On the night before Halloween, he laid awake in bed, staring at the indents on the ceiling.

He wondered if it was normal to be in love with somebody he didn't really know. If it was normal to get lost in his dreams so often. It felt like he'd wake up tomorrow back in his old bed back at the headquarters and everybody would be there.

He knew…he knew he should be living in the presence but so much of his mind was living in the past—it was suffocating.

It was a story that needed an end, because he was watching on with avid interest.

Nero had a bad feeling about today.

He woke up and the entire building felt suffocating, the air conditioning was still fucked and his entire body was caked in sweat. Dante was next to him, hands encircled around his waist possessively, skin sticking to skin causing them both to over heat even more so than the others.

It felt like an omen, almost, like waking up in unbearable heat was trying to tell him something. But, the light was still shining down on both of them, illuminating Dante's face as a pair of gray eyes flashed open.

For a moment, his fears dissipated. Nothing could ever feel wrong around Dante. He left a sense of calming around Nero, encircling his inner fears with a halo of light and warmth.

But underneath the comfort, something was stewing and Nero just couldn't put his finger on what exactly it was.

"Babe," Dante murmured, tightening his arms around his boyfriend's waist when the other made an attempt to get up. "You don't have to get up yet. Today's mission free."

He smiled, considering for a moment just casting his fears aside and laying back in bed. The comforter snuggled underneath their tangled limbs was freshly washed and abnormally soft and comfortable, smelling faintly of detergent and febreeze. The sight of his boyfriend wrapped up around him, simply breathing their scents in, made his heart flutter was well. Three scraggly deep black hairs stuck to his sweaty forehead, adding to the bed-head effect, paired with a slightly sweaty torso that didn't really bother Nero all that much.

Though, the heat was still a problem and he'd like to get a shower in before they shut the water off, instead of waiting until after eleven o'clock again. So he lifted his body once again, this time successfully tearing himself away, mentally wincing at how hard the sweat stuck them together.

Dante grunted a few times in protested and Nero had to quickly jump back when two hands shot up prepared to pulled him back down, with much more force this time. Instead, the action made him fall back onto the green carpet, causing stormy gray eyes to finally open and said person to let out a loud irritated yawn. "Why exactly do we have to wake up at nine thirty on our day off?"

"No one said you had to get up," Nero protested, scrambling to his feet in annoyance. "And, I think you've gotten much too lazy, babe, remember when you used to wake up every morning at six? What happened to Mr. Responsibility?"

"Mr. Responsibly finally learned what sex was. Then he died."

Nero didn't dignify that with any kind of response. Partly because he was still annoyed. Partly because he was pleased. By now, they were starting to sound like the same thing.

"What, I get no good morning kiss?" Dante called as Nero made his way down the hallway.

"Where's my breakfast, woman? Then we'll talk!"

That was Patty's cue to jump out of nowhere and yell, "Whipped!" And that earned a few loud curses from Dante and a few scattered laughs in the Commons.

Nero couldn't help but feel everything was right. He shouldn't…he shouldn't even think that. Everything out there…he knew it was all wrong. But in here, in his own little world he'd been at for so long, everything just…fit.

When they entered the Commons, bowls of cereal were already scattered around the tables and countertops. Trish was working away at the stack of dishes piled in the sink, grunting about how nobody ever seemed to soak their plates before leaving them behind.

Dino was playing cards at one of the tables with Agnus, and from the looks of the cards peeking out of Jimmy's sleeves; he knew he was most likely cheating. Typical.

Virgil was sitting across from Lady, idly skimming a book. Patty took a seat next to him, probably intent on causing trouble. Lady herself didn't seem to notice either of them; she was busy tinkering with her electroflexor, looking deeply irritated.

Dante had taken advantage of Nero zoning out to sneak up behind him and wrap his arms around the other's waist. "Mmmm. I poured our cereal, now where's my kiss?" Nero turned quickly, kissed the tip of his nose and then stalked off to where their bowls were sitting. "Y'know, hard to get doesn't work after you've already gotten together." Dante grunted, following his boyfriend—and their breakfast—to Lady's table.

"Hey Lady, what's up with the over grown taser?" Patty questioned, causing the woman to glare for a short moment, probably imagining her utter and total death.

"That's the problem: I don't know. All the weapons have been acting funny lately, first it was suddenly spurting out bolts of electricity in the middle of nowhere and now the dam thing won't work at all. The same goes for all the other power generated weapons, which are our most vital pieces of defense. I tried talking to Kyrie about it but her and her brother have been so locked up in their rooms lately, having stupid hissy fights, I couldn't even get a word in."

"Maybe the power source is faulty?" Virgil suggested, looking up from his book with interest. "Didn't Agnus say he'd been fueling them at that old power plant in Belleview?"

"Could be," She agreed. "But it doesn't seem like the power source is the issue, rather the weapons themselves that are giving me problems. One minute the dam thing is shocking everyone within a ten mile radius and the next it just completely bums out."

"Did you check if maybe a few of the kids had gotten into the weapons room? They could've been tinkering around with a few of them and messed around with the power settings."

"As if," Patty snorted. "Those kids are dead scared of Lady; they wouldn't dare fool around with her precious weapons that make her so hot and bothered, let alone her orgasm enduing electroflexer. Anyways, I happen to know she sleeps with it at night."

"Oh fuck you, sleaze-ball."

"It'd be much more fun if you did it yourself, hunny. Come on, I know you think I'm sexy and I know you can't stop thinking about that wonderful night we had—" Patty was smacked over the head, promptly. And she smiled like it was actually something worth smiling about.

"Y'know," Dante murmured towards me. "I think they're almost beating us out for cutest couple in the headquarters. We gotta step our game."

Patty over heard, snorting loudly and obnoxiously. "Oh please, I'm much more cute than the both of you combined. There's no competition." At this, Lady actually looked up from her tinkering for a second, looking highly disgruntled. "…And you're not that bad either." She amended.

"You guys are like a married couple." Virgil shook his head, sticking his nose back into the book he was currently reading.

The rest of breakfast went by in idle chatter. Lady and Patty fought like sisters—were normal sisters were subjected to sexual tension—until she finally let out a sigh in frustration and went off towards the weapon's room. Patty trailed behind her.

Ten minutes later Agnus and Dino announced they were up for a game of darts in the reckroom and Dante decided to join them, swaying his hips seductively as he left, purposely trying to give Nero dirty thoughts.

Nero himself at that point decided he needed a shower, leaving behind a silent Virgil engrossed in his novel and a grunting Trish, scrubbing away at the never ending pile of dishes.

When he was washing away his worries, Nero felt like bursting into song and dance. Growing up, it felt like he never found any place he ever fit in, any place he ever really felt happy. He figured out early on that it wasn't the place—it was the people. It didn't matter where he was as long they accepted him. And they did, fully.

Out there—it felt like he was still wearing one the freedom masks, like the plastic was sticking to his face and the stupid thing made it hard for him to breath. But in here—it was like the stars were rattling, like the only color he ever had to wear was whatever the hell he happened to put on that day.

Everyday I have the power to wake up in Dante's arms, Nero thought, waking up everyday to too white sheets that smelled like fabric softener and a boyfriend that had no business looking so cute while sleeping peacefully.

Jesus, it was like the light had shot into his life and it was blinding.

And as he slipped out of the shower and pulled his clothes on, he started skipping around the bathroom, humming as he pretended he was at some extravagant ball with Dante, dancing. And nobody cared that they were both guys.

No, the only thing onlookers would feel was jealously. They would wish they had even a sliver close to the same thing.

And they'd both be dressed in tuxedos, better than the kind he saw that guy he saw in Paris they'd actually know how to dance, no half ass 'sorry I stepped on your toes' crap. And Dante would utter something romantic and Nero wouldn't say anything because he'd be breathless and…and…

And suddenly the sounds of screams pulled him out of his fantasyland.

Screams up above. Screams down below. Screams. And suddenly a huge rumble echoed throughout the headquarters and the entire place shook for a couple seconds.

His heart was beating quicker than Nero had ever thought it could, surely there had to be a limit at which point it'd give out.

He was clumsily flinging the door open, looking in horror as two kids ran down the corridor, screaming. Two men dressed in all black swat attire started rushing down as well, causing Nero to jump back and fall to the tiled floor in fear.

One of the men noticed and quickly abandoned the kids in favor of apprehending him instead. Nero didn't have anytime to think, he quickly leapt to his feet and grabbed a shaver off the counter, striking the man as he dove into the bathroom.

He was holding a fazestunner—one touch of the cool tip to his pale skin and he'd be on the floor in seconds with no chance to fight back.

The Swatter jabbed his weapon mercilessly, Causing Nero to duck and almost fall back onto the tiled floor again. Instead, he caught his balance and took advantage of his position to swipe the razor across the man's ankle as hard as he could. The Swatter cried out, swinging his fazestunner even more wildly than before.

Nero pulled a much larger shaver from the countertop, an electric razor, and jabbed the thing into the Swatter's stomach as hard as he possibly could, eye's stinging because he felt like fucking sobbing when the man in all black let out a blood curdling scream, falling back into the bathtub.

Immediately the body went limp and the fazestunner slipped from the lifeless fingers and hit the floor with a loud clang that was almost deafening in the terrifying silence.

What…what the fuck is happening?

More screams pierced the silence, making Nero jump. Whatever it was, he couldn't just stand here and wait.

The boy jumped into action, swiping the fazestunner off the floor and slowly tiptoeing out of the bathroom as discreetly as possible. There were a couple bodies lying around, some of the refugees that were staying in the warehouse, he recognized. They didn't look dead, rather, stunned, no doubt with the same weapon he was holding.

And, fuck, where was everybody?

The entire place was filled with smoke, harsh, thick—burning. His nostrils were on fire. Strike that, his whole body was on fire. The smoke made it hard to see as he crept down the blurred out hallway, on top of barely being able to breath.

He passed by Virgil's room, which was completely on fire. Luckily, nobody was in it. But, the entire hallway stilled smelled like death. Death—and blood.

Nero slowly peered his head into Common's, where he'd just been, not thirty minutes ago, laughing, joking, feeling this overwhelming contentment drag him down. Now, it looked like a war zone. Tables were flung all over the place, some scattered in fire, other's shielding nearby kids, trying to hide as the Swatters screamed orders into their walkie talkies. Half the kitchen was practically gone, he knew, he knew, an explosive was set off, just judging by the piece of fridge laying a couple feet away from him.

And, he nearly started sobbing when he spotted Trish lying on the ground next to one of the—barely there—counters. There was no doubt in his mind she was dead. Blood was pooled around her head, soaking her golden blond hair, tainting it. And a large piece of a plate was sticking blatantly and quite clearly from the side of her skull.

Oh god.

Oh fuck.

This…can't be happening. Was…Maroon City really being invaded? Was the main headquarters of the Freedom Fighters…being taken down?

Suddenly a hand shot up and covered his mouth, the other wrapped around his body, dragging him backwards as quickly as possible.

Fuck!

Nero flailed, fully prepared not to go down without a fight. He bit down on the hand, tasting the metallic immediately, causing the captor to jerk back with a harsh squeak. He took that opportunity to jerk his elbow back, trying to put force behind the blow, feeling like he needed to do it for Trish. She would have wanted him to take as many of the Swatters with him as possible. Though, the captor was abnormally quick, darting to the side fiercely. He growled, turning on his heel, raising the fazestunner, fully prepared to strike—

And then he came face to face with Lady.

Her facial expression…it almost made him vomit. He'd never seen her like this. Ever. She had blood caked on her face and soaked in her clothes. Her hair was no longer in its usually tight pony tail; it was pulled out in a disarray of frizz and pieces of what seemed to be furniture.

And worst of all, above all else: she was crying.

She looked, for the first time since Nero had met her, like a princess from a fairytale that needed to be saved. She looked at him like whatever the fuck was happening—couldn't be fixed. "Let's go." She squeaked. And he swore he felts his bones shiver, just for that horrible moment.

The both of them made their way towards the entry room because being in the underground stations seemed the safest. Maybe it was only natural, to feel the need to be in smaller spaces when a crisis hit. After all, life started out in a small, suffocating place, and it always ended in one as well. So, maybe it was the familiarity that made things comforting. Maybe it just always seemed safer being in the headquarters, deep within, rather than outside, where it always felt dark and unwelcoming.

Or maybe they just felt like hiding.

Lady shakily flipped the latch, trembling violently as she made her way down the ladder. Nero followed close behind, making sure to fully cover the entry way before hand.

He felt like saying something. Actually, he felt like saying several things. He couldn't help but think he should be soothing the redhead in some weird way. But, what could he possibly say that would ease her nerves. It isn't that bad? At least they have their lives? Everything will be alright?

No, he wouldn't lie.

Instead he opted for silence, because any comforting thing he could possibly say would sound deathly artificial and wrong. He wouldn't mean any of it. And if he did, a part of him still wouldn't believe it.

Then, they entered the underground weapon's room and suddenly it was like he could breathe again.

Because, there he was, nervously running a lone hand through his hair as he stared at the remaining guns in frustration. Gray eyes were focused and strained, his entire face looked haggard. But it was beauty and bliss and he figured he could ignore the large gash across his forehead, as long his heart beat still filled his ears like sweet lullabies.

He launched himself at the gray eyed boy, because the most coherent thought he could put together was: DanteDanteDanteDanteDante….

Nero collapsed at that moment, almost sobbing, trying to hold onto his boyfriend's waist like he'd suddenly fall out of existence. He didn't realize how much he'd been worried until that very moment. "Dante." He breathed.

"Hey, kid. How-ya holding up?" Then he leaned in close to his ear, hugging the boy tightly. "Fuck, you have no idea how worried I was about you. I almost fell apart, Nero. If they would've taken you from me, I would have blown this entire place to smithereens. I wouldn't've been able to fucking think straight."

The shorter of the two merely nodded, inhaling his boyfriend's scent like a drug addict looking for a fix. It was the only thing that blocked out the smell of death, still stuck inside his nose.

"What the fuck is going on?" Lady demanded, finally gaining back some fire in her voice.

And for the first time, Nero noticed Agnus sitting in the far corner of the room, trembling. "It was Credo," He answered, eyes darting from side to side. Again a drug addict analogy could be used, were Nero so inclined. "He…he fucking betrayed us. Kyrie.—Dino and I," He sucked in a sharp breath, looking ready to burst into tears. "We hid from the Swatters in the upstairs supply room. And he…he told us his brother sold everyone out. Everyone. He gave out our names, our specific whereabouts, crimes we were responsible for… He sold out most of the people we took in, gave out precise names for the people that'd broke the laws. And now the entire city is under siege. We…we have almost no weapons either…he…"

"He sabotaged them!" Lady growled. "I knew something wasn't right, something hasn't been right for the last few weeks. A huge chunk of data was corrupted, our fucking security cameras have been whacking out. I knew it."

"But, then, what are we all going to do?" Nero whispered, voice cracking. It was the question on everybody's mind.

"Well, I think we should start by rounding everybody up," Dante announced, still rubbing the smaller boy's back soothingly. "Then, well figure it out from there."

The room went silent. And this silence was not comforting at all. It was a dark silence, a choked one. One that symbolized mourning and loss. It was like bowing your head for an unknown statistic, a face pasted on the news.

Except these weren't statistics, they were people they'd seen everyday, people they could picture in their lives.

And shuddered to picture without.

"Dino was…shot," Agnus choked out, breath hitching involuntarily. "They're armed with fucking blitzerguns, they're shooting enough electricity to kill a full grown elephant."

"But…" Nero whispered. "The one I fought only had a fazestunner, it didn't seem like they were out to kill, rather, to stun us and drag us off."

"Kyrie made it clear; they're out to stun the refugees. But, their orders for catching one of us is to either paralyze us to the point that we couldn't physically fight back or…just fucking kill us any way possible."

Dante looked at the trembling blond. "Agnus, what happened to Kyrie?"

"They—they took her. She was still alive but—they took her. They were going to take us too but we ran and…and then they shot Dino in the leg with a fucking blitzergun and he fell to the floor and started convulsing. And that's when I started running again."

"Trish's dead." Nero announced, burying his face in Dante's warm chest.

"What about Patty and Virgil? Lady, I saw Patty following you towards the upstairs weaponry?"

"I…I don't know," She admitted, looking nearly broken once again. At this point, she couldn't hide the feelings written across her face. She really and truly loved him. "I knew she was following me and…I didn't mind, then all of a sudden, she shouted at me to look out and I jumped and narrowly missed one of the Swatters trying to stun me. She jumped on the guy and we started fighting him. Then another one came in and almost stunned Patty from behind but I tackled him to the floor. After that—everything is all jumbled up. There were a couple loud explosions and then suddenly everyone is rushing around, screaming, and—I don't know after that. I tried looking for her, but, she was gone, that's when I saw Nero skulking around and we decided to come down here." They felt good, knowing she wasn't dead—not for sure. Funny, they never thought they'd feel anything around the possibility of death. "What the fuck are we going to do, Dante?" Lady demanded. "We've been fucking invaded. We never thought this day would come—but it has. One of the only safe haven cities in the entire word and its going down in flames."

"We'll figure things out once we find the others, we can't just leave here without trying to save them."

"You think I don't want to save Patty?! Huh? But the question is: can I? Can we? We don't even know how many Swatters are out there, we could be walking into a deathtrap!"

"Well, if you don't want to try, leave then. But I'm going back and I'm going to look for them. I'm not saying anybody else has to come."

And Dante's calloused fingers ran through Nero's still partially damp hair as they continued to cling to each other, even in the heat of panic. And quickly Nero thinks: There's no other place he'd rather be. "I'm going too."

Dante looked down and his gray eyes were pleading, begging him not to, and that made all the difference in some twisted way.

He tried picking away at the similarities between 'I love you' and 'I don't want to lose you.' They were both selfish proclamations in some ways, people loved to be loved in return and you don't want be at loss because you'll be alone. He wished he could have both. He wished Dante would just say that he didn't want to lose him because he loved him.

"I…I have to help, I can't just leave knowing I could've done something." And Lady's statement cemented it; they were all going, because the risk of living life with 'what if' would be much more painful than losing life itself.

They brought along a few machetes and blades, hidden down in the very bottom of the supply closet, knowing that maybe they wouldn't be any chance against blitzerguns, but at least they'd do some damage.

Agnus followed silently behind, grabbing a machete and Nero couldn't help but notice the way his fingers tightened around the handle. He wondered if all those jokes they'd made about Agnus and Dino's 'relationship' had more truth than they originally thought. The thought alone made him clutch Dante's hand tighter as they stalked down the dark corridor.

And as they reached the entrance ladder, Dante kissed him softly and whispered, "vous êtes belle" against his slightly swollen lips.

It was like they'd been from hell to back, like all the volume in their life had been turned way up. It felt like goodbye. Nero didn't want it to feel like that. He wanted too white sheets that smelled like fabric softener. He wanted to wake up every morning and eat soggy cereal and hear Trish complain that nobody cleaned up after themselves. He wanted to help people and for Dante to tell him stupidly romantic things like vous êtes belle. And, god, wanted that fantasy, where they danced at ball and nobody cared. He wondered if he was asking too much out of life.

Maybe he was.

Dante kissed him one more time and then leaned back down, this time his lips brushed against his ear and whispered, "Je t'aime de tout mon coeur."

And that was it. They were climbing up the ladder before Nero's brain could comprehend the words, or at the very least—ask what the hell they meant. Hadn't they already established that he couldn't speak any other langue's (he had enough trouble keeping up with English as it was?)

But, he didn't really have much time to worry, Swatters were all over the place, carrying off kids—conscious or not—trashing the entire place they called their home for the last few years.

The four of them slipped down the now desolate hallways, trying to fan off the smoke that burned their noses. They'd somehow ended up back in the biggest room in the entire headquarters, the Commons, and again Dante couldn't help but think they'd just been here. Laughing. Joking. Smiling.

Now the only thing that stared back at them was Patty, on her knees in the middle of the chaos as a few Swatters pointed a blitzergun right to her head.

Lady couldn't help the loud terrified squeak that slipped out of her throat and suddenly all eyes in the room were on them. One the men started yelling things into his walkie talkie and Patty took that as his opportunity to hop to her feet—limping slightly because it looks like one of her were broken—and run away as fast as se could.

That's when all hell broke loose.

Swatters from all directions started charging, everybody went into disarray as they started swinging their weapons and dodging blitzer shots.

Immediately one of the men shot at Nero and he quickly jumped to the left and narrowly missed getting hit. Then another came from behind, swinging his Fazerstunner, aiming straight for the exposed neck. Nero doubled back and pierced the mans stomach with his machete, shoving the man into the wall, kicking up his right foot to rest against the man's legs and then yanking the weapon back out.

And before he could even get another second to breathe, another shot was fired, accidently hitting the man behind him instead when he ducked. He regained his balance quickly and grabbed the lifeless Swatter's blitzergun, whipping to shoot at the one that just missed him. A tiny piece of narrow metal shot right into the man's chest and a blast of electricity erupted inside of him, causing him to scream out and immediately fall to the floor.

Nero side stepped over the now convulsing man, shooting another tagline electric bullet at a Swatter that was about to sneak up and stun Dante.

His boyfriend turned his way, prepared to throw a smile of thanks, but the second his eyes met with Nero's—they went wide and glass. He quickly leapt up—as fast he possibly could—and shoved the blue eyed boy as hard as his sore arms would let him, causing Nero to violently fall back and bang his head against the wall.

And then three shots were fired by three nearby Swatters.

One tagline electric bullet went into Dante's left leg.

One went into his shoulder.

And one went straight into his chest.

And suddenly—all the volume in the world had been turned down and it felt like the entire world had just dropped out of existence. Dimly he could hear Patty screaming from across the room and the sounds of death were all around him, as well.

Then, as Dante dropped to his knees, sucking in one last breath, eyes completely trained on him, Nero's eyes started to slip shut.

And the last thing he saw before he was dragged into complete darkness, was Dante's limp, lifeless body, making contact with the cold, hard floor.

It wasn't until some odd hours later that he finally woke up again.

The smell of smoke hit him full on, once reality came back into focus. He coughed several times, blue eyes opening slowly and painfully.

The entire scene was blurred out and strange and he felt oddly comfortable with the taste of blood in his mouth. His head, however, was obnoxiously pounding, mixing with the dried blood crusted over his forehead.

Eventually all five senses started to function and cooperate with the rest of his body, causing his vision to focus on the bodies surrounding him and he realized he could hear something as well.

The sound of somebody crying.

Nero slowly sat up, clutching his head in pain when his vision started swirling again. He rubbed the large gash across the back of his head and winced, blinking a few times to recover.

Immediately he noticed there was only one person in the room besides himself, sitting with her knees clutched her chest. Her clothes were stained in blood, like somebody had accidentally spilled a pitcher of a cherry soda all over the place. Her blond hair—her hair was caked with blood and debris, swishing around as she rocked back in forth, sobbing.

Patty.

Nero never thought he'd see the day when optimistic, upbeat Patty would cry.

He realized now that he wished he never had to.

He shakily got back up to his feet and the blond looked over at him as he did—her red tinted eyes looked more out of place than anything Nero had ever seen in his life. And her blue eyes drifted over to a particular body, lying limp and lifeless and cold.

Blood was pooled around Lady's head, black haired splayed out. She looked much too peaceful for somebody that had died so violently, like she'd wake up at any moment and yell at Patty for not helping her up.

Nero almost broke down, just at the thought.

Then the blonde's gaze drifted to the body just a few inches from where she was sitting, sobbing deep within her chest when Nero's eyes fell on his boyfriend.

And at this, he did break down, he fell back to the floor and vomited, feeling the sting in his chest above all else.

"I tried to save them," Patty sobbed. "I'm sorry. I tried. I tried. I tried."

And Nero picked up the energy to drag himself over to his lover's body, feeling the lump in his throat pierce him like daggers. He felt like all the oxygen had left and now the only thing he could breathe in was poison. Deep, constricting poison.

He looked over at Dante when tears stung his eyes—his entire body stung—and tried to whisper before his speech became incoherent, "Je t'aime de tout mon Coeur."

Patty looked over at him, "I love you with all my heart." He murmured.

It took him a second to realize he wasn't saying it to him, he was telling him what it means.

And Nero's head fell onto the lifeless chest, listening to the deafening silence of where his heart should be beating. Where his blood should be flowing. Where Dante should be breathing, smiling, and whispering sweet nothing's in his boyfriend's ear.

I love you with all my heart.

Nero woke up and immediately ran to the bathroom and vomited, stomach heaving several times in protest.

He leaned again the cool metal bowl, pressing his forehead against the side as a sob wracked his chest.

Oh…god.

It was like hell had declared war on his head, he was hyperventilating, reminding himself over and over that Dante was alive. He was here.

Je t'aime de tout mon Coeur.

He heaved once more, flushing the bowl and standing to his feet quickly. Nero stuck a toothbrush in his mouth, staring into the mirror with a forlorn expression.

His face was pale and ghastly, the bags under his eyes had long since turned purple and sunken in. He realized…the story…his story…had been a tragic one. Love. Destruction. Death.

He died for you, he reminded himself, he fucking died for you!

He spit into the sink and put his hands on either side of the marble, letting another sob wrack his tiny frame. All he could think was DanteDanteDanteDante and he really didn't want to think about anything or anybody else. Ever. Again.

Nero spent the rest of his Saturday, calming himself down every ten or so minutes.

One second the image of the boy dying was flashing before his eyes and the next he was remind himself that he was still breathing. His heart was beating. He could still smile and whispered sweetly romantic things.

And…that was comforting. He wanted it. He really fucking wanted it.

And as the blue eyed boy left his house to the address Dante had given him some odd weeks ago, he didn't really care that his shirt was on backwards or that he wasn't even wearing a costume. He didn't care that he was flipped off several times on his drive over or that his roommate Matt had already asked if he could use the car that night.

All he really cared about was seeing Dante, seeing him smile.

And that's what he saw when he knocked on the front door and said boy answered, smiling wide and flashing his fake fangs.

Nero merely barged in and took a hold of his wrist, dragging him to the nearest bedroom as fast as possible, ignoring the weird looks he was getting from party goers.

Though, he did notice that among them were Patty, Lady, Trish, Agnus, Dino, and Virgil, each giving knowing smiles as they shoved through the crowd.

This must be fate.

A...second chance.

The shorter of the two lunged as the door shut, pressing his lips to the other's as hard as he possibly could, causing the fangs to drop between them and clatter to the floor.

He felt like crying, maybe, or possibly laughing at how things have changed in the last couple months. He wondered if anybody were to believe him if he told the actual story to how they met.

He figured…he really didn't care.

"Je t'aime de tout mon Coeur." He whispered when they broke away, causing gray eyes to light up and a smile to break across his beautiful face.

He wanted to keep that smile forever and never let it drift away.

Because, maybe this was all going fast. Maybe this entire thing was crazy. And perhaps he was doing everything backwards. But they had been given a second chance for a reason and he sure as hell wasn't going to let it slip by, twisted memories or not.

Love defies lifetimes.

The End.

I'm so so so sorry it's so late my laptop broke and I now have a new one but I lost most of the work I had on this last chapter. Plus, for some reason fanfiction wouldn't let me upload any documents. If this happens again I might move to another site I'm not sure which though or maybe I'll just post them on my tumblr. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it!