Vergil's OneShots (DMC Fanfiction)

Playing The Villain

A/N: I had great plans and ideas for this short story, but too little time to develop it fully. 

[Playing The Villain]

The door opened and closed, the brief sound of deafening rain outside muffled once again into a comfortable background ambience. Rashtia von Ludergeiss ignored the rainwater that she had brought into the small shed, staring at the cloaked figure who sat still in front of a square wooden table, with a single candle on it. Very much like Rashtia, the hood of the figure's cloak hung low enough so that only the bottom half of a face could be seen, and she made out a square jawline and hard lips pressed in a line.

It was not difficult to guess that the figure waiting quietly for her was a man, and she assumed that her gender was equally easy to guess from the same evidence. She was still only one step into the mid-sized shed, cautious. The shed was completely empty with the exception of the figure, the table, the candle and two chairs. There were no hidden corners –no spaces where ambushers could hide in waiting for the right moment. She had been a little concerned about the two small square windows on both sides of the shed, but she had not seen anyone near the shed at all when she had approached it. It was safe to say that the two of them were alone. At least for now.

Rashtia's caution paid off. As if her hesitation had been too long for the man's liking, he made the first move by revealing his hand in a gesture for her to take the seat across him. In his one move, Rashtia noted many things.

He wore fitting white gloves on his hands –gloves that were for knights or nobles only. His forearm, when he had stretched his arms out to gesture towards her, had a multitude of uneven scars; battle scars. And just very briefly, when his cloak had moved along with his hand gesture, she had seen a stiffness along the side of his body; he had a sword strapped to his side.

Rashtia took careful note of all the observations that she made as she took her seat across the man. Because she had been the one who had arrived late, she had been at the disadvantage of showing the man her general height and stature. The rain had not been helpful –the water had forced her shapeless cloak to show a general body silhouette. Meanwhile, the man across her was in his dry, shapeless cloak and could possibly be hunching to hide his actual height.

In terms of the ability to recognize each other after today, Rashtia was at a sore disadvantage at the moment.

"You have come far and gone through much to have a chance to meet me." The man said, and if Rashtia could trust her ears, she guessed that it belonged to a young man somewhere either in his late teens or early twenties. She hid her surprise well despite the fact that she had actually been expecting to be meeting someone later in their years.

The trials that she had to go through just to meet this man had been so carefully planned and well executed to get a judge of her capability, personality and determination had given Rashtia the impression that she was dealing with an individual who had amassed a large well of experience that came from age.

"You have not been the easiest person to find." Rashtia answered, keeping her voice low. In her non-official dealings, Rashtia had always made a conscious effort to hide the real calibre of her voice. Even if it only helped a little, Rashtia was willing to do anything to keep her real identity hidden in her mission.

"For good reason. But if you have passed the tests, then you must know what I have been looking for." The answer came back confident, and though Rashtia had initially been suspicious if the person in front of her was another test or the real mastermind of the tests, she now easily concluded that he was indeed the one she had been dealing with all this time. If he were a fake, then he were a very good one, and Rashtia would have to concede defeat to find another path to her goal.