Soliloquy

Chapter Four: Deviation

Notes: I continue to be humbled by your support and kindness! The comments I continue to receive and the warm reception that the community has given me make me feel warm and fuzzy inside! A special shout out to SkylarMorgan1899 on Tumblr for keeping me going through a long night of writing by giving me someone who I know is always happy when I make something new. You're the best and this chapter is for you! Looking at you too, Mallovarwen! You guys rock!

Chapter Four: Deviation

The silence that lingered in the space between them held a physical presence. In a way, it was like hitting a reset switch on their entire interaction, stopping everyone dead in their tracks. Vergil and Magnolia raged a silent but passive battle, some conflict unknown to Nero holding their collective silent attention. As the young devil hunter straightened out his coat and realigned his stance, he couldn't help but wonder what the hell was going on here. What had gone on here in the past to lead to this moment? Vergil shifted his sheathed blade into his off-hand and craned his head slightly to the left, beckoning the answer to an unasked question. Magnolia sighed as her hands flopped uselessly to her sides and Nero could tell at that moment that the woman standing before them meant no further harm.

"... Soul Scrying is a bit closer to Necromancy than I tend to lean and you know that." She said tiredly, her voice almost a whisper. Or perhaps she was actually whispering. Nero did possess better hearing than the average person, after all. It was entirely possible.

Vergil took a step forward, seemingly more relaxed now that she wasn't doing whatever she had done mere moments ago. Things seemed to escalate wildly and unpredictably into left field with the eldest Son of Sparda in play, and he was becoming more and more aware of this. The woman before him showed her age at that moment, a lifetime of unsaid worries displaying in her body language. She and Vergil both shared a predilection for aging extraordinarily well, but in the simple act of shifting her center of balance and slumping more to one side against the railing of her front steps, she aged a decade in an instant. Vergil approached the bottom of the steps, resting his hand on the first segment of the wrought iron railing. He then looked up at her, the state of calm calculation that was often so closely associated with him fully returning for the first time since it had abandoned him in the underworld with Dante earlier that day.

"If I wanted a Necromancer, I wouldn't have come here," Vergil stated in a very matter of fact way, belying deeper emotions," Although I do not know the extent of my request at this moment, I can't imagine that it extends past your limitations."

"And those limitations are there for a reason," She replied as she folded her arms across her chest. Nero caught a glimpse of what seemed to be tattooed skin ascending her arms as her baggy sleeves exposed a small portion of lower arms. "It isn't often that someone goes looking into the beyond without plans to take something from it."

Nero heard her words, but he was too focused on the markings on her arms. There seemed to be symbols of some sort mixed in between what seemed to be a crescent moon and an eye on each arm respectively. Although distinctly different from V's tattoos, Nero couldn't help but wonder if they functioned in a similar way. Then again, he had no idea how the mysterious devil summoner's powers worked for that matter, so he couldn't exactly compare them beyond noting the obvious fact that they were both attached to the bodies of beings with questionable abilities. And what was this talk of Necromancy and Alchemy? Wasn't that what that idiot Agnus had been up to back at the Order of the Sword?

"I am more than aware of the fact that someone cannot bring something back that is fully claimed by powers outside of our control," Vergil stated almost solemnly," But I am also aware that your ancestors have had dealings with souls that span every possible segment of reality. And that they kept meticulous records."