Chapter Eighteen: Revelations

Notes: Thanks for your amazing support for the story so far! We just hit a series word count of 130K, and I never thought I'd see the day that happened! Having such awesome people to write for every week really keeps me going during these difficult times, so never forget how awesome you guys are! Take care and enjoy the chapter!

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The carpet coated halls that led to the room that lined either side of the hallways were a stark contrast to the pristine stone floors on the ground level. Despite the diminutive size of the building when compared to most hotels, there were a fair number of rooms in the building. But, due to the construction of the building as a whole, the building was more vertically inclined than average. While each floor might only contain eight to ten rooms, the building reached an excess of ten floors, a fact that made it stand out against most other structures in the general area. One could only assume that it was built before any view shed laws were passed in the area, and the almost art deco style that it was constructed in only supported that fact.

But one thing that was for certain is that it made it an absolute pain to navigate. While the doors and keys were numbered in the usual fashion, it only served to heighten irritation when the party navigating the building realized that they had to traverse yet another senseless flight of god forsaken stairs to reach another short level of the building. The fact that there were two wings to the building and that they were not connected in any way aside from the dual staircases on the ground floor made this a million times worse. Nero was starting to wonder if Morrison had picked this location less for it's proximity to the waterfront and more so to fuck with them in the long term. Considering the fact that Dante probably still owed him a fortune and he had definitely been around him long enough to have done something to irritate him, Nero was inclined to believe the second option.

In all honesty, he would've been hopelessly lost if not for the fact that all the doors and the key he'd been given by Vergil were numbered, because the small floor sizes actually baffled him slightly. It wasn't like he was incapable of counting or something akin to that. It was the fact that giving him a direction that was comprised of something as asinine as " it's the sixth room on the fourth floor" made him want to punch people in the face. The fourth floor of which wing? On which side of the hallway? Was it their left or his? Did the ground floor count as the first floor making the fourth floor the fifth one?

What they fuck were they thinking when they built this hellhole?

A small hotel was fine, but why did it have to be so damn tall?

Before long, Nero found himself standing in front of one of the doors, the phrase "Room A 06" plastered on the door on a small oblong door plate in front of him. It matched the key ring he was holding, but part of him was fully ready to believe that this was the wrong room. Since when did hotels even have a room six? That was as ironic as it was strange. He wasn't exactly superstitious, but he knew that many people were. Actually seeing a room marked with a six on it was just slightly surreal to him. Maybe that was why this trip was such a mess so far. The room name had doomed them from the start.

As if.

With a hesitant knock, Nero attempted to gain V's attention from within the confines of the room. When there wasn't a reply, he furrowed his brow slightly. V wasn't normally the type to ignore him, even if he didn't want to be bothered. He also didn't seem to be physically capable of just telling other people that he wanted to be left alone. He would just sort of disappear from the room, seemingly feeling as though he was being unkind or unbecoming to simply ask for his own space. Nero wasn't entirely sure what had caused his older sibling to develop such an awful quirk, but he was sure that there was probably some complicated or awful explanation for it. That always seemed to be the case with him, unfortunately. V's life seemed to be steeped in mundane misery and discomfort. He wished that was a cycle he could help break, but he was unsure of how to accomplish that. After all, he didn't even know the cause. It was just unfortunate.

"Hey V… can I come in?" Nero spoke quietly as though raising his voice would scare him off. He knew he didn't really need to yell to get his attention. His hearing was exceptionally good. Whether that was his body compensating for his existing deficits, a result of his demonic blood, or a combination of both was unknown to him. Knowing the cause didn't change the outcome in this case.

Nero waited a moment, listening quietly as for a response. When he didn't receive one, a slight pang of concern gripped him. It really wasn't like V to just ignore him. Maybe he just didn't hear him or he was doing something that kept him from answering? Perhaps checking in on him wasn't a bad idea…

"I'm, um, just gonna let myself in, okay? I just wanna check and make sure everything is ok." Nero spoke slightly louder this time, giving his quieter sibling the benefit of the doubt. While his hearing was quite good, he couldn't rule out the possibility that he just hadn't heard him the first time. His lack of a response could be down to a simple misunderstanding. After all, Nero had no way of knowing how good the insulation was in this place. It might just be that hard to hear through the door.

The younger of the two placed the key in the door and turned it, successfully unlocking it. He exhaled before pushing it open and stepping inside. As soon as the door was closed, Nero turned to face the rest of the room and immediately did a double take. V was standing surprisingly close to him, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. It seemed that he had just dragged himself over to the door with the intention of opening it and he had beaten him to the punch. While he'd half expected V to be in the bathroom or even asleep, he hadn't considered the fact that he might just need more time to reach the door. Sometimes he honestly forgot that V didn't walk that quickly in a casual setting due to necessity. That, and to not expend extra energy. He was shockingly low energy for someone who got so much done at any given time.

"... I was asleep. Forgive me."

Nero immediately gave him a sideways look. Something was totally off about him and he couldn't quite place what it was. All he knew was that it didn't sit right with him.

V stepped back to allow Nero enough space to properly stand in the room, seemingly noticing that they were too close for comfort. It seemed that his distaste for people being inside of his personal bubble was subconscious since he didn't really seem awake enough to actually notice it. That didn't honestly surprise Nero. It was entirely possible, all things considered. He seemed to notice a lot of small things without putting any effort into it from what he could tell. It was actually kind of interesting.

After dragging himself over to the bed, V sat down and propped himself up against the pillows that were stacked against the wall. He'd changed out of his soaked clothes and presumably put them in the bathroom to dry or something. A quick glance around the room revealed that Shadow and Griffon were present, though they both seemed to be asleep in the corner and had no interest in paying any attention to them. Griffon had fluffed himself up against the corner of the window while the large panther laid below it, stretching herself out along the bottom of the windowsill. Nero recalled how upset V's feline familiar had been at the beach earlier, seemingly reacting to her master's distress and the danger he'd found himself in with no regard for her own safety. He couldn't help but respect the overgrown house cat for that. It was actually very reassuring to know that V's companions had such a strong bond with him.

That being said, he wasn't looking to be mauled, so he would stay on the other side of the room for the time being.

Sparing a glance back in V's direction, Nero gestured towards the foot of the bed, clearly requesting permission to sit. V nodded, his might clearly preoccupied with something else. While they were looking at one another, V seemed to be looking into the middle distance more than anything else, not really seeing anything despite the fact that his eyes were fully functional. Nero shook his head slightly, unsure of where to even start.

"Hey… You alright?" He asked, leaning in slightly in an attempt to garner more attention from his distracted companion." Because you don't seem alright. For one, you look like hell. Something's different about you."

V stifled something that might have been a soft laugh, but could've just as easily been a cough from what Nero could tell. He seemed visually paler than he had been early that day, his eyes slightly red. While that could have easily been from the salt water, the younger of the two was easily willing to believe that wasn't the cause of his current condition. V struck him as the sort to go off and handle his emotions in private. After all, someone could only keep their emotions bottled up for so long. What he didn't comprehend was the source of such a profound level of distress. Something about this told him that what was happening went well beyond a simple aversion to water.

"... Well for starters, I believe I may have lost my voice," V said dryly, basically confirming his theory outright. Yes, he most certainly had. He sounded awful, like he'd developed a cold in the preceding hours since his unfortunate accident. He was even talking quieter. " I suppose inhaling salt water does that, doesn't it. You came to check on me, you said?"

Nero nodded in agreement. "Yea, I did. Figuring waiting until tomorrow was a bad idea. You sound awful." Nero tried to pass the statement off with a certain level of humor to lighten up the uncomfortable tension in the air, but it honestly didn't seem to work the way he was intending it to. Nothing in V's demeanor changed." Guess you have nothing to lose by telling me what the hell is going on then. I mean, your vocal cords are already shot to hell."

V closed his eyes for a moment, almost appearing to be asleep. He clearly wasn't, all things considered. But it certainly looked that way. He opened them after a moment, looking several times more exhausted than he had just seconds prior. Nero immediately knew that he'd hit a sore spot. Clearly something deeply personal was going on with him.

"... I suppose that is the case." V sounded as though he'd just been asked to testify against himself in a death penalty case. There was absolutely no desire to do so in his demeanor, but the fact that he was considering it was good enough for Nero. Asking him to enjoy taking to him seemed like a stretch at the moment." But to do that, we'd have to start from the beginning."

Nero leaned back slightly, noticing for the first time that his back didn't really appreciate what he was inadvertently doing to it. As he was readjusting his position, he shot V a curious glance. "The beginning, hu? How far back does that go? Your childhood?"

V paused for a moment. He then nodded so slowly that it was nearly imperceptible. "Actually yes, it does. I was around five or so. It's hazy." He looked downward, clearly unwilling to make eye contact," For the most part I'd repressed the events surrounding it, but a suppose trauma lingers even when memory doesn't."

If Nero hadn't already been taking him seriously from the start of the conversation, he would've been from that point forward. Oh shit, he'd been joking when he said that. V never talked about anything concerning his life before they'd met. Nero got the occasional offhanded detail that he then used to glean additional info from, but this was different. V was actually going to tell him something this time.

"... What happened V?"

If it was possible to fidget nervously without moving, V did so. He'd be lying if he had he hoped that Nero wouldn't ask that question. Pursuing this course of action wasn't something he wanted to do, but he was at the door so he might as well walk through it…

"The actual circumstances surrounding it are… complicated and I don't wish to relay them in any detail. I'd prefer to not revisit that part of my life. Suffice to say my childhood was… Challenging." He paused for a moment as though speaking was slowly draining the energy from his body. He'd never actually planned on talking about this with anyone, and it showed." At some point the orphanage I had been placed in decided that I was cursed or something akin to it. I'm not entirely sure. What I do remember was the extreme level of avoidance I was shown and the… cleansing they decided to make me undergo. I believe there's some sort of doctrine against exorcisms involving children, but I wouldn't be an expert on such matters. But the one I partook in against my will involved a river and…"

V stopped as Nero held up his hand, gently shaking his head. The slightly nauseous look on his face spoke volumes. Nero had heard enough to understand. "I… I think I understand… You don't have to keep going if you don't want to." The short haired devil hunter gave him a sympathetic look." Guess we both had a shit time as kids. I grew up in an orphanage too. Wish that was the one thing we didn't have in common."

A hint of relief flowed over V as he exhaled the breath he didn't realize he was holding. "I couldn't agree more. My condolences on behalf of your childhood, Nero. If my own experiences are anything to go by, I trust your luck wasn't much better than mine."

Nero laughed slightly and shrugged. V really was formal to a fault wasn't he? And he wasn't too far off considering the magnitude of awful childhood he'd experienced for himself. Luckily no one in town had ever tried that on him. Being constantly ignored was familiar, however.

"Thanks V. "Same to you, I guess. But… do me a favor." V gave him a slightly curious look as he spoke, but seemed to be listening. Nero wouldn't go as far as saying that getting that off of his chest had helped him, but he hoped so. It was too soon to tell." Just… tell me what's going on next time, ok?"

While Nero wasn't entirely sure if V was going to follow through on what he asked of him, the older of the two nodded hesitantly. He seemed to consider what he'd suggested at the very least, and that was as much as Nero could really ask from any of his relatives. They all seemed to possess an aversion to this sort of conversation, but V was the easiest to work with on personal matters by far. It was almost alarming.

"I will… consider that an option." V said simply. It didn't take much to come to the conclusion that he'd hit his limit in terms of personal conversation. Nero nodded, moving to stand up again. As he did so, he dared to give V something akin to a small shoulder shake. While Nero wasn't sure what that achieved, he felt as though he should do something to try and ease the discomfort in the room, but was relatively certain that actually hugging him might not go the way he'd expect, at least of past experience was anything to go by. But he was confident they'd get there eventually. Just not today.

"Okay then." Nero said as he approached the door to the room, placing his hand on the doorknob. He could tell V needed a little time to collect his thoughts." Oh and Vergil's probably coming up here soon. Thought I'd give you a heads up."

V gave Nero a blank look. It was genuinely difficult to discern how that news actually affected him. After a moment, he leaned back against the headboard of the bed and sighed, closing his eyes. "Very well. Thank you for the forewarning."

With that, Nero nodded and vacated the room. He needed to go check on things on the ground floor. Leaving Dante and Vergil alone that long was bound to be the cause of some sort of accident or shootout in the lobby. Not to mention dinner plans. He had no idea what they were eating, but he was about five minutes from literally starving to death.

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Hey everyone, thanks for stopping by and reading the next chapter! Were about half way through the beach arc now, so I hope you've all been having a good time reading it! I hope you've had a good week and thanks for your ongoing support! See you again on Friday!