Sorry about the long wait. I had a bit of trouble getting my thoughts down.

There is a spot in this story (and I'll point it out) where a song by Linkin Park called Easier to Run will need to be read, or listened to, in order to get the point and feeling across. So please, understand the lyrics when you read that part. I guess it's kinda important.

Anyway, now that that's done, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Devil May Cry, nor do I own any rights to the brilliant band, Linkin Park and, yes, there is one line from the song in this story. It is "Wounds so deep they never show, they never go away." and that's about it.

-!-!-! next scene

But the tears continued trickling down his cheeks, as if refusing to be locked up. Vergil could see him hold his breath and his form quake violently as he held in the sobs. When one escaped him, he curled tightly into a protective position, his arms around his knees and buried his head beneath his arms. Muffled moans and sobs were the only sound that could be heard from Dante as he cried helplessly.

Vergil stood, feeling sick and he slouched back to his room. He felt guilty, spying on his twin in his vulnerable state. He entered his room without looking back at the still door-less door.

Somehow, he couldn't bring himself to leave.

Chapter Six: "Day Three"

The sun was rising, the sky splashed with a plethora of reds, yellows and oranges. Thin clouds dotted the otherwise clear blue slate that stretched on for as far as the eye could see.

But Vergil, sitting limply on the bed, didn't notice. His mind was elsewhere, on that horrific work of art he'd seen painted on Dante's skin. He'd been thinking about it for the last three and a half hours and had still gotten nowhere…

What did it mean? What happened? Why did he care? Questions he never wanted answered pelted him relentlessly.

Suddenly, something whacked him on the back of his head, knocking him out of his thoughts and causing him to fall flat on his face. He growled as he flipped over, an ever ready hand reaching for his sword. He paused, though, when he saw who it was.

Dante stood over him, his hand in the smacking position where his twin's head had been moment before. A smirk was plastered on his face and his eyes danced merrily. "I thought I'd lost ya for a second there. Glad to see you're back with the living." He held out a hand.

His twin mumbled something under his breath before taking it and, once standing, reached for his shirt. "What was that for!"

Dante raised an eyebrow. "Touchy. What, were you sleepin' on a tack or something?"

Vergil mumbled that sounded like "I didn't get any" as he pulled on his shirt, ruffling his hair as he did so.

The younger twin huffed, scratching his head and decided to ignore the statement and instead asked, "Have you seen Lady? She wasn't here when I woke up…"

"Nope. Haven't seen her." Vergil stretched and cracked his neck. "But I'll go look for her if you want? I'm in need of a stretch."

Dante eyed him suspiciously, his eyes narrowing thoughtfully. After a moment's thought, he answered slowly, "Okay, sure, but you'd better come back with her. Because if you don't, you're gonna be pestered by me for a long time."

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Grabbing his sword, the older twin tied it around his waist before leaving the room, not bothering with his coat. Dante followed, a thoughtful frown on his otherwise blank face.

!-!-!

Lady was sitting on a swing in the park, her mismatched eyes glued to a sight seen only to her as she stared blankly at the ground. Kalina-Ann was strapped tightly across her back and looked unused, as did the rest of her arsenal. Her face and clothes were dusty. The swing creaked in protest as she swung slightly back and forth.

She was shaken from her trance by the sound of approaching footsteps and looked up. She was surprise at who she saw.

Striding slowly towards her was none other than Vergil who was glancing here and there for any signs of monsters. His faithful katana was strapped around his waist and his gloved hand rested on its hilt. She noticed, as she reached discretely for a gun, that he wasn't wearing his coat.

Vergil stopped when he reached her, looking down at her with a cold stare. "And what would you be doing out here? Dante's wondering where you are."

Lady glanced back down, shifting slightly on the seat as she kicked the ground. "Yeah? Well, he can fret as much as he wants. I don't really care." Bored with the ground, she looked up at the sky. A large shadow loamed menacingly overhead, blocking out some of the rising sun. Her eyes widened.

Temen-ni-gru was still standing, and as tall as ever.

She pointed a shaking hand towards it, forgetting about her gun. "Why's that thing still up?"

Vergil's gaze followed her hand and his eyes widened slightly. He then turned around completely, staring at the tower with narrowed eyes. "The Temen-ni-gru is only erected when it's needed, and then only by a powerful force," he explained slowly, "However, its purpose was fulfilled when the gate to the Demon World was opened."

"So there's practically no reason for it to still be standing?"

The older twin just stood there, staring at the tower with calculating eyes, and didn't reply.

An odd silence fell over them as they gathered their thoughts. Lady was the one who broke it. "Why did you let him join you?"

He glanced back at her, his eyes cold and face emotionless. "You mean Arkham."

She kicked the sand angrily, but didn't reply.

Watching out of the corner of her eye, she watched Vergil sit on the swing next to her, his hand gripping the chain lightly. He hesitated a moment to gather his thoughts before explaining, "I was in need an expert in the black arts who could open the locked doors guarded beneath the tower. When I heard of Arkham and his—" he paused, seeing her tense "—achievements, I decided he could aid me well in my affair.

"It turned out that he, also, was planning on erecting the Temen-ni-gru and opening the gate to the Demon World. However," he continued, chuckling slightly at this, "he needed Sparda's blood to open the final seal. So, for a common cause, we became—" he paused again, searching for the correct word "—allies. Well, allies for the most part. You know the rest."

She nodded, recounting the events easily, since that was the first time she'd seen the older twin up close. Her father had deceived her, playing on her pity, and had sent her to destroy him. In the room when she arrived, Dante and Vergil were already fighting viciously. She'd joined in, much to Dante's distaste, and had become Vergil's next target. She falsely accused him of manipulating her father. He responded with such a terrifying calm and coldness in his voice that his words still haunted her now:

"Is that what you think? Foolish girl."

It turned out they'd all been manipulated. Her father was actually in control, playing on everyone's character to get them into the correct predicament in which they could do nothing to stop him. However, they managed to escape with their lives and, although she hated to admit it, she owed hers to Dante.

She vaguely realized that Vergil was talking to her and she snapped out of her thoughts. "Uh, what? I didn't catch that."

He chuckled. "I said, does that answer your question, because we really need to go."

She nodded. "Yeah, it does. Thanks." She stood and began to walk back to the store, Vergil following silently.

!-!-!

((((((((( Right here, people! If you don't read the lyrics you might not get the point, so please read them!))))))))))

They entered the store to the sound of music blaring, almost every object in the room pulsing slightly to the beat. Vergil flinched inwardly, resisting the urge to cover his ears as he stomped up the stairs, eager to be able to tell his twin off for once. Entering his—or his twin's—room, he stopped.

Dante was sitting in the chair in the center of the room, leaning back with his bare feet on the unmade bed and hands tucked casually behind his head. The silver half of their amulet hung limply around his neck and lay on his bare chest. His eyes were closed and he was mouthing the words to the song.

The haunting tune caused shivers down his spine but it was the words that caught his interest. He stood there, in the doorway, staring at his twin as he lost himself in the music.

As the song began to fade, he snapped out of his thoughts as Dante stood and approached the stereo and shut it off. Then, pressing a button, he took out the disk that was playing and set it into one of the empty, clear CD cases nearby. "Easier to Run, off the disk Meteora, by Linkin Park." He turned to his brother, smirking at his quizzical appearance. "Awesome song. Anyway, did you find her?"

Vergil nodded. "Yeah, she's downstairs." He hit the side of his head lightly, the world seemingly muffled at the loss of the blaring music.

Dante chuckled, throwing an arm across his shoulders and leading him downstairs.

Vergil growled warningly, but didn't try to escape.

Lady watched them, amused, as they descended the stairs together and only then did the older twin break free of the embrace. Dante didn't seem to mind. "So," he asked, "Why were you out so late?"

She looked to the doorway-less door and replied, "It was—and still is—too quiet. No one—nothing was out there. I went to take a look but…" she trailed off and merely shrugged. "That and the fact that weird tower is still up."

Dante shrugged. "Oh well. Even mighty evil towers have glitches sometimes." He leapt over the back of a nearby couch and landed in its seat. "Anyway, have you got any more ideas for the name of this shop? I still haven't thought of anything!"

As Lady and Dante began arguing about suitable names for the shop, Vergil found himself again lost in thought. His mind wandered back to last night when Dante had that nightmare; how his skin had shifted back and forth, how his face was a mixture of pain, fear and hurt. Again he wondered of the cause and what had happened.

"What about 'Devil May Cry'?"

Dante and Lady looked at him strangely, as though he'd just grown two heads. It was then that he realized that he'd said that thought out loud. He saw why they gave him that look though. In all other discussions, he was reluctant to broadcast his thoughts. Even he couldn't believe that he'd let that slip.

Dante was staring at him with an emotionless face but storming eyes. Vergil could read them perfectly: fear, anger, hope, distrust and betrayal.

Oblivious to the look in the younger twin's eyes, Lady spoke. "'Devil May Cry' sounds like a great name! What do you think, Dante?"

"Yeah," he replied, still staring at his twin, "Sounds great."

Vergil was meditating on his bed, waiting for the right time.

It was around two and he'd decided that he'd check on his brother again, just to clear his conscious. He'd pondered about it for the whole day, weather he wanted to or not, and it was getting on his nerves. So maybe he did care about his brother, but it was only slight. He'd continue his quest for power after Dante let him go.

The clock 'beeped', signaling it to be three in the morning.

Slowly, he got up, pulled on his shirt while ignoring the white locks that obstructed his view and headed towards the stairs. He crouched at the foot of the stairs and waited.

Dante was sleeping peacefully on a couch, only the lamp in the farthest corner of the room shedding light on the few objects there. The night was bright and Lady was nowhere to be seen. Probably out for another midnight walk, he thought.

It felt like hours before the nightmare began. Dante stared whimpering and his body tensed and began shaking.

Vergil stood, frowning slightly, and crept down the stairs. Carefully he made his way over to him watching again in fascination as his skin flashed back and forth again. A line from the music he had heard earlier sprung into his head and his eyes widened.

'Wounds so deep they never show, they never go away.'

He was trapped in memories of his past that were to terrible for Vergil to fathom, let alone for Dante to bear. The scars aren't on his flesh, he realized, horrified and backed away. The scars are on his soul!

At that moment, Dante bolted up, his teary eyes wide as he tried, once again, to control his raspy breath.

Vergil, forgetting his cold exterior for a moment, took pity on him and sat down next to him and held out a welcoming hand. "Dante." For a second he thought he heard a familiar voice combine with his. One that was kind and loving.

His twin looked up at him with fearful, hazy eyes and for a second, Vergil thought he was going to reject him. Then, suddenly, Dante lurched forward and embraced him tightly, weeping into his shoulder.

It took a moment for the older twin to realize what had happened, but when he did, his cold eyes softened for the first time in years and he held his brother tightly. Part of his mind, the cold, heartless part he'd developed over the years, screamed at him for showing weakness, saying that he should be stabbing his twin mercilessly in this vulnerable state. The other part, however, the one that was new, confusing and currently controlling his actions, convinced him to continue comforting his broken twin.

"It's alright, Dante," he heard himself whisper into his brother's ear. Again, that strangely familiar voice accompanied his as he continued gently murmured soothing words to him, "It's alright. I'm here for you."

His brother was now sobbing uncontrollably into his shoulder, no longer trying to hide them under a cloak of silent suffering. Vergil rubbed his back, nervously at first seeing as he was new to this, but then confidently when he noticed Dante's body begin to unwind and his quaking begin to subside. Soon he was laying limply in his arms, the last few tears trickling down his cheeks. "Devils never cry," Dante choked weakly, as if talking to himself. "It shows too much weakness." He began shaking again as new tears appeared from already red eyes.

Vergil pressed him more tightly against his chest, rubbing his back again. "Nonsense," he murmured in that strange voice, mentally wondering whose voice it was and why it was familiar. "Even a devil may cry when faced with the terrors of its phobia. And you've done pretty well, I think."

He began to calm down once again. "But he always said devils never cry," Dante murmured.

"Who did?"

New tears fell but Dante didn't fight them this time. "Vergil."

The older twin stiffened, his eyes wide as he remembered:

They were at the orphanage, outside in the empty playground. The other children had been teasing them and tormenting them for the few months they'd been there.

Dante had been crying, complaining about his throbbing black eye while Vergil was holding a cold cloth up to it. A new orphan had come only a few weeks ago, but he was already popular and had become 'king of the hill' in a sense. He was about fourteen with smelly breath and a rude, obnoxious attitude. He'd seen the twins as freaks and devils (for their strange looks and abilities) and he'd told them that often. But he'd gone too far and Dante had been beaten up only an hour before.

Vergil, in a fit of rage, had attacked him and had caused (surprisingly since he was only seven year old) a lot of damage to the boy: broken ribs, an arm, a leg and a concussion.

A bad move since a man had come in an hour later to adopt Dante and him. However, due to his outburst, he was kept at the orphanage for discipline.

"Devil's never cry," He'd told Dante in way of a pep talk for his new life without him, "It's a sign of weakness. Bad guys like that bully will use it against you and make your life horrible."

But he remembered crying as Dante left in the man's car.

Vergil shook himself out of the flashback, realizing that Dante was crying again in his shoulder. He thinks I'm Mother, he realized amused. I guess I'll play along for now, as to not blow my cover. "Vergil doesn't think that way anymore," he whispered, that voice continuing to accompany him. "And besides, he was wrong. Devils do cry."

He sat with his twin for a while longer, lost in thought, until he realized that Dante had fallen asleep. Leaning back, he couldn't help a smile when he saw his brother's face. Dante had a peaceful expression on his face, his lips curled into a sight, content smile.

Untangling himself from his brother, Vergil stood and with a light kiss to his brother's forehead, headed back upstairs.

A pair of mismatched eyes watched him from the doorway with interest.

There we go, chapter six! Hope you enjoyed it!

R&R and no flames please!