The site finally decided to start working for me again. Oh boy.

We'd given the demons time to rest too. The area surrounding the gate had turned into a fraction of the jungle that had taken over before. Vines swarmed the place and writhed like snakes through the trees.

"Nice of them to prep the place for us," I said as I spun Cerberus in my hand, listening to the chains rattle. The dog, or dogs maybe, growled under my fingertips. I could feel him tugging at the chains like a leash. He hadn't gotten out in a while.

At my side, Vergil stood in moody silence again and eyed the edge of the infected forest.

"Do you have some big plan I should know about before I go in there and just wreck the place?" I asked.

He shrugged. "No, just 'wrecking the place' is fine as long as you don't get yourself captured again."

"You got caught too, you know."

I expected him to snap at me, the usual routine we'd fallen into, but calm eyes turned my way. "What happens after this, Dante? You know we can't keep acting like all of this is fine."

He asked too many damn questions. He should have been the one asking me to drop the subject. Heaving a sigh, I dug the heel of my hand into my eye to keep from having to look at him. I'd settled into thinking of him as Vergil so easily, but that was Nero's face, the face of the kid I'd failed.

"I don't know. I guess I'll figure it out when we get to that point. For now, let's just… hang on a little longer." Even if only for a few more minutes, I wanted to keep pretending.

"If that's what you wish." He gestured forward with a lazy wave of his hand. "You first, then."

"Aw, you're going to watch my back?"

He breathed a small huff through his nose. That sounded like a yes to me.

The moment I reached the tree line, the vines awoke into a frantic, viscous mass, unwinding into spiked nooses and whips. "You're going to need some different tricks," I said, my breath leaving me in a fine mist as Cerberus added to the chill in the air. Spikes of ice cracked up from the ground and gouged the trees in half. The vines recoiled from the cold like it could have been fire.

"Don't get too full of yourself," Vergil snarled as a rain of Summoned Swords fell around us, pinning vines that had tried to sprout from the ground around the ice.

"Me? Full of myself?" I placed a hand to my chest with a gasp. "I would never!"

"Yes, yes, you're hilarious."

"I'm glad you've finally noticed. I've been working very hard, but you're a tough audience."

Despite his dead-eyed stare, Vergil cracked a smirk for an instant before shouldering past me to walk around the small icebergs that blocked our path. "Make them less in the way next time," he said.

"Hey, I'm supposed to be in front! You have to watch my back remember?" I chased after the flowing white tail of his coat, one of the few parts of his coat not stained with mud or blood.

The demon or demons or whatever it was didn't change tactics much - stab, strangle, or tear to pieces. "Not very exciting," I admitted, twirling Cerberus after another round of turning the vines into broken chunks of ice.

"If they're part of a single host, they'll be more difficult once we get close again," Vergil said. "Don't let your guard down."

"But isn't that what I have you here for? You keep saving my ass. Admit it, Verge, you do care."

The silence of the forest felt far too heavy when he didn't answer. His eyes flicked to their corners, and my practiced smile faltered. "It would be troublesome if you died here," he said far too late.

Life was somehow simpler when he was trying to kill me. As he stepped past me this time, I struggled to find the strength to move after him. The only thought that restarted my legs was that I needed to watch his back for when the demons attacked again.

The trees and vines became so dense as we neared the gate that the canopy shadowed the ground like nightfall. Vergil broke the silence with a hum. "It seems we've set it off," he said.

Following his gaze, I noticed the rocks starting to tremble as the earth shook. The vibrations spread up to my knees and numbed my feet. "Should we move?" I asked.

"Most certainly."

As the ground tried to rattle my feet out from under me, I leaped back, Vergil teleporting off in the other direction. I lost sight of him as the earth shattered open and a snake-like creature shot out from beneath it. The thorned vines covered it, or maybe it was made out of them. Two burning red eyes appeared from under the shadow of the writhing vines, borning into me just before it turned and dove my way.

"Nice to finally meet face-to-face," I called, tossing up a wall of ice that it smashed through like it was cardboard. "Well, shit."

The thing was taller and rounder than any of the trees and packed one hell of a punch as its snout slammed into my chest. As I hit the ground under its weight, my hands became dark and clawed, the air crackling around me. I shoved against whatever I could grab of its face to keep it from snapping me in half. The vines coiled around my arms and bit down deep, but my arms healed much faster than my spine, so it wasn't a concern.

As the demon thrashed against my grip, its tail crashed through the trees and sent them toppling over. The sky opened up overhead, gray winter sunlight refracting through the Summoned Swords that twirled in and lanced through the bastard. Its scream was like metal tearing as it rolled away from me. "Oh, come on," I growled as the vines around my arms remained, trying to drag me along with it.

A sudden chill sent me shivering. Ice spread out along the ground, frost latching onto my coat and the vines pulling at me. Vergil's boot came down in front of my face and crushed the frozen vines into shards. He held Cerberus in a light, lazy grip before letting the weapon fall back down in front of me. "You dropped this," he said. "Idiot."

"I was a little distracted. Thanks for saving my ass again, not that I couldn't have worked things out myself."

He gave an unimpressed "hmph" as I scooped up Cerberus and hopped to my feet. The snake had its attention on us again. I couldn't tell whether it was hissing or if all the vines moving across its skin were making the sound. Either way, it seemed pissed.

"You know, I fought a snake-type thing around here before," I said just before we both jumped away from the thing barreling toward us. I sent another dozen ice shards toward it as Vergil darted in close to drag Yamato down its side.

"Really?" he said, narrowly avoiding the tail smacking him halfway through the forest. He didn't avoid the vines that shot toward him and tore deep gashes along his right side. Whether from annoyance or pain, he spoke through gritted teeth. "How did you defeat that one?"

Yamato made quick work of the vines in front of him, and I rushed to his back to stop the snake that was turning on him. "Just stabbed it a bunch," I said as I whipped up a blizzard for the snake.

"Of course you did." It must have been the icy winds, but I could have sworn I'd heard him laugh.

The snake's movements became stiff and disjointed as the cold settled in. Cerberus must have wanted to show off because snow swirled down around us. Stepping up to my side, Vergil leveled Yamato toward the demon. "Let's finish it before it starts to freeze solid."

"Or before I freeze solid," I said as I pulled Rebellion from my back.

We both shot toward it without another word. Vergil took the left side. I took the right, slicing the demon in half from its snout until it stopped moving. As we pulled our swords free, its body shriveled to gray stone that crackled into ash under my boot. Above us, the vines laced through the trees followed suit. The ash and snow looked almost identical as they fell.

"Let's hope there was only one of these bastards," I said.

"There won't be if we don't destroy that gate." After examining the wounds healing along his right side, Vergil's eyes flicked over my arms. "We didn't get as much of the poison this time, so I don't believe it will be an issue."

I broke into a grin. "I'm fine if that's what you're asking."

"I didn't ask anything."

"Sure you didn't." Dropping my hand to the top of his head, I ruffled his hair until I realized what I was doing and froze. My smile faltered. I'd done the same thing to Nero a few days ago. Vergil didn't seem to notice, too busy ducking away and grumbling.

"Let's go," he insisted, and I followed because I didn't know what else to do.

The gate fell to pieces with ease under Vergil's barrage of slashes. "Didn't even get a new Devil's Arm out of this deal," I muttered as bits of rock dropped around me. "Well, at least it should hopefully stay destroyed this time."

"We have no proof of that," Vergil said even as he sighed in resignation. "This island will always be trouble. But, yes, hopefully this is the end of the gate."

"We always did make a pretty good team." I wanted to smile, wanted it to be another joke, but I couldn't manage it. Vergil smiled in my place.

"We did, but we made even better enemies, I suppose."

This must have been my last chance, my last chance to do something. He would run or he would fight me, and that would be the end of it. Even then, though, I still didn't know what to do.

As my eyes flicked back and forth in search of a solution, Vergil kept smiling his odd, tired smile. "If you could only have one of us," he said, "who would you pick?"

I didn't know.

I couldn't decide.

My heart beat with such a fury that it felt like it might wrench in two. My eyes burned with tears that I refused to let fall. Not long ago, I would have said Nero without hesitation, but now… He couldn't ask something like that.

"It's obvious who your conscience would pick," Vergil said. His eyes never left me, even though I struggled to hold his gaze. "I'm the villain here. You know it's true. I don't belong. I'm supposed to be dead, and I've done nothing but hurt the boy. Besides, you did promise him… and you care about him."

Vergil wasn't supposed to admit any of that, even if it were true. Vergil was Vergil - haughty, full of himself, and never honest. My brother had always thought of himself in the right, even when he knew better.

"I care about you too, you know," I said. My shoulders had dropped. I felt far too heavy, far too weak.

"It's nice to hear that. But I've kept all my promises now, Dante, and you should keep yours."

Then that was it. We were going to fight again. I was so tired of fighting Vergil, and the worst part was knowing, for once, that I could win with absolute certainty. I was stronger than I used to be. He was weaker, but Nero's body would still take a great deal of damage before it fell. I would have to feel every strike down into my hands. I would have to tear the poor kid apart.

Saving the kid by killing him, what a sick joke.

Emptiness took hold of me as I reached for my sword again. "Alright. If we have to."

Vergil's eyes took on an odd shine. "Wait a moment. He's fallen farther than I thought. I suppose I'll have to-" His voice cut off, and his eyelids fluttered; then he just dropped.

My shock kept my feet planted until he hit the ground, at which point I started spitting curses and rushed to his side. I dropped to my knees, my hands hovering over him in case this was some sort of weird trick he was using to stab me. Vergil was way too proud to pull something like that, though. Maybe the poison had gotten to him somehow.

"Vergil," I called, feeling awkward as I smacked his cheek. "What happened? Did you die?"

No, his pulse beat firm under my fingers. The wounds he'd gotten from the vines were a soft red but had sealed completely.

"Okay," I huffed. "Great."

With no other ideas, I decided to just follow what I'd done the last time and dragged the limp mess of limbs onto my back to carry. Tying Yamato to one hip and Rebellion to the other was awkward, but everything about the situation was. I didn't have anywhere to go but the city. Trish, Lady, and Kyrie were bound to be a problem, and Vergil would gut me as soon as he woke up to find himself back in town, but I couldn't just leave him there with all the demon stragglers hanging around.

And I was damn hungry.

"I guess if you were going to pick a time to weirdly pass out, that was a good choice," I rambled to myself as I trudged back through the snow and leaves, Vergil's head resting on my shoulder. I could hear his soft breathing, so I knew he wasn't dead yet. "If you'd conked out while we were fighting the snake, that would have been a real problem, and this way, I get to avoid thinking about how utterly hopeless I am for a few more minutes. I appreciate it. I don't know what I'll do if I have to kill you and the kid. I guess I'd get Yamato, which really sucks. I don't want it. It's going to bitch at me all the time. Honestly, it might be better to just let you kill me instead, but a coup de grace really isn't my style. It's not my style to hand one out either, so really, this is unfair on all sides-"

"By the Savior's grace, would you shut up?"

My steps halted as Vergil raised his head with a tired groan. He glanced around, eyes thin with annoyance and his lips drawn to a pout I couldn't imagine Vergil wearing since we were kids.

"Are you alright?" I asked. "It was weird of you to just go down like that. Freaked me out a little."

He blinked as though trying to readjust his sight. "Still pretty cold," he grumbled. "But at least the sun's out."

"It's because I'm here," I said, a smile flashing onto my face.

He positively seethed, his expression thinned with rage. "I hate you so much. Why am I being carried again? Put me down!"

That didn't sound like Vergil. Well, hating me sounded like Vergil, but he would have said something like, "I hope you die slowly" or "Dante, oxygen is wasted on you." The tone of voice was off too. Vergil's voice was thin and crisp, but this voice rasped and rolled.

It sounded like Nero.

He struggled to free himself from my grip until I let him go, spinning so that I could look at him. I had to grab his shoulders to stop him from falling back. "Kid?" Shock and hope made my eyes wide as I searched him.

"Yeah, it's me," he said, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Good to see you again."

He wheezed as I crushed him with a hug, my arms trembling. The thrill of joy clashed with fear rolling in my gut until I felt sick. I had Nero back, but now Vergil was gone again. I couldn't stop myself from wondering what had happened to him and if he was alright.

I wanted for him to be alright.

Nero patted my back harder than necessary. "Take it easy or you'll snap my spine. Come on, I need to go see Kyrie."

"Right." I pulled back, forcing a smile that made him furrow his brow. "And we can get some food too because I am starved."

As soon as Nero tried to take a step, his legs almost fell out from under him. I hooked my arm with his to keep him upright as he found his feet again, testing one step, then another. "How are you feeling, kid?" I asked.

"Uh, a bit out of practice, I guess. I'll figure it out. Give me a second."

He leaned on me at first, his steps slow until he remembered how to walk. "Don't tell anyone about this," he grumbled once he managed to let go of me.

"Your secret's safe with me."

He took Yamato back before we arrived in town, absorbing it into his arm again while muttering about how he was going to get Red Queen and Blue Rose back. I waited for him to tell me if he was really alright or to ask what had happened, but he must have been waiting for the same from me. In the end, neither of us said much of anything.

When we walked through the front door of his house, I found three guns trained on us. "Hello to you too," I said, my hands raised. Nero didn't bother with the same caution, and Lady and Trish eyed him with distrust. Kyrie sat on the couch between them, her eyes wide and glossy with tears. She must have done a lot of crying.

"Could you not point guns in my house?" Nero said.

Kyrie's whole form shifted in an instant as though she'd been zapped with energy. "Nero! It's you!" She surged forward before the other women could react and fell into Nero's grasp. He held her in one arm, the Bringer remaining at his side.

"Hey, don't cry," he said with a laugh. "You're supposed to be happy to see me."

"I'm happy, but I'm so mad! I was so worried about you!" she sobbed into his shoulder. "Is he going to come back, or is it just you now?"

"It's me right now. Don't worry, Kyrie."

I shook off the urge to cry.

As he reassured her, Lady stalked up to me and caught me by my ear, dragging me away from the kids. "What happened?" she hissed. Trish leaned in with an equal glare.

My mouth hung open as I searched for an answer. "I… don't know," I admitted at length. "Vergil was there one moment, and then he was just gone. It was like he just gave up."

"Vergil doesn't just give up," Lady said, one brow raised.

That wasn't exactly true. He would never admit defeat, but I had seen him give up before. I'd watched him fall.

"I don't know," I murmured. "I just don't know. But the kid is back. That's good."

My expression didn't match my words. I could feel the unease in my features, and Trish and Lady saw it too. They exchanged a glance around me that must have conveyed something along the lines of "Dante has lost it."

That was what I felt like anyway.

At least Kyrie sounded happy enough that I couldn't help but smile when she spoke to me. "Dante, Nero says you're hungry, which probably means he's also hungry and just doesn't want to admit it."

"Hey!" Nero barked.

"We should all go out and get dinner. Nero needs to eat something, and we haven't bought groceries in a while. Besides, Nero should buy you all dinner." Her smile was blinding.

"Why am I buying?" Nero sighed. "I need that money for clothes. Speaking of, can I change first so I don't have to go in this? I look disgusting."

I looked just as bad, but I didn't care enough to change until Nero threw some stiff-looking button-down shirt at me. The women laughed until I started changing in front of them, at which point I found everyone yelling at me instead, except Kyrie who hid behind her hands. She was as red as my coat.

Luckily for the kid's wallet, we all went back to the diner. The food there was cheap, and I was able to get another pizza. As far as I was concerned, everyone was a winner.

"This is the best meal I've ever eaten in my life," Nero said in the rare instance that he paused between bites. It was the exact same thing Vergil had ordered for breakfast the day before. "I missed food so much."

"We should order you another serving then," Kyrie offered with another starry-eyed smile.

"Please don't. I would die."

Lady and Trish both started out eating at a sluggish pace, distracted by watching the kid with ongoing suspicion, but as the meal wore on, they both relaxed. "Should we leave things like this?" Lady asked as the kids bickered over whether Nero could stomach another plate.

Trish hummed and clicked her nails along the counter. "Hard to say. Dante, do you think Vergil is just doing this to get us out of the way?"

"No." If I tried to explain, I knew they would argue. They'd never believe me. But I knew my brother. He'd been genuine when he said he didn't want to hurt Nero, even if his meaning was twisted. He wouldn't have let the kid have control again like this just to take it back. He'd given up instead of fighting me, instead of letting them both die. I couldn't say I understood it, but I knew it to be the truth.

"It's over," I said. "Best for us to let the kids be now."

The girls had another one of their secret psychic meetings, glancing at each other with concern or confusion in their eyes. I was going to get one hell of a lecture when we got back.

As we stepped out of the diner, it seemed I was going to get my lecture early, Trish and Lady both pulling me aside. I braced for a scolding that never came.

"Are you alright?" Trish asked.

No, not really.

"I guess I'm more confused than anything," I said. They could tell that I was lying. I could see it in the way their eyes narrowed. "But I'll survive. I always have before."

Crossing her arms, Trish huffed. "Always so difficult."

"Just don't do anything stupid until you get home," Lady said.

"You know everything I do is stupid."

Despite my amusement, her tone was flat. "I know."

"Hey," Nero called over to us. He and Kyrie stood a few paces away, polite but probably listening. "The ferries are done running today. You'll have to leave tomorrow. Dante, you can crash at our place again."

"You didn't offer to let Trish and Lady stay," Kyrie scolded.

"They have a hotel. Dante is broke."

"It's still polite!"

"We're fine, thank you," Trish said. "You kids be good and make sure Dante doesn't sleep through all of tomorrow's ferries."

"Yeah, and thanks for uh…" Nero's eyes rolled up under furrowed brows as his claws brushed his nose. "Thanks."

Lady snorted. "You're welcome. Thanks for dinner."

I didn't want to go back to the house with them. I just couldn't find an excuse not to. When we got back, Kyrie insisted that it was still too early to sleep. Nero sighed at the news, scrubbing his human hand across his face. "Well, what are we going to do then?" he asked.

Kyrie lit up once again. "We haven't had three people in a while, so you know what we should do?"

"Please don't say board ga-."

"Board games!"

As I assumed was standard in their house, Nero and I had no choice when Kyrie pulled out a stack of boxes and dropped them onto the dining room table, which still lacked a couple of chairs. Kyrie was surprisingly brutal at Chinese Checkers, but I was still the reigning champ at Clue. "Is it because you know a lot about murder?" Kyrie asked after I won, her expression so serious that I couldn't help but fall over the table laughing.

When it came to Sorry, I made a quick grab for the red pieces, Kyrie gathered up the yellows, and Nero's Bringer scooped up the blues. "Didn't we not talk to each other for two days last time we played this?" he asked, frowning down at the pieces as he put them in place.

Kyrie stared at them as well until she realized he'd spoken, blinking herself out of a daze. "That's because you cheated."

"You can't cheat at Sorry."

"Well, you did."

"I didn't even win!"

"I'm going to go first!" I decided. Despite some life-or-death poker games, that round of Sorry turned into the tensest game of drawing cards I'd ever had in my life, made worse every time I noticed Nero staring at me from the corners of his eyes.

When Kyrie won with Nero hot on her heels, she finally allowed us to go to bed after her celebratory piece of cake. "You could at least offer to share," Nero said.

"But I won," she countered. "Besides, you can't eat this." Plucking off the strawberry on top, she offered it to me with a fiendish grin. "You can have this, Dante."

"Thank you. Do you just get strawberry cake to keep Nero from having any?"

Kyrie nodded as she took another bite.

Nero looked me dead in the eye while tossing his demon hand up toward her in the universal gesture of "look at this bullshit." Shrugging, I took a bite of the strawberry. I had no problems with Kyrie. In fact, she was downright endearing. Some other time I would ask for some embarrassing childhood stories about Nero because I knew she would dish them out like hotcakes.

But right then, I was too damn tired. We all were. Kyrie offered me more dorky clothes to sleep in despite looking torn about it. "Good to put them to use," she mumbled before shrinking back to her room with a soft, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," Nero answered as he rolled a crick out of his neck and started down the hall toward his own room.

At the sight of him walking away, a surge of desperation tore through me. Before I realized what I was doing, I'd locked the wrist of his Bringer in my grasp. Tired eyes turned back toward me, but none of the questions spinning through my head formed on my lips. I couldn't bring myself to make a sound. Nero breathed a sigh as I let go of him. "Goodnight, Dante," he said. "Get some rest."

I couldn't sleep at all.

Dante was lucky that I was already awake because he definitely would have woken me up with all his pacing on the floorboards and throwing his handful of belongings back together. He was also lucky that Kyrie could sleep through anything.

I let him get all the way to the front door before I spoke, just to watch him freeze like a kid caught misbehaving. "Morning, Dante."

He stared at his hand on the doorknob for several seconds before forcing himself to turn my way. "Morning, kid." He must have used up all his fake smiles over the past few days because the one he tried to put on was stretched thin. "Are you just eating sliced bread?"

"I was hungry, and I didn't want to make a lot of noise," I said, shoving my hand back in the bag for another slice. "Bread's good. Did you want some breakfast before you try to leave without saying goodbye?"

"I'm… alright."

He wasn't. He hadn't been alright since I'd come back and probably even before then. Under my gaze, he had to keep his eyes elsewhere and shifted his weight between his feet.

"That's unlike you to try and leave without a word. You always liked such flashy exits."

Dante's whole body went taut, his eyes wide with panic. So, he could tell now. He'd noticed the difference.

"You're going to get him all confused and freaked out," I said.

My tongue clicked against my teeth, my lip curling. "It's not my fault if he doesn't understand. You should have told him."

"Oh no, that was your job." I pointed to my ride side because I didn't have anywhere better to show blame. "This was your whole idea to begin with."

My Bringer rose and smacked my other hand down. "I wasn't going to tell him anything in the first place."

"Well, you're an asshole then."

Vergil huffed a laugh. "That's not exactly news, boy."

As I flipped off my right side, I felt his annoyance settle into my expression. Dante, meanwhile, was dead-eyed with confusion. He seemed to wade through a swamp with each step toward me. His hands shook as he reached up to take hold of mine. "You're both here?" he asked in a whisper.

Vergil swallowed before managing a flickering smile. "Yes, I'm afraid you're not quite rid of me."

"Hey, I'm the one who's stuck with you," I said. "But, yeah, I guess we can kind of split it… consciousness... everything. So, surprise, I guess?"

I hadn't expected Dante to cry, but I hadn't expected him to laugh either. Tears spilled from his eyes as soft laughter bubbled from him. "Oh, this is insane," he said, wiping the tears from his face. "I can't believe it."

"It's real," I said. "But it does feel surreal."

I'd woken up to Vergil's voice, quieter than it had ever been before, and his hand pulling on mine. It felt like a dream, and maybe it was, but I understood when I woke up that I wasn't the only one awake. The sight in my right eye would flicker in and out, and I'd lose control of my right arm or where my eyes turned. He never took anything for long except my right ear. He kept it just as he always had. I couldn't bring myself to care. Being without sound on that side was more comfortable anyway.

"I suppose I'm still just a bit too selfish," Vergil said as he watched Dante struggle to regain his usual facade. I felt like I should have been upset to see Dante lose his grip on his emotions, but Vergil just smiled. "I couldn't accept death again, but I couldn't accept Nero fading away either. I've found that I can balance power between us. It's a curious game and one I won't always be able to maintain, but I wouldn't wish to. This is not my body. I won't intrude at all times. Nero deserves his own life as well."

"We'll make it work somehow," I said. Dante's brows shot up in surprise at that. I guess I should have hated Vergil. Well, I kind of hated him. He was a total prick, but things were far too gray for me to truly hate him. The memories were too recent. The pain was too fresh.

And Dante looked so broken when he thought he'd lost his brother again.

"It's not your job to feel sympathy for us," Vergil said. Dante tilted his head like some confused puppy.

"More like empathy, asshole," I said. "And stop reading my thoughts."

"I'm reading your emotions, not your thoughts."

"Yeah, quit that. Anyway, I just think it wouldn't be so bad if you could catch a break for once in your life. Besides, we've already been stuck together for ages. This isn't that different."

Dante nodded. "The more I try to think about it, the weirder it gets. I think I could use a good drink, actually."

"Yes, stop thinking," Vergil said. "You'll hurt yourself."

Despite his confusion, Dante's lips quirked to a smile. "You're starting to sound like Nero."

"You take that back right now!" Yamato buzzed in my Bringer.

"Hey," I said. "No stabbing in the house."

As Vergil huffed and threw a small tantrum in the back of my mind, Dante's expression eased to the worry I'd grown used to seeing from him. "I guess this is good," he said, though it was almost a question. "If you're really both okay like this… then…"

Though our control was still separate, I found myself crossing my arm with Vergil's on instinct. "I suppose it's not that simple," Vergil said. "Maybe not 'good,' but it's something for now. Perhaps someday, we can find a better solution. For now, this is what we have. We'll simply have to make the most of it."

"You're both alive," Dante said. "I'll take that as some sort of victory."

I shrugged, though my right shoulder didn't mirror the action. "We're alive until I have to tell Kyrie, and then we're both dead. Like introducing a new roommate… but worse."

"Hey, I let you live," Vergil snapped. "Don't push it."

He wasn't going to have any luck threatening me anymore. Now that I'd realized he actually had a conscience made up entirely of guilt, I knew that he wasn't going to hurt me again, no matter what his growling thoughts might try to say. He was a softie in the weirdest, most dickish way possible.

"Stop thinking whatever you're thinking right now," he grumbled.

"So you're staying here then?" Dante asked before I could piss Vergil off more.

"Yes, this island needs constant babying," he said.

"But it might be nice to get away every now and then," I added. "Maybe we could visit sometime." I was going to regret it later, I knew, but at that moment, it was nice to see the way Dante's whole face lit up with a genuine smile. Besides, it would be entertaining to see Dante bicker with his sibling instead of him laughing while Kyrie and I argued.

"Don't you have some awful shop, though?" Vergil asked. "I'm not staying there."

"Oh, me neither." I didn't want anywhere near that explosive microwave.

"Hey, neither of you has even seen my shop! It's great! So… you two come visit sometime." He rubbed at the back of his neck, gaze drifting back toward the door. "I guess you have my phone number." Anxiety bled into his eyes. "I just feel like this is all some weird dream, and if I leave it'll all disappear. I'll wake up, and I'll lose someone again."

He must not have slept well, eyes heavy with exhaustion. His tired mind needed proof. Alright.

Vergil let me have the Bringer back after I flashed a request through my mind. Going to the kitchen, I took the pen from beside the shopping list and came back to grab Dante's hand. He blinked as I tugged off his glove to reveal the scar that I'd seen him get. He'd never let it heal. Vergil flinched at that.

"This is our house phone," I said as I jotted down the number across his palm. "We actually found your number in the Order's files, which was just weird. Don't ask because I don't know." After a dash, I signed my name. Vergil took the opportunity to control the Bringer once again and write his name under mine in flowing letters.

"I'll be here as well, of course," he said as the claws of the Bringer brushed along the scar. "Now don't lose your hand before you get home."

I couldn't read all the emotions flashing through Dante's eyes as he pulled the glove back on, but his smile was genuine. Vergil was sure of it. "No worries," Dante said. "I'll get home in one piece."

"Promise?" Vergil and I both had the thought to ask, so I couldn't tell which of us spoke. Maybe both.

"I promise."

Ah, what a weird fic this has been. Hopefully enjoyable regardless. Thank you for reading, and a huge thanks to anyone who commented. Apologies if I didn't reply, but I really appreciate the reviews.