Vergil's OneShots (DMC Fanfiction)

Absent Father

A/N: I'm back from my trip! It was a great holiday, and though I didn't get as much inspiration for stories as I thought I would (because I was too busy sightseeing), it's still all okay, because I'm back to write more!

[Absent Father]

Personality: Post-DMC4SE/Pre-DMC5 Vergil

It hadn't actually been very long since Vergil was reunited with his son. Three months was a duration that usually got even the strangest of housemates talking to each other, but it appeared as if recognising that there was familial ties between the two men made starting conversations even harder than normal. Too many times did Vergil sit alone at the dining table, watching Nero bring his own takeout dinner back home into his room and never share the table with his father.

If Vergil was honest, he could hardly blame his own son. While he had never had known the joy of living a proper life with his own father, Vergil knew that he would react similarly to Nero's current reaction. It was a given: seeing how they had reunited under rather trying circumstances.

It had all been forced. If Vergil had the chance, he would never have stood out to acknowledge Nero as his son. Nero was better off without having an absent father like Vergil staking a claim over him, but the situation had called for it. If Vergil had not declared that Nero was his son, the government of Fortuna would have beheaded Nero for the whole mess that had honestly been made worse by Nero's unknowing involvement. Standing out to claim Nero as his own flesh and blood and asserting the Nero was the true, living grandson of the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda that the church of Fortuna so greatly devoted themselves to; it had saved Nero from a certain beheading.

Unfortunately, it had also caused Nero much more inconvenience than just a headless body. Nero's neighbours in Fortuna had grown terrified that they might have pissed off the grandson of their god. Well-intentioned Nero had been approached since then with something akin to worship and fear by his neighbours, and eventually the poor young man had to move out to prevent causing too much trouble. Taking in his homeless son had been a father's responsibility, though Vergil wasn't sure at all what he was supposed to do right now with his offspring living in the same quarters as him, but holding a relationship that was far worse than platonic strangers.

The emotional burden had made Vergil consider permanently living in a motel room and leaving the whole apartment to Nero. Unfortunately, Vergil also had a nosy twin brother at his side who constantly did his best to convince him that all he needed to do was to wait out Nero's 'temper tantrum'. With the 'living away from his son' idea being struck out by Dante, Vergil wasn't sure at all how to approach this whole situation. And being unsure and indecisive about how to act had dragged from days to weeks and into months where the two men practically ignored each other's presence.

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Circumstances being, Vergil found himself standing at the door to his own apartment, taking in a deep breath to steady his own emotions. He didn't know when it had started, but he had slowly been made aware to the fact that he now took deep breaths to steady himself before returning back home – a place where he was supposed to relax.

Innocently inserting the keys and unlocking the door, Vergil had absolutely zero suspicion that something might have gone wrong. The silence that greeted him in the apartment was normal despite the fact that he was more or less sure that Nero was still at home. While the two did not verbally or directly inform each other about their own schedules, both men had eventually studied and learnt each other's routine, getting a general understanding of when each other would be absent or present in the apartment.

Unsuspecting, Vergil removed his shoes and kept them aside neatly and quietly –doing it all with one hand expertly while the other held his sword. Nero had returned him Yamato the first time they met face to face, and though Vergil relished to have his sword repaired and back in his possession, it had come at a strange price of having to finally acknowledge and accept that he had a son. It was a completely routine walk for Vergil from the entrance through the corridor towards the living area and his room.