Hey. I actually updated something. It's only been what…a month? Whatever. Hard to work and write at the same time.

Anybody reading my other DMC fics: There's probably gonna be an update within the next few weeks for both. I seem to be losing my writer's block so just a heads up to you all.

Anyway. Here's the next chap.

Enjoy.

One Will Fall

Chap 2: Sibling Rivalry

Vergil stepped out of DMC and for a moment all Dante could focus on was the beating rain. It wasn't the kind of weather he would have liked to take a stroll in, let alone battle a sibling to death in, but the choice to fight was clearly not his to make. His brother had already made it plain that he wanted to see Dante dead, very soon and by his hands. Nothing would make him back down. Whether Dante liked it or not, one of the sons of Sparda would die in the end.

Apparently all the years since Mallet Island hadn't served to do anything but strengthen the hostility between the two brothers. Nelo Angelo was dead as far as Dante was concerned but evidently his brother wasn't happy just being reduced to a bad memory. He wanted to make sure that the devil hunter knew that he was very much alive and more than willing to share the experience of defeat with his little brother.

"Are you admiring the rain or are you simply hesitating to fight me dear Brother, because I am quickly losing what little patience I hold for you."

Dante brought his eyes a back to Vergil, noticing the taller man blink from the water whipping into his face. He took a step forward and felt the heavy tingle of the rain on his body. It was cold but it would have felt worse had he not already been frozen. He clenched his jaw, hiding the fact that his teeth were slightly chattering. He hoped that his quivering lip was faint enough that his brother wouldn't notice.

"I already said we'd fight." Dante voiced evenly, stepping down from the step to DMC to join Vergil in the street. The water rushed up to his knees and beat against his legs, making it a minor difficulty to stand. Dante held his arms out for balance. "I'm not going to back out now, especially not from a pushover like you. In fact I'm surprised you're even here considering the major ass kicking I gave you over on Mallet Island."

"That was pure luck," Vergil hissed.

"Of course it was," Dante mused. "It's always luck when the bad guy gets the shit kicked out of him and lives to tell about it. Right? It has nothing to do with the fact that YOU can't compare to your LITTLE brother."

Vergil's eyes flared at the comment and even though it was dark, Dante could see his body suddenly tense and his hands ball into fists before he relaxed his fingers and reverted to his cool manner.

"You may have gotten the better of me once-"

"Three times," Dante corrected.

"…three times…" Vergil snarled, "But you will not be so fortunate again."
"And why is that?" Dante asked, "Because you can make a little rain? I'm not the Wicked Witch of the West, you know. I won't melt if you dump a bucket of water my head. Hell-I'm already drenched."

"The storm has nothing to do with our sibling rivalry." The taller twin stated venomously. "It was simply designed to set the mood for my return. I wanted you to be miserable when I stepped through your door and I believe I succeeded in that."

Dante frowned. "If that's all you wanted, you could have skipped the storm and just shown me your ugly mug. That would have been enough to ruin my day."

"…perhaps," Vergil growled. "I would remember that for next time, had there been a chance of there ever being one. But considering you will die very soon I see no point in doing that."

"Yeah," said Dante, "Wouldn't want to overload that little head of yours with too much information. You might strain yourself."

Vergil glowered. "Apart from maintaining my patience with you at the moment, little Brother, I will not have to strain a thing to deal with you. You will fall by my hands. That is certain."

Dante couldn't help smirking. "Pretty sure of yourself there, huh Bro?" He sloshed closer, skimming his eyes over is brother. "You don't look any different…'cept for maybe a little more pathetic. What makes you think you can beat me this time?"

"Because the darkness is stronger than the light. You should not have been able to defeat me the last time but-"

"Yeah. Well. Obviously I didn't do a good enough job," Dante said tetchily. "You sure bounced back in a hurry. It's only been a year."

"Indeed," answered Vergil, somewhat annoyed by the interruption. "But it has felt like an eternity waiting for the chance to eliminate you." He folded his arms and stared darkly at the devil hunter, remembering his previous defeat on Mallet Island. "I promise you the darkness will triumph this time."

"Uh huh," Dante said tiredly, "You keep saying that and I'm still not believing it. And who decided that you were the darkness anyway? If I beat you, wouldn't that make ME the darkness and YOU the weak little light?"
"I cannot be the light," Vergil replied icily.

"But you are," Dante prodded, "I can see it. You're simply glowing!"

"SHUT UP!" Vergil snapped, unfolding his arms.

Dante swung out his sword in reflex and took a fighting stance, grimacing as the weight of his sword put pressure on his wounded shoulder.

Vergil laughed in cold amusement. "We are not battling here, Brother. I would rather we took higher ground in case you forget how to swim and are swept away in this flood. It would take the fun out of bleeding you myself."

"Right. Wouldn't want to ruin your fun." Dante scowled and swung his sword onto his back. "After you then," he said, motioning with a flick of his chin.

Vergil gave a short nod and transformed into a demon, spreading out his wings dramatically as lightning crashed behind him. Dante watched him moodily and shook his head, changing into his devil form. He received a quick beckon from Vergil and flew up obediently after his brother, glad that he was behind him and therefore wouldn't have to worry about being attacked from behind.

Unfortunately, however, the more they climbed, the more cautious Dante found he to be. Every few seconds long bolts of lightning would break nearby and he would have to avoid them with only a split second of time to react. He knew his brother was controlling them and he didn't appreciate having to waste energy dodging when Vergil could fly in a straight path.

"You wanna ease up on the lightning there, Bro!?" Dante called loudly over a roll of thunder. He could just make out Vergil's snickering over the noisy beat of rain and within an instant he had to stop and swerve in midair to keep from being toasted by two more bolts of lightning. "I said STOP, Dammit!"

Vergil looked back with a crooked grin, "Temper, temper, little brother. It is only a little lightning."

"A LITTLE!?" Dante yelled, "Did you n-"

"Calm yourself," Vergil interrupted, swooping to the roof of a skyscraper, "We are here." He transformed back and walked to the center of the building, waiting for Dante to do likewise.

Dante landed and growled, looking around. "Great...You sure picked a perfect place to be a lightning rod."

"Nonsense," Vergil snorted, "We will not be struck here...Not unless I command it. And even then, it is only you who has to worry…"

"...That's comforting," Dante muttered, grabbing Alastor off his back and transforming in one motion. He glared across at Vergil, who chuckled darkly and swung out his broad sword.

"Shall we?"

Dante watched a crack of lightly reflect blindingly off his brother's sword and his frown set deeper. "Do I have a choice?"

Vergil smirked, "None at all."

The taller twin charged forwards, lashing at Dante with his sword. Dante parried the attack and his blade clashed loudly with Vergil's. Both twins stepped back and swung out a second time, their steel crashing in mid-air, sending out blue sparks. They clenched their teeth, pushing the weight of their bodies into the attack, trying to gain some ground on the other.

Vergil gave a satisfied growl as Dante's feet slid back a few inches. "Having difficulty already Brother?" he sneered.

Dante grunted and pressed back, breaking his sword away from Vergil's as he ducked low and drove his shoulder into his brother's stomach. Vergil coughed and took a step back before he was knocked off balance. He raised his arm and brought the hilt of his weapon crashing down at the base of Dante's neck. The devil hunter thudded to the ground, his vision temporarily clouded by large white splotches.

He blinked widely and raised himself to his knees, his head still hung low from the splitting pain of the blow. He could partially see the shine of Vergil's boots before one of them reared up and hit him squarely under the chin. His head wrenched back and his neck popped loudly but was not broken.

Blood seeped from his mouth and nose as he lay on his side, his hurt shoulder crushed painfully under the weight of his body. He could hear Vergil's heavy footfalls echo on the concrete as he rested his head on the ground. They stopped right before his face and the devil hunter found himself once again staring at his brother's highly polished black boots.

"So you think me to be a pushover, is that right? Or did I not hear you correctly earlier?" Vergil asked in a voice tainted with a delighted malice.

Dante said nothing and spat blood at his brother's feet before he rolled over and lay on his back, his eyes closed as he waited for the thunderstorm raging in his head to subside.

"I made a stupid move and you took advantage of my mistake. That's all," he mumbled at last. "You're still just a poor excuse for a devil."

Vergil's eyes danced with rage but he kept his voice eerily calm as he spoke. "Is that so?" he said, the edge of his sword screeching as he scraped it across the ground and brought it to his side. He watched Dante try to haul himself up and glowered harder. "Unless I am mistaken, dear Brother, it is YOU who is having the difficulty in this battle, not I."

Dante lifted himself to his feet and switched Alastor to his other hand, wanting to give his sore shoulder a break. He wiped blood off his face and spat out the rest that was welling in his mouth. "Difficulty?" He forced a grin even though it hurt his throbbing jaw. "Hate to tell you this Bro, but I've been humoring you up to this point. I figured you should at least get one hit on me so you wouldn't feel so bad when I wiped the floor with you…AGAIN."

Vergil narrowed his eyes. "You lie."

Dante held his smirk as he gazed at his brother's furious face. Vergil really had gotten the better of him but he wasn't about to admit it and miss out on a chance to piss him off even more.

"Oh," he said in mocking tone, "You thought I was fighting for real? That's so sad. I hope you didn't wear yourself out too much with all that prancing around you think is fighting."

Vergil said nothing but his body was rigid and his chin was held high so he stared across the rooftop instead of at his brother. Dante came up to him incautiously and grazed his eyes over Vergil's weapon. He could see the taller twin's fingers flexing angrily on the handle of his sword. His knuckles were white.

Dante shook his head, frowning jokingly and pretending to ponder something. "See now…THIS is your problem," he said, pointing at Vergil's sword. "It's too big and heavy for you. You gotta shop in the kiddy section if you want a chance to beat me. You can barely lift that thing."

"My sword is perfectly adequate," Vergil rasped through gritted teeth, irritated by the devil hunter's brashness. "And I am able to wield it far better than you yours."

"Oh." Dante stepped back, feigning surprise as he looked over his brother again. "So what is it then? You just naturally suck?"

Vergil's eyes shifted back to Dante. He was glaring but the devil hunter only smirked and shrugged at him.

"Guess we both couldn't get dad's power," he said.

"…You had much too large a mouth even when we were children, Brother," Vergil stated smoothly. "I find it sad that nothing has changed. You are now no more a man, than you were then; merely an overgrown, disobedient child, running around with sharp objects. I suppose our mother never taught you better."

"…I guess not." Dante said quietly, his lip twitching with anger at the mention of his mother. "Your boss Mundus kinda saw to that didn't he?"

"So it would appear," Vergil said unemotionally. "Mortals are so easily done away with."

Dante bared his teeth and growled. "She wasn't just a MORTAL you Fuck. She was YOUR mother too. Don't you care what happened to her?"

"I care for nothing and no one," Vergil continued in his dismissive tone. "And it is a shame that you wasted years searching for a dead woman."

The devil hunter's pale eyes flashed with fury. "Don't talk about her like that!" he roared. "I was looking for you too…" He suddenly quieted but his shoulders still rose and fell with angry breaths. He sighed loudly and dropped his gaze from Vergil. "…Though I'm sorry I ever did. To think I ever cared what happened to you..."

Vergil snorted. "And is that statement meant to hurt me, Brother?"

"…No…" Dante raised his head. His face was vacant and his voice dangerously calm. "But THIS is."

What a terrible place to leave things and yet here it is. Mwahaha. End of chapter.

Just wanted to get something up before I went away for a week. Whoo Vacation! The battle will continue in the next chap so just review this one (please) and sit tight for the rest.

Review Review Review.