A/N: Here we go, this may end up being the last chapter of this fic but fear not, the next one will pick right back up where this one leaves off! Or I might go back and do Dante's side of this first, who knows, I'll decide later this week when it comes time to start up new fictions because I'll be finishing Wrinkle in Time this week too, and that one probably pick up in a new fiction as well. I'll shut up now.

Disclaimer: WARG

The Boy in Blue

Madeline wasn't expecting the haggard version of Anthony that came walking in the door later that Saturday. She was nursing a bit of a hangover herself, it'd been a while since she'd hit a bottle and her head was reminding her of that fact. But one look at Anthony and she poured a second cup of tea and placed it in front of him as he sat down at the kitchen table.

"What happened to you?" she asked quietly as he gratefully accepted the mug.

"Didn't sleep well? Bad hangover?" he asked and she paused mid-sip

"How'd you know? Wait, how do you even know what that is?" the eleven year old raised an eyebrow at her.

"I read a lot, plus you were drinking when I left yesterday, I can still smell the leftovers on you." He said simply and the older woman felt a slight shiver run down her spine, every time she thought that she had seen everything from this boy, something new surprised her. She swallowed her discomfort with a wash of tea and then sighed as the liquid warmed her throat and soothed her head

"Did you and Ernest just stay up too late?" she asked and then it was Anthony's turn to stiffen. He looked down at his mug of tea and said nothing for a very long moment.

"There was something out there… I could feel it."

"A demon?" she asked and Anthony shook his head, just barely enough for her to tell

"A devil." He said "A powerful one."

"Was it-?"

"No." he cut her off before she could even begin to finish her thought, she knew that she shouldn't press into matters that she had no right butting into but all the same, she needed to know if Anthony was going to go rushing off on some half assed mission for vengeance before he'd even truly recovered from the horror that had put him in the mood for it. "Something else, but strong… very strong. It went away but I don't know where to. I don't know…" he paused, taking a sip of his tea to calm himself, he closed his eyes and Madeline had come to know that he was communicating with the ancient sword that he always kept nearby, that had been quite the discovery to make, that he could talk with a sword and that the sword was sentient as well…

"I don't think I can take it on. But… but I don't know if I'll have a choice." Madeline was sure that her blood turned to ice in that moment.

-The Boy in Blue-

Vergil slammed upright again that night when the presence awoke once more. This time it was even more powerful if that was possible. Of course it was, he chided himself, remembering the monster that had taken his mother away from him and his father even had had a more powerful aura. Yamato appeared in his grip and he clenched his fist around the hilt, the fabric wrappings creaking as he did. He wasn't ready for this, though Yamato pulsed reassuringly within his mind, telling him that he had power further than he thought, he need only use it. Vergil swallowed and stood from bed, rushing down the stairs and ran nearly headlong into Madeline. She blinked and looked at him in surprise.

"Anthony, what are you doing awake? Did you have a nightmare?" she asked

"What are you doing awake?" he said in return, he didn't have time to try and reason with her.

"I couldn't sleep, I have a headache, now stop avoiding my question."

"Is it right here?" he gestured to the base of his skull. She nodded absently

"That's the devil, it's powerful enough for you to sense too, I have to go." She looked at him sadly.

"Please don't, I know I can't actually stop you if you're determined to go but… I don't want to see you get hurt." She said, Vergil sighed and gave her a quick hug

"I promise I'll come back." He said and turned out the door, he pulled on the devil that dwelled within himself and felt the power rush over him, changing his body and dulling the panging emotions of guilt and fear in his heart as he turned from a boy to a monster in a split second. His wings beat at the air, pulling him into the sky, it was a skill that had taken him a long time to achieve and he still wasn't perfect at it but all the same, it would get him closer to the monster.

It didn't take much flying to be able to see the beast, it towered over trees and the statues in the park as though they were no more than simple bushes. Vergil growled low in his chest and prepared to draw Yamato in a brutal strike… only to dodge out of the way of a gout of flames. He yelped and dropped to the ground, resuming his human form as the tip of his tail caught fire. He shivered at the ghost sensation upon a limb that he no longer possessed… the young half devil was prepared to fight long and hard, Yamato egging him on and he even got in a few good blows, though the monstrosity before him hardly seemed to notice. He was about the strike again when arms wrapped around his small chest, pulling him backward off his feet. He squirmed, kicking and fighting

"Anthony stop! Stop!" It was Madeline, he paused before struggling less violently.

"Let me go!" he shouted "I need to fight it!"

"Don't worry about it! You're just going to get yourself killed!"

"No I won't!" he snapped, and then Madeline did the last thing that he expected, she whirled him around and slapped him. His cheek stung and he blinked at her, too stunned for words, she was human and yet had the courage to stand up to him…

"You will." She said softer, though still audible above the roar of the flames. "It's just burning things right now, houses can be rebuilt. Your life cannot be replaced." Her words broke through the haze that he had been hiding behind, he couldn't avenge his mother if he was dead, this was true, Yamato settled within his mind, seeming more docile than it had a moment before.

-The Boy in Blue-

The next several hours were filled with adrenaline and fighting and the smell of Madeline's fear in his nose, and then, just as randomly as the devil had appeared, it vanished again, back into the nether that it had crawled from, the town left as smoldering ruins and the pair left standing in the middle of it, unsure of where to go now that there was nothing left. Slowly survivors started to appear, looking at the pair standing seemingly unhurt in the middle of the remains of the town. The last thing that Vergil expected to hear was

"Why did you set the town on fire? Why did you bring that monster here?" the first few cries were quiet but quickly others joined in. Madeline looked to the boy standing next to her who just looked back up at her with confusion. If anything he'd been trying to help them, trying to direct the monster away from the main parts of town, it hadn't done much good but he'd been trying… he'd just been trying to protect them, so had his surrogate mother, she pulled him closer to her hip. He didn't need her protection but didn't object in his confusion. Why did they blame her…? Why…? She hadn't done anything wrong…

"She didn't do anything…" he said quietly, Madeline put an arm around his shoulder and started to pull him away from the mob of people.

"Anthony, let's go." He resisted for a moment until he saw the mob's anger mounting, he could nearly taste it on the air, that was when he let her pull him along. The last thing he saw of the group of people was Ernest's face looking scared from around the edge of a ruined building.

-The Boy in Blue-

They had just reached the beach near the harbor with nothing more than the clothes upon their backs when another man stepped out of the trees. He had a dark look upon his face and the pair froze.

"You did this, you brought that devil out to destroy us…" he said

"I didn't do anything." Madeline protested

"Then why were you there? Why were the only one unhurt? It's your fault that she's dead!" he was shouting at the end and Vergil was already in action, starting forward to take this man down, a man was no match for the fury of a young half devil. At least that was what the Halfling thought until pain erupted in his chest, he cried out, heard Madeline shout the name she knew him by, heard another explosion, and then another… Slowly he started to recover, feeling the wound begin to stitch itself together, luckily the bullet had flown all the way through or he'd be digging it out later… he rolled over with a groan and then noticed the body laying just behind him and he felt like he had a year ago all over again… Madeline lay, blood spreading through the soft yellow shirt she wore.

"No…" he whispered, he couldn't lose a parent again, not like this, he turned, snarling in the direction of the man and saw only a corpse, the side of his head a mangled mess where he'd shot himself. Madeline coughed and he turned back to her, hoping beyond anything that she would somehow pull through.

"Please… Madeline…" the woman who had become his second mother, the doting aunt he'd never had, the woman who'd cared for him when he had no one lifted her hand and put it on his face, looking into his eyes lovingly.

"Anthony… you have to go, you have to get out of here…" he swallowed back tears, devils never cried… a few leaked down his cheeks without his consent.

"Vergil, my real name's Vergil." He said, she smiled weakly

"That's a nice name, suits you… Go… go and find…" she coughed, blood spattering on her lips "your brother…" Vergil choked as her breath left her one last time and her chest did not rise again.

He sat there for some time, choking on his own tears and the anger at humanity for taking his only family away from him, again. Finally he stood, angrily wiping his cheeks, placing one tender kiss on Madeline's forehead and walking toward the dock to find a way back to the mainland. Once again he was little more than a boy in a battered and bloodstained blue shirt…

A/N: Now I feel we're going to get into more of the meat of Vergil's character, his vendetta against humanity, his drive for revenge, his need for power, and not just power, power to protect if you recall his words from the third game. Anywho it's been a fantastic ride and check up on my page next week for the next installment of this monster of a project. It's likely to be on Vergil again but I may start in with Dante too.

Till next time,

-Winged Element