4

Man's Way of Solving Everything

I woke up the next morning hearing something very strange…nothing. There was no sound, no arguing, not even the smell of Dante trying to warm something up for breakfast. That alarmed me to the point where I sat up so fast that I fell over and off the sofa.

The night before, after Dante left, I was afraid I might fall down the stairs if I tried to climb them. So I curled up on the sofa again. I blinked a few times and looked around. The place was dead silent, but both Dante and Nero were here. That was complete out of character and odd.

I noticed that Dante had a beer, and so did Nero, and both of them sat on the big black couch by the door on opposite ends. Nero looked rather depressed, and Dante seemed to be joining him.

"What's going on?" I asked.

They both looked at me, but it was Dante who sighed and raised his bottle to me, "Glad to see you're awake. Maybe you can explain while the female species can be so damn cruel…"

I looked from Dante to Nero, "What are you talking about?"

"Kyrie left me…" Nero mumbled.

I covered my mouth, "Oh, Nero I'm so sorry," I got up and went over to him, sitting beside him and placed my hand on his back, "What happened?"

"She said that she 'thought it was best if we saw other people,'" he said, then scowled at the floor, "Actually, she wrote it. I found a note in the hotel room last night…"

I felt so bad for him. I kept patting his shoulder and rubbing his back, trying to comfort him like I had my other guy friends when they got over a break up. Then I looked at Dante, "What about you? What's gotten you so down?"

Dante sighed and leaned back, "Trish moved out…that's what."

"Trish?" I sounded shocked because I was, "Why?"

"Apparently," he shrugged, "She's going to move in with Lady. I didn't need to be a rocket scientist to tell you what that means…"

It never struck me as odd before how much Trish and Lady seemed to be together but now…I didn't really want to think about it. I reached over and patted Dante's hand too, "I'm sorry for the two of you."

Dante only mumbled something and took another swing of his beer, and Nero huffed and did the same. I sighed, shaking my head. Drinking seemed to be a man's way of solving everything…

I noticed out of the corner of my eye that there was a pile of at least ten beer bottles to Dante's right, and to Nero's left was the small fridge. I rolled my eyes. This was going be a long day.

--

Dante had picked himself up rather well and went right back to work. I think it had to do with him wanting to take out his frustration on some demon scum, which was a good way to channel his anger…I suppose.

Nero, on the other hand, seemed intent on being miserable for a while. Dante had offered to take him along on a mission he had got a while ago, but Nero only sat on the couch and let him leave.

I ordered out for lunch as Nero moped and complained about there not being anymore beer. I thought he had enough, and he seemed to agree after he tried to get up to go to the bathroom and ended up walking into the supply closet. Luckily he was sober enough to know the difference between a toilet and a mop bucket, and went into the other room.

When the pizza arrived, I paid with some cash that Dante kept in the safety box in a locked drawer (he hid the key under the sofa cushion, Trish had told me) and as I put it on the desk, I heard Nero start to throw up.

"Nero, are you okay?" I knocked on the door. My answer was the sound of him vomiting again. I wrinkled my nose, feeling a bit sick myself now, and decided that pizza isn't what he was going to want to see right now. I put it quickly into the fridge and then knocked again on the door, "Nero, I'm coming in, okay?" the door wasn't locked, so I opened it up to see him leaning over the toilet as he reached up and flushed it.

He glanced up at me, looking very pale and drained, "Don't ever let me drink that much again…" he said, slurring on almost every word.

I chuckled and nodded as he hurled again. I hurried over to the sink, turning on the cold tap and wetting a wash cloth that I folded and put on the warm skin on the back of his neck. "Do you think you can handle water?" I asked him, kneeling down beside him with my hand on his back.

He gave a very slow nod and I went back to the tap and filled a small cup half way up. I held it out to him, "Sip it," I told him.

Nero sat back, taking in gasping breathes and did as I told him. I knelt back down beside him, taking the now warm wash-cloth from his neck and looking at him. This wasn't the Nero I had thought he would be. When I played the game, he seemed almost undefeatable, even when he was loosing. But if there was ever a time that he was defeated, it would be now.

He kept sipping the water while I re-wet the rag, and as he pulled away the now empty cup, I cleaned the corners of his mouth. "This is why you're supposed to eat something before you drink," I told him, "Or while you drink."

Nero swayed, not fully listening. He was drunk, and I had learned from my dad that you can't talk to anyone when they're drunk. I sighed and stood up, taking the cup and towel from him and standing up, "Come on," I pulled his arm, "Let's go." I got him to his feet after a lot of pulling and coaching, and then let him lean on me while we both stumbled awkwardly out of the bathroom.

I let him fall onto the couch and pulled one of the sheets I slept with over and made a pillow for him. Since Dante didn't have much in the way of kitchen ware, I settled for putting a wide empty plant pot-thingy beside him and told him if he felt like he had to vomit again, to do it in here.

I then wet the wash-cloth once more and put it on his neck below his chin, which seemed to relax him rather well. He closed his eyes and fell so quickly into sleep that I think he passed out.

I walked away and went back to the fridge. Before it got to cold (I hate cold pizza) I grabbed a slice to eat, then sat on the other arm-rest of the couch and watched Nero sleep.

I sighed, 'What on earth made Kyrie want to leave him?' I thought. If someone saved my life, I'd stick with that guy forever. Why would she leave Nero?

As I thought about this more, Nero's words came to mind. 'She said we should see other people…' I may not have much experience in the world of love, but I had watched enough soap operas and teen-dramas to know that whenever someone says that, they mean there is someone else they're already seeing.

I felt sorry for Nero. Maybe he knew what that meant to, which is why he was taking it so hard. No, I think he would've taken it this hard either way. He loved Kyrie…he just had weird ways of showing it at first.

The phone rang at the desk and I jumped. I looked at it for a long while, then hurried over and picked it up. "Devil May Cry?" I said.

They mumbled something into my ear…the password…

--

How on earth did I get stuck with this?! I had heard of a "dead-end job," but this was just nuts! I sat behind Dante's desk and tried to take notes as I talked on the phone with another customer with the password. I got an address and the amount they were willing to pay, but their names were optional. As long as they paid, Dante didn't care.

Nero was still asleep on the couch while I hurriedly tried to find more paper. Dante had scribbled on just about everything, so it wasn't easy. Then I had to find a pen that wasn't broken, which was sometimes even harder seeing as not all of them worked.

Why did it seem that when I'm the only one here that this place was at it's busiest!? Three people came in through the door to ask for my help, but I had to tell them I was just a "temp" here while the owner was out.

I got their addresses and one of them gave me a thousand dollars now, and promised five thousand when the job was done. I put the money in the safety box and made sure that the note with the man's number on it was put as one of the top ones.

I had no clue were Dante was! He had left around ten in the morning, and it was almost three in the afternoon! It was starting to piss me off that he had left me with a drunk and now dead to the world Nero, and his shop that someone had to run since he didn't bother to say "Just close it for the day, Sydney."

I was tired and not to happy when I snuck away to the bathroom for a moment. I was just going to go pee when I heard, yet again, the chimes at the door. I sighed loudly and walked back out again, trying to put on a smile, "Devil May Cry, how can I—" I broke off when I saw that no one was there.

I looked around, but only Nero was in the room. He had rolled over so his back was to me now, but he hadn't woken up. This was really strange, I know I heard the bells on the door ring, so someone must've come in.

I was going to shake it off and say I was imagining things, but then I remembered where I was. I was in the world of Devil May Cry, and when you hear something…it means that there is something there. Realizing that, I felt all the hairs on my neck go on end. I hurried over to Nero and shook his shoulder violently.

"Nero! Nero, get up!" I whispered harshly.

Nero groaned and opened one eye, "W-What? Leave me the hell alone…ow…my head…" he shut his eyes tight and rubbed his temples.

"Get up!" I snapped, still whispering, "I think there's something in here!"

Nero opened his eyes wide now and looked up at me, "What?"

"I heard the bells on the door chime and—" there was a clattering from up stairs and I jumped.

Nero sat up fast now, grabbing my arm to pull me back, sitting me down on the couch beside him, "You stay here," he ordered, very alert now, and stood up. He didn't even miss a stride as he pulled his gun, Blue Rose, from a table by the couch and headed for the stairs.

I did as he ordered and stayed put, looking around franticly as he ascended the stairs and left me behind. I watched him on the loft as he opened the door to Trish's old room. He must not have seen anything, because he went to the next room.

I felt a bit unprotected at that moment, so I got up and went over to Dante's stash of weapons and found a shot gun. I wasn't sure if it was loaded, but at the very least I could hit something with it.

I heard Nero kick in the door to the room I was staying in, and then a shot was fired. Something let out a horrible screech and then I heard Nero start to brawl. I ran out where I could see the loft as a strange, broken body came flying down and landed just in front of me.

I screamed, frightened, as it started to move again. It was a demon! It held out an ugly, boney hand and grabbed my ankle, pulling me down on my back. I let out another yell and then pointed the shot gun, the barrel going into its gapping mouth as it let out a groaning noise. I pulled the trigger and its head exploded with a loud Bang! Then it faded into dust and sand.

I was breathing heavily after my near death experience as Nero came running down the stairs. "Sydney!" he pulled me up on my feet, holding my shoulders, "Are you alright?" he asked.

I looked down at my ankle and covered my mouth so not to scream in his ear. The demon's hand was still attached to me. "Get it off me! Get it off me!!" I demanded and pointed to my foot.

Nero looked down, knelt, and ripped it off my ankle with Devil Bringer, then broke it into dust.

I swayed as he came back up. Now it was my turn to feel sick. It was a completely different feeling than when you played the video game and killed demons. Now I had actually killed a demon. Something about that just seemed…scary…

"Sydney?" Nero lowered his head to look at my face, "Are you okay? Did it do something to you?" he asked.

I shook my head, the shot gun falling from my hand to land, now empty I guess, on the floor with a clatter. All I could do now was shiver, looking at the pile of grey sand on the floor.

"What's the matter then?" he asked.

I only shook my head, covering my mouth, feeling like I wanted to throw up. I refused to let myself, of course, but I didn't say anything to Nero.

"Here, sit down," he led me over to the couch where we both sat down. I noticed that he seemed to keep a good three inches between us, and leaned forward with his arms on his knees, watching me, "Are you sure you're not hurt?"

I nodded.

"Then what's wrong?" he asked.

I didn't say anything, still feeling a bit queasy.

"Do you need a doctor?" he asked me, "Do you want me to call someone?"

I shook my head, "I-I'll be alright…I just…" I blinked, "I've never really…killed anything before…I mean, not intentionally, I've killed a few gold fish because I didn't take care of them properly, but I cried for weeks over that!"

Nero chuckled, then laughed, rubbing his forehead as he sat back.

I glared at him, "Stop it!" I snapped, "It's not funny!"

"You're upset because you killed a demon that was going to kill you?" he laughed again.

"No!" I blushed…what back up story could I think of? Truth was I couldn't really…

Nero smiled again at me, trying not to laugh, but he didn't say anything.

I was still glaring when the door opened again, and Dante strolled in, looking very relaxed and in a better mood than this morning. He was whistling as he turned and flipped the sign to "Closed" and locked the door. He halted when he noticed both me and Nero were watching him.

He blinked, "What?"

--

A/N: Okay, I hope that no one kills me for this chapter because I broke up the Nero/Kyrie pair. I wrote this chapter before I decided the pairing (which is still pending) and if I do decide to go with Dante, then I'll get them back together, promise! ^-^; (Please don't kill me!)

Anyway, I hope you keep reading. Sorry again to all the Nero/Kyrie lovers (honestly, I like them together too)! I hope you don't hate the story for this, because they still have a chance of getting back together in the future! Please keep reading!

~Alma Theresa