A/N: Hey guys, sorry about the lack of updates recently ^^; School and work life just caught up to me for a bit there, so I've got two chapters of this two write and three of all the others, cause I did update this one a couple weeks ago, anywho, I'll shut up and just get going on all the writing…

Disclaimer: What eva

Names

Things had been going well at the small home on Morris Island, it was pretty quiet for the woman and the young half devil, and that was fine for the both of them. Madeline enjoyed the simple life and Anthony certainly needed it after the chaos that had been the last several months. Their days usually consisted of reading, cooking and practicing for the preteen. Madeline started up her job again, it was a secretarial thing, nothing exciting but it paid pretty well and wasn't too difficult. She'd been worried at first that it would make Anthony lonely or that he wouldn't be able to look after himself. Though she needn't have worried, if she didn't know any better should would say that he never even noticed that she was gone. Clearly he was a kid who knew how to take care of himself. Madeline did notice though that Anthony would spend a lot more time in the same room as her when she was home, she teased him about it at one point, asking if he was lonely. The comment was made in jest but she did want to make sure that he was doing okay on his own. The way he looked at her when she asked was so surprised that she almost laughed, it was like he didn't even realize that he was doing it. She came to the conclusion that he was a kid who was used to taking care of himself but not used to being completely alone. They were eating dinner when she asked suddenly.

"Anthony was your mom home a lot?" he blinked at her, clearly not expecting the question, it had gotten easier for him to talk about his mom as time passed but she could still see the pain in his eyes when she was brought up.

"Yeah, I guess, but she was usually busy with dad's old stuff, or fixing old books." He replied softly, smiling down at his plate. Madeline smiled gently back, clearly the love of reading had been raised into him, that was a good thing, all kids needed to have that love ingrained in them…

"Anthony… do you have a brother?" blue eyes met brown as he stared her down, there was a bizarre mix of emotion in those icy eyes, pain, loss, confusion, debate.

"You can tell me, you can trust me." She said, reaching a hand out and putting it on Anthony's. He looked at it, as if debating whether or not he really could. He worried a lip for a second.

"Yes, a twin." He whispered, she just barely caught the words. Suddenly a lot of things made sense, the way he was able to take care of himself but liked the presence of another person, the way he could ignore distractions while reading so easily… a horrific idea dawned upon the woman when she realized that when they'd been at the burnt out house that he had been looking for his brother's body.

"Why lie about it?" she asked, Anthony looked up at her

"To make it harder for them to find us." The honesty in his voice broke her heart, to know that this boy had been through so much at such a young age.

"Do you think…" she couldn't finish the sentence, couldn't imagine that such a young life had been snuffed out by monsters from her worst nightmares.

"I don't know, his body wasn't at the house." Anthony said softly, he took a deep breath, "I don't know… he… he wasn't the strongest…"

"What's his name?" she made sure to use present tense, trying to give the half devil some unconscious hope for his brother's life.

"I shouldn't tell you."

"Why?" Madeline was perplexed by this concept, it was just a name… then again he was hesitant to give his own at the police station, she thought to herself

"Protection, besides he might not be using the same one anymore, if mom taught him anything he won't be." Anthony looked caught up in this thoughts, probably memories of his sibling.

"Are you using your real name?" Anthony looked up at her and a small smile caught on the young boy's lips.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" he said mysteriously

"What is your real name?" Madeline asked, and the half devil frowned slightly at his deception being seen through so easily.

"I can't tell you, besides, a name is just something you call someone, I've used plenty in my life, you know me, isn't that good enough?" the way he said it made it sound like he'd been taught it, though his eyes looked like he believed it. Madeline sighed

"I suppose, but why don't you tell me your brother's name so I can help you try to find him. I don't know much about how one might do that but I'm sure we could figure something out." Anthony puffed out his lips and debated for a moment.

"Dante, his name's Dante." Madeline wondered what their mother was like, both his brother's real name and his own chosen one sounded Italian in heritage, was she Italian.

"Your brother, is he… like you?" she asked and Anthony made a face

"Why wouldn't he be like me? He's my twin, younger by a couple minutes but he's still my twin."

"Are you identical?"

"In looks, Dante's more outgoing than me, he was better at school, he got along with more people." He said with a small smile "He would always try to bring me into the groups, I didn't like being around lots of people but I didn't want to tell him to stop."

"You sound like great brothers."

A/N: This is so sweet, I like the idea of Dante and Vergil mostly getting along as kids, it just warms my heart :3

Till next time,

-Winged Element