The newborn's cry broke the silence of the apartment in Fortuna. A very exhausted woman forces herself out of the bed, only to be stopped by an arm, reaching out for her.
"Rest. I got him." The woman didn't have the strength to object. She smiled fondly at him and laid back onto the bed.
The man quickly got out of the bed, wondering how someone so small could shriek so loudly. He entered the nursery, swiftly avoiding the toys scattered on the floor. He made his way over to the crib and couldn't stop himself from staring. He had a son, the elder son of Sparda has a child.
"Why are you crying, Nero?" Vergil gently picked up Nero. Nero wiggled as he cried, only calming down a bit when Vergil held him close.
"Was it a nightmare or-" Vergil was being cut off by an unpleasant smell. He placed Nero on the changing table and removed his onesie. Nero giggled as Vergil cleaned it up, happy he could be with his father.
Vergil walked around the room rocking Nero, trying to get the babe to go back to sleep. It wasn't that he need sleep, he found it unnecessary, but Nero needed it. If he was ever going to train the boy to use his full power, he needed to work with his human side. Nero wouldn't allow sleep to take him again, he wanted to spend time with his father. Vergil walked over to the small Sparda shrine in the room. Nero cooed at the picture of his grandfather when Vergil brought it close to him.
"That's your grandfather Nero, the fiercest warrior in all the world, both demon and human." Nero babbled as if he was replying to his father. It made Vergil proud, knowing that this would only lead to a path of intelligence and honor.
Eventually, Nero closed his eyes and drifted off to bed. Vergil placed Nero in the crib and attempted to walk back to his bedroom. Nero, losing his father's warmth, snapped open his eyes and began to gurgle. Vergil sighed and sat into the chair next to Nero's crib, allowing Nero to hold onto his finger with his tiny right hand. It always marveled Vergil at how small Nero actually was. He was weak and vulnerable.
Nero needed Vergil to protect him.
Eventually, both father and son fell asleep, holding onto each other.
Vergil watched his son drink from his mother's breast as he ate breakfast. He felt sorrow that his son would have to grow up in such a small apartment. He was able to get a job at Fortuna's library, where he was able to study everything the Order knew about his father. Soon, he would get a meeting with the heads of the Order and tell them he was the elder son of Sparda. Then they would worship him.
Nero would never know what it is like to suffer.
His thoughts were interrupted by Nero cooing for him. He lifted up his son and placed him on his chest. His father's chest was always Nero's favorite spot to lay on. He loved the noise Vergil's chest plate made when he tapped it. Vergil placed the child over his shoulder and gently patted his back. Nero giggled after he burp, he found the noise amusing.
Nero's mother smiled at the connection the two had. She knew Vergil was going to be a good father.
"Vergil?"
"Yes, dear?"
"Could you bring Nero to work with you today? I have my first shift with the dinner today." This would be the first time she would work since having the baby. Vergil hated that she had to work instead of focusing on the baby. Nero had only been alive a week, he needed constant care.
"Of course." This made Nero squeal happily. He cuddled into Vergil's chest as if he was gluing himself to his father. He didn't want to be forgotten.
Nero listened to Vergil's heartbeat as they walked, smiling. He had never been outside of the apartment before. He smiled, his first smile, unseen by his father. He was hoping they would do it every day.
As they were walking, Vergil recounted how he ended up with the child.
Vergil entered Fortuna with one goal in mind: Power. This city praised his father as a god, there had to be something of his father this city was hiding. His amulet shined when he made his way through the city, he was close to something.
Entering the library, he knew this would be a good first stop. They had a sign pointing the section specifically filled with books about Sparda. He picked up the first few books on the shelf. He was walking towards a table when a young woman ran into him. He was unfazed but the woman fell to the ground. The books she had been holding feel around her.
Vergil had never been one to buy into the whole "falling in love". His mother would tell him and his brother how she and their father fell in love. It always bored him but he wouldn't lie that he found the woman attractive. But that didn't matter, she was in the way of his research.
"I am so sorry sir!" The woman quickly pulled her hood over her face before collecting the fallen books. Vergil figured it must be a custom here. He hadn't taken his hoodie off simply because he didn't feel like it. Smart decision.
The woman stared at him. She had never seen anyone like him. He was so mysterious and dark, yet he was so beautiful. He had hair like Sparda and eyes so elegantly blue. Like winter. She wanted to hold him, she wanted to be his wife, she wanted to bear his children.
"What's your name?"
"Why do you want to know?"
"I…"
"You're wasting my time" He made his way past her, only to be stopped by her grabbing his cloak.
"Unhand me, woman!" People around then shushed him, not caring about anything else.
"Wait! Let me join you!"
"And why would I let you join me?"
"You're trying to learn more about Sparda right? I-I'll tell you everything I know!" Vergil watched her curiously. He had seemed to have utter control of this woman. She was attracted to him, much like this city was to his father.
"Alright"
She sat with him. She went on for hours about everything she had on Sparda. Vergil did find it interesting, his father was not the same man he remembered from his childhood. This version was much better.
She asked him if he had a place to stay, he said he hadn't really thought of that. She quickly offered up her place. He said why not.
Her place was small, but it would work for a night or two. He told her as much. She didn't want him to go. She told him as much. He asked how she would make him say. She offered him the only thing she had left, her body.
He accepted.
It worked out well for him. Every day, she would come back to the apartment with any and all new information Sparda. He enjoyed been waited on, to have someone be so willing to serve him.
He wasn't ready for the change.
One day she came home with no books, only a small box.
"What's in the box?" Maybe it was a gift from the Order, begging to take him as their new leader.
"It's…"
He quickly grew annoyed, "It's what? Out with it woman!"
"It's a pregnancy test…"
"It's a what?"
"It's a device that tells me I'm bearing your child." Vergil froze at those words. He created a child. He, not his twin, made a child at a young age.
"P-Please…stay with me…raise the child…the Order…the Order forbids pregnancy outside of marriage…they get rid of the woman and the child…please…"
This was the first time Vergil had been asked to do something for someone else. He didn't have to say yes, he could leave Fortuna and forget about her.
As those thoughts entered his mind, he heard his mother's voice. He looked up to see the ghost of his mother staring back at him. She begged him to raise the child. Like how she and his father raised him and Dante.
His father.
He could raise the child to be powerful. The child could fight by his side. Who knows what kind of power this child would possess?
"I will."
And he did. He got the job at the library, he revealed himself to the landowner, threatened him if he ever told anyone. He took her to the head priest so that they would be married. He did it all. For them.
He didn't know when he stopped caring about the child's power or his own. He wasn't sure when he truly fell in love with both of them. Maybe when he first sensed Nero's soul, heard his heartbeat or felt him kick in her womb.
He even remembered shedding a tear when he first held Nero.
Nero. That was the name he chose. It means wise, imaginative, philosophical.
It was perfect.
Once they arrived, Vergil asked a woman already working there if she had anything he could place Nero. The woman brought him to the back room where she had a baby chair, still in the box.
"The others and I bought this for you when you mentioned you had a newborn son." Vergil noticed the room was filled with other baby items. He wonders if it was because of praise or baby fever.
Lifting up the box, Vergil nodded at her. "Thank you." He walked over to the receptionist's desk, quickly set up the chair and placed Nero in it. Nero wiggled at the sudden movement, babbling that he wanted to stay in Vergil's arms. As soon as he felt the chair, he decided it was soft enough and smiled at Vergil. Vergil smiled back and rocked the chair with his foot as he read.
Only two hours passed when that man walked in. Vergil sensed something demonic radiating off of him, but he knew the man was human. He looked down at Nero, who was fast asleep. Quietly, he gets up from his chair and walks over to the woman putting books away.
"Do you mind if we switch? I want to stretch my legs."
"Of course, but what about-"
"He's fast asleep, he won't stir. If he does, I'll hear him." Having no time to wait for an answer, Vergil took the cart and looked around for the man. Finding that it was slowing him down, he pushed it to the side. He found him in the archives, reading a book about none other than Sparda.
"Hello, Vergil."
"How do you know my name?"
"Why, you're the son of Sparda of course."
"What do you want?"
"To give you an offer of a lifetime. Fortuna knows nothing about your father's power. I, however, know how to unlock it."
Vergil closed his eyes, he sensed that Nero was still fast asleep. "...Tell me more."
Vergil spent the next hour learning everything the man knew. He learned his name was Arkham, he learned the story of Arkham's wife and daughter, and he learned every single detail about the portal between the demon and human world. He closed his eyes. With that power, he would never be weak again. He would have people praising him without any need for the Order…
He could protect Nero without any issue.
"I think-" Nero's cries interrupted him. Nero had awoken and saw that Vergil was no longer above him. He did not approve.
Vergil began to walk away. Arkham smirked: "I'll be here tomorrow for your answer." Virgil said nothing, he just kept walking. "What are you willing to sacrifice for power, Vergil?"
Vergil gently scooped up Nero, instantly calming the child down. Nero cuddled into his father, babbling incoherently about what Vergil assumed were based in fear. He didn't blame him, he knew what it was like to be left alone. As he rocked Nero, he thought about his life if he didn't take Arkham's deal. He would have to work nonstop in this godforsaken city, live in a tiny apartment for who knows how long, and listen to the boy cry.
He quickly ran out of the library as fast as he could without harming Nero.
He ate in silence that night, contemplating what his next move would be. He looked up at his wife breastfeeding Nero. There was no way he could bring them along. They would slow him down. He could always come back for them. He shouldn't be gone for long.
"How was work today?" Vergil didn't seem to hear her, Nero decided to reply. She smiled at her baby babble and smile, he always had the biggest smile on his face.
Vergil left the table soon after, he needed his rest. Nero made noises to protest, he wanted to be held by his father. He settled for his mother warmth for now. His father would just have to hold him the next time he opens his eyes.
Vergil sensed Arkham outside of the apartment at around 3 o'clock in the morning. He didn't care, he already made up his mind. Placing a note that simply read "I need to leave and do something. You'll understand soon enough, he left without a word. He paused to kiss Nero's cheek one last time, "I will return son"
Nero woke up moments later, he reached for his father who was walking away from him, babbling to be picked up. Vergil ignored him, he left with Arkham. Nero began to cry which in turn, woke his mother. SHe read the note.
Nero kept on crying.
She couldn't take it, Nero wouldn't stop crying. He just kept crying.
With Vergil gone, she would have to pay to live in the apartment again.
She didn't make enough to feed two mouths.
Nero would only grow and grow.
She couldn't raise him.
The thunder was deafening as she ran through the streets. Yet it still could not drown out Nero's cries.
Nero didn't like the cold, he didn't like her running. He wanted to be held by Vergil.
When Nero was placed down in front of the orphanage, she smiled. She was free. She ran away.
Nero didn't like that. He wanted her back, he was cold and sad.
He cried louder.
His cries were again unanswered.