The drive down to Fortuna was not as bad as I thought it would be, mostly clear roads and some traffic so Nico had to slow down. Every time she'd come to a break, she'd bite her lip and drum her fingers along the wheel. I'm thankful that I don't have to pray that I won't die by some idiot's driving. Or be accused of assisted murder yet. Fortuna is doing better than it was before, allowing new people to move into the town. Great for the economy, and nice to see other small businesses booming as well. There's still some people who wear white hoods over their heads like the cult previously did. As long as they aren't trying to summon anything, I can care less. The city finally installed some phone booths, which will be nice if Morrison has a job for me around the area. Compared to Red Grave, Fortuna was quieter. There's more open markets now, few people walking around on the streets or driving in cars. In the distance, I saw our apartment with the Devil May Cry logo above the garage. It still has some hooks in from when I had the light up sign on there, until Nico moved the sign down onto the van. Now it's just a crudely spray painted logo on a brick wall. I've been told many times to make it nicer but until it's unreadable, I'm not changing it. Nico slowed to a stop by the sidewalk by the apartment's front door, putting into park.

"Alright, I'll be down by my old man's place." Nico says letting go of the wheel. "Call if ya ready to go back to kicking demon ass." She pulled out a cigarette and began to light it.

"Thanks" I grinned, hopping out of my seat. Grabbing the handle of my case, I rolled it out of the van and dragged it out of the car. "See you later."

"Yep, smell you later stinky!" Nico snickered, kicking it into gear and bolted into the streets. That woman is a handful sometimes… A few kids bursted out of the door, bringing me back down to earth. One by one, they ran over to me and clung to my legs. All three faces beaming with excitement to see me. Carlos had my left leg, the shortest but filled with energy of the bunch; Kyle on my right, calm but still excited; And the last but not least, Julio with his wavy mop of brown hair trying to squeeze between Carlos and Kyle.

"Nero you came back!" Carlos beamed, his black hair spiked up in all different ways.

"It's been too long!" Kyle chirped, speaking louder than usual.

"Remaaaaaatch!" Julio yelled, shaking my leg.

"It's nice to see you all again," I said, unable to stop smiling. In the distance, Kyrie leaned against the doorframe, giggling to herself. Even though it's been a while since I last went back here, it felt like a month. I tried to shake off the orphans off my legs, but they clung on. Kyrie giggled at my struggle, covering her mouth as she laughed. I nervously laughed, then looked down at all three of them. They grinned mischievously. Of course they're waiting for me to do that. With a smile, I grabbed Julio by his shirt and slung him up on my back. His scream immediately turned into a giggling fit, wrapping his arms and legs around my body to stay on. Kyle and Carlos took each of my leg as I began to walk towards Kyrie.

"They've been missing you a lot lately," Kyrie smiled, holding open the door for me and the boys.

"I can imagine, haha" I beamed. All dispersed off of me once I got to the stairs, running ahead of us. I gave her a small kiss on the lips, then went back to grab my case that I totally didn't forget.

"How's being a traveling devil hunter?" Kyrie asked as she followed me inside.

"Pretty good," I replied, shifting my weight with the case. "How's taking care of the orphans?"

"They're delightful" she smiled, webbing her hands behind her back. "Sometimes a handful, but it's been well otherwise."

"That's always good to hear" I replied. Once we got inside, Julio, Kyle, and Carlos ran around the apartment chasing each other. I forget how noisy they could be when they roughhouse. Though I swear they've gotten louder… Kyrie went over to the kitchen and started up the stove. I brought the weapons down to the garage that was right next to the kitchen. Turning on the light switch, the lights flickered on as I entered the room. The garage has been tidied up last I left it, floor clear of screws and dirt while the work bench was less cluttered than before. I feel bad since Kyrie probably cleaned it up for me, which she didn't have to do at all. Nonetheless, I'm very grateful to have her. I pushed the case against the wall, right next to the workbench. All of my tools were laid out across the table, screws and bolts put in a drawer and my blue prints neatly piled on a corner. She goes above and beyond too much, I swear. I went back into the kitchen, finding Kyrie was over by the small island table, chopping up vegetables for dinner tonight. I hugged her from behind, holding her tight in my arms.

"Thank you for doing the garage," I say warmly, putting my head on her shoulders. "You didn't have to do that, I'm sorry I left it a mess."

She turned her head towards me and smiled. "No need to apologize, I had the boys help me too. Besides, it's nice to come home when things are clean"

I helped prepare the table for dinner, folding napkins and setting utensils on top of them. The first napkin I folded wound up being crumpled, so I had that as mine. It's been a long time since I've prepared a table, let alone folded napkins. However, I want it to be nice for her and the boys since they done so much here. Even if it looks like I've never folded napkins before. I tried to remember what Kyrie taught me a long time ago. It was a simple folding technique and it made it look like flowers. I can still remember Credo trying to take over and finishing things faster than me. Especially when their parents came into the room and I was still on the third plate. I saved the best looking one for Kyrie. Hopefully the boys don't mind that now… or call me out for my terrible folding. Plates and utensils are at least easy to remember, and don't require a lot of brain power. Once it was all set, I combed the apartment to look for the boys. They were, of course, playing with sticks outside. At least it wasn't inside like before and Julio broke a glass of apple juice.

"Hey, dinner's ready!" I called out to them. All three looked up, faces glowing with eagerness, and hustled inside. They flew right past me as they made a mad dash to the dining room.

"Did you guys wash your hands?" I overheard Kyrie asking the boys as I closed the front door. Like a hoard, all three ran to the bathroom. Carlos made it in first, making Julio and Kyle had to wait.

"Oh come on…" Julio whined, walking away from the door. "He always takes a long time in the bathroom…"

"He's too fast…" Kyle complained, leaning against the wall.

I strolled past the disappointed kiddos, and went into the kitchen to wash my hands.

"You know you shouldn't keep doing that or else they'll get the idea too, Nero" Kyrie commented, sitting down at the table.

"They can't reach up here yet, so it's fine" I grinned, wiping my hands off on the hand-towel. She rolled her eyes as she smiled, shaking her head. One by one, they trickled into the dining room, sitting down at the table. We all said grace for the food, then dived in. I don't believe in a god or anything, but I know Kyrie does, even after her parents death. Even though I don't believe in one, I participate for her. The boys talked about their day, asking me a bunch of questions of what it's like being a devil hunter. I told them some of the "riveting" tales that I encountered, getting them all riled up. It wasn't much, just your average battle with no big baddies to mock really. Meanwhile, Kyrie mentioned her progress on the orphanage. Last I heard they were struggling with funding, making me motivated to work harder. Thankfully they finally got the money to rebuild it, through a lot of fundraisers and my work as a devil hunter. People would donate to us food and supplies, but Kyrie would deny any donation like that and redirect them to support the orphanage building. I try to do the best I can to help pay, but most of my work goes towards the rent and groceries. She doesn't mind it, but I wish I could do more.

After dinner, we hung out in the main living area, cleaning dishes and catching up with one another. It almost felt like we're married, though I don't think I'm ready for that. Nor do I think Kyrie is either, though Kyle wishes for it to happen soon. We tucked in the kids into bed, then went into our room. We sleep on separate beds since it didn't feel right to sleep together… at least not yet. I threw off my clothes, exchanging it for looser fitting pajamas. Kyrie took a while in the bathroom as she got ready for bed. I sat on the edge of my bed and pulled off my shoes. These boots should've been gone by now, but somehow they're pulling through even after the Qliphoth incident. Kyrie came out of the bathroom in a nice silk nightgown. Her brunette hair not held back by a ponytail and flowed down her back. She smiled and gestured to the bathroom. I hopped to the bathroom, quickly brushing my teeth, then went back ot the room.

"How does it feel to be home?" she asked, sitting down on her bed.

"Like I never left," I replied, sitting down on my bed.

"Good," she smiled, then rolled into bed with the covers over her shoulders. I turned off the lights and crashed right onto the bed. I shifted to my side, not bothering with the covers at all. Too much work.

Waves of enemies kept coming in, surrounding all around me in an endless void. They were just weak enemies that fall down after one or two blows to the spine. As I kept on fighting, I felt myself getting out of breath. Why am I out of breath? They're weak! Revving up Red Queen, I slashed through multiple enemies at once. Landing a couple more combos on the bigger guys was no trouble either. After slaying a Nobody, a Bianco Angelo came up from behind and made a nice dent on my shoulder. Wincing in pain, I turned around to try to hit him but the pain prevented me from doing so. Over and over, my sword would miss and the enemy would take a nice hit on me. Why am I getting sluggish? As I questioned my strength, the hoards started getting more aggressive. Several demons clawed at my arms, making deep gashes. You can't back down. Not now you have to push through to survive. Things began to blur as I continued to fight. I can't back down. I can't lose to a stupid enemy like this. My muscles felt like they were on fire as I swung my blade down onto the demon. As I drove my blade into the next enemy, something halted me in my movement. Looking down, I saw my foot stuck in some weird white tentacle thing that looked like grass, dragging me down.

"What the hell?!" I panted. Grabbing my leg, I tried to yank it out but I kept sinking further into the ground. Stronger enemies appeared, taking their shots at my helplessness. Blood trickled down my face, getting into my mouth. Before I knew it, I was completely swallowed into the ground.

Nothing but pitch black darkness surrounded me. There was no ground for me to determine how far I've fallen. Once I reached the ground, my body splashed into the ground. In the shallow water, I saw a reflection of myself. If myself was my Devil Trigger form. Instantly I checked myself to see if I transformed. Thankfully I didn't… though it would be nice if the regeneration powers would kick in right about now. In the endless void, a familiar figure came out of the shadows. Maybe they know what's going on. I tried to quickly get up, but immediately was greeted with pain all over me. Right, that existed. Slowly this time, I pushed myself up from the ground, then walked over to the figure. The figure was a tall man, with his black hair swept to the side, a black vest trench coat covering his tattoos. He supported himself on a silver cane, his black sandals barely in the water to touch his feet.

"V?" I croaked. Quickly I straightened myself up, clearing my throat as I winced in pain. Like usual, he seemed to be unamused. He straightened his posture as well, not leaning against his cane as much.

"It's been a while now, hasn't it?" V quietly spoke.

"Why are you—" I asked before getting cut off.

"Cutting to the chase," V interrupted, holding up a finger to shush me. "There's an evil presence going on in the Underworld."

"When isn't there something going wrong!" I snorted, shaking my head. "My stupid uncle and father are down there probably rupturing something that shouldn't be ruptered!"

V glared at me, annoyed with my tangent. It's not my fault the two idiots dove right into a fray again. V rolled his eyes, then continued, "There's a demon that I've dealt with before, who's growing in power again. Of course, he's out for Sparda blood, which makes us more of a priority for him."

"Who is it?" I asked, stiffening up.

"I don't have time to answer," he quickly cut me off. "I need you to help us. It's only recently I've noticed he's lurking around in the Underworld…"

"Could you stop being so poetic and get to the point already?" I said, scratching the back of my head. V glanced down for a second, then proceeded to stab his cane into my foot.

"What the hell?!" I grabbed my foot, then fell onto the ground. V chuckled at my misery, tapping at my foot.

"That's what you get for not listening," he says shaking his head, smirking. He knelt down to my level into a squatting position. "Look. I don't ask for help, if anything I avoid it. No one helped me until I was weaker than I could possibly imagine. I'm asking you now because you are our only hope of getting us out of here. Besides…" He slowly got up, without using the support of his cane. As he stood up, V began to fade away like he did the first time.

"You wouldn't want family to die now, would you?"

I startled awake, gasping for air. Taking deep breaths, I calmed down to see I wasn't in the the void anymore. It was just a dream… Kyrie was still asleep, thankfully. I wouldn't want her to be worried about me about some stupid nightmare… Why was V in my dream? He's technically my father, so why is the human side of my father wanting me to go down to Hell? I've seen him more than my father granted, but I never really have dreams with him in it. I don't know anymore… the fact it's V makes it weird because of his relation to my father. As I rolled back into bed, sheets over my shoulders, I thought about the two bozos who are down there right now. Thinking back to the dream and what V said, something doesn't feel right about those two being down there.

Moving away from the tower, we came across more Qliphoth roots. It seemed we were getting closer to the source, with the roots becoming thicker and appearing more. I remained ahead of Vergil, a first for myself. He sulked behind me, hanging his head low as we marched along. I didn't care, he wants to be alone half of the time. When we reached the next root, there was barely any demons nearby, only a few this time. I dove into the brawl and took them out with King Cerebus while Vergil began weakening the tree root. They were weak punks, barely putting up a fight. Once they were taken care of, I aided Vergil by whipping out Cavalier and sawing the root down. The motorcycle made a huge dent to where a single swipe of a sword can make it fall. Vergil and I slashed it once more with our swords, taking it down. Once it was done, we continued walking in silence and to repeat the action again. One by one they tumbled down, without putting up a fight. After a while, it just became muscle memory where I don't even really need to think about it. When the third root fell down, Vergil sat down onto the ground.

"Let's take a break here, Dante." He quietly spoke, out of breath a bit. I sat down by the remains of the trunk, still withering away. He whipped out his black book and began reading it, just like usual. We didn't speak for a long time, nor even looked at each other. The awkward silence began to nag on me, itching for someone to talk. I can't bear it anymore.

"Hey, look I'm sorry for being an ass earlier," I say, breaking the silence. A relief came over me, finally that horrid silence is over.

"That's a first," he replied, not looking away from his book.

"Well it's gotta start sometime…" I shrugged, shoving my blade into the ground. "I mean it took a kid to stop us from fighting."

Vergil turned the page of his book, not paying any attention. I bit my lip, trying to avoid the temptation to swipe it from him. It'd be nice to know if he cares, just say I forgive. I know we have differences, but after a while it gets bothersome when you can't be forgiven. What's even worse is that he's starting to be like our dad. Always on a mission to fight with the humans, never time to spend with us. The time he realizes things are going shit at home, it's after the fact and never comes back to us in the end. And to see it happen again with Vergil is even worse than what he did. Cause he considers him some legend.

"Do you care about Nero?" I asked him. The one question I've been dying to ask for a while now. I couldn't bring myself to say it before, especially if Nero was around. I knew it'd hurt him if his dick of a father decided not to care. Or worse, be even more against Vergil than he already was.

"What?" Vergil glanced up from his book, slapping it shut. He put the book on his lap as he glared at me.

"I'm just curious, do you care about the kid?"

"Why are you so curious to know?" Vergil snapped, setting his book back into his coat pocket. "You never cared until now so why that, hmm?

"I'm curious to know whether you're going to leave him behind and I'll have to make sure he doesn't try to kill you" I talked back to him, sitting up straight. "I don't want him to be like us where we fight all the time. That's the last thing I'd like for to happen is our entire family just turns against each other."

"Does it matter what he does in the end?" He fumed, getting up from his sitting position. As he began to walk away, he muttered "I have no desire to care about what he does, as long as he and you don't get in my way."

"Stop trying to shove everyone out of your life!" I yelled at him, hopping onto my feet. Vergil stopped in his tracks, his hands instantly gravitating to the Yamato. "Not everyone is going to leave you. At this point, you're just doing it purposefully and blaming others. You're my brother, the last bit of family I have left. Can you please just for once not leave and get yourself killed again?!"

My heart ached as I said the last sentence, frustrating me even more. I could feel my skin become scaly as claws began to form on my hands. Vergil remained there in silence, shoulders slumping down a bit but his hands still gripping the Yamato tightly. It's already begun, why not just go out and kill him? You know you'd love to tear him into a new one after how he's treating you… Shush. I don't need you right now. Besides, it won't matter, he's already mad at me and we'll probably attempt to kill each other like usual. Who is the stronger man? We need to know who is the best and clearly it is me… Before I could make the first move, the ground rumbled below our feet, making the both of us unsteady. A large root sprung up from the red soil right in between us. We both flew backwards, unable to catch ourselves and falling flat on our backs.

"Dammit…" I groaned, feeling the back of my head. I looked at my hand to see a little blood spot on my glove and the palm of my hand. I turn to look behind me to see a tiny piece of rock with a similar blood stain. "You are mean" I pouted, pointing at the rock. The root kept growing, barely reaching the sky, like the rest of them. As it rose up from the ground, demons spawned close by it, one even growing right along the tree root. It had spikes all around it, pulsating fleshy look to it as grew more on the root. Small roots with spikes on the end sprung up from the ground as well, remaining close to the source.

"Well well well, look what we have here!" The pimple boasted, crossing its nub arms. It loomed over to me, then turning to Vergil who was still on the ground. With its noseless nose, it took obnoxious sniffs in the air. "Not one Sparda, but two of them! Gahahahaha haaa! Unlike last time where it was just one of ya! Now both of you idiots, bow down to the newest ruler of the Underworld!"

One of… us? I grimaced as I got up onto my feet again. This guy is getting on my nerves already with his boasting. Only I can boast that much! I walked over to Dante, yanking it out of the ground. I began wiping off the grime that coated the tip. Luckily it wasn't at all affected by the root sprouting up from the ground, which was good.

"Hey! Are you not listening me?!" The flesh worm demanded, pointing its nubs at me.

"What's that?" I cupped my ear towards it. "I couldn't hear you. Maybe speak up a little more?"

"BOW DOWN TO THE NEWEST RULER OF THE UNDERWORLD!" the "new ruler" shrilled in a cackle, living in its own world. Sure that's going to happen buddy. If anything, I'd have a better chance and I don't wanna cause it'd stink like Hell. Ignoring the annoying jock worm, I walked over to Vergil, who was still on the ground. I reached out to him, but he swiped my hand away and got up on his own. Even though I'd be mad at him for that, I'll give him a pass. I would've done the same to him.

"I think I remember this guy," Vergil muttered to me, gesturing to the infected tree.

"Really? I feel bad for you," I say apologetically. The fiend grew more angry with the both of us not paying any attention to him. I could swear the fleshy color of his innerads became slowly more red. "I mean look at that thing, it looks like it still thinks it's cool since high school and he's 40 years old."

"Oh so you, Dante?" He smirks as he stares at me while saying that. I scowled at him. I never went to high school or still think I'm cool. I am cool.

"HEY!" The worm roared in frustration, bringing up the spiked roots from the ground. Before it can hit us, we blocked the attacks with our swords and took them down with two hits. "You dare challenge me?! Nidhogg?!" The worm shrieked in anger, spikes came out of its nub arms and three disgusting reject plants came up from the ground, gnashing their teeth. Acidic drool came out of their mouths, burning a hole into the white grass.

"Great job Dante, it brought friends!" Vergil patted me on the back then went full Devil Trigger mode. I threw up my hands, then dove into battle. How is it my fault that it did that? The plant creatures swooped down to me while Vergil leaped over them, leaving it to me. I blocked them from headbutting me, then pulled out Double Kalina Arm and fired a few missiles at them. Meanwhile Vergil is going all out with the head of the pimple, clashing swords and spikes at each other. As I take down the last plant head, I realized something about this guy and his name… It was all too familiar.

"Hey Virgin!" I shouted to Vergil.

"WHAT?!" He growled, literal flames coming out of his horns as he continues to fight.

"I just realized I used his little boogers to get me to you!" I exclaimed, beaming with my eureka moment. The plant snarled, then headed right towards me. Without even looking away, I shot it one last time into its mouth and it withered away. "It would eat up your tree so I can harass you! No wonder it looked familiar!"

"That's great Dante, but could you, I don't know, kill the stupid thing!" he yelled at me, pressing forward at the demon before being blown back. Quickly, I exchanged out the artillery from heavy to stylish, and pulled out Dr. Faust. As I rock my stunning hat, I tossed it onto the enemy, landing perfectly on its puny head. Moonwalking closer to the fight, the hat landed a nice big ol' hit on the big guy, spewing out Red Orbs everywhere. As it howled in pain, Vergil swooped in and cut it off from its main source. Together, we stabbed the enemy into the ground. Without another shrill, the worm demon shriveled up into nothing. The root was still there, which didn't take long to wrap up. Feeling good about myself, I drove up the root with the motorcycle. Vergil stood there, in awe of my awesomeness, as I stabbed Dante into the root, splitting it in half until I got to the top. I nailed the landing with a bow, hearing the applause of a thousand adoring fans in my head. Then Cavalier reached the bottom, still running of course in circles, breaking out of my dream. Totally worth it. The tree withered away, leaving us with nothing to do anymore. I put away Cavalier back into my secret compartment in my coat, and headed over to Vergil. He looked down where the root used to be, scowling at the thing. This sourpuss is too sour… hmm…

"Here" I plopped my hat on Vergil's head. It definitely snapped him out of whatever thoughts he had running through his head.

"What?" he said, puzzled by my niceness.

"You look good in a hat" I beamed, patting him on the back. Vergil reached for the hat, taking it off and smirked.

"It probably has your fleas on it" he snickered, walking away.

"I don't have fleas!" I exclaimed, catching up to him. "Sure I've dealt with demonic dogs, but that's a long time ago!"

"Ahh so they are demonic fleas now… how peculiar…" We both broke into a laugh and headed towards the next destination.