FicWad

Chapter 2

You can feel my presence, boy. I know you can.

Nero had been walking away from Dante's shop when the voice stabbed into his head. He froze in the middle of the street, still wet from the rain the night before. His arm stung, and it began to burn uncontrollably. He whimpered a bit, but held it together.

Glancing around, there was no one in sight, so he pulled the sleeve up from his arm. Much to his surprise, it was glowing a bright, lucid orange. It was so bright that Nero had to look away, eyes burning slightly.

A sudden pain shot from his arm to his whole body, and he buckled over in absolute agony. "AGH, what...how is this...what's going on?!"

The voice responded, "You've carried me for two years now. And in this time, I have been sleeping, but now I am awake, and you will help me return."

Nero twisted, squinting in pain, "But...who...what are you?"

"I am the soul and power of Yamato, a Son of Sparda. I am Vergil, and you will be my instrument."

Nero's eyes widened, and he opened up his Devil Bringer arm, allowing Yamato to materialize. The sword pulsed with heat, glowing a very faint blue. It almost felt as if the blade was trying to pull Nero. "What is it you want from me?"

"Freedom, and the ability to carry out my revenge."

"Revenge? On who?"

"Mundus."

Nero, still in pain, attempted to stand up and make a quick trip back to Dante's shop. Perhaps he would need to go with him after all.

-----A little while later-----

It was shortly after Dante had consumed the first half of the mini pizza, that Nero came barging back through his propped up shop doors, knocking them down yet again. "Ah C'MON MAN!"

"Shut the hell up, Dante...I'm coming with you." Nero said with labored breaths in between every word.

Dante paused, raising a brow, "What happened to you?"

Nero stuck his arm out for Dante to see. It was still glowing orange, and then Yamato materialized in it, the same as it was a few dozen minutes ago. "He's...talking to me. He's awake."

Dante stood up, observing the sword, and took it from Nero. An immediate sense of reconnection filled him. "Vergil."

"Dante." The voice of the sword filled the shop.

"This is something else." Dante smirked. He chucked the sword back to Nero and crossed his arms, "I guess we ought to go ahead and leave right now, eh?"

"That'd be nice." Nero responded.

This is when Dante realized, he didn't exactly know where to go. Sure, there were plenty of ways to get into the demon world, but the place was like a maze, and there was always the specific one you needed to enter to get to the place you wanted to be. "Just, uh...let me find out how to get there first."

The sword spoke once more, insulting Dante, "You oaf. You can never do things correctly on your own." And with that, a strange, blue, fluorescent light appeared below both Nero and Dante, and they were sucked into it.

Chapter 2: Part 2

This ** is crazy.

Upon arriving at...where ever they were, Dante was hit with several different smells, all of them relating to the distinct stench of the dead.

"Dante, this is where I must be freed. In this place." Vergil had once more spoken through his blade.

"As soon as I figure out where the hell we are." Dante glanced around, and then looked at Nero, who'd broken out in a small sweat. Nero shrugged.

"We are in the place of my ultimate burial. Mundus found little use in me after our encounter in the island castle, Dante, so he had me buried here...or rather, my body." Vergil snorted, irritated.

Nero looked around, "So...we're in the demon world."

Dante nodded, attempting not to smell the place. It was a futile attempt, and Dante gagged, inhaling more air than he meant to. There was only one thing he had to look forward to down here, and that was the ability to stroke his skin from the clean cut shave he'd given himself yesterday morning. It always took a while for the tiny hairs to erupt.

Dante and Nero observed their surroundings cautiously, and began their trek through the dull place.

Vergil started back up again, "You've grown since we last really met eachother. I wonder if I'll look as terrible as you do..."

"You know...you're really annoying. You should pretend to be a sword...oh wait, you are! You should pretend to be a better sword, and shut the hell up." Dante huffed, looking at the walls, which were devoid of any sort of detail.

Nero stared at Dante, and then Yamato, raising a thin brow, "So...you two are really brothers?"

Both Sons replied in unison, "Yes."

Nero was amazed...more shocked perhaps, but none the less, it was still a bit surprising. He shrugged and continued with following Dante down the large corridor until they both entered a room. It was a dainty room, not much bigger than a bedroom, and it had a door on every side minus the one they'd come from.

The katana rattled wildly, "The door on the left leads to my burial."

Dante looked at the door on the left. It was a wooden door, reminding him much of his shop doors. Pushing thoughts of how many times his shop had been destroyed, he pushed the door open, and walked though, an anxious Nero following him closely.

"Not much farther. Soon I will be free."

"Shut it down, fool. I'm not in the mood to listen to your ranting on and on about freedom and death." Dante was becoming fairly annoyed with the fact that Vergil was more talkative than that pair of demonic swords, Agni and Rudra.

Much to his pleasure, Dante saw that they were getting closer to another room, candlelight illuminating the hallway leading into it. An eerie, purple glow pulsated from the room, and as they stumbled in, a large coffin made it's rightful appearance on the far side of the room.

"Jesus Vergil...I didn't know you'd become a vampy after you died." Dante chuckled.

"If this foolish child-speak continues, I will be forced to hurt you, Dante." The sword rattled once more, the faint glow becoming more vivid.

Nero looked at the sword, and at the coffin, "So what do we do now?"

"Walk over to my coffin and open it. If my body is in their, which I'm certain it is, I wish you to push Yamato into me."

As soon as Dante opened the coffin, the cold presence of the dead body...the once living Vergil...filled the room. Everything was as Dante remembered about Vergil before seeing him as the dark knight on Mallet Island.

Nero tossed the sword over to Dante, and as Vergil had said, Dante pushed the sword into him. Everything began to glow. The purple aura emanating from the coffin turned a bright blue. Candles glowed intensely. And Vergil's body, along with his blade, lifted from the coffin, burning with such a bright color, Dante almost couldn't see.

A bright, blinding flash filled the room, and when Dante and Nero could see once more, standing before them was Vergil in the flesh, holding a sheathed Yamato.

He stretched his arms and back, and popped his neck, fumbling with his jacket until it was how he wanted it, and then he looked at Dante and Nero. "Finally free of that boy's possession."

Dante stared at him, "Man...you are one ugly sum- bitch. I think I liked you better as a silent weapon of absolute...silentness." Dante pulled himself into a comment he couldn't think to finish, and now he would surely pay the price. Vergil swatted him across the head with the hilt of his katana.

Dante rubbed his head, mouthing curse words at Vergil, and then turned to look at Nero, who looked absolutely astonished. Glancing back at Vergil, Dante felt the need to make one last thing painfully obvious to everyone.

"Goddamn, this was the most boring thing I've ever done in my life. Vergil, next time I save your ass from...whatever the hell you've been doing, you'd better make sure I get to have a little fun in the process. Seriously, this whole place is a little bit boring, even for the demon world. And there weren't even any guards...can we at least rob a bank in the process or something, next time?"

Vergil simply gave Dante the stink eye. "Shut up."

Chapter 2: Part 3

"So...like, Vergil...like, what the hell man...like, where are we going? Like, do you-" Dante's annoying rant was put to an abrupt halt.

"SHUT THE HELL UP DANTE!" A vain bulged outward above Vergil's right eye.

"Jesus Christ...don't be so bitchy."

"How would you act if you just officially came back from a nearly ten year long dormancy?" Vergil's brow raised, purely ticked off at the moment.

"Me? You askin' me? Well! I would embrace being alive again, and par-tay."

"So juvenile. To be expected. Ugh, just be quiet." Vergil shook his head and continued on with walking.

"...soooo, where exactly are we going?" Dante posed the question once more, and in a less annoying manner this time, in hopes of an answer.

They had gone through one of the other doors after waking Vergil, and they'd been walking for what seemed like half an hour now, in the same, dull, gray corridors that they'd been in for at least an hour now.

"You'll never ease up will you?" The vain in Vergil's head had faded away, but it was slowly reemerging.

"Nope."

And then Nero chimed in, "Hey! If you won't tell him, feel free to tell me."

Vergil glanced over at Nero, "You...are nothing more than a child. I don't even care to talk to you."

Dante clucked, "Tsk, tsk...guess you'll just have to tell me, won't you?"

"We are going to retrieve an artifact that I know is here. It will help us into the demon world."

"What is it?" Dante asked.

"The Staff of Hermes." Vergil squinted, nostrils flaring.

"Hey, what?! I used that thing back on the island where I kicked the ** out of you!" Dante smirked, "Why's it here?"

"You don't think you can just destroy demonic artifacts...do you? They all come here once they're deemed 'dead'."

"So...what, we're in a big demon museum?" Dante scratched his hair, ruffling it a bit. Specs of white fell out.

Vergil gave Dante a strange look, still flaring his nostrils.

Dante flared his back.

"Yes...we're in a-" Vergil couldn't think. Dandruff was still sprinkling out of Dante's hair. "Good grief, use some conditioner or something! Anyway, as I was saying, we are in fact, in the equivalent of a demon museum, yes."

Dante's eyes were wide open. "God, I didn't know you were such a freak." Vergil's nostril still flared. "What're you sniffing at?!"

"Don't you smell them too?"

"Smell who?" Dante honestly didn't smell anything.

"The guards. We're not alone." Vergil snorted.

"Sweet action!"