Hrr

A/N: Next chapter here. As I said previously, you all are going to have to use your imaginations for the time being. I do not currently have sexy-inspiration, so you'll have to be patient. I'll get around to adding the good stuff to this later in the story for sure. For now, I hope you guys can enjoy this chapter. I'm rather satisfied with it, seeing as it's sufficiently long to counteract the short chapter before it.

Disclaimer: Devil May Cry and its characters belong to Capcom

Warnings: This is the beginning of when I torture my chosen scapegoat for the good of the plot.

Dedications: Everyone. Everything. Enjoy.

It wasn't perfect.

Early morning light spilled in through the windows, casting a dim glow in the now silent room. Devil May Cry was an absolute disaster now. What hadn't been trashed by the fight had been smashed or clawed or tossed around in the resulting bouts of violent, senseless sex. Both hunters were naked on the floor, Dante sitting half propped up against the wall behind what was left of the bar, quietly taking slow drinks from one of the few bottles that hadn't been shattered in the past couple hours. A purposeful foot away, Nero was lying on his side, face buried in the crook of his devil arm; the azure glow dulled from the nearly painful regret washing through the younger man. The sex itself hadn't been bad. It was the fact that he'd just let it happen that was so damn awful. Nero let out a low groan, a vain attempt to express just how stupid he felt at that moment.

"What the hell is wrong with me?" He asked nobody in particular.

Dante glanced over briefly before taking another drink from the near empty bottle. He knew Nero wasn't talking to him, but he had to swallow back the urge reply that welled up. He wasn't sure how he should feel right now. The last thing he'd expected from them was to go from trying to kill each other straight into an unbridled bout of rough, anger fueled fucking. A part of him was glad it happened. Even though he'd told himself all his positive feelings for Nero were long gone, he knew it wasn't true. Being with the younger man again, no matter in what context had been gratifying. The more reasonable part of him said it was an irreversible mistake. Something that never should have been allowed to happen.

He felt it the instant their anger had been spent. Just one look at Nero's expression and he knew he regretted every second of what they'd done. For some reason, Dante got a sharp stab in the heart from that look. As much as he'd like to believe he was past allowing Nero to hurt him anymore that instant anguish on the kid's face broke his heart all over again.

Taking in a slow breath, Dante let it out on a sigh, setting the now empty bottle down on the floor.

"So…what are we going to do now?" could they really go back to their routine of hating each other? This was something entirely new to come out of their loathing of each other. Who knew what else could happen if they continued in this cycle?

Nero was silent for a long while before slowly lifting his head from his arm. "…I'm leaving."

That…was not what Dante had expected. "What?" He asked, not even bothering to hide the surprise in his voice.

Nero pushed up off the floor to stand. Every movement he made was slow and stiff. Every part of him ached in some way. He stood for a moment to regain his bearings, not sure he was stable enough to walk, but he had to get away from Dante. The younger man rubbed both hands over his face and grimaced as he took a step. His whole body was covered in dried blood, sweat and semen. What a fucking mess they'd made of each other and the room. Nero walked past the remnants of furniture and their shredded clothes, managing to make it all the way to the stairs before he paused, oddly compelled to answer.

"I'm going to clean up, pack my things and leave. Honestly, I shouldn't have come back here at all, you were right." He said quietly. He made it up the staircase almost halfway before Dante got to his feet and followed, but only as far as the bottom of the steps.

"Nero—''

"Don't worry. I remember what you said. I won't ever come back here after I'm gone."

Dante's chest tightened so brutally he couldn't breathe as he watched Nero ascend the rest of the stairs and disappear down the dark hallway above. He had said that, hadn't he? He told Nero never to bother coming back if he decided to leave again. Just like before, his own words were what drove the kid away. He tried to come up with something he could say, something that Nero would actually listen to and believe.

Sighing in disgust, mostly at himself but also at his complicated life in general, Dante went back over to what remained of the bar, rifling through the broken bottles to find one that still had some liquor in it. The shards clinked together as he shuffled them around, finally locating a bottle that was lying on its side. It had already spilled half its contents, but anything was better than nothing. He grabbed the bottle and leaned back against the wall, closing his eyes as he slowly sank back down to the floor. He didn't even care that his shop was destroyed. All he cared about was the fact that now he was going to have to learn to be alone again; for good this time.

Dante pressed his palm against his forehead, grunting as he realized his head had been buzzing, temples beginning to throb in time with his pulse. Great. I never get headaches. Something else had to be seriously wrong then. He was too tired to want to deal with it though so he remained where he sat, trying to ignore the way his head pounded and his ears started to ring.

-o-o-o-

Nero found himself lingering over every task he had left before him before he could get out of Devil May Cry and get as far away as possible. He stood in the shower longer than necessary, too busy trying not to think. It was for the best that he left anyways. Even if their fighting ended, they would only be back to where they started two years ago. Call him old fashioned, but Nero preferred more from a relationship than just great sex whenever two people felt an itch.

He left the bathroom eventually, going straight down the hall to the spare room he used. His bag was still pretty much packed. He hadn't expected to stay here long anyways, but three days had to be a new lame record for him. Sighing, Nero pulled out some fresh clothes from his duffel bag and dressed. He looked around the room with a sort of melancholy. It was from one spare room to another for him. He had nowhere else to go except back to Fortuna. Maybe he should consider finding an entirely new city to live in. Start fresh in a new place where no one knew him.

Except then he'd be lonely and alone.

Grunting in frustration, Nero zipped up his duffel and shrugged it onto his shoulder. Red Queen and Blue Rose were downstairs by the door, so he could just pick them up on his way out. He half hoped that Dante had gotten up and gone to his room or something. He really didn't want to walk past him even if just for a second to get to the door.

Unable to find any reason to keep delaying his departure, the young devil hunter turned to leave the room when he stopped cold, a sharp tingle shooting up his spine to settle at the base of his neck. He was so distracted by the strange energy that suddenly permeated the room, staring at the way his devil bringer flashed a blinding white before it went completely dark like it shut itself off to hide from something, he almost didn't hear Dante screaming.

Screaming?

Dante didn't scream. But there was no other way to describe the nose that was coming from downstairs. No doubt it was Dante's voice, and he was screaming in pure agony.

Nero's heart dropped into his stomach and within a second he'd dropped his duffel and was running down the hall to the stairs. He again was frozen in his tracks as he leaned over the balcony to see what was wrong.

Crouched over Dante in the corner by the broken bar, was some kind of creature Nero had never seen before. It was short and squat, its yellow skin sagging heavily off its bones, as if it were melting. It's back was to the younger man, so he couldn't see its face, only that he was bent over Dante and had its palms pressed tightly over the half-devil's eyes, light flickering between its long, four knuckled fingers. Whatever it was doing, Dante made it sound like it was killing him.

Nero jumped over the railing of the balcony, landing in a crouch on the floor. He didn't even try to grab a weapon, just ran at the demon. "Get the fuck away from him!"

The demon jumped to the side at the last moment, barely avoiding being struck. Nero had a moment to note that it had absolutely no face. Save for two narrow slits that looked almost like what remained of a nose, there was just blank, sagging skin.

Growling, Nero tried to grab at the thing with his devil bringer, only to be horrified to learn that it wasn't working. Whatever had stopped it from glowing also seemed to have drained all its power. Nero stared down at his right hand, jaw going slack which gave the demon the opening it needed to waddle on its bowed legs out of the still broken window and disappear down the street.

The moment the demon had taken away its hands, Dante had dropped down to the floor, panting raggedly. Nero was tempted to run after the demon and make sure it was killed, but Dante needed his attention more. He turned to the older hunter and knelt down, lightly trailing his hands over the prone form to feel for any broken bones. There were no obvious injuries, and other than being extremely pale and shaking from a cold sweat, Dante seemed perfectly fine. But then why would he scream in pain like that?

"Dante? Hey," Nero rolled the other man over onto his back and shook his shoulder gently. "Come on, old man, wake up, you're fine." He wasn't entirely sure of that, but he said it anyway.

Dante's slack expression became suddenly tense. He squeezed his eyes shut and lifted a shaking hand to cover them. His head felt like someone had run it over and then decided to back up a few times. "Damn…" he finally said, his voice tight and the humor forced, "You get the license plate of the thing that ran me over, kid?"

Nero relaxed a little at that, helping Dante sit up. "Jesus, I thought you were dead there for a second. Didn't know you could scream like that."

Dante scowled as he rubbed his burning eyes. "I didn't scream." He denied.

"Yes you did. Like a little girl." Nero insisted, looking over his shoulder towards the broken window the demon escaped out of. What the hell was that thing anyway? What had it been trying to do and why didn't Dante stop it? From the looks of things, it had to have just strolled right up to him because where Dante had been sitting he had a clear view of the windows and front doors. Nero spared a thought for what the demon's presence seemed to do to his devil bringer and looked down at his arm. It was back to its usual azure glow, pulsing a bit rapidly because he was still a bit pumped up from adrenaline. Maybe it had drained Dante in a similar way and that's why he couldn't fight back? "Whatever that thing was, it didn't seem to do any lasting damage. You should get up and put some clothes on." He added.

Dante snorted at that but didn't move. Instead he sat there, hands hovering a few inches below his face as he blinked rapidly, as if trying to clear his vision. He seemed suddenly tense and Nero felt his stomach twist up into knots. Something was wrong, he just knew it.

"Dante, are you alright?"

The older man didn't seem to hear him, instead turning his head to either side, then tilting it back before looking down towards his lap, concentration tightening his features. Nero scowled at being ignored and leaned over to try and get Dante's attention. His stomach felt like it had turned into a solid weight when he noticed that something seemed off about Dante's eyes. They were the same silvery blue, but the color seemed more intense somehow, and though Dante seemed to be straining to look down at his hands, his gaze was actually directed a couple inches above them and his eyes were unfocused.

"Dante…"

"Nero," Dante interrupted. "….I think I'm blind."