Chapter Five: Adrift

Chapter Five: Adrift

Note: Once again, Mallovarwen and Skylarmorgan1899 are my emotional support reviewers, and reading your comments always puts a smile on my face. Thanks a bunch! I’m always happy to read everyone’s comments and feedback, so feel free to send them my way. I don’t care if it’s just a smiley face emoji. Now back to the story!

The overhead fan that hung from the double-height ceiling spun lazily as it wafted barely chilled air throughout the front office. A nearly finished box of pizza sat next to a pile of now negligible utility bills and empty drink bottles on the desk. Despite the fact that the music was still booming loudly throughout the space, Dante had slumped onto the front desk, his arms hanging over the far side facing the front door. The Youngest Son of Sparda had dozed off shortly after his troublemaking older brother and nephew had vacated the premises. It hadn’t been until they left that he realized how much he needed a good nap.

At seemingly the precise moment that Dante entered deep sleep, the front double doors slammed open and knocked against their respective sides of the wall. Dante jolted slightly at the sound but didn’t make an effort to raise his head and see who had just come into the building. He already knew. This wasn’t the first time this had happened. Not by a longshot.

“So you both made it back, hu,” Dante inquired, the desk muffling his speech as he laid face down on it,” I was starting to think that Nico had finally crashed the van and killed you ya.”

Standing in the doorway was none other than Nero and Vergil, the two of them looming over Dante from across the room like gargoyles. Nero crossed the room and leaned over the desk, trying to rouse Dante from his restful state. The older man didn’t exactly feel like snapping out of his groggy delirium when Nero probed him, however.

Nero stood back and shook his head. The gravity of the time constraints they were under made him feel uneasy, to say the least. “Come on, get your ass up. We need to get going!”

Dante rolled his head to the side to make blurry eye contact with the younger descendant of Sparda. What was he going on about now? He then glanced over at the clock in another part of the room, exhaling in discontent. “And where the hell are we supposed to be going at almost ten at night?” Dante asked in a mixture of distaste and disinterest. He had been taking a perfectly good nap and now it was ruined.

From his place standing against the far wall of the shop next to the now-closed doors with his arms folded across his chest, Vergil chimed in. “Apparently, to Fortuna. I would have never seen myself going back there, but here we are.”

Dante sat up at his brother’s statement, now more curious and perplexed than irritated at them both. “And why would we go there?”

By this point, Nero was pacing aimlessly in front of Dante’s desk. He was not accustomed to being this out of his depth in a situation, and the time pressure only made things worse. At least when his arm had been cut off, there were more definite variables in the situation. Like the guarantee of pain, suffering, and the risk of bleeding to death. But using some sort of arcane anchor to pull a soul from Purgatorio, or limbo, or hell, or whatever this place was called and risking basically everything? Everything about this situation was supremely stress-inducing. He barely understood the concept of what they were even going to use the book for when they got it. All he knew is that they needed it because it was an item that V clearly cherished and that made it vital to this situation. And somehow it had made even less sense when he had tried to explain things to Nico. Magnolia would have to explain it to her later.

Clearly realizing that his hypertension riddled son wasn’t going to answer his brother’s question, Vergil interjected again. “We need to recover something important and we have a rather short window of time to accomplish our goal.”

Setting aside the fact that Vergil has just used the word “our” for probably the first time in their entire time that Dante had known him, the youngest Son of Sparda stood up at his desk and stretched, yawning. After he had cracked all of his bones, Dante shoveled down the last sliver of pizza in the box on his desk and turned back to face his clearly disgusted twin. “Alright, so how are we gonna get there? Doesn’t the ferry stop after dark?”

Nero nodded. “The last one runs in less than an hour. Which is another reason you need to get your ass in the van so we can go before we miss it!”

Dante chuckled under his breath at Nero’s comment. He was ever the firebrand of the family, no doubt about that. He didn’t respond, but he did decide to reach back and grab his blade off of the back wall. While Fortuna was relatively a cakewalk after the events of the last while, it was still better to be safe than sorry. “Alright, but this better not be the day she decides to drive through a building or something. I’m in enough debt as it is.”

Vergil raised an eyebrow slightly at the statement. “I should look into that one this is over. But Nero is not incorrect. Time is of the essence.”

As the eldest Son of Sparda turned and headed out the door Dante visibly paled. Nero shook his head and snickered as he walked towards the front door with his uncle. “200 bucks says he’s going to beat the living shit out of you when he finds out how far in debt you are, Dante.”

Dante shook his head and passed through the threshold of the front property. “Considering the fact that I still owe Patty those ten ice cream cones, making a bet with me isn’t going to do you any favors.”

Nero mulled over the comment for a moment in confusion before deciding that he’d just ask another time. Right now, they had much more important things to take care of.

~-~

To say that Vergil’s brilliant plan to simply use their Devil Triggers to fly to Fortuna instead of just taking the ferry had been a bust would be a gross understatement. As a general rule, none of them were willing to, under normal circumstances, reveal their true nature to innocent bystanders (unless you counted V…), but there had been no inconspicuous places to trigger at the waterfront, and doing so in the van was an explosive accident waiting to happen, so they had been forced to board the vessel. It wasn’t a huge ferry since cars weren’t exactly used commonly in Fortuna, but no one was going to comment on Nico’s driving abilities or the fact that she was probably the only person going to this island who knew how to fix a car. The vessel was mostly used to transport goods back and forth between the island and the mainland, but it hadn’t taken much effort to get on board at the last minute once one of the former had recognized Nero. For better or worse, seemingly everyone on the island knew who the young white-haired man was. This just happened to be one of the only times that that had been a beneficial thing.

Given the circumstances, Nico was the only one excited to be returning to Fortuna. The young woman missed Kyrie’s cooking and it had been a little while since she’d had the opportunity to terrorize the little ones. Before today, she and Nero had been out of town checking on things in Redgrave city, and before that, they had been out of town doing a mission for a client in Enamel City. Things had been tricky lately. After everything that had happened, the local government on the mainland had addressed the public, announcing an investigation into the matter. Catching the eye of the local authorities didn’t seem like a great idea. But they had left Fortuna alone, at least for the time being.

Nero leaned on the rail looking out across the water. The young devil hunter let out a steadying sigh. Given the fact that they were on the last boat for the night and were going to have to stay the night on the island, it was best that he calm down now as to not upset his family when he arrived at home. The boat would be docking soon, so he had come here to enjoy a last moment of reprieve before they disembarked.

As if carried forward with the breeze, Nero suddenly felt another presence near him. The young descendant of Sparda snuck a glance over his shoulder only to see Vergil walk past him. His father leaned against one of the nearby poles, leaving ample space between them. But somehow Nero could tell that despite the distance between them, Vergil had come here to say something. Or maybe he was just losing his grip and Dante had gotten on his nerves again. Either way, he didn’t spare it much thought. After all, he was trying to relax, and what could be better for his state of mind right now than salty sea air and solitude?

“... So who is Kyrie?”

Nero could practically feel the nerves in his brain pop lose and the neurons die as his brain came to a screeching halt. Vergil seriously wanted to ask him about that right now? This was the furthest from a relaxed topic that he could get at the moment.

To Nero’s continued horror, Vergil briefly smirked before turning slightly away from him. He no longer needed his young son to answer the question. The implications of their relationship were written across his now blush covered face.

Vergil stepped away from the pole and slightly closer to Nero, even if only by a few feet. He folded his arms and leaned over the railing, quietly captivated by the black sea before him. In a way, they reminded the eldest twin of his time in the underworld. Although not quite as luminescent, the mirror shine on the water’s surface was reminiscent of the quicksilver river that Dante had so foolishly questioned if he could drink from earlier that same day. Vergil shook his head silently. Dante would be dead within a few hours if left to his own devices in the underworld.

Nero rubbed his neck in discomfort before looking out across the water again. Vergil couldn’t make eye contact with him if he was faced out across the water sea. Or so he presumed. In all honesty, Vergil’s immense strength and power made Nero question just what he was capable of. He hadn’t forgotten how powerful Urizen had been and he never would. “She’s my, um… girlfriend. Why?”

The younger man hadn’t intended his response to come off so awkward. As he watched Vergil nodded in amused satisfaction, he decided that the best way to get out of this conversation and reclaim his now tarnished reputation was to redirect the question.

“Anyway, while we’re talking about family, where the hell is my mother? Do V and I even have the same parents?”

Despite the fact that Nero didn’t ask the question with any level of malice in his voice, Vergil seemed like he wanted to avoid his son at all costs. He leaned further over the rail, seemingly keying into Nero’s avoidance method and using it to his advantage and stayed quiet. Nero wasn’t sure if he was being ignored by his father or was thinking, but he decided to give Vergil a few more seconds before he got confrontational about it.

Vergil shifted and stood back up straight, his hands resting on the rail. He spared a glance at Nero, half looking at him but still not fully facing him. Nero gave him a sideways look, insinuating that he was still waiting for an answer and that he wasn’t exactly bursting with patience. After an awkward moment that felt more like a standoff, Vergil turned to full-face Nero. Despite his discomfort, the eldest Son of Sparda had never been one to back down from anything, even in situations when it most suited him. Call it a fatal flaw, but it was simply the way he had always been. At least as an adult. “The two of you have different mothers... And I have no idea where they currently are.”

Nero nodded slowly, quietly taking in the information he had just been provided. He was not shocked that Vergil didn’t know where either of them currently lived. After all, he had been in the underworld for probably as long as Nero had been alive. It made sense that he didn’t exactly have them on speed dial. Knowing Vergil, he probably didn’t even use a phone. But that did raise a few questions, some for now and some for later.

“... So do you know which one of us is older, then? Or did you even know you were related before all this bullshit started?” Nero asked sarcastically as he unfolded his arm and placed his hands in his pockets. He was starting to see why his uncle never seemed shocked when his older twin told him something else despicable or unbelievable that he had done. Although, this didn’t seem quite like the other times. Nero couldn’t quite place what it was. Maybe it was his father’s demeanor, his reluctance to speak on the matter, or maybe what he had said back at Magnolia’s house had changed his view towards him a bit, but Nero couldn’t quite shake the feeling that Vergil might actually regret what he had done to the two of them. He wasn’t sure if the eldest Son of Sparda was capable of apologizing, but Nero was willing to be surprised.

Vergil seemed to be becoming used to Nero’s little jabs at him, as the comment didn’t seem to affect him in the slightest. “I knew about him long before I knew about you, but that is... an exceedingly complicated matter for another time,” Vergil glanced in the direction of the van where Nico and Dante currently resided,” As for your second question, you’re younger. I’ve known his mother longer than yours.”

The eldest Son of Sparda paused for a moment, giving his next words careful thought. “... I will look into their locations after this is done. I make no promises.”

As if on cue, the horn for the ferry blew, signaling that it was time to disembark. Vergil headed back towards the van. It seemed that this conversation was done for now. Nero seemed to understand that and opted not to press the issue, for now, opting to head back to the van instead. After all, the ferry was going to dock and then return to the mainland again, with or without them on it. They needed to go. After all of this magic and mayhem was behind them, they would have all the time in the world to talk. That would be the time for concrete answers. As the sun fully fell behind the water blanketed horizon, one thing was certain. A reckoning was coming.

OMG, I AM SO SORRY THAT THIS IS SLIGHTLY LATE!! It’s just past midnight, but family matters came up, so I had to set aside my writing for the majority of the day. Also, this is a shorter chapter than normal by about 1k words or so. My bad! The next chapter is going to be much longer though. Much, much longer. And a lot harder to write lol! But look forward to Friday. This chapter is going to be fun hehe! And once again, thank you for your lovely comments!