blood of the father

by garbagecan_not_garbagecannot

Summary:

Dante and Vergil become closer while in the underworld. However, a few months down the road, Dante starts to act weird, enough so that it has Vergil concerned.

He may detest asking for help, but he's not willing to risk his brother's life. Not again.

Fighting his brother in the underworld is peculiar. Vergil had expected it to be harrowing, even after the child, Nero, had ensured they would no longer fight to the death. Still... Vergil had expected their competitiveness to get the better of them, that one of them would slip up and cause real harm to the other. However, nothing of the sort has happened; instead it all remains friendly, gentle, in a way that reminds Vergil of summer days in the fields behind their childhood home—sticks rather than swords for weapons, their parents' laughing figures watching over them.

To see one of his few remaining good memories recreated in the underworld of all places is a peculiar thing indeed.

But his brother's laugh washes over him, and Vergil finds himself smiling and laughing in turn.

He still carries the horrors of his past like a cloak, but somehow the pain and horror of it has lost its hold on him. He remembers, he knows what he felt and the pain of it all. However, the revulsion, the agony, the grief, none of it overwhelms or even reaches him anymore. It is almost as if he's managed to shed it, like a snake shedding old skin.

As V, he used these dark thoughts to create familiars to allow himself to fight, to be able to reach the other half of his self—the duality of his memories, of being in two places at the same time is certainly an interesting sensation and experience—but he would have thought they would have returned to him when V finally managed to reform himself.

Human and demon once more two halves of the same whole.

Without his demons screaming hate and rage in his ears, the human in him managed to flourish, grow.... Vergil's human half is stronger than he can ever remember it being. He shunned it for so long, thinking all his human ties—his brother and his mother—lost and gone from this world that by the time he found his brother anew, his human half was weakened, and his demon half nearly taking over

Watching his brother, he's seen the kind of power balance can give you.

Through his demon half he learned that mother died looking for him. That she locked Dante in a cupboard and left him behind, all to find Vergil. It seems the world was perhaps not as black and white as he once thought it.

He doesn’t regret reforming.

He watches the tantalising display that is his brother fighting and killing demons and licks his lips.

No, he does not regret reforming at all.

It takes weeks, weeks of battles and fighting, but they start building a camaraderie. They're different as people, very different indeed, but Vergil doesn't much care about that. They've grown up, they've matured, and in many ways, they’ve mellowed out—even if, perhaps, the boy had to beat it into them—so he is not surprised that they finally fit together again.

His incessant drive for power, desperate to ensure he could protect those he loves, to ensure he never loses anyone ever again, has done nothing but cause the loss at his own hands. Until now.

Dante doesn’t need his protection; Vergil knows that much. But he will have it anyway. Having someone to watch your back is never bad, and a trustworthy ally is worth more than anything else in the underworld. Vergil would know.

Dante's laugh is a thing of miracles, Vergil thinks. He can see the stress lines, can see the way they've both aged far more than they should have, regardless of the time that's passed... He wonders if they'll improve, if their cells will repair and revert the ageing process now that they're together again, now that they no longer tear each other down.

Still, the laugh is quite possibly the best thing Vergil has heard in decades, worth more than the whole world's weight in gold.

It makes Vergil want to kiss Dante, kiss him until his lips are swollen and read and smiling hurts from how tender they are. However, Vergil has composure and an iron will. He won't break, he's not going to do something as foolish as kiss his brother just because he loves hearing him laugh. That would be both ludicrous and stupid.

Five weeks later, Vergil does break.

His brother bumps his shoulder into Vergil's, a huge bloodstained grin on his face as he laughs loudly, high on adrenaline and the feeling of absorbing demon energy. The pressure of Dante's shoulder against Vergil's own as a laugh booms out of his is enough, and Vergil's composure and self-control shatters into a million pieces.

He pulls Dante into a hard, messy, and blood-filled kiss by the lapels of his coat. He snakes his arms around his waist and pushes Dante's groin into Vergil's own as he bites Dante's lower lip and shoves his tongue down his throat as soon as his little brother opens his mouth in a shocked gasp.

He expects Dante to push him away, to yell and hit and scream, but none of that happens. Instead Vergil feels his brother's arms cling around his neck, one hand quickly diving into his hair, gripping but not yanking.

Vergil pulls him in closer, kisses him harder...

They murmur to each other between the kisses, more honest than they've ever been before.

I missed you. I love you. I wanted to protect you. Never leave me again.

And then Vergil lays his little brother down on the ground right there, surrounded by the dead and disappearing corpses of the demons they just killed, and fucks him right there out in the open.

And then he does it again.

And then Dante turns the tables on him.

And then Vergil overtakes him again.

And then Dante sits astride his hips, rides him into oblivion and laughs and laughs and laughs.

Vergil comes the last time, as deep inside his brother as he can get, with the sound of his brother's laugh ringing in his ears.

They stumble into a dark cave where they'll be alone, leaning against each other, legs shaking from how fucked out they are. Dante laughs again and Vergil wants to take him all over again, feeling as if the desire he feels for his brother cannot ever be quenched.

They sleep, wrapped around each other and as naked as the day they were born.

No demon will come close to them, they exude enough pheromones to tell even the dimmest of demons that attacking them would be a terrible idea. No one goes after demons in a mating frenzy—not that Dante and Vergil are actually mating, they're not that kind of low-level barely sentient demon—lest they want to get their head on a spike for their troubles.

Then again, Vergil thinks as they doze off, demons should try to avoid them anyway, considering how much stronger they are than most demons. But perhaps where demons are too stupid to figure that out, they will understand the baser language of instincts and pheromones.

It doesn't matter, either way. Whatever this damned place throws at them, they can handle. Even if they're caught with their pants down, literally or metaphorically.

Quality of life improves even more after that, in Vergil's opinion. In between battles, demon killing, and sleep, he and Dante now also fuck. And fuck. And fuck.

It's quite possibly Vergil's favourite activity.

If you had told him at eighteen that he would prefer fucking over fighting, he would likely have shoved Yamato through your neck before you finished the sentence. Especially considering he'd just finished a rather lacklustre affair with the woman who is no doubt Nero's mother.

Hmm, interesting. Now there's something he hasn't considered. What did happen to Nero's mother anyway? Vergil has a vague recollection of meeting and fucking a woman in a bar, somewhere in the area of Fortuna city—Dante has kindly told him that's where he first met Nero, so it fits—but he doesn't remember her all that well. He knows she was blonde though.

Hopefully Nero doesn't ask about his mother, the kid is unlikely to take Vergil's answer especially well. Not that Vergil would truly know, he doesn't know the kid at all. But judging from how he reacted to the idea that Dante and Vergil might fight to the death...

Then again, those are some fairly different scenarios.

"Hey, douchebag, what're you all up in knots about? You're thinking so loudly I can't sleep." Dante's voice is half muffled, but still breaks Vergil out of his reverie.

He stares at the back of Dante's neck, and briefly considers answering truthfully.

Finally, he says, "Nothing of importance," and bites down on the back of Dante's neck.

"Fuuuuck, you asshole."

And then Dante turns his head as he grabs Vergil by the hair and slots their mouths together.

It's an awkward angle, spooned together as they are, but their pose does give Vergil ample opportunity to rut against Dante's ass. The longer the kissing continues, the harder Vergil grinds against his brother, until finally he loses patience and stars undoing Dante's jeans.

"Insatiable," Dante laughs. Vergil ignores that little taunt, and pulls him into another kiss, just as he starts pulling his jeans and underwear down.

He gets his own dick out and slides into Dante's tight channel without pausing for any sort of fingering first—no doubt Dante is still slightly wet and loose from just a while ago.

"Fuuuck," Dante groans and pushes his hips back against Vergil, taking it all without complaint, and soon they're rocking together almost brutally. "Hah, you like this don't you? Just sliding right in. Bet you'll wake me up on your dick one of these days."

Vergil would be a liar if he said that the idea doesn't appeal to him.

"Perhaps," he murmurs, stifling the loud groans that want to spill out of his mouth. He has more self-control that that. He can keep it together longer than his brother... He can make Dante come on his dick without a single touch to his cock.

"Insatiable." Dante's panting breaths against Vergil's lips are intoxicating, almost as good as his actual lips in a kiss.

Almost.

Dante is the one who comes first, to Vergil's smug feelings of superiority. He holds it together for a few more moments, continues to rut into his brother even as he shakes with the aftershocks of orgasm, before he lets himself come with a choked down roar.

Even in the midst of orgasm Vergil isn't about to let his demon instincts overtake his rationality. He's not going to do something as silly as roar about an orgasm. Not hardly.

"Well, that was a nice night cap. Now stop thinking so hard your brain starts smoking out of your ears and go the fuck to sleep, Vergil," Dante grumbles as he pulls his jeans up, tucks himself back into his pants, and zips his jeans back up.

Vergil follows suit without a word but proceeds to take a large bite of the back of Dante's neck—gently, however, just a warning, not an attack.

They fall asleep like that.

Two mornings later, Vergil does in fact wake Dante up on his dick. It's better than anything he ever could have imagined.

#

It takes Vergil a while to notice how Dante is changing, but in his defence it's a gradual progress, and it's only just now becoming apparent.

Vergil slashes Yamato straight through the sin scythe's body, and glances towards his brother, only to find him using his bare hands to literally year the head off the empusa he's fighting with.

Just as Vergil is about to ask his brother why the hell he's fighting with his bare fists, Dante suddenly takes a huge bite of the empusa's corpse and chews its flesh loudly.

With a slash, Vergil takes down another three enemies by pure reflex, but his mind is still stuck on the image of his brother literally eating a demon.

It doesn't stop there, either. As soon as Dante's finished with the empusa, he nearly teleports for how quickly he moves, and kills a nearby Fury with a single blow, quite literally ripping its heart out.

Dante eats that too, and then starts hefting the dead demon upwards and... The slurping noise that ensues is disgusting, and Vergil finds himself entirely out of his depth. Usually, they just ingest demon energy to empower themselves and doing so turns the demon's body to ashes. It's a far more efficient way of gaining energy than eating them, and it's certainly far less messy.

Vergil... feels unsettled. Between the two of them, he has always been the one more in tune with his demon half. So to see Dante simply tearing into demons to eat them... There's something going on. This isn't normal.

"Dante?" Vergil leaves the corpses he's made behind without even bothering to watch as their corpses turn to ashes as he drains their energy.

Dropping what's left of the Fury corpse on the pile of discarded demon parts, Dante turns to Vergil. He's a mess, blood and gore smeared over his face and hands.

"Vergil! Uh..." He glances towards the pile of limbs and coughs. "Sorry about that. I'm just... So damn hungry. Don't know why, really."

Hungry? Dante is... hungry? That does not make sense. Siphoning demon energy should be more than enough to still hunger. They don't need to eat when they kill as many demons as they have here.

"You're... Hungry." Vergil stares at his brother, tries to find the smallest hint of duplicity in his face. Surely there must be something else going on. Dante must be lying.

"Yeah... I don't really get it; I've never had that problem before." Dante strokes his chin with a lazy shrug. "Well, I'm sure it's fine. Though we should probably find a stream so I can wash off, huh?"

"Yes..." Vergil falls into step with his brother and tries to avoid alerting Dante to his discomfort. There is something wrong, but whatever it is, clearly Dante doesn't know anything about it.

Of course, Vergil is years out of practice in reading his brother... But he trusts his instincts, and they're all telling him that Dante is telling the truth.

Which is, if Vergil's being completely honest, quite unfortunate.

#

"Fuck, you're so hot, you douchebag." Dante's tearing at Vergil's collar, breathing the words against Vergil's lips in between brutal kisses.

Vergil allows himself to feel smug as he undoes Dante's buttons with much more precision and ease than Dante can seemingly even dream of at the moment.

"Watch the clothes, I'd rather not expend energy on mending them." Vergil bites at Dante's jaw and lets himself be pushed back against the hard rocks on the side of the small stream.

"Screw the clothes, Vergil. I want you naked yesterday," Dante growls bites back.

Vergil lets his claws grow and carefully drags them up along Dante's sides, expertly tearing the fabric. With swift movements he tears his brother's clothes of and turns their position around, forcing Dante down on the ground and rutting their hard dicks together.

"You dick!" Dante howls and casts his head back and forth, loose hair flying everywhere, the strands of it tangling together. Vergil smiles savagely and presses his still clothed cock even harder against his brother's naked one.

"Put your hands above your head, keep them there, and I will undress myself for you, since you clearly cannot manage right now." Perhaps it's cruel of him, but no one has accused Vergil of being kind anytime in the last thirty or so years.

"You fucking douchebag," Dante snarls but quickly does as Vergil asks.

Vergil stares down at his brother's form, delectable as it is spread out beneath him. He takes his time getting his clothes off, piece by piece, just so he can see the naked hunger in his brother's eyes for longer. He takes pleasure, finds enjoyment, in watching his brother squirm and rage with impatience beneath him, naked and so beautiful.

Dante whines something then, almost beyond words it seems, and Vergil finally has mercy on him. He lays down on his brother, rubs himself against him with purpose, and kisses at his swollen lips.

They're both so pent up that Vergil decides that rutting is enough for now, they'll have more chances to fuck more properly later.

When they finally come down from the high of it, their releases mingling on Dante's stomach, Vergil watches his brother again.

There's an almost inhuman glow in his eyes still, but Dante still seems to act like there's nothing wrong. But Vergil isn't so sure. Something is different, and even getting his dick wet isn't going to distract him from it.

He'll figure it out, one way or another.

#

"Stop," Dante chokes out the word and dematerialises his weapon and drops his arms to his side, refusing to look at Vergil.

Dropping his own fighting stance, Vergil falls into a deceptively casual stance. He's ready to move or fight at any second, though it does not look it. He doesn't know what Dante's game is, but he's ready for anything.

"What is it, Dante?" Vergil hopes that he has a good reason for interrupting their battle like this. Vergil was having fun, and he'd like to keep doing it. Though he could, of course, be persuaded to have fun in other ways if Dante is so inclined.

"I'm so fucking hungry, Vergil. I don't... I don't know why. I'm just really really hungry. I want to curl up in a ball and eat my own weight in meat or pizza or... Anything."

The hunger again.

Vergil frowns, but nods. He looks at their surroundings, they haven't moved much from this place in weeks. There's a cave that's good for sleeping in, a stream nearby for when they want to wash off, lots of foliage to make bedding out of, and demons often pass through for some sustenance.

It's a good place, all in all.

Good enough for a primitive lifestyle at any rate, but it's all they need.

It's all they've needed, at least. Dante's hunger seems to be making some changes in what they need.

"Go into the cave. Rest." Vergil closes his eyes and spreads his senses out, searching for any nearby demons. "I'll bring some demons back for you to eat."

There's a gleam in Dante's eyes, but a smile on his lips. "You'll hunt for me?"

There's something in those words that Vergil can't place, so he's not going to. Instead he moves over to Dante and pulls him into a deep, searching kiss.

"Yes, I'm going to hunt for you." Vergil once went seeking power to protect what is his and what he loves, and it appears to be the time to make something of that vow he once made to himself.

Dante pulls him into another kiss and strokes his hands over Vergil's cheeks. "That's so fucking hot. If I weren't starving, I would fuck you right now."

Vergil suppresses the shiver that wants to run through him at those words. He'll take it, he'll take anything Dante's willing to give him.

"Go rest in the cave. If you're hungry, I can only assume you need more energy, so no point in you using any for fighting demons."

Dante laughs and steps back, shaking his head. "Whatever you say, Vergil." He smiles then and gives Vergil a little salute, and then he heads into the cave to do as Vergil told him and sleep.

Which is, quite frankly, slightly worrying. Dante has never done what Vergil has said without a fight before. Never gone along with Vergil's ideas so easily. Never allowed Vergil to take the fight for him.

Something is wrong, and it is going to be up to Vergil to figure out what it is, no doubt.

#

When Vergil returns, shoving corpse after corpse through Yamato's portal, it's to find Dante sound asleep and curled up in a small ball inside the cave. Vergil hadn't actually expected him to fall asleep, and he finds himself even more concerned.

He leaves the corpses in their pile—he absorbed enough for himself before he went hunting for Dante—and moves quietly to his brother's side.

He pushes his own aura against his brother's hoping to wake him rather than risk startling him out of sleep.

Dante doesn't move.

Cold fear shoots down Vergil's spine, and he finds himself running. Dante can't be... he can't have... Not while Vergil was away!

"Mmmm... Vergil?" Dante's voice is groggy, muted, but it still sends shockwaves of relief through Vergil's body.

He falls to his knees next to his brother and touches his forehead. He's not unusually warm, nor is he unusually cold. There's no out-of-place perspiration or... Anything.

"Dante. Why are you...?" He doesn't know what to do, where to touch. He's never seen his brother like this before. It's strange, and Vergil doesn't like it one bit.

"Mmm, 'unno. I just got really tired. And I'm still hungry. Did you find anything?" Dante's eyes are only half-open, and when Vergil pulls him to his feet, he stagers.

"Come," Vergil says, keep one arm around his brother's form, "I have a whole pile of demons for you right outside."

Dante laughs, and there's that glow in his eyes again. Vergil still doesn't understand it, but Dante moves with purpose now, with strength, so he follows him without another word.

Dante who has always seemed so human seems anything but human as Vergil watches him tear into the demon corpses. Eating their flesh and drinking their blood and in some cases even chewing on their bones.

It's odd to see Dante enjoying something so incredibly demonic, he's always been so human. Between the two of them, Vergil would have assumed he would be the one to exhibit this kind of behaviour, but he has no interest in this sort of behaviour. There's nothing in him that feels drawn to it, not at all.

Except that is a lie.

Vergil feels an odd sort of pride in watching Dante enjoy the bounty Vergil's brought him, pride in having brought a feast, if one can call it that, for his brother to enjoy. It must be some form of demonic instincts, but he cannot for the life of him understand why. Why is he enjoying the fact that his brother is... eating the dead demons Vergil brought him?

Not for the first time, Vergil wishes father hadn't disappeared, died, when he did. More than just their family, it's also knowledge about themselves, about half of their own beings. Things their mother couldn't have hoped to tell them, things they've had to cobble together themselves.

The instincts are there, he can feel them roiling under his skin, but he doesn't quite understand them. He doesn't know why he's feeling as he does, not any more than he understands why Dante is suddenly wanting to eat demons.

As soon as Dante's finished eating, the rest of the demon parts turn to ashes, signifying to Vergil that Dante's finally decided to simply drain them of energy, rather than eat the rest. But before Vergil can say anything, Dante is upon him.

The kiss that Dante pulls Vergil into tastes of blood and gore, and while Vergil would normally have thought it would have been of-putting, but instead he finds himself immediately aroused. He pulls Dante into closer, presses them together as closely as he can, and chases every hint of blood in Dante's mouth.

"Fuck, Vergil. Just... God..."

They move back into the cavern, and Vergil loses himself in the union of their bodies once more.

#

Dante's odd behaviour doesn't let up, in fact, it ends up getting even stranger. He's hungry more and more often, and... He starts to sleep more. He curls himself into a ball, energy flagging and mood dropping almost instantly. And as used to Dante's general play at good mood as Vergil is, he finds it disquieting.

One morning Vergil wakes up to find his dick in the warm wetness of Dante's mouth. He grunts in surprise and stares down at his brother's face. Dante's eyes are closed, and he looks for all the world like having his lips stretched around Vergil's swollen dick is the best thing to have ever happened to him.

Vergil gently pushes Dante's fringe out of his face, his brain still working on half-speed from sleep grogginess.

Dante's eyes open and Vergil finds himself staring into them, pupils blown and dazed as they are. As Dante's tongue runs along his shaft, Vergil allows himself a shudder. The suction is just right, and Dante allows just enough of a hint of teeth to have Vergil's demon side howling with excitement and need.

The thought of fucking Dante's mouth as his teeth grow razor sharp and dangerous has Vergil bucking up into Dante's mouth. Unprepared for it as he is, Dante immediately chokes on Vergil's dick. However, instead of pulling back with a cough, or even allowing Vergil to pull back, Dante simple forces his mouth down further, choking himself on Vergil's dick.

The convulsions of Dante's struggling throat have Vergil groaning and he lets his head to fall back, allows himself to simply enjoy the blowjob his brother decided he deserved this morning.

"Fuck... Dante..." Vergil grits his teeth and tries to keep it together, tries to avoid coming. "Either you get off my dick now, so I can fuck you instead of coming down your throat, or you're going to have to be happy with me finger-fucking you into oblivion."

Vergil means it as a threat, as much as Dante enjoys being fingered, he's made it more than clear that he enjoys a dick up his ass much more. This time, however, Dante doesn't let up. If anything, he gets even more intent on seemingly sucking Vergil's soul out of his dick.

He comes with a howl, shaking with it, staring down at his brother's flushed face. As soon as the aftershocks of orgasm leaves Vergil, he pries Dante's hands off his thighs and pulls him off his dick.

"My turn, little brother," he murmurs in Dante's ear, enjoying the whine the earns him just before he slides a finger inside of his brother as easy as Yamato's blade through flesh.

"Fuck... Yes... Vergil..." Dante throws his head back and immediately pushes back against Vergil's finger.

Relentless, Vergil quickly slides in another finger, enjoying the way Dante shakes and shudders as Vergil pushes his fingers in, dragging them against the walls of his ass, and teasing his prostate constantly.

"Vergil! Please! Fuck!" Dante throws his head back and forth, his voice is pleading, and his hands on Vergil's shoulders are bruising in their grip strength. Dante shudders and shakes, rocking back and forth and desperately trying to get Vergil's fingers ever deeper. With a grin, Vergil adds another finger and spreads, forcing his brother to open up for him.

"Shit! Ah! Ahhh... AH!" Dante shakes and shakes, forcing his trembling body to move up and down, rubbing against Vergil's body and moving his finger by his own accord.

Vergil loves watching as desperation overtakes him, Dante's need making him heedless of anything but chasing his impending orgasm. It is really a treat to watch and Vergil feels his own dick start to take interest again.

He briefly considers shoving himself inside his brother, properly spearing him open on his dick, but ultimately decides not to. He's going to make Dante come on his fingers alone, he promised as much, didn't he?

He pushes his pinkie in along the rest of his fingers and Dante truly howls at that. Vergil laughs.

When Dante finally comes on Vergil's fingers, he's a limp mess, but Vergil's dick is fully hard again.

"Already done, Dante?" Vergil takes Dante's hand and moves it to his dick, feeling the shudders that runs through Dante's entire body as he makes contact. "And here I was all ready for another round... Perhaps I'll just have to get myself off then."

Date shakes his head before he presses himself into Vergil, biting at his jaw and panting desperate against his skin.

"F-fuck me..." He moans the words as he slides his shaking arms around Vergil's shoulders. "Just fuck me, I can take it."

Vergil hums, a grin on his face that he's glad Dante can't see. "Are you sure?"

"Vergil! Yes! Fuck you!" Dante nearly screams it in Vergil's ear, but Vergil just laughs but takes the opportunity for what it is and moves Dante's shuddering body into position.

Vergil's dick slides in without any resistance and he basks in the flutter and clench of Dante's muscles. Hot and tight and wet, just like how Vergil likes it best.

"So good, Dante. You're so good for me, aren't you?" He whispers the words in Dante's ear as he starts moving in and out of his brother at a gentle pace.

Dante whines and bucks and shakes, somehow entirely fucked out and over-sensitive after only a single finger-fucking session, but it's so good that Vergil doesn't care. Can't care when Dante is putty and trembling in his arms.

"Hm? Are you good for me, Dante?" Vergil bites at Dante's ear and thrusts inside him, fast and rough.

Dante chokes on a howl and his head starts bobbing up and down frantically.

"Come now, answer me, Dante." Perhaps it's cruel of him, but Vergil cannot help but have a bit of fun. Dante was the one to start the whole thing anyway, by waking Vergil up with a blowjob like that. Dante set the rules to the game, so he'll have to play by them now.

"Yes! Please! Vergil! Yes!" The words almost sound like they hurt, so high and whining are they.

If Vergil continues to fuck Dante out of his mind like this, will he end up going hoarse?

Well, it certainly won't hurt to try, Vergil thinks with a grin and bucks harder into his brother's shuddering body. Time to see how loud and wrecked Dante can get this early in the day.

#

Vergil stares out of the cave briefly before he turns his attention back to his brother, still asleep at his side as he is. Vergil drums his fingers against the hard rock of the cave and weighs his options.

Something needs to be done, whatever is going on with Dante, it's getting worse. He's sleeping more and more, he has no interest in fighting Vergil at all anymore, and he's constantly hungry... Well, whenever he isn't sleeping or horny, that is.

Vergil knows that Dante has been in the underworld before, so it can't just be that, not a chance in the world. After all, if Dante had known he'd end up like this, he wouldn't have come with Vergil in the first place, would he? After all, he's vulnerable like this. Whenever he sleeps is another time when Vergil could simply shove his sword through his body and with how sluggish Dante is in general right now, he'd hardly be able to protect himself before Vergil had killed him.

Whatever it is, it's something Vergil doesn't recognise, and perhaps the best thing to do is to find help. Vergil considers the idea with more than a little hate. He doesn't want to ask anyone for help, and certainly not one of Dante's friends, but Vergil's also well aware that help is not what they'll find in the underworld. Every single living thing here is going to want to kill them, not help them. There is simply no way for them to get help here...

They'll need to find a weak place, a place where the distance between the underworld and the human world is the shortest, and there use Yamato together to break through to the human realm. For Dante, Vergil will do anything. He's learned as much these past few months. Best to just accept it.

However, Vergil has noticed that Dante has gotten more and more reluctant to leave the cave at all. Before they would travel around a bit and only come back to the cave if they didn't find somewhere better to settle down for sleep. Now, however, Dante barely wants to leave it at all. He hunkers down in the shadows, only taking breaks to kill and eat anything that comes too close to the cave opening—as if protecting territory—or having sex with Vergil. Before he was willing to do that just about anywhere, now he refuses to do so outside of the cave.

Vergil has tried to see if there's anything wrong with the cave itself, if there's something about it that's making Dante behave so weirdly. He'd theorised that perhaps the cave was some sort of parasitic demon that was draining Dante of strength while convincing his mind that he needs to stay inside it. However, despite all of Vergil's best efforts, the cave is just a cave. He hasn't been able to find even the slightest trace of any demonic energy about it, and neither are there any of that kind of plants nearby. That's why they chose this spot in the first place.

Still, there's nothing to be done about it. Nothing but try to get back to the human realm and see if there are any answers to be found there.

"Dante..." Vergil shakes his brother slightly, trying to wake him up from sleep.

"Gerroff." The reply is muffled and angry, and Vergil frowns heavily at the words.

"Dante. We need to leave." Vergil can't back down, not on this. They need to figure out what's wrong with Dante, because Vergil can't take this anymore. He had his brother back, they were enjoying themselves, fighting for the sake of it and enjoying each other... But now...

Vergil's lost him again. Not entirely, not completely, but parts of Dante seem to be slipping away, disappearing in the ether.

Vergil won't let it. He's not going to lose his brother, not again. Whatever the hell is wrong with him, Vergil doesn't care. But he's not going to let it get worse. They'll get it figured out, and then they can continue as they have in the human world instead of the underworld.

It's not like Vergil care where they are, place is irrelevant. Especially as Vergil has no interest in ruling the underworld, and he's quite certain that neither does his brother.

"Wanna sleep," Dante mutters and tries to curl into a tighter ball, as if that's even possible.

Vergil frowns. "Then I will leave without you." It's a gamble, but he must try.

He gets up, and he walks away. He counts every step as they take him farther and farther away from the cave, farther and farther away from Dante.

He doesn't make it too far, but he does make it farther than he would have liked. He's nearly two hundred metres away from the cave when a loud roar echoes through the silence.

Vergil can feel the pressure of his brother's power, ever single millimetre of it suffused with anger, with rage.

Vergil forces himself to keep his breathing even, to keep moving, even as he feels his instincts practically yell at him to turn around, to return to Dante. Every part of his being is telling him he needs to stay near Dante, except his rational mind.

Whatever is going on, it is affecting both of them, though most of the effects are on Dante. It's entirely possible that what Vergil is experiencing is just in reaction to whatever is going on with Dante.

He hears his brother's loud footsteps, hears him crashing through the underbrush, and Vergil steels himself just in time before Dante's body smashes full force into Vergil's own.

Even though Vergil braced himself, they still go tumbling down on the ground in a large heap of limbs.

"You left," Dante snarls, his voice low and rumbling, very reminiscent of his voice in his demon form. From the claws Vergil can feel digging into his back and bicep, Vergil concludes that his brother is at least partially transformed already.

So, it seems he miscalculated somewhat; he should not have walked quite as far away from his brother and the cave as he did.

"I told you I would." Vergil keeps his voice low and calm, he doesn't want to send Dante into a frenzy. It's likely best if he keeps himself as calm as possible to off-set Dante's temper.

"But you... No! You left! You can't leave!" Dante's voice is still a growling snarl, but Vergil can hear something else in it, something he'd rather not hear. Fear.

For some reason, the thought of Vergil leaving makes Dante afraid. It seems... odd. Angry? Certainly. But why afraid?

"Then come with me. We cannot stay here." Vergil forces himself to his feet and turns, pulling Dante in close. He buries his nose in his brother's hair and tries another vain attempt to see if he can smell any sort of pheromone that may explain his odd behaviour.

"No," Dante moans, but curls in closer to Vergil. "The cave is... We can't leave... We should stay there."

Whatever this fear is, whatever makes Dante feel like he needs to stay with Vergil in the cave, Vergil will have to play on it. Somehow use it against Dante to get him to come, so they can leave the underworld and find out what is going on.

"The cave isn't safe." As soon as the words leave Vergil's mouth, he feels Dante stiffen in his arms, and the claws that had gone away reforms, digging into Vergil's biceps.

"Not... safe?" Dante's voice sounds lost, and in some ways, it almost seems like his higher reasoning functions are... going away. It makes Vergil want to smash something, the thought of his brother's mind deserting him.

"I know somewhere safe, Dante. I want to take you somewhere safe." Vergil puts as much emphasis he can on the word without it sounding false.

It's true, anyway. The human world is far safer than the underworld and whatever is causing Dante's odd behaviour, they're more likely to find out what it is if they have help.

Finding demons to eat may be harder, but it's entirely possible that human food can work just as well if it's accompanied by a steady stream of blood.

Actually...

Now that Vergil thinks about it, human blood is usually what many demons drink to truly thrive, rather than from other demons, perhaps if Vergil can get some donations from Dante's human friends... That may clear up the issue entirely.

"Yes, take me somewhere safe." Dante nuzzles into Vergil's throat. "I trust you. You'll keep me safe."

Vergil bares his teeth in a silent snarl. Dante shouldn't need it, much less request it like this. But as long as he is, Vergil will play the part.

Something is wrong, and Vergil is going to fix it.

No matter what it takes.

#

Their trek through the underworld is slow going. Any other time, it likely wouldn't have taken them more than a few days to move the distance needed to find a weak spot. But with Dante as he is... unwilling to move at his top speed, wanting to stop often for sleep or sex... It takes them weeks.

Every rest, Dante makes Vergil sleep curled around him, and during more than a few mornings he demands that Vergil fuck him without any sort of change in position. It's not hard, and Vergil doesn't exactly mind, but somehow it still seems odd.

Vergil continues to hunt for Dante, but it's getting increasingly hard as Dante refuses to let Vergil get too far away from him. Instead he comes along, but stays still, barely fighting, like one single huge target.

It sets Vergil's teeth on edge, but he has no way of stopping it. They just need to get out of here as quickly as possible. One way or another, Vergil will figure this out and Dante will go back to normal. One way or another.

When they finally reach a weak spot, Vergil is nearly at his wit's end. Dante is behaving more and more feral by the day, following instincts Vergil doesn't understand over his mind and intelligence. Whatever is going on with him, whatever this is, Vergil is going to fix it.

Even if he feels like he's slowly losing his mind too.

"Dante, we're here." Vergil pulls gently on the hand that has entwined with his own. The constantly moving landscape, the lack of a "safe place" to stay in, seems to have made Vergil's brother even more clingy and out of his mind.

"Here isn't safe! You lied!" Dante snarls, and before Vergil can react, he finds himself pushed down on the ground, Dante's fists beating against his body.

They're so much weaker than they should be.

Considering the rage Vergil can feel pouring off his brother's body, every single punch is far too weak. They're not nearly as painful as they should be, Vergil's jaw hasn't even dislocated.

Whatever is wrong with his brother, it's not just turning him feral, making him follow instincts that make little sense to Vergil, it's also draining him of his strength. No wonder Dante refuses to be parted from Vergil, no wonder he's so desperate for a safe space. He's been gradually growing weaker and more vulnerable.

With a snarl, Vergil throws Dante off him—so easy, far too easy—and catches him in his arms, holding him still and refusing to let him go.

"I didn't lie, we'll get there!"

But Dante keeps struggling, struggling and snarling, and parts of his body are starting to change, he's nearing his devil trigger.

Acting without conscious thought, Vergil bites down on Dante's neck, teeth clamping around it as he snarls loudly. As soon as his mind catches up, he makes to release his brother's neck, but before he can, Dante lets out a low whimper and collapses like a puppet with its strings cut, suddenly pliable and calm.

What the fuck.

"Will you listen to me now?" Vergil's going to use this moment for all he can, even if he's unsure of what is going on. If Dante still has some of their parents' library, there may be useful books there. Or even some of Sparda's notebooks. Surely there must be something left, something Vergil can use.

"Yes," Dante murmurs, hiding his face against Vergil's neck and relaxing completely in his hold. "You won't leave me again."

Vergil chokes at that. Why would that be what Dante is afraid of now? There's no reason for anything as dramatic as that... Unless Vergil's way of making Dante leave the cave has had this far reaching consequences.

Damn.

"We need to use Yamato here, to leave the underworld and move into the human realm. That is much safer for us." He whispers the words in his brother's ear, and strokes along his arms, no longer holding him still.

"Yes. Yes, the human world. There are safe places there." Dante nods his head sluggishly, seemingly exhausted from his bout of rage. Vergil closes his eyes against the despair that threatens.

Somehow what is happening to Dante seems even worse than when Vergil was breaking apart and losing himself to Mundus's corruption, ever weakening. At least he was sound of mind, or as sound as he had been for years. He wasn't at mercy of his instincts, he wasn't losing his rationality, he was just doing whatever he could to gain the power he needed.

Separating himself into two halves was quite possibly the best thing he could have done for himself, being V, being Urizen as Nero called him, taught him a lot about himself and the way of his being. He's not going to throw that knowledge away again. But even so, even before he knew it, understood it, he wasn't like this. He wasn't as Dante is now, slowly losing himself to whatever the hell this is.

"We'll need to amass our energy, little brother. But I think you need to rest first."

Dante shakes his head then, sluggish and unsure. "Not safe here... Not safe."

Vergil closes his eyes and lets out a frustrated breath.

"I'll keep watch over you, Dante. I'll keep you safe, I promise." Vergil has barely finished saying it before Dante's eyes slips closed, his breathing evens out, and he falls asleep in Vergil's arms, seated on his lap on the ground.

Vergil starts amassing his own energy. It's going to take a while, after all, and he'll need to be able to focus on combining his own strength with Dante's. If they're to succeed with this, they're going to need to be in sync with each other.

Vergil only fears that Dante may already be too far gone for it.

#

Yamato slices through the air, and Vergil feels their power move through her, helping her breach more than just intra-dimensional barriers.

When the portal opens, Vergil takes Dante by the wrist and pulls him along inside it. He can’t trust that Dante will come along of his own accord, and he cannot risk accidentally leaving him behind. Not only would he be leaving his vulnerable brother alone in the underworld without being able to get back to him easily without opening a hell portal, but there’s no way Dante’s friends would let him explain before trying to kill him with extreme prejudice.

They’d fail, of course, but Vergil would rather avoid the whole thing entirely if possible.

Stepping inside it feels like a wave of static washing over his body, and Vergil feels Dante’s flinch, feels him try to pull free and move back. Vergil’s hand clamps down harder around Dante’s wrist, not giving an inch. They go together or they don’t go at all.

“Come, Dante. We need to move forward, to safety.”

Dante lets out a low mournful whine and plasters himself to Vergil’s back, his free hand clenching around Vergil’s bicep. Still, he moves with Vergil, trusts him, and that’s all Vergil needs right now. If they just get to the human world, things will immediately be better, due to the lack of constant enemies breathing down their necks.

The In-Between is longer than usual, likely due to the fact that they’re moving inter-dimensionally rather than intra-dimensionally, but Vergil can see the other end. Farther than usual, but not that far.

He doesn’t quite recognize the landscape he sees on the other side of the In-Between, so it doesn’t seem to be anywhere he’s been before. He tamps down on the relief of not ending up at Mallet Island; that would have been a disaster to say the least. Who knows how Dante would react to being back there in his current state?

They step outside, and Vergil immediately feels the difference in the quality of the air. The human world has so much more pollution in the air, but also far less miasma. There’s also far less ambient energy for them to absorb, so Vergil will need to be extremely aware of Dante to ensure he doesn’t deteriorate health wise.

They're in some form of back-alley, and when they make it to the end of it so Vergil can look at the humans milling about, he realises that they are in an East-Asian country.

He closes his eyes and does his best not to sigh in despair. This means they'll need to get themselves back to Dante's shop from... He squints at a billboard, looking at the characters to try and conclude which language it is. Well, they'll need to get back to Dante's shop from Japan. Using Yamato to traverse the human realm won't be too difficult, her capabilities are more than enough for it.

However... It seems inadvisable to simply pop in on Dante's friends or Nero when Dante is clearly not in his right mind. Vergil does not look forward to ending up in some sort of altercation just because they're all the "shoot first, ask questions later" type.

Perhaps he can find a phone booth and call Nico, he still remembers her number from when he was V and the whole mess with the Qliphoth in Redgrave went down. Of course, even if they do find a payphone, they'll still need to pay for the call somehow. Vergil strokes his chin, even as he keeps his firm grip around Dante's wrist, as he thinks.

He's quite certain he doesn't have any sort of personal affects in his clothes, he lost everything like that years ago. You don't need a credit card in the underworld after all. He'd managed to get access to his account to pay for Dante's services in taking down his demon half as V, but he hadn't bothered to keep a hold of anything.

Dante, however... Hmm, it's a possibility.

Vergil steps away from his brother and releases his wrist as he turns around. Dante's face is pale, and Vergil can see beads of sweat on his face. Opening the portal and traversing it must have taken quite a bit out of him, Vergil concludes.

Unfortunately, there are no convenient demons around for Dante to eat, and Vergil is not going to stake Dante's health on the hope that human food will work just as well. Any experiment like that will have to wait until they're in a safer place, when they have allies who can help Vergil hunt if it comes to that.

There's only one thing he can do.

"Don't worry, Dante." Vergil gently slides Yamato out of her sheathe and swiftly slashes her downward easily opening a cut across his wrist. This is the only thing he can offer his brother at the moment, and he can only hope that it will be enough.

"Vergil?" Dante's voice is quiet, and his face... The look in his eyes is far more cognisant than anything Vergil has seen in weeks. He looks as he should. Aware and intelligent.

"Drink, Dante. We need to get your strength up." He holds his wrist out to Dante, eyes on the blood that's slowly dropping towards the ground.

Dante only hesitates for the briefest of moments before he takes Vergil's wrist to his mouth and begins sucking, drinking from it.

As Vergil watches he sees colour return to his brother's face, a gentle flush building on his skin. Good. Vergil is uncertain what he would have done if it hadn't worked, but at least he doesn't need to bother considering that for any longer.

Dante drinks for a while longer before he releases Vergil's wrist and looks up to meet his gaze.

He smiles then, heedless of the blood that's smeared all over his lips and teeth. "You gave me your blood." His voice is filled with affection, far more than Vergil thinks the situation warrants. Sharing blood is intimate for demons, done only for those you trust utmost. But this... this affection, it's different. It's not just the proof of trust, there's something else.

"I did," Vergil murmurs, moving closer to his brother almost unconsciously. He doesn't know why they're doing this, why he feels drawn to his brother in this new way, why the sight of his own blood on his brother's lips is so arousing. It can hardly be considered a mark of ownership or anything like it, and yet...

He pulls Dante into a kiss, chasing the taste of his own blood on Dante's tongue, enjoying the feeling of his brother's body pressed against his own.

Vergil wants him, but now is not the time.

"We need to keep moving." Vergil steps back. "We should try to call one of your friends, see if we can give them some warning before we make our way there."

Dante's eyes are strangely luminous, but still more aware than they've been in over a month's time.

A sly smile spreads on Dante's lips. "I still have my wallet. If we can find an ATM and pay phone..."

Vergil nods and together they start moving out of the alley. As they reach the street, Vergil watches the people milling about until motion in the corner of his eye turns his attention back to Dante. Dante who has his arms wrapped over his stomach.

"Does your stomach hurt?" Vergil watches Dante's face closely.

Dante shakes his head roughly. "No. I just..." He trails off and moves closer to Vergil, crowding into his spade.

Vergil takes it as a sign that Dante's regained cognition is starting to fade a bit again and has to stop himself from snarl at the thought of it. Best to not let Dante see that he's agitated, after all, Vergil has no idea how he'll react to something like that right now.

It doesn't take them long to find an ATM that allows for international withdrawals inside a nearby 7eleven. Dante only takes out ten thousand yen, but as the note comes out, Vergil frowns. The pay phones they've passed so far have all needed coins, so they'll need change. Of course, Vergil does not speak Japanese, and he has no idea if Dante does. They might be able to get through a regular purchase without speaking Japanese, but he's not so sure they'll be able to explain what they want without it.

"We need coins," Vergil mutters, glancing around the convenience store to see if there's something in here that could be worth buying.

Dante rolls his eyes and looks around the store for a bit, quickly picking up a few items—holding them close to his chest before Vergil can get a glimpse of what they are—and takes them up to the register to pay.

Somehow Dante manages to charade his way into getting coins instead of bills in change, and Vergil feels swell of affection for his brother. Now if only he can stay like this, rather than slide back into the feral mess Vergil had taken out from the underworld. Perhaps being in the human world has already started to help.

So far, so good.

Perhaps this is all overdoing it. Perhaps Vergil should just have used Yamato to move them ever closer to the shop, but... He glances at his brother who's scarfing down what appears to be some sort of chocolate bar and sighs. No use in second guessing himself now. There's nowhere to go but forward.

They finally get to a payphone in a slightly more secluded spot to finally make the call.

As little risk as it may be that someone listening would even understand what they're saying, Vergil doesn't want to have this conversation in public anyway.

Who knows how much screaming may ensure on the other end of the line, after all?

He drops coin after coin into the phone—likely far more than what is even necessary—and then finally punches in the number he still knows by heart.

And waits.

"Devil May Cry."

Vergil hadn't expected that Nero would be the one to answer and instead finds himself awkwardly out of words, unsure of how to begin this call. Nico he'd give far less care to, but considering what Dante said about...

"Hello? Anyone there?"

Vergil winces and tries to think of something, anything, to say. This is already starting to feel like the worst idea he's had in a good while, possibly even worse than separating himself using Yamato. Maybe even worse than the mess that was Temen-Ni-Gru, if Vergil is honest with himself.

"I can hear your breathing, dipshit! If this is some sort of prank call—!"

Vergil swallows and throws caution to the wind. There's nothing else to be done.

"Nero." As far as greetings goes, it's rather lacklustre and Vergil is embarrassed on his own behalf. Perhaps he should start to wonder if maybe his own cognitive functions have been negatively affected, and not just Dante's. It's certainly worth considering.

"What the—! I... V-Vergil? Is that you?" Nero sounds outright baffled and like Vergil caught him off-guard. Which, now that Vergil thinks about it, he most likely did.

Dante pushes himself in closer, but Vergil doesn't pay him much attention, instead just raises his arm to let Dante move in under it. In response, Dante makes a content grunt Vergil hopes the phone didn't pick up on.

"Yes. It's me." Now if he could just... get himself together enough to speak properly, that would be much appreciated.

"How... Is Dante there? How the fuck are you calling?"

Vergil glances at his brother and sighs.

"Dante, say hi to Nero." He holds the receiver out to Dante who turns to Vergil.

"Hi Nero," Dante says, eyes still clear, present. "We're in, uh... Japan, I think?"

"I believe so," Vergil says and takes the receiver back so he can hear anything Nero might say.

"Okay, so... You're both in... In Japan." He sounds entirely out of his depth. "How are you in Japan? I thought you... You went to the underworld. You closed the portal behind you when you cut down the Qliphoth."

"We did," Vergil agrees with a nod even though Nero can't see it. "However, between the two of us and a place where the divide is thin, getting back to the human realm using Yamato was little trouble." Though it took far more out of Dante than it should have.

"Oh... Uh. Right, so. Why are you calling?"

Vergil glances at Dante and wonders how much he should say, especially since Dante seems aware right now. However, in hopes of not having any annoyance once they finally make it back, it's likely best if he's as explicit as possible, isn't it?

"Something is going with Dante, we're heading back to the shop to see what we can figure out, and I do not fancy having Dante's friends attack me on sight when we show up."

There's a long stretch of silence, so long that Vergil almost starts wondering if perhaps he's out of time.

"Well, I'll go warn them then. See you in a while, I guess. But you'll have to explain more later."

"I will."

They hang up and Vergil looks at his brother, nestled against him and arms still curled around his stomach.

"Come, we need to go somewhere else where we won't be seen so we can use Yamato."

They move.

When they finally make it to Red Grave county, Vergil takes some time to consider their options. They should likely avoid going through Red Grave city itself, though it is the fastest route, and as tired as Vergil is now, they should avoid relying more on Yamato. Having moved as much as they have, Vergil feels that some rest and arriving by foot rather than through a portal is likely their best option.

Even with Nero's warning, Vergil has a feeling Dante's friends will be more than a little trigger happy. Not entirely unearned on Vergil's part, of course, but considering Dante's moods he'd rather not chance anything. Dante refuses to let Vergil leave him alone for any longer stretches of time, so who knows how he would react to Vergil being attacked. Weakened or not, Vergil is still quite sure that Dante is far more powerful than his friends. Especially the humans.

They spend a night in a dingy motel room on the outskirts of Red Grave city and Vergil tries his best to ensure Dante feels secure. Oddly, Dante bunches the blankets and pillows together into one big mess and burrows into it, clearly planning on sleeping while barely visible.

Vergil snorts loudly—it looks truly ridiculous—but curls around the veritable mountain of pillows and blankets as some form of outer wall. It's unlikely anyone would find them where they are, but Vergil still ensures that he only dozes rather than goes into deep sleep. He'll get the rest he needs and regain power, but he'll also be alert and ready should someone or something come against all expectations.

The next morning dawns grey and drab, but also with Dante's hand wrapped around Vergil's dick.

Bucking into the delicious pressure, Vergil opens his eyes to meet Dante's dark and intent gaze.

"Morning, Vergil," Dante whispers with a shit eating grin on his lips. Vergil squints at him, but he seems to be aware rather than at the mercy of his instincts do Vergil sees no harm in indulging in a bit of morning delight.

"Good morning, Dante," Vergil says in turn and moves closer to his brother on the bed, pulling him into a deep kiss.

Dante hums and squeezes Vergil's dick before he loosens how group to stay running out gently up and down the shaft. Vergil shudders and makes swift work on Dante's little blanket mountain until it's just the two of them on the best, dressed but with their trousers pulled down to mid-thigh.

Dante's dick is already hard and leaking, and Vergil wonders for just how long he lay there, aroused and aching, before he decided to do something about it and bring Vergil into it.

Pulling his brother in close, Vergil presses a deep kiss against Dante's lips just as Dante's hands clamp down on Vergil's hips and he starts grinding their hard dicks together.

Content to let his brother control the pace of their rutting, Vergil focuses instead on kissing Dante silly, running gentle hands over his brother's face and neck. It's so different from their usual kind of coupling, but Vergil finds that he's not opposed to it. Instead, he finds that he enjoys it very much indeed. Rough and fast, long and hard, in all its glory, but he finds that he's enjoying this far slower and softer coupling more than he could have anticipated.

"Vergil," Dante whines softly as Vergil finally lets him come up for air.

"So good, Dante," Vergil whispers gently to his brother and presses forward at the same time Dante does, making the press harder than before.

He finds that he could likely have spent hours enjoying his brother, but he does not want to put off reaching Devil May Cry for too long. Dante is lucid now, certainly, and more in control of himself since they reached the human world, but Vergil will not take it for granted. Best to try and find their answers and take care of this problem immediately—if possible.

Dante comes, moaning sweetly into Vergil's mouth, as he squeezes their cocks together in his hands. Vergil follows not long after, shuddering himself. As they pull apart and clean themselves up, Vergil keeps a close eye on his brother. He seems... fuller, than usual. More rounded, as if he's somehow softened around the edges. Not much, hardly anything at all actually, if Vergil hadn't been specifically looking for changes, he likely would have missed it entirely.

He doesn't say anything about it, but it's more data to help them figure out whatever it is that's going on.

"How are you feeling? Are you hungry? Thirsty?" Vergil glances down at his wrist, wondering if he should reopen the long-since healed slash on his wrist and let Dante get another drink of his blood. It's possible that it was Vergil's blood, rather than the return to the human world, that has helped him.

After all, Vergil is half human, and if what Dante needs is human blood, then Vergil's blood would be far more useful than the blood of demons.

Dante is silent for a while as he pulls his boots back on, possibly also taking stock of his body to consider the question. Of course, it's also possible that Dante just didn't hear what Vergil said, or that he's ignoring him.

"I... I'm a bit hungry." Dante frowns. "I'm not... as hungry as I've been. I'm just a bit hungry."

Vergil nods. How interesting. That does lend some credence to the idea that Vergil's blood has been better for Dante than demon blood and flesh has been.

Without hesitation, Vergil allows one of his hands to transform, and with a quick movement, he slices his other wrist open.

"Drink, Dante." Vergil holds his wrist up for Dante, keeping a close eye on the blood to ensure that none of drops to the floor or on the bed. Best to not leave any unsavoury traces behind that a human can find and be upset about.

Luckily, Dante wastes no time before he wraps his lips around Vergil's wrist and drinking down the blood greedily, not allowing a single drop to go to waste. Vergil takes the time to watching his brother's face and sees a flush start to gather on his cheeks.

Vergil feels heat start to build in his chest, a sort of warm sense of enjoyment that grows and burns inside him. Why he reacts to this to his brother drinking his blood, Vergil doesn't know, but perhaps it's something they can figure out soon. Perhaps all of it is demon instincts Sparda would have taught them about had he lived, had their mother lived, had they all remained a family—safe and whole.

Sometimes Vergil hates his father for splitting his power, for not keeping himself at his peak until after Vergil and Dante were grown. Sometimes, Vergil hates his father for going out into the world and dying, leaving not a trace of him behind except three swords.

He loves Yamato, she's as much a part of him as his right arm is, but she cannot tell him about his demon instincts. Even though Vergil worked so hard to accept his demon half and reject his human side, for years upon years, he just does not understand some of what he feels. It is not an innate understanding for him, likely due to his human half's interference, and he hates not understanding himself better.

Perhaps if he'd understood himself, if he'd know all about his instincts and feelings... Perhaps then he and Dante would never have parted ways. Perhaps he would never have fallen to Mundus's power, and perhaps he would never have suffered the torture and humiliation he has.

He hates it so much, and for a long time he hated his little brother too.

He thought—and now it shames him for how stupid he was to think so—that his mother had taken his brother and ran, forgetting all about Vergil. He thought Dante got to grow up with their mother, that she died years after the attack. It had been foolish of him to think so, not to mention naive. Perhaps part of him had simply lived on the hope that his mother and brother were out there and safe, that he was the only one suffering. Perhaps, in some twisted way, despite how it had stoked his jealousy and rage towards his brother, it had also helped keep him sane as he struggled to survive at all.

"Thank you." Dante's soft voice cuts through Vergil's thoughts, and his gaze refocuses on his wrist, watching as the wound on it knits together and heals, now that Dante's tongue isn't working on it to keep it open.

"You're welcome."

They move apart to put on their coats. As Vergil straps Yamato to his hip, Dante suddenly leans heavily against Vergil's back, his face burying itself in his shoulder.

Vergil thinks he hears a long inhale, but he remains silent, waiting.

"Something is wrong with me, Vergil." Dante's voice is quiet. "I don't know what it is, and I heard you mention it to Nero... But I don't know how long I will still feel like myself. I don't know what's wrong, I don't know why I'm like this. Perhaps I shouldn't come with you back to Devil May Cry, what if I hurt someone?"

Vergil stiffens, and he feels rage lick along his spine.

"If you think I'm going to leave you behind here, you're an idiot. You're scared you're going to hurt your friends? Well, at least they can somewhat take care of themselves, unlike every single unsuspecting person you might come across if I just leave you behind."

Vergil feels Dante shudder against his back.

It's pathetic. His brother is acting so weak and small and careful... Nothing at all like his usual devil may care attitude, and not even like his calmer and darker personality either. No, this is something different, something small and afraid.

Vergil wonders how long it's been since his brother last let himself truly feel afraid.

"Now stop worrying, you idiot. I'll be there, and in your current state you're no match for me anyway." He snorts. "As if I or Nero would be stupid enough to let you do something you would react badly to once you returned to yourself."

Dante laughs silently, humourlessly, but says nothing. Vergil wonders if it's because there's really no reason for Dante to trust him, is there? It's not like Vergil has done much to earn or keep his trust in the last thirty something years, is there?

"And if you can't trust me to do it, trust the boy. If he's not going to let us kill each other, then he's hardly going to let you kill any of the others, is he?"

This time Dante's snorting laughter is far more genuine, and Vergil decides to take it as a win. He'll just have to take what he can get in this situation. Neither of them are great communicators, and they have decades of betrayals and things unsaid between them. As much as Nero has managed to heal the divide between them, it's nothing more than a bridge across a great chasm.

Perhaps one day they'll go through everything, perhaps one day they'll properly discuss and talk about it. But Vergil doubts it's anytime soon.

No matter how much sex they've had.

#

Devil may Cry seems quiet by the time they make it there.

Vergil gives the building a distrustful glance before he turns his attention back to his brother. Dante is looking around, occasionally tilting his head to the side as if he were a dog—clearly listening for something.

"Let's head inside, shall we? Nero should have warned everyone that we're coming."

Dante nods. "It... it seems safe. It smells safe." He laughs, but the look on his face is embarrassed. "It smells like me. I haven't been there in months and it still smells like me. Perhaps that's why it feels safe. I don't... I don't know."

"It's likely to be the safest space we'll find. Let's go."

Well, nothing to do but see what awaits them.

Vergil decides to keep Dante behind him as he steps inside the room. He doesn't quite know why he does but feels like he should. They're less likely to be attacked from behind, after all.

"Huh, the lights are actually still on," Dante says suddenly from behind Vergil's shoulder. Vergil does not want to ask what that is about. For some reason, Dante clearly expected the lights to be off.

Shaking his head Vergil decides to ask about that later, when there's no other pressing issues.

The room is empty as far as people go, which is also not what Vergil expected. Nero had said he would talk to Dante's other friends, so he assumed they would all be here, waiting. Perhaps they got called out?

Dante looks around the room, and for the first time in weeks moves away from Vergil of his own free will. He sniffs at the air and tilts his head to the side, listening for something. Vergil remains quiet and lets Dante do whatever he wants to do, they should be safe for now, so allowing Dante some time to get reacquainted with his surroundings can only be a good thing. The more lucid, normal, Dante is by the time the other returns, the better.

"Oh look, they've ever watered my plants!" Dante looks genuinely pleased to see that. Vergil has little opinion on plants, though their mother did always keep a rose garden, so he remains silent.

"I left the deed to the place to Morrison," Dante says then, turning back to Vergil. "I knew the girls would take over the place if I didn't. Morrison is probably why it's in such good shape, he likes me enough to keep things as they are. Lady and Trish would have converted this whole thing to their own whatever as soon as they could... Well, once they'd duked it out over who got the place."

He pauses then, before he lets out a loud laugh. "This place is actually in better shape than I left it. I think Morrison has cleaned and repaired it quite a bit. It actually looks nice now."

Vergil snorts. Unbelievable.

"Didn't you take care of your shop at all?" He raises an eyebrow as he watches his brother with an unimpressed gaze.

Dante shrugs one shoulder. "I wasn't always good at taking jobs consistently, so I ended up with economic difficulties more often than not. Not to mention it's not like demon work pops up all the time... Well, at least not for freelancers." He strokes his chin. "I think Lady has a deal with the government, so she gets more jobs than I do. And I'm not going to let Patty give me money, even if she did technically get adopted by a rich heiress before her mother came back. Huh, now that I think about it, I wonder how that whole custody deal worked out. I never bothered to ask."

Vergil shakes his head, trying to ignore the tangent regarding this 'Patty'. Clearly his brother has no business sense at all.

But... At least being back here seems to be helping. Dante looks good, he acts like himself, and far from feral. Which means that should he get worse again, there's now evidence that it can be fixed. Whatever it is that's wrong with Dante, they can fix it, clearly.

Which is a relief. If Dante had continued to get more and more feral with no hope of returning to a normal state of mind, Vergil isn't sure where that would have gone. He's not sure how it would have ended.

Vergil has forced Dante's hand in killing him several times... but Vergil's not so sure that if the tables were turned, now, that he can bear to do it.

Once upon a time he would have done it without hesitation. Now though...

"I... I wonder if my room is the same. I hope they didn't mess with it." With those words, Dante moves away to head upstairs.

Vergil wonders if he should follow or if it would be better for him to stay behind and look through the rest of the building. Dante must have books somewhere. There's clearly a bookcase behind the desk under the stairs, but Vergil certainly hopes those aren't all the books Dante owns.

"Go look at your room, Dante. I'll be here, going through your books." Vergil wonders if any of their mother's books have been saved, or if it was all destroyed in the fire.

"There's more books in one of the back rooms, and I've got some in my room. Well, if you're looking for non-fiction demonology and magic books, anyway." With those parting words, proving that Dante is smarter than Vergil usually gives him credit for, Dante disappears up the stairs and into one of the rooms there.

Vergil keeps track of his brother in the back of his mind. He has to squash the urge to follow him, to hover over his shoulder. It's for the best if they spend some time apart for now, Vergil thinks.

He looks at the books in the bookcase and ignores the folders with papers for the time being. There are some basic warding books, some books that look like new-age stuff Vergil has little interest in, but also several books that seem to be information about demons. There's even a book called "Necronomicon", but Vergil leaves that one for now. He's not looking for anything dealing with death right now...

At the very least he hopes that whatever it is Dante is suffering, it's not terminal.

And even if it is, Vergil's going to ensure that it's not. If he has to raise another Qliphoth to do it. He's not about to share that little thought with Dante, however.

He picks a book at random and walks over to the sofa that's pressed against one of the walls. He can't see any suspicious stains, and there's nothing else on it, so Vergil takes a seat and opens the book. He can sense Dante moving around upstairs, and nothing seems to be wrong, so Vergil turns his attention to the words and images in front of him.

If something happens, he'll know, but for now he'll read and see what information this book contains.

Time passes quickly. Dante still hasn't come downstairs and Vergil feels himself start to get restless, as if something in him is aching to make sure that whatever place Dante is in is actually safe.

The instinct makes little sense as this is Dante's own place. Sure, he hasn't been here in several months due to their trip to the underworld, but Vergil can tell that Dante's friends has kept the place running. He's not so stupid as to think that Dante's friends would do something to the shop that would harm Dante.

And yet.

He draws a deep breath and lets it out slowly in a small sigh. He repeats the process several times, slowly gaining back his iron control. If Dante needs him, he'll yell. Vergil doesn't need to go running after his brother, not at all. In fact, doing so would be foolish and unnecessary.

His brother can handle himself alone for a few hours in his own building... Even if his mind has been compromised.

Surely.

Suddenly Vergil is drawn out of his thoughts by the sound of voices coming ever closer.

"Do you think they've arrived yet?" Lady's voice is instantly recognisable to him. Of course, if he hadn't had V's memories, he likely would have assumed her name was Mary, as Arkham called her. But since everyone else calls her Lady and only Lady, Vergil will as well—he learned to do as much as V.

"I think it's likely, considering Yamato's capabilities." Trish, the female demon. "In fact, I'm surprised they didn't arrive yesterday."

"Well, I think it'll be good to see Dante again! Not so sure about your old man though, eh Nero?"

"Oh, shut up, Nico." Nero. Vergil's son.

Vergil hasn't really allowed himself to think too much about the fact that he has a child. That before he raised Temen-Ni-Gru he actually managed to father a child. Perhaps assuming that he was infertile due to being a hybrid was a failure on his part, as was trusting that the woman he slept with was actually on birth control as she said.

Of course, if he hadn't, he wouldn't be where he is now. After all, if Nero didn't exist, Yamato would likely have been in Dante's hands and Vergil would have had little hope to not only get the drop on Dante the way he did Nero, but also somehow manage to get Yamato away from him. No doubt would he have kept her locked up somewhere.

Vergil would have perished.

It's an interesting thing to consider. If he hadn't been irresponsible and conceived a child that he never even knew existed, he would have died months ago.

Vergil can admit that he's made more than a few mistakes over the course of his life. That getting a one-night-stand pregnant isn't one of them is fairly amusing, now that Vergil thinks about it. Dante would certainly find it funny at least.

The door swings open, and there they all are.

Vergil watches them passively as they come to a halt just inside the door, staring at him. He raises an eyebrow but doesn't say anything.

Lady's eyes narrow. "Where's Dante?"

Vergil stifles a roll of his eyes. No need to make them even more enemies than they already are.

"He's upstairs. Wanted to check to see if you'd done anything to his room." He makes a show of looking around the room. "After all, you've clearly cleaned this place up while he was gone."

"Wait, how do you know that?" Nico frowns at him as she pushes Nero aside, ignoring his loud protest at her behaviour.

"I remember being V. Just as I remember being Urizen. As V I saw this place when I hired Dante to deal with Urizen. It was... Quite a bit more of a mess at the time. Papers all over the floor among other things."

Lady snorts loudly. "Yeah, Morrison has turned this place to an actual and functioning place of business. No thanks to Dante... Well, other than his reputation."

There's a sudden loud noise from upstairs, and Dante's face peeks around the corner.

With horror, Vergil can see how frighteningly blank his gaze is. Just like all those times in the underworld when he was less than lucid.

"Shit!" Vergil gets to his feet and moves to step in front of the others.

Before anyone can say anything, however, Dante lets out a loud snarling roar, and Vergil can see the beginnings of his transformation into his devil trigger form.

"What the fuck..." Nero breathes.

The sound causes Dante to lash out, and he outright leaps from the second floor, aiming straight at Nero.

Before he can make contact, however, Vergil intercepts the attack, crashing into Dante at top speed. He pulls him with him to the other side of the room, keeping him locked in his arms, heedless of Dante's loud and vigorous struggles. They both flash between their devil triggers and human forms, Vergil struggling to keep up with Dante, desperate to keep a proper hold of him. If Vergil stays in his triggered form when Dante leaves it, he may become small enough to slip out of Vergil's arms. He can't risk it.

"Dante! Stop it!" Vergil hisses in his ear. "They're your friends."

Vergil pays no attention to the shouts and screams from Dante's friends, instead focusing entirely on his still struggling brother. Dante seems entirely out of his mind, and no matter how strong Vergil's grip, no matter how many times he tries to tell Dante that it's his damn friends, it doesn't seem to penetrate his instinct addled mind and the struggles don't let up at all. In fact, the snarls and growls only increase in volume and Vergil wonders if he'll need to hold Dante in place until he tires himself out.

Vergil's own hackles are rising, Dante's behaviour is setting every instinct in him off and he starts to fear that he'll get addled himself if he doesn't get Dante under control soon.

"Fuck, when he said something was wrong with Dante, that wasn't even fucking half of it, was it?" Lady snarls, but she doesn't come closer.

Vergil can't help but feel slightly grateful that they all at least have elected to keep their distance and their guards are up, ready to defend themselves, and let Vergil deal with Dante. At least for the time being. Who knows how long they'll allow things to stand if Dante doesn't calm down?

Vergil's teeth feel itchy, and even as Dante trashes and throws his head back and forth, Vergil suddenly can't see anything except the back of his neck. Exposed. Vulnerable.

Before he can even second guess himself, Vergil opens his mouth wide and bites down on Dante's neck, clamping his teeth harshly into the bare skin. Just as he did when he bit him in the underworld.

Dante freezes in place immediately, the fight stopping so quickly Vergil nearly drops him, and then with a small whimper he relaxes back into Vergil's arms with a shudder. Just like last time. Vergil stifles the sigh of relief that wants to break free at it having worked this time too.

"What the fuck." Nero sounds aghast, but Vergil elects to not pay him any attention for now, refuses to even look at them. It can wait until Dante is under control again.

Vergil lets go of Dante's neck with his teeth slowly and keeps his grip hard on his brother's form. He doesn't trust him to not start thrashing or go into attack mode again, not when he's like this.

Vergil stares at his brother silently for a while before he decides that it's time to see if he's back to himself, or at least somewhat lucid.

"Dante?" Vergil keeps his voice low, barely more than a whisper.

Dante shudders. "I'm so fucking sorry," he says, voice low and hoarse. "What the fuck is wrong with me, Vergil?"

Vergil finally lets himself look up over Dante's shoulder, taking in the gobsmacked expressions on Dante's friends' faces, on the face of Vergil's son, and gives the only answer he has. "I don't know."

They're silent for a while, and then Vergil finally lets go of Dante, but remaining vigilant.

Though he's calmed down, Dante is agitated in a different way instead.

"I fucking told you I shouldn't have come! I told you should have left me behind, Vergil!" Dante's voice is raw, sounding as if he's moments from breaking into tears. "I fucking tried to attack my friends."

"And I stopped you. Just like I said I would. And I will stop you if it happens again." Vergil fails to suppress the growl that builds in his throat. "I'm not going to leave you behind in a motel somewhere just like I'm not going to leave you behind in the underworld. Idiot."

Dante chuckles wetly, but there's little humour in it—frighteningly close to a sob.

"How do you feel?" Vergil keeps a keen eye on his brother, unwilling to relax.

Dante collapses down on the ground to a sitting position, burying his face in his knees and wrapping his arms around himself; he's making himself as small as possible.

Vergil frowns at the lack of a reply, but he supposes that's enough of a reply in and of itself.

"Okay. So that's freaky," Nico says. "What's happened to him?"

All four of them stay where they are on the other side of the room, which is likely a good idea for now until they can be sure that Dante won't try to attack again.

"We don't know." Vergil shakes his head. "He hasn't been anywhere I haven't, nor has he eaten or drunk anything I haven't, before the symptoms started. They've gotten increasingly worse since. If I hadn't literally forced the issue, Dante wouldn't have left the underworld at all."

Trish crosses her arms over her chest and purses her lips.

"What are the symptoms? I'm not an encyclopaedia, but I am a demon. I may know what's wrong."

Vergil had hoped she would suggest as much.

"It started subtly," he begins, staring down at Dante's hunched form. "He started using his hands rather than any of his weapons more and more. And then he started getting... Hungry."

That appears to startle her.

"Hungry? Dante got actually and proper hungry? Were you not taking down any demons?"

Vergil shakes his head. "We took down many. He just... stopped draining them for vitality and started to outright eat them instead. And their blood. Drinking their blood seemed almost more helpful than the flesh, really."

"That's disgusting," Nero says suddenly, looking a bit green. "I haven't ever seen a demon that looks especially appetising."

Trish snorts. "You're not a full demon—and unless Vergil is going to surprise me and reveal that your mother was a demon you are only one quarter demon. All in all, that is a clear majority human. For demons? Other demons are food the same way humans can be food. There's not really a concept of cannibalism among demons." She shrugs one shoulder. "I know a few conditions that would cause actual eating rather than draining, even for demons such as you two or me." She nods towards Vergil and Dante.

"He got progressively hungrier, but he also got more lethargic and... Hornier. He lost interest in sparring and would spend a lot of time curled into a ball just sleeping." Vergil keeps an eye on the humans, wondering just how they would react if Vergil got more specific on the topic.

"Horny?" Nero's voice goes high-pitched. Ah, well, that's unfortunate. Vergil had hoped no one would bring any attention to it.

"Yes. Do I need to explain it in more detail?" Vergil raises an eyebrow but keeps his face placid otherwise.

Nero shakes his head vigorously, but Lady looks intrigued, Trish contemplative, and Nico has a grin on her face that can only be described as "shit-eating".

"He stopped wanting to move, wanted to remain in the vicinity of a cave that was well located. I ended up having to hunt demons for him and bring back as food while he slept." Vergil shakes his head. "And then he started losing lucidity. Started to instead be ruled more and more by demonic instincts I don't think either of us quite understand and turning almost... Feral."

"How intriguing." Trish holds her chin, rubbing it just slightly. "Go on."

At his feet, Dante lets out a large sigh, but he remains quiet.

"I decided we needed to come back to the human world to try and figure out what was wrong with him and ended up having to force his hand by leaving the cave and him behind. He'd previously shown that he could not stand to be physically parted from me for any stretch of time really, and would instead come with me on the hunts except instead of fighting, he would just stand around like a huge target."

Dante chuckles humourlessly. "Sorry. I just..." He trails off into nothing, doesn't finish his explanation.

Vergil isn't especially bothered by that, doesn't allow himself to be bothered by it, and turns his attention back to Dante's friends instead.

"So, once I finally managed to force him to come with me, with the promise that we were going somewhere safe... Well. We went hunting for a place where the divide is thin." Vergil shrugs one shoulder elegantly. "Since returning to the human world, there has been clear improvements. As you can all tell, most likely, since Dante has been lucid and actually talking."

Trish frowns. "Has anything else changed, besides which realm you're in?"

Vergil thinks about it, but the answer comes to him swiftly. "There are far less demons here than in the underworld, and I wanted to arrive here as quickly as possible. So rather than go demon hunting for food, I've let Dante drink my blood for sustenance."

The words have a large impact on the group, to Vergil's genuine surprise. He wasn't expecting it, at least not from anyone besides Trish. She'd understand the importance of blood sharing between demons, but none of the others should. And yet...

Nero pales.

Nico turns slightly green.

Lady's eyes narrow and one of her hands stray towards one of the guns on her belt.

Trish, rather than looking surprised, looks concerned.

"He's been drinking your blood, V?" Nico says, and sounds like she actually wants to hurl. It's odd, Vergil thinks, that she seems so fine in most situation he's seen her in, no matter how terrible or gruesome. And yet, the thought of Dante drinking Vergil's blood seems to be turning her stomach.

Perhaps it's the natural human aversion to what would amount to cannibalism. And not just any cannibalism, one involving a closely related family member at that.

Humans do have the oddest hang-ups.

"Yes. I have both demon and human blood running through my veins. I assumed that perhaps it might be better for him. Most demons thrive more on human blood than demon blood, so adding a bit of human to the mix for Dante seemed unlikely to hurt." Vergil raises an eyebrow again. "Besides, I doubt he would have appreciated it if I'd gone hunting for human blood for him. Quite the opposite I would presume."

Dante has never enjoyed harming humans, after all.

"How surprisingly considerate of you." Lady's voice is cold, and her face is blank.

Vergil doesn't even bother to reply to her words, instead he simply raises an eyebrow. He has no interest in explaining himself to this woman, she knows nothing. Of course, she knows more than some, but it's still less than what he would consider adequate for anyone who wishes to judge him.

Then again, he has no idea how much Dante has told her over the years. Perhaps he's shared every tiny bit of their sordid past, of their horribly tangled and blood-stained lives. However, for all that his brother is showy, he keeps his thoughts and his secrets close to his chest. If there's anything Vergil has learned over the last few months, it is that.

"Well, to get back on track," Trish sounds long-suffering, perhaps this sort of sniping and petty argumentation is common among Dante's friends, "Allow me to summarise the symptoms and you can tell me if I've missed anything."

Vergil inclines his head in concession. Sounds reasonable enough.

"Lethargy, increased libido, hunger for flesh, thirst for blood, loss of some cognitive functions, increased reliance on demonic instincts, an increased need for safety, and an unwillingness to be parted from you." She ticks them off on her fingers, one by one.

Vergil nods. "Sounds about right."

Trish nods, her lips pressing into a thin line as she crosses her arms over her chest. "One more question."

"Yes?" Vergil gives her an unimpressed look. This whole thing would go much faster if she'd just ask her questions instead of pausing to mention that she wants to ask them.

"Has he been sexually active with a partner?"

Nero lets out a choking noise followed by a loud wheeze. Vergil looks at him blankly for a brief moment, before his attention is taken up by the loud guffaw Nico lets out.

Trish clears her throat. "I know you mentioned increased libido, but I need to know whether that was in the form of masturbation or penetrative sex with a partner. And if he were on the receiving end at any time."

"Woah!" Lady gives Trish a wide-eyed look. "I don't know about you, but I don't actually want to know that much about Dante's sex life, Trish!"

Nero's face is blazingly red, but he also looks like he's seconds from hurling. Possibly out of embarrassment, Vergil thinks.

"Does that truly matter?" Vergil says, but before Trish can say anything...

"Yes." Dante's voice comes out hoarse, but loud despite that. "I have been sexually active with a partner in multiple positions multiple times. Why?" He almost snarls out the last word, and Vergil finds himself stifling the urge to grab hold of Dante's shoulder. It's possible Dante would take it the wrong way, and Vergil does not want to get into a fight right now.

Trish purses her lips. "It matters because I am fairly certain that you're pregnant, Dante."

#

Dante has burrowed down beneath his blankets in his bed and refuses to come out for anything. Vergil doesn't say anything as he sits on the bed, looking at the large pile of blankets and pillows that Dante is hiding beneath.

Dante's friends, Nero, and Nico all crowded into the room, each of them looking varying levels of confused and concerned. Vergil doesn't know any of them well enough to be properly able to tell what they're thinking or how they will react to this whole mess, but for now he'll have to hope that they at least care enough about Dante to not do something stupid or hurtful.

"So." Vergil looks at Trish. "Pregnant, you say. Elaborate."

Trish rolls her eyes and crosses her arms over her chest, cocking her hip.

"Demons are monosex, no matter how it may look to humans, meaning that the demons who actually procreate sexually are all capable of both impregnating someone and carrying young themselves. I'm willing to bet that you two just look human, in your human form, but that you still retain this monosex characteristic." She glances to the side. "Nero's a bit more up in the air though, he's more human than demon after all."

Nero lets out a high-pitched wheezing noise but doesn't say anything else.

"So you're saying that Dante and Vergil are both capable of getting pregnant?" Lady looks genuinely interested.

"Likely so, yes." Trish's face suddenly contorts into a sly expression. "It also means that if you ever want kids, my darling, I can make that happen for us."

Lady snorts loudly and gives Trish a shove.

"Come back to me in three decades," she says and clearly stifles a laugh.

Vergil rolls his eyes. "If we could get back to the topic at hand." The longer this takes, the more time he'll need to spend in their company and Vergil would much prefer to be alone with Dante, or on his own entirely.

"Well." Trish simply shrugs at him. "Now, I'm no expert on humans and human procreation. However, demon children are quite parasitic in nature. To be completely honest, I am honestly baffled that your mother managed to live through a pregnancy with not just one demon child, but two. It should have killed her, but I'll just have to assume that Sparda managed to keep her alive somehow."

Vergil frowns. That does not sound good at all. If demon children are parasitic, and Nero grew up an orphan... Did the pregnancy kill his mother? possible, but as Trish herself said, Nero is only a quarter demon. It's entirely possible his mother simply had an unusually rough pregnancy but made it through alright only to give up to an orphanage, or perhaps die later.

"Gestating demons generally don't change that much, though they will kill other demons for sustenance at a higher rate. They're also more likely to try and go after humans for their blood."

"So they don't just start eating instead of... Then why has Dante been...?" It doesn't make sense.

"I don't know." Trish shrugs. "I can only guess that perhaps... Well, Dante's not a full demon. Neither is the child. It's entirely possible that his body is struggling to convert demonic energy to nutrition, so it's forcing him to actually eat and drink blood instead."

"I suppose it is rather uncharted territory," Vergil mutters, stroking his chin.

"Quite so, not many demons capable of taking human form are especially interested in copulation with humans." She laughs. "And most humans aren't going to look at something that looks like an empusa queen and think 'I need to have sex with that', are they?"

Vergil only barely suppresses his snort, but he's the only one. Even Dante lets out a loud snort from beneath the blanket.

"And the rest of it?" There were more symptoms than just the hunger, and many of them far more worrying than it too.

"Most of the other symptoms are fairly standard, really. The desire for a safe space is to keep the offspring safe, the refusal to let you leave is for the sake of having a powerful partner to help keep the offspring safe—especially since due to its parasitic nature, Dante's own strength is drained, weakened. Even if he's still more than powerful enough to deal with most things he comes across, his instincts will still seek out help. And since you showed yourself willing to give it, showed yourself trustworthy..."

There's something in Trish's gaze that Vergil doesn't quite like, but he deigns not to react to it.

"And the loss of cognition? The way he turned feral and had his instincts rule him?"

"I can only assume it's either due to the baby, hormones, or energy conservation." She shrugs her shoulders brushes some hair out of her face.

Silence falls over the room.

Vergil has no idea what to say anymore. If Dante is pregnant, then... Then what?

Then Vergil has managed to get a second child before he's even gotten to know his first one. He's somehow managed to give Nero a half-sibling before he's ever been even half of a father to him... And he's done it with Nero's uncle to boot.

He only barely refrains from pinching the bridge of his nose. What a disaster.

The silence drags on and Vergil focuses on his breathing to keep steady. He's avoiding looking at Nero, because this whole mess was not exactly what he expected. Not that Vergil really thought that Nero had any interest in him as a father, no doubt that train has long since left the station...

Something about the possibility likely being snatched from him still tastes bitter.

After all... Vergil can only imagine how he would feel if it turned out Sparda was alive and well with a new family.

Fabric rustles, the whole bed moves beneath Vergil, and then Dante suddenly sits up, peaking up above the blankets and pillows.

"Okay. So, what the fuck do we do now?"

#

Trish and Lady sent Vergil and Nero off to do some demon hunting—food gathering for Dante—while they did more research on demonic pregnancies to figure out what could be expected and when the birth could be expected. Nico decided to go tinkering with whatever her current project is, and Dante went to sleep. All in all, it makes sense to split them up in this particular way, however... Vergil also suspects that it's their attempt to get Vergil and Nero to talk or something like that. Vergil wishes they had Dante here as a buffer, but as that's impossible at the moment, Vergil's just going to have to muddle through this one way or another.

He glances at Nero as they head out and opens his mouth slightly, but no words form. He has no idea what to say, no idea how to relate to this man who is his son by blood, but who he has no relationship with.

"Did you know I existed?" Nero's voice is hard, and the suddenness of the words nearly make Vergil flinch.

"No." Vergil shakes his head. He knows the most likely candidate for Nero's mother, he was far more careful with the rest of his liaisons, and by the time Nero would have been born... Well. Vergil wouldn't have been in a state to know about him even if he'd been in contact with his mother after their... rendezvous.

Nero stops suddenly. "Did Dante tell you then?"

Vergil glances around at the deserted street they're on and stifles a sigh. Apparently, they're having this conversation here...

"He did, yes. During our fight, before you arrived."

Nero shifts his weight from foot to foot, the very picture of nervous energy. In many ways, he reminds Vergil of Dante. Well, a young Dante. Not the man he is now, one who plays at being far more carefree than he is.

"I'm not going to ask about my mother, because I assume you don't know what happened to her. But... was Trish right? Was she human?"

Vergil has no idea why he wants to know this, but... "Yes, she was." The only demon Vergil has ever lain with is Dante. The only demon he ever will lay with is Dante. Trish was right, after all, most demons are not especially pleasing to the eye nor do they have enough power for Vergil to overlook an unappealing appearance. He's not that attracted to power at all. Perhaps the human part of his rules his attractions far more than his demon part.

"Do you think the pregnancy killed her?"

Vergil pauses as he considers the question carefully. A glance at Nero's face shows nothing but a steely expression of forced calm.

Vergil shakes his head. "I have no idea. I have no experience with demonic pregnancy... And you are more human than you are demon. If she had access to medical aid, I don't see why it would have. And if she didn't... Well, an entirely human pregnancy could have had the same effect." Vergil doesn't know if it's what Nero wants to hear; he has no idea what Nero wants to get out of this line of questioning.

But answering a few questions is the least he can do for Nero, isn't it?

Nero lets out a loud sigh. "Yeah, I guess so."

Vergil watches him glance at his right arm, the one he lost and regrew when he accessed his demonic powers more fully. He wonders what Nero is thinking, but he decides not to disturb his train of thought, regardless of what it's about.

"I can't change the past," Nero says suddenly, an edge of anger to his voice. "But I can at least make sure my half-sibling gets out into the world healthy, I guess. Let's go get some demon corpses."

Vergil nods, but remains silent. At least he has confirmation that Nero understood what was implied but never outright stated regarding the parentage of Dante's... visitor.

It's hard to even think it, the fact that Dante is pregnant. With a baby.

With Vergil's baby.

Somehow he's gone from having no children to having one adult child and one in the womb in less than a year. Part of Vergil wants to run away, part of him feels like a million grasping hands tear at him, trying to choke him or rip him asunder. He's not made for love or softer emotions, he's...

He stops his own train of thought. Remnants of V flare in the back of his head, leaving Vergil feeling almost dizzy. Not being made for love is a ludicrous thing he told himself over and over to somehow stem the hurt, the agony, of having lost the people loves. He convinced himself so effectively that when he found out that his brother lived, he believed that he and their mother had abandoned Vergil.

Dante said their mother died trying to find Vergil... Perhaps they need to have a proper conversation about it all. Especially now that they've somehow managed to create new life between the two of them.

It's not a conversation Vergil looks forward to, and not one he's sure how to deal with either.

They haven't even discussed the pregnancy since it happened. So far, the going assumption has been keeping it, but Vergil has no idea what will end up happening. He doesn't think Dante is keen on the idea of giving it up for adoption, and judging by Nero's words he would take the child himself if Dante doesn't want it... Of course, that could just be Vergil reading too much into everything.

Even as he and Nero finally stumble upon a congregation of demons, Vergil continues to be lost in thought and working on autopilot.

The battle ends and they've collected a nice pile of corpses by the end of it.

"Damnit, how the hell are we going to bring all of this back to DMC? We should have brought the van," Nero grumbles as he holsters his gun.

"You fight well." The words leave Vergil's lips before he can stop them. He doesn't have any right to express pride in Nero's abilities, or who he is, since his only contribution so far is genetics. Perhaps that will change, but for now...

A flush builds on Nero's cheeks and he scratches one of them as he looks away.

"Dante called me a deadweight." Nero's words are tinged with bitterness, and they're unexpectedly open. Vergil hadn't thought that Nero would be any particular hurry to discuss much of anything important with him.

Then again, Nero did have some rapport with Vergil's human half.

"You've grown since then, unlocked far more power than you had at the time." Vergil considers the words as eh says them. He's not sure they're entirely true as a reflection of Dante's motives.

Vergil cannot truly claim to know his brother anymore, they've been separated for far too long. But these past months in the underworld, especially before Dante got pregnant and started to change, they did start to familiarise themselves with each other again. You can learn a lot about someone from how they fight, and there's a lot to be said for the difference between what Dante says and what Dante means. He's always been one for obfuscating what he means, even as he plays at being straightforward.

It used to drive Vergil mad when they were children, and perhaps it still does.

Even so... "Besides, did you ever consider that he was trying to get you out of there any way he knew how?"

Nero squints at Vergil, his expression turning sour and suspicious.

"What do you mean?"

Vergil stares off into the distance as he answers. "I was there, in both my halves, but Dante was losing, and he knew he was losing. When he called you a deadweight and told you to get out of there... That was all I needed to know the battle was lost for the time being at least. That's why I forced you to withdraw." He forces down the almost mean smile that wants to spread on his lips. "Besides, you were missing one arm and not sure how to compensate for it yet. You were hardly at your best."

Nero doesn't say anything for a long time, instead scowling so hard Vergil can't help but wonder if he's giving himself a headache.

The longer the silence considers, the more Vergil starts to wonder if he should perhaps suggest they make their way back to Devil May Cry. The fresher the corpses are, the more Dante are likely to appreciate them.

Before he can so much as open his mouth to make the suggestion, however, Nero finally speaks up again.

"Why didn't he just say that?" There's a note of vulnerability in Nero's voice that Vergil doesn't know what to do with at all. It seems that Nero is... Well, fond of Dante.

It takes Vergil a bit by surprise, as V he'd been under the impression that Nero respected Dante but not so much more than that. A miscalculation on his part then. Perhaps Nero has long since suspected some form of relation between them, perhaps he even has looked at Dante as a bit of a father-figure, regardless of how odd or amusing the thought may seem to Vergil.

Of course, that would certainly account for Nero's obsession with fighting and proving Dante wrong.

Vergil wonders how much of this Dante knows, if any. Vergil can't claim to know how emotionally aware his brother is these days and basing his assumptions on the eight-year-old boy he knew or the teenager he knew very briefly seems like a bad idea.

He considers the question though and reflects on the man Vergil has gotten to know over the last few months. He considers everything unsaid and everything he's read between the lines...

"Didn't he?"

In many ways, wasn't that exactly what he had done? He told Nero to get out in the first place. Of course, he called him a deadweight rather than say something as shameful as 'I will lose but buy you time'. Though perhaps he wasn't quite willing to admit his impending defeat to even himself yet, no matter how well he must have known it was coming.

Nero stares at Vergil, face still contorted in a frown, and crosses his arms over his chest. Vergil remains silent, and Nero doesn't say anything either, so they're stuck in a small stand-off. Vergil wonders who will break first, will Nero want some more answers from Vergil, or will Vergil's instinct driven need to return to Dante with their catch get the better of him first?

Ultimately, neither of those things come to pass. Instead...

"We should head back. Dante's probably hungry."

Vergil inclines his head, acquiescing Nero's point, and with swift slashes of Yamato in the air, opens a portal back to Devil May Cry. No need to take the long route back, they know where they're going this time after all.

They round up the corpses, and Vergil lets Nero go through first, following swiftly behind. As they step out inside Devil May Cry, it's to find Trish and Lady on the floor with books, papers, and what appears to be hand-written journals strewn around them.

"Oh! You're back," Trish says without looking up from the journal in her hands. "We've got some good news for you."

"Oh?" Vergil tracks a path through the room with his eyes to determine the best way to move this heap of corpses without getting any blood or dirt on any of the papers. Perhaps it'll be better for Dante to come downstairs and eat here, rather than bring them up to his bedroom.

"Turns out Dante has a bunch of your mother's old diaries and journals." Lady does look up at them as she speaks "We've been going through them to see if she's written anything about her pregnancy."

Vergil feels a sharp ache in his chest at the thought, at the realisation that it's possible for him to read his mother's thoughts. So not everything was destroyed in the attack. Dante has managed to save some things.

"Have you found anything?" Nero straightens his back, seemingly excited at the prospect.

"Quite a bit about Vergil and Dante from their youth, a lot of it about demonic instincts and information from Sparda. But we haven't found a diary that goes far enough back yet." Trish turns a page of the journal she's reading and removes some hair from her face.

Vergil nods in understanding.

"I'll go get Dante, it's probably best if he eats downstairs."

Vergil doesn't wait for any of them to answer, he just leaves the corpses behind and makes his way upstairs.

#

"Aha! I think I've found it!" Nico yells as she thrusts a book up in the air.

While Dante was eating, the rest of them sat down together to do their bit of the research. Nero and Vergil were going through Dante's demonology books while the other three went through Eva's journals. Now... Now it seems that perhaps they can stop looking?

"What does it say?" Lady tries to peek over Nico's shoulder.

"Yeah yeah, calm your tits," Nico grumbles as she chews on a stick—Dante had adamantly forbidden her from smoking inside DMC, and she clearly decided that fighting him on that was a bad idea. "From what I've read so far, the pregnancy wasn't easy, but she made do with regular food, a few glasses of Sparda's blood per day, and two glasses of human blood per week. No demon eating necessary."

"Interesting." Trish strokes her chin. "Has she written why she drank Sparda's blood rather than the blood of other demons?"

"She has, actually. It's a father thing. The blood of the father helps the children grow, apparently."

Vergil isn't sure how to take in the fact that his mother, his very human mother, drank a multitude of blood for months for the sake of birthing him and his brother. And likely to life through the experience too... Though Vergil thinks his father likely would have done whatever necessary to save her life. No matter the cost.

"Well that explains why Dante regained lucidity after you returned to the human world, Vergil. You started feeding him your blood." The look Trish sends him is odd, Vergil isn't sure what exactly it means, but he decides not to read too much into it.

Vergil nods in understanding. "So then we can stop bothering to drag demon corpses back here. All Dante needs is human food and my blood, possibly some human blood as well."

"We'll have to see about the human blood," Trish says, making a humming noise, "After all, Sparda was pure demon, but Vergil is half-human. It's possible that your blood alone is enough, Vergil."

Dante sighs, rubbing his eyes before he lets out a huge yawn. "Well if I end up needing human blood as well, what will we do about that?"

Lady shrugs one shoulder. "I can donate some."

Vergil shakes his head at that. "Not nearly enough for one glass per day; without an advanced healing factor it would bleed you try almost immediately, at the very least long before this pregnancy is over."

"Yeah, when we're on the topic, you got any idea about how long it'll take for my little passenger to decide to get off this ride?" Dante glances down at his stomach which is still almost entirely flat, which Vergil will admit is odd all things considered. Dante's been pregnant for months, after all.

"Well, Eva's pregnancy ended up being just about as long as a regular human one, though the incubation time for demons vary wildly." Trish glances at Dante. "Oddly, considering how long the two of you have been gone... Well, unless this phenomenon is newer than I assumed, I'm surprised you're not showing yet, Dante."

Dante hums. "Well... You say demon pregnancies are more parasitic... And there is a bit of magic to take into account when dealing with demons in general..." He scratches the back of his head. "We've concluded I've been on a less nutritious diet than I needed, so do you think there's a possibility the pregnancy has been slowed and mostly dormant, the baby growing at a slower rate due to lack of nutrients?"

"Can they do that?" Nero's face is contorted in a confused grimace.

Trish considers the question. "Well, I don't know for sure, but it sounds plausible. There's simply no way for us to know. Though I will say, that Dante... You're likely going to want to trigger when you go into labour. Unless you want to be cut open to the get baby out."

Dante shrugs. "Eh, I've had worse. But triggering should be fine, less blood that way, I guess."

Nico shudders. "All I know is that I never wanna get pregnant. I do not envy you, man."

Dante starts laughing, loud guffaws that warms something in Vergil's chest.

Hearing his brother laugh is... Good. Vergil likes it.

He never wants Dante to stop laughing, not ever again. He's seen pain etched on his brother's face, and smiles that don't reach his eyes... He blames himself, for surely it's due to Vergil's actions and mistakes that it's like that? Not entirely, of course, Mundus certainly has more than his fair share of the blame, but at least part of it is Vergil's fault.

Perhaps one day he'll be able to make up for it...

Stroking away a tear, Dante gives Nico a huge grin. "Well, can't say I ever expected to be in this situation, but here we are, I guess."

Silence descends again, but it's not an awkward one, Vergil thinks. At least, Vergil isn't feeling awkward about it. He considers what they'll need to do during the next few weeks and months, wonders how he'll deal with... Everything, really...

His thoughts are interrupted by Nero. "So, given any thoughts to names?"

Vergil freezes, and glances at his brother. Vergil hasn't given any thoughts to names, the baby still hardly seems real to him, but he doesn't know about Dante and what he's thinking.

Dante shakes his head. "Not hardly. It's been a few hours since we found out, sure, and we've done our research, but... I don't know, kid, it's still not quite real. And I'll be honest, I never expected to have kids at all, so it's not like I have any ideas from previous imaginings either." He turns to Vergil. "How about you? Given it any thought?"

Vergil shakes his head, trying to avoid showing how relieved he is that Dante shares his own sentiments on the whole thing.

"I never expected to have children either. And now I have one and another one the way. Though I did miss out on naming the first one." He looks at Nero in the corner of his eye, and he seems to straighten up a bit. As if Vergil's casual acceptance of their relation is giving him some form of confidence boost.

Perhaps this whole thing will not be as much of a clusterfuck as Vergil first expected it to be.

And then Dante's grin turns shit-eating. "How about you, kid? Looking forward to getting a younger sibling?"

Nero sputters and his cheeks turn red. "I... How... I don't have an input here! And it's not... Don't talk like I'm a jealous older sibling or something!"

Vergil chuckles at how easily Dante can get beneath Nero's skin, but says nothing more.

One way or another they'll get through it.

Probably.

#

When labour comes and Dante triggers into his demon form, Vergil is right there with him, triggered. He sends everyone else away, sensing Dante's instincts going wild at their presence—only Vergil and Nero are tolerated. Thus, Vergil ends up on birthing partner duty, and Nero is left downstairs to ensure no one stumbles inside and interrupts everything.

Vergil had expected something like what he's heard human birth is like, a struggle of pain and screams and blood, but it's not. Instead it seems almost effortless the way Dante gets into position, pulling Vergil in close to cling to him, their wings wrapping around them like a cocoon, and then there's some slick sounds before loud wailing can be heard, and Dante is shoving Vergil away.

All in all, it takes less than thirty minutes from the start of labour to the moment when their daughter is finally born.

She's a small thing, but her size belies the capability of her lungs. She's mostly human in form, but there are curving horns on her head—so small and without even the smallest hint of sharpness yet—violet scales on parts of her body, and an undulating tail whipping around her as she screams out her displeasure.

"Look at you..." Dante's voice is soft with reverence, his eyes trained firmly on the small form in his arms. Vergil watches as his demonic visage fades away and following suit.

"The placenta..." Vergil begins, because he doesn't want anything to end up going wrong—no doubt would Dante's friends blame it on Vergil.

"It's gone. Nevermind that." Dante doesn't spare Vergil as much as a glance. "Look at her, Vergil. She's so perfect... How did we make something like this?"

Vergil hadn't known his brother had, apparently, been longing for a child before this moment. Even throughout his entire pregnancy he hadn't given the slightest indication that he was excited rather than accepting of reality.

"She's beautiful," Vergil says the words, even as he's not sure he believes them. She's still screaming, her face is red and blotchy, and Vergil has never thought much of the appearance of babies.

He wonders if perhaps he's simply not cut out for fatherhood. Perhaps he simply lacks any paternal instinct, the thing Dante seems to be overflowing with at the moment.

"Come here, dumbass... She wants you too." Dante finally looks away from their daughter to give Vergil an arch look. Vergil considers protesting but gives in despite himself. He sits down next to Dante on the bed and leans in close, placing one arm around Dante's shoulders and leaning in to get a closer look at their daughter.

He lifts one hand and gently strokes it down her small red cheek, and almost immediately she stops screaming. She makes a few sniffling sounds, but then her eyes open and she stares at them.

"See?" Dante murmurs. "She wanted both her parents."

Sentimental, but Vergil isn't sure how accurate it is. Depends on how close her development is to fully human babies. Not that Vergil is any sort of expert on human babies.

"Little Aura... Look at you..." Dante's entirely enthralled, but Vergil is starting to feel like maybe... Maybe Nero should be here too? It's an odd feeling, they haven't truly managed to forge a good relationship yet, and still he feels like it's important for their future relationship for Nero to be here now.

He's likely to feel excluded otherwise, isn't he? Like how Vergil thought his mother abandoned him for Dante... And Nero has never had a solid familial relationship with either of them before all this, though his relationship with Dante has been something at least, and now he's got a little sister who will take up most of the attention.

Adult or not... Vergil knows the pain of being excluded, and he's sure Dante does too. After all, the truth was that their mother hid him away and left him. She was planning to come back for him, of course she was, but the leaving must have cut like a knife in the first place.

"Vergil... Could you go get Nero?" Dante turns his attention away from Aura then. "I think he should come see his little sister."

Vergil almost snorts, so they were thinking the same thing even though Dante seems entirely lost to the outside world.

"I'll go get him," Vergil murmurs and gets to his feet, stroking his hand across Dante's shoulders.

Vergil finds Nero slumped down on the sofa in the main room downstairs, looking entirely put out. Rather than head down the stairs, Vergil leans on the banister.

"Nero." He doesn't raise his voice at all, but Nero instantly snaps to attention.

He flies to his feet. "What! Did something happen?" He's wild around the eyes, seemingly mere moments from panicking. About what, Vergil has no idea, and yet he finds himself endeared.

What a turn his life has taken.

"Dante asked for you. Your little sister is ready to greet the world."

Nero's eyes grow huge and all the blood seems to leave his face. "Already?" The pitch of his voice goes up into a squeak, and Vergil cannot stop the smirk that breaks out on his lips.

"It went quickly. Now come on, don't keep them waiting."

Nero looks decidedly shaky as he climbs the stairs ahead of Vergil, a bit as if he's heading towards his execution. Vergil doesn't outright laugh at him, but he's quite certain that if Dante lifts his eyes from their daughter for five seconds, he'll immediately know that Vergil wants to laugh.

Nero knocks on the door before he opens it and Vergil follows him inside just in time to see Dante look up with a wide smile. Aura is still quiet and appears to be sucking on her thumb.

"Nero! Come say hello!" Dante's grin is infectious, and Vergil can hear the tremulous breath Nero draws.

"She's... She's got horns... and a tail," he says, and gently takes a seat on the bed, eyes riveted on Aura.

Dante laughs loudly. "That she does. I don't think mother's journals said anything about that, but who knows." He looks down at their daughter again. "Well, Nero, this is your little sister, Aura."

"Aura..." Nero whispers, looking as enthralled by the baby as Dante was when she was first born.

Something about watching all three of them together makes something in Vergil's chest ache. Feelings long since buried forcing their way out.

His family.

This is his family, every single one of them.

Together, against all odds.

"Do you want to hold her?" Dante smiles.

"What?" Nero's voice does that high-pitched squeaking thing again.

And Vergil laughs.

Notes:

Thanks to the people in the discord server for naming help for Aura! Your suggestions helped me come up with something for her, haha!