#idk if I’ll write about this more in depth one day but……

[nightswatchdisbandmentera]

Jon becoming KiTN in Winds (specifically) would actually be bad as far as themes go

#hot take of the day y’all 🌚 #idk if I’ll write about this more in depth one day but…… #jon is going through a traditional hero’s journey - perhaps almost very literally #he is currently at the lowest point of the journey which is where the hero faces his toughest mental and maybe physical battles #winds will be his innermost cave (like a gaze into the abyss) + ordeal step which have to happen before his reward (apotheosis and boon) #so unless grrm wants to paint him becoming kitn as his lowest point thematically which could mean jon knowingly usurps his siblings #-because let’s face it him being robb’s heir while valid still comes with A LOT of issues- #there’s just no way his ascension to the northern throne could thematically be good for anyone but most of all him #I tend to think that jon will be tempted -this will be his gazing into the abyss part instead of the usually accepted theory #that he just doesn’t do anything at all for the whole book- and that is what will create the most believable narrative tension in his arc #but he won’t go through with it and will ultimately choose to sacrifice himself AGAIN #pulling back from the abyss before it’s too late #so yeah his kitn prospects for winds don’t look very good….sorry to say guys :( #but if we talk about king of WINTER…that’s a different matter yes? 😀 #asoiaf #valyrianscrolls #jon snow #preparing to be excommunicated from the fandom in 3 2 1…

[seireiteihellbutterfly]

Promise Me

ft Nanami Kento

A/N: Some Teen!Nanami angst! IDK why but I've been wanting to write this for a while. Header and dividers all credited at the bottom. Rating: 13+, fluffy-ish Warnings: Sadness, angst, mentions of death and dying Pairing: Teen! Nanami x Reader Summary: Faced with a solo mission, reader finds themselves contemplating their life in the Jujutsu world Word Count: 2301 Nanami masterlist

With trembling hands, you type out the text message. You’re aware it’s long, more like a letter but in that moment it felt like you would crumble if you didn’t get it all out into words. 

‘Hey Kento. I hope college is going well. You sounded happy when we last spoke. I hope you’re having fun with your friends.

Upper management has assigned me a solo mission. They said it's because they are confident my abilities have reached a stage where I can handle myself and also take down the curse. I know it's because there are no other sorcerers available to accompany me.

Anyway, it's a big step, which is why I called earlier but I know that you’re busy, so I figured I’d text you instead. I leave tomorrow morning. I’m just packing all my gear right now.

And I’ll probably have dinner with my friends tonight and try not to think about the mission. You know how I get when I start overthinking. It’s probably not as big a deal as I’m making it out to be, right? Students take on solo missions all the time.

I have no reason to be scared, right? Management would never assign me to a solo mission they believed was out of my depth, right? I just keep thinking about what it’s like, not having anyone with me. I’ll have to be at my sharpest, so I’m hoping to get a good night’s sleep. 

Call me if you can. Or if not today, then sometime tomorrow? I’ll probably be on the train most of the day but we can still talk. Let me know. I love you.’ 

You hit send and look at your half-packed bag. Each time you attempt to clear your mind, your thoughts threaten to eat you alive. You were terrified at the thought of this solo mission. When management had called you to brief you about it, you had waited for them to tell you who would be accompanying you. The dread that filled your stomach when they said you’d be going alone made you feel like you were carrying around a lead weight. 

This year had been rough. It was the year that Nanami had graduated from Jujutsu High, his college acceptance all arranged, as he readied himself to leave behind the world of sorcery for good. You had attended his graduation, the doting girlfriend, tears in your eyes at how proud you were of him, but also because you knew this meant you wouldn’t see him around here anymore. No more midnight walks, or studying for exams, sneaking into each other’s dorms for little kisses and reassuring hugs. You had never thought his being one year your senior would matter until he had shown you his acceptance letter. 

There was a sense of worry there too, because college meant he was going away from you, but he had held you so tightly, whispering this didn’t change anything. You were always going to be his girlfriend. He would make it work. He didn’t want anyone else. It had been a few months and the long distance was hard but it brought you more happiness than anything around here ever did. 

You continued to pack, glancing at the clock, unable to shake the jittery feeling from your body. It felt like there were a million butterflies in your stomach, and your heart kept pounding even though you didn’t leave for the mission until tomorrow. The innocent morning sun shone through your dorm window, uncaring about the turmoil inside you. You keep glancing at your phone, hoping Nanami will reply, but the screen remains blank. Phantom vibration syndrome kicked in at one point where you could’ve sworn you heard your phone vibrate, picking it up eagerly to check, only to see nothing new on the screen. Your heart sinks with disappointment each time. You knew his schedule and that he was probably in class. He would call you when he could. He’s never not called or at least texted.

As you sit down on your bed, the overwhelming gravity of the situation hits you. You were going alone. There was no backup. If you messed up on this mission…you squeeze your eyes shut. It was one thing if you failed to exorcise the curse. That in some way brought you relief. If you didn’t exorcise it, management would simply express their disappointment and send someone else. But what if…what if…you didn’t exorcise it and the curse…

You gasp, shaking your head violently, trying to rid yourself of the thoughts of death. No, it couldn’t happen that way. You couldn’t die. What you would’ve given in that moment, to not be a sorceress, but to be a normal teenager! To go dress shopping, and enjoy prom, to start writing your own college applications. To know that your life wasn’t in danger and that you would live, live to spend another day with your friends, live to see Nanami again…

Before you knew it, tears filled your eyes, spilling onto your cheeks, and you hugged your pillow tightly for comfort. You remembered how you had cried when Nanami left for missions, out of contact for days, barely sleeping until he sent you a text that his mission was completed and that he was coming back. You remember him training you, always working on your self-defense, making sure your reflexes were honed and sharp. You remember that even when you were sent with a partner, it sometimes didn’t change a thing.

Haibara’s death still hung heavily over everyone, and you think back to Nanami’s expression when he returned from that mission, his eyes dark and solemn, regret lined heavily on his face. It was so unfair, that at the age of 16, he had to endure that. Haibara had been so kind to you as well, the best kind of senpai anyone could have asked for. Nanami never allowed himself to be emotional in front of anyone but had broken down in your arms in the privacy of his dorm room. Neither of you slept well for days after that, often jerking awake in the middle of the night, immediately texting the other for comfort. 

You wondered if something happened to you, would Nanami break down the way he did for Haibara? Would it be equal? Would it be worse?

“Please reply,” you whisper, checking your phone again. Still nothing. Did he not care that you were being sent on a solo mission? Had he finally started to enjoy his life away from Jujutsu High that he wasn’t going to answer you anymore? Frustration fills you and you resist the urge to fling your phone across the room. You curl up into a ball and keep reminding yourself that he’d never play around with your feelings, that he was probably busy, and that he’d call you as soon as he could…

The day passes by in a haze. Still no word from Nanami. You try calling him again but it says he’s unreachable. It only alleviates your trepidation. Maybe he had forgotten you. College was a whole new world after all. You scream into your pillow, allowing self-pity to overtake you. No one understood. Your friends had advised you to break up with him before he broke up with you. That he would find someone else at college, that long-distance rarely ever worked out. 

You fall asleep on your bed in a blur of confusion, unable to ruminate about your situation anymore. 

｡･:*:･ﾟ★,｡･:*:･ﾟ☆

Nanami is out of breath as he hurdles through the corridors of Jujutsu High. A few students look at him in surprise and recognition, waving their hands at him as he races past, ignoring their greetings of ‘Nanami senpai!’. 

A solo mission…they had the nerve to send you on a solo mission…His breath had caught in his throat when he read your text, all other thoughts wiped blank. He’d immediately talked to his professors stating he had a family emergency and left hurriedly with nothing but his backpack. 

It took two trains to get here, one of which had gotten delayed. He couldn’t not see you before this mission, a damned solo mission, without reassuring you, without holding you tight after so many months apart. 

A left, a right, another left, then he halts in front of your dorm room and knocks softly. “Y/n?”

When you don’t open the door, he grips the handle, surprised to find it unlocked, and enters quietly. He sees you asleep on your bed, your bag set on the floor. A rush of relief and affection floods him as he sees you holding the little teddy bear he’d gifted you before leaving for college. 

‘Hold him when you miss me, yeah?’ He had said to you. You had immediately named it Teddymin, and he was currently tucked under your cheek as you slept uneasily. 

“Y/n,” Nanami says your name louder trying to rouse you, not wanting to scare you at seeing him in your dorm unexpectedly. You stir, then open bleary eyes. It was dark outside. Who was calling your name and why did it sound so familiar?

“Y/n.” Your eyes fly open and you quickly sit up, unable to believe it. 

“Kento?” You whisper his name disbelievingly, feeling tears well up in your eyes again. 

“I’m here.” He sits on the bed, drawing you close to him. You still can’t believe it. Were you dreaming? Was he really here? You grip his sleeve, hear his heartbeat, feel the warmth of his skin, and start crying unrestrainedly. All day, you had tried to keep it together, tried to convince your friends, convince yourself, that you had control over this. That you weren’t fazed about being assigned to a solo mission, that you were proud that management trusted you.

But Nanami’s presence breaks your composure, vulnerability showing through. “Why are you here?”

“Where else would I be?” he asks gently, patting your back. “I couldn’t focus in class, not after seeing your text. I’m sorry for not replying but I was basically catching trains all day to come see you.”

“You did that for me?” Your heart swells with love for him. 

“Of course. I just couldn’t…leave you alone, knowing you’re going on this mission by yourself. I had to see you.”

Silence falls between you both, listening to each other breathe. You wipe away your tears and take a steadying breath. Nanami hesitates, then asks, “Y/n, are you sure this is what you want to do? You graduate this year. You can leave all this behind.”

His words root themselves deeply in your mind and you find yourself considering it. Would it be possible to escape this? This unending cycle of fear for your life? “I don’t know. Everyone I know, everyone we know, is part of this. Could I just leave it all behind?”

“You can if you want to,” Nanami insists. “It��s hard, but trust me, it’s peaceful. I don’t want anything happening to you y/n. I’d never be able to forgive myself if I don’t give my best effort to get you away from here.” 

You know he means it, otherwise he wouldn’t have come all this way to see you. “You don’t have to make a decision now. We’ll talk about it after you get back from your mission.” He strokes your hair, reassuring you. 

“I will come back right?” There. You had asked the question that had been festering inside you all day. Nanami freezes when he hears you and his embrace tightens even more. 

“Of course you will. Why wouldn’t you?” He swallows, forcing himself to not think about any other answer to your question. After Haibara, he can’t take any more losses. He couldn’t lose you too. He’d break and probably never be made whole again. 

“I’m going to talk to Gojo. This will be your first and last solo mission.”

You wanted to protest but secretly, you’re relieved. “Would it work?”

“I can try. It’s reckless to send you without a partner.” He pulls away to frame your face in between his hands, heart breaking as he sees your look of apprehension. “Don’t worry. You will get back safely. I know your ability. You are a talented sorceress.”

Hearing his vote of confidence somehow carried more weight than management’s. “I really needed to hear that,” you say in a shaky voice. He embraces you again, gripping you so tightly it hurts but you couldn’t bring yourself to tell him to stop. 

“You’ll come back. We’ll dance together at your prom. You’ll graduate. And I’ll make sure you never have to face something like this alone again.” He says all the things he wishes for you, wishes for both of you because honestly, he can’t imagine a future without you anymore. The conviction with which he says his words fortify you, and you finally manage to pull yourself into a better headspace. 

You wish he could accompany you on this mission, but understand that management could turn this into a cascade of litigation. He had disappointed a lot of people when he had left the school, and you couldn’t risk him using his abilities since he had forfeited his privilege to use them when he had surrendered his rank and title as a sorcerer. 

He presses a chaste kiss on the top of your head. “I love you. Promise to come back safely to me.”

“I will. I promise.”

Nanami doesn’t sleep for the next few nights. Finally, after 4 days, he sees the text message from you. 

I’m back.

It was only then that he allowed himself to break down and cry, not with grief like when Haibara died, but with relief that you had made it.

all dividers+support banner by @/ cafekitsune Header image

If you don't wish to be tagged, please DM me, or if you only want to be tagged for certain posts, fill out the form here. I only tag for SFW posts atm.

#nanami kento #nanami kento fluff #nanamin #nanami kento x y/n #nanami kento x you #nanami kento x reader #jjk nanami #nanami angst #teen nanami #jujutsu kaisen #jjk #jjk fluff #jujutsu kaisen nanami #jujutsu kaisen fluff

[shahrwrites]

This has been on my mind for a long time and i really need to get it out.

Jason is not as bulky as y’all make him out to be.

He’s just not a malnourished little kid anymore.

Ok, I can see people try to argue that even in canon, he’s like really tall and really bulky and yes I’m look at you Gotham War. ಠ_ಠ

To be honest, I was hysterically laughing for like. Fifteen whole minutes before I calmed down enough to continue reading. For the love of god, Selina looks like a little teenage kid next to him. And she’s got heels on.

And by the way, this is how she looks next to Bruce, which is way more plausible than. Whatever that was.

Never mind, I think they drew all the males ridiculously big in this comic. (Or is Selina just really that smol??? Not that I was under the impression that she was huge or something, but for a woman who used to be one of Batman’s most notorious villains?? Man, idk)

The point is. Yes, Jason shoot up a few inches after the Lazarus pit. And yes, he also gained a few pounds of muscle, too. But not over-night and not because he was dunked in a war-machine-making bathtub. It’s because he wasn’t malnourished anymore. His stunted growth was resolved in the aftermath of the Lazarus and he wasn’t a skinny short baby from then on, because whatever he ate, his body was healthy enough to directly absorb. Batman annual #25 and the rest of the comics will want you to think differently. But. Just. No.

As dislikable as The Lost Days artwork was, at least they didn’t grow him into a giant over night and I think it’s the only good thing they did in that comic, too, because it would give more depth to his character to say that in the years leading up to UtRH, in addition to everything else, he put in the effort to build his body for the big confrontation. To mislead and shock Bruce as much as he could. But even then, he’s not a tank of a man. He simply has an athletically pleasant body. And, you know, he’s, like, not fifteen anymore?? So it makes sense.

However, it’s not to say that I don’t enjoy reading (whether in comics or fanfics) about the disorientation it brings the batfam to conform the picture of this well-built man before them with their mental image of the scrawny little kid their sweet baby Jason was, in their heads.

If people write Jason’s growth compared to his fifteen self and how it gives the family such a hard time, as maybe a little bulky, sure. I can wrap my head around it and actually enjoy it.

Otherwise, I see Jason as a little taller than Dick and about the same height, if not a little shorter, than Bruce. Actually, Dexter Soy’s representation of Jason felt pretty accurate to me. Which is a shame that the story of RHatO as a whole was such a trash. Maybe for the exception of the Rebirth vol. 1. But I’ll get to that another day.

#look this is all my opinion plz don’t come at me #you like your jason however you like #actually #no #you’re already like 3-0 ahead simply for being a jason todd fan #who am i to tell you how to enjoy your man #but #i mean #seriously tho how am i gonna play gotham knights like that #maybe theres a mod i can use??? #why does everything with the word ‘gotham’ in it goes like #no jason is a tank #okay imma stop now #jason todd #red hood #gotham war #gotham knights #batman comics #batman #batfam #lazarus #lazarus pit

[faithsbrightideas]

I Hope

Xavier Thorpe x reader

Tyler Galpin x reader

I’m going to try and make this gender neutral/no gender specified, I’m new to writing GN, I’ll go through and edit.

Summary: Xavier cheated and Tylers there for the reader even though they didn’t like him in the past.

I don’t really like doing authors notes, but I thought I’d put this out there, I’m more than welcome to taking requests. Just please keep in mind, I have major ADHD… so it may take me a bit XD … also I’m sorry I write so much angst, idk what’s wrong with me, but I like your not so typical happy ending. My blog is 18+

Warnings: angst, violent outbursts, cheating, cursing, sexual indications, no smut but sexual content.

ITALICS are Flashbacks and regular font is present time!!!

Based on “Happier” by Olivia Rodrigo and a tiktok sound, but I can’t find the OG so I can’t give credit!

“I really hope you’re happy… I truly mean that,” I spoke barely above a whisper and gave a sad smile.

Our first unavoidable bump into finally happened. Xavier and I broke up about a month ago. We have the same friends, we have the same classes, but that was easy to maneuver around. However, we literally bumped into each other as I walked out of the Weathervane with Enid.

“I am,” he nodded with a guilty face, but a smile that said he moved on.

I walked away, linking my arm with Enid, one so she’d take the hint I wanted to get as far away from this conversation as possible, and two because if I didn’t grab onto something I might just fall to the ground. He’d moved on so quickly. If he truly loved me, how could he be okay? Was he feeding her the same lies? An eternal love bullshit you know you'll never mean.

Remember when I believed you meant it when you said it first to me?

I sat with Xavier in his shed. He’d always drag me there when he’d had a stressful day, which understandably it was because his team had just lost to the Poe Cup. Mine did too, but I didn’t take it as seriously. I knew Bianca sabotaged it every year, to me it was just for fun.

“So… what’re you drawing all aggressively over there?” I asked looking up from my crochet hook and yarn.

I picked up crochet when Xavier first brought me here. Gave me a chance to unplug from electronics and pick up a new skill, we had agreed to make it a phone free zone, for now.

“Uhh… y’know? Just the usual…” he stumbled around on his words and searched his head in embarrassment.

I put down my things and walked over. He panicked and threw a cloth over his giant canvas.

“I can’t see?” I asked confused, “You know I love your art Xav. I’d never laugh.”

“It’s not that… I just-,” he stumbled over his words some more.

I took it upon myself and grabbed the cloth, making sure he knew what I was doing, fully prepared to stop if he really wanted me to. I didn’t want to pressure him into doing something that he didn’t want to do. I pulled the cloth off and I was shocked to see what he’d been so keen on me not seeing.

It was a drawing of me. I was sitting on the other side of the room, intently staring at the crochet guide, making my current project. Just then the picture started to move. The picture showed me sticking my tongue out and concentrating on the work at hand. I kept leaning over to read the next step.

“That’s my favorite face you make,” he explained, “I needed something to get out of my head about the Poe Cup… and you… you just make me feel better.”

“Y’know… I like people with emotional and intellectual depth, speaking so passionately about everything they believe in is honestly so beautiful,” I spoke softly still admiring the drawing, “Your soul is just… so beautiful, Xavier.”

I turned around to see him admiring me on his pint covered stool. His head was tilted to the right and a soft smile sat on his face.

“You, Y/n, are beautiful,” he admitted as his cheeks dusted pink.

I shook my head bashfully, “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you were flirting with me.”

His smile grew, “I could say the same thing about you,”

“And if I was?” I took a few steps forward to stand between his knees.

“Kiss me then,” a teasing smirk went across his face.

I’m not the type to not follow directions, at least, not when it comes to him. I softly placed my hand on his cheek and pressed my lips against his. His hands gripped my waist pulling me in as close as he could. After a few seconds, we pulled away. Knowing our friendship was altered, forever. What did we just get ourselves into?

“Well now we can’t just be friends,” he whispered pressing his forehead against mine, “I’m in too deep.”

Enid and I finally got back to Nevermore. The shuttle only taking 5 minutes to get back from Jericho.

“Hey, I’m going to go somewhere, I need to think… well, think less,” I said walking a different direction and going into the woods.

“Let me know if you need anything! I love you!” Enid shouted.

I needed to go to my latibule, the safety of this place, only few know about, provides me with comfort. I waved my hand, commanding the plants to move, and a trap door revealed itself. I opened it and went down the stairs, not bothering to put the plants back. I figured no one would bother me.

Once I got to the bottom, I switched on the battery powered lights looking around, three bean bag chairs, a couple book cases, a old white table, a projector, and a picture frame hung from a nail in the wall.

I huffed and grabbed the projector and set up one of my favorite movies. I grabbed a box of crochet supplies and continued working on my, long forgotten, project.

About 30 minutes into the movie my attention span wasn’t cooperating and I peeked over at the picture hung on the wall where Enid, Ajax, Xavier, Eugene and I occupied the frame. We were all sitting on a bench in Jericho after Outreach Day and Xavier laid across our laps. I was new then, but I knew that I felt like I finally belonged. They made me feel warm and welcome. I grabbed the picture off the wall, stomped up the stairs, and went outside. I chunked it as hard as I could at the nearest tree. The force shattered the frame, the picture still unharmed, but I felt a little better. I felt guilty for having all the glass on the ground so I went to go pick it up.

“You okay?” I heard a voice come from behind me.

“Tyler?” I asked confused as to why he was out here.

I didn’t exactly like Tyler, especially after what he did to Xavier. Although… I don’t like Xavier either, and Tyler did apologize and stop being friends with them, so I guess he wasn’t that bad.

“You could call it that,” I shrugged.

“What’re you doing out here?” He asked stepping forward and helping me pick up the glass.

“Well I’m supposed to be not thinking… but as you can tell it’s not going so well,” I said putting the glass in a shopping bag.

He picked up the picture and raised his brows in understanding. Obviously, Xavier and I had dated for 8 months, so it was no secret to people in this small town. Especially when Tyler works at the Weathervane and I love the coffee there. Not that there was anywhere else to get it. 

“I heard… I’m sorry,” he said handing me back the picture.

I snatched it, crumbling it up, and adding it to the trash. I stood up with a grunt.

“Yeah well… when one person in a relationship cheats, they usually don’t stay together,” I said walking back to my bunker.

“Woah!” Tyler exclaimed, “I’ve been in these woods thousands of times and I’ve never seen this before.”

“I built it. I can manipulate the earth, so when I leave I just cover it with plants so no one can find it and no little creatures can get in,” I shrugged, “You… uh… wanna come in?”

He smiled like an excited little kid and nodded, “Yeah! I’d love to!”

I walked inside again with him following and went to sit back in my chair. It was deep enough that he could stand up straight and it was a decent size so it didn’t feel over crowded. He was looking around intensely at all the detail.

“You’re watching y/f/m?” He asked and sat down in another bean bag chair. (Your favorite movie)

“It’s my favorite movie,” I said eyeing him, prepared for him to make fun of my like most people do.

“I love this movie! Just don’t tell anyone,” he laughed.

For the first time in days, I smiled, “Here, I’ll start it over, I’m not that far into it.”

Tyler and I laughed and talked throughout the whole movie. Doing impressions of the characters. Saying our favorite lines. My mind completely escaped the detrimental impact the person I loved so much caused. We were there about 2 hours, Tyler had pulled out a bag of gummy bears out of his pocket and we shared them. He’d make me laugh when he would lick the back and stick them to his forehead. Once we realized how late it seemed to have gotten we started gathering our things.

“I had fun,” Tyler smiled grabbing the trash from the smashed picture frame.

“Me too! Maybe we could do it again! I come here often and if you’d like, you can to. Since you know where it is,” I offered, hoping he’d take it.

“I’d love to get to know you better. And this place is absolutely incredible, cozy!” He took it, thankfully.

He nodded his head to leave, I went first and he followed me up the stairs. I closed the hatch and moved plants over it to keep it concealed.

“That’s incredibly impressive,” he said scratching his head in shock of what he just saw, “How long have you been able to do that?”

“Since I was 14, so about 4 years,” I shrugged, “It first happened at the Poe Cup race our freshman year. I was running to get the flag and there were so many vines, as I was pushing them out of the way they all just moved. I didn’t realize what was happening at first, but I did it again on the way back to the boats. Been practicing ever since.”

“You’re incredible,” he laughed.

I felt the heat rush to my ears and a pant hit my heart… I haven’t heard that since Xavier and I started dating. He used to tell me that all the time.

“Thank you, Tyler. I also really appreciate you sticking around, I needed this,” I smiled at his face, which showed a surprised look.

“Honestly, I thought you hated me,” he admitted.

I shook my head, “You made a mistake, no one’s perfect. Besides, you personally took ownership and apologized to Xavier. He doesn’t really have much room to talk either.”

“Friends?” Tyler asked holding out his hand to shake.

“I’m a hugger,” I said wrapping my arms around his waist in a quick, but firm, hug.

“Seriously?!” A voice shouted and out from behind a tree stepped, Xavier.

Of course, what is this? A hallmark movie?

“Tyler, go,” I said pushing him in the direction he came from earlier, “I’ll see you later?”

“Are you sure you want me to leave?” He asked looking between us.

Xavier burned holes into his skull. If looks could kill Tyler would be obliterated.

“I’ll be fine, I promise,” I said with a tight lined smile.

Tyler nodded, sparing one last look between us. Xavier’s eyes were immediately on me after Tyler was out of view.

“You’re hanging out with Galpin?” Xavier snapped.

“So what if I am? What’s it to you?” I was getting angry.

“You know what he did to me, Y/n! You know he’s a jerk. Did you sleep with him? Why is he out here at our place?” He bombarded me with questions.

“Yes, Xavier, I do know what he did to you. He apologized… and you don’t have much room to talk! Do you? I didn’t sleep with him. Even if I did, why do you care? You’re too busy fucking some other girl, that’s the decision YOU made!” I began to raise my voice.

He got quiet. Tears formed in his eyes. Not because he still loved me, but because the guilt ate at him. He felt bad for hurting me. He may still care about me, but not the way I do for him.

“I made a mistake,” he said barely above a whisper.

He just stared at me. Silence. It was suffocating. I had so much to say, but I couldn’t say it. He did something unforgivable. He walked closer to me, slowly as if i was a wild animal and id run at any sudden movement. I felt like running, but my feet were in concrete. He cautiously placed his hand on my cheek.

“Please say something, sweetheart,” He whispered and pressed his forehead to mine.

I knew i was crying, I craved his touch and I knew I wouldn’t ever have it again. The water on my arm multiplied. We both looked up to the sky.

He scoffed to himself, “Deja vu.”

Enid, Ajax, Xavier and I was in our underground bunker, Ajax brought a movie that he wanted us to watch. I brought a ton of board games and we were planning on spending the night here. After watching the movie, Xavier and Ajax went to get a pizza. Leaving me and Enid to gossip. Xavier and i had been dating a month at this point and I couldn’t have been happier.

“Have you two done it?” Enid asked shocked when I finally told her the story of when he and I shared our first kiss.

“No, Enid. We’re waiting a bit, we just want to enjoy being a couple for a while before we add that into it. I just feel like once that kind of intimacy is involved it changes your relationship. I really like him, I don’t want to ruin this,” I explained playing with a tennis ball.

“Yeah, I get it. Ajax and I have been dating two years and we didn’t do it until about eight months in,” She said picking at a string on the bean bag chair.

“It’s raining,” I said.

“How do you know?” Enid asked listening closely.

“I can feel it in the plants.”

She made an ‘o’ face. The boys got back about 10 minutes later. They were soaked.

I cat-called him in a joking manner causing him to chuckle.

“Hey guys, I have an idea,” I smirked, feeling playful.

I grabbed Xavier’s hand and pulled him outside with me. I began to cheer and spin around in the rain. Enid came and joined me. Xavier stood there watching me, nothing but love and admiration in his eyes.

“Come on man!” I heard Ajax say as he ran over to Enid.

Xavier ran over and picked me up, spinning me around. I screamed playfully while laughing. Like the cutest scene from a movie, except it was my life. He put me down and we jumped into the muddy puddles. I eventually got tired and laid in the grass. The rain not seeming to let up as the thunder and lightning roared. Xavier laid down next to me and sighed.

“I love you,” I heard him say.

I sat up and looked at him. His cheeks were pink and he had a content smile on his face.

“What?” I asked him, unsure if my brain was playing tricks on me.

He sat up and rested his forehead against mine, “I said, I love you.”

I laughed, not one of humiliation, but of shock, “I love you too!”

I threw my arms around his neck and straddled him, slamming my mouth onto his. He smiled into the kiss. That day being the most perfect day.

“Except this rain isn’t a happy one,” I said taking a step back.

He looked hurt, but I didn’t care, I was hurt.

“Y/n, please say something. Yell! Scream! Hit me! I need to know what you’re thinking,” He demanded.

“You wanna know what I’m thinking?” I asked with a cracked voice, “I’m thinking why I wasn’t good enough for you.”

“Y/n-“

“Was her smile brighter than mine? Did you like the way she said your name better? Did your whole world, including me, disappear when you looked at her? Tell me you were possessed or maybe it was a curse so I don’t have to think that one night with her was worth more than a lifetime with me. Did you think about me when you were kissing her neck? Did you think about how much I would cry while telling her that her eyes were pretty? Were are you infatuated with the way that she talks? Did the way that she walk make your jaw drop the way mine does when looking at you? Was it fun because it was new? Did her bra make your jaw drop? Was it black or was it dark blue? You knew what you were doing and I hope you fell in love. I hope you fell in love with her figure, I hope you fell in love with the way wind blew through her hair, I hope you fell in love with the way your heart beat faster when looking at her while she wasn’t paying attention. Did your friends tell you congratulations? I hope you fell in love with her the way I fell in love with you… and then I hope she breaks your heart the same way you broke mine.”

Numb. I felt numb as I walked away. I didn’t spare a glance. Not even when i heard him choke out my name through silent sobs. I walked around for what felt like hours, which it was, until i saw the Weathervane, rain soaking every inch of my body. The water in my shoes squished as I sat in a booth, sinking down and hugging myself as it was chilly.

“Can I sit?”

I nodded. Tyler sat across from me.

“May I ask what happened?”

“He got what he wanted. To know what was going on in my head. I hurt him, but the thing is… it made me feel better,” I said feeling quite guilty.

“You’re soaked,” Tyler pointed out.

“Its just water. I’ll be fine, i just need to make my way back to Nevermore,” I said shivering.

“My shift just ended, do you want a coffee and maybe… we could go to my house. It’s closer than Nevermore and I feel like you shouldn’t be alone right now,” he said awkwardly.

“That sounds really nice Tyler,” I smiled softly.

He went over and made a warm latte for me and came over handing me a hoodie. I peeled off those I previously had on and slipped his over me. I smiled discreetly because it smelled so good. After Tyler grabbed his things he walked me out to his car and opened the door for me. I thanked him and got in. He turned the car on and the heater, just to make sure I’m warm.

“How was your day?” I asked making small talk, not wanting to talk about myself anymore.

“It was great, I spent a few hours with a pretty sweet person, I had a relatively slow work day, and now i get to spend even more time with that person from this morning,” He smiled while driving.

“I guess they’re lucky then, to have a person talk about them as such,” I chuckled.

“I think I’m the lucky one,” He said looking over at me hugging myself in the passenger seat, “Are you still cold? I can turn up the heat, although my house is right around the corner.”

“Oh I’m fine, I just do this for comfort,” I explained looking out the window.

We pulled up to his house and he got out and ran around opening my door for me.

“You’re a sweetheart,” I smiled.

He looked down at the ground blushing, closed the door and ran up onto the porch to unlock the door. He let me in first.

“Would your dad care?” I asked nervous.

“No, he’s not here ever anyway. Its just me,” He explained and continued, “My room is upstairs. The bathroom is to the left, I’ll grab you some clothes.”

I nodded and followed him upstairs and went to the bathroom. I looked at myself in the mirror and saw my hair in total disarray from the rain and the wind. Xavier was the furthest thing from my mind. All I could think about was Tyler. He was so sweet and thoughtful, I wouldn’t mind spending even more time with him.

A knock came from the door and i opened it up, “Here’s some sweatpants and a t-shirt.”

I smiled, “Thanks, do you mind if I take a shower?”

He shook his head, “Ill be waiting in my room.”

I shut the door and began taking my clothes off and getting all the rain water off of me. I dried off with a towel that was folded neatly and then started with the clothes. I slipped on the t shirt. It was a little big on me, but yet again i was captivated by the smell. The sweats were extremely comfortable. I walked out and into Tylers bedroom.

“Knock, knock,” I said entering.

He was sitting on his computer and turned to look at me, “Cute.”

“Your clothes are very comfortable,” I said going to see what he was doing on his laptop.

“I was trying to order some Chinese food, but I don’t know what you like and I didn’t want to bother you,” He said.

“Oh I like f/c/f,” I said, “But you don’t have to do that.” (Favorite Chinese food)

He looked up at me, “I want to.”

I went and sat on his bed, feeling slightly guilty about him spending money and doing all these things for me. Once he was done he spun around in his chair.

“Want to talk? Or we can watch a movie? Or we can play games?” He listed off.

I laid down on his bed, “I feel like talking would be nice for now, or if you have a movie you want to watch.”

He grabbed his laptop and scrolled through some movies, “If you see one you like let me know.”

I couldn’t concentrate on the computer though, i just kept staring at his face. He said something but I didn’t hear him. I panicked when he turned to look at me.

“Y/n? Are you okay?” He asked concerned.

I nodded, not looking away from his face, shame wasn’t in my brain at the moment. He swallowed thickly and stared back. I looked down at his lips and back up to his eyes. He did the same with me. I let a shaky breath go. He made the first move and leaned in, brushing our ones together.

“If this isn’t what you want, stop me,” He whispered, breath hitting my lips.

“I want you,” I whispered grabbing the back of his neck and pushing my lips on his.

He softly put his hand on my throat, pulling me closer by the waist. I pushed the laptop away and straddled his waist. He groaned when my fingers went into his hair and tugged softly. He grabbed my ass making me gasp.

I pulled away looking deep into his eyes, “Tyler, I just want you to know you’re not a rebound.”

He leaned back onto his pillows, hands still on my hips, “Even if i was, I wouldn’t mind.”

I chuckled and bent down to kiss him again. I felt something press against me and i knew what he wanted. The doorbell rang. He groaned in frustration.

“I don’t think I’m going to be able to-“

“I’ll go get it,” I laughed and went to get the food and came back upstairs.

He had his laptop back on the bed and a movie already picked out. I handed him the food and we ate while watching it. I admired Tyler and set my food down, basically done with it.

“Do you not like it?” Tyler asked.

“No, I do, i just wanted to ask you something,” he perked up, “Why’re you doing all of his? Not that im not grateful, but im just curious.”

He sighed and put his food down, “I’ve liked you for years, Y/n. Ever since we met at Outreach Day our freshman year. You were helping out in the Weathervane and I was smitten by you. I saw how you and Xavier were together and i got jealous, so I had our friends ambush him. I regret it all, but as a 14 year old, feelings definitely cloud your judgement.”

I was in shock by all of this.

“When i saw you and Xavier together it broke me, but i saw how happy he made you and i thought if you’re happy then I’m happy,” He explained sadly.

I scooted closer to him and held his face in my hands, “I’m sorry I didn’t see it before.”

“I don’t mind if you’re just using me, as long as i get you for even a short amount of time. Any time is better than none,” He spoke nervously.

“Good thing i want you too, so maybe we could use each other, forever, exclusively?” I suggested with a soft smirk.

“I couldn’t think of anything more perfect, besides you,” he said grabbing my face and kissing me.

He brought his hand down to the sweats I was wearing, making me release a gasp, “You didn’t think you were getting away with earlier, did you?”

His voice dark and husky, eyes darkened more as I said, “I hope not.”

#xavier thorpe #xavier thorpe imagine #xavier thorpe x reader #wednesday #tyler galpin x you #tyler galpin x reader #tyler galpin imagine #tyler galpin #wednesday tyler #xavier wednesday

[just-avocado]

So I stayed up until like four last night writing down the lyrics for the Circe Saga because it’s incredible and Spotify didn’t have lyrics yet but since tumblr doesn’t want me to post pics rn for some reason I’ll just try again later and instead talk about the songs!!! :D

Puppeteer- The intro instrumental lives in my head to rent and so does Eurylochus’s rap part, I need to know what he was going to tell Odysseus he sounded so vulnerable- I swear this guy is climbing up my favorite characters list, I do find it interesting how he wanted to leave the crew behind with Circe when later in Mutiny he confronted Odysseus for “trading the lives of his crew” in order to get home so hopefully that means he had a change and heart and wasn’t just being a hypocrite, I also love how the Circe Saga as a whole but especially Puppeteer and There Are Other Ways really highlight how terrible Odysseus feels about everything he’s done, everyone he’s failed or killed since leaving home, I need to know how he goes from hating himself to embracing all he’s done

Uhh favorite lines!

“Look at all we’ve lost and all we’ve learned, Every single cost is so much more than what we’ve earned” SING IT Eurylochus

Wouldn’t You Like- HEHEHEH I absolutely adore the synthwave-y aspects of the song I’m a huge lover of synthwave vibes as of recent, I would genuinely vibe to the instrumental all day long, Mr. Jalapeño release the instrumental versions pLplzplz 🙏, I’m sure we all know by know that Troy is the real Hermes there’s no other way he can bring THAT much charisma to the role, I’ve seen charisma before but never like that oh my god, I also love his unhinged laugh so much idk how he does it but I want to learn, also when I was writing the lyrics I had to stop for a sec and be like “is this song just Hermes giving his great grandson drugs ooor-“ because that’s 100% something he would do

Favorite lines…

Just the entire “Here in the root of this flower, There lies such a power, To take her on” segment of the song it’s just 👌

Also the part where he’s going OOOhoOhohAhahdph while the ensemble sings his verses his voice is so BEAUTIFUL and POWERFUL oh my GOD

“Don’t thank me friend! You very well may die” I chuckled so loud lmao

And his little “Good luck 😉” he’s so silly he knows shit is going to go down

Done For- okay was the lyric for this song always “I just ate a flower, one that claims your power” cuz I could have sworn it was drains your power but I might just be crazy, also chimera supremacy I love that Jorge was able to find a way to implement it, Jorge and Talya’s voices sound so great together I need more 😭, I also love that this song starts to hint at more depth behind Circe’s actions idk who out here thinks she’s a meh one-note/one-off villain but she’s not!! I’ll make a 50 page PowerPoint on this don’t test me!!

Fav lines…

“You’ve lost.” Okay Odysseus 🤡

“My nymphs are like my daughters, I protect them at all costs, The last time we let strangers live, We faced a heavy loss.” This!! This is what I’m saying she feels like she has no choice other than to hurt people so that the people she loves will stay safe, she’s literally Odysseus further down the line! it’s so fascinating to see a character like this facing off against the main protagonist bc at this point in the story we don’t know what kind of person he will become yet and yet Jorge shows us with Circe Ahdldhnsbdk

There Are Other Ways- Okay I’ll be honest, this song was the last one on my radar not bc I didn’t like it but because I was just looking forward to others so much more and it was also the one I intentionally heard less clips of because I wanted at least one song that I didn’t already know half of the lyrics to 💀 ANYWAY THIS ONE IS THE BEST SONG IN THE CIRCE SAGA CHANGE MY MIND (I’m so sorry Troy I love your voice but this song is simply better) Dude the lyrics go soso hard in this one, I’m such a sucker for one character having like a big emotional moment while another is like singing/backing them up in the background and there’s so much of that here, and the call backs? Both to earlier songs in the saga AND Just A Man, my favorite song Just A Man? Every call back to that song is just so RAW I LOVE IT, I don’t know a ton about Greek mythology outside of Epic so I dont know if Circe and Posideon have this past beef or something but I do find it interesting that it’s only after he is mentioned that Circe decides to help Odysseus but I also think it’s larger due to how he reminds her of herself with how he misses Penelope, UM THE BEAT DROP after the underworld is mentioned for the first time??? CHILLS SHIVERS EVERYTHING dude I love how the entire atmosphere changes so much because yes this could be Odysseus’ only change to make it home safely but it’s also so much more dangerous than the shitty situation they’re already in so there’s not even time for relief or a breath of air like he’s IN it now there’s no going back

Best lyrics omfg…

“There are other roads to the soul~” Talya, Tayla. This is why some of us can’t sing, the universe needs balance and you are the only explanation for that

“Want to save your men from the fire? Show me that you’re willing to burn” 😐 AAAAAH

“But there’s no puppet here” get it puppeteer? Puppet here? I thought it was clever lol

“Back at home, my wife awaits for me, She’s my everything, My Penelope” The yearning in his voice made me feel things

“So I beg you Circe, Grant us mercy, And let us puppets leeeeave~” We have literally never seen Odysseus use this sort of tactic before to get his way but I genuinely think he’s being genuine here, no play, he only wants to see his wife and son again, he’s so close to giving up hope, he’s losing his spirit, he’s searching for any sliver of help even from a women who wants him dead

“I know of a brilliant prophet… Problem is that prophets dead.” Again the cord or piano key I think it was was so AH SO GOOD AH I am foaming at the mouth for when we start getting teasers for the Underworld Saga

“Maybe showing one act of kindness, Leads to kinder souls down the road” someone make an au where Polities and Circe become besties she needs a friend like him but don’t we all, but seriously THIS is what I’m saying!! She is future Odysseus! Only difference being is that she’s so tired of hurting people at this point she decides to take a chance and give help rather than pain in the hopes that it will somehow contribute to a kinder world

“Maybe one day the world, Will need a puppeteer no more” this is her plea for help, she yearns for the day where she won’t need to be a monster in order to protect her nymphs, for Odysseus his plea was for him and his men to leave, they both showed such vulnerability in this song in different ways its ART ITS ART *gun shot*

“I have been in love once before” She even had her own Penelope guys, this is the true reason why she decided to help Odysseus methinks

Okay uhhh I think that’s it ^_^ Circe Saga rules, it might be my fav saga I’ll decide soon

#epic the musical #epic the circe saga #epic the troy saga #epic odysseus #epic polites #epic circe #epic eurylochus #disclaimer for BANGER SONGS #okay I should probably close my eyes or something I’m running in a solid two hours #Circe saga is more important than sleep lmao

[pitviperofdoom]

So I decided a little while ago to do a full series reread of Redwall. I’m still early in it, I just finished Redwall and started Mossflower, and you know what? Might as well express my thoughts as I go. Blacklist “redwall reread” if you don’t want to see this, there WILL be spoilers.

So! Thoughts, on reflection, about Redwall:

Something I forgot along the way is just how competent Matthias is right from the start. Granted he lives in a society that hasn’t seen war in several generations so it’s not like he has a lot of competition, but he still goes from Bumbling Novice Who Doesn’t Quite Fit In to a martial and tactical powerhouse alongside Constance, the one who closed negotiations by picking up an entire banquet table and throwing it.

And not only that, people listen to him! As soon as negotiations break down, Matthias jumps in with a plan and all his elders listen. I watched the animated series growing up, which was... not super great, quality wise, but enjoyable enough for a kid. And one of the changes the show made was playing up Matthias’s childishness and inexperience. In the adaptation, when everyone’s panicking about the legendary warlord marching on the abbey, Matthias jumps in with this rallying speech about how they’ll fight back, and the abbot scolds him for it. “No more talk of fighting,” when Cluny the Scourge is almost at their doorstep. In the original book?

“Do? I’ll tell you what we’ll do. We’ll be ready.” The Abbot could not help shaking his head in admiration. It seemed that young Matthias had hidden depths. “Why, thank you, Matthias,” he said. “I could not have put it better myself. That’s exactly what we will do. We’ll be ready!”

(Years later, a certain wizard in a certain film adaptation would ask a question calmly.)

This book has a beaver in it. And a horse. And the mention of a dog. And Portugal.

Speaking of which, one of the many things that I think sets this book apart from the rest is that it feels like Jacques is making an attempt to write a book that takes place in a smaller Mouse World that exists within a larger world. The abbey is mouse-sized, of course, but an entire army of rats rides in on a single horse-drawn hay cart. Matthias climbs hay bales in a barn and falls into a cat’s mouth. Again, Portugal exists.

Idk what my point is, it just goes to show that BJ really was gradually building this world as he wrote it. I didn’t obsess so much over canon continuity, I just came up with my own explanations for things.

Ah, phonetic accents. I have mixed feelings about phonetic accents these days. I know logically that it’s better to avoid them, but like. I read the moles’ dialogue and try to imagine what it would look like without every word misspelled to exaggerate the dialect, and I just. Couldn’t visualize it. Moles just aren’t moles if you aren’t rereading their lines two or three times to parse what they’re saying. (Excepting Egburt the Scholar, of course, but I won’t see him for several books.)

I think my lifelong obsession with ferrets can be traced back to Killconey. I just. I know he’s a villain but I just love this guy so much. He’s adorable, he’s got a solid head on his shoulders, and he never tries to screw over his comrades, murder his comrades, bully his comrades, or flat-out lie to Cluny to get ahead, like SOME people, Cheesethief. RIP Killconey you were a good henchman and Cluny shouldn’t have thrown you at Matthias to get chopped in half.

Sela named her son Chickenhound no wonder he didn’t mourn her. Of course, his idea of a better name was “Mousedeath” so it’s not like he had room to judge.

Portugal????

#redwall #redwall reread

[that-gay-guy-from-hell]

Bound by Blood: Reader & Sparda Bloodline (Platonic)

SUMMARY: It all started on that fateful day, the day everything went up in flames. You’ve been forced to walk a life you’d never imagined. All in the name of avenging your brothers; Dante and Vergil. Who, unannounced to you, are still very much alive and are wandering the endless wasteland called Hell; the endless wasteland you’d called “home” for over three decades.

EDIT AS OF 7/12/2023: I am re-writing this entire fic. I don't really like how it turned out plus all of the half-finished/patrial story bits I have in here are kind of not up to my standard. Please still give this a read, it took me a REALLY long time to finish this, but just know that this is going to be redone. Thanks for understanding, have a great day/night!! :)))

Requested by @loshpen! :))) 

*Slams this down like a dictionary* HERE TAKE IT. THIS IS OVER 25,000 WORDS; HOLY SHIT-- *dies*

BEGINNING NOTES: ⚠️Please read these, they are important⚠️

➖➖➖ ⧳ It is EXTREMELY encouraged to read the “General Headcanons” before reading this story; it helps things make more sense. Otherwise, you get lost and/or confused. VERGIL IS WEARING HIS DEFAULT OUTFIT FROM DMC 5 NOT THE DEVIL HUNTER ONE; he does have V’s tattoos though. ⧲Universe typical violence: Blood, guts, gore, (mentioned) throwing up, bruising, broken bones, etc.  ⧳Talk of the reader eating raw meat (idk if I need to warn about that or not, rather be safe than sorry) ⧲Talk about abuse/manipulation/torture from Argosax towards the reader; it is not super in-depth, however, it is mentioned and talked about the reader basically having Stockholm syndrome.  ⧳Switches between 2nd and 3rd person; I tried to make it seamless but it is a little rough. ➖➖➖ ⧲ G/N Reader & Sparda family; the reader is the younger sibling to Dante and Vergil, making you Nero’s “Pibling” (which is the G/N term for aunt/uncle) ⧳The reader is a year younger than the twins; born in the fall.  ⧲Little less ambiguous than I typically try to write. I needed to have something to work on for the reader’s personality and stuff, so sorry if it doesn’t line up with you per se--I tried lmao ➖➖➖ ⧲Sparda is a soft old man--just let me have this. ⧳Vergil has emotional outbursts because of what happened with V/Urizen. ⧲Dante’s amulet is silver and Vergil’s is bronze; I’m using DMC3 as canon colors, not DMC1. ⧳Since you are a part of the Sparda family, you are in the painting from the mantel. You’re placed front right--the observer’s right--next to Sparda.  ⧲I know the reader wouldn’t get over things so quickly, but (again) just let me have this. ⧳MINOR SPOILER: The Sparda when you are younger is not “Force Edge” because the proper owner, who at the time was Sparda, has control of it. So when everything happens and you don’t have your sword, it goes into its dormant state, which it then has to be forced out of (or it would’ve had to reunite with you.). ➖➖➖ ⧲I don’t personally have a good relationship with my sibling; in fact, I don’t consider them to be my sibling. So, I don’t know how siblings interact. ⧳I also didn’t have much of a relationship with either of my parents until I was in high school (because I live in America where parents are worked to death and their kids never get to see them). ⧲I ALSO have the ‘tism so I don’t know how kids typically act.  ➖➖➖ (I will remove this section once I get my Argo/Mundus H/Cs out) ⧳Argosax’s personality (or lack thereof) has been scrapped. I think them being a psychopath (in the medical sense) makes for a much better character. Argosax can easily convince others to follow their orders--opposite Mundus who does everything through force.  ⧳Bolverk has been retconned to be Argo’s bodyguard/general (basically Argosax’s Nelo Angelo but willingly or Pre-woke Sparda).  ⧲Argo’s stronger than Mundus, but Mundus’s army is more substantial than Argo’s.

THE ENDING IS NOT PROOFREAD, I JUST WANTED TO UPLOAD THIS (I’ll come back and fix it up later.)

STORY START:

“Shhhhh--” Eva weakly reached out for the crying child that was in the midwife’s arms, “It’s alright."

     After a few minutes of her rocking the new child, the room fell completely silent. Despite how joyful Eva should feel, she couldn’t help but stare somberly at her newborn. 

     A quiet creak came from the door as a large platinum-haired devil entered. It was her husband and the child’s father, Sparda. His typically brash loud voice was beyond soft and gentle as he slowly shut the door behind him, “Eva?” 

     Her eyes flicked up to him before they returned down to their newest baby. 

     Sparda moved into the room, standing next to the bed with a dejected look on his brow, “Their… condition has not gotten any better I take it?”

     Eva gave a small slow side-glance to her husband; giving him his answer.

     A loud slam caught everyone’s attention. The door that Sparda had gently shut was now wide open; so much so, that the knob was digging into the wall behind it. In the frame of the door were the couple’s first children, Vergil and Dante. Before anyone responded to their sudden appearance, they bolted into the room. 

     Dante squealed in excitement, “See! I told you, Verge!” The two were intercepted by Sparda, who picked them both up by their shirt collars.

     “Why are you out of bed? I thought I told you to stay in your room,” Sparda’s voice was sharp but still quiet, not wanting to upset Eva or wake the baby. 

     Vergil pouted, “But--” 

     “It is alright, Love,” Eva’s voice was soft as she gave a meek smile, “If they can behave then they may stay for a moment.” Although it pained her to admit it, she knew that this might be the only chance for the twins to see the baby alive. 

     Sparda hesitated before releasing the boys. As quickly and quietly as they could, they ran to the edges of the bed. Sparda waltzed over and held up Vergil while the midwife held Dante. 

     After a minute or two, Vergil spoke as he tilted his head in confusion, “Why does it look like that?” 

     “Vergil!” Sparda growled at his son.

     Eva sighed and looked down to watch the sleeping newborn as it wiggled slightly, “They are unwell,” her voice cracked as she spoke. 

     Dante smiled, not understanding what she meant, “Well, when are they gonna be better? I want to play with them!”

     Eva swallowed audibly and gave a pained smile, “Soon, hopefully…”

     Days turned to weeks, weeks to months, and soon it had been a year since the child had been born. Despite all the odds, it continued to live. There were of course several days and nights spent watching with great concern, but the child always managed to pull through. Sparda had begun to equate it as the “runt” of the “litter” and referred to them as such. It wasn’t meant with ill intent, however, Eva wasn’t exactly fond of it, but the name wasn’t far off from the truth.

     Unlike the twins, their third child’s development was closer to that of a human; both physically and mentally. Not a single glimpse of a sign of having any devilish heritage or urges had been seen. In stark contrast to the two older children who, at this age, were nearly burning down the house whenever they threw a tantrum or didn’t get their way. This child was rather amicable, putting up little to no fuss; never even throwing a tantrum to begin with. Which would reflect the way the child would deal with things later in life; the way you would deal with things later in life. 

     When you turned two, your “slow” development sparked a very important conversation between Eva and Sparda; how should they raise you? At this rate, you wouldn’t be able to start learning things until you were of the correct human age, unlike the twins who were only three and learning at a second-grade level. 

     You had also shown a severe, borderline unhealthy, attachment to Eva and were very afraid of Sparda. He hadn't done anything that would cause you to be so terrified. Admittedly, he was a little hurt that his child won't let him anywhere near them. The couple figured that perhaps it is because you seemed to be more “human-like” that it caused you to inherently fear devils and demons.

     After many long discussions and some mild arguments, it was decided that you would be raised like a human. That you would attend human schools and human activities. To be treated as such just in general life around the house and town--which meant no training or lessons from Sparda. Once they laid out what they were going to do, the twins were informed of the decision; which was rather important, since the pair were already trying to get you to tussle or adventure with them. 

     Vergil and Dante were confused about their parents' choice; why were you going to be treated so differently? Sure, you weren’t exactly like them but you had the capability to play alongside them. This was dismissed by both of your parents, as they insisted that you weren’t like the twins--that this is how it has to be. However, when your parents weren’t looking; your brothers taught you what they could. Vergil taught you basic reading and math while Dante taught you more hands-on things, refining your motor skills.

     When you turned six, the twins decided to teach you things that Sparda had taught them. Dante taught you more hand-to-hand based things while Vergil taught you about proper weapon usage. You did well, much better than the twins were expecting after what they heard. If your Father or Mother won’t teach you then they feel that it was their responsibility, as your older siblings, to do so. 

     One night after everyone was in bed, the silver-haired twins unintentionally eavesdropped on a conversation about your upcoming seventh birthday. Underneath their bedroom was a large library that Sparda often visited late at night, however, it seems that Eva decided to join him. Currently, they were lightly arguing about what they were going to give you. 

     You were already past the age that Sparda gave the twins the heirlooms from his side, which the bronze devil wasn't exactly thrilled about. Sparda continued to insist upon giving you a weapon because, “--even if you were to be raised human, you are still his kin; devils and demons alike will want, and try, to kill you.” 

     Eva, however, was well within her right to be concerned. You still weren’t showing any signs of demonic heritage and most of Sparda’s gear is too heavy for you to lift or use. Besides, "If something were to happen, Dante and Vergil will be there to protect you.” All she wanted was for you to be raised a normal human child which doesn’t include demonic weapons; especially the one that Sparda was talking about. Before the twins could hear the verdict of the conversation, they both fell fast asleep. 

==

     Time seemed to fly over the next few months and it was finally your birthday. Although none of you knew it, this would be the last of your birthdays that you spent with your entire family. 

     “Tag!” Dante’s index finger jabbed your shoulder as he pivoted around, sprinting through the leaves. 

     “Hey!!” You ran after him, stumbling a bit; however, you continued nipping at the red devil’s heels. 

     “Tch,” Vergil sat on the porch stoop. He looked up from his book, raising a sharp brow at the two of you, “How childish--!”

     A wide toothy grin decorated your face as you poked his shoulder, “Tag! You’re it!” Then you took off, high-fiving Dante in the process.

     He stared for a moment, deciding if he was going to participate; since it was your birthday, he decided to swallow his pride and play along. With a heavy sigh, Vergil shut his book with a loud thump and placed it inside the front door. A small happy smile unknowingly tugged at his lips as he shook his head, taking off after the two of you.

     The three of you darted throughout the yard as Sparda watched from the window. 

     “Our Runt is keeping up well with the twins,” Sparda turned to his wife who had just finished placing dinner in the oven, “Perhaps we are wrong to assume--”

     “Sparda,” Eva sighed, “The boys are probably holding back so they can play together.”

     He opened his mouth but decided to keep it to himself. His lips turned to a thin line as he turned back to watch. 

     “You’re it,” Vergil’s voice was monotone as he tapped your shoulder.

     You let out a surprised sputter, “How?!” 

     Both Dante and you stopped as you stared at the eldest sibling. 

     “What?” Vergil tilted his head to the side and folded his arms.

     Dante smiled and laughed, “Since when can you do that?”

     Vergil’s brow furrowed in confusion, “What?” In a cocky manner, he teleported to right in front of the two of you, leaning forwards, “Surprised?”

     The two of you nodded before you reached out slowly and poked him, “Tag.”

     Vergil’s eyes went wide, “Wha..?” 

     Dante busted out into loud laughter with tears springing to his eyes. 

     Vergil frowned in irritation and aggressively “tapped” Dante on the head, “Tag.”

     The three of you resumed your scampering (and teleporting in Vergil’s case) around the yard, slipping and falling in the leaves several times. Despite what your parents thought, the twins never held back or handicapped themselves to play with you. They were just as rough and fast with you as they are with each other… Well, maybe not as rough but definitely as fast. The game finally ended when Dante fell face-first into a large muddy section of the lawn, taking an unintended mud bath. 

     The three of you came back inside. You all left your muddy dirty clothes and boots by the door and made your way to the kitchen. Dante ran in to give both your parents a hug but was promptly stopped by Eva sticking out her hand to stop him.

     “Dante,” Eva let out a small laugh, “What happened to you?”

     “I fell,” Dante gave her a wide goofy smile.

     “You need to get washed up,” she shook her head and patted his mud-encrusted hair softly, “Definitely your Father’s child.”

     Before Sparda could question his wife, she walked off with Dante. Then he turned his attention to his remaining children. 

     The two of you sat next to one another on the living room couch. Vergil had grabbed the book that he was reading outside earlier and had picked up where he left off. This wasn’t uncommon for Sparda’s eldest to immediately jump back into whatever literature he was reading before being interrupted. However, this time was different, this time he was reading aloud.

     “ ‘Here alone I in books formd of metals/Have written the secrets of wisdom/The secrets of dark contemplation/By fightings and conflicts dire,/With terrible monsters Sin-bred:/Which the bosoms of all inhabit;/Seven deadly Sins of the soul.’.”

     “Vergil?” Your voice was soft, not wanting to upset him by interrupting.

     “Hm?” He watched you point to a drawing next to the poem.

     “Who’s that?”

     “The author’s rendition of what they think Urizen might look like. Urizen is the subject of this section of poems,” Vergil felt something on his shoulder and looked over. Only to find that you had leaned against his arm and were nodding at his answer.

     The eldest continued through the collection of poems as you intently listened along; telling you the tale of Urizen. 

     “Vergil?”

     “Hm?”

     “Is Egypt a real place?”

     Vergil laughed quietly, “Yes, it is quite far away. Maybe someday we can visit there together.”

     “I’d like that,” you smiled, “We could read this again there, too!”

     “Sure, if that is what you wish.” 

     You nodded vigorously, excited at the idea of traveling the world with your brothers--especially if you get to hear Vergil read more. 

     Vergil leaned his head atop yours and waited a moment before whispering, “Hey…”

     “Hm?”

     “I…” Vergil’s brow furrowed as he thought for a moment, he sighed, “I’m glad you are still alive.”

     If you hadn't known about your odd illness as a baby, this comment would've seemed rather menacing. However, you were well aware of how sick you were and knew he was trying to be nice.

     Your voice was loud and laced with an overflowing, almost sickly, amount of love, “I’m glad too!” You removed yourself from his shoulder and yanked his head down to yours, kissing him on the cheek, “I love you lots, Vergie.”

     He stared at you for a moment before sheepishly looking away, “I love you too.”

     The loud pitter-patter of running footsteps, made Vergil lightly push you away. Suddenly there was another sibling on your other side, jumping onto the couch with a bounce. 

     “What are you doin’?” Dante had his signature smile across his face.

     “Nothing,” Vergil answered before you could.

     “Aw, were you two waiting for me~~” Dante’s voice was laced with a knowing smugness.

     “I was!” You chimed in, managing to beat Vergil to the punch.

     Dante grabbed you and gave you an aggressive noogie.

     “Dante,” Sparda folded his arms and raised his brow.

     He stopped, “Sorry..!”

     You grabbed him and did the same, ruffling up his just brushed and cleaned hair. 

     “I don’t know how you three still have so much energy,” Eva shook her head as she entered the room.

     Vergil looked up from his book, confused about why he was grouped with you two. 

     “Now,” she gently placed two boxes on the coffee table, “Would you like to open your gifts?”

     You looked up at her in confusion, releasing Dante from your grasp, “Gifts? … Oh! Yeah!” In all your fun, you had forgotten that it was your birthday.

     Eva laughed softly before handing you the first box. It was heavy-ish and rectangular. The wrapping on it was crude and chaotic, with enough tape on it that it may as well have been wrapped in tape instead. In complete contrast to an intricately and well-tied ribbon surrounding the outside of it. A warm smile spread across your face, knowing immediately who this was from; Dante and Vergil.

     The twins watched intently as you carefully undid the ribbon and the seventy layers of patchwork gift wrap. Your smile faded upon seeing what it was, but not in a bad way; no, rather, you were taken aback. It was a photo album.

     You ran your fingers delicately across the cover which had a family photo of all five of you together. Underneath it, there was a small note neatly written in calligraphy, “ ‘Pretty joy!/Sweet joy, but two days old./Sweet Joy I call thee:/Thou dost smile,/I sing the while;/Sweet joy befall thee!’ Infant Joy; William Blake.”

     A small bittersweet feeling tugged at your heart as you gingerly opened the scrapbook. Inside there were dozens upon dozens of photos, drawings, newspaper clippings, stickers, and other miscellaneous things. Most of them had dates or small snippets of information next to them, explaining why they were placed there.

     Dante whispered to you as you flipped through the book, “You know, it was Verge’s idea to make this for ya--been workin’ on it since you were born,” his voice was playful and, yet, had a sense of pride to it. Of course, this was a teasing remark in an attempt to rile Vergil up, but you knew that deep down Dante was glad that he listened to his twin for once. 

     You tilted your head in curiosity, halfway through the book the pages became blank, “Why are these empty?” 

     Vergil huffed contently, “It is so you can fill out the rest as you grow up.”

     With a small hum you turned to give him a wide close-eyed smile, “As we grow up,” you corrected him and looked back down at the gift, “Thank you both. I love it; almost as much as I love you! I'll cherish this forever.”

     Eva and Sparda shared a small laugh at your enthusiasm over, what the twins’ would’ve considered, such a "boring" gift. 

     With overly cautious gentleness, you set the heavy book down on the coffee table in front of you. Eva then handed you the second, and last, box. It was a small square box with rounded edges. The wrapping on it was excellent and it had a small bow wrapped around it; it was from your Mother, Eva. 

     You quickly ripped through the wrapping and stared at the uncovered item. The box was a black velvet color and was unlike any other box you’d seen. Upon opening it, you (and your brothers) raised a curious brow at the contents. Inside, there was a well-taken-care-of palladium chain that had a sapphire pendant; one that is similar but much smaller than the twins’ (not yet received) necklaces. 

     “That necklace,” Eva started in, catching your attention, “has been in my family for several generations and now I'm entrusting it to you,” she smiled, “I know you’ll take good care of it.”

     You got up and went to hug her, squeezing her tightly.

     “Happy birthday, sweetheart,” she placed a small kiss on your cheek.

     As she helped you put the necklace on, the twins noticed that Father had left the room. Before they could question it, however, he returned.

     “Runt,” Sparda smiled widely, “Can you close your eyes and come here?”

     “Sure!” You did as he asked, guided towards him by your Mother. 

     Sparda knelt in front of you, “You may reopen them.”

     You stared in confusion and furrowed your brow, “Huh?”

     Held between his hands was a large, over six-foot-long, blade. His right hand was on the grip of the sword and his left hand was grasping the back edge on the other end, “Happy Birthday.”

     “What!” Dante shot up from the couch, “Not fair!”

     “Dante!” Vergil elbowed Dante in the gut, making the red devil sit back down.

     You turned back to look at your brothers before your Father spoke again, “Although you may not have a use for it now, I thought it best that you get the same treatment as your brothers.”

     “What is it?” 

     Sparda looked at you with parted lips before they curled into a smile as he laughed, “It is--or, rather, will be--your sword. Just as Vergil and Dante have Yamato and Rebellion; you will have The Devil Sword Sparda.”

     A nervous shake found its way to your hands as you reached out and placed your hands on the flat side of the blade. Admittedly the weapon was rather intimidating; I mean, Father doesn’t expect you to be able to lift that, right?

     “Dad?” You meekly looked up at him.

     “Hm?”

     “Why is it named that?”

     Another laugh emanated from the large devil, “Because it is my sword.”

     “Weren’t Yamato and Rebellion yours too?”

     “Rebellion and Yamato, were mine yes. However,” he looked down at the sword, “this is my pride and joy, the one that I still use.”

     “Then why aren’t you keeping it?” 

     “Because,” he took one of his hands and patted the top of your head, “Someday you’ll need a sword too and I believe this one suited you best.”

     “Oh,” you nodded and smiled at him, “Can- Can I ask one more thing?”

     “Sure, I don’t see why not.”

     Your fingers moved closer to the spine of the sword, making you cringe slightly at the fleshy feeling, “Why is this one so… scary looking?”

     Eva laughed this time, even letting out a small snort of surprise at the odd question.

     “I…” Sparda had a baffled look as he stared at you, “Are you asking why it has organic material?”

     Once more, you nodded and gently grabbed one of the bony spines.

     “Because,” he pursed his lips in thought, “Because it is most closely related to me and I come from a place that has a lot of organic materials like this.”

     “You’re home..?” Neither you nor the twins knew much about your Father’s past, only bits and pieces, and you had always wanted to learn more about the strange man, “Can we visit there someday?”

     Sparda shook his head ‘no’, “It isn’t a place that I want any of you to see, it is…” he pursed his lips, not knowing exactly how to explain things without frightening you, “it is not a nice place…”

     “Oh…” You pushed down on the blue-grey scales, “Then how are you from there?”

     “Par-Pardon?” 

     “You’re really nice and kind to everyone,” you pushed down on the large emerald stone that was nestled in the scales, “So how are you from there if it isn’t a nice place?”

     Sparda didn’t respond.

     You looked up at your Father and saw that he was staring at you with an odd expression, “Dad?”

     “Sparda,” Eva moved next to you and gently placed a hand on her husband’s shoulder, “Is something wrong?”

     The room became uncomfortably quiet. Both twins were staring at the three of you and you had removed your hand from the sword, opting to hold Eva’s hand.

     Without a word, Sparda got up and left, taking the sword with him.

     “Did I say something wrong?” You looked up at your Mother.

     “No, sweetheart. I'm not sure what that's about,” she looked down at you, placing a hand on your head with a small pat, “Why don’t the three of you go play for a while? I’ll come to get you for dinner and cake later, okay?”

     Although you all were uneasy, the three of you went to the twin’s room to play for a while. Eva made her way to Sparda’s office and found him sitting at his desk, staring down at nothing in particular. 

     “Dear?” Eva’s voice was soft as she entered the room, shutting it behind her, “What’s wrong?”

     The large man looked up at his wife, “It is nothing.”

     She moved further into the room and stood beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder, “I wasn’t born yesterday, something’s wrong.”

     “It’s just,” Sparda removed his monocle and pinched the bridge of his nose with a sigh, pushing the corners of his eyes, “that they used to run and hide when I’d enter a room and then to tell me that…” 

     Eva gently ran her fingers through his hair and had a sad smile tugging at her lips, “They have come a long way. Is that why you are upset?”

     His voice cracked a bit, “I know that it is rather stupid but it makes me sad…” he let out a wet huff of a laugh, “I never thought I’d have a family let alone,” his shoulders tensed as he leaned forwards, removing his fingers from his face, “let alone have children who see me as a good and kind man.”

     The petite woman watched as Sparda let out a shuddering breath and placed his elbows on his desk as he pressed his palms into his eyes; doing his best to suppress his emotions.

     “After everything I’ve done,” Sparda’s voice was quiet, shameful, “that I did…”

     “Sparda…” Eva’s fingers tightened on his shoulder.

     He looked up at his wife, tears welling up in his eyes, “Have I truly earned such words?”

     The blonde woman held her husband close, doing her best to comfort him, "A thousand times over, my love."

     They sat together for what seemed like a lifetime, intertwined within each other's arms. Neither you nor the twins were told about what happened; rather, everyone acted as if nothing odd happened in the first place. However, Sparda made sure that he tucked you in that night, gave you a hug and kiss, and told you that he loves you. A memory that you'd never forget.

==

     Over the next year or so, you began to flourish more and more. The twins were able to outright treat you the same as they do each other without having to worry about your parents getting as upset. Along with that, the townsfolk that saw you three thought that you were a set of triplets; even though you didn’t look like your older brothers. The three of you did everything together; sparred, played, ate, slept--you were inseparable. 

     “That’s not fair!” You pouted as you lay on the ground, face up, “You promised you wouldn’t do that!”

     Dante and you had been sparring, while Vergil was on the lookout in case your parents showed up.

     The younger twin laughed a bit and offered you a hand, helping you up, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

     Recently, he had developed a new ability, one which he called “Royal Guard” and he just absolutely blasted you with it. 

     “You alright?” Before you could respond, Dante gently moved your head to the side, “Uh-- Hey Verge,” he looked over to his blue brother, “Can you come ‘ere?”

     “What?” Vergil raised a brow and noticed what Dante was looking at, “Really, Dante?”

     The red twin removed his hand from you, only to have Vergil replace his hold on your face. You pouted a bit in confusion, “What? Is something wrong?”

     “Yes,” Vergil glared at his twin as he removed his hand, allowing you to turn back them, “Dante managed to leave a large bruise across your neck.”

     “What if I said I fell..?” You tilted your head to the side and watched Vergil think.

     “That might work, however--”

     A loud crash and an even louder yelp from you caught the twins off guard. You were currently pinned face down underneath something really really heavy and were unable to move. Dante being Dante started to panic and sprinted off to find Mother; only to have Vergil chase after him and try to stop him--leaving you completely alone. Admittedly, things could be worse--you could’ve been blasted by Dante’s new godforsaken ability again; however, you weren’t exactly thrilled at the moment. 

     Every muscle and tendon in your body felt as if it were on fire as you pushed up. A loud shouting cry left your lips as you finally push whatever it was off of you--at least enough that you could worm your way out.

     Your brow furrowed, “What..?” In front of you was the behemoth of a weapon, The Devil Sword Sparda. 

     Carefully, you ran your fingers along the flat part right by the sharp edge of the blade. You hadn’t been allowed to see it (let alone touch it) since it was gifted to you. Mindlessly, you grabbed the handle and tugged a bit. Sure, it was heavy when it was on top of you. But now? It felt like you could lift it. Before you were able to test it out, your Mother and brothers were right next to you.

     “How did you get this?” Eva’s voice was stern but had a very light trace of fear pricking at the edges. 

     “I-” you shook your head and looked at her, “I didn’t-- I mean, I don’t know how--”

     “It just appeared out of nowhere!” Dante chimed in, which Vergil then socked him in the arm; mumbling about how Eva wasn’t talking to him. 

     Her lips parted as if she were going to say something, but she said nothing. After a minute or so of silence, Eva cleared her throat, “We need to put this back in your Father’s office. Can you… lift it?”

     You moved to the end of the blade and picked up. Seeing that you weren’t quite able to fully pick it up, Vergil and Dante helped; which was enough to lift the gigantic blade. The three of you, guided by your Mother, carried it to Sparda’s office and placed it on the floor of the room. 

     The incident was never brought up again.

     A few weeks following, Dante and Vergil had their eighth birthday. It was an absolute blast as far as you were concerned. The three of you went ice skating, had a snowball fight, and then made snowmen; it was the most “human” fun you’d ever had as a family. When it came time for presents, Eva gifted them two semi-matching ruby amulets; the only difference was that Dante’s was silver while Vergil’s was bronze.

     However, Vergil and Dante asked a question that had been on your mind as well, “Where’s Dad?”

     Eva simply brushed it off saying, “He’s away with work right now; he’ll be home any day now.”

     Looking back on it now, you know Eva was fully aware of your father's death and was just sparing the three of you from the painful terrifying news. 

     Things were fine for a while; the three of you continued to learn at home with Eva as your teacher and trained as a trio, waiting for Sparda to return. 

     It was late spring the last time you saw your Mother. 

     Her, Dante, and you were inside baking cookies together; while Vergil was outside playing--since he didn’t care for cooking. 

     “Can one of you go get Vergil? I’d like him to come in and help decorate these,” Eva smiled warmly.

     Before Dante could even process what was said, you sprung up from your chair with a shout, “I’ll get him!!” and then sprinted out the door.

     One moment, you were happily sprinting through the house thinking about what color frosting you wanted to use; and the next, you were engulfed in flames. Your eyes widened with horror as you gazed upon horrific monsters that you’d never seen and, quite frankly, never wanted to see again. 

     The front door was closer to you than running back to the kitchen, so you continued forwards and did your best to avoid both falling bits of building and whatever these creatures were.  

     “I just have to reach Vergil. He can protect me,”  you repeated this thought to yourself as you sprinted as fast as you could. A half-choked sob left your lips as you felt your chest being to tighten from the smoke. In the end, your struggle was all in vain; you never made it down the hallway, let alone to Vergil.

==

     The twin’s swords clashed as they darted around each other; enjoying their long-awaited reunion. Vergil hit Dante square in the gut and made him fly back several feet, leaving the red devil belly up and laughing heartily.

     After a minute or two, Dante sat up with a small content sigh, “So… Not that this isn’t fun but, you got a plan to get us out of this place, Verge?”

     The eldest twin straightened his coat and looked at his brother, “I do.”

     “Well,” the red devil stood and cracked his back, “Why didn’t you say so.”

     “As you said…” Vergil avoided Dante’s eyes, “you were enjoying yourself.” 

     “And here I thought you were all work, no play.”

     Vergil glared at Dante for a moment then stood with his eyes closed, listening.

     “So, now-”

     “Silence-” Vergil’s face scrunched as he focused harder, before gesturing off to his left, “That way.”

     “O-okay..?” Dante followed his brother, “So, what was that about?”

     “Yamato can only create a portal at the highest points of the Underworld-”

     “Where would we be closest to the human realm..?”

     “Exactly.”

     “That doesn’t explain the weird thing you just did.”

     “I had to locate such a spot,” Vergil’s tone was flat, not wanting to have to explain the specifics; especially since Dante knows what he's talking about.

     “Ah, gotcha,” No, Dante didn’t have a goddamn clue as to what the fuck his brother meant.

     The two of them walked for what seemed like forever, only stopping to fight miscellaneous hordes of demons. Although it was unintentional at first, they used this time to talk about many difficult topics; starting from the freshest things and working their way back. Vergil’s mind was still a scrambled mess which caused him to have a rather difficult time recalling things the further back they went, so it took longer and longer with each topic.

     Despite that small hiccup, they reached back to where this all truly began. Admittedly, neither of them wanted to talk about it but it was important--and it’s not like they had much else to do anyway.

     Dante went first and explained what happened; how Eva hid him away and left to find Vergil, her then dying in the process.

     The blue devil raised a brow at Dante’s words which didn’t go unnoticed by the red devil, “What?” 

     “Nothing.”

     “No,” Dante shook his head, “No, we talked about this; we agreed to be upfront with each other,” at this point, the red devil sounded more akin to a parent scolding a child rather than a concerned sibling; because of how much he had to strong-arm his brother into talking.

     The eldest moved his jaw side to side in thought before speaking, “Last you told me, you portrayed a very different tale.”

     “Oh yeah? What did I say?”

     Vergil’s response was beyond quiet and Dante was unable to make out what was said.

     “Verge,” Dante carefully placed a hand on his twin’s shoulder.

     The blue devil flinched from the action before stiffening his entire body, “You heavily insinuated that Mother did not care for me; that she had no intent to…” He clenched his jaw and broke from Dante’s stare.

     Dante’s expression fell, “I know and… I’m sorry,” Vergil glared at Dante from the corner of his eyes, “but, if I’m honest, I was just doing that to piss you off,” he sighed softly, “It made it easier for me to fight you, because-- because if I refused to admit that I cared about you then I didn’t feel as bad about the whole thing... About fighting you…”

     “Tch,” Vergil slicked his hair back, an action that Dante noted Vergil did when uncomfortable, “I doubt you needed extra reinforcement with that; you seemed to be just fine with fighting me.”

     “Hey,” Dante grabbed Vergil’s shoulder, forcing him to turn to him, “You listen here,” he firmly grasped both of Vergil’s shoulders, much to the eldest’s discomfort, “I never wanted things to end like that. I never thought that you’d-- that we’d--” Dante let out an aggravated sigh as he unintentionally tightened his grip, “Don’t you think for a fucking second that I wanted to lose you or hurt you like that Vergil.”

     The blue devil did his best to avoid Dante’s eyes.

     “You are my brother, even if you did some stupid shit,” Vergil’s eyes snapped right back to his brother upon hearing that, “I mean, I did stupid shit too; but, I never thought things would turn out as they did.”

     Vergil sighed softly, “You are a fool.”

     “What’s that supposed to--” Dante let out a surprised ‘oof’.

     Vergil had pulled his brother into a hug, albeit a rather aggressive one but it was still a hug. 

     Neither of them spoke, they just stood there for a moment; holding one another. However nice things can never last as they became engulfed by another swarm of demons. It didn’t take long for the twins to have the large horde taken care of and they were back on the road. 

     After some time, Vergil decided to give his side of what happened. How he was attacked and experienced his first Trigger; how it tore his body apart and he nearly died by doing so. Only to run as far away as possible, thinking that “-both Eva and Dante were dead.”

     Dante’s brow twitched at his twin’s words, or rather, lack thereof, “Hey, uh, Vergil?” Dante’s voice was uncharacteristically quiet.

     “Hm?”

     “Aren’t you missing someone?”

     With a confused shake and furrow of his brow, Vergil stopped walking and turned to Dante, “No, Father was gone by then.”

     Dante’s lips parted slightly as he looked with great concern, “Are you sure?”

     Vergil raised a brow, “What are you on about?”

     “Verge…” Dante swallowed hard and placed a hand on the back of his neck, “We had a little sibling that you completely neglected to mention…”

     Vergil squinted, “What..?”

     “Holy shit,” the red devil’s shoulders, and overall posture, dipped with sadness “You really forgot?”

     “If this is your attempt at a joke, I do not find it funny.”

     “I’m serious Vergil,” Dante shook his head as he continued, “They were like a year younger than us--were super sick when they were born, which you very bluntly pointed out,” the red devil desperately looked for any sign of recognition in his brother’s face, “Father wouldn’t train them because Mom wanted them to be raised like a human-- Anything ringing a bell?” Dante stared at Vergil.

     “I…” Vergil’s jaw moved in thought, “I don’t know…” Before Dante could speak, Vergil put a hand up, “Just give me a little bit.”

     “Sure,” after which Dante just continued to ramble about things that the three of you did as kids or random information about you. 

     “Did we… make them a book..? Vergil scrunched his face in confusion at, what he thought, was a stupid suggestion.

     The younger twin’s head nodded quickly, “Yeah that’s right.”

     Vergil’s brow twitched as he tried to remember more, “I believe I used to… read to them?” 

     Once more, Dante nodded, “You did.”

     “I see…” the older twin’s expression was rather forlorn compared to normal, “You will have to forgive my confusion, everything is still a bit foggy.”

     The twins continued forward for another few minutes before Dante piped up again.

     “So, you didn’t see them during the fire then..?” Dante pursed his lips, “I never was able to figure if they…” Dante gestured at nothing in particular, “Ya know.” 

     The blue devil sighed, “As much as I’d like to think otherwise; if you haven’t heard from them, then they are most likely dead.”

     The younger twin nodded, “I figured-- I mean,” he sighed heavily, “I had hoped that maybe you’d seen or heard about ‘em when you were under… well, ya know-- Prince Dickwad’s control.”

     Vergil let out a small laugh before freezing at his own reaction. After a moment, he recomposed himself with a nod and returned to his monotone self, “No. I don’t believe I did, anyway…”

     The red devil nodded and swallowed his emotions. 

     Admittedly, Dante had hoped that Vergil would’ve known something about what happened to you. Hoped that, maybe, you had reached the older twin before everything happened; but that was wishful thinking. After all, you were treated like a human, it only made sense that you would have died like one as well.

     They continued forwards in silence for what seemed like an eternity. Vergil was mulling over his memories; admittedly, he was rather perturbed that he didn’t recall you until Dante reminded him. In hindsight, perhaps splitting himself using Yamato did more damage to himself than he had originally anticipated. However, that was for him to worry about at some other point; if at all.

     Dante, on the other hand, was doing his best to come to terms with everything. He had been living with the false hope of you still being alive. The only thing that was running through his mind was how he almost lost both siblings. Thankfully, Vergil was still with him; which, admittedly, only added to the fear of losing his brother again.

     A small discontented huff from Vergil caught Dante’s attention. Before he could ask his brother what was up, Dante saw what Vergil was staring at. In front of them was a large desolate building that absolutely reeked of gore--worse than they’d encountered thus far.

     “So, let me guess,” Dante half-ass pointed at the sight before them, “That’s where we need to go, huh?” 

     “It would appear that way,” Vergil took a deep breath. The blue devil wasn’t exactly thrilled about having to set foot in a structure like this; one so similar to the ones from all those years ago.

     Dante noticed his brother’s apprehension, “You gonna be alright?” 

     “I’ll be fine!” Vergil’s answer was much snappier than intended. Before moving forwards, Vergil mumbled to himself, “It is only a building, it isn’t that big of a deal.”

     Before Dante could try and comfort his brother, Vergil was nearly at the entrance. The two cautiously pushed the heavy doors open. The outpost had seen better days, that much was apparent; with every step forward Dante felt as if the pair were going to go straight through the floor--or worse, the building would collapse atop them. Despite the abhorrent smell of death and fresh kills, there wasn’t a body to be found--not even a single drop of blood. 

     While they made their way up the stairs, Vergil began to take note of how eerily quiet it was. Hell is far from a quiet place, constantly having the sounds of demons screeching and other miscellaneous sounds; here, however, you could hear a pin drop from five rooms away. It made him feel uneasy, only adding to how on edge he was. 

     Dante had also noticed and began to mindlessly whistle to himself. The unexpected noise made Vergil flinch heavily. The red devil stopped for a moment, waiting for Vergil to say something. After a few moments with no response, Dante continued to fill the silence with any sort of noise he could, unknowingly providing a little comfort to the eldest twin. As the pair ventured onwards and upwards, they both began to look around in a paranoid manner; awaiting the inevitable ambush.

     Dante decided to make small talk, “So… can I ask somethin’?” He looked over to his brother who was standing in front of a large decrepit, nearly shattered, mirror.

     “Hm?” Vergil’s eyes didn’t leave his reflection.

     “Is this, like, one of Mundus’s outposts?”

     Vergil shook his head and tilted his head to the side toward Dante, however, the eldest’s eyes never left the glass. He ghosted his fingers along the surface, “No--not his territory.”

     “Then who--”

     “Argosax… and this isn’t an outpost,” Vergil huffed and turned his full attention to his sibling, “This is, or was, one of their main strongholds; this one, in particular, is only a step below the main fortress”

     “You don’t say…”

     Vergil raised a brow at Dante’s odd reaction, “Don’t tell me you have forgotten about Argosax? After all, you are the one that killed them.”

     “Eh,” the red devil shrugged, “Can’t say I remember ‘em much--they were pretty boring. Plus Argo didn’t put up much of a fight.”

     The blue devil scoffed and continued forwards, Dante following a few paces behind, “Perhaps we are the only two people that would consider fighting a ruler of Hell an easy feat--no?”

     “You got that right,” Dante playfully shoved Vergil’s shoulder and had a sheathed Yamato placed right against his throat for it, “Whoa--” he put his hands up with his palms facing Vergil, “easy there tiger.”

     The eldest twin coldly eyed his brother for a moment before he took a slow deep breath and removed the sword, turning back around and continuing forwards.

     “Sorry, I uh,” Dante jogged lightly and stood beside his twin, “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

     Vergil didn’t answer but just kept walking. 

     Dante pursed his lips and stuck his hands in his jeans pockets. He wanted to say something, to continue talking, but it seemed like Vergil was done conversating for the time being. 

     Another set of stairs later, the twins came upon a large long hallway. Random bits of broken furniture and glass decorated the filthy marbled floors. The partially dilapidated ceiling was elegantly decorated with arch supports that had lavish latticework; which had large roots weaved within, destroying some of it. The walls had old craters that ranged from being small--almost fist-sized--dents to entire walls missing. Along the way, the walls were also filled with easily over a dozen doors; some were open, some were barricaded shut, and others were far from the hinges that they belonged to. 

     “This place seems much more refined than everywhere else,” Dante tilted his head to the side.

     Vergil nodded mockingly, “Yes, very good; I’m glad that you can still see.”

     “Hey,” Dante punched Vergil’s shoulder, “I just meant; like--Why is it nicer?”

     The blue devil hummed in thought for a moment, crouching to get a better look at one of the large shards of glass, “I’m not sure; but, if I had to guess,” Vergil carefully picked up the piece, moving it around and watching the reflection, “These were the living quarters for whatever devil’s served Argosax.”

     Dante made a surprised huff, “Really? I didn’t think that devils were into that whole thing,” he approached one of the normal-looking doors, “Figure they would be too focused on destruction and killing things,” he opened the door, but didn’t enter; opting to just stand in the doorframe.

     The eldest twin raised a brow, placed the shard down, and walked over to his sibling, standing behind him, “What’s wrong?”

     “I-” Dante stood with his mouth agape, a clear look of confusion across his brow, as he turned to Vergil, “You saw that, right?”

     “What are you talking about, Dante?”

     Dante looked back at the room, pausing a moment before speaking, “Nothing; guess I’m just tired.”

     The youngest twin took a step into the room before being stopped by Vergil grabbing his shoulder, keeping him from moving further.

     “Verge..?” Dante turned to his brother, who seemed paler than normal.

     “Let’s keep moving,” Vergil’s voice had an odd shake to it and his fingers were tight enough that they were digging into Dante’s shoulder.

     “S-sure..?” Dante turned and began to walk down the hall to the upward-climbing staircase, before finally asking, “What was that about?”

     Vergil looked over to Dante but said nothing.

     “Verge..?” 

     “Don’t worry about it,” Vergil looked back in front of them.

     “Was that supposed to be comforting?”

     “I didn’t think that I had to be.”

     “What a wonderful older brother I have.”

     Vergil glared at Dante before shaking his head with an eye roll.

     The pair continued forwards, the feeling of unease only intensifying with each deserted story. Vergil stopped within the confines of one of the stairwells, “Dante,” 

     “Hm?”

     Vergil looked around before looking at Dante, “Do you feel like we are missing something?”

     “What?”

     Vergil’s brow furrowed as he pursed his lips before turning his gaze back in front of them with a small shake, “Never mind.”

     The two continued to the next floor. Once at the top of the stairs, Dante stopped and looked around, “Well, now that you mention it,” Vergil looked over to him, “I do feel kind of odd; like we shouldn’t be here.”

     “Well… that’s a given; however,” the blue devil walked further, peaking inside different rooms, “that is not quite what I meant,” finally, Vergil seemed to find a room that fit whatever he was looking for, “Let’s rest here for a moment.”

     “I uh-- okay..?” Dante walked into the room. Vergil followed suit, shutting and barricading the door with a nearby cot; piquing the red devil’s curiosity, “So what’s with the sudden break time, Verge?”

     The blue twin looked around the room, “This one is safe.”

     “Huh?”

     Vergil sat on the edge of one of the dirty and tattered cots, “Sit.”

     The younger twin hesitated a moment before sitting beside his brother, putting one leg up on the bed to sit facing his sibling. 

     “Do you recall how I first confronted you when under Mundus?” Vergil’s voice was soft as his eyes mindlessly stared at nothing in particular on the floor. His forearms were resting on his legs as he rapidly tapped his thumbs together--tapping one foot in the same fashion.

     The red devil’s face contorted as he thought for a moment. Admittedly, Dante has a hard time recalling events from that time in his life. In the gap between Vergil’s fall and meeting Nero for the first time, Dante was beyond a depressed alcoholic mess leaving those memories a completely jumbled mess. 

     “Dante,” Vergil turned his head slightly, staring at his sibling from the corner of his eye, “Do you not remember?” Although his voice was still monotone as normal, there was a distant sadness to Vergil’s words.

     “I do, kinda,” Dante’s shoulders fell as he placed a hand on the back of his neck, “everything from back then is kinda hazy--just give me a second.”

     “I can just--”

     “No-!” Dante’s voice was unintentionally stern. Quickly he added in a softer voice, “I want to-- I can remember, just give me a second.”

     Vergil turned to fully stare at Dante; watching his brother’s contorted expressions as he was deep in thought. After a minute or so Dante’s face relaxed as he met Vergil’s eyes, “You used a mirror, right? Walked right out of it..?”

     “That is correct--”

     “Yeah, you were the first bastard that actually had some guts to give me a real fight…” Dante laughed, trying to lighten the mood a bit.

     A small smirk ghosted Vergil’s face as he returned to stare at the same spot on the floor, “Surely you noticed the abnormally high amount of glass here, right?”

     Dante shrugged, “I did notice but… uh- I got no idea what these places are supposed to look like; didn’t know it was weird.”

     Vergil frowned slightly, “No devil is that obsessed with themselves that they’d have that much glass--it must have been placed on purpose.”

     The younger twin’s brow lifted with confused curiosity, “So, you--or, well, Nelo--traveling using glass wasn’t some exclusive thing?”

     Vergil shook his head ‘no’, “It is a skill that can be taught; however,” Vergil’s shoulders tensed as he turned to look up at the door, “it is extremely difficult to learn and even harder to master.”

     “Vergil,” Dante sighed, “I don’t want to sound rude; but, what’s your point?”

     The eldest twin sat upright and looked over at Dante, with a harsh squint and clear scowl, “I am saying someone or something is here with us; watching us.”

     “Okay. Counterpoint,” Dante folded his arms with a raise of his brow, ���What if those are all from someone who used to be here but left when Argosax died? Or are already dead?”

     “You aren’t that stupid, Dante,” Vergil stood up, his grip tightening on Yamato, “I know you can feel it, too.”

     “So what if they can do some fancy glass shit?” Dante stood up and cocked his head to the side, “We’ll just defeat them like everyone else.”

     “In our current state,” Vergil sighed, “I’m not so sure…”

     “Our current state?” Dante folded his arms, leaning back a bit, “What’s that supposed to mean..?”

     The blue devil’s eyes slowly turned to stare at Dante, “Tell me, Dante; how long do you think you or I can hold our Devil Triggers? Or better yet, our Sin Triggers?”

     Dante huffed, knowing that Vergil was right but not wanting to admit it.

     Vergil continued, “Whatever or whoever this is, they aren’t to be taken lightly. Neither of us can take on something much more than Behemoths or Lusachias right now; so, it would be very unlikely that we could survive a fight with a real devil.”

     After a minute, Dante let out a soft sigh, “Man,” Dante scratched his chin, “It’s that bad, huh?”

     Vergil squinted, asking Dante to explain.

     “I mean,” the younger twin moved his jaw in thought for a moment, “If you of all people aren’t confident about winning; then we really are fucked.”

     “I-- I do not know if you are trying to insult me or not.”

     The red devil laughed, placing a hand on his twin’s shoulder, “Let’s go find out who’s been spying on us; what do you say?”

     Vergil shook his head with a quiet sigh and a small smile, “They are most likely at the top of the stronghold; where we are going.”

     “The news just gets better and better,” Dante moved the cot from the door, “What’s next; you gonna tell me that they are immune to our swords or something?”

     “Don’t jinx us, Dante.”

     The younger twin laughed as they left the room, continuing onward and upwards. It only took two more staircases for them to reach the top.

     Both twins pushed hard against the large double doors at the top of the steps, opening them just enough for the pair to slip by. They found themselves in a large waiting room of sorts. Directly across from them was another huge set of double doors. 

     The room was in an odd mixture of both good and poor condition; the room itself was relatively undamaged--no holes or what not, however, it was inundated with corpses and blood--which is what caused the rotten stench.

     Marble flooring covered the space, which was so covered in filth and gore that it was impossible to tell what color it was intended to be. The walls were plain and relatively similar to the rest of the building; except for the one that housed the unopened doors. That particular wall was covered in rocks and miscellaneous gems. Which seemed rather out of place, as if someone had stuck them there after the wall was built. 

     Vergil’s eyes flicked up to the ceiling. Its base was covered in cracked grimy tinted glass which was broken up by several dome vaults. In each dome, there were different murals. As he looked harder, he realized that: A.) it was also not original and poorly done, and B.) the “paint” was demons' blood. The different murals were crude interpretations of different events, but he couldn’t quite make them out.

     As Vergil tried to get a better view of the artwork, Dante was looking at the extravagant furniture and decor that littered the room. In the middle of the right side, there was a large stone table with several wooden chairs--a few of which were broken; both the table and chairs all seemed to be hand-carved, covered with various creatures and symbols. On the far left of the room was a large wood desk; that, once more, seemed to be hand-carved--it looked similar to Dante’s. This was enough to pique the red devil’s curiosity. 

     Dante sauntered over to the desk. Once he got closer, he noticed that there was an odd stack of thin paper-like items on it. Carefully, he moved the items around and tried to make out any of the scribbles.

     “Hey Verge,” Dante turned over his shoulder, “Come take a look at this.”

     Vergil slowly looked down from the ceiling and strutted over to his sibling.

     “Does any of this mean anythin’--or are these just someone's failed art project?”

     The blue devil pushed Dante out of the way and spread out the items of interest across the entirety of the table. He leaned forwards with his hands on the edge of the desk and began to pick through the papers.

    After a few minutes, Vergil answered,  “These are all made on dried demon hide,” Dante gave Vergil a look of surprise, “They are all very well done, some of the best work I have seen...”

     “I didn’t know you could make paper from demons.”

     “It’s more akin to leather rather than paper.”

     “Still is weird.”

     Vergil hummed in acknowledgment and moved some of the pages together before sighing, “There is a small paragraph here,” he ran his index finger along the area with writing, “However, the diction is very broken and the language isn’t consistent; using both Greek and Latin.”

     “Is it anything important?”

     Vergil hesitated, “I’m unsure.”

     “Can you try and read it?”

     The eldest sibling nodded then cleared his throat, stopping every few words to translate more, “ ‘ "Father, father,/where are you going?/Oh do not walk so fast!/Speak, father, speak to your little child,/Or else I shall be lost.". The night was dark, no father was there,/The child was wet with dew;/The mire was deep, and the child did weep,/And away the vapour flew.' .”

     The red devil raised a brow, “Isn't that--?"

     "William Blake's work? Yes."

     "You didn’t by chance write these, did you?”

     “No,” Vergil shook his head and stood up straight, “I never wrote this one down; not to mention I was never allowed to accompany Mundus to any “meetings” with Argosax--none of my belongings would be here.”

     “Hm, wonder why?”

     “Why what?”

     “Well,” Dante placed a hand on his hip, “If you were Mundus’s prized knight, then why didn’t he take you with him? I mean, I would’ve if I were him.”

     “I-” Vergil’s face contorted with sudden confusion and realization, “I don’t know.”

     Dante shook his head, “Anyway, so why is there random poetry here? Argosax just decided to learn about human literature?”

     “I don’t know that either; this is the first time I have seen human works that weren’t written down by myself,” Vergil’s eyes peered over the table, “It is rather off-putting that it is Blake’s work as well; there are hundreds of thousands of poets to choose from…”

     “Yeah… I mean- I don’t want to sound mean but are you sure Urizen or V didn’t visit here?”

     “Urizen and V did not visit here; I assure you,” the blue devil looked over to the unopened doors, “I think our break time is over.”

     The younger twin looked over at the doors, joining Vergil’s stare, “You feel it too, huh?”

     “Mn,” Vergil gave a curt nod, “Whatever is behind that door; is what’s been spying on us.”

     “Welp,” Dante traipsed over to the doors, “Little help?”

     Vergil shook his head, “I am going to get a peak at what is on the other side first; then we will decide our course of action.”

     “What?!” Dante’s face scrunched as his mouth was agape in confusion, “Vergil, you are the one who keeps preaching about how powerful this thing is. You going over there by yourself is-- is--” he pinched the bridge of his nose, “stupid!”

     “Us just breaking down the door without understanding what we are up against or what we are releasing is impetuous,” the eldest folded his arms, “I will be fine, it is just a peek.”

     “But what if--”

     “If I am not back within a minute,” Vergil went to place a hand on Dante’s shoulder but stopped, opting to lightly punch him instead, “Then break down the door.”

     “Verge this is a little too heavy for--”

     “You are a son of Sparda; a devil imbued with the fire of hell itself,” Vergil gave Dante a smug smirk, “A wooden door shouldn’t be much of a challenge.”

     The red devil sighed, “Alright- Alright… Just, hurry back.”

     Vergil gave him a small nod before disappearing into a cloud of smoke.

     Once on the other side, Vergil was met with a muddy bronze-colored devil--just sitting in the middle of the room. The devil’s eyes were closed and its hands were placed on its thighs; as if it were meditating. The moment Vergil tried to move, however, the devil’s eyes snapped open. They were of a bright magenta hue and had streaks of the same color running down their face which joined up with a line that went across their throat--mimicking a slit throat.

     It stood up, locking eyes with Vergil. Their body was riddled with battle scars and had a mixture of browns, blacks, and purples throughout. Its entire form was much more akin to Vergil's or Dante’s Sin Trigger’s, making Vergil scrunch his face in bafflement. 

     The more he looked, the more strange this new devil became. Notably, the devil had cloven hooves; a feature that Vergil had only ever seen on one other devil. His eyes widened, taken aback at the sudden realization of what he was looking at; however, before Vergil could return to his twin, the eldest was teleported to an unfamiliar location. It was akin to that of Malphas’s void that V had been placed in; however, there were no gates, no menacing feeling, just a room filled with junk..?

I couldn't decide what I wanted the reader's SDT to look like, so here is a compilation of all the different sketches/two fully rendered works.

     Dante paced uneasily behind the door, tapping his fingers against the grips of Ebony & Ivory, grinding his teeth together, “He will be fine; I just--!”

     He froze and his eyes widened, he could no longer feel Vergil’s presence, “Son of a Bitch!” Dante holstered his side arms and Triggered then crashed through the doors--making them fly off their hinges. 

     The bronze devil caught one of the airborne objects and threw it back at Dante; who sliced it clean in two. He de-Triggered and looked around the room for any sign of his twin. Panic began to set in as he tried to figure out what happened; Vergil wouldn’t have left Dante here, right?

     Before Dante could delve into those thoughts, the feeling of his feet leaving the ground brought him back to reality. The bronze devil had hit the red devil far off into the doors that lead into the waiting room he had just been in.

     With a groan, he sat up and got to his feet, “Damn it, Verge,” his eyes met with the devil’s, “Where’d you go?”

     Crouching down slightly, Dante readied his Devil Sword and dashed at his attacker. The devil curled both sets of its leathery wings around itself, using them to take the brunt of Dante’s Devil Sword’s power; before expanding them back out, sending Dante flying back once more. 

     “Tch,” he quickly caught himself and sprinted at the devil once more, cracking the ground in his wake. 

     It grabbed Dante’s blade, which sliced into its palm. It looked at the wound in confusion, as if it didn’t understand what happened. Using their free hand, the devil tried to grab Dante but he managed to teleport out of reach. The bronze devil stared down at their injured hand, seemingly enamored by the pooling blood. 

     Not wanting to let up, Dante attacked again--using Trickster to get closer and take the devil by surprise. This, however, didn’t go as planned. His opponent flicked their head toward the direction Dante had teleported and, using one of its forward-facing horns, skewered him through the thigh.

     “Shit,” Dante pushed away on the devil’s head, attempting to break free; however, an odd blue glint caught his eye and he stopped.

     Before the younger twin could get a better look at the odd object, the devil yanked Dante off its horn. In a flash, they slammed him into the floor, creating a large crater with Dante’s body. They attempted to gut Dante using its claws; however, they were stopped by Dante’s Devil Sword being laid across his body. Using his free hand, Dante grabbed Ebony and shot his attacker between the eyes--at point-blank range.

     He waited for the devil’s body to go limp but it didn’t; no, it just sat there, looking down at him. The bullet was lodged deep in its head and was bleeding but they were still alive. Getting frustrated with this fight, Dante triggered. 

     The bronze devil hissed quietly and jumped up in reaction to the sudden molten hot temperatures of the red devil, which allowed Dante to do the same. The bronze devil grabbed the bullet from its forehead, looked at it with an odd curiosity, and then flicked it at Dante; with the same velocity that it would have if it had been shot from a gun. 

     Of course, it missed the younger twin. Shaking off his confusion, he re-engaged with the devil. Dante’s wings flew out behind him as he lunged at the devil. It put up its forearms and caught the sword with them. Although it wasn’t as deep as it would’ve been against any other devil or demon; the sword sliced into the meat of the arm. 

     A strange huff of a growl came from the devil, as it locked eyes with Dante. Despite the fact the devil had no lips, the younger twin couldn’t help but feel as if it were smiling at him--mocking him. In frustration, Dante pushed harder into the devil’s arms and that’s when he felt it.

     “What..?” Dante sprung back and looked at his forearms; large deep cuts that mirrored the ones on his opponents decorated his arms and were bleeding heavily, “That’s a new one.”

     The bronze devil cocked its head slightly and flared its wings outwards; now it was definitely mocking the younger twin. 

     With a small growl, “Fine,” Dante stuck his sword into the ground and pulled out Ebony & Ivory, “Let’s try this on for size.”

     The red devil kicked up into the air, hovering several feet above the bronze devil, and rattled off several rounds. If it had been any other devil or demon, Dante knows that all of his shots would’ve landed; however, only a handful of the bullets managed to knick the devil’s hide. Despite the devil’s sheer size, it was much more attentive and more of a contortionist than he’d anticipated. 

     Dante shot off Ivory several times in hopes to distract the devil from the slowly charging Ebony in his left hand, “Here’s a lil’ somethin’ for ya’,” Dante yanked up Ebony and fired--not allowing his opponent any time to react… or so he thought.

     The moment he pulled the trigger, his target disappeared. A chill ran up Dante’s spine and, before he could process what was going on, the devil was behind Dante and grabbed him by the wings, holding them by the base. The devil spun around in the air and threw Dante into an upper part of a wall. The younger twin let out a strangled gasp as he felt the air leave his body and de-triggered. He fell from the high-up spot face down onto the floor. Slowly he stood back up, stumbling a bit and taking deep uneven breaths. He tossed his coat off to the side--not that it mattered much since it was pretty tattered at this point--and revealed that his entire back was raw. Large slices ran along his spine where his wings were attached and were bleeding profusely. 

     Not knowing what else to do and steadily becoming more and more exhausted, Dante summoned his sword back to his side and used his Sin Trigger--healing his wounds. The bronze devil took a step back and tilted its head in confusion before Dante was back upon them with blinding speed. He stabbed the sword through the devil’s middle; not caring that it made his own insides burn. They let out a sputtering gasp and grabbed at Dante’s neck and face; wedging their claws in between his scales, pulling them off. The two struggled for a while before the son of Sparda was finally tossed off to the side. 

     The bronze devil looked around for a moment quickly concluding that it was outmatched. They stuck out its hand to the side and waited. Although Dante is only a few short steps away from feral when in this form, he froze upon seeing what was within the bronze devil’s grasp.

     Their fingers tightened around the sword’s dingy crimson grip as they placed the back edge on their shoulder. However, the sword wasn’t the only thing that Dante was in shock over; no, there was something else. Hanging onto the grip was Vergil, who teleported to his twin immediately upon returning. 

     Dante was in such shock that he could no longer hold his Sin Trigger. The bronze devil lunged at the pair, missing only by a hair because Vergil grabbed his twin and teleported to the story below. 

     “Are you alright?” Vergil looked over his visibly exhausted twin.

     With heavy breaths and a half-hearted laugh, Dante smiled, “That’s supposed to be my line.”

     “They seem to have given you quite the hassle.”

     “Eh, I’m just tired.”

     “Tch,” Vergil shook his head, “We don’t have much time-”

     “Verge,” Dante’s voice cracked, “Why does that thing have The Sparda?”

     “Not just that,” Vergil reached into the edge of his coat and pulled out a large book that had an old faded happy family pasted right on the front cover, “They also had this.”

     “What-” 

     “I don’t know exactly what’s happened; however,” Vergil looked up and saw cracks beginning to form, “We need to figure it out and fast.”

     Dante copied his brother’s stare before returning to him, “So what-- They were “Nelo Angelo-d”?”

     “Do not call it that,” Vergil snarled at his sibling lightly, “If it were that easy then I would’ve taken care of them myself.”

     “Then what happened to--!”

     The ceiling caved in and both brothers jumped back. Vergil quickly tucked the book into his coat and readied Yamato.

     “Wait, Verge,” Dante grabbed his brother’s shoulder, “Careful what you do,” his eyes locked with the magenta hue of the bronze devil’s, “I got stabbed by myself when attacking.”

     Vergil side-eyed Dante, “How odd, that--!”

     The bronze devil lunged at the twins, who split apart in two different directions. Dante pulled out Ivory once more. The bronze devil snapped their attention to the red assailant and swung The Sparda. Dante rolled out of the way and knelt at the end of it, firing a few shots. However, the bronze devil wasn’t done; it followed through and pivoted around on its hooves. This opened The Sparda into its scythe formation, which was perfectly in line with Dante’s body. 

     “Shit,” Dante leaned back and hit the floor with his shoulder blades, still having his knees in a kneel. His turquoise eyes watched as the blade just barely missed his body.

     Dante spun up around and onto his feet. Wondering what the plan was, he looked around for Vergil, only to find that he had disappeared again. Another aggressive lunge came from the burly opponent which Dante swiftly sprung upwards, landing on the (now-closed) Sparda’s spine. 

     A smirk tugged at Dante’s lips as he squatted down, placing his forearms on his knees, “Man you’ve gotten big, huh?” The devil pulled The Sparda back up, forcing the red devil to dismount, “You know, it took me forever to learn how to properly use that thing; surprised you already figured out how to open it--!”

     He instantly reacted to the devil’s teleportation by doing so himself and stood with a hand neatly placed on his hip.

     “I don’t want to fight you,” Dante’s brow twitched, using his free hand, he summoned his Devil Sword, “You don’t have to do this.”

     A small, but noticeable, hesitation came from the bronze devil before it re-engaged with Dante. The two exchanged blows. Dante noted that it was almost eerily similar to how the two of them used to spar as kids. Suddenly, he got an idea. 

     He made sure that he was correct about the pattern that the bronze devil was using before dodging at a very particular point, the same one he used to take advantage of when you were kids. 

     “How’s this?” Dante unleashed Royal Guard, sending the devil flying back onto its ass. 

     It laid there for a moment as it stared at the ceiling. 

     The younger twin’s brow scrunched as he tried to remember what he’d say to you after accidentally hitting you with his ability, “Sorry… You alright?” Dante pursed his lips waiting for a response.

     The bronze devil slowly leaned up, tilting its head at Dante. After a brief moment, they stood up with a shake of their head and readied The Sparda again. 

     Dante squinted as he readied his sword, thinking to himself, “Where the hell did Vergil go? He’d better have left for a good reason, I’m getting sick of this.”

     The two of them exchanged blows again. It seemed to go on forever until Dante, in his exhaustion, slipped up and got slammed by the back edge of The Sparda; flying off into a nearby wall. 

     “Damn,” he groaned as he sat up, “I’m getting too old for this.”

     They walked over to Dante, staring down at him with their wings flared out; debating what to do next.

     Blood splashed onto Dante’s face as he watched Yamato peirce right through the devil’s hide. Vergil yanked Yamato downwards before removing the blade, causing the bronze devil to hunch over and hold its middle. 

     “I see,” Vergil wiped the blade against the wrist of his coat, cleaning it. Carefully, he placed it back in its scabbard, “You can only reflect attacks that you see coming, how enlightening.”

     The bronze devil turned its head to the side before teleporting. Vergil pivoted around and blocked the devil’s attack. The eldest twin jogged over to his younger brother, tossing him the book. In return, Dante tossed Vergil Ebony before the blue devil turned back to the problem at hand.  

     Vergil reapproached and snapped his fingers, summoning his doppelgänger. The pair separated, Doppel shot upwards while Vergil did his best to keep the bronze devil’s attention. A grimace found its way to Vergil’s face as he used Yamato to block a heavy-handed swing from The Sparda. Sparks flew from the blades as they slid across one another.

     Doppel attempted to repeat the same attack that Vergil had done before; however, the bronze devil dodged it and grabbed Doppel… or would’ve grabbed them if Doppel wasn’t an apparition. Vergil used the distraction to skewer the devil once again, this time pushing even harder into them with Yamato. The blade was deep enough that the tsuba was against the devil’s spine. Vergil’s feet were placed on the legs of the devil and he was leaning his whole body weight into the attack. 

     The bleeding devil flailed about, shaking its body vigorously and trying to claw at its back to grab their attacker. Unable to shake the annoying blue devil, they fell backwards, attempting to crush Vergil. Although it was unexpected, Vergil had enough time to use his Sin Trigger. This, in turn, protected his body; however, the floor was a different issue. The pair went straight through the structure and were now a few stories lower. 

     Vergil shoved the bronze devil off him, removing Yamato. The two stood staring at one another, waiting for the right moment to-

     “Hey! Assholes!” Dante jumped down, fumbling his landing slightly, “You trying to kill me?”

     Vergil’s eyes didn’t leave his opposer, however, the same cannot be said for them. Currently, its eyes were fixated on the book in Dante’s hand which the red devil noticed. 

     He held the book up in one hand, “Lookin’ at this?”

     It tilted its head.

     “Verge found it in the little pocket dimension you stuck him in- That’s what it was, right?”

     The bronze devil looked away from Dante, staring at a random point in the room. Although he couldn’t be sure, from the odd reaction, Dante felt as if the bronze devil was confused--perhaps even trying to place the book or the twins.

     “Let’s see,” Dante licked his finger and began to thumb through the pages, selecting one at random. With a loud cough, he began to read, “ ‘Today, we all went to the beach. It was fun-’,” The devil snapped back to attention and lunged at Dante, only to be stopped by Vergil. 

     Seeing this violent reaction, the red devil stopped only to have Vergil yell back at him, “Keep reading.”

     The younger twin nodded, “ ‘-and I learned how to make a sand castle. Vergil kept making them with me and Dante kept destroying them; so mean.’,” Dante snickered to himself. 

     Vergil’s hold broke, allowing the bronze devil to continue its course. Dante managed to teleport out of the way and onto the opposite side of the room, using Vergil as a mid-way blockade. 

     “ ‘I asked if mom wanted to swim and she said ‘no’. Then I asked Dad, he told me he couldn’t swim. So my brothers and I offered to teach him. Mom laughed.’.”

     A low guttural growl emanated from deep within the devil’s throat.

     “Keep going, Dante,” Vergil and the bronze devil traded blows again, all the while, Dante kept reading. 

     He flipped to a new page, “ ‘Vergil and Dante came to get me from school today. They got to meet all my friends. Tristen said that they were weird and I punched him in the nose. There was a lot of blood and Dante told me to ‘beat his ass’. We all got yelled at when we got home. Worth it.’.”

     The devil swung The Sparda and nearly sliced Vergil’s tail in half. 

     “Let’s see, uh…” Dante flipped further into the book but stumbled upon something unexpected; entries made after the fire, “Vergil, give me a minute.”

     Although the eldest wanted to banter with his sibling, he was much too focused on the fight. 

     Dante’s eyes widened as he scanned the later pages. Things continued as normal, however, there was a turning point about ⅔ of the way through. There were no more drawings, no more newspaper clippings, no more stickers. The once-happy thoughts and quippy comments were replaced with ramblings about how much they wanted to go home; how much you wanted this to end. Dante’s eyes rapidly flicked across each section, a mixture of both despair and anger becoming more and more apparent with each entry. 

==

     You had been wandering for what seemed like days on end. In the beginning, you’d tried to summon The Sparda or call out to your Father, in hopes that he’d save you. Days on end were spent screaming and crying out for someone to find you--to wake you from this unending nightmare. But no one ever came, no one could even hear the whimpering lament of this lost child.

     Your body was growing weary and your limbs felt like lead as you began to meander slower and slower. At one point, you found a small out-cove and stopped in hopes of getting some rest but found yourself quickly attacked by those creatures again. So, you’d run until you lost sight of them. The incessant sounds of snarling nightmarish demons filled your ears, only to be broken up by the calling out of your long empty stomach.

     Everything hurt: your eyes, your lungs, your head, your legs; every single inch of your body was exhausted. The lack of water only drained your muscles further, adding painful cramping to each inch of your legs; but you had to keep going. However, despite this sentiment, you couldn’t pick your feet up anymore and collapsed on the ground.

     A burning sensation brought you back to. You tried to flip yourself over but found that you were unable; something had a hold of you. Panic quickly spread through your body as you struggled against whatever had you. With each movement, the pain became worse and worse; all you wanted to was scream but nothing came out. 

     What happened next was a blur. You remember feeling both as light as a feather and as heavy as a boulder. Whatever had a hold of you no longer did, rather, you had a hold of it. When you became fully aware again, you had a rock in your hand that was coated in blood. Pinned beneath you was a dead (Riot) demon. Its head and neck were barely distinguishable from the ground underneath it, smashed into a thick red pulp with bits of scales and other organs inside. 

     Terrified and revolted, you threw the rock at the mangled corpse in fright and stumbled upright, taking a few steps back; only to fall on your behind from a growing agonizing pain in your middle. Slowly, you looked down at your body to see what type of damage had been done. Your fingers shook as you lifted your tattered shirt.

     Deep dark bruising had covered your entire body, however, it seems that your ribs and abdomen had taken the brunt of the damage. Each breath felt like someone was carving up your innards, making your chest tighten. If you’d had any food or anything within your stomach, you would have thrown up from how painful everything was; however, you were running on empty. 

     With a shaky and unsteady hand, you slowly touched your middle and winced. All you could think about was wanting to go home; curling up in bed with your siblings or with your parents. You began to cry once more and curled up into a fetal position on the ground.

     After some time, you calmed back down and found yourself blankly staring at the nearby corpse. Slowly, you inched towards it; not standing but rather scooching over to it. Cautiously, you poked it and waited for it to spring back to life or something to happen; however, it just laid there. You grabbed its hand and looked at the claws on it. 

     If you couldn’t summon The Sparda, you needed a weapon. Despite your fear and the putrid feeling inching its way up your throat, you twisted the creature's fingers. Loud cracking and popping filled the air until you had several of the claws separated from the body. 

     You then had a horrible thought, “Is this edible?”

     A grimace of disgust found its way to your face as you looked at the dead demon. You were starving, sure; but were you really going to eat that? Loud growling from your stomach answered your question for you. Closing your eyes, you used one of the claws to slice open the creature’s bicep and obtained several strips of flesh. 

     You opened your eyes cautiously. Your arms and hands were stained a sticky dark red-black and you had obtained what you needed. Another loud impatient growl came from your gut. A part of you wanted to just eat the raw meat but you were much too repulsed to do so. With your prize in hand and your repurposed claw-daggers, you slowly stood up and wandered off; trying to find one of the many open flames of this strange place. 

     Upon finding a small flame, you used one of the claws to hold the cutlets to cook. The environment smelt of brimstone and rot, however, the smell of the meat was quite pleasant. Perhaps it was because of how starved you were but you swear that it smelt of something between a steak and fresh chicken that had been seasoned with copious amounts of various peppers. Your mouth began to water, it smelt so good.

     With a deep breath, you closed your eyes and placed a piece in your mouth--gagging instinctively. After several attempts, you managed to eat a full piece. It was tough and rubbery but it at least tasted as good as it smelt. After finishing your few pieces, you rested a while; letting the food settle. Once again, you found yourself crying and wanting your family; your Father in particular kept coming to mind.

     “Why did he leave us?” A hiccup left your trembling lips as you held your painful middle, curling back up into a fetal position on the ground, “Why wasn’t he there to protect us?”

     You cried for some time before taking a blackout nap. When you woke up, thankfully, nothing was trying to eat you and your middle seemed to have healed to some degree. With a deep breath, you stood and continued your aimless meandering. 

     Nothing interesting happened for some time. You had become quite the vagabond. You’d quickly learned how to survive in the harsh environment; living off of demon flesh and hell ice (for water). Although you never forgot about your family or the human world, you’d become rather comfortable here; a distant part of yourself wondered if this was where Sparda grew up. 

     As time went on, you began the early stages of--what could only be described as--a metamorphosis. From your elbows down, you had several rows of thick bronze scales, the same with the skin from your knees down. At first, you were scared and tore them from your skin. This quickly became much too painful for you to bare and you stopped trying to get rid of the re-growing scales. 

     Around ten you had developed scales throughout most of your body. Your hands and feet were completely covered in them now and had sharp claws instead of nails. You’d given up on clothing--or, rather, had none. After which, your body quickly developed scales on your chest, lower back, and entire hips; protecting you. 

     Your teeth had become much sharper and seemed much too large for your prepubescent mouth and would regularly cut your, still human, lips with them. The upside was you no longer had to cut the meat from corpses or had to cook it; you could consume it straight off the bone.

      Finally, after almost three years of wandering, you’d found something. A large building that was crawling with demons. Despite your uneasy feeling, you had an intuitive feeling that this could be your way home, at least, maybe provide an idea of how to do so. 

     For a few weeks, you watched, waited, and schemed. Every few days, the demons would leave in mass and then return no sooner than a day later. So, you used that time to break in. Of course, there were still guards but that wasn’t an issue. You quickly killed every demon that crossed your path; from Empusas to Sargassos to Plasmas; nothing was too difficult for you to kill. 

     You’d made it to the deepest parts of the building, it was a throne room of sorts. There was a large seat in the middle of the far wall that was covered in scorched burn marks. The room itself was decorated rather elegantly and was tidy--something rather hard to come by in the Underworld. None of this concerned you, however; you just wanted what you came for. Making quick work of the room, you pillaged the entire space, digging into every nook and cranny. There was nothing. Frustrated hot tears welled up in your eyes as you realized this was a huge waste of time. Before you could leave, another horde had entered the room. 

     You turned to them and gave the group a once-over. It was a fairly large pack of random demons, nothing you hadn’t seen or couldn’t handle; but, there was something else--something nearby that felt much stronger than anything you’d faced so far. 

     Fearing the oddly dangerous presence, you made quick work of the demonic horde and bolted out the door. Upon reaching one of the lower rooms, the evil you felt earlier made itself known. A large grey skeletal devil stood in your way. In his right hand, was a large Viking sword, and on each side of him there were twin white wolves that had heavy chain collars. A chill ran up your spine and your stomach began to turn. For the first time in a long time, you were afraid. 

     As you tried to scrabble for a way to escape or a way to get past him, one of the wolves lunged at you.

     Quickly you dodged out of the beast’s way only to find the second to be right in your face. You sliced at its face with your nails and cut it through one of its eyes, but it didn’t flinch. A loud crunch echoed through the room as you felt its teeth tear into your arm, right through your scales--breaking your bones. You grimaced and, in your anger, used the hand of said broken arm to grab the chain around its neck. With all the might you could muster, you threw the wolf into the first; knocking them off to the side. 

     Feeling the same terrifying devil’s power right behind you, you teleported out of the way and watched as the bony devil’s sword struck the floor where you had been standing. Your mind was reeling. It had been a long time since you had teleported and you were unable to control it. So, despite your best and most desperate effort, you couldn’t replicate it again to escape. 

     The wolves had stood back up and went for you once more, but you managed to sidestep both of them and used one as a jump pad; springing yourself at the skeleton. If you couldn’t leave then you are going to die trying. This action took the devil by surprise and allowed you to wrap yourself around his back. Your hands dug at his skull as you tried to pull it from his body; which, despite it not having a physical representation, was stubbornly strong. 

     Growing tired of these games, he grabbed you from his back and held you up; reading his sword. You struggled and growled, scratching at his arms and kicking wildly, waiting for the end of your journey. However it never came, rather, you found yourself stumbling forwards. It seems you had teleported again and, this time, you were right where you needed to be to run for the exit.

     Confused as to what just happened, the devil did a double take before sicking his wolves upon you once more. The entire time you ran down the hall the twin wolves were practically nipping at your heels. Distantly you found yourself wondering if they were toying with you, enjoying the thrill of the hunt as you had done many times before--perhaps this is a sick form of karma? 

     Things came to a head when you reached the foyer of the building. In the room stood a fiery devil. You froze, inadvertently allowing the dogs to catch up with you. They tackled you to the floor and began to bite at your body while their claws dug into your middle. You shouted loudly as you did your best to fight against them, biting and scratching at them in return, but you were unsuccessful. 

     Unexpectedly, the dogs stopped, looked to the side, and removed themselves from your body; leaving you face up on the floor.  

     A part of you thought you had died, that this nightmare was finally coming to an end. In reality, however, the fiery devil had dismissed the dogs back to their owner and was standing above you. Although you know you should’ve been afraid, between the large wings and the gentle warm feeling their body gave off; you felt as if you’d met an angel. Then they began to speak in a language you didn’t understand. 

     “Bolverk,” they turned to look at the bony warrior from before, “Where are the others?”

     “Lord Argosax, I-” he turned to look down at you, “I had sent a troop in to dispose of this vermin, but none returned.”

     Their voice tilted in disbelief, “Really now?”

     Your heart was racing as you sat up, a part of you wanted to run and hope to make it but you knew that this flaming devil was different somehow. Besides, you needed a moment to heal your wounds. 

     “You,” they turned to you, speaking in a tongue that you did understand, “What were you even attempting to gain by breaking in here? There are easier ways to die, I assure you.”

     An aggressive furrow decorated your brow as you tried to speak, unsure of yourself since it had been many years since you’d done so, “Fuck you--!”

     Instantly, you were kicked across the ribs and into a nearby wall. Blood dribbled out of your mouth as you fell back to the floor, laying face down.

     “Such a shame,” a sound of footsteps and slight sizzling told you that the fire devil had moved beside you, “You would’ve been quite the addition to my cause.”

     Everything went dark. Then you took a deep gasping breath, despite your current situation of being impaled, you were still very much alive.

     You slowly got up, moving to a push-up, sitting on your calves, kneeling, then stumbling to a stand leaning against the wall. A glint caught your eye as you looked down, the bony devil’s Viking sword had been plunged through your chest cavity, straight through your heart. With a grimace and a groan, you pulled the blade from your body and held it at the fiery devil’s neck; a crazed look in your eyes and a thunderous growling from your chest.

     You’d expected a fight or some sort of violence, however, that couldn’t have been further from what happened. 

     Rather, the fiery devil lightly ran its finger along the blade, “What a feisty brat,” if they’d had a mouth, you’re sure they would’ve been smirking, “No wonder you managed to make it in here; a power like that is quite rare,” they grabbed the sword and melted it, “To make others feel the attacks that are done against you... I only know of one other devil that could pull that off.”

     Although you were radiating confidence, you couldn’t have been more doubtful of your skills. Right now, you were completely and hopelessly outmatched. As the fiery devil melted the sword, your shoulders tensed as you heard a noise to your left; dodging instinctively. 

     One of the wolves had been sent after you again. You grabbed the wolf’s scruff and bit down through it; piercing its hide. It yelped and thrashed about but you dug your teeth further into its flesh, gripping onto it hard enough to pull its front paws off the ground. 

     “Bolverk,” the flaming devil stood and looked to the swordsman, “Call off your dog; I wasn’t in any danger,” they turned their attention to you, “Can you release Geri?”

     Your lip twitched as you let out a low rumbling growl. After a moment of thought, you did as you were asked. 

     “Good, you are smarter than I thought,” they moved in front of you, “Now, what is a child of Sparda doing here?”

     Another low growl left your lips at that name, Sparda. You’d conditioned yourself to hate your Father, blaming him for everything that you’d been put through. 

     “This is Mundus’s fault, isn’t it?” They took their forefinger and placed it underneath your chin, tilting your face up to look at his, “You’ve been here since Sparda’s demise, haven’t you?” 

     You recoiled your head from his touch and took a few steps backward.

     “My name is Argosax; I’m sure Sparda told you a story about how evil myself and Mundus are, didn’t he?”

     “I don’t know and I don’t care,” your voice was low and your eyes remained on their face, unblinking. 

     “Well then,” Argosax took a step towards you, “If you’d allow me, I would like to know more about you and what has happened; perhaps I can help you attain your revenge--that is what you are seeking, right?” Their voice was gentle however it had a sinister feeling deeply woven beneath it.

     “Revenge…” your brow softened ever-so-slightly, “No.”

     They sighed, “If you are looking for your family then I’m sad to say but,” they placed a hand on your shoulder, “they are all dead.”

     Your gut dropped and your eyes widened as you shook your head ‘no’ backing up till you hit the wall, “No, you are wrong; they are still alive, I just need to get to them.”

     Argosax clicked his tongue quietly, “I am afraid that they are all gone; the fire took them. The fire that happened because of Sparda--for Mundus to send a message.”

     You ground your teeth and clenched your fists tight enough that your palms began to bleed, “Because of…” your lip twitched as you felt a hot burning sensation fill your body. 

     “Mhm,” Argosax bent down slightly and was at face level with you, “Don’t fret; I can help you obtain all that you desire,” your eyes snapped open, noticing that the room had become engulfed in magenta-colored flames--courtesy of your angry outburst, “All I ask in return is for you to swear your servitude to me,” they stuck out their hand, waiting for you to seal the deal. 

     Admittedly, you were hesitant but you weren’t stupid; it was either accept this deal or Argosax would kill you. What choice did you truly have? Cautiously, you reached your hand out and grabbed theirs. Marking the worst mistake of your entire life. 

     Over the years you had lost all of what little humanity you had retained; you couldn’t even remember how to speak anything besides basic Greek or Latin. The training was harsh, borderline unbearable, but you kept going. Your intense hatred for Sparda pushed you over the edge and there was no returning. 

     Quickly you had become the strongest devil in Argosax’s ranks, only being surpassed by them and, their right-hand knight, Bolverk. Your heritage was quite apparent even just by looking at you. No human parts remained, you were fully outfitted in your (Sin) Devil Trigger. Although it wasn’t exact, your form had many similarities with your Father’s, many distinctive things--such as his hooves, knees, or horns.

     Because of how strong you’d become there wasn’t much left for you to learn, so Bolverk and, to some degree, Argosax began to train you. The brutality from the two was like nothing you’d even been through. Perhaps it was because they wanted you to be a perfect warrior or perhaps it was rooted in their deep-set hatred for Sparda; regardless, they tortured you more than they taught you. 

     Any little mistake would put you in what was nicknamed “The Chamber”. Within those four sound-proof walls many vile things happened to you, from things as simple as being starved for weeks on end to much more physically abusive things; you’d been through it all. During this time, Argosax did most of the more extreme punishments. 

     However, despite that, you retained your respect for Argosax; whether it had to do with the deal or an odd form of Stockholm syndrome, you weren’t sure. Every time they’d punish you, you’d almost get off to it; it was as sickening as it was alluring. In your endless torment, you’d convinced yourself that Argo was doing this out of love, out of compassion, for you and your situation. Something that they played into. Telling you that they loved you and that you loved them; however, none of that was true. It was all just to keep you within their pocket and use whenever they needed.  

==

     “Dante!” Vergil shouted at his twin, snapping Dante out of the horrifying implications in the journal before him, “Any time now-!” Vergil rolled out of the way, barely missing the bronze devil’s attack.

     “R-right, sorry!” The red devil shook his head and shut the book, “Vergil, you know Greek right?”

     “Of course,” Vergil growled loudly, shooting Ebony at the aggressor's eyes; unsure of what else to do at this point. 

     “Well, I think--”

     “Just get to the point!” 

     “They don’t know English anymore.”

     Vergil let out a low nearly inaudible whine as he landed near his twin with a small stumble, “So what, you want me to read?”

     “Not read, just talk.”

     “If you don’t think I haven’t tried that--”

     “Tell them Argosax is dead.”

     A small confused tilt adorned Vergil’s brow before he shook his head with a sigh, “Fine. Not like we’ve got much else to go on.”

     The bronze devil waited for the twins to attack again; radiating a sickly amount of cocky confidence. 

     Vergil slowly approached and spoke calmly, “Are you waiting for Argosax to return?” It took a step back in confusion at Vergil’s words, “They are dead and have been for a very long time.”

     With a loud huff, the devil responded in a low, rough voice, “No, they will return; who are you to tell me otherwise?”

     The eldest twin shook his head, “As far as I or anyone else is concerned, Argosax has been dead for nearly two decades; they’re nothing but ashes in the wind.”

     “No!” Its voice reverberated throughout the structure as it slammed The Sparda into the ground, “They can’t be-- No one has that kind of power.”

     Vergil raised a brow and folded his arms, “Really now? Are you aware that any of us could beat Argosax or Mundus? The three of us are much stronger than any of them; surely you knew that you could’ve defeated Argo yourself..?”

     The devil took a step back and looked between the twins, “You speak as if you know about me; when you have no clue who I--”

     “ ‘So Fuzon call’d all together/The remaining children of Urizen:/And they left the pendulous earth:/They called it Egypt, & left it./And the salt ocean rolled englob’d.’. Does that ring a bell?”

     It took another few steps back, “I-- How,” it shook its head, “Are you mocking me?”

     “I don’t mock, I only wish to remind you of yourself; of your humanity.”

     “I am no human,” it placed a hand back on the grip of The Sparda, “Humanity has no place within me, Lord Argosax told--”

     “Then where did your items in your pocket dimension come from? Where did the book that Dante has come from?” Vergil gestured to the devil’s forehead, “Where did that sapphire pendant come from?”

     It said nothing.

     “I understand if you have taken issue with our Father but,” Vergil sighed, “Our Mother, Eva, had nothing to do with that day; it wasn’t her fault. So why denounce her side?”

     The devil yanked The Sparda back out from the floor and spook in an aggressive manner, “You do not know anything, I was shown the truth,” it lunged at the twins, who split apart and dodged the attack.

     “By whom? That manipulative bastard Argosax?” Vergil’s voice became louder, “Perhaps I could tell you the truth that Mundus showed me? The fabricated story of how Sparda was responsible for our Mother’s death and for us three being split apart.”

     It swung the sword wanting nothing more than for Vergil to shut up, “Silence!”

     The eldest’s voice was filled with an ever-increasing aggravation and vexation. Now, lost within his own thoughts he had stopped speaking in Greek, “How that traitor Sparda shouldn’t have sullied demon blood with a human womb?! How he could’ve used a child with some grit?!”

     Dante’s eyes widened upon hearing what his brother was saying. All he could do was stare in disbelief and with mouth agape in shock, this was no longer aimed at their youngest sibling; no, Vergil was being swept away by his own memories.

     Vergil darted at the devil, leaving a cloud of dust and cracked tile where he stood, “Do you honestly think that Argosax wanted anything more than a puppet? A pet with the name Sparda attached to it?”

     The pair interlocked swords and ground against one another in a hold. The blue devil’s eyes had a crazed expression; a mixture of a primal devilish wickedness and a deep-rooted terror that sent a very distinctive chill up Dante’s spine--the same feeling he got seeing what happened to his brother after Mundus.

     In Vergil’s anger, he unintentionally used his Sin Trigger and snarled at the bronze devil, “Argosax was no different than Mundus; they were playing savior to a disgraceful weak half-human offspring,” Vergil stood eye to eye with the bronze devil, “Tell me, do you still remember yourself or have you lost it with all that putrid shit Argosax told you?!”

     They froze at Vergil’s sudden overwhelming anger, giving the blue devil a chance to tackle them to the ground, pinning them.

     “I know you can understand me,” his wings flared out behind him as his tail flicked around, “Answer me!” His claws dug deep into the bronze devil’s arms.

     The pinned devil opened its mouth but said nothing. Despite Vergil piercing their hide, it didn’t use its power to make Vergil hurt; no, it just laid there and stared. After a few minutes, Dante slowly crept closer and peered over Vergil’s body to see what was going on. 

     The blue devil’s claws had dug far enough into the bronze devil’s flesh that his fingertips were inside their arm. Despite this, the pair just were just staring at each other. The bronze devil wasn’t struggling or trying to move; the only thing it did was wince when Vergil shoved his claws further. 

     Another few minutes passed. Dante had begun debating if he needed to step in and separate them, however, this was quickly answered.

     A loud snarl of a cry came from Vergil as he de-triggered. His eyes were filled with tears and he had enough running down his face that they were collecting at his chin, dripping down onto the pinned devil. He wanted to say something, anything, but only managed a weak, “Please,” that was followed by a voice crack. 

     Dante placed a gentle hand on his twin’s shoulder, “Vergil…”

     “Ver-gil?” The twins could see the gears turning in the devil’s head as it tried to place the name before its gaze slowly turned to Dante, “You are Da-nte then..?” It turned its gaze back to Vergil, and with a slight pause, it let out a low exhale, “My brothers..?”

     Vergil’s fingers tightened on the devil’s arm, making it flinch, “Yes.”

     The younger twin grabbed Vergil’s shoulder again, this time sternly, “Verge, stop--”

     “How-,” The devil’s gaze flicked between the two, “How are you still alive? More importantly,” the devil sat up, making Vergil sit on its lap in the process, “What are you doing here? If Lord Argosax truly is dead then the Underworld will be in ruins; you two are in immense danger.”

     Dante stared at Vergil for translation, but only got to hear Vergil’s response… That was also unintelligible to the red devil, “Who do you think killed such vermin? We aren’t in danger, only lost.”

     “Lost..?”

     With a nod, he let out a heavy wet sigh hoping to re-compose himself, “Yes,” Vergil carefully removed his fingers, a thick line of blood connecting him to the open heavily-bleeding wounds, “We are trying to get home and Yamato can do so but-”

     “You need a place close to the human world?”

     Vergil nodded and stood up, assisted by Dante. He looked up, “I don’t know if this place will work anymore…”

     The entire top six floors were missing and you all were staring at the open sky.

     “Ah, sorry about that,” you sighed, “I can escort you to another pinch-point if you would like?”

     “There aren’t any others close by.”

     You laughed and stretched out your wings, “I am faster than you’d believe.”

     “Ehem!” Dante put his free hand in his pocket, still holding the scrapbook in the other, “Care to share? Or are you two like shit-talking me or somethin’?”

     You stumbled over your words a bit, still struggling on how to say your brothers’ names, “I first want my book back, Dante,” you stuck your hand out, waiting.

     “Uh…”

     Vergil wiped his blood-stained fingers off on his coat, “They want their book back.”

     “Oh! Sure thing, here,” Dante placed the book in your hand; which you held up and it disappeared, returning to your small dimension of valuables. 

     “So…” Dante walked over to his coat that, thankfully, had fallen with the floors but wasn’t any more damaged than it already was, “What’s the plan?”

     Vergil straightened his coat, “They are going to take us to a new place; this one is no longer suitable for Yamato to work.”

     The younger twin sighed, “So, how long is this walk going to be?”

     You scooped up both brothers, holding one in each arm, as they wrapped themselves tightly to your neck. 

     “Verge,” Dante looked to his twin.

     “Hm?”

     “We sure this is a good idea? I mean, they were just beating the shit out of both of us..?”

     Vergil did a slow turn to the red devil, “I destroyed an entire city and threatened the entire human race, again… Then you decided to come down here with me… How is this any different?”

     “Fair, I umphf-!”

     You abruptly turned to the left, making both twins jolt violently within your arms, “There,” your wings stretched out wide before you neatly dug your heels into the ground, “Hold on tight.”

     With that, you flew straight up and felt both brothers tighten their grip tenfold. You took a moment to stabilize yourself since you aren’t used to having all the extra weight. Then, there was a thunderous clap. Both twins flinched at the ungodly loud noise, especially since neither of them was used to such noise from flying. Although you’d told Vergil that you were fast, breaking the sound barrier wasn’t exactly what he imagined. 

     It didn’t take long for the three of you to find the new pinch-point. Once again, it was a structure within Argosax’s domain. You landed on the roof and placed your siblings down. Both of them were dazed and Dante actually had leaned over to throw up (which he had nothing to purge so he just dry heaved). 

     You gave them both a curious look, “Are you alright?”

     Vergil looked at you and unknowingly yelled in response, “What?!” 

     “I see, never mind,” you waved a hand in dismissal and waited for the twins to return to normal; however, the three of you were paid some company.

     Both brothers readied themselves but, once more, you raised a hand, “Allow me, the two of you need to return to a stable condition before you leave.”

     The horde was nothing more than a sneeze of a challenge to you. You didn’t even need to use The Sparda; no, all you needed was your hands. It was times like these that you had grown to cherish during your time here in the Underworld; times where you could let loose, to rip and tear without any repercussions. You took only a minute to desolate the horde, finishing by ripping out a Fury’s throat with your teeth. 

     You turned to your brothers, gore still hanging in your mouth, and waved shyly. The expression on both of their faces was a mixture of impressed and horrified--Dante was mostly just horrified. You sucked the bits of flesh that were in your teeth into your mouth, eating them.

     “That’s,” Dante stared at the floor unable to look at you, “I’ve seen some gross shit but--”

     “It is the way of the world down here,” Vergil ran a hand through his hair, “Eat or be eaten.”

     “You ever have to..?”

     “No,” Vergil shook his head, “Nelo did not require food.”

     “Huh, really? How’s that work?”

     Vergil turned to his twin, “Perhaps I can explain more at a later date. For now, we have a more pressing engagement.”

     Dante nodded, “ ‘Suppose you’re right.”

     The twins walked over to you, who was currently gnawing on the last Fury’s corpse. A quiet “Ehem” from Vergil caught your attention and you stopped eating.

     “Sorry,” you stood up, “Are you two ready to go?”

     Vergil raised a brow with folded arms, “You mean us three? If you think we are going to leave you down here then you are mistaken.”

     Your eye flicked between the pair, “I do not know if that is--”

     Vergil huffed lightly, “This isn’t up for discussion, as the oldest child and the one who is making the path home; I have the final say,” his arms relaxed to his sides, “You are coming with us.”

     In an almost shy manner, you wiped your face using one of your forearms; doing your best to clean yourself, “Can you make a portal that can handle all three of us? Yamato’s original use was only for one at a time.”

     A confident smug smirk tugged at Vergil’s lips, “Trust me when I say,” he removed the blade from its scabbard, “I can do much more with Yamato than anyone knows.”

     Dante moved to stand next to you, grabbing your hand, and he mumbled quietly, “You’re gonna like the human world, I promise.”

     Before you could respond, Vergil sliced open a large plus-shaped hole; opening a large portal. He looked at the two of you before grabbing Dante’s free hand, “Tread lightly and keep close to me.”

     The two of you nodded, making sure to keep hold of one another, and traversed through the portal. 

     Once on the other side, the three of you found yourself in the middle of a snowy pine forest. You hissed loudly at how ungodly bright it was and covered your eyes. Dante stretched his arms up with a loud groan and then flopped face-first into the thick snow.

     His voice was muffled as he laid, unmoving, “Nap time.”

     Before Vergil or you could protest, Dante was already snoring. 

     Vergil let out a content sigh, a small smile adorning his face, as he sat down in the snow. You joined him, cautiously sitting in the snow. After a few moments, you tried to relax and allowed your wings to lay flat behind you on the snow, sending a shiver up your spine.

     After some time, Vergil ended up curling up in the snow; which, a half-asleep Dante proceeded to smother by wrapping himself around his twin. If this had been any other situation or context, Vergil would have gutted Dante on the spot--that is if Vergil allowed himself to sleep in the first place. However, both of them were exhausted from who knows how long they’d been traveling. 

     You, on the other hand, were wide awake. Sleep had become something you couldn’t afford to do when working under such circumstances. A small sad, almost envious, feeling pricked at the edges of your mind as you watched the fast-asleep two-person pile. 

     They slept for several hours and Dante at one point even offer (and beckoned) for you to join their cozy pile; however, you shook your head. Keeping them safe was all that you had in mind; something you’d wanted to do since they were taken from you. 

     Once fully healed and mostly rested, the twins decided to figure out what the next course of action would be. 

     Dante sighed, “What I wouldn’t give for some food right about now--”

     You stood up, “I can get something! I’ll be right back.”

     Vergil snickered slightly, “That’s not what he means, however, that is a nice--”

     It was too late, you’d already run off into the woods.

     “Hey!” Dante went to chase after you only to be stopped by Vergil grabbing his arm.

     “They are going to bring back food,” Vergil shook his head and spoke quietly, “What that food is or what that means, I’m not sure.”

     “Let’s just hope that doesn’t mean that they are going to hunt humans…”

     After a moment of silence, Vergil reached to his lower back and pulled something out, “Here,” he held out Ebony, “I do not wish to use this any longer.”

     “Alright,” Dante grabbed the gun and put it back in its holster, “If you ever wanna use ‘em again,” he winked, “Just lemme know.”

     Vergil rolled his eyes. They sat in comfortable silence for a while, Dante resting his eyes and Vergil looking over Yamato for any damage or filth to clean. 

     “Hey, Verge, why can’t we just use that again,” he gestured to Yamato, “to get back to Red Grave.”

     “I need to know where we are to use Yamato correctly,” Vergil mindlessly tapped his fingers on the scabbard. 

     “So we need to find a town or something then…” Dante sighed as he flopped face up into the snow, arms spread out, “Wonderful.”

     Vergil turned over his shoulder to look at Dante, “I do not see what the problem is with that?”

     The red devil’s brow furrowed, “Really?” The eldest gave no response, “Verge, we look like shit, we are covered in blood, and who knows what else-- we probably smell horrid- and we are traveling with an over seven-foot tall devil,” his eyes went back to staring up at the sky; however, instead of the sky, his gaze was met with a dead Elk. To say Dante jumped would be an understatement.

     The blue devil raised a brow, “I see you’ve returned?”

     You nodded. The dead creature was supported by your arms, however, your teeth were still deep within its neck.

     “Dante,” Vergil turned to his now calm sibling, “Can you make a fire?”

     “Sure, I--”

     Instantly, there was a small magenta fire in front of them and they turned back to you; who, even if you couldn’t properly emote it, they could tell was smiling.

     The twins helped you cut apart the meat, you’d long forgotten how to properly process an animal. Then using The Sparda’s spines, you hooked the meat up over the fire to cook. 

     “Alright, I gotta ask,” Dante looked at you as he cocked his head in curiosity, “Why didn’t you have The Sparda before..?”

     “Because I couldn’t summon it between realms, my pocket dimension is different and transcends such physical limitations.”

     Dante stared at you in confusion before Vergil translated for him, “Ah, I see.”

     As the meat cooked, the twins and you shared stories; both good and bad. Admittedly, this was the most you’d spoken since your last time seeing the twins; the most you’d spoken in over three decades. 

     The venison was unseasoned and cooked unevenly but was still rather tasty. It took you a few tries to get it down, not because it was bad or anything, but because it was much different than a demon’s meat.

     It was nearly midnight by the time you’d all finished eating. Dante and you ate most of it, Vergil isn’t used to eating more than a few scraps but he made sure to eat a decent chunk. You snuffed out the fire and put The Sparda away, as you did so the twins had curled back together and were sleeping. All you could do was stare at them. 

     As the weeks went on the three of you hadn’t found any sign of where you were, only seeing a few unoccupied hunting tree stands and abandoned campsites. Dante and Vergil had begun to re-teach you how to speak English (or rather remind you.). It took a while for you to re-grasp the language but you were able to finally communicate with both siblings, no longer relying on Vergil to be your translator. 

     At one point the three of you found a small lake. In a blink, Dante was nude and was easing his way into the cold bath. His arms were held close to his body with his fists in front of his chest, shivering heavily and saying various things; such as, “Holy shit that’s cold,” 

     “Are you going to join him?” You asked a very unamused Vergil.

     “Are you?” 

     The question caught you off guard, “Am… I?” You paused in thought for a moment, “It has been so long since I’ve seen water like this,” you let out a low growling laugh, “I don’t know if I remember how to swim.”

     Vergil began to strip off his blood-soaked clothing, placing it in a neat pile next to Dante’s disheveled mess, “Then that makes two of us.”

     Your head moved back a bit in surprise, before you could question him, Vergil moved to join Dante in the lake. 

     The blue devil’s shoulders shot up to his ears as he hissed from the freezing temperature. Dante was already comfortable enough that he was swimming around. A wicked smirk decorated his face as he snuck over to Vergil and splashed water up at him. Vergil’s body arched from the sudden icy feeling, cursing Dante in the process. 

     The younger twin’s laughter died down when he got a better look at Vergil’s bare skin, “Hey,” his fingers lightly touched Vergil’s back, who instinctively flinched away, “What..?”

     Without meeting Dante’s eyes he mumbled, “I don’t want to talk about it.”

     Unsure how to help, Dante grabbed his twin into a vice grip of a hug; despite the eldest’s protests.

     All the while you watched from the shore. Slowly you’d inched your hooves into the water, but you hadn’t moved since then. A part of you wondered what Vergil had meant by telling you that he might not know how to swim either; combine that with the abhorrent scarring on his back, and you were more than confused. 

     “Hey!” Dante yelled over to you, “You coming in? The water’s nice~!” He let out a hardy laugh.

     You looked down at the rolling liquid, unsure if you should. That’s when you felt something push you. When you whipped around, you saw that Vergil’s doppelgänger was behind you and it pushed you again. 

     Dante noticed and began to laugh harder as Vergil had a warm smile tugging at his lips. Slowly but surely the apparition made you enter the water. It wasn’t warm per se, but your body was hot enough that the temperature of the entire lake shifted up several degrees. The twins both washed themselves as you played with the water like a small child. You’d set your hand on the top and slowly push it down, feeling the surface of it give way to your scaled digits. 

     Having already finished cleaning himself, Dante swam over to you and splashed you. In shock, you shot downwards; submerging yourself. Under the water, you saw so much that you’d never seen before. Little fish that were playing with each other, small crabs that you put your hand out to and they pinched your fingers, several different types of vegetation, and many colorful stones. You felt something tug the end of your wing and resurfaced, seeing that Dante and Vergil were staring at you.

     “Thought I made you drown, heh…” Dante placed a hand on the back of his neck, “Sor--!”

     You used your wings to splash him--and Vergil by accident. The three of you engaged in a water fight, splashing and rough-housing with one another. It was fun, right up until the three of you heard a loud crunch from the embankment.

     A large polar bear was standing at the edge, watching you. Curious as to what it was, you got up and out of the water; despite both siblings telling you to stop. Upon reaching it, you stuck your hand out to pet it when it bit you. Enraged at the sudden act of aggression, you killed it. Then, you stared at the body horrified at what you’d just done. You flipped your gaze to your brothers who stared back, Dante was the only one that had any expression and he was just as horrified as you. 

     Vergil walked out of the water and placed a hand on your shoulder, “It is alright, accidents happen.”

     Without another word, you placed a hand on the dead bear, petting its soft blood-stained fur. Carefully, you incinerated the carcass. The twins got dressed and the three of you headed back on your way, never bringing up the incident again.

     Another week passed and the three of you finally found a small town.

     “Alright,” Dante said, getting up off the downed tree that he’d been using as a resting spot, “You two stay here and I’ll go get some info.”

     “Are you sure you do not want me to accompany you?” Vergil raised a brow.

     “Nah, I’ll be fine. Besides,” Dante looked over to you, “Someone needs to stay with ‘em.”

     Vergil’s gaze joined Dante’s and watched as you were intently watching a caterpillar as it inched along, your wings flapping a bit in excitement. The two smiled softly. Although you were a rather twisted version of the child they once knew, seeing you partake in such innocent things made them both feel happy.

     A short pause later, Dante slapped Vergil on the shoulder, “Alright, I’ll be back later,” he leaned over and whispered just loud enough for Vergil to hear, “Try to keep them from killing anything or anyone, yeah?”

     “Of course,” the blue devil folded his arms, “I am still the eldest, I know how to take care of my siblings.”

     “Had me convinced otherwise--”

     Vergil jabbed Dante in the gut with his elbow. 

     The younger twin left, waving goodbye to you--who was much too enamored with the small bug to notice. 

     “That is called an Arctic Woolly Bear caterpillar,” Vergil meandered over to you with his hands folded behind his back, “They are quite common in North America.”

     You looked over at him, “Is it dangerous?”

     He shook his head, “No, they are harmless,” gently, the blue devil picked up your hand, “Open your palm and do not shut it,” you watched as he placed the small fuzzy bug in your hand.

     A quiet purring could be heard from you as you watched it crawl on your hand, Vergil still holding the underside in case you accidentally shut your fingers. 

     “They do not have these in Hell… I wish they did.”

     Vergil laughed softly, “I know, I am quite knowledgeable about how things work down there.”

     “How?”

     The eldest twin’s face fell into a somber frown, “Here, let’s let the little creature go first,” he grabbed it from your hand and placed it back where he had grabbed it from. He sat on the ground, gesturing for you to do the same, “I cannot tell you everything just yet, however,” he paused and stared at the ground in front of him, “I can tell you about my time serving Mundus.”

     You tilted your head, “I remember you mentioned something about that when we were fighting.”

     He nodded, “I was forced to serve Mundus after I foolishly tried to defeat him, alone,” you watched as Vergil’s brow furrowed further and further with each sentence, “I knew it was a bad move but what other choice did I have?”

     You grabbed one of his hands, giving it a gentle squeeze.

     He gave a small half-hearted smile and took a minute before continuing, “In my arrogance and desire for power, I ended up being defeated by Mundus. Who proceeded to take my humanity from me, entombing me within armor made by Machiavelli…”

     Your body stiffened, “In the Nelo Angelo?” 

     “You know of it?”

     “I was taught about Devil Arms and Machiavelli’s work was somewhat of an obsession of Lord Argosax.”

     “I see,” Vergil’s posture slumped forwards a bit, bringing his shoulders to his ears, “I spent nearly ten years trapped like that.”

     “I am surprised that we never met.”

     “Mundus was smarter than that,” Vergil’s voice was quiet, almost meek, “Seeing Dante and his amulet half nearly broke the hold it had on me, but after so long I…”

     He went silent. You wanted to know more but you could also see how distressed your brother had become, even if it didn’t look like it from an outside view. So, not knowing what else to do, you manhandled him into your lap and embraced him; holding him tightly and wrapping your wings around the two of you--cocooning you together. 

     Although you couldn’t fully understand the pain and suffering that the eldest son of Sparda had gone through, you could relate to some degree. At first, he pushed you away and tried to escape, which he could’ve done if he had wanted; however, he didn’t. No, Vergil wanted to be comforted--to be held--but was much too proud to admit it, especially to Dante. 

     Vergil���s cursing slowly turned to soft sobs. His shoving turned to a vice grip, grabbing you as tightly as possible. All the while, you were purring and telling him that things will be alright now. You made small circles on his upper back, mimicking what Eva used to do when any of you were upset. Underneath the fabric, you could feel the scarring you saw earlier; the deep chasms that turned his once identical body into something so far off from his twin--something that secretly pained the eldest twin. 

     After some time, Vergil’s cries ceased and he just quietly sat within your gentle hold; relishing in an affection he had long since forgotten. He quietly murmured something against your chest, “I’m glad you’re still alive.”

     A pang of bittersweet shot through you, those words that were said to you many times when you were young. Words of endearment. 

     Softly, you whispered back, “I’m glad too,” you gently squeezed him, “I love you lots, Vergil.”

     He let out a wet half-hearted laugh, tears welling at the edges of his eyes, “To think this was something any of us could only have merely dreamed of for so long,” his fingers gently grabbed your hand, intertwining them, “to be back together as a family.”

     “I wouldn’t trade you both for the world,” your voice was low and soft, doing your best to sound as human as possible, “All I wanted was to have my brothers back…” now it was your turn to let out a huffed laugh on the verge of tears--or what would be tears if you could cry in this form, “I threw everything away in the pursuit of avenging the two of you--and Mother.”

     “It’s almost poetic that the most hot-headed of the three of us would be the only one not to blindly follow something to the point of destruction,” this, of course, was in reference to Dante; a child who would regularly get in massive trouble for doing things he shouldn’t be doing. 

     The two of you shared a small laugh before a third voice broke the conversation.

     “Hey! I’m back!” Dante waved to you as you unfurled your wings, letting Vergil out. 

     “Well,” Vergil stood, folding his arms, “Where are we then.”

     “Here,” the red devil handed him a map, “Up in Northern Canada, I guess.”

     “I see,” Vergil looked over the large North American map, finding Red Grave, and sighing heavily, “The trip through the portal will be rough and long, it is quite a distance to travel.”

     “Eh,” Dante shrugged, “I’m sure we’ll all be fine.”

     Vergil looked back at you, who had stood up as well, “Are you ready to go home?”

     You looked at the ground for a moment in thought, “Home…” Before nodding slowly.

     “Alright,” Vergil looked over the map one more time before handing it to Dante, “I will take us back to the house.”

     “Why not Devil May Cry?” Dante raised a brow, stuffing the map inside an inner jacket pocket.

     “Because I don’t know where that is,” he unsheathed Yamato and took a deep breath. 

     As the blue devil opened the portal, you moved towards Dante and grabbed his hand, whispering, “I don’t want to lose you.”

     The red devil’s eyes widened as he turned up to you, unsure how to vocalize the sudden warm feeling in his heart; so, he squeezed your hand hard and smiled.

     Vergil slid Yamato back into its scabbard, “Let’s go,” he stuck out a hand, which Dante grabbed tightly. 

     The three of you walked through the gap in dimensions. A portal created by Yamato is essentially a pocket dimension with extra steps; however, it can be used to transport the one who opened it as well--not just the items within. 

     It took what felt like a few minutes for the three of you when, in reality, it took nearly an entire day to traverse such a wide span. Once on the other side, the three of you stood within the destroyed remnants of your childhood home. You were the first to let go of your siblings and began to wander towards the mantle. 

     Upon it was the family painting. It was burnt beyond recognition. Although Eva was almost perfectly preserved and the twins’ were semi-damaged, Sparda and yourself were tattered to the point of not knowing what you looked like. You carefully reached toward the canvas and placed your fingers on the place you used to be. Perhaps it is some sort of pathetic irony that the only one who died in that fire is the only one whose portrait wasn’t damaged. The only one who was truly a saint amongst devils. 

     “Hey,” Dante gently touched your wing, making you flinch and pivot around, “Are you okay?”

     You froze at the odd question. Were you? After everything that’s happened, are you still truly the same sibling they used to know? The same child that was eternalized in those oil paints? Or are you some sort of out-of-place and unwelcomed creature? Do you really belong up here with humans or should you still be in that crumbling building, waiting to be rescued by someone who will never come? 

     Dante grabbed your hand, “Let’s go to my shop, it is where I’ve been living since I was a teen,” he smiled softly, “I’m sure you’ll like it.”

     A small whimpered huff came from you as you tightened your fingers around your brother’s. 

     “Wait,” Vergil folded his arms, “Perhaps it would be best for Dante to go first and see who is all at the shop? I do not wish for your first interaction with your nephew to be one of violence.”

     Nephew?

     Dante nodded, “Fair point, alright-- Fine, I’ll go make sure the ol’ beaut is shining and perfect.”

     Vergil rolled his eyes, “If it is anything like it was when you first moved in,” he sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, “It is a disaster.”

     “Hey, it wasn’t that bad and besides,” Dante let go of your hand, “It was your fault it got trashed in the first place, Verge.”

     “Are you sure about that, Mister “Let me kick down my own doors”?” 

     “The shop was ruined already-- Look we can debate this later, I want to go get this done and finally get some good rest.”

     “Fine, just,” Vergil grumbled, “be careful.”

     “Aw, what was that oh sweet big brother of mine? Urk-!” Dante grabbed his shoulder which had a small blue sword stuck in his bicep.

     The youngest twin waved goodbye and, once he turned back away from you both, used his Devil Trigger to get to the shop faster. 

     Once he got within the city limits, Dante de-Triggered and began to sprint down the sidewalk. The air was nice and cool, making Dante’s run feel rather rejuvenating; plus, it had begun to rain. It was late and not a soul was in sight, so Dante used Trickster to move even faster. He couldn’t wait to get home, to show both Vergil and you the shop. He joyfully hopped up the stairs and knocked on the doors.

     No response.     “Huh…” He peered around the corner and saw that the foyer lights were on, so he knocked again. This time, however, it was fast and hard; making sure to be as loud as he could without breaking the door. 

     The door slowly opened just a crack and a sleepy man's voice simply said, “We’re closed.”

     Dante laughed, “Well, then, guess I’ll have to come home tomorrow then.”

     There was silence. The door didn’t move, staying open just a crack. Dante could hear the heart rate of the man spike upon hearing those words. As if he were afraid to see, the door inched open; revealing a very disheveled-looking Nero. 

     “Man, I thought that I needed a haircu--umphf-!” Dante felt the air leave his lungs.

     Nero grabbed his uncle into a tight hug, gripping handfuls of Dante’s jacket. Hot bitter tears ran down his face as he sobbed into the red devil’s neck. 

     Dante lovingly clasped his arms around the young man, “I missed you too, Nero.”

     “I thought that,” his voice cracked, “that you weren’t going to come back.”

     “And leave you to carry on the family business all by your lonesome? Not a chance,” he pulled back out of the hug, firmly holding Nero’s shoulders, “Look, I know that I have no right to ask you but, can you do me a favor? Just for tonight.”

     The teal devil’s voice was apprehensive, having a feeling as to what was going to be said, “What?”

     “Verge is with me,” he heard Nero sigh, “The two of you can settle things tomorrow… I need the shop to be calm tonight, please?” 

     “Why?” Nero didn’t mean to be so blunt but he couldn’t help but be a bit salty.

     “Because,” Dante smiled, closing his eyes, “I’ve got a surprise family member for you to meet; I think they’d be called a ‘Pibling’..?”

     “You and Vergil have another sibling? Since when?” 

     “Since they were born.”

     Nero punched Dante’s shoulder harshly, “Very funny asshole.”

     “Just promise me you’ll be nice? Please?”

     “Alright, alright,” Nero sighed and wiped the few stray tears from his face, “So where are they?” 

     “I gotta go get ‘em. Unlock the garage door, yeah?”

     “Sure,” Dante turned to leave before Nero called out to him, “Wait!”     Nero stepped out of the shop and stood face-to-face with Dante. 

     They stood in silence for a moment before Dante softly sighed, “I promise I’ll be right back,” Dante ruffled up Nero’s hair.

==

     Vergil sighed, resting on the partially still intact staircase, “It was an accident.”

     You gave Vergil a sorrowful stare, “Have you told Dante about--”

     “No,” the blue devil’s voice was sharp, “and you are not to tell him either,” he sighed and placed his forearms on his thighs, “Nero has been through enough, knowing that his mother did that… It would only make things worse.”

     With a small nod, you looked up at the sky. It had begun to rain. The water was cold as you watched it fall, this had been the first time you’d seen rain since returning to the human world. You flinched for a few minutes from the droplets hitting your scales, however, you got accustomed to them bit by bit. After some time, you stood up and spread out your wings, watching the water roll off the tips and onto the desolated flooring of your childhood home. 

     Vergil watched from his seat with an amused smirk. Once again, the fact you seemed to be so innocent and child-like despite what happened piqued his interest. Upon seeing you shake off like a wet dog, he couldn’t help but laugh. 

     Noticing your brother’s odd reaction, you stared at him and watched as his face became flushed with embarrassment, turning away. Much to the blue devil’s ease, Dante appeared before you could question him. 

     “Alright kids,” Dante was standing in his Triggered form, his hands on his hips, “Let’s go, shall we?”

     Both Dante and you stared a Vergil, waiting for him to Trigger. 

     After a few moments, Vergil stood up, “Fine…” A flash of cornflower blue filled the room and there stood Vergil in his regular Devil Trigger.

     Dante wolf-whistled, “Been a while since I’ve seen you like that--Lookin’ good tiger,” he winked just to top off the corny line.

     “Silence,” he glared at Dante, making you laugh slightly.

     The three of you took off, the red devil leading the trio. It was difficult for you to travel at such low speeds, which made you almost hit both brothers several times during the flight. Often you’d find that you’d need to stop and wait before continuing, giving yourself small gaps to fly in. The twins found it rather amusing and even made a few jokes about how “Everyone has issues with finishing too fast” or things along that line--even Vergil made a few, much to Dante’s surprise. 

     The three of you landed in the back alleyway behind DMC. Both brothers de-Triggered and Dante bent over to pick up the roller shutter door. 

     “Welcome home, kids,” he smiled widely and placed his hands on his hips.

     Nero stood in the garage, leaning against one of the workbenches, but stood up straight upon seeing the three of you. 

     Vergil was unable to look Nero in the eye, a strong feeling of guilt eating at his mind. You didn’t take all of two seconds before walking into the garage, ducking under the door, and walking up to Nero. Curious, you bent down to look at him closer. His eyes were wide and he was fighting the urge to grab Blue Rose from his side. 

     You curiously tilted your head and stared at him, “You’re smaller than I thought you’d be.”

     Nero’s brow furrowed as he sputtered, attempting to figure out a response. 

     Carefully, you reached your hand out and ruffled Nero’s hair, “Soft…”

     Dante snickered loudly, reveling in the embarrassed expression on Nero’s face.

     The teal devil finally managed to say something, “What the fuck?”

     “Hm?” You titled your head to the other side, still petting the top of his head.

     “H-Hey! Knock it off!!” Nero unintentionally stuttered as he tried to look angry, which was completely ruined by the bright red tint of his cheeks. 

     “Oh! Sorry,” you removed your hand and stood back up straight.

     “It’s fine, I guess,” he cleared his throat and regained his regular composure, “So, your Dante and Vergil’s sibling then huh?”

     You nodded, “You’re Nero, right? Vergil’s son?”

     “Tch. Right,” he glared at the blue devil from the corner of his eye, “His son.”

     “I’m sorry-- maybe, your donor would be better? I didn’t mean to upset--”

     Dante wheezed super loud and doubled over in laughter, making you turn to view your brothers.

     “What is so funny?” You tilted your head.

     “It’s nothing,” Vergil shook his head, “Dante is just immature.”

     “Hey,” Dante stood back up, wiping tears from his eyes, “That’s harsh. You can’t tell me that isn’t funny.”

     “It’s not,” Vergil’s tone was flat.

     “Ehem,” the three of you turned to Nero, “Can we go inside? It’s late and I have a contract in the morning.”

     “A con-tract?” You cocked your head to the side, “For what?”

     “Uh… I don’t know if I should tell you. Seeing as your all,” Nero gestured up and down your body, “like that.”

     “Like what?” 

     “I--”

     Dante cut in, “Nero’s got a demon hunting job in the morning, it’s what he--and I--do for a living.”

     “Ooo!” Your wings fluttered a bit in excitement, “Can I come?!”

     “Can you-- what? Shouldn’t that be--?”

     You laughed softly, “If you are worried about offending me, I assure you,” you leaned down and made eye contact with him, “I have killed more demons than any of you in this room and, moreover, eaten their corpses,” you tilted your head and had a happy tone to your voice, “Only good demon, is a dead demon.”

     Nero stood with a pale expression. 

     Your elated state fell, “Did I say something wrong?”

     Dante grabbed your shoulder, “Nope, he just thinks that you’re gonna kill us three too.”

     “Oh no,” you shook your head, “We aren’t demons-- we are devils, there is quite a large difference.”

     “R-right,” Nero swallowed hard.

     “Welp,” Dante smiled widely, “Why don’t we go inside and relax for a bit?”

     Coyly you nodded, embarrassed that you’d just freaked out your own nephew. The red and teal devil both went in the door, leaving you with Vergil.

     Using one of your wings, you nudged him and gestured to the door with a nod, “Come on, let’s go inside.”

     He went first and you followed, ducking under the frame. A sudden overwhelming melancholic feeling shot through your body. The shop was relatively clean; which, compared to how Dante left it, the shop may as well have been spotless. Both twins and Nero had moved further into the shop and were talking amongst themselves; you, however, were standing at the dividing line between the main section of the room and the small off-shoot that had the bar. 

     All you could do was stare, unable to move from your spot. Perhaps if you had the ability to, you would’ve cried. 

     “So,” Dante put a hand in his pocket, “How long have we been gone anyway?”

     Nero pursed his lips as he stared at Vergil for a moment, “Nearly two years.”

     “Holy shit,” the red devil stood in disbelief, “I-- I gotta call Trish and Lady in the mornin’... They’re gonna freak.”

     “Yeah,” Nero’s eyes finally left Vergil, “They are supposed to stop by in the morning to pick up a contract Morrison left tonight, you could surprise ‘em then..?”

     “Good idea pipsqueak,” he ruffled Nero’s hair, getting some venomous cursing in response, “So, my room still mine or you’d move into it?”

     The teal devil gripped Dante’s forearm, trying to pull him off, “I didn’t touch your shit.”

     “Ah, alrighty,” the younger twin removed his hand and placed it on Vergil’s shoulder, “Let’s go, Grandpa, it’s way past your bedtime.”

     Vergil frowned but said nothing, much to Dante’s disappointment.

     “What about them?” Nero pointed to you, who had moved ever-so-slightly into the foyer and were playing with the jukebox’s buttons (thankfully it still didn’t work fully).

     “They’ll join me and Vergil,” a devilish smile filled Dante’s face, “Actually, you two wait down here--I’ll be right back.”

     “Wait-- and he’s gone,” Nero pursed his lips and sighed. He turned to Vergil who still couldn’t look him in the eye, after a short pause, the young man walked over to the desk and opened the top drawer, “Catch.”

     Vergil grabbed the object that Nero threw, it was Vergil’s poetry book.

     “Been keeping it in case you two decided to return,” now it was Nero’s turn to not be able to look at the other, “Figured I should after what V told me about you.”

     Vergil pursed his lips, “Thank you, Nero.”

     “Yeah, whatever,” he scoffed, doing his best to keep his emotions in check, and walked over to you, “What are you trying to do?”

     “I remember always wanting one of these when I was a kid,” you tapped the silver decoration on the top edge, “Sparda used to talk about jukeboxes quite often,” a bittersweet feeling filled your heart at the thought, unsure how to feel about your Father, “Told me for my sixteenth birthday that he’d get me one that I’d always fixated on,” you sighed, “But that was a long time ago, I doubt you care for stories like those.”

     Nero leaned against the bar counter, “Actually, it is funny hearing about how much of a normal guy Sparda was after being raised in a cult that obsessed over the old man.”

     “A Sparda-based cult? How stupid,” you laughed and turned to Nero, “He was just a devil, nothing more.”

     “That’s what I thought,” Nero smiled.

     A loud thump caught everyone’s attention. At the bottom of the stairs was a large pile of blankets and pillows. Dante was trotting down the staircase with a juvenile excitement on his face.

     “Dante,” Vergil raised a brow and folded his arms, “What in the world is this about?”

     “Well,” Dante walked over to the couches and grabbed the cushions from them, placing them on the floor, “I always wanted to have a sleepover when we were kids, but,” he grabbed some of the pillows he’d thrown, “was never allowed to or able to.”

     “You’re joking, right?” A skeptical brow adorned the eldest’s face.

     “Nope,” the red devil smiled and began to fold some of the blankets, continuing to make the nest of plush on the foyer floor, “I just spent two goddamn years in Hell and almost died countless times,” he closed his eyes and smiled wider, “and I would’ve died without having even one sleepover. So,” he tossed the last few blankets near the pile, “before I kick the bucket, I am having one.”

     “And you are expecting Nero, myself, and them to join you?”

     “E-yup!” Dante placed his hands on his hips, “Come on it’ll be fun.”

     Nero’s lips turned to a flat line, “I don’t want to agree with Vergil, but, what the fuck?”

     “I’ll do it,” you raised your hand slightly, “Although, I don’t sleep,” you began to mumble a bit, “The two of you always looked so cozy, but I didn’t want something to happen to you so…”

     The red devil walked over to you and grabbed your hand, “Well then let’s change that, hm?”

     He led you to the center of the nest and gestured for you to lay. Carefully, you did so and laid face-up with your wings tucked behind you, trying to give the others as much room as you could.

     “This is pointless,” Vergil grumbled, moving his jaw in thought, pouting ever-so-slightly.

     “No,” Dante smiled, “This is comfortable,” he flopped onto you, laying flat across your body

     You laughed and placed an arm around Dante’s shoulders, holding your brother close.

     Eventually, Vergil broke. With a heavy sigh, he hung his coat on the stair railing. He laid down beside you, his back facing you, to which you grabbed him and pulled him close.

     Nero shook his head, “Nope, sorry, I’m gonna pass.”

     “You sure?” Dante looked up at him, very obviously half-awake.

     “Yeah. I’m sure alright,” with that, the young hunter turned off the shop lights, “I’ll see you all in the morning,” he stood with mouth agape before closing it with a shake and going up the stairs. 

     A few hours passed. You were feeling tired, at least, you think you were feeling tired; it had been so long since you’d slept that you weren’t sure if that’s what it was. Both twins were fast asleep and Vergil had turned to face you in his sleep, grabbing onto you tightly. 

     A deep bittersweet melancholic happiness tugged at your heart. Deep inside, you feared that this was all an elaborate nightmare and that, soon, this would all disappear; making you lose your family once again.

     Creaking from the staircase pulled you from your thoughts. Before you could react, you saw Nero standing over you.

     “Hey,” his voice was quiet and meek, “I uh…”

     You removed your hand from Dante and patted the empty space beside you, which Nero immediately laid in. 

     Another hour passed and all three of the white-haired men were asleep. Nero’s actions echoed that of his father’s; starting with facing away from you and now he was gripping onto you as if he were going to be ripped away from you. Your eyes felt heavy and you were fighting the urge to close them, but you couldn’t help it. The loud purring from your family and the warm bundle that the group of fire devils created was enough to push you over the edge into a deep sleep.

     The sound of a phone ringing woke you up, slowly blinking awake. A groan left your lips as you felt something (or rather someone) heavy laying on you. 

     Dante was still on top of your chest but he felt heavier for some reason. He felt much taller too. Both Vergil and Nero were still latched onto you, however, they’d settled to grab your arms instead of your chest. They, too, felt much heavier and larger.

     An unexpected loud voice rang through one of your ears, “What on Earth?” The eldest shot upright, “You..!”

     “Mmm, Verge,” Dante mumbled, his warm cheek was placed against your chest and he had drooled in his sleep, “What are you shouting for?”

     “Dante, open your eyes.”

     When the red devil did, he pushed up and stared down at you with wide eyes. 

     Quickly, he stood up and grabbed a free blanket, “Here, wrap yourself in this before the kid wakes up.”

     Confused, you tried to pull your arm free, only to have Nero grip you tighter. 

     “Here,” Dante leaned back down and wrapped your body in the cloth. 

     That’s when you realized what had happened. Your skin was no longer covered in scales --your teeth were no longer too large for your mouth --your hands were no longer clawed.

     No longer trapped in your state of survival.

     You were what you once were all those years ago.

     Human. 

ENDING NOTES: Poems quoted:  ❥The Book of Urizen; Chapter II, IX, Preludium: William Blake ❥Infant Joy: William Blake ❥The Little Boy Lost: William Blake--changed slightly; replaced “boy” with child. ➖➖➖ I hope y’all enjoyed this. It took me SOOOO long to finish this. Not sure if I’ll do something like this again, I couldn’t switch between writing this and then writing some “x reader” stuff (because it would bleed into one or the other.).  Please let me know if y’all liked this or not! I’d love to hear feedback!  Thanks again for the request and I hope everyone has a great day/night! :))))

Want to see more like this? Check out the book on AO3 or check out the Masterlist for Tumblr!

THERE IS ALSO ART THAT GOES WITH THIS BUT I AM TOO FUCKING TIRED TO DEAL WITH THAT RN LMAO IT IS SO LATE AND I HAVE SPENT SO LONG ON THIS (Not that I'm complaining, I enjoyed writing this; it just took so damn long lmao)

If anyone is interested, there is a chapter on my AO3 of all the scrapped content from this fic. As you could/can probably tell, there was so much stuff I wanted to put in this and just either didn't because of time or scrapped because it became too overly saturated with the stuff. Please give it a read, it actually explains some stuff that I left in (like the ceiling paintings for example).

#devil may cry #vergil #devil may cry 5 #vergil devil may cry #dmc #devil may cry vergil #devil may cry dante #devil may cry oneshot #oneshot #dante #devil may cry nero #nero devil may cry #dante devil may cry #fan fiction #reposted from my AO3 #reader and Dante #reader and Vergil #reader and Nero #reader insert #G/N redaer #male reader #female reader #reader is Dante and Vergil's little sibling #Sparda #Sparda devil may cry #devil may cry Sparda #Eva devil may cry #devil may cry Eva #angst #fluff

[everlasting-rainfall]

Hi I read your ocs and I find them interesting , if you have pictures of them I would love to see them , also idk if you call this a request but in the pages keep turning so how would Yandere Koby work ? I’m curious :)

Hey, I’m so very glad that you find them interesting! I’ve been making quite a few more since that post like I’m unsure of how many there are now in all honesty…

I am actually working on some aesthetic boards for them however which will feature their appearances, I only have four done at the time of writing this…

But I’ll probably post them once o have a good few more done! Don’t quote me on that though…

Anyways before I start rambling! Let’s get into your request, darling!

Also in advance, this probably isn’t my best work so please be prepared

!-MINORS DO NOT INTERACT AT ALL-!

!-POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNINGS-!

Delusions, Overly Obsessed Fans, Death of a Fictional Character from a Book, Stalking, Implied Murder (?), More than Likely Out of Characterness

!-POTENTIAL TRIGGER WARNINGS-!

!-MINORS DO NOT INTERACT AT ALL-!

So honestly I can personally imagine that how Koby would have gotten into your book series is that Helmeppo got him into the series as romance novels seem right up his alley so it was like they had absolutely nothing to do one day and Koby was bored

In comes Helmeppo having bought the newest book in the series to read, Koby took an interest because it’s something else to do other than sit around and wait for something to happen

Proceed to Helmeppo info dumping about the entire series when Koby asks only for him to stop the blond and request to borrow the books so he could read them

Helmeppo handed them over almost immediately as he was excited to get someone else into this series with him and Koby started his journey through the books

In all honesty, he was a little off put by the fact that one of the main love interests starts off the book series by aiding another pirate crew in burning down the MC’s hometown but he keeps reading until the Marine love interest is introduced

And almost immediately his interest is peaked as the chemistry that these two have together is so captivating to the point where he’s rooting for the two of them to get together

Like he imagines every little moment so vividly in his head like did the Marine catch the MC as she was about to fall only for them to end up in a somewhat romantic looking position? Koby imagines every little single detail about the scene even down to exactly how the sun is shining

Honestly as well, I wouldn’t be too surprised if he started talking about it in depth with Helmeppo for as long as they could when there’s nothing to be done like the two of them are obsessed with this series

Helmeppo more in a “God, I love this series” sort of sense and although Koby is starting off the same way, that will change very soon…

As when Koby is rereading one of the books to pass the time one day, he finds himself imagining something… He starts to imagine himself as the Marine Love Interest

He imagines himself getting in the face of the Pirate Love Interest and telling him off for his mistreatment of the MC, he imagines himself swooping in and protecting the MC from danger in any way that he has to, he even imagines himself in the romantic scenes

Honestly Koby tries to ignore these thoughts at first and just read as clearly the Marine Love Interest isn’t him until Helmeppo tells him something that makes his heart skip a beat

“Hey, Koby! The author had some art done for the books and check it out! Captain Starfish reminds me so much of you!”

So Koby looks and you would think that he just saw himself on the cover of the book as the Marine Love Interest is a somewhat skinny man with pink hair and glasses

It’s after this that he convinces himself that it must be completely fine for him to imagine himself in the role of the Marine Love Interest considering that he looks just like him in his own personal opinion

And as he reads the books as they come out, Koby finds himself falling in love with the MC… They’re so sweet and caring, that scene where they patched up the Marine after he protected them as well was wonderful

Koby has even had a few dreams where he would meet the MC in real life and the two of them would be able to be together and be happy as he would protect them from anything that dared to try and hurt them alongside treat them exactly how they deserved to be treated

In the end though, the MC isn’t real so he just has to keep those fantasies to himself…

But as he reads through the last book in the series, he finds that the Marine has to leave resulting in the MC being in the care of the Pirate Love Interest as it’s a dangerous time right now with a lot of dangerous pirates running about

He’s disappointed by this but it’s fine, he’s sure that the Marine Love Interest will come back soon but nope… He keeps reading and the main focus of this book appears to be the Pirate Love Interest…

No matter though, it’s the last book of the series and he’s absolutely sure that the Marine Love Interest will return and the MC and him will wind up together in a loving relationship. He’s absolutely sure of it especially with the moments where the MC waits impatiently for any contact from the Marine

Until… Something happens that makes his heart sink down to the pits of his stomach during the big fight scene on the high seas where the Pirate and Marine join forces with their respective groups to finally bring down the villain…

Koby finds this all so weird at first as there’s so much of the book left, surely the rest couldn’t just be an epilogue… But you would think that this man just saw someone kill his dog when he reads…

All of sudden, a scream rang out in the air followed by booms so loud they could take your hearing away… Cannonballs zipped through the air and crashed directly into Captain Starfish’s Boat…

The resulting explosions lit up the night and the boat quickly caught fire… It was something straight out of a nightmare as the once proud Captain alongside his group sunk into the dark stormy depths on the once great ship known as the Reef Rider

Koby almost in a panic reread that part and over again until he had to just put the book down for a minute to process what had just happened

The Marine Love Interest just died… That couldn’t have just happened, could it? But when he read it again, he found himself sucking air in through his teeth like he had just been cut

The character that he had come to envision as himself had just died during the final battle with the enemy… After that, Koby had to put the book down for a few days and continue it later as he tried to distract himself and focus on his work as a Marine but the visuals wouldn’t leave his head

Eventually when Helmeppo finished reading the story, he reluctantly asked what happened only to be told that the MC got with the Pirate Love Interest after he helped her grieve

This was such bullshit! And Helmeppo agreed! Why would they wind up together when the Pirate Love Interest was first introduced having aided in burning the MC’s hometown to the ground? That was awful!

After that, Helmeppo moved onto a different romance novel series but Koby stayed fixated on this ending… That had to be one of the worst things that he has ever heard in his entire life… How could the author have possibly written something like that?

Clearly the Marine and the MC were made for each other! They had perfect chemistry and he could envision the two of them staying together for the rest of their lives!

Koby tried to move on from the series just like Helmeppo had done but no matter what he did, no other book really grabbed him like the one that you had written

So Koby wound up dropping romance novels much to Helmeppo’s disappointment, the pink haired marine would occasionally go back to the other books in the series and reread all of his favorite scenes

It was so hard to believe that all of these pretty much meant nothing now that the MC had wound up with the Pirate and the Marine was at the bottom of the ocean… Literally…

Why would you do this? How could you do this? He just didn’t understand…

Until he finally went back and reread the dreaded scene… He read it with a frown on his face and dread in his heart up until the scene where the Reef Rider finally goes down which is when he thinks of something…

He goes and reads every single little detail… All of the enemies boats weren’t close enough for an attack like that… They had a higher chance of all of their shots missing and landing in the water than all of them hitting and the Main Villain’s crew weren’t exactly known for their accuracy…

So who could it have been? Well… The only one who was close enough to have all of their shots hit like that was the Pirate Love Interests boat…

And now that he reads more… Isn’t it just so very convenient that almost all of the Marine Love Interests group went down in that fight while the Pirate’s group did have quite a few ships go down but not nearly as many as the Marines?

Very suspicious if you ask him… And he’s starting to see the whole picture…

The Pirate Love Interest couldn’t stand that the Marine was going to have the MC in the end and he did this to ensure that he couldn’t have them! It all made so much sense to Koby!

That Pirate was evil and the ending where the two of them stood together with him holding the MC? That was no happy ending… That was the bad end where the Pirate’s Jealousy for the Marine had won keeping the best pairing apart forever!

It all made sense to him and when he told Helmeppo all about it, you could practically see the gears turning in the blonds head as he listened to every single word that came out of his friends mouth until even he was convinced that was probably what happened

Koby had it all figured out so he decided to write his very own ending to the story, one where the Marine had survived the battle and revealed to everyone the disturbing deeds of the pirate causing one last fight between the two of them where the Marine would come out on top

Both he and Helmeppo absolutely loved it, they both decided right then and there that was it the canon ending to the story and reading what he had wrote

It felt so right… Something about it just felt so correct like he had lived this moment himself… Having defeated the Pirate Love Interest a long time ago and wound up with you

He honestly wished that he could show it to the actual author at some point as he was sure that the author would like it just as much as he did, it seemed like he would get that wish too as when he was on a small island for some Marine business

He found out that there was apparently a book signing event being hosted by the author, he desperately wanted to go so he could show you what he had written but of course he had Marine things to take care of so he finished them up as soon as he possibly could

He genuinely looked like he was speedrunning as he went about what he was doing but the second that he was done and had free time, he ran as fast as he possibly could to the book signing only to find that it was already over and closing up for the day

His heart sank and he was about to leave only to hear a voice…

“Oh sorry… You got here a little late, huh?”

He turned towards the source of the voice and almost gasped when he laid eyes upon you because not only was the author of the book standing directly behind him but you looked exactly like how he had envisioned the MC to look down to the smallest detail

It’s quite literally like you stepped out of the book just to be here with him and he found himself in a stunned silence as he stared at you causing you to give him an awkward smile and offer to sign his book for him

When he continued to not say anything, you waved your hand in front of his face and tried to get his attention only for him to finally snap out of his stunned silence and say that he didn’t bring his copy but he does have something for you to read

You took it and you looked it over, he wasn’t sure if you liked it or not but he was absolutely sure that you would! Clearly you were in love with him as he was starting to actually believe that he was the Marine Love Interest despite the fact that he has never been an Admiral

Once you were finished, you told him that it was a really nice alternate ending but that the Pirate wasn’t the one responsible for the destruction of the Reef Rider or the death of Captain Starfish as that was all the Main Villain’s fault that Captain Starfish had died

Koby couldn’t believe what he was hearing and when he tried to explain everything saying that it had to of been the Pirate, you claimed that it was just a mistake on your part as a writer that the Main Villain couldn’t have been able to make the shot

You wound up giving his alternate ending right back to him and telling him that it was well written but the Pirate wouldn’t shoot down Captain Starfish like that as the two had become friends before that point in the story

Koby was left standing there after that just watching you leave the building that had hosted your book signing, he couldn’t believe that you couldn’t see it like he could!

You were the MC after all as there was absolutely not a single doubt in his mind about that and you just chalked up what had happened to a mistake in your writing? No way, that couldn’t be the case!

Koby refused to accept this in all honesty so despite his better judgement, he started to follow you around as you went and saw you do so many things that honestly just made him more convinced you were the MC and made him fall in love with you more…

Like did you stop and help that lost child who got separated from their parents? That’s so caring of you, he’s sure that you’ll make a great parent to any kids that you have in the future! Plus it’s just like what you did for the kid in the book!

Did you buy those vegetables on your way home to prepare for dinner? You’re a good cook too which is great as he’s sure that you can make some beautiful things together! Plus it’s just like how you made that vegetable soup for him when he was injured!

You were perfect and watching you go about your day absolutely proved it for him… You were lovely… Why couldn’t you see what he saw?

And he believed that he soon found his answer as he saw you meet up with someone, a man who looked just a bit too much like the Pirate in Koby’s eyes

Ah… So that was the reason…

The Pirate was here and when he saw the two of you getting just a bit too friendly for his liking (probably not even romantic), Koby felt his blood boil a bit as he did know that not all pirates are evil but this one was surely one of the worst of the bunch

Koby understood now… The reason that you couldn’t see what he saw is because of the Pirate… Koby was sure that he was likely forcing you to write the story and that he was actually horrible to you behind the scenes

Don’t worry though… Koby is going to make everything all better as he’s already making plans to save you from that evil pirate…

He’ll take you far away from the Pirate and the two of you can be together just like you were always meant to be! It’ll be great!

And if the Pirate Love Interest tries to prevent it? Well if push comes to shove then Koby isn’t above getting some revenge for sending the Reef Rider to the bottom of the ocean…

#minors dni #the rain talks back #yandere #yandere one piece #reader insert #read the trigger warnings #yandere male #pages au #Yandere Koby

[starry-lemonaid]

Hiiiii so this ended up so so much longer than I meant it to and I didn’t even write most of them 😭 Sorry im physically unwell about your au lol. Some are definitely only your au specific others are really any teenager au :>>>>>

Team Bolas would carry around a tamagotchi and pass it off every so often. Rn Carre has it >:3

Since you have it canonized that Pac and Mike are neighbors in this, and in canon they were in an orphanage: Adopted and fostercare pac and Mike. (Pac eventually adopted by his foster dad and mom — who happens to be pals with Cellbit’s mom — and Mike still in foster care, but more in a permanent sense)

Like. Have you seen Alexa and Katie? That’s how I picture the two of them with being neighbors. 

Team Bolas will go to roller skating rinks with the sluttiest and most fabulous outfits known to man

I don’t know the status of Skeppy in this story but he’s the kid that everyone on the team (soulfire) knows about without ever having actually met him because of Bbh

Like in canon, Carre almost never talks in the gc (despite being present a ton of the time), but when he does it’s a fucking *hit* (aka he’s amazing) (aka holding out for a Carre mention in either fic /j /lh /t)

One time all of Bolas’ spirit days for their respective schools lined up and they all collaborated to wear gas masks. They do this for Halloween too. 

(I’m a scare actor) Team Bolas goes to Haunted Attractions together every Autumn and each of them are little babies about it in different ways (I have ideas about what types of customers they’d be for the scare actors omg)  

In the Bolas Minecraft server they have builds that relate to Jrwi and Ordem Paranormal (like Cellbit’s castle in canon) (I have no idea how that’d work with Bagi) 

BBQ’s with Foolish and his big family just. Are chaos incarnate 

Slime and Baghera once got really really into karaoke at a hotel and got a noise complaint 

Somewhere in his lore: Child actor slime who used to work with Niki (as well as a buncha other people). The two of them got extremely screwed over by the company — Showfall. (Like, them exploiting Slime’s hypermobility to the point where it genuinely hurts him, or scaring Niki with gunshots just because she’d sit there and take it so’s not to ruin her “nice” cover with skating) (genloss)

I’m still not quite over BAGI AND MIKE being the two to see Cellbit and PAC first after their fight. The two people who care the most about them being the ones to see each other bloody and sobbing and Jesus Christ. Not really a headcanon but. Omg. Trauma? 

TW PARANOIA: Cellbit gets really really bad psychosis and paranoia sometimes that his friends have learned to help him down out of (you’ve written him so so ocd. It’s lovely — not for him, but for us) 

Bpd q!cellbit 🤝 Bipolar q!Pac (in your au) (someday I’ll go into depth about this. That day it’s over for the rest of y’all)

Adore that Tazercraft prankwarring each other is canon in at least one of your series’ fics. I don’t know how their mind link would translate in this buttttttt I think it fits them very well

I also think they’d have a little collection of crap they’ve stolen from different rinks they’ve traveled to 

The seven of bolas have matching friendship bracelets 

(Sorry most of these are just Tazercraft and Bolas. I’m so insanely unwell about them in your au) 

i’m literally right about to go to bed so i apologize if this isn’t coherent but i love all of these so much!

-in thr chat fic Bolas actually has smth like that! it’s name is iris (like their creature from purgatory) and you’re correct in the fact rn carre has it in the irl fic! :D

-that’s how i imagine it to be in the chat fic au! idk how it translates into irl one but in my mind it’s a similar situation!!

-you’re so right for this actually i will be drawing this

-skeppy lore! he’s a hockey skater at the soul fire rink :) i might make a one shot about him and bad soon :)

-THERES A CARRE MENTION IN THE NEXT TO CHAPTERS I SWEAR (/lh)

-i see your head cannon and raise you: they made their own gas masks one year out of monster cans because Phil raised the point if “our actual ones risk breaking if we wear them to school” (i made my own bolas mask out of monster cans lmaooo)

-(that’s so cool omg?) the way i would read the hell outta that- (i’m such baby when it comes to those things so i’ve never actually gone but i’ve always wanted to participate in it)

-BOLAS MINECRAFT SERVER!!! IRONICALLY THATS CANNON!!!!

-Foolish and Phil’s families at fourth of july BBQs? the fireworks are crazy

-lmao i almost put that in the 10th chapter and then didn’t 😭

-I FORGOT ABOUT GENLOSS LORE OMG *notes that down to use later*

:P no regerts (i had to tone it down when i was writing it )

i feel like the fact i’ve written him ocd when i wrote him similar to me says smth���(my psychiatrist said i have ocd tendencies lmaoooo)

im so intrigued about this because i didn’t realize they lined up with that- ngl they’re just me if i got to go feral a little more when i was 11

you know those online friends that you message like every sing,e thing about your day to? like you liveblog your life to them? that’s how pac and mike are! :D

its cannon to the irl!!! if not stated otherwise all oneshots are irl universe (i’ll say what chapter it correlates to if it’s a chat fic one) and they absolutely have stolen things- especially cuz for a while people would bring tradables to comp so the two of them absolutely stole each others trandeables when they were younger

THEY DO!!!! they have multiple!!! rn they all have hand made beaded ones that say “BOLAS” on ‘‘em!

(you’re so right tho i love them and i didn’t even write abiut them that much

#new chapter tomorrow btw! #mooshifcs #ao3 #writing #i love answering asks #theyrr so fun #i’m in love with yiu op have i ever said thst #ok goodnight fr nie

[alatismeni-theitsa]

Hey! Idk if this is the place to put my thoughts but I love your blog and would love to hear your thoughts on this!

(For background, I’m Greek American from two Greek parents who, for many reasons, did not teach me Greek or expose me to a lot of things from our culture. So most of my experiences with the culture come through my Yiayia, who tells me stories about her younger days in Greece, plays Greek music, and cooks Greek food, but her English is not great and I don’t see her very often, so she can only show me so much)

Going off of what someone said about how cool Percy Jackson would be if the characters had Greek influence or were Greek, I think it would make a lot of sense to have many of the characters go through a diaspora character arc

What I mean by that is that diversity can be shown while still respecting Greek traditions and people. For example, one character might be half Honduran half Greek or a child of black people native to Greece (I forget the name for them but you talked about them in a post once). If Rick Riordan wanted to display a diverse cast, that’s completely fine, because there is no one Greek diaspora experience that encapsulates every Greek diaspora experience due to the natural migration of Greeks around the world. He completely missed an opportunity to talk about the experiences of Greek diaspora and represent the many people who feel disconnected from their culture.

Everyone going to the demigod camp would be an amazing time to show the characters enjoying their Greek heritage (music, food, dances, movies, literature, language learning, traditions, etc.) and their frustration with not learning it sooner. It would be beautiful to see how Greek culture can interact with some of the kids’ other cultures and explore the feelings of third-culture kids. The characters’ relationship with the Greek language could also add so much depth! For example, a character might hear Greek and remember their godly parent singing, or they might hear some traumatic event that happened in childhood. They would all probably have an innate connection with Greek, but they may or may not be fluent, which could allow for an interesting exploration into the unique relationship between Greek diaspora and their mother tongue.

I feel like, even though such explorations would focus on Greek culture specifically, many other ethnic diaspora could relate heavily to it, even if they aren’t Greek! It was such a missed opportunity to represent an EXTREMELY underrepresented experience and to accurately and respectfully represent Greek people.

I could write an essay on this but I’ll stop here. Please don’t feel pressured to put this on your blog I just wanted to write it out and have someone else look at it! You’re doing such good things with this blog, bringing comfort to many diaspora like myself, so please keep up the good work (not to your own detriment, though, please be safe and healthy first)!

Ευχαριστώ Θείτσα!

Γεια σου πουλάκι μου! Να σαι καλά!

Actually this is the most AMAZING idea I've heard for improving the pjo story!!

It was extremely bad that Greeks/Hellenismos of diaspora were excluded from the camp. The world saw just the names of gods and not actual Greek culture. They have no idea how it looks like and thus they can also not guess how it looked like. Not even in the recent series we have such representation, from what I know.

Exploring all the facets of Hellenic diaspora would be such a GREAT thing to see! I can't believe the world missed the chance to see it 😭 Sure one writer is not an expert on all diaspora matters but we are so starved for cultural representation that just the basic stuff would be a big improvement and bring happiness to so many of us.

But also...I invite writers to write the thing themselves, since no one is giving it to us. Again, this is such a great idea και δε θέλω να πάει χαμένη 😁

Feel free to send more messages and asks if you like!

#Greek diaspora #pjo #Percy Jackson #greek mythology #representation

[letitbefiction]

Swim - prologue

A/N: okay its three am, im high and in the mood for writing! I decided to rewrite an old fanfic of mine. A little ODD, but this time changing it a bit since well…im no longer 16. And mental health is a HUGE part of my life. I want to write down and represent mentally ill readers. Not the perfect y/n ideal, someone with emotional issues and shit they need to work on. This represents mostly bpd and ptsd, I’ll put triggers especially if there’s anything in specific in each chapter.

A/N2: tbh this is more of a prologue than anything, so look out for some more content because IM BACK

Warning- mentioning of c*tting, slight and its not in depth obviously. Its just one sentence tbh

Paring- Peter Parker x stark!reader

Type: idk casual, nothing more its just a prologue

Word count: 1.6k

A personality disorder is a type of mental disorder in which you have a rigid and unhealthy pattern of thinking, functioning and behaving. A person with a personality disorder has trouble perceiving and relating to situations and people.

They say that when you’re a teenager you’re going to make memories for life.

Well, whoever said that can go straight to hell along side the memories you ever made.

It was a constant thought you had in the back of your head, especially in the mornings; mostly because it involved school and seeing people you absolutely despise.

Your alarm went off practically screaming at you to get up, but you? After fighting to find your phone you turned it off and threw it to the other side of the bed.‘Whatever’s out there, its not worth waking up at six in the morning for’ you thought to yourself, pulling the covers over your head in a pathetic attempt to hide from the morning sun.

“Y/n dear..your alarm went off four times already” a voice called from the other side of your bedroom door. A small knock following it. You could hear the door slowly open as slow and dragged feet made their way to your bed.

“Come on.. I know you hate mornings but you have school to go to” the elderly voice hummed before sitting on the side of the bed, slowly taking off your blanket shield away from you.

You slowly opened your eyes and looked at your grandmother with a disappointed look. Humming you slowly sat up and slouched on the bed “I know gran” you grumbled “exactly why I hate mornings”

But the elderly lady just chuckled at your response “oh come on sweetheart, you know you hate mornings even if its 1 pm” she smiled and put her hand on your y/h/c. You sighed and shrugged, watching her slowly get up. “Well, I made you some breakfast to perhaps cheer you up and help you with your medicine” she said, tapping your knees as if to urge you to get up.

She smiled playfully as you fixed your posture with a weak smile “yay..” you cheered sarcastically as she began walking towards the door.

She had good intentions really, and you knew that. Thats what you loved about your grandma. No matter how much of a hardass you were, she was always so kind to you. Always extremely patient and at least trying to help.

…

But honestly the mentioning of your pills kind of made you lose your appetite.

“wonderful, get ready I’ll get the coffee ready” your grandma hummed before closing the door. “Thanks gran” you smiled sweetly, slowly removed your warm covers and getting up on your two feet. Your smile dropped when she did, its six in the morning and smiling before coffee was almost impossible.

Your room was messy, per usual.

You never bothered to keep it clean more than four days anyways, and god knows that nowadays you were too tired to try and clean it anyway.

Your bed was attached to the wall, the window right above it, on your headboard were old pictures taped with some duct tape.

The only framed thing was a sentence scribbled on a note, and that was resting on your bedside table.

At the foot of your bed was an enormous amount of books. From sketchbooks to manga and comics to even random school textbooks that overflowed your small book storage.

Next to it was your white trimmed mirror and just like the wall over the bed, there were pictures all over, but this time less personal. A collage of movies,bands, shows and just general stuff you seemed to like.

Walking on the cold wooden floor you picked up a bunch of clothes on the floor, and some from the closet. Choosing a rather normal outfit, nothings special.

A beige T shirt with a print, black baggy jeans and blue converse you thrifted the other day.

You grabbed your jean jacket from your computer chair and stepped out to the living area. You went to brush your teeth and after a few minutes you returned, to eat, ironic isn’t it?

“You look wonderful dear” your grandmother smiled seeing you walk tiredly by her multiple times while getting ready. Going up and down your small apartment. The smell of pancakes interfering your thoughts constantly as you got dressed, almost urging you more than your grandmother to head out to the kitchen.

After looking over yourself multiple times before giving up knowing you won’t be satisfied with the reflection anyways, hearing your name cut your thoughts short.

“Y/n—” “coming!” You yelled and swung your door open with a pressed smile. “this smells delicious!” You sighed in delight as you got closer.

The kitchen matched the rest of the house, cozy and warm, most colors were consisted of cream, orange and white. You had a fairly new equipment even though Queens isn’t known for it’s ‘good wealth’ so you weren’t one to complain.

You walked closer to her, reaching up your arm and opened the cream colored cabinet above your grandma’s head, fetching two plates and placing one next to your beloved guardian.

“a good breakfast for a good day!” She smiled cheery as she pointed you to where the perfectly made pancakes were cooling down “Thanks gran” you kissed her cheeks delicately and smiled.

“Hey how are your cut—“ “they’re healing. Got then covered. And got this jacket just in case” you showed a weak smile. Showing her your bracelets on your wrists before looking up at her, desperately wanting to get away from the subject. She sighed and smiled “..right..good good” she nodded quietly. You smiled awkwardly and grabbed honey from the lower cabinet, heaing over to one of the small kitchen chairs with a sigh.

Not even a second passed since you sat down and the gray haired woman spoke again. “Here ya go” she humned, earning your attention quickly when placing the orange plastic container next to your coffee cup.

‘Serenada’ , a mood stabilizer you felt was useless.

Closing your y/e/c eyes and hanging your head low, the thoughts of ‘why am I like this’ and ‘wow your brain is so fucked huh?!’ reaching to your mind faster as you force the white sedative down your throat.

But you smiled back at her, afterall, its not her fault you’re like this.

Time passed quickly when you have someone to accompany you, and even better when it’s your grandmother. But soon it was time for you to leave, either that or you’ll miss your train.

“Your parents would be so proud of you..” she whispered suddenly, causing you to stop at your tracks as you picked up your blue school bag from the floor.

You smiled sadly and nodded “heh..thanks gran” you muttered before heading out, trying your best to ignore the flashing images of the last time you saw your family back in 2010.

‘That was..so random..’ you thought to yourself as you placed your headphones over your head and let the music overflow your mind even if it was just a bit.

- - - - - - - - - - -

The sun shown directly over your head, which was ironic considering how cold it actually was in queens during the autumn.

The sound of rushing steps and traffic crossing your music from time to time as you pumped into a few people, trying to squeeze past so you got to your train in time. Unlike another person who barely made it through the door, you knew him, after all he was your neighbor-Peter Parker.

You glanced over to him before forcing your eyes to look away as he made his way through the cart, desperately trying to fix his appearance, probably for Liz.

You eyes somehow made their way back to him, a pop of red and blue flannel reaching out through his blue sweater collar, he seemed tired non the less he seemed energized. his eyes were open and ready, like waiting for a command.

‘Like a dog..’ you thought to yourself, not even sure why the comparison even came to your mind. Maybe because of the fact he looked like a lost puppy most of the time.

His disheveled curls running loose over his forehead no matter how many times he had tried to fix them into place. Brown bright eyes staring ahead, music muffling through his white headphones.

You scanned him down, you weren’t sure what was your opinion on the particular boy. He was odd and bullied , but also liked by most people who aren’t flash.

But how come you never even talked to him even though he’s your neighbor for the past 7 years? fearing of getting attached or maybe just refusing to get ideas into your stubborn head.

Either way, you were complete strangers as far as you knew. And right now you’re starting at him.

His eyes suddenly darted at you, they were delicate and warm, a small spark appeared in them. He sent you a gentle tight smile and you turned your head with a blank stare, pretending as if you didn’t just stare at him for a few good minutes.

You weren’t one to get attached, or rather let others even try to get close to you.

You soul was drained out of your body years ago and you were left with anger, constant anger and frustration.You were constantly drowning in your own thoughts and feelings, never seeming to focus on the light above.

You were chained to the bottom of the ocean, wondering if you’ll ever learn how to swim.

#peter parker #marvel #spiderman #spiderman homecoming #peter parker x reader #tony stark #spiderman far from home #avengers #avengers x reader #tony stark x daughter!reader #peter parker x stark!reader #avengers x stark!reader #tony stark x reader #iron man #peter parker x y/n #swim fanfic #tom holland #tom holland x reader #marvel x reader #help a writer out #bruh im creating my own universe leave me alone im sad

[i-am-an-arson-enthusiast]

sometimes i think wednesdays are cursed

you guessed it, it’s another post ranting about a shitty day but i’m writing this two days late 🤪

anyway. idk how much of this story i’ve told but someone who i thought was my friend asked my deadname. i know i’ve posted about it but who knows how depth they are. if you want more of a story go ahead and ask. so that’s the first wednesday that fucking sucked.

the next one is. a long one. i’ll try to shorten it. so tech doesn’t really give you any time at all to sit down and think about things bc by the time im done eating dinner it’s time for bed and i need my goddamn sleep. that adds to my stress and tech adds an UNGODLY amount of stress. like to the point of regular crying. so on wednesday the joke of the day was “yeah we have mental breakdowns on the daily back here”. and then we had two. one from my friend and one from me. and being stage manager, it was like fucking timed. i can’t just step away like others. i went over to the other side to talk with my friend and she really did help. then we had to close the red curtains but the person who does that doesn’t have an ear piece so i had to get my shit together and run over to tell him.

fast forward to me going home. i see my friend dmed me. and it says “for now on don’t talk to me” and by this point i was already breaking down all over again to my friend over text. i screenshotted it and sent it and we panic over it and in the span of twenty ish minutes my mental health plummeted the fastest it has ever before. i was at an all time low to the point where it physically hurt me. i was not ok and i would not have been ok.

but theennnnn he texted me apologising and we talked a bit :) and then he refriended me on discord and deleted that one message:) (which i never responded to so there’s a chance he is holding onto the idea that i never saw it) (who knows)

as of yesterday everything is ok and the whole thing was bc of the stress of tech and literally everything. which i get. so now im back to like a normal range in mental health. lower side of it but im surviving. my next goal in mental health is to start living for me and not for the people around me. bc i cant bear the idea of leaving them. and that includes a lot of my mutuals on here that i interact with a lot.

ok last thing: shoutout to the group therapy gc for having these very historical records in real time.

#long post #woah a real text post #mental health #struggle #experience #discord #theatre #theatre tech #tech #techies #bad teachers

[16woodsequ]

Hi! I’ve been following your Steve fics for a while and just wanted to say I really really love everything you’ve written, especially the Alternatively series.

Idk if you give writing advice and sorry if this comes out of the blue, but do you ever struggle comparing yourself to other writers on Ao3? I’ve been posting on and off lately but get so discouraged when I see fics with hundreds of thousands of hits and thousands of kudos and comments. I just don’t feel like I’ll ever compete with that, you know?

Hello! Thank you for your kind words! It always lifts me up to hear things like that :D

I've been thinking about this ask a lot to think of how I handle that feeling. Because it might surprise you considering how many people read my fics, but I also feel discouraged sometimes when fics don't get the engagement I'd love sometimes.

Here's some things I've done to help myself:

First, I added a skin to my AO3 to turn off numbers on fics. This blocks comment numbers, hit counts, kudos, that sort of thing. @ao3commentoftheday has good tutorials for ao3 skins. I made a google docs with the coding for the skins I use if you're interested.

I find hiding the numbers really helps me, because I found I was beginning to focus a lot on the numbers of my fics. These skins block the numbers on your fics and other people's. Doing this helps me not fixate on the numbers and take more happiness in the fics themselves.

When I first changed my ao3 skin I didn't turn it off for several weeks, to wean myself off of it, but now I turn it off on Sundays and give myself the day to enjoy looking at the bookmark numbers and stuff like that, because now it sparks joy more than discouragement, which is the goal.

Second, I try to treasure the good stuff. When creating things I find it very very important to remind yourself of the good things. Our brains are kind of wired to forget the positive reception we've gotten for things and we keep chasing more, which can leave us discouraged.

So find ways to treasure whatever happy things you've gotten from your fics or fandom experience online.

For example, I have a personal discord serve with just me where I save screenshots of amazing comments, touching notes, tags, bookmarks, asks etc that people have left on my fics and posts. This way I can go back and look at them anytime.

I also save my favourite comments in my ao3 inbox instead of deleting them.

And I've also started a scrapbook with my favourite comments so I can hopefully really remember them and imprint them into my brain.

Train yourself to truly appreciate the interactions you get. That's a whole person there! And that's pretty amazing.

Third, often what fandom people are truly looking for is community. That's why we want people to comment on our fics and art because we want to share this amazing idea we had and we want to talk about this thing we love!

So find a community that will listen to you. On tumblr or on discord or with a mutual. Find people who will be excited when you share a headcanon with them or a meme or an in depth analysis of a character.

I find that helps me feel appreciated and excited for what I'm working on and that really really helps.

Fourth, Don't compare your fics to someone's fics that have been posted for a year of more!! This is really easy to do, I do it with my own fics all the time.

But we forget that numbers accumulate over time! Of course your new fic doesn't have as many hits or kudos or whatever as a fic you posted three years ago!

Comparing the two is like getting to the party, putting your cake down and feeling bad because no one's taken a bite, while Brenda's cake, which has been here for two hours is mostly crumbs. These things take time sometimes!

Anyways, I hope this helps. Thanks for the ask!

#asks #advice #writing advice #fanfic advice #ao3

[againtodreaming]

hiii :3 for the 3 things ask game hehe (it's nice that you found this in my blog again, i tried to find it but couldn't lmao ;-;)

3 things you are the most passionate about

3 topics you’d love to learn more about

3 quotes that have a special place in your life

Hiii Johnny!! :D Tysm for the asks <33

@vinylbiohazard you also asked this one: 

3 things you are the most passionate about:

idk like, fiction-fandoms-writing-art like all that storytelling emotion stuff?

learning

family/friends

3 topics you’d love to learn more about

History

Literature

Anthropology

3 quotes that have a special place in your life:

Edit: WHY DID U ASK ME THIS?!? 😭 You are going to kill me but anyways—:

Edit #2: ………ended up deciding to go big or go home during the last quarter of my time spent on this response so ahh…beware? ┐('～`;)┌ (^◇^；) 

…okay so I tried to pick a few but I can’t, okay? 🥲 I’m indecisive and my quotes would feel so betrayed if I picked one over the other one so I’ll just break the rules and put…every quote that came to mind (and then I had to look them up bc I only got a few of them completely memorized): 

Nakahara Chūya:

“When I consider, it's easy. / In the end it's a question of will. / I must muddle through. / As long as I do that, it's all right, // I think but nonetheless, / that winter evening when I was twelve. / The steam whistle that echoed / in the sky above the port, where is it now?” Innocent Song

“O song of the skies, song of the sea, / I think I now understand the essence of beauty, / Even so, it’s tough, I can’t escape this idleness!” Exhaustion

“I am not completely quiet in the midst of that desolation. / I am seeking something, always seeking something / in the midst of this terrible immobility, but also terribly impatient. / For the sake of this, my appetites and lusts are as nothing.” The Voice of Life (this one is translated by Paul Mackintosh and Maki Sugiyama and there is also a version of this in the latest Ry Beville translation but I read this one first and I like better how it flows so yep, went with this translation) (...I really need to learn Japanese to read the original sobs) (if it wasn't so long, I would also add part III of The Voice of Life here) (...and some other parts…a lot of parts…these poems are just so good, okay? 😭💖)

“O eyes of mine, wide open with doubt, / O eyes, momentarily unmoving while wide open, / O heart, trusting too much beyond my self, / O expectation of mine, you old, dark air, / Be gone from me, be gone! / I entertain myself with nothing but my meager dreams” – Poem of the Sheep (I memorized this one with another translation but this is from the bilingual edition/new translations by Ry Beville book so yeah, chose this translation for now)

“Today, though, I return to who I am / Like a stretched rubber band released // And thus, from the window of this idleness / I spread out my index finger like a folding fan, // Inhale blue skies      imbibe the calm / And like a frog afloat on water // I see the stars of night come night / O    depths of sky, the depths of sky.” Exhaustion (I have several faves in Exhaustion but yeah, I would say these 2 are the ones I like most? …okay, only the ones I had mostly memorized bc every line is amazing) (also memorized the earlier translation but this is the one in the new translations book so–)

…can't resist, last one, promise, this one is also from The Voice of Life: “No matter what, it is indescribable! / Sometimes I want to explain it briefly, but / since it’s inexplicable, indescribable, I believe my life is worth living. / That’s reality! Unsullied happiness! Anything anyhow is good!” (honestly, just this entire poem)

(Spring Day’s Caprice is also amazing, doesn’t rank as high as the poems I mentioned above but still, the only reason I’m not adding it here too is bc I can’t pick a verse without feeling I’m doing it a complete injustice bc it’s…like you need to read it whole. Like, the same goes for the other poems but this one is like…it feels too much like a united progression to be able to take a quote away, it would feel like taking the meaning away ig?)

Alice in Wonderland: 

“I knew who I was this morning, but I've changed a few times since then.” (stuck with me when I first read when I was like 10 or 11 maybe and and even more relatable now)

“That's just the trouble with me, I give myself very good advice, but I very seldom follow it.” (this one echoes in my head every time I don’t follow my own advice 😅)

Dazai Osamu:  BSD: 

“But your anguish isn’t yours alone. What should one do, when what they want to be isn’t what they’re best at? Everyone fights, searching for the correct way to live their lives. What do they seek by fighting? How ought they live? No one can say. All we have is the right to waver. Like stray dogs that have hit rock bottom.” (gave me hope and some direction)

Schoolgirl (blaming @yumaisbored—hope u don't mind the tag 😅—for it becoming a favorite look how many quotes I copied here and I highlighted a lot more bc there was just so much, this one stabbed me straight through the heart and I LOVE LOVE LOVE IT o(*>ω<*)o) (most of these ones are too long to have memorized and I haven’t read this a million times like I’ve done with my favorite Nakahara’s poems but I remembered the gist of each one and just had to look up my highlighted in orange parts) (this story has no right to be so relatable): 

“The truth is that I secretly love what seems to be my own individuality, and I hope I always will, but fully embodying it is another matter. I always want everyone to think I am a good girl.” 

“Let me be natural, let me be genuine."

“I didn't know whether it was better to maintain a fierce distinction between yourself and your acquaintances in society in order to deal with and respond properly to things in a pleasant manner, or rather never to hide yourself, to remain true to yourself always, even if they say bad things about you.”

“My face was like that of a stranger. An animated face, liberated from my own sadness and pain and seemingly disconnected from such feelings.”

“I felt like trying to cry. I held my breath for a good while, in order to make my eyes bloodshot, and I thought I might be able to squeeze out a tear, but it was no good. Maybe I've turned into an impassive girl.”

“There I go again—pondering the purposelessness of my day-to-day life, wishing I had more ambition, and lamenting all the contradictions in myself—when I know it's just sentimental nonsense. All I'm doing is indulging myself, trying to console myself.”

“I envy such a rigorously efficient and disciplined daily existence. It must be easier to relax when someone always told you who you are and what to do. For instance, right now, if I wanted to do nothing, then I could just do nothing. My circumstances are such that I could be as bad as I wanted, but then again, if I felt like studying, I could study for as many hours on end as I liked. If someone were to give me a particular limit to abide by—to start here and use this much effort and finish there—you have no idea how much it would assuage my mind. I think I rather would appreciate a certain amount of constraint. I read in a book somewhere that soldiers in battle at the front had only one desire, to sleep soundly, and while on one hand I feel sorry for those soldiers, I am also terribly envious of them. To break free from this vexatious and awful never-ending cycle, this flood of outrageous thoughts, and to long for nothing more than simply to sleep—how clean, how pure, the mere thought of it is exhilarating. If someday I could live a military life, and be disciplined harshly, then I just might be capable of being a self-contained, beautiful daughter.”

“In my heart, I worry about Mother and want to be a good daughter, but my words and actions are nothing more than that of a spoiled child. And lately, there hasn't been a single redeeming quality about this childlike me. Only impurity and shamefulness. I go about saying how pained and tormented, how lonely and sad I feel, but what do I really mean by that? If I were to speak the truth, I would die. While I am perfectly aware of what I should do, I can't even utter the words. All I do is feel wretched, and in the end I fly into a rage—I mean, really, it's as if I were crazy.”

“I'm sorry, I formed the words softly. I only ever think of myself, I thought, I let myself be coddled by her to my heart's content, and then take such a reckless attitude with her. I can't begin to imagine how hurtful or painful it must be for her, instead I always avoid thinking about it.”

“Nobody in the world understood our suffering. In time, when we became adults, we might look back on this pain and loneliness as a funny thing, perfectly ordinary, but—but how were we expected to get by, to get through this interminable period of time until that point when we were adults? There was no one to teach us how. Was there nothing to do but leave us alone, like we had the measles? But people died from the measles, or went blind. [...] But if those people were to think about it from our perspective, and see how we had tried to endure despite how terribly painful it all was, and how we had even tried to listen carefully, as hard as we could, to what the world might have to say, they would see that, in the end, the same bland lessons were always being repeated over and over, you know, well, merely to appease us.” 

["You said you wanted summer shoes, so I looked for some while I was in Shibuya today. Shoes have gotten expensive, too, haven't they."

"It's okay, I don't really want them anymore."

"But don't you need them?"

"I guess so."]

Extra: 

No Longer Human: “The weak fear happiness itself. They can harm themselves on cotton wool. Sometimes they are wounded even by happiness”

Fyodor Dostoevsky, White Nights:

“at this moment a thousand valves have opened in my head, and I must let myself flow in a river of words, or I shall choke” “allow me, Nastenka, to tell my story in the third person, for one feels awfully ashamed to tell it in the first person” “I was already regretting that I had gone so far, that I had unnecessarily described what had long been simmering in my heart” “Because it begins to seem to me at such times that I am incapable of beginning a life in real life, because it has seemed to me that I have lost all touch, all instinct for the actual, the real; because at last I have cursed myself; because after my fantastic nights I have moments of returning sobriety, which are awful!” “And one asks oneself where are one's dreams. And one shakes one's head and says how rapidly the years fly by! And again one asks oneself what has one done with one's years. Where have you buried your best days? Have you lived or not?” “But how fine joy and happiness makes any one! How brimming over with love the heart is! One seems longing to pour out one's whole heart; one wants everything to be gay, everything to be laughing. And how infectious that joy is!” (I was actually only looking for the ones in red but I passed through the other ones while I was looking for them and like…i mean, what was i supposed to do?!? Leave them behind?!? …okay probably but like look at them!! How could I?!)

“You'll never know if you can fly unless you take the risk of falling.” – Dick Grayson, The Secret Origin of Nightwing

…okay, the entire lyrics of Hourglass by Set It Off but if I had to pick a verse…oof, okay, your fault, you asked and there are just so many good lines and I can’t decide so umm, yep, I already have like 1 and a half pages of quotes so who cares at this point, right? (why did u ask me this 😭😭😭) (edit: now it's like 3 pages and smth ashdjdjsndjsj) (i'm doing the quotes part in google docs) so here is practically half the song: 

How did we get so jaded? I don't know / Was it the white lies feeding our egos? / I never valued minutes I burned through / Is that just how it goes? / Seconds I wasted, I was fixated / You're devastated, sorry to say / I can't fix it, is this where I give in? // I'm falling through the hourglass / And I don't think I'll ever make it back / So I throw stones at walls I'll never climb / Victim to the sands of time / Falling through the hourglass, the hourglass // Time is strange, it's ever flowing, never going back / It moves but only in one way / Turn the page, look back at what you wrote / Do you still feel the same? / I'll bet your mind has changed

#sorry this is so late!! asdfgh #but here it is!! #finally done lol #mila habla #asks

[dreamingomens]

hi! i’ve never done a matchup thing before, but it sounds so fun and scream is my favourite thing as of now!

in all honesty i’m not sure what my gender is, i lean towards male pronouns more but i’m still very feminine on certain days, it’s half half? i’m aro-ace! the type of aromatic that’s cupioromantic, and a mostly sex-repulsed asexual. now the sex repulsed part is mostly towards myself, i don’t wanna see other people or myself naked, watchjng sex scenes is less bad, still weird to me tho,, im super into horror movies and corey things like death 🫶 i’ve taxidermied a rat, and ive burried a dead elk for its bones! i’m terrible in school except for art classes, and have bad social anxiety.. but that doesn’t stop me from trying to talk to people! when i’m comfortable with someone all my worries leave which is nice! like an introverted extrovert! im into photography as well,, and i love cats! i love making halloween costumes, and trying to make them spooky and bloody! i collect clowns, i currently have 8 of them (one is possibly haunted) uhh i’m super into fnaf and theories, but i also love deep conversations about the meaning of life, i also write poetry!! and i love love love the moon 🫶

my favorite movies are the lost boys, scream, labyrinth, 9, ferngully and the last unicorn! i prefer listening to sad love music over anything else ! i have terrible adhd, (possible autism? i’m on a list to get tested idk if that’s important?)

and onto looks, i’m 5’6, my body type is i think the apple one? my hair is originally dark brown but it’s dyed blue as of now! my hair is up to my shoulders but in a gendernutral way yknow? i’ve got brown eyes, but they have green mixed in as well. i have to wear glasses because my percsriptiom is -5 but each of my eyes is slightly different in sight! i have so many beauty marks, and i have multiple triangles formed by them jn mg body, i dress in dark colours if it’s winter, but if it’s warmer i’ll add some colour, hawaiian shirts mostly shejsjsj i hope this is enough info ;-;

thank you so much <3

hope you enjoy anon!! <3

i match you with...

Billy Loomis

- hes very interested in the taxidermy, but never did it himself. once he saw you doing it, he'd love to learn some tips and tricks!

- horror movies and gore? yeah he's about that too. y'all would have movie marathons constantly and in depth discussions about scenes that occur

- he'd make it a goal to watch nearly every horror movie with you

- he'd help you pick out glasses if you ever needed a new pair :,))

- making halloween costumes and taking fun pictures during the spooky season or any time of year i think yes!!

- stu would make a comment about the clown collecting and billy would just punch his arm 😭

#billy loomis #scream #billy loomis x reader

[cerealmonster15]

Someone mentioned Jamil/Riddle/octotrio polycule a total of one time and I feel like it was you(idk who else it would be,,) and it is driving me insane . what if . They were messed up. And in love .

first of all I’m obsessed w/ the implications here. “Idk who else it would be” either implying you just aren’t recalling others who talk about them, or I have simply Made Them My Brand Who Else Could Possibly Speak Of Such A Topic Other Than Tumblr User Cerealmonster15 BSBDNFNFNGY anyway. I have no idea if this was or wasn’t me but god I probably have mentioned them in some way shape or form bc I too Love Them. I have six billion jamil/azul posts. I love riddle/any of the fish boys bc they’re ALWAYS so fucking funny when they interact. I like that Jamil and floyd are basketball boys that like to dance. Jade and Jamil in that one anthology manga were cooking buddies (also trey was there but this ain’t about him) (sorry trey I love you trey). Azul and his long term bond with the tweels ft their nonstop psychological warfare with each other (especially Jade and azul. Like what is wrong with them LOL) is so sweet and so funny. I made Several Posts About azul riddle and Jamil trio and write a fic about them the other day bc they make my brain go teehee. Here look at some trio stupids: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Jade is here too 9 10 11 12 13 14

Another random doodle I found. Riddle experiencing tweels. I was looking for the tag there I went into depth talking about Floyd/riddle but I’m on my phone at lunch break and CANT FIND IT but it tends to get a random like now and then so if it happens to pop up again I’ll link here too. If I try to post all my jamiazus here I will Die. But they’re all on my blog tagged jamiazu lol. I know I’ve drawn riddle/Floyd and riddle/Jade but I’m not sure if I’ve posted many of them or if those stayed in private or discord 🤔 I was literally looking at my pure ref board of art inspo last night and was looking at a BUNCH of riddle/Jade art from this person on pixiv with a cute “storybook style” of art and I was thinking “god no one understands me like pixiv artists do. Rarepair solidarity 🤝” I also think about the difference of these dialogues

Jade: i respect riddle :^) I wonder what he thinks of me 🤔

Riddle When Jade:

Hdhfjffbby “horrible scheming bastard of a guy”

Bonus from that same vignette, Riddle When Azul:

HES SO SO SO FUNNY he sees a fish and is instantly like 🤢 We Have To Leave Right Now. And they’re all kind of obsessed with him I think. God I could talk for so much longer and add 6000 more screenshots if I weren’t at mobile and also at the end of my lunch break sbfnfnnffntjjg

Bonus I forgot to mention this doodle i. Ade in my new mini sketchbook the other day when I was testing out new pens and noticed their Colors LOL

STUPID!!!

#asks #twst #I WANT TO TALK MORE ABOUT THEM I HAVE MORE NONSENSE TO SPEW WAIT- #this was just me posting links to my posts and screenshots but #I could ramble more im LIMITED but I LOVE BEING ENABLED