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She saw him look up from his magazine the second she stepped inside the office. He was seated at his desk, feet propped up on the sturdy wooden surface reading a magazine as if he’d never even been gone. There was a brief moment where he looked hopeful; probably thinking she might be a client so he could start making some money after being gone for so long, but when her dual colored gaze met his ice blue one, he gave her a wry grin.
One day. Dante and Vergil hadn’t been back from the underworld for one day and she’d managed to find out about it and was already paying him a visit. Lady admitted to herself that she had been a little worried about him, so she was glad he was finally home and, from the looks of it, unhurt. She could only imagine what it was like spending so much time in the underworld; especially when you’re hated by devils like he was.
She could see it in his eyes that he was expecting her to be bringing trouble along already. Not that she was a magnet for it or anything; more like trouble was a magnet for her. She was the one who went looking for it...purposefully...so she could shoot it.
Or shoot him. Really she was prone to either, and she knew she was a damn good shot; she rarely missed. And boy, did she have a good reason to shoot him this time.
“I see you’re finally back in one piece,” she said with a smile as she strode up to his desk.
“Missed me that much you just had to see me as soon as I got back, did ya?”
She cocked her eyebrow at him as if to say ‘really?’ He probably thought she wasn’t in the mood for his antics, but truthfully she couldn’t have been happier that spending so long in the underworld hadn’t changed him. She’d been really worried when that first couple of weeks had stretched into months. And though she would never admit it to his face out loud, she had missed him...a lot.
But now that she knew he was back, unharmed, and still the same old Dante, she had a bone to pick with him.
“Where’s Vergil? I assume he’s gonna be staying with you for at least a little while, right?” It made the most sense, seeing as how Vergil pretty much had no one to turn to except for Dante and his son. And since he didn’t really know his son at all yet, he probably felt like Dante was his only choice (other than living on the street or something like that), even though she was certain Nero would have taken him in, regardless.
“Yeah, but he’s not here at the moment.” Just the opportunity she was looking for.
“Good ‘cause I wanted to talk to you about him without him here.” Her no-nonsense tone had Dante sighing and flopping his magazine onto his desk.
“Thank you for all that concern over my well-being, by the way.” His voice was dripping with sarcasm, but now she wasn’t in the mood for his antics.
“Can it, Dante. Try to be serious for a change.” She knew that was a tall order for the man, but this was important. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
When she made no move to elaborate further, his confusion became evident. “Tell you what?” Obviously, he had no clue what she was talking about.
Which to be fair, wasn’t really his fault. He’d been gone for a long time and who knows what he’d had to do to keep going while stuck in the underworld, even if he hadn’t been alone this time. But that didn’t mean he was getting off the hook that easily.
“That Urizen and V were really Vergil.” She watched his expression slacken into surprise. “I mean, you knew, didn’t you?” Her accusing glare meant she expected the truth out of him and no beating around the bush, either.
He sighed again, a resigned sound that told her he knew he wasn’t getting out of this without some form of an explanation. Whether or not it would be what she was looking for still remained to be seen.
“Urizen, yes. V, no. Things might have turned out differently if I’d figured that one out a little sooner than right as he was putting himself back together,” he said casually.
“You think?!” She felt herself getting a little annoyed with his nonchalant attitude over the whole thing. She took a deep breath to try and calm down. He did just get back from the underworld yesterday and was going to be adjusting back to normal life for a while. Once she felt like she could say something without yelling at him (though the annoyance was still clear in her tone), she continued, “You still should have told me...and Trish, too! We would have handled the situation a lot differently if we’d known.”
She knew he knew she was right when he didn’t respond and couldn’t even look her in the eye. She’d known him long enough to know what was eating him up at the moment: guilt. They’d suffered for his choice and she knew that didn’t sit well with him.
She decided to ease up on him. Yeah, him not saying anything had ended badly for her and Trish, but that was the risk all hunters took when going into a job. Besides, he obviously hadn’t meant for it to turn out the way it had. And it all worked out in the end for everyone...well, mostly. He and his brother still got stuck in the underworld for a while so she supposed she could cut him some slack for that.
“So why didn’t you?” The softened timbre of her voice drew him out of the very likely self- deprecating thoughts he was lost in.
“Hmm?”
“Tell us, I mean.”
Dante just shrugged. “Don’t really know.”
And there went her trying to be nice; right out the proverbial window. He was being difficult and he knew it. She scoffed. Fine. If he was going to play it like that, she wasn’t going to make him talk, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t going to make sure he knew she wasn’t happy with him.
“And here I thought we were friends,” she said it with such seriousness that it startled him into looking up at her suddenly. She could tell he was wondering if she really meant it or not.
“We are,” he said carefully. His eyes narrowed at her; a silent challenge just daring her to dispute it...
...but she wasn’t backing down, either. That was something she never did and he knew it.
“Yeah well, you sure have a funny way of treating your friends.” By funny she of course meant horrible. Now she was angry and it showed. The least he could have done was given her his reasons for keeping Urizen’s true identity a secret, but now she’d had enough. Talking like this was only going to end with an argument between them and she’d already decided she wasn’t going to force it out of him, even if it was tempting.
She turned on her heel and stalked back to the door, fully intent on leaving.
“Best, actually,” he said it so quietly she’d missed it, but it was still loud enough that she knew he’d said something, even if she didn’t know what.
She stopped just as her hand touched the doorknob. “What was that?” She twisted to face him, her expression giving away her displeasure with him at the moment.
“Best,” he repeated it louder this time as he looked at her. “You’re my best friend.”
Her eyes widened in surprise at his admission. He’d said it so seriously she couldn’t help but be taken aback for a moment. Yeah, they’d been friends for over two decades now, but he didn’t really mean that...did he?
A sudden wave of emotion hit her and she struggled not to let it show. Her worry for him while he was gone and the relief she felt now that he was back on top of what he’d just blatantly admitted was overwhelming her. So she handled it the only way she knew how; brush it off like it was nothing.
“Stop joking around, Dante. I’m not in the mood, anymore.” She turned back to the door. She needed to go and get herself back under control, but she didn’t even get the door open before he was speaking again.
“I ain’t joking. You’ve known me longer than anyone, save Vergil.”
When she turned to look back at him yet again, he’d gotten up and was now leaning against his desk. The look on his face was serious and very uncharacteristic for him. It seemed he’d done a lot of thinking while stuck in the underworld; about his life and the people in it.
“You’ve been around through all my shit and you’re still here. Good friends are a rare thing in our line of work, so maybe it’s not really saying much, but still…you’re the best friend I’ve got.” He hesitated a bit at the end, actually starting to look a bit embarrassed at admitting such a thing to her.
Lady was just stunned. He’d never said anything about feeling that way about their friendship before, but looking back it kind of made sense. There was a dynamic between them that neither had with anyone else in their lives.
She couldn’t fight the upward twitch of her lips, as much as she tried. Was she still annoyed with him? Yes, of course she was. He’d worried her; worried everyone, really. And then he came back like nothing had changed and wouldn’t even give her an answer to the question she’d asked.
But he’d also just admitted something very personal. That was very much something he wasn’t inclined to do often, if ever at all. He didn’t like feeling vulnerable, especially emotionally. She would know after all; she was the same way. And so her anger had now simmered down somewhat.
“Don’t get all soft on me now. I’ll start to think you’re possessed and may be tempted to shoot you to make sure.” She leaned back against the door with a smirk.
He chuckled at that. “Wouldn’t be normal if you didn’t.”
Normal. A memory came unbidden to her of a time in their lives when they were much younger; just barely adults, really. Dante dressed in nothing but his signature red coat, pants, and boots; no shirt of course. And her, in a mini skirt, toting guns around a crazy tower. He’d saved her life then; and she’d shot him in the head for it. Luckily, he was half devil. If he hadn’t been, neither one of them would probably be standing here today.
The silence stretched on for a bit, but neither was uncomfortable in it; evidence of just how long they’d been friends. She was about to finally tell him she’d see him again soon and leave, when he spoke first.
“I didn’t want to believe it.” He looked nervous now, but she wasn’t sure what he was talking about at first.
“Huh?”
“Urizen. I didn’t want to believe that was Vergil. That’s why I didn’t say anything. Somehow, telling someone else made it feel...true. Guess I just couldn’t accept that.” A guilty look fell over his face again. “And you paid for it. Trish, too. I’m sorry for that. You shouldn’t have even been there. It was my shit to deal with.”
At first all she could do was just stare at him her mouth slightly agape in mild surprise. He actually told her. She hadn’t expected him to just come out with it without some more prodding, much less apologize for it; at least not to her face. He was the type that preferred to apologize with his actions rather than words.
Her surprise didn’t last long. She pushed off the door and walked over to his bar, only stopping to grab a bottle of his favorite whiskey and a couple of glasses before heading back to his desk. When she reached him, she set the glasses down and poured one for each of them. She handed him one, noting that his wry smile was back finally.
“Your shit to deal with, huh? Well, what are best friends for if not for putting up with all your shit?” She held up her glass with a smile.
He laughed at that. “Guess I’m stuck with you then.” He clinked her glass with his own and they both knocked back their drinks. As Dante sat back down in his chair, Lady took a seat on top of his desk and proceeded to pour them each another round.
“Actually, there’s one more thing that I should be pissed at you for.”
He gave an exasperated groan, “What now?”
She could tell by that he had no clue what she was about to bring up, and while he should have known, she couldn’t really blame him. It had happened right before he left, and then spending so much time in the underworld he had probably forgotten all about it while trying to focus on surviving.
That didn’t mean she was letting him off the hook for this either, though.
“Two words,” she said as she took another drink, “Kalina Ann.”
She watched as his face fell, suddenly remembering the fact that Nico had ‘rented’ her beloved weapon to him before he booked it with his brother to the underworld.
“Ah shit!” His exclamation told her everything she needed to know about the fact that he likely couldn’t remember what happened to the Kalina Ann II, meaning she wouldn’t be getting it back.
Which, in and of itself wasn’t a problem; she’d already had Nico make her a new one almost as soon as she’d heard from Nero he wouldn’t be back for a while. She still had work to do, after all. But there was still the matter of paying for the rental use and subsequent loss of her property left to deal with.
“Don’t worry about it so much. Since we’re best friends and all, I won’t make you pay me back for it...” she paused for a moment, watching in amusement as his expression turned to relief briefly, before she continued, “...right away.”
His jaw went slack at that. “Seriously!? I haven’t worked since I left! How the hell am I supposed to pay you back for that?!”
“Relax. I can wait. After all I’m used to waiting when it comes to you owing me. And I won’t even charge you interest, you know, since you’re a bum and haven’t had a job in a while.”
The deadpan stare he was giving her only had her grinning madly at him.
“Gee thanks. You’re so generous.” He reached for the bottle, suddenly needing another strong drink.
“What can I say? I’m just a great friend.” A thought suddenly occurred to her then and Dante might have been worried had he noticed the new wicked grin that spread across her face while he poured himself another shot. She couldn’t resist the temptation that presented itself.
“Maybe I should start coming to you with all my girl talk now, huh? You know, since we’re besties and all.”
Dante’s hand jerked, almost spilling the bottle he was holding and all Lady could do was laugh at the mildly horrified look on his face at her suggestion. It was priceless...and one she wouldn’t trade for anything in the world.