Mission 8 - The first clue

"Sorry I'm late, but I found something really interesting." Nero came in. He was kind of surprised of the state that Dante was in, because how often can you see him laughing his ass off and after being alone for at least 6 hours. "Are you alright?" He asked finally.

"Yeah, perfectly" Dante stopped laughing and smiled. "I just needed this. And you don't have to worry, because I've already eaten your pizza."

"I saw that coming, so I ate something while I was talking about a job." Nero put Red Queen near the couch and sat next to Dante.

"And what did you find?" The hunter turned around.

"There is bunch of demons in the mines. They will to pay a lot if we get rid of them." He smiled. "And what will you say about changing clothes already?"

"I totally forgot about that." Dante started to think. "Ok. But only if I am the one to undress you." He grinned. Nero sighed, but he did like that idea. Though he knew he won't say that out loud.

"I just want my clothes back."

Dante came closer and started to kiss his partner. He took his coat off and Nero did the same. We do know how would it end but it didn't. When the door opened Nero pushed the guy away and sat on the couch as fast as he could and started to drink whatever was on the table.

"Blah, what the hell is this?" He looked at the tomato juice he just drank. Really, how Dante can like that kind of stuff?

"Sorry for interrupting." Lady walked into the room. Dante sighed and sat on his chair, the same way as usual. He seemed annoyed, but can anyone blame him? "What's wrong with your clothes anyway?"

"Nothing of your concern." He muttered. "What's your business here?"

Nero looked at the girl. He remembered what Dante had told him. But was this really true? And if it was, how could he not notice? Maybe he really didn't care about women. Even Kyrie… was more like sister. Now he understood that. But still… They were together. And…

"Ah, I told myself not to think about it!" He yelled and both his lover and secret admirer were now looking at him like he was mad.

Maybe I am mad. Or I just think too much.

"Something's wrong?" Lady asked with the weird look on her face.

Nero just stand up and went to the toilet. He really didn't care what Lady wanted to say and he didn't want to do anything stupid again. He had just washed his face and then he heard knocking.

"Come out, we've got another mission." He heard Dante's voice and it calmed him down. He wondered, why Dante affected him like that.

Nero stepped out of the toilet. Lady was gone. "What mission? Isn't one enough for now?"

"It's nothing for that moment, but it's paid good, so we should think it through. And it could have something to do with that crystal…"

"Huh?"

Oh right. I totally forgot about this. But why Dante is concerned about this?

"Maybe we can put it all off for tomorrow? I'm kind of tired." Nero lied down on the couch. Dante grinned. And then he felt his lips, his touch, his hair under his fingers…


They decided to do the mission in the mines first. It was far away, so they took their motorbike. When the hunters arrived they saw of miners having a camp.

"Oh, you're finally here boy!" One of them stood up. "There are more and more of them so we're glad you're here. We don't know what we'll do if they will get out from the mines."

Nero looked at his partner, who was already going in the direction of the mines. "It will be fun." Dante smiled, while tossing Ivory.

"Then we're off." The other guy said to the men and hurried to Dante. "I wonder what kind of demons is there and why." He said.

"It was probably one of these idiots who had accidently opened the gate. But what does it matter anyway? We just need to kill those brats." The hunter grinned and took his guns, at the very same second they spotted a bunch of weird demons coming out of the mines. A bunch of Nobodies. Dante started shooting, but they were tough, so he charged at them with Rebellion.

"Just try not to get lost 'kay?" His partner sighed and then he put his Red Queen to good use too.

Nobodies weren't the only demons here. Nero was fighting his way through them and going deeper and deeper into the mines hoping that he was going the right way. For some reason he couldn't stand the thought that Dante could be be the one closing the gate. He was running and fighting and these mines were a real labyrinth. But were they like that all the time? The miners should had told them that. Did they just forget? Or there was something more?

"Devil-hand boy? In here? So fun!" Suddenly Nero heard a voice. "I thought that son of Sparda would be the one to come, I had always wanted to meet him. But… it may be even funnier." A little girl's voice was coming closer. It was resembling him of someone… The witch?! "Do you hear me? I'm right behind you!"

Nero turned around fast, but there was no one there. He heard a laugh from behind. "Show yourself you bitch! First you ask me…"

"Oh? So we have already met? I guess even I can get lost in this sometime." The boy suddenly saw a figure. The girl was kind of similar to the one that asked him for the crystal and inserted him in this time, but… Her hair was short and red and her eyes seemed different. No, she was definitely a different person. But who…?

"Just, who are you anyway?" He asked and targeted his Blue Rose at her. She only smiled.

"Yuki Rea at your service. I like to have a name. What about you?" The girl came closer until a gun was touching her head.

"What do you want?" He didn't stop asking.

"My, my, what a rude fellow are you. I answered your question, so you should answer mine!" Yuki suddenly disappeared, then appeared behind him and stabbed him with a knife. Nero cursed and cut the air behind him. The girl was already gone. "So what's your name, demon?"

"You're calling me as if you were something different."

"What, are you too damn proud to even tell me how you're called? Fine. I'll see your pride when you are bleeding at my feet!" And she showed herself again right next to him, smiled and vanished. Nero felt a gigantic pain in his leg and then in the stomach. He realized that he's bleeding.

"But… how?" He sat on the floor and he felt a scar on his cheek. It was healing fast of course, but these scars were just showing up on his whole body. "Fuck you!" He screamed. They were getting bigger and more painful. "My name is Nero, you bitch! Just stop!"

Yuki was now before him. "Was it that hard?"

"How… did you do that?" He was breathing heavily. The girl was grinning. Bitch.

"You have this unfortunate habit of not answering the questions. I don't really like rude people." She turned around. "But I'll let you off the hook for now. I have some more important tasks to do. Someone is trying to get what's mine and I can't let him. So, goodbye mister Nero, I hope that our next conversation will be nicer." And she disappeared. For good this time. And the demons did the same just a while later.

The hunter fell on the floor and lost his consciousness.


When Nero woke up he was in Devil May Cry. He looked around and he saw a one fourth of the pizza on the table. Dante could never stick to his half and Nero knew it so he didn't complain and started eating. Soon the toilet's door opened and a familiar face came out.

"Oh, my little princess woke up. I had to rescue you again, you know?" The guy smiled and tried to take one more piece of pizza, but Nero was first. "What hit you so hard?"

His partner sighed and bit a fragment of his usual food. "A witch."

"Huh? Why?" Dante seemed shocked.

"I don't know. I didn't want to tell her my name, so she started to stab me everywhere."

"Are you sure it was our witch?" He sat next to Nero.

"No, it wasn't her. But she looked similar and had the same powers." He swallowed his last piece of pizza fast, in the fear that it will soon be eaten by his dear friend. "She said her name was Yuki."

Dante cursed. The boy next to him looked kind of confused. "This damn witch. We need to find her as soon as we can." He stood up. Nero sighed again.

"We can't beat her. She's too fast."

"If she really does have the same power as our witch, she's probably manipulating time somehow. So how can we…" The guy stopped suddenly "The crystal." He looked at his partner. "We have to find it before she strikes again."

"Why? How can it help?"

"I don't know, but if she wasn't lying to me, that should weaken her somehow."

"Who?" Nero kept asking questions.

"The witch and who else?"

"But which one?"

"Just shut up already. We should do Lady's mission, maybe we'll find it." He took Rebellion and left the shop.

How the hell does he know all this? Nero thought. He felt as if he didn't know anything and that was pissing him off. He was mad and he wanted answers, but he couldn't really get them now. So he took his sword too and followed his partner.