inbox (duocaeli)

[chlorokyll]

DUONET ID: XxMillionsKnivesxX

"You know what to do."

✉️ ☎️ 📷

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[verselet]

[The nature? Dante gravitating towards his humanity, and Vergil shunning it. At the very core of everything, this is what it boiled down to -- departed from his whole self, V could see that with more clarity than ever before.

But that's a little too deeply personal of a take to share. So he opts for an example of an actual event.]

The way to go about obtaining power. It's a long story, but I wanted something from the Demon World, once. He disagreed that I should have it at all. And so, we fought.

[chlorokyll]

[ The Demon World. Knives stares at that for a long time, delaying his response because he doesn't know what to make of it. He's never heard that exact name before, but there is truly only one way to interpret it.

And this all feels oddly familiar, more than he was expecting, despite him doubting that it could be. ]

The Demon World. As in Hell? What sort of power did you hope to find there?

[verselet]

That’s right. Hell, the Demon World, the Underworld, the Netherworld. Whatever you feel like calling it.

There was once a demon named Sparda who defeated the Demon King in ages past. So, to say that he was simply strong is an understatement. Eventually, he sealed his own power within the Demon World, fearing his own strength had become too much.

I wanted to break that seal and make it my own.

[As you do.]

[chlorokyll]

[ Knives is going to take a moment to process the fact that such a place exists where V is from. For all that the Eye of Michael spreads its rhetoric to the masses, he is aware that religion is manmade. Still, he's always wondered if there is truth to be found in it.

He and Vash, angels sent by God. Of course, they're also manmade.

And the Demon King, surely that is Satan? And V had wanted the power of the demon who bested him. Yet again, Knives feels that he has been lied to. ]

This does not sound like the ambition of a mere man.

[verselet]

[He's not lying, he's just stretching the truth!]

You're wrong. It's the ambition of someone who feels that they're lacking in some form or another. In strength, in this case.

But that might as well have been someone altogether different. A lifetime ago.

[chlorokyll]

You're telling me a mere human is capable of gaining the power of a demon who opposed Satan himself? I find that incredibly hard to believe.

[ Someone altogether different? A lifetime ago? Hmm. ]

I have lived a century and a half, and in my experience, a lifetime is not enough to truly change someone.

[ Just look at Vash. ]

[verselet]

[Who opposed Satan himself? The parallels are not wrong; the Demon King was otherwise known as the Prince of Hell itself, but also several other monikers that suited the ruler of the Underworld. He might as well be called Satan, too, but V feels the need to correct Knives anyway.]

His name is Mundus. And believe whatever you like, but a "mere human" is capable of plenty when one's mind is put to something.

[That's a gentle sidestep from the accusation that he's not telling the truth!]

There also has to be a willingness to change. That, I find, is the hardest part.

[chlorokyll]

[ Mundus? It's not a name that Knives recognizes from the Bible or any history book or piece of fiction, but it could simply be a different name for the same entity. If their worlds are parallel to each other in the way that he suspects...

But he will believe whatever he likes, thank you very much. It's clear to him that there is more to V than meets the eye. ]

You feel that you've changed, then? How so?

[verselet]

Because I learned that what I was wanting, that great power, was a result of something else. A fear, lodged in deep, that I was trying to patch up or remove in any way possible.

Even at the detriment of everyone else around me.

[chlorokyll]

[ There's a long delay before Knives responds to that message, because he feels seen in a way that he hadn't been expecting when this conversation started. He's suddenly relieved that these are simply typed messages and they're not having this talk face-to-face.

Not that he feels any sort of regret for humans suffering. As for his brother? He's sick. Everything Knives has done, he's done for him. ]

You decided your brother was correct after all, then.

[ Couldn't be him. ]

[verselet]

[Oh, but there's a line drawn there. Even V has trouble giving his brother that much blatant credit. He would rather attribute it to himself; literally, this half of him, who had to undergo so much to become whole yet again.]

I never said that. My brother is still an idiot, through and through.

No, I was the one who came to this realization. It simply took me reaching my lowest point to do so.

[chlorokyll]

[ They can just 🤝 over having idiot brothers. Because as much as Knives might care for Vash, there is also no doubt in his mind that he's a stubborn fool. ]

Your lowest point. [ Knives has yet to be burned to nothing as his brother chooses humans over him, so he's not quite there. And even then, there's probably an even lower point he'd have to get to in order to change his ways. ] And what was that?

[verselet]

[Yeah. A "stubborn fool" describes Dante very well; Vergil's probably called him that more than once.]

A time when I was weak and dying.

[But if Knives wants the specifics, he's not going to get them today.]

Everything was put into a different perspective, let's just say.

[chlorokyll]

[ Weak and dying. Knives knows that he isn't dying at the moment, but the way this place has weakened him has certainly forced him to shift his habits to some degree.

He doubts it would change his entire perspective on life, though. ]

Weaker than this place has made us?

[verselet]

Yes. Here, I might not have all of my familiars with me, but at least I am still very much functional.

[chlorokyll]

Had something drained your power more intensely back on your world?

[ Sorry, if there were lines to be read between to sense that V doesn't want to talk about it, Knives clearly doesn't care. ]

[verselet]

Yes.

[And yet he does not expound. He doesn't care if Knives doesn't care. The hint is glaringly bright.]

[chlorokyll]

[ Ah, fine. He knows a brick wall when he sees one. He would probably be just as reticent were their positions reversed. ]

And where did that leave you? After you made this great realization that the power you coveted for so long was not what you wanted after all?

[verselet]

[Good. Not that it could have been any more obvious.]

It left me with cleaning up something of a mess I had made prior.

And then that left me here. And thus, here I am.

[chlorokyll]

Do you believe there to be some connection? Between cleaning up this mess and arriving here?

[verselet]

I can't say. It's hard to imagine that there's any connection at all without knowing why everyone else has been brought here, too.

So what about you? What were you doing before you found yourself in this world?

[chlorokyll]

I had found a means by which to access the higher dimension, the Plant core from which all those countless resources originate. With that power, I planned to create a paradise for my brother and my sisters, as well as create more Independents.

[verselet]

[On its own, not a terrible goal. To create a home for himself and his own kind, as well as create more like himself... That just sounds like a race trying to survive.

But he's already gotten a little extra context by way of this man already admitting to decimating a town to achieve his goals. So he has to ask-]

And what of the humans?

[chlorokyll]

They will be systematically wiped out.

[ Yep, he just admits it. No shame, because why would there be? ]

[verselet]

[He's beginning to understand where the sticking point is, here.]

...Surely you see the problem with this.