I Always Come Back

I'll Always Come Back


Dante casted a desolate glance at his feet.  Another pang of guilt swarmed up underneath his ribcage and jabbed at his heart.  It had been six months since the car accident.  Six months of painful and sleepless nights as images he couldn't recall or recognize racked his brain.  All he could remember was waking up to see the woman named Sparrow with a young child that was supposedly his daughter.  The only thing that made him recall that everyday was the shattered look on the woman's face when he said he didn't even know who she was.

Another stab of guilt hit him; hard.  The demon shoved his hands roughly in his pockets and continued down the street.  He didn't understand why, but Dante wanted nothing more than to believe this Sparrow woman when she said he was her husband.  That the beautiful demon child that had gazed up at him with watery green eyes was their daughter Molly.  He wanted nothing more to believe them that very moment, but that wasn't who he was.  If it was something that stayed a constant in the demon man, it was honesty.  Even if that meant it hurt himself more than others.

"Daddy?"  He glanced up from the sidewalk to meet the green eyed gazes of the two people that he had apparently forgotten all about.  The demon's crimson orbs met with the darkened jade ones.  He could see the sudden tears burning behind her eyes.  Molly's lips curved downwards in an attempt of pouting as her eyes grew large with hope that maybe he would remember.

He didn't say anything.  Sparrow didn't expect him to.  She simply nodded and grasped her daughter's hand a little more tightly and walked past him.  As the fiery haired woman sauntered by him, Dante could feel his heart shattering.  It was that affect that she had on him.  He didn't even know her.  At least, he couldn't remember that he knew her.  Another pang sounded loudly.

He didn't make it two steps before the sound of two deep and gruff voices spat nasty words out behind him.  "Well, what have we here?  A pretty young thing and her little girl?"  Dante froze in his steps again, his body going rigid.  "What's a single mommy doing out on the streets after curfew?"  'Move dammit.  Move!' the demon man shouted at himself.  The woman was in trouble.  He had to at least do SOMETHING.  'Move!'

"I was just returning home with my daughter," Sparrow spat.  Defensively, she kneeled down beside her daughter and began to curl her body around her in protection.  There was no way in hell she was going to let two streets thugs hurt her baby.  The larger of the two men grinned a toothy grin, blackened gums reassuring her that he had been chewing tobacco.  He spat out a chunk of the said black gunk that rotted his mouth and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth.

"Well, too bad you ain't gonna make it home," he said.  Sparrow caught a glimpse of the silver barrel being removed menacingly from the shorter thug's coat jacket.  The woman could feel her daughter shaking as she clung tightly to her mother's arms.  Sparrow stroked Molly's hair gently, trying to reassure her that everything was going to be okay.  Everything was going to be alright in the end.  The man raised up the gun from his coat and aimed it at Sparrow's forehead, right between her eyes.  Suddenly, the whip of black coattails obscured her vision of the silver gun.  Her green eyes darted upwards only to see wisps of ebony hair and dim street lights glinting off of ivory horns.

"Don't you try and hurt these girls," Dante said, his voice low and defiant.  The larger thug stumbled backwards a bit in surprise.  He recomposed himself and spat out another chunk of tobacco.

"Oh yeah?  An' why should we listen to ya?  Do ya know 'em?" asked the shorter of the two thugs.  Another pang hit him, but it was softened by the fact he was defending these women.  It didn't hurt as badly knowing he was defending complete strangers.

"I don't know them.  But it's against what I believe to hurt another living being-"  He was cut short as the sound of the gun rang out into the darkness of the night.  Pain seared in Dante's shoulder as the blast pushed him backwards.  Everything came back to him.  Memories flooded his mind as he crumbled to the ground beside Sparrow and Molly.  His wife and his daughter.  His mother's assassination, the war, the city, Sparrow and Molly, all of it came flooding back to him as he could hear his beloved wife call out his name as he fell.

Tears streamed hotly down the woman's cheeks and the demon child buried her face in the crook of her mother's neck.  This wasn't how it was supposed to end.  This wasn't how Dante was supposed to die, not by the mere pain of a measly bullet from a second-rate gun.  Sparrow held Molly closer to her, shaking furiously.  This wasn't how it was supposed to end for any of them.

"Now, where was we?" muttered the thug.  The barrel was shoved roughly against Sparrow's temple.  She couldn't even feel it there.  Her mind was too bent on her beloved husband.  The thug's thumb cocked the gun slowly.  "Say goodnight," he chuckled.  His finger hovered over the trigger for a second . . .


WHAM!  Dante's fist collided with the man's face.  He could hear the distinct cracking of his jaw bone as he flew backwards into the brick wall of the store.  A newly lit fire was sparked in the demon man's crimson orbs.  A sneered darkly at the man, now slumped against the wall in a hazy darkness.  He shot his gaze to the larger thug and grabbed his throat with the quickness only a demon had.  His tail flicked angrily as he shot daggers into the man's skull with only a gaze.

The demon held the thug high above him for a few seconds, claws scrapping against the skin of his neck.  Slowly, he lowered the man down so he could whisper the words only the thug could hear.  "Don't you dare harm my family."  With that he slammed the man into the ground, another distinct crack hitting his ears.  Dante stood there for a long time, tail flicking in disgust and heart beating wildly from adrenaline.  He hadn't felt like that in a good long time.  

"Daddy?"  Molly's timid voice broke through the anger that clouded Dante's mind for those mere seconds.  He turned around and gazed at the most important people in his life.  How could he have forgotten them?  A smile graced his carmel lips as his crimson eyes softened.

"Hey Molly," he said kneeling down on one knee.  The little demon girl's eyes sparked open wide.  She sprung from her mother's arms and flew towards her father, her happiness drowning out her sorrow.  Dante scooped up his daughter and swung her around like he used to.  Her laughter was like a song to his ears.  "Oh, my little girl," he praised, holding her fast against him.  She wrapped her tiny arms about his neck and nuzzled her cheek against his.  Oh how could he have forgotten this?

In the midst of his daughter's fit of giggles, he looked towards his wife and only offer an apologetic smile.  Tears were streaming down the sides of her face.  Her cheeks were dark pink with the cold air and the pent up sorrow that she was eliciting.  Her hands swatted at the tears but they kept rolling, unable to stop.  Dante felt guilty just by this scene of his wife alone.  But the guilt was masked as he could see the brightness returning to his wife jade colored eyes.

"Sparrow," he said soothingly.  The woman collapsed right there, sobs pouring from his lips just from her name being spoken.  Even she had forgotten how nice it was to hear her name being said from him.  Dante held back the urge to chuckle and walked over to his wife, enveloping the small woman in a warm embrace.  He smoothed her hair back and murmured soothing whispers of love into her ears.  Molly nudged her way between them and wrapped her arms around her mother's neck, trying her best to comfort her.

After a few long minutes of her fits, she finally looked up into Dante's eyes.  "I'm sorry," he apologized, rubbing his thumb across her cheek as he held her face in his warm hands.  She sniffed and choked out a laugh.  Her arms tangled themselves about her husbands torso as she leaned up to greet his lips with her own.  How warm they felt against hers.  They burned like fire and yet melted the ice coating his absence in their lives.  His kiss was something she had forgotten too.  How could they have forgotten?

As Dante pulled back to look at his wife, a smile spread across his face.  


"No matter what happens, birdie, I'll always come back to you."