I said goodnight, Nero. Go to bed.

I should have known.

I should have.

Should have caught the signs sooner.

Should have just sensed that it was him.

Should have been able to see it in the way Nero's eyes changed.

But the whole idea was so absurd that it had never crossed my mind.

If I'd realized sooner, I could have done something. I didn't know what, but something. This was my fault, yet the kid apologized to me in a weak, pained voice before his eyes took on that icy glare once again.

I'd never expected to hear a genuine apology from Nero. He wasn't the type, and he had nothing to feel sorry for. I needed to get him back so I could tell him as much and poke fun at him for being so dramatic. First, though, I had to deal with whatever the hell was going on.

"Vergil," I said. More a statement than a greeting, my tone was laced with venom. Rage blurred the edges of my vision. "What is this? What are you doing?"

Yamato flashed into one hand as he tried to brush the bangs from his eyes with the other. They fell right back into place, and he sighed. "Dante, there's no need for you to involve yourself in this. There's nothing you can do. It's over now."

The voice was still Nero's, yet it sounded nothing like him. The words were too thin, too disinterested. I should have recognized that tone as Vergil's from the first moment I'd heard him speak.

"All this running around you're making me do is getting old," I said, pulling Rebellion from my back. "You're not getting past me again. If you're involved, then I'm involved, and you're going to tell me what's going on."

In the moonlight, his eyes seemed to glow with their growing hatred. "I will tell you nothing," he spat. "All you've done is try to get in my way. That's the reason I was trying to avoid you all this time, but you stick like a burr. I'm finished with you."

I'd learned his trick back at the house - that damn warp he used with Yamato. The moment I'd seen him take over Nero, he'd summoned Yamato. We didn't have the fight I was expecting there. I'd prepared for an attack as he tossed out a summon sword - one I'd actually managed to dodge - but that must have been his intent because it flew past me and into the window behind me. While the glass was still falling, he snapped outside in the sword's place.

That must have been how he'd escaped me the first time too because, by the time I made it outside, he was out of sight. Just like before.

My only advantage was that him coming to the crumbling structure at the island's edge had stuck him in a corner, and while I couldn't understand his reasoning, I would not let him get past me again. If he got off the island, he could have been gone for good.

He darted out of my path before I moved, my swing coming miles late, clashing against the chair he shoved into his place. The wood shattered into splinters. I knew that I couldn't land anything too damaging without harming the kid, but he would have to take a few hits for the sake of slowing Vergil down.

This round was different. Vergil had gained more balance and control, stepping back from every swing with ease. The bastard was toying with me.

He hopped back onto the table, tossing out a slash from Yamato that turned into a shockwave. I had to dodge, and he knew it. Jumping back down from the table, he kicked it up on its side before booting the whole damn thing toward me. A quick swing of Rebellion split it in two before it could reach me, but that left my guard wide open when he appeared in the gap behind the table.

Again, I had to dodge. I hated playing defense, but it was that or have Yamato through my neck. With a flick of his wrist, he caught his attack against my shoulder instead. The cold metal felt red-hot as it ate through muscle without resistance. As I stumbled out of range, I gripped my right arm with my left and crushed it to my side. I had to make sure the wound could stitch back together against the weight of my sword.

"You're holding back," Vergil said as I regained my stance. My breaths were harsh, each one tearing through me. He remained still, quiet, Yamato down at his side. "I have complete control now, so I won't be as useless as before. If you aim to harm me, you have to be prepared to harm the boy's form." With a sweep of the arm he hadn't been able to move before, he gestured to himself.

My attempt at a quip came out as a snarl. "I'm just warming up. Don't think I'm not ready to put you down."

"You're not. You still see him. Either that or your age is catching up to you. Those swings were too slow for any real damage. You don't wish to harm him."

The air blurred with heat around me, my trigger nipping at my heels. "Stand still and we'll test that," I said through a guttural growl.

"I would have expected you to be happier to see me." His head tilted like he was confused about my anger. "You needn't make this troublesome. I won't be raising any more towers. You can let me go, and that will be the end of it. I had only attacked you before because I didn't want you interfering with years of work, but we can be done fighting for now."

Under different circumstances, I would have been happy to see him. Cautious but optimistic. Vergil was still Vergil, and I was never going to throw my arms around someone who'd stabbed me more times than I could count. But of course, I could never meet my brother under normal circumstances. There was always a catch, and this time, it was Nero's life. I could feel nothing but contempt for Vergil at the knowledge of what he'd put the kid through, of what he was doing even now.

"You are not leaving here," I said. "You already had your chance. You don't get another one by stealing someone else's life. Let the kid go."

His expression was still the same, his tone calm. "Impossible."

I froze, fury licking at my insides again. My eyes must have been a bleeding red. "What?"

"Either you let me live, or he and I both die. There is no alternative. If I were to be separated from the boy, it would kill him."

"You're lying!" He had to be. I could not accept that. Exorcisms rarely killed the host, even if they did damage, but this wasn't a normal possession. Vergil didn't have that power. At least, he wasn't supposed to, and if he'd been part of the kid since childhood… I didn't know. I didn't fucking know what was going on.

Vergil must have seen my mind tearing itself apart because he caught my attention with a softer, lilting tone. "Would you have cared had you not known the boy? If I'd taken over some stranger? Would you have accepted it then?"

I felt like he'd cut a power cord in my head, my thoughts short-circuiting. Anger melted away as horror crept up in its place. The answer should have been so simple, but I couldn't bring myself to think it.

"It still would have been wrong," I said. "But there's no point in toying with hypotheticals. You're messing with the kid's life, and I promised him I'd stop you." I grabbed onto that, something solid, something real. I'd told the kid that I would fix this, so I would. Steeling my gaze, I reaffirmed my grip on Rebellion. "Besides, isn't this always how things end with us? There's no point in putting it off."

"Very well," he said with a frown. "If we must." In a blink, dozens of summon swords appeared at his back, crystalline blue shining brighter than the moon.

Well, fuck. The kid couldn't do that. Nero's abilities must not have limited Vergil, just like with the warping. He was going to be as much of a pain in the ass as before. As his empty hand drifted up to direct the swords my way, I made a quick grab for Ebony and Ivory instead. If I had to dodge, a bulky sword didn't help much.

Vergil blinked, wide eyes turning to his raised hand just as its fingers flicked forward. The tips of the phantom blades dipped and shot into a new target - his back. "Kid, don't!" I yelled much too late. The swords cut through him so easily, like they could have been as incorporeal as they appeared. My heart must have been ripped from my chest for the gaping, empty pain left between my lungs. The kid was interfering again, all-too-willing to harm himself if it meant stopping Vergil. Maybe he had more guts than I did, but I couldn't stand there and let him kill himself.

Vergil staggered, blood pouring from his mouth as soon as he opened it. The same red that dripped from his chin also burned in his eyes. I tried to step forward to help him, but Yamato came up between us, trembling along with his arm.

"Enough, boy," he hacked before spitting away a mouthful of blood. "You've done enough fighting." The human hand seemed to writhe, twitching and seizing until the fingers came together in a snap, and the crystal swords shattered into nothing.

My mind roared with the need to do something, anything. I couldn't just stand there. That much damage could have killed the kid, especially if his healing wasn't up to par yet. I should have brought some damn vital stars with me. Even if it healed Vergil too, it was worth keeping the kid alive.

But with another rattling breath, Vergil made the air buzz with a demonic power beyond what I'd ever felt from Nero. The air felt so thin that I couldn't seem to find any to breathe. Blue lights sparked and crackled around Vergil, and in a flash, he Triggered. Not Nero's Trigger, but his own. His body transformed into a true visage of that phantasmal image that used to follow Nero's movements. Curved horns. Empty eyes. All that remained the same was his arm.

"Hell," I hissed, taking a slow step back. Part of me was glad that he would heal, but the rest of me was wondering how Vergil could have possibly retained that much of his power. "You're full of tricks, aren't you? We really going to do this?" I let myself slip toward the edges of my own Trigger, the air crackling and smoking as the intoxicating pulse of power flowed through my veins.

He flinched like I'd already attacked him. His left hand shot to his head, and the Trigger vanished with a flash of blinding blue. "No!" one of them roared, his eyes shut against some new pain. He clutched his head so tightly that I worried he might crack his own skull.

"Kid?" I called, wanting for it to be possible. He wasn't gone yet. I could still get him back, and as long as he was fighting, I knew that for sure. If I lost sight of him completely, well, I just didn't know then. I wouldn't consider it unless things got that far.

The left hand fell, but the right took its place, blood staining his hair where its claws sank into his scalp. "Enough!" commanded a voice that could have only been Vergil.

"It's not your body or mind," I said, forcing myself to sound firm instead of as desperate as I felt. "That kid is stubborn as anything. You can't control him, Vergil. Let him go."

"It's not that simple." One eye opened, wavering with pain as he looked at me. "There is no letting go." He breathed a staggered sigh before letting his hand and Yamato slip to his side. "You are making things worse. I'm done here."

Another goddamned summon sword whizzed by, through the cracks in the wall. "Don't you dare!" I yelled at no one. He was gone again. "I am getting so sick of this!"

My only advantage was that he'd been weakened, and I knew he couldn't warp as far or as often in that condition. That might have worked out in my favor had I not been stuck in that damn obstacle course of a building. If I broke the wrong wall, the place was bound to come down on top of me, so I was forced to scramble back out the way I came.

"How did he even get in here when he could only use one arm?" I grumbled before taking a running leap from the top of the wall to the bridge. After hitting the ground with a roll to avoid having to heal some snapped legs, I popped upright and scanned for any sign of Vergil or Nero.

Nothing. He'd already made it all the way down the bridge and escaped my line of sight into the forest. "Teleporting is unfair and now banned," I said to the frosty night air. Even right beside the ocean, I could watch my breath appear in small bursts of mist. Fortuna weather must have been designed to be difficult. That was bound to happen when you lived right above a giant Hellgate.

I set off again at a sprint, back down the bridge I'd traversed a few minutes before. The forest wasn't as quiet as the shore. In every direction, I could hear rattled growls and the scrabbling of claws through leaves. The kid was right about them having a demon problem. The air was so heavy with the sickly scent of their blood that I had to cover my nose with my sleeve. Aimless, I continued forward until I found a swarm of corpses alongside some downed trees. Looked like the oversized lizard bastards. Most of them only had one wound, but that one wound had split them in half. Limbs and heads were all in different places, and thick globs of their blood were sprayed everywhere.

"A bit much, Vergil," I muttered as I held my hand up flat. Closing one eye and angling my hand like the cuts, I tried to judge the direction of his attacks. He hadn't done much moving around, no showing off; all the attacks came from the same spot. He'd been facing about the same direction as I was by the looks of it, so I took off straight ahead once again. Back toward the town.

If he went to the docks and hijacked a boat somehow- Actually, I wasn't sure Vergil knew how to use a boat. I hoped not. Otherwise, I was certain he'd try to escape, and if Nero managed to wrestle control back while they were in the middle of the ocean, it wouldn't end well. That was the only reason I could think of as to why he hadn't tried leaving sooner.

Fortuna was dead past 9 P.M. which was for the best but also weird. My city was always awake and always a racket. Neon signs buzzed, drunks stumbled around, and someone always drove by with their stereo's bass so loud that it shook the whole block. Beyond a couple lit signs, Fortuna was silent and empty. No sign of life. No sign of Vergil. The only sound was my boots against the concrete, my pace slow. I'd lost him for good. Running would get me nowhere.

If he tried to use any overwhelming attacks nearby, I would be able to find him. His power was too familiar not to notice, and it seemed to resonate with mine, making my Trigger hum at the back of my mind.

That was my only hope because the silent streets had nothing for me.

Or, it was better when they had nothing. A sigh broke from me as I heard the unmistakable stomp of high-heeled boots against the pavement. Two sets of steps too. Not only had Lady arrived early, but she'd brought Trish.

"Dante!" Lady barked as soon as she stepped into view. Her voice echoed along the tunnel of buildings surrounding us. "There you are. No one was at that house you told me to go to, and the window was broken when I got there. That wasn't me."

As she stormed down the street toward me with Trish at her side, I settled a calm smirk on my face and stepped into the light of an old-fashioned street lamp. "Evening," I said. "What are two fine young ladies such as yourselves doing out at a time like this?"

"I heard you were having some troubles with your…" Trish chewed on the idea, drawing the word out until she could find the right way to finish it. "Friend," she decided. "I'd be much more interested to know what you're doing out so late."

Right, that was the question - how much to tell them. "I'm just enjoying all this exciting Fortuna nightlife," I said to put off explaining that much longer. Either my mask of a smile or my sing-song tone weren't holding up as well as I wanted because Trish's eyes turned sharp with questions.

When they reached me, Lady slung a duffel bag down from off her shoulder, tossing it to my feet. "You owe me," she said.

"Don't I always?"

"Yes. Now, what's going on? You're acting weird."

"Ah." I rubbed the back of my neck. "That obvious?"

Crossing her arms, Lady leaned forward to glare at me over the rims of her sunglasses. "Yes," she said. "You're not good at faking. You called me out here, so now you have to tell me what's really happening. Where's the glow stick?"

Lies wouldn't do me much good, not with how well they could sniff them out, but the whole truth was a far worse option. No matter what I told them, it wasn't going to go over well. I hissed air between my teeth before speaking. "So the kid's been...kind-of possessed, and I'm looking for him-"

Lady whipped off her glasses. "You lost the possessed kid!?"

"Well! He can...teleport. You know how Yamato is. Hard to keep track of him."

"How is he 'sort-of' possessed?" Trish asked. "Possessed is something you either are or aren't."

Great, they were going to needle the truth out of me one way or another. If it had just been one of them, I might have been able to handle it, but the same tricks didn't work on both. "I don't know what it is," I admitted. "Closer to possession than anything else, so that's what I'm calling it right now."

"I thought you said it was a problem with Yamato," Lady said.

"I thought it was. I mean, Yamato probably isn't helping the situation."

"Wait!" Lady threw her hands up. "Are you telling me some demon is controlling the kid and has control of Yamato? The demon sword that can cut through anything? The sword that can open Fortuna's giant Hellgate?"

"Yes," I said, the word dragging from my mouth.

"And you lost him!?"

"Well…" My hands flailed in a useless attempt to stall for ideas. In the end, I gave up and gave the lamest distraction I could. "Are you going to help me find him or not?"

"Is he going to kill civilians?" Trish asked.

"What? No, it's not like that." Probably. Hopefully. As far as I knew, Vergil stuck to killing humans who hassled him or were in his way, so as long as no one in Fortuna decided to get chummy with Nero all the sudden, it would be fine.

"Then we have time to talk," she said, a scolding tone leaking into her fake calm. "Explain, Dante. The full truth this time."

Trish was too damn perceptive, and judging by Lady's tapping foot, she was liable to shoot me somewhere it hurt if I didn't start talking. "Alright," I sighed, letting the weariness sink into my face and shoulders. "But if I'm going to tell you, let's walk in the meantime. The residents around here seem like the types to listen in on things that don't concern them." More accurately, I didn't want them hearing anything too damning about the kid when they were already so wary of him. If they found out about this alongside their other prejudices, things would get even worse for him once I'd fixed this whole mess.

They agreed with nods, and I shouldered the duffel bag before starting down the street. They followed on either side of me, listening to my story from the top. "You're right," Trish said as I explained the symptoms Nero had. "That isn't a normal possession."

"Yeah, we're getting there."

Lady's eyes narrowed further and further the more I explained. I had a feeling she had an inkling of the truth long before I'd discerned it. The moment I said, "So, Nero started saying how he'd heard this voice in his head talking to him about power," Lady's eyes flew wide. Her hand locked into the collar of my jacket, yanking me to the side.

"Are you fucking kidding me!?" she screeched. "It is that damn brother of yours, isn't it?"

"I was wondering that myself," Trish said.

Scrubbing my hand against my face, I tried to shake off the feeling that I was maybe just as stupid as they thought I was. "How does everyone figure this out before me?"

"I mostly saw it in your face," Trish said. "You get this look in your eyes when you talk about him like you're somewhere far off, and you're not too happy about it."

"How is he back?" Lady fumed. "Again?"

I didn't have that answer, but as I finished telling them of my encounter with him, Trish hummed, her pace slowing as her eyes closed. Lady and I stopped and turned back toward her. "He's a half-demon," she said at length. "Nero has some Sparda blood in him - hard to say how much - but he's mostly human. After what happened on Mallet Island, if there were anything left of Vergil, it wouldn't have been much. He didn't have a body, but maybe some last piece of his power or-" A fledgling smile flickered on her lips. "-spirit saw the kid like the only light in an endless darkness - a source of power."

"So, what? He latched onto the kid like some leech?" Lady asked, her lip curled in disgust. Vergil was bound to be furious if he heard himself called something like that, but I could believe it. Besides, leech was the least of the names I had running through my head for him.

"Something like that," Trish said as her eyes flicked open. "He found a host to lay dormant in until he could regain his power. I suppose their relationship must have been somewhat symbiotic. Nero used Vergil's power to survive, and Vergil used Nero's demonic blood and body to stabilize himself."

I found my face mirroring Lady's. "Let's avoid anything along the lines of Vergil 'using' Nero's body," I said.

With a scoff, Trish took to examining her nails, a good sign that she didn't want to look at me. "Maybe you just need to get your mind out of the gutter, but alright. I would assume that Vergil awoke in tandem with the boy's demonic arm. Since the arm and Nero's demonic powers have been active, I believe Vergil has been steadily gaining control. So, yes, it's not possession. An exorcism would not work. If my theory is correct, and I do believe it is, then this is rather like the case of a changeling demon."

I jerked upright as though a noose around my neck had gone taut. I'd taken two jobs with changelings before. The first time I hadn't known better. The second time I'd thought I could find a solution where there was none. Changelings latched onto human children from a young age and smothered their minds until all that was left was a demon wearing the child's form as a skin. At that point, there was no going back. The only way to get rid of the demon was to kill them both.

"No," I breathed, blood roaring in my ears. "This isn't the same. Vergil isn't like that." Vergil was Vergil, and he was a bastard, but he was not a full-blooded demon, and Nero was not human. "We must have some options."

Trish's silence was deafening. When she finally spoke, her voice was soft. "Do you want an honest answer?"

No, not if the answer was what I feared.

"Yes," I said.

She breathed a sigh, her gaze drifting toward the sky. Fortuna's night sky was so covered in stars that it looked like glitter on a kid's arts and crafts project. Beautiful, endless stars to the ends of the earth. I found myself watching them too as her words tore me to pieces.

"You said Vergil mentioned that separating them was impossible, that there was no letting go. I believe he was telling the truth."

No. I refused. There had to be a way. Vergil didn't know what he was talking about, and neither did she.

"If he's been with Nero since childhood, while Nero was still developing," she continued, "it's unlikely that there's a way to extricate one or the other at this point. They've been together for too long. Nero's soul grew into Vergil's, so they're linked, twisted together. Either we kill them both, or we let Vergil have Nero's body. But truthfully, having Nero trapped like that may be a fate worse than death."

A dark, mocking laugh tore up my throat as I let my eyes fall against my hand to block out the stars. "I told him… told Nero I'd kill him if it came to that. I promised him." But no part of me had accepted that as a possibility. Even now, I wouldn't. "He's not gone yet," I said. "Besides, I'm tired of killing Vergil. I think I've done that enough." Breathing a sigh, I forced my usual smile back onto my face. "So my brother's an ass, and life's unfair. What else is new?"

Neither of them smiled back, their brows drawn. "Guess our only option is to search for a while," Lady said, settling her own comfortable mask of anger over her face. "Maybe if we find him, we can drag some more answers out of him."

Or maybe we'd find Nero in his place. The kid was tough. I still had faith that he'd find a way to fight back, to regain control.

I didn't want to think about what that would mean for Vergil.

The island was too big for a proper search by three people. Splitting up would have been a better choice, but for some reason, none of us brought up the idea. We never wandered farther than each other's line of sight, and we found nothing but a few straggler demons. Fortuna was far too quiet, far too empty. Nothing to distract me from my thoughts. The demons died too quickly to be any help. I asked if we should check the forest because I wanted more to fight, but Trish shook her head. "You're in no condition to go running into hordes. You look dead on your feet. I'd like some sleep too. The jetlag was awful."

I guessed I felt tired. Truthfully, I didn't feel much of anything. Just empty and distant, like I wasn't part of myself.

"The sun will be coming up soon," Trish continued, looking to the horizon. "Maybe we should get some sleep."

The edge of the sky was softening to a deep blue like the kid's arm when he slept. I'd done nothing for him since sundown. Nothing but watch him suffer and be taken over by my own damn brother. I was useless as I'd ever been at saving people.

"Is it a good idea to sleep and leave the murderer on the loose during the day when there are people out?" Lady asked.

"We won't be much use without sleep," Trish said. "We can snag a couple hours. If Vergil has behaved himself around people for this long, I don't know that things will change, at least not right away." I wasn't sure that she needed sleep, so she must have been suggesting it more for our sake, and I couldn't find a good enough reason to argue.

Lady's mind was clearer than mine. "You don't think he'll try to take the ferry or something to get out of here?" she asked.

"The ferry does not run today," Trish said with a smile. No matter how hard I wracked my brain, I couldn't think of whether she was telling the truth. Believing her was easier.

"Alright," I said. "Do you two have somewhere to stay? I'd feel weird inviting you to someone else's house."

The usual cruel smirk Lady wore to mock me was almost comforting. "Who do you think you're talking to? We can afford a hotel."

"Coming out of my bank account, no doubt." I could handle the routine. The overdramatic sigh came easily.

"Of course. You're the one who dragged us out here."

"I thought you came because you care about me."

She shrugged. "Only because if you get killed, there's no one to pay me back."

The comfort of the act fell away as we separated. They went to whatever ritzy, overpriced hotel they'd picked, and I followed the now-familiar route to the house. Starting back at the house may have been my best option. Back where everything began. Vergil or Nero could have left something I'd missed. They'd shared the place for years, even if Nero didn't realize it, so old memories were bound to be stashed away somewhere. If I couldn't find anything there, though, I could try the crumbling Order building again. Vergil kept returning there, even when he knew I'd follow. He must have had some reason.

When I reached the house, I found the front door open. I'd left in such a rush that I couldn't remember if I'd closed it. My manners weren't the best, but I was pretty sure I'd bothered to slam it shut on the way out.

Inside, the living room light was still on. My cautious footsteps did me little good when the floor creaked like a wailing banshee every other step. As I cursed under my breath, a soft, haggard voice called from one of the rooms. "Who's there?"

"Nero?" I dared to hope. My heart beat in such a furious rhythm that my entire body shook as I rushed into his room.

He sat propped up in the corner, legs and arms resting in front of him. He looked like a doll forgotten there, and his eyes stared right through my chest. "Dante?" His brow furrowed, but his eyes still didn't find focus, sweeping the room as though in search of me.

"It's me, kid," I said as I strode forward, kneeling in front of him. "Been looking for you. All that wandering around, and you've been here the whole time." He must have arrived sometime after Lady left, but that had been hours ago. It was hard to say how long he'd sat there.

"Didn't bring myself here," he murmured. Those pale blue eyes still didn't focus, still looked through me, not even when his human hand drifted up and brushed my jaw. My chest ached like he'd twisted a knife into it.

"Can you see me?" I asked.

"I can't see anything. I can barely hear. You sound so far away." Blind, his hand came to rest against the side of my face. "Strange that you're right here." When his hand slipped, I had to catch it to stop it from slamming back into the floor. It was as though he'd lost the strength to hold up his arm and just let go. Despite the exhaustion and pain in his dulled eyes, he forced a smile. "I kept fighting like you said. It hurt like hell, and I don't think I did much to him, but when he gave me control back, I could hardly move. Everything's so numb. But you're here, I think. That's good. For when he comes back."

If Vergil had taken control again at that moment, he could have gutted me in an instant, but I didn't care about the risk. I led the kid's head to rest on my shoulder like when I'd carried him on my back. "Yeah, kid," I murmured. "I'm here. I'll take care of this."

Somehow, I would, even if I had to use that last resort.

"Not sure how much of me is left," he said. His voice was so thin that I wouldn't have been able to hear him had he not been right next to me. "I'm so tired, so damn weak. But I won't… I won't let him hurt anyone. I swear I'll stop him for as long as I can."

My arms slipped around his back, and I held him in a crushing hug that I hoped he could feel. He deserved at least one final comfort, if this was the end. I didn't think that I was the right person to give it to him, but I was the only one there, and his breaths were already tapering off.

"I know you will," I said. "You get some rest, kid. I've got you, I swear."

There we go. Goodnight, Nero.