Woosh… woosh… woosh… The ceiling fan went round and round and round… Nero blinked slowly, feeling a singular bead of sweat roll down his neck despite the lazy spinning of the fan above him. The heat in the room wasn't unbearable but felt stagnant. Just like this whole day. It was too warm to take a nap but the teenager considered it anyway; what else was there to do? Woosh… woosh...woosh… The fan didn't have any answers for him, just kept the time while barely stirring the air in the old building. The sudden blaring of the phone had him jolting upright, looking hopefully over at the desk. Dante gave the world's weariest sigh, pulling the magazine from over his face and looking at the phone as it rang again.

"Aren't you going to answer that?" Nero demanded, feeling his temper starting to rise up at the old man's laziness. Dante paid him no mind and instead pounded a fist down onto the table and the old rotary leapt out of its cradle and into his waiting hand.

"Devil May Cry." he said, with a pause and a yawn, waiting for the person on the other side. Nero's able to pick up an old man's voice and a couple of jumbled sentences about his garden and his home about twenty minutes north of town before Dante sighs and cuts him off.

"Not that kind of business, sorry." he said, tossing the phone back into its cradle and blatantly ignoring Nero's baffled expression as he leaned back in the old wooden chair, about to swing his feet back up onto the desk to return to his state of half drowsing before the teen slammed his hands down onto said desk.

"What the hell? You're not even going to hear him out about his problem?" the partial devil fumed. Dante just raised a brow, magazine lifted halfway back to his face.

"Old man didn't have the password, why would I?" he looked amused at Nero's concern, which just pissed the younger hunter off even more.

"Because he could have a legitimate demon problem and you're too stingy to help!" he snapped. Dante's only response was to chuckle, tossing the magazine onto the desk and sitting upright to properly look at the other hunter.

"If I went after every goose chase that got tossed remotely in this direction I wouldn't be able to handle the actual threats that come up, not to mention the amount of mangy dogs or rats in the walls that I'd end up chasing off for people. I'm a demon hunter, not an exterminator," the half devil paused "where the hell you going?"

"To help that old man, where else?" he called over his shoulder, grabbing Red Queen and his coat, snagging the keys to Dante's motorcycle while he was at it. The older hunter gave him an exasperated look

"You know it's probably nothing right?"

"Better than the definitely nothing that we've been doing all day." Nero shot back, pushing the door open into the mildly cooler air outside.

"Whatever kid, just don't hurt yourself helping this guy find his lost cat or whatever!" Dante yelled at the closing door. The teen must've heard him because he flipped him the bird before he was out of sight. The half devil sighed and picked the magazine back up, intent to finish his nap. "Can't wait to hear about how boring it was when he gets back…" he muttered sarcastically, letting his eyes close and his mind drift off.

-Blank Slate-

Nero sighed at the blissful feeling of the wind whipping through his hair, it was good to be out of the shop, even if this mission did turn out to be a bust. Besides, what if it wasn't? He'd feel terrible if this poor old man got hurt just because Dante was too lazy to actually track the problem down. He started to slow, keeping an eye on the sparsely placed houses, looking for one with a green door and a garden in the yard. Why did the old man have a garden if he was surrounded by cornfields? He didn't have long to ponder the question as he saw the place he was looking for and pulled into the gravel drive carefully, parking the bike a short walk away from the house.

The house looked old but homey, Nero hadn't been overly familiar with old farmhouses but after Kyrie started to remodel one to use as an orphanage he started to understand the appeal. It was certainly a nicer place than sleeping on Dante's spare bed at the shop but the renovations were going to take a while and this was an easy way to get out of town for a while, spread his wings a bit, so to speak. He rolled his shoulders to adjust Red Queen now that he was up off the bike and the blade settled its weight where she normally rested between his shoulder blades. The door to the house opened and the old man stepped out onto the porch, looking old and a bit frail but still solid on his feet. His face was pinched with concern however as Nero approached, his right hand stuffed solidly into his pocket.

"Are you from Devil May Cry?" he asked, looking more than a little skeptical about the large sword on the teen's back. Nero nodded.

"Yeah, I didn't catch the whole conversation 'fore Dante cut you off, something about your garden?" the partial devil said. The old man looked completely nonplussed at the mention of the Devil May Cry's proprietor but Nero was here now wasn't he?

"Yes, that was rather rude of him. Don't know what else could be causing it but devils, just can't seem to catch them in the act." the old man grumbled.

"Yeah, he's an ass, what's the demon problem?" The teen said, he didn't come out here to chitchat, he wanted to get to the root of the problem. The old man looked mildly perturbed at Nero's language, even more so when he held out a hand in introduction.

"Well first of all, my name's Arlan." he said.

"Nero." The devil hunter almost felt bad for not returning the gesture, but he knew for a fact that it would go much worse if he did reach out to take the man's hand. They stood there for the usual, awkward amount of time before Arlan frowned and slowly stuck his hand back in his pocket with a sigh.

"Well I'll show you the garden." the old man waved over his shoulder and slowly began walking around the house at a pace that had Nero struggling not to just dash around the man. No matter what Credo used to say, he did have some manners. Most of the garden was untouched and what had been knocked over or pawed through had been put back together as much as it could be. Nero just raised an eyebrow, this didn't look like much of a demon problem, it looked more like the old man was having problems with wild animals pawing through the dirt to get at roots or grubs. Arlan raised a finger at him.

"Not just the diggin'. I'm used to all sorts of critters pawin' through everything, it's not usually this bad but I've definitely seen the like before. No. It's for reasons like this," and he pointed to some spots on a few tomato plants that had been trimmed neatly, as though with scissors "I didn't cut those, not to mention you don't cut off the tomatoes, nor were they ripe."

"Sir," Nero sighed heavily "someone stealing your unripened tomatoes isn't really in my wheelhouse, you're better off calling-"

"Wait!" the old man was walking slowly over to a small copse of trees and pointed at the base "I buried most of them, but I haven't gotten 'round to this one yet." the corpse of a rabbit lay on the pine needles beneath the tree. At least Nero was pretty sure it used to be a rabbit based on the slightly rotted smell that tickled his nose. It looked like one of those mouse pellets that you'd find near owl nests but much, much larger. Beneath the smell of rot there was the acrid smell of digestive juices and the faintest whiff of the Underworld. Suddenly the old man's claims of demons seemed much more credible. Nero stood from where he'd been crouching to get a closer look at the pile beneath the tree.

"Have you heard anything? Strange sounds? Mysterious voices?" the partial devil asked, turning to face Arlan.

"You believe me? What changed your mind?" he seemed startled by the sudden change of heart.

"I don't know of any owls big enough to do that, do you?" Nero asked, gesturing to the pellet. It usually wasn't the best way to start a business relationship by admitting that you could smell the demonic presence where they'd been.

"N-no, uh well I heard a rabbit screaming 'bout two weeks back. Startled the heck outta me but that could've been anything." he said, rubbing the back of his neck and taking a couple steps away from the rabbit, likely trying to get away from the stink. Nero joined him at the small bench that sat cozily beneath some trees.

"What about sights? Other than the uh, pellets. Strange scales, feathers, lights?" Nero pressed.

"Lights? They light up?" Arlan seemed a bit confused by the idea and the teen suppressed the urge to laugh.

"Yes, some of them can."

"No lights, there was this though." the old man reached into a pocket and pulled out a folded napkin, he unravelled it to reveal a torn and broken feather, it was much larger than most Nero had seen and an unusual shade of maroon to top it off.

"Why didn't you start with that?" the partial devil asked, more than a bit annoyed that he'd been given the run around before finally getting to the point. The old man frowned a bit.

"I'm not an expert at this stuff. I've never dealt with demons before." he said, looking put out.

"Okay, well I'll see if I can't find any other traces of the damned thing, do mind if I wander around a bit?" Nero asked.

"Of course, just don't pull anything up." Arlan said, gesturing at the rather large yard. The partial devil got to his feet and began walking the perimeter of the yard, trying to pick up a smell like that that he'd noticed on the pellet. It wasn't much to go off of and he wasn't terribly surprised when he didn't pick up on much.

"Have you asked any of your neighbors about this?" The teen asked after about an hour of wandering around. Arlan sighed but nodded.

"None of them believe that it's devils but no one's gettin' their tomatoes stolen either. Minnie said that she heard something rushing through the corn at one point few weeks back, says her son saw some shadows too, but that isn't much, could've been anything."

"It's more than I'm finding here." Nero said with a shrug "What way do they live?" he asked. Arlan was more than happy to give him directions to the other farmhouse and the hunter started back to the bike.

"Not that I'm one to complain about it, but what about payment?" the old man asked.

"We'll work it out after I kill it." Nero said after a brief pause. How much they charged usually depended on how much work the demon was, and how much Dante was being a bleeding heart that day. The rumble of the bike cut off any further conversation and Nero pulled out onto the dirt road, looking for the turn Arlan had described.

He parked along the side of the road, not wanting to bother the neighbors if he didn't need to. Especially if they didn't believe Arlan about it being demons. Arguing with those who hadn't seen them or didn't believe in them was a waste of time and energy. He took a deep breath and started between the rows of corn. This… was going to take a while. If the demon wasn't even present, that meant that he had little advantage over any regular person pouring over miles and miles of corn fields. After an hour all he'd found was another pellet and a scrapped remnant of a tomato, which was not much progress all things considered.

His stomach growled and he reached into his pocket, hoping to call Dante in on this, or even Trish, either of them would be able to help speed up the search. His fist closed on empty air however and the teen swore under his breath. He must've left the phone on the charger in his eagerness to get out of the shop. He still wasn't quite used to using a cell, they hadn't been overly common in Fortuna and even then he had picked up the cheapest, simplest one he could find, sure it'd be destroyed on missions. Clothes were enough of a struggle when fighting demons, let alone a piece of tech shoved in his pocket. Looks like backup was out of the question... There was a small copse of trees ahead of him, maybe he'd at least be able to climb one and get a higher view of the cornfields. It was only a short jog away and he felt his arm pulse lightly as he got closer, a demonic presence flaring in the back of his head. Finally. Progress.

It didn't take long to find the source, the signs of another creature were much stronger here. Branches hacked off of trees, areas packed down with claw prints from a creature far larger than any bird Nero knew offhand. He slowed down, hand instinctively reaching for Blue Rose as he kept on the lookout. The shelter was well disguised and if Nero hadn't been able to pick up on the demon's presence he likely would've glossed right over it. It was covered in leaves and pine needles so that if you didn't know to look at it right it blended right in with the ground. He circled the shelter slowly, it wasn't large but was a little bigger than the partial devil expected for a demon that was trying to eek out an existence. This spoke to a higher intelligence and didn't bode well to the hunter as he stuck his head in the entrance. There was a faint ruffling sound behind him and he whirled just in time to see smoke billow out in front of him, clouding his vision and clogging his lungs.

Nero coughed, choking on the thick smoke and taking a step backward into the hut only to immediately trip over something. He was able to flail for the briefest seconds before he crashed into something. There was the sound of more shattering glass and as he tumbled ass over teakettle he had just enough time to think, oh shit- before there was a warping sensation and unconsciousness yanked him into its dark embrace.

-Blank Slate-

Dante yawned and opened his eyes, feeling only slightly refreshed and still bored out of his skull. He blinked, confused by the lack of light streaming in the windows. Sure he anticipated it being a bit later but… it seemed almost like he'd snoozed away most of the day. That happened from time to time when the jobs were slow coming in but there was a reason that that shouldn't have happened today… He yawned again, trying to mentally shake off the fog. Right, he figured that Nero would have woken him up coming back from that spoof job. Kid had too much of a heart of gold sometimes, just wanted to help everyone. Knowing the teen, he was probably helping some old man rescue his cat from a tree of some other odd job that had nothing to do with demons. Seemed to be keeping him an awful long time though…

The phone jumped into his hand as he tapped the desk and he rung up the local pizza place. Kid would probably appreciate having food already here when he got back. While he was on the phone he went to ring up the partial devil's cell, pausing only long enough to peer around his desk for the note he'd written the number on. He dialed in the digits only to hear a buzzing near the couch. Well… that explained why the teen hadn't called back to the shop yet.

Maybe the job did have a few demons and the kid was taking his time to root them out, he always was insistent on being diligent in getting rid of the entire issue. The half devil sighed and tossed the phone back in its cradle. Not much to do in the meantime until a job came in. Unless they really wanted to travel, there wasn't a lot of work around here at the moment and it made for a lot of boring days, which had the two hunters really getting at each other's throats with nothing to distract them.

Dante grinned as he started racking the pool table, it reminded him of when he and Vergil were kids. It still hurt to think about his older twin but he found himself thinking more fondly of those memories lately, maybe it meant he was finally starting to move past the grief. He shook his head and grabbed a que and lined up a shot, look at him, always reminiscing about the past when he was left to his own devices...

The food arrived, late, just like it usually did, Dante was starting to suspect that the driver had a vendetta against him. Perhaps it just had to do with the shitty tips… It's not like he wanted to give them crap, he just didn't always have good cash on hand… He sat back with the lukewarm pizza, still no Nero… The kid could take care of himself, the half devil assured himself, but he couldn't help the small pit of worry that formed in the pit of his stomach. He was swiftly distracted from it when the phone rang in its cradle and he popped it off to fall into his hand.

"Devil May Cry." he said, absently wondering if this would be an actual mission or another garbage call that fell through. At least the kid wasn't here to follow up on a non issue this time…

"Dante, this is Trish," said the she-devil on the other side.

"Hey Trish, what can I do for ya?" he asked, leaning back in his chair, the she-devil didn't call often but when she did it was a tossup if it was for business or pleasure.

"I've got a mission, I know it's been pretty slow for you, and it's quite the clear cut mission, thought I'd throw you a bone, grab a few drinks after." she said pleasantly

"Only if you're buying." Dante teased. He could hear her laugh on the other end. "I could use something to get the stiffness out anyway, what's the mission?"

"Couple of envy nests, they just need them cleared out."

"You got an address?"

"Of course." Trish rattled off the address, Dante confirmed it and then got to his feet, pausing long enough to pick out a devil arm or two that hadn't gotten enough use in recent times before tossing on his classic coat and heading out the door. He cursed lightly when he realized Nero had taken the motorcycle before hopping in the convertible to meet at the location Trish had told him.

-Blank Slate-

Emily rounded the corner to start down their long, long driveway, feet pedalling steadily on her bike when she saw him. There was a person lying face down on their lawn. She blinked a few times, trying to take in the sight before shouting.

"Moooom!" She dumped the bike and darted inside. Her mom was sitting in the kitchen, seeming to be handling some paperwork thing or another but was looking up at her over her reading glasses expectantly.

"Mom there's a person laying in the yard!" Emily managed, this got a reaction at least. Her mother's brow furrowed in confusion.

"What?"

"There's a person in the yard." she repeated, waving her mother after her. Janice got up to follow, wondering how someone would have ended up in the middle of nowhere farmland that they lived on. Upon closer inspection they saw that the person was a young man with an absolutely massive blade strapped to his back. They both hesitated, unsure of what kind of state this young man was in. Emily leaned forward and poked him with the edge of a sneaker, Janice shot her daughter a look but honestly wasn't sure what else she would've recommended. There was no reaction.

"Help me roll him over." she said and they knelt down to turn the unconscious boy face up. His face was streaked with dirt and pine needles, as were his clothes but he appeared unhurt. He was breathing evenly, any injuries not evident to the eye but Janice pulled out her phone to call an ambulance anyway, who knows what circumstances had left this boy unconscious in their yard. It would take them some time to get here but better late than never. Emily had pressed a couple fingers to his pulse and was counting while looking at her watch, never more thankful for those first aid classes than now. When her mom had gotten off the phone and turned to face her she said

"Well they'll be about a half and hour. But they recommended that we not move him since he may have internal injuries that we're unaware of."

"Okay, his pulse is pretty normal, whatever that's worth." Emily said, looking the boy up and down. He was wearing a long jean jacket layered over a sweatshirt and a pair of jeans. It looked awfully warm for the sunny summer day they were having, the sheen of sweat she could see on his face contributing to the thought, maybe it was a fashion thing. It might explain the enormous sword on his back too. She and her mom had unstrapped it to make it easier to roll him over and it had taken the both of them to pick the thing up. How, and more importantly, why had this guy been lugging something like that around? It was way too heavy to actually use. Just as she leaned over him, inspecting his face as if it held clues as to how he'd ended up there, his eyes opened. She startled back just as he jolted upright, luckily preventing a clashing of foreheads as he sat up completely. That seemed to be a mistake as he groaned, pressing a hand to his head and scrunching his eyes closed once more.

Janice and Emily both waited cautiously as the guy started to get his bearings again. He blinked slowly, looking at his hand as though it confused him and then looked at the pair of them.

"Where…?" he managed, his voice sounding a little sticky as though it hadn't been used in several hours.

"The outskirts of Blissfield, do you know how you ended up here?" Janice asked. She suspected that he'd been under the influence of some kind of substance, she hated making those assumptions but why else would a young man end up passed out in their front lawn?

"...no…" he sounded really hesitant, he looked down at himself, running a hand over the clothes on himself as if he'd never seen them before "do you…" he paused for a long time "I… I don't know."

"Don't know what?" Emily asked gently, still sitting on the ground near him

"Anything…who are you? And… uh… who am I?" his face was flushed as he asked the question, he seemed almost embarrassed to ask it. Mother and daughter both paused, looking at each other with a wary uneasiness. This clearly wasn't helping the young man as he glanced between the two of them, concern etched between his brows. Emily caught the boy's gaze again and smiled reassuringly.

"We're not sure, but there's an ambulance on the way, they might have some more answers for you. Let's just sit tight for now, okay?" she said gently and he slowly returned it before nodding.

"Um, okay." he said. They all sat in silence for several long, uncomfortable moments, the young man kept looking at his hand, opening and closing it and rubbing his fingers together.

"Your hand okay?" Emily asked and he started, as though he had been caught doing something strange.

"Uh, yeah. I… it… feels strange but I'm not sure why." he shrugged, letting it fall limp in his lap and instead looking at the large lawn around him and the trees in the distance.

He looked back at the pair of them, unable to help feeling a bit like a rat in a lab. He didn't know why the metaphor popped into his head so easily when he couldn't even say what he'd been doing twenty minutes before this, or what his name was for that matter.

"What…" he had to clear his throat again, it felt a little raw, like he'd inhaled a bunch of dry air or something "What are your names?" he asked. The girl brightened and held out her hand

"I'm Emily, and this is my mom." she tilted her head toward the older woman who smiled pleasantly

"Janice." she supplied helpfully as he looked back at the outstretched hand in front of him. He hesitated before taking it though he really couldn't explain the wariness of a handshake. Janice had walked into the house after giving her name and Emily continued to babble on next to him.

"So does anything hurt, do you feel okay?" she asked. "Also what's up with the big sword?"

"Sword?" he asked, why on earth had he been carrying a sword?

"That." she pointed and he followed her finger to the long slab of metal that lay on the grass a foot or so away. "It's stupidly heavy." she said, though from just looking at it he would have guessed that, it was nearly as long as he was tall, which seemed… excessive. It also had some strange contraption up near the handle.

"I… have no idea." he didn't have a chance to think more on the topic as Janice had reappeared with a glass of water. He hadn't realized how thirsty he was until Janice offered him the glass. He accepted it gratefully and took a swig, the cold water soothing the faint scratchiness that remained in the back of his throat.

"There's an ambulance on its way." Janice said calmly as he finished the glass. He couldn't explain the sudden dread that he felt in the pit of his stomach at those words, they were coming to help, weren't they? Who wouldn't call an ambulance if they saw someone unconscious in their yard?

"O-okay." he said, unsure of what else to say, or how to explain the uneasiness that hovered in the back of his mind.

"Does anything hurt?" Emily asked again and he paused, taking stock of his body.

"My throat's a bit scratchy." he said.

"That's it?" Janice asked him, looking a bit perplexed. He shrugged

"Yeah?" His head hurt when he pushed too hard at trying to think about anything before he'd woken up but seeing as that faded as soon as he stopped he didn't think it was anything to worry about.

They kept asking him mundane questions to which he didn't have answers until an ambulance pulled into the long driveway and pulled to stop near the house where they were seated. A couple of people jumped out and rushed over to him with some urgency. They seemed relieved to see him awake and also started asking him questions that he also didn't have answers to. If they were concerned by his lack of memory, they didn't show it, they kept a calm and practiced manner the entire time they checked him over. They did ask if he had any identifying information on him, to which he rifled through the actually ridiculous amount of pockets on his person and only turned up a strange greenish trinket, some loose cash, not all of it the same currency, and some ammo. Everyone tensed when that was found, himself included.

"Sir do you have a firearm?" they asked him. He gave the paramedic a frustrated look

"You just watched me turn out my pockets, I'd certainly notice if it was wedged under my clothes." he said, a bit surprised with his own snark.

"Sir, we're just trying to understand the whole situation." The other, who he was pretty sure had said his name was John, said "I know you said you couldn't remember anything before waking up here, if you had a firearm it should be registered to someone, hopefully that person being you." this was said with a gentle tone and a brief smile, he was probably trying to lighten the mood. The young man sighed

"Right, well I don't know why else I would have ammo, but I don't have a firearm on me but," he looked at the holster on his thigh "I think I did?" the leather of the holster was worn but well cared for. He wasn't sure how he knew that it was well cared for but that seemed to be one of his lesser concerns.

"Well," the first said "everything indicates that minus the loss of memory, physically, you're perfectly fine. We can't make you come with us though we would recommend stopping in with a doctor just to be sure there's no underlying issues. We'll place a report with the police about the potential missing firearm, it may turn up. They'll likely want to do a report and contact you."

"That makes sense." the young man said

"Sorry for calling you out here for no reason." Janice said as they stood, John smiled and shook his head

"We'd rather it be safe than sorry, have a nice day!" he said, nodding at them as he turned back to their truck. The trio was left sitting on the lawn, watching the ambulance drive away. After it was completely out of sight and sound Janice turned to the young man and offered him a hand up.

"Would you like to come in?" she asked. The young man nodded, gratefully taking her hand and rising to his feet.

"Yes please, thank you, for your hospitality." He said, feeling his cheeks flush slightly.

"Of course! We couldn't well leave you lying face down in our lawn could we?" Janice said, smiling. She and Emily started toward the house and he bent over to pick up the large blade laying on the ground. His hand touched the worn leather wrapping around the hilt and then grunted as he tried to pick it up. This was heavy! Why and, more importantly how, was he carrying this around? As he started to pick it up, fingers wrapping automatically for a better grip, a feeling came to mind, something lighter, the sound of air swooshing and the smell of copper and power and rot… He blinked, it wasn't clear enough to be a memory, but it was too distinct to be a figment of the imagination… Just what was that? The sword was starting to weigh his arm down heavily and he shook his head, there would be time to ponder the mystery more later when he wasn't trying to drag a slab of metal. He considered just leaving it on the lawn but something tugged at his heartstrings when the thought crossed his mind, okay so perhaps it had some sentimental value that he couldn't remember. Heavy object to have sentimental value… he thought as he managed to yank the damn thing under the porch.

The screen door squeaked as he opened it and he found Janice seated at the small kitchen table, papers spread out before her and when he looked to the left and saw the compact but well organized kitchen and Emily rooting through the cupboards, pulling out bits of food and setting them on the center island.

"You hungry?" she asked as she kept rooting around.

"Um, yeah, a bit, I think." he said, hesitating at the door and looking around, seeing that both of them had taken off their shoes he bent to do the same. He made a note that his boots were covered in dirt and some pine needles clung to them as well as a smattering of strange yellowish powder. It went into the category of 'things to ask about later' and he set them on the rug that had clearly only ever known the soles of shoes and melting snow and salt in the colder months. Emily had her head in the fridge now and glanced over her shoulder as he came to join her in the kitchen.

"We don't have a lot, there cheese and crackers, there's fruit, there's cold pizza-"

"No." the response was out of his mouth before his brain had even the slightest chance to catch up with it. It startled them both.

"Do… you not like pizza?" she asked, looking a bit perplexed, he was sure his own face was the same.

"I… I don't know? I guess not?" he said, he knew what pizza was but remember the last time he'd eaten it, if ever.

"Okay, how about cheese and crackers? Those okay?" the teen asked, pulling them out regardless and digging around in a drawer to reappear with a knife and cutting board.

"I think so? Let's find out." he said with a shrug. Emily smiled and started slicing. Her mother looked up from the papers and watched the pair of them with scrutiny.

"Don't ruin your dinner." she said before looking back down at what she'd been working on. The young man hesitated, fingers gripping at the counter in front of him, fighting back sudden tears in his eyes.

"Um… thank you…" he said stiffly. He was too busy swallowing past the lump in his throat to notice that Janice had stood until she wrapped her arms around him. He went ramrod straight, something telling him that this wasn't a normal occurrence.

"You're very welcome." Janice said, releasing him slowly, her hand still warm on his shoulder.

"You've just… let me stay here, you don't know me." he said, still perplexed on why these people were being so nice to him.

"Neither do you," she said, making eye contact with him "it would be awfully cruel of us to just turn you out, we have the means and you seem to be a stand up young man, even if you're unsure where you came from, at least for the time being it's no trouble to let you stay. Now, help Emily eat that cheese or she's going to make herself sick." Janice nodded toward the paper towel that the teen was piling cheese on top of.

"I will not!" Emily countered with a roll of her eyes. Janice just sighed softly, shaking her head as she went back to the table. He joined Emily at the breakfast bar where she'd sat down and just as he did the screen door squealed open again and another young man came in the door, basketball slung under one arm and a backpack hanging off a shoulder.

"Hey mom! Hey Emily, I'm ho-" he trailed off when he noticed the newcomer "Who's this?"

-Blank Slate-

Clearing out the nests had taken Dante and Trish far longer than they expected but it hadn't been hard work, just tedious as the damn things started hiding as soon as they figured out what was happening. They'd then popped by the local bar to play a round of pool, which Dante had lost horribly, and have a couple of overpriced drinks. It was nearly one am by the time the half devil opened the front door to Devil May Cry again. The devil hunter felt his heart sink to his feet when he realized it was still empty.