Nero only slowed down when they approached the gate, his death grip on the handles of the bike gradually loosening and the demonic energy he had sent into it dissolving. The portal was still almost closed and frozen, not allowing them to go through, which meant that Trish hadn't noticed their arrival yet. He briefly wondered for how long he had been here now. Time flowed differently in the demonic realm, so he had no chance of making any assumption that could be considered even vaguely accurate. He slowly came to a stop and put one of his feet on the ground to keep his balance, a few feet away from the gate. He threw a careful look over his shoulder, observing the relaxed features of his companion and found that he had fallen asleep again. Worry gnawed at him once more. Right now, Dante seemed a bit like a loony... but Nero was pretty sure that was only temporary. As soon as they were back in the human world, back in the Devil May Cry, back home, Dante would be able to recover from this ordeal. He could only imagine the strain this whole 'adventure' had put on the elder's mind and soul.
Nero noticed a movement in the corners of his eyes and carefully turned to see what had caught his attention. A bunch of demons, maybe a couple dozen, were making their way over to them. With a sigh, Nero's gaze flickered back to the portal that still gave no signs of opening anytime soon. Closing his eyes in a brief moment of consideration, Nero carefully loosened the grip around his waist and climbed off the bike, trying his best not to wake the older hunter. He positioned him in a slightly awkward way against the handles to keep him balanced before taking Red Queen off the other's back and making his way over to the demons that were slowly, almost curiously approaching them. He scanned the remaining directions quickly and found that no other devils were coming near.
He broke into a sprint, determined to let the fighting happen as far away from Dante as possible. As soon as he felt that he was far enough away to use Blue Rose, he pulled his beloved revolver out of her holster at his hip and aimed at the first demon. Nero felt a twisted kind of satisfaction rising within him as he watched the demon explode, splattering its green, slimy insides over its brethren. He shot a few more of them until they were close enough to cause him to stop. The young hunter stood still for a second, regarding his enemies that seemed to be observing him in turn, before he slowly pulled Red Queen off his back. He stabbed the tip of his sword into the ground, revving it up before addressing the beings in front of him.
"So, you're the fuckers that did that to him, huh?"
His voice was cold and hard as steel. He let his icy eyes take in every single demon opposing him.
"Well then, let me show you what I think of that, you little shits."
With that, he ripped Red Queen out of the ground and pounced on the first demon, cleanly slicing it in half with his flaming sword. He punched one of the burning parts into the rest of the demons, causing some of them to burst into flames and scattering them in their panic. With every shriek and cry of a dying devil, Nero felt a perverse, convoluted mixture of wrath and satisfaction pumping through his veins, cheering him on, causing him to hit faster, harder, deadlier. He grabbed a charging Abyss with the spectral version of his demonic arm and slammed it into the ground before kicking it with all his might into the mass of devils approaching him. It exploded into a sea of blood upon impact, painting the surrounding enemies in a coat of red. Nero felt his blood boiling hotter and hotter as he fought the beasts, and as soon as the remaining half had him surrounded, his lips contorted into a grotesque version of a predatory smirk. With a shout he unleashed his inner devil, knocking the demons off their feet and almost thrived at the sound of Yamato cutting through flesh, bone and armour alike. Being a devil hunter had never felt so good before.
It wasn't long until all the demons but one were disposed of. He looked at the crouching Blade before him his as it bared its teeth, hissing at him, clearly intimidated by the bloodlust he displayed. It almost tried to scramble away, but Nero created one of his blue, spectral swords right above it. He let it drop down, and the Blade screeched as it pierced its torso and pinned it to the ground. Green-yellowish blood oozed out of the wound as the lizard was writhing on the floor. The hunter stood right in front of him, slowly lifting Blue Rose and aiming the two barrels right between the demon's eyes. His own were glaring down at it in a dangerous red, his distorted voice echoing and the spectral being behind him standing tall and menacingly.
"That's what you get for messing with us- with him."
And then he pulled the trigger.
Feeling oddly content, Nero detriggered and cleaned the blood and gore off his sword before putting it back on his back. He almost felt like whistling as he made his way back to Dante, who was still sleeping peacefully, albeit weirdly positioned on the motorcycle. His gentle movements as he sat back down in front of his friend and relative were a stark contrast to the massacre he had just caused and thoroughly enjoyed, but that didn't matter to him. Now that he had found Dante, he wanted to make everything and everyone pay for what they had done to them. On Trish and Lady's behalf, too. After 17 years of being an orphan and having been forced to leave the small thing that almost resembled a family behind in Fortuna, he had finally found one for himself. He was not going to sit by and idly watch it being harmed.
Nero made himself as comfortable as he could while waiting for the portal to be opened from the other side. He was a bit worried, Trish had said that she'd know when he would be back, so why was nothing happening? They were fine, weren't they? She had said she'd keep the portal as shut as possible without actually deactivating it so no demons could come through. If anyone knew about this kind of thing, it'd be her. Right?
Time passed, and for what felt like hours later, Nero could finally see the portal flickering to life. Slowly, very slowly, the dimly glowing rift widened, revealing a colourful vortex that was gradually growing until the distorted shapes of a forest in the human world could be made out. He breathed a relieved sigh before kickstarting the bike into action and drove towards their way back.
Passing through the portal felt like walking through a waterfall that was both scaldingly hot and freezing cold at the same time. All kinds of different colours and indiscernible shapes surrounded him in a seemingly bottomless place and Nero had to suppress a shiver. He glanced over his shoulder to the older hunter, who was... still out of it. If they were in any other position he'd snort at the fact that Dante was able to sleep through an earthquake if he wanted to, but right now it was more worrying than anything else. Only seconds later, however, they reached the end of the portal and passed through, back to the human world.
The bike broke through the distorted surface of the rift and hit the ground. Nero slowly came to a stop, eyes searching for his two female friends and found their eyes full of anxious anticipation, only barely soothed by the fact that Dante was resting at his back. He gave them a smile and nodded, gaze focussing on Trish as she came over, Lady's arm around her neck to help her walk as they came over to him.
"What happened to him? Is he okay?", the blonde demon asked, her tone hushed.
Nero nodded, "As okay as he can be, I guess. We didn't get to talk much, he passed out almost right after I found him and only woke up for a few minutes before actually falling asleep. I don't think he got all that much during his stay there."
All three of them looked at the red-clad hunter who was still out like a light, face void of any emotion, chest rising and falling slowly with each deep breath. The young man hesitated before addressing the two women once more, eyes averted.
"He seemed a bit... out of it when I found him. From what I figure, he went almost crazy when we disappeared, and that trip to hell wasn't really helping matters. Let's just say all of the fighting that we've done before looks like a walk in the park now, compared to what little I know about the shit he's been through."
He saw Trish biting her lip as she looked down at the man she was once supposed to kill. She still looked the same as always, long, blonde hair combed back and reaching her waist. Black leather corset with a lightning shaped motive on the front, black pants. She had two things going for her- one, she was a full demon and therefore had a much higher life expectancy than a normal human, and two, she had been born looking like this. She probably would for hundreds of years, depending on how much effort Mundus had put into her creation.
Lady on her right was an entirely different story. Having had her fourtysecond birthday during the time in the hospital in Russia, the skin on her face wasn't as smooth as it used to be. There were small wrinkles around her mismatched eyes and the corners of her mouth. She spotted countless scars on her body, and even if there wasn't a speck of grey in her hair, Nero knew that it was dyed. He still remembered the day two years ago when Dante had pointed out the first grey hair on her head and had found himself eye to eye with the barrel of a gun less than a second later. What really sold the deal, however, were the various bandages on her body covering the remains of torn muscle and flesh, courtesy of the demons that had captured them.
Don't get him wrong, despite being a human devil hunter, Lady was still a threat to almost every demon that might be unlucky enough to cross her path. The problem was the part with the hunting.
Even though both Nero and Trish had tried to patch her up as much as they could with their very limited resources, and the doctors in the hospital had given all they possibly had, her left knee had still been crushed beyond repair. It was almost a miracle that she had been able to keep her leg, but it was stiff, and even with the prospect of physiotherapeutic exercises, the chances of her being able to bend it more than an inch or two were next to nothing. She was less lucky about her left hand, though. Nero pointedly avoided looking at the bandaged stump and instead put both his hands back on the handle of the motorcycle.
"Let's all just go back, okay?"
Both women nodded and backed off, allowing Nero to start the engine and make his way back to the Devil May Cry.
A little over two hours later, he stopped in front of the shop again, the glowing neon sign welcoming him much more than any time before. Dante was still in deep slumber, and if it weren't for his slow, but steady breathing, Nero would have gotten even more worried. From what he figured, however, this was to be expected. He just wondered when his relative would wake up again. Putting all their weaponry back on himself, he picked him up and carried him through the heavy oak doors inside, up the stairs and into the elder's bedroom. There was a fine layer of dust covering every surface of the room, but it looked the same as before otherwise, magazines and clothes scattered everywhere. Putting Dante on the bed, Nero took a moment to let his gaze linger on his friend.
Now that he could really look at him, he noticed how torn and utterly destroyed his clothes were. There were holes and tears everywhere, the trademark coat little more than a tattered piece of leather. Enough blood had drenched the cloth to make it obvious despite the inherent red colouring. Nero wasn't sure he even wanted to know how much of it was Dante's. The black leather strap used to keep Rebellion on his back was gone, too. He looked severely beaten up, which was new. On the other hand, compared to the amount of time the elder had spent in hell, it was only little damage, a testimony to the other's power. With a lingering sigh, Nero removed what was left of Dante's black leather gloves and his knee-high boots, which were in surprisingly good condition.
The sound of an engine dying down in front of the shop tore Nero out of his musing. With one last, unreadable gaze, he turned and headed for the door, but paused to take Rebellion off his back and lean it against the wall next to him.
Placing Ebony and Ivory on the shelf next to him, the young hunter finally left the room. He was halfway down the stairs when the door opened, Trish helping Lady into the room. He went over to the desk, dropping down into the chair behind it, while the women settled on the antique couch. For a while, they all stayed silent, until Trish spoke up.
"You were gone for two weeks, you know."
Nero's eyes widened, but then he shrugged, eyes unfocused and staring straight ahead into nothingness.
"'Time flows differently', huh... I guess that's why it took so long for you to open the gate again when we arrived?"
Looking up, he saw Trish's lips curling into a humourless smile.
"I reopened it right after you were there, can't have been more than a few minutes."
Barking a short, unamused laugh, Nero shook his head and let his gaze flicker to the blonde.
"To you, maybe. Felt like a few hours to me."
Lady listened to their exchange in silence. It was hard for her to openly worry about someone, even if she did on the inside. Neither of the three spoke for a while, each trailing their own thoughts until Nero shook his head once and let out another deep sigh. He looked much older than 26.
"I'll hit the sack, I'm dead tired. You can just make yourselves comfortable around here, you know where the guest room is and shit. Night."
Not even waiting for a reply, Nero heaved himself out of the chair and headed for the chairs. Entering his room, he took Red Queen off his back and stretched. Pulling a face, he noted how sore he was, but it really didn't matter all that much to him right now. Shrugging his coat off, he heel-toed out of his boots before taking up his sword again and returned to Dante's room. The red half-devil hadn't even moved, his breathing still even and deep and features relaxed. Settling down in the red plush chair that looked like it fit much better in a teenage girl's room than a deadly demon hunter's, Nero put Blue Rose on the windowsill next to him. He leant Red Queen against the side of the chair, before making himself as comfortable as possible, gaze never leaving the sleeping form of his friend. He felt exhaustion and tiredness getting the better side of him and it wasn't long until his eyes fell shut, his mind welcoming the soothing darkness.
