A/N: So, I've convinced myself Angel is secretly a demon king and not even aware of it. That, or he's a vessel like Fujimoto. Why else would he be involved with Sector 13?

Published: 4/25/2018

Warnings: None

Chapter 5

MiniVergil

Sanctus was very rarely summoned to True Cross Academy. The Order of the Sword very rarely dealt directly with True Cross directly. Sanctus liked to keep his own operations separate from them, but there were moments where even he was called before them.

Such a moment was now, and Sanctus could not be anymore infuriated by it.

Not only had he been summoned, forcing him to shift all of Fortuna which admittedly took a lot of power, but said summoners were nowhere to be found!

Mephisto Pheles had called for his expertise, and where was that clown of an Honorary Knight?

Not here, apparently!

Sanctus stood, alone, in the meeting room. Mephisto, ever the gracious host, had the damn table practically overflowing with random food items. On the other side of the room, light filtered in through a rather tall window.

Light that was slowly fading more and more as time went by.

Sanctus grumbled to himself as he gazed out towards the rapidly setting sun. If there was one thing he hated more than being subjected to the will of the True Cross Order, it was them wasting his time.

No doubt Mephisto was cackling off in some corner about the whole thing, too. Bloody trickster.

Rarely did Sanctus ever leave Fortuna. Fortuna itself was a rather special town. On a whim, Sanctus could move the damn thing wherever he pleased all over the globe. Each move did cost a large amount of demonic energy, however, but that was easy enough to gather.

Except they'd just shifted the damn thing near the Temen-ni-Gru when the order came down that Pheles wanted them here, in Tokyo, asap. They'd managed it, but a second shift so quick after the first had shot their reserves right straight to hell.

Angus had of course stayed behind in the ruins. Somewhere among that utter rubble, Sanctus was sure lay their prize. A prize they would have to hide from True Cross once they had found. A weapon of tremendous abilities that would soon change it. Change everything. Change the whole playing field, as it should.

Yamato.

They would have it, its powers and abilities granted to them. Such a marvelous blade, capable of rupturing Gehenna and Assiah apart. Once Sanctus had it, their true goals could finally begin, and he could at last stop this farce of working with True Cross.

For now, however, Sanctus was bound to them unless he wanted the Paladin and the ArchKnight to come smashing down his door.

However, that did not mean that his time was not valuable! Where in the hell was Pheles?

Elsewhere, deep below True Cross and in an old nearly abandoned facility, Mephisto growled as he broke his way out of a tube.

All around him lay more and more tubes, much like the one that he had just shattered his way out of. Bodies, empty husks the same as Mephisto's. Years of experimentation, abandoned in a single moment with only one last use for him here and now.

Empty husks, lost in eternal rest, waiting for a host to take them.

Growling, water dripping from his new form in droves, the Archdemon rose, eyes glowing malevolently as he stood there among the shattered glass and flickering lights.

"Little nephew… Once I assimilate properly to this body, I will show you what it means to anger yours betters."

Dante stared. And stared. And stared.

What… What the fuck.

What in the fuck.

What…

Just...

What?

"Well? Are either of you gonna answer? Huh? Where's the demon!" Mini-Vergil demanded.

That was the only way to describe the kid. Dante supposed he could also describe him as a mini him, but the kid seemed to have more of a Vergilish vibe. Those same glaring eyes, that familiar pulse of demonic energy.

Dante could feel the burn of Fujimoto's glare. Ah, great. He'd managed to make the Paladin even more pissed off than before, and this time for something Dante hadn't even done!

Then again, Dante supposed he had forced the man into a deal were he'd have no choice but to hand Rin's demon heart over, so he could see why the other wasn't pleased with him.

"I didn't realize you were also a father. Judging from your expression, you were unaware?" Fujimoto spoke, voice icy and condemning.

How dare you lecture me about fatherhood when you weren't even aware of your own child?

Well, Fujimoto was wrong. Dante could admit that he was rather lascivious to the point where he wouldn't even bother denying he was a slut if someone accused him of such, but judging by the kids age, he'd have had to have been around thirteen to conceive the brat. And, that was with Dante just guessing based off appearance.

So, there remained three possibilities.

Option a, his father had sired this little brat before vanishing into the ether, never to be seen again.

Option b, Dante's icicle of a twin had actually managed to lose his v card before Dante and at the same time had failed to use protection. At all.

The first would be a bit to his pride. The second condition to it made it sound unreasonable, though. Dante just couldn't see Vergil being so lost in lust to not consider such a possibility under any normal circumstances, even at that age.

Then, option c…

This kid wasn't Sparda's kid or Vergil's kid, but Vergil himself. The demon arm was new, Dante could admit, but there was no telling what kind of creatures were crawling around in hell. There were all sorts of demons that could feed off a person's age, either causing them to get older or younger, so it wasn't outside the realm of possibility.

And, it sounded like the most likely one out of the batch, so it was exactly what Dante would assume unless he was given evidence to the contrary.

"What? The hell have you been smoking, you deranged old fart?" The kid demanded, staring at Fujimoto as if the man had grown another head.

That sold it! This kid had to be Vergil deaged! Rude to a fault, just like Vergil had been before he hit that annoying phase and became all 'serious' and 'proper' and all that other bullshit.

Conclusion made, Dante nodded to himself and acted accordingly. Striding forth, a wide grin on his face, Dante proceeded to prove that he and Rin Okumura were two beasts cut from the same cloth.

"Vergil! You're alive! And… you've been minified!" Dante reached out as he took the surprised kid up in his arms, and hugged the life out of him.

"Wha- put me down! How dare you! Lemme go!" MiniVergil struggled, trying to get away.

Yeah, no. There was no way in hell Dante would be letting Vergil go. Not again. Never again.

"No! I'm so sorry, bro! It's all my fault! I should have tried harder to get you out of there, and now you've been deaged! Don't worry, Verge, I'll take good care of you! I won't let this childhood be as shitty as your last!" Dante declared, tears streaming down his face. MiniVergil had stopped struggling and instead was staring at him with a bewildered what the fuck expression.

That was okay. He didn't remember. Oh shit, did that mean Dante would have to explain it to him in all the gory details? Well, he supposed he would. If he lied about it, it would come back to bite him.

Case in point standing at right behind him.

"Well, unless I can find a way to reverse it. I can't believe you got caught by an age stealing demon, but it's okay Verge! I'll protect you until we find a way to fix it, little big bro!" Dante promised.

"Let me go you fucking shit head! I'm not your brother! Rape! Rape!"

Dante blinked. Huh. That was weird. The Vergil he remembered would never use such a cry, but whatever. More must have changed than Dante realized. Time did move differently in the Gehenna, so that was likely it.

"This is your brother?" Fujimoto spoke, voice skeptical.

Dante beamed, turning to the other, MiniVergil still held firmly in his arms. MiniVergil kept clawing at him, but that was okay. Dante could deal with it.

"I do! I don't know how he got so small, but this is definitely him. The arm is kinda new, through." Dante then proceeded to poke said arm.

Said arm then started to glow before a phantom claw seemed to burst from it. Taken by surprise, there was no defense as it smashed into Dante's chest as send him sprawling. MiniVergil leapt away, growling.

"I told you! I'm not your brother! I-" the kid started to yell.

"Wait," Fujimoto's voice cut across, his eyes narrowing. Dante stood as Fujimoto's hand dropped to his hip, the edge of a knife glistening in the light.

MiniVergil took notice of it too, sliding a foot back and shooting the silver haired Paladin a come get me look.

Yeah, no.

Tough or not, Vergil had been minified. He would get his ass kicked if he tried taking on Fujimoto.

Dante took a step, placing himself between the two. MiniVergil shot him a look of surprise followed by annoyance.

"I can take care of myself, you 90's reject." MiniVergil spat.

Little brat. Adorable, Dante decided.

Fujimoto's eyes met with his.

"That boy… You say he's your brother. You also said his name is Vergil. Mephisto mentioned that you are a Son of Sparda, although he was unaware of your existence and mistook you for that child." Fujimoto motioned towards MiniVergil.

Dante narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah? Your point?"

"He's the one that opened the Hell Gate, isn't he?"

Rebellion appeared in Dante's hand in a shower of red sparks. Pointing the blade at the other, Dante growled.

"That is none of your business. Although, for the record, no, Vergil did not open the Hell Gate." Dante replied.

Hey, he was being honest. Vergil hadn't opened the Hell Gate. That goddamn joker, Arkham, had beat him to it while dancing around and manipulating the utter hell out of them too.

"Hell gate? What are you people talking about?"

Dante looked back at the kid. MiniVergil seemed to be locked in a state between perpetually pissed off and just plain confusion.

It reminded Dante of puberty actually, which made him blanch. Hell, if MiniVergil was this bad now, how much worse would it get when he actually hit puberty? Dante shuddered at the very thought, frightened by it.

"I'll explain it to you later kid, once I get you back to my place." Dante told him.

That set off MiniVergil's ire right back on. Shooting a death glare at Dante, the kid crossed his arms.

"I'm not going anywhere with you! I'm here to hunt down a demon I felt earlier! Just tell me where it is and get lost!"

How adorable! MiniVergil wanted to go demon hunting. Ah. Then again, with that weird arm of his, Dante supposed MiniVergil actually stood a good chance of surviving a tussle with a lesser level demon.

"You're not going anywhere at all other than a goddamn cell." Fujimoto hissed. Dante spun back to the other, hefting his sword up.

If Fujimoto wanted a round two, then so be it. Their last fight didn't even have a clear victor, did it? The two of them had just decided to retreat for the sake of the kids, but this time?

Dante would show this bastard that he meant business. Fujimoto ignored Dante, his gaze unrelenting from MiniVergil.

"Turned into a child or no, you unleashed an army of demons into this world, so many that we can't even begin to count how many deaths you've caused. You… You must be stopped."

"I- I what? What are you talking about! I'm just an orphan kid from Fortuna, you insane piece of rejected dog shit!"

Fujimoto blinked at that, apparently recognizing the name of the place. Dante personally did not, but that was irrelevant.

Dante summoned his clone, watching as it took a step forward. Fujimoto swerved to it, taken by surprise. Why shouldn't he be? Dante hadn't displayed that ability before.

"What hell?" MiniVergil gasped.

Dante turned to the kid, knelt down, and gripped him by the shoulder. Startled blue eyes met his own.

"Look, kid. I'm not entirely sure who you are. But, I do know that you and I," Dante lifted a single hand, allowing his Devil Trigger to take just it over. Then kid stared at it in shock, "are similar. So, come with me. If you want to leave after everything is said and done, then… So be it." Dante lied through his teeth.

There was literally no way in hell he was letting Vergil go. Not again. Never again.

Fujimoto eyed the double wearily before an epiphany hit him. Turning, he glared at the real Dante.

"If you are here," Fujimoto spoke, fury rolling off him in droves, "who is watching Rin and Yukio?"

Dante turned and grinned at the other despite his current annoyance with him.

"Best damn babysitter money can buy, that's who."

Lady casually sipped on a beer while Rin and Yukio ran around, leaving a complete and utter mess of Dante's office in their game.

That idiot, thinking he could call her up and ask her to watch his brats. Who in the Hell thought it would be a good idea to reproduce with someone like Dante anyways? It wouldn't surprise her if the kids ended up crazy daredevils that lazed around just like Dante while stuffing their faces with pizza.

So, Lady had fed the pair of them as many sweets as she could before unleashing the twin terrors. That ought to teach Dante.

Lady smirked, leaned back, and relaxed.