Title: Turn Back the Clock
Characters: Vergil, Dante
Word Count: 2.672
Summary: Vergil recalls some better times of his life with Dante.
Warnings: Set before Crossfire. Contains frame narrative.
Disclaimer: Devil May Cry and all related characters belong to Capcom.

Vergil had been busy with the manuscript for some time now. Ever since the witch he'd enslaved brought it to him, he'd found it to be a fascinating piece of information. Most of it was written in a forgotten language and he allowed himself the satisfaction of deciphering it. But he'd been working on it enough to let out a small yawn while studying its interesting contents. He glanced up from his work to Tess, who had withdrawn to a small stone seat under a window on the far side of the modest library room. He had ordered her to stay in case he needed her to bring him some other manuscript from the coven's archives or assist him with translating some wiccan code. She'd taken advantage of the situation to rest, huddled close to a heater, which surprisingly actually worked; a rare occurrence in the ancient castle. Even he was grateful for that, having been in enough grand castles that were colder than the poles.

He watched her briefly; she'd sneaked a pillow off one of the study sofas and had managed to get quite comfortable there. She had crossed her arms over the ledge of the window, while looking out and rested her chin on her arms. She seemed to have withdrawn away from the horror of her situation and away from him. She looked out the window, watching the rain starting to die off into a clearer sky. Suddenly she glanced back over her shoulder and caught him looking. Immediately she looked away and back outside. He didn't care; she could think whatever she wanted of him.

Resuming his work, Vergil sat back briefly to flex his neck thoughtfully. He was sitting at one of the desks in the room and had been busy making some notes about a certain section of the manuscript. She'd learned fast not to question what he was doing and even when she knew, she rarely protested visibly. He absently thought to himself that her will might probably be breaking at last, after nearly a year. Then he glanced at her again when she suddenly started to hum softly; it sounded like a kind of lullaby and he lifted his pen from the paper, scrutinizing her.

Is that...? he promptly thought, blinking as if to question his own ears. That tune sounded oddly familiar.

In fact, it nearly made him uncomfortable.

She didn't seem to realize neither his reaction, nor that she was humming loud enough to be heard all the way across the large room. Vergil frowned. She couldn't have known what she was humming; a tune very closely associated to something Vergil had associated with his childhood. It brought familiar memories to him, the few remaining years he spent with Dante after their mother's death. He gulped. That lullaby brought back feelings that he detested because they were too human for his liking. They could be called happier memories, but Vergil had forgone all such associations with him.

Yet inklings of the past persisted.

Without meaning to, driven from the weather and her humming, he recalled something from the last days he and Dante had spent as actual brothers, when they had only each other to think of and often got unwanted visits from demons.

It was one of those situations, when they'd just gone through a pack of demons-a lot of them. It was no hard battle for the twins, even though they were hardly fourteen at the time. Vergil had found a depository of texts related to demonic knowledge. Back then the texts were still mere references and recordings of a tower constructed for purposes that related to demons. He wouldn't realize that these were mentions of the Temen-Ni-Gru until much later.

Vergil couldn't remember the particulars of the actual battle; it was the aftermath that had stayed with him the most.

"Hey...Vergil," Dante said suddenly to his twin. "Are we gonna spend all day long doing this? It's gettin' dull!"

He kicked a scrap of demonic lizard scales on the floor from their battle and looked over at Vergil, who was mulling over the findings of this latest expedition of theirs. Vergil was too busy poring over the books to care about his twin's impatience. It didn't help that, although he allowed Dante to join him, he never really told his brother what he was searching for.

"Maybe," Vergil responded as he stood by the table. He fumbled with a small pile of old and decrepit books and picked one up, read the title and put it down and looked for another.

"This is important, Dante. But maybe if I didn't have to listen to your whining we could take a break in a while," he went on. Finally he found the specific book he wanted to look into and flipped through the worn pages slowly and carefully, lest it crumble in his hands.

Dante just sulked a little and leaned his back against the wall behind him with a frown and folded his arms. Vergil heard him muttering about how he wished he'd brought his coat with him instead of the cheap leather jacket. Alas, Vergil had convinced him it was time he washed that almost tattered red thing. He probably ought to buy a new one. Dante stared at the floor, littered with blood and scales of demonic lizards. Even while he perused the book, Vergil could see from the corner of his eye that he was upset and Vergil's behavior was pissing him off even more.

Vergil read part of a page of the book in hand and after a short moment he looked over at Dante briefly and closed the book, huffing.

"I can hear your frustration from here," he coolly said. "What's wrong this time, hm?"

Dante scoffed. "What's it to ya, bro?" he said smugly. "Just getting in the way of your research, ain't it? If I bother you so much, I can just step outside and let you knock yourself out."

"Don't be condescending," responded with a sigh. "It makes you sound more childish than usual. Just say it instead of throwing a tantrum later."

Dante just rolled his eyes. "Why do I have to tell you? I thought that machine you've got for a brain would've deduced it already," he said with a smirk. "Or do I have to tell you everything?"

Vergil just shook his head at Dante's sarcasm, ignoring it. But he knew exactly what all this was about. A machine...that was exactly what Dante thought of him, sometimes, Vergil knew as much. Dante's habit of letting his emotions run away with his common sense was beginning to turn from a foolish habit into a serious problem.

"Fine," he abruptly said, opening the book again and turning to the table with his back turned at Dante. "Go be a child elsewhere like you want to, then."

He knew that Dante wanted to say something (and he had a good idea what) and he would either blurt it out childishly or bottle it up like he always did.

Dante got off his spot on the wall and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Fine by me. Just don't take all day. I've got better stuff to do," he said and motioned to leave.

"Such an attention seeker, like a child..." Vergil muttered under his breath.

But Dante stopped in his tracks right at the door, sighed and his shoulders drooped.

"You really don't remember what today is, do you?" he said quietly.

Vergil looked over his shoulder briefly with a meaningful gaze, resuming to the worn book and turned the page. "Perfectly aware of the date, yes. Why?"

Vergil knew that his twin was upset because he seemed to forget what day it was. He also thought that Dante was a bit was jealous of his ability to compose himself, something he couldn't do. He would never admit to either case, of course and Vergil knew that too.

"The date..." Dante echoed sarcastically and turned around. "And that date means nothing at all to you?" he said, starting to sound angry.

Vergil couldn't ignore him any longer and closed the book, facing his brother.

"It means a lot, Dante. I am in grief just as much as you are, but I don't let it get to my head. Enough time has passed to move on... and we aren't in the clear. Worse things will come for us eventually and we should be ready."

Neither of them was never the same after what had happened to their mother, but unlike Dante, he had chose to bury his weaknesses and everything that made him feel vulnerable.

Dante tightened his fists, seething with anger...that was fueled by grief. "And you're saying we can't take one day to show some proper respect? Mom died to save us both, remember? We're standing here because she died!"

It was just as he had expected; Dante was simply grieving over their mother, on the anniversary of her death.

"Yes… I remember..."

Vergil paused and looked away briefly, then stared at Dante, not with a cold stare, but a concerned frown.

"I think about it every day and I blame ourselves for it. She died not just because she saved us, but also because we failed to protect her as well. Have you considered that?"

His face turned from concern to an almost angry expression. "It was your fault as much as it was mine. You're much too emotional and it will keep on hurting the more you think about it. I don't waste time complaining about it. I try to move forward. I suggest you do the same, or I might just leave you behind."

"You-!" Dante blurted, looking like was about to storm up to Vergil and punch him in the face...but he didn't. It seemed like the force of Vergil's statement had hit him hard enough to make him back down. Despite his hot-headed attitude and his stubbornness, Dante knew deep down that had it not been for their weakness she might've lived. Looking back, Vergil now realized that the statement of leaving him behind might've been too cruel to say like that.

"I still don't see why you can't just...even pretend that it bothers you or that you remember! You've had me thinking you don't care! And this...this whole acting superior bullshit? Think you're dad or something?"

Vergil paused in silence for a moment. He watched Dante pant angrily, looking somewhat amazed at his own outburst. Dante swallowed hard to choke the need to break down. Vergil shook his head a little at the rant. There was no denying that he agreed; he knew his younger twin felt like he carried the burden of this sorrow on his own.

"At least one of us is trying to," he calmly sad, in a somewhat grieving tone. "We're his only legacy."

"I can't not think about it, dammit!" Dante blurted. "I can't think about it and not get pissed off! You're pissing me off! You look like you don't give a damn!"

Vergil smirked with some reserved sadness in response, shaking his head.

"Are you looking for an apology, Dante? Come now, don't make me embarrass myself. I suppose it can't be helped that you'd still feel anger to this day. I hope you're glad you got me to admit that I feel the same as you do," he went on, and uncomfortably rubbed the back of his own neck briefly, pausing, and then he sighed again.

No matter what he said, Vergil still felt the need to comfort Dante, as he had done for the past decade of their lives. "But fine. I'm... sorry. Now can we get over this subject?"

Dante seemed more embarrassed at the whole thing than Vergil and he actually looked away with a regretful expression. "Y-yeah, whatever," he said softly. "I'm...sorry I went off like that. It just...it really bothered me."

Vergil stared at him for a moment before resuming his research. "Good then," he said, taking the book again into his hands and parting its pages once more. "I'm glad you're seeing reason."

"Yeah..." Dante sighed, looking away awkwardly. He felt incredibly bad about making such a spectacle. "But...I'm still gonna go...you know," he said meaningfully.

Vergil knew he meant to visit their mother's humble tomb where he wanted to pay respects. Briefly he thought of going as well, but the memory was still churning in him quite clearly to want to revisit so closely.

"Don't take too long," he said, briefly looking over at him as he resumed reading.

"Yeah...sure. I'll...I'll wait till you're done, I guess," he said, awkwardly. "I'll just sit outside, ok?"

Vergil closed his eyes for a moment. Dante...ever the emotional child, to a fault really. "I'm not going, Dante," he calmly said. "I'm coping with it my way."

Dante looked at him silently for a moment and just nodded. "Alright. I'll...see you later at home, alright?"

He gave Vergil a boyish look, an expression that barely contained the amount of sincere affection Dante had for his brother. They could squabble and fight all day but Dante still adored him. That kind of look gave Vergil mixed feelings…feelings he wanted to suppress.

"Fine," he responded with a sigh. "You might as well get food while you're at it as well," he said, closing the book and clicking his tongue, not finding exactly what he wanted inside and picked up a different one that he had previously ignored.

"Sure, no problem," Dante said with a casual shrug. "And I'll remember this time...no onions for you," he added with a small smirk before he paced out the door.

Vergil kept reading the book quietly, but even as he read, his mind was not completely at ease as he had made it seem.

This isn't the first time he acts this way... It just seems that no matter what I say he won't mature fast enough, he thought, and paused, staring into blank space.

These books aren't useful enough. I have to find another library at a different place. And these arguments with him are slowing me down. This won't do, I can't take him with me anymore.

This idea made him think about how Dante would take it. No doubt he'd be devastated and angry if Vergil just abandoned him, but perhaps that would be the best way to protect him as well. If living together made them targets, perhaps parting ways would confuse demons...and keep Dante out of the research for demonic powers that Vergil was conducting.

And indeed...soon afterwards, Vergil simply left, leaving Dante behind in order to pursue his increasing interest in the Temen-Ni-Gru and the importance it had in their father's life.

He was snapped out of his reminiscing when he realized that Tess had stopped humming.

From her position near the window, she had looked over and had this faintly amazed look on her face. She was probably shocked he'd zoned out. She looked hesitant, as though she didn't know whether she ought to try interrupting his thoughts, but still stared at him.

He frowned, not immediately staring at her, feeling ridiculously awkward. Aware of the silence, he looked over at her curiously.

"Where did you hear that?" he asked, not sure if he really wanted to ask or if he had just composed it unconsciously.

She almost jumped. "Wha—oh, the song?" she blurted. She looked taken aback from the sudden calm address. She'd expected to be snapped at. "I—I have no idea. It just popped into my head," she explained.

"Really," he said, half-inquiring. He sighed, realizing that it was her second sight, tuning in to his memories despite herself. For a moment he felt like punishing her, but a puzzling feeling kept him from doing so. He just ignored her again, leaning forward from his seat again and tried to resume what he was doing before spacing out.

He had to drown out that nostalgic feeling.

NOTE: My usual problems with writing Vergil aside, I don't think he was always prone to rejecting human emotion as he is when we meet him in the games. I'd like to believe that for some time he held on to his humanity a bit better than he did later and maintained a better contact with Dante that way.

So I wrote this sortie into that perspective, of Vergil's gradual loss of interest in his humanity, which wasn't serving him well on the long run. It's something where I believe he and Dante diverged the most: Vergil thought humanity and the emotions is carries is nothing but a burden on his way to power, while Dante finds it a source of strength to carry on and a guideline to live by, especially because of his mother's sacrifice to let them both live. They're both trying to honor that sacrifice, they just have different interpretations of it.