Time to Hunt Again

Chapter 12.


By the next morning, the Shera was up in the air again, fixed and good as new. The metal was gleaming in the morning sun, though the ship looked somewhat scarred from a terrible battle. Either way, it was flying and Cid was happy. He must have thanked Trish several times for fixing his baby. The beautiful blonde She-Devil just flaunted a little before looking at Dante and smirking at him. "Well, at least someone knows how to thank me and show me gratitude." She remarked. Dante and Vergil both rolled their eyes while Lady smirked as she stood next to her fellow She-Devil. She didn't even bother remark, knowing that Dante would throw a fit about how they were tag teaming him again. It was almost worth it though.

"So what's the plan?" Barret asked as he let Marlene lean up against him, his large bulky arm wrapped around her. After not seeing each other for a year, they were trying to catch up on their father-daughter relationship.

"We get in, we kick demon ass. How's that?" Dante asked, grinning, his arms folded.

Everyone just smiled and shook their heads. Vergil was one of the few to roll his eyes before glancing over at Nero. The younger half demon had not stopped sulking as he stood by the window, looking out at the sky with a fist pressed against his mouth. He was no doubt very worried about his girlfriend, Kyrie. No one could blame him either. There was a good possibility that she might get killed.

Vergil narrowed his eyes at Nero's back but shook his head as he turned his icy blue eyes onto his twin brother, who had been watching him from the corner of his eyes. "Dante," He spoke up almost warningly.

"Vergil." Dante repeated in the same warning tone. "Right now, I can't tell you. It's best that I don't right at this moment. We are about to go into a fight. The kid needs to be able to concentrate."

The older twin shook his head again, his eyes narrowing into deadly slits. "Dante, Nero already can't concentrate." He said, catching the spoken's attention and making him turn to watch, just like a few of the others. "Tell me now."

"Verg, no." Dante said, now starting to get a little serious. He could sense that Vergil's demonic energy was starting to build up, due to his silent temper.

Trish and Lady glanced at one another, frowning just like everyone. And just like everyone, they had no idea what the hell the twins were growling at each other about now. But then the blonde's eyes sparked with interest as something turned the light bulb in her head. Especially when Vergil started to shoot a look towards Nero. She let out a short huff before folding her arms and shifting her weight. "Dante, you didn't tell the kid anything, did you?" She asked, laughing dryly.

Nero, of course, realized that they were talking about him now. He frowned, tilting his head curiously then moved over. "Tell me what?" He asked, his eyes now shifting between Dante and Vergil.

Dante let out an un-amused sigh and threw his arms up above his head. "The kid is not ready to know, people! I'll tell him on my own time, dammit." He ground out.

"Tell me what?!" Nero now demanded, his eyes growing hard.

There was a long silence within the Shera's cockpit, the entire Avalanche group watching silently and quite confused. They knew better than to jump into this little situation though. It was none of their business anyway. Some of them were even starting to glance at one another then moving towards the doors. They figured it was best to leave this between the half demon twins and the kid, Nero.

Dante looked away for a moment, catching Trish's eyes, who was now giving him a very stern look. And he saw that she was not the only one. Lady was also giving him a very stern look, so she also knew what they were talking about. And she probably knew what Dante was meant to tell Nero.

"Dante, he needs to know what his true powers are." Lucia said, revealing that she also knew as she moved over to the half demon in red and lightly touched his arm.

"Did it ever occur to anyone that I might be the one not ready to tell the kid?" Dante asked, his tone very dry as he glared off to the side.

Trish and Lady both rolled their eyes while Vergil and Nero glared at him. They were starting to lose their patients with him, and it really couldn't be helped. "Dante, don't make this about you! This is about him and who he really is!" The trigger happy, huge gun toting black haired beauty snapped as she fingered her Kalina Ann.

By now, Nero was not only upset about Kyrie, he was now getting pissed off that they weren't even telling him what the hell they were talking about. So to ensure that they told him, he went straight over to Dante and roughly grabbed the front of his jacket, getting a dark look for it. "What the hell are you talking about?! What about me?! What is it you're not telling me about?!" He demanded.

"And me." Vergil asked quietly yet dangerously.

"Oh, shut up, Vergil!" Dante and two of the Lady Demon Hunters snapped at the same time, receiving very dangerous looks for their remarks.

Sighing, Dante reached out and pushed Nero away from him, not caring that he was still hovering near him, glaring. He really didn't want to jump to this right at the moment. Not with all of the many distractions. He had noticed that most of the Avalanche members had left, but it was mostly Marlene and Denzel and even Shelke that stuck around. Even Reno and Rude were hovering in the door ways while the other Avalanche members were just out in the hall. It was no doubt that they would hear it anyway. And it was no doubt that they might hear Nero explode when he did tell him.

Running his fingers through his fine white hair, the red wearing Demon Hunter finally looked directly into Nero's eyes, who was still glaring at him for the information. "Fine. You want to know, fine. I'll tell you. But I still think you're not ready to know." He shook his head as he jabbed a finger in Trish's direction. "Remember when I first met you and you first met Trish as Gloria?" He wanted to bark out a laugh when Nero grimaced, his face starting to turn slightly pink at some memory he had of Trish. It definitely made the others a little curious of why he kept glancing over at Trish, who was snickering to herself. "Well, during that whole thing, Gloria, over there, did some snooping around the library archives and eventually got snooping around the private section. She found some book that was in a highly secured safe, which she broke into anyway, and found something very important." He said, before looking over at the blonde.

"Sparda's journal." Trish remarked as she placed her hand onto her curvy hip. She glanced over at Vergil when he took a step forward, looking surprised but serious.

Dante nodded as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a smoky black, leather bound book and held it up. He ignored the fact that Vergil looked more interested and even started moving forward as if to snatch it away. He just moved it into his other hand, keeping it away from his older twin. It didn't help though as Vergil turned into a blur and stole the book away from him, moving away from him as he began glancing through the book.

Instead, Dante rolled his eyes and folded his arms. "I've read it. It's just his diary since he's been living in the human world. He's been recording his human life in the book, trying to leave behind some kind of memento." He remarked before shifting his weight. "So far, it's been a bit boring if you ask me. Nothing......."

"What does it have to do with me?" Nero asked impatiently glaring dully at the other Half Demon.

Dante snorted before glancing over at Vergil, who was flipping through the book as if he was trying to search for what his twin was trying to get at. "Some time after Vergil and I was born, right before he ended up getting himself killed in battle, the Old man went to Fortuna City." He looked directly back at Nero, who was now starting to look a little tense. "Some demon thought it would be funny to try and trick him into doing something that might make him vulnerable to attacks. It didn't work. But the trick somewhat did. He did some kind of shape shifting spell and placed it onto some girl, rearranging her memories a little and making her think she was someone else. Want to take a crack at who the demon was making her look like or think like?"

No one answered but Vergil suddenly hissed as he found something in the back of the journal, his eyes turning very sharp look onto Dante and then onto Nero.

"Our mother." Dante simply said, looking directly at Nero, who stepped back, glancing from him to Vergil then back. He only shook his head with a tight smile on his face. "Sparda was tricked to thinking his wife, Vergil and my mother, had come to see him in Fortuna. And because he missed her a little too much, he did the dirty." He told him.

Still, no one spoke but stared grimly or in surprise at Dante. They were starting to get the idea of what he was talking about.

"This......is.....impossible!" Vergil suddenly burst out, now glaring at his twin and then shooting Nero a look. He dropped the book, not caring about it any more. He just moved forward, glaring at his twin, shaking his head as he jabbed a finger towards Nero. "He can't be......!!!"

Dante finally turned his cold blue eyes towards him, shaking his head as he shared the look he was getting. "But he is, Vergil. Like it or not. Nero is our little half brother. He is a Son of Sparda." He told him sternly.

Nero's breath caught in his chest as he stared wide eyed between the twins, slowly stepping back until his back met the metal cockpit wall. Even Denzel and Marlene looked shocked and the conversations outside the room had stopped immediately. Everyone had heard that bit of news. And no one could say anything as they just listened.

"Wh-what?" The younger Half Demon stammered shaking his head. His breathing was becoming hyperventilating. "Wh-what are you.......?

Sighing, Trish stepped forward, looking at him. "Sparda impregnated a different woman, Nero. Your mother. When he found out that he had been tricked to sleeping with another human woman, he went berserk. He ripped the demon responsible into pieces and even went through the Hell Gates that he locked to destroy the demon's very essence so that he couldn't be reborn or anything. And that's how he opened up the Hell Gates again. And that's what Mundus had planned that caused Sparda's demise." She began to explain. "Mundus had the demons flood the gates to get out, overwhelm Sparda during his time of rage. That's how all of the peace just destroyed even after Sparda locked the Hell Gates again, destroying himself in the process. He was trying to keep Mundus in."

"It worked for some time until a certain someone." Dante remarked, shooting Vergil a look, who was glaring dangerously at him. He ignored him though as he went over to the book that was on the ground and scooped it back up. Flipping it to the last pages of the book, he shook his head. "Of course, before he locked the gates to Fortuna, he finished his diary and tossed it through before closing it. He really had hoped that it got back to Eva after he died, so that she could give it to us. Just so that we would know what he had done." He said, shaking his head again before tossing the book over to Nero.

Nero caught the journal as if it was diseased but either way, he flipped the book open to the last page where there was a letter written. It was to Sparda's sons.

Dear Dante and Vergil,

At this time, I must apologize to you both. I have done some terrible deeds by leaving you two and your mother to defend yourselves in this cold world, fighting the final battles and locking the Hell Gates to save your world. Forgive me, my sons. I had intended to watch you grow, help you master your powers and control your demon sides. But alas, I cannot. I must do what I intend to do now. If the Demon King and his demons are allowed to escape from Hell, it will be the end of nightmare. I must destroy the connection between the worlds and keep it from opening again.

Vergil, you are the oldest and therefore it is your duty to watch over your brother and your mother. Make sure Dante stays out of trouble.

Dante, stay out of trouble and stop trying to pick fights with your older brother all of the time. Stay strong for your mother.

Together, Dante and Vergil, you will be the unstoppable force, defeating the evil demons and protecting this world. Trust each other and trust yourselves. And forgive me for what I have done. It was not in my best interest to give you something before my final battle, but I believe I have given you a gift; a younger sibling to watch over and care for.

Find your new sibling, my sons. Protect them, guide them, help them grow into being a child of Sparda. Together, you three could be the protectors of the world.

Eva, forgive me. Even though I have been tricked into believing another was you, I do not regret it. Bringing new life into the world is what it is all about. It was always you and never someone else. Please, my love, give the child a chance and help it and its mother. She is not at fault for this either. If any fault, it is mine for concentrating harder onto detecting the deception. She is very young and she will need your guidance if you will give it.

I love you and forever, my love and my sons. I will always be apart of you. And I will always be with you.

Finally, to my new child, if you ever get the chance to see this, you were not intended to be born but I do not regret creating you. Like your brothers, you are Child of Sparda. You will probably have the same demonic powers as they do. And you will probably be neglected, treated poorly by others, misunderstood as it is for all half demons. But fear not, my child. Your brothers will always watch over you. And I will watch over you in spirit. I wield you my power as I have to Dante and Vergil. And always remember, use your powers only for the good and never evil.

Love Always and forever,

Your Father,

Dark Knight Sparda

Nero dropped the book, almost as if it had stung him and moved away from it. He couldn't believe this. He couldn't believe what he had just learned. He was a Son of the Dark Knight, the Demon Warrior, Sparda. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Nope. We're not." Dante remarked, folding his arms and shifting his weight again. "Vergil and I were nine when you were born. Three years after that, our mom died from a demon attack. And then Verg and I had our fall out. I wanted to kill the demons, he wanted to embrace them. But we never got this book." He shrugged. "I only found out not too long after you killed Ol' Santa Clause or whatever his name was that he knew about you from the minute you were born because he was the one to find that book. He started to plan that whole Order of the Sword and then become a God thing since you were born. He just didn't want anyone to find out so he tried to pretend you were human. Unfortunately," He glanced down at Nero's demonic arm. "When you hit puberty, your demon powers manifested and he had to kick up his plans. By that time, Lady was snooping around and keeping an eye on the Order of the Sword. Plus Trish went and gave them Vergil's broken sword......." He suddenly stopped talking as he realized what he just said before his eyes snapped wide open. "Oh shit."

"Broken?!" Vergil demanded, his demonic powers starting to flare up as he glared dangerously at his twin brother. Blue electricity were starting to dance up and down his body while his demonic form flickered back and forth between his human form. "What do you mean broken?! Did you break Yamato, Dante?!!"

Dante raised his hands stepping back while everyone stared between the two, watching dully as the icy twin started moving towards the other. "Hey, hey, hey! It was an accident!! I didn't mean to break it! Besides, Nero fixed it!" He said quickly, moving further away from Vergil.

Rolling their eyes, the She-Demon Hunters looked over at Nero, who was still taking it all in. Trish stepped even closer to him, placing a hand onto his shoulder while ignoring the sounds of fighting off to the side. "Nero, think of it this way, besides having two idiot older brothers, you've got the power you need to save Kyrie. Didn't you ever wonder what Sanctus meant when he said that you had the blood of Sparda flowing through your veins?" She shrugged, giving him a light smile. "He was kind of letting you know that you were the final son of Sparda in his own twisted way. And in a way," She nodded to the huge grotesque sword hanging on his back. "You are Sparda. That's why the Sword of Sparda will only fight for you now that you've claimed it. You now know what you are capable of."

"If you get in touch with the power inside of you, unlock Sparda's power," Lady remarked, smirking. "You're going to be able to help those two idiots take down a Demon God."

"And save Kyrie." Marlene spoke up, smiling brightly as she stepped forward with Denzel, who was smiling with her.

Nero stared at them for a moment before looking over at Dante and Vergil who finished punching at each other or swinging their swords and having Cid yelling at them that if they did any damage to his ship, he'd kick them out while flying. The younger Half Demon was more worried about their reactions more than anything else, really. "What about you guys?" He asked, quietly getting their attention.

Both Dante and Vergil looked over at him and stared for a moment before glancing at one another. It was mostly the oldest brother that didn't look too happy. He actually looked pissed about the whole situation. But the younger twin shrugged and folded his arms after hooking his Rebellion back onto his back and moved over to where Nero stood. "I was pissed about it when I first found out that you're the youngest Sparda brother, Nero. Believe me. I had to take out a good amount of demons just to cool off. But as I thought about it, I decided to come to terms with it. It wasn't your fault that you were born. It wasn't your mom and it wasn't Sparda's." He then reached over and cuffed Nero over the shoulder when he started to look rather forlorn. "Don't look like that, kid. I'm not saying that I'm regretting you're here. Hell, I'm actually glad you were born." he grinned down at the somewhat taken aback Half Demon next to him. "It gives me a younger sibling to pick on and teach how to really fight the right way."

Nero made a face as he gave Dante a look. "Thanks. I think." He remarked before looking at the still angry looking Vergil who was giving him a look as if he was some bug he wanted to step on.

"Vergil," Dante said, without even looking at his twin brother. "You better learn to accept it because if you try to hurt Nero, you will not only get your ass handed to you," He finally turned around and looked squarely at the oldest brother. "You will have to deal with me. I didn't like it either but you have got to face the facts. He is our kid brother and I might be pissed at Sparda for everything but I'm going to do as he's asked. I'm going to watch Nero's back. Now what about you?"

Still very hard eyed, Vergil just looked directly at Nero, looking him over before turning and walking right out the room.

"Um......" Nero hummed frowning.

"Trust me, that's as close as an acceptance you are going to get from him." Dante said with a snort of humor. He looked back at Nero, grinning. "Welp, you know now who and what you are. Why don't we get started?" Nero stared at him with an almost bewildered look and the older Half Demon grinned even more slyly. "On your new training. I told you. I'm gonna start teaching you how to tap into your demonic powers and using them. Like it or not, you are apart of Sparda's bloodline. The only way to learn how to use his powers is through me or Vergil. And since Verg is out of the question, that leaves me." He told him before nodding him to follow.

"I really don't know either to feel very concerned or just go with it." Nero remarked dryly before following after his supposedly older brother. Everyone else just snorted with humor.

"Well, at least he's taking it well." Lucia said, folding her arms and smiling at Lady, Trish, Malene and Denzel.

Shelke, however, frowned thoughtfully as she thought about everything that just happened. She understood all of it at the most part and even found herself very interested in it. But there was one thing she had to question. How in the world did anyone expect someone like Vergil to accept something like that?

With a determined look, she went to find out.

It didn't take long at all to find out where Vergil went, after even glancing at the Shera's security system that she helped build. She found him out on the outer balcony, watching as clouds whizzed by, or at least the other way around. There was a troubled look on his face, more or less, he wasn't happy at all. Shelke couldn't blame him at any extent. Watching him carefull, she approached him, tilting her head to the side. She could already tell that he was aware of her presense but he still didn't look at her.

"I'm curious about how you are handling that bit of information." She eventually said calmly.

"And what business is it of yours?" Vergil asked coolly, still not looking at her. Shelke shook her head as she slowly joined the much taller and colder tempered person to just looking out at the scene before them. She didn't say anything for a very long time, processing all of her thoughts and wondering of what she could say next. But she really didn't need to. For the cold Half Demon spoke up again. "I actually suspected it from the moment I seen him." He finally turned his icy blue eyes onto the young girl, meeting her amber colored gaze. "Nero. When I first looked at him, I started to suspect as much that he was one of us, Dante and myself. I can sense the power of Sparda within him. He also shares characteristics of Sparda as we do. Meaning……"

"He looks like you." Shelke finished for him.

Nodding his head once, Vergil looked forward again, his icy gaze narrowing only a little. He wasn't too sure how to take it exactly. He wasn't happy about it, that was for sure. To even hear that his demonic father had even produced another son, it was unacceptable.

Yet……for some reason, he was doing just that.

"He better be a powerful fighter." Vergil found himself said quietly as he narrowed his eyes. "I won't accept a weakling for a sibling."

And beside him, Shelke merely glanced up at him before looking forward again, her lips curving only a little into a smile. She had to admit it. He might be a cold person, but he was amusing.


Author's Note:

Now I don't know how Nero is related to Dante or Vergil other than the fact that he is. I've looked every where for any information that might give me the idea and I didn't get any real information about it. So I decided to make it up. Unless the creators of DMC say other wise, I'm going with it. You don't like it, tough. My story, my rules. I want Nero to be Dante and Vergil's younger brother.