Disclaimer: Sadly, I do not own any of the devil may cry characters in this fiction, if I did, Kyrie would have died in the first ten minutes of the game and Dante and Nero would be together...and Vergil would be shirtless in the third game...and Arkham would wear a frilly princess dress for my entertainment.

Rated Mature for Violence, Possible Incest, Language, Angst, Hurting Nero, Hot Man Sex in later Chapters, Blood, and other things I'm still thinking up.

I apologize to everyone for the extremely late update. I got back into Final Fantasy and was nervous about mixing up characters' personalities. Luckily, I managed to get this chapter done and am pleased with it. Thank you to everyone who is reviewing my stories~! ^w^ They help me realize people actually want me to continue writing. Anyway, enough of me, Let's get to what you clicked here for.

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Chapter Ten: Blood Loss and Suggestions

Nero screamed out Dante's name at the top of his lungs, honestly hoping the older man would come. One of the demon's tendrils lashed out and wrapped around his mouth and skull, squeezing tightly and preventing him from yelling for help again. Nero grabbed it with his devil bringer, ripping it away from him as he forced his legs to support his weight. His eyes caught the open door of the building and he sprinted towards the door, wincing as he moved his right leg. The tentacles shot out of the ground in front of him, attempting to grab a hold of him as Nero forced himself to jump over them and through the door. One managed to grab his injured wrist and press on the bleeding flesh. The young slayer bit his lip in pain before pulling Blue Rose from it's holster and shooting the tentacle to pieces. He sprinted down the street as the demon screeched at him.

"I'll kill you, you little brat!" The street behind and in front of Nero erupted as tentacles shot out of the ground and towards him. The young slayer aimed his revolver at them but could not move fast enough to shoot them all. A few tendrils wrapped around his devil bringer and yanked the Blue Rose from his hand, many others grabbing onto Nero's legs tightly. The ex-order member watched his gun fall to the ground a few feet away, clutching his teeth in pain from the hold on his wounded right leg. "I may have agreed to uncurse you but that was before you shot me. I only agreed to that hunter's terms because I thought you would be easy to dominate. I suppose this teaches me not to choose my prey when they are unconscious." The demon spoke, it's tentacles seizing Nero's body and preventing him from moving. "Still, I am a demon of my word. I will uncurse you, but that hunter said nothing about returning you alive."

Uncurse me? Nero thought as he tried to struggle free from the demon's grasp. His energy was fading as he suddenly stopped fighting the tentacles, his body shaking as he started coughing again. Blood soon dripped from his lips and onto the broken concrete, quickly forming a large puddle that seeped through the cracks of the road. The demon did not move to do anything but merely watched the young man in it's grasp cough and bleed.

"Honestly, that hunter was stupid to think he could stop you from dying. If I had not shown up in this world a few days ago, you might be lying in your home in your own blood. Not that it matters since I will kill-"

"You know, you talk way too much for a demon. Normally, demons just insult me then try to kill me, not rant for hours about what they are going to do. You need to work on that." Nero smirked as the blood stopped filling his mouth long enough for him to speak. He knew that it did not matter what he did now but he longed to piss the hidden demon off. Besides, he was tired of this demon ranting and saying things twice as if he did not hear it the first time. "Oh well, maybe you're just all talk and no action. Man, I feel like an idiot for being scared of you earlier." A growl told Nero that it was working.

"I'll rip that smart little mouth to pieces!" The tentacles tightened around the young hunter. His bones strained not to break under the increasing pressure, making him shut his eyes in pain and forget what he was doing for a moment. Before the demon could move to do as it said, Nero spoke again.

"So much for being a demon of your word." The ex-order member could not help the smirk forming on his lips as he felt a tentacle slide around his marked wrist. A cold feeling engulfed his human arm before the tentacle moved away, the scythe wings and the burning disappearing. Finally. Nero thought, glad to be free of the horrible ache that the curse had forced upon him. Now…Now, I'll just die by being torn apart rather than bleeding to death. He thought grimly, noticing that the wounds on his body did not disappear with the mark like he hoped. So much for fighting my way out of here. Damn it… A sharp gasp left his lips as the tentacles around him squeezed his body tighter, making the air leave his lungs and something inside snap. …Damn it all!

A loud bang sounded down the street but Nero could barely hear it because of the blood pounding in his ears. What he did hear was the piercing shriek from the demon holding him, the tentacles loosening their grip only slightly. Then he heard the one thing he would have done anything for.

"Ha! I knew I could count on you, kid. Always the same cocky, smart mouthed punk I know." Nero opened his eyes as much as he could to see Dante standing a few meters down the street. He would have felt relieved if the tentacles around him were not trying, and possibly succeeding, to break him in half. Dante only smirked before firing multiple rounds from Ebony and Ivory into the tentacles surrounding Nero.

The demon dropped the younger hunter, shrieking and cursing Dante as a few of it's tentacles dropped to the torn road. Nero fell to his knees, wincing as he landed on his blood covered leg but pushing it aside. He stood as straight as he could before quickly running and grabbing Blue Rose from the street, joining Dante in the barrage of bullets into the still hidden demon. The older slayer made his way over to Nero as he continued to fire into the flesh of the devil, turning many tentacles into just bloody stubs.

"How you feeling, kid?" Dante asked as the tentacles disappeared back under the cement, holding onto his twin guns. Nero stopped firing at the ground, instantly falling backward as his legs refused to support him anymore.

"That answer your question, old man?" Nero groaned from the impact before he struggled to sit up. "It doesn't burn anymore but I still feel awful. I don't think I've stopped bleeding either." Dante frowned slightly, glad that Nero had done what he thought he might. The little firecracker always did get on the bad side of others.

"That's not good. We should try to get out of here as fast as possible."

"Hey, Dante, come here." The ex-order member said, looking up at him. Dante glanced at him in confusion before bending down near him. "Closer." The elder moved so he was a foot way from Nero's face. The look on the younger's face was beyond pissed as he lifted his devil bringer with the Blue Rose in it's grasp, pistol whipping the side of Dante's face hard enough to break part of the man's jaw. "That's what you get for trading me to a fucking demon! I don't give a fuck if it was to uncurse me! That thing was going to rape me and kill me, you fucking-!"

"Hey, kid. How about you save kicking my ass for when we're out of here?" Nero stopped shouting at the elder as a grim smile came over Dante's lips, holding his jaw so it could heal. Had Dante been worried about him? And more importantly, had he been crying over him? His eyes were slightly red and even a few tear tracks were still visible. If he really cared about me then why did he trade me away to an untrustworthy demon in the first place!

"You stinking half breeds!" The screech bouncing around the walls of the buildings prevented Nero from speaking again. Tentacles burst out of the ground again, in more numbers and larger than before. "I'll tear one of you apart then force the remains down the other's throat!" The younger man actually felt himself gag at the thought. He already felt sick from the loss of blood and really did not need any mental images of things like that.

"I'll give you an option, ugly. I normally don't do this but seeing you helped my friend here, I think I'll give you the chance. You can either go back to where you came from or you can stay here and die. What do you say? Life worth living for a couple hundred more years?" Dante offered, his tone light but his face was one that Nero had never seen before. Pure anger, and a lot of it. There was a moment of silence, as if the demon was contemplating it's odds against the enraged hunter. Then the tentacles slowly slid back into the ground.

"This won't be the last time you see me. I will return." The demon spoke. Dante laughed at it.

"I bet. Everyone I fight says that to me." There was no response, the demon seeming to have left the town. Dante sighed and turned back his back to Nero before kneeling in front of him. "Get on. It's a long walk back to-" The older hunter was interrupted by being kicked roughly in the ass, falling face first onto the concrete and feeling the rough texture of the road break his skin. He propped himself up on his elbows, waiting for the skin to mend itself before turning back to the younger man. "What the hell was that for?!"

"I was kicking your ass for leaving me with that thing. Don't get mad at me, you suggested it." Nero said, glaring at the older man. Dante sighed and moved to rub the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah, I guess I did. Anyway, we should head back to the office and fix you up. Once you're healed, I'll let you kick my ass as many times as you want." He said, moving to kneel in front of Nero again, this time watching so the younger hunter would not kick him again. The ex-order member carefully moved and wrapped his arms around Dante's neck, allowing the elder to grab his legs and lift him up. "Well, at least most of this is over." Dante muttered as he stood and headed out of the town, hoping to reach Devil May Cry before morning.

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