Hey everyone! I am so excited. The idea for this story came to me last night; if you're interested then read the footnote thing and I'll explain it a little more.

I've got tons of ideas and details on how I want the chapters to go so I hope it comes out as an interesting read. I'm writing this alongside "The Life and Times of.." so I'll update as often as possible. Thanks for reading!

"Devil May Cry."

Dante listened intently to the caller on the line. He gave a few nods as he scribbled some notes on a crumpled piece of paper before him. He stared off into the distance soaking in all of the information. The slayer said a few "mm-hmms" and "Okays" in response.

"Okay, we'll get it taken care of."

He slammed the receiver of the old rotary phone onto its base with a loud thud. After finishing up noting all of the pertinent information Dante arose from his chair and headed upstairs.

Nero was sitting at the desk in his room carefully cleaning the intricate parts of his gun Blue Rose. He barely heard the knock at his door over the music in the background. He turned in his seat and looked at the door.

"Come in."

Dante opened the door and leaned on the doorframe.

"Pack up kid, we've got a job," announced Dante over the beat of the music. He noted that Nero was cleaning his gun- excellent timing.

The younger slayer leaned over to the stereo and flipped the music off. A small grin formed on his lips. Things had been boring lately; the prospect of a challenging mission excited him greatly. Dante seemed eager as well- they both loved the action that their jobs held.

"You should pack for a few days; I think that this is going to be an interesting one kid," the elder elaborated.

Nero jumped from his seat and nodded in understanding. It wasn't too often that they went on long trips. Their jobs usually consisted of close-by work, or at least jobs that were easily accomplished with their combined force. This is exactly what he had been hoping for.

"I'm going to pack up myself then we will head out as soon as possible," began Dante. "I'll give you the rest of the details in the car okay."

He turned and retreated to his own bedroom. It wouldn't take the elder too long to pack, he was terrible at organizing so him 'packing' was him throwing random shit into his bag and going. Somehow he always managed to pack the majority of what he needed though.

The younger, on the other hand, was fairly organized and tidy is his workings. He pulled out his traveling bag that was stuffed under his bed. After making a list in his head of things to bring: ammo, sword, socks… he went about packing.

'It'll be great to get out of the office for a while,' thought Nero to himself. He continued moseying about placing necessities in the old bag.

The only worry on his mind was who his companion was. He and Dante had traveled together before, but there was a certain threshold that was usually crossed. A point where he got so annoyed with Dante that he wanted to rip his head off. However it didn't seem to work both ways. Dante could dish it and take it- he rolled with the punches. That pissed Nero off.

Nero shook it off, determined that he would keep his cool this trip and focus on the mission. It probably wasn't too far anyways, maybe just far enough away that would have to stay for one night. He nodded, deciding that this must be the case before finishing up with his task.

Dante picked a shirt up off the floor and gave it a big whiff. Deciding it was clean, or clean enough, he threw it into his bag. That was his method of packing. Within five minutes he had rustled up what he deemed vital for the mission.

He threw his bag over his shoulder and exited his bedroom. As he walked towards the stairs he passed by Nero's room. The door was still open and he saw him folding a pair of pants and placing them into a bag. Dante chuckled as he continued on his way.

Awaiting Nero the silver-haired hunter grabbed the paper from the desk and shoved it into his pocket. He snatched his favorite coat from the back of his desk chair and shrugged it on. The familiar leather scent was comforting. He slipped his boots on before approaching his cabinet of devil arms.

His hand hovered above the weapons, unsure of which blade he wanted to accompany him. After a few moments of pondering he finally decided on Rebellion. He wrapped his fingers around the blade and let it slice through the air once before sheathing the weapon on his back.

Never letting the twin guns get too far from him he holstered Ebony and Ivory before closing the cabinet doors. He was now all set and ready to go. The only thing left to do was wait on Nero.

Nero descended the stairs with his bag hung over his shoulder. He too was equipped with his weapons. Blue Rose hung at his hip and Red Queen was mounted on his back ready for action. He was glad that he had given his gun some attention this morning; she would no doubt perform well.

"Okay I'm all set," Nero said maybe a little too eagerly.

Dante could tell that he was excited, but who was he kidding they had been cooped up in the office for days now. They were both chomping at the bit to get out and slay some demon ass.

"Why don't you go grab a snack or something kid, you always get cranky on long car rides."

Dante slapped his leg and gave a hearty laugh while Nero stared at him confused for a moment. It had already begun.

"Shut your fucking mouth," Nero yelled back pushing past Dante to exit the building. They hadn't even left the city yet and Dante was already harassing Nero- it was surely going to be a long and tiresome trip.

The older hunter grabbed the keys from the wall and followed Nero outside before locking the front door. Nero had already thrown his bag into the backseat and sitting on the passenger side with his arms crossed in annoyance.

Dante copied Nero before climbing into the driver's seat and cranking the engine. The black muscle car roared to life. The vehicle was a fairly recent acquisition. Lady had only allowed him to purchase it because she saw the long-term investment. With a car both Dante and Nero could go on missions together and rack in bigger pay for her to eventually collect. All in all, everyone had won.

"You all set kid," Dante asked before revving the engine and setting off onto the highway.

"Yeah." He patted his jean pocket to double-check that he had his phone. Both Nero and Dante had placed their blades in the trunk and left their firearms on themselves for the driving portion of the trip. He felt confident that he had everything- he wasn't so sure that Dante had though.

"Okay then we are ready to get going then."

Dante reached over to the stereo and flipped on some tunes. His 80's metal came blasting over the speakers. Nero preferred more current hard rock over the older slayer's 'classics'.

"Wait, at least tell me where we are going," stated Nero as he looked over at his partner.

"You're in for a real treat kid," replied Dante as he grabbed a pair of sunglasses that were hanging on the rearview mirror. He slipped them open and slipped them over his eyes and smirked. "We are going into the dirty south- into Cajun country."

Nero thought about this for a moment. He had never even been below the Mason-Dixon Line before. Honestly he had hardly even left the city of Fortuna before he came to Devil May Cry. It seemed that Dante on the other hand was a bit more 'worldly' and had been a lot of places.

A part of him was fairly excited though, he had always wanted to travel more and see different places. But he had no idea what to expect.

"Brace yourself kid. The south is a whole new world, especially where we are headed- New Orleans!"

Where the idea for this story came from: So last night I took a road trip with a friend over to a town called Benton, LA. I live in Texas, only about 45 minutes from the LA state line. I've been to Shreveport before and plan on using some of my experiences in the story. Anyways, we went mudding with some friends and took in the scenery which really inspired me to write this story. Also I watched some Duck Dynasty...

I have a great love and appreciation for the south and I hope to bring a piece of that to this story. I remember how shocked I was when I went to New York for the first time. That's how I imagine Nero reacting to being in the south, lol. We'll see. Thanks for reading my rant.