Chapter Two: Reparations

Note: Thank you all for reading the first two parts of the story! I’m so touched by the reception the story has received from the fanbase! A huge thank you to Mallovarwen from FF.N and BeansWithBones as well as That_Random_Kid. Your comment, in particular, cracked me up and I spent several minutes laughing at it as I spent a late night working on this chapter to get this done on time. Thanks a bunch! That was just what I needed today. This chapter is for the three of you. I hope you enjoy it!

Was it possible for things to escalate any quicker than they just had? Not likely. In one single, fluid motion, Nero launched himself across the space between the van and the front steps. He grabbed Dante and Vergil by the face with his wing talons, slamming them back first into the stairs with devastating power. The sheer force of the impact was so strong that it completely stunned Dante, mentally and physically. Vergil, on the other hand, was taken completely off guard by this attack. In his state of immense anger towards the blond demoness, he had barely registered his son’s arrival before he found himself becoming violently acquainted with the front steps of his new home.

The eldest Son of Sparda jumped to his feet almost as quickly as he had been snatched off of them, somehow even angrier than he had been moments ago. He made the rapid and decisive decision to skip any and all conversation and go straight to violence, unsheathing Yamato and tossing away the scabbard in a rare act of absolution. He wasn’t going to need it for what he planned to do next.

Unsure as to what the commotion was all about, Nico was just about to exit the van as the girls and Morrison onboarded, shouting for her to get clear. There was about to be enough collateral damage as it was, and they didn’t feel like adding the wily mechanic or her mobile workspace to that list. Or themselves, for that matter. Nico slammed the gas and threw the clutch into reverse, launching the van backward at a speed rapid enough to give everyone within it whiplash and vertigo simultaneously. And her timing couldn’t have been any better considering what happened next.

Nero unsheathed his beloved sword Red Queen from his back and revved the exceed throttle in both a preparatory action and a not so playful taunt. The blade glowed a vibrant red, the once gleaming metal now searing hot and ready to melt anything in its path like butter. Vergil’s own blade glowed a sinister shade of dark blue before bursting into blinding black and blue flames as he entered his own Devil Trigger state. The two descendants of Sparda leered at one another ragefully before launching themselves at jet propelled speeds towards one another, their flame coated blades connecting in an earth (and ear) shattering display of destructive power. Blue and red flames blasted skyward and out across the pavement in a wide arc around them, scorching everything in their path. The attack carried a powerful shockwave with it a half-second later, rattling the windows of several nearby buildings and vehicles. Dante shook his head, his ears and head still ringing from Nero’s initial slam attack. He leaped to his feet and over the wall of flames that would have stopped just shy of the front door to the office, and landed out of harm’s way. The younger Son of Sparda cracked his neck (mostly to relocate it) and groaned, shaking his head as he entered the fray. He needed to stop this before they leveled a whole city block or killed each other. Or more importantly, destroyed his office. Again.

Vergil and Nero planted their taloned feet into the cobblestone ground, tearing it up out of the earth as they pushed hard against one another, blades locked and sparking from the sheer friction of the contact between them. As Vergil bore down on the younger man, Nero slammed his blade against Yamato’s hard, breaking their blade connection and stepping backward, using the brief window provided by the lack of contact to deliver a brutal double footed kick to his father’s chest. The eldest twin flew back and slammed against the pavement, cracking several pavers and peeling them up as he slid against the hard ground. Vergil exhaled sharply, gritting his razor-sharp demonic teeth as he rapidly regained his footing and surged forward again, recalling Yamato’s sheath to his free hand. Okay, so maybe he was going to need it after all...

He slashed the blade down towards the broadside of Nero’s blade and the younger man blocked it, sliding back a few feet from the force of the sliding charge attack. Suddenly, Vergil rapidly sheathed the blade and withdrew it again, a black ball of darkness and precision cuts rocketing towards Nero. The youngest descent of Sparda stepped wide to avoid the phantom slashes, noting that Vergil now stood directly in his path. How on earth had he just done that?! Vergil pressed towards him with a deadly barrage of thrusts and slashes that he just barely withstood, his eyes not even remotely able to keep up with every swipe. For every perceivable movement, there seemed to be several dozen more slashes that he couldn’t process, his father’s movements causing an afterimage that was disorienting and hard to combat. He needed to act. Now!

Nero pushed forward and broke loose as he slashed upwards, launching them both skyward. He pirouetted in a series of arcing upward slashes, gaining additional altitude before using one of his demonic wing arms to grasp Vergil around the waist and send him careening towards the ground at speeds nearly fast enough to cause reentry burn. As soon as the older twin made impact with the cobblestone street, Nero streaked downward in a barreling spin, slamming down on him. Vergil managed to counter the attack at the very last second and sent Nero spiraling back into the side of the stone staircase, his back making impact with the wrought iron bars and bending them with a loud metal screech. Nero yelped, exiting his Devil Trigger as he gasped for breath in surprise and discomfort. If he were a weaker being, he would probably have just broken several bones from that impact alone. Just as Vergil was closing the space between them, Dante sent a shockwave comprised of several red beams of demonic energy slamming into him at a blistering speed, knocking his twin flat onto his back. Vergil sat up and moved to collect himself, but found his younger twin standing in front of him. Dante planted his boot firmly against Vergil’s chest, forcing him onto his back on the pavement again with enough force to shake a few more bricks loose. The twin in red then pointed his blade down at him and his gun in Nero’s general direction, not so subtly implying that this fight was now over and that he was ready to take either of them to task if they attempted to resume it.

“Alright, enough of this already!” Dante yelled at them both. He was clearly not amused. “Nero, feel like telling me why the hell I probably have a concussion right now?!”

Nero groaned in irritation and attempted to peel himself out of the metal bars that he found himself embedded into. No such luck. “Gee, I don’t know, Dante,” He yelled back, clearly no less pissed than when this had all started,” Maybe because I just body slammed your sorry ass head first through your front steps?! Because if I was in a guessing mood, I’d say that’s why your empty head probably hurts right now!”

Dante let out a sound somewhere between a growl and snarl and fired a round from Ebony up into the air, for once not entertained by his nephew’s spitfire attitude. Maybe it was the rapid onset of the massive headache that he could feel creeping its way into his head (and the gunfire that had just made it several times worse), but he was not in the mood for this shit right now. “I’m not playing around, Nero. What the hell is your damage this time? You have a few screws loose or something?”

The young man with the white hair used both of his hands to pry the bars apart and slipped loose, using his newfound freedom to stand up and approach Dante. He left Red Queen laying on the ground, but the younger Son of Sparda kept his guard up. The younger man more than likely had Blue Rose on himself somewhere. He came to a stop less than three feet from his uncle, breathing heavily and probably still banged up from his rapid meet and greet with gravity a few moments ago. “What’s my damage, Dante?” Nero retorted defiantly,” Maybe it’s the fact that you’ve been gone for like two fucking months and I thought you were dead! Or maybe the fact that this asshole,” Nero gestured towards his father who was still firmly planted under Dante’s boot on the ground,” is just walking around like he didn’t unleash some blood-sucking demon plant from hell and destroy a whole goddamn city because he got bored or upset or some shit! Do you have any idea, any idea at all, how crazy shit has been since you jumped your crazy ass into hell and left me up here to fix everything?! Any idea how much sleep I’ve lost wondering if your stupid old ass was ever coming back?!”

Nero leaned forward and put a hand on his upper thigh, breathing more rapidly and unsteadily than he had been a moment before. He reached up with his free hand and wiped his eyes, trailing the shimmering remnants of tears he hadn’t yet shed across his face. He trembled ever so slightly before looking back up at Dante, the tears he had tried to blink away now running freely down his face in thin ribbons. He sniffed, trying to regain his composure but failing before the anger left him and he spoke in a quieter, more anguished tone of voice. “... Do you have any idea how worried about you I’ve been, Dante?” Nero was clearly on the verge of falling apart as he spoke. He was well past his emotional limit for the day.” I thought I was never going to see you again, you fucking prick! You can’t just pull some shit like that and leave me here alone!”

Any and all anger and irritation that Dante had left in him dissipated instantly. Nero’s trembling intensified and he shuddered, trying and failing to compose himself. He wiped his face yet again in an attempt to hide the fact that he was near to breaking down and crying, but any hope of hiding how he truly felt was completely gone at this point. Dante felt a powerful wave of guilt wash over him as he took a step forward and placed his hand on his nephew’s shoulder, completely at a loss for words. “... Nero…”

In a move that took Dante totally off guard, Nero misinterpreted his attempt to calm him for an invitation and embraced him, burying his tear-stained face into the older man’s shoulder. Now free of the ability to see Dante’s reaction, he allowed himself to release his emotions fully, stifling his pained sobs against his uncle’s battle-worn leather coat. Dante stood for a moment in surprise before opting to give the younger man a few tentative pats on the shoulder. He had never seen Nero so upset and he wasn’t at all equipped to deal with this. But regardless, he hated knowing he had caused this.

Vergil had risen to his feel once again during the commotion, having been freed from his place under his twin’s boot. Although he wanted to be furious with him for what he had just done, the eldest Son of Sparda found himself incapable of doing so. He found himself mesmerized by the scene unfolding before him, unsure of how to proceed or process how he felt about seeing Nero in such a state. He felt… something, but he wasn’t sure what word to put to it, and that made him uncomfortable, to say the least. Thankfully, after a long, painful moment, Nero collected himself and pulled away from Dante, thoroughly done with this entire situation. He turned away and walked towards the front steps, sitting down on them and letting out a long, steadying breath before making eye contact with his uncle again. “... Just don’t pull something like that again, or I’ll come down there and personally beat your ass myself. You got it?”

Dante shook his head and scoffed lightly, a look of semi sad bemusement crossing his face. “Whatever you say, kid.”

Nero growled and pointed at him as if to emphasize his point. “How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me that shit, old man?! We’ve been through this!”

Dante laughed as Nero groaned in displeasure. The younger man then turned to Vergil who was watching his whole debacle, entirely lost as to what to say or do at this point. “And as for you, douchebag,” Nero said in a manner so matter of fact that the casual passer-by might actually mistake that was his father’s name,” What the fuck do you think you’re doing back here after all that shit you pulled in Redgrave?”

Vergil repressed the urge to roll his eyes, half amused and half befuddled by his son’s outrageous behavior. “My apologies, but every reservation in the underworld was taken, so I had to resort to plan B.”

Nero stared at Vergil, thoroughly unamused by his father’s answer. He glanced towards Dante and gestured towards Vergil, disregarding the older twin’s sarcastic comeback. “Does he actually think he’s funny?”

Dante chuckled under his breath, shrugging playfully. “Who knows? You’d have to ask him. I hope not, though, because he’s definitely not.”

“Quiet. Both of you.” Vergil virtually growled at them both as he headed towards the steps,” I’ve had enough pleasantries for one lifetime. If I am not mistaken, before this little mishap occurred, you were going to show me around, were you not, Dante?”

Dante held up his hands in an act of surrender before following his twin to the bottom of the steps. Nero took his sweet time standing up, clearly trying to test Vergil’s already depleted patience reserves. After he moved, Nero glanced over at the van. It had lodged itself in a corner between the Devil May Cry agency building and the building it was connected to diagonally. The seemingly indestructible vehicle had more than likely lodged itself there during the blast. Morrison and the girls were disembarking. Going to check on them seemed like a decent idea. “You're just mad you lost again.” He said as he headed over towards the car.

Vergil glanced back over his shoulder, clearly incensed by the comment. “I won’t lose next time, child.”

“Uh-huh. Sure. Whatever you say.” Nero shouted over his shoulder before jogging off towards the van. Vergil leered in disapproval before turning back towards his twin. Dante was repressing a snicker. “You’re the reason he’s like this, you do realize that.”

At that comment, Dante burst into an almost hysterical fit of laughter. “Oh no, he was like that when I found him, Vergil! That attitude is all your fault! I guess the hardass gene comes from your side of the gene pool.”

Vergil shook his head and spared Nero a final glance before stepping towards the front door. “Just open the godforsaken front door, Dante!”

-~-

For the first time in what seemed like decades, the front office was actually clean. Considering the fact that Lady and Trish had more than likely been waiting here for Dante to return, that wasn’t too shocking to the youngest Son of Sparda, but it still wasn’t something he was accustomed to seeing. It wasn’t so much that he hated to clean (which he kind of did) or that he enjoyed living in squalor, it was just that he rather do literally anything else than tidy up around the office. His desk was still in the exact same place that he’d left it, and no effort had been put into redecorating since he’d left. Even the seemingly indestructible jukebox was still functional. Well, presumably. There was no power at the moment, so they couldn’t check.

While Dante checked his desk to make sure that everything was still in order, Vergil stalked around the office. The eldest of the two twins seemed to be examining the space quietly, assessing things for himself. Considering the events of the last few minutes -if not the last few days- Dante was just glad that things were so calm once again. It was good for his mental state. And the headache that he still hadn’t shaken.

Thanks, Nero.

As if he had heard his name called or something, the front doors to the office opened a moment later and in walked Nero, seemingly calm and collected again. Despite the emotionally charged fight that had taken place less than fifteen minutes prior, he seemed to be in high spirits. But then again, beating the ever-loving hell out of Vergil did that to a person sometimes. He dared even call it therapeutic.

The younger man walked across the room and placed his blade onto one of the weapon mounts on the wall before flopping down into the desk chair, folding his legs up onto the desk. Dante gave him a sideways glance, razing an eyebrow before grabbing the back of the chair and catapulting Nero from it, sending the white-haired youth rolling across the floor. Nero collected himself and stood up, repressing the urge to snicker to himself at Dante’s response. Somehow he just knew he’d do something like that. “Ya know, you could’ve just asked me to stand up.”

Dante spared him a glance from his position at the desk. He had taken Nero’s place in the chair and was filing through a stack of old mail, shaking his head at the number of bills he’d received. “Oh, I know I could’ve.”

Nero scoffed playfully and walked over to one of the couches, flopping down onto it. He stretched his arms out over his head and let his legs hang over the armrest, seemingly making himself comfortable. A moment later, every electronic device in the house came roaring back to life, producing a litany of loud noises. Vergil glanced up from his current place on the stairs, his eyes scanning the space for the source of the noise. After locating it, he filed past Nero on the couch and walked over to the tv. It was older, perhaps some sort of cathode display? Regardless, Vergil didn’t plan on watching it, and the noise was interrupting his otherwise serene mood.

The younger man raised his head and glanced over at Vergil, semi startled by his presence. “Where the hell were you this whole time? The bathroom?”

Vergil didn’t bother to look up from his place in front of the tv. “I do not know where the bathroom even is in this place, child.”

Nero was going to make a snarky comeback when a thought occurred to him. He turned to face Dante, the older man still going through his mail with a discontent look on his face. “Hey, Dante, I have a question.”

Dante spared him a quick glance before returning his focus to the envelopes. Some of them had past-due notices on them in red letters. Wonderful. “You and me both. For starters, how the hell is the power even on right now? I have at least twelve power bills in this stack alone with past due stickers on them!”

Nero stood up and headed past Dante’s office towards the back kitchen. Now that the power was on, he could find the refrigerator. “Don’t worry about that. I had Morrison take care of it on his way out of town. Said something about him and the others needing to check something out in the next town over. Nico’s checking out the van. She’ll probably be in soon.”

A look of surprise crossed Dante’s face at the younger man’s statement. He glanced between Nero and the pile of bills on the table, shuffling them until he located the most recent bill. He scanned over it briefly and then glanced back over at Nero, somehow even more bewildered than he had been a moment ago. “You know she’s going to kill you for that, right?”

Nero returned to the room empty-handed. The kitchen had been a bust. The closest thing to food in this house were the two empty pizza boxes on the front desk. Somehow he was more irritated with himself for expecting a different outcome than he was about the fact that he was practically starving to death from the lack of sustenance. “It’s fine, I talked to her about it. The water and gas should be back on, too. Just keep your fucking bills paid this time, damn it!”

Dante shook his head in disbelief before shooting Nero an appreciative glance. He was the only person that he could think of who would bodyslam someone into the pavement one moment and then pay their utility bills the next. Nero was truly something else. “I’m never going to understand where you got the cash from to do that. I mean, don’t you have two kids to feed?”

Nero held up three fingers, shaking his head. “Last time I checked, it was three. And I said don’t worry about it, ok? I’ve got this.”

At that, Vergil gave up on figuring out which of the seemingly endless knobs on this arcane contraption actually turned it off and unplugged it from the wall, solving the simple issue in the most Vergil way possible. No, he couldn’t have just heard him correctly. “... Did you just… You have three children, Nero?”

Nero watched Vergil approach from across the room, having nearly forgotten that he was still in the common area due to his silence. For some undisclosed reason, he was the only person present who insisted upon toting his blade around the building as if he thought that something would attack him here. Perhaps he did think that, considering how much time he’d supposedly spent in the underworld from what Nero had heard. Nero took a moment to consider the question, debating the merits of letting Vergil know about his personal life. But then again, what harm could come from him knowing? “Yea, three boys. Kyrie brought them home from the orphanage a while back since they didn’t have anywhere else to go while the repairs were going on. When it was time to send them back, she couldn’t make herself let them go so we just decided to keep 'em’.” Nero drifted off for a moment, recalling the fond memory. He then returned his attention to Dante.” But yea. So, why doesn’t he know where the bathroom is? Like, you’ve basically lived here forever, right? I don’t get it.”

And awkward silence blanked the room at the twins both considered the ramifications of such an innocent question. Vergil allowed himself to lean against the desk, earning him a raised eyebrow from his younger twin. If he didn’t know better, he would have assumed that Vergil was attempting to relax. But was he even physically capable of doing that? Dante wasn’t banking on it.

“Because I’ve never been here before,” Vergil answered succinctly. It was the truth, but admittedly, he didn’t grasp the significance of the statement until after he’d spoken the words. In at least two decades of Dante calling this office home, Vergil had never come to visit. Admittedly, they had not been on good (or even amicable terms) until now, but it had never occurred to him, much like it hadn’t occurred to him to come and visit, that he hadn’t made an effort to spend any meaningful time here and try to work things out with his younger twin.

Nero glanced between them, a look of disbelief and disappointment on his face. “How is that even- you know what? Nevermind. I’m not even gonna ask.” Nero shook his head before addressing Vergil again.”Why’d you wanna know anyway? What, did you think I was too young to have more than one kid or something?” Nero teased the subject casually. He didn’t honestly care what Vergil -or anyone else for that matter- thought about the subject. They were good children and he enjoyed having them around, despite the fact that they seemed to eat their weight in food on a daily basis.

Vergil seemed unfazed by the response he’d been given. “Yes. I did think that. At least, biologically.”

Dante laughed sarcastically at his brother’s response, drawing the puzzled gazes of both of his relatives. “Oh, your one to talk, Vergil. You did the same thing, and they are probably even closer together than his kids are!”

If looks could kill, Dante’s soul would have literally flown out of his body and plunged straight into hell. Vergil stared at him with a look he could only describe as blind horror and rage as he tried to process the ramification of Dante’s statement in front of Nero. This was not the time to have this conversation. Nero looked at them both in obvious confusion, completely unsure as to how to process his uncle’s statement. “Dante, what the fuck are you talking about?”

Dante felt a profound sense of regret wash over him as he realized the can of worms that he had just opened. A quick glance at Vergil confirmed his initial suspicion that his twin had seemingly turned a few shades paler. The eldest Son of Sparda had hoped that the statement would go over his son’s head, but Nero wasn’t quite as clueless as he’d hoped. There was no avoiding this topic of conversation, then.

Vergil let out a long sigh and accepted his defeat, along with the inevitable ass-kicking he was certainly about to receive. Additionally, he accepted the fact that he deserved it as well. He had never related to a defendant on trial so much in his entire life as he did at this very moment. “... You have a sibling.”

Nero stared at him blankly, every gear in his brain slamming to a stop and his cognitive abilities fled him. The silence that fell over the room was physically painful. After a prolonged period of time enduring the mounting sense of discomfort, Vergil decided to stop dodging the inevitable fight that was about to unfold and elaborate on his previous statement. “Moreover... you have a brother. The two of you are already well-acquainted from what I understand.”

The Sons of Sparda watched Nero scour his mind, combing it for a possible candidate. And they could also see the precise moment that he hit the jackpot. Nero’s state of utter disbelief was as threatening as it was uncomfortable to be on the receiving end of, and as he exhaled a tentative breath, he closed his eyes and nodded slowly, seeming to understand before he even asked. “It’s fucking V, isn’t it?”

Vergil nodded once as if not moving would somehow keep the eruption of emotion threatening to escape Nero at bay. Nero took a deep breath and growled under breath, unsure of how to process what he had just learned. He didn’t need Vergil’s confirmation. In some small measure, he just knew something had been different about him from the moment they had first met in his bedroom in Fortuna three months ago. Vergil simply waited for his son’s response. He did not fear Nero, but he acknowledged the destructive power that he possessed and the fact that he may very well never speak to him again after learning the truth. But a part of him dared hope for a different outcome despite everything.

“I guess I should rephrase that, shouldn’t I,” Nero said, a certain uncanny darkness tinting his tone of voice,” I had a brother. At least until whatever the hell you did to him happened.” The calm fury in his voice made the statement carry so much additional weight that it was unreal. “So unless whatever you did to him you can undo, I guess I’ve been downgraded to only child status again. I can’t fucking believe you.”

Vergil dwelled on Nero’s statement in silence. He seemed to consider something for a long time before carefully speaking. “... I never intended for him to meet such a fate. In truth, his involvement in my affairs was never planned from the start and if I could undo what has been done…” Vergil stopped dead in his tracks, a metaphorical lightbulb coming on in his head. In that very instant, something had occurred to him. An idea that he could not yet elaborate on, but also one that might have potential nonetheless. Dante and Nero both looked at him questioningly, wondering what part of his mind had come undone at that moment.

Vergil adjusted his coat and his posture, no longer leaning against the edge of the desk. He nodded to himself once before speaking, as if to confirm something to himself. “... There may be something that could be done about what you suggested. But first, I need to find her. It has been some time now, and I do not know if she still resides where I last visited her.”

Dante sat up straight in his chair, now more invested in this conversation than he had been before his brother had dared suggest something so outlandish.”Her who?”

Nero seemed to share Dante’s sentiment, although in a less agreeable state. Vergil sighed. Of all the bridges he had burned over the years, he never thought this would be the one he would come to regret the most. “Magnolia”.

Note: Thank you so much for reading this chapter! Hopefully, I haven’t lost any of you, but as I mentioned before this is a cannon divergent au. A while back, I did a questionnaire, and over half of the participants said that this was an idea that they personally liked, so I can only hope that you will keep reading to see what happens next! I hope to do two more chapters next week, one on Wednesday and one on Friday, but at the very least the Friday release is always guaranteed for this fic. In the meantime, I hope you enjoyed this chapter and if you don’t like the direction, I totally understand. Just please, don’t send me hate mail.