gigadevilbreaker (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
gigadevilbreaker) wrote2025-05-11 01:22 pm
gigadevilbreaker) wrote2025-05-11 01:22 pmImeeji - Profile
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twicebondedtwicebondedtwicebonded
twicebonded
gigadevilbreaker) wrote2025-05-11 01:22 pm
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twicebonded
Brothers
"You can come out now!" you calls to the rafters, and it's only then that █ comes out of his hiding spot. That bird familiar of him glides him down, but even that mouthy chicken's spent - █ all but collapses on landing, completely out of power.
With his cane, █ struggles to his feet. "...I guess I owe you one."
God, and he looks terrible, too. It seemed impossible for the man to get even paler than normal, but his skin is cracking, crumbling off of him in pallid flakes. He'd always been frail in constitution, but now, it's clear to both of them he's barely holding on. Life is draining out of him at an alarming pace, somehow.
Worry twists in your gut. You're afraid for █. It hurts to see him like this, so weak a stray breeze could knock him over. █ barely makes two paces toward him before his strength fails him again, and he staggers mid-step.
"You should turn around. Your body's not gonna last much longer."
"That, I cannot do." Stubborn, even at death's door. "I must go!--" and V stumbles again, this time to his knees.
"Dammit, █!" You try to catch him as best you can. "Don't push yourself. You need some rest!"
But no. "I must go... to where Urizen is."
Tch--! Snapping, "Why?! Why the hell do you have to--"
"I beg you!" The words stop you in your tracks. █ looks up at you, breathing ragged, and tells you, "This is my last request."
Fuck.
...What else could you do? You exhale sharply. "Fine." Hefts █ up to lean on him as they walk. He's light, but heavy at the same time. Carrying a dead man.
Goddammit. You mutter to yourself, "Dante's definitely gonna beat us there..."
You make your way across the cavern of sludge and human skeletons left behind by the witch, through the labyrinthine tunnels of... the Underworld? Or still the Qliphoth? It was becoming hard to tell where one ended and the other began. The fact that there was barely any opposition to stop them was only more proof that Dante had already come this way - and cleaned the place out.
You're glad, 'cause there was no way you could carry █ and fight at the same time.
"The truth is..." █ began to speak, though it was hard to tell how lucid he actually was anymore. "I wanted to be protected and loved... but I was alone. My only choice was to survive."
He collapses again, and that - coupled with the delirious rambling - had to be sign to stop. You try to insist, "█, you gotta rest."
But instead, █ pushes himself to his feet yet again. With the air of a final confession, he rasps, "Nero... I will tell you... everything."
That gives you pause.
"There is no demon called Urizen. Only a man who threw away his humanity, in an endless pursuit of power. He is Dante's older brother."
"Dante's... brother?"
"Yes. And his real name is... Vergil."
You don't understand. You're understanding less and less by the second. "They're brothers? Why're they fighting each other?"
"To see one's justice through, a man must fight for it. Even if the one who stands before him is his kin." █ speaks as though that makes any sense. But this isn't one of his poetry books. It feels wrong, no matter how you try to understand.
"...That's ridiculous."