5

Fighting back Tears

Dante had laughed at the story too. I didn't understand what they found so funny about the fact that I felt strange about killing something. I didn't feel like it was that strange. I'm sure anyone (or, almost anyone) in my position would be just as freaked out. It was different when you killed the demons in the game, but when it was reality it was just freaky.

"Still," Dante stroked his chin, "It is weird that it went straight to Sydney's room."

I looked at Dante, "What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well," Dante crossed his arms over his chest, his feet up on his desk again, looking very thoughtful, "It's not like I don't get demons coming in her all the time to attack me, it happens every now and then. But this one seemed to be coming for you," he looked pointedly at me.

"Me?" I blinked, "Why would he be after me?"

Dante shrugged, "Don't know. And I could be wrong, and it could just be a coincidence, but it just seems that way…"

Nero made a thoughtful "hmm", and I looked at him, "You don't think that too, do you?"

"…well," Nero sighed, "When I found him in the room, he was digging through your room like he was looking for something. I didn't really think about it then, but maybe…"

"But," I looked back at Dante, "Why? I'm not even from here, why would it be looking for me?"
A long silence followed my question. Neither Nero nor Dante looked at me or at each other as is passed. They seemed to be trying to find an answer to my question, but couldn't. This didn't make me feel any better.

"We can't be sure why," Nero said, breaking the silence, "But we can't take any chances either."

Dante nodded, not looking up, "I agree. We'll have to find a way to keep her safe, just in case."

"What do you suggest?" Nero asked him, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees, watching Dante.

Dante sighed, "Well, we can take shifts as body guards, pass her back and fourth for a couple weeks and see if anything happens."

"Here we go again," I butted in, "Talking like I'm not here. Doesn't anyone want to know what I want to do?"

Both men looked at me. "Okay," Dante put down his feet and crossed his arms over his desktop, looking at me, "What do you think we should do, Sydeny?" he grinned, as if he was intrusted in my plans.

I blinked. What did I want to do? I didn't really have any ideas about this, I was just making a point about how they were deciding things without me, even when I was right in front of them.

"Uh…well…" I scratched the tip of my nose, "I…really don't have any ideas but…"

"I can take her back to Fortuna City," Nero said before I could say more, realizing I had no idea what to do, "I'll guard her full time. You're to big of a lazy ass to do anything anyway. She'll probably get killed while you're singing in the shower or something."

"Watch you're moth, kid," Dante snarled, "Or you might loose it. I can take just as good of care of her as you can."

Nero huffed, "Sure. You've probably never guarded a thing in your life."

Dante fumed, "Just shut up! You'd no a lot about guarding girls! You've done it, oh wait…" Dante smiled smugly, "You failed that time too. Didn't see nearly get killed anyway?"

Nero was on his feet before I could blink, charging Dante. I didn't see the movement, but I knew what must have happened. Dante kicked his desk on its side and used it like a barrier, blocking Nero for only a moment while he jumped out of the way, doing a back flip in the air to land behind Nero.

Nero spun around, pulling one of Dante's demon weapons from behind the desk, and threw it at him. Dante ducked and it went sailing over my head and wedged into the wall, that was the first time I looked at it. I think it was Rebellion, but I didn't really pay much attention as gun fire rang out. That was when I decided now would be a good time to hide.

I got up, hurried to get behind the sofa, and watched from behind it, peeking over the back while I was on my knees. I didn't know who to root for, so I didn't take sides. I was waiting for it to be over.

I ducked back down repeatedly when the fight inched closer to me. Jump-kicks, bullets, punches, insults, and demonic energy was filling the Devil May Cry office when finally, Dante shouted, "Time out!"

I slowly and hesitantly peeked again over the couch to see both of them panted, Dante holding up his index finger and taking in deep breaths, "Shit…I think I broke a rib…" he muttered in between breaths.

Nero had blood tricking down the side of his chin from his lips that he quickly wiped away, "Had enough old man?" he said, but he seemed equally as tired.

Dante looked at him, his left hand holding his right side, "I was about to as you the same question, kid," he said with a grin, spitting blood to the side.

Nero smugly grinned, "You look like you can hardly stand," he said.

"You're one to talk…"

"Can you stop, please?" I asked quietly. Both of them looked at me, as if forgetting I was there. The sofa had multiple holes and was bleeding white stuffing, thankfully nothing had hit me, but with Rebellion behind me, bullet shards at my feet and daggers protruding from the couch, I could say without a doubt that I was scared shitless.

"Oh, crap," Nero said, coming over and pushing the sofa aside with one hand, like it was nothing, "Sorry Sydney, you're not hurt are you?"

"No," I said as he held out his hand to help me to my feet, "But you guys are." I looked at Nero first (since he was right in front of me), with bullet holes in his arm and nicks on his legs and sides. He had a bruised cheek from a punch Dante gave him, and I'm sure he had more that I couldn't see.

Dante didn't look much better, still holding his side with a cut above his eye and a large gash cutting his shirt open and blood covering his front. "We'll heal," Dante told me, seeing how I was looking at his wounds, "Pretty fast to. Don't worry."

I suppose that was true. They were demons after all, if only part. Still, Nero and Dante both seemed to limp a little (Dante more than Nero) as they sat down, Nero on the hole filled sofa and Dante in his chair behind his over turned desk.

Both of them stared each other down for a long while, then looked at me. I felt like I was caught between two male tigers in the same territory who wanted to kill each other for trespassing, and the only thing stopping them was me.

I swallowed, wishing I could just back away and leave them to settle this the best way they knew how. But I was stuck to the spot

Luckily though, Dante's stomach gave a big, loud growl. He patted it, "I'm hungry."

"Me too," Nero answered. Neither of them sounded to excited or even enthusiastic, but I was glad that the negative air was starting to lift as Dante dug through the rubble around his desk to find the phone.

---

Of course, Dante ordered Pizza for dinner. When he arrived, Nero and Dante seemed to have forgotten completely about the fight (I had cleaned up most of the mess) and Dante answered the door to rip the pizza boxes from the delivery boy's hands and go back inside, leaving me to pay out of the security box.

When I went back inside, Dante was sitting behind his desk with a box in his lap, gulping down a piece with another in his hands.

"Slow down!" I told him, yanking the box from him, "You'll make yourself sick!"

"Mey!" Dante's voice was muffled by the pizza crust in his mouth, so he swallowed, "Give it back!" he reached for it, but I held it out of his reach.

"You eat like you've been starved! What's with you—"

"Alright the pizza's here!" Nero came out of the bathroom and took the box from my hands, "Thanks Sydney!" He took a piece and put it in his mouth and it was gone in moments, if not seconds, and he was on his next one.

"Hold it!" I took the box from Nero too, "Man, what is with you guys!? I know you ate breakfast!" I looked at them.

They exchanged a glance, "No we didn't," Nero said, "We were drinking, remember?"

I glared, "I know that, but what is with this?" I looked in the pizza box, only two pieces were left, "You guys have almost eaten a full pizza in a matter of three minutes!"
"Yeah," Dante snatched the box back and took another piece, "It's because of the fight. Our bodies are healing."

"Huh?" I blinked as Nero walked past me to grab the last piece, "Our bodies are healing themselves," he said, "So we need more energy, more food. It's kinda like a high metabolism thing."

I blinked, and it was clear to them I didn't understand.

"Okay," Dante groaned and sat up straight, "Y'know how I was bleeding and stuff, right? How I broke a rib and Nero was bruised up and bloody too?"

I nodded.

"Well, look at us now," he held out his hands to indicate to one another. I did, and saw that while there were still some scratches and dim bruises, they looked a lot better. No more bleeding, and some color had returned to Nero's face where the bruises had been.

"It's all part of being demon," Dante said, waving his hand around as if it was obvious, "Because our bodies are working over time to keep us fast, agile, and strong, we eat more. And when we get wounded like these, we eat even more. Why do you think I ordered eight pizzas?"

I looked at the stack on the table. This was a part they never explained in the game, so it was news to me. But, it did make sense, especially since it was only a game, and the way to regain Dante or Nero's health was with green orbs or the like. Its not like you could go and take a break in the middle of a boss battle to grab a bite to eat, they needed something more instant than that. And finding pizza slices on the ground as you ran around wouldn't fit in to well with the whole 'macho devil fighter' motif.

"Get it now?" Dante asked as Nero opened another box and he snatched a piece.

I frowned, "I understand that if I want to eat, I better do it now…" I said, then went to the pizza stack and opened my one box, taking two slices and eating them quickly as they finished a box and moved on to mine.

By the time they reached box four, they had slowed down a bit. I was happy, because watching them eat like that was making me queasy. By the fifth box, I had had three pieces and was done, and they looked close to it too. That's when Nero brought up the subject of my predicament again.

"So what are we going to do about it, Dante?" he asked.

I was still nibbling crust when he asked and looked at him, wondering if it was just a good idea to start this up again. I don't think the me or the sofa could take another out burst from these too.

Dante, for whatever reason, didn't seem to upset about it anymore. He only sighed, "Well, it would seem the only thing we can do is keep her under our watch for now. So, she'll have to stay here."

"I still say she'd be safer in Fortuna with me," Nero said.

"Please don't start this again," I mumbled, rubbing the bridge of my nose. This would be a good time for Trish to walk in, but I wasn't so lucky. Yeah, I'd be having a good talk with her and Kyrie about leaving me alone with these two.

"Look," Dante scowled at Nero, "No offense, but Fortuna isn't the most prime location for us to send her if she is being hunted. More than likely, that's where they're coming from."

"You destroyed all the Devil Gates," Nero said, "How would they be coming from there? It's better if we take her there!" I felt the air fill with negative feelings again and shivered. I hated arguments like this…

"I destroyed all the Devil Gates that I could see and find," Dante pointed out, "That doesn't mean that there aren't more."

"But there is plenty around here, that's why you picked this place to set up shop!" Nero said.

"Please stop," I said a bit louder.

"She's already here," Dante raised his voice, "She's gonna stay here!"

"To hell with that!" Nero shouted.

"Stop it!" I jumped to my feet, "You two are just like my fucking parents! Stop talking about my as if I don't exist!"

That stunned them to silence, and after I took in a few panting breaths, I stormed up stairs to my room. I slammed the door so hard that I think I heard something fall off the wall, but I didn't care. The room I was sleeping in had a single bed shoved in the farthest corner under a window, a small dresser, a night stand with a lamp, and a bookshelf that was mostly empty. I went to the bed and flopped down face first, hugging the pillow.

My parents had fought like that over me when they were getting divorced. My dad wanted to keep me, since it was my mom who was moving away. He said it would be better on me if I stayed, my whole life was there. My friends, my extended family, they were all in that town. But my mom said that she was taking me because she didn't trust my dad to feed me with his tendency to blow his pay checks gambling and drinking.

Neither of them asked what I wanted, I don't think either of them cared either, and the whole time they were arguing about it, I was sitting on the couch hugging my knees to my chest, trying to pretend like I was somewhere else.

And the arguments got worse and worse every time, to where they didn't care if I was there or not, they would talk about me as if I was just another thing to own, like who got the antique coffee table and who got the car, "Who got Sydney?".

I don't think even the judge saw me as anything but something else to divide between my mom and dad.

I hated it. I hated how my mom and dad always seemed to think of me like I was just something else that they had to fight over, and how no one seemed to care about what I felt, what I wanted.

And I hated that I had to think about them. I had almost forgotten my family, and that this wasn't my world, but now I remembered, and I started to cry into my pillow. Despite how much I thought I hated them, I still missed my parents.

There was a knock on the door, and it opened slowly, "Sydney?" Nero came in, leaving the door slightly ajar as he walked over to my bed, pausing half way there.

I turned my head to the wall defiantly, not wanting to look at him, or for him to see that I was crying, though I'm sure he knew.

I listened as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other, "Listen, Sydney, I'm sorry if we upset you…" he started to say.

I curled up into a ball, my back to him.

He let out a breath, "We're only trying to help, y'know. We don't want anything to happen to you."

I didn't say anything.

"Come on, Sydney," he took a few more steps towards my bed, "We're not trying to hurt you."

I still said nothing, though I sniffled a bit.

There was a long, lingering silence, but I knew he was still there.

I didn't know what he wanted, I didn't want to talk to him or anybody else. I just wanted to be left alone.

Then I was really surprised. Nero closed the distance between him and my bed, stood there for a few moments, before sitting down on the bed beside me. Then, I looked over my shoulder, shocked, to look at him. His back was to me, and he wasn't looking at me at all, just at the floor.

He just sat there, and I stared at him. I don't know how much time past until he finally said, "If you want to stay here…you can. I won't force you to go to Fortuna."

"What?"

"I won't force you to do anything you don't want to," he went on, "If you want to stay here with Dante, that's fine. I won't make you do anything."

I sat quiet, stunned. I didn't know what to do about it. Now I had to choose between Nero and Dante? I swallowed. This was something I never imagined happening to me.

"You think about it," Nero said, standing up. For someone close to my age, he sounded pretty mature right now, like he was talking to his own kid or sister, "You don't have to decide tonight."

I rolled over and sat up cross-legged in my bed as he walked to the door, "Nero…"

"I'm heading out tonight," he said as he opened the door, "I'll be back in the morning. 'Night, Sydney." He waved over his shoulder as he closed my door. I listened for a while until his foot steps were out of ear-shot, and then sighed, lowering my head.

Well, crap, what had I gotten myself into this time?

---

It was a little after midnight when I woke up. I turned on the lamp and looked around the room. For a moment, I think I was still asleep, or half so, because I was lost as to where I was. When I remembered, I let out a sigh at my own stupidity.

I kicked off the sheets and got up. I was wearing a mid-thigh long shirt that buttoned up the front. It had been something I found in the back of the dresser that was already in here, I think it might have been Dante's at some point, but he out grew it.

I found myself rather hungry, so I went downstairs to see what was in the mini-fridge. I was on the first step when I saw the dim light that was on. I went down a few more and saw Dante sitting in the desk chair, a lamp on, flipping through what looked like a file of some sort.

"Dante?" I said as I got off the stairs.

He jumped back, "Mother--!" he didn't finish when he saw me, only breathed as I laughed at him, "Don't do that!" he snapped, glaring at me, "Do you like giving me heart attacks?"

"Sorry," I chuckled, "What are you doing?"

Dante let out a breath through his nose, "I was looking threw some old stuff that Trish left. Bills and such…I'm no good with these kinda things, she usually handled it all."

I walked over and looked over his shoulder, "These are from last year," I pointed out.

"I know," he said, "I was hoping to learn how to do it with it. But it isn't really helping."

"I can do it for you," I said, "Where are you're new bills?"

Dante opened a desk drawer and plopped a four thick envelopes on the desk. They were already opened, and I leaved through them. Water, power, credit cards, and the tab at the pizza parlor, "Okay, this isn't that hard, do you have a check book?"

I was very happy that my mom had made me sit down and learn how to do all this, and in turn, I showed Dante how to do it. It took some time to explain everything, since he was seriously clueless to all this, but once we did two bills and I did one mock one to help him learn, he did the last two without my help.

"See? Easy," I told him with a smile.

Dante groaned, "Still a lot of math…" I gathered that, like me, he hated math.

I patted his back, "I'm right there with ya, but it's something that has to be done. Now you know." I went towards the fridge to get something to eat.

I pulled out a piece of cold pizza and went to the microwave to reheat it. Dante didn't say anything more to me as I listened to him put in a few more numbers on the calculator we had be using. When I pulled out my pizza and turned around, I saw him just sitting there with his cheek against his palm while he poked a button with his finger repeatedly.

"What's the matter?" I asked, coming up to the desk.

Dante didn't look up, but he pushed the calculator away, "Nothing," he said.

I didn't believe that. I gave him that same line when I first got here and he saw me crying. He didn't believe me then, but he didn't press me about it either. I'm not like him. I was going to press.

"What is it?" I asked, tilted my head to the side to look at his face better, "Something bothering you? You're injuries are okay now, right?"

"Yeah," he said, pushing back from the desk and leaning back, "I'm fine."

I frowned. I didn't believe him for a second. I put my pizza down, "Okay, what is it? Is it about Trish and Lady?"

"No," Dante huffed, "I'm fine."

"No you're not," I pushed.

"Yes I am."

"You're not."

"I am."

"You're not."

Dante slammed his palms on the table as he bolted up out of his chair, knocking it over and making me jump. I stepped back, a bit afraid when he stalked around the table and started pacing like a caged tiger. I realized that he was frustrated, not angry, but it only helped me relax a little.

"What's got you so upset, Dante?" I asked after I had steadied myself a little.

Dante ran his hands through his hair, then looked back at me with one hand on the back of his neck. He sighed and moved slowly over to me, standing with at least an arm's length between us. "I…I didn't want to upset you today …"

I looked up, wide eyed, "Huh?"

He rubbed his neck a bit before letting his hand fall, "Shit, I'm not good at this but…" he sighed heavily and said, "I'm sorry. I apologize if we…I hurt you in any way."

"Wait," I put up my hands, "Wait, wait, am I hearing this right?" I leaned in closer, looking at Dante's face, "Are you really Dante? Dante, Dante?"

He frowned, looking confused, "What are you talking about?"

"Are you apologizing to me? Is this the same guy who wouldn't give me an apology for a practical joke unless I kissed his cheek?" I grinned, "Are you sure you're not still out of it after your fight with Nero?"

Dante glared, "Come on, Sydney," he said, "Do you know how hard this is for me?"

"Oh, I'm sure it hurts your pride very much," I couldn't help but bite back a bit of laughter. This was insane! Dante was apologizing to me! Ha! This was something I really never imagined! He cared about me!

My expression softened a bit…

He cared about me…

I looked at him, my smugness gone now and replaced with a kind of surprise as I looked in his ice blue eyes. He cared. Nero cared. They both wanted me safe, and they cared about how I felt about everything. That was more than I had at home. That was more than I ever had.

Dante didn't seem to notice my change of mood, so he spat, "I'm sorry! I apologized, you happy now?" he spun around and cursed as he went back to the desk and sat down.

I blinked. You only rarely saw a sensitive side to Dante, like when Virgil was scent to hell and he claimed it was the rain when he was crying, or when he thought Trish was dead in the first game. He didn't like to appear weak, I knew that much.

"I'm sorry, Dante," came up behind him and grabbed his arm, turning him around, "Thank you for apologizing to me, you're sweet." I grabbed his collar and pulled him down and kissed his nose.

Dante looked shocked, then blushed, "Uh…yeah well…"

I couldn't help my giggle, "I'm going to go to bed, I'll tell you two my answer in the morning. But please," I patted his shoulder, "Get some sleep. You're grumpy if you don't sleep."

After that, I skipped up stairs with my pizza slice. I could hear, I as I shut the door, Dante mutter something about who weird I was.

A/N: Okay, yet another chapter. I will try to keep updating, but with school back in session, it's not going to be easy. Please stay with me here! The Pairing is still pending, but I'm leaning towards one. I won't tell you which yet! (Teehee)

Please keep reading and reviewing, I love hearing your opinions!

Thanks again!

-Alma Theresa