Growing Up

Chapter 1

She stood there, staring at the shattered vase in front of her with her hands on her hips trying not to explode. They are left alone for five minutes and already an expensive thing is broken. Well, she knew who did it, as the older twin would never do such a thing since he was too careful. All she had to do is go into their room and give him a good lesson.

"Dante!" she shouted as she slammed open the door. What she saw when she entered was two silver-haired boys, one sleeping soundly on the bed, the other sitting calmly on the chair, reading a book in the desk light.

The one reading the book looked up at his mom and placed an index finger to his lips. "I assume you found the vase?" He looked over at the sleeping boy. "Dante decided to go to sleep a while ago, the idiot. I knew you would come barging in here like that, so I though I should be awake to clam you down."

"Oh." The blond woman strode across the room to her son. "What a good boy you are, Vergil." She smiled kindly and placed a hand on top of the boy's head. Suddenly, she grabbed his ear and pulled. "Yeah right! You think I can tell the difference between my tow sons? You think I'm that stupid?"

"W-what are you talking about, Mom? I'm-"

"Cut it out, Dante." Both mother and son looked over at the other, sleepy boy, who was now sitting up. "She's been taking care of us since we were born. Heck, she's the one who bore us. I don't think you can trick her like that. And plus," he yawned tiredly, "I'd rather not listen to you guys screaming. I'm trying to sleep here."

Their mother blinked once. No matter how long she had them, she was always surprised by how smart Vergil was at seven years old.

"Dammit…" That one word coming from Dante's mouth pulled her attention back to him and she flicked him in the forehead. "Ow!"

"What did I tell you about saying things like that?" Dante just sat there, rubbing his forehead and pouting at his mother. "Go to bed right now. And no deserts for a week."

"But-" Dante began to protest, but his mother wouldn't have any of it. She shook her head and pointer to the bed.

"Bed," was all she said before she walked out the door.

Dante didn't move as he just sat there and pouted like the kid he was.

"Your plan had a huge flaw in it, you know," Vergil said which was rewarded by a murderous glare from his brother. "Even if it did succeed, you would still get in trouble in the morning. You can't avoid getting in trouble by posing as me."

"I can by putting the blame on you!" Dante defended.

"That's even more stupid, you moron. Mom knows I would never do anything as stupid as you."

"Shut up!" Dante shot up and stomped to his bed. "I'm going to sleep, so good night!"

Vergil smirked and chuckled at his hot-headed twin then turned off the light.

"Bye, boys! Have a nice day in school. And, Dante, no fighting this time!" Their mom shouted out the window as she drove away.

Dante couldn't help but scowl. "I don't fight that much."

"You'd be surprised, then," Vergil said as he walked by.

"Hey!" Dante ran after his brother. "What do you mean by that?"

School was such a bore to Dante. He never liked sitting in the desk, listening to an adult he doesn't even like talk and lecture about stuff he didn't care about. "Spell this word," "Do this math problem." It drove Dante nuts! He would get all fidgety after sitting in the desk all day, even during recess. No one liked Dante or Vergil, so they would end up sitting out of all the games.

During library time, Dante sat all by himself while Vergil actually looked for books to read. He sighed and closed his eyes, trying to rest and get his mind off of everything.

"Crap, one of the twins is sitting there." Dante's eyes shot open to see two kids whispering to each other. They thought that he couldn't hear them, but unfortunately for both sides, he could hear every word. "Let's sit here instead, then."

There was a pause as one of the kids stared at Dante. "He's so creepy, with that scary face and all."

"Yeah, and his brother is no better."

"Vergil… he thinks he knows everything. He is such a stupid know-it-all… I-if he knows so much, then why is he in this grade? He doesn't belong here."

"They both don't. Dante is way too violent and Vergil is…"

"A smartass?" The two boys turned around to see the scary Dante standing with his arms crossed. "Yeah, I can agree that he can be a smartass at times but he's my brother and I can't have you talk about him like that, can I?"

The boys would have said something about using such a word but the glare Dante was giving froze them on the spot. Suddenly he took the heads of the boys and bashed them together, causing them to scream and cry. The library teacher heard their wails and went straight to the cause of the sound.

"Dante!" she shouted.

Dante turn to the teacher in alarm. "They deserve it! They were talking bad about me and my brother!"

"Then you come to me about it! Come on, let's go to the principle's office." As she grabbed his arm and half dragged him, Dante looked over to see Vergil shaking his head disapprovingly.

"A fight again? Seriously, Dante, you need to stop doing this!" On the drive home, it was nothing but ranting and yelling for the boys' mother. Once they got there, Dante was the first one out and the first one in the house. His mom called after him but when she got inside, he had already stomped to his room.

"Leave him alone," Vergil said behind her.

The woman glanced at her son warily. She knew he was right; children that age have these kinds of tantrums every so often. He will get over it eventually, so it was bet to let him be. But she was still worried for the hot-tempered boy.

Some hours later, their mom had finished making supper and Dante still hasn't shown his face. She looked over at Vergil who just shrugged. Finally she couldn't take it anymore and she left the kitchen, went down the hall, and turned to the right to enter the boys' room. There she saw Dante still pouting on his chair with his legs tucked up and his arms wrapped around them.

"Dante…" she said as she walked over and squatted next to the boy. "What's the matter, my son? What is…?"

"Are we so different?" Dante said in a small quiet voice. "It's true that I haven't seen any other kids with our hair color, but it's just hair, right?"

His mother didn't say anything but just lifted her hand and moved his bangs out of his eyes. She was expecting to see was the usual angry Dante but what she saw was tears threatening to come out, but she could tell that he was fighting them back. Then he angrily narrowed his eyes, probably trying to look stronger.

"They treat us differently, like we don't belong there." He got louder and louder until he was almost at screaming level. "Why are we the ones treated like outsiders? They should be the 'outsiders'! They shouldn't-!"

His mother suddenly grabbed him in a hug. At this point, Vergil, who had been in the kitchen to till now, had walked in and was watching the scene go by. "It's ok, Dante. You don't have to show how strong you are, you can cry. Cry, Dante, cry. Let out your sadness, your emotions. Stop holding them in."

Dante held on to his mother's shirt and squeezed. He could feel his face burning up and his vision go blurry. He tried to fight back, tried to stop those tears, but he couldn't take it. Finally, after about five minutes, he cried.

Vergil got up next to his mom and brother. He stood there for a while watching his mother console Dante, not knowing what he himself was feeling. One part of him felt anger and jealousy because Dante was getting all the attention. The other part felt pity and sadness because he didn't want to see his younger brother like this, weak and crying. He didn't want him to feel this way… the same way Vergil felt.

"Vergil." His mother's call snapped him out of his train of thought to see her arm extended out to him, smiling gently and kindly. Suddenly, he felt water come from his eyes. Then he ran up to her, crying along with Dante. Hoping that her children didn't see it, their mother let a single tear run down her cheek while she held onto the twins.

For some time, they stayed together and slept on the bed closest to them. Eventually, their mother got up, tucked them in together, and kissed them each on the forehead goodnight. What she didn't know was that her movement had woken Vergil up. When she walked out and closed the door, he opened his eyes and looked over at Dante, who was snuggled and sleeping soundly. Vergil then embraced his brother a bit protectively and closed his eyes to think.

I promise you, Dante, he swore, I will always be there for you, like an older brother should. I will get stronger and protect you from any harm…

The dreadful school days were like any other days, except there was one difference: anger management. Because Dante got into many fights, the principle and the teachers unanimously decided that he should go to either therapy or those stupid classes. He refuses to be asked questions non-stop and be the main focus. At least in anger management, he could still sleep and have a better chance of not getting caught.

"You asked for this yourself," his mom stated as she was driving. "If you just didn't fight so much, they wouldn't have made you do this."

"Whatever" was all Dante said.

She parked the car in front of the building and turned to her son. "I'm sorry, I truly am, but you just have to live with it for now. Go on and prove that you're not a wild child." She smirked as she ruffled his hair.

Dante couldn't help but smile. "Alright." With that, he hopped out of the car and walked to the building.

Finally. She gets alone time… all to herself. Vergil was still there, true, but she didn't need to worry about him as he was as quiet as ever. Lounging on the couch, she sighed and closed her eyes, taking in every second of the hour of rest she had. Once that hour is up, she would have to pick Dante up from anger management. Unfortunately for her, she heard scratching coming from the ceiling which disrupted her. For a while, she wondered what it was when a hole was suddenly busted through the ceiling. Through it, she saw a pair of glowing red eyes.

"Finally, I found you," said a voice. It cackled as the eyes narrowed to slits. The woman was now shaking, knowing what it was and what will happen soon. "I can smell it. The blood of that traitorous scum… the blood of Sparta!" Suddenly, a creature broke through as the woman screamed.

Vergil, hearing his mom's scream, ran out of his room to the living room. "Mom! What's wro-" He suddenly stopped as he saw this monstrous black creature holding his mom down. The darkness wouldn't let him see it but he could still see the huge, sharp teeth… and the blood on them. "Mom?" He took a step back, shaking.

His mom looked over at him. "Run," she pleaded weakly. "Run Vergil, before he gets you."

The creature chuckled. "There you are, son of Spartaaaaah!" It lunged at the silver-haired boy, abandoning the bloodied body that was beneath it.

Dante kicked a rock along the sidewalk as he walked through the neighborhood. It has been a few hours since his anger management class ended and his mom never showed up. The teacher asked if he wanted to be given a ride home but he downright refused and no matter how much she insisted, Dante still said no.

"You said that you were going to pick me up, but where were you? Jeez." It wasn't like his mom to break her promises. He was a bit worried but anger was actually the dominant emotion. He didn't show it as the classes he went to wouldn't let him but he was indeed seething.

As he got closer to his house, he smelled something weird. He could not place it as he never smelled it before but he didn't like it. Once he got on his block, he scrunched his nose because the smell has gotten stronger… and worse smelling. Now two houses down, he saw what it was. Blood.

"No…" After standing there for a few seconds from shock, he bolted to the blood-covered walls of his house. "No!" He slammed open the door and flung his head to the left and right. "Mom! Vergil! ...MOOOOM!"

"Dan…te…" Not too far in front of him lay his twin brother covered in blood and gouges.

"Vergil!" Dante ran up to him and knelt down beside him. "W-What happened? Where's Mom?" Tears were now streaming down his face.

"I failed to protect her… Mother…" A single tear ran down Vergil's face and then fainted after saying, "Not enough… power…"

"Vergil? Vergil!" He shook him, hoping that he would wake. "VERGIL!" Gasps and hiccup ensued as he balled his eyes out over his misfortunes.