Innocence
Minutes ago…
Dante
Vergil was his guide, every step, every move, every second spent since that day a year ago has been for this reunion.
For this journey.
Standing across from another in the dark room lit by orange red and macabre crimson alike, the two brothers stared each other down. Dante's wry grin meeting Vergil's cold frown, a clash of blue and red, cold and hot, ice and fire. The scent of blood fresh in their mind, their fingers itching around their respective weaponry.
Iron sights lined up perfectly, his lips quivered at the tantalizing prospect of wiping that arrogant sneer from his dear brother's face.
"Let's go, you and me!"
Dante pulled the trigger.
And then, all hell broke loose.
Sensing his intention expertly, Vergil kicked the table and launched it towards him at breakneck speeds, hiding the line of sight.
Dante cursed and quickly reached for the Rebellion before bringing it down in a quick arc, slicing the table in half only for it to reveal a crouched Vergil who'd blitzed across the room in a flash.
Dante's eyes widened while he watched Vergil's entire body tense like a spring, his sword held in a Iaido stance. He tore Yamato from its sheath in an upward strike, lightning dancing between his fingertips.
The merc barely had time to raise his sword to block the upper facing slash.
Clang!
The force from the blow knocked him off his feet, the sound of thunder rupturing his eardrums after the Yamato striked his guard at the speed of sound.
A whirlwind of energy rocketed him through the ceiling and into the floor above, he slammed against the ceiling before using the Rebellion to slow his momentum.
"Get outta here!" The cries of Arasaka workers around him, Dante cursed underneath his breath.
A flash of blue in his vision, "Weak." Vergil appeared at the impact crater of his own making, eyes narrowed in a deadly fashion.
Dante growled, holstering the Rebellion before lasering his brother down in a volley of bullets each strong enough to kill a lesser demon. And yet-
The Yamato twirled like a cyclone of blades, the bullets each being caught as Vergil casually strolled through the rain of fire before setting the bullets in the air, he caught each bullet before crushing them into a dark flame exploding around his hand.
Vergil shoved his inflamed hand into the wall and blitzed down the corridor before unleashing a blast of demonic energy down range. Leftover energy from the demonically charged munitions.
Dodging the blast and letting the explosion wash over him, Dante lurched forward with the Rebellion first, a stinger. Vergil grunted as their blades met, his boots digging into the ground as he guarded.
Smirking, Dante extended his stinger and began to stab rapidly against Vergil's guard only to leverage one final blow, knocking his brother away and down the corridor.
"Hiyah!"
Slamming against a wall, Vergil narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to block two more gunshots only for Dante to catapult himself further in a midair somersault, tearing the Rebellion down like a meteorite striking from space.
The blow cemented Vergil's soles into the floor, the ground buckling underneath the blow but not giving away.
"Trash! Try harder! Where's your motivation!"
Growling, piercing blue eyes flashed and a dozen pairs of ephemeral swords appeared around Dante's body each rotating at high speeds before jutting into his skin, blood erupting from his body as he shot through the ceiling once more, and then the next one, and the next one.
The feeling of metal and steel falling away as it grinded against his skin, his body regenerating all the damage as fast as it could. His blood was rushing but his skin was cold and his vision dizzy.
He was being overwhelmed.
Launching into the sky, wind washed over his bloody wounds as he felt the heat searing through his veins stop. Droplets scattered against his forehead as he stared towards heaven only for Vergil to appear in a flash of lightning backdropped by the dark clouds above, pausing in mid air as he reared the Yamato behind him.
"Begone!"
Dante grunted on the ground, the aerial cleave bisected him in half. His ears rang as he punched the ground and tried to push himself back up, the rain beating down against him.
Standing slowly, Dante huffed and snarled at his brother who was standing in the rain backdropped by the storm. Staring down at him with cold eyes, "Why do you refuse to gain power, the power of our father; Sparda." Vergil asked to the sound of rain accompanying.
Dante propped himself up with the Rebellion, waiting for his regeneration factor to take effect. "Father?" He laughed weakly, "I have no father." Standing to his full height and shaking out the pain, Dante cracked his neck.
His eyes narrowed, his grin fell. "I just don't like you, that's all."
Vergil didn't respond, his eyes tensing as the rain continued to beat against the roof of Arasaka. The faint sound of sirens intermingling as the two brothers glared at another.
Dante tried to keep cool against that scathing glare of his, lightning lighting his stony glare. 'Jeez, I knew he was strong but… How is he so much-' He refused to finish that thought, he still hadn't revealed his trump card.
Fighting Vergil was like fighting a hurricane, fight it head on and you'll surely lose. But in the eye of every hurricane was your ticket out, your ticket to victory… He had to find that eye, the weakness in Vergil's stance.
Steam began to rise from the contact with the rain and his skin, his hair rising up as he tightly gripped the Rebellion.
"Trickster!"
A flash of runes around his body and devilish red, Dante began to smirk twice as wide while bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Let's see how you handle this, Verg!" He crouched down, eyes flashing with red lightning.
Vergil met his energy with his own, blue lightning dancing around him "Don't disappoint me further, Dante!" He roared, rearing a Iaido slash and cutting the air in front of him so quickly that Dante couldn't even track the blade.
And then a whirring sound groaned all around him, his defensive instincts firing all at once before he exploded into motion. A dozen cuts appearing at his former location, Dante disappeared and reappeared just in front of Vergil much to his surprise.
Headbutting the taller of them both, Dante smirked as he watched Vergil crash into the wall behind him and scowl at the fact that he got caught off guard. "A little something I picked up from you last we met, hope you don't mind." He said while making a pose, laughing.
Vergil narrowed his eyes, "Impressive, you managed to perform a rudimentary ability of mine-"
"Don't talk trash when I'm right here, let's go!"
In a flash, both disappeared into thin air. Dozens of blows littered across the skyline as they flashed in and out of reality, each blow creating a pocket where no rain of any kind was allowed.
Entire pockets of moisterless air grew larger and larger as their blows became more and more rapid.
A poke-deflect. A slice-parry. A macabre pirouette of blades, red and blue cackling as they fought blow by blow in less time than it would take for a second to pass.
They met again at the center, a huge shockwave exploding from the contact of their blades and silencing the storm for just a few seconds as their blades grinded against another.
"Schum!"
Sparks flying from the contact, he stared to see Vergil looking down on him with contempt, his hair had fallen down to match him.
Now they really were twins, their blades pushing against another. And then with a casual flick of the wrist, the Rebellion spun out of his hand and along with it, his composure escaped him.
Shock lacing his features, a cold feeling, a hot feeling, searing pain. Blood erupted from his back as Vergil shoved the Yamato cleanly through his stomach, an icy sensation.
The sky blurred and the echoes of his heart thrummed in his ears, Dante keeled over, coughing out blood and using his hands to tightly grasp Yamato's blade, desperation flooding through his heart.
He could almost feel Vergil's disapproving glare pinning him down, "Foolishness, Dante, foolishness…" He said, pushing the blade deeper and deeper into his body to extend the pain.
He looked up to catch the blurry form of Vergil staring down at him, pitying him as his lips quivered. The Devil of Arasaka paid him no courtesy.
He spoke with such resolve, "Might controls everything. And without strength, you cannot protect anything…" He squeezed Dante's shoulder tightly, slowly inching the Yamato further and further into his gut.
"Let alone yourself."
Violently tearing the Yamato away, blood sprayed onto the ground as Dante groaned in pain from the quick exit. Falling away from Vergil, the older of the two reached out and tore the silver amulet from its owner before slicing through Dante's outstretched palm as he fell.
Thud.
Experience
Vergil
It was finally in his possession, the second amulet. The last piece to the puzzle, the fruit he bore, his apple bright. Eying the amulet for a moment, Vergil hummed and pressed it against his temple longingly.
"And it grew day and night…" He murmured before slicking his hair back, pocketing Dante's amulet and eying his disposed of brother.
The rain battered against his pale body, blood trickling from the slowly regenerating wound. A pitiful sight born from weakness, the rejection of purpose. Such a trifling thing was man, clinging to a false sense of morality and humility while drifting along the ocean of fate without focus or direction.
Dante didn't deserve a weapon like the Rebellion, a weapon bestowed by Sparda himself. Vergil nodded, clasping his hand around the Rebellion and turning to take his leave.
"Augh… Hrk-"
In a flash he shoved the Rebellion through Dante's chest before he could even sit up, impaling him to the floor as his brother's blood soaked the rainwater at his boots. Twitching, air left his lips and Dante finally went silent. Vergil's eyes light up in a slight confusion, a frown adorning as he shakes his head.
'So be it.'
Those who lack motivation are doomed to this fate, incapable of change or growth, to be a slave owned by the tapestry of fate. Be it his brother or be it the men and women below, that truth did not change.
If Dante rejected power, he had no one to blame but himself.
But Dante was a son of Sparda.
A spout of water EXPLODED into the air from beneath his beaten corpse, the Rebellion flying with it before his fist tore through the water.
"GRAHH!"
Barely able to catch his fist with the Yamato, blood ran down the blade as Dante growled.
Amusement flickered in Vergil's eyes, "I see a devil has awakened in you as well." He said while pushing back against his little brother's onslaught, using more power than he's ever had to before.
It almost excited him.
Dante didn't respond, growling as he pushed his hand through the blade and gripped tightly, throwing Vergil into the air with a roar of fury.
Flipping expertly, Vergil slid to a stop and rushed forward with the Yamato drawn only for Dante to slam his boot against the ground, spider web cracks appearing beneath his soles as a faint white glow emanated from his steaming skin..
"Hurgh."
"Hah."
Stopped by the shockwave of wind, Vergil raised his guard as a flash of red light cackled around Dante like a flame a cowl, his inhuman growls echoing as if layered by another voice.
Lowering his guard against the tempest of wind, Vergil smirked as Dante reared his head and screamed Into the sky, his skin melting away in a blast of flame before a beam of light PIERCED the heavens, splitting the clouds and lighting up the skyline of Night City.
David
'Gotta get faster.' Jump roping inside an abandoned warehouse, David felt the sweat drizzle down his face. A pair of headphones around his ears, he stared ahead with perfect determination-
Boom!
Falling flat on his face as a shockwave pierced his ears, the shirtless David groaned and reached for his headphones. "The fuck was that?" He shook his face and rubbed his nose, looking towards Arasaka tower.
His eyes widened, red flashing over his face as a scream from hell reverberated through the city. Sirens whirling in the distance.
What the hell was going on?
Rebecca
The water was scalding, burning against her skin and turning her red, but her skin was numb to it, her body numb to the burning searing pain. Water splashed in her ear as her hair floated on the surface of the bath, entirely submerged.
Small ripples began to form, the slightest vibrations. Her muted expression didn't change, her psychedelic eyes didn't blink. Dead to the world, her lips pursed into infinitely thin lines.
"Subhuman, aren't we all." She whispered, ignoring the ripples violently appearing in the bath as the sound of clashing steel reverberated throughout.
Mighty blows, sirens whistling in the sky.
'Just another day, who dies this time?' She asked herself, knowing the answer.
The world shook as she laid still in the tub, red flashing through her apartment like crimson blood. Her expression did not change, her pale skin should've pruned by now. Instead, she remained as pristine as ever-
-Subhuman, after all.
V
Arasaka drones scaled the building, she watched them with a bated breath as hundreds of Arasaka workers fled from the scene, brushing against her, the scent of sweat and fear coated the air as lightning danced around the summit of the tower.
"Shit-" A stray piece of debris crashed against the ground.
V scrambled away from the building with quickened haste, 'Just what the hell is going on up there? Can it really be from those two?'
They looked remarkably similar, same hair, same face, similar outfits, even lacking implants of any kind… Brothers?
V felt a shudder run down her spine as she sprinted away from danger, 'To think a monster like Vergil could have a brother, are they both crazily strong?' Clearly they were if what she assumed was their battle created shockwave after shockwave felt from the ground level.
"Jackie Welles is calling."
V quickly answered, "Yeah? Kind of in the middle of something!"
"Are you out, safe?"
"Yeah but I don't know about safe yet, Jackie!" She replied while dodging shattered glass from the plaza central building.
"Mierda V… I can feel that shit from here, what the hell is going on? Arasaka tower can tank a lot after Silverhand but at this rate-"
V huffed, swallowing and darting across a street before glancing back Arasaka tower."I don't know exactly but I have an ide-"
A large shockwave shook the ground and filled the very heavens with a red glow, a pillar of light parting the clouds above. V covered her eyes as a crimson star shone from the summit of the tower, "What the fuck is that?" Even Jackie went silent for a moment as the shaft of light bloomed into the sky like a gamma ray burst.
… "I haven't seen something like this since… Since six years ago."
Six years ago?
Innocence
Dante
His vision blurred as the light faded, skin burned away, smooth scales and a shadowy impish maw releasing tufts of steam from each breath. His horns colored white, they curved around his head, his eyes burned like flaming pinpricks. His scream pierced the heavens, the moon in the sky shining down on his face as he roared.
And then, it all faded away.
His strength, his transformation, his inhumanity…
Subhuman.
Dante clenched his fist as his consciousness faded, his demonic expression reflecting in the puddle he stood in, his lips quivering. "What did you do to me…" He asked, voice cracking between human and subhuman.
"I awakened your power, the devil inside." His monotone response only pissed him off further.
Growling, he lodged his fist into the ground and surprised himself with his own strength as countless spiderweb cracks appeared.
But none of the surprise could make up for the sudden calling, the burning rage, he wanted to explode. He can't, he couldn't lose it, not now, not after all this time…
'Heh, you humans are weird aren't ya."
"Like you aren't human?"
He stumbled to his feet, wrapping his fingers around the Rebellion and using it to prop himself up. The rain had long since continued again-silencing the thumping in his ears. He looked up to his brother, lightning dancing behind his cold gaze. Vergil looked down on him, as if he was lesser.
"Heal your wounds Dante, get strong ." He demanded with a hint of cocky challenge in his voice, a crack beneath his stoic composure.
His eyes flashed blue, lightning dancing behind them as well as the faintest silhouette of a devil appeared behind him. "After that?" He sheathed the Yamato, turning with his back facing towards him.
"-We'll settle the matter."
He began to walk away, his figure duplicating in his vision. Dante tried to reach out only to fall to his knees again, his reflection staring back at him. A demonic rumbling, his face splits down the middle with one side being human and the other being a demon, a disgusting monstrosity.
Dante yelled, shutting his eyes and rearing his head towards the sky. Vocal cords strained as he screamed, his jaws threatening to detach from another as he roared. His voice cracking, his skin burned above his boiling blood, lava hot veins running through his flesh and around his eyes, both burning red and reflecting a fire.
'I am…'
The fire died.
'Subhuman.'
Dante collapsed to the floor.
A/n: Here's a chapter from AO3, if you want to read the rest of this story (8 chapters) then you can head there (same username), but for now, this is on HIATUS. I'm busier than ever these days so I can't afford to finish this huge project, yet, but once life stabilizes I will get back to this. The story is too good of a thing to pass up.