You Know Me Through The Years

La Femme

He stood outside a very familiar building with a sack containing his late father's memoirs. The books were in very bad shape thanks to years of exposure and weathering within the ruins of Vergil's childhood home.

It had taken him some time to track down someone who could repair the tomes, but when he finally was able to track someone down, it was a small shock. The name Soranna Lazarescu was not as familiar as the name of the shop. The White Owl had hardly changed in the last twenty or so years he had been away. It still had its air of mystery with the strange antique vibe coming from the century and a half year old building.

The last time Vergil stood in front of the building, Arkham was standing next to him as lightning crawled across the dark skies overhead. He was a spry nineteen year old with a hunger for more power than he could possibly have imagined. Months before then, he had gone to Fortuna, only to learn very little of anything. Then, the manipulative man came to him with the promise of obtaining Sparda's power.

The quest to raise Temen-ni-Gru was everything short of complicated. So, when the strange man found a possible solution, he went for it. Arkham had brought Vergil to this very building in search of The Alchemist's journal. The very Alchemist that had helped Sparda seal the demon world over two thousand years ago. What Vergil had not expected was that the Alchemist himself was still very much alive after all this time.

Arkham had gone in the shop by himself first after he instructed Vergil to stay where he was. He had learned in his years alone that sometimes, to obtain what he truly wanted, sacrifices had to be made. The older man had reminded him of that on a daily basis. Arkham had sacrificed much to become what he was in that time, but it still disgusted Vergil to this very day.

There were very few things that Vergil regretted from his past. The list was getting shorter these days thanks to his newfound path in life, but this one regret still stuck with him. When Arkham came out of that same building alone and with only a book in his hand, Vergil felt no need to know how the man had come to possess it. The madman simply bid him goodnight and walked off into the shadows.

Whether it was curiosity or something else in his humanity, Vergil walked into the shop only to find a dead woman and her dying husband on the floor. The Alchemist was lying in a pool of his own blood as he struggled to breathe, but he managed to mutter out Vergil's name as if he knew him personally. However, looking back on it, Vergil could not deny the possibility that Sparda had kept in touch with his old friend.

It was evident in the old books.

Still, The Alchemist begged Vergil to end it as he had lived long and loved only once. The beautiful black haired woman on the floor had been the love of his long existence. Even if Vergil seemed to be cold and unfeeling, he still had honor. He did as the immortal man asked and ended his existence.

The regret of that night came shortly after when he found himself pointing Yamato's sharp end at a child. A girl with raven hair and blue eyes who had seen both her parents killed before her eyes. She must have been six or seven years old then, but he knew he had made a mistake. It was not in his nature to harm a child then, but somewhere along the line, he had stopped caring. Her tears were like diamonds in the warm light of the lamps around them. He remembered that much.

Lowering his sword may have been the wisest choice he had ever made, but it did not deter him from using Yamato's hilt to knock her out cold. He was sure the best kindness he could have offered her was death in the beginning. Now, he regretted ever taking part in the killing of his father's friend.

Even if the Alchemist was still alive, would he be willing to let everything go? Perhaps. There was no way to know because the dead do not suffer the living. He was curious to know if Soranna Lazarescu was the girl he left alone all those years ago. If so, maybe he could also right that wrong like so many others.