Lady wasn't sure how long they'd been running by the time they finally stopped, she just knew that they were now (hopefully) as far away from whatever that mess had been as possible. They were standing in a darkened side alley, staring at each other, and still panting from the exertion. Vergil eventually took a deep breath and straightened up, probably preparing to say something that was both stern yet reasonable. As the events of the last few minutes finally sunk in however, Lady found herself breathless once more, but this time from uncontrollable laughter. Vergil watched with mild disdain as Lady doubled over and clutched at her stomach as she giggled like some sort of lunatic. Her small shoulder bag lay limply at her feet and as Vergil bent to pick it up, the image of him holding what was barely more than a purse only seemed to set her off even further. Eventually, after what Vergil was more than convinced was enough time to draw attention to this otherwise inconspicuous location, Lady gasped in a chestful of air and leant unsteadily against the wall behind her.

Vergil hesitated for a moment as Lady tried to suppress a few more bouts of laughter, then he slowly reached out and handed her bag back to her. Lady took it and slung it over her shoulder in one swift movement, then finally looked up at him. Even in the gloom, her eyes seemed to sparkle. A small smile twitched at the corner of Vergil's lips. "Correct me if I'm wrong," he said, as Lady frantically started adjusting her windswept hair. "But you don't quite seem to be taking this as seriously as I feel you should be."

"Oh no, I'm very concerned," Lady said airily, taking a few more deep breaths. "I mean, we didn't even get to try their dessert! And now we probably never will!" She let out something that was a combination of a sigh and yet more laughter. "So much for always wanting to eat there…"

"Cuisine-based concerns aside," Vergil said somewhat sharply, "What exactly are we going to do about the current situation?"

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Lady said, waving a hand dismissively. "I bet they've seen a lot worse." Her eyes widened slightly and a grin spread across her expression again. "Man, did you see that guy's face though? That alone almost made the whole thing worth it!"

"Mary," Vergil said, a bit more firmly this time.

Lady sighed. "Yeah, yeah, I know…" She let out an annoyed huff. "Y'know, if anything they should be thanking us. If that really had been a demon attack then-"

"But it wasn't a demon," Vergil reminded her. He ran a slightly shaky hand through his hair. Drawing attention to themselves was the last thing he'd wanted to do. That combined with the fact that his plans for the evening had now been thrown completely out of whack, and he had suddenly found himself feeling oddly nervous.

"Doesn't this just prove my point though?" Lady pouted. "About us needing a break, I mean. We're so wrapped up in looking out for demons all the time, that…" She started fiddling with her bag strap. "Well, stuff like this happens. I can't remember the last time I wasn't constantly on edge."

"Unfortunately that is just the life we lead," Vergil said absently. "No matter how hard we try, we can't just…" Wait. Now that he'd had a few moments to think, he was surprised to realise that he had actually allowed himself to just run away from the situation. Yes, he'd mostly been dragged along by Lady, but he could easily have put a stop to it if he'd really wanted. It wouldn't take all that much effort to just halt her in her tracks. And yet… He looked down at Lady who was now staring back at him with mild irritation. There was another emotion mixed in amongst the unease he'd been feeling… A strange sense of giddiness. His brow furrowed. There was something about the… spontaneity of this whole incident, the fact that he had acted so impulsively without really considering his options, that was making him feel... He raised a hand to his chin to hide the smile that threatened to break forth. Could it be, he was actually having fun? That maybe they could just…

"So whaddya wanna do?" Lady huffed, placing her hands on her hips. The movement caused her floor length dress - now slightly muddied from all the running - to hug her figure even more tightly and Vergil cleared his throat. "Let me guess, you want to go back right?" she asked.

Vergil hesitated. "Well, one supposes the most rational thing to do would be to return to the location and try to explain what happened," Vergil began, holding a hand up to silence Lady when she tried to butt in. "Of course, you did also make the very valid point that we have not yet had dessert." He glanced towards the high street, where they had been running until Lady dragged him into the darkness. "Or even a main meal for that matter…"

"...I'm listening," Lady said, a mischievous grin spreading across her face.

Vergil's grip on the Yamato tightened. Was this a foolish thing to do given everything that had already happened tonight? Probably. But right now he didn't care. He held out his free hand towards Lady, who took it with a smile. They waited for a group of teenagers to pass the opening of the alleyway, then stepped out into the artificial light of the town. It was only as Lady leant her head against Vergil's shoulder that he suddenly remembered - The car!

"Nero-"

"I don't want to hear it," Nero snapped at Dante. They were sitting in the van, waiting for Nico and Trish to arrive. As it turned out, Nico apparently still had the car keys on her (or at least they hoped she did), so despite the restaurant's protests they'd had no choice but to wait awkwardly in the forecourt until they could move the vehicle. They were just lucky Nico had left it unlocked when she… Well.

"If I'd known something like this would happen, you know I'd never have-"

"Enough already!" Nero yelled, slamming his fist on the table. Opposite him, Kyrie recoiled slightly. "As soon as we make sure the girls are safe, I'm gonna track those bastards down and end this once and for all. I'm sick of playing their games."

"You think I've just been sitting on my ass doing nothing this whole time?" Dante asked angrily. "If it was that easy, don't you think I'd have done it by now?"

"Come on Dante, these guys are nothing to us," Nero hissed. "You managed to beat my father- Heck you've fought Mundus before, and you're trying to tell me that you're struggling with a few lesser demons?" Nero got to his feet and started pacing up and down. "We're stronger than we've ever been before, this should be a walk in the goddamn park!"

"You know as well as I do that this isn't an issue of strength," Dante growled.

"Okay so there's a lot of them, so what?" Nero asked, throwing his hands in the air. "If we all just work together they won't know what hit 'em."

"And how do you plan to do that while keeping the other's safe?" Dante asked. "What happened with Nico shows that they're not afraid to target other people any more. One of us is gonna have to stay with Kyrie and Nico, so what then? Plus we don't even know where Lady and Vergil are right now - someone needs to work on finding them too to make sure they're safe."

Nero scoffed. "Please, Vergil and Lady are more than capable of looking after themselves. Heck, why don't we just leave the girls with them?"

"Nero, we already talked about this," Dante said, standing up and stepping into Nero's path. "Look, we've tried brute force with these things and got nowhere. We need to come up with a plan."

"I'm done catering to them, Dante," Nero said seriously. "Before it was… I dunno, an inconvenience, a background worry, but now - Now they've hurt one of my friends. Who knows what might have happened to her if Trish hadn't turned up when she did? Damn it, if Kyrie had gone outside just a few minutes earlier-" His voice broke suddenly, and he turned away from everyone. Kyrie moved to get up, but Dante just shook his head.

"I get it, you know I do," Dante huffed. "Nico means a lot to me too, and-"

"Well she obviously doesn't mean enough, " Nero snapped. He marched over to the door and slammed it open before jumping outside. It slid shut again with a deafening bang.

Dante let out an annoyed growl and sat down heavily on the sofa. He closed his eyes and laid his head back, trying to calm the rage that was rising in his chest. It wasn't Nero's fault, he reminded himself. Nero was well within his rights to be upset given everything that had happened. Nero's responses had perhaps been unreasonable, but not unexpected. The best thing now would be to give him some space rather than try to push the issue any further. The kid was stubborn, just like his old man. It couldn't be helped. Dante took a deep breath and sat up straight again. He needed to find his brother. More importantly, he needed to find the magical portal opening device that was currently with his brother. If he could just lure all of the demons to one place then they should be able to pull a similar stunt to last time, just hopefully without quite the same consequences. Vergil had to be nearby. If he really was out on a job like he claimed, then he was likely swinging that damned sword all over the place, drawing the attention of every demon in a hundred mile radius. It would explain why so many had turned up tonight, right? But then why target the restaurant? Unless they didn't want the Yamato, in which case… He buried his face in his hands. This was all getting far too complicated.

Dante glanced up to find Kyrie staring at him from the table opposite. She was fiddling nervously with her hands, and it was clear she wanted to say something. "I'm fine," Dante said, before she could ask. He forced a grin. "We'll fix this, don't worry. We always do."

"I'm worried about Nero," Kyrie blurted out. "A-And you too of course," she hastily added when Dante's expression fell slightly. "But… It's… Well…"

"I'm sure he'll be back soon," Dante said, glancing at the door behind him. And if he isn't, I'll drag him back.

"That's not…" Kyrie trailed off. Dante clearly wasn't the right person to talk to about this. She sighed. Of course, the right person to talk to about this was Nero himself, but she'd missed that chance, hadn't she? So wrapped up in her own happiness at him returning, lamenting about the awful year she had spent alone… "I'm going out to talk to him,"she said firmly, getting to her feet.

"Wait a sec…" Dante said, holding up a hand. He seemed to be straining to hear something. "I don't think that's the best idea right now."

"I can't believe we didn't know about this!" Lady said excitedly. Her mismatched eyes were somehow filled with even more colours as she stared up at the flashing lights ahead of them.

"And I would happily continue doing so," Vergil said brusquely. His snide remark went unheard however, instead drowned out by an endless cascade of raucous music, a thousand tunes fighting for dominance that turned into nothing more than headache-inducing noise the closer they got.

"Isn't this exciting?" Lady yelled over the deafening sounds. "A funfair! Here!" It took her a few more steps to realise that Vergil was no longer following her. She turned to see him standing sullenly beneath a tree with his arms crossed, and a glare so strong she feared it might burst a hole in the large circus tent in the middle of the field ahead. She let out a resigned sigh and marched over. "All right, fine," she grumbled as she approached. "Let's go."

"...You're giving up so easily?" Vergil asked, slightly taken aback.

"I know there's no point arguing with you, and I want to do at least something fun before the evening runs out, so let's just find something else."

"Wait," Vergil said, reaching out to grab her arm as she walked past him. Had he really worn her down so much with his stubbornness after all this time, that she wasn't even bothering to try any more? That wasn't good. Half of the enjoyment he got out of spending time with her was them expressing their thoughts to each other, and arguing their points when they had a disagreement. Heck, sometimes he found that he needed someone to remind him that he could be wrong occasionally. If she gave up on him entirely, then… "If this is really something you'd like to try…" Vergil mumbled. He glanced towards the glaring lights again, so bright that he could no longer see the stars above them. Various groups of people were passing them in each direction, each one seemingly louder than the last. The restaurant had made him uncomfortable enough, but this… He gulped. To willingly walk into whatever lay before them would be nothing short of pure torture. But tonight wasn't just about what he wanted. Besides, he'd already gone beyond his usual boundaries this evening, why stop here? Just then, a set of flashing blue and red lights in the distance caught his attention, and his decision was made.

"It's fine," Lady sighed, pulling herself free. "Besides, we're not exactly dressed for it. I'm already struggling to cross this field in these stupid heels- Hey! " Lady cried out in surprise as she suddenly found herself slung over Vergil's shoulder. Grass sped past below her as they started to run towards the fairground. "What are you doing?!" she asked, lightly slapping him on the back.

"Being spontaneous," Vergil responded. This time he didn't bother to hide the smile.

Outside the van, Nero angrily kicked at one of its tyres, grateful for how heavily Nico had reinforced them when it didn't burst under the pressure. He pushed away from it and glared up at the sky, looking for any remaining signs of the things that had caused this mess.

He noticed the lights before he noticed the cars. They reflected off the polished exterior of the van - red, blue, red, blue; perhaps almost pretty if not for the thing they signified. Nero peeked over the bonnet of the van and saw a collection of around ten or so emergency vehicles clustered at one of the buildings opposite. As he squinted in confusion, more sirens filled the air and the group was joined by a few more cars, including an ambulance. It took a moment for Nero to register what was happening, and then a shiver ran down his spine. Shit. He glanced back at the van, debating whether he should get Dante, then shook his head. Whatever damage had been done here was already over. If the demons were still in there, then he doubted the police would still be walking around so freely. He took a deep breath and marched across the road. If they were starting to attack innocent people, then he needed to gather all the information he could.

"What happened here?" Nero asked one of the uniformed men as he approached. He'd tried his best to inject some authority into his voice, but the question had come out a little shakier than he'd intended. He hoped it was only due to adrenaline.

"Sir, please step back," the officer replied, not looking up from the notebook he was scribbling in.

"It's okay, I deal with stuff like this for a living. Do we know if they're still nearby?" Nero said, a bit more confidently this time. He looked over the officer's shoulder, attempting to see inside what he now realised was another restaurant of some sort, but couldn't see anything except fluorescent jackets and a few waiters.

"Sir, this is a crime scene, I'm going to need you to leave," the officer said, finally glancing up. His eyes widened slightly as he looked Nero up and down, and he quickly turned away to mumble something into his radio. "Roger that," the man said quietly. He reached out suddenly and placed a hand on Nero's shoulder. "Scrap that, come with me please."

"Alright, that's a bit more like it," Nero grinned. He let the officer lead him over to one of the police vans while he tried to work out what had happened. "How many casualties?"

"Sir I'm going to need you to place your hands on your head and kneel on the ground while my colleagues perform a search on you," the officer said calmly. "This is just a precaution at the moment, but if you make any sudden movements then you will be arrested."

"Wait what? But-"

"On the ground sir," the officer said, grabbing onto Nero's arm and trying to push him down.

"The heck?" Nero protested. "I'm trying to help here, what are you-"

"Get down on the ground now!" the officer shouted, reaching for his weapon. Nero snapped his mouth shut and slowly raised his hands, placing them on his head. By now the officer had been joined by a few more, and they watched Nero closely as he hesitantly got down on his knees. He knew he'd be able to take them all easily, but now was not the time for that. There were potentially lives at stake and he needed these guys on his side. There was obviously some sort of misunderstanding, all he had to do was explain and-

"Where's the weapon?" a different police officer asked.

"Look, I think this is all-" Nero began before being cut off.

"I'll ask you one more time son, where is the weapon?"

"I don't…" Nero was suddenly all too aware of the pressure of the Blue Rose against his hip, fortunately still hidden beneath his coat. For once he was glad he'd left his sword behind in the van. Still, if he didn't think fast this was going to end badly. "Look," he said calmly, staring into the officer's eyes. "Whatever you think this is, it's all a misunderstanding. Up until just a few minutes ago, I was sitting in that restaurant over there, you can ask them." He took the opportunity to glance around again. Whatever had happened here, it didn't seem to be demonic like he'd originally feared. For one, there wasn't blood everywhere, and to add to that, there was a surprising lack of corpses.

One of the officer's radios went off and Nero heard them mumble something to another officer before the radio owner replied, "No sir, no sign of the woman."

"What woman?" Nero asked tensely. Was this about Nico? Had someone seen what happened and called the police? But if so then why was he the one currently kneeling in the dirt?!

"I'd keep your mouth shut if I were you," one of the officers growled. "Can we get someone to search this punk already?" he called out.

"On what grounds?" Nero retorted. "I haven't even done anything!"

"He's right," a deep voice suddenly cut in from amongst the crowd. Nero looked up to see a tall moustachioed man in a trench coat approaching. The man was damn near every detective stereotype combined, and Nero had to stop himself from laughing in disbelief.

"But sir-" one of the officers began, only to be silenced by what Nero assumed was their superior.

"Get to your feet, son," the new arrival said. The man watched Nero closely as he got to his feet, carefully making sure he kept the Blue Rose hidden.

"Thank you, sir," Nero said, brushing his knees clean. "I'm glad someone around here-"

"Quiet," the man snapped. He clapped his hands together, drawing the attention of a few nearby officers. "Gentlemen, this has all been a huge misunderstanding. You are all to resume your regular duties unless you hear otherwise. I'll be taking this from here." The announcement was met with a few surprised gasps and angry sounding mumbles, but within a few minutes the group had finally started to disperse as the message spread. The detective asked Nero to follow him and headed towards a different cluster of vehicles.

"Is someone finally gonna tell me what this is about?" Nero asked as they came to a stop. "I really don't have time for-"

"Do you recognise the people in this image?" the detective asked firmly, holding out what appeared to be a printed still of some CCTV footage towards Nero.

"Huh? I don't-" Nero's eyes widened as he took the piece of paper and held it towards the headlights of one of the cars for a better look. He swallowed the groan that threatened to come forth and hesitantly handed the still back with a shake of his head. "No sir, I've never seen these people before…"

The detective took the piece of paper with a sigh and tucked it into a pocket. He retrieved a crumpled pack of cigarettes and lit one up, much to Nero's distaste. After taking a few drags of the cigarette he turned to face Nero again. "You know," he said, tapping away some ash, "Lying can get you into a lot of trouble, Nero."

A/N - Thank you to everyone still reading, I know it's slow! Your support is much appreciated. ^_^