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Dante knew Vergilius and Charon couldn’t understand them like the sinners could, it was easy enough to get around the communication barrier when they had their PDA with them at all times to type out whatever annoying question they needed Vergilius to answer. But it still bothered them that two people they had to work with every day couldn’t hear anything but ticking no matter how hard they tried.
That wasn’t entirely true though, Charon’s inability to hear them had never been an issue in the way Vergilius’ was, maybe it was because the way she talked was simpler and easier to answer with hand gestures, maybe it was because she never really talked to anyone beside Vergilius, maybe it was because she was a bit childish and never really cared about anything anyone else was saying anyway.
But they wanted to talk to Vergilius.
So, they did.
Vergilius had once often reminded them that he couldn’t understand them whenever they said anything to him, but he had seemed to give up lately and just tolerated their incessant ticking Dante thought it might have been an attempt to make them be quiet, not that it worked.
The way they talked to Vergilius was different from the way they typed to him, Vergilius was far too intimidating for Dante to feel comfortable communicating honestly with him but talking didn’t have that problem, as long as a sinner wasn’t around, they could say what they wanted.
<Sometimes I wish you would be a bit nicer to the sinners.>
Vergilius glanced at Dante for a brief second before turning away and continuing to stare absently out the window, the bus was mostly empty, and with Charon focused on driving and the sinners all in their rooms, there was no one to translate Dante’s ticking.
<I mean I understand that they’re… wild, but they do their best in battles you know?>
Dante didn’t have the nerve to say anything else that night and just sat in silence.
Vergilius of course was lying about not being able to understand Dante and had heard every word. If he bought the sinners chicken kebabs when they obtained the second golden brough that was entirely unrelated.
After the close calls in K Corp Dante found themself more reluctant to head to their room alone preferring instead to remain in their seat, feeling safer in Vergilius’ company even if ‘company’ was a bit of a generous term. As intimidating as he is Vergilius at least wanted them to stay alive, even if it was just out of convenience.
So once again Dante began talking to Vergilius.
<I looked up some things about you and Coloured Fixers, apparently there was the Red Mist before you, did you know her? How do Colours get their titles anyway? Yours makes sense but there’s one called the Purple Tear and I don’t really understand that one to be honest, does she make people cry?>
A week later Don Quixote dragged them away to her room to explain in borderline excruciating detail everything you could wish to know about Colours and Fixers including things you probably wouldn’t. She was far too excited to mention that Vergilius had specifically requested she inform Dante about Fixers to ‘make dealing with Fixer clients less of a hassle’ and Dante was so glad to finally understand something about The City that they didn’t question her rambling.
When Dante started talking about how helpful Don Quixote had been a few days later Vergilius hid a satisfied smile and pretended to himself that he had only done it to limit Dante’s questions.
Most of Dante’s one-sided conversations continued along these lines, bringing up different topics seemingly randomly, but Vergilius always listened to whatever they said at best they were mildly entertaining or something at least more interesting than staring out the window, and at worst, they were a source of inoffensive background noise.
<You’d probably make a much better manager than me, and a better sinner than everyone combined too, why did the company just hire you to GUIDE us?>
<Where did the company find these people anyway?>
<do you think there's some way for me to eat? I know I don’t need to, but I kinda wanted to try the chicken kebabs you got us.>
<How does Charon know where to go? I’m pretty sure I’ve seen her drive around a corner with her eyes closed.>
But now and then Dante would be oddly quiet for a while before finally beginning to speak about something far more serious, more softly than normal, with pauses every now and then, randomly going silent again for minutes at a time.
Vergilius tried hard to ignore it, it was one thing to anonymously make Dante’s job the tinnest bit easier but he couldn’t let himself get attached to them, they were weirdly kind and far too genuine and he knew it was just because they couldn’t remember the horrors of The City but it was so comforting just to listen to someone who didn’t want anything from him talk. But everything he cared for ended up ruined and he didn’t want to add them to the total.
But he couldn’t not listen to them.
<Nagel and hammer… they thought I was an abomination… do you think of me like that? As subhuman?>
Of course, he didn’t, Dante was far more human than he was anyway.
<I suppose it doesn’t really matter, after all, I just need to rewind the clock when the sinners die, I might as well be a machine I can't even talk to most people.>
He wanted to tell them that Faust never minded translating for them and that they could still type if they needed to.
<At least Ishmael, Gregor, and Sinclair think of me as human, and maybe the others too but I don’t want to get my hopes up.>
But Vergilius didn’t say a word, all he did was clench his fists and try to ignore how Dante’s words made his heart ache.
Their conversations kept becoming more serious (when had Vergilius started thinking about them as something he was a part of?) and it was getting harder each time to pretend that he wasn’t understanding anything, Dante was at least getting something out of it but he had to admit that he felt like an intruder listening to them spill their guts, he wanted to comfort them but there was no way to do so without revealing that he understood them all along.
<Thanks for fixing me the other day, going through all those different worlds was terrifying.>
It had been terrifying for him as well to see Dante randomly collapse in the middle of the bus with their ticking all out of sync, completely still.
<I just saw you, no one else, it was weird.>
Maybe that was because he had been fixing them, he had never been gladder for his limited knowledge of mechanical engineering, he didn’t know what he would do if Dante was permanently broken.
Whatever had happened to not getting attached?
<But what was even weirder was that… you were always smiling at me, I’ve only ever seen you smile at Charon.>
<I was so glad when you brought me back, I like this version of you far better, but I have to admit, it was nice to see you smile.>
Ok, maybe he could do that for them, maybe it would make them less afraid of him, he just needed an excuse. This was bad, he had let them worm their way into his heart.
Wait they liked him? Why on earth would they like someone like him? He had been nothing but cold and intimidating to them ever since they met.
Dante was foolish and the selfish parts of him were glad.
Vergilius got his chance just a few battles later, Dante really had been improving at managing the sinners during combat and led the sinners to a decisive victory without anyone dying or even losing a limb.
So once the sinners had climbed back onto the bus and Faust gave her report, Vergilius gave a small smile, like the ones he gave Charon, not the sinners, and addressed Dante directly.
“Well done executive manager, you did good work today.”
Then he turned and retreated to his office deliberately ignoring the sinners' surprised chatter and Charon’s eyes baring holes into his back.
Dante was shocked at Vergilius’ actions (even pinching themself to make sure they weren’t asleep) and the sinners were no different, Gregor patted them on the shoulder with his human arm and grinned at them.
“Hey, nice job manager bud! Looks like you’re starting to get the hang of this.”
Rodian appeared next to him wearing a matching smile.
“Our guide seems to be in a good mood too! Maybe he’ll get us some good food again!”
The conversation topics faded away from Vergilius, but the positive ambience lingered and not even Heathcliff and Ishmael fought for the rest of the night.
The next day Dante was visibly happier, they talked to the sinners they were closest sounding far more relaxed than they ever had before. It was depressing how the smallest hint of validation had cheered them up considerably, they really thought no one valued them or understood the effort they put into their job. Vergilius pretended that he only cared because a manager that was happier would work better than a sad one and not because he had gotten attached. It wasn’t working well.
He needed to stop this, needed to stop encouraging Dante to spend their nights talking to him, needed to stop doing little favours for them just to make them feel a little better, needed to sever this connection for Dante’s sake.
Before they were hurt.
It didn’t matter that they seemed happier now, it was better for them in the long run.
So, he deliberately ignored them the next time they started talking, at first it was easy enough, he focused a little more on the scenery outside the bus or thought about a different candy to get for Charon the next time they were in a nest. But once Dante started to talk about the pain of rewinding it was more difficult, he blocked it out, ignoring the words he did hear, the mentions of scars and agony.
And then he found he couldn’t ignore it at all.
The sinners had gone to complete a Mirror Dungeon, and something had gone very wrong, they all returned covered in far more blood than usual with a few visible injuries on some members but the most concerning fact was that at the back of the group Dante was being held upright by Gregor and Outis, and was limping slowly back to the bus, stumbling every few steps.
Vergilius’ gaze could have been seen for miles and it cut into the sinners that dragged themselves into the bus.
“What happened.”
Vergilius’ voice was deadly quiet and no one on the bus could meet his gaze, Gregor and Outis silently laid Dante down on a bus seat as gently as they could.
“What. Happened.”
His voice was harsher now and the sinners realised that they had never seen him this angry, they all tensed preparing themselves for a vicious assault before Faust finally spoke up.
“Dante had to rewind the clock many times, Faust suspects this has caused their current condition.”
“Everyone return to your rooms; you are not to leave until I come to get you.”
All the sinners instantly ran off and fled to rooms without a word.
Vergilius sighed heavily and Dante flinched, he walked over to the seat they were sprawled out on to see them pulling out their PDA and forcing themself into a sitting position. (Vergilius could hear the noises of pain they tried to stifle.) Charon leapt out of the driver’s seat and joined Vergilius beside Dante’s seat.
Dante was visibly terrified and Vergilius forced himself to lessen his gaze and speak softly, the last thing he wanted to do was make the situation worse.
He needed to stay calm. Just focus on the questions he was asking and Dante’s response.
“What’s wrong Dante?”
Their shaky hands made their typing slower, but Vergilius waited patiently for them to hand him the tablet refusing to rush them.
[Faust said]
[Can normally deal really sorry was too much]
Vergilius sighed again and handed Dante back the tablet making sure they had a proper grip on it before letting go.
“I’m not mad at you, your sinners should have fought better, they know the effect of the rewinds on you.”
Dante was typing something again when Charon tapped on Vergilius' shoulder intently.
“Verg-”
“Not now Charon I need to-”
“Tick Tock’s bleeding.”
Dante dropped the tablet and tried to cover their abdomen with their hands, but Vergilius held them away as gently as possible and noticed the darker red staining Dante’s jacket. He felt awful that he had been too caught up in his own feelings to notice their injury but now was not the time for that.
“Charon fetch the first aid kid.”
She ran down the hallway faster than Dante had ever seen and Vergilius handed them their PDA and pressed down as lightly as he could on their abdomen to stop the bleeding, they flinched hard.
“I’m sorry, I know it hurts but I have to stop the bleeding… How did this happen, Faust never mentioned you being hit.”
The typing was even slower this time, so Vergilius busied himself with removing their bloody jacket to see more of the injury.
[No hit just rewind normal just hurt and scar never blood before]
“You… get scars from the rewinds?”
They nodded slightly.
Charon returned with the first aid kit and handed a bandage from it to Vergilius.
“Ok Dante, this is going to hurt but I need to pull up your shirt and fix your wound.”
The typing was frantic this time and they all but shoved their tablet at Vergilius.
[Plse no dn’t want see scrs]
Charon was reading their message along with Vergilius and before he could respond she spoke up
“Is ok, Tick Tock will look at Charon, Verg don’t like looking at his scars. Charon will distract Tick Tock.”
<Ok, I’m sorry I didn’t want->
Dante’s half-unheard words cut off suddenly when they gave another hiss of pain and nodded at Charon.
Vergilius pealed away their bloody shirt when he heard Charon start talking about the latest sweets, he had bought her and took in a sharp intake of air at the sight of Dante’s abdomen.
Thankfully the actual wound Dante had was relatively shallow and hadn’t hit anything important but that wasn’t the issue, Dante’s abdomen was a mess of scar tissue in various states of healing, there were only the tiniest slivers of flesh remaining.
The sight was gruesome and would probably be added to Vergilius’ various nightmares, but it wasn’t what he needed to focus on.
The anti-bacterial spray had to be applied first and he double-checked that Dante was looking at Charon before starting the cleaning of the wound.
Dante had the expected reaction, they gripped Vergilius' free arm, hard, and screamed before retracting their hand like it had been burned and whimpering an apology.
Charon turned their head back towards her and continued on with whatever story she was telling, Vergilius placed their hand back on his arm and paused the disinfecting for a moment.
“It’s ok Dante, you can’t hurt me, do what you need to.”
As soon as they were given permission, they dug their fingers into his jacket fabric and sobbed.
Vergilius didn’t mention that seeing Dante in such poor condition had in fact hurt him deeply.
By the time the cleaning was done, Dante was shaking like a leaf in a tornado and Charon had resorted to holding their head gently in place so that they had to focus on her.
The bandaging was considerably easier even with just one arm Vergilius still managed it without harming Dante any further.
“It’s over Dante.”
They immediately collapsed into the seat, clearly exhausted and breathing rapidly. Vergilius picked them up as carefully as he could and began walking down the hallway toward his office door -with Charon close behind- much to Dante’s confusion, noticing this Vergilius explained his plan.
“Your condition means you shouldn’t be left alone for a while and because I don’t trust the sinners to take care of you I will.”
No other reason.
“My room is through my office; I don’t think yours will be very comfortable given your current emotional state.”
<Ok…I’m sorry for all the trouble.>
Vergilius pretended not to hear that as he opened the door and laid Dante down on his bed.
“You’ve done nothing wrong Dante, in fact, you performed incredibly well, but your sinners need to be more responsible, I won’t let this happen again.”
Vergilius pulled the blankets over Dante, carefully positioning them so that they wouldn’t be lying on top of their wound. Then he smiled as softly as he could, trying his best to reassure them that he wasn’t angry at them.
“Go to sleep Dante, you need rest.”
<I like your smile… it’s nice.>
Then Dante, finally feeling safe, fell asleep.
“Verg, Charon wants Tick Tock to get better quickly, doesn’t like them hurt.”
“They’ll be alright Charon.”
“You care about them.”
Hearing the truth he’d desperately been trying to repress spoken so clearly by Charon as though it was the most obvious thing in the world was enough to stun Vergilius into silence.
“It’s ok, Charon does as well.”
He never could lie to Charon.
“I do.”
The next time they talked it was Vergilius who started the conversation, like always it was at night when the bus was empty save for the two of them and Charon.
“Do your scars bother you at all Dante?”
Dante looked surprised that Vergilius was talking to them like, they had been expecting him to just pretend that the famous Mirror Dungeon run had never happened.
“I know they do mentally, I meant physically.”
<…They hurt sometimes or make it harder to move.>
“Mine do sometimes… if you wanted, I could teach you how to look after them.”
Dante looked up to find Vergilius looking at them expectantly.
<Thank you.>
Then as if they remembered that he allegedly couldn’t hear them, they nodded.
“Good.”
From her seat at the front of the bus, Charon smiled.