Inspired by DMC3 movie ©
Last chapter: The Labyrinth of Time.
The sound of a loud tear, the fall of heavy breath, as acquiescent in the noisy background of the approaching thunder-melded together to present the older brother with a small damage to his person. Vergil's eyes slightly widened, his jaw clenched, and the wicked gleam sparkled in the sundown of their battle. It didn't take him a split second to come at his brother with surprising speed, slashing away at him, and it was Dante's turn to hold, CLANG! Deflect, shove back, SWOOSH! They repeatedly met; the sound of blades clashing like a loud collision, and obstructed the other's intense movements. Their boots scraping against the pavement, marking each skidding push and pull.
Below the depths of the chaos, demons of every form felt the intensity of the battle, and even the Jester, stopped, stood still; the bells on his person jingled, and the grin on his masked face widened. Mother Nature had made her entrance with the foreshadowing of a bolt of thunder that rumbled menacingly over the tumbling clouds. The winds sped at a quickened pace, turning over the clouds like black fibres of thickened thread.
Raindrops came in small amounts at first, and as each drop hit the ground, it sizzled and smoked up in a small slithery cloud, creating a halo around the brothers, as if the floors were burning from the heat of hells contact.
With a pull back, and a forward push, Vergil sent his brother to rear a little, giving him a small breadth of space to swing silver smooth; sliding the long sword below his brother's waist. The other, seeing it coming with his sharp blue darting eyes, moved gracefully aside, carefully dodging the blow. And again, their swords kissed and sung, omitting a hiss of tiny smouldering fires, which ripped from their sharpened edges.
The expertise in which Vergil possessed and the blue jacket that needed a little mending, gave him a little bit of edge. With this he jumped back expertly, avoided his brothers frontal attacks so he could go into the labyrinth. Dipping back into the shadowy entrance, he breathed out,
"What say we go into the labyrinth of time and test our skills there, brother? Show me what you have learned?"
A small challenge and Dante glanced over at the girl and said,
"Keep to the side of the walls so you won't disappear." A fair warning to her. He must know too something of the Labyrinth of time but did he know enough like his brother?
She eyed him with a tacit pledge and then without avail ran into the labyrinth.
The looming monster breathed with force, and it was said that this was called the Cretan type of Labyrinth, where it is connected to the myth of Minotaur and Theseus. It had a circular pattern, depicting that of a symbolic interpretation of never ending and of spirituality. There were invisible canals that led the boys into the intertwining dry trees, its colour; hotchpotch of reds and pale browns, like those of a dying summer and a full blown autumn. The paths of twists and turns were familiar to Vergil as he grinned menacingly towards his destination, with an eager brother behind. Dante didn't seem to have much trouble keeping up with his sibling and they jumped over several hedges that sharpened and protruded. The wind didn't make its way down the deeper paths of the enclosed undergrowth.
With the long blade in his hand, Vergil then stopped at the path where there seemed to be a cross point. This is the end point in which two roads would lead. The blue clad half devil lifted his sword towards the other, who had managed to avoid many possible deadly blows.
Their fight, which lasted quite a time, made the girl who followed them into the maze, stumble into various degrees of heights, tore the skies, and ripped the barriers. A dark rain fell in fast drizzles, and she had to push her wet hair back from her eyes, trying desperately to catch up to their speed. They had turned a corner, with Vergil falling over the edge at some point. Dante took the bait, and rushed in after him.
It was then that the fight had finally took a menacing step to its final outcome. She had to run to keep to see, her feet trying to catch up to her desperation. Water splashed up onto her naked legs, wetting the hard combat boots and sliding off it like a ducks back. When she turned the corner to see what had transpired, she saw Dante in time to take Vergil's sword into his own side. A sharp sound, like a deep cut of tearing flesh, echoed in the labyrinth. The architectural monster disappeared for a moment, revealing the vast emptiness of the wasteland before them. A vision of two men, one fallen, the other standing, bloodied, torn in varying degrees, and their sweat mingled with those of the pelting rain.
He had taken a fall, after his brother pushed into him the sword, and backing away from the intensity of the other's intended hate, Dante felt the shock of electricity that went through his body, it made him shiver. And he fell with an ungracious thump on the ground, his face now twisted in a muted anger, and in his ragged breath, spat out to this brother,
"Damn you, Vergil. You play pretty unfair. I should have known you'd stoop-…."
Vergil cut him off sharply, his glacial eyes pinning the girl that was watching the entire event.
"Spare me, Dante. I have something to show you while you're down there making yourself useful."
He had his one hand, bloodied now, with the sword still pointed at his brother, while the other lifted towards her, and said in a whisper,
"Do I need to ask?"
The girl paused momentarily, knowing in her heart of hearts that Vergil did indeed play unfair but then again, they were so nearly matched. They would have went on and on until, until they would exhaust themselves to tomorrow. She supposed by Vergil's deception, this would keep Dante down, a little. But she was that small bit hesitant….because she thought if Dante wanted to have her, he'd still fight, despite the fact that his own brother had manipulated situations.
It wasn't long really, for her to move out of her own free will, he said, out of your free will. Her legs felt like they were walking on air, towards the half devil whose eyes challenged her; they were demanding but in it, hidden behind the mask of self hatred, a desire.
She didn't know how long or how it happened, but it did, and her arms enclosed around him in a hold. He had, the moment she stepped into his circle taken her into his with a severity that surprised her. She did not know the look he gave his brother, laying there, blood soaking his sides, merging with his own jacket.
Her eyes stung as she knew what she had done and unbeknownst, Vergil's sinister smile goaded his brother. Dante had stood up, balled up his fists, witnessing the action and she felt, the older brother's loud whisper in her ear, dipping his face in her hair,
"You're mine."
Even after Dante departed, they stood there together, as if captured in a timeless glass, held together by Vergil's strong hold, his hands dipping in the back of her hair, while the other held the small of her back, a slow stroking, and downward pause at the topmost curve of her buttocks. She, with her lips half parted, breathed a little harder for her own sanity. Her eyes flew boldly up to his, to find to her disquieting feelings, his glacial eyes boring into her own. He could anytime; extract himself from her, but it seemed as if he too could not understand why they stood there atop the aftermath of the labyrinth's darkened glow.
The rain had slowly stopped, and they were wet to the skin with that sensation. Her dark eyelashes glistened with fresh tears of the last drops of rain.
Then without notice, his eyes once alight with cold lucidity and a dark hidden passion, was immediately replaced with a burning anger. Vergil's voice was harsh, demanding, as he replied,
"Maybe I really should take my reward for keeping your part of the deal. And actually thank you as deemed fit."
Before she could go against this, he lowered his head, and seized her lips in a hard kiss. He turned her head with his strong hand, so that he could dip his tongue deeper into her open mouth. Her mind flew to the audacity of his actions, but did not move away so soon. For despite wanting to go to Dante and leave this other behind, she allowed him to give her his reward to her.
He was rough, but in an odd sense, it was exhilarating and left her breathless, and her senses, though befuddled, also wanted the other one. In the heat of the moment, this is what mattered, because they were caught up in a changeless moment, like the timeless glass. Her hands, which were around him earlier, had in a protective way went up against his chest, as though pushing him away.
It was an involuntary movement when she had seen his smouldering anger. His muscles had tautened and while she was unresponsive, it wasn't long before her own tongue met his, matching, taking as much as he would give her. His glacial eyes flew open in surprise and with an effort, jerked his silver head back, unable to move much further than an inch from her pale pink bruised lips. The harshness of his voice, ragged, whispered with a kind of agonized longing, "Fuck. Damn." And a string of curses followed. Coming from Dante, it seemed suitable, but from Vergil, it seemed to make him less elegant and more like his brother.
She was surprised as he pushed her away, the planes of his angular face hardened, and deep timbre of his voice grated out, "You can go now to your Dante. That's what you wanted all along, even after you kept your word."
Vergil's body visibly tautened, and his fist clenched at the side, while the whites of his knuckles showed as he gripped the sword in the other hand. She backed away slightly, her fingers reached up at the topmost part of her chest, allowing his eyes to watch her quick movements. Then as if irritated by the action, turned quickly away, the partly ripped satin-esque blue sheen of his hardened jacket blowing in the dying wind. Without a backward glance, he grated out,
"Get going. You got your reward and mine. It was an amusing little party."
Anger singed right through her and she retorted, "Of all the arrogant!"
His hand waved in a movement to still her voice, "Spare me the melodramatics."
Walking further away from her, back turned, his voice sounded frayed,
"You better ease his wounded ego, little girl."
The words felt like a cold splash of water and it did her good. It plainly made her see that her stupid reaction to the deal was due to a bad case of hormonal alteration. And weakness on her part. How could she allow him to take anymore than what was the deal? If only Dante had fought him even after she went into Vergil's arms. Her own violation of the deal was that she thought Dante would take a different kind of bait.
Angry at both of them, a kind of infuriating rage ripped through her and on impulse, she threw at him a large army knife, or razor edged dagger.. It glittered as it flew in the wind, cutting through barriers of sound. Vergil was quicker. His hand snaked out and stopped the action of the blade. Those silvery reflexes infuriated her even more, but instead of a battle, turned and stomped in the direction of the where the long departed brother went off to.
Vergil never even took a backward glance as he went back into the labyrinth.
Her token blade tucked securely in the azure folds of his jacket.
Current time: from first chapter:
He held her until she could vent all her spent tears. Dante didn't really understand why girls had to cry, really. He remembered how his own mother cried intensely; those tears of hers shook him deeper than anything he'd known. It was the one thing; besides the amulet, his brother and himself owned, would keep in memory to the beloved mother they once knew.
When at last she stood back, wiping the tears with the back of her left hand, did she boldly looked up to him. Dante's lips curled at the corners, showing his cocksure grin, and softly, a little husky for his liking, replied,
"Want to see something?"
Apprehensive, her own riotous feelings came at a audacious point. She got here, all on her own, leaving the other brother. When in fact, many moments before, if not sooner, a realization shook her with shaking clarity; that she was in love with both brothers. The feeling annoyed her because it presumed that she was wishy-washy, indecisive and easily swayed. But it was more than that. It was because, ….because they were more alike. Like two halves of a whole. Without the other, it wouldn't be complete
Can anyone really blame her?
Dante led her to the upstairs balcony, and while at first, her mind thought immediately of perverted thoughts, she wasn't sure she was ready for this. But she was wrong, for as his hand gripped hers lovingly, he walked her up the tight passage staircase leading to the terrace above. They walked to the edge, where they could see the sky, vast and eerily beautiful in the darkest night.
He looked down at her through the silver strands that fell from his eyes, half smiled and said,
"Just wait a moment."
He then stood behind her, could smell the jasmine in the evening air, and most of all, her scent; feminine and strong. With his right arm over the side of her shoulders, he pointed towards that looming ancient colossal, speaking to her in hushed tones, feeling very optimistic for the first time in his life,
"Look you there," when at last she could find the direction to his guidance, "I must tell you about that place where we were at. It is important. And there is a reason why Vergil led us there."
The dark clouds above began to clear, making way for the cold stillness of the blue-black night. One of the lesser stars, a dimmer nova, distantly began to fade away. Another began its trek towards a downward spin, to the labyrinth. When that bright nova touched the object of its destination, the skies illuminated in a collage of colors, creating a noiseless exhibition of short lived explosives.
"You see, there is the labyrinth of time before us; its power is changeable, but it will always lead me to you. Even after death. Time is never ending there, and the darkness is as beautiful as the brightest day."
It was then that she remembered Vergil then. Because he was there. Somewhere. Alone. A slight pain tugged at her heart. Only to turn into Dante's arms, her unshed tears sparkled, and finally sighed a ragged relief.
She had made the choice and was glad. She cuddled deeper into his arms and said, "My real name is Mary by the way."
"I know." then he chuckled in her ear, "I just love to call you Lady."
End..