I have been procrastinating about this one for a while. As for the Latin stuff in the last chapter, it basically means to walk a mile in another's shoes. Thanks for everyone's reviews and adds... they really made my day (A hug for everyone)! Anyways... I hope you like what I have to offer. Enjoy!

Chapter 3: These words

Dante spent the night there, on the tiled floor. The women found the kindness in their hearts to leave him a pillow and a blanket and leave with his money. A mere two hundred dollars wasn't going to fully purchase their tastes, but it was a start.

The morning light rolled in through the lobby, saturating the area. It crept along the wooden floorboards and stopped just shy of the bathroom. Dante felt the brightness on his face and turned, facing the commode to rid himself of it. Hangovers were tough and he was resolute in sleeping it through. Even in his fight to stay aloft in his dreams, he didn't dare to turn over when heard the deliberate boot steps behind him. He inhaled lightly, in a vain attempt to keep the pounding migraine that was in his near future at bay. "Go away, Vergil," his voice was muffled by his pillow. He heard the rattle of a pill bottle. "Go away," he whined, "its too loud!" The bottle popped open and two aspirins were placed in one of Dante's open hands. A bottle of water was sat not too far away from his face.

The presence stayed in the room; in fact, it sat against the wall, just opposite of the toilet facing Dante. "What do you want," Dante's face was still buried in his pillow. "Take the pills, Dante," Vergil said, "it will make you feel better." Dante chucked them into the toilet, "I don't need your pity."

"Fine, suffer. Do you have my books?"

"Probably in the main room," Dante winced. By now the headache was in full effect. He could imagine it clearly; what was going in his head. It was like a beautiful woman was dancing the Merengue in stiletto heels, kicking up brain matter with each provocative step. He truly wanted to cry now. His brows knit together in pain and Vergil saw it. He learned over and tapped two more pills out and into his brother's hand. "Take it," He said a little more firmly.

"So you found them," Vergil questioned. It was easy to get Dante to answer his questions without getting cyclical answers and double talk when he was like this. It was mainly because he wanted to be left alone. Straight answers so that he could be left to wallow in the mistakes of yesterday. Dante popped the pills into his mouth and guzzled the water. The sudden movements sent his pain into a full frenzy. He could have sworn that the lone dancer had trilled her tongue before stomping her heels deep into the gray matter. Olé! He put his aching head against the cool floor. It felt so good. The room fell silent and Vergil got up to leave.

"I sense one last night," Dante whispered, "I think he was following me."

"A paladin," Vergil questioned, suddenly interested as he stopped in the door frame.

"Yes. I think I lured him away," Dante's voice still conscious of the volume. Vergil knew exactly how hard it was to shake them. When they were younger, Eva had to constantly pack their things yet another move. They never knew why, only that their mother had told them that it was important to keep running. Sometime before Temen-ni-gru, one had tailed Vergil for months and through three different countries. Fighting one was also filled with equal danger. Each of them always equipped some type of mystical item that could kill a full demon in a matter of moments.

Vergil never shared that with Dante, but he was sure that his twin had experiences with these paladins that he'd never talk about. Something did gnaw in the back of his mind... Was it demons that killed his mother or had the paladins gotten to her first? He shook it off and brought himself to the present, "He may still be in the area."

"I figured that much out," sarcasm bubbling in Dante's voice, "But you've got to warn Trish and Lady."

"Why Lady? She's not a demon and therefore, not in any immediate danger."

"No, but they will kill any human who consorts with demons or gets in their way." There was that gnawing in Vergil's head again causing him to grow silent. Dante stood up and grabbed his pillow and blankets.

"Where are you going," Vergil asked.

"Bed's more comfortable anyways," Dante answered. Just as he stepped into the lobby/den, Dante was blinded by the bright sunlight. He squeezed his eyes shut as he groped for stairs' handrails. He found them and his way up to his room where he planned to sleep away the rest of the hangover.

--

Some miles away, in the center of urban Capitalism... also known as a shopping mall, Trish and Lady browsed the racks of an upscale boutique. "Ooh! How about this one," Lady asked Trish as she picked up a Gothic-Lolita inspired dress.

Trish let out a small gasp and snatched it up to try it on. In a flash, she was in and out of the dressing room in a flash and then exclaimed, "I'll take it!"

"Wait a minute," Lady said looking at the price tag, "It cost almost two hundred-fifty dollars. That's more cash than we got." Both women could appreciate the craftsmanship of the dress. They loved the fact that the colors weren't extremely bubbly like the others. The details were ornate and particularly well-made, as if the seamstress feverishly sewed, looking for perfection. It may actually be authentic Lolita. So the high cost made some sense.

Trish produced a red leather wallet, seemingly out of nowhere and proceeded to pull out a credit card with the name 'Dante Sparda' printed across the bottom in raised lettering. "How did you—" Lady began to ask, but dropped the question, not wanting to really know how the blonde she-devil managed to steal Dante's wallet. Lady wanted the dress at first, but now as she began to think about him and how they left him this morning, her appetite for the clothes waned.

Why had she felt guilt in that moment? After, the idiot had gotten himself into that position. Right now it had only been a hangover, but had he been a normal human being, he would have died last night. "What is the matter," Trish asked Lady, pulling her out of earshot of the store clerk and other customers, "You've been like this since you got home last night."

"It's nothing," she lied.

"Don't give me that! What happened between you two? He must have said something to really piss you off."

Am I really that easy to read, Lady thought. She felt that she couldn't hide it anymore. "He told me that I was too stubborn for my own good."

"And? How is that news?" Lady shot Trish a glare for that remark. Trish only chuckled and said, "Okay continue."

"I get the feeling that Dante's hiding something from me, because he thinks that I can't handle myself."

"Aww, is that all hon," Trish began downplaying Lady's concerns, "We all feel like that we should keep an eye out for you because you are human, but Vergil and I feel that you are more than capable of taking care of yourself. Dante is only being overprotective, because he cares about you. But I only think that you are acting this way, because you like him."

"What? Yeah, I like him. It's like having a crazy older brother." Her mismatched eyes shifted back and forth.

"That's not what I meant and you know it!"

"Ha! Dante?! He's an arrogant, bull-headed, chauvinistic –"

"Sounds like he matches you perfectly," Trish smiled, "When he tries to help, you don't feel offended... it's only a cover. For some reason you feel ashamed that he watches your back, like he's supposed. I think he likes you too, but you both are too stubborn to admit it." Lady blushed.

"But–"

"No. No. Let me finish. Dante thinks highly of you and your skills, otherwise he'd never hang out with you. He simply doesn't want anything to happen to you. Besides, I think it's kind of sweet that he's willing to take a bullet ... or a sword for you."

"I don't think that any of you will ever get how useless that makes me feel. None of you have any idea what its like to be the only human here. I just wish that he could at least understand what its like to live without any powers."

"Lady, I'm sure that if he could he would have given up his legacy long ago. The question I have for you is that if Dante were to become a human, how would you fare as a demon?"

Lady honestly had no recourse to that question. She cast her odd-colored eyes to the floor. Trish put the dress back on its proper rack and brought an arm around her friend's shoulder, "C'mon. We'll head back to the shop. It will make you feel better" The latter chimed like a song. Trish's comment brought a scowl to Lady's face. She was pissed that the demoness somehow knew that checking on Dante would put her at ease. The pair left the little boutique to head back to Devil May Cry.

--

Some thirty minutes later, the women were in back in the shop and in Dante's room.

"So, when do you plan on cleaning up this heap," Trish began torturing the poor half-demon.

"Yeah" Lady added to his headache, "This room's a mess."

Their chattering was only met by a loud, muffled groan from Dante. Happy that they got some kind of response, Trish followed up with, "Sorry hon, I know that you probably still feel like crap." Another low groan from Dante. "But would you like anything?"

Dante pulled his pillow off of the back of his head and turn his neck to the side and answered, "¡Mas dormir, menos hablar!"

"Fine, fine," Lady exploded, "We're leaving. Jeez, you're such an ass! You hardly ever experience pain and when you do, you act like the world is ending! You need to walk a mile in my shoes and see how it really goes!" Lady pointed a thumb to her chest, reiterating her point.

"Oh, yeah?!" Dante retorted, despite his own volume worsening his migraines, "you ought to try out being a demon sometime... It's A LOT harder than you think!"

"I don't see how," Lady continued the shouting match, "I see you, Vergil and Trish use your powers all the time for personal gain, because you all are too lazy to do things for yourselves!"

"Hey," Trish pouted as she cut in for a second, "I resent that!"

"Stay out of it Trish," Lady sustained, "I CAN'T possibly see how hard it is to be a demon!"

Lady turned to storm out of the room, but bumped into Vergil who was carrying an arm load of books on the occult in the hallway. As soon as her hand came into contact with one of the books, she yelled at the red clad hunter, "I wish you were a human, Dante!"

"I wish you were a demon, Mary!" She growled in anger at the name, she had tried so hard to dissociate from. Dante stood from the bed and stepped to her, towering over the ebony haired huntress with his menacing height. As he ended his sentence and bright white aura surrounded Lady and red enveloped Dante. The two colors peeled away from their occupiers and swapped in mid-air. They slammed into the chests of their new bodies, now red for Lady and white for Dante. The two were sent flying into two separate walls, with thuds and denting the spots where they hit.

Lady slowly brought herself to her feet. "Are you okay," Vergil asked motioning to help her up. She knocked his hand aside and said, "I'm fine." She turned her attention Dante who still hadn't stirred from the awkward position where he landed.

"Dante?" Trish tried to rouse him, with no response. He was still breathing, she could tell that from the rise and fall of his chest. She shook him again. She assessed that he may have a concussion and from the way his right leg was oddly situated, that he may have broken it. "He's unconscious. Lady," she looked up at her friend with concern on her face, "what exactly did you do?"

Vergil: Daaayum, son! You got knocked the (bleep) out!

Eric: All because he said that he wanted more sleep and less talking! Anywho... Please review!