not_every_mage | Holiday Inn, Limbo City, Friday Evening

Holiday Inn, Limbo City, Friday Evening

Anders had booked and paid for the room, ignoring the clerk's dirty look at the blood and muck on their clothes. They wouldn't be the only people caught in the day's devastation looking for someplace to sleep tonight

He'd silently followed Dante through the hotel halls to their room, and placed a quick order for pizza before he took off his boots and crashed out on the bed. The thousand bruises and scrapes of the battle stung his skin.

He should shower. He didn't want to move.

He turned to Dante, still registering faint surprise at the newly white hair. (He supposed they were lucky if that was the worst permanent change Dante saw.) Words failed him when it came to addressing the true horror of the day, but he should at least say something

"They said the pizza should be here in about half an hour," he said. "I'm actually impressed it's not longer, considering."

[OOC: For one, NFB.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Does it seem real yet?" Anders wanted to know. "I'm not sure it does to me, and I was mostly watching."

"No, not really," Dante said softly. "Maybe after pizza. Or something. Don't feel like much is solid."

Anders reached over, running a hand down Dante's arm. "You're solid," he said. "I'm solid. The bed's solid. I can't swear to anything else."

Dante chuckled softly in spite of himself. "Point," he said, smoothing back a few stray, loose strands of Anders' hair. "'s good enough for tonight, for me."

"Good," Anders said, smiling at the touch. "Because I'm almost as worn out as you are. I think that was a lot for all of us. I'm glad you didn't try to take it all on yourself."

It was strange, that the gentle boy touching his hair was the same person who'd been red with demonic energy a handful of hours before. Anders wasn't sure what he thought about that.

"I didn't want people to get hurt if they didn't need to," Dante said quietly. "Vergil caused enough of that."

"He did," Anders agreed. "Maker, that was bad. Somehow even after what happened with Kat, I didn't think he was as -- broken as he turned out to be."

"I don't know--"

Dante bit down the end of that sentence.

"Why?"

"Why didn't I know?"

Anders was surprised, had to consider the question for a moment.

"I guess because he's your brother," he said simply. "I hated everything he did the other weekend, but I had to believe there was some plan there, something I couldn't understand. Stupid me, I didn't think the plan might be ruling the world."

"I mean... why would he go there? What the fuck happened to him?" Dante said, sounding vaguely helpless. "'Cause-- I was the same. Figured he had a plan, at least."

Anders made a frustrated little gesture of his own with the hand closer to Dante. "Bad childhood? Something he ate? You'd have to ask him," he said. "I wish I could guess, but I can't."

More quietly, he added, "I'm just glad you didn't go along with him."

"Didn't even think about it," Dante said - and he didn't hesitate this time, either. "I didn't fight Mundus so I could replace him as the guy fucking everyone else up. Everyone deserves to be free."

"Absolutely," Anders said, not needing to hesitate either. "But there's never been a shortage of people with power who don't know that."

"I know, it's just..."

Dante frowned at the ceiling. "She did everything for him," he said. "And he just blows Kat off like she's nothing."

He was circling around to the core thing that was bothering him.

Anders frowned too, surprised by Dante's choice of target. Of all the things that bothered him about Vergil, disrespect for Kat was not at the top of the list.

It was easy to see the similarity to certain past conversations.

"Sounds like you're talking about what Kathy did to you," he noted. "That betrayal."

It wasn't just disrespect, in Dante's book. Like a fundamental unwillingness to admit Kat meant anything, was a person.

Which didn't mean that Anders hadn't just hit a nerve.

"Maybe," he said slowly. "Like... do I just attract this shit?"

"I don't think so," Anders said, wanting to be honest. "I think it's something you're sensitive to. And I think it's a really awful thing to do, treating somebody like they're just nothing."

"And ditching people 'cause you think your way's right," Dante said quietly.

Hey there, ceiling. He hadn't looked at you in at least half a minute.

"And that," Anders agreed. "Vergil even said he loved you, but he was ready to fight to the death as soon as he found out you didn't see things the same way. That's a weird kind of love."

"The kind that only counts if you're on board?" Dante asked. "Yeah."

He sucked in a deep breath. Then he turned over, sliding an arm over Anders' shoulders.

Anders squinted at Dante, smiled, and reached out a hand to touch his hair.

"It's going to take me a while to get used to this," he observed.

Dante's mouth gave a little twitch. "Think it suits me?" he said. "What a way to get a dye job, right?"

"Anybody else would just go buy some peroxide, but you had to do it the hard way," Anders said, barely biting back a smile. "But it looks good."

"Hey, cool," Dante said. "'m not getting dumped over my hair today."

He ran his fingers up through Anders' hair again. "And you're stuck with me for a while."

"Looks like it," Anders agreed, tracing a thumb over Dante's mouth. "I'm selfish enough to think that almost makes everything that happened to the city today worth it."

He knew that wasn't quite right, morally speaking. One life against half a city destroyed? It shouldn't have felt as balanced as it did to him.

He decided not to question his feelings too much. Not right then.

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