isleofavalon | [open] december catch-all

Entry tags:

[open] december catch-all

Who: Nero and you
What: Catch-all for December questing and misc threads
When: First two weeks of December
Where: Rent-A-Ride, in and around the Red Springs
Warnings: Nero's potty mouth, violence, character injury/mentions of injury

I. RENT-A-RIDE STABLES
Nero had taken up a job at the Rent-A-Ride, in the hopes that acquainting himself with horses might give him a better idea of how to interact with his familiar. (That, and some magic-related property destruction meant he had to work somewhere in order to pay off the damages.) Being a stablehand isn't a glamorous job, and tough work, but with everything that happened back home, he's gotten used to picking up less-than-fun jobs to get by. If it pays the bills and helps people, it's enough.

He's taken one of the larger draught horses out to groom it, but the horse is becoming increasingly agitated by his own familiar lurking behind Nero, watching him work. At first he expects his demon companion will get bored and leave, but when it doesn't, he holds onto the reins of the stable horse and looks impatiently over his shoulder.

"Geryon, will you stop staring and get out of here? You're making the horse nervous," Nero grouses. The reptilian horse bumps its scaled muzzle against his arm, and Nero has to tighten his grip on the reins to stop the stable horse shying away in fear. "Listen, I get that you're jealous, but I can't brush you! You don't have hair."

II. FOGUERIA
It wasn't hard to track down the Fogueria, given the scorched earth it left behind, or else the sight of smoke on the horizon. Following it to its source did, however, take longer than it otherwise could have, considering Geryon was still stubbornly refusing to let Nero ride it.

Still, they're able to make it in decent time on foot, and Nero and his questing partners crest a hill and spot a flaming lion prowling across the plains. Sporting a cocky grin, Nero reaches for the hilt of the blade on his back.

"There it is. It's not so different from a demon, so you can stand back and let me handle this one."

III. RED SPRINGS
Although successful, Nero's first real quest hadn't gone quite as smoothly as he'd hoped, so he decides to stay the night at the Red Springs inn. He reserves a room, then heads straight for the springs to relax and use its magical properties to heal off the worst of his injuries.

As he heads into the water, the injuries become obvious to anyone else who might be taking a soak-- he has some minor burns along his arms, and deep claw marks across his chest, which have at least been treated with healing magic but haven't yet healed all the way.

He sinks into the water, right up to his neck, with a wince a quiet, "Dammit," and closes his eyes to try and relax.

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"She remembers everything about Sanctus using me and her to complete the Saviour, and that you... you died trying to save us." That part is the obvious stuff, but worth confirming anyway. Nero clasps his hands in his lap, lowering his gaze. "I didn't tell her about what happened between me and Agnus, besides that I found Yamato in his lab. I didn't talk about the research he'd been doing on people. I just told her a lot of the knights turned into demons."

They'd already been through too much at that point, and anything she hadn't pieced together herself, it was just a dark and sick detail that she didn't need to know.

"She still believes in God. Most people in Fortuna still do, especially when they know the son of Sparda saved us. But they know now that the salvation Sanctus promised wasn't real. We just tell outsiders that it was an earthquake, stop people poking around who shouldn't be..."

"I see."

Credo takes a deep breath in before letting out a sigh. It is a bit to process -- but he is glad that Kyrie doesn't know the depth of corruption that was the Order.

He folds his hands as another thought comes to him. Perhaps, this is not any sort of redemption for him. Perhaps, this is nothing more than a means to make it easier to pass on.

"Kyrie should never know the truth." He gives a small nod in agreement to what has already been agreed upon five years ago. "Still... to think that the people no longer believe in the Savior's salvation..." The Order took that from them. They took that sense of peace which was tied so much into why Credo did what he did.

He goes quiet for a second.

"I have no desire to burden you with more truths, Nero. You've had to carry too much already." A slight beat. "But if you have any questions... I can answer them for you, too." Because, maybe, he did have questions for him.

Some people still believed Sanctus, of course, and treated Nero and his demon arm like a freak. Acted as if he'd done something to have Kyrie possessed and corrupted, and that it was a tragedy the Saviour was defeated. No amount of convincing will change those peoples' minds, but he doesn't think it would be much comfort to Credo to know they still believed in Sanctus's Saviour in that way, so he holds his tongue.

"Nah. It's in the past. I've had thousands of Order docs sitting under my nose for years that I never touched." Nico can tell him if there's anything relevant there, but most of what he finds just disgusts him further. Better to leave it be and protect it from harmful influences. "Things went to shit back then. I was desperate for answers. But now, the only thing I wanted to say to you all this time was..."

He falters, his gaze cast down, until he forces himself to look at Credo again.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry I wasn't strong enough to protect you."

Sorry? Nero is sorry? Nero is the first to apologize?

His jaw clenches. "You have nothing to apologize for, Nero." There is nothing that he blamed him for at the end. "My death was set as soon as I decided to ignore what the Savior would truly do and listen to a man who only thought of his own glory."

Indeed, there were times when he questioned why he was doing what he was doing. But he believed in what His Holiness said about that everything was necessary sacrifices for the people.

"And, I'm sorry. I hesitate to say as much, because I do not deserve your forgiveness." He breathes in slow. "Your words are... they are my own. I did not have the strength to keep either of you safe. I forced Kyrie and you to deal with the consequences that came after."

A slight beat. "In truth, you should curse me from the bottom of your heart and soul for my part in everything that happened. And I would accept your condemnation."

"You know I can't accept that. And Kyrie wouldn't, either. You deserved to die because you trusted the wrong man? That's a load of shit."

As harsh as Nero's words are, his voice is trembling with barely-restrained emotion. True, Kyrie would forgive Credo unconditionally, they both know that. Nero is less quick to forgive -- his own father is a case in point -- but in this case, he can't bring himself to hate Credo or hold any kind of grudge.

"For the longest time, you and Kyrie were the only good things in my life. You were the only family I had. So I'm not gonna just sit here and listen to you beat yourself up. We..." He grits his teeth and rubs at his eyes. Dammit, he told himself he wasn't going to cry, but he can't help it.

"We really missed you. Hell, in the beginning we were in denial, thought maybe you'd come back to us." After all, he undertook the Ascension Ceremony. There was a chance, however small. "But you didn't."

He makes a soft sound in the back of his throat. His jaw clenches at hearing how Nero sounds. If it were not for that, he might have offered some disparaging words in return.

"I do not leave His Holiness blameless in what happened. His own sins far outweigh my own, and I will never forgive him for what he did to Kyrie and you." Credo does, at least, want to make it clear that he is not shouldering everything upon himself.

"I'm sorry that I wasn't able to return to you both. I'd say it is because I just was too weak to do so." He grimaces but it might have been something like a weak, awkward smile.

Credo closes his eyes as he decides that he can't look at Nero with what he's going to say next. Yet the words get caught up in his throat, and he can't say them. He's not one to offer platitudes if he doesn't believe in them. So, instead, he says, "Let's leave this matter for now. It's not the sort of talk we should have right now."

"All right," Nero agrees, taking a shaky breath. He already feels a little better for having gotten the apology off his chest, even if it wasn't exactly accepted. As far as Nero's concerned, the fact Credo feels so guilty about everything is just proof he was the noble man Nero always remembered him as being.

"There's something else you need to know," he says instead, casting a sidewards glance to the book on the table. "While you were gone... I found my family. Never figured that would happen."

He laughs weakly. Maybe Credo can already guess what he's about to say next.

Rather than be pleased at the subject change, he instead is pleasantly shocked that Nero was able to reconnect with his family. It prompts an immediate outburst, "You found them?!"

His jaw tightens for a second. He is not sure how he should take the manner in which Nero is offering this bit of information. Eyebrows furrowing, he straightens his posture -- not realizing that it had started to slightly slump from before. "Are they--" Credo starts to ask if they are good people, but realizes how ridiculous such a question is.

"Have they been kind to you?"

"You serious? They're a pair of total jackasses," he says, but despite his annoyance, for some reason has a smile on his face when he says it anyway. Of course Nero just fits right in.

"Turns out one of them is Dante, he's my uncle." And not some very distant relative who also just happened to be descended from Sparda, which is what Nero figured ever since the Saviour incident. "He has a twin brother called Vergil. That's my father."

He lets out a sigh at the remark back, but seeing the smile that Nero has, he doesn't take the comment to heart. It honestly put him a little at ease that Nero can joke that way about his family.

And then the warm record playing in his head abruptly stops -- the needle scratching figuratively.

"Dante." Credo repeats the name, at first, before it fully sinks in. "Dante!? The Sons of Sparda?" Then that would mean that Nero is directly related to the Savior. No, of course, that would be what that means.

"What?"

"Yeah. I was surprised too. Dante never told me, not in the five years since I met him. He just let me keep the Yamato and said it should stay in the family, since it used to be his brother's."

In hindsight, maybe he should've grilled him more, but really he was just grateful to Dante for everything. Plus, getting secrets out of him was like pulling teeth when he didn't want to talk.

He shrugs. "Well, it's all out in the open now, and Vergil's back from the dead. The two of them have this stupid sibling rivalry though... taken up to eleven. I had to step in to stop them from killing each other."

"I suppose that was meant to be a hint, but..."

Credo isn't certain how he should take this news. His eyebrows furrow -- it is a lot to think that Nero is actually related to the Savior. But he supposes that there is something right about the fact that he is, as well.

The Savior saved Fortuna and its people once and Nero has dedicated to watch over those same people.

His chin gives a small nod before his head once more jerks up at the casual way Nero talks about people coming back from the dead and that the Sons of Sparda had attempted to kill one another. "Nero, I don't know what to say to all of that..."

"Sorry. I know it's a lot. Kyrie was really shocked when I told her, too," Nero looks sheepish. Kyrie also had to bear the brunt of a lot of it, what with him losing his arm and then running off to challenge the new demon king for revenge, but he figures he's given Credo enough shocks to the system for one day to go into any of that.

"Anyway, it's done now. Those dumbass brothers are safe, the human world's safe, and it's back to being a regular old demon hunter for me. All you really need to know is because of the family drama, I'm a lot stronger than before."

He's not saying it to brag; more like it's just a fact. He doesn't want Credo to have to worry about him like he used to.

"I can imagine." His words are measured as he can only imagine how shocked Kyrie would be.

It certainly sounds like a lot more than "family drama" happened, but he decides not to push the subject. He also unknowingly agrees that he has accepted enough shocks to his system to last him some time.

"I imagine that you are." Credo doesn't necessarily mean that Nero is stronger in his fighting capabilities -- though, he is certain that is the case, too -- but he believes that he's also become a strong person. The kind of person that is able to carry the weight that others carelessly put on him, and carry it with some sense of dignity.

"Selfish though it may be for me to say... I must thank the Savior for allowing me to see you like this. I'm blessed to know that you turned into such a strong person."

"I'm glad you're here, too." Whether that's because of their god, or whatever else. He'd thank anything if it brought Credo back to him.

But with all that serious talk done, there's a slightly mischievous look in his eye that suggests he suddenly has an idea, and he gets to his feet. "By the way... She's not here, but I know Kyrie would want you to have something."

He moves as if to give him whatever it is, and -- surprise! -- pulls him into a hug. Neither of them are really cuddly types, so this is a valid excuse as any, right?

"Have some--"

Credo doesn't finish his question before he is pulled into a hug. He stiffens up almost immediately as he was not expecting such a display of affection. For a moment, he is not sure what he should do.

However, it doesn't take that long before he wraps his arms around Nero. His shoulders drop a little as he loses what tension is in them. He did not think he would have a chance to see him; he did not think that he would have a chance to talk to him. To think that he could hug him tight and know he is all right, yes, he is grateful for this chance as well.

Nero half expects to get yelled at for disrespecting his superior or some other good old days knightly bullshit, so for Credo to actually relax for once is a relief. Who knows, maybe those magical hot springs do really work. This does cement in his mind that this is real, though. Despite the seemingly dire circumstances of their being here, things aren't all bad.

He doesn't drag out the hug for too long, soon pulling away.

"All right, that's all the sappy stuff I got in me," he gives a sheepish grin. He definitely doesn't still sound emotional, you're just imagining things. "You just got here with the other newbies, right? You need help with anything?"

"Help with anything?"

He hesitates only for a second before resting his hand on Nero's shoulder. Perhaps, it is a way for him to prove that this is real to him, too. That this is not some hallucination before he actually dies.

No, it can't be. I wouldn't have imagined that Nero was related to the Savior. That sort of shock isn't something that I would want to give myself before passing on.

"Do you know a residence that's free? I left upon seeing the mission to slay the beast, and didn't stop to think of where I should rest afterwards." At least, his single-mindedness when it comes to fulfilling a task is still there?

The touch on his shoulder provokes a smile from Nero. He can't help it-- he's just so damn happy now this is sinking in. The only way to make this perfect would really be if Kyrie were here right now.

"I've got a place with Dante. To be honest... it's kinda small, but it's what we can afford. You wanna crash there?"

"If that will be all right."

The thought of living with the Son of Sparda is something that he cannot help but feel will be harrowing in its own right. He recalls that the Order did not think they could use Dante due to how the man is as a person. But despite those flaws, the man still saved Nero; he still saved Kyrie; he is someone worth believing in.

Why does it sound like he's giving himself a pep talk even though he already agreed to move in?

"Of course it's all right. I mean, if you can handle living with him. He's kind of, uh..."

Yeah, Nero doesn't want to shatter whatever remaining illusions Credo might have had about the descendants of Sparda, so he can just figure that one out on his own.

"It'll be like old times. Just with a lot more pizza."

Edited 2021-01-03 23:39 (UTC)

"We're not going to live on pizza."

There is just too much to digest and so he attempts to focus on that parts that he can really give a response to -- like ensuring that Dante and Nero take better care of themselves.

"But yes... it seems like it will be a bit like old times."

"We don't live on pizza! Dante just... really likes the stuff."

And Nero is used to Kyrie's cooking at home, so maybe now he was eating more junk food than he cared to admit. He clears his throat and quickly changes the subject.

"Anyway, you got magic and a familiar same as the rest of us, right? What'd you get?"

"Be that as it may, it will not be the staple of the household."

If he is going to live there, he is going to ensure that there are more homecooking done than just making pizza. He already is sighing as he feels like he is taking on a tremendous task, but still, it is one that needs to be done.

"Yes. I received light and..." He grimaces for a second -- but it isn't because he minds the creature. After all, it is one that was somewhat loyal to the Order and now can be used for good. No, what bothers him is that it'll be something troubling for Nero.

But that was a long time ago for him, wasn't it?

"A Frost." A beat. "I believe you encountered a few before."

"Like the demon? Yeah." He frowns, but it's not that weird, he supposes. For all that he won't admit it, Credo himself is a demon, after all. "Mine's a Geryon. Never saw any on Fortuna, but maybe you saw the Order docs on them. Demon horses that control time."

Or can ordinarily control time, anyway. For Avalon, that exists in frozen time, it isn't quite so powerful. "As for magic, I have kinetic, so hopefully I can use it to replace what my arms could do..."

Hopefully. He can't hide how annoyed he is at the setback, especially right after getting stronger so recently, too.

[open] december catch-all

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