AN: Hey Guys! Before we get into this, I'd better explain a little. Several weeks ago, I got an anonymous request for a drabble that was rather strange. In it, the reader asked that I specifically insert my Real Life self into a drabble with Dante and Vergil, and to try and write how I would truly react.
I avoided this request for a long time, because, honestly I had NO idea how to go about it. I write because my real life is a little humdrum, and I rather doubt anyone would really be interested in reading about me. But, it kept nagging at me, so I decided to give it a try. So, here goes. And I will try to write myself as honestly as I possibly can.
Originally, it was only supposed to be a snippet... but then I began to have fun with it. Please read and review, and, if you like it, I'll continue.
The weather was fierce. It'd been awhile since I'd been witness to such an intense lightning storm, but it was fun to watch just the same. Granted, it was getting a bit late, and I had an early shift tomorrow. I grimace slightly, not looking forward to it. Retail, especially during the holiday season, was a bitch.
I shuffled my feet restlessly, unhappy visions of impolite customers dancing about in my head. Much like the famous sugarplums that were supposed to be there instead.
Hah! I smirk to myself, pleased with my bitter, little poem. Being a writer was awesome, sometimes. I doubted that many others had such witty, internal conversations. Stilling suddenly, it occurred to me that I could always play hookey and call in sick. It wasn't really something I made a habit of, so it likely wouldn't really piss my manager off. Nodding, I agreed with myself. That's exactly what I'd do.
"So there, annoying customers," I mutter, smiling at the window. A ghostly reflection of myself smiled back and appeared quite satisfied.
With an unexpected day off tomorrow, I head over towards my PC and flick the mouse, intending to play a bit of Minecraft before turning in. The screensaver abruptly halts and switches to my desktop. As always, Dante and Vergil stare back at me. Best wallpaper ever. Outside, a particularly loud crash shook my apartment building while simultaneously scaring the crap out of me. The lights grew dim and flickered, but didn't go out completely.
"Oh, God. I hope I don't lose power. That would suck," I said, frowning.
Neither Dante, nor Vergil responded. They never did. Sigh.
"Seriously though," I began, pointing at the screen. "If I ever did meet the two of you, I'd probably turn and run screaming into the sunset." Yeah, really. I did have a crush on them, sad as that was, but the reality of it never escaped me. Demons, half or not, were probably really, really bad news. No matter how good-looking they were.
No response.
"Fine. Be buttholes, then," I grumbled, clicking onto the game icon.
Several hours later, what started as a quick game became something else entirely. I sat, building to my heart's content, while listening to the raging storm outside. Another huge crash shook the building and I jumped as a sharp bite of electric pain struck my fingertips.
"Ow!" Shaking my hand, I glance down at the keyboard, wondering what the hell had happened.
Uneasily, I reached over to shut my system off and unplug it from the power strip. I didn't need a surge coming through and blowing out my motherboard, thank you very much. As I did so, I received another shock. This one, however, was quite painful. And strong. Snatching my hand back, I watch, horrified, as little sparks of electric blue traveled up the power cord and through the keyboard. Nervously, I leaned forward to switch off the monitor and am unpleasantly surprised when it stays on regardless.
The Sparda twins stared back at me, even though the power button was turned off. Another jolt struck me, then another, and another. I back away, beginning to panic. More and more jagged shards of electricity shoot out from my computer and start to travel up and down my legs. It burned slightly, but tingled more than anything else. As they ran up my torso, I could feel my heart begin to accelerate and my head start to pound. Just before I blacked out, I thought I saw a large, crackling blue vortex begin to pulse and swirl in my living room.
Crashing sounds. All around me. At first, I thought the storm was still going strong and I reluctantly opened my eyes. For a moment, I just laid there, blinking up at the dark sky and shivering as cold rain poured down on me.
Sky? Rain?!
I sat up quickly and glanced around with wide eyes. No longer was I in my little apartment. Instead, I had somehow gotten outside and had apparently sleepwalked to... To...
?!
Nothing around me was familiar. And everything seemed to be moving. In fact, a flurry of movement to my right had me scrambling backwards in another panic. An excited whoop from above drove me the other way, and I just avoided being sliced in two by a ridiculously large sword. The thing it had sliced through, however, suspiciously resembled some minor demons of a particular game that I was still known to play. Eyes widening, I back away and begin to shake my head in negation. Oh. Oh, no. No, no, no. It couldn't be.
"Well, well. What have we here?" An interested, amused voice inquired.
Snapping another frantic look over my shoulder, my mouth literally dropped open when I see a tall, young man with shaggy white hair, ice-blue eyes, and a long red trench coat grinning at me. I freeze. Literally freeze. No, really. It suddenly felt like something had dropped an entire payload of crushed ice on me. I could still look around, I just couldn't move.
"Crap," the young man said, watching something behind me. "Hold on, babe. I gotcha."
With another grin and shout of glee, the strange man charged forward and rushed right passed me. There was scuffling and sounds of a struggle just behind me, and a small part of my poor, strained brain was glad that I was unable to see what was going on. In the midst of the ruckus, there was also an unspeakable wet, squishing sound accompanying it.
Oh, God. What do I do? What-
My train of thought ceased abruptly when a hard, heavy something struck my head.
At least this time when I came to, I was lying on something soft. Groaning, I reach back to rub my head. God, but it hurt.
"She lives! Hooray! Thought I'd lost ya there for a minute, sweets."
Blinking, my vision slowly focuses. I'm lying on a ratty-looking couch while the same white-haired young man sits on a coffee table across from me. "Wha- Dante?"
Instantly, his jolly, open expression clouds over and his eyes narrow at me in suspicion. "And how exactly do you know my name, when I don't even know yours?"
I just stared, wondering if I was dreaming. My head hurt, and I really couldn't recall any other dream where pain was so prevalent. But, still. This had to be a dream.
Dante reached out and rapped his knuckles on my forehead. "Hello? Anyone in there?"
Suddenly frightened, I slap his hand away and cringe back into the cushions. Looking around, I could see that this was, in fact, the main room of none other than Devil May Cry. Leaping to my feet, I begin to shake my head in negation, "No. No. No, no, no, no, no, no, NO. This is a dream. This has to be a dream." Spying a used fork lying nearby, I grab it and jab the tines into the palm of my hand. "OW!"
Not dreaming.
Dante widened his eyes and arched a brow. "Kay, babe. That was kind of weird. What-"
"You don't exist!" I cried, pointing a trembling finger at him. "This whole place," I gesture frantically with my arms, "is the setting of a video game!"
He holds both palms up, complete with black, fingerless gloves, and stands as well. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Settle down, sweets. You musta hit your head harder than I thought back there and you're freaking-"
Ignoring him, I rush towards the front door and fling it open. Yep. Same front stairs leading down to where I once used Dante to battle some Hell Prides. I stepped out onto the small porch and glance up. Oh, look! It even had the "Devil May Cry" sign hanging above the doorway. Dante appeared in the door frame and observed as I mutely gazed around. Still unable to believe it, I looked back up at the sky. The clouds were still there, but the stars peeked through regardless. And I didn't recognize any of the constellations.
Holy shit. My skin went cold.
Whirling around to confront him, I jab a finger into his chest and begin to fire question after question at him. "What happened? How did I get here? Who dumped ice on me? What-"
"Hey," Dante frowned and batted my hand aside. "No touching the goods, babe. At least, not until I get to know you a little bit better, that is. C'mon in and sit down. I'm not gonna hurt ya. Let's talk a little bit." He nodded and swept an arm towards the open door.
I stared at him, unable to think of anything to say. Nope. Completely speechless. So, fine. What could sitting down hurt? This was all probably just a dream anyhow. Doubtfully, I glance around again. A very vivid, very lucid dream. Yes. Of course. Anything else would be ludicrous. Right?
"Right! Ludicrous!" I answered, nodding with conviction.
Dante stared at me again, "... Uh-huh. How about I help you over to the couch?" He took my arm and gently led me back towards the sofa.
"You're much more polite than I would've expected." I told him, accepting the helping hand. "I mean, as far as your character profile originally suggested you were, anyhow."
"Riiiiiiight," he replied, nodding and smiling pleasantly. "You just stay put, kay? I'm gonna go get ya something to drink."
"Tomato juice?" I asked, tone bright.
Another brow arch. "Yup. Sure. Whatever you want." Not taking his eyes off of me, Dante slowly backed into the kitchen and towards the refrigerator.
Accepting the drink with a smile, I regard him with an unwavering stare. The idea that this was all just a dream had taken over my thoughts once more. It just had to be. There was no other explanation for it. The two of us watched one another for quite awhile. Dante, with subtle caution. Me, with a cheerful, accepting smile.
"Ah, why don't you finish your drink there? Maybe try to collect your thoughts, or something. Don't move. Stay. I, ah, gotta go make a phone call real quick." He said, jerking a thumb to the old-fashioned looking black phone sitting on his desk.
"Sure thing, bro!" I chirp, knocking back a large swig of tomato juice. My hand tightened around the can as the thick, tomatoey liquid ran down my throat. As far as dreams went, this one was incredibly detailed, even flavored.
Dante still kept a wary eye on me as he dialed the phone. I didn't mean to listen to the conversation, but he was in the same room. It wasn't like I could help it or anything. "Hey, Verge. It's me."
I nearly choked on the next drink, and a few drops escaped my mouth and dribbled down my chin. Verge?! Oh, no. No, no, no. This just kept getting better and better.
"You ok, babe?" He called over, a palm covering the mouth piece.
"Yup!" I offered him a huge smile and a thumbs-up after I'd wiped the juice from my chin. "I'm terrific!"
Dante pursed his lips and tilted his head before continuing the conversation. "Yeah, bro. Still here. No, actually. I have a situation here. ... No, Verge. Not that kind of situation. This one is a little insane and I need another person to-"
"I am not insane!" I cried back, indignant. "I will not be insulted by a figment of someone else's imagination!"
Dante nodded at me, "Yeah, hear that, bro? ... No. Thing is, she just kind of appeared. Out of nowhere. ... Yeah! Yeah, yeah! There was this weird, blue whirlpool lookin' thing and... What? Nuh-uh. She got hit with an ice-strike and blacked-out so I took her back to the office- ... Stop yelling at me! It was not foolish. She's harmless. ... For fuck's sake, Verge, why don't you just come on over and see for yoursel-"
"NOPE!" I cried, leaping to my feet again. "You're bad enough! There is no way that I want your scary twin brother over here, too!"
Brows raised in surprise, Dante merely stared at me for a short time before speaking into the phone once more. "And, bro. She knows stuff about us. Hear that? I never told her my name, or that you were my twin. She just knew. ... Yeah. OK. See ya in a bit. Later." Dante placed the receiver back into the cradle before narrowing his eyes back at me.
"I thought Vergil was dead." I stated. "Didn't he choose to fall into hell, rather than-"
"Ok, enough." Dante held a hand up and glared down at me. "How do you know all these things? Better tell me now before Vergil gets here. He's not as nice as I am and he'll probably make you tell."
"Already told you," I shrugged, unconcerned. Can't be hurt in a dream after all. Even if the forks were especially sharp in this dream. "You're a video game character. I played you, and together we defeated Mundus."
"Wow." The red twin shook his head and retook his seat on the coffee table. "You're really crazy right now. Do you realize that?"
"Maybe, if I go back to sleep, I'll wake up back in my apartment," I murmured to myself. "I think that's exactly what I'll do. Goodnight, Dante. Thanks for the tomato juice!" Snorting derisive laughter, I lay back down on the worn couch and close my eyes. "Please don't be here when I wake up. Alright?"
Speechless, the red twin could only stare in amazement as the strange girl did, in fact, calmly fell right back to sleep.