A Small Detour

“Wait, how do you… use that?” Julius shrugged before placing his open hand into it. Unlike the original Ragtime, this replica was more like a glove, or a gauntlet.

“We’ll figure it out, won’t we?” With the thought of his parents in his mind, Juli grabbed hold of Flora before making a fist and thrusting it out.

Light flashed and he lost consciousness.

---

Julius clearly remembers grabbing onto Flora before using the experimental Ragtime. So, he honestly expected that they would be the one to wake him up after expending a huge amount of energy just controlling the damned gauntlet.

“Hey kid, wake up—”

He opens his eyes, a snarky comment at the tip of his tongue ready to call out his friend but he fails to deliver his usual lines at the sight of an unfamiliar hooded man.

“Y-You’re not—Who the hell are you?”

“Watch your mouth, kid. Sparda above, don’t they teach you manners in the Order or something?”

Julius felt his world tilt at the stranger’s angry muttering. He sat up, confused and worried as began inspecting his surroundings.

He was in a snow pile outside a grand castle while people in hoods (and occasionally, with swords proudly displayed on their side) come and go between the huge gate. His mind briefly informs him that he’s in Fortuna City, just outside the castle.

‘...Huh? Wasn’t the castle...’

Something clicked in his head, realizing that what he sees should be impossible, since the original castle had been old and unkempt (and recently destroyed in the siege) He notices the man who woke him up was gone so he couldn’t ask for more info from him. Cursing in his head, he stands up and lets his feet take him to where most people were gathering—the auditorium.

His white hair swerves around, pink-blue hues categorizing each escape route and potential danger—something he learned from his mom—but as the hall is filled, the lights dimmed and someone begins singing on the stage.

He freezes and nearly stands up because what the fuck why is aunt Kyrie there, looking so young in old Order clothes? He barely hears the rest of the song as he lets his eyes just take in the information overloading his head.

‘If she’s here then… did Ragtime work? But I could have sworn aunt Kyrie wasn’t as active in the reformed Order after the Savior—’

Julius lets his thought process stop as a sinking feeling begins to form in the pit of his stomach. The plan with Flora was to head back in time when the demon that attacked them had been weaker. The timeline had been roughly around twenty years ago, give or take a few months after the infamous attack on Red Grave City.

And while Julius may not have been the ideal history student even he knows that the attack on Red Grave happened after the Savior Incident.

‘Shit… don’t tell me…’

As the conclusion begins to form in his head, a small creak from the door grabs his attention and startled him out of his head.

The white haired newcomer in a cast didn’t even glance his way but makes his way hurriedly onto a seat as the song comes to an end. Julius couldn’t breath because he knows that frown, that face, and that stupid stride anywhere.

‘You look just like your father back when he was still working for the Order.’

‘No way… no fucking way—’

Once again, his eyes gaze at the brunette beside the young form of his dad who looked like she was berating him for something.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

His mom, young and headstrong and fierce, all dressed in white and gold, the colors of the research division of the Order.

As his eyes are still wide-eyed in disbelief, there was a sudden commotion, someone crashing through the window and murdering everyone—

“Wait a second, dad told me something like this happened in his time… Aunt Kyrie’s performance was followed by… Fuck—”

A performance followed by his granduncle Dante swooping down and murdering the demons masquerading as holy knights.

Despite the panic, Julius clearly hears his dad asking his mom to leave with aunt Kyrie but of course his mom stays.

“Hey, get out of here!” Suddenly, he is confronted by his mother, urging him to leave the battlefield. He sees a demon about to swipe at her unprotected back and his protective instincts took over, shielding her from them and countering back with Emperor’s Oath. He hears his dad call out his mom’s name and the distinct younger voice of his granduncle saying something but he doesn’t care about any of that, only making sure that his mom is okay.

“T-Thanks…”

“Nice reflexes—Wait…” Julius clutched his weapon as all three pairs of familiar eyes now stare at him. His dad looks relieved but curious, his mom ever so wary and cautious despite him saving her, and granduncle Dante—

“Shit… are you kidding me, Verge… Two of them?”

‘Oh--Oh fuck. Does he think…? Shit! He’s making the wrong conclusion—’

“Hey, thanks for saving her but I think you should get the hell out of here now.” Younger Nero turns to the younger form of Dante, his next words ringing quite loudly through the empty hall. “You aren’t human, are you?”

“We’re the same, you, me, him… and them.” Dante briefly looks into Julius’ direction and at this point, denial or acceptance is a death sentence for him. He looks down, not wanting to see his dad’s once again curious gaze but from his peripheral he sees his mom frown and cautiously step way from his side.

It hurt to see her usual adoring look turn into mistrust.

“Though I suspect you and your twin there carry something different from the others.”

“My what—Look, I don’t even know who that guy is! What are you talking about?”

“You will come to learn the meaning soon enough—”

“Sorry, but you have it all wrong.” Finally mustering the courage to speak up, Julius stares down at two of the most intimidating hybrids he has ever known. Inaction would most likely be the same as acceptance but when has Julius ever known to lay down and accept defeat?

‘Shit what the fuck am I doing I’m not supposed to change anything—’

“Oh? Care to tell me what I got wrong then?” There was something curious in his granduncle’s tone and it hits Julius.

‘He… he really thinks I’m grandfather’s kid...’

He couldn’t help it, maybe it was his dad rubbing off of him or maybe it’s the fact that he finally gets to one-up his granduncle from all the times he’s teased Julius.

He smirks, one eerily similar to the other hybrid (as Claudia notes) and strides forward with Emperor’s Oath resting on his shoulder.

“Whatever you were thinking when you saw me, that’s not it.”

“And that is?”

“That’s for me to know and for you to find out.. If you can, that is.”

‘Maybe until like twenty years in the future you will.’

He knows that it was impossible for him to come to the conclusion that he was Nero’s son, not with how young his dad is. So the only two possibilities are his actual grandfather…

Or Dante himself.

Without looking back, he leaves the auditorium despite his dad’s voice calling him out. His strides get faster and faster until he is full-on sprinting, not daring to even glance behind to see if anyone followed him. He didn’t technically lie, he wasn’t Vergil’s son so whatever conclusion Dante made was obviously not true. He snickers, thinking of the other Devil Hunter’s panic look  when suddenly, a huge wave of nausea hit him as he stumbles to the ground, passing out without any resistance.

---

He wakes up to Flora looking over him with their worried green eyes. They tell him that they found him on the ground unconscious nearly half a day ago.

Julius gets up without a word, this time he knows that they’re on the right timeline, as the neon blue lights of Devil May Cry shine from the Minotaurus parked beside a strangely familiar building.

His blue-pink eyes settle on the garage door, as four familiar figures step out to check on the van.

Two of them were Flora’s much younger parents. The other two were his own, his mother’s hair longer than what he remembers seeing in the Order and his father’s own hair shorter.

The two time travelers looked at each other and with a nod, began approaching the group.

They still have a future to save after all.