AN: Thank you for the positive reviews and comments! Makes me smile every time I read one and I hope this chapter puts a smile on your face :)

24th January 9:40am

Cyra quickly jumped up in her seat. Her eyes looked down, registering her desk was in front of her. I must have fallen asleep... She yawned and stretched, letting her back crack in the process. She felt a blanket fall off her back. Looking down, she recognized it as the one she left for Vergil a few hours ago. The chair where he was sleeping in was empty, signaling that he left. She blushed at the kind gesture of resting the blanket on her. She didn't know when she fell asleep, but judging from the time, she knew she wasn't asleep for too long. Good riddance, she had a lot of work to do. Her smile wouldn't leave her face thinking of her interaction with Vergil a few hours before.

A few hours later, Cyra traversed to Devil May Cry. Trish was sitting in Dante's seat, sifting through a magazine, "Babysitting duty again?" Cyra asked.

"Mmhmm. Thanks for that, by the way. This isn't totally demeaning and boring," Trish said.

"Want something to do? I really need some new demon blood. That parasite is adjusting to the lesser demon blood we've been using and I need something just a little stronger," Cyra said.

"Oh, please, let me kill something!" Trish said enthusiastically. She took her feet off the desk and hurried over to the door to leave, "If Dante asks, remember that this was your request!"

"Of course," Cyra reassured as Trish left. Her eyes scanned the agency. No one else was around? The door to the spare room was closed, the bathroom door was wide open, signaling that no one was in there. An exhale escaped her lips feeling much more disappointed than she let herself admit.

Meanwhile...

Lady was browsing the market, enjoying the sunny weather they were having the past couple days. Her ears piqued when she heard a vendor near her, "Certified Panacea reseller! Holy Waters for sale!" Oh hell no, Lady thought and marched over to the stand.

"Hey, these are from Panacea herself?" Lady asked.

The vendor nodded, "Yes ma'am! Directly from her. How many would you like?"

"You know Panacea doesn't charge for her Water," Lady said.

"Yes ma'am, but as a certified reseller, we have to keep the shop open!" The vendor defended, starting to look nervous.

Lady picked up the sign and read it, "30,000 for one bottle!?" She shouted, bringing in attention from the surrounding area, "You're robbing people blind! These are totally fake, too!"

The vendor continued to get nervous, "P-please, I will tell Panacea to bring me more then I wouldn't have to charge as much! They're in high demand!"

Lady glared at the vendor and forcefully turned her body, accidentally bumping Kalina Ann III into the table, knocking over the small vials of water, "Oops!" She said sarcastically.

"You need to pay for those!" The vendor said.

"Nahh, don't think I will," Lady said and waltzed off, smirking at the angry vendor shouting behind her.

24th January 1:45pm

Cyra was sitting in front of the cathedral. She rang the bell, knocked, punched, anything you can imagine to try to get someone's attention. It was one thing to not offer help, but not even letting her inside to argue was bothering her even more. There wasn't anything else she could do to make Lady Amelia listen to her other than wait. She'd have to walk out eventually.

Cyra was there for hours already. She was sure she fell asleep at some point since it didn't feel that long. The sleep deprivation was kicking in and making her fall asleep in public again. Cyra stood up and lightly slapped her cheeks, needing to wake up.

24th January 2:10pm

The brothers were seated next to each other at the counter in a dimly lit bar. Dante was smiling on ahead while Vergil was leaned forward, elbows resting on the counter, looking just as uncomfortable as he felt, "This is what you were raving about?" He asked.

"Oh, just wait, brother," Dante said.

"This isn't what I agreed to," Vergil said looking around his surroundings. The bar was mostly empty with the exception of a few larger men drinking beer several stools away from him.

"What else were you going to do?" Dante said right as a bartender with the name tag "Kim" came up winking at the boys. She leaned forward a bit too much, showing exactly what's down her shirt.

"Haven't seen you in a while," Kim said with a smirk at Dante, "I thought you forgot all about me."

"I could never forget you. Just been a little busy is all," Dante said playing along.

"Who's this?" Kim asked in Vergil's direction, reaching over to caress one of his hands resting on the counter. He retracted his hand.

"This is my brother!" Dante said throwing an arm over Vergil, getting closer to his face, "Be nice or she'll spit in your drink," He said quickly and quietly and removed his arm from him.

Vergil still kept his eyes narrow at Kim, "Hi," he said begrudgingly.

Kim grinned, "What can I get you two?"

"Two of the regular," Dante asked with a smile.

Kim looked Vergil up and down, "You got it," She said and walked off, hips swaying a bit dramatically.

"Dante, where did you bring me?" Vergil asked, almost scared.

"Terrifying, isn't she? She seems to like you, though. Get her phone number," Dante said.

"I'd rather live with this parasite for the rest of my life," Vergil said.

"I'm sure Kim's quite the catch," Dante said.

"You just told me she would spit in my drink!" Vergil argued.

"If you're not nice! In comparison to how you were before, you're pretty much - I don't know, Gandhi now," Dante said.

"Gandhi, really?" Vergil asked.

"Well, we're getting there," Dante smirked. Vergil didn't believe it for a second. In no universe would he ever be considered anywhere close to nice; not with his history. Dante interrupted his budding distress, "Anyway, you are about to experience some of the best the human world has to offer," Dante said.

The bartender brought out two strawberry sundaes, "Enjoy," She said and winked, especially at Vergil, who just grimaced back. For a moment Vergil threw everything he learned about humanity in the last nine months and wanted to get as far away as possible. His attention went back to the two sundaes in front of him, which Dante eagerly grabbed one of.

"I feel like my hand will stick to the glass if I touch it," Vergil muttered in disgust.

"Loosen up, would ya?!" Dante didn't even wait to dig in, very obviously experiencing a seven month withdrawal from his favorite dessert. Vergil watched him take large spoonfuls before he took his own spoon and dug into the ice cream. Dante eyed him carefully, waiting for his reaction.

Vergil put the spoon in his mouth and lowered his eyebrows at Dante, not liking being stared at. He removed the spoon from his mouth, eating the ice cream, continuing to stare back at Dante, "This is delicious."

"Yes!" Dante cheered, earning the attention of other guests in the bar, "Welcome to being a real human, Vergil. This stuff is everywhere."

"Have to admit, the buildup was somehow worth it," Vergil said taking another spoonful.

"Makes it hard to go back to the underworld, huh?" Dante said.

Vergil chuckled in response, "Remember only one of us has to go."

"We can fight over it. Winner gets to stay," Dante said.

"You're on," Vergil answered. The door to the bar opened, creating a draft, annoying Vergil, "I could do without all these people, though," Vergil said eyeing his surroundings.

"I try to come here when it's less busy. Gotta say, there's few things better than unwinding with a sundae after a big job," Dante said.

Vergil was amused at the thought of Dante being covered in demon blood and unapologetically ordering a sundae, "Weapons and all?"

"I used to go to another place before they kicked me out for that same reason. This place doesn't even seem to care," Dante said.

"I'm not surprised at the lack of standards here," Vergil said, awkwardly glancing at Kim who was flirting with another customer.

"It's obviously not that bad considering Cyra likes it," Dante said.

"You brought Cyra to a place like this?" Vergil asked in disbelief.

"Other way around. She took me here first," Dante corrected.

"I really can't imagine her here," Vergil said.

"Why, because you know here sooo well? You've had like two conversations with her," Dante said.

"Is that what you think?" Vergil asked with a smirk, trying to rile up Dante.

Only it didn't work, "Well damn, those must have been two heated conversations," Dante said, playing along.

Vergil chuckled. It did make him feel odd that he got so attached to someone he's had such few conversations with, if he could even count all of their interactions as full conversations, "You do have me curious how she discovered it."

"Ask her yourself. I can't tell you her secrets," Dante said.

"You've told her all of mine," Vergil argued back.

"Because I thought you were dead! If I told you anything, she'd kill me," Dante said.

"That doesn't sound so bad," Vergil said.

"Letting someone else kill me? That's not the brother I know," Dante said.

"Then I suppose I'll have to ask her myself. She can trade me her own stories for fixing the butchered childhood stories you told her," Vergil said.

"Those were all true!" Dante defended.

"In what delusional world do you live in where I ever willingly took the blame for you?" Vergil asked.

"Don't tell me she believed your versions over mine," Dante said.

"She's smart. She knows the truth when she hears it," Vergil said with a complacent smile.

Dante scoffed, "I feel betrayed," He said and put his spoon down in his sundae. Vergil smirked, knowing he won and got Dante riled up, "Doesn't matter. It's not my business to tell."

Vergil's smirk didn't drop, "I could tell her how you used to try on Mother's clothes."

Dante turned to Vergil, "So, few days into meeting Cyra, we got onto the topic of food we like. She tells me how she and her husband-"

Vergil nearly choked on his ice cream, "Husband?"

Dante stopped, "Oh. Uh, ex, I guess," Dante smirked at Vergil's reaction, "Problem?"

Vergil saw the smirk and ignored it, "Ice cream was just… cold - Get on with it already," He finished quickly.

"Anyway, it was her 21st birthday and she wanted to drink legally at a bar for the first time. So they come here, but they decided to get sundaes instead. So it became an anniversary tradition. Well, until he died," Dante explained.

"How unfortunate, but that's a nice story, I suppose," Vergil said. Anniversaries and dates didn't mean much to him.

"She still comes by on their anniversary. It's kinda cute, but it made it a little awkward when she took me here and just dumped all this sad husband stuff on me," Dante said.

"Like what you're doing right now?" Vergil asked.

"You asked!" Dante defended.

"Didn't think you'd actually get that deep into the story," Vergil said.

"If she ever mentions it, just pretend I didn't tell you," Dante said.

"You got it," Vergil said casually, trying to push the self-doubt away from his mind. He didn't know how to process the fact that she once had a husband. It's not like she has one now, he told himself.

Both brothers put their spoons in their empty sundae glasses as a group of loud men came into the bar, ruining what little ambience it had. Kim didn't seem to mind as she immediately started paying attention to them, only creating more noise. Vergil had to remind himself not to do anything rash, "Are we done here?" He asked Dante.

"Yeah, that's a pretty good cue to leave," Dante said getting up, Vergil being one step ahead of him, "Huh, speak of the devil," Dante said once he stepped outside. Vergil followed his gaze to see Cyra walking on the other side of the street, holding a cup of coffee, "She isn't usually on her own though."

Vergil has seen her on her own. He didn't realize it was odd before. So far, it was common for him to see someone go with Cyra when she was out in public, doing supply runs and whatnot, "Want to see where she's going?" Vergil asked casually.

24th January 3:05pm

Vergil hoped that she was leading them to the cathedral and it couldn't have gone any better. Once she made a turn down a specific road, he was certain that it was where she was leading them.

"You feel that?" Dante said carefully, sensing the area around him. There was a dark energy signaling a demon was nearby, but it was muddled with magic that felt like a protective barrier.

Could not have gone any better, Vergil repeated in his mind. Although Dante sensed it much earlier than he could. Damn that parasite draining his abilities, "Yes," Vergil lied. He knew the dark energy was there, it didn't matter, "And the demon feels weak."

"That barrier sure feels like something though," Dante said. Is this when Vergil should tell him that he was already here and it drained his own energy? That's the only explanation for why the barrier was so strong. It may feed off demon energy much like how the Qliphoth fed off human blood.

A crowd came by, interrupting their advance. They pressed on even through the crowd, but Cyra was lost when it dispersed, "Where did she go?" Dante asked no one in particular.

"Why are you following me?" Cyra asked the brothers from behind. They turned around to see her looking at them carefully.

"Oh, hey, we uhh…." Dante started and he pointed to Vergil.

Vergil was composed, "We sensed demonic energy coming from somewhere around," He said as he eyed her carefully.

Cyra's face oddly relaxed, "Oh, what kind of energy?"

"Feels like a demon placed a barrier to hide itself," Vergil said. This was their chance to get information from her, "Somewhere around that corner," Vergil said trying to make her bring it up.

Only Dante did that job for her. He looked over in the opposite direction, seeing the tall cathedral stand out, being much taller than the smaller buildings in front of it, "Yeah, from that cathedral, actually,"

"Don't go near it!" Cyra said reacting too quickly. If Amelia saw them, then her plans were doomed.

"What's the problem?" Dante asked carefully.

"You really can't be here," Cyra said ignoring the question.

"Who not?" Dante asked.

"Just please stay back, okay? I'll tell you later, I swear!" Cyra said.

"You hiding some other demon friends that we don't know about?" Dante asked, trying to lighten the mood.

"There's no demon in there," Cyra said.

"The senses don't lie. There's definitely something in there," Dante said.

Cyra looked down, thinking hard about an explanation, "Lady Amelia put up some wards to protect the cathedral from demons. Would that be it?"

"Wards don't give off energy. What exactly is that cathedral for?" Vergil asked, eyes carefully set on Cyra.

Cyra's eye contact kept wavering, "It's a makeshift hospital for humans that suffered demon attacks. I'll add it to the long story, but it's not dangerous," She finished confidently.

Vergil's eyes still remained on her, convinced she wasn't lying. She genuinely believed that cathedral was innocent. Vergil knew it wasn't, "You trust this place?" He pointlessly asked.

"Yeah," Cyra started confidently, "Well... Now I'm worried," Vergil wanted to tell her that it was the reason for his problem the night before, but he didn't want to keep making her worried about the place, especially not before he knew its purpose.

"You need to go back in there?" Dante asked.

"If she lets me in…" Cyra said.

"Who?" Dante asked.

Cyra shook her head, "It doesn't matter. This is my business, I really need you guys to leave."

Vergil turned to Dante, "Go. I'll keep an eye out," Vergil said.

Cyra's eyes snapped to just Vergil, "No, you especially can't be here."

"Why me?" Vergil asked trying to hide his suspicion. Was it something to do with how he reacted to it last night. Maybe Cyra does know something…

Cyra sighed and looked towards the ground, eyes tight shut, frustrated that they found it. More frustrated that they were clearly following her, "Do you guys trust me?" She asked raising her eyes back up.

Dante gave a quick glance to Vergil, "Well, yeah, of course-"

"Then please leave and don't fight me on this. I'm begging you," Cyra said.

"Okay, okay, okay," Dante said holding his hands up, "We'll go as long as we can talk about it later."

Cyra nodded. She stood still as the brothers walked away, much to Vergil's dismay. Cyra waited a couple moments before she turned around to confirm they were walking away. She let out a breath of air and continued on to the cathedral.

"You don't really expect me to ignore that do you?" Vergil asked once they were out of earshot.

"No, of course not. I don't know what's in there, but we have to let her do her thing and we'll do ours," Dante said.

"I never liked compromising," Vergil said.

"Yeah, well, get used to it," Dante said.

"Dante, I was here yesterday," Vergil said, "That barrier weakened me once I got too close and it had nothing to do with the parasite."

"Oh, that explains last night. Why were you here?" Dante asked.

"I somehow found the time to wander around," Vergil answered sarcastically.

Dante thought about it. He crossed his arms, eyeing Vergil suspiciously, "You did manage to know Cyra was upset last night. And you somehow knew about this cathedral that she's connected to," Dante started, "Some luck wandering around."

"Do you really want to interrogate me, or would you rather find out what Cyra is doing in a demonic cathedral?" Vergil asked.

Dante knew he wouldn't get an answer out of him… yet, "Alright, well… I need to get Lady and Trish on this. Cyra said it's bad if you stay here, but you think you can handle it?" Dante asked.

"Yes, just go," Vergil said, his patience short. He was more relieved Dante wasn't about to make him go find those women. He wasn't worried about the barrier as long as stayed back.

Cyra walked back up to the cathedral, feeling nervous about Dante and Vergil being there. Were they actually following her or was it a coincidence? The cathedral door opened, making Cyra's heart flutter with relief. Instead of Lady Amelia, the young nurse in a white habit from the other day stepped out, the door closing behind her, "Hey!" Cyra said quickly, "Is Lady Amelia there?"

"No," The nurse simply answered, proceeding to walk forward.

"Why isn't she letting me talk to her?" Cyra asked.

"I do believe she laid out the circumstances of your deal. You know the answer," She said.

"She's really not going to let me in without V-Dante," Cyra finished awkwardly.

The nurse nodded, "Now if you'll excuse me," She said and walked out. Cyra turned to look back up at the cathedral. Demon energy, huh… There had to be a good explanation. Lady Amelia could have a barrier to protect it, but that just raises the question on how she managed to make that happen. Lady Amelia knew a lot about the dark arts, after all, so it was no surprise if she put it up herself. If she could put up a barrier, then she would absolutely know how to heal Vergil. Angrily and desperately, Cyra wanted to bang on the door again, but it dawned on her… This nurse must have a key. Cyra whipped her head around to look behind her to see the nurse turning the corner. No, she couldn't… Cyra thought. Could she? She's never tried to mug someone before. Without a second to waste, Cyra headed to go after the nurse, unsure of what she was going to do once she caught up to her.

Vergil was still further back, hearing the violent beatings of the door come to an end. Moments later, the nurse that was speaking to Cyra walked by him. He was out of sight enough to not be noticed. His first thought was to ignore her and stay with Cyra, but this nurse could lead him to more answers. Turns out someone else had the same idea, because he saw Cyra have the same thought he did. She was following her. Vergil chuckled, wondering what her plan was. Well, at least his decision was made.

The nurse stopped to speak to a vendor. Cyra recognized this was one of the vendors that sells her knock off demon wards. Strange… She thought. Was it all a set up? The vendor packed up their wares and left, leaving the nurse to continue down another path that Cyra followed. She remembered what Dante and Vergil said about a demon being in the cathedral. Lady Amelia… no, she couldn't be a demon. She knew her for years and nothing ever felt off. Maybe it was the nurse? Which only started worrying her. What if she decided to attack her and there'd be no way to defend herself. Cyra's heart started pounding in fear, but she had to continue. This nurse could be the only way to get to Lady Amelia. The nurse eventually approached an apartment complex and walked in, cutting off Cyra's pursuit.

"What are you doing?" Cyra jumped at the voice behind her, only for her to turn and see it was Vergil, "Did I scare you again?"

"You didn't- oh shut up!" Cyra said when she saw that damned arrogant smile that made her swoon - well, if she wasn't more on edge due to a possible demon she was tailing, "Following me again?"

Oh, if only she knew, Vergil thought, "Ironic question, don't you think?" He retorted.

Cyra's face reddened, "I need to get into that cathedral and she might be my only lead. Wait!" She said suddenly, surprising Vergil, "You can tell if someone is a demon right? Is that nurse one?"

"I sensed nothing from her," Vergil answered.

Cyra breathed out a sigh of relief, "Well, that's one less thing to worry about… I guess," That meant Lady Amelia was more likely to be one. There's just no way…

"I think you'd have better luck getting in that cathedral after you explain to us what's going on," Vergil said.

"You don't think I could handle this on my own?" Cyra asked feeling disappointed in herself.

Vergil didn't know what he said to make her suddenly act that way, "You are a human meddling in demon territory. It's not about being able to handle it; it's dangerous."

Cyra knew he was right, but she didn't want to hear it; especially not from him, "Well, I guess there's no point in hanging around here any longer. It's just another dead end."

"Why are you insisting on leaving us in the dark?" Vergil asked.

"Because!" Cyra snapped and immediately forced herself to calm down, "Because… I want to do this alone," Cyra said.

"You're being stubborn and foolish. Doing this alone will just get yourself killed," Vergil said getting annoyed.

"I guess it's a human thing, so how could you possibly understand?" Cyra said coldly mostly under her breath, but of course Vergil heard. She walked away from Vergil, something she didn't think she'd do. It was her frustration talking, but she didn't want to keep feeling like she was a weak human. She knew she could do this without their help - or more, she hoped she could. This was her business. It was to prove to herself that she could help Vergil using her own methods and connections. If she couldn't do this without their help, then she'd just end up being as useless as she felt.

Vergil was surprised at her stupidity. He still has no idea what she's hiding and she's somehow making it worse. He didn't get offended at her comment. It was true, mostly, but it did sting a bit to know that she thought that of him, too. Although he could just chalk it up to stress. People tend to say dumb things due to anger and stress, he was no exception. On one hand, he didn't think Cyra had it in her to say hurtful things. He smirked for a bit, excited to explore this side of Cyra and what else she was capable of. He just as quickly let that smirk falter, remembering there were more important things to worry about, such as keeping her away from the demon that she was willingly trying to get closer to.