Chapter 6

"Where's Lady?"

The question hung heavily in the air for several seconds, lingering with the dust particles that swam silently into the beams of pale light which spilled across the floor and swirled down through the ragged hole where Dante had fallen not ten minutes ago. The question itself held little significance; Dante knew where Lady was, or wasn't. She wasn't here which meant she was beyond their reach, probably with that demonic brat, possibly being tortured as they spoke. The idea sent a sharp shudder up his spine. And Vergil was just standing there, with his back to him, staring blankly at the ornate fireplace before him. Dante's hand tightened on Yamato's hilt – his brother's sword, now he wished he had left it for Vergil to retrieve himself.

"Verg?"

Even the dreaded nickname garnered no response. Was his brother truly lost to the world? Dante shook his head to clear it, realised that it was a bad idea when his vision swam. They were already failing and they'd barely even started. Nothing was irreparable, but how long could they carry on going like this? There was blood in his hair, plastering the white locks to his cheek. A head wound so he knew that despite the blood it probably wasn't that serious. But how could they possibly even hope to continue their quest? How could they save Lady when they could barely stand? They needed time which they didn't have, to regroup and think things through, but all that mattered to him right now was rescuing his friend and despite his callous nature he would have thought Vergil might care just that little bit.

"Vergil!"

Finally he moved from the door-way, striding over to his twin to grip him by the shoulders and spin him around. The sounds in the room seemed strangely loud, echoing around the empty house as his boots met the floor and his fingertips found the silk of his twin's overcoat. He was suddenly aware of how desolate it all was; out in the middle of the woods, in the charred remains of their old home with a brother who wanted to kill him. This place was not one of action there were no longer warm fires or family dinners or children playing. Instead there was something tranquil, eerie as though they had already stepped through a portal into a land filled with ghosts. The spectres made the situation all the clearer, the pain of losing his friend just that little bit sharper.

Dante's voice dropped, he glared up at his twin through a snowdrift of hair. "Where's Lady?"

His twin's face remained impassive, pale in the wan light that shone in streams through the heavy velvet curtains, glistening in the gemstones riveted to the fireplace and hollowing out the pits of Vergil's eyes, the crook of his nose. All the silence did was inflame the rage in Dante's gut; it coiled from deep within him and rose until it burned in the back of his throat and made his eyes blaze. Finally he lost his patience; there was the sound of creaking leather, the floor-boards groaned beneath his heavy boots and Yamato fell from his hand to clatter at their feet. The sounds were harsh, violent as Dante slammed his twin backwards into the cold marble, the mantelpiece digging harshly into Vergil's spine.

"Answer me!" Dante growled the words starting low in his throat and rising within him as his ire grew. "She's my friend Vergil, she's a little girl and god knows what will – is – happening to her because you couldn't defend her!" Hurt flashed in Vergil's eyes, but he remained silent earning him another harsh shove into the fireplace and eliciting a grunt as the air was knocked out of him. Dante leaned in close to his brother, teeth gritted, eyes flashing. "She's worth a hundred of you Vergil and if you let him... if you just-"

A vein in Vergil's jaw jumped and shame tore through his gut. For a second he couldn't bring himself to look his brother in the eye.

"I didn't let him," he answered finally not knowing what else to say. What did his brother want him to do? Admit that he had failed, that he had actually been unable to defend another being from that repulsive creature? Vergil's pride couldn't quite allow him to stoop so low even when he knew it might be the only thing he could do to stop his twin from putting him through the fireplace.

"Why didn't you stop him?" Dante ground out unable to keep his anger in check. He didn't know what had happened between hitting the dining room floor and Vergil peering down at him moments later. Vergil could have just let that demon walk out with Lady. Maybe it was what he wanted, he had never cared for humans, why should he suddenly care what happened to Lady?

"Don't you think I tried?" Vergil spat, straightening up and shoving his twin's hands away ire in his voice. He waited for his brother to retaliate, but he didn't – perhaps because he knew a fight might be foolish in the state he was in – instead he just eyed his twin with distrust from beneath his bloodstained hair. Vergil sneered and glowered back. "What? Do you really think I'd stoop so low Dante?"

"It wouldn't be the first time," Dante bit out harshly. Just when he thought he could trust his twin again something like this would happen. Just in those brief moments when the banter became semi-normal again and he remembered a happier time. Being in this house didn't help... And now Vergil was back to his old self, scheming and aloof.

"I have no quarrel with the girl," Vergil snapped leaning forwards and snatching Yamato from the ground at his feet. Something in Dante reacted, his body tensed, he went for a gun. Then stopped as soon as he had started, but Vergil noticed rising slowly from where he had kneeled to retrieve his sword watching his twin with an eyebrow raised.

"You really think now is the time to be fighting."

"I don't know what to think about you anymore," Dante answered truthfully turning away and glancing around the empty room. The dust had been disturbed leaving tracks on the rotting wooden floor, against the walls. The desk and a curtain had been shredded by stray bullets. He spoke again before Vergil could retort. He didn't care anymore, his twin wasn't sorry; he didn't even have the decency to pretend that he was. "So what's the big plan Verg?"

"Father's library. We open a portal we-"

"Open a portal?"

"How else do you propose we enter hell? And retrieve our powers and Lady, or do we just wait for that scum to come and make fools out of us all over again?" Vergil responded bitterly. The mention of portals did hit a sore spot. Everything was a sore spot between them.

"So after the portal?" Dante allowed his twin the minor victory. He was right after all; there was only one way to hell.

"We enter hell and track this bastard down. I don't think he's working alone, I know you don't either. Once we've dealt with him it's a simple matter of restoring out powers and rescuing Lady," Vergil answered matter of factly.

"And then we're even? We go our separate ways?" Dante asked with a wry smile. His brother was predictable, he knew it wouldn't be that easy.

"Oh I never said anything about that," Vergil replied in turn. They both knew there was no way out of this without a fight even if they had to postpone it. Dante felt the comfort of that sibling rivalry again – too friendly – not mortal enemies, but brothers arguing over which was better. It made something in his gut twist.

"Right." He sighed, looked away and ran a hand through his matted hair. He needed to cool off and think. Priority number one was saving Lady, screw their powers; he already owed her far too much. "So let's get to this library already."

Vergil nodded, turning back to the fireplace and glancing across it once again. Dante had wondered what his twin's obsession with it was, but now it seemed glaringly obvious. It was a beautiful design; white flecked marble inlaid with dark spirals of obsidian and set at the very centre of those a kaleidoscope of gemstones in hues of purple, blue and jade. The overall effect was stunning, but Dante wasn't much of a one for fine things and he understood Vergil wasn't interested in the craftsmanship either. With practiced hands Vergil ran his fingers round a spiral of obsidian then brushed his palm over the gems which lit at the warmth of his touch. Dante simply watched as he repeated the process again then reached forwards into the darkness at the back of the fireplace and shoved hard.

There was a grinding sound, a clang, and with a loud groan which seemed to shake the whole house to its foundations the back of the fireplace gave way. The fire pit dropped back and revealed a set of narrow stone steps leading down into the blackness. Vergil turned and smiled at his twin who was watching with a quizzical look upon his face. He knew that it annoyed Dante in some way, that he knew a secret about their family home which had never even entered Dante's head. Dante had always longed to be as close to Sparda as Vergil had been so he felt some secret pride that he alone had come into possession of his father's journals and learnt of this place. They had fallen into the right hands after all Dante wouldn't have been able to make head or tail of the ancient demonic language in which they were written.

"After you." Vergil smiled and stepped aside gesturing with an outstretched hand that Dante should lead the way.

Dante looked at the tunnel warily. He wasn't afraid of the dark or small spaces, but there was something unsettling about descending those narrow stares with his back to his brother. They were human now. Vergil could kill him on a whim if Dante lowered his guard too much. He knew he could never trust his brother again. He couldn't even be certain that he had already been lured into some elaborate trap.

Pride, however, was a sin both twin's were blessed with so before his hesitation became noticeable Dante ducked beneath the mantle piece and stepped into the darkness. It stank of damp and soot and coal. The steps were so narrow he had to turn his feet sideways to keep from tripping and as he took the first few steps he could feel Vergil's gaze burning into his back. This was a test; he knew it was, Vergil was checking how much faith he had in his twin. There was something about it which Dante didn't like, because despite how much he hated his brother there was something in him which couldn't believe that he was simply the cold calculating monster which he had become. And yet, when Vergil watched him like this Dante could tell that if he made one wrong move he was as good as dead.

As the spiral turned back on itself and Dante got a look at his brother again – his head now about level with Vergil's knee – he saw that same look of weary contempt in his eyes. Vergil must have noticed that his usually impassive guard was down because he reached forwards to grab something from the mantelpiece before ducking beneath it himself. It took Dante a moment to realise what Vergil was holding in his hand; the old tome he had been guarding with his life for over a week now. He must have set it down on the mantelpiece just before they were attacked.

"What are you waiting for Dante?" Vergil asked voice harsh. He was evidently wondering if they were going to have another fight.

Dante merely grunted in response and turned back to the darkness below him. He had never noticed it before, but he was certain it had been much easier to see in the dark with his demonic powers. He hadn't even considered that they included an enhanced night vision or other senses. It didn't help to stem the worry he felt for the situation he was in. Sure if it was just himself he wouldn't give a shit, but now he had to worry about saving Lady. Vergil's shadow blotted out what little light he had left and he forced himself down into the blackness until the ancient stone walls closed around him from all sides and the dank musty smell consumed him. The darkness pressed in on all sides as they descended further. He could hear the click of Vergil's heels on the steps close to his head – a good kick would slam him into the wall or the ceiling, send him sprawling down the ragged stone steps. Dante hated to admit it, but he was far worse off than his twin, in a fist fight now he might just have lost his edge.

The darkness seemed to stretch forever, but Dante knew they could only have taken a few turns of the staircase when he felt flat stone beneath his feet again. He stumbled forwards a little into a wider passage stretching out his finger-tips to brush against the walls and reaffirm he hadn't simply stepped into a void.

Vergil followed shortly behind him and continued on his footsteps certain despite the poor visibility. It seemed unnaturally dark down here, Dante wouldn't have put it past his father to have made it this way – to deter children from ever making it this far into the blackness. His lips curled into a wry smile at the thought. He could imagine that such a ploy would never work. The twins were too much of an antagonist for each other, even as boys they would not admit they were scared in front of one another. At least not until one unplanned moment when the tension would snap and they would simultaneously run screaming back to their mother and then consequently never speak of the event.

Suddenly Vergil uttered a harsh bark of words, or letters, or something resembling them, into the darkness. It was really a twisted mess of archaic sounds and demonic hisses none of which Dante could even hope to guess the meaning of, but seconds later a faint blue light shone at the end of the surprisingly short corridor. Torches set either side of a doorway at the end of the corridor. Vergil didn't give his brother the time to make some kind of sarcastic comment. Instead he strode purposefully towards the lights and unlatched the seemingly unassuming door at the end of it. He shoved it hard leaning all his weight into forcing the door open, but it barely budged. Eventually Dante got the message and joined his twin leaning hard into the ancient wood. With their combined strength they managed to get the door just about half way – enough for them both to slip through into the room beyond.

This room made Dante blink in surprise. The walls and floor were of the same uneven brickwork and cold stone of the corridor and staircase they had just passed through, but that made the high beamed ceiling and rows of towering bookcases no less impressive. Candelabras and chandeliers of a wrought-iron medieval appearance were dotted here and there among the shelves draped in cobwebs, the wicks of the half-melted candles flickering with the same bright blue light of those in the corridor. Each shelf was stacked with books and trinkets, they were layered with dust and some seemed so fragile they might simply disappear. Books had never really interested Dante, but still this room filled him with a strange longing – this last connection to his father was here and he had no hopes of deciphering any of it. Vergil on the other hand had the whole wealth of the demonic world at his fingertips – that thought in itself was disturbing.

Dante followed silently behind his brother as Vergil cut a path through the dust to what Dante assumed was the centre of the large hall. Here the shelves stood in a towering ring of ancient wood and at their feet, carved into the dark stone, a huge circular pattern spiralled into the middle of the room edged with something resembling ancient runes and Celtic knot work, but somehow a mockery of both. Dante had the unsettling feeling he had seen it before and within seconds he knew where. The design mimicked that of the one in temin-ni-gru. The one which had been stained red with their blood; the thought made something in Dante's gut twist. He was so caught up in the memory that it took him a moment to realise that the stone was wrought in two, across the centre with further tributaries breaking off from the deep tear in the old stone. Before Dante could quite understand what that meant Vergil spoke.

"Did you ever wonder where father went the night he left?" Vergil asked wistfully, his eyes glazed as though he were not seeing what was before him. Perhaps he was thinking of temin-ni-gru as well.

Dante's eyes widened with comprehension as he turned from his twin back to the markings cut into the stone. "You mean...?"

"You always thought he'd gone far away to some distant land," Vergil began, his voice was soft his eyes still distant. "I didn't have the heart to tell you that it was far simpler than that."

"How did you know?" Dante asked once again feeling jealousy twist his gut and something like betrayal. Vergil had known. Vergil knew about all of these things and he had kept them from him; kept these secrets about their father which weren't his to keep.

"I saw him leave," Vergil's eyes slid across to his twin assessing his features. Dante's brow was furrowed and his jaw jumped. His twin was staring intently at the cracks in the stone as though willing them to heal. "You don't believe me?"

Dante shook his head sharply, half in derision half trying to collect his addled thoughts into something coherent. "But mom..."

"Mother knew, she was crying," Vergil's eyes dropped to the floor once again. Talking about their mother was still painful for them both. "I heard her saying goodbye to him and I could tell... I know we were young, but I could tell from her voice that he wasn't coming back."

Dante bit his lip, but stayed quiet waiting for his twin to continue as his eyes fixed once again on the broken stone. The memories of the loss he had felt cut him deeply. The death of both parents still stung to his very core, a wound constantly carved open each time he saw his brother.

"So I followed him. He must have been preoccupied or he would have heard me. I followed him all the way down here, into this room. He left it all open, mother knew to close it... maybe he wanted her to follow him..."

"Get to the point Verg," Dante snapped. He couldn't help it. Something inside him was tearing at the memory. He didn't care how old he was meant to be or how tough. It hurt. Vergil must have understood because he didn't remark upon it as he usually would.

"Well that's it. I followed him, he spilled his blood, spoke words I couldn't comprehend and then he was gone. There was a blast and when I regained my senses I saw the carving as it is now. He stepped through the door and closed it behind him."

"You never told me," Dante tried to hide the emotions from his voice, but they tangled, snared his tongue.

"Are you better for knowing?" Vergil raised an eyebrow quizzically. He was back to himself, philosophical, arrogant... Dante didn't want to argue with that.

"Maybe," Dante shrugged, turned away from the carving, "maybe not."

"I'm sorry to hear that brother," Vergil spoke solemnly, but with a sort of derision at his twin's attitude that Dante didn't like. As soon as they got close they changed again, snapped back into the present with an alarming jolt.

"Whatever Verg," Dante's voice fell into its old lilt as he swung back round to his twin. "So how do we get this one open? I don't think stabbing me is gonna work this time, and it's not like we've got enough blood anyway."

A glimmer of a smile crossed Vergil's lips and his fingers stroked the spine of the book in his hands idly. "It's going to take a while," he admitted. "You should make yourself useful. There's food and blankets in the car. You mares-well rest; no point in going into hell dead on your feet."

"Haha," Dante mocked though Vergil did seem to have intended for his words to be a pun. "And what about Lady? You think that son of a bitch is just going to wait around for us to show up?"

"Well if you'd like to help me translate some of these books I'd be happy to let you..."

Dante held up his hands in mock surrender. "Fine, fine I get it... I'll get some firewood whilst I'm at it. You're crappy candles do nothing for heat."

Vergil simply snorted derisively and opened his book eyes scanning across the pages and glancing at the stones in front of him. Dante turned to let him work knowing that at least this once he could trust his twin to be left alone. Vergil wanted to get into hell as much as he did; in fact he had liked it so much there before...

Dante stopped and turned on his heel looking at Vergil quizzically until his brother noticed and raised an eyebrow in question.

"What is it now Dante?"

"Why are you here?" Dante strode back towards his brother then stopped, hands on hips a strange niggling sensation forming in the back of his mind.

"Excuse me?" The book snapped shut in Vergil's hand as he regarded his brother's change in demeanour.

"You never said why you were here in the first place. I mean you wanted to stay in hell so badly before, seems a little funny that you're wandering around back here in the human world," Dante responded suddenly on edge, realising how stupid he had been to trust his twin.

"Maybe I only stayed to get away from you, did you think about that?" Vergil snarled back not liking his twin's implications one bit.

Dante's eyes narrowed, his teeth gritted and before he could even think he'd raised a gun to point at his twin's head. Despite his wounds he was still fast – faster than his brother at this rate and too close for Vergil to block or react. "What the fuck are you doing here Verg?"

Vergil swallowed, raised his chin a little in defiance. He didn't like being caught off guard. "I don't have to tell you Dante. The matter is as it stands. You want to see your little Lady again you had better start being nicer to me."

"And why shouldn't I just shoot you right now?" Dante growled, his hand shook a little with suppressed rage.

Vergil smirked. "We both know you have no hope in hell or otherwise to get this open. So," he stretched out a hand and placed it atop Ivory's barrel, lowering the gun – Dante let him, "go get the food and let me work."

"Fuck you," Dante growled, turned away holstering Ivory and then let out a harsh shout kicking over a nearby stool laden with books before storming off in the direction of the door.


A/N: AHA omg I haven't written anything proper in ages. Hi! Yes this is a filler chapter, yes this is an update. People probably don't read this crap anymore but eh. My writing has suffered through lack of use. I hope to remember how to do it properly and maybe actually finish this fic!