It had, as Reno had predicted, been an extremely long and tiring day, and he looked over at the door as Cloud, Zack, and Sephiroth came in, Dante right behind them. "Oi, get me a Jack Daniels." he gestured to the bar in front of him as the bartender approached, smiling as the shot was dropped in front of him, downing it one gulp before he waved at his three friends, then walked over to Dante. "Yo, Dante, can we talk a second?"
He pulled Dante aside, for just a minute, looking around a bit nervously, but he wanted to make sure this got done. "Just. . as a friend, 'Te, nothing more. I wanna say somethin' weird's been goin' on with your brother, and a lotta us have noticed it. Like I said, I speak solely as a friend tryin' ta watch out for another friend, but I really think you oughta watch your back with Vergil."
He headed back toward the restrooms after, the first shot of Jack having hit, the processing of it having been accelerated by his own nervousness. He had little idea of what would await him when he came out.
Vergil struck like a cobra, the immensely powerful arm lashing out and catching the young man by the throat, and dragging him out the back door to the alley, all the while seeing that Dante was not in the immediate vicinity. He'd heard enough, not all, but the last part about Dante watching his back around Vergil.
And he was very, very, very angry.
Taking off one of his black leather gloves, he thrust it into the redhead's mouth, eyes flashing fire in sheer rage.
"YOU...just made a very serious mistake, little man. You should never have done that, should never have said that to my brother. Do you know how long we have been together, Reno? Do you know how long Dante and I have been sharing a bed, hmm? EIGHT YEARS. We took one another's virginity, and we have been lovers ever since, do you understand me? And you do NOT ever attempt to turn my lover against me, you do not put the MAKE on him, you do not EVER want to do that, unless you find you no longer like living. EIGHT years. Let me think how I may make this more clear to you--"
Seizing first one finger, and then the next, he proceeded to BREAK each of the slender fingers, eight of them, not even noticing the muffled cries of agony.
"EIGHT. REMEMBER that."
And then at the end, Vergil took hold of the redhead's arm, and YANKED it out of the socket, at the same time removing the glove, WANTING him to scream now. And scream he DID, and this time Vergil DID smile.
"Try to remember to stay away from Dante, Reno. He is MINE--and you are not worthy to clean the vomit from our toilet after he has a drunken BINGE. Try to keep that in mind, alright?"
He wanted to get back IN there. To hunt for his own.
Despite the amount of pain he was in at that point, those jewel colored eyes met Vergil's firmly, very little fear in them at all, the crazy brave courage of adolescence stirring him on, though he knew he SHOULDN'T allow it to happen, he hadn't gained the moderation he would in later years. "Eight years that could have been better spent alone, in my honest opinion." He was panting hard, knowing that a hospital trip would be necessary to set the broken bones and the dislocated arm, but he figured if he was going to get injured by the bastard it might as well be for an offense that was honestly DESERVING of it.
He kept that gaze sharply on Vergil, refusing to show fear, refusing to be brought down, because it was not his way to simply give in and fall without even trying to fight back. He may not have been able to use his arms, but his legs were most certainly still useable, and he kicked Vergil in the shins as hard as he could, hoping it would allow him to get by the man and get back inside to get help.
Dante had merely nodded at Reno's warning, the words stirring his mind once again as he let them sink in. So...someone else had noticed it as well? So it WASN'T just him, the thought of which scared him a bit, because now he NEEDED to talk to Vergil about this, to see if there WAS something going on, or if they were ALL imagining things. "Don't worry, Red, I'll watch my back, okay? Not like Vergil could do MUCH to me, he wouldn't, because I'm his brother, and a little more."
He watched Reno as the redhead walked off to the bathroom, shaking his head. Great, now he had even MORE to think about, and trying to figure out just HOW to bring this up with Vergil... he was going to have a headache by the time he was done. He wasn't paying attention as he walked back to the bar, which nearly cost him, since Zack had the bad habit of trying to tackle him every time he saw the half-demon.
After a brief scuffle, Zack was perched on Dante's chest, laughing his ass off as Seph, Cloud, Rude and Tifa all rolled their eyes. "FINALLY got you. Jeeze, took me what, like, two years to finally take you down?"
"Seph... boys will be boys, that's all you can say right now." Tifa went back to washing glasses out as the General took a seat at the bar across from her, watching both Cloud and Zack closely. He'd felt the oddest surge of overprotectiveness in the past few days, something that unnerved him greatly, though he tried to simply push it to the back of his mind.
"Ughhhh, get OFF me, you idiot." Dante groaned, "You weigh a fuckin' TON. Geeze, Seph, put this cow on a DIET, would you?" He thought he heard a noise from outside the backdoor as he laid on the floor, his hearing picking up on the sounds of SOMETHING out there, catching his attention. He looked up and saw Sephiroth narrowing his eyes, having heard it as well. "Back door, Sephiroth... I heard it too."
The silver-haired General reached down and yanked Zack off of Dante as he walked towards the back door, ignoring the Gongagan's protests and whines about NOT being fat and NOT needing a diet. The scent of blood hit his nostrils, making him blink, then fling the door open as he saw something that he KNEW would anger the others, himself as well, but he could keep himself contained easily so that he didn't MAIM anyone.
"I do believe that the redhead you just made into a shish-ka-bob is your brother's best friend, so if you do not wish to get your ass handed to you on a silver platter by your soon to be VERY pissed off twin, then I would suggest making a run for it." Sephiroth was oh so very tempted to take out Masamune and return the favor, knowing Reno didn't HAVE a blade, and one glance at his arm and hands told him that he couldn't have wielded it right then anyway. "Or, if you rather, you can stand there, let your brother get his anger and shock out of his system, and likely come out of it missing a head, though it most likely would be the one you think with more often than not, and not the one that is the smart one."
"I am not 'running for it', General Sephiroth. And he provoked me, insulted Sparda honor. That is a very grave thing to me, these days. Your clever tongue might be better suited to admonishing your inferiors-- this is hardly a laughing matter. "
He kept Yamato out, cleaning it with the cloth he kept for just such a purpose--unknown to Dante, there were frequent episodes like this now, run ins with strangers that had 'insulted' him that ended always with just THAT--a run in -- only with Yamato's pitiless length. Wiping the blood off carefully, almost lovingly, he held it down at his side, ready in a moment's notice to bring it back up again--and that included against Dante, if his brother got too willful. He was not going to kill Dante, that coldness and effort of Will would come later --but he was not above seriously harming him.
He had learned something that his brother did NOT know:
A demon--even a HALF demon--could be wounded and RECOVER within moments, and it would take repeated mortal strikes to bring either of them even close to sinking down at all.
This was HIS secret, and as long as Dante was ignorant of it, so much the better.
"Dante, you do not know the whole story, so please, put those pretty blue eyes back in their sockets. I will explain at home."
Rude had come here to talk to Vergil and Dante himself, since he could never seem to get them to answer their damned phone. So when Tifa shouted to him that something was happening out back with Reno, he RACED for the door, and brushed past the onlookers, including Dante, and then to Reno's side.
"RED, what the fuck--what HAPPENED?!" Vergil was standing over him still, Yamato in hand--but Rude could not think such a thing, and indeed he did not. "Vergil, what happened--did you see who DID this--Dante--Vergil--what happened here, who hurt him?!"
Vergil looked down at Rude coldly. "He insulted me, Rude. He had a lesson coming."
Rude could only GAPE.
Reno gave two soft coughs as he looked up at Rude, a tiny bit of blood at the corner of his mouth, more of it pooling around him, and because of his broken fingers and dislocated arm he couldn't staunch the flow of the crimson river that came from the deep puncture wound in his left hand side, one that had come scant millimeters from puncturing his heart. "All I did was clue Dante in to what we saw, that was it. ..I got my fingers broken for just that, unjustified." he was wheezing as he said that, eyes beginning to flutter but he was remaining conscious through sheer strength of will. "I did say something to provoke him yeah, but it was AFTER he hurt me. ..not before."
He dimly heard someone on the phone through fading hearing, and soon enough sirens could be heard in the distance, though he wasn't sure what would happen if they caught Vergil now. He'd been able to convince Dante now pretty adequately he was sure that Vergil was NOT his normal self, and that he needed to keep an eye on his ass. That made the pain he was experiencing now WORTH it, though he suspected Tseng would be on his ass big time about getting hurt like he had.
Soon enough Cissnei, the lithe blond Shurikan wielding Turk, and Arlene, little Elena's older sister who was also a Turk, had come toward the Heaven for their normal post-work drink, coming through the back door as they often did, and the LOOK Cissnei shot Vergil was pure VENOM. If Arlene had not grabbed her arm to pull her inside she quite likely would have attacked the half devil. "Bastard hurt one of our own, Arlene, and you're just going to let him get AWAY with that?" The question was one of sheer shock.
"Cissnei, now is NOT the time for it, no matter what you think. It's time to get Reno-senpai HELP now, then if you want to go after the bastard, you can do so, just. . .not now."
Sephiroth GLARED at Vergil, his lip curling. "Honor my ass, Vergil. Reno likely just angered you for reasons unknown, likely because you are TOO quick to temper, and you decided to physically berate him." He could see Zack HOLDING Dante back, the other half demon looking absolutely LIVID. "I suggest you drop that weapon, and NOW, or else you may not like the consequences."
Dante was struggling wildly, one, trying to get TO Reno, and two, to get to VERGIL. "WHAT THE FUCK? VERGIL, are you STUPID!? He didn't DO anything LIKE that, goddamnit! You're fucking PARANOID and over-fucking-exaggerating! If he had wanted to insult honor, he sure as FUCK could NOW." He GROWLED, fangs bared as he tried to get away from Zack.
"Sorry, 'te, you're not goin' NO WHERE." Zack rolled his eyes, marveling at the strength of the man. "Shit, Cloud. help me...he's fuckin' STRONG." He almost lost his grip on him as Seph unsheathed Masamune and held the blade out. "Fuck, REALLY, Cloud, Help me OUT."
"Watch your mouth, old man. Perhaps you ought to sheathe your blade, or I will be forced to repeat the lesson. Did I say forced? I mean given the chance to cut you down to size. You do not GIVE me orders, Sephiroth. I am not in your motley ragtag of misfits."
At 22, Vergil was wildly over confident, and Sephiroth was several years older and far more skilled--yet, the young half demon was no weakling, and his own prowess with a katana was superb, to put it mildly. Sephiroth might see him as an upstart whelp, but he would be gravely mistaken.
"Come on then, you think you can put me down on the ground? Let's see what you got. I am not impressed by your overcompensating sword!"
He lashed Yamato viciously at the air, the great blade slicing with the sound of ice falling. Beckoning at Sephiroth, Vergil heard Dante's shouts, but he scented blood, and he wanted to spill MORE--was there ever enough? And Sephiroth was--after all, only a HUMAN--although there was something about him--something he couldn't be certain of.
But never mind.
"Come on, I don't have all night!"
Cloud struggled to help Zack with Dante, but he was SHOCKED at the young man's brute strength. He was, in fact, slipping loose, even with BOTH of the muscular SOLDIERs STRAINING to keep him in check--
"Dante, stoppit, damn it--just let them settle it, Sephiroth isn't gonna KILL him, he'll just teach him a fucking LESSON--and --don't you think he NEEDS one?!"
FINALLY help arrived, and Reno was loaded up into the ambulance. His eyes pinned Vergil's one last time, narrowed in a cold rage before they shut the door to take him away from the scene. He felt it was worth every bit of pain he'd suffered at Vergil's hands, merely to know he'd not given IN, to know he'd not let Vergil intimidate him, as much as the half-devil would like to believe he had done so. It took a LOT to get Reno to back down, and even what Vergil had done had not been enough.
Of course he had no idea what the future would bring, or how this one confrontation would lead to something catastrophic in just a very few months, and how that catastrophe would affect the rest of his life. For now it was enough that that iron will had held firm.
"This motley ragtag of mistfits just so happen to be the elite of the elite." Sephiroth nearly purred at the prospect of a fight with Vergil, knowing the young man was highly skilled in the mastery of blades, but he forgot, or perhaps, didn't KNOW, that Sephiroth was not only a twice mastered swordsman, but not quite human, though not devil either. He was something different altogether, and that would likely be his downfall in the end.
The cupid's bow lips were drawn up into a wide grin as he circled Vergil, eyeing him carefully, sizing him up. "And I can assure you, my sword is not compensation for lack of anything, Boy, you can ask Cloud or Zachary, they would be able to tell you that your assumption of such a thing is incorrect."
Zack flinched visibly when he heard the first clash of steel, looking over at Cloud. "I don't wanna sound like I doubt Seph, but Vergil looks fit to kill... maybe we SHOULD let go of Dante...He could be helpful, I think."
"Gonna BEAT him, black and fuckin' BLUE..." Dante growled. He was nearly irate, ready to tear into his brother for hurting someone that was his FRIEND. "No REASON, No fuckin' good REASON for him to have DONE that. It was STUPID, fuckin' idiotic!"
Vergil clashed hard with Sephiroth, and the steel SANG out as it crashed together.
He was shocked at the strength in the tall General's arm, but he was not about to relent, there was no fucking WAY he was going to back down at this point. The time to gracefully walk away with some dignity was over, long gone, and now all there was to do was to see the battle through.
He landed several vicious strikes, but he could feel his own sense of panic rising, even as he fought it down. The man wasn't AFFECTED as he should be, he never cried out when slashed, he never made a SOUND in the battle--while Vergil yowled every time the Masamune bit into him. And why did he feel like the General was simply playing him, simply toying with him?
He suddenly wished he had taken the chance and walked away.
When Sephiroth impaled him through the belly, Vergil choked out a gasp of pain, and sank to his knees, the wickedly long sword sliced all the way through. He could dimly hear Dante YELLING--god, did he ever shut his fucking MOUTH?!--and he struggled back up again, as the towering silverhaired legend yanked the sword out. Blood was pooling at his feet, but the wound was closing fast.
He smiled slightly--good, good, it was just as he had read of--and it was the TRUTH.
"You see, fool? You cannot KILL me."
"Who says I wish to kill you?" Sephiroth allowed Vergil's blade to bite into him again, eliciting a silent gasp, sending a delightful chill running down his spine. "I merely wish to convey a lesson to you, never mentioned anything about killing or otherwise maiming you. Injury WAS a given, of course, unless you truly thought yourself that much better than me."
He drew Masamune back and thrust through Vergil once more, PINNING him to the wall behind him. "Though, I could arrange for my lovers to release your brother right now. He looks fit to harm, more so than usual, and I daresay, you WOULD deserve it." He pulled the great blade free once again and lashed out one more time, nearly disemboweling the younger man before he nodded at Zack and Cloud.
"I believe it is time we take our leave."
Zack let go of Dante, not MEANING to, but because he was SHOCKED at Sephiroth's indifference to the damage he'd done to Vergil. "Seph...babe, I know he beat the shit out of Red and all...but THAT was a little much, don'tcha think?" All he got in response was a shoulder shrug and an indifferent grunt from the General as he walked towards the street. He looked over at Dante, who was now kneeling in the veritable LAKE of blood surrounding the older twin, then at Cloud, eyes wide.
"VERG...fuck..." Dante didn't care about the blood coating his legs from his position on the ground next to his twin, all he cared about was checking on Vergil and making sure that he wasn't about to DIE. "...What the Hell is going ON? First you beat the Hell out of Reno, then Seph goes fucking kookoo for cocopuffs on you. Shit...let's get you HOME, we'll talk about this LATER."
Vergil opened his eyes at the sound of Dante's voice, and tried to speak, but only managed to exude a small stream of blood from the still healing internal injuries. The pain was far beyond anything he had ever conjured, and he was stunned, absolutely thunderstruck at how Sephiroth had not only matched him, but hurt him so gravely, and so utterly laid him OUT.
As Dante lifted him in his arms, he gasped in the sheer overload of pain, feeling his hair falling around his face in total disarry now, the sweat of his exertion matting it down from his favored style. The blood loss was severe, and his face was now a deathly pale, lips turning a light bluish pink.
He would, of course survive, and recover, but it would take a few days for him to be back to normal. Vergil's recovery abilities had not yet fully developed, and this 'lesson' was only going to serve to push his hatred to the farthest level possible.
"Take me home, Dante..."