Waking up without Lady by his side felt… odd. It wasn't the first night they'd spent apart, of course, but it was the first in a long time. Vergil turned to face the empty space beside him and sighed. An entire year and yet somehow I'm still waking up alone, he thought. His gaze flickered over to the Yamato, proudly resting against his bedroom door. Finally, it was back where it belonged. The strange sense of emptiness that had been plaguing him for the last year or so was gradually starting to fade. Lady had done a good job of filling most of it, but he hadn't been able to shake the feeling that something was missing. Of course in a literal sense, it had been, but there was something else to it. A sense of incompleteness, of... helplessness.

He reached out and gently clutched Lady's pillow to his chest. It still smelt of her shampoo. He buried his face in its scent, his grip tightening as he remembered all the times she'd had to come to his aid while he got used to fighting without his sword. And most of his powers, he reminded himself. The last year had been difficult, and he'd never felt more pathetic than he had in those first few months. It had brought back painful memories of his brief time as nothing but a mere human, but even then he'd had at least something to defend himself with. A low growl escaped his throat as he cursed his past-self. His weakness had forced her to protect him, when it should have been the other way around. How many times had she stood in front of him, guns raised and ready to risk everything… How many injuries had she patched up when he'd allowed himself to get hit (even his regeneration skills had all but disappeared back then)… But now… Now that he had it back then surely … He angrily threw the pillow at the wall. He wanted to- no, he needed to see her. He needed to prove to her that he was finally powerful once more, that she would be able to rely on him as he had relied on her. He looked over at the Yamato again. How easy it would be to open up a doorway into her bedroom and-

There was a loud crash downstairs. Vergil shot up in bed and shook his head. No. Tonight. He said he'd see her tonight. He couldn't let such foolish emotions get the better of him. Besides, the last thing he wanted was for her to get bored of him before the evening had even begun. He quickly dressed and yanked his bedroom door open, grabbing the Yamato in the process. He paused in the hallway, listening for any further sounds. When he was met by silence, he slinked towards the staircase and peeked down into the office. It was only as he saw the clock above the doors that he realised just how early it was. 5am. He snuck down the stairs, his eyes roaming the near complete darkness of the foyer. Finally as he turned the corner, his scrutinising gaze found the outline of what he assumed was Dante, slumped over the kitchen table. Vergil's grip on the Yamato loosened and he let out an irritated tut. Dante's head snapped up at the sound. The movement was followed by the grating sound of sliding metal as his figure appeared to stand up.

"It's me," Vergil said bluntly, leaning against the wall. Dante's shadow paused, then lowered back into its seat.

"You startled me," Dante replied after a few seconds, sounding surprisingly serious for once.

"It's unusual to see you up this early," Vergil said. He reached for the light switch, then thought better of it and returned his hand to his side. "Did I wake you?"

"Yeah right," Dante said, trying to inject a bit of laughter into his tone. "I've slept through literal earthquakes without waking up. Half the time I forget you're even here." He paused, then added: "...It's really nice to have you back again though."

"At this point, I think you're the one who's 'back'," Vergil replied, chuckling slightly. "I've essentially taken ownership of this place after all."

"Yeah but you're making me pay for the renovations!" Dante protested. "Therefore, still very much mine, thank you."

"Say that after you've finished paying off the bills," Vergil retorted. Dante seemed to have reverted back to his usual blithe self, but something was still off… "That aside, what are you doing in my kitchen at this hour?"

"I got hungry," Dante said, ignoring the obvious jab.

"So you decided to sit in the dark?"

"Electricity is expensive," Dante said, appearing to stretch. "Besides, what are you doing here at this hour, huh?"

"I heard you crashing around and came to investigate." Vergil walked over to the table and pulled out a chair. "I'm unused to having others living here, so I forgot to consider that you might have been the cause of such bothersome noise." He eyed the outline of Dante's sword leaning against a kitchen counter. "Unless of course, it wasn't you."

Dante appeared to tilt his head in confusion, then reached for his weapon. "This? I just got into the habit of carrying it around I guess." He yawned. "You're right, it was me. I'm still not used to this new layout, so I kinda… walked into the table."

"Is that how it is…" Vergil said. There was a faint metallic smell in the air. One that was all too familiar. "Dante-"

"I'm sorry if I bothered you," Dante said, getting to his feet. "I'll make sure any mess I've caused is cleaned up before breakfast, okay? Just give me some time."

Vergil opened his mouth to query the statement, then decided against it. As long as Dante kept the place clean and didn't get any of them into trouble, whatever was going on here was none of his business. Besides, Dante was more than capable of looking after himself. "As you wish," Vergil stated. Without another word, he stood up and headed for the stairs again. Ideally he'd like to try and get a little more sleep, but he knew he'd likely just end up reading until sunrise as usual.

"Vergil..."

Vergil paused. "Dante."

"I…" Hesitation. "Never mind."

Vergil grunted in response and carried on towards his room. Behind him, he heard Dante let out a tired sigh.

Unsurprisingly, Dante was absent for breakfast a few hours later. Somewhat unusual however, was the strong smell of bleach in the air. Vergil took a moment to walk around the foyer and kitchen, looking for anything out of place. The only thing that seemed to be different was a small scratch on the floor near the table, presumably from where Dante had allegedly crashed into it.

Satisfied that there was nothing further to concern himself with, Vergil quickly got to work with preparing himself a small breakfast. He had to remind himself a couple of times that he only needed to prepare half as much as he usually did, since he would be eating alone. His eyes roamed the length of the Yamato on the table in front of him as he sipped his coffee. He would finally be using it again for the first time in over a year. His reason? To travel to a nearby tailor to collect the suit he'd ordered. A small part of him felt ashamed at his plans for such a menial use of one of the most powerful weapons in existence, but he had to test his capabilities somehow. Although his strength had slowly returned over the last year, he still wasn't sure how competent he would be when it came to using his beloved sword. If he wanted to prove himself to Lady, he had to make sure he could actually follow through. If he could just reassure himself that he was still able to use it, then the rest would be easy. The next time they went out on a job together - a real one, not the non-existent one he had made up as an excuse for Dante - he'd show her how powerful he could really be.

Once he was done with eating, he stood in the middle of the foyer, blade raised in front of him. His arms shook slightly as he prepared to make the first cut through the air. He internally cursed himself for showing such weakness; this was exactly what he was trying to avoid. He was suddenly glad that he was alone this morning afterall. Vergil took a death breath then slashed once, twice, with all the force he could muster. The space in front of him transformed, starting as two near imperceptible lines in the air, before slowly opening up into a jagged hole in reality. Through the warped opening, he could see the street he'd envisioned in his mind. It seemed to be working just as intended. With a satisfied smile, Vergil returned the Yamato to its sheath and stepped through.

"Are you really sure this is the best idea?" The boy sounded nervous on the phone. Dante was sitting at his desk, continuously glancing around in case Vergil appeared out of nowhere. Based on the lack of pacing sounds from upstairs, it seemed that the older twin had left the building at some point. All the more reason to be anxious about his sudden return.

"You were fine with it when we made the booking yesterday evening…" Dante huffed.

"Yeah but that was…" A pause. "That was before last night…"

"We dealt with it, remember? If anything tonight is probably the safest time for everyone to meet up, before they can return again." He only hoped that was true. "I mean, think how long it took for them to come back this time."

"I'm not sure how comfortable I am putting Kyrie at risk…"

"You're putting her at risk just by being near her. In fact, she'll probably be safer with all of us around."

"Us all being together is what I'm worried about…" The boy let out what sounded like an annoyed growl. "I'm not crazy right? This can't be a good-"

"Think how much less there were last night," Dante said sternly. "Everything is almost back to normal. We just need to show them that we're not afraid. Hiding away won't help anything."

"Yeah, I…" A sigh. "I guess you're right."

"See you guys tonight?"

"See you tonight…"

"Nero?"

"Yeah…?"

"I won't let anything happen to her, I promise."

"I'll hold you to that."

A/N -

Greetings everyone~
Hope you're enjoying the story so far! Updates may slow down a little from here onwards (sorry, I know it's annoying!), my current work schedule plus a few commitments over the next few weeks is making is weirdly difficult to find the time to write! Things should hopefully be easier from mid-November onwards (I'll try to update before then of course!) so please bear with me until then!

Thank you to everyone reading! ^_^