A/N: Whoa I'm slow…Anyway, I'm sorry to say that FFXIII characters won't make an appearance until the next chapter. Another thing, I really really liked a brief cut-scene from DMC4, so I couldn't help myself from writing a part of it here, but don't worry, is not a spoiler. I wonder if anyone will be able to tell what scene it is?

The Wound that Won't Heal

The sound of gunshot echoed loudly through the district as both hunters fired their weapons non stop. From their observance, the grotesque beings would fall instantly by beheading or putting a single bullet on their decaying heads. In an encounter with a full-fleshed demon, they eventually die with multiple shots on any part of their body. Nevertheless, shooting them in the head is just a faster way of killing them. Usually when demons senses fear or a real treat, they'll try to flee or call for reinforcements.

However, these new type of species won't even flinch to a single bullet that are inflicted on their bodies. Even though the two hybrids witnessed how just by shooting won't suddenly kill them from their first encounter, they were persistent enough into thinking that the human-like creatures were similar to any ordinary demon. But that wasn't the case. Dante would shoot them in their knees, but they still manage to get up. Nero would fire at their hearts, but their blood would somehow still 'pump.' It didn't make any sense to neither of them and the troublesome horde just kept coming. It was all too new to them. These creatures even wore casual and business clothes; blouses, jeans, tanks, coats, jewelry, and all of the above.

Still, they didn't sense any demonic aura.

In a way, it was common sense to both devil hunters that it is impossible for any being to live without its head (excluding Agni and Ruda, in which their case, their heads were attached to their weapons). That was when Dante assumed that decapitating the creature from their first encounter would prevent it from attacking. But it did more than that. The she-creature never got back up; hence Dante and Nero aimed for their heads.

"Damn! There're too many of them!" Nero shouted through the loud gun fire. Shooting as fast as his human arm can handle, since he only possessed one firearm. "We should think of a plan!"

"Don't worry, there's only two of us and a bunch of them." Dante shouted back with a low laugh. His eyes focused on his horrid targets.

Nero slightly turned his eyes to Dante. "Wha-" realizing the sarcasm, he fixated to the creatures and in a low voice said "*sigh* You gotta fucking be kidding me."

Dante started walking towards the humanoids in front of him while firing Ebony and Ivory. He quickly put them away and pulled out Rebellion. "I am." Dante muttered so Nero couldn't hear. "Lets tune this up!" and with that he started slicing through them, separating their torso from their legs. Dante wasn't too surprised to see them start crawling. They had started using their gray arms to drag their torso towards the white haired hybird. Their uncoiled intestines was now being dragged behind them. Once they've reached Dante's legs, he would stomp hard on their heads, hearing the gruesome crunch while slicing the others' heads off, thick black blood sticking to his sword.

With a stern look on his face, Nero just stood shooting until his revolver clicked. He rapidly swung the gun behind his head, the tip pointing the air, to let the empty rounds fall from their chambers, emptying the gun's cylinder. With the same hand, he quickly dug into the pocket inside his trench coat to retrieve a speed loader, which he tossed into the air behind him. At the same time when the ammunitions loosened from the device, and still in the air, Nero quickly twirled back, swinging his revolver along side with him, the cylinder hanging out. As he triggered this process, he swiftly managed to catch all six falling bullets into his revolver as the rounds easily slid into their chambers. Once he completed his spin, Nero extended his arm and pointed the freshly reloaded Blue Rose at his enemies and fired.

While the two hybrids were sending off the humanoid like creatures, they started to notice that some wore polices' uniforms. Their bloodied badges read 'RPD.' A few others wore an officer's uniform of a higher rank. Their badges read 'Raccoon Police Dep.' that circulated around three silver stars. Above it, the letters 'S.T.A.R.S.' were engraved and Dante and Nero suspected that these were the elite squads. They were the same like others: decayed, living, and hungry for flesh and blood.

"Wow. We are so badass that they had to send the whole SWAT team on us." Dante looked like he was having the time of his life. As the RPDs came close, he chopped off their heads without remorse, swinging the blade in a stylishly manner.

Being an ex knight of the Order of the Sword, Nero had a harder time eliminated them with a smile on his face. "Instead they should be putting a damn ticket on each illegally parked cars here!" Nero shouted through gritted teeth.

Less and less were coming, and both hunters knew that their fight was coming to an end. Dante had estimated that about less than twenty remained on the side he was fighting. The other few remaining had cornered Nero, as his back slowly touched a crashed school bus.

Having not enough room and wanting to dispatch all of them at once, Nero quickly discarded Blue Rose back to its holster and brought out his Red Queen that was strapped onto his back. The customized blade had a motorcycle-like gear clutch shift as the hilt. He stabbed the tip of the sword into the floor and pulled the gear shift while at the same time revving the handle, 'exceeding' it. During this process, a flammable liquid was released inside the mechanism from the handle, as the edge of blade turned from a steel-like colour to a bright faded red-orange, until it finally reached to its wickedly sharp curved tip. As the beings came close, Nero lifted his Red Queen from the ground and swung the blade in an arc in front of him, almost sending off flames. The scorching blade burned through the being's neck and easily beheaded each one of them.

When Dante finished his killing spree, he glanced over at Nero just in time to see that six headless bodies collapsed that were surrounding him, until no more were left. "Getting better…" he heard Nero say, as he put away Red Queen and clapped his hands together as if rubbing off dust.

Dante smile vanished when he caught a glimpse of someone that was hanging out of the school bus's window, right above Nero. It dropped.

"Kid-!" Dante shouted at him.

Overwhelmed by confusion, Nero felt something heavy land on his shoulders. A boy, no more than eight and with a school backpack on, had his pale arms wrapped around Nero's neck for support. Its forehead looked like it had been cracked open due to the bus's collision. The boy stretched out the collar of his hoodie on his left to gain excess to his flesh. "What the he-!"

It all happened too fast. Dante winced when he heard the teen's shrilling cry. The boy had bitten into Nero's neck.

The brat had bitten him and Nero couldn't fucking believe it. Excruciating pain shot through his left shoulder as the decomposed child quickly ripped off a piece of his skin from between his neck and shoulder making Nero scream in agony. Ah, fuck! Blood started to gush out freely from the newly fresh wound. When he finally realized what was going on, Nero's blue eyes shot open, quickly fading to a glowing red hue. With his Devil-Bringer, he wrapped his claws around the little boy's small head, who was still chewing on the piece of his skin, and crushed it with a strong grip. The boy's skull easily shattered in his demonic fist as the brain and eyes were squashed together, but no blood splattered.

Arms uncoiling from Nero's neck, the small body fell to the ground, lifeless for sure. Nero wiped the gore off his Devil-Bringer on the bus and retrieved from his pocket a thick cloth that he uses to polish his Red Queen. With it, he added pressure to the wound. Seeing Dante darting toward him, Nero slowly walked up to a near by bench and sat, still holding the cloth to his wound. He hunched his body and hung his head low to hide his wincing face from Dante. This is nothing, this is nothing. He kept repeating it to himself, thinking of the events that had occur between him and Agnus.

Hearing Dante's footsteps approaching him, Nero's head hung lower. "Hey kid, you alright?" he heard Dante spoke out of breath.

"Yeah. It'll heal!" Nero said quickly, avoiding Dante's eyes. He pressed on his wound hard. He almost felt like shaking but was able controlled it.

"Let me see." Dante demanded as he went for Nero's left shoulder. Nero slapped his hands away and stood up. He glared at the older goon, who had a worry look on his face. He could tell that Dante could see the pain in his eyes. Nero knew that Dante was no idiot, he couldn't hide anything from him.

"I said it will fucking heal!" Nero enunciated. Why does the old man always had to worry about him? It really annoyed Nero to the core. It just made him feel weak and useless. Oh, but it hurt, and all this tension made it ache even more. "I'm fine!"

Dante gazed at him until he admitted defeat by holding up his hands. "Alright. If you say you're fine, then your fine. Sheesh!" He put his hands on his hips and started walking around.

Nero was sure that Dante wasn't convinced, but had gave up so he wouldn't anger him any further. Thanks to him being a half demon by carrying the blood of Sparda, Nero will quickly heal in no time. See, nothing to worry about. The wound, however, was still painfully throbbing.

Not moving from where he was standing, Nero also started to look around. His eyes fell upon the headless corpses. Some were in work's uniform, casual wear, and some even had pajamas on. Not wanting to, Nero glanced at the boy that had attacked him. As he approached the corpse, he notice that a piece of paper was attached to his backpack. It read 'Property of Aidan Russell-Raccoon City Elementary School'. Nero felt a sickening feeling in his gut, turning his face into a sorrow expression "Oh damn…" he silently whispered. He started walking towards Dante who was standing in between two huge buildings.

Once Nero was standing next to him, still holding pressure to his wound, he looked up at the building on his left. It look like it would appear to be the City Hall. He then turned to see what Dante was staring at: Raccoon City Police Department. "So that explains the cops." Dante glanced at Nero. "Hey, what's with you kid?" He crossed his arms.

"These…" Nero did not know how to put it "…things, were alive. They were people. Living citizens." Aidan Russell was a child who was probably happily sitting looking out of his window as his bus drove to his elementary school. He was unaware that an accident would result in his death. Only that the child didn't stay dead. Nero just couldn't shake the thought out of his head. He thought how he had killed him a second time.

"Yeah, I'm beginning to realized that." Dante notice that Nero was in distress. "But listen, they were already dead when we killed them- before we even got here! And they weren't acting human. So if we didn't use defense, they would had killed us without any shame. So don't fret about it, okay?"

Defense? More like attack. Nero nodded in agreement as he appreciated the comfort, although he'll never admit it.

"Yeah…but why they're like this is still a mystery to me." Dante finished with a stern expression.

Nero's eyes caught what seemed to be a newspaper that was laying on street's floor. He bent down and picked it up with his unoccupied left hand. He scanned the front cover and read the big bolded letters; 'THE DEAD WALK'. Underneath the bolded letter was a snapshots of those 'things.' It looked like it was taken from a far distance, when the city was pretty much a little more lively. Nero glanced over at the date. "This was released two days ago."

"Why haven't we heard about this?" Dante spoke with a suspicious tone.

"Right? At least we heard from Lady." Nero said, trying to lighting up the mood and trying to forget Aidan.

Dante smirked at him. "Yeah, she could have filled us with a little bit more detail." He then gloomed down and sighed "Guess that's why we're here…"

Nero scanned through the article. "Nothing useful, and no explanation of how this happened." He said, tossing the paper.

The cloth that Nero was holding was totally soaked in blood, that the red liquid started to drip on his finger tips then slid down to his elbow and to the end of the Devil-Bringer's spiked tip.

"Oi, we should get you cleaned up, dude. You're lucky it didn't get you in the throat. Isn't there like a Circle K or something around every corner?" Dante started walking ahead, looking around.

Nero had forgotten about his injury as the pain slowly started to subside. But slowly. Nero chuckled under his breath, following Dante. "You worry too much, old man. Its just a flesh wound. And I wouldn't call it 'luck'."

The older hunter stopped walking at another intersection. Nero stared at the street address that was hanging in front of him under the traffic light. The street that they where now standing on was Warren St. "Well, can't have you fainting on me if your going to lose a lot blood. Devils have their limits too, you know." Dante said, looking towards the youth.

That did it. Nero gave Dante a venomous look and started walking past him. "I'm no fucking devil!" Why did the old goon sounded like it was something to be so proud off? He felt that the cold was getting to him.

"I only meant physically." Dante moaned with an apologetic expression. As if that would make him feel any better. He sighed and rubbed both his temples in frustration.

Nero knew that he was in total denial but it was something that he just couldn't get use to. He was raised and taught by humans. He lived like one…sort of. He recalled back in the orphanage getting picked on by older kids because of his abnormality. This one time he stood up against one of the bullies and Nero had easily knocked him out unconscious, to the point of almost killing him. He had a hard time making friends and was isolated from everyone. Even the nuns were afraid to get near him. They'd always made him wear a sling on his right arm, getting people into believing that it was just broken. However, he couldn't remember how he ended up in the orphanage in the first place. He wasn't an infant when he was left on the doorsteps, he was much older. Nero didn't even knew the meaning of the word 'demon' until that dreadful day, when the orphanage was attacked. He was sure that 'they' were after him. It was all a blur.

"Hey, I said I was sorry! You're going to keep ignoring me all day?" Nero suddenly opened his eyes, not recalling when he had closed them, or even stopped walking. Dante's booming voice had snapped him back into reality. After that 'incident' in the orphanage, Nero was adopted, well more like accepted, into a small family by Credo and Kyrie.

He stared at the older hybrid. His red trench coat made him stand out from the deathly pale scene. Nero had Kyrie, who loves him for the way he is. And Dante who understand him and who was someone like him; a half-demon. This was a reason why Nero felt comfortable being around the more experienced half-demon.

"Damn…You must have the loudest voice to ever annoy." Nero couldn't help, but give him a sinister smile.

Dante had a surprised expression on his face. It then suddenly changed into a grin and raised his fists up in triumph. "Yesss! I always hated it when someone has a bigger mouth than I do."

What a dumbass. Nero rolled his eyes and looked up ahead. He notice that there was a gas station not far from where they are standing. "Whatever. I'm going on ahead." Still adding pressure to his injury, he started sprinting towards the gas station. Dante quickly followed. Nero supposed that Dante was keeping a close eye on him. He felt the older hunter's cold eyes burn in the back of his head. Nero was too fed up with him to complain, so he had to endure it.

As they headed down Warren St., they've reached the gas station. Both hunters stopped and from the distance examined it. An abandoned SUV was park next to a gas pump. It looked like it was in good condition. Nero's eyes darted towards the gas station's mini mart. The windows weren't shattered. However, there were bloodstained handprints on the unharmed glass. Hanging on the glass from the inside was an 'open' sign.

"Do you think there are more of them?" Nero asked tensing up. He certainly did not want to get bitten by the walking dead again. It had hurt like a bitch!

"Dunno, but we should stay alert." Dante pulled out his guns, doing his signature move by swinging them around his fingers. Nero kept the blood soaked cloth inside the strap of his muscle shirt that he wore under his hoodie, sticking to the wound. He pulled out Blue Rose and positioned his demonic arm to get ready for an attack. They stopped right in front of the double glass doors, both hunters looking through it. It was free from the undead.

Nero felt the older hunter's movement positioned himself to kick, more like to break, the door open. He had to act fast before the old goon could do something stupid.

"Whoa whoa, you idiot!" Nero quickly shouted. "What the fuck do you think you're doing?"

Dante bewilderedly stared at the youth, as he stood his stance and asked "What? You think its open?"

Nero couldn't believe what he was hearing. "No! Maybe the open sign is just there for show!" he yelled, pointing at the sign with his revolver and controlling his temper. Or at least tried.

Dante let out a deep sigh "Kid, who would have the time to switch it to 'close' during some sort of an Armageddon?"

Looking away from him and starting to feel a little light headed, Nero admittedly said "Look, I just don't want to attract any attention right now."

"Ah, kid. Don't tell me that you're still hurt." Nero heard him say.

"Alright, I'm gonna open the door, so be prepared." Nero said, ignoring Dante's concern. He wrapped his talon around the door's handle and pulled. It easily opened and they walked inside.

The so called mini mart was actually big and spacious. It reeked of death and strong coffee. Some of the products were unorganized on the shelf while others were scattered on the floor. It was not warm, but the temperature was better than being outside. "Now lets see if we can find you a first aid kit or something." Dante walked over the cashier counter, eyeing the liquor section, as Nero scanned the place.

As they walked to the other side of the counter, Nero spotted a dead body lying on a small pool of blood. He cautiously aimed Blue Rose at it, when Dante spoke. "Calm down. Its not going to get up." he said as he pointed at something. Nero looked at what Dante was pointing at and notice that the corpse had a bullet hole on its temple.

"Right." Nero said as he squatted towards the lower cabinets and found a white box with a red cross on the lid. He grabbed for it and stood up as he darted towards the restroom. As he passed Dante he heard him asked "Hey, do you need any help wh-?"

"No!" Nero quickly replied before Dante can finish his sentence.

"Okay…" Dante sounded disappointed. "Well I'm going to give Trish a call." He finished as he pulled his cell phone.

Nero only nodded and walked into the restroom without another word. Once he was inside, he made sure that he had locked the door so Dante wouldn't just barge in. If he needed to use the toilette, the old perve can go to the lady's restroom.

Nero strolled towards a mirror and saw his reflection. His tired blue orbs stared back at him. His face was pale and had dried blood stains on the left side of his neck. After he had washed his hands, Nero placed the first aid kit on the sink then started to take off his trench coat. Then he unzipped his red hoodie, which he also removed. When he was left with his bloodied black muscle shirt, Nero stretched out the left strap and observed the gruesome wound. What the fuck is this?

The wound looked worst than before and it was still slowly bleeding. It should have been healing by now. A small portion of skin right above his clavicle was missing, although nothing fatal and the hole wasn't too deep either. It was swollen and bruised. Nero had been through a lot worse and it usually didn't bother him. However, this one was different. As he touched the wound with his left hand, Nero instantly flinched by the burning sensation. Fuckity fuck fuck fuck! I really screwed up big time! How could he not saw that coming. He had never felt so stupid. And in front of freaking Dante, now he'll never hear the end of it!

Nero opened the first aid kit box and retrieved an antiseptic thick towelette and without hesitation, he dapped it onto the wound. Nero stiffened and winced while gritting his teethes. "Ah fuck!" he accidentally screamed out loud while leaning over the sink, hoping that Dante didn't hear. Nero had no fucking clue what he was supposed to do. This was the first time he had to deal with an first aid kit. Usually Kyrie would treat his mild injury such as small claw marks or scrapes, even though she knew that they would quickly heal. When he would receive a deep gash or damages any vital organ, they would slowly heal before Kyrie has a chance to see it (he couldn't even receive scars). He didn't like to worry her. Great, now I feel like seeing her…

Nero went for a paper towel next to the mirror and soaked it with water. He then started to wipe off the blood on his neck and shoulder as he carefully tried to avoid the wound. He threw away the bloodied towel into the trash and went for another one. This time he pressed it towards the wound as he had to bear with the pain, holding in small whimpers.

Once there was no blood left on him, Nero searched the box for some sort of dressing and found one that was the size of his hand. This would do. Before Nero could press it against the wound, he wiped off a little bit more blood that started to trickle down his left clavicle and pressed the thick band aid over it. He then grabbed for a sensitive medical tape and taped the dressing down. Nero then pulled the strap of his muscle shirt over it and started putting on his clothes back on, letting out light coughs.

When Nero stepped out of the bathroom, he saw Dante leaning on the wall drinking beer. He was wearing a grim expression. He looked alerted.

"How's the wound?" He asked.

"Its getting better." Nero lied. Dante expression didn't change at all. Nero had a hard time reading the usually cheerful hybrid's face. It kind of scared him. "So what did Trish say?" He asked avoiding the awkwardness. Again he was sure that Dante didn't believe him.

Looking away, he took a sip of his beer. "She didn't answer." He then glanced at Nero and said "Hey, why don't you get a drink. I'll pay for it." Dante finally let out a small chuckle.

Nero only snorted and walked towards the freezer to grab a bottle of water. After he unscrewed the cap, he gulped down the hole bottle within seconds. He needed that. Nero wasn't really much of a drinker. He only did when he was in a calml good mood. Oh the strange irony. Dante would guzzle down his booze like if it was apple juice and candy lollipops. And all he ate was pizzas and strawberry sundaes most of the time. That's when Nero came up with the most randomness thought since getting here; Dante doesn't eat healthy. Not that Nero would care but judging by Dante's physique, the old goon looked like he eat celery for breakfast.

"So what do you reckon we call them?"

Snapping out of his bizare thoughts, Nero looked at Dante. "Hmm?"

"Those yahoos we've been killing. They are not demons." Dante said as he put the empty beer bottle on the shelf. Then he grabbed a bag of ships and started eating them. "I'm thinking they're like zombies, you know, like the ones from George Romero's films."

Nero leaned on the fridge smirking and said "You watch that shit?" Nero leaned his head on the cold glass and rested his eyes as he remembered something that he read from one of Dante's ancient books. "Nah, zombies are mindless creatures that are either controlled or called upon by their master. Or…some sort of sorcerer. We would have felt that demonic presence by now, wouldn't we? There's no one controlling them."

Dante raised an eyebrow. "You've been going through my stuff, kid?"

"Heh, maybe." Nero replied.

"Well there's no supernatural force, I don't feel that. There's nothing paranormal about it either. Cause if there was" Dante paused to take a handful of chips into his big mouth "this shit wouldn't be too complicated." His voice muffled as he chewed.

"Yeah…it could be something else." Nero then, all of a freaking sudden, thought about Aidan. It used to be human. "You think that that dead girl from earlier was on her way to a picnic?" What the fuck was he saying? He was asking this to himself in his thoughts and he ended up accidentally blurting it out loud. Why was he even asking such an absurd question? Morbid curiosity, maybe. First the injury, now this. The cold must really be getting to him. He looked towards Dante, trying to hide his embarrassment.

Dante looked concerned and sighed. "Nero, we did what we had to. She was dead but her body somehow didn't die with her. And a picnic sounds like it would be a joyous moment. You think someone with that kind of attitude would do something that 'zombie' tried to do?"

Nero gaped at the pizza-loving slayer. That kind of tone was Dante taking Nero seriously, just look at his face. Heck, he even called him by his name and that was rare. Nero didn't even thought that he would answer.

"…" Nero suspected that Dante was acting strange since they got to the gas station. First the grim expression from earlier, now this. Was he hiding something?

After the awkward silence, Nero heard noises and lowered his voice. "There's something in here." He stopped leaning on the freezer.

"Yep. Its been in here for awhile." Dante commented.

Nero gave Dante a puzzled glance. "All this time? Then why haven't you got rid of it?"

"Hey, I needed a break too. Besides, it wasn't bothering me." He calmly replied.

The sounds got louder. "Break time's over, kid." The older hunter put the empty bag o' ships on a shelf and pulled out Ebony and Ivory.

Nero did the same with Blue Rose and looked towards the 'employee only' door, the source where the noise was coming from. "Can they open doors?"

The door suddenly burst open. Both half-demons raised their weapons towards the unknown as they realized that two firearms were also pointed at their faces.

~~~~~~~~~End Chapter~~~~~~~~

Yeah…I'm sorry that Nero had acted such a big baby, and I'm trying not to get the characters ooc.
BTW, this haven't been beta'd yet...so that can explain the suckiness. I'm more of a reader than writer...