(Part 5)

"Where have the two of you been? We were so worried sick when you went missing! Dante told us you died, Leah!" Sasha grabbed me in a large hug, tears of joy springing forth from her eyes as she squeezed me tightly. At her side, Leon had already plastered himself to his father, grabbing around Vergil's waist as if he was a koala bear.

The nine year old boy seemed to somehow be transported into his four-year-old days, as he felt all around his father again, trying to find anything different.

"It's a complicated story, but we're back. I'm sorry we left without a word." I apologised, but hugged the woman back equally tightly. Eva hadn't told us that we would be meeting Sasha and Leon again, but I was beginning to understand that not many 'coincidences' in my life were real coincidence. Either Mummy Eva or Azazel had to have something to do with this, and I could bet my life on it.

Still, there was no way to confirm it as I pulled back to take a good look at the mother of Vergil's son.

"You've gotten prettier since I last saw you!" I declared, admiring the curls that hadn't been there before. When we met five years ago, my first impression that she was a loving young mother. Now, my impression was that she was even younger than she was five years ago. In fact, she looked more like Leon's older sister than his mother.

"And so have you, Leah. I've missed you." Sasha pulled us aside, leaving Vergil and Leon in the living room –Leon talking excitedly to his father who had been missing for the past five years. "You have a new glow of a woman in love."

I, despite being my lover's passionate girlfriend for the past five years, still blushed at the suggestion. I guess it was truly a glow that only others could see. Still, I was glad to know that others knew how happy I was with Vergil, and hoped he understood it as well.

"What about you?" I asked with a soft hush. "Have you been doing well?"

Sasha's imminent reply was cut off by a ringing of the doorbell, and she quickly excused herself to answer to door. Taken by surprise by her enthusiasm to answer the door –as if she knew who it was –I strolled back to the living area where I found Leon still passionately talking about his school life. Vergil was doing his best to entertain the young boy, and a 'father' that was putting attention was definitely something that Leon bathed in as the boy jumped around through his narration of how he had expertly dribbled the ball passed to him.

"And then, everyone was like 'how can that blind boy do that? He's supposed to not be able to see!' I swear, I would trade everything I have in my life to see the expressions on their faces, Papa!" Leon declared with a grin, jumping and collapsing into Vergil's arm. Five years away definitely did not dull Vergil's fatherly instincts, because he held on carefully to his 'son', making sure that Leon was calmed down before trusting the young boy to stand again.

And even though I had seen Vergil's 'fatherly-side' the first time I got to know him, it was still refreshing to see him around Leon again. The homely, family feeling had settled once more between all of us, and I almost forgot about our mission.

At least until the visitor stepped into living area, and stilled, definitely not expecting someone new.

"Uncle Killian!" Leon must have recognised the smell, or footstep –or whatever the young boy used to distinguish people. "Uncle Killian, my Papa is back! I told you about Papa, didn't I?"

I could see that the man was truly trying his best to smile at the young boy's enthusiasm, but it was a good thing that Leon could not see at the moment, because the child could not see how badly the poor man failed. My boyfriend, for his part, turned his usual expressionless face on, and turned to assess the newcomer with the sharp eye of a son of Sparda, anticipating the threats the man could pose.

Vergil must have not found anything particularly threatening from the man, because he turned to Leon again, taking Leon's wrist softly to take the boy's attention.

"Leon, who is this Uncle Killian?" He asked gently, in the tone he always used for his son and Sasha. It was a tone that I loved, even though the tone used for me was ten times gentler than that.

"Uncle Killian is Mummy's colleague at work! He treats us very well, and he buys me toys and sweets! I think he wants to be my Daddy, but I already have you, Papa!" Leon's brutal honesty must have pummelled holes into the man's pride, but at least he tried his best to look like he hadn't been innocently insulted by the young boy.

"Leon!" Sasha's voice was funnily flustered, and I quickly understood what was going on. No wonder the woman had been so happy to answer the door. No wonder she looked so much chipper, much more dolled up than she had been. "Don't say such insensitive remarks about your Uncle Killian!"

"Umm... no, Sasha, it's fine. You didn't tell me you were going to have guests coming over." The man tried his best to portray a forgiving look, but all he managed was to look sick. Vergil and I exchanged a knowing look, and I did my best not to giggle at how uncomfortable the man looked in the situation. Vergil only watched on with his passive eyes, still holding on to his son as if to declare dominance.

I could only silently shake my head at Vergil's secret child-like declaration of dominance over the young, unknowing Leon.

"I'm sorry, we came without a warning." I stepped forward closer towards him, extending a hand politely. "My name is Leah, Leah Cartlier. I am Sasha's close friend, who's come to visit after leaving for a long time."

"It's a pleasure to meet you." The man replied instinctively, and gave a smile that I would admit made him quite attractive. However, nothing attracted me quite like Vergil, and so I was immune to falling for his charms. Still, I understood why Sasha might have fallen for someone like him, particularly someone who understood Sasha's family situation, and still wanted to love the woman. "My name is Killian Reynolds. I am Sasha's colleague at work."

"Uncle Killian, that's Miss Leah! I've told you about Miss Leah as well, haven't I?" Leon interjected enthusiastically, ready to make introductions. Turning to smile at the young boy, I froze at the withering stare my boyfriend gave to Killian and immediately remembered that the man was still holding on to my hand despite having already shaken it.

He seemed to realize it as well, dropping my hand quickly as if it were acid, then passing me an apologetic look before looking worriedly at Vergil. It was easy to understand that the man was unnerved by my stern-looking boyfriend, and I restrained myself from scolding Vergil. Vergil was simply doing his best to assert his male dominance, and while I didn't appreciate his glaring at the innocent, I couldn't deny that I liked his protectiveness.

"U-Um... since you have visitors today, I think I'll drop by another day..." Killian began to say, turning around to escape the way he came.

"No, it's fine." Vergil's sharp words sliced through the air, and poor Killian froze once more in the acting of turning around. "Stay. We should talk."

"Papa?" Leon, being the clueless little boy between us adults, tugged at his father's hand. "What's wrong, Papa? You sound angry."

"Nothing's wrong, Leon." Vergil said calmly, patting the boy's head but standing up, eyes still piercing on the poor man. "You said you were going to help Sasha make dinner for us? Why don't you go do it now?"

The suggestion sat well with Leon, and Sasha threw Vergil a dirty and warning look before she was dragged helpless to the kitchen by the enthusiastic Leon. That left the scared Killian, Vergil and me in the living area.

"Sit." Vergil's orders was immediately followed, and I sighed quietly, joining by my boyfriend's side, in hopes to remind him that he shouldn't be too strict or hard on the man who was trying to pursue a woman he loved.

"My name is Vergil. Vergil Sparda. You may have heard of me."

"Yes, you are the-" Killian rushed to say, but was instantly cut off by my badass boyfriend.

"I don't need to know what you've heard of me. What I want to know is your plans with Sasha and Leon."

There was short confusion, then it cleared quickly as Killian did his best to scrape whatever confidence he still had left.

"I have admired Sasha ever since I met her. I only admire her even more after knowing that she is a single mother. I love Leon like my own son. I want to protect them and watch Leon grow up into a fine young man. I know you've been doing that since Leon was born, but you left, and I thought..." Killian faded away, as if recognising something that he shouldn't have said.

"Because I left, you thought I was an irresponsible father who left Sasha and Leon to fend for themselves. And you want to pick up what I left off."

The look that Killian replied with reminded me of a startled rabbit.

"I would never have-" The lousy excuse was quickly cut off by my boyfriend who simply replied with a withering stare.

"It is nothing but the plain truth. It is true that I left Sasha and Leon. You have no fault in trying to pick up what I abandoned. But do remember that before you even begin to imagine the slightest bit of harm to either of them, I will be there, even in your dreams, to end every last bit of your being."

"Vergil," I put in quickly, "don't scare him off like that. Sasha would murder you if she knew about this."

It was apparent that Vergil had made up his mind to be the bad guy when he refused to let the expression on his face soften for even the slightest bit.

"I'll have you know, Mr. Reynolds, that I promised Sasha that I would take care of her and Leon for the rest of their lives when I decided to assume the role of Leon's father. You are brave to attempt, but you must be wise as well. Do make sure that you understand who you are trying to pursue before you act. I might have been gone for five years, but now that I'm back, I have no intentions of letting you harm them."

"With all due respect, Mr Sparda, I never intended to harm either of them. I love Sasha's strong heart as well as Leon's brightness." Killian finally seemed to be getting his bearings back once more as he sat straighter, as if somehow gaining the confidence to speak up against Leon's 'Papa'." I want nothing but the best for them and their future."

"That's great. Now that we've talked things out calmly like the civil people we are, let's go see if Leon and Sasha needs any help with dinner." I did my best to calm the imminent testosterone fight, but it was obvious now that Killian had somehow grew some amazing balls against my scary boyfriend. I, after all, knew perfectly well how scary it was to be at the other end of Vergil's displeasure.

And so, since the poor suitor seemed adamant about facing down my boyfriend's dead-eye stare, I left the two men alone and retreated to the kitchen. Or at least, that was what I planned to do.

No one saw it coming, and neither did I.

The moment I stood up, the craziest sense of vertigo hit me. I felt water droplets hit my hand, and looked down by pure instincts. I don't know if shock was the emotion I felt when I saw the bright patches of blood, with a few more additional blood drops falling quickly.

I turned around and tried to call for Vergil.

The only problem was the fact that even before I could turn around to look at my darling, I was already far away from the world.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

"Leah, you must help Father..." The voice sounded ethereal and far away, floating in the darkness.

"You must fulfil your mission and save Father. I will forgive everything if you reunite my family. All I want is for my family to be happy. Dante isn't happy now... Mummy and Daddy aren't happy. And Big Brother Vergil... isn't happy."

"But why?" My own reply was small as well, but I somehow understood that I was speaking to Lily. "Why isn't Vergil happy?"

Thinking back, it was kind of ungrateful for me to forget all about the rest of the Sparda family just by hearing that Vergil was unhappy, but give me a break; the man was the one I loved with the whole of my heart.

"He has his own frustrations." The cryptic voice replied, and I sighed. The last time I talked to Lily, she has still been screaming to destroy Mundus. Was it so much to ask for a polite greeting, or perhaps just more specific answers? It was like she was learning the delicate art of withholding information from my favourite angel Azazel.

"You must tell him the truth when you can. You must not be scared, and you must tell him. He will lie to you, and pretend that he hates it. But you must be strong and love him, because he will come around. Big brother loves you very much." Lily continued, further throwing me into another deeper level of confusion. What exactly could happen to us? What truth must I tell my lover?

"Don't be afraid. Don't fear. It will hurt, and you will become weaker. But you will have my strength and support. My brothers might be afraid, but they don't understand that it will make them happier than they have ever been in their lives." Out the darkness came myself, wearing a pretty white, frilly dress that I didn't remember owning. I stared at my own doppelganger, admiring her glowing red eyes and quickly understood that she was Lily.

"What are you talking about?" My worry must have been obvious when she stepped even closer, till we were almost nose to nose.

"Take care of her." She smiled, and reached forwards, pressing a gentle hand on my stomach. I flinched a little, because it was still kind of hard to ignore the fact that Lily had been my worst nightmare the last time I was in Limbo. Now that we had things settled between us, it was still pretty hard to expect me to be soul sister to my demonic self, particularly when she was dropping cryptic hints to things I didn't understand a word about. "Love her the same way you were loved. Remember what Mum gave up for us both, and you will understand her emotions."

"Love who?" I asked desperately, still gaining no answer.

"Love Vergil and trust in him." Lily looked deep into my eyes and smiled.

I opened my mouth to ask more, but her hand on my stomach moved up to my chest. Then, with on strong push, she sent me spiralling back into blackness.

I swear, my life is complicated enough with my mission, my very own ex-guardian Azazel and my mother giving me almost-impossible tasks. I didn't need an addition to that list, but it seemed like Lily wasn't intending to be left out.

I was so tied up with all this.

If only I knew: this was just the beginning of a whole new nightmare.