Devil May Cry: Would you Fight for me
Written By: Lady Lunar Phoenix
A/N part 1: … I don't know what happened I thought I had reached the bottom of the page when I finished the chapter and there was this gap. So I fixed it until the first true beta happens... Sorry...
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Dante would undoubtedly have thought that their father had founded another family. After all their father visited them, he didn't live with them. Traveling around to make sure the demon population was next to nothing, so he told them. But it wouldn't be hard to believe that he founded another one, a Nero from a future time, unaware of that fact, could easily be confused with a half brother rather than a nephew.
Though Nero would be safe dealing with an angry Dante, he could handle being knocked around a bit. No, Nero would be in danger if he ran into a younger 'Vergil'.
"Mr. V? Maybe we should take a break?" a soft, concerned voice floated across his worries the way a paper boat on a river would. Soaked in and dragged down until Vergil remembered the girl with him, and that 'V' was what he was going by, for now.
He turned and thoughtlessly pushed at his hair back, but now it didn't stay. Instead it tumbled back down hiding a portion of his face. But his raised eyebrow was enough to give her a clue that to what he might be thinking.
"Its just that you've become very pale, you appear stricken and I... I..." the longer she looked at him, the more his serious gaze unnerved her. Focused, almost startlingly intense, she felt increasingly like a peasant who had interrupted a distracted lord. "I'm sorry... forget I said anything," she demurred.
The hallway was not helping her with its unnervingly dark designs, she couldn't shake the feeling of something watching her at every turn. Despite the cold from the front of the tower it was becoming stifling with some strange heat.
Vergil blinked and shook his head, feeling the weight of his bangs lightly brush his nose from the act. "You need not apologize, the fault lies solely with myself. Despite having so few pieces I find myself attempting to figure out the puzzle of our situation." He reached out as though to grasp a fleeting thought or maybe a falling feather. "However; Nero's condition will worsen, unprepared as he is, regardless of my own health or state. His well being is my primary concern."
Yet when he turned to look directly at her he found a frown tugging at the corners of his lips. Kyrie didn't have any form of protection, and it only occurred to him then how dangerous this tower was to her. Not just because of the demons, though that bore a significant weight of danger in and of itself true. The sheer spiritual energy of the place naturally would prey on a mere human, Lady had been immune due to nature of her mothers' blood line. Any other human had no such good fortune and despite her natural red hair.
Vergil could see the girl was going to need help, "if I may..." he reached up and placed the back of his long fingers against her forehead. But he didn't even need to touch it to feel the warmth radiating off her. "How do you feel at the moment?"
"Warm? Its strange to think I would be coming down with a cold in a situation like this... but I just feel strangely warm. Not from my surroundings just..."
"The library here may have a book or two that might be able to render some help. I'm... not entirely sure, I know of such a book in the libraries of Fortuna. And I recall what could have been a copy of the necessary tome here in this tower. But it was not my target for research so I will admit to a lack of confidence." he warned and watched her nod slowly, her eyes were clear though and that was always a good sign. "Though on the brighter side, to get to the library we undoubtedly will cross paths with your brother and Nero."
Like a light switch, the moment Kyrie heard Nero's name her expression brightened and she nodded, sending her hair rippling. It brought to mind the autumn months when certain trees turned red and were caught in a firm breeze. Flowing in soft waves, a moment caught in time between while he had been focused on surviving. Admiring his surroundings was often dangerous, distractions that could lead to harm if the demons came across him.
Distractions like the girl and her brother, his focus should have only been on Nero. But this was Nero's human family, harm to them would only anger the boy. 'And I have hurt him enough. My first act was to assault him in his own home and dismember him, and my final act in the human world was to openly abandon him again. I can talk quite prettily about the importance of destroying the Qliphoth. But I left him behind again... I have no right to see the human world, even in these soft reflections...'
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"The hell?" Nero stumbled uselessly off pace in a manner that even got Dante to have a momentary pang of concern.
"Nero?" Credo stiffly turned from their course to follow where Nero stumbled off towards. He wanted to rush over, but every quick movement of his legs sent a jarring pain in his stomach. He wasn't going to heal from the Yamato being stabbed into him. Sharp, a cold flame burned in his stomach yet he wouldn't trade this pain.
For it was the proof that he lived.
He had been struggling to breath, he heard the devil hunters but not the strength to get up. Now he could, he caught his breath and could stand and speak. 'And this is all wrong I shouldn't be able to,' he thought as he was forced to watch Nero collapse onto the stone floor. If he hadn't been fatally wounded he could have rushed forward. Grabbed Nero, helped him down, his desperate little brother who tried so hard for... for... Approval and self identity really.
Credo used his sheathed sword to help ease him down to his knees when a hand roughly grabbed his forearm.
"You move like your fragile..." Dante noted, his tone disgruntled and sharp, yet his grip lowered helping Credo get to his knees. "Which is really odd for a guy with the build of a swordsman."
Credo glanced up over his shoulder to look at the hunter before giving a curt nod and turning his attention back to his brother. But...
And yet...
Hair styles were similar enough and this Dante was young enough that he and Nero could easily be brothers. And the Dante he knew to be in Fortuna was easily old enough to be Nero's kin! Was it possible that Dante was Nero's father?
If so it would finally give Nero what he deserved, a family and a 'name' of his own. Not just any name either, but the grandson of Sparda himself! Nero would no longer be shunned for his similarity to Sparda and could rightly claim himself as Sparda's grandson! Grandson of the Legendary Dark Knight and son of the Legendary Devil Hunter. The city would 'have' to accept Nero instead of treating him as though he was some cheap knock off copy.
But on the other hand it was starting to anger Credo as well...
Because if Dante was Nero's father. Where was he all these years? Why did he abandon Nero in the first place? Was being a father of an untested youth beneath him? Or was it as the rumors suggested? That Nero's mom was just a prostitute that got accidentally knocked up? Either way, it certainly tarnished the whole 'Legendary' part of his opinion of Dante.
"Nero, can you hear me?" Credo asked as he rolled Nero on his back.
Worriedly Nero's eyes were open, he was clearly staring at something or... maybe nothing at all. He wasn't looking at either Credo, Dante or the room they were in that was for sure. All he could see was this white void. This hollow space that felt cleared out, the way the church felt after everyone left. One minute filled with all this energy, the next this formidable echo of nothing.
And nothing..
And... nothing...
But once there had been something... and it hurt... in a way that Nero couldn't understand.
While behind both men a door creaked open and a woman's voice shook them from their thoughts.
"Credo! Nero!" Kyrie peeked out from behind the newly opened door just to see Nero on the ground with Credo and that red coated man. But while some distant part of her mind questioned if it was ok for said man to be near both men she knew. Especially when Nero was on the ground and given what little she knew of what his situation must have been. She fairly ignored it in favor of her stronger concerns.
Griffon glided over her head into the room proper and stayed in a holding position in the air as Vergil followed closely behind Kyrie. Just hearing the names she called out had been all he needed to understand the pair were in here and that meant he could help Nero. Before him he could see Dante the way he remembered his younger brother that day. The white clad man was discarded easily though Vergil realized that it must have been this Credo person.
V's instincts took over moving Vergil before he was aware he had taken a step. His thumb rubbed against the handle of the silver cane V used, tracing over the fairly reptilian scale like design on the metal with a foreign familiarity. Nero was younger, his hair longer and his clothes an interesting muted call to both Vergils' own blue though dark, and Dantes bright reds just muted. Unite both colors though and one got purple, the color that the twins always had associated with their father.
Obviously young, it was impossible not to see the similarities between Nero and a young Dante. All the more reason V would assume the boy his nephew and now knowing the truth set Vergils' heart beating painfully in his chest. "Well, well it would seem the little angel reached a little too far this time..."
Vergil was ready to bite his tongue before he started spouting poetry in the current company, it may have been V's way of communicating. But it couldn't be used for Vergil... could it?
The others were quiet, Credo needing only to see his sisters' quiet, calm to this dangerous looking stranger approaching Nero. And calling Nero 'little angel'? Who was this man?
"I'm sorry, I ran blindly and well, ran into him, he's been escorting me back to find you. His name is 'V'..." Kyrie explained in a hurried and soft tone clearly directed at her brother though her worried gaze stayed on Nero.
But it was also all Credo needed to hear, trusting Kyries' assessment he didn't attempt to protect Nero and merely observed this strangely tattooed man. Barely dressed in black attire, Credo was starting to wonder if men outside of Fortuna just walked around shirtless as a form of dress code. 'V' lifted up Nero's Devil Bringer and turned it palm upward. Resting one hand under the palm to hold it up, the other hand rested over it, he wished he could see the man's face. But the thick black hair draped forward hiding his expression.
And Credo hated that, needing to make sure Nero was ok, not seeing Vs' face was setting him on edge.
"Nero, I'm not sure you can hear me clearly, but you must release those feathers. Release them back to me." His tone was soft, firm with a hint of worry as he spoke.
Instinctively Nero's hand clenched shut, even as he sucked in a sharp, hard breath, "who are you? Where is everyone..."
"Everyone is here, you are physically safe, however; you have absorbed feathers from my familiars. These familiars link themselves through nightmares and are trying to establish a contract with you through yours. You must release those feathers, unless you want this dragged out more painfully than necessary.
Vergil could feel the struggle in his hands, as Nero began fighting himself to unfurl his fingers and do as instructed. "That's right," he encouraged as he saw the growing black specks that would form the feathers starting to float up from Nero's hand. It was a slow process at first, and Vergil wove the demon strength he poured into V's form to wrap around those bits. Urizen would not be reborn when Vergil summoned V. But V would have all the demonic power he would need to fight, or in this case. Restore.
Nero's first shuddering breath heralded the start, as the nightmare white void's dissipation also resulted in the first and largest of feathers into forming in the air. Vergil snatched it greedily, letting his own skin soak in the demonic ink. While the matter of course let it manifest into a feather on Griffon, yet it did more than that as Shadow stirred slightly. In an explosion of black dust the demon panther appeared at Vergils' side, eerily focused on Nero.
The young quarter blood sat up on his own, though he kept his hand out and for a moment seemed mesmerized by this stranger. Now that he had an idea of what to do, it felt easy, almost natural to release those damn feathers. The way he carried all the other crap that he found going through the church trying to find Dante then rescue Kyrie.
"And who are you supposed to be?" Nero asked, cautious and distrustful as he took in the black clad man, the tattoos and the damn bird.
"This is Mr. V. I ran into him below and he's been kind enough to escort me back to you both," Kyries' warm voice answered in 'that' tone. The 'Nero you're being impolite' tone that would end up resulting in either her or Credo apologizing for his rudeness.
Not that it was used as much as it used to be, and he was quite proud that he was becoming less of an embarrassment on that part... wait... "Kyrie?!"
Vergil was fine with it, in fact it was sweetly endearing to see Nero go from distrustful to protective. 'My love so high and me so low', was a line that began to play into his thoughts. If Nero's compassionate and considerate nature was coming from being raised by this family. Was there nothing of Vergil in the child? With Nero suitable distracted by the girl, it was far easier to finish extracting and soothing what he could of the scars from the contract.
"Nero..." sleepy amusement in tone, Griffon suddenly spoke for the first time. Even Shadow rumbled something softly deep in his chest causing Vergil to turn and look at his familiars. For a brief moment there was life in those feline eyes, an out of place click of the beak. 'Curious...'
While Dante was freed up to observe the newcomer in the room, he recalled the pretty red head. Her hair was similar enough for him to recognize her relation to soldier boy, but this stranger. This human that radiated demonic power and had these demonic pets... "'V' huh? And what brings you to this tower?"
V barely turned his head, "you're going to be in for a surprise if you look outside the tower... or not.. I was doing some hunting in the demon world when I was attacked by those Nelo Angelos. Then this tower appeared in the distance, not just the tower either."
"Wait..." Dante shook his head as his brain tried to wrap around the thought. "The tower 'relocated'? You expect me to be believe we're not in the human world anymore?" Dante demanded stalking over to stand behind and fairly over V. His first instinct was to grab the guy and drag him to his feet. But he was so thin, so frail looking with so many of his bones visible under ink painted skin.
"I'm not sure myself. I know of the library and came to look for something to read while I waited. When I ran into the dear maiden," Vergil replied tilting his head towards Kyrie. 'Also I know because its your loud mouth self that told me to stay at the base of the tower... Such a curious occurrence this.'
Vergil planted the cane so he could use it to stand up, before turning to face his twin. Dante looked to still be trying to process what Vergil had said. "You are a devil hunter are you not? You should know something of this tower then..."
"I hunt devils, I don't care about their attempts at architecture," Dante began, though he gave a shrug afterwards. Because this guy had this vibe, a look in his eye as though he was judging Dante for not knowing the history of some stupid tower that his dad built. "You got a problem with that?"
Vergil fairly rolled his eyes as he turned away, "The tower should be in the human world, yet now it has appeared here in the Underworld. Moreover; it is not 'just' in the Underworld, its well... The 'you' I know is a 45 year old man."
The comment, gently spoken and worded, managed to fracture its way into Nero's little group causing the trio to look up.
"Wait? What?" Nero began when Vergil pointed at him with his cane.
"And the you I know is in your mid twenties."
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I think that I find this series the most challenging of all the stories I have written. Because as a 'style over substance' and 'tell don't show' series, anything written can and will be changed for style purposes. For example: To validate Dante murdering Vergil in DMC1, they created a story where Vergil kills Nell and a bunch of Dante's friends pre DMC3. Essentially 'make peace with the fact that Vergil is pure evil because Dante is an eternal good boy.' Yes, 'Tell' us Dante's a good boy who would rather rescue a cat from a tree while you 'show' us him playing with Lucifer while a city burns. 'Tell' us that he cares about his brother', while systematically eliminating Vergils' very memory from the face of the planet. It takes HUGE balls to steal your brothers' son for yourself. Six years of knowing that Nero was his nephew and him saying nada. Six years of every demon calling him the 'son' (singular) of Sparda, not 'younger son' or 'surviving son'.
Is it so hard to just say 'A demon burned down my family home when I was 8, your father and I got separated and by the time we met up again life had not been kind to him. And by 'not kind' it led to his death and I couldn't save him. So the most I can do for him is look after you?' Is it really THAT hard to do?
And because Vergil is literally everybody's favorite fuckboy on the team...
Instead of DMC5 being a story about uniting Nero with his father and them forming a bond. They wanted the really stylish image of Nero in his DT stopping Dante from killing Vergil 'again'.
Something to keep in mind is for me to be 'interested' on a story in a game I need the 'game' to sell the story. But DMC is strangely enough structured to go in reverse and expect you to read side content that should flesh out the universe instead. This creates issues because I'm sure there are novels that 'explain' this stuff, but here's an example. Like I noted the prequel novel of DMC3 states that Vergil killed Dantes' friends. And this is supposed to explain away the fridging in DMC1. But with DMC 5 it got retconned. Meaning now that the canon is that Dante intentionally abandoned his brother to Mundus over a misunderstanding believing his now innocent brother murdered his friends.
As a writer I have to now go with the retcon, but this makes Dante an asshole. Because he never talks to Vergil. See if Vergil was intended to be a character Dante 'should' have some memories of how Vergil was. And be able to KNOW that murdering innocent people is something Vergil would or wouldn't do. But he doesn't because Vergil doesn't seem to exist as a character as much as an excuse or a plot point.
Another example is in DMC4, in the game Nero recalls the sound of Kyrie being in distress as the moment he calls Yamato to him and reforges it. But in the 'novel' its him getting in contact with some aspect of Vergil. Which is it? Apparently going by 5 its the game, because he doesn't know who Vergil 'is'. Dante expressly 'never' mentions Vergil, but how could a blue coat guy who looks 'just like Dante' be in the Yamato? It would make sense for Nero to ask about Vergil if he saw Vergil like in the novel. Forcing Dante to admit he has a twin and the connection. But that didn't happen so it seems the 'canon' is cherry picked at a moments notice and adjusted as needed. Hard to write 'canon' when it never sits still... And all this because no one gives a fuck about Vergil.
Keeping Vergil in a fridge for 20 years...