Chapter Text
Autumn came to Fortuna with a rare sense of excitement this year. Though still in the midst of rebuilding, fewer demons roamed the populated areas of the island country and the people were beginning to enjoy the changing seasons on the island. This was due in part to the huge undertaking of The Order of the Sword under the direction of a new Captain that was both as charming as he was handsome and a new triumvirate that wanted the people to return to the fundamental beliefs of their religion. Nero had slowly made a name for himself as an accomplished swordsman, demon hunter and trusted liaison between the New Order and the world beyond their sheltered borders. Dante visited frequently over the past year and quickly garnered a reputation of his own. All in all, things were going well and the people of Fortuna had begun to come out of their proverbial robes and hoods. This year was the first year in over one hundred that the three-day celebrations of the Festival of the Dead would be allowed to be celebrated openly and many were looking forward to it, decorating their shops and homes with carved pumpkins, scarecrows and colorful bouquets of colored leaves and flowers. Small gatherings were planned throughout the city to allow everyone to enjoy the sights, sounds, and tastes of fall.
“Nero! Dante!” Kyrie called with excitement from the ferry dock. The young devil hunter blushed at the attention she drew to them. He leaned against the rail of the ferry watching the water as they pulled alongside the dock.
Dante snickered giving the kid's shoulder a nudge as he grinned at the youth. Giving Kyrie a short salute, he stood up straight and mumbled under his breath, “Looks like someone missed you, kid.”
“Yeah,” he rubbed his nose absently with his bringer and it glowed softly. The glow quickly caught the attention of a young lady standing close with her daughter whom she held tight to her hip. She looked worriedly from Nero to Dante then down to her daughter who reached forward as Nero turned almost brushing into her as the ferry made a hard bump to the dock. “Sorry, excuse me.” He hesitated to see her eyes on his uncovered bringer. Dante insisted that he leave the arm uncovered more and more, but he still felt awkward having it exposed here on Fortuna. Of anything, he wanted people to not compare him to the demons that he hunted.
“Does it always do that?” she asked with a concerned expression.
“I’m sorry?”
“Glow. I mean does it, I mean your arm, does it always glow like that?”
“Sure does. Comes in real handy when you need a nightlight too,” Dante chuckled. Nero glared at him. The woman looked at them perplexed, then blushed and smiled back at Dante’s appraising grin. Her daughter giggled and reached for Nero again, and Nero returned her smile. He recognized the little girl.
“Nee-woah,” she giggled and Nero couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Hey Kaya, introduce me to your mother?” he offered. Nero desperately wanted to change the topic of discussion away from his arm.
“Mama, Mama, dis nee-woah. He got a puh-witty arm.” She giggled while enunciating her words and trying to sound very proper for a two-year-old. Then grasping his arm, Nero allowed Kaya to pull it toward her.
“Yes, baby he does. I apologize Nero. That was very rude of me,” she lowered her head nodding to him respectfully. “I just didn’t know it glowed. It caught me off guard and I did not mean to be rude. Kaya speaks highly of you and Kyrie over at the school. I appreciate you coming to help watch over them so they can take trips outside of the city. Thank you for all that you’ve done.” Shifting Kaya on her hip again, she smiled bowing slightly to Dante and wishing them well before departing the ferry.
“See kid, it just takes time. Before you know it no one will even notice.”
“Yeah, whatever,” he pushed past the red hunter and made his way over to Kyrie who practically bubbled with excitement. Nero couldn’t help but grin thinking how easy it was to tell she was excited about something. She blushed when he scooped up her hand and kissed it. Dante stepped up behind them and gave an exaggerated ‘aww’ as if he was watching a basket of kittens playing, but Nero quickly elbowed the hunter and gave him a glare. Kyrie giggled.
“Knock it off, old man.”
“Come on kid, you two are so freaking cute together,” he smiled catching the eye of another couple exiting the ferry who were also watching them with an approving smile. Dante motioned to Nero, “See even they think so.”
“Evening, Ms. Kyrie, Mr. Nero, Dante,” The older couple nodded as they passed arm in arm. “It’s a beautiful evening for the All Hallow’s Eve celebrations. May the blessings of Sparda be with you and your family.” The couple was the last to leave the ferry and Nero nodded back as Kyrie agreed with them adding her blessings for them.
Kyrie wore a simple red dress with a matching coat without the hood and her hair was neatly plaited down the back of her head. Nero thought offhandedly she must have picked up an extra shift at the hospital to be still in her work clothing, but then he remembered it was All Hallow’s Eve and she took the late shift so that other coworkers with children could visit the festivals together. He offered an arm to her and she gladly took it pulling him along slightly. Nero knew whatever made her call to find out which ferry he and Dante were on must be something of importance.
“So what’s go you so excited?”
“Does it show?”
“Only a little,” Dante snorted behind them as they walked.
“Well, Captain Durante sent for you this afternoon. They found a series of labs under the ruins of the old headquarters and they felt it was important that you and Dante both were there first thing in the morning, in case of trouble.” She said gleefully. Dante smiled when she looked back at him, but he had tuned out the couple before him. He was simply enjoying the cool breeze of the evening air as they walked and the smells of cider and assorted baked goods that floated thru the air. He watched kids with their parents excited for the coming events of the evening, and he felt a twinge of pride that the city was clean of demons and had been for a few months. Dante knew the lull in demonic activity that the island was currently experiencing was due more to the fact of how hard he and Nero worked to clear the last two “secret labs” and their associated portals. He also knew Kyrie would probably not be so happy knowing what the two of them really did when they were called, so he kept his thoughts to himself. She was happy believing Nero rarely saw action or got hurt.
As they walked down the street Dante felt a familiar presence lingering and he found himself thinking of Vergil as he looked at the festival decorations in the shop windows. There were carved pumpkins on residential steps, candles in windows and the occasional scarecrow with protective wards painted to them. His thoughts drifted to when he and Vergil celebrated the three days around Halloween with hunting, food, carving, or more often hacking and smashing pumpkins and listening to their mother and father tell scary stories by a campfire in the woods near their home. Dante insisted their mother always told the best scary stories because you never knew what would happen. His father’s stories at some point included a demon and were kind of predictable in Dante’s mind. He smiled remembering the happy memories with his family. Lost in his thoughts, Dante suddenly found himself walking into the back of the hot-tempered youth and frowned not understanding why they had stopped so suddenly. “Woah, sorry kid, what’s the holdup?”
“Do you feel that?” His bringer flickered brightly signaling something powerful and demonic was near. Come to think of it Dante did feel something but it was elusive and felt almost like a wet blanket was wrapping around his senses.
“Yeah, actually I do.” He cast his senses wider but did not detect anything dangerous or evil only a sense of something vaguely familiar but demonic. Something about it reminded him of Vergil.
“Even Yamato doesn’t like it.” Kyrie clung to Nero a little tighter her eyes widening. He absently put his bringer over her hands on his arm to assure her.
“Maybe it’s an angel or lost soul or something. You know, Vergil once told me Yamato could sense lost souls or was it spirits? I always thought he was crazy but whatever. It is All Hallow’s Eve.”
“Really? Some help you are.” Nero pouted his cheeks dusting red.
“Hey, she was my brother’s sword, not mine. He really wasn’t the type to share in the first place. Besides, Yamato was always kind of cold towards me. Kind of like Verge,” he snickered. Vergil had his more endearing moments but they were far and few between.
“Whatever, let’s get going it’ll be dark soon and lost souls or not I’m hungry.”
“When aren’t you hungry?” Dante chuckled feeling the sensation ebb away as he followed after the couple.
“Shut up.” Dante just snorted again.
Behind them, a shadow seemed to shimmer before fading into the surrounding shadows. “What have you done to me?” a cold voice snapped. The faint rippling image of the eldest son of Sparda watched the three friends talking and laughing as they walked away from him.
“It would appear I have mistakenly pulled your soul from your body, instead of waking you. It's a fairly simple mistake and I can fix it. I just need a little time.”
“Time? If I’m not mistaken a soul can’t be apart from its body for long without degradation occurring to both.”
“Sure, sure but you have plenty of time. At least a week before that even begins to happen, and your body is in stasis so we have longer if you don’t exert yourself while you are in this spiritual form.”
“Exert myself? In this form?” Vergil’s eyes flashed as he glared at the faint image of a male angel with short dark hair. A sudden flash of blue and the nearby chairs in front of a shop fell to their side. “Apparently, I cannot be seen or heard so how am I supposed to make amends with my brother?”
“Yes, I see your dilemma,” the angel looked to the chairs a moment not pointing it out to Vergil who seemed oblivious as to just how much power his soul contained. “Well, we will just have to find a gifted human, a medium, to help us until I figure out how to put you back.” The angel felt cold hands slip to his neck and his gold eyes flicked up with a gasp. “Vergil!”
“I have little recourse in this form but so help me I will strangle you if you don’t fix this.”
“You will damn yourself to hell if you harm me.”
“I’ve been there and I’m not going back,” he felt his strength quickly fade and the wispy image of himself flickered like a candle being blown on. He released the grip to the angel’s neck and sighed. Vergil did not like this feeling. He lacked control both over his emotions and over his physical form. “Fine, what do I have to do to find a medium?”
The angel looked at him with a feigned expression of fright that faded into a soft smile. Vergil noted the smile did not reach his eyes, “I believe I know someone that can help. Let’s go see if she is home, shall we?” The angel turned confidently, his wings dragging lightly to the ground as he walked and Vergil rolled his eyes and moaned with annoyance. He verbalized his displeasure before he could stop himself.
“We must walk? I thought angels used their wings for more than decoration.” Vergil hissed dropping his head slightly, he should have known the angel would not make his transition easy. He was irritable and mentally scattered. Simple thought processes seemed difficult as if they were being hindered in some way. It was unusual for him to feel the need to voice his complaints but he had spent an extended amount of time with this angel as a captive audience when he was still in his body. Now, he followed after his so-called guardian angel, Eae. “I believe you are doing this just to spite me,” he called after him. It was probably another one of his ‘lessons’, he thought with disgust.
“I suppose I am, but you have a lot to atone for, Vergil, so if walking is all that I have you do then you should be thankful.”
“Indeed.”