#that’s not how you say merry christmas nero…

[deadscell]

have a devilish christmas everyone!!!

[robotstrategy]

Recalled • Part 7 • 48 - Nero

Previous • Series Masterlist • Part 7 Masterlist • Next

Nero sits curled up in one of the corner seats on the city bus. It’s apparently one of the coldest days of the year, though surprisingly Nero feels like she’s underdressed despite being quite warm. The bus is quiet today, the only people on the bus are either tired or look downright miserable. 

She’s caught up in a podcast when another person enters the bus, she frowns upon seeing him. 

Trevor makes it over to the seat across from Nero, he sits down, eagle-spreading. 

“What’s the point of even doing that, you’ve got no balls to protect,” Nero states.

“I don’t see the point in minimizing space on a day like this.” 

“Pfft whatever!” 

Trevor scoots closer to Nero. “I know what you are.”

“Then say it Bella! What am I? Living taxidermy, because everyone has said that before you.”

“No, you’re one of the Rewinds with Mason Starkey’s face, specifically the one who assaulted that boy.” 

“That man,” Nero corrects him. “Come to think of it, he also tried to assault me. Guess I have a thing for attacking men who assault people.” 

“Tch, well Merry Christmas to you to fuckwad!” 

Nero's eyes widened. “It’s Christmas?” 

“Yeah, why do you think no one’s on the city bus?” 

Nero had completely forgotten about Christmas, Roland hadn’t mentioned anything about it this morning. Though that only made Nero worry that Roland didn’t get to celebrate it growing up, or that he had bad experiences with it.

Trevor smirks. “You didn’t get anything for anyone did you?” 

She hadn’t, but she didn’t need him knowing that. “Oh I did, I just lost track of what day it was.”

“Right.” 

Nero gets off the bus, feeling a complete sense of disorder. She miserably slumps down the street towards the StaHo. She grasps the cold handle, pulling it open. She's let into the nice warm building, it seems so inviting despite how she was let go of it. There are green garlands framing the windows with red bows placed at every intersection. Nero gets herself signed in and starts walking down the halls towards the more clinical section of the StaHo. There’s a part of it that’s still open to the Rewinds, the guidance section. 

Considering the day she doesn’t expect there to be a doctor here, nonetheless, she still knocks on the door waiting for it to be opened. 

Surprisingly someone does open the door, it’s one of the women Nero recognizes. If she’s correct, it’s the doctor she saw before she was admitted to the support group.

“Nero, I didn’t expect to see you today.” 

“I didn’t expect to see you either.” 

She laughs, “Well, come in why don’t you?” 

She opens the door for her more. “You don’t mind if I light a candle do you?” 

Nero shakes her head. The doctor brings out an aromatherapy candle as Nero hangs her coat up; revealing a long black skirt and a dark red turtleneck. 

The doctor gasps. “Oh look at you! You're so put together, never would have I expected to see you like this!” 

Nero smiles. “It was hard to find pumps in his size, and it was a pain to shave his legs.” She laughs.

“Oh, you still think of your parts as different people? I thought you’d stop doing that after going to the support group.” 

Nero shakes her head. “Y'know I just stopped going after a while and no one ever said anything. I don’t think the support group would’ve fixed it anyway.” 

“I guess that’s not changing, then I also guess that’s not why you came here.” 

Nero nods. “That’s correct, I came to ask you how I can support someone.” 

“Support someone?” The doctor pulls out a chair, inviting Nero to sit down with her. “What do you mean by that?”

Nero sighs. “See, there’s this guy I know that got assaulted recently, and I know there’s a therapist in my grey matter but I can’t help but feel I’m not helping him enough.” 

“Is he someone from the ward? I could always call him down and say someone sent in an anonymous report.”

Nero shakes her head again. “No, he is a Recall though, a modified one.” 

“I see,” The doctor gets up to grab some papers. “They’ve got a few places all over for rehabilitation if it’s something he’d be interested in. Though, that doesn’t have much to do with his problem.” 

Nero takes the papers, folding them up and putting them in her coat pocket. “I don’t doubt he would be.” 

“About your friend then, how is he taking the assault?”

“Pretty well, all things considered, he says he’s not scared, just frustrated.”

“Hmm, then my advice to you is just to listen to him, be a friend he can lean on. Though if he goes into it too much don’t be afraid to tell him to get an actual therapist. I don’t want you to have to deal with his burden as much as he is.” She tells her. 

“I see, thank you for your time.” Nero gets up, grabbing her coat from the hook, she takes the peppermint offered to her by the doctor and heads down into one of the main halls.

As she gets closer to the cafeteria the calming Christmas music gets louder. She peeks in, all of the tables have been collapsed back into the walls, and there’s a big Christmas tree in the middle of the back wall. Nero stares at it in awe for a moment before trying to leave, but as she turns around someone calls out for her. 

“Nero?” 

She looks back around to see Sam calling out for her from the other side of the room. Nero awkwardly walks into the cafeteria weaving in and out of people’s paths until she makes it to Sam. 

“Hi,” she says solemnly. 

“Hey.” 

Nero sits down with him. Her voice gets quieter with each sentence. “Merry Christmas, sorry I didn’t get you anything. I didn’t get anything for anyone. I didn’t even know it was Christmas.” 

“Hey, I’m pretty sure all of our timelines went loopy, most people in this room didn’t know it was Christmas either,” He assures her. He brings out a little box for her. “The StaHo got us all a little something, I think they got you something too because you work here.” 

Nero takes the box, opening it to reveal an asymmetric set of white earrings. 

“Oh they're beautiful, you should put them in!” Sam suggests.

Nero takes out her other earrings, replacing them with new ones. 

Sam looks her up and down. “You kinda look like a fancy Santa hat now.” He exclaims. 

“Oh thank you.” She says sarcastically. She suddenly hears her name mentioned in earshot. 

“I heard someone call out for Nero, where is she?” Nero looks up to see a girl with her eyes stitched closed waddling around.

Nero stands up. “Hecate?” 

“Nero?” She answers. 

“You stay there, I'll come over.” 

Nero hops between all the people, making it to Hecate. She holds out her hands for her to grab. 

“I missed you,” Hecate tells her.

“I missed you too, how have you been doing?”

“It’s been good, the nurses come talk to me every once in a while.” 

“Yeah, I think that’s just regular Rewind stuff,” Nero looks back over to Sam. “Would you like to come sit down with my brother?”

“Sure!” 

Nero gently maneuvers Hecate through the crowd while she does so someone makes a comment about her. 

“Isn’t she the one who thinks she’s more than one person?” They say in a negative tone.

“Yeah, and what’s it to you?” Someone else yells at them. 

Nero looks over to see Tonya, she looks up at Nero and looks almost ashamed of herself. “I’m trying,” She mumbles. 

Nero nods. “Thanks.” 

Nero helps Hecate sit down next to Sam, she tells Sam to hold his hands out so that Hecate can touch him. 

“This is my little brother, Sam, he’s around your age.” 

“It’s nice to meet you, Sam.”

“It’s nice to meet you too.” 

Nero looks around to the heat trays at the counter, they’re empty.

“So no Christmas dinner today?” Nero asks.

Sam shakes, “They spent the money on all the other things, it’s still nice though.” 

Nero gets up. “Then how’s about I treat you two to some hot chocolate, that café down the street is somehow open and selling it half off today.” 

“Really?” Sam asks.

“Really, Hecate do you have a coat?” 

“Mhmm, will you help me go get it?” 

“Of course.” She smiles.

All three of them sit in a corner booth, the shop seems to be perfectly heated today. 

“Well, this is certainly better than whatever they could serve up at the StaHo,” Sam exclaims, looking down at a cup of hot chocolate covered with whipped cream and candy cane sprinkles.

“Course it is.” Nero watches Hecate eat a mouthful of whipped cream off the mound.

“I thought this was hot chocolate?”

“It is hon, you’ve got to sip it from the cup, I’d wait though, it’s still pretty hot.” She says before scraping the top of her mouth with her burnt tongue. 

Nero looks back to Sam. “So, about your trip to Molokai.”

Sam sighs. “Are you still upset about it?” 

“Yeah it's eating me up inside, I’ll eventually come around to it,” She pauses, looking down at the table. “Once it’s done and over with.” 

She looks back up at Sam, “So are you going there for fun, or is there more to it?” 

“It’s just for fun, it’s mostly just to see the first generation of Rewinds.”

“Don’t you see Cam every time he comes to America?”

Sam shakes his head, “They’re not a hivemind Nero, plus the others were made worse than Cam and us. Some of them still engage in Rewind babble.”   

“And you want to see that?”

“If I’m going to advocate for Rewind rights then I should at least know everything I’m working with. Plus it’s a free trip to Hawaii and I’m not hurting anyone.” 

“Yeah, well bring a lot of sunscreen, okay? And drink lots of water, I hear it gets pretty hot out there.” Nero orders.

Sam laughs. “Oh, Nero!”

[polarisbibliotheque]

What Do You Want For Christmas? | DMC Crew, Reader and X-mas stuff

Word Count: 7.1 k (it's huge, sit around, grab some tea, make yourself comfy)

Pairings: None. Just good old found family time (one could argue there's something platonic between Dante and Reader or Vergil and Reader. I'll leave it to your interpretation)

Summary: Kyrie suggested a Christmas celebration with the crew and now Nero is bound to make it happen - he just didn't think it would be that difficult to make everyone choose a few gifts.

Author’s notes: What can I say? Merry Christmas everyone! If you don't celebrate Christmas, I wish you a very pleasant evening and a wonderful New Year! Thanks everyone for being around - I appreciate all of you ^^

I'm very complicated regarding Christmas, so I hope this can be comforting for people with a love, hate or love-hate relationship with this time of the year.

Also, the very last bit, with Dante and the ring, I was planning on making a comic with that "origin" story - but I don't know if I have the skills required for it. Maybe it'll be a project for 2022 - who knows!

*thumbnail is Dante just because - I don't have an artwork with all the crew included, do forgive T-T

Christmas Eve, at Nero and Kyrie’s

“Do you think Dante will be ok with all this…?”

As soon as Kyrie’s voice echoed in the garage, Nero turned around just to see her packed with Christmas stuff: she got Dante all excited for Christmas – the first time the whole crew would spend it together – and now it looked like they were movingto Dante’s shop.

Because there was one thing they couldn’t argue against: the heart of the crew lied within the Devil May Cry shop’s walls, and that was the best place to get everyone together to celebrate. The only problem was that Dante had absolutely nodecorations to set up among all his demonic memorabilia.

So now, Kyrie was on a mission.

“You kiddin’ me? You show up like this, he’ll leave the deco up for a year!” Nero had to laugh at how she looked. Kyrie was trying to carry a whole bunch of Christmas tree decorations without letting it break – some of the very few things they managed to save from their old house in Fortuna. “Never saw ‘im so excited to get everyone together, really.”

“I’m so glad he said yes…!” Kyrie gave Nero one of her angelical smiles as soon as he approached to help her carry all that stuff. It never failed to make him stop on his tracks and just stare at her as if she was the most mesmerizing piece of art he had ever seen – which wasn’t entirely a lie. Nero did think Kyrie was the most beautiful being his eyes could take in. “I do hope everyone likes their gifts too!”

“Yeah…” Nero managed to mumble, smiling slightly while walking by her side, both of them ready to load the last Christmas trinkets on Nico’s van so they could finally head to the Devil May Cry and get everything ready.

“Ei, demon boy! Close your mouth or soon you’ll be drooling on the floor!” Nico emerged from the back of the van, cleaning her hands and sighing while Nero just gave her a not so happy look – Kyrie only laughed. She would never complain about how her boyfriend sometimes got so lost in his own feelings.

“Ya know, I hope ya like your gift too!” He complained, loading the very last crates of trinkets on the van while Kyrie waited for him to take the ones she was carrying. “Maybe if we’re lucky enough, it will take your big mouth to another dimension!”

“Nero!” Kyrie chastised him with her looks only, but laughed at her boyfriend’s antics. Nico, on the other hand, just crossed her arms and let out a fun, hearty laugh.

“You better behave, or I’ll give your present to someone else! And I gotta say, it’s a work of art!” She quipped back, smacking the back door in a playful manner as he loaded Kyrie’s crates. Once everything was almost done, Nico headed over to the driver’s seat – they’d be leaving in no time. “You’d be sad to miss that!”

“It’s always a work of art…” Nero mumbled, rolling his eyes while Kyrie giggled behind him, trying to hide how amused she was. It was always fun watching the sibling dynamic they had – very different from the one they had back in Fortuna.

Kyrie couldn’t lie to herself: she always saw Nero as something else than a brother – and the reciprocate was true.

“C’mon…” She lightly poked him with her elbow. “Her gifts are always good.”

“Yeah…” Nero sighed, scratching the back of his head. He didn’t move, though, which made Kyrie know he had something else to say. She waited patiently until he looked back at her, hands on his hips. “Ya know, y/n didn’t ask for anything… Ya think we’ll get the gift right? I mean… Y/n will like it…?”

“Of course. You chose it yourself. I bet y/n is going to love it.” Kyrie had a soft smile on her lips, taking one of his hands on hers. It always warmed her heart how much Nero cared about those he loved – they might not have much, but he made an effort to buy gifts everyone would like. Even though he was lost with yours, he didn’t give up. “Let’s go?”

Kyrie knew very well why you didn’t ask for anything – and so, she was sure you’d love whatever Nero decided to give you.

December 1st, at the Devil May Cry

“Why you’ve gotta be so difficult?” Nero was almost melting with frustration over the desk, staring, baffled, at you, Dante and his father, Vergil. “Just ask for somethin’! Anythin’! It ain’t that hard, c’mon!”

“Hey kid, we’re already gonna have Christmas here!” Dante smiled and opened his arms, as always sitting on his chair with his feet leaning on the desk. Nero just stared back at him as if his eyes could become bullets and shoot his uncle – sometimes, Dante was grateful he hadn’t learned Vergil’s summoned swords abilities… Yet. “Don’t’cha think that’s already good enough?”

“Gift-givin’ is part of Christmas, you deadweight!” Nero exploded back. He had been asking you three what you wanted for Christmas for the past half-hour and, honestly, it was more tiring than killing demons. At least demons weren’t that stubborn. “C’mon, help me out here…! Kyrie’s gonna kill me if I don’t have any idea what to buy…!”

He rested his hands on the desk, sighing while dropping his head in a defeated demeanor. There were two reasons why Nero was being so insistent: first, he wanted Kyrie to know he cared and knew all of you enough to give good gifts; second, that was what families did: during Christmas, they bought gifts for each other, even if they were simple ones, just to show they cared. Nero, just like the rest of the Sparda family, had a hard time showing his feelings – but he used to do that with little gestures, such as gifts.

“Books.” Vergil finally said, uncrossing his arms. He was sitting in the couch by your side, both of you previously discussing how to harness energy and transform in means of attack – such as summoned swords. Since you started hunting with them, Vergil had become a sort of teacher regarding some occult arts. “I’ll leave it to your judgement which one seems fine, but I do enjoy poetry. There’s no such thing as enough poetry.”

Dante stared at his brother, one raised eyebrow. You smiled proudly at how far Vergil had come. Nero, in the other hand, almost raised his arms to the skies to thank whatever sort of god that bestowed some sense in his father to help him out.

“See? Was it that difficult?!” He pointed at Vergil while talking to Dante, staring back at his father with a satisfied smile on his face. “Thanks, Vergil.”

The blue devil just slightly bowed his head, a soft smile painted on his lips. You almost fell on a fit of laughter as soon as you saw Dante narrowing his eyes at his brother, knowing very well what just had happened.

Point to Vergil.

“Okay, kid. You win!” Dante sighed, throwing his head back for a while, before looking back at Nero. You exchanged a quick, knowing look with Vergil – of course, he knew it was point for him. Dante was defeated in the gift-receiving department. “But ya know, no need for somethin’ fancy for me…”

“You’re planning on giving him something…?” Trish’s surprised voice echoed from the doors of the shop, making everyone notice her and Lady coming back from their latest job together. “Good luck with that.”

“Could just pay his debts, that would be one hell of a present.” Lady bantered while leaving Kalina Ann by the door – she was tired and, after so many years around, she learnt to let her guard down around the crew, even if just a little bit.

“Ya know, that’s actually a very good idea.” Dante pointed back at her, a devilish smile painting his lips. “But hey, you’d have no excuses to come visit me then!”

She was ready to give a fiery comeback while Trish slowly sat by your side as she always did when you and Vergil were around. You were the trio of demonic research and arcane knowledge – and that would never tire you.

“Hey, hey, hey! Don’t start, you two! No fightin’!” And there he was: responsible, fatherly Nero acting as if they were a bunch of rebellious kids from the orphanage. That was something that would also never tire you – as much as he always said he didn’t see himself as a father in the near future, or even in the next ten years, you couldn’t disagree more. “I just wanna know whatcha want for Christmas. Lady, Trish, you better think of somethin’! And y/n, don’tcha think I’ll let you go just because you’re quiet, I know you didn’t answer!”

“Damn. You’re such a smart ass, aren’t you…?” You raised one eyebrow, crossing your arms as your plan fell apart. You figured if you stayed quiet for long enough, Nero would forget you in that mayhem – but he dealt with the kids at the orphanage. He was used to chaos – and to quiet kids just like you. “It would’ve worked with Dante.”

The Crimson Slayer only stared back at you, as if his eyes said “no, it wouldn’t” and you just smiled back, knowing. In all honesty, everyone from the Sparda household was very observant – even if they acted like they weren’t. Dante was precisely that case: he acted aloof and all over the place, but he knew very well what was happening around him. That was something you knew well, and Vergil had pointed out in many occasions – especially when someone worried about Dante’s safety. “He might be foolish, but not stupid” were his usual words.

“Well, I could use some new clothes…” Lady stared at her dirty white blouse, all but destroyed after that job. For someone who liked to blow things up, her tendency to wear white certainly didn’t help. “Maybe a new shirt? I need some decent ones to go out, you know.”

“Sure! New shirt! Thanks, Lady!” And Nero beamed excitedly at her – that was the easiest conversation he had since he began his gift-giving quest.

“Hmmm… I need some new make-up.” Trish considered, taking her lipstick from her corset, and analyzing how much of it was left. “I already needed to buy it, but if you want to be giving presents this Christmas, a new lipstick wouldn’t hurt.” She finished the sentence in a sing song manner, winking at Nero right after finishing it.

“Right! You know what, it’ll be more than a lipstick, just ‘cause you’re nice, Trish!” Nero pointed at the demon woman, making her laugh delightfully. Lady finally took a place by her side, enjoying how comfortable that couch was – the shop didn’t have much, but she couldn’t complain about that. “See? How easy it is? It doesn’t hurt!”

“Right, right, ok, no need to trigger kid, chill!” Dante raised his hands as if Nero had a gun pointed at him, making you laugh hysterically. You didn’t even expect that from yourself, but something about Dante feeling threatened by the sheer bad temper Nero was about to explode at him was always fun. “Hey, you need to choose a gift too, chuckles!”

“He’s right!” And Nero pointed at you, now looking as if he was going to shoot at your general direction. You just stared back at Dante, contemplating the possibility of stabbing him for diverting the attention of the short-tempered devil at you.

“Now you understand why I stab him sometimes.” Vergil murmured calmly while crossing his arms, looking stoic as always – and his words had never been so true: now you understood him at a soul level.

“Why are you taking so long to decide as well, then?” You asked back, getting up from the couch and approaching the desk, sitting on it as Trish usually did. The rest of the crew could have a nice evening while Nero wanted to kill you and Dante, at least that was what you figured. “It’s just a Christmas gift, Dante. Not a consecration from the Queen of England.”

“And she’s right!” Now Nero’s attention got back to the red devil, making you smile triumphantly. Dante narrowed his eyes at you, having a devilish smile surge on his lips – he knew what you were doing. If he wanted, you could easily start a war on diverting Nero’s attention until one of you lost – and honestly, as much as Dante didn’t want to give up, it was cruel toying with Nero’s short temper like that.

“You owe me.” Dante quickly whispered, pointing at you while Nero was just completely confused. But he knew how to take his nephew’s attention from that. “Ok, kid. Whatcha say ‘bout some pizzas? Maybe top with a few strawberry sundaes, and you got me the gift of a lifetime!”

“Really?! That’s whatcha askin’ for?!” Nero couldn’t be more baffled and lost. Books were easy to find, a shirt was a very normal gift, make-up would make Kyrie go nuts on Christmas shopping… But pizzas? “How am I even gonna wrap that…?!”

“Dunno, kid. You wanted me to pick a gift.” Dante shrugged, leaning back on his chair, and crossing his arms, a satisfied smile spreading over his lips. “That’s what I want. Good luck.”

You shook your head, trying your best to contain your laugh as soon as you saw how Nero was desolated with that request. Dante wasn’t easy to deal with – and you knew why he didn’t want anything fancy. You could never think of him asking for material things – he wasn’t the type of guy to care for that.

For the Crimson Slayer, the very fact he finally had a family together to have a Christmas celebration at the Devil May Cry was already much more than he could ask – and a part of it he owed Nero. There was nothing else he could ask from his nephew: he had given Dante his family back – even if the red devil himself didn’t realize he patched together a family of his own.

“Okay…” Nero shook his head, sighing as if defeated. His aquamarine eyes lifted back at you, already so tired. You were almost pitying him.

Almost. He did choose to bring the toll of that quest upon himself.

“How ‘bout you, y/n? What can I get you…?”

“I don’t want anything, Nero. Really.” If you had said that moments ago, Nero would’ve blown up in a fit of rage and made the entire crew laugh until you said something just to appease him. At this point, though, he just stared back at you, already opening his mouth to squeeze a request out of you. “Hey, hey. Breathe in for a moment, ok? I don’t wanna get anything for Christmas, Nero. I’m really grateful you wanna do this, but… I don’t know. I guess I’m used to catering to myself and it feels… Foreign. Too foreign; asking someone else for something. I don’t even know where to start.”

Nero and Dante fell quiet for a while – the only noises being Trish, Lady and Vergil discussing some of their own Christmas experiences. As it was to be expected, none of them had many of those – Lady and Vergil having lived that only as children, for a very brief period. Trish was very intrigued to learn about what they could remember of it.

“Well… We have to start somewhere, y/n.” With a few words, you were able to put out the fire in Nero’s eyes. Now, his aquamarines were calm as the sea; friendly, carrying a hint of sadness in the distance. “Just… Think about it. Ok? Even if you wanna a pet rock from the streets, I’ll find you the coolest in Red Grave, deal?”

“Ok.” You giggled back as Nero lightly fist-bumped your chin; in a caring way a sibling would treat each other. Dante never said so, but it was actions like those that made his heart grow warm in his chest – seeing Nero so kind, and you so vulnerable. Quite a cute family he had around.

“Well…” Nero sighed, tired as if he had fought hordes of demons. A whole demonic army would probably be easier to deal than that, if he had to be honest to himself. “Gotta head back, check on Kyrie. She’ll be so happy with the Christmas news!”

Kyrie wasn’t the only one to be excited over a Christmas party. The crew didn’t really say it, but everyone in the Devil May Cry family had a different feeling in their hearts with the perspective of celebrating the holiday once more – a kind of golden, warm wave that certainly would be called ‘the spirit of Christmas’ by many holiday stories.

**

Christmas Eve, at the Devil May Cry

“Wow! This place has never looked so clean!” Lady had just arrived, carrying Kalina Ann as per usual, but this time, with a bunch of red packages in bags wrapped around her hands. Nero wasn’t the only one to get into the Christmas spirit: as soon as the party at the Devil May Cry became something tangible, that no one backed out, the whole crew got excited for it.

“You know, it didn’t get any better when we were in Hell and you ladies were runnin’ business here.” Dante pointed at her and Trish, noticing how even the demonic lady had a few packages herself. “Wow, everyone gettin’ on the spirit tonight?”

“Yeah. Not all of us are broke, you know.” Trish had a beautiful smile on her red lips to compensate her harsh words. Dante only smiled back.

“I know! Seems like we’re gonna have a nice Christmas after all!” He sat by his desk as always, perfectly matching the green and red decoration.

“Hey, ladies! Glad to see you here!” Nero emerged from the depths of the shop, picking up his pace as soon as he saw the bags they were carrying. “Those are gifts? You didn’t have to! Let me help ya with that!”

“Ah, you know… We couldn’t let you have all the glory for making Christmas happen.” Lady shared a few of her red wrapped presents with Nero, heading over the Christmas tree he had set up with Dante and Vergil as soon as they arrived at the shop.

Kyrie had planned to do everything on her own if she had to. Dante welcomed them with open arms, looking as excited as Nero was for Christmas – and she hadn’t seen her boyfriend like that in quite a while. When Kyrie was ready to get the Christmas tree going, though, she noticed how slowly Vergil and Dante approached Nero, who was unpacking everything.

What followed, Kyrie would always consider a Christmas miracle. Dante decided to help his nephew, Vergil supported his son so it all wouldn’t ‘fall apart’ – as he said it himself – and Nero had to remind them how to set up a Christmas tree, because both Slayers had no clue. It had been such a long time, they forgot about it completely – and now, they were relearning it. And Nero, for the first time, knew what was like to decorate a Christmas tree with his family.

It wasn’t a perfect family, and he always had to give decent instructions for Dante and Vergil – as well as cut fights right when they were starting so they could have a little bit of peace – but it was his family. After the first initial conflicts, it all went smoothly – and Kyrie couldn’t stop herself from taking a few pictures of that moment. It was the family the three of them needed so desperately.

“Oh, wow! We’re looking like a Christmas deco shop tonight! That’s great!” Your voice emerged from the door, announcing your arrival. Dante turned at you with a big smile on his face.

“I know right? Gotta thank lil’ angel in the kitchen for makin’ it happen!” He pointed at some obscure point in the back of the shop while you left your biker helmet nearby Lady’s Kalina Ann by the door. As always, you took a quick job on Christmas Eve and now, as the night was approaching, it was time to be back home with your found family.

“I think it’s the first time someone is actively using that kitchen.” You approached him in a teasing demeanor, making Dante slightly scold you with his eyes – but his smile denounced how he was having fun with it.

“I’m impressed this kitchen works.” Trish sat on Dante’s desk, as per usual, checking her finely polished nails: instead of the usual black, this time she had blood red on them. Looking at you, she crossed her fingers. “Here’s to hoping it won’t blow up!”

“That makes the two of us, then!” You copied her gesture. “Also, loved that nail polish. The color suits you perfectly, Trish!”

“Thanks, dear. If you want to borrow it, just let me know.” She winked back as you smiled in response.

Before you could say anything else, though, Nero appeared by your side like a looming, curious entity from the depths of Christmas time.

“What is that…?” He pointed at a bag in your hands, making everyone notice you were carrying a small package indeed, but big enough to fit what seemed like simple presents.

“Oh, those are my gifts for the crew.” You lifted the bag, sporting a carefree smile as if you had forgotten about it. “Not much, really. But it’s from the heart.”

“Bet it’s because you spent most of your money clearing the shops debts for the month.” Lady had to point it out and you didn’t even flinch on agreeing with her – she was right anyway.

“Hell yes. That’s why everything is up and running for the party!” You had a proud smile, making Dante laugh at how happy you were with yourself. It was your way of contributing with the Christmas spirit, as you told him when paying for all the bills of the shop that month.

He tried to stop you – but you had the stubbornness of a Sparda. Dante was glad you were so keen to make Christmas happen though – in a way, he owed you the celebration to go as smoothly as it was going.

“Wait, rewind right there…!” And Nero stopped you in your tracks as you tried to approach the Christmas tree. “You bought the crew… Christmas presents?”

“Oh, boy… Here we go.” Dante muttered, hiding how much he wanted to laugh at the moment. He knew it was coming.

“What…?” Lady approached him clueless, standing beside Dante and Trish, watching the disaster about to happen.

“Hmmm…. Yeah.” There was no way you could go around it, so you might as well go through it – head held high, facing the grandson of Sparda with no fear.

“WHAT?!” Said grandson was, in a matter of fact, fuming. “You didn’t let mebuy you a gift and you appear here with gifts for EVERYONE?!”

“Look. Giving gifts is much different than receiving gifts.” You tried to be as analytical as you could, but you were clearly failing. There was nothing analytical in Nero when he was so angry.

“I know that!” Oh, yes. Of course he knew. He was the one making Christmas happen – upon Kyrie’s request at first, but it soon became something Nero hoped for so long and a childhood dream that actually came true.

Not exactly like he expected, but it did come true.

“Hey, hot headed demon, let y/n be! We can hear you screamin’ from the kitchen!” As soon as Nico appeared behind him, slightly smacking his head with a wooden spoon, you sighed in relief. You could always count on her to deliver you from Nero’s temper. “Hey, there, y/n!”

“Did you hear what y/n said?!” Now his fury turned to the crew’s craftswoman and you took the chance to leave your presents by the tree. “Ya know…”

“Y/n bought presents, so what? We have other things to care for!” She smacked him once more with the wooden spoon, making Nero hold it when Nico seemed like she was going to do it a third time.

“Cut it out!” He took the spoon from her hands, making the woman sigh as if that was so unfortunate.

“Will ya look at that! Seems like you’ll be helpin’ at the kitchen now, demon boy! Call me if ya need somethin’!” As she walked out of the shop, Nero was just left there, completely dumbfounded.

“I’m gonna…”

“Hey, she told me she needed to adjust some things on a few gifts, give ‘er some time, kid.” Dante finally said something, sitting beside Trish on his desk. Lady leaned on his shoulder, the three of them so entertained by everything going on.

It was safe to say the crew didn’t have that much fun with everyone together in quite a while.

“Fine.” And Nero finally seemed to calm down – even though he pointed his wooden spoon at you right after. “Don’t think I’ll let ya go this easy, huh? You’re comin’ to the kitchen with me!”

“Sir, yes sir.” You answered in a sing song voice, following him to the shop’s kitchen.

It wasn’t a big place and most of those things didn’t work properly. It took you some time to make it functional though – as you convinced Dante he couldn’t live of pizza and Vergil that he eventually would have to eat something. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for the three of you and eventual guests – such as in that day.

You found Kyrie and Vergil working together to make dinner happen. Interestingly enough, she ordered the Dark Slayer around and he didn’t even say a word of complaint: always eager to learn something new, Vergil observed as Kyrie masterfully cooked, always carrying some grace in her movements, and did his best to assist her.

“Everything ok ‘round here?” Nero gave Kyrie her wooden spoon back, making her laugh as soon as she saw it.

“Oh, well. It seems like I lost the bet!” She giggled back at Vergil, making a faint laugh appear on his lips. There was something so heartwarming about that, which made you cross your arms and lean on the doorway, just observing things unfolding on that curious day. “Nico said she could convince you to work here in the kitchen with me.”

“Oh, great.” Nero rolled his eyes as his girlfriend satiated his curiosity regarding the bet. “I wouldn’t call that convincing.”

“It was more like smacking him with a spoon until Nero got mad at it.” You added, making Kyrie giggle even more. The most interesting part on their relationship was that Nero could never get angry at her.

“A strategy is still a strategy.” Vergil pointed out wisely, getting back at chopping shards of chocolate. You couldn’t stop yourself from approaching him, which made the blue devil side stare at you with suspicion in his silver eyes. “May I know why you are so interested in my work, curious eyes?”

“It’s a rather interesting work, you know…” You leaned on the kitchen counter by his side, looking back at him. A mischievous smile denounced your true intentions.

“These are for the dessert.” He raised one eyebrow, a smirk trying to hide on his lips. “You shall wait, like everyone else.”

“C’mon, I just got back from a job, Verge. Have some mercy on my soul.” Your voice was a little more dramatic, but you tried to remain as serious as you could. “For it’s good to be children sometimes, and never better at Christmas, when its mighty Founder was a child himself.”

Vergil stared at you for a moment, sighing while putting his knife down. With a slightly bigger smile on his lips, he took a few shards of chocolate on the blade and offered it to you.

“Just because you recited Charles Dickens.” He murmured while you happily took the sweet offering.

“Hmmm… Do I have to know poetry too to get some chocolate…?” Nero looked a little embarrassed, even if he tried to play it cool. He and Vergil were still getting used to living together, but after the first few weird months, you could safely say they were in the right direction. It wasn’t a perfect father and son dynamic, but it was good enough. For both of them.

“Well… Not this time.” Vergil sighed, taking some more chocolate on the blade and offering his son. Nero beamed excitedly, just like a child – and that made Vergil feel a strange tug in his heart. A part of him suddenly wished he hadn’t been foolish enough to have wasted his life in search for power and had settled down, staying by his son’s side. It wished he had protected him, watched him grow – at that moment, if anyone offered Vergil an opportunity to be there for Nero since childhood, he would take it. “Kyrie.” He extended some more chocolate at her direction, making her smile as much as his son. “I will leave some for you here. The rest, is for dessert.”

“Thanks, dad!” Nero licked his fingers, having a little chocolate lost on his lips. It didn’t matter how old he was, he seemed like a kid who was having fun during Christmas for the first time.

“Nero, why don’t you help your father with it? Y/n can help me with other things.” Kyrie suggested, getting back at cooking while leaving a part of her chocolate nearby. She loved nibbling at some things while working and that sweet treat would be perfect for that. “Having you both around will be very helpful!”

“Hmmm… I was… I…” Nero didn’t seem very certain at first: there were still things to settle on the shop regarding decoration and finding a space where the crew could have dinner – but he didn’t want to say no. It looked like Vergil’s guard was down, while he observed Nero with a certain expectation in his eyes – and even if their relationship wasn’t easy, Nero didn’t want to let that opportunity pass.

He always wanted to have a father anyway.

“Hey, kid!” And Dante appeared on the doorway, making Nero almost jump far enough to glue on the ceiling from being startled. You wondered for how long he was standing there. “Lemme take care of things here in the shop, ok? The ladies will help too. I think lil’ angel there could use all the help she can get right now!”

You smiled proudly. Dante never failed. He could appear out of nowhere, but his presence was always welcome: as you helped Kyrie with the rest of dinner, Vergil and Nero struggled together with the dessert. You even had to stop at some point when you heard both of them laughing – finding Nero covered in chocolate and Vergil patiently cleaning him up.

“You know… You’re sneaky, Kyrie. Very sneaky.” You had to point it out, smiling at her as soon as she approached to help you prepare yet another dish.

“Well… I felt like they need to spend some time together. Don’t you feel it too?” She chuckled sweetly, trying not to stare at them so obviously like you did. Not that they noticed anyway.

“Yeah… I do.” You turned your attention back to cooking once more. “I guess that’s what they call Christmas magic, huh?”

“I think so too.” She smiled back. Kyrie loved Nero with all her heart – and hearing him so carefree, like a child on his first Christmas celebration, made her wonder how she could love him even more.

**

You had to argue Christmas started when you all got together, still organizing things. Dante, Lady and Trish did a nice job setting the coffee table as a place to eat while everyone sat on the couch and nearby tables – as with everything on the shop, it was improvised but the result was more than enough for everyone.

Nico wouldn’t stop pestering Nero, as always; Lady, Trish and Kyrie maintained a nice conversation on various different topics – from devil hunting to newest fashion trends; You, Vergil and Dante kept chatting about day-to-day stuff at the shop; but every now and then, some conversation would arise to bring everyone together – and so, time flew until the clock was close to hit midnight.

That was when Nero announced gift-time – as he called it himself. You didn’t fail to notice how excited he was, but you didn’t know if it was for receiving or giving presents.

What you didn’t expect, though, was the eagerness on both Dante and Vergil. They showed in different manners, but it was still noticeable – Dante kept smiling and encouraging Nero to start giving away the packages, expectation clear in his eyes, as Vergil waited silently with a faint smile on his lips, silvery eyes filled with as much expectation as Dante’s.

And the red devil was much baffled to receive only a red envelope as his gift.

“Hey, open up before complainin’.” Nero pointed out before his uncle could say anything – not that Dante would complain. You firmly believed he could get a bush stick from the streets as a present and he’d never complain.

“Oh, be damned…!” But Dante’s face lit up in a broad smile as he took what looked like a bunch of tickets from the envelope. “Bullseye, Nero! Thanks a lot, this is great!”

You couldn’t stop yourself from laughing alongside the crew when you noticed what Dante got: a whole bunch of gift cards from his favorite pizza place – both for pizzas and sundaes. Dante could easily live a few months just on that.

“It’s a lot easier to wrap than a bunch of pizza boxes!” Nero laughed back, while hugging his uncle. “Now Vergil… This is yours.”

The blue devil took the box while slightly bowing in appreciation. Nero almost held his breath, wondering if Vergil would enjoy it. The man unwrapped his gift, revealing a copy of the Odyssey, by Homer – and that shocked almost everyone. Except Kyrie.

“I had to read for school once. It’s really nice. Figured you’d like it.” Nero decided to explain, trying not to let it show how unsure he was. “If you didn’t read it yet, I mean.”

“I haven’t.” Vergil stopped Nero from trying to overexplain himself, making his son smile comfortably. “I started reading a long time ago, but never got the chance to finish. Thank you, Nero.”

Before he could allow his cheeks to blush as much as his chest filled with pride and happiness for choosing the right present for his father, Nero took his last wrapped item from the feet of the tree, extending it to you.

“And this one is yours, y/n! As much as you told me not to get’cha anything!” He finally had you take your red wrapped present in your hands, while you only laughed at his words.

“And as always, you didn’t listen!” You quipped back, unwrapping your package.

Which revealed a very different looking stone – a crystal, you would say, sparkling in clear and royal blue, with some purple shadows here and there – staring back at you with carefully placed googly eyes that shook everywhere as you handled the stone.

“Did you just give me the coolest pet rock in all Red Grave…?” To say you were impressed was an understatement.

“No one has one of those. I can guarantee you that!” Nero had the brightest and proudest smile plastered on his face – as a sibling who just gave the best and most absurd present to the other.

And, in a matter of fact, he had just done it.

“You’re amazing, you know that?” It was Christmas – so you allowed yourself to hug him as tightly as you could. “Thanks, Nero. It’s the best pet rock I’ve evergot.”

“Hey, no worries. If ya keep refusing my gifts, I can always give you a whole family.” He laughed, hugging you back.

And you were sure you couldn’t have asked for a better brother.

**

“Hey, how’s your pet rock doin’?”

As soon as you excused yourself to the roof for some fresh air after all the gift-giving, Dante waited some time before following you. Alone, you now had only his company and the Moon’s – which made you smile back at the red devil approaching you. They all knew you liked having some time on your own when a lot of people were gathered together – and you, like Vergil, enjoyed watching the stars at night.

“Great! I’d go as far as saying Kerberos is happy to be around.” You laughed a little when Dante stopped right by your side.

“Kerberos? That’s the name you chose?” As he questioned, you only agreed with your head, making him laugh in return. “You know what? It suits the rock. Good name choice.”

“Thank you!” You bowed your head slightly. “Did you like your gift?”

“If I liked it? I loved it!” With those words, Dante took from his pocket a black and red devil wings keychain, already containing the shop’s keys and his bike’s. “Already usin’ it, see? I’m impressed it wasn’t a pizza keychain!”

“Well, you already got enough pizza from Nero.” You laughed back, staring at the sky right after. You had a thing of not looking at people’s faces when saying something from your heart. “I figured I could give you something that reminds me more of you. And before you can say it’s your demonic heritage, it isn’t. To me, you’re like a reversed guardian angel, hence the wings.”

Dante kept observing you for a while. You both took your time to sit by the edge of the roof, something he loved doing and soon you joined him on that preference. Observing the moon and the stars, he kept thinking about what you said.

Dante never expected to be seen as a guardian angel. He had heard a lot of things before – demon, devil, creature, underworld being – but never something so… Good. Dante was used to be seen and treated as a monster, as something inhuman, no matter how human he looked and acted. As soon as his demonic side triggered and he became a flaming demon viciously fighting other hellish creatures, he wasn’t treated as more than an animal.

But you were different, right from the start. And there you were, calling him your guardian angel. He could never see the angel in himself, but it didn’t matter how evil his demonic side looked, you always treated him like the best creature you had ever met. He had saved you countless of times – and you had saved his ass more than he would like to admit – but Dante would never go as far as saying he was a guardian angel.

You, in the other hand, did.

“You know… The kid wasn’t the only one to get you a gift this Christmas.” He suddenly commented, making you stare back in confusion at the red devil right by your side. Before you could say anything, though, Dante kept talking. “I know, I know, you didn’t want anythin’. But hey, we’re the stubbornest family in the world, huh?” And you couldn’t agree more, laughing alongside him. “And it’s not like I spent money on this… Ya know I don’t have much.”

“Precisely why I didn’t want all this gift-giving nonsense. You’re already giving me a place to live, Dante.” You analyzed, making him agree with his head.

“Yeah, but what you lack in rent, you have in bills. Not that great.” He joked, laughing while you were getting ready for a whole speech on how that didn’t matter to you. Someday, you hoped Dante would understand you were around because of hima nd everyone else – and money didn’t matter that much. “I want you to have this, y/n.”

It wasn’t wrapped or inside a box. Dante just put a cheap looking long necklace with a very expensive looking ring on it – a work of art, you had to say: the gold looked like vines and leaves, while a red, sparkling stone in the middle looked like the petals of a flower, forming a perfect red rose.

“It was my mother’s.” He finally declared, making you stare back at him with furrowed eyebrows. “Dad gave her as an anniversary gift; dunno how many years of marriage, though. But I managed to keep it when… You know…” He shrugged, taking his sky-blue eyes from you to stare at the stars. “It’s one of the last memories I have left. I want you to keep it.”

“What? No, Dante, you can’t…” You didn’t even know what to do with yourself. You were afraid to hold that beautiful ring in the wrong way and eventually break it – now that you knew how much it was worth, it became the most fragile thing you ever had in your hands. “I can’t… What…”

“Hey, don’t sweat it. My mom would’ve liked it, ya know.” He now had a playful smile on his lips, although you could see something else in his eyes. A gentle longing, slightly sad. “That I gave it to someone else. A human. Someone I love.”

Your eyes gradually filled up with tears as you thought there wasn’t enough air for your lungs around you that night. You looked at the ring between your fingers, wondering if he was right – but something inside told you that was his decision to make, not yours. And he had decided to give such a valuable thing to you.

In your eyes, that ring was worth more than all the crown jewels or expensive diamonds in the world.

“Thank you.” Your voice was but a whisper as you suddenly held him tightly in your arms. Dante was taken aback for a few seconds, before wrapping his own arms around your waist and giving in to the hug. “You know I’ll always be here, right? I love you. All of you.”

“I know, y/n. I know.” He closed his eyes, gently rocking both of you side to side, in a playful way. Nevertheless, Dante was happy you couldn’t see how much he was holding himself back not to tear up. That was, by far, one of the best Christmas he had in his whole troubled lifetime. “I’ll always be here too. Your guardian angel, remember?”

Even when snow started falling, you didn’t let go of each other’s embrace, not until you were ready – and until Nero and Nico left the shop ready to start a snowball fight that ended up involving the whole crew.

And there, among the glistening snow, laughing with all of them while throwing snowflakes around, with Eva’s ring sparkling around your neck making Dante and Vergil observe you proudly when you laughed among pure white flakes in that beautiful night, you were even more sure you’d never want any gifts from any of them.

Because the family and support they gave you was already the greatest gift you could had ever received from each of them.

You were home.

[devilmayfamily]

Day 12 - Knitted Scarves

Masterlist

Pronouns: they/them/gender neutral

You had learned a lot of things in your time spent alone at the DMC office.

You were a saved civilian Dante had rescued from during a big mission. You've been unconscious for a few months and hadn't woken up until about a week ago. You could remember much and Kyrie suggested you stayed in the office building until you remember more about your life.

Everyone tried to help, teaching you different things like baking and sowing, trying to see if anything will bring back a memory. While nothing has worked, you did appreciate all their efforts to help.

You didn't just learn skills however. You also learned a lot about the DMC crew. Dante was very laidback and flirtatious. He made you laugh a lot. Nero was like a brother to you. He watched out for you the most and made sure you always had food and water. Nico, Lady and Trish were fun to hang out with. They taught you how to use a gun in case a demon busts in.

V was the most interesting of the crew. He seemed to always be reading, adding to the conversation every now and then. His bird, Griffon, seemed to talk more than he did. You always seemed to notice him looking at you during the day as well.

You were currently sat on the couch knitting a scarf. It was the only skill you remembered to have and the crew fed into it, buying you knitting needles and yarn. You were humming as you thred the needle through the yarn. You were making a scarf for everyone, working on Nero's at the moment.

"You seem busy"

You look up to see V standing before you. You smiled but at him and nodded.

"You guys have been very kind to me. I wanted to do something in return", you reply.

V nods, looking at all of the scarves you've made. He hesitates for a moment but moves closer to you.

"You should make an ice blue one", V says.

"Oh, but I already made you a black one", you reply.

V shakes his head. "It's not for me."

You look up at him confused.

"I know someone who would appreciate an ice blue one. He may not say it out loud but he will like it", V explains.

"What is he like?", you ask, finishing Nero's scarf and switching the white yarn for blue.

V asks if he can sit, which you allow him to, curling up next to him to listen to him talk.

"Well, he's very stoic and he's not good at sharing his emotions but I know he loves and appreciates his younger brother and parents, especially his mother", V begins.

"He can get in his head a lot and doesn't know how to ask for help but I think if someone just showed they cared for him, he'd fall apart for them and them alone. He doesn't trust easy but he really needs someone to calm him."

You nodded along, knitting the ice blue yarn together into a long scarf. You added dark blue roses into the design, making unique compared to the others.

"I'd love to meet him one day", you say.

"I'm sure you will. I'll bring him to you best I can", V replies.

You finish the blue scarf, smiling at your work. You pick up the black one and wrap it around V's neck. He looks down at it, adjusting it slightly. He smiles up at you, tucking a piece of hair behind your ear.

"He'd like you. I know I do", V says.

You blush, not quite expecting the mysterious poet to like you.

"May I?", V asks.

You nod, allowing the man to cup your face in his hands. V leans over, placing a kiss on your forehead. He smiles as your face stains a light pink and grows warm. You remembered something, however you weren't sure what. You didn't know if it was V's face as he smiled at you or the simple gesture, but something made you feel safe and warm sitting there with him.

"Merry Christmas", you mumble.

"Merry Christmas"

[pain-in-the-asguardian]

Texts

(On A03 here)

15 November 2018

[To: Phones]:  Just you wait.  Imma find you yo.

[To: Phones]: Ill bring you back.

[To: Phones]:  You gotta hang in there

16 November 2018

[To: Phones]:  That Reaper did something dammit.  Its like only me an Shiki remember you.

[To: Phones]:  But dont worry once I get ya back well fix this.

[To: Phones]:  Gonna scour Shibuya till I find out whats goin on.

17 November 2018

[To: Phones]:  You better be alive Phones.

[To: Phones]:  Ya know what I mean…

18 November 2018

[To: Phones]:  AARGH

[To: Phones]:  Aint no sign of any Reapers.  They gotta be here.

[To: Phones]:  Ill figure this out

20 November 2018

[To: Phones]:  Aint stopped searching.  I know you out there

[To: Phones]:  I can feel it yo.  You can too right?

[To: Phones]:  We still synced I know it.

22 November 2018

[To: Phones]: still looking

[To: Phones]:  Are you even getting these

[To: Phones]:  Aint matter…

[To: Phones]:  Your number ain’t showin as disconnected.  Thats something.

13 November 2018

[To: Phones]: I guess this ain’t a normal Reapers Game.  Youd be back now…

[To: Phones]: Not like any of us expected it to be.

25 November 2018

[To: Phones]:  Had a weird dream.

[To: Phones]: Like I was figthin by your side again.  But I aint know where it was.

[To: Phones]: Not Shibuya.

29 November 2018

[To: Phones]:  Still nothing.  Aint gonna stop me.

[To: Phones]:  I miss you… (unsent)

1 December 2018

[To: Phones]:  Still looking.

5 December 2018

[To: Phones]:  Raining.  Skating in the rain kind of sucks.

7 December 2018

[To: Phones]:  Had that weird dream again.

[To: Phones]:  I know that means you still out there.

10 December 2018

[To: Phones]: You better be hanging in there.

[To: Phones]:  I aint think it was gonna take this long.

[To: Phones]:  Even if ya got screwed over like our Game… you should be back by now right?

[To: Phones]:  They really pulling some shit.

[To: Phones]:  I can’t stand it yo.

15 December 2018

[To: Phones]:  It actually snowed a bit.  Weird.

[To: Phones]:  Maybe one day Ill learn to snowboard.

17 December 2018

[To: Phones]: Had to take a family holiday photo ugh.

[To: Phones]:  If the Reapers is looking for more ways to torture people

[To: Phones]:  That’s one of them.

20 December 2018

[To: Phones]:  It’s COLD.  I hope it aint like this where you are.

23 December 2018

[To: Phones]:  Dont think Im giving up yo.

[To: Phones]:  Had that dream again.

24 December 2018

[To: Phones]:  Rhyme made like 300 Christmas cookies.

25 December 2018

[To: Phones]:  Merry Christmas

[To: Phones]: I ate too much

17 December 2018

[To: Phones]: Dammit where ARE you.

1 January 2019

[To: Phones]:  New year new chances to find you.

5 January 2019

[To: Phones]:  You holdin up?

10 January 2019

[To: Phones]: Still cold.

17 January 2019

[To: Phones]:  Shiki and Eri’s are gonna try selling their stuff

20 January 2019

[To: Phones]:  IM GONNA FIND YOU DAMN IT

[To: Phones]: I can still feel it.  I know you there even if you aint get these.

23 January 2019

[To: Phones]:  You got Partners again?  I hope you ain’t alone…

[To: Phones]:  It’s been so long

[To: Phones]:  But these are still going through…

[To: Phones]: And I can still feel you.  I know thats what this feeling is.

27 January 2019

[To: Phones]: Aint giving up

[To: Phones]:  I miss you.  (unsent)

[To: Phones]:  You should be here by now (unsent)

1 February 2019

[To: Phones]: Shiki and Eri’s stuff is really takin’ off.

12 February 2019

[To: Phones]:  Sorry school and shit getting to me

[To: Phones]: Even if I aint check in Im still here

[To: Phones]: And still looking

20 February 2019

[To: Phones]: You better be kickin Noise and Reaper ass yo.

3 March 2019

[To: Phones]:  Rhyme is really into computers now

[To: Phones]: I ain’t understand shit.

[To: Phones]:  At least she aint talk like Tabooty

17 March 2019

[To: Phones]: You better be ok.

27 March 2019

[To: Phones]: I totally aced a test today!

29 March 2019

[To: Phones]:  That dream…

[To: Phones]:  Where ARE you (unsent)

5 April 2019

[To: Phones]:  Still looking

12 April 2019

[To: Phones]: Thought by now I’d track down at least one Reaper yo.

[To: Phones]: Aint like Pixie Chick blends in

20 April 2019

[To: Phones]: Damn it Phones where the hell are you

[To: Phones]:  Shibuya feels like its moving on

[To: Phones]: Its just wrong yo.

27 April 2019

[To: Phones]:  I know there’s Reapers in the RG

[To: Phones]: I swear I’ll find ‘em and make 'em talk.

5 May 2019

[To: Phones]: Is this hopeless?  (unsent)

[To: Phones]:  Well I guess we know who’s got the higher Noise Erased count now.

20 May 2019

[To: Phones]:  I think I’ve memorized every side street and alleyway in this city.

[To: Phones]: When you back Ill be able to show you around blindfolded.

2 June 2019

[To: Phones]:  HOT.

13 June 2019

[To: Phones]: People really love Mr. Mew

[To: Phones]: Shiki an Eri might be getting an actual shop to sell stuff in.

24 June 2019

[To: Phones]: I want to go to the beach.

[To: Phones]: You ever gone there?

[To: Phones]: Can’t imagine you in trunks.

[To: Phones]: akljf;ds

5 July 2019

[To: Phones]:  How you holdin up

18 July 2019

[To: Phones]: Who decided hot and sticky was a good temperature for anything

29 July 2019

[To: Phones]: I aint giving up you better not either.

1 August 2019

[To: Phones]:  Rhyme is scary good with computers.  She said something about hacking.  Should I be afraid?

17 August 2019

[To: Phones]: Guess who fought a cicada.

22 August 2019

[To: Phones]: The hell is with these dreams.

5 September 2019

[To: Phones]: I ain’t know how many times Ive walked the same streets.

6 September 2019

[To: Phones]: Dont think that last text means I given up. I aint.

20 September 2019

[To: Phones]: This city has changed so much. So many new places.

[To: Phones]: Can’t wait to show you.

1 October 2019

[To: Phones]:  How many Noise you beat by now?

10 October 2019

[To: Phones]: Everyone wants to go to Shibuya Halloween this year.

31 October 2019

[To: Phones]: THIS WAS A BAD IDEA I AIN’T NEVER SEEN SO MANY PEOPLE.

[To: Phones]:  It took 45 minutes to leave the station and get across the Scramble.

[To: Phones]: We were all bullied into wearing Mr. Mew costumes.

[To: Phones]: Rhyme wants me to clarify that only I was bullied.

7 November 2019

[To: Phones]: Really hoped with all those Halloween vibes that maybe something would turn up.

[To: Phones]: All that stuff about ghosts and shit.

[To: Phones]: Still nothing.

20 November 2019

[To: Phones]: I ain’t giving up.

1 December 2019

[To: Phones]: It’s December again…

19 December 2019

[To: Phones]: You really gotta see all these lights

[To: Phones]:  One day.

20 December 2019

[To: Phones]: No escape from Family Holiday Photos.

24 December 2019

[To: Phones]: Too many Christmas cookies.

25 December 2019

[To: Phones]: Merry Christmas kick some Noise ass.

1 January 2020

[To: Phones]: This will be the year.

1 February 2020

[To: Phones]: Ok so maybe it wasn’t the month. But it’s still gonna be the year.

4 March 2020

[To: Phones]: Im sorry I couldnt find you sooner (unsent)

[To: Phones]: This is takin longer than I thought.

17 March 2020

[To: Phones]: You got this.

1 April 2020

[To: Phones]: Aint giving up.

1 May 2020

[To: Phones]: Sorry… school and shit.

[To: Phones]: Dont worry though.  Im still here.

[To: Phones]: I know you are too.

1 June 2020

[To: Phones]:  I hope its cooler wherever you are.

1 July 2020

[To: Phones]: Even CAT hasn’t done anything in months.  I wonder what happened to Mr H.

1 August 2020

[To: Phones]:  Still get those dreams once in a while

[To: Phones]: Do you…

1 September 2020

[To: Phones]: Fall again…

1 October 2020

[To: Phones]: Ok this year we’ll be prepared for Shibuya Halloween.

31 October 2020

[To: Phones]:  Ok ain’t no way to prepare for that.

[To: Phones]: One of these days you gonna suffer with us.

1 November 2020

[To: Phones]:  I will find you.  No matter how long it takes.

1 December 2020

[To: Phones]:  December again…

[To: Phones]: Damn it.

[To: Phones]: Please be alright.

1 January 2021

[To: Phones]: OK THIS YEAR.  I KNOW IT.

[To: Phones]: I wonder what you look like now.

[To: Phones]: Will I recognize you? (unsent)

10 January 2021

[To: Phones]: Fuck.  College is next year…

1 February 2021

[To: Phones]: Gatto Nero is gonna get a shop in 104!  Can you believe it?

1 March 2021

[To: Phones]: Rhyme says she working on something.  Iono what that means…

1 April 2021

[To: Phones]: That dream again.  Something feels different yo.

1 May 2021

[To: Phones]: Somethin’s weird.  Aint had a feeling like this in a long time.

[To: Phones]: Hang in there.

1 June 2021

[To: Phones]: Pins are getting popular again. Even Gatto Nero’s getting’ in on it.  You outta see these designs!

1 July 2021

[To: Phones]: Rhyme says she close to a breakthrough.  I aint know on what but she says its gonna help.

27 July 2021

[To: Phones]: Something is definitely goin down yo.  You feel it too?

[To: Phones]: We close, I know it.

[To: Phones]: This time fo sho.

[To: Phones]: You comin home.

[thenightgazer]

A Long Way Home

While still trapped in the Underworld, Dante and Vergil have to resolve their family issue. One that can't be solved only by swords and guns.

It's been two years since Red Grave incident, one week after Christmas, and still no news about Dante and Vergil. That leaves Nero terribly upset, but little did he know that miracle will come to him very soon.

Merry Christmas @nibbbs! Surprise surprise, I’m your secret santa from @dmcsecretsanta! Hopefully you enjoy the gift I wrote for you! Happy reading and happy holiday!

You can also read it on my AO3!

~~~

The Underworld has never been this quiet before.

That forsaken place is the real no man’s land; always boisterous with fights between demons to take over the throne of the Underworld. Be it a slaughter between lower demons or higher demons, they couldn’t care less. Their primal instinct is just craving more power and of course, human flesh. But since the portal to cross into the human world isn’t always unfolded, cannibalism is ineluctable. It’s either eat or be eaten. It’s bound to happen and demons don’t have any choices but to yield to the Underworld’s natural law. Surviving and escaping the Underworld seems like an absurd fantasy for humans, even for demons as well.

Which is why voluntarily jumping into the depth of the Underworld to save the world is considered to be a valiant and honorable act, yet also frivolously lunatic.

Well, for Dante, lunatic sounds like his middle name, if he ever had one.

He chuckles by the thought of that.

“What are you laughing at?” Dante’s problematic twin brother Vergil snarls.

“Nothing,” Dante closes his eyes. “Just having a weird thought.”

Vergil replies nothing. He shows no interest in Dante's daydream, but that’s just probably because he’s too tired to even think of a reply. The twins couldn’t count how many days have passed since they cut the Qliphoth tree down. They spared and killed any demons nearby, exploring other regions of the Underworld simply because they are bored and need some time to rebound their lost time as brothers. Now, exhaustion forces them to take some rest. They lean side by side on the scorched desert, staring at the perpetual black sky while restoring their energy.

Dante can sense a demon’s presence not too far from where he is right now, but that presence fades eventually. “You feel that too, Verge?”

“I do,” Vergil murmurs. “The words have been spoken, I presume. That they better not to disturb us if they still want to live.”

“Well, once we recover, they’re going to die anyway.”

Vergil’s short hum speaks of his concurrence.

Dante shifts his hands under his head as he glances to his brother. Vergil stiffly lies on the ground with Yamato on his chest while his hands gripping on it. He might close his eyes but Dante knows his brother can still attack his opponent while closing his eyes. As hard as a steel, this old bastard, Dante amuses at his idea. “Rest means relaxing, bro. You don’t have to be on guard all the time.”

“I’m preparing for any attack.”

“It’s not like there is a demon near us at this moment.”

“Have some self-consciousness, Dante. You could attack me at any time, given a chance.”

Dante wakes up straight away. “Why would I wanna attack you?!”

“There’s always a possibility.”

“Says the guy who always has the intention to kill me, huh,” Dante lies back again. “Seriously, Verge. Just for five minutes, stop thinking and go to sleep. Bet it’s been a while since you have a proper sleep, right?”

Neither show any agreement or disagreement, Vergil turns his head to Dante. “Why are you still awake then?”

“Huh? To keep an eye on you, of course. Who knows you’d do some weird shit outta there again.”

Vergil curves a smirk, then turns his eyes to the dark sky again. “I see. You are also scared of me attacking you while you’re asleep, aren’t you? We’re twins, after all.”

“I don’t-” Dante almost bite his mouth.. “Man, you’re as sharp and annoying as you always have been.”

“I take that as a compliment.”

“Yeah right.”

And there’s silence again. It’s been days, or weeks, since the last time Dante hears any demonic voices around him. To be honest, he kind of expects their appearance. He likes talking to Vergil, but the older brother has an issue in healthy communication. Hell, Vergil is a difficult person and Dante wonders if the eldest children around the world are always like this. But Dante realizes he is also no expert in social interaction, and fighting is also the only thing they both are good at. Vergil would talk a little bit much when fighting, even if it’s mostly taunting and mocking Dante, yet it’s better than having Vergil succumb to the dark side again.

“By the way,” Dante breaks the ice. “Are you ready now to tell me who’s the lucky girl a.k.a Nero’s mom?”

Vergil draws the Yamato above Dante’s throat. “One more word, and I’ll cut you into pieces.”

“C’moooon! I’m curious!”

The Yamato is now touching Dante’s skin. “Final warning, Dante.”

Dante flicks the Yamato’s blade. “Fine. Whenever you’re ready, bro. You might not want to tell me, but you owe that to Nero. He’s your son. He deserves to know.”

Vergil sheathes Yamato, scoffing at Dante’s warning. “It’s not like I’m going back to the human world.”

“Well, we HAVE to!”

“Pray tell why I should agree with you.”

“I have a shop to run and there’s a new menu at my favorite pizza parlor. You should try it, by the way. And you got a lot to explain to Nero. You don’t wanna be a deadbeat like Father, right? Though you kinda already are all this time.”

“You know it better than anyone else that I didn’t know Nero’s existence until you told me so.”

“Which is more reason why you have to come back to the human world soon. You can say you don’t need to catch up with Nero but I know you want it. You left him your frigging book; the same one you didn’t allow me to borrow. Dear ol’ Vergil got some soft spots for his son, huh?”

Vergil turns his back from Dante like a sulking child, ignoring his younger twin’s laughter. As expected from a cold man like him, he won’t ever admit that every single of Dante’s words is true. Again, a long and neglected fear consumes him. What’s fatherhood for a man who ran out of place and time like him anyway? Is there any chance for him to fix his family? Getting back in terms with Dante is one thing, but with Nero, the son he had never met before his escapement from the Underworld? Does he even have a right to call him his son after all he had done to him?

After quite long of silence and battle with himself, Vergil murmurs a question to Dante. “How old is he?”

Dante almost squealed if only he didn’t remember not to ruin Vergil’s mood or else they won’t have any friendly conversation anymore. “Nero? Twenty-something, I guess. Haven’t asked him myself.”

“How did you meet each other?”

“Long short story, some weird-ass cult that worshipped our father as a god turned out evil and wanted to use our father’s power to rule the world-”

“The Order of the Sword?”

“Right! You did your research! Nero was one of them but rebelled after they kidnapped his girlfriend and killed her brother. I came to Fortuna to retrieve the Sparda sword and apparently your kid was able to summon the Yamato and I got the picture already. He got white hair, he summoned Yamato, tried to kill me repeatedly, stab me with Rebellion and Yamato, craving for more power to save his beloved. I wondered where he got that from, by the way~”

A hint of smirk curves in Vergil’s mouth.

“Then we worked together to save Fortuna from a pope who was obsessed with our Father and destroyed the island. We succeeded and brought peace. Nero got his girlfriend back, and we established the branch of Devil May Cry in Fortuna. The end.”

“A heartwarming, and very unoriginal story.”

“You think I made up that story?”

“Didn’t say that. I am merely implying that I heard stories similar to your experience.”

“Hell knows you are the coldest person alive, but you are a terrible liar. You are a man of pride, after all. Lying doesn’t suit you.”

“I can tell thousands of lies as I please, if only that’s necessary,” Vergil takes a brief look at Dante’s mischievous face. “But I won’t, if it’s concerning my son.”

Is this really the Vergil I used to know? Dante can’t hold his grin while elbowing his brother. “Starting to feel like a real dad, huh?”

“Silence.”

“Admitting that you love your son won’t do any harm, Verge.”

“I-” Vergil stumbles upon his own words. He growls impatiently, hurrying himself to get up and sit down as he wipes his face frustratedly. “We’re not having this conversation anymore.”

“Why? Just because you can’t admit that you grew care for your son?”

“Because I’m a terrible person!”

That was the most honest words that came from Vergil, if anything, ever. When was the last time he showed his vulnerable side like this? Even as V, crumbling and dying slowly, he didn’t even spare Dante any sign of defeat and regret. Dante gets up, clapping Vergil’s shoulder. “Only if you still want to destroy the world and kill your own family, then maybe I’d call you the worst shit in the world too.”

Vergil shakes his head. “If only…”

“Huh?”

“Had I known I have a son back then…” Vergil says bitterly. “I would never leave him. I would never go pursuing power or raising that foolish tower and this ridiculous tree…” he points to the remains of Qliphoth tree with his sword. “I would have a better chance to be… a good father for him…”

Regret always comes late, isn’t it? The ‘if onlys’ never come at the front of the mind, merely whispering behind the head but never appearing into the surface before regret comes. Vergil knows that, but never really understands it until Dante tells him that Nero- the very man whose arm was ripped by him and still willing to help him in every way- is his own flesh and blood. His priority was to seal the gate of the Underworld and cut the Qliphoth tree, so that Nero and the rest of the human world are safe and sound. He will stay in the Underworld to redeem himself, for he thinks he has no place in the human world for all he has done. He planned to create a portal to the human world after he fixed things up with Dante to kick him out from the Hell with force, because he knows Dante won’t leave him alone again and will do anything to drag Vergil out from the Underworld. The plan is simple. It should have been easy to execute.

Yet ever since Vergil landed at this hellhole, his steps are getting heavier as time goes on. A haunting voice inside his head kept telling him to come back to Nero as soon as he finished his job cutting Qliphoth roots. Another sound tells him he should stay longer here with Dante to catch up with their sibling bound. The third sound, more demanding and urging, tells him to stay in the Underworld forever as a redemption.

“Y’know, bro,” Dante folds his legs as he seizes the Yamato from Vergil’s hand and puts it on the ground, which dismays Vergil. “Gotta admit that I wanted to kill you because I wanted to free you from evil, and get rid of Nero’s burden of having you as his father. Though he proved to us that we are just a bunch of nonsensical idiots who got unsolved sibling problems between us-”

“I am not an idiot!”

“You might have scored higher on the Math test than me but you’re still an idiot!” Dante barks. “Anyway that’s not my point! What I mean to say is, as much as I hate your dumb-as-rock head, you’re still my brother. And it’s never too late to fix things up.”

Vergil scoffs and takes his sword back to his embrace again. “How can you be so sure?”

“I blamed you, y’know, for that day” Dante admits, his eyes getting darker and the carefree vibe in his voice is gradually gone. “For not rescuing me and Mother.”

Vergil streaked at that confession. “What do you mean?”

“You thought Mother only saved me and left you behind while she died searching for you,” Dante woefully chuckles. “But for me, on that day, I thought you would come to rescue us.”

“I was planning to-”

“She could have hid with me in the closet until you come to save us. That’s what I thought back then when she died, and you never came back. I thought you left us, before I heard one of them say they had you killed. There I was; frightened and thinking that I was alone. My mother and brother died. No one could save me but myself. I was blaming you for running away that day. If you didn’t, we could have defeated them all and protected our home.”

“Or, we could have died. All of us.”

“Exactly. Instead of blaming you, I blamed myself for picking a fight with you. Should’ve left you and your book alone,” Dante stands up, spinning the Ivory before shooting a flying demon that approaches them. “I lived by loathing myself, until I met you again in that cursed church, remember? I was genuinely happy to see you.”

“I remember,” Vergil nods slowly, recalling a blurry picture of their younger selves. “You said you are a devil hunter and will be filthy rich someday.”

“Still waiting for that day, actually. Yet you fucker started being a dick, saying shits about power and stuff,” Dante’s harsh voice trembles slightly. “I thought we could start over as a family, but you decided to fucking stay in the Underworld. I couldn’t save you at the gate of the Underworld. I couldn’t save you at Mallet Island. I could save everyone else, but not my own family.”

Vergil raises up. His arm is reaching Dante’s shoulder, but it never touches him. His hesitation is rational, for he knows words can’t describe how Dante must have felt towards Vergil. Hatred might be the wrong word; it sounds too soft. Too lenient, too merciful.

One could tell it’s disappointment, Vergil gets his answer as Dante turns over to face him. The mischievous little brother side of Dante has gone as he aims his gun at Vergil. It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend. Let alone a family.

Dante wails horridly. “Always the quiet one, ain’t cha? Remember how our parents always told me to be quiet like you? ‘Why can’t you just behave like Vergil?’ Guess what? At least I’m not the one who fucked the world up and ripped off my son’s arm-”

“Dante-”

“Shut the fuck up!” Dante’s grip on Ivory is slightly trembling as he snaps. “I’ve been through shits too, Vergil. I missed Father and Mother. I missed you, for fuck sake! After all this time I believed I killed you in Mallet Island, then you came out of nowhere to destroy the world. I came out with the conclusion that you didn’t even change a bit, just an egomaniacal who thinks the world only revolves around him. I needed to kill you again because I don’t want my nephew to kill his own father. Don’t you fucking realize how maddening was that?!”

A bullet passes through Vergil’s head. The older hybrid stands still without any intention to return the attack, only wiping the blood from his forehead. I don’t have the right to be irritated, he reminds himself while his mouth forms a bitter grimace as Dante puts the gun on Vergil’s forehead, ready to pull the trigger anytime soon. For a second Vergil can sense Dante is going to lose his temper as he catches a glimpse of red flash in Dante’s eyes. Ever since they were kids, Vergil was always aware that Dante in his total wrath is dangerous. A ticking bomb , Vergil recalls what their father said about Dante’s anger as he watches the raging fire in Dante’s eyes ignite until it’s slowly fading.

“But I changed my mind again,” Dante continues. “Instead of blaming you and carrying on the bad blood, I choose to start over. And that’s how I can be sure,” he pokes Vergil’s head with the gun before putting it back into his coat. “That everyone deserves a second chance and it’s never too late to fix what you have done.”

The red devil yawns as he slams himself on the ground again, stretching his hands before he closes his eyes. “Sorry for raising my voice. It’s just impossible to use soft words whenever I’m talking to a stubborn jackass like you.”

He opens one of his eyes to see what Vergil would react. His older brother sighs heavily, sitting beside Dante’s lying body and puts his katana on the ground. For a man with a soul of a true warrior like Vergil, putting weapons down on the ground is a sign of defeat. Which is the reason why he was slightly aggravated when Dante seized the Yamato and put it on the ground as if he told Vergil to surrender. It should be a humiliating act, but for once Vergil throws his pride away.

Because you are right, Dante.

“Dante,” he calls his brother. This time there’s no hostility in his voice, only sincerity and repentance. “I am ever so sorry.”

“Apology accepted,” Dante smirks playfully. “Why do you think I’m here if I still hold a grudge against you?”

“I mean it,” Vergil emphasizes. “Truthfully. For everything I have done… and my sincere gratitude for taking good care of my son while I wasn’t there for him.”

“Honestly, Verge. Forget it. I only do what I have to do.”

Watching his little brother finally howls in laughter, a surge of warmth fills Vergil’s veins as he joins the laughter. It’s comforting, since they can’t remember the last time they laugh together without any fight and bad blood. I barely remember how it feels like to have a family, Vergil chuckles while Dante kicks Vergil’s knee mischievously. Was it always this… warm?

“Dante.”

“Yup?”

“I think we should go back to the human world now.”

Dante whistles in joy. “Ready to meet your grandkids?”

“Do tell me the truth,” Vergil growls, impetuously tugs Dante’s collar. “Are you serious about grandchildren or you just make it up?”

“For fuck sake, Verge! Didn’t you know that already when you ripped your son’s arm?”

“I didn’t pay much attention... I can only recall a voice of woman called Nero for dinner- not the voice of that mouthful friend of Nero-”

“Yeah that was Kyrie. Your soon-to-be daughter in law. Anyway they adopted kids called Carlo, Kyle, and Julio,” Dante pats Vergil’s shoulder with pride and teasing manner. “Congratulations, you’re officially a grandpa! What a fine day for revelation!”

As if my life could get any worse, Vergil grinds his teeth in frustration as he releases Dante from his grip. “How unfortunate.”

“C’mon, swing that flimsy sword of yours and make a portal to the human world. We got plenty of things to do! I gotta pay those bills, refurbish my shop, return Kalina Ann to Lady, and buy a birthday present for Patty.”

“Rather a cumbersome list you got there, Dante.”

“What can I say? I’m a busy man! Now get your ass up, old man! Nero’s waiting!”

---

It’s already two fucking years.

Nero was never a believer. There’s no such thing as a miracle, he told himself. Protecting Kyrie and the kids is an endless responsibility that bestowed upon him. There’s nothing he won’t do for their happiness and safety, even if it means to cost his own well-being. He relies on nobody but himself. He doesn’t pray. He never tries to exceed any expectation, because hope is a dangerous and fragile thing. Hope bothers him, and he hates to be bothered.

Yet, lately, he almost surrendered by the temptation to hold some hope.

What hope? Nero rejects his own thought. For those douchebags to return safely? Gimme a break.

Sitting in his garage and polishing the Red Queen, Nero takes a brief look at the snowy ground outside of the house where the children are building a snowman. He grins at Kyle who waves at him; the youngest from the three children he adopted, who’s now taller and braver than he used to be when he found the little boy searching for some scraps at Fortuna’s slum. Nero chuckles when a glimpse of a picture of Vergil meeting Kyrie and the boys pops out from his head. Would they be pleased to meet him? Would Vergil be pleased to meet them? Would he himself be pleased to meet Vergil again? There’s no fucking way for them to coming back, Nero slaps himself. They either die or shit themselves in the Underworld. Probably fucking fighting again like toddlers.

Still, the thought of his father and uncle somehow return and meeting his little family is overwhelming. Nero can’t even hide his smile anymore. He throws away the rug he uses to wipe the blade and hangs the Red Queen on the wall.

Come to think of it, that fucker ripped off my arm in this garage too.

He lays a hard punch on the wall.

“Keep punchin’ the wall, and ya would destroy the house.”

Nero glances at his friend and partner in crime, Nico, who rests her back on the van and lights her cigarette. He still finds it strange to witness Nico in her winter outfit, a contrast to her usual tanktop and shorts she used to wear before winter comes. "How many times have I told you to smoke outside the house?”

“Ya blind or what? It’s cold outside!”

“Darn it, Nico! Then don’t smoke!”

“Too late~” Nico barks a laugh while blowing a smoke. “Anyway, why did you punch the wall like a madman?”

Nero shrugs nonchalantly. “Nothing. Just feeling like punching something.”

“Cut the bullshit. Ya missed yer old man, ain’t cha?”

“Buzz off, Nico.”

“Aaaaw, don’t be so meanie~”

“Seriously, Nico. Go bugger off someone else. I’m not in the mood for having a chit-chat.”

“Everyone’s worried, ya know,” Nico exhales exaggeratedly, pointing at the children outside. “Those lil’ brats asked me if somethin’ pissed ya off because ya look like ya wanted to punch someone in the face since the Christmas party last week.”

“I indeed want to punch a certain person,” Nero lets out a cackle. “But he’s not available at the moment.”

“Y’know, I’m not an expert of daddy and son shits, and yer dad is obviously not an ideal father, but it’s totally okay for ya to miss him. The jackass did save the world, at least.”

“Thanks, Nico. That’s so motivational. I’m deeply touched- ouch !” Nero swears when a sturdy plug lands on his head. “What the fuck Nico?!”

“Talk to Kyrie,” Nico lowers her voice. Her brash mouth always sounds kinder and empathetic when she talks about Kyrie. “Ya locked yerself in this garage the whole day! You’re making her worried, ya know?”

“I think you should double your eyeglasses. I didn’t lock myself. See that door? It’s unhinged, because I need to make sure the kids are alright.”

“Yeaaah whatever. Go talk to her, pretty boy. I’ll watch over the brats.”

“Fine…” Nero scratches his nape as he walks away from the garage. “Don’t let the kids go anywhere near my weapons!”

“Gotcha~!”

Nero never meant to worry anyone, of course. He lives a happy life; he married the love of his life, adopted a bunch of orphans whom he loved and took care of equally, and ran a business with his best friend whom he considered a big sister. The world is currently safe from danger. So what's to worry about?

His confusion disappears when he sees Kyrie’s figure covered in a thick blanket at the terrace. She smiles happily as the snow continues to fall and catches a drop on her palm. Nero feels like he could melt anytime he sees Kyrie’s soothing smile. He takes his time to watch her catching snow as he leans against the door, ignoring the cold breeze that sneaks inside his body. It doesn’t take a long time for Kyrie to be aware of Nero’s presence as she asks him to join her at the terrace.

“You should put your coat on, Nero. It’s cold here.” Kyrie speaks her concern while she wraps him with her blanket.

“Chill out. I’m fine,” Nero gives her a light peck on the forehead. His right hand envelopes Kyrie’s waist to give her a sense of comfort. “The kids are building snowmans back there. Been hours and who knows when they will stop.”

Kyrie giggles. “The more they grow up the more energetic they become! At least we don’t need to worry about how to get them to sleep on time. I believe they’ll get exhausted after play and filling their stomachs with delicious dinner would quicken their way to sleep!”

“You’re right.”

Kyrie looks up at her lover’s tensed face. She brushes the tip of Nero’s nose slightly to make him smile. That little maneuver always succeeded to cheer him up. Kyrie rests her head on Nero’s chest. “Are you not happy with the Christmas party last week? I know you hated surprises but-”

“No- I liked it! Really! You know we rarely celebrate things lately and last week was one of the best days in my life! How could I hate that?” Nero tightens his grip on Kyrie’s waist, gazing at Kyrie’s eyes deeply. “I’m happy, Kyrie. I’m happy here with our little family.”

“Then it must have something to do with your father and uncle, is it?”

“That obvious, huh?” Nero smirks bitterly. “I just… I don’t know. You know how Dante is. To think that he’s actually my uncle is… weird. Then I found out the man who screwed up Red Grave was his brother. My father. Vergil, he left me when I was a child… as V, he manipulated me to do his agenda. He reemerged and left me again. And Dante didn't even bother to tell me the fact before Vergil was back. That made me feel… kinda betrayed. It still doesn’t make any sense to me. I got a pair of dysfunctional family members and I don’t know what I should do if they come back. I just can’t stop thinking about it.”

The only parental figure Nero ever had was just Kyrie and Credo’s parents, and they didn’t even live that long to give little Nero more love and parental advice. Kyrie truly understands Nero’s struggle to accept his heritage and keep holding on his humanity. “Nero… do you forgive your father?”

“What?”

“I don’t mean to bring it up again, but after all the ill he caused to you, do you forgive him?”

The memory of him and Vergil on the top of the Qliphoth tree rises again. He succeeded in bringing some sense back to his father and the old man entrusted him his precious book- the one which Nero kept safely on the shelf- before jumping to Hell and finishing what he started. Vergil didn’t say much, but his promise… his damn promise!

“I won’t lose next time. Hold onto that until then.”

“I forgive him,” Nero admits. “I think… I just miss him. And Dante. I really want us to be a proper family. That's all.”

“Just as I thought,” Kyrie cups Nero’s jaw with her hands. “I’m glad that you’re honest with yourself. There’s nothing wrong with missing them. They might be flawed, but they are your family."

Nero carefully caresses his beloved hands as if he's afraid of hurting her. "I'm sorry I keep putting you to my demon lineage problem…"

"Hey, we talked about this. Demon or human, it's you I want to be with…" she kisses him on the lips. "I love you, Nero."

"I love you too." He returns the kiss deeper.

Nero wraps her around his arms, seeking comfort and warmth from her presence. Kyrie's words succeed in getting his head together. He can feel a degree of burden has left his shoulders as he finds himself finally letting go his worries. Kyrie is right. There's nothing wrong with missing those douchebags. They're my family-

"NERO!"

Nico appears out of nowhere at the terrace, panting and panicking like she ran for her life. Every single nerve inside Nero's body tells him that something wrong is happening, but the sassy smirk on Nico's face while she tries to breathe normally tells another thing. "You're not gonna believe me if I told you this-"

"Are the kids safe?" Kyrie asks anxiously.

"Yeah they're fine. They have company."

What the fuck? "Company? What are you talking about?!"

Nico rolls her eyes as she grabs both of Nero and Kyrie's hands. "Just follow me quickly!"

Nico seems excited… if it wasn't a danger, then what?

The children are giggling and shouting happily at something Nero can't see yet. But as soon as Nico delivers them in the backyard, he spots two familiar figures among the kids. The red-coated man joins them to decorate the snowman as he helps them crafting the pile of snow with stones and branches. He summons a cowboy hat and a shiny red scarf from thin air- which excites the kids- before he puts the hat on the snowman's head and wraps its neck with the scarf as the last touch. The children are applauding and hugging him, saying their gratitude and bombing him with questions on how he could summon stuff only from thin air. The cocky red man barks in laughter and tells them that he learns some magic tricks.

In a contrast to the red man, the blue-coated man stands a bit far from the crowd, facepalming and reluctant to do anything despite the children's curiosity as they glance at him and whisper their surprise on how similar his face is with the red man. Carlo states that the blue man is scary, and quickly hides behind the red man when the blue man hears his mutter and glares at the poor kid.

"C'mon, Verge, stop glaring at the kids! You're scaring them!" The red man chuckles.

Dante?

Vergil?

How-? Since when…?

"You…" Nero breathes heavily, barely trusts his vision. "You guys are alive…"

Dante grins and waves a salute at Nero. "Heya, kid! Miss me? I know we're late, but Merry Christmas!"

Kyrie holds her giggle when she catches Nero's dumbstruck face. She grips his hand and whispers him a word of advice. "Time to let your doubts go, Nero. They are here, at last."

Nero gives a nod, but his mouth isn't capable of forming any words. He reluctantly approaches Vergil, who seems nonchalant about his surroundings, if only Nero failed to catch his father's warm gaze as he stands before Vergil. A minute has passed and none of them say anything. Words cannot describe how they feel towards each other.

But Nero decides to solve the problem in Sparda's family old-fashioned style: punching his father hard right in the face.

There echoes Dante and Nico's laughter as Vergil's body lands violently on the ground, covered with snow.

The older son of Sparda can taste a metallic scent liquid dripping from his lips.

"That hurts," he murmurs and proceeds to get up as he wipes the blood from his mouth. "Two years and still have no manners, I see."

"Fuck you, old man!" Nero spats angrily.

Dante, still laughing at the picture of his brother getting sucker-punched by Nero, sloppily walks to approach them. He pats Nero's shoulder in pride. "You're doing the right thing, Nero. You gave him the right Christmas present-"

The legendary devil hunter gets a very lethal slap from his nephew before he finishes his sentence.

"And that's a present for you, deadweight!" The young devil hunter shouts.

The view of Dante and Vergil getting slammed by Nero only increases Nico's laughter.

"Why did Nero punch Mr. Dante and Mr. Vergil?" Carlo asks Kyrie. "Nero always punches bad people. Are they bad people?"

"Well… no, they are good people! Mr. Vergil is Nero's father and Mr. Dante is Nero's uncle," Kyrie chuckles to hide her worry and struggles to find the correct way to explain the situation. "They haven't met for a very long time. Nero misses them so much that he… doesn't know what to do anymore. But punching people doesn't solve problems, so don't ever do that, okay?"

The kids nod obediently despite not completely understanding the circumstances.

"Can we stop Nero from punching them, Kyrie?" asks Julio, the oldest one from the three. "Family doesn't hurt each other, right?"

"Nah, don't worry. They will stop soon," Nico says as he points at the three hybrids. "Let 'em get the reunion they deserve."

They become calm and smiling at the sight of Nero bringing his father and uncle in a tight embrace together as the young man lets out a cry.

"You both are full of shits and stinky… like a scavenger…" Nero sobs, his teeth grinding hard. "At least take a shower before you show up, dumbass…!"

Dante sneers as he taps Nero’s back. “Yeah, I miss you too.”

The red devil glares at his twin. Say something to your son!

Vergil, unmoved and stiff, doesn’t know how to react from this awkward embrace. He feels uncomfortable, yet finds himself melting between this fuzzy feeling. “Nero…”

“Shut up,” Nero interrupts while breaking his embrace and burying his teary eyes on his palm. “Just fucking shut up.”

“Forgive me,” the blue devil insists to continue. “For leaving you again.”

“Yeah yeah, just shut up...”

Nero jolts by the unexpected weight on his head; Vergil’s hand ruffles his hair as he curves a very subtle smile.

“I’m proud of you, son.”

Oh how Nero wanted to punch him again, if only he could bring himself to.

“Uhm…” Kyrie comes to Nero’s rescue as she smiles politely to the twins. “I’m sorry to interrupt this reunion. It’s dinner time and… we would be very happy if the two of you join us for supper.”

“We’d be glad!” Dante accepts cheerfully. “Nero once told me you cook the best meal in Fortuna!”

“Shut up, Dante!” Nero grunts. He remembers he hasn’t told the twins that Kyrie and him are married. He pulls Kyrie closer and holds her hand firmly. “Anyway, Father. This is my wife, Kyrie. Kyrie, this is Vergil. My father.”

Kyrie smiles warmly at Vergil. “It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Vergil.”

Vergil appreciates Kyrie’s bravery and gives his sincerest nod of approval. There is not a single hint of fright from Kyrie as he recalls how people tend to tremble and stutter in fear whenever they talk to him. He can see why Nero loves her and is very protective towards her. “Thank you for taking good care for my son all this time.”

“Sorry for missing your wedding party, babe. We’ve been busy cleaning up Hell,” Dante grins at Kyrie. “Congratulations. My nephew is lucky to have you as his wife.”

“Can you shut up already?” spats Nero, feeling terribly embarrassed.

“I’m hungry~!” Nico shouts mischievously. “Let’s continue inside! It’s damn freezin’ out here!”

Kyrie gives the twins a final nod as she invites them to come inside the house. She runs to the kitchen with Nico while Nero gathers the kids to enter the house. Dante chuckles like a cocky cool uncle when Julio asks him to do another magic trick, and the little chuckle turns into a bigger laughter when he sees Vergil’s hand tucked in Kyle’s hand as the youngest child calls him Grandpa Vergil.

“Grandpa’s hand is cold!” Kyle says, unaware of Vergil’s death glare. “Once you eat Kyrie’s food, you’ll be warm in no time!”

“Let go of my hand, little rascal.” Vergil scoffs, uncomfortable by the strange kindness from the little child.

Kyle laughs and keeps guiding him to the kitchen. The food is prepared and everyone is about to get their seats. Carlo drags a chair beside Dante’s seat and shyly asks Vergil to sit there, which Vergil accepts.

“Starting to feel like coming back home?” Dante asks his brother.

“This is not bad.”

“I’ve contacted Lady and Trish. They will be here soon,” Nico says as she puts the cigarette on the ashtray. “Lady said something about returning her Kalina Ann. Trish gave her regards, and said that ya need to pay the rent as soon as possible.”

“Damn… those devilish ladies…” Dante buries his face on the table.

“Your office looks like shit without you.” Nero sneers at Dante.

Further family resolvement can wait. Now let them enjoy their first family dinner for the first time. Christmas might have passed a week ago, but Nero thinks his most valuable present had just arrived today. He still wants to beat the shit out of his father and uncle for some unknown reasons, but it can wait for later. His eyes meet Vergil’s, and his father forms a warm smile to him. He never says much, Nero knows that, but he can give him time to adjust in the human world.

Amidst the chants and chatter in the house, unbeknownst to each other, the three descendants of Sparda secretly hope that this rare moment can last forever.

[a-musing-mixologist]

(On A03 here)

15 November 2018

[To: Phones]:  Just you wait.  Imma find you yo.

[To: Phones]: Ill bring you back.

[To: Phones]:  You gotta hang in there

16 November 2018

[To: Phones]:  That Reaper did something dammit.  Its like only me an Shiki remember you.

[To: Phones]:  But dont worry once I get ya back well fix this.

[To: Phones]:  Gonna scour Shibuya till I find out whats goin on.

17 November 2018

[To: Phones]:  You better be alive Phones.

[To: Phones]:  Ya know what I mean...

18 November 2018

[To: Phones]:  AARGH

[To: Phones]:  Aint no sign of any Reapers.  They gotta be here.

[To: Phones]:  Ill figure this out

20 November 2018

[To: Phones]:  Aint stopped searching.  I know you out there

[To: Phones]:  I can feel it yo.  You can too right?

[To: Phones]:  We still synced I know it.

22 November 2018

[To: Phones]: still looking

[To: Phones]:  Are you even getting these

[To: Phones]:  Aint matter...

[To: Phones]:  Your number ain't showin as disconnected.  Thats something.

13 November 2018

[To: Phones]: I guess this ain't a normal Reapers Game.  Youd be back now...

[To: Phones]: Not like any of us expected it to be.

25 November 2018

[To: Phones]:  Had a weird dream.

[To: Phones]: Like I was figthin by your side again.  But I aint know where it was.

[To: Phones]: Not Shibuya.

29 November 2018

[To: Phones]:  Still nothing.  Aint gonna stop me.

[To: Phones]:  I miss you... (unsent)

1 December 2018

[To: Phones]:  Still looking.

5 December 2018

[To: Phones]:  Raining.  Skating in the rain kind of sucks.

7 December 2018

[To: Phones]:  Had that weird dream again.

[To: Phones]:  I know that means you still out there.

10 December 2018

[To: Phones]: You better be hanging in there.

[To: Phones]:  I aint think it was gonna take this long.

[To: Phones]:  Even if ya got screwed over like our Game... you should be back by now right?

[To: Phones]:  They really pulling some shit.

[To: Phones]:  I can't stand it yo.

15 December 2018

[To: Phones]:  It actually snowed a bit.  Weird.

[To: Phones]:  Maybe one day Ill learn to snowboard.

17 December 2018

[To: Phones]: Had to take a family holiday photo ugh.

[To: Phones]:  If the Reapers is looking for more ways to torture people

[To: Phones]:  That's one of them.

20 December 2018

[To: Phones]:  It's COLD.  I hope it aint like this where you are.

23 December 2018

[To: Phones]:  Dont think Im giving up yo.

[To: Phones]:  Had that dream again.

24 December 2018

[To: Phones]:  Rhyme made like 300 Christmas cookies.

25 December 2018

[To: Phones]:  Merry Christmas

[To: Phones]: I ate too much

17 December 2018

[To: Phones]: Dammit where ARE you.

1 January 2019

[To: Phones]:  New year new chances to find you.

5 January 2019

[To: Phones]:  You holdin up?

10 January 2019

[To: Phones]: Still cold.

17 January 2019

[To: Phones]:  Shiki and Eri's are gonna try selling their stuff

20 January 2019

[To: Phones]:  IM GONNA FIND YOU DAMN IT

[To: Phones]: I can still feel it.  I know you there even if you aint get these.

23 January 2019

[To: Phones]:  You got Partners again?  I hope you ain't alone...

[To: Phones]:  It's been so long

[To: Phones]:  But these are still going through...

[To: Phones]: And I can still feel you.  I know thats what this feeling is.

27 January 2019

[To: Phones]: Aint giving up

[To: Phones]:  I miss you.  (unsent)

[To: Phones]:  You should be here by now (unsent)

1 February 2019

[To: Phones]: Shiki and Eri's stuff is really takin' off.

12 February 2019

[To: Phones]:  Sorry school and shit getting to me

[To: Phones]: Even if I aint check in Im still here

[To: Phones]: And still looking

20 February 2019

[To: Phones]: You better be kickin Noise and Reaper ass yo.

3 March 2019

[To: Phones]:  Rhyme is really into computers now

[To: Phones]: I ain't understand shit.

[To: Phones]:  At least she aint talk like Tabooty

17 March 2019

[To: Phones]: You better be ok.

27 March 2019

[To: Phones]: I totally aced a test today!

29 March 2019

[To: Phones]:  That dream...

[To: Phones]:  Where ARE you (unsent)

5 April 2019

[To: Phones]:  Still looking

12 April 2019

[To: Phones]: Thought by now I'd track down at least one Reaper yo.

[To: Phones]: Aint like Pixie Chick blends in

20 April 2019

[To: Phones]: Damn it Phones where the hell are you

[To: Phones]:  Shibuya feels like its moving on

[To: Phones]: Its just wrong yo.

27 April 2019

[To: Phones]:  I know there's Reapers in the RG

[To: Phones]: I swear I'll find 'em and make 'em talk.

5 May 2019

[To: Phones]: Is this hopeless?  (unsent)

[To: Phones]:  Well I guess we know who's got the higher Noise Erased count now.

20 May 2019

[To: Phones]:  I think I've memorized every side street and alleyway in this city.

[To: Phones]: When you back Ill be able to show you around blindfolded.

2 June 2019

[To: Phones]:  HOT.

13 June 2019

[To: Phones]: People really love Mr. Mew

[To: Phones]: Shiki an Eri might be getting an actual shop to sell stuff in.

24 June 2019

[To: Phones]: I want to go to the beach.

[To: Phones]: You ever gone there?

[To: Phones]: Can't imagine you in trunks.

[To: Phones]: akljf;ds

5 July 2019

[To: Phones]:  How you holdin up

18 July 2019

[To: Phones]: Who decided hot and sticky was a good temperature for anything

29 July 2019

[To: Phones]: I aint giving up you better not either.

1 August 2019

[To: Phones]:  Rhyme is scary good with computers.  She said something about hacking.  Should I be afraid?

17 August 2019

[To: Phones]: Guess who fought a cicada.

22 August 2019

[To: Phones]: The hell is with these dreams.

5 September 2019

[To: Phones]: I ain't know how many times Ive walked the same streets.

6 September 2019

[To: Phones]: Dont think that last text means I given up. I aint.

20 September 2019

[To: Phones]: This city has changed so much. So many new places.

[To: Phones]: Can't wait to show you.

1 October 2019

[To: Phones]:  How many Noise you beat by now?

10 October 2019

[To: Phones]: Everyone wants to go to Shibuya Halloween this year.

31 October 2019

[To: Phones]: THIS WAS A BAD IDEA I AIN'T NEVER SEEN SO MANY PEOPLE.

[To: Phones]:  It took 45 minutes to leave the station and get across the Scramble.

[To: Phones]: We were all bullied into wearing Mr. Mew costumes.

[To: Phones]: Rhyme wants me to clarify that only I was bullied.

7 November 2019

[To: Phones]: Really hoped with all those Halloween vibes that maybe something would turn up.

[To: Phones]: All that stuff about ghosts and shit.

[To: Phones]: Still nothing.

20 November 2019

[To: Phones]: I ain't giving up.

1 December 2019

[To: Phones]: It's December again...

19 December 2019

[To: Phones]: You really gotta see all these lights

[To: Phones]:  One day.

20 December 2019

[To: Phones]: No escape from Family Holiday Photos.

24 December 2019

[To: Phones]: Too many Christmas cookies.

25 December 2019

[To: Phones]: Merry Christmas kick some Noise ass.

1 January 2020

[To: Phones]: This will be the year.

1 February 2020

[To: Phones]: Ok so maybe it wasn't the month. But it's still gonna be the year.

4 March 2020

[To: Phones]: Im sorry I couldnt find you sooner (unsent)

[To: Phones]: This is takin longer than I thought.

17 March 2020

[To: Phones]: You got this.

1 April 2020

[To: Phones]: Aint giving up.

1 May 2020

[To: Phones]: Sorry... school and shit.

[To: Phones]: Dont worry though.  Im still here.

[To: Phones]: I know you are too.

1 June 2020

[To: Phones]:  I hope its cooler wherever you are.

1 July 2020

[To: Phones]: Even CAT hasn't done anything in months.  I wonder what happened to Mr H.

1 August 2020

[To: Phones]:  Still get those dreams once in a while

[To: Phones]: Do you...

1 September 2020

[To: Phones]: Fall again...

1 October 2020

[To: Phones]: Ok this year we'll be prepared for Shibuya Halloween.

31 October 2020

[To: Phones]:  Ok ain't no way to prepare for that.

[To: Phones]: One of these days you gonna suffer with us.

1 November 2020

[To: Phones]:  I will find you.  No matter how long it takes.

1 December 2020

[To: Phones]:  December again...

[To: Phones]: Damn it.

[To: Phones]: Please be alright.

1 January 2021

[To: Phones]: OK THIS YEAR.  I KNOW IT.

[To: Phones]: I wonder what you look like now.

[To: Phones]: Will I recognize you? (unsent)

10 January 2021

[To: Phones]: Fuck.  College is next year...

1 February 2021

[To: Phones]: Gatto Nero is gonna get a shop in 104!  Can you believe it?

1 March 2021

[To: Phones]: Rhyme says she working on something.  Iono what that means...

1 April 2021

[To: Phones]: That dream again.  Something feels different yo.

1 May 2021

[To: Phones]: Somethin's weird.  Aint had a feeling like this in a long time.

[To: Phones]: Hang in there.

1 June 2021

[To: Phones]: Pins are getting popular again. Even Gatto Nero's getting' in on it.  You outta see these designs!

1 July 2021

[To: Phones]: Rhyme says she close to a breakthrough.  I aint know on what but she says its gonna help.

27 July 2021

[To: Phones]: Something is definitely goin down yo.  You feel it too?

[To: Phones]: We close, I know it.

[To: Phones]: This time fo sho.

[To: Phones]: You comin home.

[silverblogs]

@dr-nero-is-god here’s your present for the gift exchange! I took the exchanging presents thing and expanded on it a bit. Sorry for the long post, I dont know how to put something under a cut on mobile, but I hope you like it :)

“Okay okay okay, it’s the most wonderful time of the year,” said Shelby, flinging herself down on the bed next to Laura, “which means.... drumroll please...”

The other five provided it with feet on the floor, and Shelby flung her hands up in a dramatic flourish.

“Presents!”

Since H.I.V.E. didn’t have normal school holidays at the end of every term, Nero seemed to consider it no great loss to their education to give the entire school time off for every religious celebration. It still amounted to less than half the holiday they would have at an ordinary school. So on Christmas Day, Otto, Wing, Shelby, Laura, Franz and Nigel were gathered in the girls’ room for secret Santa.

There was no legitimate way of getting presents at H.I.V.E., so when Otto had suggested secret Santa, it had been clear they would all have to rely on ingenuity. H.I.V.E.mind had given them all a name, and over the course of the last month, they had all found some way of getting a gift.

“Sounds good to me,” said Otto, “okay, everyone close their eyes, and one by one we’ll open them and leave the gift next to the person.”

The boys had all put their gifts inside their school bags to maintain the secrecy, and everybody closed their eyes while Otto deposited his present. One by one, all six of them left them, Laura last.

“Okay, all done,” she said as she sat down.

“I think we should be starting alphabetically,” said Franz with a grin.

The others laughed, and Shelby nodded.

“Go on then,” she said, looking at the cardboard box in front of him that was much too big to have fitted in anybody’s school bag, “we all want to see what’s in there anyway. Franz first.”

Franz lifted the lid of the cardboard box, and his face lit up. He pulled the lid further back to reveal a slightly messily iced, but still delicious looking gingerbread house.

“That is it,” he said, “I have already won.”

“Damn, you kinda have,” said Shelby, “who and how is what I wanna know.”

“Me,” said Laura with a grin and a wave, “I helped Mandy in the kitchens automate some of their systems and she let me come in in a free period and make it.”

“Thank you!” said Franz through a mouthful of the roof, “it is being excellent.”

“Ok, your turn, Laura,” said Nigel.

Laura tore open a small package to reveal a necklace with several tiny but quite definitely real jewels hanging from it. It wasn’t hard to guess who it might be from.

“Oh my god, Shel,” she laughed, “Ms Leon’ll kill you!”

The jewels were recogniseable as those that had been used as goals in the Maze during past lessons.

“Nah, I leave no trace,” said Shelby, “I put trackers on them when I got them in class, so when I returned them I know where she put them, then waited til the year above had a lesson in the Maze and stole them that night so they’re the suspicious ones.”

“Aww Shel,” Laura knocked their shoulders together, “you really put in the effort, didn’t you? Thank you.”

“Anything for my favourite geek,” she said, “my go?”

Without waiting for an answer, she tore open the tiny square at her feet, revealing a little black cube with a lens on one face, a screen on the opposite one, and two buttons and a joystick on top.

“I may as well reveal myself to explain,” said Otto with a grin, “point the lens at a lock and it’ll scan it for you, and show you an image on the screen. I built it in the professor’s lab.”

“Damn,” said Shelby, turning the cube over in her hand, then pocketing it, “and portable. Thanks Robotto. Maybe you’re my favourite geek after all.”

Laura shoved her lightly, and Shelby grinned and tossed an arm around her shoulders as Otto reached for his own package, small and flat. Peeling it open, he revealed an iPod, and a gasp went up.

“Okay, that’s definitely the most impressive so far,” said Nigel, “no offence everyone. Who got something from off the island?”

Wing grinned, and gave a small wave.

“How?” asked Otto, “we haven’t left since the hunt, and that was hardly an occasion to pop into the apple store.”

“I have my connections,” said Wing with a cryptic smile.

“Spill, big guy,” said Shelby.

“I simply asked Raven nicely.”

Franz choked.

“You were asking for Raven’s help?”

Shelby huffed.

“He just loved to rub it in that he’s her favourite.”

“Aww, someone’s jealous,” said Otto, pinching Shelby’s cheek.

She pouted at him and nodded to Wing’s dubiously wrapped present. He carefully peeled it open, and his smile broadened as he lifted out a tiny bonsai tree in a pot.

“I hardly need to ask whom I have to thank for this,” he said, turning his smile on Nigel, who turned pink.

“Well I heard you say Lao used to have a lot, and I thought you might like one. Miss Gonzales doesn’t let me experiment anymore, but she let me use the Violet spot again for a normal plant.”

“It is lovely, thank you,” said Wing.

“I wonder who Nigel’s could be from,” Otto said with a grin as Nigel picked up the envelope that had been left in front of him.

He opened it and read the slip of paper inside, then looked at Franz, shocked.

“You’re joking.”

“I am very genuine, my friend.”

Nigel broke into a huge smile.

“I beat you all,” he said, then read the slip aloud, “coupon, good for ten pieces of finance homework.”

Cries of jealousy filled the room for a few seconds, then gave way to laughter.

“Good idea Otto,” said Shelby, poking him with her toe, “this was fun.”

“Thought it might be,” said Otto, “happy Christmas everyone.”

***

Professor Pike came into the staff room to find Colonel Francisco and Ms Leon already inside, the Colonel drinking coffee and Ms Leon pawing at her tablet, grading essays. He avoided eye contact with Ms Leon, making a beeline for the colonel.

“Colonel,” he said as he hurried over, “I believe today is the day for secret Santa deliveries.”

“Well I must say this is very secretive, Theodore.” said Colonel Francisco, raising an eyebrow.

“Yes, well, I didn’t just want to leave this lying around in a pigeon hole in case someone else picked it up, but Merry Christmas.”

He reached into one of his deep lab coat pockets and retrieved a pistol, handing it over grip first.

“I’ve already got a few of those.”

“Not like this one,” said the professor, eyebrows leaping in excitement almost to join his hair, “I call it the sandboy. Just like the sandman rifles, but condensed.”

The colonel eyed the pistol and grinned.

“Looks great,” he said, “though the name could use some work. Thanks.”

“Pleasure.”

“Professor.”

A French accented voice made him cringe and he looked down the table to see a small box sliding along it, pushed by a white paw.

“Merry Christmas.”

Even her synthetic voice conveyed her irritation at being given him for the staff secret Santa, but he gave a grateful if slightly fearful smile, and opened the box. Inside lay a grid of chocolates and a typed note.

Merry Christmas. Enjoy the chocolates - one of the many benefits of a human body.

“Thank you Tabitha,” he said weakly, inwardly deciding not to risk eating any of them.

She didn’t reply, and Colonel Francisco rolled his eyes.

“Well since nobody seems to care about the “secret” part of secret Santa, here’s yours, Tabitha.”

He slid a package down the table, and a terrifying flurry of claws and a few seconds later, a small cat outfit was visible on the table. Ms Leon gave as much of a glare as a cat can manage.

“I am not a pet, Colonel.”

“It’s an ISIS suit,” he said hurriedly, “tailor made.”

Ms Leon paused, then eyed the suit.

“It’s lovely,” she said, “and very useful. Thank you.”

“No problem.”

***

Raven stepped off the shroud’s ramp, heaving a sigh of relief. She hated going to Moscow on assignment - it was uncomfortably familiar and it always threw her off her game - but she had achieved her goal, and even completed the mission she’d been assigned along the way.

“Where do you want the cargo?” the pilot asked.

“I’ll have the crate now,” she said, “send the rest to the professor for analysis.”

“Got it,” he said.

A few seconds later he came back to the ramp with a crate, complete with penguin gift wrapping he hadn’t dared to ask about. She hadn’t lost the edge of fear with the staff, even if a few of her students were getting unacceptably unafraid of her - Wing had asked her to pick up a Christmas present! And she’d done it!

She took the crate with a nod of thanks, and set off in the direction of her quarters. She’d arrived back just in time for secret santa. She’d finally given in this year and agreed to participate. Much to her relief, she’d been randomly allocated Nero. She suspected H.I.V.E.mind had made that selection less than random so she wouldn’t bail.

Thankfully, she passed nobody in the corridors while carrying her festively wrapped gift. She reached her room without incident, and quickly changed, then put the crate in a suitcase. She had been lucky enough not to pass anyone on the way here, but it was a decent walk to Nero’s office. When she arrived, she let herself in - she was the only one who had that security clearance after the Contessa incident. Nero looks up from the work on his desk and smiled.

“Ah, Natalya,” he said, “was Moscow alright?”

She knew he hated sending her there, mainly because she hated to go there, but the business had been unavoidable. Besides, one of the only crates in the world of the kind she had in her suitcase resided there, in the home of an oligarch she’d broken into purely to get it.

“Fine,” she said, “I got it done.”

“You always do,” he said, “you can fill me in tomorrow. Is that for the professor?”

“No, the stuff is on its way to him already, this is for you. I’m just in time for secret santa, I think.”

She opened the suitcase and removed the crate, lifting it and nodding to the things on Nero’s desk, which he cleared to the side to allow her to put it down.

“I’m intrigued,” he said with a smile.

He took a letter opened from his pen pot and sliced along the top of the wrapping paper, then pulled it back to reveal a wooden crate, which he opened. Inside sat a dozen bottles of some of the rarest brandy in the world, and Nero’s face broke into a smile. The one bottle he’d gotten his hands on five years ago was almost empty, and he had despaired of finding any more.

“My dear, you’ve outdone yourself,” he said, “thank you.”

“My pleasure,” she said, “don’t drink it all at once.”

“Keep Mr Malpense and co. under control and I won’t need to,” he said wryly, “coincidentally, I am also your secret Santa, but this feels a little... well, little, now.”

He opened a desk drawer and pulled out a box big enough to fit in the palm of his hand, perfectly wrapped. Raven tore back the wrapping paper to reveal a black box, and inside, a bracelet. It was soft, braided black leather, with two connecting silver angels’ wings as the clasp. It looked comfortable, the wings didn’t dangle inconveniently, and it wasn’t flashy, though Nero being who he was she was sure it was obscenely expensive - she’d never been a fan of jewellery, but this she would wear. She took it out with a smile and fastened it around her wrist, turning her hand to look at it.

“I saw something similar when I was last in London, and it made me think of the “guardian angel” joke everyone’s always making, so when I got you for secret Santa I had one made.”

“It’s lovely,” she said, “thank you.”

“No problem. Now, have a glass of this with me.”

***

Watching the cameras around H.I.V.E. as he always did, H.I.V.E.mind’s wireframe face curved into a smile. The secret santas were far from random, and organising them was the highlight of his year. Another successful Christmas at H.I.V.E.

[daemongal]

The first snow of winter

So, managed to throw something together with *squints at clock* 20 minutes of Christmas left here. Thank you @cantcopewithlosingv for the ideas for this. Merry christmas to you all, hope you enjoy the Dante fluff, with a dappling of angst because for some reason I do this to myself! I'm on mobile so sorry I cant add the read more cut D:

***

The snow flurried around you as you tucked your face tightly into your scarf. Today would mark the 164th day you had taken this walk; not that you were counting.

The journey from your flat to the shop took about 30 minutes, a 1 hour round trip and a perfectly good use of your time in the grand scheme of things.

Today marked 164 days since you had seen the legendary devil hunters smile, since you had heard a corny joke run from between his lips, since you had walked into the shop to see him asleep at his desk.

The Qliphoth uprooted many lives, but you hadn’t expected its effects to be this far reaching. Nero broke the news to you, and so you swore to visit the shop every day thereafter, awaiting and willing his return.

Some days the lights were on and your heart raced in your chest, only to be met with the somewhat guilty expression of either Trish, Lady or Nero. They were doing their best to keep the shop up and running, but devil hunters were in high demand cleaning up the fallout left behind by the gaping gate opened by the demon tree.

Tonight was like every other night, except for the date and the weather; December 25th during the first snow of the winter. You probably should have dressed heavier, but the cold biting at your skin helped you feel, how could you say, more alive.

Today, your journey took 45 minutes, 55 if you count the 10 minutes you spent seemingly glued to the pavement staring at the unlit, barren windows of the Devil May Cry, willing the tears freely falling from your eyes to stop.

Were you hoping for a Christmas miracle? Who knows. Maybe all the holiday movies and smiles on your families faces filled you with a certain uncharacteristic optimism that made this particular outcome that little bit harder to swallow.

When you eventually lifted your now snow covered feet from the spot, you placed the gift bag you held by the door; there was no point in taking it back with you anyway.

You wiped the last remnants of tears from your face and with a final sniffle, you headed home.

***

You shivered below your thin jacket, cursing your stubbornness as you pulled your scarf up to cover your freezing nose.

“Should have wrapped yourself up better sweetheart. You never did cope well in the cold.” You stopped in your tracks, too afraid to turn around, to see the empty road, settled snow dappled only by your lone footprints.

You accepted that you didn’t have the strength of mind to merely assume that those words spoken in his voice were only a figment of your imagination, as you slowly turned on your heels, staring bleary eyes at the red clad figure standing under the streetlight.

Your voice caught in your throat as you opened your dry lips in disbelief.

“D-Dante, is that... is that really you?” You blinked a few times as your legs slowly carried you towards him, catching a glimpse of that familiar toothy grin.

“In the flesh. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten this handsome mug already?” Fresh tears filled your eyes as you broke into a sprint towards him, snow crunching beneath each heavy footstep before you flung your arms around his waist.

“I-I didn’t know when you were coming back. If you were coming back.” You pressed your face into his chest, inhaling his scent to ground yourself, to convince yourself he was actually here. His arm draped gently over your shoulder as he pressed his face against the top of your head.

“Hey now come on, hasn’t been that long has it?”

“...over 6 months,” you mumbled against the fabric of his shirt.

“Well shit. We just got back. Water was still on but no electric. I’ll be having words with those crazy bitches when I see them. So much for watching the place.” You giggled, whether in relief or at his affectionate insult you couldn’t tell but you stayed latched to him, almost afraid that he’d vanish if you let go.

“Hey, don’t worry sweetheart, I’m not taking any more extended vacations in the demon world anytime soon. Trust me; seen enough of that place for a lifetime.”

A strong breeze caught you off-guard as your body shivered against his.

“Hey, you’re freezing. Here, just lemme get this off.” You pulled yourself back slightly as he pulled off his coat, draping it over your shoulders and wrapping it around your front, brushing some of the freshly fallen snow from your hair.

Your body immediately warmed, the residual body heat radiating from the lining covered you like a blanket, the smell of leather and gunpowder filling your nostrils.

“Won’t you be cold?” you asked tentatively, glancing up to see a pleased grin on his face.

“Don’t worry about me babe,” he reached to grab the red material wrapped around his neck, “I’ve got my scarf to keep me warm.” You’re cheeks warmed with a blush as you recognised your hand knitted scarf wrapped tightly around his neck. He pulled you back against his chest suddenly, nuzzling his face against the top of your head.

“Guess it was a shame I missed Santa. Been tryin’ to catch him since I was young. No one believes me, but I swear that guy must be a demon. No way a human could do what he does in a night.” You couldn’t hold back as you burst into laughter against his chest.

“Oh sure laugh it up, you’re just as bad as Trish and Lady. That’s exactly the reaction they had too.”

“I’m sorry,” you took a deep breath, smile still stretched across your cheeks, “you do have a point though. I think you might be on to something there.” Every word he spoke just made you realise more and more how much you missed this man.

“But yeah... merry Christmas Dante.”

“Do I uhh... ask about what this was doing in that bag?” Dante waved something above you as your raised your head to catch a glance, gasping as your eyes set on the small bundle of green leaves between his fingers.

You groaned, dropping your head back against his chest.

“Drunken me’s genius idea I’m guessing.” Dante smirked.

“Well, drunken you’s a smart cookie in my opinion. Seems like a genius idea to me.” You pulled your head back, slowly raising your head to meet his unexpectedly intense gaze.

“That is,” he gently ran his fingers through your hair, lowering to trace your jawline and then settling them under your chin, “if we mean to honour tradition.” You swallowed, absentmindedly running your tongue over your lips in anticipation.

“Would be wrong... not to... wouldn’t it?” A lopsided grin spread up his cheek as he lifted your chin, lowering his own head to your level as your noses brushed, locking his lips with yours seconds later.

They were soft, gentle and almost cautious as your eyes fluttered closed. You reached your hand up to run through his hair as his lips began to move against yours, fingers caressing your cheek, other hand pressing against the small of your back, pulling you close.

He tasted like whisky, strong and sharp and his stubble scratched against your cold skin leaving a pleasant tingling behind. Your other arm wrapped around his broad shoulders as his tongue tentatively brushed against your bottom lip.

You opened your mouth, giving him access as he explored your mouth, caressing his tongue against your own. It was all so perfect, the moment you’d been imagining for months, real and happening, and more amazing that you could have believed.

You smiled against his lips as he broke the kiss, leaning his forehead against your own, keeping you close as you both caught your breath.

“We should really get you someplace warm. Your nose is like ice.” You pressed your lips back to his for another light kiss before pressing into his chest once more.

“Just... gimme 2 more minutes.”

“Sure. You’ve waited long enough, it’s the least I can do.”

“Best Christmas ever,” you muttered against his chest. He placed a kiss on the top of your head, lingering for a few seconds.

“We’ve got the whole night ahead of us yet babe. Plenty of time to make it even better.”

[blueroseblaze]

Please Don’t Take Her (Part 1)

Word Count: 1764

WARNINGS: angst, blood, pregnancy complications

Tags: @dylan-o-yumm​

“That’s it!” Nero said one day after getting home from another odd job. Only to find you curled in on yourself on the couch groaning in pain vomiting up your small lunch, “I’m not taking anymore! Dante and the rest can handle whatever freakshow comes to town next! I’m not leaving you again until the twins are born, and I know you’re okay!”

Every week your pregnancy went on you only felt worse. You originally chocked it up to this being the first time you’ve ever been pregnant. But after eight and a half months of pain and sickness and heavy bleeding, you were growing ever more worried. Every kick your twins gave you felt like shockwaves through your bones. Every stair you went up was its own mountain. Almost every meal ended up in the toilet or the waste bin.

Your eyes were heavy every time you woke up. You were barely able to keep them open throughout the day. The handful of hours of sleep you had gotten the past few weeks pulled them down like anchors. You grimaced and groaned with every adjustment of your position, every muscle ached and every nerve in your abdomen twisted a screamed in agony.

And if that wasn’t enough you had also been bleeding all throughout your pregnancy. You didn’t like waking up Nero in the middle of the night for him to carry you to the bathroom to use the toilet and change your liners and then carry you back to bed. But you had no other choice feeling as weak as you did.

Poor Nero. Every time he came home from a job he had about a single minute of respite before the stress of the job morphed into the stress or your wellbeing. You begged him not to worry about you, to take a break or get some sleep but he refused. The only time he would hold still was when he would finally fall asleep with you in his arms, hand on your swollen belly protecting your babies.

You flinched away from his yelling as it rattled in your brain. You know he didn’t mean to yell and make you feel worse. He was stressed, exhausted, and worried. How could you blame him?

“Nero,” you said hoarsely as he kept ranting.

“And when all this is said and done, I’m gonna have a little chat with Dante to figure out where all my money disappeared to!”

“Nero!” you called a little louder, but he didn’t listen.

“And fucking Vergil-! “

“NERO!”

You finally managed to get his attention. You winced as you went to stand, only for him to lightly push you back down to the couch.

“I know you’re worried,” you said as you got more comfortable, “I am too, but you have to calm down. You’re going to have a stroke and nothing good will come from both of us being useless.”

His brow furrowed and he sighed, taking a seat next to you in the couch. He rubbed the back of his neck and sighed.

“I’m sorry,” he said, “I just don’t know what to do. I hate watching you be in so much pain.”

You smiled at your husband, “I know, but you’re doing all that you can, and I’m thankful. I wouldn’t be able to do this without you.”

“Same here,” he said, a small smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.

You intertwined your fingers with his, leaning your head on his shoulder and softly saying, “We’re almost there. Just a few more weeks, then we can bring Credo and Vivien home.”

Nero couldn’t fight the smile growing on his face, and he leaned into your touch, his free hand going to rub your belly and his lips pressing soft kisses against your throbbing temple. If there was one thing that gave him pause and made him smile nowadays, it was the words “our babies,” “the twins,” or their names.

“You should get some rest,” he whispered, “Doctor’s orders.”

“Or is it Nero’s orders?”

He rolled his eyes before standing, looping his arms under your legs and around your back. He cradled you in his arms effortlessly even with the extra weight, and after a tender moment in your living room, he made his way to put you to bed. You were looking forward to getting some shut-eye. Hoping that you would eventually get better.

 A few nights later…

 You were lying with Nero in bed, his arms wrapped protectively around you and your head nestled into his shoulder. You were deep in sleep when you suddenly awoke, noticing the pain in your abdomen. You gasped and breathed quietly. You had felt pain in your belly all throughout your pregnancy, but this was different.

It was dull but very present, and it was deep inside you. You felt a volley of sensations, hot flashes, and cold shivers, tightening and loosening muscles, the quickening of your heartbeat and uneven breaths. And the pain the racked your body. In your exhaustion, all these feelings melded together making you delirious and your mind foggy. You tried to speak to Nero, but you found you couldn’t find the words. You were kicking and struggling in the sheets, lightly kicking at your husband to get him to wake up. Your legs felt sticky and you worried your water had broken. Even in your tired and incoherent state, you knew it was still early.

Without thinking you reached down under your covers, tracing down your stomach and legs to your pajama shorts. You felt moisture and quickly pulled your hand back up.

Through the moonlight coming through your bedroom window, you could see your hand stained darkly with blood. This was enough to snap you out of your woozy state just enough to finally call to Nero. You grabbed him with your clean hand, jostling him awake. He looked down at you in worry, his face puzzled with how harshly you woke him.

“Nero,” you said quietly and weakly, feeling tears prick at your eyes, “Something’s wrong.”

You held your bloodied hand for him to see, and he stared at it only for a moment before jumping up and ripping the covers off you. You both stared in abject horror at the amount of blood that coated your legs and the bedsheets. A large stain of near black that covered your skin. You tightened up in pain. Shivering at the cold air you were now exposed to.

“Fuck!” Nero hissed as he sprung up from the bed, diving for the light switch. The room illuminated causing your eyes to close with the assault of light. Nero stood at the foot of your bed surveying the situation trying to think of what to do. His chest heaved with panicked breaths and he raked his fingers violently through his hair.

“Nero what’s happening?” you cried in pain, you could still feel the blood coming out you in dangerous amounts. You were starting to feel even woozier.

“I don’t know!” he snapped coming over to you, he cradled your head in his hands, looking into your eyes with clear sincerity, “But it’s going to be okay. You’re all going to be okay.”

Nero’s panicked face morphed into a stern look of focus as he gathered the bloodied sheets and bunched them up. He spread your legs, pausing a moment in shock at just how much blood was spread over your legs before placing the crumbled blankets in between them. He held your knees together tightly, leaning over you, looking you dead in the eyes.

“Don’t move I’ll be right back.”

He then left the room against your weak protests, you laid there trying to control your rapid breaths, with what little mental fortitude you had left. You stared up at the ceiling and you watched as patterns and amorphous shapes danced across your vision. The light you still hadn’t grown used to still assaulted your eyes, burning them and you tried desperately to keep them open, no matter how much they wanted to fall closed.

You didn’t look at Nero as he ran back into the room, or when he scooped you up carefully in his arms. You know he carried you through the apartments and towards the front door. But more and more the world blurred together into a cacophony of muffled sounds and nebulous sights. You clung to your husband, not wanting to let go when he set you in the passenger seat of the Devil May Cry van.

That’s right¸ you thought, Nico let us have the van incase I went into labor.

You felt the vehicle roar to life as Nero peeled out on to the streets. His hand found yours and he held it tightly, you saw his wedding ring glint int the streetlights as he gripped the steering wheel.

“Nero…”

“Hush baby, don’t worry… We’ll be there soon… We’ll get you help…” you could hear the cracking in his voice as he grew more and more frantic.

The drive was a blur. You remember Nero picking up the phone on the van’s dash and yelling at someone on the other line. What he yelled and to who you don’t remember, but you did remember him no even caring that the phone didn’t land on the hook when he hung up. You remember the streetlamps as they passed over the van as you drove through the empty streets. The steady flow of light and darkness, giving the city a pulse to match the one you heard in your ears.

The van jerked to a stop, and Nero rushed out the driver’s side over to you. As he held you, you felt one of his arms squeeze your legs, still keeping the bloody sheets between them. You could hear him call out even as your mind began to pull you away from the noises.

“Somebody please help!” he cried, “My wife is pregnant and she’s bleeding!”

A flurry of muddled voices and faces flooded your senses. You felt yourself being ripped from Nero’s arms, you wanted to go back to him. You felt safe in his embrace no matter how panicked. You limply reached out to him as you were carried away. You could see him being held back as he kept screaming at the hospital staff.

What’s going to happen to me? You thought, Nero, please help, what’s happening? Please save them, Nero! Save our babies!

And you could see the tears running down his cheeks as you were pulled away from him, and into darkness.

to be continued...

A/N: MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!! I know I’m evil for giving you angst on this wonderful holiday but I’ll be updating very soon so stay tuned, and if you’d like to be tagged in future fics let me know!!!

[firstpuffin]

Two-fer-one article on Devil May Cry 5; Merry Christmas?

Quick review of Devil May Cry 5 so that I can get into the good stuff:

That title may be a bit misleading as I did enjoy the game a lot, but I wanted to write a piece on Dante specifically yet kept getting distracted by how I felt about the game. I take that as a good thing as it means that I feel strongly enough about the game that self-control is difficult to come by.

 Anyway, DMC 5 is very different to the previous games and I would say that it doesn’t really feel the same. I’m the type of person who prefers stylised graphics over realism; heck, style over realism in any area of gaming, but while DMC 5 is visually stunning, it lacks a lot of what the previous entries had visually. I mean sure, some of that “style” was probably technological limitations, but other games didn’t look like DMC so… Anyway, the blood, the way the eyes moved and the cinematography were some of the things that I thought of as being quintessentially Devil May Cry, and are all gone. Yes, Dante looks handsome and there is some great character action, but it feels wrong.

  Speaking of cinematography, the opening cutscene has the typical Devil May Cry over-the-top action sequence that is always good fun to watch, but it feels awkward to me. Slow motion is something that works in (ironically) short bursts and the crazy fights from the previous games work well with only careful use of it. DMC 5 has the whole freakin’ fight in slo-mo and it’s annoying. It’s like someone realised that slo-mo is cool, so obviously more slo-mo means cooler. The music is a clearer example of how the game is different: even my friend who insists that the graphics are “just better” and doesn’t see my point about style agrees that the music is very different.

 I don’t personally see all that as complaining so much as pointing out the weak points in the game, and they’re only really weak points in a Devil May Cry game; but outside of that it stands strong. The gameplay mechanics are smooth and fun, learning from and expanding on the previous games, particularly Dante’s “styles” and Nero’s Devil Bringer. The new character “V” (bit on the nose there, guys) brings with him a pretty interesting way of playing that while tedious, could be refined later for a future game.

  The game is very, veerry pretty and when you learn to use these mechanics to their fullest you can have some amazing moments. There was one boss battle that was unfortunately easy, but so fun. With the music, graphics and gameplay it was- it was an experience, and that’s surprisingly rare.

 I don’t really know how much more I can say. The women played less of a role than I’d like, leaving the action to the menfolk; sure it is logically justified, but I feel that Lady at least is the type to make an attempt anyway. The story itself wasn’t amazing but I enjoyed how things turned out towards the end, even ignoring the obvious contrivances.

 Devil May Cry Dante’s troubled growth (as it happens, written before the above):

I’ve had this on my mind for a while ever since I (finally) got around to playing through Devil May Cry 5 and I wanted to share my thoughts; less because I think it’s important and more because then I will be able to stop thinking about it. I’ve already written a piece on the ladies of this series and it’s the boys’ turn now, specifically Dante.

 The hero of this series has had a troublesome development, even ignoring DMC.5 (that’s what I call the reboot, remember?). Originally he was Leon Kennedy from Resident Evil (who else thinks that Biohazard is a better name? The f*ck does “Resident Evil” even mean?) but the forth game in that series went in a different direction and this became a new series. Unfortunately, this change of plans made Dante a bit of a stale character. Sure, he was cool. He takes a sword to the torso and walks it off (quite literally), has a big red trench coat and, of course, he makes wisecracks.

  But it was a very surface-level cool and he had very little personality outside of that. Sure he had more than DMC 2 Dante, but that bar is so low that you’ll trip over it, like the series did. It was 3 that made Dante, Dante. He was cocky, reckless and witty, all the while hiding a vulnerability that comes out during the course of game. Dante gains confidence through purpose, even after being tricked, rejected and losing his brother who he clearly cared for.

 And then popped up DMC 4. It was a good game, if inferior to the third (boring female lead, boring villain, etc), but we saw a new Dante. He was self-confident in a less reckless sense than his previous incarnation, witty, cool and never over-emotional: they wanted a mentor character for Nero and they took Dante in that direction. Dante was well-dressed and handsome and it felt like 3 after the trials he has been through up until now.

  And then popped up DMC 5 and Dante is different. He isn’t suave anymore, he’s not as calm or sophisticated- I don’t think that this Dante is at all compatible with 4 and yet he also feels like a natural progression of 3. Still confident and matured by his experiences, still cool and still handsome (more-so than 4 I’d say), Dante has a wholly different type of charisma.

 That’s the thing that gets me about this: I can’t see these two versions of him as being the same person and yet I see them both as natural progressions of 3. I definitely prefer 5; he feels like a real person where 4 is a caricature. He’s too cool, too collected and suave, and too perfect. If Nero hadn’t been there then maybe Dante wouldn’t have been designed this way, but maybe he would have and it was only Nero who helped balance the game.

  I think that the best way to say this is that 4 is a paragon -he’s reached his peak- while 5 still has room to grow and change, which is far more engaging.

[haven-raven012591]

Christmas Enigma

Paring: Jeff Hardy X OC Luna

Warning: Fluffy Smutty goodness

Word count: 1,674

Art work by @wrestling-edits-af

We have a saying in North Carolina, if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes and it will change. That holds true even in the dead of winter. Living in North Carolina his entire life Jeff Hardy was pretty sure that everything was going to work out. The night before it was just raining and the news hadn't said that Cameron was going to get any snow. So he figured the saying he grew up with was going to hold true. But what happens when the one Christmas you expect it to happen and it doesn't?

"Oh my God!" Luna said looking out of their bedroom window. Jeff looked at his fiance and propped up on his elbow. "What's wrong?" Jeff asked sleepily. He had decided to remain calm in this situation because Luna hadn't sounded very upset. "We're snowed in!" Luna said. Jeff blinked and shook his head. "Luna that's not possible babe." Jeff said. He got up and walked over to her kissing the top of her head. But as soon as he looked out the window he saw that she was right. "Damn!" Jeff said. He was looking at a lot of snow!

"Good thing we all live on the same land." Luna giggled. "Yeah." Jeff said. "You seem upset." Luna said looking up at him. "Just wasn't expecting this babe it was only raining when we went to bed." Jeff said. "At least it snowed on Christmas though, the kids will love the snow." Luna said. He kissed her long and slow. "Not just the kids." Jeff said. "I'll get ready and we can go play!" Luna giggled. He smirked and held her close. "I'll call Matt and Dad to see what they wanna do about later!" Jeff said. "Ok." Luna said.

She went into her huge walk in closet and started getting ready. Luna put on thick socks and jeans then pulled on a long sleeved sweeter. She went down and put on her boots and sat on the couch waiting for him. It was so pretty where they lived, out in the woods with all the trees and snow. "You ready?" Jeff called. She got up and went to him. "Yes." Luna said. Jeff framed her face kissing her long and slow. "We'll go over later to Matt's and then you can help Reby." Jeff said. "Ok." Luna said. They put on their coats and gloves going outside.

Jeff grabbed a handful of snow and formed a perfect snow ball, as he watched Luna walk around. "It's so pretty." Luna said. He waited and then threw it hitting her in the back of the head. "Jeff!" Luna gasped. He ran and hid. She grabbed some snow making a snow ball as she looked for him. "This is wonderful!" Matt yelled. Luna turned and threw the snow ball at Matt. He dodged it and Luna ran behind a tree. "I see you have recruited her to your side Brother Nero!" Matt said. Jeff laughed and grabbed Luna from behind. "She is my moon and all the stars." Jeff said. Luna put her hands on Jeff's and smiled.

Soon Matt and the boys had gone inside to get warm again leaving Luna and Jeff to play alone. Luna sat behind the snow fort that Matt and the boys had made. Jeff sat behind the one she and he had made. "Luna!" Jeff called. "Yeah!" Luna called back. "Let's go in and warm up!" Jeff called. "No, I'm gonna kick your butt." Luna called. She threw a snow ball at him and he threw one at her. He laughed and they countined to run and throw snow balls at each other. Luna ducked behind a car and slipped. "Luna!" Jeff called.

He'd been looking for her for ten minutes with no answer. When he turned the corner and he saw her laying there he froze. She was breathing and he didn't see any blood when he picked her up. "Baby wake up!" Jeff said as he laid her on the couch. He took her wet clothes off and put her in warm ones wrapping her up. "Jeff." Luna whined. He ran to the couch from the fire place and took her hand. It was like ice so he kissed it and held it against his lips between his hands. "I'm here." Jeff said. "I'm so cold." Luna said. He got on the couch and held her tightly against himself. "I'll warm you up." Jeff said.

She snuggled close to him and he rubbed her back. "You scared the life out of me." Jeff whispered. "Sorry." Luna whispered as she snuggled closer to him. "It's ok I'm just so glad you're ok, I love you so much Luna." Jeff said. She closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep. He kissed her forehead and sighed. She was still so cold. He put her on their bed and built a fire in their room adding more blankets to the bed. Jeff called Matt and they came to his house. "Thanks for understanding man she's still cold!" Jeff said.

Matt hugged him and smiled. "She is family!" Matt said. They went into the kitchen and then Jeff helped Matt get the presents into the house. Matt went and got their dad. Jeff went up and luna was awake. "Hey sleeping beauty, how do you feel?" Jeff asked. "Warm." Luna said. He kissed her and took her hands. "You are warm, do you feel ok to come down stairs the party's here now." Jeff said. "You moved it here for me?" Luna said. "We did!" Jeff said. She hugged him and kissed him long and slow.

They went down and Luna helped Reby with the food. The guys played with the kids. After everything was done and on the table they sat down and ate. After they ate Jeff and Matt cleaned up the kitchen for the girls. Reby and Luna laughed and played with the kids. "I'm so glad you're better!" Reby said. "I am too!" Luna said. They all sat and had coffee and hot cocoa for the kids while they talked. They passed out presents and the kids ripped into them. After everyone was done and the kids told everyone thank you Matt took their dad home.

Luna and Reby had divided the food and put the food into the refrigerator while Matt did that. Jeff and Matt put the food and toys into Matt's car and then they said goodnight. Luna sat next to the fire and Jeff sat behind her. He pulled her close and she turned to him kissing him deeply. Jeff pulled her closer and wrapped her legs around his waist. They laid down and started stripping each other. "Luna wait!" Jeff said. She giggled and blushed. "You don't want me?" Luna pouted. "Of course I do but you have a present." Jeff said. "I want to wait until tomorrow." Luna said. "Alright." Jeff said.

Jeff picked her up and took her to the bedroom. He laid her down and kissed her passionately. She gripped his biceps moaning into his mouth. Jeff thrust his tongue into her mouth and she gasped as he kissed her like she was everything to him. Luna pulled back and they finished stripping each other. Jeff kissed her chest and neck. "Jeff." Luna moaned. He pushed her legs apart and thrust inside her hard. Her back arched and she moaned. He pinned her hands above her head. "Keep them there Luna!" Jeff said.

Luna nodded and held onto the head board. "You feel so good." Jeff growled. "You do too." Luna moaned. He palmed her breasts and started thrusting harder. She arched off the bed. Jeff rolled one nipple between his thumb and forefinger as he sucked one then the other. "Jeff." Luna cried out as the wave of her first orgasm rolled through her. He growled and kissed her deeply. "Did I tell you that you could cum?" Jeff asked. "I couldn't stop it." Luna said. He kissed her softly. Luna shivered as he looked at her so calmly.

She moaned and gripped the head board as he picked up his pace. He growled and kissed her neck. Jeff moved her legs apart more and rubbed her clit always bringing her close but never allowing her to cum. "Jeff please I need to cum." Luna whimpered. "Do you my Luna." Jeff said. "Please Jeff, please let me cum I need to." Luna said. "Cum for me Luna." Jeff said. Luna came hard. "Jeff!" Luna screamed. "Fuck Luna!" Jeff growled and thrust one last time cumming hard. They collapsed into the bed and Jeff kissed her neck and shoulders.

"I love you so much Luna." Jeff said. He pulled her close as he wrapped them up. She rolled over and looked at him. "I love you too Jeff." Luna said. He held her closer and stroked her hair as they drifted off to sleep. The next morning Jeff woke up first and went down to the kitchen fixing the coffee. Luna woke up and went down to the kitchen and kissed Jeff's back as she wrapped her arms around him. "Merry Christmas Luna." Jeff said. "Merry Christmas Jeff." Luna said. They went into the living room and sat down by the tree as they exchanged presents.

Jeff smiled as she opened the box and pulled out a band new camera. "That's just the first part." Jeff said. "Jeff it's beautiful, I love it." Luna said. She hugged and kissed him softly. "Thank you so much!" Luna said. Jeff took her hand and lead her down to the basement. He covered her eyes and opened the door. "Jeff." Luna giggled. He kissed her cheek and moved his hand. "Welcome to your new studio!" Jeff said. Luna looked around then ran back into his arms kissing him heatedly. "Thank you so much!" Luna said. Jeff brushed away her tears. "I love you my Luna!" Jeff said. "I love you too my Jeff!" Luna said.

@thegloriousdisaster @kittysilver86 @scuzmunkie @team-elias @alexnine @lauri3strode @hardyfangirl3 @balorbj @balordominion @loveroflive78 @wrestlingxbalorxrollins @adriennegabriella @soulofaravenheartofawolf @ladylucksposts @livelifebeautifully81 @calwitch @briqueenofthenorth @2sweetqueen @meremaidqueen @queenofthearchitect @dolphinpink310 @mohawkmama

[dailyaudiobiblechronological]

12/24/2021 DAB Chronological Transcription

Merry Christmas Eve

2 Timothy 1-4 

It's the 24th day of December. I'm Jill. Welcome to Daily Audio Bible Chronological. And happy Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas Eve. However you say it, it's Christmas Eve, and it is a special time of the year. It's a special day as we are on the eve of the celebration of the birth of Jesus. There's a good chance that today is about traditions, things that your family has set in place, routines, things that people like and they don't want changed. And some of you change it up every year and do something different. And of course, we do recognize those that are just grieving, mourning, having a hard time doing anything at all. It's not that you don't want to, it's that the desire is not even there. We see you. We recognize that it has been a difficult year for so many people, and the heaviness just sort of sits like a blanket. But I pray that the lifter of your head would come today in a special way for you to know that you are not alone, that you are loved, that you are seen, and you will. You will get through this difficult time. We're here today in the tradition of the Daily Audio Bible, in our routine to read the Word of God as we center ourselves around the Word and what an amazing thing Christmas Eve. And yet people still make the Bible a priority. I absolutely love that. And I'm so honored to be here with you on this eve of Christmas today. We are reading 2 Timothy chapters one, two, three, and four. And we're reading this week in the Voice translation.

Commentary:

So it is Christmas Eve. We want to give honor to that. But first, we must give honor to the scripture that we read today. Second Timothy. And of course, it's one of those days again where we hit the entire book of Second Timothy in one day. So just a quick history. An overview on Second Timothy, second Timothy is Paul's second personal letter to Timothy. Timothy is the pastor of the Church in Ephesus, and Paul considered him a true son in the faith. This is a time when Paul was again incarcerated under the Emperor Nero, who was persecuting Christians. And we have to understand that it's not persecution, as we claim to experience today. It's not the unfriending on social media or the blocking or the uninviting of dinner over differences. We're talking death, we're talking imprisonment. So it's beyond anything we can begin to imagine. So Paul is writes this book and hopes to see Timothy again face to face, but also writes it with the understanding that there's a possibility he may not and that he may die. In this final letter, Paul tells Timothy to be vigilant about his faith and to stay true no matter what happens. Endurance. Endurance is the theme endurance, or even in the words that he writes to Timothy. And we talk about that a lot. I talked about that a lot here because that is a hard lesson I've learned in my life. We want the quick, the fast, the easy approach. We just want to hit that easy button, but we realize that the true test of our faith even comes through endurance. So I want to make an honest, humble and vulnerable admission here. I was really hoping that on this Christmas Eve, there would be something that would jump out in the reading that I could then correlate and parallel to the fact that we are going into this day knowing that tomorrow we are about to celebrate one of the most beautiful times of the year, especially on the Christian calendar, the celebration of the birth of Jesus. And slight disappointment came when I was like, there's nothing there and an even more honest admission when I first started this journey of Daily Audio Bible Chronological heard some of the calls of things that popped out to people, and I saw some of the posts on the page of things that popped out to people and was immediately met with shame of why didn't you catch that? Why didn't you get that? How come they heard that? And you missed that? That should have been the point that you made. And that could have been such a great talking point. And that happened several times until the Holy Spirit so lovingly corrected me and said, that is the beauty of each person's journey through the Bible is that we will all hear it differently. We will all hear things and take it away differently as it is applicable to each and everyone's lives, because we are in such different places, in our stories, in our lives. And so there is no shame that you didn't hear that. There is no shame that you missed that. It's not that you missed that. It's that you heard something completely different. That's what unifies us as the body of Christ is that we can have this one goal, this one purpose. But yet we are all working out our faith with fear and trembling personally, because nobody can work out our faith for us. They can help guide us. They can inspire us. They can even hurt us along the way, which has its own place in our story. But nobody can believe for us. And so even my slight disappointment or let down today in knowing that there was nothing particularly conjoining to the fact that it is Christmas Eve. And yet the voice of God still speaks and says, that my daughter is what faith is. Jill, he says, that is what faith is, that you believe it even on the days when there is nothing there, when you are looking for expectation, when you are looking for a certain outcome, a certain goal, and it doesn't happen. That is where your faith matters most will you still believe. And so on this day, this night, this morning, this evening, whenever you're listening. This journey, this eve of celebrations of celebrations. Will our faith declare on a day where it seems like you just can't connect the dots, the way that you hoped to, the way that you're looking for them to connect the expectancy? Will you still believe that he came and that he is coming for you, that he is here and working, even though we may not see the evidence of it before our eyes? Will we abandon our understanding and embrace the absolutely inexplicable mystery of faith?

Prayer:

Father, we thank you for the journey. We thank you for mystery. We thank you that you are there with us in all of it. It doesn't upset you. It doesn't frustrate you. It doesn't worry you or give you anxiety. In fact, you spoke about it so much in your word. It must not take you off guard at all to know that we struggle sometimes with our belief, with our faith. And this message is so clear today of endurance. You must know how hard it is sometimes, actually to just let go, to abandon all critical thinking, all logical explanation. Throw it to the wind and embrace the unknown. How we thank you, that you are there for us in our questions and our doubts in our needing to understand that you are even there in our unrest. She told us. Come to me all who are burdened and I will give you rest. And so today, on this eve of the night of the day that we celebrate the birth of a King, not a King like our minds can comprehend a King who chose to come lowly and humbly and in an unexpected way to show the world Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, this King that we have never been able to experience before. Nor will we ever experience again on this night of the Eve of the birth of Jesus, our faith rises to join heavenly hosts to sing glory, glory in the highest peace on Earth and goodwill to all men. We thank you for coming. Thank you that you came in human flesh to be with us. Jesus, Emmanuel. God with us. Wonderful. Counselor. Everlasting God of Peace.

[sui-senka]

Dante and nero HCs part 2

Because I got a relatively positive reception to the first set of these that I did; here’s some more for you!

If you think that you’d like to see more soon please send me an ask for some stuff if that’s what you want to see.

Enjoy - and ‘cause its nearly Christmas, and Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa and whatever (the non - denominational stuff ya know) I just hope the holidays go well for you all!

Best wishes and stay safe - ❤️

@noiroux @vergils-waifu @uncledante @thedmcoffice @pooh690 @ayamacelestine

——————————————————

- The devil arms in the shop have started to take a liking to Nero.

- He discovered them on accident one day when he was snooping around, if you will.

- Agni and Rudra were the first to be roused by his presence. Nero then heard a loud babbling of “how lonely are…our master has silenced us… that it is our duty to protect another one of Sparda’s kin….” and how it was nice to have a visitor again.

- Nevan was also awakened by Nero’s presence. She said how she yearned for personal contact once more. She said “that you aren’t quite a handsome devil yet, so I’ll call you cutie for now~”

- Dante was mildly amused by what Nero had told him. He recalled that when he first met Nevan he thought that she was a fickle woman and a total fox. And he also told Nero that Agni and Rudra didn’t shut up but were useful in battle nonetheless.

- Dante lets Nero have his free choice on what Devil Arms he would want to use on missions; saying “If they like ya, chances are that they wanna keep you safe by letting you use them”

- Nero really likes using Nevan, Agni & Rudra, and Nightmare-Beta in fights.

__________________________________________

- I can’t help but think that Dante has a total thing for redheads.

- Though, that doesn’t stop me from thinking that Dante and Lady have probably slept together right after the Temen-ni-gru incident because both of them were so emotionally vulnerable, and also they seemed to gravitate towards each other too. But after that, they probably became friends with benefits.

——————————————————

- Nero probably keeps up with social media really well. He’s on Tumblr, Instagram and Snapchat.

-On tumblr he browses and looks for random 3-am nightposts to show Dante whenever he’s bored.

-Whenever Nero shows him anything, Dante will grab the tech out of his hand, hold it away at an arms length then right at his face and then squints a lot. (Ya boi Dante is old) Nero find this absolutely hilarious and says “that’s why I always call you Old Man.”

-On instagram Nero will show off short little guitar riffs he’s been practicing on Nevan, scenery of the places he’s been to on hunting missions or holidays with the crew, and any photos of office life where something C-C-CRAAZZYYY has happened.

-On snapchat he just posts normal things that happen in his life at the office.

-For example, how Dante got his first date in a while and made preparations. Nero accidentally walked into his room when he shouldn’t have and saw Dante posed with a rose in his mouth, and very naked except for a slice of pepperoni pizza on his crotch.

-Lady laughed her ass off when she saw that photo that she got sent. Obviously she sent it off to Trish; and an even more ridiculous reaction ensued. Trish was actually crying and couldn’t breathe from how hard she laughed.

-Nero swears to god that was the first time he saw the Devil Hunter blush crimson.

- Dante obviously denies that incident.

——————————————————

If Nero had a playlist I think it might look like this:

The Middle - Jimmy Eat World

Famous Last Words - My Chemical Romance

In the End - Black Veil Brides

Alone + Easy Target - Foo Fighters

Since you’ve been Gone - A day to Remember

Hey there Delilah - Plain White T’s

Dirty Little Secret - All American Rejects

Miss You - Blink 182

Basket Case - Green Day

Lying Is The Most Fun a Girl can have without taking her clothes off - Panic! At the Disco

If Dante had a playlist it would look like this:

Walk - Pantera

Seven Nation Army - The White Stripes

Wish - Nine Inch Nails

Fight Song - Marilyn Manson

Enter Sandman - Metallica

The Number Of The Beast - Iron Maiden

Dancing Queen - ABBA

Old Time Rock ‘n’ Roll - Bob Seger

Stand By Me - Ben E. King

I Want You Back - The Jackson 5

(Obviously the last few are guilty pleasures of his - He has totally recreated the Risky Business dance as well)

——————————————————

- The guys have spent Christmas together with Patty, Trish and Lady. But they don’t mind spending them on their own.

- Dante will definitely put on the first Die Hard movie and will try and convince Nero how it “totally is a Christmas Movie”

- Nero will discover that he likes Miracle on 34th Street quite a lot.

- But both of them ABSOLUTELY LOVE the Home Alone movies.

- Both of them will definitely try to make the Christmas dinner; the end result looking horrifying but actually being quite edible.

- For their movie marathon they’ll prep the couch with as many cushions, comforters and blankets that they can find.

- Trish and Lady have definitely come home after midnight on Christmas to see both the guys asleep on the couch in T-shirts and sweatpants; with Dante having one arm around Nero. They thought that seeing the two male devil hunters so vulnerable was quite sweet; and proceeded to place another blanket on the both of them. Each of the girls kissed them on the forehead and whispered “Merry Christmas”.

- Dante and Nero have both cried after seeing It’s A Wonderful Life together.

——————————————————

😈👿🎄🕊🥀☃️❄️🍾🎸

[dexcidium]

One Christmas after...

Hey Friend,

Wow, it’s been a year already, hasn’t it? Time flies when you’re having fun, I guess. What sorts of things, you ask? Well, you know, the usual. But don’t worry, I haven’t gotten myself killed or gravely injured! Not this me, anyway. MOVING ON! I want to tell you all about the things we did over here, is that all right? Good. It’s not like I was going to accept ‘no’ as an answer. When the new year began, all sorts of things were brewing at the mage’s association. You know how they are. Anyway, it’s strange. They’re taking their sweet time despite deciding on a new acting director. I thought mages worked fast but they’re still waiting. I don’t blame them, though, it’s hard to find this bloody place.

Anyway, Mashu’s… not doing so well with her powers. It’s still there but… she just can’t use them. So she’s taken a back seat from accompanying me for a while. Though she does still scold me throughout the missions. First, we went to Shinjuku and we met a – get this – a dog servant with a headless rider! Well, it was more like a really big wolf but the big guy’s really fluffy anyway! There was this Assassin guy that could turn into anything and kidnapped me. He’s pretty strange. Sherlock Holmes and James Moriarty also appeared! Man, you would have loved that, wouldn’t you? We also met an Altered version of EMIYA. Never thought I’d even see him like that… anyway, this particular singularity almost got an asteroid dropped onto it… it was… pretty intense. And don’t tell those two Alter girls this but their new outfits had me dying… though they did force me to dance and cross dress. Don’t laugh, please…

Valentines Day happened. As per usual… there was too much chocolate and we got a new Arturia! Who is… a walking NEET. Wow, we got a couple of NEETs this year… anyway, all you should know is that the force is utter crap and I have no idea what was happening this entire time. I think a couple of servants spiked their chocolates that they gave to me with alcohol…

Guess what…? The Gudaguda idiots came back… and this time, they brought Chacha and Hijikata… that guy Okita kept referring too. Those two are really loud. Like… REALLY loud. The mini Nobbus came back and ruined our lives again. Is it weird to sympathise with a demon pillar? Because I sympathised with a demon pillar when Hijikata-san did… that was a really weird event…

And ah… the digital sea. I’d… rather not talk about it actually… that was a particularly draining ride. I… I let too many people die. I didn’t know what to do. In the end, nobody actually remembers what happened but me and a couple of other new friends. But… I was conflicted about my abilities as a master once more for quite some time… but I won’t dwell on that too much.

Next up, we went to Agartha! That place was all sorts of a mess. First we were greeted by a friendly looking old man, who turned out to be really evil… also the Amazons and a berserker Penthesilea showed up, almost used my little friend between my legs as a baby maker, and then she got into a fight with a Megaros possessed Heracles! I almost peed my pants with that battle… it was so crazy… Anyway, more crossdressing happened, and get this – we got a Fergus Lily! Yeah! That big guy with nothing but sex on his mind. He was… really innocent, suprisingly. Until we got into more trouble and had to fight some Chinese zombies, a barely dressed Empress who was not Nero, and then the island became a floating island and trust me… it was a lot of work. We also met a Caster who was behind all of this… in the end, I couldn’t help but sympathise with her not wanting death…

Summer came back around… and we miraculously did not get stuck on an island! Sorry about not being able to contact you for quite some time last year… luckily the flow of time was different on that island. This year… Ishtar decided that we should have a race. A bunch of servants broke up into trios or pairs and 8 teams went on a race… and then it turned into a prison break. Don’t ask how, but it smelled like sweat the entire time I was trying to get out of those tunnels. Medb really looked good in that prison warden outfit… and yeas, she did step on me. Also, the swimsuits were… something. I uh… shouldn’t describe them in detail here. I know you well enough to know that you can’t handle that sort of thing like you can with sugar.

Still in August… we met a new friend. It was a kid named Paul Bunyan but uh… we also seemed to have met some sort of crazed, alternate version of a Chaldean master. That stuff have me nightmares afterwards… do you think that master is Beast VIII?

After all those crazy, and whacky events, we finally went back to clearing the other left over Singularities. It was Musashi-chan’s world. There was… a lot of fighting. More than usual. We met a new ninja named Katou Danzou. She’s a puppet, however… but I feel like she’s even more human than I am. We also met a baldie monk! He was friendly at first but then some sort of curse turned him crazy. And same with Tomoe Gozen! Man, she scared me! But when we managed to summon her, she turned out to be obsessed with video games. Gotta tell ya’, she’s really cute. She could tear my head off though. And we also met a new old man! His sword skills were fearsome… he was a Yagyuu of course… the father of Yagyu Juubei himself, Yagyuu Munenori. Towards the end, we met an even crazier version of Amakusa… do you think this is what he could turn into if he manages to get a grail? I should try and be a bit more harsher on him… if I can. In the end, the fight was fierce. And guess who showed up to fight Musashi-chan? That’s right! Kojiro. But he wasn’t a servant… he was human. His swords skills as well… all I can say was it was unbound… truly infinite. In the end, they were a stalemate…. But I believed in Musashi-chan… and she won. And though she may be gone for now… I know that when I need her, she’ll be back. She promised me so.

We’re skipping over Halloween. It was pretty much the same but with robots and ANOTHER NEET. Please don’t make me go back there… I even learned ninjutsu from Kotaro to avoid it all. But alas, they were like hounds seeking the blood of their prey… and I happened to have been beaten bloodied. How do you like that sort of poetry!? The writer crew have been helping me improve!

We finally got to the last of our loose ends. Salem. More specifically the time during the Salem witch trials. It was… quite a creepy place. With all sorts of monsters, and things that I thought were even scarier than some of the things we’ve faced before. All sorts of things happened… we met this little girl named Abigail… I… I couldn’t do much there. So many of our servants died again… I feel like I let Sanson down by letting him be killed liked that… but we were fortunate enough to be able to get his memories back. But man. Of all the things that happened down there with all the strange tentacle monsters and random keyholes… nothing was stranger than Robin’s speaking pattern in that entire thing! I think he’s been broken by Liz’s singing. And there was a guy with a crow’s head that appeared and talked to us in a creepy voice! In the end, Carter, who was our guide at that place turned out to be a space/time traveller. I mean, we’re pretty much the same but it was a genuine surprise. Also remind me to never look up Loveraftian horrors again. There’s a reason they’re called ‘horrors’.

Finally, we were just a few days before Christmas… and everybody got sick. We would have loved to have you here then. Though I think humans were more of your specialty. Anyway… we were sent to the underworld and… by the gods… I thought Santa Alter was weird, and so was Starbucks Lily but nothing could have prepared me for Atilla the Sun(ta). There were. SO SO SO many sheep. We had to go to Ere-chan this time… and we finally managed to get her to Chaldea! I was so happy. It’s been too long, and I really missed her. Though, there was a lot of struggle. With everyone down, I had only Sun(ta) to rely on. Ere-chan really did try her best… she only wanted to treat the citizens of the underworld with the beauty of the Sun… and Nergal gave her the power of plague and disaster instead. I really wanted to save her. Anyway, it all ended up well. We’re still recovering from that, however. It’s been one hell of a year. But to be honest, something still feels missing.

   …

…

…

Hey, Solomon?

No, Doctor Roman. It’s been a year since then.

How are you?

We’re holding up just fine, as you can see. Da Vinci-chan’s doing her best as acting director as we try to avoid into getting too much trouble from the Mage’s Association. Of course, we’re still doing our very best at our jobs. This was a future that you gave us, that you gave to mankind. Though it is the only useful thing that you left us. What the hell am I supposed to do with the ten bags of caster sugar and the box of Magi Mari merchandise that we found under your bed!?

You left us too early, you know? I still had so much to ask and tell you. But hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go. Thanks for sticking around for as long as you did. I hope your second human life was fulfilling as the first. I can’t say this enough but…

For taking care of Mashu and I, I thank you.

For watching over us on all of our missions, I thank you.

For losing sleep over my dumb, suicidal self, I thank you.

For never giving up on me even when I wanted to, and cheering me up, I thank you.

For all the smiles that you always flashed… for all the laughs and merry moments that we had… for all the joy that you spread into our lives despite our dire and desperate situation...

 Thank you.

 And I’d say it a thousand times more. But even then, I feel that it’ll never be enough. I regret never being able to say all this when you were around. I regret that that was our last goodbye… and I regret that we couldn’t share one last lazy afternoon under the kotatsu. Even if Mashu came around and scolded us… but she’d join us in our lazy indulgence anyway.

Oh by the way, I gave Goetia one big punch to the face for you and Mashu. I even used my command seals to boost it. At the time, I was just acting on pure emotion. I didn’t know what to do. I just knew I had to live. For you and everybody else that was waiting for me back at home. Our home. Chaldea.

You know, we did mourn. But only for a bit. We knew that you wouldn’t want us to be down like that. You’d tell us to keep our heads held up high, and smile. And so we did. And we still are.

But… I can take a small moment and spare a few tears, right? Even just for a couple minutes on this Christmas night. I can take the time to be weak, right? When I’m not busy trying to be the perfect master for them. Even if it’s just this one line… I can break down, right? I’m so tired… sometimes, I do feel alone even in this happy family of ours. It just isn’t the same without you, Doctor…

Bah! Enough of my sappy sentiments. I’ll continue as we always did. With my held head up high and big, bright smile on our faces. Just like you told us. We’ll continue on as we always did. For as long as we exist, for as long as humanity’s will to survive isn’t dead, and for as long as these broken bones of mine will keep me going… we’ll continue to protect the future.

See you later, Doctor Romantic.

We love you.

 From Gudao Shimazaki and the rest of the Chaldea family.