Disclaimer: Yeah... I don't own DMC or anything related to the franchise... sad isn't it?

Hours into the night after Vergil's outburst, only two people from the gathering remain up and awake in Dante's shop.

Trish, not terribly perturbed by the surly man's reaction, retired to the master bedroom as soon as the clock turned twelve and the day officially ended to begin a new one.

Nero, quite a bit shaken by the tale his uncle shared with him, tried to wait for his father's return. The young demon hunter argued that it is already too late anyway, and he didn't want to wake up Kyrie by coming back at this hour. However, tried as he wanted, not soon after Trish retired to Dante's room, Nero succumbed to his tired state and heavy thoughts, falling asleep on the large couch at the back end of the shop's living room/ office.

Resting his back at his favorite padded chair behind his workspace, Dante sighed as he continued to stare at the door. "You don't have to hang around, ya know?" He offered with a small glance; his words directed at Lady sitting at the edge of his desk.

"I want to," Lady replied softly, waving back and forward against the desk. "It's not like I have anywhere in here to sleep anyway." She added with a small smile.

A quiet snort escaped Dante, his feet pulling up and resting at the side of his desk. "You can use Vergil's room." He noticed the quirked eyebrow on her face and grinned. "What? You two are already smooching, he probably won't mind sharing it."

"Oh yeah, your brother would love that." A small chuckle fled from her lips at the thought of Vergil catching her in small clothes on his bed. "Dante, can I ask you something?"

Dante shrugged, taking a sip of the last bottle of beer left from their 'party'.

"You two are always cursing at each other, ready to throw punches or worse at any moment." Dante snorted a laugh at Lady's words, making her chuckle with him. "But you are here, like, three in the morning waiting for him. Why are you two so hostile to one another?"

Frowning at the question, Dante looked at Lady as if she had just lost her marbles. Holding the bottle by its head and swinging it a couple of times, Dante gulped the rest of his beer, letting his arm fall to the side and letting cylindric glass roll into the floor.

"That's one bitch of a question, Lady." He hissed, hoping that she would look away and forget about it. Instead, Lady shifted her stance, folding her arms as she stared at him. "Vergil is a difficult guy to handle; he was just as difficult as a kid. I mean, he was always distant even as a little shit toddler, but he didn't have this venomous sarcasm that he sports nowadays."

Her eyes sparkled at the mention of a little Vergil. She tried to picture him as a child, only to imagine a little boy with a long blue coat and a constant scowl on his face. The image made her laugh quietly, waving one hand at the silliness of her imagination.

"What was him like?" She asked. "I can't really picture Vergil as a small boy."

Dante shook his head, chuckling at her. "What kind of face is that you are making?"

"Oh, come on. You brought it up, just go along it with." Lady leaned over the desk, trying to swat at her friend's arm, but Dante just leaned back on his chair, casually dodging the flying hand.

He sighed, messing his already messy silvered hair with one hand. "Vergil and I… we were very different as kids. You heard that story about the piano, right?" He grinned as she nodded. "We stayed clear of each other most of the time… when I got bored, well, that's another story."

"So you were the one instigating the fights?" Despite the disapproving shaking of his head, Lady can't contain the knowing smile on her lips.

"Hah, he was just too easy to mess around with." Dante grinned. "One time I found Vergil in the old man's library sleeping with his head on a book that was probably heavier than him." Looking to the side, Dante wore a subtle expression of longing on his face. "There was this one time too when I found Vergil at the garden. He was holding that big notebook of his, looking like the proper nerd he was."

Both he and Lady shared a small laugh at his words, as she then nudged at the desk for him to continue.

"He was… drawing sketches of this bird chirping at the lowest hanging branch." He drawled on, painting the picture perfectly in front of his own eyes as he looked at the wall of his shop. "Vergil was so fascinated with that small yellowish bird; he never saw me coming from the backyard."

"Dante…" Lady called out his name in a warning tone, like a reprimanding mother that caught her son being mischievous. "What did you do to the poor boy?"

The man eyed his friend, grinning at her fierce glare. "It rained the night before, I remember because we couldn't go out… Hah… anyway, I walked behind Vergil, took a very generous handful of mud from the damp ground, and shoved right in the neck-hole of his coat." A note of a loud laugh escaped the man, forcing him to cover his mouth with one hand. "Man… he jumped like a startled little chipmunk. The squeak he made was priceless."

"Dante!" Lady cried out, scandalized by the casual recalling of this event. But Dante's laughter proved too infectious for her to contain her own. "Why did you torment your brother so much?"

"Don't you paint him as a saint! Vergil was a very mean brat when he wanted to." Dante chuckled at the memory of his prank again, waving one hand to push the feeling away. "But that is the thing between us. Vergil was boring and quiet, we had almost nothing in common. But he was strong, he is strong. Fighting him was one of the most fun things I remember doing as a snorty brat. I know he felt the same… It was the only way we used to connect as brothers."

Lady trailed her hand around the dented wooden desk. "That is… a little sad, isn't it?" Her expression turned a little sadder as she asked. "I know you two are prideful brick heads, but people need to express themselves properly. Even half-demons, as it appears."

Dante gave a small shrug. "The past is gone and there's nothing we can do to change it. And we are too old now to be changing our ways, too much work, and sappy talks." He shuddered, sitting a little straighter on his padded chair. "It would freak the crap out of me if Vergil started breaking down out of nowhere in front of me."

From the corner of the desk, the old phone began ringing against the silence of the deep night; interrupting their conversation. Pulling his feet back from the desk, Dante pulled his chair closer and picked up the phone with his left hand.

"Devil May Cry…" He answered with lazy words, mildly annoyed at the time of this call. However, quickly his expression changed from aggravation to neutral curiosity. "Morrison? What's up, man?" Dante glanced at Lady who moved over as her curiosity got the better of her.

Pulling the speaker a little apart from his head, Dante allowed Morrison's voice to float a bit louder. "Dante, something came about that may require an expert's skills."

Dante frowned a little. "Something like what?" He asked.

"A mother-freaking portal directly to the demon world." This bit of news made both Dante and Lady suck a sharp breath.

"Where in the hell is that?!" Dante growled a little louder, his voice making Nero mumble in his sleep as the younger hunter shuffled around on the couch. "How bad is it?"

"Right now? Not very bad. I mean, it's a damned portal to hell, but nothing is coming out of it yet." A gust of wind sizzled against the speaker, pausing Morrison's words as the sounds of the man's steps also came through. "Dante… do we have a problem we need to speak of?"

The question came as a bit of a surprise to Dante, who frowned a little more. "Not that I know."

"Hm… If you say so, I'll trust you. You can come to find it at the north avenue, on the crossing with the park." Morrison cleared his throat and sniffed loudly enough for the phone to pick up. "Just giving you a head's up, there are quite a few demons around this damned thing. They are dead, and it is quite the sight to see."

With that said, the phone went silent with the occasional beep announcing the end of their call.

"Damnit, Vergil!" Dante's slapped the speaker back in place, making the phone ring quite a bit loudly. Moving in a hurry to get his jacket, he stopped and looked at Lady as she stared at the phone biting her lips. "Wanna come too?"

Lady drifted her duo-colored eyes at him, hardening her expression as she nodded her answer.

"Cool… just let me pick some things." He then walked away brushing the back of his head furiously. "Fucking dumbass brother."

Deciding that using two bikes in their hurry was a bit of a waste, Lady took a ride along with Dante on his one.

Crossing half the city in a few minutes, they quickly reached the place Morrison told them about. At first, they looked over to the buildings at the side of the avenue; looking for the damned thing or any stray demon roaming about the place.

But as Dante leaned over to look into an alleyway, Lady tapped him on the shoulder and pointed towards the quiet lonely park on the other side.

"The hell?" He frowned at the glance of a few twisted members sticking out from the tall grass. "Yup, there's no doubt about these." Dante clicked his tongue as they entered the quiet park, his blue eyes gazing over the dismembered bodies of the underworld monsters. "This is definitely Vergil's handwork." He kicked a severed leg away, the meaty limb twitching violently as it landed a little bit ahead.

As Dante pointed out, the vestige of Vergil's presence is quite prominent at the abandoned park. There are at least a dozen demons dead, their body parts mostly intact, if not by the fact that they are perfectly severed into different pieces in masterful cuts.

Right at the center of the mess of bodies and bloodied grass, sits a vibrant circle of purple light, pulling the time and space apart, making a quivering portal right at its center. Curiously enough, even if the space distortion is very easy to spot, no one can see into it, making it appears as if it is a blurry mirror-like liquid squirming around.

"I didn't know the Yamato could open a portal to the underworld so easily." Lady said in a comment, moving closer towards it.

Taking long steps in his stride, Dante moved past her and tapped his finger into the liquid mirror, making it quake in waves. "It can't. Well, it's complicated. A real portal to the underworld is a very fickle thing, even Yamato can't open one. But! If Vergil found one of those unstable rifts that open every so often between the worlds, he could easily force it open, just like he did with this one." He sighed, shaking his head at his brother's stupidness.

Catching Dante by surprise, Lady pushed him aside and moved to cross the border between the worlds. In a hurried panic, Dante jumped forward and grabbed her wrist.

"The hell are you doing?" He asked with his brow curling.

"I'm going in, what else would I do?"

"Oh, very slow now, Lady." Twirling on the heels of his boots on the grass, Dante changed position with her, earning a glare from his friend. "I know you are a badass girl, and I know you can kick some demon ass just as much as the best hunter out there." He then raised his hand over his shoulder and pointed his thump at the portal. "But this right here is their turf. I can't let you go in there, it's suicide."

"Get out of the way, Dante." She warned, pulling one of her pistols and holding it at her side.

"No can't do." He folded his arms against his chest. "If you go in, how are you coming back? You don't even know where this thing will take you?"

Now it was Lady who crossed her arms, getting more and more annoyed at him. "Well, you know, right? Unless you are planning on staying down there for the rest of your life, then my guess, is that you know exactly how to come back." She stared at him, waiting for a comeback, and grinned when Dante frowned without words to rebuke her. "Just tag along and everything will be fine."

Giving Dante a light push, Lady brushed him aside and stepped into the portal, leaving a dumbstruck silver-haired demon hunter watching as she disappeared within the swirling purple light.

"Goddammit, no wonder they like each other. They are both hard-headed mules." Groaning angrily as one hand brushed over his face, Dante had no choice but to follow his friend into the unknown on the other side.

On his first step into the underworld, Dante felt the urge to cover his nose with his hands. The first gush of wind that hit his sense carried such a putrid smell of rotting and decay, that even a seasoned demon hunter like him felt disconcerted by it.

A few paces ahead of him, Lady is doing her best to not puke on the ground, her face twisting in displeasure as she gagged at the awful smell.

"Where in the hell did Vergil teleport to? Is this the toiled of some fat-ass demon or what?" Dante growled, spatting to the side to get the awful taste that the smell put in his mouth.

As he slowly began to push aside the uncomfortableness of the situation, his eyes scanned over the gigantic room.

Closer to them and the portal, the ground is littered with the severed parts of demons, their blood pooling together in a disgusting lake of black and purple goo at the broken crevices of the floor.

Then, his gaze followed the strangely familiar layout of the place. His eyes recount a few broken pillars and stones that his own body remembers crashing onto them. Taking a slow breath in, despite the still awful smell, Dante moved his attention forward, his hands twitching at the full picture in front of him.

This room, despite so many years past, is a bit of a nightmare that has followed him for quite a while. It still has the bizarre structures and engravings on the floor and walls, the same dull color he remembers hating the first time he had seen it. But from the middle point forward, the room changes drastically.

Instead of broken stones and orange/brown colored dirt, it morphs into broken blobs of meat, meshing together in a lifeless span of a mutated body that engulfed everything in its path, slithering up, forming more and more mounds of flesh, connecting in a final grotesque gigantic form of a deceased three-eyed monster laying on the floor.

Standing tall in the middle of this mess of decaying pulsating meat, is the form of Vergil with Yamato in his hands, staring down at the dead emperor of the underworld.

"Vergil!" Dante called out with a booming voice, yet his brother made not even the smallest gesture to move. "Dammit brother, this is a stinky location for a vacation… quite literally, this stench is killing me. The hell are we here for?"

Once more, Vergil ignored his brother's words, instead, he just kept staring at Mundus' corpse, his hand clenching and relaxing on the grip of the Yamato.

"Vergil…" Lady's voice came a lot quieter than Dante's. Her hand still protecting her nose from the insufferable stench, making her tone quite a bit different than normal. Taking a few steps forward, she moved past the carnage of broken demons lying on the floor, until she pressed one of her boots against the squish ground made of flesh.

For some unknown reason, this movement, or perhaps even Lady's small call, was enough to break Vergil out of his trance.

Swigging the Yamato to the side, Vergil glanced back toward the two newcomers, his blue eyes looking steel on their edge as he registered their presence. Letting out a puff of air from his nostrils, he glanced back at the gigantic corpse and snorted loudly.

"A small part of me believed I would find this thing still alive." Starting without much prompt, Vergil shifted in his position as he began to walk at the edge of Mundus' corpse. "Look at this pathetic mount of decaying flesh. My tormentor, my slaver, my nightmares taken form… This thing, rotting in the corner of his decrepit throne." He laughed, with no warmth, no emotion, just the sound of his frustration venting out from his mouth. "I desperately hoped to find reckoning in this hell hole. Instead, I found only another failure staring right back at me."

"Really, brother? I think you are the first soul in the universe that hoped to find Mundus back alive." Dante spat to the side, glaring at the monstrosity he has slain many years ago. "Are you sure there's not a missing screw in that head of yours?"

Vergil glanced back at his brother and the look in his eyes surprised Dante to the point that he took a step back. Contrary to expectation there is not a shred of vexation or anger in those icy blue eyes, instead, they are just dull and tired, with not a spark of fight left on them.

"Dante… just shut up for a moment, please." Lady growled back at him, then she looked back at Vergil and walked a little closer; close enough to get a proper look at Mundus' form, making her cringe at the running pus sliding down from the cracked middle eye out of the three. "Why come?" She asked softly at Vergil, who evaded his gaze from her eyes. "This place is too depressing, even for you."

"How could I not?" Vergil chuckled softly. "Everything started with this wretch. Every path, each choice… I did it all because of him. To destroy this filth, to avenge what was taken from me, to prove that I could survive… In the end… hah… In the end, it was I that stood proven wrong. I failed and was turned into a pathetic puppet. I failed and where I faltered, Dante prevailed. He did this." The Yamato edged forward, pointing at the dead creature. "He avenged our family."

"You failed, yes, you did." Lady started, this time her words made Vergil glare back at her. "Vergil, you came alone after the monster ruling this entire world. What another outcome did you expect from this?"

"Dante…" Vergil began his rebuttal but stopped when she raised one hand at him.

"Dante killed Mundus, yes. But he did not accomplish it all alone." She stepped closer to him, her face the picture of angry frustration. "That's what you don't get it. If Trish hadn't helped him, he would have failed too. You don't see him bitching about it, he just took the chance and rid the world of this fiend. Stop drowning yourself in your pride and the world will make a lot more sense to you."

"You heard the lady, bro. Stop being a dickhead and let's get out of here, this reek is making my stomach act funny." Dante yelled from the back, earning himself a look from Lady that made him grin.

Vergil stared at Lady with a look of contemplation. His face twisted more than a few times in annoyance with the thought of hissing a reply back at her, but in the end, he chose to shift his gaze away and frown quietly.

Brooding with his thoughts, Vergil stared at one very specific place within the wall of flesh to their side. A twisted 'garden' of flesh roses that still twitches with life, the location which still plagues his nightmares about the worse experience he has ever lived.

Quietly marching towards the quivering flowers, Vergil reached with one hand, letting one of the bloody vines grip his arm and start prickling his skin with their sharp bony thorns.

"Despite the master's death, you still pulse with your vile venom…" Vergil growled at the living flesh as he ripped the vine away from his arm. "Mundus most depraved creation… there are no words in my vocabulary to describe how much I loathe you…"

Twirling on his boot's heels, Vergil turned around with a billowing wave of his blue coat. His eyes fixated on his brother, he marched toward the man with a purpose, making Dante quirk an eyebrow at him.

"Dante…" Vergil started with an uncomfortable sneer. "I need your weapon."

"The hell for?" Dante frowned in his reply.

A low growl escaped the Dark Slayer as he pinched the bridge of his nose with two fingers. "Don't make me beg… please, lend me your sword."

Dante eyed his brother, folding his arms as he studied the man's angry face. He then leaned to the side and glanced at the wall of flesh roses; one hand instantly went to the back of his head, to mess with his silvered hair. "Fine… I can't fucking believe I'm agreeing to this." Pushing his arm forward, Dante flickered his wrist, bringing to life his infernal blade. "I. Want. It. Back. Capisce?"

With a roll of his eyes, Vergil raised his free hand toward his brother. "Your concern is ridiculous. I have no interest in that weapon anymore."

"Yeah, you keep thinking like that, and I won't need to beat the crap out of you later." With a small shove, Dante handed his sword to his brother, greatly annoyed with himself that he is going along with this.

Shaking his head in defeat, denial, and quite a bit more emotions he feels at the moment, Dante turned around and walked away; raising his right hand to flicker his middle finger at his brother after hearing a complaining growl.

"Mary…" Vergil called out to her, turning his gaze toward her as Lady stepped next to him. "Go with Dante."

She frowned, biting her lips as he stared at his beautiful blue eyes. "And you?"

Giving her a small and rare smile, Vergil stepped away, turning back toward the wall of flesh. "I'll bury my past… this time, forever."

"We will be waiting for you outside." She said after taking two timid steps towards the open portal. "I mean it, don't make me wait the whole night under the open sky."

Glancing back at her, Vergil nodded curtly. "I would never be so insensitive to a lady. Now, go."

He waited with an impassive expression as Lady walked into the portal, he quirked an eyebrow and she stopped to glance at him one last time. Only when she disappeared completely into the other side that Vergil turned his attention back to the wiggling vines reaching toward him.

"As greedy as your deceased master… filthy abomination." He sneered at the moving roses, forcing down the urge to unleash the Yamato against these despicable things. "One last time you will save your purpose. A final meal for your disgusting tentacles to gorge in… Maker of puppets, thief of wills, I offer you a piece of Sparda that you coveted for so long, I offer you a piece of his son, the man that killed your god."

With one swift move of his arm, Vergil plunged Dante's sword into the flesh roses, blood splattering everywhere as the vines wrapped their thorns around it.

"Swallow it, your vermin, take everything you can. Savor the power I'm allowing you to have and puke back the very worst you can give me." Letting out an angry shout, Vergil shoved the sword to its very handle, stepping back as the roses began to twirl and twist; as he asked the garden began to gorge onto itself puking back a vile pool of flesh and blood.

From within the disgusting puddle in the ground, a long tendril began to push out, forcing the muck around it to take form and rise. A pulse of dark energy trailed from the base of this forming creature, encasing the blood-covered flesh in a metallic shell resembling an armor.

Taking a very deep breath, Vergil stepped impatiently around its forming enemy, the Yamato trembling in expectation in his hand. Closing his icy blue eyes, the Dark Slayer waited for some very long minutes until the gurgling sound came to a stop.

Only then he opened his eyes to see an armored demon standing in front of him. Even hidden behind a helmet the creature's face is visibly broken and twisted, its limbs are too big and its body imposing in its form.

Even if a mere imitation, Vergil can link in his mind this creature to Nelo Angelo as it was. For this purpose, this monster was more than enough.

Pushing his legs apart to enter a stance, he raised his weapon to his side as he glared at the twitching demon in front of him. "Let us finish this nightmare, once and for all…"

After dismissing Dante's offer to ride back to the shop, Lady found a comfortable spot on one of the benches along the pathway of the park and sat down to wait for Vergil's return.

Feeling a little chilly under the dripping dew starting to form at this late into the night; she pulled her legs close to her chest, resting her feet on the bench as she kept staring at the still portal.

Growing a bit tired after waiting for a while, Lady almost began to doze off when she heard the portal screech with an ugly sound. Her heart almost stopped when she thought it would close itself before Vergil's return, but she breathed out a sigh of relief when his bloodied form stepped out of it before the rift collapsed and closed against itself.

Resting her chin onto her knees, she watched as Vergil dragged Dante's sword along with him, Yamato resting on his right hand, as he walked over towards her.

Letting out a tired growl, Vergil dropped on the bench at her side, hanging with his head low as he breathed in and out; blood dripping running down his face from his drenched hair.

"Is it done?" Lady asked, mostly to start a conversation than for the question in itself.

"Is it ever over with us?" Vergil replied calmly, his eyes still closed as he face down onto his lap.

"How are you feeling? I mean, did it change something? Doing this filled the hole that you needed it to?" Picking a small piece of purple blob from his hair, Lady shifted a little closer, weighting his reaction after her daring move.

"Maybe… there's nothing that can fill that hole anymore," Vergil said, not caring that they are so close right now. "But this foolishness made me realize something. Made me realize that I cloaked away my weakness with sins that I wore like a jacket. The pride… that lust for power. Power… for what? I thought maybe if I reached the very peak, maybe I would be worth getting everything I wanted."

"Now…?" Lady followed along.

"Now I realized that I never could have it… because it is gone." A sigh escaped him, one that almost got overshadowed by a growl that soon came after it. "Doesn't matter how many times I walk back into that house… she will never be there." Vergil snorted, finally opening his eyes as he leaned back and stared into the starry sky. "Mother will never smile at me again."

Swallowing a lump at her throat, Lady leaned onto him, pressing her shoulder against his, not caring that his bloodstained coat is smearing her grey jacket. "You know… You could always ask Trish to smile at you from time to time."

Vergil went stiff at her side, his eyes slowly drifted down onto hers green and red ones. Then, surprising her in a different way, Vergil began to laugh.

His laughter came out rich and loud, it felt sincere; ever so different from his sarcastic snorts and smirks. The sound of his amazing voice made her chest flutter and get warmer, pushing Lady to laugh together with him.

"Seriously, Mary. Don't… hah… don't ever put that thought into my mind again." He pulled back to look at her properly and grinned. "You do know that Dante is sleeping with her, right?"

"Oh! Right… This makes the whole comparing Trish to your mother a bit weird, no?" She said with a sheepish grin.

"A bit?" He chuckled, shaking his head at her antics. After a quiet moment, his expression turned serious again, not as cold, but still stern and closed. "Mary… I am a difficult man."

"Difficult?" She giggled. "Difficult is to try and drive my bike on a rainy night. You are 'a trip to hell' kinda complicated guy. I still don't know why I even bother; It must be that handsome face that bewitched me, it's the only explanation I have for this craziness."

Watching him to see how he would take it, Lady smiled when Vergil grinned and brushed his hand onto his chin, making his pale skin even dirtier.

"Farewell green fields and happy groves… Where flocks have took delight… Where lambs have nibbled, silent moves. The feet of angels bright." Vergil sighed calmly after he spoke, his words slightly confusing Lady that just looked at him funny. "You are special, Mary. For such a long time, I've not allowed myself to wander into simple thoughts of my youth. Your presence makes me calm and nervous at the same time. Your warmth is enough to make me comfortable under the cold weather of night such as this."

She beamed at his words, nudging ever closer to rest her head on his shoulder. "You do know that I won't kiss you all covered in this gunk, yeah?" She giggled and he laughed, once again freed of his constant sarcasm.

"There is always another chance for such a gift."

Reviews:

xXxLadyColdxXx – Well, from where do I start with this one. So, when I got the first notification of your reviews, I was literally in the middle of writing a new chapter for my other fic. Let's just say that I wanted very much to drop that one, and start this one here just for a chance to reply to you.

Anyways, with that put; I thank you for your review, it makes me quite happy to see someone so passionate about the story I'm writing.

Agora, sabendo que você também fala português, eu quero deixar esse comentário extra apenas para dividir um "segredo não tão segredo" dessa fic. Enfim, se você pegar o título de cada capítulo dessa fanfic e procurar no google adicionando "by William Blake" você vai descobrir um pequeno easter egg que coloquei aqui. Como você deve saber Willian Blake, foi o autor que serviu de inspiração tanto para o Livro de V, como para Urizen.

Nossa falei demais, de toda forma, muito obrigado novamente pelos seus comentários.