Chapter 3
"Dante?"
The demon hunter groaned and rolled his head on the pillow. "Five more minutes."
"You've had plenty of time to sleep Dante,"she said masking her relief with annoyance. "It's Lady."
Dante covered his eyes with the back of his arm and let out an annoyed grunt. "Not you."
Lady hmphed and folded her arms across her chest. Dante looked a little more human and less machine now that they'd removed most of the wires and plastic from his face. He still had a few wrapped around his arms and chest though.
"Good to see you too," she smiled at the moment she was simply happy he wasn't dead. She'd have to try and remind herself of that later when his behaviour was driving her towards homicide. "How are you feeling?"
"Like I was hit by a truck," Dante replied his voice dry. Well he assumed that this was what being hit by a truck felt like to a human. He'd experienced far worse with his powers in-tact. So it was really more like being stomped on by Godzilla a couple of times and then crushed by a falling Temin-Ni-Gru… yeah that about summed it up.
"Well you look like it too," Lady said softly though she was trying to ignore all the cuts and bruises and everything which made him look weak… human.
He attempted to lift the arm from his face but then lowered it again squeezing his eyes shut. "Geez could someone turn down the lights in this room?"
"Stop being a baby," Lady chastised glancing over her shoulder to check that the doctor was out of ear-shot with a patient across the room. "Dante, what happened to you back there?"
Even in his muddled state he sensed the change in he tone of her voice immediately. It was completely serious now and he lifted his arm slightly squinting to look at her in the bright light.
"Vergil," he ground out eyes clouded. He seemed to be suddenly realizing the extent at which the previous fight had affected him. Dante tried to sit up only for Lady to push him back down.
"Don't move you'll strain your injuries," she said in a calm don't-mess-with-me tone which he heeded. She watched the confusion furrow his brow as he rested back against the pillow and sighed.
"So I'm in hospital?" He had gathered that much by the smell. The stink of disinfectant was everywhere, and then there was the uncomfortable bed, the wires and that constant beeping which was going to drive him mad.
"Yeah," Lady replied softly. "It was really bad Dante, I thought…"
"Don't go getting all sentimental on me now," he pleaded flashing her a smile. "I'm alright, now I just wanna get out of here…"
"The doctors want to keep you here for another week at least," Lady informed him. A grimace marred his features; by then the little twerp who did this to him would be long gone. In fact he didn't even know how long he'd been out. He was about to ask when Lady seemed to sense the question and answer for him. "You've been here for about two days now; they kept you sedated for a while."
"Ah," he looked around him trying to get a better understanding of where he was though his head was still far too jumbled from the anaesthesia. "How'd I get here?" He knew he should be dead, he'd known he was a goner when he passed out the first time so he owed someone his life.
"Um," Lady bit her lip wondering if she should tell him the truth or not. She wasn't planning on telling him that Vergil was here until he was a bit more with it; she also had no idea how she'd tell him that she'd offered to let his homicidal twin stay at Devil May Cry. "Well… Vergil phoned an ambulance."
Dante's face was one of shock and confusion though there was something underlying all that which could have been slightly touched. Whatever it was the emotion was masked a moment later with a grimace. "Wait, how do you know?"
Dante once again tried to sit up only for Lady to shove him back down again, rather harshly, it made him wince.
"Hey watch it, invalid remember?" he protested annoyed at his own weak state. Normally a shove from her wouldn't move him half an inch, now she was strong enough to hold him down and keep him there. That in itself was worrying though for now he'd blame it on the fact that he wasn't completely himself, and under sedation.
Lady looked equally as surprised by her own strength. "Sorry," she grinned. "I guess you're just as weak as me now huh?"
"Yeah so you'd better watch that over-developed trigger finger of yours," he replied moodily. If they ever had an argument over something – which they did, often – then her normal way to end it would be to put a bullet between his eyes. That could have some serious consequences now.
"And you won't be able to swing that sword around like a manic the way you normally do," Lady commented thinking along the same lines as him. Both were beginning to realize the gravity of the situation and it was getting just that little bit worrying.
"When I get my hands on that little-"
"You saw him?" Lady asked hopefully.
"Yeah, why?" Dante asked quizzically studying her beneath the white bangs in his eyes.
Lady found herself looking away as she replied. "Vergil… said he didn't."
"You've seen him?" This time Dante did sit up and Lady wasn't fast enough to stop him. He gasped and wheezed a moment later, a hand instinctively wrapping around his waist when the pain flared up.
"Lie back down," Lady ordered and tried to help, but he brushed her off.
"I'm… fine," he took a deep breath. "Do you know where he is now?"
Lady nodded absently wanting to help Dante before he did himself some serious damage, like tear his lung back open. "He's in the relatives' room," she mumbled half hoping he wouldn't hear.
Dante blinked and tried to hide his surprise, still panting from the pain in his side. "In the… in the relatives' room?"
"Yes," Lady replied sharply. "For god's sake Dante lie down!"
"Alright," he gasped out resting gently back down on the bed, normally he wouldn't have done anything she ordered him to do willingly, but it hurt like hell. "Shit…"
"Well I told you to lie down," Lady said watching him unsympathetically.
"Yeah, yeah," Dante replied dismissively. It was far less painful lying down but it was annoying having to look up at her like this, it also made him feel even more like an invalid. "So my evil twin who wants my guts for garters is in the relatives' room… being a," he furrowed his brow, "relative?"
Lady rolled her eyes, "I know, it's weird, but he's the same as you. I don't think he wants to admit it but he needs your help. Do you want to see him?" Not that Vergil would come and see Dante anyway; he hadn't seemed all too keen on the idea before.
"No," Dante protested eyes clouding again. Oh yeah he'd love to see Vergil right now, his brother would probably just stand there and gloat. He didn't want to see Vergil until he had Rebellion in hand again, though the fact that Vergil had called the ambulance for him struck a chord somewhere deep down. That reminded him though… "Do you know where my weapons are?"
"Yeah I took them back to Devil May Cry," Lady replied she didn't want to go through everything she had had to do to get them back.
"Thanks," Dante smiled, he opened his mouth to speak again, but was cut off by the doctor who Lady hadn't noticed until he was standing right next to her. She had to stop herself from jumping.
"And how's the patient doing?" He asked in a very patronizing way.
Dante narrowed his eyes at the man. "Fine thanks."
Lady watched grinning as the doctor began unceremoniously testing all of Dante's vitals finishing by shining a light in each eye. By the end of the procedure she could see that he was a second from taking the guy's head off.
"Well you're looking fine, but I think some rest is in order now don't you?" the man asked a fake smile plastered on his face and that condescending tone still in his voice. "I'm just going to give you some more pain killers and you'll be off in no time." The look on Dante's face was comical; it was somewhere between rage and slight fear that this psychotically happy man was in charge of the medicine; and he was now administering it into the shunt on the back of Dante's hand. Lady felt slightly sorry for Dante, but she was still fighting down laughter.
"I'll see you later Dante," she grinned waving as his eyes slid closed in sleep.
"How was he?" Vergil asked absently staring into the swirling browns of his tea with a look of disdain when she returned to the room. They were the soul occupants this morning and she was glad of it, the less witnesses to his murder the better.
"Like you care," Lady snapped flopping down on one of the sofas and reaching for a magazine.
"He's my brother right?" Vergil responded looking at her across the top of his tea cup. He was really only using it to keep his hands warm, the stuff which came out of the machines here was disgusting.
"Then why didn't you come down and see him when he was awake?" Lady asked narrowing her eyes.
"He wouldn't have wanted me there," Vergil answered matter-of-factly. He knew his twin just that little bit too well sometimes. For all their differences they shared a few things in common and it was easy to tell that neither would want the other to see them in a weakened state. Even when they'd been children they'd try to act far stronger than the other which had often resulted in arguments. "Don't you have someone else to be playing psychiatrist for Mary?"
"Lady, my name's Lady," she replied a vein in her forehead twitching. "And no, you two are going to need to work together if you want your power back."
Well she'd hit the nail on the head there. She was right and he admitted it to himself somewhat begrudgingly. Without his power and only his skills as a warrior left everything had gone back to square one. He could of course still wield a sword, but every move, every trick which took some of his demonic power to accomplish had now disappeared and it would take some practice to get used to. Practice which he intended to start as soon as possible, sitting around here waiting was doing his head in.
"So where does my idiot brother live now? Still in that pig-sty?" Vergil asked sardonically changing the subject; he didn't want to think about his defeat by that little runt any longer than he had to.
Lady nodded, she had to admit Dante's office was indeed a pig-sty. "Yeah… I'm going back there later." She paused regarding Vergil warily. "Can I trust you if you come with me?"
Vergil sighed and put his cup down on the coffee table. "I suppose the question is as much 'do you want to leave me alone here?' than do you want to take me back there. And either way you still can't trust me not to do anything and you won't be able to watch me all the time."
Lady rolled her eyes. She wasn't sure which of the two brothers was worse. "In a nutshell."
"Then do you really have a choice?" Vergil asked smirking.
She grimaced. "I guess not."
Dante grunted and tried to roll over; he was stopped when he felt pain flare in his side. He blinked blearily into the electric lights above him and tried to remember where he was. The room was different, quieter too though there was still that annoying beeping noise. Then he noticed the plastic mask covering his nose and mouth and yanked it down irritably not having the strength to pull it over his head.
"How are you feeling sleepy head?" Lady's head appeared above him and he tried to ignore the scarily sweet tone in her voice.
"Just great thanks," he replied dryly rubbing sleep from his eyes. He glanced around, yep definitely a different room. "Where am I now?"
"They've moved you out of ICU and you've got your own little room now," Lady replied sitting back down in the chair by the bed where she had been keeping her vigil over him. There was a whirring sound and the bed tilted up slightly. "And now I can do this, which is just so much easier."
Dante was about to demand the controls so he could see just how far the bed would bend when he caught sight of a figure sitting in the corner of the cramped room.
He tensed, his eyes narrowed to slits and he balled a fist in the thin material which substituted as a duvet. "You."
His twin was sitting across the room in an arm-chair an open book rested in his lap. Dante was glad that he wasn't the only one who wasn't healing. Vergil's heavily bandaged shoulder was obvious through the shirt he was wearing and the bruising on his face had turned most of it an angry purple a split lip and broken nose clearly visible.
Vergil met his brother's gaze unfalteringly, the bruising probably made Vergil look even scarier rather than weaker. "What are you doing here? Come to gloat?"
His twin merely smiled which only served to infuriate Dante more and he turned to Lady in disgust. "What is he doing here?"
"I ran into him when I was waiting for you to come round," she paused glancing at Vergil. "And seeing as he has not given me his word that he'll stay where I tell him to I have no choice but to drag him around with me."
Dante's brow creased. Since when would Vergil allow himself to be subjected to being treated like that? Why would he listen to Lady at all? Unless it was just like what she had said in their earlier conversation though to be honest he was having trouble remembering. Vergil needed his help. The satisfaction of knowing that nearly made him forget that he was incapacitated in his twin's presence; almost.
"Ah, well I could hardly expect for you to just want to check up on me eh bro?" Dante queried feigning hurt, a fake smile stretched across his face. "Seeing as you were the one that put me here in the first place."
"You let that little twerp beat you Dante, not me," Vergil replied with a sneer. "How was I supposed to know what he had done?"
"It's not like it really matters, you were the one who decided we should do our brotherly bonding by trying to cut each other into confetti," Dante shot back glowering. He heard the heart rate monitor pick up a notch and that in itself made Dante want to smash the little box into a million pieces. Arguing with Vergil could not be stressing him out, but the machine appeared to believe otherwise and it had decided to tell everyone else in the room as well.
"Dante," there was a hint of warning in Lady's voice.
"Shut up," Dante snapped angrily, he turned back to Vergil "What the hell are you smiling about?"
"Just you Dante," Vergil replied in a bored tone his eyes turning back to the book in his lap.
"And what exactly is that supposed to mean?" Dante questioned angrily, his ire only fuelled by the place. Everything about this place was driving him mad, if he was back home with his guns and sword dealing with Vergil would be a damn bit easier. Instead he was lying barely able to move in some uncomfortable bed, in one of those horrible over-all things with wires and tubes just about everywhere and the god-damn beeping.
"Nothing," Vergil answered not looking up. "I have no time to make idle conversation with you and so if the only thing you're going to do is whine I'd much rather go back to doing something useful about this situation we're in."
Dante glared, but he had no more to say turning to stare at the opposite wall and trying to ignore the heart-rate monitor as it picked up frequency again. He hated to admit it, but everything seemed difficult; breathing especially though he was putting that down to the puncture lung rather than the loss of power.
"Maybe you should try and sleep," Lady put in after a minute. "The aesthetic has barely worn off and you need rest."
"I don't care what I need I want to get out," came the moody reply. "And if that whack-job doctor comes anywhere near me with anymore of that stuff then you can just forget about it. It hurts my head."
Vergil smirked. "You seemed to be enjoying it a while ago."
Dante threw a dark look at his twin. "What are you going on about now?"
"Watching you come round is rather amusing you wouldn't believe half the stuff that comes out of your mouth," Vergil grinned thoroughly enjoying the horrified look on his brother's face.
"Shut up," Dante hissed and tried to ignore his twin. Why had he ever wanted Vergil back from hell? He could just go back and stay there Dante would give him a good old shove next time.
"Dante breathe," Lady instructed and he was about to inform her that he was breathing when she pulled the mask back down over his face. He shot her the same glare he'd given Vergil. Trying to remain dignified in this situation was very hard when you had someone constantly mothering you. He took a few breaths to satisfy her then pulled the mask back down again.
"So what's the plan then?" He asked and the both knew what he was referring to.
"Well Vergil's trying to find out how that demon stole your powers and if it's reversible," Lady replied thoughtfully. "And I'm…" she shrugged, "well I haven't been much help."
Dante peered at the book his brother was reading trying to get a good look at it without Vergil noticing. It was demonic writing; he had expected as much and knew that was probably why Lady hadn't been of much help. Vergil would spend days reading books until he found what he was looking for and then divulge the information to them as he wished. That again was always a risk with him, his twin could hold back anything he liked from them and there'd be no way to tell if he was lying or not.
"So Verg you found anything?" Dante asked nonchalantly as he tried to read the writing upside down. It didn't matter that he couldn't even read the language to begin with he could pick out the occasional word which he just remembered from child-hood.
"I'll tell you if I find anything of value," Vergil answered frostily not looking up.
Dante frowned and rested back against the mattress boredom already creeping into his mind. How much more of this would he have to take? He wanted to get out now even if his body was in no condition to be moved.
"Dante if you're going to sleep put the mask back on," Lady instructed him and he narrowed his eyes at her. Since when was she the doctor? He turned his head away from her and sighed his tired body finding sleep far quicker than he had anticipated.
A/N: Okay I have no excuses, well I do to an extent, however all I can say is my life has calmed down a bit now so I hope I can get back into my fanfiction again as I truly miss writing. More soon hopefully!
