Since I got so many reviews for the past chap, I decided to put up an update for this. It's an entirely Vergil chap, but.don't worry Dante fans, the other Sparda boy will be back in the next chap.

Enjoy and keep all the reviews coming

One Will Fall

Chap 5: Captive

"Wake up." Vergil heard a soft voice and felt the cool breath of someone speaking into his ear. He knew without opening his eyes that Maj was beside him. He could sense her presence. And out of spite, he kept his eyes shut, pretending not to have heard her command.

"I said WAKE UP." The second order was stronger and followed by a sharp slap to his face. Vergil opened his glaring eyes to the frowning goddess, feeling very much inclined to return her harsh gesture, but he soon became aware of the fact that his body was immobilized by chains around his wrists and neck. And as he struggled against the iron bonds, the cuffs only tightened; the shackle around his throat causing him to gag and the goddess to smile and shake her head.

"Relax," Maj advised. "I don't need you choking yourself to death before I've had a chance to punish you."

Vergil growled and stretched his neck to the side, glad that the metal collar was somewhat retracting. "Punish me?" he said in a low hiss, fixing his icy stare back on the goddess. "And what do you plan to do? Make me stand in a corner or write lines like an unruly child?" he sneered.

"It is too bad this is such a joke to you, Nelo Angelo," the goddess said gravely, "You would not be so derisive if you knew what was in store for you."

"So what is it then?" Vergil asked, "What am I supposed to be afraid of. Go on," he jibed, "Scare me Bitch."

A blinding light erupted around the goddess, which formed into a shockwave that crashed Vergil into the stone wall behind him. His head and arms snapped forward as the chains were stretched to the limit from the ceiling and his back hit the wall. His vision blurred for a moment as the iron collar dug into the back of his neck. Dazed, he swung by his wrists, returning to where he formerly stood, the metal cuffs cutting into his skin from his weight. He winced and got shakily back to his feet.

"Was that supposed to scare me?" he asked angrily and a little groggily as he raised himself up so the bonds were rubbing less against his stinging wrists.

"No," Maj said coolly. "It was a warning. I do not appreciate, nor will I tolerate, your disrespect."

Vergil snorted and looked away, grimacing from his stiff neck. "You expect an apology?"

The goddess shook her head and folded her arms. "No. I expect nothing from you. Your apology would not be sincere."

Vergil smirked and shifted his eyes to her. "True," he said, "I'll just save my breath then."

Maj looked at him angrily and then her face softened into a disconcerting smile. "Allow me to help you with that." She waved her hand and the chain around Vergil's neck tightened, immediately cutting off his air supply. His eyes bulged and his face turned red as he choked and struggled to free his arms, which only amounted in the bonds contracting around his wrists. He flailed for a little over a minute, his vision fuzzy and his face pale and slightly tinged blue, before Maj waved her hand again and the chains drew back to their original size.

Vergil drooped and coughed violently as he gasped for breath and the chain pulled his chin up, gagging him again, creating a noose around his throat that held his body up as his legs continued to weaken for lack of oxygen. In his daze, he barely felt the collar jab through his neck and draw his blood, releasing a warm trickle of crimson liquid that moved down his pale throat from the searing wound that only worsened the longer he hung from his neck.

He was more than ready to welcome unconsciousness when Maj, growing weary of the strangled sounds emitting from his throat, released him from the neck chain and he dropped heavily, his knees almost reaching the floor as he now completely hung by his wrists. He gave only a barely audible hiss of pain when his weight was transferred to his arms but it was for the most part lost amongst his coughing and sputtering as he tried once again to regain normal breathing.

After a lengthy retching fit, Vergil finally managed to calm down enough to take stuttering breaths and push slowly up to his feet. He kept his eyes to the floor, still incredibly dizzy, and gave a low, rumbling growl when he saw a long robe flutter into his view. Maj's cold hand went to his jaw and gently lifted his chin so that he was looking at her. He irritably tried to pull his face away, breathing heavily, but the goddess squeezed his jaw to keep him in place. He gazed furiously at her and unintentionally cried out in pain when she dug her fingers into the cut on his neck, deepening the break in his skin with her long fingernails. She laughed when he tried to yank his head away from her again, and kept her hold on him, amused by his display of pain.

Vergil's wince turned into a growl and he spat in the goddess' face, reaching up to grab the chains above his wrist cuffs and, jumping up, kicked her in the chest, sending her flying back into the opposing wall of the small stone chamber. As the bricks crumbled and dust fell from the ceiling from the force of her collision, Vergil took the opportunity to transform into his devil half and pull against the remaining bonds on his wrists. Expecting them to break easily, he was surprised when he felt no give whatsoever when he jerked with all his force. Instead, the cuffs constricted crushingly around his wrists and he soon let out a pained growl and relaxed immediately before trying again to snap the chains. Again nothing happened and he looked across the room lividly at the goddess who was now picking herself up off the floor and dusting off her long robe.

Maj's eyes gave away her fury but she still managed a smile as she stepped towards the son of Sparda. "You fool." She slapped him hard across the face, making his ears ring. "You can't escape from those bonds. You are no longer immune to my spells. I have the amulet back, or don't you remember." Vergil scowled—as if he would forget something like that—and she slapped him again.

"I can see why you have never won against your brother," the goddess stated smoothly, "Such weakness. Such stupidity. It is a wonder that the Darkness had held you in such high esteem. But I suppose that is all over now, isn't it, Nelo Angelo?" She smirked, "Though I must give you some credit. You certainly are very skilled at angering the wrong individuals—both the Darkness himself and a vengeful goddess. You don't like making it easy for yourself, do you?"

Vergil clenched his teeth. "You know nothing of my standings with the darkness, goddess," he snapped.

Maj's eyes flickered in delight and she let out a long, and surprisingly deep chuckle. "Oh, apparently I know far more than you, Nelo Angelo, because you appear to be completely oblivious to your master's rage," she mocked after a moment. "You really don't have a clue, do you?" She beamed darkly at him and Vergil narrowed his eyes. "Did you not see the legions of Marionettes I set upon you?" she asked. "You must have because you were battling pitifully against them." Maj stepped closer, studying Vergil's darkened gaze. "Did you ever wonder why the demon puppets were attacking YOU-The supposed Second to the Darkness? Did that thought ever cross your mind?"

"Of course it had," Vergil growled. "I had only assumed it was you all along. You were bound to come for your little trinket sooner or later."

"Yes," Maj said, "I would never have allowed a thief like you to get away with taking my amulet. But did you ever stop to consider how it was I controlled the demon puppets?" she asked, raising a brow at Vergil's sudden, stunned expression. The twin blinked at her and furrowed his brow, turning his eyes away as his mouth went slack.

"I assume by your puzzled expression, you did not," Maj observed.

Vergil glared back at her. "You lie," he snarled, realizing what she was hinting at. "My master would never betray be like that. He would never have given up control of the puppets to you. You must have found some other way."

"What other way?" Maj asked mildly.

"I don't know."

"You don't?"

"No," Vergil grumbled. "But Mundus did not give you control of his minions. I refuse to believe it."

Maj grinned. "You can believe whatever you like if it will make you feel better, Nelo Angelo, but it will not change the truth."

"Shut up," Vergil flushed with rage, "You're just a lying bitch. None of what you say is true."

"Oh if only THAT were true," Maj said sadly, shaking her head and choosing to ignore his not-so-endearing referral to her. "But unfortunately for you, all of what I say is the absolute truth. I can assure you. You're master is far from pleased with your actions. And it was he who gave me the marionettes in order to come after you."

"Why?" Vergil asked, bemused. "Why would he give you the power to command the puppets? I cannot even do that. What have I done to anger him?"

"You stole my amulet."

"What does that have to do with my master?" the twin narrowed his eyes, "It was a personal matter. It should not concern him."

"Oh. But it does. You went behind his back and stole my amulet in his name."

"I did not!" Vergil argued incredulously, "I never even spoke to you until now. How in the hell could I have claimed the amulet in The Darkness' name?"

Maj smirked. "It doesn't matter what you did and did not say. It only matters what my br-Mundus believes."

"What!?" Vergil exclaimed, eyes wide. "What did you just say?"

"I said it only matters what the Darkness believes," Maj repeated, knowing full well that Vergil had been referring to her near slip of the tongue. She ignored his glaring look when she did not say what he had wanted to hear. "The Darkness believes that you angered a goddess in his name in order to exact your revenge on the son of Sparda."

"My brother is the Darkness' enemy as well as mine, so what you say makes little sense, Goddess. The Dark Lord would not care that I go after my brother. In fact, he would be pleased."

"Not unless he wanted the honour of killing his rival himself."

"But that does not explain why he would set his minions in YOUR hands. It would be far easier to stop me himself."

"Perhaps he wanted to appease me," Maj suggested, "Or maybe he wanted it to be out of his hands."

"Whether any of that is true is questionable. But why you? Why would the Darkness care if a harmless goddess is pissed off?"

"Harmless?" Maj scoffed, "Hardly. I have powers of which you could never imagine and I am not without my influence."

"But you're nothing without your amulet," said Vergil, "You said so yourself."

"Not quite," Maj frowned, "What I said was that I have very little focus to my power without the amulet. It is too immense to not be contained by something. I was not about to destroy a city of innocent mortals just to summon up my army to eliminate the likes of you."

"Too bad," Vergil mused. "It would have saved your brother the trouble of doing it later..."

"My brother," Maj snorted and went quiet for a moment; looking down at the floor and then raising her eyes back up to the white-haired man. "So you figured it out. I was wondering what you would assume by my earlier correction of myself."

Vergil rolled his eyes. "Well there wasn't much I could suppose by 'my' and 'br-,' other than that you were going to say 'my brother'," he said.

"True," Maj accepted, "But the fact that Mundus is my sibling doesn't matter greatly, only that it made it easier for me to convince him to act against you. He is really very gullible."

"What did you tell him?" Vergil demanded.

"Nothing, other than the fact that one of his pathetic minions had stolen one of my possessions in his name and that I was very anxious to get it back."

"So you lied to him."

"I may have embellished a little to get him to act faster."

"So you lied to him," Vergil repeated through gritted teeth.

"Yes," Maj said, smiling at the twin's anger. "I lied to him."

Vergil looked at her with a murderous glare. "You lied to the Darkness. And you're not afraid of how he'll react to the news when he finds out?"

"Not at all. And in any case, this is not the first time I have lied to him. He is my younger sibling and he does not scare me. He is far from my equal. And besides," she added with an uncaring wave of her hand, "He owes me."

"How?"

"Enough," Maj shook her head. "I am finished discussing things with you. It is not important what you know. Only that you suffer."

Vergil saw only the goddess' glowing purple eyes before he was flung back against the wall, the chains on his wrists ripping out from the ceiling this time and whacking him in the face and chest. His head cracked against the stone and he felt white hot sparks of pain and a warm flow of blood down his neck before everything went hazy and then black.

Well that be it for now. Remember Dante's back in the next chap. So review and tell me what you think. I'll try to have the next update done as soon as I can (once school work lags a little).

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