Notes: I'd like to thank merendinoemiliano again for leaving another review, and after reading your profile I am now worried about using the google translate Italian in this story. Just kidding. (not really)

Chapter 7

By the twelfth floor, all three staircases led to the same room. Nero was the first one to arrive along with Nico, and sat on the top of the RV when nothing happened in the first five minutes. Eventually, the twins arrived at the same time.

"I beat you here, Dante." Vergil announced, causing his son to roll his eyes.

"Seriously?! I think you need an eye check, because I clearly got here first."

The youngest devil hunter cleared his throat and they finally acknowledged his presence.

"Taking a ride doesn't qualify you as the winner." Dante scoffed.

"Not my fault you didn't use your bike."

"I lost it in the underworld... It was a good bike."

"Hey, you good-for-nothing brains... Except for you, Dante, you're cool..." The boy rolled his eyes once again. "In case you didn't notice, this isn't the top floor!" The gunsmith yelled.

Before they could tell her they knew, the same demoness that had appeared a few moments before to Nero showed up again in black smoke. She had one of her long hands on her chin.

"How beautiful... A family reunion."

"Too bad we can't say the same about you." The youngest one retorted.

"That's what happens when you don't teach manners to your kid, Vergil, they go around offending ladies... Even though she really is ugly as fuck." Dante only whispered that last part to his twin, who pushed him away.

"I will be very brief, we're pumping as much power as we can on Sparda's broken body, and it is working since he managed to build this place." She stretched her arms, showing around.

"Oh, I get it, this is the bad guy's speech right now. Should we sit down?" The younger twin mocked.

"What is your endgame?" Vergil asked.

"Getting Mundus his right hand devil back. And I'm here to stop you from getting in our way."

All three descendants of Sparda had their blades in their hands, but a black and thick smoke surrounded them. In a few seconds they all dropped to the floor, unconscious. The demoness disappeared and Nico ran to them.

"Nero?! Hey, that's not the time and place to sleep!" She kicked his leg, however, there was no reaction.

Dante opened his eyes and realized he no longer was in the tower. He looked around and recognized the place: his childhood bedroom. Although there were some slight differences, like the huge bed he laid on with Phoebe peacefully sleeping by his side. He gently touched her arm.

"Hey, Pheebs..."

The redhead slowly opened her eyes. "What?"

"Where are we?"

She furrowed her eyebrows, not understanding the question. "Are you okay?"

"I was in the fake Temen-ni-gru with Vergil and Nero a second ago."

She lightly chuckled. "You must've had a dream about your last job, babe. Go back to sleep."

The redhead turned around, leaving the confused man all by himself. He slowly got up and got dressed, silently turning the knob and closing the door as he left the room. His childhood house looked exactly as remembered before the attack. The legendary devil hunter could hear voices coming from the dining room, one of them being from Nero, maybe he knew what was going on.

Once Dante reached that room, he saw almost everyone sitting around the table: Nero, Kyrie, Nico, Lady, Trish, Vergil, Morrison, even Patty. His nephew seemed as confused as him, while his twin had an expression that was impossible to read. But the moment his heart really skipped a beat was when another figure came from the kitchen.

"You're up early, Dante."

And there it was: the warmest smile he had ever seen in his entire life. It instantaneously brought warmth to his heart as he sat down in shock. It was Eva, right in front of him. Aside from Nero and Vergil, everyone one else seemed to laugh at his reaction.

"It is a miracle."

Dante flinched when he heard his father's voice and saw his figure approaching until he placed a hand on Eva's shoulder. He had the same strict, disapproving tone he remembered. The devil hunter looked into his twin's eyes, and mouthed a what's-going-on question, but was completely ignored. He looked at Nero, who only shrugged.

"You're acting weird, Dante, what's going on?" Lady asked as she laughed.

"I bet his brain hasn't woken up yet, being the lazy old man he is." Patty teased.

"And you are just an annoying kiddo." He retorted.

Eva and Sparda sat down. The place was a fuss with almost everyone talking as loud as they could. Vergil quietly ate his breakfast as he watched the rest. The other two white haired men, however, couldn't even touch their food, even though it was the same scrambled eggs and bacon that Dante used to have as a kid.

"Morning." Phoebe lazily said as she approached the table stretching her arms.

"Oh, here comes the lazy old woman." The blonde teenager teased. The redhead sat down and stared into her eyes with a smirk.

"I may be older than you, but only one of us is gonna become a wrinkled old lady." She winked.

Patty's face twisted in anger, and the woman gave her a light slap on the forehead to annoy her even further.

"Dante! The witch is being mean to me, say something!"

He blinked twice while looking at them. They rarely met each other, but the few times they did things went exactly like this. Phoebe had once explained to him that the girl had some sort of crush on him, like a teenager who has a hot guy as a teacher or professor. So, she was just jealous, and the sorceress didn't mind at all the things she said.

"Dante!" The blonde insisted.

"Just eat your food to keep your mouth shut, will ya?" He watched as she angrily puffed her cheeks and eventually gave up. The half demk gestured for the redhead to get closer and he whispered in her ear: "What's going on?"

She gave him a confused look. "... Breakfast." She answered slowly.

"Pheebs, my parents are right across the table."

She arched an eyebrow and stared at him. "Like they've always been."

"Billy?"

"At his ordinary and human job, unlike us." Phoebe kept staring until realization crossed her face. "Oh, I see what's going on... You had one of those dreams again."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "What...?"

"I've already told you, babe." She cupped his cheek with one of her palms. "Those are anxiety induced nightmares. They can't hurt you."

For some reason he didn't exactly understand, Dante was able to relax after hearing that. He eyed his twin, who had his eyes fixed on something right next to the redhead, but as soon as he realized his look, he changed his to some random place.

What Vergil was able to see that his younger brother couldn't was exactly another redhead. However, that was the real one. She observed her copy with a raised eyebrow and one of her hands on her hip. After mumbling something that seemed like disapproval, she walked away towards the rooms. The older twin excused himself from the table and followed her.

He knew this was an illusion, when he was turned into Nelo Angelo he had been through enough of those to break his mind and became able to quickly recognize one. That's how he could see the sorceress while others don't, the half demon wasn't completely under its influence like his brother and son.

Phoebe went to Dante's room, frenetically searching through his drawers, until she quickly turned her neck in Vergil's direction, realizing he was standing there, leaning against the door frame. She had that hatred burning in her eyes, until realization crossed her face.

The sorceress noticed he could see her, and her expression changed completely, both her eyebrows were raised and her eyes looked... sympathetic. Was it... pity? Vergil felt disgusted just by the idea of someone feeling that towards him.

"What are you doing?" He asked harshly.

"Why are you asking me something you already know the answer to?" She went back to searching.

"Pardon me?"

She rolled her eyes. "The key to opening the front gate and getting out of here." She approached him and put her hand inside the pocket of his coat, fishing a blue key from it. "But you already knew that." Phoebe mockingly showed it to him as she waved it in front of his eyes like a pendulum before returning it to his pocket.

She stormed out of the room and walked along the hallway, Vergil right behind her.

"I don't know what you're talking about."

The sorceress stopped midway and turned on her heels, looking him in the eyes. "You know, you could have all of this. Okay, except for your mother and maybe your father. Just remove this great wall of China you built around yourself. It's all up to you." Her harsh tone towards him was back.

In reality, the half demon knew exactly what she was talking about, he just pretended not to because otherwise, he would have to admit it to himself.

The redhead walked all the way back to the dining room and stopped behind Dante. He had already given in to the illusion, a happy expression on his face that almost melted and broke her heart at the same time. She carefully started searching in the pockets of his coat.

Vergil kept staring at her until she sighed, tired from the game he made up to fool himself.

"Look, if you can see me, it means you know this is an illusion. Which means you know the drill and you're still here because you want to. Because you want this."

She scratched her head when she still couldn't find her key. Considering Phoebe had entered that illusion later, she shouldn't even need it to begin with. Usually the key would be in or with someone important to the person, but since the illusion wasn't built with her in mind, it shouldn't consider her feelings.

Vergil had already sat down again, a pondering expression across his face. She figured it would be best to leave him alone and allow him to enjoy whatever time he had left with that place. The sorceress went outside, trying to figure things out. The key couldn't be in the playground, it was outside the gate.

"Sorellina!"

Her entire body froze when she heard that voice, it had been too long since she had heard it for the last time, she didn't even remember what his voice was like anymore. It also meant that the illusion could adapt itself. Fuck.

"Can you believe they gave me a day off today?!"

"That's good, Billy." Phoebe didn't have the courage to turn around and face her brother.

"What's wrong?"

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She slowly turned around and opened her eyes. He looked just like he did on the day before he died: the same height as her, skinny, his wavy and blond hair was a mess and his brown eyes were always behind his glasses. He was a twenty-two-year-old back then, probably the same age as Nero.

She threw her arms around him. "I missed you, mimmo."

He was confused. "We just saw each other yesterday."

"No, we didn't. You died twelve years ago after the mafia had finally found us, using our American names didn't help in the end. They still found the Camilla and Giovanni that had betrayed them." The sorceress searched through the pocket of his pants and found her dark pink key.

"Are you okay...?"

"No." She let go of him and placed both hands on his shoulders. "I'm not. You wanna know why? Because the only thing that kept me going between torturing people and being too intoxicated by alcohol to know where I was, was protecting you. The day we escaped, I really thought we were free..." Phoebe couldn't stop the tears anymore. "I'm sorry I failed to protect you."

"You didn't. There was no way you could've known."

She widened her eyes, astonished.

"I fucked up, Milla. That's how they found me. Stop beating yourself up."

The redhead was choked up and completely in shock. Was her mind playing games with her, or was it really his soul? Before she could do anything else or think properly, he dissipated right in front of her. She stood there for many minutes, a tight grip on her key that would've probably broken it if it really were real.

She eventually left the illusion, walking away to find the demoness with such determination that she even ignored Nico's questions about what had happened to the boys. Phoebe found her on the floor above, and her skinny and hideous frame slowly turned around to face her. The sorceress covered both her hands in fire as she narrowed her eyes.

"What? No snarky comment towards me?"

"I leave that to the boys. Me? I'm just gonna fucking murder you." The hatred in her voice caused the demoness to curiously tilt her head to the side, before the redhead charged at her.

Back in the illusion, Dante was leaning against the door frame, gawking as he watched Eva washing the dishes. She gave him a quick look from over her shoulder and chuckled.

"Already waiting for your strawberry sundae? Don't you think it's too early for that?"

"Since when does Dante have limits?" Vergil said, standing right behind him.

"Here you go again, jealous because you almost never got the dessert you wanted."

"Boys..." She had a warning tone. "Don't you two get started... How about this? After lunch we'll have both strawberry sundae and key lime pie."

"Of course sour face here likes key lime pie." The younger twin teased.

"At least I don't have a childish palate." The older one retorted.

"You're both fighting over dessert, how's that not childish?" It was Nero's turn to show up in the kitchen.

"Then do tell us, adult, what do you want to eat?" Dante asked.

"Lasagna." He shrugged.

"Then it's settled: lasagna for lunch, and strawberry sundae and key lime pie for dessert."

The young devil hunter smiled, feeling like he was way happier than he should be. Eva gave him a peek on the cheek as she chuckled.

"Anything for my grandson."

"See? Anything for her grandson." He teased again.

"Grow up." Both his father and uncle retorted in unison.

Deep down, Nero knew none of that was real and pretty soon he would be just thrown back into reality. But the thought of finally being part of a family just made him genuinely smile.

They all went to the living room and felt like hours had passed between all the banter between them and the rest of the people there. Every now and then Sparda would raise his voice to show his disapproval over Dante's sarcasm and laid off attitude. The youngest devil hunter could swear he saw a tiny glimpse of fear in his eyes and laughed his ass off.

Eva called everyone for lunch and they all sat down at the table again.

"So, Nero... Things are going quite well between you and Kyrie, right?" Sparda started.

"Uhm... Yeah, I think so, right, honey?" He felt a little embarrassed having to talk about his relationship.

"You think so...?" She mockingly raised an eyebrow, which caused him to blush. "Just kidding, honey."

"Then when are you two going to give me great-grandchildren?"

Nero choked up on his food, his uncle burst out in laughter, feeling relieved for not being Sparda's target at least once in his life. The girl started looking for a place to hide and Vergil curiously raised an eyebrow.

"Shouldn't you be asking when your other son is giving you grandchildren?!" The boy finally said when he was able to breathe again.

"You honestly believe I expect anything from these two?" He turned his blue eyes to Dante and Phoebe, who, for his disgust, were high-fiving.

"Definitely would be the worst parents ever." Nero muttered.

"Hey!" They protested in unison.

"There isn't a thing that we can't do well." The legendary devil hunter cockily said. "The difference is whether we want to do it."

"Like your cooking?" Lady simply retorted.

The couple stared at each other's eyes for a couple of seconds. "She's talking about you." They said in unison again.

"Of course I would've preferred someone a little bit… different to take care of my little boy." Eva said, causing the sorceress to wide her eyes and everyone at the table went silent.

Phoebe rose to her feet and leaned her hands against the table. "Your son calls me mommy too!" The white haired man just grabbed her by the back of the shirt and sat her back down.

"Unfortunately no one knows who her real father is so I can tell him that she calls me daddy just to settle the score."

Before the banter could continue any longer, everything went dark in their minds. When Dante, Vergil and Nero woke up again, they were back at the fake Temen-ni-gru, each one of them with a knot in their chests and a heavy heart. Even though none of them would admit it.

"Finally!" They heard Nico scream as they slowly got up. For some reason, the youngest devil hunter felt a sharp pain on his ribs. "This is not the time for beauty sleep, especially when it will never work on you, Nero!"

"Ouch, what is this pain on my sides...?"

"I was kicking you to wake you up!"

"Goddammit, Nico! Were you trying to wake me or were you playing soccer with my body?!" He grunted as he rose to his feet. "What happened, anyway?"

"We were trapped in that demoness' illusion." Vergil finally explained.

"And why would she let us go?"

"She didn't." They all turned their heads in the voice's direction. Phoebe stepped into the light, completely covered in blood and some pieces of demon skin stuck in her hair. Her green eyes seemed to glow amidst all the crimson that covered her.

"Uhm... You have something on your..." Nero pointed at his own cheek. She tilted her head to the side and wiped her cheek, getting just a little of the blood out. "More like the entire face..."

She raised an eyebrow and Dante smacked the back of his nephew's head. He approached her and removed a piece of the demoness' skin from her hair and showed it to her.

"You're all covered in demon goo, babe."

"Oh!" She chuckled, a little embarrassed, and used a spell to clean herself up. "Yeah, it did get a little messy back there. Are you guys okay?"

"Except for my ribs, sure." Nero eyed Nico with the corner of his eyes.

"You heal fast, jerk!" She yelled from the RV.

"That demoness only meant to stall us, let's keep going." Vergil muttered as he left.

His son followed his call and jumped inside the vehicle. How did it keep going up the stairs? No one knows. Just like the ground floor, this one also had three sets of stairs, and each one of the descendants of Sparda headed in a different direction. Phoebe, however, stopped Dante midway by grabbing his wrist and threw her arms around him. He hugged her back.

"Are you really okay? I saw what it was like in there. The 'perfect world' illusion is pretty amateur but it gets the job done when it comes to crushing one's heart." Her voice was just a whisper.

"Wait, so the Pheebs inside the illusion was you?"

"No, you couldn't see the real me because you were too involved."

The half demon grinned. "Well, I'm glad it's over. Vergil, Nero and father were really getting under my skin."

"Stop deflecting."

He gritted his teeth, why did she have to know him so well? Yes, being able to talk to his mother again had left him warm-hearted in a way he hadn't felt in years. Realizing it was a lie had also crushed him a little. Dante buried his face in the crook of her neck.

"I'll survive." He meant it. He wasn't alone. "But you saw something there too."

"Billy... But it was different. It was like it was really him."

The half demon raised his head and took a step back, staring into her eyes. She figured he might be thinking she had gone full crazy.

"He said it wasn't my fault because he had fucked up."

"He didn't elaborate?"

"No... But, somehow, it made me feel light-hearted for the first time in a long time."

He cupped her cheek. "This is good... Weird, but good." She nodded in agreement.

"Can I ask something?"

"Sure."

"Do you think your mother would've liked me?"

The half demon froze. It is a well known fact that mothers and daughters-in-law usually don't get along, and don't get him wrong, he loved her attitude, really did. But Eva? Maybe her version inside the illusion hadn't been too far-fetched. He realized he had taken too long to answer when Phoebe tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow.

"I think that Vergil will get way ahead of me if I stay here." He grinned and turned on his heels, leaving an agape sorceress behind.

"Seriously?!" She yelled, running after him.