#4th chapter

The flight took quite a while since they didn’t go back to the same place where they came from. Cara thought she picked up that they were going to Fortuna when Morrison said everyone should get into the helicopter. No one had any objections to her tagging along. In fact, no one said anything regarding that, but everyone’s mind was focused on something else. She hardly mattered right now. They simply didn’t care.

They were faced with a world threatening catastrophe and from what Cara understood the only people who should have been capable of stopping it were beaten or even killed.

So what to do now?

Cara had to admit that she felt absolutely helpless. She had no idea at all. And she was surrounded by strangers who didn’t trust her and whom she maybe couldn’t trust either. She felt even worse than after the military operation failed.

The helicopter landed after what felt like an eternity on the island of Fortuna. Cara has been here before during her studies but there was not much she could figure out about what went on here on this island. Information about the cult that used to run this city was hard to come by…

No one said a word as they walked up to a nearby building. An old house with a garage seemingly covering up most of the ground floor. Nero went first, head lowered and he bumped his hand on the door.

Cara watched as the door to the house was cautiously opened. Though she barely caught a glimpse of copper red hair before she heard a gasp and saw a woman throwing her arms around Nero. Cara felt a bit awkward watching them, but she also felt a sting of melancholy in her heart at the scene unfolding in front of her. It must be nice to have someone waiting for one at home, someone who welcomed one after a long hard day at work, someone to catch you when work and emotions have been draining you all day…

She smiled ever so barely. She didn’t know these people at all, but seeing the woman grabbing Nero like this, full of relief and happiness, made her glad that Nero made it out of there. That he could return home to a person that cared about him, that they didn’t have to come here to tell her that Nero didn’t make it.

She was glad. And it was at least a slight positive shimmer in this expanding darkness they were facing.

Nero wrapped his arm around the woman and even from her position Cara could see how he was squeezing her, not saying a word, but assuring her that he was alright, that he made it back.

Their embrace lasted quite a while and none of the other present people – neither V nor Morrison nor Cara – said a word or made another move.

“Is that Nero?!” Cara heard another voice from inside the house.

“Yes,” the woman that embraced Nero replied. She then looked at the other people that were in front of their house. She was a beautiful young woman, Cara noted, with her long hair – still a bit shorter than Cara’s though – her soft brown eyes and how the relief and joy made her entire face light up in a way that Cara could only describe as angelic. She looked between Nero and them for a moment, obviously waiting for Nero to say something but he only looked to the side. Cara couldn’t see his expression.

“Please, come all in. Morrison, it is good to see you again,” the woman said. The man took off his hat and offered the woman his hand and apologized for taking Nero away in this condition and for arriving in the middle of the night like this.

“I’m just glad he’s okay,” the woman smiled. The man went inside.

“I’m truly sorry for the disturbance. We won’t take a lot of your time, I promise. I’m Cara,” apologizing like Mr. Morrison felt only right to her as she shook the woman’s hand and introduced herself.

“I’m Kyrie. And that’s fine, really. I just want to know what happened,” there was concern in her voice and Cara could understand her so well.

“Man, again, I leave ya for like a few minutes and you just fly off, hu?! You’re supposed to be resting, dude,” said the voice Cara heard a minute earlier already. Another woman approached Nero as soon as they entered the house. There was a sense of anger and a chastising tone in her voice, but the glance in her pretty brown-green eyes was anything but.

“Will you sh- just be quiet.” Nero countered. He sounded exhausted. But then again, they all were.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever. But ya better tell us what happened.”

Cara followed the people into their living room. A small cozy looking room. Cara saw a lot of photos on the wall and on the furniture, she easily spotted Nero and Kyrie in a lot of them as she let her blue eyes slide over the room. She wasn’t subtle in observing the room, she never was but after all these years she didn’t even try breaking that habit. There were a lot of different objects decorating the room, none of them fitted together, neither in shape nor color, they gave the impression of random gifts by other people who haven’t seen the interior of their home. Cara also saw some colorful toys lying around on the floor.

Do they have kids?

If there were kids involved Cara was even more glad that Nero got home safely.

“Pretty sweet place, don’t cha think?”

Cara almost flinched as the other woman walked past her with a grin on her face and let herself fall onto the couch. Cara avoided her eyes to prevent a blush to creep onto her cheeks. She knew she wasn’t being subtle about her observing her environments, that didn’t mean it wasn’t embarrassing getting caught in the act.

“Oi, relax,” the woman patted the spot next to her on the couch “I’m Nico by the way. Cara followed her invitation and sat down on the couch. She allowed the quiet sigh to escape her lips as she threw her light brown hair back over her shoulders. She would really appreciate a shower. No that the battle was over, the effort and strain it put on her body was slowly becoming more prominent, and after all that time fighting demons she just felt filthy.

“I’m Cara. Hi,” the two women shook hands and Cara was incredibly grateful for the rather uplifting attitude from Nico. It made the situation feel a bit less heavy for her.

“What about you, pal?” Nico leaned forward to look past Cara at V. The man had just quietly followed them inside, Cara couldn’t even tell if he introduced himself to Kyrie, but she thought it was interesting that these people didn’t seem to know him.

What was his role in this group?

“Call me V,” the man replied as he leaned with his back against the wall next to the couch, crossing his arms in front of his chest and barely looking up to Nico while answering her. There was more than enough space on this side of the couch or the other side where Nero and Kyrie sat down right now, but Cara wouldn’t be the one to offer it to V. He seemed to be so deliberate in this moment. Leaning on the wall, away from all of them, his gesture defensive, like raising yet another wall between him and the others.

Nero buried his face in his hand for a moment, groaning in frustration and Cara was reminded about the seriousness of the situation they were in again. Kyrie had her hands on Nero’s shoulders, squeezing them encouragingly, but Cara almost could’ve sworn how much the situation and the emotions weighed heavily on him.

“I am really sorry for all of this. I’m having a hard time accepting this myself if I’m being honest here.” Mr. Morrison said who sat down in the armchair. He ran his hand over his face and then let it drop onto the arm rest.

“It’s okay. Will you tell us what happened?” Kyrie asked softly. Cara admired her strength to smile right now, even if she saw and felt just how tense and heavy the atmosphere was.

Mr. Morrison nodded.

“Where are the kids though? They shouldn’t listen to this,” he asked.

“Kids?” Cara couldn’t help her curiosity, the word just left her mouth without taking a halt in her brain for her to think it over.

“Not theirs,” Nico chimed in, grinning at her, “they’re taking care of a bunch of orphans.”

Cara made a very quiet oh sound, but she could’ve sworn she saw V from her peripheral vision lifting his head for the shortest moment after hearing Nico’s reply. But when she turned her head to him the tattooed man had his head lowered again, not a chance to catch a glimpse of his face and expression.

“Nero, what happened?” Kyrie asked the young man softly. Nero looked at her before he sighed and ran his hand over his head again and scratched his neck. Cara looked at him expectantly because she didn’t know what really happened in the tree either. Maybe whatever he told them could give her some ideas about how to proceed now. Because she was totally lost at this point.

Nero looked at Kyrie once and then started explaining.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Nero clenched his teeth in frustration as he finished his explanation of the previous events. Or at least, what he knew about those. Kyrie’s hand rubbing his back felt like heaven, but even she couldn’t take this weight of his shoulders. He couldn’t believe he lost, couldn’t believe they all lost. That bastard just finished them all off. Like they were nothing. Like ants underneath his foot. Weak, pathetic…

… deadweight.

Nero’s hand clenched into a fist and he pressed his lips tightly together to avoid making a sound or saying anything more.

“So what is the plan now?” Morrison’s question hung heavy in the air and the entire room fell silent for a long while.

“We need to find a way to defeat him.”

Nero looked up to V who made a step forward, uncrossing his arms and leaning on his cane as he looked at the people in the room but at no one in particular. Nero’s brow’s furrowed. This guy brought him out of there. He still had no idea about his abilities and powers aside from having a weird blue bird and a giant golem thing as companions, but he looked weaker than Nero, weaker than Dante, and yet he was still here. Alive and well. Nearly unscathed by the events, and here Nero was, bruised, exhausted, weak…

“What the hell can we do even? I’m just deadweight after all,” Nero said through gritted teeth, his blue eyes burning holes into his knees as he felt his fist shake in anger and frustration.

“No, you’re not. You tried your best-“

“But it wasn’t enough!” he snapped. Kyrie’s expression fell for a very short moment, before her beautiful eyes lit up in sympathy. At least that’s what he made himself believe. He didn’t want pity. He didn’t need pity.

Fuck this, the words never left his lips. Never in front of Kyrie but he desperately wanted to scream all his frustration off his soul. Instead he felt like it was suffocating him inside this broken, powerless body.

“Well, you know, buddy, I just may have an idea for ya.”

Nero looked at Nico with an exasperated sigh leaving his lips. What now?! This was not the time for playing guessing games or empty claims, so he really hoped she would expand her little statement.

“I’m gonna build ya a new arm.”

“What?!”

“Didn’t ya hear me?! Or do ya doubt my genius yet again?!”

“Just… ugh,” he grumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers, “please explain,”, it was actually hard staying calm. Nero couldn’t decide whether or not he wanted to punch something or if he just wanted to scream and since neither of it was an option right now, and Kyrie’s soothing touch on his shoulders could only do so much right now, he was left with his blood boiling and his knees and hand shaking from too many emotions cursing through him.

“I don’t know exactly yet,” Nico said thoughtful, the kind of thoughtful she only got when it was serious, this much Nero knew about her so far, “but I could use my genius and the research and work it into a prosthetic arm. Or more a weapon. I would need to think this through first.”

Nero stared at her, just like everybody else in the room. Nero wasn’t doubting what she could do. He had no idea how far she could go, but he knew she could do something. And this something was probably more than whatever he could come up with himself.

“But I assume this will take time, right?”, the other woman said – Cara. Nero had no idea who that woman was. She was just suddenly there, said she wanted to help. And she did. But he still had no idea who she was, where she came from. Hell, at this point he trusted V more than her. And he didn’t know that guy either. At all.

“Yeah. I mean, I’d need to do the planning, and now idea how long that’ll take. The construction and so on will be faster usually.”, Nico replied.

“How much time would you need?”, Nero countered, raising his eyebrows. Nico seemed to think about it, but Cara chimed in again.

“How much time do we have? That tree is still out there, and I suppose it’s not going to get better the more time passes.”

She had a valid point. For all they knew this tree could grow even more and probably destroy the whole world within a few days. A new arm wouldn’t do him any good then anymore.

“The tree will continue to grow for at least one more month,” V answered and Nero simply wondered how and why this guy knew this. Who was he? How could he know these things? But Nero doubted he would get an answer from the guy now, so they all would have to take his word for it.

“That should be enough. Not enough time to explore all the possibilities but enough to get something done,” Nico looked up at the ceiling, lost in her own thoughts for a second.

“Then we can use these four weeks to figure out how to take that tree down.”

“Do you have an idea what we can do?” Morrison asked Cara after her statement. The woman, Nero actually assumed she was a bit older than him though he also wasn’t totally sure. He was bad at guessing the ages of women.

“I could look into my parent’s research. I never came across something like this but maybe they have found some information in their time.”

“Are your parents researchers?” Kyrie asked her, curiosity and genuine interest embraced each of Kyrie’s words. It almost brought a smile to Nero’s face. Bless her. Cara chuckled.

“Were. And yeah, sort of I guess. Let’s just say they were interested in demonology.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Kyrie apologized as the woman’s parents were obviously not alive anymore. Cara waved it off.

“Oh please, no, it’s alright.”

“V, do you know how to take that thing down?” Nero asked the guy then. V looked at the ground, the hint of a smirk appeared at the corners of his lips. Weird guy…

“I’m afraid that my knowledge about the matter has reached its end at this point.”

Nero didn’t know if he was lying or not. There was something about V’s expression that made him incredibly irritating and almost intimidating, and Nero had a hard time finding any sort of sincerity in his voice, words or even posture, but what choice than to believe him did they have? The world was ending, he was just a weak, pathetic deadweight, and they had absolutely no clue whether or not Dante was still in there and still alive.

“Then I guess this is settled. I’ll try to help out where I can and then let’s hope to get this situation under control again,” Morrison said and got up from his seat.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Cara wrapped the blanket closer around her shoulders as she got settled cross-legged on her couch, stacks of books, folders and loose sheets of papers in front of her on the coffee table alongside a nice hot cup of green tea.

The sun was already rising again, and she knew she wouldn’t be getting any sleep anyway, so she might as well get started doing her research. Mr. Morrison has been so kind as to take her back with the helicopter, so she could get a cab to take her home. V has left Fortuna alongside her and Mr. Morrison, though they didn’t exchange another word and she also had no idea where he went. They were both too lost in their own thoughts about the situation and arguably tired as well.

And now, they all had work to do.

Cara had to admit that she really liked these two women she met in Fortuna. Kyrie and Nico. Wildly different, but they seemed to get along fine. Cara wondered if she would see them again if they went back to Red Grave. As of right now she was honestly just glad that they allowed her to accompany them and let her help.

She still got a chance at this.

She could still set this right again.

But for now, she had to dig through her parent’s research. Her mother’s research from her time as a journalist for the supernatural was vast, a lot of it made Cara question how her mother even got this info, but it has been helpful on more than one occasion for her work so far. However, she also couldn’t remember all the information and details by heart. It was just too much.

There was also this nagging thought that she might actually find something helpful, which she could’ve used for the military mission. If this was the case Cara had no idea what she would do. If there was something in these files that could’ve saved lives…

While the call to get her to coordinate the operation was urgent and she barely has had a chance to grab her bag before they picked her up, so she really didn’t have time to do any research at all.

She was fine.

She did all her could.

It was so hard to make herself believe that and she could feel the weight of it still crushing her shoulders. All the dead soldiers, all the civilians died because the strategy she came up with failed miserably.

Cara closed her eyes and buried her head in her hands. The sob erupted from her throat unintentionally, but she also didn’t try to stop it. She allowed the sobs to escape her lips, she allowed the tears to spill from her eyes, she allowed it all, granted herself the moment of just breaking down, letting it all out. She hugged the blanket closer around her body as the young woman shook from the emotions and how heavy the events of the last hours actually weighed her down.

By the time the tears finally ceased, the sobs slowly quietened, the tea was long cold and the sun has risen fully above the horizon.

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It has been a few days and some all-nighters for Cara to finally look through all the files and papers she had. Days and nights to keep herself busy to avoid letting her own emotions overwhelm her again. It was unprofessional and uncalled for right now. She needed to focus. She needed to help.

And she actually did find something. It didn’t give her any answers at all. It more like threw a hint at her; just a page full of questions her mother jotted down about it but without explaining anything.

So now she was in the nearly completely abandoned library aside from the woman at the reception - because no one wanted to spend their time relaxing in a library while a demonic tree grew in the nearby city -  to see whatever she could find the old-fashioned way. There was actually a much bigger chance to find an old long forgotten book about demonology in the depths of the shelves of an old library than to dig through the internet. Not to mention that she knew this library by heart. She always spent time here to do research as long as she was at home and didn’t have to travel for work.

She loved the long, narrow shelves that formed a maze of old, good smelling books full of stories and information just waiting to be discovered by her. Even more did she appreciate though the huge working space in the middle of this maze. Comfortable chairs, old wooden tables, illuminated mostly by daylight shining in through the huge windows. It was nice working in broad daylight.

And today she also appreciated that the lovely weather outside distracted her from the ongoing catastrophe in Red Grave. It allowed her to concentrate more on the matter at hand and not on the fact that she should probably be in the city helping people.

“He who respects the Infant’s faith

Triumphs over Hell and Death.”

Cara raised her head from her book, blue eyes widening a bit, her lips barely so parting as she heard that deep and unique voice. V stood in front of her on the other side of the table, leaning on his cane, a book in his free hand, apparently quoting from it. He closed the book and looked up from it, the corner of his lips rising into a smirk as his green eyes bore into hers.

And they were beautiful. Cara had a hard time denying that, now that she saw the man in broad daylight for the very first time. A bright green, dimmed by strands of wavy black hair falling into his face. His eyes bore into hers and just like before it seemed as if he was looking for something. As if he tried to analyze her, judging her whether or not she could be trusted, if she was a threat to him, just how much of his walls he could break down for her to allow this interaction between them.

There was nothing intimidating about him right now. Whether it was the change of scenery or circumstances. Maybe it was because he stood in a public place, illuminated by the sunlight and not the moon, but Cara also didn’t feel comfortable letting down her own guard around him. She knew nothing about this man aside from him having non-human abilities. She didn’t and couldn’t trust him just as he didn’t.

That, however, was not a reason for not allowing this situation or reject the prospect of a possibly pleasant conversation, as odd as it seemed they would meet here coincidentally. And Cara was definitely not against getting to know him - or new people in general.

“That.. is an interesting quote,” his smirk grew broader for a moment as he obviously read between the lines and noticed how she had absolutely no idea what he was quoting nor what he meant by it. But, he didn’t feel the need to respond to her comment.

“May I?” he asked her nodding towards the chair in front of him across from her.

“Please,” she allowed a smile to appear on her lips as the man slowly, but in an almost elegant way, which she didn’t expect from him, lowered himself into the chair. He reached underneath his black leather vest and put the book away which he quoted from earlier. She was surprised that it was apparently his book. Given they were in a library she assumed he had found it somewhere here.

“So, tell me, what was that quote you said just now?” Cara asked, making a small attempt to break the ice but also because there was a shimmer of interest in her about this since poetry was a topic she basically knew next to nothing about.

“The Auguries of Innocence. By William Blake,” he didn’t sound annoyed at her question at all, rather he seemed to gladly give her that info albeit it was a very short answer.

The name “Blake” rang a bell, but she has neither heard of this poem nor could she think of any other poem by him. So she resorted to not commenting on it. No need to fake her knowing something about it and she suspected V could see through her anyway. Cara nodded.

“Sorry. Poetry is not really my forte.”, she admitted, avoiding eye contact with him and looked back at her notes and the opened book about demonology.

“It rarely is.”

Cara didn’t know what to say to him as a reply, but a apologetic smile appeared on her face, and while there was no indication for it in his voice, his words could easily be interpreted as sad or at least disappointed. Cara knew it could be hard if you didn’t have someone to share a passion with.

“Has your research brought you any results?”

Cara looked at the man a bit surprised, but then she remembered that she told all of them that she would be doing research days ago in Fortuna. Also the fact she held a pen in her hand and was writing down notes from a book was also a big indication.

“Not a lot honestly,” she replied. She didn’t know if she could trust him, she didn’t know him at all, but they at least seemed to be on the same side, and they could use all the help they can get. Not to mention that he did save her life in that tree as well. She might as well share her results so far. Cara reached into her backpack and pulled out a little folder. She pulled a very old, slightly yellowed piece of paper out it, and laid it on the table.

It was just a pencil drawing of a tree that looked suspiciously similar to the one in Red Grave City along with a lot of questions like “where does it come from?”, “how to take it down?”. Basically the same questions they had now, but without any answers.

A tattooed hand reached out to the sheet of paper. Long, slender fingers, which didn’t appear to be the hands of a fighter, they looked like pianist’s hands, too controlled in their movements, too graceful for the hardships of battle, slid the paper slowly closer. Cara forced herself to stop staring and observing his hands with an almost completely unnoticeable shake of her head.

“Was your mother a demon hunter?” he seemed genuinely interested as he eyed the notes on the paper.

“No, but my dad was. She was a journalist. Though she did focus on demons.” Cara replied. Her parents were maybe not the happiest and her most favorite topic but also not something she would completely avoid talking about. And her mother’s work has been helpful in the past already after all. She was just glad when people didn’t linger too long on that topic.

V nodded barely visibly and slid the paper back over to her. She put it back inside her backpack.

“Aside from that actually nothing so far. I haven’t found anything about a giant demonic tree that suddenly spawns in the human world like this,” Cara told him. V looked at her out of his deep green eyes, his brows slightly furrowed. He listened closely to every word she said, she noticed. Despite how… off he looked and appeared, he was rather courteous.

“Do you know anything about it?” Cara dared to ask him, looking him in his eyes with a challenging glance. She assumed he knew more. Not how much but everything about him screamed that he was not completely uninformed. He protected himself too much from her and other people with the barriers and his composure to not have more knowledge about this.

He smirked again.

“It’s called Qliphoth. A tree that grows in the underworld. It grows for 2000 years before breaking through the gate to the human world.”

“I suppose it doesn’t need water and sunlight in order to grow?” it was almost a rhetorical question. The sun didn’t shine in hell and she didn’t know of water existing in hell either. But, he did know what it was. How he knew was a question for another time probably.

“It thrives on human blood.”

Cara didn’t say anything but she nodded as she got the sad confirmation of what she already assumed.

“Do you know how to take it down?” she asked after a longer while. He said he didn’t know back in Fortuna, but maybe he has figured out something during the last few days.

“No. The assumption would be to defeat Urizen.”

“Urizen?”

“The demon that rises with the Qliphoth. An entity bound to the tree, unable to leave it.”

“Is… this demon the reason you lost?” Cara asked carefully after a while of contemplating what little information V was offering her.

The man nodded. His expression was unreadable, he was hiding his thoughts and emotions well behind his walls but Cara couldn’t imagine that it didn’t affect him. If he truly was on their side, if he cared about the others, then it couldn’t leave him cold and disinterested in their fates.

Silence fell upon them as Cara was thinking about what V said and dug through her mind and brain to come up with an idea, but right now there was just a blank space. She had absolutely no idea.

“V…” She started then, almost whispering. The man looked at her, maybe surprised at her tone, with slightly rosen eyebrows.

“There’s much more to this, right?” she asked him and looked him into his eyes again. There was a flicker of something in there this time - surprise, intrigue, she couldn’t really tell - before he closed his eyes, long lashes flattering against very prominent cheekbones and a smirk broke out on his face again. It gave her the same answer as if he had just said ‘yes’. She nodded, exhaling through her nose and looking away.

“Nothing you need to concern yourself with,” he said then. He didn’t trust her. One bit. The little information he gave her was probably the same information he gave Dante and the others, and now Cara had to occupy her mind with the questions what he’s keeping from her and whether or not she could trust him. At least a little bit.

“I’ll take my leave now. I’ll see you in three weeks in Red Grave City at the church square,” with that the man rose from the chair.

She whispered a quiet “yeah. See you there.” before she watched him walk away, his black hair swinging with his movements, his cane in hand. Cara watched him until he was out of sight before she let her head glide into her hands. She didn’t know what to think or feel.

Why was V even here? And while she was glad for some company, it was the last thing she expected. And he didn’t really give her any answers either. He didn’t trust her, was definitely hiding something and kept his distance as much as possible.

But he has beautiful eyes…

She shook her head, shaking the thought literally from her mind, although she knew those green eyes would probably haunt her until she saw him again.

Alright, think rationally, she told herself and thought about the few things he did say. The tree’s name was Qliphoth and the demon that beat them all was called Urizen. Maybe she could make use of that info after all…

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V walked down the steps in front of the library slowly as he felt the faint breeze of energy coursing through his body. Particles of the black ink marking his skin faded, demonic energy left his body as the blue lightning demon manifested next to him. His wings sparkled with the electricity spreading through them, blue feathers filled the air as Griffon shook his body before floating to keep up with V.

“Was there really time for a chitchat like this just now, V?” the bird chastised him.

“It doesn’t throw us back in our schedule,” he replied simply.

At this point he has done everything he could to assist in saving as many people as possible and by now one could only hope that most people have gotten away from Red Grave.

And if that was not the case, it was time to return and try to save as many civilians as possible. It wouldn’t stop the Qliphoth, couldn’t halt its growth, couldn’t stop Urizen from gaining more power, but if it could just give them a few more seconds it would be worth it.

“Then what did you gain from it?”

“She is not in this for her own gain,” V replied, going over what the woman has told him in his mind.

“Are you sure, Shakespeare?!”

“No.”

But we will see soon, he thought. Of course, she had her own motives. She was talking about how to make up for her mistake. But neither was she a demon nor did she know about the truth of the Qliphoth. She wanted to clear her own conscience. She did not seek the fruit for herself.

And maybe, just maybe did he also seek some form of human contact. And after seeing the woman in the library after checking out some books, he took that chance. Didn’t think, didn’t consider the risk involved, a grave mistake. The last ten years should have taught him different.

Arguably, this was the longest conversation with another human he had in years.

Griffon sighed as he flew next to him, watching him out of his keen, but very thoughtful yellow eyes.

“Just, don’t forget your mission, kid.”

V’s brows furrowed. No, he wouldn’t. He couldn’t. His mission has been with him for over ten years. Has been a beating pulse in the marking on his skin, has been a breathing life flying next to him, has been a weapon in his hand, has been a threat in the back of his head should he even consider disobeying.

They needed to beat Urizen. Or else he could not fulfill his own mission. But Urizen also needed to be stopped. He was too powerful, if they failed to defeat him he would bring the end of this world

He needed to beat him.

V gripped the cane in his hand harder as he felt the weight of his situation trying to break him down.

He needed to proceed, needed to see this through.

Just as he has always done.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Nico could feel her joints make cracking noises as she stretched her arms and legs at her desk. She adjusted her glasses and took a deep, long sip of her coffee as her eyes fell upon the countless drawings and concept art on the table. She grinned as she looked at the most recent one.

It was finally turning out the way she wanted it to be!

She was a genius!

One more all-nighter and she should be able to start getting to the fun part in the morning. Should take her another 24 hours to get a prototype done and then she could finally work on the actual masterpiece.

Nero better be appreciating this.

Nah, Nico may joke a lot, and bicker with him, and tease him, and she meant at least half of it too, but she also knew the dude would know how to appreciate her art.

She would make sure Nero could kick demon ass the same way he used to do it again. She would give him a way to make up for the loss of his arm and maybe it would also cheer him up again. Kyrie had her hands full with the orphans but also with her boyfriend being absolutely down and grumpy. He never acted against her, but it was all around him. Nero had a hard time accepting and coming to terms with what happened.

Getting his ass kicked put him down more than Nico could’ve imagined. He was a proud young man, sure, but that it completely shattered his pride like this… duh…

She would finish her masterpiece, grab some cash from him for it and then they could go to Red Grave City to kick demon ass the proper way again.