A year had passed since both the demon hunters gave up Nero to the shelter. Fortuna had offered him a far better quality of life than Dante ever could; they gave him a clean, safe home, good food and everything he needed.
The gentle and supportive staff had helped to shape Nero into a calm, pleasant young boy, but he wasn't without his questioning moments. Somehow, Nero was different from the other children his age. He developed quicker and stronger than all of them and seemed very antisocial towards other children, but this was just dismissed as him being shy and socially awkward, he would grow out of it eventually.
No time was wasted in providing Nero with a forever home. A pleasant family with one young daughter, a little older than Nero and a son a year or so older than that came to enquire about adopting a third.
"Hello? We called last night about a viewing with the children from the files?" The mother had a gentle voice to match her face. She rested her hand against the counter as the staff booked her in, the little daughter peeking just over the top of the wood.
"Ahh yes, Mrs Cristallo is it? This must be little Kyrie?" The woman at the reception desk smiled and lowered her glasses, waving at the little brown haired girl who hid behind her mothers dress.
"Yes, that's us!" Maria Cristallo nodded and smiled. A younger volunteer came through to escort the small family to a meeting room, where they sat and interviewed each child separately, Nero being last of the pile.
The young woman held Nero's hand as they both walked into the room and she closed the door. Nero took the seat in the furthest corner of the sofa opposing the family, looking a little shy as he saw all the new people looking at him.
"And this is Nero, obviously he's a lot more developed than our other children here, but we expect he's about one and a half." She stroked Nero's puppy soft, white hair as he leaned against her for reassurance.
Maria looked thrilled to see him in person, looking at her husband through a brief glance, they were both thinking the same thing; he looked almost exactly like Lord Sparda.
Trying not to get distracted by his looks, they discussed more about his behaviour and well-being. Everything seemed to be clear and Nero was wisped away to live with his new, wealthy family in the centre of town. Of course, the news spread across the closely knit community, rumours circulating that Nero was of course the descendent of Sparda himself.
Nero went from being a wet pile of blankets on the street to the youngest son of a popular family, loved by his siblings and parents as well as members of the school he attended. He was never anything more than average in school apart from Physical Education, but was treated as though he was top of the class in every subject, which nobody really objected to. This continued throughout all of the young boy's childhood, brightening his attitudes and personality. By the age of eight Nero had began to make friends for the first time, outside his siblings Credo and Kyrie of course. He was friendly and popular with all class mates which made his parents proud at every parental meeting that they had, all seemed too good to be true until he turned ten.
Maria got an unexpected phone call at around noon from Nero's school. Assuming it was just a minor issue concerning Nero's unregistered dentist appointment a couple of days before, she proceeded to answer it.
"Hello?"
"Hello ma'am, this is Mrs Rochdale, your son's teacher?" An elder, well pronounced woman replied, there seeming to be shouting in the background.
"Yes, is anything wrong?" Maria fiddled with the phone wire as she brought it up to her lips, looking across at her husband who was sat polishing his weapons at the coffee table.
"I'm afraid Nero has been suspended for showing physical violence towards a fellow pupil, I will arrange a meeting about it for this afternoon." Nero? Violent? They could never have dreamed he would do such a thing; he was their gentle, sensible young son.
Both concerned parents made their way promptly to the school principles office where Nero was sat covered in mud, grass stains and surprisingly blood, coiled up tight on the chair with his hood covering his head in a sulk. Maria knelt beside her son and stroked his arm,
"Sweety, what happened?" She rubbed his back a bit to try to get him to answer, but with no success. Eventually both the principle and Miss Rochdale invited the three of them in, Nero having to be dragged by his father as he silently protested.
They all sat down around a large table where a distressed looking mother and son were already sitting opposite them.
"Mister and missus Cristello, this may come as a shock to you but today your son decided it was in his best interests to attack poor Christopher, biting and scratching him enough to draw blood." The stocky, aged Miss Rochdale sat down in her seat and polished her glasses.
Maria looked horrified at the thought, "N-Nero? Is that true?" She looked over at the guilty white haired boy between her and her husband as he ducked his head to avoid eye contact. He shrugged exaggeratedly in reply but nothing else.
"Y-yeah! He started hitting me 'cause I tagged him in sports today…" The other child yelped as he clutched his mother's arm, staring across at his attacker.
"I-I don't understand… Nero's never been like this…" Maria stuttered a little, in disbelief that Nero would turn like that, and for seemingly no reason at all.
"It could have just been an isolated incident, but I would suggest keeping an eye on him. We'll keep you in touch with our child psychologist as Nero takes the rest of the week off on suspension." The principle added. Nero gave a sideways glance to his father who scowled back slightly; he was definitely the stricter of the two parents as was expected. Nero lowered his head in shame and embarrassment, twiddling his thumbs under the table for the rest of the meeting.
After being dismissed Nero was taken straight home and sent to his room where he sat in a corner for the rest of the night, Maria finding it hard to get to sleep as she was too busy worrying what would have caused him to act in such a way.
"Its just not right, Jack…" Maria rolled over and laid her head on her husband's chest and sighed heavily.
"I know, but you know how boys are, maybe some other boys encouraged him." Jack huffed tiredly in reply, stroking his wife's chestnut hair as they both settled down for the night.
Several more of these incidents occurred throughout his school life, but the cause remained a mystery. It was almost as if he had a split personality and nobody could understand why, he had the perfect upbringing as far as anyone was concerned.
Things eventually got so bad during high school that Nero was expelled due to his extremely aggressive and unpredictable behaviour; he was no longer the sweet, gentle son that his parents had fallen in love with. Now everyone was just waiting in fear for the next time he lashed out.
No therapist or psychiatrists were able to help put a diagnosis on his behaviour because nobody knew about his past or heritage before he came to the orphanage and no contact details were left by the people who brought him there. His origins seemed lost.
