Dec 31, 2006 22:59
[AUTHOR] Wolfchildblazer
[FANDOM] Devil May Cry
[CHARACTERS] Dante, Vergil
[TITLE] Brotherly Bonding
[RATING] PG-13
[WARNINGS/DISCLAIMERS] Language, and I do not own DMC.
[SUMMARY] This was the very last time they were going to do any exercises of bonding that their parents suggested.
Brotherly Bonding
Vergil had always been the faster of the two, and he once again proved it as he dashed by his brother to win their little impromptu race. Dante didn’t whine like Vergil expected and took to taunting his younger twin. This action caused Dante to sock him cleanly in the mouth and stomp off. His cries alerted his mother Eva who came to soothe her son while looking pointedly at her husband. Soft hands ran through his slicked white hair, and at ten years old, he was proving he would be a heartbreaker when he’s older. Blue eyes scrunched close as the same hands of his mother gently prodded his mouth. "Oh, Vergil." His mother murmured and stood him up.
"This has got to stop!" His father yelled while dragging Dante back over. His twin, unlike him, let his hair lay against his head, and his blue eyes were lighter than his. Dante was currently fiddling with his half of his mother’s red amulet. Vergil never took the opportunity to ask what the amulet was for, as his mother told him they would understand when they are older. His father, Sparda, was staring meaningfully at the twins before a smirk etched his face. The twins knew then that trouble was in their near future.
"I want you to retrieve my sword that I placed on top of the mountains." Sparda informed them while pointing in the direction of said mountains.
"Force Edge?" Dante inquired eagerly.
"No." Sparda answered. "Now, the only way to retrieve the sword is to work together." He warned them, they of course ignored him. Eva then handed over their packs and kiss them both on their heads.
"Be good and careful." She instructed them, and then urged them on their way.
The boys hurried on the way while the parents watched them go. "I hope they’ll be okay." Eva worried.
"They’ll be fine." Sparda assured her.
"Even with the blizzard that’s coming?" She asked.
"Ohh." Sparda muttered before hugging her to his side. "Just believe in them, they’ll pull through." He stated.
Vergil was the first to reach the edge of the mountains and pulled off his pack.
"What’cha doing?" Dante inquired from behind.
"Taking stock of our inventory." Vergil explained.
"Why?" Dante asked while striding past him. "You’re wasting daylight." He added.
"So I can come up with a plan." Vergil explained. He was then forcefully tugged along by his twin. Vergil had the speed, but Dante was the strength of the two. He had only seconds to grab his pack and follow his twin.
Hours later, it had gotten darker, colder, and rain was beginning to come down. Vergil licked his lips worriedly, they had been at this mountain for quite some time and he was no friend to the cold. He flicked a glance at his brother to see him practically leaping about, he rolled his eyes. Dante, of course had no problem with the elements, it came from their father. Vergil wasn’t as lucky to receive that gift, a shift in the temperature had him gazing up. It was going to snow, they needed to find shelter, now.
"Dante!" Vergil called, getting his brother’s attention.
"What?" He yelled back.
"Find shelter." Vergil ordered, which was the wrong way to go about it, as Dante rebelled.
"No, I’m going to keep going, find your own shelter." Dante stated and completely ignored the muttered sentences of his twin. That was when the snow decided to start falling. Vergil missed the concern glance in his direction, Dante knew his brother had no love of the cold.
Anxious, as the snow was getting heavier, Dante sought out shelter while trying to grip his brother’s hand secretively. Annoyed that his brother was avoiding his intention, he just snatched the hand and ignored the look that Vergil sent him. As they passed a major ravine, Vergil tugged out of his hand, the action caused him to start sliding backwards.
Dante started after his brother, trying not to lose him in the raging snowstorm, observing as Vergil skin was starting to get really pale. He gazed on helplessly as Vergil crashed through a patch of thin ice. Grabbing at his amulet he raced toward his brother, and latched onto the back of his brother’s coat. Wheeling backwards he tried to drag his brother back onto sturdier land, but Vergil’s pack was dragging him down. Using his left hand he grabbed one of his guns that his father had bought for him. Quickly, and precisely he shot the straps holding the pack watching as they snapped. Without the weight of the pack, Dante was able to drag his brother onto land.
Noticing that his brother’s shivering was intense and that his lips were beginning to match his coat, he frowned. Mother warned them about this, and he picked up Vergil while looking around. Unfortunately the snow made it hard to determine which direction they had come from, so heading back was impossible. Dante decided to head in the direction he thought they had come from.
What seemed like seconds the snow had accumulated past his hips, drawing dangerously close to his brother in his arms. Dante had been muttering nonsense to keep Vergil awake, as Vergil preferred logic, would hate that and would stay awake to correct him. Now he was talking about his favorite show, that which Vergil found to be stupid. So, they argued as they always did, and Dante smiled lightly, as his plan was keeping his brother awake. His eyes landed on a welcome sight, there was a rickety building ahead. Not one to argue with a welcome sight he hurried toward it.
Busting the door open, he glanced about, hoping to find someone inside. His luck ran dry in that situation and so he gazed down at his brother. He was in bad shape, and Dante began to get frantic, but he calmed himself down. Kneeling down, he placed his brother down, and shrugged off his favorite red duster. Laying the duster down, amazed that it wasn’t wet, and still warm with his body heat. Quickly he undressed his brother and laid him upon the duster, wrapping it half around Vergil.
Dante frowned and then shrugged off his shirt as well. He was the bigger of the two, so his shirt would drape his brother’s body. Jamming the cloth over Vergil’s head, he dragged his pack over and rifled through it. Frowning, he pulled out one changed of clothes, and a blanket. His pants wouldn’t fit his brother snugly which caused him concern, but he didn’t a choice. Slipping the material over his brother, he threw the woolen blanket over him. Vergil was still shivering, and now slightly out of it. Dante glanced around and found a fireplace. "Jackpot." He exclaimed, and went to find firewood.
He didn’t find much at all, and decided to break down the wooden bed he had found as well. Throwing this in the fireplace, he withdrew his guns and looked at them sadly. "Sorry girls." Dante murmured before rubbing them together. His work offered him the spark needed and he sighed before trooping back over to were his brother was. Vergil was bad off, his breathing was fast, labored and he wondered if the fire would be fast enough to do anything. At least his brother was still awake, but he was starting to drift off.
"Damn it, don’t you dare Vergil." Dante admonished his brother which caused Vergil to frown.
"Don..that....ords.." Vergil mumbled. Dante had no clue what his brother was saying and the heat of the fire was not helping at all, except to provide light. He sighed, and prayed to whatever god listening to help him. Dante also couldn’t help adding that if they lived through this, that he could survive the humiliation later. Not to mention to kill his father for sending them on this stupid mission. Forget the sword, if they could make it, they were going back tomorrow. Dante felt the sting to his pride, but he slipped behind his brother, hugging him to his chest. "W..doing?" Vergil asked.
"Keeping your stupid self warm." Dante bit out. He didn’t question how he knew what the heck his brother said, but merely sighed. "I’m never gonna live this down if anyone finds out." He muttered and noticed he did not receive a response. Glancing down, he curse, and took to shaking his brother awake.
"?" Vergil offered while looking sleepily up.
"For the smart one, you’re being stupid." Dante snapped. "Don’t go to sleep, you’re suffering from hyperthermia..." He spoke.
"Hypo.." Vergil trailed off, swallowing to catch his breath.
"Whatever." Dante stated.
"Why?" Vergil questioned.
"Why what?" Dante parroted.
Vergil had always been curious as to why his younger twin was hostile to him. Since they were sent on this mission to bond, and he had to stay awake, this was his best option. "Hae...m?" He inquired.
"What?" Dante asked while looking at his elder twin incredulously. "What is haem?" He asked.
"Ha..te." Vergil pushed out.
"Why do I hate you?" Dante remarked and Vergil nodded.
"I don’t hate you." Dante admitted. "I always thought it was the other way around." He muttered
"?" Vergil looked confused.
"You were always showing how much better you were than me at everything." Dante silently admitted. Well, his pride was shot to hell anyway might as well continue. "Sneering and presenting your accomplishments to my face." He added.
"N...o." Vergil croaked out. "N...o...ha..ou.."Vergil stated and then started drifting off. Dante sighed and shook his head while tucking the blanket in. Vergil had stopped shivering, and his breathing was starting to normalize, so he could fall asleep safely. Dante decided to keep vigil over his brother instead of giving into sleep that his body desperately craved. Amazingly the ten year old preserved and kept a close eye on his brother.
Several hours later stirring from his brother had Dante gazing down. Vergil blinked his eyes, abashed that he had turned in his sleep and had his arms wrapped around his brother’s waist. "You up?" Dante questioned.
"You’re still awake?" Vergil questioned.
"Feeling better?" Dante asked to hide a yawn. Vergil however, caught it and yanked his brother down.
"Yeah, but you’ll be no use if you haven’t got any sleep." Vergil scolded. Dante shook his head and curled up, he always slept that way, which Vergil thought was odd. "Why do you sleep like that?" Vergil asked.
"Like what?" Dante mumbled.
"Curled, insecure." Vergil pointed out.
"One guess." Dante murmured and laid against his brother’s shoulder. Vergil still felt tired from his brush with death and curled himself into his brother as well. Though he was slightly curious, and went to stick a hand outside the blanket to weigh the temperature. "Wouldn’t do that, if I were you." His brother muttered beside him. "It’s freezing." Dante added, and Vergil immediately retracted his hand.
They woke to the sun shining through the only window in the dreary cabin. Dante observed as his brother tried to walk and shook his head. "I’ll carry you." Dante stated while wrapping his brother in the blanket and placing his duster back on.
"What about the sword?" Vergil questioned.
"Father put it there, father can get it back, you’re more important at the moment." Dante said and placed the pack on his back. Lifting the blanket mass that was his brother, he took a brisk run out the door hunching his back to offer more protection against the elements. Amazingly, he caught sight of the path that would lead down the mountain. Dante sighed, they were only a quarter up the mountain, so down he ran. The bad thing about Hypothermia, other then the chance of death, is once you had it and survived, you were more susceptible to it.
Almost off the mountain, his brother started to shiver from the cold air, and Dante pushed himself more. Catching sight of his home, he yelled hoping his parents would come out. Eva came running out at his yell, followed closely by his father. Dante handed Virgil to his mother while whirling on his father and landing a punch on him. He growled, Dante didn’t notice a sword appearing in his hand, and a similar one appearing on his brother’s hip. Sparda did and smiled secretively while dodging a fearful strike to his person. "Idiot, he could have died!" Dante yelled at his father, who only dodged his strike.
"Oh, but he didn’t." Sparda remarked.
"No thanks to you." Dante spit out and scored a hit against his old man’s arm.
"Thanks to you though." His mother’s voice floated from behind him and Dante stopped. He turned to face her, still upset and worried about his brother. "He’s asking for you." Eva stated and Dante ran toward his brother in concern. The sword attaching itself to his back without his notice. Crawling beside his brother, he hugged him and they both fell asleep.
The parents came in a little later and smiled, they both were curled under a blanket, snuggled. Every night after, the parents would find them like that...
Fin.