A/N: Okay, so don't tell anyone, I'm at work and probably should be… y'know doing work? But I'm leaving in ten minutes and what I'm doing now is slowly killing me inside… So I'm going to get started on this now and see what I can get done before Adam's ready to leave.

Disclaimer: I don't even own the computer I'm working on right now.

Uncover Their Secrets

Katherine sighed as the new gem settled properly into place on the weapon; they stretched and felt joints popping back into place loudly. Fitting and removing bloodgems to weapons always seemed like a good idea but the process was tedious and often infuriating. The blunderbuss was set down on the desk as she stood, deciding that stretching her legs would be beneficial before continuing into the nightmare. Nero had offered to help fight the beasts that plagued the cursed streets but she worried that he did not understand what he was offering to do. She wasn't even certain that the white haired man would resurrect as they did, though the acceptance of the Dream spoke to that being a definite possibility. As they thought of the other hunter Katherine wondered where he'd wandered off to. He had left after the suggestion to speak to the doll but the Hunter had not seen him since. Wandering out of the Workshop provided no immediate solutions either as the Doll stood in her normal place near the stairs; she did not react as Katherine wandered by, instead continuing to stare into the mists; wondering…

Nero seemed to be doing much the same when Katherine finally located him, though his stare into the mists appeared to be more thoughtful than the Doll's usually seemed; the Hunter was unsurprised to see that Nero had found Gehrman, the old man would turn up just long enough to give advice and then disappear to wherever long dreamers disappeared to. Both of them sat in relatively comfortable silence, looking out at the pillars in the mist. Katherine stopped behind them, not wanting to disturb the scene, though she needn't have worried as Gehrman gave a soft 'harumph', turning his wheelchair with some difficulty and steering off toward the workshop. Nero jolted slightly, as though returning from thoughts far away; he looked back over his shoulder at Katherine and then stood.

"So, you ready to go?" he asked, brushing small bits of dirt and leaves from his pants. He placed the massive sword he carried back in its holster on his back, it being too large for him to sit down with; it reminded Katherine of Ludwig's Holy Blade. She'd left the monstrous blade sitting in one of the chests in the Workshop, far too heavy to wield as it was now, she wondered briefly if Nero would benefit from a trick weapon.

"Yes. I believe I'm prepared." she nodded "I need to put on my coat first, then I will be as ready as I can be." Nero laughed lightly at that, following her back to the Workshop as she put her coat back on and strapped on belts, weapons, and tools. She looked back to Nero, who was just watching passively.

"Don't you need anything to prepare for the Nightmare ahead?" Katherine asked. The devil hunter just raised a brow.

"No? I've got all my stuff on me already." he gestured to the strange, arm-like contraptions connected to his belt.

"What are those?"

"Hm? Oh, Nico calls them Devil Breakers." He pulled one off of his belt, lifted his right hand and Katherine blinked in surprise when it disappeared and he put the contraption in its place, wiggling metal fingers at her.

"That is… exceptionally strange." she said as he removed it, his arm reappearing as though nothing had happened.

"Says the person stabbing infected blood into their leg." he said, clipping the arm back onto his belt.

"It is blood intended for ministration." she said, trying to ignore the wriggling of doubt in the back of her mind in favor of the call of the beast, reminding her of the joy that burned in her veins each time it was used. Katherine turned away from the partial devil as he said

"Whatever you say." though he still followed her out to the headstone just outside the door.

"Who did this belong to?" he asked from behind her. She paused, hand half extended to the stone, mind ready to reach through the dreams and for the Nightmare in the cosmos. The messengers stopped, their hands lightly touching her knee.

"I do not know." she said with a shrug "I suspect it belonged to Gehrman's apprentice through, grab my hand, I cannot hold this temporarily forever."

"Hold what?" Nero asked as he grasped her hand. The messengers grasped at them, transporting them from one dream to another.

-Devil's Hunt-

The next time Katherine opened her eyes, they were standing in the nightmarish version of Oedon Chapel.

"The transportation between dreams." she said to Nero as he shivered. She wondered what he saw in the space between spaces, all she ever felt was the warm, secure presence of the Dream.

"Ah, so… how do you guess it was Gehrman's apprentice?" Nero asked, clearly trying to remove the previous thoughts from his mind.

"Their bone was buried there." she said, holding up the old and broken piece of collar bone. Nero hesitated for a moment before saying.

"Yeah, y'know, I don't want to know how you know it belonged to this apprentice." He glanced around the building they were now standing in. "What happened to all the people that were in here? And all the candles?"

"This is not the Waking World, it is the Nightmare." Katherine said "Be prepared, it is far more vicious than the Waking World ever could be." she started forward, stepping out of the main room into the hallway she had unlocked last time she was here. Simon still stood at the corner, pondering something. She wondered if time passed as strangely here as it did in the waking world. She tilted her head in the direction of Simon who glanced at her and then his keen eyes caught on Nero.

"I see you have another Seeker of Secrets." he whispered, Katherine wasn't sure that Simon was capable of speaking above a whisper.

"A what?" Nero said, glancing between Katherine and the other hunter. She gave the smallest of shrugs, she hadn't been sure what to make of Simon either, all she knew was that he wasn't actively trying to kill her.

"The nightmares… their secrets call out to you do they not?" Simon said, Nero made a face, taking a step backward, toward the light from outside the chapel.

"Yeah, sure man…" the devil hunter said, quickly spinning on his heel. Katherine had to jog to keep up with the man's longer strides.

"That guy's creepy…" he said as they made it out of earshot. Katherine just shot him a bemused look. "I mean what does he mean?" the partial devil continued "'Seeker of Secrets'? I get that you said this place is a nightmare, not a dream… whatever that means… but we're supposed to what, uncover their secrets? Whose?" Katherine smiled

"I believe you are finally starting to ask proper questions." she said before touching his arm at the end of the hall "Be careful, there are many enemies out of this doorway." she peeked her head out, counting out at least five of them, not including those that she knew were likely sheltering underneath the bridge. She turned back to Nero

"There are at least five, more under the bridge." she said, the partial devil just grinned

"Now this is more my speed. You go up, I'll go down?" he didn't even give her enough time to respond, simply took off, vaulting over the bridge with abandon. Katherine let out a curse, yanked her mask up and over her nose and sprinted into action behind him, her blunderbuss taking one of the gunsman by surprise and jamming her hand into his guts. There was no time to enjoy the splash of blood across her hands however as she yanked the man in front of herself, using him as a shield from one of the other gunsman. One of the bullets clipped through and grazed her side, after that the world went a bit red around the edges… The world was a blurry combination of the pleasant smell of blood, the familiar feel of her Saw Cleaver in hand, snapping in and out like an extension of her arm and the explosive sound of her blunderbuss…

She whirled, raising her cleaver for the next enemy but Nero stood in her place, his hair stained pink and she lowered her weapon, taking a couple of breaths, trying to come down from the high. Nero flicked some of the blood from his sword, a useless endeavor when they were standing in a literal river of it.

"You didn't say that they'd explode."

A/N: So I actually didn't end up getting very much of this done at work but… I guess that's a good thing? Anyway, I'm going to prep the next chapter, again sorry for the absence over the holidays, making up for it now.

Till next time,

-Winged Element