Chapter V
As hot blood spilled over their hands, they both reached for the amulet that hung around Dante's neck.
Dante was slightly quicker though— Vergil's cold fingers closed around his warm ones.
"You've lost— again," Vergil growled. "Just—"
Dante pressed Ivory's barrel into his brother's abdomen. "Just what?" he panted, still clutching the amulet tightly with his other hand, his brother's fist clasped over his own. He could feel his strength draining from exertion, but he was still able to empty half a clip into Vergil's stomach.
His older twin's body jerked and sagged against him, but Vergil didn't relinquish his grasp on Dante's clenched fist. Unbalanced, the two toppled over and landed heavily on the concrete in an ungraceful display of splattering blood and flailing limbs.
The hole Vergil had opened in his stomach wasn't closing itself, but Dante saw, with grim satisfaction, that the bullet wounds in his twin's abdomen were still oozing porously as well.
Muscles strained and burned and jaws clenched; the rain pounded around the deadlocked twins as they glared into eachothers faces, still grasping and vying for the amulet.
There was a clatter as Vergil dropped Yamato and released his grip on his brother's fist—Dante felt two ice cold hands clamp themselves tightly around his throat. He still didn't dare let go of the amulet, but he raised Ebony and viciously pistol-whipped his brother across the temple with its heavy black barrel.
o-o-o
Vergil grimaced in pain and his vision momentarily fled him at the impact; he tasted blood as he bit his lip, gritting his teeth as he poured all of his remaining strength into crushing his twin's windpipe.
Dante still struggled against him, but Vergil could feel him weakening; Ebony slipped loosely from his grasp. The elder twin pressed both his thumbs into the sensitive underside of Dante's jaw as he panted for both of them. Through the driving rain, he could barely make out his brother's half-closed, clouded eyes, unseeing now— he was almost choked out—
Practically on a whim, Vergil glanced down in time to see Dante's groping fingers close around the hilt of the katana he had discarded; he had no choice but to relinquish his grip and roll to the side as the silvery blade whistled past his head.
o-o-o
Gulping desperate lungfuls of cold, stinging air, Dante slowly felt the pressure in his ears dissipate. Squinting against the pelting rain, still gripping Yamato in one hand, he released the amulet with his other and raised it to his bruised and aching throat.
The unrelentingly vengeful rain was rendering hearing impossible now, and vision almost equally useless. Dante could vaguely make out his brother's blurred outline a few meters away— he was on all fours, but his head was raised.
Dante's muscles screamed in agonizing protest as he struggled clumsily to his feet— he clutched at the wound in his stomach as though to catch any entrails that might attempt to escape his body during the effort to stand. Yamato couldn't weigh even a third of Rebellion, but it felt like pure lead in his hand, and he couldn't help scraping its tip along the pavement as he staggered through the rain toward his brother.
As he neared, Vergil made a movement as though to stand, instead his body twisted oddly and Dante felt a boot connect solidly with his shin. He fell forward, and landed heavily, squarely on top of his older twin. Vergil grunted as his dead weight settled on his chest, and Yamato's tip buried itself in the pavement mere millimeters from his ear.
A few drops of blood landed on Vergil's pale cheek and slid quickly away with the rain; Dante realized that his nose was bleeding and he wondered absently for how long. He knew they were both at their limits, and he suddenly realized that the amulet chained around his neck was now resting against his brother's chest.
Vergil was raising a hand toward it slowly, and in his drained languor, Dante couldn't even muster the strength to lift a finger in resistance.
In a rain-drenched, dreamlike state, he watched Vergil's long fingers close around the deep ruby amulet… but his twin did not tear it from his neck, he only stared between the raindrops with empty eyes.