Chapter 1: Aneurism

"Dante what are you gonna do!?" Said an enraged middle-aged African-American man.

"You can't just stay here eating up all of the goddamn food that I pay for!"

A brief pause transpires between them as they made eye contact. The tension between them was so thick that a third party would be able to cut it with a knife. The older man took a deep breath to calm his trembling voice.

"*Sigh* D, I get it. You're depressed... Mom died... The shit hurts me too... but when are you gonna get it through your head? The world won't stop because you need to catch your breath... " The younger man avoided eye-contact dismissively as if tired of being lectured. But that didn't stop the older of the two from trying to convey his message. "I'm here for you brother, you know that... But right now, I'm not talking to you as a brother. I'm talking to you as a man and as a friend. And as both, I just can't keep enabling you like this... Not when I have a family to feed... and especially not when my kids look up to you." The older brother sighed once more.

"What do you think goes through my head every time my daughter, your niece, Diana asks me, ' Why does uncle Dante always stay home?' Or when your nephew, Danny asks 'Why does Dante always look sad? He's always sleepy." The older brother said.

"I'll tell you what. 'When is he gonna stop playing the victim and take responsibility for his life?'... That's what I think every time I see you moping around and laying on the couch like a bum." Dante then glared at his older brother with malice, as if a nerve had been struck. "Mom left this house to me and I refuse to have you or anybody else unemployed making ass groves on my couch... That's not the move, bruh... I can't have you being unemployed, wasting away all of your potentials. Not you... Not the only person I have to remember my mother by."

"I get the feeling you care about this fucking house more than me. It's like you don't give a damn about how I feel, judging by the way you're dismissing my depression. That's why I'm confused when you say you're here for me... Since mom died, you've been stuck in that job. For the past couple of months, you spoke a total of, maybe ten sentences to me. The rest of the time, you just walk right past me like I'm a ghost or something. Tell me how the hell am I supposed to get back on my feet when I can't even cope with the war in my head." Dante spat spitefully. Drake then stood up in anger. Frustration filled his face as he angrily shook his head in disapproval.

"Dante, when it comes down to it, fuck my job and fuck this house. If you ever wanted to talk, I was always here, so stop with those lame ass excuses." He stared at Dante with passion in his eyes for a moment while Dante did the same. They both stayed silent until drake broke that silence. "Besides my kids and their mother, you are the only person I care about on this earth." Water started to fill his eyes. Which caused Dante to avert his gaze once more.

Not caring, Drake allowed his tears to slip from his eyes while holding a solemn expression. He then walked up to his brother and grabbed Dante by the collar of his shirt, forcefully lifting him off the couch that he had been residing on for the past two days. While at eye level, Drake spoke almost in a murmur. "Up until now, you've been nothing antisocial emotional wreck. You need to fix that. Take control."

Dante winced at those words as if he had been punched in the face with them. Drake then released his grip. He then walked away from the living room to smoke a cigarette on the porch; a habit of which he quite 10 years ago before his kids were even thought of. Before he had won his life or death battle against a dragon. [A/N: This is a reference to drug addiction.]

'I guess desperate times.' Dante scoffed. "*Sigh*"

Dante plopped back down on the couch and stared blankly at the living room T.V. He didn't want to admit it, but his brother's words cut deep.

One reason was their mother had died only six months prior. On top of that, his best friend, Elijah had been killed only a week prior. He felt deeply insulted by his brother's words because Elijah had been murdered in front of his own eyes. They were both held up at gunpoint in a mugging only two blocks away from his home on their way back from the best family-owned pizzeria in Philadelphia. Fortunately, Dante was able to escape unscathed. Unfrotanty, Elijah's life ended in a fatality. This happened only a week after the death of his mother. Dante in both situations was powerless and in turn, was burdened with survivor's guilt. Shouldn't that have given him merit for feeling miserable?

Drake knew of these situations, yet didn't sympathize with him. Dante wanted to pounce on his brother and punched him repeatedly. He wanted to beat him senseless in fact. He even had his hands balled up the entire time ready to strike his brother once he got hoisted in the air and had his personal space invaded, but the fact that he wasn't going to was telling to him subconsciously.

Deep down he knew his brother was correct to some extent. Dante didn't believe in any religion in particular, but what he did believe was his sense of his morals. He believed that no matter how much you wanted to, one can not fight objectivity. He had quit his job and had been living off of his Drake and for the past month and a half, he had been doing nothing but watching Dragonball and reading Marvel comics. He had begun to slowly grow disgusted with himself as the days went by, which ironically caused his depression to worsen. He then looked to the couch cushions next to him and saw crumbs, sweat stains, and dirt.

Dante just sat there with his palms covering his face. 'Damn... I need to figure something out. I can't keep living like this.' He takes a deep breath "*huff*"

'I stink...' He then looked at his reflection in the glass coffee table in front of him and notice that his once perfectly formed Afro had to deform and matted down. He looked to his right and found a green comb in between the cushions. He then looked at the coffee table again. "Alright. no more hobo Dante."

He picked up the comb and attempted to comb through the jungle he called hair, only to be met by a game of tug of war. His head and his arms were going to war with one another "Come on you comb! do your job! Agh ugh ah! *Crunch*" The sound of carpet being tore could be heard from blocks away. "I did it!" Dante stood up and raised his arms in victory, but then stopped abruptly. he had realized that he was surrounded by trash. On the floor were empty soda cans and empty bags of chips on the floor. 'Dam... I'm really living like this. When did this start...' He thought in humility. He then slouched in defeat and plopped down on the couch then reflects for a moment. 'Oh yeah. My ex... Cindy started this...' He shook his head in shame. 'Ntr was only supposed to be a hentia thing...'

: POV Swap :

: Some bitch in Philadelphia :

"Achew! *wheeze* *wheeze* Achew! *sniffle*" a brief pause occurs as a beautiful curvaceous raven-haired woman anticipates another sneeze, only for it not to come. 'I guess I'm pretty popular somewhere hehe.' The evil hag that was in the skin of a Succubus chuckled as she's lazed on her back scrolling through her feed on Instagram.

: Back Pennsylvania on the outskirts of New York and New Jersey:

'Elijah, you told me from the beginning she was dangerous. I didn't know at the time what you meant but now I do. I should have listened' "Hahaha." Dante had a self-deprecating laugh for a moment then looked up as tears started to poor 'I'm thankful for you helping me through that. I'm happy to have had you as a friend.'

: Two hours later :

Dante looked around the empty two-story house he lived in, in search of his brother with a new sense of clarity in his heart, but gave up halfway through searching. He then went to his refrigerator in search of ingredients as he decided to bake something while the kid and his sister-in-law, Julia, were still out celebrating her mother's birthday. He scanned the refrigerator shelves and said, "It looks like I need to go shopping." He shrugged his shoulders and checked his phone for the time. 'I probably have an hour so. I should make some cupcakes to brighten the gloomy mood everybody has been feeling.' Dante grabbed his bike and from the basement and headed out the front door only to be stopped by Drake with a shout.

"Yo Dante, hold up!" Drake rushed down the stairs to catch his brother's attention before he could even grab the door handle. Drake grabbed his shoulder and turned his brother around which in turn caused Dante to drop his bike, knocking over an antique vase that was their mother's prized possession. *Boom* *Crack* they both paused and looked at the shattered family heirloom, then at each other. "Hahaha." Dante looked at his brother puzzledly because he was usually quite strict about their mother's last possession, but since he saw his brother change in demeanor he decided to join along in the laugh.

After that dies down, they then look at each other. " What's up man and sorry about the vase. I know her stuff is important to you." Dante stated.

"Haha... look. Let me tell you this. These things? This house? All of this shit means absolute zilch to me compared to my actual living and breathing family. Don't worry about. I came down because I realized I was harsh on you earlier and I just want you to know that... I appreciate you for existing. I know you are struggling with the things that have been going for the past month. Cindy, Elijah, and Mom."

"I want you to know, the reason I get so upset with you is that you are a literal genius but you don't apply yourself to anything but beyond that, the thing I am most upset with you about is that when I came home every day from work and I saw you on the couch sad and broken. It reminded me of myself. I feel myself slipping every day into that pit and it's like every time I see you, that pit is calling to me. My anger towards you has been me projecting myself onto you mainly and that's been hard for me to stomach. I'm a detective. A fucking cop. I have 5 degrees and chose to do this because I thought it was for the greater good."

" I feel throwing this badge away and even aiming this gun on myself because I feel like I'm absolutely useless sometimes. People our skin color get killed or locked every day because of this suit and suits just like it. The only reason I put it on in the first place was so I could prevent that from happening, but instead, I let my brother get killed. Although we weren't blood-related that's not what mattered. What mattered was that Elijah was my little brother who needed to be to be protected just like you and I let him down. I'm sorry about that. I want you to know, I believe in you and I will protect you no matter what."

" I was putting you down when I need to motivate you and I won't make that mistake again. You're The last family I have and I won't let you forget my love for you. I want you to use your potential better than I did, you got that, big head?" He punched Dante on the shoulder as unannounced to him that was the last trigger to set Dante off. " You ass hole. You just had to go and start the waterworks again huh." Dante punched back harder. Drake thought that Dante was just being stoic and strong during his speech but failed to realize that his brother was bottling up his emotions to try to stay manly and no-look soft in front of his brother but couldn't take it anymore. "Alright man give me a hug. It's alright." Drake stated.

"They hug for a while then the break-off. "Alright. I'm about to go to the store. Before I go, I just wanted to say this." Dante pauses for a while then continues. "Throughout my life, you were a true role model. A real one. You were a father to me when our real one walked out. And for that, I'd like to thank you. I know that I can be a piece of work some times but deep down, I know all your intentions are good. I'm a genius after all right? Haha~ouch, Dick" Drake hit him on the back of the head and said, " What did mom say about being arrogant?" Dante stated " I know. I know. Just joking.

Going back to what I was saying. I only have two words to say before leave and that's thank you~ AHHHH!" Dante grabbed the left side of his head as he started to feel unbearable pain in right his eye. Pain so terrible that he felt like someone was stabbing him repeatedly with more and more force, going along with the rhythm of his heartbeat. Soon he started to fade in and out of consciousness as he saw his brother grabbing ahold of him. "D, Stay with me! Stay with me D! Dante!" Dante watched as his brother yelled at him to no avail. 'What's going on?! I can't hear... Drake's lips are moving, but I can't hear him... I'm in so much pain right now...' Dante didn't have enough energy to talk as the pain was too overwhelming.

He started to lose feeling in his legs and fell on his bike as his brother lost grip of him, causing Dante to and land on broken glass on the floor. A large glass blade slashed his jugular as he started to blackout. 'I'm dying...' Dante read enough books and watched enough TV to know what was happening right now. 'I just wish I could tell the kids that I love them... one last time.' Dante mouthed off words to his brother who was towering over him, trying to stop bleeding. 'Its too much blood... I'm gonna lose him.'

He reluctantly threw his phone across the room with anger because he knew this fact. He got close to his brother and listened but to no avail. At that point, Drake's face was riddled with sweat beads and tears. There's was no hiding the panic on his face but he attempted to listen anyway for the sake of sending his brother off. He got closer and closer to his little brother to listen to his final words. "Don...*squirt* blame... self... kids... I love." "Don't *gush* blame self.... kids I love. Dante repeatedly said this until his last breath because he had lost his hearing and sight by now and wasn't sure if his brother would get the message.

Drake had grabbed Dante's right hand and put it to his chest as he felt his pulse going slower and slower until it stopped as a whole. When that happened, he cradled his brother's upper torso. He wanted to cradle his entire body but they were about the same size with drake being two inches taller standing at six feet even. For forty-five minutes straight he held his corpse of a brother until he started to hear sirens and flashing red lights. The fire department and ambulances had arrived along with two patrol cars. It was gonna be a long night for Drake. A real long night.