A/N: Hey guys, I know, it's been a little while, I've been on break for Christmas and the new year but good news! I got a new job! I'm starting a co-op doing processing engineering at Denso! :3 I'm pretty excited, and I start soon so yay! Anywho, I just wanted some time to relax and enjoy the holidays, and start playing D&D with some friends (which is hilariously fun), especially when you're a half orc barbarian and one of your companions is a twelve year old alcoholic tiefling warlock…

Disclaimer: The one who ones this is not I.

Avoiding Appointments

Vergil hid under the blankets the next day when Madeline came upstairs to get him. He didn't want to go to the doctors. He'd never been before, at least, not that he could remember, but he did know that his mom always lied about whether he and Dante had actually been.

"Come on Anthony, we need to go." She said, shaking his shoulder softly, Vergil grumbled and tried to ignore her, and for all his capacity to ignore people, it wasn't going well.

"No," he mumbled, curling tighter up into a ball "I don't want to." Madeline sighed and looked to the ceiling. She'd heard of kids being difficult about going to the doctor and Laurie had certainly been so but this was a little ridiculous. She shook him a little harder and the white haired kid made a low grumbling sound, still insistent on staying in bed.

"Anthony." She said flatly, pulling the blanket off from the top of him. He flinched, curling up tighter and glaring at her from beneath an arm. She sat next to his small frame and started rubbing his back, trying to get his blood moving.

"Why don't you want to go?" she asked, hoping that maybe if she knew the reason, perhaps she'd be able to convince him it was necessary to go. He looked at her again before sitting up and sighing.

"I just don't like going." He said flatly, Madeline smiled

"None of us do." She replied "Come on, we can go out shopping and buy you some new clothes when we get out, I'll let you pick." She was trying everything she could think of to get this kid to do what he needed to. Most of the time he would be fairly cooperative and quiet, so this was a side of the boy she'd never seen. He grumbled but finally stood, Madeline smiled.

"I'll wait for you downstairs."

-The Boy in Blue-

The appointment went far smoother than Vergil was expecting, they really only tested a few things and asked him a bunch of questions about his family. He could answer honestly about his mom but had no idea what to say about his dad, he mostly just made things up and answered as simply as he could, telling the man upfront that his dad had been gone for a long time. He still remembered that last moment he had seen his father, that look he'd given them before he flew off to protect them.

As they left Madeline asked gently

"Do you even remember your father?" Vergil nodded, choosing not to answer further than that. The car fell silent until they reached the mall, he followed Madeline inside and around as she oohed and aahhed over varying pieces of clothes, trying to coax a reaction out of him. He wanted to smile, it reminded him of times when he'd been focused on trying to practice his swordsmanship and Dante had been trying to get him to play with him.

At one point, after asking him to choose between two options again, Madeline started laughing.

"What?" the young half devil asked and his caretaker just kept laughing. He grumbled and she shook her head.

"It's just that every time I've asked you to pick between two options you keep picking the blue one." Vergil crossed his arms

"I like the color blue." He said rather defensively and Madeline just smiled at him.

"I understand, I like that color too." She said, ruffling his hair, Vergil huffed and went to fix it, pushing it out of his eyes as best he could. Madeline watched this and said

"Do you like to spike your hair?" Vergil blinked and looked at her

"I've never tried." He said, looking between his eyes at some of the white strands

"C'mon, I'll get you some hair gel and you can try it." Vergil looked up at her and said

"Why are you doing this for me?" she looked at him carefully

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I'm just going to be gone soon anyway, why are you doing this for me?" the young half devil felt Yamato echo the feelings in the back of his mind, he didn't need the kindness from these people. He needed to be strong, to be able to stand on his own. Madeline gave a small smile, it looked to him almost like she was pitying him, he scowled.

"Because. It's the right thing to do." She said, ruffling his hair once more and continuing to shop. He followed behind, feeling dissatisfied with that answer.

-The Boy in Blue-

Once back at the cottage Madeline helped him put the new clothes away and then took him into the bathroom and showed him how to spike his hair. Once she was done he looked in the mirror.

"Do you like it?" she asked and Vergil turned his head from side to side, inspecting the effect. It kept his hair out of his eyes and he appreciated being able to look in the mirror and not be reminded of his brother immediately.

"Yes."

A/N: Well that's just a little shy of length but I felt like that was too good of a place to leave off, poor Vergil, he still feels hurt and broken and is super wary of people because of it. I can't wait to do the next chapter, it's gonna be exciting :3

Till next time,

-Winged Element