Chapter 1:

Mundus.

That wasn't a name Dante heard often these days. Not since he'd beaten the Demon Emperor more than ten years ago on Mallet Island… but for some reason, these days, he was hearing it a lot…

And that bothered him.

Everywhere he looked, every case he took, the people and demons involved all threw the name Mundus around like it was the latest fad out of Hollywood. By the time he took his tenth case this month, he'd punched a man in the face, pumped a demon so full of lead he couldn't tell the difference between it and the bullets, brought down an entire building to silence one deranged cultist and walked away from at least twenty different conversations with Trish.

And all because of /that/ name.

In an attempt to ignore it as he usually did these sorts of things, Dante did just that; ignored it. Every conversation, every case, every mention of the name Mundus. /Everything/.

At the moment he was sitting at his desk, feet propped up on the top of it with a magazine on his face to hide the fact that he was trying to sleep through another conversation Lady and Trish were pulling him into. A series of "MmHmm's" and "Sounds good's" or "Yeah's" slipped out from under the magazine as the girls tried to brief him on a new case. He just wasn't having any of it. Why?

Because it was a /Mundus/ related case. /Again/.

"Dante." Lady's irritated tone drifted into his ears. "Are you even listening?"

"MmmHmm." Dante's haphazard response slipped under the magazine, a startled noise escaping him when it was suddenly ripped off his face. "Hey!" He sat up a moment. "I was reading that!"

"Sure you were." Trish folded her arms and sat on the edge of Dante's desk. "If /I/ didn't know any better /I'd/ say you weren't actually interested in this case."

Dante just sighed and folded his arms, sitting back in his seat looking miserable. "Yeah? So what." He huffs. "It's just another group of zealots. I'm tired of dealing with these religious groups." He waves a hand dismissively. "Let the Order handle it. They like this sort of thing."

Lady retracted from Dante's desk and folded her arms as well, the three of them conveniently ignoring the knock at the door for different reasons. "Do you like money?"

Dante squinted. "What self-serving man /wouldn't/?"

"So?" Lady slammed the magazine down on the top of his desk when Dante just made a face and looked away. "Stop whining and take the case. Preferably /BEFORE/ the Order gets involved."

"I don't care if the order takes this one." Dante waved Lady off. "Call Nero why don't you, I'm sure he'd /love/ the history lesson." Almost as though he were on cue, Nero pushed open the front door and stepped inside, a loud groan escaping Dante as he saw Nero and 'company' walk into the establishment. "Oh GREAT!"

The Knight's of the Order slowed their pace, Nero scoffing at the remark. "Nice to see you too. Could have answered the door." He made a face and shook his head. "What's /his/ problem?" He motioned to Dante with his head and looked to Lady and Trish for an answer.

"Dante's whining because he doesn't want to take another case." Trish mused, earning a huff of disapproval from the elder hunter.

"That's NOT why I don't want this case." Dante squints at Nero and his compatriot. "Forgive me kid but the LAST time you walked in here we ended up on some friggin GOOSE chase to find your girlfriend that /I/ don't even remember!"

"Hey, as I recall YOU agreed to come with me, Jackass!"

"Only because I'd never hear the end of it if I left you again. It'd be the Saviour all over again with /these/ two around."

"Nobody asked you to come back for me!"

"Trish did!"

"So? Do you take /all/ your orders from her? What happened to the great Lone Wolf Dante, huh?"

"Scuse me?"

"…You sound like bickering old women."

Dante's attention was suddenly turned to the young man standing behind Nero now. "Yeah? And who are you, kid? The backup?"

Nero sighed and stepped in front of his partner to prevent the two from getting into it. "This is Night. He's a friend of mine from Fortuna. He's working a case with me."

"Oh yeah?" Dante moved, leaning to the side so he could peak around Nero to look at Night. "Yea don't say." He chuffed in amusement. "I didn't know you /had/ friends Nero."

"That's /real/ funny." Nero growls. "Bet you won't be laughing when I kick your ass!" And with that, Nero was reaching over Dante's desk to pull the hunter out of his seat, Lady and Trish quickly moving to the side and rolling their eyes.

"Oh my God!" Night on the other hand made an exasperated sound and turned for the door. "And THIS is the guy you wanted to help us with the case? Are you KIDDING me?" He makes a series of gestures with his hands. "You two can't be in the same room for five /minutes/ without going at it! How is this supposed to work?!"

Nero made a face and sighed heavily, retracting from Dante's desk as he turned to face his partner. "Despite his disposition he's actually a good guy."

"And /now/ you're defending him." Night squinted at Nero as the senior Order Knight almost closed the distance between the two of them. "You know, /you/ are a bloody hypocrite."

"How am I a hypocrite?" Nero scoffed.

"You told me you don't /remember/ what happened when Kyrie went missing last year." Night gave him a skeptical look.

"Yeah and I don't." Nero huffed. "I remember I had to save Kyrie, I remember I asked Dante for help and…" Nero's voice trailed off.

"… Annnd?" Night waved his hand around like he were trying to get Nero to elaborate further.

"And I don't remember what happened." Nero AGAIN huffed. "But that doesn't matter. What matters is that Kyrie is safely back in Fortuna and Dante can help us with /this/ case; /so/." Nero motions to Dante looking at them from his desk. "Do you mind if we finish up here?"

Night looked between Dante and Nero and eventually waved his hands and turned for the door again. "Fine, yeah, finish up here." He pulled his coat around him and pulled the door open. "I'm waiting outside. I feel like I'm /suffocating/ in this stuffy office. All I can smell is booze and stale pizza." And with that, Night was outside.

"Hey!" Dante threw his hands to the side. "I'm /right/ here!" Dante chuffed in irritation, looking to Nero as he approached the desk again. "What's /his/ problem?"

Nero again sighed and ran a hand down his face. "He's… got issues."

"Don't we all?"

"Lay off would yea? He's had it rough."

"So have I kid but I don't walk around insulting people's homes."

"Seriously?" Nero gestured to the side like he were exasperated himself now. "I'm here to ask you for your help and you want to lecture me about Night's manners?"

SERIOUS squinting ensued followed by Dante eyeing Lady and Trish cautiously before he huffed again. He figured whatever Nero wanted couldn't be any worse than what Lady was asking of him. "What d'you need kid?"

"I /need/ your help with this case." Nero looked to Lady and Trish for a moment as well before he continued. "More problems are cropping up faster than Night and I can deal with them and I don't know who else to turn to…" Nero paused and Dante shifted in his seat. "So… can you help?"

Dante mulled this over for a moment. "What kinda problems?"

"Demons mostly, but there's something off about some of the attacks I've seen lately. It's like the demons are looking for something or… Someone… And every survivor we've talked to has mentioned the same thing." Nero produced a small hand drawn picture and handed it to Dante.

The elder hunter took the picture and scoffed mockingly, gesturing to Nero with it. "You draw this?"

"No, Jackass; one of the survivors gave it to me." Nero glared at him and shifted uncomfortably. "His daughter drew that after the last attack; said this was what she saw in the sky moments before the demons hit."

Dante's look steeled and he let out a long, low sigh, his eyes trailing back down to the image in his hand. The image of three red orbs against a dark sky."…What was it you said they all mentioned?"

Nero rubbed the back of his head sheepishly trying to ignore the heated looks he was getting from Lady. "They all say they heard a name thrown around by some of the demons." The Order Knight gave a pause before he continued, almost like he were hesitating. "…The name Mundus mean anything to you?"

So much for ignoring it.

Night paced back and forth in front of Devil May Cry, the young man pausing and huffing like he were considering leaving before he simply continued to pace back and forth, back and forth, over and over and over again. It felt like he'd been out there for /hours/.
Finally the doors opened and Night's head shot up to see who it was.

For a moment he was hopeful when he saw Nero… And then his shoulders dropped when he saw Dante walk out after him looking ready for battle. "…. AWESOME."

"Give it a rest, Night." Nero huffed, lightly punching Night in the arm. "He's cool."

"Sure. Cool. Cool like /ice/." Night rolled his eyes. "Did you brief him? Does he know where we're headed? Does he know exactly what we're up against? Because /I'm/ not briefing him on the trip."

Now Nero rolled his eyes, looking to Dante as he joined the two Order Knight's. "Yeah, he's been briefed. He knows as much as we do now; maybe even more."

"More?"

"Apparently similar attacks have been happening around here too."

"AWESOME!" The sarcasm was practically oozing out of Night when he started pacing again.

"I get the feeling you don't like me much." Dante chuffed, watching the young Knight in mild amusement.

"I've got nothing against you I just don't understand why we couldn't /call/ you instead of coming all the way down here." Night scoffed, pausing to shoot Nero a look. "We could miss the next hit because of this."

"I told you it was easier to talk to him in person. It's too easy for him to say no over the phone." Nero huffs. "Besides that, we /need/ Dante. We'll make this work." He then waved a hand to stop Night from continuing for a moment, the young hunter looking to Dante now. "You ready?"

"You kiddin?" Dante chuffed again and started walking. "/Way/ ahead of you kid!"

Nero couldn't help but note the air around the older man as he strode off. Something about his tone said; 'Anything to get this over with.' to him.

Night on the other hand, wasn't convinced of Dante's intentions, his squinting almost hurting his eyes at this point. "I don't think he's as /cool/ about this as you say he is. I don't trust it."

Nero just scoffed. "You don't trust much of anything." Again Nero found himself waving Night off. "Come on, let's get this over with before he breaks something."

Night watched Nero jog after Dante for a moment before letting out another exasperated sound and following after them. "I don't like this! I don't like this at /all/!"

Dante's silence throughout the whole walk back to the train station irritated Nero. He didn't understand why the elder hunter was being so secretive about what he knew. The way he looked at the picture, the way he reacted to the name; it all spoke to him… But whatever it was saying to him, Dante wasn't talking. At all.

And Night's suspicions weren't helping the situation either.

"You gonna say something or…?" Nero finally had to ask (at Night's prodding), coming to a stop when Dante sighed and turned to look at him.

"Say something about what?"

"About the case."

"What about it?"

Nero huffed and crossed his arms, eyeing Night for a moment before he continued. "How about starting with what you know." He huffs again when Dante just waves his hand and starts shifting around on the platform while they waited. "Dante." Nero moved so he was in Dante's line of view again. "You know something about this that you're not telling us. Why?"

"I don't know what to tell you, Nero; I know as much as you do."

"Cut the crap, Old Timer." Nero pointed at Dante and followed him as the elder hunter tried to walk away from the conversation. "You know something. You've been acting weird ever since I mentioned the name Mundus to you now /tell/ me;" Nero grabbed Dante's arm and spun him around to face him. "What the Hell is going on?"

Dante pulled his arm away from Nero just as the train pulled up to the platform, the wind from it kicking their coats and hair around a little as they stood there. He studied Nero's expression for a while before he finally decided to say anything. "… It's personal."

"…That's it?" Night was aghast. "It's just /PERSONAL/? Really?" The young Knight made a series of hand gestures before he could manage to get another word out. "What does that even mean?"

"It means it's personal." Dante turned to face Night for a moment. "You wanted my help and you've got it. You don't need any more than that."

"Dante!" Nero called after the hunter as he walked off up ahead and got on the train. "Damnit Night."

"What? What did I do?" Night feigned innocence.

"Look, I know Dante can be hard to work with but come on." Nero grabbed Night's arm and pulled him along. "Just let me do the talking, will yea?"

"Fine but I /don't/ like this. AT ALL." Night huffed, following Nero onto the train.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again; you don't like much of /anything/."

Again Nero found himself sitting in silence, the Knight occasionally chancing a glance at Dante to try and gauge what the hunter was thinking. With a sigh he leaned back in his seat and let his gaze drop to Dante's feet propped up on the seat in front of him. Somehow, he /had/ to get this man to talk. "…Dante."

"What is it now?"

"…I know you said this is personal for you but." Nero sat up and leaned forward. "You know; part of working together means trusting each other, sharing our resources to get the job done." He pauses to watch Dante's expression. "…If you know something about what we're up against, we could use your expertise…"

Dante remind silent for a while as he mulled over Nero's words. With a low sigh himself Dante finally shifted so he could look at the two Knights of the Order. "Alright look. What I meant when I said this was personal was that I have a sort of... personal investment in those involved. I've got history with the name." He paused and noted the looks on Nero's and Night's faces. "How much do you two know about the Underworld?"

Nero shrugged. "Not much; just what I learned from the Order and you after the Saviour Incident."

Dante looked to Night. "And you?"

Night made a face. "I know as much as I was taught growing up."

"…Which is?" Dante gestured with his hand. "Come on kid; details. You want me to share you better start fessing up."

Night sighed heavily. "I know that there was a Demon Emperor who tried to take over the human world roughly 2000 years ago. The Dark Knight Sparda turned against him and quietly reigned over the human world until his apparent death. He took a human wife, fathered some kids; that sorta stuff."

Dante made a face and chuffed in amusement. "You learned all that from the Order?"

"No, I learned that from my mother."

"You didn't tell me your mom knew about demons." Nero shot Night a skeptical look.

"So?" Night scoffed. "You didn't tell me you knew the infamous Son of Sparda." Night returned the look.

"Alright kids, we can compare egos later."

"That's rich." Nero snorted.

"Hey, you want my intel or not?"

"Okay, okay." Nero huffed, shoving Night's leg to get him to concentrate. "What d'you know?"

Dante let out a heavy breath as he prepared himself for the memories he was about to dig up. "Night was on the right track about the Demon Emperor. Mundus." Dante held up his hand when Nero opened his mouth to say something. "Mundus was defeated by my father about 2000 years ago, sealed him and the Underworld away along with his own power to protect the human world. 20 years after his disappearance Mundus was resurrected and I put him away myself." He conveniently left out the part where Mundus was responsible for the death of his mother and disappearance of his brother… And the creation of Trish. Just for now. Keep his cards close to his chest.

"So then why are all these demons running around mentioning Mundus?" Nero shot Night another look when the later scoffed.

"I assume something's going down in the Underworld. Demons don't generally plan attacks like this without a master telling them what to do, where to go and who to kill." Dante pulled out the picture Nero had given him earlier. "You said the victims all claim to have seen these three red orbs in the sky just before the attacks?" Dante let out a frustrated noise when Nero nodded. "Then it can only mean one thing." Dante leaned back in his seat and huffed. "Mundus has grown strong enough to re-enter the human world again."

"How can you be sure?"

Dante waved the picture around haphazardly for a moment. "The red orbs are a dead giveaway. Kind of a Mundus staple, if you know what I mean."

"AWESOME." Night rolled his eyes. "So what are we supposed to now?"

"Same thing we always do." Nero started. "Fight off the demons, beat the bad guy and save world."

"Oh yeah; walk in the park. Turned out /great/ after the Saviour Incident." Night shook his head and got up from his seat, the young Knight holding his hands up when Nero attempted to follow him. "Please, don't get up."

"Night."

"I'm going to take a piss, is that okay with you /Dad/? I swear it's like living under house arrest with you sometimes." Night gestured broadly to emphasize his words before striding off to find the bathroom, shooting a man in a cloak a heated look when he bumped into him in the aisle.

Nero on the other hand just sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Dante eyed Night as he walked off down the aisle, the hunter eventually turning his attention to Nero when Night disappeared in the crowd of people in the back. "What's gotten into you all of a sudden?"

"It's nothing." Nero's reply was short and curt.

"Now I don't buy that for a second." Dante settled in his seat like he were expecting the best story ever. "Spill it, kid."

"It's nothing you need to worry about, alright?"

"Bull."

"For the love of God, Dante; just drop it would yea?"

"No can do kid now let's hear it." Dante motioned with his head. "Why are you so worried about him walkin off by himself?"

"I just… am, alright?"

"No one is that worried about a friend going to take a leak."

"They are if that friend is an alcoholic."

Now Dante was intrigued. "Scuse me?"

"I saw the bar on the train when we got on and the bathroom is right beside it." Nero huffed. "I was worried he was using it as an excuse to go drink."

"So Night's got a drinking problem, so what?" Dante shrugged. "It's not like he's hurting anyone."

"He's hurting himself." Nero shoots Dante a look when the hunter chuffed. "It's not funny, Jackass. Do you know how much alcohol a Cambion has to consume in order to get as plastered as he does? He can barely walk sometimes!" Nero gets up and sits in the seat Night was sitting in instead. "Forgive me for being concerned about my friend."

"He's a Cambion?"

"I like how that's all you took away from what I just said." Nero scoffs. "Yeah, he's just like you." The young hunter shifted awkwardly for a moment. "I thought you could sense that sort of thing."

"No, kid; I couldn't."

"Well you could with me."

The red clad hunter motions to Nero's arm with a subtle smirk. "You were a little more obvious." Dante looks up just as Night returns to their pod of seats, the hunter suddenly /very/ curious about Nero's little friend. "So." He eyed Night, his smirk suddenly more visible when the younger man sat beside him. "Cambion?"

Night's look dropped and he shot Nero a look. "You TOLD him?" He reached across like he wanted to punch Nero but settled for smacking Nero's leg instead. "Why would you tell him that?"

"I thought he knew already!" Nero retracted his leg and rubbed the spot Night had hit. "You /seriously/ need to keep your power in check. You have any idea how hard you hit sometimes?"

"We're getting off topic here." Dante shushed them both. "Night." He squinted. "Tell me about your heritage."

"Why? /Why/ am I the subject of the conversation suddenly?" Night shifted uncomfortably, mouthing the words 'this is your fault' to Nero who in return made a face at him.

"Because it's not every day that a Cambion pops up." Dante motioned between the two of them. "We're a rare thing, you and I. Now start talkin."

"Nero's got demon blood in him too. Why aren't you all over him?"

"He's a quarter; you and I are the halves here. So." Dante again motioned to Night like he wanted him to speak.

And again Night shifted uncomfortably, sighing once more as he sank down in his seat in an effort to get away from Dante's stare. "What can I tell you? My mom is human and my dad's a demon. I never met my father; he didn't even know I existed until I was twelve, he wants nothing to do with me as far as I've heard from others." A brief pause so he could think. "My mother's a nutcase living on a mountain by herself. I've got more scars than I can count because of my bloodline and I have /no/ idea how to prolong the use of my Devil Trigger." He looks to Dante and huffs. "Anything else?"

"What's his name?"

"Excuse me?"

"Your father, Night." Dante repeated the question a little more forcefully. "What's his name?"

Night swallowed thickly, looking to Nero as though he expected him to be able to help him out of this and groaning when Nero just shrugged. "… I…" He swallowed again, looking back to Dante. "I don't know."

"You know your heritage but you don't know your father's name?"

"What do you want me to say? I don't /know/."

Dante AGAIN sat quietly, silently observing the boy before he made a face and shrugged, sitting back in his seat again. "If you say so, kid." He still didn't buy it but he'd let it slide and leave the boys in an uncomfortable silence for the time being. He'd had enough conversing for one trip and he needed to conserve his mental energy for what was to come…

Now if he could just figure out what seat that cloaked man was sitting in…