The Thin Ice

THE THIN ICE

This is a Devil May Cry Vergil songfic.

Disclaimers: All characters are the property of Capcom.

The Thin Ice song lyrics are © Pink Floyd (only one of the greatest bands of all time, in my own humble opinion).

Content Warnings: This fic contains scenes of graphic violence and gore. There’s also quite a bit of angst. If these things bother you, don’t read on.

Author’s Notes: Because the song is separated into slightly different moodsets, this fic takes place in two time settings: one from the time of Eva’s death, and the other in Devil May Cry 3’s Mission 7 (A Chance Meeting: Duel of the Demon Children).

The fic obviously contains massive Mission 7 spoilers, so don’t read it if you haven’t played it yet!

There’s a sliver of a reference to the DMC3 manga, but it’s nothing that can’t be concluded anyway.

The story is told strictly from Vergil’s POV. It should also be noted that this isn’t exactly a happy fic.

And lastly: Please comment / review.

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// Momma loves her baby,

Eva was screaming.

The anguish and abject terror in her voice cut Vergil to the bone; far more so than the Hell Lust’s scythe protruding from his chest.

She was screaming for him.

He fell forward onto his hands and knees, the broad, curved weapon sliding out of his body with a dull, wet sucking sound. He wanted to reassure her; he wanted to tell her he was alright, but he couldn’t speak. His throat was full of blood, and it poured out when he opened his mouth, gushing up from his mangled lungs and spilling over his fists balled on the ground.

His head was full of her cries; they were all he could hear. They became even more despairing as his elbows buckled and his cheek struck the dirt, locks of white blood-stained hair settling across his face.

// And Daddy loves you, too.

The Yamato katana, his only memento from his father, was lying just out of arms reach. He began to stretch a hand toward it, but Eva’s words were finally penetrating the painful fog engulfing his consciousness:

“No, Vergil!” she was screaming. “Leave it!”

He loved her; he wanted to obey her, but he couldn’t.

Not when there was so much pain in her voice.

He thought he could help her, if only Father would lend him the strength. His whole body was trembling and his arm felt like lead, but he stretched his fingers toward the sword.

Eva’s cries turned suddenly to pleading, and Vergil gritted his teeth in fury. He had never heard his mother plead or beg, and he wanted nothing more than to put an end to the cause of her suffering.

// And the sea may look warm to ya, Babe,

But it was him.

She was pleading for his life, and he could only watch helplessly as a grotesque foot crushed his fingers against the ground; as Yamato was kicked gracelessly out of his reach.

His senses had become blanketed in a rich, wavering languor; the ground beneath him was saturated with his blood. Eva’s voice was fading in his rapidly deafened ears and he could no longer make out her words.

He felt the scythe penetrate the back of his neck, severing his spine and emerging at an angle from his splintered sternum, point embedding itself in the ground.

// And the sky may look blue.

His vision swam; vivid colors melted together amorphously, and he lost all connection with his body. The only pain he could feel was emanating in waves from the base of his neck, and even that was fading swiftly.

His eyes closed; he could still faintly hear Eva’s voice, but it was disembodied and distant now.

// Oooooo Babe.

Dante had hidden in time; he was safe, Vergil knew.

Eva had made sure of it.

// Oooooooo Baby Blue.

He knew there was nothing more he could do. His identical twin’s face dissolved in his mind’s eye; his mother’s voice faded from his consciousness.

Anguish knotted itself in his throat and made his eyes burn beneath closed lids.

There was nothing he could do for her now.

// Oooooo Ooohh Babe.

If only he had been stronger… he could have saved her; saved all three of them.

If his father hadn’t disappeared…

Or if he had had Sparda’s power…

His thoughts were fleeing. A welcoming darkness was rushing up to him, and he met it and embraced it with an overwhelming sense of relief.

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// If you should go skating,

The sky was darkening; a cool rain began to fall. Vergil was gathering his scattered thoughts, compiling them and filing them away in the recesses of his mind.

Though years before, Eva’s death weighed on him still, and his younger twin’s cowardly betrayal of power irritated him further.

// On the thin ice of modern life,

As he stood atop the Temen-ni-gru, he gazed down at the city below, a veritable den of human inequity. It disgusted and fascinated him at the same time; he was contemptuous of human lifestyle, but could never resist the urge to scrutinize the meaningless lives of the people around him.

Dante especially…

// Dragging behind you the silent reproach,

He heard steps behind him.

“You showed up,” he said, inclining his head and turning slowly to face his younger twin.

He watched his brother pace slowly as he spoke; the same useless prating as always. Vergil held Yamato closely to his side as Dante raised Ivory and stared down its barrel at him.

“So… this is what they call a heartwarming family reunion, hm?” the younger brother drawled.

Vergil’s annoyance was prickling, but he refused to allow it to show in his face. Why did Dante’s devil-may-care attitude irritate him so much? He couldn’t possibly be envious of his brother’s juvenile carelessness... but something in Dante’s demeanor was goading a small part of him to feel ashamed.

The cold rain stung his face. Vergil roused his concentration, focusing on the task at hand.

He thumbed the katana free of its sheath with a click. “You got that right,” he growled.

// Of a million tear-stained eyes,

Rebellion spiraled through the air; as it pierced the ground with a metallic clang, Vergil drove Yamato into his brother’s abdomen.

Dante clutched the blade, slicing his hand open in the act; Vergil stared coldly down at him. “Foolishness, Dante,” he snapped, jerking the sword deeper into his brother’s body. The younger twin gasped and choked. “Foolishness,” Vergil whispered.

Pained, angry eyes stared up at him; Dante’s teeth were clenched and his jaw set in furious defiance. It slightly unnerved Vergil, but he had become too adept at concealing his turmoil to allow his younger twin to see this.

And he had come too far now to permit doubt and second thoughts to cloud his judgment.

// Don’t be surprised when a crack in the ice,

He withdrew the sword; it seemed to take eons for Dante to fall, and Vergil grasped the amulet hanging around his brother’s neck. He felt the chain snap as his twin collapsed onto his back, scattering blood and raindrops.

// Appears under your feet.

The rain had plastered his hair to his forehead. He swept it back out of his eyes and purposefully strode toward Rebellion.

Vergil’s confidence had been shaken, and he needed to rectify his cause. If killing his twin would put his confusion to rest, he would do it decisively, and he would do it now.

Behind him, Dante groaned and stirred. Vergil whirled and lunged forward with Rebellion as the younger brother attempted to sit up.

He planted the heavy demonic blade in his twin’s chest and felt it clang and reverberate as the swordtip struck the concrete beneath Dante’s body.

// You slip out of your depth and out of your mind,

Vergil watched as dark blood blossomed across the ground beneath his younger brother’s inert figure.

Some form of sorrow was twisting in his chest. Dante’s eyes were closed and his lips were parted, his arms outstretched in a fashion that struck Vergil as inappropriately innocent. It made him seethe inside, and at once, he wanted to strike his twin’s body again and again, to mutilate everything he stood for…

But at the same time, he wanted to take that limp form into his arms and feel the fading warmth of his flesh. He wanted to cradle his brother’s head in his arms and stroke his pale cheek…

// With your fear flowing out from behind

But it was done.

Vergil’s outward expression didn’t waver from one of stony contemplation as he gazed at the shimmering amulet clutched in his hand, and then at his brother’s body.

He would open the portal to the demon world with the amulets, and he would achieve the power that Sparda had sealed within the gateway.

He would quell this unsightly fear and regret with raw force.

There was nothing standing in his way now…

And with a dull ache, he realized he had nothing to return to either.

// You as you claw the ice.

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Closing Author’s Notes: This is my second songfic, and while I don’t think it’s an improvement (not by a long shot, plus it’s a different genre), hopefully it isn’t a horrible disappointment either.

I’m actually pretty displeased with it myself. Nothing for it though, you can’t win ’em all… better luck later. It was a quick one, so I don’t feel I wasted too much time with it.

Anyhow, if you liked it, I greatly encourage you to comment / review.