Chapter Five: Resolution

Notes: Thanks for the feedback on the last chapter and sorry that this one is slightly late. I've been having some health issues this week (I'm fine, don't worry!) so I spent a lot of time asleep and managed to overshoot my publishing deadline! I'm glad everyone is enjoying the story so far, though!

An incredibly awkward silence settled across the room as Kyrie held the phone in her off hand, staring at them both in semi-confused and flustered state. Every second that passed made the fact that neither Nero nor V had made an effort to take the phone from her more uncomfortable. V glanced over at Nero, still recovering from nearly choking to death on his water. He cleared his throat slightly to remove both the tension in the room and the discomfort he felt in his waterlogged airway. The prospect of talking to their father at the moment unnerved him. He had absolutely no idea what to say to him. Making small talk (or any other form of conversation) wasn't a talent he possessed when it came to Vergil. It was as if his entire comprehension of the english language evaporated when he was required to conversate with him. And while he had since made peace with this facet of his personality, he still didn't understand the underlying cause of his considerable anxiety.

He took a tentative step towards Kyrie with the intent of answering the phone, only to be sidestepped by Nero who calmly waved him off as he reached to take the phone. Although none of V's apprehension and hesitation were readily visible on his face, Nero seemed to key into them. This was more than likely due to him sharing different but similar feelings towards the situation. Kyrie handed him the phone with a questioning buy sympathetic look before taking a step back so that he could step closer to the receiver.

"... So… It's been, what? A week, right?" Nero said hesitantly. He didn't really know what else to say at that point in time.

For a brief moment, the phone went totally silent before Vergil responded. It was hard to tell how he had taken that statement. A pang of discomfort gripped Nero. Did he actually feel bad for being short with him? Why?

"... Apparently we're going to the waterfront in a few days... I was… calling to," There was a brief pause as Vergil seemed to consider what he wanted to say next," … Do either of you actually go to the beach?"

Nero glanced in the direction of his seemingly taken aback sibling, making a mental note of the fact that he seemed to possess unusually good hearing. The phone wasn't on speaker and Vergil hadn't spoken very loud. While V wasn't standing very far away, he was standing far enough back to where he shouldn't have been able to make out the vocabulary being used. It was as curious as it was impressive. Some sort of passive ability? Nero himself had pretty good hearing, something that had come in handy during his hunts, but still.

"I've literally never been to the beach," Nero said as V nodded along information, seemingly concurring with his statement but not wanting to interrupt him," ...What is this about?"

The eldest Son of Sparda exhaled in resignation, clearly hoping that Nero would simply agree to his offer without any objections. "...I … thought that this might be a good opportunity to… would either of you consider going?"

V stepped closer, clearly thinking. He leaned against the wall, considering their father's offer. While the prospect of spending a day around him caused goosebumps to spread across his entire body, he was more than a little aware that they would have to learn to speak to one another at some point if they had any hope of getting along. Nero gave him a curious look as though he was surprised that he was considering his offer, not so much because he had immediately decided to ignore the request, but because of the sheer amount of conflict that it seemed to cause him. They shared a silent moment of confirmation before Nero turned back to the phone, resigned to their fate.

"Yea, I guess we could."

(-~-)

Nico had nearly murdered Nero when she had found out that V had made them both dinner and he hadn't told her, the delectable taste nearly sealing the certainty of his demise. She, much like Nero, had been shocked to find out that V could cook. But to cook this well and never even elude to it? Truly shocking. Why on earth had it taken him this long to mention that he could do this? Did he think that he couldn't?!

"Your shittin' me," Nico said as she helped Nero wash their dishes after finishing their meal," You gotta get him to tell us how he made this!"

The short haired young man shrugged, drying off a dish as he turned off the tap. He was still surprised that they had actually eaten that and it had been as good as it was. It was proof that simple dishes could be just as good as more complicated ones. He would love to eat that again.

"You could ask him, too, Nico. I don't think he'd care."

She shrugged nonchalantly, noddeding in reluctant agreement. Nero made a valid point. She and V were friendly enough. It wouldn't be problematic at all to ask that of him. From what she knew, he was in his bedroom. Why not go talk to him before he went to bed?

"Welp, I'll catch ya later," Nico said as she stuck her last dish in the cabinet and turned towards the hallway," I've got some questions that need answering!"

Nero waived her on and went back to putting the dishes up as she headed out of the kitchen and down the hallway. She made a sharp turn to the right and passed the front door, heading towards the far end of the house where V's bedroom was. She gave an involuntary quick glance in the direction of the garage door and the front entrance, noting subconsciously that everything was locked. She felt safe there, there was no doubting that. But after what had happened to Nero earlier that year, everyone tended to double check things like that. A sense of security and control, even a little one, was a relief.

After less than a minute of walking, the young gunsmith reached the door. For a moment, she extended her hand to knock before recalling it. Oddly enough, she hadn't actually knocked on V's door before despite sharing a home with him. He tended to reside in the living room for the majority of the day and she rarely needed his assistance with anything. They had a friendly but standoffish relationship that consisted mostly of friendly greetings and passing remarks, but they didn't really conversate very often. It was actually quite unusual for her to come to his bedroom for anything. Nico felt the need to bring something to break the ice.

The young woman turned back in the direction of the front entrance, walking over towards the garage door. She unlocked it and quietly slipped out, propping it open as she went with a piece of wood that she kept behind the inside of the door just in case she needed it. Nico then headed into the dark room and turned on the light, not eager to trip over any of her tools or lose cabels. The young dark haired woman then unlocked and opened the side door to the van, sliding it open to make room for herself and the cargo she planned to unload. After clambering into the van, she looked through the boxes of books, hoping to find the one that was in the best shape. It didn't take long for her to find the first one she had packed. Logically, she had sorted through the best looking books first, so this was the best place to start.

She bent over and picked it up before hopping down out of the van and setting it down to make it easier to close the van door. After closing the door and locking it back up, she picked it back up and walked over to the inside door, cursing herself for coming up with this idea. Books were very heavy, and having to overcompensate due to the cardboard box not being nearly sturdy enough to hold them was problematic for her posture. Regardless, she made it into the house without much of a problem. Using her foot to close the garage door, she continued down the hall and made a mental note to lock everything back up later on.

When she reached V's door this time, she used her foot to knock on the door. The next time she sat down the box would hopefully be her last. It was doing a number on her back.

"Hey, you awake?" She asked as she tapped her foot on the door again, trying not to lose her center of balance," I got a delivery for ya! Open up!"

Just as she was going to knock again, the door opened. In a blur of motion, she stumbled forward and stopped abruptly. A rhythmic flapping noise similar to a sail in a light breeze could be heard behind her as she tried to regain her senses.

"Well, if it isn't the little artist," A familiar voice said sarcastically as she tried to stand up straight," Your lucky he's got fast reflexes. Well, sometime. Otherwise you'd be on the floor."

Nico glanced over her shoulder and caught sight of Griffon. He was holding her by the back of her shirt, flapping his large iridescent blue wings in an attempt to keep her steady as she lurched forward holding the box of books. The weak cardboard strained from the weight of the heavy books that were now pulling on the front side of the box. Unexpectedly, the box began to tear open. Luckily for Nico, V had made his way over to her during the time since she'd opened the door and he grabbed the box, lifting it from the bottom in an action that helped keep the box from tearing and steadying her. She sighed in relief as they lowered the large box onto the floor and allowed it to come to rest. With her arms wrapped around the box and her chest touching it, falling face first towards the floor and making impact could have ended badly.

"Thanks, V. Didn't want to drop all of those on my feet," She said as she leaned back against the wall behind her and straightened her back out," You too, chicken. Maybe I won't cook you for dinner tomorrow after all!"

Griffon fluttered away from her, coming to a rest on the top of the bookcase. He started to preen himself, clearly displeased with her joke. "Next time, I'm just gonna let you wipe out on the floor! I don't care how nice V asks!"

V had dragged the box of books closer to his bed and sat down, shaking his head slightly at the silliness that had unfolded in front of him. "It wasn't a problem. You're alright, I expect?"

Nico nodded and approached the bed, gesturing towards it in an offhand way of asking if she could join him. V seemed to consider her request for a moment before scooting over slightly despite the abundance of room. Nico repressed the urge to snicker at how little he enjoyed having other people in his personal space and joined him, giving the box of books he was examining a look. To her they were just old books, but he looked almost excited by what she'd brought back. He turned over a book in his hands, examining it before reaching the next one. From what she could tell he was sorting them.

"Yea, I'm fine. Got five more boxes of those in the van if you want em'." She said as she watched him look over the books," But I wanna know how you made that stuff earlier first!"

V chuckled under his breath, a pleasant smirk spreading across his face. Somehow he knew she was going to bring that up. "I accept your terms, Nico. Thank you for helping me with this. I'll have to do so after I return tomorrow."

She shrugged, happy to have helped him out. After all, he had never really asked much of her. It wasn't any kind of problem for her to grab a few books for him. "Where ya headed? To the mainland?"

He nodded, standing up and walking over to the bookcase that Griffon currently sat on. He carried a stack of books with him and began to line them up on the shelves, organizing them by some sort of criteria that she wasn't privy to. "Yes. I intend to visit Magnolia. We have a few matters to discuss."

"Oh, you are, hu? What a coincidence," She said as she got up and headed towards the door, "Nero and I found something today that we want her to take a look at."

V seemed curious but didn't inquire any further despite seeming to consider it for a moment. He returned to the bed for another stack of books to place on the bookcase. As he stacked them, Nico glanced down the now darkened hallway and yelped in shock as a black four legged figure stalked down the hallway, brushing past her as it entered the room. The familiar panther crossed the room and plopped down onto the bed, seemingly making herself comfortable. V barely seemed to pay her any mind. Nico cursed under her breath.

"Shit… how do you sleep with that stalking around all night?" She said as the panther lifted her head to look at her. As if to answer Nico's question, Shadow hopped down off of the bed and came to rest at her feet, sitting in front of her obediently. V glanced over at her, giving her head a gentle scratch and earning himself a deep rumbling purr. A look of disbelief crossed her face. Oh. That's how he did it.

"She's relatively harmless. Well, at least unless I decide otherwise," V said as he put the last of that stack on the bookcase and headed over to the bed for the last of the books," I can deliver the item you would like her to look at tomorrow if you'd like."

The young mechanic nodded as she reached over and hesitantly placed her hand on the panther, earning her lick on the hand. Her anxiety eased as she patted the large cat and slipped out of the door. That was enough excitement for her for one day. "Sure thing, V. I'll drop you off. See ya in the mornin'."

V nodded, giving her an appreciative smirk. She'd almost call it a smile. "And you as well. Rest well."

With a final nod, she slid out of the room and closed the door behind herself, leaving V to play with his pets and his books. She'd take him up on that recipe offer letter.

I discovered that my Google Docs files stop spell checking after a while for some reason. I couldn't tell you why, but it helps me understand some of the silly little errors slip through. I gave this a second look over, but I still apologize for anything I missed. See you next Wednesday for chapter six. Hopefully I'll feel better by then! Take care everyone!