A/N: Okay, okay, soooo… I'm super duper late on this so I'll just cut right to the chase and make no excuses, you guys will get two chapters tonight plus those of you that keep up on To See From Another's Eyes will get the final chapter of that as well! Also! Anyone whose review that I missed from Family of Happenstance before this week's double feature, I AM SOO SORRY! I'll reply to those next update, I missed them as my inbox is kinda chalk full right now… Anywho, I've got a great atmosphere set up for myself, I'm currently in an unfamiliar, dark (as it is nighttime) living room, playing my horror soundtrack from my writing music playlist, and I just got done watching Cry play Slender: The Eight Pages… yup, I'm about to terrify myself… yippee *sweatdrop*

Disclaimer: Yeah… about that…

NO NO NO NO NO NO

Dante tore through the forest as quickly as he could but it never seemed fast enough, in fact he just felt like he was going in circles, the trees kept looking the same, the ground never changed… the sky was invisible to even his eyes… he had to… he had to reach… There was the sound of a girl crying, not just any girl, a young girl… The half devil stopped, the hairs on the back of his neck prickling, there was something off about her cries… they were choked, they sounded as though she had to fight to get them out of her chest. The elder followed the sound until he came to a large tree; there, amongst its roots, was the little girl, she was curled into a ball, her face in her hands.

She's just a kid, Dante thought to himself, and it was this thought that set his mind back on track, the kid, he had to find Nero… he lifted his head skyward looking for the teen's aura, his scent, anything… In his moment of distraction the girl stopped, her body frozen, she looked up just as Dante looked back at her, he had enough time to realize, that's Natalie, before she opened her mouth and screamed.

-Predator and Prey-

Nero stared in horror at the monstrosity before him, he'd screamed at first, before his battle instincts had kicked in. There was just something about this thing that bypassed any logical nature that you had or had set up, something about it that just automatically triggered that flight instinct in your brain. The partial devil felt like he had to physically force himself to not tremble, to not scream again. As a devil himself his first instinct would always be to fight, and as a bull-headed human it would be to fight even if the enemy was stronger. Not in this situation though, not here… not like this… he… just… couldn't… fight it…

I tooooollld yoooouuuu puuuuup. Yooooouuuu beeelllloooonnng toooo meeeee… The nightmare drew an inky black tentacle across the skeletal creature's face and it leaned into the touch, relishing it, happy that it had pleased its master. A waving appendage came close to the teen's head and this act of degradation riled him up enough to snap to his hands and knees and let of a low growl, his Devil Bringer flashing brighter.

"I belong to no one." He snapped, swiping out at the mockery of a man, only to see it vanish before his eyes, no poof, no noise, just one second there, the next it was not. Nero felt his spine crawl when something silky smooth touched his cheek and he whirled around to see the monster behind him. Despite the lack of features on its face, it seemed to be grinning at him.

So much spunk in you pup… I like it. You have a great deal of power too, power I could use… The voice didn't whisper from the winds any longer, instead the teen could feel it crawling around the inside of his skull, as violating and disturbing as the inky darkness had been against his cheek. Nero struggled to his feet, glaring at the nightmare before him all the while.

"My power is mine." The partial devil growled, on the verge of Triggering.

Seems I will have to break you like I did with the others, I will have fun with this…

"Wha…?" he had time to utter before everything went black

-Predator and Prey-

Nero had been so caught up in the events happening directly around him that he took no notice of the shrill scream that pierced the air nor of the disappearance of the skeletal creature that had lured him so far into the forest. But all the same the human skeleton, Charlie as he'd been known in his human life, or boy as his master liked to call him, was headed in the direction of the scream, likely it was the new girl that his master picked up. His master was fond of girls, he said they were easier to break, children especially. When Charlie had asked if that's why he'd taken him when he was young, his master had said it was. Master had told him that he'd had an especially keen sense of the forest, of the happenings that no one else saw and that was why he'd been chosen. This made Charlie puff up his chest a little and later, when he and the other had laid down to rest, he'd boasted to the girls about it. The girls respected him and gave him space, because despite being older than him, he'd had his eyes opened sooner, given up more to truly be able to see what was around him… Kate more so than Lauren, Lauren cried too much… she had taken longer to break than the others and yet… it had been so. Much. Fun. She didn't see the fun in it yet, but give her time and she would… oh she would… Just like the new boy that his Master had selected…

A/N: Okay… damn I kinda wanna turn on a light before I start the next chapter but that would ruin the experience… this is getting so creepy, I never thought about what it would be like to be one of the proxies… holy shit as soon as I started to get into Charlie's head… *shivers* btw, Charlie is the skeletal lookin like freaky shit you run into in the prologue of The Arrival, if you haven't played the steam update of The Arrival, do it. Now. Or watch someone do it. Because it is some of the greatest freaky shit that you will see in a while.