Nero was lying in bed that night wondering about what else could possibly happen now. Everything seemed to be going back to normal, but he knew the people would never see him that same again. He heard something and looked around to see absolutely nothing. He grumbled before cuddling up in his warm blankets and falling into a deep sleep. The next morning Nero shot out of bed and looked around. He was sweating and his devil arm was glowing brightly. He took this as a kind of sign that he had just had a nightmare. He climbed out of bed and looked around his decent room. There was a knock on the door and he turned a little too quickly, causing him to stumble back.
"Nero, don't you have to get going?"
He turned to look at his clock and realized it was noon already, had he really been sleeping all that time. He got dressed and quickly gathered his weapons. When he took off out the door he passed by Kyrie quickly enough to almost knock her off her feet. While he was out he noticed the glares he was getting from most of the people, some seemed more decent than others. Nero ran a hand through his hair as he walked around, patrolling the area and making sure that there wasn't a demon in sight.
The doors flew open and Dante let the magazine fall into his lap as he tipped his head forwards a bit to see who was there. Though there was only one person around that would kick the doors open like that, Lady.
"I'm busy" Dante said
"Look I have a job for you" she said
"Not interested" Dante said before placing the magazine back on his face and attempting to get back to his nap. Lady reached over and pulled the magazine away before tossing it to the side.
"It's on the banks of Fortuna" Lady said
Dante faltered for only less than a second before he pretended not to be concerned,
"Why would that make a difference?" he asked
Lady crossed her arms before studying the devil hunter closely, she knew it would and did make a difference but she wasn't up for a big argument over it right now.
"Take it" Lady said "I have something else I need to do"
Once Lady left Dante turned to look at Rebellion, which was leaned up against the wall and on his desk sat Ebony and Ivory. He took less than a minute to muse it over in his mind before he grabbed and holstered Ebony and Ivory and placed Rebellion on his back. He took in a sharp intake of breath before heading out the door.
Nero sliced and shot at the Cutless that swam around him, but they were faster than they looked and Nero knew he had to get them out before he could do some real damage. He growled menacingly at the demons before he focused on one at a time, he shot at it until it stopped swimming, then in a split second he swung Red Queen and dug the Cutless out of the ground. He then hacked away at it, anger evident in his attacks. The other Cutless weren't too pleased with how Nero was trying to kill their friend so they made a move to attack, and Nero wasn't really paying too much attention. The Cutless came down at him with full force. The first one cut him down the back, pushing him forwards, and the second cut across his chest. Nero howled in pain before grabbing the second Cutless with his Devil Bringer and started chocking the life out of it. He then turned to the others, but he couldn't seem to find them.
"Damn it" he cursed as he looked around
He could still feel them and so he knew they were around.
"There were three, one is injured, one is dead and one is at full strength" Nero said to himself
Suddenly he heard something below him and without stopping to look he jumped back and just barely dodged the Cutless that sprung out from under the ground. Nero reached out and grabbed that one as well, with a quick shot from Blue Rose he found that was the injured one. Now he just had one to deal with. Nero caught sight of the last Cutless, but something seemed to spook it as it was now retreating and Nero could sense the power of a stronger devil. He spun around to look but he saw nothing, he figured if the demon hadn't come out by now it was probably not going to fight so he headed back towards his place. While he walked he was very observant as he didn't want that demon to get the drop on him. When he got into town he noticed there was no one out, they must have heard the fight with the demons and ran to hide. Pathetic humans Nero growled at his demon's remark, but he didn't entirely disagree with it. When Nero got home he found that Kyrie wasn't around, not that he cared that much he just needed some sleep. His head was aching and he knew he was going to have to track down that Cutless again.
It was nightfall when Dante arrived on the banks of Fortuna, he knew better than to go into town no matter how much he really wanted to. He could feel his demon growling and almost begging him to go. Dante began to search the banks in as much peace as he could get with his complaining demon side. There wasn't much to be found and Dante began to wonder if someone had beaten him here. But the sudden presence of a strong devil caused Dante to look around carefully before cautiously continuing his walk. It wasn't very long before Dante actually found himself in town, he groaned at how his demon side somehow persuaded his tired body to walk to town.
"Damn you" Dante whispered
He felt his demon laugh almost evilly as he continued his walk. Even though he knew being here would probably only cause trouble he couldn't bring himself to leave, not yet. He soon picked up that scent he had missed so much and he followed it to a rather plain looking house. Dante snuck up to the second story window and peered in to see the sleeping teen. His demon was begging him to open that window and jump into that bed, but Dante knew better than that. He was in the middle of arguing with his devil when he noticed something; it almost looked like the kid was having a nightmare. Dante scanned the area and then he felt it, but only at the moment he saw could he feel it. The demon must have noticed him to because once he had seen it; it disappeared through the floor and was gone. Dante noticed the kid was waking up so he jumped down and decided to see if he could find this shadowy demon.
Nero woke up quickly and looked around, he knew he heard something. But that was beside the point when he smelt and felt the presence of someone he hadn't seen in far too long. Nero walked over and opened his window; he peered out into the darkness as if he would find the one he sought. With an exhausted sigh he decided on leaving the window open before going back to sleep and dealing with the situation in the morning.
Then that morning there was a banging on his door. With a grunt and a groan he got up, got dressed and walked to the door. The moment it was open some of the guards that worked for The Order stormed into his room. He felt a little offended and angry as the men searched his room.
"What are you looking for?" Nero asked
"We were told you were harboring a demon here" the man said
Nero was completely flabbergasted, the hell where they smoking all he did was kill the demons. He kept these people safe and they were accusing him of being the problem. Nero ran his hands through his hair, trying to keep cool about this whole thing. Hopefully it would pass quickly; these people didn't need another reason to hate him. Nero was about to leave them to their search but one of the guys grabbed his shoulder and spun him around.
"Are you harboring a demon here?" he asked angrily
"No, I am not" Nero answered as calmly as possible
"Don't lie to me you piece of filth" he said
And that was crossing the line; Nero pushed the man back with enough force to send them both flying backwards. The man fell through the window and Nero fell into the hall. The man's partner drew his sword and proceeded to attack Nero, who slipped past him and back into the room where Red Queen was leaning against the bed. He picked up his sword and blocked the man's attack. Nero growled before grabbing Blue Rose and back flipping out the window, he landed safely on the ground but the gasps that rose from the crowd only served to make the already angry teen even angrier. He stifled the demonic growl that threatened to release as he ran through the crowd and away from those crazy people.
Dante could hear the commotion from the tree he sat in, he could feel all the anger that was radiating from Nero and he knew that something regrettable was probably soon to follow. Dante jumped down from where he sat and quickly made way to find Nero and hopefully keep him from doing something bad. He found the kid sitting in the Opera House. When he entered he remembered the first time the two of them met, Dante smiled a little before he walked closer to the other. He was only steps away from him when, without looking, Nero aimed Blue Rose and fired at him.
"Go Away Demon" Nero growled out
"Geez be more careful"
Nero jumped to his feet that voice was way to familiar to him. He looked around but whoever it was was now hiding somewhere.
"You could have killed me, Kid"
Now Nero knew because there was only one person who called him kid. Nero rolled his eyes before sitting back down on the ground.
"You gonna come out" he called
"Well since you insist"
Nero spun around as the voice had come from right behind him. Nero cursed as he fell back and hit the ground. He looked up to see a smug smirk on Dante's face.
"What are you doing here?" Nero asked
"Me?" Dante said "well I was just in the neighborhood"
Nero got to his feet and turned away, not wanting the elder hunter to know how he had been feeling recently. He decided to walk away and leave this encounter behind him.
"Where are you going?" Dante asked
"I have work to do" Nero growled out before walking out the doors of the Opera House and leaving Dante there to wonder just how wounded Nero was.
Nero found his way to he docks of Fortuna and there he began to wonder. Everything he tried to do ended up in either a giant mess or a complete failure, which were basically the same thing. Nero bit down on the thumb of his left hand, refusing to allow himself to cry over something like this. Unknown to Nero, Dante was standing there watching he could feel the pain Nero was in and it hurt him. Dante jumped back when he heard the sound of people coming. Nero stood up and turned around to see the whole town of Fortuna was staring him down.
"Demon you killed that Order official" someone yelled
"No, it was him, he did it himself" Nero protested but he knew they wouldn't listen
"Why would you do this, Nero?" Kyrie asked
Nero grabbed his head; he had every negative emotion known running through him. He felt ready to let go and just destroy everything in his sight. However before the thought could finish there was the sound of gunfire and everyone, excluding Nero, ducked down. Nero spun around to look for the source, though he had a pretty good idea of who it was already. The town's people cursed at Nero and finally the teen had had it with them, he dove into the water and swam off. He didn't really know where he was swimming to, but anywhere was better than there.
When he got to the shore of some place he looked back, he could barely see Fortuna from where he was, at this point he let out all the anger he had on the surrounding trees. The falling trees caught the attention of some passersby; they looked a little concerned about the condition of the teen, but they continued on their way. Nero dropped to his knees and broke down crying. He didn't even care to stop when he heard someone coming, he turned to see Dante giving him a solemn look, with out hesitation Nero ran to him and Dante welcomed him with open arms. Nero buried his head in Dante's shoulder and Dante slowly caressed the teen's back as he listened to him cry. When the crying died down Nero looked up to Dante, who was looking down at him with a gentle smile. There was the sound of a loud explosion and Nero and Dante both turned to where the city of Fortuna was and watched the place go up in flames. Nero and Dante both looked concerned but neither made a move. Instead Nero buried his head into Dante's shoulder again and let himself slowly fall asleep.
Dante smiled and picked up the sleeping devil hunter before heading on his way back towards his home. About halfway through the walk Nero stirred from his slumber and looked at Dante with a little confusion. He was going to ask where they were going, but then it dawned on him that he didn't really care where it was. Nero squirmed a little to get in a better position; Dante looked down and smiled as he watched Nero yawn. It was strange to him but Nero realized that was the best sleep he had had in weeks, for some reason his nightmares were no longer there. With a slight nudge Dante set Nero down and the two continued to walk.
When they finally made it to Devil May Cry, Nero looked around curiously as if he was inspecting everything. Dante couldn't help but laugh at how Nero was looking at everything, though when Nero heard him laughing he turned and shot the elder a glare which caused Dante to stop laughing but he kept a grin on his face.
"There's an extra bedroom upstairs" Dante said
Nero nodded his head before dashing up the stairs to meet this room of his, more specifically the bed. That night ended up as any other for Nero, he was sleeping peacefully for the most part but then the nightmares struck again. Dante was downstairs when he felt like something was wrong, he would have dismissed it but his demon was growling loudly and almost possessively. Dante jumped up from where he sat and ran up the stairs and breakneck speed, he threw open the door to Nero's room and found a shadowy demon leaning over the younger hunter. Dante growled before lunging at the shadow only to have it change form and simply dodge him. Dante turned to see that the demon had changed to a more human form, however its eyes were a glowing red and its nails became long. It swung at Dante, but Nero shot out of bed and caught the clawed hand with his own. However Nero was exhausted from whatever the demon had been doing to him and that caused him to loose his hold a little and the demon managed to throw him across the room. Dante jumped at the demon and knocked it to the ground before he ran over to Nero, who was unconscious. Dante growled before looking back at the shadow demon, who snarled but disappeared. Dante turned back to the younger hunter, now extremely concerned about his condition and what that demon wanted. He carried Nero down the stairs and quickly got on the phone with Trish, hoping she might have some answers, though she wasn't happy to be woken up at 2 am.
"Dante what do you want?" she almost snarled
"A damn shadow demon attacked Nero and now he's out cold." Dante said quickly
Trish had to take a moment to think.
"Wait Nero's there with you" she said "and what attacked him?"
"A Damn Shadow Demon!" Dante yelled
Trish could hear that there was more fear rather than anger in his voice.
"Let me see what I can find out about them" Trish said calmly before hanging up
Dante laid Nero down on the couch and sat on the ground beside the couch unwilling to move and not knowing what exactly to do. Take his hand Dante was confused at what his demon thought that would accomplish but he did it anyway. The moment his hand made contact with Nero's Devil Bringer there was a flash of light and Nero sat up quickly, while Dante felt a little tired.
"An energy transfer" Dante whispered to himself
Dante stood up slowly, but then almost fell over; Nero jumped to his feet and grabbed Dante by the shoulders to steady him a little.
"I just need some sleep, Kid" Dante said
"Yeah of course you do" Nero said as he rolled his eyes.
Nero watched as Dante dropped himself onto the couch and fell asleep. He leaned in close to see if Dante had actually fallen asleep when the doors opened and Nero jumped up.
"Am I interrupting?"
Nero turned to see Trish standing in the doorway, a book in her arms.
"No you weren't" Nero said
Trish slowly nodded her head before walking in and closing the door behind her. She walked over to the desk and opened up the book. Nero was curious so he walked over to see what she had come for.
"A shadow demon is one that feeds on fear; well I mean its victim has to be in a state of fear for the Shadow to feed. What it does is when its victim is in that state it sucks the life energy right out of them." Trish explained
"That explains why it came after me, I have been having nightmares recently" Nero said
"Well that and the Shadow can create fear from nothing" she said "if it cant find someone already in that state it will find one with great strength and force them to feel their worst fear"
Trish turned to see a pink blush on Nero's face; she waved her hand in front of his face to see if he was still with her.
"Hey you in there?" she asked
Nero snapped out of his trance and turned away from Trish, only to see Dante awake and getting up. Nero's face turned darker red and he turned and headed for the stairs. Dante gave Trish a quizzical look before walking over to her.
"What's up with him?" he asked
"Don't know" Trish said
Nero slammed the door to his room and sat on the bed, before looking at the door.
"How can those nightmares be my worst fear?" Nero asked himself
'Because you love Dante and are afraid to lose him' Nero's demon said
"Hey shut it you" Nero said
'Sorry for speaking the truth'
"Im gonna kill you"
'Uh ya can't'
"Don't tempt me"
While Nero argued with his demon he felt a tinge of pain in his head and he fell backwards onto the bed. The demon inside could sense something was wrong but it had no idea of how to tell anyone. With a sudden idea the demon caused Nero to howl out and with both Trish and Dante down there they heard it and came running. When they got there the shadow demon hand Nero by the throat and Nero looked a little out of it. Dante growled and was going to attack, but Trish held him back and pointed to the corner where another demon stood.
"Attack either of us and the poor boy gets it" a female voice said
"I'm… Sorry" Nero managed to say
"There's nothing you need to be apologizing for" Dante said "now what do you two want?"
"What do you think they want?" Trish asked "they want your strength"
"Trish go get Lady she might be able to help" Dante said
Trish nodded and took off. Dante snarled at the two before letting himself calm down a little
"Then take it but let him go" Dante said
"Come this way" the woman beckoned
As Dante began to do as she asked Nero began to struggle against the grip the demon had on him.
"Dante Don't" Nero forced the words out.
Dante looked at Nero and smirked before stopping in front of the woman in the corner, she nodded her head and the shadow tossed Nero to the ground as the woman placed her hand on Dante's head. Nero wanted to get up and do something but he couldn't find the strength to do so. When Nero watched the energy that was passing from Dante to the woman he growled weakly, he had to do something, anything. When Dante started to fall backwards Nero found Yamato in his hand and he sprang to his feet. He first caught Dante and then swung the sword at the woman, but she jumped away and with the shadow she disappeared. Nero collapsed to his knees, with Dante in his arms. Soon the door opened and Lady and Trish ran in. When Nero saw them he growled menacingly and held Dante closer. Trish reached her hand out as if to show Nero that they meant no harm, but it wasn't convincing him. Nero bit at the hand, but Trish managed to retract her hand in time.
"He seems a little pissed" Lady said
"Yeah thanks for the update" Trish snapped
The two watched as Nero mumbled something as he set the sword down and tears filled his eyes. When Lady shifted her position a little, causing the floor to creak, Nero snapped his head up and snarled. Trish got the point and took Lady by the shoulders and pushed her down the hall. When Nero was sure they weren't going to come back in her looked down at Dante. He couldn't tell if he was still alive or not.
"You damn idiot" Nero whispered "why'd you do it. Why did you have to prove my nightmares true?"
Nero's demon had enough of this pointless whining; there was something that had to be done. Nero rubbed his eyes, with his one free hand before setting Dante down. He looked at the sword that seemed to be glowing slightly; he growled and picked up the sword. He grabbed the blanket that had once been on the bed and wrapped the blanket around Dante and took in a sharp breath.
"You wait there, okay" Nero said "I will be back soon."
He then turned to the open window, determined to kill those demons for what they have done.
Trish almost jumped from where she was seated; Lady raised an eye brow at the blonde.
"Nero is letting his demon take revenge" Trish said "he could get himself killed"
"So what do we do?" Lady asked
"You stay here, I'm going to get him" Trish said
"Yeah okay just don't let him bite your hand off" Lady called as Trish ran out the door.
Lady began to wonder if Dante was dead or not, so she walked up the stairs she was a little worried that Nero may have set traps to keep people out till he got back. She slowly opened the door but when she looked inside Dante was nowhere in sight. Lady looked completely confused and then decided to head out and to see if she could find out what happened.
Nero looked around before realizing that he probably wasn't going to be able to find them.
"Damn It!" He cursed "Come Out You Cowards!"
"You called" a female voice said
"What Did You Do To Him!" Nero yelled
"I just took his energy and there is no way for you to get it back" she said
"Wanna bet" Nero snarled before swinging Yamato and letting out a blast of energy
The woman dodged it easily and Nero felt his demon ready to let out all the anger at once, but Nero knew better. If he wanted to land a hit he was going to have to calm down and think. When he closed his eyes, he could hear the shadow coming up behind him, so he spun around and sliced its arm clean off, spraying blood everywhere. The shadow stumbled back and looked at Nero with fear in his eyes. Before a second could pass Nero grabbed the shadow with his Devil Bringer and turned to the woman. She could tell his demon was now the one calling the shots.
"You took my mate" he said "Now I will take yours"
"NO!" she screamed
She watched as Nero pulled his sword back and was ready to thrust it through the demon when something knocked the sword out of his hand and pulled him to the ground. Nero struggled under the grasp of who had pulled him down.
"Kid"
Nero looked up and his eyes went wide when he saw Dante on top of him, naturally he would have been embarrassed but right now he was all too happy to know Dante was alive.
"I can't let you take this path" Dante said calmly
Nero could feel himself ready to cry, the woman looked like she had seen a ghost.
"How!" she yelled
Dante didn't have an answer, but when he heard that Nero was going after these demons with only rage to push him forward, he knew he had to do something. Dante started to get up when the shadow demon looked at the woman and then at Dante.
"Kill Him" she yelled
The demon faltered, it wanted to what it was told but Dante just saved its life. Dante looked up at the shadow demon and it realized what was going on. It looked back to the woman before slowly shaking its head and disappearing into the ground. The woman screeched in anger and jumped at Dante, who spun around swinging Yamato and cutting the woman in two. As it happened Dante leaned in such a way that Nero couldn't see what was going on, all he knew is that the screeching stopped meaning the woman was dead. When Dante looked back at Nero, the teen noticed the blood that was all over the side of his face. Nero reached up and wiped some of the blood away; Dante placed his hand over Nero's and for a time they just looked at each other. Dante leaned down until their noses were touching, but Nero was a little bashful so he turned his head away and heard as Dante chuckled lightly.
"Nero" he whispered "please look at me."
Nero slowly turned back to look at Dante and when they were face to face once again Dante closed the gap between them. Nero's eyes went wide when he felt Dante's lips on his. It was rather quick and chaste but it was enough for Nero at the time. Trish had watched the whole scene from a distance and smiled when she saw the pure happiness that was shared between the both of them.
The next day Nero mumbled in his sleep before feeling something warm beside him. He slowly opened his eyes and saw the sleeping face of Dante. The initial shock of finding Dante in his bed caused him to jump up and fall back onto the ground. Dante woke up and looked over to see Nero on the floor.
"What are you doing down there?" he asked
"What are you doing in my bed?" Nero asked
"Sleeping" Dante stated
"I can see that" Nero said "but why in my bed?"
"Because I wanted to sleep beside you" Dante said teasingly
Nero glared at Dante for a moment before climbing back into bed and lying beside Dante.
"Thank you" Nero said
"Hmmm"
"For just being there" Nero finished
Dante pulled Nero closer before yawning, Nero snuggled as close as he could to Dante before letting himself fall asleep once again.