A/N: Not a bad evening… my desert could be better but I'm not sure what I was expecting, this banana bread is kinda stale…

Disclaimer: You know what I do own? This banana bread. You know what I'm kind of regretting? This banana bread

Why Do You Care So Much?

The fight was intense, Nero wasn't sure if it outranked some of the ones he'd had in the past but it was definitely up there. Ludwig initially lashed out sporadically and animalistically which after a couple of exchanges, he and Katherine seemed to have figured out and they were doing a pretty good job of keeping the monster's attention too split to focus either of them and managed to keep themselves out of the danger zone. That was, until Nero managed to get himself mowed over, that hadn't been pleasant but then Katherine had overreacted, he'd been fine and next thing he knew she'd been hit. The partial devil had Triggered then, he was in pain and he didn't like the way that Ludwig was stomping toward her… He'd managed to knock the big oaf over but now… Now the maniac seemed to have a spark of intelligence back, swinging around a big glowing sword with an accuracy and familiarity that put Nero on edge. He saw Katherine back up a bit and reach into her pocket, she fumbled around for far longer than she usually did when reaching for those blood vials of hers. Ludwig was getting too close…

"Katherine!" he shouted, but it was too late, the blade had already swung out, opening the Hunter from hip to shoulder.

"Fuck." Nero swore as Katherine collapsed, dead, upon the ground. Ludwig gave a braying laugh as she fell and Nero felt his own blood boil. He launched himself back into the fight, using his wings and Devil Breakers to keep himself off the ground and above the monster as much as he could. He didn't even notice that Katherine's body had disappeared until their fighting took them over there again. Ludwig was being worn down, slowly, but Nero could feel himself losing strength too, it was getting harder and harder to keep up his Trigger, he kept slipping back to human whenever he thought he could spare a few breaths, trying to get some of his demonic energy back. There was no time to pick through his coat for the devil star he was certain was in there, that was exactly the sort of thing that got Katherine killed… He went in for another attack only to bring Red Queen up in a defence as Ludwig swung that monstrous sword at him. Nero was sent flying back, feet skidding as he tried to gain grip against the blood and gore that pooled on the stone. He sank to a knee, Trigger fading and he could hear the beast approaching him without even looking up.

"Shit…" he breathed, trying to force himself back to his feet. An echoing gunshot and a hand on his shoulder caused his head to snap up. Katherine stood beside him, whole once more and with bloody murder in her eyes. Ludwig roared and Katherine roared back, charging into the fight head on. The ferocity of her attacks took the heat off Nero long enough that he was able to shuffle through a few pockets and come up with the devil star that he'd thrown in there at some point and forgotten about until now. He crushed it between his fingers, the energy within flowing into him and renewing his strength. A grin split his face as he Triggered once more, leaping in to join Katherine in the fray. Ludwig took a sidestep, not seeming to notice that Nero was there, his mistake as the partial devil slammed a fist into the beast as hard as he could manage and sending the former man skidding off in the direction that he'd come. Katherine clearly saw the opportunity and took it, sliding under the monster's falling body and slashing out with her saw, separating one of the beast's too many legs from its body. She stood, flicking the blade open and disconnecting a string of gore from Ludwig as she did.

The pair met eyes once again, the exhilaration of battle oozing off of them both. Nero nodded and they both went back to the fight at hand. With Katherine fresh and Nero slightly revitalized the fight quickly turned in their favor, each of them landing blows back and forth against the beast. Katherine put a bullet in Ludwig as he was drawing back the sword for another heavy swing and he stumbled, she wasted no time in taking the chance to shove a hand into one of the many wounds that they'd opened on the monster, yanking out muscle and organ alike. Unlike previously, Ludwig did not immediately rise again, instead doubling over and Nero sprinted forward, swinging Red Queen two handed as hard as he could, cleaving the beast's head from his body.

Finally… Ludwig collapsed to the ground, blood pulsing slowly out of the neck stump, a gross mockery of a fountain. The head however… the mouth opened and closed and despite the lack of lungs to give breath to the words, Nero heard them loud and clear.

"Good hunters, have you seen the thread of light? Just a hair, a fleeting thing, yet I clung to it, steeped as I was in the stench of blood and beasts. I never wanted to know, what it really was. Really, I didn't…" whatever was keeping the head of the beast alive finally faded, the light going out of his eyes. Nero shivered before turning to Katherine.

"Are you okay?" he asked her.

"Yes, why do you care so much? I always awaken, you know this." she said cooly, red eyes still fixed on the beasts head.

"Doesn't mean it doesn't hurt." Nero shrugged. Katherine glanced up at him

"No, you are right but I am fine, thank you for asking after me." she gave him a small half bow and the partial devil suddenly found himself more uncomfortable.

"Err, yeah, no problem."

A/N: I don't really know where to end this chapter, so we're going to go with here ^^;