Chapter Text
Dante could barely contain his glee as they spoke “Jackpot,” in complete unison.
A glance to the side showed the sharp half smile curving up on Vergil’s face, his closest approximation to satisfaction, as his eyes retained that burning coldness he had during battle.
Fighting Arkham was tricky. Though they had the reluctant help from that plucky lady who shot him in the head when they first met, the high level demons were nothing compared to the slippery tactics of the Jester. Having Vergil beside him, suffering through the grating sound of the clown’s voice as he did, lessened the irritation that could have distracted him. In the end, the sons of Sparda prevailed against that inhuman monster, bringing them one step closer to their goal.
After they lost their mother, Vergil had stopped fighting with him over anything. Instead, he led them both to secure locations where they can rest and guard against an ambush, or somewhere in the open that they can let loose against a horde attack without worrying about human collateral damage.
Since then, beyond sparring with him to hone their skills, Dante didn’t have the heart to provoke Vergil into a serious fight while handling real weapons instead of practice swords. Besides, he had plenty of his fill in fun by testing his strength against all the demons that were sent after them.
But they’ve had to retreat plenty of times in their younger years, and for all the fun from battle during the day, Dante would sometimes wake up from night terrors frozen and angrily weeping, that Vergil had to crawl in bed with him to calm him down.
Now that they’re older, as long as they had each other’s backs, they’ve proven that they were unbeatable.
He had an inkling of what was about to happen, as she motioned to pull him in the cabinet. But he refused to accept doing anything, even hiding, without his twin. So he swallowed down the panic blocking sound coming from his throat and shouted, “But Vergil is still out there!”
His mother’s eyes flashed in determination, brighter and more fiery than the flames threatening them from all sides. She placed a loving hand on his cheek, told him in a low voice to hush and not to leave no matter what happens, before quickly closing the doors on him.
Dante placed a hand on the slats as he watched his mother rush out to the foyer calling out for Vergil, wishing he could do the same from inside the cabinet.
They had often taken turns being on watch while the other slept. When they had lucked out in getting to places where they didn’t need to be on high alert, Vergil could be counted on to wake up before Dante. He had also caught his twin many times slipping out deep into the night to obsessively train with the Yamato. On the rare occasion that Dante had managed to rise with the sun, he would see his brother still in bed but poring over demonic texts, that he seriously doubted that Vergil had slept through the night.
This seemingly endless war would be over after defeating Mundus. Then they could finally put this behind them, and move forward to somewhere not even their father’s tall shadow could reach.
His brother could read all the fancy books he wanted. Pick up the violin again. And maybe one day, Vergil’s happy smile would return at last.
The future held so much wonder, he could hardly wait.
Just before Dante could open his mouth to say anything, Vergil turned around and ran Force Edge through his chest.
When he heard Vergil yell for their mother from a distance, he crashed without thinking through the cabinet doors and ran out to the foyer. In his rush to reach his family, he did not heed the noise his boots made. But the sight that greeted him compressed all sound, including the loud crackling of the fire around them, into a high-pitched whistling in his ears.
His brother and his mother had their arms around each other’s shoulders, and the demons surrounding them were stabbing swords through their bodies. All he needed to focus on was their mother’s mouth moving, and Vergil’ eyes widening, for him to know that they found each other before they were attacked, and that Dante was helpless to either of them before they collapsed on the floor.
Despite this, his legs hadn’t stopped moving. In his next breath, Rebellion was summoned, and swung it through the nearest demon’s torso. Molten rage took over his small body as he kept swinging, unheeding of the danger as he weaved through enemy after enemy.
He didn’t realize he had been screaming at all, until he felt a hand grab him by the collar, yanking hard enough to finally feel the inside of his throat hurting from the abuse of his voice. He had hardly blinked until he got away from the smoke, and started to inhale the smell of the night air. His gaze refocused on their house from afar, where Vergil had dragged them to a stop.
They stood and watched their mother’s final resting place burn, when Dante thought to peer at his brother. His shirt was in tatters, yet he was strong enough to hold the weight of Yamato with one hand, straight-backed and still like he hadn’t received any injuries. Vergil’s face was wet with blood, their mother’s and his own, but it was seeing the forlorn look in his eyes that made the feeling of grief slam into his whole body. Rebellion clanged as it fell on the ground. When Vergil noticed he was shaking and took his hand, Dante wailed over the roaring of the inferno before them.
After what felt like an eternity, Dante was reduced to hiccups from sobbing. Vergil nudged him to pick up Rebellion and banish it, told him to save his energy and get ready to summon it quickly, before they started running hand in hand.
He knew Vergil thought of him as a spoiled little brother, but in the haze of the days that followed, Vergil never told him not to cry. Dante figured it was because Vergil let him cry for the both of them. So he shed tears over the absence of their mother, and over his regret in having failed to protect her.
His nerveless hand dropped Rebellion as he fell backwards in shock more than anything.
Vergil stepped away to pick up his half of the amulet from where it fell, and stared into it like it held all the answers to his questions. “My sincerest apology, brother. I knew it had to come to this, once I learned that the Perfect Amulet opens the door to the Demon World. In order to close the seal from this side of the Demon World, you have to take Force Edge back with you to the Human World, while I take the other half of the key with me. That way, no one else can open it ever again. And no demon would ever stand a chance against you.”
He had received wounds more grievous than this impalement. It was as if all the power he gained, including their father’s god-like power, was useless to protect him from Vergil’s words, like his twin was reciting a spell that kept him immobile as it tore at his soul.
“You know, I’ve been thinking about that day. Back then, I was the one who ran away from home before the demons attacked. Because Mother tried to save me, she was taken from you. You killed to avenge her, though you weren’t to be blamed for any of it.”
Vergil had always been the faster one between them. If their mother hadn’t felt the need to hide her slower son first, then maybe they could have escaped the attack. But there was no changing the past. Yet it seemed Vergil was not willing to abandon it and let it die. If he were, then he wouldn’t be so willing to abandon Dante like he was about to do so now.
“Mother was a good person. She deserved to be happy and live a long life. But I was selfish and wanted to be protected. If I had died instead, she might still be alive.” That was when Vergil looked away from his amulet to look down at Dante. “It’s only thanks to you that we’ve come this far. I’ve done nothing but impose my guilt on you, and dodge responsibility. So every night since, I’ve been asking myself, how can I make up for it?”
Dante activated Devil Trigger and staggered to his feet. Vergil picked up Rebellion and swept his legs from under him with the flat of the blade, then stabbed through his right hand to pin it to the ground. Dante tried to pull off Force Edge from his chest with his free hand, but his fingers kept slipping.
“I can’t give her back, but I can make sure to end Mundus. I couldn’t save her, but at least one of us will be saved. Not one more day will this bloody fate hang over us any longer, I swear it.”
He felt like the world was caving in about his ears. All the while, he thought he and Vergil wanted the same thing. That assumption made him too incurious to ask what was going on inside his brother's head. They both had spent too long planning their vengeance, only to have brought themselves into nothing but death.
“Hate me for hurting you, if you want. If it makes it easier that way, then forget everything, and start a new life. A new beginning.”
Dante could barely get any air past the blood pouring out his mouth, but the same rebellious nature that made him yell his last words to his mother, had him choking in his desperation to beg for the first time in his life.
“You’re... the only one… I have left… please—”
Don’t leave me alone!
The edges of Vergil’s lips bent upwards, as if he heard the rest of Dante’s unspoken sentence.
“You should get back to that girl. She didn’t deserve to be involved in this, something both of you have in common. You will always be loved wherever you go. But you barely see other people. You should be carefree, instead I’ve dragged you down with me. It’s time we ended this.”
His twin didn’t understand. Dante was only stronger because Vergil was with him, because they faced everything together. If he were alone, there would be no other reason for him to fight. He would only fight for the sake of fighting, and would have nothing to hold in his hands but his pure hatred for the demons that took their mother’s life.
Struggling for one last burst of energy to the point that he was biting back a scream, his blurred vision tracked Vergil walking backwards to the end of the cliff.
“You’ve wasted your love on me for far too long, Dante. All I’ve done for you is hold you back. Go be your own man. Live your life. It’s what Mother and Father would have wanted.”
Vergil didn’t take his sight from him the whole time, as he took the last step and gently fell over the edge without a sound.