Go Get Your Own
Disclaimer: Devil May Cry belongs to people who are not me. I am making £0.00 out of this fic; it is written purely because I had some Dante angst.
Rating: PG-13
Part: Three of Three
Set: Post DMC5 - Several months after my fic Emotional Support Demons
Authoress note Dante wants what Vergil has.
A reminder: I am currently doing a tidy up/purge of my fics. Hopefully, by the end of April 2022, this will be complete. So, if a fic you enjoy disappears at the end of April, please reach out to me as I am happy to share them privately with you.
For all my reviewers, who without I would have surely given up a long time ago.
Chapter Three
"This is your job?" Dante looked around them and sneered. "You really needed us for this?"
"Kinda." Nero surveyed the town. Not a single demon was in sight. Instead, the rebuilding effort from Fortuna was underway. "Kyrie said they don't have enough funding to rent some of the machinery they need, so…"
"You think we can be machinery?" Dante visibly slumped. "Kid, I'm a badass demon hunter. I don't lift the heavy things."
"Come on, please?" Nero batted his eyelashes at his uncle.
"You mentioned a bounty." Vergil came up behind Nero.
"Yeah." Nero grinned. "It's the cool box in the van. As many sandwiches as you can eat, Kyrie made them."
"We're not even being paid!" Dante full body collapsed into the rubble.
"You're being paid in sandwiches." Nero walked over to his uncle and kicked him gently. "Come on, would it kill you to help with this? For me, your bestest ever nephew."
"Fine!" Dante got to his feet. "But you can't use the family thing again for an entire year."
"Outstanding." Nero grinned wider. He had officially won all the boyfriend points, Kyrie would be thrilled. "Come on, we're needed over by the old hospital."
The old hospital was not in fact an old anything anymore, unless you counted an old pile of rubble as a thing. The demon hoard that had moved through this town had been big, and made up of big individuals. Nero had polished them off a month ago. It had been excellent exercise. But the collateral damage had been pretty epic. He'd felt guilty so when Kyrie had mentioned the rebuild could use a powerful pair of hands, he'd volunteered. He'd also volunteered his father and uncle.
The job at the hospital was clearing rubble. But the rubble was so big that normal humans would have had to break it down first, and that took time and machinery, both of which the Order didn't have for this. Dante and Vergil could pulverise rubble with minimal effort. They also didn't have to worry about getting injured or trapped if they got too enthusiastic. They could go to town and have this all broken down in an afternoon, ready for the movers to come in a clear it.
Nero was very pleased with himself.
His feeling of pride and cleverness lasted all of two minutes.
The two were arguing, nothing new, but they were doing it in their High Demon forms. That was going to freak out the locals.
"You're not listening," Vergil snarled.
"I hear you; you want me to fucking hurt Yota." Dante's flames flared higher. "I'm not hurting him."
"It won't hurt him, you imbecilic moron!" Vergil lashed out, clawing Dante's face. Dante retaliated with a punch that sent Vergil skidding back.
"He knows I'm the boss. I don't need to crush him to prove it."
"Do you lack all demon instincts?"
"I'm just as demon as you are."
"I doubt that," Vergil hissed, his breath so hot it made the air shimmer. "Or else you'd appreciate the effort I'm going through to not take him from you."
"You take him if you can." Dante turned into an aggressive crouch.
"Will you two knock it off?" Nero trotted over, easily putting himself between the warring brothers. "Calm the fuck down. You're freaking people out."
"You calm down. He's trying to hurt Yota." Dante pointed at his brother.
"I don't think he is." Nero glanced at the demon in question who was sulking by some obviously burned vehicles. "The hell?"
"The creature does what it wants," Vergil snapped. "And it wanted to burn the cars."
"He didn't hear me say no." Dante's tone was more defensive than angry now. Nero hesitated; could he hear something in the rubble?
"Bullshit," Vergil said. "Take control of him now or I will." Nero stepped out from between the brothers and put his head down to the ground. He could hear something, voices?
"You can try," Dante said again. Nero waved a hand at them both.
"Hey guys?" Neither responded. "Oi, assholes!"
"What?" Dante turned to face his nephew.
"I can hear people! I thought the rescue effort was finished? They've been focused on rebuilding for weeks now!" Vergil came over and knelt down next to him, long tail lashing showing his irritation. But he put his head close to the ground and took a deep breath.
"I can smell people and blood, a lot of blood."
"We gotta get them out now." Nero pulled parts of rubble away. What was left of the building shook, threatening to fall.
"Stop," Dante snapped. Nero instinctively obeyed. "The whole thing could come down."
"We gotta get them out!"
"There's a way through," Griffon said. Nero turned to find the bird covered in dust behind him. "But it's too small for you. I can go in, so can the kitty. The pooch probably could too, but no way am I taking him."
"He's strong. He could be of use to you." Vergil glanced at Yota.
"Take him," Dante said firmly.
"No way." Griffon fluffed his feathers, making himself look bigger than he was. "He doesn't follow orders." Vergil stared hard at Dante.
"You know he's right." Vergil's voice was quiet. He reached up to put a lethal looking blue hand on Dante's shoulder. "If you want to keep him, to which I have no objections, then you need him to understand the hoard."
"We're not a hoard," Dante muttered. Nero felt like a light had turned on in his mind.
"That's what's bothering you, fucking labels?" He wanted to punch his uncle.
"We're not a hoard," Dante snapped. "A hoard is toxic. It's all about who's the strongest, who's in charge. We're not like that."
"Not all hoards are like that." Vergil pinched his nose. "A hoard is a group the same as any other. Some are good and some are, as you say, toxic. The only difference with a hoard is that it only works if there's a structure. A hoard is at its most peaceful and cohesive when everyone knows where they stand."
"Humans aren't like that." Dante leaned into his brother's hand on his shoulder.
"They are, they just pretend not to be and because they don't communicate clearly, they get resentments, power struggles and infighting." Vergil's tone was still soft. He pulled his brother closer. "I wouldn't ask you to do something you found distasteful without it being ultimately beneficial."
"Sounds like a hoard is just another word for family. I think Yota deserves a family." Nero came over to his family and reached out to put a hand on Dante's other arm, a visible show of support. The flames danced over his skin but did not burn.
"He is the goodest boy," Dante said.
"That's not a word," Vergil muttered.
"We really could use him right now," Griffon said. Dante sighed.
"Fine, you bunch of assholes." He broke away from his brother and nephew and walked over to Yota. "Hey boy," he said firmly. "I'm the badass boss around here, and you have to do as you're told." The demon dog looked up at Dante and opened his jaws in a doggy grin. "But that means you gotta do as you're told from now on." Yota slowly closed his mouth and started to growl. "No more freeloading, you're a part of this family 100% or 0%." The demon growled louder. Dante snarled right back at it and took a step forward, putting himself in the demon dog's personal space. Yota hesitated for a moment before growling even louder. Dante lifted a large clawed hand and put it on Yota's neck and pushed down hard.
Yota thrashed for a moment, putting up a fight that Dante easily subdued. Nero could swear he saw the moment that the demon dog's eyes widened in realisation. The struggling stilled, a long flaming tongue came out and lapped at Dante's armour. Dante let go and Yota rolled onto his back, exposing his stomach and throat.
"Good boy." Dante's voice caught. "Now go with the bird and the kitty. Be good, do as Griffon says." Yota stood up, dipped his head to Dante and trotted over to Griffon, where he sat at the bird's right side.
"Holy shit," Nero muttered. "He's actually listening."
"He's not a dog any more than Griffon is a bird, of Shadow a cat." Vergil sounded unbelievably exasperated. "He's a demon. His lever of intelligence is higher than a dog. He just needed to understand his place." Vergil looked at Griffon. "Go in, find the people try to talk to them. Shadow form a shield around them when they have calmed down. Then we'll come in."
"Got it, boss." Griffon turned and walked to where his path was. Yota followed at his heals.
"Happy now?" Dante said as they went into the rubble.
"Do you feel better?" Vergil's expression said he already knew the answer. Dante took a long moment before nodding.
"Don't tell me you told me so," he said. Vergil nodded once. "Thanks."
"I have a thought." Vergil said while they waited for the all clear to smash their way through.
"Show off," Nero muttered. Vergil smiled.
"The shop is very small now, with everyone living there." Vergil spoke carefully, glancing at his brother while he did so. "And this exercise has reminded me that rebuilding could be a viable option."
"You're not smashing my shop up." Dante glared at his brother.
"I didn't intend to." Vergil chuckled.
"Then what are you getting at?" Dante said.
"Not all places we thought we had lost are truly lost." Dante groaned loudly.
"Your being deliberately vague. Just tell me what you're thinking."
"I'm thinking, dear brother, about Redgrave, in particular a large house on the edge of town."
"Home?" Dante frowned. "You're talking about home?"
"Yes, I am talking about going home."
End Fic
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