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-Phobias-
-Lady Luce-
Hoplophobia: Fear of Guns
Dante was bouncing on the balls of his feet behind his twin anxiously trying to peer over his head into the room beyond. Both of them could feel it, an electric buzz in their blood and something intangible niggling at the backs of their minds though the message was clear; something inside the room was calling them.
Finally the door slid open far enough for the pair to slip inside. Vergil quickly snatched the keys – which he had filched from their mother’s room earlier that day – from the lock and leant against the heavy wooden door closing it until the room lay in darkness again.
This was possibly one of the grandest rooms in their house. Dominated by an enormous fireplace its gaping maw was a pitch black vacuum seeming to suck all the light from the cavernous room. Flanked by two winged leather chairs and a pair of engraved obsidian pillars a coal scuttle sat to one side the once golden material now soot covered black. Two tall picture windows were covered with thick velvet curtains allowing only a small chink of light to pierce the inky blackness. Floor to ceiling book cases lined the walls and a desk sat brooding in a dark corner a high backed chair waiting silently in front of the polished mahogany. The smell of dust hung thickly in the air mingled with the scent of old books and sulphur from the long burnt out fire.
The twins took all this in with the blink of an eye their gazes quickly lighting on the flicker of a silver flame in the darkness. Glass cases were dotted about the room containing weapons and trophies or in a few cases old and valuable books which were seconds from turning into dust. It was a pair in the centre of the room which caught the boys’ attention now as they hurried forward feeling a sudden surge in their blood.
Dante pressed his nose against the case to the right holding a long-sword which towered over him as he gazed up at the dark hilt. The tapered blade stemmed from a well defined rib cage and spine with the hilt and cross guard punching out of the grisly skull at the top. It was meant for his hands. Dante knew every time he laid eyes on it that one day it would be his. It took all his effort not to smash the glass open just to touch it. Every time he walked past this room he could hear it calling to him from inside and each time the burning need to see the sword seemed to intensify.
Vergil’s reaction to the eastern sword in the left hand case was similar as he stared at it in awe. It was the perfect combination of power and elegance. A single flick from that well crafted blade could be both beautiful and deadly when in adept hands. The elder twin knew that one day those hands would be his. The sword had been made for him; how that was possible was not important, but something stronger than fate had chosen the blade for him and only him. It was beautifully crafted and sat now with a silent patience waiting its master. Vergil pressed his fingers against the thick glass as though he could push his hand through it through mere strength of will. Eva had hidden the keys to these cases in some impossible place that he would never think of. Whilst he knew that in the end it was for their safety Vergil had a hard time reminding himself of that.
A crash from across the room eventually brought the elder twin from his trance. His head snapped towards the direction the noise had come from, having great difficulty tearing his eyes from the sword, to see that Dante had moved away from Rebellion’s display case. Of course his twin would have failed to obey the instructions of Do Not Touch which Vergil had given him earlier. Dante had a habit of managing to break anything within his vicinity, even things which appeared to be at a safe distance would fall victim to a rogue football or the younger twin would just not be looking where he was going and walk straight into some priceless vase. Dante’s latest victim was now shattered across the floor at his feet and both twin’s froze momentarily waiting for Eva to hear and come racing up the stairs.
When she didn’t Vergil stalked across the room – Yamato forgotten for a brief moment – and stopped at his twin’s side when his foot crunched on a piece of broken glass which had once been a display case.
“What on earth did you do?” Vergil hissed keeping his voice low as he took in the destruction which his brother had caused.
“I was just-”
“Didn’t I tell you not to touch anything?” Vergil cut across his twin not in the mood for some sorry explanation for the carnage. He stooped down and brushed away some of the glass lifting up the shotgun which had previously been resting in the display case. He studied it carefully knowing that it had been customized from the weight in his hands. It was deceptively light and would be devastating at close range though he doubted the accuracy of the weapon at a distance. It was made for taking down creatures much larger than humans. He ran a finger over something engraved on the side unable to read it in the dim light.
“Well you’re touching stuff now,” Dante commented watching closely as Vergil inspected the gun with minor curiosity.
“Yes, but I don’t break everything I set eyes on,” Vergil snapped back removing some of the oil paper clogging the moving parts of the gun in order to get a better look at what was written on the barrel.
Dante hmphed and folded his arms before making his way to a book shelf glass crunching into the wooden floor-boards as he did so. Normally Vergil would have reprimanded him or ordered him to pick up the mess, but he was too busy examining the piece of craftsmanship in his hands to pay attention. He turned the gun over and over in his palms marvelling at the smooth wooden handle and tracing his fingers over the writing on the barrel. He couldn’t read it and for some reason now he needed to know what it said; he wanted to know who had made the weapon.
“Hey Ver-”
The sudden deafening cry as the gun went off made Dante snap round to find the source of the noise (though if he’d considered it longer maybe he didn’t actually want to know). Vergil took the bullets at point blank range and was thrown backwards with a howl of pain as they tore through his abdomen, tearing muscle and flesh, shattering bone with a sickening crack.
“-gil…” It took a frozen moment as Vergil was thrown through the air before Dante’s mind registered what had happened. “Shit!”
Vergil hit the ground with a loud thump, the gun clattering to the floor next to him. The elder twin didn’t move, blood quickly blooming around the wound and soaking through his shirt.
Dante stared a second longer then raced to the door tearing it open frantically and stumbling into the hall. “MOM!!”
Eva had already been alerted by the gun-shot and turned the corner into the corridor as Dante’s cry reached her ears. It didn’t take her long to put together the worst possible situation and she tore past Dante into the room taking stock of what had happened in seconds. Fear raced through her as she ran to Vergil’s side trying to asses the damage done. It was hard, she knew Dante and Vergil shared some of their father’s abilities, but to what extent she never knew. It hadn’t seemed like a good idea to test them, though from previous experience she had deduced that they did have the ability to heal far faster than humans. The question was by how much?
Vergil wasn’t moving, but she could tell he was alive at least, she doubted any normal human could say the same. Blood was spilling down his chin; the force of the bullets must have driven his ribs up into his lungs. She quickly pulled off her sweater and pressed it against his abdomen hoping to stem the bleeding as she reassessed the situation. Dante moved to stand behind her peering over her shoulder and looking worried though he said nothing.
It took a minute for Vergil’s eyes to flicker open again and he coughed wetly before taking a heaving breath. Saying that it hurt like hell was possibly an understatement, but at least he wasn’t dead. He could already feel the skin and organs slowly knitting back together, the bones snapping back into place.
“Vergil can you hear me?” Eva asked softly using her sleeve to wipe away some of the blood on his chin.
He groaned and raised a bloodied hand to his swimming vision trying to figure out exactly what was going on. Whilst his body seemed to be coping with the wound far better his mind was now playing catch up, the burning pain of taking two bullets to the gut was making it hard though.
“Just stay still for a second sweetie it’ll stop hurting soon,” Eva cooed brushing errant strands of hair from Vergil’s pained face. The bleeding had already stopped and she knew that the wounds were already sealed over, but that did nothing to abate her concern.
“I’m fine…” Vergil attempted, but another hacking cough sprayed blood over his chin and he decided it was best not to protest. Apart from anything he didn’t really want to. He was not fine, it hurt and trying to act grown up didn’t seem all that appealing at the moment. The only thing which stopped him from complaining about the pain was Dante’s wide-eyed gaze lingering on him as he watched over Eva’s shoulder.
Eva smiled recalling how many times she’d heard her husband say that. Sure Sparda could take a bullet to the brain and still be fine, but there had been times when he would never admit that something had in fact hurt – just like Vergil was doing now. She saw a lot of Sparda in her sons sometimes; it was almost painful to watch them.
“You’re not, just stay still,” Eva said softly removing the sweater she’d been using to staunch the wound. Though it was hard to tell through the blood she was certain that Vergil had healed and that it would be of no more use. She was just about to see if Vergil could sit up when the younger twin now sitting to her right caught her attention.
“Dante let go of that,” she snapped snatching the shotgun from his hand and flicking out the shells with a deftness only one with years of training could possess. She stood, hurriedly placed the gun on a high shelf before turning back to her sons suddenly remembering that she should be cross with them.
Dante was the first to notice his mother’s change in demeanour and jabbed a finger at his twin. “It was his idea!”
“Dante,” Vergil hissed though he didn’t have the strength to say much else.
“I don’t care whose idea this was I have told you not to come in this room and now look what’s happened!” Eva scolded hands on hips all fear for her sons’ safety forgotten. “As soon as Vergil’s feeling better I’ll think of a suitable punishment.”
“So you see that’s why he doesn’t like guns,” Dante finished eyes fixed on Vergil waiting for his reaction. “It’s not because he thinks they’re ‘not proper weapons’ or however he puts it, it’s because he’s afraid of them!”
Vergil’s book finally dropped to his lap and he rounded on his younger twin. “I am not afraid of them.”
“Yeah says you,” Dante replied smirking at Vergil’s irate expression. He had learned in the past month or so that it was still incredibly easy to wind his brother up and it was far too much fun watching him when he was in a bad mood.
“I am not-”
“Well it would explain a lot,” Lady joined in thoughtfully twirling one of her own pistols around her finger. “It’s fine to be afraid of something everyone is.”
Vergil blinked, how could she be listening to his brother and taking him seriously? Didn’t she know that Dante couldn’t say anything sensible for longer than two seconds before it was turned into a joke? “I’m not afraid of those things.”
“It’s alright bro, like she said it’s okay to be afraid,” Dante continued standing up and crossing the room to where his brother was still sitting on the couch. He spread his arms out with mock enthusiasm. “Do you need a hug?”
Vergil threw his twin a death glare as he rose to his feet and brushed past completely ignoring Dante’s out-spread arms; not that Dante had really expected him to accept the offer.
“I guess that’s a no then,” he observed as Vergil moved over to the table where Lady was still sitting. As much as Vergil would have liked to storm off and find somewhere quiet that would be backing down and admitting defeat, neither of which he would do willingly.
“Well then seeing as Vergil’s still in denial I’m gonna go have a shower,” he watched his brother’s face curiously now noting that his twin seemed calmer than ever. That was something he had learned to be afraid of; his brother was watching him with the detached serenity of a psychopath.
Heading for the door he threw one last remark over his shoulder unable to stop annoying his twin despite the fact he was now on very dangerous ground. “Vergil just doesn’t like things he can’t control, do you Verg? Me being one of them.”
Lady didn’t have the time to speak as Vergil snatched her gun from her grasp aiming it at the back of his brother’s head. A second later there was a resounding bang and Dante dropped to the ground like a sack of grain.
“Maybe I should revise my opinion of these a little,” Vergil said handing the gun back to the still stunned Lady and smirking at his brother’s pained grunt. “It appears that they do in fact have their uses.”
-Lady Luce
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