Chapter Twenty Two: Visibility

Note: Sorry if the pace has been too slow in this story. I feel like Soliloquy might have been more exciting to read, especially since we just made it to chapter 22. But don't worry, that's all about to change very soon. Thanks for sticking with me! Between Visions of V and Special Edition, this is a wild time to be writing for the community. I've never been so overwhelmed by the lore. I love it!

(-~-)

The sun approached the edge of the horizon, the sky casting a shadow of vibrant oranges and blues as it traveled over the treetops. The silhouettes of the massive trees that blocked out the evening wind danced in the dim but vibrant light as they stood tall and proud, acting as sentinels in the approaching night. And around the northern bank of the large pond they had claimed as their own stood V, his arms wrapped around himself as he leaned against a nearby tree in silence.

Something was not right about this place.

From the moment they had arrived, it had been too quiet. The path leading to the location seemed to grow more silent with every step they took, and there was no way to properly explain that kind of phenomenon aside from "deeply disturbing" and "possibly problematic". Against his general sense of self preservation, the young summoner had written it off as nerves at first, assuming that the impenetrable silence was due to the fact that they were venturing further and further from the city and, as such, were exposed to less and less background ambiance as a result. V had spent his fair share of days in the wilderness in the past, after all. But the longer they had stayed here and spent the day enjoying the wonders of the forest, the more V felt an ever present need to leave. It was as though something had invaded his subconscious and lodged itself between whatever receptors controlled rational thought and suppressed anxiety.

He found it profoundly difficult to focus, and that feeling of fogginess didn't dissipate as the day carried on. In fact, it intensified to an incredible degree until a slight haze fell over him. And while he was still alert and aware of his surroundings, he couldn't help but feel as though his head was under water. At times, his hearing seemed muffled or his sight blurred, but then returned to its normal state just as quickly as it had gone. It was as inconvenient as it was troublesome, and it had progressed to the point where V was actually starting to question what could possibly be causing such a phenomenon.

From what he could tell, everything around him was fine besides him. Perhaps the group had collectively decided that they were just going to ignore whatever this was in favor of enjoying the scenery and didn't know it because everyone was concealing their true motivations so well? It wouldn't really surprise him, all things considered. He didn't blame anyone present for desiring a little bit of normality. But it was nearly impossible to tell if that was the case. And if so, he was going to have to be the killjoy of the group once again. Thankfully Kyrie and the children had left an hour or so ago.

As V stood thinking, Griffon returned from his little adventure. The while haired summoner had tasked his loyal avian companion with scouting out the surrounding area to see if he could locate the source of the issue, he'd saddled himself with the responsibility of trying to figure out whether or not the issue he was experiencing was caused by internal or external forces. V hadn't exactly had the easiest time since his return from the waiting room of the afterlife and, as an extension of that, he'd been feeling numerous different variations of sensory overload in random intervals ever to place what was going on with him without anything to work off of was becoming more and more complicated to do alone, but he didn't exactly have anyone to go to with questions of that nature. Well, at least not anyone he expected to actually answer them.

"Well, did you find anything?" V said quietly but clearly, not quite whispering as Griffon fluttered to a landing on top of the low hanging tree branch he was standing beneath. Shadow was only a few yards away, now the lucky recipient of Patty's attention. The only thing that the large demonic house cat enjoyed more than destroying their opponents was receiving head scratches, and Patty's were high quality to say the least. V felt no need to interrupt their fun unless he required her assistance, and at the moment, he was fine.

Griffon fluffed himself up and did something close to a shiver, clearly not thrilled with the concept of whatever he was about to say. The large bird looked like he wanted to puke as he shook his head from side to side, a metaphorical bad taste in his mouth. V craned his neck to one side, his brow furrowing. Oh, this couldn't be could, could it?

"Oh boy, did I. You're not going to like this, V," Griffon said as he hopped down off of the branch and onto V's outstretched arm. As he spoke, he shuffled up closed to his shoulder, allowing the young summoner to lower the majority of his arm. "So get this. I found a cave! Well, it's not exactly a cave. It's more of an area with rocks all around it that you have to go into a cave to get into, but you get the gist of it, right?"

V nodded. He wasn't entirely sure what that had to do with anything, but he decided to let his avian friend finish his little little story before passing any sort of final judgement. Sometimes the fluffy, statically charged bird just rambled a little bit before he got to the point, but the information he provided was generally very helpful. "What is it about this place that set off alarm bells for you? Is there light coming from it?"

Griffon nodded eagerly. If V wasn't mostly sure that his loyal companion couldn't make facial expressions, he would have sworn that he saw an almost uncomfortable look cross his face. "That's just the tip of the iceberg, pall. There has to be at least a dozen people up there, and they are all over the place. That whole operation reeks of demonic power, and it's just like what you were telling me about before I went to check it out." Griffon's tone changed dramatically as he leaned in to look at V. His eyes and tone of voice seemed to darken slightly, an act that both repelled and drew in the young Descendant of Sparda." Mark my words, V... they're planning something, and it's not good. I think whatever is going on with you might be their doing. Like some sort of spell or something that's supposed to keep people from going over there. I don't know a whole bunch about magic, but I'm getting a pretty bad vibe from them. I'd stay clear of that whole place if I were you. It's bad news."

V seemed to consider Griffon's words for a moment before looking across the space between himself and the rest of the group. After Nero and Kyrie had spent a few hours away from the rest of the group, they had made the trek to regroup with the rest of them and brought the children along. Dante and Vergil had arrived shortly after, the older of the two seemingly just as disinterested with hiking through the woods as he was with dealing with anything else negative for the remainder of the trip. Much like V, he'd spent most of the day keeping to himself and reading, though V couldn't help but wonder if he'd noticed the strange occurrences that were plaguing the woods as well. One could only imagine that spending an extended amount of time in the underworld made someone sensitive to such things.

As he allowed himself to consider this possibility for a moment, a familiar face approached him. Nero stretched slightly as he did so, hours of sitting and playing with the children had clearly made him a little stiff. V nodded at his approach, signaling him to come a little closer. The shorter haired man gave him a curious look, but then glanced around himself before doing as his older brother wished and joining him.

"Hey, V. Something going on?" Nero said as he crossed the distance between them. Thankfully he hadn't felt the need to shout this at him from near the water, or this entire situation might have been a little uncomfortable.

"Possibly." V said, reaching up to scratch the underside of Griffon's closest wing. This bird seemed to appreciate the gesture as he shivered in delight. For whatever reason, it was always a trial by fire for him to reach that spot without dislocating his neck in the process." Griffon may have found something further into the woods. He has reason to believe that there might be something… unsavory going on there. Apparently the place radiates excessive amounts of demonic energy."

"Radiates" is an understatement," Griffon said, cutting into the conversation between his efforts to preen himself," That place is a goddamn beacon for evil shit. I swear it's a Hellgate or something, but I can't be sure. But whatever those folks are doing up there can't be good. If you want my advice-"

"Nope, not really. I think I'm good." Nero said as he gestured towards the large blue bird with a nod, casually signaling for him to halt his machinations. That was too many words for him, and he was sure that V could give him the cliff notes version later on." Let me guess, you wanna check it out, don't you? And you want me to tag along."

The older of the two paused for a moment before nodding slowly. "I feel almost compelled to do so. Something about this doesn't sit right with me. The last time people gathered in the middle of the woods like this and I was in the area… well…" V trailed off towards the end of the conversation, sparing a downward glance towards his leg. Nero followed his gaze, a slightly alarmed look on his face. Was that how…

"Oh. Wait, so you weren't born like that or something? I figured you'd always been like this." Nero questioned, careful as to how he phrased his statement. He had no intention of insulting V with his question, but he had the feeling that his older brother wouldn't tell him if he had done so anyway. That was simply the way he was. In fact, Nero was slightly surprised that he'd reached out to him about this in the first place. He seemed a little out of his element.

"... We can discuss that in greater detail once we return. Are you unarmed?" V said as he spared a glance towards the other six people that were still with them. Lady and Trish seemed to be talking about something, and Vergil hadn't budged from his spot facing away from them towards the pond. Whatever he was reading had caught his attention and kept it. Dante was eating part of a pizza that they had obtained earlier in the day at the behest of the children. And Patty… Well, she was still petting Shadow. Although she had progressed past head scratches and gone straight to belly rubs at this point, much to the bemusement and pleasure of the large feline. V subconsciously noted that he'd never seen Shadow lay on her back and let someone touch her there, and he was slightly confused as to why he'd never had the opportunity to experience this for himself. He would have to rectify that as soon as possible.

Nero shook his head and pointed towards the blanked he'd brought to the little campsite earlier when he'd arrived with Kyrie. "I don't go into the woods without backup. Last time that happened, I got scratched by some stupid demon and grew a demonic arm."

V gave him an odd look, but couldn't help but notice the irony in that statement. It seemed that neither of them were capable of venturing into the woods without running afoul of something or someone and developing life altering injuries. They had more in common than he had initially realized, and it was almost funny how similar their experiences had been in some instances despite the fact that they hadn't known one another until almost halfway through that year. In a way, V took slight comfort in that.

"I… regret not having an opportunity to see that for myself. What a shame. Was it the same arm?" V said gesturing toward Nero's right side. The younger of the two glanced downward to double check where he was pointing and then sighed, nodding in conformation.

"Yea, I can't win with this arm. Hopefully nothing else happens to it. The last couple of years have been such a shitshow." Nero glanced over towards the blanked he'd brought with them before walking over towards it, leaving V by the edge of the clearing." Give me a second."

V watched him go for a moment, considering their next move. Theoretically, things shouldn't pose much of a problem. They were just going to slip away and go and check things out. Then they'd come right back. If everything went well, no one would even miss them. Dante was preoccupied along with everyone else, and if there was a possible threat, they needed to know about it.

A moment later, Nero returned with his blade in hand. He attacked it to his back and joined V under the tree, ushering for V to lead the way. With a nod, the older of the two recalled Shadow in preparation for their departure, much to Patty's apparent distress. The two of them had been having the time of their lives together. With a dissatisfied huff, she stood up and walked over to join Dante, grabbing one of the few slices of pizza that remained and flopping down on the ground next to the devil hunter in the red coat. He seemed to welcome her company since they immediately started a conversation, an action that V couldn't help but envy. If only he could start a conversation with people that easily.

With a final glance in Vergil's direction, they slipped through the treeline and into the now dark forest. V scratched the top of Griffon's head before using his thin arm to launch the fluffy blue bird in the direction of the woods. Neither of them had any idea where they were heading, so they were going to have to depend on the mouthy bird to lead them to their destination. That wasn't a prospect that Nero was entirely comfortable with, but it was the reality of the situation. With any luck, this wouldn't be a long trip and they would make it back before anyone missed them.

(-~-)

Silence settled over them in a heavy blanket as they headed towards their destination. The ground was damp and shifted easily under foot the closer they got to the top of the hill, a fact that neither of them particularly enjoyed since they could barely see. The forest was unreasonably dark, even when the foliage was taken into consideration. It was almost as if the woods absorbed light and pulled it out of the surrounding atmosphere, because even with demonically enhanced eyesight, Nero couldn't see a thing. He was unsure as to how good V's eyesight was relative to his own, but he was willing to believe that he probably agreed with him.

As if to silently concur with him on that issue, V suddenly stumbled over something and landed palms down in the dirt, groaning quietly in dissatisfaction. Nero had attempted to catch him, but he'd underestimated his reach and totally missed him, something that made him feel somewhat stupid. After a moment, he extended his hand towards V in an effort to help him back up. He fished around in the darkness for a moment before reaching up to accept the help, shaking his head in disbelief when he stood up. Judging by the way that he was standing and the slight grimace on his face, he'd clearly done something uncomfortable to his leg in the process.

"Tripping in forests and injuring my leg. Truly the story of my life." He said with a hint of sarcastic darkness in his tone. He clearly wasn't very pleased with what had just happened, and it showed. Nero looked him over before turning back towards the correct direction. It was very easy to become disoriented and lost in a place like this, so he felt the need to reaffirm their whereabouts.

"I thought we weren't talking about that until we got back. Changed your mind already?" Nero said as they pressed forward. If he didn't know better, he would have sworn that it had just grown even darker than before. How was something like that even possible?

V shrugged in the darkness, looking up towards the sky and then back towards the space in front of them. Griffon had indicated that if they continued to go forward, they would reach the cave he'd found shortly. The only problem was that it was further from the clearing than they had originally guessed, and the darkness severely hindered their progress. After all, how were you supposed to walk in a straight line when you couldn't see anything in front of you? The terrain wasn't something that they had felt the need to take into consideration when they had decided to do this. Then again, there were many things they hadn't taken into consideration.

A part of Nero wanted to turn back and alert the rest of the group, but didn't. He was confident that they could handle this together, and they were not small children in need of supervision. V had his familiars back now, and although he was still somewhat weak, he hadn't fallen victim to any dizzy spells since Magnolia had left and turned to the mainland the night after the fight at Fortuna Castle. Nero had no reason to believe that this wasn't something they could handle.

"I was talking to myself. Nothing has changed since we-" V suddenly paused and stopped dead in his tracks. Nero drifted forward, turning to see what the problem was. An instant later, V grabbed his shoulder and held up his hand to hush any protests, nodding in the direction just ahead of them.

"V what are you-" Nero started, earning him a frustrated look from V as the older of the two pointed in the direction of something immediately to the left of them. Nero turned to find light radiating off of the nearby trees as it shined from within the cave that they now stood only a few yards from the mouth of. Three people walked into the opening, casting long shadows behind themselves that stopped just a few feet in front of the two youngest Descendants of Sparda. Judging by their familiar black outfits, they had just walked into the last place they needed to be.

These were the same cultists that had been after V in Fortuna.

And they had just walked right up to their front door.

Before either of them could process this information, the sound of a tree breaking behind them under the strain of something heavy took them by surprise. As they moved to locate the source of the sound, a vibrating hum could be heard from seemingly everywhere around them at once, immediately followed by the sound of wicked echoing laughter. Slightly alarmed, the two of them glanced around themselves in an attempt to try and locate the source of the sinister noise just as the ground beneath them began to ripple like water and the sound of a deep, hollow bell toll echoed through the surrounding area. A rapidly spinning scythe erupted from the ground between them followed by an unearthly howl as they were both knocked back across the ground in opposing directions, making impact with the trees. As quickly as they had arrived, they had been rendered a bloody mess, staggering about in an effort to try and figure out what was happening and where the attack was coming from.

V winced slightly as he held the side of his now bleeding head, shaking it slightly in an attempt to regain focus and clarity of vision in spite of the pounding sensation that rocked his skull. Unfortunately, the blood running down the side of his head onto his face didn't make that very easy, and neither did all the now wet hair that clung to the right side of his head. Meanwhile, Nero tried to walk off the cut he'd just received across the bottom of the side of his back, clearly as agitated as he was injured. Although his demonic powers were making short work of the injury, it still stung like hell and served as a powerful distraction from the task at hand. Neither of them were mortally injured, but the fact that they would have easily been killed in that instant if they hadn't both moved out of the way when they did was not lost on them.

Whatever this was, they needed backup. It needed to die before it could launch a follow up attack against them. After all, there was nowhere to run to in this place. Behind them stood impenetrable darkness, and before them stood the cult that had nearly taken Magnolia and V's lives the last time they had crossed paths. Nothing about the situation was hopeful.

Just as the large, cloaked demon attempted to fully emerge from the ground, V and Nero regrouped, rallying behind one another in an attempt to prepare themselves for another oncoming attack. If they stayed close together, they could watch each other's back and two directions at once. Despite the fact that they were both somewhat injured and couldn't dodge any oncoming attacks very easily, it was the only option they could employ against an enemy they could barely see.

Seconds later, a glowing black rift suddenly opened in the air a few dozen feet above them, the sickening laughter and howling of the demon returning as the bell tolled yet again. Both Nero and V drew a blank in that moment, entirely unsure as to what to do about a demon that could attack them from such an impossible position. Nero knew he couldn't draw his gun that quickly, and Griffon would be no use against an opponent such as this, even if V could force him to manifest that quickly.

No, they were simply fucked.

As the cackling monstrosity plunged downward out of the sky towards them, spinning it's colossal blade like a propeller composed of death, there was suddenly an eruption of light as an unseen force collided with the demon, meeting it head on and stopping it dead in it's tracks in mid air. The scythe shattered like glass as a huge blue slash arched several meters across the space between them and cleaved the demon in two down the middle, taking the two trees behind it with it.

Nero and V watched as the vaguely familiar blue demon landed gracefully on it's feet, sheathing its blade slowly with a ringing click before the suspension of reality around them faded and the demon, along with both trees, toppled over with a loud crash, falling into pieces around them. They were both dazed, and V was still bleeding from his skull, but altogether more alive than they would've been if he had not come to their rescue. Although they had not seen this form before, neither of the two young devil hunters needed to ask who their savior was. Nero had battled against it more advanced from before himself, and V recognized that kind of power anywhere. A moment later, the glowing blue demonic being that had once stood before them faded away with a cascade of light, allowing the darkness to return and leaving a familiar devil slayer in its place. A moment later, he turned to face them both.

It was Vergil.

And he did not look pleased.

(-~-)

It begins… Bring forth the angst! Boy of boy, are things about to get interesting. I hope you liked this chapter, because things are only going to get more exciting from here! See you on Friday for the next chapter and stay safe!