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Speaking in a technical manner, being thrown into a parallel timeline can only be done by freak accident, brute force through unimaginable power or extreme bad luck.
It's why Vergil had never relied on luck for anything other than guessing how many new digits Dante's obscene debt accumulation had attained and she usually missed by a digit less.
So imagine her lack of surprise when she destroyed a corrupted Geryon, it's vile pustules exploded and the latent time stream energy was violently pushed out in her direction.
Vergil suddenly slammed into a familiar wall of Dante's shop, strangely absent of its many devil arms and their many whispers, falling to the ground with about the same grace as a brick, being immediately greeted by a shocked but undeniably amused laughter.
It was Dante, young and brash and shirtless. "Hah! Well damn, Vergil! And here I thought you'd do something more dram-" He stopped speaking the moment Vergil turned to look at him. Dante may not be the brightest mind out there but even he can tell something is wrong on the simple basis that they don't look the same age. "What the hell?"
Vergil is… she feels like the ground beneath her has crumbled and she's free falling. She hadn't imagined seeing this younger version of her little brother would rip open her heart and welcome in a torrent of emotions that weren't all unpleasant. "Dante." She speaks in acknowledgement.
If their unmistakable demonic twin bond didn't transcend time then he'd have already shot her, but her voice seemed to dim out the aggressive, confused intent in his dormant aura.
Ah, so Temen-ni-gru hasn't happened yet. Good.
"I'll say again. What. The. And hell." Dante twirled rebellion around. He's on edge, the chasm that separated them for most of their lives is fresh open at this moment in time and, if she does not intervene, will remain so for years to come.
Vergil gets back on her feet. Dusting herself off. "You have probably surmised, I do not belong in the current year. Or this world, for that matter."
Dante tenses, reflexes sharp and ready to block or strike at any abrupt movement. "Yeah, I figured. Guess you suit the old hag title better now, huh?"
Whereas her Dante usually put the term both to refer to Vergil and occasionally get a rise out of her, this one had not a trickle of fondness in his words. All were laced with animosity, anxiety and reluctance.
"I recall your older self complaining of back pain. Who's worse off?" She puts with a genuine, maybe lopsided smile.
Dante's eyes widen, remaining silent for a good minute. "So, I'm guessing you finally got that stick out of your ass?"
Through an unimaginable amount of needless bloodshed and pain, foolish decisions and other blunders- "That's one way to put it."
Dante relaxes just a smidge, though his grip on rebellion is no less firm. "Better late than never."
"If you wish to fight then I may indulge you. However, it would be irresponsible to start working on your debt pile so early…" Vergil says as she looks around the far emptier shop compared to decades from now. Their fighting always leads to collateral damage if it happens indoors, no exceptions. Besides… Dante never wanted to fight, he always wanted to play.
Dante eyes might pop out of their sockets. "You… don't wanna kill me?" If he tried to conceal the hope in his voice, he failed.
"Maybe a little… do you want to fight me?" God knows how much Dante can hide through his carefree attitude. If he wants to take it out on her then she will let him. Even now, before those entire decades of grief, she left him to pursue power. Vergil owes him as much.
"...no. Not really." Dante says, almost shy.
To think Vergil was once convinced the Sparda bloodline was doomed to fight to death… "Then come here." Vergil spreads her arms, offering a hug.
Her Dante had acclimated her to the gesture. He'd always been the more physically affectionate twin. Even then, Vergil will admit that for such a simple gesture, it holds plenty of power.
This Dante, however, has no idea. He stared in shock, rebellion clattered to the ground, his mouth agape like a fish and steadily growing pale, before punching himself in the face.
"What in the hells are you doing?" Vergil arms dropped as she questioned.
"It's a dream. You didn't just- it's a fucking dream." He said before punching himself again.
Vergil blinks, staring at her brother in disbelief. Dante punches himself twice more before Vergil decides to step in and restrain the idiot. "Dante, stop being foolish." As she grabs both his arms and keeps them below his waist.
He definitely tried to squirm away, but the difference in power was simply too large for him to have any chance of escape and he kept his eyes fixed on the ground. "You're not real."
"Dante, look at me."
"You're not real." There's desperation in his voice.
Vergil takes a risk then, slowly releasing one of his arms to cup his jaw. Thankfully, Dante doesn't try to hurt himself again. "Dante." She slowly tips up his chin. "Look at me."
Dante wouldn't be Dante if he wasn't rebellious. He doesn't allow her to bring his gaze to Vergil, always turning his head to the side and back to the floor. She has to take another risk, release his other arm.
He's tense, but otherwise doesn't move. Whispering "You're not real" as if trying to convince himself of that painful lie.
It… is certainly unnerving to see him so distressed. No feeling is worse than to see how her actions truly affected her sentimental idiot of a twin.
Worst of all? This is just the beginning of what she put him through.
Vergil uses both hands to cup Dante's cheeks, holding them carefully and lifting up his gaze. She gets halfway before he won't budge. This small distance he'll have to overcome himself. "It's alright, Dante." Vergil tries her best to reassure him. "I'm here"
Slowly, shakily and painstakingly, Dante lifts up his eyes and Vergil can almost see the ocean-worth of tears being barely held back. His gaze holds so much hope and panic and grief one would scarcely believe that behind all the bravado of the legendary devil hunter hides this soft heart.
Truth is… Dante was always a cry baby, whether he's eight, nineteen or forty doesn't seem to matter.
"Vergil" He strains out.
The older sister decides to deal a killing blow to the crumbling control Dante still has over himself.
She puts a kiss on his crown. "Yes, little brother?"
And the dam bursts open. "Vergil!"
Dante's arms wrap around her with such force it could snap a common human in two. To her, it registers as a tight embrace, one she reciprocates.
Words are far out of the picture for Dante, for the foreseeable future, he'll be stuck sobbing into her shoulder for a long time.
He is obviously unsteady, all his weight rests in her arms as she decides to carry him to the couch that has seemingly ignored the passage of time entirely. Even the stains are the same.
"Can I see another's woe, and not be in sorrow too? Can I see another's grief, and not seek for kind relief?" She quotes.
Dante would have thrown a snarky comment about it had he been in a better mental state, as of now a strangled laugh between sobs is all she gets for a reaction.
And so they stayed there, Vergil sitting upright and carding fingers through Dante's hair, while he lay across the couch, resting his head on her lap and clinging to her like she'd disappear if he let go.
It pains her that, for him, it's a perfectly reasonable assumption.
"Verge…" Dante says between a hiccup.
"Yes?"
"Don't leave me."
Vergil can't promise that. She has her own Dante and son to go back to, however, she is more than willing to have a few words with her younger counterpart.
"How about… i teach my younger self a few valuable lessons and you keep her in check?"
Dante sniffles, realizing that his older-older sister cannot stay here forever. "Yeah… dealing with one Vergil is freaky enough, let alone two."
"I also have a surprise for you."
Dante immediately grows more alert. "Oh god. 'You' and 'surprise' should never be in the same sentence. What is it?"
Vergil braces herself. "A nephew."
Dante immediately grows silent, turning away his head from her belly to stare up at her. All his tears have been substituted by sheer disbelief.
"A what?"
"A nephew. My son."
"I know what a nephew is."
"So?" Vergil contains a chuckle. "I don't see the problem here."
"The problem is that i don't know all about him!" Even decades back in time, Nero can still tear out the most genuine smiles from his uncle. "And whoever makes you drop your panties!"
Vergil gives an amused hum. "The latter you'll have to hear from my younger counterpart. As for Nero, i will retrieve him after I speak with myself." This is gonna get confusing. Really fast.
"Nero? That's the kid's name? Not bad." Dante sits up, wrapping an arm around her and resting his head on her shoulder. "So when's he gonna be born?"
Oh.
"He should be… 2 months old by now."
Dante's smile slowly creeps off his lips. "Wait. What- Vergil-!... YOU ARE A TEEN MOM?"
Vergil herself averts her gaze.
Dante bursts into laughter.
The next ten minutes pass just like that, Dante wheezing his lungs out while Vergil regrets some more life choices.
"Wh- hah- Where is he? He with you? Your younger self, i mean?"
Now it's time to explain just how far into her foolish obsession she had gone.
Vergil's mood sours, her little brother's smile wavering a bit. "Dante… get comfortable, i will tell you everything that happens from this point forward had i not appeared here."
And so she does. Vergil tells this young Dante of everything she did. Of all things that transpired in Temen-ni-gru and her abandonment of Nero. Of how she lend herself straight to the emperor's hands and be broken into a puppet rather than swallow her pride. How she unknowingly died by his hand. How she came back, tore off her own son's arm off and forsook everything for power, devastating Redgrave city once again and of their reunion that would result in one of them dying for good. How Nero prevented that and set them straight… Everything.
By the end of it Dante just had this inscrutable look on his face that sent shivers down her spine. Remorse never stung at her more profoundly than it did now.
Dante shrugged. "Well, uh… at least you learned from it." He tries to take a stern tone. "So don't do it again."
That's all? No anger? Nothing? Dante always forgives her so easily… she doesn't deserve all this leniency, but she'll make sure her younger self doesn't abuse it.
"Believe me, I won't." Vergil said, with far more severity than intended.
Dante himself seemed off put by her tone. "Hoh-kay. Now what? You're gonna do some introspection?"
Vergil stands up. "I remember where I took residence before the rise of that infernal tower." She debates in her head whether leaving Dante with his own thoughts is better than taking him to confront her foolish counterpart. "I want you to come with me."
Dante gives her an apprehensive look. "I don't really have to tell you why that's a bad idea, do i?"
"No. I want you to tell her mother looked for her."
This caught Dante off guard. "W-what?"
"I mean as I said. At this moment in time I… I believed mother only chose to save you." The only memory from Urizen she remembers clear as day. Dante telling her that mother died searching. "Foolish, i know."
Dante gives a weary sigh, getting up and pulling her into a tight hug. "You're so dumb."
"Hypocrite."
"Dumbass."
Vergil lets herself sink into Dante's affection, wondering how she managed for so long without this clingy fool. "Let's go." She says as they part their embrace. "Put a shirt on."
Dante, miraculously, complies.
A thought comes to her head. She should retrieve her book from the old house. Her own is with Nero, this one is still gathering dust in the old house.
This time there will be no V to pick it up.
Unsheathing Yamato, she warns Dante. "We're passing by the old house first. There is something I must retrieve."
Dante grows visibly alarmed, but otherwise doesn't protest. "Really going down memory lane, huh?"
Yamato cuts open a portal and suddenly they face an old, burned portrait, basked in the afternoon light. The structure is in much better condition since Urizen won't come to be.
Dante clings onto her arm like a child. A spike of protectiveness runs through her and, in a foolish act, lets a wing curl around him.
"What the-!... Vergil?"
She should have known he'd be alarmed by even a partial trigger. He hasn't unlocked all his heritage yet. "Hm?"
"Where the hell did this wing come from?" He says as he examines its blue patterns, letting his fingers trace along the warm tissue of the appendage.
"Its our blood. We are half demon and half human, therefore, much like we have a human form, we also have a demonic form. It is called a devil trigger." She explains. Dante's idle curiosity towards the wing, compared to his much younger face, make him seem so much more like a child it's ridiculous.
"Woah, you have a tail too?" Dante questions as it wraps around his waist, bringing him closer to her.
Vergil's theory that her tail does have a mind of its own proves correct. "I believe it is better to show you the full form."
It would be tremendously irresponsible to trigger with the usual aggressiveness in which she changes to her true form. Instead of a shockwave of demonic power, Vergil lets herself shift slowly, swapping cloth for armor and skin for scales and leather with a wash of blue motes.
Dante still clinged onto her arm, now scaled and monstrous as he did a once over. The blue flames that sprout from her forearms are much more gentle without adrenaline. "That's… kinda cool."
Vergil is somewhat surprised that Dante hasn't shown any resentment towards her, and by consequence, his devil side. "I thought you would hate this aspect of our heritage." She says, voice reverberating with inhuman timbre.
"Oh, I hate demons alright. But I guess this is just a part of us, isn't it? Besides, it's not like we're full demons."
"Fair enough."
"By the way… how do I do it? Do i have to reach inner peace or something?"
"You must be run through with rebellion." Vergil puts it simply, as she scratches Dante's scalp with her claws and he all but melts. The imagery of Dante bleeding out atop the tower forever fresh in her memory.
Dante stops melting into her touch for a moment. "Just like that?" Even through Vergil's scaled face he could tell she was giving him a deadpan stare. "Dante shish-kabob comin' up!"
"Right now?" Vergil asked, observing Dante step forward before stopping in front of the old portrait.
"Free delivery." He twirls rebellion around, pointing it to his stomach. "Seriously, though? It just seems right to do it here."
She has to agree to that. "Go ahead, then."
And rebellion disappears into Dante's belly, before emerging through his back, his agonized moaning makes her move to his side, steadying him while he wobbles on his feet.
"Okay, w-what happens n-now?" Dante strains out.
Before Vergil could answer, rebellion flies out of his body, banging on the ceiling and crashing down right beside a book.
A book with a golden V on its cape.
Dante's body begins to shift, red energy and runes gathering around him, the smell of ozone has overridden all dust. Seems like the lack of exhaustion and adrenaline will make this a much less unpleasant experience.
Vergil brings him to the ground, letting his changing form be hidden by her wings. Nothing will attack them here, but having ones body shift uncontrollably is stressful enough, the additional feeling of safety is appreciated without words.
"Fuck… this feels weird." Dante states. Scales start to slowly crawl along the length of his arms as he tries to hug himself.
"Don't struggle. Let it run its course." Vergil advices as she holds her little brother through his first trigger. Her own energy cradling his own as she keeps him comfortable against her. A rumbling purr from her throat shaking away the dust around them.
"Y- you get used to this?" Dante asks, his voice fluctuating between human and inhuman as his upper body starts gaining a leathery appearance.
"With time, yes. Now relax." Vergil responds, putting her chin to rest on top of his head as he hides his face on her neck. The helmet like scales start forming around his thick, soft hair.
His wings sprout out with little resistance, taking the form of an impromptu coat for his devil form. His nails turn to claws and a bright red spot takes place in his chest.
It's done. His young devil form is so much smaller and gaunt compared to the hulking beast he will develop into.
Dante's breathing is slightly irregular, but he's calm now. "I thought I'd have four wings like you. Where's my tail?"
"You'll get them as you grow up. Only i have a tail, however."
"No fair!" He whines, a sign that he's fully recovered.
Vergil gives Dante a little lick across the scalp, eliciting a purr of his own. Both their awakened devils relishing at their close proximity.
"Freaky." Dante says as he gets up on his own, analysing his own form and taking clear note that Vergil was just that much bigger than him. He ruffles his wings around. "Pretty stylish. But I'll stick to my beautiful human skin." He says as his demon starts receding.
"Hmph. You didn't change at all."
"How could I? I'm just that handsome in my sexy human self!"
"You're still insufferable." Vergil states in annoyance. She changed back to her human form, moving over to the book and sword.
Picking up the long lost relic of her childhood, she can't help but go over a few pages. The poems as familiar as the day she entrusted them all to Nero.
"Like the book that much, huh?" Dante shyly asks. "Sorry for stealing it…"
Dante never really let's go of guilt, and Vergil will never stop trying to tell him not everything is his fault. They're both too stubborn. "Don't be, you were just fulfilling your duty as my infernal little brother. None of us could have known we would be attacked that day."
Dante gives her an acknowledging look, but she knows he hasn't let go.
A matter her young self shall deal with.
Vergil grabs the longsword and hands it over to Dante.
"So I'm guessing we're gonna lecture your younger dumbass now?"
Right now she's probably trying to shake off the urge to retch in self disgust. Having left Nero behind in the orphanage and supposedly perpetuating a cycle of abandonment took its toll. "Correct."
"Just hoping I don't get stabbed again."
"Then keep your tongue in check." Vergil says, as Yamato cuts open the fabric of reality once again.
They are face to face with the wooden door of a cheap apartment in Redgrave. Not adequate to her tastes. A temporary arrangement until Temen-ni-gru could be risen.
Her very presence has already been noticed, Dante may not hear it but Vergil can hear shuffling from inside. Then a wall of panic and confusion hits her.
Fear because her younger self has been found by an overwhelming opponent, wielding absolute power, about to be killed when she was so close to obtaining father's legacy and might.
Confusion because apparently, said opponent is herself.
Then satisfaction hits her. The realization she apparently succeeded in her goal, followed by even more confusion because of the obvious 'how are there two Vergils?'
She hears faint footsteps, unnoticed by her brother.
"Should we ring the doorbell or should we bust in-" Dante just barely finishes before the door opens. Vergil's young visage, even the old cyan blue coat, staring at her counterpart in incredulity. Eyeing the same Yamato she carries in her hand as confirmation she is, in fact, herself.
"What madness is this?" She whispers.
"The death of almost every soul in Redgrave city and the consumption of the Qliphoth fruit. The same Mundus used to become emperor."
Disgust and more confusion twist her young face and she falls silent, flicking a contemptful glance at Dante.
Vergil, the older, wraps an arm around Dante's shoulders, much to the younger Vergil's shock, and struts in like she owns the place.
Technically, she does own it.
The younger sister knocks herself off her stupor and closes the door, following them to the kitchen where her older self was already making tea.
Dante was settled in the island and giving his sister an apprehensive look, while she glared at Dante in pure hate.
"Start fighting and I'll slam you both in the ground." The oldest sister says, filling up the water boiler.
They comply for now. Setting opposite to each other. The tension in the air could almost be touched.
"I see you have unlocked the power of your heritage." The young Vergil glares at her younger brother. "And finally put on a shirt."
"Courtesy of your less crabby self." Dante can't resist his instincts. "Gotta say, I never thought you were the motherly kind…"
Vergil's eyes widen, turning to her older counterpart. "You told him!"
"Yes. Nero is his nephew, he deserves to know."
Her younger self can't quite disagree, so she stays silent.
"I know you're against that." The older Vergil starts. "Why? Because he abandoned you?"
Young Vergil stares. 'Yes' she wants to say.
"Tell her what truly happened that day, Dante."
Both Vergils eyes turn towards him.
Dante braces himself, the fire is forever a sensitive topic. "Mom just hid me in a closet because I was closer. Then she went looking for you, Vergil. Her last words were your name…"
The older Vergil watches her younger self's scowl be wiped clean off her face. Slowly, so agonizingly slowly, her face starts twisting into pure horror as the realization she left Dante to burn in that house sunk in.
"Dante…" Her voice is filled with thinly veiled despair.
And Nero…
The tea will take a little while still. She has time to recount the same events she told Dante.
"You seek power, no? The oldest sister questions, knowing of the answer.
Vergil nods through her poorly concealed terror. Her objectives with what she'll do with Sparda's power have radically changed, but the lust for power is a constant.
"I will tell you of everything this foolish path will lead you to. Listen, and listen carefully."
She recounts everything she told Dante. The tower, the torture, the enslavement, the pain and death, Nero's arm and the poison tree... However, what she did not tell Dante was the abuse Nero endured in the orphanage.
She went into far more detail than she should. This was Nero's trauma she's handling and it is a story that shouldn't be told without his consent.
But that trauma will never come to be. Not in this world, at least. And if her younger self must realize the severity of all that she's done then she must not be coddled.
By the end of it, young Vergil was a pale mess of barely contained tears, anger, horror and self loathing. Having one's entire cruel fate spoken with no censure, by yourself, especially to one as sure of their path as Vergil, is at the very least, panic inducing.
Her younger self sat frozen, completely still. Until bile caught in her throat and she ran to the bathroom, clutching the toilet like a lifeline as pure acid made its way out.
The older Vergil's nose wrinkled as she kneeled beside her foolish self. Dante just beside her, stroking her hair and cooing as he tried to comfort his distressed twin.
Vergil had nothing to throw up anymore, but her body did not relent. Forcing her to retch even if nothing filled her stomach.
Eventually she calmed, swapping her hold on the toilet for Dante as she let out uncountable incoherent apologies.
A high pitched noise denounced the fact tea was amost ready. The twins panic triggered instead, Vergil wrapping her wings around him and growling in the direction of the kitchen, while Dante already had rebellion in hand, his own wings trying to cover Vergil's in a mess of blue and red.
"It's just the boiler, fools." The oldest sister says, making her way to the kitchen and sparing the twins a private moment.
When she finished making tea, Dante had all but carried Vergil back to the kitchen, who had gone back to her inconsolable state, no matter how much Dante tried.
She set the mugs on the island. "Try to get her to drink once she's calmed down. I will go deal with Mundus. If Arkham shows up decapitate him."
"Alone? You're gonna fight Mundus alone?" Dante asks, concerned.
"Of course, i am much more powerful now and, since the seal did not break, he is much weaker."
Dante obviously has something to say in protest, but resigns to a simple "Be careful." Such a worrywart.
"I'll also deal with some… problematic figures of the order and retrieve Nero. I'll return shortly."
Vergil unsheathed Yamato and cut open a portal to hell. There is much to be done.
She did not spare mundus a word, nor did she bother with the devil arm he left behind. Vergil did not entertain the greetings of sanctus as the holy daughter of the savior. Swift decapitations all around the "holy council" as Yamato reveled in destroying future problems.
Retrieving Nero was simple enough, though she went the extra mile and made sure some particular nuns would never torment these children again.
Vergil spared herself a moment of fancy before returning to the apartment, relishing at Nero's high pitched laughter as she poked his tummy. It felt way too good to hold this little baby boy, knowing that he will have a far better fate than before.
Nero is ticklish. She'll make sure to test whether that's true for her grown up son somehow.
It had been only a few hours before she went back to the young and dumb teenage twins. The icy walls that separated them were torn down with gracious efficiency. The greatest threat to them is destroyed and her son will have a normal (as can be) life.
The portal that opened in the kitchen was expected by the twins. Vergil seeing her young self munching on a turkey sandwich while in plain clothes and damp hair was only somewhat surprising. Dante always went to great lengths to ensure her comfort.
"Welcome back- oh my god." Dante said as his gaze dropped to the little black bundle Vergil cradled. "Is that…?"
"Nero!" The younger Vergil all but jumped out the chair and would have absolutely lunged at her older self had it been anyone else.
"I believe this is yours." Vergil says, as she hands over her son to herself. Cradling him with the care reserved for a baby and a bomb. "Isn't he cute?"
Nero's confused cooing at the fact he feels his mother's two presences only exacerbated it.
"Holy shit-"
"Language!"
"Language!"
Dante pouted at his sisters.
"Speaking of language, try to curb his swearing habits as he grows up. He has quite the foul mouth as a young man."
Vergil is just barely not entranced enough by Nero's grabby hands reaching up to her face to acknowledge her counterpart's advice.
"I'm sure Dante will be plenty of help in that regard." Her younger self jests.
"Hey! I don't swear." At the Vergils disapproving glare, he adds. "Much…"
"In any case, has Arkham shown up?"
"He did, actually. I was about to cut his head off when this lady with no name showed up and shot him herself."
"Ah, that was Lady."
"Uh… what?"
"That woman was Arkham's daughter. She renounced her name and went by 'Lady' after the Temen-ni-gru had risen. Your older self told me you named her that."
Dante looked proud. "Sounds like me. I'm lazy."
Vergil, the younger, started playing with Nero's little arms, filling the kitchen with innocent giggling and purring.
"I know you fear losing him." She says and her young self looks up. "Seek true power in your humanity. There is as much strength as there is pain within it."
"How?" Vergil asks, genuinely. "How can being human make me stronger?"
"It is not as much as 'being human' as it is keeping a human heart. Devils have the strength, but they have no direction, nothing to protect. Uncaring of all but themselves. So long as you fight to protect what you love, there is hardly a battle you will lose, for your heart will keep you fighting until the battle is won."
"I… I think I understand." The young sister presses a kiss to the little boy's crown. "It's why father won against the demon world, no?"
"Correct." The older sister reaches into her coat, pulling out a book with a blazing V engraved in its cape. "Let this be a way for you to reach into your dim heart. Let it heal."
The younger daughter of Sparda holds her son close with one arm, using the other to reach for the book she lost all those years ago.
"God, the drama is gonna kill me."
The older sisters ignore their little brother, sharing a silent moment upon the significance of the book.
The younger Vergil accepts it, flipping around a few pages. She knows all these poems by memory but it feels right to recite it directly from the source.
"Sweet joy I call thee;
Thou dost smile.
I sing the while
Sweet joy befall thee." She reads aloud for the little boy. "Thank you."
"You two are so sappy…" Dante complains. "By the way… how are you gonna go back?"
"I have an idea. May i?" Vergil motions to the younger Yamato.
A nod.
Vergil's cuts a portal to wherever- it doesn't exactly matter- then uses the other Yamato to cut a portal through the portal to Dante's shop, decades from now, before returning the younger Yamato to her equally younger owner. The mechanics behind this is not something she hopes to understand, so long as it works.
"So this is it?"
"I'm afraid so."
"Thanks." Dante says sheepishly.
Vergil curses her sentimentality, but the fact she may not get another chance for this gets the better of her. Vergil hugs him tight once again and plants another kiss on his hair. "You're welcome, little brother."
They both ignore the fact he's teary eyed.
Vergil moves over to her son, getting a few more giggles out of him with some well placed poking.
Her younger self surely takes note of that.
Then she gives herself a loose hug, exclusively not to crush Nero between them. They're both silent, they know what they've been through and one of them has met a far better fate than the other. "Make sure you visit fortuna someday, Nero will meet the love of his life there." She says, as she plants a kiss to her own crown.
"I will. Farewell."
Vergil steps through the portal, returning to her time and world, taking in the pink neon sign of Devil may cry. She could find another world where things went better but…
She wouldn't trade what she has today for the world.
The portal closes as Vergil climbs up the small ladder to Dante's shop and steps in.
"Heya, Verge." Dante lazily calls from his desk with the usual dumb grin. "How was the hunt?"
"It went well. For how long was I gone?"
"Couple hours. Whatcha think about chinese takeout?"
"Acceptable." Vergil agrees as she moves to her room, ruffling Dante's hair on the way, desperate for a shower.
"Nero's gonna be crashing here, by the way."
There's her chance to test if he's still ticklish. "Alright."