Chapter Text
"The mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven…"
John Milton, Paradise Lost
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They had grabbed the wrong kid.
He certainly sounded like Nero, and they were roughly the same age too, but Nero was standing right next to Vergil. If the kid was there, then who had they just accidentally kidnapped?
Dante ran his hand through half frozen and still wet hair. The obvious demonic blood in this kid aside, he was shivering. Hybrids hardly ever got sick, and he himself could withstand extreme temperatures, so none of the assembled group had any idea what to do. If it hadn't been so sad, the fact that the oldest of them had the least experience in caring for others would have been quite funny. As it was Dante could beg all he wanted he wouldn't get help from either of the two.
Letting out a sigh he tried to recount what had happened.
He and Vergil had been sparring and a fluke caused the Yamato and the Dante to open a rift through time and space into some really weird and creepy government lab. Dante had gotten the shivers from just being there and Vergil had gone stock still, ready to cut down anything that dared to rear its ugly head.
There were humans. Dante swore to never kill one, but his brother had no reservations of that kind, nor did he have the patience to even try and be nice. In his defense, they had shot first and used bullets that actually stung quite a bit. Too bad for them that his brother was capable of moving at the speed of light, and that Dante himself still remembered how to pull off Quicksilver and combo it with Royal Guard.
They had found a kid put on ice down there that looked just like them. White hair, pale skin, maybe another baby brother? Or cousin? The occasional bolt of stray demonic energy was a dead giveaway that this was another descendant of Sparda. The guy was family, and they did what any good family would do and bust him out. Baby's first jailbreak and he was sleeping right through it like an absolute professional slacker. Dante was almost impressed.
Sirens had gone off, blood had been spilled. The usual. Some weird guy in a suit had started to yap about how it was God's will this and that, and blah blah blah. He's heard that one often enough and it never worked. Prayers don't work on demons, much less devils like them. They were made of proper magic, thank you very much. Dante had tried to mess with the man but Vergil had grabbed him before he could get the show going properly. The last they saw was a piece of the ceiling heading right for Mr suit's face.
However, this left them with more questions than answers, especially since the kid on Dante's couch might as well have been a Nero 2.0 if they had heard the mumbled nonsense right.
"He's waking up!"
The twins were startled into action as their kidnapee struggled to open his eyes.
"Vergil? S'that you?" he slurred and tried to reach for the blue coat that had quickly moved out of reach.
Foggy ice-crusted eyes frantically moved around to find that familiar dot of cyan again. Dante had to adjust his grip on the teen or else risk him falling on his face. Yep. He sure sounded like their kid, but the spitfire was absent. Dante hoped that he would get some spark back once he had finished thawing out.
"Easy." he said as gently as he could, "You're okay. I've got you. Everything's going to be okay now."
"Dad…?"
Dante would never forget the confused and meek voice calling out to him. Nero and Vergil flinched as well.
"Uh, no." he fumbled for words, "it's a long story, kid. Just wake up and we'll talk about it."
He sent a panicked glare towards his brother and nephew and for once the baby-Spardas decided to act as a proper unit. Vergil made his way to Dante's bathroom to grab whatever towels he could find. Meanwhile, Nero rushed upstairs to grab something warm to wear for their newest family member. He would eventually return with one of Dante's older coats, a pair of jeans, and a black turtleneck that he hadn't seen in years.
That left Dante with his prize. He guessed the other to be around eighteen, maybe nineteen. He was a bit more of a noodle than Dante had been at that age, but the resemblance was there. It was like he was looking at one of these funhouse mirrors, and then the mirror looked back at him as blue eyes opened.
"Hey there sleeping beauty. Good morning." he teased.
It was his own eyes looking back at him. They only needed to exchange one small moment, a mere glance, for him to know what was going on. Dante times two. Parallel universes. He's been through some before, but had never taken souvenirs back with him.
"You're… mom told me stories, but I never thought–!"
Dante sighed and hugged the younger boy tight, "I'm not your father. It's a lot more complicated than that, actually. See, we have this time-space cutting magic sword, and we ended up crashing into your world. When we saw you there we thought we'd bust you out and take you home with us."
Did he imagine it or had his double looked disappointed for a moment?
"I'm this world's Dante. You're my counterpart, yes? My variant?"
He felt the popsicle nod more than he saw it happen. The poor thing really had seen better days. He knew he did not scar himself, so seeing the faintest traces of scar tissue on his young double's neck rubbed him the wrong way. If that had been Nero then the ones responsible would have regretted ever touching his family. There were worse things he could do than kill them.
"Kid, say hi to the other kid." Dante helped their new arrival to sit up and meet Nero.
In turn, the nephew waved at them both with what he hoped was a friendly smile.
"Yo. Enjoy the peace while it lasts."
"Wha?"
Nero leaned down to stage whisper, "You're stuck with us now, and we're a pretty weird bunch."
With each moment that passed, their stray gained more color to his cheeks. Each bit of ice that fell off – or was rubbed off once Vergil brought those towels – made the teen seem a little bit more alive. Soon enough he was agile and awake enough to put on the clothes that Nero had managed to find. They all pretended not to notice how he huddled himself into the red coat as if it were his lifeline.
One Dante looked at the other, "You're so… old. Why are you an old man?"
Behind them, Nero was trying and failing to stifle his laughter. He gave their newest addition a quick thumbs up before he made a tactical retreat behind Dante's desk.
"I'm not old! I'm only 38. That's not old at all, you brat."
"Pot, kettle."
"Yes, thanks for that Verge."
He got clubbed over the head with a sheathed Yamato for that. The grin on his younger counterpart's face made it worth it.
"Were you doing anything important there?" Nero asked as they both watched the twins push each other around.
"Nah. Don't really have much to return to either, to be honest. No family, no home, no human rights… "
"Damn, that's rough buddy."
A somewhat noncommittal hum was his answer. Nero forced himself to look away when their newest family member pulled his legs up to hug himself. He looked much like the orphans he and Kyrie were fostering, and that bit gave him an idea.
"Hey, you called Dante – our Dante – 'dad' just now. Think you can do so again in public without making it awkward?"
"Uh, I guess so? As long as I get to sleep on your couch when he throws me out later."
"He won't. Would you do that to him?" Nero crossed his arms and looked pleased when the other Dante struggled for words, "thought so."
"Fine, fine. I'm in, but you've got to tell me what we're up to. I want to know what I did so that I can deny everything later."
Nero, puffing out his chest in an attempt to show authority, pulled the other Dante to his feet. His legs seemed to be a bit wobbly, and he was still shivering too, but he stood. He would be able to walk. Maybe the warm summer sun outside would do him some good as well. Fortuna was a delight to visit this time of the year.
"C'mon, let's get your paperwork sorted while they are still distracted. You're staying here, cousin."
One world's trash was another world's treasure.
"Hey!" Dante yelled at the two juniors before they could sneak out of the building, "You need my signature for this? I'm sure Vergil will be pissed if I leave him here to clear out the spare room all alone."
"Careful, brother. A child is a big responsibility."
"You of all people saying that makes it hilarious." Dante grabbed his coat and wallet, then went after the junior department.
Oh yes. He'd keep that one. The other world would be fine… probably, and if not then that was their problem, not his.