The next two days passed in a blur. Nero helped Kyrie and Nico make preparations for the camping trip, leaving Lady and Trish to patrol the city for signs of the Nilepoch. By Friday morning they had still found no trace of the demon. Nero wasn't sure whether or not to feel relieved by its disappearance.

Meanwhile, the van had been rigged out with foam mats and sleeping bags and stocked with simple camp foods. Nico emptied her mobile workshop of the more dangerous tools, though she locked a pistol and some ammunition in a dashboard compartment. "Just in case," she assured Kyrie as they finished loading the van. "I ain't gonna take it out unless we need it."

"I certainly hope we don't." Kyrie glanced at Nero. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Kyrie, you'll be safe with Trish. And the kids will have a great time. They're really looking forward to it."

"I know. I just wish you were coming with us."

"Me, too. I'm jealous of all the s'mores you guys are gonna eat without me." Kyrie rolled her eyes at that, and Nero kissed her forehead. "When all this is over, we'll plan another trip for all of us to go on together, okay?"

"All right." Kyrie gave a wan smile. "Is there anything else you and Lady need me to do before we leave? I can make some food, or…"

"Kyrie." Nero put his hands on her shoulders. "It's two days. Even if Lady only knows three recipes, we can add that to the three things I know how to cook, and we can still eat something different for every meal. We'll be fine."

"An' if all else fails, there's always pizza," Nico pointed out.

"Careful." Lady emerged from the house with a stack of folded blankets wedged between her arms and chin and began feeling her way down the steps into the garage. "You say that word loud enough, and you'll summon Trish and Tony. They're just in the living room."

"Speaking of whom, I should make sure Tony has everything packed. We'll need to leave as soon as the other children get home from school." Kyrie squeezed past Lady and disappeared into the house.

Lady deposited the blankets on the van's long bench seat. "I think that's everything on the list. Nero, are we all set for Operation Adultification?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You come up with that name all by yourself?"

She shrugged. "It was either that, or 'Project Turn-A-Reasonably-Nice-Kid-Into-Someone-None-Of-Us-Really-Get-Along-With-But-We-Need-For-Practical-Purposes.' Take your pick."

"You're not wrong there." Nero sighed and let his eyes wander to the door Kyrie had closed behind her. "I hate being forced into this. If we'd just killed the damn Nilepoch, they could have stayed kids until they grew out of it on their own."

"But we didn't. We tried, and we barely scratched it. I don't like the risk any more than you do, but we need Dante on this." She leaned back against the van door. "And as much as I hate to admit it, probably even Vergil."

"Hey, maybe he'll be nicer this time around," Nico put in. "Like, what if he just gets bigger, but doesn't get the same personality back? It'd just be like Zaffiro grew up, with his new memories an' all, an' he wouldn't be all creepy an' angry like Vergil was before. Then everybody'd get along better, right?"

Lady's brow furrowed. "As much as I'd like to retrofit Vergil's personality, I hope that's not what happens. We all want Dante back the way he was. Memories and pizza addiction and financial ineptitude and all."

"And if we're going up against the Nilepoch, we'll need Vergil's combat skills," Nero added. "Zaffiro wouldn't have that kind of ability."

Nico shrugged. "Neither did V, I guess, but he seemed t'do all right."

"Yes, well, V had a whole collection of pet demons to do his fighting for him," Lady pointed out. "And human or not, V apparently had Vergil's memories, which is more than Zaffiro has right now."

Nero scarcely heard the two women as they continued the conversation. He knew, intellectually, that they were really all the same person—Zaffiro, Vergil, V, Urizen—but he had never consciously noted the similarities between the boy he'd watched growing up these past few months and the enigmatic stranger who had led him into the Qliphoth. The love of books they had in common was obvious, but they also shared a certain sensitivity of nature—a fondness for poetry; a love of music—and a devious, analytical mind that examined every situation for a tactical advantage. Zaffiro's sly smiles were virtually identical to V's, and even the haunted look Zaffiro had worn in the wake of his nightmares mirrored the fear V had let slip through in rare moments, as when he'd been cornered by Malphas.

Now that he thought about it, Zaffiro seemed to reflect far more of V's personality than of Vergil's. Nero had liked V, so far as he knew him, but had never been able to fully reconcile him with the harsher characteristics Vergil had displayed once restored to his true self. Had V been an echo of the man his father should have been? If Zaffiro had been able to grow up free of Vergil's horrific memories, which man would he have become?

He was abruptly jolted out of his introspection when Nico's fist slammed into his upper arm. "Yo! Earth to Nero!"

Nero swore and recoiled from the impact. "What the hell, Nico?"

"Ya done zonin' out on us?" She scowled and pushed her glasses higher on her nose. "I said the kids just got home! C'mon an' help me put the rest o' these Devil Breakers away 'fore they come out here to load their stuff."

Nero sighed and scooped up a box of weapons. Whatever might have been, whatever Vergil might have become, wasn't worth dwelling on. Their decision had been made. One way or another, in a few hours' time, the boy called Zaffiro would be gone forever.


Twenty minutes later, the van eased out of the garage, the faces of its excited occupants pressed against the windows. Nero and Lady waved until the vehicle disappeared around a corner, but between them, Zaffiro stood with his arms rigid at his sides. Apart from a long, intense look exchanged between the twins before Rosso climbed into the van, Zaffiro had seemed indifferent to the departure of the rest of the children. At least the other kids had seemed to accept the explanation that Zaffiro had to stay behind for a medical checkup. Only Julio had looked skeptical, but he knew better than to ask the real reason for the separation.

When the van was out of sight, Lady turned back into the garage. "Well, they're safely out of the way. Are we ready to get started?"

Nero took in Zaffiro's stiff posture and anxious expression. "Zaffiro, wait for me in the living room, okay?" He waited until the boy had entered the house ahead of them before speaking to Lady. "Something about this feels wrong."

"Of course it does. We're about to expose a kid to a potentially lethal concentration of demonic power." She shoved her hands in her jacket pockets. "None of us like this plan, but it's the only one we have."

"I know. I just mean… I want to talk to him for a few minutes, one-on-one. Make sure he's really okay with this."

"Suit yourself," Lady sighed. "I'll be in the kitchen, fortifying myself with a double-strength cup of tea. Call me when you're ready."

Nero detoured upstairs and retrieved the bottle with the crystal shards before heading to the living room. Zaffiro was gazing out the window, but he turned at Nero's entrance. His eyes landed on the bottle in Nero's hand, and the nervousness returned. "Is it time to use those?"

"Not just yet." Nero set the bottle aside. "First, we need to talk."

Zaffiro's tense shoulders lowered, but only fractionally. "About what?"

Nero sat on the sofa and patted the cushion beside him. Zaffiro instead sat at the far end of the couch, watching Nero warily. "I want to know why you agreed to do this."

The boy frowned. "You said you needed our help. That it was the only way to help you save people."

"I know. But you didn't seem too concerned about saving other people when I first laid out the situation. The way it looked to me, you only jumped in when it seemed like your brother was about to volunteer." Nero rotated to lean against the arm of the couch so he could watch Zaffiro more easily. "So what's the real reason? You didn't want to be upstaged by your brother?"

Zaffiro shook his head, but remained silent.

Nero sighed. "Come on, kid, talk to me. I'm not putting you through this until you convince me that you're really on board with it."

He hesitated before replying. "You said that our dreams—the other place—those are really our memories."

"That's right."

"So everyone there… all of that really happened, right?"

"Yes." Nero waited for more, but Zaffiro had fallen silent again. "Is that why you volunteered? Because you wanted all of your memories back?"

"I guess."

The answer was far from convincing. "Look, we can sit here all day if you want, but it'll be easier on both of us if you just tell me the truth. Otherwise, we'll still be sitting here on Sunday when your brother gets back, and he'll get another shot at going first." That got a reaction—a minuscule one, to be sure, but Nero caught the flinch. "Tony wanted to help, and he was all set to take the risk. Why did you say you would do it instead?"

Zaffiro looked away. "I was born first."

"So you wanted to be the first one to get your memory back?"

He shook his head again, but didn't answer immediately. This time, Nero gave him time to put his words together. "It's because I'm supposed to protect him," Zaffiro murmured after a long pause. "Father said so."

Nero succeeded in controlling his outward reaction to this statement, but his mind reeled. While both boys had mentioned their mother from time to time, they had rarely spoken of their father. "You remember your father?"

Zaffiro nodded, then shook his head. "Only a little. But I remember that before he left, he gave me… something important. He said I was to use its power to protect everyone while he was gone."

Nero's mouth had gone dry. He remembered a voice speaking to him that day in Agnus's lab, when he'd begged for the power to protect those he loved, and something had answered… "That important thing he gave you… was it the Yamato?"

Zaffiro's head snapped up, his suddenly-cautious gaze fixed on Nero. "It's mine."

Nero raised his hands. "Hey, relax, I was just asking. No one's trying to take it from you." He waited until the wariness left the boy's eyes before continuing. "Seems like an awful lot of pressure, though, having to protect everyone."

"Father said that was my responsibility, because I'm the oldest." Zaffiro looked down at his hands. "If everything in the other place is real, then what Father told me was real, too. But I couldn't protect Mother. I didn't even—" He broke off, and his fingers tightened into fists. "My brother is the only one I have left to protect. So I'll go first. I'll be the one to find out if it's safe."

"Are you sure?" Nero leaned forward. "You didn't ask for that responsibility, and nobody here—not even your brother—expects you to live a certain way just because of the order you were born in."

Zaffiro nodded. "I'm sure. It's what I decided."

Nero gazed at the child, his body still taut with fear, but his face set in firm resolution. "You're a pretty amazing kid, you know that?"

Zaffiro returned a look of surprise at the unexpected compliment, but when Nero tried to ruffle his hair, he ducked away and smoothed it back from his face with a scowl.

Nero chuckled at the reaction in spite of what they were about to do. "Okay. Let's get Lady and…" He glanced around the cramped living room. "You know what, let's move this shindig upstairs. There's more space in our bedroom, and we aren't sure what's going to happen when we let this genie out of the bottle." He rattled the shards lightly.

Zaffiro obediently headed for the stairs. Nero paused at the kitchen to collect Lady and retrieve a soup bowl from the cabinet. "What's that for?" she asked.

He held up the bottle. "You planning on sticking your fingers in to get these things out? Because I'm sure as hell not." He inverted the bottle and shook it until the crystalline pieces plinked into the bowl. "I hope these don't leave a toxic residue."

"Too late now. Let's just replace the bowl when we're done." Lady smiled grimly. "Assuming we all survive this."

"Trish survived, didn't she?"

"Trish wasn't half human, and the fragment she touched was a lot smaller. I was just thinking that we don't know what will happen when that much energy is released at once. There could be some overflow."

Nero pitched the empty bottle into the garbage can. "Look, if you don't want to be in the room, you can stay down here. If you're right, the worst that happens is that I get hit with the surplus energy, and my devil blood has to sort it out. I survived being pinned to the wall with a sword through my sternum, and getting my arm ripped off. I doubt this could be any worse."

She shook her head. "No, I signed on for this. There's no point in my being here if I'm not on hand to help if something goes wrong. Let's just get it over with so I can stop second-guessing everything we're doing. I'm starting to psych myself out."

They ascended the stairs and found Zaffiro sitting on the edge of Nero's bed, waiting for them. "Okay," Nero said, injecting more confidence than he felt into his voice. "You ready for this?"

Zaffiro nodded and watched as Nero shook the bowl to separate the fragments. "It feels strange," he said suddenly.

"What does?"

He pointed to the bowl. "I can feel it when you move them around. It's like a…" His brow furrowed. "Like a bubble popping, over and over again. But not a real bubble. One inside me."

Nero exchanged a look with Lady, who shrugged. Although he'd felt the presence of the Nilepoch up close, Nero couldn't sense anything from the shards themselves. "Well, that might go away after you touch one of them." He placed the bowl atop the quilt, pushing it into the plush material to make certain it was stable. "We need to take this slow, okay? I only want you to touch the smallest piece. This one, here." He pointed. "We're going to move back a bit, and when you're ready, you touch just that piece. I promise we'll stay here with you, whatever happens. Understand?"

Zaffiro nodded and watched as Nero and Lady stepped back. He stared into the bowl and took a few deep breaths before extending one finger. Time seemed to slow as his hand moved, and Nero found himself on the verge of calling out—but for what? To stop him? They had decided on this as their best course of action. To say something he hadn't said before? He wasn't the type to spout emotional words, and Zaffiro wasn't the type to seek them out. Perhaps what he wanted was to freeze time here, to let this child exist, just as he was, for a little longer…

But Zaffiro wasn't really a child, and Nero knew it. He was a powerful half-devil whose help they desperately needed. He was Nero's estranged father and Dante's lost brother. He was their hope of defeating the Nilepoch when it returned.

Zaffiro's finger dipped into the bowl, and a curl of luminous vapor sublimated about his hand as he touched the first shard. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Nero's lungs began to burn as he held his breath, unsure whether to hope for a reaction or not.

Suddenly Zaffiro cried out, clutching at his head as he pitched forward. Nero started toward him, but his motion was arrested by Lady's hand on his arm. "Look!"

For a moment a faint violet light pulsed in Zaffiro's hand, spreading further through his body with each flicker. By the time he landed hard on his knees on the wood floor, the light had faded, but it was clear some transformation was beginning: Zaffiro's fingers dug into his scalp, and he groaned and twisted where he knelt. His hair seemed first to lengthen, then to grow shorter against his fingers.

"I think it's working," Lady breathed. "I think he's getting older."

Changes of some kind were obviously taking place, but it was difficult for Nero to tell what those changes were, the way the boy was writhing. It wasn't until he noticed how tight Zaffiro's clothes suddenly seemed that he realized what was happening. "Oh, shit. We didn't think of that."

Lady looked from Zaffiro to Nero. "Didn't think of what?"

"As he gets bigger, his clothes are going to be too small." Right on cue, a seam along the side of Zaffiro's thigh split with a rasping sound. Nero glanced around the room, but there was no way his own clothing would fit Zaffiro—not yet, in any case. Besides, he was in no condition to change clothes just now; he looked as though he were barely holding himself upright. "Here, hold this." Nero swept the bowl with the two remaining shards off the bed and thrust it into Lady's hands, then whipped the quilt off the mattress and dropped it in a semicircle around Zaffiro's kneeling form. The tight clothing was beginning to cut into the boy's skin in places, so Nero seized the material and ripped it apart, stripping it off in pieces until Zaffiro was freed from the restricting garments. That done, Nero swept the quilt around his shoulders and tied the corners together. If Vergil did regain his adult form and memories after this, things were bound to be awkward enough without having him wake up fully naked in front of Lady.

After several minutes Zaffiro's whimpers quieted. He slumped against the side of the bed, his face slack and drenched in sweat. Nero knelt before him, moving slowly to avoid startling him. He didn't know what the aging process had done to the boy's mind. "Zaffiro?" he prompted. "Can you hear me?" His eyes were open, at least, and when Nero waved his hand they seemed to track the movement. He was conscious, then. "Zaffiro? You okay?" There was no response.

Nero glanced back at Lady for some guidance. She set the bowl on the dresser and came to crouch beside Nero. "He's breathing normally," she observed. One of Zaffiro's hands lay outside his quilt-toga, and she reached for it. "I'll check his pul—"

At the touch of her fingers on his wrist, Zaffiro's body spasmed and recoiled, slamming his shoulders back into the nightstand. Kyrie's reading lamp wobbled dangerously, and without thinking Nero shot out his spectral arm to stabilize it. At that, Zaffiro let out a hoarse cry and scrabbled away to the corner of the room. His eyes were wide and dilated, and his breath came in wheezing pants. He levered himself up along the wall and stood trembling, eyes darting from Nero and Lady to the door directly behind them.

Lady, following his gaze, rose smoothly and positioned herself in front of the door in case he decided to make a break for it. Nero remained where he was and raised both hands. "Whoa, okay, calm down. Sorry about that. I didn't mean to spook you."

Zaffiro scarcely looked at him as he spoke; his eyes were still sweeping the room. They landed on the window, and Nero could see him calculating the distance. Nero tried again, keeping his voice light. "Hey, Zaffiro, it's me. You hear me? You okay?" There was still no response. Nero got to his feet and took a step closer, hands still raised. Standing, Nero could see that Zaffiro was now a bit taller than Julio, though much leaner. His cheekbones and jawline were too sharp, like the underfed children who sometimes came into the orphanage's care after years of neglect. "Zaffiro," Nero called again, and when that got no response, he tried something else. "Vergil?"

The boy's eyes swung back to Nero.

"Okay, so that's how it is." Nero lowered his hands and tucked his thumbs in his pockets—a casual enough pose to put the boy at ease, he hoped, but one that kept his hands free enough to grab him if he bolted for the window. "Vergil, you gotta tell me if you're okay or not."

Vergil moistened his lips. "Who are you?" he rasped. "How do you know my name?"

Nero exchanged a glance with Lady, who looked as surprised as he was. "Wow, okay. I wasn't expecting you to lose memories. Uh… my name's Nero, and this is Lady. We've been taking care of you and your brother."

"Brother?" Vergil's eyes widened, then narrowed. "You know where my brother is?"

"Yeah. You two have been living here with me, and Kyrie, and the rest of our foster kids for about three months now. Is any of this ringing a bell?"

"I…" Vergil's brow furrowed. "I don't remember coming here, but…" He raised one trembling hand to rub his temple. "My head hurts. What happened to me?"

"I'm not surprised. You got a bunch of memories dumped back in your brain all at once. Maybe. We think." Nero stepped back to clear a path to the bed. "You want to sit down for a minute? You're looking pretty pale."

Vergil shook his head, the cautious expression returning to his face. "I'm fine. I'll be fine."

Lady stepped forward. "Vergil, how old are you?"

Vergil eyed her suspiciously. "Thirteen."

"I see." Lady glanced at the bowl with the remaining shards, then back at Nero. "The smallest piece gave him about three years back. If the size of the pieces has any correlation with the amount of time regained, there might actually be enough here to get him all the way back to normal."

"Let's worry about that later," Nero murmured. "Hey, Vergil, you're starting to worry me a little, here. We seriously need to know if you're okay. Can you tell us how you're feeling?"

Vergil winced and scrubbed his hands over his face, but when he lowered them to focus on Nero, his pupils seemed less dilated than they had been. "Nero," he whispered, then blinked a few times. "Nero. I remember now." He sagged against the wall for a moment, then took a few halting steps to the bed and sat on the edge of the mattress. "My head… everything is mixed up. I remember being here, but then I was on my own for a long time…" He looked up at Nero, suddenly hopeful. "Did it work? Are these the memories I lost?"

Nero sank down beside him, his own knees weak with relief. "Some of them. You've got a ways to go yet. How do you feel?"

"My head hurts, and I'm tired all over." That was a major admission, Nero knew, considering how reluctant Zaffiro had been to admit to any weakness. Suddenly, the boy scowled down at the quilt he was wrapped in. "Why am I wearing a blanket?"

Nero laughed. "Your clothes got a little too small. You want to wear something of Julio's? I bet some of his stuff would fit you now."

"Will he mind?"

"Nah, I don't think so. Come on downstairs, and we'll find something." Nero steadied him as he stood, swaying a little on his feet.

Lady stopped them at the door. "I'm not making a suggestion one way or another, but if you want to get through this all in one go, you could do another piece now and see where you are after that. I'm betting Julio's clothes won't fit after you get a little bigger."

The boy glanced at the bowl on the dresser, then back up at Nero. "Do I have to do it now?"

"Not if you don't want to. We've got all day tomorrow, too."

"Then I think I'd like to rest first," he said. "I'm really tired."

Lady nodded. "Fair enough. You go get dressed. You want a snack? I'll fix you something if you like."

He shook his head. "Just something to drink, please."

"Sure thing." She smiled and watched him start downstairs, then met Nero's eyes and allowed her relief to show. "I think that experience aged me ten years. But he seems okay."

"Yeah. That went about as well as we could have asked, all things considered."

"It really did." She glanced at the remaining shards. "One down, two to go. Maybe. If this works the way we think it ought to."

Nero blew out a long breath. "Let's just hope the rest of the process is that easy."