Emotional Support Demons
Disclaimer: Devil May Cry belongs to people who are not me. I am making £0.00 out of this fic; it is written purely because I had some Dante angst.
Rating: PG-13
Part: One of Two, maybe Three
Set: Post DMC5 - Several months after my fic Broken and Kinsukuroi.
Authoress note Vergil gets an emotional support demon or three.
Also references to the succubus is from my fic What Dreams May Come. It's not officially part of this series but meh, I like a little tie in now and then.
This was meant to be lighthearted I swear, but for some reason this series always ends up depressing and chatty.
For all my reviewers, who without I would have surely given up a long time ago.
Emotional Support Demons
"I need to talk to you… alone."
Nero felt a chill run down his back. Dante hadn't bothered with small talk or teasing. His voice was faint through the phone, but Nero could hear the exhaustion and the slur in his words. For Dante to be slurring, he must have drunk an unreal amount of hard liquor.
"Ok," Nero said in what he hoped was a soothing tone. "Where?"
"Same bar as last time," Dante hung up. Nero let out a sigh and asked Nico to turn the van around.
"What up?" she pulled into a side road to turn around. Nero shrugged. "Aww, don't be like that. Fess up."
"I don't know. He didn't say."
"But you have a good idea?" Nico was now exceeding the speed limit in a way Nero was certain would get normal people arrested, but apparently Nico's superpower was avoiding traffic cops. "I can tell. I know that frowny Nero face."
"I don't know," Nero said. Nico glared at him. "Watch the road." Nico continued to glare, not looking at the road. "Watch the… Fine!"
"See, I knew it." Nico turned to face the road again. "You know."
"I don't know. But yeah maybe, he wants to talk to me alone, so he doesn't want Vergil there, and he wants to go to the same place as 'last time' so that can only mean one thing."
"Whiskey and ice cream for dinner? I'm telling Kyrie."
"Don't you dare! It's not my fault!"
"Oh no, I'm telling your wife you're avoiding her cooking and drinking late with your demon friends, probably going to look at strippers, too." Nero couldn't help the small smile, though; Nico was trying to help in her own terrible way. She was a distraction, if nothing else, a very successful one. By the time they reached the bar and he waved her off, Nero hadn't brooded about Dante once on the journey.
"Took you long enough." Dante grunted when Nero sat next to him. On the bar, there were three empty bowls that had likely contained ice cream. Nero didn't count the empty shot glasses.
"What the hell, Dante?"
Dante leaned further down on the bar. Nero leaned over him, trying to get a look at the demon hunter's face. He looked terrible, worse than Nero had ever seen him, and Nero had seen Dante eviscerated before. His skin was sallow, his eyes bloodshot and dark ringed, his hair lank and greasy.
"I can't sleep."
"Ugh, you realise I'm not a doctor? I can't prescribe you sleeping pills."
"Wouldn't work anyway. God, I'm such a hypocrite."
"What the hell? I mean, yeah, you kind of are, but why this time?"
"Because…" Dante knocked back another whiskey. "I'm doing exactly what your pa did and not listening to my advice."
"Vergil's done a lot of things. You'll have to be more specific." Nero glared when Dante waved down the bar keep who provided further ice cream and hard liquor.
"Not sleeping."
"Alright, why?"
Dante took a deep breath and sat up straight.
"Turns out nightmares are contagious."
"What?" Nero pinched the bridge of his nose. That was nonsense.
"Well, after the whole." Dante waved his hands dramatically. "Thing with the town of demon people, I think it must have, I don't know, shook something loose in him." Dante snorted. "He was right, though. That conversation was for our benefit, not his."
"Get to the damn point." Dante hiccupped, and it sounded far too much like a sob that Nero's frustration instantly vanished. He put a hand on Dante's shoulder and nudged the ice cream closer to him. "Eat your sugar."
"Thanks." Dante sounded utterly defeated. "Anyway, like I said, when we came back something had got shook up. Maybe talking about it made him remember more, I don't know, but the nightmares got worse." Dante sniffed.
"Ok, maybe it's just a bad patch. Like it had to get worse before it could get better."
"You don't get it. This is our fault. We made him talk about it. He was doing so much better and then we had to push him, and he's got so much worse and now I'm..."
"Calm down." People were staring as Dante got louder in his apparent grief. Dante took a long moment and emptied the ice cream plate. Nero observed him. There had to be more to this. Vergil being in terrible shape would upset Dante, but not to this extent. There was something more.
"So." Dante pushed the empty bowl away. "Turns out demon nightmares, when they get bad enough, are contagious."
"Nightmares are in your head. They aren't like germs; you can't catch a case of nightmares."
"Well, I did. I dreamt about what must have happened to him when Mundus got him. At first, I thought it was just guilt, but I talked to him about it."
"Good for you."
"Turns out he'd had the same dream, the exact same. And then it happened again the next night, and again, and again." The older devil hunter shivered. "You have any idea what that's like?"
"Can't say I do."
"I got to see, in full technicolour, what happened to him when I let him fall into the demon world."
Nero closed his eyes, clarity finally falling into place.
He'd known Dante for a long time before Vergil had come back, it had taken a long while, a lot of trust, a succubus and a hell of a lot of alcohol before Dante had told him the story of his brother and his fall into the demon world and subsequent confrontation on the island. It had been immediately apparent that Dante blamed himself for everything. In his eyes he had let Vergil fall when he could have saved him, and he'd then murdered him on Mallet Island. The guilt ate him alive to where, if he had been human, his subsequent alcoholism would have killed him.
"I see," Nero said.
"No, you don't. But I do. I saw everything and felt it, and smelled it too."
"Fuck." Nero had no idea how to fix this.
"I broke down after the second week. I fell a-fucking-part, and he left."
"Wait, what?"
"Yeah, he's gone." Dante picked up an empty whiskey glass and waved it at the barkeep. "So I came here. Oi, barkeep!"
"No," Nero took the glass. "No more booze for you." He stood up. "Come on, I'll take you home."
The walk home was hard. Dante staggered and stumbled every other step, and the guy was damn heavy. Nero had dealt with a tipsy Dante before but not paralytic Dante. Demon metabolism made it difficult for Dante to get properly drunk, which meant he must have worked hard to get into this state. Fortunately, he'd come out of it reasonably quickly now that there wasn't fresh liquor getting into this system.
Devil may cry was a wreck.
Every bottle that normally sat behind the bar was empty and littered around the building. Nero ignored it, though the smell of stale booze made his eyes water. He helped Dante up the stairs, certain that the walk had probably burned off the bulk of the alcohol in his system and that the arm around his shoulders was clinging for emotional support rather than physical.
He helped Dante get out of his coat and boots and shoved him into the bed, pointedly ignoring how strongly the bed smelt like Vergil. Dante buried his face in a pillow and started snoring almost immediately.
"Thank you, Nero,." Vergil's voice made Nero spin in place and let out an undignified squeak.
"Don't do that! Christ, if my hair wasn't already white." Vergil chuckled at him and turned and walked away. Nero waited a moment before following him.
He found Vergil downstairs, black bag in hand, picking up empty bottles and muttering unkind things about his brother. Saying nothing, Nero went and picked up his own black bag and started helping. It didn't take long to clear the bottles. Nero saw to putting the bin bags outside while Vergil opened the windows to air out the place and booted up his laptop. Nero, still unsure of what to say, set about wiping up any remaining spills and putting the rest of the room into order.
"You needn't worry," Vergil said. "The housekeeper is in tomorrow."
"You got a housekeeper?" Nero smirked. Vergil shrugged.
"I won't live in filth, but I won't be his maid either." Vergil looked at his screen. Nero glanced over Vergil's shoulder and saw he was buying a ludicrous amount of alcohol. Stupidly expensive alcohol too.
"That's probably not the best idea."
"I'm having it sent to Mary. She can look after it until Dante's able to be trusted."
"Why replace…" Nero started.
"It is my fault he drank it, so it is my responsibility to replace it." Vergil said. Nero sighed. He felt like he did a lot of sighing around his father and uncle.
"Dante said you left."
"Obviously false." Vergil leaned back away from the laptop and huffed. "Though not entirely. I assume he told you he has had trouble sleeping?" Nero nodded. "And the cause of this?" again Nero nodded. "Well then, it should be apparent. I merely left for a few nights so he could rest without disturbance."
"Did you tell him that?" Nero said. Vergil glared at him. "You two are fucking terrible. You realise how many of your problems would be solved if you just communicated a little."
"It was clear." Vergil spoke through his teeth. "I took none of my belongings beyond my phone. It was obvious I was coming back."
"Did he call you?" Nero asked. Vergil nodded. "You didn't answer, I take it?"
"I was in a meeting with a client."
"For a couple of days?" Vergil said nothing. Nero shook his head and sat at the bar next to his father.
"He blames himself." Vergil eventually said. Nero nodded, trying not to show his surprise at his father's unprompted sharing. "He should not."
"I know."
"My mistakes were my own."
"Yup, they were. But family is like that."
"Foolishness."
Nero's stomach suddenly rumbled. The sound went on far too long and was loud in the quiet room. When it eventually finished and Nero's face was a delightful shade of pink, Vergil picked up the phone and handed it to Nero.
"Get something with a lot of chilli and a lot of meat," he muttered before standing and heading upstairs. Nero waited until he heard the shower running before he ordered the food. It delighted him to find that Vergil had an account with the pizza place, so Nero didn't have to pay.
Vergil came down from the shower moments after the pizza arrived.
"I got you the meat feast with extra chillies." Nero said around a mouthful of ham and pineapple. "I also got Dante's usual and put it in the kitchen. He'll be hungry in the morning."
"Thank you, Nero."
Nero shivered a little. It was odd that such an innocent and polite phrase always made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Nero watched as his father started on his pizza. For all his refinement, Vergil demolished pizza almost as fast as Dante.
"You gonna talk to him in the morning?"
"There is nothing to say. I cannot stop it from happening. It happens without my will. I cannot stop it." He clenched his fist.
"So much for all your power, huh?" Nero raised an eyebrow when Vergil's aura spiked, a dark cloud literally forming around him. The physical form of Vergil's power writhed for a moment before Vergil took a deep breath and attempted to contain it.
"I am still lacking," he said so quietly Nero almost missed it. "I need more."
"No." Nero tried to ignore the way his stomach turned into a ball of ice and almost fell out of him. "This isn't something power can fix."
"I need power to be safe, to keep us safe. Once I have enough, then this will stop." Nero frowned at his father. Vergil was supposed to be smart. Dante had always given him the impression that Vergil was the smart one. Talking with V, who was after all part of Vergil, had cemented that impression. V had been clever, well-read and educated. So, with that in mind, why was Vergil saying something so stupid?
Nero tried to think of what to say and came up blank.
Vergil thought his nightmares happened because he didn't feel safe, ignoring for a moment how something like Vergil could not feel safe when he had enough power to rule the demon world should he so choose. The theory was incorrect. But how to make Vergil understand Nero did not know?
"Did V have nightmares?" Nero paused, he wasn't sure where that idea had come from. Vergil flinched at the question, staring hard at Nero.
"I don't think so I admit I don't quite recall everything that happened."
"Being split in half will do that, I suppose. But it's strange, isn't it? That V, someone who had no real physical power of his own, wouldn't have this problem."
"Make your point."
"This isn't anything to do with power. It's more like, well, dealing with shit that happened. You can't ignore it, it won't go away no matter how much power you get. The shit's already happened, and you need to deal with it before-"
"Before it destroys Dante."
"I was going to say you. But yeah." Vergil said nothing, but he looked to the landing toward Dante's room. "Look." Nero rubbed the back of his neck. "Despite what Dante says, I'm not a therapist. I don't know what to do about this, but it's pretty obviously some kind of PTSD or something and maybe talking to a real-"
"Out of the question."
Nero shrugged. It was a long shot he knew, and he understood why talking to a professional wouldn't appeal to someone like Vergil. Besides, what could he say? 'I'm a half demon war lord who was captured and tortured for twenty years by the demon king. After which my brother murdered me, but I survived and came back, mutilated my son and killed many people to grow a fruit so I could get enough power to feel safe again. Oh, and there's probably some childhood trauma from when demons killed my family when I was little, and I spent years thinking my family had saved my brother over me and abandoned me.' Yeah, that was probably not going to work.
"What did V do differently? He never seemed…" Nero gestured at Dante's bedroom and then at Vergil.
"Broken?" Vergil raised an eyebrow. "I recall V seemed very broken."
"That's not what I meant. Stop avoiding the question. V was physically damaged, but other than that, he seemed together… kind of." Nero snorted a laugh. "You know, I once saw him dancing on the battlefield, a scrawny human asshole prancing around while hell erupts around him." He couldn't help but laugh. He was very surprised when Vergil joined him.
"Yes, well, I cannot account for his sanity. But V was always safe in battle. He had…" Vergil trailed off.
"He had demons of his own." Nero finished for him. "The smart-arse bird and the big cat thing, damn, that thing had a nasty bite."
"It bit you?"
"Hell yeah, V fell asleep in the van and Nico drives like a lunatic. He was gonna fall off the seat, so I went to push him back a bit, you know," Nero felt his face heat with blush. Vergil had a flash of a small smile. Nero was often kind to V, protective almost. "Then out of nowhere, this massive damn cat thing lunges at me, all shadows and sharp bits. Asshole bit me. The chicken thought it was funny. Cat thing glared at me until V woke up, though." Vergil snorted quietly and stood up, his back cracking as he stretched.
"Will you stay here tonight?"
"If that's cool, Nico dropped me off and ran." Nero stood, eyeing the sofa.
"You may take my bed. I'll stay down here tonight."
"I thought you slept with…" Nero started. Vergil shook his head.
"Let him sleep peacefully if he can, he needs the rest."
"Then I'll take the sofa." Nero was about to point out he was younger, but stopped when Vergil shook his head.
"My bed is too close to him." Vergil gestured to Dante's room. Nero was quiet for a long moment, before heading towards the stairs. He stopped at the bottom and faced his father.
"We'll fix this. I'm not sure how, but we'll figure it out. Things, well, they'll be fine soon." Vergil snorted quietly again, and Nero went upstairs. As he reached the landing, he saw Dante standing in the doorway to his room. He still looked like shit and stank of booze, but his eyes were clear, and he was sober now.
"You're a good kid," Dante said before turning back and heading to his bed. "Fuck knows how Vergil's your pa."
"Go to bed, you drunk." Nero closed Dante's door and headed to the old spare room which had since become Vergil's room.
"Rise and shine, sweet cheeks."
The voice was one Nero knew; it was grating and strangely pitched, both deep and painfully high at the same time. Nero rolled over, refusing to open his eyes. The bed was warm and comfortable. It had been a long exhausting day yesterday, and no way did he want to get up yet.
"Hey!" the voice sounded close, inches away from Nero's ear, kind of close. Nero batted at it, his hand colliding with something warm, oddly soft and… feathery? "I said rise and SHINE!" the last word was screaming, and Nero flew upright as electricity sparked through him. Something had shocked him!
He blinked a few times to clear the bleariness out of his eyes. There was a bird on his headboard, an oversized split beaked demonic fucking bird. What was worse was that Nero recognised him.
"Nero!" the shout was Dante, and he sounded angry. Nero stumbled out of the bed, still frowning at the bird that was now giggling at him. He watched the bird until he left the room.
"Dante?" he found his uncle with a towel around his waist on the upstairs hallway. "At least you smell better now. What's wrong?" A dripping Dante pointed to the top of the stairs.
At the top of the stairs, sitting perfectly still, was a solid black panther. If panthers were massive and caused the surrounding shadows to twist and writhe unnaturally. The big cat yawned at the two men before it, revealing pitch black teeth.
"Um…" Nero managed.
"It won't let me go past. I want to go to the kitchen and this thing won't let me." Dante glared at the cat. "It's my house, asshole."
Nero took a step forward, and the cat rumbled at him, but he took another step, this time to peer over the banister down into the living area. Vergil was asleep with a ten-foot rock golem curled around the sofa.
"Ok," Nero said. "I think we need to wake up my father."
End Chapter One
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