A/N: Hey guys! If my predictions are correct you'll be getting this chapter tonight, and then another one on Wednesday like normal, and this chapter is probably going to be extra long to make up for the missed ones a couple weeks back. And then I'll be making more progress at the same time! Woot!

Disclaimer: Boop! You've all now been booped

Yeah

Dante was just sitting there, staring at his partner in shock, like he couldn't believe what the younger had been saying.

"What? That it looked like you had been fighting yourself, Dante what is it?" Nero asked, now getting concerned for his friend, what did Dante think was going on?

"It… it can't be…" the half devil whispered, looking down at his own hands.

"Dante, you're freaking me out now, please tell me what's going on…" the partial devil said quietly, putting his hand on the older boy's shoulder.

"It wasn't a mimicry demon, I've fought those, they take your shape too… no… that has to be…"

"Dante…?"

"Vergil…" the half devil whispered and Nero felt himself freeze up too, Dante had said that his brother was dead though… he had said that he was sure of it.

"But Dante, Vergil's dead… isn't he?" the partial devil asked, sitting back with his partner, if this was true… it couldn't be though… could it?

"I thought so… I just assumed… he fell down into hell… to challenge Mundus… I knew he would lose. He'd lost to me but I didn't think that…" the half devil swallowed thickly "I didn't think that he might try and keep him alive…" there was a moment of silence and then a massive cracking sound as Dante punched the rubble next to them, causing it to shatter into pieces. Nero winced

"Dammit! It wasn't just enough to take my mother away from me, he had to take my brother too! He had to make him into a slave!" Dante bit his lip, trying to fight back hot tears from his eyes. He felt a hand on his shoulder as Nero rubbed it. "Dammit!" he shouted again. Nero pulled his partner into a hug then, Dante needed to let it out, he needed to give it up and let the tears flow. He felt the half devil's shoulder's quake against him and he sighed in relief, the older boy needed to give up the ghost of being all powerful, he was flawed too. Nero knew it and was more than willing to be a support for his partner.

"It's okay, this just means that you might be able to save him this time, doesn't it?" Nero asked after a few moments of just letting his partner cry.

"I…" Dante stopped as that statement sunk in, he hadn't thought about the fact that he might be able to get his brother back after all this time. He had mourned the other half devil and had thought himself over the other but now… now that the opportunity had presented itself, the hole was right back in his chest where it had been the moment Vergil had slice his palm rather than taking his hand.

"We'll save him. Together." Nero cupped the older boy's face and Dante nodded eagerly, realizing that this time, he wasn't alone, he had Nero, he'd always have Nero by his side, together they just might be able to do it, the just might be able to save his brother… Dante pulled the partial devil's face to his and kissed him passionately.

"Thank you Nero." He said honestly, the younger just smiled at him

"Of course."

-Wrinkle in Time-

Eventually the boys got themselves pulled together and continued their journey deeper into the old castle.

"What do you think this castle used to be used for anyway?" Nero asked at one point as they started into some caverns after going deep enough.

"Demon worship." Dante said casually, so casually that Nero paused

"What?" he said, so stunned that he was pretty sure that he forgot to breath for a second there

"What?" Dante said back, looking over his shoulder at his friend to was staring at him in complete shock, it seemed so humorous to the half devil that he started laughing

"Oh come on, you can't think that that's weird, you grew up on an island where you worshiped a demon every day." He said and Nero made a face, looking down at his ring that he still insisted upon wearing, the one with the symbol of the Order on it.

"But… but Sparda's different. He rebelled against the rest of the demons…" he tried to explain but Dante just laughed again, harder this time

"Believe what you want but my pops wasn't anything but a demon, he never tried to pretend to be anything but what he was. He might've put up human appearances but he never claimed to be anything but a devil. So again, what do you think is weird about demon worship?" the half devil asked, leaning in to his partner, looking him intensely in the eyes. Nero blinked and looked away, blushing a little bit.

"I… I don't know… I just… I just think it's odd that people would worship something that has committed evil and nothing else for its entire life." Dante pecked the partial devil on the cheek, which only made him blush further

"You're so cute." He said and Nero frowned, stalking ahead of his partner and rounding the bend only to stop in his tracks. Dante caught up quickly and stopped as well.

"Well I'll be damned, a pirate ship. Maybe the pirates worshiped devils, huh, huh?" he elbowed Nero who just gave him a dirty look

"You are such an ass." He said and Dante grinned

"You love that about me." Nero sighed and started to board the ship, the half devil in tow. Dante looked around, taking in the entire ship.

"You think it's haunted?" he asked, the second he did the entire thing started to glow. Nero looked at his partner in irritation.

"You just had to open your big fat mouth didn't you?" he grumbled, Dante shrugged and they both hung on for the ride. Dante grabbed him around the waist and then onto the railing by the captain's room and said

"I didn't say anything about a waterfall though," he nodded to the water ahead of them and Nero paled at the sight of frothy waves.

They both shouted as they went over, though the fall was rather small and the boat was large, it handled it with no problem.

"Shit…" Nero breathed, shaking some of the salty water out of his hair.

"That was fun!" Dante said and the partial devil looked at him with disgust.

"I swear to god if you jinx us again…" he said. The half devil just winked at him. There was a clunking sound behind them as the swords that had been blocking the captain's room slid open. Dante looked to his partner before looking at the doors. Nero shrugged

"It's not like we can go anywhere else right now." He said and the two headed forward.

-Wrinkle in Time-

Some exploration and several fights later and the two ended up outside again, except this time they truly were outside, the sun shown at them brightly and they both covered their eyes.

"Do you think it's dusk or dawn?" Nero asked, looking around them for some other indicator to where they were, they could've crossed into the demon world while they were inside the ship for all he knew. Though he was pretty certain they were still in the human realm.

"I have no clue." Dante said smoothly, looking up at the sky, hoping for some indicator what direction they were headed, that would answer Nero's question too. It felt like they had been fighting through hordes of demons for ages, but who were they to say? Time passed strangely when most of it was spent in an adrenalin fueled fight.

"I want to say it's dawn…" Nero said, looking at the sun as though he'd be able to tell just from the sky around it. Just as he was about to speak again there was the sound of lightning and beating of huge wings and the giant bird monster flew overhead again. Both boys cursed lightly and drew their weapons in preparation for a fight. It didn't fight them though, just slammed the lock on the captain's door closed again before flying off.

"Not the most courageous type is he?" Dante said absently. Nero nodded as several demons appeared on deck, both of them sighed and resigned themselves to the fight. "Well then, let's get this party started." The half devil said, giving his sword a twirl. Nero clenched his fists, the gauntlets appearing around them once again.

A short fight later and the door opened up again,

"You think we missed something?" Nero asked and Dante shrugged,

"Worth a shot, we've got nothing else to do." He said and the two went back in. Once they were inside they both heart the thunk on the other side of the door.

"Shit… that can't be good." Dante said as Nero approached the door and tried the knob, it turned but the door didn't budge.

"How did the captain of this ship deal with this?" he grumbled, pushing on it again but to no avail

"He was a pirate." Was all Dante answered with. Nero just made a face at him. He didn't have time to make a witty remark as the whole ship rocked as it crashed into something. Both hunters stumbled as the boat came to a screeching halt.

"What happened?" Nero asked, he'd meant it as a rhetoric but Dante answered anyway.

"No clue…" he said, then came a sound that both of them were dreading, the sound of rushing water. They looked to the ground which was starting to fill with water and then to each other.

"Nero, how long can you hold your breath?" he half devil asked. There was no joke in his question, he really needed to know how long he had to find an exit for the both of them.

"Don't worry about me. I can hold it as long as I need to." The younger hunter said "I grew up on an island remember?" he smiled, though he could feel the smallest tinges of fear in the bottom of his stomach. The water was rising fast but Dante grabbed his arm and gave him a smile.

"We can do this." Nero nodded, gaining strength from the half devil's words. They both started looking for a way out before they had to hold their breath and Dante pulled something out of the confines of his coat.

"What's that?" the partial devil asked without really looking at him.

"One of the goodies that I picked up along our way, fires underwater."

"Hmm… it's almost like the castle knew this was going to happen…" the younger hunter grumbled under his breath. He was pretty well convinced that the entire castle was possessed and was just mocking them now. They each took one last big breath and then let the water overlap them, swimming for the first exit that they saw. There were demons under the ship, of course there were, but Dante's little gun made pretty quick work of them before they both managed to come up in a small room. Nero sucked in air like there was no tomorrow, his burning lungs screaming in relief.

"Thank god…" the half devil breathed, not sounding quite as out of breath.

"We made it…" Nero sighed, pulling himself out of the water and flopping down on his back. Dante chuckled but followed him all the same.

"That was something…" The half devil started laughing then, the kind of laugh that you have when you just beat the odds. When you survived when you might not've otherwise.

"Yeah…"

A/N: Odd leaving point I know but I'm literally about to pick it up in the next chapter in like two seconds… like seriously, right now…

Till next time,

-Winged Element