Chapter Three: Indemnification

Note: A special thank you to EctoPanda for leaving me a dozen comments in one day. Never in the entire time that I've been writing fan fiction have I ever gotten that many comments in one day. It really made me smile. Also, I had a wonderful time talking to RubixaSeraph and lightjakrises, too! I'm glad you're both enjoying the story!

Dante was almost positive that it wasn't possible for a single room to contain any more anxiety and animosity than it currently did.

Wisely taking the hint from her previous encounter with Vergil, Trish had made herself scarce for the last week or so, only now coming to the office to check on things. She and Lady had been working on a smaller case for Morrison that didn't strictly require both of them to complete. It was more so out of a desire to put some reasonable distance between themselves and the eldest Son of Sparda for the time being, who anyone with eyes could tell possessed a less than positive disposition towards the blond devil. Given these irrefutable facts, they were truly baffled by the fact that they were currently sitting on the couch in Dante's place of residence, the eldest of the twins and their collective relationship with him now the conflict of the day.

Lady folded her arms disobediently, unwilling to humor this argument. Dante hadn't even said anything yet, but she already had a feeling that she knew what this last minute meeting was going to be about. Her feelings about and towards Vergil were… complicated. While she had come to the conclusion a lifetime ago that he was, at most, only partially responsible for what had happened with her family, he had still done some terrible things in the time she'd known him. Her father had made the decision to sacrifice her mother before he'd met Vergil's involvement. She knew that. But it was still difficult for her to comprehend the fact that he was alive and back in the human world, especially considering that this was the second time he'd been directly involved in a demonic invasion. In fact, it was somehow even worse this time!

"Ok, so let me guess, Dante. You're going to ask us to be friendly with Vergil, right?" Lady said bluntly, She didn't seem upset so much as she seemed to be trying to repress the urge to shoot him again.

Trish said nothing, simply glancing between the two of them. While she and Lady sat at opposite ends of the couch, Dante stood in front of them. The subject of this particular conversation was nowhere to be seen, assumedly in some other part of the house. He'd practically ceased to exist just before they had arrived, having spent the day quietly sitting on the couch looking genuinely disinterested before that. Dante was starting to realize that his older twin didn't really have any hobbies besides stabbing him when they disagree with one another, at least none that he ever saw him indulge in. He was almost tempted to start something with his brother just to provide him with entertainment, but he wasn't quite that insane just yet.

"No, not really," Dante said with a half laugh, expecting them to not be thrilled about this," He's just... you know. He said he'd "tolerate" you. Just don't get him upset, ok? It'd be nothing but trouble."

Trish nodded, still not adding vocal input to the discussion. She seemed to be deep in thought; about what, he honestly had no clue. Dante was more than certain that whatever issues they had ran deeper than he knew and that they were going to have to work them out on their own. He just needed them to do it without killing one another. Things were getting increasingly tense as the days passed, and the younger Son of Sparda had the feeling that something bad would come from all of this.

Lady looked as though she was going to ask him what he meant by that statement before a look of realisation crossed her face. She glanced over at Trish, seemingly considering asking her something but unsure as to if she should or not. While she knew about how Trish and Dante had met and some of the events from Malet island, she didn't know all the fine details. They had never concerned her. But now she couldn't help but think that Vergil might be involved in some way since that was the only time period that she could think of where they could have met and found a source of conflict. This couldn't be based purely off of the blond devil's appearance matching that of the twins deceased mother, though she was certain that fact contributed to it. Now that she thought about it, she was glad that Vergil had no specific reason to hate her. It seemed like a hassle.

"We have… history. It's complicated. I'll take it up with him later. As much as I'd like to, I can't avoid the topic forever." Trish said simply as she glanced up from her position at the far end of the couch. Her eyes traveled across the room towards something behind Dante. He shook his head in silent self conformation as Lady glanced over, a somewhat confused look on her face as if she did not understand something.

"Yes, quite right" Vergil said as he approached in relative silence from behind the desk, only alerting them of his presence by speaking," But this isn't the time. It seems we have company..."

Dante sighed knowingly before glancing over at the front door to the office. Vergil spared him a brief but questioning glance as the doors opened and a young woman with long, semi curly blond hair and blue eyes stormed in, coming to a stop with her hands on her hips. Morrison flanked her, clearly suppressing the urge to laugh at something. He seemed to be waiting for something to happen. Vergil glanced over at her curiously. He'd never seen her before in his entire life. From what he could tell, she was a few years younger than his own children.

"Hey Patty! I didn't know you were in town… what are you-" Dante said almost tenitavely before she held her hand up to stop him. She was clearly livid and, from what Vergil could tell, everyone in the room aside from him seemed to know why.

"Oh, don't play stupid, Dante! You know exactly why I'm here!" Vergil's assumption that she was angry proved to be correct as she took him to task, stepping closer and furrowing her brow in abject rage. " You totally blew me off on my birthday, you jerk! Why would you do that?! I was so excited to have you meet all my friends! And then you just disappeared for like three months! I thought you were dead! Where have you been?! You better have a good explanation for all of this because I'm so upset with you right now!"

Vergil did a massive internal double take as a look of embarrassment crossed his twin brother's face. He didn't need to ask if she was telling the truth. Clearly she was. But what he did intend to get sorted out was her relationship with his younger twin. Who on earth was this woman and why did she have such an effect on Dante. He was absolutely going to stab his twin if he found out he was in a relationship with her. After all, she was young enough to be his…

Oh.

There was simply no way. Could she be…?

"Yea, um… I was taking care of something important," Dante said as he gestured towards his twin with a tilt of his head," Nothing personal, I just don't do birthday parties."

Patty exhaled in irritation, her eyes finally catching sight of Vergil. She lowered and unfolded her arms slowly, looking equal parts alarmed and perplexed. She then migrated one of her arms back to her hip, a slight smile ghosting across her lips. She nodded to herself as if thinking before speaking.

"So um, who are you? I don't think we've met." She said, setting her fury aside for a moment in order to appear more cordial," I'm patty Lowell. And your…?"

The eldest of the twins stared at her in silence for a long moment, contemplating if he had the mental energy for this today. After resigning himself to the fact that interacting with her was probably the quickest way to stop all the yelling and petty hostility that was going on, he sighed and shook his head, sparing a glance between his twin and the young woman before answering her.

"Vergil. His older brother." He said as he gestured offhandedly towards Dante," How did you come to be in the company of this misfit?"

Patty smiled and snickered, giving Dante a grumpy but somewhat more playful look. "Oh, he tried to help me out when I was a little kid. I've just kinda hung around ever since. But he still owes me a birthday party, a couple of outfits, and like fifteen ice cream cones! Maybe you can talk some responsibility into him since you're his older brother. You look more reasonable than he does! I had no idea he had a brother! Are you guys twins or something?"

Although his brain was still processing the barrage of statements she had let fly, he nodded, throwing Dante an unreadable look. "Identical twins, actually. And I'm afraid he may be a lost cause. I'd give up now while you're ahead if I were you."

Patty smacked Dante with her purse, huffing in irritation as he yelped in surprise. "Who forgets to tell people they have an identical twin, Dante! Rude!"

Dante rubbed his arm in slight discomfort, taken off guard once again by how shockingly strong she was. He was having war flashbacks to the time she'd knocked him senseless with a broom. Or had it been a mop. All he remembered was it hurting and him storming out. That, and the fact that he had hurt her feelings then, too. This was a pattern with her, wasn't it. Yikes.

"She's basically his daughter. He's even said so a few times," Lady said casually from the couch as she watched the world burn around her," This sort of thing happens a lot, I've noticed. He owes her a lot of stuff at this point. Like that trip to the beach she's been asking for for like ten years. Morrison, am I forgetting anything?"

Morrison shrugged but nodded, having lost count a long time ago. The youngest Son of Sparda shot his friend a horrified look as Patty unleashed a barrage of smacks with her handbag, huffing from the effort. "Yea, when are we taking that trip to the beach?! You've been putting that off for a lifetime, Dante! What gives? Do you... just not like me?"

Dante stopped her, finally getting a grip on the bag so she couldn't swing it anymore. He shook his head, seemingly startled by her statement. "No no, it's nothing like that. I just… I don't know what to tell you, Patty."

Vergil repressed the urge to smirk wickedly at the thought that occurred to him in that moment. "Why don't you make everything up to her by honoring her request to go on this trip to the ocean? That would settle things, wouldn't it?"

If it had been possible, Dante would have frozen sollid upon hearing his twin brother's suggestion. Was his twin actually giving him advice on how to deal with his surrogate daughter? Had Vergil rolled out of the bed and cracked his head open on the bedside table this morning? What had gotten into him? Was he genuinely trying to be more reasonable. The younger of the two had a feeling that he could find out easy enough…

"That wouldn't be much of a party, would it, brother? I mean, if everyone here went, that would still only be, what, six people? You should invite Nero and V. You know, get to know them better." Dante barely hid the snakish grin threatening to spread across his face as he spoke. On the one hand, he knew that his brother probably detested the beach and everything about it almost as much as he hated having meaningful conversations with members of his family. But on the other hand, was he really going to turn down both the opportunity to get to know both of his sons better and the challenge issued by his younger twin? Especially when that challenge had been issued in front of an audience?

No way in hell.

The eldest of Sparda's sons looked at his brother like he wanted to tear his vocal cords out of his throat with his bare hands. And that wasn't even out of the realm of possibility. He was more than likely capable of doing just that. Vergil folded his arms across his chest and closed his eyes, white hot fury replacing the blood that used to course through his veins. Dante wanted to play games with him, did he? Fine then. He wouldn't allow him to win so easily. "They are going to say no, you know that, don't you?"

"I don't think so. I mean, V probably isn't going to really say anything and Nero," Dante laughed slightly," He'd never miss the opportunity to make you as uncomfortable as you make him. Besides, you haven't talked to them in a week. Why miss the opportunity?"

Because I'd rather die than sit in sand all day in the baking heat Vergil thought to himself as he let out a long, agonized sigh. As much as he hated to admit it to himself, Dante made a good point. This was a good opportunity for him to spend time with them. He needed to figure out how to speak with them both at some point in the future, especially V. They had almost no dialogue to speak of and there were countless issues to address. Not to mention that he needed to look into this cult that might still be hunting him down. Being able to speak with his eldest son would help facilitate that. It was… unfortunate.

Vergil cursed himself internally. He was starting to wish he'd stayed in the underworld.

"... Fine then… I shall contact Nero, Vergil said begrudgingly as he crossed the office and headed over to the phone on his brother's desk. He hated making phone calls, too. They were far too impersonal for his tastes. "Don't make me regret doing this, Dante."

Dante shrugged and gave all three girls a glance before shooting Morrison a murderous look for daring to bring Patty over with him. He'd probably come to talk business, but the included show had been a bonus for him. Only one thing ever happened when he brought Patty over with him and he knew it. He'd probably been planning this for a long time. And now Lady and Trish were probably going to take patty bathing suit shopping and find some way to tack it onto his existing debt.

The younger twin smirked to himself as he watched Vergil try and fail once again to understand how the office phone worked. At least they would both be miserable for a change. And they had never gone on a vacation together before. Or spent any meaningful time together since they had been young children. Maybe this trip wouldn't be so awful after all.

I'm utterly horrified by how late this chapter is. Have you ever started working on something important and then fell asleep only to wake up the next night and still have nothing done? That's what I did with this chapter. Once I realized it was going to be late, I decided to take the plunge and flesh it out more, but I'm still super sorry that this was so late. I'll start working on the next chapter later on today after I get some rest. I pulled an all nighter working on this one, so I hope it's to your liking. And once again, sorry for the mega late upload. Forgive me, please! See you on Wednesday!