Vergil's Departure

by JennyyaChains

Sequel to Vergil's Return story. Set a year before dmc 5, during dmc5 and some time after. This story will contain all themes and all characters until now.

10. Breaking Down the Barriers

AN: hello everyone, this time I really took my time huh? Sorry about that. I had almost all of this chapter written some months ago but the last half I didn't want to screw up, then I had to type it so it took me some time. Hope I didn't screw up. I'll be introducing Nico in this chapter, basing on the novel "Before the Nightmare" Or what was it called? Well if you're read it you'll know, I haven't though haha, just read some summaries but anyway umm, if you haven't either it doesn't matter, just know I always base my stories on facts and my own stuff but I try to keep true to the story. Hope you like and it was worth the wait. And you know I'll never give up on this, I'll always come back with new stories and chapters.

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CHAPTER 10 "Breaking down the Barriers"

"Vergil…" Lady gasped before fainting and falling on her side. The demons around her launched at her as vultures over a dead body.

At the distance, Nero spotted Lady. He devil triggered and that blue Vergil's aura appeared as his shadow. "Lady!" He ran towards her and using his Devil Bringer he pulled every demon away from her. They barely got to scratch her. He finally reached to her side. He kneeled on one knee and lifted her a little. "Lady?" She was unconscious. He noticed all her wounds; she was bleeding a lot from the deep wounds, plus she had many small cuts on her arms, a few bigger ones on her sides and that big cut on her left arm. It was still raining, so the rain had washed away a lot of blood, but she was still bleeding. She was wearing white shorts and suddenly Nero noticed blood staining her shorts between her legs. "Oh no…" He needed to take her to a hospital and fast. He needed to save her and her baby. With Blue Rose he shot the nearest demons sending them some feet away, but he needed to clear the path to escape fast.

Nero stood up in a haste and with Red Queen he killed several demons blocking the path. As he battled these demons, others tried to reach Lady. He turned and noticed this and shot several rounds pushing the demons away. He hurried to Lady's side again, ha had no time to waste. He picked her up and held her in his arms. The place was infested with demons but he didn't care, he just wanted to save her and get to the van. He rapidly slid the door open and climbed in. He laid her down on the sofa in the back and as he went to close the door, demons were trying to get in, but he shot them in the face, sending them a few feet away. He closed the door and left his sword on the floor as he hurried to the front to start the van.

Demons surrounded the van and even tried to turn it over, but Nero pushed the gas pedal to the floor before even shifting gears and skidded the van as he now shifted gears shaking off most of the demons surrounding it, although a few got to climb on the roof. Nero stepped on the gas, driving real fast; the hospital wasn't too close from there. He looked through the rear-view mirror to have a glimpse at Lady. "Hang in there…" He whispered worried. His heart pounded so strong in his chest, he was highly stressed and agitated. And the streets full of demons didn't help at all. "…what the hell is going on?" He couldn't believe nor understand where all these demons came from. He wondered if it was because Dante and Trish were still in hell, and a Hell Gate had been opened or something.

Nero continued driving and finding the streets full of demons. He rolled down the window and started shooting them as he drove. With the van he ran over all the demons he could, trying to at least kill some on the way. He was getting closer to the hospital now, but the more he kept running over demons, the more the van wrecked. He started losing control and slightly crashing with signs on the road and even parked cars. He saw a bunch of demons ahead; he stepped on the gas and ran over them at full speed. He heard a loud scratch under the van, as if the demons had ripped the van's chassis. Shortly after, the van's dashboard started failing. The demons had probably torn the oil tank and damaged other things.

"Fuck!" Nero said pestered. After a few miles, the van simply stopped. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!" Nero smacked the wheel several times. The hospital was just a few blocks away. He had no choice. He went to the back; he took Red Queen and went to carry Lady. He did his best to hold her with one arm so he could clear the way with the other. It was very uncomfortable but there was really no other way.

Lady was still unconscious so she couldn't feel anything at the moment. Nero slid the van's door and jumped off. He tried to hurry; Lady really looked awful. The safest for Lady would be if he only used Blue Rose, he didn't want to wield Red Queen and slash it this close from her. His Devil Bringer seemed enough to clear the path, although Blue Rose was of great help as well. But as he ran, he had Lady bouncing so much on his chest. He suddenly heard her groaning.

"Vergil…" Lady gasped semi-conscious. The pain was beginning to wake her up.

"We're almost there…" Nero whispered. He held her with both arms now and hurried to the hospital; it was just across the street. He went straight to the Emergency section. "Help! Help!" He started screaming.

Emergency doctors opened the gates, ready with a stretcher. They could not only see Nero, but the horde of demons running right behind him. Their eyes widened at the sight before them. For a moment they hesitated and thought of locking themselves up inside the Hospital, but a doctor recognized Nero and stopped the others from closing up the gates.

Nero reached the Emergency section and rapidly laid her down on the stretcher. "Please help her, she's pregnant…" He said agitated. "…you gotta save her, and the baby, please…" He recognized the doctor and really felt relieved he was there.

Doctor Stevens ordered the others to take her to the E.R. fast. He went after them and turned around as he heard how Nero made Red Queen roar, getting ready for battle. "I'll lock these gates for our patients' safety"

"Don't worry. I'll find a way in later. Just… save them" Nero said as he launched at the demons, slashing Red Queen left and right.

"We'll do all we can" Dr. Stevens said serious as he watched the scene, he almost paralyzed then hurried inside to the E.R.

Meanwhile in hell…

Dante and Trish headed to Horus' cave.

"Babe, why don't you tell me where we're going?" Dante said annoyed.

"It's a surprise, Dante" Trish said.

"But the surprise is for David, not for me" He complained.

Trish stopped dead on her tracks and Dante bumped with her. "You're right" She said simply.

"So…?" Dante insisted.

"Anyway, we're almost there" Trish said as she pulled from his hand and led him to the cave.

"What are we supposed to find here?" Dante asked curious as Trish led him inside the cave. As soon as they walked in, Dante was amazed with all the weapons on display at the walls. All sorts of weapons, from axes to scythes, swords, guns, everything. Dante felt in heaven… "Whoa…" …even though he was in Hell.

Trish just grinned and went further inside. "Hello? Horus? Are you here?" She shouted. She then turned towards Dante. "Don't touch anything"

"What?" Dante was about to grab one of the weapons. "You're not my mother and I'm no kid. I can do whatever I want" Dante said annoyed.

Trish just raised an eyebrow with her hands at her hips. "I saw your eyes sparkle after seeing all this"

"So what? I have a thing for weapons" Dante said simply.

"I'll be right there!" Horus shouted from the back.

Dante heard his voice. "So, what did you ask for?"

"A pair of guns" Trish said grinning.

"Really? He's gonna love'em. If they're any similar to these, that is" Dante said referring to the other weapons on display.

"Well, I hope so" Trish said.

A black curtain blocked the passage to the back room. Horus slightly moved the curtain and shouted. "What did you say your son's name is?"

"David!" Trish replied.

Horus gave the final touch to the pistols, magically engraving them with Dave's name. A few minutes after he walked past the curtains holding the guns in his hands. "Just…" He noticed Trish had company. Dante was turned, facing his back at him, but Horus still surprised. "…in time" He felt his heart stop. It was like seeing Sparda in the flesh again. "A- are- you- Dante?" He asked stuttering.

Dante turned around to face him. "Huh, seems like I'm famous around here" He said cocky with his hands on his hips and moving his coat back.

Horus paralyzed. His lips moved trying to utter something, but he was breathless, speechless. He slowly approached to him with clumsy steps and thoughtlessly handed Trish the pair pf pistols as he dramatically reduced Dante's personal space almost to nothing.

Dante even stepped back and pushed him away gently. "Whoa, whoa, hey, I know I'm irresistible but I'm not that type of guy"

Horus still moved closer to Dante and laid his hand on Dante's hair. He then grabbed him by the cheeks surprising even Trish.

Trish's eyes widened just as Dante's. Dante hesitated.

"You look just like him. It's like he was reborn again" Horus said as he let go of Dante's face a bit embarrassed.

"Like who?" Dante asked foolish. His heart still pounded fast.

"Like your father, who else?" Horus replied. "I'm sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable. It's just I was shocked to see you. I haven't seen him in years, I…"

"Well of course you haven't seen him in years, the old man's dead" Dante said simply. "Was he really this good looking?"

"Umm… well, I'm not that type of demon either, ha-ha…" Horus said as he and Dante turned to look at Trish.

"What are you two staring at?" Trish said slyly. "I barely knew him, of course he's attractive. Who do you think you got your charms from, baby?" She said raising her eyebrow and with her hands at her hips holding the new pistols.

"Are those the pistols?" Dante asked.

"Mhmm…" Trish said and noticed Dante wanted to have a look at them, so she handed them to him.

Horus observed Dante and couldn't help to smile. "I'm sorry about your mother…"

Dante turned his stare elsewhere avoiding Horus. He just kept his stare fixed on the pistols. "You're not sorry for the old man?"

"Sorry for what? He had an ironic aftermath, but he isn't dead. But- you think he is, am I wrong?" Horus said suspiciously.

"Of course he is, he said it himself" Dante said.

"A ghost told you that?" Horus said frowning and grinning, thinking how stupid that sounded.

"Sort of…" Dante said.

"Well, he isn't dead. He's just sealed like Mundus. He's been trapped for decades" Horus said certain.

"I think you got the wrong guy. 'Cause we saw him what- like 5 years ago?" Dante said to Trish.

Trish just nodded but now she kept pensive. What Horus was saying and implying did make a little sense. And now many things flashed her head. "Do you know about the Scorpion flower?" She asked curios.

"Of course, it's a harmless flower. It is used to heal and…" Horus turned to look at Dante.

"And you got the wrong flower too. 'Cause that thing almost got my wife killed a while ago" Dante said incredulous now. He didn't believe a word of what this demon said.

"That's strange, or rather impossible at the moment" Horus said.

"At the moment?" Trish wondered.

"Well, the Scorpion flower is bound to the Qliphoth tree and while the tree stands, it is deadly, yes. But once the tree ceases to exist, which is the case at the moment, the flower becomes harmless and rather beneficial" Horus said certain.

"Well, then there is something weird going on, 'cause that thing nearly killed me" Trish said serious.

Dante got distracted inspecting the guns. He liked how they felt in his hands. He aimed them at certain direction and shot several times breaking the silence.

Both Trish and Horus turned to look at him.

"What, you don't kill rats?" Dante asked foolish.

"Dante, this is serious. Maybe it has something to do with Vergil" Trish said.

"Highly doubt it" Dante suddenly annoyed. "Babe, if these were all you were missing, then now we can leave" He said serious as he headed out the cave.

"Dante, wait!" Trish shouted and meant to go after him. "I'm sorry…" She said to Horus. "…he gets all weird when it's about his brother"

"What happened to Vergil?" Horus wondered.

"He's gone missing since a few months back" Trish said.

"Missing?" Horus said surprised. "Perhaps I should investigate on this matter…" He whispered to himself. "…Trish?" He tried to stop her.

Trish stopped just at the entrance. "Yes?"

"Thank you for bringing him" Horus said as he took her hands in his. He wanted to have a look into her memories. He went back a few months, then hours, minutes… He gulped and looked at Trish.

Trish looked at him with a strange feeling.

"How was your stay?" He asked, but he perfectly knew the answer.

Trish didn't reply, she just looked into his eyes, motionless.

Dante wondered why she was taking too long. He returned to the cave just to see Horus holding Trish's hands and staring at her deeply. "Hm-mm…" Dante cleared his throat.

"Dante…" Horus gasped. "…I'm sorry to keep you. I was just thanking her for bringing you"

Dante approached to them. He took Trish's hands from his and faked a smile. "Don't worry, we're leaving now"

"Thank you!" Horus took Dante's hand, turning him slightly.

Dante felt something strange in his touch. "Umm… no- problem…" He spoke like hypnotized as Horus looked into his eyes.

Horus made the most of this little touch to see through him, through his memories. He saw his many battles with Vergil, how he met Trish, how he sealed Mundus and his recent battle with Balrog. He tried to look for Vergil in his recent memories and tried to link it with what he saw in Trish's.

Dante freed from his grasp and stared at him with a strange look. He didn't say anything and just turned from him. "Let's go, Trish" He said serious.

Dante and Trish were just leaving, but what Horus said made them stop.

"Yamato…" Horus said suspicious.

"Hm?" Dante frowned and turned towards him. "What about it?"

"It wasn't complete…" Horus said simply.

"Umm… guess not. I found a shard recently" Dante said. "But… how do you know that?" He wondered surprised.

"I know more than what you think…" Horus said serious. "…you won't find Vergil" He said simply.

"What?" Dante replied confused. "What do you know?"

"You gave Vergil a shard of his sword Yamato, and that day was the last you saw him, am I correct?" Horus continued.

"How the hell do you know that?" Dante wondered curious.

"Well… every demon has its abilities. I wasn't your father's informant for no reason" Horus said serious with a devilish look and grin. "Now…" He continued. "…Vergil defeated one of Mundus' servants, obtaining its seed. He should've destroyed it but instead he kept it"

"You mean Gamaliel?" Trish asked.

"Yes. And I'm thinking the power of both the seed and the shard might have fused and teleported him to some place in Hell, nowhere we can reach" Horus said serious.

Those last words caught Dante's attention. The exact same words Hellequin said before dying. "Still, you're not certain"

"Well not hundred percent. But what I am certain about is, you won't find him. Instead, he might find you, if he is clever enough, that is" Horus said.

"Well, I guess we're gonna have to wait and see" Dante said and meant to leave again. He just walked outside the cave.

Trish kept pensive. "My seed was the Seed of Love, what's theirs?" She wondered.

"The Qliphoth" Horus said simply.

"What? All 10?" She wondered.

"Yes, all 10 together can grow the tree instantly. One alone will take longer and might need more things to develop. Like blood, a sacrifice… the usual from rituals" He said simply. He noticed Trish's worry.

"Trish!" Dante yelled from outside.

"I'm coming!" She replied nervously.

"Don't worry. I'll investigate. There's no use in worrying" Horus took Trish's hand and kissed it. "Farewell…"

Trish just looked at him for moments then hurried outside, catching up with Dante. "Let's go" She said serious as she took Dante's hand.

"No more tricks, babe" Dante said.

"What tricks?" She wondered.

"You'll just take us back together, no more splitting" Dante said serious.

"I didn't do that on purpose! Why would I want to separate from you?" Trish complained.

"I don't know… to go and fulfill your desires, maybe?" Dante said thoughtlessly.

"That wasn't real" Trish said upset.

"It was still your desire, you can't deny it" Dante insisted.

"Ugh, let's just go!" Trish just pulled from his hand and started walking off.

Meanwhile in the human world, Nero had finished with all the demons. He had moved far from the hospital and at last it seemed there were no more demons around. They didn't keep showing up but he had fought so many demons that his sword had wrecked. He hurried back to the place where he had found Lady, hoping all her weapons remained there. He had to go on foot for the van was broken. He took a while to get there, but surprised when he found every gun strewn across the ground, as well as Kalina Ann. He took all of her weapons and headed back. Once he reached the van, he left all her weapons inside and just kept Kalina Ann with him. He thought it might be of help to enter the hospital. Once he returned, he had a look at the building then at Kalina Ann.

"Alright, here we go!" He used the grapple hook of Kalina Ann to climb the building and enter from the rooftop. "If only I had Dave's ability to fly, I wouldn't have to do this" He said gasping agitated as he climbed up the building. He finally reached the top and hoped the door wouldn't be locked. For his luck, it was, but he kicked it and broke the lock finally entering the hospital. He went down a couple floors then used an elevator; he was exhausted. It was already noon, plenty of hours had passed, he thought Lady should be out of danger by now. He wasn't sure where to look for her, so he simply went to the lobby.

Nero approached to the reception and asked. "Hi, I brought a pregnant lady last night, do you know where she is?"

A nurse looked up at Nero all splashed in blood and stinking. "Name?"

"I doubt she's registered…" Nero was saying.

"Name!" The woman raised her voice.

Nero frowned. "Lady"

"The lady's name is Lady…" The woman said dubious.

"Yeah, well, Mary is her real name" Nero said hesitant.

"Sorry, she's not on the list" The nurse said simply.

"I know she's not, I'm just asking if you know where she is!" Nero said losing patience. He was still holding Kalina Ann, but it was out of the nurse's view. He unconsciously moved it and placed it over his right shoulder.

The nurse's eyes widened at the sight before her, not only for the weapon but because of Nero's demonic arm. "Ahh…!" She rapidly took the phone and dialed 911. "Help!"

"Whoa! Who are you calling?" Nero rapidly jumped over the counter, took the phone from the nurse's hand and hung up.

The woman started screaming and Nero rapidly covered her mouth. "I'm not gonna hurt you, calm down, woman!" Nero said agitated. "I save you from all freaking demons out there and this is how you repay me?" He complained. "Call Dr. Stevens, he was here last night"

"Mmm!" The woman tried to speak, but Nero was still covering her mouth.

"You won't scream?" Nero asked her.

The woman shook her head, then Nero slowly took his hand off her mouth. She dialed a number.

"You're not calling the police, are you?" Nero wondered.

The woman gulped nervous.

Nero just twisted his lips and again took the phone from the woman's hand and hung up. "This isn't even loaded!" He said desperate as he dropped Kalina Ann onto the floor. He took out Blue Rose and pointed at the woman. "Call Dr. Stevens… this one is loaded" He said menacingly.

The woman shakily took the phone and called Dr. Stevens. "Dr. Stevens?" She said hesitantly. "An armed man with a demon hand is looking for you" She seemed to listen. "Yes, at the lobby" She hung up.

"See? It wasn't that hard" Nero said as he put his gun down. "Relax, okay? You make me feel like a criminal…" He complained as he holstered his gun. "…I'm a demon hunter, okay?"

The woman barely blinked.

"You know Dante? White haired, demon hunter…" Nero asked.

The woman simply nodded.

"Well, I'm his brother, okay? I'm not gonna harm you" Nero said simply.

"Really?" The woman sighed. "Ahh… you should've said that before"

Nero just shook his head annoyed; suddenly Dr. Stevens arrived.

"Nero! You're back!" The doctor approached to him. "Come with me" He wrapped an arm around Nero's back and led him down a corridor.

Nero got nervous. Why was he taking him to a private place? "How is she? Could you… save the baby?" He asked hesitant.

"We still can't explain ourselves how it happened, but yes, we saved the baby. I guess she wants to live with such might, she saved even her mother" The doctor said amazed.

"She?" Nero wondered.

"Yes, it's a girl" The doctor replied.

Nero just smiled. Vergil was gonna have a daughter. "And how's Lady recovering?" He asked.

"Well…" The doctor cleared his throat and led Nero till the end of the corridor now. "…she was very injured. She had several deep wounds. She lost a lot of blood…"

Nero turned to face him. "I thought you said the baby saved even her mother"

"Indeed. She did. She should've died there, over that cold table" The doctor added.

"So? How is she?" Nero asked confused.

"She's stable…" The doctor said suspiciously. He seemed nervous.

"But…" Nero continued.

"But she's in a coma" The doctor said serious.

"She what?" Nero couldn't believe it. "A coma?" He felt like fainting. He reached a hand to his face and shook his head. "Can I see her?" He asked.

"Of course" The doctor said. He took him to the room they had her in.

Nero grabbed a chair and put it next to the bed; he sat down and stared at her. He twisted his lips then turned his face from her. It was more evident now with her skin clean to see all her wounds. He felt so guilty, it shouldn't have happened. She'll be marked for life. There was no way Vergil wouldn't know about this. He stood up and took her hand with his devil hand. "You'll be alright" He whispered.

And somehow, in the depths of the Underworld, it was as if every time Nero touched Lady with that hand, it connected with Vergil. And Vergil could feel Lady right then.

"Mary…" Vergil's eyes widened.

"Son? What's the matter?" Sparda wondered.

"I can feel her, she's badly wounded. She could die. I must get out of here. Father, please help me!" Vergil said desperately.

"Vergil, calm down. I'll do all within my power to get you out, but we must free you from these roots first or you'll die" Sparda said serious.

"Show me the pages" Vergil demanded.

"Free yourself first" Sparda said serious.

"Father!" Vergil complained.

"What?" Sparda said innocently with a chuckle. "A demon enjoys a laugh every now and then"

Vergil sighed and lowered his face. "Now I see where Dante got his incongruity from. Always making jokes in the worst of times"

"Oh, does he?" Sparda said with a chuckle.

"Father!" Vergil lifted his face angrily.

"Alright, alright" Sparda approached to him, and pulled out the pages from his pocket.

Vergil anxiously desired to read them. "You said it was my only way out" He said expectantly.

"It is" Sparda replied as he now showed Vergil the torn page from his ancient book.

Vergil started reading the first page. His eyes widened as he read in complete shock. "And the others?"

"There is no use for you in the others" Sparda put them back in his coat.

Vergil seemed lost in thought. "Then we're doomed"

"We? I was already doomed. Where is Yamato? I don't see you carrying it" Sparda wondered.

"Why do you think I said we're doomed?" Vergil said sarcastic.

"Where is it then? You're not going to tell me you lost it again, son?" Sparda said concerned.

"No. But I- don't- have it- with me" Vergil gasped.

"How the hell did you get here then?" Sparda wondered.

"My sword wasn't complete. After Mundus broke it, somehow someone had found the pieces and Nero managed to restore it, perhaps because he's got my power in his arm. But I suppose they missed a tiny shard. Another demon Dante battled to recently had it in his possession and Dante got it back and returned it to me. But I…" Vergil took a moment to continue; he had talked too much without stops, it hurt him now with the roots moving within him.

"You…?" Sparda encouraged him to continue.

"How do you know things like I was looking for something recently, but you don't know this?" Vergil said annoyed.

"Well, I cannot see it all. That's why I had my informants" Said Sparda.

"I entrusted my sword to Nero while I was doing my research" Said Vergil.

Sparda frowned. "Okay… at least it's in good hands"

Vergil twisted his lips. "My hands would be better hands right now"

"Indeed. But tell me, son, why these roots?" Where did they come from?" Sparda said confused.

"A seed" Vergil said dryly.

"A seed? From a Qliphoth tree…" He said incredulous. "…and you bought it in a gardening store?"

"I killed one of Mundus' servants" Vergil said.

"Mundus" Sparda's demeanor seemed to change in an instant. "And why didn't you destroy the damned seed!" He said infuriated. "You deliberately kept it hoping to eat that cursed fruit! Why do you want to be like him? You didn't need anything from Mundus! Again, you fell in his trap. Again, your ambitions for power have taken you to your downfall. How do you expect me to help you, acting like that, huh?" Sparda was completely enraged his face seemed to take demon form. "How?" He relaxed a little and controlled his power.

Vergil didn't know what to reply to his father for the first time. He felt scolded by his father; he felt like a little kid again. "I- just… needed more power- to defeat him"

"Defeat who? Your brother? That's the lamest excuse" Sparda said mad. "You're always blinded by false power, when all the power you need lies within you, you just needed to unleash it" He said a bit more calmed now. "Mundus must be laughing now, pleased that no matter where he is, he keeps winning"

"I only wanted to win once, to defeat him for once" Vergil said with his look down.

"And you think like this, you will? Why do you feel inferior from Dante?" Sparda said still upset.

"Because even as kids, Dante always won, and without even trying! How can we be such different?" Vergil said desperate.

"You're not. If I tore those pages, it was because if any of you found my books, I wanted you to reach your maximum by your own, not the easy way" Sparda said serious. "And Dante's been doing a magnificent job"

"Even now, you think he's better than me" Vergil said mad.

"What is your obsession on the matter? He is no better than you, you're equal" Sparda poked his finger twice in Vergil's chest. "How many times do I have to say it?"

"You know that's not true. If we were equal, I wouldn't be here" Vergil said emotionless.

"Well, you're right. Dante is better than you in certain ways, and you in others. Either way, none of them will get you out of here" Sparda said calmed.

"So, I'm dead" Vergil said hopelessly.

"That's not what I said. But what I did say was that I'd save you, and that's what I'll do, even if it is the last thing I do" Sparda said certain.

"Please, I don't want you to smear you honor" Vergil said sarcastic.

"Do you want to be free or not?" Sparda asked raising an eyebrow.

"I do" Vergil said ashamed as he lowered his face.

"Then shut up!" Sparda said serious. "Where is the fragment?"

"Inside me" Vergil said simply.

"What?" Sparda surprised. "Well… it will remain there, then. It can still teleport you to the human world"

"Then what are we waiting for?" Vergil gasped.

"The roots need to set you free" Sparda said.

"They will?" Vergil wondered.

"Eventually, but you won't have much time left" Sparda said. "By then, it will have consumed you almost completely. I will get you out, but it will depend on you to survive" He said serious.

"What do I have to do?" Vergil asked.

"You just read it" Sparda replied simply. "I- never thought you'd be in need of that, but that's the only thing that can save you now" He said serious.

"So, what will happen to me after I do that?" Vergil wondered.

"Well… Yamato, as you know, helps to keep both worlds separated. It can cut through anything, even the very fabric of space itself, thus why it can create portals to travel between the two worlds" Sparda took a deep breath. "And, as it can separate the two worlds, it can separate the two faces as well, human and demonic, which is your case. Only you can use it like that"

Vergil kept pensive. "Or Dante…"

"It's not his sword. His sword has other abilities" Sparda said simply.

"So, what you're saying is, my body- will separate into two different beings. One completely demonic and the other completely human, am I correct?" Vergil wondered.

"Almost. What will happen is a new being will be created by the separation of your demonic power and a human body will remain as a result of your human half, it will keep a minimum amount of demonic power, but it won't be enough" Said Sparda.

"Enough for what?" Vergil wondered.

"To survive for too long" Sparda replied.

"Who will I be? I mean, where will my memories go?" Vergil asked.

"Your human heart and memories will remain in that human half. Of course, your demonic half will remember closest people, but no memories. It will forget how your mother died, your traumas as Nelo Angelo, all that will go to the human half" Sparda said.

Vergil frowned, wondering what that demon half would think and feel. "So, it will still be a living hell for me"

"Once you separate yourself and heal, you must join the two halves and return to yourself" Sparda added.

"Of course…" Vergil said pensive.

"You must not remain like that. If your human half dies by whatever reason, you won't ever be yourself again" Sparda warned him.

"Don't worry. I'll do whatever is necessary" Vergil said serious. "Now what?"

"We wait" Sparda said simply.

"Wait for what?" Vergil wondered.

"Wait till the tree begins to grow. These are still just the roots. Once the tree begins to grow, you can set free from the roots" Sparda replied.

"What can Dante's sword do?" Vergil asked.

"There's no need for you to know that" Sparda said.

"I'm just curious. We have plenty of time" Vergil said arrogantly.

Sparda kept pensive. He was unsure of telling him. "It can evoke his true potential"

"You mean he'd be even stronger?" Vergil said suddenly agitated.

"Well… of course" Sparda lowered his look, moving his eyes left and right slowly. "Yamato does that too, to certain extent. It awoke Nero's demonic power and yours"

"I hope that's not Nero's true potential" Vergil said dryly.

"In a way, it will make you stronger when you separate your two beings" Sparda said serious. "Promise me Vergil, you won't do anything stupid"

"Of course I won't. Not stupid anyway" Vergil said simply, then suddenly the roots continued moving inside him, forcing him to tighten all his muscles. He turned stiff and gritted his teeth in pain, containing the screams.

It tore Sparda to see his son suffering so much.

"How- much- longer?" Vergil asked in pain. His chest moved pretty fast. "I won't stand much longer…"

"You have to be strong, son. Just a little longer" Sparda said worried. Vergil's body was badly wounded and it seemed to be getting worse as the roots grew more.

Meanwhile in the human world, Nero was still in the hospital with Lady, he didn't want to part from her not even a second. The doctor entered the room to check on her.

"Hey doc, can I use this phone?" Nero asked.

"Of course" The doctor replied.

Nero needed to call David and Kyrie as well. After checking on Lady, the doctor left the room, giving some privacy to Nero.

Nero took the phone, he wondered who should he call first. He called Kyrie. He talked to her and told her all the incidents that had happened, and about Lady's condition. He asked for her help to come to the hospital and stay with Lady so he could go see David and the twins. Kyrie told him she'd look for someone to look out for the orphans so she could go. He then called David and told him it was over. That the demons had vanished. He told him he'd come over in a little while.

It was getting late, it was almost 6pm and Kyrie hadn't showed up yet. Nero was desperate. David was alone in the house with the twins since the night before.

Finally, Kyrie arrived. She had taken some time to find the room.

"Nero!" Kyrie gasped surprised as she saw Nero's clothes all splashed with blood, he was all covered in blood and dust. "You should go take a shower and change those clothes!"

"I know, I know!" Nero said as he turned to see Kyrie. He didn't need any complaints at the moment. "I'll go to Dante's, check on the twins and take a shower, yes?" He said as he approached to Kyrie and took her hands, holding them by his chest.

Kyrie made a face of disgust. Nero gave her a peck on the lips and noticed her awkward face.

"What?" Nero asked. "Do I disgust you or something?"

"No, no. It's just you- stink- a little" Kyrie said hesitant.

"Okay, okay, I'm leaving" Nero said as he let go of her hands and walked to the door. "Call me if she wakes up" He said serious.

"I will" Kyrie said serious. She saw the chair where Nero had been sitting before and decided to swap it for another. She sat down and looked at Lady. She covered her mouth in surprise. She couldn't even imagine what Lady went through. She noticed some scars and bandages and pads on the larger wounds. She took Lady's hand and held it tight. She'd pray for her recovery.

Nero left the hospital, he was hoping to find a taxi, or at the very least a bus, because he was far from the Devil May Cry shop. But after that intense demon attack happening for weeks, the city was vacant, not a single soul was out there. He walked back to the van, hoping that after a while of rest, it'd start again, but it didn't. It was completely damaged. He'd need a tow truck to take it back to Fortuna, but he'd have to do that later. First, he needed to get to the shop.

Meanwhile, at the Devil May Cry, David tried to control his siblings. They were starving and he didn't know what else to do. The pantry was almost empty as well as the fridge, and the few things left were not edible. He was starving himself but he could stand it. All the food places he called just didn't answer.

"Ughh… I feel like in a zombie invasion with no supplies" Dave said annoyed as he melted on a sofa and his siblings just cried uncontrollably. He covered his ears but it was useless. "At least the TV still works" He turned it on and tried to find something to calm them.

The twins kept crying for hours until they got tired and simply fell asleep. David surprised, but it was his moment to take a nap too.

Suddenly Nero arrived to the neighborhood and as he got closer, he noticed things seemed strange. He hurried to the entrance just to find wreckage. "What the hell happened here?" Nero said agitated. He couldn't help to worry after seeing all the mess. He wondered if Dave and the twins were okay. As he went through the broken doors, he saw all the entrance full of glass shards and the burned floor. "What the…" He was about to run upstairs when he shouted Dave's name. "David!"

Dave woke up in an instant and shut him up. "Hey! Keep it down, will ya? Have you any idea how long it took for them to stop crying? I don't want them to cry again, I just can't make them stop" He said in a whisper as he approached to Nero.

"What happened?" Nero whispered still agitated.

Dave pulled from Nero's coat and led him to the kitchen. "Demons broke in" He said innocently.

"You don't say…" Nero said sarcastic.

"Did you find aunt Lady?" Dave asked worried.

"Yes" Nero said dryly.

"Where is she?" Dave wondered why she wasn't with him.

"At the hospital" Nero replied simply.

"Is she okay? And the baby?" Dave asked still worried.

"You could say…" Nero said simply.

Dave frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"The baby's fine…" Nero hesitated a little. "… but Lady, she… she's in a coma"

"A coma? What's that mean?" Dave asked curious.

"It means she's asleep and the doctors don't know when she'll wake up" Nero said simply.

"What?" Dave surprised. "What happened to her?"

"Well, she got badly injured and lost a lot of blood. But she's alive and that's what matters. She could wake up tomorrow, or in three months, who knows" Said Nero.

"You speak so lightly about it" Dave said serious.

"Listen, Dave. I got a lot of things in my head and to fix, just look around. Your parents aren't back yet and I need to fix all this first. Are you three alright?" Nero asked as he crouched to Dave's level and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, but there's no food and we're all starving" Said David.

"Okay, okay. I'll go find an open store and buy something, okay? I'll be back soon" Nero said.

"But don't take too long" Dave almost pleaded.

"I'll do my best" Nero said as he hurried outside. He went running, trying to find any grocery store open. It took him a while but he did a little shopping. The girl at the checkout stared at Nero with fear. She was almost shaking; Nero wondered if she was alright then remembered that in his rush, he forgot to cover his Devil arm. He glimpsed at her for a moment then hid his hand inside his coat. "It's alright, I won't hurt you"

The woman looked at Nero's clothes all bathed in blood just as he was. He just hadn't seen himself in the mirror, but it was scary enough to see all the blood, then his arm didn't help at all. The blood on his skin was already dried but he did have a stench as well.

"How much is it?" Nero asked desperate, he needed to return. "I'm in a hurry" He raised his voice a little.

While Nero moved desperately, the girl noticed he carried a gun; she couldn't help to get more nervous. She shakily grabbed a brown paper bag and Nero simply snatched it from her hands and left some money on the counter.

"Keep the change" Nero said as he rapidly put all things inside the bag and hurried back to the shop. By the time he arrived, he could hear the twins' cries. "I'm home!"

The twins rapidly reacted to the voice, hoping it was their daddy. They flew towards the voice and they disappointed when they realized it was just Nero, so they cried louder.

"Hey! I brought food!" Nero tried to cheer them up.

They stopped crying for a moment, wondering what he hid inside that bag. David approached to him too. "What did you get?" He asked desperate. He stuck his hand inside the bag and pulled out a cup of instant ramen.

"Ooh… ramen, yum-yum" Dave said.

Nero headed straight into the kitchen with the bag but the twins rapidly launched towards him snatching the bag from his hand. They pulled from each side of the bag tearing it in two, making all the goods fly in the air. Nero managed to catch them all.

"Hey, relax!" Nero said trying to calm them. "You think they'd eat ramen?" He wondered as he put all things over the table in the kitchen.

"Right now, they'd eat even the cup" Dave said jokey.

"But they're too young for this. I brought milk and cereal anyway, and cookies" Nero said.

"Yeah, that's fine. Give'em that" Dave said careless. "Ahh… damn microwave is broken. How does dad expect me to survive without a microwave?" Dave said exaggerating but jokey.

"Just heat water in a pot. It tastes better" Nero said as he poured some milk in the twins' bottles.

Nero started feeding the twins while David managed to prepare his ramen. Nero wasn't even hungry; he was all stressed and worried about many things he just couldn't control.

"Hey, uncle Nero?" Dave asked as he started eating. He was devouring his food.

"What's up?" Nero replied emotionless.

"Will you help me find Alice?" Dave asked.

"You haven't got any news from her yet?" Nero asked.

Dave just shook his head. "But aunt Lady said the demons here were spreading to nearby cities, so she shouldn't be too far"

"Maybe… but- it would be like looking for a needle in a hay stack" Nero said thoughtlessly.

"But I need to find her! What if…" Dave suddenly made a pause then continued with a lower voice. "…she was- killed?"

"Have some faith, I know she's okay" Nero said.

"You promised" Dave complained.

"I know. It's just- the van is broken. I need to take it back to Fortuna, fix it…" Nero was saying.

"We can take dad's car" Dave insisted.

"Maybe we should wait for your dad to return. He'd be of better help than I am. I'm sure he'd know just where to start looking" Nero said simply.

"By the time they come back, we'll just find her corpse!" David said upset and ran upstairs to his room.

Nero just took a deep breath as he turned his look up. "Remind me not to have kids…" He said to the air. He finished feeding the twins then went upstairs to put them in bed. He surprised when he found a mess in Dante and Trish's room as well. "Here too?" He said disappointed. That meant he needed more money to fix all the damages and the van. He'd be broke like Dante by the end of this. He'd stay there for the night so he took the twins to his room. "Damn! I need a shower first" He had just laid the twins over the bed; he approached to the door and shouted. "Dave!" He didn't get a response. "I need your help!"

Suddenly, David knocked on his door. "I need your help too!"

Nero opened the door. "I swear I will help you, okay? I just need to fix things first, yes?"

"What do you want?" Dave said annoyed.

"I need you to keep an eye on your siblings. I need to take a shower" Nero said simply.

"Sure. You really need it" Dave said careless.

Nero took some clean clothes and went straight into the bathroom at the end of the hall. He went into the shower; it felt so good to be under the water stream. He even relaxed a little. After he finished, he went directly to his room with a big smile on his face; it felt pretty good to be clean. Dave had fallen asleep with his siblings on the bed. Nero felt relieved but there was no more room for him on the bed.

Still, the following days were a bit hard and stressing for Nero. He dealt with the van, at least he had it at home in Fortuna for now, he'd fix it later. He had been taking care of the kids and keeping visits to the hospital to check on Lady's improvements, but there hadn't been any changes. And almost a week had passed and still he couldn't get to fix a thing in Dante's shop. He was literally blocking the entrance with some wooden boards.

He asked David to keep an eye on his siblings for a couple of hours while he visited Lady and Kyrie in the hospital.

It was late in the afternoon; the moon was slowly rising in the dark sky. And suddenly in the park, a portal opened inside the abandoned jet.

Dante and Trish jumped out of the portal.

"Home, sweet home" Dante said smiling.

"Yeah, it feels good to be back" Trish said as she landed on the ground next to Dante. She turned left and right.

"What's the matter?" Dante asked.

"I don't know, it just seems too quiet. How long do you think it's been?" She wondered.

"I don't know. A few weeks maybe?" Dante tried guessing.

"Feels like months to me" Trish said. She urged to see their kids. "Let's head back"

"Shouldn't we get something to eat first? I'm starving" Dante said.

"Dante, we need to get home first" Trish said somewhat serious.

"Okay…" Dante just raised his arms in front of him for a moment and followed Trish.

As they went out of the woods and walked through the park, they noticed a strange stillness. "What happened here?" Trish wondered as she started examining her surroundings.

They walked to the streets and found a lot of destruction and you could barely find a soul out there. "Seems like demons had something to do with this. What happened? Where is everybody?" Dante asked suddenly worried as he turned and looked at Trish. They thought the same thing. The kids. They hurried back home and surprised when they saw the shop didn't have any doors nor windows. "What the…?" Dante said pissed and worried at the same time. They rapidly climbed up the few stairs of the entrance and Dante simply pushed the boards to enter. They found a lot of wreckage; the glass shards still covered most of the entrance floor, not to mention the burned floor. Dante and Trish suddenly agitated. The shop was in a complete silence as if it were completely empty. Dante and Trish looked at each other agitated; they both ran upstairs to their bedroom, just to find it empty and more shards on the floor from the broken window and no sign of the twins.

"David…" Dante whispered. They rapidly went out of the room and hurried to Dave's room. Dante pushed open the door, breaking into the room. "David!" He shouted in relief after seeing the three kids in bed.

"Mom, dad, you're back!" David said extremely happy. He jumped off the bed then straight into his father's arms. He couldn't help to cry on his chest.

Dante just held him tight. "It's alright, we're here now"

Trish approached to them and David rapidly switched into his mother's arms. "What happened, sweetie?" She wondered. "Where is everybody?" She didn't expect to find the kids alone when Nero and Lady were supposed to watch over them.

The twins also flew towards Dante first with such force that he was pushed back. "Whoa, whoa, take it easy" Dante said as he held them both very tightly against his chest.

"Da-ddy!" Mallory said as she held her daddy real tight.

"Did you say daddy?" Dante said excited with a smile. "Did you hear that?" He turned towards Trish.

"Yes, I heard" Trish said twisting her lips.

"Mommy…" Daniel babbled and flew towards Trish's chest.

Trish just smiled. She kissed his forehead, then put David down keeping just Danny on her chest.

"Where the hell is Nero?" Dante asked upset. "And what the hell happened to my house? Every time I leave, I return just to find it destroyed"

David turned towards him. "Umm… hospital and demons" He said slowly, answering to both questions.

"Hospital?" Both Dante and Trish said in unison.

"Who's in the hospital?" Trish asked.

"Aunt Lady. Uncle Nero went to see her" Dave replied simply.

"Has the baby born already?" Dante said shocked. "How long it's been?"

"No, not yet. It's been months since you left and she's in a coma" Dave said slowly.

"What?" Dante said shocked. "Why? What happened?" He asked worried.

"The city was infested with demons. Uncle Nero was out there dealing with them and then more customers called and aunt Lady tried to help" David was saying when he was suddenly interrupted by his father.

"Is she out of her mind? What the fuck was she thinking!" Dante said pissed, but his anger wouldn't change anything.

"I tried to convince her to stay, but I couldn't" Dave said.

"When did this happen?" Trish asked.

"Last week. Well, it's been weeks since the demons started attacking the city and its surroundings" Dave replied.

"We must go see her, Dante" Trish said worried.

"I don't think there's anything we can do to help her, but let's go" Dante said serious.

"All of us?" Dave asked.

"Of course" Trish said.

"But we need a shower first" Dante said as he headed to their room first. He was gonna leave Mallory in the crib but there were lots of glass shards in there and on the floor. He just twisted his lips upset. He wondered if demons were trying to take the twins as well.

"What's the matter, Dante?" Trish asked as she entered the room and found Dante in complete stillness.

"It's full of glass shards, we can't leave them in there" Dante complained.

"Let's just lay them on the bed while we shower" Trish said simply as she laid Danny over the bed.

"Why don't you stay here with them while I shower? Then, I'll stay with them and you shower" Dante said simply as he laid Mallory next to her twin. He didn't even turn to look at Trish. He straightened up and took off his coat, throwing it over the small sofa by the bed. He took off his shirt and unbuckled his belt. He zipped down his trousers and went straight into the bathroom, closing the door behind him.

Trish just watched him undress before her and escaping into the bathroom. She wasn't sure if he started acting strange because of what happened to Lady or if he was becoming distant with her because of what happened in Hell; either way she felt so rejected.

Dante completely nude himself and got inside the shower; he really needed it. He stayed under the water stream for minutes, just pensive. He couldn't help to remember the incidents in Hell. He wished he could forget he ever saw Vergil with Trish. It had been just an illusion, but it felt and looked so real. It wouldn't be easy to go on as normal, as if nothing happened.

After a while, Dante walked out of the bathroom with the towel wrapped around his waist. Trish turned to look at him nervous. She felt she was looking at Vergil; Dante was acting just so serious it seemed out of his character, and he was also avoiding her. Trish lowered her look to the floor. He walked towards the closet and took a clean shirt. He put it on then opened a drawer and took some underwear and put it on without removing the towel. Then he grabbed a pair of black trousers and put them on. He grabbed the towel and now used it to dry his hair. It was the first time he ever got dressed without teasing her.

Suddenly David knocked on the door. "Can I come in?" He asked.

"Of course, sweetie. Why do you knock?" Trish asked as Dave walked in.

"Well, I thought you guys could be doing things…" Dave surprised when he saw is parents quite apart. He frowned confused; something was just not right. "…but- you're- not… did something happen?" He wondered.

Dante turned towards Dave. "We're fine, kid"

"If you say so…" Dave said dubiously.

Trish just sighed. "What day is today?" She asked.

"Umm… August 23? I think?" Dave said hesitantly.

"August?" Trish said surprised.

Dave just nodded. "Mhmm…"

"Oh honey, we missed your birthday" Trish said worried.

"It's okay, it doesn't matter. But you owe me cake" Dave said slyly.

Dante just grinned.

"But don't think we forgot. Close your eyes" Trish told Dave.

David closed his eyes excited. What could they have possibly gotten him in hell? He had his arms stretched to the front expecting to receive anything.

Trish stood up and took Dante's coat. She searched for the pair of pistols.

"No cheating, kid" Dante said.

"I'm not…" Dave closed his eyes real tight.

Trish approached to him. Dave could hear her footsteps getting closer; he even flexed his fingers trying to touch whatever thing he'd be given, but he didn't feel anything yet. "Open your eyes…" Trish said slyly.

As Dave opened his eyes, he saw his mother holding these cool pair of guns. "Wow…! Are those for me?" He asked excited.

Trish just smiled. "Mhmm… they're yours"

Dave grabbed them and had a closer look at them. "Wow, they even got my name on them! Thanks mom!"

"Give thanks to your father too, honey" Trish told Dave after noticing the change on Dante's expression, feeling excluded.

"Thanks dad!" Dave said happy. "Now I won't have to borrow yours"

"It was your mom's idea" Dante said careless.

Suddenly, Dave's expression changed too.

"What is it, honey?" Trish asked confused.

"I just… wish- I had these sooner" Dave said down.

"Why, what's the matter?" Trish asked worried. "What happened to your aunt Lady wasn't your fault, okay?"

"It kinda was. I should've stopped her, or at least gone with her. I would've been of help. But I couldn't leave my siblings alone. But I don't mean that. That same night, Alice called…" Dave was saying.

Dante turned to look at Dave knowing where this was going. He closed his eyes and just listened.

"…I don't know where she is, but demons were attacking there too. The last I heard from her were her screams…" Dave said emotionless.

Dante tilted his head back and sighed. He put his hands on his hips then lowered his head towards his chest.

"I'm sorry" Trish didn't know what else to say to him.

Dante approached to him and crouched at his level. He embraced him tight against his chest. "I'll help you find her. I'm sure she's okay" He said soothing and separated him from his chest to look at him in the eyes. "We'll go see your aunt Lady and then we'll go find her, okay?" He couldn't let his son feel guilty for somebody's aftermath, not at his such young age.

David just nodded and embraced his father's chest so tight.

Dante rubbed Dave's back softly, pressing his lips together. He couldn't help to feel bad for him and remember his own childhood; the moment when his mother died and the last thing he heard from her were her screams. He perfectly knew how that guilt felt. The regret of not doing anything to save her. He didn't want his son to suffer the same and he was just 5 years old. It wasn't fair. "We'll find her, I promise" Dante said caring.

"Thanks dad" Dave whispered, trying his best to hold the tears contained in his eyes.

"Hurry up, baby. We must get going" Dante said serious, without turning to look at Trish.

"Yes" Trish just said and headed to the bathroom. She took a fast shower then clicked her fingers and magically got dressed in an instant. "Let's go" She said as she went out of the bathroom. She rapidly returned to the bathroom and took the bracelets from her dirty trousers. "I was forgetting these" She said as she held them both in front of her.

"What is that?" Dante wondered.

"The bracelets" Trish said simply as she approached to the bed. She bent forward and rested over a knee as she reached the "bracelets" closer to the twins' wrists. They magically coiled around their wrists as snakes, followed by a bright sparkle as if a spell was just cast to them or rather a seal.

"And that will control them?" Dave asked dubious.

"Supposedly…" Trish said.

"I don't know you, but I don't trust that demon" Dante said serious.

"Horus?" Trish wondered.

"Yeah, he acts very suspicious" Dante said.

"Well, I trust him enough" Trish said as she straightened up holding both twins in her arms. "Let's go"

They went to the hospital, and as soon as nurses and doctors saw them, they knew exactly what they were doing there. Someone rapidly paged Dr. Stevens to the lobby. He arrived in no time with his breathing agitated. "Dante, Trish… you're back" He said relieved and worried at the same time. "You're here to see her, am I correct?"

"Of course we're here to see her" Trish said desperate. Lady had to be alright as well as her baby.

The doctor led them to the room and Dante started asking about Lady. "What happened to her to be in this… state?"

"I don't know. When Nero brought her, she was already unconscious and she hasn't woken up since then" The doctor said serious. "She was severely injured and bleeding a lot. We thought she'd suffer a miscarriage, but this girl is clinging to life even more than her mother" He said.

"Girl?" Trish wondered.

"The baby… it's a girl" The doctor said with a smile.

Dante just smirked. "Of course" This girl had to be strong. It's Vergil's daughter after all.

Both Dante and Trish approached to the bed. They stared at Lady for moments then turned to look at each other. David saw the expression on his father's face and he couldn't help to feel guilty.

"It was all my fault, I should've stopped her" David said worried.

Trish turned to look at him. "It was not your fault, honey. Your aunt Lady's stubborn as a mule"

"Your mother's right, kid. There was nothing you could've done. You're still too young. It's not your responsibility" Dante said as he turned towards David and crouched at his level. He rested a hand over Dave's shoulder. "She will be alright, she just needs some rest" Suddenly the door of the room opened.

"Dante, Trish!" Nero shouted, relieved to see them. "Thank God you're back. I really need some rest. I couldn't keep handling everything going on and…" He remembered about the shop's wreckage. "…I'm sorry about the shop. I swear I'll fix everything"

"Don't worry, kid. You've done enough" Dante said serious as he straightened up. "I'll fix the house, but not today. We need a lot of rest too"

"If you need our help, we could stay at your house today and all the time you need" Kyrie said sweetly, as she came up from behind Nero.

"That is so kind of you Kyrie. It would be very helpful, thanks" Trish said.

"It's our pleasure" Kyrie replied.

"Yeah… a pleasure" Nero sighed as he rubbed the back of his head. "You go with them today. I- I- I'll stay with Lady tonight. You've been staying with her all week, it's my turn now"

"Sure" Kyrie said innocently; she wanted to have a decent sleep.

They all stayed a bit longer with Lady. Kyrie helped Trish with Danny, and Dante with Mallory. Trish moved a chair and sat next to Lady the entire time. She looked at her and she felt guilty too. She really hoped she would get better. She thought of Vergil and felt even worse. She held Lady's hand in hers and stared at her. She stood up and touched her round belly and she instantly felt the baby move. That was the best sign for her that Lady would be alright. She rubbed her belly, and bent towards her. "You have to get better soon. There's no way I'm gonna let you run away from this. She needs you, your love and your care…" She whispered, and suddenly felt Lady's hand squeezing hers for a moment. "…she moved. She squeezed my hand…" Trish said agitated all of a sudden.

Dante stood up from the sofa. "Are you sure?" He approached to the bed and rapidly pressed the button to call a nurse.

A nurse arrived almost instantly and checked on Lady's status, but she remained the same. "It must have been an involuntary response to certain stimuli" She noticed everyone's letdown face. "But the best you can do in her state is talking to her, tell her nice things, encourage her to wake up. Perhaps she's fighting to wake up, and just needs a little push"

"Thanks" Dante said serious as he faked a smile. "It's getting late, we should go"

Trish didn't want to leave, but they couldn't all stay there. Nero was gonna stay for that night, and the following days they agreed to relieve each other so that all of them stayed with Lady at least once a week.

Dante and the others headed to the Devil May Cry. He stopped just at the entrance so that everyone could get off the car then he parked the car in the garage. As soon as he walked inside the shop, David was waiting for him, just at the very entrance.

"What is it, kiddo?" Dante asked.

"Are you gonna help me now?" Dave asked.

"Help you with what?" Dante wondered. He was mentally exhausted and all he wanted was a little rest.

"To find Alice, you promised" Dave said anxious.

Dante sighed and crouched at Dave's level. "I'll tell you what" He moved his eyes left and right just watching all the wreckage of the shop. "You'll come with me to buy all the things we need to fix the house, I'll fix it and then I'll help you, deal?"

"But that's gonna take you ages!" Dave complained.

"Just a couple of hours" Dante said simply.

David just pouted. "Dad!"

"I know you're worried about her, son. But I can't leave your mother and siblings in the house like this. We might take a few days on the trip" Said Dante.

"If demons wanted in, they'd find a way just like they did before, it'd be useless to fix it" David replied.

"Maybe, but… I doubt demons will come…" He stared into Dave's eyes. "…anytime soon, anyway" Said Dante.

"Okay, but hurry up" David said bothered.

Dante just made a funny face as he straightened up. "Wait here" He said to Dave as he went to get some money. "Now it turns out I have to do what the kid says, what a brat"

Trish noticed Dante going upstairs then back down after a few minutes. "Where are you going?" She asked out loud after seeing Dante heading to the main "doors".

"I'm gonna go buy all the stuff to fix this mess" Dante said careless.

"Alright" Trish replied somewhat sorrowful. She could feel Dante's rejection despite of his lame attempt to hide it.

"We'll be back in a little while" Dante shouted as he rubbed Dave's hair motioning him to get going.

Kyrie had just gone to the back to find a broom and a dustpan to help Trish clean up the mess. She noticed a strange tension between Dante and Trish but she rather not ask on the matter and just let Trish open herself up with her when she felt like it.

In the other hand, David knew his parents too damn well already to tell when something wasn't right. Dante went to get the car again and picked David up at the entrance. David got in the car and noticed his father quite serious and very quiet unlike his normal self.

After a while, Dave asked. "What's wrong, dad?"

"Hm?" Dante turned to look at him foolishly. "What do you mean?"

"What happened?" Dave asked.

"Oh, I didn't see the red light" Dante said foolish and gulped.

"You just gulped" Dave said.

"I did not" Dante complained.

"What happened with mom?" Dave dared to ask.

"Nothing" Dante said simply.

"You guys are acting strange. You were not even gonna tell her where we were going" Dave insisted.

"She was gonna ask anyway" Dante replied.

"I haven't seen you kiss her since you guys got back. That's a bad sign" Dave said.

Dante took a deep breath. It wouldn't be that easy to fool his son. "Nothing happened, alright? We're fine" He said cutting as he parked on a spot at the store. "C´mon" He said serious.

David just obeyed him. His father sounded too damn serious he even felt it was his uncle Vergil and not his father who was there with him. He hurried to his father's side and took his hand. "Wait up!" He turned his look up and stared at his father's face. "Can't you change that expression? I feel I'm holding uncle Vergil's hand" Dave complained.

"What did you just say?" He asked with an angry expression.

"Nothing…" He said nervous. Dave even got scared. But he was more convinced now that something bad had happened in Hell and it somehow involved his uncle Vergil.

Dante let go of his hand and grabbed a platform to place the new doors and the rest of things he'd need.

David remained quiet until they returned home.

By the time they returned to the shop, Trish and Kyrie cleaned up all the mess, so it was easier for Dante to start installing everything. It took him about two hours to finish.

After finishing, Dante went to get all his weapons. Trish noticed this but she didn't say a word this time, she just followed his every move with her stare. David was in the living room observing his father as well.

"Hey Trish?" Dante said in a low voice as he approached to her.

Trish just turned to look at him. The twins were in the playpen playing together peacefully while Kyrie had gone to take a bath after all her hard work. "Hm?" Trish raised her look towards Dante.

"David and I will go try to find that girl" Dante said simply.

"What girl?" Trish replied.

"Dave's girl, what's her name?" Dante turned to look at Dave, but suddenly remembered. "Alice, yes. That little girl we saw in his school"

"Oh, okay. I think I'll stay. I can't leave Kyrie here alone with the twins" Trish said simply.

Dante wasn't even considering taking her. "We might take a few days. It's better if you stay" He said serious as he stared at her deeply. He reached a hand to her face and gave her a fast peck on the lips. "I'll see you soon" He said then turned to go. "C'mon kid, let's get going before it gets dark"

"Okay…" Dave jumped off the couch and hurried to his father's side, then he went to say goodbye to his mom before leaving.

"Oh, wait!" Trish shouted. "Take my phone" She approached to Dante and handed him her cellphone. "…that way, I'll be able to contact you wherever you are"

"I don't think it's necessary, but okay" Dante said simply as he took the phone and put it inside a pocket of his coat.

Dante and David headed to the nearest town first; it'd be a long ride in the end so they had plenty of time to talk.

"Dad?" David asked suddenly after a while of silence.

"What is it, kiddo?" Dante replied careless.

"What really happened between you and mom? You're acting very strange" Dave asked.

"Nothing, really. We're fine" Dante replied.

"You called mom, Trish!" Dave complained.

"And that's her name, what do you want me to call her then?" Dante said complaining.

"You always call her babe, or baby or love…" Dave said.

"Usually, but I call her by her name sometimes too. Don't see any problem with that" Dante said.

"Whatever you say, but I know something happened" Dave insisted. "Plus, that kiss you gave her earlier, it was like if you were kissing me on the forehead"

"It was not…" Dante said annoyed.

"Admit it. I won't stop until you do" Dave said.

Dante just closed his eyes for a moment and sighed. "Okay… but first we gotta stop at a pizza place 'cause I just can't think with an empty stomach" He said as he spotted a pizza place a few blocks ahead. He bought two large pepperoni pizzas to go and started eating them in the car. David wanted to talk while eating, but Dante didn't let him until they finished with the two pizzas. He now sighed satisfied, it was already night-time, he felt more relaxed; he even felt like talking now.

"So?" Dave asked after he noticed his father more relaxed.

"So what?" Dante replied foolish.

"What happened with you and mom?" Dave asked still curious.

"Honestly?" Dante said then made a pause. "Nothing, it was just an illusion"

"An illusion?" Dave wondered.

"Yeah, but it felt and looked more real than life itself" Dante said serious.

"And what did you see?" Dave asked curious.

"Your mother…" Dante said serious. "…with your uncle Vergil…" He continued. "…in bed…"

Dave turned to look at him surprised. "Wouldn't be the first time…" He murmured.

"…together…" Dante said serious with a sorrowful expression.

"Doing things?" Dave asked still surprised, though he saw that coming.

"Of course" Dante said serious. "I wouldn't be pissed as fuck if they were just sitting" He said sarcastic and upset again.

"Well… it was still an illusion, dad" Dave said.

"Yeah, but I saw her face, I heard her moaning his name… she was enjoying it…" Dante said serious, gripping the wheel tighter. He shook his head a little then turned to look at Dave. "I shouldn't be talking about this with you"

"Why not?" Dave wondered confused.

"Because you're too young to be hearing adult's stuff" Dante said.

"I've seen and heard enough already to know about this…" Dave kept pensive. "…how did mom feel?"

"Guilty, she said" Dante said. "But deep down I know she wanted it and it wasn't real and maybe now she'll want to try it"

"Don't be ridiculous, dad. Mom would never cheat on you" Dave said. "Uncle Vergil might cheat on aunt Lady though…" He said pensive. "Speaking of which… aunt Lady had a nightmare a few nights before the incident. I think it was about uncle Vergil and mom, because she was very pissed and she didn't want to see me for some time and she cried a lot and stuff"

Dante kept pensive. "You think? How can all be connected? The four of us sort of experiencing the same thing, except that for your mother and Vergil it was pleasant and for Lady and I it was… hurtful. Who could be behind all this?" He remembered about Horus; he really didn't trust that demon and he gave him a very odd feeling with that last handshake. He seemed to know about many things related to Sparda and everything else, even about Vergil. He wondered if somehow, he could be involved. "You know…" Dante spoke. "…we met this demon, the one who created your guns. He said he used to work for my father and he said Vergil might be trapped somewhere we can't reach in Hell"

"And you believe him? I mean, do you think it's possible?" Dave wondered worried but at the same time relieved to know something about his uncle.

"If what he said was true, I mean about how he was trapped, then… it might be a possibility" Dante said. And it was all my fault. He thought. He couldn't help to feel a little guilty, but he also thought Vergil deserved it. It was his fault too, all for his stupid ambitions.

"So, aren't we gonna look for him?" Dave wondered.

"There's no use. Besides, the only reason I wanna see his ugly face is to kick his ass. So he better hide from me if he doesn't wasn't to get his ass kicked" Dante said somewhat upset still.

Dave just made a weird face. "He's still your brother"

"Exactly! And not even that, stopped him from wanting my wife!" Dante said mad.

Dave rather not reply. He just kept silent for a while instead.

"Anyway, sooner or later that bomb will explode" Dante said simply.

"Bomb? What bomb?" Dave wondered confused.

"I mean, wherever your uncle is, whatever thing he's doing will come to the surface, literally to our world" Dante said as he continued driving.

"What do you mean? You think he's planning something evil?" Dave asked as he now kept his mind overflowing with ideas.

"Knowing him, I wouldn't doubt it" Dante said careless.

They arrived to the first city. They stopped at every motel they found, even hospitals and nothing. They couldn't even find any leads of Alice's whereabouts. But Dante was extremely tired and he wanted to get some sleep; so he decided to stop at any motel he'd find with vacancy. After a while, he found one in the middle of the road to the next city. They parked outside and entered the lobby. There was nobody behind the counter. Dante kept ringing that little bell until an old man came from the back.

"What's all the fuss about?" The old man complained.

Dante turned to look at Dave. "I told you to go easy on that bell" He said to Dave then turned to look at the old man. "Sorry about that, you know kids" He squeezed his lips faking a smile.

"What?" Dave said surprised. "I did…." He shut up as Dante stomped on his foot.

"There's no vacancy anyway" The old man replied.

"It's not what the sign says" Dante said.

"I haven't changed it yet" The old man said arrogant.

Dante got pissed; all he wanted was some sleep. He was mentally exhausted and he just needed some rest. It'd take them at least 3 hours to get to the next city and this was the last motel on the road. But Dante had an idea. "Fine, we'll go…" He took Dave's hand and walked towards the main doors. "…you wouldn't happen to know about a demon attack nearby, would ya?" Dante said suspicious.

"A demon attack?" The man repeated.

"Yeah, we're looking for a little girl. We believe she shouldn't be too far from here" Dante said.

"I wouldn't recommend you to get near that place. I heard it was awful. Lots of people died…" The man said and noticed Dave's shock face.

"Well, that's exactly where we need to go" Dante said. "Just need some rest. I've been driving for hours trying to find any leads"

The man cleared his throat. "You know… I- might have a room available" He said serious.

"Oh, I'd really appreciate it" Dante turned towards David and blinked an eye to him.

The man faked to be looking for a key when he had more than 20 keys in front of him. He picked one randomly. "Here it is, the last one"

Dante took the key. It was room number 313. "C'mon kid, let's go get some rest" He said as he took Dave's hand forcing him to walk.

They entered the room and the first thing Dante did was throwing his guitar case on a small sofa. He then took off his coat and went straight to bed.

David surprised a little; he didn't think his father could fall asleep that fast. "Guess he was really that tired" He whispered to himself. But he wasn't tired and felt he couldn't get a wink even if he wanted to. He was way too worried about Alice and even more after what the old man said.

Meanwhile at the Devil May Cry, Trish had woken up in the middle of the night and just couldn't get back to sleep again. She was worried about Dante and wondered how he felt about her right now. She had felt him so indifferent, so careless before they left, she felt he was slowly and discreetly distancing from her. And that trip had been the easiest way out. She went downstairs to the kitchen to get a glass of water, then she sat on Dante's chair behind the desk. She thought so much about Dante that she tried to connect with him somehow. Suddenly she heard the phone ring in the shop, she rapidly picked it up. "Dante?" She said through the receiver hoping to hear his voice.

"It's me, mom" Dave said in a low voice. He didn't want to wake his father up.

"What happened sweetie? Are you okay? Why aren't you asleep? Are you still on the road?" Trish asked, wishing to hear Dante's voice in the back.

"No, we're fine. We stopped at a motel. Dad was really tired but the old man from here said there had been an attack on the next city a few days ago. Said a lot of people died. I'm afraid, mom" Dave said serious.

"Oh, honey, it will be okay. Try to get some sleep. I'm sure she's fine. She's a strong girl" Trish tried to soothe David.

"I hope so" Dave said down.

"Is your father up?" Trish asked.

"Nope. As soon as he laid his head on that pillow, he fell asleep like a rock" Dave said.

"Oh…" Trish said disappointed. "…of course. Did he say anything about me?" Trish dared to ask.

"Umm… sort of?" Dave said dubious. "He'll get over it, mom"

"I know he will…" Trish said without much thought. "…over what, exactly?" She asked foolish. "Did he tell you something?"

"Yeah, he told me what happened…" Dave kept talking to his mom while suddenly Dante woke up.

Dante suddenly opened his eyes and listened to Dave's conversation. He wished his senses weren't as sharp, but he couldn't help to hear Trish's voice even in his sleep. He could hear it clearly.

Dave continued. "…he's just upset, no- disappointed- no- what's the word?"

Trish couldn't help to feel bad. She really needed to hear Dante's voice right now. She wouldn't get to sleep until she did. She wondered how Dante could sleep with these thoughts in mind.

Dave had gotten out of bed; he was on the same bed as Dante, but he moved to the couch to supposedly not wake Dante up, but it was useless. As David turned to look at his father, Dante rapidly closed his eyes and pretended to still be asleep. "I'll tell him you called"

"I didn't call" Trish replied.

"Oh, right. Well, I won't tell him anything then" Dave said simply.

"Just tell him I miss him, and that I- love him, and that I'm- sorry…" Trish said slowly.

"All that? Why don't you tell him yourself tomorrow?" Dave said. "Dad understands, he loves you, mom" Dave knew somehow that his mom was deeply disturbed and he wanted to cheer her up. "You too need to get some sleep, mom"

"I will, honey. Sweet dreams" Trish said tenderly.

"Goodnight, mom" David said then hung up. He carefully went and left the phone in one of his father's coat pockets. He went back to bed and tried to sleep. He lied down next to Dante and somehow, knowing that he wasn't the only one in distress, kinda soothe him a little and he fell asleep shortly.

But now, it was Dante who couldn't sleep He felt the need to hear Trish's voice, he wanted to soothe her too and tell her he loves her always and forever no matter what.

After a little while, when David was deeply asleep, Dante got out of bed and took the phone; he headed outside. He hadn't taken his boots off so he didn't hesitate and went outside to the car. He just leant on a side of it and stared at the phone. He really thanked Trish had saved the shop's number, 'casue he didn't even know it himself. He called the shop and not even a minute later, Trish answered.

"David, honey, what's the matter? You can't sleep still?" Trish said just as she picked up the phone.

"That was quick…" Dante replied.

"Dante…" Trish said then remained quiet for a few moments. "… you can't- sleep?" She asked hesitant. "I'm sorry, I thought it was David. I just spoke to him a little while ago"

"I know, I heard" Dante said simply.

"I thought you were deeply asleep" Trish said.

"I was…" Dante replied.

"But I'm glad you're up. I really needed to hear your voice" Trish said.

"So did I…" Dante kept silent for a moment. "You couldn't sleep?" He asked just to make conversation.

"No, I- woke up in the middle of the night and just couldn't go back to sleep. I had so many things in mind and I- needed to know how you felt. I- felt you different. I feel like you're running away from me"

"Well, you're not as wrong. What happened to us, Trish? I feel like I'm talking to a stranger" Dante said honestly.

"Dante, don't say that. What happened wasn't real, you can't blame me" Trish complained while her voice seemed to break.

"Can I ask you something and you promise to tell the truth?" Dante asked.

"What is it?" Trish replied as her heart suddenly speeded up.

"If that were to happen to you for real, what would you do? Reject my brother? Or simply give in to him?" Dante asked expectantly.

"Dante, what kind of question is that?" Trish didn't want to answer and tried to avoid his question.

"Just answer me honestly. I need to know, Trish" Dante insisted. He kept leaning against the car's door just staring at the dirty pavement; anxious.

"Dante, I love you. I would never cheat on you" Trish said self-assured.

"Well, Vergil didn't seem to struggle to convince you" Dante continued.

"That wasn't even real, Dante! Why can't you just let it go!" Trish raised her voice a little.

Kyrie had woken up to go to the bathroom and got to hear Trish on the phone. She felt curious and couldn't help to eavesdrop. She carefully approached to the stairs to listen better.

"Let it go? It's easier said than done!" Dante complained. "How do you want me to let it go when I saw you? Real or not, it happened. It's proof of how easily you would surrender to him" He raised his voice for moments to then just slowly fade away. "Maybe… you really loved him before you even met me. Maybe it was I, who got in the way between you two"

"Dante, shut up!" Trish said annoyed. "Stop saying so much nonsense"

"Just accept it" Dante insisted.

"Accept what? That I feel attracted to him? Well yes, of course, you're twins! Why, you wanted me to feel only repulsion towards him?" Trish complained. She kept raising her voice letting Kyrie listen more than she would've wanted. And with what Kyrie was listening, it wasn't that hard to figure out what the conflict was about.

"That would be for the best, but I know it's asking for too much" He kinda relaxed a little for a moment. "You know what the worst part is?"

"What?" Trish replied serious and at the same time curious.

"That now that you've experienced it somehow, even if it wasn't real, it'll make you or him want it for real" Dante said serious. "To know if it'd feel the same way, if it'd be even like that"

"Dante, why would I want him when I have you?" Trish asked.

"I don't know, maybe you like the way he… maybe he treated you better than I do" Dante said bothered.

"Dante. No one, absolutely no one can make me feel better than you do" Trish said trying to soothe him. "No one could ever make love to me the way you do, not even Vergil" She continued. "You thought I like him better?"

"Trish, I saw your face, I heard you moaning his name, moaning in pleasure for him. How do you think that made me feel? I can't take it, I can't erase that image from my head. I don't know what to do, how to let it go…" Dante's voice seemed agitated then he calmed. "… I just- can't see you the same way"

For Trish, listening to Dante saying those words broke her heart. "How do you see me then?" She dared to ask, although she felt so scared of what he might say.

"I don't know. I'm not sure of who I'm staring at when I look at you. I don't know if I know you anymore. I- I feel betrayed- again. How many times are you going to betray me? And every time you do it just- hurts more…" Dante's voice seemed to break but he kept his composure. He took a deep breath. "Every time I think of you with Vergil, I just- hate you, I hate him…"

"Dante…" To hear Dante say those words to her really hurt Trish. Never in all the time they've been together he said such a thing to her.

"I love you, you know I do. Nothing will ever change that. Even if I wanted to stop loving you, I can't. But this is too much. I feel I'm tearing apart, it's tearing me to pieces…" Dante said desperate. He kept quiet for a moment and he could no longer hear Trish. He sharpened his ears and now could hear her sobs. He couldn't help to feel bad. He didn't mean to hurt her, he just needed to let it all out. "Trish, baby… I'm sorry, please don't cry. It's alright, I…" Dante tried to calm her. Every second her cries sounded worse.

"No, it's not alright, Dante. We're not alright" Trish said sobbing.

"I wish I could be there to comfort you, baby" Dante said.

"But instead, you just ran away from me…" Trish sobbed but tried to control.

They both kept silent for a moment.

"We should try to sleep, we need some rest" Dante said. "It's really late and we gotta take off tomorrow morning" He continued.

Trish tried to calm down. She sniffed. "David told me you found a lead" She said between sobs.

"Yeah, we might be close" Dante said as he lifted his stare towards the dark sky. The full moon reminded him of the night they got married in Vegas. That brought a smile to his face. "I want to see you…"

"Come back tomorrow" Trish said softly. "I need to see you too, to feel you here with me"

"I love you, Trish" Dante said.

"And I love you, Dante" Trish tried not to cry again.

"Give a kiss to Mallory for me, will ya?" Dante said.

"Just to Mallory?" Trish replied.

"Well, to both kids, of course" Dante replied.

"I will" Trish said.

Dante went back to sleep. After talking to Trish, he felt a little better, so he fell asleep shortly and so deeply. He was so tired, he overslept. He woke up the next morning and David wasn't sleeping next to him.

"David?" Dante called out. He didn't get a reply so he slowly sat up and got out of bed. He walked towards the bathroom. "Dave?" He called as he opened the bathroom's door, just to find it empty. He closed it again and called his name louder. "David?" For a moment he panicked. The room wasn't that big to not tell Dave was gone. Dante took his coat and put it on in an instant as he went out of the room. "David?" He kept shouting his son's name to no avail. Dante's heart started speeding up. He couldn't have lost him. He shouldn't be that far anyway. He walked briskly through the narrow hall, calling David's name until he reached the lobby. There was nobody there, so he started tapping the bell until the old man showed up again.

"You again?" The old man said annoyed as he came from the back.

Dante seemed desperate. "Have you seen my son?" He asked agitated.

The man just looked at Dante with a strange expression.

"The kid that was with me last night" Dante continued.

The man raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to a side of Dante. "You mean the kid beside you?"

Dante rapidly lowered his look and found David standing beside him. "When the hell did you go!" He scolded him as he crouched at his level shaking his shoulders.

"I was hungry. You seemed like you wouldn't wake up for hours so I took some money from your pocket and went to get something to the vending machine" David replied as he slurped some juice from a carton. He pulled out a packet of cookies from his pocket and opened it before Dante.

Dante kept silent for a moment. "You should've told me! You can't go out on your own without telling me. You should have woken me up!" He kept scolding him. "You are so grounded after this" Dante said as he straightened up.

"But dad, it was almost noon and you didn't give any signs of life!" Dave complained.

Dante couldn't reply, he couldn't blame his son for being hungry. But it was a stupid thing to do too. He just took Dave's hand and forced him to walk back into the room. "And it better be the last time you do something foolish as this, you hear me?" Dante said upset.

David just pouted and walked alongside his father. "Well I can't assure you anything having you as a father" He said simply.

"What was that?" Dante asked cocky.

"I said- that…" Dave was saying when Dante interrupted him.

"Oh, so you need Vergil as a father then to behave…" Dante replied evidently upset.

"That's not what I said!" Dave complained.

"Oh, yes you did!" Dante complained.

"I did not!" Dave replied. They were like two kids fighting over something to gain.

They reached the room and Dante unlocked it rapidly then pushed David inside, entering just behind him then locking again right after. "If you need to go to the bathroom, or shower, now's your time. I don't want you to be bugging in the middle of the road"

"We're leaving now?" Dave asked.

"Yes, so hurry up" Dante said serious.

"I'm fine, we can go now" Dave replied.

"Alright…" Dante said twisting his lips. He grabbed the guitar case containing his sword, then took Dave's hand to go. They went straight to the lobby to return the key. Dante didn't even say a word and left.

The old man hadn't noticed the guitar case the previous night. "You're a musician?" The man asked.

"Demon hunter" Dante said simply as he pulled out Ivory, playing with it for seconds as he twirled it in the air around his finger then returned it to its holster.

The old man's eyes almost burst out. "Well, you're too late…" He said careless.

The little bell on the roof near the door, jingled as the door closed after Dante.

Dante and Dave got on the car; Dante started it and without saying a single word he started driving. It'd be a long drive; the next town was a bit more than two hours ahead. Almost an hour passed and Dave got a bit uneasy.

"Dad!" Dave complained.

"What?" Dante said careless.

"Why are you so silent? This gets even more boring" Dave replied. "I told you I didn't want uncle Vergil to be my father and you keep acting like him!" He complained.

"I do not!" Dante complained.

"Yes, you do! Seems like you suddenly turned mute" Dave said.

"So what? If I don't talk then I'm Vergil?" Dante complained.

"No, but it's annoying, and boring and I'm a kid, I need something to keep myself entertained" Dave replied.

"I always have that same problem with your mother" Dante said.

"What do you mean?" Dave wondered.

"Every time we go on the road for hours, she always pisses off for whatever reason making the trip quite uncomfortable" Dante said.

"But still you love her" Dave said foolish.

"Never said I didn't" Dante replied.

"Hm… speaking of which, let's call mom. Hand me the phone" Dave ordered.

"No" Dante said dryly.

"What? Why not?" Dave complained.

"You already talked to her last night" Dante said simply.

"How did you… well, so did you" Dave replied.

Dante surprised a little. That meant Dave had noticed too. "Exactly! So, we don't need to call her again"

"Why don't you wanna call her? You had a fight with her again?" Dave asked.

"No" Dante said serious. "I just want to let her rest, okay? She was a bit stressed last night"

"Right… surely it was your fault" David said careless.

Dante just sighed and remained quiet. Not very long after, Dave broke the silence.

"Can you stop?" Dave asked.

"Stop what?" Dante wondered annoyed.

"The car, I need to take a piss" Dave replied.

"What! I told you to go at the damn motel!" Dante complained.

"I know, but I didn't want to go then, I wanna go now" Dave replied as he started tapping a leg against the floor.

"Well, you're gonna have to hold it, 'cause I ain't stopping" Dante said careless.

"Oh, if mom were here, I bet she'd force you to stop" Dave said.

"But she's not, so you're gonna have to hold it" Dante said with a mischievous smile.

Not 10 minutes passed and Dave started asking. "Are we there yet? Are we there yet?" He repeated unceasingly.

"No! We're not even close and you better cut that out, now!" Dante said pissed. "You're lucky I ain't Vergil. He would've thrown you out the window by now" He sighed. "Pay attention to the road and see if you find any sign that says restrooms or diner ahead"

"Okay, okay, okay…" Dave said a bit desperate; he couldn't even think too well. Almost half an hour passed when Dave spotted a sign. "There! It says Jesse's Diner 2 miles" he said agitated. "Speed up!"

"Relax kid, it's your lucky day" Dante said simply. He speeded up and arrived to the diner in less than 5 minutes. David almost flew off the car and hurried inside the place.

It was early in the afternoon. Dave rapidly entered the diner asking for the bathroom. Dante took his time to park the car then calmly entered the place. The little bell at the top jingled as he walked in. He was greeted right away.

"Hello, handsome. Come have a seat here" The woman behind the counter invited Dante to sit at the bar. "Hey…" Dante said simply. He turned left and right looking for David.

The woman noticed Dante seemed to be looking for someone. "He went to the bathroom" She said to Dante.

"Hm…" Dante walked towards the stools to have a seat. He tried to relax and sat down. He placed his forearms over the counter.

The woman noticed a ring on Dante's finger. "Where's the mother?"

"Back home…" Dante said sighing. "A scotch please"

"Double, sugar?" The woman said enticingly as she winked an eye to him.

Dante just grinned. "Sure" He had never been called "sugar" by any woman other than Nevan.

The woman served him his drink. "So? What's a handsome man doing with his son in a place like this?" The woman tried to make conversation.

Dante had a sip of his scotch. "It's a sort of- quest"

"A quest?" The woman felt intrigued.

"We're looking for some girl, like my son's age" Dante said.

"And what's so special about this girl?" The woman asked.

"My son's girlfriend, sort of…" Dante said. "…we believe she's in danger" He added.

"Danger? Why? Are her parents dangerous?" The woman asked suddenly worried.

"No- no. More like- the place they're at" Dante said.

"Well, I hope you don't mean the neighboring town, because that demon attack was atrocious. Many people died" She said.

"I'm afraid so. Did you see a blonde girl with her parents here?" Dante asked.

"I see a lot of blonde girls with their parents every day" The woman replied. "But yes…" She tried to recall from past days. "…I remember this particular girl. She seemed scared, like uncomfortable…" The woman was saying.

Suddenly David returned; he spotted his father and had a seat next to him.

"Everything alright, kiddo?" Dante asked.

"Yeah… that was awesome" Dave said sighing.

"I bet" Dante said careless.

"Oh!" The woman said out loud pointing at Dave's neck. "And she was wearing a necklace just like that one!"

"What?" Dave said confused.

"Except it was a "D" but just like yours" The woman said excited.

"You saw Alice?" Dave said suddenly agitated and excited. "Dad, we're close" He turned towards his father with a big smile.

"Unless… they were heading to that town…" The woman said intriguing. "…sorry to disappoint. I really hope you find her"

Dave's smile was suddenly erased.

"Oh, and she was wearing this beautiful turquoise ribbon on her hair" The woman added.

"She used to always wear that. It has to be her" Dave turned towards his father again. "Dad, we must go no, we gotta find her"

"Dave, I'm starving. I wanna eat something. Weren't you starving too? Why don't we eat something then continue our trip?" Dante said simply.

"Dad, we don't have time to waste. The sooner we go, the sooner we'll return home" Dave said.

Dante tilted his head to a side annoyed. "Alright, alright"

"I need to know she's okay" Dave pulled from Dante's hand to leave. "Please, dad"

Dave sounded too damn serious Dante couldn't refuse. He finished his drink in a gulp and turned towards the woman. "How much do I owe you?"

"It's nothing, sugar. It's on the house" The woman said winking an eye.

"Oh, well thanks. Catch ya later!" Dante waved her goodbye as they left the diner. They headed to the car and Dante drove the fastest he could. They finally arrived to the town that had been attacked. It still looked terrible. Signs were still torn; the streets, cars and walls marked by the demons' claws. The windows were all shattered and no soul was out there on the streets. Dante drove really slow. What they were seeing seemed taken from a horror film. David felt so scared. There was no way she could have survived something like that. He just couldn't keep watching through the window. The streets were bathed in blood.

Dante glimpsed at David and couldn't help to feel bad for him. "I'm sure she's alright, son" He said caring and trying to soothe David.

David just turned his look down and closed his eyes.

Dante kept driving. He couldn't believe all the wreckage the demons had caused; all the death they had left behind. That city wasn't that big, so Dante stopped the car after a little while.

David lifted his face and looked through the window. "Why do we stop here?" He asked confused.

"You said she was at a motel the last time you spoke to her. This is the only one I've found. I doubt that she'd still be here, but perhaps we could find a trace" Dante said serious. "You wanna go take a look?"

David just nodded slowly. He opened the car's door and got off. They started walking to the motel and they saw a wooden sign with the name of the motel, but it was completely torn down, it was impossible to read. And somehow, Dave started remembering that last talk he had with her. He started replaying the scene in his head as if he could see what was happening. He felt it was that exact place. He remembered every word, every feeling. "It's here, I know it. I can feel it"

They walked towards the lobby. It was unbelievable how the town now seemed abandoned. Everything was wrecked there. They started checking every room, see if they found any belongings from Alice. There had to be something. They couldn't have all just vanished. After checking every room and finding nothing but blood, they decided to go outside again. Alice had been on the street, when she last talked to Dave. Dave started remembering all he heard that night. All the sounds. It sounded like clashing metal against the hard concrete of the streets, the sound of fire, the sound of fear, the screams. He looked across the street and there was just brushwood. He had a feeling he'd find something. So he walked towards the bushes. He found dried blood; and intertwined within the bushes he found that turquoise ribbon. He paralyzed.

"You found anything?" Dante shouted as he approached David. He paralyzed too after he saw David and the spot where his eyes were lost. He paralyzed but not for the same reasons his son had.

David reached out for the ribbon and caught it between his fingers.

Dante just closed his eyes and pressed his lips tightly together. He sighed. As he opened his eyes, he could see his son's eyes shedding silent tears. He just crouched at his level and embraced him. He tried to comfort him and give him the support he needed.

David embraced him tightly and started crying louder now. "It was my fault, I should've saved her!" He cried.

"It wasn't your fault, son" Dante rubbed Dave's back and held his head against his chest. "It wasn't your fault…" Dante couldn't help to relive the moment of his mother's death. The guilt has never left him alone ever since. He didn't want his son to suffer the same disgrace. He's even younger than he was. He knew more than well and had experienced more than once the death of a loved one. "C'mon, let's go back home" Dante said caring as he lifted David and carried him against his chest. He walked towards the car and opened the back door. He lied him down on the back seat. "You need to rest" He whispered to David. He carefully closed the door and walked around the car. He stopped at the rear side and put his hands over the trunk. "Why did it have to be this way?" He whispered and lamented himself, then simply got in the car. He just wanted to take him back home. He started the car, reversed and drove back home. He couldn't help to feel tense. He drove for a few hours; David had fallen asleep around an hour ago, but Dante's mind was weary. He couldn't stop thinking of his horrible past. No matter the years that went by, it was as if a cloud of disgrace always followed him, always stalking him no matter where he went. He definitely didn't want to pass his curse to his son.

Dante looked through the rearview mirror. It seemed Dave had woken up. "I always blamed Vergil for our mother's death…" He started speaking. He wasn't even sure Dave was listening but still he carried on. "…if it hadn't been for him, mother wouldn't have had to go out to find him. She died trying to save him…" Dante's voice seemed to break, but he took a deep breath. "…Vergil doesn't know this. But it isn't a complete truth, because it was my fault too. I was just a few steps away from her and I didn't do anything to save her. Fear overcame me and I paralyzed. I heard her last breath. I- watched her die" He said slowly. "I saw her corpse. It broke my heart into pieces. I was such a coward. Since that day, I promised myself I would never be afraid again, nothing would scare me" He paused for a few moments and then continued. "I've seen so many people close to me die, David and I always felt guilty for it. Even when your mother died before my eyes, I felt so guilty. She had risked her life for me, she gave her life for me and I couldn't protect her…" Every time Dante remembered that moment, he felt a deep sadness. "I saw her corpse. I held her cold body in my arms… I thought I had failed again, that everything was lost…"

"Why are you telling me this? Is it supposed to make me feel better?" Dave asked confused. "Are you trying to say that what's happened to you doesn't compare to what's happened to me? What's your point?" He said as he sat up and sat straight.

"What I'm trying to say is, that we didn't find Alice's corpse. You don't know if she's really dead. And like it happened to me with your mother, I can't explain how it happened, but Trish- your mother came back to life to save me, to help me defeat Mundus. You have no idea of the bliss I felt when I saw her alive again. We killed Mundus and right after, we ran towards each other and held each other so tight, I was so happy I could even cry. But what surprised me most was that she was the first to cry. It was that moment when I knew I had to stay with her forever. I knew she had come into my life to give a break to my sorrow, to all my guilts…" Dante said serious. "Just like it happened to me, it will happen to you. Alice will return at its due time. Maybe it's just not your right time together"

"You think?" David asked somehow a little more calmed now.

"I know" Dante said certain.

"How can you be so sure?" He asked.

"Because it seems we are destined to suffer the same fate" Dante said.

"That isn't very encouraging…" Dave said.

"I know. But in the end, you'll be happy. That's what matters" Dante said with a smile as he looked at David through the rearview mirror.

David smiled back. "Thanks, dad. I just hope I can get to change my fate" He said simply.

Somehow after Dante's words, David got to relax and fell asleep the whole ride back home. By the time they arrived to the Devil May Cry shop it was already late at night.

Trish heard the door and rapidly went downstairs. She saw Dante holding David against his chest; he was deeply asleep. "What happened?" Trish asked worried.

Dante just pressed his lips tightly shaking his head.

Trish just made a worry face as she approached to Dante and whispered: "You found her- dead?" She dared to ask.

"Nope. Just this" Dante lifted David's hand which was still holding that turquoise ribbon. "Lots of blood everywhere… and to think it was us who caused all this" Dante said lost in thought.

"What are you talking about Dante? It wasn't our fault" Trish followed Dante upstairs as he headed to Dave's room. "Just because we weren't here to take the many jobs that required us, doesn't mean it's our fault" Trish complained.

"But it is. Why do you think so many demons suddenly appeared?" Dante asked in a low voice as he laid David down on his bed. He tucked him in and looked at him. He caressed his face then straightened up leaving the room.

Trish followed Dante again, this time to their bedroom. The twins were already asleep, but as soon as they heard their father's voice they woke up. They wanted to fly towards him but as they tried, they realized they no longer could. They reached out for him so Dante simply picked them up both. He held them against his chest and laid back on the bed. Fortunately for him, he wouldn't have to avoid Trish intentionally. He was giving all his attention to his precious twins now.

"They've lost their abilities…" He said as he laid them on his chest and caressed their heads.

"It seems that way…" Trish said simply. "Perhaps it's better this way"

Dante kept pensive. "What if it was just a trap. A spell to keep their power unlocked forever so they cannot destroy the demon world"

"Or the human world… Dante, you're thinking too much" Trish said as she laid back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. She knew the twins missed Dante very much and she couldn't deprive them from enjoying their father now. "I'm glad you're back"

Dante just nodded without making a single sound.

The following days weren't that different. And despite of Dante and Trish's return, David didn't feel quite well to return to school yet. Nero continued staying at the hospital looking after Lady, but almost another week had passed and there hadn't been a single change in her status.

As days went by, Nero just turned more desperate and anxious. He couldn't keep staring at Lady without feeling guilty. He couldn't stand it anymore so he called Kyrie and asked her to relieve him. Trish offered herself but Kyrie didn't let her. So before the end of the day, Kyrie arrived to the hospital and met Nero there. Nero was mentally exhausted, so all he wanted was some decent sleep. He left shortly after.

Nero thought about returning home to Fortuna, but he considered helping Dante with the house issues. He had to take a bus to get to the Devil May Cry. But at least the streets now were a bit more crowded and the city seemed to be slowly returning to normalcy. The bus didn't get any near to Dante's shop so he had to walk anyway and as soon as he arrived, he noticed the shop looked normal; doors and windows were fixed. He walked in and noticed even the floor had been fixed.

"Kid, I thought you'd go back to Fortuna" Dante said from his chair behind the desk.

"I was, but- I thought you might need a little help" Nero said.

"Well, as you can see. I already fixed the entire place. But thanks anyway" Dante said cocky.

"Well, I'm sure there's something I can help with" Nero replied. The truth was that he enjoyed being in Dante's place, the company and most importantly the food. He didn't even let Dante reply and he rapidly continued. "Hey, so did you find Alice?" Nero asked.

"Nope. But we found something that belonged to her" Dante said serious.

"What did you find?" Nero asked intrigued.

"A ribbon. A ribbon she used on her hair. You should've seen the place. There was blood everywhere. I regrated taking David there. I wish he didn't have to see all that" Dante said serious.

"What's done it's done" Nero kept pensive. "So, it's that mean that she…" He didn't want to say it.

"Well, I hope they got to escape, but there's no way we can tell" Dante said serious.

"Yeah, poor Dave. He must be feeling awful" Nero said as he approached to Dante's desk and sat on a corner.

Dante just turned to look at Nero, raised an eyebrow and twisted his lips annoyed.

"Where's Trish?" Nero asked. He was starving. He was sick of that bland hospital food.

"She just took the kids to bed" Dante said careless. "You're hungry, huh?"

"I'm starving. You got any leftovers?" Nero asked expectantly.

"Not sure. You go check in the kitchen" Dante said careless as he leant back on his chair and put his feet back up on his desk. He crossed his arms behind his head for support and covered his face with a magazine.

Trish heard Dante talking so she returned downstairs. She saw Dante on his chair almost asleep but still she heard noise in the kitchen, so she headed there.

"Nero, you're back!" Trish said after opening the kitchen's door. She found Nero turning on the stove to heat up dinner.

"Trish, yeah. I just… couldn't stand one more minute there watching Lady like that. Makes me feel awful. I should've been there to protect her, but I was too late" Nero said serious and somewhat worried.

Suddenly Dante walked into the kitchen. "It was not your fault kid. It was our fault demons escaped from hell"

"Dante!" Trish turned towards Dante. "It was nobody's fault, okay? It was just meant to happen. Things always happen for a reason. So let's just hope Lady wakes up soon" Trish said somewhat upset and left the kitchen. She headed upstairs again and went straight to the room. She took a deep breath and lied down in bed. Deep down, she felt responsible for what happened in both worlds.

In the kitchen, Nero served himself a plate of pasta. "Is it me, or is Trish kind of upset?" He asked foolish as he took a fork and sat by the table with his plate full of pasta.

"Kind of? Of course she is. But not upset" Dante sat down by the table too to keep Nero company.

Nero was slurping the pasta. "Then what?" He asked curious.

"Well, I think the guilt is upsetting her, because things got out of control and there were consequences" Dante said simply.

"What the heck happened in hell?" Nero wondered. He hadn't had the time to talk with Dante about it. "I feel a lot of tension between you and Trish, that's not normal"

"Many things happened in hell. More than I would've thought could" Dante said serious and with his stare lost in between his hands over the table.

Nero noticed he didn't want to talk about it so he didn't dig up much on the matter. "I see…" He just said and continued eating.

Dante took a deep breath. "Well kid, I'm heading to bed. Feel yourself at home. Well, I don't need to say it 'cause you always do, anyway" He said as he stood up and left the kitchen.

Nero felt even more intrigued. "What could possibly have happened to keep those two such tense?" He wondered. He finished eating and headed upstairs too. He was so tired that as soon as he dropped himself on the bed, he fell asleep.

As for Dante, it wasn't that easy, or at least it was what it seemed. He undressed and left only his underwear on. He went straight into the bathroom. He grabbed hold from the counter top and looked himself in the mirror. He couldn't help to see Vergil's face and it sickened him. It infuriated him so much he almost hit the mirror with his fist, but he stopped just in time. He didn't want to make it even more evident how upset he was. He just rinsed his face in the sink then brushed his teeth. He went to bed, looked at Trish and felt weird. He wanted to touch her, to hold her against his chest like every normal night. But he couldn't. He felt disgusted by the mere thought of her with Vergil. He wished he could just erase all that from his head but it was impossible. He couldn't sleep that night. Every time he closed his eyes he had the same image of them together, invading his head, driving him insane.

The truth was, Trish couldn't sleep either. She was lain on her side, giving her back to Dante, faking to be asleep. She kept waiting till Dante would get close to her and embrace her from behind, but she just felt he got farther and farther away. It made her feel so sad and so guilty. All she wanted was to feel his love, his warmth, his body against hers. And instead, she just felt his rejection. She was afraid he'd end up hating her. She turned to the other side, towards Dante, supposedly in her sleep and she put her arm over his chest trying to embrace him.

Dante surprised when he felt Trish's arm holding his chest. He just grabbed her arm and moved it off his chest, turning away from her. It broke his heart to do that to her, but he just didn't feel right with her yet.

Trish felt even more rejected she wanted to cry. She did her best to keep her tears inside but still her eyes shed silent tears she just couldn't swallow; again she turned away from him deeply unhappy.

Days kept passing by and things didn't get any better for anyone. The atmosphere felt quite tense in the Devil May Cry and Nero just couldn't understand why. One night, right after Trish went to bed and took all the kids with her, Nero was left alone in the living room with Dante.

"When was the last time you had sex?" Nero dared to ask.

Dante just frowned. "Since when do you care about my sex life?"

"Since I haven't heard you guys doing it, since I came here and that's just not right. There's a weird feeling in the house, the air feels tense. Man, I ran away from the hospital, 'cause I couldn't stand to watch Lady in that state. But I'm not even sure now if I'd rather be there than here!" Nero complained.

Dante just raised an eyebrow and said: "In hell…"

Nero raised an eyebrow too, staring at Dante. "In hell what?" He frowned.

"It was the last time we had sex" Dante said serious.

"I knew it, something happened. That's just not normal. You guys used to have sex more times a day than me my whole life, and now not even once? You barely talk to her. What happened? C'mon, spit it" Nero insisted.

"Kid, don't you see I'm trying to forget it and you want me to remember it again?" Dante replied.

"I never thought I would say this, but I need you guys to have sex again. I hate having to see your long faces all day long. The atmosphere is at the next level of tense. I bet even David hates to feel this tension in the air!" Nero kept complaining.

"I didn't want to say anything, but I agree with uncle Nero" Davis said as he suddenly came up from behind.

"Since when are you there?" Dante asked.

"Umm… not much" Dave hesitated.

Dante just sighed. "And you think I don't want to?"

"Then what's stopping you?" Nero insisted. "You both need to release all that tension and we need to breathe pure air again"

"It's not that easy, it's just… I don't feel her mine anymore" Dante said serious with his look down as he rested his forearms on his knees and bent his torso to the front.

"Listen, Dante. I don't know what happened in hell, but…" Nero was saying.

"I do" David interrupted him.

"… you need to solve this with Trish, it's almost unbearable" Nero continued.

"I appreciate your concern, but what we do or stop doing it's not of your damn business" Dante said dryly.

Nero just couldn't reply to that.

"I heard mom crying…" Dave said intriguing.

"What? When?" Dante said surprised.

"Just before I came down. Why do you think I came down? You think I enjoy watching you guys like this? I know you care about her, dad. And I know you do love her. I haven't had the best of times either these past weeks, and I need you guys strong, I need your support and I'm getting nothing" Dave said serious.

Dave's words made Dante feel even worse. He turned to look at Dave. "I'm sorry, kiddo. Come here" Dante said as he extended his arms for him.

David approached to his father and Dante just held him tight against his chest. He embraced him too by the neck.

"I'm sorry we haven't been there for you these past weeks. I promise I will do my best to make amends with your mother, okay?" Dante separated Dave from his chest to look into his eyes.

"You promise?" Dave asked hesitantly.

"I promise" Dante said.

"Mmm… okay" Dave said in disbelief.

"Now, go back to sleep. It's late" Dante said serious.

"Alright…" Dave went back to his room hoping his mom had calmed by now. The hall was quiet so he just went inside his room.

"Okay, now you're gonna tell me what happened. It couldn't have been that bad" Nero insisted.

"Kid, aren't you gonna let it go?" Dante asked.

"Once you tell me, sure" Nero said foolish.

"Okay" Dante said with a sigh. "We encountered some weird demons. Well, we were separated from the start and when I found her, she was with Vergil…" He said slowly.

"Vergil? He's alive then!" Nero said excited.

"It was an illusion. But they were…" Dante continued.

Nero opened his eyes widely. "Having sex?" He completed Dante's phrase. "No way. She would never do that. Besides, you said it yourself, it was just an illusion"

"Still, I saw it with my own eyes" Dante complained.

"I know it's complicated, but still, Trish doesn't deserve your rejection" Nero said. "I bet she said she was sorry"

"Yeah, of course. 'Cause that's all I need to feel better" Dante said sarcastic then stood up. "Goodnight, kid" He went upstairs and tried to get some sleep this time, but he didn't have much luck. Time kept passing by and things just remained the same.

Another month had passed, they were just a week away from Halloween. Nero and Kyrie kept relieving each other at the hospital. Trish stayed for a few days as well. She couldn't help to feel guilty for all that was happening. And she'd see Lady and feel even worse as if she had betrayed her too. But she knew it hadn't been real, but still it made things worse. So she couldn't stay for more than a couple of days, plus the twins needed their mother.

Finally, it was Halloween's day. Kyrie was at the hospital at the moment, but Nero would stay for the night, but since David wanted to go trick-or-treating and as usual Dante didn't want to go, he offered to switch with Kyrie so Nero could go trick-or-treating with Trish and Dave. Kyrie would stay in the house to take care of the twins in the meantime. No one had any complaints, so by the afternoon, Dante went to the hospital to relieve Kyrie and as soon as she got to the Devil May Cry, Nero, Trish and Dave left.

Meanwhile at the hospital, Dante sat on a very uncomfortable chair next to the bed with his stare fixed on Lady. He watched her there motionless and he regretted even more he ever went to Hell with Trish. He wondered how Nero managed to stay at the hospital, sometimes even longer than a week. He had there just around two hours and he couldn't stand it any longer.

Meanwhile, Kyrie bathed the twins and prepared them for bed. For some strange reason, the twins were always nice to Kyrie; as if her pure heart calmed their inner demons, that were now dormant anyway. So she never had troubles with them anyhow.

Nero and Trish had decided to wear their usual devil hunting outfits for the occasion. And David unlike the previous year simply turned into demon form. They were walking down the street when David turned towards them.

"Does it look like I'm wearing a disguise?" Dave asked.

"Umm…" Nero hesitated. "…well a very good one" He laughed nervously.

"Am I gonna scare people like this?" David turned to the front and kept walking forward.

"We'll see" Trish said careless.

Nero just sighed. He felt really sorry for Trish and Dante's situation. Another month had passed since he last talked to Dante and he hadn't seen him even trying to change things, to fix this mess and misunderstanding. "Hey Trish?" He said suddenly and almost in a whisper; he didn't want to call David's attention. "Are you alright?"

"Hm?" Trish turned towards Nero and slightly shook her head. "Yeah…"

"I know things are not well with Dante, but eventually, it'll pass" Nero said.

"Did he tell you what happened?" Trish asked simply.

"Barely, but yeah" Nero said.

"Well, then you should know, it won't pass that easily" Trish said as she kept walking with her stare at the front. But she continued talking. "He barely speaks to me as if I was some kind of stranger" Her voice started to break.

Nero rapidly held her against his chest and rubbed her back. "It'll all come back to normal, you'll see"

David heard his mother's sobs but he rather pretend he hadn't and continued walking. He just didn't want to see his mother break like that.

Crowds of people with kids passed them by, it was a dark night, but the street lamps let the kids see Dave's "disguise".

"Wow, what a cool disguise!" A kid said to Dave as he saw him.

Dave surprised. "Oh, thanks" He said with his devilish voice.

Many kids passed them by running, anxious to get to the houses. Dave slightly turned behind him and saw Nero still holding his mom tight against him. He was sure if his dad saw them like that, he'd rapidly separate them. He even thought that'd be a great idea to put into action later on.

They finally arrived to the neighborhood, the same from the past year and this time they came prepared. Nero had both his Blue Rose and Red Queen. Trish just brought Luce and Ombra (she didn't want to call everyone's attention) and this time, David had brought his new pair of guns.

They approached to the last house first this time. Trish tried to compose herself for David. They went up the steps of the house and David rang the bell. A middle-aged woman opened the door and freaked out after seeing David.

"Trick or treat?" Dave said in his husky voice.

"Oh, Jesus Christ! You almost gave me a heart attack. What an original disguise…" The woman said nervous. After the recent incident in the city, a lot of people were still scared. She returned inside for a few moments then went outside and gave David all the candies she had left. "Merry Christmas!" The woman returned inside and locked herself up in the house.

"It's Halloween!" David said out loud. He shrugged and turned around to go to the next house. He had almost filled up his bucket.

"You should've worn that Batman suit" Nero said.

"Maybe next year then" David said as he rushed to the next house.

Nero and Trish just followed him. It seemed like a quiet night this year, until David rang the bell at every house, getting screams and lots of candies from everyone.

Dave turned towards his mom and Nero. "Should I change into my human form?" He asked dubious.

"I think that'd be for the best" Nero said.

"But then, he wouldn't be wearing any disguise" Trish complained.

"He's not wearing any disguise" Nero said annoyed. Some kids heard him and he just saw their eyes widened, then they ran as if they had seen the devil… "Okay, then let him keep scaring people" Nero said careless as he went ahead to the next house and rang the bell himself.

A young woman opened the door and surprised after seeing Nero. "Aren't you too old for trick-or-treating?" She asked as she laid against the door frame trying to seduce Nero.

"Umm… I'm not…" Nero said nervous.

Suddenly, Dave came up from behind. "Trick or treat?"

The woman covered her mouth trying to mute her scream and shut the door right away on Nero's face.

Nero turned towards Dave. "Can't you be more polite next time?" He complained.

"What did I do?" Dave wondered.

The woman opened up the door again. "I'm sorry, his outfit was quite shocking at first sight. Here, take some candy" She crouched at Dave's level and couldn't help to notice Nero's devil arm. Her eyes widened then she returned her stare to David and tried to find an angelical face behind that disguise. But even his eyes looked demonic. She hesitantly reached a hand to his face and shakily stood up as she felt it so real. "It must have- taken you hours- to do this makeup look so real"

"Yeah, a few hours" Trish faked a smile.

"Goodnight" The woman said as she left the basket of candies at the porch and locked up her door after she went back inside.

Nero turned to look at Dave. "Are you happy?" He said twisting his lips.

David just nodded. "Yeah…"

"It's better than last year" Trish said. "At least no demon has shown up"

"Well, you got a point there" Nero said as he walked alongside Dave to the next house.

Things were sort of the same in every house. They had been trick-or-treating almost for two hours now.

"Honey, it's getting late, we should go back home" Trish said.

"We're almost done with all the houses, mom" Dave pouted.

"Let's skip these two and go straight to the last, okay?" Trish said.

"You mean the first. We started the other way last year" Dave said as he hurried to the first house on the block.

Nero and Trish caught up with him just when he rang the bell and a big, old man opened up the door.

"Hoo… Jesus! That's a good one! He saw Nero and Trish. "I remember you. You came last year with similar outfits. Yours is different" He said staring at Dave. "Quite original. But a demon carrying guns?"

"They carry any kind of weapon" Nero said.

"I suppose you're right" The man went inside and returned with a lot of candies. "Here, take all you want. It's not often you see such united family"

Nero laughed nervously and noticed Trish pissed off with his comment. He hurried to Trish's side and David caught up with them right after.

"Thanks!" David said before leaving.

"I'll wait for you next year!" The man shouted. "I hope real demons don't show up this year…" He turned to go back inside. "…that kid really plays his roll too well" He said to himself.

"Hey Trish, wait up!" Nero yelled as he hurried and finally caught up with her, just like David.

"Why did you run away like that, mom?" Dave asked.

"I hate that man always thinks Nero's my husband" Trish said upset.

"Does it matter?" Nero asked.

"It matters to me. It's Dante who should be here with us!" Trish complained.

Nero felt a little offended. "Well, I'm sorry. I'll make sure not so come with you next year" He said somewhat upset as he walked faster, leaving them behind.

"Mom, you made uncle Nero piss off" Dave complained.

"As if!" Trish said careless.

David caught up with Nero. "Hey, uncle Nero, wait!"

Trish just rolled her eyes annoyed.

Hours before at the hospital…

Dante felt pretty anxious, he was bored to death and quite uncomfortable on that chair. There was a small sofa on the other side of the bed. "Don't tell me they sleep on that tiny thing when they stay here?" Dante wondered. He stood up and leant on the bed. He looked at Lady closer and all the marks on her arms. He thought she must have suffered greatly. He pressed his lips together tightly feeling helplessness. "If I would've been there, I wouldn't have let any single demon scratch you. Why did you have to be so stubborn and go alone?" He sighed as he delicately caressed a side of her face. "I lied…" He said almost in a whisper. "…I did try to kiss you that one time, when we met" He said softly then turned around to go grab a seat now on the sofa.

"I knew it…" Lady whispered slowly.

"What?" Dante turned around surprised. "You're awake!"

Lady slowly opened her eyes and smiled. She felt pretty numb. She turned left and right and wondered where she was. She slowly and with some trouble lifted her left arm and noticed weird needles and tubes connected to her. She pulled them out and sat up. "What happened?" She asked confused.

"You don't remember anything?" Dante asked.

"I…" Lady tried to stand but she felt so dizzy.

Dante rapidly grabbed her by the arm to help her from collapsing. "Take it easy" He chuckled as he got to see her ass with that hospital gown opened from the back.

"What?" Lady wondered.

"I always thought you had a fine ass" Dante said jokey.

"Dante!" Lady tried to slap him but she rather cover her backside and sit down again on the edge of the bed; she felt so weak.

"I'll call the doctor so he can check you up" Dante said serious. He wanted to return home. The sooner, the better. He went out of the room for a moment leaving Lady alone.

Memories started flashing her head; she started remembering everything. She lowered her look and saw the size of her belly. "How long it's been?" She said in a low voice, but right that moment, Dante walked in.

"It's been months you were in a coma" Dante said.

"When did you return?" She asked.

"A week after you suffered the accident, or something like that" Dante said. "The doctor's just coming. He'll check you up and if you're okay, we can go home" Dante said serious.

A few minutes after, the doctor walked into the room with all the equipment needed. He checked her all up, then practiced her an ultrasound to check the baby. He uncovered her belly then applied a cool gel. He started doing the ultrasound.

"When did I get this fat?" Lady said almost in shock.

"In your sleep" Dante said jokey.

Lady looked at the screen and so did Dante.

"Your pregnancy's doing great. You have a very healthy girl growing inside you. And in 6 more weeks you'll be ready to give birth" The doctor said.

"Girl?" Lady repeated. "Wait, did you say 6 weeks?"

"Yes, don't worry, it'll be fine. Nobody's ready for their first child" The doctor tried to encourage her.

"Or the second" Dante added.

"Or third" The doctor continued.

"Touché" Dante replied.

"How are the twins doing by the way?" The doctor asked.

"Pretty good actually" Dante said simply.

"They'd grown a lot last time I saw them" The doc added.

"Yeah, they grow up pretty fast" Dante said. "So, can we go?"

"Yes, I'll sign the papers for her discharge" The doctor said with a smile. "I'll send you the bill later, don't worry about it now"

Dante laughed nervously. "Of course… thanks"

The doctor left the room and went to prepare everything for her discharge.

Dante started walking to-and-fro in the room.

"Dante, could you stop that?" Lady asked annoyed. "You're making me dizzy"

"Why do I have to pay for your hospital bill?" Dante complained.

"Nobody's asking you to pay for it" Lady complained.

"I hope you have enough money to pay for this" Dante said. "Because I don't have any money now and you've been here for months"

"Vergil does" Lady said with a sad expression. "Don't worry, I'll figure it out" She kept pensive. "You didn't happen to hear about Vergil in hell, did you?" She asked curious.

Dante hesitated a little. "Umm… not really" He lied, but he did it for her own good. He just wanted her to be relaxed for the rest of her pregnancy. He didn't think Vergil would come back any time soon.

Suddenly a nurse arrived with Lady's clothes already washed. Lady took them hesitantly. "I doubt, they'd still fit me" She said.

"We have a store at the lobby, you could find something there" The nurse said.

"I'll go get you something" Dante said and left right away. He took a few minutes then returned with a dress. He handed it to Lady.

"A dress? I don't feel very comfortable in them…" Lady said.

"It's just to leave the hospital. Trish can borrow you something later or you can go shopping tomorrow if you'd like. But I wanna go home now" Dante said serious.

"Okay, okay, I'll go change in the bathroom" Lady said as she stood up again. She staggered a little but recovered stability quite fast. "I'm okay" She said before Dante even tried to help her.

Dante waited till she came out of the bathroom then helped her to leave the hospital to finally take her home. It was close to 11:00 pm. He hoped they would arrive before Trish would, with Dave and Nero.

On the ride back to the Devil May Cry, Lady tried to break the ice. Dante had gone real quiet, it was even uncomfortable.

"It feels so weird" Lady said.

"What does?" Dante replied by mere habit.

"That night, it was the first time I felt the baby move" Lady turned serious. "I had lost all hope and my will to live. I had given up… until I felt that kick on my barely round stomach. Look at it now…" She felt like crying. "…I decided to survive for her, but I had run out of ammo and was all injured…"

"I'm sorry Lady. I- wish I could've been there to protect you" Dante said serious while he kept driving.

"I know…" She said sighing.

Then, there was silence again. Dante kept pensive, thinking of Vergil, he wondered where he truly was. And why things always had to go wrong when Vergil was involved.

"So you did try to kiss me…" Lady said jokey.

"Ha! I just did it to see if you liked me, but you rejected me. I mean, I barely reached my face close to yours" Dante said careless.

"And what if I didn't? What would you have done?" Lady wondered, although her tone was no longer jokey.

"Well, if you would've kissed me, I might have kissed you back" Dante said simply.

"Do you think we could've had a chance of being together?" Lady wondered.

"Not really. I've told you a million times you're not my type. Even if we would have, as soon as I met Trish, I would have cheated on you" Dante chuckled. He felt kinda awkward with Lady's seriousness.

"Thanks for being honest" Lady said serious with a sad expression. "The truth is… I- always had feelings for you, but you never noticed"

Dante slightly glimpsed at Lady and kept driving.

"After the incident with Vergil, when we met, I kept trying to be close to you, but you kept pushing me away. You turned bitter and distant. That's why I moved out. Then when Trish came into your life, I saw you smile again and realized I had lost, I never really stood a chance…" Lady said serious.

"I hope Vergil never knows about this, 'cause if he did, he'd rather stay in hell again" Dante said jokey, trying to change the mood now. He noticed Lady's concern. "I care about you, I've always had, you know that. You're like a sister to me" He ruffled her hair a little.

Lady chuckled a little. "I know, I know…" She turned her look down. "…I just felt I needed to tell you that"

Dante just slowly nodded. "I hope Trish never finds out"

"I think she knows. That's why there was a lot of tension between us at first. But I never got in the way, so with time we started becoming closer"

"Right…" Dante replied.

"I guess, we're even now" Lady continued.

"Hm? What do you mean?" Dante wondered confused.

"Well, Trish also had a thing for Vergil, so we're even" Lady said.

Dante held the wheel tighter, wishing Lady wouldn't have said that.

"Before the incident with the demons, I had a nightmare about Vergil and Trish" Lady turned serious again. "They were having sex and Vergil acted in a way he never had with me and Trish stared at me with such evil face…"

Dante almost paralyzed. It sounded just like the illusion he had suffered, except it was Vergil who stared at him with an evil face. "It was just an illusion, Lady"

"What do you mean an illusion?" Lady wondered.

"A nightmare, I meant to say" Dante said foolish. "There's no use in remembering that kind of… dreams"

"You're right. I'll see Trish soon and I need to be okay with her" Lady said.

"Me too…" Dante whispered to himself.

They arrived to the Devil May Cry shop and it seemed Trish and the others hadn't returned yet.

"C'mon, let's go inside" Dante said as he helped Lady get off the car and walk to the entrance. They walked in and there was a complete silence in the house. Dante found it weird, but maybe the twins and Kyrie were already asleep, so he just led Lady to the large sofa and helped her lie down. "You need to rest" He said.

"More? I've been asleep for months! I'll just sit up and wait till they come back. Where is everyone by the way?" Lady wondered curious.

"It's Halloween. Nero took Trish and Dave trick-or-treating" Dante said simply.

"Oh really? So I woke up on a Halloween night like a living dead?" Lady said foolish.

"Yeah, like a freaking zombie" Dante joked. Still, he let Lady rest and went to sit behind his desk to wait for Trish to come back. He wanted to be okay with her again, to sort things out for good. It was time to settle things.

Not so long passed when suddenly the doors of the shop burst opened. Nero was the first to walk in followed by David.

By the way Nero pushed open the doors to enter, Dante noticed he was upset. And first thing Nero noticed was Dante comfortably sat behind his desk. "What the hell are you doing here, Dante? Weren't you supposed to be looking over Lady?" Nero asked suddenly agitated.

"I am" Dante said innocently.

Aside from not being noticed before, Lady turned towards Nero. Nero noticed something move at the sofas and instantly turned towards that direction just like David. Trish had just walked in and after hearing Dave's exciting voice for Lady, she turned to look as well.

"Aunt Lady! You're back to life!" David shouted as he ran to hug her.

Trish's stare found Dante first, and right then she turned towards Lady. And despite of being relieved about Lady's recovery she returned her stare to Dante. Somehow his expression caught her attention. He kept staring at her, motionless; his eyes wide opened, like highly surprised. Trish slowly approached to Dante's desk. Dante reacted, slightly shook his head and stood up. He approached to her bedazzled by her beauty and with his look down, he took her hand.

"I didn't know you still had this outfit" Dante said as he lifted her arm and made her turn around herself.

"You don't like it anymore?" Trish said slyly. She was wearing that black leather corset with the cleavage in a bolt shape.

"I love it, it's my favorite" Dante said seductively staring at her quite penetratingly. "It brings back- so many memories…" He kissed her hand and kept looking deep into her eyes.

"Good or bad memories?" Trish asked slyly.

"Very- good ones…" Dante said.

"Dad, mom, come over here!" Dave yelled interrupting their moment.

Dante and Trish kept staring at each other as if they had just met. He felt so eager to kiss her passionately, but they had company. So he resisted and pulled from Trish's hand heading to the living room with the others. It was late, so maybe if they spend some time with them, they'd all soon go to bed. Dante couldn't wait to be alone with Trish now.

Trish approached to Lady and gave her a hug. "How are you feeling?" She asked then broke away from the hug and looked at her belly. "Look at you, it's been so long. How much longer is left?"

Lady turned her look down a bit shyly. She'd try to forget all her bad thoughts. "The doctor said 6 more weeks"

"What?" Trish said surprised. "That's too soon. You'll have to enjoy these few weeks left while you still can"

"I guess…" Lady said simply.

Dante turned towards a clock on the wall. "It's almost midnight, time to go to bed, Dave"

"But I'm not tired" Dave complained.

"I'll go check on Kyrie" Nero said suddenly. He kinda understood Dante's message. "Goodnight" He said before heading upstairs.

"Night, kid" Dante said.

Dave turned to look at his father. "Why do you keep calling him kid?"

"Because he's still a kid to me" Dante said as he picked David up and carried him on his shoulder against his will, taking him upstairs, leaving Trish alone with Lady.

"I'm so glad you're okay" Trish said to break the silence. But Lady could tell in her expression she looked at her with regret.

"I'm fine, you don't have to stare at me with pity" Lady said suddenly. "The marks will fade with time. It's not your fault or anyone else's, just mine" She said staring elsewhere. It still felt weird to be standing before Trish. "How are things with Dante?" She tried to change the subject.

"Fine, just fine" Trish replied right away. She didn't want Lady to know about their recent problems.

"I'm glad" Lady said. "I wish Vergil would come back soon"

"I think he will… when we least expect it" Trish said remembering Horus words. She thought it was highly possible that Vergil could be trapped. There was no other logical explanation for his disappearance. "I'll go check if everything's fine in your room" Trish said.

"No, don't worry, it's fine. I had been staying there not so long ago, it should remain the same" Lady said shyly. "I guess- I'll go to bed too"

"Alright, Lady. If you need anything, don't hesitate to ask" Trish said.

"Thanks, goodnight" Lady said as she headed upstairs.

"Goodnight" Trish replied. She stayed there at the living room and had a seat on the large sofa. She took a deep breath and wondered if Dante would come back. She wanted him too. For a moment before, when she looked into his eyes, she thought he was back, her Dante staring at her with such passion. She wondered if she had been wrong. She didn't know if she should go to the bedroom or wait for him there; she'd wait for a little longer.

Enough time had passed and Trish thought he just wouldn't come down. She was convinced now that Dante was still upset, maybe he was just pretending before. For how much longer was this gonna last? She was sick of it. She stood up and meant to go upstairs when suddenly she bumped with Dante.

"Dante…" Trish said surprised.

"I'm sorry I took too long. I was waiting for you in the room, but you were taking your time. I came looking for ya…" Dante said caring as he stared deep into her eyes.

Trish simply paralyzed; she felt her heart speeding up in mere seconds. "I- thought- you'd return here, I- don't know why" She said hesitantly.

"I- wanted to be in a more private room, but- it's alright… it can be anywhere" Dante grabbed her by the face and kissed her passionately, slowly at first. They started moaning into each other's mouths almost instantly.

"Dante, oh Dante- I missed you so much…" Trish parted her lips from his for moments, moaning to speak, but she didn't want to stop kissing him. Her lips had longed for his for so long that she wanted to recover all those wasted months.

"I missed you too, baby…" Dante started pushing her towards the sofa and once they were right next to it, he reached his hands to her hips, lifting her off the floor and for a moment he carried her to just lay her down on the large sofa. He took in her sweet scent and started kissing her neck, letting Trish moan more openly.

Trish could almost cry. It had been long since Dante showed her his love for her. She had been starting to doubt if he still loved her. But now she could feel his love in every kiss, in every caress; she could only smile. But she was desperate and anxious to feel him inside of her. Her body urged for his, she needed him. She started taking off his coat with desperation, then he threw it over the center table. Then she took off his shirt.

"Oh Dante…" Trish panted. How much she had missed touching his strong chest. She ran her hands throughout his broad chest and kissed him again passionately.

"Oh Trish…" Dante panted and continued kissing her neck, trailing down to her chest. He undid her corset from the back, pulling the ribbons very slowly, revealing her voluptuous breasts. He started kissing and sucking on them increasing her moans. Then he continued kissing down her abdomen till her navel. He undid her belt then started kissing her thighs. He zipped down her boots and took them off slowly to then take her trousers off in one single move. He set upon her and stared at her deeply.

"I love you, baby. I love you so damn much…" Dante said as Trish rapidly wrapped her arms around his neck pulling him into a kiss.

"I love you too, Dante…" She said moaning between kisses as she reached her hands to his belt. She undid it and pulled the zipper down. She started rubbing his cock over his underwear, she desperately wanted it. "Oh Dante…"

Dante lifted his torso a little, resting his body over an arm, while with the other he pulled his trousers down a bit together with his underwear to be able to release his cock. Suddenly Dante heard footsteps coming closer. He lifted his head over the sofa and saw David approaching. He just made him a sign with his hand so he'd return upstairs.

"Oh Dante…" Trish moaned unaware of the situation and Dante just hoped David had understood and would return upstairs.

David felt a little ignored at first, but as soon as he heard his mom's voice moaning like that and saw his father shirtless, he understood what was happening and returned upstairs. He was happy that his parents were finally making peace, more like… love.

Dante kissed Trish again, very slowly and full of desire. He was on his knees, bent towards Trish then she reached her hands to his cock and started rubbing it. She desperately wanted it inside her; she was so wet, her thong was already soaked. Dante wanted to just thrust her in one strong move but he pulled down her thong and took it off, while he spread her legs and settled upon her, reaching the tip of his cock to her wet opening. He rubbed the head up and down her clit so smoothly then reached just the tip inside her.

"Oh Dante…" Trish moaned desperately.

Despite being so wet, Trish's pussy was very tight. Dante struggled a bit forcing his way inside her until he could ram it all in but slowly, making Trish moan even deeper.

"Oh Trish, God I missed you…" Dante moaned feeling her tightness. And Trish just couldn't help to moan louder, she tried to hold back, but it was quite hard. "See why I told you I wanted to be in a more private room?" He whispered softly as he moved his hips slowly, back and forth.

"Oh Dante… oh God- it feels so good, I can feel every inch of you… oh Dante, Dante…" Her heart speeded up just as her hips, meeting Dante's much faster now. Trish started moaning louder as she came. "…oh Dante…" Trish embraced him by the neck strongly and stopped moving her hips.

"Oh baby, I missed your body shaking and your pussy throbbing this much" Dante panted as he stopped too and just enjoyed how strong her pussy's pulsations squeezed his cock.

"Oh Dante, I didn't want to cum so fast. I'm sorry, I just couldn't control it. I just wanted you so much, it felt so damn good. I longed so much to feel you again…" Trish said as she stared deep into his eyes.

"Me too, baby. You have no idea how much" Dante said serious as he kissed her again, very softly, slow and profoundly. "But I want this to last a lot longer…" He panted in between kisses. "…I wanna compensate you for not making love to you these past months"

"Oh Dante…" Trish looked into his eyes and kissed him again.

Dante clasped her arms around his neck then reached his hands underneath her back to lift her off the sofa. He stood up without ever stopping his kisses. He carefully headed upstairs and turned off the lights as he went up.

They kept kissing and moaning all the way through the stairs and the corridor. Nero had just opened the door of the room when he saw a half-naked Dante walking to his room, holding a fully nude Trish. His eyes opened widely.

"Me and my perfect timing…" Nero whispered and rather return to the room. He closed the door and leant on it from the inside.

"What is it, Nero?" Kyrie wondered. "You're suddenly agitated"

"I think it'd be the best if the twins sleep with us tonight" Nero said serious.

"Why? They can't sleep with us on this tiny bed" Kyrie complained.

"Kyrie…" Nero approached to the bed slowly. "…you do remember how tense Dante and Trish were these past months, right?"

"Yes…" Kyrie said innocently.

"Well, they had had a fight in hell and they hadn't even had sex all this time, until now. And I bet it's gonna be wild. I'm happy for them. Man, it was uncomfortable to be around them. Finally, things are gonna go back to normal" Nero said relieved.

"Oh… I see. Then- yes. You're right. They'd be better with us tonight" Kyrie said softly, trying not to wake the twins up. "I'm happy Lady woke up too" She said.

"Yeah, I think her awakening brought good luck. Who knows, maybe even Vergil might return" Nero said foolish.

Meanwhile, in Dante's bedroom.

Dante laid Trish down on the bed very softly. He was still inside her so he moved carefully. He was kissing her lips very passionately, then moved his lips to her neck, making Trish shiver.

Suddenly, Trish turned to a side and saw the crib empty. "Where are the twins?" She asked worried.

"Kyrie's taking care of them, don't worry. They should be asleep" Dante whispered between kisses. He started roaming his lips down to her chest, then a little more to her soft breasts.

"Oh Dante…" Trish moaned and reached her hands to his head. She just loves the way he licks and sucks on her breasts.

Dante continued moving his hips back and forth, feeling Trish's inner walls embracing his length the entire time.

"Oh Dante… oh my God…" Trish moaned intensely. "…oh, you feel so good, baby…" She panted as she pushed his head harder against her breasts forcing him to suck on her breasts even harder. "…ahh… ahh… Dante…"

Dante was enjoying her breasts and hard nipples so much, let alone her tight pussy. But Trish was getting really loud and the house was crowded, so he started kissing her lips again, now moaning into each other's mouths. They were both moaning, but their moans were a bit reduced with the kisses.

David, in his room, could hear them more than well either way.

Suddenly Dante got on his knees and lifted Trish's legs in a "V" shape. He reached even deeper inside her then started increasing his speed. "Oh baby…" Dante panted.

"Oh Dante! Yes… oh like that, baby… oh…" Trish moaned harder, she couldn't help it. Even if she tried to keep it down, it was inevitable. She just moaned louder and louder. "Ah-ha… ah-haa… Dante!"

David just covered his head with the pillow trying to get some sleep. He was very happy his parents had returned to normal, but he knew there'd be consequences, and he was suffering them now.

"Oh, you were right, Nero" Kyrie said covering the twins' ears.

"Don't even bother" Nero said. "I bet they're used to it already" He just said and turned to the other side. Listening to Trish's moans was making him horny and he couldn't do anything right now, so he just gave his back to Kyrie. "We should return home tomorrow"

Nero couldn't see it, but Kyrie's face was completely red. She was so embarrassed from listening to Dante and Trish's intimate moment. "Yes, we should" She said without hesitation.

Lady, at the last room in the hall, could only hear to their faint moans. Still, it made her feel uncomfortable.

In the meantime, Dante just didn't want to stop pleasing Trish. He couldn't understand why it felt even better every time.

"Oh baby…" I just don't want to stop making love to you" Dante said as he slowly pulled out from her. "I just love your expressions, how you moan my name, how you squeeze my cock…" He slowly moved and laid down beside her.

"Then don't stop, baby" Trish panted and cuddled up with Dante.

"Are you tired?" Dante asked.

"I am more aroused" Trish said as she stared at Dante for moments, then she turned her stare to his still hard cock.

Dante grabbed more pillows and put them behind him; he laid against them and was more seated now.

Trish reached a hand to his cock and started jerking him off. Then she reached her lips to the head; she liked it all around then introduced it in her mouth. She started sucking just the head then a little more, a little more, a little more until she had all of it in her mouth, reaching her throat.

"Oh Trish…" Dante shivered. "…oh I missed your blowjobs so damn much" He panted as he reached a hand to her head, forcing his cock deeper into her mouth every time she tried to pull it out.

Trish started moaning as she sucked it all. Then Dante stopped applying force on her head and just let her do her thing. He just enjoyed the moment.

Trish moved in front of him and Dante got even a better view from her. He could see her breasts then he reached a hand to her pussy and felt it soaking.

"Oh baby, you're so wet…" Dante moaned.

"Mhmm…" Trish moaned with her mouthful.

Dante pulled her up from her arm and she ended up straddled on his lap. He grabbed his cock and guided it straight into her pussy.

"Oh… Dante…" Trish said almost breathless as she felt all his length reaching deeper and deeper inside of her, so slowly. She moved her hips up and down, still slow feeling all of his length scraping her inner walls. She couldn't tell why but, she could feel his cock more intensely now. "Oh Dante… oh it feels so good…" She panted full of desire.

"So good, baby" Dante panted as he reached his hands to her ass and helped her bounce.

She kept moving slow, enjoying every inch of him, then she embraced him tightly by the neck and reached her chest closer to his. Her breasts were almost at his face, so he didn't hesitate and sucked on them. Trish arched her back so full of ardor as Dante licked her nipples. He then pulled her closer into a kiss. Trish embraced him again without ever stopping the move of her hips, but it felt even better every second. She tried to keep her moans down but it was simply impossible.

"Ah-ha…ah-haa… oh Dante… Dante, it feels so good…" Trish's hips started moving faster. She embraced Dante's neck tighter and glued her chest to his. Dante started moving his hips faster too, synchronizing with her moves. Then he just heard how her moans intensified, her grip on his neck was tighter and her moves suddenly slowed down until she just stopped. He could feel her heart pounding against his chest and her pussy palpitating so strongly against his cock. Her breathing was completely out of control and she couldn't stop moaning yet.

"Oh God, Dante…" Trish panted while she kept embracing him. "…what the hell happened to your cock these past months?" She wondered foolish.

"What do you mean?" Dante wondered confused.

"Don't get me wrong, it's always been so, so good. But now it's- even beyond imaginable of good. Oh Dante, I love your cock" Trish said moaning.

Dante just grinned. "Maybe I just want to please you like never before" Dante whispered into her mouth.

"Well, you're doing a great job, amazing job…" Trish said enticingly.

Dante started moving his hips slowly, pounding her moderately, then Trish started moving her hips too again, meeting with his every move. "Oh baby…" Dante moaned and reached his lips to hers kissing her so passionately.

Trish felt Dante's moves increasing so she just let him pound her so fast and strong. "Oh Dante, yes baby, yes! Ah-ha… ahh!" Trish came again and felt how Dante's cock pulsated inside her, releasing his magical elixir.

"Oh Trish, ahh…" Dante moaned and squeezed her ass so strongly. He thrust her a few more times, slow but forcefully. "…oh baby" He kept panting.

Trish's pussy kept pulsing too, squeezing Dante's cock till the very last drop.

"I love it when you moan so strong…" Trish whispered.

Dante chuckled. "I was trying to hold back" He panted.

"I could still hear you…" Trish grinned.

"I hope nobody heard us" Dante said.

"Oh, I bet everyone did. But I don't care. I missed you so damn much, why should I hold back my emotions?" Trish said.

"You're right, baby. But still, I bet they'll be staring at us weird tomorrow" Dante said jokey.

"They should be used to it already" Trish replied.

Dante just held her so tight. "I think we need a shower"

"Yup!" Trish said.

They headed to the bathroom and took a fast shower. Trish just wore a silky nightgown and Dante just some underwear. They got in bed, and Trish instantly cuddled up with Dante. She held him so tight and sighed. It felt so good to be this close again.

Dante held her so tight against him too. "I missed you, baby. I'm sorry I acted like a complete fool before" He said serious as he caressed her arms.

"Don't worry, baby. I'm glad that heartless Dante is gone" Trish said.

"Heartless?" Dante repeated.

"And selfish" Trish added.

"What? But…" Dante complained.

"It's okay, baby. I know you cared, you just… I even thought you had stopped loving me" Trish said.

"What? Never, never think that, baby. That just could never happen" Dante said. He hadn't realized how his feelings affected Trish and everyone around them actually. "Even if that would've been real, I'd never stop loving you"

"Me neither, Dante" Trish whispered. "So that would just never happen"

"But I can promise you one thing" Dante continued.

"What's that?" Trish wondered.

"If Vergil ever comes back, I'm gonna kick his ass" Dante said certain.

"Ugh… Dante, just cut that out" Trish said annoyed as she turned to the other side.

"I swear" He said as he turned towards her and spooned her.

"I know you do" Trish said simply and tried to sleep.

The next morning, Nero was the first to wake up. He was really thirsty. He was gonna go get a glass of water the previous night when he caught Dante and Trish and after that, he didn't want to leave the room. So, now, he carefully got out of bed, trying not to wake the twins. He tiptoed till the door and opened it real slow. Once outside of the room, he walked more freely. He went to the kitchen, served himself a glass of water and went to sit to the living room to wait till the others would wake up. But as soon as he got there, his eyes widened in shock. He found all of Trish's clothes, including her tiny thong on the floor, Dante's shirt and coat, everything strewn in between the sofas. He didn't want Kyrie to see this, so he tried to take it somewhere else. But he couldn't grab Trish's clothes just like that, so he just covered them with Dante's coat, when suddenly from behind he heard a voice.

"Nero, what are you doing?" Kyrie asked carrying the twins in her arms.

Nero almost jumped after hearing her voice. "Nothing… just…"

"Why don't you give me a hand, I can't carry them both" Kyrie complained. "They're too heavy for me"

Nero hurried to her side and tried to get her away from the living room. He took Mallory and held her against his chest so naturally. "Let's go to the kitchen" He said a bit nervous.

They headed to the kitchen and shortly after Lady joined them followed by David. They all seemed kinda tired though.

"Those two never change, do they?" Lady said. "They don't care who's in the house or where. At least my room is the farthest from theirs"

"Tell me about it. I couldn't get a wink until who knows when" Dave complained. "It's not good having the room next to theirs"

"Oh, poor Dave…" Lady smirked and approached to him. She pulled from one of his cheeks. "When are you going back to school"

"Well, it's almost vacations now, so I better return till January" Dave said.

Lady just twisted her lips and raised an eyebrow. "You clever kid, no doubt you're Dante's son"

David just grinned showing his teeth.

Suddenly Dante and Trish walked into the kitchen, both of them with huge smiles. They noticed everyone seemed tired.

"Good morning, everybody!" Trish said full of energy.

"Hey, what's with your long faces?" Dante asked foolish. "You had troubles sleeping last night?" He mocked.

Everyone turned to look at him with a twisted expression, except for Kyrie of course.

Trish just slightly giggled. She approached to Kyrie and took Danny in her arms. "Did they give you any troubles last night?"

"Not at all, they slept like two little angels" Kyrie said sweetly.

"I'm glad. You're really good with kids" Trish said.

"Oh well, I've been taking care of orphans for years now" Kyrie said. "I've learned a few things" She said shyly.

"It reminds me…" Nero said. "…now that we're all cool, and Lady's here with you, I think it's time Kyrie and I return to Fortuna"

"Oh…" Dante said. "…what about our job?" Dante asked.

"We gotta put that on hold for a while. The van's completely wrecked and I gotta fix it first. So… you can go back to working on your own for a while" Nero said serious.

"As if you were of any help, anyway" Dante said careless with a sigh.

"What!" Nero complained. "Oh, you'll miss me!"

"You wish!" Dante replied.

"Well, promise you'll come visit us often" Trish said.

"It's not like we're moving out to another city" Nero said.

"But you are. Fortuna is another city, kid" Dante said just to bother him.

"Whatever…" Nero said tired. "We'll get going after breakfast"

"I knew it…" Dante said as he took Mallory from Nero's arms. "…hey, you missed me, beautiful?" He said as he lifted Mallory in the air for moments before he pulled her closer to his chest.

Mallory just giggled and embraced Dante very tightly from the neck.

Trish prepared breakfast for everyone, and as promised, right after finishing Nero and Kyrie left. Dante offered to give them a ride, but Nero refused. He said they'd find a taxi or something.

It was late in the afternoon, when a well-dressed man walked inside a bar. He was meeting with a girl who contacted him to get information. He was a journalist from the "Occult Times" magazine. He didn't know the girl but it didn't take him long to recognize her. He walked towards a tall table where a young woman dressed in a strange attire was sitting alone. She seemed rowdy; her hair was black and messy and she wore eye glasses. She didn't wait for him and already had a drink at the table; a boilermaker. She seemed anxious. She was toying with a shot of bourbon beside the beer mug, when suddenly the man approached to her.

"Hello, I'm Jeffrey… Jeffrey Turner" The man said nervous.

"You can call me Miss Goldstein" The girl said serious as she put a magazine over the table. A copy from "Occult Times" from five years ago.

Jeffrey got all nostalgic after seeing it. His eyes illuminated as it was the issue containing the first article he ever wrote about how the "Savior" attacked Fortuna. "My first article is within these pages…" He had a seat in front of her and turned the magazine towards him. He opened it and started turning on the pages looking for it"

"And you think I care about your nostalgia? That's not what I made you come here" The girl said.

"Of course" Jeffrey replied and kept pensive, wondering how this young girl knew about Fortuna, for it is a very secluded region of the world and its citizens are quite antiquated. "I didn't witness the events for myself, but I heard the city was destroyed by a white giant" He said serious.

"I did read the article, and while the events seemed exaggerated or mixed with falseness, those events did happen" She said serious.

"I know, I tried to investigate the Order of the Sword but key members had disappeared and others became skeptical of the Order's creed. And people just wouldn't speak to an outsider" He said as he clasped his hands over the magazine and turned his look down.

The girl whistled quite loud and shouted. "A beer!" She pointed at Jeffrey and he was served a beer soon after. "You drink beer?" She asked.

"Sure…" He replied and had a sip of the beer. "I believe that white giant was the result of a failed summoning ritual that destroyed the city"

"I tried to investigate myself back then, but everything was destroyed and most places were blocked by "no entry" signs and people would just stare at me funny knowing I was an outsider" She said sorrowful.

Jeffrey still wondered what was her interest on the matter. But he lifted his mug hoping to make a toast but the girl completely ignored him as instead she focused on the magazine and turned it her way. He just sighed and put his mug down.

The girl began turning the pages eagerly until she found the picture of Fortuna covered in rubble. In the picture, there's a young man whose face was concealed. "This…" She pointed at the guy in the picture. "…who's this?"

"That's "N"" Jeffrey replied simply. "He was my main "informer" about the story, although he didn't provide that much helpful information"

"Did he seem like a member of the Order?" The girl asked.

"Indeed, he was. But he had already departed from them" He said.

"What's his name?" She asked anxious.

"I'm sorry, but that's classified information" Jeffrey just wouldn't give out his name that easily. "Why do you want to know his name?"

The girl instantly replied. "I wanna meet him"

He raised an eyebrow and stared at her funny. "I don't usually remember people's names, but this case was special. It was my first, and I was very enthusiastic about it…" Jeffrey replied.

"Yeah- yeah… name" She insisted.

Jeffrey cracked his neck to the left. "Now my career's been plummeting and…" He could feel the girl's glare all over him. "…alright, alright… his name- is Nero" He said finally.

"Nero…" She repeated in a whisper. "Does he have a surname?" She asked.

"I suppose, but that's all I know" Jeff replied. "Why are you going to Fortuna anyway?" He wondered.

"I'm aiming high…" She said staring at the ceiling with a dreamy expression. She then dropped the shot of bourbon inside the beer mug and drank it all up in less than five seconds.

Jeffrey simply stared at her amazed. Then he just watched her standing up and leave. She left the magazine over the table so he meant to give it back but she turned towards him and said:

"You can keep that as a memento" She said then walked out the door.

"Guess I'll have to pay for the drinks" He said as he continued drinking on his own. He kept trying to remember if he ever heard the name Goldstein before but he wasn't very used to drinking and the alcohol was starting to block his thoughts.

Having acquired the information she needed, Miss Goldstein set her course to Fortuna City. It was late but she wanted to get there as soon as possible. She arrived a few hours after midnight; she was really tired but decided to achieve her goals, and her main goal now, was finding Nero.

As secluded as the town is and its people reserved, at the precise hour it seemed like a ghost town. No single soul out there. After the incident with the Savior, a great part of the city remained on ruins. The church was one of the few places to be fully rebuilt; Miss Goldstein spent the night in there.

The next morning, she woke up after the big doors of the Church were opened. She didn't want to be seen, she knew she'd be rejected, but she was eager to find Nero. She was sure he was the only one who could help her in her journey. For her luck, it was only a young man who had entered the Church and thanks to the hooded tunic he was wearing, he hadn't noticed her.

The young man walked past the aisle then kneeled before the massive statue of Sparda for a prayer.

The young girl approached to the man from behind quite stealthily. She blew on a candle and the sound of her breath made the man turn behind himself. He turned left and right and just noticed the flame from the big candle had extinguished. He found it odd, but he hadn't seen anyone else in the Church. And before he knew it, he was on the floor, face down, knocked by that big candle base. It was as hard as steel but it was made of copper.

"I'm sorry…" Miss Goldstein said, still with the base in hand. She put it back on its place and approached to the young man. She crouched beside him. "I- I swear it's for a good cause…" She started stuttering. But she didn't have much time, so she did all she could to strip him of his tunic. "…thank you" She said as she put it on. "…I- I swear something good will come out of this" She said nervous and hurried to the entrance. She didn't want to get caught. She slowly opened the door and walked out. "Now, I can go unseen in this town" She said excited and very anxious to find Nero.

Just as Nero and Kyrie arrived back to town, they went to pick up the orphan kids Carlo and Julio. A family who lives nearby their home were taking care of them for the moment. Just when they saw Nero and Kyrie, they were absolutely happy to see them again. They had gotten so used to them within the years since the incident that being away from them for weeks felt like ages for them. But they were finally reunited again. Nero barely had some time to relax after getting home.

The next morning, Nero went to work in the garage. He had so many things to fix, so many things left undone that he just didn't know where to start. Julio enjoyed spending time with Nero, plus he always learns a thing or two when he observes him work.

Nero looked at the van with a devastated expression. He caressed a side of it as if it was a person.

"I'm sorry, I swear I'll fix you…" Nero whispered.

"Looks pretty bad" Julio said innocently. "You'll start with it?"

"Nah, I need a lot of money to fix it and parts. I'll start with smaller things" Nero replied as he slid the van's door and climbed in. He had thrown all his weapons inside the last time including Lady's. He grabbed his main weapons and got off. He began with Blue Rose. It had been in constant use lately, it needed maintenance. He was teaching Julio how to disassemble a gun, clean it and then put it back together. This way he could teach him about each separate part; although he warned him to be very careful with guns. They're not toys kids his age should be playing with.

Then it was Red Queen's turn. He had gone crazy with it when fighting the demons, he just couldn't get it to rev properly. "Are you pouting?" He said jokey to the sword.

Nero kept trying to fix it but he just couldn't find the problem.

"I think that's its way of saying, yes I am!" Julio said playfully. He heard footsteps approaching so he walked towards the gate and lifted it a little; he saw this strange woman outside.

Nero was very focused on his work he didn't pay too much attention to Julio. "Hey, don't go too far, alright?" Nero said thoughtlessly.

But not so long after, Julio returned to Nero's side. "There's a strange woman outside" He almost whispered.

Nero surprised a little. "What makes her so strange? Does she have three eyes and no nose?" He said jokey.

"Four eyes, I'd say…" Julio shook his head a little. "…it's not her looks what's weird, it's the fact that she said she was looking for you"

"For me?" Nero replied foolish.

"Yes, she said Nero" Julio replied.

After the incident in Fortuna, Nero had become wary of strangers and reporters, novelists, as people in the field came to the city to find out details about the incident but Nero wouldn't ever say the truth.

"She's got dark skin and she's wearing glasses" Julio added.

"Dark skin?" Nero rapidly thought of Gloria, but why would Trish come to his home in disguise of Gloria? That just didn't make any sense. "Is her hair white?" Nero asked.

"No, her hair is black and frizzy" Julio said innocently.

Overhearing this and finally freeing from that ridiculous tunic she had to wear, Miss Goldstein let herself in to the garage. "Who has black, frizzy hair, you stupid brat!"

Julio rapidly pointed at her.

"It's rude to point, brat" Miss Goldstein replied quite annoyed. She had never been welcomed in Fortuna but being insulted above all was beyond tolerable.

"Go to Kyrie" Nero said seriously to Julio.

Julio would normally retort, but due to Nero's seriousness, he simply listened.

"What is it what you're looking for in this forsaken town?" Nero asked while he made sure to keep his Devil Bringer hidden. He still used it to tell if a person was good or evil, a demon or not. But he didn't get any reaction from his arm about this woman, so he relaxed a little.

"Are you Nero?" Miss Goldstein asked already with a cigarette between her lips. She stared at the white-haired man with an eyebrow raised.

"Could you turn that thing off first?" Nero complained. "I hate smokes, besides haven't you had a look around? You want to blow us up?"

"You should save your lectures for that bratty kid" She said carelessly.

Nero couldn't help to get irritated by her rudeness. "Either you put that out or get out!"

Miss Goldstein instantly dropped the cigarette on the floor and squashed it with her boot. "Is this better, no smoking boy?" She felt she had started with the wrong foot, plus she was finally face to face with the person that could help her out, so she'd do things his way.

Nero could just think what an unpleasant woman she was. He thought she should be around his age or perhaps a little younger, but she acted as if she were older than him.

She let herself in with her arms up in the air. "Are you going to hit me? A frail woman?" She said teasing as she approached to him; she could feel his glare all over her. She walked past him and noticed Nero's Devil Bringer. Nero paralyzed; he was unsure of how she'd react. She acted careless and went to sit on a box at a corner. She turned her look at Nero, whom was still paralyzed with his eyes wide opened staring back at her. "What? Have a complex about it? Don't worry, it's part of who you are" She turned her look down and closed her eyes. "My name is Nicoletta Goldstein and I have a favor to ask of you" After no reply, Nico opened her eyes and looked at Nero again waiting for an answer.

Nero gave a step back surprised. "Well, I don't know how you know my name or what you want from me. I don't even know who you are, why should I help you?" Nero replied simply.

"I just told you my name" Nico complained right away.

"So? You're not even from here, what do you want in this town?" Nero asked.

Nico turned her look down again and clasped her hands. "I'm after some documents"

"Documents?" Nero said frowning.

"Yeah, demonic research documents I know are being held by the Order of the Sword" Nico said.

Nero noticed no ill will in her words, she seemed curious more than anything. And she seemed to know about the subject, what surprised him a lot. "How do you know about this?" Nero wondered.

"I've done my research, spoken to a lot of different people and I came to the conclusion that you'd be the only person who could help me" Nico said.

The fact that she knew about those documents and the Order and not knowing about her made him feel unsure of helping her so he rejected her request. "I'm sorry, but I cannot give a stranger such valuable information"

Nico wouldn't give up that easily. She knew Nero had been involved in the incident from 5 years ago, so she had an idea that could make Nero change his mind. "So… how's Agnus doing?"

Nero was shocked after hearing that name, specially coming from her lips. "He was killed" He said careless.

"I heard about that rumor" She said with a strangely sad expression.

"How do you know about that asshole?" Nero wondered.

"He happens to be my biological father" She said simply.

"What!" Nero surprised and shocked at the same time. If he had been drinking, he would have spitted all at her face. "No way? Are you serious?"

"Yeah, what bad luck, huh?" Nico replied simply keeping her stare down.

"You're his daughter?" Nero just couldn't believe it yet. He walked towards her, turned left then right then covered his face in disbelief. Then he stared at her focused one more time. "Man, this is crazy! I can't believe that asshole had a daughter. Who would marry such a lunatic?" Nero said foolish.

"Hey- hey, watch it! More respect to my mother who's in the heavens" Nico replied somewhat upset.

"Relax, sorry. I didn't mean to insult her" Nero apologized.

Suddenly Nico noticed Red Queen and her instinct made her instantly stand up and go grab it.

"Hey! Who gave you permission to touch my stuff?" Nero scolded her.

Nico ignored him and instead she began to examine the sword. She got so excited about its design that she began to stutter. "Thi- this- is- su- such an amazing piece…"

Nero tried to snatch it from her, but after failing several times, he stopped and watched how she identified the problem and began to repair it.

Nico put the sword over a work table Nero has in the garage and looked for the tools she needed to fix it. She went back and forth, left and right inside Nero's garage as if she were home, it was as if she knew where to find anything. "You're an idiot! How could you not keep its regular maintenance?" She scolded him now.

Nero just looked at her and began to accept this girl in front of him was indeed Agnus' daughter. They seemed to share the same love of research and even have a similar skin color, plus she seemed very skilled.

Nico finally repaired Red Queen. "Baby, how you doin'?" She tested it out by reving it, but its power knocked her onto the floor.

Nero thought she'd get upset so he helped her up.

"Very rowdy, but a cutie" Nico replied with a smile as she took Nero's hand to stand up. She handed Red Queen back to Nero.

"I'm in debt with you now" Nero said.

"We could- change that…" Nico said lifting both of her eyebrows several times as she went to sit back on the box.

Nero totally knew what she meant. "Alright, I'll show you those documents, or rather what's left of them" He said finally.

"Yes!" Nico said excited and couldn't help to smile from ear to ear. "From now on, you can get to call me Nico"

"Wow, thanks… you can call me Nero" Nero replied foolish and sarcastic. But now, he couldn't help to think of Dante. The murderer of Nico's father.

Nico stared at Nero for a moment wondering what he thought about that kept him paralyzed. She pulled out a penny from her pockets and tossed it towards Nero. "A penny for your thoughts" She said out loud.

Nero unconsciously caught the coin and got back to reality. "What?" He replied foolish. "It's nothing…" He seemed pensive still, though.

"Then let's get our asses going" Nico said as she stood up from the box and dusted off her clothes.

"Yeah…" Nero sighed. "Let me just go tell Kyrie" He went inside the house and just told Kyrie he'd be back in a few hours.

Kyrie didn't even have the time to reply or ask anything for Nero was gone in mere seconds. She surprised but she trusted Nero enough to leave him be.

Julio in the other hand, thought it was suspicious. He wondered where he was going with that woman. For it was evident he was leaving with her somewhere. He meant to follow Nero but Kyrie stopped him.

"Julio, where are you going?" Kyrie asked simply.

"I just…" Julio didn't know what to say.

"Let him do whatever he needs" Kyrie replied.

"…but, there was a strange woman with him" Julio insisted.

"A woman?" Kyrie surprised a little. "How did she look like?" She couldn't help to feel curious about her.

"Well, her skin was a little dark and she had black frizzy hair. Do you know her?" Julio barely described Nico by the edges.

Kyrie frowned. That didn't sound either like Lady or Trish. "I think not. But I'm sure Nero has a reason to go with her, wherever they're going" She said simply and continued with her chores.

Julio sighed, thinking Kyrie was way too good to be treated that way. But if she trusted Nero that much, there was nothing he could do.

Nero returned to the garage and headed to the gate. He fully opened it and walked outside. "You coming?" He said.

"What about the van? Is that place too close from here?" Nico asked.

"Nope, but the van is also broken. I thought you were anxious to get your hands on those documents" Nero said.

"Of course I am! I don't mind walking. I've been walking since yesterday. What's a few more miles…" Nico said jokey, although the truth was, she was really exhausted. She stepped out of the garage and Nero closed down the gate.

Nero started walking; Nico followed him after picking up the tunic. She caught up with him in a few seconds. She walked alongside of him a little nervous.

"Should I- wear this again?" Nico said hesitantly.

"Where did you get that from?" He wondered.

"I borrowed it…" Nico said suspiciously.

Nero frowned thinking she sounded very suspicious. No one in town would borrow its tunic to a stranger much less to an outsider. "Really?" He looked at her innocent face. She didn't look dangerous in the slightest and she seemed fragile like Kyrie; although her attitude was fearless and courageous. He liked that about her.

"Yeah…" Nico blushed a little after getting Nero's whole attention. She turned her look elsewhere.

Nero snatched the tunic from her hands and threw it on a side of the sidewalk. "You don't need to wear that while you're with me. People would stare at you funny if you wear it though, 'cause I normally don't hang out with that kind of people. Whoever you stole that from, must be looking for it" Nero said playfully.

"I- I didn't steal it, I said…" Nico kept trying to defend herself.

"That you borrowed it, right…" Nero said as he stopped walking for a moment and turned towards her, reaching his face real close to hers.

Nico paralyzed and blushed even more. Her heart speeded up for no reason, staring at Nero with her eyes wide opened. Nero noticed her nervousness and shyly moved away from her. It was him now who felt nervous all of a sudden. "I- I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable" He said nervous as he rubbed the back of his head. There were people staring and everybody in town knew him and his relationship with Kyrie, so he rather keep distance from Nico from then on. He started walking faster.

Nico was left behind a little then hurried up and walked at his pace. "So, who's this Kyrie, your wife?" Nico wondered.

"Wife? No, of course not. She's just my girlfriend" Nero replied.

"Just? I bet if she heard you say that she'd feel disappointed" Nico said jokey and somehow dissatisfied. She thought Nero was very attractive, but she surely didn't have any chances with him so she rather keep her distance with him.

"I didn't mean it in a bad way, I just meant that…" Nero said.

"I know, relax. There's no hidden cameras to snitch on you" Nico said jokey as she kept walking beside him.

They walked for about 30 minutes; they were finally reaching the Castle. Nero turned left and right, hiding behind a wall. He looked quite suspicious, but he wanted to make sure nobody was watching them. Once the path was clear, he stealthily moved towards the back of the Castle. "C'mon, this way" He made a gesture with his hand to Nico so she'd follow him. Once at the back of the Castle, he lifted a lever on the ground and opened a hidden path. They entered to the Castle's underground passageway. Suddenly, Nero stopped, making Nico bump with him.

"What the…?" Nico said upset.

"Okay. We're only doing this once, so you better grab all you want, 'cause we ain't coming back. I haven't been in this place for years. I'm not even sure I remember the way" Nero said serious.

"Well, I don't think it'd be that hard to find my father's lab, right?" Nico said simply as she stared at Nero for a moment then continued without him. They were before two doors so she just opened he closest one and walked in. Nico paralyzed as she saw a long and narrow path with large spikes protruding from the walls and the floor and before she knew it, two big blades suddenly protruded from the walls beside her standing point.

"Wait!" Nero yelled as he heard how a booby trap was activated. He didn't know what kind of trap it could be he didn't think it twice and rapidly pulled from Nico's hand pulling her towards him. He rapidly walked out of the room and closed that door, pinning Nico against the wall in between the two doors. Their breathing had speeded up as adrenaline took over them. "Why the hell did you do that!" Nero panted as he separated his body a little bit from hers.

"I- I didn't know there'd be traps!" Nico complained. "What kind of place is this?"

"Why do you think I stopped here?" Nero kept complaining. "You wanna turn yourself into minced meat?"

"Okay, relax! I won't do it again" Nico said.

Nero took a deep breath. "Are you okay?" He asked worried.

"Yeah…" Nico replied shyly after realizing how close they were.

"I'll take the lead" Nero said serious. He moved away from her and continued walking.

"Yes, sir!" Nico said jokey as she stood like a soldier, but she moved her hand too fast she hit her forehead. She noticed Nero's sudden seriousness so she just followed him. "Huh… I get it, so it's a 50/50 chance every time we open a door"

"Chance of surviving? You could say…" Nero replied careless. "But that's not how it works. It's more like right or wrong. Although the last two doors are different, either you enter the lab or you're taken back to start" Nero said simply.

"Really?" Nico replied.

"Yeah, so just follow me and don't do anything stupid" Nero said as he kept opening the doors. Up till then, he had been right with all of them and he hadn't hesitated in any single one, until he got to a part with three doors. "I don't remember there were three doors before"

"Well, I trust your gut. You're doing great up till now" Nico said.

"Alright… just- stay close to me" Nero said settled as he opened of the three doors. They entered and it seemed quiet, but he could sense something was just not right. Just as he gave a step forward the ground started shaking. "Damn…" Nero said under his breath after realizing he had chosen a wrong door and now the way back was sealed. "We gotta hurry!" He shouted.

Nico just nodded and before Nero even moved, Nico started running like mad. She went past Nero and every step she made, the ground collapsed behind her, leaving Nero less ground to step on.

Nero started running and jumping too. This way at least he could get to watch her every move. Once they reached half of the path, dozens of long spears protruded from the walls, meeting at the center. Nico's eyes almost burst out, she stopped before that, but there was no time for hesitating for the ground would soon collapse. She felt the ground below her feet collapse and just jumped and grabbed from the edge of the ground in front of her. She managed to get on her feet just before the spears met at the center. But still she paralyzed after feeling the wind from the fast movement of the spears, then the crashing sound from their collision. But now, spikes protruded from the grounds and walls. She needed to keep moving, so now she had to give long leaps to avoid the spikes from the ground and pray she wouldn't get stabbed by the spears from the sides. But she could see the end, she was just a leap away from the exit and so she jumped, but just as she did, she saw the land in front of her collapse, so the distance between her and the exit became even greater; she just wouldn't reach the edge.

"Nico!" Nero yelled as he was just behind her, watching her every step the entire path. He jumped just behind her, caught her in the air and landed in the only remaining piece of ground with the help of his Devil Bringer. He fell and hit the ground with his shoulder trying to protect her; he didn't have the chance to move completely, but he minimized the hit on her back and he ended up over her. Nero could feel her chest moving so fast with her heavy breathing. "Are you okay?" He looked at her and lifted his torso a little, resting on his forearms now.

Nico opened her eyes abruptly. "Man, that was close! I swear I saw my whole life pass before my eyes in seconds"

Nero didn't move then he couldn't help to stare at her face and blushed.

"You mind? You're a bit heavy" Nico said jokey just to avoid this awkward moment.

Nero rapidly moved and stood up, dusting off his clothes.

"Shall we?" Nico asked as she held the door knob just to open it.

"Let's go" Nero said. And as they stepped out of that room it seemed they had reached the end. "This is it, the last door"

"Oh you better get it right this time" Nico demanded.

A pearl of sweat ran down Nero's face. He hesitantly grabbed a knob and slowly turned it to open. He pushed the door open with his eyes closed and when he opened them, they were finally at Agnus' laboratory. "Here we are" He said satisfied.

"Well done, boy!" Nico said enthusiastic as she nudged him on a side. She stepped into the lab completely amazed by all of her surroundings; all the technology his father had created for his research. She seemed like a little kid, watching and touching everything on her path. She touched the round cylinders that once contained demons and couldn't help to stutter with excitement. "Thi- this- is a- amazing! It's even better than my craziest fantasies!"

Nero barely knew Nico and now that they were at Agnus' lab alone and surrounded by all this valuable and yet dangerous information, he couldn't help to hesitate and fear about her true intentions. He reached his hand to Blue Rose, which he kept out of sight still. "What do you plan to do with all these documents?" He asked carefully. And depending on her answer, he'd pull the trigger or not. If the situation required it, he wouldn't hesitate to kill her.

"I want to become an artist…" Nico said elated.

Nero frowned confused and even felt stupid from getting a wrong impression of her. So he took his finger away from the trigger. "You wanna do paintings of demons?" He asked foolish.

Nico burst out laughing. "I'm not interested in paintings. I want to become a first-class weapons and arms artist" She said with a dreamy expression.

Nero remembered how skillfully she disassembled Red Queen and even repaired it, so what she suggested didn't sound as impossible.

"Have you heard of my grandmother? The .45 Caliber Artist?" She asked excited. Nero just shook his head pissing Nico off. She made a gesture as if she were gonna spit on him and just shouted. "You don't know anything, boy!"

Nero didn't even twitch despite of being insulted, perhaps it was the many years taking care of kids, or even hanging out with Dante, he was so used to insults already that it just wouldn't bother him. "Maybe I haven't heard of her since guns are not very popular in Fortuna. People used to look down on me for using one" He added trying to ease her anger. And as he suspected, this called Nico's interest.

"Do you have a gun?" Nico asked expectantly.

Nero hesitated but still, he reached a hand to his pocket and pulled out his gun; Blue Rose.

Nico rapidly moved towards Nero fixing her gaze on his big gun, she couldn't help to stutter again with excitement. But her mannerisms were beginning to annoy Nero. He couldn't help to think of Agnus and he definitely didn't want to think of him while staring at her.

"Could you stop that?" Nero said annoyed.

"Stop what?" Nico straightened up. "You've never been this close to a woman before?" She asked raising an eyebrow.

Nero just frowned confused. "I mean your stuttering. You act just like your father, you remind me of him and aside from being irritating I hate that!" He complained.

"That bad he was?" She asked curious.

"More than you can imagine" Nero said annoyed.

"Well…" Nico turned her look down and approached Nero again. "…can I touch it?" She asked as she looked at him again.

Nero raised an eyebrow surprised. "What?"

Nico lowered her stare once more while Nero followed her eyes.

"Oh, my gun?" Nero hesitated for a moment but after feeling stupid for thinking other things he simply agreed. "Sure…" He extended his arm towards Nico letting her take the gun.

"Of course the gun, what were you thinking, you perv!" Nico snatched Blue Rose from Nero's hand. "I didn't know you were that kind of guy…" She said supposedly upset. But as she now examined the gun and observed it from every angle, her eyes sparkled and she spoke like a robot explaining its design. "A double-barrel revolver, shooting two bullets with a slight time delay on each shot. One bullet penetrates- while the other one explodes"

"Wow… I'm impressed you can tell the difference between almost two identical bullets just by looking at them" Nero said surprised.

"Who do you think I am?" Nico said cocky. "While the concept could be thought of, it would be hard to execute. Would require someone very skilled with hands…" Nico said staring at Nero slyly. "…are you?"

"You'll find out soon enough" Nero said cocky and over confident.

"We will see that, you naughty boy" Nico said.

Nero easily snatched Blue Rose from Nico's grasp, surprising her a little. He put it away in his pocket and started nosing around.

Nico started looking for the documents, anything she could find. And while doing so, she started talking about her grandmother's work, specially about the last pair of guns she designed. She couldn't stop talking about how perfect and beautiful they were. She just talked and talked and Nero was barely listening, not paying attention to her at all, until she mentioned the guns names.

"They're called Ebony and Ivory, one's black and the other white. Perfect names for such fine art!" She said enthusiastic.

The names rose Nero's interest. He now paid attention to every word coming from her dirty lips.

She started describing the guns detailing how one was design for rapid fire while the other for destructive power. "They were designed for demon hunting and I believe they are currently used by a demon hunter…" She tried recalling his name. "… I know the name, I know the name…"

Nero didn't need any more description. He knew those guns perfectly and their possessor more than well. "Dante…" He said.

"Yes! That's it!" Nico said ecstatic. "You know him?" She asked excited; she'd kill to meet the man who now possessed her grandmother's last creation. "Is he a celebrity in the demon hunting world?" But after Nero's silence and expression she began to worry. "I want to know what type of guy is using my grandmother's best work" Nero's thoughtfulness scared her. "Don't tell me he's a piece of shit!"

Nero closed his eyes for moments. "Just give me a minute to process all this" He didn't want to tell her he shared the same bloodline as Dante. And somehow, he started recalling about the time Dante talked to him about the woman who created his beloved guns and how she died because of him. And now he found out not only Nico's grandmother had died because of Dante, but her father too; killed by a bullet shot from her grandmother's fine art. He also thought Agnus deserved it though. Nero began to sweat. The woman in front of him was Agnus' daughter and she was asking him what's Dante like. "Shit, how am I gonna explain this?"

Nico raised both her eyebrows. "Talking, that's how" She said pissed.

"But you promise not to freak out?" Nero warned her.

"Just speak!" Nico demanded.

"Okay, here I go." Nero took a deep breath. "Dante is the best demon hunter you'll ever meet, he's a gunslinger master, he's so good with them they even seem like a part of him"

Nico seemed to listen with excitement. She definitely wanted to meet this Dante. "Why would I freak out about that? I can't wait to meet him" She said blown away.

"Because that same dexterous man…" Nero said slowly. "…is the same man who took your father's life…" There was no need in telling her about her grandmother's aftermath. Maybe Dante wasn't even responsible, but about Agnus' aftermath he was more than sure. "…and with a bullet fired from your grandmother's fine art"

Nico's expression did change a little. "You thought that would freak me out?" She said emotionless. "I don't care how he died. I bet he deserved it" She said simply.

"If it makes you feel any better, yes, he deserved it" Nero said.

Nico kept gathering documents; she grabbed all she could then put it inside an improvised bag. "Alright, I think this is it" She said finally. She turned to look at Nero and he was standing still, staring at his Devil Bringer, pensive. "Did you listen to what I said? Let's get going" She insisted. "You're still thinking about that cursed arm?" She said mockingly.

"It's what I thought at first, that it was a curse. But then I realized that more than a curse, it was to protect what I love" Nero said serious. "Aghh… don't listen to me. It's just- being in this place brings back so many memories"

"I see. What are you anyway?" Nico dared to ask.

"Why? You too see me as a freak?" Nero mocked.

"Nah…" She turned her look towards Nero. "…I just get the feeling you're not 100% human"

"Ha! Well, you're right, I'm not. Does it scare ya?" Nero said cocky.

"What? That you're part demon?" Nico asked.

"When did I mention a demon?" Nero asked.

"Well, you're not half frog, are you?" She burst out laughing.

Nero couldn't help to laugh. "Guess not. Anyway, let's get going"

They headed back to the house. It took them a while, plus it was getting late and it was almost dinner time. Nero invited her in. He wanted to introduce her to Kyrie. So he led her into the living room and asked her to have a seat for a moment.

Nico just listened to what he said. He had helped her a lot already, she couldn't refuse to such simple request as to meet his girlfriend. Plus, with all the documents she had gathered, she'd need a lot of time to study them. She's need to stay in Fortuna for a while.

Nero went to get Kyrie. By the smell, he could tell she was cooking dinner. "Come, I want you to meet someone" Nero said to Kyrie, pulling her out from what she was doing. He led her to the living room as well.

Nico was sitting on a chair at the dining room. She heard them coming so she stood up and turned towards them.

"Kyrie, meet Nico. Nico, this is Kyrie" He introduced them vaguely.

"Pleasure to meet you" Kyrie said sweetly.

Nico was still mouth agape and paralyzed. "Wow, you're a rare sight" She said to Kyrie, although she seemed confused.

Nero noticed Kyrie's confusion. "I- I think she means you're beautiful"

"Very. Are you sure she's your girlfriend?" Nico replied. "I never thought people could be such beautiful, I only thought guns and swords were beautiful"

Kyrie blushed a little. It was the weirdest compliment someone ever gave her, but a compliment after all. She looked at Nico with such tenderness. Nico couldn't help to think of her mother and how similar they seemed.

"Shut up…" Nero said under his breath.

Nico sat down again by the table, followed by Nero who sat in front of her and finally Kyrie at the head of the table.

"Is it okay to call you Nico?" Kyrie asked shyly.

Nico just nodded. "You can call me whatever you want! Nico, Nicoletta, even bitch!"

Nero's eyes almost burst out. He stomped over Nico's foot under the table and pointed at her. "Hey! Don't use dirty words in front of Kyrie!"

Nico just couldn't imagine how special Kyrie must be for Nero. She rapidly apologized. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry. My father's to blame for this foul mouth"

Nero just sighed. He still couldn't believe he was helping Agnus' daughter; he just couldn't believe he had had a daughter.

Kyrie couldn't help to smile. Looking at them was like watching two children fight. "Do you know each other from years back?" She asked.

"Nah… we just met" Nico replied.

Kyrie surprised at how fast they had become "overly familiar". Nico did seem like the bold type, someone not afraid of speaking her mind. "Would you like to stay for dinner?"

Nico surprised a little. "Sure, thanks. It smells delicious"

"Is there any food you dislike?" Kyrie asked kindly.

"Kyrie, if you'd cook a tire, then I'd eat it" Nico replied.

Kyrie couldn't help to giggle. "You are so funny" She returned to the kitchen leaving Nero and Nico in the dining room.

Nico remained on her seat while Nero stood up and sat next to her now. "Lovely woman…" Nico said.

Nero smiled. He couldn't help to feel flattered.

"She's too good for you" Nico continued. She expected Nero to reply something sarcastic, or even just deny it. But Nero simply agreed with her.

"Yeah, I think so too" Nero replied.

Nico surprised a little and for some reason she started thinking about her father. After knowing about his aftermath, she was unsure of what to feel regarding him. Should she feel sorry, sad, happy or simply nothing? Lost in her thoughts she pulled out a box of cigarettes which Nero snatched from her hands right away.

"You can't smoke inside the house!" Nero said in whispers as if shouting.

"Can I at least smoke in the garage? I can't work without a smoke" Nico asked and complained.

"Are you working right now?" Nero asked sarcastic. "We're gonna have a decent meal, so just… chill"

Suddenly, Carlo and Julio showed up at the dining room.

"I met this brat before… is he multiplying?" Nico asked jokey as she now saw two kids.

Kyrie couldn't help to overhear as she was just coming out of the kitchen with dinner.

"Don't tell me they're your kids…" Nico said in shock.

Kyrie placed two large bowls of food at the center of the table. "No. They're orphan kids we take care of since the Incident…" She said shyly. "Carlo and Julio" She introduced them.

"Ooh- I freaked out for a moment" Nico said.

"What's she doing here?" Julio asked annoyed.

"Julio, don't be rude. She's staying for dinner and she's Nero's friend" Kyrie scolded him in a sweet way. "Why don't you help me set the table instead?"

Julio had no choice but to obey her. He went to the kitchen to get the plates, glasses, cutlery and a jug of iced tea.

They all started having dinner and while Kyrie doesn't like talking while eating, she was very curious about Nico and her purpose in Fortuna. "Why Nero?" She dared to ask. "What brings you to Fortuna?"

"Umm…" Nico got a little nervous. "…I- I- was looking for some research documents I know resided deep in Fortuna City" She said with a nervous laughter in the end.

"Do you know someone from the city?" Kyrie asked.

"I did…" Nico said as she lowered her look and stopped eating.

"You wouldn't imagine" Nero added.

Kyrie turned to look at Nero a bit confused. "Did you help her find what she was looking for?" She asked Nero.

"Oh yes, he was of great help" Nico replied even before Nero. "There's a lot of stuff I have to dive into now…" She started tapping her foot against the floor nervously. "… I- I know this may sound cheeky but- can I stay here while I study all those documents?"

Nero turned to look at her surprised then at Kyrie whom also seemed surprised.

"I'll be like a third orphan you can take care of" Nico said with her eyes closed real tight like expecting a punch.

"Aren't you too old to be taken care of?" Julio said carelessly.

Nico opened an eye slightly. "Hey, who are you calling old, you brat?"

"Okay…" Kyrie said suddenly, surprising even Nero.

Nico surprised and opened her eyes widely now. "Really?"

"Yes. You could be of help I suppose" Kyrie replied.

"Of course! I'll do my best, whatever you need!" Nico said elated.

"But don't tell me you're an orphan too?" Kyrie asked troubled.

"Uh… yeah" Nico replied simply. "I have an uncle though"

"You wouldn't believe who her father is" Nero said containing his laughter.

"Why? Do I know him?" Kyrie asked innocently.

"Yeah, scarcely, but you should remember him" Nero said.

Nico just nudged Nero on a side. He couldn't hold his laughter anymore.

"Who is it?" Kyrie asked intrigued.

"Agnus!" Nero burst out laughing.

Nico just raised an eyebrow annoyed.

"Agnus?" Kyrie repeated. "Oh my… you mean the crazy scientist?" She asked then rapidly put a hand over her mouth and the other at her chest. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to disrespect your father" Kyrie apologized.

"Nah, don't worry. Coming from you sounds like a compliment" Nico said simply. "Besides, he abandoned us when I was 2 or 3 so I have no memories of him"

"I'm sorry to hear that" Kyrie said sweetly.

Nico finished her food and stood up. She was meaning to take her plate to the kitchen but Kyrie told her she'd do it later. Nico then just made a gesture with her head to Nero so that he'd follow her to the garage.

Nero understood and stood up right after. "We'll be right back"

"Okay" Kyrie said simply, no questions asked.

Julio just glared at Nico unlike Kyrie. "Why are they so intimate friends? Why'd you let her stay?" He asked Kyrie.

"Intimate?" Kyrie repeated and didn't reply.

Nico and Nero went to the garage. For some reason it was Nico's favorite part of the house, although she hadn't seen any other rooms yet. "I need a smoke, c'mon!" Nico nudged him on a side, expecting her box of cigarettes back.

Nero rolled his eyes and pulled out the box from a pocket of his trousers. He tossed it her way and she caught it anxiously. "But do it outside" He said annoyed.

"We're outside!" Nico complained.

"We're clearly not!" Nero complained. "Ugh…" Nero walked towards the gate and pulled it up. She stood in between. One foot inside, one outside. Nero approached to her and pulled out a zippo from a pocket, helping her light up her cigarette.

"I thought you didn't smoke" Nico surprised.

"I don't" Nero said careless as he closed the cap from the zippo with his thumb and put it back in his pocket. And before she could retort, he continued. "And you better call yourself lucky instead of asking questions"

"Ooh- hoo… chill out, no smoking boy!" Nico said as she had a deep and slow puff on her cigarette. "You want some?" She offered Nero with a husky voice as she reached her cigarette hand to Nero's face.

"I said no! Get that thing away from my face!" Nero complained.

"I'm kidding!" She said jokey then turned all serious. "Do you want any of my technology?" She asked holding the cigarette just with her lips.

Nero didn't say yes or no. He wasn't really sure of what she meant by technology but he was sure she could do interesting arms. Nico felt some kind of acceptance in her offer despite of Nero's silence. "It's fine, it's give and take. I get to make fine art, and you get to use it to kill demons. We'll be like business partners"

Nero kept pensive for a moment. Business partners… He was already a business partner with Dante. Dante… the murderer of Nico's father. Many thoughts crossed his mind. He turned his gaze to the van and thought maybe Dante didn't want to be partners anymore. She could really become a partner for him and be of great help. "Is it okay to be partners when I was an accomplice of your father's murder?"

Nico kept silent for a moment, reflecting on that wild story Nero told her about Dante and how he killed her father using her grandmother's masterpiece. It was surely ironic, but still she had no feelings for her deceased father. "Like I said, I have no attachments to him, no memories. That's in the past, so we're cool" She said careless.

"Okay then…" Nero chuckled a bit.

Nico finished her cigarette. "Can I borrow your phone?"

"Who are you calling?" Nero asked curious.

"My dad…" She said. "…I'm sending a package"

Nero raised an eyebrow and looked at her funny.

Nico realized how confusing she sounded so she corrected herself. "Not Agnus, my current dad, my uncle"

"Oh… right" Nero said mouth agape. He shook his head. "There's a phone in van. The van may not work but the phone should"

"Really? Cool!" She hurried to the van and slid the door open. For some reason she seemed too excited about it.

Nero surprised a little but just got closer. He didn't know why but he was curious about this "package". He wanted to eavesdrop a little.

"Wow…" Nico said amazed. "…this is such a cutie!" She said marveled as she looked inside the van. She climbed in and started having a closer look. She knew Nero was just standing outside the door. "Can I stay here?" She asked as she sat down on the large couch in the back, then she lied down. "This thing is comfortable"

Nero climbed in, now that he had been busted. "Are you sure? There are enough empty rooms in the house"

"I don't mind. I like this and it's got everything. Even a bathroom…" She stood up and opened a back door. "…and a shower"

"Okay then, do as you please" Nero turned away from her. "The phone's beside the driver's seat"

"Awesome!" Nico headed to the front and sat on the driver's seat. She took the wheel and started making sounds as if she were in a race or being chased by cops. "Wee- hoo!"

Nero looked at her funny. He went to the front and sat beside her on the passenger's seat. "I see you're having fun… you drive?" He asked.

"Of course… I'm an excellent driver" She said suspicious.

Nero frowned. "Really?"

"Yeah. It's gonna be so much fun when we go demon hunting in this beauty!" Nico said excited.

"And who said we'd be partners?" Nero replied.

"Uhh… you did?" Nico said.

"When?" Nero replied confused.

"I said I'd make weapons, you'd use them. We'd be partners. You didn't refuse" Nico said.

Nero just raised an eyebrow. "Why don't you make that call?" He had just tied that rope around his neck.

Nico grabbed the phone and called her uncle Rock Goldstein. "Hey Rock, I've finally made it to Fortuna. I'm gonna stay here for a while so I'm gonna need you to send me some things" She said through the phone.

Nero turned his look up, pensive. That wasn't sending a package but receiving one instead.

"Oh, okay. What is it what you need?" Rock asked.

"Some clothes, tools and the issue of Folklore Times that's in my room" Nico said simply.

"Folklore Times? That's a third-rate magazine" Rock replied.

"Did I ask? Just make sure you send it" Nico was about to hang up.

"Nico, wait!" Rock yelled through the receiver.

Nico got to listen so she reached the phone close to her ear again. "What is it?" She asked annoyed.

"Where exactly am I gonna send it? I need an address" Rock demanded.

"Uh… wait a sec" Nico said as she passed the phone to Nero. "Could you give him the address of this place?"

"What?" Nero said surprised as he took the phone. He got nervous. "Umm… hello- uhh… I cannot give you the address in Fortuna but we could meet in the outskirts of the city" He said clever.

"Alright. I'll meet you at the train station near Fortuna tomorrow" Rock said simply.

"Okay. We'll be there by noon" Nero said then passed the phone back to Nico.

Instead of saying goodbye or else she just hung up the phone.

"That was rude" Nero said.

"What was?" Nico said innocently.

"Nevermind" Nero said careless.

As the night fell Nico's wishes of staying in the van simply vanished. Kyrie would never let any guest stay in a van. So she forced her to stay in one of the empty rooms and against Kyrie's sweetness, Nico had no objections.

Early the next morning, Nero and Nico headed to the outskirts of Fortuna. They'd meet Nico's uncle as settled. They waited for Nico's uncle at the train station connecting Fortuna with Redgrave city. They arrived right on time unlike Nico's uncle. They waited for more than 40 minutes before Nico recognized a man carrying a lot of luggage.

Nero was starting to believe he was waiting at the other train station connecting with the other city.

"There he is" Nico said to Nero as she patted his chest excited.

This time Nero had made sure to cover his Devil Bringer, so he was using the sling. He didn't want to give a first bad impression. He turned his look to the man Nico pointed at and now waved hello. He surprised at the amount of luggage he carried. "Are you staying for ages in my place?" He said shocked.

"What! That's just some of my tools" Nico said simply and proud.

"What!" Nero said surprised. "How the hell do you expect us to take all that back to Fortuna?" He complained. "Ughh… I miss the van"

"Stop being such a crybaby…" Nico murmured as now her uncle was just a few steps away. "Rock! How you doin'?" She excitedly approached to him. "D'ya bring all I asked for?" She said as she hurried and caught some suitcases falling off the cart he was pulling.

"Everything" Rock said sighing. He noticed Nero and wondered who he was. His face seemed familiar though. He tried to remember where had he seen his face before.

Nero noticed Nico's uncle kept staring at him to the point that he felt awkward. "Uh… I'm Nero" He said nervously as he extended his left arm to shake his hand.

Rock approached more towards Nero and shook his hand. And just as he did, Dante's image came to his mind. Yes, he looked so much like Dante. He felt curious and dared to ask. "Do you have a blood relation with Dante?" He heard his own words and thought how vague he sounded but he felt Nero's nervousness and figured he knew which Dante he was referring to.

Nero rubbed the back of his head. "Something like that…" And replied nervously, averting his eyes from him.

Rock noticed Nero's nervousness and figured Nico wasn't aware of this, so he didn't insist on the matter, but he was still curious. "Are you his son?" He asked Nero discreetly.

"What? No! His kids are a lot younger" Nero said naturally.

"Hm…" Rock figured he should be Dante's nephew or something.

"How do you know him?" It was Nero now who was curious.

"My name is Rock Goldstein, I'm the son of Nell Goldstein. I own a gun shop and he once visited me. He wanted to have a misspelling on his guns corrected. I recognized my mother's work right away and her signature of course" Rock was saying when he was suddenly interrupted.

"Yes! It's complete!" Nico shouted after inspecting all the luggage and finding all that she needed. "Thanks a lot, Rock" She patted her uncle's back.

"You doubted me?" Rock said offended although jokey.

"Nah… just making sure" Nico said suspiciously.

"Are you my daughter's boyfriend?" Rock asked simply.

"What? No!" Nero replied right away.

"Hey! That was rude" Nico complained.

"But you're living together?" Rock wondered.

"I'll be giving her shelter… for the moment" Nero said.

"I'm truly sorry if she's become a burden…" Rock started saying.

"What? Burden?" Nico complained.

"…but she's really talented. Better than I will ever be. Just be patient with her. I'm sure she'll be of great help. You must be a devil hunter too, am I correct?" Rock asked Nero.

"You're not wrong" Nero said simply.

Rock simply smiled. "Take care of her" He said to Nero then he turned his look at Nico. "And don't you get into troubles, alright?"

"You know me" Nico said with an innocent smile showing her teeth.

"Just try to keep away from troubles the most possible" Rock said resigned as he kissed Nico's forehead and smiled. "It was nice meeting you" He said to Nero as he shook his hand once again.

Nico grabbed some of the luggage and Nero helped her with the rest. Rock waved them goodbye then turned to go. They returned to Fortuna and although Nico thought she'd be studying all those documents she gathered almost the whole time, reality turned out differently. She barely had had little time to glance at any of them; she had been helping Kyrie and Nero mostly, with everything he had to fix.

Weeks kept passing by and strangely, the world seemed at peace. Dante had had just a few lame jobs that really didn't pay much. It was getting harder and harder to keep up with everything he had to pay and it wasn't only his family he had to provide to, but Lady as well. He could just imagine how things would be when her baby is born; it just gave him the chills. Lady seemed ready to blow up any second now.

Lady had gone to bed early that night; she had taken quite some time to reach upstairs. She felt so tired, she just wanted some rest.

David had gone to bed too; it was a cold December night and all he wanted was to be under the warming covers in his bed. The twins had fallen asleep, so Trish took them to bed too. She then returned to the living room where Dante still waited for her with a bottle of red wine. He had made the most of the time Trish took to return to go and get the bottle and two wine glasses. He was serving them when Trish returned.

"Oh… what are we celebrating?" Trish said surprised as she approached to Dante. She had changed her clothes into a silky night gown above the knee with elbow-length sleeves. She took the glass of wine Dante offered her.

Dante took the other glass and sat down on a corner of the large sofa. "Nothing in particular, just…" Trish sat on his lap with her legs stretched along the sofa. She wrapped an arm around his neck for support. Dante just grinned. "…the bliss of having you here with me" He said seductively as his eyes focused on her lips. They both had a sip of wine and smiled. They didn't need to talk; with just one look it was enough to know what they wanted. Their eyes met for moments until finally Trish broke the silence.

"I missed having some time alone with you" She said enticingly as she started kissing his right cheek, then his neck so softly.

Dante just closed his eyes and enjoyed the moment. Her lips felt so good against his skin. "Me too…" He whispered.

Trish stopped for a moment. "You miss having some time alone with yourself?" She complained jokey.

Dante chuckled, gave a sip to his glass of wine and left it over the center table. "With you of course, baby…" He said seductively as he started caressing her inner thighs.

Trish could just shiver with his touch. She grinned. Her pussy began to throb. "It's been quite hard to have a moment like this…" Trish whispered. "…without the kids, and- Lady…" She said as she stared at his lips.

Dante just grinned. "I know…" He kept caressing the sensitive skin of her inner thighs, reaching closer and closer to her pussy, just tempting her; until he felt it throbbing and wet. "Hey! You're not wearing anything under…" Dante complained jokey.

Trish just slightly giggled then had a sip of her wine. She put the glass over the center table as well. "I must have read your mind…" She said seducingly as she wrapped both arms around his neck.

"Oh… so you're saying you perfectly knew I was meaning to possess you on this couch and you wanted to make it easier for me…" Dante whispered almost into her mouth.

"Mhmm…" Trish nodded and fiercely kissed his lips.

Dante broke away from the kiss and held her face by the chin, trying to ease her anxiety. "You naughty girl…" He said softly then kissed her lips again, this time slowly.

Trish just played along. And while her anxiety seemed to vanish, her desire just increased more and more. She felt the soft kiss begin to heat her entire body. Her pussy throbbed and she just wanted more. She bit his lower lip and kept kissing him so full of desire. With her hand she forced Dante's fingers into her pussy.

Dante kept getting harder and harder and Trish could feel it despite of the position she was on. It didn't take her long to move and straddle on Dante's lap. Their breathing had speeded up in seconds; Dante reached his hands under her nightgown, pulling it up. He pulled down his sweat pants a little bit then lifted Trish's hips a little to sink her on his hardened cock.

"Aahh…!" Trish led out a strong and loud moan.

"Sh-sh-sh… keep it down, baby. You don't want to wake them up" Dante said panting.

"Oh Dante…" Trish started moving her hips slowly, feeling all of his length inside of her. She was enjoying every second of it.

Dante put his hands on Trish's hips, helping her bounce on him, then he slowly slid them up her waist, just to end up on her sweet breasts. He fondled them over the nightgown wanting to savor them with his lips and tongue. So he just pulled down her nightgown from the center of her cleavage uncovering her breasts as he could. He fondled them and reached his lips to her hard nipples. Trish's moans intensified.

"Oh Dante…" Trish moaned and squeezed Dante's cock even harder with her pussy. And this just forced Dante to suck on her nipples even harder. Trish's hips started moving faster.

"Oh baby, oh Trish…" Dante moaned. He could feel she was so close to climax and that feeling just triggered his own.

But suddenly, Trish heard Lady's loud screams and they were calling her name. Trish stopped for a moment, but Dante kept moving her hips up and down with his hands. It felt so good and he definitely wouldn't stop.

"Trish! Ahh!" Lady screamed from the top edge of the stairs. "Help me! It's coming!"

"I'm cumming!" Dante panted not wanting to let go of Trish. He held her tight but still Trish managed to stand up. "Baby, wait!" He tried to stop her by holding her by the wrist.

"Dante!" Trish complained. "Lady needs our help!"

"A few more seconds won't make a difference" Dante complained.

"Of course they will. You've never been pregnant. You have no idea of what it's like" Trish said as she set free from his grasp.

Dante stood up and followed her. "Baby, we are both about to finish. I got my load about to shoot" He complained.

Trish turned to look at Dante. "Well, you ain't shooting anything just yet" She headed upstairs. "C'mon, help me with Lady and I'll get David. We gotta get to the hospital fast!" She yelled from the stairs.

"Ugh… just great. Now my balls will hurt" Dante said annoyed. He set his still hardened length in a more comfortable position and went upstairs to help Lady. He found her hyperventilating, grasping from the banister and bending half-way to the front. Dante just picked her up and held her in his arms to get her to the car. "Man, you're heavy!"

"Oh, you shut up!" Lady said exasperated.

"Couldn't you choose a better time to give birth?" Dante complained jokey.

"Couldn't you choose a better time to have sex?" Lady perfectly heard them having sex before and, in her state, Dante's jokes could only upset her.

Dante was already getting downstairs as he answered. "Oh, so now I have to ask for your permission to have sex with my wife…" He said somewhat annoyed.

Lady began screaming in pain again due to contractions. "Well- blame Vergil for this!" She panted.

"Oh, damn sure I will" Dante said as he approached to his desk, opened a drawer and got his car keys. He opened the door to go outside then kept pensive. "Wait, you mean the baby or ruining my time with Trish?" He wondered.

"Dante! Just get me to the damn hospital!" Lady cried.

Trish walked out the house right after Dante, holding David against her chest. He was still deeply asleep. She locked the house and hurried to the car, right behind Dante.

Dante laid Lady on the backseat so Trish tried to do the same with David, but as soon as she did, David got to listen to his aunt Lady's groans; he instantly woke up and looked at her and her big round belly.

Dave's eyes widened at the thought of having to live again what he experienced with his mother not so long ago. "Oh no, hell no! I ain't riding next to her. I don't want to see her belly blow up!" He said as he rapidly jumped onto the front seat.

"Blow up?" Lady's eyes widened too, just at the thought. "What the hell happened to you before?" She asked Trish quite scared now. "Will my baby try to find a different way out?" She said panicked.

Trish just raised an eyebrow, staring at David. "Well done, sweetie" She said sarcastic, slamming the front door. She climbed in in the back trying to calm Lady. "Don't listen to him, he's just paranoid. Besides, you're not having twins, and your baby's more human than demon, so there's nothing to worry about"

Dante started the car and headed to the hospital. He was driving calmly as if they weren't in a hurry. Lady, in the back seat, had lain over Trish's lap while she held her hand.

"Argh! It hurts so much" Lady squeezed Trish's hand tightly.

"Dante! Speed up, will ya! Her water might break soon!" Trish said.

"What! Not in my car!" Dante speeded up.

"You asshole, you just care about your damn car!" Lady still managed to complain.

At least for Dante, that meant she was still okay. Around 10 minutes later they were arriving to the hospital's E.R. section.

Doctors approached fast with a stretcher and took her in. First thing Trish did, was asking for Doctor Stevens. But unfortunately, it was his day off. Such rotten luck.

Dante went to park the car then entered the hospital with David by his side, holding his hand. Doctors were about to take Lady to maternity O.R. when suddenly Dr. Stevens arrived. He was heading to his office to take some documents he had forgotten and fortunately, he entered by the Emergency section. He rapidly recognized Dante and little David so he wondered what they were all doing there after midnight.

"Lady's giving birth" Dante said. "What are you doing here on your day off after midnight?" Dante asked curious.

"Well, apparently being at the right place at the right time" Dr. Stevens followed the other doctors to the O.R. "I'll take it from here" He said serious as he pushed the stretcher into the O.R.

The other doctors surprised. "But…"

"She's my patient" The doctor said simply.

"Alright then, she's all yours" They helped him set everything in the O.R. leaving everyone outside except for Lady. Dr. Stevens put on a scrub and proceeded with the disinfection process.

Before proceeding, the Doctor approached to Lady. He checked her up, her dilation and everything else seemed fine; she was almost ready. "Shall we wait for the father?" He asked unknowingly of the situation.

Suddenly, Lady's eyes couldn't help to shed a tear. "He's not coming…" She had lost every drop of hope there could be.

The doctor moved his eyes left and right. He had no idea of what might have happened; but knowing about the world they move around, anything was possible. "Do you want me to call Dante? Or Nero perhaps?"

"No" Lady said with a sorrowful expression. "Just call Trish" She said in a low voice.

"Alright" The doctor said simply as he went out the O.R., the nurses walked in with more stuff. He headed to the waiting room. "Trish, please come with me" He asked her kindly.

"Sure" Trish said simply.

"What? Her? Shouldn't a man be in there? I'm the closest to my brother there could ever be" Dante complained.

"It's what she wants" Said Doctor Stevens.

"Hmph… whatever" Dante said careless as he sat down.

"Why would you want to be in there?" David asked. "It's not mom"

"I know… and I didn't want to be in there. Just- thought she'd need… never mind" Dante said emotionless. "I'll call Nero" He stood up.

"You don't have a phone" Dave said.

"I'll go look for one. They have plenty of phones here" Dante said.

"You don't know uncle Nero's number" Dave continued.

"Do you?" Dante turned to look at him.

Dave just nodded.

"Then c'mon. Let's go call him" Dante said careless.

Dante headed to the reception and asked for a phone. All nurses started acting nervously subdued by Dante's charms and his undeniable attractiveness. Dante just raised an eyebrow surprised with their reaction, and that expression made him look even hotter.

"Just… get your hands under my… the counter…" A nurse said blushing.

David frowned and raised an eyebrow too, thinking adults were just as foolish as kids.

Dante reached his left arm behind the counter and grabbed a phone.

"What's the number, kiddo?" He asked staring at David.

David gave him the number and Dante finally got to speak to Nero. It was passed midnight but Nero was still awake. He had been working on restorations of the van, weapons and stuff so Nico was helping him out right when Dante called.

"And who was that? You got all agitated so suddenly" Nico said.

"I- I- I gotta get to the hospital!" Nero said hesitantly and agitated.

"Who's dying?" Nico asked.

"More like the opposite. A friend is giving birth!" Nero said as he rapidly went to Kyrie to wake her up and take her with him.

"Ooh… can I come?" Nico asked out loud.

"No!" Nero yelled as he returned to the garage. "Not yet"

"What are you hiding from me, you devil boy?" Nico wondered intrigued.

"Nothing. Just- do me a favor and stay here and watch over the kids, yeah?" Nero asked her.

"Nah… what are friends for?" Nico didn't even try to fight or even complain. She could tell it was something important for him. Besides she wouldn't have to do anything for the kids were already asleep. So she'd just have some time to munch on something delicious and rest.

Kyrie had changed her clothes and met Nero in the garage. Nero took her by the hand and led her outside in a hurry.

"Nero!" Kyrie stopped him. "You plan to run all the way to the city?" She complained.

"Of course not! Just to the train!" Nero said as he pulled from her hand as he started running, heading to the nearest train station, the only one operating 24/7. Luckily, it wasn't too far away.

Meanwhile at the hospital…

Dante returned to the waiting room with David. An hour had passed and still nothing. "If they're waiting for Vergil, he ain't coming" Dante said tired and bored.

"I can't stand it one more second, my eyes are closing" David said about to shut down.

"Don't resist it son, just sleep" Dante said.

"But this chair is so uncomfortable" Dave complained.

"Come here" Dante patted his chest so Dave would lay against it.

"I'm not a baby anymore" Dave complained.

"Oh, c'mon, you're still…" Suddenly, Dante's eyes widened. "Holy shit! We left your siblings at home" He said suddenly agitated.

"And you had to wake me up? You should've left me too" Dave said careless.

"We gotta go back for them" Dante suddenly stood up. "C'mon you can sleep in the car" He took David's hand and pulled him to the exit in a haste. He drove as fast as he could, arrived home in half the time it had taken him in the first place and hurried inside to get the twins. They hadn't even noticed they had been left alone; they were still deeply asleep. But when Dante picked them up, they started crying upset for having their sleep disturbed.

Dante tried to calm them. The only good thing about their new bracelets controlling their power was that they couldn't attack anymore, so they were now as harmless as a human baby.

Dante returned to the car holding the twins against his chest. The problem now would be, driving back to the hospital. He laid Danny on the back seat and ordered David to sit beside him, but Mallory stuck to her father like glue, Dante just couldn't get her off him. So he drove all the way to the hospital holding her against his chest. He found a spot in the parking lot and now carried both twins in his arms, while David struggled to keep awake as they walked back inside the hospital. They returned to the waiting room and there was still no news about Lady or the baby.

"If it was a damn false alarm, I'm gonna be pissed" Dante said. He was hell tired and regretting of returning. "We should've stayed home" He complained.

"Yeah, we should've…" David mumbled as he fell asleep tilting his head towards Dante's shoulder, but he ended up on his lap anyway.

A pair of nurses walked through the corridor and thought Dante looked so sweet with all three kids over him.

Dante seemed asleep too, but he was totally awake except his eyes were closed and he had no expression on his face.

Despite of the silence and the stillness in the hall of the waiting room, inside the O.R. was a completely different story.

Lady was suffering a tremendous pain, she couldn't stop yelling and crying, but the baby just didn't want to come out. Trish was so stressed from Lady's suffering and the fact that she kept squeezing her hand so strongly.

"Try to calm down, take a deep breath…" Trish tried to calm her a little but she was rapidly interrupted.

"Just cut me open, do something!" Lady screamed to the doctor.

The doctor was surprised or rather confused. He couldn't understand why the baby just didn't want to be born, as if it wanted to remain in her mother's womb forever. "If you prefer the surgery, I'll do it" He said resigned. They had been trying for hours to receive the baby, but it just didn't happen.

"No" Trish said serious. "You can do it, look at me" She grabbed Lady's face and turned it towards her. "Just calm down, and she will too. You are scaring her, she needs you strong" Trish said caring.

Lady somewhat paralyzed with Trish's words. She blinked slowly as if in slow motion for a couple times, then suddenly she felt it. Something different inside her, as if something had detached from within her.

The doctor turned to look at Trish. "What did you do?" He asked surprised as he touched Lady's belly and felt the baby coming down. He felt the moment was now. He was amazed at the way Trish controlled Lady just by a stare and her words, her voice… it seemed simply magic. He checked Lady once more. "It's coming!" He said ready for the action.

And at the same time in the depths of the Underworld, Vergil was finally releasing from the venomous roots intertwined across his flesh. These living roots were slowly detaching from him, making him suffer inconceivable pain.

Vergil screamed in agony as the lengthy roots pulled back from within him, releasing him at last. And the pain was such that it seemed hours had passed, when it had been just a few minutes. Vergil finally touched the ground as he was slowly dropped. He could once again feel the dirt around his fingers as he scraped the ground. He was breathing heavily, shocked at this sudden freedom. His eyes were opened wide and his expression was simply terrifying. There was blood all over him, flowing out from every wound. He was so perplexed that he even stopped feeling pain. Silent tears overflowed his eyes; he could feel his end so near, and it hadn't even been by Dante's hand. Images and words from all his life flashed through his head. All his horrors, his pain, the mistakes committed throughout his life all gathered to keep upsetting him.

Sparda surprised at Vergil's sudden stillness and silence. It was driving him mad to listen to his horrifying screams, but this sudden calmness was even scarier. "Vergil…" He called him as he crouched and lifted his face. "… Vergil, look at me" He stared into his eyes.

Vergil's eyes were lost in the nothingness, and suddenly it was Lady's image what flashed his head. "Mary…" He whispered and cried. He couldn't tell why but he could almost hear her voice calling him. He needed to survive for her. He seemed to regain consciousness as he gripped from his father's vest. "Help me, help me father. I must leave this place" Vergil grunted in pain. He couldn't stand one more second in this hell. He could barely move.

In the human world, at the hospital, Lady pushed with all her strength and finally the baby girl was born. The doctor pulled her out but she made no sound, she seemed to have no vital signs. The doctor worried. He spanked her and still had no response.

"She's not breathing…" The doctor exhaled.

Trish held Lady's hand tightly, she was hell worried too, she wished there was something she could do to help her.

"What's wrong with her?" Lady asked agitated and worried. "Let me see her!" She yelled and started losing control but at the same time, she started bleeding out.

The doctor noticed this and laid the baby down on a crib to now help Lady. Trish just moved aside and approached the baby's crib. She reached her hand to the little girl's chest trying to revive her heart. She released a small amount of electricity to the baby's chest then she could hear a faint heartbeat, then suddenly the baby started crying.

Even in her delicate state, Lady smiled but her eyes slowly began to fade away.

---

AN: what do you think? Did you enjoy the ride? Hope I'm doing well for now, hope I didn't screw up, if you think I did let me know in the comment box below. I'll try not to take so long this time, it took me a year or so for this chapter and it was almost finished so long ago, but I've been going through some changes in my life and I've had very little spare time with my current job, but I'll do my best to do it the fastest I can.

Thank you for reading and your support :)