Two weeks passed of almost stony silence, Reno suspecting that Rude wanted Dante to get his own head together and move on, but he wasn't too sure himself. He'd woken up that morning with his belly feeling as if it was trying to exit his body through his throat. It was worse than the hangover the night he'd slept with Dante, and he'd had no alcohol to explain it. He was pretty sure the sounds of him being VERY sick had probably woken the rest of the house, and the possibility that came to his mind did not ease him one bit.
Rude had heard Reno being ill--hell, who WOULDN'T?--and he had put it together, pretty sure of that, anyway.
The call came in as he tried to think what to do next, and he answered it quietly:
"Yeah? Wait, what--oh shit. Okay. No, I understand, Cloud--I--you sound like something's wrong there too. You can TELL us, we--okay, okay, I WON'T ask anymore. But tell me again, I just opened my eyes, day off, shit always goes to hell on days off, I -- okay-- wait, wait, no don't do that--let me tell Dante--yeah--he's STILL here--nope, I guess he doesn't WANT to go home, he seems to have grown ROOTS here, I mean, I feel SORRY for the guy, but fuck--I am gonna go tell him, right now. Cloud, PLEASE try to get them off the trail, if they kill Vergil--okay--thanks--do your best, and I'll get his ass UP. Thanks, bye."
Getting up in the slow misery of fatigue, Rude shook off the grogginess and walked in to where Dante was heavily asleep, the smell of whiskey THICK, the sounds of Reno's puking still echoing in Rude's ears.
"DANTE. Get the fuck UP. They are about to corner Vergil in the warehouse district, they are a mile from him. They have him surrounded. We gotta move, NOW."
Dante had been in a state of half-awareness, hearing Reno being sick, hearing Rude getting a phone call, hearing his own heart beating loudly in his eardrum, though the loud YELLING from Rude had roused him, making his head hurt worse than it already was. "Fuckwhat?" What had he said? Something about Vergil...and a warehouse... ohshit. He sat up and threw the sheets off so he could slide easier from the bed and threw on his jeans, putting Ebony and Ivory in their respective places before he bolted for the door. No time to worry about sick-as-a-dog Reno, he had a brother to save, and not near enough time to get DOWN there.
"Fuckfuckfuckfuck..." He muttered, running out the front door. He had to get TO Vergil before something bad happened to him, before they KILLED him. "I'll be back...uh...yeah, I'll be back. Don't worry, okay?"
Reno had finally managed to get to his feet, though he wobbled, and walked down to the store. He had a feeling he KNEW what was going on, though he hoped, Oh sweet Shiva did he hope, that he was wrong. The test was removed from the box with a trembling hand as he did his best to hit the dalinmn stick without getting his hand. 'Please be negative. . .oh Gods, please be negative." He prayed with his eyes closed as the dye began to darken before looking at the test, sliding down the wall with a heavy groan as he did. Two lines. . two fucking lines. "I am so Gods be damned FUCKED."
He picked up the phone, calling Dante with a soft sigh. "'Te. . .I'm pregnant. . and before you ask, yeah, it's yours, couldn't be anyone else's you're the only one who's had me THERE, so yeah, it's yours. I know ya gotta rescue your brother, but I thought you should know."
Dante had just arrived at the warehouse when he got the call from Reno, his face going sheet white as he listened to Reno. "Y-you are?" He had briefly entertained the idea of it while he was on his way there, but he'd shoved it aside, knowing that it would be bad, VERY bad if Reno WAS that way.
"...A-are you SURE it's mine? Oh..Yeah...that's right." He fought back a groan and nodded, though Reno couldn't see it. Fuckfuckfuck...I am SO fuckin' dead...
"Congratulations." Rude said bitterly, his face set in stone. "So it's for sure, then? You know if he is able to save Vergil, you DO know they will go off together, you understand that, right? And you and I will be the ones to take care of--this little business. I won't tell ANYONE, you know that, I hope you do--but--eventually--it's gonna be SEEN, it's gonna be NOTICED, Ren. And then what? How you--how WE--gonna HIDE this? We CAN'T --they are gonna call you in and you can't GO, and then what?"
He wanted to be KIND, knew he NEEDED to be, but fuck it was hard.
"I'll help you, Ren, anyway I CAN, but--I DON'T think we are gonna get away with it. It's--this was fucking RECKLESS. Damn it, if he just hadn't COME here."
"You think I don't know that, Rude?" His own tone was bitter, angry not at Rude but at himself, because of his own foolish actions. "I'm such a fucking idiot. .. I honestly didn't know I even COULD conceive, though. It was possible I was sterile. . .Gods, I wish I had been." There was a combination of fear and despair in that tone, and it was something that he knew he couldn't change now. What would the President say when he found out? Would he be able to hide it as long as he had to? So many questions that he had no answers to, and so many he likely never would.
"M'fuckin' scared, ok? But it's not completely Dante's fault. I shoulda used m'fucking head insteada getting drunk the way I did. I shoulda, but I didn't, and this is what happened because I was an idiot. I gotta finish getting ready for work, I'll deal with this situation more when I get home." Reno had some coffee and breakfast and shrugged his jacket up over his slender shoulders, very soon ready to head to work. "Just hope the old man doesn't go through m'phone records today."
"You're right, it really ISN'T all Dante's fault. The one who can't take the rain needs to cover up, take the precautions, right? You-- ah--forget it."
What COULD he say, really? He opened the door and headed out, at a loss, really. "I hope he gets to Vergil before SOLDIER finishes this the hard way." And of course, if Dante GOT there at the wrong time, his life might very well be forfeit too--he would almost certainly die fighting to save his brother--fuck, what a goddamned MESS.
If only VERGIL had stayed fucking NORMAL.
Dante could hear the sounds of others around him as he crouched near the doorway, picking the lock on the door so he could slip in. He could SENSE Vergil, knew he was INSIDE, therefore, he needed to get in and get OUT before anyone else could get him. "Honey...I'm home." He muttered, slipping inside, looking around. He would FIND Vergil...and he had plans. Plans that no one knew about, plans that would probably make everyone start looking for his mind, since it would appear to them as if he'd lost it.
Yamato lashed out of nowhere, as the young master swordsman stepped out of the shadows. The blade had purposefully missed Dante's face by perhaps a half inch--
"You should not have come here, Dante. I left for a reason--and you still do not seem to understand. They are looking for me--I heard the SOLDIER on the phone with you that morning--and I had hoped you would leave well enough alone."
He looked at his brother, and for a moment--ONLY a moment--and his eyes and voice seemed to soften. "Dante. Don't you understand yet? I have something I must do--and you will only get in the way. I--will return when I am FINISHED, when it is complete, I had--HOPED you would GRASP that. But you must LEAVE me, go now. They are looking for me, and they seek my death. Would you die at my side, for no reason? How utterly romantic. But I will not allow it. Now LEAVE me!"
"Fuck!" Dante jumped back a good two feet, blinking at Vergil as he did so. "Goddamnit, don't you realize I'm trying to keep you fucking SAFE? You DON'T get it, do you?" He snarled, pulling out Ebony. He'd left Force Edge at home, having decided that he wouldn't NEED it, but he'd grabbed his beloved guns. "I don't WANT them to kill you, you fuckin' moron, and that's EXACTLY what they're gonna do if they get HOLD of you."
He growled, aiming Ebony at Vergil once again. "This scene is familiar..." He pursed his lips and narrowed his gaze at Vergil. "Damnit Verg, I love you too and I don't want you to get killed over some stupid shit like this." He didn't have to hear Vergil SAY the words, he just had to see the look, to HEAR that tone, and he KNEW.
"You love me, so you aim a gun at me? I fail to see even your weak logic, here, Dante. But I don't have time for this, get out of the way--I need to LEAVE--Dante, I can read you like a book--you are planning on shooting me to the point of unconsciousness--carrying me OFF somewhere, the knight in shining armor--you fool, it's NOT our fairy tale, alright? Just MOVE aside--I don't want to have to hurt you--there's no reason to do so now--I will FIND you when I am READY for you, and I am not ready NOW--"
He batted away the gun's aim with Yamato, trying to get past Dante--who had the audacity to BLOCK him still.
There was the sound of engines as the SOLDIER contingent approached, and Vergil pressed forward again, getting angry.
"Dante, I don't have TIME to play, MOVE ASIDE!"
"You love ME, yet you curse me, try to kill me, threaten me with Yamato and LEAVE me? And I get told I have weak logic? Verg, seriously, have you ever listened to yourself talk?" Dante rolled his eyes, not even waiting for Vergil to reply before he struck out, catching his brother in the side of the head with Ebony. "...nighty-night time, Verg, I gotta keep you from doin' somethin' stupid."
He could hear the approach of the SOLDIERs getting closer, and he half-expected to see Sephiroth himself come inside, since the man seemed to have a strange attraction--or rather a fatal attraction, for Vergil.
"God, have you gained weight since you left? You're fuckin' heavy as Hell..." He muttered, hoisting Vergil over one shoulder, carrying him out one of the side doors, away from the side where the men were approaching.