Takes place post dmc5, so again, spoiler alert!

The brothers are fighting their endless battle of supremacy in the underworld, both parties chacing sweet victory.
But how long can one keep fighting? How long is it possible to run from the past?

The first chapter is told from Vergil's POW. I hope you will enjoy!

Also featuring William Blake's "A Poison Tree"

And so, once again, I find myself back in the Underworld, with Dante of all people. I had prepared for many an outcome, but I must say even I failed to predict this particular one. Then again, unpredictability seems to be somewhat of a family trait, Dante certainly being no exception, so perhaps I shouldn't be surprised.

I wonder how long we've been down here. In between the endless repetition of duels and the occasional spout with a handful of demons, time has grown hard to measure. Any guess I could muster would be a hazy assumption at its best. Not that it matters. We have time, and we have a score to settle. Yet, as the number of our fights grows so does grow the weariness I see in my brother's eyes. I sense him growing tired, not physically but in mind. Dante has never been fond of repetition, and we, it would seem, are stuck in an endless loop.

here is no definite winner so far, not even a winning streak. Loath that I am to admit it, even I have started to cherish those rare moments when a horde of senseless demons stumble upon our spot. It seems to me, though, as if Dante lives for these respites from monotonousness. He is no longer putting in an honest effort into our duels. I feel like I am fighting a mere shadow, a shell, like as if he'd lost his edge. This passion for battle, however, oddly returns when he is faced by weaker spawns of our kin. It annoys me to no end, because it makes every victory feel like it has been handed over, and the losses even worse.

Despite all this it would seem I cannot stop fighting. The desire to surpass my brother is too overbearing, my pride too strong to admit to anything even resembling defeat. This alone could keep me going till I draw my last breath. Dante, on the other hand, is altogether different. In all honesty I am terrified of the moment he refuses to raise his blade to meet mine, and I fear we are growing ever closer to that inevitability. Every blow, block and retaliation wallows with his reluctance, seeps in it, but I wish for this fighting to never end. It is a worthwhile distraction.

Fighting is familiar. It is something we both know, something that has always ruled our relationship – defined it. If our endless spat for supremacy was to cease without a clear outcome, then what is to happen? I do not know if I am prepared for whatever that may be, not with all that lies in our past. The internal struggle between what I desire and the knowledge of what it could cost me, what it has cost me, and the fact that I still yarn for it despite possessing this knowledge; I resent it.

With age comes wisdom, they say, but age has brought me naught but resentment. I am as bitter and prideful as I ever was, more so now, and I know of no other manner to be. How befitting is it not then that it is this very pride that has held me back, still holds me back. I can neither accept defeat nor assistance for this would prove my weakness, and weakness is what I have run from as long as I can recall. I have trapped myself so expertly in my own believes that I see no other option but to press on further along the path I've chosen. Were someone to open a door for me and offer an escape route, I might ignore it. Accepting any help, even when it is freely given, is still admitting to a wrong, and being wrong is no different from being weak, and I am not weak.

So I must keep fighting. Keep on fighting, clashing with relentless force, unstoppable in my pursuit of victory. I'll fight until Dante does not rise again. I'll fight till it is all finally over. Except; I won't. A fight requires two parties, and now it seems my brother has finally had enough. Yamato slices through his flesh with little effort, sprinkling the dead ground we stand upon with vivaciously red droplets. I glare at him, a look he returns with feigned innocence and a shrug.

"I'm bored!"

The insolence! I would smite him where he stands would he even give me the slightest hint of resistance, but no, he has me trapped. He knows, I am certain, that my pride will not allow me to strike at a defenceless foe. It is ever so infuriating, but I'll stay true to my code: this I could never count as a victory. I, too, retreat.

Silence stretches on between us. Moments pass, or perhaps time has come to a stop? I would not know. Down here all seems static, never-changing, doomed. I find myself jittery, anxious to move. These past few months have left me restless. What has come to pass has stirred the sea that is my mind, and in doing so has rendered my thoughts shattered. I do not want to linger upon them, cannot grasp them even when I try. No matter this torment I will not be the one to break the silence, and I need not be – I am the patient one, after all.

"Argh, this damned quiet is even worse than the infernal fighting!"

Never did I think that Dante's grating voice could bring me solace, yet as his words echo through this endless void they lure me out from the snares of my internal storm. A favour should be with a favour met. Before I can rethink, the words of William Blake's 'A Poison Tree' spill past my lips with the same ease that snow in deserts melt.

I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow

And I watered it in fears
Night and morning with my tears,
And I sunned it with smiles
And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright,
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine,

And into my garden stole
When the night had veiled the pole;
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

Thank you for getting through this chapter.
Stay tuned for the next instalment!

If you like it please let me know :)

Also, I am so, so happy dmc5 exists!