.......................................
Babling
.......................................
Warnings: implied violence and explicit result of it. And Madness, of course)
Betad by Tora_Katana *Chuuu~*
Betad over by Nimlinven *Hum, Hum, bless thy slave with the writing wisdom, oh, the great one!*
I finally finished this part, so I post while no urgent need to study) Hope you like it, heheh. It's mental s&m as always))) and some non-mental, too))
'Dialogue'
"Thoughts"
"Queen of Hearts"
'Cheshire Cat'
Hatter
Memories
.......................................
Chap 12
We are all mad here
Part 02. /Out of the frying pan into the fire
'Vergil!' Azazel was shaking his limp body, hitting him against the cool stone of the Gate.
"Listen to your Queen of the Heart, my dear. You should try to understand Dante."
'She makes some sense. She executed the Hatter, truly a wise decision. Since the Hatter is not here anymore, I can join the conversation. So as the facts are, Dante as we knew him these last days was a nice chap. Will you think about it? That's a request of a cat. Cats are wise animals, don't you know?'
'I-… I need to think,' Vergil coldly pushed the Wishmaster away and staggered to the Jaguar, not really seeing anything.
'Scared me there,' the blonde demon sighed, scratching his bare shoulder. 'Where are you going?'
'I… I don't know,' Vergil lowered himself into the driver's seat, carefully closed the door and clutched at his head. 'I don't know. I don't know anything anymore!' he screamed out, his voice echoing through the frozen time.
"Vergil, dear…"
'Give him some time to think, Queen. Disappear just like me – and leave your grin behind…'
'Transporter', Azazel addressed the old woman, 'go guide Dante through Hell and make sure he understands this. If he doesn't meet me today in the evening at Devil Never Cry, he will stay in Hell forever. Take Geryon and go.'
'Uh, look what you do to an old lady. Youngsters these days…' the old hag jumped up onto the cart.
'And remind him, he has to stay sane!' the Wishmaster snickered as the cart drove from the square and disappeared in an explosion of blue sparks and flames.
The next moment all the demons in the streets vanished without a trace, the fires went out and the glowing inscriptions on the Hellgate dimmed, leaving an empty town with a gigantic dead stone in the centre.
'Do you mind if I keep you company?' Azazel sat in the car.
'I don't care,' Vergil leaned over the steering-wheel, tired.
'See? You push the boy. Let him make his own decisions, Queen. He's all grown up now. And that is an obvious fact.'
'Go to Devil Never Cry. I want to wait there for him.'
Without a word Vergil started the Jaguar and the car slowly slid into one of the empty half-destroyed streets, heading out of the damned town.
'But I'm so intrigued!' laughed Azazel. 'Don't you want to know if he gets out? No one ever made it through Hell.'
'What? Are you saying he'll die in Hell?' Vergil braked suddenly, slapped out of his inner turmoil.
"He isn't coming back? He will disappear? Dante will be no more? He'll die?"
"Your Heart wants to believe he'll come back…"
'But you can't be sure. In this world, you can't be sure no matter what. Only the facts are true, everything else is the people's imagination. What you can touch and feel – that is real. Dante's not here. You can't touch and feel him, so he is not a fact. He is not a truth. Therefore, there is no evidence he will ever come back.'
'Who knows. I bet he would get through,' Azazel smiled, his elbow on the door of the car, his intent stare scrutinizing the bright purplish sky at the horizon.
'Did he know that…'
'I wonder if he realized what it meant to go to Hell. As a matter of fact, I wonder if the Hell is the place, you, Vergil, have already been to. The Demon world, that is.'
"Or he ended up in a place much worse. It's endearing in some way, that misfortune of Dante's."
'He had no idea, of course.' The Wishmaster put his feet in blood-soaked slippers on the dashboard. 'You should know him better, you are his brother, after all. He just jumped into it, as usual.'
'Why? I don't understand.'
'Wanna know?'
'Of course I want to know why that brainfuck of my problematic brother decided to suddenly act pubescent, play Crist and descent into Hell in my stead in all the glory of his foolishness and stupidity, and it wouldn't hurt me to know how in this mad world of absurdity, the thought of saving me being his priority number one fit into that ever-empty cranium of his, after several days that he for some incomprehensible reason was catering for me and walking on tiptoes before me, disregarding that I was sufficiently troublesome for him to explode every five seconds and even stated at some point rather bluntly that I wouldn't mind getting into his pants, and knowing his short temper and ability to hold grudges against me for years if not forever, I doubt he did all the niceties and politenesses without an ulterior motive, which scares me most of all, as his mental abilities were never something to brag about and if he has a plan, it should be some insanity to beware and to escape from for good, and now, for the first time in my life, I really want to know what that pathetic mess of inferiority complex and fake suicidal tendencies thinks to himself, even if it abuses my mind to the point of no repair. Yes, dammit I want some bloody fucking answers!' Vergil spit out angrily, squeezing the steering-wheel and abruptly turned to the Wishmaster to glare at him.
'Wow, that was a mouthful,' Azazel nodded for him to continue on their route.
'Do. I make. Myself. Clear?' the Dark Knight hissed.
'I get the idea. Let's see. First of all, don't worry,' the Wishmaster relaxed in his seat. 'We have a lot of time now that Dante is in Hell.'
'Will he die?' asked Vergil darkly and continued on his way out of the town, driving automatically, barely registering the movements of his own hands.
'We won't know how he is, until this evening,' Azazel waved his hand in a dismissive manner.
"Dante," the Dark Knight still did not know how he really felt towards the devil hunter. "I considered you the most useful man I have ever met. I put you among those few people whom I wanted to know closer. Just what goes on in that head of yours? Why did you help me?.. You are strong as you are, though I hate to admit it. What do you want to earn? I wanted to know, but I won't ever find out if you don't make it through Hell. Why did you have to jump instead of me?
No need to worry, he says. Plenty of time… then, I shall deal with the questions one by one."
'I take it, now you are whole?' Azazel threw his head back and sat staring above him, enjoying the light vault of heaven of the Human world and the sun that was now already high in the sky.
'Explain yourself.' The car was speeding along the highway.
'Since I last met you, this must have been the last bit of memories that they held secret from you. So you finally should be the Vergil himself, whole and self-sufficient.'
'If not, I will be… rather upset. And for your information, I have never before had the disappointment of meeting you.'
'Wrong. Didn't you make a wish to come from the Demon world to the Human world?'
'An ordinary sign in blood, that carries no significance. Get to the point already, your disability to efficiently provide information irritates me.' Vergil stepped on the gas, impatiently biting his lower lip.
'It's not a simple sign!' Azazel shouted, offended. 'It's a contract with me, according to which, by the way, you traded your eyesight in exchange for the transportation! Ungrateful asshole.'
'Don't push your luck, spill it. Wishmaster or not, it won't stop me from cutting you,' the Dark Knight glared at the demon again, ready to tear his jaws apart to make him talk.
'Fine, fine,' surrendered the Wishmaster, feeling the danger. 'You two are truly interesting to have deals with. Humans and their desires. Heh. First of all, I closed the Gate, and it was you who made a wish for it.'
'How is it even possible? I'm here, and you don't ask for any payment.' Vergil started to suspect subconsciously a bad turn of events.
'Right, that's the funny part,' Azazel laughed, amused. 'Your payment was to suffer through Hell, but Dante wished to go instead of you. So I made his wish come true, and he passed through the Gate.'
Vergil bit his lip to blood. Annoyance fretted at him with surprising fervour. Everything was decided for him again, he was left powerless by that joker. But at the same time, as he thought of Dante going to Hell for him, Vergil's chest held a dull strange sorrow, that left him restless.
'What?' The Dark Knight slowly asked, like an obligation. He did not feel like being sarcastic, but did it involuntarily. It was a way to say everything was still the same. Even if in reality it wasn't. 'Is he that retarded?'
"Why. I don't understand. I refuse to believe he just did it for me. What is in it for him. Nonsense…"
'And guess what? Not only did he go to Hell, he also will have to pay for this wish. Crazy, huh?'
'If he was that stupid, then he deserves it,' Vergil pronounced automatically, not even aware of what his lips were saying. He was staring at the empty grey road ahead. His eyes were stinging. "It's the wind."
"He wished to go. He sincerely wished to save me from that? He just fell into Hell." Dull pain was tormenting him, coiling traitorously in his aching chest. The falling figure was still in front of his eyes as if it were just a second ago. "Will he come back? Will I ever see him again? Will I be able to ask him all these questions? No one made it through Hell. Why did you jump, you fucker! I went to the Demon world and barely made it back. But you went to Hell itself… what am I supposed to do now? Wait here? Just wait, drowning in these viscid minutes of uncertainty? Is this how you felt when I left? It's horrible. How did you live through this… torment."
'Tell me what you know about Hell, that place where Dante went,' Vergil demanded peremptorily.
'Oh, it's a special place. My favourite.' Azazel grinned and scratched his head which made his hair stick out even more. He seemed to be making a fine work of ignoring Vergil's foul mood. 'In the palace of Hades, that towers over the capital of the damned ones, there is a room, where only the Demon Lord can enter. There is the door, behind which is nothing – just white void. That is the entrance to Hell. The Netherworld, or the Demon world as we know it, all fear that place. Few have the courage to say the name of the room aloud. That Hell is a true torture for souls of any kind, so very few entered it by their free will, the Dark Knight Sparda being one of those.'
'When was it?' Vergil was taken aback. 'How did it happen? Did he die there?' "Was it Hell where he disappeared forever? Is that why he couldn't come to us anymore? Will Dante perish there just like father?"
'Listen carefully. He went there just like you would have – to pay for the wish. He wished that his bloodline, his children would survive no matter what.'
'Father went to Hell to protect us?'
'He said that there would always be demons who would come for you, wishing for the power of Sparda. So he accepted the payment even though, unlike Dante, he knew where he was going.
Hell, as we call it, is more like a purgatory, if you live through it that is. Going there is the payment for the wish that changes the story of the world. So, in return, Hell changes the world of the wish-maker.
First, it breaks the mind completely. It slowly drives the wish-maker crazy, until he believes white is black and black is white. Then it tells him how everything really is and converts him back, overwhelming his whole being with the ever-true knowledge, the truth so shocking, that almost no living creature could withstand it and stay sane.
Then the delicious part starts. When the wish-maker barely recognizes himself, when he loses the sense of time and space, it breaks him by bits. Hell creates a personal world for the wish-maker, a world where he is brought through the whole rainbow of emotions, one by one. A row of unique situations modeled only for the wish-maker, to go from fear to calmness, from happiness to regret and sorrow, until the wish-maker does not distinguish them, and then again until every one of the feelings sharpens like never before.
Hell cracks the personality, messing up hopes and desires. In the world, created only for the wish-maker, it fulfills every wish and every whim, then makes all fears become real. Every little piece of fright that ever visited the heart of the wish-maker is revealed and multiplied until it is overpowering – and then brought to life.
And then, there is the last part – the physical one. So much like with the soul, Hell makes the wish-maker feel every gradation of all the senses, and when the physical feelings become sharpened as well, it finishes with sex.
It brings both body and soul from utmost pain to utmost pleasure until there is no difference.
And then, it's over.
No one, who ever came out of that place, saw the world with the same eyes. It changes everything – more, or less. Many would just wander to the exit, not knowing any purpose in this life. They did not even perceive themselves as creatures who could think. It's my duty as the Wishmaster to kill those.
Then… when Sparda came out, I asked him if he remembered who he was. He smiled and asked if I would fulfill his promise. I swore I would. Heck, he just smiled in spite of everything. I looked around for a cloth to cover his broken body but when I turned to face him… he was gone. I never saw him again.
He was the first living creature to ever come out sane. Well, apart from me, that is. But I'm a whole different entity,' Azazel went silent.
Before, Vergil thought he knew what dread was. It turned out, he did not know anything. Realization struck him suddenly like a bolt of lightning strikes a child, a merciless power pinning him to the ground, insufferable weight burning everything inside. Crushing him like an worthless insect.
Only one person in that whole damned world of betrayal. Only one person, who was Vergil's flesh and blood. Looking at him, Vergil saw himself. Those were his light steps, that was his silhouette, his shoulders, his strong arms, his long white hair, his smirk on his lips, his icy azure eyes, his stubborn glare. His – and Dante's. There was no need to guess – like a second part of his body, second part of his heart, Vergil could always tell it was his twin approaching. Two separate beings, yet one whole.
The jester was always there, like a constant in an equation. Never changing, that goofy grin, that intent stare. Always there to fuck everything up, always there to meddle into his business. The only reliable presence in the ever corroded world. The joker in the pack of cards. His last card. His Joker.
Whatever motives Dante had, he left to die. Vergil's body was physically still whole, yet his heart lacked something, like he lost an arm or the whole half of his body. A wound was torn open on him, Vergil could smell the blood, fell the crushed bones and broken tendons. He was a bloody broken mess that was twined around with milliards of threads of thin diamond fishing line, a heap of organs tied together by the bared nerves, that shining thin network closing up at his heart.
Vergil's body was still there. But the pain – oh, he thought he knew what that word meant. He thought he knew what loneliness felt like.
The sky was bright and blue. The Jaguar was taking Vergil ahead, from one nameless place to another, where some people who despised him and didn't care for him, awaited his return. He would leave them behind and disappear.
It was cold, Vergil automatically held his foot on the gas. He did not move at all, frozen suddenly by that overwhelming silence of loneliness. It made him deaf, mute and blind.
Only the strained diamond network of nerves kept him in one piece, his hoar-frost covered body pulsating with emptiness.
Whatever it was, hate or friendship, that connected him to the other – for the first time in his life Vergil just saw clearly that they were truly connected. Maybe it was the demon blood, maybe it was just the way it was destined to be.
"Our wretched lives, our wretched hearts. Like one."
'You never value what you have until you lose it,' sighed Azazel, opened the glove box and found a pack of cigarettes.
"Like one no more."
"If he never returns, will I stay like this? Will I be frozen?
My only friend and my only true rival. Hate for you kept me going. Will I stop now, and stay like this forever? These raw feelings tearing me apart.
Will I freeze inside out, until my eyes are dim and my mind whole no more?
Will you return? Despite the Wishmaster, despite the rules of the world. Will you?"
'Gimme... one,' Vergil muttered, unstuck his ice-cold fingers from the steering wheel and held out his shaking hand.
"My hand is shaking… first time in years…" he took the offered almost crushed cigarette, placing it between his fingers uneasily. The Wishmaster snickered and handed him the small metal lighter. Vergil awkwardly let go of the steering wheel and lit the cigarette finally after a number of unsuccessful tries. He let one of his hands drop lifelessly back onto the wheel and inhaled the acid smoke. It tasted like tears in his mouth. "Why am I feeling all this? Its not like I should really care about what happens to him… I always ignored him and it was fine…"
"Oh, Vergil, face it. You were always confident that Dante will be there for you, forever. You never bothered with him, ignored his existence, left him and hated him – all because of your trust for him. You were confident in him, he was the only other that stayed untouched by the cruel run of time, no matter what happened, he was there, and you came to believe he is a constant."
"Are you saying I am feeling this pain and loneliness because of him? Because he is not here?"
"But of course, my dear Vergil. Be truthful to yourself. Now you are afraid that he won't come back anymore, and you are shaken, You don't want to be alone, you don't want him to leave you, just like your father, just like I had to leave you, my dear son."
'Oh, and don't forget about the other things, Queen.'
"What other things? What else? I don't want to believe all you are saying!"
'But it's a fact, young boy, that you care for your little brother. You don't want him to be killed. Neither you want him to suffer.'
'I am the only one who should have the right to make him miserable. I should be the only cause of his grief.'
'Sounds like someone jealous and possessive to me. What do you suggest, your Excellency?'
"Nothing. Let us just leave Vergil to face it. And disappear in whole, this time, your grin gets on my nerves…"
'You worry about your little brother?' Azazel asked after several minutes of silence.
'Somewhat,' Vergil clenched his teeth, crumbling the end of the cigarette.
'I hope he is okay. After all, he is your equal, I personally made sure of that. And he was not as exhausted as you were.'
'What do you mean personally? He does not even know his potential himself, it took me a lot of trouble to awake his demon side,' Vergil frowned. "He was after death, how can one be more exhausted than that?"
'Well, unlike you, he did not go to the Demon world, so he was a better choice. He is not that easy to break as you are. Moreover, unlike all other demons, both of you had your powers unsealed since childhood. I did it so that when the demons came for you and your lovely mother, you two could protect her.'
Vergil nervously laughed out.
'Protect her! That little… He was shaking with fear, sitting there hiding behind her!'
'Oh?' Azazel smirked and threw his cigarette out, the houses of the city were already close, soon they would arrive to Devil Never Cry. 'Is that what you think? Foolish boy.'
'What?' snapped Vergil. 'What else don't I know? Tell me, this instant.'
'Both of you had the power to protect her then, this is what Sparda paid for. However, you, Vergil, rushed to sacrifice yourself, to be a shield for your brother and for her. You were knocked down unconscious. Whether it's destiny or chance, we will never know, but it was Dante who was the only one left there. Do you really think the force that came for you two would just turn around and leave, your precious bodies with the blood of the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda lying helplessly on the floor?' Azazel stroke his goatee thoughtfully.
'Just what in the world happened then?' Vergil muttered eerily.
'Ask you brother. After all, he witnessed everything.'
The Dark Knight was falling apart, slowly, constantly. Vergil drove through the streets, heading to Devil Never Cry, and his heart was restless. So many things he did not know.
The Jaguar stopped in front of the agency. Vergil slid out, hugging himself and stroking his bare shoulders, but the chill was still under his skin. He walked to the old door with the iron pattern over the glass and halted.
'Let's go,' whispered the Wishmaster behind him, but Vergil jerked his hand off the doorknob, turned around and sat down on the stairs.
'Here is fine. I'll wait,' came his hoarse from emotion voice.
'Oh,' Azazel was surprised. 'I'll go inside then and tell the others you are whole now.' The Wishmaster opened the door and went inside to be met by the women's voices.
'Please do,' replied Vergil automatically.
I didn't know. I rushed to conclusions, and now my only brother is in Hell, suffering for me of his own free will. How did it turn out like this?
"Sorry, Verge…" echoed in his memory.
The voice that called him 'Verge' sounded painfully familiar. It had the sharp edge that reminded Vergil of old times when he had fencing training. This voice brought up the memories of sunny days, when they would lie in the grass, too exhausted to move.
Then cautious fingers would try to take his hand, but he would get angry and say it was childish, he would always smile though. He knew that longing to feel loved and needed. It drove him crazy, too. However, he'd say:
"Cut it out."
'I'm sorry,' Vergil let the words escape his lips, barely above whisper. 'It's true, you are dear to me. It's just… I can't admit it. Sorry…'
.......................................
The golden disk of the sun finally disappeared behind the roofs. No one came out of Devil Never Cry, and Vergil was thankful. He never moved since he came to sit on the stairs there, and he was grateful for no disturbance.
Vergil was still cold, clad only in old blood-stained blue jeans and shoes, but he didn't even shiver. Only on the inside the need for an embrace grew impossibly strong.
The dull pain in his chest had sharpened with time and now was feasting on him, slicing his insides and burning his skin with the frosty coating of desperation.
Waiting silently on the steps of the agency was unbearable. It was eating him alive, tightening the strings of his nerves, baring his heart and anatomizing it slowly, painfully.
It Dante wasn't his brother, everything wouldn't be so complicated.
But Dante was. His brother.
Why didn't he tell us sooner?
Really, why?
We wouldn't have to suffer now… We wouldn't have to deal with what we did, unknowing.
Why didn't he tell me sooner? I wouldn't have let him go to Hell alone, and I wouldn't have to sit here and wait for him, crumbling down.
It's him again… He messes our life and…
Of course he does. He always messes everything up. If only he had told me…
He is not worthy of our pain for him… We wouldn't sacrifice ourselves for him, so all that was completely unnecessary.
Dante grabbed his shoulder, a hand caressed the back of his neck and dry lips kissed the corner of his mouth.
'Sorry,' whispered the devil hunter and pushed himself off the edge, the power of the portal dragging him into the abyss.
It was not unnecessary. He is worthy. If it were me, I would have jumped for him. Because I promised to protect my brother.
Of course, but how can we protect him if he doesn't even tell us he is our brother?
Right, he should have said. I don't ever want to have to worry about him like that.
But he will make us worry only more if we continue to care about him…
I don't care now. Just… please, let him come back already. Let him come…
But…
Vanish! I don't want to hear excuses! I just want him to come back. Just come back…
Something jingled and a figure walked into the street from behind the corner. White hair was a dirty mess, covering the face. The tall once strong body was half-torn, whole pieces of flesh ripped off from arms and legs so that the white bone in rosy streaks could be seen. Wounds gaped like black and scarlet wholes all over the cum and blood and bruise-covered naked body. Blood and cum – splashes like white and red rose petals, like the emperor's clothing, like regalia on the pale skin.
The dark hooks on chains dove into the skin, hitched up on the ribs, crimson streaks dripping from where they tore flesh. The old metal cuffs on the ankles and wrists were clinking, numerous chains like a train behind him as he walked slowly to Devil Never Cry.
Vergil rose from the stairs, his glacier eyes snapping wide open in shock, tears ready to roll. It was hard to breathe, Vergil was choking on air, trembling.
"Fuck - you are here! Oh, for everything that's sacred, don't you… Don't you ever go to Hell again! Just look at you, it was not worth it! Just don't do things like this anymore… I need to take care of you now, I'll treat you, I'll save you, just don't hurt yourself like this anymore!
And please, I beg you, don't you ever do this to me again. Don't you make me wait like that, don't you hurt yourself for me like that! "
'Hey,' Dante walked up to Vergil and his broken bruised lips smiled, his light blue eyes looked up. "I hope you aren't really angry at me. Hope you won't turn away from this broken stained me. Please, Vergil?"
"Don't you do things like this anymore… Dante… Shit…Don't do everything alone! Don't decide everything yourself!"
'Idiot,' shouted Vergil angrily and slapped Dante, the devil hunter's face turning to the side by the force of the blow. 'Don't you ever!'
"Don't you ever scare me like that! Don't you ever do such stupid things again! You could have died! Idiot!"
Dante's body shook; without turning back to look at Vergil, he fell down to his knees, then to the ground.
"No helping it, then. Sorry, Vergil. If you don't want me, it's okay. I give up. Sorry…" Something tender that still remained glued and tied in one piece in Dante cracked and shattered. His broken lips smiled that empty smile, Vergil's nightmare. The beautiful icy eyes froze and saw nothing.
The body was alive, but Dante was not there anymore.
'Cool,' said the Wishmaster from the doorframe. 'That dude made it through Hell sane and safe and sound and you just broke him down to nothing in fifteen seconds. That's some skill.'
.......................................endo chap 12.......................................
Hehehe Don't tell me you thought it can't be worse cause it's gonna be! (in chap 14 I think)
Next coming: Not sure, but most likely Vergil mends Dante. Haaawt action and UST for the readers! One of my fetishes surfacing… (another one apart from the shower and the car XD) They are gonna … kiss! Yay!
Erm, reviews, pretty please? It's really important for me to know what you think and feel while reading my story, it helps to improve it as it goes. So please don't be lazy, drop me a line!
~~Omg! I got 5 reviews on the posting day *marks the day with the red marker in the calendar*
THANK YOU! I shall pay back with my work!
Btw, where the heck are you, Tears? Where are my old fellas? Т_Т
See ya!
Ethan
