Before we begin, please bear in mind this is strictly experimental. I know the 'Vergil returns' plot has been used by pretty much everyone in the DMC fandom and all of their respective grandmothers, but I still wanted to try it out. I also know that this story is lacking in many respects. The early chapters are now very old, and my writing has improved slightly since then. That said, if anyone has constructive criticism to offer, do so by all means.

Disclaimer: I do not own Devil May Cry, or any of the characters, plotlines, etc. thereof.

Now, we can begin.

"Whoa..."

"...look at..."

"What..."

"...not a demon..."

"...human?"

"...armor..."

"...alive?"

"...alive. Help..."

He heard voices. Soft voices, murmuring all around him. The small part of his mind that could still think- albeit in a foggy kind of way- through the blinding pain that engulfed every cell of his body, struggled to figure out who they could possibly belong to. They weren't... weren't at all like those other voices- the only voices he had heard for so long. These were more like... that other one's voice. But for the life of him- not that it was much of a life, granted- he couldn't figure out who, or what, those voices belonged to.

Then warm arms wrapped themselves around him. The small part of his mind that was still awake told him that this was almost like those other times, when her arms would hold him and... but who was she? It was no use, he couldn't remember. Why? Because he had been told not to.

Then the arms hauled him upward, and the pain returned, this time flooding even that small corner of his mind. And he sunk into merciful blackness.

—

Aline gazed steadily at the stranger who now lay in one corner of the speedboat, covered by a blanket. They had found him, half buried by debris, in the last place she would have expected to find anyone alive- if only just barely. Idly she ran over the events in her mind.

"Hey, Sher." she had addressed her friend. "Do you think we'll actually find anything good here?" she gestured at the island. Though perhaps 'island' was somewhat too generous a term. What had once been an island was now not much more than a pile of rubble surrounded by ocean.

"Yeah, maybe." he shrugged. "Anyway, you know the government wanted us to look into it- just in case."

"Of course I know that." was Aline's crisp answer. Then she looked at the island again. "But it seems that whoever was here first did a pretty good job. Did they say who it was?" she rested her chin on the side of the speedboat.

"Nope." Sher lifted one shoulder in the universal 'no idea' gesture. "You know that drill- it was just 'go to this place, disarm anything you think is particularly dangerous, kill off any remaining demons, bring us back anything valuable.'"

She had snorted. As if there was going to be anything remotely valuable on this particular chunk of rock.

But they had found something, at least.

"Woah, look at this." Sher called her over. She came, and Sher pointed to the object of his attention. Aline looked. Then whistled softly.

"Woah." she unconsciously echoed her friend. "That's one heck of a seal. Level four, I think."

Seals came in four levels. Level one seals were practically useless, only capable on keeping out the weakest of demons, and could be annulled or destroyed in a matter of seconds. Level twos were slightly stronger, and would deter most ordinary humans. Not either of them, though. But then of course, they wasn't ordinary humans. Find a level three seal, and there was probably something valuable- or dangerous- about. But a level four... those were rare. She had grinned. They could get one hell of a bonus for this. After that, not much else had happened. A couple of artefacts- most of them cursed, more than a few arcane symbols and designs, nothing particularly interesting, until...

"H-hey!" she called Sher over with a look on her face that was surprised baffled, and slightly sick all at the same time. Sher came over, intrigued, to take a look at where she was pointing.

"Woah..." he said for the umpteenth time that day.

"Just look at him." Aline said, her voice slightly faint. But not without reason. The armor the man was wearing on all but his head was strange enough to attract notice, but that wasn't all. His face and neck were a mass of bruises. In his hand, clutched tightly was a katana in a battered-looking sheath. "My god..." she murmured under her breath, and immediately took it back. She was an atheist after all. Sher looked at her.

"What... is he?" by which he meant, of course, Is he a demon, and do we kill him? She shook her head.

"He's not a demon... at least, I don't think so."

"So then he's a human?"

Aline smiled slightly. Trust Sher to turn the obvious into a question.

"Yeah." she said.

"But... look at that armor..."

"Don't ask me, I have no idea." she ran one had over the smooth armor. Sher crossed his arms over his chest.

"Is he even alive, y'think?" Ah. Now that was a good question. She quickly placed one hand to his neck. Sure enough, there was a faint pulse.

"Yes, he's alive." She told Sher. "Help me with him."

He had looked none too happy at the unexpected interruption of their work. (Or, as he put it, 'scavenger hunt'.) Nonetheless, he complied. He took the man's legs while Aline wrapped her arms around his torso. As gently as possible- which wasn't all that gently, due to the rough configuration of the ground, they lifted him and, in short stages, carried him to the speedboat.

Aline looked toward the stranger again, locking her dark eyes on his face. Absently she rubbed her arms, still aching from carrying him. Not that she was weak, far from it, but he was incredibly heavy. Probably because of that armor... Dammit, was it her or was his breathing even more shallow? Far too shallow for comfort. She cursed to herself under her breath. Oh well, there was nothing for it. She rummaged through a duffel bag at her feet until she found what she was looking for. A smaller bag full of...

She pulled a blue orb out and walked over to the man, still cursing, if now only mentally. Blue orbs were hard to come by, especially for them, since they didn't do all that much demon-slaying and essence-collecting by themselves. Most of their blue orbs were acquired through the government, who had to get hem off hunters, who understandably didn't want to give them up so cheaply after all the hard work of getting them... the whole process could take ages. All for one miserable (but precious) blue orb. It had ben a stroke of luck that they had found a couple on the island. Ah well.

She kneeled and touched the orb to the man's neck, watching as it was immediately drained. Then she drew back and examined him critically. His breathing had deepened, and maybe a couple of bruises had disappeared. Not that the overall effect was all that impressive, to say the least. She sighed and took out another orb, which was also immediately drained. She stood up, then sighed- again- then walked over and flopped down onto the bench. Whoever this guy was, he had better be damn grateful when he woke up.

"Hey, Sher!" she called, not wanting to get up. "Did they say what the island was called, anyway?"

"Yeah." Sher's voice floated back to her from the helm. "I dunno what the folks 'round here call it, though they'd probably be better off calling it 'rubble' now- though the guy who assigned it to us said..."

"Just tell me the damn name already!"

"He said it was called Mallet. Mallet Island."