Capcom owns D & V
I got this idea when I was out of the city. Tell me what you think, guys!
The Feat
He slowly unwound the bandage around his hand to see that the burn hadn't healed. The pain he felt while doing this was enough proof it hadn't but he hoped that there would at least be a sign of improvement. Not a bit. Shouldn't his demonic blood have taken care of that already?
Vergil scowled at the sight of the flesh where the skin slightly came off, starting to get worried. Five hours passed since he earned that burn in a local café when that half-witted customer tripped and toppled her tray over his table. He was too occupied with reading the morning newspaper to see that coming and the hot contents of her plate landed directly on his bare hand. He nearly jolted out of his chair at a sudden pain and automatically reached for Yamato before the situation registered in his mind. Wiping his hand clean with a napkin he looked at the frightened woman, his mind running through possible executions he would have inflicted upon her if not being in public.
"Excuse me, sir, please, I'm so sorry!" the blonde started to plead, her hands trying to reach for his sleeve which he pulled away in frustration. "Let me help you, sir, you need to put it under cold water!"
He shook his head and abruptly stood up, annoyed at the concern displayed from her fear of a possible suing. Pitiful. This country was devastating itself with its judicial discord as its government kept expanding the legislation with preposterous laws, leaving less and less freedom for the nationals.
He of course had other things to worry about. Walking towards his apartment he winced from pain as his hand brushed against the citizen passing by. He brought it to his face to see it hadn't healed and stung as hell, the skin red and starting to blister. What's wrong? Yes, the contents were hot, very hot but it wasn't enough to cause him any discomfort – he had been through much worse and had come out without a scratch. Since when did he become so sensitive?
Now he was looking at the swollen area which didn't allow him to put his glove on. He had to go through all the procedures he thought he was divested of due to his devil heritage. When he noticed the irritation didn't go away he had to force himself to come into pharmacy and ask for necessary remedy.
He sat on the sofa in his apartment and contemplated over the situation, rubbing his forehead. It wasn't the wound he was worried about but the potential problems he might have if losing his regeneration ability. Did he really lose it? He reached for Yamato and unsheathed it, the sword catching the sunbeam and casting a glint across his face. He brought the blade to his good arm and pressed it against the skin. A thin trickle of blood ran down his hand and to his great astonishment the bleeding was not even trying to cease. He stared bluntly at this insignificant wound his organism didn't seem to be capable of healing and blinked. Ridiculous!
He took a cotton pad and pressed it against the wound, totally confused. Devil trigger would manage that, wouldn't it?
He tried to trigger his devil form but it didn't work. Teleportation ability was gone either. What in the world was happening to him? He wound the bandages around now both injured hands and scratched his head, unable to find a logical explanation. Suddenly a thought crossed his mind. He took the phone and dialed the number of a loose cannon that seemed to be the constant source of his problems.
"Come on, Dante, take the darned phone" he cursed, listening to the long beeps. No one answered.
No one answered two, three, five hours later. No one picked the receiver the next morning either. What if Dante lost that ability too? If that happened during one of his missions he would hardly ever hear from him again. Vergil shook his head. Why was he worried about that rattle-brain? No doubt he was the one responsible for the nuisance but Vergil still needed evidence.
Listening to another round of long beeps he sighed. All right then, the mountain would come to Mahomet. Suddenly he realized he couldn't get to him the common way: Dante was now living hundreds of miles away. He can get there by plane as he usually did but now Vergil felt himself overly.. vulnerable, not quite ready to entrust his invaluable life to the hands of a human pilot. Even motor vehicles couldn't ensure enough safety. Letting his pessimistic thoughts flow freely to the scariest pictures of traffic fatalities he soon felt the cold limbs of fear clamp around his neck. He was becoming a phobic! But he had to choose something, and finally he came to a decision.
--
Vergil came in through the doors of Devil May Cry which Dante never seemed to lock and located his twin sprawled on one of the couches. At this mere sight the oppressing worry deep inside him started to abate though Vergil wouldn't confess that even if put on the grill.
While he jogged down the road on the bus that he'd preferred to other vehicles a part of him was pondering over what he would do if he found that Dante was missing. Though it was rather hard to concentrate on his thoughts as his personal space was constantly violated by a corpulent man that was occupying the seat next to him. Not only he found himself being squeezed between his neighbor and a window so hard it was nearly impossible to move, but that tub kept tumbling on him when falling asleep. His wakeful state didn't bring any relief either as he kept glutting himself with the things Vergil could barely stand the smell of. Muttering profanities and wishing he would choke Vergil tried to control himself, knowing that he would change nothing by giving vent to his anger. Now that he lost his abilities he didn't want to deal with the police that would show up had he laid his violent hands on that round man. Was that what being a human meant? Conforming to the society by suppressing the manifestations of your essence?
He shook his head, casting the unpleasant thoughts away and looked at his brother.
Dante was lying on his stomach loudly snoring, his face turned away, one hand hanging from the couch and nearly touching the floor.
"Dante" Vergil called, bending over and shaking him by the shoulder. "Wake up!"
Dante stirred and muffled something, placing his hand over his head.
".. out, we're closed." Vergil made out and scowled. He went to the kitchen and turned on a faucet, filling the glass with cold water. Approaching his twin he stood by the backseat, stretched the hand with the glass out high above his twin and poured the contents right onto his bare back.
Dante jumped with a yell and rolled off the couch, landing on one knee and pointing his crossed pistols at the intruder. The mixture of emotions flashed across his face.
"Vergil?" he asked, dumbfounded, lowering his guns.
"In the flesh."
"Why are you here?"
"I hoped you would help me to find the answer. Is there anything you would like to tell me?"
"Me? Well, no… Why?" Dante blinked and slowly stood up, totally perplexed.
"Haven't you noticed anything unusual lately?" Vergil kept digging, waiting for something to go by.
"Um.. No." Dante couldn't even think of a stinging remark. "What are you getting at?"
"My powers are gone." Vergil stated finally with a sigh.
"Oh, really?" Dante grinned, his face lit up. "Shot for a biggie and got back to square one?"
"No, it's not that." Vergil retorted and took Rudra off the wall. "Aren't yours as well?"
"I don't think s.. Hey!" Dante protested when Vergil caught his wrist and slashed his arm with demonic weapon. "What the hell is your.. " Dante stared at the gash which bled freely and looked like it wasn't about to close. "Hey, it's not healing! Something's wrong!"
Vergil rolled his eyes.
"That's a relief you finally grasped my meaning." He snorted and took out his roller bandage. Seeing Dante still gaping at the cut and not trying to stop the bleeding he grimaced. A big child. "Come on, you oaf." he grabbed his hand and wrapped the bandage around his wound.
"Why cutting me in the first place?" Dante looked at him accusingly as he fixed the fascia.
"Seemed that my idea couldn't penetrate the way your sword did." He replied in a casual tone. "I hope that you happened to have something to do with that, Dante. Otherwise we have quite a conundrum here."
"I told you I don't know anything about it."
"Don't you, really? Because I need any insignificant detail that would be helpful in my search for solution. " he looked at Dante expectantly as if asking him to be the scapegoat for the umpteenth time.
Not willing to become one but eager to help his brother Dante crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the ceiling, his eyes going from the left corner to the right, trying to remember anything that was worth Vergil's attention.
"Oh, I think I found something!" Dante broke into a grin. "I had quite a stormy night a couple of days ago. She was.."
"I didn't ask for a random episode of your love life, Dante" Vergil cut him off.
"Wait. She wanted it really rough and.."
"Dante!" Vergil grimaced.
".. she liked it with knives. Cutting me and herself during the.. process. The cuts were nothing to me but the bed was a real mess." He shuddered at the memory. "Though I can't say I wasn't satisfied. That was a night to remember. Virtually." He finished, smirking.
"And how exactly that would help?" Vergil inquired, disgusted.
"I remember her saying something like "Your blood would serve..". I was too occupied with other things to listen, you know. I thought she wanted to say "serve my pleasure" or stuff like that. Now it seems pretty fishy to me."
Vergil rubbed his chin, pondering over the information received. "Let's pay her a visit."
--
They came into the shabby apartment in the low-rise uptown house and Vergil tripped in in the doorway. The room was lit by loads of red and black candles of every size. They were placed in every corner and about the apartment on the gothic candlesticks that hang on the wall and stood on the floor. Crimson walls were covered with fanciful paintings that seemed to move under the plashes of flame. The room had a round table with three chairs in the centre and a couple of bookshelves at the right wall, crammed with tattered books and various phials filled with something Vergil didn't even want to know of. Then his eyes settled upon the small wax doll that had its hands pierced with needles. He turned to Dante and smacked him across the back of the head.
"Hey, what the hell was that for?"
"I know it's difficult for a dunce like you to put two and two together but even a complete dimwit would have suspected something upon seeing this!" he pointed to the doll. Dante cocked his head to the side, his eyes blank.
"It's just a doll."
"It's voodoo doll!" Vergil shouted before hitting him again.
"So what? That stuff doesn't work on me, I'm invulner.." he trailed off, casting his eyes down.
"Right." Vergil sniped. "So where's this hag, Superman?"
"She's not a hag!" Dante objected.
At those words the curtains at the far end parted and a woman showed up. Vergil's jaw dropped. Yes, he expected something like that but his imagination was loosing greatly to the sight he was facing. Dressed in a black décolleté gown with side slits to the mid-thighs she stood there, her luxuriant dark hair cascading freely to her shoulders. She had incredibly agreeable figure but her face averted him right away. Nice features were covered by a thick layer of make-up as she was painted to the eyes, the look extremely tacky, vulgar he might say. When she approached them a spicy aroma washed over him, messing with his head. He needed to get out of here, to escape the attack on his senses. Dante though was grinning like mad.
"Hey, babe. Missed me?"
She wound her arms around his neck and nipped at his ear, drawing a groan from him.
"I thought you forgot about me." She drawled in a slightly husky voice, letting go of him. "Who is that?" she turned to look at Vergil and gave him a seductive smile he shivered at.
"That's my brother." Dante replied before placing a kiss on her cheek. "Our last night had an interesting effect on both of us, and I think you know what I'm talking about." He took her hand and pressed it to his lips, eyes piercing into her. "I'm sure you didn't mean to do any harm.."
Vergil rolled his eyes at his methods and regretted lacking his abilities to just tear the words out of her.
"Oh, I know.." she whispered. "But there is nothing I can do to reverse it. Though he can change that." She pointed at Vergil.
"He?" Dante frowned.
"The threads of our lives are bound together." she uttered quietly. "And the spell can't be broken until the circuit is closed. What was started by you – she pointed at Dante – should be finished by him." She smiled wickedly at confused Vergil and left the room.
"What does that mean "finished by me"?" Vergil asked, frowning, trying to figure out what she had said.
"You should do her." Dante replied casually, making Vergil gape at him.
"WHAT?!"
"You should scr.."
"I know what it means!" he cut him angrily. "What do I have to do with that?! I've never met that woman before!"
"That's an overlook on your part." Dante smirked. "But you can change that. The bedroom is over there."
"No way. I'm not doing this."
"Why? Don't you want your powers back?"
"She is corrupt! Have you ever wondered about the amount of men she had taken on before you?"
"Who cares?" Dante scowled. "I know she's not a whore."
"How on earth do you know that?" Vergil clasped at his head, pacing the room nervously.
"Hey, calm down. I don't understand why you are so frightened about that. Have you done that before?" he grinned. "If you don't know the how of it I can explain.."
"I KNOW how to do that!" Vergil snapped before stopping. "It just... She got intimate with you which made trouble for both of us. But instead of taking requital she is going to add me to that disgraceful list of hers. Too much of a good thing for her, don't you think?" he turned to look at his gawking brother.
"Did you just..? Wait.. So now you consider being knocked by you as an.. honor?" Dante clapped his hands and started to laugh. "Way to go, bro! Way to go."
Vergil turned his eyes aside, keeping silence.
"But I'm afraid you have to.. bless her with your Highness" Dante managed to say between laughs. "Or you may say Au revoir to your demonic powers."
"You don't seem very glum about that prospect". Vergil narrowed his eyes.
"Me? I don't mind being a human. Now I can get plastered without tripling the dose." Dante replied, straddling one of the chairs.
"Where would you get money for your drinks? You wouldn't be able to take your assignments without your healing ability."
Dante thought to himself for a moment.
"Hey, don't ask me such questions. I haven't looked that far into the future."
Realizing that he would get nothing from his happy-go-lucky brother, Vergil took a deep breath and started mentally preparing himself for an ordeal.
--
An hour and a half later Dante was nearly dozing off when he heard the door to the far ben crack open. He looked up and nearly fell of his chair at a sorry sight of his heroic brother. He looked as if he'd survived the artillery bombardment and a cannon-shot. His hair was disheveled, eyes blank and staring into the void, his shirt rumpled and buttoned wrong – second hole over first button, and the collar of the jacket tucked inside.
"She is sick.." he whispered, eyes unfocused, slowly stumbling past Dante like a zombie.
"Hey, hey," Dante caught him by the jacked and pulled back, turning him around. "You're not going out like this, are you, Mr. Perfection?" he smiled.
Vergil didn't reply, just stood there silently, hands limp. Dante unbuttoned his shirt to catch sight of multiple bite and kiss marks and fixed it right before straightening the rest of his clothes out. "Damn, bro, you look like you've been screwed by a dinosaur."
"Is there any difference?" Vergil responded emotionless. Dante frowned. "Hey, come on, lighten up. Everything is over, you did that!" He patted him on the shoulders and suddenly pulled him into a hug. "I'm proud of you!"
That seemed to finally bring Vergil to his senses. He shoved Dante away and started to put his hair in order.
"Try to be more fastidious next time, Dante". He muttered. He would have probably killed Dante after what happened had he not felt totally drained. Everything was aching, every single inch of his now vulnerable body. He was a walking hickey!
"So, how do you feel?" Dante wondered, glad the old V was back.
"Let's just say I will not survive another round." He replied and didn't say anything until they reached the bus station. The woman said that the effect would become apparent after the midnight so that Vergil still had to go by the slower but safer vehicle.
"You sure you don't want to drop in at my place? You look terrible."
"No, I've had enough of your world for one day." he responded dryly, getting out of the car. Dante shrugged his shoulders and saluted before starting the engine and whirling away.
--
The next morning Dante picked the phone and dialed Vergil's number.
"Is everything okay?"
"Of course it is. I would have killed you if it wasn't by now."
"Nice to hear that. Now that the syzygy is over.."
"Syzygy? What are you talking about?"
"Planets alignment. She said there was an alignment in one of the neighbor planetary systems which caused the loss of our abilities. The effect was temporary, however." Dante smiled at the silence at the other end.
"..You mean I didn't have to sleep with that woman??"
"Nope, she has nothing to do with all that stuff."
"But...why didn't you tell me?!" his voice raising to a shout.
"Oh, I was planning to sleep away the whole period – that is why I turned off my phone. But when you showed up I thought you at least deserved some fun for coming over that far."
"You… I'll KILL you!!"
"No doubt about that. But you are miles away to do that." Dante grinned.
"Oh, well." Vergil's voice suddenly returned to normal. "I missed my bus yesterday so I decided to stay at the hotel."
"WHAT? You are in town?!" Dante jumped from his chair, nearly dropping the receiver.
"Prepare for your death, Dante, for it's not going to be quick and painless." Vergil promised before hanging up.
Dante stared at his phone bluntly, his mind voicing only two short words.
"..oh, SHIT!!"
--the end--