A/N - Yep, it's happening - It's a sequel to It's A Hard Life!
(It won't let me paste links, but you can find the first story on my profile)
I wanted to get the first chapter published today because it's a year after the last chapter for It's A Hard Life was published, and this is set a year after the main story sooo… Yeah.
PLEASE NOTE - This is likely going to be a lot shorter than the first one and is probably going to be more comedy / romance than the last one. Also, despite having a year to do so I haven't actually managed to finish writing this yet… As such, updates might be kinda slow, sorry. I hope you'll enjoy this random sequel and that it'll turn out OK in the end XD
"Dante returns tomorrow…" Vergil mumbled, absently impaling a piece of chicken with his fork.
"You could try sounding a bit more excited about it," Lady replied, shoveling a pile of mashed potatoes into her mouth. They were currently sitting at the newly installed dining table in the kitchen.
"It's not that I'm unhappy about the fact," Vergil said, glancing up at her. "I just... don't know how we are to tell him about..." he trailed off and looked down at his plate again.
"It's simple, we just don't," Lady said. "I don't see why it's any of his business anyway."
"Isn't it your anniversary soon?" Alisa piped up. Vergil and Lady turned to face the small girl sitting between them. She had been so quiet that they'd almost forgotten she was there.
"Anniversaries are for married people," Vergil started to explain. "And we are most certainly not-"
"You're right!" Lady called out. "I almost forgot!"
"What are you talking about?" Vergil asked, slamming his fork on the table. "We're not-"
"I think it's the day after Dante gets back," Lady said, ignoring him. "Yeah, that must be it. I mean, Vergil was out for about two days so…" she continued to mutter to herself as she did some mental calculations.
"Do you have anything nice planned?" Alisa asked, turning to face Vergil.
"Of course not," Vergil grumbled. "Since when was merely courting someone a cause for celebration?"
"Y-Yeah, I hadn't even thought about it to be honest," Lady said, looking at Vergil with an obviously hurt expression. "We don't care about stuff like that…"
"There, you see?" Vergil said smugly, turning to face Lady. "Don't ask such silly questions-" His words caught in his throat as his eyes made contact with Lady's. She quickly stood up and started to reach for his plate. Between them, Alisa let out an irritated sigh.
"All done?" Lady asked with a slight stammer in her voice.
"...Let me," Vergil offered.
"It's fine, you did all the cooking," Lady said. "Besides, someone needs to start getting Alisa ready for bed."
"The child can look after herself," Vergil said dismissively.
"Can you read me a story, Vergil?" Alisa asked, smiling sweetly.
"You are perfectly capable of reading on your own, are you not?" Vergil responded, glaring at her.
"I like it when you do it," Alisa said, kicking his leg under the table and giving him her best ' we need to talk' look.
"I-"
"Go read to her Vergil," Lady said, collecting the dishes. "It's not often we get to babysit her, and I doubt Nico reads to her much. It's the least you can do."
"I don't appreciate the term babysitting," Alisa said, sliding off of her chair and pulling Vergil to his feet. Vergil and Lady exchanged one more glance before Vergil allowed himself to be dragged upstairs.
"You idiot!" Alisa yelled as soon as they were alone.
"What are you talking about?" Vergil grumbled, browsing through the selection of books in the recently decorated spare room.
"You know exactly what I'm talking about," Alisa said angrily. "I almost fell off my chair, the wave of disappointment was so strong!"
Vergil chose a dusty looking tome from the shelf and turned to face the small child in front of him. He looked her up and down quickly. Her 'aura-insight' - as he had taken to calling it - had only seemed to grow stronger in the last year or so, and it continued to make him feel increasingly uneasy every time she alluded to it. "She hadn't even brought it up until you mentioned it," Vergil huffed, moving to sit on the edge of the bed. "How was I meant to know it bothered her?"
"Common sense?" Alisa said, sitting next to him. "I know she's pretty tough and all that, but you need to remember that underneath it all she's still a girl - and girls care a lot about this stuff!"
"Alright, alright…" Vergil said, closing his eyes and pinching the bridge of his nose. After a few moments he let out a sigh and looked down at Alisa again. "I hadn't forgotten," he confessed. "I just... wasn't sure how one is meant to celebrate such things, if at all. I don't know what you're expecting from me."
"It doesn't have to be much," Alisa explained. "A nice meal at a fancy restaurant, maybe a trip to the cinema or something… Just do something you would both enjoy, you know?"
"We already do those things," Vergil said, recalling his first trip to the cinema last year. The experience had been both terrifying and awe inspiring, and they hadn't been back many times since. "What would make this time any different?"
"Because you'd be celebrating a year together!" Alisa said exhasperatedly. "Doesn't that mean anything to you?"
"I fail to see why that should be something to celebrate," Vergil said. "That poor woman has been stuck with me for an entire year now… I'm amazed she hasn't gone insane."
"If she didn't want to be here she'd have left ages ago," Alisa replied. "Stop being so stubborn and just figure something out,"
"Dante will be here," Vergil pointed out. "She just said she didn't want to tell him about us, would it not seem strange if we disappeared together for an entire evening?"
"Tell him you're going out on a job or something," Alisa suggested.
"Straight after he gets back?"
"It's his fault for taking so long to get in touch," Alisa said. "Just tell him you arranged this ages ago."
"...What if she says no?" Vergil mumbled.
"She won't," Alisa said. "And if she does, just tell her it's a job too!"
Vergil chuckled slightly at the image of Lady turning up at a restaurant in full combat gear, before clearing his throat and reverting to his usual serious tone again. "All right, fine," he conceded. "What do I do now?"
"Well, you could always ask her what she'd like to do," Alisa considered. "But knowing her she'll probably deny caring about it, so it's probably best if you just surprise her."
"Go on…"
Alisa shrugged. "Sorry, I don't really know her that well. Maybe you could ask one of her friends for more advice?"
"No one else knows of our situation though," Vergil said, furrowing his brows. "And I would rather keep it that way."
"Vergil, please," Alisa replied, rolling her eyes. " Everyone knows about you guys. It's super obvious."
" What? " Vergil asked, slightly panicked. "But-"
"Don't worry, no-one's going to go blabbing to Dante and Nero about it," Alisa said. "I'll be really surprised if they haven't figured it out in a week or so though."
"That's…" Vergil could feel his cheeks warming up slightly. He thought they'd been successful at keeping their relationship hidden so far. Could they really have been that indiscreet? He shook his head. Now was not the time to worry about such things. "Fine," he mumbled. "I'll speak to her about it." A shiver ran down his spine as the image of Trish flashed through his mind. It had been a couple of years now and he still wasn't used to seeing his dead mother walking around in skimpy clothing.
"Attaboy," Alisa said, yawning. "You got this."
"Do you still want me to read to you?" Vergil asked, getting to his feet.
"Nah, just leave it on the side," Alisa replied. "I'll get myself ready for bed."
"As you wish," Vegil said, placing the book on the bedside table. He started to leave the room and paused. "...Thank you," he said, offering Alisa a light bow before closing the door behind him.
The front doors of Devil May Cry finished swinging shut just as Vergil reached the bottom of the stairs. Noticing the kitchen empty, he quickly ran outside and managed to catch up with Lady just moments before she left on her motorbike.
"Where are you going?" he asked, trying to hide the concern in his voice.
"Shopping," Lady replied somewhat bluntly. "Gotta make sure there's enough food for Dante's return right?"
"Now?" he asked, looking up at the darkening sky. "He's not back until tomorrow afternoon."
"Best to be prepared though, right?" Lady said, kicking the bike into gear and lowering the front of her helmet. "Don't worry, I'll be back soon."
"Wait!" Vergil called out as she gave him a small wave before speeding off into the distance. He muttered a curse under his breath, missing not for the first time the instant travel that the Yamato would have allowed him. He spent a few minutes pacing up and down outside the shop before finally storming back inside and picking up the phone receiver. His fingers hovered shakily over the numbers for a moment, then he punched in one of the few combinations he had memorised and waited.
"Trish speaking," a smooth sounding voice answered after a few rings.
"... I need your help with something," Vergil grumbled reluctantly.
A/N - I was super nervous about publishing this because I don't want to detract from the original story if it doesn't turn out that well, plus I haven't finished writing it yet, but I decided to just go for it anyway since a few people have been asking for a sequel. We'll just have to see how it goes!