Spoilers/Warning: This fic contains spoilers about the game and its ending so consider yourself warned. And also there's some swearing in here, due to the Sparda brothers' potty mouths.

Dedication: To Sam Valentine, Meirelle, and Jibril-Kadamon, my three other reviewers. Your kind words are greatly appreciated! Cookies for you all!

Disclaimer: Devil May Cry is the property of Capcom. I just wish they'd shared Dante with me though. :(

A/N: Ah sorry for the long wait. I got, umm, distracted. But after getting the Devil May Cry OSTs for DMC 1 and 2, I got back into the mood! Anyhoo, review please! It really does go a long way to motivate me to keep on writing. Constructive criticisms are welcomed and heeded! However no flames please. I accept anonymous reviews now!

Chapter 02: Take a Break

"Well here we are!" Dante said grandiosely. "Welcome to Maison Dante!"

As Dante, still carrying Vergil, entered his abode, Lady looked at the flat he called 'home'. She was not blown away by what she saw.

When he flicked on the overhead lights, her first impressions plummeted to new depths.

Peering from the freight elevator they had taken to the topmost level of the building, she saw that his flat had exposed brick walls and support beams. The brick was liver brown and the iron beams criss-crossing the ceiling were rusted. The floor was coloured a dull gray and was covered with fair sized dust bunnies, piles of haphazardly stacked boxes, a few plastic bins, and old newspapers. And as if to emphasize the dilapidated conditions, Lady heard water dripping from leaks somewhere in the room.

'This place would fit in with the rest of the Temen-Ni-Gru,' she thought sardonically to herself. 'And by that I mean after it was blown to bits.'

"Don't be shy," Dante turned back and grinned at her hesitant form. "I won't bite … unless you want me to. Come on in!"

Against her better judgment, she did so. Lady didn't really want to enter; she'd probably catch some sort of disease just by breathing the air. But she had nowhere else to go at the moment, and besides, she had to hit Dante for that last comment.

"Ow!" he said as she punched his left arm. "What was that for?"

"Take a wild guess," she snorted as she followed him to the far side of the room.

"Feh, women," she heard him mutter but she let it slide. Now that she was inside she could see that the west wall held a bank of tall windows. They were grimy and the metal frames were rusted, but she could clearly see the ruins of the Demon Tower.

They were only a few blocks away, but she saw the rubble of the ancient structure, as well as the destroyed roads and modern buildings immediately surrounding it. Rebuilding the area would take a very long time.

"Ah, that's a load off."

Facing her companion again, she saw that Dante had laid his brother on a beat up couch. The other man was still pale, but it looked like his worst wound had stopped bleeding.

Seating himself in front of Vergil's prone form, Dante took a moment to rest. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his palms, and just let his mind go blank. During their entire walk here he had thought about Vergil's words, his actions, and what they could possibly mean.

He never did understand his brother; Vergil was always more knowledgeable than him. But that hadn't mattered to Dante since he thought he knew one thing for certain: his older brother loved him and would always be there. Now he wasn't so sure.

'I wonder what would have happened if I had left Vergil in the Demon World,' he thought and then roughly pushed it away. No, he would not consider it; he would never abandon his brother. And the consequences of that were too horrible for him to think about right now.

Someone clearing her throat broke his reverie. Wearily opening his blue eyes Dante saw that Lady was standing in front of him with her arms crossed. She had her 'grumpy' face on, and he briefly wondered what she looked like when she wasn't about to kick your ass.

'Probably pretty,' he mused as he leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees.

"Do you use this place for storage or are you naturally this messy?" Lady asked as her eyes flicked from one small catastrophe to another. Cardboard boxes and other knickknacks covered the majority of the floor so that it was like being inside a maze. She wouldn't be surprised if there were rats and other vermin around this place either.

"This was my old dig before I bought my office. I was in the process of moving," he explained, and promptly frowned. "Damn, my office is completely messed up thanks to the demons my brother sent after me."

Turing around he glared at Vergil's slumbering form.

"Thanks a lot, jerk! You owe me a new office building!"

Vergil continued to be oblivious to his surroundings, but he did frown a little.

"Never mind that," Lady said. "Where's Kalina Ann?"

Dante faced her again and quirked an eyebrow.

"Wow, you're really attached to that thing, aren't you?"

"It has sentimental value," she frowned down at him. "And it's none of your business! So if you'd kindly give it back already, I'll leave you and your brother so you can spend some quality time together!"

"Hey, whoa, sorry," Dante held his hands up in defeat. "I didn't mean to offend you. Listen, you look pretty beat too. Why don't you stay here for the night?"

Lady glared at him suspiciously. It was true she'd fought with him before, but that didn't mean she trusted him. He was, after all, half demon.

"Think of it as a, umm, thank you, for lending me your bazooka," he added.

The young woman looked to be on the verge of asking for her item yet again, but then quickly deflated. To be honest she was tired, more so than she had ever been in her life. Though she'd taken a break in the library of the Tower, a brief rest wouldn't cure her of her injuries and fatigue.

"Fine," she sighed as she copied his earlier action and rubbed her face with the heels of her gloved palms.

"Great!" he chirped, looking a bit more energetic than before. "There's a cot in that room to the left," he pointed to a closed door. It was made of steel covered with peeling dark brown paint. "It should still be good to go. The bed sheets might be a little dusty though."

"I'll deal with it," she assured him and headed in the direction of his pointing finger. When she was about go in, she stopped and turned back to him.

"Thanks."

"No problem," Dante smiled charmingly at her.

"Good night," Lady smiled tentatively back.

"Night, baby."

She grimaced at his name for her before heading inside and closing the door. Dante had called her Lady when she wouldn't tell him her real name, and that moniker had stuck. She was grateful it hadn't been 'Baby' or 'Sweetie' or some other inane pet name he could have come up with. If he had then she'd really have to kill him.

Dante sighed, as he looked at the closed brown door a tad wistfully. He would have loved to offer to tuck her in as well but: a) she would have shot him and b) Vergil still needed to be treated.

Looking at his brother again, he frowned slightly.

'Even unconscious you still manage to cramp my style!'

Rising from his seat Dante began to rummage through his many boxes, looking for any spare first aid kits. Even though it was currently morning he couldn't wait to go to sleep. This entire ordeal was the most grueling experience he'd ever encountered to date and he ardently wished it would be the last of its kind.

But for now, Dr. Dante had a little patch up job to do.

Early evening moonlight filtered through the large skylight in the flat's ceiling. It shone onto Dante's slumbering form and illuminated one of his silver belt buckles. The light glanced off the metal and straight into his eyelids.

Roused by the sudden stimulus, Dante regretfully returned to the waking world. He yawned widely and smacked his dry lips several times. Looking around confusedly, he slowly recalled all that had happened.

Temen-Ni-Gru. Vergil. Arkham. Lady. His old apartment.

Grimacing at the crick in his neck, Dante gradually lifted his head from its resting place. After treating Vergil and his own wounds Dante had just zonked out where he'd lain. That happened to be the not-to-clean floor near the couch his brother currently inhabited.

Quickly gazing at his twin, the anxiety left his blue eyes when he saw that Vergil was still asleep. The man remained exactly as he'd left him; his damaged blue coat was draped over his form like a blanket.

Dante had worried that Vergil would make a run for it when he woke up. They weren't on the best of terms at the moment and he was afraid his twin would hate him for what he'd done.

'Well, it's not my fault that I don't want to gain power like you do,' Dante stared at Vergil's sleeping face irritably. But underneath his ire Dante was still concerned over Vergil's pallid skin. It looked like Vergil had lost a lot of blood, and even though that wasn't good, Dante was glad since it meant his brother wasn't going anywhere for a while.

Sitting on the floor and leaning his back against the couch, Dante rested his head on the brown cushion. Though they were twins they had rarely seen eye-to-eye, even as children. But it always seemed easier to get along with Vergil when their parents were around …

'Stop,' Dante firmly told his mind. His usually erratic brain listened to him for once. The memories of his parents, especially his mother, weren't something he wanted to think of right now.

Quietly rising from his position he took a look around his surroundings. Similar to Lady's first reaction, he wrinkled his nose at the mess. Despite what he had said earlier, he did think this place was a pigsty.

'But beggars can't be choosers,' he said as he scratched underneath his coat. Seeing as most of his money had been invested in his (ruined) business, he didn't have a lot of capital to work with right now. So until he got back on his feet, they would have to make do with what they had here.

'Buuuuuuut.'

Rummaging through his pants pocket he came out with a crumpled twenty-dollar bill.

'Sweet.'

Ambling over to a wall phone; thankfully he hadn't cut this phone line yet; he dialed in a number almost on reflex.

"Tony's Pizza."

"Hey, Tony," Dante said lazily.

"Dante!" the owner of the pizzeria said happily. "What can I get you?"

He liked it when Dante called. This one customer was putting his kid through college for crying out loud.

"The usual," he said, meaning an extra large pizza with pepperoni, mushrooms, and extra cheese. "Oh, and a six pack of Coke."

"Sure thing," Tony said on the other side. "You having a party or something?"

Dante usually never ordered a drink with his pie.

"Yeah, something like that," Dante smiled as he glanced at the couch and then the closed brown door.

"OK, sure," Tony said. "I'll send Martin over as soon as your order is done."

"To my old address, if you don't mind," Dante remembered in time.

"Oh? What happened to your new joint?"

"Overrun with pests," he scowled at the memory of the demons. "I'm staying here till I get it cleaned up."

"Ah, sorry to hear that," Tony said. "Anyway I'll go get your pizza ready."

"Thanks, Tony. Bye."

"Talk to ya later."

They both hung up. Left with nothing to do but await his beloved food, Dante decided it was time to tidy up a little. Besides, now that it was so quiet, he needed the distraction. He didn't like the thoughts that entered his mind lately.

As quietly as he could he cleaned up the spent medical supplies he'd used on Vergil and himself. He had considered taking some to Lady, but from what he could tell she was fine. Anyway she was probably smart enough to tell him if she had any large injuries.

Next he took Yamato, Vergil's katana, and stowed it away in a secret place. With his treasured sword missing, Vergil wouldn't dare leave without it.

Afterwards Dante cautiously peeked into Lady's room. It was a bare, windowless area with a cheap cot as the only item inside. She had stripped the bed of its dirty linen and discarded it on the ground. She hung her holsters at the head of the bed and her faded red boots were on the floor. On the bare mattress she slept in a fetal position, but loosely held in her right hand was one of her pistols.

Apparently she still didn't trust him completely.

'Oh please, as if I'd try anything on her,' Dante thought to himself as he left her alone once more. He didn't want to have his head ventilated again courtesy of Lady's bullet. 'I have the decency to hit on her when she's awake!'

He visited the little devil's room adjacent to the one Lady occupied. It was even nastier looking than the main area. There were rust stains and dust bunnies everywhere but he was too tired to do anything about it. But worst of all was the toxic green tiles that decorated the bathroom. It seemed that the previous owner had no taste whatsoever.

Checking a wall clock; it was only 7:28 p.m.; Dante ambled over to a desk in front of the windows. He resignedly plopped himself onto a leather armchair that had stuffing coming out of the armrests. Turning it around to face the bank of windows he gazed outside.

In the distance he could see the remains of the Temen-Ni-Gru. The city officials were probably having a ball trying to figure out where that monstrosity had come from. Luckily they had restored power to this section of the city; Dante didn't think he could stand a blackout on top of everything else that had happened so far.

The areas closer to the Demon Tower were still pitch black, and he was gazing into their shadowy depths when he heard … skittering.

Going very still, Dante strained his ears.

Sksh, sksh, skshhhhh.

There it was again!

Something was running around in the flat, and by the sounds of it, that something was probably a rat. A big one.

Standing up from his chair, the seat making a creaking noise as he did so, he faced the insides of the room again. He slowly breathed out and was surprised when he saw his own breath.

When had the room suddenly gotten so cold?