Vergil's OneShots (DMC Fanfiction)

The Image Of Sparda

A/N: I am not satisfied with how this story turned out because the focus on Vergil was too limited, but I have written too much to completely re-write it again. 

On a sidenote, this will be my last update before I leave for exchange, so the next part might not come within 2/3 weeks if I'm still busy settling down in Japan :) Wish me luck.

[The Image Of Sparda]

Anya Scalia entered the 67th town named Aldbay after her escape. It had already been 4 years, and she was more or less used to the usual routine upon reaching a new place. The first thing to do was the hit the marketplace to keep a lookout for any Association members that might be undercover there. It was not likely that a small town like Aldbay would attract any attention from the Association, but Anya could never be sure.

But if Aldbay held no connection with the Association, then the number 2 thing on her list was to buy some food because she was starving. The friendly old man that she had hitched a ride together with on the road had told her that Aldbay was just a half-day's walk from where she had dropped off on the country road. It had took Anya a day and a half. She hadn't been prepared to be travelling so long, and by the time she decided that she wasn't going to make it to Aldbay by the end of the day, it had already been too late for her to hunt for some food. Anya had slept on an empty growling stomach, woke up early and continued her journey.

With the hood of her coat covering her bright red hair, Anya made sure that she was safely in the refuge of a shadow at a corner of the big marketplace. Closing her eyes, Anya breathed in deep once, and let it out slowly, sending her senses out. Her power felt as strange to her as if it was her first time touching it. Having lived 21 years without power, 4 years of practice with it wasn't going to make her any more used to it. Besides, she never had any formal training with it before.

Not like she knew anyone else with her powers who had managed to escape the Association's grasp like how she had done.

Anya concentrated and filtered through the sounds that rushed into her ears. The talk around the marketplace was normal: the standard gossip, haggling over prices and complains of the weather in the recent months. There was nothing out of the normal; no reference whatsoever to any Association-related topics or anyone that Anya knew to be related to the Association.

The town was clean.

Satisfied with her small scan, Anya pulled her powers back and opened her eyes, stepping forth now that she had been given the go-ahead. As she stepped into the marketplace proper, the smells made her stomach rumble embarrassingly. Unfortunately, though she had no currency of Aldbay. She had travelled a long way since the last town she had been to, and she was rather sure that the currencies that she had left in her backpack was not going to be accepted here.

She needed some quick money, and she knew exactly where to get them.

Picking her way towards the butcher's, Anya made sure that she stood inconspicuously and out of everyone's busy way as she hung around a barrel of water. If whistling was a normal occurrence around the marketplace, Anya would have whistled to make herself seem like another piece of background in everybody's life as she tapped on her power again. This time, she gestured quietly with her fingers underneath her cloak, feeling her power connect to something hiding behind the barrel.

Stealing was generally a crime, but Anya found it hard to feel guilty about stealing from a thief himself. Granted, there were more hygienic places to keep stolen money, but right beside the butcher's dirty and bloody stall was a good way to keep out curious souls. Unfortunately, Anya could not complain about the state of the money that she was stealing back from the thief, as she pocketed the small bag full of gold coins and walked away naturally.