Holding the keys to his castle in hand, Vergil gazed out at the modest two story home his funds had bought him. 

It was his. Actually his. 

Despite all the problems that came with escaping the country he'd left, despite all the problems that came from having no friends, no family, no social security card. 

He'd managed it.

He'd gotten a home for himself, and even purchased it under a new alias that was created by someone else for a non entity and in turn that had given him a chance at a real, normal, life again. 

Yet he knew that wasn't something he could take, so while he could bask for a moment, he had to begin preparing once he had settled.

Still, being the young man that he was. This achievement was something he just couldn't help but celebrate. Doing a little fist pump dance as he entered the home, he'd gaze around and despite the barren nature of the mostly empty home he felt like he had finally taken the first step in beating the Orthodoxy of Ruin. 

Though, as he began unpacking what little he had and storing it in the various cupboards and drawers he did have available he did feel as tough the home was a little.. empty.

The Goddess was still silent, and while he knew that as a Goddess of Dreams she loved her beauty sleep he was still surprised she'd been quiet for so long, and as the days went on and he alternated between practicing his sword play and studying up on the occult, he realized something.

He needed friends. No hero was complete without his party, and as good as he could surely be with a little more training he knew he'd never take down the Orthodoxy of Ruin on his own, so. 

He began networking. Signing up with a VPN and ensuring that he only ever logged in from a coffee shop he began to look, combing through digital profiles as he prepared himself to find the companions that made a hero a hero! 

Well, not everything had to end badly. 

Even if he did think that poor Trey definitely deserved better than he was getting. He never did understand why people got so hung up on sex and what kind of it people liked to have. What business was it of anyone else's what two consenting adults did within the confines of their home? Such a silly thing, but, he supposed that this had been treated as far more than a silly thing by many people and that meant.. well. That they had literally made a mountain out of that mole hill. 

Still, Danielle was quite nice! She let him got to her house in the woods in Texas and he vastly preferred being out in the woods to being in the city. Much harder for the Orthodoxy to blow up his car when they had to drive two hours from the nearest town with it in their car to do so. 

Though the other thing he liked was getting access to a true blue sparring partner! Danielle was clearly more experienced than him, but that just meant that every time they sparred he got to learn a lot about bladework and dealing with enemies who possessed superior reach. It was excellent training honestly in regards to running up on the enemy and learning how to deal with the sinuous winding whip attack patterns really helped him get better at movement in general. 

As usual however, at the end of the month he went to sleep and woke up back in the strange other world. This really was starting to get confusing. 

Vergil's time between worlds had long since taught him to embrace the good in those around him for he never knew how much time he had with anyone he went on these jobs with.

It was why he made such efforts to get to know them, to protect them, to ensure that they'd be able to be there after he inevitably got called somewhere else to do some kind of job in a place that needed him a little more at that time. 

Artemis Barclay's funeral was not a time for his usual optimism however, and staring at the grave of the first of his friends who he truly saw die up close and personal his memories would flash back to the orthodoxy. To the world that he knew they wanted, and the extremes they were going to go to for the sake of achieving their bleak recreation. 

The young man's body in the casket being lowered down also reminded him of his younger brother. How they had both been on the edge of town when the destruction had begun, but that he had been just a few steps faster and those few steps had been the separating difference between making it that last step across the void to finally touch down on solid ground and failing to make the leap off that falling stone and in turn, being consumed by darkness.

Darkness that would be all Artemis Barclay would know from now on, his body now separated from his soul as it began its journey into the eternal dream. 

Vergil couldn't bring himself to say much at the funeral afterwards, and this time when the dream that would take him to the other world came he almost welcomed it. 

This world hurt too much to be in right now.