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“I just want someone to hold me like my mother used to—tell me everything is alright when you know it won’t be. She found a way though, to make things better? Even if… even if it took her away from me.” Dante sighed as he delicately picked up the frame photo of his mom, embracing it dearly. You’d watch him fall apart before but never had it been so delicate, his feelings so ripe and fresh as if a new wound opened.
“Dante, come here.”
“What? Where? Where are we going?”
“We’re not going anywhere, I want you to come sit here with me on the couch, dummy.” It was almost as if you were hesitant to exhale, aware of the soft subject at hand. You meant no harm but Dante fell behind at times. “Come here so I can hold you.”
“Y…you’d get your hands dirty for me? I haven’t showered in a few days.”
You sighed, “Dante…”
He nodded, his desk chair raising fabric hairs from the rug as he scooted back in his seat, “Alright.” Dante went to you, a visible amount of happiness drained from his large frame. Typically, he’d rush to be by your side—the warming comfort of your presence always rewarding him with a smile.
Dante liked you, not so much as sensually but he could describe what you two had as intimate.
“Do you feel alone again?”
“Never stopped.” his spirit deemed robbed, lost, and dejected. The gloom in his eyes silver in blue, cold like freezing rain. “I’ve been on this path alone for as long as I can remember. I've learned how to survive alone, how to live alone, how to cope with and solve my problems alone,” Dante turned to you, taking your hand, “But to properly answer your question? No, it’s not what I feel this time.”
“Then? What do you feel?”
“…Lonely, and honestly? I’m tired of it. I’m tired of the constant silence, the constant emptiness…” Dante took a deep breath, almost as if he were preparing himself for his own words, “I wanna feel alive again like when she was here. I’ve ran, but not because I’m headed for her arms. I’ve fought, but not because to protect her. I don’t come home after keeping the town safe for her. Nothing is here—no one is here. What got left behind is a form of loneliness.”
“Dante…come here.” A hug may have been just a plain nonsense gesture, a form of comfort when you didn’t know what to say, but little did you know that’s exactly what the man craved.
“Mother prepared me for light, yet all I continue to see is the darkness of that closet...”
You listened, the best you could do in his time of need.
“When I seen that place again in the Qliphoth tree, I just wanted to get knocked out to rid myself of the painful memory. I felt stuck for a moment—a scared kid again never truly understanding what was happening.”
“You don’t have to feel lonely. You have friends Dante, people who care about you. You can be left alone but you’ll never be lonely as long as you have us.”
“Then why do I feel this way?”
“Well, I hate to say it babe but you’ve thrown up this defensive shield that’s deflecting every possible interference in your demon hunting life. You won’t let anyone rid you of your loneliness.” You spoke.
“In the end, it’ll come to just that.”
“Not if you don’t let it. Please, don’t ultimately eliminate any chance I may have of being there for you. I wanna help you, Dante. I wanna be there for you when you feel like no one else is. I can’t replace your mother’s spot in your heart but I would love to be close to it. I want her flame to keep burning for you, but I can’t if you don’t give me a chance.”
Dante’s face wrinkled, “But what if you too leave me cold? How do I know you won’t?”
“You don’t, but don’t you wonder what it would be like if I did help to make you feel warm again?”
Dante squeezed your hand, more than enough heat passing between your palms to warm him. His grip gradually lessened as he moved in closer in your personal space, his breath humid on your skin. “Let’s just sit here, yeah?”
“If that’s what you want.” Soothingly you caressed his back, your arms snuggly under his leather jacket almost as if you were trying to fit yourself into it with him still inside. “We can sit for as long as you want.”
“Thank you for this, but if you tell anyone about this then…well I’ll think of something that’ll make you think twice about blabbing to the girls about—”
“Dante, shut up and hug me.”
“Mhm, you better not burn out on me,” Dante playfully rocked you around, disturbing your embrace almost instantly.