spin_kick_snap | 33 Apocalypse Ave, Saturday Morning

Dante's phone laid on the kitchen counter, haphazardly discarded. Its warning light flashed a flickering red, advertising its dying battery.

Dante himself was nowhere to be found.

	Kathy came humming into the house, arms full of groceries. "Hey the house!" she called. "We've got fixings for nachos and margaritas, y'all better get down here to help me make 'em or I'm eating everything myself during tonight's crappy movie marathon!" Boyfriends, nachos, and terrible Netflix choices. What better way to spend a lazy late afternoon than that?
	"Dante didn't go to the store with you?" Anders called down the stairs. "I haven't seen him since morning."
	"I'm not sure either of you know how to get to a store that doesn't have liquor or pet supplies in it," Kathy teased, setting the bags down on the counter, not noticing the phone a foot or so away. "You think he stopped into work or something?"
	"Maybe," Anders said, frowning as he headed into the kitchen. He didn't look at the phone either. "Is this a work day?"
	Kathy snorted. "I honestly can't keep track," she admitted, dropping a kiss on Anders' cheek before turning back to the groceries. "Message him, maybe? At least see if we can get an ETA for when he's getting home so we know when we can start the movie."
	"Dibs on picking what we watch," Anders said lazily, as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and typed a quick message: where r u?. And then froze as the unnoticed phone on the counter buzzed. He glanced anxiously to Kathy. "Is that --?"
	"No way," Kathy was laughing. "Last time you picked, we ended up watching--" And then, yeah, there was that buzz of an incoming message. From right there in the kitchen with them. "Dante always has his phone on him," she murmured, pushing the bags aside. Except he didn't right now. Because there it was, blinking on the counter.
	"Not right now, he doesn't," Anders said uneasily, and went over to pick it up. He moved slowly, as though the phone might explode in his hand.
	"Maybe he just forgot it...?" Kathy said, though she didn't sound like she believed that very much.
	"Maybe," Anders said, equally uneasy. "Should we go into town and look for him?"
	The phone buzzed again. A different noise, one that featured a bit more screaming and guitars - a ringtone. It lasted for all of two seconds before the phone quieted again. MISSED CALL: VERG
	"Oh." Kathy stared down at that screen with something akin to horror. "... Somehow I feel like we're not going to find him in town."
	"Maybe not," Anders agreed, stomach sinking into his feet. "Limbo City?" Sometimes he hated that place.
	"I can't think of anywhere else he'd go if he was getting calls from Vergil." Even if it wasn't Vergil himself, but someone using his phone, Dante would want to know why. "What do you think we should do?"
	"Follow him, I guess," Anders said, sounding as worried as he felt. "Hope he's at the house, or Kat has seen him."
	Once again, Kathy looked uneasy. She knew full well that Dante wouldn't want them to go after him and she wasn't all that sure they'd be able to help much even if he were in trouble. But she couldn't not try, either. Not if Dante needed help. "That's a good start," she said. "If nothing else, getting figuring out what's going on will let us know what the best course of action is."
	"Assuming there is one," Anders said, and closed his eyes as he leaned back against the counter. "Kathy, what if this time we can't find him?"
	Kathy went to him, wrapping her arms around his waist and resting her head in his chest. "Then we'll have to have faith that he can find his way back home to us," she said, as if that idea didn't make her heart drop and her stomach lurch. Butshe couldn't just leave it at that. Not in the face of Anders' fear and worry. "That and we come back and drag every person on this island and beyond that's ever even met him in person and go back and assail the gates of hell if we have to." It wasn't much. But it would have to be enough.