"What is wrong with you Nero?!" Jack barked, trying to resist throwing out his aggressive adopted son.
"There's nothing wrong! It was an accident!" Nero yelled back, being pushed out of the way by Kyrie who rushed to the aid of her older brother, Credo who had been struck by a sword by Nero during training which cased a deep wound in his side.
"There are a few too many of these 'accidents' don't you think?" Jack knelt by his son who was almost a carbon copy of himself. He stood him up and walked him inside to his mother to get his wound cleaned up. This left a now 17 year old Nero pacing angrily by himself on the brilliant white training grounds.
The young white haired male drew up his headphones over his ears to block everything out and pulled his hood over his head to cover his angelic white hair and hide his ever scowling face. Nero turned to look at the front door of the house, where Kyrie was peeking through the frosted glass, watching her younger brother. He sighed quietly and turned away again, walking down the wide, empty street to be alone.
Once he was out of sight of his family, his slow walk became a sprint and he left the town behind in no time.
Nero looked up to the sky as he halted, it had grown cold and dark as rain began to fall to the clap of thunder.
"Great." Nero's response was a mix of genuine and sarcasm. He'd always loved the rain but saw it as an insult to injury after indirectly being kicked out of his home for the night. Shaking the thought out of his head Nero continued his long walk, being stopped by a high fence which stood around ten feet.
Nero looked up at the intimidating steel pillars, sharpened at the spikes to warn off demons from entering the city, but of course the council wouldn't tell the public that. He looked around for anything he could use to climb it as the city gates were now closed until morning like they were every night. A few feet away was a large, heavy duty dumpster, it was worth a try.
With a few straining tugs of the wheeled trash dump, it was against the fence. It stood a good height from the floor which made Nero doubt his ability to climb it. He looked down at his boot covered feet when he noticed a trait that may act in his favour, he was incredibly tall. His glance flickered between the bin and his feet before he took a few steps back, sprinting forward and vaulting the dumpster. Now five feet from the ground the teenager was finding it hard to believe he jumped such a thing so easily.
Eager to try out this newly discovered ability, he looked at the cottage that stood behind him, opposing the fence he aimed to defeat. It stood another five feet higher and seemed easily achievable.
"Come on Nero, you lanky shit…" Nero smirked as he muttered to himself, mimicking the common phrase the other teenagers at training would taunt him with. His eyes gleamed as he eyed up the thatch roof, and in a heartbeat he leaped it. His boot strap on his second foot caught the straw in the roof as he came in to land which make a less than graceful thud as his whole body hit the roof.
"Crap. That hurt…" He winced and wiped a scrape on his face from where a loose piece of thick straw cut him before regaining his stance and turning to face the fence, looked like he still needed work. Not letting his embarrassing fall put him off, he walked to the other side of the roof before running up and leaping the large gap between the house and fence. He gripped hold of the top bar and struggled to haul himself up. He manoeuvred his feet between the obstructing spikes and crouched uncomfortably, thinking to himself 'don't slip… don't slip' as he realised the vulnerable position his ass was in.
After settling on the fence Nero looked out to the wide fields and forest that stood outside of the city, he never left the city gates but only now started to wonder why, it seemed so peaceful. Looking back at the city he decided it wouldn't do any harm to leave for just one night, especially when his family didn't want him there tonight, or so it seemed.
He drew a deep breath and jumped down from the fence to the other side, stumbling a little as he landed, but otherwise landing what other people would have seriously injured themselves doing.
"No way…" He laughed a little and smirked up at the fence, feeling accomplished that he'd finally passed the boundaries set by his parents, just like any other teenager.
"Dad's gonna be so mad."
He bolted his way to the forest to explore as well as get the feeling back in his legs after the little adrenaline rush. It was growing darker and the only light source he had was the full moon above him though this didn't worry him because as far as he knew, no danger existed in such a quiet place.
He took in the fresh, earthy scent that was so different to the smell of home, wandering aimlessly through countless plants and weaving around trees, occasionally hearing a rustle of a disturbed woodland creature, which kept him on his toes. Unthreatened by anything he'd heard or seen in the woodland so far, Nero continued through, jolting slightly as a crow shot past his face and almost sent him falling backwards.
"Stupid bird…" Nero grumbled, refusing to accept that he had been scared by an animal. He brushed himself down and continued onwards until stopping at his tracks near a ditch. The air got significantly colder and something inside the teenager made him stop. His senses heightened instinctively, sensing a threat that Nero's conscious mind didn't seem to register, there was nothing there.
He shook his head and pulled his hood down; upon that movement something unnatural began to stir silently around him before the ferns began to rustle. A chill went down Nero's spine as he looked around,
"It's probably just a squirrel or something…" He tried to assure himself that there was nothing to be worried about.
"Sparda…" A whisper that sounded almost as shallow as air flowed into his ear, making him twist and turn to try and see who was there, but again there was nothing.
"Who's there?" He scowled and kept on his guard, his heart began to pace faster and faster as the tension grew almost unbearable.
"Sparda…" The voice grew louder and seemingly closer as the rustling began again. The sound stung Nero's ears as he patted himself down, he had no weapons to defend himself with.
Nero parted his lips to answer the strange whisper, but was interrupted as he attempted with a pair of huge, red eyes glowing from the ferns. He turned to run, but then there was another pair, followed by another, and another, and another.
With nowhere to run all Nero could do was stand his ground and hope to intimidate whatever lurked in the darkness, but something told him it wasn't going to be that easy.
"W-what do you want?!" He yelled in hope of scaring them off, the five pairs of eyes just cackling darkly as they stepped closer, closing him in. Nero backed up and turned around to look at all of them, but turned back to have a monstrous looking black creature only an inch or two away from his face.
"Shit…" He cussed to himself as the creatures continued to cackle and mock him, drawing in closer and closer before Nero lashed out and punched one hard in the side of the head, forcing it to the ground from the impact. He had no idea he was so strong!
The others screeched demonically and started to attack, Nero kicking, punching and head-butting his way through them until only the largest remained. Not wanting to give the demon the first strike Nero swept his leg under the demon's, causing it to fall, only to have it bite and scratch down his right arm. Hissing with pain he kicked the monster repetitively in the head and wherever he could before it ceased to move. He panted and looked around, paranoid that there would be others around.
"What were those things…?" Nero panted to himself, it was too dark to see what they were but they weren't natural and he knew it. His thoughts were stopped in his tracks by a sharp, unbearable pain in his arm from the wound, it hurting through to the bone.
"A-ah!" He held his arm tight and doubled over as he clutched it tight to stop the bleeding with little success. Hissing and cussing from the pain, he limped slowly home, the sun rising by the time he managed to reach the gate to Fortuna. He hid his injury well to avoid unwanted attention as he walked through, he was let straight in as he had such a recognisable and respectable appearance, even if it was just due to the colour of his hair, which he hated anyway.
Bluntly ignoring the multiple polite 'good morning sir's he got as he walked through town, he speed-walked his back to his house in hope that they had all cooled down after yesterdays events.
Unsurprisingly, both Maria and Kyrie were worried sick that Nero hadn't returned last night after what happened with Credo.
"I'm sure he's just doing this to make us feel bad, Maria…" Jack sighed and sat beside his worried wife and daughter, Credo standing in the doorway. All heads were turned at the sound of the front door opening, Nero still clutching his arm.
"N-Nero?" Kyrie squeaked and stood up to greet him at the door, although Nero looked in a slight hurry to get upstairs before he almost walked straight into her. "Oh hey, Kyrie." He smiled awkwardly and tried not to wince from the pain of his ever bleeding wound.
"Nero, where have you been!? We were so worried!" Maria joined Kyrie in blocking his way upstairs.
"I-I uhh… just went for a walk…" He cleared his throat and sneezed a little from being out in the cold last night. "Look, I'm pretty tired… Can I just go to bed…?" He rubbed his face, covering his right hand with his sleeve.
Less than pleased with how unenthusiastic her son was to be home, Maria nodded and let him go upstairs, Kyrie having a strong feeling that something had happened while Nero was out and she wasn't the only one. Jack smelt a faint scent of something he had not smelled in a long time… Demons.
Jack made a quick exit to the council about the matter as Nero rushed upstairs, trying not to make it obvious that he was in a hurry as he made his way to the bathroom only a door down from Kyrie's room. He closed the door with his foot and took off his shirt and jacket before laying his arm in the sink, washing it down with warm water and hissing at the pain as the water ran red down the plug hole.
Nero paused as he dried off his arm, noticing something different about his pale skin on the injured limb. It looked almost dead due to the odd, purple colour which almost looked like it was bruised from fingertips to shoulder. 'Maybe its just blood loss…' Nero thought to himself as he scowled at it, feeling it a bit without disturbing the finally clotted wounds and causing the shooting pain to start up again. He hissed and cussed to himself as he bit his lower lip before going into the cupboard under the sink, getting the first aid kit out and wrapping his arm in bandages, censoring it from view so it didn't cause suspicion.
Unfortunately for him, he wasn't as subtle and careful as he thought it was. Kyrie had followed him upstairs and noticed the bathroom door slightly open and was peeking through the gap the entire time, wondering what was wrong with him.
"Nero…?"
