Nero ☩ 004

[partlyblackened]

Who: partlyblackened and somarium
Where: Noctaerium
Style: Starts in third, but either works
Status: Open like my heart
Notes: Angst all over the place, Nero is dressed like this, Kyrie looks like this and if anyone tries to touch her, he might just flip.

Comments

[reversechess]

[He's not quite sure what's going on but she's dead right? He's seen fake corpses before so there's a 50/50 chance that this one is a alive. Either way shoving these facts up his ass isn't going to make that poor guy get up. For now he'll try something else.]

H-Hey...Are you alright?

[partlyblackened]

[Nero knows that he's there, since sneaking up on him isn't exactly an easy feat. Does he care? Not one bit. Does he look alright? The farthest thing from it.

Is he going to respond? Yes. With a short, threatening growl. Not only is he a bit unstable right now, he also thinks that this is real. So, naturally, he's not only sad but also pretty damn pissed.]

[reversechess]

What am I saying? You can't be 'alright'...There's so much blood. Please, just try and calm down.

[partlyblackened]

[His breathing is nothing short of harsh panting at this point.]

Calm down...? You're asking too much.

[nvrtheeasyway]

Lara walked into the room in time to see Nero kneel down by a teh body of a young woman. She hadn't seen her before, nor has the young man ever mentioned her before, but by the way he was gently holding her in his arms, she could assume she meant a great deal to the demon hunter. She slowly walked up to him, noticing the blood pooling around him. She lowered her gun, her face softening to an expression very few had seen on her:

"Nero..."

[partlyblackened]

Nero could already tell that it was Lara who had entered the room before she even spoke. He couldn't offer a greeting, or even lift his head to give her a nod of acknowledgment. All he could do was clutch the body closer to his own and fully wrap his arms around it.

"I couldn't save her..." he whispered, a small yet powerful sob following his words despite his best efforts at concealing it. He simply nuzzled his face into her hair as his walls cracked even further, coming one step closer to fully breaking down. Vulnerability was something he would've liked to avoid, but he also would've given his own life to avoid a situation like this. People cry around those that they feel most comfortable around and in front of those that they trust, so why couldn't a demon?

[nvrtheeasyway]

Kneeling by his side, Lara reached up to gently put a hand over his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze.

"I'm sure you did everything you could to save her..." It was hard to comfort the young man without knowing what had truly happened. But she knew Nero enough to assume that he truly did everything in his power to avoid her death. Despite his grumpy exteriors, he had let her see part of the caring man he could be.

"We need to get out of here, Nero. This place...it messes with our minds..."

She had just lived it with Abel and some part of her prayed this was another trick of the strange castle, that the body of the young woman was just another vivid hallucination they were both having.

[partlyblackened]

His only response to feeling a hand on his shoulder was a sudden jerk, but he soon relaxed his shoulders once more, going slack and shaking with renewed vigour

[shootsatclowns]

Dante was definitely not enjoying the little shin-dig going in this place. While it had seemed like an interesting investigation at first, the moment things started screwing with his head, he didn't like it anymore. The Sparda family had enough issues, and he was not the biggest fan of facing them head on second after second.

As Dante shouldered open the nearest door to him, he found a rather familiar face in the room, looking completely devastated and cradling the body of an obviously dead girl. She was beautiful, even in death, but now really wasn't the time to be ogling the chick. Whoever she was, she must have been important to Nero, given the look he was sporting.

"Nero." If this was real, even he felt bad for the guy.

[partlyblackened]

When Dante made himself known in the room, Nero couldn't help but growl. Not only did he not want to look any form of weak in front of the other slayer, it was purely instinct. The man has pissed him off on countless occasions, occasions that he didn't even remember, so he wasn't exactly expecting sympathy. Not like he even wanted it anyway, his stubbornness could be blamed for that.

"What...?" he replied absently, still focused on cradling the body of his dead lover. He stifled the sobs that were about to follow his inquiry awkwardly, passing it off as a sudden yet irregular deep breath.

He tightened his hold to an almost bruising degree, somewhat possessively. He buried his face deeper into her hair, almost as if he were hiding. He didn't want anyone to see him like this, so utterly devastated, especially not Dante.

[shootsatclowns]

If anyone understood Nero's feelings right now, it would be Dante. Not wanting to shed tears and look weak, but also feeling like your soul was ready to tear itself from your body with the grief. He sighed, walking a little closer and crouching down. He didn't make the mistake of reaching out or touching either of them, he wanted his limbs where they were. Even he couldn't be an ass at a time like this.

Asking if he was okay would be completely stupid, and he doubted Nero wanted to recount what exactly happened. He cleared his throat, and looked away.

"You know... even a devil may cry... if he loses someone he cares about." Wow, he was quoting Lady. It really was a rare moment of sensitivity.

[partlyblackened]

His breath hitched, caught in his throat in general, authentic surprise. His eyes widened as he absorbed the meaning behind those words and when he finally understood, he clenched them shut tighter than before. A few small, clear tears made their way passed his eyelashes and cascaded down his cheeks silently.

"Since when did you start handing out advice?" he whispered against her hair, pulling back to get a better look at her still beautiful face. She looked peaceful, even in death. He continued to stroke her cheek with his human hand, brushing his fingers tenderly through her brown lochs.

Good advice, for that matter. He couldn't bring himself to look at his brother in arms, his words having given him a revelation of sorts. He knew of the tears streaming down his face, and yet he didn't want to admit that the reason he could freely display that emotion was because he held some trust in the other man. Maybe Dante wasn't so bad after all.