A/N: This one-shot may be seen as a continuation from [Welcome Home], or on its own since both describe my imagination of an alternative/extended ending to DMC5.

[Devil Trigger]

Personality: Post-DMC5 Vergil

"Hey!" Nero yelled in frustration as he pulled the trigger of his gun into the mouth of the nearest demon. The charged shots came out from the double-barrel of his gun, blasting demonic juices around, though Nero had already moved out of its trajectory.

Unfortunately, someone else passed where Nero stood milliseconds later in a flash and was caught in that spray as he stopped his footsteps to give a disdainful look at his stained coat.

"Who taught you to hunt demons like that? You fight like a child." Vergil asked in annoyance, critical eye cast on his son while tracking the younger demon hunter's movement through the crowd of demons around them. He could not see Dante in his immediate surrounding, but if his younger brother could not even hold his own against this meagre group of demons, then the world would have truly fallen.

"It's your fault that you got in the way!" Nero yelled back, swinging his weight behind his sword in a roundhouse slice to drive away the demons that were getting too close. "And who taught you to fight like that? Didn't your father teach you that it's not polite to steal kills from other hunters?"

"You talk big, but your actions show otherwise." Vergil scoffed at his son, casually stabbing the demon that had been trying to sneak up on him with his sheathed sword. A moment later, Vergil had closed the distance between himself and Nero, getting rid of whatever demons that had been within his vicinity with his hard, unforgiving slices. His target proved through as he skewered through the heart of another demon that had been trying to sneak up on Nero. "You do well in a one-on-one fight, but when you are in a situation like this, your defence is full of holes."

"That's only because you're getting in my way, old man!" Nero shouted in his frustration, swinging his arm at his father in hopes of knocking Vergil out of the way. "You broke another combo again!"

"That demon that I saved you from?" Vergil summoned a rain of sword to clear their immediate surrounding so that he could have a good, short conversation with his son before the group closed in again to demand their actions. "Any 'combo' that you speak of was hardly possible given its proximity."

"Yeah? Well, you're forgetting that I got two more extra hands after that whole crazy day at the Qliphoth tree." Nero challenged back, and summoned his glowing neon wings to prove his point, paired with a glare. "Now can you stop getting out of my way? You're just a dead weight interrupting my combos!"

"Dead weight?" Vergil repeated, his facial expression turning hard. "You call me a dead weight?"

One moment later, the son of Sparda had his most powerful form triggered, and Nero found himself facing down a very scary version of his father as Vergil's own wings unfurled from his being and took to the air above them.

"I will show you 'dead weight'. You may have won the fight on the top of the Qliphoth once, but that was only because I sustained injuries sparring with Dante." Vergil declared, and swept their immediate field with both his sword and his wings, clearing a large circle around Nero who stood staring in disbelief at his father's move.

"Stop giving ridiculous excuses and accept the fact that you've gotten old." Nero was definitely not one to back down as he activated his full demonic form as well, and followed his father into flight.

Dante sat on top of the nearby rooftop, watching as the flying beings not only obliterate all demons around them, but also started sparring against each other once more. The mission had been another normal one; all low-levelled demons that flooded in quantity rather than quality on the streets. There had really been no need for all three descendants of Sparda to take part in the mission, but Vergil had been bored with nothing to do, and Dante had to follow to keep an eye on his twin brother just in case the man decided that staying around Nero was too boring and went off looking for power again.

As it was, Dante had finished his part of the town rather quickly –particularly with the new weapons that he had gained from his mission at the Qliphoth two years ago. He had been on the way back to check up on his nephew and get back into Nico's van for a convenient transport back to Red Grave when he had spied his brother trying to hide in the shadows. A little worried that Vergil was up to no good, Dante had stalked his brother a good distance before the truth sank in –Vergil was only trying to watch his own son in action.

But fatherly instincts turned out to exist in the cold-blooded body of Vergil, because Dante watched as Vergil come running out of his hiding spot the moment Nero's carelessness earned him a small insignificant cut from a stray dying demon. From then on, Dante had just been lounging out of sight on the rooftop, watching with amusement as the father-and-son duo argued with each other while trying to show off to each other the extent of their skills –all the while still eliminating the demons that were still trying to round on them.

Bright flashes similar to fireworks came as the demonic forms of his brother and nephew clashed into each other again and again, creating sparks and shock waves that turned out to be strong enough to dust a few of the weaker demons on the floor below them.

It had almost been a year since Dante and Vergil's return back to the Human World, and a year of calmness did not seem to be enough for both his brother and nephew. Vergil himself was dealing with the novelties of living in a life that was relatively peaceful in the Human World, and Nero's overconfident, mouth-running personality really did not do their relationship any better. Not that Dante was in any position to speak: Nero was surprisingly still being very hung up about being called a dead weight two years ago and practically jumped at any chance to remind his elders that the two of them were getting old while Nero was readily reaching his prime.

Age was a number neither Dante nor Vergil could avoid, but having that fact rubbed in their faces by someone as brash and brazen as Nero... Dante understood why his brother and nephew seemed to be stepping over each other's toes like a normal routine whenever they met.

"Somebody's gotta clean up after them..." Dante grumbled to himself as he stood up with a rousing stretch and summoned his sword, palming it comfortably. It seemed as if the two were so busy in their aerial flight that neither were taking note of the demons that were beginning to dissipate from the crowd on the ground. Dante had no intentions to help his nephew track down each and every one of these demons if they got away, and thus had to be the one to wipe them out before they tried to scatter.

He was casually dancing his way through the obliteration of the escaping group of demons when his instincts made him look up.

"Get out of the way, dead weight!" He heard his nephew shout, but it was an advice given too late, because all he could do was to activate his devil trigger, and raise his sword upwards in defence against the projectiles coming down at him.

The contact between his sword and those of his brother's and nephew's created such a strong shock wave that the sound of windows shattering all around them could be heard. Cracks appeared in the building foundations near them, and Dante silently prayed that he wouldn't be charged with any lawsuits owing to this dramatic move that had easily eliminated every demon remaining.

"I told you to get out of the way." Nero said, landing back on his human feet after de-triggering.

"You could have given the warning a little sooner." Dante replied, his shoulders aching from the block as he returned to his human form the same way his brother was doing. "What were the two of you doing coming down together? If I wasn't here, the two of you would come out from the other side of the globe."

"I have better control than that, Dante." Vergil announced, sheathing his blade.

"Whatever you say." He replied, rolling his shoulders, then turned to his nephew. "Aren't you going to call your girlfriend or something? Somebody's got to give us a ride home."

"Nico is not my girlfriend." Nero bit out.

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever floats your boat. Call her here; I need a ride. And dinner."

"I recall Nero's girlfriend having invited us over for dinner." Vergil reminded, turning his eyes of expectancy on his son as well. "Go on."

"The two of you..." Nero didn't even know what to say against his elders. "Ugh, forget it."

Dante turned away from his nephew stalking towards the payphone sitting at the corner of the street, casually taking a look at their destroyed surrounding. He didn't even have to look to find his brother already having taken out his favourite book of poems and reading again.

"Blake again?" Dante started small conversation. "How many times have you read that already?"

"Too many times for count."

"Do you think Nero can read?" The thought struck Dante shortly. "Did he ever read the book when you left it to him?"

"I don't know. It was meant as a keepsake." Vergil answered, but any attempts at continuing the conversation was ruined when the loud sound of a large explosion and crumbling buildings came.

Without waiting a single second, both sons of Sparda went charging towards the dust cloud where Nero had disappeared, their swords ready for another fight. Dante launched himself into the air to gain some height for vantage, but instead spied something mechanical flying out from the mess. He made his choice of actions quickly, landing on the deployed mechanical arm that he distantly recalled his nephew had brought along, surfing it for a short while before directing it to where he could see the silhouette of a large demon.

"Out of the way, Dante." He heard an order close to him, and acted fast enough to jump out of the way as his brother sliced his way past him. Vergil seemed to disappear for a few moments, and then he spied his brother landing on the floor at the edge of the dissipating dust cloud, sheathing his sword. It was only once Yamato was safe in its sheathe that the lines of cuts glowed bright, making its impact known as the identity-still-unknown demon made an enraged yell at the damaged caused to it simultaneously by Nero's detonating rocket arm, and Vergil's slices.

Landing on the floor, Dante readied himself to finish the demon, but paused just as the last of mist cleared, and he smiled to himself when the scene painted a clear picture in front of him. Nero, stood in front of the collapsed demon, blood dripping from his still revved up sword.

"Who's the dead weight now?" Nero declared with a victorious grin.

________________________________________________________________________________

"Go ahead for the showers, Nero." Kyrie instructed as she handed him a clean towel and a folded set of fresh clothes. "Your uncle just got out."

"Thanks." The young man nodded in his sincere thanks, and if his family members were not in the same house, he might have risked dipping in for a kiss with his girlfriend. Still, he made sure to give his girlfriend a loving squeeze on her hand as he received the items, escaping to the bathroom quickly just in case his uncle would come in the kitchen to catch a glimpse of his turning-red ears.

"Hey, where's Nico? Didn't she come in after us?" Dante had surely picked the right timing to step into the kitchen, rubbing his white hair with the towel that Nero's girl had provided helpfully.

"She mentioned that she would be spending time at her father's lab to come up with some new weapons for Nero. Do you need her?" Kyrie's soft voice had not changed much at all since the last time Dante had heard her.

"Yeah, my guns are getting a little stuck these days." Dante grumbled, then shrugged to himself. "I guess I'll just have to ask her the next time I see her."

"I will pass the message to her. I'm sure she wants to help you tune your weapons up too. I heard that your guns were made by her grandmother, and she really idolises her." Kyrie smiled so purely that Dante felt... well, Dante felt awkward being around a woman who was so pure.

It was surely strange for his nephew to fall so crazily in love with a woman who was so far away from their world of demon hunting, but the couple had been together for too many years for Dante to say anything now. Besides, it wasn't his place to make any comments about his nephew's choice of partner. He was the one who had opted to remain silent when he first suspected about Nero being his nephew anyway.

"I hope you're okay with spaghetti today." The woman turned back to the chopping board where various seafood sat, waiting to be prepared before joining the broth that was already stewing on the stove. "I planned to make pizza, but we ran out of cheese and Nico forgot to do the groceries yesterday."

"As long as it is food, I'm game. Your boyfriend might kill me if I said no or something." Dante gave an easy-going shrug.

"Nero is not like that." Kyrie was quick to defend her boyfriend, but Dante knew better as he swept his eyes over the ingredients sitting on the counter with a cursory glance.

"Just do me a favour and keep the shrimps out of the pot. I'm allergic." Dante informed casually, reaching forwards to move the plate away from its seafood brethren. "I was almost done in the last time I had them. I still got to remain alive to keep your boy's father in check, don't I?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't know!" Kyrie exclaimed in surprise at the new nugget of information that she had now learnt about her boyfriend's uncle. Back when she had first met Dante in Fortuna, she had been terrified by his presence (since he had just murdered the Holy Priest with a point blank gunshot). Never did she imagine that one day, she would be standing in the same kitchen as this man, learning about his allergy to shellfish.

"That's an apology I don't need." Dante reached slightly further to drag another plate full of ingredient closer to the chopping board. "Now, this bowl; you should throw more in. Vergil hated squids back then, and I want to see him deal with them."

"U-Um..." The woman's soft and unsure reply made Dante aware of a strange situation that he had accidentally caught himself in –standing right next to her and leaning into her private space. Since he had bent forwards to reach for the plates, he was now in realisation of how close his face was to the woman's, and how he could see the smoothness of her non-made-up face. Even with the women hanging around his life, Dante was surprised to make the realisation that his nephew's girlfriend had great skin and very bright eyes.

"What are you doing, Dante?" The statement brought Dante out of his close-up investigation of the lady's complexion, forcing him to turn his head to spy on Vergil standing at the doorway to the kitchen with a slight frown on his face. Even with damp hair, Vergil had his hair slicked back in his iconic fashion as opposed to Dante's letting them all hang down.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" The younger brother replied with a growing grin, still refusing to straighten up from his lean and ignoring the lady's uncomfortable shifting and refusal to turn her face to look at him in the eye.

"Do I have to remind you that Nero has the ability to give you a good beating now?" Vergil countered the question with one of his own. "And since when has your taste in women changed to your nephew's woman?"

"I-It's not what you think! Please don't have the wrong idea-" The poor polite lady tried to protest her reply, finally plucking the courage to take a side-step away to create the distance between her and Dante, the chopping knife still in her hand, but the chopping board a short distance away now.

"He only beat us back on the Qliphoth because we were tired from each other, and he had just discovered his new wings-thing so he wasn't holding it back." Dante bargained, still maintaining his amused grin as he finally straightened with a pat on Kyrie's head. "And you don't have to worry about me hitting on you; I don't go for pure little girls like you. You're Nero's type and I'm not gonna mess with that."

With that as his goodbye, Dante wandered innocently out of the kitchen, resuming the drying of his hair once again and leaving Vergil standing awkwardly in the doorway and Kyrie panicked in the hopes that her boyfriend's father had not gotten the wrong idea. It had been a year since Nero's father and uncle had returned from the Demon World, and though Kyrie had done her best to invite the both of them over for meals as much as she could, it still remained a fact that Vergil was still a rather distant person to both Kyrie and Nero. It definitely did not help that her boyfriend had a rather childish personality at times, but Nero's father himself was one of a rather... difficult character.

"It's really wasn't whatever you were thinking... Dante was just instructing me on what I to do with the food." Kyrie jumped at the chance to be able to justify herself just in case her boyfriend's father still had suspicions about her loyalty. "It was not anything-"

"I understand." Vergil's sharp interruption did not make Kyrie feel better for some reason. "Dare I ask about today's menu?"

"It's seafood spaghetti!" The lady exclaimed, then blushed at her hastiness in reply, her gaze falling to the floor in embarrassment as she hurried back to position herself in front of the chopping board. "I-I hope it's okay with you."

"It is. The last time I had seafood spaghetti was... when my mother made it for me. It was a long time ago." The sound of Vergil's voice only told Kyrie that her boyfriend's father was coming closer to her, taking the place that his twin brother had vacated only a few seconds ago.

It was probably a common thing to do, but Kyrie silently thought it was a striking brotherly-thing that both Dante and Vergil stood beside her scanning the ingredients sitting around the chopping board, ready to be prepared.

"Less squid."

The two words were spoken so out-of-context that Kyrie had to hesitate for a moment, turning up to look up at the serious expression of Nero's father.

"Excuse me?"

Vergil pointed with the slightest hint of a front creasing his forehead.

"I cannot prevent you from using squids, but I will have less of them." He instructed, and Kyrie quickly nodded her understanding, turning back hurriedly to the ingredients on the chopping board. At the tip of her lips was the comment that the man's younger brother had literally tasked her to put more squid into the dish just minutes ago, but Kyrie was smart enough to not let them further from her tongue. She had witnessed the verbal fights, the sarcastic and pointed words that the men of the Sparda family liked to aim at each other, and though she knew that there was always a fondness beneath those words, Kyrie also knew enough to avoid death by choosing the words to say very carefully.

"What are the shrimps doing all the way over there?" Vergil asked, leaning over to reach for the bowl and pulling it close –exactly the opposite of what Dante had done minutes ago as well.

There was honestly no more striking pair of twins than these two, and despite the fact that both men were her elders, distinguished demon hunters in the industry and were basically half-demons (both of which shouldn't be pissed off under any circumstances), Kyrie had to turn her face away from Vergil in an effort to hide her smile.

"What is that for?" Her skill at hiding her mirth was still amateur since Vergil caught it quickly, a questioning tone in his voice as she did her best to compose her expression back to something relatively less amused. A year had not allowed Kyrie the advantage of being able to read her future father-in-law's personality well.

"I was just thinking about how similar you and Dante are." Honesty was the simplest way to go about it. She didn't really want to lie to the man for two very good reasons: he was her boyfriend's father, and he was a son of Sparda who had been capable of summoning demonic things not once, but twice.

"In what way am I similar to him?" A hint of distaste in his tone was a warning to Kyrie to choose her words carefully.

"I-I was just making an observation! Dante was moving the ingredients around like what you did seconds ago. That's why he was leaning into my space, and... you know..." She hesitated slightly, but decided to move the conversation topic along before her boyfriend's father showed more displeasure at being compared against his twin. "A-Anyway, the shrimps were over there because Dante moved them away. He is allergic to them."

"He is?" It was a successful diversion, because Vergil only sounded confused now. "He definitely ate shrimps while we were younger."

"Allergies may develop as one ages."

"Unfortunately for me, the only allergy I've developed over the years is Dante." Vergil gave a disbelieving shake of head. "But thank you, Kyrie. You have given me much help."

"I have?"

"I've been looking for ways to best Dante for a majority of the years of my life. I was obsessed with power, so that I can win Dante, kill him and prove that embracing our demonic side is better than relying on our pathetic human halves." Vergil explained, reaching forwards and this time claimed the plate of boiled shrimps, ready to be cut and added into the spaghetti.

Kyrie paused in her cutting, turning to watch her boyfriend's father look at the innocent ingredient sitting on the plate in his hand. She had an idea where the man was going with this, and also had a slight clue that it probably was not going to end up well.

"When I was younger, I used to say that might is power. Today, I learn that power comes in other simpler forms, with credits to you. Perhaps you and I will get along very well in the near future." Vergil continued, the smirk drawing across his face a rare occurrence, and usually a prelude to something messy and troublesome. "Now, if you will excuse me."

Kyrie knew that she shouldn't let the man leave the kitchen with his newest weapon, but all she had was the kitchen knife in her hands. The man was a half-demon equipped with new 'power'. The man was her boyfriend's father, but the victim was her boyfriend's uncle (and also Fortuna's Saviour).

"Ahh, that was refreshing. Hmmm... it's beginning to smell good! What's for dinner?" Kyrie turned quickly at the sound of the bathroom doors opening, the sight of her boyfriend stepping out nonchalantly and wiping his short, ruffled white hair.

"Nero, help!" She exclaimed quickly, and the desperation in her voice made the man serious in an instant.

"You old douchebag! I thought you were over trying to kill me?" Kyrie heard a yell from outside the kitchen, as well as the sounds of scuffles.

"What's wrong?"

"Your father!" Kyrie cried. "He's trying to kill your uncle! With shrimps!"

"What?" Nero repeated, but was already moving across the kitchen to the living room, his worried girlfriend having left her chopping and following worriedly after him.

The scene was not pretty, but Nero took it all in within an instant. Kyrie was thankfully a safe distance away from him, because his powers activated before she could even blink. The two extra wing-like arms extended themselves –careful not to knock over anything in the living room to cause more mess than was already done –and grabbed the two scuffling men by their shoulders.

"This ends, right now!" Nero yelled. "I said, I won't let you kill each other."

"Yes, you said that on the Qliphoth. Circumstances are different here." Vergil answered, unrepentant despite the fact that he was being torn away from his brother, held back by his son's non-human hands.

"I won't let you kill each other here, or the Qliphoth. Or anywhere else." Nero insisted angrily. "All I did was to take a shower, and I come out to find you two going at each other's throats. What are you; kids?"

"Hey, kid, you better watch your words." Dante warned, though that threat probably didn't make much impact when the man himself was being held back. "And is this really what you use your Devil Trigger for? When you don't feel like using the hands connected to your body?"

"I agree. This is hardly the optimal use for your power. Disappointing." Vergil added with a judgemental shake of head.

"Listen to me, you two! I got this Devil Trigger trying to stop you two from fighting back at the Qliphoth. I didn't get it anywhere else, I didn't get it while fighting demons. It means this power, the extra hands.... All of these are what I need to stop the two of you from killing each other, and it's what I'm going to use against the two of you any time I find any one of you trying." Nero could hardly believe that he was talking to his elders given the way they were acting.

"Tell your old man that. He was the one who tried to cramp shrimps down my throat once he learned that I have allergies." Dante balked.

"I was trying to test if you were lying." Vergil answered. "You had them fine when Mother made seafood for us."

"That was ages ago!" The younger twin protested. "And are you seriously trying to continue the fight when your son is still holding us back with his Devil Trigger?"

"ENOUGH!" Nero's irritancy spiked, and that emotion was quickly channelled into his extended hands.

Translucent, glowing hands let the Sparda brothers go for a second –just long enough to tuck its fingers into translucent fists.

"Uh oh. Not again." Dante said.

"This is not what your Devil Trigger is supposed to-" Vergil tried to say, but Nero had had enough of his elders.

The heavy punches landed.