A/N: Last update of 2017! The past year has been rather kind to me, and I hope that everyone will be kind as well and continue reading, voting and commenting on my stories :) Have a happy New Year up ahead!

This story is dedicated to @rey_asha who requested for a heartful reunion of the Sparda family. I hope this is what you wanted!

[Confrontation And Conciliation]

The couple in their 20th year of marriage was spending another childless day sitting around in the living area. Jerlyn Sparda approached her husband from the back, holding a health booklet that she thought had gone missing 20 years ago.

"Look at this. I found it hiding in the cupboard where I keep my picklocks." She said with a sad smile, taking her husband's attention.

"Why are you still keeping them?" Vergil asked, receiving the booklet anyway and opening it up since he couldn't recognize it, nor the significance of it at face value.

"They are useful tools to keep around the house." She replied, not wanting to admit that her thieving desires had come out again, and she had been itching to touch the tools of her old trade for even just a short moment.

"Isn't this..." Vergil's short sentence faded away when he saw the name written on the first page, as well as the details written on it.

"It's his 20th birthday soon, isn't it?" Jerlyn answered sadly. "20 years without his parents celebrating with him."

"You still sent him presents anonymously until he was ten." Vergil answered, closing the booklet. The man did not like to admit it aloud, but Jerlyn knew that he hurt as much as she did when they decided to give their son Nero to the orphanage in Fortuna 20 years ago.

It had been a difficult choice to make for the both of them; to give Nero away or let him grow up in an environment that was completely horrible for a child's growth -with a father; an infamous demon hunter and a mother; a notorious theft and con artist with her name on many wanted lists internationally. They had made the rational choice that was the best for their son, but it didn't mean that it had hurt any less.

"I wonder how he is doing. I hope he wasn't caught in the fiasco of Fortuna." Jerlyn answered, taking back the health booklet that had been issued by the hospital when Nero had been born. She didn't remember if it had been hiding in the cupboard because she had put it there on purpose to ignore the fact that she had given birth to a son that she could not acknowledge. Still, now that it was found, she wasn't really sure what to do with it because leaving it lying around made her sad, but she didn't want to throw away the only thing left in the house that reminded her of a son she was forced to forget.

"He must have inherited his mother's abilities to get out of tight spots by himself."

The conversation was stalled when the doorbell rang and Vergil went to answer the door as Jerlyn returned to their bedroom to keep the health booklet in somewhere more visible now. She emerged from the bedroom to find their visitor a familiar man.

"Dante, you're back!" Jerlyn exclaimed with surprise. "Where were you? You went missing two weeks ago. Any longer and I would have had Vergil to lodge a missing case on you."

"Bad case in Fortuna involving idiots trying to get demonic power with all the wrong methods and reasons." Dante answered as a reply, taking an uninvited seat on their couch as Vergil returned to his seat, picking up his book again as if completely uninterested about what his brother had been through.

"Fortuna?" Jerlyn repeated with surprise. "Does it have anything to do with whatever that's being reported on the news? Fortuna being ruined by a demon-possessed priest who had been trying to open a Hell Gate beneath the city?"

"That's the general gist. He was stopped before anything terrible happened, though. I'm beat. I wanted to come back, but Trish and Lady made me stay and be nice to everyone and pretend that I care."

"Then why didn't you go back home? Why are you here?"

"Because I think the both of you have some explaining to do." Dante sat up. The man was so rarely serious that Jerlyn could not help but feel a little intimidated at what the younger twin would say. Even Vergil seemed to sense the atmosphere change, because Jerlyn's husband had pulled his head out of the book and was now looking at his brother over the top of the book, waiting patiently for the next words.

"When was I ever going to be notified about a nephew? And what the heck is doing he in Fortuna with Yamato? You told me you lost it long ago, and before you make a stupid excuse again, Vergil, I'll have you know that I never once believed it when you said you lost it."

It had never been either Vergil or Jerlyn's intention to keep Nero a secret from Dante, but the couple had learnt over the years that not talking about their son was the best way to make them forget that they had had a child that they could not bring up by themselves. And because Vergil and Dante had reunited a few years after Nero was born, it was natural that neither party talked about their son to Vergil's brother until now.

"Nero has always been a topic that we don't like to talk about." Vergil answered quietly. "Is he doing fine?"

"More than fine." Dante gave a roll of his eyes. "He has a cocky personality that must have come from you. Did you really have to give him Yamato?"

"It was collateral for the orphanage to accept him. They were going to refuse taking care of him because of his demonic arm, and I had to offer some incentive." Vergil answered. "I made them promise to give it to him when he came of age, though."

"Some promise." Dante snorted now sarcastically. "They drew the power out of Yamato to make their demon-angel things, and opened the Hell Gate with Yamato, and activated the statue with Nero's blood of Sparda. The whole fiasco of Fortuna is thanks to you, Vergil. Are you happy now?"

"I had no idea that things would turn out like that."

"Does he know that you are his father? Has he met the two of you ever since you left him in Fortuna?"

"No." Vergil's answer was honest, coming to his feet. "But if people are starting to realise that he has Sparda blood, it seems like good time for us to find him."

He was not even surprised to find his wife coming out of their bedroom with an overnight bag already packed and ready to go. Nodding to Jerlyn without needing any words of instructions, the both of them made for the front door. Vergil, however, stopped beside the couch that Dante had settled himself in.

"Now that you are done asking, go back home. Trish must be waiting for you."

"I just managed to shake those two gold-diggers off my back; you want me to go back?" Dante asked, horrified.

"I want you out of my house. I'm locking the place up, and I don't want you trying to break out when you find yourself locked in."

"Wait; where are the two of you going? Isn't it too late for a late-night date? Most of the restaurants are closed." Dante reluctantly pulled himself up, following his brother to the door where Jerlyn had already made sure that everything was ready for their absence for the next few days.

"I told you; it is good time to find him." Vergil answered, shrugging on his coat and pushing Dante out the door in front of him. "Unless you have interest to go back to Fortuna, you should be going home."

"Are the two of you crazy? It's almost 1am!"

"Trains still run in the morning." Jerlyn answered her brother-in-law, locking up the door behind her husband and his brother. "Besides, I have been trying to find excuses to go visiting Nero in secret since forever, and you have just given us a very good reason to do so."

"You know the boy's going to hate you for abandoning him, right? I hated Dad for dying and leaving Mum alone and helpless when I was his age."

"That's because you were always an immature little boy." Vergil answered passively. "Nero might hate us, but he will be mature enough to understand once he gets to know us better."

"You're talking like you know what's going on, but you are forgetting that I was the one who met him and saved his lazy ass back in Fortuna, Verge. He isn't like you. I think he has more of Jerlyn than you."

"Is that something bad?" The woman in topic asked with a dirty look to Dante at his implied connotation.

"No, no." Dante shook his head like his life depended on it, because his life did depend on it. He had learnt over the years that even implying anything bad about his sister-in-law in front of his brother was basically an expressway into Hell. "I mean that you can't judge his personality based on what you think he is. He isn't very impressive for a Sparda, and he doesn't have a very good brain up there."

"You must be referring to yourself. Don't be jealous, Dante." Jerlyn patting her brother-in-law on the top of his head as the couple started to make their way down the main corridor towards the lift. "Even with Nero around, you're still going to be the pet that we can't completely throw away."

________________________________________________________________________________

It was dawn by the time the Sparda couple reached the halfway point of their travel at a train terminal where they could enjoy an hour's worth of break before changing trains to continue their journey to Fortuna. It was a welcome break, because Jerlyn Sparda's back was sore from the uncomfortable seat that they had bought last-minute. There hadn't been more comfortable seats on the overnight train, but neither of them had been willing to wait for one day more to go to Fortuna.

Considering how terrible the situation had been reported on the television, Jerlyn could not bear leaving her son alone for another day more than necessary. Sure, Dante had reassured them that he had helped Nero clean up most of the mess, but Dante was Dante, so nobody could completely trust the man who could spin stories of grandeur just to boost his own ego.

Vergil had yet to say anything, but Jerlyn knew the man that she had fallen in love with for the past 21 years. The man didn't have to express his feelings in words; it took her just one look at his face for her to understand the many intricacies of his feelings that ran beneath the surface of a calm and composed man.

"There's a restaurant over there. Breakfast?" He asked as they got off the overnight train, and even though there were no more words, Jerlyn knew that he was ravenous. He always invited her to food places, phrasing it as if he was doing her a favour for treating her a meal there when in truth, it was the man himself who wanted to eat. This time was no different as she smiled softly and nodded in reply.

Since the restaurant was the only diner visible within the small station where wearied travellers very much like Jerlyn and her husband were seeking short reprieve, she was not surprised to find the place almost packed and a small queue forming with passengers that had been on the same night train as them.

"I'll buy us something. You get us a seat." Her husband said, and was gone in a wink. This was a routine they had set between them over many dates, and her getting a seat and waiting for her husband's choice of food for her was always the norm. This time was no different as Jerlyn wandered the aisles, not holding on to much hope of any empty tables.

Not feeling up to waiting for a table to clear, she began to start aiming at the tables with empty seats for two. There were a few couples here and there taking a stall meant for four, and that meant that she and her husband could join the table.

Jerlyn picked out her target after quick decision, making for the stall by the window where a young lady sat by herself.

"Hello, I'm sorry to be a bother, but I was wondering if there are any open seats for me and my husband. We've both just gotten off the train, and we're just looking for a good breakfast to refresh ourselves." Jerlyn said as politely as she could to the young lady, who nodded quickly with a kind smile in reply, shifting so that Jerlyn could climb into the stall.

"It's just me and my boyfriend, so I hope you don't mind. He's at the washroom." The young lady answered.

"I see. I was wondering why you had two cups in front of you." Jerlyn didn't know why, but she decided that she liked the young lady. She was basing her judgement of the lady on her appearance, but Jerlyn couldn't find anything that she might not like about the young lady.

"Oh, no. I don't usually drink two cups of coffee by myself." The young lady rushed to clear up Jerlyn's misconception. "Actually, I don't drink coffee often because it harms the throat, and my throat is important for my job."

"You are a singer?" Jerlyn enquired politely, glad to strike small conversation while she waited for her husband to come back with food.

"I was a songstress, but recently... situations happened, so I'm currently unemployed and travelling with my boyfriend."

"I'm sorry to hear that. Business is bad nowadays, isn't it?"

"It's not exactly a lack of business..." The young lady looked a little unsure now. "It's more like most of my city was wiped out recently, so nobody has the money or interest in hiring a songstress..."

"You came from Fortuna?" Jerlyn noted with slight surprise. While it was understandable that she would meet a few refugees who had escaped out of Fortuna to seek shelter during the demon invasion, Jerlyn simply just hadn't connected the news that she had watched on the TV back at home to the real-life situation now.

"Yes. I am just lucky to be alive. If it weren't for my boyfriend, I would have died long ago."

"That's nonsense. If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have been put in danger in the first place. Saving you was the least I could do to make up for my being a danger to you." An interrupting voice came, startling both women in the conversation.

Jerlyn and the young lady turned to see a young man back from the washroom, a stylish hat fixed over his head. The first thing that struck Jerlyn was how blue his eyes were, and how sharp his features were. He had a bandaged right arm from his shoulders all the way to his fingers, and Jerlyn immediately felt slightly sorry for him. He must have gotten the injury while running away from Fortuna's misfortune.

"You met a friend, Kyrie?" The young man asked his girlfriend, easily sliding into the seat beside his girlfriend and continuing to take another sip from his half-finished coffee.

"Oh, she is just a diner looking for a free seat. I hope you don't mind her and her husband sharing our stall." The young lady now named Kyrie answered, but Jerlyn's eyes were on the young man. There was just something about him that she couldn't put her finger on.

"I'm fine if you're fine, and they're fine with sharing the table with us." The young man answered, turning to back to meet Jerlyn's eyes and giving her an acknowledging nod and smile.

"Your arm injury looks bad." Jerlyn found herself commenting, but for some reason she could not find pity in her voice. It was as if she somehow knew that the reason that the arm was bandaged was not because of a wound. But if it wasn't because of a wound or injury, then why would a young man want to wrap his arm up for no reason?

"Oh, this?" The young man answered, flexing his bandaged fingers. "It's not as bad as it looks. I can use it like normal."

"Here you are." The sudden comment took everyone's attention at the table again, and Jerlyn turned to find her husband standing beside the table with a tray full of breakfast. "I was looking around for you."

"I hope you don't mind sharing the table." Jerlyn answered her husband, helping to set their plates down on the table before her husband slid into the seat beside her, taking a seat opposite the young man.

It was standard Vergil Sparda ego, but her husband didn't cast a single look over to the young people sharing the booth with them. His eyes were more fervently on the food.

"That's right, I haven't introduced myself." Jerlyn decided that she needed to do something before the young people decided that her husband was being a little too prideful for ignoring them. "My name is Jerlyn Sparda, and this is my husband, Vergil."

"Vergil?" The young man repeated, blinking in a hard stare. "Isn't he Dante? I thought you said you were going back home in Vita; what are you doing here?"

The last question was addressed to Jerlyn's husband, who finally looked up at the sound of the young man's question. Jerlyn held her breath for some form of cold threat made to the young man about speaking to him rudely, but instead what she saw was something else.

Something flashed in his aquamarine blue eyes, and Vergil's whole body froze, staring.

"Dear?" Jerlyn knew that there was something about the young man that she should know, and apparently her husband had found out the answer to that; except that he was too busy being shocked and frozen to tell her at the moment. The young man's comment about Dante confused her too, but her more pressing concern was her husband at the moment.

"Jerlyn." Her husband didn't often call her by name, but this time he did, snapping out of his shock to look at her with hard aquamarine orbs. "We have just maxed out our lifetime's worth of coincidences."

"What do you mean?"

"Him." Vergil pointed to the young man sitting across him with the end of his fork, speaking in a riddle that all three other people in the stall could not follow. "Don't you see? Look clearly."

"Look, I don't know what game you are trying to play, but I'm just glad that we've met you here. You saved us the trip all the way down to Vita. Here's your sword back. I know you said that it's a gift worth giving, but if it belongs to your brother, I don't think someone unrelated to you like me should hold it." The young man definitely seemed to recognise Vergil, and there was a short glow coming from the bandaged arm before a soft clink sounded, and a long sheathed sword appeared on the table in between them.

It only confirmed everything further, as Vergil stared at the sword that he had once used to open a tunnel to the Demon World. It was the same sword that he once used to stab Dante through the chest.

It was also the same sword that, according to Dante, had been the main root cause of the demonic problem in Fortuna. Yamato had been meant as an inheritance to his son, and according to Dante, the sword had been entrusted to its originally intended recipient.

"Oh my god." Jerlyn now had her hand slapped over her mouth as her gaze alternated between the sword on the table, the person who had made the sword appear and the person who had owned the sword a long time ago before it had been given away.

"Jerlyn, don't." Her husband's words cut her exclamation and she looked over to the man who stared only at the sword.

"But, he..."

"I know." Vergil's eyes was something soft now despite the lack of expression on his face when he gave a light comforting touch on her hand.

"I what?" The young man asked in confusion, looking between the couple sitting across him. Something about the sword that had been entrusted to him had gotten some form of intense realisation from them, but it wasn't striking him.

"Keep the sword. It belongs to you. I'm sure Dante told you that it was a gift worth giving." Vergil answered, forcing himself to continue with his breakfast despite the fact that he wasn't feeling that hungry anymore.

"You're not Dante? But you look exactly like him." Young Man looked suspicious.

"I don't know if he told you, but I am his brother."

"I think he implied that you were dead. He said this sword belonged to you and he wanted to keep it in the family."

"It is in the family." Vergil answered. "But keep it. Dante often wishes me dead, so he likes to tell people that I am."

"So... you don't want the sword back?"

"No, you can have it. Dante doesn't need it, and I've learnt to survive without it for the past 20 years."

"Why did you leave it in Fortuna, though? You gave those guys in the Order the power to play around with the power in your sword." The young man looked as if he didn't know whether to be angry that Vergil had left such a powerful weapon in the hands of people who had used it to do something stupid and dangerous, or to be grateful that the original owner of the powerful sword was giving his formal permission to allow the young man to keep and use it.

"I meant to give the sword to my son when he came of age to wield it himself. It was meant as a collateral for the orphanage to continue looking after him." Vergil forced himself to insert nonchalance in his tone.

"Then shouldn't you give this to your son? I shouldn't be keeping it." The young man pushed the sword across the table. "I don't think I should hold something that has such value for you."

"No, keep it. You're the best person to hold the sword for now." Vergil insisted, pushing the sword back across the table. He struggled not to jolt at the sudden sting of suppressed power that jumped to him on his touch, as if recognising his touch. In all honesty, he itched to hold Yamato all over again.

"It's a good sword." The young man said, as if offering Vergil one last chance to go back on his word –and Vergil was sorely tempted to do so.

"I maintain by my point. You need it more than I do. Besides, you have bonded well with it. Not many can do that. Yamato recognises its masters, and if you have been using it well, then it means that it is fine with you."

"Your loss." The young man shrugged, grabbing the sword back. Then, with nothing much else to say, the young man leaned back in his seat, looking around boredly.

Beside them, a conversation had started between the ladies and Vergil got a general sense that his wife was getting increasingly excited at being able to connect very well with the girlfriend of their son who had still yet to know that he was their son. There was no space for either men to interrupt in their conversation, and thus Vergil took the silent conversation space between them to monitor his son's actions while the young man looked around the diner.

Nero had tried his best to hide his head of white hair –for whatever reason Vergil didn't understand –but he could still see the small tuft of fringe fighting to show itself from the hemline of his hat. A purple-blue coat with a few pockets and practical sleeves was draped over a simple red vest and leather pants. Vergil frowned slightly at the choice of pants –mainly because it reminded him of Dante's fashion sense as well. Leather was not a comfortable material for demon hunting, and despite how stylish it looked, Vergil could not believe that Dante had the money to afford the luxury.

"That arm." Vergil said to start a conversation, his eyes tagged on the bandage that had been done neatly. Knowing his wife's nature, and gauging how much of his mother the young man must have inherited, Vergil knew that it probably was not possible for him to have bandaged it by himself so neatly. The bandage was probably done by someone else more gentle, and Vergil's best bet was the gentle young woman sitting beside him. "An accident of the fiasco in Fortuna?"

"Not really." Nero shifted the arm self-consciously. "It's not as bad as it looks."

"Did you have to grow up bandaging it up?"

"You know about my demonic arm?" The young man looked surprised.

"Dante told me."

"Oh." Nero frowned. "That damned geezer."

"Did you have to grow up bandaging it?" Vergil pursued, because the question had not been answered.

"Yeah. It scared the other kids at the orphanage, so I kept it hidden. It helped when I was trying out to be part of the Order of the Sword. It's useful at times, but other times it's just a hindrance. I don't know how it works sometimes."

"You'll learn." Vergil answered, clearing the last of his breakfast from his plate. "Dante and I took years to learn what we could or could not do."

"The two of you are the sons of Sparda? I always thought he was a myth, or just a cheap story made up by the Order to make people pray."

Vergil paused. 'Sparda is your grandfather' was probably not the right thing to say.

Not like 'I am your father' was any more appropriate in the current situation.

All Vergil could do was to continue the conversation like normal.

"Dante and I are half demons. Our father was Sparda and our mother was a human. It put us in a strange position."

"Yeah, well, my parents put me in a strange position too." Nero answered easily, taking his last sip of coffee. "I think a baby with a blue arm has got to scare some nurses somewhere. I wonder what my parents were if they made someone as messed up as me."

"Your parents are perfectly normal." Vergil's answer was a tad bit too early, and it certainly put an uncomfortable pause in their conversation as Nero looked back at him in surprise.

"I... I mean I'm sure they cherished you and loved you like any boy."

"Some loving they did... They put me in the orphanage before I could even recognise them."

"I'm sure they had no choice."

"I think not having a choice is an excuse parents make to abandon their babies in orphanages. If they really loved me, they probably would have tried to make things work."

"Even if they were going to ruin your future if you stayed with them?"

"I think I get to decide my future, and I get to decide if they ruin it for me or not. They didn't even give me the chance to get to know them well. I had to grow up fighting with the boys at the orphanage. Sure, I met Kyrie there, but that's just a lucky streak. It doesn't erase the fact that they left me there and didn't look back."

"They must have looked back. I'm sure they looked back multiple times. Your mother must have gone back many times to watch you from behind the fence to make sure that none of the boys at the orphanage bullied you about your arm too much." Vergil didn't want to say too much, but when it came to his wife, he could not help but feel the need to stand up for Jerlyn. Jerlyn had gone back to Fortuna almost every other week when during Nero's first year in the orphanage, but the ex-thief had been amazing in her hiding skills, and thus had never been spotted by the Matron of the orphanage ever.

"Okay, fine." Nero admitted with a small frown at Vergil's hardened insistence. "The matron at my orphanage did tell me that my mother cried buckets of tears that day when they left me at the orphanage. My father apparently had to drag her all the way to the cab, and even when he did, she jumped out of the moving cab and ran back to hug me."

Jerlyn had given Vergil a tiny heart attack that day so many years ago when she had thrown herself out of the moving cab, but when he watched his wife run back to the orphanage to hug their son one last time, he had stood there wondering if they had done the right thing.

Now, 20 years later, sitting across his son who still did not know of the truth, Vergil came to the safe conclusion that even though it had been a very painful 20 years for all three of them, it had been the best choice of action to take.

"I hope that it good enough evidence that your mother loved you."

"My mother gave me tears, but my father gave me scars." The corner of Nero's lips tilted with a crooked smile that Vergil recognised on Jerlyn. Dante's comment about Nero having more of his mother definitely had not been a lie.

"What do you mean?"

"The matron told me that the day they left me, he marked me on my chest here." Nero put his hand over his left pec, pressing lightly against coat. "He said there was some fancy meaning about him and me being close to each other's heart in our scars even if we might be far apart."

"It was Jerlyn's idea." Vergil muttered softly, silently half hoping that Nero could hear him. "She wanted you to have a way to recognise me if we ever met again."

"I'm sorry?" The young man asked, clearly not having heard his father very well.

"Oh my god, I can't take it anymore!" The sudden exclamation beside Vergil surprised everyone at the table, and eyes turned to Jerlyn Sparda who turned fiercely to her husband. "Take it off! Now!"

"Jerlyn..." Vergil began to shake his head, but a mother who had not talked properly to her son for the past 20 years was past listening.

"Take off your damned shirt, Vergil, and show him. Now." She demanded, and despite all of the scary demon that Vergil could be when he wanted to be, she watched her husband obediently shrug off his coat, and began unbuttoning the front of his shirt.

"Wait, no. What are you doing? Stop, don't strip. It's disgusting." Nero tried to stop the movement, but it seemed like Vergil was simply obediently obeying his wife. Thus, all Nero could do at the moment was to cover his girlfriend's eyes quickly when Vergil pulled open the top of his unbuttoned shirt until a firm sculpted left pec could be seen.

There, above his nipple, was an unmistakable mark, a scar made 20 years ago.

"Your mother wanted something fancy so that you cannot mistake your own father, but I stopped her before she could carve you up like a pumpkin on Halloween." Vergil said, quickly and self-consciously button up again before his chest could be seen any longer.

"What the heck?" Nero demanded, knowing better than to try denying what his eyes had confirmed. The mark might not be complicated, but it was complex enough for the scar to not be received by sheer accident. Nero had never imagined that he would be ever able to meet the person who held this scar on his chest as well.

"Nero, I know you must really hate us for turning up like that and shocking you, but your father and I never expected to meet you like this as well. We were actually just going to go to Fortuna to find you and make sure that you are okay after all that Dante told us about what happened to you." Jerlyn begged, and even though Vergil had never been a very emotional person in the first place, he now hoped that his son could at the very least maintain his composure well in front of Jerlyn.

"I'm sorry," Kyrie cut in softly, looking around unsurely because her boyfriend had blocked her eyes from the sight of Vergil's scar. "May I know what you are all talking about? Nero's parents?"

"I'm sorry about lying to you too, Kyrie." Jerlyn scooped up the young woman's hands in both of hers. "I'm so glad that you are such a nice and gentle woman, and I'm so glad that Nero loves someone like you. He's really blessed to have someone like you to love him, because I couldn't show him my love while he grew up."

"What... What is going on, Nero?" The poor young woman looked to her shocked boyfriend, seeking help.

"I... They..." Nero's words could not come out as he stared at his father.

"We are his parents." Vergil answered for his son's sake. "Your boyfriend is my son."

"I never said I'm acknowledging you two as my parents!" Nero protested in horror at the sudden strong proclamation.

"You can hate us, but it's the truth. I am your father, and Jerlyn is your mother. Hate me all you like, Nero, but try not to hate your mother so much. She really loves you."

"Don't listen to his nonsense. Your father loves you very much also. He just doesn't want to admit it aloud! The both of us love you equally!" Jerlyn exclaimed, knowing that her husband was trying to make himself out as the bad guy so that Nero would be softer towards her.

"I need to take a time out." Nero declared, throwing his hands up in defeat as he moved out of his seat.

Vergil couldn't blame the young man for his escapism, and thus watched motionless as his son walked away from them as quickly as he could. Poor Kyrie looked completely flummoxed as she followed her boyfriend out of the stall, passing them an apologetic look before chasing after a Nero who had run out of the restaurant by now. Tracking them through the window, Vergil watched wordlessly as Nero stopped a good distance away from the train station.

Kyrie caught up to her boyfriend, and the two exchanged words before they hugged each other tightly.

Despite the distance that Nero stood away from the restaurant, Vergil could see it clearly through the glass window of the restaurant as his son's head rested over Kyrie's shoulder, side profile clearly displayed.

Nero's tears caught the weak sunlight filtered through the frosted glass roof of the station and glinted.

Vergil's heart jumped, with very good reasons.

The glass window that he had been looking through shattered in a loud crash, and he jumped up in horror to find that his wife had done it again.

The utensil holder on the table laid out on the floor outside the restaurant, shattered glass all over the floor as Jerlyn Sparda climbed on the table, stepped on the ledge of the window and jumped through the hole she had made.

"Jerlyn!" Vergil exclaimed, but his wife was past listening as she landed on the floor outside the restaurant, then took into a dead run towards the shell-shocked couple.

"This is who your mother is, Nero! Your mother was a thief, arsonist, gangster and con artist! Your father is a demon hunter with the blood with a full-blooded demon! There was no way the two of us could bring you up to be upright with a sense of justice. You could never have grown up like you did if you walked with us." Jerlyn stood in front of the frozen couple, the entire train station frozen at the actions of a mad woman who had thrown a utensil holder through the glass window with an amazing amount of force, then gone running through the broken window.

Vergil sighed to himself, shaking his head as he stepped up quickly on the table and followed his wife jumping out of the restaurant through the broken window as well. They were going to deal with a lawsuit on their hands soon about the broken window, but right now his wife was more or less in risk of being recognised as the number 1 International Wanted woman for numerous counts of arson, forgery, trespass of private properties and theft.

"I'm sorry I could never get to show you how much I love you, Nero, but I really never stopped loving you. I know 20 years is too late for an apology, but as long as you and I are alive, I'm never going to stop trying to apologise. If you turned back time 20 years, I still would have left you back there in the orphanage. That isn't going to change. You could not grow up with us, Nero. But that doesn't mean you cannot grow old with us." Jerlyn continued, completely oblivious of the attention of the entire train station on her.

It was touching and all, but unfortunately, Vergil had more concerns at the moment, since phones were being whipped out and pointed towards his wife's direction. Any of those videos, once uploaded, would force his wife back into a prolonged period of hiding from policemen, investigators and detectives all around town.

"We've got to go." Vergil said as he reached his wife's side, throwing his coat over the top of her head and pulling her so that her face would be hidden against his chest. "People are taking videos and we don't want anyone to recognise you."

He began to turn away when he felt his wife nod once in his embrace, knowing that she had done something stupid. But that was just the way she was like, and Vergil had married this woman for far too long to even be surprised.

"Wait." What surprised him, instead, was when their son spoke up and stalled their quick retreat.

"I'm sorry, Nero, but your mother cannot stay here any longer." Vergil replied with a shake of his head. "We don't want to implicate you. Our reputation will pull you down if you come with us."

"I think I'm old enough to decide what is good or bad for me. I'm coming." Nero said, hard aquamarine blue eyes that he had inherited from Vergil speaking for his determination as he began to make for his father. Kyrie silently followed along, holding her boyfriend's hand tightly.

"You will regret coming with us." Vergil warned when Nero reached his side.

"I think I will regret not coming with you more. I can't let Mum be put in danger just because she wanted to talk to me."

"Did you just call me Mum?" Jerlyn pulled her head out of her husband's embrace to stare at her son, ignorant of the phone cameras aimed at them. Vergil wrapped his coat tighter around her, pulling the material up to block her face as much as he could.

"Yes. I can't pretend that I haven't been dreaming about meeting and reuniting with my parents since young. It's going to be harder accepting someone with Dante's face for a father, but it doesn't mean I can't try. Now, let's go before something bad happens." Nero answered. "Lead the way."

"There's no need to run." Vergil said, letting his power rise and escape from his body now. "Do you still have Yamato?"

"Yes. Why?" The young man answered, curious as he summoned the sword again just to prove it.

"Let me teach you the first thing as a father." Vergil answered, pooling his power to his palm and reaching for the sword in his son's hand with the same power-filled palm. "Lesson 1: Yamato's teleporting abilities can be activated by anyone with Sparda's blood."

"What do you-" Nero's question was half interrupted when Vergil touched the sword with his hand, and his power exploded.

"What the fu-" The exclamation rang loud, and Vergil let the sword go, stepping back to see his twin brother with only a towel wrapped around his lower body, and half a pizza hanging from his mouth.

"What the hell, Vergil?!? I thought you were at Fortuna reuniting with your son?" Dante demanded, tearing the pizza from his mouth.

"He was." Nero answered for his father's sake, looking grimly at the half-naked man who honestly did not seem to deserve his physique given his diet. "Hello, Uncle Dante. We meet again."