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.
Chapter Three
Nero sometimes wondered about his life.
When he had been growing up everything had seemed normal, but the day he'd gotten his 'arm' things had got weird. Things weren't always bad, more often than not, these days things were great. He had a great life, he had a family, friends, a job he loved, and they needed him. It satisfied him, his life. But that didn't mean that now and then he wasn't hit with just how frigging weird things were.
This morning he'd woken up to find physical personifications of his fathers Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder cavorting in the living room. Now he was sitting in a quiet side street watching a demonic bird try to eat a breakfast burrito.
Griffon was standing on one leg; the other leg was holding the offending burrito. The oversized bird wobbled precariously while it tried to remain upright, hold the burrito upright so its contents didn't fall to the ground (where Nero suspected Shadow would steal them), unwrap the foil from the burrito and eat at the same time.
"You want some help," he offered, unable to hide his smirk.
"I can feed myself," Griffon muttered.
"I could at least unwrap it for you," Nero said. Griffon hissed at him and Nero held up his hands, so much for trying to be nice.
He was still watching Griffon fail to eat the burrito when Dante and Vergil came out of the shop. Dante carrying a large bag of food for himself, Vergil only had a coffee, having already been in once to get everyone else breakfast.
"They gave me extra cheese," Dante grinned like the servers had given him gold and not just cheese.
"Great," Nero smiled at his uncle who was opening his bag of food. He envied Dante's ability to eat the way he did, Nero's metabolism wasn't quite on Dante levels. Though he wondered if it would be now, his demon had well and truly woken.
"No!" Dante glared at Shadow who had long since finished its breakfast and had now noticed Dante's sheer amount of food. The cat was sitting inches away from his feet giving him a look that conveyed how Shadow had eaten nothing before in its entire life, was utterly starving and would very much like it if Dante would share.
"Hey," Nero called noticing his father approaching Griffon who still hadn't managed his burrito. "He said he's…" Nero trailed off as Griffon silently let Vergil take the burrito, unwrap the thing and hold it up so the oversized bird could tear into it with ease.
"I said no!" Dante glared at Shadow, who was making pitiful subvocal sounds. "Vergil come get your kitty."
"Maybe if you didn't eat enough food to feed six armies Shadow wouldn't feel the need to help you," Vergil said and did not help his brother.
"Shut up," Dante muttered then glared back at Shadow. "You honestly think after the display this morning I'm going to share my breakfast with you, you've got another thing coming."
"You had a pizza for breakfast," Nero reminded him.
"That was pre-breakfast," Dante said, still glaring at Shadow. "I'm not falling for it." Shadow made another pitiful sound and Dante groaned, 'accidentally' dropping some of his cheese covered burrito. Nero snickered at his uncle, who, the moment the cat was distracted, started tearing through the rest of his food.
Finishing Dante's offering Shadow moved over the Vergil who was still feeding Griffon. Shadow yowled.
"You're not having his too," Vergil said, through his free hand came down to rub Shadows ears.
"Are all demons like this," Nero said. Vergil raised an eyebrow at him. "Capable of constantly eating?"
"Maintaining strength uses a lot of energy, so yes they eat a lot," Vergil said. "Though these two maintain their energy from my own, they need not eat." Both Shadow and Griffon made pitiful sounds. "They enjoy it."
"Ugh," Dante made a show of patting his stomach, Nero turned to glare at his uncle.
"Did you seriously just inhale three burritos in that time?"
"Kitty ate half of one," Dante said.
"You're gross, Dante," Nero said.
"If everyone is quite done," Vergil said wiping his hand on napkins he'd produced from somewhere. "I'd like to get back before lunch, I have deadlines."
"I'm good," Dante hoisted himself to his feet, tossed his empty food bag into a skip and burped loudly. Vergil shook his head and glanced at Nero.
"I've been good for a while," Nero said. Vergil nodded, turned to face away from his son and brother and pulled the Yamato free.
Nero never tired of watching Vergil cut through literal space, the sword flashed, moving fast enough that it was a glint of light in his eye and nothing more. The air around Vergil shimmered before opening along the gashes he'd cut. The opening widened and without preamble Vergil stepped through, followed by his familiars.
Dante bowed to Nero comically and gestured for him to go first. Nero punched his uncles' shoulder but took the invitation. Vergil leading and Dante at the rear the ground disappeared into the warp in space.
As much as Nero admired the ability to travel this way, he did not enjoy it, a few steps into the void and his stomach rolled, threatening to bring up his two cups of coffee and his breakfast burrito.
Fortunately, the journey was only a few steps and Nero soon emerged into a damp field.
The air was cool and wet; it was drizzling. The sky was overcast and the land verdant and lush.
"Where are we?" Nero said.
"England," Vergil said already several paces ahead. Looking around Nero could see open grassland, dotted with sheep, horses and cows. Shadow and Griffon immediately took off after the closest sheep.
"Farm?" he muttered.
"Not quite," Vergil said as Nero jogged to catch up with him. "Bodmin."
"Ok," Nero said, not knowing what the hell Bodmin was. "We are heading there?" he pointed to a small building, it looked like a cottage with a very tall chimney.
"No," Vergil smirked. "What I'm looking for has significantly more interesting properties than tin." Instead, he kept walking until he reached a tiny standing stone circle. The circle was wide but the stones small. Nero had seen pictures of this kind of thing and had often expected the stones to be close together and much bigger.
"I've seen better," Dante muttered coming up behind Nero.
"Not everything has to be grand, Dante," Vergil muttered. "This place is trying not to be noticed, it wouldn't be very good at that if it marked its entrance." Nero watched his father as he walked around the wide circle edge. He flinched when he heard Griffon shriek with laughter and lighting struck three of the sheep.
"Here," Vergil called. The two familiars stopped tormenting the local livestock and returned, though Shadow looked far to bloody for it's playing to have been entirely innocent. Vergil said nothing but triggered his inner devil and tapped the top of the closest stone which shimmered briefly. Nero watched as Vergil reverted to his human self, crouched and walked into the stone, vanishing.
"Wait for us!" Dante snapped, running after his brother and body sliding into and through the stone. Nero followed in a slightly more sedate manner than his uncle. Shivering as his skin broke out in Goosebumps as he went through the stone.
Immediately the grey drizzle of the Cornish moor was gone, they were in a tunnel. The walls were dry dirt and crumbled when Nero touched them; the air was still and stale, and the only light came from Griffon who sparked with lightning in his excitement.
"This place smells weird!" he crowed from Vergil's shoulder, the tunnel being too narrow for him to comfortably spread his wings and fly. From further down the tunnel Shadow roared, the sound echoed around them before dying away, only for Shadow to roar again. "Yes, we hear you, well done," Griffon called, his voice echoing, he chuckled before letting out a deafening bird screech, reminiscent of an eagle.
"Quiet," Vergil said, Nero heard his footsteps but couldn't see anything clearly beyond Griffon. He waited a moment for his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Stepping forward, he stumbled over Dante who was lying on the floor after his body slide.
"Watch it!" Dante grumbled getting up.
"You watch it," Nero shoved his uncle and dodged when Dante tried to return the attack. Dante went headfirst into the tunnel wall, sending a shower of dirt down around them.
"If you could wait until after retrieval to destroy the tomb, I'd appreciate it," Vergil called from further down the tunnel. Nero frowned, still unable to see very far. He pulled out his phone and turned on the light.
"Ow!" Griffon cawed burrowing his head under a wing, "Maybe warn me next time pipsqueak."
"This place is dead," Dante muttered. "Like really dead."
"It is a tomb, what did you expect?" Vergil said.
"Uhh, demons," Dante sounded genuinely disappointed. "If there's nothing here protecting your Maguffin then whys it so valuable."
"I didn't say it was unguarded," Vergil said. "I said the places primary defence was to remain hidden, grand entranceways and hoards of demons lining the entryways are hardly going to accomplish that."
"It's boring," Dante said.
"I didn't ask you to come along," Vergil said. "I intended to do this alone."
"Aww, you trying to leave your baby brother behind?" Dante smirked.
"When this is a retrieval that requires stealth and said brother's idea of subtlety is to body slide into unknown territory yes."
"Um…" Nero called. His father and uncle turned to face him. "If we're meant to be stealthy, then we're messing this up. What with the body sliding and the roars and screams?"
"When you both announced your intention to accompany me I gave up on stealth," Vergil said.
"What you gotta be sneaking for anyway," Griffon said pulling his head out from under his wing. "Your powerful, nothing here for you to fear."
"Fear or my preservation is not the only reason for stealth," Vergil said as they started walking again. "I had hoped to enter and leave undetected because the item I am retrieving is perishable, it is manufactured by a creature and I had hoped that if I left without notice, I could return and procure another item. As it is, we will have already been detected, we will be challenged, and we will kill the creature."
"Oh," Nero said.
"Bit fatalistic there," Dante said.
"It is no matter, the item and the creature are rare, it is not one of a kind however, there are others."
"Maybe we don't kill it?" Nero said. "Maybe we leave and try again later, quietly."
"This is the only one available at this time," Vergil said. "These items are perishable and it will not allow us to simply take it. Either violence or stealth has to be employed and Dante already ruined stealth."
"Your cat shouted first," Dante said.
"After you body slammed into the wall!" Griffon cawed. "Only I can blame the kitty."
"Where is the kitty?" Nero said he was answered by a soft yowl only a few feet ahead. The tunnel abruptly opened out into a cavern. The celling high and domed was covered in hanging pillars of rock that glowed, offering a sudden abundance of light that Nero simply hadn't noticed until he stepped into the cavern. Shadow was sitting upright in the centre of the space, looking for all the world like a great dark statue.
Nero went up to the cat and put a hand on its head, the sound the beast made in response made him smile. It was the same sound Kyrie's kitten made when you touched it unexpectedly, Kyrie called it her activation sound. Shadows version of the sound however was far louder.
"What you stop here for?" Nero asked when Shadow looked up at him. "You waiting for us?"
"She knows this is where we will fight," Vergil said moving Yamato into position.
There was an abrupt flurry of feathers and Vergil was left blinking, his hand empty. The sword was gone. Griffon was suddenly howling with glee as he flew off the Yamato clutched firmly in his talons. His laughter near hysterical.
"Wow, he thinks he's funny," Nero muttered. Vergil smiled with far too many teeth on show. Suddenly the space next to Nero was empty, Vergil was in the air in a flash of blue, right in front of the bird. But Griffon was quick, he banked hard right still laughing hysterically.
"No, it's mine now!"
Vergil hung in the air for a moment before vanishing again, cutting off Griffons escape. Griffon banked again and Vergil teleported again, and again and again. Until the bird collapsed in an exhausted heap.
"You're too fast," Griffon gave up his prize, releasing the sword unharmed from his talons.
"Ludicrously fast," Nero muttered.
"That's what your mom said," Dante snorted. Nero felt his eyes widen as he turned to glare at his giggling uncle. "I couldn't help it," Dante yelped as Nero swung his sword at him. Dante leapt backwards right into Vergil's chest; the Yamato glinted for a second before it was thrust into Dante's guts. Vergil leaned over his brother's shoulder.
"I assure you she had no complaints," he hissed. Nero felt his face go bright red.
Fortunately, his embarrassment was short-lived when the wall behind them exploded outward.
End Chapter Two
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