"Nero's gone!" Those two, simple words rang through Dante's head like a bullet being fired off. Gone? They're on an island, where on earth could he possibly go?

"…Gone? What do you mean?" Dante voiced his previously inner questions.

"He's just gone! We've checked everywhere, we even asked Kyrie if she knew where he went, but nothing!" As apparent in how his voice was gradually becoming more high pitched, Jack seemed to be making himself panic more as he continued speaking.

"Alright, alright, just calm down. Did you ask the ferryman if he's seen him? That's the only way into Fortuna, right?" Dante remained calm and composed; after all, there's no point in both of them freaking out.

"Yeah, we did…" Jack sobbed quietly. "He didn't see him leave."

"Then he must still be there, somewhere."

"I know, I know…" A small silence where Jack was heavily, but slowly, breathing in and out ensued afterward, which seemed to be Jack attempting to relax himself. This seemed to work briefly, before a new flood of questions entered his mind. "But what if he's in trouble? Or is lost? Or is hurt?! What if he was kidnapped!" His voice returned to its panicked state.

"Okay, just listen," Dante paused to make sure he had Jack's attention. He assumed he did, as Jack's whimpers died down when he spoke. "I'm going to head over there right now. Alright?" Waiting until he heard Jack weep a faint 'okay,' he continued speaking. "But it's gonna take me a little while to get there. Until I do, just keep looking for him." Standing up from his chair, Dante began collecting his weapons as he held the phone to his ear using his shoulder. "Have you tried using Aglæca to sniff him out?"

"No… It's too risky to use him. The captain doesn't want anybody else knowing about him until the board members approve his plan.."

"His plan? I thought that would've been dealt with by now." Dante responded, a bit surprised since Nero told him about the captain's plan to allow sanctuary to peaceful demons a while back.

"Almost, it's in the approval process, but it's not in effect yet…" Though brief, this side conversation distracted Jack enough from the situation to be able to gain back some of his composure. Nevertheless, there was still a sad, helpless undertone to his voice.

"That's too bad, this would be easier with his help…" Dante paused, sighing a heavy sigh as he did so. "I'll be there as soon as I can. Just keep looking for him, maybe he'll turn up before I get there." After getting an affirmative response from Jack, Dante hung up. Without wasting another moment, he left the shop in a rush and proceeded to his preferred vehicle of choice - his motorcycle, that is.

The trip to Fortuna was terrible, to say the least. The already long trip was made longer by the traffic that was almost everywhere he went, as if the other people knew he would be in hurry at this particular time on specifically this day. He dodged most if it by illegally driving through the alleyways and taking the lesser known backways, something he learned how to safely do early in his devil hunting career. After all, when he gets an emergency call from someone in distress, taking the ten extra minutes to legally sit in traffic could mean the death of innocent people. Often the Capulet City police will turn a blind eye to his illegal behavior, since they know very well that Dante will only do this whenever he absolutely needs to. In fact, it seems like the police departments from the surrounding areas also know to ignore him now, as he passed several occupied police vehicles on his way to Fortuna and not even one flashed their lights at him.

Nevertheless, he did eventually make it to Sparda's city. Albeit later than he anticipated, but at least he was there now. While on the ferry ride, he called both Trish and Willow. Trish to inform her that the shop was unattended, much to her distain, and Willow to get more information on the situation. Just as he figured, Willow was treating Nero's disappearance in a much more serious, less panicked manner than Jack, and was able to coherently tell Dante everything he knew. Willow told him that yesterday, for the first time since before the wedding day, Nero had been doing well. He was starting to talk again, move by his own accord, and had even made and ate his own meals. Nobody informed Dante though, figuring there's no point in saying he's all better after only one day of improvement. He could easily relapse back into his numb depression and all their hopes will be dashed. Then, when Jack went to make sure Nero was well this morning, as he has done every morning since that terrible day, he found Nero's bed to be disheveled and empty. Almost as if the occupant had suddenly sprang out of bed and left, without bothering to tidy up his sleeping quarters. A search of the room revealed he had left behind both Red Queen and Blue Rose, meaning that, where ever he went, he had no weapons. This was unheard of from him. He does often leave without Red Queen, as she can be a bit bulky and intimidating to civilians, but he never leaves behind his trusty gun.

That was about all they knew right now, unfortunately. He'd been gone since before dawn and is weaponless. They spent many hours searching for him, with no luck, before they resorted to calling Dante. Despite searching practically every inch of the town, the woods surrounding the town, and everywhere else near town, there was no hint of where Nero may be. Nobody had seen him, nobody knew where he could've gone, nothing. Like Jack had said to him earlier, they had even questioned Kyrie, suspicious he may have spoken to her in an attempt to win her over again before leaving. But she hadn't seen him either. It was as if he had just disappeared without a trace.

As there was no evidence of him being in town, Dante figured that, obviously, he isn't in town anymore. He hasn't left the island either, meaning Nero must be somewhere in the rural, unpopulated areas. The island's unpopulated portion is a fairly good size and it would take countless hours to find him on foot, as the terrain isn't suitable for cars. It was for this reason that Dante took his bike with him onto the ferry, something he doesn't normally do. It would still take a sizeable amount of time to search all of the island, but it's at least doable on his motorcycle. As he slowly drove up to the middle of town, mindful of the bewildered crowds of people watching him, he spotted Jack and Willow standing beside the large, ornate fountain, conversing to one another. Willow had told him to meet them there, to discuss what they should do next. Jack, of course, had a frazzled, unkempt appearance and an overly-concerned expression. Willow seemed to be behaving in much more logical fashion, rather than letting his emotions control him.

"Ah, Dante! There you are!" Willow turned to greet him upon noticing the motorcycle's approaching engine noise. "I'm glad you're here, but… I don't think there's much we can do now." He said in reference to the sun's dying light. Thanks to the heavy traffic, he wasn't able to get here until 7 o'clock. There was only an hour and a half left of light before dusk.

"We can still do more! I can work in the dark!" Jack pleaded with Willow.

"It's alright, I've got an idea." Dante said as he pulled up next to them, before Willow could speak again. He killed his engine so that they could hear one another easier, but didn't bother getting off his bike for this short conversation. The other two observed him, waiting for him to explain further. "Obviously, he's not in Fortuna anymore. But you two can do another round of searching where you think he could be on the outskirts of town. Maybe question some of the food places around here too, since he's probably eaten since this morning." He crossed his arms idly as he spoke. "I brought my motorcycle here so that I could search farther out in the island while you do that." Both men looked away from him as they thought about this plan of his.

"Well, what do you think?" Willow questioned Jack after a few seconds of silence, looking over towards him. Jack exhaled deeply before responding.

"I think that's probably our best idea right now… He can cover more ground than us and he has a headlight on his bike too, if nobody's found him before dark." He answered somberly, finally looking up at Willow. "But I'm not giving up if we haven't found him by then." Jack said sternly. "I'll go walking around in the woods with a flashlight all night if I have to!"

"Nobody's saying we have to give up, but you know we can't go traipsing out there in the dark. We'll be drawing attention to ourselves and that's too dangerous." Willow reminded him.

"Too dangerous? We're demon hunters! We can handle a bit of danger!" Jack began to argue, crossing his arms across his chest aggressively.

"Let's just stick to the plan we've got right now. If it's dark and we still haven't found him, then we'll regroup here." Dante interrupted them in a serious, but still slightly light hearted tone to ease the tension. "But right now we're killing daylight." He reminded them.

"He's right, arguing won't get us anywhere." Willow agreed. "Dante," He paused to look at Dante, making sure he had his attention "go ahead and circle the island on the beach first, before you go into the woods. You'll cover more land if you start there and it'll narrow down our search by a lot, alright?" Receiving an agreeing nod from him, Jack and Willow immediately sped off toward their first destination - a nearby food stand, that is, to question the people working there. Dante watched the two men leave for a few seconds, before looking ahead of himself as he started the engine back up. He sat there for another couple moments still, contemplating which direction he should go in. Figuring he'll end up making a circle no matter what direction he went in, he decided to take the northern route out of the town, as that was the route that he was closest to anyways. As the sun was beginning to set, marking the end of the day, the civilians of Fortuna had begun returning to their homes, making the streets much clearer and easier for Dante to navigate.

Upon exiting Fortuna, Dante took a sharp left onto a heavily used dirt path, towards the shoreline. The town was actually a few miles away from the closest beach rather than being right next to the waters, since, according to Willow, the buildings near the waters were washed away a very long time ago due to the sometimes violent sea storms that pass over the island in the summer. Sensibly, the buildings were never rebuilt and the town simply moved back some. This was also the reason why the tree line was a mile or two away from the beach - not even the mightiest oak could withstand the powerful storm winds. Save for one or two brave palm trees that survive for a few years, before toppling over, the island's beaches were bare. However, despite the lack of vegetation, the shores were quite beautiful. The sand was an exquisite, almost unnatural, white color. Seashells were abound and dotted the shoreline with their various colors, except for the popular beach tourist locations, where all the shells had been picked clean off the beach.

As Dante rode along beside the beach, on the more firm sand as opposed to being on the wet sand next to the water, it was hard to not notice the abundance of life. Unlike most beautiful islands, Fortuna island had retained its natural beauty by giving restricted access to outsiders, and so, had retained the wildlife that thrive on its shores. Yes, tourists were allowed on the island, but in limited numbers. As an added measure, they were also restricted to traveling only within the town or to designated beaches. Straying from these boundaries was forbidden. Because of this, the native wildlife that would normally be in hiding out of fear of the excessive amount of humans traipsing on their homes, were instead out and about. Crabs of all kinds and sizes were digging, scavenging, and even fighting amongst each other next to the water. Seagulls were happy to dive down and snatch up the smallest of the crustaceans that were unlucky enough to be seen, before returning to sitting on the water and preening their white and grey feathers. Occasionally, the dorsal fin of a dolphin or two could be seen in the distance as well.

Eventually, Dante had almost ridden all the way to the other tip of the island. The island was a sort of teardrop shape, with the town of Fortuna being on the rounder end and the rest of the island essentially being devoid of human life. As he got closer to the other end of the island, he noticed something peculiar. He spotted a lone, large palm tree that was strangely not located on land, but is instead sitting in a couple feet of water. Not only was this odd since larger trees don't usually survive this close to shore, but the tree was in the water! He soon spied a familiar looking, white haired man who was also sitting in the water, beside the aforementioned tree. The man had left behind his trench coat and footwear on the beach, away from the water, probably to keep said pieces of clothing from getting wet. As Dante approached and came to a stop next to the small pile of clothing, he watched the man. But he did not move, nor did he even acknowledge Dante's presence, even though there is no way he did not hear the motorcycle's loud engine coming closer to him. Switching off his bike and putting down it's kickstand, Dante grabbed out his cell phone. He sent a simple text to Willow, saying that he's found Nero and that's he's alright, before he carelessly tossed the phone onto the soft, sandy ground. Getting off of his motorcycle, Dante made his own pile of clothes, which consisted of his coat, phone, gloves, gun harness*, shoes and socks, as well as his sword and guns. He figures Nero won't come out of the water to greet him, instead forcing Dante to join him in the corrosive salt water, so he might as well leave his valuables here, where they won't get ruined.

Stepping barefoot onto the sand, he took note of how warm the sand was. It made him realize just how chilly he was, after having ridden through the windy air on his bike up until now. Making his way into the water, not making any effort to not make noise or slosh the water as he walked, Nero still did not look at him. Rather, he only looked in front of himself, towards the horizon and approaching sunset. His knees were up, out of the water, so that he could rest his arms upon them comfortably. He had his head leaned up against the palm tree. With him sitting, the water came up to his midsection, with the rhythmic waves approaching the shore sometimes splashing up to his upper chest.

"You gave us a bit of a scare, ya know?" Dante spoke up as he came up beside him, half not expecting an actual response from him. There was a few seconds of silence before there was indeed a reply.

"Yeah, I seem to be doing that a lot lately." Nero said as he lifted up his demonic arm, observing all of its attributes, before he flopped the appendage back down onto his knee, insinuating that his arm is what scares everybody. As he spoke, Dante sat down in the water, next to him. The water felt quite nice; it wasn't suspiciously warm, but it wasn't cold either.

"Is that what this is about? Your arm?" He questioned.

"No, not really. But it does scare almost everybody in Fortuna." Nero explained. As he did, Dante couldn't help but observe how sad he looked. Not in his expression, but in his appearance. The dark circles under his eyes indicates he hasn't had a decent night's sleep in a long time, his even paler than normal skin showed that he hadn't been out in the sunlight for weeks, and he even had a bit of stubble beginning to grow. He did still have a nice amount of muscle despite his lack of activity lately, though he had clearly lost weight. That last bit was easy to see, as since Nero was coatless, his sleeveless undershirt was exposed, along with his arms. It was a painful sight to see for Dante, the mixture of exhaustion and hurt on an otherwise handsome man. "Have I ever told you how I got this arm?" Nero interrupted Dante's thoughts unknowingly, looking over at the other man for the first time.

"I assumed you were born with it?"

"No, I was born with two normal arms." He began, looking back out towards the horizon after he spoke. "A few months before the Savior Incident, me and Kyrie were out in the woods, about a couple miles from town. I don't remember why we were out there, I just remember she needed something from that area." He paused. "Anyways, because of the hell gate that Agnus opened, there were lots of demons out there. I couldn't let her go out there alone, and Credo was always busy," He paused again, with a small sigh "so I went with her. Of course, we were attacked by scarecrows. But there were more of them than I had anticipated." He shook his head, as if mentally cursing himself. "Long story short, I was able to protect Kyrie and get us both out of there, but I got a nasty gash on my arm." Nero lifted up his devil bringer, then used a finger from his other hand to trace a six inch long line, representing the gash, in the middle of his devil bringer's forearm. "It even chipped into some of the bone." He laid his arm back down. "And that's when my arm started to change. I didn't have this super-fast healing factor or whatever it is back then, so as the wound slowly healed, it also started changing. At first it was the blue skin, which started at the wound and then eventually spread all the way to my shoulder." Using his normal arm, he pointed out where the blue skin meets his normal skin tone on his right shoulder**. Since he didn't have his coat on, just his sleeveless undershirt, it was easy to see the entirety of his demonic arm.

"Which, that scared the hell outta me. I thought it was turning blue from blood loss and I'd end up losing my entire right arm." Nero continued as Dante patiently, and quietly, listened. "But I didn't. Then the skin on my forearm started getting tougher, thicker… until it became hide-like, like it is now. Then there was the odd glowing that came from it…. All in all, by the time you came around, it was how it is now. Kyrie was the only one who knew about it, and she insisted it was just some weird growth that would eventually go away." He let out a long sigh. "I tried to believe her, but sometimes I would just sit and look at it. Deep down, I knew my arm wasn't human anymore, but I also thought I was just human. But, you can't be fully human with one demonic limb, so… I just tried to believe that Kyrie was right, and one day it'd go back to normal." Nero looked over at Dante, who hadn't looked away from him, once more. "It wasn't until you showed up and told me otherwise that I realized you can be both human and demon." He looked at Dante for a few moments more before he resumed looking out at the lowering sun. "I still wonder what would've happened if I hadn't of been so distracted with protecting her while fighting off those demons though." He paused for a few moments, then spoke again, answering his own question. "I would probably still look normal."

"Whaddaya mean? You look normal to me." Dante tried to reassure him, though this caused Nero to chuckle at him.

"I look normal to you because you never saw me with two human arms. I look like a I've become a monster to everybody else."

"You're not a monster, Nero." By using his real name, instead of calling him 'kid', Dante hoped that Nero understood he was being serious with him.

"I know that, but other people don't understand. They take one look at my arm and suddenly I'm some kind of terrible creature to them."

"I thought you didn't care about what people think of you?" Dante teased him, trying lighten up the discussion and help him to feel better.

"Well, no, I don't. I don't mind if people hate me for me being who I am. But people instantly judging me based on my looks, before they even get to know me…. that's different."

"Listen, kid, your arm is you now. I'm not saying you should run around proudly displaying it, but you can't hide who you are just because some people don't like it." Dante told him. "And besides, the people who do judge you because of your arm aren't worth worrying about."

"I know, I know.." Nero said, almost sounding like a little kid being lectured. "I've accepted who I am, for the most part. There's just been a lot that's happened this past year, it's a lot to take in. That's why I decided I should spend the day here, where I can just think, by myself."

"Tell me about it then." Dante said, since Nero wasn't offering to explain himself further. As he leaned back with his hands behind himself, propping himself up, Dante crossed his legs underneath the water. He felt the tiny minnows that were swimming along next to them picking at his exposed fingers. He did not mind this though, as the fish were so small that their picking felt like nothing more than a very tiny poke at his finger. In fact, it kinda tickled.

"About what?"

"What's been going on." He clarified.

"Well, you already know everything, actually. My arm changing, finding out I'm half human half demon, almost losing Kyrie because of Sanctus, Credo dying, getting together with Kyrie, finding out she was pregnant… then almost marrying her, only for her to leave me at the alter." He paused with a solemn expression. "I think that's probably why I got so attached to her." Nero added quietly in realization.

"Why's that?" He asked, as Nero seemed to come to that conclusion for seemingly no real reason.

"She's all I had left." The younger told him. "Both my real and adoptive parents are dead, Credo's gone, and then after almost losing her, the only family I had left, during the Savior Incident… I just wanted to keep her safe. And she accepted me for who I am. She didn't like it, but she wasn't afraid of me or my arm." Nero paused to think, then smiled just enough for it to be noticeable. "She was always there for me when we were kids too. Always helping me out, getting me out of trouble, doing things for me. She was more of a mother than my adoptive mother. Somewhere along the way I developed a crush on her, and I just went with it. Never questioned why I liked her, I just did." He paused again, but this time, his smile turned into a frown. "I would've done anything for her."

"You must really love her." Dante said, observing Nero's sad expression after a few moments of silence had passed.

"I did." Nero said with a heavy sigh. "But that's why I needed time to think, alone. If somebody had told me about what would happen to me in this past year, I'd say that person was batshit crazy. I went from living a relatively normal life to… whatever you'd call the life I have now, in just a year's time."

"Yeah, 19 seems to be a helluva year for everybody." Dante joked, reminiscing internally of his own 19th year. "But you'll get through it."

"Hmph," Nero scoffed "my birthday is just a few weeks away, so I sure hope I can make it to then." He joked back, smiling some again. "What happened when you were 19?" Nero looked over at him, assuming Dante must've had it rough too, based on the statement he just made to him.

"Well…" Dante hesitated. "Uhh.." He tried to think of a way to get around his question without actually answering him. He hadn't talked about his brother, or what had happened between them, in quite a long time, and he didn't really feel like talking about it now either. "19 is usually just a hard year."

"Uh huh." Nero spoke in a skeptical tone. "Too old to remember?" The elder man chuckled lightly at this.

"Yeah, sure, that's it." He'd rather just be called old than tell him the story.

"C'mon, Dante. What happened?" Nero persisted.

"Okay, fine, I'll tell ya." Dante gave in with a smile, knowing that, at this point, Nero won't stop asking until he tells him. He's stubborn like that. "I was 19 when my brother died." He gave a simple answer, hoping that may satisfy Nero's curiosity.

"Vergil?"

"Mhm." He hummed affirmatively.

"Tell me about it then. Or about him. I know he's your brother and he was a bad guy, but I don't know why he was bad, or really anything about him... Were you two close?" Nero asked inquisitively. Averting his gaze from Nero, Dante looked out towards the sea, so he may think more clearly.

"Yeah, we were." He said finally, after taking a few seconds to quietly think. "When we were kids, at least. We kinda grew apart, I guess."

"How so?"

"Well, he wanted to open up the hell gate-" "Which one?" Nero interrupted. "Temen-ni-gru. The main one." Dante explained, then shrugged. "But he may have been planning to open them all, I don't know. He wanted to open Temen-ni-gru in particular though, since that's where Sparda sealed his powers at. I couldn't exactly let him open up the human world to an invasion of demons, and I had no interest in our father's power, but my brother was consumed with it." He stopped briefly, then laughed lightly. "Back then, I wanted so little to do with Sparda, his power, and everything about him, that I would always just say I didn't have a father***."

"So you didn't want to accept who you were?" The younger man said in a patronizing, yet joking tone, as Dante had just given him a small lecture on Nero accepting who he was.

"No, I didn't." He readily admitted. Turning to look over at Nero, he continued to speak. "Which is why I'm telling you that you are who you are, whether you like it or not. No point in trying to deny it."

"And how long did it take you to realize that?"

"A while. It is what it is." Dante said casually with a one shouldered shrug.

"Sounds like your 19th year wasn't a walk in the park either then." Nero agreed with him, smiling at him a little.

"I told ya, it's a rough year for everybody." Dante smiled back at him briefly, before both men decided to gaze out towards the sunset to make the ensuing silence less awkward. It was then that Dante saw just how amazing the atmosphere is out here. It was no wonder why Nero came here, everything was so relaxing and carefree here. There were some lone seagulls calling to one another in the background, perhaps telling each other goodnight. The sun had lowered itself down enough to where it met the sea. As it continued its descent, the sky around it was full of color. Purple, blue, orange, red… it was like the sun was painting an impossibly perfect rainbow of colors as it's light was slowly being replaced by its nighttime counterpart, the moon. Wait… this looked kinda familiar, now that he thought about it. Where could he have seen something like this before?

Then it clicked. The dream he had a while back. That's right, he had dreamed of him and Nero being on a beach at one point! The sky, the sunset, the noises around them, even the warm, white sand, it was all just like in his dream. Of course, there were some differences… For instance, they were sitting in water, not standing on the shore. Then there was the fact that there was no possibility of them participating in anything beyond what friends would do, unlike in his dream. That was a bummer, but he still thought it was kinda cool how his mind seemed to know they'd be here at some point. After roughly a half minute of silence between them, Nero spoke up once more, turning his head towards the other man.

"You wanna know the most traumatizing part of this year?"

"Hm?" Dante hummed.

"There was this really old guy who kissed me." Really old guy? I mean, sure, he's older than Nero, but c'mon, he's not really old.. Nevertheless, Dante couldn't help but smirk, though he continued to look out at the sunset rather than at Nero. At least the kid was joking with him again.

"Really? That sounds awful." He said in joking, pretending-to-be-genuine tone. "Want me to teach him a lesson for you?"

"Nah, I beat him up pretty good. Broke his jaw at least."

"That's all?"

"Yeah, but I also yelled at him afterwards… Said some things I shouldn't of said." Nero said the last half of his sentence quietly, but still loud enough to be heard. Dante's smirk faded and he paused for a few seconds before responding.

"I'm sure he's heard worse."

"Maybe. But he shouldn't hear that from a friend. And I shouldn't of been so harsh with him either." The older of the two shrugged this off nonchalantly.

"Sounds to me like he deserved it after what he did to you."

"No, he didn't. Most of what I said wasn't even the truth, I was just angry. And I don't even know why I was so mad." Nero's tone was soft, as if the guilt he was feeling was even being emitted out through his voice.

"Most of?" Dante turned to look over at him.

"Well, I mean, he is an egotistical womanizer who drinks too much." Dante had to nod a little bit to this with an expression that further conveyed his agreement with him. I mean, yeah, he likes women, his liquor, and himself. Not much to argue about on that. "But everything else I said…" Exhaling a small sigh, he continued. "I just shouldn't of said the things I said to him."

"What're you gonna do about it then? Have you talked to him?" Dante continued to act as though they were talking about another person and not him.

"No, I haven't said anything. I want to tell him I'm sorry, but, uh… I've never been good at that. So, I've been trying to figure out how to apologize while also insulting him." Dante chuckled with a smile at that. Yup, that definitely sounded like Nero.

"Nah, I'm sure he's over it. No big deal." Out of the corner of his eye, Dante could see Nero smiling - widely, in fact. Something he probably hasn't done in a while.

"I hope so." Nero concluded. "Say, you seem to know a lot about this guy."

"Yeah, I mean, we talk pretty often." Dante joked.

"Uh huh." Nero said skeptically. "Well, during those talks, did you happen to ask him why he kissed me?"

"Why he kissed you?" Dante reiterated as he tried to bullshit up an excuse.

"Yeah."

"I don't know what you mean by that." Dante shrugged, causing Nero to roll his eyes, irritated slightly by his avoidance of the question.

"I mean, was he just testing the waters," In other words, seeing if he liked men "or was he just trying to get in my pants, or… maybe the old pervert's thinkin' 'bout actually being with somebody?" He questioned. "For more than one night."

"Being with somebody?" Dante continued to play dumb.

"Yeah, in like a relationship."

"Well, you know, honestly, I'd say he was trying to do all three." He said with a cocky smirk. "Ow!" He yelped with a chuckle, having received a solid punch to the arm by Nero. "What'd you do that for? I said he was!" Dante said as he looked at the man while sorely rubbing his slightly bruised arm. Despite pleading his innocence, he retained the smirk on his face, full well knowing why he was punched.

"Send that along to him, will ya?" Nero joked playfully before he absentmindedly crossed his arms. "Do you actually think the player is done playing, though?"

"Yeah, probably. That kinda life is fun at first, but after a while, you just become tired of it. After all, what's the fun in playing a game you always win at?" He joked with a wide smirk, though he knew this was a partial lie. When he was Nero's age, he almost never 'won' the 'game'. In fact, the ladies practically hated him!

"And what makes him think he can get a young, attractive person to date him, after he's had all that fun as a bachelor for all those years?"

"Oh no, he doesn't think he can." Dante told him. His tone was cheerful, but his expression had turned somber. "Nah, he knows he doesn't have a shot. After all, he's an old guy, right? No way he'd win over a young hottie. He's probably settled with just enjoying the view."

"Is that so?" Nero questioned, to which the other man nodded. "Well…" He began, after a few moments of silence ticked by "I don't think he should settle with that so quickly."

"Why's that?" Dante looked over at him once more, his solemn mood changing to one of curiosity.

"Well, I mean.. honestly, after all this shit that's happened, I've learned that women aren't exactly the perfect beings I thought they were. So, yeah, I can settle for an old man, as long as he's loyal and keeps me happy." Nero told him as he gave him a small smile.

"Really?" He questioned with interest. The fact that Nero said he'd "settle" for an "old man," meaning him, did not seem to faze him. Though, he restrained himself becoming enthusiastic, firmly believing that Nero was just messing with him.

"Yeah, I don't see why not." Nero shrugged as he watched a fish jump out from the water in the distance. "There's a first time for everything, right?"

"I suppose so." Dante answered idly.

"But can he?" He turned to look at the other man moments later. Dante, who had also spied the jumping fish, met his gaze.

"Can he what?" Figuring they had moved onto another conversation by now, he did not know what Nero meant.

"Can he, after all these years of one night stands with attractive women, be able to be loyal to just one person?" Nero asked him sternly. Huh, he doesn't seem to be joking… This doesn't make sense though. The kid can't actually be serious, can he? Sure, Dante's quite attractive and can give a girl a good time for a night, but… He's not dating material.

"Uh, well…" He hesitated, unsure if he should seriously or jokingly respond. If he responded seriously and Nero was joking, he'd never hear the end of Nero ridiculing him. But if he jokes with him and Nero's actually being serious, he'll ruin his only shot at getting him. However, upon observing Nero's dead serious expression, Dante's eyes widen with realization: Nero either has a damn good poker face, or he isn't messing around.

"Old dogs can still learn new tricks, right?" Dante finally said after moments of quiet. Nero responded with a small, pondering nod, before looking out at the waves, apparently thinking to himself.

A minute or two later into the ensuing silence and Nero was still not offering any sort of explanation or further response to him. Instead, all he seemed to want to do was watch the waves. Dante wanted to find out what he meant, but up until now, he was unsure of how to do so. "You can't be serious, right, kid?" Dante finally vocalized his doubts in a quiet tone, a questioning eyebrow raised. By now, the anticipation was practically eating away at him.

"If you keep calling me kid, I won't be serious." Nero warned him.

"Oh, okay, sorry, I'll try that again." He pretended as though his apology was genuine. "You can't be serious, right, babe?" At this, Nero turned to him, his eyebrows furrowed and his mouth slightly agape, as if in disbelief that Dante would call him such a thing - as if the word 'babe' was an incredibly insulting curse word. Meanwhile, the man in question held a proud smirk on his face, refusing to apologize this time.

"Yeeeaaah." He replied slowly, his eyebrows still furrowed at the man. "I am being serious." Dante briefly contemplated what he should say next, his smirk fading for a more thoughtful expression.

"But, I mean… It doesn't bother you that you're both, you know, men?" He questioned. Nero replied with a shrug before verbally responding.

"Nah, I've never been good at anatomy. I did fail that class in school, after all." Nero joked with a smile. "Why, does that bother him?" He continued to refer to Dante as though he were somebody else.

"What? Oh, no!" Dante quickly answered. "No, he doesn't mind. It'll be a new experience for him, but… no, that doesn't matter."

"What, dating or being with a guy?" Nero teased.

"Both, actually." He said with a light chuckle, which caused the other to smile warmly in response to his laughter.

For the next several minutes, neither one of them talked. They were watching as the sun finally hid itself completely below the horizon's line, leaving the last rays that still radiated out from the orange ball clinging to the sky. Inevitably, the sun's presence left completely, leaving the moonlight to take over the skies. The night sky was a clear one, allowing the moon to shine at its brightest. This in turn gave the two hunters the ability to not be completely blind in the darkness.

"C'mon, it's getting late. We outta start getting you back to headquarters." As he softly spoke, Dante stood up, disturbing the previously peaceful water around them. Without a word, Nero followed his lead in standing up as well, then followed behind the older man as they made their way back to shore.

Walking back to their pile of dry clothes, Nero noticed Dante only had his motorcycle with him. "How are we both gonna get there?" He questioned as he began to put his footwear back on.

"On my bike." He responded as gathered and put his various accessories back on.

"We can't both fit on there." Nero said as he was putting his coat on, skeptically eyeing the motorcycle in question as he did so. After holstering his guns, Dante handed Rebellion to him. At first, Nero questioned this action, but then figured the man must be wanting him to place the sword on his own back, since Nero did not have Red Queen with him. As he did just this, Dante approached his bike and, swinging his leg over onto the other side of it, sat down on its seat. Looking back over to Nero, who was visibly questioning him, he patted the small extra space on the seat behind him, a smirk on his face.

"Sit behind you? What the hell am I going to hold onto?" He asked as he looked for any sort of part on the bike that he would be able to hold onto.

"Me." Dante answered, his smirk never wavering. Defiantly crossing his arms beforehand, Nero spoke again.

"No."

"It's the only way."

"I'm not doing it." Nero said seriously.

"Okay, okay. How about you drive and I hold onto you?" He said slyly. Rolling his eyes at the man with a scoff, Nero decided on the lesser of two evils. Uncrossing his arms, he hesitantly approached the motorcycle. As nobody in the town owns or sells motorcycles, Nero had never been on one before. They seemed like death machines to him anyways, capable of going ridiculously fast while offering absolutely no protection if you got into a collision. That, and he was certain that Dante drives like a maniac. Speaking of whom, Dante must've seen the concern on his face, as he scooted up just a little bit more, giving him more space. Very slowly, Nero swung his leg over and sat down behind him, though he made sure to leave at least an inch of space between them. Furthering his refusal to touch him, Nero decided to tightly grip the edges of the seat, rather than holding onto Dante.

"You sure you want to do that?" Dante questioned, having noticed Nero's decision to awkwardly grip the seat instead.

"I'll be fine." He insisted, though inside he wasn't so sure. Shrugging, Dante looked ahead of himself as he turned on the motorcycle's light's and engine. Had Nero of been able to see the devious, wide smirk on Dante's face, he probably would've decided walking home would be a better option. Instead, he found this out soon after they took off, as Dante clearly had no intentions of taking off at a slow pace. Fearing for his life, Nero's body betrayed him, as his hands quickly abandoned holding onto the seat in favor of tightly holding onto the sides of the man in front of him. But he still refused to allow himself to press his body against him, or to wrap his arms around Dante's stomach, no matter how afraid he got. The man still had his dignity, after all.

That is, until Dante decided he'd drive like some God damn bat outta hell the entire ride back. By the time they safely made it to a stop in front the headquarters building, Nero had long since given up the idea of having any kind of pride or masculinity. He just wanted to live. That meant that any sort of space between them was gone, as the young man had his arms tightly wrapped around Dante, with the side of his face squished up against his back. His eyes tightly sealed shut, he must not of realized they stopped, as he still clung to the older man as if they were still traveling at 100mph.

"We're here." Dante told him. Throughout the entire ride, he had held a smirk on his face, as if he was proud of what he had accomplished. Immediately opening his eyes, Nero lifted his head up and quickly looked around, either to make sure that Dante was telling the truth or to make sure nobody had seen them. Either way, with the coast clear, Nero dashed off of the bike as soon as he possibly physically could.

"You damn pervert, you just wanted me to touch you!" Nero angrily accused him, his legs a bit shaky from having to clamp down on the bike so hard.

"What? No, that's how I normally drive." Well, he wasn't completely lying at least. Normally, he only uses his bike when going on an urgent mission, where he has to drive crazy anyways. His smirk made him seem less than truthful, though.

"Whatever. At least you didn't get us killed." Nero muttered as he fixed his hair and clothes, as they had both gotten wildly out-of-place from the wind. Meanwhile, Dante just laughed at him, since he knew they were never in any real danger. "Oh, here." Taking Rebellion off his back, Nero handed her off to Dante, almost forgetting he had her since Rebellion weighs about the same as his own sword.

"Thanks." He said as he returned his favorite sword back to her natural place - on his back. As Dante began to move in a way that indicated he was about to turn around his bike to leave, Nero spoke up, stopping him in his tracks.

"Hey, uh.. When are you coming back?" Nero asked timidly, his previously mad demeanor long gone and instead leaving an uncharacteristically uncertain expression in its place.

"Um…" He idly spoke, briefly looking away from him to focus on thinking before looking at him again. "What's today, Thursday?"

"Yeah."

"Sunday's usually a pretty slow day for me. That alright?" Dante questioned.

"Yeah, sure, that's fine." Nero's voice was still in a quieter tone than how it normally is.

"Alright. See you then, kid." He flashed him a small smile before he began the process of rolling his bike around to face the other direction.

"Dammit Dante, I told you to stop calling me that!" He shouted irritatedly as he watched the man begin to leave.

"Oh damn, sorry, babe. It's probably gonna take me a while stop that." He had a smug expression as he took off, not bothering to look back at Nero, as he already knew the younger man was shooting a threatening glare, as well as some colorful language, at him. Oh well, he'll just have to get use to his new nickname eventually.

Well, that's assuming things between them last more than a couple weeks, and that's a pretty big assumption.

*Yes, those three odd straps across Dante's chest in DMC4 is actually the straps to his gun harness. Most people think he just decided to wear three chest belts, then a fourth real belt on his pants, but no, that's his harness. I found this out in the DMC graphics artbook, which depicted several of Dante's original designs, including a design that had him wearing this harness on the outside of his coat. It was clear it was a gun harness in that design, but it made him look clunky, so they instead had him wear the harness underneath the coat, where the purpose of the three straps is unclear. I believe it may have also doubled as his sword holster.

**Firstly, yes, that is the actual official story of how Nero got his arm. Which is why Kyrie says, in the beginning of DMC4, that Nero can't go fight Dante because he hasn't fully recovered yet. Secondly, that really is the anatomy of his arm. He's got the thick, demonic hide up to his elbow, then his skin is blue, but otherwise normal, up to his shoulder, where his skin goes back to it's normal color. This is also made clear in the DMC graphics artbook, where it shows Nero's sleeveless undershirt underneath his coat, as well as his arm.

***In DMC3, Dante tells Vergil he has no father. He's also shown to be really resistant to any sort of power gain, or being associated with their father, in that game.

So there you have it! Nero's feeling better, things are starting to happen between them, and Dante's up to his old tricks. I enjoyed writing this chapter, but it was also a bitch to write. Since Dante's not much for talking serious, and Nero's a shy guy(I mean, my God, Kyrie had to almost die for him to confess his feelings for her!), it wasn't easy finding a way for them to 'confess' without it being a serious, cheesy, or a loving confession. Their so-called confession is intentionally very vague and questions whether they're actually in a relationship now on purpose, because, well, they're both vague guys. Neither one will outright ask the other, they'll just play along until they figure it out. But, all relationship are difficult in the beginning, right?