Goodnight, Demon Hunter
Chapter 1; First Night
Summary; You're a devil hunter, who has found a child while on a mission and now is saddled with the task of raising a quarter demon baby.
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You become Nero's mom by finding him first, that's it. Romance might come later once the timeline of DMC4-5 comes up, because i'm a damned sucker. (sidenote; reader is somewhat feminine coded due to the fact author is a woman, but no actual pronouns nor parts are used.) Im going to attempt to update every sunday!!
[Title taken/inspired by "Goodnight Demon Slayer" by Voltaire]
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note: hihihi I got DMC brainwormed and the lack of parent reader made me go crazy because something about Nero sets my mind in overdrive. HES A BABY!!!!! so babyboy, thats my child my man,
I am 19 idk why i'm so attached to this man, he may be my age but he baby.
this is also available on ao3!!
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next
You never really thought of yourself as parent material, no demon hunter does. But here you are, standing in your small apartment, with lingering sulphur-tinged blood soaking into your clothes and skin, with a child swaddled in your arms. Itâs not yours (well, you guess it- he- is now,) but something about the unfortunate kiddo makes your heart shake in a weird way. You tug your boots off one handed, gently detach your demonic weapon from your back and rest it next to the door before heavily plopping your body down on your aged couch, baby bouncing in your secure arms. You gently bring the bundle up to your eye level and take a moment to truly look at the little guy. His hair was the most striking part of him, with it being a pure white reminding you of fresh starlight. His eyes were half closed but focused on you, his dark grey eyes seeming to simply take in your face. He takes a second more before giving a soft coo expected from a baby, arms wriggling in his blanket almost eager to reach you. Your heart nearly implodes from the sheer amount of adorableness this baby exudes.
You help him out a bit by unraveling the blanket a small bit and a piece of paper falls out onto your lap, you pick it up and it only has one thing written; âNeroâ. You turn your attention back to him, âIs this your name? Nero?â you gesture lightly with the paper still in hand. All he gives is a nonsensical babble but you take that as confirmation, not like you really have any other idea of this kidâs origins.
You found him while clearing out demons from a dilapidated house, you didnât even notice him at first until he started crying. He was under the corpse of a woman dressed in the Churchâs cloth, you could only assume she was his mother who tried protecting her child from the horde of demons. In a daze of guilt of not coming sooner, you picked up the crying baby and went home on autopilot.
Looking at the paper, you take a moment to realize what that meant. His mother knew she likely wasn't going to live long so she took the precaution of leaving evidence of his name in his blankets. You give a soft sigh at that, the poor woman. poor kid. While you reflected on what has been the most⊠confusing hour and half of your life, Nero had taken to trying to grab at you with his small hands. You finally give your attention back and lay a hand on his face. Heâs so⊠small. Youâve never really been around children, at least not in prolonged periods, you found yourself not the affectionate type that kids seemed to need.
A traitorous part of you tells you to simply make this someone else's problem, the Fortuna Orphanage maybe. But you shake your head, you donât want him to be at the mercy of the orphanage, you remember your time spent volunteering over there. Children can be so cruel to one another when all they have is themselves and each other. Itâs not their fault, not really, most of them were just angry at the world. Knowing that and having Nero stare at you with his sleepy, innocent eyes, you decide this will be your responsibility. You wonât abandon him like so many others have done to you.
You take a moment to roll your shoulders out but you soon feel the tacky blood drying against your neck and clothing. You look down at yourself and then Nero and notice how his blanket and neck managed to sustain some demonic (and maybe human-) blood. You huff lightly before pushing yourself up and off the couch and towards the bathroom.
âAlright little man, let's get us a bath.â you turn your head towards Nero, before pausing. You vaguely remember how most of the times babies are drenched using a cup or bowl or something to help control the water better, you turn on your heels towards your small kitchen and grab a small pitcher sat on the counter. You continue to the bathroom, placing the pitcher on the sink as you get the water running in the bath. Nero rests in your lap as you play the delicate dance of getting the water to something a little over room temperature. Soon enough your tub is mostly full with water, hopefully not too full as to overflow once you sit yourself and Nero in but youâll worry about that later like most things today.
You stand up and strip off your blood-soiled clothing and toss it into your makeshift hamper (itâs an unused plastic trash can you got for about five dollars), and then you gently unwrap the kid from his blanket. You fold it and hang it on the towel rack, knowing youâll want to keep that separate from your clothes. You hold on to Nero and sink down into the warm water. You cradle him on your chest, before leaning your head back and heaving a soft sigh. You are going to need to buy so many things, and you might not have enough in your current savings; youâre waiting on at least three clients to pay for missions. You took on multiple missions at a time but due to the⊠shadier nature of some clients you drew in, the chance of actually being paid was a 50/50 chance.
While you softly pet neroâs hair, you take a mental list of what youâll need and the best place to buy from. Clothes are a big one, along with likely the most expensive; kids grow too fast, you mentally grumble. Buying them brand new is a no go, with how many shops in Fortuna make them handmade it costs an arm and leg if you aren't working with the Church. Youâll have to resort to thrift shops, while not the cheapest option (that would mean a trip over to Redgrave) it should eat less into your funds. You could also buy toys from the thrift shop, two for one trip you guess. Food⊠youâre stumped on what the kid should eat since you donât know his exact age, should you buy formula? those weird purees? ugh. You might have to reluctantly visit the orphanage and ask for advice, that or borrow some books from the Fortuna Library.
Youâre pulled from your thoughts by a tug on your hair. You look down and see Nero looking up at you while his small hand grips your hair. You gently take his hand and untangle it from your hair, before slowly sitting up. You grab the pitcher and fill it with the cooling water, before slowly and carefully pouring it over Nero with your hand cupping the top of his face. You repeat a few more times as he babbles in the way babies do. You then do your best to rinse yourself off one-handed with the pitcher knocking clumsily hitting the tiled walls (as well as your head), but after making far too much of a mess and noise, you give up and decide to leave it for tomorrow. You flick the drain switch and watch as the water slowly lowers. You brace yourself and pull yourself out of the tub the best you can while one arm is occupied.
Your hair drapes down in front of your face as you struggle against the weight of water and gravity to pick yourself up. You blindly yank a towel off the rack and take a moment to wrap Nero in it, setting him down on the toilet seat so youâre able to take care of your dripping self. You ring out your hair, water splattering in the near empty bathtub and you grab a towel to wrap it. You grab the last towel in the bathroom and wrap it securely around your body. You look back down at the baby and decide two things; 1. you need to learn how to properly swaddle a baby, because you seem to only know how to burrito one, and 2. youâre going to need to make a night plan. You donât have any diapers for the kid, nor do you really want to wake up to a mess on your bed⊠You quickly look around your bathroom for a possible solution, before landing on your hand towel. Itâs not⊠great. But it will have to work for now, not like itâs a prized possession so youâll shrug at its likely departure from the house.
You unwrap Nero from the towel and replace it with the hand towel, taking care to wrap around his lower body. You glance back at the blanket he was originally swaddled in, heâll need a blanket for the night, you speculate. You lift him up in your arms and make your way to your bedroom, knowing youâll have one or two things that should be a workable replacement for the night. You slowly but surely make your way there, feeling sluggish and mildly exhausted from the bath. To be honest, youâre just exhausted in general from the day.
You kick the door to the room open lightly, not wanting to hurt yourself, nor the door, that and you hate causing loud noises. It's almost always unnecessary. You place the kid down onto your bed, before moving over to your small closet. You open the door and begin looking into some boxes you stuffed into it awhile ago. You have to rearrange them and get to the one on the very bottom, the oldest one. Itâs dusty, unopened since⊠15 years ago? 20? you canât quite remember. You gently peel back the flaps, and see what it held. Itâs your blankets from when you were just a kid. From when you wereâŠ.
Shaking your head you grab the one of the very bottom of the pile, the softest one. You rise up from the floor of the closet, and turn back to the bed where Nero has started to get squirmy from the slight cold in the house. You lift him up and place him onto the old blanket, doing your best to wrap him up but eventually you just give up and roll him into the blanket.
You chuckle at your messy attempt, âLook like I turned you into a burrito lilâ man, what a horrible fate.â
All you get back in reply is a babble that emulates a laugh. Your entire expression softens at that, such a cute baby youâve been saddled with. You rid yourself of the towels and replace them with an oversized hoodie and loose pants for sleep, or at least simply lying down and keeping an eye on Nero. But.. before that you need to check in on your damned weapon. Itâs been making an odd noise ever since you got home and you canât ignore it anymore. You move Nero over to one of your pillows, wanting him to be as comforting as possible. You get to the doorway before paranoia hits you and you return to the bed to make a wall of blankets so he doesnât roll off somehow. You walk out the bedroom doorway and make your way to your front door, where your demonic weapon rests upside down.
Itâs a hammer, or shaped vaguely like one. Itâs long and massive in size, youâd say itâs probably double your size? Youâre not entirely sure. Its main feature is the (usually) covered eye; wings typically block its view as well as its power. But now, it looks at you, orange leaking from its eye, wings flared out from the core.
âYouâve been making a humming noise ever since we got home, whatâs the damn deal,â you kick the side of the weapon and its pupil shrinks in pain as it lets out a low groan.
âThe disrespect thou displays is uncouth for a lower being such as thee,â the eye flicks up and down at you in irritation âand thee hast brought kin of a trait'r.â
âWhat do you mean by that?â
âtraitâr of demon kind, the dark knight of the hells,-â its wings flicker and quiver as it âspeaksâ, âthe child you hast hath brought into the hearth is kin of Sparda.â
Those words hang heavily in the air of the living room. You stare down at the weapon with arms crossed, quickly taking a glance towards your bedroom.
You take a breath, âYouâre sure?â
âCertain, thy hast taken in a child of Sparda. However, thou art perhaps fortunate, tis energy is weak.â its eye nods in a way that mimics a head nodding
You stand still for a moment, ruminating on that. You know about Sparda and his children, despite it not being entirely common knowledge on Fortuna. Due to your connections and your occupation as a hunter, youâve heard more about the twins than youâd like to. Dante is more known with the fact heâs been a prolific hunter for years now, with his business âDevil May Cryâ. His twin though, from what you can recall, is unknown, non-existent. All that's been said is his blade is quick and deadly, and has been missing for quite some time.
Neither of them, from what you can glean from what knowledge you have on them, seem the type to have a child by accident. But your weapon âPlutoâs Judgementâ isnât one to lie, despite its hatred of you and humans in general. You rub your hand down your face at the information youâve been given, of course youâd somehow end up with a relative (maybe grandchild?!) of Sparda. The Savior of this stupid, stupid island.
You softly sigh in resignation, this kid is your responsibility and even with some stupid heritage, youâll take care of him. You crouch down to the weapon and pat the bottom of it, âThanks for the warning, even if you hate me I appreciate it.â
âHands off thine wench, disgusting humans such as thy shanât grace thee with touch!â it shutters in disgust, âTis difficult enough for thou when in combat, but tis a given with thineâs state. Beyondâr that, thy must keep thee hands off thou!â
You stand back up, âOkay okay, jeez.â
You walk back to your bedroom as âPlutoâ finally quiets down and âsleepsâ. Your feel pad across the wooden room and you reach your ajar bedroom door. On your bed, Nero is curled up in the cradle of bedding you made and something about the sight makes your heart swell. As you approach the bed getting ready to lay down, you remember that you have a camera somewhere in one of your many old boxes. You glance at Nero and feel a need to have pictures of the kid, youâll be one of those parents who have an album full of memories. You return to your closet and find your camera tucked in with a bunch of old tech youâve kept. Itâs an older polaroid camera you found at one of the antique shops over in Redgrave, youâll likely have to buy some i-film for it later but it should still have some left in it.
You hold up the camera above Nero to get the best picture you can, and click! It gives a faint flash (the flash was mildly broken when you bought it and that fact alone made it better, bright flashes ruin pictures for you) over the baby and it soon âprintsâ out the picture with that signature noise. You fan the image a bit before placing both on your nightstand. You finally tuck yourself into bed, curling your body closer to Nero.
Everything will be fine. Youâll manage, because thatâs what youâve been doing your entire life. Youâll make sure this kid is taken care of. Tomorrow youâll get everything you need to take care of Nero for the foreseeable future. Everything will work out.
end note: okay so yeah I hope this is good!! i've been writing it on and off for like a week,
ALSO if ur curious about the weapon, it may or may not be a part of Mundus that broke off when Dante fought him in DMC1. I'm still deciding if I want it to have a connection to Mundus/DMC story at all or if it should be it's own thing. It's called 'Pluto's Judgement' because thats (according to the wiki) one of Mundus' monikers, and pluto is the roman god of death and yeah-
also if you want to I'd love some nicknames to call Nero as a kid because i've been using 'lil man' because thats what I call my cat dfkjbdsfkjdfhkj













