Title: Blood Brothers
Fandom: Devil May Cry
Characters: Vergil, Dante
Prompt: #87; Stab
Word Count: 1111
Rating: PG
Summary: A childhood fight turns ugly.
Author's Notes: Requested by my brother.

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"Give that to me."

Dante looked up from what he was doing, surprised because only an hour ago Vergil swore that he was never going to talk to Dante again. It was the one promise Vergil never kept, but usually he kept it for longer.

Dante twisted in his seat until his back was to his brother and went back to his work. He hadn't forgotten their argument – well, maybe he'd forgotten what it'd been about, but he definitely remembered the sucker punch to the nose. "Go away, Vergil."

"That's mine, give it to me!"

"It's not."

"It is."

"It's not."

"Dante, I said—"

"It's just a stupid toy, Vergil," Dante said, turning back around and waving the pocket knife in Vergil's face. Vergil's eyes followed it like he was hungry and it was food or something, so Dante snatched it back before he tried to grab it. He was trying to carve a snowman out of wood, but if Vergil didn't quit it he was never going to get it done. "You only want it because I have it now."

"I had it first."

"Why would you have it?" Dante snapped. He'd wanted a real weapon and he'd asked for one for Christmas, and he'd gotten this instead. He'd tried not to act disappointed but Vergil could tell anyway, and had made fun of him for weeks.

Vergil shut his mouth and glared.

"I'm trying to make something for Mom," Dante said.

Vergil's eye twitched.

That was usually a good sign that he was about to freak out, which usually scared the crap out of everyone that wasn't Dante and Mom, because when Vergil freaked out he acted like he wanted you dead. Those times could be fun since he was so easy to mess with, he couldn't control himself at all, but they'd already had a fight and Dante didn't feel like dealing with him anymore.

So he turned away again. "I said go away, Vergil."

"Dante…" Vergil said, his voice low and threatening. He hated being ignored.

Dante did not care. "I'm gonna tell Mom—"

Vergil tackled him out of his seat.

They hit the ground with Vergil on top, which meant Dante was the one who landed hard on the wood floor. "What the hell!" he yelled, trying to push Vergil away with his feet, but his brother had grabbed the hand with the pocket knife and was twisting so Dante would have to let go.

He refused, even though it was hurting his wrist a lot. "Stop it, Vergil!"

"Let go!"

"You're being—" Dante caught an elbow in the chin, which distracted him enough that his fingers almost slipped off the knife. But not quite, and he shifted his feet on the ground to get a better position. No way was Vergil getting it. "You're being freaking psycho!"

"Give it back!"

"No!" He moved his feet again, and then he shoved off the ground, rolling them both over so he was on top and Vergil was on the ground and he could punch his stupid face in. And then his fingers slipped off the knife.

He could tell what happened because Vergil's face went completely blank.

Dante scrambled backwards, he got of Vergil as quick as he could and sat back, so he could see the handle of the pocket knife standing straight up, sticking out of Vergil's stomach.

He stared.

Vergil groaned, his eyes were squeezed shut. "You're so…" He was reaching for the knife, and his fingers closed around the handle. "…retarded."

"Don't—" He grabbed Vergil's hands but couldn't stop him from pulling the knife out, and the blood ran over both of their fingers. It was warm, and it was creepy that it was almost soothing – but Dante knew that warm meant you were alive, and cold meant you were dead. "Don't die, I'll go get Mom and she'll—"

Vergil shoved him off. "Stupid," he sneered. "I'm not going to die."

Even though he'd just been stabbed to death he really didn't look like he was going to die, he just looked annoyed. Dante was still pretty sure he should still run and find Mom, though, because he still could die anyway. And maybe he was just some kind of freak that could never die. In that case Dante should still get Mom, because he'd just stabbed Vergil, and didn't want to see what freak Vergil could do to him in revenge.

But, if Vergil was some kind of freak like that, wasn't Dante the same as him?

Dante sat back, and looked at him. "How?" he demanded.

Vergil rolled his eyes. "You don't know anything." He pulled up the edge of his shirt. Under the torn cloth, and all the blood, wasn't a bleeding hole or anything. Just smooth skin. Like he hadn't been hurt at all.

Dante looked back up at his face. "How did you know that…"

Vergil shrugged. "It happened before."

Vergil still had the knife in his hand, and it bothered Dante to realize that meant he'd won, the stupid jerk.

"Does it only work for you?" Dante asked.

"How can I know that?"

"Well, how am I supposed to—"

Vergil was looking at him like he was the stupidest person alive, and then his hand snaked out and he grabbed Dante by the wrist. Dante realized what he was doing a second too late to anything about it, and he didn't do anything but stare as Vergil brought the knife down, and dragged it across the back of Dante's hand.

If there was any magic in him it wasn't working, because it was hurting a whole lot, and Dante jerked back. "What are you doing?" he shouted, holding his cut hand as blood started dripping on the ground. "You stupid jerk."

"Watch," Vergil ordered.

"Watch what?"

"Watch your hand," Vergil said, reaching out to point, but Dante flinched when he got near. He sighed and dropped his hand. "If you don't watch, you won't know."

Vergil was right, even if he was annoying, so Dante rubbed away some of the blood and watched his hand.

It stopped bleeding as he was looking, and he could see the two edges of his skin. It looked really gross. But then, as he watched, the two edges reached together, like they were being sewed up by invisible thread that didn't hurt, In a few seconds the cut was gone, and when he rubbed the rest of the blood away the skin wasn't even red. There wasn't anything there at all.

He glanced up. Vergil's face said, I told you.

"Woah," Dante said, grinning. "Cool."

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