Chapter 1
"I still don't understand why you must go. I thought you abandoned that life."
A beautiful blonde woman questioned. Her gaze fixated on the white haired demon in front of her— her beloved husband.
Sparda did not respond to his beloved Eva at first. Taking in a deep breath he spoke, "I did, and I truly did wish I could stay here with you, but if what the boy said is true…"
"The boy is cursed! An immortal by his own design, why would you trust his word?"
The humane demon looked his wife in the eye, "It's not like you to make assumptions, you know his history."
"I know. I-I just…" she paused, her breathing calming down. "What will you explain to the kids?"
He sighed. "Tell them I will be on a hunting mission, that will keep their little minds running."
An awkward silence covered the two, not knowing exactly what to say to the other. The silence was broken when Sparda took a step forward and engulfed his wife in a hug.
"At least just come back, okay?" She pleaded, her face buried in his shoulder.
"I promise, when I come back the Terror of Mundus will finally be over."
"You better come back."
"I will, I promise."
He left the very next day, their two young boys naive to the intentions behind their goodbyes.
"Your father is going to go be a warrior one last time, he'll be back soon." Eva had told them.
That was the last they ever saw of Sparda.
The sun settled over a decent house. One not too large nor too expensive. It was the perfect house to fit a family of four who just wish to live their lives.
That family of four has been missing its fourth member for a year.
The clashing of wood echoed from the front yard. Two identical looking boys swung at each other. One with red eyes and the other with blue. The two twin brothers practiced with their swordplay. Each clash slowly chipped away the wooden swords.
The older brother—the one with blue eyes—constantly took steps backwards and forwards before swinging. Each swing was calculated to hit at his opponents vital points. All the other boy could do is block each strike before it actually hits him. The white-haired boy with blue eyes was fast and smart. Each attack had purpose.
His brother was not far behind either. The one with red eyes could only guard himself from the onslaught of attacks that his brother kept throwing. Yet whenever his brother paused, he took that opportunity to strike. Twice the one with blue eyes paused, twice the one with red eyes strikes back.
While each strike from the blue-eyed boy felt calculated and precise, in turn the red-eyed boy's attacks felt random and unpredictable. When the older brother prepared to block his younger brother's strike, the younger brother in turn swung even harder. A loud clang echoed through the yard, and taking his older brother's surprise, the younger one did a complete 360 spin to strike again. That strike aimed so close to the target's arm, but the older brother was able to block just in time.
Swing to the left, dodge and hit from the right. Swing to the right, block and swing to the left. To anyone passing by it would have just looked like two boys randomly swinging their swords in the air.
But each swing would clash.
Each attack canceled the other.
If anyone saw their eyes they would see pure focus and sheer will. Neither brother felt like giving up even if this was supposed to just be a training spar. Neither brother would admit defeat.
So divine intervention seemed like it had to put a stop to it, in the form of their mother.
"Dante! Vergil!"
Two swords stopped right after hitting the other. Both brothers had sweat falling down their heads, both of their breaths heavy.
Then the one with red eyes stabbed the wooden sword into the ground before leaning on it.
"Guess, hah, it's a tie, big bro." He gasped, using the sword to keep himself balanced.
The older brother glared as if to deny it his pride not willing to accept a standstill, but when he tried to say something he coughed instead. His throat felt dry. So he went against his pride and admitted the obvious.
"So I guess it is, ugh." He coughed again.
"Jeez, you two need to calm down." The mother walked towards the two, cups of water in her hands. A soft grimace on her face. "For a second I thought we were having an earthquake."
"That was–" The boy with red eyes paused to grab the drink, and then chugged the whole thing down. "Haah, -all me." He gloated.
In contrast, the boy with blue eyes gently grabbed onto the cup and sipped it more calmly. Half of the cup was finished before he started talking. "Please, as if you had the strength to do that."
"Hmm… I think I do have the strength to do that."
"You most certainly don't."
And just like that, the floodgates opened.
"I'm pretty sure I have more strength, in fact, I was the one that almost won this time." The blue-eyed boy gloated.
His red-eyed brother scoffed in response. "Oh no you don't, it was a tie at best."
The blue-eyed brother shrugged, the smug smile on his face tried to dig its way into his brother's nerves. "Ignorance is blissful, little brother."
"Don't you start with your metaphors, nerd."
"Huh? Nerd? Did you perhaps just learn that word?" Despite the smile still on his face, angry veins appeared on his forehead. "You found an opportunity to use a new word, congratulations. Besides, I'm not a nerd."
"Your poetry book says otherwise, nerd."
"You–!"
"Alright you two it was funny while it lasted!" Before the two brothers could get into another argument, the young woman picked both of them up by their collars.
Which was a bad idea being a human woman carrying up two nine-year old demon hybrids.
The two scoffed and looked away from each other, both crossing their arms.
"Well, I'm sure you had your fun but it's time to go back inside now. I just finished cooking dinner so go clean yourselves up."
Vergil, the blue-eyed boy, reluctantly huffed. "Alright."
Dante, the red-eyed boy, smiled. "Kay!"
As the two walked towards the house, the mother followed right behind them.
"I totally won that." With his hands behind his head Dante whispered offhandedly.
"You didn't." Vergil said back.
"Don't you two start again, please." Eva pleaded with a sigh.
The two huffed and turned their heads in the opposite direction, yet despite that clear display of dislike, both brothers had a semblance of a smile on their faces.
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...
Hours passed since their spar, and the boys had already finished every chore, every activity, everything that needed to be done before the night. Eva made dinner as usual and the boys ate with a smile on their faces.
Normally both of the boys would have gone to their rooms to go to sleep.
But the mind of the older brother was too restless. So, instead of going to sleep, he sneaked out of the house towards the hill that was meters away from their home. From there he could see the trees expand towards the horizon, though if he squinted hard enough he could make out the closest town.
He closed his eyes and felt the cold wind pass over his skin.
Nine years. It has been nine years since their birth, and it has only been one year since their fathers disappearance.
Ever since the vanishing of their father, Vergil would go outside to view the world instead of sleeping every now and then.
The only source of light was the moon. Those cold rays of light surrounded him. He looked down towards his hand, within it he held an amulet with a large red gem set in the middle.
This amulet that their mother, Eva, gave to him and his brother on their eighth birthday, just days after their fathers disappearance.
He asked again and again what happened to his father. Again and again he asked who his father was. Dante didn't care much, of course the younger brother missed their father, but who their father truly was never crossed the younger boy's mind.
Vergil–on the other hand–would never let that go. Both he and Dante remembered their fathers stories. Of lands filled with adventure, of beasts that could level mountains, of people that created legends.
His father was an adventurer,.and while Dante was content with just that, Vergil wanted to know more.
He gleaned much from their fathers stories.
Their father was strong, probably the strongest there was.
Abilities completely foreign to most humans, power that rivals the gods, the name that countries spread.
The Dark Knight.
Vergil wanted to know more. He wanted to know what that name meant, what led their father to garnering that name, but everytime he asked his mother she would always hesitate, and attempt to steer the conversation somewhere else.
She was hiding something.
Vergil resolved himself to find out what she was hiding, one way or another.
The light reflected off the full moon wrapped around him, the cold breeze numbing his touch.
I suppose it is getting late. He thought.
He snuck back into the house and into his bed with little noise. He slept that night with a new goal and a new dream.
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Dante was the first of the brothers to wake up the next morning. He smelt something amazing coming from downstairs, so following his instincts he ran out of his room and down the stairs to the living room.
There on the living room table sat Eva, steaming breakfast served right in front of her. Fresh bread and steaming porridge.
"Morning ma'!" Dante yelled. He hopped on the seat closest and moved to start his breakfast before Eva stopped him.
"Morning Dante, did you wash your hands first?"
His spoon was a centimeter away from his food when he froze in place.
"Uh…" He opted to look everywhere except at her, but even then he could still see the sharp smile on her face. She didn't even need to tell him verbally.
"Yes ma'am." Dante hopped off his chair and walked quickly towards the bathroom.
He re-entered the kitchen not barely a minute later, and he dug into the meal.
There wasn't much conversation between the two, the only thing keeping the room from being completely silent was the slight chewing noise coming from Dante. It was that quiet feeling that caught Dante's attention, he looked around searching for a certain someone that was not present.
Before Dante could ask, that missing person finally arrived. Walking into the kitchen and grabbing his own plate, Vergil sat at the end of the table and quickly dug into his meal. He definitely looked prepared for the day, his clothes changed and his face washed. Eva was about to greet him before her eyes saw the object that he held by his side.
A long sheathed katana. His father's sword that had been granted to him before his disappearance.
Devil Sword Yamato.
"Vergil?" She spoke, her tone giving away her conflicted feelings.
"Hm?" He did not verbally respond, the only response given to her was a side-glance.
"What are you doing with that?" She didn't need to clarify, he already knew what she was referring to.
After he finished chewing he responded. "Going to train." He continued eating.
"Train? For what?" She asked, fearing what the answer would be. She hoped that the answer wasn't what she thought it was.
"My father was a warrior." He cut her off. "I plan to follow in his footsteps." Unfortunately, the answer was what she feared.
Don't. She wanted to stop him, however, she saw the look in his eyes. He was dead set on this.
So she relented. "Your father would be proud." She said softly after a moment of hesitation.
The tension in the room could be felt by both parties, however there's one who didn't notice it.
"So we won't play today?" Dante asked, (almost) completely breaking the tense moment.
"No. You can play by yourself." Vergil spoke sternly.
"Whaat? But you promised!" Dante whined to his older brother.
"If you truly want to then just watch me train, I have too much to do today."
"I think you're just running away from me."
Vergil stopped eating, and slowly moved his head to look at his younger brother. "What?"
"Yeah, I won yesterday's match, so you're embarrassed about losing again." His smug tone was playful in nature, yet Vergil seemingly took it the wrong way. Something in the older boy's mind nearly snapped.
"You didn't win, you never did, not once have you ever won a fight with me." Vergil's words were clear and spiteful. Dante reared backwards just after hearing his older brother's tone. Even Eva did a double take.
"Hey, I was just joking–"
"I'm finished eating." Vergil spoke, cutting off his younger brother. He hopped off his seat, grabbed the sheathed sword, and quickly walked out the front door.
"Who pissed in his bed? Sheesh, I was just playing around." Dante muttered after a few moments of tense silence.
Dante continued his breakfast with a tense look. Eva, on the other hand, assumed what was happening with Vergil as soon as she saw his glare.
It's in their blood to be competitive.
Anger and pride is at the very core of a devil's being.
Is it truly right to keep them from the truth?
They did not know the truth behind their very birth. Half human, half demon.
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"What the hell was that?" Vergil muttered to himself, slamming the door shut behind him. He didn't know what came over him or why he was so angry in the first place.
Dante liked to tease, he knew this. Dante liked to poke at people's buttons, he knew this. It was his usual playful banter, something that (should have) stopped angering Vergil when he turned seven.
He was better than that, and he knew this.
"Whatever, I'll worry about it later." He told himself, moving towards the forest closest to the house.
The sheathed katana lingered in his grip, and he couldn't help but admire it. It felt so right in his grip, as if it's supposed to be held by him and him only.
It felt perfect. It was meant to be.
When he walked a far enough distance from the house he stopped, looking around towards the trees that surrounded him.
He looked toward Yamato, the name of the blade that his father had given him. He unsheathed the blade from its cage and took in the beautiful steel that reflected the sunlight.
Yes, it truly felt like this blade belonged to him.
He exhaled, setting the sheath to the side. He took a stance as he held the blade in front of him, aiming directly at a tree.
He didn't shout, he didn't talk, he didn't even exhale any differently. With no indication he swung with all his might towards the tree, cutting it in half from the side. The log fell backwards away from him.
He only took a second to take in what he accomplished, before moving onto the next tree.
He swung from the right, he swung from the left, he swung from above and he swung from below.
Each and every swing would cut a tree in two– just from one swing.
He continued like this until the evening, when he went inside to eat dinner at the behest of his mother.
While the oldest brother was outside training, both Dante and Eva were inside, the mother was doing chores while the young boy was lounging around. While Eva was cleaning up the kitchen, she heard her son call out to her.
"What is dad?" He said simply and with little hesitation.
She knew where this conversation was going, and she already had this conversation with Vergil, but it was not something she wanted to go through again.
She shouldn't be making this such a damn struggle, so maybe… this one time she shouldn't.
She walked over to him, and sat next to him on the couch. She wrapped one arm around her youngest and held him close.
"Your father… is a warrior, I've said that many times, but to be a warrior is dangerous. If it weren't for the fact that your father is…" She hesitated, not wanting to say 'a devil', "special, then there were many chances that he wouldn't have been able to return home, most people don't."
Young Dante looked up at his mother with curious eyes. "So, does that mean that dad is still out there?"
"I wish." She sighed, leaning her head closer to his. "I really wish so."
The two stayed there for longer, long enough that Dante had fallen asleep in her arms. She smiled as she laid him into a more comfortable position on the couch. Kissing his forehead and walking back to continue cleaning the house.
Even if it's in the future, she didn't want to lose them too.
"Is this the house?"
"It is, I can smell them, those sons of the bastard Sparda are living here."
"Shall we strike now?"
"No, we shall wait until we have Our Lord's permission."
.
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.
"We are merely one step closer to giving you what you rightly deserve, Our Lord Mundus."
(A/N)
If it weren't for the reviews, I probably wouldn't have continued this story, even if it's a little, thank you all for the support!
I had spent days and nights creating an outline of the timeline of this story and it took a while to figure out how I want this story to go, the prologue was just me throwing something out in the wind and hoping it lands on something.
And I think it finally landed on something.
Anyways, thank you for taking time out of your day to read this mediocre chapter, it means a lot!
Much love,
-an Idiot on the Internet.