-Phobias-
-Lady Luce-
Aviophobia: Fear of Flying
"Oh for pity's sake would you sit still? You're behaving worse than the children!" Eva scolded her husband who was fidgeting in his seat.
Sparda glanced across the aisle to where his sons were sitting both vying for the seat nearest the window. It had been agreed that Vergil would sit in the window seat for take-off and they would swap half-way through the journey, but after the elder twin had made some remark about the take-off being far more exciting the arguing had begun again. As soon as they were inside the plane the boys had set off on a mad dash to their seats, leaving Sparda and Eva to apologise for the havoc which had been caused in the process. Vergil had beaten his twin by a fraction of a second and sat down with an incredibly smug smile on his face leaving Dante fuming. Now the younger twin was putting up a valiant struggle to remove the elder from his seat – and failing miserably. Vergil was finding the situation increasingly amusing – which only served to add to his brother's ire – as he deliberately blocked as much of the small window as possible from Dante's view.
Sparda didn't honestly know how it was possible that he was behaving worse than them, but then again for the twins this wasn't bad behaviour. Neither of them had tried to tear the other limb from limb – yet; Dante was looking pretty close to breaking point.
The Dark-Knight huffed indignantly and turned his attention back to his wife. "Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?"
Eva pursed her lips. "Maybe, but they're children, they're allowed to behave like that. You're the two thousand year old demon."
Sparda was about to reply when a yelp from across the aisle confirmed that Dante had finally lost it and bitten his twin's arm – which had previously been blocking the window from the younger's view. It wasn't particularly good sportsmanship to bite one's opponent, but then again he had little else to use as a weapon, and Dante's fighting style had always been a little unorthodox. At least he didn't play dirty when they were sparring… he just didn't play by the rules either. It was something Sparda had learnt about his sons a long time ago. Dante tended to rush in all guns blazing – figuratively; Eva had decided that swords were enough for now – and think on his feet. It often meant that he was reduced to rash moves in order to evade oncoming attack and also meant that at times he required more speed than he could muster. And a fraction of a second was all Vergil needed. The twins truly were polar opposites and it showed clearly when they were fighting. Vergil had learnt everything by the book, sticking to every form of moral conduct which his brother severely lacked. Both children were eager to learn new things, though Dante would become bored quickly and move on to something else whereas Vergil would hone ever skill to a deadly precision.
"Dante don't bite your brother," Eva chided before turning back to her husband. The engines of the Boeing 747 were humming softly now and her husband's face had paled visibly. She raised an inquisitive eyebrow. "Is there something the matter?"
"Oh, no, everything's fine," Sparda reassured her, his voice reaching a squeaky falsetto on the last word.
A small smile broke across Eva's face at the sound; it reminded her of an adolescent boy's voice breaking. She wondered if her husband had ever experienced the humiliation of puberty, she knew nearly everything about him, but she had failed to ask him that particular question and made a note to question him about it later.
She watched him closely as the plane taxied to the run-way seeing his jaw clench. Sparda was still an enigma to her and though she had goaded so much about his life out of him she knew there was still so much she didn't know; what little she did know about him was merely the tip of the ice-burg. Eva tended not to bother herself with it, satisfied to know that she was the only person in the world who truly knew the real Sparda. Though there were times when she felt she had the right to know the things he kept hidden from her; his child-hood in particular was a subject constantly glossed over (to be honest she wasn't even sure he had had one, either that or he'd forgotten it). Eva contemplated that she knew so little about him very rarely, when she watched him and he didn't think she was looking there was something in his eyes that was alien to her. When he starred out of the window for a fraction of a second too long or looked into a glass of water as though he could see something in the transparent surface… She could not quite name the emotion she saw in his eyes and it troubled her occasionally. For now though they were going on what would be a nice happy family holiday and she wasn't going to let something like that ruin it.
"I just don't see why I couldn't have-" He was still arguing his point, but Eva cut across him quickly knowing what he was about to say.
"Because the last time I tried letting you fly me anywhere I almost ended up as a human pancake," Eva interjected and Sparda winced; she had never quite forgiven him for that. "And besides you couldn't have carried all three of us, not with those two going at it every two seconds."
Sparda mumbled something about tranquilizing them and Eva pretended not to notice though the idea had crossed her mind once before. She had of course been under immense stress at the time and could not be blamed for such thoughts. Twins alone would have been bad enough, but half demon twins? One could not be blamed for their actions with only three hours sleep and two screaming children constantly under their feet. It was enough to drive anyone mad and Eva was proud of herself for living through it when most would have been driven to homicide.
"I just don't like these… machines," Sparda huffed once again adjusting his seat belt. "How can they possibly be safe?"
Eva sighed dejectedly. Sparda seemed to have some grudge against technology; his mind had been left somewhere back in the eighteenth century and she had never quite been able to sway him.
"Humans are very careful creatures; you should know that by now-" if her reaction to Dante and Vergil's constant attempts at turning each other into sushi were anything to go by "- they aren't stupid either. This plane has been tested for any danger, and we wouldn't be allowed on if it weren't safe." Eva had a feeling her reasoning fell on deaf ears, but she persisted none the less. "And even if something bad did happen, we have you around don't we? Our own personal super-hero."
Sparda smiled slightly around his clenched teeth. "I'm not superman you know."
Eva's own smile broadened and she placed her hand over his on the armrest, giving it a tight squeeze as the engines rumbled to life roaring as the plane sped up, racing down the run-way. The Dark-Knight's eyes squeezed tight shut briefly and he took a quick breath before opening them again.
"I know," she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek, temporarily taking his mind off the plane as it tilted back, wheels skidding on the run-way before lifting off the ground. A resounding 'eew' from across the aisle only served to heighten Eva's amusement. "And I wouldn't want it any other way."
And that was the truth of the matter. Sparda wasn't superhuman; and his endearing little fear of flying only made her love him all the more.
A/N: Fluff! It wasn't supposed to be THAT fluffy I was just in a weird mood obviously. Still I quite like it actually, I wrote it on the plane whilst I was on holiday then edited it a bit when I got back and I think it's actually better for being written in hand for once - 'coz I normally type everything.
(Anyone wondering about a second part of my Tocophobia one I hopefully will write it, seeing as a few people were interested. If I do then I'll edit this thing so that it comes after the first half).
-Lady Luce
