Disclaimer: I don't own Devil May Cry or its epic characters. I wish I did though. Someday I will… Someday all my dreams will come true…. –dreamy sigh-

Argh… My very first fanfic… Like… Ever. Excuse my horrible writing. I'm still in training. ;)

I really hope you enjoy. I will try to update it as often as I can, but unfortunately, my life has a bad habit of deciding to throw in random unnecessary and unplanned crap. And some chapters may end up being a bit longer or shorter, but it really depends on the amount of time I have, and what sort of mood I am in. If it's really bad, I might end up reuploading fixed chapters.

Warnings: IT'S AU. SERIOUSLY. NERO DOESN'T EVEN HAVE A DEVIL ARM (yet). Violence, Swearing. And yes. There will be yaoi. Not yet but soon. Okay, not THAT SOON, since I'm a bit shy about writing that stuff(Plus it'll kind of fuck up the plot if I put it in straight away), but it will happen. I promise. And I never break my promises, because I'm that awesome. Until then, enjoy a bit of fluff every now and then.

Comments and constructive criticism are VERY appreciated. Really- I love writing (As much as I suck at it…), and I love entertaining, so I really wanna satisfy you guys. So tell me what I do wrong, and I'll try my hardest to improve it.

EDIT: SO MANY TYPOES. I'm sorry. I reread it, and hopefully got most of them. I'm surprised I missed so many of them the first several times I checked it. I feel kinda stupid now. U_U;;

2nd Edit: I FINALLY HAVE A BETA. Thank you Bitbyboth for re-reading through all my stuff I can't thank you enough, really. 3

If you guys see any I or BitbyBoth didn't get, just leave it in a review (or PM), telling me where it is, so I can grab my sniper and kill it off.

"Hell is a place, a time, a consciousness, in which there is no love."

Dark lashes parted to reveal sapphire eyes. They blinked several times, the room being too bright to comprehend any specific features. The young boy snarled and slowly hauled himself up, relying mostly on his arms to lift him off his stomach. He sat at the edge of his bed and shivered when his feet touched the cold tile below.

His back slouched forward as he rubbed behind his neck whilst awaiting the surroundings to come into focus. The room was still really bright, and it was hurting his eyes. Hands followed up the long, smooth contours of his face, which only stopped to rub at his eyes for a few seconds, before sliding into his mass of snowy white hair. He ruffled it as he stood up, trying to maintain his balance.

Fuck… So cold… He snorted softly as he rubbed his nose, his feet quietly slapping against the tile while he approached his dresser.

Nero hated his room. It contrasted too much from everything else that it made it a pain to wake up. The walls were a slightly-off white and a framed window stood proudly next to his obsidian bed, which was responsible for the majority of the light flowing into the room. The tiles were plain marble; ivory with only a slight tinge of grey. Every other item in his room -including his dresser, table, lamp and the long, ornamented mirror that hung off the wall- was a plain shade of ebony. Yet there was not a speck of dust on any of the items, they were highly polished… every decorative curve, nook and cranny practically glittering.

The drawer slid out smoothly as he pulled on it, barely making a sound. Nero slouched and scratched his jaw as he reflected on his clothing choices. The majority of his clothes were uniform. A good number of them consisted of colors such as black, white, navy and grey. Nero pulled out a long, high collared, dark Prussian blue trench coat. It, like everything else Nero owned, had a large amount of detail. The sleeves were heavily adorned with a beautiful, silver stitched pattern that looked very complicated to make. His pockets were decorated in a similar fashion, as was the collar. Ornamental buttons also followed both of the edges of the jacket.

Knowing that the jacket would cover most of him and that it wouldn't be a good look to put all the best looking garments together in one outfit, Nero pulled out a simple grey button up shirt and sleek dark pants.

He smiled, as dressing was a horrible chore on its own, and was glad that it was finally out of his way. He grabbed a clean pair of boxers and threw the attire over his arm and walked towards his bathroom. Its entrance situated next to his bed and, as if the designers of the rooms wanted to laugh in his face, the bathroom used the same color scheme as his bedroom. However, it was not brightened by a window like his bedroom, instead, it had a candle holder attached to the wall that was always lit up, no matter the circumstances. The orange light it shone was the only illumination in the room as soon as the door clicked shut, but it was much more relaxing.

Nero threw the clothes carelessly on the floor, not being bothered to look for a better place to leave them, and leaned over his bathtub, adjusting the tap until he found the just the right temperature. After plugging the tub's drain, Nero sighed with relief when the only step stopping him from his luxurious bathing was taking off his boxers.

The loose silk slid off easily down his lanky legs and he slowly stepped into the bath tub, being as careful as he could, as the last thing he needed was a horrible blue bruise decorating his otherwise pale anatomy.

Nero slowly laid down into the bath, resting his head against the edge of the bathtub and releasing a long sigh. He couldn't resist the smile that tugged on the edge of his lips as his body was heated up by the water.

He was going to be busy today, as the Prince of Hell would finally be returning, so he may as well enjoy the last of his alone time that was left.

In all honestly, he really loved being a personal servant to the Prince, as the man was quite… Nice… especially considering that he was the heir to the throne of the King. The Prince didn't ever seem to really mind being second. Whenever Nero asked about it, Prince Dante simply shrugged it off. He would've thought that there would be some sort of sibling rivalry between the King and the Prince, especially considering that they were twins, King Vergil ruling only because he was very slightly older.

Nero reclined for a while, the base of skull pressed against the rim of the cold porcelain surface. He eventually decided to sit back up, as he was excited that the Prince was coming back, and he could never relax when he was excited. He soaped himself up, enjoying the nice smell of vanilla seeping into his skin.

After a few minutes of rubbing, it was about of time to rinse off the soap.

When he was sure that he was finally completely clean, Nero slowly climbed out of the tub, taking his towel quickly to avoid dripping and getting everything wet. He dried himself up completely, shaking off the water on the ends of his hair that he had accidentally soaked while he was bathing.

He threw on his boxers and clothes before stepping out and flinging his dirty ones onto his unmade bed. Nero was ranked quite high in the positioning of hell, as were all previous personal servants of the Sparda royalty, so he had his own demonic workers often doing odd jobs for him.

Nero slipped on a simple pair of knee-high black leather boots, then added a white pair of gloves and turned to the long mirror, double checking everything, and sliding his hand across any creases in his clothes to at least attempt to flatten them.

After he checked every aspect of himself, including fixing his hair, he strutted out of the bedroom.

He looked around the corridor, trying to remember what the quickest route was out of the palace. Sparda's palace design was quite difficult to grasp, even though Nero had been living here for most of his life… However long that was. He really couldn't remember anything before the day he was declared Prince Dante's servant. It was actually quite odd. He couldn't speak and had a hard time understanding, but that was nothing when he could barely remember even the most basic actions such chewing and walking. He remembered being taught by Dante. Although he learnt it all quickly, he felt like he should've already known most of these things he was taught.

Nero shook his head. Unlike his room, the corridor was dark and the roof was extremely high, with huge windows decorating the center of the ceiling, the only illumination in the hallway. Unfortunately, the narrow space made the windows quite long but small, and they were so high up and strangely placed, that it limited any light wanting to come into it. The walls were made out of huge bricks and there were pillars attached on both sides that traveled all the way from the marble, reflective, floor to the high bright ceiling. He wondered which direction he should travel in, before deciding to trust his gut instinct and travel right. He continued forward, walking to the very end of the corridor. Nero frowned when he realized that he could not for the life of him, remember where to go next.

"Sir Angelo?"

Nero's head snapped quickly at the direction of the slithering voice. He eyed the demon up and down. It was an Abyss demon. And he was pretty sure it wasn't there a few seconds ago.

"What is it?" Nero replied, trying to control his voice to hide the fact that in all honesty, the demon popping out of nowhere was a surprise for him.

"You looked confused…"

"I wasn't confused… Just…"

Nero scratched the side of his nose, an always clear sign that he was uncomfortable. Everyone knew that by now…

"Prince Dante sent me here to summon you; he said that you get lost around here easily." Nero flinched slightly. Was he really that predictable?

"Is he back already? Can you take me to him?"

The Abyss bowed down before heading in the opposite direction. Nero followed a few paces behind the demon. At first Nero was attempting to memorize the directions, but as they traveled further through the numerous identical hallways, he decided not to bother. If Dante would keep sending demons to guide him, he really didn't have to bother trying to remember all of the areas.

"He's in the church praying for Sparda- We would prefer if you let him finish before interrupting him, as I doubt he would appreciate your mortal presence bothering him."

Nero rolled his eyes, knowing that Dante hated being surrounded by demons, and preferred Nero's 'mortal' existence over any of the demons in the palace. And he knew he wasn't the only human appealing to Dante; He checked records and portraits of Prince Dante's older servants, only to find that majority of them were humans, except for the very first few demons that assisted him while his father was alive. He bit his tongue. Trying not to start an argument that he knew he would win was possibly one of the hardest things he had done yet.

Finally they stepped into a similar hallway like the rest, the only difference being a large door at the end of it.

Nero was oriented enough to remember that door lead to the palace's main lobby.

"Thank you demon." Nero nodded. He didn't have to thank the Abyss, but It felt rude not to, considering it did help him. Even if it indirectly insulted him on the way there. The best thing he could do was smile like it hadn't affected him, just to piss off the Abyss. "I can guide myself from here."

Nero twisted the handle, and squinted as the all too familiar bright light poured from the gap. He left the corridors as soon as his eyes adjusted, not wanting to keep the Prince waiting.

The lobby had an awfully similar theme to his bedroom except the whole room was absolutely huge. Everything was open, bright, and there was a soft breeze. It only had 2 floors, but saying it was small would've been a horrible understatement. Similar to the corridor, this ceiling was decorated with red hued stained glass that shone down and reflected off the tiled floor beautifully. In the center was a large grey stone fountain featuring a woman getting mauled by 3 demons. Blood that filled the fountain gushed out of the woman's wounds and chains that wrapped around and held down the 'stone' woman were connected the walls high above the second floor. Nero recalled when Prince Dante mentioned that all the blood that seeps out of the statue was taken from the soulless human corpses in Hell. In fact, taking human blood to decorate certain places around the palace-only saving the best quality ones for drinks and food glazing for the royalty- was an actual job available for the higher ranked demons in the palace.

Nero shuddered at the thought, trying to ignore it, but it was hard to do so when the subject responsible for it was much higher than the floors with it almost reaching the glass ceiling.

He decided to stop loitering around and quickly paced down the huge grand staircase, his coat fluttering noisily as his heeled boots knocked against the floor. As soon as he got down, he took a sharp left turn, making a beeline towards the door in the side of the room.

Nero felt his stomach bubble as a huge grin forced itself onto his face. He slowly opened the door, and quietly entered the room. He closed it immediately upon entering, his eyes not leaving a certain center of attention in the room.

It was a large, dark, cathedral styled room, top halves of the tall walls adorned with realistic paintings based on the tortures and punishments found deeper in hell. In the center stood a huge statue of the great Sparda, the once-was-great King of Hell, holding his Force Edge against his chest. Below was a pedestal, in which the real Force Edge was impaled. Kneeling on one foot in front of it was a tall figure dressed in red.

"Dante?" Nero whispered, not wanting to disturb the older man.

A silver haired head similarly colored to Nero's, only with a slightly longer and flatter hairstyle, turned to the side, a pale blue eye that practically glowed peeked under his bangs.

Nero took half a step backward, worrying that he might've disturbed the Prince, squeaking when suddenly the man disappeared, only to reappear behind him with his arms tightly hugging around the front of the young servant's chest.

"NERO!" The Prince laughed loudly before bending slightly backwards to lift the youth off the ground, only to go more hysterical when the Nero tried to scratch the man's arms, kicking air as he fought his way out of the iron grasp.

"Lemme go jackass!"

"Now, now, I'm pretty sure the royal guards around here won't tolerate you calling me that Nero…" Dante hummed in a sing-song voice. He let Nero place his feet back on the ground, but refused to let go.

Nero frowned for a few seconds before he felt the older man lean forward on him a little, shivering and looking away to the side as he felt the stubble of the Prince rub against his neck as he nuzzled him.

"And how have you been, darling?"

"Oh… for Sparda's fucking sake, you did not just call me that…"

The awkwardness of the position was quickly ignored, as Nero sighed. He knew the prince would not let go off him until he was satisfied with his answer. Nero groaned when the old man still said nothing, clearly expecting Nero to answer to his new bitch name.

"Man, you're a persistent asswipe, aren't you?"

He snorted when he felt the older man nod against his neck, muttering an 'um-hum'. Nero puffed, trying to remove the part of his fringe that fell over his face during the frenzied struggle.

"All right… I've been fine. And no, before you ask, I haven't missed you over the last few days."

"Liaaaar…"

Nero flailed his arms in the air when the only grasp that was supporting him was suddenly disappeared; the strong chest against his back was removed. He just barely stopped himself from stumbling forward onto his face, instead turning quickly before he made contact with the floor, opting that it was a better idea to fall on his ass.

Dante stood in front of the now seated boy, a huge smile that showed off his sharp canines. Nero eyed Dante up and down, a worried frown plainly engraved on his face.

"Shit… What happened to you?"

The Prince's trademark red leather jacket had been brutally torn up in several places, mostly evident at its bottom edges. The dark shirt he wore had a huge gaping rip, cutting diagonally; it showed had a slightly darker tint around it from what Nero assumed was dried blood. His eyes darted down to check out the man's chaps.

"At least your pants are still intact…"

Nero's eyes looked back up at Dante's chest. Standing up slowly, he cautiously pulled up his hand to hover it over the rip. He felt reassured when he saw there was no scar, but his chest felt heavy at the thought of what could've caused the tear.

"Was it a deep cut?"

Dante shrugged. "It was bad at the time, hurt like a bitch, but its fine now."

"You have to be more careful." He scolded.

"Thanks mum." Dante muttered. Nero rolled his eyes at the immature reply, before remembering what he saw earlier.

"Um, Prince Dante… Did something happen? I know you don't usually… visit… your father… Unless there's something worrying you…"

Dante opened his mouth as though he was about to say something, but closed it immediately. He looked to his side before his glare looked back at Nero.

"It's nothing; don't sweat over it. I just need to talk to Vergil about something. And what's up with the 'Prince Dante' bullshit? I told you not to call me that when there's no one around. It's just weird."

Nero tended to switch between calling Dante various names, often subconsciously; depending on the seriousness of the situation.

"Yeah, sorry, I haven't seen you for a bit… Not that used to it, ya know?"

Dante wrapped his arm around Nero's shoulder, leading them both slowly towards the door.

"Listen, I'm going to talk to Verg-… King Vergil… for a bit, then I'll tell you exactly how the mission went. You wanna come? Or will I just find you later?"

"Hm… I'll come. I wouldn't mind eavesdropping a bit into your family's private business."

"Don't worry, there's nothing I don't tell Vergil that I don't tell to you too. I think he's figured that out too, so he probably won't mind. Probably."

Dante pushed opened the exit slowly, pushing Nero out gently. "Ladies first." Nero scoffed loudly at the stupid comment, but stomped out anyway. Admittedly, Nero didn't mind being treated like a woman. It made him feel kind of secure in a strange kind of way.

After all, it was pretty damn hard to feel safe in Hell when you were the only human who wasn't tortured, and you were working for one of the most important demons in Hell as a personal servant, a role which many demons would love to replace.

Hmmm… Does anyone recognize Nero's outfit? (*hinthint* Devil May Cry 4 concept art*hinthint*). Anyway, hope everyone liked the first chapter! Like I said- I'm a horrible amateur when it comes down to writing. And in case someone wants a slightly more clear idea of what Sparda's palace looks like, think of the 'Nirvana' areas for the outside areas, and for indoors, think of Temen-ni-Gru during the later levels(after it's 'transformed') in Devil May Cry 3. At least that's what I thought of when I was thinking of the palace. ;)

Once again, I kneel down to beg everyone for some constructive criticism, because I live off that stuff. Seriously, my head would fall off if people don't remind me to screw it in when I wake up. So if you have a good idea or anything remotely similar, tell me. I want to know!

Anywho, Valentina out! xx

(And once again, thank you Bitbyboth 3333)