrie, they were apparently also in need of a bigger place, or if not a bigger one, then one that wasn't in terrible condition. Or it would separate the family Nero had built.
Dante couldn't be stubborn if it meant splitting up Nero's family.
"You guys are assholes." He said when he'd chugged his entire beer.
"The house in Redgrave was large," Vergil said.
"It was a wreck." Dante started the second beer. "An absolute wreck. It'll cost a fortune to repair."
"Perhaps, but we can always earn more money, Dante," Vergil said gently. Dante did not like gentle Vergil, so he kicked him in the ankle. "With the house in such disrepair, we will also have the opportunity to redesign bits of it, ensure it's large enough for everyone."
"All of us." Nero grinned.
Dante had to admit that he really did like that idea.
Everyone together.
All under one roof.
His entire family.
"We'll have to put in rooms for the ladies," he said and watched as Nero's face lit up and Vergil visibly relaxed.
"Naturally, we can look at putting another wing or two on the building, one for Nero and his brood and one for Lady and Trish. The third can be ours and the central area can be communal."
"You've given it some thought," Dante admitted, finishing his second beer.
"For some time now," Vergil admitted. "It is an expensive and time-consuming undertaking; it deserves much thought if we are to create a home that everyone can be proud of."
"This is fucking insane." Dante felt heat rise in his face and behind his eyes. Ten years ago, he'd been more alone than he thought it was possible to be. He'd have cut off all his limbs multiple times to have his brother sit with him and talk about building a house together. Now here he was, his brother, his nephew, the mass of kids Nero had accumulated, Lady, Trish, Shadow, Griffon, Nightmare and Yota, all of them together about to build a home.
"Don't cry, you big wuss." Nero said, but he was smiling warmly that let Dante know the kid knew, or at least appreciated, how he felt. Dante nodded; the kid had grown up pretty isolated, too.
A warm hand clasped his shoulder.
"I want an enormous garden," Vergil said. "And a reading room, a library if I can. What do you want, brother?"
Dante's mind went blank.
"A pool table." He said, eventually his voice catching.
Vergil and Nero gave him dead eyes.
"A big room with a pool table, a giant tv with enormous sofas, maybe a jute box, and a bar. An enormous space where everyone can just relax."
"A rumpus room?" Vergil chuckled.
"That sounds lame," Dante said. "Don't make my idea sound lame, Mr I-Want-Books."
"Don't fight," Nero sighed. His good humour fading. "You realise before we do this, we need to go back? We need to see what's left, what we can save."
Dante felt his stomach go cold and hard.
Go home. Go back to the house. He'd done it before, sure, but things had been different. He hadn't even really thought about where he was, just what he had to do. But now the idea of going back there made him flinch. The last memory he had of that place was the day everything had gone to shit.
He'd lost everything in that place.
But they had to go back.
End Chapter One
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