Chapter 10: Fears

(Warning, graphic violence and some sexual content in this chapter.)

Dante found himself sitting on a leather couch in a vaguely familiar, dimly lit room. There was club music playing in the background, the bass hitting his ears strongly. The whole place was hazy, full of fine rose-colored smoke in the air. He heard other people in the room talking, singing, laughing. He felt his head spinning lightly, his vision blurry, unable to properly focus on his surroundings. He had a hard time figuring out what was going on, where he was, but it seemed to him like he was out, having a good time and had too much to drink that night.

What he immediately recognized as Nero walked up to him lazily, laughing and holding an almost empty glass in his left, human hand. Definitely alcohol, they must be out drinking, he thought. Took the kid out for a fun night, most likely.

Nero was talking to Dante, but the noise of the club was so loud he couldn't figure out what Nero had said. The bass hitting his eardrums was all he could make out.

"What?" He said, squinting his eyes, trying to get his eyes to focus on the young man in front of him. He wanted to see Nero properly, even though he felt like he was definitely very drunk, possibly on something else. The air felt strange. His senses were telling him something in the air was making them both act this way.

Nero waved a hand in front of him in a 'nevermind' type fashion, shaking his head before chuckling, tilting his head back and downing the rest of his drink. He put the empty glass on a nearby table and leaned over to where Dante was. He lost balance, stumbled ahead, and landed on his knees in front of Dante, right where he was sitting down between his legs, holding on to his thighs for support. His Devil Bringer glowing brightly against him.

Dante was too out of it to catch him in time. He leaned forward and put a hand on his shoulder to see if Nero was okay.

"Whoah, kid... Take it easy... You alright?" He slurred out, slowly.

They were both definitely pretty out of it. But he felt good. Very good. Seeing Nero in the position he was in made adrenaline rush through his body. He was enjoying himself a bit too much, a smirk on his lips.

Nero kept chuckling, not even attempting to get up. He leaned forward, resting his head on Dante's thigh, his hair covering his face.

"..fuck," Nero said and started laughing again.

Dante had no idea what was funny, but for some reason, he found it funny too. He laughed along with Nero. They were both 100% nowhere near sober.

Nero looked up at Dante, his face flushed, his messy hair partially covering his face, but just enough so they could still share eye contact. Nero licked his lips, face burning hot.

"What, shut up..." Nero said.

That look, Dante thought. The whole vibe, the music, the atmosphere, and the view in front of him, were all getting pretty erotic. He moved his hand off of Nero's shoulders to his chin, running a thumb over Nero's lips. Nero let him do it, but moved away after a bit, biting lightly and playfully into the fabric covering the zipper of Dante's pants, pulling on it with his teeth. Eye contact still very much present, and it was killing Dante. It was a lot.

Dante was both painfully obviously turned on, and shocked at the display in front of him. He didn't expect that right off the bat, but he certainly wasn't fighting it.

"Slow down there.." He laughed, definitely not minding the attention he was getting from Nero. Both him and the demon inside of him very much *wanted* that. He just felt strange doing that while in a public place, surrounded by people he couldn't make out. It didn't bother him though, his body was definitely on actual fire at that point.

As Nero began lightly rubbing his nose against the bulge that was painfully obvious by that point, Dante noticed three dark figures walk up to them behind Nero. He looked up, still dizzy and out of it.

His mood shifted.

"What?" He asked them with an annoyed look on his face, his tone deep and harsh. Their features were still unrecognisable to him entirely. As his eyes attempted to focus on their faces, he noticed the figures were carrying things in their hands.

A s Nero slowly, drunkenly turned around to see who was interrupting their intimate session, and before he had a chance to fully turn, the closest figure to Nero stabbed him quickly and violently. The long, thin sword piercing his whole stomach, jamming into the bottom of the couch on the other end. The figure then strongly turned the sword's handle while it was still inside of Nero before pulling it back out violently.

Dante jumped in his seat, grasping the leather couch, his body reacting much too slowly to possibly try to stop them in time, had he anticipated them to do this in the first place. He was immediately flushed with cold sweat, panic. His heart dropped to his stomach, he froze in place.

"Nero.." was all he could mutter as he stared with eyes wide open at the sight in front of him, unable to move at all.

Nero yelped at the impact and started violently gasping for air, grabbing his chest as he stared down at himself, blood gushing from his wound and mouth. Dante noticed the light immediately leave Nero's demonic right arm.

Before either of them could react at all, the second figure pulled out a gun and shot Nero a few times in the back. Each shot made Nero throw back his head and yell out in pain as hard as he could, each cry louder and higher to Dante's ears. Each individual scream causing Dante's heart to hurt as if he had gone through the same pain the younger one was physically suffering.

The third figure grabbed Nero by the hair and began dragging him slowly away from Dante, leaving behind a trail of blood.

Dante couldn't move in the slightest, still just sitting there, staring after Nero's lifeless body being dragged out of sight.

Nero was out of sight, his cries still echoing in Dante's head. Dante began hyperventilating, everything went dark, the music and the strong bass faded.

Nero was gone.

He stood up, his sight still fully dark, trying to go after them.

"Nero?" He screamed, waiting for any response, for any sound.

Nothing.

He started to run, not knowing where they were or why he couldn't see anything.

He kept running after them, shouting Nero's name at the top of his lungs.

Nothing.

Nero was gone.

He let him die.

Dante was violently jolted awake, his heart pounding heavily, gasping for air. He touched his chest as if to check if there was a pound of bricks stacked on top of it. He was covered in cold sweat, he was shaking, trying to make sense of what just happened.

'Shit, Nero…'

He felt something was terribly wrong. He immediately shot up from the bed, put on yesterday's pair of red jeans and a shirt from his closet rack and hurried outside his bedroom.

He rushed out the room and stopped briefly on the top of the stairs to look around the office. Nero was nowhere to be seen.

The jukebox was quietly playing classic rock. He ran downstairs and started checking every room. He checked the bathroom, nothing. He hurried to the back room, nothing. The only other room left was the kitchen.

He barged in, the door almost hitting the wall behind it. He stopped on the spot at the sight in front of him.

Nero was making breakfast by the stove, two cups of coffee already set on the kitchen counter.

Nero jumped and turned around at the sudden barge into the room, surprised and caught off guard.

"What the hell ?"

Dante just stood there.

"...You're here."

He stared at Nero, still breathing faster than usual.

He needed some time to process all of this. 'I was dreaming… Of course...'

He sighed deeply and ran a hand down his face, rubbing his eyes with his thumb and index finger.

Nero watched the unusual behavior, not sure what exactly to say or do. He didn't say anything, he just grabbed the cup of coffee he prepared for Dante from the counter and took a few steps towards him.

"You alright?" He stopped in front of him, waiting for a response.

"..Yeah." Dante responded. "I must have had a shitty dream, it's fine."

Nero nodded, offering Dante the cup of coffee, their eyes met. Dante smiled and took it. "Thanks, I really need it right now."

"Yeah, no kidding." Nero returned the smile and turned back to continue prepping their meals.

"Thoughtful, are we?" Dante remarked, noticing what exactly was going on in the kitchen.

Nero laughed, rubbing the back of his neck as he became a bit shy at the remark. "I hope you don't mind," he said as Dante took note of the groceries and other kitchen necessities that weren't there previously. Nero made himself at home. "You didn't really seem like you've… well, ever used the kitchen before. Went out and grabbed a few things."

Dante sat down at the kitchen table. "You're not wrong."

Nero brought the food and set it down in front of Dante and himself. He sat down and asked.

"Hope you're not a picky eater, I figured you'd like bacon and eggs. Everyone does."

"I think you underestimate how long I've gone without a proper meal that isn't pizza. Whatever you want to make, kid. I'll take it." The sight of the food made him feel better already.