[One True Father-In-Law]

The doorbell rang throughout the house, and Kyrie was unfortunately caught in the middle of making cookies with her hands in a mess. Hurriedly putting a cover over the bowl of batter to prevent anything from falling in since she didn't want to cause the runs for any poor souls, Kyrie rushed to the front door and awkwardly used her elbows to disengage the locks. Standing back a safe distance, she raised her voice and called out.

"Please open the door from the other side! I have disengaged the lock and my hands are dirty at the moment!" She bade, and was glad that her visitor had waited when the action came after a normal reaction time, the door opening inwards slowly to reveal her visitor.

"Mr. Sparda!" She exclaimed in surprise. "You didn't inform us that you were coming over!"

"Dante had to leave last minute for a mission, and I decided to drop by for a night since the ladies wanted to bring friends over to the joint." Vergil revealed his intentions, still standing outside. "Is it convenient?"

"Of course, of course! Please, come in. I'm sorry I cannot receive you well; you have caught me at an awkward timing. I'm in the middle of baking cookies." Kyrie expressed brightly, gesturing with her hands still littered with traces of flour and cookie batter.

"I do apologize for imposing. Perhaps it will be better if I come back at a better timing. Besides, it appears as if Nero has yet to return home." Vergil answered politely, still not taking a step into the house.

"Please don't go." Kyrie's words stopped the man's intention to leave. "It is such a shame you did not inform us about your coming over earlier. Nero left for a mission early in the morning and will be back late at night. It will just be me alone in the house all day, so I would really appreciate it if you were to come in and keep me company, Mr. Sparda. It is a busy day up ahead for me."

If Vergil were to be absolutely honest, he had no idea what to talk to his son's wife about. Ever since his reunion with Nero, he had not had the chance to meet Kyrie personally often at all; the men always had their bonding sessions over alcohol either over at Dante's joint, or in pizzerias or bars. Kyrie never really joined in since alcohol and pizzas were never her thing, and even during Nero's and Kyrie's subsequent wedding, Vergil had done his bare minimum as the groom's father –Dante substituting for Kyrie's father and walking her down the aisle with a proud dad-like smile. It was very safe to say that while his relationship with his son was improving very slowly, his relationship with his daughter-in-law had not progressed past the initial point of first meet.

But Vergil decided that he needed to start trying. Now that he had increasingly become a slightly bigger role in his son's life, he needed to learn more about the woman that his son had pledged himself to. While he recognized that he was in no position to the judge the woman as her father-in-law, there had at least to be some sort of effort on his end to get to know her, after all.

"As long as I am not inconveniencing you." Vergil replied respectfully, and stepped into the apartment, closing the door behind him.

The joyful smile that he got in reply was undeserving –he had done nothing except to agree to come into the house – and Vergil honestly hoped that he would not regret his choice of putting himself in an awkward situation.

"Please make yourself at home, Mr. Sparda. I will offer you a drink once my hands are clean." Kyrie bade quickly, hurrying back to the kitchen.

Vergil wasn't sure how to 'make himself at home' since he had never truly been comfortable in anywhere else other than Dante's joint. Still, he did his best with a stiff back as he walked into the living room and took a seat on the couch stiffly, looking around at the cleanly-kept surroundings.

The apartment was worlds away from Dante's joint. Pastel colors and wallpaper with flowery motifs struck him the most. The very same sunlight that came through the windows of Dante's joint looked absolutely different as they were filtered through the windows in this room, resting lightly on the lace-patterned, sheer curtains. There was even a small corner to sit by the window where someone could enjoy a cup of coffee or tea and spend a slow afternoon reading.

For some reason, Vergil could not even imagine his son sitting there. It seemed like a place only his daughter-in-law would be involved with.

Still, Kyrie had asked for him to make himself at home, and thus he chose that corner by the window to bathe in the sunlight as he swept his eyes around. The mantle above the fireplace was a line of photographs of the couple that lived in the apartment. From where Vergil sat, he could see the couple at different stages of life –his son with different hairstyles to chart his growth to maturity from a rebellious teenager.

Finally, his eyes settled on the largest photo of the group: the one they had taken during the wedding. Kyrie had been dressed in a beautiful white dress that offered a rare sight of her hourglass figure (since she often preferred to be in shapeless dresses), and beside her stood her tall and handsome, three-piece suited newlywed husband. Nero's hair had been very carefully styled –as was the bride of the day –to suit the atmosphere, but the healthy blush on the couple's face could not be replicated by any make up. Beside the groom stood Vergil himself, having had dressed up in a suit himself for the occasion. Dante had taken the opportunity of the occasion to mess with his hair, though Vergil had to admit that his brother had not made him look particularly bad in the end. On the bride's other side was Dante, the only one with a goofy wide grin while the rest showed their blissful smile (and Vergil with the smallest hint of a smile).

It was the only family portrait that sat on the mantle among the group of pictures that held only the couple.

Refusing to feel nostalgic or guilty at the childhood that he had lost with his son, Vergil got up from his seat to make towards the bookshelf sitting at the other end of the living room. It had been a cause for curiosity the moment Vergil had stepped into the room –his son was exactly like Dante; if there were no pictures in the book, neither men would read. The bookshelf with their thick-volume books did not look as if they housed comics or worse, adult magazines. Vergil had to assume that the bookshelf and books had been installed by his daughter-in-law, and wandered over to get a glimpse of the titles that filled the shelves.

It was a collection of titles rather expected from what he knew of his daughter-in-law's personality. There were some self-help books, recipe books, an occasional fantasy/romance storybook mixed into the shelves, but what truly piqued Vergil's curiosity was a book of poems. More specifically, it was a poem collection of William Blake. It seemed to be rather out of place within the other titles that Vergil could not help but pull it out from the shelves, quietly suspecting that the cover might be fake, and the inside might be some other book.

Upon inspection, Vergil was surprised that it was truly a book of poem collections by William Blake, with some commentaries and illustrations from artists based on the poem. Quietly curious, and since his daughter-in-law had bade for him to make himself at home, Vergil carried the book along as he returned to the seat by the window and began reading.

Vergil was not sure the length of time that flew by as he read carefully the poems that he had read many times before, and the commentaries and analysis of famous literary individuals. He was so caught up in the book that he barely realized that his daughter-in-law was done with the cookies, and that the very refreshing scent of baked cookies was wafting all around him.

Vergil only returned to reality at the sight of movement from the corner of his eyes, and he looked up to find Kyrie with a wide smile and a plate balanced between her hands.

"Would you like to try the cookies? I haven't made them in a while, so I hope they are still up to standard. I still have a batch waiting to go into the oven, so if there are any issues, please tell me so that I can make changes, Mr. Sparda." Kyrie offered kindly, and Vergil decided that there was probably no harm in indulging in the woman's request.

"You can call me Vergil." He answered as he helped himself to a cookie that was still warm. "You are a Sparda yourself now, too."

"Right." Kyrie laughed softly and gently. "I'm still getting used to being called Mrs. Sparda. How is the cookie?"

"I haven't had a lot of cookies before this, but this is good." Vergil answered honestly. "It isn't as sweet as I expected it to be."

"It's going to be for the children that come visiting, so I'm making sure that they don't get toothaches from eating too much." Kyrie replied with a warm smile. "Thank you for your honest opinion, Vergil."

"Thank you for the cookie."

The conversation seemed natural thus far, and Vergil was surprised at how easy it was to feel comfortable as his daughter-in-law returned to the kitchen to care for her next batch of cookies in the oven. Vergil returned to the book opened on his lap, falling away once more into the world of William Blake.

The second time Vergil was brought back to reality was at the sound of doorbell chiming, and he looked up expectantly towards the kitchen, waiting for the woman in topic of rush to the door. Both he and Kyrie's visitor waited for a short while before the bell again –this time a few times in succession to signal impatience.

"Vergil, can you do me a favor and answer the door, please? I will be out in a moment!" Kyrie's voice rose, and he saw no better option than to obey. Besides, he had been housed for the past... few hours? And he had gotten cookies for snacks. He had to repay the debt somehow.

Vergil opened the door just as the bell began to ring for a third time, this time much more impatient.

"Trick or treat!" The shout and sight of a group of children in different costumes standing there with their bowls and buckets extended out to him surprised Vergil into silence.

For a man who had never dealt with children in his entire life, Vergil stood there in silence as he wondered what this bunch of tiny devils wanted from him. Their costumes ranged quite a fair bit –there was a little girl with tiny angel wings strapped on her back, a boy with a black cape and a cardboard scythe, and the one that showed the most effort was a boy wearing a costume of an insect-based demon. Vergil had no idea what occasion it was that motivated the little beings in front of him to don on such ridiculous outfit and come knocking at his son's door, and could only stare in muted confusion.

It was the young ones that broke the awkward silence following the burst-out.

"Who is this old guy? Isn't this Mr. Sparda's house?" A boy asked.

The children definitely hadn't gotten the wrong house, but the wrong Mr. Sparda.

"If you look closely, he does look like Mr. Sparda. They got the same white hair and blue eyes!" Another one spoke up, and the little beings looked to each other and nodded. Vergil supposed it was a good thing that he looked similar to his son, though he still wasn't sure what was expected out of him. Kyrie had told him that she would be out soon, but unfortunately, she wasn't fast enough to save him from the current awkward situation.

"But he's old! Mr. Sparda grew old!" The girl with the angel wings exclaimed at the top of her voice, excited at the new finding.

"Mr. Sparda grew to 100 years old in a month!" The boys echoed, laughing as Vergil struggled to decide on how to react. Dante had told him that while little humans like the ones before him were annoying and deserved to be silenced, the consequences of doing so was usually negative and thus Vergil had been advised to simply avoid the little things completely whenever possible.

"Mr. Sparda is an old man now! Old man! Old man!" The chant was beginning to rise as Vergil resisted the urge to summon his sword. While he was not particularly young anymore, the words of the little beings in front of him were not kind at all.

"Oh no, what if we catch the old man disease from Mr. Sparda? What if Mrs. Sparda also got the disease and has become an old woman and cannot walk to give us sweets anymore?" Someone within the group –Vergil was no longer trying to track the speaker anymore –suddenly spoke up and the small ones looked at each other in apprehension.

Vergil had not even spoken a single word thus far, and wondered what consequences he might get if he just slammed the door shut right now. Still, the door wasn't his, and he wasn't sure if his son might eventually get back at him for doing so.

"Mr. Sparda! I mean, Vergil!" Kyrie's voice was his savior as he turned around to find her rushing over with a basket full of small packets. "I'm so sorry to have you answer the door. The kids must be having their way with you."

The arrival of a certain 'Mrs. Sparda who hadn't become old' at the door received cheers from the group, and Vergil stood in silence as he watched his daughter-in-law entertain the young ones, doing her best to explain to them that the 'Old Man' was Mr. Sparda's father. Clearly, the sight of cookies in the see-through packets took precedence over finding out the real identity of the Old Man, and soon they were distributed to happy children.

Vergil found that he had not spoken a single word throughout the whole incident when Kyrie finally closed the door behind the retreating children who were racing each other to reach the next apartment down the corridor.

"I apologize for that, Vergil. I know you are not particularly good with the children." Kyrie turned to him immediately with her face full of apology and regret. "It's Halloween today, and the children go around visiting the neighbors doing trick or treating while in costumes."

Vergil wisely chose not to address the whole point about how those little human beings had been having a fun time laughing at him, thinking that he was Nero who had suddenly gotten older since the last time they saw him.

"What is this 'trick or treat'?"

"It's something the children say. If the adults don't treat them with sweets, candies or cookies, they will 'trick' them by playing a prank on them. Most times they end up getting treats because you never know what tricks the young ones have come up with." Kyrie explained as the both of them returned to the living room.

"It is a day where those little things are allowed to play pranks on strangers?" Vergil clarified in confusion, and Kyrie tried not to think too much about how the young children that had just left were being labelled as 'little things' by her father-in-law.

"It is tradition. You don't have to worry about the tricks today, though. I have prepared enough cookies for the children in the entire neighborhood." Kyrie answered with her gentle smile, and Vergil honestly wondered where in the world his mouthy, reckless and sometimes a little bit thoughtless son had found this gem of a woman. Even Nero's mother had not been as gentle, kind and caring as Kyrie was, and Nero's mother had been the gentlest woman Vergil had been around back then.

Understanding now that he honestly could not try to find any similarity between him and the woman that stood beside him, Vergil nodded quietly and returned to his corner, picking up the book once again.

"I'm glad that you picked out that book." Kyrie said before he could get back into the poems. "After Nero reunited with you, he told me about what he knew about you. He mentioned that you were a fan of William Blake, so I bought that book and tried to read it. Unfortunately, it is not really what I'm used to reading, but I'm glad that you're enjoying it."

"You tried to read this... for my sake?" Vergil blinked blankly back up at his daughter-in-law who had moved her trays of cookies out to the low table in front of the couch, packing them neatly in the plastic that she had prepared beforehand with designs of little pumpkins printed on them.

"I hoped to be able to discuss my views with you on Blake's poems, but you have to forgive me, for I could not manage to read too deeply. The commentaries helped me understand the poems very well, though. It was a well-written book in all." Kyrie answered as she worked her hands, carefully placing two cookies in each plastic while not crumbling them, then tying up the top with a pipe cleaner.

"There is no need to force yourself to read a book that you have no interest in." Vergil hid his face quickly behind the book because he wasn't sure what expression now currently hung on his face, and he did not want to let his daughter-in-law see. "But thank you all the same."

"There is no need to thank me. I haven't done much at all, really." Kyrie answered, and the both of them faded away quickly into silence again as Vergil started reading once again, the woman busying herself with packing the cookies.

Vergil was brought out from the book once more when a shadow fell over him, and he looked up, blinking to find his daughter-in-law standing in front of him, her chestnut brown fringe framing her green eyes very well. The full-lipped smile beamed down at him, and he distantly wondered if he would ever see her expression without that smile.

"Since it is Halloween today, I suppose it should be fine to go with traditions." She said as she handed a packet over to him. "Trick or treat."

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For the umpteenth time, the doorbell rang, and the routine of the door opening to the sound of children's high-pitched "Trick or Treat!" started all over again. If Vergil had been curious the first few times this happened, any tiny bit of curiosity had been completely burnt away at the mere frequency of this routine repeating.

Kyrie had explained to him that they would get the most visitors during the late afternoon and early evenings because the children would no longer be allowed to go out trick or treating on their own once it got dark. There were little parents who would still be interested in dressing up to go trick or treating with their children, which made the load later at night lighter. But still, Vergil had to sit in the living room and live through the torture of the doorbell ringing, the sound of children screaming happily at the top of their lungs and his daughter-in-law entertaining them.

"Have a fun Halloween!" Kyrie bade for the millionth time, and the door closed lightly again, the sounds of footsteps coming back to the living room.

"The parents of this group of children used to be our elder brother and sister of the orphanage where Nero and I grew up." Kyrie reported despite the fact that Vergil hadn't asked a single thing, going back to the low table and packing up again. For the past few hours, it had been a repeat of the woman answering the door, distributing her cookies, and packing more to be given out. Vergil had no idea how she had managed to predict the number of children to come knocking on her door, but she had clearly baked enough for all of them –maybe even more. "They know that Nero is a demon hunter, so they were thinking if they could trick a demon hunter, it would definitely be something to go home bragging to their parents about."

"I don't think Nero would let himself get tricked so easily." Vergil answered. After he had finished the entire book from front to back within a few hours, boredom had brought Vergil to the low table as well, helping his daughter-in-law pack the cookies despite the fact that he had never imagined himself doing the task when he first appeared at her doorstep. Still, there was nothing for him to do, and he didn't want to feel as if he were imposing while the woman bustled around the house.

"He wouldn't actually be tricked, but he might put on an act. Those children's parents really watched after us while we were younger. They sneaked up snacks in the middle of the night and shared it with everyone." Kyrie reminisced with a distant smile on her face. "Looking back, they were really a pair who already loved children even while they were young. It's no wonder they gave birth to so many."

Vergil had never a real intention to talk about children with his daughter-in-law. Back when Dante had made a joke or two about wanting to use any possible grandchildren as a tool to help him pick up the ladies, Nero had protested vehemently. Vergil hadn't been completely sure if the vehement protest had been about Dante using any potential children as a tool, or just about having potential children in general. Kyrie herself had only blushed and declined to comment politely when Dante tried to cajole some promise out of her.

"Are you and Nero planning to have any?" The honest, curious question came out nonchalantly. He was in no position to pressure his daughter-in-law to give him an offspring –he neither had the authority as Nero's father to do so, nor the interest to do something so meaningless.

"Perhaps some time in the near future." The soft reply was embarrassed, and Vergil looked up briefly from the cookie packing to see the woman looking slightly flustered. "Nero has a good income from demon hunting, but he wants work to settle down a little before we start trying to having children. He wants to make sure he has enough time dedicated to bringing our children up. You know, because..."

The awkward hanging of Kyrie's answer could easily be answered, and Vergil nodded to show he understood the implication.

"I'm not implying anything bad, Mr. Sparda! I mean, Vergil." The poor daughter-in-law flustered to say, but Vergil only shook his head quietly this time.

"It is fine. I left Nero when he needed me the most. It is a fact that both of us have accepted. If you have me be completely honest, if I knew about Nero in my earlier years, I would have wanted him dead. But we have come to where we are now, and we have accepted our facts. I understand that he would want to dedicate as much time as he can with his children to make up for what he could not get to do with me." Vergil assured calmly, but more words could not be said when the doorbell rang once more.

Looking awkward as if she wanted desperately to say something to change the atmosphere or apologize once again, Kyrie reluctantly grabbed her basket of cookies and attended to the next group of children at the door.

Vergil silently continued to pack the cookies, twisting the pipe cleaners carefully so that it would not be wrapped so tightly around the plastic that it would break the cookies. Left alone now, he ran through the words he had just spoken once more through his mind.

It was true that the both of them had accepted facts of their relationship, but things like abandonment issues could never be truly talked out like that. Vergil had, on an emotional level, gone through similar things: the loneliness of his childhood growing up without parents, the desperation of someone to give him a smile and hug him during the cold days telling him that it was alright and that things were only going to become brighter. Vergil had taken a very long time –and met Nero's mother who gave him temporary respite, Dante who gave him a brotherhood that he could use to replace for parenthood. Vergil had taken a long time to get over those issues without talking about it, and internally wondered if it was the same with his son. Nero could appear all fine on the outside –accepting him rather easily after a few rounds of drunken shouting angry words and hitting at him.

A silence made Vergil realize that a few minutes had passed, and he looked up from twisting the pipe cleaner between his fingers to turn towards the corridor that led from the front door. He waited for a breath, and two. There was no sound at all.

Jumping to his feet and leaving the cookie packet on the table, Vergil dashed across the room to the front door, only to find it empty save the basket that Kyrie had been using to carry the cookies. The cookies that had been so carefully packed were broken within their packets, showing signs of a sudden drop.

And most of all, something tickled Vergil's nose. It was a tickling in his nose that he distantly recognized, but had to confirm anyway. Activating his most powerful form within a single moment, he hooked one claw over the handle of the basket and brought it up to his nose for a cautious sniff. This time, the smell was unmistakable.

The sound of gasps took his attention, and he turned to look down the hallway to find another group of children standing frozen at the end, their hands clutched tightly over their bowls, buckets and baskets. Vergil was aware that he was in his full demonic form and probably looked like nightmare-material, and thus expected screams and panicked running when the silence dragged out for another long moment.

But it didn't happen.

"Cool! That's the coolest costume I have seen all day!" One boy exclaimed, then led the group's charge down the hallway to confront Vergil standing one step outside of the apartment. "Are you Mr. Sparda?"

"I'm his father." Vergil answered on instincts, then realized that he had been caught in the middle of a real danger. There was no time for him to entertain the young ones while his daughter-in-law was in danger.

"Take this for your trick or treating. Complements from Mrs. Sparda." He said and shoved the basket in his hand to the brave boy who had approached him, then dashed to the end of the corridor.

"He disappeared! That's so cool!" Vergil heard the excited cheers of children who seemed to have lost all sense of fear and danger for the day. It was for the better: he thought to himself. The children would make a big fuss if they knew that they had come face to face with a true half-demon, and worse off –had just missed a full-blooded demon kidnapping the woman they knew as Mrs. Sparda.

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Vergil was not sure if his son would have a hard time dealing with the situation if it were Nero here in his stead. Sure, he had approved of Nero's demon hunting skills over the few missions that they had taken together, but he also knew that Nero was a dangerous and reckless hunter especially when his wife's safety was put in question.

Dante had repeated to Vergil countless times how Nero had managed to destroy a priest who had summoned and opened a real demon gate in the middle of Fortuna with just pure brute strength just because they had used Kyrie as bait. Vergil wasn't sure how his son would be reacting to this current situation if he were here, dealing with a multitude of semi-annoying demons while the main demon held on to Kyrie's panicked self, dodging and pulling away whenever Vergil tried getting close. He had unwittingly been put in the same situation as Nero previously –whenever it seemed as if he were turning the tides in his favor, the main demon would threaten to harm Kyrie and Vergil would let himself be pushed back to prevent something of the sort from happening while waiting for the best timing to give a one-kill strike.

Frustration dogged his movements, and Vergil decided to take a little bit of risk because the fight was honestly taking too long and he didn't want to cause any emotional trauma on his poor daughter-in-law who had been silenced by a spell. He had no idea how he would plan his answer to Nero if his son demanded an explanation out of him regarding why Kyrie had become much more fearful.

Making sure that his moves were extremely precise, Vergil executed a series of Judgement Cuts within a hair's breadth of the main demon and his daughter-in-law, forcing the both of them to stay still in place while eliminating every single other side demon in the vicinity. His hard concentration paid off as Vergil launched himself forwards with his sword unsheathed faster than a bullet towards his temporarily frozen target.

He stopped himself right in front of his daughter-in-law who had been used as a shield, grabbed her shoulder with one free hand and pressed down.

"Duck." He instructed firmly, and was glad that despite all the fear written in her eyes, the woman still somehow managed to follow instructions as she bent down immediately. Vergil swung his sword with strength across, and watched with satisfaction as the demon's head flew off with just one strike. Then, glad that he still had his daughter-in-law in his grasp, he pulled her into his embrace as he used his body as cover for the spray of demon blood that started immediately from the stump that used to be its neck.

"Mr. Sparda!" Kyrie's exclamation was shocked as she looked back at him, her sight of the decapitated demon blocked by his body.

"Are you fine? Were you hurt?"

"No, other than a little scare, I'm alright. Thank you so much for saving me, Mr. Sparda. I mean, Vergil." The poor woman was still having problems adjusting to calling him by his name, but that was the least of his worries.

"Nero would have killed me if you were hurt while I was around." Vergil admitted, beginning to unwrap the poor woman from his embrace. He definitely did not want to be caught in such an awkward, misunderstanding-inducting situation: embracing his own daughter-in-law tightly.

"Mr. Sparda, watch out!" The normal movement was ruined when Kyrie seemed to have caught sight of something behind him, and took him by surprise by spinning them around with her body strength. Losing balance at the sudden shift, Vergil began to fall back with the woman on him, and his eyes caught the danger that she had seen.

The headless demon had still remained standing, and its claws had been upraised for a slash at its vulnerable target standing right in front of it. Vergil had been there a moment ago, but now as they were falling, he realized that the utterly foolish woman was trying to save him from injury by putting herself in danger instead.

Vergil raised his sword as they fell, but the sound of gunshots came faster than his slice.

The two of them landed on the cold night floor full of demon blood, and Vergil's unharmed arm around Kyrie ascertained that they had not gotten any damage whatsoever –save the small sting on his chest since Kyrie's head had landed heavily. He looked up quickly to find the headless demon finally falling to the floor with bullet holes puncturing its body, and when the body fell completely to the floor, Vergil saw his son standing a good distance away with smoke coming out from the barrels of his gun.

"Are the two of you okay?" Nero ran over quickly to find his father and his wife in tight embrace on the ground.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Sparda! Are you okay? Did you hit your head?" Kyrie's first exclamation upon the realization that they had somehow come out of this situation unscathed was interesting to say the least as she looked up and down her father-in-law to check to see if he had sustained any damage.

"I'm fine." Vergil's short reply was reassuring, and the two of them climbed quickly to their feet. "It was good timing from you, Nero."

"I sensed you using your powers nearby." Nero answered. "I didn't think Kyrie would be here. What happened?"

"I was kidnapped by a demon when I opened the door for the children trick-or-treating, and your father saved me!" Kyrie reported quickly, hurriedly threading fingers through her husband's ones for a warmth that Vergil knew he could not provide no matter what. "Thank goodness he was around!"

"What was he doing here in Fortuna?" Nero continued asking in confusion, turning back to ask his father the same question.

"Dante had a mission, and I thought I would stay over with you for the night since the ladies wanted to hold a party at the joint." Vergil reported honestly. "It was dangerous of you to leave Kyrie home alone. What if something happened to her while you were not around?"

"She hadn't been targeted in a while, so I thought it was safe..." For some reason, Nero looked as if he had been given a big admonishment by his father despite the fact that Vergil had only asked him one question.

"How can she be safe if she has married you? Your mother was never safe from the demons whenever we were together." Vergil crossed his arms after sending his sword away.

"I can't stay with her 24/7. I have to bring back money!" Nero protested.

"Then at least train her to protect herself or give her something to keep her protected." Vergil concluded, ignoring the small protests from the woman herself. He wasn't going to let small protests of 'inconvenience' or 'troubling him' change his mind about the safety of his daughter-in-law.

After spending the whole day with her, he had learnt that Kyrie was the kindest and gentlest person he had ever known. That unfortunately also made her extremely vulnerable to any sort of evils, and even if her husband was an experienced demon hunter, he could not stay with her forever.

"Bring her home and warm her up." Vergil instructed as he turned away from the couple. "She should be safe with you until you leave for your mission tomorrow."

"Where are you going?" Nero asked to his father's retreating back. "Didn't you say you were going to stay over with us tonight?"

"I'm going back to the joint to get my amulet, then going to find Dante for his." Vergil answered.

"You're trying to summon your father's power again? Wasn't Temen-Ni-Gru enough for you?" Nero demanded in confusion. Vergil made a mental note about seriously talking to his twin brother having told Nero the story of Temen-Ni-Gru.

"The two halves of our amulets, when combined, creates a protection charm for the wearer. Our father gave it to our mother to protect her, but she split it into two to protect us. Now that we can all protect ourselves, it's time to put them together again and give the protection to someone who needs it the most." Vergil answered, then left without allowing his son or daughter-in-law another word.

He had spent almost the whole day with his daughter-in-law, and though their relationship might have only improved by just a little bit, Vergil decided that his son had truly found himself a gem. Much as she was almost too kind and gentle to a fault, it was a characteristic that was sorely needed within the Sparda family. The women of the Sparda family had to be like that to balance the craziness and the strength of the men.

And to do it, Vergil had to do whatever it takes to protect his daughter-in-law –even if it meant giving her one of his most precious belonging.