The wind thundered down crashing into the staggering body caught in its hold, the dark sky grumbled against the ashen clouds as the figure pressed on.

One foot in front of the other the figure struggled forwards, his worn boots squelched against the mud. White knuckles clutched the corners of his navy blue coat, pulling it tighter around himself; his effort doing little to protect his withered body.

The rain came thick and heavy that night drenching everything it touched. Dirty white hair clung to his face and stung his eyes. He coughed roughly, holding his chest and blood forming at his lips. Holding his position he swayed roughly in the wind, he hunched; his lungs screamed for air. His eyes scrunched to prevent the tears.

Mud clung to his boots, as if trying to suck him in. Every step an accomplishment as nature itself forced him back. He tried focusing on his music, barely audible over the wind; as it carried the blasting heavy beat away from his ear.

'I can't go back, I've got to keep moving!" with a new determination he quickened his footsteps, his frozen and aching joints protesting as he lurched forward.

- - - - - - - - - - Devil May Cry - - - - - - - - - - -

Dante snored his breathing flicking the pages of the magazine that rested on his face. The wooden chair creaked against the hunters weigh at its tilted position, two legs crossed rested on the table, his thick leather boots clicked against each other as he moved in his sleep.

It was the phone that managed to rouse the half devil from his slumber, it's incessant ringing irking the devil hunter "Urghhhhh. . ." the heel of his boot slammed into the old table, the phone receiver flying into the man's grasp.

" Devil May cry, wha da ya want?"

" Dante seriously learn some manners!" Trish bellowed down the phone, Dante held it from his ear as she ranted.

"Alright alright!, what have you got for me?"

" *sigh* . . .fine . . there's numerous call's been coming in about Avanda . ."

"Avanda?"

"Let me finish! . . as I was saying . . Avanda is a city roughly 3 days away, there have been rumours of a potential apocalypse and something has moved into the old mansion there, the locals have been calling anyone and everyone that could help there willing to pay a hefty sum to sort the problem out"

"So we've got a demon infestation and a possible hell gate . . . not like there's anything interesting happening here" Dante quickly wrote down the address of the place before hanging up. Chuckling at the angry face that Trish would now be pulling while shouting at a dead phone.

'The weather is horrible! Definitely taking the car!' Dante went about packing for the trip before putting on a hoodie underneath his famous jacket to add a bit more warmth. 'Looks like I'm taking a page from the kids book' he chuckled thinking about the kid's usual 'get up'.

Bidding farewell to his beloved shop he strapped on Ivory and Ebony and sheathed Rebellion, giving his home one more glance before he stepped from the warmth into the pouring rain, he jumped into his car as the rain beat down harder. The engine roared into life as the red convertible sped off, the rain making it almost unbearable to see out the window.

Dante took no time in turning on the heater and radio, flicking through the channels to find something decent, avenged sevenfold blasted through the speakers.

Grinning he relaxed back into the seat slumping and steered with one arm.

- - - - - - - - - Nero - - - - - - - - - - - -

Nero struggled on, black threatening to cloud his vision and drag him into the unconscious.

'Where am I … going?'

He wheezed as he staggered forwards and stumbled, he hit the floor hard. Trying to get up his arms struggled to hold his weight in the thick mud, his elbows wobbled and collapsed, so he lay there fading in an out of consciousness.

His devil arm flickered faintly.

- - - - - - - - - Back in the red Death machine - - - - - - - - - - - -

Dante had driven all night, only sleeping for a few hours before getting back on the road. He had a horrible feeling that something was terribly wrong, his gut lurched and his devil moaned in the back of his mind to drive faster like he had to be somewhere right now.

He had the same feeling in Fortuna when the kid was fighting off demons. 'Nero' damn he was back thinking about the kid, he'd been depressed for days after coming back from Fortuna; having left the spit fire. Not that he would ever admit it, he just couldn't stop thinking about him. 'We should go find him, bring him back with us' his devil grumbled.

Dante rubbed his hand over his face an through his hair 'Shut up would you, He has that girl Karla, Kera .. O whatever her name is'

He'd been driving for hours and the radio had suddenly ran out of any decent music, his stomach growled ruthlessly sighing and giving in to his stomach he pulled over and a small 24hr café. His demon growled in complaint, clawing at the back of his mind. pulling into the drive he ordered out, the slim waitress leaning a little to far over the counter to beat her thick fake eyelashes at him, he gave a half smile half grimace at her caked makeup face. Waiting for his order she sweetly handed him the large bag and box. Digging into his bag of treats he pulled a spoon and tub out, flinging the bag into the back. Jumping into his car, a spoon in his mouth, a strawberry sundae in his hand and a pizza box under his arm. He kicked the car into gear with a smile on his face, his demon sated for the time being.

- - - - - - - 9 hours later - - - - - - - -

The light of the car bounced off the road and reflected through the heavy rain making visibility almost impossible. Dante rubbed his eyes again pinching the bridge of his nose, looking back at the muddy road, squinting he managed to make something out. Slamming on his brakes and swerving just in time to miss the lump in the middle of the road.

"FUCKING HELL!"

Dante sighed taking a moment to breath, reversing he pulled up alongside the lump before throwing the door open to be assaulted by the harsh rain his eyes widening at the lump seemed to resemble a body.

"HEY! . . ." Dante shouted at the unmoving body on the floor but the harsh wind and rain made his shout a barley audible whisper. Grimacing Dante stepped out the car, staggered forward towards the body, his read coat twisted in the wind slicing through the rain; the small droplets beat against his stubled cheek. His eyes widened painfully, his throat clenched and his stomach lurched as he saw the navy coat.

' Please no…'

Dante rushed forward turning the kid over. Even with the kids usual white hair being caked in mud there was no denying it, it was the kid. 'Shit kid . . . what happened to you!'

Dante wasted no time in scooping the kid up into his arms and getting him into the car. The kid was soaking wet, his skin was pale and deathly cold he also hadn't failed to notice how light he was. Placing him in the back of the car Dante acted fast striping him of his coat and sodden top pulling off his worn boots and jeans his eyes ran over his pale skin in shock, the unhealed scars, bulled wounds and his ribs jutting out. He took off his own coat and hoodie and threw them over Nero trying to warm him up, his mind raced as he got back in the driver's seat.

"We need to get you somewhere warm!" For once his devil side agreed with him

'How did he get in such a state?!' the possibility's raced through his mind, his devil piped up screeching in the back of his mind to stop contemplating and get moving. His body on auto pilot as he drove at full speed to find a hotel.

It took Dante another half an hour to find a hotel, the entire time his demon was screaming at him to hurry up.

'Move it jackass we need to heal him!'

While his demon had been ranting at him Dante had already picked the kid up and rushed him into the building, it didn't take him long to convince the girl at the desk to give them a room for the night as soon as she saw Nero's state she was rushing around finding the first aid kit and ushering them into a room. It had been a long time since Dante had used a first aid kit; he healed so fast he never needed to use one, the closest he got was patching up one of lady's bullet wounds when she didn't move fast enough.

He set about cleaning the wounds up, making sure to apply a generous amount to the bullet wounds; cleaning the mud and infected skin from the wound, wincing as the kids face contorted in pain. Dante took a deep breath at the next step… extracting the bullets….. Dante extracted the last bullet with the tweezers making sure to clean the wound out after he did. He sighed looking down at the kid the cuts and holes not heeling he rubbed his hands over his face again, sitting next to Nero on the bed he resigned himself to bandaging the kid making the wrap tighter than normal so the wounds would hopefully knit back together.