Author's Notes: This is the final chapter of the abridged version of Antidote. The full version contains 8 chapters + an epilogue; the final chapters have been omitted from this submission due to extreme adult content.

The full version of Antidote can be viewed at AFF if you wish to continue the story.

Thanks for reading!

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Chapter VII

Vergil was standing with one foot on each of his hands, his fingers crushed against the wet concrete; he struggled to free himself, raising his shoulderblades off the ground and grunting with the effort. His eyes were still squinted against the blood and driving rain, but with an abrupt prick of foreign panic, he felt his brother swiftly wrap Cerberus' icy chain around his neck.

This was all wrong. He choked more on frustration than from the cold metal links pinching his throat; he remembered the similarly rain-scoured night atop the Temen-ni-gru… his own pernicious defeat there. This wouldn't be a repeat of that, he swore to himself, even as he gasped when Vergil drove two of Cerberus' blunt prongs through the palms of his hands, effectively pinning him to the now-cracked concrete.

Straining against his own weapon (which had been utilized so grimly against his favor), Dante hurled a leg up and felt his heavy boot connect solidly with his brother's chin; Vergil reeled back and fell to one knee.

The crystal sanchaku was strangling him now, its chain pulling tighter across his throat with every vindictive struggle. His brother had only to take Force Edge, and leave him lying helpless and thwarted in the downpour. He closed his eyes and let his jaw fall open; the freezing drops of rain pelted his face and slipped between his parted lips, stinging his tongue. Cool air was making its way to into his lungs now, but barely; he had to keep absolutely still to prevent Cerberus from asphyxiating him.

Slowly, he became vaguely aware that the rain was no longer beating on his bare chest and stomach. Instead, a warmer, thicker liquid was flowing over his skin. He opened his eyes to a curtain of white hair as Vergil straddled his body and leaned in close; he could feel his twin's warm breath against his cheek; blood from Vergil's wound was flooding over his body.

"Without strength, you cannot protect anything," Vergil whispered in a husky, pained voice, echoing his words from Temen-ni-gru, his lips brushing Dante's ear. The younger twin squirmed uncomfortably, feeling a now-familiar clenching in his abdomen as his brother's weight settled across him.

"Why do you insist on resisting everything your body craves?" Vergil's hand was sliding down his stomach now, and unbidden, Dante's pants were growing irrepressibly tighter.

"You…" he panted, as Cerberus grated against his Adam's apple… but he didn't finish the sentence; he had no idea what he was even trying to say. He was shivering now, but not from cold; Vergil's hand was resting low on his flat stomach, and he was sure his brother must be able to feel butterflies beneath his palm.

o-o-o

Vergil was feeling faint, but he couldn't be sure whether it was from passion or pain… or perhaps both. He could feel his life's blood draining from his body; it was dripping onto Dante's stomach, and he was smearing it across his younger brother's pale, shivering skin with a gentle hand.

Dante… he had always been the overzealous one, the one with the driving, ruthless sexuality. It brought a twisted smile to Vergil's lips to contemplate the strange reversal at play here.

He lifted his head to stare into his brother's face; through the intermittent lightning, he could see that Dante's cheeks were pale and his lips were tinged slightly blue from lack of air. His eyes remained clear though, and Vergil let his gaze slide down to the cold chain that was biting into his twin's vulnerably exposed throat.

His need was growing more urgent, more insistent; he wanted to hear Dante gasp and groan again, to feel tight muscles clench around him. He pressed his own warm lips against Dante's blood-starved cold ones, dipping his tongue into his brother's mouth, tasting him. He slipped his hand beneath his younger twin's waistband, feeling a burning heat there which only intensified his own hungry passion.

Choking and with both hands pinned, there wasn't much the younger brother could do to resist, but Vergil felt Dante's thighs tense as he unzipped his pants and drew him out and into his hand. He kissed him harder, tongue probing, and instead of teeth blocking him, he felt a light pressure as his brother tentatively began to reciprocate.

Vergil gently pulled away, Dante's now-hungry tongue lingering after him, skimming his lips as he withdrew. He slowly began to ease a trail of light nips along his brother's jawline, down across his throat, past the flesh pinched between the links of chain. He alternately kissed and nibbled his way down his twin's chest, tasting his own salty blood.

Rain continued to deluge the exhausted, wounded twins, now tangled in a bloody embrace; the thunder no longer cracked over their heads, but flashes of lightning still illuminated the sanguine scenery they had painted across the deserted street.

Antidote (Abridged) FIN