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 light-hearted 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
Waking up, Vergil proved to be problematic. Shadow would not let them pass. Every step one of them took towards the top of the stairs resulted in a deep growl from the oversized demonic cat. The closer Dante got, the louder the growls became, and when the growls reached a decent volume, a strange gurgling, grinding sound joined in, which Nero quickly discovered was the huge golem thing by the sofa joining in the aggression.
"What'cha doing?" Nero jumped at the shrill voice right by his ear. The damn bird, Griffon, had emerged from his bedroom and was perched on the bannister next to Nero, who was trying to drop things down onto his father to wake him. Vergil had slept through having three pillows dropped on him and one of Dante's boots.
"Trying to wake your… owner, master, whatever Vergil is."
"Why?" Griffon fluffed his feathers. His tone sharp, as if upset that they would try to wake Vergil.
"So, he can call you three off. Dante wants to go to the kitchen." Nero aimed and dropping another boot. This one hit Vergil in the stomach. He did not wake, but he rolled over this time, more of a reaction than Nero's other attempts.
"There's pizza in that kitchen and after the month I've had, I deserve breakfast pizza." Dante did not take his eyes off the cat which was now standing and snarling. The great cat glanced at Griffon and yowled.
"The soft kitty says no, I'm afraid."
"Why!" Dante rounded on Griffon, grabbed the bird by its neck and lifted it. Griffon flapped his wings to free himself, but did not attack.
"Genius here has this funny idea," the bird choked out. "That you want to hurt him?" Dante let go of the bird. Griffon fell to the ground and wheezed for a moment. "Not sure where it got that idea from."
"I will not hurt Vergil. I just want some breakfast."
"You'll wake him up though." Griffon hopped back up to the bannister, none the worse for wear, despite Dante's roughness.
"Debatable," Nero said. "Apparently, he's a heavy sleeper."
"He's not. He's awake. He's just faking it to stop me getting my breakfast."
"Nope," Griffon said. "He's like the proverbial log." Dante took another step to the stairs and Shadow swiped at him, letting out a deep growl.
"I'm going to turn you into a rug." Dante's sword materialised in his hand. Shadow crouched close to the ground, it's form losing cohesiveness, ready to fight.
"Bloody stop it," Nero snapped. "Who cares if Vergil wakes up? Waking someone up isn't hurting them." The enormous cat yowled again, not taking its eyes off Dante, who was circling round to its flank.
"Kitty says it is when he's not slept since he left the underworld."
"Bullshit, Vergil's slept since then," Nero snapped.
"Not properly, not without nightmares." Griffon fluffed himself up. The cat yowled at him again, this one sounding angry. "Yeah, yeah I know I fucked up, leave me be." Again, the cat yowled, swiping at Dante but its eyes were on Griffon. "Screw you! It wasn't just my decision; I didn't hear you argue."
The big cat stepped forward, away from Dante and towards Griffon, who opened his wings, sparks of electricity flitting over his feathers. Dante made a delighted whoop and darted downstairs, leaping over the massive golem before it could react and disappearing into the kitchen.
"Well, at least that's one problem solved," Nero said, then yelped as Shadow leapt at Griffon. The two went over the bannister in a flurry of feathers and smoke. They landed on the golem, which roared and batted them away, shielding Vergil, who was still asleep.
Nero felt his frustration reach its peak, and he leapt over the bannister, spectral arms forming before he hit the ground. One hand grabbed the cat by the scruff of its neck, the other grabbed Griffon by the talons.
"Settle down! For someone who didn't want to wake my father, you've got a funny way of acting." He shook both familiars roughly when they still tried to kill each other. Both of them went limp. Nero glared at them before letting go. Shadow let out a quiet chuff at Griffon, its tail lashing in anger, before padding over to the sofa and jumping up, settling down on top of Vergil who had rolled onto his back again. Nero frowned. That could not be comfortable, that cat was no lightweight, but Vergil just kept sleeping.
"It's like a zoo," Dante said happily from the doorway, pizza box in one hand, half-devoured slice in the other.
"Ok." Nero took a deep breath and started towards the kitchen. "I'm getting coffee. When I come back, you are going to explain this." He pointed at Griffon.
Inside, the kitchen was quiet. Nero kept one ear trained on the living room where he could hear Griffon muttering to Dante, apparently trying to scrounge a pizza slice. Nero tried to focus on his breathing while the kettle boiled. He'd gone to bed last night with Dante passed out in his bed, Vergil on the sofa and nothing else. He'd woken up this morning to one of V's old familiars in his bedroom, another on the stairs and another around the sofa.
V was part of Vergil, so obviously that made the familiar Vergil's, so he guessed it wasn't weird for them to turn up. But he could have sworn Dante had said something about killing them at some point. They'd stayed independent after V and Urizen reformed and they had tried to fight Dante, to stop him from getting to Vergil. They hadn't survived the fight.
So why were they here now?
Finishing making his coffee, Nero padded back out to the living room.
"Aww, come on." Griffon was standing on the floor at Dante's feet. Like a pigeon watching someone eat a sandwich. "You got loads up there."
"No," Dante said. "Now move before I kick you." Griffon walked away in the awkward manner of birds everywhere, and Nero had to hide a smile at the sullen creature.
"You'll want to explain this." Nero gestured to the sofa where his father slept, half buried under a demon cat while a golem glowered at them all.
"Well, uh," Griffon started, still staring at Dante's pizza. Nero snapped his fingers.
"Oi Chicken, up here. Come on, before I deep fry you in butter."
"Look kid, I aint exactly sure. Last thing I remember was Dante here, putting us all down." Shadow growled loudly from the sofa. "I said I was sorry! Next thing I know I'm in this dump, Vergil's out like a light and you're snoring loud enough to wake the entire town."
"I don't snore."
"Sure." Griffon snickered. Nero rolled his eyes.
"So, you don't know why you're here?" There was a low rumble from Shadow.
"Big bad kitty says we're here to keep him safe," Griffon turned to look at Shadow. "You realise he isn't V anymore, right? He's strong enough to rule the demon world if he wanted to. How are we going to keep him safe?" The cat growled and Griffon looked thoughtful.
"What?" Nero said.
"Kitty isn't making sense." Griffon glared at Shadow.
"What's new?" Dante said, still leaning against the door and savouring his pizza.
"What did it say?" Nero pressed.
"That we keep him safe by staying out here," Griffon said. Shadow growled louder this time and Griffon sparked, red lightning flickering over his feathers. "I swear if you keep blaming me, I'm going to fry you."
"No fighting," Nero could feel his own trigger flickering across his shoulders in warning.
"Then tell her to stop blaming me!" Griffon shrieked. Nero raised his eyebrows. "The mangy moggy think's it's my fault Vergil's having nightmares."
"Ok, that makes even less sense than contagious nightmares did," Nero pulled out a bar stool.
"Ahh," Dante said. "Maybe not." Nero turned to glare at his uncle.
"They're Vergil's nightmares," Dante said around a mouthful of pizza. "The literal personification of…" Dante trailed off. Nero raised an eyebrow at the older hunter. "Oh, I think I get what's happened." Dante grinned widely. "Suddenly I'm a lot less pissed at having my house invaded."
"You got it partly right there, champ," Griffon said. "We were created from Vergil's abominable thoughts while he was Nelo Angelo."
"That sounds made up," Nero said. Griffon sighed loudly.
"Look kid, when your dear pops here decided to shish kabab himself, he cast out everything he hated about himself, everything. His humanity, gone, turned into a scrawny kid." Shadow growled. "Shut up," Griffon muttered, then coughed when Shadow continued to growl. "Yeah, I liked him too." He turned back to face Nero. "He also cast out his memories from when he was Nelo Angelo." Griffon opened his wings wide. "Resulting in yours truly, the fleabag and the mindless muck puddle."
"You're made from his nightmares." Nero started to feel like he was understanding.
"When we died, we re-joined with Vergil." Griffon slumped a bit, his wings coming low. "I ... um, I didn't think that would happen."
"Sharp as a marble," Dante said, but his tone was affectionate not cruel.
"Yeah, well." Griffon's head hung low with his wings. "I figured we'd just stop existing, poof, gone up in smoke."
"You sound disappointed," Nero said. Griffon shrugged.
"But you went back into Vergil, you gave him his nightmares back." Dante steped close to Griffon.
"Not on purpose! We weren't trying to go back. I thought it would end us, end the nightmares!" Griffon's body tensed, his eyes closed, and his head turned away as if he expected Dante to hurt him. But the devil hunter went down into a squat in front of the bird and put a hand on the demon's head.
"Marble." Dante gave the bird a brief rub of the feathers and stood back up. "So did Vergil stab himself again? Am I going to find a scrawny goth in the cupboard?"
"No and no," Griffon said. "V and Urizen are too entwined now to separate."
"You know that how?" Nero said. But before the bird could answer, Shadow yowled, lunging forward and rubbing his head into Vergil's face.
"Sleeping beauty is finally awake, I see." Dante grinned at his brother, who was trying to sit up under a flurry of enthusiastic head bumps.
"Dante? What?"
"We've been trying to figure that out." Dante reached forward and, taking Shadow by the scruff, pulled the big cat back. A massive dark hand descended onto the Devil hunter's shoulder as the golem moved.
"Easy big guy, I'm just giving him some space." Dante grinned at the monster. The creature seemed to pause for a moment before shimmering and losing form. Nero pulled a face as the demon melted and the resulting slurry pulled back from the sofa and into the shadows.
"He's always been more instinct than actual thought," Griffon said. "He likes dark corners, though." Griffon walked forward, flapping his wings once to get himself up off the floor and onto the sofa next to Vergil. Vergil looked around the room, at his family, at the cat struggling to get out of Dante's clutches and the bird sitting next to him watching him expectantly.
"This is unexpected," Vergil said eventually. Nero nearly put his head in his hands, but controlled the impulse. Griffon tilted his head before flying upward and disappearing into the upstairs hallway.
"Vergil, your cat's mental." Dante eventually let go of Shadow, who trotted over to Vergil and sat in front of him.
"Hello." Vergil stared at the large panther in front of him, mouth open in a cat grin.
A book fell from the ceiling where Griffon was now circling. It bounced off Vergil's head and into his lap. Vergil glared at the bird who landed on the banister.
"V used to read when he was confused, said it helped guide him." The bird looked proud of himself. Nero glanced at the book on his father's lap. It was one of Dante's and seemed to be about how to fix motorbikes.
"I'm going to make more coffee," he said, his having already gone cold untouched. "Dante, give me a hand."
"You got two hands," Dante muttered. Nero glared hard enough that his uncle sighed and followed him into the kitchen. "What?"
"Huh?" Nero frowned, refilling the kettle.
"Figured you wanted to talk to me." Dante leaned forward and smirked, "privately."
"What? No, I'm trying to give him some space to…" Nero struggled. "I don't know. Come to terms with those three."
"Ahh, suppose it must be kinda weird."
"Yeah, I mean it's weird enough for us, and they aren't our nightmares." The kettle boiled. Dante handed Nero the terrible instant coffee he favoured. "Do you think he did it on purpose?"
"How do you mean?" Dante frowned.
"Well, last night after I dropped your drunk ass in bed, I spoke to him. We ended up talking about V."
"I think I remember hearing that."
"I was trying to convince him that power would not fix his issues, that V wasn't exactly powerful, and he didn't have-"
"Yeah, but V was around when the nightmare demons were," Dante interrupted, pushing his nephew towards a conclusion.
"So V never had nightmares because those three were out and about." Nero put cream into the three coffees and six sugars into Dante's cup. Five went into Vergil's. Nero did not want diabetes, so he went without sugar. "He did it on purpose."
"Maybe. Maybe you just jogged his thick scull into remembering how he coped before. Either way, good job, kid."
"This doesn't fix things."
"Sure, it does." Dante picked up the tray with the cups. "I keep saying you should be a therapist." He headed back into the living room. Nero waited a moment, counting slowly to ten, before following, walking into Dante's back as his uncle had stopped right in the doorway.
"What are you doing?" Dante was snickering. Nero peered over Dante's shoulder, seeing his father vigorously scratching at Shadow's neck, ears, and chin. The oversized panther had its eyes closed in pleasure and was purring like a bike engine.
"I like cats," Vergil muttered as an explanation.
Nero watched as Shadow basked in the affection given to it. Griffon fluttered down from the bannister and landed on the sofa next to Vergil. Nero bit back a snicker as the bird shuffle walked closer and closer until he was pressed up against Vergil's side. Vergil glanced at the demon.
"You like awesome birds to, right?"
A small smile crossed Vergil's features and one of his hands rubbing at Shadow, moved to Griffon and scratched at his head feathers.
"Aww yeah, little lower, ahh, that's the spot."
"See now, how are you going to drink your coffee?" Dante said.
"I won't have time for coffee," Vergil said, still focused on the two demons next to him. Dante frowned.
"There's always time for coffee." Nero pushed past Dante and sitting down on the sofa on the other side of Griffon, who was still crooning loudly.
"No, I have a job I need to do," Vergil said. As if that was enough explanation. Nero reached over the bird and nudged his father's shoulder. "You recall the client I mentioned last night? He is in the market for a particular artifact. I plan to get it."
"Special job, huh?" Dante said, drinking his own scalding coffee in one swallow. "Lucrative?"
"I wouldn't be making the trip otherwise," Vergil said.
"We're going on a treasure hunt!" Griffon crowed. Vergil sighed and stopped his scratching. Shadow let out a sound of pure devastation.
"Keep your fur on," Griffon said. "We're going hunting!" Shadow stood up and walked to the door.
"Guess they're coming to," Dante smirked.
"I wasn't intending any company," Virgil said firmly, glaring at his brother as Dante drank Vergil's coffee.
"What, you said you didn't want it," Dante grinned. Vergil sighed and stood up; he spent a moment fussing with his clothes, which were rumpled from sleep. "Wait, I gotta do something real quick." Dante said before he walked over to his brother and punched him square in the jaw.
"Hey!" Nero snapped, almost dropping his cup.
"That's for disappearing," Dante said, and punched Vergil again. "That's for not answering your phone." He grabbed Vergil's shoulder and pulled him to his chest in an awkward one-armed hug. "That is for coming back, asshole." Vergil said nothing, just blinked. Shadow let out a snarl that cut off abruptly after the second punch.
"Fucking hell, Dante," Nero snapped. "Big boy words next time!" Dante pulled back from the impromptu hug and grinned at his brother.
"Now wait," Dante snapped, "I gotta get dressed first!"
"Who said you were coming?" Vergil hissed.
"I did. You owe me," Dante snarled. "A good stretch will go along way to making me feel better."
"Letting you punch me in the face wasn't enough?" Vergil snapped, but Dante had already disappeared up the stairs to get dressed. "I'm not giving him a cut."
"Hey," Griffon flapped up and landed on Vergil's shoulder. It was awkward. The bird was enormous. Vergil extended his arm to make the position easier. "You think we can get breakfast on the way?" Shadow yowled in agreement.
End Chapter Two
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