A/N: I know, it's been a long time since I updated. But meh. I've been having a seriously bad case of Writer's Block. Can't blame me now, can I? Tip: Let the vids load first, and when you see the title of the song hinted in BOLD, play the vid that has the same title. That way you can get a feel for what emotion the songs can bring.
Songs in this chapter:
Beethoven Virus/Sonata no.8 "Pathetique", 3rd Movement by Beethoven. (The song that Vergil hears Jade play the first time)
Ave Maria by Schubert (The song that Vergil tests Jade with in a piano/violin duet)
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Complicated
MazdaKitsune
Chapter 2 - Beethoven Virus
Moving is such a bother....
Well-polished shoes clicked against the marble floor as the silver-haired man walked along the corridors with a very annoyed look on his face, books tucked under one arm. The first thing to do is to sue the Cretan that built this place, then the university for making their students look for their classes with all the building's winding corridors. Hence why Vergil was walking the new building on his own after the morning class, getting a feel for the place and taking note of where the different classes and faculties were. But much more than that, he wanted to avoid the girls that always seemed to stalk him and his brother, and of course, his ever so annoying brother. That, and he was irritated beyond degree. Just that morning, the lecturer had announced that a concert night was going to be held at their new building in lieu of the university's moving, along with some exhibitions and games. Of course, it was merely to promote the new premises, as well as do some fund-raising that will no doubt go into the..... never mind. Some things were better left unsaid.
But back to the original topic, Vergil had been picked to give a performance during the concert night, nominated by none other than Dante. The older brother had seethed and protested, but the younger had gone on to brag about how good Vergil was at playing various musical instruments, especially when it came to classical pieces. The effect of course, had been exactly as Dante had foreseen; fan-girls sighing and chatting in excited admiration, and Vergil had been picked to "play a pretty piece, no protests or questions." To which, the blue-clad twin had seethed and later on, had accidentally (deliberately, really. With a sadistic smirk on his lips) given his sibling a "nudge" over the edge of the mezzanine floor's balcony. The shrieks and swears from Dante as he clutched on to the railing, feet flailing like mad (to the horror of his female and some male fans in the Dante fan-club), attempting to pull himself up again, was like music to his ears.
Of course, the detention that the red twin received for allegedly "trying to impress the girls by jumping off the mezzanine" doubled the pleasure.
Now, though. Vergil only had one problem, and that was the performance. He was not like his brother, who enjoyed the attention day in and day out. No, he preferred sitting out of the spotlight and working in silence, rather than create a show for everyone to watch. Hence why he was in a foul mood. Playing during the concert was fine, but he knew that his fan-club would only increase and oh, how he longed to take the heads off those irritating airheads that followed him and tried flirting with him day by day. He had broken so many hearts already, not like he cared anyway, but all he requested was to complete his studies in peace and silence. He had no interest in females whatsoever, and detested even the thought of having to share his life with one of them. To him (with the exception of his mother and a few other women), females were a complete waste of time. Now Dante might beg to differ, especially with a random girl hanging off his arm each week, but he lived with what he stood by, and pointedly ignored any attempt made to capture his attention. Attention... attention? Wait.
His footsteps slowed, then stopped as he straightened and looked behind him. His attention had just been captured, and it wasn't by any group of girls, they were all too busy fawning over Dante back at the mezzanine. It had been..... there it was again. Vergil frowned and turned, closing his eyes as his sensitive hearing picked up on... a bow rubbing rapidly against strings. A violin was being played. And he, being one that had an ear for classical music, immediately recognized the song as the third movement from Beethoven's Sonata number 8, Pathetique. As if on it's own, his feet turned on it's own accord, following the source of the sound. This melody.... though it's not well played, nor even at a very skilled level.... it's amazing how it has a sense of.... dare... about it. Almost as if the person isn't afraid of anything, it makes my heart vibrate even with each rise and fall of the bow. Who is playing that...?
Vergil's feet finally stopped, and he opened his eyes, realizing he had been letting his feet guide him, walking based on hearing alone. He was standing outside the Annex, and the rapid playing of the violin had gotten stronger. Staring at the handle, he took but a second to contemplate before grasping it and pushing the door open silently. On the stage at the other end of the room where a baby-grand piano sat in a corner, a raven-haired girl stood playing a violin. She seemed vaguely familiar, and he struggled to remember who she was, before it dawned on him.
She was the girl he had bumped into the other day, the same girl that had been in his Business Communications class in the last semester.
(Flashback)
"Be careful." Vergil looked down at the shorter girl that had ran right into him, his ice-blue eyes accessing her. He didn't get the reaction he was expecting; no widening of eyes, no sudden gasp or squeal, no "Oh my GAWD, it's VERGIL~! I'm soooooo sorry~! Btw, you look really hot today~!" and a giggle. No, all he got was a "Dante...?" with a surprised look on her face. It took him by surprise that this girl wasn't like the others, but there were always exceptions.
"No." He sighed irritably and ran a hand through his hair to slick it back. "I am not to be confused with the fool of my brother, though it can't be helped since he used up my bottle of gel yesterday. My name is Vergil."
"Oh, um... sorry."
She brushed past him, and he noted the discarded file plus the scattered notes before turning his body slightly, in tandem with her so that his hand caught on to her elbow gently but firmly even as his knees bent so that he could pick up the file. "Hold on. Is this yours?" Her notes were colorful, and catchy to the eye, written in a neat, narrow hand. And then there was this picture of an angel, one with two ponytails that seemed to flare dramatically around her body, but only one wing. She wore a short dress that hugged her body and swirled around her legs, both without shoes as she hovered on some kind of pond as seen by the dramatic ripples rippling out from the tip of her toe and the distorted reflection done in soft shades. The one-winged angel held a feather or quill of some sort in her upraised hand while the other clutched a... book to her chest. Her face, though seen only from the side, was facing the sky, eyes closed with some sort of peaceful longing while feathers rained down around her. Not bad, if he did say so himself. Not much interested him, but this did, and he wondered what the inspiration behind her drawing was. "You're an artist?"
"No, it's just a hobby." He relinquished the file to the girl when she scampered back and started shoving everything inside, looking both embarrassed and sheepish. "I don't draw much, really don't have the talent to. But sometimes inspiration just hits me and I can't help but pick up the pencil."
"Nevertheless, it's a good drawing." Vergil raked his eye over her. No squealing, no fandom, not even one word about his good looks. Dante would have been disappointed, but all she did was just pique his interest a bit more. There was something different about this female, he could sense it. Yet he didn't know what. But by the time he had marked his attendance and exited the class, she was gone.
(End of Flashback)
Emerald eyes opened as the girl sensed his presence, then her irises met his, widening in surprise as shock registered on her face, blinking at him for a moment over the violin. Vergil merely stood there for a while before placing his books on one of the chairs before making his way up the stage to the piano. "Sonata no. 8, if I'm not wrong."
"I-It's actually a modernized rock version of it. Beethoven Virus, it's called," she said hurriedly, lowering her bow and violin. "I'm sorry, I know I'm probably not allowed to play in an empty class like this, but I-"
"Girl. What is your name?"
"Ehh?!"
"You heard me." Vergil sat down at the piano and opened the cover before placing a finger on one of the keys to test out the sound. A clear middle C rang out in the room and he nodded to himself before giving her a glare when she remained silent. "I'm sure you have a name."
"It's Jade. Jade Cross. Vergil... right?" She gave him a tilt of her head, and a slightly suspicious look, wondering what he was up to. "You were in my class last semester."
"Correct, considering we never even talked to each other face to face then, except for the time when you ran into me." Vergil stretched his hands, then placed his hands on the keys. "Ave Maria by Schubert. Do you know it?"
Jade nodded slowly, recalling the melody as she sifted through her memories. "Yeah. I played it on piano before, but never on-"
"It doesn't matter, you only need to remember how the melody goes. Play." Vergil began to play the accompaniment on the piano and Jade gave him a murderous glare that turned into one of wonder as she listened to his playing, then fitted the violin between her shoulder and chin and lifted her bow.
Ah... there it was again, Vergil thought to himself, closing his eyes so that he could concentrate better. Ave Maria's accompaniment was decidedly easy for someone like him, but he wanted to test this girl to see if she was a fluke or not. The first time he had heard her, he had heard the raw determination, the fierce dare of someone who had fire in them. But it was easy for someone to get caught up in the song, playing it just for the fun of it, or because the accompaniment set their heart pumping; playing on impulse. So he had purposely asked her to play a slower, haunting melody to see if she could bring out the emotions of the song. And she did. She was no professional, and he could detect mistakes in her playing, yet the melody carried a kind of gentle warmth in it, something that soothed the soul. Though something told him, she wasn't an original player of the String Instrument. Her passion lay elsewhere, he could tell. He cast his eyes to her approvingly as the song came to an end and he stood, walking over to her. "Let me see your hand."
Blinking, Jade did as she was told, and Vergil peered at her fingers closely before breaking contact. "You're actually a pianist, are you not? You have the fingers of one."
"Yeah." She flushed slightly red with embarrassment, then turned her sight to the piano instead. "But I got interested in violin recently and decided to try it out. After all, one's never too old to learn music, ne?" A wry smile was directed at him at the end of her sentence and he merely returned it with a cool look. "I have this really.... insufferable teacher. I had violin classes today, and decided to practice in one of the empty classrooms cause... well, cause my teacher kept complaining I wasn't good enough and-"
"You talk too much." Vergil cut her off again, shaking his head slightly with a frown. She and his brother could go well together. He didn't need to know the details of her class. Short and simple, straight to the point was enough. "Come to my house this weekend. I've been picked to perform for the concert night, and I need a partner. No... Rather, I need a diversion. You will be the lead performer in my place, while I play the accompaniment in the background. In other words, we will perform a duet, but the spotlight will be on you. No buts, just be at my house by 10am this Saturday. We have a music room where the acoustics are sufficient for both of us." Stopping by his books, he tore out a piece of paper from a notepad and wrote down his address before passing it to her.
"Wait a minute!" Jade protested as the paper was placed in her hand. "I-I didn't agree to any of this! I can't perform in front of a crowd! I just picked up the violin, and I'm not even good at it yet! And besides, I get stage fright!"
"The fact that you can play the rock version of Pathetique is proof of how good you can be when you're not thinking about it." Vergil replied in a clipped tone as he gathered his books and prepared to leave. "That version is even more complicated than the original."
"I just did it for fun!" Jade yelled at him, looking desperate but a pink tint had colored her cheeks. "I like to dance to the song, that's all!" But she got no answer. Sighing, she looked down at the address written, then raised an eyebrow. "Austere Saint's Street? That's just one neighborhood from mine. I live on Austere Saint's Curve."
"All the better. You can walk."
"You're unbelievable."
"So are you. Tell me, Miss Cross." Vergil stopped at the doors and turned around to face her again. "What got you interested in music in the first place? Not specifically the piano or the violin. Just music as a whole."
Jade stared at him for a bit, and then her gaze turned thoughtful. "It was... Beethoven, I suppose. You know those music boxes? I got one when I was a little girl as a present from my mom, and they had this tinkling Fur Elise playing each time I opened it. And I found it funny, cause in my elementary school, the older kids used to scare us with this song, saying stuff like, "The ghost of the school would come out at midnight and play this melody on the piano, slow and sad." I got scared, and mom told me it wasn't true, and that Fur Elise was composed by a famous composer named Ludwig van Beethoven, who was a deaf. It was a love song titled "For Elise". That's how I got interested. I began listening to his songs, and before I knew it, I was hooked."
"Beethoven, huh...? Funny... that's how I got interested in music too." Vergil finally returned the wry smile to her. "Not by the way you spoke of, but by listening to his songs."
"I suppose it's infectious." She smiled at him.
"Yes. It's a virus. Beethoven's virus." He turned back round and pushed the door open before walking out.
