I am not dead! I'm actually working on the beginning of "Bleed For Me: Redemption", as well as another Oneshot called "Nothing But Trouble". That one being a Lady/Dante/Vergil story which I'm giggling over as I write it.

This is a Dante/Vergil story (NOT yaoi!). I love the twins together, but I wanted to basically put them in a quiet situation where they couldn't escape one another. You always see them fighting one another, or someone else. So, what if they had to sit and face each other? What would they talk about? What could be revealed, and so forth.

Hopefully you guys will enjoy this. It's a lot shorter than my other Oneshot, but "Trouble" looks to be a lot longer. Hopefully Chapter 1 of Redemption should be out soon.

R&R please!

Forced

In the history of long, awkward silences there had never been one to even compare to the one that stretched out between Dante and Vergil. In battle idle chat had been killed immediately by their blades. In those hours they relied on their abilities to do the talking for them.

Now though, each was without a sword, or even their hands with which to throttle each other. They had been captured and had awoken in this dank place. They were chained to the wall by cuffs that held a binding spell so strong, not even Vergil's will could break it. So there they stood, each on opposite sides of the room, forced to face one another. Neither though was looking at the other.

Vergil stood straight backed, the very epitome of elegance. His demeanor was unruffled, and yet he scowled to the floor. Despite his best efforts he couldn't help but notice the boots of his twin.

Dante, unlike Vergil, was making the best of the situation. He was slightly slumped against the wall, his leg stretched forward to draw idle things on the dirty floor. A sly grin was all that was visible beneath the layer of hair as he looked down at his masterpiece. An occasional breath of laughter escaping his mouth as he drew with the tip of his boot.

"Hey Vergil." He suddenly chimed. "Want to play tic-tac-toe?"

Vergil looked up at Dante with an icy glare that told him right quick that he was walking on dangerous ground. Dante only grinned more. What's the worse Vergil could do to him from over there?

"More of a hangman guy, huh?" He added thoughtfully as he crossed out his latest drawing with his foot. Dante went quiet again as he traced out a crudely drawn stick figure. Vergil looked at it oddly, as it appeared to be holding two... something's.

"What are those supposed to be?" Vergil asked. He didn't know why he had even bothered to speak at all. Dante looked up at him, the curtain of hair making him look like a kid as his face spread into a devious smirk.

"It's her tits." Dante quipped with his head turned to the side.

"You're foul." Vergil hissed, suddenly thinking that talking to Dante at all was a pointless waste of time. He turned his face to look elsewhere.

"Why thank you." Dante said after a moment, never looking from his drawing.

"Just shut up." Vergil growled at him.

"Come on Verge, lighten the hell up." Dante sighed. "Would it kill you to act like a decent human being for once in your life?" Dante grinned as Vergil glared daggers at him.

"You're enjoying this aren't you?" Vergil replied.

"Every minute. You're too easy to rile up." Dante winked at him. Vergil made to pull against the chains, but thought better of it. Dante was best ignored. He fell silent again and busied his mind with thoughts of what he'd do when he got free. It was only a matter of time now. He wouldn't be caught off guard again. If Dante hadn't shown up he might've not been captured all together. Dante… The never ending thorn in my side…

Dante continued to stare at Vergil long after he began to ignore him. He couldn't help but smile at this familiar tactic. For all the ways Vergil had changed, he could not drop his old habits of ignoring Dante when he felt it suited him. Nor could he stand idly by and let Vergil be so quiet. Even as children, Dante could make his brother talk if he really worked at it.

"Hey Verge… Verge… Vergil." Dante began, then letting his voice drop a little. "Vergil, Verge, Vergil, Vergil, Vergil, Vergil, Vergil."

"Shut UP!" Vergil roared. "Good god you're annoying as hell!" He looked about ready to snap as a vein twitched by his temple.

"I have to tell you something though." Dante replied, leaning back against the wall in a comfortable way.

"What is it then?" He growled.

"I think I found a penny." Dante replied, digging up a circular object from the dirt floor. Vergil's eyes flared at Dante and he tried pulling against the chains binding him. The harder he pulled though, the tighter the damn things clamped around his wrist.

Dante's laugh died in his throat as he noticed this, his brother's hands beginning to turn purple due to the lack of blood flow.

"Dude, calm down!" Dante said.

"It's your fucking fault!" Vergil spat. Dante's face faltered, looking startled for a split second.

"Yeah, well, whatever. You OK?"

"What would you care?" Vergil eased his pull and noticed the cuffs became loose as he stopped struggling against them.

"Geez Vergil, I just don't know. I'm just drawn to your generic smoldering rage. I-I think I love you!" Dante said in dryly. "Now you're just being an asshole. Why do you think jackass?" Vergil just glared at him. "Brothers, remember?"

"Vaguely" Vergil said in a flat tone. How could he possibly forget? He saw his brother's face every time he looked in a mirror. Well, a less goofy version at least. It was a curse, a constant reminder of all that he was trying to put behind him.

"Hey, do you remember the time..."

"No." Vergil cut in to Dante's question.

"You don't even know what I was going to say!" He barked in return.

"It couldn't be of any interest one way or another."

"Wow Vergil, it must really hurt." Dante said concerned.

"What?"

"That stick wedged up your ass. Turn around and let me pull it out."

"Want one to match?" Vergil growled, his eyes darkening.

"No thanks, I'm not into that kinda stuff like you are. Sick man." He had a knowing grin on his face that Vergil wanted to rip off. Keep your cool, this is what he does. Don't let him get to you. Instead, Vergil concentrated on a spider crawling in a darkened corner. It had a struggling fly in its web, and Vergil delighted in imagining Dante as the fly, and himself as the spider. Especially when the spider caught it and began to drain out its fluids.

"You paying attention?" Dante asked, scuffing a boot on the floor to get his attention. "I'm talking over here."

"Shut it, I don't want to hear you anymore."

"But dude, I'm so bored! And well, let's face it. How often do we get to play catch up? So, how's your love life? Mine, by the way, fan-friggin-tastic. I could introduce you to a couple..."

"Not interested." Vergil cut in.

"Sometimes I wonder about you. Maybe all this rage is a form of pent up sexual repression. Did you ever think?" Dante continued on, unphased by the body language from Vergil that said clearly leave me the fuck alone. "Or maybe you get more play than you're willing to tell me? You always were secretive."

"I wasn't secretive!" Vergil hissed, then recoiled at the sudden burst of emotion. Damn him! Dante only grinned wider.

"Yes you were. You always knew more than I did as a kid, but you never would share anything with me. Except playing swords of course." Dante gave him a wink. "I always beat you though."

"Cried like a baby when you lost is more like it." Vergil said. "You're still that way now from the way I see it."

"Always avoiding the subject. Let's delve into this rage young son of Sparda." Dante made a serious face, as if he were truly waiting to hear Vergil's life story, but Vergil only ignored him. "You never could answer any of my questions, even back then. Remember when we were 5 or so? I asked you why the sun seemed to rotate around the earth." Dante grinned. "Finally figured it out." Vergil just gave him a bland, uninterested look. "Because I'm on earth, and everything revolves around me."

If Vergil had a hand to do it, Dante was pretty sure Vergil would've smacked his forehead. Instead, he emoted it through his cold eyes in a way that made Dante's grin widen.

"You're an idiot." Vergil said lowly, rolling his eyes. "I guess... it would make sense though, since everything was always about you." Dante's eyes flickered, his grin disappearing at these words. "Even with her, you were always the favorite."

"C'mon now, that ain't true!" Dante protested with a sheepish smirk. "You know it ain't."

"You were such a momma's boy, it was sickening." Vergil continued, looking as if he'd swallowed something distasteful.

"Oh yeah, you never complained when she snuggled with you." Dante interjected.

"What the hell are you babbling about?"

"Your nightmares. You didn't think they woke me up too? Mom was all the way down the hall and knew instantly when you weren't sleeping properly. She use to sleep next to you till you'd shut up, and then dose off too." Dante looked to the wall above Vergil's left shoulder. "I use to crawl in with you two after you fell asleep. Felt left out."

It was like a jolt, a past life not known to him before now. He remembered those nights as a child, of waking to find his mother on one side of him and Dante on the other. Three trying to squeeze into a small twin sized bed. He wondered when he'd forgotten them, as if the memory had somehow been stolen from him as he slept. The ways ones body and mind could betray you even when you still try to convince yourself you're in control.

"I remember when she made us grilled cheese for the first time. She burnt them beyond recognition." He wasn't even paying Vergil any mind, just continuing to talk as if he were alone. "I didn't want to eat it, but you told me to. It'll hurt her feelings. You told me, because she had tried so hard. I was mad at you for saying it, because it made me feel guilty for not eating it. So I did." Dante let his boot sweep over the floor, demolishing all he'd drawn there. "I remember her smile. Her laughter at the look of obvious dislike on our faces. I also remember her tears, which I could never figure out. You said if we ate them she would be happy, but she cried anyway."

Vergil swallowed as Dante force-fed him the things he had worked so hard to forget. She had cried, just a little bit. Parents are oblivious to just how much children can see. She tried to hide it, but anyone could see there was a lingering sadness mixed in her delight whenever she saw them.

"It was because of our father." Vergil said, making Dante suddenly look up.

"How do you know?" Dante asked, taking a moment to recover from his brother's sudden ease of speech.

"Look at yourself in the mirror sometime. You may have forgotten what he looked like, but I have not. It doesn't matter now though, does it? We were a burden to her no matter how you look at it."

"Shut up!" Dante barked, showing the first real sign of true emotion. "Don't say things like that."

"Or what, you'll kick dust on my pants?" Vergil cocked an eyebrow at him in amusement. "You only rise to this because you know I'm right."

"No, I'm getting pissed because she's your mother too you ass. Whether you want to acknowledge it or not you're supposed to be my brother, and the brother I knew wouldn't say or do anything that would hurt her."

"You brother is dead." Vergil hissed. "How many times must I try to kill you to prove it?"

"Not dead till I give him permission to be." Dante growled. "Besides, you can try all you want big brother, but in the end you won't kill me."

"I won't? Enlighten me then Dante."

"It would be like killing yourself, wouldn't it? After all, we are two halves of the same twisted coin aren't we? Besides, without me around you wouldn't have a worthy adversary, life would get dull, and you'd have to impale yourself on your kitana out of sheer boredom. So shut up and let's figure out how we can get out of here so I can kick your ass."

Vergil stared at Dante a bit dumbfounded, but quickly recovered.

"Whatever." Vergil said, reaching his arm up behind his back into his collar. Dante looked at him strangely for a moment.

"What are you doing?"

"I just remembered something." Vergil said, struggling to find something there. "I would've remembered sooner, but you were distracting me. So shut up." He finally made a huffing noise as he pulled something small from his collar.

"A bobby pin?" Dante asked with a withering look on his face. "Dude, these things have spells on them, a pin isn't gonna..." Before he could finish his sentence though Vergil had managed to get one of his cuffs undone. "What the fuck?!"

"They're demon's Dante, dealing in magic's and spells. Spend too much time on the big stuff, and the smaller details are overlooked. Besides, when was the last time you saw a demon who even knew what a bobby pin was?" He asked, finally freeing his other arm.

"What I want to know is if you pulled that from your hair..." Dante asked, trying to stifle a laugh. Vergil placed it on his collar and made sure to show Dante he did NOT put them in his hair. "Ok, ok, me next!" But Vergil turned to look at him with a maddening smile.

"Oh no, you can stay here. After all, it was your blunder that got us both here in the first place."

"You can't just leave me here! I'll have no one to talk to!" Dante groaned.

"Is that all that concerns you? Well then, let me help." Vergil said, his voice going into a tone that was an evil playfulness Dante didn't like. Vergil looked around and found that same fat, black, and armored looking spider in its web. He walked over and picked it up into his hands where it almost seemed to come obediently. It stayed still on his palm as he walked towards Dante. "Beautiful things, spiders. I never minded them, but you use to have a problem with them didn't you?"

As Vergil asked this Dante's face went pale, his eyes widening at the sight of the dark blob in Vergil's hands. It rubbed its front legs together, as if it were eyeing Dante as a tasty meal. Vergil lovingly stroked the body of the spider, and it let him do it like a pet would enjoy its master's touch. He looked up at Dante, his pale eyes coming to chilly life with a childlike anticipation.

"What are you doing?" He gulped as Vergil came closer. Dante twisted away as he felt Vergil tug on the waistband of his pants, leaving a large gap between his navel and them. "Don't you DARE!" Dante yelled, now thrashing about. Vergil dropped the spider, which fell with deadly accuracy into Dante's pants. "GOD NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Vergil let out a genuine laugh as he watched Dante hop about.

"You should really learn to wear something under your pants brother. Don't worry, I'll make sure to kill everything here so you and your new friend have a long time to become acquainted more... intimately."

"I'm going to KILL you V-V-Veraaaahhhh!!! It's touching me, no, don't go there, STOP!!!"

"You two play nice now." Vergil said smiling, tears almost coming out from his laughter. He walked towards the door and kicked it off the hinges. "Ahhh..." Vergil said, bending over as the door fell to the floor with a clatter. "Look Dante, I think I found a penny."

Vergil walked through the doorway, flipping the coin in his hand. His laughter echoing to mix with Dante's horrified screams.