AN: Re-upload! I've decided to say screw the rules, I'm going to post my stories anyway! I miss this site. I miss my fans. I miss REVIEWS! I don't own DMC blah blah blah, just for fun! ~ Tempy ~
"Alright boys, that's last call! Get your orders in, or get out!"
The young woman tending the bar was stern, when she had to be. Mean, because she needed to be. And beautiful, well, because people decided she was. Boasting never settled quite right with her when it came to the subject of her appearance. The fact that she was tall and lean didn't matter. Neither did her silky shoulder length caramel colored hair, or her more green than brown hazel eyes. Not in this place, not in this town...
Her looks, as the rumors went, were the reason the old men flocked to her tiny dive bar night after night. Not for the cheap booze and the fact that it was the only place in town that stayed open after nightfall. All of them pushing the fifty mile mark and none of them willing to admit it. But aside from the occasional argument about who'd seen more and who'd survived more, it was quiet. She liked quiet; quiet meant no one was dying. Quiet meant...she was safe.
Chasing old men out into the street at four in the morning hadn't been a career choice she saw herself making at any point in her life. It had more or less chosen her. She'd always swore one day she would have a better life. A brighter life. But that dream had died a long, long time ago. Around the time when-
"Excuse me," a woman snapped as she fluttered past the young bartender, making her way into an alleyway a few feet from the bar entrance.
All she caught was painted red lips, a train of long golden hair, a red coat tail, and black leather high heeled boots. Eva. How long had it been since that name popped into her head? How many years had it been since she allowed her mind to wander back that far? Eva...and the twins.
"I can remember that day so clearly. Remember the look of the neighbors faces as the moving van pulled up to the vacant house. The look of the beautiful woman that stepped out of the taxi with a soft smile that reminded me of my mother. And the look of the boys, twins, as they stepped out behind the woman hand in hand. They didn't seem at all interested in the house, two pair of eyes moving together to stare at me intently as if they somehow knew who I was... I remember the look of the twins so vividly, it still hurts."
Playing in the front yard was never one of her favorite things to do, but today, it just seemed like the right place to be. Her father was still half asleep, just coming in off the night shift at his bar, yawning as he rolled the bright red ball back toward her. She knew that he was tired, but at seven years old, she just wanted him to spend a little time with her before he went to bed. Running his fingers through his short chestnut colored hair he smiled over at her fondly as she caught the ball, giggling loudly before she sent it spinning back up the front walkway toward the steps. Up the street she heard the sudden sound of a large truck revving its engine as it turned the corner and she wheeled around to see what was going on. The large moving van drug itself up the street on decrepit looking tires, screeching to a halt three houses down from her front yard and she couldn't help but move to the wooden fence that framed her front yard to see who was moving in.
"Evie? I thought we were playing with the ball?" her father called, but she didn't even turn around to look at him.
"Someone's movin' in, Daddy!" she gasped, excited at the thought of new neighbors. There were no children in the neighborhood her age for her to play with.
"Is that so?" he mumbled, shuffling up behind her, leaning over the fence to peer at the truck. "So there is. Should we walk down and see who it is?"
She nearly gave herself whiplash looking up at him in sheer excitement, nodding her head roughly as she rushed toward the front gate to wrestle it open. She could hear him chuckling at her as he helped pull the gate open and she nearly spilled out onto the sidewalk. If it were left up to her, she would have ran all the way down the street to catch a glimpse of their new neighbors as soon as possible, but his hand closed around hers to keep her from falling face first on the pavement and forced her to slowly stroll down the street to see the house where the van had parked.
"That's a big truck, hm?" he mused, passing her the ball he still had clutched under his other arm to keep her occupied.
"Do you think they're rich?" she asked, hardly even looking up at her father just in case she missed something.
She could feel her fathers arm shrug at the statement, both of them looking closely at all the items the movers were unloading. Old looking furniture with curvy ends and fancy fabrics. Glass lamps with more color in the shades than a rainbow. It wasn't until they were unloading what looked like the biggest bed she had ever seen, that a yellow taxi pulled up in front of the truck, blocking part of her view of the movers as they twisted the mattress around to figure out the best way to move it through the front door. Once the car had parked a woman stepped out of the passenger side, her long golden hair framing her young face like a veil. Her lips stood out on her pale skin, a glossy pinkish-red color that Evie immediately envied. She was beautiful, with a soft smile that could rival her own mothers. All around them Evie could see the other neighbors emerging from their houses to see what was going on, or rather, who was moving in. All of them gawking at the woman just as much as Evie herself. Following right after her were two short figures, tufts of pure white the only thing that was visible over the car door.
As the taxi pulled away it revealed the two figures, two boys, both the exact same height with snow white hair holding hands behind the woman. Evie found herself tilting her head to try and understand exactly what she was seeing. Children, with white hair? Wasn't white hair for grandpas? Both boys seemed uninterested in the house, turning around to look at anything other than the house. Two pairs of blue eyes moving as one stopped once they spotted her. They looked exactly the same except for their clothing and she knew immediately that they were twins. The boy on the left was dressed in jeans and a red polo. The boy on the right wearing khakis and a blue t-shirt. There was something in their gaze that left her feeling numb, a sense of familiarity that both scared and excited her. She had the uncontrollable urge to learn their names, to hear their voices...
"Well would you look at that? Seems like you'll have some new friends to play with Evie," her father chuckled, waving his free hand at the woman across the street.
Her sweet smile only widened as she waved back, reaching down to pull the boys toward the house at the same time her father tried to tug her back toward their house. All three of them seemed reluctant to move, still staring at one another in pure fascination. It was like they had never seen other children before.
"Come on Evie, you'll have plenty of time to meet them later. Let them get settled in first and mom will bring you down to meet them later, ok?" her father moaned, the fatigue in his voice breaking through.
"Kay..." she whispered, still staring over at the twin boys with wide, unblinking eyes.
She had taken two steps back down the sidewalk, her father nearly pulling her along by her hand when her other hand slipped on the red ball she was carrying. The sound of the rubber hitting the pavement was somehow louder than she thought it should be as it bounced over the small strip of grass between the side walk and the street, rolling across the cracking blacktop. Without thinking, she jerked her hand away from her father, diving over the boundary to retrieve the ball from the middle of the street.
"Evie! No!" her father shouted, but the sound of his voice was drowned out by the sudden screech of the moving vans brakes.
She wrapped her small hands around the ball, glancing up at the grill of the truck, frozen by fear. She knew that she shouldn't have gone after the ball, that she should have just stayed at her fathers side, but her feet had pulled her forward without her permission. Now she was going to be crushed.
"Get down, stupid!" someone shouted, something solid slamming into her, pulling her down to the pavement with a thud.
The smell of oil and gasoline burned her nose as she lay there on the ground, surrounded by surprisingly strong, unfamiliar arms. The undercarriage of the moving truck glided overhead as it tried to skid to a stop to avoid hitting her and her savior. It wasn't able to stop in time, however, the back bumper passing over their heads a few inches before it finally came to a halt. She could hear screaming from all sides of the street, her father's voice louder than all the others, but all she could focus on was the face of the boy that was lying beside her. He looked slightly angry at her, as if she had somehow drug him out onto the street with her personally. His bright blue eyes searching her face for something intently before he suddenly cracked a smile.
"You can't go running out in the street like that, right? It's dangerous," he chuckled.
"Dante! Dante, what are you doing? You could have been killed!" a woman gasped, her voice so soft Evie almost missed it.
The tall woman with the golden hair swept around the back end of the truck, leaning down to pull the boy to his feet. After a moment of checking him over, her hands reached out to Evie, pulling her up off of he pavement.
"Are you alright, sweetheart?" she asked sweetly, her fingers trailing over the scuff on her cheek that she had sustained when her face scraped the pavement as the boy tackled her.
"Evie! Evie, are you hurt?" her father shouted, his strong arms pulling her away from the nice woman gently.
"I'm fine, daddy," she whispered, her eyes still locked on the woman and her son in red.
"Did you see that mom? I'm a hero!" the boy, Dante, shouted striking a pose behind the truck as neighbors and the movers crowded around to see what had happened.
"Yes, that's a very brave thing you did. I'm very proud of you, but you need to be more careful…"
The adults around them moved in a blur, talking to each other and staring down at her and Dante as his brother looked on from the safety of sidewalk. It felt like she and Dante were standing completely still, staring at one another. Slowly, he stretched out his hand toward her, smiling brightly.
"I'm Dante," he said introducing himself.
"Evie."
She reached up to shake his hand without even thinking about it, her eyes flickering from his face to his brothers. It was possible that she was just imagining it, but he looked angry. Dante's eyes followed her gaze, looking over at his brother for a moment before he turned back to her.
"That's my brother, Vergil. He doesn't talk much," he chuckled.
"You look the same…"
She felt stupid for stating the obvious, but it was all she could think about. They both had the same exact body, hair color, and eyes. The only thing that was different was their expressions. Dante seemed bright and happy, full of life. While Vergil seemed much more reserved, staring at her with a cold gaze as if he was judging her.
"Yeah, we're twins, you know?" Dante shrugged. "Anyway, we'll probably see you around I guess. Stay off of the street…"
"Yeah…I will."
She was only briefly aware of her father talking to Dante's mother as they pulled them to opposite sides of the street, the twins vanishing into their new house just as she made it through her front gate with her father.
"Well, I think it's safe to say we won't be playing ball in the front yard anymore," he sighed, dropping the ball on the patchy lawn as he leaned down to pick her up.
She could have cared less about the ball, all she wanted was to learn more about the strange looking twins, Dante and Vergil.
Alleyways were strictly off limits. If she had to compose a list of things you should never do in her sleepy little town, walking down alleyways in the middle of the night would have been at the very top. But the woman in the coat had caught her attention and now as she peered down the dark stretch of brick and pavement behind her bar, she couldn't help but feel curious about who would possibly be out so late walking the streets. No one in their right mind would, unless they didn't know any better.
"Miss? Hello?" she called lightly, reaching into her back pocket for the box cutter she used to cut open cases of beer on delivery days. "Miss, you shouldn't go that way."
When there was no response, she knew that she should have just ignored her gut and continued on her way home. If something were to happen, no one would come to her rescue. The police didn't even answer emergency calls this late, she wasn't risking her life for some woman who just happened to resemble Eva at a glance. She really didn't even catch a proper look at her in the first place, for all she knew the woman could have been a call girl… But then again, what kind of life was she living? If you looked at it from a glance, you could mistaken her for already being dead. There was no joy in her life anymore, not like there had been when she was a child. Nothing like the days she had spent chasing after Dante and trying to get along with Vergil.
"Dante! Get down from there, you're going to get me into trouble again!" Evie shouted as Dante climbed out of her bedroom window onto the small stretch of roof outside.
Dante had a particular fascination with heights. She was convinced that he had been a bird in a past life and the moment that she had muttered it under her breath, he wanted to fly. Now he was standing on the shingles outside of her window, glancing out over her barren back yard as if he were looking for the best place to land. When she realized that he wasn't going to listen to her, she ran back out into the hallway, rushing Vergil up the stairs.
"Vergil, he's out on the roof again!" she sighed, watching as Vergil's expression went from a cold blank stare to a cold frown.
If there was anything that Vergil and Evie could agree on, it was their common fight to keep Dante from killing himself. He dropped his hand from the railing on the stairs, walking past her with feather light steps that she almost couldn't hear as he strode into her room, marching right up to the window where Dante had pushed a chair over to reach the high windowsill.
"Dante, get back inside now. You're going to get us grounded," Vergil demanded in his usual steely voice.
Even though he was verbally trying to get Dante to listen to them, she didn't think the Vergil would mind very much if they were grounded, unable to leave their house or have any visitors. There were times when she was sure that Vergil wanted nothing more than for her to vanish into thin air. He often acted as if she didn't exist at all, only hanging around because of Dante. She found that as long as Dante wanted to hang around with her, Vergil would follow right behind him. They were like two pieces of a puzzle that were glued together, one never complete without the other. It was kind of cute at first, but as she realized that Vergil wanted nothing to do with her, she didn't see why he just didn't stay home rather than force himself to be around her for Dante's sake. She wanted to get along with both of them, but their looks being similar had nothing to do with their personalities. She couldn't learn enough about Vergil to decide whether or not she liked him. For now, all she could tell herself was that she liked them both. Dante and Vergil were two of a kind, if she wanted to be friends with one, she had to accept the other.
"Come on Vergil, don't you think it would be awesome to learn how to fly? Then we could fly away from this stupid town and go somewhere nice. I want to see the sun, breath fresh air!" Dante sighed, stretching his arms out to his sides and tossing his head back as if he might fly away at any moment.
"Then take the train! People can't fly because we don't have wings. End of story," Vergil demanded, crossing his arms over his chest.
It was obvious that Vergil didn't share the same affinity for heights that Dante did and thinking that he might be too scared to go out and pull his brother back she stepped up into the empty chair under the window, reaching out for Dante as she leaned out of the window. Dante wrapped his hands around hers, helping to pull her out onto the roof instead of allowing her to pull him back outside. The two of them stood there, hand in hand, staring at each other on the roof in complete silence. There was a soft breeze blowing past the house the ruffled Dante's hair, covering his eyes for a brief moment. He was older now, much older than he had been when they first moved in. Thirteen years old, he was practically a grown boy to her. She was only a year younger, but he was already so much taller than her.
"Wouldn't you like to fly away from here, Evie? To a brighter place? To a brighter life?" he nearly whispered.
It was hard to remember that Vergil was standing just inside the window under them, that he was listening to the words that felt more important to her than anything Dante had ever said before. That felt like he meant them for her and her alone. Just as she was about to open her mouth to reply to him, her foot slid out from under her sending her crashing to the shingles. Dante's hands ripped away from hers as she fell, the shingles scratching her so badly that she felt like her arms and legs were on fire.
"Evie!" Dante shouted, diving forward to try and catch her before slid off the end of the roof.
She only seemed to skid a few inches before the shingles dug into her skin, catching onto her clothing so that it acted almost like Velcro. She stopped dead in the middle of the roof, watching in horror as Dante sailed right past her and right over the edge of the roof, landing somewhere below with a loud thud.
"Dante? Dante!" she shouted, scrambling toward the edge of the roof, peering down into the sparse back yard to see where he had landed.
There on the ground just in front of her old wooden picnic table, he lay face down, arms and legs completely still. She glanced behind her in a panic, searching for Vergil's face to try and understand what she was suppose to do, but he was gone. Turning back toward the yard, she couldn't help but think the worst. Dante was dead now, because of her. Choking back a sob, she cupped her scratched up hands over her mouth to keep from screaming. Vergil spilled out of the back door, slipping on the damp grass as he rushed over to his brother, pulling him up into his arms. No one said anything for a long while, Vergil cradling Dante's body, until he glared up at her with that same icy look in his eyes.
"You killed him, you killed my brother…"
That had been the last time the twins had ever been allowed over her house. Eva hadn't been angry about what had happened, she just didn't trust Dante not to repeat the incident. There were still small details of that day that were a blur to her, how her mother had called the ambulance and their mother. Vergil glaring at her continuously until Eva forced him into the back of the ambulance. It wasn't until later that evening that her mother received a phone call form Eva stating that Dante was in fact, alive and well. Aside from a broken wrist and a few scrapes, he was perfectly fine. Thankfully.
The very next day her mother had allowed her to go visit their house, sending a basket of strawberry muffins as a get well soon present for Dante. There was a feeling in the air that she couldn't quiet place as she marched down the hallway, heading home for the night. Vergil shoved past her roughly, stopping briefly to glare at her as if she were the most terrible person on the planet. She was in all literal sense a coward when it came to Vergil. Being alone with him felt scary to her, his eyes threatening even though they mirrored Dante's flawlessly. She would have been surprised if he'd said he wanted her to die...