Nero loved the thrill of the fight, the adrenaline coursing through his veins, the sound of roars, clashing swords and bullets echoing through the empty space. Splats of blood and guts danced around them, bits and pieces sticking to his hair and coat. He grimaced in disgust when a Pyrobat's wing smacked him on the cheek, and rolled his eyes when Dante laughed to his right, his fingers sticky and red with blood.

A Green Empusa was flying over Dante's head, giving Nero the perfect opportunity to shoot it down and, with any luck, make its disgusting green goo fall straight on his uncle's head. He quickly pulled Blue Rose out of its holster, blue eyes following the lesser demon's movements carefully before he pulled the trigger.

Nero was thrown to the side, making him lose his balance and stumble to the left just as the bullet left the muzzle. Needless to say, it never hit its intended target.

"What the fuck, Vergil?"

"Pay attention." The blue-clad demon snapped as one of his summoned swords pierced through a Nobody's eyes, preventing it from bouncing any closer to Nero as it exploded beside them.

"I can take care of myself."

"Can you?"

He forgot how infuriating it could be to fight along Vergil. Sure, that thing might've exploded on his ass, but he would've been fine. He'd dealt with worse. And now he had to wait for yet another chance to get Dante back for being an asshole.

The gust of cold behind him let him known that Vergil had moved along, and he felt his shoulders relax at the thought. Nero shook his head to regain his focus, opting to concentrate on the new wave of demons that circled them.

Shadow was getting more confident on her own, slicing and severing limbs without Vergil barking orders at her. Nero managed to scoop her up with his spectral arms when a demon sneaked up behind her, and felt her whole body rumble with a mix of anger and surprise before she jumped to safely behind him. Stalemating wouldn't be a great idea right now.

The four of them moved in sync in flashes of blue, red, and black, keeping a hectic yet steady rhythm. His eyes closed in on some unfamiliar foes that stumbled towards them, their gray skin bloated and pulsating almost comically as they waddled in search for blood.

Shadow climbed on Dante's shoulders, using the old man to propel herself into the air and turn into a small but deadly guillotine that managed to burst open the strange demon's head.

And then it exploded.

A black, tar like substance sprayed out from the place where its head used to be and landed on Shadow, who let out a pained yelp as she stalemated.

She would be fine. She had to be fine. Dante was right by her, fending off the other demons who tried to get close to her exposed core.

What the fuck where those things?

Nero felt a gust of wind brush the back of his neck before he heard it again. That same dull explosion behind him, wet and chunky. But he felt nothing. Nothing but that familiar cold as he tightened his grip on Red Queen. He was waiting for something. Waiting for the pain. Waiting to hear Vergil's voice telling him just how reckless he was.

Nothing.

When Nero turned, he wished he hadn't. The black tar had splattered all across Vergil's chest and was slowly pooling by his feet, eating away all the grass it managed to touch with a high-pitched hiss.

"Shit. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." Vergil spat, but Nero could hear that thing sizzling still, could hear the slight strain in Vergil's voice that just wasn't out of anger.

He would've said something else if he was fine. He would've moved by now if everything was fine. But he wouldn't. He couldn't.

The tar was eating away the fabric of both his coat and vest, seeping into his skin and slowly setting it ablaze with pain as it spread like a wildfire, melting it away into nothingness at an alarming rate.

Fuck.

"I'm getting you out of here, okay?" Nero said sternly, trying his hardest not to give away the fear that was eating him inside. He'd never seen something like that before. And it was all his fucking fault. If he'd only paid more attention. If he'd only listened. "Dante!" He shouted, glancing back over his shoulder with urgency.

The red-clad hunter was battling a couple of demons alongside a newly-restored Shadow, and the cocky smile playing on his lips faltered when his eyes landed on them.

"Get him out of here. We got this."


Nico was humming a tune as she sat on the driver's seat with a cigarette on her hand. She took a slow drag, watching the desolate scene in front of her full of collapsed buildings and blinking streets lights. She grimaced at the flowery taste in her mouth, cursing herself for falling for yet another pretty ad on the internet. Herbal, handmade cigarettes to help you quit smoking? Well, she wasn't planning on quitting any time soon, but the package was so damn pretty and artsy and, well, she was a sucker for those types of things.

If only they didn't taste like ass.

Even Nero had made fun of her, saying she smelt like one of those shitty air-fresheners the fancy gas stations would have in the bathroom to get rid of the smell of old shit and stale pee. She was supposed to smell like tea, dammit, not a fucking air freshener. Whatever. She paid 12 bucks for a pack of 10 when her usual pack cost like, what, 8 dollars? So you bet she was going to smoke 'em all.

The only reason why she hadn't been around that much was because she was pissed at Vergil, and had better things to do instead of dealing with that whole mess- not really, but she'd been here and there getting some odd demonic bits and pieces with Lady by her side and, well, time sure flies when you are having fun.

Wait, what was she saying? Oh, yeah, that she was mad at Vergil and was ready to tear him a new one for being such a fucking asshole. But, turns out he was not that bad after all? Or at least that's what she'd heard coming both from Kyrie and Nero, and if Kyrie had any reason to believe that the man who tore off her boyfriend's arm was redeeming himself, then she had no reason to doubt it.

Oh, and Vergil had also become a crazy cat lady. She had to see that for herself.

He'd left his cellphone in the van just to keep Nico quiet 'cause she was damn sure he had more pictures of his cat in there. And guess what? He fucking did.

Vergil's gallery consisted of pictures of Shadow-Nico had to admit that he had a keen eye for those sorts of things- and some damn pictures of his… notes? Was this guy really writing things down and then taking pictures of some goddam sheets of paper instead of using the note app on his phone? God. It was all boring stuff like: go to the dry cleaner's after 2, look for more books about this author, visit some random place. Just old man stuff.

She quickly opened the camera and took a couple of selfies, deleted the shitty ones, and placed the very best one as Vergil's background picture. He had the yellow background pic that came as a default and definitely needed something prettier in there. The thought made her snort as she tossed the phone on the passenger's seat before she took another drag of her cigarette, the overpowering taste of powdery flowers coating her mouth like dust.

This wasn't the worst place she'd been in, but it was definitely one of the most boring ones. No cars were passing by, no stray demons prowling around. It was all too quiet and uninteresting. That, until she decided to glance to her right. She chocked on the smoke and started coughing hard, bringing one hand to her mouth to try to suppress the hacking sounds she was making as she jumped out of the driver's seat, and her cigarette landed unceremoniously on the ground as she ran to help Nero bring Vergil in.

They placed him down on the couch as softly as they could, and Nico let out a shaky sigh as she glanced at her friend. Nero was frowning, and it didn't take a genius to know that he was scared shitless. The wound on Vergil's chest grew by the second, dripping down a strange mixture of blood and tar. Nico could swear that, through all the blood and guts, she could see a glimpse of the couch behind him. Whatever this thing was had managed to make an actual hole through Vergil, and it showed no sign of stopping just yet.

"Don't just stand there, dumbass. What are we gonna to do?" Nico didn't mean to sound so harsh, but she was fucking scared too. Vergil was the King of Hell, for fuck's sake, he shouldn't be dying on their shitty couch.

"You think I know what to do?" Nero hissed, keeping his voice low as if trying to hide his answer from Vergil. Not that it would matter, anyways. Nico could tell that their conversation was the last thing on his mind. Vergil was oddly quiet, and the artisan noticed that the way he breathed sounded awfully similar to the one of a dying animal.

But that was one of the things she was going to keep for herself for the time being.

Nero tried to undo Vergil's vest to try to get a better look at the wound, but he pulled his hand away with a hiss as soon as his fingers touched the black tar. That single touch alone had managed to eat away a couple of layers of skin, leaving it reddened and pulsating with pain. They needed to find a way to get rid of that thing. Fast.

"Wait, I got an idea!" Nico took off to the small bathroom at the back of the van and let the shower run. She stepped out of there only when she made sure that the water was as hot as it could get, not really caring about the first degree burn that now adorned the back of her hand. She wasn't sure if it was actually going to work, but it was better than just standing there like idiots hoping that it went away by itself.


"Must you stare?"

Vergil didn't need to open his eyes to know that they were ogling him. He could feel their eyes boring into his frame, covered merely by an old, dusty blanket and Shadow, who'd decided to lie on top of his legs. He kept one of his forearms draped over his eyes in hopes of lessening the pain caused by a pesky migraine while his free hand rested on top of Shadow's head, absently caressing her fur.

He, surprisingly, received no response other than a huff that came from the driver's seat. He would have to thank the mechanic later for her valiant attempt to mostly drive like a civilized being. He could feel the skin on his torso pulsating with searing pain as it desperately tried to heal itself, a process that would, undoubtedly, take longer than expected, seeing that what had embedded itself into his body was a corrosive type of poison that refused to leave his system.

It'd been only logical for him to place himself between Nero and the creature. He knew how the child fought and could only expect him to put a bullet in its skull and spray the poison directly on his face.

The sole thought of Nero suffering that fate intensified his headache.

"How do you feel, Verge?"

"I've dealt with worse."

Dante snorted. This was a walk in the park compared to what Vergil had been through, but that didn't make him worry any less.

Another heavy silence fell upon them, broken only by the sound of Nico's lighter as she lit up her third cigarette of the evening.

"I'm sorry," Nero finally spoke up, his voice soft, remorseful. "I should've fucking listened to what you said."

"Nero."

The harshness in his father's tone made Nero falter. He wanted for Vergil to continue, to tear him a new one, maybe to say 'I told you so', but nothing came. He only saw Vergil's jaw tighten with pain, and that was the end of their conversation. His eyes wandered to the pile of ruined clothes by the door full of melted holes before they trailed back towards the dark form lying on top of Vergil, red eyes staring wistfully at her friend.

"I will be fine if you let me sleep."

Dante's heavy hand fell on Nero's shoulder, and he gave the old man a resigned smile.

Vergil was right. Maybe sleeping it off would help.

And, for now, it would be best if Nero tried to keep himself busy by finding a way to fix his father's clothes.


This had been sitting in my drafts for months now, but a comment left by a kind Guest here got the creative juices flowing again. Thank you for that!

The unnamed demon is based on The Witcher's Rotfiends, although this one is far more destructive.

Thank you for reading! ❤️

On a totally unrelated note, I've been writing drabbles on Tumblr for a couple of days now. Feel free to drop by and request something! You can find me there as wordborne.