A/N: I'm a little late on the Final Fantasy wagon, but this chapter came after I watched the cut-scenes of Episode Ignis and felt that instead of Ignis, maybe someone else could be a better medicine for Noctis.

For those who are not familiar with Final Fantasy XV, please bear with me for this update. Pure-DMC (and my own added) content will be uploaded next!

[Helping a Prince (FinalFantasy XV x DMC Crossover)]

Noctis Lucis Caelum woke up groggy and disorientated, but instincts of danger and drive forced him to climb to his feet, holding up his head as he gingerly regained his height. The soft wind blowing tugging at his coat was an unfamiliar sensation after having traversed through the entire Imperial Fortress in silent, stale air.

"Prompto? Iggy? Gladio?" He asked in silent desolation, not much hope held in his sour, tired heart as he rubbed his eyes before blinking to let the black orbs take the surrounding.

It seemed as if the colour theme of this world that he found himself waking up in was grey and faded brown. The barren grassland spread out in front of Noctis reminded him of spilt coffee, and the sky a menacing grey similar to how the ash cloud had been like back before... back before what?

Noctis stood looking out over the fields of dying grass that was littered with white marbled broken columns of what he assumed used to be building pillars. He stood there, thinking hard about how he had come to wake up here. The thing last remembered was his enemy, Ardyn, watching him as he was taken into the Crystal. Ignis had said that getting the Crystal back would empower him and help him drive away the demons, but... the Crystal had absorbed him instead?

"Ardyn! Where are you?" Noctis yelled, convinced that this was another of the man's sick jokes. "Show yourself!"

He spun around, trying to pre-empt any attacks made for him, but he found no movement. The soft wind continued to blow through the barren field, nothing disturbed. Rather, there was nothing to disturb here. It was him, barren grass and broken columns.

A little unsure, but not about to let fear get the best of him, Noctis tried his weapons to make sure that they still answered to his call. Ardyn had managed to jam his power once, he knew it could happen anytime again. Noctis, too, checked his finger to make sure that the ring was still there. The ring of the Lucii on his finger was the same one that his lady love had died to deliver to him just so that he could fulfil his destiny as True King. He had thought reaching the Crystal would give him an idea of how to fulfil his role as True King.

He had thought wrong, as he looked around again, hoping to get a clue. Once more, there was no sign of anything happening anywhere, but Noctis knew better than to stay standing anywhere for long. Daemons always came out in the dark, and this world certainly appeared dark enough for daemons to appear anytime.

Just as Noctis had decided to start venturing in search for answers, the floor in front of him began to swirl unnaturally. He recognised quickly a portal opening up and jumped back lithely to avoid being sucked in. Sensing something rising from the portal, he summoned his sword quickly, praying that the daemon this time would be manageable. He had always been out hunting with his friends... and he had left them back in the hangar dealing with daemons while he ran to obtain the power of the Crystal. The back of Noctis's mind prayed that his friends were all well, in particular Ignis and Prompto –both of whom had suffered and sacrificed greatly by his side.

The daemon that climbed out the portal was nothing like Noctis had ever seen before. It appeared to have the body of a four-legged beast, but three heads sprouted from its neck, with broken chains hanging from their metal collars. Ice and icicles hung from the dog's face and body, and with its angry breath, Noctis could see mist coming out in puffs.

"You might be no son of Sparda, but any human will not get past me." Noctis heard a detached voice say and startled a little in shock. He had never heard a daemon speak before. Was this the result of the Scourge? Had they developed better capabilities while he had been stuck chasing Ardyn down?

"Are you in league with Ardyn?" Noctis asked, raising his sword both in a show of defence and offence.

"It is not a name I have heard, but regardless of the man you look for, Cerberus will be the last name you will hear!" The headless voice declared again, and one of the three heads of the icy dog opened its mouth to roar.

Noctis saw a white flash in the dog's eyes as it roared, and felt a chill in his neck. Looking up, he was shocked to see icicles falling from the sky. Still, not one to be taken down so easily, he pulled up a fire spell and threw it upwards, feeling the cold rainwater fall down on him instead.

The new capabilities of this daemon surprised Noctis on many ends, but he did not allow any attack to catch him as he flew around, changing his weapons in the hopes to find one strong and sharp enough to pierce through skin tough and sharp as ice. It took a short while to get over the novelty of the daemon's behaviour, but Noctis eventually threw his sword from his position standing atop the felled dog, warping a good distance away as he landed safely on the ground and looked back at his prey.

He did not get much time to study the corpse of the daemon, surprised that it hadn't yet dissolved into ashes, before a new sound entered his ears –soft clinks of metal that spoke of a steady gait of a walking man. Instincts still raw from the fight, Noctis spun around, summoning a sword and raising it in threat before realising that the man approaching him, with nary an expression, looked nothing like Ardyn Izunia.

"Not impressive enough." The man with silver-white hair stood a safe, conversational distance away from Noctis, piercing blue eyes cast dismissively over the felled daemon behind him. He wore a dark blue vest over a black shirt, paired with a long coat of a lighter shade of blue that had intricate, exquisite patterns that Noctis had never seen before. The man looked normal, all the way down to his leathered boots and katana that was held loosely in one hand.

"Who are you? Where is Ardyn?" Noctis asked, not willing to let his suspicion go. He knew clearly that he was not in Lucis anymore; this man standing before him could not possibly be a subject of his kingdom.

"It is pointless to look for that man in this space." The man answered. "You are in the dimension between worlds, where the dead come to rest and the living... remain alive only as long as their goal here is completed."

"Who are you?" Noctis asked again, not completely understanding the cryptic reply.

"My name is Vergil Sparda. You may not have heard of me, but I have heard enough about you, Prince Noctis Lucis Caelum. More than I care to know."

"How do you know of me?"

"That is none of your business to know." Vergil answered. "Put down your sword. I have tolerated your manners enough."

"Where are my friends? How do I get out of here?" Noctis refused to comply since the answers had all been unhelpful and could not cement a sense of safety at all. Vergil did not seem to be here to harm him, but yet it did not seem like he was completely a safe person to be with as well.

"Your friends are in another dimension. You do not get out of here until I say so."

"So I have to defeat you to get out of here? Are you another trick that Ardyn is playing?" Noctis tightened his grip over his sword, anger burning. He had thought the end would be near when he reached the Crystal, but what had all of this come to? He didn't even know whether his friends were fine or safe, didn't know where his enemy was, didn't know where he was, didn't know what he was supposed to do.

"Believe what you will, but I will take this as a test." Vergil answered, calmly unsheathing his sword slowly in a graceful manner of a skilled swordsman. Noctis immediately focused his attention to the man. "Come."

The invitation was not needed, because Noctis acted fast. Throwing a dagger so that he could travel faster, he managed to take his opponent by surprise when he teleported to his dagger, swinging a summoned sword around quickly. It instantly became clear to him that his opponent was no easy target, because even though Vergil backtracked smoothly, the katana had made a graceful arc through the air, missing Noctis by mere inches as his fringe was sliced cleanly off.

Not willing to take the chance to let his opponent analyse his movements, Noctis warped quickly towards Vergil, summoning a spear now. None of his barrage of attacks met flesh or clothes, and he recognised that his opponent was a very highly skilled swordsman when he received counterattacks that were of immense strength. He knew that Vergil had been taken surprise by his repertoire of summoned weapons, but it was clear that the novelty of his moves was running out in the way the soft amusement in Vergil's smirk was fading.

Noctis understood that he was being assessed when he warped back for breathing space, but his opponent did not try to close their distance or launch an attack.

"A prince of that calibre is no worthy prince." Vergil taunted, one hand still holding his katana sheath as if he didn't need the extra hand for combat.

"Shut up!" Noctis burst, throwing his sword again.

This time, he was the one taken by surprise when he warped to his sword to find that there was no one near him. He had clearly thrown the sword towards his quarry...

"You assume you are the only person who can teleport." Vergil's tenor voice announced behind him, and Noctis spun around quickly, unbelieving. There the man stood, exactly where Noctis had been taking a rest a moment ago. "You assumed wrong."

Then, as if to prove his point, Vergil disappeared in quick mist, and reappeared the comfortable conversation distance away from Noctis again.

"Bring out all your weapons, Prince Noctis." Vergil declared. "Show me the extent to which you will fail."

"SHUT UP!" The frustration at how he was getting beat so easily made Noctis take risky, dangerous moves, but it was crystal clear to him that Vergil was not even trying to harm him. All the man was doing was dodging attacks and giving small counter-attacks that, if chained and combined, would skewer Noctis easily.

The worst thing was, Noctis was not even sure where this intense power comes from. He had met beasts and daemons and MTs, but Vergil clearly did not belong to one of them. Vergil was also definitely not a modified human –not a product of the Empire's experiment –so what could he possibly be?

Frustration made Noctis show his ring, and he was glad to take Vergil by short surprise when he aimed his power at the white-haired man who seemed curious at the new weapon brought on the table. For the moment, Noctis was glad that Vergil was not attacking, because he focused on his innate mana and called on the powers of the past kings. His eyes glowed as he began to levitate slightly off the ground, the power flowing through him and tearing a crack in the dimension.

Noctis was so concentrated on not being pulled into the dimension himself that when he was done with the spell, exhausted with the lack of remaining power, he could not believe his eyes when Vergil stepped back into reality, his sword sheathed and brushing crystal dust off his shoulders.

"That was mildly impressive. Finally something worthy of a king." Vergil announced, standing the comfortable conversational distance away again, completely unscathed and unharmed. "Do you have more weapons up your sleeve?"

"You..." Noctis panted. "You are not in the same league as Ardyn, are you?"

"No. Not even close." Vergil answered simply, waiting for Noctis to catch his breath and stand upright again.

"Are you even human?"

"No." The answer was again short and precise. "Not entirely, at least."

"Then what are you doing here?"

"The same reason you are here." Vergil answered, blue eyes once again piercing. "I am lost."

Noctis could not deny that he really was lost, but the way Vergil had been acting certainly did not seem like it at all.

"How did you come here?"

"I died. My brother killed me, and I woke up here."

"I don't suppose you know how to get out of here?"

"Actually, I do." Vergil answered, emotion never switching at all. Distantly, Noctis wondered if the man had only two expressions –the lack of any, and an arrogant smirk. "But I will not let you out of here until you figure yourself out. You are weak, and there is no way you are getting anywhere with your state now."

"I know." Noctis replied in anger, but most of the anger was for himself. Even a stranger like Vergil knew that he was weak –how could he hope to save the world and drive out the daemons like this? "I know I'm weak, but I don't have time! The day is getting shorter and shorter, and the Crystal was supposed to help me save my friends and the world!"

"How?"

The short question startled Noctis, and he blinked.

"How do you expect the Crystal to help you? Attach a pair of wings on your back? Give you the power to kill daemons at a thought? How?" Vergil added.

"I... I don't know! They told me that the Crystal had the power to drive away the daemons! It was the only thing left in Eos that could stop the days from getting shorter!" Noctis yelled in frustration. He knew he had not been thinking completely straight ever since he charged into the Imperial Capital, but in his defence, he had not been given the chance to slow down to think at all.

"That wasn't that only thing left." Vergil answered, raising his sheathed katana. Noctis froze when the tip of the sheath touched lightly on his chest over his shirt. "This is the only thing left."

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said." The white haired man answered, tapping his chest once more. "This is the only thing left in your world. Perhaps in my world there is still an idiot who can deal with someone as low levelled as your enemy, but he is currently too busy sleeping and leading a decadent lifestyle."

"I... I don't understand you."

Vergil's arm and sword fell back to his side, and the man turned around. "Come, we talk and walk."

With nothing else to do except to follow the instructions of a man who was clearly much more powerful than him –enough to even call Ardyn a low-level enemy –Noctis did his best to gather his wits and followed after the leaving man in the direction of the fallen pillars.

"A king pushes onward always, accepting the consequences and never looking back. That said, a king can accept nothing without first accepting himself." Vergil started with a familiar phrase. "A familiar phrase?"

"How did you-"

"Your father, your friend and I –all of us wait for the rightful king to fulfil his destiny. The first two say it to you with care, the latter say it with need. So your lover sacrificed her life to give you that ring. So, your friend sacrificed his eyesight to save your life. Your friends sacrificed everything to help you to where you are now. Is the burden heavy on your shoulders, Noctis?" Vergil interrupted, listing the facts with no care for the listener; not that he had been one to care for anything in the first place.

"Of course. I have to go on to repay the things they all did for me. They are all expecting me to save this world, but I don't even know how!"

"When does a prince ever gets to sit on his throne by complaining about his fate?" Vergil's reply was unforgiving. "Why do they sacrifice all to save you? Stop and think about that first before you reply."

"It's because I'm their prince..." Noctis answered dejectedly. "If I weren't..."

"Then what? If you weren't a prince, then they will rather give their lives up for someone else?" Vergil pushed. "You disappoint me more than I thought you would."

"But... what can I..."

"Sixteen years ago, I was separated from my twin brother when we were 8 years old thanks to demons. We went our own paths, believing that we were the only ones left in the family. I went down the path that our father never wanted us to walk – I embraced the demons who killed my mother. When I was eighteen, I met him again, and I stole his amulet to open a portal to the demon world so that I could be stronger and never need to feel weak against my fate. My brother showed me that walking down the opposite path of mine –being a human –was the smarter way to do things. I was stubborn. I wanted to prove myself. I jumped into the demon world and forbade him to come along so that I could meet and spar the king of demons. I failed, and last year, my brother killed me." The suddenly opening up of personal story shocked Noctis into silence, and though he had many questions in relation to this story, he could not find the appropriate timing to ask.

"I died to gain the power I wanted. I now possess the thing that I used to want the most. I sacrificed not only my own life, but my brother's life to get what I wanted. I put the both of us –including my only kin left –to get what I want. I fell off the path that our father wanted us to go halfway, but he never stopped. He never turned back. He just looked ahead, and even though he might have shed tears, he never stopped his footsteps." Vergil continued, a story that was sad, but spoken in such a deadpan voice that Noctis was not sure whether to connect emotionally or not.

"Do you think he stopped and thought about what he had done? If he did, he would have realised that he murdered his own brother. He would have turned around, and run back to our starting point and cried like a baby begging for my forgiveness, but I would have given him none. Because now that I'm dead, I want to keep looking at his back. I don't ever want to see his face when he turns back; just the sight of him walking further and further away from where I stand."

Noctis wasn't sure if whatever Vergil was saying had anything to do with his situation. Actually, it didn't even sound as if Vergil was from the same world as him anymore, but he didn't know what to say or do.

"For just this once, Noctis, stop." Vergil said suddenly, footsteps coming to a halt. By pure instincts, Noctis did the same, wondering what the man was up to this time. "Turn around."

Wary, but with nothing else left to do other than follow the instructions of a man that he would easily be put in mercy to, Noctis turned around. It was silent for a moment, then the silent tears rolled down his cheeks as he stared at the encouraging smiles of everyone he loved; everyone who had cared for him. In front of them all stood his white-dressed fiancée, perfect in all her glory.

"They... are not real, are they?" Noctis asked quietly, wiping the tears flowing from his cheek consciously as he turned to Vergil, who waited patiently beside him. 

"No, but they are the manifestation of their thoughts and feelings."

"... Thank you."

"Don't thank me. I'm still waiting for you to return worthy enough an opponent." Vergil turned and continued their journey towards the broken pillars. Noctis glanced behind him again, not surprised that the scene he had been staring at seconds ago was now gone. It was some sort of illusion that Vergil had made, but the illusion had been beautiful and had brought a stilling sense of peace that Noctis had not experienced in a long time.

"Return to your world for now with your new weapon, and finish off your enemy. I will be waiting for your return to this place of death." Vergil instructed, which confused Noctis again on two ends.

"I have a new weapon now?" He asked, then paused shortly to signify that he had two separate questions. "And you mean to say that I'm going to die after fighting Ardyn?"

"You will sacrifice your life to rid him of your world." Vergil answered the second question, then raised his sheathed sword again. Only this time, the sword was not raised in threat but rather in offering. "And this is your new weapon."

"You're giving me your sword?"

"Loaning." Vergil corrected. "Another weapon in your arsenal."

"Thanks." Noctis accepted the sword since nobody would reject a sword as fine as the one Vergil was offering. Also, he didn't want to risk the consequences of pissing Vergil off by rejecting the offering.

"I stopped to watch my brother's back. Your friends are not stopping, but chasing after you. Make sure you do not turn back. Your road ahead is longer, your destiny bigger, but your life shorter." Vergil announced. "When you come back with your full power, we will spar in earnest."

"I hope I can match up the next time we meet."

"Unlikely." Vergil answered shortly and sharply. "But no use bantering with me. Go now, do not waste my time."

"Still, thanks for helping me, Vergil."

"I did not do this out of kindness or will." Vergil answered hardly, his hardened emotions all restored after opening up to tell Noctis his story. "But I will admit that you have interesting powers and potential that will prove an entertaining fight in the future. I look forward to that."

"Then... I guess I'll see you." Noctis bade his farewell, not really sure how he knew, but knowing that all he needed to do was to reach the pillars to be transported back to his world.

Vergil stood a good distance away, watching the back of a young man grow stronger and broader, the legs of a prince grow longer, the hair of a warrior grow longer and sharper. The hands holding the sword grew firmer and sturdier. Noctis reached the portal at the broken pillars, paused and turned to look back once more with the hopes of seeing his friends one last time before setting out on his journey –now alone.

He didn't see the same scene again –Vergil did not make that illusion once more. Instead, all Noctis saw was a man who had stopped in time, stopped in his journey, and started to watch everyone walk. Vergil stood with his arms crossed, expression hard as stone as he stared back at Noctis when their eyes met. Noctis could almost read the words in his eyes; GO.

Once more, not wanting to risk any dangerous repercussions from disobeying, Noctis turned and ducked quickly through the portal, disappearing from view.

It was only once the black-haired prince was gone from the world that the woman appeared into view, every inch of her glowing. Her blonde hair swayed softly in the breeze of the desolate plain, the only shining brightness in the dark picture around them.

"I give you my thanks, Vergil Sparda. For aiding the True King in his journey."

"I did not do this out of kindness or will." Vergil repeated once more, turning to face the woman. "I did as you requested. Now, serve your end of the promise."

"As promised." Lunafreya nodded with a gentle smile. "I will make sure that you son suffers no blight, nor pain or sorrow."

"I don't care about all that." Vergil answered with a grunt. "Make sure he's safe."

"It is my duty as Oracle to keep everyone safe as long as it is within my means."

"You are dead." Vergil reminded sharply. "You're no longer an Oracle, just a witch with powers now."

"Powers to ease pained hearts and minds." Lunafreya corrected softly, then gave a respectful bow. "Once again, I give you thanks. I shall set off now to honour my side of the promise."

Vergil watched as the woman walk towards the portal that her fiancé had just left in as well, shoulders not broad, but equally stable. Vergil begrudged himself to admit; the two made a fine pair if they were ever married while they were alive.

"Lunafreya." Vergil called when the woman reached the portal, watching her turn around. "Say hi to Dante for me."

"As you wish." The woman promised, bowing once more, then disappeared through the portal.