Chapter Thirty-Eight: Deconstruction
Note: AH! I'm so sorry, but this chapter is going to be a few hours late! Sorry about that. I woke up today with a spinning headache, so I called off work and decided to take something for my head and take a short nap. And i woke up five hours later. And I hadn't started today's chapter yet because I fell asleep at my computer last night doing god knows what. FORGIVE ME!
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Sunday, August 25th, 2:15 am
The once quiet seaside town that they had visited only a few weeks ago was in complete and total disarray. Several structures had collapsed as a result of the vibration caused by the cave-in, and a fire had broken out a few blocks away. Swarms of people had filled the city streets in a panicked and ineffective bid to escape the seemingly doomed area before it fell to the ground in a heap of ash and rubble. Where those on foot were headed was anyone's guess since the train station was still under construction due to the cultist attack that had nearly taken the lives of dozens of innocent bystanders, and most didn't seem keen to allow strangers into their vehicles. Firetrucks and other assorted service vehicles were headed towards the city center, their intention to save as many people from the disaster clear for all to see.
All in all, a stark and somewhat jarring departure for the serene scene they'd left behind only a few short weeks ago.
With an almost disbelieving shake of his head, Dante turned in the direction of his twin. The eldest of the two was standing alongside him, seemingly understanding what was going on better than he was, but no less taken aback by the rapid collapse of the settlement they currently stood in. It had taken them less than five minutes to arrive at this location after realizing that going directly into the conduit's cave was virtually impossible due to some unseen barrier that seemed to be blocking their path. Although Dante had not seen Vergil fail to open a portal before, he didn't need to ask his brother if that was a normal occurrence. If the somewhat befuddled look on his face had been anything to go by, it clearly wasn't. So with no other options available to them, they had retreated to the relative safety and ease of access that the city provided them, intent on simply entering the structure the same what that they had originally. But now those plans seemed highly improbable and the likelihood of them being able to execute them as planned was distant, to say the least.
"So, any idea why like half of the city is on fire, Vergil?" Dante said with a thick layer of barely concealed confusion. It was far from the first time he'd seen a city burning, but from what he could tell, this didn't have anything to do with a demonic attack. It occurred to him at that moment how strange it was that he immediately attributed large scale disasters to demonic activity and not a natural disaster of some sort, but that was simply the world he lived in. All of his assumptions were based on experience and inexperience in equal measure, and it was admittedly strange to see a city leveled by something that wasn't strictly demonic. But while the irony of that wasn't lost on him, a certain question still lingered in his mind.
How had this happened in the first place?
The obvious answer was that Belial had done this somehow. After all, the timing of the two events and the locations involved couldn't be coincidental. But the question that lingered in his mind was how had a demon managed to level an entire area without stepping foot into the human world? The number of explosives that would be needed by his cultists would have certainly set the entire adjoining forest alight, and the only thing on fire around them was downtown. Add to that the fact that Dante was somewhat certain that what remained of the cult either had been or would be exterminated by their leader, and you had a total juxtaposition of situations that didn't strictly strike the youngest of the Dark Knight Sparda's twin sons as possible or impossible simultaneously. It was all simply a bit surreal.
Vergil shifted slightly, taking in the litany of sights before him. In a situation like this, it was best to beat the authorities to the sight of the disaster of they still could, but he wasn't sure how they could find the conduit from the ground level on foot before the local military decided to stumble their way into the forest. He combed the inner recesses of his mind, contemplating their options. He didn't particularly like any of them, but it was still far from the worst outcome that this scenario could produce.
"... I can't say. But we have more pressing matters to deal with," Vergil said, turning and facing away from the street towards a nearby alley." If we are to have any hope of reaching the conduit before they do, were going to have to go in from above. I am not in the mood to contend with armed military personnel tonight. This is a new shirt."
Dante raised an eyebrow, following after his twin. While the prospect of being seen wasn't ideal, and they would probably have to fly further out of the way as a result, it was still the quickest way of getting there since Yamato was out of the question. But they were going to have to be quick about it. An armed response couldn't be far off.
"Wait, when did you buy a new shirt?" Dante asked as it occurred to him that his older brother had just mentioned wearing one. From what he could tell, that was true, he was in fact, wearing a new dark blue dress shirt of some sort that seemed to be made of a silk-like material. In fact, knowing Vergil's exacting taste in literally everything, Dante was willing to guess that that was exactly what it was made out of. He just hadn't noticed it until now due to the fact that both of them tended to wear multiple layers of clothing at all times. Hell, all of them did. But he couldn't recall Vergil mentioning that he'd gone shopping at any point, well, ever. It was far from the most important thing going on at the moment, but he was still curious.
The Darkslayer shot his twin a look of slightly flabbergasted disbelief as he continued forward, stopping when he was certain that they were out of the line of sight of most of the locals. It was beyond him to try and comprehend why his younger twin cared about that with everything going on, but he still just didn't get it. Why was he like this? Why had he always been like this?
"Magnolia purchased it. She insisted upon doing so when I visited her last week. She forced me to go shopping with her in an attempt to prevent me from hovering over V during his recovery, at least according to her." Vergil crisscrossed Yamato through the air, this time leading to a portal opening. He let out a vague sigh of satisfaction, pleased that this time his destination seemed to be assessable. He'd never experienced such an unnerving phenomenon before, and the devil slayer in blue had no intention of doing so." Come. We have somewhere else to be."
Vergil stepped through the portal, signaling his urgency to Dante as he left him barely enough time to slip through after him before the portal closed. As soon as they exited the gateway, Dante took a moment to look around to try and regain some semblance of familiarity in regards to this new location. After a moment, he realized where they were. Just ahead of them was the cave entrance, or at least what remained of it.
The blackness that had resided deeper into the structure bellowed outward like a tidal wave of putrid, all-encompassing smog, threatening to envelop the entire area. There was a definite change in the atmosphere that they found themselves in, something more primordial and malevolent. It was as though something had been unleashed in this place; some unknown seal broken. The twins looked at one another, seemingly coming to the same conclusion before activating their devil trigger forms and lurching forward into the sky.
Around the for several miles in either direction was the inky blackness that bellowed out of the remains of the conduit, snaking out in either direction like some sort of demonic tentacle monster comprised of smoke and fog. In a way, it reminded the youngest Son of Sparda of the roots of the Qliphoth, grasping and reaching out in every direction simultaneously as though it were searching for something. It was an unsettling sight, to say the least. Dante shook his head as the two of them plummeted downwards towards the center of the mass, Vergil seemingly knowing more about this than he was alluding to.
"I didn't know that cave was keeping all of this in it. Do they do normally do this kinda thing?" Dante said hesitantly as they approached the gaping wound that the cave-in had left in the ground below. It was as though a small lake had caved in and left a massive, jagged structure in the middle. Another unintentional yet morbid reminder of what was left of Redgrave City now that the Qliphoth had been destroyed.
With a slight furrowing of his brow, Vergil responded, clearly displeased by what he saw." In truth, I've only heard whispers of what happens when a conduit goes critical like this. Try as they might, there is no way to stop this. At least this time the damage will be less widespread since there are no nearby cities. And most of the region seems to be evacuating."
As they descended into the darkness before them and attempted to find a place to land that wasn't mostly obscured by darkness, broken trees, or rubble, Dante mulled over his brother's statement. What did he mean by "this time"? Was this not the end of the damage? "This isn't over, is it? What, is this thing gonna blow up or something?"
The moment they both landed in front of the conduit, the structure shuttered viciously, sufficiently knocking them both off of their feet. They returned to their human forms as they made impact with the ground below them, nearly falling into the putrid black liquid below them. With a shared barely audible groan of discomfort, they both brushed themselves off and clambered to their feet, warily eyeing the imposing monolith in front of them.
For a moment, Vergil didn't speak. He simply gazed upon the structure, not accustomed to standing this close to something so volatile and primordial. During their initial journey to rescue V, the eldest Son of Sparda had never been afforded such an up-close and personal encounter with the conduit, but now that he was closer to it, he wished that he was anything but. The structure radiated a certain unmistakable aura that he was all too familiar with, and it brought back memories that he would prefer to permanently forget if given the opportunity. This had most certainly been Belial's handiwork, of that there were no doubts on his part. But that didn't mean that he understood how it had come to pass. The devil slayer in blue closed his eyes for a moment before turning to face Dante, not at all pleased with the outcome this was going to initiate.
"Yes. Absolutely." Vergil said, the level of certainty in his voice was far from comforting considering the subject matter that they were discussing. There was a grim, unwavering quality to the way that he spoke those two simple words that made the hair on the back of Dante's neck stand up as he gazed upon the structure in front of them. There was no stopping this thing. He didn't even need to ask. The calm, almost relaxed demeanor that radiated off of his older twin spoke volumes. He'd accepted that things had just blown wildly out of proportion, far out of their realm of conceivable control.
Well… that's not good. Guess you're not gonna get a follow-up date with Magnolia anytime soon." Dante said as another tremor echoed through the cavern, the cave becoming more and more unstable by the second.
Vergil shot Dante a somewhat livid look, clearly displeased with him. Dante resisted the urge to smile in spite of it all. Nothing about this situation was positive, aside from the embarrassment that Dante knew that his brother was concealing beneath his barely justified rage. It didn't matter if it was a date to him or not, Vergil was going to be livid either way and he knew that the moment his lips had allowed those words to slip through them.
"It was not a date, Dante." Vergil said through clenched teeth, letting out an irritated sigh." We need to go."
Dante shook his head slightly, allowing the barest form of a smirk to spread across his face."Yea. Uh-huh. Sure, Vergil. I'm sure it wasn't. Just keep tellin' yourself that."
The Darkslayer in blue unsheathed Yamato, extending towards Dante in a movement so smooth and sudden that Dante was genuinely taken aback by it. He allowed the blade to linger there for a moment, giving his younger brother a stern look of something akin to disgust before the younger of the two raised his hands in a halting gesture, signaling that he was done talking. Vergil then withdrew the blade and cut another cross-section in the air, this time more aggressively than before. The devil hunter in red got the idea that his older twin was repurposing the same motions that he'd like to do to him, but he wasn't keen to find out. A lifetime of pushing Vergil's buttons had taught Dante when he was dangerously close to being impaled by his brother, and his instincts told him that it was probably best to leave things be before he found himself in the possession of an extensive dry cleaning bill.
"Not another word, or I will leave you here. That I promise you, brother." Vergil said, returning Yamato to its sheath with one graceful swing. He then stepped forward and into the portal, allowing his younger twin to follow close behind. As soon as he was out of earshot, Dante chuckled to himself as he gave the conduit a final glance and stepped through the portal, not at all surprised by his identical twin's threat. Vergil clearly didn't like discussing private matters, and even though Dante doubted that they had actually gone on a date, he knew that his brother would react the same way regardless. At the end of the day, Vergil was a solitary creature who didn't enjoy others meddling in his personal affairs. But at least if they were seeing one another, Dante could finally put one question he'd always had about his older twin to rest. It seemed that friend or otherwise, Vergil possessed a predilection towards beautiful, fierce women. That was one of the few things they seemed to have in common.
Dante couldn't help but wonder what V and Nero's mothers were like...
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Sunday, August 25th, 4:30 am
"If I was willing to make a guess, I'd say the gas main probably ruptured due to the collapse of one of the buildings, and some exposed electrical wiring probably did the rest. But I'm not a civic engineer, so I can't add anything more to the conversation. Anyway, we will be closely monitoring the situation to see if things approved in either Capulet or-"
A burst of static freed the shorter-haired man from the bleak reality of the news they'd just received, allowing them a moment to think. Nero glanced over at V, quietly cursing himself for bringing the portable radio that he'd found in the van into the house as his older sibling leaned over and silently turned the volume down, leaving it barely audible. He didn't need to hear anything else, and Nero didn't really disagree with the prospect of not listening to the reposts that were flooding in from both cities. Another demonic attack, and a cave-in. It didn't take a mental giant to put together the fact that this might have something to do with the cult or the demon that they worshiped.
For almost a minute, they sat in near silence in front of the fireplace, reflecting on how something like this had happened. Everything had been just fine a few hours ago. What had changed so drastically in the short time that they'd been away from everyone else tending to V's new dwelling? Was it that difficult for this region to go more than a week at a time without a catastrophic accident of some kind?
V glanced up at Nero, his eyes traveling over towards the fireplace for a moment before he spoke." … I did this, didn't I? When I talked you both into going down there. I can just feel it." He turned his attention towards the radio, fiddling with his sleeves for a moment as he considered the possible scope of his actions. There had been no way of knowing, but still. "I shouldn't… throwing that cultist into the conduit was a terrible mistake. I just knew somehow."
Nero shook his head, but there was a part of him that understood what he meant. It was not V's fault that this attack had occurred, but the conduit acting like this after spending so long dormant underground did seem like fortuitous timing. But to totally blame himself for something like this didn't seem fair. That wasn't to say that he was surprised by this turn of events, but he still didn't agree with the sentiments that V felt towards this situation. Was it simply his nature to respond to situations out of his control that involved innocent people being harmed by blaming himself?
"Look, this isn't you're-"
Before Nero could finish his statement, an unexpected sound caught their collective attention. Despite all possible logic telling them that what they'd just heard wasn't possible, they knew better than to doubt their senses. Seemingly everything in their life was improbable. This shouldn't' be any different, aside from the fact that they were sitting in the living room of a basically abandoned building in the dark where no one should have known they were. That was an important factor.
And yet, in spite of it all, there was a knock at the front door.
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My extra ass actually pulled out a damn Callender and checked what day of the week august 25th was on in 2019 for this fic as well as finding out how long the story had taken place down to the day lol! I've truly lost my damn mind. Guess that means they are still living in 2019… wonder how they'd all handle the pandemic lol! That's a fic for another damn time. Also, I'm thinking of starting "book three" once I hit chapter 40 just to preserve the structure and flow of how I write. Don't worry, it would be literally the same story, just in the form of another fic. But I'll make another pole for that for the next chapter. More details on Friday! Sorry again for the late chapter. I hope you all enjoy turkey day!
