I've never tried writing Vergil before, so I chose to do him for the 1character challenge community at Livejournal. It was actually pretty hard, especially to not make the sentences too repetitive, I'm not sure if I did a very good job. Constructive criticism is welcome, so are reviews :) It was done with the Gamma theme set, for the record. It seemed like the easiest one at the time, but I kind of wish I'd seen the Zeta set first... ahh well.
#01 - Snow
Every winter when they were children, Dante would make a small army of snow angels and Vergil would follow him around marking devil horns into the snow, it was just another one of those family rituals that everyone forgot.
#02 – Child
Despite repeated vehement protests from Vergil's corner, Dante had thought it a fine idea to refer to his brother as 'Jill' in public when they were kids.
#03 – Brick
They were fighting fiercely and Nelo Angelo didn't care who his opponent was, not until he slammed him against the brick wall to try and break his neck and saw a too-familiar red jewel hanging around his neck.
#04 – Judgment
If there was a God, Vergil doubted that He'd be too happy to let half-demons into Heaven, so why did they get dragged to church every Christmas before they could open their presents?
#05 – Powder
Vergil really didn't know why he was in so much trouble; what was so wrong with threatening to kill a classmate and grind their bones into dust?
#06 – Grim
As soon as Vergil learnt of Dante's presence on the island, he'd decided that it would be better to strike him down himself; at least then, his twin's death would be quick and honourable.
#07 - Trap
He saw it sometimes, that puppet of the darkness with his mother's face; it made it all worse to know that even after all this time, the emotions were still there inside him.
#08 - Star
He saw the stars at Mallet Island that he hadn't seen for years before, and for a few seconds, the world seemed so bright, joyful, amazing and full of possibilities; then the darkness claimed him again.
#09 – Possession
He'd thought defeat would mean death or exile or imprisonment; it might have been naivety, but he'd never once expected anything like this, a prisoner within himself left with only emotions for comfort.
#10 - Bandage
He'd complained about it and told him to stop at the time, but Vergil had secretly appreciated Dante's insistence at treating his wounds after every schoolyard brawl.
#11 – Pearl
Vergil had found it once he braved his first trip back home and he tossed it away, a burial at sea for his mother's favourite pearl necklace; maybe the sea would soak away the blood, because soap and water hadn't washed it away no matter how hard he tried.
#12 – Glass
He'd been asleep in the throes of nightmares for years but seeing his twin's face in the mirror staring back at him made Vergil realise that this was no mere nightmare.
#13 - Classified
When it came to half-demons in the Underworld, Vergil observed, they were equal only to one other most hated group, traitors; being the half-blood son of a traitor wasn't very convenient.
#14 - Buttons
"Give me my money," Vergil growled quietly, hitting all the buttons on the ATM machine in frustration; why was the stupid thing still beeping at him!
#15 – Closet
Much to his annoyance, Dante had found that one of his favourite comic book issues had become Vergil's latest sacrifice to the fearsome closet monster; then again, maybe it would make him shut up about it during the night.
#16 - Ash
Sometimes Vergil tried to remember the happy times, before their mother had died, but all he remembered was two orphans scattering ashes to the wind, and every memory just made the hate grow stronger.
#17 – Definition
When Vergil looked at his brother, all he saw was a personification of all that disgusting emotion and worthless humanity that he despised above all; seeing that made it easier to hate him.
#18 - Staircase
Vergil couldn't help but wish he'd known about the lift inside the Temen-Ni-Gru before he reached the top of the tower.
#19 - Nail
The woodwork teacher didn't quite see how the twins trying to crucify each other, hammers, nails and all, qualified as a bit of harmless brotherly teasing.
#20 - Prey
He'd stalked his prey throughout the castle, watching every move with the utmost care and predatory instinct, and when the time was right, he appeared within the mirror.
#21 - Backwards
Not wanting for power, not trying to become stronger, barely trying to defend himself, Dante was nothing but a fool and Vergil had more important things to do than help his naive sibling see the light.
#22 - Trouble
Every time that the twins reunited, trouble followed, but it wasn't about power or gateways this time, not any more; it was about release and death, and what conscious mind remained of Vergil dearly hoped that his brother didn't try to save him.
#23 - Little
He'd always said it was natural, but when they were little, Dante remembered seeing Vergil practice his haughty sneer in the mirror.
#24 – Collar
It wasn't a collar, but it might as well be; the armour was impossibly heavy and constricting and a constant reminder of the mess he'd gotten himself into, keeping him chained to the post forever and never free again.
#25 - Circle
They circled each other like two savage dogs ready for a brawl, two bitter enemies ready to shed each other's blood, not like twin brothers who'd been so close as children.
#26 – Hands
In his more lucid moments when he could think and feel and remember a time before suffocating armour and servitude to the darkness, Vergil sometimes wondered what would've happened had he let Dante take his hand and catch his fall.
#27 – Freedom
The ability to go where you want and do as you want, the ability to fight for or against what you want, the ability to protect your family (or, at the very least, stop yourself from harming them), the ability to speak and move and think; that was the price of the power Nelo Angelo possessed.
#28 – Last
Vergil couldn't help it, couldn't suppress the deep horror knotting in his stomach –his twin was dead and he'd dealt the final blow-, but as Dante seemed to stir, the horror and fear at what he'd thought he'd done melted away into the same old hatred; it wasn't over yet.
#29 - Scab
Back when he'd been younger, war wounds had consisted of skinned knees or grazed elbows from over-zealous play, not vicious impalements and bleeding bucket-loads of blood, but Vergil made sure to pay back each and every wound tenfold.
#30 – Crown
Defeating Mundus, avenging his family, following in his father's footsteps; this had to be his crowning glory, and how hard could it possibly be?
#31 - Time
It was impossible to tell how much had happened, how much he had missed while in his underworld prison, but every second seemed like one too many and all he wanted was to go home or fade away.
#32 - Rice
"Chopsticks are easy," Dante had assured him with a Cheshire grin; as Vergil failed yet again to transport a single grain of rice from the plate to his mouth, his twin shot to the top of his 'to throttle' list.
#33 – Worn
Really, he had all the time in the world to complete the Temen-Ni-Gru ritual, but Vergil had never been the most patient of men, particularly not where his power was concerned.
#34 - Paint
If Arkham had painted him the villain in that little girl's eyes, Vergil didn't particularly care; she could think what she wanted, she had no significance and she was never a threat.
#35 – Ache
If it hadn't been for discovering the Temen-Ni-Gru and formulating that plan, his hatred for the pitiful mortal inside him would've torn him apart.
#36 - Cherry
A huge strawberry sundae with a cherry on top; maybe now Dante would forgive him for accidentally 'liberating' his pet goldfish and trying to replace it with a new one instead of telling him.
#37 - Library
First the irritating bald man, then some stupid mortal librarian woman, wasn't there meant to be a 'no talking in the library' rule so these idiots would leave him in peace?
#38 – Win
It had been years since the sons of Sparda had fought together, but it still felt every bit as natural as if they worked as a team every day; Vergil was annoyed to find that he had to remind himself that for his purposes to be fulfilled, the truce would end with their victory.
#39 – Loss
It was only now, when he was too deep in the darkness to ever claw his way out, that Vergil realised how much he'd thrown away; his brother, his power, his freedom, all gone for naivety and foolish pride.
#40 - Fold
He'd been so sure of victory, so sure this gamble would pay off, so sure he could follow in his father's footsteps, and now this – he fell to his knees, bruised and bloody, and prepared to die.
#41 - Music
Vergil had always been tolerant, amused at his brother's dreams of being a famous rock star; so tolerant that he'd even learnt to play the bass.
#42 – Bell
Bells of chaos tolling, gateway to hell opening up in the sky, Sparda's power within grasp; this was all going perfectly according to plan, except Vergil was meant to be on top of the tower, not falling off it.
#43 – Sleep
It was thanks to that one stormy November night when one seemingly-normal mother of two was murdered by 'monsters' that Vergil would never sleep well again, not when he could still hear her screams in his ears.
#44 – Contact
Make one alliance and you wind up thrown off the edge of a tower; and people wondered why Vergil hated working with others?
#45 - Electricity
Vergil would go on to claim that the twins playing Chicken with electrocution was entirely Dante's idea; sadly, this was a complete and utter lie.
#46 - Milk
Cookies and milk and a bedtime story, a bit of excited sibling chatter and then sleep in a comfortable warm bed; it seemed like so long ago now when he tried to remember anything before torture and pain and cold heavy armour.
#47 - Wild
They'd fought savagely to draw as much blood as possible, with a previously unparalleled bloodlust and ferocity, and as their weapons clashed and blood spattered the ground, Vergil was glad he'd unleashed his brother's inner demon.
#48 – Expectation
Perhaps he'd been wrong, perhaps he'd made a big mistake; the Underworld didn't really feel so much like home.
#49 – Mechanism
Vergil had always hated guns, but it wasn't just about honour, it was also about the time he'd tried using one of mother's guns and it had backfired into his head.
#50 – Finale
When it came down to it, his brother was just a useless, emotional heap of blood, metal and red leather, or at least that's what Vergil told himself as he moved in for the finishing strike.