Here's the second Interlude. I should have the next chapter up by the weekend, when I've got more time.

Beta-ed by Jason M. Lee

Bring a toothbrush, there be sweetness ahead.

Also, Shkoodles has made fanart! So this Interlude is dedicated to Shkoodles! (So happy!) Check it out at:

Because Fanfiction sucks with allowing out going links: the three images can be found under the name Piscosos at deviantart.

Doesn't Credo look like a friggin' badass?

Interlude 2

A Weekend with the Alighieris

Friday

If there was a scene that Dante honestly thought he'd never be at on a Friday night, standing in the back of an auditorium full of gossiping mothers and bored fathers was one. The red clad half-devil was the actual subject of most of the gossip and while Dante found that amusing, there was still a part of him that couldn't believe he was standing in the middle of hot, overcrowded gymnasium suffering through class after class of crappy grade school performances of Disney songs and children's plays.

On a Friday.

Oh, how his life had changed.

If there was any consolation the half-devil knew that Nero was equally pained by the whole situation. His kid had practically begged Dante not to come.

"It's just… retarded and embarrassing as Hell. Please, just, go get drunk or something."

But there was no way in Hell the hunter was going to miss this bout of childhood humiliation. Honestly, the kid was just lucky he hadn't invited any of the girls. Dante perked up slightly as the rather chubby chorus teacher announced Nero's class number. The class filed out onto the stage… and Dante had to damn near swallow his tongue to keep himself under control, a gloved hand slapped over his mouth in a vain attempt to keep his nigh on hysterical laughter quiet.

Each student was wearing an outfit of some kind, mostly made out of felt, each with a different crudely cut out kitchen or cleaning utensil on it, and for the most part all looking various different degrees of excited and/or nervous.

And then there was Nero.

His kid glowered like a brooding storm cloud in the line, his expression blank. As the music over the loud speakers began to play the karaoke version of Be Our Guest, the class began to do cute little gestures that matched the lyrics they sang.

But not Nero.

His son just stood there, arms cross angrily over his fork outfit, glaring death resolutely at some spot on the stage before him, lips pressed firmly in together distaste.

Dante let out a choked sound, ribs aching from the effort to keep it together. Parents near him were glaring at him, not that he really cared, and his son's eyes had zoned in on him almost instantly and the distance between the two of them could not hide the pure threat in those astonishingly crystal blue eyes.

There was a low pitch hissing that the hunter's hearing could just pick up and as he watched Nero glanced to the side of the stage, where the music teacher was gesturing wildly for the white haired kid to do something. Slowly, as if not to unbalance his fork costume, Nero extended a felt clad arm and flipped the balding man off.

In the back, Dante rolled over and died.

Some part of him – the hunter inside that noticed everything – was aware of the female teacher who was watching him in disapproval but at the time, Dante hadn't thought much of it.

Saturday

"Well, bless my soul. If it isn't Dante Alighieri."

The devil hunter stopped mid-step, a lopsided grin on his face as he spun around to face the barely-dressed woman who had greeted him. Jasmine looked as gorgeous as she always did, all curved lines, tan skin, and beautiful, beautiful full lips that could swallow a man whole.

Literally, Dante knew that first hand.

She looked stunning in leather pants and a see-thorough sequence top, the dark pink of her nipples only just hidden from sight. Jasmine sauntered up to him, more feline in her movements then any human had any right to be, before trailing her hands over his broad chest, taking time to trace the outline of his muscles, seen so easily underneath his shirt before sliding them up and around his neck.

Dante slid a hand around her thin waist, the other easily sliding up and across a firm rear end. "Hey, sugar, still looking sweet as ever."

"Oh baby." The gentle kiss to his neck and not-so-gentle grind against his hips made Dante bite down hard to keep from moaning. It had been three months since he'd gotten any. A record, since the hunter had hit puberty, to be sure.

And Jasmine, well, there just weren't a lot of whores of quality that looked like Jasmine.

"I've missed you."

"Really, well I'll have to–"

"Hey, old ma– Oh, for the love of the– My eyes! Get a room!" Nero was standing at the entryway of the side street, hand raised up to block the image of Dante and the prostitute. The hunter pushed Jasmine so far away from him she almost lost her balance.

"Uh, this isn't what it looks like!"

"Right. Anyway, Dad," Nero drawled dryly, jerking a thumb over to his shoulder to point at a stern looking young woman who was standing behind him, nearly radiating condemnation. "This is Ms. Fullance, my teacher."

Jasmine let out a sputtering sound. "Since when do you have a son, Dante?" The prostitute peered at the miniature version of the hunter. "Damn, he looks just like you."

"Sure does," Dante spoke with a slanted grin, ruffling the kid's hair. Nero hissed, sounding more like a cat than anything else, batting his hand away forcefully.

"Mr. Alighieri," a stern voice began, "I hardly think the red-light district is an appropriate place for a young child to be wandering around by himself."

Dante snorted as he took in the enraged teacher's face. Clearly, Nero hadn't shared his past year on the street with his school friends. "He does alright on his own. Practically a little street rat, that one."

Nero looked almost proud, if the squaring of his shoulders told any truth. Ms. Fullance looked horrified by his flippant treatment of the situation.

"Mr. Alighieri, this is hardly a joking manner." The teacher pushed her bangs behind her ear, her blue eyes burning with anger. "You son isn't even eleven, you shouldn't allow him to be wandering off while you consort with… you know!"

Jasmine's eyebrows rose in surprise and then she started laughing. "I don't 'consort' with anyone, sweetheart. I'm a whore." Still chuckling, she patted Dante on the bicep. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and an order to come see her again before she sauntered off, still laughing.

"Hey, Dad?" Dante looked down at his son, instantly wary at the look of fake confusion on Nero's face. "What's a whore?"

With a roll of the eyes he gave the kid a light smack on the back of the head.

From where she was standing, the teacher looked like she was going to have a fit. "Mr. Alighieri! That was hardly necessary. Nero was only curious and you wouldn't have to handle uncomfortable questions if you had kept him out of the red-light district to begin with!"

"Um, Ms. Fullance?" Again, that fake innocent confusion. "What are you doing here?"

The teacher blanched at Nero's question, turning a brilliant scarlet. "I… I mean… T-That's not the point!"

Dante's grin was downright devilish. "Sure. I tell you what. You keep your secrets and I'll keep mine, yeah?" He led his son away from the stunned teacher. "Come on, kid. You deserve an ice cream for that one."

Sunday

"Wanna tell me why you left this for ten' o'clock on a Sunday night to do?"

From where he was laying out an oversized tri-fold poster board Nero sent him a dark glare. "Look, are you going to help me or not, old man?"

With a shrug Dante joined him on the couch and picked up the project assignment. The title of it made him freeze.

Document Your Family Tree

…this was going to be awkward. He must have been staring at it for too long because next to him, Nero gave him a sharp kick.

"You okay there, pops?"

The hunter set the paper down with a shallow nod. "Look, I don't know if you're going to be able to do this."

The boy frowned. "I mean, yeah, we don't know much about my mom besides Aunt Mae, but we can still put down your side, right?"

"It isn't that simple, kid." Dante sighed and ran a hand through his hair. He had to find out sometime."My dad is, well, kind of famous. In fact most people don't even think he was real." That earned him a thoroughly confused look. "Nero, have you ever heard of Sparda?"

"Of course. He's the Savior. His Choice saved us all. He Chose to forsake the demon world so that we humans could live in peace. I had to memorize the Sacrifice from the Book of Truths in school. Well, before I came here."

Dante almost shuddered at the sound of the blatant religious rhetoric coming from his flesh and blood's mouth about his own father. Sweet mercy, he almost didn't want to know but… "Did they say anything about his boys?"

"Yeah, they think he had twin sons, but some of the other priests deny that. It's actually a big fight in Fortuna. The nuns at school believed that he left his sons here to protect us humans because they were born of a human mother and–" Nero stopped suddenly, slowly turning to stare up at him with a look of pure disbelief. "You have got to be shitting me."

Let it never be said that his kid was slow on the pickup. Dante just shrugged uncomfortably. "Get comfy, kid, cause this is going to take a while. It may be hard to believe, especially because of your life in Fortuna, but everything I'm about to tell you is true."

It took him three hours to tell the story of their family. He had ghosted over his brother's betrayal, telling only as much as was needed to understand what had happened. Nero was, understandably, blown away by the revelation that he was related to what he had been raised to believe was God. They sat in silence for a long time, staring at the blank poster board, each lost in their own thoughts. Eventually Nero stood, picking up the board before heading over to the stairs. Dante caught his wrist, stalling the movement.

"What're you doing? We've got to finish that, don't we?"

"And say what? That I'm related to the Savior?"

"Please don't call your grandfather that."

Another awkward silence.

"Look," Dante sighed and took the poster from Nero, "it's fine. We can use the name my mother called my father when we were in hiding: Marcus."

He set the poster back down, uncapping the marker and writing the name "Alighieri" up top in all caps before jotting names down. Nero watched silently from where he stood as Dante drew a marriage line from the two names and then a birth line down to his and Virgil's name.

"Should we make Trish my younger sister? Ah, why the hell not. She's practically family and she looks so much like my mom anyway." He glanced at his son, uneasy that the white-haired boy's face was void of emotion, before writing out Louise's name next to his own and then drawing a line from the pair down to Nero's name. Another line was then drawn from Louise to Mae's name, a small note indicating their aunt-niece relationship. "There. Small, yeah, but your family tree."

The boy stared at the tiny chart, eyes remote, before turning wordlessly and heading towards the stairs. Frowning, Dante followed him up to his room. Once inside, the kid stopped just before his window, entire body tense. More than a little concerned, the hunter came up behind him, placing a gentle hand on a stiff shoulder.

"Kid?"

The preteen swung violently around to stare at him, face suddenly etched with miserable anger.

"It's just so fucking stupid!" The hunter took a step backwards at the force of the emotion, watching in confusion as his kid began to pace the small length of his room. "Do you know why I had to leave Fortuna? Why I had to leave my adoptive parents and Credo and Kyrie?"

Dante eyes widened at the unknown names. His son had never spoken of his life in Fortuna and he had never pressed.

"Because of my fucking arm – because it meant I was part demon. But even with it my parents loved me. Yeah, they didn't understand me and it was… it was… I don't know!" The younger part-devil threw his hands up in frustration. "Really fucking annoying sometimes but damn't, they loved me!And I loved them! And I loved my brother and my sister! I wasn't always happy but I was alright! I was alright because I was with the St. Claires and they loved me!"

The hunter tried to deny the fierce jealousy that erupted in his chest as he thought of the couple that had raised Nero. That they had taken what should have been his. It was unreasonable to feel like that. He knew it was. If anything, he should be grateful that his kid had been with people who cared about him. But it was still there.

"And now I find out that I'm–!" Nero let out a sound that was a mix between a sob and growl. His demonic arm was glowing so brightly it dwarfed the yellow light of the lamps. "They wanted to chop me up, use me as an experiment because of what I am and I had to run – I had to leave everything I ever cared about behind and I'm the grandson of the fucking Savior?!"

His human hand shot out, grabbing the clock lamp on his dresser before throwing it with enough force that it shattered against the opposite wall.

"It's so stupid!" There were tears now, tears and so much anger and helplessness that Dante didn't know what to do. His kid's shoulders slumped in defeat and Nero let out a low whimper. "It's just… It's just isn't fucking fair."

The older half-devil couldn't explain the range of emotions he was feeling at the moment if he had to. It was something between jealousy, pity, rage, sorrow, and guilt. So much guilt. All of this was his fault. Because he wasn't careful. Because he hadn't paid attention to his rubbers. Because he'd never given Louise a way to find him afterwards. They stood like that, both staring at each other but not seeing either at all, for a long time.

"I'm sorry," Dante managed after a moment, his own voice hollow. He had never felt so helpless – so utterly incompetent and out of his league before. He didn't know what to do, didn't know how to make it better. "I can… I can take you back."

I can fix this.

He had no idea how, but Dante knew if that was what his kid wanted, the half-devil would find a way to get Nero back to his family.

His family. The family he loved. His family that didn't contain Dante.

Wasn't that a bitter pill that was hard to swallow.

Nero glanced up at him, a strange look on his face before it morphed into something like panic and before Dante quite registered the change he had an armful of Nero. Thin arms were wrapped like steel bands around his waist, his face buried against his mid-chest. Instinctively his own arms wrapped around the smaller frame.

"Kiddo," the hunter spoke softly, gently prying the younger part-devil away enough that he could kneel down in front of him. He had barely readjusted when the boy reattached himself again fiercely, this time pressing his face against Dante's shoulder, arms wrapped around his neck. "Please don't cry."

His kid only shook his head fiercely and the hunter sighed, burying one hand in white locks while the other was firmly around Nero's waist and stood. His intent was to make it to Nero's computer chair, but the ten-year-old wrapped his legs tightly around his waist, making the move impossible. With another sigh, the hunter accepted the position, sliding one arm underneath Nero for support while the other rubbed a repeating circle against the distraught child's back. He'd meant to calm his son down, not make him even more upset. Still, Dante couldn't deny the pleased feeling that the whole thing brought about.

Nero didn't want to leave him either.

There was another whimper and his grip tightened even more. The next few words were so soft, so muffled that only his half-devil hearing enable to him catch them. "Please don't send me away, Daddy."

Dante's breath hitched, his eyes squeezing close against the sheer force of the wave of tender emotion that single word had wrought in him. He hugged Nero even closer – so close he doubted the kid could breathe – and pressed a kiss against the crown of his head.

"Never. I'd never send you away, Nero," Dante promised fervently. "I just want you to be happy. If they make you happier than I do, I'd want you there."

"You make me happy," Nero said quickly, almost desperately, pulling his face from its hiding place. "You understand me and don't stare at my arm and… and… please, don't. I just want to stay with you."

"Alright," Dante accepted smoothly. "I'm sorry I even suggested it. I owe you so much, kiddo. I want to be sure you're happy."

The younger Alighieri gave him a weak smile before resting his head on a broad shoulder once more. "…I love you, old man. You know that, right?"

Dante swore he'd never heard anything so sweet in his life.

"I love you, too, kid."

Sniff.

Yeah.

::goes to brush teeth::

Added AN: RIP Vile Rat, American diplomat Sean Smith, killed in Libya protests with our ambassador Chris Stevens and two other Americans, and an amazing EVE Online player. Guy was just...amazing, man. EVE won't be the same.