I was minding my own business, procrastinating on writing a fight scene as one does, when brain went "verdugo Leon but raccoon city" and threw a convincing mental image at me and I guess then my hand slipped and I'd suddenly written a oneshot that's as much an exploration into young Sherry as it is an outsider POV on verdugo Leon. ... there might have been some minor excursions into biology stuff. I suppose as a whole this would then be an AU to an AU to an AU inspired by the verdugo Leon and rookiebug AUs by @polarspaz
I don't think there's anything in particular need to warn about that's not already covered by this being Resident Evil stuff?
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Sherry has never been this scared before.
First, her mother had called her at school to go home and stay inside, no matter what, and when Sherry asked about dad, her mother ended the call. And then she watched the city go to shit - "Language, Sherry!" - from the window of her second floor bedroom while she waited. Sherry set a new record in lemmings. And tetris. She finished her homework assignments, all of them. She played through all of Super Mario. Twice. She ate an extra big portion of chocolate cereal and made hot cocoa to the sound of sirens. She cooked mac 'n' cheese from the box mix when the housekeeper wouldn't come and watched the city go to shit some more.
"Language, Sherry!" she had told herself in the voice of Mario - the teddy wearing her red elementary school cap. It was a bit childish, but no one was here and she was bored to hell.
And scared.
Three days in, a police van drove by, late at night. Sherry had stayed up long past her bedtime, eating popcorn while the TV in her room played some music ranking late night show to drown out the sirens."Attention all citizens. Due to the citywide outbreak, you are advised to take shelter at the Raccoon City police station. Free food and medical supplies will be provided to everyone in need."
There had been something dad had told her, a few weeks ago, that if things got bad, really really world-endingly bad, she was to go to the police station and find the chief. He would get her out of Raccoon City, dad had arranged for that. But! She must never tell him about the locket or its purpose. Sherry wasn't stupid, she knew what that meant.
But she had made her way to the police station, tip-toeing past zombies - again, she was twelve, not stupid, she knew what a zombie was and that they shouldn't be real - and she found the chief of police while he was dumping a young man's body. All Sherry could see was the blond hair, the head wound - blunt force trauma the crime series she was not supposed to watch would call it - and the blue jeans and white sneaker combination that glowed in the cone of the chief's flashlight. Sherry had cowered down out of sight, hands pressed over her mouth and then she hid.
Sherry had gotten real good at hiding last year.
That's where she is now, in a hiding place in some storage room. She had shoved a few boxes together to provide a better hiding place and her jacket is spread out on the ground to keep her from freezing her butt off. "You'll get a bladder infection if you sit on the cold ground too long," had been a frequent chorus for as long as she could remember.
Sherry can't tell how much time passes that way, so she starts counting her breaths. A human breathes on average twenty times a minute, she read that somewhere, so every hundred breaths are five minutes, meaning that every one thousand and two hundred breaths are an hour. She loses count somewhere around three hundred, so she starts all over again. There's not much to do here, curled up in her hiding place while the cold from the floor seeps through her jacket and school uniform into her bones.
A human has two hundred and six bones. She read that, too, and she had tried to learn them all from biggest to smallest to become a doctor, so she could see her parents at work. Femur, Sherry starts.
She dozes off at some point, because the last she remembers, she was listing all the metacarpals, but she wakes from a shuffling sound. She's hungry, she's thirsty and she can hear something moving outside the room she's hiding in.
Heavy footsteps like the chief.
And something dragging behind.
Sherry gasps very quietly and immediately curls up tighter, covering her hair with the jacket. What if he heard her? Shallow breaths, Sherry. Quiet and shallow breaths through the mouth. Become invisible.
The door opens with a click and the heavy footsteps continue. They make a scratching noise on the stone floor and the dragging sound continues on, too.
Then they stop.
Sherry keeps herself as still and small as possible while beyond the wall of boxes the footsteps pick up again, going away from her. There is a deep huff of breath from something big, like a horse, and then the shuffling sounds of something settling down.
The cardboard boxes she's hiding behind are partially empty and the bottom flaps aren't aligned perfectly, allowing Sherry to look outside from within her hideout without moving. She can't make out a lot, but it's not the chief. It's not a zombie either and not one of those things crawling around with an exposed brain.
She can see that it's big, even sitting hunched over. There's a tail curled around its legs covered in big scales. No, Sherry decides. A carapace that's all white like bones. Some parts are coloured blue, though. It's a bit blurry to watch it through the cardboard slit, but she can make out blue parts, too. A bug then, Sherry thinks. A very very very big bug.
But the bug doesn't move and neither does Sherry. As far as monsters go, the bug is not that bad so far. But then, spiders - and she knows those aren't bugs, but bugs don't have a tail with a stinger either - will wait hours and hours for prey to walk into striking range.
After an eternity, her stomach rumbles.
Sherry scrambles to her feet, all ready to run from the bug monster, but it also just gets up and looks at her like it knew where she was all along. Her heart's beating in her throat. Once it moves towards her, she'll be able to slip past it and through the door and she readies herself-
Instead the bug gestures for her to go back behind the boxes and makes a series of clacking and chittering sounds. Then it turns, tail whacking heavy folders from a shelf - causing the bug to pause in a posture that Sherry thinks is frustration - and leaves, ducking deeply to fit through the door, closing it behind itself.
Sherry finds a new hiding place. The bug hadn't attacked her before, but, well, it was a monster and she was in a monster situation. She'd read enough to know that kids that trusted the monsters were the first to die. Don't take gifts from witches, don't get into car with strangers and don't trust the big bug monster not to eat you.
The clock tower is very dusty and someone must have known this was a good hiding place because there's a package of cigarettes and an ashtray stashed here. Up here it's a lot quieter and the floor is wood so it's not as cold. She's still hungry, but as long as she curls up and counts breaths, she doesn't notice it as much.
But she feels when something enters the clock tower, the heavy steps being carried through the wood right into her ear. And then she hears the scratching. Scratch, step, scratch, step, thud. That's got to be the tail hitting something.
The bug has found her again.
And she's trapped up here.
Sherry retreats into the very last corner, even though she knows it won't help. The bug knew where she was in that storage room, too. It can probably hear her already. Her heartbeat definitely feels loud enough in her own ears.
Scratch, step, thud, scratch, step, thud she hears over the creaking of the wooden stairs. Quiet. More creaking. Then the shuffling sounds of the bug sitting down, tail sliding over the ground until its curled up around itself. Sherry can make out its silhouette, hunching uncomfortably by the stairs, in the dim light. Its eyes are shimmering blue, reflecting the bit of light there is like a cat's eyes.
Things are dropped by the bug. Something crinkling like plastic, something heavier, liquid like a bottle and something heavy and solid. Three things get shoved into Sherry's direction as far as the bug can push them and then it turns away. Demonstratively, it turns its back to Sherry as though to signal that it is not interested in her and not a threat to her and the whole thing would be more effective if it wasn't taller and broader than even Sherry's PE teacher and brought its tail towards Sherry with that movement.
It sits a bit like a human, like one of Sherry's classmates if she's honest. Legs on the stairs, hunched over and rustling about with a plastic bag of its own.
Sherry considers her situation. That makes a good scientist, her parents had told her. Thorough observation, rational analysis, well thought out conclusion. And then lots of experiments to test it all. Observation is simple. She's trapped with no way out, she's hungry, there's items that the bug brought and shoved in her direction, the bug is not looking at her. Analysis is a bit harder because Sherry's no expert on bugs especially not big, humanoid ones. But it's clear that the bug could have caught her if it wanted, even downstairs when she hid behind the boxes. It had given every indication that it brought that food - that's what she assumes those items are, stolen from one of the vending machines downstairs - specifically for her and doesn't mean any harm to her. It's even attempting to appear non-threatening. All signs point to the bug not being a danger to her. Now, it could be a trap or it could be a strategy to fatten her up like the witch in the fairytale, but... Sherry's really hungry and she can worry about that later.
Quickly, Sherry darts from her corner, picks up the items and immediately retreats with her prize. the bug only throws her a quick glance and makes a clicking sound. It's not moving towards her, in fact it seems to concentrate even harder on its own... food? It all reminds Sherry a lot of that stray cat near the school she'd tried to catch once before she was forbidden from having a pet. Don't look, don't act like you're interested, prove that you're not a threat and bring food. Just that Sherry is the stray cat this time.
Sherry's haul consists of three things. A flashlight, a bag of chips and a bottle of gatorade. Half the bottle goes down in one gulp because more than hungry she's been very thirsty. The chips don't survive long either and get washed down with the rest of the gatorade. Not what her nanny would have called a healthy meal, but Sherry doesn't care about that right now.
The bug is still rustling about with its bag and has started to make a low chirring sound of utter frustration while Sherry devoured her food. She bites her lips and points the flashlight at the bug and its misery. Yep, that's a bag of toffees its trying to open with its clawed hands and, Sherry guesses, while trying to avoid that all the toffees spill everywhere. The bug is definitely clever. Sherry has classmates that still haven't grasped that. "I- I can help," Sherry offers before she can think better of it. But... the bug brought her food, it's only right that she returns the favour. "J-just don't eat me?"
The bug chitters and it almost sounds like a laugh while its dark-brown face mask - oh, that was not a mask - splits open and reveals... that's got to be the mouth. And those are a lot of sharp teeth and lots of mandibles, too. It tosses Sherry the bag in a surprisingly human motion.
Maybe not that surprising. As Sherry catches the bag, her flashlight flickers erratically across the bug's form and what she thought had been blue carapace before turns out to be clothes. Torn apart and stretched thin across the pale carapace, but unmistakably clothes. Blue shirt, jeans... Its eyes also glow blue while reflecting the light.
Sherry tears the bag open at the seam and, oh, there's a problem. "These are all wrapped," she explains to the bug. "I... don't think you can unwrap them?"
The bug looks at its own hands, three dark-brown claws longer than Sherry's radius, then shrugs at the obviousness of its problems with that.
"You're not going to eat me, are you?"
The bug points at the bag of toffees first, then at its own mouth.
"You want the sugar," Sherry translates. "I guess that makes sense since you're a bug monster." Sherry puts the first unwrapped toffees into the bug's hands and watches as they immediately vanish in the bug's mouth. This time she can see it more clearly, how all the pieces flare out, the lower jaw completely splitting open, and then the mandibles snap shut around its bounty and the bug closes its eyes as it seems to savour the taste. "Were you human?" It feels a bit redundant to ask, but it would be nice to have confirmation.
The bug nods.
"How did you- Do you know how you turned into a big bug?"
The bug shakes its head.
Sherry keeps unwrapping toffees that are eaten very quickly and without gluing the bug's teeth together like they'd do whenever Sherry tried them. At the same time she keeps asking questions that the bug answers in nods or shakes of its head. Can you speak? No. Are you a boy? Yes. Do you eat only sugar? Shrug. A shrug looks pretty weird when it's done by a tall bug monster. But you don't eat humans? Enthusiastic nod that has the blond hair shake with the motion. Are you a good monster then? Yes and a shrug which Sherry translates to "I suppose." Fair enough. If she got turned into a bug monster, she wouldn't know whether that makes her a good monster. "I guess you're like the X-Men. Or, like, the mutants in the comics in general and it depends on what you do with your powers."
The bug chitters, mandibles flaring open once more and this time Sherry is sure that he's laughing at her.
"Do you have a name?" she asks, handing the last of the toffees over. "I can't keep calling you just bug, right?"
The bug nods, makes a series of chirping and clicking sounds and snaps his mouth shut, shoulders slumping.
"Yeah, I don't think I can say that."
Suddenly, the bug jumps to his feet, startling Sherry which sends the flashlight from between her knees clattering all over the floor until its stopped by the bug's claws. The bug holds out the flashlight in one hand and the other in... invitation?
The bug's carapace is warm as Sherry holds onto him. It doesn't feel as hard as she thought it would be, almost leathery in fact. This close she can see that it's not really white either, or at least not white through any effect other than being thick enough to appear so, because she can make out the shapes of the moving muscles beneath the carapace while the bug is running through the station with her on his back.
They come across zombies, of course, and some of the crawling, skinless things, but where Sherry had been forced to sneak around, the bug just kills them. It's... it's a lot of blood and... things, but the bug makes sure that nothing reaches her even when he smashes a zombies head apart by whipping it into a wall with his tail while trying to cover her eyes. Sherry is terrified, but at the same time she's so glad that the bug is protecting her. He's definitely a good monster, she decides.
Sherry has a hard time telling where exactly they are in the station until they pass the big statue in the main hall, but then they duck into another corridor. Well, the bug has to duck very low and Sherry just holds on and prays she doesn't hit her head on a doorframe. And ducking again.
The bug makes a noise, one that vibrates through the leathery plates of carapace on his back and sits down which Sherry thinks is the signal for her to get off. They're in an office now, she sees, pointing her flashlight here and there. There are no people here and no corpses either. Several desks and-
Oh.
Sparkling streamers are taped to the ceiling and there's a banner hung across the desks, all made from cut out circles and letters. "Welcome, Leon," Sherry reads, turning to the bug. It nods and points at the banner. "Your name is Leon?" The bug nods again. "OK, Mister Leon, it's very nice to meet you. I'm Sherry." She holds out her hand, because that's what one does when introducing oneself and she's been really rude so far by not doing so.
Two mandibles rise up to the bug's, no, to Leon's eyes and he carefully returns the offered handshake. For the first time since all this started, Sherry's not feeling scared at all.
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I might write more for this since writing came with the side effect of thinking a lot about the whole scenario. I couldn't really get into Leon's whole deal, but suffice to say that he arrived earlier than in canon and stumbled over the orphanage instead of the police station first.
For Sherry I imagine she was a pretty lonely kid with mostly adults as contact and lacking socialization with peers leading to her diverging in tone and expression from what would be typical for her age. I mean, her parents were at best pretty distant and there'd have been a lot of things she couldn't have done with classmates, meaning she wouldn't have ended up hated per se, but as the outsider that everyone got along okay with but who was nobody's friend.
Fun fact: while looking up what she could have been playing to distract herself, I checked pokemon first (of course. it's pokemon) and that had its first release in the US on the 28th of September in 1998, so exactly during the Raccoon City Outbreak.
Why Leon doesn't look full verdugo is very simply based on the fact that his plaga had to go through with the metamorphosis on the biomass of one healthy young male and little else and growing a whole tail and carapace? Yeah, best the plaga could do in that first step was a kinda caterpillar state, send Leon on a search for sugar (chitin synthesis needs so. much. sugar.) and prioritize what it needs to survive this mess. Ergo, lots of that chitin didn't end up sclerotized and chitin itself is tough, but pliable... and colourless. the sclerotized parts are the ones that have a darker colour. So mouth parts, claws and stinger? those are all important. The rest of the carapace is not unimportant per se, but its current tough but pliable state is good enough against human teeth and licker tongues. Pigmentation? Pretty unimportant. Oh, and he wouldn't be full verdugo size yet either. Taller than a normal human, but definitely not the 8 to 10 feet he'll reach as a fully grown verdugo.
Yeah, Leon's going through a full proper molt after Raccoon City and after a bit of a sugar binge... and then his plaga would like a break, please.
Anyway, yeah, I just really kinda wanted to see Leon have Sherry along and point at the banner like "this is me. I'm Leon." because speaking is so not going to happen with that kind of mouth. At least not in a human way.
Oh my gosh, Leon being so careful around Sherry, trying to stay close to her, but not too close cause he knows he's scary! Then he gives her some food, only to be frustrated a few seconds later when he can't eat his own snack BUT THEN Sherry offers to help him and- and- AUGOGOGOGOGOUGO!! SO FRIGGIN CUTE!!!!!
OH MAN and I totally agree Sherry would be a little quirky, personality wise at least, because of her situation. Poor thing probably raised herself more than her parents did.
IT'S OKAY THOUGH, CAUSE NOW SHE'S BEEN ADOPTED BY BUG DAD!!!
Thank you so much for sharing this! I enjoyed it immensely!
Anyway sorry if my reply sounded too mean, but Iโm so tired. I live in a red state as a queer person in Americaโs current political climate, so it makes me a bit bitey.
Like I would say to someone who asked me why I was a lesbian, โitโs none of your business and perhaps you should mind yours.โ
I draw suggestive queer art. Itโs in my pinned. I donโt need a reason to express myself.
I say this, but I'm not saying that Vergil would be a great father. Vergil has truly shown that he does not despise his family entirely, he definitely holds resentment towards his brother but he values his kin just as much as he does Nero.
briefs
In DEVIL MAY CRY 3, between the fight between Vergil and Dante, Vergil valued Dante's life over his own. He demonstrated this by not only having playful banter with his brother(showing that he still has fun), but slicing Dante's hand to prevent him from falling with him at the end. Vergil may not be a decent person, but he's definitely selfless to an extent.
In DEVIL MAY CRY 5, Vergil shows just as much, if not more, acknowledgement and care for his family. After Dante revealed to Vergil that Nero was his son, he kind of... always knew another one of his own flesh and blood was out thereโ
((WELL WELL... THAT WAS A LONG TIME AGO.))
โit may not have been upfront in his mind, but it must've always been a lingering thought in his background.
During M20, the fight w/ Vergil as Nero, prefight was Nero's monologing about sibling rivalry and settling differences. When Nero asses thatโ
((NEITHER ONE OF YOU ARE DYING HERE.))
(smth like that) Vergil, albeit subtle, gives a very impactful nod. This alone indicates that he does acknowledge his family in a way he hadn't before, that he truly does care beneath his abrasive front. He really does acknowledge Dante as his brother, and Nero as his son. This is his family.
theory
In MY opinionโ
If Vergil knew about the pregnancy beforehand, he would've stayed. The man went mad in his persuit of power, power-hungry and blind to his own weaknesses. If it were different, if he had stayed with the woman, he would've taken care and raised Nero as his own.
He was young, so he would be confused and doubtful about raising a baby. I believe he would've slowly gotten used to the idea, and grew into his own parenting style, even if the mother wouldn't want to stay. He would want Nero to be just like him, he'd start introducing the boy to weapons near his teen ages, I'm thinking. They would train together, Vergil would even push Nero to train without him until he felt stronger. Until he could break a boulder with his bare hands. It would eventually hurt Nero, surely, but Vergil would call it progress. This would make Nero eager to recover and more confident in his strengths.
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