I shook my head as I headed down the steps of the shop, thinking back to the conversation I had heard over the phone. It's apparent that Nero has been speaking with these women for quite some time, although their visits to this town may be very infrequent if they see me as a threat and feel the need to stay away. I turned and headed across the carpet towards the double-doors, pausing for a brief moment as I noticed the scratches carved into the damaged surface, looking as if it had been kicked open innumerable times. What's the point of doing something so needlessly reckless like that? I thought to myself as I opened the doors and headed out into the cold, frigid air.

I inhaled deeply, picking up Nero's scent and the direction he had headed in down the street. I looked in the path he had taken, the lonely little sidewalk that he had treaded on not moments before, and proceeded in that direction, walking slowly. I sighed heavily as I stuffed my hands into the deep pockets of my trench coat, my breath visible in a cloud of mist. I looked up at the sky as I followed Nero's smell, watching the clouds roll along across the brooding gray sky like wrathful and sullen souls drowning in the Styx.

It wasn't long until I came upon a small one-story building that looked like it could use some reconstruction in certain areas. A large sign stood above the building reading 'Restaurant Fredi' with 'Fredi' looking like it had been spray-painted on as an afterthought in a repulsive green color. Yes, it most certainly was a diner, I could tell by the stench of greasy fried food. I stood quite a ways away from the diner, but the plethora of smells assaulted me as if I were actually inside the kitchen of the establishment. I shook my head as though I could shake away the smell, that odor of grilled meat, fried potatoes, and fresh strawberries that seemed ever-so out of place. I paused as I inhaled deeply through my nostrils, simply to make sure that I was not mistaken.

Of what use would strawberries be in a place like that?

I looked on to see Nero entering through the front door, heading towards a booth where two rather unique looking women sat, both of whom stood up upon sight of the boy and walked over to meet him. One of the women bore an uncanny resemblance to that wretch in the photograph, so much that if it weren't for her devilish scent, I would have thought of them as being one and the same. She dressed differently as well, not nearly as reserved, her black garments were tight-fitting and placing a very heavy emphasis on her womanly figure. She smiled sadly as she took in the boy's disheveled appearance before pulling him into a comforting, almost maternal hug, and after several moments she unraveled herself from him and turned to her companion.

I looked the other woman, a human, a noirette who patted Nero affectionately on the arm, her appearance somewhat contrasting the she-devil beside her. Her dark hair trimmed short, her apparel white and wearing what looked like a leather holster of some kind strapped to her waist, a pair of brown spectacles resting on the bridge of her pert nose that was tainted with a fading scar. Both women led Nero back to their seat with a waitress following close behind, as business seemed nearly nonexistent and no other customers were in the diner.

"I'm really glad to see you two," Nero said as they all sat down, him sitting by himself on one side of the table while the two women resided on the other side.

"It's good to see you too, kid." The raven haired lady said warmly, the blonde woman nodded in agreement. Nero smiled weakly as he scratched the side of his nose with his human hand.

"Thanks lady, I haven't had anybody call me that in a while." He murmured, a small twinge of hurt was evident in his voice, but the ladies picked up on it easily, the both of them glancing at one another sadly before turning back to the boy.

"Nero, your face." The blonde woman murmured in concern.

"Huh?"

"Your cheek, there's a cut, it's not healing." She said.

Ah yes, he hasn't been healing nearly as fast as normal lately, and I'm not really certain as to why. It's gotten to where a simple bite mark on his shoulder would take hours to fade when normally it would take only seconds.

"I got it from while out on the job. It'll heal on its own like it always does, Trish, don't' worry. Now what did you bo—"

"Really? And how did you get those bruises on your neck, from a demonic vacuum cleaner?" The raven-haired woman cut in as she removed her glasses, rising from her seat and leaning across the table for a better view. Nero grit his teeth as he quickly zipped his red hooded sweatshirt up defensively, twisting his body away from her as if she were out to cause him further harm.

"It's nothing, lady. I'm fine. I said I'm fine." He whined in helpless frustration as he crossed his arms tightly over his chest.

The lady wasn't bothered in the least by Nero's defensiveness and reached out fearlessly, yanking his zipper down, exposing the plethora bruises that I had left there the night before. The women gasped in unison before Nero managed to swat her hand away, his teeth sinking into his split lip, his face burning in embarrassment and shame. "Just what the hell has this guy been doing to you Nero?! You look like a rape victim!" The lady whispered fiercely, eyeing the small marks with harsh disdain, her quick actions and stern demeanor giving me the impression that a tigress was lurking about underneath her exterior. She said nothing more as she sat back into her seat with a huff, crossing her scarred legs.

Nero was silent as he averted the gaze of both women, hanging his head low, falling into shame the way a suicide throws himself into the path of an oncoming train. Tears burned in the boys eyes but he blinked them back, sniffling as he rubbed his nose with his devil hand, trembling lips pressed tightly together in a thin bloodless gash. The lady's expression softened, her mouth hanging open in a silent gasp as she realized the truth behind her careless words. She back in her seat, unsure of what to say to take back her outburst and comfort the boy. "…Nero…" Trish said his name delicately; as if she were speaking to a dangerous animal that was both wounded and frightened, choosing her words carefully.

"I don't want to talk about it," the boys soft voice quaked as he kept his head down. "please, just tell me what you found…" The women looked at each other, unsure of how to proceed, but gave into his wishes.

"Dante's alive." The she-devil stated.

Of course he is, I've made sure of that. He would be useless to me dead.

Nero sighed heavily in relief, but seemed to keep his guard up. "And you know this because…"

"As long as the doppelganger looks like Dante, that's reassurance in itself that he's alive."

Well, I'm not so sure about that part, my lady.

"What makes you say that?" The boy questioned, not understanding, his voice was low and prickled with irritation. The woman was about to answer but closed her mouth as a waitress came up to their table, asking for orders with a forced grin that's prevalent throughout the working-class.

"We'll both have coffee." The blonde woman said as her companion nodded in agreement.

"And for you sir?" the waitress questioned as she looked at the silver haired boy with that false-pearl smile.

"I'll…I'll have a strawberry sundae." The two women across from him paused and looked at each other as if Nero had said something haunting. The waitress gave him an odd look before writing down his order, thinking that it was a bit strange that someone would order ice cream in the middle of winter.

"Coming right up, I'll have your orders ready shortly," She said as she headed off into the kitchen behind the counter.

"Nero…" the lady murmured softly.

"I…I just haven't had one in a while, okay lady?" Nero muttered defensively at the dark-haired woman, "Anyway," the boy continued, "what were you going to say, Trish?"

"Nero, I'm not sure if you're aware of this but, all throughout history, doppelgangers are known to be harbingers of death. Once a person see's one, it won't be long until they succumb to their own death. There are numerous records of people seeing who they believe to be are copies of themselves foreshadowing their deaths. What humans are unaware of is that what they have been calling doppelgangers all this time were actually very powerful shape-shifting demons who took on the form of whoever they wanted to kill, be it by illness or accident or some other tragedy. These demons are so insidious that there's no known record of what one actually looks like."

Nero nodded his head, "Yeah, I know he's a demon, but I thought doppelgangers were supposed to look exactly like whoever it was they were copying. Like you, Trish. You could be considered the doppelganger to Eva…" Nero pointed out, seeming to have calmed down, but I could still sense him bristling.

"I suppose I could, but Eva has long since passed, and I did not appear to her to warn and cause her impending death." The boy was quiet as he placed his hand on his pocket, where I watched him put the torn photograph.

"And this guy," Nero sneered, "he has Dante's physique right but everything else, the color of his hair, eyes, skin, it's all the opposite of Dante."

"You've told us that before. As to why he looks like that may actually be a conscious choice, as he has the ability to copy Dante's appearance perfectly, but simply chooses not to. Although as to his reasoning for this, we just don't know. Perhaps he has something against Dante like nearly all demons do…" The she-devil stated. Nero was silent as he pondered her words, most likely wondering what kind of grudge I would hold.

"Unless of course, you want to ask him yourself Nero," The lady cut in to his thoughts as she folded her gloved hands daintily in her lap. Nero shook his head,

"Yeah, like I'm just gonna waltz right up to him ask him. No way in hell. He…he flips his shit if I do so much as say Dante's name…" the teen growled bitterly.

I've started to lose interest at this point, wondering if they were going to tell him anything useful that he could actually use against me, or if they were simply here to give him false hope and comfort. Sadly, it seemed like the former.

"So what about Dante? You guys called me and told me you found out something about Dante. What is it?" Nero's patience was obviously beginning to wear thin at this point as he eyed both women. The blonde she-devil massaged her eyes, visibly frustrated, looking as if she were an inexperienced mother dealing with a whining, impatient child.

"Look Nero, all we know is that Dante's still alive. And we're getting close to finding out where he actually is but we'll need more time, we can't let him find out. And anything about doppelgangers that we've come across has hardly been of any help, but we're trying as hard as we can, both of us. All of us."

Nero was about to say something else when the waitress walked over towards them with a metal tray in hand, their orders on top. "Careful ladies, it's hot." She said aloud as she set two mugs of steaming black coffee in front of the women. "And here's your sundae." She had that false-pearl smile on again as she set a rather large strawberry sundae in front of Nero, laying down silverware wrapped in a napkin beside it. Both women were silent as they picked up their mugs and took quick sips, keeping watch as Nero unwrapped a silver spoon from his napkin and quietly scooped a bit of ice cream coated in strawberry syrup into his mouth.

Something inside of Nero seemed to break as he struggled to swallow, a pained expression on his face, the sound of a wounded animal caught in his throat. "Nero?" the dark-haired lady murmured in concern as she and the blonde she-devil watched the boy intently. Silent tears streamed down his pale cheeks as he ate another spoonful, his breath trembling in between bites, as if what he was eating was making him physically ill but he still couldn't bring himself to stop.

"Me and the old man used to come here after a job…" He murmured quietly. Both women set their mugs down, listening. "He'd always order the same damn thing every single time, a fucking strawberry sundae. I'd just get a soda or a water, sometimes a burger. I told him that if it weren't for devil hunting he'd be as big as a house. And he'd just sit there and laugh, every time. "

The lady scoffed, smiling at Nero warmly. "That sure sounds like him. For as long as I've known him that's all he'd eat. Sundaes and pizza. I mean, Dante is just one big kid after all." The dark-haired lady took a sip of her coffee as she finished her sentence. Nero's smile at her words was genuine, I had never seen any expression like that on his face before, but I suppose there are good reasons for that.

"Look, Nero, if there was a way to help, we would do it. But…right now….there's just no way. We'll keep looking, you have my word, but just keep him busy before then.."

Keep him busy, Nero seemed to think.

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