All the right friends in all the right places
All the right moves in all the right faces

It had always been a dance of dominance between the two of us. I presume that things had always been this way because I can't recall a time when it was any different. Always, or often enough, our goal was the same; our methods, however, of achieving said goal were quite opposite.

Dante wanted to follow in Sparda's footsteps. Protect mankind, reach his full potential and go beyond the limits, fall in love with someone who could handle him and his heritage, accept him for who and what he is.

I wanted the same. My way of getting to Point B was vastly unlike my brother's.

I'm not an asshole. Everything I did was for her. I can't be crucified for reaping the rewards of my labour. I gave her solace when she needed it. I tutored her in the way of swordsmanship ; I taught her self-defence and about the demon world. She wouldn't have accomplished half the things she has if it hadn't been for my input, like gambling at a now-extinct demon club, or her most impressive feat yet – leading the prince of hell straight to my front door.

It's the quiet ones you have to watch out for. I'd always known she had the ability to destroy, the competence that, once pushed to it, she would kill. Dante had willingly been blind to it.

You can't love someone if you can't fully accept them as they are. You can't love someone without knowing them. Lust, it seemed, has been a convenient substitute for love.

Had Dante seen what I have, he would put a bullet in her head. Had he known what I knew, he would have hunted her down. He truly had no idea. This is a positive thing. Some things need to be sacrificed to keep control.
Sparda sacrificed his freedom for ours. Eva sacrificed a life with us to build a new one in an undisclosed location with our younger sibling. Kat gave up communication with me to appease a jealous and insecure Dante. I sacrificed my doppelganger to satisfy Cora's thirst for vengeance.

I'm the only one who holds this truth. The rest of the world is under the illusion that Sparda mysteriously disappeared and that Eva had died in the onslaught. Even the genius Mundus believes he, in his words, 'fucked Sparda over and feasted on the whore Eva's beating heart'. I guess the heart of a doppelganger tastes no different from that of the real thing. Nor do the screams sound any different.

It took me slightly off guard to see Cora venture into the demon realm, time and time again, merely to watch my doppelganger being 'tortured'. It was all a put-on, though few are privy to this knowledge. I have a legion on my side who do both my bidding and report to me. The demon realm, just like the human realm, revolved around the ladder of fame and success. If you had the right connections, you could get anywhere, do anything, with a snap of your fingers.

I digress. Cora's visits grew tiresome and worrisome as she grew frailer every time she came by, and stayed longer every time. Until she threatened the life of our child. Perhaps she did so for spite, but all things considered, I couldn't risk her following through with it.

Naturally, I had her followed. Arranged a phone call from the hospital claiming they had found abnormalities in the womb. As I'd predicted, Cora went straight to hospital, despite the dangers she would be putting herself and the child in. Revenge made people dumb. I still don't quite know what her plan was. I had her induced. I was in the other room as my daughter took her first breath of air. I was the shadow behind the wall that Cora never noticed because she never looked for it.

I had them kept in hospital for a while. Cora a couple of weeks. Karla, as I named her, for just over a month. Cora came in once since her discharge. Whether it was to see if Karla was still alive, or to contemplate some scheme to smuggle her out and to the demon realm, I didn't know. I found a pair, among my subjects, who had proven themselves worthy of my trust. Linard, an old shapeshifting elemental, and Imara, one of the most powerful witches under my watch. I appointed them, in human world terminology, as the foster parents of Karla.

Cora had been overjoyed when the call was made to inform her that her daughter would be put up for adoption. She didn't bother to find out who or where, which suited me fine. I had the peace and freedom to raise my legacy. But as Karla grew into a powerful person of her own, I watched Cora diminish year by year until I could scarcely recognise the girl she'd once been.

I had the cure. It would still be effective. I could-

"Must be really good. What is that, a porno?"

-kill my brother.

I pointedly looked at him across the rim of the papers I held in my hands. I hadn't heard him come into the office. His red leather coat was scorched and marred with holes, his vest shredded. He barely spared me a glance as he stomped across the room, a glass of whisky in hand, to the bathroom.

"I believe they call it erotica," I said and returned my gaze to the pages before me.

What had I been doing again? I scanned the page I was on, trying to grasp onto my train of thought before it had got derailed by memories of Cora. The picture of Karla, beaming from ear to ear at the camera, caught my eye again.

Karla S. has been chosen to represent Fortuna High with the Education Board at the next Council Meeting. Fortuna High's straight A-student and President of the Mathematics Club…

I didn't bother to continue reading and looked to the photo of a group of young men on the page opposite.

Nominees for White Knight Training

It didn't surprise me that they neglected to put Nero's name in the list below the photograph. He looked at odds with the others with his mop of unkempt white hair and his hunched shoulders. He didn't look at the camera and, for all intents and purposes, looked like he really didn't want to be there.

"So is it?" Dante asked.

I sighed and turned the newspaper for him to see. He'd shed his coat, vest and gloves, and had that infuriatingly sly look on his face. He snatched the paper from me and scanned it for less than a second before throwing it back onto my lap.

"The kids are doing well," Dante said and went to slump on his couch.

"That's not what I'm showing you," I retorted.

"I know," Dante said and tipped back his glass.

Hiccup: Hi! Welcome back! I hope this doesn't disappoint :)

If you haven't read I Hate Everything About You, I'd recommend you do. This is the sequel. It's not a stand-alone story.
You need to go read it.
...unless you're just going to skim all the parts to the scenes with Dante in it. In which case: GO FOR IT. Who cares if anything makes sense, as long as there is DANTE.

(...although you get to see 'Dante' nekid in the prequel...just an incentive...don't say I didn't tell you...)