DEVIL'S RELEASE

Chapter Twenty-Three

A/N: HOLY SHIT I AM SO SORRY. Let's just say life took some very unexpected turns since I last updated. A few things that were really good, and a LOT that have been pretty horrible… I don't wanna waste all my time going into a bunch of depressing, boring details, but things are looking up again. Also my laptop with all my old shit on it (including Word) up and died, and that kept me away more than anything. But I have a new laptop now, so no excuses, right? Right, lol. Anyways, this is the last chapter, with the exception of a possible bonus-chapter from Vergil's view, since it'll be the 4th and it's tradition, but we'll see. I can't believe how long it took me to finish this… I was expecting to write a ten chapter at most story, and to be done within a couple of months… guess I can't count very well since it's taken me just about SEVEN YEARS to get to this point o_o;; But I've enjoyed writing it, and I'm grateful to everyone who's taken to the time to read it, let alone review it, or just yell at me to update. It means a lot that you guys care about and enjoy the story, especially since I just started writing it on a whim. This author's note is already longer than I meant for it to be, I'll just save whatever other crap I have to say for the end, I'm sure you'd rather start reading now xD I hope it turns out to be at least semi-worth the wait; if nothing else, I hope you guys get some closure! I know I can't stand when stories are abandoned once I've gotten interested in them, so once again I apologize profusely—time got away from me in the worst of ways. But alas, the story must conclude if nothing else! I actually had to stop writing, because if I'd kept going I'd have probably typed up 5 more chapters x_x Just a heads up, THIS HAD NOT BEEN BETA'D, so I apologize for any spelling/grammar mistakes and anything else I missed. I also lost most of my formatting when I uploaded the story so I'll probably be tweaking that. I'm falling asleep but I'm too excited to wait any longer to publish this, so I'll fix any issues later. Hell, I haven't even READ the whole chapter all put together and finished yet... but I'm too excited to wait!

p.s. As always, I don't own the characters, just the weird-ass storyline/no copyright infringement intended, and no one makes any money from this, unfortunately.

The weeks that followed Vergil's departure were hard on Nero, to say the least. At first the time had been spent with the four devil hunters searching the city from top to bottom for the wayward twin, but Vergil had virtually disappeared from the face of the earth it seemed. As their search progressed to the neighboring towns and then beyond, it became readily apparent that the devil wasn't going to be found unless he wanted to be. Nero supposed it was for the best; after all, the twins weren't exactly full of brotherly love, and the teen just wasn't sure if he felt safe seeing the man himself and not doing something stupid. That didn't mean that Nero wasn't partly wishing for an opportunity to do that stupid something… but he wasn't going to admit that out loud.

Eventually, as the weeks drifted into months, Nero and the rest of the crew were forced to admit that the search for Vergil was over. No one had managed to find so much as a stray hair from the man, and it seemed pointless to keep wasting the time and the money to keep digging. As sour as Nero was to accept the fact that he was going to have to suck it up and move on with his life, it didn't quite compare to Dante's frustration over the fact that his brother had technically won. It would have been funny to the younger hunter if Dante didn't spend a full week moping around and jumping down everyone else's throats. The only good part about the whole situation was Dante's overly-long hissy fit helped Nero to forget his own heartache for a while, and he gladly welcomed the distraction any time that he could.

In the wake of Vergil's escape, Nero had taken up semi-permanent residence at the Devil May Cry office with Dante for a while. It wasn't completely horrible, even with a moody half-devil around, and despite the shop's decrepit appearance it was actually pretty comfortable. Nero figured the chance to just hang out and be a guy with one of his friends, and the frequent additions of Lady and Trish, was good for him as well. Eventually the teen did decide to relocate within the city, but his new apartment was lacking... something. While rather decent for the price and far away from Kyrie and the rest of his past in Fortuna, the place was just far too empty for his liking. Sure, Nero enjoyed his alone time just like anyone else, especially when the teasing and fighting got to be too much, but when he was alone, he thought about slicked back hair and hands that were far too warm for someone so cold, and it made him want to break something. It was like no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't get the memories to stay where they belonged- in the past.

Six months after Vergil's vanishing act and Nero thought he was actually doing better with things finally. Sure, he had the occasional dream about the man, but they were just regular, boring dreams. The visions that had plagued him for so long were no longer present, and it was weird to the teen that he sort of missed them. It was a tough situation that Nero found himself in, but the urge to run after the other man was finally fading. On occasion the young hunter caught himself daydreaming up scenarios where the icy devil stormed in and dragged him away, but it was purely fantasy for the very bored and very frustrated teen. Nero was embarrassed to admit it but he hadn't really gotten any action in a while, and every time he tried to pleasure himself he just ended up imagining Vergil and the pain just took him right out of the mood.

Nero's depressed demeanor over the last several months hadn't gone unnoticed by his friends, and so in what became a sort of Friday night tradition, the teen found himself sprawled on the couch of Dante's shop, pizza slice in one hand and a drink in the other as his friends laughed and joked and tried to take his mind off of things. Tonight was shaping up like any other Friday night, and Nero just hoped he didn't wake up on the roof again, or at least not wake up there naked this time. Trish still had the photos from that one and he was having a hard time living it down.

"Come on, Nero… you gotta answer the question…" Trish drawled with a devious and slightly inebriated smirk. "How'd you get him to stop trying to kill everyone, hm? I know you had something to do with it. A guy like Vergil doesn't just have a change of heart because he feels like it."

" I uh… I dunno…" Nero replied awkwardly, rubbing his face a bit as he tried to fight down the light flush on his cheeks. The night had started off normal enough, but as the drinks came out, the questions had gotten bolder and for the past fifteen minutes Trish had taken it upon herself to grill him about why Vergil had left the way he did all those months ago. Dante seemed a little uncomfortable with the exchange when Nero braved a look in his direction, but the man hadn't interrupted yet so the teen had a feeling that he was curious as well. Lady seemed intrigued enough to prod him to answer once or twice as well, but she wasn't as persistent as Trish was.

"Look, we're all friends here. Nothing you're gonna say is gonna change that, if Dante hasn't kicked you out yet then nothing to worry about, right?" The blonde prodded. "So just spill the beans already. We've given you your space for a while, but I think we at least deserve some answers, especially Dante."

Nero sighed heavily as he glanced around the room, looking at each of the three hunters in turn. His gaze lingered the longest on Dante, taking in the now tense demeanor that the older man didn't usually possess. The teen didn't really think it was fair of them to put him on the spot like this… or at least he didn't like it. Maybe he did owe them some answers; after all, Vergil had readily been trying to kill them before- well, mostly Dante, but still the fact remained that their safety had been in jeopardy. He supposed it was the least he could do to try and explain himself a little. Nero wasn't about to go spilling his most intimate moments with the half-devil, but he could at least try and answer a few things and give them a little peace and closure on the matter.

"Well… I mean… it was nothing major, really," the teen shrugged in response. "I'd made a deal with him a while back, he owed me one, sorta… so I called in my favor. I guess he didn't like me calling him out for being dishonorable or whatever for trying to get out of it," Nero explained with a sigh. He really just wanted to melt into the floor right now but that wasn't exactly an option so he swallowed his nerves and pressed on.

"I don't really think he wanted to go through with it, not by the time he left… but I think maybe he didn't know what else to do with himself," the younger hunter explained and he glanced around the room at his friends again. Trish was leaning so far out of her seat he was surprised she hadn't fallen on her face yet, and Lady had a look on her face that spoke of boredom but he could tell by the way she shifted on the arm of the couch and inclined her head a little more in his direction that she was listening just as intently. Dante… Dante looked a little pale, almost sick. The man's grip on his bottle of beer was so tight that his knuckles were turning white and Nero was surprised the glass hadn't broken yet. His gaze fell back to the floor as he took a deep breath to calm himself so he could continue.

"Maybe I'm wrong, I dunno…" Nero sighed as he shook his head, "but you know, we talked about things, the things that he was so angry about… and, like, I dunno, I think he was just ready to stop. I guess he realized it wasn't worth it since he got a second chance with life. Or something like that."

"Do you really think that's true?" Dante asked quietly.

Nero bit his lip, venturing another glance up at his friend with a slow nod of his head.

"Yeah, I do. I really think it's true," he replied softly as he rubbed at his scaled arm lightly. "I know it's a lot for you guys, but you gotta trust me. I don't think any of you have to worry about him trying to kill you, or opening a gate to Hell, or anything else like that… I think he really does just wanna live for himself for a while. Maybe forever."

" Hmm… well, we probably shouldn't let our guard down too much, but I guess we don't need to worry about starting up the search party again or anything," Lady chimed in with a small snort.

" Damn, I guess you're not going to get that cute little happy ending either," Trish teased Nero as she leaned over and poked him in the cheek.

The teen flushed heavily and swatted her away with a quiet huff of, "As if."

"Okay, one… gross. And two, super gross," Dante snorted with a gag. "I don't wanna hear that shit about my brother. Hell, who knew the guy even had a damned libido in the first place…" he grumbled as his nose wrinkled at the thought.

"Aw, don't be jealous that your ice-block of a brother's gotten more action than you this year," Lady teased with a smirk, earning herself one of Dante's middle fingers raised in her direction.

Nero blushed a little deeper at the banter involving his sex life, but he managed to laugh it off with the girls. It was nice not to be the sole target of the teasing for once.

Luckily for Nero, the conversation turned to less serious matters and it didn't seem like anyone was keen to broach the subject of Vergil again for the rest of the night. Eventually the hours grew into morning. and despite the protests for him to crash there the teen decided to head home. He wasn't drunk like the rest of them, and he'd rather be alone while his thoughts drifted back to dangerous territory, lest he embarrass himself in front of them any worse than usual.

Nero didn't go home right away after he left the shop. Instead the teen wandered through the city, no real destination in mind as he walked. The sun was just starting to rise, so he headed in the direction of the orange and pink streaks on the horizon. He followed the rising light and eventually ended up on the deserted bridge over the small river on the far side of the town, thankful for the early hour and the solitude it offered. Nero perched on the side of the bridge, letting his legs dangle off of the side as the gentle breeze ruffled his hair. Sometimes he came here to think when his head was full of thoughts that he didn't want to hear, mostly about Vergil.

"I hate you," he muttered as he tossed a small rock out into the distance and watched it splash into the river. "I just hate you so much."

Nero knew it wasn't entirely true. He should hate the man, he really should… but he was only lying to himself in the end. No matter what anyone said he just couldn't stop himself from feeling the way that he did. Somewhere deep inside the teen still held a small spark of hope that he wasn't the only one who felt this way. No… the way Vergil had looked at him right before he left told Nero that he wasn't alone, but the man hadn't returned, hadn't tried to contact him, and had virtually become a ghost. No matter what Vergil might be feeling, he was obviously strong enough to move on, and Nero wasn't- it infuriated him.

The young hunter growled to himself and stood up, punching the railing of the bridge with a growl.

"I hate you!" he snarled out loudly and whirled around to leave. The breeze kicked up heavily in his face, and that's when he caught it. It was faint… so faint that Nero wasn't sure if he was imagining it or not. He wasn't even sure of what 'it' was, but it was familiar. A scent he hadn't encountered in months, one that belonged to a blue eyed bastard with a penchant for causing trouble.

"... Heh, I must be losing it," Nero muttered, shaking his head of the ridiculous notion. Whatever he'd gotten a whiff of was gone in an instant, leaving nothing but the smell of the river on the breeze in its wake. "Definitely must be losing it," he sighed and headed for home. The teen figured he needed to get some sleep and clear his head before he drove himself crazy out here alone.

Luckily for Nero he wasn't far from his apartment and he managed to arrive there without any other incidents. He let himself in, finding it odd that the door was unlocked, and quickly locked the door behind himself. He did a quick circuit of his home to make sure nothing was amiss, but not so much as a sock was out of place. Nero shrugged it off, figuring he must have just forgotten on his was to Dante's earlier, and stripped his clothes off before tumbling into bed. If someone was there before they weren't now, so he forgot about it and fell asleep almost as soon as his head hit the pillow.

Nero awoke feeling refreshed in the late afternoon, in no hurry to get up and do anything since he had no jobs lined up that day. Eventually he did climb out of bed to go handle some errands and allowed himself to get lost in the bustle of everyday life again. It didn't even occur to him that he hadn't thought of Vergil even once since waking up, and the usual inner turmoil that lurked just on the edges of his consciousness didn't rear its head at all. In fact, the teen found himself enjoying his time alone more than he had in a long time. He didn't know what it was, but he felt at peace for once.

A full week and a half passed in much the same manner, leaving the teen aged hunter in better spirits than he had been since he met Dante and the rest of the crew. He knew his friends thought there was something different about him, but he didn't bring it up and they seemed content to leave him be as he was, so still he didn't question it. It wasn't until a few days later that his short-lived contentment hit a wall and came crashing down.

Nero was just stepping out of his apartment and locking it up when the feeling hit him. It was a smooth crackle of electricity that ran down his spine, like a slow moving static shock one might get if they touched the doorknob after dragging their feet on the carpet. It was faint, but the feeling caused the teen's head to whip up, glancing around as he became fully alerted to his surroundings. He was alone in the hall of the apartment complex, no one else in sight and there was nowhere for anyone to hide between him and the elevator.

Still… there was no denying that Nero was not alone. He tried to shake off the uncomfortable tingling and withdrew his key from the lock, pocketing it so he could withdraw Blue Rose from her holster. The teen stalked down the hall slowly, carefully observing the area for anything out of the ordinary. Before he'd even made it ten feet from his door the feeling vanished entirely, and the oppressive atmosphere that had been squeezing his lungs had lifted; only the calm quietness of the deserted hallway was left.

"What. The fuck," Nero breathed out, his heart still pumping hard as the adrenaline started to fade. There was no way in hell he'd imagined that, and to say it set him on edge was an understatement. He was suddenly hit with the same feeling he'd had on the bridge the other week, and it made him feel a little light-headed. Either someone was messing with him for fun… or…

'No. Not a chance in hell,' he growled in his mind, shaking his head to clear the ridiculous thoughts.

"I'm starting to lose it," Nero muttered and holstered his gun. It was the only explanation, after all. There was no reason for him to come back, so Nero figured he must just be making himself sick with stress. And here he was thinking he was doing better.

"Tch." The teen grumbled quietly to himself and headed out for the day, determined not to let this nonsense stop him from living his life. So what if he was totally losing his mind? He wasn't gonna lock himself in his closet and cry about it- he had stuff to do.

It was hard not to think about the incident in the hall, but Nero eventually managed to push it to the back of his mind and get on with his week. He went on a few jobs with Dante, got roped into carrying shopping bags for Lady (who despite her tomboy behavior was actually quite the shopaholic when she wanted to be), and managed to avoid anymore embarrassing photos from Trish. All-in-all things were pretty normal for the younger hunter, which he liked. Normal was nice… normal was safer for him. For everyone.

Unfortunately for Nero, his 'normal' didn't last long, as usual.

Maybe it was just his lot in life to be at the center of all the nonsense that went on around here, Nero wasn't sure. He was sure, however, that his life currently sucked and he kind of wanted a redo. At the moment the teen found himself cornered by a rather large, nasty looking demon on the outskirts of town in a mostly abandoned parking lot. It was nothing that he couldn't handle… maybe, but this was one of the rare occasions that he'd left Red Queen at home and his bullets didn't seem to be doing much damage.

"Come the hell on!" Nero hissed as he dodged a particularly vicious swipe from the demon. It was big, red, and covered in spikes, not to mention the eighteen inch long claws it was sporting. The thing looked a bit like an iguana standing on its two hind legs. Any other day he'd have had his sword on him and taking this thing out would be no issue, but his bullets weren't able to penetrate the scales all that well from what he could tell.

The teen aged hunter dove to his right and rolled behind an abandoned car, whipping his cellphone out as he did so. Nero had to jump out of the way again as he jabbed the screen to dial Dante's number, and razor sharp claws tore up the bottom flaps of his jacket as he just barely managed to avoid the demon's attack again.

"Come on, come on…" Nero muttered as he glanced over the edge of the dumpster he'd just landed behind. The phone rang and rang several times before it finally went to the cheesy voicemail message and Nero snarled.

"Damn it!"

Dante was probably still out on his own job-just his luck. There was no time to dwell on it though as the creature leapt on top of the dumpster and snapped its jaws at Nero. He dodged again and fired several shots at the thing as he crossed the lot and ducked behind another car. It didn't look like the shots were any more effective now than they were when he first encountered the demon, a thought which made Nero groan out loud. How the hell was he gonna get out of this shit?

Nero decided his best bet was to get in close and try and shoot it under the chin or anywhere else the scales might be thinner, so he waited for it to swipe again and then took his chance. He rolled under the claws, pushed himself up off of the pavement, and charged in headlong toward the demon.

"Eat this!" Nero challenged as he ducked claws and tail and shot off three rounds at the demon's throat. He dipped under another swipe for his head and shot again, this time into the fold of where the creature's left arm connected to it's body. Nero thought he saw movement out the corner of his eye, but as he turned to look the demon released a hideous shriek that left the teen covering his ears as he rolled away to a safer position. He glanced back in time to see the thing stumble a few steps and then collapse on the ground.

"Yeah… that's what I thought," Nero huffed out as he stood up and dusted himself off. His jacket was in tatters but that wasn't important right now. He hurried over to the demon, kicking it a couple of times to make sure it was dead. He was about to turn and leave when something caught his eye. There something on the back of the demon's neck, something that shouldn't be there. Nero frowned as he leaned in and took a closer look.

"... What the hell…"

There was a very clean, very precise slash through the back of the creature's neck. The cut was so fine that he might not have even seen it had he not noticed the blood that slowly began to leak out.

Nero frowned and glanced around the lot, half expecting to see Dante… but there was no one. The only sounds now were the gentle whistling of the wind and his own boots scraping on the pavement as he spun slowly to check the area.

"Yeah… okay… definitely getting the hell outta here," Nero muttered to himself as he took off jogging in the direction of his apartment. He couldn't have been imagining that sword slice, but the demon was already starting to melt into the ground so there was no point in trying to check again. Nero figured he might as well get home and take a shower and try to calm down-there had to be a rational explanation.

Luckily for Nero the trip to his apartment was a quick one, mostly because he practically ran the entire way there. Once inside he stripped down immediately and jumped into his shower. The ice cold water didn't bother Nero, it helped to distract him from his racing heart and the confusion broiling inside of him. He stayed there for a while until he felt like he could breathe again, and then he finally turned the hot water on and began to scrub himself clean of blood and grime.

When he finally felt calmed and refreshed, Nero left the shower and threw on a plain black t-shirt and some jeans. He wasn't sure he was up to going out right now, not after the weird incident at the parking lot, so he decided to just play it safe and stay home. He figured maybe he would order a pizza and just watch some tv-anything to distract himself from his traitorous thoughts.

Nero briefly wondered if he should call Dante and tell him what happened, but the thought was quickly tossed away. There was no need to freak anyone else out when he was probably just imagining things-loneliness and boredom would do that to a person, or so he figured. Besides… if he was back, surely Dante would have noticed by now. With that matter settled, Nero flopped onto his couch to order that pizza he had in mind and try to forget his troubles for a while.

Several hours later Nero woke up on the couch, a cold slice of half-eaten pizza perched on his chest. He wasn't sure when he'd passed out, but it was dark outside his windows so he figured he must have been out for a while. The teen sat up slowly and moved the pizza to the coffee table, then rubbed the sleep from his eyes with a loud yawn.

"Shit…" he grumbled and glanced around the room. He hated falling asleep in the middle of the day and waking up at night, there was nothing good that came with him being awake when no one else was.

Nero sighed and stood up from the couch as he stretched. That's when he felt it-that same crackle up and down his spine that he'd experienced before.

"Fuck," he breathed out, his eyes wide with apprehension as he surveyed the room. Even with only the television as a source of light he could see well enough to know that nothing was out of place, no one was in the room… no one that he could see, anyways.

In one swift motion Nero ducked down and snatched up his gun and took up a defensive stance, careful to avoid the window just in case. He slipped through the room, checking every shadowy corner and hiding spot. The teen spared a glance out the window as he went but there was nothing out there but the light drizzle of rain, which made sense being that he was seven stories up. He checked the rest of the apartment, though just as he'd expected he'd found nothing.

The tingling sensation spread from his spine and went through his chest, and Nero was left feeling like someone was squeezing the air out of his lungs. He knew he wasn't alone anymore; it was impossible to ignore his instincts this time. The feeling wasn't as scary as he'd expected it to be. Despite the tingle in his chest, Nero felt there was something almost… familiar behind it. He held Blue Rose out in front of him with one hand, and the other clutched at his chest lightly as he fought against the sensation bearing down on his lungs.

Nero made his way back into his living room only to find that it was exactly as he'd left it. The apartment was empty, and no one was way up here at the window, so that only left…

"Outside," he breathed and directed his gaze toward the front door.

That had to be it; whoever was stalking him, they had to be there. Nero took a shaky breath and tried to steel his nerves. Like hell he was going down without a fight, no matter who was out there. After a couple of deep breaths the teen advanced toward the door and reached for the knob with a surprisingly steady hand for how on edge he was. He grit his teeth and turned the knob, swinging the door open forcefully as he leveled his gun at the culprit in the hallway.

Even though there was always a small part of him that wished for it to be true, Nero wasn't fully prepared for who he found standing in front of him as the door opened. That hair, those eyes… that face. If he hadn't been so shocked, Nero might have actually screamed. As it was, he followed his next instinct and pulled the trigger.

Nero unloaded at least four shots that he was aware of in the heat of the moment, but the figure in front of him deflected them with ease and left the teen gaping at him instead. He had to be imagining it, there was no reason for the man to return, to show up at his apartment… to want to bother with him at all. He'd made his decision, at least as far as Nero was concerned. That thought actually pissed him off quite a bit and managed to break the stupor Nero found himself in so that he could speak again.

"Vergil, what the FUCK!" he snarled, pointing an accusatory finger at the half devil standing before him who was currently sheathing his sword. How dare that bastard just think he could show up here without any warning like they were best buddies or something. Nero was too pissed off now to even feel all that surprised at the moment.

"Who the fuck do you think you are?!" the teen hissed. "And why are you here? Where have you been? What the fuck do you think you're doing? I KNOW you've been following me, you fucking creep. What do you want?!" Nero couldn't stop himself, the questions just bubbled up out of his throat with his anger, and he was really struggling not to shoot at the man again.

The blank, almost too-calm look that Vergil was giving him was really starting to piss Nero off. He was so angry in fact, that before the devil could even answer, Nero swung out his fist and punched him in the face.

"You stupid asshole! I ought to kill you right now!" Nero screeched and took another swing, but this one was caught easily enough. "Fuck off!"

The teenaged hunter glared at Vergil and tried to jerk his hand free, but the half demon had a firm grip on his hand. "Let go, now!"

"Calm yourself… you'll disturb your neighbors," Vergil murmured as he lowered his arm, taking Nero's hand down with him though he didn't let him go. "And we wouldn't want to involve anyone else, hm?"

Nero glared at the man before him and tried to yank his hand free again, though this time he was successful. "What do you want, Vergil?" he demanded with a growl.

The look the half demon gave him made Nero a bit uncomfortable, though he wasn't sure what to make of it. If it had been anyone else the teen might have said that Vergil looked almost remorseful. But this was Vergil he was with, so obviously nothing of the sort could be true.

"Would you believe me if I said I came here to apologize?" the demon asked smoothly.

Nero gave a loud snort and shook his head. "Bullshit."

"Hm… well, I figured you might see it that way," Vergil replied calmly. "What if I told you it was the truth, would you believe me then?"

The teen narrowed his eyes at the man in front of him and clenched his fist tightly, ready to strangle him. This bastard was out of his mind if he thought Nero bought that.

If he was honest with himself though… Nero wanted to believe Vergil, so, so badly-more than anything in fact. But there was no way that the man wasn't just messing with him. He'd probably gotten bored doing whatever it was he'd been doing the last few months and decided to come back to use Nero for a punching bag or something.

"I'd tell you to stick it up your ass, Vergil. I'm not gonna fall for that shit this time," Nero hissed back at the devil.

Vergil frowned heavily at him, and Nero could practically feel the tension that rolled from the older male in waves. The teen would be lying if he said it didn't make him want to smirk a little that Vergil might just be suffering a little bit.

"Well, if you won't listen to me then I'm not exactly sure how to prove it to you," Vergil huffed out at him as he folded his arms across his chest.

"Your problem, not mine," Nero replied with a shrug and a snort. "I don't know what kind of shit you're selling, but I ain't buying. So do us both a favor and get lost. Go fight with your brother or something, because I'm officially out."

Nero didn't want anymore part in this nonsense. It had hurt way too much trying to bury his feelings on the situation all these months and right now he was really struggling against himself not to do something ignorant.

"Nero…" Vergil sighed and reached out toward him. "Just tell me where to start. This isn't easy for me, I've never… well, hn…"

The teen took a step back from the outstretched hand as he glared first at it, then its owner.

"Never what? Apologized? Admitted that you were a piece of shit and should've had your ass kicked up and down for all of eternity, and it still wouldn't make up for half of the shit you put me through?" Nero shot back and stepped forward again to smack the hand away. "I'll tell you where you can start. You can start by getting the fuck out of my sight. I hate you, and I never want to see you again!"

Nero wasn't entirely prepared for the stricken look that flitted across Vergil's face, and for a moment the two of them just stared at each other in a mixture of confusion and pain. Vergil probably wasn't expecting such a hostile reception, and Nero… he wasn't expecting Vergil at all. He didn't want to mean what he said. He wanted to take it back, but that wasn't fair to himself.

Vergil owed him so much, it was insane really, to even consider having feelings for that monster. But still… they were there. Deep inside, Nero couldn't deny that he'd had a connection with the half devil that he'd never had with anyone else. If he took out all of the conniving and evil plotting, and the stabbing, well, Nero couldn't deny that he'd enjoyed himself. It was hard for him to accept that all those times alone with Vergil inside his head had been completely false… and then of course there were the moments here in the real world-the intimate moments.

The stare off continued for another few moments, and just when Nero was starting to think that it might go on forever, Vergil finally cleared his throat and nodded.

"Very well… if that's what you wish, then I'll go," the half devil spoke quietly. "For what it's worth, I've had a long time to think about it, too long in fact… and I am sorry," he added after a moment.

Nero snorted loudly and shook his head, giving a somewhat bitter laugh as he shrugged.

"Sorry doesn't cut it. Nice knowing you," he replied tersely and slammed the door shut in Vergil's face.

Nero stared at the door for a few moments before he turned his back to the wood and leaned against it. He stood there for a few moments and took some shaky breaths, then he let himself sink down to sit on the floor. He couldn't believe he just did that. He just told Vergil to piss off… the man had come to apologize and he told him to get lost! The very thought made him laugh out loud for a minute, and before he knew it he was crying instead of laughing.

It hurt.

Nero was proud of himself for having the strength to walk away, but that didn't really help him to feel any better in the end. He wasn't sure how long he sat there, though it was long enough for his knees to ache from the way he hugged them to his chest, and for his tears to run dry. The rain outside had stopped as well, and everything was silent. It took him a moment, but Nero crawled to his feet and straightened his clothes out. He wiped his face with the bottom of his shirt and sighed.

"This sucks."

Now that he'd had the time to let it all really sink in, Nero felt like maybe he'd made a mistake. He wondered if maybe he'd been too hasty in turning Vergil away. What if the man really was sorry? Was he giving up on a possible happy future just because he wasn't willing to listen? But it was fair, wasn't it? Vergil had acted too horribly to just get away with a simple apology… but maybe that was the point. He should have made the man stay and beg for forgiveness. Then maybe they could have talked about it… together.

Nero growled quietly to himself and ran his clawed fingers through his hair. This was all so complicated! One second he hated the man, the next he was crying over him. Nothing made sense anymore and for a second the teen just wanted to curl up in his bed and never come out again. He couldn't run; whatever decision he made now, he couldn't just disappear and pretend like everything was normal.

The more Nero thought on it though… the more he felt like maybe he did need to at least hear Vergil out. If he didn't like what the man had to say, he could always leave-that was if Vergil was even still in town.

"Ugh. fine!"

Nero snatched up his boots and tugged them on, determined to leave now before he changed his mind. He went to grab his coat but left it once he saw it and was reminded how torn up it was from earlier. He grabbed his weapons, just in case, and gave one last look around his apartment as he made his way to the door.

Nero hurried out and collided with a solid mass before he even had a chance to look up and close the door. He bounced back from the seemingly solid wall he'd crashed into and stumbled back a step in the doorway.

"Ow, what the fu-Vergil?!"

The teen gaped at the man before him who seemed to be in the exact place he'd left him when he'd slammed the door in the man's face.

"I thought I'd wait a bit, just in case you changed your mind about talking," Vergil explained calmly.

Nero huffed loudly and slammed the door in his face for the second time that night. He didn't do it because he was angry, but moreso because he was caught off guard and didn't know how to react to that. He didn't want Vergil thinking he was off the hook so easily either. The teen took a few deep breaths to regain his composure and then flung the door open again, only to find Vergil standing in the same spot waiting for him.

"This is going well," Vergil spoke up once they'd made eye contact.

"Shut up!" Nero snapped back at him with a light flush.

He felt a bit foolish now that he thought about it. He took a moment to let his gaze rove over the other man, taking in his appearance fully now that he wasn't so distracted. As usual, the bastard looked good- deep blue shirt, black slacks, boots, and a black peacoat. Nero briefly wondered if the other man had charged the clothes to Dante again, and the thought drew forth a small quirk of the lips from him, though he quickly hid it.

"Shut up," Nero repeated sharply even though Vergil didn't say anything. "You have a lot of explaining to do… don't expect me to just forgive you and play nice," he continued as he glared at the half devil. "You're on thin ice, so don't try any shit either."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Vergil replied and inclined his head slightly in agreement to the terms.

"Just… shut up and get in here, before I change my mind!" the younger of the two snapped. Nero reached out, snatched Vergil by the collar, and dragged him inside as he slammed the door shut after them.

"And you can start your apology by giving me a foot rub!"

A/N: PHEW... well, that's it. That's the end. I could probably write another few chapters, but all in all I'm satisfied with where I've left it. I don't want this to be one of those stories that starts to drag into the more mundane territory- I set out to write a romance/drama, not a slice of life, and I think it's more fun when you can use your own imagination to continue the story. There won't be a sequel or anything, but I will most likely write a bonus chapter for Vergil to end things on an even note, probably more of a fan-service chapter than anything, lol. Maybe now I can start writing some other things I've been hanging onto for years (I didn't wanna distract myself from this, lmao look how well that worked out) and stuff. Like I said in the first note, things got really crazy for me for a long time, but I DO wanna apologize to my readers. I'm sorry for the long wait for the ending, and I just hope you at least got some enjoyment out of it to make up for things... I know I had a couple of light-hearted threats about the fate of Nero and Vergil, lol. Overall I'm pretty satisfied with the story. It was a pleasure to write this, and I really appreciate all the reviews and feedback. I've mentioned it before, but all in all, this story is for ME. It's what I wanted to write for myself and so that's what I did, but it really brought me a lot of joy over the years to share it with you guys and see how much so many of you enjoyed it. Thank you again for sticking with me and taking the time to check it out and give me your thoughts and opinions. I think I have one of the best audiences here that I've ever encountered anywhere, and it always brought me a real thrill to release the next chapter for you all. So, thank you once again from the bottom of my heart, you guys are the best!