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skvaderarts · 4 years

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Apocrypha Chapter Twenty: Respite

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Chapter Twenty: Respite

Note: Wow. Chapter twenty and were probably only half way through this fic! It's been a blast so far, and I'd like to take a moment to say thank you for forty total chapters and just shy of 150k words so far in this series. And to top it off, DMC5SE is coming in the future?! What a time to be alive and part of the DMC community! (unless you're on pc like me because screw us, I guess. At least we get Vergil, but still). Thanks for coming along for the ride so far! I hope it's been worth it. A metaphorical toast to the first twenty and here's to twenty more!

(-~-)

Dinner had gone relatively well, all things considered.

Finding a restaurant that was willing to accommodate such a large group had been a respectable challenge, but in the end they settled on a small outdoor establishment. While they had to push two tables together in order to sit as a group, it had all worked out just fine in the end.

While the vast majority of the conversation that took place was between Patty, Nero, and the other girls, Dante occasionally joined in with a few witty rejoinders of his own, normally at Vergil's expense. V simply attended the dinner, eating quietly and mostly keeping to himself. Despite the fact that he had agreed to attend dinner, it was due more to a sense of personal obligation than anything else. He'd be lying if he said that he had been very hungry. The events at the beach had basically annihilated his appetite.

Once back at the hotel, everyone was more than ready to turn in for the night. There were still two days left on their trip, and everyone was eager to have a chance to explore the town and experience everything it had to offer. Well, at least for the most part. Kyrie was certain that she wanted to go back to the beach, at least for a few hours. She'd enjoyed herself in the bathing suit they had picked out for her, and she was going to take every opportunity that she could to wear it. Doing so in Fortuna would be a bit… scandalous. Through no fault of her own, she simply had the misfortune to live in a place that was more than a bit old fashioned, especially when it came to the way people were expected to dress. Most of them had probably never seen a bathing suit before.

As the group was going their separate ways in the lobby, Nero stretched and rubbed his eyes slightly, garnering a similar response from V who substituted stretching for a badly concealed yawn. He seemed painfully aware of how everyone was looking at him for trying to do so. Who tried to conceal a yawn?

Much to V's relief, Vergil broke the silence between them, seemingly unwilling to stand around the entire night and watch everyone watch everyone else. He stepped forward, his arms folded around himself as he glanced in the direction of the children. The oldest child, Julio, seemed more than ready to go to bed; now sufficiently tired and unwilling to stay up much longer. Kyle wasn't much better. He seemed to be just a few minutes shy of falling asleep on his feet, swaying back and forth as he blinked heavily. Carlo on the other hand was still just as full of energy as he always was. While he wasn't exactly hyper, the abundance of other people around to provide attention to him wasn't something he was willing to overlook. But as always, he gravitated towards those he knew best and chose to linger close to Nero and V, a decision that put him in the middle of their walking path and made him nearly impossible to overlook.

Honestly, his eagerness to hug the legs of everyone in the lobby was adorable, something that Vergil had experienced first hand himself earlier that day. The small child stopped darting between Kyrie and Nero's legs and stole an occasional glance at the much taller man, earning him a curious look and resulting in a few playful giggles. Vergil sighed. This was going to be a long night. While he found the child's behavior… typical for someone his age, for perhaps the first time since his return from the underworld, he felt an immense desire to simply go to sleep for the night. He didn't feel like fighting a small child the entire night to do so. But he wasn't backing down from his agreement, either. As far as he was concerned, that would be just as bad, if not worse, than simply refusing to do so in the first place.

"... Is he always like this," Vergil said as Carlo darted away from Nero and over towards V. The summoner in question was leaned against a nearby wall, seemingly waiting for an opportunity to disappear up the stairs and into the waiting blankets of his bed. The oldest Son of Sparda could only assume that Dante was going to be voted out of the bed due to a combination of his oldest son's inability to sleep on a couch that small and his youngest son's inevitable refusal to do so. Part of him was honestly irritated that he wouldn't be there to watch him suffer pointlessly, but the other part of him that didn't participate in such petty foolishness was actually glad that he probably wouldn't have to share a bed with any of them. Despite the undeniable closeness of their blood relation to one another, if anyone so much as bumped him in his sleep, they were likely to be skinned alive. That would be terribly inconsiderate towards the cleaning staff come mourning.

V shared a glance at Carlo, seemingly taking a moment to assess the room. Once sufficiently sure that no one was watching him, V took the opportunity to fluff the small boy's head and pat him on the shoulder, earning him a leg hug before he ushered the excited child back towards the rest of his family. Vergil couldn't help but notice the level of peace that seemed to wash over him as he watched the little one toddle back across the room, the young summoner seemingly pleased by the attention that Carlo always made time to show him. Where else was he going to obtain such high quality hugs from? Certainly not from Vergil. Maybe Nero? Dante would probably humor him, but he'd make it as uncomfortable and lengthy as possible. That was simply the way he was.

It was an interesting revelation to him that V was so good with Nero's children. He'd seen him interacting with them at the beach earlier that day, critiquing their little sand castles and pretending to be thoroughly impressed. He'd even shared one of his snacks with Kyle and allowed Julio to take shelter from the heat under his umbrella, ignoring the sopping wet mess he'd made out of the beach towel he'd brought to relax on. It was a wonder to him that someone who didn't have any children was so at ease interacting with them. For a moment, he considered the idea that he'd been involved with them to some extent in the past, but dismissed the notion. V wasn't very adept at social interactions with anyone. He just seemed to have a soft spot for Nero's children.

Perhaps if he wasn't so perpetually single…

Vergil's thoughts returned to the matter at hand. He had no reason to dwell on what V decided to do with his personal life. While an observation was perfectly fine with him, dwelling on things he had no say in and no influence over was futile. He would return to his current obligations and leave his consideration for V's crushing and no doubt ceaseless loneliness for another time. If that kind of future was in the cards for him, then he would cross that bridge when he got to it. Vergil himself had never planned to…

He needed to find something to force him to keep his mind on the trial he'd forced himself to undergo. Perhaps proving to Nero that he wasn't entirely awful would gain him some sort of footing in their future conversations. At the very least he hoped that it would alleviate some of the hostility between them. While they were indeed talking now, he couldn't help but notice that Nero made a point of constantly calling him out on his shortcomings. While he wasn't foolish enough to believe that he didn't have that much coming, he dared to allow himself to be optimistic about the possibility that there could be more to their relationship in the future.

Truly, he wanted Nero to attempt to talk to him in much the same way that V did. He'd proved that he had the capacity to do so in the lobby of the hotel earlier that evening before Dante had interrupted them. As much as he loathed delving into his emotions and the scars and misadventures of his past, he knew that doing so was inevitable if he had any hope of Nero actually moving past his current feeling towards him. The Darkslayer knew that this was a test. It was the first one Nero had bequeathed him, even if he had done so as an extension of V's request. And he had no intention of letting both of his sons think any less of him than he imagined they already did. Such negativity was how they had arrived at such a dark and painful place to start with…

"Yea, basically. He's not really hyper, but he asks a lot of questions," Nero said as Carlo tucked himself under his legs and giggled senselessly. Nero shook his head and reached down to snatch the small boy off of his feet and into his arms, finally ending his wild behavior." Kyle and Julio are basically dead on their feet, so I don't think they are going to put up much of a fight. That and they are probably not excited about sharing a room with a person they know can toss someone halfway across a beach with one hand."

Vergil didn't miss the slight glare that accompanied that statement. Nero wasn't over that yet, it seemed. Apparently Dante was quicker to let that sort of thing go than his son was. Then again, they regularly impaled one another and attempted to render one another invalid, so they were not the best role models in that regard.

Kyle and Julio stumbled over sleepily, seemingly more than ready to find out why they were not in bed yet. All the conversation going on between the adults in the lobby was exceedingly dull to them, especially when all they wanted to do was flop down into a soft bed and take a trip to dreamland.

"Can we go to bed now," Julio asked as he tugged at Nero's sleeve, his best pleading look spread across his face. He was in no mood for this." I'm tired and so is Kyle."

Kyle said nothing, still skirting the line between acute sleep deprivation and face-planting on the floor in a fully comatose state. He seemed to register that they were talking, but couldn't care less about what they were discussing. If it didn't have to do with sleeping, it was of no interest to him.

Nero gestured towards Vergil with a tilt of his head, obviously agreeing that it was time for them to turn in for the night. "You're going with Vergil. Don't give him a hard time."

The oldest of the three young boys pivoted slowly towards Vergil, giving him a sideways look before turning back to Nero with an almost concerned look. He clearly wasn't sure how he felt about the change in arrangements. After a moment, he sighed and yawned sleepily. His body and the adults had made the decision for him. With a conformation glance at his little brother Kyle who only shrugged in disinterest, he glanced back up at Vergil again and rubbed his eyes sleepily.

"I guess we're okay. I just wanna go to sleep."

Vergil didn't think he'd ever agree with a five year old, but life was strange sometimes.

Without warning, Nero hoisted Carlo into Vergil’s unsuspecting arms, sufficiently taking the older demon slayer by surprise. Vergil received the giggling boy, but shot his son a conflicted glance, eyebrow raised. He hadn’t signed up to be slobbered on.

“Yea, you're gonna want to carry him upstairs. He has a hard time with stairs.” Nero said, taking a few steps towards V. He was warming up to the idea of going to sleep, especially after seeing his older sibling yawn yet again. V seemed to be lingering in the lobby out of courtesy.

Vergil held the small child up under the arms, looking at him as though he were a wet puppy who had just tracked mud through the house. Carlo continued to giggle to himself, reaching his short arm out to boop Vergil on the nose. The blue devil blinked in momentary disbelief before closing his eyes and shaking his head slightly. This was going to be a long night.

(-~-)

"Goodnight friend! I'm gonna sleep now. Bye bye!"

Vergil cursed every fiber in his body, both human and demon, that this child had so much energy. He was starting to wonder sarcastically if he'd dodged a bullet by not being present during either of his children's childhoods. Well, at least Nero's. If V's current personality was anything to go by, he was probably an easy child to handle. Nero on the other hand was probably much like this boy. Insatiable and unwilling to let him rest regardless of his level of willingness to compromise with him.

First, he'd tried talking to him when he'd started asking him a million unintelligible questions. Then he'd carved out of a desperate desire to sleep and allowed the child to sleep at the foot of his bed like he'd been so keen to do, a compromise that he was now totally regretting due to the fact that the little boy couldn't seem to stay still. Nero possessed far more patience than he had originally figured, and he was slightly horrified to see just how little he possessed himself. Had that been the point of this entire endeavor? To make him suffer in the same way that he had made them suffer himself? If so, it was definitely working because he was about two seconds from throwing himself out for the window to the cold embrace of the pavement and perhaps finally some form of rest.

Unfortunately death had never allowed him to escape his problems, so he wasn't sure how well that plan would work out. For now, he seemed to be stuck with the hell he'd made for himself. And he was not the least bit pleased. Somehow sleep always eluded him when he actually wanted it, but this was another thing entirely. Never before had a creature so small had such a profound ability to drive him absolutely insane. He couldn't help but shake his head slightly at the moment of clarity that overtook him at the realization that his must have been what his own parents felt like when they had been forced to grapple with him and his trouble-making twin as children. How they had ever kept their composure and not carted them both off to some remote tropical island in a produce crate to be eaten by wild animals was beyond him.

And yet, he couldn't bring himself to be angry at the child.

It was truly strange, but he just couldn't.

While he'd been laying there questioning what crime he had committed that had cursed him in such a manner, little Carlo had clambered up towards the head of the bed and flopped down next to him, taking the opportunity to try and tuck in his little stuffed animal. Vergil hadn't noticed the type of animal that it was, but he knew that it was half as big as the child that owned it, and he apparently refused to sleep without it. Due to the attack on their house just a few months ago that he himself had perpetrated, the little boy was scared to sleep without something to keep him company. The stuffed bear had apparently been a gift from Kyrie to help ease his fears.

Perhaps it was guilt from the fact that he had emotionally scarred a child that was just shy of three years old. Maybe it was the exhaustion setting in. Or maybe, just maybe Vergil had come to the realization that he just couldn't be bothered to combat the child any further and had finally met an opponent that he couldn't defeat. It didn't matter anymore. Carlo had won, and Vergil was going to have to tolerate the tiny child hugging him the entire night like he was an especially long body pillow. He could only hope that he didn't snore or drool, otherwise he just might stab himself.

And he couldn't even find it in himself to be angry.

There was a part of Vergil that wanted to laugh at how preposterous the entire situation was to him. He, the legendary Darkslayer and oldest son to the Great Dark Knight Sparda; usurper to the demon throne and defier of death itself… was but a plaything in the hands of an infant. And for some horrifying reason that he couldn't even begin to care about, he was entirely content with that fact. How had things taken such a drastic turn?

The entire point was moot. He would worry about it in the morning after he returned the little usurper to his legal guardians. His bed might be a bit less cold and might contain fewer pairs of stray socks, but he was sure he would survive. After all, he'd been through much worse. He was willing to tolerate the actions of an adorable curly haired child, at least for one night.

(-~-)

Wow, this chapter was so fun to write! Thanks a bunch for that comment about Vergil spending time with his grandchildren, Rawrbox! It led to such a fun writing experience! I actually strapped the original version of this chapter and chose to go with this. RIP the extra 600 words that I’d written before I read your comment! I hope everyone has a good day, and I’ll see you again on Friday!

#DMC #DMC5 #DMCV #V #Vergil #Dante #Vitale #Nero #Kyle #Carlo #Julio #Devil May Cry 5 #Devil May Cry V #Devil May Cry #V Post Devil May Cry V #V Post Devil May Cry 5

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