A/N: Sorry for the delay, I've been busy with work and getting cosplay stuff together (spring/summer is cosplay season for me!). I appreciate all the reviews you guys sent me, even the more aggressive ones, lol (some of those were kind of rude but I'm just gonna take it as a compliment that you're enjoying the story and want me to post faster!). There will be some times where the focus of the chapter switches between characters, just a heads up! I didn't wanna bs a whole chapter just to get to the next person's POV, lol. Just wanted to warn you guys since I normally avoid that sort of thing when I'm writing, lol. There will also be a moment of flashback, which should be indicated by the writing being italicized. Enjoy! And please forgive any typos, I checked it a couple times but I still might have missed a few things :)
Disclaimer: I don't own the characters and stuff, just the plot!
Chapter 4
The last day had been beyond stressful for Nero. Vergil had awaken the night before, but from what he'd been told the eldest devil had passed back out after a short conversation with Dante. Speaking of which, Dante hadn't really divulged much information from their discussion, only that Vergil didn't really remember anything and was having trouble seeing at the moment. The teen tried not to be too worried about the situation, after all, he didn't even know the man and there wasn't much he could do anyways, but the whole thing still wore on him.
It was hard for Nero to tell if he felt it was lucky or unlucky that Vergil had remained unconscious for the entirety of the next day; on the one hand it was a relief not to have to face him just yet, and on the other it was grating on his last nerve playing the waiting game. The young hunter had never even considered he might have some biological family left alive before, and he wasn't quite sure how to react to it now. Was he excited? Nero couldn't say for sure, but he was definitely on edge. Either way he looked at things, he would have to deal with the situation much sooner rather than later, especially when he heard from Lady that evening that Vergil was awake again.
Dante was still pretty adamant that Nero not meet Vergil quite yet, not wanting to spring the situation on the other man while he was still recovering. Nero found himself playing the waiting game again for any kind of news about what was going on upstairs since Dante had hurried up there to check on the man. Just when the teen was thinking about jumping up from the couch and storming up there, Dante made his way down the stairs and joined everyone else in the main area of the shop.
"Well, he's awake again," Dante announced, as if that wasn't obvious. "Nice and cranky too. You'd almost never know the guy was knocked out in the streets just a few days ago," he added with a snort.
"That's wonderful," Kyrie spoke up, grasping Nero's hand tightly to reassure him. "Do you need any help? I'm used to dealing with the sick and injured from back home… even the difficult ones," the girl offered quietly.
Nero gave a small snort but he was also proud of her for offering. It wasn't exactly safe in his mind for anyone to be up there around the guy, especially if he was in a bad mood, and Kyrie wasn't a fighter like the rest of them. If he snapped on her then she wouldn't be able to do much against a demon, half-breed or not.
"Heh, don't worry about it. He'll heal up in no time," Dante replied and waved her off. "Thanks for offering though. And trust me, you've got enough to deal with handling that brat, you don't need any other headaches," the devil added with a smirk in Nero's direction.
Nero threw an empty soda can at Dante's head and huffed loudly. "Funny. But seriously… what's the story? Anything new?" he asked, feeling a bit embarrassed by his suddenly needy tone. He couldn't stop himself from being curious, he just needed to know.
"Eh, not really… he wasn't much in the mood for talking. But he's pretty hungry, obviously, so I'm gonna take him some food up and check on him," Dante shrugged. "You guys just chill down here. I meant what I said before, I think it best if we let him recover a little more before you guys meet. Don't want him having a heart attack or something," the devil added and then disappeared into the kitchen to round up some food for his twin.
Nero huffed loudly again, not bothering to hide his annoyance as his crossed his arms and sank back into the couch. He was sick of waiting. He wanted to just get this whole meet-and-greet over with so he could shake off this anxious feeling that was driving him nuts. There wasn't much to be done about the situation though, so Nero settled in with Kyrie to watch a movie and then go to sleep, anything to to make the time pass by quicker.
Vergil sighed loudly to himself as he glanced around the room. He wasn't sure what time it was, but the room was in total darkness and the shop was quiet. He could still see perfectly fine though, a benefit, or curse, of his most recent few months in the demon realm. The silence gave him the impression that it must be fairly late, the sounds in the shop had died out what felt like a couple of hours ago, long after his brother had bid him goodnight.
The devil looked around the room again, his gaze falling on the empty plate on the nightstand. He couldn't help but to think back on their discussion earlier in the night after Lady had run off to alert the man that he was awake.
"Yo, Verge, glad to see you're still with us," Dante teased as he entered the bedroom, drawing a loud snort from Vergil.
"Trying to get rid of me?" he asked and rolled his eyes. "You'll have to wish a bit harder for that one."
Dante shook his head and walked over to the side of the bed, eyeing Vergil up and down and making him uncomfortable. "Nah, that would make all of my hard work saving your ass go to waste," he replied with a wink. "But hey, you look a lot less like death. Your eyes still bothering you?" he asked, actually looking a bit concerned.
Vergil hummed quietly and shrugged his shoulders. "Somewhat. I'll just have to be careful in the meantime, I suppose," he replied. "While I'm sure that my health issues are on your mind, I'm honestly quite famished and so unless you want to be the cause of my demise, I'd appreciate something to eat," the elder twin added tersely. He was beyond starving; he couldn't recall the last time he'd eaten anything.
"Heh, you got it bro, don't say I never did anything for ya," Dante shot back and headed out to get some food.
Vergil sighed heavily and sank back into the pillows. He still felt a bit groggy in his head, bits and pieces of his memory were missing or fuzzy, but maybe some food would help him. Luckily he didn't have to wait too long for his brother to return… with pizza of all things.
The elder devil eyed the plate of pizza that he was handed with disdain. Of course, he should have expected this… but unfortunately for him, beggars couldn't be choosers, so with a slight wrinkle of his nose, Vergil snatched up the first piece and shoveled it into his mouth. He wasn't even sure when he'd finished the first piece and started on the second, but before he knew it all three pieces on the plate were gone and Dante was handing him the can of soda he'd brought along as well. The devil gulped it down until the can was empty and he set it and the plate aside with a sigh. He felt a bit sick from eating so fast, but he did feel a lot better overall as well.
Vergil glanced up as he leaned back into the pillows to find his brother smirking at him. He already knew what the idiot was going to say and he wasn't about to deal with it.
"Shut up. You'd be hungry too if you hadn't eaten in as long as I have," he snapped and threw the empty can at his brother. "Don't you go blabbing about it either."
Dante caught the can and raised his hands in a placating manner. "Don't worry bro, your pizza-loving secret is safe with me," he teased. "No need to be ashamed, you know. Pizza is the best."
Vergil rolled his eyes and shook his head at his twin's antics; the man never grew up, it seemed.
The elder devil sighed heavily as his mind drifted back to the present. Dante had stayed and chatted with him a little longer, but the man was obviously drained so Vergil shooed him away to go rest and that was the last he'd seen of anyone else so far tonight. Normally he enjoyed his solitude, but Vergil was starting to feel a little stir crazy being stuck in this bed. The devil also couldn't help but feel his stomach growling again- it seemed his appetite had awoken in full force now that he'd had the chance to eat something. Vergil knew he should stay in bed, he was weak and injured, but who knew when someone would come check on him again?
It didn't take the devil long to make up his mind, and with a soft grunt and a whole lot of effort he managed to swing his legs from under the covers and over the edge of the bed. Luckily he'd been helped up to the bathroom earlier so he'd had the chance to stretch his limbs a little and get his blood moving, otherwise Vergil wasn't sure he'd have been able to do this on his own. Taking a deep breath, the devil managed to hoist himself up by using the nightstand to support himself. It took a few minutes for him to feel steady on his feet, but after a couple of test steps the half-breed decided he could make his way out of the room well enough.
Vergil managed to creep out of the bedroom quietly enough, and after listening for any sounds of anyone being awake and finding none, he made his way to the top of the stairs. The height seemed so much worse when he knew that he would struggle on the way down, but the devil pushed ahead and started slinking down the steps one at a time. It felt like it took him thirty minutes to reach the bottom, but eventually he found himself on the ground level of the shop.
The devil glanced around in the darkness, picking out a few sleeping forms scattered about the room. He knew Dante had a spare bedroom, which was probably where Lady and that woman were at since they weren't in the room but he could still sense them, but there were still three other figures down here. One of the sleeping bodies was obviously Dante, sprawled out in the leather recliner with his mouth hanging open. The other two were on the fold out bed of the couch, though he couldn't see them very well. There was something strange about them, a weird, familiar tugging that made him want to go over and investigate it. Vergil was starving though, and he didn't have the energy to deal with someone freaking out and attacking him if they found the half-demon looming over them while they slept, so he ignored the feeling in favor of making his way toward where he assumed the kitchen was.
Luckily for Vergil, he had guessed right and found himself in the kitchen. A quick glance through the fridge only brought up more pizza and some questionable looking lunch meat, so he opted for the pizza. The devil dug around in the cabinets as quietly as he could and found a plate so he could go about heating up his food. He had just turned around to take the food to the microwave when the light overhead turned on and it felt like he was staring directly into the sun.
"Aargh!" Vergil hissed and dropped the plate, his hands instantly shooting to cover his eyes. A female voice let out a shriek, and on instinct he tried to look again to see who it was. The second he opened his eyes the light seared into them again and Vergil snarled, throwing his arm over them as he tried to block it out. There was more commotion from the front room and he heard two sets of loud footsteps hurrying toward them.
"Shit, Vergil!" Dante called out and jumped over, snapping the light off, much to the elder twin's relief.
His eyes were still burning and he was seeing spots, but Vergil was able to look up to see well enough that Dante was pulling a younger woman back from the doorway. The second pair of footsteps exploded into the room in the form of a young man with familiarly colored white hair who looked more than a little freaked out and annoyed at the same time. Vergil rubbed at his eyes with a groan as he heard the three speaking to each other, something about an 'accident' and the boy asking the girl if she was alright. It took him a second to realize that his brother had made his way over to help him to his feet and check on him.
"Shit, Verge… the hell're you doing down here? You scared the shit out of us," Dante murmured as he hoisted Vergil to his feet.
Vergil grunted and swatted at him, not liking being treated like an invalid, especially in front of other people.
"I was hungry. I didn't want to sit upstairs and starve all night while you drooled in your sleep," he muttered and rubbed at his eyes again. "Besides, everything was fine until the light was turned on."
Dante snorted and picked up the plate and ruined pizza. "Yeah, well, I'll get you a bell or something instead. You look like a damned ghoul wandering around here, you probably scarred Kyrie for life," he teased.
Vergil snorted and was about to protest when he sensed it. The devil felt like someone had punched him in the chest, the sensation hit him so hard.
Yamato.
His sword, it had to be… he could feel it. Vergil had wanted to ask Dante about it so many times, but he hadn't wanted to get his hopes up that his beloved sword would ever make its way back to him, but he could feel it now. Vergil glanced around in the darkened kitchen, his enhanced night vision showing him every detail except for the location of his sword. The dim light from a streetlamp outside the only source of illumination for everyone else to see the slightly crazed look on his face and tense nature of his body. Vergil felt a bit crazy, and he was sure he looked it, but he didn't care.
"Where is it?" he demanded, his gaze snapping to Dante for a moment before he went back to looking around the room wildly. The feeling was rolling in waves from the direction of the doorway, but he hadn't felt it earlier when he'd passed by, oddly enough. It took a few moments, but as the younger boy and girl stared at him from the entrance to the kitchen Vergil was certain of one thing- one of them had his sword.
"Where's what? Just take a deep breath Vergil you're acting a little nuts…" Dante urged him.
"My sword! Where is my sword?!" Vergil snarled and shoved Dante away as he turned back to the pair of teens. The girl had been carefully moved behind the boy, and he had a fierce sort of expression on his face. Not her who had it then, but him.
Vergil growled quietly, feeling an anger and desperation welling up inside of him that he hadn't felt for a long time. He'd lost everything, his power, his life even, but he'd be damned if he was going to give up the one thing he cherished above all else to some little brat.
"You," the devil hissed and pointed an accusing finger at the boy. "Give it to me, I know you have it!" he demanded and made to come at him. Unfortunately Dante seemed to anticipate his move and tackled him before he could get very far.
"Chill the hell out, Verge!" Dante snarled at him as they wrestled on the ground. "You're being a total psycho!"
Vergil didn't care what he had to say though, and bit down on his brother's hand hard enough to draw blood. The distraction was just enough for the elder twin to use his malnourished state to his advantage and slip from Dante's grip and jump to his feet. He rounded on the pair of teens again and snarled loudly once more.
"Give me Yamato!"
And then he lunged.
