A/N: Hey guys, so I'm just going right from one chapter to the next :) And am currently on the phone again with my doctor because my dad didn't tell me the proper reason that I was supposed to call *grouches* and the actual call only took about two seconds to finish up what I needed to but the waiting around beforehand *grumbles irritatedly* anywho I'll stop being a butt and get started.

Disclaimer: Hey guys! I'm making sushi tonight! With the rice cooker! That I actually do own!

He was Too Prideful to Accept

Time passed with ease between the two hunters, they took missions, had sex, hung out, sometimes with Lady, sometimes without, either way it was a pretty easy lifestyle for the partial devils and it was going on a year that they had spent together, sometimes they fought, usually about stupid things, but most of the time it was a pretty simple coexistence between them. Nero was surprised one night to find Dante not in the bed with him when he woke to go to the bathroom. The younger teen rubbed the sleep from his eyes and his still sleeping mind figured that maybe the half devil had the same thought as he plodded down the hall. He relieved himself and looked over the balcony, now actively wondering where Dante had gotten off to. His heightened senses picked up a small noise downstairs and he went down to check it out. What he found was not what he was expecting.

Dante was sitting on the couch, the picture of his mom and the amulet he always wore sitting on the coffee table in front of him. The younger teen went and sat next to him, curious as to the reason for the half devil's odd behavior. Dante flinched when Nero lay a hand on his back, seeming not to have noticed the partial devil until that moment.

"Dante?" Nero whispered, and the older teen blinked, seeming to come to his senses a little bit.

"Sorry, did I wake you?" he said softly.

"No, I had to piss, I didn't know where you'd disappeared to though."

"Sorry," he said again, still seeming pretty lost in his thoughts. Nero rubbed his partner's back, the half devil looking down at his hands, at the scar that went right across one palm, a scar that Nero had noticed many times but never asked about.

"You okay man?" he asked, still continuing the soothing motion.

"Sometimes it just hits you y'know…" the older teen said, rubbing his hands over his face and back into his hair before looking over at Nero again.

"I think so," Nero said "you have a nightmare?" he asked, he had heard Dante in the middle of the night sometimes, tossing and turning, in the throes of a nightmare. Nero himself wasn't guilt free but he certainly didn't have as many skeletons in the closet as the older devil, of that much, he was certain.

"The memories… sometimes I can't help but remember, even though I don't want to…"

"Tell me about it." Nero said softly, tilting Dante's face up to meet his "Let me help you get through this." The half devil took a deep breath and looked at the picture on the table.

"This is my mom, you know that right?" he asked, holding the picture up for Nero to see, the partial devil nodded, taking the frame and looking it over again.

"When Vergil and I were young, Vergil's my brother." He explained to Nero's confused expression. "My dad left, I don't remember why very well and I have to say that I've never really forgiven him for it, if he had stayed… maybe things wouldn't have gone so wrong…" the partial devil scooted closer to his partner and put an arm around him, trying to encourage him on. "Because of Verge and I's heritage there were always demons after us, it was just part of the territory that came along with being the Son of Sparda, we were always able to hold them off, either by moving or with wards or just by fighting in general but one day… one day there was a surprise attack…" the half devil's voice was very quiet now "they set the house on fire… my mom told Vergil and I to hide and we did… and then Vergil said to stay there and that he would go help mom… I waited and waited and then things got quiet but neither of them came back…" Dante took a slow steadying breath.

"When I finally came out… my mom…"

"It's okay…" Nero said, giving the other teen a reassuring squeeze "I understand, you don't have to tell me." Dante shook his head and swallowed

"It was horrible, what the demons did, and I didn't know where Vergil was, that's when I went upstairs and found Rebellion, she protected me for a while, hid my demonic abilities as best she could, even from myself, it was a long time before I remembered who I was, who I was meant to be. And that's when I found out that Vergil was still alive."

"Your brother's still alive?" Dante shook his head

"At that time he still was, we didn't really try to keep in contact but then he tried to raise the Temen Ni Gru and needed the other half of the amulet I had, it was a long fight but eventually I made it up the tower, that's where I acquired most of the Devil Arms you see on the walls now. Vergil wanted the power that my father had, he wanted to embrace the demon in himself, he thought that his humanity was a weakness."

"And you couldn't let him do that could you?" Nero said quietly, he knew Dante too well at this point, sure the guy liked to be an obnoxious ass but he was a good person at heart.

"No I couldn't, we fought and I won, I wanted to save him, trust me I really did but he chose to remain in hell, he wanted to challenge the only demon that ever bested our father and I'm sure that he died there." Dante looked down at his hand "I reached out to save him when he fell but he was too prideful to accept…"

A/N: Wow… tough chapter… but y'know, despite seeming so strong I'm sure that Dante has those nights where the memories of the past are just too much.

Till next time,

-Winged Element