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The Sinners stare at Dante's body laying down across the three seater usually occupied by Yi Sang, Don Quixote and Sinclair.
It wouldn't be anything out of the ordinary except Dante's clockhead looks like it's been pried open and there's something leaking out of it, the fire on top of their head nearly gone, most of it is smoke.
“Someone should get Vergilius.” One of them says, everyone else nods their heads but nobody moves. Everyone watches as the stuff leaks from Dante's head onto the floor, a small puddle of it now.
Dante is aware that they're laying on the three seater on Mephistopheles. They're aware that their head has been pried open and something is leaking out of it. They can hear it drip down onto the floor. They're aware something is wrong. Their body hurts but also they feel no pain. They feel tired but they feel too much energy to be tired.
Vergilius feels like something is wrong. He's been sitting in his office doing paperwork while Dante and the Sinners are doing Mirror Dungeons.
He knew that they were usually back by now but he still hasn't heard a knock on his door and hasn't seen Dante enter his room.
Vergilius sighs as he gets up from his desk, leaving the paperwork and leaves onto the front of Mephistopheles.
As soon as he leaves the corridor he steps into a puddle of something. He follows the trail with his eyes which land on Dante laying down, their head pried open. He steps through the puddle, it splashing against his shoes and kneels next to Dante, ignoring the Sinners.
“Ah! Sir Vergilius! When hast thee arrived?” Don Quixote asks. Vergilius ignores her question, turns his head to look at the Sinners who all seem surprised to see Vergilius here. He ignores their stares, turns his head back to Dante and shoves his hand inside their head. Immediately the sensation of a water like texture hits him and when he lifts his hand with it, it feels like a slime. He examines it for a moment before shoving his hand back in.
<Vergilius!> Dante's body flails. He frowns because he shouldn't be able to hear Dante at all. He swirls his hand in the substance, searching for something .
<Vergil it hurts!> Dante cries out. He frowns and shoves his hand deeper when he feels both of Dante's hands on his wrist. <Please stop…> They whisper. Vergilius carefully removes his hand from their head.
Vergilius observes the substance as it swirls inside Dante's head, glittering as if someone threw glitter in there. The color resembled a night sky.
He sighs. “Everyone out.” He turns his head to the Sinners and watches as one by one they leave, only Faust remaining. “Dante-” She begins but she's waved off by Dante. She stares for a moment before nodding and leaving.
“What happened?” Vergilius asks as he feels even more of the substance leaving Dante's head pool at the floor, he feels it seeping into his pants.
Dante sighs. <We were doing Mirror Dungeons like usual and on one of the floors we encountered Guido.> They paused. < Somehow all of the Sinners died and he managed to get his hands on me.> Dante paused again, they tilted their head a little to look at Vergilius as if to check if he's listening. Vergilius nods, encouraging Dante to continue. <Well… I tried to escape from his grasp but before I could he pried the clock open and then he just died. I managed to bring the Sinners back but I didn't feel their pain and I couldn't feel the chains of the contract afterwards.>
“The contract's been nulled?”
Dante nods. Vergilius watches as a water like texture flows from the top of their head having replaced the fire. Instead of the gentle crackling there could be heard a quiet splashing.
“So when we go out and fight and inevitably die we wouldn't be able to be brought back?” Another nod from Dante.
Vergilius felt a tug on his chain, he knew Dante was feeling around if perhaps they were wrong and the chains of the Sinners remained but there was only one.
Unlike the Sinners Vergilius knew he didn't become weaker because there was no one else in this contract to pull him down.
He feels Dante lean against him so he wraps his arm around their waist in the chance they could fall to the ground.
“How the contract has been nulled?” Dante looks at Vergilius who sighs, was this like that for Faust or any other Sinner when Dante wanted to talk to him? No matter. “Just explain.” Dante nodded. <Basically when Guido pried open the clock as a sort of defense mechanism the Golden Bough cracked into several pieces.> Vergilius relayed Dante's explanation word for word.
Of course there were confused stares. “That doesn't explain why Vergilius can understand you.” Dante sighed. <I was just getting to that.> They glanced at Vergilius who smirked a little. “I won't be translating that.” Dante shook their head. < Because the bough cracked it nullified the contracts I already had and the cracked bough melted itself without those contracts. It sought a person who wasn't contracted to me and it chose Vergilius as that person.>
Vergilius leans in, grabs Dante's clockhead and pries it open with a POP ! sound. Immediately he notices that the substance flowing in their head doesn't overflow and drip down. “I'll reach my hand inside.” Dante nods softly, gripping Charon's hand a bit harder. Charon pats their hand with her other hand. “Tick-Tock will be okay, Verg will not hurt them.”
Vergilius doesn't quite know why Dante wants him to stick his hand in their head but he does so without much question. He puts his hand inside Dante's head, the fluid immediately touching his hand. It didn't feel like his hand got wet which was strange. “Does anything hurt?” He asks Dante. He sees as they almost shake their head before answering. <No.>
It's still strange to hear their voice or well an equivalent to it. He stirs his hand inside and pulls it out, the fluid immediately dripping back into Dante's clockhead. “There's nothing.” He says as he carefully closes the clockhead back. “I really don't know why you wanted me to check.” Dante lets go of Charon's hand, the young woman immediately going back to the driver's seat. They sigh as they sit up. <Just wanted to make sure nothing's wrong…>
Vergilius stood next to Dante who was staring at their PDA. He had defeated the Drenched Gossypium with ease, the dungeon wasn't anything hard for him. He peeked at what Dante is doing.
He pointed at an Identity that looks like him. “Is that supposed to be me?” He asks. Dante's head whips to look at him then they look back at the device and nod. <I think because of the contract I can access Mirror World versions of you.>
Vergilius was vaguely aware of how Identities work. He nodded. <G Corp...> They tilted their head thoughtfully. <Rupture.>
Vergilius looked closer at the Identity. “Is my hair longer?” Probably not the thing to point out but it stood out to him. He also notes it's very messy as if it wasn't brushed. <I guess so?> They drummed their fingers against the PDA. <At least I don't have to wonder how you'd look with longer hair.> A few chimes come out of Dante's clockhead alongside their laugh. Neither mention the bug-like appendages that seem to replace his arms.
Vergilius huffs and walks ahead of Dante. “Let's get on with it.” If Dante took a look at Vergilius’ face they'd notice a pink blush on his cheeks.
Dante and Vergilius were back with a piece of a Golden Bough. There were at least 12 more according to Dante. Unlike the usual activities of LCB the piece wasn't taken away by the After Team.
Right now the Sinners watched as Vergilius placed the piece in the fluid in Dante's head, wondering what is going to happen.
As soon the piece touched the fluid there was a change of the color of the fluid and when it was fully submerged it went back to a night sky color. Vergilius carefully closed Dante's clockhead and observed their reaction. “Dante?”
<Is it closed?> Dante asked carefully. Vergilius nodded and Dante sat up, looking at the Sinners. Vergilius felt as Dante tugged on his chain, feeling around if there were more. They gasped and looked at Gregor. Vergilius turned to look at the man and noticed his furrowed brow. “Then next should be-” Before he could finish he was interrupted.
“Me!” Rodion raised her hand, waving it around excitedly. Vergilius sighed. “At least I won't have to do everything by myself.” Dante elbowed him. <Hey! I'm rewinding the clock!> Vergilius tried to not smile but he failed. “That’s all you're doing Manager?” He laughed. Dante elbowed him again . <Well I am a Manager but now you're a Sinner too!>
“Wait, he's a Sinner too?” Gregor asked, confused. Dante nodded. <Because of the contract.> They put their hand on Vergilius' shoulder. <Sinner #14.>