Title: Devil May Cry 5

Author: Superior Firepower (AKA Haliaetus and POC)

Rating: M. The games are rated M, after all….

Disclaimer: Capcom owns DMC, not us. Though we can always wish, right?...

Pairings: What else but the twinsies? X3 VxDxV background LadyxOC, TrishxLucia

Warnings:…uhmm…..where to begin? Twincest, language, graphic violence, blood and gore, amazingly cool peoples, dark themes, demonness, alcohol abuse and usage, beasties, yaoi, probable lemons in the future, did we mention really cool peoples?

A/N: Dante is firmly in denial and it ain't a river in Egypt, either…

Mission 2: Friend or Foe?

So Are you friend or foe?
'Cause I used to know? - tatu

For a moment, the twins just looked at each other. Then Dante closed his eyes, shaking his head slightly as if to deny Vergil's presence. "Now I know I'm dreaming," the younger muttered. "No way in hell would Verge say that…"

Vergil's nose scrunched slightly. "Why wouldn't I?" The only answer he got was a dubious stare and raised eyebrow from Dante. "No, seriously, I'm asking. Why wouldn't I?"

Dante stared another moment before turning over, back facing his twin. "Ya know what…goodnight…I don't need to deal with some goddamn hallucination. You're not even a good hallucination."

Vergil blinked, then grinned slightly. "What, I'm a hallucination now? That's pleasant, thanks."

The younger twin started to twist around to retort, when he caught the smell of the brandy. Suddenly much more interested in his surroundings, he sat up abruptly. "Where's the drink?" he demanded, eyes roaming the sparse cave eagerly. "I'm thirsty."

Vergil frowned slightly. "Well, all I've got is some brandy. That okay?"

"Great, fine, whatever. I just want something to wet my throat. Give it to me." One hand was stretched out, trembling slightly, though whether it was from the lingering exhaustion from his wounds or from his eagerness for something to drink was uncertain.

Vergil nodded and turned slightly to grab the flask he'd put on the table earlier with his coat. Twisting the cap off, he helped his brother drink the fiery liquid, pulling the flask away before Dante had drunk even half of its contents.

"That'll do for now; you can have more later, when you're closer to being fully recovered. Your body doesn't seem too eager to let you back on your feet after the beating you've given it," Vergil said, ignoring the glare aimed his way from the bed.

Sighing, Dante gave up and leaned back on the rocky wall. "So…mind telling me why I woke up with you right there? I kinda thought you were dead, y'know." He'd added the last in a flippant tone, but his eyes were closed, not betraying the stab of old pain lancing through his chest region.

"Dead…why?" Vergil sounded confused. Dante opened one eye to peer at his older brother, nonplussed by the shear confusion in Vergil's voice.

"Why did I think you were dead? 'Cause Mundus frickin' brainwashed you and then you got left on the other side of the portal as Nelo Angelo, you bastard!" Dante exploded. "I used your half of the amulet to open the portal, then they split and I couldn't find yours in time, so I had to leave without it! I haven't seen you in 5 fucking years!"

"Brainwashed?" Vergil repeated slowly. "I knew he'd done something, but…Nelo Angelo? Who's Nelo Angelo?"

Dante stared at his twin in open amazement. "You…don't remember?" he asked, his voice quiet as he absorbed the implications. Vergil shook his head.

"Not everything," he admitted. "I remember our fight on Temen-ni-gru, Arkham and the girl, Lady. I remember facing off with Mundus in this realm, but then he did something to me to make me forget…everything. I found myself wandering the demon realm five years ago and have slowly regained many of my memories, but I still have no idea what happened between those times. I was…kind of hoping you would be able to fill me in…" he trailed off at the closed expression on his brother's face.

"I…don't know the whole story," Dante began slowly, "but five years ago, Mundus tried to take over the world again. I had to stop him. Nelo Angelo was…was one of the bigger fish I had to fry. I fought him three times before I was able to face off with Mundus…Are you sure you don't remember this?" he asked abruptly, narrowing his eyes at Vergil.

"Positive," Vergil replied dryly.

"If you say so…Anyway, the third time I fought him, he dropped an amulet…your amulet. Nelo Angelo was…well, he was you."

There was an awkward silence. Vergil reached blindly for the table behind him and leaned on it heavily, blinking as he digested this newest information. Suddenly, he groaned loudly, one hand coming up to clutch at his head.

"Ah…Verge?" Dante ventured, sounding hesitant. "You okay?"

"I'll…be fine," Vergil ground out, his eyes tightly shut. After a few moments he slowly opened them, straightening once more and taking deep breaths. "Sorry about that. I just…remembered something. Not much, but I remember the…time we fought, when I dropped the amulet."

"Ah," Dante responded, still looking a little worried. "Are you sure you're fine?"

"…yeah…" Vergil muttered after a moment. In the part of his mind not dealing with his brother, he went over the new memory, testing it out and matching it up to where in his broken past it belonged.

A last blow against his armor…lightning flickering, growing stronger…a sea of white and noise…something—his amulet?—snapping and falling—no! give it back! That's important!—then nothing but whiteness…

He'd woken up after that in the demon realm, his amulet next to his outstretched arm. Half caught up in the memory, Vergil raised a hand to where the pendant rested against his chest, pulling it out and looking at the clear red crystal. It spun slightly, catching the light from outside and refracting it. As it spun to one side, he could make out the etching on the back, the words as familiar to him as his own name. Of course, considering that it was his name etched into the red stone, along with his brother's, that wasn't saying much.

Dante gave him a dubious stare, but decided to drop the matter. He shifted his position so he could sit up a little more, using the wall as a support. "Well, 'kay… To make the story short, for the last five years it's pretty much been business as usual. Nothing much to highlight, really." He shrugged and Vergil dropped his amulet to pay attention. This was what he wanted to know, to fill in the blanks in his memory.

"I'm here in the Underworld because I came to help this clan on Vie du Marii, a little island where the pagans came as a refuge from Christianity. Arius, this CEO dude, was trying to turn himself into a demon. I dunno how he figured that would boost his company's income," he joked, trying to lighten the tense air. "Anyway, this Lucia chick and I had to put a stop to it. But Argosax was inside the demon realm, so I had to come here to fight him, and this Despair guy. After that, the portal had closed. And while that prevented any demons from getting out, it also kinda trapped me. So I've been wandering around. Cue you."

Dante was watching the flask that Vergil had set back on the table, and now that he was finished talking, he reached for it. Wordlessly, Vergil picked it up and handed it to his twin. Dante grinned his appreciation and downed the rest of the brandy.

Vergil finally spoke again. "So you've just been fighting for the last five years?" A slight crease had formed in his brow.

"Well, there were some parties, and I ate, drank, and slept. And other stuff. But other than that, yeah."

Vergil was silent a moment, then he looked sharply at his brother. "Do you have your amulet?"

"Yeah, of course," Dante replied. "Why do you want to know?"

"The amulets are the key," Vergil explained. "If they're together, they'll open a portal and we can get out of here."

Dante blinked, then blushed slightly, feeling incredibly foolish. "Riiiight…I knew that……"

Vergil muttered something that sounded like a sarcastic "sure," then started to pull his amulet off. Stopping abruptly, he looked at Dante through narrowed eyes. "Nope. Not yet. I don't think going through the portal is a good idea when you're in this bad of shape."

"…huh?"

"You're still healing," Vergil pointed out, tucking his amulet back under his shirt. "I wouldn't be worried if you were in top condition, but you're not. So we're not going yet."

Dante let himself sag back against the bed, "Shit…Fine. Whatever." He blew a strand of hair out of his eyes and stared at a spot on the wall, decidedly not looking at his twin.

Vergil shifted in his stance. "Well, why don't you tell me about the girl you mentioned. Lucia. Who is she?"

Startled at the question, Dante flicked his eyes over to his brother before returning them to the wall. "Lucia? Well, she's a…construct. A created demon. Not too bad, personality wise, if a bit icy and aloof. Kind of like you, I suppose. She was originally created by the Argosax dude, but was defective or something, so she became the island's protector. Don't ask me how or why. That's about all I know about her, though. Maybe you'll meet her when we go back."

"Hmm, maybe. Do you still keep in touch with the other girl, Lady?"

"Yeah. She's doing fine. Got herself her own hunting business, though she does like to dump all the shitty jobs off on me. But otherwise doing quite well for herself."

He nodded. As Dante had been talking, Vergil had noticed that his eyelids were starting to droop slightly. "Maybe you should go to sleep. Your wounds will probably have healed some more by the time you wake up. Then we can go."

Dante nodded a bit sleepily and yawned. "'Kay. You just make sure you're ready to go." That said, he rolled over onto his side and shoved his face deeper into the pillow.

Vergil smiled gently at his brother. It had been too long…

He moved off to pack the few possessions he had in the cave and finished only an hour later – he hadn't had much that he would actually bring. He sat down in the lone chair and simply looked around. This had been his base for the past five years of his life.

But it had never been home. He wasn't all that sad to leave. He thought about that, wondering if that was strange. His gaze wandered back to Dante's sleeping form. For some reason, it seemed completely right to be going back. He had fought so hard to get into his father's realm and he was giving it up like that?

Well, he had to admit to himself that the last few years had been boring. But it was the notion of the thing. He had expected his pride to be hurt. But…it wasn't. He decided to save the thoughts for later to mull over as Dante began to stir. Apparently he had been thinking for longer than he had thought.

As Dante woke up, Vergil ran his eyes clinically over his brother's body, measuring his readiness. Although some of the worst wounds were still unhealed, he looked much better than he had. Whether he was ready to go through the portal was yet to be seen, though.

Dante blinked blearily a moment before yawning, stretching and sitting up. "So…You ready to get the hell outta Dodge? "

"I suppose," Vergil sighed, knowing full well that there probably wouldn't be any stopping his twin anyway.

"Sweet. Let's go." Dante swung his legs over the side of the bed and stood, his features becoming taut as his unhealed wounds protested.

Vergil's brows drew together. "You sure-"

"Absolutely fucking positive!" the younger brother snapped irritably.

The two stared at each other, and the look in Dante's blue eyes dared Vergil to say anything.

Wordlessly, Vergil spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness and also stood, grabbing the duffle bag to take out to the motorcycle.

Dante allowed himself, now that he was alone, to rub at his head and let out a low groan. His wounds hurt and his head was aching. But there was no way he was letting Verge catch onto how much he was hurting. Verge…

It still hadn't quite sunk in that his brother was actually alive. He'd gone so many years with his mantra and trying to make himself forget. He was tempted to tell himself that he was dreaming, but the throbbing pain was all too real.

A bit unsteadily, he got himself into his coat and boots, and collected his little arsenal. Just as he slipped Ivory and Ebony into their holsters, Vergil ducked back in. "Need any help?"

"No." The answer was short, clipped, and gritted out through clenched teeth. Vergil simply smirked at him, well knowing how much pride his brother had. Well, to be honest...they both had.

Vergil stood back and let his brother attempt to walk normally outside. His watchful eyes could note the trace of a limp and that his brother was slightly hunched over, but, wisely, he let it go.

After Dante had gotten out the door, he looked around and gave the cave a last mental goodbye. It hadn't exactly been comfortable, but…it had been his…base. He was reluctant to say home. It hadn't been that. But he'd been over this internal monologue already.

He just nearly felt like he was in a dream. He'd never expected Dante to arrive here, of all places. And that he was going back with him seemed … like he was getting a piece of himself back.

He shook his head at himself, smiling wryly, and followed Dante's lead.

Dante had already settled himself comfortably enough onto the bike and was tapping his foot. "Took ya long enough. Didja have to kiss every wall friggin' good bye? Let's go already."

Vergil simply snorted and waved his hand, motioning for Dante to scoot farther back on the seat. "You're not driving."

"Like hell I'm not!"

"You might be well enough to go home—and that's debatable—but you are in no condition to be driving! Do NOT make me knock you unconscious. I need you to give me the damn directions once we get back to the human world."

Dante said some very unpleasant things under his breath, but eventually scooted back just far enough to allow Vergil to slide on in front of him. (1)

Revving up, Vergil drove the motorcycle a ways into the wasteland, away from any prying eyes. Finally coming to a stop, he held a hand behind him, wordlessly asking. There was a long hesitant pause before Dante held out his half of the amulet for his brother to take.

Holding the two halves together, Vergil squinted as a bright light began to emanate from the rejoined key, though he kept a tight hold on it; no way was he losing it again. He could feel Dante hunker down behind him, probably using his body as a shield against the light.

After an indeterminable length of time, the light faded, leaving the amulet inert in Vergil's hands. Opening his eyes, he regarded the gently swirling gate that had been created to join the Demon world and the Human world. Handing the amulet—once more separated—back to Dante, he started up the bike again and headed straight for it, hoping he wasn't wrong to allow Dante to do this now. If he was wrong and Dante hadn't healed enough to survive the trip across…

No. Not thinking about that. It would be alright and it was too late, anyway. The gate had been opened and if they didn't cross now, the denizens of the Demon world would be on them quickly and that was almost a fate worse than crossing, since Dante definitely wasn't up to a fight.

Then they were passing through the gate and the world dissolved around them.

An eternity or two seconds later, he opened his eyes on the shadowed buildings of the city that Dante had settled in. The streets around him were unfamiliar, but Dante should know where they were. Twisting a bit, he tried to look at his brother, taking caution to not dislodge him from where the younger twin was leaning heavily on his back.

"Dante? You with me?"

"Nnhr. No. I'm floating in happy-lala land. Of course I'm with you, dumbass."

"Okay, just checking. Do you know where we are? You know this city better than I do." Vergil felt Dante shift slightly, turning his head to look at the surrounding buildings.

"Yeah…This is Hasser. You're gonna want to take the second left up ahead. Third right after that and watch for the sign. You can't miss it. I'm gonna take a nap, so don't wreck the bike, yeah? It's a pretty decent one." Almost immediately, Vergil could hear soft snoring.

Gently pulling away, so as not to wake Dante, Vergil ran over the directions in his mind. Third right, second left and watch for the sign. What sign? Dante had said he couldn't miss it, but how was he supposed to know…

Oh. That's how. He'd made the left turn a bit wide and was now staring down the street at the far end. The neon sign flickered slightly as he watched before resuming a steady magenta glow.

Devil Never Cry. (2)

Well, didn't that keep things on a low profile? Still, Vergil thought wryly with a slight smile, it was just like Dante to do something like that.

Pulling up in front of the rather decrepit building, he stared up at it for a moment, hoping that it wasn't as bad inside. His thoughts were interrupted by the front door opening and a red-haired girl come out, staring at him in surprise.

"Dante?"

Vergil stared at her, wondering how she knew Dante. Then he realized she'd directed the question at him, a mistake that he could see others making due to their similar appearances. It probably didn't help that he hadn't fixed his hair, so it still looked like Dante's.

Before he could correct her, though, she was already moving towards him and talking. "Dante, what happened? You didn't come back and the portal closed, so I came here, just in case, but who's this? He looks just like you."

She finally paused to take a breath and Vergil took his chance to say something. "I'm not Dante. I'm his twin brother, Vergil. Dante is currently unconscious and I would appreciate some help in getting him to a bed. "

Kicking the stand down, he started to figure out how to get Dante off of him before he realized the girl hadn't moved. Glancing up at her, he growled, "Move it, woman! He's badly injured and I don't want him getting worse."

She finally moved and helped him get Dante inside and up some stairs to a bed, where he tucked him in as best as he could. Following the woman back downstairs after he'd determined that Dante was as comfortable as he was going to be able to make him, Vergil turned his attention to figuring out who this girl was and what her connection to Dante was.

"What's your name?" he asked abruptly. She looked at him in surprise, but answered.

"Lucia. You're Vergil, right?"

He nodded shortly, turning his eyes away to look around the main room of the shop. "Yes. How do you know Dante?" Dante had already told him a little about this demoness, but he wanted to hear it from her as well.

"He…rescued me a week ago, on an island," she said slowly, watching him as he walked around.

Trailing his fingers along the large desk that dominated the room, he thought about his next question. Turning to lean on the desk, he crossed his arms and looked Lucia over, assessing what he saw.

She was slim, but she was obviously fit and a couple of long knives hung from her belt, unsheathed. Her bright red hair was pulled back into a rope, baring dark eyes and contrasting her dark skin. Nothing like any demon he'd ever seen, but then Dante had said she was a construct, so some oddities were to be expected.

"Well, since you don't seem to have any more questions, mind if I ask some of my own?" she asked, crossing her arms as well. He shrugged and she took that as assent to keep talking.

"You say you're his brother. Are you the same as him?" She wasn't talking about his physical appearance, Vergil knew.

"Yes." Short and simple. Always the best policy when dealing with an unknown faction.

"I see. So you, too, are a son of Sparda."

Something occurred to Vergil and he frowned slightly before interrupting Lucia. "Are you familiar with this shop?" he asked suddenly, startling a confused expression from Lucia.

"Yes, a bit. I've been staying here for the past few days, so I've had time to learn my way around."

"Good. Are there any contact numbers on a sheet of paper? There's someone I want to call and I'm pretty sure Dante has her number."

Lucia shook her head. "I haven't seen a paper with phone numbers on it. You'll probably have to ask him when he wakes up."

Vergil nodded and resumed looking around the room. "I…haven't been here in…a while. I will need some assistance in learning my way around and another set of hands would be of use. Would you—"

"Of course," Lucia interrupted frostily. "You don't have to ask. I don't have anywhere else to go and I consider Dante a friend. Of course I'll help."

Vergil nodded. "Thank you," he said simply, glad she couldn't see his face. It had taken a lot to humble himself enough to ask for help.

Unable to think of anything else to fill the silence, he headed back towards the stairs intending to watch over Dante until his brother woke up.

(1) No! You hentais, not like that! At least, not yet……XD

(2) We're going with what happens after number 1, so the sign is currently Devil Never Cry, rather than Devil May Cry. This is subject to change under Lady and Vergil's influence, however.